Low Carb products: Are they worth the trouble?

[ThisMomsLife]

Before I get to the meat of the matter (ha ha), I'd like to thank everyone who has shared their knowledge and experience on this forum.

I'm dangerously overweight. There, I said it! Weight gain has been a huge problem for me since I stopped being athletic after undergrad school. Then came pregnancy and 15 years of desk work. It's not pretty.

I've read just about every "diet" book written in the last 20 years, including a fair number by low carb proponents, from the late Dr. Atkins to the Drs. Eades to Gary Taubes and many, many more. So why did I decide to begin Weight Watchers - again - on January 2, 2102?

I've since gained seven pounds, eating the proscribed 36 "points" per day. I'm exhausted and starving all the time. So, I brush up on Why We Get Fat and hit the grocery store. Two days in and I am dying for something bready or cakey. I'm eating plenty of fat and taking good supplements.

So I was wondering if anyone here has experience with any of the low carb products. Will using them to get past these early cravings work, or am I dooming myself with them? I've never been a "fake food" user, even on Weight Watchers.

Your experiences and opinions are appreciated!

Heather

[Rasputin]

Heather,

I'll be happy to lend a hand.

A good place to start is Mark's Daily Apple. His books are worth reading, as well.

I recommend that people come to a better understanding of what people food should actually look like. Being able to tell what is food and what is cunningly designed to emulate food is a big step towards gaining one's health back.

Low-carb products are, for the most part, not very high-quality food. Many of them use soy in an effort to fake a high-carb product, and I believe that soy (unless it has been fermented) is not people food. They also contain chemicals which tend to derail one's ability to get in touch with their hunger. They are a crutch, and the sooner you start being able to eat whole, natural, healthy foods without needing crutches, the better.

I think that certain LC foods and condiments aren't as bad as others. Jok N Al's barbecue sauce, for example, isn't too bad for you. Heinz makes a no sugar added ketchup which I have used before. Others can be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

In general, though, you need to start focusing on eating right and exercising correctly, and any weight which is lost will be a by-product of gaining your health back. Focusing too much on weight-loss will be problematic later on.

I recommend eating:
Meats, especially grassfed and pastured ruminants (Beef, lamb, wild game), although conventional meats will suffice if they are all you can afford
Fish
Eggs
Seafood
Green leafy and colorful vegetables
Berries
Low-sugar dairy, especially raw pastured dairy if you can manage to find it, unsweetened yogurt
Nuts
Animal fats (beef tallow, bacon fat, butter, cream) + coconut oil + olive oil
Occasional sweet potatoes (if doing a heavy exercise routine)

Avoid:
Grains
Beans (except for green beans and sweet green peas)
Vegetable oils (corn, soybean, canola, sunflower, etc)
Sugars (including honey and other natural caloric sweeteners).

When your weightloss is complete and you are satisfied with your progress, you can add back in more fruit and sweet potatoes.

I will send you an e-mail, Heather, with some important attachments which can help give you more information. Feel free to respond to this if you have any further questions.

[Jonathan Randall]

First off, welcome to the forum.

One thing that has helped me is to have a can of nuts by my desk. Nuts are filled with great stuff for the body, and if you can munch on them, you will find yourself less likely to grab a bag of potato chips or a candy bar from the vending machine.

[ThisMomsLife]

Thank you both for your replies! David, I received your email. Again, thank you! That will keep me busy for a while.

I picked up another book yesterday that I haven't seen discussed here yet:

Why Women Need Fat: How "Healthy" Food Makes Us Gain Excess
Weight and the Surprising Solution to Losing It Forever by William D. Lassek and Steven J.C. Gaulin. I tried to add a link, but I must be on some restrictions or moderation since I'm new to the forum. Sorry about that!

I'm feeling pretty rough today and I'm pretty sure I won't make it to kickboxing.

[Rasputin]

There can indeed be an adjustment period while your body switches over to burning fats and ketones for energy instead of primarily sugars. Some call this the "low-carb flu". Some things which can help this go smoother or more quickly:

Plenty of water

Increase fat intake, especially of short-and-medium-chain fats such as butter and coconut oil (although this can cause stomach distress in some people while bile production is upregulating)

Increasing exercise levels, regardless of the lack of energy. This will have a pushing through "the wall" effect not unlike that experienced by endurance athletes.

Bone broth

I'll check out the book.

[Sorros]

Low Carb Flu. I like it.

There can indeed be an adjustment period while your body switches over to burning fats and ketones for energy instead of primarily sugars. Some call this the "low-carb flu". Some things which can help this go smoother or more quickly:

Plenty of water

Increase fat intake, especially of short-and-medium-chain fats such as butter and coconut oil (although this can cause stomach distress in some people while bile production is upregulating)

Increasing exercise levels, regardless of the lack of energy. This will have a pushing through "the wall" effect not unlike that experienced by endurance athletes.

Bone broth

I'll check out the book.

[Rasputin]

Any updates, Heather?

[De_Franza]

I took too long editing so I had to delete the first one


Welcome Heather!
Couple years ago I dropped about 30 pounds. YOU CAN TOO! There's great advice to be had here. Sometimes, it's very technical (no dis) and so here's my simple advice, FWIW

I suggest trying one or two changes at a time:
1) replace one or two beverages a day with water. (if you have already stopped drinking anything that's not water, drink more water!) (The 8 glasses a day is not a shoe that fits everyone... I think your weight in ounces or something like that is better... anyone?)

2) No white foods; white bread, white sugar, white rice, potatoes, beans (the insides are white, work with me).... see how these are all starches on David's list?

3) Walk more. You don't have to set aside an hour right away, just stop using the elevator and park at the far corner of the parking lot is a great place to start. You can march in place during TV commercials and once an hour at your deskjob, get up and walk around a little. Pretend you smoke if you have to, but if you just say, "I'm taking better care of myself" who would stop you?

4) Lean natural meats are your friend; like kosher chicken, or grass fed beef (again no expert, but my understanding is that grain fed beef basically makes an overweight fatty cow with messed up hormones and diabetes... garbage in, garbage out. Cow eat grass, not corn). Beef jerky is a good snack, though you'll want an extra glass of water to wash out the extra salt.

5) Yes, the carb cravings are tough at first. I struggle with them. If you must have a treat, have like, one hershey's kiss. Moderation, portion control and all that. I sometimes go berzerk and eat a whole sleeve of cookies. Then i throw out all the others and I'm good after a week or three and we can have more in the house for guests and whoever.

6) remember it's a process and it's a long one, a lifestyle change, not a 90 Day Program, so baby steps forward are progress and stumbles backward are ok.

7) this sounds too simple but it worked for me: Put half as much food on your plate when you dish it out and when you eat put your fork down between bites, and make sure to chew a lot more. This slows you down so by the time you clear your plate, you may feel fuller. Then, wait 10 minutes before seconds. You may feel full and skip the seconds. And if you don't feel full, you'll be sure you really are hungry for the seconds (seconds and thirds are ok if you really do need them)

Aside: A book from Deepak Chopra (I'll look up the title later) suggests this: Spend two weeks only eating when you are actually hungry not just because it's "time to eat". Again, this sounds too simple, but wow did it work for me! I grew up in a clean-your-plate-there-are-starving-children-in-china household so I sort of lost touch with my real hunger, so that really helped me reconnect to it.

Oh yeah, Greek yogurt is great! protein rich and lean. a dab of honey to sweeten and I'm full for like, 3 hours.

And please believe you can do it, because you can and you deserve to!