still struggling w/sweet tooth

[hmf]

Just need to know what to do about sweet craving. Thanks

[not2late]

The sweet cravings you are experiencing are due to your brain wanting something sweet.

A couple of things you can do...

1. drink water. A glass of water will "fill you up" which will help decrease the craving.

2. Eat a high fat snack, like a piece of cheese, or eat a protein-fat combo like an egg. The fat will help to satisfy your appetite.

3. Do a negative reinforcement thing---whenever you get a sweet craving eat something sour or bitter or spicy hot. you'll soon train yourself that sweet = bitter or sour or spicy hot and you won't crave it so frequently.

I do realize that some folks will tell you to go ahead and make some low carb sweet treat like mixing cream cheese with Splenda or some other concoction. Before you do that, please read the stickie above called "Addicted to Sweets: The Cephalic Phase Insulin Response" to get the biological side of the story.

Also keep this cautionary tale in mind. About a year ago, we had a member who had maybe 10 pounds to lose. Anyhow, she got a hold of the cream cheese/Splenda recipe and would post threads extolling how good they tasted , blah blah blah. She would even encourage folks to feed their sweet tooth with this recipe. To make a long story short, some of the people she addicted to the recipe fell off Atkins. It took her well over 8 months to lose those 10 pounds.

[hmf]

Thanks so much. I know that it is an addiction, but sometimes I just need someone to tell me NO, it's bad for you right now. So Thanks

[Moochiecat]

No..it's bad for you right now.


lol
Seriously, Induction can be quite an enlightening time where we face our addictions and we say goodbye to them. This can be hard, and after the physical craving is gone there can still be a mental/emotional craving.
I went through a period of mourning for all the sweet treats I was no longer allowed, and I did what Not2late suggested, I always went for the protein/fat combo snack, or something like a pickle when I really wanted pastry. Knowing what sweets did to me in the first place, I didn't want to find something that was easy to substitute until I felt stronger and more confident over my portion control.
There were some tense times in our apartment for the first few months, but I promise you it gets better and you get over it.

It can help to think in terms of nutrition, and what the sweet thing will give you. Will it cause cravings for more sweet things? Will it just keep old eating habits from changing into new better ones? There's lots to learn.