One of the most fascinating things I have noticed since I began blogging about the healthy low-carb lifestyle back in 2005 is how amazingly diversified the low-carb community is about the "proper" way a low-carb diet should be done. The definition of "healthy low-carb living" varies depending on who you talk to. In fact, if we had a room full of 100 low-carbers I would bet you'd have at least 50 or more different versions of livin' la vida low-carb. And that's okay because individualization of the diet is what makes it work in the long-term.
Some people believe you should only eat whole foods all the time. And for the most part, that's a good philosophy to live by. In fact, if you look at my low-carb menus then you will see that's precisely what I eat the vast majority of the time. Of course, I also like to add in some chocolate and other treats from time to time to enhance my low-carb lifestyle. It's what helped me lose 180 pounds in 2004 and I've been doing it ever since.
However, with my recent 30-pound weight gain in 2008 that has pretty much sustained for the past six months, I've been looking at ways to bring that weight back down. I now know that I'm dealing with an erratic blood sugar issue that is tied to an unusual insulin response even after a low-carb meal. Frustrating doesn't even begin to explain this process, but I'm certainly not giving up.
After interviewing Dr. Keith Berkowitz in June (and I'll be having a follow-up interview with him coming the first week of August) about his "reactive hypoglycemia" theory, I decided to implement a strategy of eating more often with lots of small "meals" throughout the day and I saw some success. But then the weight started going up again and I cut back on my protein intake to slow down gluconeogenesis. Again, good progress, but then the weight came back up yet again. I even cut out all of my favorite low-carb products a couple of months back for two weeks--DIDN'T LOSE A SINGLE POUND! UGH!
So, imagine my discouragement to see the following recommendations for getting my weight to reduce from my low-carb doctor this week:
1--no low-carb "treats" or substitutes for otherwise high-carb food (although sugar-free Jello and other desserts such as we allow our patients would be okay in limited amounts)
2--foods should be chosen from those listed on the "No Sugar, No Starch" guide we give patients
3--adequate protein (as determined from lean body mass) should be consumed, but care should be taken not to exceed protein requirements
4--portion-control and calorie-restriction should be implemented, as determined by BMR
No "treats" at all are allowed right now for me, including my chocolate bar, low-carb wraps, bars, or anything. NONE! I'll skip the Jello thank you very much, but I'll make some cheesecake out of cream cheese, heavy cream, and other REAL foods. I'm well aware of what's good to eat that is non-sugary, non-starchy, so that won't be a problem. Getting that "adequate protein" is the tricky part for me right now, although I've done well with it as of late. Controlling portions and calories goes against everything I've ever done with livin' la vida low-carb, so that's gonna be hard.
But I'm game for it and starting today I'm doing all of this. I'm gonna go low-carb product-free as an experiment and see if it makes a difference in my weight. I feel fantastic right now health-wise, but the sustained weight hovering around 260 is getting old quick. Even my stepmom Faye said to me during my visit to Tennessee earlier this week, "Oh no, Jimmy, you're not gaining back all that weight again are you?" What a slap in the face when I'm busting my butt trying to figure out what's going on. I'll be blogging more about this soon.
In the meantime, you can track my progress on this new diet experiment to see what if any impact cutting out the low-carb products will have. Based on my previous experience, it's not gonna do anything to help with this issue I have now. I've eaten these things throughout my 180-pound weight loss and ever since, so why would it suddenly be impacting me now? I don't understand that logic at all.
Here we are, though. I'm doing it and you can see what I'm eating at my low-carb menus blog. I'll share how my weight is doing each day along with the meals I am eating. I'm not convinced this is the answer, but nothing else has worked yet--WHAT THE HECK! :)
Jimmy -
ReplyDeleteHi! I don't get the chance to visit your blog as often as I should. It's great when I have the chance to check in. I've done Atkins for 3 years now and kept off the weight.
I would encourage you to eat the way your doctor prescribed, and here's why:
1. Calories do still count (and even Atkins says so) on low carb. You can't overeat and expect to lose weight. (Which is why induction restricts chesses and cream and specifically says to control portions - eat only when hungry, etc.) If you are eating too much protein and/or fat and not exercising it off, your body will eventually and reluctantly store it as fat.
