Cutting out carbs, don't want to loose weight

PlayGirl

As the title suggests, I'm trying to cut down on carbs allot for health reasons but don't want to loose any weight.

I was wondering what would be the best way to do this/diet to follow


A the minute I eat allot of carbs, bagels for breakfast, sandwich or roll for lunch and pasta for dinner wouldn't be uncommon.

Also, I don't have much time when making breakfast (usually eat my bagel on the bus) and am usually at college or work for lunch time, so lunch would need to be pre prepared

Any advice appreciated

Cathyht

Complex carbs are good for the body. Do you have to reduce all carbs? You can increase protein to try avoid weightloss and keep nice muscle tone, but low carb high protein is hard on the kidneys over time. Brain and muscle recovery need glycogen and this comes from carbs. Fat can't be turned into glycogen but protein can. Your body will break down its own muscle tissue to get protein for glycogen if you don't eat enough carbs. You need some carbohydrates, careful reducing them drastically, they are also the only food that supply Vitamin C and fibre. Fruit and wholegrains are excellent sources of this. You can reduce the high sugar type carb intake of any chocolate, sweet desserts with no ill effect to the body. Something like porridge in the morning may be a better type of breakfast, only takes 2 mins in microwave.

PlayGirl

Cathyht wrote: »

Complex carbs are good for the body. Do you have to reduce all carbs? You can increase protein to try avoid weightloss and keep nice muscle tone, but low carb high protein is hard on the kidneys over time. Brain and muscle recovery need glycogen and this comes from carbs. Fat can't be turned into glycogen but protein can. Your body will break down its own muscle tissue to get protein for glycogen if you don't eat enough carbs. You need some carbohydrates, careful reducing them drastically, they are also the only food that supply Vitamin C and fibre. Fruit and wholegrains are excellent sources of this. You can reduce the high sugar type carb intake of any chocolate, sweet desserts with no ill effect to the body. Something like porridge in the morning may be a better type of breakfast, only takes 2 mins in microwave.

I was more thinking of cutting out/down on the breads and pastas and things like that.. Not out completely but trying to make them not the main part of every meal. I didn't mean all carbs in everything, but I'm not very knowledgable on nutrition

Danny_Lennon

PlayGirl wrote: »

As the title suggests, I'm trying to cut down on carbs allot for health reasons but don't want to loose any weight.

I was wondering what would be the best way to do this/diet to follow

If your cutting carbs just make sure you replace them with some good fats and make sure you are getting enough protein. Meat, eggs, fish, veggies, nuts, etc. Add some olive oil to your salads, some butter on your dinner, or some coconut oil in your coffee.

Be aware however that in the initial week you cut down on carbs you are going to lose some weight due to loss of glycogen and accompanying water. This is normal and nothing to worry about. So disregard the weight loss after the first week and then just eat at a level where your weight remains stable.

Danny_Lennon

Cathyht wrote: »

Complex carbs are good for the body.

Depends on the context.

Cathyht wrote: »

You can increase protein to try avoid weightloss and keep nice muscle tone, but low carb high protein is hard on the kidneys over time.

It's not unless you have existing kidney problems.

Cathyht wrote: »

Brain and muscle recovery need glycogen and this comes from carbs.

Glycogen isn't needed for recovery. It's just a store of energy.

Cathyht wrote: »

Fat can't be turned into glycogen but protein can. Your body will break down its own muscle tissue to get protein for glycogen if you don't eat enough carbs.

True, protein can be used to create glucose but this does not necessarily have to be from muscle tissue. In fact, most of it will be from recycled amino acids, primarily alanine.

Lack of carbs does not cause muscle wasting.

Mr. CooL ICE

Fats, fats and more fats. The healthy ones of course. Fish, bacon, eggs, greek yoghurt, avocados, coconut oil/milk, butter, unsalted nuts, etc

Don't let the term 'fat' scare you. It is the most misunderstood and misrepresented food type due to its name.

Cathyht wrote: »

Complex carbs are good for the body. Do you have to reduce all carbs? You can increase protein to try avoid weightloss and keep nice muscle tone, but low carb high protein is hard on the kidneys over time. Brain and muscle recovery need glycogen and this comes from carbs. Fat can't be turned into glycogen but protein can. Your body will break down its own muscle tissue to get protein for glycogen if you don't eat enough carbs. You need some carbohydrates, careful reducing them drastically, they are also the only food that supply Vitamin C and fibre. Fruit and wholegrains are excellent sources of this. You can reduce the high sugar type carb intake of any chocolate, sweet desserts with no ill effect to the body. Something like porridge in the morning may be a better type of breakfast, only takes 2 mins in microwave.

Most of this is new to me. Can you please explain the bolded?

PlayGirl

Thanks guys!

Could someone layout a typical low carb breakfast lunch & dinner?

Mr. CooL ICE

Breakfast = bacon and eggs. Takes longer to prepare than a bagel so if getting up earlier isn't an option, set aside an evening a week to make these

Dinner - Regardless of your expected carb intake, you shouldn't avoid your veggies A fish fillet in the oven with a nob of butter on top with some roasted carrots and broccoli is pretty damn healthy.

