My low carb experiment (attn Jean and Kari)

[Polly]

was not very successful. I think I should have eased into it (as Kari planned to do) instead of going cold turkey.

Although prior to trying low carb I was not eating grains, except for occasional rice in the form of a tortilla or pasta, I had been eating a lot of fruit and also diluted fruit juices, jam, etc. I cut out most fruit and any other source of sugar I could think of - none in iced tea, no Jennie's coconut macaroons, no occasional Virgil's root beer, etc. I was pretty stringent, following Dr. Bernstein's recommendations as much as possible. But this is not easy, given my very limited diet due to multiple sensitivities.

I lost 7 lbs. in the first 2 weeks (today 108 1/2)! If I ever needed proof that it is carbs that put the weight on, this was it! The weight just melted off despite eating large amounts of fats and protein. I also had frequent cravings for carbs. I think my energy level was OK, as I continued to do my brisk walking most days. But I was not doing any weights - decided to defer them until I stabilized and figured out the ideal amount of protein to eat daily.

I have decided to change my approach and gradually cut down on carbs, before I waste away to nothing. LOL! Although I don't eat beans or grains for the most part, my paleo diet did include about 50% of its calories from fruits/veggies, which of course, are mainly carbs.

I know that carbs are not necessary for humans, but I do think the nutrients in veggies/fruits are critical. I never expected this to be so hard. Does anyone have any suggestions for me?

Love,

the incredible shrinking Polly

[MBombardier]

Wow, Polly. I guessed I missed the discussion about you going low-carb, even after being Paleo for so long. Like you, my multiple food sensitivities preclude eating many things, including most veggies. I seem to be okay with carrots and asparagus. The thing that reassures me is that one can be healthy on a diet of meat and fish, like the Eskimos. Not that all I want to eat is meat, but...

A suggestion I have is Celtic salt, if you don't use it already. I really need magnesium, or I get painful foot cramps. I was trying to eat spinach for it because I can't handle my cal-mag supplement, and was not doing well. But Celtic salt has many minerals in it, including magnesium, so I use it quite a bit. Since I've lost weight, my blood pressure has improved and I don't worry about it with the added salt.

Other than that... I'll be watching this thread for suggestions I can use, too. Have a great weekend!!

[JFR]

Polly,

Dr Eades of "Protein Power" fame has a 2 part series on transitioning to low carb:

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/keto ... carb-pt-i/

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/satu ... arb-pt-ii/

It's been a while since I read it but I remember thinking it was helpful.

I know that Dr Bernstein says that if you need to gain or maintain weight then add more protein. I have never had this particular problem so I have no experience with it but I do know that there have been people on Dr Bernstein's forum who have struggled with it, including Bernstein himself. Of course they are not also struggling with multiple food sensitivities. Although, there is one woman on the Bernstein forum who talks all the time about her husband who went gluten and casein free. I know that they use Enterolab and I think her husband needed to gain weight not lose it. At least he is on the thin side rather than heavy. I'll check on that and then if you are interested I could check and see if she minded if you got in touch with her. She seems to be the kind of person who loves to share her knowledge. She's passionate about going gluten and casein free and spreads the gospel whenever she an.

Jean

[Sheila]

I missed the beginning of this thread and am just jumping in because it seems to be a problem for a lot of us.

Going low carb, high protein and high fat was disastrous for me when I tried it about 30 years ago. I went on the Atkins diet after I quit smoking and gained some weight. I became so weak I could barely get off the sofa and didn't lose any weight!! I remember having to test my urine for ketone excretion and I was excreting like crazy. I went off the diet and lost weight the old fashioned way, counting calories. All of that was long before MC and celiac.

I've been on the paleo diet for about 3 weeks and am continuing to lose weight, albeit slowly now, regardless of what I add back into my diet. I've even added back a little sugar just to get the calories. I am eating rice without any problems and that is also helping keep weight on. I CANNOT eat as much meat as Dr. Cordain advocates. It unsettles my stomach and it just won't go down. The Morning Glory muffins are a great addition and I've been eating 1-2 of those a day. I put 2 T of honey in the recipe for 12 muffins. The Paleo Comfort Foods cookbook has some pretty interesting recipes. They have figured out a way to make grits out of cauliflower! I don't like cauliflower but I'm going to give it a try. They rice the cauliflower, add almond meal, chicken stock, s & p and simmer for 20 min. It should be noted that there are nightshades in a lot of the recipes and they are off my diet.

I'll also be interested in learning what others on the paleo diet do to maintain their weight.

Sheila W

[Joefnh]

Polly, great post and in my case quite timely. I have been taking prednisone for the past 2 weeks and will be for another month for the AS I described earlier. I am already putting on the pounds from this and am trying to be careful; I am looking for a way to minimize the impact of this medication.

Next week I am taking off and going on a photography 'walk about' around New England with Nestle, to just stop and smell the roses so to speak and to that end I am pre-making my meals to take with me. With the goal of trying to minimize the weight gain I think a low carb approach may be a good idea.

Thanks for the update.

