Welcome on board, Liz.

Thanks. I'm starting right now! It occurs to me that Gary Taubes' experience parallels that of Freckles'. I don't know if you have seen this thread where I ask The Maintainers if they had to give up dairy. It starts around post 80, when Freckles mentions it made all the difference for her.

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthre...ten+maintainers

Dairy is damned hard to give up, Costello. I know... I keep quitting and going back to it. I keep paying a price for it too. Bleh. It's good we're discussing this because I really need to stop it again.

Did you listen to the Taubes interview, Nancy? Between him and Dr Ede, I'm convinced it is worth a try for me. I don't even care if it accelerates current progress, I only hope it may prevent a future stall.

What have you got to lose besides Bovine Growth Hormone? Curious, though.....have you noticed a difference when you've quit it in the past?

Interesting. It looks like most of them didn't give up dairy. And Freckles has added it back - apparently without weight gain.

Yes, but who really knows what giving up dairy oneself will do till you try it. I've been mightily fighting the idea of giving it up, which sounds like addiction to me. But I'm sitting here drinking tea sans cream this morning. I've got some coconut cream in the fridge, but I want to do without any creaminess or a few days - the coconut cream has more carbs AND calories than HWC.

Gary Taubes almost makes it sound too good to be true.....

Interesting discussion.

My experiences with giving up dairy is that I *will* drop some weight. I call it "poof" weight. My rings will fit more loosely and I'll see collarbones again. I don't know if it's really fat loss or not. AND - the times I've gone dairy-free, it's with the intention of weight loss, so I don't know if I can blame the dairy exclusively, or the fact that I'm very diligent to avoid excess snacking or boredom-eating.

My most recent dairy-free stint was from mid-January until Feb 5. I've added back HWC for my coffee, and I have a rule that I'm allowed one *type* of cheese per day, if I want it. I haven't gained back any weight yet.

...so who knows? It's n=1 for sure. I think it's worth trying, just to see how you react.

For the record, I'm not interested in giving up dairy long-term. You have to look at the the net effects of your choices, not just the science-y details. I'm fortunate: I don't notice any particular difference in my well-being, dairy or no. Even if the HWC in my coffee caused a slight weight gain, the net effect is feeling satisfied for hours. Coffee just has that effect on me. *shrug* And no, I can't get past coconut milk or almond milk in it.

Toying with this idea after reading this thread....so what specifically are you guys giving up? cheese and heavy cream? typically that's the dairy that I eat....thoughts? suggestions??

The most common, and highest calories, are cheese, cream, sour cream, and greek yogurt. If you are doing a Whole 30 type of program to determine if you have sensitivities to milk protein, or casein, then you also give up butter (but can use Clarified butter or Ghee, butter without the milk solids)

I have been using coconut cream, but not eating breakfast. I can IF to noon with some coconut oil or cream in my coffee, negating the calories and carbs in it and hopefully raising my ketones.

Ajewett, I'm not a big dairy consumer of dairy- 1.5 T HWC or 2 T half and half per day and most days ~22 g of cheese in my morning eggs. Occasionally (< once a week) I may have another ounce or two of cheese.

Still....I'm anxious to give it a try. For the record, I'm not giving up butter (yet, though may reconsider if giving up other dairy has an effect).

I doubt I could do without my breakfast, JEY. It's my favorite meal. I'll get to try it Wed though as I have a yearly checkup scheduled, with blood tests, at 10 am. It will probably be noon before I eat anything, so we'll see how it goes. Good thing I'm acclimated to fat burning. I feel sorry for any carbivore who has to do that.

I had that same thought on my first few days.

I did adjust to black coffee. Right now I drink a combination of Techino and coffee, but eventually I intend to give up both.

I did adjust to black coffee. Right now I drink a combination of Techino and coffee, but eventually I intend to give up both.

I've checked my fasting blood sugar the last two mornings. It's actually higher than it's been in the past when I'm being faithful to low carb. It usually is in the 100-110 range. Yesterday it was 115, and this morning 120. Not much higher, I realize, but I wasn't too happy about where it was before. The higher numbers are making me a little nervous - and frustrated.

Is it possible that, if dairy is insulinotropic, when I eliminated it my insulin levels fell and my blood glucose rose as a result? Possibly I'll eventually adjust and see the blood glucose fall again?

Also, the last two mornings have been pretty stressful. I have a new neighbor who insists on tying their barking out for hours at a time. I've been woken early as a result. Could the stress or the lack of sleep cause a rise in blood sugar?

Morning,

I've come across this thread with some interest - and your post in particular, as I have alot of cream, cream cheese and greek yogurt in my 'Atkins' diet plan.

However, it's not the first time I've LC'd, and after a 3 week break at Christmas when I was in England on vacation and ate pretty much everything I wanted to, I returned to LC and am finding I am slower to loose the 'podge'.

I don't have as much to lose as some, and realise that is one obstacle I have, but I do rely heavily on dairy and posted myself on another section of this forum whether it could be an issue - this thread however has been far more informative.

I suffer from hives and when I started LC'ing they almost went away, but I've noticed also since coming back from vacation that I'm suffering. I'm now thinking that perhaps the amount of dairy is contributing to this.

I guess as I've had the same breakfast for such a long time on LC that I enjoy (and it's dairy heavy) I'm worried about what to have, that is quick etc.. The fact that I can fast without much problems may help me, as I also like CO in coffee and could do that to tide me over until lunchtime. Any quick ideas for this meal are appreciated as what I had been doing was skipping lunch after a large breakfast, and then having a dinner about 7pm.

I appreciate the wisdom in this thread and the areas of debate - we are all different, but the fact I'd self identified dairy as a possible issue for myself I guess has some weight to it, so although I really don't want to, I guess I need to reduce it down - ALOT!!!

Thanks,
PG!