These menus were developed by long time LCer Terry Ross of the ASL Group, and posted on AAWOL for those losing slowly or stalled. I have anglicised where I can. |The three recipes mentioned are at the end of the page.

Turtle menu

Day #1

Breakfast — 2 scrambled eggs cooked in butter — 750ml of water -Decaf coffee or decaf tea if desired and *only* if you drink all your water as well.
Non-Aspartame AS and up to 2 tablespoons of cream are allowed with this meal.
Mid-morning Snack — 25g shelled sunflower seeds and 750ml of water

Lunch — 100-150g of protein (beef, pork, tuna, salmon, chicken, eggs,etc. or any combination thereof) made into a chef salad with 2 cups of salad vegetables chosen from Dr. A’s list in Chapter 8 of the book . . . the Induction Chapter. Top with Mayo, Ranch, Blue Cheese, Oil/Vinegar or other full-fat dressing that is no more than 1 gram of carb per serving. And 750ml of water.

Mid-afternoon Snack — 1/2 cup sugar free Jelly (make this from Geletin and Flavorings, rather than Sugar Free Jelly mix that contains aspartame) with up to 1/2 cup of homemade artificially flavored whipped cream, as well as 750ml of water.

Dinner — 150-200g of protein (your choice) with 1 cup of salad chosen from Dr. A’s Induction salad vegetable list, plus dressing as listed above, and 1/2 cup of cooked vegetable (either green beans,  courgette, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, or other veggie
listed in Dr. A’s 10% carb list outlined in Chapter of the book). Feel free to
cook in butter or lard, as desired. PLUS 750ml of water.

Evening Snack 50g of cheese and 750ml of water.

Day #2

Breakfast — 2 egg ham and cheese omelet cooked in butter (25g of
cheese and up to 75g of ham, bacon, or other meat of your choice) — 750ml
of water — Decaf coffee or decaf tea if desired and *only* if you drink all
your water as well. Non-Aspartame AS and up to 2 tablespoons with this meal.

Mid-morning Snack — pork rinds with cream cheese (up to 50g) and
750ml of water

Lunch — Chicken (or other protein) salad made with up to
100g of meat plus mayonnaise, and other salad veggies of your choice served
between 2 Atkins Rolls. 1 cup of salad with dressing. Plus 750ml of water.

Mid-afternoon Snack — 25g of nuts (macadamias, pecans, almonds,
walnuts, or sunflower seeds), as well as 750ml of water.

Dinner — 150-200g of protein (your choice) with 1 cup of salad chosen from Dr. A’s Induction salad vegetable list, plus dressing as listed above, and 1/2 cup of cooked vegetable (either green beans, courgette, cabbage, cauliflower,
broccoli, or other veggie listed in Dr. A’s 10% carb list outlined in Chapter of
the book). Feel free to cook in butter or lard, as desired. PLUS 750ml of water.

Evening Snack — 1/2 cup SF Jelly with up to 1/2 cup homemade whipped
cream and 750ml of water.

If these meals and snacks do not curb your hunger or satisfy you, feel free to make a basic protein powder shake with 1 scoop of powder, water, up to 1 tsp. of food flavoring, and up to 2 tbsp. of double cream. Add Ice and blend together. No other carby additives, please.

Day #3

Breakfast — Creamed Beef on Atkins Rolls (Recipes below) -  750ml of water. Decaf coffee or decaf tea if desired and *only* if you drink all your water as well. Non-Aspartame AS and up to 2 tablespoons cream allowed with this meal.

Mid-morning Snack — 25g of string cheese and 750ml of water

Lunch — 100-150g of protein (beef, pork, tuna, salmon, chicken, eggs,etc. or any combination thereof) made into a chef salad with 2 cups of salad vegetables chosen from Dr. A’s list in Chapter 8 of the book . . . the Induction Chapter. Top with Mayo, Ranch, Blue Cheese, Oil/Vinegar or other full-fat dressing that is no more than 1 gram of carb per serving. And 750ml of water.

Mid-afternoon Snack — 25g of nuts (refer to Day #2 for choices), as well as 750ml of water.

Dinner — 150-200g of protein (your choice) with 1 cup of salad chosen from Dr. A’s Induction salad vegetable list, plus dressing as listed above, and 1/2 cup of cooked vegetable (either green beans, courgettes, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, or other veggie listed in Dr. A’s 10% carb list outlined in Chapter of the book). Feel free to cook in butter or lard, as desired. PLUS 750ml of water.

Evening Snack — Pork rinds filled with pimiento cheese (recipe below) and 750ml of water. If hungry and desired, 1/2 cup SF Jelly and up to 1/2 cup homemade whipped cream.

Day #4 Breakfast – 2 scrambled eggs cooked in butter — 750ml of water -Decaf coffee or decaf tea if desired and *only* if you drink all your water as well. Non-Aspartame AS and up to 2 tablespoons of cream allowed with this meal.

Mid-morning Snack — Protein shake and 750ml of water

Lunch — 100-150g of protein (beef, pork, tuna, salmon, chicken, eggs,etc. or any combination thereof) made into a sandwich between Atkins Rolls, and salad with 2 cups of salad vegetables chosen from Dr. A’s list in Chapter 8 of the book . . . the Induction Chapter. Top with Mayo, Ranch, Blue Cheese, Oil/Vinegar or other full-fat dressing that is no more than 1 gram of carb per serving. And 750ml of water.

Mid-afternoon Snack — 50g of cheese, as well as 750ml of water.

Dinner — 150-200g of protein (your choice) with 1 cup of salad chosen from Dr. A’s Induction salad vegetable list, plus dressing as listed above, and 1/2 cup of cooked vegetable (either green beans, courgettes, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, or other veggie listed in Dr. A’s 10% carb list outlined in Chapter of the book). Feel free to cook in butter or lard, as desired. PLUS 750ml of water.

Evening Snack — 25g Nuts (chosen from those listed previously) and 750ml of water.

If still hungry and desired, add an additional snack of pork rinds and
cream cheese.

Day #5

Breakfast — 2 scrambled eggs cooked in butter — 750ml of water -Decaf coffee or decaf tea if desired and *only* if you drink all your water as well. Non-Aspartame AS and up to 2 tablespoons of cream allowed with this meal.

Mid-morning Snack — 25g shelled sunflower seeds and 750ml of water

Lunch — 100-150g of protein (beef, pork, tuna, salmon, chicken, eggs,etc. or any combination thereof) made into a chef salad with 2 cups of salad vegetables chosen from Dr. A’s list in Chapter 8 of the book . . . the Induction Chapter. Top with Mayo, Ranch, Blue Cheese, Oil/Vinegar or other full-fat dressing that is no more than 1 gram of carb per serving. And 750ml of water.

Mid-afternoon Snack — 1/2 cup sugar free Jelly with up to 1/2 cup of homemade artificially flavored whipping cream, as well as 750ml of
water.

Dinner — 150-200g of protein (your choice) with 1 cup of
salad chosen from Dr. A’s Induction salad vegetable list, plus dressing as
listed above, and 1/2 cup of cooked vegetable (either green beans, courgettes, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, or other veggie listed in Dr. A’s 10% carb list outlined in Chapter of the book). Feel free to cook in butter or lard, as desired. PLUS 750ml of water.

Evening Snack — 50g cheese and 750ml of water.

Day #6

Breakfast — 2 egg ham and cheese omelet cooked in butter (25g of cheese and up to 75g of ham, bacon, or other meat of your choice) — 750ml of water –
Decaf coffee or decaf tea if desired and *only* if you drink all your water as
well. Non-Aspartame AS and up to 2 tablespoons cream allowed with this meal.

