I was considering adding coconut oil to my diet. For calorie reasons I try to use as little oil as possible, though, so it would be hard to fit it in. I am contemplating buying some and using it to cook my low carb - yet relatively higher carb food with. This should have a double benefit since my LC baked goods (obviously) aren't as good for me as egg breakfasts (all indicators of metabolic syndrome manifest more strongly when I'm eating less egg breakfasts). So it might help me tolerate that better.
I'm just concerned about the taste. I thought something made from coconut would be delicious, but, most people said it has a very strong soapy taste. How does it taste to you?

hey there, Wooo.

I've been cooking my eggs in coconut oil for quite a while now. I actually like them better that way than when I cook them in butter. I don't think they taste soapy at all, but of course, my idea of what tastes good may be different from yours.

And 80 calories for 2 tsp (which is quite a bit) isn't exactly calorie dense, when you consider how many calories are in olive oil or other oils.

I know what you mean Dina. It really doesn't matter if it's "healthy whole grains" - too many carbs are bad , evil things for us. If it's brown and reasonably unprocessed people think it must be wholesome and good. For most people this might be true, but, not if you have sugar tolerance problems.

My manager is a heavy woman who is trying to lose weight; she knows I lost weight and am health conscious so we talk about that sort of stuff a lot. She asked me "what's the difference between the good carbs and the bad carbs?"
I told her there is no difference, not for people with these issues. The only difference between good carbs and bad carbs is what you're getting with the carbs. Blueberries are good carbs - the ratio of nutrition per carb in blueberries are fantastic. Soda would bad carbs - the ratio of nutrition per carb in soda is actually negative value (soda contains stimulants and desensitizes the taste buds to sweet, fostering addiction). But even blueberries are bad if you eat so many of them, and do not balance your meals enough to mitigate the effect on sugar.

Obviously, for you as a diabetic, a breakfast like that is BAD. Oats - unless taken a very very small portion and diluted with other things - are bad carbs.

To us, carbs are like an allergen; but unfortunately they are overrepresented in almost every food item (natural or not). Human preference for carbohydrate food has lead us to selectively breed plants to have a higher content, so now we have all these berries and fruits and even vegetables which are sweeter and sweeter. Even blueberries were not so sweet before humans stepped up and manipulated them that way (selective breeding). Lord knows we are surrounded by well enough human-made processed unhealthy food that is teeming with carbs as well. As a result, those of us with more hunter-gatherer metabolisms are SOL and have to be super conscious about what and how much we eat of these things.

Cool mmiller, thanks for the feedback - what brand do you use? I heard that some brands taste better than others. Does it leave a coconut flavor (I love coconut and am hoping this is true ).

80 cal per 2 tsp is the same or slightly higher than olive oil. Olive oil is 120 for 3 tsp (1 tablespoon). Butter is 100 for 1 tbsp. Coconut is 120 for 1 tbsp if that 80/2tsp value is correct. So it appears to be on par with other oils and slightly higher than butter. Although, it might be possible that coconut oil will increase my metabolism enough to make it actually better than other fats.

Hmmmm...I am one of those people who failed on strict Atkins (yes, I've read the book -- more than once --and yes, I followed induction to the letter). At first, eating formerly forbidden foods such as real butter and mayo, and cheese and meats was very freeing. But I just didn't have much energy as time went on, and my weight loss wasn't that great. So I modified things. I truly believe that for most of us, eating "clean" is the best solution. It doesn't require cutting out whole groups of food, it's healthy, and it produces results (my stats are an example). Shopping the outer perimeter of the store, eating real fruit, veggies, good meats (not stuff smoked in nitrates), good dairy, good cheese, and some nuts, is the way to go. I don't completely cut out breads, but I consider it an extra, not part of my clean eating plan. And obviously, garbage foods are verboten, although I occasionally partake.

Having said all that, these last 15-20 pounds are REALLY tough to get off! It's now a matter of vanity, not health, since my BMI is <25. But it's important to me to go all the way down to my ideal weight. So I currently swing back and forth between different plans, all the while keeping my protein levels high. I do pay attention to calories, because I'm small enough now that too many cals results in weight gain for me (whether or not they are LC cals).

The happy news is that losing weight has resulted in far more energy, and stellar bloodwork. I was fortunate enough to have pretty good bloodwork even at my heaviest (no diabetes, etc), but it is even better now. My LDLs are 70, my triglycerides are 70, and my HDLs are 63! It is such a joy to see all the good numbers. I am probably healthier at age 44 than I was at 30. Yippee!

Coconut oil from what I have experienced has no flavour at all! I think it's great!

Congrats Joanie on your success!!

I am glad that you don't see bread as part of clean living. I would have disagreed with you there!

You are so right about garbage foods. I am getting dis-heartened with the Atkins association with Frankenfood. I have eaten a little lately and it has done nothing for my health!!

