Requesting BASIC diet/weightloss advice and support

[DreamStalker]

If only I could somehow get across to some of you the value of going cold turkey on the starch/sugar carbs instead of trying to do it slowly a little at a time. It is like trying to treat alcoholism by trying to quit a little bit at a time.


Instead, approach it like treating OSA. There is the initial "I can't sleep wering that thing on my face ... I can't breathe against hurricane force winds up my nose ... I can't can't can't".

Then there is the acceptance that this has to be done but it ain't going to be easy and the struggle with leak rates and data and AHI values begins.

After a while, you realize you can do this and you really do feel better. How do you know. Because inevitably you end up sleeping without the CPAP and you realize just how bad it really was sleeping without.


Same is true for the excessive carbs in standard western diet. I can't live without eating bread, crackers, ______ (fill in the carb blank).

Once you understand what they do to your body, mind, and health, then you may accept the fact that you need to stop the self abuse.

After a while, you realize you can do this and you really do feel better. How do you know. Because inevitably you end up fall off the wagon and eat some bad carbs. Once you have gone without for a long enough period to get in tune with your body and mind you realize just how bad it really was to be eating that stuff.

Just sayin. May everyojne have a great year of health.

EDIT: Where is the Link, I need a spell checker cuz I'm typing too fast.

[MoneyGal]

DreamStalker....I think I need you to mentor me.

I am hungry now. What can I eat? (I'm at the office, there is nothing here.)

[DreamStalker]

DreamStalker....I think I need you to mentor me.

I am hungry now. What can I eat? (I'm at the office, there is nothing here.)

I don't know where you work but I can tell you that the first mistake you made was not taking something from home to eat at work.

You could go and try and fill up with some cold water. That will only work for a short while though. You could go without eating until you get home and get in tune with your body to see just what it really means to be hungry.

Now that I have been off the carb addiction for a year, I can go without eating anything for a day or two without getting ravenous.

If there are fast food places, you could go and order something and just eat the meat and veggies and throw away everything else but that requires some discipline which you seem to be having a bit of trouble with at the moment.

I would recomend that you go ahead and wait until the Friday afternoon and then try your very best to do a 24 hour fast. Stay in and sleep all day on Saturday if you have to. Then on Satuday evening eat a big giant salad with your favorite kind of meat ... as much as you want ... stuff yourself ... only rule is that there is no sugar or starchy carbs of any kind. Use olive oil and vinegar or lime/lemon juice and herbs/spices. From that day on, eat as much as you want from meat, veggies, and quality fats (read previous posts again).

In time you will notice you don't eat as much or as frequently. You will learn to understand your body's needs. If you do this for a few months and then for some reason fall off the wagon you will notice how crappy carbs really make you feel. Hopefully that will be enough to get you back on the wagon and stay there.

[MoneyGal]

I brought my lunch to work: home made lentil soup with lots of veggies, a bit of kefir, and carrots and celery sticks with hummous.

I think I see the problem with this "healthy" lunch - not enough protein. Hence I am hungry/still hungry an hour after eating it.

I'm going to try the 24 hour fast.

I know I am not feeling genuine hunger. It's more like emotional upset that eating can "solve" for the moment. I'm making a black coffee.

[BlackSpinner]

I was doing good until this week when both my daughter and I came down with the flu as well as the soap opera of her getting dumped by her boyfriend the day I went to the dentist. With not much in the house and not able to do much more then make to the corner store it was hard to stay on the wagon. At least I tried to keep the bread to a minimum. I managed to make it to the real grocery store yesterday evening so I have fresh vegies and fruit again but meat make me feel ucky.

[DreamStalker]

I brought my lunch to work: home made lentil soup with lots of veggies, a bit of kefir, and carrots and celery sticks with hummous.

I think I see the problem with this "healthy" lunch - not enough protein. Hence I am hungry/still hungry an hour after eating it.

I'm going to try the 24 hour fast.

I know I am not feeling genuine hunger. It's more like emotional upset that eating can "solve" for the moment. I'm making a black coffee.

