Active Low-Carber Forums
Atkins diet and low carb discussion provided free for information only, not as medical advice.
Home Plans Tips Recipes Tools Stories Studies Products
Active Low-Carber Forums
A sugar-free zone


Welcome to the Active Low-Carber Forums.
Support for Atkins diet, Protein Power, Neanderthin (Paleo Diet), CAD/CALP, Dr. Bernstein Diabetes Solution and any other healthy low-carb diet or plan, all are welcome in our lowcarb community. Forget starvation and fad diets -- join the healthy eating crowd! You may register by clicking here, it's free!

Go Back   Active Low-Carber Forums > Main Low-Carb Diets Forums & Support > Low Carb Health & Technical Forums > Vegetarian Low Carbers
User Name
Password
FAQ Members Calendar Mark Forums Read Search Gallery My P.L.A.N. Survey


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1   ^
Old Thu, May-27-04, 16:30
adelante's Avatar
adelante adelante is offline
New Member
Posts: 25
 
Plan: CALP vegetarian plus fish
Stats: 140/138/132 Female 66 inches
BF:26%/25%/20%
Progress: 25%
Location: South Texas
Default I'm doing veggie low carb on very tight budget!

Hi, just wanted to say how I'm doing this on an extremely tight budget. Last summer I joined this forum while trying Atkins--well, I flunked out of Atkins big-time after 3 days. After that I got back into the high-carb rut for a few months, but over the last few months my eating habits have suddenly changed for the better. I don't know exactly what happened to me, I'm just finding myself craving healthy fruits and vegetables instead of junk food. I just don't seem to have much of a taste for candy, cake, cokes, or anything like that anymore. I guess one thing that happened was, I went on a trip to the interior of Mexico (San Miguel de Allende, in the hills north of Mexico City) in March, and ate the healthiest I've eaten anywhere anytime in my life (and the cheapest too!) Lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. I live in South Texas, and I've been craving those things since I got back from Mexico (like papaya and mangos).

I haven't been losing weight lately because I haven't been trying to, but now my goal is to lose 6 pounds in 30 days, before I go on a trip at the end of June. I want to get back down to 137 ASAP (now I weigh 144). The real reason though is, I was having hypoglycemia symptoms in the past year, and I just don't feel good when I eat unhealthy.

I seem to need some carbs because my job involves lots of physical labor--I've been trying to eat really high-fiber complex carbs though. I eat no meat now but I do eat eggs cheese and fish. I have to eat CHEAP and FAST. My new "diet" involves mostly the same things every day. I wanted to bounce it off you all and see what you think!

Breakfast--2 eggs with cheese(from my own chickens--free!)
couple pieces whole wheat toast
a few tortilla chips
a cup of coffee
a big glass of ice water

Lunch-- a can of sardines or herring (good for calcium)
a large container of mixed fresh fruit
sesame sticks
a big glass of ice water

Snack-- handful of kumquats
handul of baby carrots
(I have become addicted to kumquats and baby carrots. Eat the kumquats first--they're
really sweet/really sour at the same time!
Eat the baby carrots next, because they
taste sweeter after he sour kumquats. This is a real experience, try it! According to the label, 4 ounces of kumquats, more than a handful, have only 9.5 grams net carbs, and I can' eat that many anyway!)


Supper-- one or two soy "meat patties"--various brands
sometimes an egg or two (I have lots of eggs)
big leafy salad

If I need a night snack it's a half cup of Kashi "Good Friends" cereal (has an amazing amount of fiber in it and it's really good) with a tad of milk.

I just started this recently. So far this is keeping me satisfied and I'm not craving anything. I just wanted to share this with you, and see what you think! Any add-on suggestions?

