update on my "zero carb" experiment
I'm still doing it! I think I started on april 28, so it's been 2 mos now. I feel great and I'm going to stick with it for the foreseeable future.
So, first I should say, I don't actually eat zero carbs, but I normally eat 2 g cho a day, so pretty close. When I have 2 meals a day, it's 5 slices of bacon and a burger w/ cheddar for my 1st meal and 2 burger patties with cheddar for my second meal. More often now, though, I just eat once a day and I have 4 slices bacon, 2 patties, and cheddar. Eating this way, I just don't get very hungry. When I only have one meal, I often lose my interest in it half way through, but I try to finish it because I like that it gets me through the whole next day. I may experiment with less food or eating even less often, though.
This way of eating is so unexpected for me because I normally have a large appetite and want to eat all the time. But now I think that was just a side effect of the carbs for me. And even 25 or 30 g a day was enough to keep that going. But on near-zero, I am not very interested in food at all. It's so liberating!
Blood sugar has been pretty good (would probably be better if I would stop forgetting about it, I have been missing shots here and there). When I'm paying attn, though, it's quite good. And I'm using a tiny amount of insulin most days (total of 13 to 16 units and I think I'm needing less, been going low more this last week).
The real shocker for me, though, has been that my dawn phenomenon has disappeared! It used to be that if I got up to get my son to school and didn't do any insulin or eat beforehand, I would go from 80ish to 300ish by the time I got home. I would normally do 3 units of humalog at 7:30 to keep it in line if I didn't eat. Now it really doesn't happen at all. The other day, I tested every hour until I had my evening meal (fasted all day) and it did go up steadily all day, but the highest it got was 141!
I think I may need to lower my lantus shot again because I've been waking up low the last few days (which I hate bc I feel like having those recovery carbs makes me feel really off all day, especially bc it's been first thing in the morning). So I'm crossing my fingers that I continue to stay steady in the am if I decrease it. But when my dawn phenomenon was in full swing, a bit more lantus was not helpful, so I think there has been a real change.
Does anyone know if Dr. B has anything to say about low carb effecting DP? I don't recall seeing that anywhere, but I haven't listened to the podcasts.
I have lost about 20 pounds since I started, but gained a few back just in the last few days since I've been having these lows.
So, first I should say, I don't actually eat zero carbs, but I normally eat 2 g cho a day, so pretty close. When I have 2 meals a day, it's 5 slices of bacon and a burger w/ cheddar for my 1st meal and 2 burger patties with cheddar for my second meal. More often now, though, I just eat once a day and I have 4 slices bacon, 2 patties, and cheddar. Eating this way, I just don't get very hungry. When I only have one meal, I often lose my interest in it half way through, but I try to finish it because I like that it gets me through the whole next day. I may experiment with less food or eating even less often, though.
This way of eating is so unexpected for me because I normally have a large appetite and want to eat all the time. But now I think that was just a side effect of the carbs for me. And even 25 or 30 g a day was enough to keep that going. But on near-zero, I am not very interested in food at all. It's so liberating!
Blood sugar has been pretty good (would probably be better if I would stop forgetting about it, I have been missing shots here and there). When I'm paying attn, though, it's quite good. And I'm using a tiny amount of insulin most days (total of 13 to 16 units and I think I'm needing less, been going low more this last week).
The real shocker for me, though, has been that my dawn phenomenon has disappeared! It used to be that if I got up to get my son to school and didn't do any insulin or eat beforehand, I would go from 80ish to 300ish by the time I got home. I would normally do 3 units of humalog at 7:30 to keep it in line if I didn't eat. Now it really doesn't happen at all. The other day, I tested every hour until I had my evening meal (fasted all day) and it did go up steadily all day, but the highest it got was 141!
I think I may need to lower my lantus shot again because I've been waking up low the last few days (which I hate bc I feel like having those recovery carbs makes me feel really off all day, especially bc it's been first thing in the morning). So I'm crossing my fingers that I continue to stay steady in the am if I decrease it. But when my dawn phenomenon was in full swing, a bit more lantus was not helpful, so I think there has been a real change.
Does anyone know if Dr. B has anything to say about low carb effecting DP? I don't recall seeing that anywhere, but I haven't listened to the podcasts.
I have lost about 20 pounds since I started, but gained a few back just in the last few days since I've been having these lows.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by andrea on -
thanks for the tips! i am at a comfortable weight, id just like to shed off a few more! thanks for the advice
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Permalink Reply by rubidoux on -
My opinion is that it would kick start your metabolism a bit. Not long before I started eating this way, I went low carb and lost 11 pounds in the first couple of weeks, but then stalled out. Then when I started this way of eating I immediately began losing again. I had a lot to lose, though. If you're close to your ideal weight, I think it's usually much harder to lose. But maybe try it for a few days. Sometimes just doing something different is enough to shake things up.
