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.

Intermittent Fasting

My daughter who is visiting with us this extended weekend commented on my post in which I mentioned intermittent fasting.  She basically told me, "That's the way I eat."  I've observed her during this visit and she is correct.  She goes long hours between meals.  She ate dinner last night (we finished about 7:00 p.m.) and didn't eat again until about 2:00 p.m. today, some 19 hours later.  She has also been a big fan of bacon and cheese, and she is naturally slender.

My experience fasting this past Sunday was very instructive.  It was not the tortured ordeal I remember fasting to be and I was quite enthusiastic after the experience.  Apparently, ketosis is a great way to experience fasting.  Thank you low carb diet!  For the record, I plan on fasting once a month as my religion prescribes, plus perhaps an occasional fast when someone is in need.  But I am now looking forward to it.  I also realized that I can probably skip a meal now and then without problem.  For example, when I am traveling and there isn't really anything I can eat in the morning at the hotel. This will be the case in Paris this summer.

Here are some other interesting articles and blog posts about intermittent fasting.

• This empirical article looks at the results of "alternative day fasting."  Fast every other day, eat what you like on the days you eat.  Just read the abstract and summary.
• Is intermittent fasting healthy?  This is a blog post from the Primal Blueprint site, a blog devoted to eating like our primal ancestors.
• Michael R. Eades, M.D. has a lot to say about intermittent fasting.
• So does the guy who made the Fathead movie.

Weekly Update

Wow, I lost 3.6 pounds this past week, for a new total loss of 24.2 pounds in eight weeks, or about three pounds per week on average.  Follow my complete weight loss by viewing this chart.

Based on some things I read over the weekend, I am also changing how I am treating my diabetes.  While I still hope to eventually normalize my blood sugars with diet and exercise alone, I have also started using a low dose of basal insulin again, to keep my fasting blood sugar reading down.  I had purchased quite a bit of the insulin, before I gave it up a few weeks ago, but now I will at least use some of it.  But instead of the 26 units a day I had been injecting, I am now doing 3 to 5 units.  And it is working.  My fasting blood sugars have come down quite a bit. Though since the insulin pens have 300 units and I will barely be using half of that before they expire, I will be throwing about half of the insulin away each month (once you start using it, you have to use it all or throw it away within 28 days).

And as soon as I am finished with the Janumet I am taking, I will contact my physician and switch to Metformin RX, an extended release version of Metformin.  According to what I learned, Janumet is a combination of Januvia and Metformin, but the Januvia portion has some unpleasant side effects.  Plus, Metformin RX will cost about $4 per month, whereas Janumet costs about $5 per pill, if you don't have insurance.  Even with insurance, it is about $65 for 60 pills.  Moral of the story: don't just pop pills your doctor prescribes, do some research.

I also noticed that fasting yesterday had a quite positive affect on my blood sugar readings.

The Joy of Fasting

Last month, I fasted one meal on fast Sunday, and it was remarkably easy.  Today, I did two meals.  After dinner last night, I started the fast and never looked back.  It was remarkably easy, without by body sending me distress signals all day long.  I could feel I was hungry, but it wasn't painful, the way it used to be.  To recap, when I was gorging on carbs, most of the fuel was turned into fat and not used for energy, which is why heavy people eat a lot, and often.  Since they eat carbs, they have to graze all day long like herbivores.  They are literally starving at the cellular level.  When you fast and are already starving at the cellular level, it becomes very unpleasant.

Restoring my ability to fast is another unexpected plus of the low carb diet.  I was able to feel the Spirit much more intensely today and, combined with the visit of my oldest daughter, made today a very enjoyable Sunday.

More Interesting Research Articles

Leptin is the hormone that is released in your body to tell you that you are full, and don't need to eat anymore.  However, in obese people, leptin can be be overridden by the pleasure center in the brain, and this condition is called leptin resistance.  Most obese people have high levels of leptin in their systems, but this is overridden by the pleasure center in the brain, and they don't feel full.  Now a study in the British Journal of Nutrition shows that a high fat, high sugar diet directly leads to leptin resistance.  The authors even use the word "cause" to describe this relationship.  Further, when a high fat, no sugar diet is introduced, within three days, leptin resistance was reversed.  They identify high fructose corn syrup as a major contributor to leptin resistance.

Another study found that routine, periodic fasting is good for your heart and your health.  Conducted by Intermountain Health Care and funded by the "Deseret Foundation," you know there are Mormons at the heart of this study, scientifically legitimizing the monthly fast.  Still, I find it interesting.  Since being diagnosed as a diabetic in 2002, I have had an extremely hard time with the monthly fast, giving it up altogether some time around 2003.  I felt shaky, weak, and generally awful during the fast.  I chalked this feeling up to being diabetic, but looking back on it now, I realize it was because I was "starving" at the cellular level, since most of my carbohydrate intake was being stored as fat and not used as fuel. Adding fasting on top of cellular starvation was extremely unpleasant.  Last month, however, I decided to try to fast again, and it was surprisingly easy, especially compared to how lousy fasting made me feel until I switched to a low carb regime.  Fast Sunday is again this coming Sunday and I am actively looking forward to the opportunity to fast again.

The paleo nutrition web sites are all about something they call "intermittent fasting," since this is what our hunter/gatherer ancestors had to do on a regular basis, when they couldn't kill food.  Some suggest they didn't eat all that regularly, and when they killed something, they gorged on it, but may have eaten two days out of three, and perhaps only once or twice a day on the days they did eat.  Hence, the interest in intermittent fasting.

All of these insights in this post today come from the remarkable Michael R. Eades, M.D., whose blog and twitter page are amazing sources of information.