New cravings after weeks of low carb

nannoo_bird said:

All my life my downfall has been my sweet tooth. I low carb now, but have tried without success to halt the sweet cravings. I know they go hand in hand with anxiety, and I eat sugar free sweets when I need them. I know I should cut them out, but my anxiety prevents me ... I am trying though.

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Carb_Junky said:

I cut to half the amount of coffee per cup and gradually reduced intake from eight to two cups per day and this decreased feelings of hunger. I replaced the lost coffee with water and on HCLF find that hunger is often thirst so carry water at all times. When I started to get deeper hunger pangs I tried three things to test what was causing it. First time it was too much protein, second time too little fat but I stayed on 50g carbs a day as I need to continue weight loss.

We're all different, so try all sensible advice given on here.

I'd say as you're first step, gradually reduce any diet products and replace fluids with water. When you've become used to that, check the three things as above.

A word of caution about sweeteners. Make your sweetened food or drink but use Stevia. It's from plants and is found not to affect BG or create cravings in the brain. You only need a pinch which is low carb.

Sometimes we forget that what worked to get a three stone weight loss has caused our body and brain to change. So we must check we've not started unconsciously increasing our portions, or carbs, eating out more often, or drinking more. If that looks OK, we should re evaluate what we're taking in as it must then be that which needs tweaking.

And it's true that so called diet products make you hungry.

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Vidgren said:

I have been drinking diet sodas all my life. I am drinking and eating aspartam/sorbitol whenever i want to i get no symtoms at all.

I get sugarcravings when i eat to little fat or to much sugar. (Tomatoes and carrots gives me cravings)

I have never ever felt anything negative linked to me drinking a diet soda.

my advice is to add more fat to your diet. Lower your carb increase fat.

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songbiredsan said:

My doctor told me that if I wanted to drink coke then diet coke wouldn't affect my blood sugar but might make it hard to kick the sugar habit. He advised against it and recommended water or plain soda water with a slice of lemon or lime. So it seems that your cravings could well be connected to the diet coke. As others have suggested - ditch it and see what happens. Congratulations, by the way, on the great progress you have made.

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midnightrider said:

I didn't go to very low carb, but kept to about 100g/day (c.1600 Cal) with plenty of exercise while weight and BG came down. I lost 5 stones in 5 months and FBG fell from 14 to under 5 at the same time.
I had no cravings at all until my weight hit 12 stones (i.e. after losing 5 stones), then all of a sudden with no changes at all I was hungry all the time. I took this to mean that my fat stores were low/empty and I do now look quite lean.
Since then I have upped calories and carbs gradually (180ish and 2000ish) without affecting BG (so far) as I don't want to lose any more weight.

Is it possible that you have reached a suitable weight and that is why your cravings have begun?

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Kristin251 said:

Well that's good at least. Seems it might trigger something in your brain. Please keep me posted. I'll be interested to see if we nailed it

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StewartH said:

It is fantastic that you have lost weight and got your BS under control. That really is a life saver so don't give up.
When I switched to low carb, like you my experience of hunger changed considerably. Gone was the usual empty stomach feeling in the morning, instead I felt quite full so it didn't seem right to eat until l felt like it which is usually around 11.30 but varies a bit. But occasionally I feel a more subtle urge to eat, not the 'in your face' pangs of carb hunger but it's definitely there, especially after exercise.

I have come to know this as 'fat hunger'. Its my body asking for fuel! I have learnt that I have to keep the fuel and other minerals going in in sufficient quantity. Finding out how much fuel you need is key to this. When the pangs come have a bit more of your favorite high fat food, mine is half a teaspoon of butter with another half of peanut butter, or perhaps hummus on celery if I have some. Just something with a good dollop of fat and the pangs leave.

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hooha said:

Hi charlie again. I forgot to say - I love Coke Zero and it takes away hunger and cravings and in my humble opinion is quite safe, has no effect on my blood sugar and it tastes good almost identical to ' the real thing '. Some people say it has an effect on type 1 insulin response but I am not sure about all that. I researched the sweeteners as safe.

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