This is a really intelligent and smart group of people. Helpful, too!
Thank you so very much Everyone. I cannot tell you how grateful I am for all your terrific suggestions!
Honestly. It was a huge support and a wonderful feeling to read all your answers.
Well, the good thing is that in 8 days, I have lost at least 3 pounds.
~Michael. The only "carb" I saw on the sugar-free "no-carb" Jell-O I was eating (and drinking) was maltodextrin. When I looked that up, I learned that it always was added in such minute proportions in various foods that it wasn't ever considered a carb, especially when there were no calories in what was being consumed. I take all this with a grain of salt though. (Ooops, sorry for the bad pun). Corporations being what they are, want you to buy their product, so why would the tell us that if you consume it in large quantities, a hidden carb will be become a real carb and that this can affect diets. So, now I am warned about Jell-O, and will limit my use of it.
~ Nancy L.C.: Very helpful remarks:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nancy LC
Unfortunately the urine ketone sticks are not really helpful. If you burn the ketones for fuel, they won't register. If you drink a lot of liquid they'll be too diluted in your urine to measure. Lots of reasons you don't see them. . . . I suggest going by symptoms like dry mouth, odd taste in the mouth, smelly urine and so on.
|
Can you elaborate a bit more? If you're on a very low carb diet, and your liver has used up all the glycogen and is producing ketones, then it is the ketones that are
supposed to be burned for fuel, right? They are supposed to provide the alternative energy source, I thought. I was not a science major, so I don't have a background in bio-chemistry. But this was my understanding, anyway. So, if you have ketone-measuring sticks, then you're saying that if you exercise, the ketone is NOT discharged in urine because it is used during the exercise?
~Joan D'Arc for the encouragement. It is good to know that water can dilute the reading. How do you know this? Isn't a ketone a ketone? How do those ketone sticks work, anyway? What determines whether you have a low or high reading. I'm glad to hear that "Trace is in."
[I'm intentionally not exercising right now -- as I am just beginning -- because that is one more variable that could upset the balance here, and I want to get into ketosis and see what's going on before I start making things more complicated. I don't know if I could deal with the additional hunger, and possible cravings. I might binge on watermelon or something!]
~Bobiam: I make my own jerky, and all it has in it is meat, pepper, garlic powder, sometimes a tiny bit of dried onion, and either Lo-Salt or No-Salt. Everything tastes too salty to me right now, or I'd use regular salt. As for the half-and-half, I'm not sure why Atkins folks say cheese is okay but milk or half and half are not. It's the same thing. Anyway, I had only 2 TBSPs of Half-and-half yesterday. And according to the carton, that is only one carb.
If I total all the carbs I ate yesterday (according to the labels on the products), I had 2 carbs the whole day. One was in the vitamin pill that I chewed up (capsules or coated vitamins make the throw up sometimes and make me feel nauseated), and the other was in the half-and-half. That isn't many carbs. I am AMAZED that it takes so few carbs to throw off this diet.
However, I suppose we are talking about how our livers function, right?
If our bodies are able to produce enough alternative energy sources for the body to think and move and function.
~LittleZu --thank you for all your ideas on what to eat. Those things have far too many carbs for me right now. I hope I can eat them once I feel that, in fact, I actually AM in ketosis. For the time being, I have ruled out anything like berries. In fact, even kale and lettuce are ruled out. I want the satisfacton of "being in ketosis," like my strict girlffriend, who is helping me stick with this difficult challenge. Hers were pink and purple . . . .she got into a deep ketosis and lost a ton of weight.
I suppose the upside is that even though I'm heavier than I want to be, I am not corpulent or obese. At least I still have some shape. But there is too much of it!!!!! I CANNOT GO UP ONE MORE SIZE IN CLOTHES. My BMI, now, is officially at the borderline limit, if not a bit over. Which means, yes, Ann (er, rather, Malibanne) you ARE overweight, like it or not. So, I will save those delicious recipes for after I KNOW I'm in real Ketosis and have some way to measure it or monitor it.
Maybe I am now, based on what Nancy LC and Joan D'Arc said. I had hoped, or thought I might be able to use them as a guide. I don't want to eat some new thing (kale, for example) and suddenly fall out of ketosis because of it. And lose a week of time. I would really hate to go through the whole introduction phase all over again. Now that I am "IN" I want to stay in until I lose what I want to lose.
I AM writing things down -- but there isn't much to write down, ha, ha! Just sirloin, round steak, salmon, eggs, sometimes Baby Bel cheese (not often), occasionally Jack cheese (not often), pork, Tilapia . . . and scallops. No veggies. Some lecithin. The MIO. And today I've been allowing myself some Schveppes sugar-free ginger ale and Diet Mug root beer. Normally, I stick to Perrier or Pellegrino, but I crave a sweet taste right now. Normally I do not ever us artificial anything. And never chew gum, either. But the dry mouth was killing me.
~ LittleZu, HoneyPie, and MichaelK: Thanks so much for your posts and insights. Everything everyone is saying is a tremendous help in giving me insights and bolstering my commitment!