Update: It's been another month since my previous post on this. I am still keeping very low carbs, eating foods that I like, and haven't felt hungry.
We also went to Vegas for 5 days, and during that time, I set aside LCHF and ate whatever the hell I wanted. I put back on four pounds, but within a week of coming back, those came back off. My guess is that eating starch and sugars causes water to be retained.
I'm still taking one "day off" per week, so far it's been on Saturdays, to eat whatever I want and not worry about it, so if I want pasta, fruit, candy, or whatever I'm doing it on Saturday. It's not to the point of going crazy just because I can, but more like focusing on things that I enjoy. It's great to be able to go to a party at a friend's house and eat whatever is there.
Some typical meals have been:
- Veggie burger patty (Morningstar Grillers Prime has the lowest carb and highest fat) with slice of cheese, or with cottage cheese (buying the high-fat cottage cheese too)
- Large plate of mushrooms, broccoli, and cauliflower from salad bar, dressed with real mayo and soy sauce, along with 2 cheese and 2 bacon slices (lunch is this probably 4x a week)
- More veggies with more real mayo for dinner, or a salad dressed with mayo/soy/feta, (often both veg and salad), along with grilled chicken, or veggie patty with cheese.
I probably would be eating more meat than this but I still have to watch out for the gout. But, I am totally not worried about whether I'm getting enough protein, since I'm not bodybuilding right now. I just basically cut out the starch and sugar and replaced it with fat.
Fat is higher in calories, than either protein or carbs, ounce for ounce. So at first I thought I might feel deprived because I'm eating less food. But it has not turned out that way… eating high-fat foods doesn't spike and crash my blood sugar, and keeps me satisfied for a longer period of time. If I want to feel full, I can have more veggies, but really, I find I don't care whether I'm feeling full or not.
Go you!
We’ve been working on this at our house since the beginning of the year and have had so much success that it is very hard not to proselytize. So far for us the more we do it the more we like it and the more I read the more convinced I become that we’re on the right path.
Re: Go you!
Thanks for the comment!
I’m still relatively new to this, but you know what? I find myself in “proselytize” mode too. I still get comments like “So wait, you’re eating more fat on purpose? don’t you know that it’s bad? At least tell me it’s the ‘good’ fat?” So I might get defensive and preachy, sometimes, but I’m a good listener so it usually doesn’t last long.
Once I have 6 months to a year behind me I’ll have a much more compelling story to tell when storytime comes around. I do think stories have a power that preaching doesn’t. People have to weave the story into their own or it won’t make sense for them.
Also, going cold-turkey was the best approach for me, I think… I didn’t want to mess around with substitutes like so-called “low carb bread”. For me it’s so much better to cut bread/rice/pasta/sugar out completely than to “fake it” — I can always add small amounts back in if I want to later.
take care, hope you are well.