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I'm Rosie and I'm a carboholic

Using smaller plates and bowls is a great idea. I now serve most of my meals in a pasta plate thing as I can't fill it as much as a big plate. I try and have half the bowl full of green veg with my evening meal or two thirds full of salad with my lunch. Having a biggish portion of low cal and low carb veg still makes my eyes tell my belly that I've eaten plenty but I don't leave the table feeling like I'm about to keel over.
I'm not a big fish fan, which was a pity given we owned a fish business but I love smoked mackerel and kippers and don't mind plain baked fish. I must try to eat more as it is better than processed meat for lunch.
The mindful course sounds good.. I think very few people get fat just through gluttony. Something starts you on that path and then an uncontrollable appetite takes it further and further, whether that something be carbs in general, or the high fructose drinks and foods or something psychological or a mix of them all. Breaking that cycle is what I hope the LC diet will do for me and do far it is helping. I don't have the same degree of food cravings and my appetite is certainly diminishing.
Onwards and downwards. X
 
cold ethyl said:
I think very few people get fat just through gluttony. Something starts you on that path and then an uncontrollable appetite takes it further and further.
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I used to think there had to be some deep psychological reason for my eating the way I did that I couldn't fathom, as basically I'm a very happy, cheerful person who loves her life. It's quite destructive, because one part of me liked myself and was proud of my achievements, yet another told myself I was a glutton and weak willed because I always failed on a diet, then put on more weight.

Now I have the attitude of being kinder to myself, and chucking in my job helped with that - sighs - only 3 years and I draw on my work pension early. Until then I'm doing bits and bobs to earn a little money and living off my wonderful husband!
 
RosieLKH said:
I used to think there had to be some deep psychological reason for my eating the way I did that I couldn't fathom, as basically I'm a very happy, cheerful person who loves her life. It's quite destructive, because one part of me liked myself and was proud of my achievements, yet another told myself I was a glutton and weak willed because I always failed on a diet, then put on more weight.

Now I have the attitude of being kinder to myself, and chucking in my job helped with that - sighs - only 3 years and I draw on my work pension early. Until then I'm doing bits and bobs to earn a little money and living off my wonderful husband!
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I'm with you there. We have a history of food dysfunction in my family. And for most of my teens and 20s, I was on an endless vicious cycle of binge eating followed by desperate attempts to lose weight by silly very low calorie dieting.

I thought I was an emotional eater. And a chocolate addict. And depressed. And a compulsive eater.

But if I had genuinely been ANY of those, then switching to low carb eating wouldn't have made all those symptoms disappear.

So it turns out that my poor body was just desperately trying to cope with hypoglycaemia, malnutrition, carb cravings and the emotional distress that goes with hand in hand with all of them.

So now I'm wondering how much of the food control and alcoholism that seeps through 3 generations, is to do with BG problems as a primary cause...?
 
Brunneria said:
I'm with you there. We have a history of food dysfunction in my family. And for most of my teens and 20s, I was on an endless vicious cycle of binge eating followed by desperate attempts to lose weight by silly very low calorie dieting.

I thought I was an emotional eater. And a chocolate addict. And depressed. And a compulsive eater.

But if I had genuinely been ANY of those, then switching to low carb eating wouldn't have made all those symptoms disappear.

So it turns out that my poor body was just desperately trying to cope with hypoglycaemia, malnutrition, carb cravings and the emotional distress that goes with hand in hand with all of them.

So now I'm wondering how much of the food control and alcoholism that seeps through 3 generations, is to do with BG problems as a primary cause...?
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It's why I'm sort of treating carbs like an alcoholic treats booze. I know what my downfall foods are, so am avoiding bread and any type of dough really. I'm not fussed about rice or potatoes, so will have a little of them occasionally. I'm enjoying having cheese, but am watching how much. My general rule is 25g at a time. I love meat, but am trying to always make sure it's under 100g at a time. Not being hungry is helping a lot.
 
Week 6 Fri 20/6/14
  • carbs - 62 - higher than normal due to red wine (I was surprised at the carbs in that) and the melon my husband bought as it was £1, not thinking that I've not been eating fruit.
  • cals - 2374 - Ahem! What can I say? I don't see my husband all week and when we get together we eat and drink. A lot of this came from the red wine and the bag of pork scratching my husband bought from the butcher. They were low carb though!
  • BG - 4.8 before lunch (and before husband got home), but I tested before bed to see how I'd fared and I was 7.3, so I seem to have coped reasonably well with the wine and melon, despite forgetting to take my Metformin and Gliclazide with my food. I also checked fasting level this morning and it was 5.4.
So, I'm doing OKish on the blood sugar levels, but slow going on the diet because I keep takings weekends off. I'm going to have make up for this during the week. Note to self - make next week the week you rejoin the gym.

