My lock down diet, carb cycling, sort of

(charlie3) #1

My typical day of eating has been a large elaborate salad (non startchy vegetables) for one meal and beef and salmon for the second and ice coffee with stevia and cream for dessert. For the lock down I figured out how to have exactly enough fresh vegetables for 12 days of salads. When the veggies run out, instead of shopping immediately I eat all meat from the freezer for some days, may be a week or more. This averages down total carbs, reduces shopping trips and lets me buy only the food I usually eat. I wanted the ability to go 30 days without a shopping trip. I get that with extra meat in the freezer (and 6 lbs of peanut butter to stretch the meat if necessary).

With this approach I can keep both low and zero carb in play and keep learning about both.

(Bob M) #2

What have you learned?

When I started, 6+ years ago, I thought I HAD to eat veggies with every meal. I ate a lot of salads back then. Then, I saw Amber O’hearn at KetoFest 2017 (? I think; the first one), who talked about people eating nothing but meat. I thought, “Is she freaking crazy?”

But after trying eating more meat and less veggies, I have found only benefits. I started making “meat” salads, like shrimp, mussels, fish with olive oil and vinegar. I have basically stopped eating salads, though I will have them from time to time. Last night, for instance, I had burgers on lettuce leaves with onion and pickles. And if my wife serves a salad, I will eat some.

By and large, though, I’ve given up on salads and the like. My first meal today is red meat and olives. I’ve found some plants don’t seem to bother me, and olives and pickles are two of them. So, I use them as flavorings.

On the other hand, raw sauerkraut or cabbage causes me issues, so I avoid these. I seem to be able to eat well-cooked versions of these, though.

I personally don’t even consider salads to be carbs. Sure, if you look these up on a calorie-counting app, they’ll have some carbs in them, but I wouldn’t consider them to be carb-cycling, as I’ve been using that term. Carb cycling to me = potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc. I’ve tried this too, with both benefits and detriments (sweet potatoes and I don’t get along).

#3

Whatever works for you :slight_smile: It sounds good to me. Vegetables don’t work for me but they do for many others, after all.

I eat animal products and fruits now, that’s more weird but the only realistic and good option for me…

(charlie3) #4

I eat the salad because I enjoy it, it covers a lot of micros, and seems to be necessary to reduce my appetite. I did a 60 day zero carb diet, ate too much, gained weight and, a few times, got carb crazy. So I’ll switch back and forth for a while and see what that brings.

What I’ve learned. The best possible diet and exercise simply makes us “normal”. I look unusual for a 71 year old but only compared to modern people. In the 19th century guys my age and condition were common.

I don’t believe there is a one size fits all diet, partly because activity/exercise is so influentual, 2 sides of one coin. It’s easier to say what NOT to eat than what to eat.

As written already I’m whole food low carb. Then I eat no grains, seeds, starchy veggies, fruit, or any source of carbs except in the non starchy vegetables. (In the summer I do stop at the local ice cream store and have some no sugar added ice cream. I don’t expect to be giving that up.) I doubt I’ll be giving up the big salad without a convincing reason and haven’t found that yet. For activity I’m always thinking about how people lived before cars, tractors, and electricty.