Professor Smurlene's PCOS and Fertility Journal

[audreyh1]

Yes, I got sleepy again from the brown rice. I will finish off what I already cooked and try bringing it in my diet again next week or two weeks from now.

Carbs today: 1 slice whole wheat toast, 1 cup of brown rice. So, I guess I had three servings of carbs. I am okay with that, but hope to avoid doing that again for awhile.

Hi Smurlene:

It sounds like you might be rather grain-sensitive or carb-sensitive. Given your medical history and the drugs your are on, you probably still have pretty high insulin-resistance right now, so perhaps that is not so surprising. (I'm not a doctor, so I don't really know - just speculating).

I mainly wanted to suggest that you try lower GI grains. Barley is a nice substitute for brown rice and it is MUCH MUCH lower GI, which means it will digest more slowly and perhaps cause less of a blood sugar rise (which is what I guess is causing the sleepies). You'll still need to limit your servings to 1/2 cup cooked per meal.

And oats is the other - steel-cut or old-fashioned 5 mins oats are a great grain choice. Oats and Barley are high in soluble fiber, so they digest much more slowly than wheat and rice.

Wheat and Rice really aren't the best grain choices. Even the whole grain versions. They are still high GI for grains. Barley and Oats are much better choices.

And 3 servings of grains in one day is probably too much. Perhaps stick with no more than 2 servings for a while? I'm not sure where you are in Phase 2.

Just thought I'd pass along some more options.

Audrey

[Smurlene]

Audrey---Thanks for your input. I am a big fan of steel cut oats. I guess I should have started there. The only reason I tried brown rice first is so that my dh could have some kind of carbs with his dinner. (He is not on the Beach.)

So, I am cutting out the brown rice. I will try barley. I love barley soup, so I am sure that I will like barley itself. Thanks for the suggestion.

I am at the very beginning of P2.

[audreyh1]

Check out http://www.barleyfoods.org/recipes.html for some great ideas. Barley pretty much can be cooked just like rice.

You may have to modify the recipes to make them totally SB friendly (good fats, lean proteins, etc.), but they are a great collection.

Audrey

[Smurlene]

Thank you so much! The recipes look great! I am going to try one of them tomorrow.

[Smurlene]

I just made a nifty little meal planner for myself. It has each day listed with spots for breakfast, snack, lunch, etc. But, most importantly for me, it has spots for the number of servings of dairy, fruit, and grains. I need to keep track of that stuff or I will forget it. I also added a line for exercise, though I doubt that I will get much of that in until Monday. I am finally starting to feel better (I had the real flu for about a week), and so Monday is my jumping off day. Walk Away the Pounds 1-mile. I wish I had a weight set at home.

[Smurlene]

I just made a nifty little meal planner for myself. It has each day listed with spots for breakfast, snack, lunch, etc. But, most importantly for me, it has spots for the number of servings of dairy, fruit, and grains. I need to keep track of that stuff or I will forget it. I also added a line for exercise, though I doubt that I will get much of that in until Monday. I am finally starting to feel better (I had the real flu for about a week), and so Monday is my jumping off day. Walk Away the Pounds 1-mile. I wish I had a weight set at home.

[LegalBeagle]

When you start phase 2, most people add just one grain serving a day and keep it at that item, one serving a day, for a week, just to be able to see if their bodies are sensitive to that item.

So, for example, you might eat p1 meals but add in one serving of steel cut oats with breakfast (1/2 c uncooked is one serving). Be sure to eat your grain with a protein or fat to lower the glycemic load of the meal. You might have oatmeal and an egg for breakfast, or oatmeal with 2 slices of turkey bacon, for instance.

Hope this helps. There is a really good sticky on transitioning to phase 2, which will be very helpful to you at this stage of the game.

Good luck!!

