One Way to Handle Holiday Temptation: Help an Autistic Child Instead!

One Way to Handle Holiday Temptation: Help an Autistic Child Instead!

Special Event Diet

With the holidays right around the corner, low carb folks will soon be talking about how to handle holiday temptation. The solution varies, depending on whom you talk too. Right now, we’re starting into the curve known as Halloween; that means candy, candied applies, donuts, spiced apple cider, and other holiday goodies.

Some of them can be given a low carb twist, sure, but let’s be honest: with all of the genetically-modified corn and soy running around these days, the high volume of wheat protein in low carb products, the dairy, and the high glycemic sugar alcohols in sugar free candies – diet twists aren’t necessarily more healthy than the high carb foods they’ve been designed to replace. Low carb junk, and low carb frankenfoods in particular, are still junk!

Now, if we’re serious about making low carb eating a lifestyle, we can’t cave into the coming holidays without getting lost in one holiday after another, one party after another, one excuse after another – or we’ll find ourselves, come January, a little bit heavier at best. And at worst? Back to where we were when we first started low carb dieting. Course, giving in to a treat or two won’t make you fat; but, I’m not talking about controlled, flexible dieting such as that described and recommended by common-sense folks like Lyle McDonald.

No…I’m talking about individuals who find their cravings ignite with a single cheat. One piece of Halloween candy, a little hard apple cider, a couple of bites of a sugary hot-and-cinnamon-y red candied apple, and they wake up the next morning face-down into the white-flour pancakes swimming in imitation maple syrup.

Okay, maybe you’re trying to control yourself with a stack of low carb pancakes and diet maple syrup, but still…most folks struggle to apply the brakes for days afterwards, if they allow themselves a free holiday meal or dessert.

I haven’t been as devoted to my Facebook account lately as I should be; partly because my health has been downright crappy this past year, and partly because I’ve been spending hours upon hours researching the medical possibilities. But I happened to be on there the other day, and noticed that David Berkowitz, president and founder of Autism Advocacy and Technology News Zone Inc., had posted to my wall. (I’m talking about my personal Facebook account, not my author’s page.)   

I first met David on Twitter where he asked me if I ever wrote articles about autism companies, explaining what they were currently trying to do. So, I checked out his website, did a little bit of research on him, and he gave me an interview. The result was two articles for Suite 101:

• Give Your Old Tablet PC to Tech News and Help an Autistic Child
• iPads for Kids with Autism: Tech News Zones Wants to Help

They explain in detail who David is (an Aspie dad trying to raise three aspie sons), and what he’s trying to do with his recently formed company (get iPads and other forms of technology, music, and the arts into the hands of autistic kids whose parents can’t afford them). However, despite his good intentions and hundreds of hours of devotion and time put into trying to get his company into the air, he’s bucking a lot of wind.

As he said to me on my Facebook wall, he’s holding a Rubios fundraiser at all three of the Rubios in the Las Vegas – Henderson area on 10/21/2011. Those who live in that area, or plan to be in that area on the 21^st of this month, can help support autism’s cause by downloading the pdf version of a fundraising flyer on his website, and then go to one of the three Rubios on the 21^st to help support the cause.

For those who don’t live in the Vegas/Henderson area, they can easily make a donation through David’s website, Technewszone. Only, according to the post David made to my Facebook account, NO ONE has donated anything yet. So I was thinking… (yeah, I know that can be dangerous, but…)

Maybe, instead of cheating on our low-carb diet this holiday season, we can donate the money we would otherwise spend on illegal goodies (or even a portion of the legal ones) to help non-verbal autistic children get the iPads they need to learn how to communicate. It’s a fallacy that because many children with autism can’t talk, that it means they don’t know what’s going on. They do.

Autism is a brain malfunction that often leads to developmental delay and sensory issues, but these kids still have ears that work just fine. When given the opportunity to learn how to communicate through visual means like iPads, computers, picture cards, and sign language they can make dramatic, significant headway.