[Kari]

Hi Polly,

Thanks for the update - I have been wondering about how you were doing. Couldn't agree more about how tough this is. Not losing any more weight is a huge priority of mine, which is one of the reasons I didn't want to go extreme (my natural inclination ) with decreasing carbs.

While doing research to try and figure out why my A1C tested so high, I discovered that the vitamin C I had taken for a couple of months leading up to the test could have skewed the results. I had started the vitamin C supplement because it is supposed to lower histamine levels. Needless to say, the vitamin C is gone for good :).

Here are the other things I have done to hopefully bring my blood sugar down:

- Except for a couple of potato chips from time to time, I have eliminated white potatoes. I occasionally have plain cooked yams.
- Eliminated white rice and rice products. I occasionally have brown rice and brown rice products.
- Eliminated coconut water (which I was drinking daily) when I discovered that it is high in carbs.
- Decreased the amount of fresh fruit (do not eat dried fruit).
- I don't use or eat any form of sugar (unless you count the fructose in fruit).
- I had been using St. Dalfour all natual fruit spreads, and switched to Eden's organic Apple Butter, which is low in carbs and wonderfully satisfying as a snack (by itself or with nut butter).

Here is what I do to try and add calories:

- Go heavy on coconut oil and EVOO.
- Use a product called Vegenaise Dressing and Sandwich spread (90 calories in a tbs.), which is delicious (better than mayo) - it's dairy, gluten and egg free, and has no carbs. However, it does have soy, which doesn't seem to bother me.
- Eat pork chops with fat, and rib eye steaks, which are quite marbled. I'm working up to eating chicken skin :). Unfortunately, I don't do well with uncured bacon, so that's out for me :(. Any kind of processed meats also don't seem to work.
- Eat nut butters, as well as nuts.
- Drink almond milk, which I make myself.
- Eat paleo muffins (there is a thread on them, which includes the recipe).
- Eat avocado almost every day.

Also, I have upped my exercise by taking 1 hour vinyasa flow yoga classes, and walking more. I read here somewhere that if you consume carbs before or during a workout, they get used immediately, so I try to do that.

My diet remains very sparse and simple, as I'm still dealing with inflammation. Other than the couple of items mentioned above, I cook from scratch. I go for acupuncture once a week, and it seems to help. I'm definitely feeling better and stronger, with BM's once or twice a day without urgency. However, Norman is as elusive as ever .

Hope some of this was helpful. I plan to redo the A1C test in about a month and keeping fingers crossed that the number is moving in the right direction. I'll be curious to know how you do on your next test.

Love,
Kari

P.S. Thanks for those links Jean.

[Leah]

I was going to ask WHY you are so intent on going Paleo ( if you don't want to lose weight). I guess that Kari, you are trying to lower blood sugar? What about you Polly? Why go low carb? With all of the restrictions we already have, why make additional self imposed ones? .... just trying to understand

Leah

[mbeezie]

Polly,

In addition to Kari's great suggestions it is important to eat much more frequently when you are trying to gain wt. If you are not used to snacking, then start snacking. If you have been snacking then increase the size of your snack. Basically just eat more of what you are eating.

I think it would be a good idea to see what effect the low carb diet has had on you A1c. Maybe you didn't need to be so drastic to get it under control. When it comes to grams of carbohydrate in foods you can actually subtract out the grams of fiber from that number to get the net carbs. You might also look at the glycemic load of foods (slightly different concept from glycemic index)

Last week I started a very low carb diet (Dr. Hotze's yeast free diet) and I did feel very weak and got a headache. I have since added some carbs back. This time of year it is so hard to not enjoy the delicious summer fruits. I can easily give up grains, and for the most part have given them up, but I do love fruit and vegetables.

Mary Beth

[JFR]

Another good site to get information about low carb eating is:

http://www.nmsociety.org/index.html

Jean

[Polly]

Thank you all so much for sharing your experiences and suggestions! Very helpful to me.

Leah, my reason for going low carb was because I recently had an elevated A1C test that concerned me (in fact, it was the same as Kari's).

Marliss, thanks for the salt suggestion. I do use Redmond's Real Salt, which is a sea salt that supposedly has lots of minerals. But I don't know specifically about magnesium - I'll see if I can find more info from the manufacturer.

Jean, those references are perfect! I forgot that I had his book, so I pulled that out too. I do think part of my problem is listening to my body too much and not waiting it out long enough - which Eades cautions against! And adding more protein is probably what I need to do. I still have that old conditioning from medical school that worries about too much protein. We were taught that it would damage kidneys, create ketones (considered bad), etc. Even though I now know that it is glycolated proteins (protein hooked to sugar molecules) that actually damage the kidneys, that old training dies hard. Eating low carb and more protein should actually help the kidneys, it seems to me. Thanks for your offer to hook me up with your online friend.......I may take you up on it if I can't seem to get the hang of low carb.

Sheila, thanks for referring me back to my copy of the Paleo Comfort Foods cookbook. Unfortunately, I can't tolerate cauliflower ("grits") or almonds (muffins). I wonder if the muffins can be made with pecan or walnut flour??? I had ordered pecan meal some time ago but found it to be too dark/heavy in baking. I wonder if coconut flour could be used? But there are plenty of other recipes I can try or modify.

