Getting More Hardcore with Carbs

Lowering the amount of carbohydrates I consume is a major part of my food changes, primarily because of the link between sugar and diabetes, a family history of diabetes, and an A1C (blood glucose test diabetes) level of 5.5. As well, I am and feel bloated, sluggish, and sometimes ache when I consume lots of carbs.
My definition of "lots of carbs" keeps changing. Two years ago, I regularly consumed 400-500 grams of carbs daily (if not more--easy to do with the mounds of rice and oatmeal I ate). Even when I cut back and started tracking my nutritional intake, I never really measured all of the carbs I ate--I didn't count the ones in vegetables or coconut milk, for example. (And then I just stopped counting carbs at all...)
Carb Consciousness: Take II
I'm again back to being conscious about what and how I eat, and have been slowly edging toward getting my carbs down to 40, and then 30 grams daily.
That is a massive, massive change. I've been aiming in that direction for the last few days, and it is very challenging.
Now I'm asking myself, "Why? Why 30?" It is, of course, to get myself into losing weight more quickly by triggering ketosis, and burning fat. Now, I've lost 9 pounds in about 5 from going to the gym (kind of) regularly, eating lots more vegetables, boosting the protein a smidge, and cutting back (but not eliminating) fruit and chocolate. That rate of weight loss must not be enough for me. I want, no crave--more, faster.

For the last couple of days I've been using Ketolog, a great, simple and free Android carb-tracking program. The information I've gleaned is eye-opening. I tracked the carbs for everything I ate in my first meal of the day, including the spinach and garlic and eggs. Those, plus 4 ounces of sweet potato, got me to 40--in one meal.
So, for now, I'm just going to focus on a goal of 60 daily grams of carbs, and call it good.

Changes: The Good News/the Different/the Undesired

The Good
The grains: Today marks my 30th day off of all grains. There were a few days when I didn't think I'd make it, but I have. My friend Cheryl asked me why I decided to get off of them. I told her it was because I felt better when I was not eating wheat, found that I was eating lots more oats, and decided to see what it was like to be off of all grains for 90 days. 
I've also wondered if certain grain components have affected my absorption of nutrients and contributed to inflammation in my body (you can read more about that here, on the Wellness Mama blog). 
The probiotics: I've been eating raw (and organic, mostly) sauerkraut for about a month to boost my body's ability to take in nutrition by boosting my gut health. A couple of weeks ago I added daily consumption of capsules containing a weird dirt (well, soil)-based blend of probiotics, as well. 
Results: I've had several positive results from these changes:

I'll Take It

My food interests and volume are changing, and I'm not exactly sure why. I'm:

• eating smaller meals
• snacking less
• eating more greens
• eating more chicken and less beef and pork
• not craving  carb-y food (as much)

Here's what I had for breakfast (and, in parentheses, what I would have previously eaten):

• small plate of salad greens (large plate of greens)
• 2 eggs with scallions (3 eggs and sausage)
• 1/2 cup of pinto beans (ditto)

I am quite full (actually, I think I'm a bit over-full from the beans), and my mouth isn't "craving" anything (well, except for some small sweet thing. I may have a date after I write this).

Why is this happening, and why is it happening now? There are a couple of possible reasons:

It Came to Me

I'm not sure why or how, but I'm now ready to let go of granola.  Simple statement, but a big deal. This was not in my recent detox plan. What was in the plan (and what I've been doing quite religiously) is measuring the amount of granola I eat. Still, I'm going to honor this desire, which came to me yesterday, and let go of granola.
I've known for a while that granola has been my cake/bread/muffin/pie replacement, and that I don't do well when eating a lot of carbs. But I just haven't wanted to give them all up. I was bargaining with my body--everything but the granola with raisins and cranberries.
I've also had a desire to eat more greens, and I have started sprouting clover and alfalfa seeds. This morning I had 2 boiled eggs on a bed of greens with sprouts and salad dressing. Then I had half a cup of cooked yam. Quite yummy all around. 
A key issue for me is not muscling myself (again) into lots of changes all at once. I am (for now) going to keep buying dark chocolate, and will also eat the dates I currently have in the house, but won't be buying any more. 

