I Annoy Yet Another Person Into Eating Low-Carb
If I write about the science behind eating low-carb (and sufficient fat) often enough, eventually regulars here say, "All right already! I'll try it!" Like this woman did (see photos at the link).
Commenter Sosij emailed me yesterday about her experience:
Dear Amy,I am writing to thank you. I'll try to be concise. At the end of February, I went to the doctor for a few tests. While I was waiting in the exam room, I picked up a pamphlet about diabetes. I had gestational diabetes in 2009, so I'm understandably worried about developing diabetes later in life (I'm 30). I was shocked to learn that being only 20 pounds overweight dramatically increases the chances of developing diabetes for people of my race. Sure, I could stand to lose that much, but I was a busy mom, etc.
Around this time my husband and I also decided we want another child. I've also been reading your blog and columns for about a year, and heard you praise low carb/high protein many times. Since this was essentially the diet I was placed on by a licensed nutritionist when I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, and since I don't want a repeat diagnosis, I thought, what the heck. I like meat. Might as well start changing my diet habits now.
I started restricting myself to a certain number of carbs per day. 2 weeks later, reaching this goal proved to be so effortless that I lowered my limit. 2 weeks later I lowered it again. I'm not going to lie; when I first started eating this way I was hungry and tired. But that quickly went away. I don't even get that hungry anymore. I also have a history of blood sugar problems. I already had to make sure I ate some protein at breakfast, or my blood sugar would plummet just before lunch, causing me to respond by stuffing myself with whatever was handy (usually chips or cookies). I never have problems with my blood sugar anymore. It's so liberating.
Six weeks after I started limiting carbs, I went back to the doctor. I hadn't weighed myself since my last doctor visit, as we don't have a scale. I learned I had lost 7 pounds in 6 weeks! I had been exercising seriously prior to that time, but never lost a serious amount of weight. During those 6 weeks, I actually became too busy to exercise.
My husband, who is 30 pounds overweight, continues to have cereal and orange juice for breakfast. But I know that he is listening when I talk about my new diet, and he is starting to ask me questions about how he should be eating differently.
Lastly, I just got my copy of Good Calories, Bad Calories in the mail. I am barely into the book and I am already stunned at how many "indisputable" truths about dietary science Gary Taubes has already refuted.
Anyway, thanks very much, Amy, for doing so much to push me toward a healthy lifestyle! I read your blog every day. Keep fighting the good fight!
Good for you, and good for Sosij.
Now, let me try a little comment vaccination, to keep someone from poisoning this well.
Watching your diet is work, albeit just a little work. Nobody else is going to do it for you. It does matter what you eat. If you eat like most Americans, you will look, and suffer, like them, with adult-onset diabetes and assorted other troubles which arrive with being overweight.
So, do something for yourself that isn't about instant gratification. Your proctologist - the professional who knows how your guts work - will tell you lots of the same things Amy does, but you do not have to be a doctor to figure this out. You just have to pay attention.
Radwaste at April 20, 2012 3:56 PM
I thought gastroenterologists were the ones who knew all about the gut. I'm not one, but I know they do at least the top portion, having had to take one of my kids to a pediatric gastroenterologist (that's a scrabble word I'd like to use).
Shannon M. Howell at April 20, 2012 4:30 PM
Good point, Shannon. Call 'em!
Radwaste at April 20, 2012 6:06 PM
Ha ha, Amy...I was definitely not annoyed when I wrote to you, but you just reminded me of how much I used to want to slap you every time you mentioned that you weigh the same as you did in high school. The nerve! Who does she think she is?!?
Sosij at April 20, 2012 6:49 PM
It was an Amy Alkon blog post that persuaded me to learn more about low carb diet. I then read everything I could find on the subject, including Good Calories-Bad Calories, Protein Power, and relevant sections from my college human physiology textbook, and then decided to give it a go. I'm 40 pounds lighter, my A1c came down to well within the normal range. I went from taking 3 different pills for blood pressure to taking just 1/2 of one pill. I quit taking simvastatin because my cholesterol and triglycerides are now within normal range. I'm not hungry. I like the food I eat. I feel a lot better. I'm happier. Thanks, Ms Alkon.
