Still confused..please help

[Binsk]

Still confused as to how long you stay in a rung. I have read the stickies, and loonitika refers to a week. I have now been on the veggie rung for 2 weeks, and on strick induction for 1 month, before that on modified induction for about 2 years. When I say modified, I mean that I was trying to stay within some parameters because of my diabetes - not going over 6 g of carbs in the morning, severely limiting tomatoes and onions (but have now added in a bit more), having a snack before bed even if I wasn't hungry to keep my morning blood sugar down. I did gain weight last year, when I started eating way too much legal food (let's just call it the summer of wings).

I would like to move to the dairy rung, and stay there about 2 weeks. I know that there are some things that I will never have because of the diabetes (a big glass of milk).

If I averaged 2 weeks for every rung, that would almost be half a year to get through the rungs. I do want to take advantage of the summer months and have some berries and some other fruit (always in limited quantities).

[not2late]

You don't have to go through all the rungs. For example, I skipped the alcohol rung and I stayed on the starchy veg and grain rungs for a week each.

Couple of things to ask you:
How did adding 5 net carbs affect your weight loss?
Did you try out any new Induction veggies? How did they affect you?

If the additional carbs didn't hinder your progress and if the veggies you added didn't slow cause any blood sugar instability problems, then move on.

Just be aware that Rung 1 is a "freebee" type rung because the foods you added most likely aren't new to you (unless you wanted to try a veggie on the Induction Food List that you didn't have during Induction like sorrell or endive). When you begin the remaining rungs, keep a very careful food diary and make sure you add things in 1 at a time, every other day. Also a hint about the dairy rung: during OWL, you do not eat more added fat. That is, you eat the same amount of fat that you did during Induction or slightly less. So during the Dairy Rung, take care that you aren't eating 4 ounces of hard cheeses plus 5 net carbs of fresh cheese on the same day. If you choose to eat these foods then, decrease your hard cheese to 1 or 2 ounces or ditch a tablespoon of mayo/butter/oil from your menu for the day.

[Binsk]

Thanks for your response Megs. My weight loss is slow (always was) so I do not know if OWL has slowed it down yet. I am not sure that I will be adding 5g carbs per rung, but more keeping the carbs at about the same limit for good. I have been able to keep my blood sugar reading in a good range (almost normal) and I do not want to go back to a time when they were higher and I felt terrible. I do want to start eating different things, after 2 years I know that I need to do this or I will go mad.

[not2late]

I lose weight slowly too. Since you're a diabetic, your glucometer readings will help you when you try out new foods because if the food has an effect on your blood sugar, you'll be able to see it. The rest of us either have to rely on the weekly weigh-ins or on the Blood Sugar Stability Test in the book.

You might want to try to go up the ladder just to see what the addition of 5 net carbs would do to you. For some people, they lose weight at a more regular pace than they did during their prolonged Induction. Dr. Atkins doesn't explain why this happens in the book. However, he did mention that if you are a regular exerciser your CCLL will be higher than if you are not a regular exerciser. He defined "regular exercise" as at least 45 minutes of vigorous exercise at least 5 times a week. So you might be able to eat more carbs. I've found that my CCLL actually increased during my time on OWL due to my exercise. But I also think that happened because I'm a small person now and I've cut out alot of 'junk' (preservatives, additives, etc.) from my diet.

Going up the ladder might also prevent you from over-eating your protein. I noticed you mentioned the "summer of wings". As you know eating too much protein is essentially eating extra carbs because the excess protein converts to glucose (which is stored as fat). Since 58% of the protein we eat is converted to glucose, then if you eat 10 extra grams of protein, your body will produce 5.8 grams of carbs, which is the equivalent of eating about 1/2 cup of blackberries.

If you do choose to do a modified OWL (staying at Induction level carbs while going up the ladder), you'll have to give up 5 net carbs of some Induction food for the OWL ladder food. In this instance, you're better off exchanging a non-veg carb, like heavy cream, coffee/tea, Splenda and part of your cheese allotment, for that OWL 5 net gram food. Veggies, afterall, provide us with fiber, vitamins and minerals, so they are a better nutritional choice than your 3 Splenda allotments, coffee or even the heavy cream.

[Binsk]

Thanks for your advice Megs. I will have to test more frequently now that I'm in OWL.

[2big4mysize]

yep remember just cause you can have 5 net carbs of cream on rung 2 doesn't mean you have to add it all back. Your blood sugar meter will be invaluble to you. however one bad test doesn't mean it was the foods faulth cause eating and doing the exact same thing doesn't always give the exact same reading so test a food and give it a second chance before you punt it cause your blood sugar went up.