The Steaks Are High

Answering Dana Carpender's Questions

After the low carb conference call, I got an interesting email from Dana Carpender. You may remember her reasons why Atkins didn't catch on during the low carb boom, and the mini-controversy they caused here. What she's looking for now are personal answers from successful and not-so-successful low carbers. Check out the questions she sent me:

If you have successfully stayed on a low carbohydrate diet and kept your weight off for 2 years or more, to what do you attribute your success? To support from friends? Family? Online support?  To having learned to cook a wide variety of low carbohydrate meals?  Planning ahead? Feeling a lot better?  A change is how you look at food and eating? What do you consider to be the two or three most crucial components in your low carb success?

If you have lost weight on a low carb diet, but struggled with it and gained most or all of your weight back, what were your biggest stumbling blocks? Lack of support, or downright sabotage? Naysaying from your doctor? Boredom with the food? Emotional carb cravings? Discouragement with a plateau? Budget and time constraints? Impulsive eating when junk appears in front of you? What do you feel have been your biggest stumbling blocks?

If you've read my dieting history, you'll know I started off low carbing on South Beach, gained all of my weight back plus some, and then switched over to Atkins to lose it all again – and keep it off for nearly a year now! Anyway, I tout my loss not to toot my own horn (that hardly ever happens now with no carbs!) but to explore some of Dana's excellent questions. I think the answers to these questions help us answer the bigger question raised by the low carb conference call: why didn't low carb take off in 2003 when it had its best chance so far?

OK, so let's start with the bad stuff. Why'd I go to all the trouble of losing weight and then manage to put it all back on?

1. Time Constraints
   When I was trying to restart South Beach and get back into the swing of weight loss, I was taking five graduate level seminars and piled under mountains of reading and papers. After spending the previous semester in Mexico, I was rushing to graduate and under a lot of pressure to push my GPA into Honors territory. Spending so much time on schoolwork, plus taking two buses or a bus and a subway getting there and back, left me little time or energy to shop for healthy food and cook regular meals.

2. Stress, Stress and More Stress
   I felt stressed by school, but above all, stressed by my skyrocketing weight. I would try to zip up pants in the morning and cry when not one pair would fit me. My boyfriend would cringe as I went to get dressed in the morning, ready for my despair at bulging out in all the wrong places. Instead of motivating me to do something about it, I felt hopeless and trapped, because...

3. The Diet Wasn't Working
   First – a disclaimer: I think the South Beach Diet is a great diet, and works very well for many people. Dr. Agatston was the one who introduced me to low carbing and for that I am ever grateful. However, for me, at that time and in that situation, I couldn't hack it. The low fat element of South Beach left me constantly hungry and constantly thinking about food and what I could snack on next. I was either miserable because I was hungry or miserable because I'd eaten too much. The scale didn't budge.

4. Knee-Shaped Stubbornness
   I've had three surgeries on my right knee, and one on my left. Aside from some sexy scars, I'm left with arthritis, pain, limited motion and sporadic swelling. I also come from a family where my uncle proudly tells the story of making his kid do jumping jacks to prove he had appendicitis before they made the trip to the hospital (he did...and ouch). Stoicism was highly valued, and any outward expression of pain was not only frowned upon but snorted at and derisively dismissed. So, given this history, I signed up for a personal training session at the gym, neglected to mention my knee problems, got a whole set of weight training exercises that made my quads shudder and my kneecaps slip and slide. Dumb? Yep. How many times did I go back? Let's just say it was in the single digits.

5. The House That Junk Built
   Our apartment at the time was also crammed with junk food. If I ever had a weak moment, or hour, or day, the cupboards were stocked with chips, chocolate, candy, and deliciously spoonable peanut butter.

Alright – enough of the bad stuff! How did I lose 40lbs and get healthy?

1. Making Time To Cook
   When I started low carbing, I didn't have the luxury of working from home, which meant less time available to shop and cook. I started by making an effort to cook breakfast, and as much as I enfuriated my housemates by forgetting a pan of bacon while I was getting dressed, most mornings I got myself sorted with an omelette or a meaty treat. In the evenings, I'd fry up some chicken. As I explored new recipes, I expanded my menu options drastically and suddenly found a lot more variety in my diet.

