Okay! Hurray! I'm finally down another pound. This morning I was at 285. No big "whooshes" unfortunately. The last couple days I have been feeling "lighter" and kept hoping to that I might see 2-3 pounds suddenly vanish. No such luck but I'll take the one, even though I still get frustrated at losing so *slowly* when I'm still so heavy.

But yesterday in the cafeteria at lunchtime a woman said to me. "Wow, you are really shrinking, aren't you? I really see you are getting thinner." So it was a nice ego boost.

So was it the organ meats I've been getting? (pork liver paté the last couple days, and made chicken liver paté last night and will be bringing it for lunch, as I did today). The extra coconut oil and fat I've been having?

Who knows? But I'll take the "new low", small as the increment is.

I just have to jump in here and say artificial sweeteners NEVER made me want the real thing. I used to use saccharin in my tea and drink diet coke all the time on my high fat low carb diet and had no problem at all.

I gave them up because I don't think they're healthy, but they never affected me badly. Sometimes they provided a nice way to eat lots more fat - but that was all. Now I'm used to without and feel exactly the same. Oh, and my weight gain began soon after I removed them all! How weird is that????

This is the problem I have with most crunchy, salty, sweet and/or carby, or even low-carby, foods: as long as they're not in the house, I don't really miss them or crave them. I can resist buying things very easily, they don't particularly attract me in the store, but once in the house, especially once opened, they're gone very quickly... my resistance level only goes so far. My problem is low resistance (sweetly seductive), not insistent craving (gotta have it or I'll go crazy).

I'm not a super-taster per se, though broccoli isn't one of my favorite foods. I meant that for me, tasty foods seem to be super-tasty (lol) and thus impossible to resist. Very rarely can I stop with just one serving, even if I'm full... it's the flavor I can't resist and seem compelled to eat until it's gone. The only willpower I can dredge up is not to have it in the house. Oddly enough, if it's not there, I never miss it... if it is, it is eaten steadily until gone.

A lot of that comes from my childhood. We were pretty poor when I was growing up, so very rare treats like potato chips, ice cream, crackers, cake, candy, etc were divided up equally regardless of age to prevent squabbling ("he got MORE than I did!!") and gobbled down immediately, because if it wasn't, the other siblings would scarf it down for you and then you'd get nothing. Sometimes your share wasn't even safe if they ate faster than you, so you learned to eat it FAST. An opened bag of potato chips was gone within minutes, a half gallon of ice cream was cut into four quarters and eaten immediately since if anyone was unwise enough to put their uneaten share back in the freezer, the other siblings would sneak in and finish it for you. I've often wondered whether I would have had a normal attitude towards these foods if these things had always been around, instead of appearing once every 3-4 months.

It took me YEARS to partially overcome this childhood training, especially with ice cream. Low-carb was the thing that has curbed my non-resistance for ice cream, since an ounce or two of frozen berries topped with a half-cup of thick Jersey cream is far more satisfying than a half-gallon of the ersatz low-fat stuff, or even the best regular ice cream.

Same with me. Never had the slightest cravings for anything when using artificial sweeteners. I am trying to wean myself from them as I feel they are not the best thing for me. And I'm getting used to less sweet tastes. But I still have them occasionally, and they never cause me any problems or desires to go off the diet.

In my past low-carbing life it was when I got an urge for something sweet, but tried to "tough it out" and *not* use sweeteners that I always eventually went face-down into the sweet carbs and totally pigged out.

But if I felt an urge for something sweet, and made a sweet treat with artificial sweeteners, then I was perfectly satisfied, and the cheats and binges never happened.

I experience exactly this. It's like my food enjoyment centers get hyper-stimulated and my brain wants to perpetuate that state as long as possible. But at least I've finally identified most of the triggers so it isn't an issue as long as I avoid them.

Sweet foods don't really do this to me. Oh, I might overeat slightly on them on rare occasions, but it is certain salty, crunchy foods that are highly dangerous. Sometimes even things that aren't crunchy. Like for instance, my hummus/avocado omelet takes me perilously close. I can tell I've got that hyperstimulation thing going because I'll want to continue eating after I eat the omelet. I also have a very delayed fullness from eating. It usually takes a good 20 minutes for me to register as full.

This sounds very much like MSG/glutamate sensitivity. Free glutamate is found in most savory-tasting processed foods, and it's only very rarely listed as "MSG." There's some information about this at the Truth in Labeling site, as well as in Russell Blaylock's book about excitotoxins.

FWIW, I absolutely can't eat Squid brand fish sauce (which I see is in your omelette), or many other brands from the Asian grocery. The only one that doesn't bother me is Thai Kitchen. I'm not sure if the other ones have undeclared ingredients, or if they just use a different fermentation process that produces a lot more free glutamate. Store-bought hummus also tends to have vague, potentially glutamate-containing ingredients like "flavorings" and "spices." IIRC, even the ones from Trader Joe's have some suspicious items listed on the label.

A dish containing both ingredients would probably have me eating the whole plateful (and the plate and cutlery, too), then bouncing off the ceiling several times, and crashing in a heap in the corner.

The scale has inched down again this morning, maybe about another half pound or so (I have one of those doctor's office balance-beam type scales) - so now down to 284.5. Heck, I'll take it.

