I really miss the beach. Being that my Dr. said to be on a low carb diet; can I tweek SB to make it a low carb diet. What is low carb anyway? Is it 3o, 40, 50 grams of fat?
I've forgotten - why did your doctor say low carb? South Beach is really not low carb because we eat beans and dairy even in Phase I and add fruit and grain in Phase II. If you tweak it, you are not on SBD but on semi-Atkins.
Atkins is a true low carb diet and starts with Induction which means no more than 20 carbs for the period. Fat is allowed but not counted on Atkins - just the carbs.
I guess you have to make up your mind which plan to commit to.
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Ruth is right, Atkins is true low carb. The Induction phase of Atkins is 20 net carbs (total carb minus dietary fiber) per day of foods only on the acceptable foods list. In a nutshell, mainly meats, salad, low carb veggies that are on the list, eggs, cheese. Fruits & grains are not added until the 2nd phase known as OWL (On Going Weight Loss) and would be added back in 5 carb increments according to the order of the carb ladder. This helps you determine YOUR carb threshold...how many carbs you can personally continue losing with or maintaining with, whichever the case may be.
Atkins doesn't limit fats. Butter, full fat mayonnaise, full fat salad dressings, olive oil, full fat cheeses etc. are permitted & encouraged. Processed foods are strongly discouraged as well as of course, bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, white flour & sugar.
My suggestion to you would be to read Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution cover to cover and in the meantime, Dr. Atkins wife, Veronica's website : http://www.veronicaatkinsfoundation.org/
Stay FAR, FAR away from Atkins.com!!!
All the best to you!!
I have Lymes disease, and dr. said low carb would be best. And she didn't have a diet to give me.I didn't have a good experience with Atkins yrs. ago..Will I have success with wieght loss on a semi-Atkins. OKAY, I will look at the book which is on my shelf. Is there a link that I can print out the food lists, etc. Thanks for your help, and patience with me. Who knows, maybe I will enjoy Atkins this time if i try it. I lost 5 lbs. last week on SB, and looking better, and of course that is apealing. Can I do a semi-SB?
What do you mean by semi-SBD? You must have fruit and grains plus legumes and dairy or it's not South Beach.
You might be better off with Weight Watchers and keep track of your calories and carbs using www.fitday.com. You might also consider seeing a dietitian to get help with meal planning.
Location: NW New Jersey But, My Heart's In Pittsburgh!! GO STEELERS & PENGUINS!!!
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The acceptable foods list for Atkins is in the book (Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution) and the list is also on the Veronica Atkins website I told you about in the earlier post.
Seeing as how you have so many health related issues and your Dr. suggested low carb, personally, I would sit down with her and tell her you would like her to recommend a specific plan. If she can't do that, or she isn't willing to do that, I would get a 2nd opinion from another Dr.
Atkins....or for that matter, any eating plan must be done correctly to get optimum results. You may be able to "tweak" a few things here & there once you've been doing it a while....but, following it precisely, especially in the beginning stages, is essential to success.
Last edited by JerseyGyrl; 08-17-2009 at 12:21 PM.
I really miss the beach. Being that my Dr. said to be on a low carb diet; can I tweek SB to make it a low carb diet. What is low carb anyway? Is it 3o, 40, 50 grams of fat?
It would be grams of carbs. JerseyGyrl is correct in that you really need more concrete guidelines from your doctor. Does she mean truly low carb such as Atkins or lower carb which can be obtained with South Beach or good carbs meaning no white flours/sugars, sodas, etc.?
Back to what is considered low carb. Depends upon who you ask. The USDA recommends a diet of 45% carbs. Many consider low carb to be <100g total carbs, others, <80g. Some consider low carb to mean just good carbs or not eating junky white stuff and sugars. Atkins starts you out with 20g net carbs max and you learn how many additional carbs you can have as you go along in phase 2. Other than PH1 of SBD where grains/starches & fruits aren't allowed, carbs are controlled somewhat by the number of grains & fruits you have in a day. Keep in mind that with SBD, carbs will run probably over 150g total carbs a day because of the beans/legumes, dairy, and 4.5 cups of veggies. These are all good carbs but they may be more than what your doctor has in mind.
