New to LCHF after years of being on WW diet

[Peanut31]

Hi

Just a brief background on me, I was overweight as a teenager and I lost 2&1/2 stone with weight watchers, and maintained my weight. I was bullied for being overweight at school and a family member, so unfortunately, this memory is always at the back of my mind.

Fast forward many years later I had my child and packed the weight back on (don’t know how as I suffered awful sickness).

I lost my weight again, but, this time it was a lot harder and I had to watch what I ate like a hawk.

As you can image I have learnt all those things you must include in a Keto diet was a no no with weight watchers or were high in points, especially avocado, nuts, cheese.

Fast forward now, I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s in 2017 and then this developed an underactive Thyroid back in March 2018 (I had been ill for quite a few years previous to this). I can’t tolerate gluten, and after an extensive food test, it says I need to stay away from Lacoste and gluten.

I go to the gym regularly, but, unfortunately, my thyroid medication isn’t as effective as It should be as I am suffering with high cortisol levels and low hormone levels DHEA especially.

This has been discovered by a saliva test.

I have done two now and they are still both high, not late evening, just morning, mid morning and afternoon, I’m working on getting this down with ashwagandha and life style changes.

I have also started to notice I am losing my waist line, I’m not overweight, but, I’m losing that curve figure and starting to look like a sack of potatoes in the middle, my clothes feel tight as well.

I’m experiencing, thrush every time I have a period, frequently going to the toilet, thirsty, funny vision when watching the tv, bruises.

I’ve been researching and I wonder if I have insulin resistance.

I have been to my GP and I had a Haemoglobin A1c blood test and I’m waiting for the results, but there appears there is a connection to high cortisol and insulin resistance.

I thought my diet was quite good, until I sat and thought about it and realised I was kidding myself. I limited my carbohydrates, but I realised that all the fruit I was having was also carbs.

I’m also a snacker as well, sitting in front of the tv having fruit, hot chocolate, and I got cravings for salt and sweet things. I can polish off chocolate bars and eat the whole bar. If I buy something I have to eat it all straight away.

I would normally have an apple at night with a hot chocolate.

My normal food day is:

Breakfast:

30g of Schar gluten free fibre flakes with almond milk and about 10 raisins on top.

Lunch: shop brought soup (GF) tomato and basil, bag of seabrook crisps and a pear, or peach slices.

Or, egg salad or chicken or tuna salad. Dressing I have salad cream.

Dinner: if at the gym, so it doesn’t lay heavy, it’s GF porridge with raisin or a bread roll with flora.

When I’m not at the gym I normally microwave some frozen veg with green beans, peas and carrots and have some salmon, or chicken, or GF fish fingers.

Or I roast some vegetables with my salmon or do a chicken stir fry. I don’t have microwave meals.

Snacks, crisps, or fruit, and as I’ve said I like my hot chocolate and apple at night😬.

I avoid having, jacket potatoes, mash potatoes, chips, roast potatoes

Weekends, is a roast dinner, but steamed veg, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower.

I’ll make a fish pie but I’ll have mine without the potatoes, and maybe have a gluten free scone if I go out during the day.

I try to avoid gluten free bread when possible.

Drinks, I use to drink 2 cans of cherry Pepsi max a day, but, I knocked them on the head over a year ago.

I have black coffee, tea with almond milk and have filtered water. I’ve been having squash and herbal teas, from my understanding coffee can raise my cortisol level even more, so I have limited my coffee in take.

I decided at the weekend after researching and looking at Dr Eric Berg and other doctors you tube videos, that it may help me to go low carb eating plan.

As I’m still in the weight watchers mind set I’m frightened I’m going to put weight on with all the eggs, bacon, cheese, coconut you can have.

Is it correct I start on 20g of carbs and I have to count/ weigh everything that passes my lips as in the vegetables, fruit etc.

I’ve looked on diet doctor and they list how much each item is but, I think it’s per 100grams.

I made some coconut pancakes over the weekend, gosh they were awful, too eggy and far too sweet as it had coconut milk in, coconut flour.

So can some confirm, I’m allowed 20g of carbs a day and eggs, diary, bacon all the things on the list I don’t count, but fruit and veg I must count. I’m to avoid Keto bread and Keto snacks for the first 2 weeks. If I get light headed is that my insulin levels dropping, what should I have for this especially if I’m at the gym.

I’m struggling for breakfast as I don’t want eggs all the time for breakfast as may have them in the evening, can some suggest a breakfast alternative, berries?

I don’t want yogurt with it due to trying to avoid lactose.

Would it be safe to skip breakfast as sometimes I’m not hungry, but I’ve come from a family obsessed with set meal times, breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks in between.

Today I’ve eaten an omelette with cheese and salad. Whilst I was eating it my mind was telling me, it was all wrong. I’ve not eating cheese for years due to the high fact content.

I’m still full as it was eaten at 11am, if I’m not hungry then I’m ok not to eat?.

Another question is when I go out for a meal I always had have bacon and chicken salad or steak and salad, but what drink could I have instead of J2o’s apart from water as I don’t drink alcohol

Sorry for the long post, but I need to get my head around all of this.