The one I buy from Tropical Traditions has vey mild coconut flavor and taste great, I even eat it like butter on a lC "bread" I make with almond flour.
The one that does not have coconut flavor is probably refined.

Woo, I don't agree with it, I am not having problems with low GI furit, never saw bg spike like this with apple or berries, or some other low GI fruit. But whole grains definetely make me spike high! I do think there are good and bad carbs but the most dense carbs are still whole grains (sugar has been out of picture for me for a long time). Strangely enough, I can have a small slice of the best quality italian bread like chiabatta with a meal on a rare ocation with any problems with BGs.

I never eat more than 10g of carbs for BF, since it;s the worst time of the day to eat carbs for diabetics, the highest IR so to speak. My normal BF is low protein shake (I make my own) or eggs on weekend.
As for different reaction to fruit, I figured my best bet is green apple and berries, like strawberries and raspberries, blueberries have slighly more sugar. Grany Smith apples (the greener the better) are my favorite, the least sugar compare to Fuji or Red delicious.
i am not allergic to carbs, no reactive hypoglycemia either, but again, I never experimented with pure sugar and sweets, but O am just trying to keep my Bgs <100 to avoid diabetic complications. And everything that raises Bgs fast, like grains do, is out!
Dina

I want to start running as a part of my workout and I sound this on a runner's website:

"HIGH PROTEIN, LOW CARBOHYDRATE DIETS

The theory

The fad diet of the 1960’s was the high protein, low carb diet. Now, almost forty years later, the diet is back. The theory behind this diet is that eating carbohydrates causes an increase in hunger. As a result you over eat. This type of diet also claims that by eliminating carbohydrates and eating a lot of protein you will trick your body into burning fat.

How it works

Carbohydrates are the nutrients that provide energy for working muscles and organs. When carbohydrates are limited, your body must burn first stored carbohydrates and then protein from lean muscle. The by-product of this is water, so you lose a lot of weight quickly, most of it from water. Body fat is also burned. When you burn fat for fuel, without carbohydrates, it burns only part way. The by-product of this incomplete burning of fat is ketones. Ketones are eliminated from your body by being processed through your kidney.

Advantages

· You are encouraged to eat a diet that is dominated by high-fat meats, high fat dairy products and rich desserts. Many people are very happy eating this type of diet.

· You lose a lot of weight quickly. The vast majority of the weight lost in this diet is water weight. But the quick weight loss encourages many to follow this type of diet.

Disadvantages

· The high fat content of the diet contributes to heart disease and many types of cancers.

· Most of the weight loss, especially in the early stages, is water. The water will be quickly replaced when you go off of the diet.

· Ketosis can be damaging to your body, including kidney damage, osteoporosis and fatigue.

· The diet results in loss of lean muscle tissue and a slower metabolic rate. When you quit the diet, you will put more fat back on than you had before.

The bottom line

There are a number of possible health risks involved with this type of diet. The ketone bodies produced can cause damage to your kidneys and weaken your bones. The burning of lean muscle tissue weakens your body and lowers your metabolism. The high fat content can contribute to cardiovascular disease and some forms of cancer.

This type of diet, as with most popular diets, restricts calories. Eating less calories means losing weight. Why not do it a more healthy way. "



I started atkins mid january and I you can see my ticker.
I feel great and I don't care about other people's diet or regime. I am sticking to LC because it works.
The internet is full with mumbo jumbo about everything, If one pays too much atention to everything we read about a topic, we would end up doing nothing.
Although I'm going to start running, I don't believe in low calorie diets.
But that is only my opinion

people who say low carb doesn'y work hasen't tried then very long .Ifyou think about the ones that say it doesn't work are the ones who want to lose 100 pounds over night and nothing does that

We could amputate their fat-heads! That might do it!!! On the other hand, that probably wouldn't work - they sound pretty empty-headed!

Certain low carb diets don't work for everyone. I can not follow strict atkins, as it interferes with my liver enzymes. But I can still do low carb. I think anyone could do low carb and it work, if they find the right plan for them.

I too can't do Induction, tried it again and never cheated, and did not lose any weight or inches, simply because I was eating around 2200 a day calories to meet my protein requirements and to keep the fatrotein:carbs raio at 75:25:5, and because I was constanly hungry. Strangely enough, because I was getting lots of fat and kept my calories high. I was feeling fine but after the 1st week, I've become too anxious, could not fall asleep, and start getting hert palps and internal shakes and tremors, not to mention irritability and depression.
This is another indication, that a very low carb diet does not work me, tried and true, but I do much better on less caloric, still low carb (around 70-80g), and lower fat diet. I feel calmer, never hungry (eat 3 meals a day and sometimes bedtime snack), and don't have insomnia, palps, and shakiness. Weight loss for me is more about caloric intake overall in regards to my activity level, not carbs per se. Higher carbs and protein intake garantee satiety, fat does not cut in, it's just adds flavors to food. JMHO