Hang in there, Twibbly. You'll get it figured out.

Twibbly wrote: »

For those of you who aren't following along, or can't remember who is doing what for how many cookies, I've been on an exceedingly restrictive eating plan for a bit in addition to being low carb. I had to raise my carbs because I could not for the life of me figure out how the heck to eat under 50g carbs a day and still get enough calories in with all I was leaving out.

Restriction list:

• Gluten
• Dairy (except butter)
• All grains except white rice
• Almonds
• Sugar and pretty much every sugar substitute (honey and coconut sugar were allowed). I have a bit of stevia in my protein powder and tea, but that's been about it.
• Chicken
• Eggs
• Soy

At this point, I'm having more binges than I was when I first started the restrictions, and definitely not seeing the results I was previously. So, I'm going to relax a few of my restrictions and see what happens.

1. Dairy - I'm not going to go chugging milk or adding cheese to everything, but I am going to try adding back in heavy cream, hard cheeses, and full-fat Greek yogurt.
2. Chicken - I'm going to say to heck with it and eat it. This will actually allow me to do such crazy things as eat out again, as I can get a salad with chicken on it. The times that I've eaten out and ate it anyways, I haven't had any problems.
3. Eggs - I'm not going to worry about foods that have eggs as a minor ingredient or where I don't end up eating a bunch of egg in the final product. Helloooooooo mayo.
4. Soy - the only form of soy in my diet (other than all the crap they add soy protein isolate to) prior to restriction was traditionally fermented gluten-free tamari soy sauce...and I miss it.

If these additions cause issues, I'll dial it back to base restriction, then try adding them in one by one to determine where the issue is. I'm going to closely monitor my digestion and wrists (the 2 places I notice the quickest if I'm eating crap).

Hopefully, this will result in fewer binges. If all goes well for 2 weeks, I'll lower the carbs back down after my road trip with my mother in July (I'll be back around the 14th).

I'm doing a similar diet except I can eat chicken. But otherwise, I avoid gluten, grain, seeds and nuts, nightshades, soy, eggs, and dairy. (Seeds and nightshades include any spices in those categories, too).

I worked with a dietician skilled in the AIP, who made the following meal plan guideline for me:

3 meals a day consisting of: 3oz protein, 1-2 cups non-starchy veggies, 1Tablespoon coconut oil, one other fat serving (equalling about 100 cal, like 1/2 avocado, 12 olives, 1Tablespoon oil or coconut butter, etc)

1-2 optional snacks of: 1 oz protein, 1/2-1 cup veggies, and one fat serving.

I average 30-50 gm of carbs, but also 20-30gm fiber so the net carbs are usually less than 30.

When you reintroduce foods, reintroduce only one at a time, over 3-5 days, so you can tell what your body's reaction is.

I learned the first time through this elimination diet a couple years ago to focus on what you *can* eat rather than the restrictions. Make a list of all the meats/ protein sources, veggies, and fats you *can* eat, and make your meal plan from that.

If you want any recipies for mayo, cream substitutes (many are coconut based), or anything else that would fit your eating plan, search for "autoimmune paleo" recipies. Paleomom.com, Phoenix Helix, the Curious Coconut are all blogs with many AIP recipes.

There's a good one for avocado oil-based mayo out there.

If you put a can of coconut milk in the fridge, it will naturally separate into its fatty portion (I call it cream, but "coconut cream" sometimes means coconut butter, it can get confusing) and coconut water. The creamy part can be used in coffee, can be whipped into whipped cream topping, etc. It's not the same as HWC, but it comes close.

Wow, I love the almonds but realize they are and issue for me, I will not stop eating them once I purchase. So, I had to put them out of site out of mind. Hide in the deep freeze , I will like to try some of he coconut oil for cooking. One thing for sure is figuring it out is a lot of work.

Why did you put so many restrictions on yourself, is this doctor ordered or health related? It seems like with so many restrictions you make it hard to stay on track and easy to fall of the wagon. Without Eggs, dairy, Chicken, or Soy I wouldn't be able to stay on this lifestyle change either because that is a majority of my daily food sources and protein.

Sugar is not bad so trying to cut that out of your life seems like a poor choice, you just need to cut bad sugar out of your diet Soda, Candy, ect. You wont hurt yourself by eatting fruits and veggies and these both have sugar, so if you eat them you will go over your macros most likely but it wont make you gain wait. My sugar macros are over every day and I am still loosing a ton of weight because I eat at a deficit.

I just cut out heavy carbs/starches like breads, pastas, potatoes...I didnt realize how much of it I had in my diet until I cut it out. From bagels to donuts, hashbrowns, to pastas and potatoes and corn. I relied to much on them. I also cut out bad sugars like soda and candy.

If its doctor ordered then I can understand, but it seems like a very hard restriction list if you expect to do this forever.

@soldiergrl_101 : Many of us on low carb diets avoid all sugar, and there are many reasons to do so. I'm on keto and nope, no sugar. I'd rather not get into it with you, though, as that's likely to spark a religious war.

@Twibbly : Try checking online or in a health food store for some things like macadamia nut oil. You may also enjoy a little macadamia nut butter, if available. If not, and you have a powerful blender, try making your own. Stuff it into celery sticks.
I do like to add fats to both drinks and foods. Today I am having a pork chop fried in bacon grease WITH a pat of butter on top.
For the dairy issue, I can definitely relate. I was lactose intolerant for over 10 years. For the past couple years, I've been having a probiotic tea every day which I think is what has enabled me to have dairy again:
https://www.bigelowtea.com/Shop-Teas/By-Type/Herbal/Lemon-Ginger-Herbal-Tea-Plus-Probiotics#.VZK_9aAVhBc

Good luck!

-T.

See that's different than cutting it out just to loose weight if you have bad reactions then there is a good reason