Oh my!
(That Empreinte bra is getting a workout...)

Another thing to remember in the battle to stay in shape is DON'T GET SICK! Nothing knocks fitness plans in the head like an endocrine system failure or a blood disease.

I'm not really even being that sarcastic. It's the advice I give to young people all the time! It totally sucks to have your body betray you and it can take most of the rest of your life to try to catch up to where you might have been if you hadn't gotten poleaxed.
BE CAREFUL.

I'm not looking that good at 47, but I am down 25 pounds so far!

Had a girl once, really big into the listening to your body thing.

I told her my body said it needed more sex from hers' she was not amused.

If you're a F.O.T.C., you're a friend of mine. I'd already thought of you that way, this just confirms my initial impressions were correct.

I just met with a nutrionist, who told me that I've screwed up my metabolism being on the LC diet so long, and with so few carbs. I know it doesn't happen to everyone, but he described my symptoms (immediate weight gain following ANY carb consumption, even a tiny gelato or baked potato).

It worked so well in the beginning, with rapid and easy weight loss whenever I needed it. So, when the weight loss started slowing down, I reduced carbs even more.

I've been on an LC diet for over 5 yrs, and in that time, though I've bounced up and down, the result has been a net gain of about 8 pds.

Recently, I upped my fat intake, which did help slim me down about 3 or 4 pds prior to my wedding. I figured I'd been doing it all "wrong", but it is still a struggle, which it shouldn't be with a carb consumption under 30 or 40 grams per day. I immediately put the weight I "lost" back on during the 6 days of my honeymoon.

The nutritionist went into depth about what is occuring metabolically, but I didn't write it down.

This is just my experience, of course, but it seems to jive with the research showing a lot of weight loss initially on LC, but not much difference long term, and I fear it can have pretty severe metabolic effects for some people. It has definately changed my metabolism for the worse.

Yes, Amy, I am being cautious. I didn't even want to see him, figuring he'd be an outdated quack, but my daughter actually made me go, as he's helped with her allergies and acne.

But what struck me is how dead on he was about how my body is "holding onto" every carb now - like it's carb-starved. I didn't tell him that - he explained it first.

I have no doubt LC diets work well initially. I dropped down to high school weight levels at first. I never had that much weight to loose anyway - I've always been quite thin - but that was so amazing and easy! Whenever the scale crept up a little, I'd just avoid carbs.

But what seems to happen over time is some sort of adaption. The response is lessened and the ability to loose on the same level of carb restriction slows way down.

I don't know. After being LC so long, I'm hesitant to take his advice, which entails eating more "good" carbs (I know...LCers don't believe much in "good" carbs). But, like I said, I'm not really losing any weight on LC anymore. At best, the losses seems to come only from water, then when I bounce back up, I'm actually heavier. Over 5 years, I've actually had a net gain.

I've also read that when you're only about 10 pds overweight, like me, that calories do come into play. It wouldn't probably for someone trying to loose 100 pds - they don't have to count calories, which is the beauty of LC - but my body doesn't seem willing to let me eat all the fat and calories I want and still lose weight anymore (like I did in the wonderful early LC years!).

It's all so confusing. :(

That picture, neck down, looks like me until my late 40's, except I was shorter, and had very little in the breasts department. I did have beautiful red hair.
I ate everything in sight (bacon, yes!) and was active. I heard plenty of sniping,ie "My God, you're skinny!" as if it were sinful, or, "Eat a hamburger, for Chris' sake!". I ignored it, didn't snipe back, but seethed like a dormant volcano.
I now have a bosom, don't give a shit, but do have a much bigger waist- not good. I also have a gut that deserves its own name if I don't keep it under control.
In other words, I never had a great body, but people had to tell me about it too. I was genetically programed to be skinny, then expand in spots just like my mom. I'm a healthy eater and exercise, but still hate my body shape. AAACCH!

WOW, Amy. You look bangin'. Low-carb eating has always been the most reliable way for me to control my weight. My metabolism allows for some whole grains, though, which is the only reason I can stick to it.

