Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with lowcarb

Low carb until dinner to lose weight?

lovisa91 — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 08:57:31 -0800

I live with a group of friends and we all take it in turns to cook dinner one day of the night, which usually consists of lasagne, pasta, rice etc. I am wondering if I could lose weight if I ate low carb for breakfast and lunch, and then ate dinner that is prepared by my housemates? I would like to lose around 15 pounds by July.
I will not give up on these dinners as it is a really nice thing we have that brings us together. Also on weekends I do enjoy going out and having a drink or two, althout I don't ever drink so much that I get drunk. So my question is will it be possible to lose weight by balancing these habits with exercise 3 or 4 times a week and with healthy meals apart from dinner.

If this would work, I am also wondering what some ideas are for breakfast and lunch that are vegetarian. Thanks!

Low-starch, grab-and-go breakfast?

DevilsAdvocate — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 12:41:58 -0800

My doctor has recommended eliminating most starches from my diet. Any recommendations for grab-and-go breakfasts? My doctor recommended trying a low-starch—not necessarily low-carb, although anything which is low-carb would be low-starch—diet for weight loss. ("It's not for everyone," he said, "but give it a try and see if it works for you.") I'm wondering what to do for breakfast on weekdays. I'm not a morning person, so I've been in the practice of grabbing a breakfast bar heading out the door on the way to work, and I'm not likely to do anything that requires cooking that morning, or even sitting down at a table and eating at home before I leave. Something that I could make in advance (in the evening or on the weekend) would be fine if it keeps well.

The only thing I've come up with so far is trail mix (dried fruits, nuts, maybe some chocolate bits), which would be OK but less than ideal, as when I try to eat that in the car a few bits usually end up on the floor of the car rather than in my mouth. Any suggestions for a) existing pre-packaged bars or other products that qualify, b) recipes for making low-starch bars at home I could take (could you use egg as a binder to bake trail mix into a bar form?), or c) other suggestions for grab-and-go low-starch breakfasts?

What's your best simple syrup recipe with artificial sweetners?

bswinburn — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 15:08:01 -0800

I'm on a low carbohydrate diet and I love cocktails, so I'm trying to figure out the best was to make a simple syrup replacement that tastes decent and has an ok mouth feel. Have you got a go to recipe that doesn't crystallize or have some funky aftertaste? I'm more than willing to mix up a custom sweetner mix. I've been reading about stevia, xylitol, and many others for the last few days, but most of the information seems to be focused at people who want to use them in baking or in food. I really want a good mixer. Can the imbibers of metafilter help me out?

I need to hide the sausage, literally

chaiminda — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 08:49:53 -0800

I strongly dislike meat, but eating it is good for my health. What are some tasty recipes which include meat but don't taste strongly of it? Difficulty: complex dietary restrictions. I am mildly revolted by the texture of most meat. I have never liked it much, and lately, forcing myself to eat more of it than usual for the good of my blood sugar has made it seem even less appealing. I do eat fish, but I would like to be able to eat a little more meat, too. It's easier for me to eat when it is disguised (like in chicken fingers) or mixed with lots of veggies and cut into small pieces.

Dietary restrictions: I have to eat very, very low-carb (no grains, legumes, fruit, sugars, etc.) and I am on the Specific Carbohydrate diet, which means no lactose, high-starch foods, or preservatives. I would appreciate recipes that do not include these foods, but I am open to suggestions of substitutions. Thanks!

Dammit, I freaking need to start cooking some stupid low carb recipes.

malhouse — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:43:35 -0800

Doctor's orders, sadly. Does anyone know of any low carb cookbooks or websites (or just individual recipes) that would take the sting out of giving up my precious carbs? If there was a Cook's Illustrated low carb cookbook that would be perfect, but there isn't.

Food Manufacturing Advice--lowcarb variety

chaoscutie — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 12:14:49 -0800

So--IRL I am a busy psychologist with a busy practice and not a lot of time. In internet circles--of the lowcarb eating community variety, I have a lovely rep as the creator of a really nice low carb flour substitute for baking. Although I have made my recipe available online (requires some specialty ingredients), folks are enthusiastic enough about this concoction that they are encouraging me to go into production and to sell it. I haven't a clue what that would involve, and would likely be more interested in remaining the creative end who partners with someone who can execute the production stuff. What are the things I should be thinking about here? My questions are: 1--how do I find an entity that would be interested in this.
2--how do I maintain some proprietary rights--recipes, I know, are not copyrightable, yes?
3--what am I not considering? Is this foolish to think of doing?

