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Low-Carb Strategies That Will Lead to Long-Term Success
For those of us who take positive steps everyday to manage our weight and our health, we know what this time of year means. Our good intentions can be overridden by more stress, more to do, parties, family events, and generally a lack of support to make healthy decisions. It’s common to hear “It’s the holidays! You can diet next year!” or “Have some–a little bit won’t hurt.”
Do you have a pattern of behavior that begins in January, with healthy eating, and falls apart soon after leading to an on-again, off-again diet, making little progress throughout the year?
Do you gain and lose the same pounds, while inching upward on the scale ever so slowly year after year?
Do you resume your diet and do fairly well until the end of year holidays, then can’t get back on track for months and regain all you lost?
Are you a stress eater looking for comfort foods, especially with the many temptations we face and the many demands this time of year?
These are just a few of the patterns I saw in my patients over decades of work at The Atkins Center. We all have habits that we just can’t seem to break. We are sure we want to, but we just don’t know how. You find yourself falling back into the same old patterns relating to food, especially this time of year.
Food is so much a part of holidays, including cultural considerations, sharing with family and friends around the Thanksgiving table, memories of childhood holidays, and Mom cooking special treats. There can also be difficult emotions that surface this time of year when many experience feelings of loss, sadness, loneliness, or regret. These can all be triggers to making unhealthy choices, even when you really want to do better.
I want this article to give you some insight into how to stabilize your metabolism first, making it easier to unlearn the old habits that have thwarted your success in the past, while at the same time learning new short-term strategies that you can incorporate into habits that will lead to long-term success. Those of us learning to manage weight don’t want to begin the New Year unhappy and disgusted with ourselves again.
Losing weight and keeping it off isn’t just about the kinds of foods you consume, but your mindset as well. You need to be in charge of both. There is no better time than now to dissect those habits that crop up over the holidays and sabotage your weight management and health.
It’s Harder to Tame Your Mind When Your Body is Stressed
For some of you this may be old news, but hopefully for others it will help you come to a better understanding of how stress affects you, and how you can minimize it. Unfortunately, in today’s world, we are chronically stressed with abnormal levels of stress chemicals always present in the body. This time of year only adds to already abnormal levels. Chronic stress makes us more prone to cardiovascular disease, a weakened immune system, and even an elevation of cholesterol.
We can experience stress in a number of ways. Some of us worry a lot, have insomnia, get headaches, feel tense and anxious, or even have panic attacks and mood swings. Some people lose their appetite. Others over-eat, are tired all the time, get high blood pressure, or experience chronic gastrointestinal symptoms. It is important to know that stress isn’t just an emotional response, but a change in our bodies’ chemistry. Our bodies’ stress response is a survival mechanism and was meant to be relied upon short term, not constantly.
Some people try to “treat” stress, and its results, with drugs, food, alcohol, or other unhealthy strategies, in an attempt to change or avoid unpleasant symptoms or feelings. Over the long run these strategies bring their own unwanted consequences.
We often feel stress when we perceive we are out of control of things that affect us. We feel victimized. It is true we can’t control everything, but we can control how we support our bodies to cope with outside stressors. What and how we eat can be tremendously stressful for the body, or be supportive.
Stress makes our blood sugar levels unstable (ups and downs), causing the body to produce hormones to bring blood sugar back to normal levels. The body, especially the brain, is very sensitive to blood sugar levels that are too high, too low, or drop too fast. These coping hormones trigger many of the physical and emotional symptoms we call stress.
It is common, given our unhealthy, high sugar, processed food Western diet, to have blood sugar and insulin imbalances that can lead to diabetes, as well as increasing body fat. What you eat can trigger a stress response. You can control that. You can address dietary stressors, allowing you to cope with other stressors better.
At The Atkins Center patients commonly remarked that they felt less stressed, even though they were still in the same circumstances as before. Controlling their carb intake removed the diet stressor, stabilized their blood sugar, and moderated levels of stress hormones.
A Few Strategies for Coping with Stress
- Eat regularly, with a good quality protein each feeding, to control blood sugar and hunger.
- Eat breakfast and snacks as needed. Don’t skip meals or ignore hunger.
- Exercise–if your time is limited this time of year, it’s ok to do less, but do something regularly.
- Control both the quality and quantity of carbs you consume most of the time to keep your blood sugar stable. A bit later I’ll discuss how to “cheat” thoughtfully.
- Get support–talk it out with a friend.
- Say no if you are already overwhelmed.
- Take time out to relax with a book or music, especially before bed.
- Do a few minutes of muscle relaxation exercises during the day and before sleep.
Remember: It is easier to change your behavior when what you are eating is supporting your body to work properly.
