Quote:
Originally Posted by WeatherBug
Hi all,
I'm new to this site and have been spending time reading posts, and just generally absorbing all the wonderful information that is here.
I have been diagnosed with severe IR and am on low dose metformin (500 mg daily). Because of my degree of IR, they think that I will become a severe diabetic soon without some sort of intervention.
Per the usual medical way, they say to "begin to exercise and lose weight." Okay, that sounds great but as many of you have already stated, it is so hard to lose with IR.
I've been really interested in this thread because it really seems to hit me. I've tried WW in the past, without success, as well as other plans and the weight will not budge. It is so frustrating!
Subcriminal, could you please share some of the tips that your nutritionalist gave you - meal ideas, etc? Short of having that option of having a plan specially designed for you, is SB the best way to go? What about the IR diet, that I've read some are on?
Thanks to you all for the wonderful info!
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I’d be happy to share some tips. But before I go on and on and on, just wanna remind ya that I’m not a nutritionalist myself, and that the diet I was put on might not work for everybody. We’ve all got different frames, height, muscle-to-fat ratios that may factor into how well you would respond to a diet like mine. Not to mention your nutritional needs may be different from my own, and some may have other medical conditions that complicate dieting even more. If you can budget seeing an experienced nutritionalist to help you with this, please do so. I would GLADLY pay the money I have spent 4 times over if only I could have found my nutritionalist years ago- before trying (and failing) at all the popular diets out there.
I do not know much about SB diet, while some have had success on it, I am very suspicious of any commercialized diet these days. With IR the aggravating factor is carbs, so I would pick a diet that restricts your carbs but doesn’t forbid it entirely, since things like fruits and veggies have fiber and great nutritional value.
First and foremost, there is no such thing as “good carbs” on my diet. Whole grains are more like “the lesser of two evils” than “good carbs”. So be careful and don’t binge on whole wheat or low glycemic grains thinking that they are “good for you”, because if you have IR there is no such thing as carbs that are “good”, only some that are less damaging than others.
Second, this is VERY hard to follow if you’re used to eating a lot of high-carb foods, and if your willpower isn’t the greatest. The first month was absolute torture for me!
Tip: unless your stomach is growling audibly (which means it’s truly empty), you aren’t really hungry. If your tummy aches a little (but it’s not growling) and your brain tells you to “EAT EAT EAT”, this is your insulin screwing with your head! Do not listen to it!! Only trust your hunger if it sounds like there’s a wolverine snarling in your tummy! It took me a few weeks to distinguish between true hunger and “false hunger” triggered by insulin spikes.
My diet is 1400 calories per day with the following guidelines:
The following things are BANNED:
1) Anything made with white flour, this includes white pasta, white bread, pastries, etc.
2) Anything with sugar, honey, corn syrup, fructose
3) Hydrogenated oils, partially hydrogenated oils, margarine, shortening
4) Soda
5) Any sugary sweet thing is a no-no.
I am only allowed 2 servings of starch a day-
one serving of starch =
1 slice of bread (non-white flour), OR ½ a pita (non-white flour), OR 1/3 c. rice (brown), OR ½ c. pasta (non-white flour), OR 1 ear of corn, OR ½ c peas, OR ¼ c. couscous (whole wheat)
I am allowed 2 tablespoons of cheese or dairy a day. Skim milk and sugar free soy milk is allowed VERY sparingly and in severe moderation. I have 1 cup of soymilk once a week, that’s what is meant by moderation here. I am allowed ½ cup of legumes per day. I am allowed roughly 3 normal servings of meat protein per day. I am allowed 2 medium sized fruits a day. Leafy green veggies, green beans, broccoli, etc. are all OK, you can have your fill of these.
Be careful with fats! Use only enough for your purposes! For example, you can use a little butter to coat your pan before making your egg omelets. You can use two tablespoons of mayo for your tuna salad. You can use two tablespoons of salad dressing for your leafy greens! You can use 1-2 tbs canola or olive oil for sautéing your veggies and chicken. Just don’t go overboard, and you’ll be just fine!
Tip:
Make your own salad dressing. Play with simple vinegarette recipes or mustard based dressings to start with and experiment with dry herbs and different vinegars. My fave is a lemon-mustard dressing: fresh lemon juice (1/2 a lemon) with 2 TBS Dijon mustard and olive oil (toss in some dried parsley, salt, pepper, oregano and basil). Whisk and pour over greens.
Tip:
Try to find fast-cook side dish recipes that use more veggies.
tip: never measure pasta, rice, peas, couscous with your eyes. Always use a measuring cup to make absolutely sure you’re not eating more than your allowance. It’s too easy to screw up doing it by eye.
tip:
Most wheat breads sold contain hydrogenated oils and corn syrup. So be sure to read the labels, it might be hard to find a brand of wheat bread that doesn’t put all this crap in it. If you live by a “whole foods” market or an organic food store, look there for buying whole wheat breads, pitas and wraps. Use Swedish wheat/rye “wasa” crackers instead of bread if you can’t find whole wheat bread without the crappy additives. Or if you’re a good baker, try making your own wheat bread.
Tip: Make your home fail-safe. Don’t keep any foods you are not allowed to have in your home at all! If this means the rest of your family has to go on a diet with you, so be it- it won’t kill them especially if they could stand to loose some weight too!
Tip: You can’t be good all the time, so try to treat yourself to some kind of indulgence once a month. Go out to dinner and do Italian and have some pasta, or whatever you like. But be absolutely sure to keep your indulgence down to once a month as a “pat on the back”, or you will ruin your diet and weaken your willpower.
Tip: Whether you like it or not, you will be forced to prepare your meals yourself. Eating out is just NOT possible with this diet, since most restaurants and fast food joints pile up the carbs and fat on everything. Be prepared to brown-bag your lunch and wake up a little early to make an egg omlette instead of getting an egg-mcMuffin on the way to work. The best way to cope with this is to learn new recipies, and new ways of cooking if you don't know any low-carb meals.
Occasional treats I have ONCE every other week is a single sugar-free dark chocolate bar. “pure de lite” is one brand that you can find in most drug stores, but my favorite is “La Nouba” sugar free dark chocolate however harder to find. Be careful though, since sugar free chocolate still has a lot of fat calories and you have to "budget" it. You can also find sugar free fruit juice pops by Bryers sweetened with splenda- if you have an ice-cream craving grab these instead.
If I don’t exercise, I lose 5lbs per month on this diet. If I get my butt to the gym, I will loose roughly 10- but I have lost as much as 12 in a month. I usually have a 2 egg omlette with spinach for breakfast, sometimes I put in 2 tbs of goat cheese in if I don’t have plans for my dairy allowance later on in the day. Lunch is veggie and chicken (or pork, steak) stir fry, or if I feel like using my starch allowance I’ll have a ham sandwich on wheat with a side of salad or crunchy veggies. Dinner is usually a grilled chicken breast, small grilled steak, or fish with a salad and some beans and veggies/salad as a side. Sometimes I make beef stroganoff for dinner and use Soba buckwheat noodles in place of egg noodles- this is only if I have saved both my dairy AND starch allowance for dinner. Indian tomato-meat-curry stews are great, and so are Sabzis since they use black eye peas in them and you can take care of your meat, veggie and beans all in one dish this way.
I'll also post some recipies if you want
But that will have to be later since I'm a bit pooped from this long post!
I hope this helps!