A new 'tougher' thread... and so it continues

BitterAndTwisted

I have a problem with carbs. Well, not actually a real problem per se but I find that I crave them and therefore eat quite a lot if them. I dunno whether it's doing bad things for my blood-sugar levels but I try to eat complex ones as much as possible but sometimes only a nice slice of freshly-baked bread and butter will do.

I saw a few pages back that Approved Food was mentioned. I have done a rather rash thing: I placed an order for all sorts of very inexpensive but useful things at the beginning of last week, like the Granose soup mix at two kilos for a quid (actually there were three different kinds and I ordered some all three). What have I done now? Placed another order for things which weren't available last week. My secret food-hoard is taking over the spare bedroom now. I need to stop and eat my way through some of this before things get completely out of hand. I think having very little money is part of it. The hoard makes me feel safe somehow. And I enjoy finding, ahem, "different" ways of using them.

Oh, and I hit some charity shops yesterday and all I came away with was a sweet little much-needed Pyrex pie plate for 25 pence. Hey, big spender!

rinabean

It's not carbs that are the problem, it's lack of vegetables. People get the same results on Atkins or Dukan as they do on a 80-10-10 vegan diet, because they all are, despite the faddish presentations, totally focused on eating more veg. It's not the low protein or high protein, low fat or high fat, meat or no meat, or the same people couldn't get the same results with both, could they? But fad diets are very dangerous, no matter who's peddling them. Never cut out or severely reduce your intake of any food group unless you have a really good reason (ie, a doctor told you to after you were tested for something, or you have an ethical/religious stance against it). "5 a day" should be your minimum standard, not the ultimate goal! The portions are much smaller than you'd expect, and there's no need to follow the silly rules about an apple only counting once a day. (And if you are having blood sugar problems bad enough for you to actually notice, please get tested for diabetes!! That's not normal! I only feel light-headed if I've not eaten and drank for hours and have exerted myself somehow, or bled heavily. Chocolate bars or crisps do not have that affect on healthy people!)

I find the "breakfast like a king..." thing works for me. I don't often want very much in the morning, but I try and make myself eat as much as I can without actually forcing it down. Just have to make sure it's something appetising, or I wouldn't eat until 11, which is no good and leaves me like a zombie.

I think the problem with cereals is that they're low in calories. They all have "only 3.5 calories per gallon!!" or whatever emblazoned on the sides, and low-calorie is not what you want for breakfast, unless you find the sound of your grumbling stomach melodious. A few portions of fruit helps - especially bananas.

And I'm really glad to hear about Bruno! :T

scrabbles_2

Mrs_Chip wrote: »

Our diet has far too many carbs in it to start with, so cutting some out and replacing with vegetables and protein is a good thing, it puts some balance back into the diet (and I don't do it either !). I think if we all ate a nutritionally balanced diet the majority of people would feel much better generally and would lose weight without trying. Anything that can be done to keep blood sugar levels even over the day has a beneficial effect on health, and it is the unadulterated injection of carbs in the form of donuts, chips or choc bars that cause the big fluctuations. Neither protein or fat have the same effect, and adding some to the mix reduces the effect a bit.

A small amount of carbs at the end of the day is said to help you sleep, so really we are eating our food totally the wrong way round - protein at the end of the day wakes you up!

Well, the fact is we're eating too much of most foods: too much saturates, too much fat, too much protein, too much carbs, too much junk with no nutritional value, and too much food overall! Not enough whole grain and not enough vegetables. People tend to get very defensive about their own choices. I don't want to start a debate about what people should be eating. It's none of my business. Diets are an emotive issue even if we're fine with our own choices - but any diet that separates food groups into 'good' and 'bad' makes me suspicious.

What makes me chuckle is the 'five a day' campaign. Five isn't a magic number, it's just the most that government and WHO advisors thought they could realistically persuade people to eat on a regular basis.

When I occasionally try to eat out, I hit real problems from restaurants who cannot or will not accomodate me, then go all holier-than-thou and lecture me that 'not all fat is bad', 'we all need some fats', and worst of all 'just have a night off and enjoy yourself, love'. But even simple leaf-salad usually comes with as much fat in the dressing as the average adult should eat in one day (I know, I'm the one playing with the dressing she asked for 'on the side', marvelling at how a salad could possibly be so unhealthy!) But at the same time most people I know would feel very virtuous if they stuck to the salad when eating out. The fact is, two tablespoons of oil is more than I can consume in a day without risking immediate, painful and life-threatening illness. So I just happen to know that most people eat more fat than they probably realise, because I'm hyper-aware of it.

EDITED TO ADD: cross-posted with Rinabean's excellent post!

scrabbles_2

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

I need to stop and eat my way through some of this before things get completely out of hand. I think having very little money is part of it. The hoard makes me feel safe somehow. And I enjoy finding, ahem, "different" ways of using them.

