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Not Quite Roman Style

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I’m not proud of it… But I admit it.

Just Need a Taste

vomitorium

vomitorium

I’ve done it a few times. I think the first was the day my mother-in-law brought over the new batch of goat butter shortbread. I snapped off a piece and popped it in my mouth. Ahhhh….. It was beautiful. I chewed it up and then I headed over to the garbage can and spit it out.

Not Just at Home

I also admit doing this at Bink’s Midtown. Now I ordered carb conscious and tried to steer clear but there were a couple of things that I just couldn’t resist!

They started the meal by bringing out buckwheat drop biscuits with vanilla whipped butter. They were warm in a cast iron skillet! How could I pass that up? I grabbed a piece, slathered on the butter & took a big bite. It was pretty damn good. As soon as I took a bite, I headed for the restroom. Went in and spit it out in the garbage can. Headed back to the table. (Hangs head in shame)

I did it once more too. We got the mussels in curry broth. They were lovely. The thing that was pointed out to us by the waiter though was that the bread that came with it was supposed to be amazing. It was a scallion foccacia that did look nice and buttery and soft but really hadn’t drawn our attention. After the waiter told us how good they were, Heather grabbed a piece, dipped it in the curry broth & tried a bite. Her jaw pretty much dropped. She loved it. Of course I had to try then. As I picked up a piece, I noticed some seeds/herbs on the underside. We were rushed for time so I didn’t get a full description of what it was made of. I dipped into the curry broth and took a big bite. It was wonderful. Amazing texture. Nice and salty pairing beautifully with the broth. I got some other flavors as well that I can’t remember. As before, I got up right then & headed for the restroom to repeat the process.

No Promises

Since then, I haven’t had a repeat. I think I’m getting more used to the diet and my willpower is a bit stronger. The cravings seem to have abated.

I do have to cop to doing it though. I’m definitely not proud and I hope not to do it again but I reserve the right in case I come across something that just looks too good to be true.

Image credit: vomitorium by dearanxiety on flickr

Do Drink Out of the Milk Carton

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diet-fantaNot really the milk carton… The 2 liter soda bottle…

Sweet Tooth

So if you haven’t seen, I’m doing the no/low carb thing. Really trying to keep the carb count low, maybe under 20 g of carbohydrates. Keeping carbohydrates this low supposedly helps induce ketosis where the body is primarily burning fat for energy.

I’m not counting the exact carbs of everything I eat but I’m trying to avoid all sugar, white flour (actually flour of any type), grains, starches, fruits and even high carb vegetables.

Along with this, I still have cravings for sugar from time to time. They’ve abated a good deal but they still come around.

The main way that I’ve been dealing with this is to drink some diet soda. Gives me a sweet kick but doesn’t give me any carbs. Now I know that diet soda may just be bad overall for you but I’m seeing it as the lesser of two evils for now.

2 Liter Is The Key

So the key – buy soda in 2 liter bottles. And drink right out of the bottle!

When I have anything smaller (12 oz. can, 16 oz. bottle, 24 oz. bottle, 32 oz. bottle), I can’t put it down. I always end up drinking the entire thing. While carb-wise, that is not a major issue, I’m also not desiring to drink an unlimited amount of diet soda.

The key is that if it’s in a 2 liter bottle, you don’t really have any intention of finishing it. I don’t know anybody that looks at a 2 liter of soda as a normal portion. So what do we typically do with a 2 liter bottle? We pour a glass of soda. Don’t do this either. If I pour a glass of soda, I’ll end up drinking the whole thing. And probably refill it too.

If I swig directly out of the 2 liter bottle, a couple swallows kills my sugar craving and then it is easy enough for me to screw the cap back on & stick it back in the refrigerator.

If you’re trying to avoid carbs or limit your calories and you still get cravings for sugar, give the 2 liter straight out of the bottle thing a whirl!

Ketosis Try 2

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So I started down this path last Friday but I think ended up having too many carbs that night and falling out of ketosis.

Acetone Breath

acetone-2Saturday I was bad and took in an excessive amount of carbs but I’ve been pretty good since and can tell ketosis is starting up again. The earliest indicator for me is the change in my breath. As we get into ketosis, one of the ketones that we produce is acetone and the body cannot use it as it does the others. It ends up being excreted as waste mostly through the urine and the breath.

Definitely yesterday & maybe a bit before, I can tell the change in my breath. I’m not sure how to best describe it. I think I feel a difference in the density of it? It feels heavier or denser.

Still feeling the difference in my breath today and this evening I started dragging again. Haven’t felt as low energy as last Friday yet but it feels like it’s coming. No strong muscle or joint aches yet either though I feel something going on in my left trapezius muscle.

Why So Long?

I’m actually surprised it took as long to get back here as it has. I’ve been pretty strict & figured I’d drop right back into ketosis but that wasn’t the case.

My weight loss had also stalled. Originally I dropped from about 203.8 all the way down to 196.0 in the first week. The last 3 days I’ve been right at 197.6.

