By Nkem
Edited by Yasmin
Unfortunately for some, Zero Carb Health doesn’t do coddling. We tell it like it is directly and devoid of emotional attachment. It is extremely important that we do this because for newbies transitioning off carbs, it can be an emotionally unstable experience.
Based on my experience, these emotional outbursts seem to come from people who are in the 5 “bargaining” stages of mourning carbs.
We have to just keep telling folks the truth whether they like it or not. The way folks interpret that ‘truth telling’ depends on their carb grief stage and will likely determine their success on ZC (Zero Carb) .
We are here to support folks strictly through a ZC lens. There are other groups who will coddle and explore “feefees” all day…ZCH ( Zero Carb Heath) ain’t one of them…and that’s ok.
There’s a formula for success that we have found to garner the most success through our collective experience. It will not be deviated from no matter the gnashing of teeth and rending of garments by some.
It’s what has kept me ZC for 14 months.
The 5 Stages of Grieving Carbs:
1. Denial: A little bit of carbs won’t hurt. I’m LCHF and Keto so that’s close enough. I have a cheat meal on weekends too so I’m cool.
2. Anger: What do you mean I can’t have SOME carbs. What the hell, what about my birthday cake. Y’all can go pound sand.
3. Bargaining: Hey guys how about a little sweetener every now and then. Can we talk about about why I can at least have some if I can’t have carbs. At least it’s not as bad as cake. Can y’all make some allowances for some variation?
4. Depression: This is really happening. My life will suck without carbs. Woe is me…Why is this happening to me. Carb withdrawal is a real nightmare. My life is over without carbs.
5. Acceptance: Hey…this ain’t so bad. I’m feeling great, looking great, mentally stable..loving life..I accept that I’m a recovering carboholic. I accept my shortcomings and even if I’m never perfect, I’ll still come back to ZC because it’s the healthiest way for me.
Folks can go back and forth between stages, but the faster one gets to stage 5 (acceptance) through strict compliance, the better for them to avoid needless suffering.
For more information on the Zero Carb Diet, please join us in our Facebook Group.
All so true! No carby food is worth bad health, but as long as one misses/longs for those old ‘favorites,’ getting clean is extremely hard. Until I quit seeing myself as deprived, keto/ZC was hard, but when the weight came off, health improved, my outlook changed; now I see myself as fortunate, no longer “hooked” on those addictive and dangerous foods.
I needed to read this. I’m barely a week into my zero carb journey and got my period and I am really trying to justify eating chocolate. Will just eat some steak instead 🙂
I know I’ll feel better in the long run, chocolate won’t solve a damn thing. Won’t even make me feel better, and I know this.
Thank you for this post.