Low carb dieters.. WHAT do you eat?!

:sick: Hi, Low carb diets are very dangerous! I tried this and had lost weight but, I had developed a blood clot in my leg.
I could have had a stroke and died! but I was thin. I would have looked great on my death bed and in my coffin.
It's not a natural way to eat or live. Don't even think of trying this. It is very dangerous!

...and you actually had a doctor tell you that said blood clot was caused by a low carb diet? Or are just just assuming that because they occurred close together that one led to the other?

*This*

loled @ broscientists!

Anyway, I'm in a pretty good mood, and I'm an avid ketoer, so let me dispell all the myths about low carb diets RIGHT NOW! If you actually follow the diet properly like you are supposed to, there will not be any bad side effects after the first 10-20 days. See, a lot of people think low carb diets are bad for you because it makes them feel like crap when they start the diet. That's just because your body has to adapt to a new fuel source, that being fat. Most peoples' bodies are used to burning carbs as the primary fuel source, but low carb diets force the body to burn fat for fuel.

There are so many amazing pluses to eating low carb, high fat, it's hard to even list them all, but let's start with a few:

-Eliminate risk of Type II Diebetes
-Lower your risk of heart disease/stroke
-Highly reduced food cravings
-Eat less naturally, because fat is more filling that carbs (9cals/g fat vs 6cals/g carb).
-You don't feel tired and crappy after any meals
-INCREASED energy, after the induction phase is complete

The list goes on, but this diet is seriously amazing. Oh, I forgot to mention that you will lose weight on it AND retain muscle. We all know (or should know) that burning 1-2lbs/week is how to lose weight, and this diet does that all for you without even tracking your calories, just track your carb intake.

Final argument, bacon and eggs for breakfast. Every. Day.... Yep. "But bacon is bad for you blah blah blah!". Wrong. Bacon has a lot of mono/polyunsaturated (healthy) fats in it. All you need to watch out for really is the salt/nitrates. Just get the "natural" bacon.

Anyway, the thread title was "what do you eat". So here we go. Bacon/sausages and eggs with ranch or salsa every morning with a black coffee, burger patties with mayo or mustard, or hotdogs, or tuna/mayo or egg salad for lunch, steak, chicken or ground beef for dinner. In every meal you try to get some kind of green veggie with it. Personally I like a lot of broccoli and spinach. Obviously there is a lot more stuff to eat, this is just a few things. Just think, meat, cheese, eggs and green vegetables.

Anyway, if anyone wants a better keto guide or a resource for some recipes you can check out my information site on the diet at http://weightlosshiddentruth.com.

Cheers all!

Disclaimer #1: I think ridiculously low carb diets with regular exercise are generally stupid...
... Like I said.. I'm just curious.

If you don't know anything about it, how do you manage to be so opinionated?

A quick google search will give you a list of low carb foods. You could even research keto diets and find out about how intelligent people following low carb diets are managing their macros. It isn't difficult and it certainly isn't stupid.

I should have been more specific, I think it's stupid with strenuous regular exercise. Your body needs carbs for fuel with heavy exercise, that doesn't require knowledge of what a low diet carb consists of that's just fact.

Carbs are not a biological "necessity".............

Yes, of course it CAN be done, by why WOULD you do it? You'd feel a hell of a lot better, could push more weight and do more "jumping pull ups" with carbs than without.

No, some of us don't "feel a hell of a lot better".

Eating more carbs on a regular basis makes me lethargic, crabby, gives me headaches, achey joints, can bring on my depression that went away once I regularly cut down my carb intake, and a host of other negative impacts. Oh, I will get dark circles under my eyes as well. The only time I've ever had heartburn in my life is when I eat too many carbs, especially breads.

I lift heavy, do kettlebell routines with plyometrics, run, steep summit hikes/climbs carrying 25-35# backpacks, snowshoeing, occasional classes like spinning and kickboxing, and do regular long bike rides (33 hilly miles yesterday). And I feel great doing it.

.

Yes, some people don't do so well on carbs. That's true. But I think you'll find most do. If you can do all that stuff you mentioned and recover well then great, more power to you.

It's interesting you mention lethargy, crabbiness, headaches, achey joints and depression and credit that to carbs, then the only carb source you bring up is "breads". These sound like almost trademark symptoms of some kind of gluten-intolerance. Have you tried implementing carbs such as sweet potatoes, fruits and rice in your diet? Just curious.

Yes. While breads do have the worst impact on me, when my carbs creep up too high, it doesn't matter what kinds of foods they are made of. Again, I can eat more carbs on days I have longer, more intense exercise and I frequently do on those days because I enjoy them. But if I make a regular habit of eating more without mitigating with exercise, I pay a heavy penalty with how I feel.