Insufficient Poison, I guess that's my cautionary advice - keep eating those grains if you can. I could - my metabolism was great - but I got so enamored with the LC diet that I cut out basically all grains, and certainly bread, pasta, and fruit. I wouldn't even eat a carrot because they're carby.

That, over time, is a bad idea, (I think). My theory is that my glycogen stores became so low that my body stopped burning fat. It thinks it's starving, so any carb is immediately stored as fat, and it won't let go of the fat easily anymore.

Somehow, I have to reassure my body that it's ok to burn fat, which will probably take adding back in some moderate degree of "good" carbs...which I never should've stopped in the first place.

@lovelysoul - I believe you stumbled on to your own solution in one of your comments:

"Recently, I upped my fat intake, which did help slim me down about 3 or 4 pds prior to my wedding."

I believe it may perhaps be that you need to up your fat intake all the time. Excess protein will be stored as fat, if your protein intake exceeds your fat intake or your ratio of fat:protein is not great enough.

Some of us are more sensitive to carbs than others. I keep my carb intake very low because after years of damaging my body by eating too many of them I can't eat them without blood glucose issues, and thus, weight gain. Can't say as I would attribute that to not eating enough carbs all these years.

I did Eades' "6 Week Cure" over a year ago and lost 20lbs to get to my goal weight in about two months. After my two week winter vacation in a Mexican all-inclusive hotel, I had put on a few pounds, so I did the first two weeks of the "cure" (3 protein shakes and a low carb meal)and dropped the weight quickly.

In the intervening year, I gradually added back a few carbs until I stopped losing and maintained my weight well. In the last few weeks, I have gotten carried away and taken in too many carbs, culminating in the past weekend where we had pizza with friends Friday, dinner Saturday with rolls and blueberry pie for dessert, and Sunday dinner chicken sandwiches on the leftover buns and the rest of the pie.

My wife and I are both back on the three shakes a day. I bring a little cheddar cheese to work because I know that the first few days I'll be hungry and the cheddar will keep me out of the cafeteria. We plan a chicken leg and thigh for my wife and a steak for me with vegetables stir fried on the BBQ. The rest of the meals will be from the "6 Week Cure" recipes.

I do feel a little tired, but I already feel a little less sluggish. I know that I can be back to my goal within a few weeks. I just have to learn how to manage adding back in some carbs without giving in to all of the temptations.

Thanks, Lisa. I'm not sure that loss was really a loss though. It could've been mainly water, and at any rate the loss was negated almost overnight, even though I didn't "cheat" that much on my honeymoon (I ate one plate of fries, which I hadn't done in years. Here I was in New Orleans, and that was my big food splurge - my new husband thought I was a little weird!).

I think there's low carb and then there's trying to live basically in ketosis, which is the extreme that I went to. Kinda like if a little of something works, then more must be better, which is not necessarily true. I do think LC dieting can become addicting because you start to see all carbs as "bad," even though your body needs some carbs.

I never really abused carbs before. I rarely ate sweets, and pretty much had a healthy diet. I think part of my problem is that I don't have a lot of fat to burn anyway. I am 5'4", small-boned, and 117 pds, but originally (before LC) I was consistently around 110, which is an ideal weight for me. Initially, on LC, I dropped to 104, which is what I weighed in high school (and how it becomes so tempting to low carb all the time).

I probably should never have gone to the extreme, as I think it has created some metabolic issues for me.

Amy -- you have ALWAYS looked great !!

Needed another reminder to restart/kick start my own low carb eating routine. It is the only way I have found long term success. Avoiding all the "white" processed foods is the healthiest option for me. Time for another pantry cleaning marathon.

Amy you look fantastic!

I'd really like to try this diet/eating lifestyle. I gained about 50lbs when my meds were swapped around and it was frustrating because I've never in my life been a heavy girl.

