Can We Chat Low Carb for a moment?

[kolamum]

I have come to conclude that my body just doesn't handle carbs very well. With them I seem to be sluggish and bloated, but without I'm fine. So after doing a little research there seems to be 3 major "diets" {for lack of a better word} that seem to be low carb.

 

1. Atkins -- I know very little about it except that I had a relative who did it and seemed to eat gobs of stuff that seemed unhealthy and lost no weight. Now, I know that could have been the fault of the user, but I also had issues with a few Atkin friends I had declining veggies and fruit due to carb issues. I NEED my veggies, and I really love my fruit as I don't usually eat sweets.

 

2. South Beach -- I thought this was some kinda of Atkins spin-off, but I might be wrong. I thought veggies and fruit were a-okay on this one, but again I know even less about this eating thing.

 

3. Paleo -- I've heard this one mentioned a few times too many lately to not look into it. It looks like they do an exclusion to all grains, and I'm not sure I'm quite ready for that plunge. I enjoy my bowl of oatmeal porridge in the ams, especially in the winter when it's COLD out, or in the summer when nectarines are ripe. Yet, abstinence makes since if I'm having issues.

 

 

So, what can you tell me about any of the three above? Which one is worth looking into more? Is 100% no grains really as good as they wanna say? I saw a particular place suggest trying it for just 30 days and see/feel the difference. But, they also suggested only 1 fruit per day if you needed to drop a few pounds, and I do. I dunno if I could go with only 1 fruit a day! :001_huh:

 

I think I need more info so I feel secure taking the plunge in whatever direction I wanna go. ;)

[DawnM]

Wendy, when you say it is has worked for you for quite a while, what do you mean by that?

 

I too need to be low carb but I struggle with it because I really don't care for much meat at all. I would do better with other forms of low carb.

 

Dawn

[Ria]

Atkins tends to be high fat, low carb.

 

South Beach is low fat, low carb.

 

Not familiar with paleo.

 

We did Atkins and then SB. We now, like Wendy, do our own thing. We mostly eat low carb. I have no problem serving bread and rice, but they are only whole grain. We make our own food and use nothing processed. I don't worry about fats so much (we do eat cheese and I love bacon!) but we only eat meat a few times a week, and lean cuts when we do. We eat seafood once a week and vegetarian quite often.

 

The real key for us, though, has been consistent exercise. Both dh and I work out 5-6 days a week (cardio and weights), averaging about 40 minutes per workout. We feel fantastic and do not have to watch our weight at all.

[DawnM]

I already do that. I am still fat. :ack2: I eat brown rice, Ezekiel bread if I eat bread, quinoa, whole grains, etc....

 

I also eat fairly low calorie. I tried upping my calories as suggested to me and I gained weight.

 

Dawn

 

There are vegetarians that do Atkins. It is possible. Just cutting out refined carbs probably would do something in a positive direction. I eat meat because I really like meat, but I don't just eat meat.

[jplain]

I suggest reading this book. It's an interesting and fairly quick read. If you understand and agree with the author's arguments, you'll begin to feel a lot less lost when it comes to evaluating the pros and cons of different lower carb ways of eating: Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It.

 

I suppose my way of eating is pretty much what Kurt Harris describes: Archevore Diet. The red links on that page lead to blog entries with more detail.

 

The problem is that some people go all out with eggs, cheese, butter, etc just because it is allowed.

Not that I do this, but why do you think this a problem? We were sold a bill of goods. Hard as it is for most of us to hear, dietary saturated fat is not going to cause heart disease or make you fat. If you're interested, I can provide resources. :)

 

(And by the way, since most of the time when I post anything low carb I start seeing responses that include low fat vegan propaganda, I'll say right away that I believe that approach "works" too. But the reasons that Ornish et al have had the results they've had is NOT because they eliminated saturated fat. It's for other reasons. I'm happy to elaborate, but only to a point. I'm not into banging my head on the wall. If your way of eating is like a religion, and you have no interest in becoming more broadly informed, I'm not interested in discussion.)

[DawnM]

Oh, I didn't mean I was eating low carb, I was commenting on the "cut out refined carbs" comment.

 

Dawn

 

Well you aren't eating a low carb diet with those items. What about cutting out those grains (try it for a couple of weeks to see if it works)?

Even those though grains are better than total junk carbs they are as carby in the end.

 

A cup of brown rice has 45 grams of carbs and 4 grams of fiber. A cup of white rice has 41 grams of carbs and 1 gram of fiber. Is this really a huge difference? It doesn't seem like it to me.

[DawnM]

Well, this is a very timely thread as I was seriously contemplating going back to low carb.

 

I think I will do some reading today and get ready and start Mon or Tue.

 

We actually have very few refined carbs in the house right now, which is very helpful for me.

 

Dawn

 

Yeah personally I think carbs are carbs. I go by the carb count minus fiber. So refined or not I can't tolerate high carbs.

[luvnlattes]

I suggest reading this book. It's an interesting and fairly quick read. If you understand and agree with the author's arguments, you'll begin to feel a lot less lost when it comes to evaluating the pros and cons of different lower carb ways of eating: Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It.

 

:iagree:Great book! My library had it available for download so I listened to it on my i-pod. The information made sense to me and helped me understand what was going on inside my body.

