Saffire's Weekly Low-Carb tips

*** This post originated in alt.support.diet.low-carb -- its appearance in
any other forum is deceptive and unauthorized. ***


ATKINS & OTHER LOW-CARB TIPS

- If possible, give or throw away any leftover high-carb foods you may
have in the house. I gave most of mine to a local food bank and the rest
(like opened boxes of crackers, flour, etc.) to friends and relatives or
even the trash.

- READ THE LABELS! Just because something SAYS it's low-carb, that
doesn't mean it IS. I got a free sample of something that is sold as a
low-carb item, but it had 17 carbs AFTER subtracting the fiber and even
sugar alcohols! That's not low-carb in MY book. If I were on induction,
it would have taken up almost ALL the carbs for the entire day! BTW, in
the US, nutritional labels show the total carbohydrate count and then list
the fiber as a sub-category -- it's up to YOU to subtract the fiber. In
Europe and some other countries, the fiber is PRE-deducted, so it's up to
YOU to make the distinction and count accordingly.

- One thing I was told about (via the Atkins book) (but it didn't sink in
for the first couple of weeks until I saw a post here) was that I could
SUBTRACT the fiber count from the carb count of items, so if an item has,
for instance, 5 carbs, but 2 of them are fiber, the NET or EFFECTIVE carbs
are 3. That's important to know when you are limiting carbs to 20 for the
first couple of weeks! (NOTE that in some countries, the fiber is PRE-
subtracted on the label.)

- Pay attention to the SERVING SIZE on the nutrition label. What might
SEEM to be a good deal carb-wise (or calorie-wise, for that matter) might
actually be a miniscule portion and is almost NEVER an entire container's
worth. For instance, YOU might think an entire can of something is ONE
serving when, in reality, it's 2.5 servings.

- Pay attention when something SAYS it's zero carb per serving. US law
allows anything between 0 and .5 carbs to be labeled as ZERO carb and
anything between .6-.9 carbs to be 1 carb. It's safer to count 1 carb or
at least 1/2 carb for these items. For instance, my heavy cream says it's
zero carb per Tbl, but it actually has about .5 carb, so an entire cup
actually has EIGHT carbs. That can make a big difference when your carb
budget for the day is only TWENTY carbs!

- Keep track of what you eat. Fitday.com is an EXCELLENT way of doing
this. I use an Excel spreadsheet myself. You'd be AMAZED at how much it
can help you plan your day (or just finish it based on what you've already
had -- you may need more or less foods or types of foods).

- Measure and weigh! It's the only way to truly know how much of anything
you are getting and eyeballing it can be deceiving. You may be eating
more (or less) of something than you thought. I bought a bunch of sets of
measuring spoons at Big Lots (49 cents for a set) because I use so many of
them.

- Get in the habit of weighing and measuring things that you wouldn't
normally think to weigh and measure. For instance, I like Foster Farms
hot wings that I get in a big bag from Costco. They listed the
nutritional information for a serving size of "4 parts". I was eating
them for a year and a half before I thought to weigh them and realized
that their definition of a "part" was smaller than what I considered to be
a SMALL part. Consequently, I had been taking in about 150% of the amount
of calories and carbs that I THOUGHT I was. Then I started to measure the
bones AFTER I ate and subtracted that amount from the total to get a more
accurate count for the part that I ATE. Since all nutrition labels in the
US ALSO show the serving in grams (usually in parentheses), regardless of
whether the amount is in cups or parts or cans, you can always figure it
out based on the fact that there are 28 grams in one ounce.

- NEVER assume that the amount of servings in a container is what the
manufacturer SAYS it is. For instance, I've seen a can of sandwich spread
that said it had 2.5 servings in it. It said each serving was 1/4 cup.
The entire CAN was only about 1/3 cup, so how did they get 2.5 servings
out of it? I buy a single big bar of baking chocolate. The package says
it has 7 servings -- however, once you open it up, you can see that it is
scored for only FIVE bars, not SEVEN. I had to figure out for myself how
much a scored segment weighed and put THAT in my database. It was either
that or weigh it each time and try to match the serving size on the box.

- If you have trouble with portion control, try using smaller plates or
bowls so that the servings fill the plate. Also, 1/2-cup Pyrex bowls come
in handy to hold reasonable size servings of Jello, olives, nuts, etc.

- Trader Joe's is a great place to find all kinds of great low-carb stuff
if you have one in your area. I particularly like their Punjab Spinach
Sauce.