So think about it. We spend tons of money on the holidays. We decorate the house with holiday décor. We buy Halloween costumes, pick out giant turkeys, and spend hours in the kitchen whipping up tons of food for a 30-minute Thanksgiving dinner. We buy Christmas trees, Christmas and Hanukah cards, party fair, and make platefuls of cookies, candies, and other Christmas and Hanukah goodies. We buy new clothes. And yes, we buy presents.

So if you want to do something just a little bit different this year…why not give up all of those extra pounds of fat we all tend to put on during the holidays, and instead of over-indulging, why not find room in your heart to brighten up the life of an autistic child? It doesn’t have to be money. Technewszone.com is about getting technology, music, and the arts into the hands of autistic children. They accept all sorts of non-monetary donations: Anything an autistic family may not be able to afford to buy, due to the high costs of therapy and specialty diets.

So check out my two Suite articles linked to above, think about adding the cause of autism to your holiday list, and then do something to help. As David’s website says, if everyone who visits this blog donated only 50 cents, then together we could bring a miracle into the life of an autistic child.

Crispy Sesame Chicken Wings

Crispy Sesame Chicken Wings

Low Carb Styles

Crispy Sesame Chicken Wings

I haven't experimented with chicken wings much; they are expensive in my neck of the woods. Used to be, if I was going to spend $5 for just the meat portion of a single meal, I'd pick up a nice steak or piece of Salmon. Since I can't eat either of those anymore, except on very rare occasions, I grabbed a marked-down package of chicken wings the last time I was at Walmart.

Marked-down wings are rare here too, but does happen now and then, so I guess I'll be on the look-out from now on, because these chicken wings came out crispy with just the right amount of mouth-watering ginger and sesame. Plus at $5 for two meals, it makes them doable.

My favorite go-to has always been a good old-fashioned hot wing recipe, with Heroine Wings coming in at a close second, but I can't do Parmesan Cheese anymore -- so I opted for a sweet Teriyaki. When doing a PSMF diet round once, I threw together soy sauce, diet maple syrup, ginger, and garlic and used that to baste my chicken breast; but I can't use diet maple syrup so I decided to switch out the maple flavor for some sesame.

In the late 90s, before good-tasting sugar substitutes were available, us Atkinites used a little bit of real sugar, and counted it at twice the carbs. I know that, today, die-hard Atkinites would cringe at that, but that's what we did. It worked just fine for me and many others, but that's not what I'm suggesting, here. I'm just saying...

Cause I've been reacting to corn lately (which I'll get to in another post soon). I've had to revamp my way of doing things. So even though I actually used brown sugar in this recipe, just use whatever type of sugar substitute works best for you. My husband isn't crazy about anything that's too spicy, so if you want to spice these up a bit, they could withstand a little minced chili pepper, dried crushed chilies, or hot garlic chili paste.

Crispy Sesame Chicken Wings

About 1-1/2 lbs of chicken wings cut in half and wing tips removed
1/4 cup soy sauce (San-J Organic Tamari)
3 tbsp water
2 to 4 tbsp sugar substitute
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp minced fresh ginger
2 tsp sesame seeds

Place the chicken wings in a gallon zip-lock bag. In a bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients; stir well, then pour over the chicken wings. Marinate for several hours, preferably overnight. Bake on a wire rack in the center of the oven, at 350, until crispy -- about 1 hour.

*Photo by wEnDaLicious

Stumbling on Your Low-Carb Eating Plan? Here’s How to Find Success by Using the Back Door

Stumbling on Your Low-Carb Eating Plan? Here’s How to Find Success by Using the Back Door

Questions??

Find Low Carb Success Going Through the Back Door

Most folks who start a low-carb eating plan, begin by walking through the front door. They read the book, study the first phase of Induction thoroughly, and then just do it. Some throw out, or give away, all of the high-carb items in the house, stock the refrigerator and cupboards with low-carb foods, and map out a solid plan of action for emergencies.

Others take a more haphazard approach. They read the book, but skip over the boring information to get to the food list and rules. They don’t much care how low carb works, or why, they just want to know what to eat, and what not too. They may, or may not stock up on allowable foods, and they may, or may not think about what to do if they find themselves in a tight situation.

