Low Carb Paleo Diet/Intermittent Fasting/Intermittent Diet

[GreatEXPATations]

Anyone interested in/following these? If so, want to compare notes and support each other along the way? There was quite an active Intermittent Diet thread until last month but it's died a death [: (]

Basically, I've been researching around the subject for a while and am very convinced by the principles of low-carbing having read Atkins/Gary Taubes/Briffa/IPD/Dukan etc

I've been on a mainly gluten-free diet for over a year anyway (though hadn't realised how v high-carb rice-cakes and the like were!); I've been doing low carb since Jan initially following the clinically trialled and evidence-based Intermittent Diet
www.genesisuk.org/blog/?p=896
with great success but then fell into the Atkins camp and have been playing around with that.

I've been taking the steroids for over 3 1/2 years and will have to continue forever because my body does not make cortisol itself(secondary addisons disease). have to run ,thanks all.

foreverondiet- I need to eat lowish fat,low carb all the time just to maintain.But on a positive not,I've been really strict low carb for 10 days now and lost 3 lb!!
fava- it said my total daily requirement(on that link) is about 1780,I know there is no way I can eat that amount(even of just low carb foods) and not put on weight.I know this sounds strange,but it seemed I could eat the 1300-1400 low carb mostly,before the operation without gaining.But now not,I wonder if my BMR has lowered for some reason? I thought if it had it would have come back up by now.I have been doing some exercise the last couple of months,zumba,pilates,body combat and 45 min gym visits.I've been doing 3 of those a week plus some walking(till I sweat ).I don't have a high tolerance for exercise anymore,so I'm carefull not to over-do it.
I wish I could run but gyne consultant forbade it.

Creamtea- well done- I want to go on that holiday!

Createa- well done, I think I need a holiday too :)

l4k- 3lb is a positive note indeed.
It does not sound strange at all: I spent most of my adult life eating 1500 cals a day or less just to maintain my weight. My mum put me on the Scarsdale diet when I was 16 yrs old- I had put on 2kg during the summer holiday and weight had ''ballooned'' to 58kg (I'm 164 cm tall)!!!. Ever since, I could always rely upon putting on weight at above 1500cal/day and I could always trust the S. diet (low fat, low carb and low cal) to loose weight.
Unfortunately, my life became super stressful about 6 yrs ago and the weight started to pile on. I tried everything going (including Atkins' and super low cal) but for every kilo I would loose I would put 2 back on. 18 months ago I 'woke up' to a gain of almost 35 kg, weighing 90 kg. I knew I had to do something but just couldn't face another super low cal, low cal or VLC experience.
As my diet was already no processed food, little/no sugar, low fat...I had to remove flour products, shortly after the rice and potatoes went too. The one snag was that I was constantly hungry and I regularly attacked and demolished a 100/200g bag of walnuts or Brazil nuts and 100g of 85/90% chocolate would disappear in one sitting and yet I was loosing weight. I was averaging 2000cals/day, eating lots of fat and still loosing weight
I have now curbed my addiction to nuts and chocolate by allowing the meat to cook with the fat on (still can't eat it after!), the olive oil and coconut oil are now staples, avocados and olives are a favourite snack.

I can't imagine going back to a permanent lower calorie diet, so I really admire the sheer will power that people like you have.

Yes Favadi, I have found the same thing. When I upped my fats drastically the hunger went away and the weight carried on dropping despite what must have been a huge rise in calories.

How's the barefoot running going? I'm now on week 6 of c25k and still enjoying it, looking forward to being able to introduce some faster runs as I get fitter.

We were on holiday last week and though I kept up my exercise I drank quite a lot of wine and had some noodles and other non-paleo foods so am back on the straight and narrow this week. Also cutting wine out completely for the rest of this month. Wish me luck!

Fava- I wish I could interrogate you for hours on this subject!!! In real life everyone I've mentioned any of it to doesn't seem to believe me, so I don't bother any more. I'm not sure if I could eat more fat without gaining but I do know that I can't eat many nuts without the scales going up. I love nuts.