2. Finding The Forums!
   The first forum I logged onto was the Active Low-Carber Forum, which I found originally by Googling recipe substitutes. I was amazed at how many other people were doing it, and how fantastic and helpful they were. I found out new recipes, discovered the joy of coconut oil and the best way to hard-boil an egg, and, most importantly, connected with an incredible group of people with whom I still talk today.

3. Family Rules
   A huge, huge part of my success can be laid squarely at the feet of my parents and my in-laws-to-be. None of them profess to understand the diet much, and a majority of the four have even expressed the sentiment that my eating is perfectly ridiculous. Their misgivings notwithstanding, they not only let me do it my way but support me meal after meal, whether cooking things without flour and sugar or making sure I have menu options at whatever restaurant we choose. Time after time I have been touched by their consideration when it comes to that most social gathering: meal time. I feel very, very lucky to have people around me who make it very easy to stick with low carbing, and am grateful every day for their loving support.

4. Results!
   As I upped the fat component of my diet and my fat started literally falling off, I was thrilled and intrigued. I actually began to look forward to jumping on the scale in the morning and checking how much I'd lost. Now, it was my clothes getting saggy and baggy instead of my hips, and soon my dreaded morning session of “What will I be able to zip up?” was a gleeful “Look what's falling off me now!” The fast results you get with low carb are incredibly motivating. One of my friends at the Meat & Eggers For Life Forum says she feels like she knows this super special secret as the pounds magically melt away, and I know exactly how she feels.

5. The Feel Good Factor
   OK, so no one's denying how good, no, how great it feels to see scale numbers diminish and pants sizes shrink along with your tummy, but low carb feels good in other ways too. You don't feel hungry. Your nails and hair grow faster and stronger. My skin cleared up. I had way more energy. My head felt clearer, and my brain felt free – free of cravings, and freer from worries about food. It was so simple: eat when you feel hungry, and when you do eat, go for some yummy meat and hey, dip it mayo while you're at it. Some people talk about the “high” buzz they get from deep ketosis, but I equate this to a story my dad told me when his doctor gave him some pills to help wake him up, while he was suffering from serious sleep deprivation due to sleep apnea. He took the medication back to the doctor, asking “Are you sure this is ok to take and drive? I feel so weird when I'm on them...almost like I'm high.” The doctor smiled and said, “You're not high. You just forgot what it feels like to be truly awake. This is what not being tired feels like!” I think the low carb buzz is more akin to this: you're not high, you just forgot what it feels like to eat healthy, fresh foods. This is what not filling your body with craving-inducing carbs feels like!

6. My Knight In Shining Armor
   My fiancé, Simon, has been my rock throughout my weight loss journey. From being absolutely as loving whatever I weighed, to being my subtle low carb advocate when socializing, he's helped me as much as he possibly could, and more than I ever expected anyone would. He comes home with ribeyes instead of roses, picks protein-heavy restaurants, loads the fridge with diet sodas, and never bats an eye at my time spent lifting up heavy objects and putting them back down, or running for thirty minutes and staying in one place. His wholehearted support means the world to me and I find him listening to me babble about the latest study or greatest new recipe one of the sweetest things. (And also feel guilty for not feigning equal interest when he gets excited about external style sheets and website traffic lotteries.)

7. A Change In Perspective
   This is a fairly recent addition to my dieting arsenal, but possibly one of the most powerful tools in living a slimmer life. I had a conversation with my sister in which we both berated our “fat” genes. “We just can't eat three meals a day like normal people,” she said, “whenever I do that, I start packing on padding on my thighs and my clothes stop fitting.” Her solution? Insane amounts of exercise and calorie control. My solution was clearly low carbing, but I still felt a bit “woe is me” and railed at the unfairness of it – after all, why couldn't I just eat like a “normal” person and stay slim? Using a combination of exercises from Martha Beck's The Four Day Win, and other cognitive therapy techniques, I decided to get over myself. I'd found a delicious way of eating that kept the weight off without, for the most part, leaving me feeling deprived and never letting me go hungry. What I needed were the mental tools to make this a lifelong approach, rather than a weight loss fix. I'm still working on this and will be posting about it in the future, but training my brain to enjoy low carb to the max is incredibly important to avoid burnout.

8. Carnivorous Tastebuds
   Just to state the obvious (in case you missed the page banner or the post with the gorgeously succulent turkey leg) – I LOVE meat. I love the taste, the juiciness, the ripping it apart with your teeth. I love trying different spices on different meats and finding winning combinations. Put a rotisserie chicken in front of me and you'll have a happy and greasy-fingered girl. When I low carb, I feel like I'm just eating the best bit of the meal – the meat! Who needs the sides? I'm truly convinced that my palate is naturally well-suited to cutting out the carbs.

