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Sorry if this was included in one of the many low carb questions over the last month.
Is there are progression that someone can use to work towards eating low carb?
I'm pretty much a carb addict and i'm sure its all psychological. If there is stepping method to lower the carbs or is cold turkey the best bet?
I know the benifits of low carb and some of the physiology involved (going to be learning more as i find it facinating) however i think my cooking and menu's aren't ready to be left on my own yet.
It's like any long term change to your diet...it's a long term change to your diet . Assuming you're looking at eating this way for the next 100 years...you've got some time to get it perfect. Personally I like to limit (exclude) certain things untill they're no longer a real temptation. Start off with no potato's(or soda, pasta, whatever)...keeping in mind not to substitute the potatoes with something else that you're not going to eat. After you're living normal move on to something else.
Some people do good cold turkey, yay for them. Whatever works for you...at the end of the 100 years I'm not sure it'd really matter too much if it took 1 day or 1 year to make the swapover.
low carb generally means no starchy vegi's and for me (just a personal thing) to sub potato's (a staple food in my world) is a huge step in the overall daily eating habits.
My diet is and has been closer the Adams than Atkins. But I did do the two week 'induction', 20 or less carbs a day. I had been eating 4-500 grams of carbs a day as well as lots of veggies, fruit and protein. (yes I was quite overweight). Induction may have a physiological aspect but for certain, many of us need to get over the mind set that tons of carbs are what we need to be healthy (per the old gov't food pyramid) or happy.
What I did during those two weeks, and following as I upped carbs a little, was to replace favorite carbs with other healthier foods. Spaghetti sauce is good on: string beans, lentils, spaghetti squash, Dreamfield Pasta. Low carb cheese cake is a super treat. Over in recipes I just posted my low carb chocolate candy (which for me is a real appetite reducer if I have one, about a hundred calories, an hour before dinner.
Everyone needs to come up with their replacement treats to the old carb thing we were used to. You do not want to feel deprived. I no longer mourn (not an overstatement) for what I don't eat, and I have new lists of comfort food for when I'm hungry for treats - including meats and protein, fatty things, and some low carb replacements of formerly hi carb snack.
My last addition is harvesting berries, sour cherries, and making no sugar jam. An open faced peanutbutter and jam sandwich on Sara Lee bread is half a carb serving, a fruit serving (I pile it on thick), and a nut serving.
Sorry if this was included in one of the many low carb questions over the last month.
Is there are progression that someone can use to work towards eating low carb?
I'm pretty much a carb addict and i'm sure its all psychological. If there is stepping method to lower the carbs or is cold turkey the best bet?
I know the benifits of low carb and some of the physiology involved (going to be learning more as i find it facinating) however i think my cooking and menu's aren't ready to be left on my own yet.
Thanks.
What carbs are you addicted to and which ones do you think you can live without?
Assess the situation slowly, but do make the move towards less carbs, and more fats and proteins.
Great advice, Cass. I would add that switching to low-carb is typically not an overnight thing. Many people try it, lose some fat, and then "fall off the wagon." After they gain some weight back, they decide to try it again. This time, they do better, but often backslide a little. But perhaps not totally. So the next time they go full-on low-carb, it's even easier. And then they realize that they feel a lot better than they do when they're eating lots of carbs. Everyone that decides to stick with a low-carb diet probably has that moment of revelation, where they suddenly achieve adaptation, and it all comes together. That day came for me when I realized that I don't get canker sores on a low-carb diet. From the time I was a kid, if I bit my lip, canker sore; if I got a cold (immunity was down), canker sore; if I got stressed, canker sore. Happened all the time, and it was miserable. Funny thing is, you get used to it and it's just a part of life. But take away carbs, and I can bite my tongue and nothing--it just heals. I didn't notice this at first--after going back and forth on a low-carb diet to average American diet, etc. Then one day it hit me: No carbs, no canker sores. Realizing this was great motivation to stay with the diet, and then I started to notice a bunch of other stuff--like having more energy, etc.
Now I've never seen a research study that reported this, but I think that carbs, and particularly sugar, make canker sores grow. It makes sense as 1) insulin is a growth hormone, and 2) tumors feed on sugar--so why not mouth ulcers?