I have a personal experience with this one. I gained weight when I began eating too much cream on a regular basis. I removed the cream and my pounds came off.
2. Low carb products can be absorbed as sugar by the body.
Remember that sugar alcohols are sugar derivatives. Their funny molecule structure is what prevents (in theory) the body from absorbing them. The important of that sentence is "in theory". Your body may have adapted to them and is now digesting them as normal sugars. Glycerin (which is what sweetens Atkins bars) may also act like sugar in the body, depending on who you are.
Another important factor to remember is that the *taste of sweet* can trigger the production of insulin which triggers fat storage. I can trigger a sugar high and low by simply drinking a diet soda. (Yes, it seriously sucks.)
And why now? Bodies adapt to their circumstances and as we grow older our digestive systems become more efficient. We think of this as a negative because we are surrounded by food - as in "darn it I can't eat so much because I'm older and my metabolism has slowed and I'm falling apart". *grin*
Actually, though, from an evolutionary point view, that's a very good thing. It means older and wiser adults require less resources to sustain themselves because they are able to digest food at maximal efficiency.
To sum up - you may well be facing a whole foods, portion controlled diet to take and keep off the rest of the weight. If it makes you feel any better, I figured out a while ago that's pretty much what I had to do, too. My body has almost completely rejected food that has not mooed or clucked at some point. Good luck with the diet change.
Hey Jimmy,
ReplyDeletehave you talked to Mark Sisson about your weight gain he's a smart guy and might be able to help.I just purchased the Atkins book 1981 version it's quite different than the 2002 version i thaink i might try it.It only alows 2 cup loosely packed lettuce aday for one week.Then you add 5 grams the week after that intill you stop losing but i will try to stick to the 2 cups a day for a while starting tommorrow.
Jimmy, I think you are smart to get off the "products food" - at least for now. I'm sure that Atkins bars and the like stopped my weight loss sometime back, when I was eating them for breakfast or as a midday treat. So today I eat them sparingly as treats, but not as a regular part of my diet.
ReplyDeleteJimmy,
ReplyDeleteI apologize if you've already addressed this possibility.
Could it be that some peoples' bodies adapt to eating a lower carb diet and therefore require lower and lower carbs to maintain the same blood sugar balance/insulin production and weight as time goes on?
In other words, what if some people's body's keep "lowering the bar"?
I'm not sure why this would be. Maybe it's similar to how our metabolism adapts to longer term weight loss attempts - easier at first, slowing in the middle phase and halting or stalling as we approach our goal.
I hope this isn't the case. And, if it is, what might the solution be? I just don't know.
This is probably just a nutty theory. I'm just thinking out loud.
Keep fighting the good fight!
Harry
Jimmy,
ReplyDeleteI'm betting you are on the right track. I was diagnosed with type II diabetes at a young age (in my 20s). I'm now 44 and have been on a low-carb diet since 2000. This diet works MUCH better than any oral diabetic medication I've tried for blood sugar and weight control. In my experience the diet loses its power when hidden carbs sneak in. If my blood glucose meter is any indicator, every low carb junk-food product that I've tried, including Atkin's bars lies about the the impact on blood sugars. I personally have learned to ignore the "impact carbs" marketing claims and instead count the carbs reported on the nutrition label - approx 17 grams for atkin's bars (I know that fiber doesn't count but I count it anyway).
Good luck and never give up!
Hi, Jimmy and welcome back!
ReplyDeletePoint #4 says:
portion-control and calorie-restriction should be implemented, as determined by BMR
Did your doctor include a number or a formula with that? I'd be interested to know what his specific calorie guidelines are.
Great post Am! Also agree with Bill, Mark Sisson has a great site.
ReplyDeleteOn the artificial sweeteners, I ran across a recent
Time magazine article, “Can Sugar Substitutes Make You Fat?” where lab animals consuming food supplemented with sugar substitutes consumed more calories and gained more weight than animals eating food with plain glucose.
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1711763,00.html?cnn=yes
This kind of hit home with me as I had been drinking Italian sodas made with club soda and sugar-free vanilla syrup and began to notice how hungry I would feel afterwards. On Italian soda day my total daily calories could be much higher and I was still really hungry. I suspect an insulin dump. On, the no soda days I could eat much fewer calories and feel okay. Lesson learned.
