I have been on the "Fat to Skinny" diet which is 20 grams a day of carbs. I started the Monday after Thanksgiving..had no problems making it through Christmas and New Years. I was down 10 lbs. which seems a little slow for such a drastic diet.. but I am also hypothyroid. Last weekend I went to a birthday party dinner in which everything there was high carb.. so I ate that one meal and then went back to my 20 carbs a day diet. Weighed myself that Monday and had gained 5 lbs! Now I remember that low carb doesn't work well for me. I don't know why I thought it would work this time. I'm sticking to the plan this week since it does keep me away from sweets... but starting next week I'll start a higher carb diet that I had good results with in the past (I had to quit that because I had a bad case of systemic candida from antibiotics). The Fat to Skinny website does have some good informative videos and recipes. Good luck! Here is a link that might be useful: Fat to Skinny forum

Here is how I made my low FODMAP dish this week. Lots of flavor. If you assess it on its own merits rather than comparing to a dear favorite, it's a good dish. I think one of the hardest parts of this diet is that it precludes so many favorite foods. There's no way this is going to be Mom's Sunday Gravy, and if that's what you have a hankering for, it's better just to have something entirely different. OTOH, if you're just wanting flavor, give it a try. Meatballs Marinara Meatballs (yield: 3 dozen): 2 lbs. Ground Bison (10% fat) or any meat you like (not poultry, which cooks differently) 1.5 c. White Jasmine Rice (or any rice you favor) 3/4 c. Rolled Whole Oats 3 small Parsnips, minced well 1 lb. Carrots, minced well 4 whole Eggs 2 handfuls Dried Parsley Salt & Pepper to taste Set the oven to convection, at 360° F. If you don't have convection, use bake, but put the trays in one at a time. Line a couple of baking trays with parchment paper and give a light spritz of oil (not necessary, but browns the bottom). In a food processor, whirr the rice into small pieces, but not completely down to flour. Some whole grains are okay, though you can go finer if you prefer. Whirr the oats lightly, as well. Dump into a large mixing bowl (I use a 5 qt. stainless). Do these first (before the wet of the roots). No need to clean the FP, just mince the carrots and parsnips and dump them into the mixing bowl. Crack the eggs separately to make sure they're okay and catch any little bits of shell and dump them in the bowl along with the meat, parsley and S&P. Mix well with your hands. Food service gloves are great for this. Don't overwork it, but get everything well distributed. Hands are much better than a spoon for this job. Use a medium food scoop or large spoon to help make handball sized meatballs (or whatever size you prefer). Roll between your hands lightly to compact the surface but not squeeze the middle. Place on the baking sheets. They can be fairly near each other. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until nicely browned. Marinara Sauce (yield: 2 quarts, concentrated): 3.5 lbs. Crushed and Pureed Tomatoes (2 large cans or equivalent homemade--any combination of the two) 3 small fist sized Turnips, minced 1/2 lb. Carrots, chopped 1/4-1/2 c. Extra Virgin Olive Oil 5 Roasted Serrano Chili Peppers, stemmed and seeded, or canned or dried equivalent, or substitute as you please. This isn't enough to make the sauce hot--just tasty. Mild chili pepper would be fine, or if you like hot, throw in the seeds, but don't skip this unless you have digestive issues with peppers. 1 handful each, fresh, destemmed and chopped, or dried: Thyme, Oregano, Basil and Parsley 1 Dried Bay Leaf, to be fished out at the end 1 standard jar Capers Pepper to taste You'll need a good pot, at least 3 qts. in capacity. Drain the capers well in a strainer. When they're well drained, rinse them well to remove excess salt. Mince the turnips in the food processor. Heat the pot to the temperature you usually sauté' at, or low end of medium, and add the smaller amount of oil. Cooking with EVOO is very tricky. It scorches easily, so go lower rather than higher, and don't turn your back on it. When a little piece of turnip will just bubble, add all the turnip and stir well, distributing the oil throughout. If you don't have enough oil to that, clear a space in the pan and add more, letting it heat just a bit before stirring it into the turnip. Reduce the temperature and keep stirring every so often until it cooks down into a clumpy, paste like thing, and a taste proves that it's beginning to soften. Flatten it out and leave it go longer without stirring so it will start to brown. Stir occasionally and reflatten. This will take some time. Chop the carrots in the food processor. Pulse so they don't go to small. The point is to release their water into the sauce rather than the FP, and let them lend their texture. If you want a smoother texture, you can mince them, but get all the good carrot juice. When the turnip is beginning to brown on the bottom, stir in the carrots and chili peppers. When they're well heated, add the tomatoes and herbs. Stir well and taste for seasoning. Add pepper to taste. Don't add salt at this stage. Bring up to the high end of medium heat and wait for big bubbles. When you see several, reduce the heat to the high end of low, to simmer. You should still see a few small bubbles. Add 3/4 of the capers, reserving 1/4 for garnish. Stir in and allow them to cook into the sauce, at least half an hour, still on simmer. Taste for seasoning again. If you're using canned tomatoes, you probably don't need salt, especially with the saltiness of the capers. Remember, this sauce is reducing and that intensifies saltiness. If it actually tastes bland to you, go ahead and add a little salt. Adjust the herbs as you wish. Simmer another half an hour and remove from heat. This is a concentrated sauce, which is almost stewlike, and should freeze well.. You can puree it if you want a smoother sauce--do this before adding any water. Before using, add water a few tablespoonsful at a time, to get it to your desired consistency. Combine: In a covered casserole or pot, or baking dish with a foil cover, put a ladle of sauce in the bottom and spread it around. Line it with meatballs, touching, but not smooshed together. Cover generously with sauce. Optional toppings: a blanket of arugula, a sprinkling of tasty cheese (romano or asiago, or parm, if you prefer), a dusting of chopped pine nuts (not too many for low FODMAP). Cover and bake for 35-45 minutes at 350° F. until piping hot. Alternatives: If you prefer a richer meatball, with more fat, that's fine. You can cook down the turnips in the drippings if there's enough to completely coat. Add some oil if not, but not EVOO which would be too flavorful. Adjust the proportions of veg and binders to suit yourself. This meatball recipe is based on one which uses equivalent amounts of onion to parsnip and bread crumbs to rice/oats. You can go meatier if that's your preference, but take it out of the carrots. The parsnips provide the pungency that's missing from having no onions or garlic. Edited to add yields. This post was edited by plllog on Sat, Nov 8, 14 at 19:20

