h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

So... I bought the first ever book about Atkins to have been translated into Swedish ('Atkins for Life') out of curiousity after having read very heated discussions on the net, with people stating 'facts' and other people saying they got their facts all wrong...

...so I decided to find out for myself.

So far: It's a huuuge book, and I haven't finished reading it yet. I must admit that the idea that you need to cut down on carbs rather than fat takes some time to get used to - I've been far too brain-washed by the 'fat is bad' idea to easily let go of it.

Being curious, I have started on cutting down on carbs, trying to limit them to 60 g/day (takes some planning).

Effects I've noticed so far:

- I feel fuller after what volume-wise to the eye seems like a smaller meal.
- I feel full for a longer time afterwards.
- I get less tired immediately after a meal.
- My body has got rid of some of the excessive water that it's prone to hoard.

The recipes section is a disappointment though - not very compatible with the Nordic (or should I limit it to the Finnsih) food habits. I never did care for mayo, and surprisingly many recipes contain artifical sweetener (which I'm a bit dubious about) - and my problem isn't a 'sweet tooth' - it's a salty one!

I must admit that my heart leaped with joy when I found I can eat full fat cheese again! It remains to be seen, but I think I've missed the cheese more (during Weight-Watching) than I'll be missing bread on a low-carb diet. I find the low-fat cheeses a bit odd in texture and inferior in taste to the full-fat ones.

It sounds a little similar in nutrition to something I tried once (but never again!), the Cambridge diet... it is also very low carb, has the necessary proteins, fats and vitamins, but is powders to mix with water, for 'mikshakes' and hot soups. Tastes rather good, but I longed for chewing after a while...

As ling as you don't overdo it, I suppose Atkins is OK, but odd that cutting fat a bit isn't in it?

great that you feel good though!

tjing
Milla

Never ever diet, its bad for your health, just a little of what you fancy and plenty of exercise, does you good!


The prob is really we never exercise enough and i think that the scanndinavyoiun diet is a good'un plenty of pickles, fish and beer too!

but i could be wrong IMHO

Also i feel the need for a viking smily! or a norse smily!

Soooo true, Rev, it wasn't good for body or mind, but actually you do get a high from a extremely low carb diet. When not fueling up enough you start to generate ketons (beware of stinky breath, Ti) which seem to give enough energy to get you through the day, lower the sensations of hunger and trick your brain into feeling OK after all. You are not OK, I think, since your body is in some starvation mode.

But the remaining 10 kg from my last pregnancy (out of a total 25 extra kg) needed removal (surgical or otherwise...) and this was the quickest way I thought. And not all that I lost has found it's way back, so I declare the war partially won!

But since then I rather go for smaller portions, more veg and some swimming when I get the time. Keeps me on steady weight, even if not actually losing any.

tjing
Milla

Cutting down on sugar is likely good, but artificial sweetener
Stevia, which you should find at natural food stores, can be a reasonable alternative

(almost a viking smiley!)

Milla, I don't think (not 100% sure) that I will enter the 'induction' phase and start generating ketons at 60 g of carbs per day - that phase is limited to 20 g of carbs per day.

This book doesn't describe the most heatedly discussed phase in detail, because it's more about maintaining your weight than losing it - but it does describe how to find out one's 'Atkins Carbohydrate Equilibrium' - that is, a level of carbs where you stand still.

The book suggests that if you only have a little weight to lose (like 5 kg if you're a menopausal woman or 10 kg if you're an active young man) that you start off with 60 g of carbs per day.

Since I've only got about 8 kg left to my goal (to barely get below BMI 25) I've decided to follow this advice and not try the most extreme phase (induction).

If I start losing weight at 60 g, I am to gradually add to the amount of carbs until I stand still (my current 'equilibrium' level) and then lessen it slightly again.

If I don't start losing weight at 60 g, I am to gradually lessen the amount of carbs.

One other positive thing I've noticed besides those mentioned in my first posting is that it's easier to - ahem - 'poo poo'(?)

Rev - I developped very bad eating habits during an extremely busy and stressful time of my life, and had no problem maintaining my weight while everything was chaotic. Once things slowed down and returned back to normal, with the new bad habits, I gained a lot of weight in a very short time.

In order to change those eating habits and learn to eat in a 'normal' way again, I think a diet (as long as it contains all the nutrition you need and doesn't make your body go into 'starvation' mode) can be a help on the way.

I've lost some 17 kg with the Weight Watchers, but their method isn't working very well for a lot of people once they start to exercise more - in my case 5 km of power-walking (fast enough to make me a bit short of breath and slightly sweaty) 5 days per week.

This is because the WW say you can just eat a limited amount extra food per week to compensate for what you lose through the exercise, even though you've used up way beyond that limit while exercising. This seems to lead to the body no longing losing weight but starting to hoard the nourishment instead, which leads to a stand-still.