Mid-morning Snack — pork rinds with cream cheese (up to 50g) and
750ml of water

Lunch — Chicken (or other protein) salad made with up to
100g of meat plus mayonnaise, and other salad veggies of your choice served
between 2 Atkins Rolls. 1 cup of salad with dressing. Plus 750ml of water.

Mid-afternoon Snack — 25g of nuts (macadamias, pecans, almonds,
walnuts, or sunflower seeds), as well as 750ml of water.

Dinner — 150-200g of protein (your choice) with 1 cup of salad chosen from Dr. A’s Induction salad vegetable list, plus dressing as listed above, and 1/2 cup of cooked vegetable (either green beans, courgettes,cabbage, cauliflower,
broccoli, or other veggie listed in Dr. A’s 10% carb list outlined in Chapter of
the book). Feel free to cook in butter or lard, as desired. PLUS 750ml of water.

Evening Snack — 1/2 cup SF Jelly with up to 1/2 cup homemade whipped
cream and 750ml of water.

If these meals and snacks do not curb your hunger or satisfy you, feel free to make a basic protein powder shake with 1 scoop of powder, water, up to 1 tsp. of food flavoring, and up to 2 tbsp. of double cream, add Ice and blend together. No other carby additives, please.

Day #7

Breakfast — Creamed Beef on Atkins Rolls (recipe below) 750ml of water Decaf coffee or decaf tea if desired and *only* if you drink all your water as well. Non-Aspartame AS and up to 2 tablespoons cream allowed with this meal.

Mid-morning Snack — 25g string cheese and 750ml of water

Lunch — 100-150g of protein (beef, pork, tuna, salmon, chicken, eggs, etc. or any combination thereof) made into a chef salad with 2 cups of salad vegetables chosen from Dr. A’s list in Chapter 8 of the book . . . the Induction Chapter. Top with Ranch, Blue Cheese, Oil/Vinegar or other full-fat dressing that is no more than 1 gram of carb per serving. And 750ml of water.

Mid-afternoon Snack — 25g of nuts (refer to Day #2 for choices), as well as 750ml of water.

Dinner — 150-200g of protein (your choice) with 1 cup of salad chosen from Dr. A’s Induction salad vegetable list, plus dressing as listed above, and 1/2 cup of cooked vegetable (either green beans, courgettes, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, or other veggie listed in Dr. A’s 10% carb list outlined in Chapter of the book). Feel free to cook in butter or lard, as desired. PLUS 750ml of water.

Evening Snack — Pork rinds filled with pimiento cheese (recipe below) and 750ml of water. If hungry and desired, 1/2 cup SF Jelly and up to
1/2 cup homemade whipped cream.

Creamed Beef Florentine are here

Pimiento Cheese (American’s get this pre-packed I just discovered!)

1x 8 oz tub cream cheese, softened

2 cups (8 oz) grated cheddar cheese

3 tablespoons pickle juice (no Idea… Use the Vinegar from Picked Onions?)

1/4 tsp ground red pepper

Dash of garlic powder

1x 4 oz jar diced pimiento, drained

Place cream cheese in a medium bowl; beat at medium speed of a mixer until smooth.

Stir in cheddar cheese and next 4 ingredients.

Cover and chill at least 1 hour

Got this e-mail to the list the other day:

“From: Gavin Allinson

I am using low carb to get rid of the last 7-10 lbs that is sticking on my
belly. I was really successful losing 20 lbs earlier in the year. My
challenge is that i do a lot of sport, particularly rowing and will be
competing later on in the summer, my concern is that if i don’t have enough carbohydrate and glycogen stored in my muscles i wont be able to perform an endurance event?

Do you have any ideas or guidelines?”

The answer is of course yes… But it is not my advice.

This article, from Amazon.co.uk, about The Schwartzbein Principle, is the BEST advocacy for a low-carb exercise regime that I have ever seen!

Tim Hatcher from Cheltenham, United Kingdom , 20 September, 1999

Sports Nutrition, no carbo loading required.

On the run up to my first triathlon I followed the high carbohydrate low fat eating routine, with daily training. Prior to the event had a pasta lunch, then an hour before start a banana. I had a terrible time of it, a slow swim time, got a stitch soon into the cycle, felt hungry, had some Kendal mint cake (sugar) and then collapsed exhausted at the finishing line.

Not put off I signed up for a second and put it down to more training required. However a side effect of my pre race diet was that sometimes I “crashed” after a meal cold sweat and a sugar craving. I checked this out with my doctor and he diagnosed me as suffering from reactive hypoglycaemia, and I was told “not to worry about it” as “we all suffer from it to a certain degree”.

This was not a satisfactory answer for me so I started my own research, this led me to the Schwartzbein principle, I read the text in a week. It was the first text that I had read that “made sense” it is not a diet in the sense that there are free foods and banned foods with meals set out, it explains how food is processed by the body, and why we require a balanced diet that includes good fats, with the only food group requiring monitoring and regulating dependant on activity level being carbohydrates. I changed my diet to be in line with the text.

This had surprising side effects, my training time started getting better, I felt better, I lost weight, my body shape is changing, I am loosing my belly, all of which I had not expected. Also the best thing is that I have not yet had a reactive hypoglycaemia attack since adopting this new eating pattern.

Night before the second triathlon arrived, Moroccan stew (Schwarzbein cookbook), with 1/2 a cup on cous cous for supper, the day of the event breakfast, fetta, artichoke heart and spinach omelette cooked in butter with sliced tomato drizzled with olive oil and 2 slices of bread and butter. This was really hard for me, no carbo loading, how was it going to work ? Would I “run out of steam” half way round ? Would I “hit the wall” ? Would my mussels “run out of fuel” and seize up ? All the scenarios that I had been led to believe could happen without carbo loading.

Got to the event, it was raining, that bit never let up for the whole event. Swim was good my personal best, Cycle was great no stitch, really wet and horrible, mud on road at points, overtook two people on this stage. Run, started and thought oh no stitch on its way, but that feeling soon disappeared and came to nothing, overtook three people in that stage, got to the end on the run, what was the next discipline then ? opps finished felt great none of the above fears or beliefs came to life and I felt a thousand times better than the end of the last event, very wet, but very happy, looking forward to the next.

My result was much improved on previous, being 15 minutes from the first guy, I had been 25 minutes from the top in the previous event.

I will continue with this eating pattern, it tastes good, it makes me feel good, it makes me stronger, it is changing my body shape to one I like, and so far has had no adverse side effects (un. I would recommend this text to anybody, in fact I have, and four others are in the process of reading it. I really does make sense and I feel is a must for any serious athlete.

Thank you

Article Originally Submitted 2004

Running LCUK and the associated Yahoo! Groups, I have come across this 4 letter abbreviation quite a bit in people’s e-mail. I learned much about the condition, even have a close friend that has it, but until very recently, my interest in PCOS was purely academic. Then, I discovered, almost by accident that have PCO.

How did I find that out? Well, that story starts back in January 2002. I caught a really bad viral throat infection which knocked me off my socks! Nothing unusual there, after all, it was the depths of winter, and colds and streph infections are common at that time of the year. What was more unusual was that it was the 4th infection I had picked up in 2 months, and considering that I hadn’t really been ill in the previous 18 months, I thought that it was time to take it to my GP.

When I told him all this (after he gave me the obligatory guilt trip about bringing a viral infection to him for attention, when he cannot do anything for it! i.e. wasting his time) he decided to send me off for some blood tests. Most of the counts were normal, but my ESR which came back extremely elevated. Normally around 20, mine was 79!

