Eat a green vegetable, or some cheese or an egg as substitutes for a sugary treat.

The following are ideas for people who are obese and wanting to lose weight. (We won't go into the value of exercise and sensible eating etc!)

Mix a little Lime juice into a glass of water, sweeten with honey. Drink a glass every morning.

Mix a little Apple cider vinegar into a glass of water and drink it half an hour before each meal to reduce appetite.

A cup of Green Tea taken 3 times a day is reputed to reduce fat. It should be taken without milk or sugar.

Make a mixture of 1/4 teaspoon powdered black pepper, 3 teaspoons Lime juice, and 1 teaspoon honey in 1 cup water. Drinking this mixture once a day for 3-4 months may be helpful in weight loss for obese and overweight people.

Take half a Lemon in hot water daily empty stomach in the morning.

Eating a Tomato in the morning before breakfast for 3-4 months may be helpful in weight loss for obese and overweight people.

There's a lot to be said to eliminating between-meal snacks and replacing them with a glass of WATER! With bottled water so easily available, that should not pose a problem for you.

I think perhaps you should also look at reducing your salt intake. Salt can act as an appetite stimulant, and salt is often added to things like bread and pasta sauces etc. Sometimes by the shovelful! My DIL visited America recently, and found that she was unable to eat the bread available over there because it tasted SO salty compared with what we get here in Australia. Perhaps try making your own. You could begin by not using pre-packaged meals and sauces etc, avoiding take-away foods, and just not buying those snack items - look at the labels and see how much sodium they contain, even the so-called healthy ones, and be prepared for a nasty shock.

Also consider how much (or how little) protein you are getting in your diet. Protein is a filler-upper of a kind that has a lasting effect, so you can get away with eating less of it (say, as meat) than you will by eating starchy foods instead. ie meat is more 'satisfying' than carbs. If you don't like red meat, go for skinless chicken, or fish. Nuts contain high amounts of protein, too, but they are mostly high in fats as well, so go easy on these. But they are essential if you are vegetarian.

There really aren't any dietary supplement weight-loss aids (herbal or otherwise) that are safe and effective in long-term use.

A regular exercise program and reduced calorie intake with fruits and vegetables subbing for other snacks works. Not easy, but safe and effective.

You know... doesn't sound to me like you eat a lot... course I can't see your portion sizes... but you might want to check with a doc for a thyroid problem. I eat like that and I am 42, and I am only a couple lbs overweight and I have been sedentary the last month. Or depression. Carbs are mildly anti depressant. If you eat around 2400 cals a day and are moderately active, I think there's something else.

Heathen I will go back. I know carb cravings can be depression related.
I think maybe the others didn't read my full (long and boring!) post. I eat well, better than anyone I know, and I don't spend much time on my butt. I work really hard. No sugar foods or red meat.
I'm not obese. I just crave food more than is probably normal. Thanks.

embden, forgive them, there are so many people in here looking for a miracle diet aid.... :o) Heavens, you could have anemia, and are craving energy. If you were a woman, well, I'd say, honey, that's just PMS! :D You know, you may just need carbs... this atkins thing has led people to think that you don't need carbs... you really do. Just as you probably know, GOOD carbs.... eat that whole wheat bread, not the twinkie or the french fries. But, I'd wonder if there is something going on.... anemia, thyroid...so many things that you wouldn't even notice.

I wonder if you're craving carbs because you 'don't eat meat', in other words you need more protein. A working person who's trying to keep going using sugar would be a lot better off having some protein because the energy lasts longer and you won't have so many cravings. Other than that, get your blood sugar checked... you never know.

Just from your brief description, I'd say you're not getting enough protein. It's proteins that give you the sated feeling, the feeling of having had enough. Plenty of carbs is good for someone so active but an active person, especially a younger one, needs to take in a goodly amount of protein. There are plenty of protein rich foods around. It doesn't have to be meat.