Kari, interesting about the vitamin C. The only supplement I take is vitamin D. Thanks for all of your specific suggestions. For a spread, I use Spectrum canola mayo. It has no soy at all but does have eggs, which I seem to be OK with. Can't do almonds or avocados (sigh) and the two nut butters I can eat (walnut and pecan) are prohibitively expensive. I will increase my sunflower seed butter and coconut oil intake - good ideas.
I'm curious about your next test, too, and will share my results.

MB, thanks for reminding me about subtracting fiber. Also about snacking. I have not been snacking, so that should be easy to do, as long as I plan ahead and have enough safe foods available. I'm with you - fruits/veggies over grains anyday. And so much healthier. Tell us more about that yeast-free diet, please.

Love,

Polly

[JFR]

Polly,

I think for me what fueled my ability to stick with low carb was my firm belief that it really was the best way to go. That belief really made it possible for me to stick with the plan. Also my experience quitting smoking many years ago taught me a tool that I found helpful for when I had cravings. I had read that a craving for a cigarette would only last 3 minutes so if you told yourself all you had to do was last 3 minutes it was a lot easier to sit through the craving. I have no idea whether that is true or not (about the 3 minutes) but telling myself that helped and I find it helps with all kinds of cravings. Finally I have learned a lot about craving from my study and practice of Buddhist meditation. In meditation practice you learn how to observe what goes on in the mind without acting on the thoughts and emotions that are passing through. One phrase that I have found helpful is "don't give it any energy", that is, when a thought or an emotion arises in the mind don't give it any energy and it will eventually go away. I also tell myself that I am not my cravings and I find that helpful, not identifying my craving as an essential part of who I am.

Good luck. You really do have to be patient through the transition from higher carb eating to low carb eating and its not always comfortable but I have found it worth it.

Jean

[amberlink09]

Hey Polly,

I think everyone has to play around with low carb until they find the amount thats right for them. The first time I tried SCD I was way too low on carbs and I was tired and hungry all the time. Now I'm doing paleo and while I lost weight at first, I'm actually gaining now (though I'm not 100% sure why as it's not my goal. I get a lot of my carbs from carrots, sweet potatoes, peas, and berries. Mark's daily apple says that if you are going to eat fruit berries are the way to go because they have the highest nutrients and antioxidants and lower carbs. Luckily it's berry season right now! Unfortunately though I have no self control and am paying for eating my weight in cherries last night!

Fats are also important, I like to get mine through coconut milk and avocado. Sometimes the mornings il make a carrot cake smoothie with cooked carrots, coconut milk, some walnuts, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and either stevia or half a banana for sweetener. I do the same kind of thing for a pumpkin pie smoothie. It's a good way to incorporate fats and carbs without using fruit. I also like to make thai curries with coconut milk and eat them with kelp noodles or just as a soup.

I try to stay away from but based baked goods, if you want amazing coconut flour recipes check out Elanas Pantry. Also, I've never had trouble substituting pecan meal for almond flour, they sell almost every kind of nut flour on nuts.com, I've never had any issues with them.

[tex]

I try to stay away from but based baked goods,

So do I, 'cause not only are they a tongue twister, but they sound extremely fattening.

Sorry -- just couldn't resist.

Tex

[garina]

Hi Polly,

Like you, I am also trying to eliminate most carbs, though, I do eat beans (supposedly, it helps lower cholesterol) and ham, but only when I make a pot of that myself. That way, I know what it consists of. No rice, no GF pasta, limit grains (occasionally, GF oatmeal), except some fruit (although, bananas are tough to give up).

When I saw your post, it reminded me that I was recently in the archives and found a recipe you posted for SLOW ROASTED PORK SHOULDER. I made that, and it was delicious. I am trying to use more pork, as it sits well with me, plus DH loves pork, and red meat steak/roast is harder for me to digest for some reason, and chicken is on my "yellow" MRT list. So pork it is.

I just wanted to thank you for that delicious recipe that you posted. It is a keeper.

Like Kari, I also have a borderline blood sugar result. Not diabetic, though, I do have to be careful. Will these problems never cease, and I wonder, is this due to MC. I don't know, but I just have to address them and try to normalize in any way possible.

garina

[Polly]

Garina,

Glad you enjoyed the recipe! Was that the one using salsa and the crock pot? If so, I recently tried it with chicken, and it was also yummy. Can you believe I found out on MRT that I was sensitive to pork. WAHHHHH. So I have really missed it the last year and a half since I had that test. When I make soup that formerly I would have added ham to, I now use turkey ham.

Using Mary Beth's theory, I guess beans would be lower carb than grains, due to their larger amount of fiber. My highest reactive food on MRT was pinto beans (red), and I also react to guar gum (which I believe comes from a bean), but I seem to do OK with occasional black beans, kidney beans, and navy beans. Go figure. It's all so individual, isn't it?

It's interesting to me to learn how many people are trying to eat lower carb. It will be interesting to see if the A1C values improve.

Love,

Polly