Whip- you too? I see you are running but do you eat low carb too?

l4k- just a quick post as I still have to prepare for tomorrow very long day.

I know what you mean about the fear of eating extra fat. I stumbled upon the extra by accident as I was trying to control my hunger and didn't want to give into flour (bread/crackers). How about substituting some of the calories with walnuts at the end of a meal/in the meal?

Maybe the following two pages might lead you into temptation ;)

1) The Jargon version

2) The English version

www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jun/11/why-our-food-is-making-us-fat?fb_action_ids=4182198762032%2C10151044165735645%2C10151819677415436%2C10150856386466333&fb_action_types=news.reads&fb_source=other_multiline

Interesting - even if you consciously avoid sugar, its in so many processed foods. They really are the devils work :)

Oops www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jun/11/why-our-food-is-making-us-fat?fb_action_ids=4182198762032%2C10151044165735645%2C10151819677415436%2C10150856386466333&fb_action_types=news.reads&fb_source=other_multiline

Hi people, I'm new to this WOE - in fact, haven't started yet! However, I read that article yesterday, Gherkins, and then devoured Briffa Escape The DietTrap. I'm going to go do a big shop and then start at the weekend.

Does anyone know if it will affect breastfeeding? It shouldn't, in theory - will be eating plenty of calories from fat and I won't be fasting yet. Caveman babies would all have been bf on this diet...

I read somewhere else on mumsnet that low-carbing won't affect breastfeeding. And in fact the increased amount of protein may help your baby gain weight.

Hi l4k, yes I'm low carbing and starting to run. I think because I've got a lot to lose and no endocrine issues it's a bit easier at the moment and I can get away with more calories. Too much protein seems to raise my blood sugar and cause hunger but eating more fat instead works for me.

TooImmature, I believe that as long as you are eating lots of healthy fats then breastfeeding won't be affected, in fact your milk will be heathier because the Omega 3/6 ratios will be better. Lots of oily fish and butter for you! :)

Some good advice on low carbing an breastfeeding: kellymom.com/nutrition/mothers-diet/mom-lowcarb/

Hi all, I'm down to my last protein shake and wondering whether to order more - obviously did not have any on holiday and still had a loss. So thinking could try a week without them. Also does anyone else notice a pattern for weight loss around totm? Unless I fall off the wagon majorly I always seem to drop a pound or so during a d straight after my period.

Creamtea- Most definitely! If only I'd been able to curb the hunger the week before TOM visits, I would have reached 'target' long ago! :)

Interestingly this morning I gave my son porridge and fruit, he turned up his nose and tucked into salami cheese olives and cucumber. Clearly needs the protein and fat :)

l4k- For me, the fear about eating more fat came probably from a calorie-restriction and fat is bad for you mentality. I had no problem getting my head round the concept that if insulin is low and steady, I would feel less hunger and use more of my own fat, but taking the plunge into actually eating fat was almost inconceivable. The plunge was more accidental than intentional: I was determined to not touch flour products- bread and crackers in particular-; it takes too long to cook rice or potatoes; I knew I shouldn't have crisps; if I ate another bag of spinach or lettuce I would be green myself; I'd learnt from the VLC days that fruit should be a no-no; I still had calories to eat and what's more I was still hungry, the only choice I had left were nuts and olives. Once I started eating fat, The 'calorie counting queen' in me couldn't quite let that happen, so I now less nuts but eat fattier meat cooked in its own fat (home-made pork scratching here I come!) and I discovered that avocados are a good substitute for fruit/crisps cravings.

