randibear
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 11290
posted
i am now down 17 pounds. i have a lot more to loose however, but at least i'm not over 200 now. i'm at 184. wahooooo....
have you had such rapid weight loss on this diet?
and don't you really need some carbs? i mean, just meat and eggs and veggies.
i heard you can have ezekiel bread or bread made with soda like irish bread, once in a while. is that right?
-------------------- do not look back when the only course is forward Posts: 12262 | From texas | Registered: Mar 2007
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BackinStOlaf
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 23725
posted
I lost 15 lbs on it right away. But I started at 5'8 125 lbs. The weight loss was awful for me. People thought I was a cancer patient.
-------------------- First Symptom 9/09 Multiple docs, negative Labcorp test LLMD: 1/10 Positive Igenex/CDC test Treatment 2/10 2/10-8/10 Amox, ceftin, zith, flagyl Currently: Bicillin, Minocycline, still dealing with severe breathing issues
Posts: 1121 | From New York, New York | Registered: Dec 2009
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I have had easy, rapid weight loss on a low carb diet. That was why I got on it in the first place, before I had Lyme. I lost 35 pounds on it and kept it off for a year.
Now I have just started losing again, since I cleaned up my diet after I got candida. I have more to lose so this makes me happy.
As a matter of fact, you don't physically need carbs.
Carbs are things that turn into glucose in your body. That also includes green vegetables. These are a good source of carbs because they have fiber, protein and nutrients along with the natural sugar. So you aren't actually on a "no carb" diet.
However, the Inuit have existed on a diet of only meat, fish and fat for millennia and did not have modern diseases until they started eating sugar and flour. Modern explorers and researchers have also tried switching from what we in temperate zones consider a "normal diet" (lots of plant food) to an all-meat diet, and have remained healthy. You won't die or get a deficiency disease from lack of carbs (which you will without protein or without fat).
Your brain needs glucose, but if you don't have enough, you can make more from protein. The rest of your body can run just fine on energy from eaten and stored fat.
You still get some glucose from veggies now, which should be enough for physical health.
I mentally NEED carbs; that's another issue. I think in order for us to maintain this diet that is difficult for us, having to give up lots of favorite foods, we had better find acceptable substitutes, or some cheats that are not as bad as others.
The flour in the bread is what turns into glucose; it doesn't matter if it was leavened with yeast or soda or if it's a tortilla.
Low carb and low glycemic breads are best for fighting candida, if you eat them at all. I would guess that ezekiel bread would be better than ones made with regular flour because it has sprouted grain in it, but I haven't tried it so I'm not sure.
I have made some good biscuits from almond flour, which is just ground up nuts. I added butter, eggs, salt and baking powder, and then it seems like I am eating bread instead of fried eggs and nuts.
I just got some almond butter for the first time recently, ate a spoonful, and discovered that it is somewhat sweet. It would be great as a topping on strawberries or an ingredient in smoothies.
I am not eating much dairy right now, but when I was, I made a good smoothie out of whole milk (lower carb than skim milk so it's better for us), strawberries and organic unsweetened peanut butter. It tasted good enough without sugar, though now that I use stevia I would put a few drops of that in. It was a good substitute for a milkshake. You could even put in cocoa and stevia and make a chocolate one. I used to make them with bananas, but I don't eat bananas any more. The nut butter worked out well though.
There is also sugar free ice cream, and although it has sugar alcohols and artificial sweeteners and other nasty things, it might be a useful occasional treat by itself or in a milkshake or with almond flour chocolate cake, to seem like you can still have special treats.
I am still in the process of experimenting with low carb cooking. I did once make a really good pizza with a low carb crust. I need to do that again soon.
Look for low carb recipe books and web sites. If you know how and have the right expensive ingredients, you can make loaves of low carb bread, low carb desserts, etc.
Good luck.
-------------------- Don't forget to laugh! And when you're going through hell, keep going!
Bitten 5/25/2009 in Perry County, Indiana. Diagnosed by LLMD 12/2/2009. Posts: 756 | From Inside the tunnel | Registered: Jan 2010
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posted
I have lost 26 lbs since i implemented this diet. I didnt set out to lose weight..it was a nice side effect since i am overweight. I was just happy that changing my eating elicited a reduction in my symptoms. I had come to terms with being overweight and simply decided i wasnt going to worry about it anymore. Last fall i quit using diet drinks and just drank all the soda i wanted. Ate what i wanted. Curiously it was in the spring that my sx went into hyperdrive and tested positive for lyme. Coincidence? I dont think so.
Posts: 624 | From Oklahoma | Registered: Jun 2010
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- Q: " . . . don't you really need some carbs? i mean, just meat and eggs and veggies."
Veggies ARE carbs. And, yes, we need them.