Something Didn't Work

The best laid plans...
40 minutes after eating, I'm sitting here quite stumped.
As I wrote in my last post, my breakfast plan was to east 3 eggs, and soup made with miso, mushroom broth, and tofu. Well, something didn't work, and I'm not sure what.
I ate 1-1/2 eggs and maybe three tbsps of soup, and then stopped because. I felt full, even though I was (and am) still hungry. I also started to cramp a bit, and now have a bloated belly.

I do feel good that I stopped eating as soon as I felt full. But now what? What, exactly, was the problem?

• Was the total protein hit too much?
• Was it my choice of protein?
• Was it the combination of protein?
• Was it the volume of food? I'm pretty sure my stomach is a bit smaller now than it was pre-sick.
• Maybe my body needs even more TLC than I thought, and even non-meat (that is, egg and soy-based) protein is too much?

Short answer: I don' t know. What I do know:

• I'm still hungry.
• I'm afraid I don't have enough protein.
• I don't know what to eat.

Back from the Dead. Now What?

 I was laid low this week with a bum stomach--projectile explosions from both ends, spine-cracking cramps, and chills, chills, chills. I first thought it was stomach flu, but now believe it was a bout of E. coli from meat left out of the cooler.

Not surprisingly, my food changed, and in a big way. I had no appetite, and consumed small portions of ginger ale, bananas, blueberries, and ginger chews, and rice cakes. I've also been swilling mushroom (and some chicken) broth. It felt as if the illness stripped my entire intestinal flora from my body, and that I wasn’t digesting even small amounts of these bland foods.

As it was happening, I saw this experience as a problem, a big one, until I saw an email from a woman in my Women & Food Group. Jill recently came down with bronchial pneumonia. Lily wrote her an email and commented, “The body has some interesting ways of cleansing itself.”

My thinking about the vomiting et al shifted after reading this. Thinking of the significant discomfort and unpleasantness as a kind of re-set of my gastro-intestinal system—and my eating—now feels like a more accurate and helpful way of viewing this experience. And, once again, I get to experiment with eating differently, finding out what my body needs in this time.

“So,” thought I, “What would I do if I had a clean slate—er, stomach?” I would introduce new flora in my digestive tract. Kefir (a fermented milk drink) has lots of probiotics, so I went out got some raw goat milk kefir, and some sauerkraut, which also contains them. For the last couple of days I’ve been eating sauerkraut first and last thing in the day, and a couple of times throughout the day.

I’m not feeling like eating meat right now, which is significant. I was eating large volumes of protein to help with my attention deficit disorder, and have noticed the lack has affected my focus, concentration, and memory.

However, I’m a bit afraid of it, too, and not up to digesting it right now. I also was increasingly conflicted about my growing embrace of Buddhism—a key tenet of which is not killing or causing harm to other beings—and chomping on meat. (Then again, the Dali Lama eats meat, supposedly because his doctor told him he needed to do so, and other Buddhists do eat meat.)

Right now, my body is hungry for vegetables and mushroom broth. My mouth, however, wants fat and sugar. I need to eat protein. What to do? Satisfy the body’s hunger and needs, and not the mouth’s.

The New Food, Now

My first meal today will be a bowl of mushroom broth with garlic, a teaspoon of miso, some spinach, and two servings of silken tofu. I’m also going to eat 3 boiled eggs (I’m shying away from fat, so scrambling them isn’t attractive right now). That will give me about 30 grams of protein, versus the 42 I’d get from the eggs with a 4 oz beef patty. That protein hit was extremely valuable, so I am concerned about the shortfall. (I may add a small portion of beans and a corn tortilla to boost the protein load.) I may have the same meal for dinner (without the beans and tortilla).

