<p>Here’s hoping everyone has an “ah ha!” moment today! A moment where you figure out a better food/exercise option, put a little less food on your plate or think of just a little twist you can put into your meal/exercise options to live healthier!</p>
<p>BunsenBurner’s “nutritional lens” works for me. I really advise trying to find love in your heart for good food, vs. secret cravings for junk:).</p>
<p>The concept isn’t perfect. I am sure that milk chocolate doesn’t fit in there, but I don’t like dark chocolate, and I keep it to 4-5 squares of a big bar, per day. There’s got to be room in life for small frayed bits.</p>
<p>I was in the baking section at the grocery store and unsweetened chocolate looked pretty good nutritionally to me. I didn’t look at the sweetened stuff (which I think is considered normal chocolate in the US).</p>
<p>Unsweetened, 70% cocoa dark chocolate, is nutritionally recommended. But I don’t like it:(. I figure I can eat twice as much 35% milk chocolate and then just watch sugar and calories elsewhere…</p>
<p>I’m kidding. Kind of.</p>
<p>My problem is that I like to eat more of the things I like than my body can burn even with some exercise scheduled in there. I would have to be training for the Iron Woman contest to burn off what I want to eat. My metabolism in the last few years has slowed down so that I cannot eat the way I used to. I’m small, so I don’t have a lot of leeway. </p>
<p>The answer is to go the Atkins route, but I really love the carbs. I can give up the proteins and fats and live on bread alone, oh yes. And I like white bread and the worst carbs the most. </p>
<p>I’m still considered small, but I have a definite pot belly, muffin top–call it what you like that I want to melt. The weight is all pretty much there. I can now see why people consider liposuction. If it were easy, I vacuum that ring of flab and fat off too.</p>
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<p>Why do you not think low-carb is healthy? There is a lot of research out now that says that it is very healthy. On the “other thread,” just today idad posted a podcast by an MIT-trained current Stanford researcher (and cyclist) discussing low-carb diets and atheletes.</p>
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<p>Most if not almost all people who do any type of “diet” regain the weight. The key is to not “diet” but to make long-term lifestyle changes. I can’t imagine why I wouldn’t be able to sustain low-carb eating.</p>
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<p>I would be alarmed by hair loss too but I wouldn’t automatically assume low-carb was to blame.</p>
<p>cpt…the lower carbs has really helped me lose in the belly area. Don’t get me wrong…it is still there but reducing the bread has really made a difference for me and I hate to admit it but I am a breadaholic. In the past year I lowered my carbs and exercised my butt off…literally and figuratively! 
I have lost 50 pounds by reducing bad carbs, allowing myself moderate fat and making sure I have some type of protein at each meal even though I don’t eat any red meat. I don’t really count the exact grams of it all. Having a wedding in the family this summer has also provided a lot of motivation! My D2 is a very thin girl and always finds it funny when she has a higher carb meal because she notices how bloated her stomach gets. She calls it her “food baby”! It is truly noticeable!</p>
<p>My favorite tips are:
Drink water!
Play games with yourself while working out…I won’t get off the recumbent bike unless I am on an even amount of miles, or listen to three more songs, or until my heart rate is at my max, etc.
My new favorite food is roasted veggies! Who knew that roasting changes the texture and flavor so much!
