Food Question--low carb related

sheepiegirl · 09-06-2007, 01:07 PM

I have a food question.

I'm thinking that maybe I should give the low carb way of eating a go. Since the Met hasn't seemed to help with AF or TTC...I eat mostly whole grains when I do eat bread and pasta and stuff and eat mostly healthy stuff anyways.

My problem is that 1. I don't eat red meat or pork or particulary like eggs, so that really limits my protein choices--oh, and I'm lactose sensitive, so cheese is mostly out.

I tried Atkins when all my roommates were doing it in college but I only last a few days because it made me weak and I was disgusted by all the meat I was eating.

I also feel better after having eaten a piece of bread or a little pasta or potatoes (not a lot, and except for the potatoes they are whole wheat)...

I guess I'm wondering what carbs/starches you can eat that would satisfy me like a piece of bread would.

jl6715 · 09-06-2007, 02:12 PM

I'm anxious to hear the responses. I've been considering the low carb, but like you, the carbs I do eat are mostly whole grains (of course I do love the occasional order of fries!

). Is it worth it to cut them out completely??

arcticslug · 09-06-2007, 07:06 PM

Other carbs which are good for you are beans, nuts and peas (also have lots of protein), starchy winter squashes like acorn, butternut and spaghetti, sweet potatoes, yams, oats, millet, flax seeds, brown rice.

sheepiegirl · 09-06-2007, 07:12 PM

But can you eat those carbs on a low carb diet? Like I said, I eat mostly 'good' carbs, but was just wondering what lower carb choices I had...

Oh, and I can't eat nuts...

TrishainAZ · 09-06-2007, 10:28 PM

I don't have a whole lot of advice. I probably wasn't the healthiest low carber! I mainly ate meat and cheese and peanut butter and eggs(sounds like most of that is out for you! And even to this day 5 years later... I hate eggs now!) I will say though that generally speaking you start feeling better after that first week, so if you can stick through one week, it gets better... your body seems to adjust.

I'm not sure if low carb really helped me all that much, but I know that my doc did recommend it. For me, I was very strict for my first since I'd been trying for over a year and was desperate for anything to work. It made me lose about 16 lbs (which was okay, because I was at the highest I'd ever been) along with the met. The second time, I was still nursing and it was a bit harder for me to do it and I lost even more (well not more than 16 lbs, but I weighed less than I did when I got pregnant with my daughter... 107 lbs which was a bit too low) so I did it, but not nearly as strictly. The third time, I hardly did low carb at all (but with met) and all three times I got pregnant in pretty much the exact same amount of time on met 3-4 months.

I'd say give it a shot though. It might be your magic pill. Good luck!

sheepiegirl · 09-07-2007, 03:31 PM

Okay. I just had salmon and oven roasted veggies for lunch and I think I'm hungrier now than I was before I ate. I think I will die on this lower carb thing!

TrishainAZ · 09-07-2007, 04:35 PM

I KNOW!!!! its so hard especially that first week. Today I told myself that I'd cut back on carbs (I know I'm eating too much junk and gaining too much weight) and I just got stressed out and did it anyway. Ugh! Seriously, though if you get through hell week, your cravings seem to go way down. Good luck!

chris3811 · 09-07-2007, 05:01 PM

I tried a straight no carb lifestyle for awhile and I hated the results. I was so thin and tired and my bbs shrunk. I decided instead of a no carb diet I would switch to healthy carbs and I have been happily balanced ever since, but not starving.

To me a meal isn't a full meal without some bread, so what I do is eat a lot of whole wheat products. I eat a ton of brown rice, it can be sorta bland so I mix in some fresh salsa to spice it up and sometimes some low fat cheese, if you can't do regular cheese there are some great soy alternatives. I eat a lot of whole grain pastas, some brands are hard but look for a brown rice pasta I find those to be softer or you can always try the mixed pastas that are a percentage whole wheat. Food for Life makes some great wheat tortillas that can be used to make burritos or other snacks in place of their white flour sisters. We eat a lot of Mexican so when we go out I switched to corn tortillas on everything I ordered. I found when I deprived myself from all carbs when it came to Sunday (my day of dieting rest

) I would go crazy and eat everything white flour, I was a bottomless pit. When I switched to the healthy carbs I was less likely to binge.

No white sugar, I tame my sweet tooth with fruit, yogurt and an occasional bowl of Kashi Heart to Heart cereal. My nutritionist suggested I try Xylithol it is an all natural sugar supplement derived from veggies and fruits, it is used in many diabetic diets. I buy the white powder form and it is yummy. To curb my pancake cravings I make them using whole wheat flour or buckwheat. We are really lucky that this day in age there are a lot more places to find healthy alternatives. I go online and find many good low carb recipes. When I am on the go or at work I stock up the freezer with Amy's products, which are predominantly whole wheat and organic. There is a website www.hungry-girl.com. I check it out every now and then because it has lower calorie alternative recipes for junk food and I am a closet junk food junkie.

I am lucky in the sense that I love eggs, I can eat them for breakfast lunch and dinner. But I also like anything vegetable I make a great avocado veggie wrap in a whole wheat tortilla or with sliced deli meat (before the pregnancy of course) avocadoes do have protein not a ton but an ok amount.

I hope this helps, though I have to say the first 3 months of my pregnancy I fell off the good carb wagon hard! But I am now back on and hope to stay that way the rest of my pregnancy, but even God rested one day, I still keep my Sunday ritual of one naughty meal, usually french fries are somewhere on the menu

TrishainAZ · 09-07-2007, 05:29 PM

Yeah, I should mention.. mine was never NO carb... I could never do that, just low carb and even thats tough. I am a chocoholic to the worst degree!

chris3811 · 09-07-2007, 05:33 PM

Trisha, do you like dark chocolate?

I would eat 70% cocoa to curb my chocolate cravings. My sister only eats 80% or higher but 70-75% tates a lot better to me

TrishainAZ · 09-07-2007, 05:40 PM

Not really. Honestly, I just love all food thats completely unhealthy!!! I never thought it'd matter as I was always so skinny and could eat what I wanted. It catches up to me when I'm pregnant and makes it hard to ttc though.

sheepiegirl · 09-07-2007, 06:22 PM

Thanks girls. That helps a lot. I was thinking that I would go stricter than not on the carbs since I pretty much already only eat good ones and not a lot of them...and that's obviously not working baby-wise for me...so maybe VERY few carbs will help. I don't know. Who knows, this will probably only last the weekend, if that!

I love veggies too, so that's a good thing. But I mostly eat them at meal and not as snacks, which I think is a big place where I can reduce my carbs. My biggest non-good-carb vice seems to be tortilla chips. So if I can replace that with say, carrots and celery, I might be able to do this...

sheepiegirl · 09-08-2007, 11:31 PM

Update: So, I've decided to scrap this idea. i couldn't even go a day. I don't feel to bad about it because I eat mostly healthy carbs anyways and I prefer to eat in a way that I can continue for a long time and I just can't do that with the low carb thing. I'm just going to try and limit my carbs further and make a conscious effort to eat less refined stuff...I can't imagine HAVING to do a diet like that to lose weight or something (although with all my random dietary restrictions I have a feeling it's harder for me to find things to eat)...