Sarah, look it over, there should be things there you can fill up on and enjoy. Watch the vitamin supplements if you take one, when I had Graves I had trouble finding a brand that didn't include iodine. I wouldn't buy a special product, just don't take one that week. Skip the seafood and plan that week around chicken, beef, pork. Unlimited fruits and vegetables, grains. Rice, oats are fine. I'd miss the dairy most of all, if you have a Trader Joe or Whole Foods they would probably have rice milk, coconut or almond milk you could use on cereal or in your coffee. Eggs could put you over the daily allowance so best to not have those. If you want a little heartier snack, try toasted nuts, unsalted, like whole almonds instead of salted crackers, cookies if you are a snacker. I don't know if picking up low salt options would eliminate enough for that week or not, you may be doing some cooking from scratch. Get a container of non iodized salt if you are used to salting when cooking, the non iodized type is fine for your scan and you won't taste the difference. Treat yourself, have a nice steak and sliced tomatoes for lunch. Do it again for dinner. And good luck with your scan, hope your results are favorable!

Be careful about low-carb high-protein diets. It may be okay to eat like that for a little while to lose some weight, but it is definitely not a healthy long-term diet. Carbohydrates are very important for cell activity throughout the body. The secret is to keep the blood sugar levels as steady as possible. If it is too high, the excess carbohydrates are turned into fat. If it gets too low, you won't be able to effectively burn any fat. "Good" carbs don't cause a quick raise in blood sugar levels. The glycemic index and glycemic load are definitely worth looking at. They give you a very good idea of which carbs to eat and which ones to avoid. For people who are not diabetic, I wouldn't recommend strictly counting all the carbs or indexes or calories. That would tke all the fun out of eating. Potatoes and whole wheat/grain pasta, brown rice and other not too refined products are very healthy and don't make you fat. They give you much more fiber than a high-protein diet will give you. The problem with eating too much protein is that the digestion of protein yields in large amounts of uric acid and the kidneys have to work hard to get rid of it. Animal proteins are worse than plant proteins. Too much uric acid in the blood can lead to gout. The recommendations for a well-balanced diet are 40% carbs, 40% protein and 20% fat in regards to the total calorie intake. 40-30-30 like RoxieL states above is close to that, but a little too high in fat. The daily recommended amount of fiber is 35 gram which is quite a lot. Most people, including vegetarians, get too much protein and fat, but not enough fiber. By the way, fiber is also a carbohydrate!