In March of 2009, I read about Jorge Cruise’s new Belly Fat Cure program in Costco’s monthly magazine called “The Costco Connection.” Jorge, at the time, was inviting Costco members to apply to be part a test case group consisting of Costco members for his upcoming Belly Fat Cure book. Jorge had completed two case groups consisting of local San Diego members that were drawn from San Diego Magazine applicants, and this third and final case study group was the first one to select candidates from across the United States.
I applied to be a part of the Costco group and was selected to be a member. The coaching for the Costco program was to last 10 weeks beginning in mid April 2009. Due to a couple of holidays, that extended the program a couple of weeks the program finished up right around the July 4th holiday. By that point in time I had successfully dropped 47 pounds. The lessons I learned in the coaching, I decided to continue using and just adopt them as lifestyle changes although some of the things I was doing during the coaching period I opted to continue them at a less aggressive pace. This did result in a slower rate of weight loss, but the weight continued to drop and by the end of 2009, I was down 74 pounds from my initial starting point. I am extremely happy with the results I’ve achieved so far with the Belly Fat Cure program and the 74 pounds I’d lost in 2009 really are about half the total weight I’m looking to lose and am confident that I will lose them in 2010.
This blog, while not specifically designed to chronicle my adventures on the Belly Fat Cure, does include a lot of information about my experiences on the Belly Fat Cure program. I am always happy to answer any questions about the Belly Fat Cure program and have been doing so as responses to comments left on the various blog entries. I decided it might be better to create a formal “Ask Ryan” page where my readers could come ask their questions about the Belly Fat Cure and find the answers as a single repository of questions and answers instead of spread out over several blog entries.
So I would like to invite you to ask your Belly Fat Cure questions by filling out a comment for me on this page and I will answer your questions here. My disclaimer is that the answers I give, are not officially sanctioned by Jorge Cruise, or his company. My responses will be based on my experiences with the Belly Fat Cure as person who is experienced with the program and has successfully lost weight following the program. I do not have medical training and my responses are not a substitute for consulting your doctor. Also, I cannot guarantee how quickly I can respond, but I do respond to questions as soon as I have the chance. Your questions will not appear below until I am able to respond to them.
Now that we got that I’m not a doctor and not officially sanctioned by Jorge Cruise out of the way, Just fill out your questions in the comment form below and I will be more than happy to answer your Belly Fat Cure questions.
January 14th, 2010 at 8:22 pm
Hi Ryan,
Congratulations on your success, that is really amazing. Well I’ve purchased the book, but apparently not doing too well, guess I’m still trying to figure this out.
I do eat a lot of soups, homemade, stay away from cream soups, but soups like vegetable, cabbage, tortilla. Jorge didn’t touch on soups in his book and wondered if there is an easy way to try to figure it out rather than just eating canned soups which always taste so salty to me. Any ideas? Thanks,
Jean
January 16th, 2010 at 5:45 pm
Hi Jean,
Thanks for checking out my blog site and taking the time to write in.
I’m not personally a big fan of soups so I don’t have any suggestions for any recipes for you, but a great website that I found most helpful for analyzing recipes is the Recipe Calculator at Sparkpeople.com. To get it, you can click here and bookmark the site once you’re there. It allows you to enter the ingredients for your homemade recipes and be able to generate a nutrition facts chart for your recipe, which you can then use to figure out the S/C Value of your recipes.
You just enter your ingredients and if they don’t have the nutrition information for what you’re entering, you can add it to their database by entering the information of the packaging of your ingredients. What is a little tricky with the site is entering quantities of ingredients where the nutrition information is based on a different measurement. For example, when I used the site to figure out the nutritional information for my Nanaimo Bar recipe, I manually entered the Xylitol information which is based on teaspoons, but my recipe called for 1-3/4 cups of it, so I had to figure out how many teaspoons that was. So it helps to have a conversion calculator handy to use it.
I wouldn’t exactly call it a quick and easy solution, but it is a way to translate your own recipes into a way to figure out the S/C value and not have to rely on those salty canned soups.
I hope this helps and if I can be of further help, please let me know.
Ryan
January 17th, 2010 at 2:02 pm
Hi Ryan,
I read your review of the book, The Belly Fat Cure, on Amazon.com and was amazed by your results. I ordered the book from abebooks.com and should have it sometime this week. If you could pass on some “lessons learned”, that would be great. I’m 5’4″ and have 80lbs., at least, to shed. Thanks in advance.
Lynette
January 17th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
Hi Lynette,
I’m glad to hear you’ve ordered the book. I hope you’ll enjoy it. If you have any questions once you get the book, I’ll be more than happy to answer them. As for “lessons learned” pretty much every blog entry I’ve tagged with the keyword “Belly Fat Cure” offers something I’ve learned along the way. You can find “Belly Fat Cure” in the Tag Cloud section of the sidebar or just click here (both lead to the same place) and it’ll just show you my blog entries featuring the Belly Fat Cure as a tag.
If I can be of further assistance to you, please let me know.
Ryan
January 17th, 2010 at 8:10 pm
Hi Ryan,
Thanks for the info on Sparkpeople. com. I’ll check that out. I’ve had two really good back to back days with only 9/6 for the whole day! I’m trying really hard to write every morsel down. Read a quote that said ” If you bite it, write it”! Have my food written out on an index card each day with the 6/15 circles on one side and the food written on the other. That way, when I get in a hurry, I can choose a day that worked well if I don’t have time to figure it all out. Keep up the good work, you are a testimonial that it works! Got to try your bars one of these days. I printed out the recipe. Jean
January 18th, 2010 at 3:45 pm
Hi Jean,
You’re most welcome for the sparkpeople.com information.
I’m glad to hear about your good days with 9/6, that’s definitely a great level to strive for. Index cards are great and handy to use for tracking. I like that idea a lot, especially since a pack is pretty cheap, and they already make boxes that you can store your cards in. Great suggestion, Jean!!
The new trackers from the book don’t give you any room to write in what you ate, which I’m not as much a fan of. I use the older version which included space to write in meals but it’s still a print out, so it’s floppy paper unlike your index card suggestion. Another reader on my blog in response to another entry said they had a custom rubber stamp made that had an “S” with 15 “O”‘s on one line and a “C” with 6 “O”‘s so they could just stamp it onto a page and have instant check boxes. That might be an idea for you to use with your index cards if you like as well.
I would love to hear your feedback on the Nanaimo Bars recipe when you get a chance to try them.
Ryan
January 18th, 2010 at 6:32 pm
Ryan,
You mentioned that you decided not to do some of the things , that Jorge had you do during the time that you were being coached, after the coaching was over and your weight loss slowed. What were those things? Were you allowed to have a glass of wine if it fit into the 15/6?
Thanks!
January 18th, 2010 at 7:16 pm
Hello B.,
After the coaching sessions ended, I stopped using the tracking forms and logging my every meal as most of what I was eating was consistently the same, essentially on work days I would have a hamburger patty, sometimes with cheese, and then later on as a snack a little bacon. While this doesn’t sound particularly appetizing, it just made it easy for me to follow at work, knowing that until I got home, my S/C count for the day would still be 0/0, I could then worry about my 15/6 over the course of two meals outside of work. This worked for me, but I’m about to start tracking again as I’ve probably gotten into a habit of having a couple more carbs than I should and the tracking will make sure I’m right on target.
Additionally, I had been doing probiotics and psyllium husks three times a day during the coaching. I found this to be a bit too expensive a routine to be maintaining so I cut the probiotics and psyllium husks down to once per day and then these days I’ve not been doing it very regularly, maybe one or two days a week.