 

I'm making changes slowly. A big one for me was not adding sugar to my coffee in the morning any more. Now it's just cream. While this hasn't made a huge impact on my weight it has greatly impacted the way I feel throughout the day.

 

Maybe you could do the same. Start with one change and see how it makes you feel. Drop down to 1 fruit just for a week or so and see if it affects you. I LOVED my coffee with sugar first thing in the am and couldn't imagine not having it. But when I realized how much better I felt if I didn't start my day that way, it made giving it up completely worth while.

 

I will say, though, you may have to cut fruit out all together to see how it really affects you. After a week of no sugar I tried just using a half tsp. of sugar in the am instead of 2 tsp. The half tsp. still had an affect on me so now I just stick to coffee and cream.

 

ETA: Oh, and I'm not saying fruit is bad, I just picked that one because it's the one that is the hardest for you to imagine giving up. Sometimes we crave or love the things that are affecting our bodies negatively.

Edited September 11, 2011 by luvnlattes

[Trilliums]

The problem is that some people go all out with eggs, cheese, butter, etc just because it is allowed.

 

 

As I understand it, Atkins diet initially stressed low car/high protein, with a side note of unlimited amounts of certain veggies. I think many people failed to add in enough of the veggie component. Recent atkins books focus more on the veggie/fiber component.

 

I checked out New Atkins for a New You from the library where the sample menus are very heavy on veggies. You are supposed to avoid fruits at first, but the diet does eventually add back in fruits and grains in limited amounts. The first two week phase was really hard for me to do, but it got easier after the first few days. I now pretty much do my own thing and try to limit carbs, but it is hard!

[MIch elle]

I'm down 19 lbs since June 2011. Atkins is high fat, low carb.

 

Read & join the discussion at: http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.com/forums/main-atkins-diet-forum/

 

Info on high fat/low carb diets:

Edited September 12, 2011 by MIch elle

[kolamum]

Thanks for the input. :) I'm in agreement that lowfat isn't wise. I've read and agree with much in the book Real Food. That's one issue I have with many "diets" is that they wouldn't, in whole, go towards that line of thinking.

 

As I understand it Paleo is known as eating as they did in caveman times. :lol: seeds & nuts, veggies, fruits, meat. Nothing they wouldn't have had access to then.

[Green Vixen]

Hi Koala Mum,

 

I have no advice on which particular diet is best but I have a book recommendation for you. My girlfriend has lost 55 lbs in the past 6 months and she highly recommends the book "Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It" by Gary Taubes. I personally haven't read it but any time someone asks my friend about her weight loss that is the book she suggests reading. Good luck!

 

Marisa

[KrissiK]

I do my own low-carb sort of diet, too and lost 9 lbs. in about a month. Generally I eat no sugar or white flour (or wheat products). Then, with that as a baseline, I try to stay away from most starchy foods. I'll eat oatmeal for breakfast once or twice a week, for lunch I have a really good southwest chicken and barley soup, so that has a little grain in it. Once or twice a week we'll have brown rice for dinner. But, generally I eat meat, fruits and veggies, beans and dairy. I snack on dry roasted almonds and cheese and my dessert is sugar-free fudgecicles. I think my big problem was regulating blood sugar levels, which caused me to over eat and snack and snack and snack. So, once I took care of that, I'm not nearly as inclined to snack and the weight just came off. I feel like I can eat whenever I want, and I do. After the initial week I don't really crave carbs at all. I tried South Beach, but just felt it was too restrictive. It was a diet. Doing my own thing has really worked well.

[mcconnellboys]

I guess I did a modified Atkins, which was probably more like South Beach. I cut out most "white" foods, such as breads, pastas, other baked goods, milk, rice, and potatoes. I still ate a ton of fruits and vegis. I did eat whipped cream on berries and I did eat cream cheese (which Atkins suggests after induction, I believe).

 

I didn't think that I was going to lose weight, but a funny thing happened: after about 3 weeks I started noticing that I was losing inches off my hips and thighs (where I carry most of my weight). It seemed that I started losing inches even before my weight started really dropping significantly. I ended up losing about 35 pounds over about 3 months, I guess, and I was able to keep it off for a couple of years. I went back to eating those carbs and slowly gained back my inches again....

[Katie.Louise]

I know that this is an old thread, but I thought I would mention this for anyone that is searching low carb and comes across this. I have to watch my carb intake or I feel lousy. About a year and a half ago I found The Carbohydrate Addict's Diet.

 

It is basically two low carb meals each day and one reward (eat whatever you want, but they tell you to still eat healthy) meal per day. I have really enjoyed it and it is much easier to follow than atkins. No counting carbs. There are plenty of veggies listed to eat. One other rule is that you have to eat your reward meal in one hour, because you start to release more insulin one hour after you begin eating. Knowing I can eat what I want at dinner keeps me motivated.

 

Eating this way, you will lose 1-2 lbs per week. I don't weigh myself, too many fluctuations with hormones. I prefer to measure and not very often. I judge it more by how my clothes fit.

 

The books are very easy reads. The books are available used on Amazon usually for $4 including shipping.

 

 

Hope this helps,

Katie

[SweetMissMagnolia]

:iagree: another one who kinda does her own thing with low carb...I'm diabetic so the lower my carb intake each day the better....I use alot of those low carb tortillas/wraps/flat breads.....I eat alot of chicken/turkey--have recently added lentils (I"ll cook with turkey and eat like a taco)---fish---salads---apples---