We All Have Habits- Keep the Good Ones
Habits are repetitious behaviors we learned over time that often become unconscious. We find ourselves doing something without any conscious thought. Habits can be created by exposure to a repetitious stimulus-response. Think of the association between popcorn and going to the movies. Some people can’t watch a movie without it, even if they aren’t hungry. Our decisions about food can be habitual even if there are negative consequences. Do you eat Christmas cookies simply because it’s Christmas, even though you’re not hungry and you know you want to lose weight?
Yes, it’s nice to be able to have some treats over the holidays. As a kid, I remember Christmas chocolates, popcorn balls wrapped in colorful paper, and many varieties of homemade cookies. The big difference is that these were only allowed once a year. Not so now. Sugar-laden drinks and foods are cheap and everywhere, as are refined and often addictive flour-containing foods.
Habits can begin innocently. I can still remember my Mother giving me 5 cents to get a dip of homemade ice cream at the store down the street when I fell off my bike. Repeating this response to a negative event or stimulus can create the desire for comfort foods. Using food to cope with negative emotions is not a healthy exercise. The habit of using food for comfort was learned–it can be unlearned. Using food to cope with emotions does not work in the long term.
Learn About Habits You Want to Change
Regardless of where you are in your weight management journey, whether just beginning Induction, been low carbing and losing weight, or have reached maintenance, it is easy to give up control and have your old food habits take over. Be sure that you get through these holidays better than you have before. Even if you aren’t perfect, you have not failed if you learn something that can help you in the future.
Habits are usually unconscious, be aware of food decisions by keeping a food diary. Be honest with yourself. Record the good and the bad.
Create short term and long term goals to survive the holidays. For example, if you’re losing weight you may allow yourself to deviate from your plan Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas day only. Plan ahead by having the foods you need to immediately resume your diet.
Unless your health is at risk with a condition such as diabetes, it is ok to change your goal from weight loss to maintenance temporarily. You can learn something about maintenance that will help you later. Many of my patients were pleased to learn that they could maintain over this difficult period. That’s a victory.
Always create a goal that includes health. If your goal is only weight loss it’s very easy to give that up in favor of a binge on Mom’s chocolate chip cookies instead. Health always matters, but it won’t unless you consciously choose it.
Examine how you failed in the past. Did you cheat at Thanksgiving dinner and give up healthy eating until January before attempting to take back control? If so, how did that happen? Was it hunger, cravings, tempting foods around the house? Do you have an all or nothing mindset? “Since I cheated once I might as well give up, enjoy the holidays, and try to start later.”
Get support. If you don’t have support from family or friends, use the many low carb forums. People understand what you’re going through and are willing to help you attain your goals.
Consider the consequences of your food choices. It’s important to remember the consequences of your choice before eating. If it’s an unhealthy choice that gets you off track, you will suffer the consequences whether you consciously choose them or not. By being conscious of consequences in advance you have the opportunity to make a better choice. Example: last time I ate those cookies I felt bloated and craved sweets for 2 days. I also felt guilty. Ask yourself if you want to experience the same result? Is it worth it for just a few minutes of pleasure?
How Indulgent Can I Safely Be?
That depends upon your past history with weight management. If you are someone who has gained and lost weight frequently, and never learned to maintain, the holidays can be a minefield. So too if you are a carb addict (more on that later). If your health is at serious risk because of weight-related challenges, your health must be a top priority regardless of holidays.
If you fit into any of these 3 categories there is no reason why you can’t enjoy the holidays, even on the Induction phase of Atkins, given all of the wonderful low carb recipes Dana Carpender creates. For those of you who have Dr. Atkins first cookbook, I love the cheese and onion pie and chicken cordon bleu from Dr. Atkins’ Diet Revolution.
To help you adhere to your plan take body measurements at the start of the holidays, and redo every 2 weeks. Losing inches can be a significant incentive to keep going. The same is true if you monitor blood sugar levels, or are now free of symptoms that plagued you prior to your plan. Review these often.
For some of you, one can thoughtfully be more liberal in safe ways if you choose carefully. As mentioned before, changing your goal for the holidays to maintenance is fine as long as you’re fairly close to goal. If you are just beginning, you risk losing the improvements that begin to happen to your body as you control both the quality and quantity of carbs. If you go too far it’s like starting over again. Do you want to have to face that again?
No matter what phase of low carb you are doing, if you plan on cheating carefully, consider going back to a lower level of carb restriction to give yourself a cushion before the holidays.
Pick and choose when and under what circumstances you will be more liberal. Intend to avoid the worst kinds of carbs: foods with added sugar, refined carbs, and high glycemic load carbs. Use low carb recipes for substitutes.
It’s ok to eat more of the allowable foods to get you through a difficult time.