This article might interest you; below is an excerption:

''Ultimately weight loss boils down to lowering insulin levels. So we end up with a need for minimal carbohydrate. On the Optimal Diet basis that would be the lowest amount for a sedentary person to avoid ketosis, say 0.5g/kg of "ideal" weight. If a person is well adapted to a LC/high fat diet then protein requirements can be as low as 0.8g/kg ideal weight. Protein metabolism requires some insulin response and any excess protein will be mostly converted to glucose, which requires a considerable amount of insulin to be used. Fat intake should be relatively low (by Kwasniewski standards only!) to keep total calories below those needed by our metabolism, otherwise ASP will store more fat than HSL will release. HSL will only ever release enough FFA for the metabolic needs in a healthy person.
On top of that basic plan, the basal metabolic rate must be normal. If a person is hypothyroid they will require far less FFAs for their metabolism and so HSL will adjust to this and minimise fat break down. ASP won't, so a high fat diet will produce weight gain if calories are in excess of metabolic needs. Correct and well monitored thyroid medication is needed for this. As most common thyroid problems seem to be auto immune in origin, avoiding gluten seems like a good idea, if it isn't always a good idea. Which it is. BTW both hypo and hyper thyroidism appear to cause insulin resistance. That seems a bit bizarre to me, but there you go.

There seem to be a few teaks available. Tinkering with insulin sensitivity may be worthwhile. If your muscles need a certain amount of insulin to dispose of a given amount of glucose, then the pancreas will produce that insulin. In addition to helping the muscles take up glucose that insulin will inhibit FFA release from adipocytes. Resistance exercise seems to be the best way to increase insulin sensitivity. Doing this shifts that same given amount of glucose on less insulin. Less insulin means less inhibition of HSL, so easier fat loss.''

Gherkinsmummy-

Thank you for the link, Jnice! V interesting. Whippoorwill, yay for oily fish and butter! I've also just found this on Briffa's blog.

I have a question about protein shakes. How do you reconcile protein shakes with paleo eating? After all, they're entirely artificial. How can that be good?

can I sneak in and say a quick hello? I am a former veggie low carber that ran into gall bladder problems so have been left in eating limbo for months.

in desperation I resorted to a vlcd as I couldn't fathom what to eat and was on the hospital waiting lists all these months waiting for answers.

I sort of have a diagnosis but no real answers as to what to do food wise going forward they all seem to want me to go back to eating low fat and high carbs despite me explaining my addiction to carbs can be horrendous and it will only lead to weight gain!

the reason I am here is that the vlcd needs to stop. I miss eating and I need to recognise this and plan a new way of eating (hopefully low carb or similar)

I have raided the library and got some briffa books - is this a good place to start? What I would love to do more than anything is completely clear my mind of all the diets I have ever come across and find a healthy way of eating and living. If I can convince the health professionals I am seeing that the traditional way of dieting /eating they are suggesting is in fact incorrect at the same time that would be great

Hello CutItIout- Sorry about your problems (ouch :( ).

Briffa is a good place to start and very easy to read. Here is what he has to say about gallstones and this is what his friend adds.

The biggest question is how have you been feeling on a vlcd? Has it improved your symptoms.

ps. When you say you 'miss eating'...is it in reference to missing carbs or food (due to symptoms?!)?

I don't miss carbs as I know the impact they have on me. I think I miss eating food i.e family meals, and chewing iyswim?

anyway, I think now is the time to start moving away from the vlcd. I started on it on 7th Feb this year and have lost 4st3lb taking me down to 12st7lb (I'm 5ft8).

symptoms have improved vastly. My gallbladder was actually removed ages ago and it now looks likely that I have had sphincter of oddi dysfunction all along and the gallstones got the blame

I'm off to read the links :)

thanks for the links Fava. Its given me a lot to think about and started me thinking about a lot of questions I need to ask my gp and gastroenterologist. I am however concerned that I will be fobbed off as the crazy lady who dares to question their superior medical knowledge &

reading briffa and others I think I will be avoiding the omeprazole they are trying to get me on, try some magnesium and avoid their low fat diets.

another factor I am currently considering, with a view to enhancing long term general health and not just short term weight loss, is whether to remain vegetarian. I am going to start another thread to discuss this on its own as it is a huge deal to me but would be interested to here your thoughts on this in relation to this WOE.

gherkin I haven't done much running since my 5k walk/run that left me with sore calves for a few days (i used a foam roller on them and although it hurt it did really relieve them, would recommend getting one). I have been going to the gym 3 times a week but with the crap weather I haven't got out for a run. I really must download the C25K podcasts again and get on with it so I can run further in my Vibram's.