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How To Curb Sugar Cravings On Keto

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Low Carb Keto Soft Pretzels

How to Reduce Carb Cravings on Keto: Low Carb Diets- Thomas DeLauer

These keto soft pretzels are made from fathead dough, so if youve never heard of that type of dough before, you must check this recipe out. Soft pretzels are great for dipping and seasoning with either sweet or savory toppings, so have some fun and experiment with some pretzel versions of your very own.

How To Stop Eating Sugar

If we are not careful we can fall into a vicious cycle, where we remove sugar temporarily then trigger an intense desire for something sweet. This then prompts us to seek more sugar in order to stimulate the brain area with the sweets it is craving.

Just like an addict keeps going back to their drug of choice and needs more of it in order to get the same desired high. We try to raise dopamine with our food addiction only to lower our serotonin levels, and the merry-go-round continues.

Peanut Butter Cup Keto Fat Bomb

These peanut butter chocolate fat bombs are some of the best around and great to always have on hand for when nothing else but a peanut butter and chocolate combo will do. Although these have minimal ingredients required, they are full of plenty of healthy fat to keep you satisfied and satiated for quite some time.

Also Check: Diet For Type 2 Diabetes And High Blood Pressure

Keto Bacon Cheese Crisps

These keto bacon cheese chips only require 3 ingredients, and are backed up in a snap from your microwave. The red pepper flakes wont add too much spice but will add a bit of dimension to the chip however, feel free to experiment with other seasonings based upon your personal preferences.

Identify Those Behaviors And What Was Triggering You

10 Keto Chocolate Desserts That Will Kick Sugar Cravings ...

Many a time, a craving is more than just the addictive qualities calling you in, and you may uncover stress, anxiety, and burnout causing you to emotional eat – perhaps coming from your relationships, work, money, health, or from events or traumas from your past that have you caught in a stress loop, zapping your energy and keeping you stuck. Its time for you to take action to resolve them.

Working towards learning to recognize your triggers for cravings should help you stop sugars addictive cravings in its tracks, by helping you prepare and acknowledge it before it happens, letting it fade before it even happens.

Once you have tracked your patterns, from there you can prepare ahead of time for that craving trigger by finding an action to take the moment that intense craving hits you. Replace it with a healthy comfort like calling a friend, taking a walk, or even a positive food action like whipping on your apron, putting some music on, and making something keto and healthy to eat that you can feel proud of and positive about. Check out my Recipes Section for some yummy inspiration. Ive got plenty of yummy yum yum, keto options!

Read Also: How Long Does It Take To Lower Blood Sugar

Verdict How To Curb Sugar Cravings On Keto

If you read this article now, possibilities are you are in some kind of discomfort, whether physical and/or psychological and also intend to alter. Utilize this info, dont just skim through it and also keep it in the rear of your brain and also state thats nice for some individuals, encourage on your own to transform.

How To Curb Sugar Cravings On Keto

February 22, 2018 by Ketoholic Girl

The keto diet plan dish strategy is a preferred diet plan for weight-loss. Its popularity is mainly due to the truth that you can consume tasty meals while still slimming down.

This strategy enables you to pick exactly what foods and also parts you intend to consume. You do not need to bother with counting calories or various other nutrition truths since everything is attended to you! As well as given that youre able to eat foods that your body normally craves, you will feel completely satisfied long after youre finished with your meal.

Also Check: High Glucose Side Effects

Exercise On A Regular Basis

We know youve probably heard this one a thousand times, but one of the best way to beat sugar cravings is to exercise on a regular basis. The basic reason for this is pretty simple: Serotonin is released both during and after exercise as well as after partaking in a sugary treat. If you want to cut out the middleman and get that sweet, sweet serotonin without gaining weight, then exercise on a regular basis really is the way to go.

Don’t Forget To Replenish Your Electrolytes

How To Stop Carb Cravings On Keto (& Sugar Cravings)

We already mentioned that one of the reasons for beginner cravings is the Keto Flu. The ‘Keto Flu’ is not actually flu, by the way! It has this name because it resembles the symptoms of when you have the flu. Besides cravings, the keto flu can also cause migraine and headaches, nausea, fatigue, decreased appetite, constipation or diarrhea, muscle cramps, and difficulty sleeping and exercising.

Although many people think that the Keto flu is part of Keto, this isn’t true. You can and should avoid it by paying extra attention to your electrolytes.

If you are not taking enough sodium, magnesium, and potassium,the Keto flu symptoms wont disappear.And neither your cravings, because your body will try to get you to eat more food to get those missing nutrients.

You lose a lot of water when you’re on keto and all these essential minerals go away with your pee-pee! Himalayan salt is a great source of electrolytes. Dietitian Noor Struik from the Nourishing State recommends at least 2 teaspoons of salt per day . In most cases, its also necessary to include other supplements as well , but that depends on your personal situation and lifestyle.

But if you think you cannot handle all this salt at once , check out thisdelicious drink that you can make at home and will help you increase your electrolyte intake.

