Cut your Carb Footprint

[semillama]

I am following "Eat this, not that" on my twitter feed, and I get some pretty interesting links and articles from time to time. This one I thought was worth sharing, based on some recent discussions here about excess sugar in our diets.

http://eatthis.menshealth.com/content/cut-your-carbohydrate-footprint

"Americans consume an average of 82 grams of added sugar a day. That's more than you'd find in six Breyers Oreo Ice Cream Sandwiches. But truth is, a good part of the excess sweet stuff isn't coming from ice cream or cookies or even soft drinks--it's coming from the sources we'd least expect. Open your pantry and start scanning ingredient lists. We're willing to bet that nearly every food you buy contains at least one of these blood sugar- spiking elements: modified food starch, maltodex-trin, cane sugar, crystallized cane juice, evaporated cane juice, honey, tapioca syrup, brown sugar, brown rice syrup, barley, or anything with "ose" at the end of it.

Food manufactures have an arsenal of empty carbohydrates at their disposal, and they're not shy about using them to make everything we eat taste like candy. Read on for eight of the most surprisingly sugar-riddled foods in your pantry."

It's well worth a perusal, especially for the "eat this, not that" food comparisons.

[old mark]

1. I am diabetic, have coronary artery disease, had a quintuple bypass.

My new cardiologist just MADE me go on Atkins on Feb 5th, which I have come to believe may save my life.
A week after starting Atkins nearly no carb regimen, my blood glucose level was under 100, as low as 80, for the first time since I have been recording it. My usual AM before breakfast reading was around 300!!!

I stopped using injected insulin a week after that. I have been steadily losing weight, feel better than I have in many years, and I have had 2 BG readings over 150 (high normal) since Feb 5th, both of which when I had strayed from the Atkins program. I ate rice crispies once, and rye toast the second time.Obviously, these are my poisons and I'm in no hurry to try to experiment again. I am losing around 6 pounds per week now after losing almost 10 pounds the first week.

I see my regular doc again next month and will be asking about reducing some other meds, and returning my unused bottle of insulin.

mark

added: I was on low calorie - carbs but low fat diets as low as 1200 calories/day, with no success. Atkins/Low Carbs/ High Protein WORKS GREAT for me.

[Chemisse]

2. Those blood sugar level changes are amazing

That is really what I need to do.

[old mark]

3. C, my cardiologist tried to get me started seriously on Atkins months ago,

but I had pretty much given up on "diets". He actually got angry with me on my last visit, and I started the next day.
My BG levels were NORMAL within a week, and I started to lower my insulin units within 10 days, stopped it altogether inside 14 days. I have not taken it since. I had a low of 88 the other day, mostly in the 90's since the 10th of this month (5 days in.)

I just took it at 1:45PM after lunch today - 99.

Got the book used online, started from the Atkins online site just using the information on what to eat and not to eat.

If you have hard to control BG and weight problems that do not respond to calorie diets, TRY ATKINS for a month and you will be convinced.

You are the second person I have talked to about this today. It works.

All the best, please post in 2 weeks or so.

mark

[supernova]

4. I'm going back on Atkins,

I'm in the metabolic syndrome stage and I do very well on atkins when I use it.

I'm going back on it, but it is difficult when you have an obese SO who is also a carb addict. He never met a piece of bread or mashed potato he didn't like. :P

[old mark]

5. Bread and rice really do it for me - I would probably do better on icecream.

I had NO IDEA how intolerant I am of certain carbs till I stopped eating them. I believed all the bullshit about that "food pyramid" based on carbs, and I thought rice and beans was a healthy meal. I know now that there is no single plan that works for everyone and I have found what works for me.

mark

[Abq_Sarah]

6. I finally got fed up

With my husband's refusal to even try low carb. There was no way he was going to ditch the bread, potatoes and corn.

I finally got through to him when I pulled up a bunch of articles about skin tags and Acanthosis nigricans, both signs of insulin resistance. He has both conditions along with abdominal fat so he was able to relate it directly to himself. I bought him a copy of Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes so he'd understand the science end of it. Once he had actual evidence vs just the wife's recommendation, he finally caved in and has been doing very well on it. It helps that he finally understands why he can't eat that stuff anymore. We're pretty strict about it but I do let him have "Pizza night" once a month. If that ends up being a problem, he'll get rid of it.