Any and all advice sincerely welcomed.

What's a good low-carb substitute for toast for the purpose of sopping up over-easy egg yolks?

ErWenn — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 22:17:19 -0800

What's a good low-carb substitute for toast for the purpose of sopping up over-easy egg yolks?

Less $, more food.

Trexsock — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 03:43:55 -0800

Filling, low carb snacks that are relatively price-sensible? Basically I'm having quite a bit of trouble compiling and getting used to a low-carb diet while not feeling like I'm starving myself/extremely hungry at most of the times. I feel like I'm eating quite a bit and still get a growly stomach often.

Around here people only eat 1 'full meal' a day. I have no issues with that and have accustomed to it. I've also no problems cooking my dinner to be low carb (basically a protein source + loads and loads of non-starchy veggies) but am hitting a roadblock when it comes to finding stuff to eat the rest of the time, especially since bread is out of question.

The problem is that, during the day, especially late-ish at night -- say, 10-11pm -- (since I usually end up going to bed at about 1am) I feel extremely hungry. And sometimes can't fall asleep because despite having eaten already, my stomach will be growling endlessly. I feel like I'm doing something very wrong. I did some extensive reading about low-carb diets, but none of the suggestions appeal to me particularly. I have no issues with eating protein and veggies. I love salads and veggies in general, but at the end of the day, I feel like I'm starving. Of course, I could just go with another plate of whatever I had for dinner, but (snowflake details) meat is particularly expensive here, fish is a delicacy, given how pricy it is and I'm trying to keep the bulk of the protein in that one meal, for $ reasons. That's not to say it won't happen sometimes, but not every day/only a couple times a day.

I'm not particularly picky when it comes to food, but I don't like frying stuff much and I don't like sauces, either. So I'm not very likely to go cook bacon (which I openly dislike) with eggs or something. I prefer things to do with vegetables, but as mentioned above, to me it feels like regardless of the amount I eat, I'm still hungry (i.e a whole plate of salad -- lettuce and arugula/rucula, raw with no sauces or anything added -- didn't make a dent in my satiation levels).

Looking for suggestions, thanks a lot in advance!

were the cavemen also overheated and starving all the time?

euphoria066 — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 23:44:12 -0800

low carb queries: hot and hungry. this isn't a weight-loss question. I eat some permutation of the paleo diet on and off, and have for a couple years. It works really well for me, I can drop my body fat percentage pretty low pretty fast, probably through a combination of the diet just actually working well for my metabolism type, and also just from making me conscious of my health in a more general way and therefore making better choices. also, disabling my ability to eat only sugar, which is my craving preference. mini powdered donuts for dinner? yes please! that's background though, I'm pretty good at this diet, and it's got nothing to do with my question!

so my questions are..

when I'm eating paleo/slow carb/induction/p90x/whatever, I tend to get really hot. like, I'm roasting all the time! and this is canada, where roasting all the time is sort of the nontraditional response to life. what is making me so hot? I can't find many people reporting this on the internet, and almost no one talking about why this might be happening. In fact, it seems much more common to be cold all the time when eating low carb. what could be happening? could this be related to ketosis/ketogenisis?

also, I'm hungry. when I eat "normally" I am not a very hungry person, I like to eat and enjoy it, but hardly ever feel a burning need to do it. eating for me is mostly a desire (and a joy!) but hardly a need. when I'm low carb though, I'm hungry. I count calories sometimes and find my caloric intake to be about the same as when i'm eating refined grains and sugar. so could this just be my body sending out carbohydrate cravings, and I should totally ignore hunger pangs after I've just eaten, or could my body be doing something different and I now have a higher need for calories? or is it just because I have to plan out food better and spend more time thinking about food and it's on my mind? I eat a fair chunk of fruit, so my diet is not always even that "low carb" technically. just missing refined sugar and grain carbs.

any theories even would be appreciated. I have my own theories, and I find metafilter to be a more thoughtful community than a lot of the low-carb forums (which all tend to be weight loss or fitness based, neither of which I'm intensely interested in, I just like to think about some of my body responses.)

