Hi Maintainers, I have reached my goal a couple of times ago, but now am fluctuating (between 2-4lbs a week) - I was panicking last week but pleased to hear from other threads here that this is not unusual.

I would like to ask you ladies how to adapt to higher carbs intake, I certainly don’t want eat rice/wheat (has really bad effect on me) but would like to add more fruit to my daily intake, up to now I’ve been sticking to the recommended berries, but would also include other fruit (e.g. Clementine, oranges, mango, pears etc) I am aware all of these are quite sugary, but would like to incorporate some of them as snacks (fruit are still the best fast food I can take away with me and find everywhere if stuck, and believe it’s a healthier snack than LC goodies) I mess making fresh fruit salads, and would like to have it back on my menu.

I tried a quarter of a pomegranate and quarter mango this weekend, but ended up bloated and gassy (I only experiment at the weekends cuz at least am at home when horrid side effects happen from strange foods) I was really disappointed, I knew wheat/ bread would have this effect on me, but I really really want some fruit back into my diet, I am happy with berries, but would like to mix it up a bit. Has anyone gone through this and their body adapted to fruits again without getting bloated and gassy? If so how should I do it? Should I incorporate a small portions then increase volumes?

I can have up to 2-3 servings of fruit per day. Start small and build it very slowly....it could take you many weeks to get to 3 servings a day.

Start with melons....see how you do with that. It does not have to be daily....try it every other day at first.

Try an orange or clementine.

I like to have 1/2 apple with some peanut butter.

Go slowly...I have no idea why it would make you bloated and gassy though, sorry!!

I would encourage you to adopt Dr Atkins method of adding new foods in: according to the carb ladder and in 5g servings for a few days at a time before trying something else. Some foods may only be a few bites, but I think it's a great way to do it and will give you a lot of info in a short amount of time! Good luck, SandyDown!! Should be fun!

I am very interested to read responses to your question as I'm also a fruit lover who is branching out now I'm in maintenance. I have some thoughts to share but I'm very new to maintaining so take them with a grain of salt. (I've been fiddling around with fruit since I hit 155, though, back in the summer!)

Mango is a pretty ambitious fruit to break away from berries with; isn't it one of the more sugary fruits out there? Did you try it with whipped cream, for the fat, or did you eat it on its own? Strangely, I can't eat any fruit on its own without seeing a water weight bounce. But if I eat the fruit in full fat yogurt, or with whipped cream or nut butter, it's generally okay. I can live with this.

Another thought: I probably have better luck when pairing fruit with fat because I don't eat as much. Generally, I have learned to loathe the idea of portion size; it's just not very helpful to us LCers, and thank goodness for that! But I do find it useful with fruit. I've learned I can get away with eating a lot of almond butter and one very small (2.5 oz) apple a day, but when I switch to medium/grocery-store normal apple (5-6 oz), I do gain water weight. It drops off after a day at induction levels, but it's annoying!

I've made up my own fruit rungs, and am figuring out fruit-specific portions as I go. You wanna join my experiment?

Thanks ladies, I know don't have any problems with berries, day before yesterday I had a whole bowl full blueberries and blackberries on their own with no cream, it had no effect on me at all, so am starting to think it could be the sugar my intestine is reacting to - the reaction was as if I had sugar alcohols (which I haven't had for over a year now cuz of the horrid bloating they cause me) though the portion I had was not that high at all.

Judy will try a Clementine every day or every other day and see how it goes, but in the past before LC (long time ago when I was naturally thin) I use to have fruit as a meal replacement, I got into the habit of eating 3-4 fruits instead of dinner/lunch or breakfast, it was easy and convenient fast food that is good for me, had no bloating problem with it then, so would like to get back to having around 3 servings of fruit as well.

Hi!

I would just like to point out that when it comes to things like fruit and other higher carb foods like starchy veggies and grains....that portion control is key to maintaining. Eating whole bowls full of berries is not a wise choice, IME. As is eating several fruits in place of a meal.

When I told you that I have up to 3 fruits per day, that is spread throughout the day and evening....not all in one sitting. Keeping our blood sugar stable is one of the keys to maintaining. I'm not perfect as I've eaten 1/2 of a canteloupe instead of 1/4, which is the right portion amount.... I had it with a scoop of cottage cheese.

I've had a pear with some slices of cheese....PB with apple that I told you about. I'm sure that there are other ways to have some protein with a fruit. This will slow the digestion of the fruit which in turn will prevent blood sugar spikes.

Judy - thanks, I had the berries as a meal replacement, this is a strategy when it comes to fruit and nuts, I don't normally have nuts or berries as a snack, if I really want to have it then I have it as a meal replacement. Its my way of doing things.

Anyway I am trying here to enable myself to eat 3 fruits (3 peaches/oranges or a couple of apples) at one meal for one reason: this is to design some fast food that I can have on the go when out and about, hence, its a bit unpractical to carry around an apple and a jar of PB, or a pear and a tub of cottage cheese to snack on -- this would just defeat my objective !!

I wish you luck with your strategy......it goes against all that I've learned since starting this .......but to each his or her own.

It absolutely is the sugar. I understand that sugar ferments or something in the gut, and causes gas--especially if you haven't had much sugar in a long time. If the fruit is high sugar fruit, that could explain it. I understand that people can adapt to this over time (as long as there is not an overgrowth of candida). Like some claim beans don't give them gas any more after eating them over time. (I don't eat beans so I can't comment on that...hate 'em.) So maybe smaller portions of those sugary fruits and work up slowly?

I completely understand your need for a portable fast food. Just keep in mind that a load of fructose is actually worse than eating a load of table sugar, b/c of how the body reacts to fructose over sucrose (which contains a molecule of glucose bonded to a molecule of fructose). Dr Eades was just talking about this in a blog. I wish I had bookmarked it.

Very interesting Elle, thanks for helping, I remember being stuck once in an area where the only healthy non bad carby thing I could have is freshly squeezed orange juice (they squeezed the orange in front so I knew there were no further additive) at the time I haven't had any fruit apart from few occasional berries, I can only say OMG OMG, my stomach/intestine reacted so badly - I realised it would have been one thing to eat one or two oranges, but I suppose to full a whole tall glass of orange juice (same size as when you buy a tall/grand Latte from starbucks) they must've squeezed loads and loads of oranges !!!

Anyway that was a painful lesson, so what you say makes sense to me, if you find the bookmark for Dr Eads where he explains it please let me know, just trying to find my way I suppose

Well, that is what it's all about...finding you way. If I find that blog entry (I read SO MANY of his old blogs every day, and I cannot keep track of all the info I get in there!) I will update it here.

Nothing tears up my stomach like good ole' OJ. It's like it's on fire and then the gas pains...

Today, I adapted to higher carbs with two pieces of Thanksgiving day pie!

Loved it.

Bo

I adapted to some fantastic turkey and dressing but I did stay away from all the pies!

Good luck with it, Sandy! I just wanted to share a quick suggestion that has been helpful for me -- I keep a 1 oz. baggie of almonds or pecans or sunflower seeds on me at all times, so if hunger strikes, I've got an awesome on the go snack. This would accompany your fruit meal very tastily, and probably would alleviate your intestinal distress too.

Thanks Aeryn - I was thinking today that perhaps nuts are the the only non sugary fast healthy food. I was trying to aviod nuts because they have are high calories and addictive, but it seems at the end of the day nuts are the most practical fast food for low carbers