So you really have to find out what she means by low carb. If she even knows. Many doctors recommend a low carb diet when they really mean stop having all that white bread and soda.
Tweaking diet plans, especially in the beginning is a sure road to failure. Plans are designed with specific instructions for a reason. And if she wants you on a truly low carb diet then doing it by your own "tweak" method can be dangerous to your health.
I hope you can find out this info from your doctor so you can choose the correct plan.
Just my advice, but if I were you, I would call or go talk to the doctor and tell him/her that you need a specific meal plan. If he/she wants your carbs severely restricted he/she should either give you a meal plan or send you to a nutritionist who will counsel you one on one. I would not leave my health at the hands of a forum no matter how caring we are about you. Taking advice from us who know nothing about your medical history and are not doctors may be risking your health.
Last edited by femmecreole; 08-17-2009 at 06:43 PM.
I have Lymes disease, and dr. said low carb would be best. And she didn't have a diet to give me.I didn't have a good experience with Atkins yrs. ago..Will I have success with wieght loss on a semi-Atkins. OKAY, I will look at the book which is on my shelf. Is there a link that I can print out the food lists, etc. Thanks for your help, and patience with me. Who knows, maybe I will enjoy Atkins this time if i try it. I lost 5 lbs. last week on SB, and looking better, and of course that is apealing. Can I do a semi-SB?
I would ask your doctor what affect "low carb" would have on the Lyme Disease, then I would ask for specific guidelines and a referral to a nutritionist to put meal plans into place.
It sounds like you got really vague, not very useful advice. You have the right to get the information you need.
We miss you, too. I googled Lyme Disease and read a bit. From what I see, low carb without any qualification is not mentioned. What I saw had to do with fresh fruits and vegetables, healthy fats, etc.
Femmecreole is correct, this is not a decision to be made by a forum. It seems at best that your Dr. is not equipped to help you make any dietary decisions. I might suggest that you get a second opinion. This is far too important to be basing your entire life around, without having alot of facts. There are several books about Lyme Disease which discuss the subject in great depth. You might consider purchasing one or checking your library-while you are waiting on that second opinion.
Dear Sweet ladies, I want to thank-you all for your help, and also apologize. This is not a medical form. My questions were out of order. You were all right, patient and kind, and said a lot of good things. I just called my Dr. and asked her to be more specific with a diet she wanted me to be on. She said she didn't want to talk about a specific diet..... She wants me to stay away from yeast, like bread, limit fruit, she wants me to have complex carbs, no white stuff, and healhty fats. Low fat soy milk is okay. No cereal. She wants me to have a low yeast diet. Sounds a lot like SB to me. I am going to read the book again, and decide what to do, and I am going to pray for you dear ladies that you would recover from any stress I may have caused you. Thank-you again.
MarthaJeanne, I don't think you caused anybody here stress...we're just concerned for your health and want you to get the proper advice. No apologies needed.
I have to say that I'm not real thrilled your doctor didn't give you some specific diet recommendations but I don't think that's uncommon. My original doctor insists that WW is the only way to go. My new doctor is much more knowledgeable about different diet plans. Where lyme disease is a serious thing, I would continue to investigate by reading and checking out advice from other doctors or maybe nutritionists familiar with this issue.
In the meantime, you could certainly follow the suggestions she did give you. I've been on South Beach and am currently doing Atkins so I think both could fit what you have written. Atkins would certainly put you in the no yeast category and fruits aren't allowed for at least a few weeks (and then those would be berries). South Beach would also fit the bill but you would need to be careful about the grains you chose (steel-cut oats or things like quinoa or barley might be ok?) and watch your fruit selections (choosing the lower GL ones) and possibly limiting the portions of fruits/grains per day to 1-2.
Both are excellent programs but are very different in their methodology. The important thing is to chose one that you can stick with and that will work for you and your requirements. And after a while if one isn't for you, the option to try the other is always there. Best of luck in whatever plan you choose.
Doctors don't get much if any nutrition training in med school. They often have less information than those of us who've been "researching" dieting (whether for weight loss or specific health issues) all of our lives. I'm not saying that any of us can know what's right for you, but you might consider speaking to a hospital dietician (master's degree level or higher, ideally).
I had a similar issue when my doctor recommended low carb dieting for me, because he had read a study or review of the literature article in the medical journals that found that people with insulin resistance lose and maintain better on low carb diets. He warned me though not to "go too low."
