Skip to main content

Permanently Limit Carbs

"...Telling a person that they can progressively add more and more dietary carbohydrate means that they don't need to make their peace with not having it. All they need to do is wait a few months..." -The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living

Does the lure of adding back carbs derail people from their diets? I don't have any other explanation for the stampede to safe starches or the drift of the potaleo (potato+paleo) movement. This isn't carb creep, where low-carbers get back on track after some weight gain or other problems, it's keeping watch for excuses to eat carbs.

At this writing, a Google search for the phrase "adding back carbs" yields 16,000 results. The phrase "permanently limit carbs"? This post will make four.

It's time for a different attitude towards high-carb living: it's over. No more pasta, bread, pie, cookies, beer, and so on, ever--unless you're having low-carb versions of those things. (Confession: I'm still trying to kick chocolate. The low-carb brownies are helping.) It sounds harsh, but I've actually found it easier to completely cut out certain foods like wheat than to cut back on them. It's like dealing with a bad relationship: better to stop calling, stop dropping by, stop thinking about it, and just end it and move on. I did the weekly "free day" for years on Body for Life, and cheat day foods ended up creeping into all the other days. Now, with no cheat day, cheating is infrequent. And a cheat day can damage your health. In an interview with Jimmy Moore, Dr. Cate Shanahan answered a question from a caller about having a binge now and then: on an inflammatory food binge, a stroke is possible, and a stroke is permanent. Dr. John Briffa cited a study showing raised triglycerides (which are fueled by carb) are associated with higher risk of stroke and research on carbs, inflammation and stroke. "While a fat indulgence (if there is such a thing) pushes large LDL up," says Dr. William Davis, cardiologist, "the effect is relatively short-lived. Have a carbohydrate indulgence, on the other hand, and small LDL particles persist for up to a week." (Small LDL contributes to atherosclerotic plaque.)

It's also time for a different attitude towards low-carb living: eat a good-enough LC diet. Or as Sean Croxton puts it, don't be weird. I recently read about a woman who, by her own blog account, was neurotic about her eating and ended up going on a sugar bender. She justified it by the fact that--wait for it--her temperature was steadier after her binge. A good-enough diet keeps me from acting like a sailor on shore leave. I get the best groceries I can, but if I feel like eating at McDonald's, I do. If all that's available is canola-soy oil salad dressing, I use it. I also have low-carb ice cream, stevia, Splenda, and diet Dr. Pepper. Not pristine, but they're not major parts of my diet, and for me, they're better than other food I might have if I were too strict or let myself go hungry.

Now that I haven't had a potato or fruit, or bread or pasta, or variety of other starchy, sugary foods in years, I can hardly remember what they taste like. And guess what: I don't crave them anymore--except for the chocolate.
Labels:

Comments

tess said…
lol -- i'm not the only one noticing the stampede, then....

as one who is dedicated to low-carb on a permanent basis, i note that the converts to starch are almost all athletic types. men of all ages and young women who work out a lot are saying they're losing weight and feeling better on increased carbs. their bodies may be able to handle it (temporarily, anyway) but mine NEVER will.
March 01, 2012
Lori Miller said…
I think there's something in the starchy food they might be lacking--potassium, maybe. Given there's only a teaspoon of glucose in your blood, it's hard to imagine anyone *needs* a pound of starchy food a day.
March 01, 2012
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blog Lineup Change

Bye-bye, Fathead. I've enjoyed the blog, but can't endorse the high-fat, high-carb Perfect Health Diet that somehow makes so much sense to some otherwise bright people. An astrophysicist makes some rookie mistakes on a LC diet, misdiagnoses them, makes up "glucose deficiency," and creates a diet that's been shown in intervention studies to increase small LDL, which can lead to heart disease. A computer programmer believes in the diet and doesn't seem eager to refute it because, perhaps, scientists are freakin' liars and while he's good at spotting logical inconsistencies, lacks some intermediate knowledge of human biology. To Tom's credit, he says it's not the right diet for everyone, but given the truckload of food that has to be prepared and eaten, impracticality of following it while traveling (or even not traveling), and unsuitability for FODMAPs sufferers, diabetics and anyone prone to heart disease (i.e., much of the population), I'm...
24 comments
Read more

