The Human Natural Diet and the Evolution of the Zero Carb Diet. (Part 3)
(Part 1), (Part 2), (Part 4), (Part 5)
By Dana
After my “Natural Paleo” diet failure, I was desperate to find any diet, natural or not, that would work to help me lose weight. I wanted something I could eat for life, not some one week cabbage soup diet that works great, for 1 week only, then gain it all back and then some the next week. In my search for a diet I came across a website called Fatsecret. Fat secret had a pie chart of diets and their success rates based on members reporting. Atkins was winning by a landslide. (I just logged into my old fatsecret account and they no longer have this pie chart.)
I tried Atkins many years ago, but it seemed so unhealthy. All that bacon and cheese and fat, had to be clogging my arteries. I tried to do a low fat version (I know now, why that doesn’t work). Mentally, I could not do it. So, I quit after a week. Now, seeing that Atkins is by far, the best way to lose weight based on the pie chart of all these peoples experiences, I decided to try it again. I bought the book, again, and decided to actually read the book to understand why it is supposed to work instead of just flipping back to the diet plan, like I did before.
The first 2 weeks of Atkins is called “Induction”. This is where you jump start the diet with 20g of carbs or less for the first 2 weeks. The book also mentions trying a “fat fast” for people who are not losing weight, want to jump start fat-loss or have hit a plateau. This is where I learned that eating fat is important for losing fat. I vowed to stick it out for at least 2 weeks. At this point I was so sick of measuring, counting and weighing that I decided to only eat foods I knew had little or no carbohydrates. That turned out to be lettuce, meats, cheese, eggs, hot dogs, sausages and full fat salad dressings. By the 10th day I felt amazing and looked like I had lost 10lbs! For the first time in decades I didn’t have digestive issues, bloating, cramping and pain! I had energy, my brain fog was clearing! I wondered, “do I NEED to eat carbs ever again”? I did not want to eat another carbohydrate. I felt that good! The Atkins book says you can do “Induction” for 6 months, but after that you add back carbs, but never says why. I didn’t want to, so I started researching carbohydrates to figure out if we needed them and why. I figured I had 6 months to research before I was going to die from lack of carbohydrates. LOL
That’s when I stumbled upon Jimmy Moore’s Low Carb Forum, Livin La Vida Low Carb (the forum no longer exists). (Continued) (Part 4)
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