Tuesday, February 2, 2016

The Low Carb Experiment, What I Learned

I'm so glad I finally bit the bullet and did this experiment. I did lose some pounds--and that was with eating unholy amounts of cheese, nuts, booze and bacon (like a plate of fancy cheeses & nuts at 9pm most nights). But more importantly, I learned that I do not need carbs to function or feel well. After the first couple of days of headache/foggy brain, I felt perfectly normal. In fact, I felt so normal that I upped the intensity, and starting week 2, cut out all legumes, too. And..still normal.

What I didn't feel was any increased energy or focus, nor was I less hungry than when I eat balanced, carb-containing, whole foods. Sure I didn't get as ravenous as I got when I binged on crackers or cheese puffs, though, and not being able to do that was a plus!

I did have a few "cheats". I ate a piece of homemade toffee a friend brought over, and had carbs at 2 restaurant meals. And I quit early, Saturday instead of Sunday last weekend because everyone else in the family really really wanted pizza for dinner and I didn't want to sit on the side and eat my sad non-pizza meal (pretty much any meal is sad compared to pizza, right?)

So am I swimming in a barrel of sugar and crackers now that the challenge is over? Nope. I grew to love my carb-free breakfasts and lunches, and I have no desire to allow myself to eat chips & crackers again---so all snacks are low carb, other than the one piece of chocolate daily that I love to have after lunch or dinner. I am eating a small, measured serving of carbs with dinner if its part of the meal and something I really love, so that I can partake in our family dinners (this was really the only hard part, and I think the resultant unsatisfied feeling led to the need for cheese later in the evening). 

Mondays food, for example:
Breakfast: coffee, 2 eggs scrambled with tomatos, jalepenos, green onions and 2 slices bacon
Lunch: salad (Trader Joe's "8 healthy chopped veggies" mix, plus extra carrots & green bell peppers), with grilled chicken, feta, toasted walnuts & TJ's jalepeno yogurt dip as a dressing), raspberries
Snack (4pm): one string cheese stick
Dinner: 3 homemade Indian curries: chicken tikka masala, spinach with daal, green bean/eggplant/sweet potato/tomato curry in coconut milk, with 1/3 cup basmati rice and one strip of naan (1 X 3 inch)

While I felt fine without carbs, this actually feels better and way more sustainable. I honestly could eat like this forever, which was always the ultimate goal. I never, however, would have gotten here by just trying to "eat less carbs"---the more drastic experiment cut through all my excuses: "I need carbs", "I don't know what I'll eat" and "I'll be too tired/unsatisfied/etc..."

I also learned some interesting things about habit change that are more universally applicable (and that I'm using for the Unplugged challenge)

1) Tiny changes aren't motivating for me
2) But its OK to start smaller and build up (like with the legumes)
3) Slip ups are expected and allowed (this is huge. I could easily have eaten the toffee and then said, fuck it, its over, I can't do this and its stupid anyways. Its tempting, and it comes from perfectionism. Its harder for me to forgive myself and keep going). "planning to fail" is also helpful. I knew I was going to eat carbs at the restaurant, but that I would go back to the plan in the morning. There was no "now what?" moment and that moment is when the whole thing can fall off the wagon!
4) Specific but flexible---I had a list of what I was/wasn't eating, but I could change it based on how I felt)
5) I cannot follow other people's rules (and they make me angry). I have no desire to do a Whole30 (or even follow the rules of the Unplugged30) because I have very specific goals in mind and have thought through how to address my specific problem areas. This is also a Questioner thing. Why would I stop eating fruit when I'm trying to quit crackers? Or give up my morning blog check when its the evening internetting that is interfering with family life and sleep?)

Back with a recap of how the unplugged challenge is going soon!

21 comments:

  1. Your diet does sound very sustainable. It sounds a lot like the way I have been eating for more than a year now.

    Slip ups are definitely expected- but you're right, it doesn't mean that you have to call it quits. I've been a bit off-track lately, but I've finally figured out that there's no sense beating myself up over it. I'll get back on track when things settle down a bit. As I've gotten older, I've become much more forgiving of my little mistakes.

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    1. I find giving myself permission to go off track ahead of time (for vacation/special events) is better than just trying to stay on track and failing & feeling guilty and then having that guilt ruin my confidence/motivation in getting back into it afterwards.

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  2. I really appreciate this post.

    I'm (still) trying to lose a couple pounds (2-4?). I'm already pretty low carb because I don't eat wheat products (and don't substitute much), though I do eat potatoes. And rice on occasion. My new plan (as of Feb 1) is to eat salad every day for lunch. And limit sweets to something shared with kids for dessert.

    I don't do well when I tell myself I *can't* do something. But I *can* eat more veggies. Stupid mental trick.

    Glad to hear your plan is working so well for you!

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    1. I don't do well when someone ELSE tells me I "can't" do something. I do a lot better when I tell myself...IF I have a convincing reason for it. This time my reason was: I need to follow through on this experiment to see if this way of eating is helpful & feasible long term (its a pilot study)
      I've been having trouble cutting out wine drinking on weeknights...until I had (am having) a horrid bout of insomnia and I am trying everything to sleep better. boom. easy to say no to something that may fuck up my sleep!

