snacks....considering switching from atkins : CAD/CALP Forum : Active Low-Carber Forums

#1 ^

Thu, May-20-04, 19:48

blue4lemon blue4lemon is offline

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Posts: 1,209

Plan: simple low carb :)
Stats: 165/157/150 Female 67"

BF:Have a boyfriend!
Progress: 53%

Location: Atlanta, GA

snacks....considering switching from atkins

I am thinking about switching, but I am hypoglycemic and (yes, I read the CAD book) I am wondering about snacks. It says absolutely NO snacks to start. I need to eat at least every two hours. Is it ok if the snacks are no-carb snacks? Like a boiled egg or some meat (which would really be .5g of carbs)? The reason I want to switch is because I have stalled out and haven't lost for a month almost, and I like to eat "normal" food with my boyfriend when we get to see eachother (once or twice a week, but it would be nice to eat that kind of food when I am by myself or with family too). But I am worried that letting myself eat foods like that will make me want to "cheat" all the time. I don't know....you guys are on CAD, you tell me.

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#2 ^

Thu, May-20-04, 20:04

Dianee

Senior Member

Posts: 7,341

Plan: CAD/CALP
Stats: 233/192/145 Female 62"

BF:
Progress: 47%

Location: Idaho

Boy that is a tuff one. You are not suppose to eat anymore than 4 times a day while you are on CAD. You can have 2 CM's and 1 RM and also 1 snack. I don't know if having one snack will be enough for you. I know you are not suppose to eat every 2 hrs. You could give it a try and see how you do. Make sure that you eat plenty of protein and veggies with both of your CM's to last you until your next meal. I know a lot of people have a snack right before bedtime, so maybe you could do that also.

Just make sure that you don't turn your RM into one big free for all carb feast. You should start off with a salad, and than balance the rest of the meal into 3rd's The 1/3 protein, 1/3 CM Veggies & 1/3 Carbs. You can make your carb choice anything that you like, but should fit into the 1/3. If you follow those rules you should not have any cravings.

I hope CAD will work for you. It is such a livable program and it will let you have those nice dinners with your BF. All you can do is give it a try and see how you do. If your sugar level starts dropping too low, than by all means you will have to eat something. I will keep my fingers crossed for you..

Good luck and let us know how you are doing.

#3 ^

Thu, May-20-04, 20:11

blue4lemon blue4lemon is offline

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Posts: 1,209

Plan: simple low carb :)
Stats: 165/157/150 Female 67"

BF:Have a boyfriend!
Progress: 53%

Location: Atlanta, GA

I'm going to give it a try if after I tweak my Atkins plan some and start exercising more, I don't get down another size (my goal is only ten lbs/1 size away!) in a month or so. Do you think it would be detrimental to "heller" for one day every week or so? Eat basically no carbs all day then have a reward meal?

#4 ^

Thu, May-20-04, 20:49

Dianee

Senior Member

Posts: 7,341

Plan: CAD/CALP
Stats: 233/192/145 Female 62"

BF:
Progress: 47%

Location: Idaho

HUM,, Not too sure if that will work or not. If I understand the question right, you want to do Atkins like 6 days week and than one day a week do CAD, right? I have heard other people try this and from what I can remember it does not work. I guess the only way to see if it will work for you is to try it. You wiill know soon enough if it is going to work, but I really have my doubts. One day a week, will be like a shock to your system.

If you try this, let me know how it goes.

#5 ^

Fri, May-21-04, 05:18

blue4lemon blue4lemon is offline

Registered Member

Posts: 1,209

Plan: simple low carb :)
Stats: 165/157/150 Female 67"

BF:Have a boyfriend!
Progress: 53%

Location: Atlanta, GA

oh no, i don't want to shock my body with the constant change...i like how atkins helps with the blood sugar, i was just thinking, maybe if i want to eat something twice a month or maybe once a month, on that particular day i can keep my carbs to a minimum and then keep my "regular people food" meal to a one hour minimum.

i was thinking that i want to change to CAD permanently, but i will see what happens after a month of proper excercise with atkins.

#6 ^

Fri, May-21-04, 05:41

tofi

Contributing Member

Posts: 6,204

Plan: Atkins
Stats: 244/220/170 Female 65.4inches

BF:
Progress: 32%

Location: Ontario

When you say you "like to eat normal" with your boyfriend, does that mean that you eat carbage when he's around? If so, it sounds as though you are planning to go back to eating carbs when you get to your goal.

I think that you will be unpleasantly surprised if you do that. You could regain if you don't keep on with Maintenance levels of some LC plan. Isn't the carbage why you gained in the first place? Low Carbing is a way of eating forever, not just a quick way to lose some weight.

Somehow, it never works as well the second time you try.

#7 ^

Fri, May-21-04, 06:37

Dianee

Senior Member

Posts: 7,341

Plan: CAD/CALP
Stats: 233/192/145 Female 62"

BF:
Progress: 47%

Location: Idaho

In a way it sounds like what you are saying is that you want to have a couple cheat free days a month, because bascially that is what you would be doing. Not too sure if that is a good idea or not. Some people have a really hard time getting back on the wagon once they go off. One cheat day leads to another and so on. You would be so much better off to go ahead and get to your goal and then contine on with the Atkins Maintenance or switch over to CAD.

What Tofi said is right. It never works as well the 2nd time around. I don't know why that is, but it doesn't.

#8 ^

Fri, May-21-04, 13:52

blue4lemon blue4lemon is offline

Registered Member

Posts: 1,209

Plan: simple low carb :)
Stats: 165/157/150 Female 67"

BF:Have a boyfriend!
Progress: 53%

Location: Atlanta, GA

No, I want to eat LC for life. What we did last weekend was make pasta with the Dreamfields Low Carb Pasta. I know I went over the recommended serving, but everything I ate was low-glycemic. I am definitely NOT planning on going back to the regular american diet after I get to goal. I know from experience that going off LC makes me gain weight.

#9 ^

Fri, May-21-04, 16:52

adukart

Senior Member

Posts: 1,308

Plan: Atkins
Stats: 180/179.8/130 Female 5'4.75"

BF:
Progress: 0%

Location: ND

I found this thread from before, I believe it will explain some of the issues you have:

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthre...highlight=snack

Quote:

Originally Posted by KittenLady

Hi Grandma,

I'm a hypoglycemic, and have a better time of it on CALP. However, I found that after a few days on CAD, my blood sugar leveled off. I see that you don't have a journal. Maybe if you started a journal and posted your meals, someone could spot a problem.

The whole mechanism of this WOE depends on lowering your insulin production (my pancreas is an overachiever). The less insulin, the less fat storage and the better your blood sugar (unless you're a Type 1 diabetic). It's important to make sure that you don't have a hidden sugar in your CM meals/snack. The sources of hidden sugar are pretty amazing. My favorite is yogurt -- you think of the protein content as making it a good food, but the lactose sugar content is higher than the protein. Also, sandwich and other processed meats have sugar added (and often nitrates/nitrites, also not good for you), as well as many salad dressings.

There is a quick link to the right of this post called "Hidden Carbs Inspector" which can help.

Some days, my blood sugar dips between meals, so I have a high-protein snack -- e.g., canned tuna, leftover meat, hardboiled egg. This helps greatly, and I don't gain weight from it. It can slow some people down, but it's better to be healthy and feel good.

Sometimes, just changing your WOE can create havoc with your blood sugar. Give it a little time, but also be good to yourself. Don't endanger your health and well-being -- if you get a hypoglycemic attack, treat it appropriately with high protein. You should be fine.

Hope this helps.