Hi all,
My apologies for the length of this post but I really need some reassurance.

I feel like such an idiot because I really shouldn't need reassurance. Basically, I did a low carb diet back in 2004 and did very well on it - lost the 35 pounds I had to lose and felt great (but, admittedly, I did it with a very low calories plan of about 1100 calories a day and about 1 hour and 45 minutes of exercise 5 days a week - not a plan I could follow now!). I also tried SBD during that time and recall also feeling great and losing 10 pounds in 1 month. So I know that low/moderate carb diets work not only in terms of weight loss but also overall health.

However...

Since then, I've become a vegetarian and, in the last few years, have tried to become a vegan. I've read a ton of books from all of the very low fat high carb diet pushing vegans - Ornish, Essentyn, McDougall, Fuhrman, Campbell. While I admire these doctors for being so passionate about the very low fat vegan diet that they push, I have doubts that this diet has really benefited me and is right for me. Rather than maintain my weight loss, I actually gained back the 35 pounds I lost and added another 30 to that (I don't blame the low fat vegan diet - much of it was my own fault, as I got into a cycle of binge eating on weekends to the extreme with a lot of stress and life changes, including 4 moves in 4 years). I've felt good physically but not great. I don't have any major health issues except for migraine headaches which I thought that cutting out dairy would help (it didn't). I work from home and I also noticed that I do get tired (not exhausted, but tired) during the day so that I need to take a short nap and that I sleep late in the mornings and it's tough for me to get up before 8 a.m. and, lately, later than that even.

So I've decided that I want to try to ease up on the grains (the very low fat vegan diets were all grain centered with veggies and fruits as sides and no added fat whatsoever in any form). I'm now going to try to focus more on veggies and legumes, adding moderate fat and some dairy products and also some fruit. I consider myself in between Phase 1 and Phase 2 on SBD - mostly following Phase 1 rules (like limiting legume and oils to the amounts on the list) but adding a few servings of fruit per day (no grains).

I think what I need right now is some reassurance that I am not going to drop dead of a heart attach or develop high cholesterol if I eat this kind of diet. I know that sounds irrational, but you have to understand that it's the result of years of hearing all added fat demonized (one doctor even had a video that showed how the blood slows down after eating a meal with fat in it - of course, no specification as to how much fat was in the meal or what kind of fat...) In putting a sample menu through Fitday, the amount of fat that I'm eating is about 30%, so it's not especially high (although according to the very low fat vegan diet docs, anything above 10% is "high").

I know it's an irrational fear of fat, especially because I KNOW that moderate/low carb diets do not cause the damage to the body that these doctors make them out to - I've seen that with first-hand experience. I felt very good on a low-carb diet while I was doing it (except that I ate quite a bit of meat and I was never a big meat-lover ). My goal is to keep it to moderate carbs, focusing on whole foods like veggies, legume, some dairy products, some fat, and some fruit. I'm not adding any sweeteners and I'm also going to stay away from coffee (which is going to be a challenge, as I love coffee, but I think it's causing my eyelid to twitch lately - something that has me VERY worried). I'm also starting back with exercising (though not nearly 2 hours a day like last time!) though that's more for health than weight loss.

Sorry for the long post!

Tam

Hi,
Yes, that is a lengthy post and I'll try to help.
I've been eating this way for 7 yrs now. I eat lean proteins, some dairy, not a lot....some legumes, some fruit, lots of veggies. I love avocadoes daily in my salads and they are 70% fat + fiber, good fat but fat none the less. I use a lot of evoo in my cooking, dressings and marinades.

My blood work looks good as I just had it done a few weeks ago.
HDL -87
triglycerides- 32
LDL- 125

While I don't go out of my way to eat fatty proteins, I do make sure to include what SBD considers to be healthy fats in my daily food.

I've lost 120 lbs and have been keeping it off for 5.5 years now. I'm 61 now and feel very lucky to have good health. I attribute this to losing the weight and keeping it off by sticking to eating this way.
I eat very little grain each day....and am trying to eat less dairy to get rid of it all. I'm an aspiring paleo eater.

If you haven't already, it'd be a good idea for you to read any one of the SBD books.
Are you prepared to use the protein alternatives made from soy? Will you eat eggs? seafood?

Hope this helps!

The Fathead video is a good one to counter the brainwashing. It is on Hulu and Netflix now, so you can even watch it for free.

I haven't read it yet, since I read GCBC, but Gary Taubes book "Why we get fat. And what to do about it" is supposed to be a much easier read than GCBC.

Specifically to counteract Campbell's "China Study" you can read Denise Minigers look at the data that Campbell obfuscated and contorted to get the results he wanted. http://rawfoodsos.com/the-china-study/

I think those 3 sources could go a long ways toward deprogramming you.

Thanks Nancy!!

Thank you Judy and Nancy. I do eat eggs (sorry for not mentioning that). I am trying to keep it whole foods, so I'm trying to stay away from processed soy products like veggie burgers and hot dogs and the like and I'm not too crazy about tofu but if I feel I need more protein, I will use it.

I have actually seen Fathead, but a while ago.

I'm going to try and take it one day at a time and focus on how I feel and not so much on the weight (which I know will come off by itself if I follow the plan).

Tam

Like you, I read all those vegan books and tried very hard to make that WOE work for me, but it just didn't. I developed IBS and hypoglycemia from all the grains and felt terrible. It was really scary to move towards a low carb diet and sometimes I still wrestle with those fears. Along with everything Judy and Nancy said another thing that helps me is listening to the podcasts on Jimmy Moore's website. Here's the link:

http://www.thelivinlowcarbshow.com/shownotes/

Good luck as you fine tune your diet.

Perhaps if you read enough of the fat-friendly authors as you did of the carb-friendly authors, it would balance out and help you feel better about it. I recommend Mark's Daily Apple posts on the fat - his posts are free and online. Also Peter at Hyperlipid gets into the whys and wherefores of high fat to an eye-crossing level of detail.

Also, I know you don't blame the prior diet for bingeing and going under from stress instead of being resilient, but actually a grain-heavy diet could have been the root cause of both those things. Bingeing is from malnutrition at the cellular level and you need good protein and fats for good stress handling. Grain-based diets are hard on some bodies and if you didn't have enough protective foods like eggs, hoo boy.

I would check my vitamin D levels, vitamin A & E, iodine, magnesium, and selenium. Excess grains along with A lack of animal foods and good fats can really drag those values down.

Hi there,

I have to echo people recommending Gary Taubes' work. Specifically Good Calories, Bad Calories - it is dense, but incredibly well-researched and eye-opening.

This is the article that spawned GCBC and is good reading to try to get over your fat phobia: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/07/m...ig-fat-lie.html

Lastly, the proof is in the (sugar-free) pudding! :-) Look at how many millions of people, yourself included, have felt great, lost weight, and improved their health markers on a diet low in refined carbs and grains. That is pretty compelling evidence right there.

Good luck!