Nut Rung questions

[PeteinVA]

One day I had almonds, then two days later I had pumpkin seeds. It's not much more than that sort of thing.

Next week I'm going to do the berry thing. I took your advice and had a bigger salad with dinner last night. I need to get my carbs up but believe it or not I'm a little obsessed with calorie-couunting hhah I don't want to go above 1500 a day.

Thanks again for your input and support I appreciate it!

[Georgiana]

If your "no more than 20 grams of carbohydrate" during Induction were less than 20 g (which is a debate for another thread), then it is normal not to eat 25 g in OWL Rung 1, 30 g in OWL Rung 2 and so on.

In OWL, add no more than 5 net carbs per week, but when you add nuts, add them in 1 oz amounts (and 1/2 oz for cashews), not 5 net carbs. There are also some rungs where you might not want to add 5 net carbs. For example, I didn't add 5 net carbs of wine since I only use wine in cooking. It was my choice and does not go against the Rules of OWL.

I'm not one to push food down someone's neck, but why are you trying to restrict your calories to 1500? Some days you might be hungry for 2200 calories, while other days you might want only 1300. If you go by hunger, your body should know how much it needs. Not eating enough can interfere with your weight loss just like overeating can.

[liv]

Originally Posted by PeteinVA

One day I had almonds, then two days later I had pumpkin seeds. It's not much more than that sort of thing.

Next week I'm going to do the berry thing. I took your advice and had a bigger salad with dinner last night. I need to get my carbs up but believe it or not I'm a little obsessed with calorie-couunting hhah I don't want to go above 1500 a day.

Thanks again for your input and support I appreciate it!

Don't be obsessed with calori counting. Though keeping an eye on it is OK, we should be obsessed with what we eat.
When I try out a new food - I try it three times before moving to the next new food. So on the nut rung I would have done almonds one week, then pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sun flower seeds, cashews, walnuts, [or at least some of them - sesame seeds are very health] Yes remember that there are special rules for amounts of nuts but not seeds.
Have you tried the flax muffin? Or perhaps some baking with almond and flax? This is one of the most important and cool rungs in my opinion

[Elizellen]

Originally Posted by PeteinVA

I'm wondering what I should be looking for when I read people talking about "watch how you react to these foods" What do you mean, like the scale? Or just cravings?

Take a look at the 'Blood Sugar symptoms' chart in Chapter 12 of DANDR (page 150 in my copy). Seeing any of these occur after adding a new food would be an alarm bell.

[not2late]

I agree with Elizellen. Taking the Blood Sugar Symptom Test is probably more reliable and is definitely a faster way to tell if a food "gives you problems".

If you are having difficulties with portion control (since nuts/seeds are the one food that doesn't follow the 5 net carb rule of OWL), use nuts as ingredients in your foods. For example, if you make a stirfry add cashews or almonds to it. Use finely chopped or ground nuts, like pecans or almonds as "breading" for meats. Use nutbutters as thickeners for sauces or thin them out for sauces.

[mizski]

Originally Posted by not2late

use nuts as ingredients in your foods. For example, if you make a stirfry add cashews or almonds to it. Use finely chopped or ground nuts, like pecans or almonds as "breading" for meats. Use nutbutters as thickeners for sauces or thin them out for sauces.

That is what I've done with this rung. I do have a bag of almond flour in the freezer but don't really want to start baking things at this time. It took me a long time to break away from having breads, muffins, crackers or other bakery type things and I'm hesitant to start adding them back. Perhaps over the holidays when I may want something special.

[JulieB]

Originally Posted by liv

When I try out a new food - I try it three times before moving to the next new food. So on the nut rung I would have done almonds one week, then pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sun flower seeds, cashews, walnuts, [or at least some of them - sesame seeds are very health]

I do the same, one food/week, not one week/rung. (I have lots of time on my hands...got another 75+lbs to go ).

I also agree with the blood sugar test as being a good way to gauge your reaction to a new food.

[PeteinVA]

Thanks y'all I'm much obliged- this is all very helpful. It's taken me a couple of weeks but I think I'm much clearer on the program.

[mizski]

Originally Posted by JulieB

I do the same, one food/week, not one week/rung.

I've read this before on ADBB and it still puzzles me. If you spend one week trying out one food, couldn't it theoretically take you years to get through OWL?

[PeteinVA]

Originally Posted by mizski

I've read this before on ADBB and it still puzzles me. If you spend one week trying out one food, couldn't it theoretically take you years to get through OWL?

This puzzles me too! A lot hehh

My first rung I added salad veggies. That was like 2 weeks I think. Didn't know what to think about it. I skipped dairy (enough cheese it feels like it never digests) and went right to nuts. The first week here I added pumpkin seeds and made the mistake two days later of adding sunflower seeds. I mean I'm not supposed to add another food as I won't kniow which I may not react to right (?-puzzling, doesn't sit well with me).

Two days later I had peanuts. hehh

This week I'm starting berries so am adding blueberries/raspberries. But I've also decided well yogurt is a no no forever but I love plain nonfat nothing artificial type yogurt and believe IN IT (if this makes sense). So I'm going to add that too.

So right here I'm screwing up the rungs because I can't do that week by week "add a food". But to me I eat no sugar and flour or bread and don't want to so I need to play with some of this food. AND get my carbs up past 100 over the next couple of weeks (through vegetables/fruit in bigger quanity).

Thinking out loud here.