Vegan? Vegetarian? Paleo? High Carb?

Options
2

Replies

  • jedibunny
    jedibunny Posts: 321
    Options
    Raised vegetarian, made changes to include more protein and fewer carbs earlier this year. I know I'm deficient in some things like iron and B12 (and therefore get tired easily), which I now take supplements to aid with, and I'm constantly seeking new sources of protein.
  • jching29
    jching29 Posts: 163
    Options
    I pretty much eat whatever seems right at the time, but I've severely limited my added sugars intake. I cook using less oil, exercise when I have the time, and eat when I'm hungry. I fill up mostly on large amounts of low-calorie vegetables (lettuce, tomato, cucumber, spinach, etc) and garnish with meats (chicken, lean beef, fish) and fats (avocado, oils, etc.) It's been pretty easy, and I can eat less while staying fuller, longer. I've loved it, so far :)

    I also maintain that having days every now and then (not scheduled ones, because that's baloney) are good for you. Eating some buffalo wings when you've been good for two weeks straight is only going to strengthen your resolve to lose weight.
  • UponThisRock
    UponThisRock Posts: 4,522 Member
    Options
    I'm in the camp that tries to piss all those camps off with my diet
  • kecarlto
    kecarlto Posts: 49 Member
    Options
    I am living a paleo lifestyle and feel the best I have in years. I had been following the dietary exchange for about 1 year (lots of fruits and veggies, low "healthy" carbs, lean protein and low fat dairy) and did have some success but stopped losing weight and started to feel tired all the time.

    After switching to paleo about 30 days ago, my energy is steady, I'm always satisfied, sleep better, wake up more easily, have clearer skin...the list goes on and on. AND the weight has started coming off! I'm 15 lbs lighter than I was 30 days ago without restricting my cal intake. It was a pretty easy switch for me as I was already very low grain and sugar.

    My diary is open (at least I think it is)
  • christinehetz80
    christinehetz80 Posts: 490 Member
    Options
    I am living a paleo lifestyle and feel the best I have in years. I had been following the dietary exchange for about 1 year (lots of fruits and veggies, low "healthy" carbs, lean protein and low fat dairy) and did have some success but stopped losing weight and started to feel tired all the time.

    After switching to paleo about 30 days ago, my energy is steady, I'm always satisfied, sleep better, wake up more easily, have clearer skin...the list goes on and on. AND the weight has started coming off! I'm 15 lbs lighter than I was 30 days ago without restricting my cal intake. It was a pretty easy switch for me as I was already very low grain and sugar.

    My diary is open (at least I think it is)

    Love the info! Thank you I'll peek at your diary!
  • lporter229
    lporter229 Posts: 4,907 Member
    Options
    I am gluten-free. I have Crohn's disease and read numerous account from people with Crohn's who had success with a GF diet. Family and friends kept suggesting I try it and I was at a point where I was willing to try anything. I felt I could not discredit it if I hadn't tried it. I fully expected it to be a waste of my time. But it turns out I was wrong. It has made a huge difference in my digestion and over all physical well-being.

    That said, it has been EXTREMELY challenging and I would not recommend it to everyone. I often think of slowly phasing gluten product back into my diet, but I remember how poorly I felt before and I become scared. I do not want to go back there. From what I understand, many people with Crohn's go through periods of tolerance/intolerance with gluten (just like we go through periods of activity/remission), so who knows. The thought of never eating a real pizza again is kind of depressing. Then again, so is the thought of returning to the pain and suffering. Right now I will just play it by ear and I feel good so I don't want to change anything.
  • victoria4321
    victoria4321 Posts: 1,719 Member
    Options
    I eat pretty much everything except for grains and potatoes just cause I don't like them all that much anyway. If someone else cooked it I'd probably eat it as to not be rude. I don't eat much dairy aside from raw butter and if I get coffee from a coffee place I'll put milk and sugar in it. I eat ice cream also. If I didn't buy it then I'll eat the regular dairy one and when I buy it I get the coconut milk kind. I try to aim to keep my macros at 40/30/30 but I tend to go over on fat and not meet all the protein often.

    There wasn't much of a transition aside from me being lazy. When I cook I find grains and starches take the longest to cook. Since they're flavorless on their own and I don't care too much for them anyway, I just don't even bother with it. I couldn't just eat plain rice or potatoes without a lot of sauce or something on it. Same with oatmeal except I'd need tons of sugar, butter and milk to even enjoy it. I find I can get all my carbs from fruits and veggies anyway.
  • kecarlto
    kecarlto Posts: 49 Member
    Options
    I'm in the camp that tries to piss all those camps off with my diet

    Haha! Just peeked at your diary - and your statement is so true. You lift?
  • noirnatural
    noirnatural Posts: 310 Member
    Options
    I am a Vegetarian, I lost my taste for meat and meat products...Its been about six years and the transition was easy because I have always loved vegetables and fruits,
  • terminatorsmom
    terminatorsmom Posts: 2 Member
    Options
    I just started paleo 5 days ago and Im amazed on what it has done for me so far.
    Im not hungry at all.
    the first few days were a killer with my body getting adjusted to no caffine and Im sure from all the junk thats in the processed foods.
    The only thing I have found is I have to add sea salt to some foods ONLY because my blood pressure is already low. Working out hard and loosing alot of sodium but other than that I feel awesome and Ive lost 6 lbs since I started.
  • christinehetz80
    christinehetz80 Posts: 490 Member
    Options
    I'm in the camp that tries to piss all those camps off with my diet

    Haha! Just peeked at your diary - and your statement is so true. You lift?

