[EmmaD]

This no-veggies-EVER woman is fascinating to me. I am almost entirely vegetarian, so her diet is about the opposite of mine, except I do consider myself low carb... maybe more "low-ish", definitely less than 100g TOTAL carbs per day, usually around 30-40g NET.

I wasted a lot of time yesterday looking through her site... Here are some tidbits for anyone interested. [Summary: she eats almost only hamburger patties, ~1700 calories/day, no veggies ever]

Do you eat ANY vegetables?

I don’t. (And haven’t in about five years.) I must be very insulin resistant, because even the smallest amount of carbs (even the carbs found in vegetables) cause carb/sugar cravings and weight gain for me. Also, I had far more stomach pains (IBS-like symptoms) when I ate vegetables. Those symptoms, along with carb cravings and trouble with weight gain all disappeared when I eliminated vegetables.

RE: calories,

For my first few years on a zero-carb diet, I required about 2300 calories per day. Now that my weight is much lower and I no longer workout, I only need about 1700 to stay satisfied.

RE: what she eats,

every day, I eat thick, juicy, delicious half-pound hamburger patties. Annnd….that’s mostly it....

Every several days, my husband grills up about eight pounds of these yummy burgers, and I eat off of those anytime I am hungry, which is usually about three times per day. Now, I know it sounds bizarre that I can be completely content eating such a repetitive menu, but I truly am. The burgers taste wonderful each and every time! Even more importantly, though, is how truly GOOD I feel eating this way. Energized, full, and happy! Other benefits: Not spending all my time hunting down sugar-fixes, sparing myself from preparing elaborate recipes, and no longer starving myself or exercising to lose weight.

A platter of burgers. It truly doesn’t get much simpler than that, right?

Also, I feel best when I have lots of fat in my diet, so I often add several spoonfuls of bacon grease to my burgers and eat those half-pound beauties with a side of bacon and plenty of the added bacon fat. When I finish eating a burger dipped in bacon grease with a side of bacon next to it, I am completely energized!

Here is a bit about how she gained weight at first, then 6 months later lost it:

For SIX MONTHS, I couldn’t get enough to eat. And for SIX MONTHS, I slowly gained weight. (Go ahead and let that sink in. I ate NOTHING but high-fat meat and drank NOTHING but water for SIX MONTHS and still gained weight.) According to my scales, I gained about 20 pounds.

I almost quit.

I almost quit SEVERAL times, actually.

And then, the magic happened.

My out-of-control, raging appetite finally reduced. It was like my body felt “fed,” took a sigh of relief, and then relaxed. Ahhhh…

I continued eating meat and drinking water until I was full, but suddenly I no longer needed 4,000 calories to feel full. I only needed about half as much. I still felt full and had great energy, but didn’t feel like I was starving.

And within about 2-3 months, the weight I had gained was completely gone!!!

But this time, I lost the weight without working out or starving myself. I was quickly back to my original (pre-zero carb) weight, but didn’t look sickly or skinny any more. I looked healthy, rested, and fit.

She does look great!!! But then again so does that Freelee banana girl, whose diet is really the opposite diet of zero carb (she advocates 90% carb).

I'm gonna stick to my low-ish carb diet (but continue to be fascinated by others' extreme diets ). Lowering carbs is the only thing that has worked for me.

[dietcokehead98]

I can't imagine living without vegetables. Or fruit. In fact, my favorite meal of all time is a nice, thick steak, with a TON of broccoli and a salad. Or grilled salmon and spinach. Everything is a lean protein and a TON of veggies. I can eat a pile of pineapple as a dessert or snack on cherries all day. I wonder if she feels just grease logged....that's a LOT of hamburger.
Interesting.

[JerseyPAGirl]

Originally Posted by Munchy

I don't know how much she's actually eating...she could be eating 800 calories of meat or 3000 calories of meat.

I wouldn't try it!

I'm with you on that!

[Wannabehealthy]

Originally Posted by JerseyPAGirl

Too much meat though, correct? Like I stated in my last post, I thought that I read where if you eat too much meat it can get stored as glucose?

I think since she is not eating any carbs to burn as fuel, her body is burning the glucose from the protein instead of storing it.

[reisama]

I wonder if the IBS-like symptoms no veggies lady has is due to whatever composition her gut flora has. The types of bacteria in our digestive systems are changed according to how we eat. After all that meat, I bet the bugs in her system accordingly freak out when something like onion or greens is introduced like, "WE DON'T EAT STUFF LIKE THIS!!"

