So I've complete my first full week of carb cycling. I think it's worked really well so far, but I tend to like the excitement of new diets so I'll need a bit longer for a more balanced assessment. I like it though. I don't find the low carb days onerous, and the high carb days seem to have successfully stopped me from plunging into mood swings and misery. Having starchy carbs every day at breakfast probably helps with that too.
The first hard thing is eating so many vegetables. Two serves with every meal and snack is a lot. I haven't struggled too much most days, except at breakfast. It's a lot of bulky food to get down. Having actually read the book now, the author does let you off on high carb days, saying you don't have to eat that much if you can't fit it in. I'll still try for it though.
The second hard thing is keeping my high carb days low fat. I am really struggling to eat protein, carbs and veges with no fat at all. It limits my choices a lot. And it turns out I've been doing breakfast wrong - it counts as a high carb meal so I'm not allowed fat. The peanut butter on toast I've had every second day is out. And no butter on my toast when I have eggs. I don't want to have eggs every morning, but now I'm not sure what to have. So far I have been allowing a lot more fat (ie one serve per meal, like a teaspoon of olive oil to cook with) than I am supposed to with high carb meals.
I don't believe that fat is bad. Or that starchy carbohydrates are bad. But I want to give this diet a proper go (and it's working so far) so I'm trying not to combine the two.
And the final tricky thing is keeping my "reward day" to reasonable limits. It is NOT actually "eat everything you want all day". It allows a judicious amount of non-nourishing foods. Actual amounts are not specified. But I can tell I had too much today. I can feel it in my body. Instead of feeling sprightly and healthy, with glowing skin, I feel a bit sluggish and muddy. I did enjoy my passionfruit cheesecake, and it would have been fine if that was the only treat I had today!
And the only vegetables I had today were with dinner. That isn't acceptable, even on my free day. Well, I'm still working on it. But I'm calling it a success so far.
I probably shouldn't say this, but you sound like my wife! She's doing this plan as well and she gets caught up in trying to follow everything perfectly. Any diet plan is just a guideline that you must customize to fit you. Don't get too caught up in how much fat you have on the high carb days; it's very hard to make anything without at least some fat. One of my breakfasts is 1/2 cup of oatmeal with blueberries and 2 hard-boiled eggs. I know there's know way I can get just egg whites down, so I eat them whole, knowing Chris' plan doesn't allow fat for breakfast. What's more important, missing that little bit of fat or sticking to my plan because I can actually enjoy breakfast? BTW, even with the whole eggs it's still around 400 calories for the whole meal.
ReplyDeleteStick with it, but don't get too caught up in the weeds.
-FogDog
I agree with FogDog.
ReplyDeleteAND....I'm concerned about all the starch carbs you still eat. I know I can't force anyone down any path, but I can speak from experience. I hope this works for you, but I find keeping grains in the diet keeps the brain chemistry changes that cause the addictive cravings for them...alive. They have to be out of your body to end the addictive cravings. Good luck!
I guess as long as it's working for me I won't worry too much about being perfect. And Gwen I tried primal briefly and felt awful. I'm feeling really healthy with this diet and not having any cravings for carbs.
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