Last edited by adelante : Thu, May-27-04 at 16:34. Reason: add on
Reply With Quote
Sponsored Links
  #2   ^
Old Thu, May-27-04, 17:37
Elsah's Avatar
Elsah Elsah is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 3,666
 
Plan: Undecided atm
Stats: 162/000/115 Female 5' 4"
BF:
Progress: 345%
Location: North Carolina
Default

You are pretty high on your carbs. If you are okay with that many carbs have you thought about doing SBD. There tends to be a little more flexability when it comes to the breads, grains, fruit and such. You are welcome to peak at my journal. I write down what I eat daily. I am not a fan of eggs but that I can't help, I just don't love the taste of them like some people do. For breakfast you can make your eggs go a little farther by adding a bit of veggies. I know you can get huge packages of chopped spinach, broccoli and stuff like that that are very inexpensive. You can make small quiches in a muffin tin or make a large one (crustless) that you can eat through the week. There are many other cheap low carb veggies you could add for variety as well cucumbers, celery, zuchini, yellow squash and if you can find asparagus or broccoli on sale are all good choices. Carrots are a little high on the GI so I would try to replace them in part at least with some green veggies. Eat lots of salads, they are cheap. Feta isn't a cheap cheese but it is sooo flavorful that a little bit goes a long way for flavor. Cottage cheese with nuts and cantaloupe makes a really healthy, cheap, yummy snack or breakfast. www.fitday.com is a great way to track your carbs/calories/protein/fiber and such. You should get a free account there and plug in what you eat just to check and see how you are doing. I always use it to see how close I am to reaching my daily vitamins through food. Best of luck to you!

Jenn
Reply With Quote
  #3   ^
Old Fri, May-28-04, 17:31
adelante's Avatar
adelante adelante is offline
New Member
Posts: 25
 
Plan: CALP vegetarian plus fish
Stats: 140/138/132 Female 66 inches
BF:26%/25%/20%
Progress: 25%
Location: South Texas
Default

Thanks Elsah--those are really helpful suggestions! Thanks for the fitday.com link, and I'm interested to look at your journal. I haven't looked at SBD yet. Yeah, I know the breakfast carbs are a little high with the 2 pieces toast and tortilla chips--I'll try to find some lower-carb bread that is higher in fiber, etc.

I hadn't thought of it before you mentioned it, but I really love that idea of tossing in some raw spinach leaves into my eggs. I love raw spinach, and maybe I need spinach for breakfast like Popeye. It's such a good idea I think I'll go fix some spinach and eggs right now. Thanks, Elsah!
Reply With Quote
  #4   ^
Old Sun, May-30-04, 15:16
adelante's Avatar
adelante adelante is offline
New Member
Posts: 25
 
Plan: CALP vegetarian plus fish
Stats: 140/138/132 Female 66 inches
BF:26%/25%/20%
Progress: 25%
Location: South Texas
Default Eureka! Now I've got it

Okay, yesterday I got this thing figured out. I did two things yesterday. One, I went to the gym. I had won one of those "free memberships for a week" a few months back and just never went (had no energy to go to a gym then!) Last week somebody from the gym happened to call me and tell me the offer is still open, and finally yesterday I went and worked out. First time I'd gone to a gym in about 20 years I think! Well I loved it! (I weighed 140 on the gym scale, and they said it was right--I'd thought I was 144, but I was using tehe 25-cent public scale at the grocery store with my work-clothes on, so I guess I'll go with the gym scale. Anyway, I still want to lose 7 or 8 pounds and get to 132 pounds by end of June if I possibly can.)

Second thing I did yesterday was, I went to the library and checked out the Heller books again. I head read "Carbohydrate Addicts Diet" earlier but didn't take it seriously. But I read "Carbohydrate Addicts Diet Lifetime Plan" yesterday, and I must say it makes a whole lot of sense to me. Vegetarianism is given a lot of coverage in it. Looking at my previous daily menu (above) you can see that all I would need to do to make it fit the CADL plan is to cut out the carbs at breakfast and cut out the cereal at night. (And keep lunch as it is, as the "reward meal".) Are a lot of you on this vegetarian board doing the CADL plan? I was thinking of Protein Power but I'm really don't think I could hold to only 20g carbs a day. 75 to 100 is more like it for me. I haven't looked at SBD in depth yet. But the psychology behind the CADL works for me. E.g. for lunch today (so-called "reward meal") I added the required salad and vegetables along with my usual sardines, and didn't crave much in the way of sesame sticks, probably BECAUSE they were allowed, and also because I was full. So I think this could work for me.

