madermouse's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Carb Addicts...good, bad, & ugly August 26, 2003 Thanks for all the advice about the low carb diets and for sharing your experiences with Atkins & Carb Addicts etc� For those of you not familiar with the Carb Addict�s Diet - I should point out that Atkins is very different in that Atkins doesn�t allow for any high carb food � ever. The Carb Addicts diet allows for high carb food as part of a balanced meal once a day at the �Reward Meal�. The reward meal is to be kept to no longer than 60 minutes. (In the book it explains that the pancreas can only secrete so much insulin at a time and it does so every 75 minutes, so keeping that meal under an hour limits the amount of extra insulin in the bloodstream�.I still don�t know about that.) But as one reader Bee suggested, �Logically it does not make sense. Would you tell an alcoholic that they could have alcohol for one hour a day? In my opinion this is not the answer for people with addictive personalities.� I see a point in that statement. And it seems that this would explain why I haven�t lost any weight on this diet so far�.because I�m still pigging out at my reward meal�.because carbs still trigger me to overeat. Upon careful scrutiny, there are actually quite a few flaws in this diet. The author claims she lost weight using this low-carb method, but reading the book tells a different story. What she actually did was not eat but one meal a day. And that meal she ate salad plus whatever else she wanted. She said she lost a pound a day for many weeks and it finally slowed to a loss of 2 pounds a week until all her excess weight was gone. I think that I could eat one 1500 or 1600 calorie meal and be pretty satisfied too, don�t you? One of the other major flaws is that they consider broccoli, artichokes, & avocados high-carb foods. Since when is broccoli a high-carb veggie? Am I missing something here? And in the recipe section of this book, there are many recipes calling for the use of soy flour and artificial sweeteners. Yet if you go on the official website, they put out a warning against using these products, saying that they contribute to cravings and sugar addiction relapse. So, with all my bitching about this book and the flaws, I still am getting some good by following parts of the program. For example, I feel nice & full after my high protein meals. This is a far cry from weight watchers or calorie counting where I was hungry an hour after breakfast, growling after I ate lunch, and famished by the time dinner rolled around. It also explains why I�d eat an apple for a snack and literally be hungrier 30 minutes after than before I ate it. But there is no snacking between meals allowed in this diet, which helps me to practice self-control. Cutting back on carbs during the day has totally eliminated my afternoon slump where I feel like I want to crawl into bed and take a nice, long nap. I, having no gallbladder, cannot eat Atkins-like high protein meals with tons of butter, cheese & rich cream sauces. So I�ve been keeping my meats lean (like turkey & chicken breast) and my cheeses light and I�ve been eating many salads for lunch with real olive oil and vinegar dressing. That has been a treat�.real salad dressings! I guess at a glance, it would seem like I�m not accomplishing much by doing this diet half-way. No, I�m not losing weight � yet. But for me it�s good because I�m learning and being aware and making an effort. For the past 3 months, I feel like I�ve been completely at the will of my stomach. I�ve been a slave to my cravings and sugar addiction � feeling as if my backsliding and weight gain was inevitable. I was starting to lose hope that I would maintain any of my 100 pound loss. I was starting to believe that perhaps I would never regain my footing again. I thought that I was destined to see 300 again and I was starting to plan the ways in which I would end it all. It was scary. And I�m still scared. I�m still not doing this perfectly. I still don�t have all the answers. I�m still struggling. But this is a process and this diet has, at the very least, taught me how to control my cravings and my hunger for most of the day. With practice I think I can have more successful days and get my evening meal under wraps as well. Maybe I can even take off some of these extra pounds that are making me crazy. Dare I believe that I could even lose more weight over time? Tomorrow I turn 30. It is a strange feeling, knowing that I�ve spent 30 years on this planet. I�m certainly not the person I thought I�d be at 30. Parts of me are disappointed that I haven�t pursued my dreams. Parts of me are amazed that I�ve accomplished some of the things I�ve accomplished. Mostly I�m just completely beside myself that this much time has passed since high school. I thought I had so much time to do things, to live out some of my fantasies, to become educated, to travel. I guess this is living proof that time is short and you�ve got to get out and do it now instead of later. 12:39 p.m. - August 26, 2003 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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