Yes, I think it's normal. I've noticed this too and several friends have told me the same thing. The heightened cravings wear off after a few days.

Yes, I get this also. Artificial sweeteners (although not stevia...), fruits, dark chocolate, honey, anything like that sets off my cravings.

The only 'sweet' things that don't cause me cravings (and I am SO glad) are things like wine.

Short answer? For some people - ABSOLUTELY. There have been several discussions at PH lately regarding sugar cravings, and although not everyone experiences this, comments indicate that there are many folks (like myself) who get terrible cravings after being exposed to carbs/sugar.

Here are some links - check out the comments:

http://paleohacks.com/questions/22957/how-do-you-guys-deal-with-sweets-and-vegans

http://paleohacks.com/questions/22827/open-meals-what-some-of-you-call-cheat-meals

http://paleohacks.com/questions/22810/easing-into-paleo-i-cant-survive-a-strict-100-paleo-how-to-get-started

Yup, same problem here. Small amounts of something sweet or generally carby make me ravenous. Especially Chocolate. The Only exception would be potatoes – they're filling me up rather quickly ...

My advice would be to be patient and stop thinking/worrying about this altogether. Cravings come, cravings go. Just do not obsess about them. Soon you won't be looking back.

So the really question is: How do you keep this or stop this from happening? I for one would sure like to know!

oh god, i can totally relate. i had a cupcake at my nephews birthday party on sunday, and pretty much spent yesterday raiding the fridge all day. thank god i dont keep sugar in the house. one thing ive found that helps is to drink a lot of water, especially in the form of ginger tea. i dont think the ginger does much, but the strong warm spicy flavor in my mouth dissuades me from going hog wild. i sort of slack a lot, but stay pretty primal- ill have some goat cheese for instance, and yesterday i make a paleo oven pancake. i dont normally go for the candy cigarettes since im trying to lose weight, but something about gorging on something that seems carby satisfies me. (1/2c coconut milk, 1/4c. coconut flour, 2 eggs and a ton of butter in a cast iron pan baked 10m at 425 and slathered with more butter). i eat a lot of fat, too. today im feeling much better and am back on the wagon 100%.

This totally happens to me if I eat even small amounts of natural sweeteners. For me, the worst thing at setting of cravings is the combination of sweet/starchy/fatty, like cake. I stay strictly away from all cakes, cookies, pies, pancakes, etc. On the other hand, I find that the combination of sweet/fatty, like panna cotta, satifies my desire for something sweet but doesnt set off cravings. As far as artificial sweeteners go, they don't seem to bother me as badly as the natural ones, but I keep them to a minimum, too. Long story short, I keep all that stuff to a minimum and eat sweets very rarely. I don't regret doing that because of the wonderful results it get.

Eating a lot of sugar causes me to crave...snacking. Doesn't necessarily have to be more sugar, but it just makes me want to eat more.

All last week I wanted to eat, eat, and eat some more. I finally had a "cheat" on Saturday night with a slice of pizza. After I ate that piece of pizza, I was fine; no more craving. Very strange as pizza--especially just one slice--has never really been satisfying for me.

In addition to sugar, the culprit might be MSG, which is often used in canned sauces. It has a very powerful effect on me, both increasing my general hunger during the meal (the more I eat the hungrier I become), and producing incredibily strong cravings for sweets after the meal + thirst.