It has now been over four years since we started our low carb (later went straight-up Keto) journey. Both of us were over 65 when we started. By all accounts–and statistics–we should have had a horribly hard time succeeding at something this “radical” and this new to us at our age. But truthfully, we had already tried everything else. And I do mean EVERYTHING else. Richard Simmons, Susan Powter’s “Stop the Insanity,” Weight Watchers (I am a bona fide Lifetime Member since I tried it numerous times and earned that distinction one of those times before it stopped working and all the weight came back!), Nutri-System, The Daily Plate, DASH Diet, Weigh Down Diet, and on and on and on it went.
The one thing that all of these “diets” did, and which we later learned was the reason they all failed for us was–they continued to promote carbs as an “essential” part of the human diet. We counted calories. We counted fats. We counted steps. We counted exercise. But the carbs were always there to sabotage any progress we temporarily made. And would inevitably end up putting any weight back on–AND MORE!
If you read some of our previous posts, you will see that after doing a lot of prayerful research, hubby announced in March, 2018, following my retirement in January, that he was going to start on the “Atkins Diet” (the forerunner of what we now know as Keto). So I said I would be right there with him because I was back up to 55 lbs. overweight myself. This time we HAD to make it work. And we felt this was something we had been “led” to do by God and we wanted to make a 100% commitment that we would follow His leading and never look back.
Since we both knew we were making a lifetime commitment, and would never go back, we knew we had some bridges that needed burned to the ground so we would just never even have a chance to go back there again. That involved getting rid of every single carb-laden food in our entire house. The unopened foods were given away. The opened ones were thrown away. BRIDGE BURNED.
We set a date–Monday, March 12–to begin. I had already printed out my grocery lists and gone shopping to replenish my pantry and cabinets with low-carb foods and ingredients to follow the first week’s meal plan. On Saturday night before that Monday morning beginning, hubby said he wanted to have a “last donut.” He was always the sweet-lover (my weakness was salty high-carb foods and high fructose fruit, but I also did love a donut). So we went to Dunkin’ Donuts and picked out A WHOLE DOZEN of our favorites with the intention of doing away with them before Monday morning.
Well, it wasn’t hard. The box was well and truly EMPTY by Sunday night, and we even let our dog Watson lick the sugar left in the bottom of the box. It was a dirty job, but he was more than willing to do it. THAT WAS THE LAST BRIDGE BURNED.
Because we knew we would never go back to carb land. Ever. We had too much at stake health-wise to let carbs back in to do their damage.
Isn’t that a bit too dramatic? To make a commitment to never have “cheat days” where we load up on what had kept us bound for so long? Not for us. We could smell freedom in the air as those bridges were burning behind us, and we knew a lifetime commitment was what would be needed for US to reach our goals.
And yes, we indeed did become free. Because it worked. Like nothing else ever had–we had finally learned what the human body truly needed, and what would do–and had done–the most damage to our bodies for literally decades.
Now, some folks may be able to eat more carbs and not experience the life-changing, and life-endangering health issues we had. And for them, that is a personal choice they can make, but they are blessed. They are also VERY rare. Most people are going to struggle with a lot of health issues when eating the high-carb diet that is the prevalent way of eating today, especially in America. Make no mistake: Carbohydrates are addictive. Just like certain drugs. It may take some steely resolve and some BRIDGE BURNING to leave carbs behind. But it can be done, and honestly, it is the easiest thing we have ever done–because it worked. And still works. And IT’S TASTY and a very FULFILLING way to eat.
Donuts don’t even tempt us any more. Seriously. We can eat at the same table with someone who may be scarfing down cake, pie, chips, donuts, candy, potatoes, bread, you name it, and we don’t even feel tempted any more. Because you know what? Being healthy feels BETTER than how those foods would taste.