Information and support for low carb and gluten free eating.

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LowCarbForLife's picture

Still Wheat Free!

Posted Tue, 12/13/2011 - 4:48pm by LowCarbForLife

On March 3, 2008, I began limiting my consumption of carbohydrates. Since I began taking my health seriously, I have learned how to enjoy a balanced diet, making sure to include real foods. The meals I enjoy every single day include protein and vegetables, with my carbohydrates limited to once a day. I made the decision to become wheat free because of the information I have been reading, so finding substitutions for flour became important to me. In my opinion, coconut seems to be the best substitution for the wheat and gluten we used to include in our diets, and we are enjoying the recipes we have tried from the cookbook Cooking with Coconut Flour: A Delicious Low-Carb, Gluten-Free Alternative to Wheat .

Image of Cooking with Coconut Flour: A Delicious Low-Carb, Gluten-Free Alternative to Wheat
My weight loss journey has been more successful than I ever thought possible. By following the guidelines of CALP, I never had to give up any of the foods that I loved and soon discovered that my measurements were getting smaller. I was eating chocolate and losing weight, which was my dream come true. Of course, back then I did not realize it was probably my addiction to flour that fed my carbohydrate addiction, and it now appears that my desire for chocolate, sugar, and nuts, had limited wheat and gluten in my diet these last few years.

I have been maintaining my weight, 140 lbs., watching it bounce up and down since July. The lowest weight I have seen on any scale during the last thirty years is 136 lbs., which I am happy to say, was less than a month ago. I have been wheat free for the last six weeks and I am very happy with my new diet.

Michael's picture

Mmm... tasty wheat!

Posted Thu, 11/03/2011 - 5:41pm by Michael

Here's a cute little photo to keep in mind the next time you think about munching a cracker or making a sandwich.

Geneticist Ann Blechl and colleagues are the first to insert modified Fusarium chitinase and glucanase genes into wheat plants, which may lead to wheats that are more resistant to Fusarium head blight.

Photo by Jack Dykinga.

Source: USDA ARS

Now, doesn't that sound just yummy? Where do I get mine? Oh, yeah, just wait a couple of years, it'll be in our bread.

Michael's picture

Updated book review: Wheat Belly

Posted Mon, 10/31/2011 - 9:04am by Michael

Just a quick note: I've updated my recent Wheat Belly book review–I've added a few paragraphs addressing the skeptical position and the need to challenge the modern dietary guidelines issued by the USDA and other organizations.

Whether you've read my review previously, or have yet to read it, you might want to visit the review and share your thoughts in the comment section.

LowCarbForLife's picture

Getting Rid of My Wheat Belly!

Posted Fri, 10/28/2011 - 9:37pm by LowCarbForLife

My husband has been reading the book Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health out loud to me recently. It started last week when we took a road trip and after five hours and a hundred and fifty pages of mind blowing information, I am anxious to take another car trip so I can hear more.

I am such an extremist that I was ready to go wheat free that same afternoon, but I made a huge mistake at the Chinese restaurant we went to for lunch. I ordered honey walnut chicken and accepted my mistake of not thinking about the chicken being breaded. I enjoyed every bite of my meal and even though I had to postpone my desire to go wheat free, I had no problem following the guidelines of CALP.

My next wheat free mistake came from soy sauce. I wanted our recipe of homemade Chinese marinaded ribs and discovered the soy sauce in the marinade contained wheat. Since the ribs were already marinading in the sauce, I postponed my desire to become wheat free again. I enjoyed two meals of this delicious recipe, delaying my wheat free desire two more days.

I never had any problems giving up flour and bread since my preference has always been to eat chocolate as part of my reward meal. There was a time when I mistakenly thought bread and wheat products were a healthier alternative than the dark chocolate and nuts I was eating. I purposely chose to include wheat in my program until my husband convinced me that my choices of avocado, chocolate, fruit, and nuts, were actually healthier for me. Click here to continue reading, or leave a comment »

LowCarbForLife's picture

My Blood Test Comparisons

Posted Fri, 10/21/2011 - 9:36am by LowCarbForLife

My blood test comparison results at 205 lbs., five months after beginning CALP at the age of 49, and 146 lbs., after almost three years on plan at the age of 51!

TEST RESULTS

GLUCOSE
7/26/08, Glucose, fasting 96
2/01/11, Glucose, fasting 96
Normal Range: 60 – 99 mg/dL

LIPID PANEL
7/26/08, Cholesterol 190
2/01/11, Cholesterol 179
Normal Range: <239 - mg/dL

7/26/08, Triglyceride 83
2/01/11, Triglyceride 92
Normal Range: <199 - mg/dL

7/26/08, HDL 43
2/01/11, HDL 40
Normal Range: >45 – mg/dL

7/26/08, Low density lipoprotein calculated 130
2/01/11, Low density lipoprotein calculated 121
Normal Range: <129 - mg/dL

CREATININE, SERUM, WITH GLOMERULAR FILTRATION RATE
7/26/08, Creatinine 0.78
2/01/11, Creatinine 0.75
Normal Range: <1.11 -mg/dL

TSH
7/26/08, TSH 1.1
2/01/11, TSH 2.14
Normal Range: 0.10 – 5.50 uIU/mL

LowCarbForLife's picture

Motivation: Health!

Posted Fri, 10/21/2011 - 9:04am by LowCarbForLife

My mother, 71, has COPD and she has been off and on oxygen for the last ten years. Breast cancer entered her life over five years ago and she has been dependent on oxygen ever since her surgery. Her breast surgery went well and she remains cancer free, but there is no recovery for COPD. Over the years the amount of oxygen she requires has risen, but I am happy to say that she remains active.

