Lowcarbohydrate Diet. For Weight Loss and Good Health.
Carbohydrates =sugar and starch

You may eat:
Dairy products. Milk, yoghurt, cheese, Feta cheese, cottage cheese, Creme Fraiche, cream cheese, butter, mayonnaise etc.

Do not choose low fat products or sugar-added products.

Beef, pork, lamb, chicken fish, shellfish. Don't remove the fat.

Ham, sausage and other processed meats (make sure the carbohydrate content doesen't exceed 5g per 100g)

Eggs (choose organic - ordinary eggs have too much omega-6)

Herbs, spices, stock, salt and peppar according to taste.

Sauces with low carbohydrate content.

Vegetables. Olives. Linseed

Dressings with oil and vinager or mayonnaise.

Cold pressed oils. Olive-, rapeseed-, linseed-, coconut- and palmoil (just remember the body cannot use the omega-3 from vegetable oils)

Unless your diet contains a good supply of fish with a high fat content you may need a supplement of the essential polyunsaturated fatty acid omega-3, eg in fish oil.

Foods to limit or avoid:

Potato and potato based products.eg.chips and crisps.

Rice and rice products.

Corn and corn products. eg. Cornflakes.

Grain based products. Eg.pasta, bread, biscuits, breakfast cereals, porridge.

Sweets, cakes, Danish pastries, fizzy drinks, juice .

All sugar and sugary products.

Margarine (chemically processed vegetable oils) and omega-6 rich oils are not suited for our bodies. They contribute to an increased risk for heart and artery problems, diabetes, overweight, cancer, allergies etc.

Oils with a high omega-6 content. Eg. corn oil, sunflower oil, soya oil, peanut oil.

If you feel that you cannot give up bread and potatoes then try to reduce them gradually.

You may eat a little of these foods:

Beans, lentils, nuts, sunflower seeds.

Fresh fruit (dried fruit has a too high sugar content)

Small amounts of chocolate with high cacao content, 65-70%.

These foods contain a small amount of slowburning carbohydrates.

Leave them out while reducing your weight. Try to include them again when you have reached your goal.

Drink only small amounts of alcohol, it increases overweight and disturbs the sugar balance.

(Beer contains maltose which is a very fast carbohydrate.)

Suggested menu:

Breakfast: Yoghurt with 1-2 tablespoons of linseed or sunflower seed and wheat bran if you have a problem with digestion.

Egg, sausage, bacon, ham.

Or a small real lowcarb meal.

Coffee or tea with or without cream or milk.


Lunch and supper: meat, fish or chicken with vegetables. Stews, soups or gratins with the same ingredients.

You can follow most recipes, just avoid carbohydrates.

Drink water with the meal.

More suggestions:
Lightly cooked cauliflower or broccoli is an excellent replacement for potatoes.

With some cheese on top they taste even better.

Cauliflower cooked in cream, then mixed with some salt and pepper, is better tasting than mashed potatoes!

A good inexpensive sallad: ½kg each of roughly grated carrot and cabbage with oil and vinager dressing alternatively a mayonnaise and yoghurt dressing (use the 10% fat yoghurt)

It will keep in the fridge for several days.

Sallads are a good way to compensate for the starchy foods.

If you get hungry or have "cravings" take 1-2 slices of cheese, a slice of sausage or ham, a glass of milk or yoghurt, a few nuts, some olives, or something else lowcarb.

A roll of ham and cheese, perhaps with a little butter on, to a cup of coffee or tea.

If you really want a sandwich take a thin crisp bread with plenty of butter and cheese or ham.

Eating out or going to a party should not be a problem. Just avoid the part of the meal heavy in carbohydrate and do not overeat. Forget the old adage "eat what you take"

You can't get bloated on a lowcarb meal.


Fruit is certainly nutritious, but due to its high carbohydrate content it raises bloodsugar levels. (Especially bananas and grapes)

The risk is that the fructose will be converted to fat, and stored up in the fat issue.

If weight loss is slow you should remove fruits, bread and nuts completely from your diet.

Physical training:

It is good for health, strength and loss of weight. The body gets a signal it must not break down muscle, but only take energi from fat deposits.

An overweight person will have difficulty loosing weight by training, while continuing to eat food with high content of carbohydrates.

It is a lot easier to train when you get less overweight.

Carbohydrates:

They are perhaps needed for heavy physical work and hard training, so you have to test what your needs are (But I have heard of elite sportsmen who have competed on a fat based diet)

With low energy activity like walking you do not need carbohydrates, it is sufficient with energy from fat.