I started out trying your bacon/egg breakfast, which is nice because I didn't know you could cook bacon in the microwave and in a pyrex dish. I'm not much of a cook, to be quite honest.

I looked for the Italian parsley but couldn't find it. Does other parsley work as well, do you think? I ask because I'm pretty much a dumbass when it comes to the kitchen. When I was married we usually ate out, and now I just date men who like to cook (haha).

I think it will be a little tough for me to eliminate my carbs (I do love good bread), but since I recently started eating meat again, I think steak will be a nice alternative.

Lovelysoul, I am 5' 2", small boned, and have lost 60 lbs. with low carb. I also yo-yo dieted throughout my young adulthood vacillating between low calorie/low fat/starvation (pretty much had to be anorexic to maintain) and all-out high carb eating. I've been as low as 113 lbs., and as high as 200 lbs. These days I pay no attention to the scales, as weight fluctuates throughout the day and week. I pay attention to how my clothes fit. Honestly, I mostly care about how I feel when I am eating a low carb diet.

I am sort of at a loss for words for your worrying about a 13 pound difference from your lowest weight of 104, but if you're not comfortable then you're not comfortable at that weight.

I won't be convinced that your inability to lose weight is due to some sort of metabolic burnout from low carb eating, that just doesn't make sense from a scientific perspective. I would indeed be very wary of a nutritionist, doctor, or layman giving that as a reason for why weight loss isn't happening. I would be more inclined to believe that you may not really have any weight to lose. Of course, this is just my guess and opinion. If I saw a pic of you I might honestly say, "Wow, yeah, you look like you could lose ten pounds," but more than likely I would see a petite, normal weight woman. *shrugs*

Lisa, you probably wouldn't say I needed to lose 10 pds, and maybe I don't, but I do feel more comfortable at a lower weight than I am now. This us the heaviest I've been in my life (besides pregnancies).

All I'm saying is that I believe I MADE myself carb sensitive. I wasn't before. I could go on a date night and still have a plate of pasta and not gain weight overnight. My body obviously knew how to handle a moderate amount of carbs. However, now, I definately am carb sensitive. When I injest a carb, my body goes, "OMG a carb! Quick, store it! We don't know when this fool will eat another one!"

And this is not a pleasant way to live. It effects all my life choices - where I dine, what I cook, etc. I'm afraid of carbs the way an anorexic becomes afraid of calories. Once you become carb sensitive, it's very difficult not to gain weight, even with a heavily restricted carb diet.

This probably doesn't happen with people who have a substantial amount of fat they can afford to lose, but I have heard of it happening to LCers once they get down closer to their goal weights. Most call it a plateau, but I'm not sure that's what it is.

I'd highly recommend a LC diet for someone with a lot of weight to lose. But I would caution basically thin people, like Amy, from becoming too restrictive about carbs. Living on bacon and green beans may seem great now - it's obviously working, as it did for me at first - but, if my experience is any indication, she could develop a carb sensitivity.

So, she should keep eating that weekly gelato and splurge on some pasta or bread now and again. If your metabolism is basically working, there's just no need to go on a highly restricted LC diet.

lovelysoul, could it be hormonal changes?

I'm like you- I'm thin and I don't think I carry extra weight well. At 5'4" and usually between 105-110 nonpregnant weight- when I do gain weight it's always in my midsection, face, or saddlebags. I don't "round out" or get an hourglass shape when I put on a few extra pounds- I look like a lumpy stick with a belly.

When you think about it, it makes sense. People who are quite obese already have carb sensitivity - from abusing carbs for years - so removing the carbs is going to result in substantial weight loss.

But this probably doesn't hold true for a basically thin person. This person's metabolism is functioning well and handling carbs and glucose appropriately because the body hasn't been overloaded with carbs. So, to severely restrict carbs is going upset the balance and may lead to a sensitivity where none previously existed. And it's just not necessary.

