How did you get over the hurdle of no carbs etc? I just can't seem to do it. It's like going through withdrawals. Any suggestions? I really need to lose weight but it has been soooooooooo difficult.
Answer:
First of all, shoot for LOW carb, not NO carb. Funny you should mention withdrawals. The scary thing is that you ARE actually going through withdrawals, you are addicted to sugar and carbs. There is a vicious cycle happening in your body every time you eat sugars of any kind. Time for a little chemistry lesson. This is the simplified version (for a more scientific overview with a graph, click here.) Carbohydrates break down into sugars in your digestive system. The speed at which this happens determines if carbs are simple or complex. Simple carbs break down quickly, complex carbs break down more slowly. A generally easy way to determine if a carb is simple or complex is by color. Lighter foods (white potatoes, regular pasta, bananas) are usually simple carbs. Darker colored foods are usually more complex (sweet potatoes, whole wheat pasta). When you eat carbs, your body registers the sugars and responds by sending insulin into your blood stream. The problem is that if you have a high spike of sugar, you have a correspondingly high spike of insulin. Insulin levels do not drop off as fast as blood sugar does, and your body responds to the too-high insulin levels by requesting more food to balance out the insulin (you feel hungry). The more sugar you eat, the more you will want to eat. Over time, your body becomes insulin resistant, which means that your cells do not efficiently use the insulin that your body produces.
The easiest way to break this cycle is to slowly cut back on simple carbs while simultaneously adding more protein, fat and fiber. These other macronutrients will slow and even out the insulin response. Let's take a look at one of these macronutrients today. Fiber has many health benefits that are often overlooked. It pulls toxins and cholesterol out of your blood stream. It adds bulk and helps you to feel more full. As I said before, it also helps balance blood sugar. I've tried several different kinds, and my favorite by far is Metamucil. It is the easiest of the psyllium powders to drink and is more cost effective than the chewable fiber tablets. I'm going to list a few hints for those of you looking to add a fiber supplement to your diet.
Sneaky Sugar and Empty Calories
It might help to start the first week by tracking what you normally eat, then pinpointing specific foods to trade out. The Daily Burn website is a good place to do this. They have a great daily food tracker and their android app lets you scan bar codes on the back of foods to look up nutrition information. You can also log your weight and exercises so that you can keep up with your workouts as well. If you decide you want to use this site, look me up as a motivator (a friend on the site who can see your progress, and you can see theirs). My user name is sarahbethharris.
The very first thing I tell people to cut when they say they want to lose weight is beverages. For example, let's say you are following the USDA's Recommended Daily Allowance guidelines for calories (I do not recommend this at all, but more on that in a later blog.) The USDA says that for me to lose weight, I can consume 2000 calories a day. I eat way less than this, to be honest, usually somewhere between 1200-1600 per day. But for the sake of this example and round numbers, we'll start with 2000. If you make sweet tea like I (used to) do, you use 1.5 cups of sugar for every gallon made. Here's the math:
There are 48 teaspoons in a cup.
1.5 cups of sugar = 72 tsps
1 tsp sugar = 15 calories
72 X 15 = 1080 calories per gallon of sweet tea
1 US Gallon = 128 fluid ounces
1080 Calories divided by 128 ounces = approx. 8.5 calories per fluid ounce (I'm rounding up for the sake of the math, but not by much. The actual number is 8.4375)
Now, let's assume that you are drinking out of a standard glass and not a measuring cup (8oz) so let's say one glass of sweet tea is 12 ounces.
12 ounces x 8.5 calories = 102 calories per glass of sweet tea. Who has one glass of tea? Not me. Let's say I go crazy and drink 3 glasses of tea at dinner (in my house, four of us kill a gallon of tea per meal if we make tea). 102 calories x 3 glasses = 306 calories. For SWEET TEA. I haven't put a single morsel of food in my mouth yet, and I have already consumed 15.3% of my USDA daily calorie allotment (remember, my ACTUAL calorie limit is much lower). This is why beverages have to be monitored. Most are empty calories providing no nutrition, but lots of sugar and chemicals.
Other liquids to avoid:
Soda - There are 240 calories in a 20 oz bottle of Coke. Diet soda is not an answer either, as it has been linked to weight gain. For more info, click here.
Fruit Juice - I know, it is supposed to be healthy, right? Wrong. It's all of the fruit sugar (fructose) without much of the other things that make fruit good for you, like fiber. Without fiber to slow down the insulin response, you get a sugar high, much like drinking soda.
Sports Drinks - (guilty as charged) I love Gatorade. I have an empty bottle sitting right here on my desk. Let's take a look at the label. Not too bad, right? Only 50 calories...per 8 ounces. Oh wait, I drank the whole bottle, which is 2.5 servings. That equals 125 calories. To be fair, I split this bottle over two workouts, but that's still a major bump in calories, when I'm on the elliptical to LOSE weight. If you feel like you need Gatorade for the taste while working out, dilute it with water to cut the calories.
Alcoholic drinks - Factor them in when counting your calories. Don't cheat, they don't disappear.
1 glass of red wine (6 oz) = 150 calories
1 12 oz bottle or can of regular beer = 153 calories
Gin, Rum, Vodka, Whiskey; 80 Proof (1 shot) = 97 calories.
So the best bet as far as liquids go would obviously be water.
