10:00AM
4 local farm free-range eggs cooked in butter with bacon and Colby Jack cheese
Coke Zero
4:00PM
Pepperoni, sausage, ham, bacon, hamburger meat, cheese, a little spaghetti sauce
Diet Coke with lemon
7:30PM
150-minute competitive volleyball
10:30PM
Vanilla CarbSmart ice cream with fresh blueberries, whipped cream, and Xylitol
Coke Zero
NOTE: What an amazing debate that has ensued over the past few days regarding this issue of weight vs. health and I highly encourage you to go back and read the posts and all the comments at the end here, here, and here. One of my regular readers at both my "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" blog as well as here at my menus blog wanted to share about how yesterday's commentary touched her in a special way for obvious reasons that will become apparent when you read what she wrote to me in an e-mail:
Oh Jimmy...that was an absolutely fantastic menus blog post you wrote yesterday. I cannot describe what I am feeling, but to say we as humans are always so quick to judge...and it just shouldn't be like that. Thanks. I think this blog is worth exploring a little more and perhaps expanding on it.
About 2 months ago, I start in all earnestness to get back on total low-carb and to quit playing around with other "versions." I was having hypoglycemic symptoms, insulin resistance symptoms, thyroid symptoms, etc etc. I was lethargic, depressed, dry mouthed, shaky...my joints ached ALL of the time; brain fog; heart palpitations; mood swings; insomnia; and on and on and on it goes.
A low-carb expert I consulted with advised me to dump the scale and only use a tape measure. She said she only weighs herself 3 or 4 times a year. She talked to me about supplements, etc. I was taking almost everything that she mentioned. The only changes I had to make were the dumping the scale, no nuts at all, no fruit at all, and no hard cheese.
About this same time, we had a stopped up sink. The next morning I thought my sister had dropper her mascara in the sink and not wiped it out becuase there were black splotches all over the bottom of the sink. We had the plumber come out and he said that the sink AND the drains were full of black mold, but it wasn't coming from the plumbing, it was from the air conditioning. This is a BRAND NEW two-story house in a new subdivision, so that was the LAST thing we would think about.
They called the air conditioning repairman in. After he investigated it, he came downstairs and said that was the worst case of mold he had seen in a long time. Mold was covering the outside of the unit in the attic. It was in the drain pans and pipes and even in the insulation. Of course it was in the air ducts pumping the toxin into our bedrooms every day. He was EPA-certified and it cost a bundle for them to come in and scrub the house clean of all the mold.
They cleaned it on a Thursday and by that Saturday, ALL of those symptoms I was experiencing were gone. I don't know if I have lost any "pounds" because of it (since I'm not weighing myself on the scale), but I'm not bloated feeling and I am wearing a shirt that I couldn't wear one week ago. It was such a relief to realize that I WAS NOT A FAILURE on the diet because there were extenuating circumstances.
Your post was VERY timely for me because I am re-thinking a LOT of things concerning my "diet" the past couple of years. One of the MAJOR issues I am looking at is the environment I was in when I was successful vs. the environment when I seemed to be failing at it. It is making more and more sense.
It just goes to show you that we really need to stop focusing so much attention on weight and get behind the real roots causes of how the weight got on there in the first place. Sure, overeating and a slothful lifestyle contribute to this heavily in a lot of people, so getting the diet right is essential. But if you're eating a healthy low-carb lifestyle and getting your exercise in like you are supposed to and STILL not losing weight, then it is worth taking a look at and considering the role of environmental causes of the lack of weight loss or even weight gain.
Blaming someone who is eating well and healthy is not productive in any sense of the word. If someone has just given up on their diet and sits around all day on the couch eating bon-bons and Ding-Dongs morning, noon, and night, then there's plenty that can be said to that person about how their dietary decisions are ruining their weight and health. But to that person who is following everything like they are supposed to, doing the things that have worked for them in the past to bring about weight loss and improved health, and yet they're struggling to produce weight loss despite having spectacular health, what right does anyone have to cast judgment on that person's noble attempt to pursue the best weight and health possible?
