I'm not clear if you jumped right in to the actual diet or are doing the pre plan. During the preparation phase I used dried fruit with 85% dark chocolate and I had ice cream once for Mother's Day. We were suppose to go cold turkey, but I was having sweets all day to replace the cigarettes I gave up this was my compromise.

I just completed my first week. My cravings were under control most of the time, but I did use a teaspoon of dark honey in my shakes and the brown rice cereal. Organic apples taste great and are sweet as are other fruits except citrus.

If you just have to have something chocolate, I melted the dark chocolate over flaked unsweetened coconut also try the Bird's Nests from the recipes. You also might try some all fruit jelly mixed into soft tofu for something creamy. I even froze part of a shake to eat as ice creame.

Even with the few compromises I had last week, I lost 7lbs. We went out to eat last night and they had one of my favorite deserts, so I planned to have just two bites. I ate the first one, which was crazy sweet. When I went to have the second bite I felt strangely dizzy and almost toxic. It probably was an insulin rush, but it did not feel good. Needless to say I did not eat the second bite, it just was not worth it.

Hang in there!

I went into the diet knowing if I did not give myself every chance to get a head-start on each dietary resrtiction, I was setting myself up to fail. With a little will-power and determination, I began to cut out sugar one week before the preparation week. By day one of the official preparation week, I had cut out sugar completely. The easiest way to cut down on the sugar was to only eat one peppermont candy after lunch and then it was only fruit if I still craved sugar.

Red grapes worked best but Whole Foods EARTH bananas worked even better because they took away the desire to eat anything else. This was simpley because it gives you a feeling of being full and they are very sweet.