Dori Zook wrote:

> I'm curious; 500-700 kcal of carbohydrates equals how many grams?
>I don't
> know if that's close to what I eat a day or not since I count total
grams
> minus fiber grams.
You can use a diet calculator
(like http://www.ag.uiuc.edu/~food-lab/nat/mainnat.html )
, report a carbohydrate source and see the energy.
For example 100 g sweet potatoes (this are tubers, not relative to

potatoes)
have
  Calories      105
  Carb (g)     24.3
 vitA (IU)    17054
 Thia (mg)     0.05
so 500 kcal will be about 125 g of carbohydrate
or 500g sweet potatoe per day.
(If you don't ingest them in form of carbohydrate, you'll have
to have protein broken down to carbohydrate and this takes *much*)

500-700 kcal is what literature reported as the mandatory requirement of
brain and blood cells.
(See http://medtstgo.ucdavis.edu/endo/lecture/metGlucose.htm )
It can be halved in a state of ketosis after some days
if enough fat was present.

> >I think, if you answer sweet cravings
> >with non- (or low-) carbohydrate food,
> >only *tasting* sweet, then this will only increase
> >the cravings for sweets. And spoil your sense for food.
> >Better never sweeten anything, its extremely unpaleo IMHO.

> And here's my humble opinion.  I gave up pizza, Ben & Jerry's ice cream,
> homemade bread, corn on the cob, potatoes, even the such paleo foods as

>like bananas and pinapple which would cause an insulin rush.

Normally nothing should be wrong about insulin signals.
At least we humans most probable evolved in an envorinment of very high
carbohydrate available (but accompanied with proper vitamins and fiber).
For 2 plus 30 million years (at least) my anchestors weren't inuit.
But *never* without adequate thiamin supply.

But for sweetening without carbos: how should your body try to look out
for carbohydrate fuel, if not by craving for something sweet?
One of the only 4 tastes of the tongue is sweet.

I can only imagine what happens, if  such a craving is satisfied only
with the senses but no content. Somehow like a taste hallucination.
This is why i assume that it will "spoil" your senses.

> Then I went paleo
> and gave up dairy and peanut butter, which I love even more than dairy
> foods.
Try (white) mashed almonds! Better than butter and peanut butter (IMHO).
Delicate! Sweet, with fats and burning vitamins.

>... I have a sweet treat maybe twice a
> week.  Two oranges in a week.  I feel no need to apologize for that.
And
>One helping and I'm happy as a clam.  I'm clearly doing
> something right.
Nothing against sweet things as long as they are left natural.
In my view.

Maybe its my luck (or taste adaption) that I'm
not attracted to sweet things.
Leaves me totally cool - nearly all the time.
But if it had to be - I don't hesitate.
I hope that I've accumulated enough vitamins and enzymes to cope with
a minor sugar attack. :-)
Occationally I eat Halva from 50% sesame and 50% honey. Very sweet.
Thanks God, sesame is so rich in vitamins that it may equal out the
vitamin-devoid honey.
I think that's the working "idea" behind this traditional food.

regards
Amadeus S.

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