Reconciling with the Reality of Owning a Very Low Carb Body

The holiday season really threw my weight loss for a loop. I made way too many allowances for technically primal stuff - carby stuff - that shouldn't be a part of my diet as long as I'm working on losing weight (honey comes to mind). The proof is in the pudding - this past week I returned to very low carb (also known as VLC - less than 20 or 30 grams per day) and suddenly that old feeling returned: I felt back in control. My appetite wasn't in the driver's seat. I wasn't irritable. I had steady energy throughout the day. It was wonderful! And by yesterday morning I weighed 6 pounds less than the beginning of the week (some is probably water weight, but even losing the water weight makes your pants fit better, amirite?).

Eating primal (aka lacto-paleo) is not necessarily low carb. There are plenty of primal and paleo folks who eat moderate carb or (for very active people) high carb real foods as a regular part of their diet and do splendidly. That said, I've been reading a lot more about fructose being obesogenic. While the verdict's still out for me, this much I know: when I avoid fruit (and honey, which has fructose), the weight falls off. When fruit and honey are a big part of my daily meals, I stall or gain. The occasional nonfructose carby food - starchy tubers like sweet potatoes or potatoes, for example - won't derail me as much.

It's hard for me to make peace with this, and I think it will be an ongoing process. After all, in our culture fruit is widely seen as an exceedingly healthy and responsible - nay! - integral part of a weight loss program. But refined carbs or natural carbs, my body just doesn't like carbs! And when they get to be a big enough part of my diet, they make me gain weight and activate a sweet tooth addiction that is hard for me to shake.

So I'm back at blunting my carb cravings with VLC foods and have eliminated honey and very much restricted fruit for now. Eggs, nitrate free bacon, macadamia nuts, Kerrygold butter, heavy cream, brussels sprouts, carrots dipped in guacamole, Kerrygold cheeses, coconut milk, coconut oil, and so on. Doing it this way, I lose weight, and eventually things that weren't sweet before (like those carrots) suddenly take on a wonderfully sweet taste.