However, that you then ask about Ezekiel bread has me thinking that you miss grains. QUINOA is excellent. Red Quinoa, too. As a whole grain, complex carb that also has a very good amino acid (protein) ratio.
Most of the Ezekial breads contain gluten (watch out for the barley malt that is often added - that's got gluten and even just a mere trace can cause symptoms).
You can compare labels as they do have a couple products that are gluten free but I find they are more in the line of simple sugars with how refined some of the ingredients are.
Just whole quinoa can be prepared in a million different ways.
posted
Mary's Gone Crackers are fine. I like them and eat them often with hummus on them.
Ezekiel Bread is fine, but it is NOT gluten free. It is made from sprouted wheat and other grains, so if you need to eat gluten free, you cannot have it.
-------------------- sixgoofykids.blogspot.com Posts: 13449 | From Ohio | Registered: Feb 2007
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randibear
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 11290
posted
i am absolutely trying my best to do this total no sugar. with my yeast problems, i think it's helping.
i no longer have completely red fingers.
but i've got to find some way to get some type of bread type thingies or i'm going crazy.
-------------------- do not look back when the only course is forward Posts: 12262 | From texas | Registered: Mar 2007
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posted
I have found it VERY difficult to eat both gluten free AND low carb unless I cook everything myself. It seems that most of the gluten-free products now widely available are high carb (and often with sugar too), and most of the few low carb products that are still around (since it's a bit out of fashion now) contain gluten.
I don't think I have any particular sensitivity to gluten, although I have no doubt that it would be helpful for me not to eat it. My understanding is that in order to be successful, a gluten-free diet has to be 100%.
On the other hand, from my reading and my own experience, a low carb diet can be helpful even if you cheat sometimes, so I choose that over gluten free when I have to choose. If gluten bothers you more, or you are not overweight, you might choose the higher carb gluten free instead. Or maybe you're one of those fortunate people with the energy to cook all your own food all the time.
I am a terrible carb addict. I never really had a bingeing problem earlier in my life, until a couple years ago I started trying to lose weight on purpose. Suddenly I was bingeing all the time, a couple times a week. I would get the most terrible carb cravings. I also would need a pile of carbs to cope with any emotional upset.
I found out from experimenting that when I ate LESS carbs in my diet (low as opposed to medium carbs), I got LESS physical cravings, not more as I expected to have. So it was actually easier to resist the temptation when I went to lower carbs.
When I let my carbs creep over a certain amount, I start having physical cravings again, and then I'm really in trouble. It's bad enough trying to resist the emotional eating urges, though I have gotten much better. Now I only binge on carbs every couple of months rather than twice a week like I did for a while.
This was even more challenging with Lyme, because of course I was so upset and stressed about being sick, about trying to find help and treatment, not being understood by loved ones, and coping with the emotional upheavals that are symptoms of Lyme as well. I needed chocolate!!!! And pizza, and ice cream, LOL.
But after my recent short but scary bout with candida, where my digestion shut down completely for a couple of days and my stomach hurt bad, I am currently less tempted to go all out on a binge for fear of that happening again. I guess aversion therapy has its place.
And re: losing weight, eating low carb seems to be the easiest way to do it, and the only way that has worked for me. I just heard of someone I know who got the gastric bypass surgery, and she went from a size 22 to a size 3/4, but they say she looks terrible (sick and old), can hardly eat at all, got serious complications and had more surgeries and IV's, only has a tiny bit of her stomach left, and can't stop losing weight now that she needs to stop.
Giving up bread is hard, but sounds a lot easier, less painful, and less expensive than THAT.
-------------------- Don't forget to laugh! And when you're going through hell, keep going!
Bitten 5/25/2009 in Perry County, Indiana. Diagnosed by LLMD 12/2/2009. Posts: 756 | From Inside the tunnel | Registered: Jan 2010
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- Randi,
In addition to quinoa and red quinoa, you might enjoy some WILD rice. It's really a grass.
Oh, and lentils will also add to stabilization of blood sugar and an energy supply.
I think you would do fine with some of the darker rices, too, as a small portion with meals. These help the longevity of vegetables to keep your blood sugar level.
Here are some good cookbooks & sites - adaptations can be easily made with these. You might consider growing garden herbs so you have fresh rosemary, basil, fennel, etc. at your fingertips.
CHRISTINA COOKS - Natural health advocate/ chef, Christina Pirello offers her comprehensive guide to living the well life.
Vegan, with a Mediterranean flair. Organic.
She was dx with terminal leukemia in her mid-twenties. Doctors said there was nothing more they could do. Among other things, she learned about complementary medicine and she learned how to cook whole foods. She recovered her health and is now a chef and professor of culinary arts.
She has program on the PBS network "Create" a couple times week. Check your PBS schedule.