Ken R at April 20, 2012 10:46 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/04/20/i_annoy_yet_ano.html#comment-3151660">comment from Ken RWow, thanks, Ken R...great to hear.
Amy Alkon at April 21, 2012 12:35 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/04/20/i_annoy_yet_ano.html#comment-3151662">comment from SosijHah, Sosij...sorry about that...or, I guess, I should be glad if it got you low-carbing!
Amy Alkon at April 21, 2012 12:36 AM
So, I need to loose weight (and, other than Amy, who doesn't?). I have a (ahem) ginormous baby (thank you false negative gestational diabetes results!) and, like many moms of small children, have been fighting those baby pounds.
When I gain weight, my cholesterol goes up (shocking, I know). So, I've been struggling, and struggling. It's rather hard when you're not sleeping, because that messes up your appetite hormones (I know just enough to be dangerous!) - and young kids don't sleep much (at night).
I now need to loose weight because my cholesterol (which "historically" is low) has gone obnoxiously high. It's not working. I've been reading this stuff over here for awhile and then it dawned on me that, "HEY! When I was eating steaks all the time, my cholesterol was low!"
Granted, I was eating steaks provided by the wallets of Mom & Dad (back home, before college). Pasta is cheaper, so is pizza, bread, M&M's...
But now, my cholesterol is up, my weight is stuck, and nothing's working (although as sleep improves, I am getting some results... that disappear as soon as we get family cold or something).
So, I'm slowly walking toward a higher-meat (aka lower-carb) diet. It's been a bit challenging so far, so keep the success stories coming (please).
As an aside, I much prefer the questions to prove we're real people used here than those "captcha" thinggies I've seen elsewhere.
Shannon M. Howell at April 21, 2012 7:36 AM
hi amy, i owe you belated thanks. after circling the "six week cure for the middle-aged middle" for quite a while based on your blog posts, i finally did the program over a year ago. i had gained 25 pounds during an extremely stressful few years and managed to get 15 off, but nothing more.
on day #5 of the program i caught sight of my profile in the mirror and stood in shock: my stomach had flattened. i lost ten pounds and several inches after the six weeks.
figuring out the right balance to keep my weight stable is still a learning process, complicated by hormonal shifts as i enter menopause, but my profile is still looking good and the clothes still fit.
thank you for continuing to spread the word.
rosalind at April 21, 2012 8:09 AM
I went lower-carb as well, after visiting this blog often enough. Like Ken R, I'm not hungry. When I was eating higher carbs, I was hungry all the damn time. Some days, I'll look at the time and realize that it's 1:30 or 2pm and maybe I ought to have lunch.
And I've lost about 30 lbs, enough that people say "hey, you've lost some weight".
I'm sleeping more soundly, and have more energy. If I feel the need for a snack, I grab a stick of beef jerky or a stick of no-sugar gum. I'm pretty much done with sodas, but I'll drink a boat load of tea. Black or green, unsweetened of course. Or a Powerade Zero.
I can't tell you the last time I ate fries. It isn't hard, you just have to make it a habit.
I R A Darth Aggie at April 21, 2012 8:32 AM
Eating lower-carb has DEFINITELY helped me keep off weight. But I don't do it to the Amy/Atkins/Eades extreme--just in a way that I can stick to which still means eating fruit as well as foods like nuts, greek yogurt, etc that still have some carbs. This isn't a diet for me, just the way I prefer to eat, so I'm not just going "go off" it and start eating carbs that I don't even like. I think that for MOST people this is a more realistic approach than eating zero carbs, since there's no point in adopting any kind of eating style unless you can stick to it forever. But pretty much EVERYONE can benefit from eating less carbs, and it's really not hard to do...at this point I have a hard time understanding why anyone would want bland starches in their diet anyway!
Shannon at April 22, 2012 3:11 PM
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