What is your strategy for beating sugar cravings when you're keeping your carb count pretty low? I'm aiming for about 30 carbs a day (not net) so most low carb desserts would throw me over my limit at this point. I don't eat the packaged Atkins bars. I'm really craving candy, chocolate, fruit! I had five delicious cherries today and was able to stop there, but it didn't help the cravings go away.

Do you find that eating or drinking something with sugar substitute helps, or is it easier for you to stay away from all sweet tasting things to ease the cravings?

I have never been big in sweets. I like crunchy, salty (Fritos!), instead. Even so, I think the concept is the same. I am rounding out four weeks low carb. Once I was in ketosis, which I think happened within a day or two (I didn't have test strips to measure it at first), I didn't have cravings anymore. In fact, I am rarely hungry at all. If I do want something salty and crunchy, I have a few nuts.

I do use truvia in my morning coffee and occasionally have a few berries.

Everyone is different. It seems to be trial and error to some extent.

I feel the best solution is to go cold turkey for awhile (no real or artificial sweeteners of any kind). It will take a few days to work through it, but you should get to the point where you do not crave sugar or sweets. I recommend eating a lot of fatty food during those days to put yourself into fairly strong ketosis so you won't crave anything. How about an ounce of macadamia nuts? Or a half of an avocado with some salt?

I can now have a very small portion of 90% chocolate without triggering cravings. My husband likes a small portion of blueberries with unsweetened heavy cream, and he's doing OK with that. But we had to get through the period of time where we eschewed all things sweet to get to this point, and still be satiated.

Good luck -- it's worth it.

I white-knuckled through sugar cravings in the early weeks, and as a result my palate changed significantly. Celery tastes sweet to me now. Now though, if I want something sweet I eat a tablespoon of hazelnut butter - ground roasted hazelnuts and salt. OMG.

I have to say I never gave up diet soda or putting a splenda in my coffee. I haven't counted those carbs in my daily count and it hasn't derailed me. Everyone is different and some people swear those artificial sweeteners kill their losses, so YMMV.

Hi Phoenix; using artificially sweetened things is a personal choice. If it doesn't derail you, or cause more cravings, you might like to build it into your plan. I use diet pop very sparingly, only at social functions where I know there's going to be a lot of crap food. But I don't have one daily or even weekly, sorta thing. Have a look under the Recipes tab. I bet if you muck around in there you'll find some good ideas for low-carb sweet things that might not throw your 30 g out the window.

I was addicted to Diet Coke. I now try and avoid diet soda, but treat myself sometimes when I want "a sweet". Especially when I'm out with others who are loading up on junk. Sometimes there's no real alternative.

I just get a super large drink and go maybe half diet soda and half water (or seltzer). The server thinks you are nuts, but any more, even that seems way too sweet.

Lately, at home I use a Super Big Gulp cup, put about 1/5 of a flavored water like Ice, and the rest water or plain seltzer and that seems WAY sweet.

Put the water in first and top it with the flavored drink, then it blends better. :-)

I eat a dill pickle when I'm craving sweets. Also, I personally believe that cravings can be a function of electrolytes being off and will add more sodium/magnesium malate to my program. Seems to do the trick for me.
There IS a strong emotional component to sweets so cold turkey is often the way to go. I don't have a problem with artificial sweetners so I still use them. But I rarely crave sweets any more.

I have to agree, that's been my experience too. After being low carb healthy fat for a few weeks, my cravings for sugar are next to NIL. Love this woe.

Dark chocolate. The darker, the better. I'm talking 93% if you can get it. There's even 100% but I haven't tried that.

I'm another person who's pretty liberal with diet sodas and Crystal Light-type powdered drinks. I don't ever crave actual sugary junk food any more. If you find yourself with a candy sort of craving, think 'rich'. Peanut butter and cream cheese are my two favorite weapons when I feel like having a treat or something sweet-ish. A big spoonful and I'm good... but I realize a lot of people tend to binge on the peanut butter, so YMMV.

There are lots of single serving legal treats you can make for yourself. Have gander at the 'Sweet Treats' forum. Try one of the one-minute microwave muffin recipes, or this single serving chocolate cake is one of my faves. I don't remember where cocoa powder falls on the Atkins plan, but it's sure as heck better than a full-on cheat. Minus the sugar, chocolate's good for you, enjoy.

I'm glad this thread is still around - I have a real problem with chocolate cravings at certain times of the month and until this week I'd been avoiding SF candy (for good reason; when these are gone - which will be extremely soon - I won't buy more :bash. I've tried using unsweetened cocoa in my coffee but it spikes my blood sugar.

BUT! Recently we discovered Harry & David Chocolate Covered Cherry coffee and OMG. OMG. More OMG. It tastes amazing, does not spike my BG and satisfies the craving. I can have a cup and then not have (or obsess about) another one for days or weeks.

It's spendy, but worth it for me. It might be worth a try for anyone in the same boat.

I discovered chocolate fat bombs... coconut oil, cocoa, and stevia mixed together in mini muffin papers and put into the refrigerator. The taste is bitter to me because of the stevia, but with a little bit of peanut butter, it seems to hit the spot without sending me off plan, and it doesn't seem to trigger cravings.