Ah yes bread. My favorite food, still warm from the oven, slathered with melted butter. The only way I was able to give it up was by believing 100% that I had to give it up in order to regain my health. I agree with MickiSue. Take him at his word, feed him low carb foods. The rest is up to him.

Jean

I agree with no bread, we haven't had bread in the house at all since I started LC. DH either eats it out or not at all. Now he's giving it up too.

Dear friends,

This morning I sent DH the link to Diet Doctor, after which I went to the site to view it with fresh eyes.

During my reading, I came across the first week symptoms. Heart palpitations! I never even considered that, since I have a healthy heart. It is singularly UNSAFE for DH to go on this diet at this time as he is constantly in AFIB, his heart racing along at 150 bpm.

Just now, as he was headed for his first walk of the day, I told him that after the doctors got his heart back in rhythm, we need to get the doctor's permission for him to diet.

I'm sorry. If I could only have gotten him to LCHF before this heart condition, it might never even have happened. But I feel that doing it now could very well kill him.

I can understand that with his health issues. You could encourage elimination of sugar for now and then work with his doctor on a weight loss program.

We have decided to subtract added sugar from his daily intake. This will subtract many carbs as well as calories without putting his digestive tract into "freak out" mode.

No more fruit and/or veg juice to start his day.
No more lemonade to sip throughout the day.
Self-limitation on jams and jellies.
All candies banished from view. (if it isn't directly under his nose, he doesn't see it)

He will drink coffee, tea, water.
He will continue to have his morning yogurt w/fruit. I know, but he doesn't eat eggs and I don't want him to have cereal.
I will continue to bake his whole-wheat bread, but will tweak the low-carb bread recipe and gradually phase it into his diet.

He has agreed to continue to visit dietdoctor.com so that he can come to understand "why" LCHF is a healthier WOE, and will tell me when he wants to drop rice, pasta and other starches from his one big meal of the day at noon. His dinner is always the Continental dinner of bread with cold cuts. He adds fresh fruit to that, but will also begin to cut back.

I think this is a reasonable start down his road to renewed health.

My DH eats whole milk Greek plain yogurt (from Trader Joes) ..it's only 12g carbs per one cup, then he adds a few berries. Think he might like that?

Bluesinger, I make a dark Pumpernickel type bread sometimes for my German husband - the kind that one slices very thin, perfect for cheese & cold cuts. It is made with grains, certainly, but no wheat (unless you want to), and sourdough instead of yeast. With added sunflower and/or pumpkin seeds. Grains and seeds are soaked overnight in buttermilk. It isn't low carb by any means, but the grains are treated in a more "traditional" manner (as defined by the book "Nourishing Traditions"), and so, I think, must be more healthy. And the slices are very thin. AND it tastes really good! If you have any interest in baking such a loaf for your husband please let me know, and I will give you the recipe. I also dehydrated some of my sourdough culture when I stopped baking (being loathe to just toss it), and so could send you some, if you would like. The process is long - close to 24 hours - but relatively simple, and less hands on time than yeast bread. It helps if you have a heavy duty mixer, as the dough is quite heavy and sticky.

Great suggestion, and you are so kind to offer the starter, but DH doesn't care for sourdough. I use a bread machine to do the heavy work, taking the dough out and putting it in a crock for the last rise, then baking it in the oven. Rasmus prefers whole-wheat bread (fluffy) because it reminds him of home. I received my Bob's Red Mill mix today and will take my first stab at the first low-carb loaf tomorrow. It usually takes some time for me to get the proportions just right. We'll see.

He is doing well without the juice and lemonade and has handed over all his stash of candy. Tomorrow I'm getting Mountain High full-fat plain yogurt (4 cup size). It's my personal favorite. It will be up to him to add preserves to it. I trust that he will do the right thing. Eventually.

The nurse called today and told us they have put through another referral form to the Heart Center, so we're hopeful the next stage of his treatment can move forward. The periodic test they run to see if his kidneys are still okay for the dye used came back fine. Monday is another test.

If you want to reduce the carbs in regular full-fat yogurt, you can "greek" it. (I understand that the whey contains most of the carbs.) Put coffee filters (the kind that flatten, obviously) in a colander, and set it over a deep saucepan. Dump in the yogurt. Cover and let it drain in the fridge overnight. The result is thick and creamy and ready for berries mixed in.

Hmmmm. Never heard that. I guess it's worth a try.

Today I made my first pass at baking Bob's Red Mill Low-Carb Bread Mix using my Cuisinart CBK-100 2 LB Bread Maker. I've been baking from scratch whole wheat loaves for DH since we learned about his heart condition in 2013.

I read all the reviews on amazon.com before I did the baking, as well as some information from the Red Mill website.

DH just had his first slices for dinner and told me he likes it better than my other recipe! What a surprise. I did considerable tweaking of the package instructions, but the loaf is beautiful. I'll have to write up the instructions and post in the recipe section.

That's a wonderful victory, Glenda!

My husband used to say there was no way he would eat low carb. He started having some chest pains and his weight has ballooned. We are also approaching 40 pretty quickly now. So, he decided he needed to make a change. On his own, he decided that following a low carb lifestyle is the only way he will get his weight and health in check. I have shown him how there is plenty of variety and he likes how he never feels hungry. If your hubby tries it, he may just love it!

Unless he's cheating on the side DH is holding firm to the plan as we've defined it. (As he doesn't leave the house often, I can be pretty certain he isn't eating outside our agreement.) He also seems to be cutting back on the quantity of food he usually eats.

He doesn't take sugar with his coffee and has cut back to one cup in the morning with a bit of my HWC. He's eating full-fat yogurt without sweetener, but with fresh berries. For lunch he still eats a starch with his veg and protein, and his dinner is bread and cheese with fresh fruit...lots of fresh fruit. Tonight, for example, he had an orange, and apple and a banana.

No more sodas, lemonade or any other sugary drinks. No chocolate, no candy.

I have no idea what he weighs or how often he steps on the scale, but I'm proud that he is taking steps to improve his own health. Next week he is being injected with some sort of dye to see how his blood is pumping.

Yes, I'm proud.

A big high five for your husband, Glenda.

We tend to think that easing into low carb isn't possible. And, for many of us, it's not. The pull of the carbs is easier to resist, when we just STOP.

But it sounds like he's doing fine with just that, and taking responsibility for getting better.