Elizabeth N.
Herder of cats
A carb is a carb.
Here is a copy of a document I wrote for a FB group a while back:
Okay, some nutrition basics, according to "what EN thinks a DSer might need to know." I am doing this mostly off the
top of my head, so feel free to correct my facts if I get them messed up.
Let's start with the absolute basics.
1. What is a calorie?
For nutrition purposes, a calorie (which is in reality a Calorie with a capital "C" or a kilocalorie) is a measurement of
energy-producing potential, namely the amount of energy to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water 1 degree
Celsius at 1 atmosphere pressure.
"HUH?"
What, they don't teach that in high school science any more? Dang. (I'm serious. I knew that definition at the latest
as a 9th grader in Basic Science. No, I didn't go to a special school. It was just many years before NCLB ruined our
schools.) Rough translation: One Calorie raises about a quart of water just over 2 degrees Farenheit at sea level.
You just need to remember that it's the way energy potential is measured.
EVERY food contains calories. Any food that claims to have zero or, fergawdsake, "negative" calories is full of
bullfeathers. Remember that the next time you see something claiming to be "miracle noodles" or whatever.
If you have too many Calories available to you and your body doesn't convert them to energy, they get stored as fat.
We all know that part. We all own bodies that can function on fewer calories than anyone can imagine. We are
models of efficiency and storage capacity. This was a wonderful survival mechanism a bazillion years ago and sucks
now, at least in the developed world.
Okay, now that you know what a Calorie is, FORGET ABOUT THE DAMNED THINGS. As a DSer, calorie counting is
worthless. Just STOP IT. Count protein and carbs instead.
2. What are the three basic macronutrients?
Carbohydrates: break down into simple sugars and a couple other things we don't need to know about here
Proteins: break down into amino acids, some simple sugars and a couple other things we don't need to know about
here
Fats: break down into fatty acids and glycerol
Simple sugars provide fast energy for your body. They don't get stored. Amino acids are the building block of
EVERYTHING in your body. That's why your body eats your muscles and things (you know, muscles, like your
heart?) when you lose weight fast or get low on protein. Too little protein = very, very bad. Fatty acids are way more
complicated, but basically they enable every communication/transaction between/among every cell in your body.
Everybody needs to take in a certain balance of the three basic macronutrients. That balance is RADICALLY
different once you get a DS. Hence we preach low carb, MEGA protein and all the fat your gut can tolerate.
3. How do I learn what I'm putting in my body?
I'M SO GLAD YOU ASKED. You are not going to like the answer and I apologize in advance, but it's a fact: You
have to WEIGH AND MEASURE YOUR FOOD.
*pauses for the booing and hissing*
This is the ONLY time I am ever grateful that my moron family doc put me on my first real diet when I was seven
years old. In order to get me to cooperate, my mom taught me how to weigh and measure my food and, going by an
old fashioned diabetic exchange list, how to put a meal together. I lost weight and gained it right back the second
we slacked off for five minutes. Diets don't work.
Like everyone else, I tried again. And again. And again. Et cetera. Then I developed type II diabetes, which was
diagnosed in Germany. Back then (in the 1980's), newly diagnosed diabetics went to the hospital and stayed there
for one hell of a long time, LEARNING HOW TO MANAGE THEIR DISEASE and getting stabilized on a diet-exercise-medication regimen. I got acceptable results with the diet-exercise thing and so ONLY spent ten days as an
inpatient. Ha. It was fricking torture just like every other diet and exercise boot camp, and the itty bitty improvement
lasted, despite my careful work, less than two years. Then came insulin.
*ahem* I digress. The point is, with all this crap starting so young, I learned how to weigh and measure my food a lot
younger and a lot better than most people do. So now I have a finely calibrated hand and eyeball and rarely miss a
guesstimated portion by more than a tablespoon or two, or an ounce or so.
This is how good you need to get at knowing your portions if you want to have FREEDOM IN YOUR EATING.
Happily, there are "rules of thumb" to help with this, which I will post here later. For now, belly up, get out the food
scale, the MEASURING (not taken from your flatware and dishes) cups and spoons and Just. Do. It. Once you know
your stuff, you won't ever have to do it again. You will be set free from a lot of prepackaged "diet food" temptations
and other expensive and stupid (especially for DSers) shortcut temptations.
There is a second thing you have to learn to do: READ YOUR LABELS. Look for the total fat, carb and protein
counts. Not sugar, carbohydrate. Not net carbs, carbohydrate. Not saturated/unsaturated fat, just total fat. That
other stuff could come later, but first you have to be able to recognize carbs, protein and fat, and count the grams of
the first two.
Yes, I know there's an app for that. Put down the app and pick up this old fashioned thing called pencil and paper
and keep track of it using your hands and your brain for a while. How long? Until you really understand WHAT you
are tracking. DO YOUR OWN THINKING instead of relying on technology. (I tell this to my fellow students every day
of the week BTW. Sucks for them that I'm old enough to be their mother *g*.) Why? Because you need to KNOW the
material, not just which buttons to push.
4. WHAT do I put in my body?
There is an order to the foods you eat:
First comes PROTEIN, which means meat, fish, fowl, eggs, cheese, yogurt etc.
Second comes PLANT SOURCE PROTEIN, which means seeds, nuts, legumes (in very small amounts because they
are carby too) and soy if tolerated.
Third comes VEGGIES. A vegetable, strictly defined, means you eat the leaves and stems of the plant. We also
define certain fruits and roots/tubers as veggies, along with a couple of seeds/grains (peas, corn and some
beans). The latter are CARBOHYDRATES, not veggies. This is why you have to learn what foods are.
Google up a diabetic exchange list and you will see that stuff is in the carbs/starches part of the list. Fruits
are stuff like tomatoes and peppers. They have somewhat more carbs than the leaves and stems things, but
meh, they are far better carb sources than "real" fruits and certainly better than grains and potatoes.
Potatoes, yams, sweet potatoes are CARBOHYDRATES. Other roots/tubers vary in their carb content, like
carrots, turnips, rutabagas, parsnips.
Far, far after third come fruits and grains. These you eat as condiments, not as parts of your plate like the FDA food
guide thing says. How much ketchup do you put out for your fries now? Put it in a pile. That's how much
starch you eat, AFTER you have consumed 30 grams of protein FROM FOOD in that same sitting.
What about FAT?
Fat is essentially a "free food" for DSers. Eat as much of it as you want. If you get the trots, eat less. If you get
constipated, eat more. Easy peasy.
5. HOW MUCH do I put in my body?
Protein, minimum 100 grams per day. No, you cannot drink all your protein and then use all that saved stomach
space for other crap. You won't lose weight that way. No, you cannot drink all your protein in one mammoth super
strong mega shake. It won't be absorbed.
Carbs, it varies. Personally, I only counted my carbs a couple times early out to see where I was and it was around
100-ish grams per day. I lost 100% of my excess weight on that much and would probably lose 10-15 pounds if I
went back to that level. Other people DREAM of being able to be that lenient with their carbs and still lose weight.
You'll have to figure out what works for you. Lots of people advocate keeping to 50 grams or less of carbs per day
while losing the weight. Do whatever you can live with, is my motto. I would not live well that way, so I don't do it.
Fat, I repeat: Whatever your belly and your taste buds tolerate. This will require divesting yourself of a lot of diet
brainwashing. FAT IS NOW THE GOOD GUY. (And was never the bad guy. I think the low fat craze was a conspiracy
to make Americans sicker. No, not really, but the thought has occurred to me.)
HERE END THE NUTRITION ULTRA BASICS. Next?
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