Another Low Carb Success Story: Captain K’s Unique Approach

Another Low Carb Success Story: Captain K’s Unique Approach

Low Carb Styles

I absolutely love it when I run across a new success story. Not only does it give me a reason to pause and reflect upon this way of eating, but it also gives me an opportunity to gain a little new insight that I didn’t have before. Such is the case with Captain K.

I read a lot of weight-loss articles over at Info Barrel, but it’s like searching for a pearl that’s buried in an entire desert of sand. Most articles are determined to call low-carb eating a fad, want to preach how low-calorie higher-activity is The Way, or just go on and on, rehashing the same basic concepts we’ve read in a hundred weight-loss articles before. Nothing new, and nothing to pass on here.

But Captain K was different. He’s not just a writer trying to write a weight-loss article from an outside perspective. He lost 40 pounds in 10 months and wanted to share how he did it, and what he learned along the way. Even the intro sucked the breath right out of me:

“Once you have gained weight, it becomes a habit to eat what you want, when you want, and how you want.”

He couldn’t have hit me any closer to home than that. That’s how I knew he wasn’t pretending to know what he was talking about, he really did know. And I’d just like to add that when you stop to take a maintenance break, it feels pretty close to the same way. You get used to eating in a way that helps you maintain your current weight, but it’s extremely difficult to find the motivation to get back onto the wagon and complete the journey because it generally means you have to give up something more than you already have.

Captain K’s way of losing those 40 pounds so quickly? It wasn’t your typical low-carb diet. He found a way that was uniquely his own.

First, he zeroed in on one high-carb food at a time. After looking at the calorie count for that particular high-carb food, he replaced it with something that was high in protein instead. For example, the first thing he cut out of his life was regular soda that he was used to drinking at lunch. Instead of drinking all of that high-fructose corn syrup, he ate a larger burger or a larger portion of chicken, and drank water instead.

To trick his body, he simply replaced the soda with meat, calorie for calorie. He did that, so his body wouldn’t suspect he was doing anything sneaky. The result? He didn’t feel deprived or hungry. There was no strong, physical attempt to get himself to go back to the way things were before. That one, simple, drastic cut in carbohydrate content brought success because he chose to own it before moving on.

In addition, he didn’t rush himself either. In fact, he didn’t do anything else for the first couple of months. He waited for that new behavior to become a permanent habit. Only then did he look at himself, his life, and what he was eating to find a new high-carb food to get rid of.

His low-carb approach was based on the observation that most people eat the same 30 to 50 foods all of the time. If you don’t believe him, try logging your low-carb diet meals into an online calorie-counting site such as Fitday or a downloadable phone app and watch yourself.

For the complete article, check out Losing 40 Pounds in 10 Months, and then scroll down to his comments section below the article and leave him a bit of encouragement. We all need that now and then…

What is Nutritional Ketosis?

What is Nutritional Ketosis?

Questions??

I’ve been watching the Nutritional Ketosis movement for several weeks now, and I came to a serious “AHA moment” yesterday.

I attempted a real Ketogenic diet several years ago – the type they put kids with seizures on – but I didn’t have much luck with it. In fact, I quickly gained about 10 to 15 pounds within the first week or two, so I haven’t been that interested in doing it myself, but I’ve been curious about it in case it worked well for others.

A high-fat, low-carb diet isn’t new. Barry Groves has been recommending that type of weight-loss program for years! But what the low-carb community zeroed in on when presented with that type of diet was only the high fat. That’s where most people placed their focus because that’s what they wanted to eat. It didn’t matter that Dr. Atkins boldly claimed his diet was not a high-fat diet. Fat is what’s restricted on a standard low-calorie diet and doesn’t raise blood glucose levels, so that’s what makes low carbing attractive to many folks.

For the most part, the low-carb community ignored everything required to make a high-fat, low-carb diet work. The result of that high-fat mind-set was a weight-loss stall that appears around the time where the amount of fat calories eaten equals the amount of fat calories the body needs to sustain your weight. In other words – maintenance. The body won’t access its remaining fat stores if it doesn’t need to. Dr. Eades tried to get low carbers to understand that many years ago, but most low carbers didn’t listen.

Some people have been able to overcome the problem by reducing overall calories and upping activity, but that hasn’t worked for everyone. If you’re short or have serious medical conditions, the amount of calories needed to drop pounds and maintain a healthy weight is often too low for sustainability. On a typical low-carb diet, I found I needed to drop my calories to 900 calories per day or less, in order to lose. At 1200 calories per day, I maintain or gain.