[kaplods]

I have had moderate to severe IBS since my teens, and significant diet change, especially in terms of fruit and veggie intake is a major trigger.

I used to think I couldn't increase or decrease my freggie intake or the proportion of cooked/raw veggies in my diet without dire consequences. And doctors used to think that too, so if freggies triggered symptoms, they'd encourage patients to avoid those foods entirely. That meant those who ate no fruits and veggies were encouraged to continue eating none, and sadly many were encouraged to decrease their veggies intake.

Now we know that increasing and maintaining a moderate to high freggie intake is often the best treatment for IBS, but diet changes have to be made gradually, sometimes very, very, very gradually (especially if you're starting from zero servings). Sometimes increases may need to be done a fraction of a serving at a time, over the course of many days.

Consistency in diet does seem to control symptoms, and a meat-only diet is definitely consistent. But for many (and definitely for me), the fewer freggies eaten, the more severe the IBS. Increasing freggie intake can help decrease the severity and frequency of flares, but you need to build up that tolerance slowly.

It can seem simpler to give up veggies entirely, but that isn't usually the best solution.

[BerkshireGrl]

Originally Posted by PrimalLarry

These brought tears to my eyes. Yes low carb high fat works. Please share links if you want to.
http://myzerocarblife.jamesdhogan.co...se-100-pounds/
http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/2015/0...vate-practice/
http://vernerwheelock.com/?p=229

So far have only read the first link, My Zero Carb Life, and it's GREAT. Thank you!

I am FINALLY starting to really lose weight again with low-carb, and feeling so much better. I don't sleep in anymore, my head is clear, my thoughts are happier, and I'm cruising down through the 250s.

I can walk past sweets and breads and not want to stuff my face.

I don't have heartburn anymore.

My skin is healing up from breakouts of Hidradenitis Suppurativa on my inner thighs, stomach and chest.

I am finding the Zero Carb approach interesting... though I fear I might get sick of just meat meat meat all the time. Maybe?

[kris2008]

What I found most interesting about zero carb lady blog was when she got off the Splenda. For myself, it seems like I crave sweets when I use the diet sugar products - diet coke etc. I am trying to cut a very long 40 year cord to diet cokes. From saccharine to aspartame to splenda cokes. I have not had a diet coke in a month. It has not been easy. I am not totally off Stevia yet, but I think it will help me with cravings when I am totally off. I am also pre-diabetic and I've always wondered what the body thinks about having sweetness but no actual sugar.

[PrairieQueen]

^^^ you hit the nail on the head! As soon as I kicked my Diet Coke habit, everything got easy. I've list 26 pounds since mid-Junw without feeling like I'm starving all the time. I don't get the cravings or drops in blood sugar that lead to what I call the Heemie-jeemies when I need food.

[kris2008]

PrairieQueen - That is so interesting! Do you have sugar issues like diabetes or hypoglycemia?

[PrairieQueen]

Ive never had diabetic problems or even pre- symptoms, but I've had spells of low blood sugar for as long as I remember as an adult. Growing up our family ate high protein and veggies with bread only for lunch sandwiches and almost zero sweets. Any sweets we had were homemade or plain fruit. As an adult I started eating more processed foods but still not too many sweets. That's when it started, along with very gradual weight gain over the years. Since I've been off most processed foods my life has been much better and No heemie-jeemies or cravings. I get regular hunger pains but not the crazy "I need anything in sight" feeling.

[choices]

Haven't been here for yrs. I think..I will be checking in weekly. However I would like to pick your brains if I may.
I'd like to find a breakfast/low carb..that I don't have to cook..other than hard boiled eggs. What do you eat in the morning? I've never been a breakfast person,but I started about a yr.ago, w/ smoothies...easy,and I like them ok,but they don't 'stay' w/me for long.
Suggestions welcome,and thank you for your time!
Good to meet you all.

[spanky]

choices: The best LCHF site I've found is www.dietdoctor.com. There are a ton of breakfast recipes that you can see without joining and the first month is a free trial. $9.99/ month if you join after that.

[choices]

Originally Posted by spanky

choices: The best LCHF site I've found is www.dietdoctor.com. There are a ton of breakfast recipes that you can see without joining and the first month is a free trial. $9.99/ month if you join after that.

Thanks Sparky!

[spanky]

I'm not much of a one for breakfast. Usually I have 1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream in my coffee and it holds me until lunch.