Lynn could you give me examples of the meals you have as i struggle to get my head round no carbs or very low carbs cheers
Eating low carb is pretty simple really, just avoid the starchy foods i mentioned before (potatoes, pasta, rice, white bread, sugar and flour) and concentrate on protein and lighter vegetables (not starchy ones).
Atkins starts you off at 20g of carb a day, to get you into ketosis pretty quick, but people doing vlcd meal replacements such as Exante or Cambridge diet for instance, are on around 58g of carb a day and still get into ketosis fairly quickly, so there is no need to go to the extreme of Atkins. When you try to cut down carbs to the level of Atkins it can be very difficult, and there is no need to do that. From the vlcd experience you can have up to 60g carb a day. If you do have up to 60g a day though you have to be careful to cut down fat in order to lose weight on it. I still have a sandwich for lunch most days, using small wholemeal Hovis loaf. Each slice is 9.5g, and i have ham and salad in it which has virtually no carb, so my lunchtime sandwich costs me about 20g carb. I did try Exante for a while and i love the shakes, those are 18.5g each and i have one for breakfast. Dinner is usually some meat or fish and veg or salad, so comes in around 6 to 12g.
If you concentrate on cutting out starchy foods and choosing low fat protein options ( chicken fish any type of meat, barring the fatty options) then you will find that your calorie level is automatically reduced as well. In fact you will find it hard to overeat if you follow those rules. I actually struggle to get to 900 calories a day, and im never (or very rarely) hungry. The only times that hunger does come in is if ive had more carbs than i should have, and there are sound reasons for this to do with insulin production and its effect on blood sugar levels.
In a nutshell, carbs convert very quickly to glucose which pushes blood glocuse levels up quickly, this in turn stimulates insulin production to bring the glucose levels down, which in turn makes you 'hungry' to eat more carbs to push the glucose levels up, which in turn stimulates insulin production.............and so on, resulting in a binge fest. Its a common problem we have all dealt with im sure.
Protein and low carb veg are released into the blood stream at a much slower rate, which keeps blood glucose levels stable, and evens out the insulin production considerably. This stops you getting hungry and stops the merry go round in its tracks, which is why people who low carb say they dont get hungry and feel full longer.
Im not sure if this has answered your question or if i have just rambled on as usual lol. But this is a subject im very passionate about, because I know low carb works, and i know there are sound scientific reasons why it does work.