I am loving my new magazine…Clean Eating. Love the recipes!</p>
<p>Good Luck to All! :)</p>
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<p>This is like brushing and flossing.</p>
<p>You go to the dentist, fix the cavities, chipped teeth and other problems and then you need to brush and floss for the rest of your life or the problems come back.</p>
<p>I’m a lifelong exercise person. I put on a lot of weight but I always did something strenuous at least once a week, even at higher weight levels.</p>
<p>I just had an “ah-ha,” as abasket put it. </p>
<p>According to sparkpeople.com, the pear I plan to eat as my snack today has 32 carbs. That’s 1/3 of my daily limit. I’ll see if I can go without.</p>
<p>I am really hoping this thread just sticks to simple tips.</p>
<p>Northminnesota, I love roasted vegetables, too, but I’ve wondered whether they are as good for you as steamed vegetables. The reason they taste so good is that the roasting turns them to sugar! I’ve wondered about carmelized onions, too.</p>
<p>That’s what’s weird about being on a low carb diet is stuff like a pear, that you always thought was a healthy snack, you find out is loaded with sugar. Same thing with grapes. My favorite low carb snack is Emerald Cocoa Roast Almonds, 6 grams carbs in an ounce (~24 almonds) with 3 grams fiber for a net 3 carbs. I like sunflower seeds in the shell too. For fruit, I stick to blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries and cantaloupe. I still eat plenty of roasted vegetables and caramelized onions - I figure they might be slightly carby but better than a lot of stuff you can eat. </p>
<p>Another favorite is take 8 frozen strawberries, slightly thawed, and put in the blender with 2-3 T. heavy cream and a packet of Splenda, blend until ice cream consistency. It is sooo good. Also Blue Bunny Sweet Freedom fudgecicles.</p>
<p>I ate one Samoa girl scout cookie last night (9 grams carbs) and it tasted horrible to me. Plasticky and artificial. Amazing how fast your tastes can change in a short amount of time. I used to be able to eat half a box at one time.</p>
<p>From what I’ve read onions and garlics are very good for you. I cook with lots of onions, they provide the natural sweet.
It’s true that I’ve only lost less than 10 lbs but the inches around my waste have come off a lot more than I had imagine by skipping carbs. I also don’t have that much allergy, almost none. I’ve read it’s the low sugar that is responsible for it. No scientific data. I’m just doing what feels good. When I crave for dessert, I do allow myself a spoon or two of a cake/dessert. Portion control is very important as far as carb is concerned. I eat plenty of meat like pork loin, steak, chicken, fish. However, I won’t knowingly eat fat like what I saw in the Jan’s sushi bar blog. She seems to have jars of fat, not sure for what reason.</p>
<p>Jan renders fat from meat and saves it to cook with. I couldn’t stomach doing this.</p>
<p>NYMom…Don’t know whether one is better than the other. Just know it is working for me! :)</p>
<p>WNP…simplest tip of all is the now famous saying " Eat Less, Move More!". ;)</p>
<p>Humans need all sorts of nutrients and they cannot be gotten from any extreme diet plan. We need to eat a variety of foods to cover all our bodily needs. Vitamin pills are not a substitute for skipping whole categories of foods! When we were kids no one knew that in order for Vitamin A to “work” in a pill it needed beta-carotene, there is so much about how our body uses food that we don’t know.</p>
<p>Modified Atkins? Perhaps. Strict Atkins? Not long term. A variety of nutrient dense food is the way to go.</p>
<p>NYMomof2, I couldn’t render fat from meat either, or even eat the fat on meat, since I don’t like it, but I now buy jarred coconut oil and ghee (clarified butter) and cook with them instead of “vegetable” oils. Smells much better.</p>
<p>Canola oil has always smelled like burned rubber to me.</p>
<p>NorthMinnesota, I like roasted veggies too. Might try to substitute for potatoes and other heavy duty carbs. But I so love rice, bread, and pasta. I can eat all of that plain.</p>
<p>I cook mostly with olive oil. Is that now considered bad for you? What’s the deal with coconut oil?</p>
<p>Don’t confuse the Atkins two-week induction period with the Atkins overall eating plan. Induction is strict and you do not feel well during the first part of it, but as you complete the keto-adaptation process, you start to feel really good and the weight falls off. Once you go through the stages of Atkins, you have determined your daily carb level to keep you at your goal weight. This level can range up to 150 grams of carbs, depending on how you react. I am keeping between 40 and 60 grams per day and still losing a small amount. My husband is much less carb-sensitive than I am and is eating more carbs and still losing some weight too.</p>