By the way, I've been taking a lot of vitamins lately--like B-complex, a lot of beta-carotene, vitamin C, iron, etc, because I notice when I stop taking them for long I really don't feel as energetic as when I'm taking them. Also yesterday I started taking chromium picolinate again. I don't know, but I noticed this morning when I got up that I didn't get my usual edgy-hungry feeling, and I actually was not too hungry all morning. Highly unusual for me--probably the effect of both the new exercise routine and the chromium picolinate combined...

Anyway, yesterday I started this combination of strength training at the gym/CADL diet. I feel very energetic today after eating all that spinach yesterday (Thanks, Elsah--I must have eaten a whole half a bag of spinach yesterday and this morning!) This afternoon I'm tackling my neglected garden, hoeing out weeds to turn it into a rock garden. I feel like I am doing something right because I actually feel pretty good physically. I feel like I am getting a real handle on this thing now by combining exercise with a lower carb diet.
Reply With Quote
  #5   ^
Old Thu, Jun-03-04, 02:49
Gaelen's Avatar
Gaelen Gaelen is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 244
 
Plan: Protein Power
Stats: 216/166/150 Female 60 inches
BF:45%/33.5%/28%
Progress: 76%
Location: CNY
Default

Adelante, re: "I was thinking of Protein Power but I'm really don't think I could hold to only 20g carbs a day. 75 to 100 is more like it for me."

In Protein Power's Phase I Intervention, the Drs. Eades recommend eating no more than 7-10g effective carbs (carbs minus fiber grams) per meal, to total no more than 40 grams of effective carbs per day --not 20g, that's Atkins induction. The Drs. Eades developed this stage of the diet to address health issues...serious insulin resistance, blood pressure elevation, blood sugar elevation, poor lipid profiles (bad cholesterol ratios), weight loss in excess of 20% of current body weight, etc.

In Phase II Intervention, PP raises the daily recommended carb limit to 55g effective carbs, and relaxes the per-meal or one-time consumption recommendation to between 12-15g ECC. This always made more sense to me than Atkins "add five grams of carbs per week until you gain"--it gives you a steady number to aim at/average per day, and avoids a weekly emphasis on the scale (which can really derail people). The Phase II intervention is designed for people who have normalized blood sugars and lipids and have minimal signs of insulin resistance, but who wish to eat healthier, build lean muscle mass, or have less than 20% of their body weight to lose. It's also designed for people who are at goal and wish to gradually transistion to maintenance carb levels, which vary by individual. For me, weight maintenance carb levels are close to my my recommended protein minimum of around 80g/day.

I found it pretty easy to average 40g ECC per day, even on vegetarian menu days, for the first two years that I followed PP. Right now, I'm averaging about 60-80g ECC per day, but at the moment I'm under doctors' orders to maintain my current weight (I'm in chemo--no weight loss allowed!) Gotta tell you--that advice is really a mental shift! Some days, all I can stomach are carbs, but I've been trying to concentrate on whole grains and lentils/beans and avoid processed carbs. OTOH, some days the only appealing thing is a pecan butter cookie--and in this instance, I go for it. Then other days, *all* I want is protein. When those days hit, it seems I eat every 2-3 hours, and it's usually eggs, fermented dairy, lentil crackers or cheese paired with veggies, half a whole wheat croissant or pita, or melon/berries. My numbers are still coming out with a weekly average of between 60 and 80g ECC...right where I figured they'd start out when I moved to maintenance.

I did CAD for about a year in the early 90s. I didn't lose weight, but I didn't gain any either (I was between 160-165lbs; today I weigh 155 after a high in 2002 of between 206-212 lbs and a pre-chemo low of 150.) CAD was easier to follow while travelling than exchange plan dieting, and since I was travelling a lot, I stuck with it. However, my typical reward meal was at night, and I found it produced a lot of hypoglycemia-like symptoms...I would wake up shaky and weak, and never really 'catch up' to my normal self 'til about noon. I'd have been smarter, maybe, to have my reward meal for breakfast. Ah well--hindsight.