To adapt: in the rare dishes where she uses wheat flour, it can just be left out for a fruit medley, etc. Brown Rice Pasta can be substituted (Tinkyada or Trader Joe's). Quinoa and the dark rices can also be used.
But she focuses mostly on very filling vegetable dishes and garden herbs.
Regarding her use of brown rice syrup, just leave it out and add a touch of stevia at the end.
From Nina Simonds, the best-selling authority on Asian cooking, comes a ground-breaking cookbook based on the Asian philosophy of food as health-giving. The 200 delectable recipes she offers you not only taste superb but also have specific healing . . . .
. . . With an emphasis on the health-giving properties of herbs and spices, this book gives the latest scientific research as well as references to their tonic properties according to Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda, the traditional Indian philosophy of medicine. . . .
THE CURE IS IN THE KITCHEN, by Sherry A. Rogers M.D., is the first book to ever spell out in detail what all those people ate day to day who cleared their incurable diseases . . .
FROM CURRIES TO KEBABS - RECIPES FROM THE INDIAN SPICE TRAIL - by: Jaffrey, Madhur
==========================
Also look for MOOSEWOOD Cookbooks and THE ENCHANTED BROCCOLI FOREST
==========================
MEDITERRANEAN DIET (minus the wheat and the wine) is also good. It's many vegetable based, with delicious herbs in the meat dishes. Quinoa, dark rices - and unsweetened pomegranate juice can be substituted.
Look up Black Forbidden Chinese Rice & the Red Bhutanese Rice. The nutritional content is excellent and these will help fill and fortify you, even in moderation, along with lots of vegetables.
Ezekial Bread (Original flavor in orange wrapper) is the best option if you'd like to have a sandwich or sugar-free French toast. Be careful not to indulge too often. For instance, only eat Ezekial Bread a couple times a week, never daily. Sprouted wheat is not GF.
May seem difficult to fathom now (getting started is THE hardest part!), but the longer you are on a wheat-free, GF, sugar-free diet, the easier it becomes. Truly. I used to eat two or three times the "Serving Size" of quinoa pasta for dinner. I ate more than every guy I ever dated! Now, I'm quite content with 1 serving, and usually forget I even have it on hand. I guess I eat it about twice a month?
Right now, the hoards of yeast in your bod are SCREAMING for you to fed Them!
When you feel strong food cravings , quickly deflect those thoughts with, "It's just the yeast talkin'." Don't listen to fungal parasites!
Starve the unwelcome population into submission.
As others posted, veggies are very healthy carbs. Your tastes WILL change for the better, soon, if you stick with a Candida-control diet.
posted
Whaaa??? Im I the only alien that gained weight when I went sugar free?
my body is so jacked up and hormone challenged. polycystic ovaries ugh!
-------------------- AzDaisy life requires action Posts: 58 | From Tucson, AZ | Registered: Apr 2010
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littlebit27
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 24477
posted
I lose weight on a sugar free diet. I haven't been doing very well in that department but since this stupid mess has made me gain back the 25lbs I lost I am going to start sugar free on Monday.
South Beach Diet has great recipes for meats, eggs, and veggies that don't include adding sugar substitutes. I googled it the other day to get an idea of a menu. The more appetizing the food the better chance I have of eating it.
I didn't miss bread, I missed crunchy stuff-like chips for instance, it seems like everything that doesn't have bad carbs in it is soft,LOL.
posted
Been there, done that, have the tee shirt! You might be dealing with a magnesium deficiency. Go to www.mbschacter.com/importance_of_magnesium_to_human.htm Just found this website today...I never had this information. When I was on a candida diet, if I ate carrots, I didn't notice the cravings so much for bread or sugar. I know it's a hard diet, but believe me, it's for the best. Try millet flatbreads. Start with 1 cup millet flour, 1 tsp. salt, enough water to make a pancake batter consistency. Cook like pancakes. Can be frozen. (I freeze on a cooling rack first before stacking them and putting them in a zip-lock bag. Otherwise they are hard to get apart once frozen) You can also substitute buckwheat (this thickens a little more so you'll have to gradually add a little more water)which means "false wheat" in native american. It is related to the rhubarb plant. Try adding stevia for sweetness or chopped fresh herbs for savory. You'll need to check to see if these flours are GF if that is a problem for you. Also, drink lots of water. In some people, hunger pangs are actually a sign of dehydration. Like someone else said, carb cravings are the yeast talkin'. Good Luck and Blessings!
Posts: 2 | From Atlanta, GA | Registered: Aug 2010
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posted
Go to the health food store and buy something whole grain. I would stick with gluten free. I'll bet your gut issues will be MUCH BETTER if you continue avoiding wheat/gluten.
Limit the grains .. or continue to avoid completely for best results in diet and gut issues.
Congratulations on your weight loss! I was SOOO happy when I got on this diet 10 yrs ago. Felt better all over and lost weight to boot!
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96222 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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