This is just a little snippet of what Islandgirl gets to do for a living. This appeared in a supplement in yesterday's
The Royal Gazette:
Cutting out carbohydrates from my diet is probably just under jumping out of an airplane on the list of things I would never do. Coming from a partly Portuguese family- I only have about a quarter, but it’s a strong quarter- I blame my breadaholism on my ancestry.
Because I’ve been carrying a few extra pounds around my midsection, I figured it probably wasn’t a bad idea to cut out some sugar and maybe a slice of bread every now and then.
Lately, diets such as Atkins, the Zone, and South Beach have had so much publicity. Several of these ‘fad’ diets have produced enough food products to fill a person’s pantry and many people see them as money makers rather than people helpers.
In the beginning of many of these diet plans people will drastically lose weight. With diets such as the South Beach, where some carbohydrates are reintroduced into the diet after two weeks, many dieters have the difficult time of keeping that weight off once those foods have been reintroduced.
In the hopes of finding out what all the hype was about many of these diets, a friend and I decided to take up the challenge and put ourselves through a fad diet regimen. I learned a lot. Probably more than I ever needed to know about the effects of sugar on my body. Here is the diary that I kept over the four weeks on the South Beach diet.
Phase One
December 6- Day One
Weight: 160 pounds
I cooked a batch of South Beach diet quiches and had my first two this morning. They’re not bad and are actually a nice mix of spinach, egg, cheese and onions. By 10 a.m. I’m hungry again and reach for the old low-carb diet favourite: string cheese.
I’d forgotten why it was that I loved these so much as a child. They taste too much like plastic. At 1 p.m. I prepare a breadless sandwich topped with balsamic vinegar and olive oil and it isn’t too bad. My mother is cooking tonight and I realise fast how it is that people can become severely depressed on these types of diets and possibly go into fits of rage towards carbohydrate eaters around them.
My mom cooks me a separate plate of shrimp, ones that haven’t been swimming in a lovely, sweet cream sauce, and I get to eat them alone, without any noodles. Halfway through the meal I have to cover up the bread basket that somehow snuck in front of my plate.
Dr. Arthur Agatston, the man who created this hell- I mean diet, reminds readers in his book that the cravings only last two to three days. I don’t go to bed hungry, at least.
December 7- Day Two
Today, I’m getting my picture taken for the ‘before’ shot. My mother so nicely yells out as I leave the house that I don’t look fat today. Great, only the second day and the diet is working.
The picture is really awful and now I’m frightfully aware of why people have told me in the past that I have no stomach control. My South Beach friend and I have lunch together and we pick up one of the much-touted Atkin’s friendly snack bars.
The broccoli and cucumber salad is tasty- especially wrapped in salami. The fake Atkins s’mores bar leaves much to be desired when I hit my snack attack at 2.30 p.m..
I steel myself for tonight, though. Just the second day into the diet and I must face the worst of all restaurants for someone shunning carbs: the Italian restaurant.
My friend has pizza, so luscious and crispy, while I pretend that I love steak with a side of beans and arugula salad. During the meal, I eye one part of her pizza crust- just slightly covered with crispy cheese- and I know I would have saved that bite until last had I been eating it.
December 8- Day Three
My South Beach diet partner quit! He quit! I guess I’m now alone on this frightening journey through protein hell.
December 9- Day Four
At this point, if I see one more egg in the morning I think I might kill a chicken. You can only cook an egg so many ways and add so many things to it but it’s still an egg. Tastes like an egg, looks like an egg. Not a lot of choice there, unfortunately. I have one of my favourite non-carb lunches, though- spinach salad. My former South Beach diet friend has a piece of Snickers pie before his chicken wrap even reaches the table. I need support here people!
December 11- Day Six
The company Christmas party
I weigh myself and find that I’ve lost ten pounds. I would be lying if I didn’t say that I haven’t cheated all week.
For one thing I snuck a mini Butterfinger before I went to bed last night. It has nuts in it and I’m allowed 20 peanuts as a snack, I’m sure the chocolate bar fits in the quota.
At the beginning of the diet I said I would compromise and drink alcohol throughout the first two weeks even though the good doctor advises you not to. I opt for ‘healthy’ alcohol tonight for the company Christmas party. Vodka and soda water with a squeeze of lime has now become my new favourite libation. This diet certainly does teach you a lot. My co-workers remind me to let loose tonight and I take that to mean loosening my ‘belt’. I indulge in the desserts table and finish the night with a Jell-O parfait, which I don’t believe to be sugar free nor do I care, and at least four gingerbread cookies.