I do find that I need to increase my carbs whenever I'm going to exercise steadily, especially if there are periods of high-intensity, for 2+ hours. For example, on Sunday I did a 33-mile bike ride with lots of hills. Lots. Steep, long ones. So, for that, I did a small carb-load and replenished with small amounts of carbs regularly throughout the ride, and then some carbs after. But if I had eaten that many carbs on a rest day, I would have had all the negative effects I've already described.

But a normal workout of about 60-90 minutes rarely requires an increase in carbs to do fine unless the intensity is pretty extreme. I'm going snowshoeing, back-country on steep slopes, not on groomed trails, on Saturday and find I need more carbs doing that than, for example, I do long bicycling rides, and I think this has something to do with the cold being a factor. Your body burns a lot of calories and carbs just trying to heat itself. Add in some pretty strenuous activity and bonking can happen. The last thing you want to have happen is to bonk when you're 2-3 hours in the back-country, in 20-degree weather, when going super-slow could force you to do an unplanned bivouac for the night or you could need to deal with an unexpected storm bringing on white-outs or avalanche risks. This is a case where carbs help keep you warm to fight off hypothermia. So I'll be carb-loading the day before and during the activity until I'm back to safety. Maybe even after in order to replenish glycogen stores because this is super-intense work compared most other activities I do. This is when I buy two of the giant cinnamon rolls from a local bakery that are the best ever and enjoy ever single bite! Usually eat one that morning and another for when I get home.

Believe me, if my body could handle more carbs every day I would eat more carbs as they are my favorite food items.

Edited to add: I do realize that many people do well on a lot more carbs. That's why you'll never find a post from me stating that anyone should cut their carbs unless they are describing issues that lead me to believe that carbs might be a problem for them. I just wish those who can liberally eat carbs without a problem would give those of us who can't or choose not to the same respect. I have problems with zealots from both sides of the issue.

Disclaimer #1: I think ridiculously low carb diets with regular exercise are generally stupid...
... Like I said.. I'm just curious.

If you don't know anything about it, how do you manage to be so opinionated?

You took the words right out of my mouth!!!

I still don't understand why it's assumed I don't know anything about it. I know the science behind why carbohydrates are important. What I was asking, is what do people who do low carb diets eat day to day? Out of my apparent "passive aggressive" curiosity, lol. I don't see why me defending my opinion makes me so awful, unless a doctor tells you to do so I don't agree with the idea of cutting an important macronutrient (for the most part) out of your diet.

Please cite the science why carbohydrates are important. What is important about this micronutrient?

I tend to eat about 80-100 grams/carb daily. Sometimes less and, occasionally, more.

I lift heavy, do kettlebell routines with plyometrics, run, steep summit hikes/climbs carrying 25-35# backpacks, snowshoeing, occasional classes like spinning and kickboxing, and do regular long bike rides (33 hilly miles yesterday).

My energy levels are great. I feel better, think clearer, have better memory, never get ill, and can go all day without eating a lot of carbs. If I eat more on a regular basis, I tend to get lethargic, headachey, grumpy, and depressed.

Sometimes I do eat more because I want a piece of cake or cookies or a good cinnamon roll but I need to be sure I do this on days when I have had a good, intense workout or I pay a physical/mental/emotional price for it. In other words, I may have such a treat on workout days but never on recovery days. During my 33 mile ride yesterday, one of the stops at this event had some yummy looking baked goods so I had some kind of peanut butter/graham cracker baked concoction that was divine. But I didn't need it for energy.

So, again, please tell me what I'm missing by not regularly ingesting more of this "important" micronutrient.

Extra points if you can avoid the rudeness that you displayed in your OP.

Blood glucose level of zero sounds like it's totally fine

Sure, if it's your goal to be dead.:huh:

I think people blame too much on carbs. It is not carbs that is the enemy, it is foods like white bread, white rice, fried potatoes etc etc. I loooove my fruits and veggies. I also think that high protein diets are overrated and can be dangerous. Too many people overdo it with the protein in my opinion.

I think people blame too much on carbs. It is not carbs that is the enemy, it is foods like white bread, white rice, fried potatoes etc etc. I loooove my fruits and veggies. I also think that high protein diets are overrated and can be dangerous. Too many people overdo it with the protein in my opinion.

Most low-carbers eat lots of vegetables. In fact, I eat a lot more vegetables on a lower-carb eating plan than I ever did when I was eating carbs. And most low-carb plans are not high protein.

I have always disliked white bread and white rice. Never ate them when I was eating more carbs. It's always been whole-grain breads and brown rice for me. And I only ate fried potatoes of any kind maybe a couple times a month. Never a regular thing. Of course, that may not be the case with everybody but your speculations are off-base.

Disclaimer #1: I think ridiculously low carb diets with regular exercise are generally stupid.
Disclaimer #2: I'm not planning on eating that way, this is pure curiosity because I've been researching nutrition quite a bit lately.


