In a previous post I addressed some of my mistakes on my low carb diet. Now I have analysed my behviour even further, researched low carb forums and articles and found other things I need to change (or change a little bit).
1. Snacking
I kind of addressed that topic before. Little things add up. Feeling hungry, eating a piece of cheese, butter, sausage or any other allowed foods still add up to quite a bit of calories. And sometimes it’s not even about the calories, it’s more about eating constatntly and losing your ability to tell if you’re really hungry or just want to taste some good food. I don’t need the energy an hour before going to sleep. No snacking, stick to reguar 2–3 meals and you’ll be fine.
2. Using artificial sweetener
I’ve been using quite the bit of artificial sweetener lately. In my coffee, tea, dairy products, protein balls and other low carb cooking. But the sweetener can slow down or even stop your weight loss. Even the Diet Doctor’s website has said so and I do trust doctor Eenfeldt. Stevia isn’t that great either but I will try using that instead of Huxol.
3. Eating too much dairy
What I didn’t know a few weeks ago is that dairy products can pump up your insulin like carbs do. So again: weight loss slows down or stops. During the last 3 months I have added a lot of sour cream, ricotta and other dairy in my diet. They do fit my 20 gram carb limit but I have been eating less vegetables in order to “afford” my dairy. Not good. The only dairy I really should eat is cheese in limited amounts and a drop of cream in coffee.
4. Eating too much protein
That fits in with my last point. Eating too much dairy and therefore getting too much protein from my foods. You shouldn’t really go over the 30% of protein a day limit and get about 70% of energy from fat, at least on LCHF. But I eat a packet of ricotta and BOOM! – too much protein. Or eating too much protein powder. A scoop is 25 grams of protein which on some days can be too much.
5. Eating too little fat
When protein intake goes too high, fat intake goes too low. I explained that in the point. And when you don’t get enough fat, you also get cravings more and get hungry more easily. More coconut oil, olive oil and butter is needed.
6. Eating too little vegetables
Your carbs should come mainly from leafy green veggies. I’ve been having way too little veggies in my diet because of getting the carbs from dairy. Cabbage, cauliflower broccoli, zucchini, Brussels sprouts, cucumber, peppers, avocado: welcome back to my life.
If you know any other common mistakes on low carb diets, let me know.