[Smurlene]

I read the P2 transition, and it was very helpful. It is similar to what I did this summer when I was on a low glycemic diet. Yesterdays three servings of starches/carbs was a mistake. I had a really early morning meeting and ended up having a very strange schedule. I had to go out for breakfast. But, I will pat myself on the back. I thought the eggs and bacon were served by themselves, but when breakfast came, it came with potatoes and two slices of toast! I love, love, love potatoes, but I left the table without taking the least little nibble. And, I only had one pieces of the toast. I should have ordered veggies to go with it, but none of their veggies seemed appetizing to me.

So, this week, my food to add is berries...3/4 cup combined blueberries and strawberries in my plain yogurt each day.

Next week, I will add 1/2 cup of barley each day.

I just want to suceed!

[LegalBeagle]

If you got the "whole wheat" toast at a restaurant, I'd lay odds that it was not "real" whole wheat toast. I always ask to see their bread bags. Many times, the bread is "whole wheat" made with enriched flour of some kind. That might explain why you got sleepy later in the day, as well.

[Smurlene]

I tried not to think about it. It is hard enough finding real whole wheat bread in the store. I am certain that is was probably faux whole wheat. I am not a bread lover. I can live without and even before SB rarely bought bread. Potatoes and pasta....hard to give up.

I am glad that I did Atkins several years ago because I think it prepared for South Beach. I think they are two pretty different diets, but avoiding bad carbs was a lesson than I have kept from back then. I haven't always used (like that time in early Dec when I had spaghetti six days in a row!!), but now it is not that big of a sacrifice to leave the bread and potatoes behind. Loading up on veggies surely helps a lot.

Do you think a piece of lf string cheese and a half a cup of V-8 juice is an okay snack?

[LegalBeagle]

Yes! I use 2% milk string cheese and low sodium V-8 (all phase friendly snack).

Other great p2 snacks:

small granny smith apple w/ a wedge of laughing cow light cheese (or natural PNB, but I see you can't do peanut butter)

celery sticks with laughing cow light

fat free no sugar added (or plain) yogurt and small apple

1/2 c cottage cheese w/ walnuts & cinnamon & splenda (mock cinnabon)

red bell pepper strips or cucumber slices with hummus dip

Hope that helps some!!

[LegalBeagle]

You know, I used to be a potato/pasta hog...seriously, I ate them all the time...thought I could not live without them.

I have had a total of 2 white potatoes since June 2004. Mostly I eat baked sweet potatoes with smart balance margarine, splenda & cinnamon. I eat whole wheat pasta maybe once a week, but since you only get 1/2 a cup, it's almost not worth cooking it. I love spaghetti sauce over sauteed spinach! I saute it in EVOO w/garlic, and then put the spaghetti sauce with 97% lean hamburger meat over it. DELISH!!!!!!!

[Smurlene]

You mentioned my favorite snack in the world: red bell pepper strips and/or cucumber w/hummus. I have that at least once a day. It is such a wonderful to treat, and it makes me feel full.

It is a good thing I liked veggies all ready or this diet would be pretty tough to follow.

Thanks for all of your help. It is good to be sunning myself on the Beach with freinds around to make sure I have put on enough sunscreen.

[Smurlene]

Sweet potatoes are on of my favorites foods. Before beginning SB, hubby and I would have them once a week. Hopefully, in another week or two, I will be able to bring them back into my rotation. I like them just boiled and mashed plain.

I have never thought to add ss to spinach. That sounds wonderful.

Wouldn't you know that my crowning culinary achievement is lasagna. I make the best lasagna. Even Italians rave over it. I only make it for special occassions and gatherings, though. But, still, it is really bad for me. Two pieces and I am out like a light.

Stupid PCOS!

[LegalBeagle]

Yeah, I know what you mean! It kills me when people come on here and say, I want to do the SB diet, but I won't eat veggies. I always think they must be VERY unhealthy, in addition to being overweight, if that makes sense. Although my pediatrician did tell me when my DD was young that even if she would not eat veggies, she could get all the same benefits if she ate a lot of fruit.