I work out pretty heavily. I eat like 160-200g of carbs a day. I see some people who say they eat between 30-60g. What my apparent ignorance here is how do you manage to take in even 1200 calories with that little carbohydrates without throwing your other macros totally out of whack? I have a fairly normal diet, it's not like I'm pounding pasta all day. Do ya'll not count carbs from fruits and veggies or something? Like I said.. I'm just curious.

My carb counts vary widely............

I adhere to a natural way of eating and some days my carb count is on the low side and other days on the moderate side.

I eat a variety of fats, first and foremost. Protein and then fill in the rest with vegetables and fruit.

I have plenty of energy to maintain my heavy lifting schedule and moderate cardio.

I enjoy the food I eat and my body likes it too. Processed foods don't agree with my body at all.

I don't know that I qualify as low carb (I generally try to get around 120 g a day, sometimes I go a little over, sometimes I'm a little under) but I for the most part don't eat grains, potatoes, or anything too starchy. I'm not quite as concerned about carbs as I am about sugar which I try to limit as much as possible. My meals are usually a protein and a veg. I like shredded coleslaw mix (with no dressing) cause I can eat a couple of cups of that with my meat or eggs/eggwhites and its pretty filling. I also will have a small amount of raw nuts with each meal, and I usually have at least one protein shake a day. I do eat some cheese, but try not to overdo it. Generally I do a lot o the same stuff over and over but not because I don't have options, I'm just pretty busy, and somewhat lazy so it makes it easier not to have to spend a ton of time thinking about what I'm going to eat.

I am not carb free but I am cutting down my gluten and therefor a lot of carbs that come from wheat. I read a article on how gluten sensitivity was linked to psoriasis and I have had it for the last 14 years. I thought, Why not?

I cut out most breads, pastas, and random foods that contain wheat and I lost the weight on top of my psoriasis getting better. Like ALOT better within a week!. I did have 2 flour tortillas last night... I'm super itchy today. My point is in how this related to carb free/low carb lifestyles is that I guess a lot of people hold weight because of a unknown gluten sensitivity and that's why going low carb is the only diet that works for them. The thing is, they don't need to go 100% carb free. Just eat rice, potatoes and alternative flours. So, I know you don't wanna go the carb free thing but maybe try only using those carbs and see what happens.

Anyhow, as far as food...

I have been trying a lot of cauliflower recipes off pinterest. It seems like a great alternative to crusts and potatoes.

I made these pizza bites that weren't half bad and only 17 calories a piece. (Don't listen to the OP, I calculated it myself and it is more) Also, I dont know what she is talking about with having a hard time cleaning the muffin tins...mine were just fine. I just sprayed on a little pam.
http://joandsue.blogspot.ca/2012/05/cauliflower-pizza-bites.html

Cauliflower potatoes, roasted cauliflower, cauliflower macaroni and cheese, cauliflower pizza dough

Meringue cookies made with sugar alternative -Usually about 9-20 calories a cookie depending if you put additions like chocolate chips in them...haha

Roasted cabbage, cabbage casserole, cabbage rolls

Zucchini Lasagna

Baked asparagus with Parmesan cheese

I make green bean casserole all the time for a side dish instead of a carb type dish. There as some carbs but not many

Lettuce wraps

Ham cups with eggs for breakfast (muffin pan, make the ham a cup, pour eggs in and bake)

A month or so ago I was having a lot of intestinal issues (something that's been going on my entire life). My doctor put me on hardcore probiotics because he said there was too much "bad" bacteria in my stomach, but he also said it was because my body was trying to process way too many carbs.

Because of this he cut me down to only 30g of carbs a day. Which is EXTREMELY low, but it worked. I stuck with it for a month or so and lost 9lbs......only to give in to a craving for pizza one day and suddenly get back on the road of "eat a bunch of bread and pizza" and I put the 9lbs right back on.

Since then I've modified what I eat, cutting out bread and pizza but generally not caring if other carbs are thrown in the mix. While on the diet I ate practically nothing but eggs meat and cheese and cut out a majority of fruits and vegetables because those can be high in carbs, only to realize I not only missed those things, but that I NEED them and so I eat them now.

I feel better, but I still have "bad" days that seem to be outweighing the good lately and just need to find the overall discipline to get stuff in order.

Disclaimer #1: I think ridiculously low carb diets with regular exercise are generally stupid...
... Like I said.. I'm just curious.

If you don't know anything about it, how do you manage to be so opinionated?

A quick google search will give you a list of low carb foods. You could even research keto diets and find out about how intelligent people following low carb diets are managing their macros. It isn't difficult and it certainly isn't stupid.

This ^^^^^^^^^^^^ X infinity!

What is glucose a fat?

Glucose as it is processed internally and metabolized can hardly be considered any one of the 3 macronutrients. Your body can survive on protein, FFA and ketones if it must for a very long time.

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