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wabmester
Posts: 2,748 Member
Just saw an old friend after about 8 years. He asked me "what's your secret?" I told him to read Art and Science of Low Carb.
I also told him the secret to avoiding the "low carb flu" was to ensure sufficient sodium intake, especially in the first couple weeks. His wife is an MD, and she was nodding her head through-out our conversation.
The next day, I got an email.
You guys all look like you are in good shape!
I have decided to do the low carb diet again after our meeting. I have been on it 3 or 4 times before, but couldn't stay with it for more than a year or so. Can you give me an idea of what kind of food you eat for breakfast, snacks, etc? What kind of carbs can you eat?
I will also check out the book you mentioned. Hopefully I can follow it without following asleep!
Here's my response. What would you change? How would you encourage a friend to try LC?
Yeah, I also tried LC about 10 years ago but didn't stick with it. So this time my top priority was sustainability. I.e., eat LC foods that you already love. Don't feel deprived.
For me, that meant a lot of eggs, meat, and nuts. Also occasional berries and DARK chocolate. Some of my favorite snacks are toasted unsweetened coconut flakes. I've attached a "keto" food pyramid to give you some ideas.
You might want to track some health markers along the way. You should see triglycerides go down, HDL go up, and ALT go down. Those are markers associated with insulin resistance and fatty liver. Also, fasting blood glucose and HbA1c are useful to track for some people.
Exercise will help too. Not so much for weight loss, but it'll help maintain muscle mass while you lose weight. Increased muscle mass also helps with glucose uptake. And you'll look and feel better too.
Finally, consider joining a site like myfitnesspal.com to help with tracking and to get support from their forums.
I also told him the secret to avoiding the "low carb flu" was to ensure sufficient sodium intake, especially in the first couple weeks. His wife is an MD, and she was nodding her head through-out our conversation.
The next day, I got an email.
You guys all look like you are in good shape!
I have decided to do the low carb diet again after our meeting. I have been on it 3 or 4 times before, but couldn't stay with it for more than a year or so. Can you give me an idea of what kind of food you eat for breakfast, snacks, etc? What kind of carbs can you eat?
I will also check out the book you mentioned. Hopefully I can follow it without following asleep!
Here's my response. What would you change? How would you encourage a friend to try LC?
Yeah, I also tried LC about 10 years ago but didn't stick with it. So this time my top priority was sustainability. I.e., eat LC foods that you already love. Don't feel deprived.
For me, that meant a lot of eggs, meat, and nuts. Also occasional berries and DARK chocolate. Some of my favorite snacks are toasted unsweetened coconut flakes. I've attached a "keto" food pyramid to give you some ideas.
You might want to track some health markers along the way. You should see triglycerides go down, HDL go up, and ALT go down. Those are markers associated with insulin resistance and fatty liver. Also, fasting blood glucose and HbA1c are useful to track for some people.
Exercise will help too. Not so much for weight loss, but it'll help maintain muscle mass while you lose weight. Increased muscle mass also helps with glucose uptake. And you'll look and feel better too.
Finally, consider joining a site like myfitnesspal.com to help with tracking and to get support from their forums.
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Well said!0
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LOVE THIS SO MUCH!1
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Lovely. You could mention tracking measurements not just scale weight and flag ensuring they get enough sodium/magnesium. Could mention some key search terms or sites to help them find low carb meals. That's a couple of tweaks but given you dont want to overwhelm them I'd just hit send. You are a good friend.
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I love that food pyramid. I haven't seen that before, actually.0
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I really like the Keto pyramid too. Great tool. Thanks for posting.0
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I love the pyramid!! My husband "gets it" now that I have basement to the doctor and all of my blood work is now NORMAL. He finally understands that I am not killing myself and clogging up my arteries. I am blessed that he loves me so much. However that doesn't mean he is willing to eat "my" way. Lol1
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SamandaIndia wrote: »Lovely. You could mention tracking measurements not just scale weight and flag ensuring they get enough sodium/magnesium. Could mention some key search terms or sites to help them find low carb meals. That's a couple of tweaks but given you dont want to overwhelm them I'd just hit send. You are a good friend.
YESSSS! Sodium and magnesium needs made themselves painfully apparent to me last week! I ended up in the ER last Wednesday with back spasms so terrible that I thought I was passing kidney stones. Since there was no blood in my urine, the doc said just having muscle cramps and gave me muscle relaxers. I had to double my magnesium citrate to get relief.0 -
The book I recommended for him (Art and Science of Low Carb) is the only one I've seen that covers the need for sodium, potassium, and magnesium on low carb. Phinney was the first to really understand the mechanism of sodium losses on low carb, and that's why he recommends salted bone broth for as long as you're ketogenic.0
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How cool you maybe got a convert! From what I've seen posted on boards and from own experience is to embrace both salt and more fat. It can be hard to reprogram that dogma.
I understand you don't wanna overwhelm him. If he has issues I like the electrolytes link in our sticky pad and the FAQ from r/keto for a condensed resource.
https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/wiki/faq
I also think it's important for newcomers to understand that he may be OK with just lowcarbing and that carb threshold for keto adaptation is individual. ...and that he has to experiment to find his level to sustain adaptation.
Cheers.3
