SCD Chat:
This is the first “slow carb chat”, since the last couple weeks were spent transitioning from Whole 30 and explaining the SCD.  We’ll start with a review of the Slow Carb Diet by a fellow RD who contributes to Healthline.com. In her review, Arlene Semeco draws the following conclusions:

• Summary – The SCD lets you eat as much as you want of the allowed foods for six days of the week, four meals per day. For one day of the week, you’re free to eat whatever you want. This diet claims to help weight loss by increasing the breakdown of fats and boosting feelings of fullness.
• The SCD concentrates on five food groups: protein, legumes, vegetables, fats and spices. It recommends that you have as much as you want of the first three groups and small quantities of the last two.
• The SCD allows one day per week during which you can eat as much as you want of any foods. This is based on the fact that refeeds can help increase leptin concentrations and metabolic rate.
• The main downside to the diet is that it limits two very nutrient-rich food groups — fruits and dairy. For that reason, it might not suit people with high nutritional demands, such as athletes.

As I read through the above review, I realized that the author digs less into the science behind Tim’s claims and focuses more on explaining the diet in a way that doesn’t involve jumping back and forth between sections of his book. She more or less thinks the diet is fine and doesn’t draw any conclusions about the fact that this diet requires supplements because it cuts out whole food groups. As I continue into this diet, I am interested to see what other people’s cheat days look like, and how many people who follow this diet use all the recommended supplements.

Do note that she states this diet is not for athletes, though Tim might disagree.

There are many claims in The 4-Hour Body, and I plan to dig through them as we go. Next week we will explore Tim’s claim that fructose basically immediately turns to fat in the liver. I wanted to discuss that this week, but my “4-Hour Body” is on my Kindle, and digging through these claims will require a little more work since i don’t have them physically bookmarked with post-it notes and highlighters. In the interest of publishing this blog today, I’ll save that research for next week. 

Week 1 in review:

Challenges (… there were many this week): Week one didn’t exactly go as planned. Days were easier than evenings.

• Monday/Tuesday dinners- I planned to be compliant but I had leftovers from the previous night’s Italian-themed potluck. Since the meatballs and sauce were homemade, I would rather eat them than throw the stuff out. I figured a little caprese salad wouldn’t hurt.
• Alcohol – In the coming weeks I will be avoiding alcohol on most weekdays. Trivia night on Tuesday was at a dive bar, and as a wine snob it was easier to drink beer than trust the wine selection.
• Boring – I found week one to be a little boring. Hoping that this changes… I’m used to eating the same things over and over again, anyway, but I think the fact that this is one of the rules makes me want to break it, haha
• Saturday and Sunday both were cheat days… actually, both days up until dinner time were compliant with the diet but the evenings were cheat times. This will be something to tackle in the upcoming weeks as warm weather and holidays will provide opportunities for BBQs (bread, chips, alcohol, etc). 
• No meal prep Sunday because I spent a lot of time socializing

• 

• 

• 

To focus on in week two:

• Being compliant to the rules of the diet 😛
• Lemon juice in water before meals
• Calcium supplements
• Drinking more water

Week 2 – What’s Planned:

My week is pretty much the same as far as my schedule goes, so most meals will be at home. This week I skipped Hungry Harvest again and bought all my groceries at Whole Foods. My bill was $75 this week, and included everything underlined plus the ingredients for the tomato salad and the dry goods listed underneath.  I ended up making my own hummus, though.

Note – I am adding 1oz of cheddar to each of my lunch salads because I’m just not eating taco salad without cheese. However, since there were no french dressings without added sugar, I am making my own using this recipe from “Five Heart Home”. 

• Breakfast – eggs with lentils, sauteed swiss chard and onions, avocado
• Lunch – Taco salad with beef, kidney beans, cheddar, tomatoes, red onion, Seite grain free chips, homemade Catalina style dressing
• Lunch 2 – Roasted chicken and broccoli with homemade hummus
• Hummus – 15oz chickpeas pureed with 1/2 cup tahini, 1/4 cup water, juice of 1 lemon, garlic, salt
• Dinner – Strip steak with broccolini, “Canal House Lentils” courtesy of Bon Appetite

• 

• 

• 

•