Wow, you have quite the journey behind you! Thanks for sharing, it will surely help a lot of people! As for the cravings: I just started reading Eat to Live by Fuhrman, who is very big on perfect nutrition. I did not fully start the program but as I was reading, I decided to get started and add more leafy greens to my meals and also started making smoothies from fruit and spinach (you won't taste it, promise!). Overall, I thought my food was pretty healthy but I was missing green leaves and nuts/seeds. I also decided that I could have a mix of unsalted nuts and raisins whenever I wanted to - but no sugar treats whatsoever. And it worked. The book says cravings come up when nutrients are missing (as Sarah said) and strangely enough, the cravings went away. However, as I just found out: extreme stress and lack of sleep can bring them right back. So the added food plus enough sleep it is (or at least I'm trying to get there). How is your stress level? ...and here are a couple of websites, maybe you can find anything helpful there: http://www.livestrong.com/article/443423-what-to-eat-when-craving-sugar/ http://sophie-skover.blogspot.de/2012/10/gummy-cravings.html
Anne M. likes this comment.