Also I was running about 3 miles a day for at least five days a week while on the coaching program, and I just hit a wall with it in July and haven’t set foot on the treadmill again since. I quit mainly because I felt it wasn’t effectively helping any as prior to starting the Belly Fat Cure program, I had been doing the running for months but saw no results. On the Belly Fat Cure program I was having dramatic results, and I just felt like the time on the treadmill was a complete waste of my time. I kept it up for a while, but eventually gave up on it because I wasn’t enjoying it. I’ve continued to lose weight but it has definitely been at a slower pace.
And in answer to the wine question, Yes, I was allowed to have wine. I’m not much of a wine drinker, but it is allowed on the program. Most wines are compliant with the program.
Ryan
January 18th, 2010 at 7:38 pm
Ryan – many thanks. I appreciate your support – there’s not much our there concerning BFC.
There’s a really helpful app on the iPhone called “Tap and Track” for $3.99. I have found it better than waiting to input until I get back to my PC.
Sounds like exercise does make a difference
January 18th, 2010 at 7:41 pm
Ryan,
I have tried the Zevia sodas, and find that I really like them. My question, though, is that on page 291 of the BFC book, they are assigned a S/C value of 0/0, but on page 310 they get a 0/1. Can you shed any light on this?
Emily
January 19th, 2010 at 2:06 pm
Hi B.
You’re most welcome for the support. If I can be of further assistance, come on back and leave another question.
Thanks for the tip on the iPhone app. I will have to check it out.
I would say exercise isn’t required, but if you want faster results you may want to consider it. I was only doing the exercise because I was already doing it before I started the BFC program and saw little point in stopping. I was just doing running on the treadmill, but eventually I got completely burned out on it, and stopped. I tried everything I could keep of to keep it interesting from different mixes of music, to watching programs while running, but I just reached a point where I just wanted to shove the treadmill through the wall rather than get on it. I decided to take a break, and haven’t been back on it since. However, I’ve still lost weight since, just not as rapidly.
Ryan
January 19th, 2010 at 2:31 pm
Hi Emily,
Yes, I saw that discrepancy in the book shortly after I got the book. The reason why you see it listed as a 0/1 is because the Erythritol on the nutrition label of the Zevia cans does contribute to the total carbohydrate count. However, the only carbohydrates in the Zevia is the Erythritol, and technically you don’t have to count sugar alcohols. But this does conflict with the rule that you’re supposed to count the total carbs. So this does create a little confusion as to should you count it or not. When I was first introduced to Zevia and the BFC in April, the official stance was that Zevia is a 0/0 so I’ve never counted it towards my carb counts and I still don’t. But I generally limit myself to no more than one Zevia a day as I find it to be a little expensive so I treat it like a treat.
I’m sorry I don’t have a more definitive answer on whether or not you should count Zevia. This is about the only instance I’ve come across where I would say it’s completely optional as to whether or not you choose to count it as a 0/0 or a 0/1. As Eurythritol is the only carbohydrate and it’s not absorbed by the body, I can see ignoring it, but only for foods where Eurythritol is the only carb ingredient. If other ingredients include Eurythritol and other carb ingredients, then I would count the total carbs because the key to the program is simplicity, and it’s just makes it too complicated to factor out sugar alcohols when other carbs are present. I’ve personally not had problems shedding pounds by not counting Zevia towards my 6 carbs for the day. it, so I feel it’s up to you if you choose to count Zevia as a carb serving or not.
Ryan
January 24th, 2010 at 5:51 pm
Hi Ryan,
What a , well…incredible site! It has been wonderful getting to know you through the BFC coaching and Costco 100 groups. Thank you so much for sharing all your information and success.
I wanted to share that I am starting a BFC group in Louisville, The BFC Lifestyle Cruisers. If you know of anyone that would be interested please have them contact me. Be sure to let me know when and if you will ever be in the Louisville, Southern Indiana area.
I am also adding your blog link to my blog tonight. http://www.hollyoyler.wordpress.com
January 25th, 2010 at 11:08 am
Hi Ryan,
Congrats on your success. I bought the book 2 weeks ago and am having a good time losing weight thanks to the book. My question is about restaurants. I have a job that I eat out a lot for lunch, I was wondering if there is information about more choices on what to get while on this diet. I saw only a few examples of Fast food choices in the book.
Thanks
Ron
January 25th, 2010 at 2:48 pm
Hi Ryan,
It’s Holly (in Louisville, KY) from the BFC Costco 100 and the last coaching class. You are doing great on the program! Thank you so much for the information on the Zevia. I am going to choose not to count the carb, because that way I can have a couple a day and hopefully totally get away from my Diet Coke habit. When I didn’t drink DC I lost weight faster than when I do drink it.
I had the following question presented to me and I am at a lost as how to answer it. I too am having problems with the left over carb issue and I am sure that is what has slowed down my weight loss. But I’m happy with my 45 pound and 15″ loss, but like you I have more to lose.
I have referred this gentleman to your site, so you may see the question pop up again. Hope to see you in the spring meeting.
I am forming a BFC Lifestyle Cruisers group in the Louisville/Lexington, KY and southern Indiana area, so if anyone is interested they can email me at, bfclifestyle.cruisers@yahoo.com for more information.
By the way, this is Nanaimo Bar week for me! I’m going to try to make them. If I don’t burn the house down, I’ll let you know how they turned out.
” 0-4 don’t count. In other words, whatever the individual components of your meal, if it’s 0-4 carbs, don’t count them. If it’s 5-20, it’s one carb, etc. When you’re done with that meal, you close it out. If you had 2 grams of sugar and 31 grams of carbs, you’ve got 2/2 BFC. And you can’t go after those remaining 9 grams carbs that would get you to 40 and still be within the 2 carb servings. When you move on to your next meal, you build from there. Once you’ve hit your 15/6 daily servings, that’s it. No hunting and pecking for “loose” carb grams left over.
I’m guessing this is the way to play it. I have not lost any weight at all since my first note to you. In fact this morning, I was 2 lbs. heavier. I’ve been counting sugars religiously and adding up carbs. It’s obvious to me that something is wrong with the 120 daily carb gram approach.
I was somewhat disgusted with it all last evening, but took a deep breath and prepared dinner with Jorge and BFC as my guide. Here’s what I came up with after looking in the fridge. It was still raining here (5th day), temps never got out of the 40s, and “comfort” food was in order! This is as close as I could get.
¾ cup frozen artichoke hearts (Trader Joe’s) (0/4)
3 links pork sausage (2 oz.) (0/0)
½ cup Molte Bene Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce (3/2)
2 eggs
1 tblsp. grated parmesan (0/0)
I microwaved the artichoke hearts for 3 minutes. Fried the sausage until cooked through and diced it. I fried the two eggs. I heated the sauce. I plated the artichoke and sausage pieces, topped them with the two eggs, spooned the sauce all over it, and sprinkled with parmesan. It was really tasty. According to BFC that should be 3/1. And even though it was only 6 grams of carbs, I’m guessing the 14 grams “remaining” up to 20 were gone. Close the book on that meal. That’s how I’m going to approach it now…”
January 25th, 2010 at 3:45 pm
Congratulations on your success with BFC! A friend of mine who did the 13-week session, which recently ended, got me interested in BFC. He even gave me a copy of the book for Christmas. I started 3 weeks ago. I lost 7.5 lbs. over the first 10 days, but here I sit not losing now. I’m wondering about the carb counting process. I posed a question to Jorge’s site, but didn’t really get an answer. They essentially said 0-4 grams carbs, don’t count; 5-20 count as 1 carb serving, etc. this is pretty clear from the book and Jorge’s site.
My question is in two parts. I’ve been counting the individual carb grams of every ingredient that passes my lips. If I come up with something for dinner that has, let’s say, 32 carbs in it, I make that 2 carb servings. But, I was also figuring that I still had 8 carb grams left hanging around in that 2 carb serving. I might/might not use them. Is that gaming the system?
