And rhubarb! Found out from reading Dr. Bernstein that rhubarb is low-carb. The carb counts vary quite a bit, even in official sources. But still low if eaten in small amounts.

I found out by accident (I was feeling really peckish that day) that if I put 2 tablespoons of Splenda-sweetened rhubarb over an ounce or so of cream cheese (the 1/3 less fat variety which has fewer carbs), it tastes like cheesecake!

And very satisfying. I was able to stick to 1 serving with no cravings later.

A thought on the celebration stuff... not to pick on CalebD. Maybe he's like me in terms of lifestyle and celebrations, though.

I don't live near my family and I don't 'hang out' with friends. It's just me and my SO. I'm strange this way. My relatives in the US are a BIG family and all live very close to one another. I see similar family/friend groups among my coworkers on Facebook. Basically, it seems like it's just one non-stop crap-food-fest. It was just the 4th of July, okay, but next weekend it's someone's birthday. Last month there were two weddings and three graduation parties. Work get-togethers, going to visit the in-laws... they're visiting and celebrating something non-stop. THIS is why you can't just say, "oh, well it's a holiday, so I'll go ahead and treat myself." Because it doesn't end there.

I'm thinking maybe half the reason I'm successful is that I have no life and my "family celebrations" are non-existent. It doesn't cost me any carbs to wish my friends and family a Happy Birthday/Grad/whatever on their FB timelines.

You are giving me thoughts. Have to check that out.

Remember, it's been a LONG time since I had real cheesecake! Just sayin'.

We're the same with family stuff, but church events are something else. It seems that every time I turn around there's another pot-luck get-together. After being burned by what I was assured to be "safe" food, I started eating only my own safe food - and I learned by sad experience to pack a separate lunch for myself. It's no fun if my safe food is all gone by the time I get to it. The only things I'll eat at a pot-luck are naked celery sticks and plain meat when I know the cook.

Bonnie - I just learned to not eat, I would eat after I got home! It was hard because I was on church staff, but most of the members knew I was eating differently and had seen my weight loss (this was my first round with LC) and knew why I wasn't eating so they didn't push.

Doesn't work for me - I get too hungry if I miss a meal. I no longer have to eat as much as I did, but I still have to eat something. Preferably meat.

CalebD: Perhaps you need to free yourself of thinking so linear as to believe that all carbs or all fruit carbs are "identical," as well as thinking we all process these things the same way.
They aren't all the same.
We aren't all the same.
Calories play a role, but calorie theory isn't the end-all-be-all any more than glycemic index or general carbs are.

Some individuals might have difficulty with a fruit that looks identical to another in terms of "the numbers," whereas another person has no difficulty. They might do okay with one type of berries and not so okay with another. Same with melons or citrus or other fruit families.
In terms of what spikes someone's blood sugar or how their body will react to it given a particular time of the day or in combination with a million other variables: You would have no idea what is hurtful to them in the short or long term, and it is presumptuous given your own experience to assume you do. Many times, THEY don't know if it is hurtful to them or not (which was the point of the OPs original statement regarding watermelon consumption), but someone who is mindful and eats to their meter to determine these variables for themselves for their own future reference. It does them no good whatsoever to say "It is so infrequent that it doesn't matter if you check because it won't kill you this one time." How do you know? Are you so sure? I've worked with people who were standing there talking to me with a blood glucose of 17 mg/dl and in the next several hours they were >800 mg/dl by lab draw. There are some people who are seriously *that* brittle with their diabetes. Frequency is a relative term, so if you're talking in terms of what you think is 'frequent' as opposed to what they might think is frequent, these can be very disparate values. Regardless of whether you can agree upon what "frequency" means, what works for you at the same frequency may not be at all acceptable for them to maintain control of their own blood glucose or metabolic situation.

To accuse people here of being "fruit haters" is absurd. You seem to mistake proceeding with caution and prudence with anti-fruit zealotry. I would bet most people here would not mind eating fruit if it didn't have negative impacts on their metabolic goals (whether it be weight loss or blood glucose control). Many will test and re-test in an effort to somehow fit their favorites into their eating plans more frequently, but sometimes it really needs to stay as a very rare and controlled treat if they are to succeed in the long term.

I'd count all of those as good options, and good fruits from the standpoint of sugar content. Of course, their calories are still carb calories, but I'd consider them in the range of better fruit.

This is another aspect to dieting. Obviously you know yourself better than most people. If something is a trigger food for you, it would be best avoided, regardless of what you hear from someone on a forum.

Not exactly, we all have our differences. Diabetes for example will change things drastically. We also are very much the same in ways. People often want a crutch and think they have a slow metabolism or some other defect that causes them to gain weight faster than the average person. This is simply an excuse most the time, and doesn't help that person to believe it to be true, as they now have a valid reason in their minds to justify… Not their weight exactly. This is a delicate topic and I'm probably going to put my foot in my mouth if I say more.
Low carb life is a better way to achieve a healthy weight than most diet options I've heard, but we all are either intaking more calories than we need, or less.

This seems to be that other aspect as previously mentioned. We do seem to have different trigger foods. Which really is kinda odd. We should all crave the same things if we are all eating the same things, and that would be things we need. Sodium and salty food, for example I crave if I need more salt. I would venture to guess that if you wanted a candy bar more than the next person it's something related to a past experience that makes that food very comforting to you on a personal level. I really like peanut butter. It's just one of my favorite foods. Why I couldn't tell you, but it's really good to me.

All Fruit is all mostly sugar by caloric value I think we can agree on that. I jumped in on Watermelon cause it's what I consider as good fruit, being very light in calories. It's digested quickly, and has sugar, yes, but it's also very light in calories.

At least someone laughed at my nonsense You've kinda hit what I was trying to get at. I meant that in the long term fruit was a good idea. even apples It's not a bad idea to be very strict in the beginnings of low carb, a year? Ok. 10 years? harder to do with no fruit.

I haven't had any grains (90% of the grocery store, 80% of what is served in restaurants, 90% of the typical BBQ or potluck) in three years, and I don't expect to eat bread or noodles or oatmeal or rice for the rest of my life.

Dr. Bernstein, famous diabetes doctor and very long-lived type I, says he hasn't eaten fruit in decades.

I see from your stats you are a relatively young, relatively fit, man who still thinks "calories" is a scientifically sound concept when it comes to weight loss. While I am a middle-aged woman who has been wrestling with weight since adolescence. Who lived for months on 1200 calories a day without losing and lost 70 pounds on an average calorie intake of 1800 while low carbing.

Hope you continue to learn, grasshopper

Because Dr. B has lived into his 90s, I'm trusting his advice on fruit. I now think of fruit as a dessert, not a vital part of a meal. Last night I had 1/4 cup Splenda-sweetened rhubarb with NO BG spike. Yeah!



He may be too young to get the reference!

The Kung Fu the legend Continues with David Carradine?
I liked that show. I don't agree that my age is relevant to what I have said. Either what I said makes sense, or is doesn't, my age is kinda non factor in that.

Wisdom and maturity can come from age, but I don't think you need to worry about that.
What you have said makes zero (0) sense as it regards individuals and their own personal metabolic situations and is a blatant disregard of experts in the field (with proven results for their thousands of diabetes patients vs your personal n=1).

Ouch, meaning I can have neither?


I'll disagree with "experts" when I think they are wrong yes, maybe that's very narrow minded of me.
When did this thread become about Diabetics? Type 1 Diabetes changes things drastically. If I couldn't produce insulin I wouldn't eat fruit either.