At the end of the day, each of us as individuals must figure out what we need to do to bring about the best health we can possibly have. For some, that will coincide with a spectacularly skinny body frame that will warrant lots of oooos and aahhhs. But for the majority of us, we are livin' la vida low-carb and enjoying spectacular health that's even better than most of our friends while carrying around a few extra pounds. And that's okay as long as you are continuing to pursue healthy eating habits--namely consuming an outstanding low-carb nutritional approach. If you're doing that and your health is intact, then what's the big deal about maybe carrying around weight that would classify you as overweight or obese by the flawed BMI standards?
Monday, June 29, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
20 comments:
i dare you to go sweet and frankenfood free for a month and re-weigh yourself. i think you are lying to yourself, that you think youre living healthy. processed meat is not healthy, neither is carb crap ice cream. and idet soda definitely is not healthy.
eat real food, what ever happened to a steak, a normal burger, a porkchop?
your sending the wrong message to people who have the same sweet obsession as yourself.
please consider what you are doing to yourself and picturing for others.
So is it your assertion that mold appeared in your house at exactly the same time you gave up on the sweet free challenge?
Note: There is no judgment here. It is just a question. If anything I was quite jealous of you and your weight loss on that plan. I have been sweet free for some time with only slightest amount of success compared to your success. So when you went off it I was no longer having to look at yet another success story when I seem to have such a hard time of it.
-E
Jimmy, I am very curious about who's version of low carb you follow. (This is plain curiosity, not judgment) I know on the Atkins diet, eating lots of veggies is very important. In fact, the more updated books say MOST of the 20 net carbs a day during induction should come from veggies, which means more than 10 carbs. I notice some days you don't even eat vegetables. Do you take vitamins? Also, how much cheese do you consume everyday? I know you always say when you eat it, but I was just curious as to how much you eat in a day. I know for me, cheese is a real problem and stalls my weight loss and sometimes even causes me to gain.
Again, I'm just trying to figure out which versions of low carb your menus come from. Thanks!
Great question, Penny! And it's perfectly legitimate to ask what you did. I'm happy to answer.
As you know, I started on the Atkins diet as outlined in DR. ATKINS' NEW DIET REVOLUTION in January 2004. For most of that first year and into the second year of my low-carb lifestyle, I followed the plan by the book. Eventually I made the plan my own as Dr. Atkins intended and incorporated foods I enjoy that still fit within my wants and tastes while staying low-carb.
The more I've interviewed people within the low-carb community and read books on the impact that carbs play on health, I've consciously cut back on my veggie consumption. Why? Because I have come to terms with the fact that I'm very carb-sensitive and even the so-called "healthy" carbs from vegetables can be a culprit.
That's not to say I don't enjoy eating green leafy veggies, mashed cauliflower, broccoli and other low-carb non-starchy vegetables from time to time, but I don't feel the need to force them into my menus either. The original ATKINS DIET REVOLUTION is closer to what I am doing now than DANDR. Even still, this is my low-carb plan that works for me and not necessarily something anyone else should do for themselves.
As for vitamins, I take a slew of them:
Iron-free men's multivitamin
MCT oil
Fish oil capsules
Vitamin D gelcaps
EDTA (oral chelation for heavy metals)
Calcium
Magnesium
Chromium
CoQ10
Fibercon
Acidopholis (pro-biotic)
I am a BIG BELIEVER that supplementation is a HUGE part of my low-carb success.
As for cheese, I eat about 4 ounces daily, but would gladly eat more if I could get away with it. :) I love the stuff.
Hope this helps, Penny, and THANKS so much for reading!
First of all, Erasmus, I don't know that there is mold necessarily, it's just a hypothesis on why I've been struggling the past couple of years to lose despite low-carbing exactly the same way I did to lose 180 pounds. The roof problems were happening about three years ago and we got the roof fixed in late 2007. But there has been signs of mold in various places throughout the house although I cannot afford to get it checked.
This has nothing at all to do with my "sweet"-free challenge back in November 2008 which was only nominally successful. While I did lose some weight doing that, it was not something I want to do for the rest of my life--that's one of the key principles I harp on over and over again that people need to find what will work for them to be health and maintain their weight over the long term.
Perhaps I'll try it again soon and see if I can adapt to that kind of lifestyle change, but it was miserable for me at best no matter how much psyching up I tried to do for myself at the time. THANKS for your comments, Erasmus!