There are many programs on internet where you can check the nutritional content of our most common foods. It is good to have this information when choosing the food for your diet.

If your goal is to loose weight, then 5g carbohydrate per 100g food intake is suggested. When you have reached your goal you can reintroduce carbohydrates gradually and see which level is comfortable for maintaining chosen weight.


G.I. Glycemic index gives an idea of how quickly the starch in food converts to blood sugar. The slow carbohydrates are to be preferred and the fast ones avoided. This will reduce the need for insulin production. If you eat a diet low in carbohydrates you will reduce your weight because you avoid the cravings caused by low blood sugar. A meal high in carbohydrates forces the release of insulin to regulate the high levels of blood sugar. The result is the opposite - low blood sugar. This is the "catch 22" you have to avoid. The answer is to eat food that does not make you hungry.


Weight reduction will depend on how much you eat, and above all how low you can reduce your carbohydrate intake. You have to test how much and how often you need to eat without becoming hungry. You do not need to increase your intake of protein(eg.meat), but you will probably need to increase your intake of fat, as you have most likely been eating an intensely low fat diet.

If you follow this program strictly you can reduce your weight with ½-2kg per week.

If you fall for the temptation to eat something high in carbohydrate, you will automatically get a feeling of hunger, craving, after about an hour when the high blood sugar level begins to sink.

Just take a lowcarbohydrate snack until blood sugar and insulin levels have returned to normal. Then you can continue as before. Nothing worse has happened than a slight slowing down of the weight loss process.

Why does it work?

Because a low carbohydrate diet does not increase blood sugar levels, you avoid the release of excess insulin. Insulin lowers the blood sugar level quickly causing you to soon feel hungry again. Insulin is responsible for storing fat and blocking its use as an energy source.

It also converts excess carbohydrates to fat.

The body can convert the blood sugar it needs from the protein and fat in food. This releases a steady level of blood sugar instead of the highs and lows caused by carbohydrates.

Muscular activity and the brain can also get their energy needs from fat. (Ketones)

Research shows that it is not dangerous to increase the amount of fat and protein in the diet.

A low carbohydrate diet is perfect for people with type 2 diabetes, because blood sugar is stabilised and variations limited.

Please note that if you are on medication for your diabetes the change should be made gradually, in order to avoid low blood sugar, checking blood sugar levels and reducing medication accordingly. It is recommended that you do this in consultation with your doctor or nurse.

Most overweight people today have tried to diet by lowering the fat content in their foods without succeeding.

These people could try the low carbohydrate diet.

Spread this information to all who might be interested.

Annika Dahlqvist General Practitioner Njurunda, Sweden

I have been following Dr Dahlqvist's plan since Jan 23rd and have lost 26lbs so far. Just over a kg 2.5lb per week. As it doesn't cost anything, involves no additional expenditure (swapping to Coconut oil is not a big deal, you can find it in Asian corner shops for £1-500g) and doesn't involve calorie counting or anything the slightest bit complicated I thought I'd give it a go. So far it's been terribly easy to stick to as I don't have any cravings for food, wine, beer now so resisting temptation is easy.

I came upon a link to her site from the Jimmy Moore Livinglavida site.

Interesting, thanks for posting. The part about "a little of these foods" (i.e., the nuts/seeds, legume, fruit, etc.) is a bit vague, though. This would be important to me, since I don't eat meat.

Any guidelines on quantities of these foods and what she means by " a little"?

Tam

I'm afraid not. I came across her plan after listening to Gary Taubes talk and reading his book and thought I ought to do something about my weight and this looked the least extreme of the low carb plans. That was of course before I came upon this site and all the excellent information available here.

But as I'm still steadily losing weight (perhaps the rate of weight loss has slowed a bit but not sufficient to rate as stalled so as I find it easy and I'm not having any problems I'm continuting with it. I really don't understand vegetarians or how they can eat low carb.

Thanks for the reply. It's actually not too difficult to be low carb as a vegetarian if you eat dairy and eggs, since those are great protein sources. Other low carb protein sources that I use are soy (obviously), nuts, and protein powders not soy based (like whey protein, although I don't use it). And if you're doing more of a semi low carb plan where you're not so strict on the carb count (i.e., no induction levels ) beans and legume are also a great source of protein.

