Lowcarbezine! 7 June 2001
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Hey, Gang!
Big doings here at Hold the Toast Press! First of all, Lowcarbezine!
has passed 10,000 subscribers!! Not bad for a year and a half old, huh?
We're so glad you all love Lowcarbezine! -- but we're afraid that as of
today, we're going to a bi-weekly format. Why? Because if I, your
faithful editor/writer/researcher/recipe developer is going to have time
to actually *do* those things, plus write books, plus do important stuff
like, oh, shipping copies of the existing book to distributors and
answering a phone call or two, something's gotta give.
However, panic not! We're *very* aware that for *many* of you,
Lowcarbezine! is a major source of motivation and inspiration, and we
couldn't leave you inspiration and motivation-less! So we're almost
ready to launch a whole *bunch* of email support groups that
Lowcarbezine! subscribers will be able to subscribe to -- for free, of
course. On a Basic Low Carb Diet, like Atkins or Protein Power? You'll
have a whole group of diet buddies to talk with every day. On a
Mini-Binge Diet, like the Carbohydrate Addict's Diet? We'll match you
up with folks who are eating the same way. Have a specific problem,
like diabetes, or PCOS? We have lists for those, too. Not to mention,
of course, a Recipe Swap List! You'll be able to join as many groups as
you like.
How do these "lists" work? Simple. You'll be put in a group of folks
with the same low carb interest, and you'll all get email from each
other, simply by emailing to the list! We'll be keeping the lists to a
reasonable size, so that they'll be lively, but not so big you feel
lost.
When do you get to join these lists and make new low carb friends?
Soon, very soon. The webmaster told me to tell you we'll be ready to
launch the lists in the next few days! We won't make you wait; we'll
let you know just as soon as you can sign up and start talking to other
low carbers. We know you need support; we're here to help!
One more thing -- We're trying once again to solve our mail distribution
problems. If and *only if* you are among the folks who have been
missing this newsletter in the past month or so, but you're getting this
issue, please let the webmaster know --
mailto:webmaster@holdthetoast.com . Be nice to him. That's the nice
guy I married.
In the meanwhile, Read On!
Dana
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All contents copyright 2001 by Hold the Toast Press. All commercial
reproduction and/or use is expressly prohibited. As always, feel free
to forward Lowcarbezine! to any family or friends you feel might enjoy
it, provided that you forward it in its entirety.
If Lowcarbezine! has been forwarded to you and you enjoy it, you can
subscribe for FREE at http://www.holdthetoast.com .
Lowcarbezine! welcomes reader input! If you have a question, a recipe,
a product review, a low carb success story, send it on in!!
mailto:dana@holdthetoast.com All submissions become the property of
Hold the Toast Press. If you don't want us to print your letter, just
let us know, and we won't! However, please note -- although I really
do read all my email my very own self, I get a *lot* of mail --
generally over 200 posts a day (not all of them about Lowcarbezine!), so
I can't promise to answer every post personally. Or I'll never get the
next book written!
We are currently restructuring our ad rates.
If you need a website designed or hosted, please check out the info on
Webbalah at the bottom of this newsletter! (Hey, *my* website looks
good, right?)
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The Article You've All Been Waiting For!!
A couple of months back, I announced that I was doing some tests, trying
to determine whether or not the "starch blockers" or "carb cutters" on
the market actually work. Ever since, I've been getting emails from
folks wanting to know, "I haven't seen the article about starch blockers
yet. Did I miss it?" No, my friends, you didn't miss it. Here it is.
What are starch blockers?
Starch blockers (also called "carb cutters") are an extract of a bean
called Phaseolus vulgaris; the extract is properly called phaseolomine.
This substance, phaseolomine, is said to neutralize the enzyme
responsible for digesting starches, thus allowing a certain amount of
any given starch food to pass through your system undigested and
unabsorbed. This process does, indeed, work in a test tube ("in
vitro"). The big question was whether it actually works in your body
("in vivo").
Why wouldn't it work in your body if it works in a test tube? For the
very simple reason that the phaseolamine itself is a protein. Proteins
are digested in your stomach. Starches, on the other hand, are digested
in your small intestine. If the phaseolamine is digested in the
stomach, there theoretically will be none left to neutralize the enzyme
in your intestine. Result? No starch blocking.