I am again trying to stay away from sugar, including fruit, and other carbs. A key reason is that I now have a yeast infection, both from the die-off of the healthy flora and the swilling of ginger ale and other sugars. Unfortunately, I have been craving sugar. Some of that is Candida-driven. It also happens when I don’t get enough protein. 

I have a lot of gratitude around this process: gratitude for my spirit of inquiry, for my willingness, for food to eat, and food options.

What's Going Well

I think I've been a bit unbalanced in my self-reporting.
Several people (including strangers!) said I'm excessively self-critical. I admit I do have tendencies in that direction.
So this post reviews some of the benefits I've received from the changes in my food, myself, and the process of change.
I am much more conscious of the food I eat.  Tracking my food, observing how my body responds to the food I do eat (and, in some cases, when I eat it) has provided me many pluses. For example, I:

• Recognize much more quickly when I am eating for avoidance/to numb out versus easing hunger.
• Eat smaller quantities of food than before.
• (Usually know) when I am hungry and what it is I need to eat.
• Generally eat a lot less compulsively and inattentively than before.

I am feeling physically better than I have in quite a long time. Until I made major changes to my food (I'm referring here to letting go of dairy, grains, most sugar, peanuts, and most roasted nuts) I had no idea how many of the limitations I'd grown used to were related to food. Since then, I'm:

• Much more flexible. For example, I no longer lean on something while I bend down to put the cat dish on the floor, and no longer need to do a 3-point, 2-position maneuver to stand up after sitting on the floor.
• A whole lot less bloated.
• Digesting my food more completely.
• Feeling a lot less congested in my body.
• Haven't gotten sick, and heal much more quickly from cuts and scratches (from my cats).
• Carrying around a much smaller belly.
• Much more conscious and happy with my physical self.
• Feeling sexy and attractive in ways I've not in quite a while.
• Feeling a lot less self-conscious (which is a great match with the previous bullet point, yes?).

Boosting my protein intake in the first half of the day has really helped my memory, recall, attention span, stamina, and work output,, while reducing brain fog. Who knew?
I now eat around 100 grams of protein daily, always in the first two meals of the day. When I don't, I see a clear drop off in my recall and memory first, and then the attention span gets shot to hell (it's still a challenge, but gets even worse without sufficient protein).

My experimentation and spirit of inquiry has made it possible for me to now judge much less harshly my process, weight, and myself.  A speaker at a 12-step meeting I attended recently used a phrase that has stuck with me. "I was locked and loaded," he said, "on a fixed idea."
That was me--with my food, my concept of what I needed to do, and how I was going to do it. My original goal was to go nearly or completely all-raw, with my protein from nut and other plant sources (e.g., soy). I was not going to eat sugar, and I certainly saw no need (and had zero desire) to track, much less measure, my food. And I certainly was not going to weigh myself for at least 90 days. In fact, for months I didn't care to admit that weight had anything to do with why I was making changes.
Now I'm hammering 3 eggs and 2 pieces of meat daily. I don't eat soy. I'm testing  to see whether or not I can have some sugars (e.g., agave, honey, and cane sugar). I (generally) measure and write down the food I eat (I'm now writing it down before I eat it, to see how that affects the volume of food I eat). I weigh myself weekly, and write that down, too.
There is a wonderful ease and acceptance I've gained. I put on 1.5 pounds last week (and a pound the week before that), yet I'm not freaked out, I'm not muscling myself; I'm breathing and being with ease.  I realize I haven't been eating nearly the amount of vegetables I was last month, so I've eaten more this week. I'll weigh myself next Tuesday, and perhaps make adjustments. I might, for example, see what happens if I reduce the amount of coffee (and the coconut milk I put in it), or not eat any sweeteners.
My point is:  I'm not acting out of shame or fear (nearly as much); I'm much less reactive, too. What freedom.