I agree with you though that as a vegan (or strict vegetarian, as someone who doesn't eat dairy or eggs or meat but does wear animal-based clothing like leather - but that's another story ) it would be very difficult to do low carb, since you'd be limited in protein sources, even if you did eat beans. That's one reason I didn't even attempt to do that .

Tam

Thanks for posting this, it is basically how I planned to tweak Atkins to suit me. Really interesting stuff.

Hi,
I'm doing this diet now, and it has worked out quite well
for me. I have very little to lose, yet I see the fat go
away and the muscle kicking in. And I don't feel deprived
at all.
I do have some questions about maintenance, though.
Are any of you in maintenance already? How should
I go about maintaning my weight?
I guess this applies to all diets, not only this one.
Dr. Dalhkvist talks about reintroducing fruits and beans
and nuts. Is this how you plan to get started?
Let me know your thoughts on this.
Bisous

Exactly how I found it.
I've achieved my target and all I have done is relax the low alcohol rule and this was a mistake. Had a long weekend helping relatives move house so sandwiches, beer, chips and rice all featured in my downfall and the result was some weight gain. Only a couple of pounds so will be back to target weight next week.

But I'll be interested to hear other suggestions as I don't want to go back to being overweight but it would be nice to have a drink more regularly.

What I found surprising, having more or less given up booze for the last 20 weeks, was how quickly one beer led to another and another. It's very easy, when you are in company and you've been working hard together, not to join in with what everyone else is doing.
I think fruit and beans is a more sensible introduction than reintroducing beer, bread and chips, so when I've got back to 160lbs, I'll maybe join you to start with a little more fruit and more beans.

Thanks for your quick reply!!
What I'm doing now is introducing some berries occasionally.
Then I'm thinking of adding apricots and nuts to make a more
varied diet.
I don't think of adding grains and beans at all, as I don't particularly miss them.
As for the alcohol, I don't drink beer, only wine and harder
stuff, and I have a party coming in 2 weeks, so I'm going
to relax this a bit and have a little fun.
I can understand how a beer is refreshing in the summer,
and you just use it to kill your thirst.For myself it used to
be diet soda all the time. I've completely cut it and only
drink water now, as I have shunned sweet tastes in my mouth.
All in all I am very happy that my sweet tooth has gone away
and the constant grazing after dinner as well. I am quite
marveled at the lack of hunger I'm experiencing.
I did Atkins some years ago, and I didn't remember how good it
felt to be in control of hunger.
Cheers to you, and let's get to our goal weights quickly!!

Interesting....sounds like a great low carb plan....

TJ

I'm chipping in here because the Barry Groves' plan is very similar to the one you're following and also because I can really empathise with the beer problem!!!

I live in Germany and the beer is very good, unfortunately... My husband is one of those awful people who can "nurse" a half-pint of beer all night, whereas I seem to have inherited my dad's ability to swill down the stuff at a much faster rate... and consume much larger amounts. So we have beer in the house because he can drink 2 wee bottles of Czech Budweiser and it lasts him all night. I get through one of those in about fifteen minutes.

The only thing that works for me is to stay teetotal. Alcohol is a very addictive substance for me and as soon as I start drinking it again, I am almost instantly re-addicted. However, I have found a substitute which is an alcoholic drink which is also good for you!!! It's kombucha and I have found a high-quality version in a local health-food store. I am planning to make my own after I return from our summer holiday in the UK.

My other recent discovery is that, in my case at least, if I add more "enzyme-rich" foods and/or beverages to my diet, I can eat more carbs. Kombucha is one of those things, but I've also tried out probiotic yoghurt, lacto-fermented sauerkraut juice (interesting, but it grows on you) and drinking a concoction of apple cider vinegar, water and raw honey before meals (2 tbsp). I have also noticed over the past four weeks or so that even though I had drunk beer more often (dratted football!), the weight gain wasn't as drastic as I had expected. I "blame" it on the extra enzymes!!! Kombucha is a particularly good one because it detoxes your liver as well via its high quantities of glucoronic acid.

So, my conclusion would be, that if you were to introduce some enzyme-rich foods/beverages - or even some kind of supplements - then you might be able to tolerate more beer without the risk of instant weight gain.

It's worth a try, and the enzymes and lacto-bacillus jobbies can't do you any harm!

amanda

p.s. I really am going to take D3 as from November onwards. I have no idea if they do testing over here, though. But from what you write, I can't really OD on it anyway?

You really do find the nicest people on this forum. My partner also can make a half pint last all evening. Any chance we could arrange a swap.