On the other hand, I was around when starch blockers first hit the
market back in the early '80s -- I was working in the health food
industry at the time. And I did see a few people who claimed to be
getting good weight loss results with them. Further, the story going
around was that this substance had been discovered when some farmers
started feeding their cattle raw Phaseolus vulgaris beans and the cattle
started losing weight -- which could mean that raw beans aren't any
better food for cattle than they are for humans, but also suggested that
the idea *might* actually work.
How to find out? Here's what I did:
First of all, I had some starch blockers on hand, called Slender Pro,
kindly supplied by Dr. Paul Kanter for the Low Carb High Life Cruise.
So that was taken care of.
Next, I went out and bought an inexpensive glucose meter -- an Accu-Chek
Instant. (Turned out that while the meter itself was inexpensive,
glucose test strips run *quite* high! Diabetics usually get these
things paid for by their insurance company, but for this sort of
experiment, it came out of the Hold the Toast Labs Research Budget.)
Then I decided on a couple of foods to test. I knew I didn't want to
test really nasty, high impact carbs, like white bread or cold cereal --
too hard on the body, and anyway, they just didn't appeal to me. I
settled on brown rice and 100% whole grain rye bread as my test foods.
These also had the advantage of being easy to measure, to make sure I
ate pretty darned close to the same quantity for each test -- brown rice
I could measure carefully before and after cooking, and the rye bread
comes in a nice, neat, brick shaped loaf -- once I had it sliced on the
bread slicer at the health food store, the slices were quite uniform in
size. (Or, as we say around HTT Labs, "Near enough for government
work.)
So I was set to go. I got up one morning and took my fasting blood
sugar. I then ate a carefully measured portion of brown rice, and
proceeded to take my blood sugar reading every fifteen to twenty minutes
for the next couple of hours. (I trust you realize that this means that
I had to stick *lots* of little holes in my pinkies. Don't say I never
do anything for you.)
I then did the same thing, but took a Slender Pro capsule first, about 7
minutes before I began eating.
I repeated the experiment, but this time I used two slices of 100% whole
grain rye bread as my serving of starch, instead of brown rice.
I repeated the experiment several times. I tried it with two or three
Slender Pro. I tried it taking the Slender Pro *just* as I started
eating, or taking it halfway through eating, or taking one just before
starting to eat, one halfway through, and one just as I finished. (Dr.
Paul Kanter had suggested to me that perhaps more of the phaseolamine
would make it past the stomach and into the intestine if the starch
blocker were taken *with* the starch food, rather than several minutes
ahead of time. This interested me, since the package directions on most
of these products recommend taking starch blockers five to ten minutes
before eating the starch food.
"So," you're thinking, "what were the *RESULTS*!! C'MON!! Spit it out!"
Oh, okay.
Does phaseolamine work? My scientific opinion is, "Kinda."
I still was, clearly, absorbing carbohydrates when I took the Slender
Pro, no matter how much I took (the most I took with one serving of carb
food was four Slender Pro caps.) My blood sugar did go up, and fairly
sharply. I still got a blood sugar drop *in some cases* steep enough to
make me hungry. However, when I took 3 Slender Pro, and took them with
and after eating the food, something very interesting happened: My
blood sugar went up pretty high, but it *came down more slowly*.
Something seemed to be moderating the blood sugar crash, so that even
three hours later, my blood sugar had not dropped back to the original
fasting level. I do not have even a working hypothesis why this should
be so, but it happened more than once, so I'm thinking it's not an
anomaly.
Also,in *most* cases, my blood sugar did not go up quite as far when I
took the Slender Pro as when I did not -- in general, it topped out
about 20 points lower than it did without the Slender Pro, although
there was one exception -- but then, exactly *when* you draw blood makes
a big difference, and I'd probably have to repeat these experiments
until my poor little pinkies fell off to get really, seriously
conclusive data.
Still, I can draw a few conclusions:
* Do *not* figure that starch blockers are a way to get out of eating a
low carb diet. These pills do *not* work so well that you can simply
swallow them and keep on eating all the french fries and bread and chips
and cereal you want, while losing weight and getting the health benefits
of reduced insulin levels. They are *not* a magic bullet. If you're
carb intolerant, you'll still need to avoid these foods for the very
most part. I've written about how so many people are looking for a way
to "change without changing", and how it's not a very useful approach.
It's still not a useful approach.
* Starch blockers may, however, help mitigate *some* of the effects of
an occasional Indulgence. They will *not* completely protect you from
the effects -- or, at least, they don't completely protect *me* from the
effects -- but they may help moderate the blood sugar roller coaster.
