Food Cues
 

When I write 'food cues' , those are visual images that trigger a desire for a specific food. Most of the cues come from TV or signs like billboards. I know that while on Atkins, you are encouraged to eat until you are satisfied. But what if you are not hungry to begin. Not everyone has that problem, so what then if you are seduced suddenly by a forbidden food? I think most everybody sometimes wants something like a doughnut or ice cream.
Even if it is low carb, aren't you better off without snacking or thinking about dessert or a snack?
When you watch TV, there is always a Burger King commercial that makes you see fries along with a hamburger. When you go into the mall, there is the pretzel place wafting with sweet aromas or the cinamon bun or chinese buffet. The media saturates your world with advertizment, and as adults, you tend to pay attention more than what I notice a little kid paying attention to. (unless maybe the ice creame truck comes or something scheduled, but adults are very atune to food advertisments).
So if you are having trouble, and especially on induction, watching ,say, the food network will actually make you hungry. (obvious when you think about it, but what if you just watch it out of habit)
When you are in the mall or shopping, you will smell good things. People compromise by going off and buying some low-carb treat and reward themselves with sugar free this or that. But that is fortifying your perception and submitting to the food cue. Telling your mind that the image it sees will guarentee refuge in something sweet that day, sooner or later.
If you are just starting induction, then I think avoiding the TV as much as possible will actually make losing weight easier because you avoid food advertsing and shows with food. Not that you are hungry on Atkins, but you are breaking a habit along with losing weight, so you have a two-fold job to do.

You make a really, really good point about food cues. However, I've found within the short time I've been eating like this, the food cues don't have nearly the affect they did before. For example, I could rarely pass up a pastry case if it had a chocolate cake donut in it. Now mind you, ever once in a while my mind is still drawn to these. But even so, it's much simpler to avert my mind because basically I am satiated. I was feeling hungry and not quite satisfied a couple of minutes ago and went into the kitchen to find a little bite. This might sound weird to some people, but I've always been able to drink straight cream (the heavier the better) so I grabbed the carton and drank down a couple of tablespoons. Voila! Hunger's gone and I am very satisfied.

I think one of the most important things to do in breaking these old bad habits is to form new good habits. Sometimes that's not easy, but if you keep yourself full (and feeling satisfied as this WOE tends to do) the cues don't have nearly the affect they do otherwise.

That's just my experience.