I just spent an entire day following Dr. Mary Vernon (author of the Atkins Diabetes Revolution) around at her clinic, speaking to her patients, reading their charts, and picking her brain. It was an amazing experience to see how lives are literally changed by taking out carbs. And every one of her patients echoed the idea that it's a process converting to a low-carb lifestyle, not a switch you flip.
Dr. Vernon obviously works with a lot of diabetics, but one of the most interesting things I learned is that prediabetes often shows up as high blood pressure first, long before it manifests itself in a measurement of fasting blood sugar. The mechanism for how carbs cause high blood pressure is interesting: They raise blood sugar quickly, which in turn releases a flood of insulin, which in turn causes blood sugar to crash. That signals the release of epinephrine, which stimulates the sympathetic nervous system. This causes blood vessels to constrict, which raises blood pressure.
So if you have chronic high blood pressure, it could be that it's the carbs, and that you also don't tolerate them well. Interestingly, my BP used to be 140/90 in my 20s, when I ate a high-carb diet. Now, in my 30s and eating low-carb, it's 115/75.
What's most amazing is that many of the patients I talked to this week had been on high BP medication, and STILL had high BP. However, once they went on a ketogenic diet, their blood pressure came down to normal, and they were able to discontinue their meds altogether. And this seems to happen almost immediately. (One study recently showed that simply replacing 8% of your calories from carbs with protein from RED MEAT lowers BP.)
For anyone who wants to learn about the value of low-carb diets for your health, I HIGHLY recommend Dr. Vernon's book as she has years of clinical experience--and knowledge of the scientific lit as good as anyone I've met. (Also, all the research she cites, and there's a lot of it, is referenced with a complete chapter-by-chapter bibliography.)
Last edited by Adam Campbell : 08-12-2006 at 04:54 PM.
I tried moving my starchy carbs to after workout like Dr. Berardi suggests. I found myself really craving that meal but after i'd eaten it i'd crash (think it was blood sugar levels). If i have a few carbs at each meal i don't tend to get that.
Whats a good way to add fats? I think the times of tried cutting out all carbs mean't that i cut carbs but didn't replace the calories with fat or protein.
Would having 3 low carb days a week, then 4 then 5, etc be a good way to taper into low carb lifestyle?
I find that during the week eating relatively low carb, ie majority of my carbs come from vegetables and some fruit. Is much easier than on the weekends when you are out with your friends or at parties when social aspects of our society push us towards the wonderful carb.
I have practically no issues cutting processed carbs out and following an outline such as the "Adam's Diet" is pretty easy apart from the social aspects.
I am anxious to try some of Johnka's protein bars since the calories come from nuts and protein sources unlike commercial bars.
Still not convinced about cutting out oatmeal though...
__________________ 2009: No races, No times. Slow year. So, now you're 96 cals short. You're now in starvation mode. Doomed. - LostDog
Blog entry: November 1, 2009, Pancakes LiveSTRONG daily plate log
Off topic slightly: Is V8 (the fruit and veg juice) something that i can have with low carb eating. A 250ml serving has 23.7g carb but are they good carbs as they come from fruit and veg or would they be processed crap?
What's most amazing is that many of the patients I talked to this week had been on high BP medication, and STILL had high BP. However, once they went on a ketogenic diet, their blood pressure came down to normal, and they were able to discontinue their meds altogether. And this seems to happen almost immediately. (One study recently showed that simply replacing 8% of your calories from carbs with protein from RED MEAT lowers BP.)
Thank you for sharing this with us Adam. I find this extremely interesting. I've got high bp and for no apparent reason. It doesn't run in the family, I'm not overweight, and I'm only 32 years old. I'm on bp meds also. I followed your diet for about 3 months and have felt great and now I've just started (3rd day) Berardi's Get Shredded diet. It's an exercise in willpower and determination but I'm very anxious to see how my body reacts to such low carbs.
Josh, as long as the V8 is the veggie variety I think you'd be fine drinking it on the low carb diet. The fruit version I would try to avoid simply for the insulin (although be it natural) spike. I am by no means an expert, just my humble 2 cents.
Adam, so that's where you've been hiding! Sounds like you're learning a lot from Dr Vernon. I enjoyed meeting her in January at the low carb conference.