But I have at least two "eat out" occasions on this upcoming holiday weekend (in the US). Tomorrow night with my son, DiL, and her parents. Then Sunday going out to eat with some friends. And possibly a BBQ at my sister's on either Saturday or Monday.

Well, with the friends on Sunday we are going out for Peking Duck. Duck is a nice fatty meat at least. As long as I avoid the icky, sticky sweet sauce they provide for the duck, and don't eat the little pancakes either, it might not be so bad. Just have to avoid OD'ing on the duck meat protein, which may be a bit of a struggle.

I hope you and your family have a great weekend, Debbie.

Just wanted to share an interesting cultural tidbit from JK on the subject of hospitality. If we're inviting friends who aren't on the diet, he emphasizes that we should provide "traditional" foods for them, so that they'll be comfortable (though we should try to send the non-Optimal leftovers home with them). And while he emphasizes that we need to do everything in our power to obtain Optimal foods while on a vacation or business trip ("In drastic situations, you may have to go out of your way to eat food that is acceptable"), he clearly doesn't extend this to a single meal spent at the home of a friend or close acquaintance.

"If we are invited over to the home of someone who is unaware of how we eat, it is best not to lecture on optimal nutrition or even show that we are different. Choose only the dishes that are in keeping with our diet, or at the very least close to it, and pass on the other foods that are least compatible. (...) Try to keep our dietary individuality to ourselves as much as possible. If we let on that we like fats, headcheese, and meat puddings we might bring on a sensation and comments that are not always pleasant."

I think the policy of "trying not to cause a sensation" has a lot to recommend it, but I'm inclined to think that his advice won't resonate as much with American readers as it likely did with Polish ones. Over here, extreme nutritional theories seem to be right up there with politics, religion, and Hollywood scandal, as controversial and attention-grabbing subjects that people like to talk about at parties.


I'm going to head back into "posting retirement" now. It's just starting to sink in that this baby is full term in a few days -- yikes! -- and we still have a ton of stuff to do. Not to mention that I need to get as much sleep as possible, while I still can. Meanwhile, I can't seem to stop getting into all kinds of discussions across various areas of the forum. So I think I'm just going to have to go cold turkey, until things settle down around here.

Best wishes to everyone.

Good Luck On having your baby Pangolina.

Good luck! Hope the delivery goes Optimally. Do you know yet if it's a boy or a girl? I know when a new little one arrives that all sorts of other things fly out the window. I'm a huge reader and usually read 2-3 books every week, but after my son was born I'm not sure I read a full book (other than children's books which I read to him at bedtime) until he was about five.

But I hope you can find a spare minute to come back here and tell us if it was a boy or girl, and how big he/she was!

Down another half pound today, so this was a pretty "good" week for me, as opposed to a "not so good" one. That's a two-pound loss for the week. This week I was eating:
- a lot more calories
- a lot more coconut oil
- a lot more organ meats (pork and chicken liver)

Were any of those the reason the scale moved again? Who knows, but I'll take it. And I'm *feeling* good - feeling lighter, and having people suddenly telling me I *look* lighter. Clearly more is going on here than I can account for, as 2 pounds lost from someone who weighs over 280 pounds is hardly a drop in the bucket, weightwise. And yet it feels different, and apparently looks it too.

Thanks! We're expecting a boy. Our older son is looking forward to having a little brother to do crazy boy things with. We're planning to call the new addition Jan Kwasniewski Optimus [Lastname]. Okay, just kidding on that bit!!!!

BTW, on the morning before my other son was born, I had an urge to go to the deli and order about a dozen different kinds of top quality lunch meat. I was standing there in my hugely pregnant state, ordering a quarter pound of this, a half pound of that... the other customers were quite amused.

I went into labor that night, and after the delivery, I was starving. The hospital's gluten-free meals just weren't cutting it. I phoned home with instructions to pack a cooler with meat -- and especially to make to sure to include all of the tongue and headcheese. So my friends who were helping out were rifling through the cheese drawer, looking for "headcheese." When my husband explained what it was, they were amused (but not really surprised; they're familiar with my eccentricities ). And when the cooler arrived, I devoured just about everything in it... probably at least a pound and a half of assorted fatty meat products... in one day.

This was long before I'd heard of Dr. K, and I didn't tend to eat those things all that often, but I guess my body knew what it needed. You know what, though? That deli was the most well-stocked, traditional one in our area, and now even they don't sell tongue any more. I've been trying to find a local supply for the last few months, without any success. (I usually avoid nitrates, but I'm willing to make an occasional exception for such a delicious and fatty product. Homemade tongue just doesn't taste nearly the same, at least not the ways I've made it. And I'm sure it would freak the nurses out if I pulled out a whole tongue, plonked it on my tray, and started slicing it up...)

Thank YOU for all of your help & advice from the books! You've given so generously of yourself. Congratulations on your soon-to-be here little one

BTW, once again you were right... last two days I have been eating around 1750-1850 calories. Lost two pounds today :X We'll see how it keeps going lol

OK I am having some severe lower back pain at night all of a sudden and am reading that its probably inflammatory. Then I am reading to cute down on certain foods many being exactly what I am eating on OD like eggs, red meat ect. Anyone have any idea what the books says about inflammation and what to eat or not to eat?