Hi everyone. I'm new to this forum.
My name is Gala, and i'm 23 year old. I've been doing south beach for the last 5-6 month.. i've been losing veeery slowly but i don't mind that as i never had a lot to lose. my main concern is staying healthy and not deprived.. I like the south beach diet theory and it worked for me pretty well but i always feel hungry and bloated on it.. i think it's because of beans, legumes and fruit for the most part.. at least that's when i feel discomfort after eating those foods. I've read threads in this forum and was enjoying reading them a lot.. and PP seems to me the plan that i shoud try.. i want to start tomorrow, i ordered my PPLP already but have some questions to you guys:
1. is milk allowed and if yes how much and should it be low fat or full fat
2. how about cheeses, lf or full fat.. i'm a little confused on this one as i used to eat all low fat on sbd and got pretty used to it.. and also i checked for the carb content, most of them have about 1 carb per ounce regardless of whether it's full fat or lf
3. are fruits allowed? even though i have problems digesting them i am suuch a fruit addict and don't think i would be able to live without it.. can i eat 1 serving a day? and if yes, which are the best to choose in terms of lower carb content..
I still want to loose about 5-7 pounds, which i know will not be easy for me..
as of now i'm a pretty consistent gym goer, 4-5 times a week at least, which include cardio on some days and resistance traing on others...

in advance, thank you very much for your responces

Gala

1. Full fat milk is OK...cream is better. Stay away from skim milk...it is loaded with carbs.
2. Full fat cheese is better. The fat isn't the problem when it comes to being overweight. Full fat cheese will make you feel full faster.
3. Stick to strawberries and blueberries for starters. You can try adding fruit with a slightly higher carb level once you hit goal.

Hopefully the mods will move this post to the SB forum, where the SBer's can answer you! Good luck!

She is switching FROM South Beach TO Protein Power. I am very familiar with Protein Power and I am a regular reader of Dr. Mike Eade's blog.

Her post is in the right place.

My apologies. Saw the SBD in the stats and didn't read in detail past that.

I wasn't trying to demean your answer, wifezilla. I hadn't even read it, until just now, when I was trying to figure out why you felt you might need to convince me of your ability to offer advice for PP. No one needs to offer me any explanations. A lot of people around here are very familiar with PP-PPLP. I followed it myself for over 6 years, even though now I do Atkins.

Again, sorry. Just trying to help. Guess it would help if I read the post, completely.

Wifezilla, thank you for the reply, it was very helpfull
ElleH, sorry for the confusion i caused, i didn't mean to
I got my book but stil confused about some stuff
1. How much half and half is allowed? i use some in my coffee twice a day, is it ok? ( coffee doesn't trigger cravings for me, i've been usong it all along without problems; i used to have it w skim milk though and hated, HATED every sip of it)
2. It says 7-10 EEC carb g per meal, does it mean we HAVE to eat that amount or it's the max we can have?
3. Also, for the whole day we are allowed no more than 40 g carbs, it it OK to have more at some that 10 at some meals and less than 7 (or not at all) at others but sum up to <40 a day?
Thank you again Sorry for asking so many questions but i really want to get it right

Gala

It is easier for you if you split the carbs equally over the meals, but it isn't required.

How much half and half you have will depend on how much it counts towards your total carb count.

You didn't create any confusion, dear! If I had actually READ all of the post, I would have seen what you were doing!

I blame it on it being Monday...LOL

Gala....the big thing about PP is to remember you can get your carbs anywhere you want to. The Eades have split up the plan according to how strict you want to be, but emphasize that it's the total carb count that is most important.

More natural is better than artificial, so cream is better than half and half or (shudder) non-dairy creamer. Whole milk is better than low fat because it's a bit more "natural" (not that any of our dairy is actually natural!) and because the fat is better for you.

SB, as I understand it (I've NOT read the book) follows the low-fat dogma, so all dairy is to low fat, where Atkins and PP promote higher fat.

I've been following PP for a while, and I count carbs and eat lots of protein. I never look at fat, except to make sure it's good, healthy fat I'm eating. NO trans-fats and minimal polys, lots of monos and saturates.

