Hi Heather. Sweet desserts, even if they're "paleo," may get both you and your husband off track. There's no rule that you have to eat dessert after a meal. Your husband may just need larger portions. Here's a previous thread on avoiding sugar binges: http://paleohacks.com/questions/58/avoiding-the-sugar-binge . Sometimes after you reach your weight loss goals, you can stabilize your weight by adding back some carbs. You husband may need to add some starchy tubers (eg. yams, sweet potatoes) to his diet, maybe some sweet potato fries, as in this thread: http://paleohacks.com/questions/2735/secret-to-sweet-potato-fries . Finally, if your husband insists on eating sweets, he can keep a stash of dark chocolate at work, or at home out of your sight if you don't care to indulge. There's no reason for you to feel obligated to prepare food at home that you feel is harmful to your health. Does your husband insist on these desserts, or are you preparing them on your own? Maybe you two should talk about this.

What worked for me:

use very much fat, really very much, not only fairly much ;-),

and go cold turkey on the sweets (whether sugar or not).

The latter will be hard for about 3 weeks in my experience. Quite surprisingly, by eating less (carbs or sweets), the hunger will be better. And if there are no environmental triggers for sweets, you won't miss them.

(By environmental triggers I mean: smelling something sweet, seeing an ad, talking about sweets, ... )

More fat, less sugar. Seriously...just stop making the sweets. Saute vegetables in coconut oil, make sure you get fattier cuts of meat, and keep hard boiled (omega three) eggs in the fridge for snacks.

I think if you make sure he gets enough fatty cuts of meat, he should be getting enough calories. If he is not showing signs of tiredness, then the calories is probably not the issue.

Sugar cravings stay alive from changing levels of insulin. The only way I know of to stop them is to lower carbs and eliminate sweet tasting foods. If you are making him lots of paleo or quasi-paleo desserts, these are probably actually feeding the cycle of cravings.

I would try foregoing the sweets, whatever their origin, to let the insulin settle down, just as you plan, and you may find his cravings take care of themselves.

As everyone has said, more meat and more fat, no sugar and very few carbs. American Dietetic Assoc says 60% carbs...an absolutely ideal way to insure food cravings. And not eating breakfast is a sure way to be starved all the time.

Breakfast: 3 eggs fried in coconut oil and butter, 1/4 pound bacon, a small yam microwaved to softness, then sliced thin, then panfried in butter to golden brown. WalMart has a blob of 4 pounds of bacon ends for $5. It doesn't look as pretty as the $3.00 a pound product but it tastes just the same. I microwave it to save time.

Lunch: Send with him 4 hardboiled eggs or deviled eggs, with the yolks deviled with coconut oil in your favorite receipe. 4 oz of hard cheese. We like Tillamook or Cabot White Cheddar. Plus your leftovers.

Dinner: Steak, burger, beef heart, sliced thin and pan fried in coconut oil and dried thyme and basil to medium rare...basically any meat that has some fat on it. Pork, chicken, turkey, fish....at least 16 oz in the evening.

Plus salad with olive oil and vinegar. We use Good Seasons Packet mixed in their hourglass with the EVOO and vinegar. Plus crumble some of the white cheese on the salad. Since seeing the PaleoHacks posting on Nightshades, we have cut them out of our salads and the aches and pains seem to be abating somewhat. http://paleohacks.com/questions/342/has-anyone-seen-benefits-of-avoiding-nighshades

Eating this heavy meat and fat diet for a month will quell his appetite for sweets and will add a few pounds to his frame. Guaranteed! And the guarantee is worth as much as you paid for it.

No offense intended, but it seems like a bit of a silly question.. If he's not satisfied by his dinner, then he should simply eat more dinner.

When I first started eating together with my bf I thought I'd made enough for dinner and lunch for both of us too. It would have made 4 or 5 meals for me, but he just eats through the whole lot and then asks for some more.. Lots of muscles on my guy.

Also, you won't be too tempted to eat more dinner too, because well- you can only eat so much. Then you're just full!

Kill 2 birds with 1 stone: more, a lot more, huge amounts of fat = extra calories, less appetite (esp. sweets) Try heavy sauces with real cream, good butter. Everything made with/from full fat coconut stuff is very delicious and addictive. Maybe you know those blocks similar to white chocolate. They taste great, somehow sweet and are a good snack to carry with. And again my old advice for red palm oil. One can use it as pure sauce. It´s very healthy and yummy.

how about coconut milk or pemmican with or instead of the nuts as a snack. Or is it really a very late breakfast in his constricted "eating window"?

More fat is the answer. I've found cream to be an excellent solution. A glass of cream tastes great. Cream with a little baking cocoa isn't sweet, but is a great low-carb treat.

You can also try something like a few berries buried in whipped cream.

Also see my blog post about carb cravings:

http://www.12knowmore.com/index.php/2010/03/21/managing-carb-cravings/

Hey Heather,

I am in Korea too. I've been on the Paleo diet for about 5 or 6 years. I'd love to chat with you guys about the diet and share some tips. However I live out in the provinces. Check my profile for my email address and give me a shout.

Insulin spike is a myth. Insulin is not your enemy, it is actually the body's ally in keeping blood sugar levels normal. Even if a rise in insulin was the terrible evil fat-gaining thing low-carb proponents make it out to be, low-carb foods show no benefit, as meat, eggs and cheese still causes a significant rise in insulin.

http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/1615/insulin-index

Desserts may give you bad digestion because they are low in fiber, especially processed kind of desserts. Contrast that with nature's sweet whole foods like fruits, and some sweet vegetables like carrots and sweet potatoes.

Some people will point out the fructose content in fruit but fructose is healthier, yes healthier than other sugars, and lower in calories, lower in glycemic index and glycemic load. But we have lots of misinformation going around today, people think that sucrose is healthier than fructose now. Can you imagine someone saying yes to a cookie, but no to a piece of fruit because "It has fructose", that's just silly.