Was wondering how low people take LCing.

Assuming you are at a weight you want to maintain, and are healthy, where do you think an ideal average daily carb count should fall, to maintain optimal health?

Between 0-5g? Between 5-30g? Between 30-100g? Between 100-200g? Or over 200g? You're the doctor/nutritionist... you decide.

Even if you think it varies from person to person, or even season to season, or whatever, just give an average for all people or all seasons then. Please just give your "best guess" as to what your opinion is... what #g would be the ideal average #... and what range that average number would fall in for the poll.

I am really curious as to what people are aiming for in general with carbohydrate consumption. Since people who have done LCing have more knowledge and experience than any scientist or nutritionist, this is valuable and "accurate" information, IMHO.

Thanks very much for voting!

For me I have discovered I do best when they are below 70 but above 30. Below 30 I start to feel ill, although, I may adapt in time. Much above the 60s and I have problems.

Your poll didn't have this option. 100 is much too high for me, but, I choose 30-100.

Well... if you eat ON AVERAGE 50g per day (which it sounds like, if you did an average of ALL days in a year, for instance, that is what your average would be)... and since that falls in the range 30-100g, then you voted correctly.

I just want to see what average # people are aiming for on a daily basis to maintain optimal health.

Thanks for voting!

I choose 30-100g.But I feel the upper end of that scale is too high.

My true choice would be 30-60g.

Understood. I wonder if there is a poll that would just average what people shoot for. So, if your average over all days is, say 45g (a best "guess", of course), then that number would get averaged into everyone else's average number. Then we could see on a scale of some kind where the average number would fall. That would be kinda cool! But, barring that, I didn't know how else to construct this poll without having a million different choices!

I think that MOST people who follow LCing (Atkins, Life Without Bread, etc) are going to choose 30-100g... and I think this poll will show that. I also predict that the ones who think carbs are just plain bad for you, are going to choose 0-5g. It is going to be interesting to see how many of each general opinion will surface. I for one take a middle ground... I choose 5-30g, simply because I think carbs are generally bad for you, but I don't think they are so bad that one needs to restrict them to such a drastic extent. I think the joy of eating anything would dramatically drop. I mean, I wanna put some bbq sauce on my ribs! While I see it as maybe ideal, I don't see how it is really possible to restrict carbs as low as under 5g/day on average. I don't see it as a realistic option, for mental health if anything!

I chose 30-100g, although I think 100 is too high. What I actually think is carbs should be kept as low as possible unless you are involved in high intensity sport - so for me the carbs I ingest vary dramatically (well, between 20g and 60g) from day to day depending on how much training I'm doing.

If I was doing endurance sports, I would shoot for the low end too.

I think 30-40g allows for variety in the diet (like vegetables, cheese and nuts, maybe some lemon juice, wine etc).

Take the vegetables and nuts out of that, and WINE!... and you could use some condiments that had a few trace carbs (or perhaps, on occasion, more than trace carbs). Then you could choose 5-30g easily. That is my philosophy (at the moment), since I have really come to doubt the necessity of veggies and fruits. Don't get me wrong, I love oranges, for instance... but, I also love cheesecake... so what's the difference? I have recently come to believe that there really is not much difference. So, if I am going to LC, then let me just make meat and egg dishes taste better with the addition of mushrooms or bbq sauce or wing sauce, etc. JMHO.

And, if I slip and eat an orange or a donut, it won't matter which... I can choose my poison much more effectively!

0-5 for me. I feel like my body will find it's normal weight and I will not need to make adjustments. Veggies are out for me so that leaves me at the bottom rung

Got to agree with Kevin here.....

Julie

0-5 for me. I have my rare days where I can go up to 30 or 35, but that's only days where I treat myself to a breve. (Or yesterday when I was living off cottage cheese and yogurt because of my tooth...)

Most days it's like today... steak and shrimp with butter and a touch of garlic. Carbs from the little bit of garlic, heavy cream in my coffee and the eggs I had for breakfast which are 0.5 each (as listed on the nutrition info on the package).

I hate veggies so the only carbs I get are from eggs, coffee and heavy whipping cream. That keeps me at 8-10 carbs a day.

So you guys never use bbq sauce or any condiment that might have quite a bit of carbs?

I never liked BBQ sauce even before I was LC.

The most you'd see out of me for a meat topping is oil and spices - makes a good steak rub. Sometimes I go for butter or mayo. For the most part, I like my meat to taste like meat

I've also found that different oils add different flavors to dishes. If I cook a steak in coconut oil, it will have a completely different taste than if I cooked it in macadamia oil or olive oil or butter. That adds a lot of flavor with no carbs.

I have a store near me that sells all sorts of oils.. ones I'd never even heard of before. One of my favorites is an olive oil with a touch of orange oil added. Toss in a small sprinkling of ground ginger at 1 carb per tsp (which is what I'd use for the whole recipe) and my portion of the meal is less than 1 carb per serving and has a nice asian flavor.

I'm with Kevin! 30-60.
Lisa

I know I don't. I rarely go over 10 carbs for any 1 meal.