• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Zero Carb

I was 5.5 pounds lighter last Friday (I'm weighing on Fridays).

Its mostly leafy green veg, planted especially with very low carbing in mind - although I do have a greenhouse full of tomatoes of all different shapes and sizes which are under-ripe right now.
 
Ever try smoothies, green drinks? Wonder if they would freeze ok. Best would be too eat right out of the garden of course. If you decide to add veg back in maybe the smoothie green drink with avocado haha. Should be easy on the stomach. I have steamed fresh greens and frozen in flat baggies and just broken off my portions, reheated and added oil and herbs. I think if you par cooked them, froze and finished cooking later would be better than wasting or letting them get too big they're not tender anymore.

Not only am I the avocado queen but the freezer queen too. Not sure that avatar would be good haha

Ooohhhh....love tomatoes but I get arthritic symptoms with nightshades but loads of things you can do with those.

Congrats on the weight loss. Now if the fasting would cooperate.
I took one lantus last night. Went to bed at 89. 3:30 am 71 and fast 101. This is better than the 50's during the night an did rather fix it in the morning when I have more control. I also woke up later than normal and I k ow that effects it.

Higher fasting is just a blip in the day. I think I have to eat dinner even earlier. I could hardly keep my eyes open until 10:30!

Oh, just realized your T2! How did I confuse that???!!! Why did I think you took insulin, or do you?
 
Weekly update / report:

Weight: Lost another 1.5 pounds - making it 7 pounds in total over the last two weeks
Blood pressure: Still very good
Blood glucose: About the same as last week.

I don't think this can be a constant way of eating for me and I admire anyone who eats this way all the time. It is not easy, very boring and the 'bathroom issues' are not nice. (Yes, I know, TMI.)

I am missing veg more each day and the food boredom is increasing. ZC is achieving what I wanted it to do with my BG but it did most of that in the first week and reduced my blood pressure (not sure why but I'm happy about it). I have noticed I've been getting headaches quite often which is something I'm not used to suffering with - I don't know if its connected.

I think, for me, I will use ZC in the same way people use fasting as it has pretty much the same results for me as fasting used to but without the rumbling tummy.

So, after giving it a lot of thought, after this weekend, I will transition on to ZC on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and back to very low carb for Fridays to Mondays. If I notice my BG going up I will revert to ZC all the time as it is an excellent tool for reducing BG.
 

I just get arthritic pains - nothing I eat seems to make it worse (or better) - the only thing that really seems to affect it is the weather.

Up to two years ago I used to be an insulin dependent T2 - but I reduced carbs enough to stop using the insulin although I have to keep both Lantus and Novorapid in my fridge just in case, for instance, I get admitted in to hospital where they really don't cater for a low carb way of eating. My doctor still has me classified as insulin dependent.

I've been blanching and freezing green beans all week. Mr C has been eating most of the broccoli and the dogs have been enjoying the chard - the problem is if you stop harvesting veg it stops producing. Luckily my dogs love veg (as well as proper dog dinners).
 
Am into day 5 of zero carbing and so far so good, have decided at the weekend to have my Lchf diet but attempt another 5 days of zero carbs next week. Can't believe I went through 20 eggs this week, although my cheesy scrambled egg for lunch today was lovely.

Am combining zero carb with 16 - 8 fasting which I was doing anyway, family and friends think I have gone mad.

Have to agree with you that it is quite a boring diet and take my hat off to those that do it long term. Like you @Chook I may slip in and out of zero carbing, am eating far less than usual ( and wasn't eating much before), just not excited or bothered by food.

Have really enjoyed this thread and am soooo jealous of your veggie garden chock which sounds lovely... X
 
Chook said:
I have noticed I've been getting headaches quite often which is something I'm not used to suffering with - I don't know if its connected.
Click to expand...
Are you having extra salt? Many people find their salt consumption is too low when eating this way... sorry if you have mentioned this already..
 
Good stuff @Chook
 
bulkbiker said:
Are you having extra salt? Many people find their salt consumption is too low when eating this way... sorry if you have mentioned this already..
Click to expand...

No, I haven't been having extra salt. Actually it's funny you mention salt because it only occurred to me yesterday that everything tastes of salt - even plain meat that hasn't been seasoned. Which probably explains why I've needed to drink at least two litres of sparkling mineral water each day.
 

Try putting a bit under your tongue.. if you have some sea salt or something like that. Because we aren't eating rubbish our salt levels can get quite low.. also drinking more water can flush salt out of your system so its an idea to add some back. It's usually the first suggestion when people mention feeling odd or headaches on the ketogenicforums and most come back to say it helps immensely.
 
Last edited:
I agree with salt. Zero carb is dehydrating by nature so adding some salt with help balance the electrolytes.
You can put some in your water and sip all day or if food tastes salty without it then put a good bit on one bite. Then flush down with water.
 
I will definitely give salt a try as I've had enough of these headaches. Thank you for the suggestion. x
 
I definitely process carbs better after 3pm so I eat veggies after that time. My carb to insulin ratio goes like this : am ( 12:1u Humalog ) , mid-day (20:1u Humalog) and after 3pm (40:1u Humalog .)
 
Tidpatty65 said:
I definitely process carbs better after 3pm so I eat veggies after that time. My carb to insulin ratio goes like this : am ( 12:1u Humalog ) , mid-day (20:1u Humalog) and after 3pm (40:1u Humalog .)
Click to expand...
Wow. What a difference. Similar to mine I'd guess but I don't eat carbs per se. I do however bolus for protein and meal size. I eat snack sized meals so boluses are quite small.
No carbs at bf for me. Even protein spikes me then. So just half of a nice fatty avocado.
 
I've been mainly VLC this weekend but with few carbs and - big surprise - I had my first hypo for years yesterday. I went down to 3.2. Luckily I knew what it was immediately and ate some cherry tomatoes and frozen cherries when I got back home to bring it back up slowly but it kept going back down. I'm fine today.

I had a large salad with chicken wings yesterday for my dinner and felt quite bloated by the salad - not enough to put me off salad though - just something I haven't had all the while I've been ZC.

I've decided the best way forward for me is to shake it all up a bit - VLC on Saturdays and Sundays, ZC on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and intermittent fasting on Mondays and Fridays. Hopefully, this way, my body won't be able to adjust to change in diet which it is very good at doing.
 
Oh...that nasty but oh so good salad!! My p oblem with veggies / salads at dinner is the bloating. Then comes the insomnia. If my tummy isn't happy I don't sleep. Period. Happened last night. We brought our own food to a festival last night and I was still hungry ( and of course I didn't bring my refrigerator) so I scammed some of my hubbies salad. Bad idea. Took over two hours to get to sleep. Not feeling overly stomach happy today either.
I was eating lettuce wraps as it moderated and portion controlled my lettuce consumption but stopped for som reason. Not the same as a salad either

What caused your hypo??

I'm still dropping too low during the night so guess what I'm going to try tonight ?? A scoop of AVOCADO. There is something in its make up that keeps me from spiking or dropping. If this doesn't work I'm out of ideas. Only taking one unit of lantus when I'm in the 90's and dropping to the low 60's but back up to 80's -90's waking.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…