Alternatives to LE diet?

[Amaunet]

So... I have a personalized plan, but I feel sick and anxious just reading it! I'm a working mum (teach teenagers and have a 3.5yo and 15 month old) and NEED energy. Low protein, low calorie, empty fake calorie diet is not going to work. I'm also coeliac (gluten allergy) so many carbs are out too...Both boys have taken 6 month plus to conceive so the diet will be long term.

Everything I know about nutrition (and my body) tells me I'll be starving, irritable, anxious and exhausted doing LE ... The diet plan had very little I can (or would) eat, other than basic fruit and veg! Two meals of fruit and veg isn't going to work!

Help, what other options do I have?

[Bigwish]

I've just reacted on another thread. I see that you already have your personalized plan. Did you already try a couple of days?

There is thread for people with blood sugar issues that prescribes a more low carb diet to maintain low, but stable blood sugar levels. Maybe you can ask atomic if that'll work for you too?

[Tree]

It's sounds like Atomic wrote the plan without knowing all the details. I'm sure if you let her know your concerns she will adapt it accordingly. Don't worry.

[thehappypixi]

I would start with a couple of changes and see how you go, ie. do you think you could be vegetarian? And maybe delay your breakfast until morning break, 10am ish, have a breakfast bar or something? Don't go the whole hog straight away, but even small changes can make a difference :D

[Amaunet]

Thanks! I could be vegetarian but would need some protein from somewhere, (for energy and fullness) especially if I'm only eating a few meals. Being coeliac limits many carbs (especially convenience carbs). My morning break isn't until almost 11am, I could wait, but then my food options would be limited to what I could bring to work and most breakfast bars etc have gluten or are quite nut heavy - so not LE friendly?

Is low calorie more important than low protein? I actually think the low calorie part would be ok. - if I'm mostly eating fruit and veg, I'd probably struggle with eating enough calories. But with extremely low protein I'd be a mess!

[Amaunet]

It's sounds like Atomic wrote the plan without knowing all the details. I'm sure if you let her know your concerns she will adapt it accordingly. Don't worry.
I have, but reading thru the LE section, I just don't see how it will work for me! There is also the issue of not being in the US and having to convert everything and source similar products as the brand names in the shopping list etc aren't available here.

[Princess of Pink]

I would say to give it a go for a few weeks first and see how you go. Obviously cut out things you can't have with your medical issues and replace them with something else you can eat. Sip diet coke or something similar which really helps curb the hunger. Your metabolism changes with these lifestyle changes so quickly you might be surprised! I have lived LE for my entire life, when I started HE I felt sick all the time and was so tired of eating all the time. Now I wake up starving (which I never have), and I am hungry all the time. I believe low protein really is important, and most girl mum's I know eat very low protein. That has been my biggest struggle, and one talked about all the time on the boy swaying chat, how hard it is to be eating so much protein all the time.

I would suggest grouping up with some other Aussie swayers and get some tips on what foods to buy here.

[lollylegs]

Hi Amanuet,
I panicked reading the diet. Recently calculated my normal healthy diet which had like 60-100g fat & protein a day!!
Perhaps try that (tracking what / when you eat)? As low compared to what your body is accustomed to is the goal. So if you currently eat 60g protein try for 50g & see how you go?
I have been veggo and reducing calorie/fat/protein since Dec and aside from an occasional meltdown right before dinner am amazed at how well my body has coped (a little too well, the weight did not magically shift until added exercise in!) I have a coffee first up in am; and try to delay meals where it suits on a given day. Sometimes it's easier to skip lunch on workdays than breakfast. Soda water (& occasional diet softies) are amazing at curbing hunger.
I eat plenty of GF meals & don't go in for convenience foods so much. Rice & rice noodles / low cal noodles are a main stay. Soups. Rice paper rolls & sushi made at home. Corn thins (freedom foods) are my fall back lunch along with a salad or soup. I have used GF pasta as well as regular (no diagnosed intolerance, just prefer to limit) but prefer zucchini "noodles" when family having pasta meal.
There is a Australian swayers FB group you can get some other ideas / brands from; and a thread on local brands of food.

[Sihaya]

I balked the same way you are when I first heard about the LE diet, but previous posters are right, your body will adjust to a lower amount of protein and there are ways you can adapt it to make it work for you.

I am not actually eating a ton of gluten on the LE diet. I am eating a lot of rice products (unfortified rice milk, rice noodles, white rice, etc.). Rice plus veggies is a perfect pink meal and you can mix up the veggies and sauces so you are not eating the same meal every day. My first meal of the day (at 11am) is very portable - Larabar (gluten-free protein bar), banana, grapes, and a Yoplait light yogurt.

I also am not only eating 2 meals. I eat at 11am, 4pm, and 9pm because I just can't go any longer without eating during the day. It is still in stark contrast to how I was eating when I got pg with my boys (no longer than 2-3 hours between meals and snacking and drinking herbal tea pretty much constantly).

The thing that helped me get used to the LE diet was that I started out with all of the food within all the LE diet ranges for protein, fat, calories, potassium, and sodium but I arranged my meals/snacks so I was eating every 2 hours like I'm used to doing. After about a week, I switched to every 3 hours, then after another week, every 4 until eventually I was only eating 3 meals 5 hours apart and my body had been able to gradually adjust to the change.