9. Reading The Research
   After piquing my interest with my own body experiment, losing fat as I increased the fat content in my diet, I decided I wanted to learn more. I started off small, lurking around in information threads in the forums and not saying much because everyone seemed to know much more than I did. Then I started seeing similar answers to the same old “problems” with Atkins, and soon the responses were also on the tip of my tongue. Not only could I participate in discussions, but I also had more and more studies ready as ammo when people were critical of my eating. I began checking out informative blogs for a daily dose of info. By doing the research, I became more and more confident that this truly was the healthiest way for me to eat, the most nutrient-dense use of calories, and a smart way to avoid whatever nasty chemicals big food companies are pumping into their packaged, processed junk.

10. I Got Moving
    I've talked here about my kinder, gentler approach to exercise, which I think does a world of good for my knees and my psyche. I'm going to the gym more regularly than ever, avoiding exercises that twist or strain my prone-to-dislocating knees (my high school nickname in England was Dislo-Kate), and enjoying myself while I'm there. I'm still not doing anything crazy, but thirty minutes of cardio twice a week, upper and lower body weights and some swimming is helping me get rid of these last stubborn pounds. To be clear, I got this far without really exercising at all, but I know that to continue losing and to be the shape I'd like, I need some workouts.

So there you have it – double the reasons for success as the excuses for failure. Anyone else have any reasons they succeeded with low carbing? Any ideas why people find it difficult to stick to?

Low Carb Birthday!

I'm a big cake fan...hence my low carb substitute Ten Minute Chocolate Cake. Every year for our birthdays when we were growing up, my mum would create fantastic cakes: fairy castles, beaches, racetracks, cars, bears, princesses with candy-jewelled dresses, pianos. Not to be sabotaged by my lc lifestyle, this year she outdid herself again - even from a different country - and sent me this awesome cake made entirely of flowers!

Blowing out the candles before I get a flowery furnace!

Bacon Devilled Eggs

Make ten hard-boiled eggs using the following method:

Place eggs in cold water and bring to a boil. Let boil for 1 minute and remove from the heat. Leave the eggs in the warm water for 15 minutes, then remove and rinse with cold water. Let cool, and peel.  [Thanks to lynnp from the Meat&Eggers For Life Forum for this awesome method - makes easy-to-peel, perfectly-yellow-yolked eggs every time!]

Slice each egg in half lengthways:

Then place all the egg yolks in a bowl. I also add the ugliest-looking whole egg (the one that split when the yolk came out, or where the yolk is off-center) so that the eggs will be overstuffed.

Smash up the egg yolks with 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar, 3 tablespoons mayonnaise, salt and pepper to taste.

Meanwhile, fry up some bacon! I used four strips and cooked them until they were very crispy.

Cut the cooled, crispy bacon up into the egg yolk mixture.

For it to stay crispy, it should shatter into the yolks when you break it up. (Yep, plus I just like taking pictures of bacon!)

Stir in the bacon pieces and then spoon your yolk-n-bacon mixture back into the whites of the eggs. Top with a little ground black pepper and enjoy!

Sweet Dreams

Last night, I sat down to a bowl of my favorite chocolate concoction: a warm brownie loaded with chocolate ice cream, M&Ms and hot fudge. I love the contrast of temperatures: hot fudge melting the inside of the M&Ms just enough, and the cakey warmth softening the ice cream to perfect soupiness. (Yup, my ice cream goes in the microwave for a few seconds before eating it.)

Of course, I was dreaming.

I haven't had a food dream in ages, so I was surprised by this one. When I first started low carbing, and was craving carbs like crazy, I'd have these "cheating" dreams all the time. Like my dream last night, I'd be sitting down to the worst possible foods for a low-carber: sugar, sugar and more sugar on top! Even during my dream, I'd feel bad for going off plan, knowing that by indulging I'd kick-start the cravings again. Then, I'd wake up grinning, 'cause it hadn't really happened.

Interestingly, in all my previous dreams, I'd really enjoy whatever sweet treat was on the nighttime menu. Last night, I found the chocolate ice cream way too sweet. I remember tasting it and feeling really odd because I was supposed to be loving it and luxuriating in my naughty treat, but actually not enjoying it. Man...I can't even have fun cheating in my dreams anymore!

