JPaleo,

Please stop back from time to time to let us know if you found something that works for you. Best wishes.

I wish u all the best but now ur just following an american diet wich can lead to heart disease. I really dont think atkins is very hard its actually one of the eastiet things on the planet i just had low carb strwbaerry icream and i springled the top with a couple of tbalkesppons of atkins ceral and toopped it of with whippedcream. I also had some blueberries on the side With whipped cream and I just made low carb fried chicken wich tastes just like the orgianl. Use soyflour. Im really serious I had all of my parent fooled when they ate the souther fried chicken low carb style. I think U should give atkins a try. SOrry if I missed spelled a lot its just that im at work and I have a lot to do

Hello!

Kristine, I agree with you that many people have problems with sugar and grains. But I don't think that is my problem. In my recent experiences it is just not proving to be.

Carmen51, thanks! I will be checking in here because I do like the health info in this site.

AtkinsBoy1, I am absolutely not follwing and typical "American Diet" I said earlier that my new choice has nothing to do with wanting to pig out on junk food. I am still going to strive for healthy whole foods. I think it is great that you have found a plan that works for you. It just doesn't work for me. I think I have an eating disorder of sorts so I really need to address that. I do want to say, though, that I was previously following the Paleo/Neanderthin plan and in my previous research I found lots of info on how soy products that are not fermented are not very good for you (linked to cancer). I'm not sure if this is true or not but it may be good to research it some more.

-J

Deep fried anything is bad for you.

Carrottop, would you tell us more about what you mean? ("Deep fried anything is bad for you")

Deep frying causes fats to oxidize and oxidized fats are bad for you. So to heat most oils to the point where you get crisp deep frying you must heat is past the smoke point. Heating an oil higher than the smoke point causes most oils and fats to oxidize.

Saute instead using real lard, butter, or a monounsaturated oil with a high smoke point.

This absolutely means no Kentucky Fried Chicken. Fat food place use their oil to fry multiple batches. This increases oxidation substantially.

I really think that kind of says it all

Nothing has to be given up forever, but in any healthy eating plan there is foods you just have to give up for awhile in order to see results.

As others have said, you don't have a lot to lose. So maybe a good exercise plan would be your best bet along with a good food choices in controlled servings.

As for never having foods again, no thats not how it works, my typical week includes, all fruit, brown rice, potatoes (3-4 times a week), any veggie, Whole grain bread 2 slices a day, Oatmeal is my main breakfast 5 times a week.
And even the odd dessert If I really want it, but it has to be pretty special

So reading throught the whole plan you'll see that many foods are added back in, so it's not forever.

I wish you luck, I've been there done that, thinking that I ate super healthy, all fresh foods, low fat,very little junk at all, but I continued to grow, year after year.
I think I got to the point I had to really shake up by system and Low carb'n did that.

Cheers Kathy

Thanks, Kathy54, for your thoughts. The plan I was following was Paleo/Neanderthin which does involve giving up many foods forever (if you are going to stick to the plan). I researched it a lot and found it to be the plan I liked the best. But in practice, any plan I try to folow that has any strictness at all ends up going the same way. Obsessive adherence leading to feelings of deprivation leading to breaking the diet.

I really do think my problem is bigger than what I am eating. It's psychological.

But I feel that I should add here (as I have been thinking about it over the past few days) that right now I have to do what I have to do to heal my relationship with food (and that requires me to lift restrictions on food, get out of "diet" mode and delve deep as I explore what is wrong with me). It does not mean that I will never be eating low carb. It may be that once I get over my issues with food, I will naturally fall into a low carb plan (but it will be approached as a natural outcome of a healthy relationship to food rather than a diet I must stick to).

I just cannot make my focus the diet and expect my psychological issues to resolve themselves. The issues have to be addressed first. Then maybe healthy eating will be easier.

-J

It's my obligation to pop in and recommend the "Ultimate Weight Solution" ...it's doing wonders to help me sort out the very same issues you seem to be having.

J, good luck. I think Dr. Atkins had the overall goal of teaching us to eat properly, not necessarily having us live on a "diet". I know that I haven't thought of the way I eat as a diet for a long time now. But what low-carbing has done for me is to help me break my bad eating habits. For instance, I no longer have the urge to hit the vending machines at the end of the work day. It's just a bad habit I've gotten rid of.

When you think about it, Atkins maintenance is alot like the way you are describing eating. I've been on maintenance for about a year, and I never deny myself anything I really want. It's just that what I want now is healthier for me.

Again, good luck!

Joan

Potatofree, thanks for the suggestion. I'll look into it.

Tagcaver, I am really aiming for something like that. And the stuff I have been reading about learning to eat for physical hunger and trust your body really stresses that once you get over food issues you often naturally start craving healthier foods. And I found that when I initally started working on this problem that was true (personal and job stress have really brought out my food issues in full force lately so I need to work harder on that aspect. I have a long way to go.

-J

Hi,
I think I'm going to try it that way too. I have tried lowcarbing for more than a year, got down to goal weight, and now have found myself with an eating disorder that I did not have before. I have put on 3/4 of the weight I've lost. I'm tired of dieting. I think you're right. It's the deprivation and restriction that is causing us to fall off the diet. More and more I think dieting does not work (for me anyway).

Anyway I just wanted to say I know exactly what you're going through and what you are saying. I'm going to experiment with eating whatever I want (but trying to opt for more healthy choices). It is scary because I know I'm going to put on weight but I have to try this...

Serre

I found that dieting alone wasn't working. I read Lights Out, Sleep, Sugar and Survival and the light bulb went off. Since increasing my winter sleeping hours I have lost my appetite, especially for carbs, and have lost 5 pounds in 4 days. SAD, the new disease exists only because we are trying to stay up longer than we should. It's not lights that cure SAD, it's increasing our sleep time during winter. Another thing the medical establishment has gotten wrong. Paleo man ate more carbs in the summer and got less sleep and consumed almost no carbs in winter and slept a lot more. Why do we think that just because we can stuff ourselves with carbs and get little sleep all year round that we won't get sick, fat and suffer from all sorts of mental and physical ailments?

Serrelind, I know what you mean. I think I have had a mildly messed up relationship with food for quite some time now but the excessive restrictions I came up against in doing low carb really made it manifest itself much more seriously.

I can recommend a great website I found the other day. It was set up by a woman who struggled with the same sort of stuff and really has some great info and guidelines for how to learn to eat "normally" (i.e. without any sort of disordered mindset). I think it is okay to post the link here since she is not seliing anything or trying to convert people. It's just there for people who are interested as an info source. It is : http://www.normaleating.com/

I think the best thing she has there is a good description of how to go about first relaxing your food restrictions and then moving on to dealing with your issues with food (so as not to fall into some pattern where all you do is eat whatever you want all the time). What I mean is there is a progression of steps to get to a point where you naturally eat healthy whole food but it is coming from the inside instead of from the external restrictive force of a diet.

Does that make sense? Anyway, I'd be interested to hear what you think about it.

Hellistile, I think I definitely don't get enough sleep anytime of hte year but probably even less in the winter. I've heard a lot about that book. I will have to check it out.

-J

I'm going to have to check out the 'sleep' book myself. I totally don't get enough sleep at any time (shift worker - graveyards) and I've always believed that it contributes to my weight gain.

I understand what you're saying, J, and wish you luck in getting healthy however you go about it.

Take care,

Nicole