Now that is really very naughty. Would you run your car with only a third of the required air in the tyres? Do you value your car more than your body?
Your body needs 5000iu/daily.
Currently it is getting about 2000iu (unless you sunbathe nude at midday for 30-40 minutes)
So your body is currently getting less than half the amount of vitamin d it requires.
If you wait until November before you start taking 5000iu daily your body will not get more vit d than it needs daily until April when the sun starts it's input again. If you really want optimal muscle strength, optimal feelings of well being, optimal anti biotic status, optimal anti inflammatory status you would start now. Order your capsules today start taking one daily when they arrive and by the end of October your body will have a vit d status around 150nmol/l You will then be facing the winter with a fully charged immune system, a fully charged anti inflammatory status. You will be less likely to get SAD. You will not get a cold or flu over the winter. (I'm not offering a money back guarantee though but I bet I'm right)

Is it best to wait until your reach your credit limit before you pay off your credit card debt or is it best to pay off your monthly credit card bill in full each month and never ever pay interest?

Why wait until you are in deeply debt before you take action?

You are right about Vit D toxicity.

Anything up to 10,000iu allows the addition of sun exposure/dietary inputs and still leaves a huge safety margin. 40,000iu/daily is required over 6months or more before adverse events have been recorded.

So absolutley no possibility of any worries on that score. Some people here have been taking huge amounts more than that without adverse events. I wouldn't but I do understand why they might and once you comprehend the idea that actually most current medical practice is based on dogma and myth rather that actual peer reviewed evidence. (read the diet delusion Good Calories bad Calories if you don't believe me) you begin to doubt lots of the other stuff they churn out.

Who thinks Statins for all, including primary school kids is a really bright idea?

Sorry about the rant and I'm just joking about swapping partners.
Having someone who can nurse a half pint all evening saves me lots of money. I don't think I could afford one who downed the pints as fast as I like.

Hey Hutchinson,

Did you lose all of your weight on this plan???? How long did it take you??? Also, the foods that are stated one can eat a little of I am wondering how often that is..... I guess you just have to sample and look at pounds loss...

Tj

I started on January 23rd at 14st 9lbs and it took 20 weeks to reach my target. I lost 2.25lbs each week without counting calories, carbs, or doing extra exercise. So I haven't done anything other than stated on her webpage. No meeting, no counselling, no special foods or other cost involved. I did buy one pack of ketostix after coming to this site and seeing posts discussing their use but that was just out of curiosity and not an essential purchase. I never got the tabs to change to the darkest 2 colours. Usually I just showed a trace of ketones but there was a definite colour change but I accidentally dropped all the remaining tabs down the loo trying to open it an extract a tab singlehanded so that was the end of that experiment.

I totally avoided all the items in the avoid or limit section.

Since I reached my target I have had danish pastries (very nice but almost as disastrous as the wine/beer experiments)
I also didn't eat any beans or lentils. I'm going to start adding these back in now to see what happens.
I have also started eating bananas and grapes again so will be keeping an eye on what happens.

You made my day!

I was thinking about your maintenance and re-introduction of carbier foods. I would definitely keep things like Danish pastries well off the menu - even on maintenance - because they are absolutely chockablocka full of carbs, and probably lots of vegetable oils and other dubious substances - I assume you didn't make them yourself?

It might even be an idea to start carb-counting and keep a food-intake diary to help you monitor what level carbs keeps you at goal weight, what makes you go above etc. For me, -100g /day means I stay the same, around 80g means I lose and anything above about 120g means I gain. Although these levels seem to have gone up a bit since I've introduced more enzyme-rich foods and beverages into my diet. Any nutrition table will help with carbs per 100g. The US things are usually a pain as they have all these weird measurements with cups and portions and God knows what.

Nonetheless, if I gain due to having eaten something silly like a piece of pizza, it's usually just water gain (the carbs attract water) and it's gone again in a day or two. The beer has a different effect...

btw, there's a link to an article on pubmed about alcohol and fat metabolism in the thread "alcohol makes women fat".

My current plan is one small bottle of Czech Budweiser and then a large glass of Kombucha in the evening. This seems to ward off beer-induced weight gain.

And statins for eight-year-olds??? I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that. I sometimes believe that humankind is so stupid that we don't deserve a place on earth. It'll serve us right if we pollute ourselves and the planet to such a degree that we can't survive and the planet can't sustain us and our stupid ways. (me and my family and everyone on this forum excluded of course ).

Happy Maintenance!

amanda