O.T. (Sort of): Food for Thought

Thanks for all the great info everyone; a ton of food for thought! Looks like I need to finally buy a barbecue...

Slarty, I'd still like you to consider me for hands training to get my cooking skills going...I can buy stuff at the supermarket...I think we live near each other, at least in SoCal!

So where are the best places in the OC to get Top Sirloin steaks?

Liz,

I did the same thing. Used to be very much into bread baking. Bought bread flour by the 50 lb bag. But after getting about halfway into Why We Get Fat, Gary's arguments made sense and what he wrote was in accord with everything I knew about physiology, so I went on a baking binge and used up all my supplies and gave away the loaves to my coworkers, neighbors and even to the birds.

Haven't converted anybody, and it's not my intent to. However the information is out there now and a lot of people are still not aware that there is an alternative.

Vader, the cravings went away for me immediately. I tried Atkins maybe 10 years ago, but I wasn't convinced at the time that dietary fat was OK so I inadvertently ended up with a low carb, low-fat diet. I lost some weight but I was ravenously hungry all the time as well. What more recent authors like Taubes and others have emphasized is that dietary fat is not to be avoided. In fact, Michael Eades advocates upping your fat intake if you're getting hungry eating the new way. I think I was so repulsed at the thought of what carbs were doing to my body, and since my mom and grandmother becoming diabetic at the age I am now, I suppose I might have been a little more motivated than some folks are to effect a change. However, if you are getting enough to eat, you won't be hungry on a low-carb diet. I have no problem skipping lunch. I ate dinner (microwaved previously-BBQed sirloin steak strips and mixed frozen veggies with cheese drizzled over them) yesterday at 4 pm as soon as I got home from work and wasn't especially hungry this morning. (Breakfast, handful of diced onions and bell peppers sauteed in butter, dump in two eggs and diced sausage) And that'll hold me just fine until lunch or later. If I find that's not enough, I add more cheese to the frozen broccoli in my lunch container.

Jeffster, I appreciate your confidence, but like I said, I eat like a dog. Simple and fast. No frills. The wife lives near Seattle, says I eat like a bachelor. I suppose I do. The books I and others have mentioned have specific meal plans and recipes in them. I especially like the Eades' books that I mentioned earlier. Mark's Daily Apple is also a great Paleo-style eating/lifetyle resource. Bythe way, I'm in Irvine.

LoQ wrote:

Slartybartfast wrote:And by the way, watch the chopped nuts. They have an awful lot of carbs in them.

Actually, nuts have been one of my best no-prep resources. A 1/4 cup of walnuts has only 2 g. of usable carbohydrate. I agree that almonds have more carbs in them, and people should be a little more careful counting carbs with almonds.

Because of their high fat and calorie content, nuts are a great addition to a low carb diet. This does not include peanuts or cashews, of course, which are not tree nuts, and have to be eaten more sparingly on a low-carb diet.

This really hurts my current diet per low carb goals. Peanuts are my main snack all day long and a big part of my evening meal with peanut butter. I thought I was in line with low carb there.

Also, my mixed nuts have the almonds and cashews, I snack on those (less than peanuts though) and have them as part of lunch. It is a big challenge to me to think about reducing peanuts, and almonds and cashews, and what to eat in instead. Please say it ain't so, I'm almost in denial!

Edit: Slarty, I just saw your post - I'm in Irvine too!

Slartybartfast wrote:
Vader, the cravings went away for me immediately. I tried Atkins maybe 10 years ago, but I wasn't convinced at the time that dietary fat was OK so I inadvertently ended up with a low carb, low-fat diet. I lost some weight but I was ravenously hungry all the time as well. What more recent authors like Taubes and others have emphasized is that dietary fat is not to be avoided. In fact, Michael Eades advocates upping your fat intake if you're getting hungry eating the new way. I think I was so repulsed at the thought of what carbs were doing to my body, and since my mom and grandmother becoming diabetic at the age I am now, I suppose I might have been a little more motivated than some folks are to effect a change. However, if you are getting enough to eat, you won't be hungry on a low-carb diet. I have no problem skipping lunch. I ate dinner (microwaved previously-BBQed sirloin steak strips and mixed frozen veggies with cheese drizzled over them) yesterday at 4 pm as soon as I got home from work and wasn't especially hungry this morning. (Breakfast, handful of diced onions and bell peppers sauteed in butter, dump in two eggs and diced sausage) And that'll hold me just fine until lunch or later. If I find that's not enough, I add more cheese to the frozen broccoli in my lunch container.

Thanks very much for your reply. I'm trying to give this low carb diet a try, but I'm feeling hungry all day. Funny thing is,recently I've been enjoying experimenting with a lot of homemade sourdough bread recipes! Of course all that had to be stopped, but maybe since my diet was so carb heavy, it will take me time to adjust to the current carb cravings.
I ordered some books on Amazon for low carb eating, so I'm sure they'll help me manage this.
Btw, my mom and grandmom both had diabetes at my age also.