Adam has filled us in on the benefits of reducing our carbohydrate intakes. Another thing that it does is reduce our cravings for sweets and other high carb junk foods. It's funny, once you stop eating sweets, you don't want them anymore.... they're addictive! Same thing applies to other carb foods like pasta, white bread, and bakery products.
If anyone is interested BTW- an article I wrote on low-carb is out on MH website, keyword: perfect. It gives you 5 days of low-carb eating with all the macros and calorie breakdown. It's a plan that anyone can follow easily and improve their health and body comp.
[quote=JoshDunn]Whats a good way to add fats? I think the times of tried cutting out all carbs mean't that i cut carbs but didn't replace the calories with fat or protein.
Would having 3 low carb days a week, then 4 then 5, etc be a good way to taper into low carb lifestyle?
quote]
Sorry, just re-read this post of yours Josh.
I would ABSOLUTELY replace (increase) your good fat intake when lowering your carbs. Good whole food (fat) sources will increase your satiety which is a must if you plan to keep your sanity while going low carb.
Also I recall reading a good number of articles over the years in MH and MF that suggest cycling higher carb days with lower carb days is a definite plus in trying to get that hard, lean look. I would certainly vote "yes" in favor of this being a step in the direction of full on low carb.
Adam has filled us in on the benefits of reducing our carbohydrate intakes. Another thing that it does is reduce our cravings for sweets and other high carb junk foods. It's funny, once you stop eating sweets, you don't want them anymore.... they're addictive! Same thing applies to other carb foods like pasta, white bread, and bakery products.
Ugh. Exactly how long does this take anyway! :p I'm struggling.
If anyone is interested BTW- an article I wrote on low-carb is out on MH website, keyword: perfect. It gives you 5 days of low-carb eating with all the macros and calorie breakdown. It's a plan that anyone can follow easily and improve their health and body comp.
Thanks Cass. Found it but haven't read it as i'm running off to soccer.
I still find low carb hard. It's hard not to have those carbs. Them's tasty.
I do okay on the weekdays, when I have work to distract me.
What does this have to do with your post, Josh? I don't know.
Anyhow, I ate the Testosterone Advantage Plan style for about a year. I think it really helped with the next step. At first, TAP sure seemed like a lot of meat and fat. But, now, that's nothing.
Toward the end of that year, before jumping onto Adam's Diet, I found myself giving up bread, rice, and pasta, for more veggies. Once you realize how much more satisfying veggies are than starchy carbs, it's an easier choice.
Cassandra i read your perfect meal plan at mens health and liked it alot.
Few questions:
There seems to be alot of carbs in there. 220ish g i counted on one day. Is that a low carb plan or more healthy eating?
Now i just did the macro's of what i eat and came up with 140g carb a day. Would that be low enough.
My only starchy carbs are a whole wheat wrap and a whole grain piece of bread. The rest of the carbs come from veges.
If that sounds alright i might stick with that plan and throw in some of those meals you listed for some variety.
Thanks for sharing this Adam!
One reason most of my clients have stayed on low carb is because they don't go down with colds and flus. I read a study way back about how low carb changed the acidity of the muscous lining of your nose and stopped bacteria and viruses there, I will look for it. Also, I train a doctor who's been on low carb for 18 months now, lost over 80 lbs; her whole ward had tuberculosis, all the nurses and doctors tested positive; she was the only one who didn't get sick and they still can't figure it out, that was a neat. Milko had a chronic becterial infection in his nose that completely disappeared (no simptoms at all). I have really bad genetics when it comes to tooth heath, my teeth would get 10-13 new cavities a year before. Since low carb, I only have to replace older fillings and inlays, no new cavities. If I sit and think about it, we all have better health in one aspect or another. I was rereading Dr Price's book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, our expriences echo his observatons from 80 years go.
Galya, Weston Price's observations are amazing in light of the nutrition advice that is passed down now. How did he know so much more about healthy eating back then? Why was it all forgottend.
This seems to happen over and over again.
For instance, Joslin was using low-carb diets as a therapy for diabetes before they invented insulin. Once insulin came along, doctors simply started treating the symptoms and not the cause.
And Dr. Atkins observed many of these same things, but his findings were rejected--for a variety of reasons, including fear.