Why is suck

chaiminda — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 18:46:34 -0800

Always hungry, except when I eat meat - then I want to throw up. What is wrong with me? About ten months ago I had such terrible nausea/diarrhea that I went into urgent care. They did blood tests and had no idea what was causing any of that, but did diagnose me with pre-diabetes as a result of the blood tests. I did lots more GI tests and was eventually given a blanket "probably" diagnosis of IBS (I was also treated for a parasite, but I feel no different after the treatment). The strength of the GI symptoms comes and goes, but I do almost always feel nauseous while/after eating meat and other high-protein/fat things, like cheese.

Between controlling my blood sugar (I have to eat really, really low carb) and the nausea whenever I eat high-protein stuff, I am pretty miserable a lot of the time. Has anyone experienced anything like this? Is there something I should have my doctor check for? Would a nutritionist be any help?

Oh look, more lembas bread.

Kitty Stardust — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 11:18:15 -0800

Going to DragonCon. Help me feed myself with minimal fuss. Snowcones inside. I'm doing my best to stick to a low-carb diet, one that isn't too dairy dependent, and I have a hard enough time finding quick eats in the best of circumstances. Last year's DragonCon saw me eating rubbery "chikn" filets and protein bars. Well, I've become too sensitive to the sugar alcohols to eat more than 1/3 of any protein bar that's low carb enough to be worth my while. I also don't want to get too much into the trap of paying $15 for a salad with barely two ounces of protein on it. I will have access to a fridge in my hotel room. Suggestions sought for foods that are low-carb, taste okay cold, somewhat portable and don't require plates, utensils, etc . . .

Am I Eating Too Many Carbs or Not Enough?

Kitty Stardust — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 08:41:48 -0800

Self-directed low carb/paleo diet. Totally wrung out after 30 minutes in the gym. Am I doin it rong? I've cut out all starches, grains, potatoes, sugars and processed foods. My diet is most often whey powder, almond milk and 2/3 a cup of frozen berries in a blender for breakfast (sometimes, I add flax or coconut oil to that), salad of some sort with chicken or plain bunless burger (handmade, not fast food) with salsa for lunch. Dinner is usually chicken, salmon or (much more rarely) lamb or beef, all commonly broiled with a large spinach salad (tomato, baby spinach, cukes, lots of herbs like parsley & basil, dressed with only olive oil and lemon juice) and/or some steamed or roasted veg such as broccoli, asparagus, green beans, zucchini, etc. I don't often snack, but if I do it's usually some almonds and/or a bit of imported cheddar cheese. I put some grass-fed butter on my meats and cook some of them in the coconut oil as well. I also take fish oil supplements. I've backed off a lot of the dairy consumption that low-carb diets advise, but still eat small amounts of cheese and butter.

It's all pretty low carb, but for the berries, I suppose. We're going through cherry season, and cherries being my favorite fruit, I had been gorging on them between meals up until two weeks ago. I know Paleo diets tend to be more fruit-friendly than low-carb, but I have regained weight like crazy since I started adding more fruit to my diet. I've had to buy larger sized pants. Since this has been happening, I've tried to really curtail the fruit consumption, but I'm wondering if even the berries are too much sugar for my system. I do give in the occasional peach or strawberries, but then I fear I've had way too much sugar. This happens maybe twice a week or less.

I'm also working out with a personal trainer doing lots of whole-body resistance exercises (walking lunges with a curl, kettlebell squats, weighted woodchoppers) so I'm wondering if that combined with my high protein intake is kind of making my bum & leg muscles grow? Could that account for all my pants being much tighter across the hips & upper thigh?

My trainer recommends I eat all kinds of stuff like plain oatmeal for breakfast, bananas with peanut butter, yogurt with low-fat granola and all other kinds of non-starters for me, but I have to agree with him that my stamina is in pretty short supply when we go through our routine. Then again, this is the first thing I do when I get up and I rarely have time to eat anything first. All the food he recommends give me wicked heartburn, so I'd really rather not, but my legs and arms get wobbly pretty quickly, and I really haven't progressed much in terms of how much weight I can handle.

Oh yeah, I'm a lady, about 35, hitting 180lbs right now (up from about 160 last year) I work as desk job, and I do go in to the gym at least once or twice more a week to do about 50 minutes of cardio. I'm also on an SSRI right now. Hope me tweak my diet?

