YOU: On a Diet - and other Oprah inspired diets - Changing from Low Carb to YOAD

Hi everyone! My focus for 2008 is on getting healthier. I began my current diet October 1, 2006 & have lost most of my weight from lower carb diets: Medifast, other meal replacements & just regular lower carb, low fat, low calorie foods.

My concerns are that although my weight loss was fast, this is an unnatural way to eat & probably not all that healthy long term as major food groups like fruit, grains, beans, dairy were eliminated.

Bought & finally read YOAD. LOVED it!! Also read YOU: Staying Young which was a great supplement to YOAD and reinforced the fact that I have known all along: my current diet is not all that healthy.

My time doing low carb has left me in fear of carbohydrates. I now just automatically shun them. I plan to use up my current stores of meal replacements but then would like to transition to something like YOAD. The recipes look so healthy...and tasty too! But I'm afraid that I'll balloon up again from all the carbs. :dizzy: Any thoughts? :^:

My concerns are that although my weight loss was fast, this is an unnatural way to eat & probably not all that healthy long term as major food groups like fruit, grains, beans, dairy were eliminated.



If you were doing low carb...I'm confused why you would be eliminating foods like fruit, grains, beans & dairy:?::?::?:

Well, using meal replacement diets such as Medifast concentrate on keeping daily carb intake below 100g. These plans use a certain # of meal supplement packets + one healthy meal a day (protein + no-starch veggies). There is NO dairy (except for a little cheese), fruit, grains or legumes in these plans. This restriction on carbs is why the weight loss is so fast. Hope this made sense! :)

All the carbs that you eat on the YOAD are healthy for you and you need to concentrate on the unprocessed and as organic as you can. I never did well on the low carbs or no carbs so I can't really do a comparison thing for you. I really don't eat a lot of carbs anyway and I do a lot of fibre from the flax seeds I put in my morning smoothie to the salads I eat for lunch. I make sure I eat 5 servings of vegetables/fruit a day and I have a tendenancy to eat more of the vegetables versus the fruit. Make sure you workout at least 30 mins a day with walking and I do strength training 3 days a week.
I think you will just need to do it and tweek it to your lifestyle.
Great job on reaching your goal and best of luck on maintaining.

Thats the trouble with following *fad* diets..not sure what will happen when you eat normally again? But you are concerned already which is a good start...good luck~and let us know how you make out.

Thats the trouble with following *fad* diets..not sure what will happen when you eat normally again?

Exactly p.a....thats why diets don't work...it must be a total lifestyle change. Eating "normally" is what got us in trouble to begin with.

Sue, I would gradually add these carbs back into your diet slowly - maybe adding 20 grams more a day or every few days, to see how your body reacts. I would stay away from sugar as much as possible - stick to lower sugar fruits and lower starch veggies. I did low carb myself for a while, and sometimes on YOAD, my greatest joy is a hearty chewy piece of whole grain bread - I had missed that so much!
Cindy