My next question is about the 0-4 carbs don’t count. So, if I make a salad and several items I throw on there have 4 or less grams of carbs, do I count them since they’re going on the salad and combine with the lettuce carbs, which are over 5 grams of carbs?
I guess the simplest way for me to ask this is how do you count your carbs? I was wondering if once you finish your meal and come up with th BFC sugar/carb serving, do we close out the count and forget about any “remaining” carbs?
Sorry if I’m too confusing here. Thanks for a great Web site!! You’re an inspiration to all on BFC!
January 26th, 2010 at 4:02 pm
Hi Ron,
Thank you for writing in. I’m glad you’re enjoying the Belly Fat Cure so far.
Your best bet for restaurants is to look up the websites for the ones you tend to frequent and check their nutritional information charts, and hopefully they contain the sugar and total carbohydrate information you need. That helps you pick a list of items you can have at those restaurants. In some cases, as the foods are prepared, you may need to have them customized (such as no buns or sauces) in order to make them Belly Fat Cure compliant.
In the worst case scenarios where you have no nutritional information to go on, just order a protein, such as chicken breast or hamburger patty, stay away from the sauces to top it with, although you can use mayonnaise and/or mustard as those are sugar free, and add a carbohydrate as you see fit. I would avoid most restaurant breads as they tend to be high in sugar, but you can do a vegetable in addition to the protein. Most places will customize for you because they want your business and they want you to be happy.
Ryan
January 26th, 2010 at 4:22 pm
Hi Holly,
Thanks for writing in. I do think not counting the Zevia carbs is the best approach as it works well for me.
You are correct, you are supposed to ignore the “leftover” carbs. You may be hitting a plateau and all you need to do is just stick with it and it’ll start coming off again. At least that’s what I’ve experienced on the few weeks where I registered no additional weight loss.
I was a little confused looking at your recipe initially as I assumed the numbers were in S/C format meaning carb servings instead of total carb grams. But so long as it ultimately is a 3/1 for the meal, it’s fine. Officially, yes, you do ignore the remaining 14 grams of carbs that aren’t used by the meal, and consider it a 1 carb serving to track against the whole day’s 6 carb servings. It’s good you can get such a good size meal in so few carbs. About the only thing I could suggest is that you may want to consider putting the food into a carb smart tortilla that has a good portion of fiber in it. This way you’re getting additional fiber and get some good quality carbs in. I found I did better with the program when I made sure the carbs I was getting contained fiber.
Also congrats on the idea of starting up a local BFC group. It’s a great idea to help create a local support group.
Ryan
January 26th, 2010 at 4:38 pm
Hi Jack,
Thanks for writing in. I’m glad to hear you’ve joined in the Belly Fat Cure process.
In answer to the first part of your question, yes, it’s considered gaming the system if you’re trying to maximize each carb serving. You want to view the six carb servings as your maximum meaning you cannot go over 120 grams of carbs. Ideally you don’t want to use them all. If your meal hits 32 carb grams, you just forget about the 8 additional ones you’re losing and worry about your next meal. Part of the reason of forgetting those extra carb grams is because they create kind of a credit towards the total carb amount that you’re essentially using with the “freebie” items you’re not tracking at all.
In regards to your second question, officially no, you don’t worry about mixing a few “freebie” items you don’t track, as I said above, when you don’t use the full 20 grams in a single carb serving, the amount you’re not using does help offset these freebie items. I go with the guideline of tracking it if I feel I’ve used enough of the freebie items that I really shouldn’t ignore them, but it’s all up to you. I find when I make my carb servings to be as high fiber as possible, the program works better for me, but don’t get me wrong, sometimes I will just enjoy a small 1 oz. bag of lays, or cheetos, or doritos which really don’t have much fiber but do count as a single carb serving as a snack.
I tend to track the carbs on a per meal basis. I like to keep things as simple as possible, so to be honest I don’t do a whole lot of making my own. I generally just do a protein, most often I do a lettuce wrapped burger topped with Mayo and/or Mustard, that way it’s a 0/0 and then I’ll have a single carb as my carb, such as a vegetable. I don’t really cook or get that creative in the kitchen as far as meals are concerned, and I find this works for me because then I don’t often use more than a carb serving at a meal and then I will use the balance of my carbs for a snack item or two during the day. But I don’t worry about the “extra” carbs I’m not using in each serving. They are a loss. I will admit with some items that just barely push past the 20 gram mark, I’ll often cut out some of that serving and toss it away so I can count it as a single serving.
Ryan
January 26th, 2010 at 5:03 pm
Hi Holly,
I really appreciate your writing in to let me know you’ve found my blog useful to you.
I think it’s awesome you’re starting a Louisville BFC group as it’s so much easier to stick to a program when you have others around you doing the same thing to not only keep you accountable but support each other in the process of reaching goals. If any of my readers are also in the Louisville area, then I would certainly like to encourage them to visit Holly’s blog for more information.
Thanks again for writing in,
Ryan
February 4th, 2010 at 8:41 am
Hi Ryan:
My boyfriend and I recently started the BFC diet about 4 days ago. We have not noticed any physical change so far but ahve been counting out S/C Points daily. I have noticed that on pg. 313 on the dining out section of the book, some of the points seem different than what the fast food places have on their nutritional webiste. For example, BFC book says that KFC’s Grilled Chicken Breast w/ mashed potatoes, and green beans is 1/2, but when I went to KFC’s website and got the nutritional facts for all those items, the points we 1/1.
Also, his Chipotle Chicken taco recipe on pg. 189 has a S/C value of 4/2. However, when I added all those ingredients at home and did my own calculations it came out to 5/7. Why is that? Should I be following the books S/C values or calculate all the ingredients my self?
thanks!
February 4th, 2010 at 4:41 pm
Hi Maggie,
Congratulations on you and your boyfriend choosing to join the Belly Fat Cure lifestyle.
In answer to your question about the differences between the restaurant nutrition info and what’s in the book, I would go with the restaurant’s nutrition information as they may have updated their nutritional information since the book went to press. As it has been seen with the Zevia example, in the food chart section it lists them as 0/1 and in the section of product photos they are 0/0. There have been a few errors that seem to have made it through to the final version of the book. While I’m sure they were not intentionally made, if you can refer to a restaurant’s menu for their information.
I don’t really rely on the counts in the book myself, as when I first learned about the program, there was no book and had to do all the calculations myself. I’ve just kept that up since that’s what I’m used to doing. As for the recipe on page 189, are you factoring in that the recipe as it is written is for 4 servings? I don’t have the ingredients for that recipe so I can’t check it for myself. I’m not a big fan of Mexican food so this is a recipe I wouldn’t be likely to ever make for myself.
Ryan
Ryan
February 5th, 2010 at 3:56 pm
Hi Ryan,
I wondered if you ever made the ice cream that Jorge has in his new book- the one with just 4 ingredients: heavy cream, mylitol, vanilla, Almond Breeze USV. I want to make it this weekend, but don’t have any of the mylitol syrup (I ordered it online, but it’s not here yet). I do have the Joseph’s maple syrup, so I wondered if I could use that instead since it’s mostly made with mylitol. Then again, I’m not sure I’d want pancake-tasting ice cream! Anyway, just thought I’d ask.
February 5th, 2010 at 4:53 pm
Ryan,
Is there anything in the program about fried food? I found a frozen parmesian coated tilapia and it is so good when deep fried but I feel guilty eating it. I did not see anything in the book about staying away from fried foods. Obviously it should not be a daily practice to eat fried greasy food but I don’t think it adds to the S/C count technically.
Thanks!