To estimate your everyday diet on callories, proteins, i used this one: http://2000cal.com. You can also try...

Some folks have mentioned high fructose corn syrup as a culprit in obesity. Apparently it is too refined or something and the body doesn't know how to handle it so it gets stored. I think I also heard it is damaging to the kidneys. And last, but not least, there is supposed to be something in it that suppresses the "full feeling" you get from food. It seems to be something cheaper than sugar or corn syrup, easier to use in processed foods and keeps folks eating the foods long after they are full. Sounds like a food processor's dream to me!

It is also really pernicious, you find it in just about EVERYTHING. All regular sodas which might be expected, but a lot of breads have it, all ketchups except Del Monte ketchup (that we've checked), in mayonnaise, in yoghurt, in many sauces, cakes, even in chocolate milk! It is difficult to not eat the stuff. Google "high fructose corn syrup" and "obesity" and see.

I still haven't seen any convincing evidence that high fructose corn syrup can be singled out as a prime factor in obesity, due to a lack of human studies. From a Washington Post article:

"Others are skeptical that high-fructose corn syrup acts differently in the body than table sugar. "I don't see it as a particular evil," says Michael Jacobson, director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest and a vocal critic of soft drinks, which he dubs "liquid candy." "It wouldn't make much difference if soft drinks were sweetened with sucrose [table sugar] or high-fructose corn syrup."

Until scientists sort out the details, many nutrition experts say it makes sense to not surpass the 10 percent recommendation of the WHO. On a 2,000-calorie intake, that works out to about 200 calories -- roughly the amount found in a 16.9-ounce bottle of soda or about eight Chunky Chips Ahoy cookies or about an three ounces of plain M&M's. (Last year, the National Academy of Sciences suggested that added sugars should not exceed 25 percent of daily calories -- about 500 calories on a 2,000-calorie intake.)

"Reducing consumption of added sugars seems reasonable to me," Havel says, "just as you should not consume too many calories from fat and you should exercise regularly."

Another newly-registered poster immediately promoting a commercial supplement, and another online pill seller offering testimonials instead of convincing evidence.

Here's what Consumer Reports had to say about Hoodia:

""Given the very scanty evidence that hoodia works and the even scantier evidence that itÂs safe, particularly for long-term use, we do not recommend the use of hoodia-based weight-loss products."

Add to that the difficulty in verifying the source and quality of these multi-ingredient supplements, and it's another crapshoot for consumers.

Here's more about Hoodia and similar "diet aids".

I would definitely get your blood sugar checked, especially if diabetes is in your family.

YEP!! We had a SPAMMER. Don't think anything else needed to be said.

Who cares about consumer reports for a spammer?

Actually, i've heard a lot of football players and other overly active sports people say the samething about craving carbs maybe it,s natural.
embden did say he had a very active job. Not a word about being obese, just hungry.

lucy, you sounded so RNly and authoritative.Were you trying to?LOL!!!! A 25yr old very active young man who does'nt eat many sweets is very unlikely to have diabetis genetic or otherwise. After a year he has probably found the answer anyway and none of us know the facts. So other than saying. I'm sorry there is no known herbal remedy for carb hunger.Wish i could help. What other
helpful answer for his question could there be. He did'nt sound unintelligent. He knows there is a medical system out there.He only asked for herbal advice and there was none.
A nice statement of "you could see a doctor if you're worried." would have been nice.

You are saying you "crave" a lot, but you aren't saying you are overweight. Do you actually need to lose weight? How do you know you are eating too much? Caloric intake depends on size and activity level. There isn't always a magic number.

Sarah

oakleif when you say "A 25yr old very active young man who does'nt eat many sweets is very unlikely to have diabetis genetic or otherwise." are you taking into account that this is a self selecting young man? this guy has carb problems, that is rare enough to put him into a group that is far more at risk of diabetes then any other factor that we have heard of puts him in a group with lower risk.