To think low carb is just another faddy diet?

[trilobiterevival]

(And it works for some people, much the same as other diets. We know this. And some people are sensitive to carbs, so I am not including them in this AIBU).

But I think most naturally slim/fit people eat carbs. They just don't gorge on them.
Many who go low carb began quite overweight and were probably eating large portions before. Changing their diet and becoming more mindful is likely the reason for weight loss, not the total annihilation of all carbs.
It's all a bit evangelical isn't it?

Plenty cultures enjoy rice, bread and pasta. But I have seen these foods described on MN as.... and I quote.... "nasties'. What utter, utter tripe. There is a huge difference between a serving of wholegrain rice and a sugar festooned donut!

There are healthier carbs than others, like most foods, but it is very easy to locate bread made with only a few ingredients, similarly to what you could make at home. The excuse that all bread is full of sugar and oil is a cop out IMO.

Most people I know who are slim and healthy eat bread or pasta, or both. It isn't the work of satan. It is quite easy to incorporate healthy carbs into one's diet, whether daily or weekly and stay healthy and slim. I wonder if those who claim they can't eat carbs or else they gain a ton of weight immediately are not able to them it in moderation, so it's easier for them to just quit.

For the record I don't favour low fat diets either, I also believe that fat is good for us.

Unless you have a health related issue that requires you to reduce carbs, then I think YABU!

You don’t need to understand it in detail to use low carb to lose/maintain weight. I lost 20kg on low carb without understanding the science. I just wasn’t interested in how or why it worked as long as my arse was smaller.

As I have already said on this thread I am a diabetic who eats low carb. The nhs info given to freshly diagnosed diabetics is still a lot more carbs than I eat. at and at that level of carbs my A1C is still around 7 which isn’t a normal A1C. By doing low carb of 50g of carb a day I have got it down to 5.5 which is pretty much in the normal range. A lot of the nhs info on eating for diabetics is years old and out of date and after doing my own research I decided that if I stuck with what was recommended by the diabetic clinic I wouldn’t get my blood sugar under control unless I was willing to take more and more medication whilst my blood sugar did unreversable damage to my body.
It is my own bloody fault I am a diabetic. I did it to myself with years of a high carb diet, carrying to much belly fat and a bring too much of a couch potato. I also have PCOS and when I was diagnosed no one told me that I was also at a higher risk of becoming diabetic. So now I am low carb for life. I have lost all the extra weight, my blood sugars are in the normal range and all the symptoms that sent me for the blood tests in the first place have gone. I have more energy, my skin is better and my eyesight no longer blurs all the time

@DippingAToeInTheWater to be honest I don't think the majority of those who do low carbing for weight loss purposes stay very low carb for life. Often, like me, it's a way of shifting weight that doesn't involve me becoming dangerously obsessed about calories or points or syns or whatever. I don't count anything or weigh anything whilst low carbing. So I don't think about food and I don't see it as an enemy which previous diets have caused me to do. That's got to be a safer way of losing weight in my opinion.

I have cut bread, potatoes, pasta and rice from my diet for the moment. I still eat all vegetables, including sweetcorn which is considered 'non keto'. But the frequency and amount of sweetcorn I'm likely to eat in a week is very small compared to a piece of toast and a sandwich every day or potatoes/rice/pasta at every dinner. I have a DC to feed and I'm not cutting nutritionally good veg just because it's non-keto. The weight is falling (almost 8lb down in 4 weeks) and that's the important thing.

Once the weight has gone those items will be gradually reintroduced. As I said earlier, I'm not living my life without chips or crisps now and then and I'm not going to be one of those people who becomes 'fussy' at a friend's dinner party (it's one evening, it won't kill you unless you're allergic). Because if I become like that I'm obsessing again and that's no good for my mental health. But I now know what works for me and, hopefully, that will help me if weight goes on over Christmas, holidays etc.

As also mentioned my sister has been 'low carb-ish' for twenty years plus and has never gone above a size 8 (having been a size 16 at one time). She lost it low carbing and has kept it off by having Greek yoghurt and berries for one breakfast, toast the next, scrambled egg the next and cereal the next. She has one carb a day. On a day when she has toast or cereal she'll have salad and no pasta/rice etc., just lots of veg with a good amount of protein for her evening meal. That's not keto low carbing, it's balanced, there are lots of vitamins in all her meals and her body isn't putting on weight. She'll have cake or desserts on those days too - but the cake is made with almond flour as she has coeliac kids and is gluten intolerant herself.

