AM Carb source - grapefruit or oatmeal?

[Sassy69]

I have been wanting to toss this question out here for a while. I have been waffling back & forth between 2 different diet approaches. The first is one that is generally carb cycling very similar to spatts' cutting diet (minus the 4 am meal & 6:30 am training) that regularly provided for 1/2 cup of oatmeal w/ 1 scoop protein powder. The second is basic Beverly Int'l diet - AM carb has been 1/2 grapefruit w/ eggwhites & 99% fat free ground turkey, holding off the carb refeed for every 3-4 days.

At one point last year, it seemed I could no longer digest oatmeal w/o bloating like there was no tomorrow. So I went to the 1/2 grapefruit approach. I've basically been scared to go for the oatmeal again - mostly because of the bloat. All of a sudden I could no longer eat my favorite part of a diet.

I haven't done the oatmeal in a while, but I wanted to see if there is a preference or reason to take one approach over the other. I'm thinking of heading back to the carb cyclign approach just because its so freekin hard to go 3 days w/ only vegetables. It gets boring & the PM carb refeed just doesn't pull it for a "normal way to eat". (I dunno -- I'm just trying to find an eating schedule where I don't start looking at chicken& vegies like I would rather starve than eat another meal of it.)

Oatmeal has always been a mainstay of my bb diets. Time to go back?

 

[spatts]

What about oats on training days and GF on the nons?

 

[Daisy_Girl]

What about Cream of Wheat or Cream of Rice? Can you eat those?

I really like CoW made with water, cinnamon and some splenda.

 

[slinky]

I found that when I added protein powder to my morning oatmeal, I got bloated. Which is why I add a whole egg instead. I create this "oatmeal soufle".

I like my breakfast to be rather big. Which is why I like oatmeal. And lately, I've been adding fruit with my breakfast for added calories. If that's too much for you, why not a half of your usual amount of oatmeal with half of a GF?

 

[Sassy69]

Somethign to consider -- the creepiest part was the day I could no longer eat oatmeal. Almost as bad as the day I realized I could no longer have junk food if I wanted to be lean. But ... I'm still getting my training schedule down (particularly AM cardio given my current sleeping problems). I think its time to take a shot at the oatmeal again. The other stuff is ok but it all was bloating me & i just got paranoid about all white carbs for a while.

 

[SteelWeaver]

Mmmmmm - I BIIIG bowl of oatmeal, with raisins and walnuts and chopped apple And soy milk ....

(Or you could try sweet potato pancakes?)

 

[JJFigure]

Hey Sassy! I had the same problem - I was mixing egg whites in with my oatmeal, and would just get really bloated. I quit adding protein to the oatmeal, down a couple digestive enzymes before I eat it, and I no longer have problems. You might just have to separate out your protein and eat it a little later if you want to go back to eating oatmeal. A little R-ALA would probably have the same impact as the digestive enzymes, btw.

 

[valerie]

Heres my take Sassy- The Beverly diet is a precontest diet so unless you are precontest why go thru that ?

For breakfast I make a meal like slinky, I take 6 eggs, use one whole egg the rest are whites, I stir that up and add 1/8 cup oatmeal, and two strawberries( or dice part of an apple and add cinnamon) then throw in microwave. The next meal I have either the rest of the apple or add 2-3 ozs of sweet potatos to whatever lean meat, and that is lunch. The next meals are fibrous veggies no starchy carbs. I really that we can have more of the starchy carbs when we are lifting so heavy, please note that my amounts are really quite small, but much better than none at all. On the days I lift I have 2-3 ozs of sweet potatoe before w/o.

I have found this allows me to eat "normally" and has the benefit of reducing cravings. Plus my lifts are going up and fat is coming off.-valerie

 

[slinky]

One more thing to think about: if you're following a low carb diet, that oatmeal could be a shock to your system. Hence the bloat.

If you're not cooking the oatmeal long enough, it could be sitting in your stomach like a rock. Expanding ever so slowly. Something else to think about.

 

[Sassy69]

val - the bev diet i have is a basic diet - trust me - I know what a pre-contest diet looks like. Its not a big deal - i just remember everyone making such a big deal of oatmeal for breakfast - did it for years. Then I make a little switch and one day I can't eat the stuff anymore.