WHY? Because the most important component of a high-fat, low-carb diet is ignored.

And I’m as guilty as everyone else. Although I’d figured out from re-reading all of Dr. Atkins’ and Dr. Eades’ weight-loss books that neither of them recommend a HIGH fat diet – and calories count a whole lot more than most low-carb folks are willing to accept – I was still missing the most critical component of what makes that type of diet work.

Enter Jimmy Moore and Nutritional Ketosis

Within the current low-carb climate, it’s easy to see that Jimmy Moore’s n=1 Nutritional Ketosis experiment is what brought the idea of Nutritional Ketosis to the front of attention. He has an extremely large group of followers, so what he says, recommends (or doesn’t), and DOES, pretty much drives the thought process and actions within the low-carb community. We’re talking about the overall direction of low carbing itself.

Yes, there are groups who are resisting the movement. There are pockets of folks who want to continue eating their large portions of protein foods and low-carb products because they don’t see a reason to fix something that isn’t broken. And that’s fine. If high protein is working, there’s really no GOOD reason to switch to something else because the whole point behind the original Atkins Diet was to find your particular degree of carbohydrate intolerance and stay within those limits.

However, as time goes on, what I’m seeing is that for the most part, our metabolic problems are getting worse, not better.

A Low-Carb Diet Doesn’t Work the Same

In 1972, when Dr. Atkins Diet Revolution first surfaced, there were no low-carb products. Restricting carbohydrates was a relatively new idea, and worked nicely because the body had never had to rely upon that alternative metabolic pathway before. It worked well because our food was still pure and relatively uncontaminated with genetically-modified organisms (GMOs). You could switch from processed foods to a whole-foods diet and easily detox from what the “Powers that Be” were doing to our wheat and other processed foods.

That isn’t true today. For a great many people, what worked in 1972 no longer works because our food and beverages aren’t the same anymore. Animals are fed genetically-modified feed (including most grass-fed animals in the winter when pasture is scarce). Those pastured fed are washed and processed with genetically-modified corn-derived citric acid or lactic acid by law. Eggs are washed in a genetically-modified cornstarch solution.

Meat, poultry and fish are further contaminated with GMOs at the grocery store by their packaging. Fresh fruits and vegetables are picked green (including organic produce), and then waxed with petrochemicals and genetically-modified corn-derived ingredients or gassed with Ethylene. In fact, every product that lists alcohol in it's ingredients such as simple Vanilla extract, contains GMOs. And organically grown, or even the term “organic,” doesn’t mean what you’re about to eat is 100 percent organic and therefore safe.

It’s Not Just About the Carbs Anymore

Nutritional Ketosis is an attempt by Dr. Phinney and Jeff Volek to help those within the low-carb community that are finding it difficult to lose weight following a standard low-carb diet. It’s no longer a simple matter of moving to whole-foods such as Paleo or using a carb-restricted solution such as Atkins. For many individuals, something is interfering with the body’s ability to go into Ketosis when restricting carbohydrates. And it’s that something that Jimmy Moore and others are addressing with their Nutritional Ketosis experiments.

If your insulin response is still in good condition, you won’t have the same problems as those of us whose insulin response isn’t behaving normally anymore.

It used to be, when you ate protein and it was converted into glucose, insulin simply ushered that glucose into your cells to take care of the portions of the brain, kidneys and other cells that don’t have mitochondria. This is called Gluconeogenesis and low-carb authorities considered a good thing. But many low carbers are discovering that their insulin resistance and other metabolic issues are not correcting themselves by simply restricting carbohydrates any more.

In fact, many who have started using ketone meters that measure the amount of ketones in the blood, rather than the urine, are finding they are not in Ketosis at all.

What is Nutritional Ketosis?

In Phinney’s and Volek’s book, The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living, Nutritional Ketosis is defined as having a certain level of ketones in the bloodstream. The term was also used by them in the latest Atkins’ book that they authored. The latest Atkins book has not been well received within the low-carb community because of its stance on dietary fat and higher carbohydrate allowance for Induction. Low carbers are also skeptical because of its contradictory nature. It tries to reach out to as many individuals as possible by correcting a lot of myths and low-carb misconceptions, but for the most part, low-carbers want to continue to believe in Low-Carb Magic.

Most low-carb dieters focus on the amount of ketones being thrown off into the urine because that’s what Dr. Atkins recommended in 1972, but the amount of ketones in your urine does not mean you are in Ketosis! What people are finding is that there is absolutely no correlation to urine ketones and Ketosis.

