Carb free/ low carb diet.

[Purdyflick]

Hi everyone,
I have been doing a very low carb diet for 2 weeks now, as I found carbs made me feel bloated. Some family members have told me how bad this diet is for me.
Has anyone got any views or experiences on this? Would love to hear them🙂

It depends on what you mean by doing low carb.

The only people who get bloating tend to be people who are intolerant to gluten.

If you can eat rice, potatoes, starchy veg, pulses and other foods with carbs, you shouldn't feel bloated. Often feeling bloated is a reaction to eating too much!

I consider myself low carb- in a usual day I will have 1 slice gluten free, seeded bread and maybe a few oat cakes. I avoid white rice, white bread (gluten free), pasta made with rice, and all cakes, biscuits, etc made with gluten-free alternatives.

What are you eating?

Hi Purdy,

What is the main objection specifically? if it is high fat aspect then you can educate yourself about that and that no studys have linked fat and bad heart health definitively. read read read!!!

the nation of sweden has rejected the fat hypothosis and embraced lc,,read up on that it is fascinating. the gov appointed hundred of scientists to look into it and decided low fat was bunk!!!

Tell your family that inuits live almost exclusively on fat and meat. carbs are not an essential nutrient whereas fat and protein are!!

remind them that it is sugar and starch that is the more recent addition to the human diet and so that is why we are all suddenly getting fatter, it is since in increase if sweet convenience/processed carbs.

LC is often recommended for diabetics afterall and diabetics and people who are overweight ultimatly have problem with insulin, the answer - stop your body generating insulin by avoiding sugar/carbs

You say you are doing a very low carb diet but what do you mean? under 50g of carbs per day is considered moderate in lc circles and is usually enough to get to ketosis but is still enough leeway to eat lots of veggies.

under 20g you will be eating hardly any vegetables at all and i wouldnt recommend doing this for very long as you will miss out on vitamins and fibre.

ultimatly if you feel well and are eating a broad range of real food just carry on.

you could always tell them you are doing low GI which is similar (but milder) principles but doesn't have the bad rap LC does. this will cover your selective eating.

honestly i have given up trying to convert my family, the fat=bad is so deeply entrenched. i know that eventually the world will come round and we will be vindicated :)

excuse my grammer, breastfeeding while typing

Thank you for your views and advice ladies, this is only a trial for me as a recommendation from a friend. I am only small, 5ft 2" size 8, 8st 2. I exercise 5 times a week. But still feel bloated some days . Since reducing my carb intake over the last 2 weeks I haven't been bloated once.

Queen,
I eat salad veg fish chicken turkey fruit a few seeds and nuts, a bit of yogurt. No pasta rice bread potatoes cakes biscuits crisps or crackers.

Low carb is healthy as long as you are eating lots of vegetables.
I too am not allergic to gluten but have found that all my ibs type symptoms and bloating have disappeared since going low carb.
Lots of science stuff on the low carb bootcamp threads.

Thanks @Nan0second now you can to mention it. I too had a slight bit of ibs, which seems to be have gone now 👍🏻. It's all seems to be going ok for me at the moment.

Hi Purdy, as you have a perfect BMI (i assume you are not trying to lose weight) i would up the amount of fat you are having. Low carb diet are supposed to be low carb and high fat to compensate for the reduction in energy sourced from carbs/sugar. Eating what you are you will likely lose weight.

Eat more full fat dairy (you should be on full fat anyway as this is fewer carbs and low fat stuff is really not good for you and has been recently linked to bad health stuff in studies) use more oil, avocado, nuts, fatty cuts of meat or oily fish (eg 20% fat beef/lamb mince) eat the chicken skin.

This will make you feel less hunger as fat is satiating and also fat is known to activate you taste buds on your tongue so things will taste better. Fat is also vital to help absorb vitamins as many of them are exclusively fat soluable and even if you eat them you wont benifit.

I would not recommend going both low carb AND low fat. Most people (many i have spoken to on the LC threads) find that doing this will lead to extreme hunger and feeling unwell.

I recommend you read about how LC works if you have not already and so you can inform yourself about the above for yourself and don't have to take the word of a stranger on the web :)

Thank you @Iamnotacerealkiller there's some useful information and great advice there. Much appreciated 👍🏻

You 're welcome, i use LC for weight control so we have differing goals but i have also found that my gut is much better (im gluten sensitive). Also there is early evidence that LC is good for reducing progress of dementia, cancer etc (at least in animals) though who knows is thats the LC aspect or just the not eating crap aspect. there are lots of you tube videos with experts talking about sugar/low carb. there have been several BBC programs which explore the basics too.

I only fell into LC accidently by signing on with a company that delivered diet food, i lost 2 and a half stone in 2 and a half months and a healthy BMI for the first time as a adult. i only released that it was LC in the middle of it and learned a lot from the company forum.

There are lots of LC threads on MN and a LC bootcamp 3 times a year or so, one is just ending. very good for learning the ropes and getting support if you need it although most people on there are losing weight, some are doing it for the health benefits like you.

Thank you @Iamnotacerealkiller your advice, views and experience on this subject has been really useful and interesting to read. I will read up a bit more and get some more information on LC diet. It seems to be suiting me at the moment.

And well done on your two and a half stone weight loss. That's amazing,I bet you feel brilliant . Sometimes I think we've got to do what suits us! 🙂

There's also a whole 'low-carb section' on mumsnet with lots of people and recipes, advice etc.

Thank you @justpoppngby 🙂