Low-carb diets support thread

Edwardia

Sheila54 thanks - the supermarket websites normally plus leaflets and am signed up to emails for offers. Got an email from Morrisons which listed some offers and gave a link to pages on the website where they are listed.

B - skipped
L - Quorn chicken-style slices, Budgens classic bagged salad, Budgens tzatziki, Delphi avocado hummus dip, cucumber, beetroot
D - roasted Gressingham quail, green salad, The Co-operative Totally Irresistible coleslaw - my favourite

sistercas -well done !!

mazzers - meat, poultry, fish and milk all high in potassium so I'm confused by this.

focus888

I confess i went offplan over the weekends. Had bread, crisps etc didnt even enjoy it though. I just ate it because it was convenient and there. Wont be doing that again as have gained like 5lbs in 2 days. Even as i ate it just didnt live up to my memory of the taste. Lesson learnt. Back on track yesterday and today. I guess it does my body good to sometimes shake it up abit so its not in a routine but wont be eating offplan again for awhile x

Edwardia

I'm not on a diet whereby I can lose a certain amount of weight and then go back and eat bread crisps etc. I cannot process carbs so I have to avoid them as much as poss for life.

Heinz sandwich spread 2.3g per dessertspoon.. I have been known to plonk this on salad as a change from mayonnaise.

bossymoo how did the weigh-in go ?

Fenugreek (methi) leaves/seeds - anyone used these ?

SHEILA54

Edwardia - It confuses me as one website says that we need 2000mg a day and another 4700mg. Fitday bases its estimation on 4700 so I always end up with around 40% of their recommendation.

Thank you for all of the info, I usually look at mysupermarket to get deals but yours is more detailed.

Weighed today and lost precisely nothing I have been feeling rough this week so think I will up carbs a bit as it doesn't seem to make much difference and 20 is hard to keep to.

mazzers - sorry that you are feeling bad, hope that things get better soon!

focus888 - if I cheat, just a little, the weight piles back on but it goes once I count properly. I think that, for me, this has to be a lifetime choice.

Edwardia

I've some questions for all those low carbing purely to lose weight out of curiosity. If you don't mind answering that would be great. This is entirely unofficial, I'm not doing any research. If you don't want to answer, that's fine too.

So.. compared to other diets you've tried, is low carbing more difficult or easier ie is it easier to count calories or stick to rigid menu plan or is going without bread and pasta the thing that gets you ?

When you've lost the weight you want to lose, will you go back to eating as you did, will you mostly low carb, low carb or just eat what you want until you put a lot of weight on ?

The reason I ask is because I have to do it, to be healthier without taking more drugs and I'm lucky I guess because I have no craving for iced buns or cheesecake or Mars bars. So I want to understand more where you're all coming from to low carbing and see it more from your points of view

Sheila54 I would check on the USDA website for US nutritional guidelines as maybe American guidelines re potassium differ to UK/EU ones ?? Websites which are aimed at people with diabetes may also go for lower levels of potassium because some people with diabetes cannot process potassium properly. People with diabetes are advised not to take LoSalt according to the packaging.

daska

Potassium - found a reference, yes, the US guideline is 4,700mg

And if anyone is feeling sluggish and they've cut out grains it might be worth checking if it's your B vits that are lacking. Richard Bernstein recommends "If you're following a low-carbohydrate diet and exclude these from you meal plan,you should eat some bran crackers, bean sprouts, spinach broccoli, brussels sprouts, or cauliflower each day. If you do not like vegetables or bran crackers, you might take a B-complex capsule or a multivitamin/mineral capsule each day." Beet greens and avocado are also good sources apparently. And seeing as he's been doing low carb for his Type 1 diabetes since 1970 I guess he probably knows what he's talking about LOL

SHEILA54

Potassium for UK is 3500mg and, according to fitday I seem to get about 2000mg. I think that Canada sets as 4700mg.

Firstly, I think that I am really lucky as I am not diabetic and it seems to be difficult for a lot of you.

