Hi, I am planning on doing Atkins or another low carb diet as I need to lose about about 15 pounds. I tried the diet in 2003 and found it so hard and just had such bad cravings. I have a very sweet tooth.

So, how long did it take for those with a very very sweet tooth to completely do away with cravings?

Thanks

It can vary a lot, but most people seem to get over the worst of it in about 3 days. 2 weeks is a more conservative figure, but that's enough time for your body to more fully readjust. I think that's why Atkins Induction is 2 weeks long.

On some allergy elimination diets, they recommend avoiding a suspected food for as much as 5 weeks. If you wait that long, you can be pretty sure it's out of your system before you try reintroducing it.

While you're dealing with cravings, I think it's important not to let yourself get hungry. Why make yourself suffer any more than you have to? You have the rest of your life to lose weight, so make those first few days as easy as possible and don't worry about restricting anything that's allowed on the diet. Eat lots of fat!

I can't remember right off but there are some supplements Dr. Atkin's suggests for that (L-Glutamine comes to mind but I am sure someone here know right off 100% which one.)

Did you do a really clean induction when you did Atkin's the first time? I did not, so suffered with cravings also but this time around it is much better. Also, know there are Atkin's friendly things you can use with the cravings. Flaxseed cinnamon muffins help me a lot as does heavy whipping crean, sf vanilla extract, and splenda.

HI! new to site but not low carbing! lol ! I have a big sweet tooth as well! it usally takes 2 good weeks to get rid of the cravings but the first 3-5 days are rough !!! i've just started up again im on day 7 so i know what you're going through. i will get a spoon of peanut butter & a coke zero...that normally helps my cravings (: hope this helps

I found really staying away from anything that tastes sweet helps (even stuff sweetened with artificial sweeteners). Just that seems to set off more cravings!
Something else to examine is WHAT you're doing when the cravings hit. I feel an incredible urge to munch when watching TV which was my former binging time. So I don't watch as much TV these days to combat it. Other examples are, say, having a cup of coffee when you used to eat it with a donut? One of my friends swears her sugar cravings went away when she ditched coffee....something she always had with her sweet 'treats'.

Something to think about.

BTW, Christy, i Love a spoon of natural chunky PB too! For 3 net carbs..it helps me with the sweet cravings AND ups my fats. LOVE IT!

magnesium helps with chocolate cravings ... and with constipation.

However, it's about 3 to 5 days (usually when you get into ketosis) that you'll feel less tempted.

All drugs affect your blood sugar, including caffeine. In "Sugar Blues," William Dufty says that LSD raises your blood sugar while cannabis lowers it. Nicotine causes a sugar spike, and I think caffeine does too. Opium and morphine were actually used to treat diabetes before insulin.

INTERESTING Capmikee! OMG!

It's funny you should mention this book. I had an old b/f back in the '70's who bought me this book as a gift. He didn't buy it because I was overweight or anything. He was just very health conscious and wanted me to see the dangers of sugar. Unfortunately, being young and naive, I never got around to reading it but that was the first book that came to mind when I first heard of low-carbing.

I understand there's no actual scientific back-up behind what he says but I think it might be an interesting read. Although I'll probably kick myself in the a** and say, 'why didn't I read this 25 years ago?'. If I did, maybe I wouldn't be sitting here fighting weight issues in this day and age.

Anyway, my sister (who is 4 years older) managed to read it and never touched sugar again. She's the only one in my immediate family who doesn't and never had weight issues. I guess what he says can't be all wrong.

Hello, and welcome to the forums!

I'm a sugar addict. It takes about 3 to 5 days of very low carb, before I get control of my sugar cravings. They never completely go away, but at least I'm in control of them, now, rather than the other way around, like it used to be.

I also have to restrict my use of artificial sweeteners, or the cravings come back. I can use a little every day, but not nearly as much as many members here.

I used to take magnesium religiously but had to stop as I am taking anti-depressants and my doctor told me to stop (I was also taking 5htp).

As someone said, it varies widely from person to person. I think it took me about a week before the carb cravings were gone. Now I look at carbs and just have no desire for them, which is simply AMAZING. I was talking with a co-worker yesterday and he was saying he could never do low carb because he just "can't live without my chocolate, chips, cakes, etc." But I told him that what people who don't DO LC don't understand is that the very desire for those items just plain goes away after a time. It's not like LC'ers are standing around all the time wishing for a donut - we just quit desiring a donut at all. To me that's the biggest un-sung benefit of going LC.

the first day I'm great, 2-3 day almost impossible...by 5 days I'm good with no cravings.

The first couple days is easy and then it is crazy for about another 3 days and then it disapears for me. But kind of like the lays commercials, I can't just have one...the minute I have just one thing with sugar. The whole silly process starts all over again.

Hello,
I'm actually trying to get back on track. I got sick the 2nd week of induction and I had to get off my diet. I went from deep purple to ivory on my ketostix! Anyways, I ussualy control my cravings with sugar free jell-o. Just at the begginning. I noticed that the more I eat, the less cravings I have. I always keep cooked food on the fridge, and when I start to have cravings, I heat something up and eat.