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

3 Easy Ways to Reduce Carb Cravings on Keto

Transitioning into a low-carb or keto diet can be one of the toughest things when it comes down to cravings. Honestly, it's one of the biggest barriers that ever keeps people from starting a keto diet or a low-carb lifestyle to begin with. Now, what we have to understand here is that hunger is survival. Cravings are psychological. Now, if we start understanding that we can understand the kind of foods that we need to eat in order to get the best response and control our cravings.

All right, so if we understand how the brain works in terms of its reward system and it's dopamine response, we have a much better understanding overall. You see, every time we consume carbohydrates we have a little bit of a dopamine reward system response. This means that we feel good. We get this sort of little invigorating feeling every time we eat them, even if it's kind of subconscious. Then, once that feeling goes away we start craving it again.

This is a very simple dopamine response. Because carbohydrates elicit such a strong response with this, when you start cutting them out as you're going into a keto or a low-carb diet, you can have really intense cravings, and it can make you throw in the towel before you ever get to reap the benefits of a low-carb lifestyle. The other thing you need to be aware of is that the more carbohydrates you've eaten in your past life, or even recently, the stronger your cravings are going to be, simply because you've down-regulated your dopamine receptors. So, it's something to be aware of, but don't be alarmed because there are a lot of things that you can do to control this, and I'm gonna give you the answers in just a second.

The first thing that we have to focus on is dopamine control through the proper foods. One of the things that you want to be consuming a lot of is an amino acid known a tyrosine. Now, tyrosine isn't just something that you have to go and get a supplement. Tyrosine is something that is contained in a lot of specific kinds of proteins.

Now, when you're transitioning into a low-carb or keto lifestyle some of the things that I feel you should eat and that you'll get the best benefit from when it comes down to that tyrosine effect is going to be things like cottage cheese, things like higher fat content fish, but also pumpkin seeds. Believe it or not, pumpkin seeds contain a whole lot of tyrosine and can really cause a very powerful effect when it comes down to craving control.

References

[ChrisLerouxDesign]

I've actually been dealing with this issue recently. On Monday I suddenly had really insane cravings for the first time in two weeks... like my brain was screaming "Pizza, candy, NOW!" I ate enough fat to take the edge off and toughed it out. The next two days I fasted for 41 hours, and everything was great... until 5 hours later when again the vicious cravings came back. I admit I almost buckled but thankfully didn't. Before starting Keto I was horrible with carbs (we're talking pizza every two nights, tons of sweets, chips, and energy drinks). So this information helps make sense of why my cravings are still really bad.

[Brianfilms]

When you said craving is psychological...that snapped me out of my craving thank you

[drjoe]

Yes, I feel like I am getting stopped before I can really get started due to the carb cravings, like cereal in the mornings; chips for lunch, etc.

[colletmcfarlane]

I started Keto 2 days ago and omg my brain is screaming bread, sweets, rice this is so hard 😢

[mohamedkhaled-xovu]

I'm genuinely wanting sugar right now I'm having a headache

[nailezhupani]

For me eating high fibre vegetables helps me to reduce hunger.. that is also why I won’t put artificial sweeteners in my food...and drink a lot of water. Thanks Thomas. High fat, moderate protein and low amount of carbs. This has worked so well for me and I have shed 40kg and for this reason it’s important to talk about keto and low carb diets.. you gave me so much inspiration to create my own channel also @naile zoupani. Keep up the great work..

[koolburn]

I've been doing keto and have done in all the ways you could think. The thing that made cravings go away was getting enough potassium rich foods and all the b vitamins.

[MrCATgpt]

Ugh I went 11 months not a single cheat. Lost 160lbs, since a single cheat at the end of April this year it has been very hard to get back on.

[supremex]

7:25 I get that point about artificial sweeteners but I think the lesson is, if you can't go cold turkey, to use artificial sweeteners less and less to help get you off the dopamine.

[Tigersmundo]

*So True everything you said!!! My parents always told me from a young age 'you eat to live not live to eat! respect your body.*

[scooterwilson]

Can you do a video about falling off keto/low carb and getting back.

[dds]

So... I've started the keto diet again after a couple of months cause i gained some weight which I'm trying to lose again... and it's just a mental thing... what i do every day is just make a schedule of what I'm going to eat and make sure i have the right amount of calories and nutrients i want/need... and i just keep myself to it... that way there is no way i can eat too many calories... all you need is discipline... i use sweeteners... but i keep my daily calorie intake between 1000-1200... so as long as your strong enough to resist i don't think it should be a problem

[Spazzomatico]

Thomas, I’ve been low carb for 4 years, and due to cravings I’ve been unable to go completely Keto - it’s awful! I’ve lost 90 lbs through this process but I’m really struggling 😪😢 Thanks for all of these tips! I’m going to give them a try! Thanks for all you do!!

[bellejour]

I don't get any carb cravings, but I love your channel...💜

[kylefer]

Konjac Noodles are called Shiritaki Noodles in America, they are in just about any grocery store for a buck fifty per pack, or half as much as Nupasta, they are refidgerated, no reason to pay 30 bucks for a large quantity of the stuff advertised here just because one company claims they started it and refuse to sell a trial pack. I have often cooked these noodles with success for clients, so you're right, they help, but no reason to pay 30 bucks for the plug, just go get a pack at the grocery store.

[jrstrange]

Treat and eat your food like it is your medicine. I've always felt the argument that it is too expensive to eat properly is short sighted. Short sighted in that when and how do you want to pay for your health care? Now in buying proper foods or later when you are buying prescription drugs.

[IcerDawn]

I also use Velvet beans to turn my grays back to my original hair color. It lasts for 4 weeks and no toxic dye ingredients or roots to worry about.

[kalfaxplays]

i don't really get big carb cravings anymore, so its easy to avoid. though i do drink some sugar free energy drinks, so theres some fake sugars in there, but i still lose weight. if you get cravings, eat some vegetables, thatll help.

[TheImperfectGuy]

Shirataki are such a fantastic noodle replacement when prepaired properly

[ambernicole.]

I’ve grown up eating literally junk. Breakfast day and night junk food and not healthy. About the only healthy food I really enjoy are salads, more specifically Caesar salads. But when I start keto it’s like I’m starving for literally anything and everything. I want everything salty, everything sugary and starchy. I’ve done it before so I know that is mainly only the beginning. It’s just getting over that huge hump is so hard.