Listening to your body makes sense when you are taking care of it. Athletes with high daily caloric demands and the need for a diet to satisfy those demands are well-advised to listen to their bodies. They tend to down large quantities of protein-laden foods like meat and nuts, because their bodies need it to repair.

You there, the cubicle warrior sitting near the vending machine? Yeah, you guys, *don't* listen to your body--you are mistreating your body, and your body will mistreat you in response.

(Oh, and don't eat anything your great grandmother would not immediately recognize as edible food.)

"lovelysoul, could it be hormonal changes?"

It could, of course. I haven't started menopause yet though, so I don't know.

You're right, we can't really go by a number. Height and bone density have a lot to do with how good a person looks at any given weight. I know I look best around 108-110. That's what I weighed even after kids...until I started LC (sigh).

Who knows? Maybe I would weigh 150 now if hadn't started low carb, but, based on what/how healthy I eat, it just doesn't make sense. I should not be struggling with weight unless I've developed a carb sensitivity or some type of metabolic syndrome.

Does anyone have any experience with an in-between diet? I've just lost about 30 pounds in 3 months (just over 10% of body weight) and while I've been reducing my carb intake, it's certainly not been down to the level of what would be considered a "low-carb" diet. Mostly, I've cut out high-starch main dishes like pasta, side dishes like fries or potatoes, don't eat additional bread or chips or crackers, don't have much in the way of desserts like ice cream, and avoided fruits and fruit juice. I'd say the main reason for the weight loss is probably overall calorie reduction, but the difference is that I've done it without reducing the protein parts of my diet, and in most cases increasing those parts.

So basically, I was wondering if there was any in-between types of information.

(and pardon me if this ends up double posted)

Low-carb dieting worked well for me several years ago when I needed to lose weight gained on B.C. pills. However, so many people told me how unhealthy it was, that I decided not to try it again after I'd dropped 9 lbs in 2 weeks.

Fast forward to 2 years ago when I had a ton of baby weight to lose. I counted calories on the Livestrong site and struggled to lose any weight. According to the web site, I should have been losing a whopping 2 lbs per week, but it just wasn't happening.

After reading this blog, I decided to go back to low-carb. The pounds dropped off quickly. I hit my goal of 125 lbs (still big, but the best I thought I could hope for after hitting 180 - YIKES! - before the baby was born), and then dropped down to 115. Now I'm at 110. I seem to be holding steady, even with my weakness for Mexican food. I cheat with flour tortillas and chips once a week (I'd rather have soft tacos and fajitas than any dessert on the planet), but I limit myself to a reasonable portion and stop when I'm full.

I have a ton more energy now, and I don't ever want to go back. However, I still get lectures about how whole grains are good for me, and how I should add them back to my diet. It's always the same few people, so I've given up trying to convince them. I just sit back and smile at being thin as they struggle to lose the beer gut while doing cardio several times a week.

That's great, KimberBlue. Just keep your cheat days. Enjoy those tacos. Don't be tempted to cut out all carbs all the time. You need some carbs so your body will keep burning off the fat.

I just weighed myself and I'm down a pd, after eating brown rice for dinner last night and a fruit bowl for lunch today. That's reassuring. I really think I needed to add back in some carbs to build up my glycogen stores so my body won't hold onto the fat.

Highway, it sounds like you are eating a reduced carb diet. There's no reason it has to be extremely low, especially if it is working for you. 30 pds in 3 months is a pretty good loss. LC diets vary in the amount of carbs allowed. It doesn't really matter if you are losing weight at a rate that you're satisfied with.

I know a lot of vegans who are damn skinny...how come they are skinny despite their high carb/low fat/low protein diet?

They're skinny because their metabolism can handle carbs in reasonable amounts. Vegans are conscientious about what they put into their bodies, so they aren't usually eating donuts or junk food.

When I say whole grains, I'm eating Lunberg organic brown rice, which is really thick and hearty and probably not as easy to break down. I don't eat whole wheat bread or anything white or processed.