First of all, shoot for LOW carb, not NO carb. Funny you should mention withdrawals. The scary thing is that you ARE actually going through withdrawals, you are addicted to sugar and carbs. There is a vicious cycle happening in your body every time you eat sugars of any kind. Time for a little chemistry lesson. This is the simplified version (for a more scientific overview with a graph, click here.) Carbohydrates break down into sugars in your digestive system. The speed at which this happens determines if carbs are simple or complex. Simple carbs break down quickly, complex carbs break down more slowly. A generally easy way to determine if a carb is simple or complex is by color. Lighter foods (white potatoes, regular pasta, bananas) are usually simple carbs. Darker colored foods are usually more complex (sweet potatoes, whole wheat pasta). When you eat carbs, your body registers the sugars and responds by sending insulin into your blood stream. The problem is that if you have a high spike of sugar, you have a correspondingly high spike of insulin. Insulin levels do not drop off as fast as blood sugar does, and your body responds to the too-high insulin levels by requesting more food to balance out the insulin (you feel hungry). The more sugar you eat, the more you will want to eat. Over time, your body becomes insulin resistant, which means that your cells do not efficiently use the insulin that your body produces.
The easiest way to break this cycle is to slowly cut back on simple carbs while simultaneously adding more protein, fat and fiber. These other macronutrients will slow and even out the insulin response. Let's take a look at one of these macronutrients today. Fiber has many health benefits that are often overlooked. It pulls toxins and cholesterol out of your blood stream. It adds bulk and helps you to feel more full. As I said before, it also helps balance blood sugar. I've tried several different kinds, and my favorite by far is Metamucil. It is the easiest of the psyllium powders to drink and is more cost effective than the chewable fiber tablets. I'm going to list a few hints for those of you looking to add a fiber supplement to your diet.
- Start with half a dose. Work your way up to a full dose.
- Stir it up and drink it fast. Do not let it sit on the counter while you do other things. If you do, you will come back to a glass of gel. (For the same reason, do not dump it down your kitchen sink.)
- Drink an extra glass of water after you drink the fiber, and drink water throughout the day to avoid digestive problems later.
- If you have a wheat allergy, psyllium fiber is not for you. It is a wheat product.
- Also, pay attention to what you eat, and when. For example, I try to limit my main carbs to the middle of the day so that I am not starting or ending the day with a sugar spike. An example of my typical breakfast would be two boiled eggs, plain yogurt or cottage cheese, and/or a protein shake.
Sneaky Sugar and Empty Calories
It might help to start the first week by tracking what you normally eat, then pinpointing specific foods to trade out. The Daily Burn website is a good place to do this. They have a great daily food tracker and their android app lets you scan bar codes on the back of foods to look up nutrition information. You can also log your weight and exercises so that you can keep up with your workouts as well. If you decide you want to use this site, look me up as a motivator (a friend on the site who can see your progress, and you can see theirs). My user name is sarahbethharris.
The very first thing I tell people to cut when they say they want to lose weight is beverages. For example, let's say you are following the USDA's Recommended Daily Allowance guidelines for calories (I do not recommend this at all, but more on that in a later blog.) The USDA says that for me to lose weight, I can consume 2000 calories a day. I eat way less than this, to be honest, usually somewhere between 1200-1600 per day. But for the sake of this example and round numbers, we'll start with 2000. If you make sweet tea like I (used to) do, you use 1.5 cups of sugar for every gallon made. Here's the math:
There are 48 teaspoons in a cup.
1.5 cups of sugar = 72 tsps
1 tsp sugar = 15 calories
72 X 15 = 1080 calories per gallon of sweet tea
1 US Gallon = 128 fluid ounces
1080 Calories divided by 128 ounces = approx. 8.5 calories per fluid ounce (I'm rounding up for the sake of the math, but not by much. The actual number is 8.4375)
Now, let's assume that you are drinking out of a standard glass and not a measuring cup (8oz) so let's say one glass of sweet tea is 12 ounces.
12 ounces x 8.5 calories = 102 calories per glass of sweet tea. Who has one glass of tea? Not me. Let's say I go crazy and drink 3 glasses of tea at dinner (in my house, four of us kill a gallon of tea per meal if we make tea). 102 calories x 3 glasses = 306 calories. For SWEET TEA. I haven't put a single morsel of food in my mouth yet, and I have already consumed 15.3% of my USDA daily calorie allotment (remember, my ACTUAL calorie limit is much lower). This is why beverages have to be monitored. Most are empty calories providing no nutrition, but lots of sugar and chemicals.
Other liquids to avoid:
Soda - There are 240 calories in a 20 oz bottle of Coke. Diet soda is not an answer either, as it has been linked to weight gain. For more info, click here.
Fruit Juice - I know, it is supposed to be healthy, right? Wrong. It's all of the fruit sugar (fructose) without much of the other things that make fruit good for you, like fiber. Without fiber to slow down the insulin response, you get a sugar high, much like drinking soda.
Sports Drinks - (guilty as charged) I love Gatorade. I have an empty bottle sitting right here on my desk. Let's take a look at the label. Not too bad, right? Only 50 calories...per 8 ounces. Oh wait, I drank the whole bottle, which is 2.5 servings. That equals 125 calories. To be fair, I split this bottle over two workouts, but that's still a major bump in calories, when I'm on the elliptical to LOSE weight. If you feel like you need Gatorade for the taste while working out, dilute it with water to cut the calories.Alcoholic drinks - Factor them in when counting your calories. Don't cheat, they don't disappear.
1 glass of red wine (6 oz) = 150 calories
1 12 oz bottle or can of regular beer = 153 calories
Gin, Rum, Vodka, Whiskey; 80 Proof (1 shot) = 97 calories.
So the best bet as far as liquids go would obviously be water.
I hope this gets everyone started on the planning process for your New Year's Resolutions. The next blog will focus on specific diets and choosing the proper one for your body's needs.
