Hey all , I've been wondering and looking for frank answers--NOT the brave answers I try to tell myself.

I do not obsess over food like I used to, and generally find myself craving LC faire nowadays. I've been cheat free since January aside from wine a few days a week.

This is where i get honest. I still think that the thought of carbs sounds heavenly. I do not think pasta, bread, or potatoes sound gross. They sound delicious. BUT, I CAN resist them. the thought of how I feel after carbs DOES make me sick.

I'm wondering will I EVER get to the point where I TRULY think those things sound or taste gross and unpalatable? Are you all REALLY revolted by carbs
or are you just trying to convince yourself with a motivational pep talk?

Maybe some people will always miss carbs and some people completely break the addiction. Just like an alcoholic still has to take one day at a time even after 20 years of sobriety.

Thoughts??

I didn't learn to cook until my forties; but I learned to bake in my teens.

So I'm second to none in my (prior) love of baked goods, and I speak as a former binger.

And it's true; after going 100% gluten-free Christmas before last, I don't want it any more.

Now, if I pass an artisan bakery, it smells good. Industrial bread really really really does not. I can smell the better bread as I do a rose; but I don't want to eat either of them.

The key is staying away completely. Just like the person who keeps sneaking out for a smoke "once in a while" finds themselves deep in the pack all over again, periodically cheating just reboots your cravings and puts them right back where they were. Like sobriety in Alcoholics Anonymous; you've just thrown it all away.

It's no coincidence that I've chosen two famously addictive substances to use as an example; wheat and sugar are both addictive substances. And with all addictive substances, staying away from them, for a long enough time, breaks their spell.

It's funny when experts and lay people alike say things like, "Food is addicting, but I have to eat food!"

But the truth of the matter is this: we don't have to eat addicting food.

I hardly feel qualified to answer, since I've only been on Atkins for 2 1/2 weeks. But even after just that tiny amount of time, I can honestly say that I don't obsess over candy like I have for the last umpteen years.

Used to be that, mid-morning every day, I was headed to the drug store to get my boxed-candy-of-choice. If I couldn't, because of work meetings, weather, etc, I would jones BAD, and do all kinds of crazy things to try and get there. It sounds ridiculous saying it out loud, but it's true.

But while I still wish I could eat bread, potatoes, and corn, the former mainly just because it tones down the strong flavors of other things, it's honestly more just for convenience than a real *craving*. Even my own recent cheat was just because I was so tired of working so hard to stay on plan; I was *tired* of having to think so hard about food, and just wanted to EAT something already.

So yeah, I've already seen a dramatic change in the candy cravings, and hope to see change in my habits and tastes as time goes by. I suppose it probably really is an individual thing. :-/

None of the above.

Most of the time I don't think about them at all. It's usually when I've been eating them I start to think about them. Then if I stay away for a while I'm fine again.

As long as they're not right in my face it generally doesn't enter my consciousness.

Oh ya baby..I'm with you! I am doing great with the whole LC thing..I love challenging myself to find yummy meal choices, etc.
But do I have dreams about spaghetti and meatballs, real banana cream pie, hot garlic bread right put of the oven.. Yikes! I still cook my favorite dishes for my hubby and nephew who lives with us..it's not their desire to eat LC..and they don't have diabetes..I do. I cannot honestly say if I didn't "need" to eat this way that I would choose it! But with the improvement in my health.. it is the best option for me!

Ok .. I've never "obsessed" over food. Never found myself thinking or dreaming of it. I don't believe I'm addicted to carbs (although the science is quite clear that they really aren't good for anyone - especially diabetics such as me). All that said, would I love a REAL piece of bread (not the store kind - yucko)? You bet I would! Pasta, rice, I could never eat again and it wouldn't phase me as I rarely ate it before ... but freshly made bread? No, that will never "revolt" me! I just tell myself that it's not good for my medical condition and move on ...

It took a while for me to get where I am. But along the way, I got a lot of stuff in return for what I was giving up.

Went from size 16 to a 10.

Get right up in the morning and my bee-hind does not drag all day. No overwhelming need for a nap after lunch.