Does anyone else have sugar-laden dreams? Do you think it's a signal your body is deep down still craving carbs, or just a mental reaction to denying yourself certain foods? A calorie-free, guilt-free foray into carbland, or a potentially dangerous trigger?

Food from thought.

Low carb study conference call

I just finished participating in a conference call with with Dr. Michael Dansinger, MD and Dr. James Hill, PhD. as they debated the findings of the latest Atkins study and the merits of a low-carb diet. A slew of low carb bloggers and medical practitioners made up the panel, including big names like Jimmy Moore, Dr. Mary Vernon, Regina Wilshire, Dr. Eric Westman, and Dana Carpender.

The call began with the host, Jason Rosenberg of RevolutionHealth.com, who introduced Dr. Dansinger and Dr. Hall. Dr. Dansinger then presented the findings of the study, which was conducted at Stanford University by Dr. Christopher Gardner. (Check out the study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.)

311 overweight women were randomly assigned to one of the popular diets: Atkins, the Zone, Learn (which follows the American government's dietary recommendations) or the Ornish diet.

Subjects were coached on the respective diets for two months, attending a class every two weeks which was based on the book. After the two month teaching period, subjects were allowed to follow the diets unsupervised.

After one year, the 77 women from the Atkins group lost an average of 10lbs – twice as much as those on the low fat Learn and Ornish diets. Women on the Zone lost an average of 3.5lb.

Along with the most success in terms of weight loss, the Atkins dieters also showed a greater improvement in heart disease risk factors, with larger reductions in body mass index, triglycerides and blood pressure.

After Dr. Dansinger's description of the study, Dr. Hall of the University of Colorado offered his own analysis. He agreed wholeheartedly that weight loss is greater when following a low carb approach at the six month mark, but found that the differences after one year were not statistically significant. His main point was that while Atkins has been repeatedly shown to be the best diet for weight loss, all of the diets studied have similar rates of failure after one year. At the one year mark, most of the people, regardless of dietary approach, are regaining the weight they lost. Dr. Hall believes we need to move away from studies of weight loss and figure out how people can keep the weight off. He also mentioned that his involvement with the National Weight Loss Control Registry leads him to believe that the best predictor of successfully maintaining weight loss is a person's level of physical activity.

I was glad to hear from all the medical professional on the call an emphasis on how consistent their findings have been regarding the intake of saturated fat and associated positive lipid profiles. In plain English: eating saturated fat (in the absence of carbohydrates) will not make your cholesterol skyrocket, or your bottom get bigger.

But hey, this butter-lovin', pork-guzzlin', steak-devotee already knew that. I did find the “maintenance problem” an interesting one though. My question to the panel was: what if the social climate wasn't so hostile to low-carbing – would people have an easier time sticking with the diet long-term?

The doctors on the call agreed that the majority of mainstream practitioners would most likely not recommend a low carb diet to the patients, and a good chunk of them would actually advise against it. Bear in mind that this recommendation is completely without scientific basis. One thing everyone on the call agreed upon was the urgent need to teach other physicians the science behind low carb so that they aren't giving misinformation.

I think this is a huge problem. I haven't kicked up much of a fuss about it here, but I've had worried friends and relatives pass on their doctor's dire warnings about my diet. I've had people rolling their eyes even at the mention of low carb, and groans at the amount of fat I eat as though I'm downing plates of arsenic.

I get irritated going to restaurants and paying money for sides I won't eat. I'm frustrated by the myriad grocery options for the low fat folks, and the idiotic “heart healthy” labels slapped on sugary cereals.

The combination of uneducated doctors and nutritionists giving out faulty advice and the anti-low-carb mainstream media creates a culture very hostile to low carbers. I firmly believe that if the public health message about sugar turning into fat becomes more widespread, we'll have an easier time socially and be even more likely to stick to this delicious way of eating.

When I point this point to Dr. Hall, he countered by saying that Atkins had its spot in the limelight in 2003. If my hypothesis is correct, low carb should have taken off like a rocket back then and never come down. Why, he asked, didn't everyone stick to it when it was all the rage?

