Originally Posted by dadi  So, I have spent most of the last day reading through the forum, and found a lot of excellent advice, and answers to several questions which were clouding my brain. But, I have a few more, and haven't found any topic dealing with those until now, so I'd be glad if some of you more experienced people maybe can enlighten me! I also have not yet read "THE" book, because I live in Europe and it takes Amazon quite some time to deliver over here, alas! I can't wait to hold it in my chubby little hands.
So, here come the questions. I am on day 4 of induction, and have lost 2 pounds so far (all on the first day, nothing after that, but I do feel a bit lighter around the waist, and I also have been exercising, so I think this is normal).
1. I have EXTREMELY low blood pressure at the best of times (80/55) and the combination low carb/no caffeine kills me dead. The first two days I actually risked passing out several times because I tried to avoid caffeine. I don't drink a lot of coffee usually, only when I feel the pressure going down dangerously, but over the last few days I had to drink at least two cups a day, otherwise I could not stand upright. I don't even like the stuff, I only take it "as a medicine", but if I want to be halfway functional, I have to resort to it, alas. So, does this somehow impact on my possible weight loss? I was not able to find anything about that! (I put a drop or two of liquid sweetener into it).
2. I have gone through what I have seen refered to "induction flu" after about 24 hours, with headache, foggy head, weakness, etc. This has settled mostly down, but there is another symptom which turned up together with the flu, and to which I can't find any reference anywhere: a dry, nervous cough which is more a shortness of breath and the feeling of my lungs being filled up with something than a symptom of a respiratory infection. As this is the 3rd day of the cough now, and it has neither gotten worse nor better, I thought I'd ask if anybody else has experienced something like that. It is not always there, I have been completely ok while jogging (not coughed once), I don't cough during the night, and also not all the time during the day, but when it starts, it lasts for quite some time. It doesn't hurt at all, it is just strange.
3. Measures and conversions: I am certainly having a few problems with this.. I have found tables where the quantities are also expressed in liters and kilograms, but most receipes obviously give them in cups and ounces, and I REALLY can't get how much a cup of salad greens would be.. I usually eat enormous amounts of salad and other vegetables, and this is one of the hardest aspects of this diet for me, much more than renouncing the bread (I am gluten intolerant anyway, so usually don't eat much of that), and I am having a hard time to find out how much of my beloved raw veggies I can still eat. Any advice is welcome.. for example, a picture showing a bowl or a normal dish with a cup of greens on them so I can get an idea! My conversion chart says 0,25 liters, but I can't imagine salad in liters either! HELP
4. Always in the conversion cathegory, could it be that a few items in the food list, even if they have the same name, have different carb contents in Europe and the US? Example, mozzarella. The one I buy gives on its consumer information 1 g carbs per 100 g produce. One mozzarella weights 125 gram, therefore if I eat one at each meal (I love them and particularly at breakfast they allow me to CHEW something, I used to eat an enormous bowl of fresh crunchy fruit, *cry* before I started this diet..). But most of the US food lists give much higher amounts for mozzarella, so how can I know how much of it I can eat? (Also, how much is a cup of mozzarella? Again, I can't imagine anything with the volume measurement!)
5. Last but not least, I feel rather jumpy (not in a bad mood, just in a state of constant agitation) most of the time, also during the night, and am sleeping VERY badly (due also to the fact that I have constantly to get up and ..unload.. the water take on during the day. I have a light sleep even at the best of times, the last three nights I felt like I didn't sleep at all (don't feel too tired though, only this strange wrought-up-ness). Will this go away? Or am I doing something wrong?
My basic daily menu is 2 scrambled eggs and 1 sliced mozzarella for breakfast, grilled chicken and salad for lunch, celery or cucumber slices and a few cubes of swiss cheese in the afternoon, cauliflower or broccoli or cabbage with bacon, 1 egg and a slice or two of swiss cheese or similar in the evening. I do drink at least half a gallon of water during the day, a big pot of tea in the morning and a diet coke during the day.
Thank you for any advice and sorry for the language errors, English is only my third language..! |