Also, rice is a high carb food so avoiding rice meals can limit your options. However, there is hope - cauliflower rice. Simply throw some cauliflower into a food processor (or use a cheese grater) to make it into rice size and throw a normal rice-sized portion into the microwave for 5 mins and voila - a low(er) carb alternative to rice. I've had it with curries and bolognese and it works well.

Cathyht

Here is some information you may care to read regarding risks of low carb : high protein diet.

http://www.atkinsdietalert.org/advisory.html


Muscle Glycogen repair:

http://www.faqs.org/sports-science/Mo-Pl/Muscle-Glycogen-Recovery.html

http://jcem.endojournals.org/content/85/2/748.short


Body break down muscle for glycogen:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starvation_response




With respect, have your cholesterol levels checked before you embark on breakfasting often on on bacon and eggs, and following up with plenty of cheese and butter in later meals. A blood test will show if you are lacking in anything important like iron etc. Overall it's probably a good idea to have a chat with your doctor before reducing carbs and changing your diet around. The people on here don't know if you do have problems with your kidneys, high cholesterol etc., so whereas there is good advice for an otherwise healthy person, it may contraindicate some existing condition. You may have a look at rebalancing your life, the fact you feel so short of time that you eat breakfast on the bus shows things are a bit frantic. Rushing like that isn't good for a prolonged period and doesn't aid digestion.

Original Poster may be interested in still having small portions of carbohydrates such as Brown rice, wholemeal pasta, multi grain bread and wheaten wraps which give slow release energy. Plenty of leafy vegetables are essential.

Breakfast could be Granola: http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/breakfast1/r/Sugar-Free-Granola.htm
Lunch Lean meat(sliced ham) /fish (tuna)/chicken and salad, or make a wraps of them.
Dinner: Omelette (if cholesterol is fine) Olive oil on salad/
Meat + Fish: Shell fish/Broiled or Boiled meat/fish veg(see link below) and I'd still put in rice or pasta.

Here is a link to vegetables and how they rank so you can choose lower carb ones. They are listed with lower rating glycemic veg at the top working down to higher rating ones; http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/whattoeat/a/whatveg.htm

dylbert

If you want to cut carbs for health reasons but not for fat loss why not just cut bad carbs like breads and pasta but keep good carbs like sweet potato, fruit and veg.

PlayGirl

dylbert wrote: »

If you want to cut carbs for health reasons but not for fat loss why not just cut bad carbs like breads and pasta but keep good carbs like sweet potato, fruit and veg.

Yeah that was basically what I meant

Was looking for substitutes for them or menu ideas as breads and pastas make up allot of my meals. Definitely going keep fruit & veg in my diet, and wholemeal bread/pasta, but I don't want to eat the wholemeal stuff as much as I was doing regular breads/pastas

dylbert

I think rice would be a better option than pasta, try to cut down on all all wheat based foods.

Danny_Lennon

Cathyht wrote: »

Here is some information you may care to read regarding risks of low carb : high protein diet.

http://www.atkinsdietalert.org/advisory.html


Muscle Glycogen repair:

http://www.faqs.org/sports-science/Mo-Pl/Muscle-Glycogen-Recovery.html

http://jcem.endojournals.org/content/85/2/748.short


Body break down muscle for glycogen:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starvation_response




With respect, have your cholesterol levels checked before you embark on breakfasting often on on bacon and eggs, and following up with plenty of cheese and butter in later meals. A blood test will show if you are lacking in anything important like iron etc. Overall it's probably a good idea to have a chat with your doctor before reducing carbs and changing your diet around. The people on here don't know if you do have problems with your kidneys, high cholesterol etc., so whereas there is good advice for an otherwise healthy person, it may contraindicate some existing condition. You may have a look at rebalancing your life, the fact you feel so short of time that you eat breakfast on the bus shows things are a bit frantic. Rushing like that isn't good for a prolonged period and doesn't aid digestion.

Original Poster may be interested in still having small portions of carbohydrates such as Brown rice, wholemeal pasta, multi grain bread and wheaten wraps which give slow release energy. Plenty of leafy vegetables are essential.

Breakfast could be Granola: http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/breakfast1/r/Sugar-Free-Granola.htm
Lunch Lean meat(sliced ham) /fish (tuna)/chicken and salad, or make a wraps of them.
Dinner: Omelette (if cholesterol is fine) Olive oil on salad/
Meat + Fish: Shell fish/Broiled or Boiled meat/fish veg(see link below) and I'd still put in rice or pasta.

Here is a link to vegetables and how they rank so you can choose lower carb ones. They are listed with lower rating glycemic veg at the top working down to higher rating ones; http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/whattoeat/a/whatveg.htm

There is some degree of scaremongering going on here in my opinion. If you are going to use an "Atkins diet alert" website as a reference then your information is probably not going to be impartial.

BTW "Brown rice, wholemeal pasta, multi grain bread and wheaten wraps" are NOT good food choices. Justifying them by using the term "slow releasing energy" is meaningless and says nothing about nutritional quality.

