Traveling Again

This time, we are in Yellowstone National Park, with hardly any useful Internet connection. Hopefully, more on Monday.

The Trade Off

A lot of feathers were ruffled by Hope Warshaw's condemnation of the low carb diet. I wrote about it and so did a lot of other people. The article cut off comments and the editor of the online magazine in which it appeared, Nadia Al-Samarrie, wrote a follow-up article in an attempt to calm the storm. I won't comment further on the essence of that debate, but something in the follow-up article drew my attention:

"Personally, I have not been successful on a low-carb diet, and that's true of many other people with whom I am familiar. A low-carb diet is difficult to stick to."

Is a low carb diet difficult to stick to? Myself, I have no trouble sticking to the low-carb lifestyle, and even though my journey is only five months old, I feel a sense of commitment to low carbing that I never felt with other diets I have tried. I have freely admitted on this blog, for example, that I am a Weight Watchers failure.  But I do know people who cannot stick to the low-carb way of living, despite the many advantages of this way of eating. So I ask myself, why is the low-carb experience different for me? Do others fail at low carbing because they are so completely addicted to carbs? Is it because they cannot give up bread and sugar? Are their carb withdrawals too intense? Or is something else going on? I do not know the answer for other people, but I think I understand why I am committed to the low carb way of life.

I have type II diabetes. The trade off for me is being ravaged by complications associated with diabetes or following the low carb way of life. I can die ten to fifteen years earlier than I might otherwise; I can go blind, suffer amputations, go on dialysis, have wounds that won't heal, get Alzheimer's disease, experience heart disease, and spend a lot of money on drugs as the disease gets progressively worse... or I can follow a low carb way of life. In my mind, this is a no-brainer.

But there are other reasons, too. I have had an intellectual conversion to the low-carb way of life, thanks to the many books and articles I have read about it. My introduction came by reading Why we Get Fat and What to Do About It by Gary Taubes, but I have since read many other books and articles on the topic.

I have rediscovered tasty eating. My low-fat diet days are now a distant, bad memory. I experience a sense of fullness when I eat low carb meals that I never felt on Weight Watchers. Fat is my friend and I think that products like steak, bacon, butter, and cream really add spice and flavor to life.  I am able to fast now, which has greatly improved my spiritual life. I am sleeping much better and I am not snoring as much as I used to. And I just feel better in general, both physically and psychologically.

So, yes, for me the decision to go low carb was an easy one and I do not find it difficult to live.

Professional Ignorance about Type II Diabetes

There is an astonishingly bad article about how to treat type II diabetes in a publication called Diabetes Health titled Type II Diabetes: From Old Dogmas to New Realities. The author, a head-in-the-sand woman named Hope Warshaw, says that low carb diets don't help people with diabetes and that we should all follow the advice of the American Diabetes Association.

Or, as Tom Naughton of the Fathead Movie fame says, this article essentially says "Just give up and take your drugs, dangit!" Read Naughton's whole critique of this astoundingly stupid article. The ignorance of the professional medical community on type II diabetes just astounds me.

But the best part of this article are the 40+ comments, and almost all of them supports the low carb approach and offers many testimonials of the success rate of following low carb diets. Many express dismay at how utterly clueless the author is, given that she is an RD, a certified diabetes educator, and has a master's degree. Clearly, she is an example of what Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit.com calls "credentialed, not educated."

So why does the ADA promote a high carb diet, when high carb diets are the root problem for type II diabetics? I am not sure. But check out their corporate sponsor page: the ADA is sponsored by Coca Cola, Hershey's, Mars, Kellogs, General Mills, and Pepsi. Truly, a "Who's Who" of American high carb junk food.  Page referenced on July 6, 2011; corporate sponsors may change over time.

My type II diabetes has been reigned in since beginning the low carb journey. My HbA1c level is quite good, I am off insulin, I have lost a lot of weight, and my blood pressure is normal. All without following the advice of the ADA.

Misc. Thoughts, Studies, and Blog Posts

No updates this week, as I am traveling and away from home, where I weigh myself. However, I can feel my pants getting looser by the day, so I am confident I have lost weight. Below are some jumbled thoughts and ramblings from my surfing throughout the low carb blogosphere.

