Pamlynn, you choose which you want, you can use the lower gi choice in place of the higher gi choice. But you generally don't end up doing that every meal. Even if you pick all higher gi foods the values of the foods are different, it will still work out because naturally some work out to be higher than others. Some meals are going to be higher gi than others.

Thanks Lynn, that makes sense. It's hard for me to "just do it" unless what I'm doing makes sense. That's the reason I wanted to do this diet - the science (the parts I understand) makes sense to me. I'm really grateful that you're here to help steer me through the parts I don't quite understand.

Phase II went pretty well - was up a lb. this a.m. (I weigh in every Monday), but I expected that. This priming phase is really helpful, I don't think I could have just jumped into the Core phase without doing this first and a week is just about the right amount of time to get you used to each phase especially after coming off of pretty strict LC. Being diabetic, my body also had to adjust to adding the carbs in last week, but that only took about 2 days.

Today I'm having:
BF: 1/2 c. sprouted cereal w/about a 1/2 c. almond milk and a scoop of protein powder.
L. Can of tuna, 1 slice of sprouted grain whole wheat bread and a small salad w/low fat italian dressing.
Snack: Protein powder drink
Din: Chicken Breast, brocolli, peas.
Snack: Undecided

Sometime this week I'm gonna make that Turkey Sausage Polenta - looks wonderful.

I'm looking forward to seeing what you think.

Okay, so yesterday a.m. I ate the sprouted cereal and although I've eaten it before, (that's the cereal I eat when I have cereal) this time I felt terrible for about an hour. I checked my BS at 1 hr. and at 2 hrs. post meal, and it was fine. Well after that I decided against eating the cereal I was going to eat for lunch and opted instead for leftover chicken salad.

So anyway, today I'm switching up. Starting with protein powder mixed with a little frozen fruit and a banana. My snack will be a few nuts and protein powder. Lunch is oatmeal and turkey bacon (I think). Dinner is chicken and noodles w/a little butter.

Couldn't resist so I got on the scale and am now down 3 lbs., so feeling good about that.

Pam great job on the 3 lbs!

I try to alternate breakfast choices, if I eat cereals or oatmeal every morning for breakfast, my BS spikes really bad. Some mornings all I can manage is yogurt or cottage cheese.

Yep Lynn, the 3 lbs. was good to see. According to the book, it should be fat loss, not just water. I have to say too that although I didn't measure myself to begin with, I can see some places where the fat has disappeared, and the pants I wore yesterday were easier to get into.

Having trouble figuring why I'm feeling so funky. BS first thing this a.m. was 98; 1 hr. after protein and fruit 103 and 2 hrs. post is 80. Like I said, it must be my body trying to get used to the additional carbs.

Can't believe that I'm almost at the end of the Priming Phase - Saturday is my last day. Wasn't really that hard - although I certainly didn't do a perfect job, I'm still feeling pretty confident about doing this.

Hello. I just started the CTL diet this week. I was on Medifast and although I lost 12 lbs in a month, I have a thyroid condition and was concerned that all the soy protein was causing my thyroid to not function properly, as evidenced by a difficulty swallowing lately.

Anyway, I like this diet so far and I have lost about a lb. (it is hard to tell b/c I put on like 4 lbs after my cheat day- maybe this was because I went right from 1 diet to a cheat day to another diet? But now I am back to just under where I left off with medifast on Saturday).

I have a lot of questions about this diet though and would love some advise. Most of these questions deal with portion sizes...
1) portion size. Does palm of hand mean just the palm or does that include fingers too? for example, is a typical chicken breast one serving of protein or so I need to cut that in half because I have small hands?
2) Also, I know it is not about counting calories, but my last diet was so restrictive, counting calories and weighing portions, that I am concerned I will eat too many calories or carbs, how am I sure my portions are the right sizes? And what is the carb limit per day?
3) in the priming phase/low carb menu plan there is a meal of turkey breast, bacon and cheddar cheese in a low carb tortilla- this is an awesome meal, am I really allowed to have this? Is 2 slices of bacon ok. A lot of the meals leave out specific portion amounts so I am again worried I am eating too much.

Thanks for any help/advise. I am thinking about joining the website for more food advise, since the actual implementation of the plan has me a bit lost.

I was hoping that LynnDee would check in to answer your questions. I've just started on the Core Phase, but I'll try to help you out.

