Dr. Berkeley answers questions about no carbs

Great explanation! thanks for sharing , Linda, and I did like her on FB

Thanks for the article Linda. Sometimes I get so discouraged because from my childhood (& I was a skinny little twerp) pasta, or,spaghetti as we called it, was my favorite food & still is. But it is such a trigger for me. If I thought I could just eat a cup with my homemade marinara, I would have it for dinner every night. I might even stop eating meat. But a cup just doesn't cut it for me. I need to remember I can eat what I want, just not as much.

Carbs are an issue for me. Not so much sugar in recent years, but starchy stuff of all sorts. It was maybe about 8 years ago that my doctor told me my triglycerides were very high. He said I had to lower my carbs. At the time I was very overweight. Maybe 30 lbs more than I am now. My cholesterol and glucose levels were high too. I had been successful on Weight Watchers a few times years before, but remember being on the Core Plan, which frankly, was pretty high in carbs, even though the carbs were whole grains for the most part. I didn't even know how to diet low carb, so I got a referral to a dietitian.

My low carb diet that I was prescribed was low, but not nearly as low as diets like Atkins diet or certainly not the Ketogenic diet. I did manage to mostly keep within my new carb range, but it was hard. I can't even imagine ME managing with Atkins. I just love my carbs too much.

I ended up losing over 30 lbs on my prescribed low carb diet in about 6 months. It was work, but I lost the weight at a fairly fast rate of between 1.5-2.5 lbs per week. Then I went back for blood tests and ALL of them were perfectly normal!!!!! My doctor himself called me to congratulate me and sounded so happy and shocked that I actually took his advice.

Years past and I fell off the low carb wagon. Somehow I managed not to regain that much of the weight. In fact, at one point (not really officially on a diet) I got back to my low. But I went to the doctor and SURPRISE!!!! My triglycerides and cholesterol were high again (although my glucose level was fine). Even though I was fairly trim. So in my case my weight didn't determine my blood test results.

In the recent 1-2 years I have gained a little weight back. I gained about 18 lbs. I decided to try Weight Watchers again, and lost 13 lbs. Sounds good? But still my cholesterol and triglycerides were high. My doctor told me I must lower my carbs again. On Weight Watchers I'll admit that though I was staying within my daily points, a lot of the points were high carb foods. Not that that HAS to be the case, but it seems to be the case when I do Weight Watchers. So I guess I must go back low carb again. Actually, for a couple of weeks I tried to count both my carbs and WW points, but that was a hassle. How much hassle can I handle? Again, I'll follow the prescribed not severely low carb diet of 60 grams of carbs per day. I know it will be a sacrifice. Do I think I'll be able to stay low carb the rest of my life? Me? Probably I'll fall off the wagon now and then. Sorry to admit that, but it's probably true. But I'll try again and again.

ksbruns LOL  "I will never have another chance to eat this again in my entire life."  but, but, but...!!!   This week is my birthday and I WILL have that piece of ice cream cake !!

At the same time that I started my most recent WLJ, my DH was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.  His doctor and his diabetes nurse told him that if he could keep below 180 carbs per day and lose weight he would not have to start on diabetes meds.  I put together an excel spreadsheet that allows me to track both carbs and points for what we eat.  He lost his weight, and never started the meds although he continues to monitor his blood glucose daily.  

Using the spreadsheet I have been tracking both carbs and WW points for six years now.  We generally eat 140-160 carbs a day.  It requires menu-preplanning to make it work.  Sometimes I have to juggle the planned meals around to meet the carb target, but it's no more difficult than juggling points around to meet the points target.  I like that the eTools tracker includes the nutrition info along with the points value for almost everything, so when I look up points, I can get carb info at the same time.

ladymajky  @beckyw2016  Why is there such a difference between the number of carbs you eat a day?  140-160 vs 70 carbs a day is a big difference. I know nothing about diabetic carb counting. Please forgive me if this is too personal a question. I would think it's very hard to stay at 70 carbs a day.    Thanks!