Hi to All --

Today I finally took action to join this site. Am back on low carb with great hopes that my cholesterol will again drop.

Months ago when I was careful about carbs, it dropped significantly, and for several months I have been kidding myself that I was still eating low carb.

Blood test a couple of weeks ago told a different story. So, am back with a renewed commitment to eat low carbs except for a daily "reward meal" when I am balancing carbs with protein and veggies.

Am especially interested in hearing from others who are successfully reducing cholesterol with a low carb plan. What plan? How's it working for you, etc.?

It's great to remind myself that I don't have to continue trying to do this by myself. My favorite part from the book, "Everything I Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten" is one of the "rules" that said: "Hold hands and stick together."

Thank you very much,

Dave P. in Minnesota

Hi Dave and welcome to this forum.

I have read of many who have been successful in lowering their cholesterol levels by eating low carb. I wish you every success.

Hello Dave-
Welcome to the forum. I'm new to the group also and my main goal is to lower my blood sugar levels so that I may be able to reduce my diabetes meds to 1 pill a day instead of the 3 that I now am taking and have been on. In just the short time I have been low carbing - about 3 or 4 weeks now - my sugar levels are now below normal 87 to 89 now instead of them being 200 to 204 as before. Will see the Doctor on Thursday and maybe he will drop one of my meds. I hope so. I will get my cholesterol checked again also. But mine has always been at a low level anyways.I will let you know of any big change in choesterol readings due to low carbing if there is any. But everyone is different and no 2 people are the same as I'm sure you know. What may work for others may not be right for you or for myself.

Kind of like thong underware maybe? HE HE HE.

Well it could be I guess!! See you around take care.

Hi Anne and peabo,

Thank you both very much for your encouragement. By the way, I grew up in Cass County -- maybe not too far west of you, peabo.

Am feeling lots better since a week ago when began following the CAD again. Not only were my cholesterol stats way up about a month ago, but a couple weeks ago I had what I thought was food poisoning that turned out to be Diverticulitis! No fun!

Am thinking that's because I had not been eating anywhere near enough fiber, so now am following Heller's recommendations about being sure to eat two veggies with each protein meal, etc. They say proper eating can prevent Diverticulitis attacks; I sure hope so!

Wow! Am so impressed with your drop in sugar levels! And, I hope it'll work to drop one of your meds. Wouldn't that be super?

(For maybe 2-3 years I've been on a low dose of a drug to reduce my cholesterol, and I'd be thrilled if a blood check in a couple of months was so low that I could "unhook" from that drug completely!)

Deep down, am worried that as time goes on I'll begin "falling off the wagon" again and begin kidding myself that I can "treat/reward" myself "once in a while" with a carb treat at other times than my reward meal. I hope I can stay strong about not doing that! That's a big fear of mine.

Thanks for offering to let me know how your cholesterol readings turn out. Will look forward to that.

Dave in Twin Cities, Minnesota

Hi Dave,

Welcome to the forum. I find this forum to be extremely helpful - hopefully you will too.

I've only been on the CALP for a little over 3 weeks - only just got my cholesterol checked a couple of weeks ago - a little high, but good HDL and triglycerides. My doctor supports my WOE and just wants me to come back in about six months (or after I've lost another 10-15 pounds) and get bloodwork done again - so I'll keep you posted.

I have the same concerns about falling off the wagon - treating (or tricking) myself. So far it hasn't been too difficult to resist carbs outside of my reward meal, but I know that there may be a day(s) where I'll just feel unable to resist. Especially when on the go - almost every convenience food is full of carbs.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thank you, share7139,

Your last question is a huge scare for me, as I mentioned. Just since my earlier post, got an e-mail confirming a monthly social get-together this Sat. night. The deal always is that everyone is to bring some kind of snack. Of course of the 14 to 16 who show up, usually all but a couple bring either carb munchies or carb desserts.

Right now I sit here and am saying, "I'll do fine! I'll take something like celery & cukes w. a dip and will ONLY EAT THAT!"

But, my past record at such events has been -- AWFUL!

Will (again) try repeating over & over: “This time I’m going to do it!”

. . . For some reason(s) I seem to do a super-much better job of staying “legal” here at home than when I’m out -- with others at a restaurant and especially at someone’s home!!

Congrats on your HDL and triglycerides!

Even though my stats were up too high, I’m fairly confident that staying legal will make the difference w. them. (And, that brings me right back to -- the “staying legal” part!)

Yes, if anyone out there has any good ideas of how to psych myself up to go to someone’s home Saturday night and then to their dining table where all this mega-great tasting stuff will be! . . . and then merely munch my celery and cukes, I’d sure love to hear about it!

Thanks,

Dave P. in Twin Cities, MN

Dave P
welcome aboard. One of the most important thing that has happen to me because of following Atkins for the last six months is the drop in my total cholesterol reading from 262 to 226. I have also lost 20 lbs. So I have 10 more pounds and 26 points to go to reach my two goals.

Dave,
one recommendation, what to do with the carb-full social gatherings. Have a FULL dinner with two big glasses water before you are leaving for the get-together.

