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Dear friends. I'm currently on a short-term low carb diet and enjoying it greatly. I'm not doing it to lose weight as such, but to shed a couple of inches from around the waist.
There's been a bit too much "carb creep" in the last few months. I've generally eaten a Mediterranean type diet for the last year or so, low carb but with lots of vegetables, berries and good wholegrains.
However. During the 3 week cycling holiday in August, I was burning a lot more calories - an average of 2,500 a day, versus the miserable 1,300 which is all my body requires, unless I do exercise. As a result, I was able to eat with impunity, and enjoyed a few things I wouldn't normally eat: puddings, snacks, biscuits, lots of crisps. Unfortunately, once carb creep starts, you keep craving more of the same.
My clothes were getting a bit tight. I weighed, and my weight was the same. The tape measure told a different story. Two inches gained on the waist. That might sound much, but it affects how dresses and skirts look and hang.
Carb creep is what often happens when we've lost weight and kept it off for a while. We become a bit complacent.
I don't mind low carb eating at all. I enjoy dairy, eggs, meat and fish, plus having cream in my coffee once a day. I've tried a few recipes from the excellent books by Katie and Giancarlo Caldesi, who run some very good Italian restaurants in the UK, and the country loaf (low carb) is particularly good.
I had to buy a few new ingredients including psyllium husks, flax seeds and ground almonds, but it makes lunchtimes a whole lot easier having a couple of slices of bread from the freezer, along with some protein, salad if I'm minded, and a mug of bone broth.
I've discovered a few side benefits too. By largely eliminating the worst carb of the lot, sugar, the pain in my wrist, which is probably arthritis (the GP doesn't know) has gone away! My skin also looks better.
Protein and fat are both very good for satiety, so I'm not hungry between meals. As the Caldesi's write in their books, Giancarlo reversed his diabetes by eating low carb. Large amounts of insulin, from too much sugar or too many foods containing refined carbohydrates, prevent the brain from gauging leptin levels. This causes confusion to our normal weight-control signalling.
Two weeks in and I've already lost one inch off my waist. I'm also sleeping well, and feeling energetic. Once I've got rid of the other pound, I'll augment my diet with additional carbs such as oats, pulses and brown rice.
WHAT I'M EATING
A typical day in my current diet:
Breakfast: Greek yoghurt with toasted nuts and berries or the Caldesi granola, which has desiccated coconut and vanilla essence added, for sweetness;
Lunch: 2 slices of low carb bread with cheese and cherry tomatoes, bone both.
Dinner: chicken casserole with vegetables low in starch (broccoli, swede, chard).
If desperate for something to round off dinner, I might have a couple of squares of 85% dark chocolate, which satisfies the craving and contains polyphenols.
And this is perfectly acceptable as a weekend treat......
WHAT THE EXPERT SAYS
Dr Andrew Jenkinson, a consultant bariatric surgeon at University College London Hospital, is on the front line of the obesity epidemic. He says: “Insulin is increased by consuming too much sugar, too many foods containing refined carbohydrates such as wheat and too much vegetable oil.
"These foods do not cause weight gain because they contain too many calories, but because of the confusion they cause to your normal weight-control signalling.”
The food Jenkinson is referring to includes cakes, chocolate, sweet drinks, pasta, bread and polyunsaturated vegetable oils such as sunflower, canola and rapeseed oil. He advises cooking in butter or olive oil when frying and counsels against processed food.
If you're going to buy one of the Caldesi books, I recommend the most recent one, The Low Carb Italian Kitchen: Modern Mediterranean Recipes for Weight Loss and Better Health. It looks great on my tablet. In earlier books the couple added sweetness to recipes with ingredients such as dates or honey, to avoid using artificial sweeteners. They now use the sweetener erythritol, although you can still use the other methods if you prefer.
Their books give easy to understand explanations of what's high and low carb. and includes case studies of how people use their carb scale. Giancarlo eats a very low carb diet because he doesn't want Type 2 diabetes to return, whereas another member of the team, who has different health goals, consumes more carbs.
Get started with a handful of their recipes.
I hope I've given you food for thought! What are your preferred methods for weight loss? Do tell in the comments. Scroll down below the link-up for the comments box. See the full comments experience, with Disqus, by viewing the site on your tablet or PC (or choosing "web version" on your phone).
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I'm a fan of finding out the healthiest way of eating. And sugar is something I hardly take. Indeed you see it on your skin immediately. But sometimes I crave for something with sugar, and I have to take it sometimes because I have a bit of a under weight . Once you start you want more, horrible.
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