How Will It Be and How Long Will It Last?

Earlier today I’d actually been feeling pretty great. Not hungry. Alert. Full of energy. And today I definitely didn’t have any excess carbs.

Started with my bulletproof coffee, had a mini egg omlette mid-morning with bacon, mushrooms, spinach, goat cheddar and green onions and then had curry seasoned chicken and vegetables cooked in coconut oil. Tonight we had shrimp in coconut curry with vegetables. Had a number of pork rinds today and some Red Bull Zero.

I’m definitely dragging though. Since I dropped back out of ketosis less than 1 day in, I’m still not sure exactly what I’m in for and how long it will take to pass through.

I guess I will just have to let you know as it happens!

Image credit: tada! by dchou0123 on flickr

Is Diet Soda The Devil

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diet-sodaSo I’m struggling with the consumption of diet soda.

I know there are a zillion reasons not to drink it.

Yes I Know It’s Bad

  • It’s supposed to be bad for your kidneys.
  • It’s linked to a higher risk of metabolic syndrome, the group of symptoms including belly fat and high cholesterol that puts you at risk for heart disease.
  • It supposedly doesn’t help you lose weight. Artificial sweeteners can disrupt the body’s ability to regulate calorie intake based on the sweetness of foods. Because the body is being tricked into thinking it’s eating sugar, we crave more.
  • Cocktails made with diet soda get you drunker, faster. Sugar-free mixers allow liquor to enter your bloodstream much quicker than those with sugar.
  • Diet sodas contain mold inhibitors (not found in most regular sodas). These are things like sodium benzoate or potassium benzoate. Some studies say that these chemicals have the ability to cause severe damage to DNA in the mitochondria to the point that they totally inactivate it–they knock it out altogether. They have also been linked to hives, asthma, and other allergic conditions.
  • Diet sodas are very acidic with a pH of 3.2. While sodas may be diet, they are still very acidic and can readily dissolve enamel. Soda drinkers had far greater decay, more missing teeth, and more fillings.
  • All soda cans are coated with the endocrine disruptor bisphenol A (BPA), which has been linked to everything from heart disease to obesity to reproductive problems.

But Is It Worse?

I know what I’ve read seems to indicate that carbs are the biggest dietary problem we have. If drinking diet soda, helps keep the carb count down, could it still be beneficial even with all its baggage?

When I’m doing this low carb thing, my body does seem to want some sweet at times. It’s tough to fight. At first thought, diet soda seems to be a good tool to kill this.

In the beginning, I was avoiding all sweets completely. No diet anything. No sweet anything. My thought was that avoiding it completely would help me put the cravings behind.

Now I’m not sure if that worked.

I know when I was working a near all-nighter that I was exhausted & needed something. Felt like I might need something sweet. I swung by Circle K and Red Bull zero and diet Mountain Dew came to my aid along with some beef jerky and pork rinds.

Net Effect

Since then, I’ve been drinking some at times.

It hasn’t been too bad. I’m not doing the soda fests that I would fall into at times. Just a bit here & there.

A 16 oz. bottle of diet Mountain Dew lasted me a few days. I’m thinking that 1/3 of a bottle here & there or even less has seemed to temporarily tame the sugar monster?

I’ve currently got a 2 liter of the cheapest diet soda that looked decent (Fanta Zero) in the fridge. Seem to be able to drink it sparingly. We’ll see how that goes. My thought is that it might last me a week. A swig here & a swig there might kill the sugar craving and not have me spiral out of control.

Conversely, what about the argument that because the body is being tricked into thinking it’s eating sugar, we keep craving it.

Will it just keep the sweet tooth active & tempt me to sway more?

I hear some folks saying that if you stay off it for long enough, you lose the craving.

That might just be the thing I have to test…

Image credit: Diet Soda by Roadsidepictures on flickr

Betrayed By Chinese Food

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I fell off the wagon hard last night.

hatAnd it was the damn Chinese food that led to it. (I’m 1/2 Chinese so I think I can say that.)

I’d Already Lost My Streak

So I definitely fell out of ketosis from what I ate last night. I think I’d actually fallen out the day before from unintentional restaurant food (killer low carb-ish fare from Bink’s) as I felt better yesterday morning from the start. At first I thought I might have  already made it through the ketosis blues but I wasn’t that lucky.

Now, I did start the day strict. I had my bulletproof coffee. I had 3 eggs with some salami. No real carbs of substance. And then we went out to take the 9 year old to a birthday party that ended up being in east Mesa. That ended up being part of the problem. We stopped by the house of some friends that lived out there, went for a hike and ended up going from 12:30 pm until 5:30 pm without food. I had run out of pork rinds the day before so nothing to turn to.

Too Long No Food

cantoneseThen when we were looking for a place to eat, there wasn’t much around. We settled on a Chinese restaurant against my better judgement. I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to find anything that fit the program. Did a quick Google for low-carb Chinese food & got back a few suggestions. I knew pretty much anything we got was going to have some sugar and probably cornstarch.

