Ready To Go, But Don't Know How To Start -- HELP!

[Guest guest]

I think my fingers just fired off a blank post, blame it on " sugar " jitters!

All night, my brain has been churnin' on " high protein, low carb, what am I

afraid of?!? " (like giving up my Detour bar!). This morning, after having my

Kashi Crunch & F/F Milk with Strawberries breakfast, I thought I should

explore the high protein/low carb options. I am exactly ONE week away from my

TT,

and seems to me like maybe this is a good week to give high protein/low carb a

whirl, esp that I am up 4 lbs from where I want to be ideally going into

surgery. ly, I am not sure how best to go about this, esp incorporating

the shakes into a day's diet etc. This is what confuses me. Are the shakes

used as a meal replacement?, or an adjunct to meals like a " snack " ? So,

would a breakfast be a shake, and nothing else? Lunch? Dinner? What carbs

are recommended (veggies, but no fruit at first I would assume????). What

about fiber (should I supplement with Citrucel?) In the spirit of self-help, I

went to my copy of South Beach Diet, which I hadn't really examined till this

morning, and got some clues, I think, as to food choices, but still don't know

how or when to slam down those shakes, or even how many to slam down per day.

And just leafing through South Beach, immediately I found what seems to be a

total contradiction, and it is the sort of thing that drives me NUTSO: on

page 49 he states the following: " Mustard's great, and even mayonnaise, as

long as you don't overdo it. Remember to use the regular kind, not the low

fat. Regular mayo is high in fat, but it is predominantly soybean oil, a good

fat... " THEN I am checking out " Phase One " recipes, and on page 179 he has

one for " Cilantro Mayonnaise " where the VERY FIRST ingredient is " 3/4 cup of

reduced-fat mayonnaise. " HELLO AM I CRAZY OR WHAT? Does this not seem a tad

contradictory? Lest I appear to be overly obsessive about mayo, I just

wanna know if I want to eat tuna salad as a protein source, can I put some damn

mayo in it, and if I can, WHAT KIND? Even more precariously, can I chop up a

small amount of celery into it or what?, cause right now I am not entirely

trusting the South Beach guy. And here is the most important question: do I

have to give up my nightly mug of s/f f/f cocoa, later followed by my nightly

serving of s/f f/f chocolate pudding (dollop of f/f Cool Whip on top)??? I

think I can ditch the Detour bar, but the cocoa and pudding would be extremely

painful to relinquish (she says, pathetically). Seriously though, I would be

MOST grateful for advice.

Chocaholically yours,

Lucille

[Guest guest]

> I think my fingers just fired off a blank post, blame it on " sugar "