I have received two books in the mail from Amazon.com that I am currently reading: Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig and The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living by Stephen Phinney and Jeff Volek. I haven't had time to read them yet, but will report on them when I do. The first one, Nourishing Traditions, is actually a cookbook which explains the philosophy behind the Weston A. Price Foundation's view on achieving perfect health. As I have flipped through it, it looks very interesting and unlike other cookbooks I have referenced. The second book is a How To book, which explains the ins and outs of the low carb lifestyle. It is targeted towards health professionals.

In news from around the low carb blogosphere, Chris Kresser of the Healthy Skeptic has a new post on natural childbirth. My daughter has been educating me on natural childbirth (I've commented on the topic before), and I find it interesting that a man has written on the topic. His wife makes several comments about the topic (e.g., here, here, and here) in the comments section and he is fully supportive of the procedure. In fact, it seems logical, given his focus on natural health and the paleo diet.

Denise Minger of the Raw Foods SOS blog tweeted about a study showing a link between antidepressant drugs (e.g., Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Celexa) and the occurrence of autism. Caution: this is an observational study which shows correlation, not causation. Nevertheless, it is an interesting hypothesis that warrants further study.

Tom Naughton of the Fathead blog writes that most vegetarians become ex-vegetarians. He reviews a news article on the subject and makes some interesting conclusions. People who chose vegetarianism for ethical reasons are now eating meat (prepared in an ethical manner, e.g., grass fed, not feedlot meat). Poor health from the vegetarian diet is the number one reason people go back to eating meat.

A recent rodent study showed that a low carb diet helps prevent weight gain, cancer development and progression, and tumor growth.

Another study shows that fake fat (like Olestra) causes more weight gain than real fat. It was fun watching the authors spin the results of this study!

Lunch is the Hardest Meal

For me, eating low carb has been quite easy. Once I made the decision to go low carb, I have not looked back, especially since my blood glucose levels have dramatically improved.

However, that does not mean it is easy. For me, the hardest meal of the day is lunch. I have always hated packing my lunch and that is still true today. Now, in addition to having to pack lunch, I also have to plan ahead, to make sure there is something I can take to eat. Leftovers work out the best, but if there are no leftovers, I will usually take tuna fish or something like that. I often eat hard boiled eggs, cheese, almonds, and some veggies, such as broccoli florets as well. Eating out is no longer much of an option, as all the places to eat near where I work are not low carb friendly.

When traveling abroad, lunch is much tougher. I will often take ham and cheese for lunch, but I really get tired of that after a while. However, it us usually available on the breakfast bar in the hotel, so that is what I take. When traveling domestically, especially with our RV, lunch is much easier, as I can prepare what I eat.

My preferred way of dealing with lunch is to be at home, in the kitchen, when I can cook and eat something fresh. Unfortunately, having a day job makes this tough, except for the weekends. So I resign myself to packing a lunch.

Another Reason Why Low Carb Works

Yesterday, I attended the baptism of my 8-year-old nephew and afterward, there was a big family get together. With food. Lots of food, and almost all of it pure "carbage." So I ate what I could (a few strawberries and the roast beef and cheese innards from a croissant sandwich plus some other green veggies) and left the feeding trough satisfied.

But I noticed that everyone kept going back to the chips, potato salad, cookies, sandwiches, watermelon, soda pop, etc., while I abstained. I wasn't suffering and felt quite full, actually, with what I ate. I realized that by nourishing my body with nutrient dense calories, my appetite was sated and I probably consumed a lot fewer calories than most people there. A lot fewer calories. Feeling full and then spontaneously consuming fewer calories is one of the reasons people lose weight on low carb diets. I saw a vivid example of that principle in action yesterday.

I've Been Traveling Again

I've been traveling again, this time for a family vacation. (The trip to Europe was for my job). So I haven't been able to post for the last couple of days. This time, we are traveling across America with an RV. The really good thing about this is that we can control what we eat a whole lot better than when I was eating out three times per day while traveling across Europe. This makes low carbing a lot easier, as we have a stove, oven, refrigerator, and everything we need for healthy eating.