So you recently stopped eating sugar and your cravings are out of control…
You can’t stop thinking about food…
Bread…
Muffins…
Pasta…
Does this sound familiar?
Don’t worry…
Here are 8 easy steps you can take to solve this SHORT TERM problem.
1. Don’t Starve Yourself, Eat Adequate Amounts of Fat
When your body is adjusting to burning fat for fuel instead of sugar, it’s only natural that you have cravings. During this time, it’s critical that you eat enough fat with each meal to feel satiated.
If you’re not eating an adequate amount of fat, you’re literally starving yourself, because you’re not providing your body with a sufficient amount of calories from either fuel source it needs. So, in an effort to survive, you’re going to crave the fuel source your body is most used to, sugar.
To avoid this problem, eat enough fat with each meal to reach satiation. This will drastically reduce any sugar cravings that you may have.
2. When a Craving Hits, Eat Some Fat
Let’s say you are eating enough fat with every meal to feel satiated, what if you still get a craving?
- Eat a tablespoon of coconut oil, butter, or olive oil
- Eat an avocado
- Grab a handful of almonds
This will signal to your body that there is an adequate amount of fuel, which will reduce or completely eliminate your craving.
3. Eat Fermented Foods to Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth
Often times, cravings for sugar come from bacteria, parasites, yeasts, or other pathogens that have grown to an unhealthy level in your gut or other parts of your body.
To begin healing your gut, you’ll need to repopulate it with healthy bacteria. To do this, eat fermented foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi, or apple cider vinegar with every meal, or when you have a craving. This can eliminate cravings on the spot.
4. Drink Water
Sometimes cravings are simply thirst in disguise. Try drinking a glass of water next time you feel a craving. Wait 10-15 minutes to see if it goes away. If it doesn’t, try one of the other methods in this list.
5. Sleep
Many scientific studies show that humans crave more food when they sleep less. A lack of sleep alters your blood glucose and your hormones, causing you to crave unhealthy foods, and even make poor decisions.
Get at least 7-9 hours of sleep per night, depending on your body type, current state of health, and activity level.
6. Manage Your Stress
Many people eat food to cope with stress. Though this can make you feel better in the moment, it doesn’t solve the problem that created your stress.
Learn to reduce your stress through activities such as meditation, breathing exercises, taking walks, having fun with friends, etc.
Make the time to do what makes you happy! It’s essential to your health!
7. LCHF with Friends
Making lifestyle changes is so much easier when someone else is on board with you.
Find at least 1 friend to start eating healthier along with you.
If you can’t find any friends willing to go on LCHF way of eating with you, is there anyone that can hold you accountable?
If not, don’t worry, we’ll keep you accountable in my facebook group, Love Low Carb High Fat Ketogenic.
Here you’ll find a community of people going through the same changes you are. We’ll answer your questions, share our experiences with you, swap recipes, and more!
8. Remind Yourself Why You Stopped Eating Sugar
If you’ve tried everything you can think of and you’re still craving sugar like crazy, remind yourself why you started this Low carb high fat way of eating in the first place.
You’ve made the decision to get healthier, eating sugar is not helping you achieve that goal. If anything, it’s slowing you down and making your health goals harder to attain.
Let’s say you do cave in and decide to eat sugar, the sugar high, which is just a chemical release, is only going to last 15-20 minutes anyways.
Is that really worth another day of being overweight and unhealthy?
I think not…
That being said, if you do cave in and eat sugar, don’t be hard on yourself. Make a better decision tomorrow. Beating yourself up about it won’t do anything but make you feel bad.
Remember, you and you alone have the power to stop your sugar cravings, nobody else.
The first few days will be the hardest. You’ll have strong cravings for all the sugary foods you love. These urges may feel impossible to resist at first, but you can do it.
Use your willpower. You have it whether or not you say you do.
I have faith in you!
How do you reduce your sugar cravings? Let us know in the comments below!
Hi kelly. Bought your keto east book. It was inspiring. I even ordered the Shirataki noodles n rice. So excited waiting for it to arrive.
Kelly. Need ur advice though. We hv been brought up eating mee Siam. Nasi lemak. Fried meat teow. Etc. Yes there r alternative ways to cook n I read fm the blog no cheat days. And I travel every month with my husband since we retired 2 yr ago. What if I just wanna enjoy mee Siam or NL one day am I to start my keto all over again. And i do love ice cream n milk choc. But FYI. All these I mentioned I do not eat them often cos I also control my diet. I am on my 3rd week of keto n still no weight loss. Pls advise. I am so depressed.
Hi Christine, once you get over the carb addiction you’ll see carb not as food. This is how I see it.
When I visit Singapore, I have no desire to eat Mee Siam or Nasi lemak because its high carb and it will spike my blood glucose very high. I make Mee Siam with shirataki noodle and still enjoy the same flavor without the sugar and the starch.
Nasi Lemak can be made with cauli rice or shirataki rice too.
Ice cream and coco milk also has Keto version. Once you rid of the super sweet taste in those regular stuff, you won’t enjoy the high sweet taste anymore.
Ultimately is your choice and goal you want to achieve.
The more you give in the eating carb the more you’ll crave for it. And certainly is harder to loss weight.
Think about what you can eat with Keto, not what you cannot eat.
I use sugar substitute like SWERVE and ERYTHRITOL for baking Keto Cakes and Ice Cream so I don’t crave for sweet stuffs anymore but in life I still want to enjoy food but the Ketogenic way!
I use sugar free chocolates,(Russell Stover, Atkins, & Hershey’s) in moderation, and stevia or sugar substitutes in desserts I have modified to fit the low carb life style. I do a cheesecake, rich and yummy, and a low carb jello with cream dessert with whipped cream, also Breyer’s Carb Smart Ice Cream when I have to have a treat. The longer you go without sugar and carbs, the easier and more normal it gets. Not to mention I stay fit.