Low-carbing in general...
Written: Aug 22 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great foods, easy to find at stores, no hunger
Cons: great foods(lol) - no - none that I can think of
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| Dottie2's Full Review: Sugar Busters! |
Let me preface this by saying that I tried low-fat dieting many times and never succeeded. It works great for many people, but for some of us, low-fat/calorie limiting/portion-controlled diets
simply do not work. It took me a long time to realize that it was not me that failed the diet - but rather the diet failed me.
If you’re like me, you’d start a new plan all geared up for success and start losing weight immediately. For a while it would be great: 1lb one week, .5 the next, another the next...until suddenly the weight loss stopped. Maybe a few weeks, maybe even a few months, but inevitably,
it stopped and, worse yet, you start to gain! Doing everything by-the-book: reduce calories a little more, cut fat a little more...until eventually you’re eating unhealthily low calorie(under 1000)
and almost NO fat at all and STILL not losing. Then it starts: more hunger, tiredness and a general feeling of unwellness, shakiness, and so on.
At one point, I was eating about 2 cups of rice with assorted veggies a day, almost no fat(except the trace amounts in cooking sprays) and still not losing - this was condoned by the plan I was on and totaled only about 700 calories a day. So, something had to give.
I had heard a lot of bad stuff about low-carbing, but the results I was hearing about tweaked my interest, so I picked up CAD. Looked good! Great foods, no hunger, eat a ‘reward meal’ - decided to try it. About a week into it, I quit. My feelings of shakiness and weakness were
terrible in the mornings and I was hungry all day and would binge(guiltily!) on the reward meal.
I am not knocking CAD -I know a lot of people on it who are happily shedding the pounds and feel great:) It works! But like all other plans, not for everyone.
So I decided to pick up Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution and Protein Power. Well, lol, PP was a tad more complicated than I was looking for at the time, so I stuck with Atkins. Amazing -he KNEW me! Every symptom of carb/insulin problems could have been a personal profile of me.
So I decided I would try it. Dragged the hubby along with me who said “You cook, I eat - just put it in front of me” (lol -isn’t support grand?). So we started in October of 99.
Let me say that I am a life-long Atkid! Even though I have modified the original plan to suit me better by adding some of the Sugar Busters principals to it, I do consider myself on Atkins.
By July of 2000, I had lost 50lbs and my husband 80. Neither of use had any medical problems, all doctors reports came back in the “average/good” range(where they had been high/bad before). Hubby was almost at goal, but I was stalled(again). When I was losing -I lost great! But when I
stalled, it was frustrating.
So, after 4 months of no loss, I started looking into other low-carb(because I knew low-carb was for me)programs and came across 2 that looked promising: Somersizing and Sugar Busters!
I tried SS first and broke my stall...but...carb rich foods(brown rice, whole grain pasta, etc.)were great, but without any protein or fat with them, they were kind of boring to me. So I switched to SB 2-3x a week
instead. Wow -all I can say is: if you’re looking for the “happy medium” between low-carb and low-fat -this is the plan for you!
SB allows you to eat whole grains, more than 1x a day if you like, as long as you pay attention to the ingredients(no sugar, white flour, rice, potato starches, etc.). SB also pays attention to saturated fats, though you still don't have to 'count' anything at all(another plus!).
While my 10 months on Atkins made me not overdo the carbs, it was very nice to have a slice of whole wheat/sugar free toast with my eggs, or have a whole wheat pita with my lunch, or have beans with my grilled chicken or steak at dinner.
Since I never ate a lot of fat on Atkins, adding one or 2 side dishes of “good” carbs a few times a week has not been a problem. I like chicken and fish and lean beef, so that fit in nicely as well.
Now, when I want a hearty breakfast, I have oatmeal w/Splenda, a little butter and skim milk and decaf. For a SB lunch, I may have a stir fry of veggies and chicken w/a small side of brown rice to serve it on. For dinner, I may have a steak, zucchini, salad and a slice of SBfrench bread w/a little olive oil and roasted garlic on it. Or some chicken and whole grain pasta with a low-fat sauce. Or red beans and brown rice!
Well, you can see that the possibilities are pretty much endless:)
The premise is simple: stay away from the carbs that cause an insulin spike: potatoes, white flour products, corn, carrots, sugar(in all it’s forms), and foods like that - everything else is pretty much fair game!
To be honest, you will not lose as fast as you will on Atkins(most people)but if you feel that giving up bread, pasta, rice, etc. is just not for you -then SB may be your best bet:)
Remember: No “diets” work long term. You must find something that YOU can live with for the rest of your life. If that’s low-fat, low-carb, or somewhere in between -do what YOU can see yourself doing for the rest of your life.
Just IMO -if you're like me and could not succeed at low-fat, give this plan a try. It's less restrictive than Atkins but it works!:)
Best wishes and good luck to you all:)
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Dottie2
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Reviews written: 5
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