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brainz01 brainz01 is online now
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Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Houston
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I accidentally went down this road for the better just over 2 years ago. A friend at work stopped eating all grains, starches, and simple sugars -- only meat and veggies for him. I quizzed him and he recommended that I read "The Paleo Solution" by Robb Wolf for a more detailed explanation of why he did it.

So I bought the book and one Friday night I managed to read most of it -- it was actually an enjoyable, funny read. After explaining all the science, Wolf's punchline was as follows: Try a low carb diet for 30 days -- if it works, great. If not, well, it cost you 30 days of eating some other way.

Admittedly, changing my diet was a bit confusing at first, but it's not rocket surgery. Breaking the sugar habit was initially hard -- those first several days were strange (and there's sugar hidden in almost everything) -- but you'll push through. I lost 10 pounds in the first week, and I never did the diet to lose weight -- I never thought I had 10 pounds to lose. A couple weeks in I reached "The Enlightenment" -- the brain fog, hunger, and tiredness was gone. I was a convert -- and in the two years since, I've lost a total of 20 pounds, and resolved (through only diet an vitamins) a whole series of other chronic health issues I'd tolerated for years. I'm a believer.

My friends and family were all concerned about my newfound love of salt, fat, meat, and cruciferous vegetable (well, maybe not the veggies). So I went down the rabbit hole of studying diets and the medical research to make sure I wasn't trading one set of health problems for another. Suffice to say, after much research and reading, I discovered that most of the American dietary recommendations are not based solid science (but rather on keeping a population from starving) -- take a look at "The Big Fat Surprise" by Nina Tiecholz if you want to see what I'm talking about. Indeed, low carb diets, including Paleo or Ketogenic diets (the former being higher protein, and the latter higher fat) are increasingly recognized as far superior diets from a health perspective than the high carb, low fat diet that's dominated for the past 30-40 years (not coincidentally the same time frame during which diabetes, obesity and related diseases have skyrocketed). The reason why is the body's elevated insulin response to chronic consumption of carbs (i.e., what most people eat these days) makes us fat, makes us more hungry, and it fosters many chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and Alzheimers.

I've got about a half dozen friends and family members that have made a similar switch with similar positive results. I lost the least weight (again, I didn't do it to lose weight and have actually fought to keep my weigh up), whilst others have lost as much as 50 pounds. All report feeling MUCH better. It's pretty remarkable stuff.

I could go on an on. Happy to answer questions or point you to reference materials. Count me as a Low Carb believer. Best wishes on your journey.
Old 09-20-2018, 08:42 PM
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