I was once addicted to white starchy carbs, breads, pastas and the like. It was a hard battle to break away from it and the cravings and headaches were almost unbearable. The nice thing is now, 10 years later, I don't seem to get "caught" by those foods anymore, but I'm currently trying to give up sugar (at least for the short term) and it's really challenging.

What foods do you all find to be physically addicting and how have you managed the cravings?

My weakness is bread and crisps/chips. I don't have cravings all the time but when it hits I end up having crisp sandwiches I like sugar in coffee and really don't want to give that up. Since I'm not usually a fan of sweet stuff I'm ok with that

Mitch, I'm with you on the chips issue. Funny thing is that sometimes it's sugar and sometimes it's salt. But I don't seem to have the addiction to salt as I do to sugar. I'm sure there is a scientific explanation I don't know about.

I don't have much of a sweet tooth I'm glad to say, but my downfall is crusty bread with loads of butter, or pork crackling. I could live on the latter, which is why I think I should do Atkins!

Bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, and all those bad starchy foods are the things that are hardest for me also. That seems to be the thing that is hardest for most people. I really do think it's an addiction.

The reality is, from a physiological point of view, that starchy carbs are really only required to fuel high intensity activity. If you are not doing that, then most people have no business indulging in them for the most part.

For the general sedentary population, 100-150g of carbohydrate per day is plenty, this can all be got from fruit and vegetables.

Ensuring that protein is adequate (.8 -1g per pound of bodyweight, or target bodyweight if you are obese) is a good strategy, protein is very satiating, and it will also help to mitigate muscle loss whilst you are dieting.

For many people, getting the macro nutrient ratios, (protein, fat, carbs) right is a very good way to reduce these cravings, but unfortunately, most diets, and dieters, completely ignore this.

Atkins works, but many people do well at the start, then fail to lose because they are overrating calories due to the high fat component. Fat is not bad, but calories count.

I think, as a starting point for someone who is obese, atkins is fine, but then introducing veg and fruit based carbs as time goes on, which is what Atkins said anyway, after the 2 week induction period.