We have tons of canned salmon, smoked salmon, frozen sockeye fillets, (after the
big run this year), plus free range chickens, and lots of venison, so I feel well equipped
for the protein portion of a diet. I struggle with winter veggies, especially as we
live on a small island where produce isn’t always top notch.

I would appreciate your thoughts on the diets, the exercise, and the veggies.
With thanks and cheers, A

Dr Jay’s Reply:

Nice to hear from you!

One of the things I found with shifting to low-carb is that I had to figure out a bunch of new recipes. I am like you in that I like to cook. Some people need a lot of structure and for them I recommend the new Atkins book (see comments below) which provides lots of detailed advice and meal plans, etc. For others (people like me), who don’t need that structure and who look at recipes, not as something to be rigidly followed, but as guidelines which can be altered, my advice is to simply learn what are the foods that contain starch and sugar and avoid them. I started using Atkins cookbooks to get some ideas and went from there. I found that one had to be careful in selecting low-carb cookbooks as a lot of them still used too much carb. The Atkins books tended to be reliable so I have no problem recommending them. You will find that there are a lot of wonderful dishes that have minimal carbs already and by eliminating them you still end up with tasty meals. If you are in a place where it is hard to get fresh vegetables out of season, it may be tempting to eat root vegetables as they store well. The problem is that they tend to be fairly starchy. Frozen vegetables are an option. I use frozen spinach, for instance. The big issue, however, is not so much the vegetables but the fat. Where are you going to get your fat? The meats and seafoods you describe will have some fat but probably not enough (unless you have access to oolichan grease). My recommendation is to eat lots of dairy fats in the form of cheese, cream and butter. Olive oil is good to stock up on, too.

I am not familiar with the Hormone diet. I have heard stories, however, of women who found their menopausal symptoms improved greatly on low-carb so I suspect that our hormonal systems function better with a carb restricted diet.

I am familiar with the GI diet. I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, reducing the glycemic index of the carbohydrate foods in your diet is a good thing when it means eating less refined foods, fewer sugars, etc. There is research that shows people can benefit from the GI diet when compared to the standard American diet. There is also research, however, that shows that greater benefits are achieved on low-carb vs low-GI. The other concern I have about GI is that fructose flies under the radar of the glycemic index. Foods can be high in fructose and still register a relatively low GI score. Fructose is something we should all avoid. I am sure, for many people, moving to a GI diet would be a big improvement. For people who are manifesting signs of insulin resistance, I still think that low-carb is the best way to go.

When it comes to alcohol, it is not counted as a carb when it is distilled and as long as it is not combined with a sugary mixer. Things like wine and beer bring carbs along with the alcohol so their consumption can be a problem. I avoid beer now but will drink a glass of wine with dinner. I find my desire to drink more than that has gone away. If I drink anything other than wine it is usually a fine Antiguan rum mixed with diet Coke with a squeeze of lime. One drink a day won’t derail your dieting efforts. Too much will be a problem even if it is not accompanied by some carbs.

I have expounded on exercise in other recent comments so have a look there for more. Bottom line: exercise is good but not necessarily for weight loss. If you do low-carb you can lose significant weight without exercising. You will get an energy boost from low-carb which will make you feel more like exercising and then my advice is to go for it!

I hope these observations are helpful. Good luck!

Dr Jay’s Reply:

I loved maple syrup. My wife is from northern Quebec and we used to have boxes of it sent to us. No more, I’m afraid. It is actually not that different from plain old sugar in terms of its carbohydrate content and its effect on your metabolism. Sorry to break it to you but it is not compatible with the low-carb diet especially for people who have insulin resistance.

???????? ?? ?????? ????????? Please feel free to ask questions or post comments about the documentary film, “My Big Fat Diet”, or anything you see on this site or its links…..

???????? ?? ?????? ???????????? Please feel free to ask questions or post comments about the documentary film, “My Big Fat Diet”, or anything you see on this site or its links…..

Dr Jay’s Reply:

Thanks for sharing your story. I hope you have continued success.

Thank you for your response to my previous post. I am now posting in the other string as I think Dr. Jay wanted to divert comments there.
From I read, yes extra fat cells are created as we become obese. Those who lose the weight retain the original fat cells, which sits there like empty sacs and thus the excess skin and subcutaneous tissue. After my childhood as a obese person, then two babies, I am fairly lean but retain those belly rolls of extra skin.
It sounds like your husband has perfect insulin sensitivity, and does not produce so much of it when exposed to carbs, so that eating carbs does not get away on him. For people like that, it seems a low-fat, high-carb eating style works fine.
Helen