It is also loaded with carbs. I would guess your list contains about 90% carbs, 7% protein, and 3% fat. That is the typical low-fat high-carb diet that Ornish and the conventional dietitians/nutritionsts recommend and it is the same typical so-called "healthy" diet that keeps everyone that follows it fat. If you were thin, that diet may not be as unhealthy but for people that are already overweight, that diet is a speeding train headed for the wreck.

@ spinner ... there is always eggs and sea food.

[MoneyGal]

All right...I guess this is the crux of my problem. Where are the carbs in that meal? There is not one piece of bread...or any rice...or a potato...or candy, or a soft drink, or even any fruit...

In my very first post on this thread, I said I was not certain what a carb is. Then, from my POV, the thread descended into a conversation that I honestly could not follow. I'm still stuck in that place. I don't understand what to eat.

Imagine I am not compliant with my CPAP therapy. There's lots of information here for people suffering from every possible CPAP-related ailment. But I can't seem to get basic information on how to eat! If I sound frustrated, I REALLY AM.

[DreamStalker]

All right...I guess this is the crux of my problem. Where are the carbs in that meal? There is not one piece of bread...or any rice...or a potato...or candy, or a soft drink, or even any fruit...

In my very first post on this thread, I said I was not certain what a carb is. Then, from my POV, the thread descended into a conversation that I honestly could not follow. I'm still stuck in that place. I don't understand what to eat.

Imagine I am not compliant with my CPAP therapy. There's lots of information here for people suffering from every possible CPAP-related ailment. But I can't seem to get basic information on how to eat! If I sound frustrated, I REALLY AM.

The lentils are the primary source of starchy carbs. While the kefir is a good choice, it too has sugar carbs in the form of lactose and I would bet also plain sugar added to it. The veggies, celery and carrots are also carbs but they are good because they have a lot of fiber and vitamins and minerals ... that is good to eat all you want ... BUT, they have few calories. There is as you noted, very little protein and basically no fat.

The meal is very low in terms of calories. Why do you think you feel hungry?

Despite the meal being low in calories, the starch and sugar carbs raised your insulin and when it came crashing down you began to feel hungry again.

Instead, have a very small 6 oz galss of kefir in the morning for breakfast. for lunch, substitute the lentils and kefir for brisket, or buttered shrimp, or chicken in coconut and butter curry, and up the veggies and celery portions if you think you will still be hungry later. You need fat. Fat is the fuel that is supposed to replace the starch and sugars. Fat does not raise your insulin and so it will not come crashing down to make you hungry again later.

[MoneyGal]

Thanks for your patience.

Would it also be OK (I'm just thinking out loud) if I ate fat by itself? A spoonful of coconut oil? or fish oil? I work near a health food store and could walk there now.

[DreamStalker]

Thanks for your patience.

Would it also be OK (I'm just thinking out loud) if I ate fat by itself? A spoonful of coconut oil? or fish oil? I work near a health food store and could walk there now.

Right after eating carbs, probably not. If it has been two or more hours since your carb meal, prolly ok. Those two fats are excellent choices and if you just can't get enough fat into your meals, supplementing is certainly one way to get more in.

[BlackSpinner]

@ spinner ... there is always eggs and sea food.

Can I tell you how tired I am of eggs and tuna after this week? I made whole wheat bran muffins with raisins on friday just to eat something different and so I wouldn't break down and buy the hot cross bunns in the corner store.

Money Gal - for lunch I do a leaf salad with ranch or ceasar dressing with a hard boiled egg or cheese or cold cuts like roast beef. Hard boiled eggs are one of my lunch staples, natures great protein that is prepackaged for travel your convenience.

I found a low carb / diabetic cook book by Frances Towner Giedt this weekend. That will help a lot. It is annoying when I go to make a meal and I have to review everything to try to figure out whether it is a carb or not. Then I get irritated and upset and give up and eat the wrong stuff. Then I beat my self up for. This way I can read the book and the recipes and familiarize my self with the new program before I get hungry.