[Tree]

I have, but reading thru the LE section, I just don't see how it will work for me! There is also the issue of not being in the US and having to convert everything and source similar products as the brand names in the shopping list etc aren't available here.

Where are you from?

[Tree]

Where are you from?

Read on. Australia. I think there is an Australian mums thread, if you can't find it then perhaps start one. I'm from the uk and that's what I did. There are some very helpful ladies here!

[harleyquinn]

Dieting isn't mandatory to sway. Don't do it if it sacrifices your mental health in any way or stresses you out. I didn't diet and feel perfectly fine with that (but also ok with any outcome)

Even small changes can help, like dropping fortified foods (like cereal), swapping a salad dressing, leaving out meat at dinner a few nights a week, and just pretend you are going to be a Vegas showgirl and really NEED to fit into some tight outfit! Like...don't eat dessert or cheesecake for breakfast, yk?? Its isn't rocket science and isn't meant to be hard. Baby steps go a loooong way. :)

[Amaunet]

Thanks everyone, I'll look for some Aussies :)

[atomic sagebrush]

I explained this already in Amaunet's custom sway forum but just for anyone else reading this thread who is now alarmed or confused, the diet that comes with the Custom Sway Plan is meant as an example only. I never intended for any people to follow THAT diet day in and day out, in fact I have advised several people NOT to, it is not suitable for the vast majority of people anyway, and I certainly would never give that diet to a person with celiac disease.

The Custom Sway Plans do NOT come with personalized diet plans. It is a sway plan, not a diet plan. For me to do that, I would have to charge an exorbitant amount of money and be very limited in the number of people I am able to help. Also, since there are people here from across the US and the world and every individual has their own likes and dislikes anyway, it would be difficult to the point of impossible for me to make designer diets for people who don't even have the same foods available to them as I do. I personally also believe that prepackaged diet plans, of the sort where you get 2 weeks worth of menus/recipes, are next to useless for busy moms because it takes tons of shopping and planning and you have to eat things you don't even like or want anyway.

The solution that we use is for each person WITH MY HELP to work on their own diet using LE principles. That's what those custom sway forums are meant for. We can put our heads together and come up with something that will work for you.

BTW, the LE Diet is totally safe and based on the recommendations of reproductive endocrinologists as a safe caloric intake for weight loss prior to TTC, and the protein/fat intake are those recommended by the World Health Organization and the governments of many countries as a safe lower limit of protein and fat intake.

Low carb vegetables are UNLIMITED on the diet, so that diet plan is meant to be aside from any vegetables that you eat. You can literally eat as many vegetables as you want to, you do not need to count them for calories, protein, fat, or anything else.

[atomic sagebrush]

It's sounds like Atomic wrote the plan without knowing all the details. I'm sure if you let her know your concerns she will adapt it accordingly. Don't worry.

No, I had all the details and the plan was made specifically for that individual. The plan does not include diet. The cost is for the sway plan and then the private sway forum for 6 months where I act as a sway coach and HELP people with their diet.

The issue is that the diet plan is meant as an example of what a person MIGHT eat on an LE type diet and is not customized, so I think there was some confusion. http://genderdreaming.com/forum/have-question-about-plans-service/22322-custom-sway-plan-faq.html

[atomic sagebrush]

Thanks! I could be vegetarian but would need some protein from somewhere, (for energy and fullness) especially if I'm only eating a few meals. Being coeliac limits many carbs (especially convenience carbs). My morning break isn't until almost 11am, I could wait, but then my food options would be limited to what I could bring to work and most breakfast bars etc have gluten or are quite nut heavy - so not LE friendly?

Is low calorie more important than low protein? I actually think the low calorie part would be ok. - if I'm mostly eating fruit and veg, I'd probably struggle with eating enough calories. But with extremely low protein I'd be a mess!

Some nuts are fine on LE Diet. There are NO forbidden foods on the LE Diet, you can have whatever you would like to eat, as long as you stick within the overall limits of the diet.

this is NOT an extremely low protein diet. It is a NORMAL protein diet. Many sources believe that the intake of protein in first world countries is too high for health anyway. I call it "Low Everything" diet because it's a catchy name, not because it is dangerously low in any nutrient.

[atomic sagebrush]

I have, but reading thru the LE section, I just don't see how it will work for me! There is also the issue of not being in the US and having to convert everything and source similar products as the brand names in the shopping list etc aren't available here.

Eat what you normally eat, adjusting portion sizes accordingly. This is meant to be an easy-to-follow, easy-to-do thing. The shopping list itself is just meant as a helpful thing and not as a "you must buy this or your sway will fail" thing. There is no earthly way I could tailor make 196 shopping lists for every country on the globe, I had to stick with what I am familiar with, I apologize but it's the best that I can do.

Again, I NEVER intended for that diet plan to be anything other than one example. The LE Diet is meant to be pretty much unlimited and infinitely flexible, all you need to do is eat 1500-1800 cals (up to 1800-2000 for those who need to keep weight on), 40-50 g protein (and you can certainly increase this if you would like, many people do 50-60 g) and 20-30% of your cals from fat which any doctor will tell you is what you should be eating anyway. In your plan I had you continue multivitamins due to your health issues.

[atomic sagebrush]

2 meals vs. 3 or 4 is totally at your discretion BTW. Some people like fewer, bigger meals, others like smaller meals more often. If you need breakfast, EAT IT. These things are recommendations that have worked for some people, not commandments.