February 5th, 2010 at 5:44 pm
Hi Katie,
I have made the ice cream that Jorge has in the book on Page 297. I’ve probably made it five times since I was originally given the recipe in June or July. I would imagine you would probably be okay using the Maple Syrup in the recipe. Perhaps you can add some cinnamon too. I made the recipe as it was printed once, to try it, and it came out fine, and since I can get Clemmy’s in my area and I think they have a really delicious Vanilla, I decided that my efforts in the homemade ice cream were going to be creative efforts.
One time I added some chopped up Joseph’s Sugar Free Cookies, another some cocoa powder and Hershey’s Sugar Free Chocolate Chips, and another was the maple and cinnamon (which was probably my favorite of my experiments). I enjoyed the creative aspect of it. The only thing I would recommend is if you’re throwing any thing into the mix that “solid” wait until near the end of your ice cream maker’s freezing process. I learned that the hard way when I put the cream in and poured the Sugar Free Chocolate chips in, they just stuck to the bottom and sides and the paddle in the maker couldn’t even turn, so I had to scrape them out to mix the ice cream then put them back in near the end. Definitely a learning experience.
I’m sure the Maple syrup will work, but I would definitely consider adding cinnamon, and maybe some other spices like nutmeg and it could be a very interesting ice cream and possibly super delicious. If you do go ahead and make it with the syrup, I’d love to hear how it turns out and if you like it, maybe I’ll give it a try too.
Ryan
February 5th, 2010 at 5:54 pm
Hi Angela,
You are correct, there is nothing in the program about avoiding fried foods. Don’t feel too guilty, you can have them on the program, but like you said, you don’t really want to make a daily habit out of the deep fried foods. As an occasional thing, fried foods are okay to have.
In fact, I’ve used some fried foods through out my time on the program. One of my staples for a snack during my first weeks on the program was a variety box of 1 oz, bags of chips I bought at Costco. The 1 oz. size was perfect, most them were no sugar or 1 gram (The BBQ chips were the worst offenders at 2 or 3 grams, I don’t remember which as I don’t have any handy to check at the moment) and in the 1 oz size they only counted as 1 carb serving, so a good 0/1, 1/1, 2/1, or 3/1 snack. And I’ve had the occasional order of french fries with my lettuce wrapped hamburgers and I’ve lost a bunch of weight.
If you have the occasional fried item, you’ll be fine.
Ryan
February 6th, 2010 at 7:20 am
Hi Ryan, I started reading your website before I got the BFC book the first week of January. I just started this diet a little less than two weeks ago and have lost 12 pounds. I’m excited! At first I was just following the daily menus in the book, but am starting to venture out in putting together meals for myself. I’ve found that Orowheat Sandwhich Thins are delicious and could be put with a hamburger patty and slice of cheese for a low S/C rating. Also for dining out, I checked the nutritional values of P.F. Chang’s menu online and found a few dishes that would be allowed, like the Wok Seared Lamb. Anyway, I’m having fun with this and dropping the pounds too. Hope it continues…wish me luck!
February 6th, 2010 at 7:10 pm
Hi Melody,
Congratulations on the 12 pounds lost so far. I’m really happy to hear about your success with the program and that you’re taking the information from the book and creating your own meals. My parents are very fond of the Sandwich Thins as hamburger buns and and replacing larger slices of bread for sandwiches. I’ve even tried them when I’ve been over to their house. I don’t personally do enough cooking at home to justify buying any, but I think they are a great option. They’re thick enough to keep everything in the burger or sandwich contained, but small enough to be great for the BFC.
I definitely commend you on checking the nutritional information of restaurants. You’re saving yourself a lot of guess work and truly taking charge in your success. I am definitely wishing you the all the success with the Belly Fat Cure.
Please do keep me informed of your progress, I would love to hear about your progress.
Ryan
February 10th, 2010 at 7:47 pm
Hi Ryan, I have been on the diet for pnly a week and it seems to be working, but I am a little confused about what is considered a carb serving. I have the book so I undersatnd that 5-20g of carbs is one serving, but should I be adding up the carbs for the entire recipe that I am making or looking at each ingredient that I am putting in separately. For instance if I am making one of the whole grain pizzas and the pita is 13g and the pizza sauce is 6g. Should I combine the two ingredients and say it is 1 serving of carbs or is each ingredient 1 carb? I hope that makes sense.
February 11th, 2010 at 5:22 am
Hi Ryan,
I found your website and became convinced that this is the way to go for me. I have been doing this for a week now,and I have noticed a significant increase in energy,however I was unaware of the constipation it causes. Is this something you went through at the beginning? Before I started eating healthier, I was pretty regular, so I’m really surprised to see that NOT eating all the sweets is keeping me irregular. Also, are there carbs to be counted on the veggies? I don’t believe the book mentions that and if that is the case, how do I find out what each veggie gets?
Thank you for all your Info!!
Liz
February 11th, 2010 at 9:15 pm
Hi Mia,
Thanks for writing in. For ingredients to a recipe, such as the pizzas you mentioned, I would just combine the carbs together then determine what the S/C breakdown is. Ultimately these items are being prepped to create “one” item to eat. Where I would keep it separate is if the items are combined to make an item, such as a sandwich and a side item. I would combine all the ingredients for the sandwich, but the side item I would consider a separate item and track those carbs separately.
Thanks for the great question.
Ryan
February 12th, 2010 at 3:27 am
Hi Liz,
Thanks for finding my blog and writing in.
I did not get the constipation that some have experienced when transitioning to the Belly Fat Cure lifestyle. Jorge has posted a downloadable PDF of corrections to the Belly Fat Cure book (click here for it) and he also adds a new section to help those who’re hitting a plateau right out of the gate, and one of the points he address is constipation. According to the new information, switching to a lower carb diet can cause the kidneys to start retaining sodium and water. So Jorge is recommending if you’re experiencing constipation that you may want to increase the sodium in your diet until your body gets used to the lower carb lifestyle. The method Jorge is recommending for getting the sodium is drinking 8 oz. of chicken broth a day until you return to regularity.
For the Vegetables, there is a section in the food list on Pages 306-307 that has the S/C values for a variety of vegetables. If the kind of vegetables you’re looking to find are not covered on that page, then you may want to try CalorieKing.com to do a search for the vegetable you’re looking for to and get nutritional information on it. I looked through the section of food swaps for the grocery store section and couldn’t find the visual fruits and vegetable pages that were in the book in earlier drafts. I will have to mention it to Jorge and perhaps they can be restored as another addition to the correction.
Ryan
February 23rd, 2010 at 5:06 pm
Hi Ryan,
Thanks so much for all the help! Just a quick question…Should we be concerned with sodium at all as it retains water?
Thanks,
Molly
March 4th, 2010 at 9:44 am
Ryan, when the sides are listed in the book along with the Belly Good recipes, is the side for one serving or four servings?
Thanks, Terri
March 7th, 2010 at 6:35 pm
Hello Ryan,
I have been attempting to follow the BFC lifestyle. I do very well doing the week but the weekends are a challenge for me. I am losing very slowly this way.
I am curious if you have read or tried any of Jorge’s other books? I am looking into some You Tube videos for thw 12 second sequence which looks excellent. I was just curious if you have seen more results from his other books out there.
Thanks
Kim
March 10th, 2010 at 11:25 am
Hi Ryan,
I started on this program in October 2009. I lost 7 lbs my first 2 weeks. I have followed the program very strictly, and I have gained all of that weight back, and haven’t lost any more weight since. I only buy Double Fiber bread and english muffins, Mission Carb Balance flour tortillas, etc. So every carb item I eat has a lot of fiber in it. I only drink Unsweetened Almond Milk. I really pay attention to hidden sugars in sauces and other items. I am at a loss on what I could do different. I recently have quit drinking as much as I used to, I wasn’t an alcoholic or anything, but the amount I drank was probably more than what a person should. But what I drink doesn’t have a lot of sugar, I have only drank red wine, vodka, or light beer. I don’t really have cravings for anything sweet, so I don’t make even the sugar free items in the BFC book on a normal basis.