(FYI: ESR is a non-specific screening test for various diseases. The test simply measures the distance (in millimetres) that red blood cells settle in unclotted blood toward the bottom of a specially marked test tube in 1 hour.)

My local Pathology unit is very good, and the results got back to my Doc from the lab in about 4 hours. He called me right away, and told me to come in a pick up a script for Antibiotics!

He also told me to come back to him in a fortnight, to see how I was, and to send me off for further ESR checks. That first test it dropped back to 38, but as he said he would like to see me around 20 or so, he sent me for a further test a month later. That Second test, elevated back up to 44. So, the hunt began to suss out what was causing this ESR anomaly… I had plenty of other blood tests, 2002 made a pin-cushion of my right arm! Rheumatoid factor, Random Glucose, Cholesterols, All picture perfect normal. Very annoying!

I was doing some reading around Thyroid Problems for someone else on my list, and I picked up a copy of “Why am I so Tired?” by Martin Budd. One of the Markers of Subclinical Hypothyroid is a Raised ESR, and what with my other “symptoms” of constant tiredness and lethargy, dry skin, brittle nails, clumsiness, blurred vision, weight gain, trouble losing weight and couple of other classic markers of a thyroid problem, Logic kicked in, and I thought that maybe I had a thyroid problem.

So, I take my Barnes Basal Temp which turns out at 36.4C. (Normal Body temp is 37C. On a BBT, anything below 36.6C indicates a Thyroid problem) So, I bug my doctor for a Thyroids panel, which came back *bang-on* normal,(incidentally, just like the one I had 5 years previously, when I went to him complaining of severe fatigue, seemingly random weight-gain and trouble losing that weight (you see the pattern that I didn’t?)

As an aside here, given my symptoms, and investigations I have done on my own body, I believe that I have a case of “Wilson’s Thyroid Syndrome”. This is a thyroid syndrome, where T4 is not converted correctly to T3. “Normal” thyroid panel tests all come back normal in this syndrome, so the diagnosis has to be clinically (i.e. the Doctor looks at the patient’s symptoms! WTS not yet recognised in the UK, so I cannot get treatment on the NHS. I don’t yet have the money to “Go Private”, but I am saving up! Dr Wilson’s site if you want further detail, but it really is the subject of another article! This one is too long as it is!

Eventually my doctor threw his hands in the air and said, “I am going to send you off to a Consultant! We need a better brain than mine looking at you!”

I waited the obligatory four months on the NHS lists, (sometimes, I wish I lived in the US! Not that often though) and then get my appointment, with (I found out after the fact) a Geriatrics Consultant!

His Nurses take my BP (that day: 102/60 sitting. 110/70 standing, and as a side note, 130/90 before I started LC) and weigh me (a yucky 16st 7lbs that day), I wait around the hospital for an hour or so, then the consultant examines me, reads the notes sent to him from my GP, asks me why I think that my Doc refers me, listens to my story (With attention, and care, with some very good questions I might add), notes my symptoms of low-body temperature, fatigue, lethargy, post-nasal drip, achy joints, dry skin, irregular periods, took my vitals and BP, asked his Nurses to take a bit more Blood out of me and get a Urine sample. Then, he simply said “Although, I cannot deny you believe that you have symptoms, apart from your weight, you are in excellent health!” and that was that, pretty much.

Then, a letter from the Hospital turned up, to go and get a virginal Ultrasound scan arrived, about 3 months after my Consultation. I didn’t know why I had received it, and so I didn’t attend the appointment.

I got a call from the Consultant’s secretary 5 months after that, to check that I had received the letter, and attended! I feigned innocence, and said I had not received it! I asked her why the Consultant wanted me to go for this U/S Scan. She was very cagey about the reasons, so I hinted that without good reason, as I thought that he had reached the conclusion that I was healthy, why should I put myself out to get scanned, and she eventually asked had I heard of a condition called PCOS.

As I had, and for reasons I will go into later, I had learned all about it, I said, I would take the scan. I then had to wait about another 7 weeks or so from that Conversation, as the letter to make the U/S appointment from the Maternity unit U/S Department turned up on day 4 of my Period, and you have to take this particular U/S scan on Day 5 your period.

The Ultrasonographer asked me if I knew why I was there. Obviously, my notes had not come down from the consultant! I told her about the consultant’s suspicions about PCOS, and it turned out that I “have evidence of Polycystic Ovaries”

So, she sends the results back to the Consultant, who writes a letter to my GP. That gap was another month. He told my GP to refer me to a Gynaecologist. That wait would have been 2 months, but as I have private health care through work I have taken the option to go private for his consult, and I see the man this coming Tuesday. So, the story isn’t complete, but hopefully, as I have been referred to a chap that came highly praised to me by a fellow cyster, I will get some answers, results, and hopefully, some Metformin, to start me back losing weight again. All I hope now is that I am not one of the ladies that reacts violently against it. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

So, just why did the NHS Geriatrics Consultant decide that I might have PCOS?

Well, in the chat we had, I mentioned to him that I was a “late starter”, not menstruating until I was 14, and then my periods were irregular and *very* heavy. I tended to menstruate for 2 weeks, then have a couple of weeks off, and menstruate again. My mum finally took me to the Doc when I had a month long menstruation, stopped for a week, and then started again!

My GP gave me some tablets (hey, I was 15, I don’t know what!) to take for a week, which sorted me out for about 6 months, and then things started to mess up again. This continued until I was 18, when I started to have a regular sex-life with my then fiancé, and went off to College, so, in consultation with my GP, I elected to go on The Pill.

As an important aside, this was also about the time we moved house, and I changed Family GP.

In the next 10 years, I changed Pill brand about 4 times, mostly because I either had *chronically* bad cramps, or I felt like I wanted to axe-murder everyone (the Hormone Balances were so not right for me!). I worked with the Doc to find the right Oestrogen/Progesterone Combo that left me in the middle.

We got it sorted eventually, however, each time I changed brand, I gained about a stone (14lbs). I tried to control this weight gain by following the trusted Weight Watchers concepts I learned back in 1988, when I lost 3.5 stone (49lbs). It didn’t work though, and I ended up at 18st 7lbs in 1999.

As a side bar, I came off The Pill for about a year in 1995, hoping that maybe my irregularities might have sorted themselves out, as the Doctors said they would, by being blasted with hormones over the intervening years, but no…Instead of the incessant bleeding, I just had a 6 month gap between periods! Truly terrifying when your greatest fear on the Planet is Pregnancy. The relief when I finally had a period! Of course, it happens at the most inconvenient time, but hey, I was willing to forgive my womb anything at that point! (Although, I think that my boyfriend was actually rather gutted)
I resumed with the Pill in 1996 for various Boyfriend reasons. When came off again in 2001, this time for good, I thought that it might be that which was stopping me from being a successful LC loser!

The first time I heard about PCOS was through the LCUK mailing list ( LCUK) and so, to help out my list mates, I started researching. I read websites (Pam Ptyza’s pages being one of the most helpful I found, as well as PCOS.net and PCOSsupport.org ) and even bought a PCOS book (“PCOS: How to Cope with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome” by Colette Harris and Adam Carey. HarperCollins; ISBN: 0722539754) for my best Friend, who was diagnosed when her and her (now ex) husband tried for a family; I read it before I gave it to her, and so, I knew all about PCOS.

Indeed, I knew all about it. I just didn’t think it applied to me. At least, I hoped that it didn’t, but when I read “PCOS”, Alarm bells started to ring in my head.

