Tag Archives: carbohydrates

Time Lapse of a Woman Losing 88 Pounds in a Year on the Ketogenic Diet

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My diet is based on a Paleo diet that focuses on being ketogenic.  What is that?

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The ketogenic diet is a high-fat, measured out amount of adequate protein and low carbohydrates.

The diet forces the body to burn fats rather than carbohydrates. Normally, the carbohydrates contained in food are converted into glucose (sugar), which is then transported around the body and is particularly important in fueling brain function. However, if there is very little carbohydrate in the diet, the liver converts fat into fatty acids and ketones.The ketone pass into the brain and replace glucose as an energy source. An elevated level of ketone bodies in the blood, a state known as ketosis, and that is when you start burning fat and lose weight.

I followed the ketogenic diet and I lost about 10 pounds a month, which then trickled down to a lesser amount until completion of the diet.  I started my diet in September, 2011 and lost 40 pounds by the the end of January, 2012 (about 5 months).

My diet consists of 6 protein based meals a day, every 4 hours.  Two small salads a day, four small servings of vegetables a day and two small servings of fruit per day (with my carb instake being only 50g to 100g per day).  I stopped eating most wheat products, rice and potatoes.  In the maintenance phase, you can incorporate those in, but you should measure out carbs and you should not go over 150g of carbs per day if you want to stay thin.

Below 50g of net carbs each day is sufficient for most people to stay in ketosis. Make sure to get your carbs from vegetables (10-15g), nuts and seeds (5-10g), and fruits (5-10g). Keep in mind that in Europe food labels generally show net carbs, while America shows total carbs. Calculate net carbs by subtracting fiber from total carbs.

Medicaldaily.com wrote about a woman following this diet and they showed a time-lapse video of her transformation of 88 pounds in a year.  Check it out.  I can attest to the magical effect of this diet, as far as I changed in the same way.  However, I did exercise during my transformation, which is why I lost 10 pounds a month and she seemed to lose about 6 or 7 pounds per month.

http://m.medicaldaily.com/time-lapsed-video-shows-womans-transformation-ketogenic-diet-88-lbs-lost-5-seconds-255799

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Counting Carbs While Eating Out

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Carbohydrates have a big impact on weight because they are broken down into glucose, which in turn raises your blood sugar. They are found in starches such as cereal, bread, and pasta, and in sweets such as cakes and cookies, but also in many “good for you” foods like fruit, starchy vegetables like potatoes, peas, and corn, and dairy products including milk and yogurt. Learning how to accurately identify and count carbohydrates will help you lose and maintain your weight.

On my eating plan, having between 50 and 100g of carbs a day helps me to lose and maintain my weight.

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Tips for Counting Carbs Home or Away

You can buy a carb-counting book, use an online version, or download a smartphone app to see how many carbohydrates are in the foods you eat. You can also read the nutrition label on prepared foods to tally up the number of carb grams in each serving. You might have to guesstimating carbohydrates at a restaurant.

Here are tips to make tracking easier:

Use measuring tools. At home, use a food scale to weigh that apple or whole-wheat roll. Use a measuring cup to dole out your portion of cereal or pasta. When you measure the serving size, your counts are more accurate – and you learn what a ½ cup or 1 cup serving looks like. Keep the tools handy so you’re not searching for them at every meal. I don’t even need to bring cups with me anymore.

Use every day visuals. For example, a cup of fruit, starchy vegetables, or ice cream is about the size of a baseball or an average fist. A pancake or waffle is equal to a CD. Then you can look up your serving size using a carb-counting guide or smartphone app.

This also gives you a point of reference when you’re eating out. According to Melissa Joy Dobbins, RD, LDN, CDE, a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, “if you know what a cup looks like and how many carbs are in a cup of that pasta when you eat it at home, you can use that to guesstimate carb counts at the restaurant.”

Table(spoon) it. When you’re away from home, estimate your portion by counting tablespoons. Here’s the conversion:

4 level tablespoons is equal to about 1/4 cup,

8 tablespoons is 1/2 cup, and

16 tablespoons is 1 cup.

So 8 tablespoons of macaroni salad equals 1/2 cup and 30 grams of carbohydrates.

