I've just had a very interesting 3 months.
Went very low carb. Thought it was fantastic. Felt better than I have for years. Never hungry. No cravings. Always comfortable. Weight loss (not very fast).
But I did get bored.
Very bored. Same old food choices. Boooorrrrriiiinnnngg.
Then I upped my carbs again. A bit.
Didn't feel so well. BG rose.
And all those 'lovely' carbs I've been looking forward to?
They were sooo disappointing.
I found myself considering carbs v cheese, and choosing cheese. The bread ruined my appreciation of the cheese.
Sugar snap peas won out over potato. Better texture, flavour and crunch.
Berries won out over rice. Flavour, tang and all that lovely double cream!
The return-to-carb-experience (to my total surprise) has been bland, dissatisfying and... claggy. And I want to return to my flavourful, textured, sensual, rich LC foods. So I'm drifting lower carb again, with the addition of even more explosive taste sensation - spices, herbs and seasonings - and food is fun again. I will never be bored again.
Then add in the wonderful improvement of my blood glucose (100% normal levels, 24/7, no medication)
And I am delighted to say that this is a diet for life. And I'm so happy about it, I could dance.
I'm personally convinced that the reasons low carb weight loss diets are reported to 'fail' long term*, is that
- People don't go low enough carb to escape the desire (cravings) for carbs
- The studies are usually not done on diabetics, armed with blood glucose meters. Because, with the fantastic evidence the meter provides, it really is a no brainer.
* and please note
90%+ of weight loss diets fail (click here for a frivolous but sadly accurate explanation). It is the one consistent feature of all weight loss diets.
But low carbing is, at root, about making sustainable changes to daily eating.