Carbohydrate Addicts Lifespan Program…

My hubby had an operation to fix a detached retina just over a month ago, so it has been a rough journey for him. I have spent the time with him so no writing, just a lot of thinking. He is still not back at work and will be here again on Wednesday. Life changes somewhat when he is here as a semi-patient, so I need to make a routine that will accommodate that, and carry on merrily with food trials and writing…and painting.

And so I am.

I have been reading the Carbohydrate Addicts Diet and The Carbohydrate Addicts Lifespan Program by the Doctors R Heller. I got so excited I thought I would pop! Reward Meals!!! Really? How many of us low carbers are never going to have another Creme Brulee? Or a real pizza? Or mother’s best Angel Cake? I honestly thought I could abstain and be totally committed to everything Low Carb when I started Atkins a decade or more ago. Of course I fell off that wagon and I have been crawling around looking for my way ever since. Rebellion, deprivation, anxiety, stress…call it what you will, it happens. And it is not just the weak who fall – at some point it is all of us, for many reasons.

So why did I get excited?

At the end of a seriously low carb day, there is a Reward Meal, divided evenly into three – protein/low carb veg/anything – preceded by two cups of salad. The rule is to eat that meal within one hour, precisely. (It has to do with insulin release and timing.) My high carb portion of the meal tonight was a glass of red wine and some aubergine. I would have had more wine but did not finish within the hour so I poured it back into the bottle for tomorrow! (Such control!:) The aubergine dish was so rich that I could not finish it all. I am full.

The timing of one hour is an interesting bit that reins in the hunger-horse. Watching the time carefully, I waited until the meal was cooked to open the wine and then start the hour. That brought up some interesting realisations. I have always loved to cook with a glass (or two) of red wine at hand, and it has been so easy to taste all the way through the cooking time that in the end I would have been eating for about two hours. No wonder there was so much insulin running around!

The Carbohydrate Addicts Diet/CALP has been my routine for the last five days. I had reached a plateau that would not budge for over a week, hence the research and finding CAD/CALP. The good doctors Heller have lost over 200 pounds between them and kept it off for over twenty years. That speaks loudly to me. The weight moved on down again this morning…

I can have my creme brulee and lose weight too!

Awesome!…