I can't eat that many vegetables either, to be honest. However, sadly for me, I don't lose any weight eat bacon double cheeseburgers without the bread either. I have to SERIOUSLY limit my cheese consumption and nuts make me start gaining weight right away. However, I am able now to eat cottage cheese, most fruits, flaxmeal wraps, and whole grain pastas without any negative impact and am still losing 1-2 pounds per week. But I can't have both. If I ate those things AND 2 pounds of beef, I'd start gaining. Just goes to show, everyone's bodies are strangely unique and quite fascinating.
I need to probably up my vitamin intake. Right now I only take a women's iron free multi vitamin and L-Carnitine. However, my mother is crippled from rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis so I know I need to add some Calcium in there too. Are you still using coconut oil regularly?
Thanks for the quick response.
THANKS malpaz2003. What exactly is wrong with my grass-fed burgers? They are far superior quality meat than most of your cohorts on that other forum eat with a leader who buys his disgusting grain-fed meats from Wal-mart of all places. Gee, that's real healthy.
I'm not sure what your obsession is over people who choose to consume sugar-free, low-carb food and drinks, but I never cast judgment on the dietary choices of others as long as it is making them healthy.
Funny you should say that about vegetables, Jimmy, because I ate some sauteed zucchini & onions last week and they made me physically ill. First food I have really had a problem with in years. All leafy green things seem to make me ill, also...?
THANKS Penny! The MCT oil has replaced my daily consumption of coconut oil and it contains a higher concentration of the medium chain triglycerides. I still cook with coconut oil from time to time, though. :)
Jimmy: only your beef is grass fed, the rest are not. In the carb smart bread you love so much:
Whole grains, bean, seeds of *kamut®, *spelt, *wheat, *rye, *millet, lentils, eggs, soy protein, flax, sesame, *quinoa, *amaranth, wheat gluten, 7 grain flakes, oat bran, sea salt & yeast.
Looks like quite a few grains in there too.
Honestly, I think you should go less processed foods. BUT you said you were miserable on no AF. And if you are miserable your just likely to pig out at some point. After all remember the misery of low fat and how a binge was just round the corner! Some people can turn from being an over eater to someone who makes food just a fuel, some cannot. Sometimes we are better admitting our limits, even if they are lower than we would like.
You say that you are carb sensitive. It is hard to tell how many carbs a day as you do not give quantities. What do you think (approx) your carb (net and gross) level is atm? Or is it just veggie carbs? Thanks!
Sweet Penny: have you looked into vit D? There is some interesting stuff about vit D playing as important a role in bone health as calcium. Plus cutting back on caffeine cont drinks and colas (colas seem to effect women, not see any reasons given why)
Amber, I mostly eat high-quality foods that I enjoy as part of my healthy low-carb lifestyle. There not all 100% perfect all the time, but the great majority of them are perfectly acceptable for people who are livin' la vida low-carb. My low-carb processed food consumption is not the overwhelming majority of my diet.
I'm definitely the first to admit my tolerance and limitations on such a stringent diet is very low. It's how I got to be so fat to begin with back before 2004. Atkins/low-carb freed me from that bondage and now I'm better able to live the way I like and enjoy while still experiencing incredible health success as I enjoy today.
Regarding my portions, I do list them on most of my foods. Feel free to ask me anytime you are unsure about how much of something I've eaten. Hmmm, my net carbs can't go too much above 35g daily without me gaining and I would suspect my total carbs would have to be no more than 60-70g. That's just a total guess though.
Hi Jimmy,
I have been a big fan of yours for about six months when I first learned about low carbing. I'm really worried now, though. I have been buying all of my meat from Wal-Mart. I live in an area where that's the only food store we have in town and the only meat I can get is what they sell at the Wal-Mart.
I'm a single mom, and I can't afford to buy grass beef on the internet. I can only afford to buy those big tubes of hamburger meat for me and my son. We eat a lot of it. I follow the original Atkins book and it works for me. All of my friends think I am unhealthy for eating so much meat and fat but I don't care. It has made a big difference for me.
I lost over 40 pounds eating the burgers and I feel good. I don't know what my blood work would show, though. I really love eating low carb. But now I am worried that what I am doing is unhealthy for me and for my son. He is just a toddler, and I am trying to feed him the best I can.
