Insulin Resistance Diet

[ElbowPrincess]

Is there anyone else doing this? I didnt know where to put this thread, as even though its lower carb, its not ketogenic. Hope it's ok to have here! Ive tried really low carb (less than 30g a day) and I just couldnt sustain it :( even though I love all the science behind it. So I am giving this a go instead.

Here's the book

Basically, its a diet for those who have insulin resistance. If you can answer yes to 3 or more of the following, you probably have it ....

If you are in the obese BMI catagory or above
If you store weigth mainly around the tummy area
You have PCOS
Your tummy measures 35 inches or more (40 inches for men)
Depression
Hypoglycemia
Brain fog
Skin tags in the neck area, underarms & chest
Dark skin patches in the arm pits, between thighs, neck etc
Carb, especially sugar, cravings
Sleepiness after a meal
Poor sleep at night

So, how the diet works - you balance your carbs with protein. No more than 30g of carbs per meal (15g for snacks) paired with at LEAST 15g of protein. You can eat as much protein as you like though, thats just the minimum to balance the carbs. 3 meals a day, 2 snacks (plus extra veg/proetin snacks whenever, if you are hungry). Carbs must be 2 hours apart. A typical day would probably look like this ...

Breakfast - 30g Carbs, 15g (or more) protein, as much veg as you like.

Snack - 15g carbs, 7g protein, as much veg as you like.

Lunch - 30 g C, 15g P, veg

Snack - 15g C, 7g P, veg

Dinner - 30g C, 15g P, unlimited veg.

So a max of 120g of carbs in any day, spaced 2 hours apart.

Now, this is where it differs from the usual low carb diet .... dairy, pulses, legumes and nuts count as protein not carbs. So a glass of milk will balance out a slice of wholegrain toast. Beans (no added sugar) would balance out a small baked potato. Fruit are carbs (apart from apples, pears, cherries, grapefruit, those ase classed as already balanced), potato & corn are carbs plus all your pasta, rice, bread etc.

Still with me? Ive no idea if this diet will work, this thread is just to document my progress and see what happens. Would love others to join in too!

So yesterday I had

Breakfast bulletproof coffee - then felt really bleurgh and didn't feel like doing anything ( I had planned decluttering the living room)- then read Born's post about brain fog and depression lifting and decided to give this a go as low carb isn't working for me any more.I seem to be only able to stick to it for about 3 weeks and then have mad carb binges.
Lunch smoked salmon and cream cheese on 1 slice bread
Snack boiled egg and curried rice ( V small portion)
Dinner Butternut squash and lentil soup

Haven't had bread or lentils for months
Also like the fact that you don't have to buy special food/ vitamins
My kitchen cupboards are full of oatbran, protein powder, coconut oil etc !

Maura, it's my experience that I'm much less likely to binge when I'm eating as suggested in this book than I am trying to do anything else. Whether that's restricting/counting/intuitive eating etc.
This really does help me and it's something I can live with forever.
But you may need to accept that if weight loss is one of your goals, it's likely that it will be slow.
I hope it works for you too.

maura I have unopened oatbran in my cupboard!

I def need to start logging on mfp if I am going to lose weight or even maintain because its too tempting to think everything is 'allowed', I have tried to balance my food today but I assume I may have gone over carb wise. It is nice though as I had a play date for dd and was able to do nice and easy pasta pesto for lunch with extra cheese veg and humus on the table.

I eat more oats than I ever dreamed possible! Not the bran though...

Can I run a day past you guys? Yesterday for example I ate:

Breakfast - porridge (small amount) with dried prunes and raw apple

Lunch - smoked salmon, cream cheese, half a wholemeal pitta, chickpea salad with olives, hummus and coleslaw

Dinner - chorizo and butter bean stew with leeks and mushrooms in, roasted carrots and deep fried courgette fritters.

Snack - bit of epoisses cheese and a square of Moser Roth orange mousse 85% chocolate

I also walked for over an hour and did an aerobics class.

Do you think this sort of thing will lead to weight loss?

sid yes that will lead to weight loss especially as you're incorporating exercise.

It is best not to look at it as 'being on a diet', I try to look at it as making different healthy choices that have helped me balance out my blood sugar, reduce my insulin and feel healthier than I have in years. And a bonus of that is the weight loss.

I've done low carb in the past maura and about 3 weeks was all I ever managed at one time and I would initially lose and then nothing. With this it's been a very slow but continued weight loss.

It's great to hear how well everybody's doing.

Thanks for your comments yesterday
Born and Herdy at this stage I would be happy just to have a
normal relationship with food! Any weightloss would be a bonus.

Giraffes - I think I have 3 packs left - wonder if there's any good recipes to use it up?

Yesterday I had
B 1slice toast with cream cheese and smoked salmon
Then went to gym and did weights session

Then bowl of homemade chicken soup

then Moser choc thing and a hard boiled egg - is this balanced??

