Killing the Diet Coke Demon

Well, as promised (to myself) tomorrow, February 1st, starts my month-long induction challenge.  I have some left-over Low-Carb Orange Chicken that we had for dinner tonight (thanks Kent, for that recipe – AMAZING) and I’ve cooked 2 eggs in butter for breakfast.  I also baked some bacon so may throw a slice or two of that in my cooler too.  That much fat and protein will more than satisfy my hunger, but I will still *want* to eat more, and other things.  One problem with working outside the home is that the environment is not yours to control.  I work in an office building where food is abundant!  Many of my co-workers are doing Weight Watchers but that doesn’t really change the status quo, which is bagels and muffins and cookies and whatever someone concocts in their kitchen that they think is worth sharing.  It’s a friendly bunch, no question, but sometimes I just don’t want to be tempted.

I think the biggest challenge tomorrow (and everyday for the next 28 days) will be the lack of diet Coke.  I am not kidding about this.  I have tried to give it up on several occasions only to cave 4-5 days into it.  Everyday I stop at Cumberland Farms for my “Chill Zone” 32 oz diet Coke.  I drink a ton of water all day…yet that AM diet Coke…..I don’t know.

On my commute this AM I was listening to a podcast (as usual), I think it was Hank’s My Low-Carb Journey with the founders of the Whole9Life, who mentioned that diet soda could cause an insulin response even though it is calorically of no value.  That reinforces my resolve to give it up, but I know this will be my biggest challenge, at least initially.

So cross your fingers for me and stay tuned to see how I make out!  I’d love to see a nice drop in the scale and to conquer the diet Coke demon!!

Induction Self-Challenge

A couple of weeks have gone by since my last post, and in that time I’ve been s-l-o-w-l-e-y reading Gary Taubes’ Why We Get Fat And What To Do About It.  Last night I got to the depressing part.  Gary said, in chapter entitled, “Moderation or Renounce Them Entirely?  Part I”:

“…if you’re not actively losing fat and yet want to be leaner still, the only viable option (short of surgery or the prospect that the pharmaceutical industry will come through with a safe and effective anti-obesity pill) is to eat still fewer carbohydrates, identify and avoid other foods that might stimulate significant insulin secretion – diet sodas, dairy products (cream, for instance), coffee and nuts, among others – and have more patience.”  (emphasis mine)

Gary’s point in this chapter and Part II which followed, as I understood it, is that if you’ve done so much damage to your metabolism as a result of years of abusing your body with sugar and flour, AND you have other hormonal influences at work in your body (not that a 44-year old woman would, ahem!) that it may not be possible to get the hot bod that you might be striving for.  However, in my case, I know I have not given it the old college-try!

Have I been “low-carbing it?”  Yes.  My carb load is about 40-80 net carbs per day which is significantly lower than those that eat a standard American diet (SAD).   And my weight has been steady.  Clearly, this would be a pretty good maintenance level for me.  However, I don’t want to maintain!  I want (need) to lose a good 20 pounds if not 30 to be anywhere close to where I want to be and that’s not going to happen if I don’t apply what I know – apply what I believe.

So, my challenge to self, in an effort to kick-start this process, is to go full-on Induction for the month of February (which is thankfully a short month).   In all honesty, I have not done induction.  I started with about a 30-40 carb level and this was the impetus for my 20 pound loss.  But I have months of evidence that it’s not going to get moving until I take it lower.   Goodbye Flat Out wraps.  Goodbye roasted sweet potatoes.  Goodbye diet Coke.  That one’s going to hurt!

So, I may be doing the ole’ Jimmy Moore plan of eggs and beef for a few weeks but if that’s the way it has to be, so be it.  Let’s see what happens!!

Sweet Tooth

My sweet tooth has been the downfall of every diet I’ve ever been on.  When I was doing the low-fat thing, or Weight Watchers, eating sweet was allowed as long as it was low-fat sweet and there were plenty of options there!  LF chocolate pudding comes to mind (and who couldn’t eat about 4 of those little cups?), 100-calorie packs of cookies, Snackwell’s cookies, and even low-fat brownies.  All of these were “allowed” foods on a low-fat plan but for me, they sent me on a death-spiral into Sugarville each and every time – so that all of my calories were spent on sugar and I would feel like crap.  Crap with no energy, to be more specific. Crap in a sugar-coma!

So now I’m on the low-carb road and am finding that I still crave sweet stuff.  Having been on every side of low-carb in the 7 months that I’ve been on this plan, I now find myself unsure of which way to go.  For a while I did Paleo (October, 2010) where there was no dairy, and the sweetest thing I got to eat was sweet potato & peppers.  And that’s not sweet enough, in my book!  I have eaten Atkin’s bars, artificially sweetened cheese-cake-like desserts, sweetened vanilla ricotta, and Breyer’s Low-Carb ice cream and bars.  I start every morning with a diet Coke and sometimes add some heavy cream into a diet root beer for dessert.  I eat Chocoperfection bars daily, and when I don’t have those, I search out very low-carb, very dark chocolate.

What I struggle with is the question of purity.  Is it better to be low-carb at all costs, artificial sweeteners & all – or is it better to avoid sweets at all costs, stick to “real” food?  And is the diet Coke helping or hurting?  I went off it for 7 days and then went back.  That stuff is like a drug to me.  Sugar is like a drug to me.

I’ll continue to ponder this question for a while, I’m sure.  Stay tuned.

Time for a root beer “float”.

Amy’s Blackberry Style Giveaway

My good friend, and former Paleo co-experimenter, Amy over at superhealthykids.com is giving away 2 Blackberry Style phones from the Sprint network.  She is CONNECTED!  Go on over to check out her site and good luck!