Also Check: Is Grapefruit Bad For Diabetes

How To Cope With Sugar Cravings

Sugar cravings can hit you hard on low-carb. Refined carbs are highly addictive almost like class A drugs.

Getting hooked is easy. Breaking away is hard.

A low-carb diet is the best long-term solution to escape sugar addiction. But adapting to your new lifestyle might take a while.

And sugar cravings can attack at any point.

Why does this happen? Is there anything we can do to fight back? Here are the four most common types of sugar cravings and how to cope with them all.

Why More Fat And Less Protein

The diet plan works by encouraging high fat intake, reasonable amounts of protein and low carb food. Fats, unlike protein, have no effect on insulin.

If you consume large amounts of protein , on the other hand, insulin levels may increase temporarily.

Elevated insulin levels may reduce the bodys ability to burn fatty acids. As such, you have to keep track of the amount of carbohydrates and carb in food eaten.

Whats more, nutrient intake should mainly come from fat 80% of calories from fat, 15% from protein and 5% from carbohydrates. This way you will feel fuller and reduce carb cravings and encourages the state of ketosis.

A few others ways are:

  • take 500 mg of L-Glutamine. This is an amino acid that acts as a sugar substitute in the brain. Itll trick your brain into thinking that youve just eaten sugar. Youll brain will use this as fuel when youre low on sugar. The best part is, this works fairly quickly. and wont however have all the nasty side effects that sugar has. Use L-Glutamine in a pinch and itll help you get over your sugar cravings.
  • Get out there and go for a walk. Walking or any exercise releases something called dopamine. This is referred to as the feel good drug that the body creates. It will improve your mood and take away those sugar cravings. The same could be said about hitting the gym as well. Exercise in general is great and itll help you get one step closer to finally kicking the sugar habit once and for all.

Don’t Miss: Hyperglycemia Foods To Avoid

Why Beginner Cravings Happen

As we said, it’s totally normal to crave high-carb foods when you’re starting a Keto Diet. You’re teaching your body to burn fat instead of glucose, and that can be difficult for it to adapt in the first weeks.

But there are also a few other common reasons that might be triggering these crazy cravings:

  • You might not be eating enough fats or protein
  • Artificial sweeteners like aspartame
  • Maybe its your period calling for ice cream and chocolate?

Carb Cravings Fade Your Desire To Stay Keto Is Stronger

How To Stop Carb Cravings On Keto (&  Sugar Cravings)

Youll never starve or die from a carb craving despite what you may feel when youre in the middle of one.

If you ride out the pain and crankiness, youll be rewarded by making it one step closer to ketosis and ridding yourself of carb cravings for good.

If you feel one sneaking up, just think about all the damage carbs and sugar have done to you in the past. Remember all the times you couldnt get off the couch or became a hangry monster around someone you love.

No carb craving is stronger than your desire to take control of your life, end this vicious sugar cycle and finally have the energy and willpower to lose those stubborn pounds.

Follow todays tips and itll be easier to give your carb cravings the cold shoulder for the rest of your keto life.

Don’t Miss: 15-15-15 Rule Hypoglycemia

So Why Do We Get So Hungry When We Are On Our Period

While menstruating, our bodies go through a lot of changes. Our hormones are all out of whack specifically Cortisol and Seratonin.

Cortisol-

Cortisol is your bodys stress level. It is higher than usual when you are on your period. Higher stress = more hungry

Seratonin-

This hormone is responsible for regulating your appetite and makes you happy. Its decreased when you are on your period which means youre appetite is higher than, and you may be feeling sad .

That explains a lot for me. Even before my period comes, I get really hungry for sweets and I become super-duper moody, and sad. I feel like it has become worse with each pregnancy.

Speaking of chocolate

Why do we crave chocolate when we are on our periods?

Chocolate cravings are not random when its the time of the month. The reason we crave them is that your magnesium levels are lower when you are menstruating. Isnt that crazy?

So, because of all of these changes, you have cravings, but how about the weight gain and bloat?

When Can I Expect My Sugar Cravings To Vanish

It takes two to three days of very-low-carb eating for the liver to start pumping out ketones, and research shows that cravings are significantly reduced almost immediately as people get into ketosis. The expert consensus seems to be that cravings will decrease noticeably within three to ten days.

Dont expect cravings to vanish into thin air, though. While many folks do feel significant relief from cravings almost right away, not everyone is so lucky. There is a lot of individual variability, and some people do find that their cravings are as strong as everor strongeron keto. Although theres not much research that speaks to why some people get relief where others do not, my hunch is that it depends on the root cause of your sugar cravings.

One reason you might crave sugar is simply that youve trained your body to rely on sugar for energyyoure carb-dependent. Perhaps its not the sugar you crave specifically, so much as the energy it provides. In that case, you should notice your desire for sugar is significantly reduced as soon as your body starts to produce ketones. Moreover, Id expect it to get easier and easier to avoid sugary treats as you become more keto-adapted.