This may mean that you don't gain quite as much, and just as important,
may keep the subsequent blood sugar crash, hunger, and cravings to a
minimum, making it easier to go right back on the straight and narrow.
* Starch blockers may also be an okay strategy for cutting back even
further on some of the carbs in some of the carb reduced specialty
products out there. For instance, if you're going to eat, say, a couple
of slices of the Better Bakery Cinnamon Raisin Bread I raved about in
the last issue (and I certainly could sympathize with that!) you're
still looking at 9 grams of usable carb. You may be able to knock off a
few of those by taking starch blockers.
* If you're planning to use starch blockers with regular, non-carb
reduced carb foods, take 2 or 3 of them, not just the one tablet that
the label says will block 400 grams of starch. It won't; you need to
take enough that some of the substance makes it past your stomach
undigested.
* Do take starch blockers with the food, rather than 5-10 minutes
before. Indeed, taking one or two just as you start eating, and another
halfway through or even when you're finished, seems to help a bit.
* Keep in mind that undigested carbs in your gut can cause gas, or even
diarrhea. I wouldn't use these on a big date, no matter how tempting
the restaurant you're going to.
* These things are *expensive*. Unless you've got big bucks, the price
and the need to use more than one capsule will probably limit your use
to the occasional Indulgence.
* Remember that these things do not work at *all* on sugar. Not even a
tiny bit. Only on starch. You have been warned.
Now, my final suggestion, this to the manufacturers and distributors of
starch blocker products: Why not come up with an enteric coated
version? Enteric coating keeps a pill from dissolving in the stomach,
letting pass through to the small intestine before releasing its
ingredients. Such a enteric coated product would make *far* more sense
than packaging phaseolamine in quickly dissolving tablets or pull-apart
gelatine capsules. I would be *very* interested in testing an enteric
coated starch blocker product.
One more thought: If you're considering getting some starch blockers --
and again, while I think they're over-hyped, they seem to have their
uses -- I'd suggest a quick prayer to God or Destiny or whatever you
believe in, thanking Him, Her, or it that you're so very wealthy that
you can afford to buy expensive pills so that you *won't* digest and
absorb the food you eat!
BTW, since Dr. Kanter supplied the starch blockers, he gets the plug:
Slender Pro is available from http://www.lowcarbnutrition.com .
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Where'd It Come From?!!
A reader asks:
I was wondering if you had time for a question. I have been maintaining
and losing weight on the Atkin's diet (although the dramatic loss was not
the same as when I first tried it), anyway, I recently was on vacation for
10 days and decided to not restrict my carbohydrates. Granted, I did
overeat from time to time, however, in 10 days I gained 15 pounds! I can hardly
believe the dramatic difference. What took me over two months to lose
was back in a week and a half. The thing is, this is over 45,000 calories
over a daily intake. This would mean the equivalent of eating more than 3
times a normal diet. I did not overeat that much, no where near! Do you have
any thoughts on this abnormal weight fluctuation? Any insight would be
greatly appreciated.
Thank you, Daphne
Scary, huh? But take a deep breath, Daphne. You have not stumbled into
some strange tunnel in space where alien fat is being channeled into
your body, or where all the laws of physics and biochemistry have been
suspended.
Nope. The thing you need to realize is that quite a lot of what you've
gained is *water*, not fat. Just as the first 5-10 pounds that are so
rapidly lost on a Basic Low Carb Diet (Atkins, Protein Power, and the
like) are well known to be water, the first five to ten pounds of what
you put back on are also water.
Here's the deal: When you go low carb, you lose water in two ways.
First of all, your kidneys suddenly get better at eliminating sodium.
Why? Because high insulin levels trigger your body to *retain* sodium;
when those insulin levels suddenly come under control, your kidneys dump
that extra sodium. I think we're all clear on the "sodium = water
retention" thing; this explains why simply cutting sodium back in your
diet doesn't necessarily help the problem -- you can cut it back, but if
your body's holding onto every milligram it gets, restriction's not
going to make much of a difference. But when you suddenly lose that
sodium, you lose the water it's been holding.
