Well I am 6 pounds lighter since I last wrote! And 13 and 1/2 pounds lighter total since 6/19.

I have completely cut out diet soda now, and it has made an incredible difference in me. At first, I was plagued by horrible headaches and I had zero energy, probably from cutting out the caffeine. However now I am guzzling water and it seems to be helping my weight loss.

I have also been adding fruit back into my diet. So far, I have only added apples and peaches/nectarines, because I know they have some of the lowest glycemic indexes of all the fruits. I have also added some popcorn into my diet.

At first, I thought that I would gain a monstrous amount of weight overnight. I was really scared. But then I noticed that my weight was still dropping, and actually seems to be dropping more now that I've added fruit back into my diet.

I try to pair my fruit with a non-starchy item (like cheese with my apples) and I think that might help too. It is amazing how sweet fruit tastes now. I can hardly eat an entire piece because of the sweetness.

I have also began to eat 70% dark chocolate, one little piece each evening. This also does not affect my weight loss.

One thing that I have had to be VERY careful of is the fact that having sweet foods like fruit does spark my cravings. I have to work to control them. I could so very easily say "okay, well just one potato" or "one piece of french bread won't hurt". This is a little bit scary.

Has anyone else had experience with adding healthy carbs back into their diet? Has anyone been successful with it?

~Libby

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Libby,
Glad to hear about your recent losses.

I have stuck with berries and occassionaly a slice of cantalope (small) and haven't had a problem with cravings. I think that the fruits you mention are kind of high on the glycemic level for fruits so I've stayed away from them. But I think eating them with cheese or something is smart if you're going to eat them.
(I just looked up peaches and was surprized to see it only had 8 carbs for a medium peach- that's not too bad)

As for popcorn, you are braver than I am. I would be off and running on a binge if I were eating that at night. I do eat bakers chocolate though, it's unsweetened and doesn't set me up at all for failure and it actually tastes quite good.

I think that experimenting with what works for each of us is what this is all about. It's wonderful that you're still losing weight but not so good if you are fighting cravings everyday, my opinion is to eliminate till you find out what's causing the cravings and then stop eating it. It would be very hard for me to follow this as a way of life if I had to talk myself out of carby foods each day.

Well best of luck to you.
chelsea

In my south beach diet book, it gives a listing of the GIs of many foods. It says that apples have a GI of 34, and peaches are a 40...this seems low compared to pineapple (94!!) and watermelon (103!!). Even a banana has a GI of 89.

What is shocking is that a baked potato has a GI of 158. And to think that so many people see baked potatoes as health foods.

I thought I remembered seeing that all melons had a high GI. I am not sure if cantalope is high or not.

The thing is though, I LOVE carbs, and I would eat them all day long if I could. So for me it is about balancing the occasional fruit with many more veggies and proteins. Fruit all day long would be no good.

Popcorn is surprisingly low carb: there are 13 grams of total carbs in 4.5 cups of popcorn. So even having one cup of popcorn would be less than 5 grams of carbs. The thing about popcorn is that is it so airy that you can eat a cup and feel satisfied, while you couldn't do that with regular corn.

4.5 cups of popcorn is equal to 2 tablespoons of dry kernels. Think about how easily you could eat two tablespoons of corn. However 4.5 cups of popcorn is a much nicer treat.

But of course it is not for all the time, and not to make up my whole diet. But as a treat....

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Hi again Libby,

I do the Atkins diet, I think the South Beach is different as you progress into the phases. In Atkins the fruits are chosen by how many carbs in each piece so I have no idea why I even wrote "glycemic value" in my previous post as I don't even know what it means, I meant to say higher in carbs but I got carried away with being a smarty pants I guess.

Anyhow, popcorn is a trigger food for me, so I don't eat it. That's why I like doing this way of eating so much, I've found out what my trigger foods are and I've stopped eating them. So far it's been easy to stay away. I'm in over seven months now and still really happy with this way of eating.

The bummer for me is nuts. I don't seem to lose weight if I eat them. I don't gain either, just stay the same. I love nuts so I eat them for awhile then I cut them out again.

I hope you like South Beach as much as I do Atkins, anything that gets a person off of the rollercoaster of dieting is good in my book.

chelsea

Hi Libby. I think if you find something that doesn't inhibit your weight loss, is satisfying and healthy, go for it. We are all different in how our bodies react to certain foods. Low GI fruits are fantastic choices. It's all about getting off that processed, carby, sugar-laden rollercoaster, ya know?

I LOVE fruit season. I eat strawberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, LOW CARB peaches by Del Monte (Carb Clever), and an occasional apple with cheese or LC peanut butter (or all natural PB without hydrogenates) and about once a month I pop up 2 TBS of popping corn and watch a movie. It's a lifestyle I can live with.

It's all about finding what works for you. And the funny thing is...........I used to not eat much fruit............when I was fat. LOLOL Now..........fruit is my candy.

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