    Thats what I was thinking too! My husband can eat like that without gaining weight so I'm used to it.
  • Diarau
    Diarau Posts: 3
    Options
    Growing up I was that kid that hated meat, but always asked for extra servings of veggies. After years of dinnertime battles, my parents finally accepted that I wasn't going to eat meat. I've been vegetarian for most of my life, but I still eat some dairy. I really want a more toned body, which requires more protein that I was getting, so recently I've started eating some fish. I guess they call that pescatarian. I'm not a huge fan, but I'm starting to get the results that I want!

    Last summer I started a raised garden bed and planted lots of herbs and veggies. I would recommend that everyone try it. Once you switch to fresh food (and I mean, walking out the back door and picking a tomato, fresh) there is no going back! We canned and dried what we weren't going to eat immediately and saved for the winter months. It was a nice reminder of summer when there was a foot of snow on the ground, and it cut our grocery bill. :) We actually planted two raised beds this year...for more canning!
  • UponThisRock
    UponThisRock Posts: 4,522 Member
    Options
    I'm in the camp that tries to piss all those camps off with my diet

    Haha! Just peeked at your diary - and your statement is so true. You lift?

    Yep. No cardio in about a year
  • grinch031
    grinch031 Posts: 1,679
    Options
    I'm on a cyclical low carb diet (low carb week days, moderate carb weekends). The reason I adopted this diet was because I was overcome with excessive hunger and binging due to a very active lifestyle (distance running, weight lifting, tennis) while on a high carb diet. I started low carb 6 months ago because it allows me to naturally reduce my intake and hence maintain a lower weight without counting calories at all.

    In order to accommodate my running without going back to a high carb diet that didn't work for me, I incorporated the cyclical carb refeeds to help fuel my weekend longer runs. I follow the 'train low, compete high' protocol which hypothesizes that training on low glycogen stores is beneficial, and also that it is not necessary to fuel all runs on carbs when you are keto-adapted. Also I found the weekend carb refeeds have a psychological effect of giving me something to look forward to so I'm not constantly depriving myself of tasty junk foods, just severely cutting back.

    And finally, following a low-carb protocol makes it very easy for me to make decisions as to what foods to eat when I'm out at a restaurant for example. When you can eat anything you want and are planning your calories, its hard to decide whether you should eat an appetizer or save up for just the entree, or save up for dessert, etc. With low carb, you pretty much can only eat a salad and meat entree and cut out most other things. Its much easier to avoid overeating that way for me.
  • victoria4321
    victoria4321 Posts: 1,719 Member
    Options
    I'm in the camp that tries to piss all those camps off with my diet

    Haha! Just peeked at your diary - and your statement is so true. You lift?

    Yep. No cardio in about a year

    Do you feel like you'd be in pretty decent cardio shape if you were to go for a run or something though?

    Just curious because I run once a week or so just because I'm worried I won't be able to run a lot anymore. Since I cut back on cardio I almost feel like I should do it to maintain my cardio fitness or something.
  • christinehetz80
    christinehetz80 Posts: 490 Member
    Options
    I'm on a cyclical low carb diet (low carb week days, moderate carb weekends). The reason I adopted this diet was because I was overcome with excessive hunger and binging due to a very active lifestyle (distance running, weight lifting, tennis) while on a high carb diet. I started low carb 6 months ago because it allows me to naturally reduce my intake and hence maintain a lower weight without counting calories at all.

    In order to accommodate my running without going back to a high carb diet that didn't work for me, I incorporated the cyclical carb refeeds to help fuel my weekend longer runs. I follow the 'train low, compete high' protocol which hypothesizes that training on low glycogen stores is beneficial, and also that it is not necessary to fuel all runs on carbs when you are keto-adapted. Also I found the weekend carb refeeds have a psychological effect of giving me something to look forward to so I'm not constantly depriving myself of tasty junk foods, just severely cutting back.

    And finally, following a low-carb protocol makes it very easy for me to make decisions as to what foods to eat when I'm out at a restaurant for example. When you can eat anything you want and are planning your calories, its hard to decide whether you should eat an appetizer or save up for just the entree, or save up for dessert, etc. With low carb, you pretty much can only eat a salad and meat entree and cut out most other things. Its much easier to avoid overeating that way for me.