I have Type 1 Diabetes (since 1985, I was born in 1984), and hypothyroidism. So I am on insulin and medication for my thyroid. I have always been a tad overweight, but when I say a tad, I only mean like 15-20 lbs. I am 5’3 and weigh 150. I should weigh 130. I occassionally have to eat sugar (juice or candy or glucose tablets) if my blood sugar gets low, but that’s it.
I also recently got out some of my old Suzanne Somers books and have made some of those recipes, but those are all based on close to the same thing as BFC, low sugar, carbs, and staying away from artificial sweeteners.
I noticed the other day when I was looking at the ingredients on the Mission Carb Balance tortillas that there was sorbitol towards the bottom of the list. Does that mean I should not be eating that brand? Or is there such a small amount in them that it doesn’t make a huge difference?
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
March 19th, 2010 at 4:31 pm
Hi Terri,
If you’re looking at the recipes and it says the recipe is for multiple servings, than the amount of food for the side items is for all of it and you just need to divide by the number of servings to know how much for one serving. If you’re looking at Chapter Six, the food list chapter, than the information is per serving.
Ryan
March 19th, 2010 at 4:35 pm
Hi Kim,
I have not tried any of Jorge’s other books. I’m told the other ones are very effective as well as they are based on the information that was the latest at the time the book was released. I would say the best option is check the reviews of the books on Amazon as Amazon tends to get enough comments from readers to get a good idea of what people liked and didn’t like about the books. And naturally, like anything, you want to gauge the reviews (especially the negative ones) to see if it looks like it’s from someone who’s actually read the books and applied the information or just someone who’s unwilling to commit to trying the programs.
Thanks for writing in,
Ryan
March 19th, 2010 at 4:49 pm
Hi Amber,
I commend your commitment to the low sugar lifestyle. I’m sorry to hear you’re not having the success you’d like with keeping the weight off. Are you taking any probiotics? You are probably getting enough fiber that you don’t need to use psyllium husks or Benefiber. Probiotics would help add additional good bacteria to your intestinal tract to help your digestive process be as productive as possible.
I looked up Sorbitol and it seems to be very low on the glycemic index and I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Like other sugar alcohols it can cause intestinal distress when consumed excessively, but I’m sure with one or two tortillas isn’t going to be a problem.
Thanks so much for writing in.
Ryan
March 24th, 2010 at 9:53 am
Ryan,
I just started the BFC this monday and I’m pretty excited about it and feel it will work for me. My main question is: what do you do when you eat out?
Yesterday on day two of my program, work brought in sandwiches, pasta and potato salad and chips. Now I had a sandwich that had wheat bread and chips since I didn’t know if the salads had sugar or not.
This got me to thinking about what happens when you go out and you don’t know the exact numbers for what you’re eating? I know I can eat a salad or something but I don’t eat out to eat a salad. I can make those at home and when I eat out I want to eat something I don’t make at home. How do you handle these situation and what you would put into you food tracker?
Thanks for your assistance.
Melinda
March 27th, 2010 at 7:58 am
Ryan, I have searched but cannot figure out if we can use coconut milk. I tried almond milk in my coffee, but didn’t like it. I am afraid of cream. But, at the store I saw coconut milk and it has no sugar and only 1 carb per cup. Shouldn’t this be ok to use in my coffee?
I love your blog. Thanks for sharing with us. I started my own, but am not ready to share yet. Maybe I will be brave after I actually lose some weight. Right now the diet has made be gain 2! But, I am going to keep trying.
April 11th, 2010 at 5:56 pm
I have a two part question. First, does anyone know a good way to measure cooked pasta servings (without having to cook just a single serving).
Second, does anyone know how to make mashed potatoes without the milk. The book only references boxed mashed potatoes. How should a serving be measured.
April 22nd, 2010 at 10:44 am
Hi Melinda,
Your best bet when you have situations where you will not be able to determine the exact nutritional content of the food you’re eating such as restaurants and when work brings in catered foods is to go with what you know.
In your example, the choices available were sandwiches, chips and pasta and potato salads. You selected a sandwich and potato chips, which is exactly what I would have selected, however I probably would have not eaten half the bread because bread can be wildly different in terms of nutritional value. All you have to do is go to any supermarket and read the labels of all the bread products to know, it’s tough to find good choices for the Belly Fat Cure. So odds are, the bread when you don’t know, is not going to be a good choice. The best option is to minimize how much you have of it. The potato chips I know have no sugar and would have one carb, so by having just the chips and only a small amount of the bread from the sandwich, it would most likely be a Belly Fat Cure compliant meal.
Potato and Pasta salads are the unknown elements, as you have no idea what went into them and most pastas in a single serving size count as 3 carb servings, and granted as a side dish, a full serving isn’t usually what people have, so it would be reasonable to assume that it would be a 2 carb serving count to have any of the pasta salad, and I just don’t want to waste my available daily carbs on that especially when the bread on the sandwich and potato chips are going to contribute to the carb count for the meal as well. And I don’t personally know on the potato salad either as I’ve never liked potato salad so I don’t keep track of what it’s average nutritional information would be because I’m never going to eat it anyway.
If you have access to the internet and can check sites like CalorieKing.com to get a rough idea on the nutritional value for something, then you can do that to help make a better informed choice of whether it’s okay to have or not, but if you’re in a pinch just know you’re best off sticking with a protein and adding one or maybe two carbohydrates for the meal as a good rule of thumb. All you can do is estimate in these cases and track it as your best guess allows.
Ryan
April 22nd, 2010 at 10:54 am
Hi Tracy,
My apologies for the delay in response.
Your best bet is to check the nutritional information labels, if the coconut milk as you say is no sugar and 1 carb per cup then it sounds alright to use. You must have found an unsweetened kind. I’ve never looked at coconut milk in the stores and don’t know what options are available for it. The information I come up with just looking for coconut milk on DailyPlate.com seems to indicate coconut milk is 8 grams of sugar and 1 carb serving per cup. As you’re not likely to be using a whole cup in your cup of coffee, it sounds like it could be a good option if there is an unsweetened kind and if it works better for you than Almond milk, go for it.
Thanks so much for the comments on my blog, I do apologize I’ve had to take a unexpected break from blogging, but will be resuming it very shortly and will have some new content up soon.
Ryan
April 22nd, 2010 at 11:45 am
Hi BellyBuster
The best I can figure is to measure out the pasta before cooking it then cook it together and split it up into the number of servings after cooking.
I don’t recall seeing boxed mashed potatoes anywhere in the book, but Jorge Cruise is an advocate of replacing all milk with unsweetened almond milk for anything you need to use milk for.
Ryan
May 6th, 2010 at 10:04 am
Hi Ryan -
Your website is very helpful as I have tried contacting someone through the BFC website and got no response.
I have been reading the “Me and Jorge” blog and that has also helped with a lot of questions I have that I don’t think are addressed in the book because it’s such a “simple” book without much in terms of elaborating on the gray areas.
I have been stumbling with getting going on the BFC but this past week, I have been buttoned down and have been very committed and lost around 10 pounds, which has been enough motivation to keep going, for sure. One of the things I do, like you said, is incorporate more fiber into my diet, and, in turn, have been reading more about what kinds of fiber are best. I have taken to aiming for 40g of fiber per day, as suggested on the “Me and Jorge” site, with a lot of it coming from GG Bran Crispbread that Amber also suggests on her “M and J” site. The other I get from Benefiber or other supplements that have inulin or dextrose fibers. I gag on psyllium fiber and know that I can’t drink it so even though it’s the best, I’d rather a bran cracker because those are more palatable. If I had to rely on psyllium fiber, I wouldn’t have any fiber at all! I don’t know how you did it 3X a day.