Both dieting styles can lead to problems sticking to a new diet, because no matter what your degree of motivation, switching to a low-carb eating style brings drastic change. Initially, you might have enough determination to get you through the first few weeks while your body busies itself switching from predominantly burning glucose to burning fats. You might even have enough strength to wait it out until the body understands that you want the brain to burn ketones for its fuel. But that doesn’t hold true for everyone.

When excess hunger and cravings arise, some choose to stuff their mouths with more fats and protein. Some choose to ignore what their mind tells them, and continue eating normal-sized portions until the craving goes away. And some cave into that plate of homemade chocolate chip cookies (or that slice of bread, or scoop of ice cream, or whatever their carbohydrate of choice) because they needed them to ease the migraine, or the nausea. Or because unconsciously, they didn’t wake up until it was too late.

Basic theories vary, but most believe cravings come from: 

• detoxing from carbohydrates or sugar
• wheat or sugar withdrawal
• erratic or quickly falling blood sugar levels
• high insulin levels
• liver glycogen stores getting too low

The bottom line? It doesn’t really matter why you have trouble sticking to plan. Whatever the truth, that knowledge doesn’t keep your hand from reaching out for those cookies and shoving them into your mouth. It really doesn’t. So, if you keep finding yourself cheating on Induction, or if you’ve been following a low-carb eating plan for awhile but keep stumbling – take heart. An easier way exists to work around the problem than trying to fight against your will.

How Sensory Integration Affects a Low-Carb Eating Plan

Your first or second time around the block, burning fat on a low-carb diet comes easier and quicker than it will for those who pop in and out for years. And yes, I’m talking about the One Golden Shot Theory. That theory holds true, but not for the reason most people think. Nor are the consequences impossible to overcome, for most.

All behavior results from sensory integration that takes place within the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord). As part of that integration process, the brain interprets the sensory data it receives, organizes a reaction, and then commands the body to carry out the plan. This reaction takes only a second or two, and occurs at the unconscious level. It makes change difficult. The body literally fights for survival.

A low-carb diet places the body in survival mode. So everything you think and do unfolds due to the alternative energy pathway (starvation) called into play when carbohydrates, and thus glucose, severely and suddenly drop, as they do during Induction.

If new to low carb, the body won’t have experience burning ketones for fuel, so it won’t know how many you’ll need. As a result, many partially burned ketones flush out of the body -- if you drink enough water. But if not new to low-carb eating, and your body knows a ketone is the perfect fuel for the brain, it will remember how many ketones it takes to replace the missing glucose, and you won’t overproduce them.

However, you will still have to suffer through the adaption process. This means, the body and mind will most likely fight harder, since you caved in to its desires before, each time you returned to a higher carb diet.

Entering a Low-Carb Diet Through the Back Door

The hindbrain is the first part of the brain to develop. It controls our unconscious body functions like heartbeat, breathing, and digestion. When you enter a low-carb diet, and you restrict the body’s fuel source, this hindbrain’s survival instinct kicks into high gear. It literally believes you are starving, so it will do whatever it has to, to make sure the body survives the famine.

When you drastically cut carbs, you bring that survival instinct to life. And when you expose your senses to smells, pictures, or imaginative images of food you miss, the central nervous system recognizes those smells and images as food and cranks up your desire to eat.

A backdoor approach slowly introduces the mind and body to a low-carb eating plan. It doesn’t do that by dropping carbohydrate consumption to a mere 20 grams per day, and shocking the body into ketosis for survival, but by gently correctly the energy imbalance that caused your body to store excess carbohydrates as fat.

According to Dr. Eades (author of The Protein Power Lifeplan), the body needs about 200 grams of carbohydrate per day, to meet the needs of the brain and other glucose-dependent tissues. How much it needs exactly differs from person to person, depending on activity level, metabolic rate, and body size. Most nutritional experts recommend a dietary approach that consists of about 50% of calories in carbohydrates. At 4 calories per gram, however, the 200 or so the body needs would only come in at 800 calories – that’s less than half.