I started low-caring in December 1999, and was losing weight quite successfully, with ease… Until November 2000, when, having lost 4st (56lbs), with practically no effort bar eating correctly on my part, it all stopped, and I started a cycle that perpetuates now, a 7lb gain, then a *long* stall, and then another 7lb gain. I also feeling shattered pretty much all the time and generally not getting the “full-o-beans” benefits of low-carbing that I had felt in that first year (Although a great deal of the other benefits are still with me, which is why I am still a dedicated low-carber!).

I am angry that is has taken this long to be picked up by the medics. I am also angry at myself that I didn’t put 2 and 2 together earlier and see if there was another reason apart from a dodgy thyroid that could be causing my tiredness. But hey, I cam not superwomen, and I don’t know *everything* however much I wish that I did!

One tragic thing for me that I noticed, and confirmed when I came off The Pill for the final time in 2001, was that the Pill severely limits my ability to Orgasm. What is the point of taking a Pill to let you have lots of sex safely if it mutes your enjoyment of what is to me, a sacred act? Another reason for anger.

Why am I telling this story? Well, hopefully, your 30 and 40 something’s out there, that are having problems will get yourself to the doc. PCOS is now a great deal more widely recognised as a syndrome best picked up in youth than it was in my teenage years, but if my original consultant had known about it, or thought more outside the box than just “Give her The Pill to regulate her periods, and she won’t bother me anymore” and I might not have had 14 years of being on synthetic hormones, gaining weight, not enjoying my sex life properly, and not living my life to 100% of its potential due to being tired and fat!

Article Originally Submitted 2004

PCOS stands for “Polycystic Ovary Syndrome”

It is also known as: “Polycystic ovaries”; “Sclerocystic Ovarian Disease”; “Polycystic Ovarian Disease” or “PCOD” and “Stein-Leventhal Syndrome”. The latter is the original name for the condition when Michael Leo Leventhal and Irving Freiler Stein when they discovered that women having erratic Periods and infertility often had “bilateral poly(many)cystic ovaries.”

PCOS affects between 5 to 10% of all women, is a hormonal disorder, primarily driven by the insulin/oestrogen dynamic, and is one of the leading causes of female infertility.

Are you PCOS? As a very broad indicator, If you are an “Apple-shape” woman, and you have a really, really hard time shifting the fat, even when you are strict as strict with your low-carbing, then the answer is probably yes.

Although the medical profession settled on “PCOS” as a name, it is a misnomer, because it only refers to one of many symptoms associated with this disorder. You don’t actually have to have PCO (Polycystic Ovaries) to have PCOS, although the overwhelming majority of Women that have PCOS do have PCO

Other Symptoms:

Most people only have a few (thankfully), and not all of which can be apparent (the last seven need GP/Hospital tests to become apparent)

• Menstrual periods are abnormal, irregular, or scanty (oligomenorrhea)
• Absent menses (amenorrhea), usually (but not always) after having one or more normal menstrual periods during puberty (secondary amenorrhea)
• Obesity
• Infertility
  
• Decreased breast size

• “Teenage” Acne
• Increased hair growth (hirsutism),
  
• Distribution of body hair in a male pattern ie a moustashe/sideburns, and/or a “tummy line” (virilization)
  
• Alopecia (male-pattern hair loss)

• Acanthosis Nigricans (brown skin patches, often found on the nape of the neck)
  
• Skin tags
  
• Exhaustion and/or lack of mental alertness
  
• Decreased sex drive
  
• Infertility
  
• Ovarian cysts
  
• High cholesterol levels
  
• High blood pressure
  
• Excess “male” hormones, such as androgens, DHEAS, or testosterone
  
• Enlarged clitoris(rare)
  
• Enlarged ovaries
  
• Enlarged uterus

Please note that you can also have PCO and not have developed the Syndrome. Becoming obese (Which is all too easy in a woman whose Insulin mechanism is already slighted by having PCO) does seem to be a major “turn on” factor in developing PCOS, and then the syndrome worsens with the more weight gained.

As I mentioned above, PCOS is primarily driven by Insulin/Oestrogen. Hopefully I don’t have to explain to all you educated low-carbers about how Insulin works? If you do need this lesson, I suggest that you go back and read your chosen plan’s section on this subject.

So, knowing about how insulin works in the body, the question regarding PCOS has to be: “Well, what effect does Oestrogen have on Insulin then?”

Well, in a normal ovluatory cycle, oestrogen is produced up to the point of ovulation. When the follicle bursts, releases the ova and becomes a “Corpus Lutium” (lit. “Yellow Body”), it releases Lutenizing Hormone (LH), which lets the body know that ovulation has occurred, and LH ramps down oestrogen production, and boosts progesterone levels.

However, in a woman with PCO, the follicle doesn’t burst, and so LH is not released. And although some progesterone is produced, to make the woman menstruate, Oestrogen remains dominant (hence scanty or irregular periods). This oestrogen domination drives the pancreas to release more insulin than normal, which is in turn why PCO women become easily obese.

It is a vicious upwards spiral. The more obese you become, the less likely your follicles are to burst, and so more oestrogen there is in your system, driving your pancreas to produce insulin.

The syndrome is one that you have a propensity to develop from Birth (There is strong evidence to suggest it is genetic, but the establishment are denying a link right now) and there is no “cure”.

According to Medline, Treatment options are thus:

“Medications used to treat the symptoms of Stein-Leventhal syndrome include oral contraceptives, spironolactone, flutamide, and clomiphene citrate.

Treatment with clomiphene induces the pituitary gland to produce more FSH, which in turn stimulates maturity and release of the ova. Occasionally, more potent ovulation induction agents (fertility drugs, human menopausal gonadotropins) are needed for pregnancy.

A “wedge resection” of the ovaries has been used in the past to remove cysts.

Finally, weight reduction, which may be very difficult, is also very important. Maintaining general good health and eliminating the complications of obesity are helpful.”

So, as you can see, the best help that standard conventional Medicine gives is to tell is to lose weight and pump us full of synthetic hormones to suppress our symptoms. (Which, by the way, make losing the weight even more difficult!) Or, in the cases of infertility, tell the patient to lose weight before she starts treatment, and once she has starved off 25lbs or so, either pump her full of other drugs to induce ovulation, or take away a section of her overy, to make the rest of it work!

Not that helpful, or natural really!

However, in the more holistic medical world, it is becoming acknowledged that the best “cure” for PCOS is to control insulin, which will therefore make the body lose that insulin driven Visceral fat.(and hey, like we know that that is the answer to most of the “diseases of civilisation”!)

Losing your abdomial fat stores will make the other symptoms lessen/disappear, will help to kick start the body into ovulating itself again, without any other drugs in most cases.

Of course, with standard dietry wisdom, from that standard doctor, starting that fat-loss process is extremely difficult, as the Hormones in a PCOS lady are so unbalanced as to throw buckets of spanners in the works with the S.A.D!

As we know, control of insulin is extremely important in normalising every other hormone level in the body, in the search for overall heath, so, as you can gather, an LC approach is the perfect one, as it is the best way to control your insulin levels. Some PCOS women find that all they need to do is start to LC in a dedicated manner, cutting out the junk food, and eating real foods, not going overboard on the LC junk foods, and keeping their carbs down to under 60g or so, and that is enough.

However, even with the added LC metabolic edge, some PCOS women find it very difficult to shift the lbs!

This is where medical science can help. There is some promising development using the Diabetic medicine Metformin (Glucophage) to help out with overcoming insulin resistance. Be warned however, it is not a miracle for everyone, some women react wonderfully to it, have no side effects and it really helps to regulate their insulin, and the weight dropps of effortlessly, others feel really sick, and like they have been hit by a truck, and it does nothing for them at all.

