Alternating Low Carb / Low Fat experiment
 

I was reading the threads about carb cycling with interest, but it didn't seem to address my primary concerns, which are health -- mental and physical. I have hypothyroidism, diabetes, PCOS, intermittent depression, insomnia, overweight, prone to binges, and likely have adrenal fatigue. Other than that I'm fine :lol:

Low carb is excellent for diabetes control and PCOS, but low fat/high carb helps me with depression, insomnia, and hypothyroidism. As for weight, I can lose on either plan when I stick to it. And, unfortunately, I can binge on either plan. I think when I do just LC longterm, the insomnia and depression precipitate binges. When I do just LF longterm, the loss of BG control triggers binges.

I've been LC or semiLC for several months now, lost a few pounds the first few weeks but then recently began gaining it back and then some -- probably because of insomnia and depression. I've been taking supps for the past couple of weeks, which have helped somewhat, but I've been pretty depressed, not sleeping well, and bingeing quite a bit.

So I decided to try alternating the 2 plans to see if it helps the health issues and restarts some weight loss. The carb-cycling idea got me thinking that maybe I should try alternating on a strict schedule. Today I started LF and will do it for 2 weeks, then back to LC for 2 weeks. I felt better today than I have in weeks and didn't binge, so Day 1 is a success.

I don't know if the 2-week alteration will be the best schedule, but I figure I should start this experiment somewhere :-)

Has anyone else ever tried this, and if so, what was your experience? If you haven't and are interested in trying it, this would be a good place to ask question and offer/receive support.

I'm down 2 pounds this morning and I slept for 7 1/2 hours (been averaging 1-4 hours lately).

My BG was up so I'll be taking metformin during this two week trial. As soon as I'm back on LC I won't need it :-)

I'm very interested in your experiment. What are your macros for LF/LC?

Hope it helps with your health issues--

Cheers--
Terry-24

Hi Terry,

Thanks for your interest. Before I explain my personal "rules," I'd like this thread to accommodate any variations on them that anyone wants to use, keeping within the framework of alternating LC with another plan. Some options could be induction-level LC alternating with low calorie or low fat or whatever appeals.

Now, here's what I'm doing :-)
LC cycle (2-4 weeks): Under 50 carbs.
LF cycle (2 weeks): under 20 grams of fat, calories around 1,400.

I'm finding that it's pretty easy to keep my calorie count down, probably because very low-fat foods are lower calorie than higher fat. When I LC, calories end to be 2,000+ most days.

Thanks!

Cheers--
Terry-24

Hi,

Sanlee, for your insomnia, you should look into Melatonin. Its natural and it works. You can read the link below for more info..oh, and melatonin wont knock you out. If there is something going on around you (baby crying, dog barking etc.) you will still heard all but in a way that your brain will know to get up..hard to explain till you tried it...

http://www.priory.com/mel.htm

Regarding Alternating Low Carb / Low Fat experiment, Ive been on all the diets thats out there for years...I find it screws up more your body than anything else..after so long your body cant handle it anymore..and next thing you know you get all sorts of problems health wise..like is said numerous times, people should learn to eat natural what mother nature gave us from the start..i am not tell you what to do, cause we are all free to do what we want but to be honest with you Sanlee, you should read the book on GI..but like i said, you do what you want so long you dont get sick and stay healthy... you have to be healthy to be on a diet or it can trigger other health issues..anyhow, its just my opinion dont mean to tell you what to do...

http://www.gidiet.com/

ciao ciao

Hi Lanny,

Thanks for your information. I, too, have been down this road many times. I've just about made a career out of collecting and studying every diet/health book ever written :-)

I've tried melatonin, but unfortunately it doesn't work for me. When I do my low-fat/calorie cycle I do choose lower GI foods, which helps my diabetes not get totally out of control, but my BG does rise higher than when on low carb. But, as I mentioned above, my thyroid function and depression worsen on low carb.

Trying to find a balance has been so difficult. This alternating thing is helping, odd as it may seem, so I'll stick with it until it stops working.

Thanks again.

Did you ever read up on cinnamon? have a look

http://diabetes.about.com/od/whatso...qt/cinnamon.htm

http://www.healthdiaries.com/eatthi...f-cinnamon.html

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/he...esterol_battle/

:)

Lanny, oh yes, cinnamon is part of my everday menu on BOTH plans :-)

well i see you know what your doing..lol

just stay healthy dear...just not sure on this alternating bit...but heh im curious and will keep an eye on your posts...im always reading on healthy ways of eating...

156.0 -- down 2.6 in 4 days. Much better than the runaway gaining of the past few weeks.

And sleep is better than the 1-4 hours I was getting. Last night was 6 hours, even had an 7.5-hour night -- amazing. I think the higher carbs is definitely helping improve serotonin production and improving the effectiveness of my thyroid replacement protocol.

With 3 days left of this cycle I'm keeping the extra carbs to "real" food -- veggies, including sweet potatoes, squash, brown rice, and fruits. I'm including some low-fat dairy protein (yogurt and cottage cheese), along with whey protein shakes. This should make it a smooth transition easing back into LC.

wtg girl...seems your diet is like GI...

keep us posted...im curious...

Well, the every 2 weeks schedule didn't work out. I'm going to try a longer term LC -- more like at least 2-3 months -- then 3-4 weeks LF.

Because of my health issues, I do need at least a short period every so often of low fat, plant-based, no junk, eating -- I think the increased serotonin and thyroid support is what helps me. I also have a brain cyst, which I forgot to mention in the first post, so who knows, maybe my need to carb-cycle is related to that.

Very interesting. I have similar health issues. Low thyroid, pcos, insomnia, insulin resistant but not diabetic. Have you tried any herbs. I highly recommend chromium piccolinate and L-Carnitine, a multivitamin wouldn't hurt. Do you exercise? Maybe when your experiment is done you should try Body For Life. It is very, very balanced nutritionally. When I did Body for Life it completely reversed my PCOS. I still do the exercises but I now LC for eating.

Good Luck, Can't wait to check on you to see how your experiment is going.

Piano