Health

During World War II, there was not a lot of focus on dieting. People had other things to worry about, and there was rationing of many items, including food. There was less time to think about personal weight issues. Many women worked in factories and industry while the men were overseas. But when the war ended, things changed quickly. Large numbers of women left the workforce and returned to their homes, many as newly-wed housewives.

Last week I celebrated my two-year anniversary of low carbing. I have had many requests to share "my story" with my online support groups. In doing so, I received dozens of online and offline thank you notes from people for sharing not only the ups, but the downs, and all the mistakes, revelations, and lessons I have learned along the way.

It wasn't until I read The Diabetes Solution by Dr. Bernstein that I realized I had had hypoglycemia for years. Only my problem was I only got mean (and I mean a killing rage) when my blood sugar tanked. I never made the connection then, but I do now.

It's been nearly a year since we have checked in on Suzy to see how she is doing after reaching her goal and maintaining it. I recently caught up with her, still cheering others on at her favorite low carb newsgroup, and asked her to bring us up to date on how things are going.

Some of you, my dedicated fans, know that I recently lost my job, and that I'm pretty bitter about it. After all, when I asked why I was being let go, I was told that I obviously didn't like working there, and that I didn't really want to continue at that company.

SugarBane from St. Louis is 5’ 1" tall and 37 years old. She began her low carb journey weighing 225 pounds and wearing a size 28. By following the Atkins program SugarBane got down to 155 pounds and was wearing a size 12 prior to her first pregnancy and the birth of her son last summer. She is now pregnant with her second child, and is currently weighing in at 185 pounds and wearing a size 18. Her goal is to weigh 135 and be a size 12.

In order to make low carbing a lifestyle and not just a "diet," I've learned to get creative in the kitchen. This is how I stock up my Low-Carb kitchen.

Last time we continued our discussion of the history of diets and dieting by talking about the first low calorie diet plan, and about the beginnings of counting calories. We also looked at diets that were based on 'magic pairs' and on special food combinations said to promote weight loss because of some supposedly long-forgotten-but-now-rediscovered chemical connection between the two foods. These connections were said to somehow fool the body into absorbing less nutrients than the individual foods, eaten separately, would provide.

Everybody is familiar with word search games where you must find words hidden in vast columns of primarily random letters. The words can be written vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. In addition, the words can be written left to right or right to left. I hate those kinds of word games! Unfortunately, the nutritional analysis labels of manufactured food products are a lot like word searches.

Every now and then I get a success story letter that leaves me saying, "I can't improve on that." This is one of those cases. Here is a letter I received from Dee in Iowa about her and her husband Lee’s low carb success.

I have recently (like, last night) become aware that I have a serious forgiveness problem. I carry grudges forever. It's something I've always done. So my mother paraphrases to me in the midst of a mild emotional conflagration of yours truly, "You will be judged as you have judged others." And I said to her, "Do you really think I am any less hard on myself than I am on anybody else?"

I've been on low carb many times in my life, but when I started trying to lose weight in 1996, I finally stuck with it. I weighed 208 when I started. In December 1998 I got down to 137. I've been maintaining ever since then.