Hi all,

I’m one week into the 8 week BSD and just getting my head around it all as it’s completely changing my way of eating which I am loving so far!! I can’t believe how tasty all the food is in the recipe book. My question is though, I am one of these people that craves something sweet after my evening meal…. I have tried various options but I just wondered what people went for to satisfy this craving? I’ve looked at the nakd bars which are made of dates and nuts, of which I’ve seen a similar recipe in the BSD recipe book but they seem quite high in carbs/sugar which I’m trying to get away from – would these be ok as an occasional fix or not really advised?? Sorry if this is an obvious question but any other suggestions are greatly welcomed 🙂

I just looked them up on their website and the nutritional stats are terrible, I’m afraid. There is no way you should eat those on the BSD. The sugar figures are shocking. You’d be far better off having some Greek yogurt with blueberries for a sweet snack. A square of dark chocolate with a high cocoa content (85% or higher) might also do the trick, but it will probably seem very bitter to you in the beginning.

Do you have any blood sugar issues (insulin resistance, pre-diabetes, diabetes)? If not and you’re just doing the BSD for weight loss, you can be a little looser on daily carb limits, but even so most people aim for about 50 grams of carbs a day total. If you’re doing this diet for real, you can’t afford to ingest 40-50+ grams of sugar a day, not to mention all the cereal carbs. Your sweet tooth is fed by sugar and white carbs. It’s a vicious cycle. One of the goals of doing something as drastic as the BSD is to break that cycle.

The good news is that if you are committed to cutting out sugars and bad carbs, the cravings will lessen or disappear and eventually your taste buds will change until sweetness no longer holds the appeal it once did. I found that change a wonderful, enlightening experience. It’s like my palate finally grew up. Good luck!

Thank you Esnecca!! That’s so so helpful – I thought as much but wanted to double check…. there’s so much conflicting information about good sugar/bad sugar etc I am so confused! No ive not got any blood sugar issues (that I know of anyway) but have put on a lot of weight after having my two babies so want to start a new healthier way of eating as well as lose a few pounds. I guess I’ll ride it out until these damn sugar cravings disappear – I’ll try the chocolate though. I have the recipe book so think I’ll just stick to recipes in there for the next 7 weeks to be safe – thanks again for your help xx

I’m glad I could help, Cassie. 🙂 I’m not a big chocolate person so someone else can be of more aid to you in that arena, but I believe I’ve read other people on this forum worked up to 85% chocolate, starting with 75% and gradually increasing the cocoa percentage when they got used to the strong flavor. Just be sure you measure, weigh and calculate according to the serving size on the nutrition panel, that way you’ll keep the sugar grams low while still enjoying an after-dinner treat.

On the fruit and nut side of things, these at-a-glance charts might be of use to you in deciding which to buy and how much of them you can afford to eat.

https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/fruits

https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/nuts

When it comes to chocolate, if you aim for the highest percentage of cocoa solids you can, you shouldn’t go far wrong, although some products have more sugar than others, as you will only be having a very small amount, this shouldn’t matter too much. Green and Blacks is a good quality product and easily available on the high street and Ombar products I can recommend – stocked by some health food shops and available online, Ombar is made using raw cacao and is excellent – it’s a bit expensive but worth it I think.

Hope that helps a bit. It’s best to ride out the carb withdrawal if you can, as giving in and feeding the cravings, only prolongs the process. You will be surprised how your palate changes once you get into the swing of the BSD and those sweet things will eventually no longer have the same allure.

Best of luck to you, CassieR

Hey CassieR! Welcome! I recommend the chocolate route too — it seems to satisfy the need for sweet but controls the carb count. It is vitally important to break the carbohydrate/insulin cycle (a vicious circle) to get better control of appetite — although it seems low, a daily intake of 20 or less carbs for a few weeks (or as often as you can manage to get there) will help get rid of your cravings for a sweet dessert.

As a complete newbie here (4 weeks in) and previous carb monster I can confirm all of the above is absolutely true! I have now no cravings for anything carby- we are in France at the moment and walking past all the patisseries or sitting with family eating pizza/baguette/ ice cream (not all at same time!) and feeling unmoved. I now have 1 piece 85% Lindt chocolate every so often. When I started it was something to look forward to, now I forget to have it. A revelation for someone who could secret eat a whole pack of caramel wafers and then find room for a little something else!

It is amazing isn’t it, how dramatically our palates change, even in quite a short time and as the carbs drive the cravings and hunger, when we cut them back hard, we also quickly notice appetite diminishing too. In fact our bodies get so used to not having the carbs, if we have a bit of a carb binge, our body will often rebel quite dramatically – I can remember two such occasions when I was in considerable discomfort following eating much too many carbs.

Don’t worry CassieR, you’ll soon be at that point too and the desire for something sweet will desert you as well.

Wow thanks so much everyone for the advice – that’s so so helpful, I have definitely noticed a less of a desire for a sweet fix but just can’t shake the after evening meal one yet- so far I haven’t given in so I am hoping this will leave soon! But in the meantime I’m off to get some chocolate – I’ve just ordered some ombar sunnyB and I’ll try some Lindt too jackieM and fingers crossed that curbs it – thank you all for your pearls of wisdom!! This diet amazes me – I really thought I would struggle with little carbs, no sugar and 800 calories but it’s totally surprised me, totally changed my way of thinking- why doesn’t everyone do this?!! X

Lots of us are asking the same question, CassieR. Problem is that the government is still churning out the same old mis-information via the majority of the NHS, that we should all be eating high carb, low fat diets, which as those of us on the BSD know is flawed advice. Hopefully they will catch up with the low carb, high fat ethos soon.

Lindt Sea Salt Dark Choc is lovely by the way, if you want to give that a try. Sounds like your doing well at resisting the sweet stuff, so I’m sure you will soon get to the point of not needing the after dinner fix either. Having posted about Ombar earlier, I almost ordered some myself, but talked myself out of it, as I have at least two bars of dark choc in the fridge already. I find I just need to know that there’s dark choc in the fridge in case I want it – which is almost never these days, maybe only two or three times a month – it’s just nice to know it’s there.

Keep up the good work CassieR.