Coffee Drinks as a Reward

One of the things I really miss on the Low Carb diet/ Atkins, are the coffee drinks. Those are probably one of my biggest nemesis.

I am wondering, so far it is just a thought, as I reach certain goals, if I should treat myself to my favorite caramel mocha latte, or if that will make me fall off the wagon, so to speak.

What do the rest of you guys do? At some point I need to learn some self control. I know when I have one, it will ruin my ketosis for a few days but is this one little indulgence a forbidden fruit forever?

Looking forward to how others handle this. I'm sure I am not the only one out here!

The way I see it, nothing is forbidden forever. There's no way you'll ever succeed in changing your eating habits for life if you think that you'll never be able to have this or that. That would be ridiculous and you would feel deprived. I know that I can have whatever I want, and when I want it, I have it. It's just that the majority of the time, I don't really want it. There are low carb versions of coffee drinks. You can make them with protein powder, unsweetened almond milk and instant coffee. You can use heavy cream (or whipping cream) and your choice of sugar substitute. But if you really want the real thing, have it! While there may be some consequences, they won't be as damaging as not having it, getting discouraged and giving up JMHO

My 2 cents...

It's really hard for me to say whether or not treating yourself to that caramel mocha latte would cause you to fall of the wagon. I think it's probably one of those things that only you can really be the judge of. And I guess thinking of it as the forever forbidden fruit is not an idea that I could or would engage, because there's always going to be a point where, for whatever reason, maintaining ketosis is not going to be possible.

How do I deal with it:

I do follow a low carb diet, but not a specific diet such as atkins...and I do love coffee - probably too much (the carb limit I set is actually higher than most low carb diets, I check that I'm in ketosis using ketostix). Personally there's a couple of ways I deal with the coffee issue to stay in ketosis: I don't often buy coffee out, I do drink a lot of instant coffee and use a measuring spoon to measure out 20ml of skim milk. And the second way is that there are actually quite a number of good flavoured coffee mixes on the market. Where I live Jarrah is the one that comes to mind: makes a delicious, flavoured, frothy coffee drink without too many carbs. Not quite as good as a cafe bought flavoured coffee, but imho not that far off either. It does use artificial sweetener (though tastes like sugar to me ), and although I've never done atkins I know some people wouldn't recommend this, but personally I'm a fan of 'do what works for you' (or in this case me ).

I go to Starbucks and get a grande with the bold pick, add sugar free caramel or hazelnut syrup and have them leave room for cream (allowable on Atkins). I sometimes sprinkle some cinnamon on top, also I drink with a straw. It's not quite the same, but I find I don't need or crave real sugar anymore.

I used to love frappuchinos and after dieting and limiting my sugar they don't taste good anymore. I am much happier drinking a plain latte with no sugar!