I am trying to go on a three week fast away from all carbs. However, I am addicted to them, so I keep eating or drinking carbs. When I am not eating or drinking them I am thinking about how to get ahold of some.

I know of a drawer in the kitchen here in the maintenance building where someone has thoughtfully stashed a couple dozen Little Debbie snack cakes. All I have to do us go up there and get one. Last night I remembered that we had a little single serving cup of Blue Bell chocolate ice cream. We don’t have that any more.

There is a certain psychological hurdle that one has to get over when trying to abstain from or indulge in a habit. Creating a new habit is as hard as breaking an old one. The only reason I am thinking about eating sweets is because I am thinking about eating zero carbs for three weeks. I have, in the past nine months, went for weeks on end without sugar. I was ok eating breading, the occasional carb here or there. No breads, no flour crackers, pretty much living the low carb lifestyle. Now that I am trying to switch my body chemistry over to using Ketones instead of glucose for energy, I am having every symptom of withdrawal. I am lethargic (more that normal) and have hot hands, a symptom for me of sugar withdrawal.

I know that I need not ever get hungry, all I have to do is when I get hungry eat some meat with fat on it. When you are living on ketones you have to realize that ketones are obtained by the metabolizing of fats. Those fats can come from you food, they can come from your fat stores. You don’t decide where they come from. You cannot decide if the fat you are using for energy is from your diet or you. The only say you have in the process occurs when you eat. If you eat carbs, then any fat you metabolize will be from your foods. You may not use any if you eat a significant amount of carbs. If you eat as much as the average American, then there is no doubt that your fat stores will be safe, and may be even increased by what you eat, even if the number of calories in it are just half of what you would need for a day.

What I am saying is that even if you are starving, if the bulk of the calories in your diet are carbohydrates, then your body will use and store them over consuming the hulking stores of fat squirreled away all over your frame. If you want to see this whole process spelled out in great scientific detail, read the book by Gary Taubes, “Why We Get Fat“. This process is well understood, and has been well understood for quite a while.

The science of weight (adiposity) is one that can get no traction in the diet and fad diet industry. Actually giving you a way that sheds pounds all the way down to your natural weight is not something that makes people money. Gary Taubes and Nina Teicholz have both written marvelous books that explain exactly what is making you gain weight. Your type two diabetes is CURABLE.  Science knows how to do it. Taking a beta blocker for cholesterol is a waste of your money, but curing your obesity, which is the cause of your cholesterol problem makes nobody any money. I know it sounds like a conspiracy theory, and I am sure it is not. The science got distorted over a generation ago, and now good hearted people that are just wanting to help are afraid to tell you to quit eating carbs and start eating saturated fats. Well, I am not afraid. That is what I am doing and it will not kill me. I will live longer than the person who is eating just vegetables, if the bulk of their calories are coming from carbs, including fruits.

If you are fasting right now, I feel your pain. In the back of my mind I am thinking about the thing denied. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. When I ate ice cream last night it didn’t taste very good. It was too sweet for my liking. Until I started eating it I didn’t realize that I didn’t really want to eat any sugar. The moment I was done eating it I felt like I must be a little bit crazy to be thinking so much about eating something like that. I guess right now, I am a little bit crazy. Fortunately, I know that this kind of crazy has a shelf life, and I am almost over mine.

Short and Sweet, weight loss directions