Dana Carpender made some good points in answer to this question. First, a lot of people who said they were doing low carb were really just relying on the low carb junk food that came out at the time. Atkins-certified products with white flour and high fructose corn syrup...I believe mention was made of the good Dr. A turning in his grave at the thought of this. Then there are the fad dieters to take into account, those who don't see dieting as a permanent change but skip from trendy plan to trendier plan. The fickleness of the media, who wanted the “next best thing”, and the untimely and ill-reported death of Dr. Atkins were Dana's final reasons for the decreasing popularity of Atkins.

I'd also like to add that the very “fad” aspect of 2003 Atkins did not help foster the kind of environment I'm talking about. Popular perception of Atkins at the time was not that we'd found a thrilling new approach to healthy eating, it was “Did you hear about this crazy diet where you can eat pounds of bacon and still lose weight?”

If someone states that they're trying to watch their calories, or keeping an eye on their fat intake, or cutting out meat and dairy, nobody jumps all over them with hysterical predictions of failure or diseases diagnoses. All low carbers are asking for is that the low carb approach be recommended as an option alongside low fat, since the medical safety of Atkins has been proven by this and many other studies. Oh yeah, and that the American Heart Association and the American Diabetes Association read some of the latest research for a change.

A Kinder, Gentler Way

This week has been a hard one for me food-wise, so I wanted to share some of my struggles here. While I mostly like to post research and news articles, and some tried and trusted recipes, I think it's helpful once in a while to write about my personal journey.

I started off on Monday with massive carb cravings. I was packing up my lovely's lunch, and in the process toasting some heavenly smelling bakery bread and wrapping up cookies and leftover cinnamon buns dripping with icing. Now, I haven't been off plan at all, so I know the cravings weren't due to blood sugar craziness or anything I'd eaten. I was pretty surprised though. I've been swimming along quite nicely for the past couple of months, enjoying my food immensely and not feeling deprived or even like I'm on a diet. Then, out of the blue, I'm wanting chocolate chip cookies and buttery toast? What's going on?

I see these much more as mental cravings than anything physical. These were some of my favorite carby foods prior to discovering this way of eating, and I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't still love the taste of some of them. Funny thing is, mental cravings feel just as real as physical cravings.

I decided, first and foremost, to chill out and check in on myself. I learned this technique of listening to your body from The Four Day Win, and strongly recommend it to anyone on any kind of diet or attempting a lifestyle change. Was I being too rigid about my food choices? Should I have a day off-plan and then get right back to it? Why was I craving stuff I know is so bad for me?

I was pretty tempted to take that day off, but on balance I think doing that is very unhealthy. Part of the greatness of low carb is that you can fill up on delicious fats - but if you add in a dose of sugar the very next day, you're pretty much doing high fat, high carb: a recipe for poor health and a flabby belly.

So I made a deal with myself: don't go face down in the carbs, go to the gym and get some sort of sugar free treat food as a reward for working out.  I did go to the gym, and I did get some sugar free chocolate (which is a post for another day...) but I enjoyed it with some awesome hazelnut coffee.

I've also taken a new approach to the gym. Previously, I was very hard on myself about working out. If I went and ran on the elliptical, it wasn't good enough, because I should have warmed up on the treadmill. If I warmed up on the treadmill, and then did a full weight circuit - well that wasn't good enough either, because I was skimping on ab work. Does this sound like any fun to you? I sure wasn't enjoying it. I'd either go and be disappointed I didn't do enough, or I'd go and do a killer workout...and then not go back for a week because my muscles were aching and I couldn't face another hardcore gym session.

Lately, again, I've been relaxing and listening to what my body wants to do. I go to the gym and run for half an hour on the elliptical. That's it. I enjoy it, and still get an endorphin rush. And here's the kicker: I'm way more likely to go back the next day. The next day I might lift some weights, or maybe go swimming. If I've gone four days in a row, I take a bit of a rest day and do some yoga at home. This gentler approach has meant I've worked out more than ever for the past two weeks. I look forward to going, enjoy my exercise and don't feel guilty about it taking up huge chunks of the day - because now it doesn't.

I think taking this approach makes changes much easier to incorporate into your life. Gritting your teeth and surviving on the strictest diet while pushing yourself to your limits working out...well, as far as I know, that leads to one of two things: collapsing in a heap and stuffing yourself with junk, unable to bear the thought of another treadmill step, or adrenal burnout.

I'm going with the kinder, gentler path to weight loss and health. We're doing this to feel better, right? So why not feel better along the way?