    SEE this is why I love the message boards. I've noticed similar things. I am starting training for a half and when my runs get into higher mileage (for me I'm sure my higher mileage is seen by others as their warm-up runs) and with the weight training, yoga, and cycling I do get much hungrier, but low carb doesn't work due to energy. I like the carb cycling method, but haven't employed it....maybe its something I need to research more!!!! Thank you!

    BTW, I'm really enjoying everyone's posts and appreciate the input so many interesting food lifestyles to choose and learn from!
  • grinch031
    grinch031 Posts: 1,679
    Options
    I'm on a cyclical low carb diet (low carb week days, moderate carb weekends). The reason I adopted this diet was because I was overcome with excessive hunger and binging due to a very active lifestyle (distance running, weight lifting, tennis) while on a high carb diet. I started low carb 6 months ago because it allows me to naturally reduce my intake and hence maintain a lower weight without counting calories at all.

    In order to accommodate my running without going back to a high carb diet that didn't work for me, I incorporated the cyclical carb refeeds to help fuel my weekend longer runs. I follow the 'train low, compete high' protocol which hypothesizes that training on low glycogen stores is beneficial, and also that it is not necessary to fuel all runs on carbs when you are keto-adapted. Also I found the weekend carb refeeds have a psychological effect of giving me something to look forward to so I'm not constantly depriving myself of tasty junk foods, just severely cutting back.

    And finally, following a low-carb protocol makes it very easy for me to make decisions as to what foods to eat when I'm out at a restaurant for example. When you can eat anything you want and are planning your calories, its hard to decide whether you should eat an appetizer or save up for just the entree, or save up for dessert, etc. With low carb, you pretty much can only eat a salad and meat entree and cut out most other things. Its much easier to avoid overeating that way for me.

    SEE this is why I love the message boards. I've noticed similar things. I am starting training for a half and when my runs get into higher mileage (for me I'm sure my higher mileage is seen by others as their warm-up runs) and with the weight training, yoga, and cycling I do get much hungrier, but low carb doesn't work due to energy. I like the carb cycling method, but haven't employed it....maybe its something I need to research more!!!! Thank you!

    BTW, I'm really enjoying everyone's posts and appreciate the input so many interesting food lifestyles to choose and learn from!

    The important thing is that it can take several weeks to adapt to a low carb diet for fueling your workouts. I went from being in Half marathon shape to being unable to run 4 miles straight while I was adapting. It took me 2 weeks to be able to run long again, but I've heard it can take as long as 6 weeks for people to adapt. But not everyone can tolerate more restricted the food choices, so that's another thing to consider.
  • waldo56
    waldo56 Posts: 1,861 Member
    Options
    I personally think this whole eating clean thing is a bunch of hooey. A mild form of orthorexia.

    Way to start out the attack posts so soon. Why not just STFU instead of being critical about things you don't even understand.

    Don't understand? I understand the philosophy quite well; you are overall bombarded with it nowadays, expecially if you happen to know a paleo person or two that never spare a moment to spread the good news, sending the nonbelievers and their processing to the firey gates. They are right and everybody else is wrong; the system is evil and doctors are idiots.

    The contradictions in it are hilarious, as most of the practitioners spout off endless streams of science, whilst at the same time adhering to a technophobia lifestyle; the fear of processing or GMO are merely subforms of chemophobia; the irrational fear of chemicals, a largely media driven phobia (that has been strongly on the rise, the human psyche can only handle so many scare stories it seems before it cracks, though nowadays all the cool kids are doing it).
  • indigenousnudity
    indigenousnudity Posts: 21
    Options
    I do a ketogenic diet. I try and get about 65% of my calories from fat, 30% protein and 5% carbohydrates. I've done my best to eliminate grains and sugar from my diet. I'm not paleo by any means because I still eat "junk" but I do follow some paleo principles.
  • christinehetz80
    christinehetz80 Posts: 490 Member
    Options
    I personally think this whole eating clean thing is a bunch of hooey. A mild form of orthorexia.

    Way to start out the attack posts so soon. Why not just STFU instead of being critical about things you don't even understand.

    Don't understand? I understand the philosophy quite well; you are overall bombarded with it nowadays, expecially if you happen to know a paleo person or two that never spare a moment to spread the good news, sending the nonbelievers and their processing to the firey gates. They are right and everybody else is wrong; the system is evil and doctors are idiots.

    The contradictions in it are hilarious, as most of the practitioners spout off endless streams of science, whilst at the same time adhering to a technophobia lifestyle; the fear of processing or GMO are merely subforms of chemophobia; the irrational fear of chemicals, a largely media driven phobia (that has been strongly on the rise, the human psyche can only handle so many scare stories it seems before it cracks, though nowadays all the cool kids are doing it).

    Hiya Waldo! First of all Congratulations on your weight loss I see on your ticker that you have an amazing accomplishment, I'm not really as interested in what the "cool kids" are doing or what people feel others are doing wrong, more interested in personal references of what works best for you, from weight loss to energy to other health benefits.

Categories