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As someone who's done every eating regimen under the sun, one top tip to get over the habit hump much quicker: water fasting.

After ingesting nothing but water, coffee and electrolytes for 3-5 days your eating compulsions will be immediately reset. It's incredible how quick the effect is when you go extreme. It's not magic but it is pretty close.

I have had similar experiences; I did a lot of water fasting, lost a lot of weight (50lbs over 18mos), and then after all that fasting the sugary things just were not as appealing.

On top of that, I find it easier to go into water fasting if I've been in ketosis for a bit, which is difficult in itself.

But for that, I've found it helpful to remove other dietary restrictions; I don't typically eat dairy, and the stuff I do like to eat in keto is often much more expensive than the beans and rice / peanuts/ fruit that are the staples of my diet when I'm not trying to force ketosis or fast. Eating nicer food (usually meats, lots of eggs, dairy) makes being that process easier.

Yep. I had an unbelievable sweet tooth since I was a teenager. I was having 10+ cans of coke per day on top of multiple king size candy bars. When I was ~30 I did a 36 hour fast and afterwards has 0 desire to have anything sweet for the very first time in my adult life.

It came back a few weeks later, but over a few years I tried fasting again and it would go away every single time. Now I try to avoid sweets as much as I can but when old habits creep back in I just have a fast and it goes away.

I don't really fast for any reason other than knowing it will take the sweet tooth away—and generally make me want to eat healthier.

I love water fasting and do it often. But it also is highly dependent on weight. If you're a lower weight already, it can be really hard to do a 3 day water fast. I used to be able to do them pretty easy, but after cutting weight it's become much harder. I do modified fasts where I take protein and fat both.

> everything has sugar in it, and you have to absolutely avoid it, not just sweets, fruits, juices, I'd even tell you diet drinks and artificial sweeteners too. That means no ketchup, sauces, breads, and most processed and store bought foods.

Realistically how do you avoid sugar like this? Soft drinks, candy, and other artificial stuff are easy enough to avoid, but most bread? Fruits? What are you supposed to eat and how are you supposed to obtain it without involving sugar? Are you suggesting people eat pure meat and lettuce and eggs for 6-8 weeks? It would be so much more helpful to give some examples of sample diets people could actually follow.

(What specifically are you saying needs to be avoided btw? Sucrose and fructose and artificial sweeteners I assume, but not glucose?)

An easy way to get most of the way there:

- Minimal to no fruit (that includes tomato).

- Don't eat anything that comes in a package or that has an ingredients list more than 1 item long (so, frozen broccoli is fine, as long as there's no extra stuff in the bag).

- Don't eat anything that your great grandparents wouldn't have had access to.

Some things, like bell peppers, will start tasting like candy after a few weeks of this.

But bell peppers have sugar, they are berries. I've done keto and had success holding sugar under, say, 10 to 12 grams. But getting to absolute zero and eating plenty of fibrous veggies is tricky.

The first line in my comment is 'almost all the way there'.

Absolute zero is not really necessary for anything...

> What specifically are you saying needs to be avoided btw?

Carbs, all of them, as much as you can.

Gotta think on the lines of what did human bodies evolve to process and use. Since sugar sources weren't always available, our bodies make all the glucose we need to live. We don't need sugar or carbs at all. Sure our body's do like them because it's easier for our bodies to process carbs to glucose than to make it from fats and other amino acids. This means our brain signals to eat more of the sugary stuff because its "free" energy.

> Are you suggesting people eat pure meat and lettuce and eggs for 6-8 weeks?

Kinda. It's scary yes, but as your body switches over to eating less carbs, it has to work harder to convert non carbs into things it can use. This levels out your blood sugar levels which in turn makes you less hungry.

> It would be so much more helpful to give some examples of sample diets people could actually follow.

My diet when I'm in the zone so to speak (Keto + intermittent fasting), looks like the following.

First meal around 1pm. Salad - a store bought green mix, might have a little carrot with it, various lettuce (not iceberg or just romaine), I might throw in an egg, a serving of a protein (anything from steak, lunch meat, tuna or salmon), some cheese, maybe something salty (olives or peppers) and some kind of non-sugary dressing (ranch, blue cheese, oil and vinegar), water or unsweet tea.

About 3pm - 5pm is a mixed bag and might be a snack or meal, and depends on hunger levels. This can be some nuts (almonds typically), cheese, lunch meat, protein shake, or just left overs.

7-8pm I'll have dinner. Bunless burgers are common, or just some source of protein and a veggie side. I like chicken, beef, pork, fish. You can make all kinds of stuff with them. Bake it, grill it, fry it (without breading). Meatloaf is good. Lots of good recipe sites, maybe you like tacos, so you can have them with low carb tortillas. Asian dishes work out too, as long as you modify them. Cauliflower can be subbed for rice.

8-9pm I'm likely to have another snack.

9pm-1pm - Water. I'll eat if my blood sugar levels demand it. But on a typical day, I avoid anything that needs to be digested.

I so want to do this, but I have such a sweet tooth I don’t think I can succeed. I can go a few days without sweets but then the urge is just overwhelming. I want to try weaning, by just eating fruit instead of processed treats. Will that have any effect at all, make it harder overall, or is the only way to just cut sugar completely?

Merely tasting sweetness causes an anticipatory rise in insulin which shuts down fat metabolism. Best to go cold turkey, unfortunately. You can control cravings, however, by raising your fat intake to the point where you're too full to find eating more appetizing. You will still lose weight like this on a ketogenic diet.

It makes you wonder if artificial sweeteners can also do this. Has that been studied?

It's a bit inconclusive, I believe.

They can and do. On the keto boards, there are numerous people that have a hard time with artificial sweeteners, often it causes a weight loss stall or gain while the rest of their numbers seem good.

As a long-term keto dieter (10+ years), my advice is never be afraid to experiment with your diet. Every time you try something new and the results were not what you were hoping for, treat it as a learning experience, not a failure. What constitutes a healthy diet (both mentally and physically) is different for everyone.

As an example, cutting out candy and donuts for apples and pears isn't keto, but is objectively a step in the right direction. If you want to give it a try, just go for it and see what happens!

Think of it this way, if a drug addict said they wanted to stop, would you tell them they would be going good if they only used every 3rd day?

To get the benefits of keto, you have to get the body adapted to burning fat. Depending on the body, this can take a week or so. All those cravings are the body crying out for a fix of easy sugar, because it really doesn't want to have to switch over and burn fat for fuel as its harder for it to do.

If you just had sugar every 3rd day, you're body would never adjust.

I had the same experience when I tried keto.

The first ~12 days were hell, as if the devil possesed me, that is how strong sugar addiction is.

But then all of the sudden it was as if cravings reduced by 95% in just 24 hours around day ~12.

I remember doing Keto for 3 months. Stayed under 50g carbs per day.

Lost 10kg.

But it was hard.

My "trick" was buying a Pepsi Max Cherry and a >80% chocolate, when I got cravings.