Do your homework. Before you head out to a restaurant, check out its menu online. Decide what you’re going to order, and then gather the nutrition facts for the ingredients to put together a guesstimate of the carbs in your meal. Many restaurant chains now put all their nutrition facts, including carbs, on their Web sites.

Mind the proportions. Know that the more grains and starches in a dish, the higher your carb estimate. For instance, you can count an 8-ounce cup of a broth-based soup as 15 grams of carbohydrate, while a thick soup with beans, lentils, or noodles should be counted as 30 grams.

There’s an app for that. There are many apps available. Many are free, and many can help you with counting carbs. For example, GoMeals provides three apps in one – a database of nutritional values (including carbs) of thousands of foods you’ll find at the grocery store and your favorite restaurants, a tool to track and record your meals, and a restaurant finder with menus and nutritional information.

Non-Starchy Vegetables vs. Starchy Vegetables

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When wanting to lose weight and maintain your weight,  you need to be conscious of how many carbs you get into your diet daily.  YES, you want vegetables, but many people mistakenly think of potatoes of any kind as an innocent vegetable.  You need to get 4 small servings of vegetables a day (about half a cup of each serving), but if it is a STARCHY vegetable, not so much.  You need to cut down the serving by half if it is carrots and you have to be aware that I gave up starchy vegetables altogether.  Now, you can have them if you like, especially in maintenance, but be aware of what they do to your body.

First, the good they do.  Potatoes are a very good source of vitamin C and potassium and a good source of folate, vitamin B6, and manganese. They also contain a fairly high concentration of antioxidant phytonutrients.

The problem with potatoes is that they are high on the glycemic index.

Estimated Glycemic Load of Potatoes

  • ½ cup diced raw potato: 6
  • 1 medium potato (2½ to 3½ inches in diameter; about 7.5 oz):17
  • 1 large potato (3 to 4½ inches in diameter; about 13 oz): 29
  • ½ cup mashed potato made with milk (no butter): 8
  • ½ cup mashed potato made from dehydrated (instant) potatoes with milk: 7
  • The glycemic index gives us an idea of which foods raise our blood glucose fastest and highest.
  • BY COMPARISON:  one serving of broccoli is 8, one serving of cauliflower is 1 , and spinach is 0.

  • Why is this important?

    Many people have problems processing large increases in blood glucose.  Having blood glucose that is too high, is on the road to diabetes and the way to correct this is to cut carbs and eat foods lower in glycemic index numbers.

  • Eating pure glucose is given a ranking of 100 — all other foods are in relation to this. So a food with a glycemic index of 95 raises blood sugar almost as much as pure glucose, but a food with a glycemic index of 20 doesn’t raise blood sugar much at all. It’s important to keep in mind, though, that the glycemic index does not take portion size into account. The actual amount any food raises blood sugar has to do both with how glycemic it is, and how much of it you eat. The glycemic load attempts to combine these concepts, and some diets are using the glycemic load for this reason.


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Vegetables LOW in carbs:

  • Sprouts, alfalfa and other small seeds (sprouted legumes have more carb)
  • Greens – lettuce, spinach, chard, etc.
  • Hearty Greens – collards, mustard greens, kale, etc.
  • Radicchio and endive count as greens
  • Herbs – parsley, cilantro, basil, rosemary, thyme, etc.
  • Bok Choy
  • Bamboo Shoots
  • Celery
  • Radishes
  • Sea Vegetables (Nori, etc)
  • Mushrooms
  • Cabbage(or sauerkraut)
  • Jicama
  • Avocado
  • Asparagus
  • Okra
  • Cucumbers (or pickles without added sugars)
  • Green Beans
  • Fennel
  • Cauliflower
  • Brocolli
  • Peppers
  • Zuchinni
  • Summer Squash

So, eat your VEGGIES and choose wisely.

P.S.  The carb content of the above mentioned items per serving:

cauliflower, brocoli  1-3g of carbs, spinach is 0-1 g of carbs and a potato is 35g for a medium potato.  See the difference?  If you want to stay skinny, you can’t have more than 50-100g of carbs a day.  35g is a lot for ONE item for the day.