Has anyone tried out low carb food?

[noodles1609]

Just wondering as I'm starting to consider my longer term plans, low carbing really suits me and I feel so much better, however, aside from working through how to deal with cravings and desires for carb based food, I'm thinking longer term of whether or not using low carb replacements of carb rich food is a good idea or not.

I've placed an order for a few bits and pieces to give them a try out, they should arrive tomorrow - tortilla wraps, pasta, crisps, biscuits and a cake! I'm wondering if anyone else has tried these things out (I think quite a number have tried the zero noodles) and what you thought of them - did they increase you "missing" these foods? Did they have any unwanted side effects?

 

[Minerva]

Personally - when I lost weight the first time, I did try to go 'low-carb' and sustained it for a long time, but by cutting it all out.. Substitutes, they are only really practical to have in your house - but realistically, you'd have to carry them around with you all the time to take full benefit.

With bread and pasta - they taste like cardboard and made me want the real thing instead or not have any of it at all.
Biscuits and cake - I found experimenting with baking my own was the most fun as they weren't stale and packaged in some weird way...
Also - remember calories are sometimes very similar in the real thing to those products and that's what it really should come down to, not just just carb content. Over eating can happen on anything. But - I do understand that carbs may trigger a compulsion too (though personally, I found it was SUGAR that had this effect, eating bread/rice didn't make me binge like sugar did).

Zero noodles is something that I think is a fantastic and very sustainable substitute - they do not taste or remind me of real noodles/rice and that's a GOOD thing. They make a satisfying addition and even my OH has said he'd be happy to replace stir-fry noodles with them on a permanent basis.


I think it's all about striking a balance and learning when you can and when you can't. One of the LL counsellors I've had - actually "ate like a mouse" at home - never introduced/ate carbohydrate type things / snacks on a daily basis - but allowed herself whatever she wanted when she went out for a special occasion.

I don't know if this helped any, but... just my opinion I guess.


x

 

[noodles1609]

It does help - thank you. I think I'm at a point where I'm still viewing eating "food" as cheating - and then getting away with it cause it doesn't knock me out of ketosis and I still lose, but there are times (a lot of them) where my calorie intake is huge. I've not yet got out of the guilt cycle of eating - I've been throwing all my roses away for such a long time it's so very hard just to throw the bad one out .

I'm trying to be realistic about my longer term plans, but I do think having reflected a couple of days that I'm not in a place to make them yet, it's too soon. I need to understand my overeating and compulsions a lot more before I can think beyond that. So wish I could bake, would love to experiment with low carb cakes and stuff, but my one recent venture making low fat brownies with beetroot kind of put me off!

 

[Minerva]

LOL well beetroot low fat brownies is rather adventurous, to work with non-conventional ingredients you do need to learn how they work and how to treat them so that they 'bake' well etc. It takes practice.

I think the easiest thing to start with is, funnily enough - reduced sugar recipes. They're less calorie dense and since sugar can trigger overeating - less of it is always better!


The thing with the guilt-cycle of eating, it's a tough one to break. Have a think about why you do it.
* Is it a self-punishment sort of thing? (i.e. "I've eaten this - I'm a ___ - I don't deserve to be slim, I'll finish the whole lot") or is it a self-defeated stance? (i.e. "I'll never be thin anyway... why bother trying...") or something else?

You do need to find the root of the problem. You might be subconsciously sabotaging yourself from a different point of view - the positive.

* Are you afraid of becoming thinner? I know I was deadly afraid as I'd never been that way.
* Are you afraid of all the compliments you're receiving? It is an alien world to us, these "compliments", what are they and where have they come from?! All the new attention can make you want to crawl into a hole and go invisible and 'fat' again. I certainly wanted to fade out because that's what I was used to.
* Are you afraid of change and how others are reacting to it? People have seen you go through such a major change in the last few months, their reactions might be putting you on edge.


The very fact that you are asking all these thought-provoking questions shows me that you are REALLY trying to work at this problem to solve it. It's very positive.
This journey really won't be without it's bumps. Mine certainly was VERY bumpy, I didn't anticipate what being thin would do to me mentally and then how death and an enormous amount of stress could knock me completely out. But now I know, so I'm fixing the damage.

Either way - never stop asking questions and always reflect on what you learn along the way.

xx

 

[Deezer]

Hiya... if I were you.... Just cut them completely... as as soon as you have them... the insulin spike will make you just want them again.... Low carb foods are better than say low fat but if you can find a better alternative then they'll be the best results... have you thought about looing into paleo...

Its really iteresting stuff!!!

: )

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