My question, although those crispbreads KILL my appetite and I can’t even think of eating anything else, is do you know how to count fiber on the BFC? I have been counting it in my carb count but on an Atkins plan, for instance, you go for the net carbs — subtracting the fiber count — since you don’t absorb them.
Also, you touched on sugar alcohols. I make my own little concoction of Fage yogurt, 1 TBLS of Flax oil, Benefiber, Xylitol (since the Fage is unsweet), 1 TBLS of Nature’s Hollow Jam — for flavor variety, topped with some Uncle Sam’s cereal — for crunch and fiber. Xylitol I love because it tastes most like sugar to me but it’s 4 g of carbs for one lousy tsp! Doing the math on it, one cup, if used in a recipe, would have 192 g of carbs!! I count the Xylitol in my total carb count for this yogurt “recipe” but I end up using a TBLS, which is 12 g of carbs. Not that I’m trying to be a cheater but not counting fiber and/or the Xylitol would bring that yogurt from 3/3 to more like a 3/2, which would give me more flexibility the rest of the day.
I think I have the core of the program down but those issues of sugar alcohols and fiber have confused me. Oh, and I can barely tolerate stevia because I can’t take the aftertaste so I’m best with sugar alcohols.
Thank you for being out there! Your blog is very helpful and inspirational!
Jill
May 6th, 2010 at 1:58 pm
Hi Jill,
Thanks so much for the wonderful comments. I really appreciate you taking the time to write in.
Amber’s “Me and Jorge” blog is an excellent resource, and I highly recommend her site as well for Belly Fat Cure advice. I’m glad that you found her site as well. I just met Amber in person a week ago and she is wonderful to know. And I know you’ll get a wealth of great information from her blog.
Congratulations on your 10 pound loss so far. I can understand how you think the Psyllium Husks are horrible. I made it through that three times a day because there was no alternative product that I was aware of at the time. I know it’s unpleasant and hard to stomach, but I try to do it once a day these days until I get all this psyllium husks I’ve inherited from friends who just can’t stand it and give it to me. I bought a big Costco sized container of Benefiber but haven’t yet been able to open it with all these open packages of Psyllium I keep being given. So I’m down to the last of my psyllium and hopefully soon I’ll get to try this Benefiber. I mainly did the psyllium because I knew I wasn’t going to be getting enough fiber with some of my choices of carbs (such as a small 1 oz. bag of potato chips).
The fiber isn’t really tracked into the Belly Fat Cure sugar and carbs 15/6 tracking, so you would have to figure that separately. Unfortunately, you don’t get to subtract out the fiber from the carbs in the BFC counts. Jorge feels it just makes the process too complicated and his new “Fast Track” program which you will be seeing and hearing about soon does away with all the counting altogether, but at the same time, also gets rid of all starches and grains too, so in a way it becomes a lot more Atkins like.
Your yogurt concoction sounds delicious. I know it can be a bit frustrating to think how many grams are in a whole cup of Xylitol. My Nanaimo Bar recipe calls for 2 cups of powdered sugar in the middle layer alone, which I grind 1 & 3/4 cups of granulated Xylitol with 5 tablespoons of cornstarch to create a powdered sugar substitute. A lot goes in there, but the 8×8 pan I chop up into 36 squares. Even if I chop it down to 30 squares, I can still get it to be 1 carb serving. But it does feel like a lot of Xylitol is going into it. And that’s not including the small amount in the base layer and fractional amount that goes into the top layer. I don’t personally do yogurt at all just because I don’t want to waste the sugar and carb points on my tracking for the day. I just think its too much to devote to any one item, especially one I don’t find very filling.
As for sugar alcohols, I use them mostly. Like you, not a fan of the stevia aftertaste. I tend to do the packets of Truvia and PureVia mostly. They are erythritol with stevia so there’s a way to counteract the stevia aftertaste. Any baking projects or something like that I do Xylitol because I can get the 5 pound bags from Vitamin Shoppe (via Amazon) for a better deal than anywhere else.
In any case, thanks so much Jill for writing in, and please do feel free to write in again if there’s anything I can help you with regarding the Belly Fat Cure.
Ryan
May 11th, 2010 at 5:01 pm
Ryan, Congrats to your success. I have about 60 lbs to lose and have just been looking at the free info on the web site for the BFC. Could you explain some of the basics for me to follow like the gms of sugar allowed per meal or day. I wanted to see if I could have any success before investing in the book however I can’t seem to find recipies. Suggestions!
May 21st, 2010 at 7:43 pm
Hi Sonya,
A good place to start is Jorge’s Free Report. You can download it here. If you really want to get the basics, go to your local bookstore and look at the book, the first two chapters which contain the core of the information you can read in the store. If recipes are what you’re after then the book is great to have as it’s loaded with lots of recipes.
Ryan
May 28th, 2010 at 7:53 am
Hi Ryan,
Do you know when Jorge’s new “Fast Track” program is going to be announced? And is this something that will be available on his website, or something that will be sold in stores, etc? Thanks!
June 1st, 2010 at 4:12 pm
Hi Amber,
I do not yet know when Jorge’s new “Fast Track” program is going to be made available to anyone who wants the information. My guess is that it’ll probably show up as a pre-order in Amazon before just about anywhere else. I know they’re in the process of making some additional books to supplement the success of “The Belly Fat Cure” book and no doubt this will be another opportunity to be published as a book of some form.
Ryan
June 30th, 2010 at 11:24 am
Hey Ryan -
Thanks again for all your insight. I’m trying to include more fiber — I asked you a question earlier how you were able to choke down those horrible psyllium husks… I’m always trying to find a better bread, preferably without sugar. I was nosing around some low carb sites and found Julian Bakery’s Carb #1 bread (www.julianbakery.com), which claims to have 1g of net carbs — 13g Carbs, 12g Fiber, 12g Protein, 0 Sugar. It’s a sugar free bread and I thought I would give it a try… I found some at a local health food store and got their regular and Cinnamon Almond Raisin. I got home and toasted a piece and topped it with some butter and it was amazing!!
After I had a piece, I went back to the internet and looked for sentiment against this bread because it didn’t taste like cardboard and although I wasn’t going to eat a whole loaf, the amount of fiber shocked me, especially when compared with the taste; I have tried the Ezekial breads and other sprouted grain breads and it takes a gallon of water to get them down sometimes. There have been people posting that their 13g of carbs are, in fact “net carbs” because they don’t count things right, like sugar alcohols, but I saw nothing in the ingredients – other than what might be inherently in the grains – that would indicate
Just a curiosity as to what you think… Part of me wants to question their labeling but I don’t think they can label something and advertise something falsely after being in business for 20 years…
Thanks!
Jillian
July 3rd, 2010 at 2:18 pm
Hi Ryan,
I’ve been doing the belly fat cure for about 4 weeks and I’ve lost 15 lbs and 3 inches off my waist….and it seems to just get easier to follow the longer I’m on it! I’ll probably blog about it also at some point…it’s just too good not to share!
Happy Canada Day by the way…I’m from Ontario!
Glad to read about your success with the belly fat cure.
Alexsandra
July 3rd, 2010 at 2:30 pm
Hi Ryan,
Forgot to mention I have had a significant improvement in my arthritis pain since going low sugar. Can’t believe what a difference it’s made.
And it only takes one slip over the 15 grams to bring it all back. One day I did 20 and my knees were burning.