One thing maybe people should think about is this: Why would doctors and researchers want to put themselves/reputations for low-carb if they aren't simply compelled to do it by the research and science? It would be much easier to go with the mainstream. But people like Cass, Jeff Volek, Dr. Vernon, Eric Westman, Richard Feinman, and Steve Phinney are, in my experience, far beyond most experts. How do I know? If anyone cares, I'll explain it in another post (I've thought a lot about it), but it's the same reason that I knew Bill Hartman was a genius the first time I read a few of his message board posts here at JP Fitness. Here's a guy who was on Alwyn Cosgrove's level (again, an expert Lou just happened to find at an NSCA conference, I think, and immediately recognized greatness), but no one except JP and a few lucky members (what was membership back then, 400?) had ever heard of him. Yet he knows more than any expert you'll ever see on TV--and that's using just 10 percent of his knowledge.
Anyway, I digress.
The biggest thing with carbs that people don't realize is the effect hyperglycemia (and/or hyperinsulinemia) have on increasing inflammation. This is can lead to many different serious maladies. Plus, in many people, high carb diets lead to other problems that seem less serious (ie boils, gout) but are symptoms of a carb tolerance issue which may ultimately manifest itself as diabetes. By the way, a lot of people think low-carb diets cause gout, but it's the other way around. However, because of the high uric acid levels when low-carb is initiated, gout hurts worse and might even seem to appear on low-carb--but it was there to begin with. This goes away fairly quicly on low-carb, but it's so painful most people stop. The real problem is that they don't have a doctor who's knowledgable enough to know how to treat it when it happens (besides saying, Go off low-carb). I saw a really good example of this when I was with Dr. Vernon.
I'll echo the part about not getting sick on very low-carb. You don't think about it until someone brings it up. But last winter, my wife mentioned a couple of times how I didn't get sick even though everyone in our office, including her, was sick at least twice. That's completely anecdotal, but it's why it's useful to monitor all kinds of stuff when you change your diet or exercise program. That is, stuff like mood, any illness, energy levels, etc.
Lost Dog: The hardest part of low-carb is the knowledge that there are these other foods out there that taste really good, and that you can't eat. I think this is why the motivation needs to come from beyond body composition. After all, at a certain point, how much are six-pack abs really worth to most of us--especially as we get older? Which is probably why most people find a "moderate" balance--cutting back on grains/flour-based foods, but not eliminating them all together. I'll completely agree with Cass that all my cravings go away once I get adapted to low-carb. You simply don't have that fluctuation in blood sugar, and the ketones help, too.
Last edited by Adam Campbell : 08-13-2006 at 06:37 AM.
Have you read the Paleo Diet or Paleo Diet for Athletes? I've read the latter. It's mostly endurance athlete based, but still a good read.
He does a pretty good job of explaining blood acidosis in that book. Between Berardi's "Covering Nutritional Bases" and that book, I'm pretty convinced that blood acidosis plays a pretty big part in many chronic problems that we experience.
The problems aren't necessarily direct problems, sort of a chain reaction. Chronic inflammation in the body may lead to those cold sores and susceptibility to illness (maybe things like cancer and diabetes). If your body only has so many resources and they are busy fighting off those little nagging issues, do they have the "energy" to fight off the big things that suddenly pop up?
Also, the osteoporosis issue is a big one to me. How much extra calcium can we shovel into our bodies? Most people have plenty in their diets. The problem is that our bodies release calcium from our bones to stave off chronic blood acidosis. Keep that up and bones get thin and brittle over time. How about we stop eating all the acid producing foods without corresponding base foods to keep our balance in check? You can eat a ton of meat (acid) if you eat a ton of veggies (base), too. But, drop the veggies and add in more grains (acid again) and you're in a world of hurt.
Quick, eat another piece of cheese for that calcium! Oh, wait. Cheese is on the acid side! Darn it. We're doomed.
How about slowing the grains, sugars, and starches and increasing the veggies? That's the recipe to be still standing up straight when you're old!
Cassandra i read your perfect meal plan at mens health and liked it alot.
Few questions:
There seems to be alot of carbs in there. 220ish g i counted on one day. Is that a low carb plan or more healthy eating?
Now i just did the macro's of what i eat and came up with 140g carb a day. Would that be low enough.
My only starchy carbs are a whole wheat wrap and a whole grain piece of bread. The rest of the carbs come from veges.
If that sounds alright i might stick with that plan and throw in some of those meals you listed for some variety.
