The FastDay Forum

Having made slow but steady progress since January 2013 we are find ourselves getting steadily more and more fatigued. It has just occurred to us that our carb intake may be to blame. By reducing all carbs we seem to have dropped a vital weapon in our life choice eating style. Good carbs are very important in the way our bodies process the rest of what we're eating so even though it's soon mid summer the porrige pan is making a swift return to our breakfast routine. Along with potato wedges, wholemeal pasta, sweet potato and all the other sensible good carbs for other meals. Anyone out there who didn't fall into the same trap or who did and has rebalanced the situation? Tips, clues and suggeations please. Alig

why is a potato wedge a "good carb" ?

Better than a chip I suppose Phil. Not much otherwise.

I always start my fast days with 30g porridge oats, soaked in water overnight,then microwaved for 2 mins. Topped with either sweetener or a small spoonful of unsweetened apple sauce. I need my breakfast otherwise my energy levels seem to fall.

I find this forum so helpful - but I suppose there isn't too much attention to exactly what we DO eat? It seems to me the lower my calories, the more it matters that my diet is very healthy.

I have found cutting back on starchy carbs like the white stuff has helped me lose weight fairly easily. I have increased veggie carbs substantially and energy has increased. However, I noticed some cravings for bread particularly, so introduced small portions of carbs like brown rice, millet, quinoa (is that a carb?) because I can eat small portions of these as opposed to bread. When I start to eat bread I turn into a ravening beast, so I stay away! I eat very little fruit now except for apples,lemons and berries, and porridge is maybe just once a week or fortnight now. I have also reduced alcohol a lot, I just don't "need" it so much. I am eating more fats, olive and coconut oil and a little butter which is filling (and tasty!) as opposed to increasing protein. For dairy I find yogurt, kefir and small amounts of good cheese is my choice.

I eat carbs all the time and normally not enough protein. If I would eat less carbs, my body drives me crazy. So I have on feast days carbs for breakfast, lunch and dinner . Mostly these types of carbs:
http://images2.fitforfun.de/img/gen/V/F ... 78x307.jpg

I tried from time to time to reduce my carb intakge because at least this seems to be promoted as healthier in the English speaking world. I always failed.
That's what I like with fasting. I can have all my carbs without feeling guilty

I've never bought into the "carbs are bad" theory, so no I didn't fall into the no carb trap. I do limit carbs on fast days. Ditto fat and refined sugar. That's because I want to save the calories for bulkier more filling foods, not because I want to cut them out of my diet entirely. I eat those more freely (the sugar maybe too freely!) on feed days.

Also, I'm a vegetarian so cutting all carbs would be quite a trick. I do stick to whole grains as unrefined as possible: brown rice, porridge, whole wheat pasta, quinoa. I also eat some rice that is red and purple/black to change things up, and those might be refined although I'm not sure.

I used to be quite the carb-oholic. One thing that helped me to cut back a bit is to increase the amount of veggies that I'd have with the grains and measuring the portions of grains. For example, stir-fried rice I measure out 1/2 cup of rice per person and then use all the veggies that I want. If I let my cravings or stomach decide how much pasta or rice to measure out, I end up with a mountain of carbs and as a sloth after a meal.

Potatoes though...still working on that myself. I try to only cook what will get eaten because leftovers are too much of a temptation. I also try to cook other similar veggies at the same time: swede/rutabaga, sweet potatoes, turnips, cauliflower, or even cabbage or kale and mix that in or roast together.

Gah...I'm glad today is a feed day for me. I want potatoes now.

I just make sure I stick more or less within calorie limits and eat whatever I fancy be it a fast day or not. As I read somewhere else if you are only eating 500 hundred calories they need to be something you enjoy. I am still loosing weight and know that what I am doing is sustainable long term for me.

A potato wedge is good because the potato peel has fibre.

I eat carbs every day, that's the Med diet for you. I grew up like that and I never felt like I'm doing anything wrong. On the contrary, if I don't eat enough carbs my stomach protests!

