Active No-Carber Forums

dogbone · Newbie Joined: 04 Apr 2007 Posts: 9

I have tried the very low carb twice, but ended up slipping back into eating carbs. Now, I'm convinced it works because I've seen very clearly what happens to me.

First, going back to very low carb is dreadful at first.

Then, it seems both times I did not feel well until I began "loosening up" as in having some dairy and diet aspartamine stuff. But unfortunately for me that was a prelude to getting off very low carb to low carb then getting back on carbs altogether. Its certainly not easy to change your diet radically even if you are sure it works.

I wonder why I start to feel better when I add dairy and diet stuff since I believe just meat and water is ideal. I noticed it feels similar to when I did a complete 40 day water fast but not nearly as bad so my theory is that the body is detoxifying when not exposed to aspartamine and other stuff, but I have heard that aspartamine is actually an anti-depressant so I don't know if that has anything to do with it.

My challenge is to at least stick to low carb for a month, but preferably very low carb, and even better would be just meat and dairy and even better just meat and water. But at least when you are low carb I have found you have the option of trying very low carb without the dreadful transition so I absolutely want to stick to low carb (less than 30 grams per day).

Its stupid maybe to compare getting off carbs to drug addiction as the compulsion is not as great and diminishes quickly once starting to eat very low carb for a few days, but in some ways it is worse in that you are supposed to according to everyone you talk to eat carbs.

So I realize I need some way to hold my feet to the fire and I don't plan on going off it this time but if I do I know I'll want to do it again when I start feeling tired after a day or two of eating carbs. So I'll give at least weekly updates hear my goal being to stick to under 30 grams of carbs for a month but I hope to exceed it by going VLC

Scout Finch · Meat Devil Joined: 08 Aug 2006 Posts: 1162

Carbs are both physically and psychologically addictive. There's no question about that.

Good luck in your journey; the longer you are away from carbs, the easier it'll get. Keep in mind that there is no physiological reason to be eating carbs.

It sounds like you might be falling off the wagon during the initial "induction flu" phase of transitioning. If you can get through that, it gets a lot easier, and your energy level should improve.

I'm not in the camp that aspartame is toxic or dangerous. Aspartame is one of the most researched and scientifically scrutinized food additives in the history of food processing, and there's no evidence that it causes any of the illnesses that are ascribed to it. I say this as a person who used to drink Diet Coke pretty heavily; the only reason I stopped using it regularly was because I was going through a six-pack every couple of days, so it was more of a cost issue. (And back when I ditched it, I probably was falling for all of the scare stories.) And even these days I'll occasionally order a Diet Coke when I'm out with friends, and I keep diet soda around for my current lover. I just don't think it's evil stuff. Confused

That said, if you feel like it's stalling you or causing any side effects, then by all means stop using it. Some people think sweeteners of any kind make you fall off the wagon because it sets up a craving cycle of some kind. You just have to do what works for you.

Read

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adwred · Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 1:15 pm Post subject:

In my experience, aspartame causes me to have pretty severe depression the day after I have it and it only gets worse, the more I have it. Also, I'm pretty convinced it causes an insulin reaction in me, as just tasting something 'sweet' even if it doesn't have carbohydrates, causes rebound hunger. Although that happens with splenda and stevia, too.
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I'm a vegetable-eater by proxy. I make sure to get 5-10 servings of herbivore per day.

dogbone · Newbie Joined: 04 Apr 2007 Posts: 9

I have stuck to low carb and even did VLC for a few days, but unfortunately something bizarre and unexpected happened to my health. About 2.5 weeks ago, I smoked one cigar. I'm not a smoker; I just happened to think its not a bad idea to enjoy a cigar occasionally. However, in the past I've smoked them and occasionally gotten a bad reaction where my throat felt a little sore for a few days.

This time it has developed into what appears to be bronchitis. I've been spitting out gobs and chunks of dark mucus for about a week and before that I had a horrible sore throat. It started right after smoking the cigar. I'm not going to risk smoking one again for a long time, if ever.