If you have a functioning metabolism, as KimberBlue obviously does, at 110 pds, a taco now and again - or a gelato or whatever makes you happy - won't hurt, and I suspect it will keep the metabolism in a state of processing carbs more effectively.

Trying to eliminate carbs all the time may lead to a carb sensitivity in some people. Especially thin people, who have a good metabolism to begin with, shouldn't try to go too low. A moderate, maintenance level of carbs is ok for them.

That's even what most LC diets recommend. I just think those of us who get wrapped up in LC - or at least the Atkins-style low level LC - start viewing all carbs as bad and try to avoid them entirely. We never go back to "reintroducing" them into our diets at maintenance levels.

Amy, in previous columns you've mentioned needing much LESS sleep now than when you ate carbs. Doesn't the last line in the "Since Colorado Springs" paragraph need correcting?

"lovelysoul, could it be hormonal changes?

I'm like you- I'm thin and I don't think I carry extra weight well. At 5'4" and usually between 105-110 nonpregnant weight- when I do gain weight it's always in my midsection, face, or saddlebags. I don't "round out" or get an hourglass shape when I put on a few extra pounds- I look like a lumpy stick with a belly. "

Exactly- That's why a lot of people want to lose weight, even though they might not be clinically "obese". If your frame is small, and you aren't shapely, sometimes weight gain makes you feel grotesque. I'm glad I gained some weight, but my body isn't smokin', just weird. I understand.

"lovelysoul, could it be hormonal changes?

I'm like you- I'm thin and I don't think I carry extra weight well. At 5'4" and usually between 105-110 nonpregnant weight- when I do gain weight it's always in my midsection, face, or saddlebags. I don't "round out" or get an hourglass shape when I put on a few extra pounds- I look like a lumpy stick with a belly. "

Exactly- That's why a lot of people want to lose weight, even though they might not be clinically "obese". If your frame is small, and you aren't shapely, sometimes weight gain makes you feel grotesque. I'm glad I gained some weight, but my body still isn't smokin'. If I gain a little too much I look like a weeble.

Amy...I've been "low-carb" for 4 years now.

One thing you may want to consider is now that you've hit a comfort zone, you feel in great shape - now add a LITTLE bit of carbs back into you diet, especially prior to working out.

You will feel better energy during and after.

And really, this was the classic Atkin's approach - after the induction phase, you can slowly add certain carbs back into your diet and not worry about weight gain or developing insulin resistance. I've noticed a difference in my workouts from doing so. When I add a bit of white rice with my huge meat and fat based breakfast, I find I can go all day doing strenuous exercise with stable energy and not feel hungry until dinnertime...whereas when I eat a 0 carb breakfast, like your experience, I'd get hungry again by around 2-3 pm.

Of course, I still avoid gluten grain foods, as those have other issues like gut permeability triggering auto-immune responses etc....

..but I'm talking about a moderate amount of things like potatoes (sweet, yukon gold, yams, purple potatos), carrots, rice, fruits etc.

And, of course, eat them with lots of fats as you currently do.

VLC is great for people trying to recover from years of SAD...but once you've stabilized your metabolism, hit your weight loss goals, you can carefully add foods back into your diet and not experience negative effects while expanding your available tastes palette.

As for the "vegans are all skinny" take note: most hardcore vegans are emaciated skinny -- especially if they're exercise freaks to boot. Because they are so protein and fat deficient in their diet, their bodies actually burn their own muscle tissues for energy. Not only do they have almost no subcutaneous fat, they also have almost no muscle either.

In a sense, it's a form of auto-cannibalism.

Eaten in excess, yes.

Eaten exclusively, of course.

In conjunction in moderate amounts with a meal in which your primary portions are still protein and fat, it does work better.

But don't just take my word for it...

check out what Dr. Kurt Harris from PaNu (now Archevore) (google paleo 2.0 if you'd like, I'm not including a link to avoid your comment moderation) says:

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"For healthy non-diabetics, starch (glucose polymers) is good. Excess fructose is bad. {A piece of fruit after a full meal won't hurt you}

In wheat, the carbohydrate starch is not the major problem. It is the gluten proteins and wheat germ agglutinin that come along with the starch.

