The FastDay Forum

to PASTA! I knowwww, I know....carbs and bad and blah blah blah. It's just toooooooooooooo delicious! I have a serious long-time love affair with pasta, bread, potato...anything of that description. Does anyone else have this problem?

Yep HH i am into carbs big time ! I love my comforting carbs.. But i am slowly beginning to realise that altho they are filling,they make me hungrier..the more carbs i have the more i want to eat them! Protein and fat fill me and keep me full longer..this i have only just realised, but i still love carbs so i won't be giving them up altogether yet awhile! Tho deffo cutting down loads X

Try not to make the carbs you love a "bad food" - it may well make you crave them more (mmmm, forbidden ) I know a lot of folk here are low carb (I am fairly low carb too), but I really think that a balanced, healthy diet can easily include pasta, bread, rice. Just not in excess.

I would avoid any on fast days (not as filling, etc etc) but on non-fast days, have some when you feel like it. If you're already mostly filling up on your good protein, fats and veggies, having pasta once a week, or some rice or naan with your curry, isn't going to be bad for you.

[janeg]

I love pasta and bread. I am finding though that I eat much less of them, not through conscious choice, it has just happened. I still have them when I want (poached eggs on toast for fast days) but only eat a much smaller amount.
Except yesterday, when the sourdough bread I had made became three slices instead of one

I agree that they should still be in your diet. Since starting 5:2 in Jan I have taken a serious look at my food intake and have reduced my carbs but do still enjoy pasta, bread and potato. I now weigh out my pasta to make sure we all eat no more that the recommended portion size and I will put smaller amounts on my plate of other carbs. I am also trying to only have carbs with my main meal. I have found that I feel tons better for this but do still get to enjoy my carbs.

[carieoates]

Yes, I love my carbs too. There's nothing better than a slice of freshly buttered toast.
Yesterday a non fast day I had a slice of toast with poached eggs for lunch and I made potato rosti, for dinner.

approx carbs from my fitness pal-
Bread 18.5g carbs
Potato rosti 34g carbs - this is prob too low.

So that's not a lot of carbs but there are carbs in other foods eg salad, veg. It just depends how much you have. On Atkins your'e only allowed up to 20 g which on a daily basis is not much at all.
Maybe switch noodles in a stir fry for shredded cabbage, that's nice.
Lasagna sheets for Leeks. Tried that too.
Like already said if you see them as bad or forbidden then it just doesn't help. So have a bit now and then.

Carb lover here also @HappyHippie Well I didn't reach 19stone by not loving everything that I liked and thought enjoyed and 5 months or so ago I did report that life was to short for me to give up pasta + rice and because it was roughly once each week I didn't think I needed to cut
out of my life
However after pledging to this week try the courgette spaghetti which I did last night with a veggie sauce
and quorn mince
This was an amazing meal so filling and tasty it left me gobsmacked actually well my new pledge last night was to make all my future fastdays meat free in fact have decided to do back2back fasts because of that very reason and basically we don't know what we're capable of if we don't actually try in the first place and that's coming from someone who can know say we're never to old to try the changes in life. Sue

Isn't the whole idea of 5:2 (or in my case ADF/EOD) that we fast one day and eat what we like the next? Obviously we shouldn't eat too crazily but the reason this way of eating works is so we can stick with it for good. Don't get TOO het up about carbs and things. Presumably we just say try and reduce carbs because you tend to get more hungry than you would with plenty of protein, but reducing carbs alone doesn't mean you'll lose weight...does it? Blimey, I'm confusing myself here.

Bean

@nursebean

Of course you are right, if your primary way of life is some sort of fasting you do not have to do anything beyond fast. However while on our fasting journey, we can either want to speed up our weightless (hence 4:3 or ADF rather than 5:2 for example) or we get more interested in nutrition and start to experiment with adding other regimes into the mix. Hence some people count calories on their feed days, some cut their carbs.

Some people count carbs, I just take a look at the Atkins carbs ladder (look on their web site or look out for the Atkins books in charity shops) and try to eat mostly from the lower levels. You only cut down to 20 grams if you are doing Atkins induction which most Atkins dieters should only do for 2 weeks, you then add more carbs slowly until you stop losing weight.

The simplest way to begin is to cut down on sugary things and avoid white foods - bread, rice, pasta etc.

You are doing brilliantly @Sue.Q - i wish I could do the same. I am still struggling but trying just to focus on eating healthy although today we had fish and chips something that I would not have touched only a few weeks ago!

Cheers maggie

Personally I don't like the idea of cutting out entire food groups. I allow myself to eat carbs in moderation on feed days. Weigh or measure out a serving and put the rest away so I am not tempted to take second helpings. I also try and keep to eating "bad" carbs once or twice a week. So far this is working for me.

@Maggiee The scales or tape will show me the truth tomorrow I haven't got that "feeling" you know the one where we're sure its working but my meal was very good and filling so something along similar lines tonight.
Fish + chips is the treat we can have no + then so don't beat yourself up about that keep up your 16:8 and try for at least one good fastday each week you can always pop a second in if you feel OK to do it or one good and cautious 20:4 that works for me ( or at least used to)
Take care Sue

As a former white carb lover, I've virtually given them up now. I get carbs from veggies and pulses and the occasional egg sandwich!
My experience over Christmas, when we re at a rellie's house, made me feel quite poorly, as it was just so carb rich.
I no longer feel 'deprived' and know I CAN have pasta, bread or potatoes as an occasional treat.
But the beauty of this is that it is so flexible and what suits one, won't suit everybody and nobody's being dictatorial.

I eat quite low carb (or try to) and it has sped the weight loss up but I think it's what works for you - I cut the carbs because my brother has type 2 diabetes on insulin and is younger than me, and my blood sugars were creeping up into the pre-diabetic range and since I've cut carbs they are fine so I was probably quite insulin resistant. I couldn't go as low as 20g a day (because I'm not sure what I would eat!) but it's easy to eat 50-75g and still eat LOADS but that just suits me - if someone can tolerate eating lots of refined carbs then fair enough - I'd love to eat piles of white buttered toast but I can't; I feel better now I don't because I do think it was adversely affecting my heath. I don't worry about the carbs in veggies - I don't eat 'proper' rice any more (I use cauliflower instead) and I don't buy bread either. I use cauli or celeriac for mash (or chips) and it works for me - I eat far healthier than I ever have. A bonus for me is that the weight loss is better (though that's not really why I started it). Horses for courses, say I!

I will NEVER give up pasta for all the tea in china!!
The Italian in me just would not allow it lol, plus it has not interfered with weight loss in the past or now , so there... what works for you is the key