Maybe I should quit low carb if I can't buy the more expensive beef? I wish I knew what to do. I am really worried now.
Tara, thanks so much for your comment. I apologize for confusing you about the Wal-mart meat. My intention was not to say that kind of meat isn't a good low-carb option if that's all you have access to or can afford. It's what I consumed in the early days of my low-carb lifestyle, so I understand where you are coming from.
My comment was primarily to communicate that there are better, healthier cuts of meat full of omega-3 fatty acids that have been grass-fed. Some dismiss these better choices as irrelevant, but there's too much evidence that says otherwise. Keep up the great work on your healthy low-carb lifestyle. I'm proud of you. :)
When it comes to omega-3 content, there's hardly a difference between grass-fed beef and conventional beef. And neither of them provide more than a few milligrams in the raw state, probably negligible amounts after being cooked.
For example:
http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/beef-products/10526/2
Thanks Serge! But there are many benefits to consuming grass-fed beef. With all the hysteria over so-called junk food low-carb products, I contend this kind of food is even better.
Tara,
Don't get too caught up in a minor issue such as grass fed vs grain fed beef. I have been eating the beef from Wal-Mart and Sam's Club since I started 10 weeks ago. I've lost 30 lbs, my lipid profile has improved dramatically and I think it tastes great. Obviously, it's not all that I eat, but I do eat it often.
Jimmy,
I will have to say that I was disappointed to read this comment from you:
"They are far superior quality meat than most of your cohorts on that other forum eat with a leader who buys his disgusting grain-fed meats from Wal-mart of all places. Gee, that's real healthy."
Man, that sounds very elitist. I'm not trying to bash you. However, I'm a little confused as to why you strive to eat the purest, highest quality meat and dairy, but simultaneously consume synthetic and artificial products. If you're going to be highbrow about it (as evidenced by the Wal-Mart comment), wouldn't it strengthen your argument if your diet was a little "cleaner?"
THANKS Robert! I'm sorry to disappoint you, but too many people rely too heavily on the meats and other foods that are served to them at their local grocery stores. Consuming quality food as a means for stepping up the efforts to be as healthy as possible is something we all should strive to do. That's not an elitist position, but a populist one.
My decision about what I choose to consume is ultimately mine and mine alone. Nobody is forcing me to eat the way I do just as I am not requiring someone else to eat the way they do. It's the choice of the individual about what makes them feel good about themselves nutritionally while striving for optimal weight and health management.
This isn't a "highbrow" position, Robert, it's simply a matter of distinguishing between choices that are good versus better. THANKS for your comments!
Jimmy,
Thanks for the explanation. I do appreciate your apology to Tara. I guess I took it a little too personally because I eat meat from Wal-Mart. Sorry for the misinterpretation of your comments as being "elitist." My bad!
For the record, I drink diet soda and eat sugar-free candy all the time! So I definitely wasn't trying to bash you for that. Maybe I'd be better off eating cleaner, as well, but aside from those products, I still follow the Atkins induction phase. No nuts, fruits, excess cheese, etc. In other words, I haven't climbed the ladder of Atkins OWL. It is working for me and I'm happy with it!
So if your plan works for you and your happy with it, keep it up!
@Tara:
The concern with grain-fed, feedlot meats isn't weight loss but a high pro-inflammatory omega- to anti-inflammatory omega-3 ratio. I buy bone-in poultry and bake it, which cooks off a lot of the fat. I remove the meat, toss the skins, and then simmer the bones for 24 hours in a crockpot with water and a couple tablespoons of vinegar to leach the minerals from the bones. I get lots of meat plus mineral-rich broth for cooking non-starch veggies. Chicken and turkey cost about the same, but turkey has a higher meat-to-bone ratio and thus is a more economical buy.
Yes the ratio of 6:3 is high in grain fed but if you look at the total grams of omega 6 in grain fed it is very low. From my analysis better to take fish oil or eat fish on occasion to get your omega:3s and change the raiio. CHD mortality risk to due omega 6 kicks in at 4% of calories. Vegetable oil is a veritable land mine of high omega 6. Give that up and you lower one's risk substantially. http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2009/05/eicosanoids-and-ischemic-heart-disease.html
Post a Comment