Monday, January 8, 2007

Fighting Cholesterol , Triglycerides and loose some weight - No dal roti, rice for dinner

I weighed 210 pounds and had an elevated Cholesterol and Triglycerides couple of years back. My wife wanted to loose some weight after our son was born. We tried diet and some indisciplined exercise regime. Sure it failed.

Then we tried something different. Skipped carbohydrate for dinner. Ate moderate carb for break fast and lunch but skipped for dinner. No roti, rice, dal and aloo for dinner. No sambar, idli, dosa, uppuma tiffin. Some times we baked chicken wings. Some times we baked fish (mostly salmon). Some other time we ate lightly fried hard boiled egg whites. Egg omelets with just one or two yolks. In between, we made pasta with lots of chicken, shrimp and vegetables and very little noodles. Before the E-Coli scare, we made salads with baked chicken strips and boiled egg whites. Whenever we baked, we baked lots bell peppers and mushrooms to fill up. It was a welcome and interesting change. In less than 6 months, I lost 15 pounds and my wife lost 10 pounds. The best part is that my Cholesterol and Triglycerides are normal. So are able to maintain the lost weight for more than a year now. Since we enjoy the diet change for dinner, we have hopes of sustaining it for long.

One more change was to have early dinner. We finish our dinner by 6.30- 7.00 PM with no snacks after coming back from work.

Changing the dinner helped in two ways.

1. Rice and Roti is mostly ate with sambar/dal/potato/other lentils curry adding more easy calorie to the diet. Having only one item to eat reduces the total calorific intake.
2. Since baked fish/poultry is not native to our (Indians) palate , we don't tend to over eat.
3. Since the protein makes you feel full faster and deprive the body of fast energy (carb, sugar), the body breaks down the fat from storage and thereby help body spend more energy.

This is not to suggest to go carb free. We eat more of unprocessed carb (grains, par boiled rice, fruits and vegetables) but less of processed carbs (sugar, flour, maida, polished rice, basmati rice). I wont call it protein diet. But tipping the scale from carbohydrate diet to carb neutral diet.

Remember what your grandma warned you. Skipping dinner will make you loose a dove's weight. Skipping carb for dinner will help you loose half a dove.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You brute, how could u do that? I should ask Reshma for the truth....
Try Triple Lecithin, EPA, Vit C to keep ur heart more romantic....
Vit E, C and grape seed extract (anti-oxidants) for keeping the 'crab' (cancer) away!
No 'stamina' (cancer) sticks, pls....

geetha said...

Hi,
I liked reading your post. I'm indian too, trying to lose some extra flab. In the past i've tried to lose weight using South Beach Diet and such. I 've often lost 10-15 pounds only to regain it when i start eating normally. Balancing in the long run between indian and protein based (low carb) diet is where i struggle. What did u guys have for breakfast and lunch? Are you still following these dinner strategies? I enjoy eating a protein based meal, but get bored with it soon and end up overeating. I'd like to hear your comments and any suggestions u have.
Thanks!

Sree said...

Hi Geetha,

Since posting this, I lost 10 more pounds and my wife lost 5 more. We try to skip dinner all together when we have a late lunch (weekends) or parties. For break fast, we go for cheerios, egg whites etc. Lunch is usually 2 roti or a small bowl of rice with vebetables (less than 400 calorie total). If you like fish/shrimp, you can go for fish/shrimp tacos. Two wheat rotis with cabbage, shrimp/fish, sour cream filling will be just under 400 calories and will feel full!

If you induldge in samosa, pakoda, chakri, mixture etc for evening snacks - give up dinner in exchange. Induldge in comfort food once a day, every day. Go easy for the rest :)

Sree

Anonymous said...

thanks for a prompt reply sree. I really appreciate it. I will start following ideas and tips and will let u know :)
Shine on!!
geetha