In the morning, room service is way too tempting. I choose rye bread for my eggs but it comes with a nice healthy slice of white bread instead. Apparently, some other group has consumed all of the rye bread this morning. What are the chances, a whole hotel filled with South Beach dieters. Several bites are taken out of a chocolate croissant and fruit pastry, which I conveniently blame on the waiter who brought our breakfast.
December 13- Day Eight
Weight: 153 pounds
I regained three pounds from this weekend’s carbfest. This is proof that you can’t just start chowing down on everything in sight just because it’s the weekend.
Plus, I now know that once I start adding back the ‘good’ carbs (food is considered a good carb if it slows down the process in which your body processes the sugars in carbs) I really have to be careful or I’ll blow up like a balloon again.
December 17- Day Eleven
"Slower digestion of carbs, less insulin. Less insulin, less dramatic drop in blood sugar. Less of a sugar rise and fall now, less hunger later," writes Dr. Agatston.
This is the mantra that I’m slowly beginning to live by. So, when I’m dying for a slice of crusty, multigrain bread (yes, I did hear the voices in my head telling me that I only had three more days until I’m allowed small helpings of bread) I toast it up and slather on the butter.
The butter is important in this carbohydrate equation. Apparently the fat stops you from craving more food as it slows down the carb digestion- and covers your heart in a nice oil slick of cholesterol. But at least I wasn’t hungry five minutes later.
December 19- Day 13
Talk about a perfect way to end the first phase of a low-carb diet. If I thought eating one slice of multigrain bread was bad I had no clue what would lie ahead for me today.
This morning I woke up to the best egg breakfast I’ve had in the last two weeks. The three slices of toast slathered with butter and jelly probably helped out a lot.
But that was only the beginning. Later that afternoon at a friend’s house for tea, my lunch, afternoon snack and dinner consisted of sugar, sugar and some more sugar. Within three hours I’d eaten six frosted sugar cookies, ten bite-size Heathbar chocolate bars, two bite-size brownies, four cheese and tomato sandwiches (bread still intact) and two cups of tea with two teaspoons, each, of sugar.
I don’t think I need to go into any thorough explanation about why that was bad.
Phase Two
December 20- Day 14
Weight: 150 pounds
No eggs for breakfast! In Phase Two, dieters can begin adding good carbohydrates back into their diet. That includes most fruit and even starches. Whole wheat and multigrain breads as well as high fibre cereals and even bittersweet and semisweet chocolate are all fair game as long as they are eaten sparingly.
December 25- Day 19
As Christmas approaches I try to be as vigilant as possible about what I consume so that all the bad things I eat for dinner are offset by all the good things I eat during the day. This is the little game you start playing with yourself and if it works, weight wise, it’s great but it’s perfect at making you feel a lot less guilty. The worst thing I eat during Christmas dinner is stuffing and mashed potatoes. Both of these dishes are rare and are generally only eaten during this time of year so I don’t mind indulging. I leave early before dessert is served so I won’t be tempted.
December 29- Day 23
As the end of the second phase of this diet nears, my eating habits are quickly going to South Beach diet hell.
At a party I eat sour cream and chive chips and pretzels for dinner. All the while I’m reminded by caring friends that chips and pretzels don’t fit in the South Beach diet.
The rest of the week seems to pan out the same way. The next night I eat three cupcakes and afterwards promise myself that I’ll only eat high fibre cereal for the next week.
I break that promise and by the New Year I’m eating bread with jam for breakfast and eggs with ketchup.
For lunch the next day I make two gigantic hamburgers to fit the gigantic, white hamburger buns for me and my former South Beach diet friend.
Apparently Bermudians need to eat hamburgers the size of footballs.
January 3- The End
Weight: 150 pounds
Even though this is the end of the diary for me, I’m still going to watch my sugar intake and cut down on starches (except for the weekends, of course).
Keeping my intake low has benefited and I’ve stayed between 148 and 150 pounds, even though I sneak a chunk of milk chocolate or have two white rolls for dinner sometimes.
On the whole, I’ve supplemented many treats with low- or no-sugar added foods and continued to eat whole grain breads, pastas and cereal.
Even though I’ve always been a believer in moderation, and still am, I now agree that sugar is a huge culprit to expanding waist lines. Even though fat and calorie intake has to be monitored as well, eating processed low-fat foods can be as bad as eating several tablespoons of sugar.
Many packaged foods labelled as low-fat will add sugar to enhance the flavour that has been lost. To live healthy and lose weight, a diet full of whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and lean cuts of meat is still the way to go while moderation is still essential along with a good dose of exercise.
