Hello everyone! I'm new here and I'm often a lurker on forums, but I thought I'd make an effort to say hi and try and be a little less shy.

I'm originally from Australia, currently living in Japan and working as a translator. I've been here about 3 years. (And hope to be here forever!)

Some of my good friends in Australia have semi-recently started Atkins and had really good results, and regular discussions with them and glowing reports of their improved fitness, health, and weight loss has prompted me to look into it as well.
I would certainly like to lose some of this extra unwanted weight, and I'm also really interested in improving my health, including my mental health. (I've suffered depression and anxiety almost all my life, and have been reading many positive things about low carb eating improving these conditions.)

I've been following the Atkins Induction only since just last Saturday (so not quite a week yet!) but I'm already really enjoying it... there are so many foods in it that I just love anyway, and avoiding the traditional carb foods that I've eaten most of my life has made shopping for other things really fun. Experimenting with cooking has been great and I'm really looking forward to trying out many of the recipes I've been reading here on the forum!

My only worry at the moment is that even having lived here so long, there are many, many Japanese foods that I have no idea what they are made of, making it quite difficult to easily guess their carb content. But I'm hoping to be able to do lots of research and learn things like that along the way, so that I can continue to eat out with friends without worry.

Anyway, that was a bit long, but I guess the truth is I'm pretty excited about this different way at looking at my everyday eating routine, and I honestly wish I'd found it years ago. I look forward to reading lots of everyone's posts here -- already so much of what I've looked over has been incredibly motivating.

It's nice to meet you all!

Wow Japan!!! Thats amazing, such a different culture. I am jealous!

Anyway, Hi, I hope that you get everything you need out of your plan.

Vic x

Welcome!!!!!!

I am jealous!!

Luckily, in Japan they have so many foods that you CAN eat!! I have noticed at this with the cuisine if you stay away from noodles and rice you are pretty much good to go. I would eat like a king there!! Lol. Pretty much the same goes with anywhere, try to stick with as natural as possible and you should be alright! I don't think I could ever get bored of low carb if I lived there haha.

Hello FluffyD and Ayustar and thanks so much for the welcome!

It is pretty awesome living in Japan, but of course there are many things that are different to home so some things take awhile to get used to... even after this many years! I really do love it here, though. (It's a fantastic place to visit, too -- if you ever decide to come to Kyoto for any reason, drop me a line! That goes for anyone, really. I love to meet new people and show them around! )

I definitely think you're right, Ayustar - the diet here (with the exception of the rice and noodles) is so varied and interesting but basically fairly healthy and low-carb, so I think I'll be fine. (The stuff they serve up at my work's cafeteria every day is awesome, and all freshly prepared, and I've finally taught myself that it's okay to not take any rice, and to just cheerfully deflect any comments about it!)

I'm looking forward to seeing how well I can work with some of my favourite foods here, like okonomiyaki! And if I have to modify recipes, I will! >D

Thanks again for the welcome - I appreciate it! <3

Hello and welcome, from another Kyoto resident.

Oh gosh, hello there fellow Kyoto person! I never expected I'd find another person in the same city! (Same country was my best hope. )

If you have any shopping or recipe tips, feel free to share them, I'd love to hear!!

Hello Karhys, welcome to the forum, wishing you all the best for the path you have chosen! And, how fun that you've already found someone else in Kyoto! Take care, and have a great LC day,

Hello Mama Sebo and thank you so much for the kind welcome!

I hope you have a lovely LC day as well!

That's so awesome!! I really want to make it out there some day, I just have to get over my fears I suppose. I don't know how some people are able to travel, I have the worst anxiety though ahah.

That is really amazing about the cafeteria. Cafeteria food always gets the worst names, at least here. Just like hospital food. It seems though, to me, the Japanese spirit it based on doing your best, all the time. Providing the best, be it service or quality of foods, etc. I think it really is a pride thing, but pride about their country and people not nessessarily about just themselves. *This is a generalization, from someone who has never been to the country. Of course not everyone and everything is going to fit this mold perfectly, lol.* Maybe I am just hoping my idea of Japan is correct, lol.

