Hello--
I've read "Eat Cheat & Melt the Fat Away", and seen this LC food plan work for several friends/co-workers/family members. However, there are still certain things which confuse me, and instead of continually calling up these people, I thought I'd post here before starting this lifestyle change myself. I'm sorry if you've heard these all before! Also_ I know some of you follow Atkins or the Zone diet, likely... but I figure they're on the same premise (just varying degrees of rigidity), so hopefully someone can help!

First of all, the biggest change will be no pasta (I'm Italian-- and that's all I ate for the past 24 years! No wonder I'm overweight!), but that I can live with. What I anticipate as tough, is late night snacking... when you have that sugar craving. What do you eat for snacks? I can't think of a hunk of meat or a slab of cheese as being all that fulfilling. Am I right in assuming fruit (provided it's eaten 3 hours after a pro/fat meal), is my only option? Wonder what you do when you get sugar cravings...

THe fruit rule. Does this include fruit based marinades on protein (meat)? I used to love lemon chicken, which is chicken marinated in lemon juice.... is this a huge breach of legality? Same would go for things like apricot chicken... And, while I'm on the subject-- no fruit juice as a drink with any meals (ie pro/fat meals?). Just wanted to get that straight. And for those of you that work late and have to eat out a lot (that'd be me!), what do you do in restaurants when ordering meat...... Mostly, they come with marinades or sauces (and I assume those are no-nos because of the sugar or hidden carbs, or fruit content- ie. plum sauce marinades)...
So it's meat that's best, but in a fat sauce (ie. butter)-- not any other marinades that contain sugar..... right? No sweet & sour chicken, no pineapple chicken...... correct?

Also- the coffee factor. I am a caffeine addict, which I realize is not healthy. Seeing that I drink about a cup an hour (a bit of an exaggeration, but still) a day now, and I have to go down to zilch, this will be tough. If I just have one cup (with skim milk) in the am, with no other foods.... will I still see some weight loss-- or will weight loss not come until I get off coffee entirely? I knew some people who did lose weight and still had a daily cup of java, but I wanted to get your feelings on it.


what about things like bran muffins (yes, carbs, but what if I find a mix without sugar?)... I'm just SO CONFUSED about knowing where the hidden carbs are. So basically-- I just have to only have things that have '0' under carbohydrates..... but everything seems to have something (meat marinades, and everything else, too!). If you get a little hidden carb in a pro/fat meal, does this jump up your GI, and retard weight loss, or is there a little bit of mixing permitted.

I must admit, I have tried this before, about a year ago.. stayed on it for a week, lost nothing (but still had my daily java, so that might be to blame), and got frustrated by feeling I wasn't allowed to eat anything. I work out and dance all the time, so exercise isn't the issue, and I drink a lot of water. What am I doing wrong? Do I have the wrong idea about mixing, and illegal foods?

Geez, I'm a master's student in medicine, this really shouldn't be over my head, but it is. I grew up as a dancer, eating carbs for energy-- carbs and low fat foods were my LIFE. This is just such a daunting change for me....

What about 'processed' meats? Salami, pepperoni, even those Beef Jerky hot rod things? I know friends ate them on the somersizing diet, all the time (in fact, one person carried around the hot rods in their pocket, to deal with hunger pangs), but are they really in the realm of 'legal', if we're being strict about things? They don't have caloric info on them-- I know they're high fat and protein definately, but what about the carb content? What about all beef hot dogs (without the bun, of course!)? I have no idea what are mixed into the processed meats..... any advice? I don't want to screw this up. I want to be like all of you, and actually do this, once and for all!!!

Any ideas on the above are appreciated. I need to lose weight drastically... none of my pants fit me. Help! You are all the experts!

I am not a Somersizer, but I'll try to help you with some of these questions, ok?


The best thing to do is to tough out any carb cravings you might have. If you get hungry at night, yes, have whatever LC-legal snacks you are allowed. (visit our kitchen sub forum for ideas!) Soon enough, especially if you're eating properly at mealtime, you won't have night-time cravings or hunger. If you are going crazy for something sweet, have a little SF jello.


I'm not sure what the "fruit rule" is, so I can't address that. When eating out, you simply make the best choices you can. Ask the waiter about specific items and how they're prepared. Ask him what is the lowest about of sugar and breading on the menu. They're usuallly quite pleased to help.

Right.

Some people have no trouble drinking coffee and losing weight. Others do. If at all possible, try to cut back as low as you can. Drink 1/2 decaf and 1/2 regular when you can. My own experience is that I do lose weight faster when i'm off caffeine... Ijust can't seem to give it up entirely Always use heavy cream in your coffee, never skim milk. The lighter the milk, the more sugar/carbs it has in it!


You're not going to find any kind of muffins that are LC legal unless you make them yourself with flax meal or soy flour. I haven't acquired a taste for them myself. I'd rather just do without. Even if you find a sugar free mix, the flour in them has tons of carbs.

It sounds as if you may need a simpler plan or at least try just to stick with whole foods. Take a look at some journals and see what others are eating. Visit the kitchen forum and get some new recipe ideas...get busy in the kitchen! It's fun! You're not going to find a whole lot of pre-packaged anything in the grocery store that is LC....it's all full of flour and sugar!