Lowcarb diets for diabetes control?

zennish — Sun, 27 May 2012 22:33:56 -0800

High-fat low-carb diets for diabetics? Asking for someone else:

Have any of you done/gone on a low-carb diet to control blood sugar for type-2 diabetes? Can you suggest some general guidelines - how many carbs in a day constitutes 'low-carb', how much fat you need, if your blood sugar levels have stablised, etc. Have you experienced any negatives from this diet - for instance, I've heard that high protein intake affects the kidneys?

Thank you!

zennish: the person asking does have a doctor and knows this is all anecdotal. From what I understand, they've always eaten a lowish-carb diet with approx 100g carbs a day, but it either isn't controlling glucose levels accurately any more or they've overestimated their carbohydrate intake. Any advice/stories re. effectiveness/ineffectiveness of low-carb diets would be appreciated.

Is there a way to eat lower-carb as a vegetarian with dietary restrictions?

carbide — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:30:25 -0800

Lowering carbs as a vegetarian with many diet limitations – this seems impossible and I'd love to hear how you navigate it. I'd like to reduce my dependency on carbohydrates for a few reasons: to lose weight, to address feeling unsatiated by meals, and for better overall nutrition. Right now, the core of 75% of meals is carbohydrates – bread, pasta, rice. I am trying to up the veggie component but I wonder if I can do better.

There's two major restrictions that make this seem impossible. One, I'm a vegetarian and have been since I was a kid – I can't stand the texture of meat at all.

Two, I have a digestive disorder that requires extreme diligence to keep it at a level where I can maintain a semi-normal life. I can't eat the following without being ill, except tiny quantities: fruit, nuts, eggs, legumes, milk, textured vegetable protein, oats, coconut milk, fried foods, spicy food, and the worst trigger ever, barley. I can eat a small portion of potatoes, tomatoes, avocados, or quinoa.

On the positive side, I particularly love Japanese and Italian flavours, and I am not trying to go no-carb, just more in balance.

Have you dealt with similar restrictions? How did you handle it? Is there no other choice besides staying pastafied or learning to eat fish for the first time in 20 years?

Please don't give out to me! I find food extremely stressful to discuss and already feel like a terrible person over this.

No more burping due to no carbs?!?

goofyfoot — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 04:28:25 -0800

Burping and no-carb diet. Specifically, can a LACK of burping be due to the no-carb diet? Has this been anyone's experience? I have always been a big burper, even tho I don't drink soda. This was my question. A few years after this question, my boss talked to me about my belching - apparently it irked someone near my office. That's how bad it was.

Tonight, after drinking a lot of wine, I started burping, and my partner and I realized that I hadn't burped in weeks.

Can this possibly be due to cutting out carbs? I've been pretty strict since January - no pasta, no bread, no rice, no spuds - just to see what would happen. It's boring as hell and I was planning on quitting it.

But apparently what's happened is that I've stopped burping. This is an unexpected result, and I can't account for it. There have been no other changes in my diet - I still don't drink soda or coffee, and haven't altered my manner of drinking liquids (which is always a lot of water).

Can anyone here help me understand this? Has this been your experience?

How do I cook healthy food for one?

Night_owl — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 17:07:57 -0800

What are your favorite low-prep, simple, low-carb, healthy meals for one? My go-to meal for the last 5 years or so, when I don't eat with other people, has been (large quantity of shell pasta) + (grated colby jack cheese) + (copious salt and fresh ground black pepper). It hits a comfort food sweet spot for me. But it's not healthy for that to be what I eat most of the time, so I need to come up with some alternatives. Some things I know I need for this to hit the mark:

-hot food. Cold food just doesn't make me full as easily.
-softish texture.
-easy. I don't have to think, I just do, and then it tastes like amazing.
-quick. From water boiling on the stove to in my mouth, it takes 15 minutes. Meals that take up to about half an hour are okay, as are crock pot meals. But I don't want to spend 30 minutes on prep at a time.

I like most common vegetables. I suspect broccoli will be a part of this meal, because it is good at making you feel full. Meat and cheese are both on the table, as are beans.
I like spicy, but would prefer recipes which could be delicious not-spicy, as well.
I like my cheese, but don't want to focus on it because of the fat content.
Ideally, this is something that I can eat over and over, whenever the mood strikes.

A woman cannot live on chili alone: what are some hearty low-carb soups and stews?

mercredi — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 11:35:16 -0800

What are tasty, low-carb soups and stews that keep and re-heat well? I'm working on bringing lunch to work this winter, and while I love chili and chicken tortilla soup, I really need to expand my choices.

