In my early twenties was the first time I had ever heard of the idea of eliminating wheat from a diet as a way to feel better. I was taking Tae Kwon Do classes at the time, and the instructor and his wife had told me that they were on a blood type diet, which advocated this practice. Although I tried the diet, and I did lose some weight, I just gained it all back. But I did notice something when I eliminated wheat from my diet -- my allergies were getting better, and I wasn't as stuffy in my nose.
When I mentioned this to a doctor some time later, their response was that I might have some kind of reaction to wheat. But I didn't think anything of it at the time.
Years later was when I really started to wonder about low carb dieting and its effects. Atkins was being rediscovered (which has since been followed by South Beach -- which my regular doctor advocates -- and Paleo and a few other low carb eating plans), and the idea of low carb eating was becoming more well known and advocated, despite reports to the contrary that going low carb was "dangerous."
My first time being low carb as a lifestyle came when I was pregnant with my son. I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, so I was forced to go low carb in order to maintain my health as well as my son's. One thing I noticed while following this plan was that I only gained five pounds in the entire pregnancy, which I immediately lost once I started this new eating plan (I would joke with the nurses that the baby was eating the fat). When my son was born, I was down 20 pounds from where I started before the pregnancy.
When I didn't have the diabetes anymore? Stopped following the plan, and went back to my old ways.
Now, it's five years later. After one attempt at Atkins (of which I lost weight then gained it back again after I went off the diet), and more years of gorging myself, I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in April. So now, I have to go low carb again for my health. This time, it has to stick in order for me to stay healthy and reverse the damage I did to myself.
My husband and I agreed on one thing -- if I slipped up at any point, I wasn't going to beat myself up over it. Just get right back on the horse and continue on.
Since my diagnosis, I've lost 20 pounds just from changing how I eat and doing exercise when I can work it in. Plus, with a new job that keeps me active (a lot of steep stairs and walking around the building) the weight has just been melting off my body. Hubby's noticed a difference, and I'm noticing that t-shirts that used to be tight on me are now fitting me a lot looser than they have in the past.
So why am I telling you all this? Because I want to start off by explaining my experiences with low carb dieting in the past and now just so that I can show you how it's working for me.
I'm not on any particular low carb plan (although I jokingly call it the "Eat the Foods That Won't Kill Me" Diet), but I am seeing some effects for me. And I'm constantly looking at research on low carbs to help me get through this part of my life.
Although I want this blog to have a lot of information on low carb diets, I don't want to tell you what kind of plan to follow. What works for you, works. Low carb diets are not for everyone, but there is information out there on who would benefit the most from it (which I will go into in another post). And if you decide to go low carb, do your research and hopefully links I provide here will help with that decision.
But overall, here's to health and a new lifestyle!
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