Achilles Heel Thread

[Geila]

I've been away a bit but wanted to update on the low-carb thing. Let's see...

Thursday - good day, decent energy, started to feel like myself again
Friday - great day, high energy, felt refreshed and energized even after several hours of shopping (and that never happens), first day of having little interest in food. I'd say this is the first day where the benefits of the switch really became evident.
Sat/Sun - really good days, high energy, very little appetite but I made sure to eat decent meals because I've been busy and didn't want to have any energy crashes. Have houseguests and need to also have energy for that.

I've had very little in the way of typical muscles aches for this TOM. I feel as energetic as if I was consuming caffeine even though I'm not. I've been able to stay awake longer than normal without feeling tired at all. Very pronounced energy jump.

My meals have been mostly the same. I don't count carbs and I don't weigh. I typically eat:
breakfast - eggs, sausage, sauteed cabbage (which I love)
lunch/dinner - big salad with protein and full-fat dressing.
snack - herbal tea with splenda. a few bites of salami and olives as an appetizer before the salads.

I don't restrict how much veggies I have although I'm not eating any root veggies and my only higher carb veggies are cherry tomatoes and red cabbage. I've been using lots of black pepper, jalapeno, and a variety of dressings for interest.

When I first started I was having maybe 2-3 packets of splenda per day and I'm down to 1. I make a large mug of spicy cinnamon herbal tea and sip on that throughout the day when I want to have a taste of something sweet. The splenda satisfies the feeling without triggering cravings.

I am SO glad I did this. I feel so good. And happy. Not only is my energy elevated, but so is my mood.

[SteveinMN]

Geila, that's terrific! It's also the way it's supposed to work. I'm glad it's working out for you.

[Selah]

My Achilles heel? I have so many I must be some kind of spider...
Procrastination.
Stress eating in social situations.
Desire for gazingus pins of several varieties.
Selfishness, laziness, indifference to the suffering of others.

[Yppej]

Low carb is working for me also. My appetite is less and I have now lost 6 pounds. I have been scouting out new foods and one of my favorite is sheets of seaweed, a nice salty snack at only 10 calories per sheet.

[Geila]

Five years ago I was in the middle of an intense 6-wk math class. One day, I had a mango (which I'd eaten my whole life) and it set off a huge allergic reaction. My face exploded in huge, red, swollen hives. I looked like I'd been beat up pretty badly. The doctor claimed to have no solution for me and was convinced I had a poison ivy reaction. In reality, mango shares a chemical with the poison ivy plant. Anyway, the reaction lasted a whole week. After that, I avoided mangoes for years. This past year I started to take occasional bites of it and was fine. Then a few weeks ago I had a whole one and was perfectly fine.

So when nephew left, I celebrated by eating one of the large ripe mangoes we had in the house. They'd been on sale and I'd bought a bunch for dh. It was delicious. Well, that evening I had bad stomach upset and abdominal pain. And yesterday my face broke out in the same allergic reaction as five years ago, just not as severely. My theory is that I become allergic to it during stress.

Yesterday I also began to have strong carb cravings. My guess is that the combo of stress from the allergic reaction and the onset of SAD is responsible. My serotonin must be very low because if I try to eat regular low-carb food it doesn't taste good and I still feel hungry and cravings. Last night I decided to put low-carb on pause until this issue resolves itself. I've been pretty amazed at how good the carbs have been making me feel. Before the reaction, I had zero cravings for carbs, but now I can't seem to get enough of them. Interesting what stress does to our bodies.

So I'm going to post on here to attempt a deliberate pause on the low-carb without allowing it to devolve into a free fall.

[Geila]

Well, the deliberate pause turned into a bit of a free fall after all. I think the stress with dh is what tipped it over. Plus, the allergic rash lasted about a week.

Now I want to get things back on track. I see that it's been 10 days, and I was eating a lot of junk for a few of those so I'm going to start tracking my food again as I start reducing the carbs. Today my food intake has been mixed, but instead of beating myself up, I'm just going to make a daily effort to increase my intake of healthy foods and slowly reduce the junk.

9/20
breakfast - coffee with sugar and cream, cinnamon raisin bagel with butter
lunch - homemade soup: veggies with sausage
snack - iced oatmeal cookies with cinnamon tea

I've also gotten derailed on my physical fitness routine and want to get back into that. I'm trying to motivate myself to get to a cycling class tonight.