To me that's no different to my friend who dislikes certain foods so doesn't eat it. Or people who have dairy allergies who use alternatives for that.

Just as an aside, I'm experimenting each week with a small amount of one of the carbs. I'm using ketosis sticks whilst I'm dieting. Last week I had roast potatoes in duck fat with my Sunday lunch - three large ones. Didn't feel hungry between meals despite not having breakfast (just a coffee with double cream - my normal breakfast at the moment). I lost 2lb this week and the ketosis state was maintained. Today I had one slice of toast and my usual coffee with cream. Bread is my 'gorge' carb, if I have a sandwich I'm hungry within the hour and 'have to have' something to eat, it's like I've not eaten at all and I'll stay like that for hours. So I've long suspected bread has something in it that triggers me in some way - as my sister is gluten intolerant it may be no surprise, I don't know. Anyway, that one slice of toast was 3 hours ago and I am starving. That happened last time I low carbed. Now I've proved it as my ketosis stick is showing the difference too. That's taught me that bread is the carb I need to be a little wary of. Potatoes seem fine. Next week it's rice and I will guarantee that one's fine too as I always feel full eating it.

For me, low carbing is a way of losing weight then resetting my need for carbs and working out which food(s) cause me to gorge. I can then avoid them or only have them with knowledge.

It's like I have rosacea - I know my redness in that is triggered by wine and spicy food. I don't avoid wine altogether nor do I not have a curry or chilli but I limit it for my skin's sake and, if I do have those things, I know what to expect.

For me, low-carbing is no different to cutting food items if you suspect an allergy and then re-introducing gradually to discover which one is causing the problem.

oops, sorry. I meant my sister will have one 'carb' item a day (I think she'd have problems with just one carb a day) and by that I meant potatoes, bread etc., as there are obviously carbs in everything we eat.

@LondonJax all this is very good but you're losing weight because you're in a calorie deficit not because you've stopped eating most carbs.

Please stop with the calories in calories out! The reason you can lose weight when you cut out simple carbs is because they are assimilated quickly, offer little satiety and spike insulin. If you replace simple carbs with complex carbs, good fat and protein your body burns more energy in absorbing the food, you feel full and your insulin isn't spiked in the same way.
For the millionth time losing weight LONG TERM isn't just about the number of calories you consume

Yes it is. You can eat 1500 calories of roast potatoes and lose weight you can eat 3000 calories of lettuce and gain weight.

Carbs are no different to any other macro there's nothing magical in them, eat too much it gets stored as fat. 4cals per gram of carbohydrate that's it. End of story.

<head:desk>

CICO really doesn't work in the long term. And carbs are different from the other macros because of the affect on insulin production.

So no. It's not 'end of story'

I don’t low carb but like you said @trilobiterevival there is a huge difference in the good complex carbs and sugar filled carbs… I wish there wasn’t!

I am trying to loose weight and fight menopausal weigh gain. I workout 5/7 and tend to have two portions of either wm grain bread, brown rice, wm pasta, wm wrap, low sugar granola or porridge. On non gym days I aim for 1 portion of the above instead.
I have a cake/biscuit about once a week.

I currently eat a lower carb diet. I have done calorie counting in the past and my weight loss is similar to that. The reason I am doing it this way is that I don't want to calorie count at the moment, I found it too demoralising and when I was hungry and had already eaten over my calories it was miserable. At least with low carbing if I'm hungry I will eat.

I don't stick to it 100% all of the time and I'll have what I want on the rare occasion I go out. I have lost 1.5 stone since March and am losing 1lb a week at the moment which is fine by me.

Hahahahah calories in calories out doesn't work long term but avoiding potatoes does? Utter nonsense

The only reason 99.99% of people are fat is because they overeat and are sedentary not because of carbs. People lose weight initially low carbing because carbs make the body store water so cycle them out and you dry out a bit but you haven't lost fat just water. Carry on low carbing in conjuction with a defecit you will lose fat...

Over eat any macro and you will put on fat.

You can mention insulin as much as you like it doesn't make a difference in the grand scheme of things unless you're diabetic of course.

JFC - now I know you're on the wind up!

@LondonJax That's really interesting re the trsting out what happens when you introduce one carb. I've heard anecdotally that potatoes are usually "better" than bread. I suspect I have a sensitivity to wheat as am often a bit bloated after eating it. I'd be really interested to hear what impact rice has on your ketosis. I am hoping that once I'm down to my target weight I can add in one x potatoes/rice/oats a day if I choose to.

