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Originally Posted by sdeshwood
Has anyone switched to SP from a lower carb diet? I am reading SP I and a lot of what I am reading really resonates with me. I initially lost about 5 lbs. on Atkins, but then completely stopped. I tried intermittent fasting but was too hungry and lethargic to continue (and I did not really lose much weight!) I then switched to a sort of paleo with dairy approach and felt slightly better with the fruit. Now I am considering trying SP but I am uncertain about her view of carbs- she continuously comments that eating too few carbs is dangerous but does not back that up with a solid explanation that I am comfortable with. I am also a bit fearful of the amount of food that she recommends- I feel like I will definitely gain weight if I eat as much as she suggests and I'm not sure how I could even muster the appetite for the snacks! Then again I am compelled by her perspective of "healing" your metabolism rather than weight loss and I feel like maybe I need that kind of shift.
Sorry for the rambling post but I guess I am just wondering what experiences people have had switching from a lower carb diet to SP.
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Hi there sdeshwood,
I switched to SPII, which allows me 100-115g of carbs per day, from my version of Barry Groves on which I was having 70g of carbs per day (and lost weight doing so). I have been averaging about 120g of carbs per day over the last six weeks and have not put on weight, nor have I lost any either, but this is not my aim right now.
From what I have read (not just Schwarzbein, but a few other things on the internet, Dr Lam, for example, and the James Wilson book) I have a mild version of adrenal fatigue and I am slowly but surely trying to heal my adrenals using her plan.
I am doing my best to follow the tips about stress management, tapering off toxic chemicals and so on and I feel I am making progress, albeit gradually. Life sometimes gets in the way and stressful events are thrown at you, which you simply could not have forseen or avoided and this kind of thing has occasionally set me back. But, on the whole, I feel that following the SPII plan has really turned my life around!!!
My caffeine intake is 50% lower and I feel a lot less frazzled and much more balanced and mellow for having managed that. If I ever get down to zero caffeine, I can probably open a commune and sing hari-krishna all day long
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I have finally got my head round the fact that I need to stay away from beer as a way of life, not just every now and then and, if you read back a bit in my journal, you'll see that I have been "good" for over six weeks now, which is pretty much a record for me!!!
Anyway, before I start majorly rambling, I'll try to sum it up in a nutshell: I am happy with following this plan because it addresses a lot of issues which a basic LC diet plan does not deal with. (And why should they? Most LC plans are more or less just about losing weight, which is fair enough: that's what brought me here in the first place).
As to her arguments about too little carbs being just as dangerous as too many, I can only say that since I realized I had some form of adrenal fatigue, I have found that I can no longer eat a meal with barely any carbs in it as I then have problems with low blood sugar. If you have adrenal fatigue and your system can't produce glucose by itself as quickly as it normally would be able to, then too few carbs are really not nice - I am saying this from personal experience - but, as they say, Your Mileage May Vary.
I know what you mean about there being little evidence given in her books about how too few carbs are bad for you. But I guess it is because she feels that this puts too much strain on the adrenals.
In your shoes, I would finish reading the book, see how you feel about giving her programme a try and give it a bash for a few weeks and see how you feel. At the moment I really do feel that I am "healing from inside", although my energy levels are still low from time to time.
But, all in all, I really do have the feeling that this way of eating is the right way for me right now. Time will tell, so keep in touch!!! And feel free to peek into my journal if you want to see how my journey has been going - I started around early summer last year, although I took a big holiday-induced "break" in August/September before I climbed back on the SPII wagon and got into the whole thing "properly".
Hope this hasn't been a case of TMI!!!
amanda