There is also a huge spectrum of “in-between” people that feel either a little, or a great deal of nausea when taking Metformin, but it helps them out a great deal with both Weightloss and reduction of other symptoms.

So, if you are a lady that is finding it hard really to lose on an LC diet, you have a decidedly apple-shape to your body, and if you have been trying for a baby, are failing right now, go to an Endocriniologist and get your overies Ultrasound scanned, and some blood drawn. PCOS might well be the reason why you are having such a time of it.

Article Originally Submitted 2003

For most Low-carbers, the answer to the above question is “Oh golly gosh yes!” Me, I never was a “fruit fan”, so when I started LCing in 1999, it was one thing I never missed.

However, over 3 1/2 years on, and my taste buds have adapted to my lowered sweetness diet and I now enjoy, in moderation of course, many fruits that I thought were too bland, sour, or tart.

As a general rule, a fruit’s sugar content is governed by when the fruit is naturally produced by the plant. The amount of sun the plant gets controls the sugar content. (See Table 1)

Table 1

However, we now get fruit all the time, regardless of seasonal patterns, as it is grown and shipped from all over the world. I would say, for the sake of taste, if nothing else, it is always better to try and be both “local” (i.e. the same country at least!) and seasonal with your fruit choices.

As an example, I now love Strawberries, whereas before LC, I used to think that they were far too tart and acidic! Shame really, when I was a child we used to go Strawberry picking as a family outing every June!

Strawberries smell and taste far better in June, when the supply in the shops is homegrown in Kent, and ripening naturally in the correct season. The imported Spanish and Moroccan ones we get in February which have been “forced” to ripen early are far too crunchy and have no real taste at all!

How can you judge what fruits are the best choice in a low-carb diet? As far as I am concerned, there are three selection criteria:

1. Fructose content
2. Antioxidant and Vitamin content and quality
3. Fiber content.

As a side note, GI could be useful is your selection process however, GI and Fruit is very deceptive. Most fruits have quite a low GI. This is due to the fact that Fructose does not require insulin for processing, as it does not directly raise blood sugar. Fructose is immediately converted into triglycerides by the liver. Put simply, fruit (and honey) is designed to make you fat for the winter lean months. Although GI can be a handy indicator, I personally treat it with a pinch of salt when it comes to fruit!

As a rule fruits provide us with Vitamins A and C, Folate, Potassium and Magnesium in any sort of appreciable amounts. Fruit fiber is the only fiber that has a positive influence in the gut. They are gentle, do not scoure the digestive tract and they do not prevent mineral absorption, unlike phylate containing Bran Fiber. (Which is the subject of another article altogether!)

I.E. going back to my Strawberries, they have to be at the very top of my list! Strawberries pack more Vitamin C than Oranges per oz (but then, so does Brocolli, so that cannot be difficult to achieve!), and have one of the lowest sugar content of all fruits. (1 cup of sliced strawberries (166g) contains 7.8g of Active Carbs (A.C.) (See Table 2)) They are high in Antioxidants (especially Ellegic acid, which is being studied intensively and appears to have very potent anti-cancer properties!), other fruit acids and Vitamin C (that cup has 94 mg!).
They also contain generous amounts of various other minerals and 4g of Fiber, so, if you are going to eat fruit, I believe that Strawberries are really the all round best option.

Table 2

What happens if you don’t like strawberries? Well…

A general rule is to choose a “Summer” fruit, as the Autumn and Tropical/Citrus Fruits tend to have lots of Sugar, and are very light on vitamins, minerals and antioxidants in comparison!

To help you with your choice, here are some pointers. All of the Berries pack a nice antioxidant/sugar ratio, and are around the 6-8g A.C. per cup mark. Blueberries in particular have antioxidants that are very good for the retina, and general eye health. Peaches and Plums are also good choices, Peaches having around 8g A.C. per peach and 2g of fiber. However, Plums are around the 8.5g A.C. each but only have less than a gram of fiber. Apricots (4g A.C. each, with just under a gram of fiber) in particular are a really good source of Vitamin A. If you are going to eat Melon, choose a Cantaloupe. They have the biggest share of vitamins and minerals in all the melon family. Avoid highly glycemic Watermelon, which is mostly just fructose, fiber and water! Mind you, you do get the joys of spitting the pits if you eat watermelon…

You can also spit Bing cherry pits, but at 1g A.C (With practically no fiber inside!) per cherry, this is a really a luxury you will have to put off until maintenance!

Clearly, summer fruits can be a delicious and healthy addition to our low-carb diets. Nutritionally, they are far “better value” than the Autumn and Tropical Fruits, so, I urge you to enjoy them, in moderation of course, as long as they last!

Article Originally Submitted 2003

Your Liver: The one organ in the body that is actually metabolising the fats, carbs and proteins that you are putting into your body. It is your Liver that makes you burn fat, nothing else.

What’s that I hear you all cry? I thought that in a low-carb situation, the body gets its energy supplies from Fat, and that was all I had to worry about!

Well, yes, this is true, but the body has to make it usable first, and that is one of the Liver’s jobs. If your liver isn’t firing on all cylinders, you are not burning fat.

The liver is the most versatile organ in your body, and is certainly the busiest! Performing 500 or so functions, it can repair itself (within reason!), weights between 2.5 and 4lbs, and has 3-4 pints of blood pumped through it every minute.

This page gives you a brief description of some of the jobs the liver performs, and this one tells you all about what can go wrong with it.

What I am going to talk about here is the role that the Liver plays in food metabolism.

(I warn you now, I am going to get a little technical.)

Your Liver is the main player in metabolising all three of the Macronutrient groups.

Your Digestive System and How It Works

Fat Metabolism

Carbohydrate Metabolism

Protein Metabolism

To get food into the body, it has to be transformed into water-soluble matter. To do this, a few things have to happen. Firstly, the Digestive tract contains Enzymes and Acids, produced by the Saliva glands and the Pancreas, which break down the Foods you eat.

Complex Carbohydrates are broken down into three simple sugars, Glucose, Fructose and Galactose by Carbohydrase. Proteins are broken down into Amino Acids by Protease. Fats are converted into Fatty acids and Glycerol by Lipase. Sugars and Amino Acids are then absorbed through the wall of the small intestine.

Fats, being of course not water-soluble then have to be emulsified. Bile from the Liver is injected into your Small intestine, and emulsifies the Fatty acids, and then a particular lipoprotein coat, called chylomicrons, transports them from the intestine to the liver.

Once in the blood, the Liver then further sorts out what you have just eaten.

Proteins: The Liver breaks down the complex Amino acids into “Amino (Nitrogen bearing) Groups” and L-Glutamic acid (or Glutamate ion) by a process called deamination, and then reforms these into a myriad of things! “Non-Polar” (i.e. fatty, non water-soluble) substance transport units, building blocks for your muscles, enzymes, and Nucleotides, (the building blocks that form your DNA and RNA, and ATP, the body’s “energy currency molecule”). It also forms serotonin, the brains neurotransmitter chemical, and porphyrins, which are the central oxygen-binding component of haemoglobin. The left over “carbon skeleton” after this little chemistry lesson has taken place (around 10%)is converted into either acetyl coenzyme A (Abbv. acetyl CoA), pyruvate or a “citric acid cycle intermediate”, and then processed down further into either ketone body for the former or glucose in the latter two, and used directly for energy.