Hahahahah calories in calories out doesn't work long term but avoiding potatoes does? Utter nonsense

Completely correct, nearly every diet when you look down to it is taking in less calories, it's easy to have less calories cutting out carbs as carbs are probably a lot of a general person's calorie intake.

@Carpy88999. I'm not an idiot, I know full well I'm losing weight because I'm in calorie deficit. But, as I said, I have a habit of getting too obsessed both with counting (calories, points, syns or whatever) in other forms of diets and with food in general. I 'have' to have a biscuit, because I crave it. I 'have' to have toast, because I crave it.

The point is that by cutting things like potatoes/rice/bread out AT THE MOMENT, I am finding it easy to lose weight, don't have to weigh or count and, therefore, am not obsessed.

And I don't feel hungry because I eat until I am full - not until the calorie counter says I need to stop. So I'm not having cravings. Not even for the carbs I'm not eating which surprises me.

So Friday I had:

B: 2 eggs scrambled with tomatoes fried in a little butter. A mug of coffee with double cream - enough to make it 'buff brown'.
L: A cheese salad with homemade 'keto' ranch dressing (full fat mayo and sour cream with garlic, onion powder and herbs - lovely)
D: A home made curry of 450grams chicken shared between 3 of us so not small portions, marinated in Greek yoghurt with spices, then placed in a tomato and cream sauce with cauliflower rice.

Dessert was strawberries and double cream. Normal sized bowl.

That is satisfying to me and that's what matters.

I'm not obsessive either, which surely is a good thing. We went to a friend's house for Sunday lunch a couple of weeks ago and had the full works - roast beef the lot, a few glasses of wine and bread and butter pud with cream to follow. Unlike when I was calorie counting I just tucked in and enjoyed it, knowing I could go back to low carb the next day. That's a revelation to me as I've given up diets because I've broken them before. It's the 'control or nothing' part of my mind which currently seems to be under wraps for some reason - possibly because I'm not fixated on my next meal.

If, when I've lost the weight I need to lose, I keep it off by going without potatoes or rice every other day or twice a week, what's the problem? I'm not holding low carb up as a holy grail. I'm just saying it works for me, with my particular weirdly wired brain and I don't have to 'be in control' of everything on my plate (because that's where eating disorders happen).

I think the thing is, of course it’s to do with a calorie deficit, but when I eat lower carb I find it easier to eat less because with am satisfied and find protein based meals make me feel fuller for longer. Carb based meals make me eat more and I’m hungry again quickly. I also definitely feel more tired when eating more carbs. Not saying it’s right for everyone, but having gestational diabetes in pregnancy definitely made me aware of the impact carbs had on my blood sugar levels . ( On a side note NHS advice is terrible for this- if I had follows their diet ideas my sugars would have been out of control) . A lower( not no) carb diet can still be very balanced.

The calorie deficit isn't really important, it's the difference between a calorie controlled diet where you have to go hungry to lose weight, or a low carb diet where you naturally eat fewer calories without feeling hungry. That's what sells it for me; I hate feeling hungry all the time. I don't have diabetes but I clearly have insulin resistance as I need to cut carbs to stay in a normal BMI. I was never that big, at my post-pregnancy heaviest my BMI was only 26, but keeping carbs low allows me to effortlessly keep my BMI in the normal range. I still eat carby foods occasionally, it's just that my day-to-day eating is on the lower carb side. If I want to have roast potatoes or a risotto or a slice of cake on my kid's birthday then I do, but now I don't have carby foods at every meal like I used toZ

The calorie deficit isn't really important, it's the difference between a calorie controlled diet where you have to go hungry to lose weight, or a low carb diet where you naturally eat fewer calories without feeling hungry

This. And the utter simplicity of low carb - no counting, no weighing, no trade offs, it’s just so easy. And the bliss of being able to eat butter, cheese, Greek yogurt, mayo and have cream in coffee. I couldn’t have stuck with calorie counting for long enough to lose 20kg but it was relatively easy with low carb.

@Carpy88999 I'd love to see your evidence for your assertion that 99.99% of people are overweight because they are sedentary and that they eat too much.

