Hello!! I am brand new here!! After being very skeptical of this diet for some time, I kept running into its success stories so I decided to give it a try. Today is my forth day on Induction and I still have terrible cravings for sweets. To curb them, I have been eating homeade jello sweetened with Splenda and topped with whipped cream, but I feel like I eat too much of it and that it will stall my weightloss. Is there anything that is semi-sweet that I can eat liberally while on Induction or is the jello & whipped cream (less than 1 carb per serving) okay for Induction and is there any way to easily keep track of my carb intake??? Please Help!! Thanks!!!! Carrie

Induction is supposed to help rid/reduce you of those sweet cravings. For the first two weeks you should have no sweet substitutes - it will just make things worse.

I know it seems like it is impossible, but it isn't. YOu can do this. For sweet cravings I've heard that taking a L-Glutamine supplement.

Try filling yourself with the foods you can eat, and hopefully you wont be hungry for the sweet stuff. I disagress on the no sweets durning introduction, even in the Atkins books he has dessert following his induction menu plan. The trick is finding acceptable ones!

Jello is good, I like using 3oz of cream with 1/2 scoup of the atkins powered shake mix (chocolate) and if needed 1 tsp splenda. Comes out like a chocolate mouuse!

Hi carebear53,

The only thing I can say about the cravings is they go away in time - honest.

Try a cup of cocoa. Buy some normal cocoa powder (not drinking chocolate), and make yourself a cup sweetened with artificial sweetners. It helps.

You can also mix the powder with things - like thick cream - delicious.

Good luck - and fight it.

Robert

I'm with Talon on this one. I tried induction both ways - with "acceptable" sweets and without. I'm still on the one without, I fell off the wagon the other way.

When you say something like "Is there anything that is semi-sweet that I can eat liberally..." I'd wonder if you may be in the mindset of continuing to nurture a carb addiction instead of trying to rid yourself of it - which, in my opinion, hurts much less!

Please believe that you CAN rid yourself of "needing" something sweet. I know it's hard to fathom, at least that's certainly how I felt.

best of luck, though. Like they say, opinions are like..um.bellybuttons, everybody's got one!
Jinx

Thanks for the ideas, the only thing is that I am in the military and stationed in Germany so I have very limited places to grocery shop and I havent found any Atkins products over here. Do you know if I can order them online and also, is cocoa allowed on Induction?? Or is it the cooking kind that isnt sweetened??? Thanks again, I appreciate all the help I can get!!

Try taking 500mg of L-Glutamine 3x's daily 30 minutes before each meal. L-Glutamine is an essential amino acid which has been proven to curb sugar/sweets cravings. You can find it at Wal-Mart in the vitamin section or a health food store. Your cravings will naturally improve the longer you stick with low carbing, but the improvement will be much slower if you continue to give in to them while on Induction. Dr Atkins says to limit sweeteners to 3 pkgs a day (this includes Splenda). Eating sweets, even low carb ones, can make cravings worse instead of better. So if you can avoid sweets all together while on Induction. Good luck!
God Bless,
Amy-Lynne

Hi again carebear53,

When I said cocoa, I was refering to a powder which people used to make into a drink before they invented drinking chocolate. I'm sure you can buy it in Germany. It is probably not allowed on induction but if you can find it allow about 3 carbs per cup.

Personally, sugar free jelly (jello) was all that kept me sane on induction so I belong to the other camp (sorry everyone). I also don't find that artificially sweet things make me crave sugar - but then everyone is different. You must do what is right for you and what you can manage to keep you on course without falling off the bandwaggon.

Good luck,

Robert

I use chromium piccolinate to help with cravings. It really helped me in the beginning. I'm taking L-glutamine for muscle recovery after weight lifting but it doesn't seem to help me with cravings much so I still take the chromium for that.


Beth