The FastDay Forum

I gave up breakfast (branflakes with almond milk and seeds) a while back but I'm starting to think I may have a vitamin deficiency now. Don't want to go back to having brekkie though. I couldn't give up bread completely, but I've found I don't miss it at all in the week and just have it at the weekends. If we have rice or pasta for tea, I just have a very small portion of the rice/pasta compared to the rest. For lunch sometimes I'll have fruit, or more recently flax seed crackers with cottage or cream cheese. For me cutting down rather than cutting out works a treat.

No one needs to eat any carbohydrate, so long as they eat enough extra protein. Your liver, very cleverly, can convert protein into the small amount if glucose your brain requires. All your other organs can run on free fatty acids.

You can find a calculator that tells you how much protein you need to eat for whatever amount of carbs you eat in a day here:

http://www.phlaunt.com/lowcarb/DietMakeupCalc.php

It's particularly important to eat the right amount of protein on fast days so your body doesn't break down muscle.

A potential problem with fasting diets is that too much of your weight loss may be muscle rather than body fat. So eating enough protein on fast days can be helpful. Greek yogurt, the 0 fat kind is a great help in boosting it for me.

[janeg]

I really am in two minds about the carb thing.
No doubt, the evidence is there to support a lower carb way of eating (*shamfacedley I haven't read much), BUT I do not have a problem with carbs and the hunger monster.
I have found however, that bread and pasta consumption has reduced naturally over the time I have been fasting, but if I have a carb heavy meal, I don't feel any different.
I have been experimenting with swapping my toast on 'poached eggs and toast' fasts (all of them! ) to something else. Settled on foul mesdames at the moment (so yummy) - unsure as to the difference in carbs though. Will find out at the weekend (weigh and measure day for the month) if it's making any difference to the glacially slow but steady weight loss.
I do know that many people on here see a big difference with reducing carbs.
I prefer a balance of a bit of everything- maybe I'll change my mind on the big weigh and measure at the weekend.

That is where I am just now. Planning to eat bread etc at weekends as I cannot imagine life without it. Lots more reading to do but the reason I like fasting is because it is simple. I am done with devoting my life to what I eat.

[carieoates]

Hello @Bobshouse I am also a carb fiend. But when you reduce them it really does help with the weight loss. I save my carbs for the weekend but not taking sandwiches to work and dropping the carbs at dinner takes a bit of getting used to but do-able. Try shredding cabbage in your stir fries instead of having noodles. Sliced courgette, leeks in lasagna, moussaka instead of lasagna even. But like others have said, once you forget traditional breakfast you can drop a massive amount of carbs just from that one meal.
Helps reduce your appetite too as the bulk isn't stretching your tum.

Hi, there is an app that I use that counts the GL totals of each food. It is American but for basic foods it's good, it's called "GI". Might help

I've finally decided not to cut carbs after much hemming and hawing. I will, however, cut out most refined carbs. I'm thinking this will be easy because I'm not a big fan of rice, pasta and bread. But I have a sweet tooth. A really really bad sweet tooth.

This is a good read: http://www.precisionnutrition.com/low-carb-diets

Thanks MaryAnn, an interesting read. Speaking As an older, post menopause, sedentary women, having carbs around 50-60g a day and protein around 60-80g a day and calories between 700-1500 a day this week has so far shifted 1.3kgs since Sunday. Woohoo!
I am eating fresh fruit x 2 and salad/veggies x 7 pieces daily, protein is eggs, nuts, fish, cheese, fats are avocado, butter, coconut butter.
I must say I feel great so far but I am aware of what I am doing, and will probably eat a few new potatoes soon (though I'm wary of nightshade foods reputation). It's really grains and sugar I've currently dumped, I don't do enough in a day to warrant that much carbohydrate intake!
But you know me, another week another variation on our fasting theme :0)

thanks@peebles i need to look at that protein chart. I didnt know Greek 0% yogurt was a source of protein!
More and more i realise how little i know about nutrition as all i ve ever done is calorie count!

Thanks@MaryAnnLots of info! .. i like the sentence:-
"Strategic moderation, as unsexy as that sounds, is the only sustainable method....."

like you I have a sweet tooth,but i hardly ever have pasta,only have rice maybe once a month and have given up cereal apart from porridge oats,so i think if i cut down my bread to a slice a few times a week, give up totally cakes n biscuits except on celebratory occasions,and don't eat too much fruit, i should be ok and maybe the carb monster won't chase me

Im trying to cut carbs . I could live on carbs alone and I love pasta and bread. I used to eat a lot of french sticks and bread but an trying to cut it down a bit at a time. Its not easy though. 5:2 does nt really feel like a diet but cutting things you like out when you can eat does!.

Good luck

[carorees]

I would say to use the tools of fasting to adjust things so you have cut down on your average carb intake but not eliminated foods that you love. Unless you are diabetic or pre-diabetic or highly insulin resistant you can probably get away with an average of up to 150g of carbs per day (that's not the weight of the food but of the carb content of course).

If I skip breakfast and don't go crazy on pasta, rice etc I can easily keep to 150g per day. Making up the balance of calories with fats will prevent hunger. I have salted nuts rather than crisps as a snack with a glass of wine for example, or have half courgette pasta and half real pasta, or just one potato instead of 3, an open cheese sandwich uses one slice of bread for lunch not 2 . That leaves enough for a piece of cake after lunch or a dessert after dinner, so I've eaten a bit of everything I like but still kept the carb content to a reasonable amount.

I always advise trying to cut down by about 50g per day at a time until you find you are losing weight easily. If you are fasting and avoid all carbs during the fast days you will cut down your average intake to some degree by that alone.

I'm trying to eat less carbs - one of my main culprits was porage so Instead I have a slice of ham for breakfast which sets me up until lunch time when I have a salad. I don't like potatoes and pasta and wheat don't like me so not much of a problem there, but I do like desserts and have to be very strong willed (most of the time). I love chocolate so have bought cocoa powder and have a teaspoonful (as recommended ages ago by another chocaholic) which does the job.

I bake this stuff called Sukrin - it comes in a mix; you add water and bake it and it tastes like a seedy loaf - has 1g of carbs per slice and I think it is lovely toasted with some hummus or pate or cheese on. It is quite expensive but one pack lasts me a week and keeps in the fridge. You have to watch how much you eat because it has LOADS of fibre (6.4g in a 30g slice) and therefore has a tendency to make one 'windy' (ahem) but I like it and it makes me feel I'm not missing bread too much. It's also really filling. I get mine from the local health food shop but amazon sell it too.

I would say to use the tools of fasting to adjust things so you have cut down on your average carb intake but not eliminated foods that you love. Unless you are diabetic or pre-diabetic or highly insulin resistant you can probably get away with an average of up to 150g of carbs per day (that's not the weight of the food but of the carb content of course).

If I skip breakfast and don't go crazy on pasta, rice etc I can easily keep to 150g per day. Making up the balance of calories with fats will prevent hunger. I have salted nuts rather than crisps as a snack with a glass of wine for example, or have half courgette pasta and half real pasta, or just one potato instead of 3, an open cheese sandwich uses one slice of bread for lunch not 2 . That leaves enough for a piece of cake after lunch or a dessert after dinner, so I've eaten a bit of everything I like but still kept the carb content to a reasonable amount.

I always advise trying to cut down by about 50g per day at a time until you find you are losing weight easily. If you are fasting and avoid all carbs during the fast days you will cut down your average intake to some degree by that alone.

Thanks for the informative post. Its nice to see a personal account of low carbing. Its all very well thinking or doing low carbing but to see some examples is great. Thank you