Starting CR

[Guest JulesD]

Good day all, I am here asking for opinions and/or any advice you can give me.

 

First let me say I am currently using the Dukan Diet to lose weight, I have gone down from 270 to 211, and still going. Once I get closer to my desired goal I want to move to a CR lifestyle to improve my health and try to extend my time.

 

Some months ago I didn't even think of this Calorie Restriction until I read an article about it and it got me curious. In a way I have been practicing CR for about a year, but never really thought about it. For about a year I have been keeping my calories to as close as 1500 calories/day as possible. Even following the Dukan Diet which lets you eat as much as you want of the permitted foods I stayed within my goal.

 

Currently my fasting glucose levels are at 80 (at least when I tested yesterday for the first time) and about 3-4 hours my lunch yesterday i tried again and had 79, so I guess I am in the range. Nevertheless I have to try that every 20 minutes testing thing mentioned in The CR Way.

 

Also taking my daily vitamins.

 

Where I think I really will need help will be in selecting the right foods to eat.

 

Anyway, hoping anyone can give my some advice on anything. Good luck to all.

[keithsct]

Good day all, I am here asking for opinions and/or any advice you can give me.

 

First let me say I am currently using the Dukan Diet to lose weight, I have gone down from 270 to 211, and still going. Once I get closer to my desired goal I want to move to a CR lifestyle to improve my health and try to extend my time.

 

Some months ago I didn't even think of this Calorie Restriction until I read an article about it and it got me curious. In a way I have been practicing CR for about a year, but never really thought about it. For about a year I have been keeping my calories to as close as 1500 calories/day as possible. Even following the Dukan Diet which lets you eat as much as you want of the permitted foods I stayed within my goal.

 

Currently my fasting glucose levels are at 80 (at least when I tested yesterday for the first time) and about 3-4 hours my lunch yesterday i tried again and had 79, so I guess I am in the range. Nevertheless I have to try that every 20 minutes testing thing mentioned in The CR Way.

 

Also taking my daily vitamins.

 

Where I think I really will need help will be in selecting the right foods to eat.

 

Anyway, hoping anyone can give my some advice on anything. Good luck to all.

 

Hi Jules, Good work on getting off that weight. It's a great start. You don't mention your height, but it sounds like your moving closer to a normal weight range.

 

I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of the Dukan diet. I prefer a more balanced approach to eating that seems to be adopted at later stages in the Dukan diet. A CRON diet is really more of a lifestyle change than a diet. In particular I disagree with the high protein aspects of the Dukan diet that I see as unbalanced and likely to create vitamin or mineral deficiencies if followed for any length of time. My experience is that weight will come off gradually if you eat a strictly balanced diet with lots of non-starchy vegetables and some proteins with the balance being healthy fats. There is also the issue of losing too much weight too quickly. It causes the release of toxins that have been stored in your fat cells to be released into the blood stream. If you lose weight too quickly, you'll have a higher concentration of toxins than your body can clear using liver and kidneys.

 

Your glucose levels seem very good. Actually probably too good for someone at your stage of dietary health. To me that's an indicator that you might be too high on protein? Anyway at least all the machinery is working good!!

 

Sticking with 1500 calories per day may be good during the phase when you're dropping lots of weight, but you should fine tune that number when you get within about 20 lbs of your desired target weight. At least with that amount of calories, you can get enough high nutrition foods to get most if not all of your vitamin and mineral needs.

 

When taking your daily vitamins, you should consider only supplementing the ones you really need, not a general multi vitamin. This means that you need to analyze the food that you eat, and then supplement anything your short on. A program like CRON-o-Meter can really help with that.

 

The right foods to eat are pretty easy. Lots of vegetables like spinach, mushroom, sweet potato/yam, brown rice, carrots, beets, beans, egg plant, peas, green beans, lentils should be the foundation of your diet and represent 70 - 80 % of your foods. A good protein source like tofu, quorn or fish. Finally healthy fats like flax seeds, nuts, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, flax seed oil, fish oil, olive oil. Season with your favorite spices like curry, salt, potassium salt, pepper, paprika etc. For dessert I recommend a limited amount of berries such as blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries along with cantaloupe and pumpkin seeds.

 

I eat the above foods as soups and salads. I limit my grains quite a bit so that I only have 20 g (dry weight) oatmeal per day along with the 40 g cooked brown rice. Most grains don't have very much nutrition for the amount of calories they contain. Nutrient-Dense and Calorie-Light is the way to go!!

 

I'd be happy to answer any specific questions on any food choices.

Cheers,

Keith

[Guest JulesD]

Hi Jules, Good work on getting off that weight. It's a great start. You don't mention your height, but it sounds like your moving closer to a normal weight range.