[sagesteve]

Here's your answer... http://fatloss4idiots.com It is the easiets MOST EFFECTIVE of all diets. I've done everything out there. I got up to 276 pounds when I lived in Switzerland in 1994 (I'm 5"11"" and 63 years old now). I was an Olympic Decatholete contender back in 1968. I'm an herbalist and I'm extremely knowledgeable about health and nutrition. You may ask, why did you get heavy? Easy, I've lived an extremely wonderful easy life. I semi-retired when I was 32 years old and completely retired when I was 43. Sooooo, lots of champagne, Foie Gras, prime rib, escargot...you get the picture. Exercise? You can see that I worked my butt off early on. Guess what? I HAAAAAAATE exercise. I was also on the All American swim team. Guess what? I HAAAATE going in the water. You get the picture. Go to Fat Loss 4 Idiots and join up. I GUARANTEE that it will work for you. You get to put together the foods you like, then it prints out your shopping list and the 11 day diet. You'll belong to it with one payment forever. You can go in anytime and change your diet. You will also be able to read the weight loss manual. Follow it EXACTLY ( not hard at all) and you WILL loss about a pound a day. I'm now down to 200 pounds and feel great. The best thing I ever did was to find out about this way of lossing weight ( not really a diet per say). Do it, you won't be sorry. Also, new findings show that exercise really doesn't help all that much with weight loss, it's all in what you eat, when you eat and how you eat that does it. Go here: http://fatloss4idiots.com

[Sleepy Taz]

Money Gal

I eat fresh fruit at two hour increments at work and bring a banana, an apple, a plumb and a kiwi. My lunch is a salad with a hard boiled egg chopped up and lots of fresh veggies. Before starting this lifestyle change I was an eating machine and was always hungry the more that I ate. I totally agree with Dream On about eliminating mast carbs and monitoring sodium intake as well. It only took a couple of weeks to get used to this and the other day I had some potato chips and developed a headache right after. Earlier in this thread I posted a website that explains what foods will boost your metabolism and how to change your lifestyle. For me it worked and I was the ultimate meat and potatoes man as well as pizza and many other high carb foods. All it takes is the desire to make the changes and the willingness to stick to it. Good luck.

[MoneyGal]

SageSteve! I hear you on the exercise. Don't get me wrong, I think exercise has a lot of benefits. But until I completely tore a tendon in my knee in November, I was training for my black belt in Tae Kwon Do. That's HEAVY training, many times per week (think flipping truck tires down the dojang in timed drills). I am incredibly strong and fairly flexible but all that exercise did nothing to change my weight. Here's the proof: since injuring my knee I have completely stopped all martial arts training, and I haven't gained a pound. If that exercise was causing me to lose weight, why haven't I *gained* weight since stopping?

[SnoresLikeWalrus]

My advice is first to make sure your thyroid is ok. Get a TSH test. Read up on thyroid and optimal levels. If your TSH is running too high it will be very difficul to lose weight.

Second piece of advice: Don't follow a low carb diet. Carbs are veges and fruits and (for me) whole grains. Just about anything that is not animal is a carb. My brother was on a high protein low carb diet for 10 years. He was thin. He had great cholesterol #s. At age 60 he had a heart attack (after telling me for years how I was going to die from eating carrots and other veges) and now he has two stents. He still won't give up the (lean) meat. He is a scientist and says science proves he is right, but his heart attack speaks for itself as far as I am concerned. Being thin is no good if you are going to die from it. Frankly, I think he is nuts.

I have had success with Weight Watchers (once I addressed my slow thyroid). I also am vegan now, so my blood pressure and cholesterol are fine (my LDL is 64) and I avoid refined carbs. I do eat whole grain breads, fruits, and veges. My reflux is gone too on the vegan diet (no diary, no cheese). There are hundreds of good cookbooks for vegan cooking now and lots of great ingredients.

If exercise does not thrill you (it doesn't thrill me; i get bored) get a Wii. It got me going, and there are lots of good programs to use that keep you moving. Even if it doesn't help you lose weight, it will help you feel better.

I also just finished reading "Eating Animals" and it makes me glad I am vegan. Factory farming must be resisted! But that is another topic altogether.