My goals are:
- can be made ahead and reheated, so no delicate soups

- low(er) carb, not bean-centric (I'm not trying to go totally primal/paleo, but I'm looking for something other than primarily bean/lentil soups. Beans as an ingredient among others is ok)

- contain a decent amount of protein/fat so that they keep me full til dinner.

[I've seen this post, but the options are mostly lighter and/or don't keep well]

Easy protein-based options for camping food?

adamk — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 19:50:25 -0800

Next month I'm going on a two-week camping trip in New Zealand with Flying Kiwi, a tour company I've used before and enjoyed. My main gripe last time was the food: carbs, carbs, carbs all day long! Cereal and toast for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, and pasta and rice-based dinners most nights along with some beer and cider. I'm looking for easy protein-based alternatives that I can stash in my stuff and turn to whenever I need a break from the carb onslaught. I get it... this is not a fancy hotel. We're camping in tents in beautiful national parks and nature reserves. It's dead simple for a tour company to buy a few loaves of bread and a few boxes of cereal, provide us a toaster and peanut butter and say "breakfast is served!". It's just that after multiple days of eating carbs all day long, I tend to feel gross... even if we are hiking and biking in nature all day long.

At home or when I have access to restaurants, I tend to eat eggs and veggies for breakfast, salads with lean meats for lunch, and then anything I feel like for dinner. Plenty of protein, limited carbs.

The tour company is happy to accommodate dietary restrictions, but as this is more of a preference (I don't REQUIRE a gluten-free diet by any means) I don't feel like making it their problem. I guess I'd be looking for more breakfast and lunch-based options, as I'm fine to join the group for dinner.

I'll have access to a supermarket every day or two, have a very basic kitchen prep area, and will be sharing a cooler with everyone else on the tour for drinks and anything else we want to keep cold. I'd rather not be eating cans of tuna every day, either.

So, hive mind, any great ideas? Cheese and nuts seem easy, perhaps some extra deli meats for myself... eggs seem difficult.

Soup Ideas for Leftovers?

rapidadverbssuck — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 15:54:43 -0800

What kind of soup should I make with leftover Italian pot roast? I made an Italian pot roast with red onions, celery, red wine, olive oil, and plum tomatoes. After eating the roast, there remains ample broth which I would like to make into a soup. What should I add to the onions, celery, and tomatoes? Bonus points for low-carb options.

Portable protein for the picky

darksasami — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 14:51:24 -0800

Inexpensive, low-carb, no-effort, portable protein supplement? So, now that I'm pushing 40 and fighting diabetes, I'm starting to exercise for the first time in my life, despite my utter loathing for the very idea. And I've actually been good about it--my secret has been to go to the gym at the office at about 9 PM, when nobody's there to judge, jeer, or worst of all, jolly. But after three months of mixed cardio and weight training, all indicators point to my having lost zero fat and some 5 pounds of muscle.

I'm attempting to combat this by taking protein after each workout, but I can't find a protein supplement that meets my needs. Can you recommend something I can ingest after a workout that meets all of these requirements? No compromises on any of these items are acceptable.

20g or more of protein
Low or no sugar
Under 8g net carbs
NO sugar alcohols seriously omg you do not want to be around me if I have ingested any sugar alcohols ew ew
Easily transportable
Does not require refrigeration (will live in a gym bag pocket)
Does not require any cooking, mixing with liquid, or other preparation
Costs less than $2 per serving

Some things that would also be nice, but are not required: low fat, low calorie, tastes ok.

I'm on the brink of buying 6 pounds of beef jerky online for $93.41 (woo bulk discount), which would satisfy all of the above requirements, but somehow I have a feeling that is a course of action that could, in only a few moments of self-indulgence, go horribly wrong. I need some alternate viewpoints.

Good bye, my delicious friends!

Tarumba — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 08:11:38 -0800

OK, I'm desperate and I'm ready to try a low carb diet. What should my shopping list look like? I am a pasta eating, rice lover, bread smoochin' kind of person ( I have seriously kissed particularly cuddly pieces of bread that have crossed my path). I am also trying to lose serious (75 lbs) weight. Up to now, a balanced diet has worked. I have lost 30 lbs, but the second half of my journey seems to be blocked by a huge plateau that has lasted about a month. I have been stuck at 176 lbs while working out (running + weights) 6 hours a week and eating 1300 cals a day. I'm sick of it.