Dinner sausage casserole and pasta - found this strangely unsatisfying and had to have a cracker and cheese later but it was very cold last night and DH and teen children were snacking too.

But woke up this morning at 6am full of energy ( felt a bit cheated though as it was still freezing)

Sid - those Moser choc things are verrry good

Aren't they?!

I am not thinking of being on a diet either, but do need to lose weight and the book itself of course emphasises that IR will only improve a lot with weight loss.

Am fretting slightly over my dinner. We had roast chicken, pigs in blankets, braised leeks, carrots and swede mashed with butter and cream, and then I went and had two roast potatoes rather than one. I went to aquafit straight after so hopefully burnt it all off a bit but I feel I was greedy, especially as carrot and swede are pretty starchy.

Sounds like a yummy meal though and most of those veg are balanced so you don't count them. 2 roast potatoes would only be a little bit over 30g?

I am reading the book, almost half way through now. I started with the protein/carb balancing a few days ago and also leaving 2 hours between eating carbs. Could hardly believe my eyes on the scales today, I've lost a pound!!! I kid you not. I was diagnosed with IR last year, did the low GI thing and it went well. Then I got lazy and the weight piled back on faster than ever, esp around my middle - I feel like the Michelin man!!!!

But after just a few days on this plan, I feel lighter and def less fat around my waist!!! Very encouraging...!

Glad to hear it, Wundawoman.

I have finally lost a couple of pounds. Thank goodness.

Brilliant Sid! I weighed this morning and it wasn't as bad as I thought.

Yesterday I had Chili and rice and salad - much better dinner than day before - still getting the hang of including enough protein as I'm loving having the small amount of carbs.Am going to add some ham to my soup for lunch today.

elbow how are you?

I'm reading the book again, there's so much information in it. I do understand the eating plan well, but I like their advice about comfort eating etc.

Hope enveryone is doing well.

Oh, FFS, I've put my 2lbs back on. This just doesn't make sense. I've broken the rules twice in a week - once having high carb flatbread (with protein) and once having a tiny bit of pork pie in a meal that also included a wholemeal pitta. And I am exercising every day. I feel rather dispirited.

I'm with you sid but to be honest I know where I am going wrong and its lack of monitoring. the entire packet of biscuits I ate over the weekend Part of me wants to go back to primal and no calorie counting, but whats the point if I just gain the weight back as soon as I go off plan? I guess I will have to either get strict with counting the carbs or cut stuff out altogether?

sid could it be your totm is coming up?

I AM counting the carbs! I wish there was something obvious. I'm not getting periods at the moment - my son is only six months old and I'm still breastfeeding. Maybe that is the problem?

Yes defo, it seems like people either lose weight more easily and are thinner when breastfeeding then regain some weight or on the flip side hold onto weight and then lose when they stop. Fingers crossed its that for you, I bf my 3 and found losing weight easier after they stopped.

I think this is a pretty balanced way to eat while bf and if you maintain or lose a little slowly that will still be quite good?

What happened to Elbow has it stopped working?

I've now been following it for a month.

I'm addressing three issues 1)Obesity 2) a 35 year eating disorder 3)insulin resistance

Today was my weigh-in day and I've lost 9lbs in 4 weeks. So I'm very pleased about that, especially as I don't feel deprived and haven't been hungry.

Still working with my therapist for my disordered eating, and my record sheets show that my binge episodes and general overeating have decreased from being almost daily when I started treatment, to only two episodes in the last month.

I've got loads of energy, no cravings, I'm sleeping well, and my moods are more stable than before. I'm in peri-menopause and quite a few of my symptoms are improved too, especially the night sweats and anxiety.

I'm due to have my routine bloods done in early January. I'll update again when I get the results back.

Really glad things are improving herdy I think having a food diary is a good idea, I might try as thats worked for me before.

Thanks giraffes.

Herdy I think we were both on the binge eating thread......you are doing well on this and I was most interested to hear that your night sweats have decreased.

I have now once more regained my two pounds. I am pretty fed up. I am following the plan and doing large quantities of exercise.

Sid, thats annoying Could you be losing inches rather than lbs because you are exercising too? Do you have much to lose?

Lack of sleep at night that can have an effect on weightloss as can vitamin deficiencies or thyroid problems?

Have you seen wheat belly blog? It suggests wheat can stop people loosing weight if sensitive to it. You could cut gluten and balance with 30g of carbs from rice, potaoes, squash, quinoa or beans etc?

I know I would shed about 7lbs quickly (matter of week or two) doing this and look slimmer quickly, particularly if I cut out beans and sweets other than dark choc, the only thing is it goes back on just as quick if I go back to eating it. I will prob aim for Gluten free again in NY though as it just works for me with regards to looking slimmer.