Eat a snack before going to a party or out to dinner to better control hunger. Order an appropriate appetizer and move the bread basket out of your direct vision. If you must, share a dessert. I bring an Atkins bar to substitute for dessert when visiting friends. At first, some people thought it was strange but now they’re used to it.
Don’t allow other people to vote on your health. That’s your responsibility.
Carbohydrate Addiction is a Reality
Many people, including many in the medical establishment, are skeptical that carb addiction exists. From my own lifetime personal experience and my decades of counseling patients working with Dr. Atkins, I can tell you it does. For us the “everything in moderation” mantra simply doesn’t work.
Addiction is a physical and psychological dependence on an act or substance that is beyond your control.
Consider the following:
- British Medical Journal 2005: “Sugar is as dangerous as tobacco and should be classified as a hard drug. It is harmful and addictive.”
American Society of Addiction Medicine characterizes addiction as a chronic brain disorder affecting the reward circuits in the brain via primarily the dopamine response. - Various substances produce a rush of dopamine including alcohol, sugar, nicotine, cocaine etc. leading to a feeling of pleasure.
- In lab rats symptoms of sugar addiction are similar to drug addiction: bingeing, withdrawal, and cravings.
Many carb addicts do have withdrawal symptoms the first few days. They are certainly manageable, nothing like drug or alcohol withdrawal. Once you have abstained from the offending carbs it gets easier. Just give yourself time. Keep in mind that having a thought about an addictive food is not a craving, it’s simply a thought. Distract yourself and you’ll forget about it. Over time even the thought will disappear.
It was sometimes common for Atkins Center patients trying to resume their plan to have difficulty making it to the 5th or 6th day. Usually around the 4th day they gave themselves a carb fix and needed to start over again. Just know that investing a week to get back on track is not a big sacrifice for the long term benefits you can experience. Losing weight without hunger and cravings is a blessing and is a common experience when following the proper level of carb restriction for your body. Be sure you are following your plan correctly to ease the transition back to fat burning. Eat regularly with protein at each feeding to better control hunger and cravings during the transition. Some people find taking glutamine 500 mg, 1or 2 capsules, three times daily, for cravings on an empty stomach helpful.
Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash
Hints When Traveling
Under the best of times traveling can have its challenges, but over holidays stress levels and frustration can be enough to make the most disciplined of us look for comfort food.
Plan ahead so you can stay on track. After all, traveling is just another life experience that we need to master if we want to learn to get off the yo-yo dieting bandwagon and onto lifetime maintenance.
Manage your mind and your food
- Don’t use a trip as an excuse to give up.
- Eat a good healthy meal with adequate protein before you leave.
- For plane travel pack nuts, individually wrapped cheese, a good quality low carb protein drink, or a nutrition bar. If you have a long flight, buy a low carb meal at the airport to take on board.
- For car travel pack a cooler with cold cuts, cheese, olives, and vegetable slices such as celery with cream cheese. You can stop at a fast food place and choose the best available entree while using your on board snacks to supplement.
- Eat regularly to avoid excess hunger.
- If you do have to deviate resume your plan ASAP. Don’t allow travel to derail your staying in control for the rest of your trip and over the holidays.
Falling Off the Wagon
If this happens you can limit the damage by being conscious whenever you are making food or beverage decisions. Review the consequences of your food choice and remember your goal for the holidays. Don’t allow yourself to be on automatic pilot.
Give up the all or nothing approach. This is a common mind game people play to justify long term cheating. It goes something like this–I intend to maintain my plan over the holidays even though I have always gained weight in the past. You slip up once, and get discouraged because you weren’t perfect so you give up for the remainder of the holidays. You begin the New Year fatter and disgusted with yourself and learned nothing.
Instead be flexible, examine how you slipped up and get back on track. Depending on what and how much you ate, expect some hunger and cravings. Resume your plan at the lowest level of carb restriction and make an effort to have the foods you need to stay on track.
It’s important to remember that you have the opportunity to take back control of your eating at any time. Do it. Habits were learned by repetition so they can be unlearned. The more you separate the stimulus from the response, the weaker the stimulus effect will be until the unhealthy response disappears altogether.
If you invest in making serious changes in your unhealthy food behaviors this year, you have a wonderful foundation for the future. If you insist on doing the same as in the past, your results will continue to be just as unhealthy and disheartening as they have always been.
Don’t expect perfection immediately; build on your progress throughout the year so next holiday season you won’t be so burdened with so many unhealthy food habits.
More Low-Carb Articles by Jacqueline A. Eberstein, RN
Thank you for the timely and honest article. The information will stay in my mind and hopefully make me think first. I was wondering how to find low carb communities for advice and information.