Two weeks ago, mom was hospitalized with respiratory failure. I packed an overnight bag and stayed with her at the hospital and when she was discharged, I helped her at home. She is recovering well and when I left to return home, she was playing her weekly Mah Jong game with her friends.

My motivation in beginning this program was to take control of my health since my genes are not something I can depend on. Before I began this program, I could not control my sweet tooth. The worst part was that I loved food too! Both of my maternal grandparents lived with diabetes and due to my lack of control, I suspected I was heading down the same road.

My paternal grandparents both died from heart attacks and cancer took both of my maternal grandparents. My father, 75, ended up having two heart attacks several years ago and he was diagnosed with diabetes last year when he was hospitalized in a diabetic coma. The emergency room staff were unable to get a glucose reading for the first three hours he was there and when they did, it was 1141, not a typo, eleven hundred and forty one! Needless to say, it took him three days to become aware of where he was and when he was released from the hospital, he was sent home with insulin so he could give himself injections. My father was able to stop giving himself insulin injections after the first month and since he quit eating sugar, he has been able to keep his insulin levels under control. As a matter of fact, he has been doing so well that he no longer believes he is a diabetic, although he continues to monitor it. Click here to continue reading, or leave a comment »

First Time Blogger

Posted Wed, 10/12/2011 - 11:00am by leehop

I'm new to this blog business but not to low the carb diet. This is probably a little longer than a blog post should be. I'll be briefer in the future.

I guess the gist of this entry is: don’t follow a diet plan that is not realistically sustainable. I know… it’s not a diet; it’s a way of eating for life. I have had to tell this to all of my relatives.

In 1995 I tried the Atkins diet. I was a traveling "road" musician at the time and had horrible eating habits. We would play our gig for the night, go out and eat a dinner-sized meal at 2:30 in the morning and then go to bed. I ate lots of rich hotel food and my weight in fast food! Although I have always eaten whole grain, skim milk, etc., all of the other goodies packed on the pounds.

Standing in front of crowds every night, I had to do something about my weight! In 1994 I decided to give the Atkins diet plan a shot. I went from 205 to 180 in 6 months. In fact, my whole band tried it. Fast forward to 1987. My 25 lbs is back on with an additional 20 lbs more. However, the Atkins diet was the best diet I had ever tried - to that point.

I married in 1987 and since then my wife and I have tried every diet known to man, i.e, South Beach, Mediterranean Diet, Jenny Craig, etc. We have eaten funky dried food, have had food shipped to the house in freezer containers – you name it. At the end of the day, the only real loss was to our bank account!

In December of 2010, my wife showed me an article by scientific writer/reporter Gary Taubes. I read it, bought his book (Why We Get Fat and What To Do About It) and 10 months later, I have lost 35 lbs. My wife lost 20+; I’m not sure exactly because she won't tell me what she weighs. I do know she has gone from pushing hard to a size 16 to, as she puts it, to a comfortable 12.

The Taubes book (see web site links below) isn’t a diet book but a treatise on the subject of why and how carbohydrates affect your body. Click here to continue reading, or leave a comment »

LowCarbForLife's picture

Natural Fat Burning Foods

Posted Mon, 10/03/2011 - 12:29pm by LowCarbForLife

I have been following The Carbohydrates Addict's LifeSpan Program, "CALP" for over three and a half years and I have been successful in losing a substantial amount of weight in that time. I made the decision to take my health into my own hands and tried this weight loss program at the age of 48, loving the freedom of including the foods that I love, every single day.

The success to any diet is to be able to make it permanent and I found CALP to be the perfect program for me. I have been trying to make healthier food choices over the years so I went searching for a list of fat burning foods and found myself successful when I found this list at http://www.letsloseweight.net/best-14-fat-burning-foods.

Turkey & Poultry
Berries*
Oranges*
Whole Grains*
Salmon & Tuna
Meat (article suggests lean)
Oatmeal*
Pine Nuts*
Milk*
Beans*
Eggs
Cheese
Hot Peppers*
Water Rich Foods (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, grapefruit*, lettuce, radishes & spinach)

*Carbohydrate rich foods according to CALP!

Whole grains are foods that I will continue to avoid since I have found that the more I eat, the more addictive I become. I also noticed that grains cause my appetite to increase and it takes me a few days of avoiding them in order to get it back under control!

Michael's picture

The most beautiful television commercial I've ever seen...

Posted Sat, 10/01/2011 - 6:04pm by Michael

In all honesty, this is the most beautiful advertisement I've ever seen.

Perhaps because it touched my heart. For decades, I've railed against the over-labeling of children as having mental disorders. Against the drugging of children who don't behave quite the way the adults do–the 'problem' children.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv49RFo1ckQ

More info: Visit CCHRI.org.

Getting Started

Posted Sat, 10/01/2011 - 5:24am by CeCe75

I've given this a lot of thought. I'm 22 weeks into my pregnancy and I know without a doubt that I feel better and have more focus when I moderate my carbohydrate intake. The sugar cravings go away and I have a lot more energy.

I read CAD sometime last year but never committed to it. It seemed like a very reasonable plan and I wish I had stuck with it instead of letting myself go. Well, today is a new day! I have decided to do a loose version of CAD while I'm pregnant. As long as my doctor doesn't have issue with my weight then I will continue. I don't doubt that the program is healthy for me and the baby.

My loose version will go as follows:

1. 3 meals per day; no snacking in between

2. 2 CMs and 1 RM (dinner mostly)

3. RM foods I will allow during CMs in moderation: avocado, full-fat yogurt, raw carrots, tomatoes, onions, and raw nuts (as condiment)

As for exercise, I've been consistently walking three days per week and doing a toning routine 2 days per week. I'll continue with that for as long as I can.

I hope to document my progress here and maybe encourage someone else.

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