I find this kind of odd. I used to LOOOOOOVE potato chips, bread, crackers, cereal, granola bars, and chocolate. I mean I pretty much loved all processed junk but especially those. Now, i can not touch those and i never crave them. Ever. Or i could eat one potato chip and stop...whereas i used to eat 2/3 of the bag in one sitting...the LARGE bag. So why is it that i can't give up cake??? Every so often, i fall off my diet and i go to the store and buy a cake and just eat and eat. So weird, considering i've been able to forget about a lot of foods! If only i can apply whatever method it took to forget about potato chips, and use it to forget about cake....

Hi surfergirl2,

I wonder if it would be a good idea for you to check your food logs and see if you can find some connection between what you're eating around the time you have a cake attack (it might be a couple days building up, so check the day before, too!). I'm generally very comfortable eating LC, but occasionally have a craving for some garbage. Last night, for instance, I had a couple glasses of red wine with a friend, and a few hours later, I felt like I was climbing out of my skin for popcorn (which is my version of cake).

Or, perhaps, you're responding emotionally to something? You might start a journal, at the same time, and see if the cake has any relationship to your mood.

I wonder if you could come up with a substitute for cake, that you could treat yourself with regularly, so you don't feel like you're depriving yourself. I don't have a sweet tooth, so I don't know what the recommend, but I bet there are a lot of LC recipes out there. Maybe one of them will click for you?

There is a brownie mix that I've been thinking about buying because I have a sweet tooth as well.. It's called "No pudge fudge brownie mix" and all you need to mix it with is vanilla yogurt. It is fat free and 120 calories per serving. I've heard that it tastes good too. Maybe you could try that instead of the cake?

Two ideas. Plan a cheat day and stick to not letting yourself cheat the next day. You'll probably have cravings but get back on the wagon! Also, you could try healthier snacks like dates. I also eat Go Raw Chocolate Super Cookies. Do a google search. They're delicious and not too bad for you.

I suggest learning to let go.

At the beginning of this year, I nearly had an emotional meltdown. I had been living halfway across the world from my husband for nearly a year (job related) I had been dieting for 2 years and bingeing had resurfaced. I was stressed living in someone else's home....I had been fighting with my urges to binge like crazy.

I was living with my daughter and four grandchildren. There were massive birthday parties with even larger cakes. Cake is the one food I have serious trouble with once I start eating it. My daughter would go to work, my grandchildren to school and leave the remaining cake with me!

In January, the birthday cake was so huge that there was still enough to cut about 40 more pieces. Every time I went into the kitchen, I faced my cravings for it. I found myself distraught, angry, terrified....all over a stupid cake. I suddenly found that hilarious! A cake was having that much power over my emotions, my desires....

I confronted the cake. No kidding (glad everyone was gone, lol). I yelled at it, laughed at it and told it that it was never going to hold that kind of power over me ever again. It was all silly, but something inside me needed to be let out, not repressed. I never did have a single piece of that cake, even though it took days for everyone else to snarf it down. I stopped seeing it as the enemy and as just a nuisance.

I bought myself a medal for letting it go, a pendant that says, keep calm and carry on. While the original had a red background, I chose a rainbow background to remind me of that rainbow cake.

I changed how I thought about cake (or any such food) by not allowing it to become an enemy and into being what it really is, food that does not serve me well. There are other foods that I really enjoy that do not twist me emotionally or wreck havoc with my blood sugar. Some foods create an unreasonable amount of desire, something is just not emotionally healthy about it and no amount of controlled methods of eating it is going to change that factor. At least not for me.

I don't like the concept of jumping on and off bandwagons. At this point in my life (old, lol) I want peace with food and eating. I have been practicing mindful approaches along with low carb foods. Works for me.