Most individuals not following a low-carb regimen eat about 300 to 400 grams of carbohydrate a day, or even more. While it takes a little less than 100 grams to get into the state of ketosis, entering ketosis is not the goal of using a backdoor approach. It’s to begin making changes in that direction. So pick a comfortable carbohydrate level to begin. Whether you choose 200 grams, 150, 100, or 60 doesn’t matter. Just make it less than you current eat.   

Give yourself a month or two at that level to adjust, and then begin taking steps to lower the carbohydrate level, again…and again…for as long as it takes. How much lower? And how quickly? That depends. A backwards approach doesn’t require the dieter to go down to Induction levels, ever, but to slowly incorporate carbohydrate restriction until you reach the level of carbs that allows you to lose weight. The back door takes a low-carb diet and actually puts it into practice, in reverse. You travel down the carb ladder (if so inclined) rather than up.

By following a low-carb eating plan backwards, you avoid shocking the body, and give yourself time to adjust to giving up your favorite carbohydrates (perhaps even one at a time). You also give yourself more time to find healthy and satisfying ways to replace them. In addition, you never have to suffer through the initial deprivation that has so far been working against you.

Granted, this describes a slower approach, and not for everyone. But for those who can’t seem to make it through Induction, or those who keep stumbling because you can’t give up your favorite treats all at once, knocking on the backdoor can offer a chance to make your weight-loss goals become a reality, rather than just a dream.


*Photo by Roger Ward

Are You Making One of These Two Low-Carb Diet Mistakes?

Are You Making One of These Two Low-Carb Diet Mistakes?

Questions??

A low-carb diet is an effective, but highly restrictive, weight-loss plan. It works well when you follow the rules. If you waltz into the room thinking you can do your own thing without having read and studied any of the weight-loss plans, you’ll probably find yourself asking, “Am I doing low carb right?” A dead giveaway that you aren’t.

However, if you’ve been carefully following one of the low-carb programs, and weight loss has slowed, or stopped, you might want to check and see if you’ve been making one of these low-carb mistakes.   

Where Are Your Carbs Coming From?

Most individuals enter the Induction phase on a diet-high. Motivation is strong. The weight loss you experience from losing the glycogen needed to get you into ketosis keeps you pumped. Motivated by the new lack in cravings and sense of well-being, low-carb diet mistakes are few. You stick to the rules, start experimenting with new foods and recipes, and make the decision that this low carb stuff is going to be a lifestyle change – not just another diet.

But lifestyle changes don’t come that easy. Like anything else, even with a rock-solid foundation, we can reach a point where we start to slip back into our old ways of doing things. For some, that means giving ourselves permission to cheat once in a while. But for others, the tendency surfaces by trying to recreate the diet that got us fat in the first place – but from a low-carb perspective.

While there’s nothing wrong with attempting to low carb a favorite recipe or holiday treat, it’s easy to slip away from Dr. Atkins’ caution when moving into the Ongoing Weight Loss phase. “If you have decided to move to phase two, I want to remind you not to regard it as a time to cut loose and undo all of the good work you have just completed,” Atkins writes. Pretty much common sense. But then he adds that phase two is “very similar to Induction in that you will continue to derive the majority of your carbohydrates from vegetables low in carbs.”

While the carbohydrate ladder allows later additions of nuts and berries, phase two doesn’t lift most of the restrictions given for Induction. These daily limits are:

• cheese (3-4 oz)
• heavy cream (2-3 tbsp)
• sugar substitutes (2-3 servings, counted as 1 gram of carbohydrate each)
• salad dressings (without sugar, and no more than 2 grams of carbohydrate per 1 tbsp serving)
• spices (without added sugar)
• lemon juice (2-3 tbsp per day)
• olives (20)
• sour cream (1 oz – that’s 2 tbsp)
• avocado (1/2)

Dr. Atkins also cautioned against using too many low-carb products. While he did mention that convenience foods were an option for when “you are unable to find appropriate food, can’t take time for a meal or need a quick snack,” he also warned to watch out for carbohydrate counts. Far too many products today, like low-carb breads, tortillas, and pastas, or low-carb shakes and bars have hidden carbs or digest exactly like the high-carb products they replace.