Skin, hair, and nails all healthy and trigger compliments from people.

Blood pressure, blood sugar, and triglycerides all what my PA calls "perfect."

I am not tormented by constant hunger.

It's a mistake to only think of what we are giving up.

I miss toast for dippy eggs and I miss pizza with handcrafted bread. Other then that I'm just fine. The home cooking and meal planning is what I find very difficult. Quick snacks, etc. I sometimes wish I had a live in cook!

I'm revolted by the sight of packaged, processed commercial pastries and cookies. Unmoved by fresh baked pastries and cookies. Pasta, rice and potatoes aren't revolting but hold no allure any more - even mashed potatoes. But bread....hmmmmm. It should be noted that for most of my adult life I couldn't sleep at night if there was no bread in the house. I would literally get out of bed in the middle of the night and drive to the 7-11 for a loaf of crappy packaged bread, drive back home, put it in the kitchen, and then go back to bed comforted to know it's there. So, these days? No I don't miss bread at all because I've resisted touching even a crumb of it for one year - this week is my lc anniversary. But sometimes...sometimes I'll smell toast and remember....Then I shake myself out of it and move on.

My thoughts are that not everyone who eats LC is a former carb addict. I'm not. I simply think it's a healthier way to eat, and it's helped with weight loss. I been avoiding starches and sugars pretty strictly now for close to a year and a half. And I really have no cravings for them. But every so often I'm in a situation - like at a dinner party featuring pasta, for example - and I'll have a small portion and (hopefully) enjoy it. I don't feel guilty. It doesn't put me on a carb "bender". It's one meal.

The reason that I'm pointing this out is that I think there are plenty of people out there like me. The extreme "all or nothing" approach just isn't for us. And I think it's a reason why LC is often dismissed as a fad diet. Which is too bad. Because for many people it can be a surprisingly easy way of eating, that many could benefit from.

I do believe in eating addictions. (In fact I am beginning to think that most people have an addiction to something.) And I'm very happy for you that you feel that you have a handle on yours. But for some of us it's different!

For the most part I really AM revolted by carbs that are made from wheat. It's taken me a LONG time to get to that place...a long time of finding out what it does to my health and well-being. So usually when I look at those things what I see is me being fat, tired, depressed, crabby, hungry, etc. I see poison.

That said, I will be totally honest and real. I WISH that I could eat cake. That is the one item I still miss being able to have. Yes, I have my lc versions that I like very much, but there is nothing like a traditional yellow cake with butter-cream frosting. <sigh>

Now that I'm at goal I am able to eat most other (natural, not man-made) carbs in small amounts fairly regularly, including potatoes. I climbed the carb ladder and nothing else seems to cause me problems like wheat does. My goal is to never ingest anything made with wheat again.

A few things I really miss and some things I'm fine with the idea of never eating again:

Really miss ice cream (though my homemade low carb coffee ice cream satisfies me when I'm craving it) drowned in Hershey's chocolate syrup and chocolate cake/cupcakes. Sometimes rice noodles in a bowl of pho.

Don't miss at all: Bread, pasta, most sugary stuff.

I don't crave most carbs nor do I find them disgusting. In both cases there are exceptions.

I can't say that I'm revolted by pasta, ice cream, cake, really good bread etc. I am still very aware of how delicious those things are, but that kind of delicious does not equal good or healthy for me and I can't have them everyday or every week or 98% of the time and I'm at peace with that.

So I focus on the delicious things that are good for me and enjoy them instead. What i do miss is the ease of being able to walk into a place and order anything off the menu without having to special order or strip off a bun or the tortilla or say hold the rice, or ask if the chicken is breaded and that kind of thing, but that's life. And it's worth it, I'm worth it.

I never have "obsessed" about carbs, but I surely miss hot french bread, ice cream, frozen yogurt, cookies, tuna maki, chinese food, and fruit. I don't think that I'll ever lose the craving for carbs, especially when dining out. In the same fashion, I've known alcoholics who have been sober for 25 years who can still remember the taste of whiskey in their mouths.