Hi Izzy,
What are you eating instead - more veggies, fats, protein? Are you doing an Atkins style eating plan? I too cut out all the carbs that I was finding difficulty with limiting the amount ie. white potatoes, rice, pasta, bread, sweets and cakes etc. I have started eating more carbs but they are all the "healthier" unrefined types, and I have a lot less difficulty in controlling portion size that way. I did Atkins several years ago and ate huge amounts of meat and chicken, bacon and eggs (unlimited!) and although I lost weight I don't think it's the best eating plan for me. I feel so much healthier eating more vegetables and I find that my fish/meat/chicken consumption has halved. I add a good glug of olive oil and lemon juice or coconut oil to a lot of my food now and I almost never feel like snacking. The other thing I eat more of is nuts and seeds. OMG 5.2 is making me a health nut! Hopefully a soon to be slim health freak!

Well, who the hell really knows? You read one book, they say if you eat potatoes you may as well eat a bowl of sugar! Read another book, they're the best thing since......?

The glycemic index of potato is higher than white sugar (at least in part because of the fructose in white sugar).

Even the skin of a baked potato isn't tempting me, 5g of fibre for 115 cals and 20g of carbs.

Seems they're mildly inflammatory too.

I have met 2 types of people: those who have no problems with (any) carbs, and those who do. I am in the latter category, so stay away from rice, potatoes, pasta. I do have them once in a while and enjoy them then. I don't have that much of a problem with bread or pizza. Also, funnily enough, chocolate (in moderation) is fine. So it's more the starchy carb variety that I don't tolerate.

I think you can get enough carbs from veggies and fruit. I have piles of veggies with each meal. I have trained my body to exercise without carbs, in a fasting state, have even done a half marathon on an empty stomach. It took a while for my body to learn to work like that.

I know people though who have no problems with carbs. They need them. They don't put on weight. They exercise better with them.

I think it's got to do with insulin resistance. I am slightly insulin resistant and hence when I eat carbs, my sugar goes up and then down very quickly which means I crave food, mostly more carbs. Hence, starchy carbs equals weight gain and binge eating.

In particular if I have a carby breakfast I am hungry within 2 hours. Even healthy carbs such as oats.

So my bottom line: it really depends on which type of person you are.

very good kagiesen- thank you for your replies everybody!!! I am alig other half and we have both been eating the same and doing the 5:2 since end of jan this year- all was well and we are steadily loosing our 1lb/week- GREAT!!! but just of late we are both totally drained of any energy- we work as gardeners and do so in all weathers in wales- more often than not get soaked and freezing.... so we took the bull by horns this morning and posted this topic to see if any of you had similar experiences- we have nearly completely cut out all carbs on most days and have just come to realise that we need to "re-balance" our eating, adding carbs.
thanks for all your comments!!! ursula

Why don't you up your carbs a bit and see what happens you can always cut back again. It's very much trial and error it seems from this forum. Personally I couldn't live without them, my weightloss is not that speedy but I would feel terrible otherwise!

I am using my non-fasting days to learn to listen to my body. When I realize that I am physically hungry, I try to determine what it is I am hungry for. I came off of being stuck at the same weight for over a year on various macro versions of low carbing. I am quite pleased that I find myself looking for a huge variety of foods and that carbs do not set off a binge in me as they would have in the past. I am also working to learn to stop eating when I am no longer hungry and not eating until I am stuffed.

I am thrilled that there is no food that I now consciously restrict on my non-fasting days. That is what will keep this sustainable for life-even after the "scientists" have done yet another "study" that shows some other nutrient is particularly bad for me and the one they thought was bad is now good!

I believe our bodies are set to optimize choices for survival, just gotta learn to listen.

I think I fit into Kagiesen's group that doesn't tolerate certain carbs... I like them but they make me hungrier and hungrier leading to continual grazing and bingeing, and weight gain.... a bit like the hunger switch, once I flip the carbs switch, its difficult to stop eating more and more...

One of the things that has made 5:2 successful for me is that fast days and most week days, I avoid rice, bread, pasta, potatoes - eat much more salad, veg etc... I still need to take this on board properly though and find ways to control the refined carbs or starchy carbs on feed days and have a more balanced approach to food...

even sugar free jellies though they are only 10 cals, inevitably lead to wanting to eat more and more and its usually refined carbs - chocolate, biscuits, cake which then spirals....