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[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #00adef;”] W[/dropcap]hen I was first diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes, part of the treatment was to keep a food diary for a week.
Then I met with a dietician at the hospital to review what I’d been eating and my blood glucose readings.
While my blood sugar was exactly where it should be, my dietician was worried about me.
Haven’t you been feeling hungry?
You haven’t been having any snacks. Are you sure you’re not hungry all the time?
The thing is, I was feeling great.
For me, eating Low Carb wasn’t hard at all.
I was (and still am) completely satisfied by my meals so I hardly ever feel the need to snack.
But it did get me thinking about why some people really struggle to eat Low Carb…
What are the 2 biggest low carb mistakes?
Low Carb Mistake 1.
Not eating enough fat.
Our bodies have two options for fuel. Carbohydrates and fat.
It doesn’t take much imagination to see that if you’re cutting back on carbs to avoid a blood sugar roller coaster ride, then you need to switch to the other fuel source.
Hello our friend fat.
I know after all those years of hearing that fat is ‘bad’ and that ‘eating fat is going to make you fat’ it can be scary to start drizzling oil and butter on everything.
It doesn’t have to be hard.
Just include some fat with every meal. ‘
A handful of nuts, avocado, mayonnaise or peppery extra virgin olive oil. Yum.
If you’d like help transitioning to a Low Carb lifestyle, you can always join Simple Meal Plans. All the meals are low carb with the right amount of fat to keep you satisfied. Exactly how I eat every day.
So you won’t need to worry about anything.
Low Carb Mistake 2.
Trying a quick fix ‘diet’ approach.
One of the biggest problems with diets is that they focus on getting to a particular weight or fitting into those jeans.
So all your attention is focused on the outcome rather than the everyday changes that you need to make to get there.
But it’s way more complex than that.
Your health is determined by the accumulation of your food and lifestyle choices over the weeks, months and years.
Not one point in time when you’re on your best ‘dieting’ behaviour.
There is another solution!
It’s all about taking a long term approach to build your habits to put healthy eating on ‘autopilot’.
It can take time, but by taking small steps you’ll not only get where you want to go.
You’ll be able to stay there. Even when the world is a little crazy.
What about you?
Have you made either of these mistakes? Or is something else holding you back?
Let me know in the comments below.
With love
Jules x
More on healthy eating
- 3 Most Surprising Lessons from my continuous blood glucose monitor
- 14 Fun & Random Facts About Me
- 6 Surprising Lessons from Having Gestational Diabetes
- 12 Counter-Intuitive Ways to Improve Sleep
- How I Tamed My Alcohol Addiction
- 3 Reasons I LOVE Eating Low Carb
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I am happy to report that I have not made either mistake. Probably because I always read your blog and find out what you are doing. ? The other thing in my favor is that am totally sick of dieting. The last plan I was on supposedly kept us eating normally, but in the end it was another diet. The nice thing about eating lower carb is that I can choose what I eat. The way I’ve worked it out, there are some carbs I will eat (like a real tortilla for my quesadilla, though I do peel off one layer of it and baked potato skin with butter), and some I will not. My goal is to keep my carbs reasonably low and that keeps me feeling quite satisfied, because it’s totally flexible.
You are an excellent student Susan!
And I love that you’ve worked out which carbs are worth it for you :)
I never made those mistakes… but my dietitian did. I gained 10 kilos in half a year due to illness (several of the treatments had weight gain as a side effect) and after finishing treatment contacted a dietitian. She strongly limited my carbs (even whole grains, even beans, even sweet potato, even whole fruit!) but also strongly limited the fat in my food (both added fat and naturally fat foodstuff)… and on the last consultation she reduced my food intake even more as I wasn’t losing any weight and she was adamant that she wished me to lose 3 kg of body fat (as measured by the BIA) in 6 weeks.
After I spent some weeks having severe anxiety surrounding food, being unable to concentrate on my work during the day and having low energy and bad brain all day, and after talking with the dietitian and not having an explanation on the reason for her plan or her expectations or her “hurry”, I decided we are not a good fit and will be trying to regain my healthy weight by myself, at my pace, even if it takes me 2 or 3 years. I don’t mind.
Thanks for sharing your story T.
I’m so glad you got to a place where you’re happy to play the long game.
Ive been eating low carb since following Gary and Belinda Fettke and ALL that jazz!! (When is a dietitian not a nutritionist) After becoming an enrolled nurse late in life, I became very disheartened with the muck that was coming out of the aged- care-home kitchens! How could we feed this processed yuk to some of the best country cooks noted in our communities; who had cooked from home grown gardens and farms across the country?
Anyway, I’ve been following you, your boys and hubby, & more so now that you have gone low carb. I have always loved cooking for my 4 boys, 1 daughter and hubby too and love Yotham Ottolenghi also. Ive printed off your magical burger buns as I need a “go to” low carb bun as I have a gluten/lactose allergy. I love all your extra tips like not using balsamic.!!! Anyway cheers for your stone soup blog!
oh lovely to hear from you Wendy!
Thanks for taking the time to say hello :)