Thanks heaps.
You're right, some of the days are a little high in carbs, relative to a very low carb diet plan, but I had to have some of those meals like that to appease the gods at MH.
However, you have to look at the total carbs minus the fiber to get the true amount of carbs that you're taking in. Also, to modify the diet to be a little lower in carbs, take out the carb additions such as the bread, and some of the fruit options. For the Monday breakfast, you can make the cereal even lower in carbs by using Fiber One cereal instead which has 14g of fiber per serving, and not adding the raisins.
Josh, can you just write out a sample day of what you eat? Also, include your supplements (fish oil, etc) and your calculation of calories and macros. That will help me to see if you're doing the diet correctly.
Ugh. Exactly how long does this take anyway! :p I'm struggling.
If you're doing a ketogenic diet, the adaptation can be anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 weeks. But, by 6, you'll be fine.
If you're just doing a moderate to low carb diet, you have to make sure you don't add sweets in before at least 2 full weeks of being strict with the diet, otherwise you'll relapse and crave sweets and carbs with a passion.
Two weeks is the minimum... the longer you keep consistent with the plan, the better.
Here is an introduction to the paleo diet by Dr. Ben Balzer. He has some interesting information about beans, grains and potatoes. I believe that Loren Cordain has this same information in his books. Just a couple more reasons to eliminate these foods.
I am wondering about Adam and Cassandra's take on the "antinutrient" aspects of these foods.
The one carb source from grains I still eat a lot of is oatmeal. I typically add boiling water to it and let it sit for a few minutes. Am I doing myself a large injustice by not cooking it enough?
Og.
__________________ 2009: No races, No times. Slow year. So, now you're 96 cals short. You're now in starvation mode. Doomed. - LostDog
Blog entry: November 1, 2009, Pancakes LiveSTRONG daily plate log
Before low carbing my cooking hobby was an important part of my life. In particular, baking artisan style bread was a big deal, and I was good at it. Also I was never without five or six kinds of rice, two kinds of corn meal, two of potatoes, several kinds of flour. I was not a dessert maker, had only two or three specialty dessert, made them less than once a month. When I started low carbing I had to totally revamp my cooking. And make every carb count - it had better have great taste, good mouth feel, and contribute to my all over meal satisfaction, otherwise off to the trash can.
One of the things I have discovered is that sweets are a little more important to me than they were in my high carb days. This seems counter intuitive, but I think I am on the right track. Obviously our bodies evolved to seek after and exploit sweetness, most often via fruit. So how do you satisfy that taste, and stay generally below 50 carbs? The first thing I did was to become a pop drinker, my favorite was Diet Rite Raspberry, for the first six months quite a bit, tapering down to a few a month now. Berries were next, high flavor, low calory -because they don't have all that much sugar. Eat them straight, or with whipped cream, and with no sugar pectin available often my fruit serving for the day is jammy. Then I came up with some pumpkin, chocolate, or cheesecake sorts of things. I'm still a dessert person only a couple times a week, but this greatly reduces a sense of deprivation knowing that those sorts of things are still available to me. Rob
I'm the same way. I use to pass on sweats for more food. I made my own bread and tortillas. Specialized in homemade Chinese and Mexican foods.
I was the "go to guy" for Thanksgiving and Christmas meals. Now, I can easily pass on the potatoes, rice, beans, and bread. But, the tray of brownies and cheesecake calls to me. Heaven help me if there's sweet potatoe pie around...
I can make a pretty tasty low carb cheesecake (walnut crust), but that just means that I'll eat way to much of it and get fat on too much healthy food. Darn it.
This link is to a mostly paleo site, but it is loaded with links to all kinds of information that anyone interested in nutrition could use. Especially all you low-carbers.
Lost Dog - Cheese cake freezes well, if you defrost it and refresh it in the oven. And half defrosted it is not unlike a fancy icecream. Makes it easier for the three of us to make that cake last for a week. Rob
progressing towards low carb
. Assuming you're looking at eating this way for the next 100 years...you've got some time to get it perfect. Personally I like to limit (exclude) certain things untill they're no longer a real temptation. Start off with no potato's(or soda, pasta, whatever)...keeping in mind not to substitute the potatoes with something else that you're not going to eat. After you're living normal move on to something else.
Linear Mode
