I’m starting week 7 tomorrow and STILL craving sugar. My cup of tea in the morning just doesn’t taste right; after bacon and eggs I immediately want to have toast and marmalade and a cup of tea with sugar in it.

For years I’ve gone without sugar I my tea at work as a token effort. But since starting on 1 May I have not had sugar on porridge, in my tea, or in my coffee. I’ve not eaten cake or biscuits. Yet every day the half eaten jars of marmalade and apricot conserve leer at me from the refrigerator, not to mention the batons boulangere for when I make pain au chocolat (before BSD).

I am still having one slice of my home made sourdough a day. The BS readings incidate I can tolerate one slice without compromising things. I only put butter on it and sometimes add Vegemite, or have it under my egg. It’s the only real carb that I’m eating.

I cannot tolerate sweeteners (all taste yucky and bitter). The only sweet thing I am having is prunes, and believe me, they are essential. Not even a gentle laxative is working at present.

Will these cravings ever go away?

From Crabbycams who is perilously close to raiding the frig.

Crabby, some people cannot tolerate any white carbs without craving more, maybe you should cut out the sourdough and see if that cuts the cravings. Have you tried a sprinkle of chia seeds on a yoghurt and fruit for breakfast and you will be going within an hour or so.

In response to crabbycams, have you tried magnesium for constipation? It works beautifully and is a simple fix – at least for me and those I know.

Thanks for the advice Susanna949, but the magnesium doesn’t work for me. When I started taking metformin my insides changed routine (nicest way I can frame it) and my sister cannot tolerate it at all. It give her terrible wind. It seems that metformin can have adverse gut effects. Another reason for trying to eliminate it from the evening pill routine.

So, chia seeds in my diet every day, no improvement. Porridge, delicious, but no help. Shed loads of veg, apples etc, no help either.

It seems that prunes are my best bet so far.

It will be a week without movement followed by 200 calories of prunes, then two visits from the
Whoosh Fairy in two days. Oh the relief!

Had a ‘bad’ day today. Had toast with a smear of marmalade for breakfast, thinking of Mosley’s advice to enjoy the treat. It was absolutely delicious and the quantity of marmalade was 1/4 of what it would have been in the past.The world did not cave in and the food lasted until lunchtime.

Then tried two level spoons of sugar in my tea this afternoon. Did not taste good. Almost like a sweetener with that bitter after taste. So I think that my craving is about more than just sugar. There seems to be a comfort factor in there too that sweet foods/drinks supplied. I’m suspecting a load of baggage attached to that. I keep remembering as a little girl the treat of bought chocolate cup cakes. The icing was thicker at the edge than in the middle and the cake bit was pretty dry and ordinary. I used to eat just the icing and had major battles with my mother about it. More than once sent to my room for promising to eat the cake as well as the icing and not following through. Never intended to actually! Like I said, baggage. More thinking required methinks.

Sorry for banging on, but helps being able to write this stuff. Better than journalling as being public keeps me more honest. Feel like I’d be betraying the BSD family if I wasn’t.

I haven’t binged though, today. I have not eaten chocolate. I’ve not had any more sweet stuff such as jam or marmalade.

But tomorrow is another day. I will walk to work (as long as it is not raining). I will forgo breakfast and start my day with warm lemon water. I will have miso soup and veg for lunch and make pea soup for dinner with chicken for protein.

Stay strong everyone and ignore my rambling.

Hi Sunshine-girl

As you will see from my post, chia seeds don’t help either. However, I am interested in your no bread at all comment. Not much left of this loaf and the next one is in the freezer – out of sight out of mind. Once this one is finished I will try to go without the bread and also plan my lunches to be without the rice and quinoa thin cakes that I use to support my tuna or sardines for lunch.

Onward and upward.

Oh Sunshine-girl…i feel your pain. And I’m anticipating my own as I’m now on day 1…nowhere at all and already craving something sweet. You’re still craving after 7 weeks? Keep going. I can’t bear that I am such a junkie and know it is going to be hell. Here goes. In a handcart!

Polly I think your answer was to crabby not me, I have never craved carbs, sugar or sweet things in general and have never even liked chocolate despite my daughter working for Cadbury. Try not to think of it as hell, some people dont suffer too much and cutting out completely stops you re-igniting the cravings.

Try eating a pickled onion or something very hot and spicy – chilli-pickled gherkins or something like that. That should kill the cravings stone dead.

Buy 85% chocolate and allow yourself one square.

Or, do what I do – which I’m sure isn’t really allowed but helps me no end. At the weekend I make a batch of basic fairy cakes. I use wholemeal flour (and butter rather than marg) and make a basic batter. I use brown sugar rather than white and slightly less than the recipe calls for. Then I add in a handful of chopped walnuts, a handful of pumpkin seeds, some chia seeds etc etc . Not really any dried fruit as it’s too sweet although just a few sultanas maybe.

I stick them in the freezer and have one a day. I don’t wait until I have a craving – I just factor the little cake into my evening with a cup of coffee. Because I’m not thinking ‘I can’t have any sugar’ it stops the craving part, somehow. And because of all the nuts and seeds, they take ages to eat so end up being really satisfying.

That sounds like quite a sensible approach to managing cravings and I presume you can make them in varying sizes to control your intake in the same way people cut down on cigarettes/nicotine patches to stop smoking?

But go on then I have to ask – why brown instead of white sugar?

Ha ha ha!! How IS sit that people can put stuff in the freezer and forget about it? Or just eat “one”? I have stuffed down more frozen cakes, cookies and chocolates than could fill a swimming pool.
For me, it’s all or nothin’. My poor freezer is empty except for the ice cube maker and I know it’s going to stay that way forever. Sigh. Whatever 😜

Hi Miss Podgy (I bet you aren’t any more),

I like the idea of flinging the strong flavour at the sugar craving. Pickled onions it is then. Chillies are no go for me.

And the idea of making a batch of something and freezing is good too. Might do that and make mini pain au chocolat. I can bake and freeze or freeze pre baking.

Shopping tomorrow, Might get cocktail onions as they are smaller (aka less messy) than big pickled onions. Can keep a jar at work and a jar at home.

When I next buy chocolate I will graduate from 70% to a higher percentage. Depends what’s on special at the shop.

Thanks again.