Fats: The Liver breaks open the chylomicrons, and converts the Fatty acids inside into triglycerides and phospholipids, they are then reformed, and are then rushed off by Lipoprotein Lipase to dump their triglycerides into your fatty (adipose) tissue (i.e. that spare tyre!). However, the phospholipids are used for cell wall construction, and so are taken where they are needed.

Sugars: Fructose and Galactose are converted into Glucose, and then what Glucose is not needed instantly for energy is converted into Glycogen. The Liver can store around 2000 calories worth of Glycogen, which it can convert quickly back into glucose, when the body requires it. (You also store Glycogen in your Muscles) However, when your diet is high in carbohydrate, the Liver’s Glycogen store is usually full, so, the Glycogen is converted into pyruvate then to acetyl CoA. This is then converted into fatty acids, and again, off to the stores they go.

Right, take a breather… I know, this is a lot to take in, but I need to explain it all… If you eyes have glazed over, get up from the PC, and go get a Glass of water – I’ll be here when you get back

Ok. That water nice and cool? Ready to concentrate again? Here we go then!

What changes under low carbohydrate conditions? From what I have just described, both Starches and Fats are “fattening”!

These processes are the basis of thought that forms the low-calorie diet theory. Protein is not deposited in fat stores, and so is not “fattening”. Carbohydrate is being metabolised into “Pure Energy” and we have trained our bodies to use it as “preferred” fuel, and so, it cannot be “fattening” either.

This has left heavily calorific Fat with the bum wrap. Under “normal” circumstances, the body never gets the chance to burn it, and so, it has to be “fattening”!

However, Glucose isn’t what actually provides the energy our cells burn, it has to be broken open, and a smaller unit, called ATP has to be created.

Glycolysis is the primary mechanism to convert glucose into ATP, and the process happens in the brain, muscles and the kidneys. Glycolysis is what drives our “Fast Twitch” muscle action, i.e. the Fight or Flight response.

However, there is also a penalty for this, pyruvate in the muscles is converted into Lactic acid. This is called Anaerobic Glycolysis, and is what gives you “The Burn” when exercising. This lactic acid is transported out of the muscle by the blood, and either converted back into pyruvate by other muscles, or into glucose by the liver (Gluconeogenesis). This recycling pair of Glycolysis/Gluconeogenesis is called the Cori-cycle.

Glycolysis can only occur with a steady supply of Glucose, and as I am sure you are aware, the body doesn’t store glucose as glucose, but rather as triglycerides. I note here, very importantly, that there is no mechanism in animals for the conversion of fatty acids to glucose. I.e. once the immediate supply of Glucose is exhausted, we have to stop sprinting whilst the body can convert either some glycogen, or the lactic acid it has just produced back into glucose.

So, how do people run marathons? They utilise ß-oxidation of Fatty acids. ß-oxidation occurs in the mitochondria of your liver and your muscles. In a body used to burning glucose, all that happens is that Fatty acids are broken down and two units of acetyl CoA are produced, which is then “wasted” through the citric acid cycle, to become CO2,. This process produces ATP, and can sustain the “Slow twitch” muscle fibres indefinitely. This is “breaking through The Wall”, when the body is forcibly switched from Glycosis to Lipolysis.

However, and this is the clincher for us, acetyl CoA doesn’t have to be wasted, but can be used to make Ketone Bodies.

It is converted in the liver into acetoacetate, which can be further reduced to form ß-hydroxybutyrate. These two compounds are referred to as ketone bodies. (A Note here for Atkin’s dieters, only the former is measurable with Ketostix, which is why you can still be in BDK even when you are not turning them purple.)

They diffuse from the liver into the circulation and are used as fuels by several tissues, in the process of Ketosis (the formation of ATP from Ketone bodies, rather than glucose)

Heart muscle and renal cortex, in particular, use acetoacetate in preference to glucose.

In contrast, glucose is the major fuel for the brain and erythrocytes in a human on a “balanced” (i.e. high carb) diet. However, (and this is really important) the brain has the capacity to adapt to the use of acetoacetate during “starvation”, which is what low-carbing is to our glucose-trained metabolisms, and in “starvation” of long standing, acetoacetate meets more than 70% of the energy needs of the brain. The other 30% required from glucose, well, that can be synthesysed from protein.

This ability of the brain to adapt to the use of acetoacetate is important because, being water soluble like glucose, it is readily accepted across the blood/brain barrier as a valid source of ATP.

The amount of ATP produced by ß-oxidation or via Ketosis is approximately the same – there is no penalty to the body in converting acetyl CoA to this water soluble form. Also, the amount of ATP produced by Glycolysis is less than that produced by either ß-oxidation or ketosis. It is more efficient for the body to run on ketones that on glucose.

So, I come to the punch line: Without a healthy liver, you cannot have ß-oxidation, and you cannot produce either acetyl CoA or Ketone bodies, and therefore, are not burning your fats away.

How do I get and keep my Liver healthy? Keep drinking that water (which is very important, and a good first step!), and I will tell you next time…

Article Originally Submitted 2003

Having been in a stall for around a year, last December, I thought I would try and shake things up a little, so, having been pointed at this plan by various of my list-mates, I bought the book, and gave it a whirl!

The Plan originally took shape as a 2-week detox plan, on the iVillage internet site, but after so many questions, Anne felt that a full book was needed, so, the book expands on her initial thoughts, and also writes in on-going and maintenance phases of the diet.

I Like Anne’s writing style a great deal, and the background information she gives is very helpful, and filled in a few blanks that Had never made 100% sense to me. i.e. The information she gives about the Liver was the basis of my “Weight loss and your Liver” Article in last month’s magazine.

What I don’t really like is the actual diet itself… The Food is very like the ’80′s style Weight watchers “Exchanges” plan, (for any of you that did that and remember what is was like), with some additions and subtractions…

1) Low-carb: Green Vegetables are Unlimited (To fill you up with the fibre), and you are allowed 2 low-sugar Fruits per day. No other Carb sources are allowed at all.

2) Protein Adequate: Only just though. 2 eggs a day, plus 8 oz of lean animal/fish. No Dairy, so cheese is out. You can use 2tbsp of Plain, unsweetened Whey Powder in Fruit Smoothies,but this counts as 1oz of that protein count. She does allow Soy (tofu/tempah), but only twice a week, so, in addition to the no cheese thing, I really don’t think that there is any way a vegetarian could do this plan.

3) Moderate Fat: The Only Fat sources allowed is Flaxseed Oil, limited to 2tbsp a day, and 400mg of GLA supplementation (either 2x1000mg StarFlower Oil Capsules or 8 1000mg Evening Primrose Oil Capsules) as well. NO other fats are allowed.

The main cooking techniques are Steaming and Grilling. I bought and used a Dry non-stick Wok to “Stir-boil”, in good low-fat Tradition! (I used to do that for WW as well!)

There are also some “Funky” bits to the plan:
Drink 2ltrs of Purified water diluted Cranberry Juice. This is called “Cran-water” You make it with in a 1juice:8water ratio. NO other beverages are permitted. Caffeine is right out!

1 glass of Lemon juice in Hot water before breakfast everyday (Although, the amount of juice is not specified… I just juiced a lemon.)

2 glasses of “Life-long Cocktail”: A quite horrific mix of 8oz of cran-water with 1 tsp Psylum husks mixed in it… and you are supposed to drink it through a straw. I just glupped it down, and followed it up with another glass of tap-water.

Some very specific Herbs and Spices, used “to taste” (you are encouraged to use lots!) These are metabolism boosters. Cinamon, Cloves, Cumin, Cayenne, Paprika, Dry mustard, Ansie, Fennel, Bay, Dill, Corriander, Parsley, Ginger, Garlic. Using Apple Cyder Vinegar to make a dressing with the Flax oil is much encouraged, as is “Lemonizing” your foods, ie Squirting Lemon juice all over it to “cut” the fats!