Btw, I've never been a big meat eater, either, and I'm not that stoked on all this meat. lol I would love to have some bacon with some yummy crusty bread and a really ripe red beefsteak tomato. Sigh... -
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Permalink Reply by BadMoonT2 on -
I have been doing something similar to you on the weekend. Big breakfast with almost no carbs and then I skip lunch. I do 2 exercise sessions one about 11 AM and one about 4 PM. It seems to have a positive influence on my Insulin Resistance which in turn helps my DP. At times the positive effect lasts well into the next week esp. if I am conscientious about my regular exercise schedule. I usually don't get hungry which I find interesting. I may try your bacon, burger and cheddar meal which would be higher protein just for the heck of it. Not sure about everyday though I like my veggies too much:)
Thanks again for sharing, very thought provoking. Also liked reading the Dirty Carnivore forum. -
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Permalink Reply by andrea on
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i decided to cut out the veggies for a few days and rely solely on hamburgers like you. lets see what happens!
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Permalink Reply by Natalie ._c- on -
Hate to be a wet blanket, but the idea of eliminating all veggies disturbs me. Plant foods contain not only vitamins and minerals but phytochemicals, and we don't really know what role these play in good nutrition. I don't think you'll see any difference over the short run, but you're young, and have a long life expectancy -- what's going to happen 20 or 30 years down the road?
In addition, the difference between a meat-eating society like the Inuit, and someone in our culture eating hamburgers is that the Inuit ate EVERYTHING, and got their nutritional needs met that way, but hamburgers are lacking in a lot of nutrients. Are you going to go out and get (and EAT) liver and brains and kidneys and stomach? And eat them raw? I sorta doubt it. I know for sure *I* wouldn't.
I'm sure that a couple of days or months off veggies won't hurt you, but if you decide to do this, take vitamin and mineral supplements. As far as the phytochemicals, well, you're your own science experiment, and if you kept it up long term, you would find out if your health deteriorated. But it might be a one-way street. -
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Permalink Reply by rubidoux on
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When I first heard of Atkins, I was pretty disturbed by that. And then I tried it and whoa! What a world of difference! I understand your feeling that getting rid of veggies must be bad. I have believed my whole life that green leafies were the healthiest thing going. Now that I see how well my body works eating this way, though, I can't help but wonder. My digestion is so different now. And it seems much better and healthier to me (though who knows what is really healthy, I suppose that is a cultural construct, too). But I do feel like it's been good for me not to have so much fiber scratching up my insides.
I am definitely not going to start eating all the icky parts. lol I wish I had it in me. There are several people on the dirty carnivore forum who eat whole animals and eat them raw. I like my cheeseburgers cooked, and I doubt I'm going to get too much more adventurous than that. Though, I could see adding some liver as long as I get to have some bacon with it. (If only I could have chopped chicken livers with CRACKERS!) Anyhow, you say that hamburgers are lacking in a bunch of nutrients, but there are people who claim that hamburger has everything in it that we need for proper nutrition. Given the fact that I've spent the last forty years being steeped in low fat dogma, I'm not sure who to believe. But I'm not going to give up the experiment because it *seems* like it can't be right to give up veggies. I think it seems that way for the same reason that it seems like it can't be right to make fat a large part of your diet. But I am relatively certain that all that low fat business was way off base.
I may add a bit of veg back in when I get closer to or reach my ideal weight, but I doubt I'll go back to feeling like they should be the bulk of each meal. And I certainly won't feel all virtuous because I had a salad for dinner. If the veggies send me into a state of constant carb craving, I hope I can cut them out for good. -
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Permalink Reply by Natalie ._c- on
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I'll be honest with you -- I'm not sure who to believe, either. I am a picky eater, and DON'T LIKE veggies, but I try to eat at least some every day. The reason is that in all the nutrition stuff I read, there are NO reports of people never eating plant food. The Inuit even ate the contents of the stomach, as wild cats and dogs do.
I guess I'm hedging my bets -- I'm eating more fat and trying to eat more protein than I used to, and my BGs have really shown the difference, but I'm just not ready to give up on veggies. EVEN if I don't like them. -
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Permalink Reply by rubidoux on
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You know, sadly, I really love some veggies. I get hankerings even for bitter greens sauteed in garlic and olive oil. Yum! It's too bad we can't trade diets.
Have you read GCBC? I'm about a third of the way through it, so I don't know if he advocates giving up the veggies -- I doubt it, though. But from what he has to say, it looks like the very most important thing is to give up the grains and starches. We've both done that, and my guess is that we'll live longer for it. -
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Permalink Reply by Natalie ._c- on
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Coincidentally, I'm about half-way through it. It's fascinating. So far, he hasn't said anything about veggies, but it seems to me that the points he makes about sugar and high-carb, low-nutrition foods are compelling. So it seems pretty clear to me that eliminating the "6 baddies" (bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, corn and peas) along with sugar can't be a bad idea. Whereas with low-carb veggies, I really haven't seen anything that would convince me that there was more bad than good. Veggies are the one food that it seems that ALL sides of the nutrition controversy agree on. So I do as best as I can with them!
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Permalink Reply by rubidoux on
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If you feel hungry, add fat! It really helps with appetite and doesn't seem to deter weight loss. Good luck!
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Permalink Reply by Cosumne Jan on -
Andrea, I was eating a whole package of spinach every day for lunch and ended up being slightly anemic. Spinach has iron, but it has an acid that keeps your body from using iron or something. I cut back to half a package a day and added a little more meat and now it's fine. How do you manage with almonds? Nuts are the only thing I eat that I have a problem with. I'll count out 20 and just eat that many, but half an hour later I'm back sniffing around cupboard looking for more. My mind thinks a serving of almonds is whatever the entire package is.
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