My favorite snack for parties: salmon/egg/lime on cheese bed. Or mini cheese/meat sandwiches with colorful red, orange, purple, yellow, green bell pepper strips. Somehow nobody misses the bread under the sandwiches.
Welcome to the forum:-)

I agree with all your woes regarding social gatherings. It's incredible how much the people around you can negatively affect your will power.

When I was living alone in residence at school, I did amazing. I filled my fridge with only the foods I could eat. I lost 127 pounds in 1 year! Then I met my girlfriend (who weighs 98 pounds), and we would go out a lot, and she loved to cook as well. I started thinking "I lost all this weight to become a 'normal' person, I should be able to enjoy eating like a normal person every once in a while". It's so hard when you're wandering around downtown in the summer and everyone has an ice cream cone, and all you have is a bottle of water. It's a real drag.

But then I got into this really dangerous mind-set - "If I'm going to have an ice cream cone, I'm going to throw my system off and I probably won't lose any weight for the rest of the week. So I might as well eat AS MUCH bad stuff as I want, and start fresh tomorrow." So I ended up having these total binge days where I'd eat, literally:

5 or 6 chocolate chip pancakes with syrup and chocolate milk
super-sized double big mac meal with a medium chocolate shake
some kind of chocolate bar (or 2)
chinese buffet (like, 10 chicken balls and a truck load of rice)
another chocolate snack (most likely a mini-tub of ice cream)
lots of regular pepsi
a piece (or 2) of super-rich chocolate cheesecake

plus I'd root through the cupboards and eat any carbs I could find, from pop tarts, to honeycomb cereal (usually 3 or 4 bowls at a time!). Nothing was safe!

I'd be absolutely stuffed the entire day, and I'd swell up like a balloon for three days until all the crap went out of my system. And of course, I'd be 3 pounds up from previous.

After about 2 years of doing this, I'm up 45 pounds. I'm at 243 from an original 325, but my lowest was 198.

Anyway, the whole point of this is, I know now that being overweight is like being an alcoholic. The word "moderation" is not in my vocabulary. I'm either strictly controlled or completely out of control. I don't know how you guys are with food, but for me it's a total psychological, physical addiction. I'm willing to destroy myself with food!

If anyone else feels like this, let me know, because I'm tired of feeling like the only pig in this world.

Wow, I went completely off-topic. Anyway, my girlfriend is now making a lot of sacrifices to help me stay on this diet. I know that anything I put in my mouth is MY responsibility, but it helps having someone around who supports you.

It's hard to resist when someone is actually forcing you to eat something that you know is delicious - like they're giving you permission or something. "oh, you can have just a bit!"

ahhhh!

fight the power. That's all I'm going to say. I'm getting to 190 this time, even if it means offending people by not eating their carb-laden treats. Even if it means LEAVING the situation. If they're really friends, they'll understand.

euthanasia - I too can maintain total control, then have a "treat" and end up waaaaay off track! I've been doing the program for 15 days with only one small back slide. I'm still in the early super motivated stages, we'll see how I do 3 months down the road.

For me I can (finally) admit to drowning my emotions in anything carb - mash potatoes, pb&j tortillas, ice cream, and of course potato chips, etc..... Funny that old cliche admitting you have a problem- anyway feeling strong for the moment, glad to know others out there struggle too.

As a side, noticed the NIN reference, have you heard/seen Johnny Cash's version of Hurt?
domus

hey domus,

mash potatos are a huge thing for me too.... slathered in gravy.

yeah, i've heard the johnny cash version and I think it's awesome. It's almost upsetting to listen to it - he sounds so frail. I love the video too - I'm a big fan of Mark Romanek's work.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by euthanasia
Wow, I went completely off-topic. Anyway, my girlfriend is now making a lot of sacrifices to help me stay on this diet. I know that anything I put in my mouth is MY responsibility, but it helps having someone around who supports you.



You are so right about the support - my father-in-law and my job-share partner are both on low carb diets and provide great support. My husband is not dieting, but definitely supporting my efforts and encouraging me. It helps keep you accountable in some way ...

I'm a little nervous about a gathering this Saturday - I'm hoping I can relax and have a good time without stressing over the food.

Hi Galadriell , share7139, euthanasia, domus, cohenlin,

Wow! Thank you ALL for your shares!

I've also never been on a site anything like how this one works (or on the LC topic). It's really fabulous! Am slowly learning my way around, etc.

Euthanasia, I can really relate to your binges! Am relieved that in recent years mine are not as often or as humongous as they used to be -- but have been (pretending to) following LC for past couple yrs, too. So, that's probably helped some.

Galadriell, ,many thanks for advice about meal/water before. I also have figured out that before I go to a guy's house for a meal w. a men's group Thursday, am going to have a big, no-carb meal before going. Then, hopefully, will have a small "reward meal" there by keeping carbs in balance.

Also, those snacks sound super! Are the recopies readily available on line? Would love to take one or both tomorrow night! Thanks very much.

Dave P. in Twin Cities, Minnesota