I bought the Insulin Resistant Diet book from Amazon and have read it all the way through. It seems so sensible to me. The basic concept is to link proteins and carbs. No sugar added light yogurt and some fruit do not need to be linked because their sugar is not glucose? Interesting! I've had my first few meals, so if any fellow IR diet book readers can look and see if I've balanced them correctly, I'd appreciate it.

Breakfast:

1 serving (1 cup) cheerios (20 carbs -3 fiber= 17 Protein 3)
1/2 serving 1% milk (protein 4)
1 part skim string cheese (protein 7)

Lunch
2 slices healthy life low carb wheat bread (carb 16 -fiber 5 =9. Protein 4)
2 tbl Kraft Light Mayo
1 serving canned white chicken in water. 98% fat free (protein 12)
1 small apple
1 light (no sugar added) yoplait strawberry yogurt w/fiber (protein 3)

If you do the net carbs in the book (subtract fiber grams from total carbs), and don't count the yogurt or apple (also from the book) I think I was under 30 for lunch.

heather,

I love The Insulin Resistance Diet. I have been doing this for years & have maintained a significant weight loss for about 3 years. It's my belief that I've been able to maintain (for the first time ever) because The IRD has helped keep my appetite under control.

As far as your meals go, there is nowhere in the book, and I have read through it & referenced it many times, that says you can count grains as protein or subtract fiber from carbs. So counting the protein in the cherrios & bread, and subtracting the fiber from them is a no-no. Just remember it takes awhile to get used to a new way of doing anything, but my advice with this diet is to err on the side of caution when unsure of what to do. By that I mean go with more protein & less carb when unsure.

Also, my experience has been that I needed to tweek a couple of things to keep my appetite under control. That is my primary goal, so if my appetite increased with certain things more than 3 times, I changed what I was doing. Despite the book saying it is okay to eat 1 small apple by itself & that beans count as protein & not carbs, I found that this just doesn't work for me. I love apples & pinto beans, but to keep from having an increase in appetite, I have to link these foods with a protein. I also found that highly processed foods tend to increase my appetite, so I eat very simply most of the time. Also, due to being an old woman (67) & having limited mobilty, it has been necessary for me to count calories.

It's really important to find what works for you. We are all so different & finding what works for you & what you can live with will help you be successful with your weight management program. Pay attention to how you react to what you are eating & remember that if you start getting "too hungry" you are probably eating too many carbs or counting them incorrectly. Just adjust by having some protein & some of the "free" low calorie vegetables. That combination of protein & fiber will usually get the appetite back to more normal.

Keep in mind that my advice is what I read in the book & my own experience. I hope you'll have as much success as I have with this diet.

Heather,

I forgot to say that another book you might be interested in is Life Without Bread. Don't be put off by the title, because you can eat bread. Dr. Lutz makes a good case for eating more protein & fat, but believes it is unnecessary to go super low on carbs. He advises eating 6 Bread Units daily, which he says equals 72 "utilizable carbs", & I take to mean net carbs. The foods he counts as protein are all meats, fish, poultry, eggs, dairy (except milk), nuts & seeds. Foods he counts as carbs are grains, all fruits, all sugars, milk, legumes, high carb veggies like potatoes, peas & carrots) & all processed foods. All the low carb veggies are pretty much free. He makes contradictory statements in the book about which veggies count as carbs, and his lists don't make sense when compared with the text of the book, so I just base it all on the first couple of pages where he lists Permissable foods & Restricted Foods.

Another thing to keep in mind is that as you get closer to your goal, you may get hungrier because you body has less fat to burn. Don't be alarmed. This is normal. It can happen at different plateaus along the way, as well, so sometimes you get to practice maintaining along the way.

Again, good luck with losing the weight.

Where does it say to subtract the fiber from the carbs in the Insulin Resistance Diet book? I think that is a different program. Also I belive you do have to count all carbs including fruit , yogurt etc.

I am on day 4 of the IR diet and have lost 5.6 pounds so far . The caffine and sugar withdrawl was rough but I am feeling better now.

The book is quiet wordy and its hard to pick out the main points but I found a list a somewhere on the web that broke the book down pretty well.

Link and Balance
1. Match 15 G of carbs w 7 G of protein

2. Limit by capping 30 g carbs ( make sure to eat 15g of protein with those 30 carbs )in any 2 hour time span. If your still hungry eat protein or low carb veggies

3.All meat, fish poultry, eggs, nuts, and legumes count as protein but be mindful of far content as that adds calories and can affect weight loss

4. Grains, pasta , bread, ceral , rice and fruit are carbs that need to be linked to a protein.

Here is the carb count for the apple and yogurt
1 small apple 14 carbs
yogurt 16 carbs and 5 proteins

Your total for lunch is
46 carbs & 19 protein

I LOVE the Insulin Resistant DIet. The link-balance-limit rules are my main "framework" for my daily meals, no matter what else I'm doing. I could be really low-carb with this framework. Or moderate carb (within the limits of the IR Diet). It's SO flexible and helpful, especially when I'm eating out. (If I eat This Carb then I can't have That Carb, too.)

The IR diet is a great way to "ease" into a lower-carb diet, too. And it's very easy to remember and follow and explain.

Hi, I'm only new here, but I've just finished reading my IR Diet book and would like to mention net carbs. In chapter 4 (page 64-65 in my book, after the food lists) the authors explain that "your body does not use fiber and sugar alcohols in the same way as other carbohydrates. These ingredients can be subtracted from the total carbohydrate to determine the amount of net carbs in the food. This is the amount that really matters! Some foods list the 'Net Carbs' on the label. You can use this number instead of the 'Total Carbohydrate' number in the nutrition facts. Or you can figure it out yourself by subtracting the grams of fiber and the grams of sugar alcohol from the total carbohydrate." This passage of text is straight from the book, as written.
I hope this clears up a few things, as I was confused at first, until I re-read this chapter.

If you're insulin resistant or worried about insulin IMO never and I mean NEVER have light anything. Always go full fat.

I am sorry but to me that eating plan or meals mentioned above would likely lead to type 2 diabetes if you had a genetic propensity for it. Or make existing type 2 worse. Yes weight is important but ultimately health is. Folk who are insulin resistant are best served on high natural fat low carb approaches.

Grass fed dairy, beef, raw nuts, avocado, only full fat dairy. No vegetable oils except olive and a few other natural ones. Grass fed butter. Look up Dr. Eric Westman of Duke University. He has gotten hundreds off of insulin. Light anything is what got many who are insulin resistant into this mess.

Insulin resistance essentially means you are carb intolerant or have a 'carb allergy'. So you want to avoid grains, whole or otherwise, as much as you can. I was on my way to becoming a third generation diabetic. Now perfect health. But if I personally put grains back in I would go back to obese and sick. Just how my body, and many others, work.

Awesome side effect of low carb? Hunger under control.

Many people have to go pretty low carb to get their metabolism working properly. Sometimes under 50, sometimes even lower. Others can get healthier on 100 grams a day. Hard to lose weight if go over 100. But once things working ok may be able to increase a bit.