Hi all,

I’ve been on SB for 2 weeks and am wondering if someone will share their experience with how they determined the balance of carbs/protein/fats they should be eating. I’m writing down everything I eat and calculating the mix of carbs/protein/fats. I am 55, no health problems, insulin sensitive (I think), moderate activity (daily swim, beginning Pilates, light UBW X3/week), not depressed, but chronic dieter (Atkins, juice fasting, South Beach, general low carb), have lost muscle mass (thank you Atkins), fatigue, occasional insomnia.

I averaged what I’ve been eating over the last week… 34% carbs, 40% protein, 26% fat. (No sugar, caffeine or alcohol.) Does that sound balanced? I don’t understand what Schwarzbein means when she says balanced. To me that would mean 33/33/33. I don’t want to obsess about the numbers, but rather get an idea of what balanced is and translate that into menus.

Thanks,
Diane

Hi Diane:

When I was doing SP, I generally found I was about 35-45% fat, 25% protein, 30-40% carbs. I figured that was moderate fat since high fat is about 70% and low fat is about 20%.

Yeah, it drove me nuts not knowing if I was doing it right. You might want to increase fat a bit. It's almost hovering around low fat.

Wanda

I don't think "balance" is meant to be so much a mathematical thing as a question of eating appropriate portion sizes of all four types of foods at each meal, according to your metabolic needs. 33/33/33% might be mathematically balanced, but it's actually pretty close to low-fat (which is considered 30% of calories or less from fat) and is probably too high on protein.

You need to start off with determining the *minimum* amount of protein you should be eating, which SPII states should be *at least* 1-1.25g per kilogram of body weight. Since you weigh 156, or 70kg, you should be eating at least 70-85g of protein a day, or about 10-12 oz if you want to calculate it that way. Spread that out over all meals and snacks, with a little more protein at meals and a little less at snacks (see the guidelines on SPII p. 232 for specifics).

Once you've got your protein needs squared away, determine your carb needs according to your metabolic type, which based on what you say above is probably insulin-sensitive with burnt-out-adrenals, and the number of meals you eat a day. For example, I'm in the early stages of the IS/BOAG healing program, so I'm eating three meals of 20-25g carbs with two snacks of 20g, for a total of 100-115g of carbs from fruit/starchy veggies/legumes/whole grains. (Also remember that on SPII you don't deduct fiber as on Atkins, so this is 100-115g TOTAL carbs, not net.) Next, add a serving of non-starchy veggies to each meal, for a total of at least five a day; these aren't counted in those carb totals, but will probably add another 25-50g total carbs.

So that only leaves fat, and you're not supposed to count/measure/restrict that except as your appetite dictates (unless you're on a lower-sat-fat plan). You don't go out of your way to get the fats really high as with Atkins, but you shouldn't be deliberately trying to hold them super-low either. These really pretty much take care of themselves if you're following all the other eating rules, such as not eating fats without proteins, avoiding damaged fats, limiting your processed meat and cheese intake. I use a little bit of added fat when cooking meat, put a teaspoon of butter or olive oil on my veggies, and then get the rest from whatever's in my protein/carb foods, and it seems to work fine.

Based on the percentages you listed above, your fat sounds too low, and either your other nutrients are too high or you're just plain not eating enough. Remember, you're not supposed to be eating low-fat or low-calorie, because you can't heal your metabolism that way. My daily intake is roughly 1800 calories, 100g (50%) fat, 125-150g total carbs (85-100 net) (25%) and 100-120g protein (25%). I feel like I'm eating pretty close to her definition of "balance" -- maybe a touch heavy on the protein, but I feel good about the rest of it -- and you can check my journal for menus and specifics if you like. You might think about posting your own menus in a journal as well, since the overall composition of your meals and snacks is more important than the Fitday percentages.

Consume the minimum levels of recommended protein, hit your per-meal carb targets, eat non-starchy veggies at every meal, and don't stress out one way or the other about fat consumption, and don't worry so much about the numbers. Also, try going back and rereading Chapter 11 -- it took me going through it about 10 times to "get" it, and planning out my menus for the first week or so felt like working calculus problems .

Hi Wanda,

Thanks for your response. As a former Atkins devotee, I found myself really trying to limit the carbs because I can go over board with those very easily. Protein and fat are both easier to limit for me. I'll try upping the fat -- I definitely don't want to do low fat. Yea! more butter, more mayo, more cream!

I see my doctor this afternoon and am anxious to hear what she has to say about SB or even if she knows about it.

Diane

Hi Atlee,

Thanks for your thorough explanation! It helps alot. I'm a bit overwhelmed with all the food though. I'll have to reread SBII and try to digest (npi) it. I feel so full most of the time.

Diane

need to go easy on the added sat fats. if you're going add fats to a meal, mono and poly are a healthier choice.

Thanks m1whowaits... I know now I have to spend more time planning and balancing my foods. Last night after a very stressful day I tried rereading SBII, got overwhelmed and gave up for the night.

Also had my doctor's appointment yesterday afternoon just after having a heated political debate with DH. It wasn't pretty. By the time the nurse checked my blood pressure it was 144/100 -- also not pretty -- politics makes me crazy. Anyway missy doctor (she looks like she's twelve) didn't know anything about Schwarzbein but wanted to read about it so I gave her all the info. She's a Zone devotee.

Went out to dinner last night and had a glass of red wine (self medicating?) and feel better today.

Diane

Wow Atlee - great post!

I hope by now you've discovered her latest book, The Program, because it does an excellent job of explaining everything much more clearly than the other two books and is very simple to follow. I love it! You don't even have to know exactly what type of metabolism you have, just that you have damaged or normal and you then use one of two plans. Please check it out if you haven't done so.

CB

I'll have to read more about this.