Horrible Start

So much for my commitment to myself to blog twice weekly.  I’m already behind! 

I’ve had the worst start to low-carbing.  I’m embarrassed to admit it.  I have had days that started out great, and made it all the way though dinner only to find myself shoving dark chocolate in my mouth and ruining my best efforts!  I’ve had days that I couldn’t even get past breakfast without carbs, and the day going from bad to worse.  My weight is stagnant, for which I should be grateful.  I’m not gaining at least.

I don’t know what my problem is.  I’ve done this before.  I’m certainly off the sugar-high of the holidays.  But I find myself with one foot in each canoe – and that’s a recipe for disaster!  Add a stress component – this week it was a foot of snow, the full septic, and the blow-out of the pump in my washing machine.  These do not help me focus.

Note to self – this is a lifestyle and not a diet.  Quit beating yourself up and do the best you can (which is better than last week!!) and keep moving forward.

Back in the Low-Carb Saddle for 2011

Golly, I’ve been away from the ol’ blog for quite a while now.  And in that time, my food-journey has been colorful.  Let me recap:

• Post-Paleo (ended October 31, 2010) – once this ended, I attempted to stay low-carb but went off the rails more than once (per day!)


• Thanksgiving 2010 – took a day for all things I love:  Mashed potato, pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce, etc.  Once the pie was gone (and it went down the hatch!), I was pretty back on track.


• December 4, 2010 – Joined our Weight Watchers at work group.  WHAT?  I know!  I don’t know what I was thinking.  I’d heard about WW changing their plan and thought I could do it.  I was encouraged by my therapist to take a more “balanced” approach, since I have a tendency to obsess over the low-carb ideals…


• December 18, 2010 – lost 2.2 pounds on WW, and then went COMPLETELY OFF THE RAILS which lasted until last night.  I baked, I ate, I baked some more, I had pasta, potatoes, chocolate, white chocolate, peppermint bark, popcorn…did I mention what a good baker I am?  I’m exquisite!  But might I mention that, to me, sugar is a drug.  The more I have, the more I want, the less real food I care about eating.

So that’s my story in a nutshell.  It’s the story of my life, really, condensed into a 6 week snapshot.  While I appreciate my therapist’s view that I am a bit OCD in the diet realm, the fact of the matter is, for me, that I cannot eat a little bit of carbs!  At least not the grain variety.  Once I get on bread and baked goods (sugary or not), it’s all over.  Today I feel bloated, my tummy is round and hard, my jeans are tight.  I will have to get on the scale tomorrow and whether it is up or the same, the fact remains that I must be low-carb.

Of course, I’ve paid my “dues” to WW and will continue to join with my co-workers each Tuesday night for the next 10 weeks.  I will not be counting my Points Plus, however, I will be counting carbs.  I want to support my co-workers and cheer them on, even though I know that they are on a failing path (not my opinion, this is scientifically proven fact).

I have been on vacation this week, and have spent some of my time catching up on some reading and watching that I’ve fallen behind on, like I have been watching my YouTube friends, I have watched Tom Naughton’s Fat Head movie (thankfully, it is now on Hulu.com), I encourage you to watch it!  I was gifted a BEAUTIFUL Nook Color by my loving husband this Christmas and the first book I purchased with it is Why We Get Fat, and What To Do About It by Gary Taubes.  I am really enjoying that book.  I keep trying to picture my arteries becoming inflamed when I ingest carbs….trying to remember what I believe to be true.  It’s not easy with that sugar calling me from the kitchen!

I know I complain about this journey more than I should.  I want to take a reflective moment and pat myself on the back for the 20 pounds lost in 2010.  I was reading Gary Taubes last night when I got into bed and before turning out the light, I went to the kitchen and tossed a pound of truffles, a half pound of white chocolate Bliss candies, and some M&M’s.  Time to make 2011 the last year that I resolve to lose weight!  My pre-resolution for 2012 is to keep off all of the weight that I will lose this year! 

Won’t you join with me?

Happy New Year all!

Back with Final Thoughts from the 30 Day Paleo Plan with Amy

Well Amy, it’s been fun! Thanks for being a sport and taking this ride with me! And congrats on your 2 pounds! Here are my final thoughts (for now). I also lost 2 pounds but then gained back a half leaving me with a net loss of 1.5 pounds for the month. That was discouraging. But that was also with little exercise other than dog walking and less than optimal health for the month and mega (job) stress. I’ll take the loss…I just hoped for more.

I spent a lot of time in my head on Saturday wondering about good food and bad food and the realities of continuing long term with so few carbs. It’s hard for me to demonize fruits and veggies and potatoes. Oh, I love potatoes.

I came away from that talk with myself with an appreciation for what I have learned in the past 7 or 8 months of blog/book-reading & podcast listening. I no longer look at soy as a health food. I know why Crisco is bad for you and butter is good. I know that food closer to how God made it is best for us, and that processed foods should not be our norm.

I’d like to continue to lose weight in November, though I know it will be a small and slow loss, as per my usual. I’d like to maintain my loss in December so that I don’t end up losing ground before resolution-making time. I’d like to eat real food keeping an eye on the carbohydrate intake, but not being dogmatic about it. If I eat something sweet and delicious, I would like it to be something that my great-grandmother would have baked in her kitchen, or picked from her orchard (if she had an orchard!). I would like to continue to spend the extra money to ensure that my meat & poultry are grass-fed/free range or at least hormone and antibiotic free. I’m going to try to eat 3 meals per day and cut back on the snacks, and really, really work on my sleep.

Thanks again to all of our readers (do we have readers??) for following along and as a final thought, I’d like to encourage others to try this – you never know what you might learn about yourself along the way!