In addition, if you have wheat sensitivities, be extra careful with what you spend your carbs on, because most low-carb products are loaded with wheat protein. The same is true for many favorites like soy sauce. Also, keep in mind that some whole grains like soy flour and uncertified gluten-free oatmeal (which many low-carb bakers grind into flour) are also highly contaminated with wheat.

Are You Counting Your Carbohydrates?

Following a low-carb diet, rather than a traditional low-fat low-calorie plan, doesn’t get you out of having to play the numbers game. Do you know what your Critical Carbohydrate Level for Losing (CCLL) is? According to Dr. Atkins, knowing that number and “counting grams of carbohydrate is truly your responsibility. If you don’t count you could get into trouble.”

The idea behind the Atkins diet, or Protein Power, or any number of other low-carb plans is that your rate of fat loss is in direct proportion to the amount of carbs you eat. Knowing your CCLL, and staying at or below that number (or whatever level of carbs and protein The Protein Power Lifeplan assigns you) is like a safety net. That’s a little less than the amount of starch your body can deal with on a daily basis without having to store it as glycogen, or body fat if glycogen stores are full. Go above that number, and your weight loss will stall.

That’s pretty much what the carb ladder is all about too. Helping you make the best choice for whatever condition your current metabolism is in.

But too many times, we think we know better and we do something that sits outside the rules. Sometimes we get away with it, like eating low-carb tortillas, pasta, and bread way before step nine on the ladder. Or we stick to eating just allowable foods without actually counting the amount of carbs we are eating each day. If we’re lucky, we will continue to lose weight just fine. But sometimes we don’t. Sometimes those little inconsistencies and mistakes catch up with us, and our weight loss stalls.

Get Back on Track

When that happens, step one is always to get back to counting carbohydrates. After which it’s a good idea to examine closely where those carbs are coming from. It’s easy to get lax and stop reading labels, allowing a little sugar or high fructose corn syrup to slip into our diet through a store-purchased salad dressing. It’s also easy to forget what level of the carb ladder we’re on – when see others eating low-carb pasta and continuing to lose weight. And it’s even easier to devote ourselves to low-carb foods and ingredients than it is to drag out the measuring spoons and cups to find out exactly how many carbs we’re eating.

That’s because, when it comes to fat loss and staying on plan, most of the time, we are our own worst enemy. However, if we want to reach our weight-loss goals, we have to be willing to take a good look at ourselves, our current lifestyle, and weed out any low-carb diet mistakes that might be standing in our way. That certainly isn’t easy; it’s where I’ve been slipping down the slippery slope of fat gain lately. Not much – I weighed it at just three pounds over my current temporary weight maintenance goal – but three pounds is where I’ve personally chosen to draw the line.

So it’s back to lower carbs for me, for awhile.

Food Allergies, Neuropathy, and Blood Sugar Control on a Low Carb Diet

Food Allergies, Neuropathy, and Blood Sugar Control on a Low Carb Diet

Sugar..!!

Many things can interfere with the success of a low carb diet. Gluten sensitivity or celiac disease, thyroid problems, portion control issues, and food addictions are just a few. Recently, I’ve been looking at food sensitivities and allergies, since inflammation and the resulting water retention factor heavily into the vertigo and ataxia I suffer with. Also, I started having severe itching problems and a rash on my arms, along with drastic weight gain, whenever I ate beef.

Technically, the term “food allergy” describes an IgE antibody response launched by the immune system to a specific food protein. These antibodies interpret the offending protein molecule to be an invader and use mediators such as histamine – which cause the allergy symptoms. The skin, gastrointestinal tract, and respiratory system are the primary organs affected by food allergies.

However, when I was younger, most allergists did not believe in food sensitivities or intolerances. They only believed in food allergies that called forth these IgE antibodies. Skin-prick tests were popular back then, and considered the Gold Standard. So when I didn’t get a positive reaction to the foods, pollens, animals, and dust Kaiser tested me for, the allergist told me that even though my problems clearly fell in line with allergic symptoms, my problem wasn’t food.