Oh and I did have a question…is there any resources for doing a vegetarian version of the belly fat cure?
thanks again!
Alexsandra
July 31st, 2010 at 12:54 pm
I like your website. I checked out your yellow cake recipe and will give it a try with the Mountain Berry layer.
I have a question concerning how much psyllium husk to take in one serving. The book says 2 and 1/2 tablespoons with 20 oz of liquid. Did you do that 3 times a day or should that be my total for the day?
August 25th, 2010 at 7:01 pm
Hi Ryan,
I am really struggling with eliminating my daily cans of diet coke (2 usually) from my diet. I know Jorge has a strong opinion on this. Do you know if it is because he feels so strongly that diet coke is bad for you that he forbids it or if it will actually impede my weight loss? Thanks in advance…this is my one sweet addiction I’m having trouble breaking!
Kim
September 3rd, 2010 at 7:12 am
Hi Ryan,
My niece is trying “The Master’s Cleanse”. IT uses 2 tablespoons of maple surup per dose at up to 6 doses per day. She was wondering if this will trigger a problem with her sugar levels. This cleanse is for 10 days without any food. Do you have any comments about this program?
Thank you,
Sue
September 14th, 2010 at 9:16 am
Hello Ryan,
I have recently started the belly fat cure and am finding that all I am is bloated and constipated. I am even doing the psyllium husk, probiotics and at least 8 glasses of water a day. I am getting very frustrated with it… I dont find it hard to eat correctly, but not only have I not seen results, but I also cant go to the restroom. Please help.
Thanks.
October 14th, 2010 at 4:56 am
Aside from starchy vegetables, is it really required to count sugar grams in all of the vegetables you eat?
Also, re: dairy sugar and beans/legumes. Some authors/doctors claim that the sugar in dairy and in beans does not have a significant effect on blood sugar/insulin due to the protein and starch naturally contained in these foods (the fibre and protein slow down insulin release). What are your thoughts on this?
Congrats on you success!
November 1st, 2010 at 11:20 am
Hi Ryan!
Your blog is really great. You seem to be very informed and unbiased, which I appreciate very much.
Question about BFC:
I love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I use Skippy Natural Peanut Butter (6 carbs per serving) and Nature’s Hollow Preserves (7 carbs per serving). Do these two things convert to one carb on the 15/6 measurement because they are under 20 grams of carbs, or do I have to count them separately which would make them convert into two carbs on the 15/6 measurement. If I do have to count them as two, please explain why.
Thanks so much!
Julie
November 22nd, 2010 at 7:59 am
Hi Jillian,
Apologies on the late response.
The psyllium husks I was able to “choke” down as you called it, because at the time I was introduced to them, I thought they were the only option, so I just did it. You’re right they are kind of unpleasant, but I just did it. But now there are a number of alternative options available, and fortunately, better tasting options.
For the Belly Fat Cure, the “net carbs” is a figure you need to ignore. Essentially what the manufacturers are doing are adding fiber to products (which is not a bad thing) but what they’re doing is making it look like the fiber doesn’t need to be counted towards the carbohydrate count for the product because ultimately you won’t be able to digest it, but still doesn’t change the fact it’s in the food you’re eating. So for the sake of tracking for the Belly Fat Cure, always count the full carbs when figuring out the S/C Value.
I took a look at the Julian Bakery’s website and it seems like it would be decent bread to have, just keep in mind that the nutrition information is for a single slice, so if you’re making a sandwich from it you have to double it due to the use of two slices. (Meaning a sandwich made with the bread still counts as 2 carbs out of your available six carbs per day. I may have to give it a try if its as amazing tasting as you say it is.
Ryan
November 22nd, 2010 at 8:12 am
Hi Alexsandra,
Apologies for the long delay in response.
Congratulations to a fellow Canadian on the success that you wrote in to share. I am very proud of you and that is wonderful results. The program definitely gets easier, especially when the results are able to serve as reinforcement to keep going.
Congratulations and I hope in the time of my absence from this blog that you’ve continued to have great success.
Ryan
November 22nd, 2010 at 8:21 am
Hello again Alexsandra,
That is wonderful news to hear that you’re experiencing diminished arthritis pain. It seems to prove how deceptively innocent sugar appears to be but really is not a friend to our bodies.
As for a vegetarian version of the Belly Fat Cure. The Belly Fat Cure does have some information in it (Question 12 in the FAQ section on page 321) but it’s a bit more limiting. I follow a bit more limited version of the program myself as I am not a fan of eggs and the program would be a lot easier if I just liked eggs, but I don’t so it makes the program a bit more work. So just know that the program will be more of a challenge but not impossible.
Ryan
November 22nd, 2010 at 9:50 am
Hi Marcia,
Thanks for writing in, and apologies for the delay in response.
I took the 2 & 1/2 tablespoons at each time I did the psyllium husks. So in my case that was the three times daily. Keep in mind if you’re just starting out with psyllium husks it’s best to start gradually with a smaller dose for a few days for your body to get used to it before increasing it again for a few more days before increasing it again until you reach the full dose. This helps prevent bloating and allows your body time to get used to having psyllium husks in your intestinal tract.
Ryan
November 22nd, 2010 at 9:58 am
Hi Kim,
Jorge is against Diet Coke because NutraSweet (aspartame) is a neuro-toxin. Essentially a poison that kills brain tissue and has been linked to causing brain tumors and thinks like Alzheimer’s, so you really want to try and minimize your intake of Diet Coke. It’s something you can have every once in a while, but I wouldn’t use it in your program on a regular basis. It’s not good for you and I would seriously switch to something else. Try using iced teas and if you need to use sparking water or switch to Zevia or the Vitamin Water Zeros or the Sobe Lifewater that have zero sugar as they’re made with all natural sweetener alternatives that aren’t going to declare war on your body and destroy it from within.
Ryan
November 22nd, 2010 at 10:04 am
Hi Sue,
I don’t know anything about the master’s cleanse program and have no comments on it. The use of Maple Syrup would not make the program Belly Fat Cure compliant. As the program is temporary, it’s hard to say what effect the program will have, and it’s completely up to her if she wants to do the cleanse program. If nothing else, I’m sure the cleanse will be good in that will have given her intestinal tract an opportunity to clear out what’s in her system and would make a great starting place following the program to follow the Belly Fat Cure program. She just needs to make sure when she resumes eating that she’s getting good amounts of fiber to keep her system clean and eating the right kinds of foods to fuel her body in the best way possible.
Ryan
November 22nd, 2010 at 10:12 am
Hi Caroline,
Apologies that this response is not timely enough to help you when you wrote in. Some people find that they are getting bloated and not able to go to the restroom when starting the Belly Fat Cure even though they are doing the probiotics and getting ample water and adding fiber. What happens for most of these people is that the Belly Fat Cure program exhibits a sharp reduction in sodium than what their bodies have been used to in the past. So the body will hang on to as much sodium as it can which will cause constipation as it extracts sodium it should be expelling with the body’s waste. To help transition your body to the Belly Fat Cure’s lower sodium content, you should drink chicken broth to help restore the sodium to where your body can start expelling the waste, then you ween yourself off the chicken broth to help gradually normalize your body to the newer lower sodium levels.
Also you may consider Jorge’s Fast Track program which cuts out grains and carbohydrates completely. People on the fast track program have found they not only sleep better, but have far better energy, and don’t have any of the setbacks.
Ryan
November 22nd, 2010 at 11:36 am
Hi Erin,
Yes, it is really required to count the sugar grams in all the vegetables you eat. The S/C Value is designed to optimize your body’s ability to burn fat and fuel your body, so it’s very important to stay within it’s structure in order for it to work. If you cheat on it, you’re only cheating yourself out of your possible success.