 

I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of the Dukan diet. I prefer a more balanced approach to eating that seems to be adopted at later stages in the Dukan diet. A CRON diet is really more of a lifestyle change than a diet. In particular I disagree with the high protein aspects of the Dukan diet that I see as unbalanced and likely to create vitamin or mineral deficiencies if followed for any length of time. My experience is that weight will come off gradually if you eat a strictly balanced diet with lots of non-starchy vegetables and some proteins with the balance being healthy fats. There is also the issue of losing too much weight too quickly. It causes the release of toxins that have been stored in your fat cells to be released into the blood stream. If you lose weight too quickly, you'll have a higher concentration of toxins than your body can clear using liver and kidneys.

 

Your glucose levels seem very good. Actually probably too good for someone at your stage of dietary health. To me that's an indicator that you might be too high on protein? Anyway at least all the machinery is working good!!

 

Sticking with 1500 calories per day may be good during the phase when you're dropping lots of weight, but you should fine tune that number when you get within about 20 lbs of your desired target weight. At least with that amount of calories, you can get enough high nutrition foods to get most if not all of your vitamin and mineral needs.

 

When taking your daily vitamins, you should consider only supplementing the ones you really need, not a general multi vitamin. This means that you need to analyze the food that you eat, and then supplement anything your short on. A program like CRON-o-Meter can really help with that.

 

The right foods to eat are pretty easy. Lots of vegetables like spinach, mushroom, sweet potato/yam, brown rice, carrots, beets, beans, egg plant, peas, green beans, lentils should be the foundation of your diet and represent 70 - 80 % of your foods. A good protein source like tofu, quorn or fish. Finally healthy fats like flax seeds, nuts, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, flax seed oil, fish oil, olive oil. Season with your favorite spices like curry, salt, potassium salt, pepper, paprika etc. For dessert I recommend a limited amount of berries such as blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries along with cantaloupe and pumpkin seeds.

 

I eat the above foods as soups and salads. I limit my grains quite a bit so that I only have 20 g (dry weight) oatmeal per day along with the 40 g cooked brown rice. Most grains don't have very much nutrition for the amount of calories they contain. Nutrient-Dense and Calorie-Light is the way to go!!

 

I'd be happy to answer any specific questions on any food choices.

Cheers,

Keith

 

 

Thank you for the response, I am 25 years old, 5' 11''. When I get to 200 pounds I am moving away from the strict 2 step of the Dukan Diet to the later steps and start really implementing CR life style.

 

During the Dukan Diet my meal plans are mostly:

1st day - egg or tofu for breakfast, grilled chicken breast for lunch and grilled chicken breats or roasted chicken for diner.

2nd day - egg or tofu for breakfast, Spinach, mixed greens or romaine salad with tomatoes, mushrooms, onions and black olives (vinegar as dressing) and dinner usually another salad.

 

So yes, right now I am very high on protein and very low carbs (although from time to time I may taste some small less than 2g carbs snack)

As far as the vitamins go, I take the Adult gummy vitamins, which I think have enough and not too much of necessary vitamins, Vitamin C (1000g/daily) and Biotin (although not necessary trying it for hair health).

[keithsct]

Thank you for the response, I am 25 years old, 5' 11''. When I get to 200 pounds I am moving away from the strict 2 step of the Dukan Diet to the later steps and start really implementing CR life style.

 

During the Dukan Diet my meal plans are mostly:

1st day - egg or tofu for breakfast, grilled chicken breast for lunch and grilled chicken breats or roasted chicken for diner.

2nd day - egg or tofu for breakfast, Spinach, mixed greens or romaine salad with tomatoes, mushrooms, onions and black olives (vinegar as dressing) and dinner usually another salad.

 

So yes, right now I am very high on protein and very low carbs (although from time to time I may taste some small less than 2g carbs snack)

As far as the vitamins go, I take the Adult gummy vitamins, which I think have enough and not too much of necessary vitamins, Vitamin C (1000g/daily) and Biotin (although not necessary trying it for hair health).

You really should weigh out put a representative days or two's eating into a program like CRON-o-Meter and see what your real nutrition is like. A deficiency of any vitamins or minerals is likely to make your hunger level increase, and could cause a deficiency related problem. Most of your excess water weight should be gone by now, so high protein won't help so much. When you reintroduce carbs into your diet, do it very slowly and deliberately. Add only one or two foods at a time and give your body a chance to adjust to the new way of eating. Your gut bio diversity will need to change and also the way your liver works will slowly morph according to your diet.

 

On your salad, make sure you have some kind of fat with it like olive oil. It improves the absorption of nutrients dramatically.

Good luck on the last few lbs. Be good for Christmas and don't over do it too much ! :)

Cheers.