“I believe your problem is chemical,” he said. “But I can’t test for chemicals. You’ll just have to go home and figure it out for yourself.”

In those days, the only option available to those with sensitivities and intolerances was an elimination diet. So that’s what I’m used to. For those of us who don't have health insurance, elimination diets continue to be the only course of action we have.

My husband and I did go through our county medical department here in central Utah a couple of years ago, and managed to receive partial funding to get our arteries checked out, our heart monitored, my gallbladder removed, and my bladder repaired. But our portion of the bill put us in so much debt we couldn’t afford to take on any new, additional medical expenses. So we walked away from that experience without actually finding out what was wrong with us.

An elimination diet is where you eliminate the foods you think might be causing the problem, or you cut out almost everything you’re eating for a few weeks, and then begin returning foods to your diet one at a time. When you go for a while without a food you’re sensitive to, and then reintroduce that food into your diet, your body over-reacts to that particular food. Due to the exaggeration of symptoms that results, it’s fairly easy to tell what your body doesn’t want you to eat.

In the 1970s, the Atkins diet functioned as an elimination diet. In fact, Dr. Atkins told those of us on the Atkins newsgroup in the late 1990s, that the initial design allowed only a little bit of salad, because most of his patients had gastrointestinal problems and the lack of fiber helped the intestines to begin healing. In those days, 1/2 cup of cooked vegetables wasn’t returned to the diet until week 3. And they were returned one vegetable at a time – not like they are today.

When I started seeing a strong correlation between dairy products and beef, and the vertigo, ataxia, Neuropathy, and blood sugar issues, I did a little bit of research and found a connection between those sensitive to dairy products, and those sensitive to beef. I talked about that discovery in the following post: Dairy Sensitivity, Beef, and the Atkins Induction Plan.

Since then, I’ve tried to eat beef a couple of times, but reacted to it in the same way I did before I eliminated it back in early May: with severe itching, and a skin rash.

I also bought some organic Monterey jack cheese when I was in Las Vegas a few weeks ago, visiting a friend, and reacted with the same neurological symptoms I used to get: ear swelling and pain, vertigo, tinnitus, ataxia (off-balance), slurred speech, and brain fog – within 20 minutes. Later on that evening, I also got intestinal inflammation and pain.

All that from a single ounce slice (or maybe less) of organic cheese.

Interestingly enough, simply eliminating all dairy products and beef corrected my wacky blood sugar issues within a couple of weeks, without me having to do anything else – probably because food allergies and sensitivities cause inflammation. Inflammation makes you less sensitive to insulin. Remove the inflammation, and insulin resistance improves, or corrects itself.

Now, I’m not saying that my pre-diabetes went away. At least, not right now. Because we recently took a trip to Colorado, and while we were there, I got seriously glutened from the friends we took the trip with. Plus we ate at Taco Bell a couple of times, and I got dairyed on the second day.

Cross contamination when you eat out, despite choosing gluten free dairy free food, is extremely risky, because most folks don’t “get it” – even when you take the time to thoroughly explain it to them. So I ended up living on Fritos and diet Coke for the rest of the trip. Not good for the blood sugar, I know. Not good for the Neuropathy. But at least my intestines and other neurological problems remained safe.

However, within the past week, something else has glutened both my husband and I. So right now, between Colorado and whatever we ate this past week (I’m suspecting the new brand of gluten-free certified macaroni I put in my pasta/vegetable salad), my blood sugar is higher than it has been.

My current numbers wouldn’t be helpful. But I can say that while I used to have to limit myself on maintenance to a mere 15 grams of carbohydrates per meal, or less, I can now achieve normal blood glucose levels eating 30 to 40 grams of carbohydrates per meal – except for breakfast – provided I stay completely away from gluten and casein.

But even better, my weight is now extremely easy to maintain. I’m still sitting at 160 pounds, as the extra weight I gained from the beef hasn’t melted, but the weight fluctuations have disappeared. And that means way less vertigo and ataxia, and no Neuropathy or other neurological problems, even at that higher carbohydrate intake.