Low Carbing in Las Vegas? Any favorite places?

[Papa Deuce]

I'm headed to Las Vegas in mid February, and I plan to not cheat before then. When I get there I will be going to my all time favorite restaurant, and NOT eating low carb UNLESS I find something on the menu that is low carb and I feel like eating it.

Overall, though, I plan to stay on track in Vegas other than that, but I know it will be really hard.

Do you have any favorite restaurants in Las Vegas where you find it EXTRA EASY to stay on plan?

Thanks.

[carbless_in_seattle]

Re: Low Carbing in Las Vegas? Any favorite places?

I'm sorry but at fancy restaurants, there is nothing easier than staying low-carb. It's cheap restaurants where there is the problem!

At nice restaurants you can order crab, lobster, chicken, steak-- anything, drench it in butter, have at it. Just get steamed veggies rather than potatoes, the potatoes aren't necessary, you wont miss them, they're just a filler anyway (a way for restaurants to fill you up for cheap).

Oh, and pretty much every restaurant there is easy to stay on plan, because most have buffets with prime rib, shrimp, lobster, crab, steak...

[Desertthorn]

Re: Low Carbing in Las Vegas? Any favorite places?

I did some casino buffets and they all had some great low carb fair, also some very tempting high carbs. Have a great time

[SunnySmile501]

Re: Low Carbing in Las Vegas? Any favorite places?

Are you aware that if you stay low carb until the middle of February and then have a carb fest, you're gonna get sick as a dog? It ain't pretty.

When you start Atkins, you get induction flu because you have plenty of enzymes on board to digest carbs, but not protein and fat. Your system is upset for a few days until it produces the enzymes to digest and use proteins and fats for fuel.

Then when you stay cheat free low carb for a while and then go face-first into the donuts, you don't have the proper enzymes to digest carbs, so you feel miserable. Your cravings will all come back and it is usually hard to get back on the wagon. That is what messes up most people that do well for a long time, and then cave to the carb monsters.

Addiction to food and carbs is the same as being an alcoholic or drug addict. If you are clean and sober, you don't plan to go on a binge when you are on vacation.

For a diabetic, that would be a really hard for your body to take after getting blood sugar under control.

Those buffets will have plenty of delicious foods that will satisfy your desire to splurge and still stay low carb.

Sunny!

[Papa Deuce]

Re: Low Carbing in Las Vegas? Any favorite places?

Yeah, I was thinking buffets, but they have so much of what I want to avoid, right in front of me, and right when I am hungry!

I guess that really is the best suggestion, though.

[carbless_in_seattle]

Re: Low Carbing in Las Vegas? Any favorite places?

Yeah, I was thinking buffets, but they have so much of what I want to avoid, right in front of me, and right when I am hungry!

I guess that really is the best suggestion, though.

If you go to a buffet, and you're really tempted to cheat, do this:

pile your plate sky high with atkins friendly foods (steak, crab, shrimp), etc... and tell yourself you'll get some of all the high carb stuff on your second trip up to the buffet... by the time you eat what's on your first plate, your cravings for carb-filled stuff will have gone away, you'll be so proud of yourself for not cheating, and you'll probably be full

[OzLover]

Re: Low Carbing in Las Vegas? Any favorite places?

I bet by the time you get to Vegas you'll be in such an Atkins groove that you won't be tempted!!

[SunnySmile501]

Low-Carb and Occasional Carb Binging

Here's some data to back up my advice against carb binging:

Low-Carb and Occasional Carb Binging

Very interesting article by Michael R. Eades, M.D., about low-carbers splurging on high carbs occasionally, and why it is harmful to us. Here's an excerpt from the article:

A paper in this week's JAMA presents data confirming what I've long suspected: carb bingeing now and then could actually cause worse free radical damage than regularly eating more carbs on an ongoing basis.
The paper entitled Activation of Oxidative Stress by Acute Glucose Fluctuations Compared with Sustained Chronic Hyperglycemia in Patients With Type II Diabetes shows that patients with diabetes who have fluctuations in their blood sugars incur more free radical damage than those with high but not fluctuating blood sugar levels.

Following a low-carb diet makes one a little glucose intolerant, which is the reason that the instructions for a glucose tolerance test always include the admonition to eat plenty of carbs in the week before the test. Why? Because all the macronutrients--glucose, fat and protein--are broken down by enzymes during the metabolic process. And all the enzymes necessary for the metabolism of the various macronutrients are made on demand but not immediately. If you are on a high carbohydrate diet, then you will have plenty of enzymes on hand to deal with the carbohydrates you consume. If you switch to a low-carbohydrate diet, it takes a while to manufacture the enzymes in the quantities needed to deal with the extra fat and protein that your metabolic system hadn't been exposed to. This deficiency of protein/fat metabolizing enzymes is the reason people starting a low-carb diet become so easily fatigued--they've got plenty of enzymes on hand to break down carbs, they just don't have the carbs to metabolize. Once they produce the enzymes necessary to deal with the load of protein and fat, which takes a few days, they become low-carb adapted and no longer feel fatigued.

Once people become low-carb adapted--as I hope we all are--then the same thing happens if they go face down in the donuts. They don't have the enzymes on board to deal with the sudden influx of glucose, and, as a consequence, their blood sugar spikes higher than it would on a person eating the same amount of carbohydrate who is already carb adapted.

This paper shows that these carb spikes are not benign, as the paper points out.


Read entire article at this link:

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/archives/2006/04/lowcarb_caveat.html