I can't even remeber who posted about eating 3000 calories worth of lettuce... That's part of the whole thing! It's very easy to eat 3000 calories worth of cheesy pizza (and still to want more). I defy anyone to eat 3000 calories worth of lettuce. You just can't.

@LondonJax I so agree with your approach. Understanding exactly what affects you, your metabiolism, your weight...

LIke you, when I emarked on this journey I used keto sticks - not to try to get optimal 'keto' - but to understand what made an impact on me. I understood that I could eat beetroot and remain in keto (if that is a measure of anything). I could drink a glass of wine and remain in keto. BUT some beetroot and some wine and I was thrown out of keto.

I learned so much about how my own body responds to metabolises carbs (all of which are ultimately broken down into sugars).

I really resent the poster who implied that people on low carb don't undertand the nutrition or science. I'm a scientist by training (I'm also a foodie and love eating out in wonderful restaurants). I have studied health and nutrition (and have extensively applied that to my own situation) and I know more about nutrition and health than my GP - who probably had a 2 hour lecture when they were 19.

In fact when I modified my diet and reduced my medication to almost zero, my GP was 100% disinterested and said ' just come back if you need more meds'.

I echo a pp (although from a different perspective). End of.

I think when people find something that works for them they can become evangelical about it and can't see how it wouldn't work for others. But the human body is a complex machine and they don't all work exactly the same. Add in the fact that the machine is controlled by a sentient being with feelings and desires and it becomes even more complex. I've found what works for me, and it isn't low carb! But I can say I can stick at it and I'm a healthy weight.

@Thebeastofsleep - that's exactly it. Everyone is different. My cousin did SW and, four years later, hasn't put on a pound, she finds it easy. My sister did low carb and has been a size 8 for 20 years (from a size 16 and having had two kids in that time). Some people can go with breakfast or do intermittent fasting easily, for others it's purgatory even having a late breakfast.

As long as it works, you don't go too low weight wise and you don't become obsessed with every gram of food you eat, then stick to what you like.

Oddly enough @StuntNun I too had gestational diabetes (had to inject) in pregnancy and I got pre-diabetes a few years later. That went away after my first attempt at low carbing. And, oddly, my good cholesterol went up, whilst bad cholesterol went down which I didn't expect because of the full fat versions of food that I was eating. My sister, above, had regular blood tests when she lived in America and her good cholesterol was high too. Needs a bit of long term study there I think.

Unfortunately I did the classic 'go back to normal' with low carb last time. This time I hope to get it more balanced when the weight is off.

I'm really really dubious about the whole 'high cholesterol is bad' thing

I read this book www.amazon.co.uk/Great-Cholesterol-Dr-Malcolm-Kendrick/dp/1844546101 which is an eye opener

I follow twitter.com/holmanm on Twitter who is calling out the statin disaster.

It seems to me that we need cholesterol to be healthy! And low cholesterol is very much linked to dementia, not the other way round! When you understand the role of cholesterol in the body, it seems so weird that we want to reduce it to ridiculous levels.

I just want to add another data point to the discussion. I think it's that we are all different.

I am 48yrs old, 5'4 and weight 8 stone. I'm a slight build anyway, but do gain weight if I consume more energy than I burn off, regardless the food type.

But I disagree strongly that total elimination of a group ALWAYS cures IBS.
I did 3 whole years on very low carb. I felt no healthier, no more energetic, my weight increased and my IBS worsened.
It isn't something anyone can simply claim to 'work' just because it did for them.
My IBS is likely triggered by stress, so any food will aggravate when the flare up is on.

I gained weight low carb, even though I ate moderately and in sensible portions. This was because I included food that were much more calorie dense, ie, cheese, cream, and so on. It might be worth stating here that I was already quite slim and was doing the low carb for bowel reasons, not weight loss.

So no, it is not a given that one loses weight when going low carb. I agree with the OP that this probably works for people already overweight as they rethink their diet in general.

I eat rice flour pasta, some normal pasta and occasionally good bread with no nasty ingredients (just flour, water, salt or olive oil). It makes up around a palm sized amount on any plate, and my weight doesn't increase. I never eat much processed good and cook from scratch almost all of the time, and don't have a tase for sugar.

So whether I am slim via genetics (family were average weights), because I don't much like sugar, or because I eat moderate portions, I don't know. But I think we are all different, and our relationship with food is intensely personal. One way of eating does not suit all.

So, to recap : low carb made me (just me) larger..

If there was an apocolypse, we would all stfu and get on with eating whatever we could find