Sounds good to me!!



All my opinions are based on your choosing the "Hedonist" version of PPLP as your plan.

Full fat milk, and count the carbs in your total.

Full fat cheese, you're right, all carb counts are about the same, but the LF cheese typically have more additives

Yes, you can eat fruit. Berries are best bargain for the carbs, but technically you can eat any fruit you want if you count the carbs.



Half and half is fine...count the carbs in your total.

I read is as the max per meal.

It's better to spread them out evenly, of course, but if it makes it more likely that you'll stay with it, I would do whatever you need to within that 40 g.

Thanks a lot for the answers!!!
I feel better now that i can use the full fat dairy varieties, i was struggling eating the fat free or lf stuff

ElleH,
yes i am thinking of Hedonist approch for the start because i don't want to do any drastic changes and i am pretty ok with my weight for now. i just used to be 110 before and loved it, that's why i put that as my someday future goal , but now i want to get there ONLY if i can do it the healthy way !! because i have to confess that the way i got to that weight once was not only unhealthy but dangerous i would starve myself untill feeling dizzy and about to faint and than when i could take no more of it, i would binge like crazy and then, hating myself for doing it, i would go and puke it all out..... very sad but true
it was not untill i started the south beach diet and restricted my carbs , that i stopped getting those unbearable cravings and stopped my 2 years of bulimia......... now loooking back, i can admit it but before i was closing my eyes on it
i really hope that my journey now would be healthy and most importantly happy...

Gala

That is why I started PP/PPLP since, like you, I really did not have much weight to loose. But I did have high triglycerides and so-so HDL. After being on PP/PPLP my tri's dropped to a quarter of what they had been and my HDL went up by 50%.

As to fat, I have gone to drinking half and half rather than whole milk. I just cannot give up milk!! So since butter is a GOOD fat, and butter comes from cream, why not just up the amount of cream in the milk. I think I would drink straight cream IF I could buy it in half gallons - lots of luck! Besides I would need an armored car to bring in the cash to buy it !

If you have not, I would suggest that you get your blood lipids tested as soon as possible. That is so you can have a "starting point" number to see how you are doing. GET and KEEP a copy for your records. They could be important some day. I have mine back to 1994 - should have more but cannot find them in all the junk I have accumulated over the years.

I sometimes use my plot of my tri’s, thanks to the records I kept, to show people how much carbohydrates affect the triglyceride level. Here is my plot, just to show you how the triglycerides jump up when you eat carbohydrates. The end of 2003 I had my annual physical the week after Thanksgiving. So that is why I had the jump from 55 to 125. And of course it went right back down when I stopped the carbs.

OH! yes, and welcome to the forum. Stop in to the “chat” thread as you have time. We are not as “chatty” as the past members of this forum, but most of us try to “drop in” to let the rest know what we are doing.

LarryAJ,
Thanks for the welcome.
it's really encourauging to see people who are doing great on a plan that i want to adapt and make it THE plan of my own life.. makes me feel good about my decision and not alone at it..



lol i feel that i'm getting addicted to half and half myself it's sooo much better than the skim milk and even though they say it takes only 2 -3 weeks to get used to any food, i still hated it every time i used it and i am a BIG milk lover. Now that i can use the full fat variety i'mm so happy about it WOHOO!!!



I have to say that graph of yours looks pretty amazing and soo encouraging!! i think a graph like this one should be placed somewhere in a sticky so that people can see a real life proof that PPLP and other low carb diet are NOT dangerous to health as they making us believe, almost shouting it out in hundreds of articles, books and health magazines... I gotta admit though, i was resistant to believe in low carb thery myself sometimes it's hard to go against masses

Why not just add water to heavy cream? That is what I do when I make my morning coco mocha. I add hot water and cream to coffee along with coco powder, vanilla and some sweetener.

My container of heavy cream lasts quite a while. I get a quart for $3.58 at either Sams or Walmart. Everywhere else it is over $5 for the same size.