If they give you a problem about the rice, just tell them that it makes you sick. That usually works lol.

About the Okonomiyaki, you should be able to modify that pretty easily I think. I was just watching a show where they were making it. I will have to get the recipe and we can go over it and try to see what could substitute. I like messing around with original recipes and low carb it. When I can at least, it gets kinda pricey with certain flours and stuff. You probably have access to flours that are low carb. Also you have a wonderful product that I am sure you could find at a conbini, shirataki noodles. *Ok, MAYBE you could find them there but you would never have a problem finding those. I have to go to a specialty place in town to get them lol.*

This forum is super helpful and friendly, also really supportive!

Never been to Japan but I can eat sushi every single day. Mmmmmmmmmm.

Ayustar:
I do understand about the anxiety thing! I've had anxiety (and depression) off and on my whole life - I actually had a breakdown late last year and had to work from home for a few months because I became unable to go outside for awhile. (Social anxiety) I'm finally back in the office starting about 2 weeks ago, but still part time for now! (Thankfully my company have been super accommodating!)

And I know there's a lot of anxiety involved with travelling, particularly to unfamiliar places where they don't speak your language. All I can say is, if you really want to do it, do it.
That may sound simplistic, but all of the "scary" things I've accomplished in my life have been by fighting with my fears and just saying "screw the consequences!", and doing them. Anxiety is a beast like any other that can be battled and beaten down. Find methods to work around him that work for you and you'll be able to beat him quicker than you think!

I moved to Japan entirely on my own with maybe about $300 in my pocket - and I'll be honest with you, I was terrified. But it was something I really wanted, and I battled through all my fears and anxieties, and living here has been the best experience of my life, I can say that with absolutely certainty. Sometimes you have to take the fear and just run with him - it may be the best thing you ever do for yourself.

Sorry, I tend to get carried away sometimes with being motivational. ^^; If anything I've said doesn't work for you, feel free to ignore it, kick me for it, whatever!

You are right, the Japanese concept of "doing your best" is quite strong, and I think this is reflected in the work ethic. Something I also notice is that everyone seems to believe that no matter what they are doing, their work is important, so they need to do it well. And perhaps some of that idea that if they do it poorly, it will have ramifications on other people. In the West (Australia certainly) we often have that mindset of "I'm too good for this crap job", meaning we do our work quickly and without care. This may be part of that group mentality vs individuality idea as well? All generalisations of course, but just based on what I see!

I call it a 'cafeteria' because I don't really know what else to call it, but our workplace has a kitchen and eating area staffed by three lovely cooks who make us fresh lunch every day often with ingredients delivered fresh that morning. All of it is really, really good and mostly traditional fare and fairly healthy. There's always fresh salad, a good serving of some kind of meat (fish, beef, chicken) and various side dishes. They even regularly run polls/surveys to gauge what we do and don't like and work to improve their dishes!

Japan has this popular concept of 'kaizen', which is 'constant improvement', and although you see a lot of people just give it lip service, my company takes it pretty seriously. I like that. It's nice to work towards betterment of your self, your environment, your work, or whatever you are doing, every day. As our president often says, the moment you stop growing, you stagnate.

I'd love to go over the okonomiyaki recipe with you, too! I'm still unfamiliar with what I can change to make recipes low-carb, though I'm eager to try.
And I am familiar with shiritaki noodles as they have them sometimes at lunch - thanks for the headsup on those! I can't eat bigger types of konyaku (the texture really puts me off) but I don't mind shiritaki. I'm wondering if they might work for noodles in ramen dishes, or even as a substitute for pasta! I'll have to give them a lot more thought! Appreciate the tip.

P.S. Sorry, apparently when I don't lurk I get chatty.

abbykitty:
Hello, and thanks for popping in! You know, raw fish seems to be an acquired taste that I still haven't properly acquired! I'm going to keep trying at it, though in the meantime you're welcome to share my servings.

