"Doug Lerner" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:But I'm very frustrated and really just don't know what do to anymore...
doug
I realize from your prior postings that you are battling with low-cal
vs. low-carb. Here are a few reasons why I continue with low-carb, as well
as some helpful things I did to keep myself on it, especially in the
beginning.
Reasons to continue
My acid reflux is totally gone since low-carbing.
My cholesterol is now in normal range.
Blood pressure is 120/78, down from 136/86.
I don't starve while I'm low-carbing.
I've lost 30lbs and have maintained my weight within 3lbs either way for
the past 6 months.
I've lost my fear of eating fat for energy.
My joints don't ache anymore.
I feel more mobile.
Although I never felt highly energetic, I never felt really low energy
either. A welcome change from before.
Having more endurance.
Feelings of being able to control my diet rather than the other way
around.
Compliments from friends and family.
Things that helped me
Planning what I was going to eat the day before.
Deciding what I could eat and sticking only to those foods.
Keeping small baggies of nuts or beef jerky with me in case I was hungry
when I went out.
Not eating or drinking anything sweet tasting like diet coke or foods
sweetened with sugar substitutes.
Avoiding low-carb labeled foods.
Switching pop for soda water or green tea.
Eating mostly only meat and vegetables for lunch and supper.
Not swaying from diet because of peer pressure, for whatever reasons
they give.
Reading lots of articles to learn why refined carbs are not good for me.
Reading other people's low-carb success stories.
When I felt hungry between meals, I would eat 1 ounce of cheese or a
small handful of nuts.
The hardest part of the diet in the beginning, was watching other people
eat all kinds of good tasting foods, while realizing that I could not
partake in the same foods. I could honestly say that I never felt like I was
starving, but I did feel a sense of loss for the foods that I use to enjoy.
But since I've been eating low-carb for a fairly long time and enjoying
greater health because of it, I enjoy the way I'm eating more and more. Many
of my co-workers have asked me why I continue eating this way since I don't
need to lose anymore weight. Originally, I was only going to do low-carb
until I got to my goal weight. But I wasn't expecting all the other health
benefits. My ideas of proper nutrition has changed quite a bit since last
year. The biggest change in thinking was finding out that protein and fat
are necessary, but carbs are not. Before, I thought that fats were not
needed because the body can make it's own cholesterol.
I finally came to the conclusion that if I were living 100,000 years ago,
the only things I could find to eat were meat and whatever edible plants I
could find. Fruits would have been seasonal and a lot smaller and less
sweet. High starch foods would have been a lot smaller in size and not as
tasty as well. Grains are tough to eat unless crushed and or cooked and they
must be gathered by hand first. The body would have had to work quite a bit
harder to extract the carbs from all the surrounding fiber of the available
plant foods. Sugar would only be available if I was willing to risk being
stung by bees. My only beverage would probably have been water or tea. The
refined starches and sugars of today's foods are simply too easy to digest
and cheap to make. The nutritionists claim that 60% of our calories should
come from these high carb foods. I think the best way to satisfy our
appetites is to emulate as much as possible the diets that we evolved to
eat, Not breads, french fries, and pastas.
I can totally understand what you are going through about the low fat
vs.low carb. Everyone is telling you to eat one way to be healthy, but you
need to lose weight and are willing to risk eating a different way to do it.
You fear that fat is bad for you and that carbs burn clean in your body and
make you feel better and is healthier. It takes a while to adjust your body
to eating low carb. When I first started, I felt strange because my energy
was coming mainly from fats and it wasn't what I was use to. Eating higher
carbs feels like your getting what you need, but you end up getting hungrier
soon after because of the blood glucose swings. After low carbing for about
a month, my body became well adjusted to the new way of eating. I still got
hungry, but I never felt starved, and thus was able to control my calorie
intake.
I know that I probably won't convince you to totally change the way you
eat. But I hope that my reflections can help you in finding a way of eating
that works for you. It's tough to know what to do with all the conflicting
reports and the way you actually feel as well. You'll have to experiment and
do lots of reading and body monitoring no matter what plan you come up with.
For me, this is the way I intend to eat the rest of my life, because it
works and it feels healthy. Good luck to you Doug.
Tom
210/180/180
