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As you go along you will learn to pick out which foods for you are safe and which ones cause you problems such as weight gain or even some outward sign of spiking blood sugars, such as after-meal sleepiness in my case. My Beloved gets restless leg syndrome if he eats a too high carb content food, for instance. The "list" is a good frame of way of eating safe foods to train yourself with. And Dr Westman is very adamant that people start with Page 4. LOL.
Some fruits are OK as you approach your goal weight. How much of that you can eat and how often depends entirely on what you learn about your body's response to these foods.
Some tips:
- Be prepared for the "Atkins Flu." When you first go LCHF, there is a period of about 2-4 days where you can feel BLAH. It's your body using up the glucose in the blood and not quite producing ketones yet. Don't get discouraged. After a day or so, that goes away and you find you have tons of energy and some report better mental focus.
- Get a kitchen scale. It's much easier to count amounts based on known quantities. Although you can have as much protein and healthy fats as you like, carbs add up quickly.
- Try to do without artificial sweetners if at all possible. They make it harder because your body still craves sugar. If you do absolutely have to have them explore Erythritol and Xylitol. Stay away from aspertame and saccharin. And carbs from these sweetners do count.
- Learn to cook of you don't already do so. Most cooking techniques are fine, except deep fat frying (the breading, usually). Lots of restaurants and take out places depend on starchy carbs to round out their plates: rice, potatoes, pasta. When I eat out, I leave off the bread, rice, and fries. If you can get them to not bring it at all, even better.
- Get a means to measure keytones. The most accessible is ketostix for urinalysis. Inaccurate in that it's measuring the excess you are excreting. To read the ketones you are using, get a blood glucose meter that also measures ketones. The readers are cheap, but the sticks are expensive. Many people buy those from Canada. Like the scale, it's another way to see how you are doing.
Useful Links:
Dr Westman's Intro Talk about this diet:
Livin La Vida Low Carb podcast: http://www.thelivinlowcarbshow.com/shownotes/
This is a wonderful show with many LCHF professionals and some Paleo folks as well. Stephen Phinney, Dr Westman, Peter Attia have all been interviewed. I've met Jimmy Moore. He's a good guy, though not of our political tribe. And it's the best known show for all things LCHF. You can also get some great recipes from paleo folks, like Mark's Daily Apple. Jimmy keeps a running list of low carb blogs that he updates the first of every month. I've learned an incredible amount of nutritional info listening to these shows.
Low Carb Dietician: http://www.lowcarbdietitian.com/ I met Franziska Spritzler, RD, CDE on FB. She really is trying to get people to go low carb for better health and weight management overall, even if you don't have metabolic issues. Good professional info.
Pinterest Board with recipes http://www.pinterest.com/denicesharpe/low-carb-life/. Most everything on that page with the odd exception is Page 4 friendly.
Dr Westman's Low Carb group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DukeLowCarbSupportGroup/
Nutrition and Metabolism Society: https://www.facebook.com/groups/276354325431/
Congratulations! You are about to take charge of your health through food.
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