The diet I follow is based on Atkins Induction Phase, and I've lost over 60lb in the last 2 years. I do slip sometimes, usually with red wine
, but my weight is coming off, if slowly now, and what is more important, my blood glucose levels are almost always within the non-diabetic range.
My diet (
Viv's Modified Atkins Diet) is on the Sticky Thread section of the Board Index. What follows is a description of how I work my days' eating.
On my 'basic' Atkins-derived diet, I have a two-egg omelette almost every morning for breakfast; plain, or with mushrooms or cheese. If you don’t want eggs, you can eat bacon, sausage, tomatoes, mushrooms – in fact, the full English breakfast, only without bread, potatoes or baked beans.
Occasionally I will have about 30g of Lizi’s granola, or Allbran sweetened with Splenda. Either will take you over your daily carb allowance at first, but sometimes I need the fibre.
There’s no reason why you can’t have salad for breakfast; chicken salad is really very nice in the morning. If you’re short of time, prepare a plastic box full of tomato, sliced pepper, celery, radishes, hard-boiled eggs, cubes of cheese or a couple of Baby Bels, cold meat – bite sized pieces. Shove it in the fridge overnight, get it out in the morning, and grab a piece every time you pass while you’re getting ready.
That does really well for snacks too, or you can sit it on the passenger seat and grab a piece at a time while you're driving.
I usually have a large mixed salad for lunch with either fish (mackerel; tuna; salmon
or meat (usually poultry); and/or cheese; sometimes an avocado. Mayonnaise.
Supper will be fish or meat (red, poultry or good sausages) with veg (from: broccoli, cauli, leeks, green beans, courgettes, cabbage, a few carrots and so on; low-carb). Sometimes I make an enormous ratatouille and eat that as my veg over a few days. Butter and/or grated cheese on veg. Mayonnaise (full fat).
Snacks (I don't snack every day) are mainly cheese, cold meat, rarely a few nuts (a small handful – almonds, hazel, brazils, walnuts, pecans, macadamia), a few olives; and if I need a 'crunch', oatcakes or sesame Ryvita, with butter. They’re about 5g carbs per biscuit; no more than 4 a day – if you’re being really strict, you shouldn’t eat them at all at first – 20g per day is your allowance on this diet!
Vegetables – I eat up to 14oz of salad, and 14oz of the allowed veg, every day. In practise, it’s probably about 8oz of each – 14oz is a lot of salad!
No fruit at all in the early stage. If I have fruit, it will usually be berries; apples, plums, and apricots/nectarines in season. I certainly don't eat fruit every day.
Cream or live yoghurt with fruit; milk in coffee (1 or 2 a day) and on the cereal if I eat it. I have two pints of semi-skimmed delivered every week, and usually throw some of it away. With milk, the higher the fat the lower the carb; that’s why cream is allowed. I don't eat cheese every day, despite the above. I probably eat 1 pkt (half-pound) of butter a week. Oil is always cold-pressed extra virgin olive - I've just discovered it contains almost 16% saturated fat - nothing is simple, is it?
I don't stuff myself, but my portions would probably be considered on the large side! A chicken will last me 5 meals, for instance; a lamb shank, 2.
As you can see from the above, I eat very-low-carb and I don't limit my fat intake - provided it's not manufactured fat. If you want to eat more carbs a day, use the above as a basic guide but add in more carbohydrates using a carb-counter book to help you find low-carb foods. Preferably veg and low-carb fruits.
As you increase the carbs, so you lower the fat. With many people, particularly me :lol: , it's the combination of fat and carbohydrate that puts the weight on. If I eat high carb, my cholesterol goes up, particularly the bad triglycerides. If I eat Atkins-style, my cholesterol stays at an acceptable level, with an excellent lipid profile, my blood pressure improves and my BGs stay low. But - we are all different. Each of us has to work out what suits him/her, which is why we need our meters.
Good luck - and don't be afraid to ask questions.
Incidentally, metformin can help you lose weight, as well as giving some protection against strokes and cardiovascular disease, and apparently some types of cancer (new research). There are worse things to take - IMHO
Viv 8)