Oh, and I hit some charity shops yesterday and all I came away with was a sweet little much-needed Pyrex pie plate for 25 pence. Hey, big spender!

It makes any of us feel safe! It's the evolved version of 'must eat and build up fat reserves for winter', I think.

I would love to be able to find pyrex that cheap!

BitterAndTwisted

Eh, that Pyrex pie-plate was rather dirty (it isn't now) and I bartered. I think the lady felt sorry for me. It doesn't sit well with me to con something for not much from a charity shop but needs must. I was actually on the look-out for a couple of tea-plates but the only ones I saw were priced more than new ones from Wilkos because I checked and they had plain white ones for 65 pence each. So next time I'm out and about and have a quid spare I'll probably get those instead.

BigThelma

Thanks for the welcome guys. Just having a quick cuppa and a sit down while little man is napping. Ginnyknit, hope your knee isn't too painful and you get some rest. Smileyt, so glad Bruno is ok. We only have about 8 tins of tomatoes and they are on top of the cupboard where I can't reach, so they never get used! Thanks Scrabbles and Savingqueen, I hope I will be able to become a regular one day!

Interested in the carb discussion, when I was breastfeeding I suffered the most awful racing heart, sweats and jitters at night and once went 3 nights without any sleep at all. I thought I was going mad and thought it was PND but now I'm wondering if my diet had something to do with it. We ate a lot of rubbish like pizza, doughnuts and chocolate for a while. I found that the only thing that stopped the jitters was having something to eat so used to take cereal bars to bed. Thankfully that seems to have stopped now but it was very scary at the time.

Got a cat warming my lap at the moment, she has been a bit put out since little ones arrival as she's not allowed upstairs now so I'm trying to let her get as many cuddles as possible. Got to keep warm somehow!

prepareathome

rinabean wrote: »

(And if you are having blood sugar problems bad enough for you to actually notice, please get tested for diabetes!! That's not normal! I only feel light-headed if I've not eaten and drank for hours and have exerted myself somehow, or bled heavily. Chocolate bars or crisps do not have that affect on healthy people!):T

I am borderline diabetic, have been for quite few years now and was diabetic temporary through all my pregnancies. So far diet, when I am careful is keeping it at bay and if I can shift this extra weight I know that will help. My downfall is bread not chocolate, cake biscuits or sweets them I can go months without touching, but a nice loaf - worse now I only eat my home made, mum was the same, if like me she stopped eating bread the weight would fall off, but oh I find it hard to live without it, even worse craving than I ever had over cigarettes. Nothing in the world tastes like a nice slice of bread with just a smear of butter on it.

Right time to go and have my boobies squashed, such fun us woman get to have

grandma247

Bread was a real problem for me, even wholemeal. I still have a little bread but I use my very sharp knife and cut it very thin. I can have four slices instead of two and my brain seems to accept this.

I first had bad drops in blood sugar levels when I had my fourth baby. It started just before the birth after a long labour during which I was given two huge glucose injections and continued for quite a while afterwards. I always carried a digestive biscuit in my pocket when out shopping and ate it just before climbing the big hill to get home pushing the pram.

scrabbles_2

Homemade bread used to be my downfall too, though I could never stand shop-bought sliced. But bread without butter just isn't the same, so I eat very little of it these days. Dark rye Ryvita have become my saviour, which I eat with Marmite (no death threats please). You know they say you wither love or hate Marmite? Not true. I didn't used to like it (but I didn't really hate it), now I try to eat it because it's a good low-fat source of vit B12, and I kind of think it's okay (but I don't 'love' it).

Marketing, eh?

Mrs_Chip

Well, I can only speak from my experience, many years of dieting unsucessfully, and the only time I lost any weight was when I cut carbohydrates to a minimum. And having lost my mother to a stroke related to diabetes, and seen the dreadful way hers was managed by the NHS, I have spent an awful lot of time reading about the pros and cons of various diets, and the physiological reasons why LC helps control blood sugar levels (and the knock-on effect on appetite). My conclusions might not be right for everone, but may help some people who have struggled to lose weight to look at other options. I have put back most of, but not all of the weight I lost before (due to just scoffing what I want, not huge amounts, just what would be a normal diet to someone else), and know I will need to look at cutting carbs again. But I know, like stopping smoking, if I don't do it with total focus I will fail, so now is not the time.


Of course there are some people who have to follow a particular exclusive diet for health reasons, for some it needs to be low fat or low protein, for others low carb.

I'm going to stop on this subject now, I get very passionate about it because I know that if my mum had been able to control her blood sugar in the way I did when LCing, she may not have had all the horrible problems that made her so very unwell.

On a totally different note - Woo Hoo - I've got two 600 ml pots of whoopsied cream!!!