Also, found a Yahoo group by Dave, a high fat, low carber.
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/LowCarbHighFat/?v=1&t=search&ch=web&pub=groups&sec=group&slk=17
He has an interesting way of eating, about 10 tiny meals a day to keep from
getting hungry.
Your situation is definitely perplexing to say the least. You are weightlifting which should make you LESS insulin resistant not more as you seem to be. Weightlifting should increase HGH production and release fatty acids from your fat stores. Since you are weightlifting you should require MORE protein not LESS. Well, best of luck with the new approach.
ReplyDeleteStargazey, what I shared is exactly what Dr. Westman said for me to do. No specifics.
ReplyDeleteHi Jimmy!
ReplyDeleteOne thing that strikes me is that you have been under enormous stress lately with illness in the family. Also the confusion surrounding your weight gain and your blood sugar levels. I mean, there are a lot of emotional things going on!
Just wondering if your body is trying to tell you something?
Another thing that could be interesting to try (which perhaps you already do) is to focus on your hunger and satiety when you eat. Testing a bit and seeing if the portions perhaps have become a little bigger than before? (which happens to everyone!)
Focusing on your hunger in the moment and seeing if it is real hunger or cravings? Just observe and have no expectations.
I think you are on a fascinating journey of self-discovery and I just wish you all the best!
More FRESH food, less PRODUCTS.. we had this discussion THREE YEARS ago Jimmy!
ReplyDeletehttp://livinlavidalocarb.blogspot.com/2005/06/low-carb-foods-can-help-you-meet-your.html
Keep up the good work on the blog and my thoughts are with you and your family over the health of your Brother and Father.
Cheers
Duncan.
http://www.duncanmargetts.com
I wish I had an answer for you. I can empathise with how hard a product free WOL can be. I don't eat Atkins bars as they make me hungry but I ADORE your bars and sometimes have LC wraps and Dreamfields. I did cut them out and it maade no difference apart from leaving me feeling deprived.
ReplyDeleteThinking of you and sorry for that hurtful comment you had to hear from your step mother. Sometimes people really are clueless. I can't wait for the day that weight and obesity are considered inappropriate to comment on in the same way sex and race is.
Until then (((((HUGS))))
I find that the sugar alcohols in foods aimed at low-carbers not only stop my weight loss dead, they put pounds on me. Took me a while to figure it out, but seems to be true. But whole foods (and avoiding packaged foods) rock anyway, so avoiding the sugar alcohols isn't hard.
ReplyDeleteFWIW, of course.
Welcome back, lab rat!
ReplyDeleteI recall that one of the FIRST things you did was to go back to a product-free Induction, so the only difference now is that you are counting calories and reducing protein. If you are counting calories, you'd better watch that cheesecake - adds up really quickly.
By MY estimations, you are not eating an excessive number of calories for a 260-lb man, but that's just me. I recommend that you use the Katch-McArdle formula for determining how many calories would be optimum for you, b/c I have found it to be the most accurate. Click here to use the calculator. (I HOPE I did that right.)
And yes, ppl DO go there. They don't hesitate to remind you when you're gaining weight - as if you don't know. I hope it's stupidity that makes ppl do such things, rather than malice.
Duncan, it's been a while since I've hear from you, man! You were one of the very first people to start visiting my blog back in 2005 and I always appreciated your interesting perspective. Yes, you did tell me this three years ago, but I wasn't having trouble then either. Perhaps our bodies adjust to those things over time. We'll see if this makes a difference or not. I'm still not convinced.
ReplyDeleteTHANKS for all the comments everyone! Follow my progress at my menus blog and we'll see how this works.
ReplyDeleteHi Jimmy,
ReplyDeleteI juat wanted to offer my sympathy for everything that's going on in your life right now. You are dealing with a lot and doing it very gracefully.
One thing I've noticed after being on Low Carb Friends for a year and a half now, is that many people find things that worked for them in the past or when they were more overweight now stall them. There's no rhyme or reason to it, but you can't always assume that what made you lose in the past will be OK again. I really think you are going to see the results with giving up the products and limiting calories.