I’m not going to go so far as to say that Dr. Atkins was wrong, but it certainly isn’t true today that Ketostix measure Ketosis. They absolutely do not!

So what is Nutritional Ketosis? Dr. Atkins used to refer to the condition as Dietary Ketosis or Benign Dietary Ketosis in order to separate it from the very dangerous situation of Ketoacidosis. Ketoacidosis is why many medical professionals are afraid of Ketosis. When that condition occurs, insulin level has dropped to zero, so there is no way for the body to correct an abnormally high level of ketones in the blood.

Too high of a blood ketone level can be fatal. I had a nephew die several years ago from Ketoacidosis, so I know first hand that it’s not something that you want to play around with if you have Type 1 Diabetes. It’s dangerous!

But Nutritional Ketosis isn’t the same thing because in a normal metabolism, the body will secrete insulin to take care of a ketone level that becomes too high. It’s no secret that Insulin shuts down access to body fat stores. In the presence of Insulin, the body is then able to burn its present level of ketones in the blood. After which, your insulin level goes down and your low-carb diet then continues. That’s why Nutritional Ketosis isn’t dangerous. Insulin is a healthy, backup response that keeps the diet totally safe.

But that backup response is also one reason why going too low in carbohydrates can be just as detrimental to your weight loss efforts are going too high. It all comes down to finding the right balance of protein, carbohydrates and dietary fats, which can be a bit tricky.

I now realize that's why my past Ketogenic Diet efforts didn’t work very well. I didn’t understand how important finding the right balance actually was. I ate high fat, and extremely low carbohydrate (sometimes, even zero carb), but I also ate a ton of protein. When I did zero carb, I ate as much as 8 ounces of protein at each meal since I wasn’t eating anything else.

That translated into about 144 grams protein minimum to as much as 200!

Regardless of the absence of carbs, that much protein simply kept my body burning glucose for fuel. And when you burn a majority of your fuel as glucose, insulin goes up, so the body simply stores all incoming dietary fat until it needs it later on.

For me, later on never came!

Update: Well, I tried a Nutritional Ketosis Diet that restricted my protein intake to 60 grams. I ate 1,200 calories and seriously upped my fat. I recorded my experience and results at my After Low Carb blog. If interested, you can check it out and leave me a comment.

How to Turn Your Low Carb Diet into a Lifestyle

How to Turn Your Low Carb Diet into a Lifestyle

Low Carb Styles

Make Low-Carb Lifestyle Changes One at a Time

Low carb isn’t a diet – it’s a lifestyle. We hear that all the time. In fact, even the latest Weight Watchers commercials are saying exactly the same thing: this isn’t a diet; it’s a lifestyle. We love the idea of not dieting. We love the idea of being able to eat to satisfaction. Plus, going into carb restriction with the perception that it’s for life helps to eliminate the dieting mindset that so many low-carb dieters fall into.

We truly believe we can eat this way for the rest of our lives with no problems. Who couldn’t? You get to eat fatty meats such as pork ribs and bacon, real butter and sour cream, put heavy whipping cream in your coffee or tea, and munch on mixed nuts, assorted cheeses, olives and deviled eggs – all without having to count the calories. There’s cheesecake for dessert, low-carb pancakes and muffins, jalapeno hot poppers and dozens of ways to enjoy chicken wings.

But then your birthday or anniversary rolls around or your best friend wants to go out to lunch at your favorite Italian restaurant or pizza joint, and before you know it, you’re missing many of the foods you had to give up in order to create your latest lifestyle. Social engagements, holidays, and parties don’t feel as fun as they used to, so you start feeling deprived, restricted, and left out.

If you have food allergies and sensitivities that make many standard low-carb foods off limits, it can be worse because you’ll lose the enthusiasm that helped you get over the initial hump of adaption even more quickly. With no comfort foods to fall back on, you suddenly find yourself falling head-first into a plate of homemade Christmas cookies, sneak a thick slice of pizza when no one’s looking, make excuses for why you need to eat that extra-large piece of chocolate cake for your birthday, or even give up totally.

So what happened? Where did all of that enthusiasm and motivation for your low-carb diet go? You know it works, so why is it so easy to go off plan? If you really want to lose weight and keep it off, why do we make up so many diet excuses for not doing it? Is there any way to prevent that from happening?