We ended ordering walnut shrimp (for a couple of the kids), fried rice, beef with vegetables and chicken with black bean sauce. I stuck with the beef and chicken dishes. They weren’t bad (very, very Americanized Chinese food) but I could taste some of the sugar and the big problem was that there wasn’t enough fat. I was still hungry later.

Fighting hunger and trying to lay off the carbs is not a challenge I want to take on regularly. Carbs are hard enough on their own.

We grabbed a protein style burger from In-N-Out on the way home but I was still up working for hours. Heather fell asleep on the couch so I felt no public shame.

Complete Melt Down

With how hungry I still felt and my lack of diligence avoiding carbs, I just broke.

Over the final couple early morning hours, I ate the following:

  • About 30 Chocolate chips – 10 g
  • Single serving bag of pretzels – 35 g
  • 2 1/2 pieces of shortbread – around 45 g?
  • 16 Peanut butter filled pretzel nuggets – 26 g

That was at least 116 g of carbs just in late night snack. Not good.

Not much else to do but get back on the horse the next morning.

Back at it but I was up 1.6 lbs from the previous 2 days when I weighed myself this morning. Like water my system was holding on to with the carb repletion.

 

Image credit: Twofer… by BBluesman on flickr
Image credit: Day 314/365 – Politically Incorrect by Great Beyond on flickr

The Ketosis Blues

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Not exactly sure what is happening but I feel pretty good today.

Yesterday was another story. I was about 7 days into the no/low carb regimen and I was feeling TERRIBLE.

Feeling Like Hell

acetoneI was super low energy pretty much all day. Felt kind of wobbly. Didn’t feel super sharp mentally and then in the evening, my joints (particularly my shoulder) started ache bad.

I’d read a bit and knew to expect a period of adjustment when I started to get into ketosis. It wasn’t supposed to be pleasant. It would last a few days to week where I’d feel tired and sluggish. Maybe I’d get irritable, weak, and moody. It could come with headaches, cramps, joint pain and I could experience “brain fog”.

As far as what atually happens in ketosis, ketones are molecules generated during fat metabolism. Some are used for energy. But there is one type of ketone molecule, called acetone, that cannot be used and is excreted as waste, mostly in the urine and breath. They say the breath and urine will smell like fruit where some people get a metallic taste in their mouth.

Well, starting yesterday, I definitely had something going on with my breath. Didn’t get a specific smell but the consistency of my breath felt different. Felt like the composition of what I exhaled had changed significantly. Acetone probably fits the bill.

I was also pretty sure I was there as the day previous, I went on a bike ride and absolutely hit the wall. I wasn’t riding hard at all as I knew not to do that but about 2/3rds of the ride, I just bonked. I was out of gas. I’m pretty certain that I had used up my glycogen stores and that’s why I felt the way I did.

So I was in ketosis. But why did I feel ok today? Joint pain was gone. Didn’t feel as tired. Was my physiology so incredible that I went through the discomfort stage in 1 day?

Nice!

I was done with the ketogenic blues!

Ah I Blew It…

Thought back on it more & realized it probably much more likely that I’d had too many carbs yesterday. At lunch, I ate a double double protein style from In-N-Out. As I looked at nutritional info, I saw numbers ranging from 11g carbs to 41g carbs. Yeowch. And I noticed that the lower carb readings came where people had substituted mayo, ketchup, mustard for the spread. I didn’t realize I was supposed to do that.

And then for dinner, we had to pick up the 9 year old and figured to grab a super quick bite and food for her. We stopped at Bink’s for possilby the quickest meal we’d ever eaten. Tried to order as low carb as possible (and did a decent job) but I think there were a few things there that might have contributed to the carb count.

binks-bbq-octobusWe started with a kale salad with curried couscous, almonds, dried cherries, pickled onion, red wine. I avoided the dried cherries but missed that there was couscous in it. Wasn’t a ton but had to have gotten a little. Also did a little gem salad with dried tomato, cucumber, charred red onion and buttermilk vinaigrette. Thought I was pretty safe there but who knows. We also had mussles in a wonderful curry coconut broth. We both passed on the amazing scallion focaccia that accompanied it but I did have a taste (though I didn’t swallow). We also had some amazing sand dabs with brown buttter and almonds. That seemed safe. But my guess at what could have been the carb culprit was the BBQ octopus with black eyed peas, bacon, i’itoi onion, aioli. It was phenomenal but it was barbecued with sauce. There was a definitely hint of sweetness to it. It was freaking amazing so I ate my half. That could have been the kicker.

So I think I dropped out of ketosis. That’s got to be the explanation I can also tell that my breath is pretty much back to normal too.

So back to the super strict following and back to drain those glycogen stores and back to the ketosis blues all over.

We’ll see how long they really last when I get through it for real.

I’ll let you know!

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