Monday, April 15, 2013

Low-Carb Hell

We're attempting a variation of a low-card diet.
We're cutting our gluten as much as we can. We always feel unwell (lots of gas, burping, bloating, mental fog, and other things we will not discuss...) after eating it, and more than one physician has suggested we might have a sensitivity to it (we refused to do their "poo test", scared of the results). So why not try...again.

In youth we tested positive for allergies of wheat, rye, and most other grains/carbs involving gluten (not rice, or flax, or beans, or soy). That was before anybody had ever heard of wheat sensitivities, or celiacs (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/celiac-disease/DS00319). It's one of those things we've dealt with our whole life, that we probably don't need another doctor to analyze, and we should probably just face the facts.

It's not shocking really, the only time we've been successful at losing weight in our entire life was on Atkins when we lost 100 pounds (a carbohydrate purging diet regimen), and then when we got pretty mentally...unwell...during the end of 2010 (when we pretty much starved ourselves, except for wine). It just seems like a carb problem pattern for us, given that we're not generally inclined to stuff our face, or overeat - which would explain the weight we can't lose in the face of near daily exercise.

This time feels harder though, for some reason.
Some of us think we should just be happy with the "few" extra pounds (if we're being honest it's probably around 25-30 now, according to European standards) we've put on since we were at our lowest weight; Some of us think we should get back down to our lowest weight, which, while some people in our life thought was fine, others thought was sickly;
And then...we just want to eat what we want to eat, because we don't overeat...and *stomps foot* *whines* we love food.

All is not created equal when it comes to diet, exercise and food though, from person to person. We know that, both from a personal perspective, and a nutrition education perspective. If there were such a thing as equality in food and nutrition there wouldn't be lactose intolerance (which we also occasionally struggle with), or celiacs, or peanut allergies, or shellfish, or any other food sensitivities/intolerances/allergies.

Anyway, we're back on low-carb. Except for cutting out Gin (and coffee), of course, which aside for it being alcohol (and caffeine) is low-carb, it's not made with grains - it's made from juniper berries (and coffee berries). (Caffeine and alcohol spikes blood sugar/insulin/glucose levels which causes cravings)

We love carbs, despite them being bad for us.

So, if we get a little off-kilter...more than usual...or drop from existence for a bit...blame the lack of carbs.

But at least we get to eat all the eggs, bacon, and cheese we want, so score!

Thrilling, eh?

1 comment:

  1. Just don't go too low! I find that once I hit that "spacey low carb" feeling, I need to slowly add some more into my diet. I do eat a modified bodybuilding diet, so lots of clean foods, chicken, sweet potatoes, water, etc. My carbs come mainly from fruits, veg, and my morning protein pancake which has 1/4 c of dry oats. Yes, I am quite fancy ;-) I think you guys are beautiful inside and out though...so I may be biased.

    XO

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