- The general consensus of this newsgroup seems to be to STAY AWAY from
the low-carb bars & shakes, at least during induction. It is felt by many
that the sugar alcohols used to sweeten them can a) have a laxative and/or
STRONG gassy effect (that means you aren't metabolizing them and absorbing
many of the carbs), or b) some people DO metabolize the sugar alcohols, so
they ARE eating the FULL carb amount, not just the net carbs (but hey,
you're not crapping your pants). I view it as a damned if you do and
damned if you don't proposition, so pick your poison. They may be
convenient, but they aren't NECESSARY for low-carbing. They are also VERY
expensive and often taste like dirt. As you experiment with cooking and
eating different things, you'll find yourself gaining a whole new
appreciation for truly GOOD foods and won't want to WASTE your precious
carbs on something that isn't really WORTH it. Many of us find that we'll
buy something, decide it's not that great and simply throw it out because
we KNOW we can do better than THAT :-)

- Aspartame can trigger cravings in some people. Splenda usually goes
over very well, although some people DO have problems tolerating it. I
switched to using liquid Splenda in a syrup base, which truly has zero
carbs, as opposed to packets, which have .5-.9 carbs each. Unfortunately,
the manufacturers of Splenda have licensing issues with small companies
creating liquid Splenda in syrup bases, so supplies have now dwindled down
to a trickle.

- Caffeine can trigger cravings, but if you are addicted to it via coffee,
taper off slowly to avoid excruciating caffeine withdrawal headaches.

- Make a big batch of hard boiled eggs to keep in the fridge. When you
find yourself opening the fridge out of habit, you'll see them and
hopefully make the right choice. They are great to stave off hunger, AND
they're nutritious and versatile.

- Be sure to get enough fat. You can add olive oil and/or butter to all
kinds of things, have whipped cream or bacon (Trader Joe's carries a brand
that does not use sugar to cure it).

- Make your own Jello using unsweetened Kool-Aid, Splenda and gelatine.
Use 2 cups of liquid per each packet of gelatine.

- EXERCISE! If you can, do some kind of weight training. Muscles need
extra calories just to maintain them, so the more muscle you have, the
faster you'll burn calories even when you're just sitting around. My body
DEFINITELY changed for the better via exercise even though I had not lost
a significant amount of weight.

- Take measurements at the beginning so you can keep track. Sometimes you
won't see any change on the scale, but you will lose inches. In fact, I
can usually tell I've lost weight that way and the scale doesn't reflect
it for another few days or even a week. Besides, it's a great feeling to
make comparisons when you DO lose the inches :-)

- Don't get discouraged when your weight loss slows down after about 3
weeks. A good portion of weight lost during induction is water loss.
That's because, without a large amount of carbs in your diet, your body
will start to use up its emergency store of glycogen in the liver. Each
molecule of glycogen has about 4 molecules of water bound to it, so when
it's freed up to use as energy, the water is shed. After that, the body
will turn to fat to burn for energy, and the loss will most likely slow to
1-2 lbs per week. Some people lose more, some less. I'm one of the
"less" :-( I usually lose only 2-4 lbs per month, if that, but I'm also
fairly sedentary when I'm not actively exercising. Also, the heavier you
are to begin with, the faster you'll lose weight comparatively speaking,
at least that seems to be the tendency. As you get closer to your goal
weight, the weight will come off more slowly.

- Check out the progress photos that people refer to. They can be VERY
inspirational! In fact, if you don't have a digital camera, GET one! You
can take photos in the privacy of your home by using the timer feature and
keep taking them until you get one that you are satisfied with. It's a
good way to gauge your progress. You don't have to share them with ANYONE
if you don't want to -- you can just tuck them away in a folder on your
PC. Like taking measurements, you'll be glad you did this at the
beginning, even if you don't like what you see at the moment.

- If you can, take your scale to your doctor's office and compare your
weight on it vs. the balance beam. Trust me, you do NOT want to THINK you
are a certain weight only to be crushed later to find out you actually
weigh 10 lbs MORE than that the way a some of us have. It's better to be
brutally honest with yourself at the beginning and just move on from that
point.

- If you're a woman, your weight may go up during PMS. You probably
already know that, but keep it in mind. I chart my progress and can
always tell when it's about to hit due to that (I'm in peri-menopause, so
I NEVER know whether it's going to be 2 weeks or 2 months apart). Many
women lose the extra weight within a couple of days of starting their
period (usually referred to as TOM (time of month) here), but some of us
don't lose it until AFTER our TOM. No amount of logic, however, can quite
overcome the dismay this temporary gain causes, so try not to let it get
to you too much. This, too, shall pass (literally). Just stay the course
and wait it out! Actually, I found this to be very good training for me
to keep doing what I was doing and to be patient.