In my case, the stand still has lasted for several months by now, and that's why I'm willing to try a different way of losing weight.

Ti, has the Southbeach Diet been translated into Swedish? It seems healthier than Atkins.

http://www.south-beach-diet-information.com/how-southbeach-diet-works.htm

There is another program that seems really sensible. It is by a trainer named Jorge Cruise and is called "8 Minutes in the Morning". This is the one I'm going to start on. On Monday, actually. I bought the book for the library and liked it so much I bought one for myself.

Here is a website that sort of explains it.

http://www.prevention.com/cda/feature2002/0,2479,s1-3948,00.html

And here is a link to the book.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060580852/103-6500224-9594229?v=glance

There is another book for people who are more than 30 pounds overweight called '8 Minutes in the Morning for Real Shapes and Sizes"

For some reasons, books that aren't best-selling novels seem to take years to be translated into Swedish - I've only ever heard about the Southbeach diet here on h2g2.

I'm familiar with Jorge Cruise - he used to have his own site, with photos of some exercises - not sure why it disappeared, but I think you can access it through the Web Archive:

http://www.archive.org/web/web.php

Use this link in the archive:

http://www.jorgecruise.com/HTML/weightloss/onlinetraining.html

Around 3 million people are following the Atkins diet in the UK, which is having a knock-on effect on the food industry. I was reading in the paper this morning that a low carb potato is being developed. So the diet may become easier to follow.

In the current UK Good Housekeeping magazine is an example of the size of portions we should be eating against the portions we are eating. It's quite an interesting illustration.

Portion control and exercise are the keys. Not eliminating entire food groups. Just my opinion. But if I knew anything, I wouldn't be fat.

Today I start 8 Minutes in the Morning.

Atkins still isn't very big in Sweden - I haven't seen any low-carb bread or tortillas or any similar products in the shops.

I found a book that I had forgotten that I had bought, and it mentions... mentions... *hurls away dictionary in frustration, tries a wild guess googling* foods being split up into either acidic, basic or neutral. It says you should eat mostly basic foods to keep the acidic levels down.

Interestingly enough most of the fruits and vegetables that are listed as basic are low-carb.

I think you're talking about the one that tells you to eat only 20% -25% acid producing foods and 75% -80% alkaline (basic) foods. I've often wondered if there is any truth to it. It is supposed to cure all sorts of health problems.

I think Atkins is so popular because everyone is looking for an easy, quick fix for being overweight. You aren't as hungry on a high protein diet, so that makes it less traumatic. But all of my favorite foods are carbohydrates, so I don't think I could stay on Atkins for a long time.

Well, one of the things I *do* like about the Atkins diet is the berries! I eat berries very seldom, usually strawberries in the summer, but they're really just so full of healthy stuff - and mostly low-carb as well...

I think I've already mentioned it, but the idea of eating full-fat cheese seems to be much more satisfying to me than eating bread or pasta...

The low fat cheese is pretty tasteless. I'm glad you are enjoying the full fat. And the berries. On Atkins you can have real cream on your .

I have tried planting some blueberry bushes again. Blueberries are supposed to be super healthy. All berries are, for that matter.

Yes, that is what I was reminded about when reading the Atkins book - that berries are very good for you! Blueberries are good, as are lingonberries - do you have them in the US? Yep, I guess you do (after doing some googling)

On a completely different subject - isn't it interesting that 'googling' seems to be an accepted verb on the net?

Well, it sounds better than saying you are Yahooing.

I have a search tool that I use called Web Ferret. It searches the entire web like Google does. But I don't hink it works any better. The advantage is that it returns 500 hits on one frame.

I have blckberries setting on my vines. I love their flavor. I don't remember ever eating lingonberries. I tried to grow alpine strawberries from seed this year but they didn't come up. And I had already dug out my other strawberries. So, I don't have any at all. I'm having to buy them at the market.

Wild strawberries! Wild strawberries! The very tiny red ones - they're sweeter than any other sort (but also smaller) and also hardier!

I recently saw some ridicuolously(sp?) big strawberries at a buffee - and no one would touch them (all Swedes) because they all thought they'd have no flavour, being that big!

I'm going to buy some more seed and try again. I think I may have waited too long. I'll try planting them during the winter.

You're right about the large berries not having a good flavor. They are pretty tasteless. If I can't get the alpine berries started, I'll buy some plants again, but will try to find some of the old fashioned ones that have smaller berries and better flavor.

I want to grow the alpine berries because they don't send out runners and you don't have to replace the plants every other year like you do with regular strawberries. That is a real hassle. And yyou really need two strawberry beds so you can pick from them every other year. It's a lot of work.

So is the diet working?

(just trying to keep in touch...)

tjing
Milla