Sweetening anything is actively discouraged. Also, the only sweetener allowed is Stevia… But, the diet is so restricting, there really isn’t anything you need to sweeten anyway! The best place to use this if you need it is in making up your Cran-juice. I needed about 1/8tsp stevia powder to make the cran-water to my taste.

You are also encouraged to take a Broad-spectrum Vitamin and Mineral tablet, and she also says you can take Lipotropics (Ie Chromium, Inositol), and Liver Cleansing herbals.

You are eating 3 meals, 2 snacks. Aim to eat at a maximum of 3hrs intervals.

The Foods only add up to 1200 calories a day, which is a great deal less than all the other LC plans out there. I found the plan does put you into BDK (Small on my sticks) but I suspect that is more by dint of the starvation factor, rather than any other reasons…

I never got as far as using the rest of the plan, however, Phase 2 adds in up to 2 servings of “friendly carbs” a day ie 1 slice Sprouted grain bread, 1 small sweet potato, 1/2 cup of peas or carrots or Butternut squash. This adds in about another 100cals. She does say to ease back on the FC’s if weight loss stops.

The Maintenance Plan is only 1500 calories… Still way too little to sustain a body IMHO, after all, most low-calorie diets that have this many calories in them at their loss levels! The basic premise is the same, and you can now add in Limited Dairy (2 small servings i.e. 1oz of hard cheese, or 1 cup low/no-fat yoghurt), and you can also add in 1tbsp of Sesame, Rice-bran or Olive Oil.

You are also allowed to have a small amount of Nuts, or half an avocado, or smears of butter/dollop sour cream as “bonus foods”

The Book also includes Exercise, in the form of Rebounding, to get the lymphatic system moving waste out of the body, and walking. This part does make perfect sense.

You are also supposed to keep a food/emotion journal. and be in bed by 10pm… Guess who didn’t do that!

I tried this plan on 1st December 2002, and lost 8lbs in the 2 weeks I stuck at it. However, I found it incredibly hard to stick at. When I missed a snack, due to just not being used to eating at such short intervals, I got VERY hungry. My Hypoglycemia returned full-force, and I found myself obsessing about food. All in all, it wasn’t a happy time. However, I wasn’t craving for “naughties”, just more food in general!

As a long-term Low-carber, I also had problems drinking *just* the 2ltrs of the cran-water prescribed! So, I also drank 2lts of plain water everyday as well. No bad thing as far as I am concerned.

In conclusion, I think that as a book it is well written, and has a lot of valid information in it about how your body works, and how you can boost your metabolism with Spices and Lipotropic Vitamins/Minerals.

As a Stall breaker/Craving stopper, this may be a good “diet”, but that is all I think it is, just another crash diet. Although I am maintaining the loss the diet gave me, there is no way I could stick to the Plan as written… I went back to my usual LC plan after finishing, and felt so much more stable!

In my opinion, you could never live this diet long term, and certainly not for life!!!

Article Originally Submitted 2004

When you choose to follow a Vegetarian LC diet, you have to make sure that you are getting enough “Complete Proteins”. Even if your morality says that killing things to eat them is wrong, this does not negate your body’s need for the spectrum of Amino Acids from complete protein sources to make it healthy, and to drive your metabolism. So, Protein is always the first piece of your meal that you plan.

In a healthy Protein Adequate LC diet, Protein must be around 30% of the Caloric Value that you ingest, and Eggs, Cheese, Soy, and Quorn are the best (i.e. “complete”) Vegetarian protein sources.

(NB: If you have a Thyroid Problem, I would advise you to steer well clear of unfermented Soy products, as these have been proven to slow the thyroid. Soy On Line Service for more information)

I just want to stop and really praise eggs here, There are hands down the best protein source you are going to be eating. The complete spectrum of amino acids, eggs are high quality protein, they also have the right amount and quality of fats, (and lecithin to aid in emulsifying it) and every mineral and vitamin you are going to need to live thrive and survive, bar Vitamin C, (Chickens can make their own!) in perfect proportion, in the perfect delivery system for our body to use it.

Nuts and Seitan (a meat-texture substitute, prepared from Gluten) are good too, but are incomplete, so you have to work these in with other things, to make sure that the protein is complete when eaten. (Although some say that you can just make sure that you eat the right amino acids over the day… I haven’t found enough evidence either way on that, and as a meat eater, not something I needed to research.)

Next, Fats. This should be at least 60% of your Caloric intake. When eating Low Carb, you derive your energy from fat. You cannot use Protein as an energy source easily. If you try, the body protests, with symptoms of shakiness, and rolling blackouts.

I also want to make the point that Saturated Fatty Acids (SFA) and Cholesterol are good for you. Think about it, your Body fat is saturated, and you use both SFA and Cholesterol to make hormones and to build your cell walls. If you have low cholesterol, you are more likely to have depression. The Medics don’t tell you that one!

There is no point in eating a Low Cholesterol diet as the liver makes 80% of the Cholesterol that is needed. If we eat less, the Liver just ramps up production, but unfortunately it tends to make more LDL, rather than HDL, which isn’t helpful!

Dairy Products (Butter, Cream, Cheese and Eggs) and coconut oil are the main veggie sources of Saturates. In fact if you are Vegan, Coconut Oil is the only SFA available to you. NB: Cocoa butter is also a SFA, but it is very difficult to get hold of in Isolation, and this fact is not a good excuse to eat tonnes of high% cocoa solid choc! Even if it does taste nice

By the way, Coconut oil is the best sources of short-chain saturates, which is one of the best muscle-fuels going.

If you can, always fry in a SFA. SFA don’t oxidize, hence, no dangerous aging free radicals are produced when you use them.

Monounsaturated Fatty Acids (MFA), Olive and Nut oils. These are wonderful for you, and taste really good as well. Use in abundance over salads and in baking, but don’t subject them to high heat, such as frying, if you can help it. Being partially unsaturated, they oxidize quite easily, and those horrid free-radicals are produced.

What you have to avoid are Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (PFA) and Transfats. Although we do need a very small percentage of PFA in our diet, (Flaxseed and Starflower(Borage) Oils being the best Vegetarian source of the PFA we need) PFA oxidize really easily, which significantly contributes to the aging process. Frying in Sunflower oil? Nothing worse for you! Stop it right now!

Also, in a diet high in PFA, when the body incorporates them into cell walls instead of cholesterol, the membranes become softer, and break more easily, again, aging you before you time.

Trans-fats. This is a term from Sterio-Chemistry. Molecules are considered either “cis” or “trans” depending on which way they rotate. All natural fats (apart from CLA, a naturally Saturated Fat that helps you burn off body fat, mostly found in grass-fed animal fats) are in the “cis” configuration. However, when a Liquid oil is hydrogenated, to product a solid (and cheap) fat, the molecules are predominately “trans”. Our bodies have no mechanism for excreting them, and so, will incorporate them in the cell wall in preference to real, “cis” fats (Silly body!).

The cell walls can then break down really easily, another cause of premature aging. Transfats are the real cause of arteriosclerosis and heart problems.
The less natural the food, the worse it is for you. Think about it, what would you rather have? Butter, which is just cream, churned until it goes solid, with a little salt added, or Vegetable oil, heated to over 400C, pumped with hydrogen and passed over a nickel catalyst, and then half a tonne of additives and stabilisers, to give it flavour, texture and colour.

Weston A. Price Foundation – The Oiling of America

Me, I am reaching for the butter!