Anyhow, on PP, any hypoglycemia tendencies I had just disappeared. I'm sure that spreading my carb intake out over the course of the day instead of concentrating most of it at one meal is responsible for the improvement. If you don't have more than 20% of your body weight to lose, and you don't have any hypoglycemia or insulin resistance or blood sugar issues, PP at Phase II Intervention (55g ECC) might be a better fit for you than the lower carb Phase I intervention. However, if CADL is working, go for it!
Reply With Quote
  #6   ^
Old Sat, Jun-05-04, 18:16
adelante's Avatar
adelante adelante is offline
New Member
Posts: 25
 
Plan: CALP vegetarian plus fish
Stats: 140/138/132 Female 66 inches
BF:26%/25%/20%
Progress: 25%
Location: South Texas
Default

Hi Gaelen! I'm just now getting a chance to follow up on your post. Very informative. I apologize for getting the numbers on the carbs in Phase I Intervention Protein Plan wrong--I didn't have the book with me. Sounds like you were very successful on the PP plan.

I had developed symptoms of hypogycemia in the past year, after I had started loading up on sweets and junk again. The thing with me is, I've always done a lot of heavy physical labor in the mornings at work, so breakfast and lunch have always been my biggest meals. This past year I had really started depending on big doses of sugar and bread at breakfast and lunch to keep my energy up early in the day. Then in the afternoons usually I would just crash and vegetate for a while and I'd get these weird little headaches sometimes that didn't go away. And if I got really stressed at work in the morning, and didn't get sugar, every once in a while I'd get a hypoglycemia attack at work all of a sudden--I'd just start seeing double, feeling nauseous and all that, but it would end in about half an hour if I ate something like sweetened yogurt, and sat down and closed my eyes for half an hour.

Anyway I've "seen the light" and for the past few months cut out all refined sugar and most other empty calories. This has been my first week on the low carb. Yeah, the PP plan does sound pretty good too. I stil have that psychological and physical craving for a big energy boost at lunchtime though, and I need the energy for my labor-intensive job, and CALP works for that because I can use lunch as the so-called "reward meal". In the CALP plan (as opposed to the first CAD plan) the Hellers say to eat a big salad before the rest of the "reward meal", and also the carb portion of the "reward meal" has to be balanced with low-carb vegetables and protein in about the same amount as the carb portion. And I'm using just complex carbs and fresh fruit in the "reward meal", practically no refined carbs. The other two meals are supposed to be protein and low-carb veggies only. Really, this a sneaky ingenious trick of the CALP plan. It makes me *think* "Oh wow I can really let loose at lunch". But, for example, today after I ate all that spinach salad, protein, and vegetables, I had barely enough room for that tortilla and beans. They were really gratifying--tortillas and beans have always been one of my everyday favorites--but for some reason I was so full I just couldn't eat all the beans at the end...that's a real first for me, not finishing off a bowl of beans...I enjoyed watching my chickens eat them instead!

That is really entertaining, watching chickens eat. I've spoiled them by feeding them bananas. They go crazy over them, they run around with them and eat the peels and all. Anyway I think the PP plan is good especially if it allows for more carbs than I thought, it's just that at lunchtime I am still kind of ravenous, and I don't have much discipline yet to eat just 7-10 carbs for that one meal. I can do it for dinner and breakfast, just not lunch.

Thanks Gaelen!

Last edited by adelante : Sat, Jun-05-04 at 18:22. Reason: correct
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
The Low-Carb Veggie Garden Shellygloo Kitchen Talk 8 Sat, Aug-14-04 23:26
SBD on a budget lclizzi South Beach Diet 3 Tue, Feb-03-04 14:00
Need kid friendly veggie dish ... atiaran LC Parenting & Pregnancy 4 Tue, Jul-29-03 10:17
Budget...is it possible delraelynn Newbies' Questions 9 Sun, Jan-05-03 15:53
Veggie and Atkins Induction new starter! fine Introduce Yourself 3 Tue, Jan-15-02 21:12


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 06:36.


Copyright © 2000-2024 Active Low-Carber Forums @ forum.lowcarber.org
Powered by: vBulletin, Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.