Nearly two months have passed since my previous Progress Report on September 5, so it's time for another update. During September/ October, I've continued losing weight despite a stall that lasted a few weeks. My current weight of just under 211 pounds represents a four-and-a-half pound loss since early September. My total loss since I began eating low-carb in March 2011 is 49 pounds -- 18.8% of my starting weight. My waist-line continues to shrink. The size-40 pants I bought around Labor Day … [Read more...]
What comes first? The attitude or the weight?
Seven months ago, food played a different role in my life than it does now. I used to see food as a way to relieve stress, to reward myself for a job done, or to compensate myself for a bad day. Chips were an appropriate side dish for any trouble. Cookies were an almost universal cure. The ultimate weapon against depression was a chocolate milkshake. In a damp, drizzly November of the soul, Melville's Ishmael took to sea. I took to the supermarket, or McDonald's. My destination was less … [Read more...]
Low-carb eating at parties and events
Eating low-carb at parties and events can be a challenge. For example, a couple days ago, I was talking with a colleague about the menu for the annual meeting of an organization we both belong to. The plan, he told me, is Italian, which basically means pasta, bread and a salad. There will be a pasta dish with meat and a pasta dish without meat. I do not think there will be a pasta dish without carbohydrates. In the morning, there will be coffee, juice, ice water and pastries. … [Read more...]
Fat governors, fat taxes, and me
I've had trouble deciding on the topic for this blog post. This is a sure sign that someone is taking his blogging too seriously. When I started out, any post with the words "low carb" in it was good enough. Good enough for me, anyway, if not my readers. But in the early days, I didn't have any readers. (The way this post is going, that could come to pass again.) Enough stalling. Let's get down to picking a topic. What has been the big food, diet, weight or nutrition news of the last few … [Read more...]
Chia: yet another low-carb seed
The stereotypical low-carb diet is heavy on meat, eggs, butter and cream. To be sure, I've eaten my share of such animal-based fare, but the most notable newcomers to my diet have been plant-based foods such as nuts and seeds. I've always eaten peanuts (which technically are not a nut), pistachios and the occasional cashew. But on my low-carb diet, I've become a big fan of almonds, walnuts, sunflower kernels and flax seed meal. Now I have added chia seeds, the Aztec staple. … [Read more...]
McGovern defeats Nixon!
As we gear up to elect a U.S. president next year, I'm thinking about the first presidential contest in which I took part. I had a small part. I voted. It was 1972, George McGovern vs. Richard Nixon. The fate -- and as it turned out, the weight -- of the nation hung in the balance. Nixon won in an epic landslide. He was the incumbent, and viewed as a pragmatic centrist, if oily. McGovern was viewed as a left-wing pacifist weenie -- seldom a winning image in American national … [Read more...]
Leveling off is aggravating
Sooner or later, it seems to happen to every dieter. After a period of steady, or even spectacular, weight loss, the downward trend halts. You have landed on a plateau. Weeks go by, and the needle on the scale refuses to budge. This appears to be my situation. Back on August 27, I weighed 216.8 pounds. Yesterday, September 17, I weighed 215.6 pounds -- up a few tenths from the previous week. Granted, it isn't much of a plateau -- yet. I've read of others who have been stuck at a weight … [Read more...]
Eating ancient wheat
I fell off the wagon one night, landing mouth-first in a small serving of pasta with meat sauce. Actually, I didn't fall off so much as hop off briefly. It was a calculated act, not a moment of weakness. My wife and I decided to try some fusilli (corkscrew pasta) made with einkorn wheat (a variety now considered a relic, first having been cultivated 12,000 years ago). I had read about this ancient wheat in reviews of Wheat Belly, a new book by Dr. William Davis. (For instance, see the reviews … [Read more...]
Progress Report 9-5-11: Six months on a low-carb diet
After half-a-year eating the low-carb way, I have good news to report on my weight and other health factors. Last Friday I had my annual physical exam. The doctor's scale confirmed that I was 44 pounds lighter than at my physical a year ago, and 47 pounds lighter than my all-time highest recorded weight. My doctor characterized my blood lipid numbers as "the best ever." "I'd prescribe a lot fewer meds if my patients just lost weight like this," he said. He noted that my Body-Mass Index a … [Read more...]
Low-carb omnivores of the world, unite!
Over the months that I've been eating a low-carb diet, my views on what that diet is have evolved considerably. First, at the start, I thought my goal was simply to lose weight, and that any improvements in my health would be the result of eliminating the beach ball of blubber that was my middle. Second, I thought that eating a low-carbohydrate diet meant eating lots of meat relative to other kinds of foods. In other words, being more carnivore than omnivore. Now I see better health as my … [Read more...]
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