jitters! All night, my brain has been churnin' on " high protein, low

carb, what am I afraid of?!? " (like giving up my Detour bar!). This

morning, after having my Kashi Crunch & F/F Milk with Strawberries

breakfast, I thought I should explore the high protein/low carb

options. I am exactly ONE week away from my TT, and seems to me

like maybe this is a good week to give high protein/low carb a

whirl, esp that I am up 4 lbs from where I want to be ideally going

into surgery. ly, I am not sure how best to go about this, esp

incorporating the shakes into a day's diet etc. This is what

confuses me. Are the shakes used as a meal replacement?, or an

adjunct to meals like a " snack " ? So, would a breakfast be a shake,

and nothing else? Lunch? Dinner? What carbs are recommended

(veggies, but no fruit at first I would assume????). What about fiber

(should I supplement with Citrucel?) In the spirit of self-help, I

went to my copy of South Beach Diet, which I hadn't really examined

till this morning, and got some clues, I think, as to food choices,

but still don't know how or when to slam down those shakes, or even

how many to slam down per day. And just leafing through South Beach,

immediately I found what seems to be a total contradiction, and it is

the sort of thing that drives me NUTSO: on page 49 he states the

following: " Mustard's great, and even mayonnaise, as long as you

don't overdo it. Remember to use the regular kind, not the low

fat. Regular mayo is high in fat, but it is predominantly soybean

oil, a good fat... " THEN I am checking out " Phase One " recipes,

and on page 179 he has one for " Cilantro Mayonnaise " where the VERY

FIRST ingredient is " 3/4 cup of reduced-fat mayonnaise. " HELLO AM

I CRAZY OR WHAT? Does this not seem a tad contradictory? Lest I

appear to be overly obsessive about mayo, I just wanna know if I want

to eat tuna salad as a protein source, can I put some damn mayo in

it, and if I can, WHAT KIND? Even more precariously, can I chop up

a small amount of celery into it or what?, cause right now I am not

entirely trusting the South Beach guy. And here is the most

important question: do I have to give up my nightly mug of s/f f/f

cocoa, later followed by my nightly serving of s/f f/f chocolate

pudding (dollop of f/f Cool Whip on top)??? I think I can ditch the

Detour bar, but the cocoa and pudding would be extremely painful to

relinquish (she says, pathetically). Seriously though, I would be

MOST grateful for advice. <<<

Hello Lucille!

First piece of advice - take a deep breath - now take a couple more

deep breaths and exhale s-l-o-w-l-y. LOL

It does sound like you might benefit from altering your diet a bit by

moving away from some of the carbs. From what I have read about the

South Beach Diet, it focuses on getting rid of the simple sugars and

refined carbs. That's a good thing because we all need complex carbs

that have a low glycemic index rating but need to avoid the simple

carbs with a high glycemic index rating.

Next piece of advice - start you day with a protein shake. That's the

first thing I do when I get up. It gives me a good solid protein base

for feeding my hungry muscles (they haven't had any fuel all night!)

and to keep the carb cravings at bay. A couple of hours later, I have

some food - the shakes are not a meal replacement but are a 'meat'

replacement - something like a piece of cheese with a whole wheat

cracker or some cottage cheese, etc. I alternate eating and shakes

throughout the day - I am distal so I have 6 shakes and 3 to 4 SMALL

meals each day. Other meals might be a little bowl of refried beans

with cheese sprinkles over it, tuna, ham or chicken salad (great on

cucumber rounds), some veggies stir fried in olive oil and butter and

some provolone cheese melted over them, cottage cheese with ground

flax seed sprinkled over it or peanut butter and sugar free jelly on

whole wheat bread (half a sandwich), etc. I occasionally eat a few

slices of apple, some berries, or a couple of orange segments. I keep

my fruits to a minimum because of the sugar. It may be natural sugar,

but it is sugar. So when I eat fruit, I try to eat fruit that has a

good bit of fiber in it as well. I never eat a whole fruit (except

berries, of course!)

Not sure why the discrepancy in the book over mayo. Probably because

they get their recipes from lots of sources and the editor slipped

up. I use full fat mayo, within reason of course - I don't put a pint

of mayo in a can of tuna, but I use the real thing. Most reduced fat

foods use sugar to replace the flavor lost by removing fat. And if

you want a little celery chopped up in your tuna, go for it. It has

lots of fiber. Just be sure to chop it up finely and/or remove the

strings first.

About the sf ff cocoa...how are you making it? Not with milk, right?

And is it really sf or just no sugar added? I always check the

nutrition label. Sometimes the names can be deceptive. I make my own

cocoa using Better Than Milk, cocoa powder, splenda and a little sf

Da Vinci toasted marshmallow syrup - and throw a little ProCel

protein powder for extra value. Yum. Same for the pudding. Are you

making it with milk? There's the sugar again - 12 grams of sugar for

an 8 ounce portion of any milk, whether it's whole or fat free. I

haven't tried it cause pudding isn't my thing, but you might try it

made with Better Than Milk. Or better, how about a nice chocolate

protein shake topped off with a dollop of cool whip. Have you tried

ProScore 100 or Pure Whey Stack in chocolate? Who needs pudding!

I use protein bars sometimes as a quick meal. I only use half of a

Detour, though. Too many sugar grams in a whole on. I also use the

Tri-O-Plex bars - again a half or a third cause they are big - or the

Strata bars that are alot like the Detour but smaller and less sugar

and carbs.

For fiber, you might want to pick up some ground flax seed to

sprinkle over some foods or add to one or two of your shakes a day.

It adds a nutty taste and some body to them.

With surgery coming up, you would probably benefit from protein

loading so your tissues are nice and firm and you heal better. Just

add several additional protein shakes a day and it should really help.

Best of luck with your TT. I hope to have mine in December. And

remember - breathe!! LOL

Sheri

In sunny Florida