So forget "carbs vs fat". It is neolithic agents of disease versus everything else.

If you are not trying to lose weight and you like to eat potatoes and rice, EAT THEM.

Sweet potatoes, white rice and white potatoes are well tolerated by most people and starchy vegetables per se are not neolithic agents of disease. Many active people without diabetes or metabolic syndrome feel and function better with a fair amount of starch in their diet . YMMV!"

---------

I used to think just like you. Than I read Kurt Harris blog, and also realized that many "Paleo" proponents also advocate eating moderate amounts of starchy carbs (but not grains/bread/pasta).

Dr. Harris particularly has a post about it improving athletic performance. So I gave it a shot and found that indeed it did increase my energy and left me less hungry for a longer period of time.

And of course, I am still talking about only adding a moderate amount of starch back into your diet - i.e. one scoop of white rice or some sweet potato fried in coconut oil along with all the bacon, eggs and cheese breakfasts you love.

But hey, you don't have to. Just sayin' it might work for you.

Believe me, Amy, I've read Eades entire archives and any updates he occasionally makes. I understand the point you are making...perfectly.

That link you provided is true - but you have to remember that eating some starch IN CONJUNCTION with meat and fat, will slow the absorption down and you will not have the blood sugar spike, compared to eating a huge helping of mashed potatoes.

I only suggest this, because you obviously are not struggling with weight.

Here's the gist of what I'm trying to share with you, from Kurt Harris:

I think eating 15-20% of calories as starch is healthier than being VLC (very low carbohydrate) on only green veggies and meat. Starchy Plant Organs give you the most useful plant vitamins and minerals, spare your body the work of making your own glucose via gluconeogenesis, keep you out of ketosis, and keep your glycogen stores topped off, all while avoiding the antinutrients in grains. If you are fairly active, you might notice a big difference between 20% starch and 5%.

--------
It was only after reading this that I started adding a little bit of starchy carbs back into my diet...and Dr. Harris was right. I noticed a big difference. YMMV

----

So this makes PaNu very highly aligned with Kwasniewski on both ketosis and potatoes.

Ketosis is useful for weight loss, but it is not likely to be optimal to live in ketosis most of the time if you don't have to.

---

As I noted, you obviously do not have a weight loss issue.

Here's the link to that last quote I excerpted.

http://www.archevore.com/panu-weblog/2011/2/5/no-such-thing-as-a-macronutrient-part-ii-carbohydrates-revis.html

You also have to remember that Dr. Eades is primarily concerned with helping people who are overweight and suffering from ill health from years of the SAD. VLC is a key in restoring metabolic balance after years of high carb abuse.

But that doesn't mean you need to be VLC forever, or that being VLC forever is the best possible diet for your overall health and performance.

BTW - just as a side note in reference to your glycemic index listings regarding white rice compared to a mars bar...I recently acquired a blood glucose testing kit from a friend who just had a baby. She was on a strict low-carb diet due to gestational diabetes and had to test her blood sugar after every meal.

After she gave birth, I borrowed the kit from her to run a series of experiments on myself to see how certain foods affected my blood sugar.

One morning I awoke with a glucose reading of 89 mg/dl (very good, of course, since I've been low-carb/paleo 2.0 for 4 years).

I ate a three egg cheese omlette with mushrooms and onions sauteed in butter and bacon grease, two pieces of bacon, and three cups of coffee (1 cup black, the other 2 with organic half-and-half...no sugar, of course) 1 hour after eating, my blood sugar reading was 87 mg/dl.

I repeated the exact same experiment the following day, except this time I added a scoop of white jasmine rice to my breakfast. My pre-breakfast reading was 90 mg/dl.

My post-breakfast reading (with starch) was 88 mg/dl. Hardly a significant blood sugar spike, no?

