Diet Low Carbs

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I’ve been on this Atkin’s Low Carb Diet for almost 6 months now and have reached a plateau. Every person’s body has a weight set point where it becomes increasing difficult to lose or gain weight. I seem to have reached this point and I’m still 15 to 20 lbs above my goal weight. I believe it’s time to go back to Stage 1 of the diet which is the strictest phase of the diet. Here the carbohydrate daily consumption is less than 25 grams of net carbohydrates a day.

No more white wine before supper. I really notice how wine is an appetite stimulant so drinking it is a double wammy. One it contains carbohydrates and two it makes me eat more.

While I type this I’m sitting here eating my last high carb pasta meal for another 6 months no doubt. I don’t expect this to be easy, it wasn’t the last time. I felt very weak and unsteady in the 1st – 2 weeks of induction eating. The carbohydrate withdrawal zone I called it. My husband just came home with all this wonderful fruit and I just rememberd now that the induction phase allows no fruit .

I guess I’ll adjust the carbohyrate level intake according to my exercise level. I’m walking an hour or two every day now delivering flyers to sell rain water harvesting supplies, meaning rain barrels. That amount of exercise should allow me to eat some fruit – you’d think wouldn’t you?

Here is my meal plan for Day 1 of induction.

Breakfast – 2 eggs with bacon.

Lunch – Low carb vegetable soup in a cup. Havarti cheese melt on a low carb muffin and a large green salad with dressing.

Supper – Stuffed chicken breast plus one cup zucchini and mushrooms.

Snack – 15 almonds or some of those wonderful cherries Alan brought home from the store.

Exercise – Walk 1 hour at a moderate pace.

Tips for Smart Food Shopping

Shop the produce, diary, meat sections of the supermarket. These departments are usually placed around the outer wall sections of the supermarket. Stay away from the inner isles. There is nothing there for you anymore, this is where you usually find the carbohydrate temptations.

Buy fresh

Fresh vegetables, fruits and protein foods will be the basis of your diet.Stay away fron canned goods. They may contain hidden carbs and are loaded with transfats and/or nitrates and nitrites. If at all possible buy organic vegetrables, fruits, poultry, meat and eggs.

Think fish

Fatty fish such as salmon, tuna, halibut and macherel, herring, bluefish, and saridines supply protein and B vitamins, as well as omega-3s, a type of essential fatty acid with disease-fighting properties. Keep canned fish on hand for hurry-up suppers. Look for light tuna packed in olive oil; it tastes richer than tuna packaged in water or vegatable oil.

Shop with the seasons

Choose vegetables and fruits at their height of flavor and freshness. Seasonal produces are generally less expensive.

Color matters

Dark leafy greens, orange vegetables, purple grapes contain more nutrients than their paler cousins. Arugula has almost twice the folateof iceberg lettuce. red grapes are higher in anthocyanins than green; and pink grapefruit has 40 times more beta-carotene than white. Stay away from white foods such as white rice, white flour, and pale pasta. Focus on brown breads and grains, beans and legumes.

Go with the grain

Go beyond rice and pasta fo rlower carb choices. Oatmeal boasts cholesterol-lowering soluble fiber. Wild rice packs twice the protein of the other varieties. Bulgar, a form of whole wheat, is already cooked; simply pour boiling liquid over it until soft, about 30 minutes.

Scrutinize labels

Avoid anything that has high-fructose corn syrup or any kind of starch, such as modified potato or rice starch, in the ingredient list. Pay attention to fat free foods, the fat is usually replaced with sugar. Instead use high flavor condiments such as peat and salsa.

Think small

Purchase only what you can consume in a few days. Keep food as fresh as possible.

This study has just been presented at The Endocrine Society’s 91st Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. June 11, 2009.

Moderately restricting the intake of carbohydrates, without calorie restrictions and weight loss, can help increase a sense of fullness.

Barbara Gower, PhD, a professor in the Department of Nutrition Sciences, University of Alabama at Birmingham and her co-workers investigated whether a modest reduction in dietary carbohydrates, or "carbs" would improve feelings of fullness batter than a carbohydrate level comparable to that of a typical U.S. diet.

The study group had their carbohydrates lowered by 12 %. A typical American diet has 55% of their daily calories coming from carbohydrates: sugars, starches and fiber. The moderate carbohydrate dieters had an increased fat consumption- 39% versus 27 % of calories. This adjustment allowed both groups to consume the same amounts of proteins – 18% of their calories. This was done because proteins can influence both satiety (fullness) and insulin secretion.

14 adults were given the control diet and 16 adults were given the moderately reduced carbohydrate diet for a month. All participants were monitored to maintain their original weight. After 4 weeks adjustment to their diet they were given a test meal. Blood chemistry was analyzed for levels of insulin and blood sugar both before and after their meal.

This study showed that even in the absence of weight loss, a modest reduction in dietary carbohydrates was sufficient to lower insulin and stabilize blood sugar. Ratings of fullness were higher in the group on the moderate-carb diet before eating the test meal and stayed higher for a longer time after the meal, compared with those eating the standard diet.

Gower said, "Over the long run a sustained modest reduction in carbohydrate intake may help to reduce energy consumption and facilitate weight loss".

The latest modification of Atkins original diet plan is called the ‘ECO-Atkins’ Diet. It substitutes plant based proteins for animal based proteins and helps people lose weight and lower their cholesterol level. Dr. David J A Jenkins, lead author of the study states, "In just 2 weeks on the "Eco-Atkins diet, everything starts to look much better metabolically."

This study of the new diet modification of the Atkins low carbohydrate diet appeared in the June 8th issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. Dr. Atkins original diet went against all conventional wisdom at the time he introduced it. His diet was evidence based. He treated his many cardiac patients with his high-fat, high-protein, low carbohydrate diet and saw incredible results. Not only did their blood metabolism improve but they shed excess weight easily without hunger. 

Although most cardiac health indicators improved; the cholesterol level did not drop. Dr. Jenkins, who is research chair in nutrition and metabolism at the University of Toronto and St. Michael’s Hospital and his team sought to maintain the high protein low carb ratio of the Atkins diet, but in a way that might promote lowering the cholesterol level.

Half of the study participants 22 men or women who were overweight and had high cholesterol levels were placed on a low-fat, low-carb, high-vegetable, plant-based protein diet. The other 22 men or women were given a high-carb, lacto-ovo (dairy and eggs only) vegetarian diet. The 2 groups lost the same amount of weight, 8.8 pounds, but the group who consumed the plant-based proteins also saw an improvement in their LDL (bad) cholesterol levels.

This study was a very short term study and leaves many questions unanswered. Will this way of eating translate into less disease in the long run. Will this diet approach satisfy peoples hunger so that they can stay on it while not participating in a study where the meals were prepared for them. The more scientific studies performed on weight loss diets and health issues the better for our generation.

We currently suffer from a global pandemic of diabetes and in the US alone there are estimated to be 57 million pre-diabetics. It is time the worlds dietetic associations provide us with a very clear picture of what exactly consitutes a healthy diet.