As for the dairy sugar and beans/legumes I can’t offer an opinion that would be worth anything other than it is my personal opinion. I am not someone who researches this kind of information, so at best I could only offer a guess based on what I’ve learned. I don’t feel qualified to answer that question in a way that would be of value to anyone. As far as how I choose to treat the sugars in dairy and beans/legumes as far as how I choose to eat, I treat them like all sugar and minimize my intake of it as much as possible.
Thanks again for your comments and compliments.
Ryan
November 22nd, 2010 at 11:58 am
Hi Julie,
Thanks for your comments about my blog.
In regards to your question, technically the way Jorge has written the program is that you’re supposed to calculate the S/C Value for each ingredient and then add the S/C values together. But that’s not always practical or easy. And with complicated recipes, that’s not easy. So that is what I basically feel is a grey area and a personal decision for you. For example, my recipe for my Nanaimo Bars it wasn’t possible to calculate the nutritional information on an ingredient by ingredient basis as some of the ingredients I didn’t have information for and how much of that those ingredients went into a single serving of the finished dessert. So using the Sparkpeople.com site to create a nutritional information chart based on some of the information they have and some of the information I have the resulting nutritional information is a combination of all the ingredients not tracking each item separately.
Ryan
Do what feels right or best for you and so long as you’re not doing the combination specifically to feel like a cheat, then I don’t see a problem combining things that naturally go together
December 23rd, 2010 at 8:42 pm
The site I have been looking for! You really can’t get answers to all the questions on the BFC site. My main question is if sugars are included in the total carb count on nutrition labels, then why do we have to count them again?
Thanks so much for answering everyone’s questions. I don’t know how you find the time.
March 1st, 2011 at 6:51 pm
Hi Ryan,
On Jan 18, 2010 you wrote about during coaching sessions you were taking psyllium husk 3x a day. What amount were you taking?
Thank you Ryan,
Peggy
March 10th, 2011 at 3:34 pm
Hi Sharon,
Thank you for the compliment. Apologies on the delay of response. I’ve been unable to focus on my blog the last few months so I apologize for not being able to get back to your question sooner. Unfortunately, I don’t always have time to answer the questions in a timely fashion, but I do answer the questions I get.
Sugar gets counted twice for two reasons in the Belly Fat Cure. The primary reason sugar gets counted separately is get you in the habit of paying attention to sugar content of foods. By limiting sugar content to 15 grams per day, you’re making a conscious effort at reducing the carbohydrates you eat. Secondly, your body converts carbohydrates into sugar that the body can use to provide energy for your cells. But not all carbohydrates are the same quality, refined sugars are not as good as the carbohydrates of vegetables, so the double tracking is more an effort to penalize refined sugars and direct you to low carb foods that ultimately are better for your body.
Ryan
March 10th, 2011 at 3:55 pm
Hi Peggy,
Thanks for writing in. I was taking Psyllium Husks 3 times a day and at each one, I was using about 1 & 1/2 scoops. The scoop I was using I still have and it says 25 cc’s as the measurement on it, and 1 & 1/2 scoops is roughly a little more than 2 tablespoons. So roughly 6-7 tablespoons of psyllium husks per day.
Thanks for a great question.
Ryan
March 15th, 2011 at 1:24 pm
Hi Ryan!
I have a few questions for you regarding Sugar Alcohol–is this something we should be tracking as a sugar (in the 15g) we get a day? For example, gum, I have sugar free gum, but it says sugar alcohol of 2g, does that mean I have to track that in my daily intake of sugar? Also, another example, sugar free icecream–3g, but then below it says sugar alcohol of 9g? I am confused here, do I track 3 or 9? And is sugar alcohol bad for you? Why would both be in the icecream?
Also, do you know where to buy Clemmy’s icecream? I really don’t want to have to buy it online, but it sounds like I will have to–also, not interested in making it…do you know of any good variations? The above icecream I am referring to is Edys Sugar Free.
How do you deal with getting like this at say a friends house for dinner? Family holidays? I am not going to check labels in their cabinents…
What is Psyllium Husks and why do you take it??
Thanks so much!
Lisa
March 17th, 2011 at 11:39 am
Hi Lisa,
Thank you for writing in. Sugar Alcohols are not sugars and not alcohols, and yet they’re called sugar alcohols. You don’t need to track them as sugars if you’re following the Belly Fat Cure. But do note they do contribute to the carbohydrate count that you will track in the program. You may want to limit them, especially maltitol as it tends cause some stomach discomfort with more than a single serving. Some products post a “net” carb total and part of what they are doing is subtracting out the sugar alcohols from the total carb count because you’re body won’t absorb the sugar alcohol so they treat it like it’s not even there. But the reality is it is in there and should be tracked as a carb. It doesn’t matter if your body just passes it through, it’s in the product when you consume it.
Since I don’t know where you live, it would be tough to say where to get Clemmy’s where you live. You may want to find local health food stores and check their ice cream selection. I’ve seen my local Whole Foods Market now carries it, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are being carried by all Whole Foods Stores. Your best bet on trying to find local places is use the product locator on Clemmy’s website which you can access by clicking here. This will give you places to start checking.
As for eating meals in places where you don’t have access to the nutritional information, you just have to make the best judgement you can. My rule of thumb is just stick to proteins and vegetables and you should be fine. Anything else you run the risk of overdoing sugar and carbs. And if you know a head of time you’re in for a meal that you won’t know the nutritional information, cut back on the sugar and carbs of other meals on the day so if you end up going over in the one meal, it’s not going to ruin your efforts for the whole day. And if possible, bring something you know will be safe for you to eat.
Psyllium Husks are a way to add additional fiber to your diet to help clear out built up waste material in your digestive tract. Jorge Cruz refers to this built up waste material stuck in your intestinal tract as “false belly fat” and is usually what drives the early success with the Belly Fat Cure as this material starts to get dislodged and removed from your body. Psyllium Husks are not the most pleasant tasting method of getting more fiber in your diet, but it is an effective way of doing so.
Hope this helps and best wishes for your success.
Ryan
March 24th, 2011 at 9:41 am
Hi Ryan!
Thank you for having this blog… it is fantastic that we can find the answers that we cannot find on the BFC website!
My question: Do you HAVE to eat all 120 grams of carbs each day? I realized last night that used up 15g of sugar but I had hardly any carbs and was rushing around to find some without sugar (it was my first day on the BFC). I have psycillium each morning with a whey shake, so I have no fiber issues. Also is the point of eating bacon just because it is 0/0? Being from Maine, I like seafood for protein much better.
Thank you again and keep up the good work Ryan!
March 24th, 2011 at 9:45 am
Oh, and Ryan, one more thing if I may… have you had your numbers checked while on this eating regime? BP, Cholesterol, Triglicerides, etc?
Thanks again
March 26th, 2011 at 3:44 pm
Hi Penelope,
Thanks for writing in.
No you DO NOT have to eat all 120 grams of carbs, in fact, the fewer you consume, the better. Yes, the point of eating any meat, not just bacon, is that it’s 0/0, so if you would much rather have seafood, go for it. I’m not so big on seafood myself (in fact, I absolutely loathe salmon) and I suppose it’s all on what you grow up eating. I’m from Alberta in Canada and Alberta is big on beef.
Ryan
March 26th, 2011 at 3:48 pm
Hi again Penelope,
I did initially when the program was first introduced to me in the test group phase of the program. It was intended that an additional test would be done at the end of the 12 week program to compare the results, but the seemingly different focus of the program by the end, that no additional tests were done to compare them to. Although for my health insurance with the company I work for, they conducted some screenings to offer lower premiums and my numbers were all fine. They just wanted me to lose more weight.
Ryan