My learned habit is that I want to eat grapefruit and other citrus while I'm sick because that's supposed to have vitamin C and it feels good on my throat. However, I haven't but my family points to the low carb diet with almost no veggies and absolutely no fruit as the culprit, not the cigar.

Thankfully, other than constantly coughing up disgusting mucus I actually feel better than when I'm eating carbs emotionally and energy wise. I'm just waiting for this annoyance to pass, then I'll probably go from low carb to VLC because I want to have even more energy and better mood which I have experienced in the past from doing VLC, plus I would like to have a leaner body.

dogbone · Newbie Joined: 04 Apr 2007 Posts: 9

I ate some Indian food and a few more carbs because I was sick. Indian food cleared up the mucus.

I've been on strict meat & water diet for only 5 days. I think I've already lost 7 lbs. from 167 to 160 on a 5'11" frame. In my opinion there is a DRAMATIC difference in weight loss and intensity of the adaptation of strict meat & water vs. allowing heavy cream, coffee, and/or diet soda. Perhaps too dramatic.

I'm willing to endure the tiredness, which I know would subside if I would loosen up because I would like to look and feel best as I believe is possible on meat & water. However, my family is concerned about my face's gauntness. This would not be too much of an issue except that they hospitalized me twice for bipolar manic episodes and one of the times I had lost a lot of weight so they associate weight loss with me becoming manic. However, I feel far from manic. Instead I feel lethargic. I would like to stick with this strict meat and water as long as possible so I can adapt without any diet coke or coffee addictions, but I will have to compromise and loosen up if my family bothers me about my supposedly gaunt face too much. The hard part is that I would like to cheat anyway, so while I only want to cheat as much to satisfy my family's worries, giving in a little to them so I loose less weight will likely trigger more cheating than necessary.

The really hard part is - what if without any gut and with abs as I would like to achieve - I have a gaunt face that is unappealing to others and makes them think I'm sickly. I would rather be healthy with no abdominal fat and have a skeleton face but it has its disadvantages for sure.

Dustyboy · Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 7:09 pm Post subject:

Wow that was a strange one! It is hard to stick to this if you have people around you who do not support you or try to keep you eating "normal" out of concern. People react to things they don't understand by trying to keep you down. The worst is when you do start to lose weight. Family, friends, everyone seems to try to get you to stop like it makes them uncomfortable. Like many on this forum have said before me I take the veggies, push them around my plate a little and leave them there. Yup

deep_end · Pack Member Joined: 10 Aug 2007 Posts: 51

kallyn · Pack Member Joined: 21 Nov 2006 Posts: 74 Location: NoVa

Dustyboy · Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 5:01 pm Post subject:

I know this is old, but I wanted to comment.

Dustyboy · Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 5:02 pm Post subject:

I did the quote thing backwards. That is weird. See, I am new and I do odd things as well. Wink

kallyn · Pack Member Joined: 21 Nov 2006 Posts: 74 Location: NoVa

Man I know! I start reading back in the archives, want to comment on something, then realize it is from like 2006. I still like reading the old stuff though.

adwred · Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 5:12 pm Post subject:

There's nothing wrong with commenting on old posts. It's the welcoming people who have been here for two years that was a little suspect, Dusty. Laugh

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I'm a vegetable-eater by proxy. I make sure to get 5-10 servings of herbivore per day.

Dustyboy · Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 6:39 pm Post subject:

Hey, I am a friendly person. By the way welcome Welcome

I like to watch the little picture change too. Each time a new face joins this wonderful forum it makes the forum a little different . So once again welcome.

Dustyboy · Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 6:41 pm Post subject:

Oh and kallyn if you haven't been welcomed, allow me to be the first to say Wave

welcome.

kallyn · Pack Member Joined: 21 Nov 2006 Posts: 74 Location: NoVa

Thanks Dusty!

SandyDown · Top Cat Joined: 31 Mar 2008 Posts: 257

kallyn · Pack Member Joined: 21 Nov 2006 Posts: 74 Location: NoVa

Interesting! My husband thinks all my diet-related things are "weird" so it's nice to know there are others who get the same weird things that I do. Bonkers