Also, in the first few days on a Basic Low Carb Diet, you also are
depleting your glycogen stores. What are "glycogen stores"? Sometimes
called "body starch", glycogen is the form your body uses to store a
couple of days' worth of carbohydrate in your muscles and liver. It's
when you finally burn through your glycogen stores that your body is
*forced* into the fat burning metabolism we all know as ketosis. (It's
also when some people crash, a few days in, and feel *lousy* for 12-48
hours until their bodies get with the program and start producing fat
burning enzymes.) Here's the thing: Each gram of glycogen holds *four*
grams of water. So as you burn through your glycogen, you eliminate the
water that *it* was holding, too.
The net result, which most of us are quite familiar with, is that sudden
loss of as much as 10-15 pounds -- which, of course, slows to a more
reasonable pace when we start actually losing *fat* instead of water.
Now, here's the rub: As soon as you eat a good sized serving of carbs,
your body stocks up on glycogen again. And, of course, for every gram
of glycogen you gain, you gain four grams of water. This effect alone
is enough to make me gain about 3-5 pounds *overnight*, and make my face
look a little bloated, when I have an Indulgence.
Let that Indulgence extend to a few days, much less a week and a half,
and your insulin levels go right back up to their old heights, and your
kidneys start retaining sodium again -- and that sodium starts holding
onto water. Add to that some *extra* sodium (because we just *know*
that starchy foods like chips and fries taste best with plenty of
salt!), and you're looking at virtually *all* your water weight coming
back to haunt you.
Of course, you've probably added back a few pounds of fat as well, but
nothing like 45,000 calories worth! (Thank Heaven!) Of course, when
you don't fit in your clothes, and you look in the mirror and your face
looks too round, it's not that much of a comfort to know it's not really
fat making you that size, but water. You're still uncomfortable, and
don't like the way you look.
Here's the good news: Go back on Induction (for those of you who
haven't read Atkins, this means to slash your carbs back to just 20
grams a day), and the water should come off again quickly. The extra
few pounds of fat should take a little longer.
Here's the bad news: You've just demonstrated to yourself the folly of
deciding that an Indulgence should *ever* extend beyond one day -- and
usually it's best to limit an Indulgence to just one *meal*. Your body
doesn't care that you're on vacation; as far as it's concerned, it's
business -- and biochemistry -- as usual. Best to decide on one or two
meals or events that you'll Indulge at while vacationing -- maybe when
you go to one particular favorite restaurant, or when you're at the
County Fair or something of the sort -- and stick to your diet for the
rest of the vacation. (The other time people do this Extended
Indulgence, other than vacations, is "the Holiday Season". I have
*long* warned against deciding that the period between Thanksgiving and
New Years is a Diet Free Zone; now you understand why.)
Also a good idea to take some "friendly" food along -- on my recent
holiday camping trip I took sugar free margarita mix, sugar free
chocolate, and plenty of pumpkin seeds. Takes up room in your suitcase,
I know, but better room in your suitcase than room in your jeans!
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IF YOU'RE LOW CARB AND SMART, YOU'LL SHOP CARB SMART!
What do you want? What do you need? Pure De-Lite Truffles? ProSlim
Pasta? Baja Bob's Sugar Free Margarita Mix? Whey protein powder?
We've got it all and MORE, at some of the lowest prices on the 'net!!!
Plus we have Dana Carpender's _How I Gave Up My Low Fat Diet and Lost
Forty Pounds!_ for just $9.99!!
Also -- our own articles, reviews, and much more! CHECK IT OUT NOW!
http://www.webbalah.net/carbsmart.html
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Reader Review of _How I Gave Up My Low Fat Diet and Lost Forty Pounds!_
A diet book without a hidden agenda - what a concept!,
Dana Carpender's 'How I Gave Up My Low Fat Diet and Lost Forty Pounds'
is one of the best books on diet and nutrition I've ever read -- and
I've read a lot of them. Carpender manages to accomplish a rare feat in
such books by being both credible and thoroughly engaging.
The book contains fairly comprehensive information about the connection
between insulin and obesity, and how a low-carb or carb-controlled diet
can help. All of the popular related diets are summarized. Most authors
of diet books (understandably) have the ultimate goal of persuading the
reader to choose their diet over a competing diet. In contrast,
Carpender does not endorse one kind of low-carb diet over another,
rather, acknowledges that every individual has to be the ultimate
decision-maker about what works best for his or her body and lifestyle.
This is incredibly refreshing - especially for us cynics who have tried
it all and are tired of authors and doctors who claim to have the magic
bullet that works for everyone. Carpender even does what no doctor who
wants to sell only their books and products would do - encourages
experimenting with mixing plans and creating hybrid programs customized
to one's lifestyle and body.
