Inspired by a documentary I saw on Netflix and the dozens of subsequent hours I spent researching the facts presented, I decided to embark on a low-carb diet, the only reasonable diet I had yet to try. In theory, the tenets of the low carb diet make a lot of sense if you consider a number of things such as our ancestral diets, the bio-mechanics on consuming glucose-rich foods (and their effect on insulin and fat storing), the high amounts of processing modern convenience foods undergo and the remarkably high number of carbohydrates they contain, and the nutrient deficiencies they present, along with the fact that our bodies were designed to eat meats and fats (although also in moderation).
With this in mind, I have decided to cut out wheat, potato and corn-based products from my diet for the next little while, as I use up my stored fat cells, and focus on fruits and vegetables, lean meats and sea food, dairy, eggs and natural vegetable fats like avocados, olives and coconut (goodbye canola!). Basically, natural foods with little to no chemical processing.
So far, so good: I have shed a remarkable 5 lbs since I started on Wednesday, shifting down from a rapidly rising 146 lbs down to 141 this morning. The most astounding thing about all this is that the foods I do consume keep me full for a long time; my stomach never rumbles with hunger.
Despite all of this wonderful weightloss, I have experienced a few unpleasant side effects. The first 2-3 days were accompanied by serious head-aches and light-headedness. I felt rather uncomfortable as my body depleted the glucose in my blood stream and I refused to replenish with glucose (I did have cheese and celery just then to snack on). My hands began to shake, and I was unable to focus; it was as though my eyes were looking at the computer screen but I could no longer read the words in front of me. That lasted about a half-hour until my body came to terms with the absence of glucose from my food and switched pathways and retrieved stored glucose from my fat stores. My blood sugar then went back to a normal range and I felt good again. This has happened a few times since I started and while it is unpleasant for a little while, the situation usually resolves itself; it just goes to show how addicted our bodies are to a constant supply of sugar in the bloodstream and it has a hard time switching to the consumption of fat stores. On the other hand, my mood has been great and I am really happy with the foods I DO eat.
I’m 4 lbs away from my first weight target and at this rate, I should achieve it within a week, 2 at the very most. Yay! 11 months ago