- Think outside the box. You don't HAVE to have eggs, sausages, bacon or
cereal for breakfast -- you can eat ANY kind of food (on plan, of course)
at ANY time of the day or night. Have leftover stew? It would make a
LOVELY breakfast! How about some chicken (I sometimes have hot wings for
breakfast)? A nice salad would work, too. Be creative!

- Be sure to get lots of fiber in your diet. Eating more protein and fat
than carbs can have a constipating effect. The combination of fiber and
water will hopefully keep things moving. Don't be surprised if you aren't
having bowel movements as often, though, since digestion takes a little
longer and there isn't as much volume as before.

- Read and post here often. Alt.support.diet.low-carb has been INVALUABLE
in helping me stay on track. And people are here pretty much 24 hours a
day. By the time I get to bed, people in the UK are getting up :-) I get
SO many ideas here that never occurred to me before, and LOTS of recipes.
If you have questions, just ask. If YOU thought about something, someone
else probably did, too. Just having a place to brag about or bemoan
certain changes is GREAT, because we GET it ;-)

- The 3 numbers people tend to put in their sigs are starting
weight/current weight/target weight.

- Pertinent words and common misspellings: 1) Lose/Loose -- when you LOSE
weight, your clothing becomes LOOSE. 2) Weigh/Weight -- you WEIGH
yourself on a scale to determine your WEIGHT. 3) Atkins/Adkins -- there
is an ATKINS diet; there is no such word as "ADKINS" pertaining to low
carb.

- Ignore the trolls. They're fairly easy to spot. Some people can be
abrasive or abrupt, but they often mean well, so it's good to get to know
their style before deciding to filter them out (of course, that pretty
much applies to ALL newsgroups). Personally, I think life's too short to
waste on perpetual assholes. JC Der Koenig is a resident troll -- he WILL
insult you, ESPECIALLY if it's one of your first posts. If he doesn't,
then he's having a VERY off-day or possibly has lost his internet access.
I recommend IGNORING him; DO NOT consider him to be a representative of
the newsgroup -- he apparently LOVES angry responses, so replying to his
nasty digs will only make him feel SPECIAL, and you don't want THAT, do
you?

After over 3 years of doing Atkins, I've learned to just keep staying the
course and it WILL pay off, even if it IS taking longer than I had hoped
for. I look and, more importantly ***FEEL*** SOOOOO much better eating
this way that I have no intention of ever going back to the way I was
eating before. My joint pains have eased considerably, my IBS symptoms
have COMPLETELY disappeared and I have WAY more energy. I look like ME
again!

On an additional note (as of 4/9/06), don't be afraid to change your goal
as you get closer to it. My goal was 125 lbs and I got down to 127 lbs,
but I was VERY dismayed at the sagginess after having been plumped out for
so long and then losing it from the ages of 48-50. As it turns out, what
"fit" me in my 20s and 30s and even early 40s does NOT fit me at age 50.
I deliberately regained 5-7 lbs, but didn't see much, if any improvement
in the sagginess, and that took a lot of the joy out of my accomplishment
and even added some depression -- I felt that some parts of me looked like
they belonged on someone 20 years older than me, and I didn't like that at
ALL! I grudgingly decided to go lower again to get to my goal, but I had
lost a lot of enthusiasm. I overate (but DID not over-CARB) and I
inadvertently gained ANOTHER 5 lbs -- lo and behold, a SIGNIFICANT amount
of the sagginess disappeared. At 140 lbs, my flesh "fits" me. As much as
my ego would like for me to be 125 or even 130 lbs, those weights are no
longer appropriate for me and I'm actually HAPPY to be at 140 lbs (okay, I
might drop down to 139 for my ego :-). By trial (and error), I realized
what IS right for me. I don't want to weigh MORE than 140 (and those
extra 5 lbs showed me how easily it can happen again), but my body looks
and feels better at that weight than it does at a lower one. This is a
MAJOR revelation to me after a lifetime of fixating on a goal of being
"thin". The bottom line is: don't get fixated on a number -- fixate on
what is RIGHT for you!

This way of eating (WOE) is not a deprivation -- it's a GIFT! It has
given me something I thought I had lost: HOPE, and HOPE is a POWERFUL
thing to have!

--
Saffire
205/149/140
Atkins since 6/14/03
Progress photo: http://photos.yahoo.com/saffire333

*** This post originated in alt.support.diet.low-carb -- its appearance
in any other forum is deceptive and unauthorized. ***