I've noticed an increasing number of people that are eating what I would call moderate carb diets after having eaten very low or low carb diets. Some are following WW, some South Beach, some their own plan. How did you arrive at your current way of eating?

If you consider yourself to be eating moderate or low to moderate carb, then you are who this thread is for. Let's not worry so much about numbers of carbs, which I think is in the spirit of moderate carb eating.

I eat what I consider moderate carb. It's the one that really settles out my blood sugar. If I go lower than 60 grams, I have real problems with low blood sugar. If I go much higher than 90 grams, I get a blood sugar rush and then a fast drop, even if I've spread the carbs out over the day.

I've been eating 60-80, sometimes up to 90 grams for 11 years now. It's how I feel best and am my healthiest.

great thread! I always like hearing how people have arrived at their optimum health!

Ann

I'm in, and spreading the word.

You drank the Kool-Aid???!!!

Hi Ann, are you Type 1 or Type 2 diabetic?

The moderate carb-aid.

I began LCing for health rather than weight loss and so I never felt the need to go as low as some people do. I also hate counting and weighing stuff. I don't really count carbs. What I do is eat foods that are relatively low carb. I do eat high carb foods, but if I am going to do that I eat a very small portion. On the occasions that I decide to plug stuff into fitday, I seem to eat around 70g/day (sometimes less, sometimes more).

I did try Atkins induction once about two months ago. I did lose about 4lbs, but I didn't like the way it made me feel. I also felt that my thinking was becoming disordered, as it became about which foods I could "afford" to eat as though foods were nothing more than the carbs they were made of. When I quit induction and quit counting stuff, I felt a great sense of relief and clarity, almost like I had come out from under Sylvia Plath's bell jar of carb-counting insanity.

I got here by losing about 120 pounds on an Atkins variation, gaining about 20 when I quit getting on the scales (getting married again made other things more important), losing about 40 on low cal/low fat and being hungry, losing another 30 or so on Atkins and PPLP.

It was that last stretch that did it. I finally admitted that I was having a hard time losing unless my calories were very low, and that I didn't feel good on a diet that was close to 100% protein and fat. So I decided to go with what, over the years before the obesity epidemic hit, is what the healthy people I knew ate: mostly veggies, sufficient protein, a carb side, occasional fruit, rare desserts, limited snacks. I'm not doing it to lose weight at the moment, just to achieve a normal relationship with food and to feel good.

I am trying to get to the point that I don't measure everything I eat and stop my fixations on food.

I think a lot of people start to behave that way and develop an unnatural relationship with food where food becomes numbers. That's an astute comment.

Me too, Kallyn. Thinking of butternut squash or brussels sprouts are simply "carbohydrates" is one of the things I realized I was doing that was just not right.

I'm actually hypoglycemic. My grandmother and mother were both hypoglycemic before they became diabetic and I'm working very hard to not burn out my pancreas! Moderate to lowER carb is what the dietician told my son to eat as well. He went into hypoglycemic convulsions at age 6 and the dr. told us we had to really keep him on track diet-wise so he didn't burn out the pancreas and become diabetic in his teens. He's 18 now and, for the most part, is doing really well. He had to up his carbs last week cuz he went into mild seizures from a really low crash.

We definitely are in this for health. I'm wanting to lose more weight but health is first and foremost. I'm trying to eat healthfully, veggies, a little fruit, and lean protein.

That's interesting! I had a hypoglycemic suitemate who was diagnosed while we shared a suite. The diet she was given was also moderate carb. She even got a list of foods the cafeteria served that had nutrition info on them. That was back in like 1978.

I wonder why they recommend basically a high carb diet to diabetics and a moderate carb diet to people who are hypoglycemic. Or maybe yall just got lucky.

With the calorie restrictions for type 2, it starts to look more moderately carby. There is no such thing now as an ADA diabetic diet. They still have the silly food pyramid though.

Hi ...chiming in here!

Good idea Liz....thanks!

I've been on the board for more than 4yrs now and its never felt totally welcome to me being a SBDer. I've met great people here....but I've also run into "high fatters" who think SB is a bust.

My dieting history is long....very long...way too long to go into here. Suffice it to say that I had great success 30 yrs ago with a Stillman type of plan and I find that I revert to that when I feel the need to drop a few. But it did not teach me how to eat after I got to goal. It only taught how to eat to lose weight.

So, starting SB and trying to learn to eat in a moderate way, was what I was looking for. I did not want to learn to count carbs as that would've been a kiss of death for me. I did want to learn how much starch(grains and or starchy veggies) I could eat in any given day...how many fruits...and still be able to maintain my weight. This is what I got and still get, from being on SB.

4 yrs later now....120 lbs lighter, maintaining for almost 3 yrs....eating well and feeling very healthy at 58 yrs. I noticed today that I have not taken my daily Aleve for a few weeks...I think that my aches and pains are a thing of the past....hopefully!!

I guess my carbs are about 40-60 grams per day....I never count...just guessing.

Can't get my calories down, though..without feeling deprived.

*meh*

Steph I feel the same way about calories no matter what I'm eating. Gets old after a while!