I have read through/skimmed through the SPII book. She is a brilliant lady and knows so much about the endocrine system, my head is spinning. Although I understand most of it, she has an amazing amount of information in there that is just very complex to me.

In her book, she has the four categories. Even though she has a quiz and other information to help me figure out which category I fall into, I would ultimately need to get a blood test done, right? And I need to be able to tell which one I am in order to follow the right instructions. Has anyone been tested by their doctor?

I was so jazzed about being able to use heavy cream and real butter and all that fat laden cheese. Now I find out that it might still kill me! Why am I eating saturated fats then? It’s the only way I know of right now that I can stay with the low carbs way of eating and not get completely discouraged. I’m so traumatized by past diets and being a yo-yo, as I’m sure you all can relate to. I have Atkins on the brain too. Am I right in thinking that as far as Dr. Schwarzbein is concerned, that people with heart disease on the Atkins formula should long be dead? Forgive my ignorance, but as far as I know, Atkins doesn’t really pay much attention to saturated fat???

Now I’m somewhere in-between the two docs. Because I’m eating all that saturated fat which is what Atkins says to do, and I’m staying within Schwarzbein’s carb levels which are nice and easy for me to do…. But way too high for Atkins. Trying to get the best of both, which I fear is a deadly mixture. Is anyone else doing this?

I was thinking that SP was going to be easier because she allows more carbs. But now I’m not so sure. The book is way too complex for me to read while I’m frustrated, hungry, tired of being fat, and afraid of heart disease, or diabetes II.

The sample menu on page 293 is not appealing to me. If someone had given me that menu at the very beginning and said, “here, this is what you can eat on this diet.”, or told me I had to go for an expensive test, I would have never opened the book.
But I’m glad I did just for the vast amount of information about hormones, metabolism, etc. And I now believe without a shadow of a doubt, that the FDA and their food pyramid have killed people. I thought of a bumper sticker with a picture of the food pyramid inside a coffin.

I guess I have a love/hate opinion of these books.

Anyone who can help clarify about the saturated fats/15-30g of carbs per meal, please let me know.

Thanks,
Chris

I found , when first reading the 2nd bk. that I was a bit confused as to which direction to go and have read and 're-read' (is that a word ?) the book . I do not have an extra $200.-$300 to send for the test kits (from her web site):
http://www.drhormone.com/new/index.html
so I just decided to just keep with the basics from TSPI of good nutrition as I understand them -- as many low glycemic veggies as I can hold not being concerned with carb counts / have an occasional starchy veg if I want-- whole unprocessed grains/ water/ no caffiene ( chocolate sometimes--my own spin) I cannot eat veggies along with every breakfast --so I do not do it.

I don't think TSPII recommends no saturated fats for any of the plans --just watch it until your system heals. Which I must admit some may have trouble knowing for sure without the expensive tests but it is not reallly difficult to eat more poultry , seafood, etc. (soy if so inclined)

I found after coming off of a low fat diet where cheese etc. was forbidden that allowing myself to eat it that that was what I craved for awhile and ate a *lot* but after realizing I *was allowed* I just kind of naturally cut back to a reasonable amount. The same proved true with adding healthy carbs back into my diet according to TSP. I think this may be necessary to get to the point of being normal/balanced/healing a metabolism -- however one defined it.

I think Dr. Atkin's plans after the initial weight loss (induction etc, ) recommends a balance of healthy , whole foods also , although mention of his plans in the media always highlights bacon and steak mainly. I notice that his latest book talks about more *controlled* carbs .

If you have your cholesterol panel done with your own physician that is rather telling especially tryglycerides tell a lot about heart health as I understand. Also if your 'good cholesterol'(hdl) improves or is at a healthy level.

I agree it can be confusing, but I think it best that we figure these things out about ourselves , actually the only way that works in the long term.

Let us know how it goes and what you figure out after reading the book!

Hi Chris!
I am doing a mix of the two plans. It has worked out ok for the most part. I have lost a few lbs and I feel better. I was set on following Dr. Z warzbein's plan because I need more carbs becase I am breastfeeding my baby still and also because I don't like the idea of cutting carbs way too low. After trying to decide what to eat I realized that if I was goin to stick to low carb I would have to add some fats and unfortunately most products have saturated fats. I want to start cutting saturated fats down little by little because I don't like that most of my daily intake calories come from fat. so basicaly I would like to end up eating mostly whole foods. I hope I haven't confused you more I just wanted to let you know that I combined both plans and so far is working for me.
have a great day

I've been debating whether to read TSP II or not.

I love the original TSP and the cookbook. When I follow the plan and exercise I feel great and the weight comes off so I'm not sure if I wanna find out these new "improvements" to the original TSP, they sound a little harsh.

Maybe I'll just keep doing what I know I have to and read TSP II only if I get stuck.

Sometimes there is such a thing as too much information.

amie

My sense is that the reason you don't have to worry about the saturated fats in Atkins is that you are in ketosis.

That seems like a huge difference metabolically. I think it might not be good to mix the plans as though that were not a factor.

I have to say I disagree with a lot of her ideas in her new book and think ppl should just follow TSP1. She has become too radical in my opinion.

I haven't read her 2nd book. But I remember from her first one, she wasn't saying that you should eat as much saturated fats as possible. That's what made me a touch uncomfortable about Atkins, as well as absence of fruit on his diet. She was stressing the importance of good fats in your diet, such as fish, nuts, olive oil. I liked SP for her beliefs in healthy balanced eating.

I guess it's important not to jump into extremes replacing low-fat by high fat. The answer is BALANCE. I haven't got her book in front of me, but I remember there was a long chapter explaining importance of polyunsaturated fats in your diet.

I started from Atkins, then moved to Protein Power and now comfortable on Schwarzbein Principle. I think that there's always some space for some improvement. It took me long time to make friends with dietary fat (not my own ), so from here I can improve it even more by increasing amount of polyunsaturated fat in my diet. I found this on her website:

"Saturated fats can be part of a healthy diet and should be included with monounsaturated and healthy polyunsaturated fats. Remember we are not promoting excessive fat intake but rather a balance of carbohydrates, proteins, nonstarchy vegetables and healthy fats. However, some of you will need to be on a lower saturated-fat diet. Refer to the special dietary restrictions in Chapter 11 to determine if you need to be on a lower saturated-fat diet. This should not be confused with a low-fat diet. You will need to eat plenty of healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats on a lower saturated-fat diet."

Good luck with your healthy eating!

I don't worry too much about what fats I use and when. That just makes things much harder to deal with. The one thing I don't do anymore is to cook with polyunsaturated fats. I try to use variety otherwise, and some how trust that her facts were better in her first book. I like the second book for the info, but it is much more complicated. I'm sure I have adrenal burnout, and being on glucophage I'm not so much in insulin resistance anymore. I'm still very careful. Also I wouldn't worry about being in ketosis, if you are eating what carbs you are allowed. If you don't have kidney problems you should be okay, and it will balance soon enough. I'm sure some atkins people know how soon they go out of ketosis. In the mean time just count it as you are burning fat still.
I don't worry about whether I'm in ketosis or not, if I want carbs I eat them, if I do I will. I have found the longer I have LC, the more variety my appetite brings and I figure that is okay. Listening to you body is much better than any diet plan out there. After all watch kids and how they eat. (Kids trained to not be picky eaters ) They eat the foods they want and it can very. Just a few weeks ago I saw my son eat a great deal of meat, 2 days later all he wanted were veggies. So if we can learn to "listen" to our bodies and not our cravings I think we have won half of the battle.
Tanya