Enter the Small-Steps Low-Carb Diet Plan

In a previous post, I talked about using a back door approach to a low-carb diet if you’re having problems pairing your menus down to an Induction level of carbohydrates. Following a standard Atkins Diet, it can take weeks to find your Critical Carbohydrate Level for losing, and many people don’t have enough patience to do that. Although a back door approach that gently slips you into Ketosis takes even more time to discover your level of carbohydrate sensitivity, it’s far less restrictive than a typical low-carb diet plan, so many dieters find that way easier.

A Small-Steps Low-Carb Diet Plan is similar, but you make the changes from the vantage point of a carbohydrate-reduced eating plan. You don’t start backwards. You simply take a step back from what you’re currently doing and experiencing to examine exactly where you are, and then take the necessary steps to implement one single change that will help you convert your diet into a lifestyle you can live with.

For example, over this past weekend, I finally got around to experimenting with a recipe for low-carb crackers made with almond flour. Although I wasn’t happy enough with the results to take a picture of them and post the recipe yet, they were a hit with my husband. We travel up north quite a bit because many of the things we need, we can’t get here. So, I decided that my first change would be finding something that contained fewer carbs than potato salad and fruit that I could put with our baked chicken I always make to take with us. For me, finding comfort foods and making better low-carb choices is essential to getting myself back on track.

Take it Slow

If you have no food allergies, sensitivities or autoimmune problems, you might struggle with different problems and low-carb lifestyle issues than I have. Some people have problems drinking enough water. Others might use too many sugar substitutes, drink litres of diet soda every day, find themselves addicted to homemade, low-carb baked goods, or have no motivation to begin an exercise program. Some might have problems sticking to their plan because they don’t prepare ahead for emergencies, don’t have a well-stocked low-carb kitchen or refrigerator, or don’t know how to handle food temptations when they strike.

No matter what your particular issues are, take the time to examine your behavior and mindset. Self-examination is what will allow you to find the problems that are preventing your personal success with whatever low-carb or low-calorie program you’re following. But, those problems can also work against you if you try to make too many changes all at once. Switching from a typical, processed-foods American diet to a whole food, low-carb lifestyle can be overwhelming in the beginning. Even the basic rules for Atkins Induction might be far too drastic to implement all at once.

The body fights change, and so does the mind – especially when those changes aren’t comfortable, feel restrictive, or are perceived as being temporary. Be kind to yourself, and take it slow. Pick one single thing about your current behavior or lifestyle that is interfering with your weight-loss goals. Maybe it’s something you know you should do, or something you shouldn’t. Whichever issue you choose, focus on only making that one, single change because even when changes improve our outlook, health or energy levels, there is always a mental adjustment attached to that change.

Give yourself adequate time to make that adjustment. If low carb is a lifestyle, rather than a diet, there should be no pressure to rush the process.  

Changes Need to Be Permanent

Lasting change is the goal. Temporary change does very little for us except allow us to enjoy a little temporary success. I really learned that lesson when I did my single round of hHCG a year-and-a-half ago and ended up regaining everything I’d lost during that period over the past year. The changes I made then were not permanent. I saw that restriction as temporary. That diet mindset was accented by the fact that I don’t enjoy eating chicken breast, raw cucumbers and cabbage.

But I also failed to maintain those losses because I didn’t have anything solid to move into next. The parameters of the program simply tell you to do a sugar-free low-carb diet for 3 weeks, and then return foods to your diet slowly in order to keep on top of your maintenance. However, the cravings control center in our brain doesn’t always allow that type of return to a normal diet. As a result, when I returned to my typical way of doing maintenance, it didn’t work.

I couldn’t sustain the weight loss that time because to stay at that lower weight of 152 pounds (once my glycogen storage refilled itself) required my diet to be too restrictive for comfort. I realize that now. I couldn’t eat the high fat, moderate protein, low-carb diet required for three weeks after stopping the hHCG drops due to my fat malabsorption issues. I also didn’t think about my dietary restrictions before starting the diet. That’s the bottom line for me. For someone else, that bottom line might be different.

I have only come to this realization lately, after beginning to re-read Dr. Atkins original diet book. For low-carb to be sustainable, it has to be satisfying, eliminate hunger, and fit within your metabolic issues and health restrictions. Making changes in steps can help you to accomplish that. While even small steps can’t heal fat malaborption or reverse my celiac disease and corn intolerance, incorporating real-life changes a little at a time can certainly work to make your life better.

By incorporating changes slowly, you can move towards converting your current low-carb diet into a permanent lifestyle.