Cutting back on the carbs?

[CookieMonsteress]

Hello everyone,

I have been reading the posts on this site for a while and decided it was time to join in after discovering I only have a couple of pairs of pants left to fit into!

I have basically been a couch potato enjoying too many chippy teas and cheesecakes for the past year! I did enjoy every bit of it mind you, but it's now time to do something about the food baby that is hanging over my popping trousers!

I am hoping to gain some motivation from fellow slimmers and to help out whenever I can to try and motivate others.

My problem is that I seem to be an all or nothing girl. I have tried WW before and I lost over a stone on it but I am hoping I can try and cut back on my bread, potatoes, rice and sweet treats etc and save the money. I'm not sure I can follow the Atkins fully though but I'm hoping to base my diet on it's principles.

If anyone has done or is doing a similar diet I would love to hear from you and how you are doing.

Good luck to you all in your weightloss journey!

Cookie xxx

 

[Reallytruly]

Hi cookie

I'm new too, and also just starting a low carb diet. I'm basing mine on the body trim diet. Good luck to you!

 

[Lynn_]

Hi Cookie, low carb dieting doesnt have to be the extreme of Atkins. Im not an Atkins fan, but I am a huge (well actually, not so huge now as Ive lost 6 and half stone lol) fan of low carbing.

Low carbing works for very sound scientific reasons, so Im gonna bore you with that now, but ill try to keep it short . When you eat refined carbs and processed foods, even the wholewheat versions, it converts quickly to glucose which quickly stimulates the release of insulin. Now this does 2 things, 1st high glucose levels are recognised as a dangerous thing by the body, so the insulin reacts on the liver to store the excess glucose as fat, and 2nd, this then results in low glucose levels which triggers hunger and cravings. Our bodies are very hypocritical about this , as it knows high glucose levels are dangerous, but makes us crave more carbs.

The whole refined foods and fast food revolution has happened in the last 50 years, and we need 100,000's of year in order to genetically adapt to these changes, so our bodies have not yet evolved to cope with this, and so we have seen the expolsion of obesity and soaring levels of type 2 diabetes.

Cutting out carbs and refined foods is the single most important thing you can do to lose weight. Eat whole fresh foods, fresh fruit and veg, you can eat grains such as brown rice, spelt, millet, quinoa, but avoid all the processed ones, especially pasta and bread. Learn to cook and make fresh food. Dont use processed fats, use butter and olive oil, and avocados are your friend if you like them. You need fat to burn fat, and fats are essential to your health, just not in excess.

I watched the BBC weight program last week and there were some really useful scietifically based ideas in it. These were the most important ones I think.

Fresh home made soup, well blended will stay in your stomach and keep you full for hours longer.
Protein keeps you full for much longer.
Low fat dairy (which actually goes against my principal of not eating processed foods I know, but bear with me). Low fat dairy that is high in calcium, ie skimmed milk, low fat yoghurt, low fat cheese. The calcium from these foods will combine with the fat from other foods and produces a soapy substance that passes through your gut undigested, a kind of 'do it yourself' Xenical in effect. Amazing, and something Im going to incorporate regularly now.
Never miss breakfast, I used to think breakfast was a waste of calories, but not now. Its the single most important meal of the day, and make it high protein.

These principals were scientifically proved to work. Also there was an interesting section on how excercise goes on burning fat for up to 24 hours, but I have to admit I do struggle with the excercise.

However, following the low carb diet I lost 6 and half stone in 6 months and it has changed my life.

Good luck with your diet! Make it life changing.

 

[LVLLM]

Hi I think Lynn has pretty much said all
Welcome to mins, and being a massive fan of low carbing (atkins/dukan/just low carb) I would thoroughly recommend it. Gone are the cravings - you sound like me too - carbs do me no good what so ever.

Have a look on the low carb diets on other diets, there are a couple like Lynn following, Tristar is one. Also do pop on Atkins and Dukan sites even if you arent following them there is always loads of advice and recipes

 

[sherrie24]

Hi im new to this forum. I have tried a few diets my last one was slimming wrld, which i did lose 1st on, but eat all that food made me feel very sluggish. I am looking to stRt a low carb diet. What would be your easy rules to follow to stay on track??? Thanks xx

 

[LVLLM]

Hi Sherrie have a look and atkins and dukan forums for tips, but have plenty of stuff to snack on ; - chicken, boiled eggs, cheese etc

 

[CookieMonsteress]

Hi Really, Lynn, Vicky & Sherrie,
Thank you so much for responding to my thread.
Lynn, thank you so much for giving us the scientific reasons why low carbing works. You have done so well and look fabulous so well done you!!! I take on board what you have said and am very motivated When you think of it, humans had to hunt for their food, just like animals do now and thanks to a rich, western lifestyle we have everything we need and more! It makes sense that if we cut back on carbs and enjoy the food that our early ancestors did we should see a change in our body shape! I also used to avoid brekkie but think now that this is the one time we can fill our boots and eat properly!!
I am going to start making my own soup with lots of veggies - celery soup is delicious - even if you dont really enjoy celery in its raw form - if you add lots of herbs and spices and other veggies!!
I also do not like excercise and am fond of the odd glass of wine (had a few tonight - well Mondays are so miserable and I needed an outlet!!) so I am hoping the low carb diet will not have too much of an effect on my lifestyle. Can you advise us on what role alcohol has to play in dieting? I'm guessing it's naughty and should go but please give me some hope hehehe!!!
Well done to everybody who has lost weight. It's such a hard thing to do. You are all very inspirational.
Thanks again for your tips and support, it's greatly appreciated!!!
Please continue to give your tips and advice
Love Cookie xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