Watch for carbs on processed meat, especially hot dogs. Deli meats are usually okay, but should be somewhat limited because of the salt and nitrates. Just don't rely on them too heavily.

Hope that helps! Good luck!

Padme
Have you started your somersizing program? Let us know!

Ok, you're not gonna be able to eat fruit sauces on meat cuz regardless of the fact that they are fruit, they have CARBS & you can't eat CARBS with protein/fats. I think JUST LEMON is ok, because Suzanne says that lemons & limes are very low in carbs. I bake fish and use lemon pepper for seasoning. It's so good! Fruit juice=fruit so no, you can't have it w/ your meal. FRUIT ALWAYS HAS TO BE EATEN ALONE.

You can eat a nighttime snack of fruit if you wish, as long as it's 3 hours after you had a protein/fat meal. I think it's the same amount of time after a carbo/veggie meal. Also, you can eat sugar free things, like Jello. It has low or no carbs and no sugar. Also, Cool Whip has like 1 carb per serving. I used to eat this on Atkins. Also, at Walmart and healthfood stores, there's these Zero Carb chocolate bars that are so good! There are carbs listed on the label, but they're not sugar carbs, they're net carbs. I'm not really sure about the principle of it, but I've been assured by many that it's ok to eat them. Also, dark chocolate is better than milk, cuz well, it's made w/ milk so it's got carbs. Since I've been on a low carb diet, cheese IS fullfilling becuz now I can eat as much as I want. You can also eat beef jerky or those hot sticks you talk about. They don't have any carbs. They're purely fat and protein. (Slim Jims don't anyway.) A lot of processed foods have carbs. You can find them on the label under "Carbohydrates" & under there listed as "Sugars."

Eating out...you can ALWAYS ask them to hold the yummy marinade or sauce. If the dish comes with potatoes or something really starchy, ask if they have steamed veggies you can substitute for the starch, but find out WHAT KIND of steamed veggies they have. You want something like broccoli, cauliflower, etc. and not steamed corn, carrots, or potatoes.

I don't know about the caffeine-coffee thing. I'd say if you drink it, don't drink it w/ carbs. Like, if you choose to eat something carbo-like for breakfast, don't drink coffee. Caffeine affects insulin release or something and isn't good for losing weight. It'd be better if you drank it with an eggs & bacon breakfast.

What it all boils down to it this...you're just going to have to make some eating changes if you want to lose weight. It was VERY hard for me at first, but once you start to see results, you want to go on. You have to follow the diet closely before you see results. You can cheat here and there and expect to lose weight. You're not giving it a chance to work if you cheat.

Good luck!

Maybe if I'd read more, I'd have seen that you already got your answers. Sorry!

If so, you're going to be pleased! I can't comment on any of the other diets, but I know many of them are far more restrictive and thus much harder to stick to (from what I've heard and read). That's why I chose Suzanne's version of LC diet.

1) First of all, the biggest change will be no pasta

You can HAVE pasta! Just make sure it's whole grain (now wheat, but WHOLE wheat). You cannot have fats or sugars with your pasta though. Don't fret though, Suzanne has yummny recipies for creamy sauces using fat-free dairy like cream cheese and yogurt, and she also has recipes for tomato based sauces that have no sugar in them. Remember, there are a ton of really good new sugar substitutes out now, so you CAN have something sweet without being bad.


2) THe fruit rule.

Krispers is right, you can't do fruit with meat, except for citrus. But you CAN have fruit as a snack or a meal on its own as long as you have it on an empty stomach, half an hour before anything else, or as a snack on its own an hour or two after any other meal. You can also have legal, level one sweet snacks and desserts if you use an artificial sweetener (Splenda is excellent, or you can get Somersweet, which I hear is really good too) and avoid chocolate (the caffeine in chocolate makes it a no no). I had vanilla custard with real whipped cream last week! She has a recipe for Creme Brulee I'm going to try this week and she even has ice cream recipes that are legal! So much for "nothing but fruit for a bedtime snack" I jones hard for sweets in the evenings too. You might be surprised though, at how well a slice of cheese before bed can get you through the night.


3) Also- the coffee factor.
As everyone else says, lose the caffeine as best you can, and if you must have it at all, have it the way you'd do fruit, alone on an empty stomach and far between meals. There are some great flavored coffee beans that are decaf and if you have them with real cream and a little Splenda (if you like your coffee sweet) it's pretty satisfying. Nothing to do about the caffeine addiction part but ride it out I'm afraid. In your field you know how bad it is for you anyway... right?

4) Processed meats and all your other questions - Go back through your book and see if all this isn't in there. I got the most recent book - Fast and Easy - but I scanned the other three and they all repeat the same program almost verbatim. Suzanne has tons of frequently asked questions just like yours that she answers in the books, and she has a discussion board on her site www.suzannesomers.com where you can ask more. In my book she talks about what to eat at restaurants and often mentions brand names of foods that are safe for level one.

This program is really not that hard to stick to because you get to have a little of almost everything. The combos leave you wanting sometimes, but I can't think of any other diet I've ever heard of that gives you more freedom or lets you eat so much of so many things and still lose weight! And you eat all the time so you're never hungry, dizzy, crabby etc.

(This is all from my whopping 3 weeks of experience here. But I have several good friends who have been doing this successfully for years)

Good luck!