Also, Carpender comes across as honest and passionate, and provides a
good bibliography if readers wish to research the topic further. This is
a good book for anyone interested in low-carb or carb-controlled eating,
and would also make an excellent gift for those who don't like boring
diet books, are convinced that low-carb is unhealthy, or are searching
for an alternative to the high-carb/low-fat diet that does not work for
everyone.
Sara from Salt Lake City, UT
Wow! I just *love* people who call me "both credible and engaging"!
And yes, passionate would describe me pretty well... Thanks, Sara.
You can read this and 24 other reader reviews of _How I Gave Up My Low
Fat Diet and Lost Forty Pounds!_ at Amazon :
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0966883101/lowcarbohysoluti --
and of course, you can also order the book!
If you'd like to read the first chapter of the book for FREE, plus find
a bunch of other useful low carb info, visit:
http://www.holdthetoast.com . You can also see my smiling face and my
before-and-afters.
Or, for that matter, you can visit
http://www.webbalah.net/carbsmart.html , and order
_How I Gave Up My Low Fat Diet and Lost Forty Pounds_ from Carb Smart,
where it's at a discount. Low Carb Grocery has it at a discount, too --
http://www.lowcarbgrocery.com . Low Carb Pharmacy has it, too --
http://www.lowcarbpharmacy.com .
If you'd like to buy the book from a bookstore, you'll probably have to
special order it. If you're in the USA, this shouldn't be a problem --
just tell them that you want to order _How I Gave Up My Low Fat Diet and
Lost Forty Pounds!_ by Dana Carpender, and that the ISBN is
0-9668831-0-1. You could also tell them that they can order it through
Baker and Taylor; one of the country's biggest book wholesalers. We do
ship to Canadian bookstores.
If you're outside of the US, your best bet is to order from Amazon.com.
We can ship internationally from here at Hold the Toast, too, but we're
not set up for it big-time like Amazon is. If you're a book wholesaler
outside the US and interested in carrying _How I Gave Up My Low Fat Diet
and Lost Forty Pounds!_, we'd love to hear from you!
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Synergy Diet Exclusive: ALL ORDERS OF ANY SIZE will receive a FREE
LIQUID SWEETENER (SPLENDA WITH A PUNCH) This is a one time offer. Use the
coupon code "punch" with your order and our shipping staff will add it in.
Expires Friday.
Coming Soon: Better Chips from the Better Bakery.
Great Reviews: Granny Oats Cookies are "delicious" says our resident
low carb guru who happens to pop in once and again to taste test our
products.
Call us toll free 4-877-877-1558 We are open 7 days a week to serve the
low carb community.
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Call Patty at Cruise Horizons for the vacation of your life!
1-800-529-AHOY
Check out Cruise Horizons website at http://www.cruisehorizons.com .
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Grin From A Reader
A reader -- who will remain nameless for reasons which will be obvious
-- wrote:
Dear Dana,
I've been low carbing for a few months. I've lost weight, become
healthier, and feel terrific while eating good food. One thing I didn't
count on was an increased libido (my mother would die if she knew I
wrote this). I have 2 small children and they require a lot of energy. I
used to be so tired at the end of the day that sex was the last thing on my
mind much to my husband's chagrin. It wasn't so much that I didn't want sex,
but I was just too exhausted. I am happy to report that things are once
again alive and well in the romance department. What a great motivator
to stay low carb for life!
Boy, sure sounds like a motivator to me!! Thanks for writing!
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You've Been Asking...
Yes, the Low Carb Retreat in Galena, Illinois is still on for the first
weekend in November! We'll be staying at the beautiful De Soto House,
in the heart of historic Galena. We'll both learn and relax, and have a
great low carb time! We should have details about the cost of the
get-away package by next issue! Watch this space.
In the meanwhile, if you're one of the folks who is interested in coming
on the Low Carb Retreat, do me a favor: Drop me a line and let me know
just exactly what sort of programs interest you most. Do you want to
learn more about, say, ordering in restaurants? Planning dinner party
menus? Would you like to learn breathing exercises? Hear more about
the latest medical research? What are you hoping I'll teach you? You
know where to reach me: mailto:dana@holdthetoast.com !
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That's it for this week! See you in a couple of weeks!
Dana W. Carpender
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