You can do it! :) Claire
THANKS Claire! We're gonna give it a whirl and see what happens. :)
ReplyDeleteWelcome back, Jimmy! You were missed. :-)
ReplyDeleteI know it stinks giving up your bars and having to count calories, but hopefully this will help pinpoint the trouble spot to get you where you want to be.
Thank you for sharing this journey with us cause I've been having some problems myself and am hoping to learn from your experience.
I'm sorry for the insensitive comment by your stepmother. Sheesh! Some people speak before they think. She obviously doesn't know you as well as we do or she would have never said that.
Your family continues to be in my prayers.
You rock, Jimmy!
Kindest,
Re: Livin Low Carb Discussion forum
ReplyDeleteI'm curious why you haven't experimented with Charles' advice, i.e zero carb?
His writing and scholarship are superb!
Cheers
THANKS Marlin! Charles and I disagree about the importance of the phytonutrients you receive from non-starchy veggies or I'd be eating a zero-carb diet. Although I can't say I haven't been tempted to try it during this recent weight issue. I'm sharing a podcast interview with Charles on Monday that I'm sure will convince others it's the way they should go. I'm still not so sure it is what is best for me. THANKS for your comment!
ReplyDeleteJimmy,
ReplyDeleteThank you for all your candor. On a self-centered note, you have given me the mental impetus to carry on with la vida.
You have had such overwhelming situations in your life lately that a person of lesser integrity would have swooned by now. I am praying for God's blessings to be upon you and your family.
Please keep advising us of your progress that we may learn and even teach others how to take care of their bodies and facilitate needed weight loss.
THANKS so much anonymous! I have always tried to be an open book here, so you can count on me always sharing about what's happening--good, bad, or ugly. :)
ReplyDeleteHave you considered an overabundance of yeast in your digestive system being a culprit? Atkins warned about this in his book and suggests cutting out cheese and other items for awhile and taking a high quality probiotic.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first started on the Atkins diet, I found that exceeding 50 gm of carbs a day would start increasing my weight. As years went by, I found that it took less and less carbs to trigger weight gain. I'm sure that aging-associated changes to hormone levels in the body plays a role. I'm now pretty much down to less than 10 gm a day, most of which comes from the Whey protein drink I take in between essentially zero carb meals. I find that taking the Whey protein, which I started doing when I decided to hire a personal trainer and start weight lifting, pretty much kills my appetite even further and makes me eat less during meals. You really have to watch out for hidden carbs, Jimmy.
ReplyDeleteI already take a probiotic and have cut out all low-carb products. Now you say I should remove cheese "and other items" from my diet, too? It wasn't this complex when I lost my weight in 2004, so I'm not understanding the logic of continually removing more and more foods. Can you explain?
ReplyDeleteTHANKS Jet! I'm working on that as we speak. :)
ReplyDelete"I'm not understanding the logic of continually removing more and more foods. Can you explain?"
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised you'd ask that!
Charles, the moderator of your Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Discussion forum, has posted the answer to this question and many others. He's very inspirational, too!
Thanks again for sharing your journey. so generous.
ReplyDeleteA question - isn't erithrytol one of those "products" that are a substitute for high-carb sugar?
Did you and your doc talk about meal timing? it seems to me that frequent meals will just keep your insulin high all the time, since we know you have a "lively" insulin response to incoming food.
Byron Richards in his leptim books talks about the importance of 5-6 hours between meals to work with, not against, the timing of insulin, leptin, hormone ups and downs. Including not eating afer dinner. There's some cool stuff about how eating late actually reduces your fat-burning time in the morning.
Erythritol is a zero-calorie sweetener made from fruit. Why would this be considered a "product?"
ReplyDeleteMy low-carb doctor didn't say anything about the timing issue. I agree it seems eating frequently would increase the sustained insulin. You'll notice in my latest menus I'm not eating that often now.
I'm looking at all angles right now.
Nah, don't be surprised I'm asking it Angela! Just wanted to see what YOU had to say. :) I'm well aware of Charles...I'll be sharing an interview with him on my podcast show Monday.
