Several weeks back, a reader named Sally asked:

I have two unrelated questions for you. First, what would you order at a Chinese restaurant? My family loves to go out for Chinese but so far everything I've tried to order seems to make me puffy and moody the next day (never mind the extra 3 or 4 lbs.). Of course I skip the rice, and sweet sauces, but I think there is corn starch in most everything else. Any ideas?

Also, I think I read in your first book (How I Gave up my Low-Fat Diet and Lost 40 Pounds) about leg cramps at night and how they are related when low carbing to a deficiency in some mineral - I thought it was potassium, but then I also thought you recommended kelp tablets to help and those give you iodine. Anyway, when I went back to the book to make sure, I couldn't tell exactly -- and the edition I have was published in 2003 so I thought you might have some new ideas to share also. Any thoughts would be much-appreciated. Thanks!

Sally

Sally, I'm sorry to say that I have a similar experience with Chinese food -- not moodiness, but puffiness and weight gain for sure. Some might blame it on the sodium, and that may be some of it, but I doubt it's all or even most of it. I hardly eat a sodium-restricted diet at home, though I do eat very little processed food, and almost no baked goods, which are by far the two biggest sources of sodium in the American diet.

No, I think it's cornstarch, and hidden sugars in the sauces. No, I don't order any blatantly sugary dishes, like sweet-and-sour, but many Chinese dishes have some added sugar, at least when prepared American-restaurant-style. Too, many Chinese condiments, like hoisin sauce and duck sauce, are high in sugar.

Sadly, this means I rarely eat Chinese food unless I cook it myself at home, though I've always loved it. (Actually, come to think of it, I haven't. When I was a kid, my only exposure to Chinese food was the chow mein my mother made from leftover pork roast, using Chun King or La Choy canned chow mein veggies. I hated that, so I figured I didn't like Chinese food. I learned different when I tried good Chinese restaurant food!) If I'm with others who really want to eat Chinese, I'll order the least-carby-sounding stir fry I can get, skip the rice, noodles, mu shu pancakes, etc, and figure my pants will be tight for a couple of days. C'est la vie.

As for minerals, it's potassium I recommended -- and quickly -- if you're tired or crampy in the first couple of weeks of low carbing. The high insulin levels induced by a high carb diet cause your kidneys to hoard sodium and throw off potassium. This causes water retention. When you go low carb, this reverses -- your kidneys will start retaining potassium and eliminating sodium. This is why you drop excess water so quickly in the first week or so of low carbing. But there's a risk that you may become unbalanced, and potassium deficiency can turn deadly if it gets too severe. So yes, I recommend either taking potassium supplements the first few weeks, or eating lots of low carb, potassium-rich foods. (Avocados are by far your best source of potassium; they put bananas to shame.)

However, this potassium/sodium imbalance should sort itself out within a few weeks. If you're having leg cramps now, it could be a lack of potassium or sodium, but it could also be a lack of calcium or magnesium, or being dehydrated. It could also be something more dire, like thyroid problems or, God forbid, a neurological disease, but I'd follow the old medical maxim "When you hear hoofbeats, think horses before zebras" and look at your mineral intake and hydration first.

If you want to find out the best low carb sources for the various minerals, here's one of my favorite instances of Our Tax Dollars At Work. Endlessly useful. Click on the "nutrient lists" link to look up sources of each nutrient.

Oh, and as a massage therapist, I'll let you in on the Magic Cramp Cure: Tighten the opposing muscle as hard as you can. If the cramp is in your calf, for instance, hook your foot under something and flex your foot up, hard. The cramp will let go, because your body cannot tighten two opposing muscles simultaneously.

Hope this helps!