Oisinjm

Danny_Lennon wrote: »

There is some degree of scaremongering going on here in my opinion. If you are going to use an "Atkins diet alert" website as a reference then your information is probably not going to be impartial.

BTW "Brown rice, wholemeal pasta, multi grain bread and wheaten wraps" are NOT good food choices. Justifying them by using the term "slow releasing energy" is meaningless and says nothing about nutritional quality.

Brown rice isn't a good food choice? Since when?

Oisín

Cathyht

Ah Danny you're one of these people who want everyone thinking you're a great authority. Sure work away so. Good man. Give us a lecture on how the wheat is the great evil of our day next....could do with some bedtime stories.

Danny_Lennon

Oisinjm wrote: »

Brown rice isn't a good food choice? Since when?

Oisín

Again, it's a matter of context.

Good choice in comparison to what alternative?

What's the individuals circumstances?

Danny_Lennon

Cathyht wrote: »

Ah Danny you're one of these people who want everyone thinking you're a great authority. Sure work away so. Good man. Give us a lecture on how the wheat is the great evil of our day next....could do with some bedtime stories.

Ok first, I'm replying to this against my better judgement but here goes.

Your post is of no value to this thread. The sarcastic and personal reply is completely unnecessary imo. Really petty stuff.

All I did in my posts was point out a few things that the OP should be aware of.

Every point of yours that I commented on I stand by. I don't believe I criticised you personally either.

Finally, on the wheat issue. Just to clarify, you are saying that wheat is NOT a problematic food and that it is perfectly healthy? Correct?

Cathyht

Cop on Danny. You have no real interest in the original poster, now you think I'll jump through hoops answering you so you can spout on about Alzheimer's and wheat, that dreadful wheat etc. etc. The predictability of it, just like I say something and you'll say, where did you hear that. I saw you coming, and laughingly put up a few links, as I knew you tried discredit it. You're more interested in looking important than throwing any real light on what the poster asked. No, no, no, I see people like you a mile away, you're stuck in a certain groove and want to prove everyone wrong. You aren't the only one to know something about training A&P and Nutrition, other people have valid points to offer, even though they may not be the same as yours. You can put your soapbox away, I'm not following this thread anymore. I was trying to help Playgirl, you are just hijacking the thread.

Playgirl, I hope you have some different menu options now and your new diet goes well Very good luck with it

Mr. CooL ICE

Dunno Cathyht. You somehow equated low carb diets with the body's starvation response, which is quite a leap. I'm no expert in nutrition, but most of what you've said in this thread seems pretty misinformed

Danger781

Cathyht wrote: »

Ah Danny you're one of these people who want everyone thinking you're a great authority. Sure work away so. Good man. Give us a lecture on how the wheat is the great evil of our day next....could do with some bedtime stories.

Have a look at the keto subreddit for some of the success stories. http://www.reddit.com/r/keto

Many people on their who suffering from aches and pains all their life are now pain free. People who had diabetes are now off meds. You get the point.

I personally have done keto myself and felt fantastic. More consistent energy levels, rarely feeling hungry, sleeping better, waking easier, etc. etc. the list goes on.

I'm not saying you're wrong - I'm just saying don't completely discredit something when so many people have had life changing success from it.

To each their own.

runawaybishop

Cathyht wrote: »

Cop on Danny. You have no real interest in the original poster, now you think I'll jump through hoops answering you so you can spout on about Alzheimer's and wheat, that dreadful wheat etc. etc. The predictability of it, just like I say something and you'll say, where did you hear that. I saw you coming, and laughingly put up a few links, as I knew you tried discredit it. You're more interested in looking important than throwing any real light on what the poster asked. No, no, no, I see people like you a mile away, you're stuck in a certain groove and want to prove everyone wrong. You aren't the only one to know something about training A&P and Nutrition, other people have valid points to offer, even though they may not be the same as yours. You can put your soapbox away, I'm not following this thread anymore. I was trying to help Playgirl, you are just hijacking the thread.

Playgirl, I hope you have some different menu options now and your new diet goes well Very good luck with it

Your links didn't discredit anything though, they were off on a wild tangent Your follow up, where you attack the poster personally just confirmed your advice wasn't the best.

colossus-x

PlayGirl wrote: »

As the title suggests, I'm trying to cut down on carbs allot for health reasons but don't want to loose any weight.

I was wondering what would be the best way to do this/diet to follow


A the minute I eat allot of carbs, bagels for breakfast, sandwich or roll for lunch and pasta for dinner wouldn't be uncommon.

Also, I don't have much time when making breakfast (usually eat my bagel on the bus) and am usually at college or work for lunch time, so lunch would need to be pre prepared

Any advice appreciated

If you intend cutting down on carbs but not eating less calorie wise then you can only logically eat more protein and fat.

So eat more protein and healthy fats. Having said that vegetables are a good carbohydrate unlike bread, spuds , pasta. So that's what you need to do - eat more veg.

CramCycle

Do you mind me asking why you want to get rid of carbs, health reasons is pretty vague, you may get a better response if you provide more details, if its not to personal.