ReplyDeleteRe erythritol - just trying to understand. It's an ingredient, not a processed product, but from your food blog yesterday, the two evening desserts, two hours apart, (pudding or cheesecake-like?) looked to me like
ReplyDelete"low-carb treats that are substitues for high carb things"
which was on the doc's no-no list. That's what I would be thinking if it were me.
It may be a zero calorie sweetener but especially with the history, I would be conservative and not automatically assume that means, zero insulin rise.
I think you are making this process way too complex.
ReplyDeleteWhy not switch to a diet that's mostly fat plus an accurately measured amount of protein, such as 100 grams or less, spread evening throughout the day?
Use heavy whipping cream, butter, olive oil, or meat fat for the fat.
Going without phytonutrients for a few days isn't going to hurt.
Then, once you start losing weight on this simple diet, try adding items back one at a time to see what causes trouble.
Ummmm, that's what I'm doing Susan.
ReplyDeleteI think what they mean is the Dreamfields pasta, the chips, the chocolate bars, etc. as the "low-carb treats." What I did was took REAL foods like cream cheese, heavy cream, erythritol, and nutmeg and made something sweet to eat. What's wrong with that? It's not a product, it's a combination of foods made into a recipe that is palatable and still REAL food.
ReplyDeletePlain and simple, you are eating too many calories. I know, I know, calories are not supposed to count, and it's a pain, and it shouldn't be necessary, but until you do it at least once to familiarize yourself with the numbers for the foods you eat most often (find out exactly how many calories are in that cream cheese, cream, erythritol dessert!) you will never know just how much you are really consuming. And if you "read the book" as you keep telling others to do, Dr. Atkins specifically said that whatever you used to do in the past (i.e. I used to be able to lose 10 pounds in a week) is just that, in the past. He said to get over it. It's not 2004, and unfortunately, when you weighed more, it took more calories just to keep your body functions operating. The thinner you become, the fewer calories you need. Dr. Atkins' fat fast was only about 1,000 calories (200 calories at each of 5 feedings). I think you eat the quantities you do because that's what you used to be able to do while still losing weight. That's over, my friend.
ReplyDeleteAnd you certainly do not need 175 gms. of protein a day! That's over 1 1/2 pounds of meat!! This is why people question your judgment about what you call a "normal" serving.
ReplyDeleteWell, anonymous, according to my doctor's instructions, I am to eat enough protein for my lean body mass. It works out to 1g protein per pound of lean body mass and that's around 150-200. If you'll look at my menus, you'll see I'm not even getting close to that amount of protein. So I don't think there's anything to "question" about my "judgment." But thanks for your comments.
ReplyDeleteFair enough, calories count. So how many calories should I be eating now? Have you seen my menus the past few days? Is that still too much food to be eating? THANKS for your analysis.
ReplyDeleteI'm interested in hearing your podcast with Charles, as I'm doing the carnivore thing myself and having pretty good success with it, not to mention I'm feeling better than I have in years. I regularly eat over 150 grams of protein in a day ... but not much else.
ReplyDeleteHere's a useful calculator for figuring out how many grams of fat/protein/carbs a person needs according to body weight/exercise output, etc. The very low carb option still has a fair amount of carbohydrate (for me, 45 grams), but from this it seem that you, Jimmy, are not eating enough protein (and maybe carbs). I thought it was neat.
ReplyDelete--Didirina
(I cannot make my Google account stick!)
http://www.freedieting.com/tools/nutrient_calculator.htm
Actually Didirina, my low-carb doctor thinks I was eating too much protein which is why it seems like I'm not eating enough. I've purposely backed off of protein by design. :) And I'm not eating more carbs unless someone gives a compelling reason for doing so.
ReplyDeleteJimmy, I know you've cut out the products just thought this was interesting to post about artificial sweeteners:
ReplyDelete"Polyols or sugar alcohols - There are a few of these around including mannitol, sorbitol and xylitol (the monosaccharides), maltitol and isomalt (the disaccharides), and a comparative "newby", erythritol. These are all low calorie sweeteners, which are incompletely absorbed in the small intestine. They have little effect on blood sugar levels, so are considered preferable to sugar. They tend to have a laxative effect and can cause stomach cramps, gas and diarrhoea if overeaten, so they are best used only occasionally. As they are not broken down in the stomach, and draw water into the bowel, they can cause fermentation of undesirable bacteria. This can make yeast problems such as candida worse. They can also stop ketosis dead in it's tracks, so if you're on a low carb diet for bodyfat reduction, they wouldn’t be a good choice.