Collagen-filled Low Carb Burritos

Low-carb, grain-free Mexican food is hard to find, but it's easy to make your own at home. This recipe has an authentic ingredient: carne de lengua, or beef tongue. Don't be put off: beef tongue is tender, delicious, and full of collagen. Look for it directly from farmers in your area. To cook it, cut it in 1" to 1-1/2" slices and pressure cook for one hour. Enjoy the delicious broth as a bonus. Ingredients 1 slice cooked beef tongue, peeled and cut into small cubes 1 egg wrap (I use these  from Egglife) 1/4 cup cooked black or pinto beans Chili pepper Oregano Garlic (powdered or minced) Cumin Guacamole (with no emulsifiers) Salsa Shredded cheddar cheese Sour cream or homemade cream cheese  with no emulsifiers  Put the egg wrap on a plate and put the beef and beans down the middle of it. Sprinkle with the herbs and spices. Wrap, turn over and microwave for 1-2 minutes. Spoon salsa over the burrito and sprinkle with cheese. Add guacamole and sour cream or homemade crea...
Post a Comment
Read more

Not Only Cheaper, But Easier

A while back, I wrote about saving money on break time coffee and snacks. I haven't done very well putting it into practice. But a post by James Clear today got me thinking about it again: Warren Buffett uses a two-list system to prioritize things. Check it out --and follow the instructions. Using Buffett's two-list system, two of the goals I ended up with were taking care of myself and saving $400 more per month than I already am. As I said, I've been wanting to save money, and the system made me really focus on this. I came up with 11 money-saving ideas, six of which had to do with food. Buying hamburger in bulk. Ranch Foods Direct sells one-pound packages of 80% lean pastured ground beef in bundles of 20 for a lot less than Whole Foods. Sprouts only carries super-lean beef that's grass-fed, and it's more expensive, too.  Not driving to Whole Foods. Whole Foods is out of my way, and saving a weekly trip saves gas. Coffee at home, tea at work. Tea is fr...
24 comments
Read more

Palpitations Gone with Iron

Thanks to my internet friend Larcana, who alerted me to the connection between iron deficiency and palpitations, I doubled down on my iron supplements and, for good measure, washed them down with Emergen-C. It's a cold medicine with a mega-dose of vitamin C, plus B vitamins and minerals. I don't think vitamin C does anything for a cold (a friend bought the stuff and left it at my house the last time she visited), but vitamin C does help iron absorption. After doubling up on iron in the last three days, I feel back to normal. (I'd already been taking quite a bit of magnesium and potassium, so I probably had sufficient levels of those.) How did I get so low on iron? Maybe it was too many Quest bars instead of red meat when I had odd cravings during my dental infection recently. Maybe because it's too hard to find liver at the grocery store and I haven't eaten much of it lately. Maybe the antibiotics damaged my intestines . And apparently, I'm a heavy bleeder . ...
18 comments
Read more

In Defense of Fast Food

Another modern trend - healthy food should be expensive, not nutrients-dense and preferably exotic, or you would be eating like plebs who live on a dollar McD menu. --Galina L. I don't try to jump over seven-foot hurdles, I look for one-foot hurdles I can step over. --Warren Buffett, pleb who eats at McDonald's Despite all the talk about wild-caught v. farmed, grass-fed v. CAFO and the vilification of fast food, a lot of us plebs benefit simply from carbohydrate restriction. But even though diabetes and obesity are rampant, and carb restriction alone would help millions of people, the impression is out there that you need to eat in a very specific way, far beyond just watching the carbs. Following a low-carb diet is already a high hurdle for many people. If some people want or need to raise the bar for themselves, that's fine with me, but there's no need to turn low-carb into a hurdle that a lot of people can't jump over. Organic produce and grass-fed or p...
17 comments
Read more