The Hardest Foods to Quit on Keto and Atkins

Quitting carbs cold turkey is pretty difficult at first for many of us. We have been taught for a long time that we have to have carbs to have energy. I'm pretty sure that the eating suggestions we've had most of our life were wrong. We were told to avoid cholesterol and fats, but when I was growing up it wasn't normal to hear people bad-mouthing carbs. Sugar, on the other hand, has been universally bad-mouthed as long as I've been alive. However, sugar is much worse than we've been told.

We've all been told that sugar will rot your teeth and give you diabetes, but no one told me that sugar was physically as bad for your body as drinking alcohol. Drinking a glass of wine per day is fine. Drinking two bottles of wine per day is terrible. A few fruits in your diet may be good for you, but eating a whole chocolate cake along with ice cream, not so much. Cake and fruit both have sugar, but the amount you intake has a significant impact on your health.

Over the years I've developed insulin resistance. It's not surprising. Of the contributing factors which lead to insulin resistance, I was guilty of most: excess body weight, belly fat, lack of exercise, smoking and low amounts of sleep. All of those factors contributed to my insulin resistance. So if you are insulin resistant like me, you should immediately cut your carbs/sugar intake, and here are foods that you have to avoid completely:

• Sodas
• Breads
• Potatoes
• Anything with sugar, including sneaky things like ketchup and BBQ sauce. 
• Beer
• Fruits
• Rice

There are many other foods that you can't eat when you are avoiding carbs. Carbs are in just about everything. There are some foods that are completely free of carbs. For example, pork rinds are all protein and fat. On a Keto diet you have to eat a lot more fat than you are probably used to consuming. Butter is all fat. Bacon is all protein and fat. Most cheeses are protein and fat. Cutting out the carbs gets easier after a few days, especially if you are snacking on protein and fat any time you get hungry. Eventually you stop being hungry.

For me, the driving force behind my hungry was my sugar/carb intake.