I think my anxiety keeps getting worse lol. I might need to go to a doctor about it. I don't want to go on pills for it though. Hard choice. Like right now, I am waiting until it becomes more dead at the grocery store before I go. It is 12 at night right now. I have to stop doing that. Though, I do prefer it when it is quiet and I have the place to myself. I just really need to get over this. I have a fear of people I suppose. I need to find some sort of coping mechanism. It is really hard to push it aside. It sounds like you were in the same boat as me. It makes me feel better, I feel like maybe I am not crazy after all lol. It isn't like I don't realize that my fears are irrational. It is just really hard to get over. It makes it nearly impossible to function as a human being. Going to work is really hard. Heh, it is fine, I need all the motivation I can get!

About the work ethic. It seems to be the same here as it is in Australia. I was thinking about it the other day, how we could improve the work we do at my job but I don't know if it will work. We all need to work together to make things better. We need to have a 'let's do this!' attitude, but I am not sure how to get that across to people. I think we have gotten so used to what we do and we hate it, we don't want to really try that hard. Our job isn't that important but we need some sort of positive changes. I wish our place of work took polls, yours seems to actually care lol. That would be amazing. I work at a call center so the amount of cynicism is huge, so maybe the poll would be skewed and really they wouldn't take it seriously. It would just be a guise of caring lol.

Ah, I know what you mean about konnyaku. Little bits are fine but they usually have it in big blocks. The noodles are totally doable. For ramen, it should work just fine. I have to mess around with them a little bit to see how I like them. I just stir fried the first ones I had. I didn't have much to go with them at the time but I wanted to try them. I think they should work in really any noodle dish but I would really only want them in Asian style foods. People use them in cream sauces and stuff but I just can't jive with that! I am pretty experimental with foods but it just doesn't seem 'right' to me.

I think with the okonomiyake they use some sort of flour or potato starch for the base. I think if you used something like soy flour it would cut down on the carbs. Apparently it is it's own flour just for okonomiyake. I wonder, probably a blend. Apparently they used to use wheat flour with yamaimo grated on top to make it glutenous. Either way, you could definitely sub it for something else. The rest of the ingredients are low carb, I don't know about the brown sauce that goes on top but you could always use less sauce. It is one of those versatile foods! If you can find alternative flours with lower carbs and higher fibre count that should be good.

For me, sushi was an acquired taste. I just kept trying at it! Then I REALLY liked it. It all depends, sushi isn't just one thing. People here tend to think it is just one thing. Or just one flavor, or just raw fish. I usually have people try kappa maki, it is basic, veggies and non offensive. When I first tried sashimi I was scared! Raw fish is something that is scary to me. Fish is an iffy thing. Living where I do you aren't going to get uber fresh either. So it feels like a gamble. I don't really like a lot of it but by far my favorite is raw salmon. I HATE cooked salmon of any sort but there is something about it raw that is like heaven! It's like butter. One of my favorite foods. I know salmon isn't traditionally Japanese but they have acquired it. I have never gotten sick from it luckily and I always enjoy it. Even for low carbing I still eat sushi from time to time. I like really any style, maki, nigiri, temaki, it's all good. Temaki is really great, I supposed I really like nori! I think I have a pretty good rice tolerance, at least carb wise. For me though, I have some room to play around. Some people might not be able to tolerate it or it might give them cravings. I don't get that way with rice so much. I don't keep it in the house so I don't have to worry about eating it unless I meet up with some sushi lol.

Don't worry about typing a lot. Once I get into my comfort zone I go on and on lol. I have been a lot more active here as of late. I am sure people are sick to death of seeing me post! I usually just come in with little quips here and there. I suppose it keeps me active here. I try to share whatever information I can!

Hope everything is ok where you are. Did you guys feel the quake there, tsunami? It looks so terrible! I hope everything is ok!

Thinking of you, hope that you are safe and well after the horrifying earthquake. We are now hearing that the tsumani will soon reach Hawaii, and is well over the level of many of the island nations, so I imagine it was felt and had impact everywhere in Japan, including beautiful Kyoto. Well, when you can get to a computer perhaps you will check here, and know that we are thinking of you. Best wishes..EB

hoping you and your family weren't affected by the earthquake.
we are praying for your country.