When I asked him what was "too low," he admitted that he didn't know.
I also have fibromyalgia and autoimmune disease, and there's quite a bit of reports from patients and some research support that suggests that many people with fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune issues may do better on lower carb or lower GI diets (some specifically suggesting the "Zone" diet of 30/30/40 (30% calories from fat, 30% calories from protein, and 40% calories from carbohydrates).
The most common theory is that a diet lower in carbohydrates (but high in low-calorie veggies) has anti-inflammatory effects on the body (this may be why your doctor is recommending low-carb). But "how low" you need to go to maximize the benefits, may vary a lot from person to person - or may just not be common knowledge yet (which may be why your doctor is hesitant to prescribe a specific diet, they still don't know which one is optimal).
I've been doing a lot of experimenting, and I find I need to go alot lower in carbs to feel my best (and to lose weight), than I ever thought was healthy. I've suspected for a while that I might have a wheat sensitivity of some kind, and have been experimenting with avoiding wheat. My experiments aren't scientifically controlled, but I do see patterns that lead me to strongly suspect that I need to avoid wheat (and possibly other high gluten grains as well).
I think that you may also have to experiment with eliminating high-carb foods to see how low carb you personally need to eat in order to feel your best, and also to find specific foods that might be giving you trouble. You could follow Atkins as written, that is start very low carb, and gradually increase your carb level until you stop losing weight (if you want to maintain your weight) and then back down to a slightly lower level (if you want to continue losing weight)... or you could gradually reduce your carbohydrate level... or follow South Beach (as written, it may be low carb enough for you; however, the South Beach books also talks about paying attention to how specific foods affect you, and avoiding those that you have problems with, so avoiding some South Beach-approved foods isn't incompatible with the program).
Unfortunately, trial and error is a large component, not only of dieting for weight loss, but also for general health or specific health problems.
Oh, one thing I'd also suggest asking your doctor about is fish oil or flax seed supplements. They also have anti-inflammatory properties. When I found that I couldn't take NSAID pain relievers (like ibuprofen and naproxen), I looked for natural anti-inflammatories and fish-oil has worked very well for me. It is also reported to have cardiovascular benefits, such as lowered bp, triglicerided and LDL (bad cholesterol) and increases HDL (good cholesterol).
Location: NW New Jersey But, My Heart's In Pittsburgh!! GO STEELERS & PENGUINS!!!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MarthaJeanne1
I just called my Dr. and asked her to be more specific with a diet she wanted me to be on. She said she didn't want to talk about a specific diet..... She wants me to stay away from yeast, like bread, limit fruit, she wants me to have complex carbs, no white stuff, and healhty fats. Low fat soy milk is okay. No cereal. She wants me to have a low yeast diet. Sounds a lot like SB to me.
A similar thing happened a few months back to my 79 year old Dad with his Dr. My Dad is an insulin dependant diabetic (2 insulin injections per day) and has been for many years. The results of his blood work showed his blood sugar to be elevated during his last appointment. Right away his Dr. asked "you've been eating a lot of bread haven't you?" Ok, my Dad is Italian, bread & pasta are a way of life for Italians...and yes, he had been eating more bread than usual. It was then that this Dr. quite vaguely suggested he wanted Dad to eat "meat, eggs, cheese, veggies, salads...no bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, cereal etc." Ummmm....HELLO, isn't this ATKINS So, I ordered a copy of Dr. Atkins Diabetic Revolution...gave it to my Mom, she read it and Dad has been eating Atkins style ever since. On his last Dr. visit, the Dr. was thrilled with Dad's blood test results & his numbers
I have to agree with Kaplods,Dr's do not get much, if any nutritional training in medical school. Most are completely clueless where diets are concerned. Most are way too quick with the prescription pad! My DBF would be on Lipitor today if he listened to the Dr. he went to! We managed to get his total cholesterol down from 275 to 195...and more importantly his triglycerides down from 184 to 114 with Atkins style eating, Fish Oil, Flax and other supplements.
Please don't misunderstand me, I believe Dr's have their place....that being said, I also believe we have to do our own research, particularly where diets are concerned.
All the best to you!
what is considered low carb?