If you're hungry, then eat more. Simple as that. But it's important, especially during the first couple of days to one week, to not cheat. Any carbs you ingest will interfere with the process your body is going through to switch to fat burning. That's the process Atkins referred to as Induction. We're like a multi-fuel engine. Carbs are the easiest source of calories for us to assimilate. One enzyme, amylase, converts carbs to glucose which are absorbed directly into the bloodstream. If carbs aren't available, the body burns glycogen stored in the liver and in muscle. Other enzymes from the liver and pancreas convert the glycogen into glucose. That takes a week or so, and it's a somewhat metabolically complicated process, so any carbs that come down your eso-phagus during that time quickly shut off the glycogenolysis machinery. Once the glycogen is gone, your carb reserves are depleted and you start burning fat and your hunger will abate. That's where you want to be.

My wife didn't understand that milk has LOTS of carbs in it in the form of lactose. She was craving milk, and, thinking it was OK to drink skim milk (that's the old "fat is evil" thinking that we revert to subconsciously) she was guzzling milk which was stalling her weight loss. Once I showed her the nutritional info on the label, the light popped on and she got past that craving. '

Again thanks, Slarty. You've answered a lot of my questions.

Slartybartfast wrote:.....Two months ago I gave it a whirl and am 30 pounds lighter without really even trying. So I began reading everything I could on the subject. Lots of videos on youtube, too, if you search on "low carb."

Good work - Usually folks who drop significant weight in a short time started at a high weight. Mind sharing what your starting weight was?

Thanks for the info - Jim

Oops- didn't notice three pages. If you've already answered I'll find it.

[quote="jimnsc]Good work - Usually folks who drop significant weight in a short time started at a high weight. Mind sharing what your starting weight was?
quote]

Sure. I'm 6'2" and was 286. I'm 259 this morning. Doc says 220 would be realistic goal considering my build. BMI guidelines say something stupid like 170. Yeah, right. I'd look like a marathon runner if I weighed that.

Vader wrote:Upon starting a low carb diet, anyone know how long it takes for the physical "carb cravings" to go away?

That's sort of like asking, "How long is a string?" It depends on the state of your metabolism, your ability to adapt, what you were eating before, what you eat on the new plan, activity, medication, etc.

You can make it easier on yourself by easing into the new diet. Change a little bit at a time, and your body will have time to adapt. Go straight from rice sandwiches, doughnuts, and soda to Atkins, and you'll have to eat a LOT of low-carb food to get up enough insulin to not feel like you're starving. I'm not sure of this information, but I think that even without insulin resistance your cells would need time to switch from a mostly carb metabolism to a mostly protein and fat metabolism. Fast change is a lot of stress on mind and body, and it's probably counter-productive for weight loss anyway.

Vader, The most counterintuitive part is all the fat that you will eat. About 70% of your calories will be fat. Too much protein will cause the same insulin response/fat storage as carbs. Fat is what satifies your hunger. Don't be afraid of it. I never dreamed I would be eating 700 calories of fat a day and losing weight.
Lard is 47% monounsaturated fat. We've been lied to, that's all.

Slartybartfast wrote: I'm 6'2" and was 286. I'm 259 this morning. Doc says 220 would be realistic goal considering my build. BMI guidelines say something stupid like 170. Yeah, right. I'd look like a marathon runner if I weighed that.

I'm 6', but my weight has recently crept up to about 185.(I wonder if the bread baking helped? ) If I could lose 20lbs, I'd be really impressed!

Vader wrote:

Slartybartfast wrote: I'm 6'2" and was 286. I'm 259 this morning. Doc says 220 would be realistic goal considering my build. BMI guidelines say something stupid like 170. Yeah, right. I'd look like a marathon runner if I weighed that.

I'm 6', but my weight has recently crept up to about 185.(I wonder if the bread baking helped? ) If I could lose 20lbs, I'd be really impressed!

You would probably do that just cutting out bread, starches, sugar and processed foods made with those... about all. The fat in the peanuts will slow down the absorbtion, so in moderation they probably won't bother you.

Lizistired wrote:Vader, The most counterintuitive part is all the fat that you will eat. About 70% of your calories will be fat. Too much protein will cause the same insulin response/fat storage as carbs. Fat is what satifies your hunger. Don't be afraid of it. I never dreamed I would be eating 700 calories of fat a day and losing weight.
Lard is 47% monounsaturated fat. We've been lied to, that's all.

Thanks for the tips.
Looks like I'm going to be enjoying some pork rinds tonight!

They are great scoops for tuna, mackeral and egg salads. They are also popular as a substitute for breading chickenor fish and baking it for a crispy coating.

I have been trying to get back on my low carb life style but being on a minuscule budget it is not easy. At least it is summer and I can afford to buy salad stuff and eat it with canned sardines, tuna or the fake crab but I have had to "flesh" out most of my meals with rice and beans and oatmeal. The price of cheese has gone sky high and most other fish also, meat is mostly porc but we do it in curries with lots of sweet potato and other vegies. Low carb is extremely difficult on less then $20 a week.