1. Palm means just your palm w/o the fingers. The portion size for your protein should be about the same thickness as your palm. The carbs, except for "free veggies" should be the size of your fist when balled up.

2. If you do the correct portion sizes, there is no need to count calories. I keep track of what I eat on FitDay only because I want to, not because I feel I have to. At the end of the meal you should feel full, but not stuffed. I've done a pretty good job of training myself to stop eating when I start to feel full.

3. The "low carb" tortilla is fine because it is low carb. I personally just don't eat starchy carbs on the low carb days, but that is my choice. Anything on the menus for the particular phase you're in is acceptable to eat. As far as the bacon goes, to me it would depend on which phase you're in. In the low carb phase, I wouldn't worry about the number of slices of bacon as long as you don't go overboard. I usually eat 3 slices when I have it on low carb days. But I switch to leaner meat like turkey bacon or turkey sausage when I go to Low GI/GL and Higher GI/GL phases.
The general rule is: as you increase carbs, you lower fat.

Hope this helps. I'm still toying with idea of joining the website, although I don't feel a strong "need" to do so.

Junebird - hey I have been busy the last couple of days, sorry I didn't see this earlier.

Pam's advice was right on. Yes if you have small hands you are eating smaller portions. I kind of like this way of measuring, because people of the same weight aren't always built the same way. If you are a smaller boned person, you don't need to be eating the same amount as a larger boned person. So you may be cutting your meats into smaller portions. You don't have to worry about counting calories, but I do recommend that you vary your diet everyday. It is easy to eat the same thing a couple of days in a row, but by varying your food choices your calories/carbs/fat all vary somewhat too. So today you might have a slightly higer calorie but the next day it might be slightly lower just by varying your food choices. On low carb days I utilized a lot of the smoothie recipes & also ate the low carb tortillas on a regular basis.

I carb cycle and use cheat days to kickstart my metabolism into overdrive.

I do it in phases though to always keep my body guessing what's going on.

(The following are approximations... just listen to my body and what it tells me I do lol)

Phase 1: 2-3 days of non-stop junk food
Phase 2: Carb Cycling 4-12 weeks.
Phase 3: Maintenance minimum 3-4 weeks

I never cheat EVER during cycling or maintenance nor does my body ever go into starvation mode.

Rinse and repeat.

Thanks for the help, I think I have been eating too big of portions, although I have dropped a couple of lbs this week. I assumed a chicken breast was a serving, but I see now I need to cut that in half and eat half at lunch and then maybe half as a snack later in the day.

I have high hopes for this, I just have a lot of trouble figuring out what to eat as I am used to much more strict diets.

The low carb was easy, since I've been LCing for a while. But I found that I actually had to write out what I was going to eat each day on the lower GI/GL to make sure I got the 2 servings of carbs in with each main meal. I'm not much for cooking these days, so my meals had to be quick and simple. In order to get the amount of protein I need each day, I rely a lot on protein drinks and depending on which kind of day it is I'll add fruit to it. The kind of fruit also depends on which day it is. The same for Flaxseed oil - if it's a low carb day I add oil, if not I omit it. I don't eat a lot and I'm not real fussy about what I eat, in fact I tend to eat the same meals until I think of something else. My cheat day is coming up on Sunday again - looking forward to it.

Hi all! Hope everyone is doing okay. Haven't posted in a while, but this is what's been going on with me.

Well as of last week I decided that I had to cut out the higher GI/GL days altogether. Although I made this decision on my own, I later went back to read a portion of the book and this is actually something he suggests can be done. My system just cannot handle 2 full days of the higher foods, especially when I top that off with the cheat day. So I switched to 3 or 4 days on L/C (L/C is so easy for me), and then either 2 or three days lower GI/GL, then the cheat day. I felt MUCH better last week doing it this way and I'm glad I made the switch. You really do have to listen to what your body is saying to you.

Even though I'm eating 2 portions of lower GI/GL foods, if I keep the portion sizes down, I'm fine. I do things as simple as adding about 1/3 cup of pineapple to my chicken salad and 1/3 to 1/2 cup of blueberries to my protein shake to get my fruit in.

Pamlynn thanks for sharing the update. I know I haven't been a part of the conversations that went before, but am very interested in this form of eating, and appreciated reading this thread. I am trying something similar, and have found I too have to be careful what kind of carbs I eat.