Make of it what you will...but I do believe Dr. Harris' theory is correct - a moderate amount of starch in a meal full of proteins and fats is not going to wreak havoc on the metabolism of someone who is not insulin resistant and in otherwise good health like yourself.

DAMN!

A guy might be obliged to forgive your troglodyte blogroll with equipment like that...

"And really, this was the classic Atkin's approach - after the induction phase, you can slowly add certain carbs back into your diet and not worry about weight gain or developing insulin resistance."

Thanks for posting this, Dave. That was my point -that, eventually, you're supposed to add some level of carbs back in. This is what I failed to do, and what I'd hate to see Amy fail to do because, over time, it seems to lead to metabolic changes, which cause your body to gain weight even on the slightest carb consumption, as if you are insulin resistant.

Nobody knows for sure because they don't have many long-term LC studies, and they're certainly not studying women like me and Amy, who never were obese, and are still quite low in body fat.

But it makes sense that if you restrict carbs severely, even when you are at your goal weight, and should be on maintenance level LC, that the body will adjust and carbs will almost become "foreign" to the body - like meat becomes to a vegetarian.

In short, you don't want your metabolism to "forget" how to properly metabolize those carbs.

This may not be an issue for people who were once obese, and therefore had sluggish metabolisms and inusulin resistance to begin with, but it's a real shame to take a healthy metabolism that is able to process carbs well and not automatically store them as fat and slow it down to an insulin resistant level.

Well, you're going to get some carbs in your diet, if only from plant based sources (which was what mine has been for the past 5 years). The question is how restrictive you're going to be, and how restrictive you really need to be, especially when you're already thin. And what that restriction eventually does to your metabolism.

Mine is screwed up. I'm basically insulin resistant now, whereas I had a wonderful metabolism previously. And this was not from abusing carbs, in the sense of ingesting too many, but (quite probably) from ingesting so few for so long.

I just started kickboxing classes, and although I exercise with weights and pilates to stay toned, I hadn't really been working up a sweat for quite some time, and the first few classes, I was really weak and sluggish.

Like Dave said, I find that I need some carbs to increase my energy. I'm not talking about white rice or donuts. I'm talking about a banana! Not to mention the potassium and other minerals it provides.

And, believe me, it scares the hell out of me to eat a banana, because, like you, I view all carbs as sugar. Eating that first banana was like an anorexic being asked to eat cake. I recognize the same fear of carbs in your words.

But a banana is not a candy bar. They're not the same. Even some of the glycemic studies have not shown the predicted rise in blood sugar that has been assumed with certain foods. In fact, they found it was all over the map, with foods thought to be low glycemic causing significant rises, and vice versa.

I'm still not going to consume tons of carbs. No way. But I wish I had taken a more moderate approach once I had initially reached my goal weight, and I'm urging you to consider that too. You look great, and I'd hate for you to end up in this weight struggle hell I'm in after a few years.

Yes, Amy, but I'm assuming you can't always eat that way. I mean, you travel to Paris, and I'm guessing you don't just eat green beans when you're there. You're going to want to have some wine and dessert sometimes.

The problem arises when you start to notice that those spurges aren't as easily forgiven. Suddenly, you're up 2 or 3 pds overnight, when before that wouldn't have happened. So, you restrict carbs again, and lose those pds, but the next time you have a gelato, the scale rises more than usual, and then you're caught in a vicious cycle. The more you avoid carbs, the more sensitive you become to them.

This may not happen to you, but I'm cautioning that there's no reason to try to stay in a state of ketosis. You don't have any weight to lose, so it's just not necessary.

"PS Dry white wine has few carbs. Maybe 3 or 4 grams of carbohydrates per glass."

Yeah, I know. That used to be no problem for me, but now, I can't drink much wine at all. Just those few carbs will lead to a gain. Two glasses at 6 or 8 carb grams is now too much, unless I've had no other carb grams all day.

