hi everybody,

There's been some concern about caffeine and its effect on lowcarbing. Here is some information I posted to the Tips page of the Lowcarb Canada website http://www.lowcarber.org/tips.htmlAs you can see, caffeine is a YMMV thing (your mileage may vary).

So no, caffeine will not stall weight loss per se. It can cause insulin to surge and to trigger cravings. You need to be aware of this. Eat smaller more frequent meals, and make sure you have some protein with every meal or snack or caffeine-containing food.

Hope this was helpful,
Doreen

Doreen T, please help me?
I'm having hairloss problem, I'm 33 years of age. I have a thin fuzzy hair to begin with. Last January, I started to go on a diet-the Atkins diet, little did I know the side effects of the diet I started to see falling hair after three months. I panicked because I never shed so much hair in my life. I have three kids, I experienced shedding during my pregnancy and it grew back and it wasn't as severe as what I'm experiencing now. So I've been reading about hairloss and I've come accross a laser hair treatment and needless to say I signed up for the treatment. It's a 1year treatment and I'm on my third month now and I notice there are more hair coming off and the pill that they give was not working for me it has an enormous amount of "saw palmetto". Everytime I take the pill it gives me a headache. I decided to stop taking it. So I read some more.... although it scares me so much that I have sleepless nights just thinking about it. I said to myself I must overcome this fear to fight for my hair. I found a product called Viviscal, I was thinking of taking Viviscal. My question is, do you think it's safe for me to combine the laser treatment and the Viviscal product? It consist of 30mg silicone compound which they say promotes hair growth. How safe is Silica compound?

I'm hoping that you can give me some more advice.

gumdrop,

You need to look for good quality of information before you act. I would suggest your doctor to start with, and real medical databases on the internet.

Because hairloss is a bigger problem than fat for a woman, skip the weightproblem for now, just eat normal (no junkfood or much processed food).

While writing this I think of the small possibility your hairloss is caused by a bad lifestyle. So eating healthy is important to start with.

Many women experience hair loss on diets. As when you wer epregnant, the body is under stress. Most find that when they stop losing so fast the heair loss slows and it grows back. I agree talk with your doctor to be sure there is no other cause, and also get you rbody fat tested. While you may be short, you could also be muscular and be trying to push your body harder then you think. If there is no medical issue, then just be sure you are eating enough calories to support your needs, taking a good multi vitamin, and since you are nearing goal anyway, maybe move through OWL and start adding in more foods and slowing the weight loss down in preperation for maintanance.

When I drink caffeine on Atkins, I find that I get a much smaller "up" from it, and I crash badly. Caffeine, as I understand, works by causing a release of sugar into the blood, raising your energy level. If, as on Atkins, your sugar levels are altered, caffeine will have far different effects than it would normally. I also find that I crave sugar badly in the afternoons after a big cup of coffee in the morning.

coffee in moderation (2-3 cups) should *not* be a problem for insulin sensitivity issues.

caffeine is really good before workouts, too.

I think starbucks decaf has a bit of caffiene. (i know most still will have a touch but starbucks must have more?) I am extremely sensitive to it and it's the only brand of decaf that i get this from. I wonder if they do it on purpose to keep even non coffee drinkers hooked ??

As the others stated above, you really should consult your doctor to determine if there's an underlying medical cause for your hair loss. Especially since it seems to be causing you a great deal of distress and anxiety Stress itself can trigger hair loss. Conditions which can cause hair loss include hormonal imbalances, thyroid disease, iron deficiency .. and even some medications can have hair loss as a side effect. The good news is that these conditions can be treated, but your doctor will be the best person to diagnose exactly what is causing the problem for you. Herbs and supplements may be helpful for some people, but it depends on the underlying cause. Silica won't do a thing if your problem is due to thyroid disease.

Don't guess. Make an appointment to see your doctor .. your health and peace of mind should come first.


Doreen

After 1 1/2 months of no caffeine, I decided to splurge and have a diet coke
at Quiznos last night. I couldn't even finish half of it. It tasted so...SWEET.
It was icky. All I could taste was the syrup. And it wasn't the soda machine
being out of whack. My system has done some major housecleaning and how
things taste seems to have changed (not that this is a bad thing).

Before I started LCing, I could drink a six pack of Mountain Dew in a day (and
believe me, I often did) and would STILL need a nap in the afternoon. These
days, I drink NO caffeine and whaddaya know -- NO need for a nap.

Cheers,

Cynthia

I loooove my caffeine! Can't do without it. At least I haven't gained, though.

M

Everyone, Thank you so much for all your help. Just as you were writing these replies I have had my lab test done and I should get the result today. Again, Thank you, It shed a light on my tiny brainless head.