I had never considered low carb before last year but have had little permanent success with other diets and this has really worked. I lost 1 stone in the first 2 weeks. I now realise that I must have a problem with carbs and this is why I didn't lose weight before and now, if I increase them I start to gain weight. I find it harder than other diets as there are more restrictions but I will stick to it as I don't want to gain the weight that I have lost. I would prefer to lose a bit more but I will allow myself the occasional 25g treat when I reach the weight that I want to be as I know that I can lose any weight gained by lowering the carb allowance again. I also have halved the amount of Omeprazole that I need to take as my stomach is more stable.

daska - Thank you for your advice. I do take a multivitamin supplement but I seem to get enough of most of the B range anyway and more B12 than I need from my diet alone. I am also low in calcium and am working on it. Have changed my multivitamin today to include iodine as I my thyroid is struggling apparently so maybe that will help. I just wonder why I don't feel as well as when I first started but I'm ok. Wish that I could take off more weight as I'd like to lose another 2 stone but it is becoming really hard and I have been feeling sluggish on 20 carbs this week. My urine has ketones +++ so maybe it is that.

I'd be really interested to hear other people's experiences as well.

daska

Oh well, I guess it was worth mentioning as a possibility, it might help someone else.

Edwardia - My first experience of low-carb diets was mum going on Cambridge. At the time I was underweight and she tried to get me to take it as a supplement. Yeuch that stuff was nasty. Later, when I put weight on I tried it but the side effects were very unpleasant, the std nausea, headaches etc - which I haven't had since finding out about the need to eat extra salt. Anyway I gave up pretty quickly. A few years later I tried Atkins but I couldn't stick with it. Having grown up vegetarian and never learned to cook meat I found my diet very restricted and I got put off by the constant criticism from friends and colleagues telling me I couldn't cut out macronutrients without destroying my liver/kidney/heart/lean muscle/you name it etc. And I guess I believed it because I certainly never viewed it as more than a short term weightloss measure at that point. Now obviously it's different, I know my insulin sensitivity is impaired, I know I'm at risk of developing diabetes and I have the knowledge and confidence to argue back - there's nothing like using 7 syllable + medical terms and knowing which foods you can get your vits and mins from for persuading people to back off. I know people are expecting me to give up when I've lost the weight but it ain't going to happen. I will relax it a little at a time to see what I can get away with without either gaining weight or compromising my blood sugars but I don't ever want to get back into ravening kitchen raider mode.

Edwardia

I was a vegetarian for eleven years then married a meat eater. I bought my mother a copy of Rose Elliot's low carb vegetarian cook book as she wanted to cook for us when I go see her (she's a vegetarian) and I'm still waiting lol.

It constantly surprises me how much ranting I get and how jealous my relies get if they think I'm getting special treatment when we eat out.

I have to go meet OH from train to hit supermarket now but thank you both for sharing and I'll post more when I get back xx

Mercy

Hi all!

After being ill I'm now back at work - it's great!

My dietary habits have changed somewhat though. This is mainly because I wasn't doing much and didn't feel hungry.

Today
B - Grapefruit
L - ham salad
Eve - chicken, tomatoes, pecans
extras - about 300ml ff goats milk.

I'm getting a kick out of being hungry when I eat. I've not weighed yet but my face / chin / neck doesn't seem as at one as it usually does

I haven't eaten fruit for a long time but I'm really enjoying the grapefruit.

Don't quite know where this leaves me lc wise but I'm seeing how it goes. I've been seriously LC for over 6 months (xmas excluded) and my weight has been stable. Maybe shaking things up a bit will help.

When I find I'm bored of grapefruit I will go back to meat and cheese for brekkie.

Edwardia I've been lc for a couple of years at least now and would never go back. I have a wheat intolerance at minimum but do feel better if I ignore gluten altogether. I do eat chips on occasion and my sister's cakes as it would be churlish and sad not to. (she's v good) but the cakes appear no more than 1ce a month and portion control is in my hands

I love this WOEating and although I could do to lose a stone, my current clothes fit ok and I look good when I can be bothered

Mx