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  3. FANTASTIC! I am so glad it worked for you. Everyone is so different, and even different at different times. Whatever works WORKS, and the balance you founds sounds awesome (and delicious and healthy). so, YAY.

    will look forward to unplugged update -- i did say the rules were flexible. I'm not a whole30 curator :)

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    1. to clear, I'm not angry at the person who made up the rules, its the actual rules themselves that make me twitchy!

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  4. This all sounds perfect. Love the new diet. Very similar to how I now eat after doing low-carb, except I probably go a little higher on the carbs and calories overall (e.g., oatmeal with breakfast, banana in afternoon pre-workout).

    I also agree with your take-aways. These are great! When I first started eating healthy, I made a pretty dramatic shift all at once. However, I continued to incorporate little changes from there. I also have never once followed anybody's "plan" because - yes - it makes me angry. I have no desire to cut out all dairy nor do I really want to have some strict rule about "no sugar." Sugar is sugar is sugar, and it's really about the total g's consumed per day, not about whether you had a tsp of sugar in your coffee or a half an orange or even a plate full of carrots (that's not totally true because fructose is different from glucose, and the insulin effect is different when it is consumed in different forms - but either way, it's the science that's important, not arbitrary rules). Also, it is key to not get freaked out about cheats or slips, and about finding the right balance for yourself so that you can stick to whatever degree of strictness you need to both control your weight and cravings (too many cheats and things can go downhill fast, but a few cheats are fine as long as you keep them in check).

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    1. Definitely some days I eat more carbs (and calories), that was what I happened to have eaten on Monday this week. Its really the take-aways that are fascinating to me, and hopefully will prove useful for various habit changes long term. I completely agree that non-scientifically based rules REALLY make me angry (like the whole paleo thing about "legumes are inflammatory and will lead to type 1 diabetes"---I swear I read that on the whole30 website somewhere)

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  5. I'm not into strict rules for programs either. In some ways (many ways) I'm an upholder, but a questioner on that. I'm now eating similarly: veggies and eggs for breakfast, usually a salad (or leftovers) for lunch, aiming for lean protein and veggies for dinner. Snack on nuts and cheese. But I won't give up chocolate or wine, because why?

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    1. and by that you mean "why go on living without chocolate and wine", right?

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  6. I had similar thoughts about the Unplugged challenge. Given my current schedule, I currently spend MUCH less time on the internet than I'd like to! I realized at the end of last week that I hadn't checked facebook in over a week. And I really miss being able to write blog posts on a more regular basis. That said, I completely understand why someone might have those goals. I remember very clearly when I was working on my PhD, trapped in the house, and spending far too much time on the internet, wanting to break that habit.

    In any case, you and SHU are somewhat inspiring me to try to change some of my more recalcitrant bad habits. Not sure where to start.

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    1. being super busy (and residency is great for this, obv) is the best way to avoid too much internet time. Its the research days that are hard, when the work I need to do is on the computer, so its so eeasy to just open up that tab and...boom, 30 minutes gone.

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  7. Well done. I'm so impressed that you just quietly did this challenge with nary a negative thing to say about it. I would have spent the whole time lamenting all I couldn't eat. ;) You've inspired me to look at ways I can cut down my carbs. I definitely eat way too many of them.

    Thanks for sharing what you learned!

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    1. Well, it was completely self imposed, so complaining would be really annoying! I could always just start eating carbs again if I was that miserable!

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  8. I love your takeaways ... because I think you're so right about following other people's rules! I feel like one of the most important aspects of change is to figure out what works best for YOU. And you may discover that in the process of breaking some of the rules you've been given. :)

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    1. yup, I like the idea that habit change is more about self knowledge than having enough "willpower"

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  9. Cool! I have been doing the low carb thing since the first Monday in January (I want to make it a low-carb year, but we'll see) and it's been great in terms of both weight loss and curbing hunger, as well as mood stabilization. When I am not hungry all the time, it's much easier to not eat sweets or junk. I cheated only twice, had a slice of pizza one night at dinner as I was famished and got back from work late, and had a glass of wine and a couple of slices of bread at a work dinner last night. I do miss bread and some fruits (I don't really like fruit as most bother my stomach, but I have been craving them now that I can't have them). There are restrictions, but I have found overall that this is a much more sustainable diet for me in the long run (love meat and eggs) than cutting calories. I have always been an all-or-nothing girl, so I guess no surprises there.

    I am glad your experience with low-carb has been so positive!

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    1. wow, you are really sticking to it! Good for you! no wine? nope, not for me. I can live without bread, but not without wine!

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    2. I am not really all that virtuous, mostly I just want to lose weight. And wine has been messing with my system in recent years (have one glass and have a splitting headache all of next day), so that's not much of a sacrifice at this point. I do miss good bread. I could eat whatever I wanted in my youth, I hate it how a lot of foods are bothering me now that I am in my 40's. Stupid middle-aged lady body.

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  10. Good for you! I try very hard to eat low carb but definitely backslide during the winter months and holidays. I plan to get back on the bandwagon soon.

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