LCHF Lifestyle

[FinalDestination]

It's day 2 and I still don't know if I'm coming or going. This way of eating is so different from what I'm used to - I keep having to remind myself that this isn't about counting calories and I should get the phrases 'fat free / low fat' out of my head

Something pleasantly surprising happened though.... I had coffee, with no sugar or creamer. It was just coffee with cream and I enjoyed it. What's surprising is that coffee (with sugar and creamer) is a ritual for me and coffee is not coffee without these key ingredients. I was willing to cut it out and stick to my green tea but I'm so glad I don't have to.

It feels nice to not excessively obsess about calories, and as a start I'm concentrating on keeping my carb intake at 20g or less (no fruit or sugar or starch) ... I can see myself living like this in the long term. I miss granola but I've found great LCHF recipes with seeds and nut for making this. I'm feeling ok and it's a comfort to not worry about food as much as I usually do....

[Penel]

Glad to hear about the coffee and cream success, it's one of my daily treats.

Hope you are ok with cutting your carbs so low. It can take your body a while to adjust to such a change, I found I had to cut down gradually.

[FinalDestination in reply to Penel]

I actually didn't struggle to reduce my carb intake - my biggest issue was sugar and once I let go of that, everything else seemed easier. I had started cutting out starch from my diet and introduced greens and so I simply continue with my usual favorite carbs, e.g. broccoli, spinach etc. Someone's been telling me about how coffee can be bad for insulin... and I saw that a lot of doctors say the same on some articles I read online. ... seriously, is everything I like bad for me? LOL

[Penel in reply to FinalDestination]

It took me several goes to give up the sugar! It does make a big difference.

From what I've read, coffee is fine if you can tolerate it. I limit my coffee drinking and have to keep it fairly weak, but I'm not giving it up. Insulin is an important hormone in the body and can't be avoided. The important thing seems to be to give the body a rest from it, by limiting insulin producing foods etc. or even practising intermittant fasting.

Are you managing to do some exercise? That also seems to be a good way to cope with the possible adverse effects of too much glucose/insulin.

I'm still learning. And I am having cake occasionally.

[FinalDestination in reply to Penel]

Thanks Penel. Because I cannot live without it, I've decided to keep coffee as an occasional drink with cream - I enjoy my green tea anyway

Exercise is something that doesn't come naturally to me but once I get started I get excited and happy about it... but everything goes to hell during 'rest days' because I then almost never want to go back after resting.

I'm wondering what types of exercises I could do daily without putting too much strain on my body...? I started working out at the work gym for almost a month and I've never been one to even break a sweat no matter how hard I pushed myself... (Quit a few months ago, because I'm working for a new company which doesn't have a gym). Last week I managed to put in 3 sessions (strength and cardio for about 45 minutes each) and I was sweating so much that I was going blind from it! I have never been one to sweat, even when I was younger and doing sports in school... What do you think this means? Should I get it checked out or am I overreacting? (I do that a lot)

[Penel in reply to FinalDestination]

That sounds like a lot of exercise, I guess the sweating was normal, but get it checked out if you are worried.

I have been doing Pilates for several years to develop strength and flexibility, I recommend it highly. I've recently started 'aerobics in water' to give me more of a cardiac workout.

Finding exercise that you enjoy seems to be the best idea, I like to get out in the fresh air and walk whenever possible.

[FinalDestination in reply to Penel]

I think I'll do 15 - 30 minutes daily workouts - and also try to not overdo things. My problem is that I cannot maintain exercise with rest days - I just quit on it and find excuses not to carry on. I simply need to find a way to remain active and to eventually enjoy it (if that's at all possible)... I'm not the 'outdoorsy' type lol. Will try this and update how it goes