If I drink now, I'll usually have a martini. Hard liquor has no carbs. But I love wine. I miss my wine. :(

Really, it's a sucky way to live. Keep up your desserts and splurges. I can't prove it, but I suspect that consistently staying under 30 grams of carbs per day ultimately messes with your metabolism. At least for some people.

I mean, if you never, or rarely, spike your blood sugar, how will your body continue to be able to handle those occassional spikes? It gets out of practice of dealing with blood sugar. Or at least that seems to be what's happened to me.

Unless I've just become diabetic, or pre-diabetic, but my tests don't show that (as of yet), and why would I become diabetic on an LC diet?

The worst part for me is that I can't really ask for help with this. I'm not (yet) overweight. If I go on an LC board, and try to talk about the symptoms I'm experiencing - this sense of being overly sensitive to carbs - they'll ask my weight, and, at 117 pds, I don't get any sympathy. It's like, "So what, you're not fat."

And, until I am fat, a doctor isn't likely to take this as anything more than a sign of middle age or pre-menopause. But that's just not it...I don't believe anyway.

The nutritionist was the first person to "get" what is actually happening to me. I'm going back to him today, and I'll see if I can find out his sources and research.

Now if you're really concerned about spiking your blood sugar, you should get a glucose test kit and see what happens after you drink your wine. lol

I merely suggest that not all starchy carbs are the devil, and if you are not overweight and do not have metabolic issues, a moderate amount eaten with a lot of protein and fat will not spike your blood sugar...and will actually be beneficial in giving you more energy and endurance when you're doing physically demanding things.

As Dr. Harris notes, if you don't have metabolic issues or need to lose weight, you will find your athletic performance and endurance will be better if you are actually just outside of ketosis rather than in it.

And I've read the Heartscan blog too...and again, Amy, he's right (Wheat IS the devil!), but again, he's a doctor dispensing advice to people who have issues from eating SAD, and VLC induced ketosis is the general solution for anyone trying to lose weight and repair their metabolism after years of SAD abuse.

But hey, I don't mean to be telling you you're doing your diet "wrong." I've been where you're at. I went zero carb for several months and VLC for well over a year...lost 35 lbs. and have effortlessly kept it off since then, even after I resumed eating moderate starchy carbs and occasional sugar...I will never give up ice cream. :)

I met with the nutritionist. Long, complex discussion, but basically, he thinks it's my adrenals. So, I've been reading up on that today. I read an article some time ago suggesting that LC diets could ultimately cause adrenal fatigue, but they also seem to be considered the cure for adrenal fatigue (sigh).

It's so confusing and hard to know what to do, but I'm going to have a hair analysis done to see if I'm mineral deficient and my thyroid is functioning properly.

He kept mentioning "aldosterone", which is an adrenal hormone that controls potassium levels in the blood.

He's not advocating that I eat many carbs - just add a few back in. A piece of fruit every other day, a little brown rice. Getting my system back into balance.

Hopefully, we can figure this out. It would be nice to enjoy a glass of wine now and then without an immediate gain in weight.

Our worries are over! New "Food Plate" has been unveiled to replace the Food Pyramid.

http://www.delish.com/food/recalls-reviews/usda-to-release-replacement-for-food-pyramid?GT1=47001

After reading your blog posts for quite some time, I finally decided to try low-carb. I seem to have stopped at a loss of roughly ten pounds, fitting back into my smaller jeans again. What blows my mind now is realizing that the unexplained, steady weight gain I experienced for months prior to this, despite not eating junk foods, was taking place at the same time I had added a bowl of organic steel cut oats as breakfast every day. It wasn't the cheap sugary instant garbage either. Definitely an eye opener as to healthy whole grains.

You look fantastic. This post is inspiring me to get back on the paleo/primal diet. Something that puts me off low carb though is that I get a strange taste in my mouth....it's not quite bad breath, but it's distracting, maybe it's ketones and I just need to get over it. No complaints from my girlfriend, but she's not the type to be impolite...

What is absolutely telling is how personal people take every little thing you write as seen of their comments.