[Lynn_]

Actually alcohol in moderate amounts will help keep blood glucose levels down, if you have a glass of wine with your evening meal for instance. This is turn keeps the insulin levels down to a degree, which helps to avoid the immediate conversion of glucose to fat. So a small glass of wine with your evening meal could be a good thing, but you need to keep an eye on the calories and choose dry, not sweet wine.

Calories are still key, you cant ignore them, even on a low carb diet.

Other alcohol such as unsweetened spirits (gin whiskey brandy vodka and so on) dont have any carbs in them, or are very low, but pack a calorific punch for a small amount. But if a vodka and slimline mixer is your thing, then an occasional one or two wont hurt much.

Its all about balance and moderation.

 

[Lynn_]

Now that im on my favourite soapbox, I want to make a few other points about why low carbing works. And bear in mind that I dont hold with the Atkins view that you can eat unlimited amount of fat and protein. You have to keep an eye on the calories.

Ketosis is what makes Atkins work. Atkins dieters need to keep their carbs below 35g a day to be an effective diet. This is where Atkins and I part company because this is just way too restrictive on your ability to eat fresh fruit and veg, and we do need to eat fresh fruit and veg, no argument about it. We need the vitamins and minerals, and the roughage it provides.

However, you have to understand what low carb actually means. How much carb can you have to be classed as low carb? Scientifically the answer is anything less than 130g a day which is actually a huge amount. This probably wont get you into ketosis though. Atkins works on the basis of less than 35g a day, low carb VLCD's work on the principal of less than 60g a day. Anyone on a VLCD will get into ketosis pretty quick on that, usually within 3 days. My personal belief is that up to 80g a day will get you into ketosis and keep you there. But dont eat the majority of them in the evening before bed.

Why is ketosis important?
Well first off, high glucose levels will not allow you to be in ketosis, they are pretty much like opposite ends of the same scale, so by monitoring if you are in ketosis with keto stix shows you that you are keeping your glucose levels down. So if you are in ketosis, you are keeping the fat gaining aspect of insulin at bay.
More importantly though where carbs are restricted the body is forced to burn fat for energy, instead of glucogen (glucose converts to glucogen for immediate use for energy by the body). You do need to consume some fat for this to be most effective, so dont go cutting out good fats like oil and butter, you still need a little in your diet. The result of this energy burning mode, is the release of ketones which you can detect with ketostix.

Ketosis also suppresses appetite

So being in ketosis shows that not only are you losing weight by a deficit of calories, you body is also burning your fat stores. A double whammy.

Some days I do need to eat bread. I dont do it everyday, but there are times when the only sensible lunch I can have is a sandwich. So I choose Hovis wholemeal which for 2 slices is just about 30g carb. Still leaves me plenty of carbs for fruit and veg, and still keeps me in fat burning ketosis. I never eat bread in the evening though, only at lunchtime as I dont want my blood sugars to be elevated before im going to bed. I want to have burned it off.

I am type 2 diabetic by the way which is why i have such an interest in this subject, and since following low carb diet with the medication given by my doctor, I now for the first time in 6 years have perfectly normal blood sugar levels.

The hunter gatherer societies that we are descended from lived on a ketogenic diet, and ketosis is a natural state that the body can fall in and out of anyway, particularly when we are asleep when glucogen stores are at their lowest.

Ketogenic diets have also been used to treat children with epilepsy with a lot of success and from this there is a myth that has sprung up that citric acid will knock you out of ketosis. Its not true, it came about because these children were advised to avoid soda drinks like diet coke because of their citric acic content due to the effect on the 'citric acid chain' or krebs cycle. But once you have achieved ketosis, citric acid will not take you out of it (unless you drink litres of the stuff every day all day).

It is important that low carbers drink plenty of water, water is good for you anyway, you need it otherwise you can get dehydrated quickly. Once you feel thirsty you are already dehydrated. I try to keep a glass of water available at all times and just sip from it when i think about it, my car is usually littered with empty water bottles lol. I also like to drink Twinings lemon and ginger tea a lot too, and im a great one for coffee. Atkins advises that people cut down on caffeine and im sure there are good reasons but i never did. It might be of interest to know that caffeine combined with carbs can elevate blood glucose levels even higher, which could be why some diet regimes insist you drop the coffee and tea. Another good reason not to have cake or biscuits with your coffee!

 

[allotmentqueen]

Hi cookie, and thx Lynn for a v interesting article on low carb dieting - I too am doing WW and focussing on low carb options - it sure makes the points go further - good luck!

 

[IreneH]

Hi and welcome. Good luck with the pounds

Irene xx