I'm pleased that there didn't seem to be massive BS levels from eating a few more carbs though. That give me a lot of hope that as I lose weight and treat my liver/pancreas to better lifestyle choices, I'll be able to have things like fruit (which I miss) and occasional treats like ice-cream or pudding.

Edit - rechecked carbs in wine and melon and reduced number to 51.
 
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Brunneria said:
Good pork scratching are lush, aren't they?
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I've just eaten a bag, love, 'em. Trouble is, Tesco near me has replaced the scratchings with crunch, so the fat, no rind. They are not the same, can get stuck on the back of the tongue and I think are expensive. Must source a different supplier. xx
 
Rosie, where are you getting your carbs and cals from from the red wine? is it from an official website for the wine you drink?

I use the amounts shown in the book Carbs & Cals.

Red wine:
125ml 0 carbs, 85 cals
250ml 1 carb, 170 cals.
 
lunarlinda said:
I've just eaten a bag, love, 'em. Trouble is, Tesco near me has replaced the scratchings with crunch, so the fat, no rind. They are not the same, can get stuck on the back of the tongue and I think are expensive. Must source a different supplier. xx
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Our local butcher has them in little bags on the counter - far better than supermarket ones. Astonishingly good, actually.
And I'll be going in there in about an hour. Oh dear. :D

Edited, 1 hour and 10 mins later:

CRUNCH!!!
 
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Brunneria said:
Our local butcher has them in little bags on the counter - far better than supermarket ones. Astonishingly good, actually.
And I'll be going in there in about an hour. Oh dear. :D
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Would you get me a dozen packets please? I'll take them to our virtual picnic today. Thanks. xx
 
Bluetit1802 said:
Rosie, where are you getting your carbs and cals from from the red wine? is it from an official website for the wine you drink?

I use the amounts shown in the book Carbs & Cals.

Red wine:
125ml 0 carbs, 85 cals
250ml 1 carb, 170 cals.
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I got them from MYFitnessPal - lazily, I never checked them in Carbs&Cals. I've found a better entry now - with 170 confirmations. Checked the melon too and reduced the daily carbs to 51 - thanks!
 
Brunneria said:
Our local butcher has them in little bags on the counter - far better than supermarket ones. Astonishingly good, actually.
And I'll be going in there in about an hour. Oh dear. :D
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Butcher's scratchings are the best and much better value. Unfortunately we ate 200g between the two of us, but they only cost 70p.
 
Bluetit1802 said:
Phew! What does this better entry say?
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3 x 3.5fl oz glasses - 222 cals 5 carbs
200g melon - 72 cals 18 carbs

Well, I'm going to be adding rice into the mix tonight as we are out for a Korean bibimbap meal. I'll be interested to see what happens to my BS with rice. Back to less carbs for tomorrow and next week though.

Do me a favour next week. Keep mentioning joining the gym!
 
RosieLKH said:
Butcher's scratchings are the best and much better value. Unfortunately we ate 200g between the two of us, but they only cost 70p.
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Right, I'm off to the Butchers!. Trouble is, the local one where I've just moved to seems to sell bluebottles too, it has put me off going really. :( xx
 
Week 6 Sat 21/6/14
  • carbs - 119 - This is a guesstimate for the Korean bibimbap meal I had, but it shows that I had higher carbs than I've been having lately, especially since, after 4 glasses of wine and 3 schnapps :eek: I gave in to temptation and had a biscuit 'cos everyone else was scoffing them. :eek::eek:
  • cals - 1796 - that's what a night out with old friends does for you.
  • BG - 5.4 fasting, 5.6 before lunch - tested at bedtime, after large carby dinner and about 30 mins after having a biscuit - 7.8 - Not too bad for me.
Just looked back at my first post on this thread and my BG readings on a normal day were between 9.7 and 14.7, so the fact that I can now cope with the odd day off and I don't get those readings is remarkable and shows what a low carb diet can do in only a relatively short time. When I began this I thought it'd take a lot longer to get readings like that.
 
Week 6 Sun 22/6/14
  • carbs - 54
  • cals - 1381
  • BG - 8.3 - I think this might be the fall out from yesterday's very carby day
Back to very low carb from today (Monday) and hopefully I'll see another pound drop.
 
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