Hello,

I've learn alot reading on this forum. I am going to start a weight loss plan very soon however I have one big obstacle. I am Chinese and we rice on a daily basis.

Is Atkins possible for Asian people who eat rice on a daily basis?

How have/would you guys deal with this problem?

Thanks,
Mike

This is like French Canadian and poutine and Italian and pasta.
You just stop.
That is all, you stop.

Its ironic that u say that!
Im from Montreal Quebec Canada hehe.

But serious, there hasn't been one day in my 23 years that I haven't had rice for supper. Its usually a bowl or two of rice along with chicken/beef/pork and veggies.

june 27 =218, july 28 =196, july 29 =195, august 8 =193, august 13 =191,
august 21 =190, august 22 =189, september 12 = 187, october 3 =185, october 16 =182, november 28 =180

Attn Pennelope:

Wow ur weight loss is quite impressive. I would like to lose that amount of weight in that time period. Can you tell me how you did it or point me to ur post? For some reason I cannot PM you.

Thanks,
Mike

The problem is that rice, especially white rice, is a quickly-absorbed kind of carbohydrate that causes your blood sugar to rollercoaster... It's not allowed on Atkins for that reason. Even in the maintenance part of Atkins, brown rice is preferred over white, although neither provide much nutrition.

Short answer?

You just stop.

I guess you have the book.
You know that you will feel like hell the first week while you are in withdrawal and you will still feel terrible watching others eating rice around you.
You have no idea how good starch smells when you are cleaning your system. Like I said you have to just do it.
I suggest that you have a large amount of prepared food at your fingers so that when you have to eat right now because if you don’t have it in front, you will dive into a bowl of rice.
That is why it is so important to get into ketosis as soon as possible because it kills your appetite. The hardest way to do this is to keep starting over and over.
Hence read the book and chose between what you look like now and what you want to look like next summer.

Keep an eye on MSG it makes you hungry for starch.
You have it easy with all the wonderful LC vegetables in your diet.

i guess ill have to toughen it out!

Now that i think of it...its not realistic for me to quit rice for life.
I can do it for a couple of mths at most but to STOP it entirely for a long time is not realistic.

Let's say if I stop eating rice for a few mths, lose the weight. Then reintroduce the rice in my diet while limiting the portions. If I eat healthy and excercise regularly while avoiding most carbs (EXCEPT FOR RICE) will I be on the right track?

Thanks,
Mike

That depends entirely on your carb level for maintenance, which you determine by following the stages of Atkins in the proper order. Some people DO find they can have things like rice or potatoes in small amounts at that time. I see your profile says you've read teh Atkins book, so you might want to go over those chapters if you haven't gotten to them yet.

You might find, when you get there... you don't crave it any more.

I too ate rice every day of my life for dinner and I thought would be impossible to give up, but honestly, thinking about giving it up was actually harder than the reality of it.

Sometimes I smell it and it drives me crazy. I love the smell of rice. I even have one of those rice heat packs and every time I heat it I smell that rice and I just inhale deeply but honestly, it isnt that hard and I feel so much better that it isnt worth it.

It may take a few weeks but you will adjust. Or find a plan you can stick to.

I'm not on the Atkins plan, so I honestly know nothing about it. However, it is possible to make something similar to rice by shredding cauliflower. I haven't ever tried it, myself, as I was never particularly fond of rice. I'm sure there's a recipe for it somewhere on this site, though. I use mashed cauliflower to replace the potatoes that were a big part of my pre-low-carb way of life, and I've found it to be acceptable, although it required some "getting used to" on my part.

I have heard that cornstarch is often used in Chinese cooking to thicken sauces and soups. If that's true, you may have to find a replacement for that, too. There are a number of different thickeners that are suitable for a low-carb diet, although you may have to buy them online from a site such as Netrition.

Your success depends entirely on how badly you want to take off the weight, and how willing you are to make permanent changes in your diet.

My best wishes to you!

my husband is from the philippines and he eats rice every single day...strong staple food..we have an enormous rice cooker and it's always on. he did this diet with me five years ago and just gave up the rice and he did well...then he was off rice for a couple of years but last year he started eating it again..he's a borderline diabetic and has high blood sugar. we're going to his family's house for the holidays and not only rice will be there but egg rolls, stir frys, and starchy breads of all kinds....it's going to be hard on me since i love for this reason alone if there weren't any other reason to go there. ( i really do love his family besides the great cooking lol)

Mike:

I'm Chinese, too, but giving up rice was easy for me. Sugar, on the other hand, it's a different story, I stopped cooking rice at home on a regular basis (for a couple of years now) and DH doesn't really miss it. When I do cook it for him, it's brown rice or wild rice. Have you ever looked into food combining like Susan Somers' books? I remember reading something on the FAQ in the Atkins website about it, and they said it was possible for those who are at goal to do that.

A "lower" carb diet might be possible for you, including rice. Educate yourself on what low-carb eating really means, and pick a plan that suits you. South Beach perhaps? If you simply cut out sugar (and all products containing sugar or high fructose corn syrup), all white flour products (and corn starch), starchy vegetables (other than rice), and alcholic beverages (in excess), you'll be consuming much "lower carb" than the average diet, and you might find yourself losing weight. Exercise will help a lot.

It's possible that a reduced-calorie, reduced-fat (bite my tongue!) plan would work better for you. The point is, you'll want to pick a plan that will not only result in weight loss, but also will teach you a new way of eating to enable you to sustain that lower weight for life.

You won't be able to get the benefits of Atkins--the ketogenic or fat-burning effect--without abstaining from all but allowable carbs in allowable amounts for a period of two weeks or so...and in small increasing increments after that. Other plans have different introductory periods, with different effects. And of course, quite a few other guidelines apply.

Low-carb is a way of improving your blood profile (cholesterol, lipids, etc.) as a method to protect the heart, prevent aging oxidation, and maintain a healthy weight. It's not a "quick weight loss" scheme you can give up and still expect to maintain what you've accomplished. It has to become the "new normal" for life.

Best wishes.

There are a lot of different ways to do a low carb diet, you don't necessarily have to do Atkins to lose weight, and while most low carb diets call for 2-3 weeks of very low carb eating, not everyone who succeeds does that.
You will have to at least cut way down on rice, or give it up for a couple of weeks totally and see how it goes from there.
I've used grated cauliflower as a rice substitute, and while it's okay...it just ain't rice. I've heard of textured Soy protein also used as a rice substitute but haven't tried it.
I think if you give up sugar and all bread except low carb and flour and reduce fruit intake and dairy, you should be able to eat smaller amounts of rice a couple of times per week.