My big problem is night time. Nothing seems to keep me full, so I go to bed hungry and wake up starving (usually to the point of stomach pains), which ultimately just becomes a vicious cycle. I eat several meals a day, drink about a gallon of water, and have started sleeping about 7-8 hours a day instead of just however long it took me to wake up... but it doesn't help. So basically, I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions for meals or foods that will help to keep me full. Also, any good low carb meal replacement suggestions?

Hello Shane, and welcome to the forum.

I notice that you dont have "plan" filled out in your profile. Are you certain you're eating low carb? At the beginning it is important to arm yourself with as much information you can, and the best sources are the various books. Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution and Protein Power by the Eades are just two of the many available (and probably available from your local library). If you are interested in gaining weight, you might want to look at a Cyclic Ketogenic Diet (CKD). LC isnt not eating carbs, there is much more to it. I strongly suggest you pick up one of the books (the various LC plans are all discussed here )

You'll find when you begin a low carb WOE (way of eating) you wont be hungry. You will sleep better and you will have a lot more energy.

Best of luck,
Nat

I'm not really following any plan. I am taking most of the advice from the Krimmel Program, but the time inbetween meals would cause more problems than it would solve (i.e. 11.5 hours with just some yogurt). Then again, since switching to this way of eating, I've been hungrier than ever and have much more limited energy.

Ultimately, I would like to gain weight, but it's really not a concern at this time. I started eating this way because of hypoglycemia, and that's all I'm really worried about when eating. Fortunately, I only have a few symptoms, but unfortunately they are noticeable and very quickly triggered. I just recently picked up a few books (some on hypoglycemia, and some on low carb eating) and have gotten through a couple of them. While I'm sure there's more that I can learn and probably do need to learn, I can't see doing low carb if it makes things worse.

Shane, I did a search on hypoglycemia and came up with a few links that might be of some help.


This is a discussion on a few things, hypoglycemia is about halfway down the page.

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthre...ht=hypoglycemia

There is also a plan you should look at, Dr. Bernsteins Diet, this is a link to his homepage. http://www.diabetes-normalsugars.com/index.shtml.

I am not familiar with the Krimmel Program, can you tell me a bit about it?

Nat

Hi Shane,

This is precisely why reading about low carb is important before starting to low carb. Doing it right, gives you the evidence you need to decide if it's for you.

Wa'il

It was started by a hypoglycemic and his wife. The basics of it are:

Food ethic

• Elimination of most sugars (barley malt, black strap molasses, cane syrup, caramel, caramel coloring, corn syrup, corn syrup solids, dextrin, dextrose, disaccharide, fructose, galactose, glucose, glycerin, hexitol, honey, lactose, levulose, licorice, malt, maltose, mannitol, mannose, maple syrup, molasses, natural sweeteners, rice syrup, simple syrup, sorbitol, sorghum, sucrose, syrup, and xylitol), as well as artificial sweeteners, though this is occasionally bent (i.e. for milk)
• Elimination of vegetables, fruits, and beverages that contain more than 15% carbs; limitations on vegetables with 10-15% carbs, all fruits, and beverages with more than 4% carbs
• Elimination of white flower products
• Elimination of alcohol, caffeine, and tobacco
• Elimination of lunch meats, cold cuts, hot dogs, sausage, and bacon
• Start from a limited list of foods and eventually, within three months, work your way up to a less limited list of foods
• Start off low carb and eventually, within three months, work your way up to moderate/high carbs
• Drink plenty of water
• Eat at the same times every day. Snack every 90-120 minutes, with three big meals, which works out to 9 times a day. After dinner, eat just a nighttime snack at 11pm. This basically means that between 6:30pm-6am, eat nothing but that snack. (My metabolism is just too fast to deal with something like that.)
• Foods from the beginning include all fish, turkey, chicken, duck, beef, veal, pork, lamb, eggs (eggs, and more eggs), 1 serving of cereal or non-instant oatmeal, minimal milk, a decent range of vegetables, all cheeses, plain lowfat yogurt, water, and a few condiments (the only one of which I like is salt).
• Over time, limited nuts, some fruits, some more vegetables, minimal bread/crackers, some grains and seeds (limited), soups (preferably homemade), whole grain pastas, and 1/2 cup of milk, V8, tomato, orange, apple, or grapefruit juice are added.

The ones I have the biggest problem with are the times and the list of foods. I'm hoping that some things will help fill me more than others, though, so the list of foods wouldn't be a problem if I could find something that lasts a while.

Exercise

20-30 minutes 3-4 times per week. Any type of exercise is fine. This is considered by them to be as important as the food ethic.

I have no problem exercising and would love to do so every day (which I used to do). I have found that since I started eating this way, though, exercising is becoming more and more difficult. Again, we go back to the issue of stomach pains and lack of energy.

Fun and laughter

Self explanatory. Reasonable enough.

Sleep, rest, and relaxation

Enough sleep so that you're not tired, but not too much sleep. Wake up at the same time everyday. Rest might include short naps for those able to do so, or lying down for 15-30 minutes and reading or listening to music. Same times everyday. Relaxation being something that avoids outside interruptions. All reasonable ideas.



Based on what I've read, I don't really have a choice in the matter if I want to get better. By cutting out sugars and white flours (which any hypoglycemia author who knows anything will recommend), that's a significant cut in carbs right there. Then again, I'd rather be experiencing symptoms in a more enjoyable way than putting myself through stress and still experiencing the symptoms, which leads to more stress, which leads to more problems with symptoms.

Shane, if you're having difficulties sticking with the Krimmel's plan, maybe it's not the one for you? There are other ways to treat hypoglycemia ( Hypoglycemia Treatment ). If someone can't follow a certain LC plan and LC is what they should be following, they are urged to try one of the others. Take a look at what else you can do, the page I posted has a list of reading material as well as some support groups.

Nat