Best Wishes

Peanut31

[cheritorrox]

Woah I think you need a more expert reply than I can offer, but as a starter for ten on the induction phase of keto take a look at this from TheAwfulToad

healthunlocked.com/lchf-die...

I think your "normal food day is" should probably say "was"? For example, I'm sure you'll have given up crisps? I think you have to record everything as you are not only watching carbs, you also need to know you're eating enough fat and protein.

I only eat in the evening as that's what suits me, but rest assured you don't need to eat if you don't feel hungry. You should find that eating lchf style leaves you feeling fuller anyway so you may not find it as difficult as you think to give up the snacks. Once you get your head round it you'll enjoy a lump of cheese if you do feel peckish!

I'm sure you'll get some more advice - good luck!

[Peanut31 in reply to cheritorrox]

Many thanks for your reply.

I've given up the crisps, yes.

Best Wishes

Peanut31

[moreless]

Hi Peanut31,

My best advice is to read all the posts on this forum! There really aren't that many, but there is a lot of information and you'll be able to see what others are doing/have done.

It's very easy, especially at the beginning, to get hooked up on the facts and figures and I'm sure that's due to a lifetime of indoctrination and calorie/points/syns counting.

It really isn't necessary, if you just stick to the basic rules, especially for the first couple of weeks.

Take your time, don't panic and enjoy

[TheAwfulToad Ambassador]

One of the things I dislike about diet clubs is the guilt they attach to certain foods with morally-loaded words like "syn". It becomes a huge stumbling-block for people when they try to transition to lchf, and I've met a couple of people who "fell of the wagon" because they simply couldn't cope with the guilt feelings associated with eating fat. It's less painful, psychologically, to carry on being ill. Sad.

We've all experienced this to some degree. Others may have different suggestions, but my experience is that the diet feels so right that the guilt just goes away.

As for breakfast - you can eat whatever you like in most of the world there's no such thing as "breakfast food" - people eat similar things regardless of time of day. Have a stir fry or a Greek salad if that works for you. The aim here is just to find something you genuinely enjoy. Yes, you can just skip it if you want. I eat about 11am. Others are doing something similar. Don't get too obsessed with counting stuff. Learn to trust your body again - it knows what its doing. If you're hungry, eat; if you're not, don't its incredible that dietary advice has gone so far off into the weeds that this is no longer obvious.

Coffee or tea is the usual low-carb choice for drinks. Incidentally, you might find Greek yoghurt is ok for you if you can eat cheese. Have you tried it?

I would avoid low-carb substitutes of all sorts if possible. Try to get used to building your meals around non-starchy veg and fats. I can strongly recommend learning classic French and Chinese cooking, much of which is lchf-compatible. Don't steam your veg: roast them in butter.

[Peanut31]

Thank you so much for your advice, I normally steam my veg, so I'll start roasting them.

I haven't had cheese for years, plus when I did food intolerance test it highlighted certain foods as I had an intolerance to them, I had a piece of cheese the other day and I started to experience joint pain in my fingers and toes.

I'll have to look at other options.

Once again thank you for your help.

Best Wishes

Peanut31

[Hidden]

Just one small observation- according to various authors that have written on the weight loss subject, cortisol definitely triggers weight gain, so stress does work against you that way. It's hard to change a mindset so don't beat yourself up; it takes time. I hate it you have to avoid dairy- I don't think I could do LCHF without it! I did give up gluten first, then 99% of the grain-based carbs when I figured out it was the gluten that triggered arthritis pain and burning in me. You do seem to fit a common profile with both dairy and gluten sensitivity- it's wonderful that you know that much, anyway. I hope you find foods you can eat that get you where you want to be!

One thing I've mentioned here a time or 2- try a "low carb mug muffin" recipe- they are all over the internet. 4 ingredients- butter, 1 egg, almond flour and baking soda in various amounts depending on the recipe. Mix it up and microwave in a mug for 90 seconds. The only warning- they are rubbery, so if you slice up to where you can put one in the toaster, it makes it crispy that way. Then add butter, peanut or almond butter, etc. Worth a try!

[Peanut31 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks for your reply,

I’ve been very poorly for years and got no where with any GP’s or Endocrinologist I saw.

It wasn’t until I joined HealthUnlocked that I got the support and knowledge to feel better and started to piece together my issues (blood tests etc).

Yep my cortisol is sky high and definitely a connect with insulin resistant.

I did try making pancakes (the Keto ones) but they are too sweet as it was add coconut cream,coconut flour and had loads of eggs. It was too eggy and far too sweet.

Have you found a recipe for pancakes that taste edible?.

Gluten for me caused trouble, tummy cramps, bloating and really bad headaches, I would be doubled over in pain with tummy ache.

Going gluten free has helped so much and reduced my antibody results with regards Hashimoto (auto immune disease).

I’ll try that low carb muffin recipe, rubbery I can cope with.

Best wishes & thank you.

Peanut31

[Hidden in reply to Peanut31]

Certainly doesn't say much for the medical profession, now does it? I'm so very glad you are finally finding some answers.