So, after you have dealt with the important stuff, we finally look at Carbs. Around 10% of your Caloric intake, the best source is Veggies! Good, green leafy ones, cooked to perfection. Cruciferous, is the term. Also Onions and Onion Family vegetables (Leeks, Scallions, Shallots etc), for the Sulphurous compounds they contain and colourful veggies like peppers and cooked tomatoes, (for the Lycopene. In Men, important for Prostate gland health!), for the anti-oxidants,

Also, careful choice of small amounts of the colourful, low-sugar fruits (See my article about fruit in the XXXX edition of CarbHealth!) again for the anti-oxidants, and also there detox properties Also, small amounts of wholegrain (preferably not wheat) products, although digestively speaking, we are not adapted to grains, and cannot utilise them properly.
As we are not Herbivores, we don’t have the digestive enzymes to bust open the cellulose, so have cooked veggies to get the goodness, and use salads as a purgative.

Also, and it almost goes without saying, LOTS of water, and there you go.

I would advise that Vegetarian Low Carb peoples go and buy “The Schwarzbein Principle”, by Diana Schwarzbein. She is the most “Vegetarian Friendly” of the Low Carb authors, her plan allows quite a few more carbs from the start than some other plans, which when you are using Vegetarian protein sources is handy, and she is the also only one to have written a specifically Vegetarian cookbook :“The Schwarzbein principle Vegetarian Cookbook”.

Happy menu planning!

What are the basic foods that are classed as “best” when Low-carbing? Et Voila!

Fats

Protein

10% Carbohydrate or Less

* Higher carb cheeses, such as Cottage and Soft cheeses have to be taken in moderation. A rule of thumb is the harder the cheese, the less carbs it contains!

** All Diet drinks in the UK contain the Artificial Sweetener Aspartame. This has been linked to weight gain and bloating, and is also alledged to be addictive. It is better to cut down or out on these products if you can.

***Herb Teas can contain a lot of fruit sugar. They are NOT carb free.

An Article by Jeanette O’Sullivan

Meat, fish, eggs, green veggies, cheese, butter, olive oil, cream, nuts and water are all widely available in any supermarket in the UK.

OK…I am being a bit facetious, but these are the best low carb foods around for weight loss. Sometimes I actually think I am lucky in that there are no pre-manufactured low carb products in the UK – as whenever a lot of people eat them it
stops their weight loss. Natural is best.

That said, sometimes we do need a bit of variety and may choose to have slower weight loss, but enjoy the ride better.

• Get Linseeds(Flax), Whey Protein, Soy Protein, Soy Flour, Scan Bran, and all your supplements from Holland and Barrett Health food stores
• Sausages either from O’Hagans Sausages or The Sausage Shop
• Flours, Linseeds, Nuts, Gluten, Gums are from Flourbin.co.uk
• General LC “reinvented” goods Avid Lite

Some other foods I use from supermarkets :-

Bacon – have not found nitrate free in supermarkets (you can soak it before you use it.. this helps to get rid of these chemicals), but some of it is sugar (dextrose) free. Be careful, and always read lables, as even some of the more expensive brands contains sugar.

Sausagaes – Sainsburys have some good *lower* carbs sausages. Always check the ingredients as well as the carb count. Look out for starches, sugars, fillers etc. and avoid even if the carb count is low. Always think natural is best.

Lidl – sausages (German, I think)….again check ingredients.

Ryvita – Dark Rye has the lowest carb (I think). Other crispbreads may be “low carb” (like Carrs) but they contain often hydrogenated vegetable oils and these should be avoided. (Transfats are man-made solid fats that are now being linked more and more with Heart disease…) so again make sure you check ingredients.

Yoghurt. The GO! diet theory is that the most lactose (sugar) in the milk is eaten up by the bacteria making the carb count lower. Always go for full fat and natural (no sweetener) – not easy to find. Total Greek yogurt is good. Most Supermarkets do a Greek Style own label, Sainsbury also do a Whole Milk Natural Yogurt. ……..watch most of the Bio Natural Yogurts, as these are low fat (its a health craze, apparantly *G*)…..You need the high fat content to off-set the effect of carbs in your body, therefore reducing the effect on your blood sugar when you eat it. (Ed’s note: if you can find it, Losley do a LOVELY Full fat greek style yoghurt! yummy!)

LoSalt – great for flavour and potassium and sodium intake is not so much a worry on low carb dieting – although if you retain water easily you may have to look at this.

Enco – Cajun Hot Pepper Sauce – great stuff, although my Tesco only sell the Hot Pepper variety which has sugar in it – so avoid. The Cajun one is from Sainsburys – again check the ingredients as well as the carb count

Ground cinnamon – this is great stuff. I add this to a lot of my meat dishes to improve the flavour. Thanks to Gary Rhodes for this tip.

Marmite – great for flavour in meat dishes. Lowish in carbs, great for B-vits. Don’t eat if you are sensitive to yeast. Great on crispbreads with butter (oh yes!) (Ed’s note: OH NO!)

Worcestershire sauce – Does contain carbs, but you don’t use a lot, enhances flavour.

Balsmic Vinegar….love this in gravy. Whenever I cook meat, I save the stock. Add some Balsamic to the stock, splash of Worceshire sauce, sometimes some peppercorns……Reduce on a high heat, when almost there, add some
butter to improve the texture. You could pour in some cream as well….Pour over the meat and enjoy.

Soy Sauce, White Wine Vinegars, Cider Vinegar etc – use in sauces and stir fries. (Ed’s Note: I have found the best range of these in Safeway.)

Sichuan Pepper – love a few of these added to a stir fry (get mine in Tesco)

Flavourings – Tesco doing a good range at the moment. Supercook Extract, Langdales extract. Madagascar Vanilla (contains sugar) These all contain some ingredients that may not be so good, but I do fine eating them, and you
only use a small bit anyway.

Cream cheese …easy dessert add some sweeteners and possibly some Flavour extract. Mix, put back in fridge to chill and then enjoy. Great simple dessert, not overly processed, high fat content, filling and satisfying and very close to being an Induction food so unlikely to cause a problem with weight loss.

Splenda (Sucralose). Although legal in the UK as of 15/03/2002, and now available as a Sugar replacement product it’s not in general product use as yet!
The Granualar product contains the sweetener (Sucralose), and also Maltodextrin which is a High-impact/Lower Calorie Carbohydrate as a Bulking agent, to make it measure “spoon for spoon”.
The addition of these fillers make this off-limits for anyone who is extremly “sugar sensitive”.
If you are, get the tablets and crush them instead.

Pork Rinds – The american type have been spotten in Sainsburys in their speciality section.
Check Pork Scratchings sold in pubs and the supermarkets, as these often contain Dextrose (sugar).

Oils – wide range of Olive oils in supermarkets.
Always go for Cold-pressed, Extra Virgin to preserve Omega 9 EFA content.
Nut oils also can be used in cooking and taste great on salads.
I personally stick to olive oil and butter for cooking. (Ed’s Note: Remember, Always fry with a Saturated Fat.)

‘Nut butters – You need to check the ingredients on this. No sugar is what you want. Most Supermarkets do an own-brand “Wholenut Sugarfree” Peanut Butter, and sometimes the More “exotic” nut butters in their specialty sections.

There are three main suppliers, Meridian Foods and Whole Earth Foods and Clearspring.co.uk

Nuts and seeds – Brazils, Macadamias, Pecans, Almonds, Sunflower seeds, Pumkins seeds – all available from supermarkets (Ed’s note: I have found Sainsbury’s the best for nuts), Holland and Barrett and other health stores.