I'm alive!!! Really!!!

I've been awol but I'm still here. Was discouraged for a little while (I think I get a touch of winter blues really) Gonna try to get back in the swing of things and spruce things up a bit. Focusing a lot on lower carbohydrate eating- it really is the only thing that's ever worked for me long term. Hooping again now that it's nice out, riding my bike to and from work when weather and time permit. Gained and lost 20 pounds all over again, lol!

Biggest difference this time around is that my guys are along for the ride. They need to get healthier too, and it's a LOT easier to cook low carb for a whole household than it is to cook low carb for one person and typical Standard American Diet (SAD, appropriately enoug) for everyone else.

Why do I choose low carb? Bearing in mind that whole books have been written about this dietary choice (I highly recommend Why We Get Fat, And What to Do About It by Gary Taubes, he gets into the nitty gritty and explains it all) for me it's this: It works. I loose weight, I have more energy, I have less anxiety, I don't spend half my day hungry, I don't feel deprived. My blood pressure is normal when it used to always be high. My heart palpitations have mostly gone the way of the buffalo (still get them around a certian time of the month sometimes due to iron deficiency anemia). I've done a lot of reading on the mechanics of what causes the body to store fat (insulin) and what causes excess insulin in the blood (large amounts of carbohydrates) and drawn the conclusion that if insulin causes fat storage and carbs cause insulin then perhaps the carbs have got to go. (Read that book I mentioned up above, it really is fantastic at explaining all of this)

And I've gotta say, establishing a low carb lifestyle has never been easier, there are so many more options than there were 10 or even 5 years ago. Things like almond and coconut flours are more readily available (low carb baking is awesome, who knew you could still have pancakes and waffles while cutting carbs down so low?) there are better and safer sweeteners available- stevia, xylitol, erythritol, sucralose (listed in order of preferrence. I like stevia best because it's a plant, xylitol and erythritol are some of the least intestinally distressing sugar alcohols and sucralose is a last resort because it affects the flora and fauna in your gut potentially making it harder to fight off illnesses) and tons of websites and products geared specifically towards people like me.

I'm enjoying and sticking to it so well this time.

It's late, so I'm going to sleep. I'll try to start posting more again!

Please if you have any questions about any of this ask away. I'm not any kind of expert, I'm a layperson for sure, but I can at least point you in the right direction.