So reading AskMeFis, I see people recommend low carb diets a lot, but hey, carbs are like the bulk of my diet! So I would like to know...

What's the science behind this idea?
Has it worked for you?
How does a complete newbie get started?
and the most important part...What are some must haves on my shopping list?

Looking for help with anti-dehydration drink while in ketosis

jpallan — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 01:15:25 -0800

Trying to combat dehydration while on low carbohydrate diet. During ketosis, everything tastes terrible. Trying to keep up with water intake, but ketosis taste in my throat makes plain water terrible. Looking for further suggestions. Normally, I'd drink Gatorade, but I'm otherwise doing well and don't want to set things off course. I need something slightly flavoured, has some electrolytes in it, and can take the taste out of my mouth just long enough to throw it back to where I can drink water again. Since this will happen lots of times, I need a long-term solution. I've already kicked caffeine, so I know it's definitely ketosis playing tricks on me.

ISO lower-carb veggie recipes that freeze well.

mskyle — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 08:24:24 -0800

Looking for recommendations for freezer-friendly recipes with lots of vegetables and less grains/carbs. So, I love to have a freezer full of quick meals I can grab and take to work or heat up at the end of a long day. But I find that a lot of the vegetarian recipes I freeze (e.g. lasagna, burritos, stuffed peppers) tend to be light on the actual veggies and/or heavy on the carbs, which I'd just as soon minimize.

I'm not strictly low-carb/anti-grain, so I don't care if there's some of that in the recipe. I am also not a vegetarian, so recipes with a little bacon, chorizo, chicken broth, or whatever are fine, I just prefer to let a little meat go a long way and have vegetables (and usually legumes) play a larger role in the recipe. Cheese and other dairy are also A-OK, assuming everything freezes well. Soy is not a problem.

Some things I'm already doing:

Lentil soup with carrots, onions, and tomato

Bean-based chili with tomato

Tomato soup

So much soup

Some things I would especially love to have more of:

Recipes where the veggies dominate and taste awesome

Recipes that are not too complicated and/or can easily be made in big batches
Dishes that are hearty enough to serve as lunch on their own

But I'd also love less-filling vegetable-centric dishes that could be paired up with something heartier

Things that can be heated up at work in the microwave (easiest) or toaster oven (still doable) are best

Lay it on me! What are the curries, gratins, casseroles and stews I'm missing?

Easy low-carb vegetarian snacks and meals?

shivohum — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 18:13:03 -0800

Any recommendations for very easy low-carb ovo-lacto vegetarian snacks or meals other than egg dishes or tofu stir fries?

Aroint thee, carbs!

indognito — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 07:55:29 -0800

Will switching to low-carb help quell my emotional eating issues? I love sugar and simple carbs and eating in general. Some of my fondest childhood memories revolve around food—Xmas cookies, chilling out in front of the TV while eating an entire bag of cinnamon candies, pizza on Friday nights, etc. This has not been a terrible problem for me in the past due to my habit of working out like a crazy person. But now I’m 35, and it’s starting to catch up with me. I’m constantly getting injured while working out, my teeth and gums are in bad shape. I still have freakin’ acne, for chrissake! This past winter, I managed to pack on 10 pounds over the course of about 3 months due to inhaling food constantly. It was actually a little frightening how out of control I felt around food.

Since then, I haven’t been able to lose the weight, and I’m dreading a similar scenario this winter when my yearly SAD sets in. I’ve tried all sorts of things to reduce my food intake—counting calories, the No-S Diet, the No Flour No Sugar diet, Eat to Live, trying to focus on what I can eat rather than what I shouldn't. These things usually last all of two or three days before an evil little voice convinces me that there’s no way this is sustainable and I should just give in and try to just watch what I eat like a normal person. But somehow, I never manage to do this. I would really like to lose those 10 pounds and stop thinking about food all the damn time, and I really don’t want to add another 10 pounds this winter.

I’ve read before that low carb diets shut down that constant little whisper that causes people to get out of control around food. It sounds too good to be true, and that’s one of the reasons why I haven’t been able to stick with anything for longer than 3 days to find out. I’m also afraid of the whole “making certain foods off limits only leads to binging.” Does that turn out to be not the case with low carb?

In short, I’d love to hear experiences of those who found that low carb helped stop emotional eating and carb binging, or at least made it easier to resist. Thanks!