Sugar cravings can also be conditioned responses. Youve come to have a strong positive association with sugar. In some ways, you might think of eating sugar as a very entrenched, reinforced habit you need to break. Habits can be broken, but it takes weeks or months, not days.

Recommended Reading: Can Too Much Sugar Cause Seizures

What A Carb Craving Feels Like

Your body loves working on glucose its fast-acting and you can store it for later in case you get lost in the desert without food.

But sugars a terrible energy source.

The second you run on anything less than a full tank of glucose, your body throws a temper tantrum and becomes a burden to deal with.

Youll experience the side effects of low blood sugar levels, which include:

  • Fatigue and excessive tiredness
  • Irritability, anxiety and mood swings
  • A hollow, churning, nauseous feeling in your tummy

Since your body associates carby foods with energy, feeling full and happiness, it will start to crave sugar as a quick fix for all those negative symptoms we just covered.

Your bodys addicted to sugar the same way an addict needs their next fix.

But there is a light at the end of the seemingly never-ending tunnel: once you get in ketosis, carb cravings all but disappear and your taste buds will literally change for the better.

Your body will get used to and prefer working on fat and ketones and perform better.

But, again, thats only after you reach ketosis.

If youre not quite there yet, you may have to keep on fighting off carb cravings.

Other than sugar withdrawal, there are other issues that can make you start craving sugar and stand in your way to carb-free nirvana, as well see next.

And Also Eat Your Proteins

How to Stop Sugar Cravings on Keto (5 Steps to Quitting Carbs)

For the first few weeks, before you keto-adapt your body, it is important to focus on fat intake. Fat is going to be your most important fuel source. But a common mistake is to focus on eating fat but forgetting about protein, which can be very problematic.

If you are not eating enough protein in all of your meals, this could trigger a few issues such as loss of muscle mass, hair loss, and… crazy carb cravings!

There are different approaches when it comes to protein intake on a keto diet. Some physicians/nutritionists recommend low protein intake while others recommend moderate or even high intake.

Official recommendations in most European countries plead for a minimum intake of 0.8g per kilo, but this seems not enough for older men, older women, or men who practice resistance training.

So, we recommend you adjust your protein intake based on your age, condition, and level of physical exercise. Keep adjusting your protein intake and see how you feel. In doubt, consult a keto dietitian or expert that can guide you through this.

The best animal-based protein sources areeggs, meat, poultry, fish, shellfish, and some protein powders in case you need them, like whey

If you are on a vegetarian or vegan keto diet, trust tofu, and tempeh. In some cases, it would be interesting to add extra protein, like hemp protein or pea protein powders. They will help you reach your protein intake and will also keep you satiated for longer.

Recommended Reading: What Yogurt Has The Lowest Sugar

Its Not Always About The Food

Next, ensure you have your lifestyle ducks in a row. Sleep deprivation and chronic stress have been shown time and time again to cause sugar cravings as the body scrambles for quick energy. Even dehydration and boredom can trigger hunger and cravings. If you want to get rid of sugar cravings, you need to practice good self-care.

You crave sugar due to the hormonal response to those stressors, but dont underestimate the comfort factor here, too. It doesnt feel good to be sleep deprived, stressed, and bored. Theres a good chance youve used sugar in the past to lift your spirits. If youre using sugar to self-soothe, you also need to develop better coping mechanisms.

Dig deep and look at what really underlies these sugar cravings. I suggest you start journaling about your cravings. Each time a sugar craving hits, make a note of the following:

  • How youre feeling
  • Time of day
  • Hunger: what time you last ate, and what you ate
  • Where you are
  • Whos around
  • Any other clues to possible triggers.

After a week or two, you might be able to spot some patterns. If its obvious that there are specific trigger like time of day, workplace stress, or fatigue that precede your cravings, work at developing other coping methods that arent food-related. Solve the root problem. Meditate, exercise, drink a glass of water, eat an actual meal or snack with some protein and healthy fat.

/7how To Control Your Craving For Sugar

For all those who have a sweet tooth, the greatest hurdle on their journey to lose weight is to control their sugar cravings. The day may pass by well but at night, the urge to indulge in some sweet treat intensifies. It almost becomes impossible to control cravings, and people end up giving in to them. You may beat yourself up in the morning for this mistake, but honestly, it is not in your hands.

Recommended Reading: Dangers Of High Glucose Levels

Ways To Control Carb Cravings On Keto

8 Ways to Control Carb Cravings On Keto

Posted 2 years ago

Tony ONeill, PT, DPT, MSc, RDN

Scientific Reviewer

Carb cravings are inevitable on Keto. We want what we cant have.

But carb cravings arent just psychological. There are physical reasons we crave carbs, especially the sweet class of carbohydrates called sugar.

Dealing with carb cravings requires a comprehensive mind-body approach. It also requires a bit of patience.

In this article, youll learn eight tipsboth psychological and physicalfor controlling carb cravings on Keto. Before getting there, though, lets talk about what causes them.

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