My doctor told me that I need to cut my carbs, because apparently that’s the best way to lose weight. Since yesterday, I’ve (sorta) started following his rules. And I must say…it blows.
I’m not cutting carbs completely, but I’m trying to make some relatively small changes for the better. I still eat vegetables and fruits, but I’m trying to eat less sweets and white bread.
Today, I’m starting to realize how much useless sugar I eat on a near-daily basis, and that’s probably responsible for this dunlap thing I’ve got going on. Normally, I would have eaten a couple of my kid’s gingerbread-man cookies this morning, then come to work and loaded my coffee down with sugar. Then I would have popped a couple of peppermints or fireballs, just because I like having something to suck on while I work.
But for the past two mornings, I’ve forgone the morning sweets, drank black coffee, and not had a single piece of candy. It’s not unbearable. It’s not like I want to kill myself or anything. But it is an eye-opener, and it’ll probably take some time to get used to it.
Cutting back carbs is difficult at first. Increase your fats and protein, as it will make you feel full longer.
Also, it’s all about the type/quality of carbs. Get those oats in for breakfast and skip out on sugary cereals. Personally, I wouldn’t advise most fruits, as the way they are metabolized is similar to candy (you body cannot differentiate between the two). However, if you must you should eat these either right before, or after working out. The later will help with glucose levels. If you’re not a crazy gym lunatic then this doesn’t matter. Anyways, this is my take. It’s truly a lifestyle thing which is hard to accomodate.
If you’re finding the switch to black, unsweetened coffee a bit harsh. Switch to unsweetened tea for a week and then go back to unsweetened coffee. It will taste almost like you remember coffee tasting when you still added sugar.
The thing that’s really going to be hard for me is cutting out soda. I don’t drink drink it all day long like some people, but I do like to drink full-flavored Coke with my meals. I’m not going to try to cut it out right now, but my New Year’s Resolution is to cut it out and start drinking unsweet tea.
I told myself that I can still drink Coke on special occasions, but then I started thinking that once I get used to unsweet tea, I may not even want it.
Coke is probably the worst thing. It’s full of empty calories, makes you hungry and sleepy after you inhale that much sugar, and since it has a lot of sugar…you’ll still be thirsty afterwards…
Sugar is addictive, but once you get over it, you won’t even remember what you miss.
Make sure you are getting your daily dosage of fibre though. You mostly get it from teh high carb items, so you will need to find adequate alternatives. Don’t want to get any of the hemmorhoids.
I’m 7 weeks into a similar carb reduction. I’m not going low super carb by design, but I’ve tried to get more to a 40/30/30 Carb/Fat/Protein ratio as I’m limiting my daily caloric intake to around 2000. I wasn’t a full strength soda drinker, but candy and bread/pasta is my vice, Between counting calories and hitting the gym 6-7 days a week, I’m down to 320 from 360, but the carb cravings never went away. I keep hoping that I’ll just grow to not crave that stuff, but I’ll have to just learn to eat them sparingly, which is no fun.
How ironic. The “technique” I suggested actually derived from my dentist telling me to stop drinking regular soda if I wanted to continue to have teeth. His suggestion was to switch from regular Coke to diet Dr. Pepper for a week and then to Diet Coke. I followed his advice and after a week of Dr. Pepper, the Diet Coke tasted exactly how I remembered regular Coke tasting and I’ve never wanted regular Coke again. I later adapted his suggestion to eliminate sugar from my coffee.
Of course soda in general is not very healthy, so better to kick it altogether, which I’ve pretty much done in subsequent years.
I have switched to brown long-grain rice and whole wheat pasta and just eating lower portions. But I can’t let go of carbs - a meal is unsatisfying and incomplete without at least some carbs.
Re fruit, not all fruit have the same glycemic index and whoever said it was the same as candy is talking out of his colon. Go for low GI low GL carbs as much as possible.
Agree 100%. Soda is hard to quit though. It probably took me 5 or 6 months to quit soda completely (Well, sorta completely. I’ll still have a Diet Coke now and then).
Fruits are a healthy part of your diet. Sure, don’t load up too much on tropical fruits like mangos, pineapples, and melons, but berries should be an integral part of your diet. The amount of micronutrients in them is through the roof. To say your body cannot differentiate between the two is just wrong. There is a staggering difference between manufactured, refined sugar and something coming straight from nature’s good green earth.
I’ve never really been addicted to any drugs other than cigarettes. But it seems like food addictions would be some of the hardest to cure. A dude’s gotta eat. You can’t just stop eating, like you can stop smoking or stop drinking.