Studies seem to indicate that erythritol (marketed as Eridex) is the best - it's nearly non-caloric, does not elevate blood glucose or insulin levels, is not a laxative, and is eliminated rapidly. However it is a corn derivative, which may be a problem for some people. Of the others it appears that maltitol and xylitol cause the least side effects. I wouldn't recommend eating any of these on a regular basis, but you may find you can have the occasional serving of a commercial food which is sweetened this way."
http://209.85.175.104/search?q=cache:7kybnYnRCfYJ:www.cef.co.nz/articles/sweeteners.pdf+erythritol+still+causes+insulin+response&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=16&gl=au
"Animal studies have convincingly proven that artificial sweeteners cause body weight gain. A sweet taste induces an insulin response, which causes blood sugar to be stored in tissues (including fat), but because blood sugar does not increase with artificial sugars, there is hypoglycemia and increased food intake the next time there is a meal. After a while, rats given sweeteners have steadily increased caloric intake, increased body weight, and increased adiposity (fatness). Furthermore, the natural responses to eating sugary foods (eating less at the next meal and using some of the extra calories to warm the body after the sugary meal) are gradually lost."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_substitute
THANKS Sue! What I don't understand is how eating foods with polyols in them for the past four plus years never gave me this kind of issue and now all of a sudden they do. What's up with that? Is this something that evolves over time?
ReplyDeleteHi Jimmy,
ReplyDeleteI don't have any studies or quotes to show you at the moment, but I will look for them. It's pretty well known in allergy circles that some people can eat a food for years with no problems and then suddenly develop an allergy or intolerance toward them.
When I first started following online low-carb forums back in 1997, that was a topic that came up fairly often. I know of one woman who could not lose any weight unless she ate only ground pork, broccoli and raw carrots. She had to just keep eliminating and eliminating! She was the most extreme case I read about and most people never had to take it that far...but it was interesting how many people had to find and eliminate a food that did not work for them to break a stall or lose weight at all.
As I mentioned before, the "gurus" would tell people to look at the foods that they "had" to have as the culprits...that those foods people tended to be "addicted" to were most often the ones causing the problem.
I think I've figured out the problem with my disappearing posts...seems to be an AIM problem, I think. I've had to resend each post I've done this week on your food log at least twice.
Best wishes,
Carol
THANKS Carol! I'm glad you figured out the comment thing...like I said, I don't moderate comments unless they are profane or promoting something.
ReplyDeleteHi guys, I just found this blog and I am amazed. I am 46, 5'9", and in 2003 I weighed almost 200 pounds. I dropped 40 pounds in about three months in 2004, and in fact it got almost scary. I set my target weight at 164, my weight in college, and easily got there. Then 160, 150, 145. I don't know how low I can go, and I didn't want to find out. My wife told me to knock it off. So I boosted my carbs up to about 85 grams a day and evened out at 160.
ReplyDeleteBut just like Jimmy over the last year I have put on about five pounds, and just like him I really intensely don't like it. Until I read this blog, it did not occur to me that maybe my body has adapted to the low carb diet. That is a shame, because I really thought this was my solution for life.
I am going to research some more, but frankly, I think food obsessions are unhealthy, and that is one of the reasons that I so love low-carb. You pretty much eat anything you want of whole, healthy foods, prepared the way they taste best. I don't want to go back to counting calories or points. If I have to do that, I'm not sure exactly what I am going to do.
BTW, my wife and just booked a Carnival cruise from Galveston leaving August 9th. We are looking forward to it.
Welcome jarhed! CONGRATS on the weight loss and kudos to you for making it a lifelong commitment. While it has been frustrating to put on a few pounds, the good news is my health is spectacular--and I'm sure yours is too. ENJOY that cruise...here's a blog post showing how I stayed on low-carb for all five days of my cruise earlier this year. THANKS for stopping by and come back again soon. :)
ReplyDelete