Graaaaains...
Wednesday, July 18th, 2012 01:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chanaleh
So about this low-carb thing I mentioned in passing the other day.
Yeah. I started last week -- I was going to say Sunday night, when I had my 7-hour crazy bus ride, but since that was on the heels of fabulous waffles and cinnamon rolls from brunch, I suppose that really means it was Monday. So, just over a week now.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
justom was going to be away the rest of that week, through Thursday, and I felt like that was a good time to be experimenting (not the only possible time, but a good time).
Why do it? Curiosity, mostly. I've been reading up recently on metabolism, and in particular I am always interested in subverting the dominant paradigm. If I managed to lose a few pounds, that'd be all to the good (recap: I lost several pounds in the fall when I moved to NYC and was unemployed and walking miles a day for fun, then regained them in short order when I started working a desk job again and eating starchy school lunches portioned for middle schoolers). But I'm thinking of it more as a biochemistry experiment.
Without adopting any particular dogma, I've basically been going by the Primal guidelines: no grain products, no chemical crap, avoid refined sugars. Out of curiosity, though, I did start a food log yesterday to try to get some basic macronutrient analysis. (Amusingly, I discovered that I had a FitDay account already open... with exactly one entry, from 2002. About the same era as I started my LJ. Coincidence?) From the small 2-day sample I entered, I seems to be hovering around 100g carbs and ~1900 calories, which is right about within guidelines.
Anyway. So what have I noticed?
No, I don't expect to do this forever, but I feel like I should give it a solid couple of weeks before deciding anything further.
But right now I'm finishing a lunch consisting of a bed of lettuce (including beet and radish greens), a can of tuna, half a cucumber, and half an avocado -- dressed with sesame seeds and a little Bragg's Healthy Vinaigrette. What's not to love??
Yeah. I started last week -- I was going to say Sunday night, when I had my 7-hour crazy bus ride, but since that was on the heels of fabulous waffles and cinnamon rolls from brunch, I suppose that really means it was Monday. So, just over a week now.
justom was going to be away the rest of that week, through Thursday, and I felt like that was a good time to be experimenting (not the only possible time, but a good time).Why do it? Curiosity, mostly. I've been reading up recently on metabolism, and in particular I am always interested in subverting the dominant paradigm. If I managed to lose a few pounds, that'd be all to the good (recap: I lost several pounds in the fall when I moved to NYC and was unemployed and walking miles a day for fun, then regained them in short order when I started working a desk job again and eating starchy school lunches portioned for middle schoolers). But I'm thinking of it more as a biochemistry experiment.
Without adopting any particular dogma, I've basically been going by the Primal guidelines: no grain products, no chemical crap, avoid refined sugars. Out of curiosity, though, I did start a food log yesterday to try to get some basic macronutrient analysis. (Amusingly, I discovered that I had a FitDay account already open... with exactly one entry, from 2002. About the same era as I started my LJ. Coincidence?) From the small 2-day sample I entered, I seems to be hovering around 100g carbs and ~1900 calories, which is right about within guidelines.
Anyway. So what have I noticed?
- Very little "hungry", but a lot more "spacey" -- the kind that normally signals "low blood sugar", I suppose.
- Cravings? Really none to speak of. Even when ogling the oat-maple scones at the neighborhood coffeehouse last Sunday, it was more like "gee, I bet I'd like that" than the ARRGH MUST HAVE with which I am well acquainted. It's sort of like whole vast areas of the edible universe have fallen away into the Not-Food realm.
- More prominent "thirst" signals. This could of course also correlate to the ongoing 100 DEGREE HEAT, or higher salt consumption, or a lot of things.
- No observed change on the scale (I have a pretty crummy scale, frankly), but I do feel a little less bloated somehow, and like my clothes are a little looser.
- No noticeable uptick in energy levels as yet. In fact, I have been feeling a little more groggy than normal overall, and falling into bed earlier.
- Elevated mood in general. Again, could easily correlate with several other variables, but it's interesting.
No, I don't expect to do this forever, but I feel like I should give it a solid couple of weeks before deciding anything further.
But right now I'm finishing a lunch consisting of a bed of lettuce (including beet and radish greens), a can of tuna, half a cucumber, and half an avocado -- dressed with sesame seeds and a little Bragg's Healthy Vinaigrette. What's not to love??