The Low-carb Life

While the low-carb fad rages on, I have no choice but to stay in a low-carb diet. For the past several years I’ve developed severe reactuve hypoglycemia (will save that long story for another day, but I assure you it’s serious), and the only way to control my blood sugars is by keeping to a low-carb diet. I guess I’m trendy in spite of all.

All foods are fats, carbohydrates, or proteins. A low-carb diet keeps the levels of sugars low because all carbos are metabolized as sugars; if you lower the amount of carbos you eat, you are eating less sugars. Most people get their largest intake of calories from starches, from foods that are heavy in carbos. Therefore, when one goes low-carb, one looses weight. There are lots of books and several sites showing the glycemic index of foods, and for a low-carb diet you consume the foods with the low index.

The fastest way to go on a low-carb diet is to

1. Avoid all foods that have sugar added.

2. Eat 3 servings of non-starchy vegetables at each meal.

3. Give up the junk food. Staying away from prepared foods in general is a good idea.

4. Instead of buying prepared salad dressings and dips, make your own.

I don’t tolerate any foods with added sugar, and the only juice I tolerate is V8 (the one without added sugar). I tolerate small amounts of certain fruits, and since I don’t like the taste of artificial sweeteners, I don’t eat sweets at all (except for Edy’s Triple-Chocolate Ice Cream), and luckily I never did like sweets much in the olden days. The reason I don’t feel deprived is that I eat a very great variety of foods:

1. Never eat the same thing for 2 days in a row: Monday chicken, Tuesday fish, etc.

2. Buy frozen green vegetables (which are probably fresher than at the produce section) already chopped and ready to cook.

3. Buy ready-made green salad greens, add pre-chopped mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, and black olives. Keep in a plastic container and add olive oil and vinegar only when eating it.

4. Buy pre0chopped cole slaw, add mayo, vinegar, and dill weed, and have it in the fridge ready to eat.

By then, when serving a meal, I’m ready to have a salad, cole slaw, and a steamed vegetable within 8 minutes, along with some pan-grilled meat/fish/chicken (chicken takes some 15 mins). The dinner plate looks like this:

• One half is taken up by vegetables
  

• One quarter is chicken, meat, fish, etc.
  

• Rice, potato, pasta, or any other starch are a 1/3 cup portion or smaller.

For dessert, a few raspberries with fresh cream, or some Edy’s Triple Chocolate, will complete the meal.

And that’s the basics of a low-carb “diet”.