Our Low Carb Lifestyle

We've been eating a low carbohydrate diet for about 4 months. Matt has lost 30 pounds. I have lost zero. Why have I lost no pounds? I have no idea, and honestly I feel a little pissed about it. I've got 15 pounds of weight left from my last pregnancy (the baby is 12 months old), but for whatever reason my body wants to hang onto those pounds. But really it's OK, because I believe eating low carb has been a good choice for our sustained health-- it's a lifestyle now, not just a diet.

It all started years ago when we read The Schwarzbein Principle: The Truth About Losing Weight, Being Healthy, and Feeling Younger, a book that changed the way we think about nutrition. Dr. Schwarzbein recommends a balanced diet of whole, unprocessed foods, including plenty of fat (including saturated fat), protein, and non-starchy vegetables, with a lower intake of carbohydrates. She goes into a lot of detail, in a very simple and easy to understand way, about the way the body metabolizes food and, in my ultra-basic summary, the factors that cause us to be healthy or not healthy. Since reading that book we've done well at reducing our sugar intake while eating whole foods in balanced meals.

The next most influential nutrition book that has come into my life is Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats, which is not low carb but which totally deepened my understanding of what it means to eat a nutrient-dense, nourishing diet of unadulterated, high quality food. Since becoming involved with this book and the movement behind it, I've become more skilled at preparing my food from scratch, finding good food sources, eating super-foods, and using traditional methods of food preparation.

Then, most recently, I read and participated in a discussion group about Life Without Bread: How a Low-Carbohydrate Diet Can Save Your Life, a book that outlines the health benefits of low carb nutrition. The authors suggest that lowering carbohydrate intake can help prevent and cure a myriad of health problems, as well as cause weight loss.

Now here we are, eating protein, fat, vegetables, fermented foods and drinks (sauerkraut, kefir, and kombucha), and a small amount of fruit. All the food is as local and high quality as I can find right now. We have eliminated sugar, flour, and grains. I think after awhile I'll add small amounts of grain back in, but in much smaller amounts than what we were eating before. This diet is certainly more expensive and gives us fewer leftovers, but it also gives us the opportunity to be more creative with our food selection, pay close attention to our bodies, eat more nutrient-dense foods, eat less, heal our metabolism, and hopefully maintain optimal health.

What are your favorite nutrition books? Are you in favor of or against the low carb perspective?

Low-Carb Chocolate Cake
2 cups flax meal
1 cup almond meal
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
5 eggs
1/3 cup oil
3 Tbsp sour cream
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
xylitol and/or stevia to taste

Mix all ingredients together and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve with homemade ice cream or whipped cream.


Related posts/links:
Fit Day- online weight loss journal
The Schwarzbein Principle website
Weston A Price Foundation- the organization behind Nourishing Traditions
Life Without Bread Book Review
Coconut Oil: Our Favorite Snack
Health Checklist