Train up a child in the way he should go: Anonymous 4:05 PM

...and when he is old, he will not depart from it. ~ Proverbs 22:6

Had I known about eating a low carb, ancestral diet when I was young I could have saved myself, and my children, a lot of grief. But I didn't know...even though my grandmother and mother "did Atkins" from time to time when I was young, all that information I was bombarded with when I was a teenager told me that was sure to lead me down the road to cardiovascular disease. Now I know better, and my children have seen the results of their mother's low carb lifestyle, and they hear me talking about it all the time, and see my posts online. I had been hoping that even though this way of eating wasn't something we did since they were babies that some of it was rubbing off on them, and they were learning what to do to be healthy.

At home I cook low carb, high fat, moderate protein meals now, but when my eldest, Cat, was young, I did not. She has paid the price for my ignorance and has become morbidly obese. I have been gently urging her through these last few years to hop on board the low carb bandwagon with me, but there have always been obstacles that seemed pretty insurmountable from her point of view. Her husband doesn't really want to eat low carb, and that's his option, but it does make it difficult at meal time when one has to cook two different meals to satisfy them both. I thought it might not ever happen, and then this past Saturday I saw her status update on Facebook:

(I hate this) fat around my tummy and thighs...  I'm not tolerating it any more... I'm going low carb. If it's not meat, I'm not eating it....

Then, one of her Facebook friends replied:

That is really not a good long term solution....but you will see some pretty incredible short term results....good luck.

To which she replied:

lol (name removed), you and my mother, Lisa, should talk some time.. Low carb/high* protein is the kind of diet humans were made to eat. It lowers the risk of heart attack, stroke, and diabetes... among many other things. Healthier hair, nails and skin, more energy. It is a rewarding long term solution, one that will add years to your life. To each their own tho...

I just happened to be at the Low Carb Meet-and-Greet at the time I read this, and shared the exchange with the group, to cheers, after I explained I had wondered whether any of my kids were really hearing me. Obviously, they are! I couldn't be more proud!

Saturday marks the day of the beginning of her low carb journey. I hope to continue to point her in the right direction and support her in this any way I can.

If any of you would like to offer advice, encouragement, links to things you think might be of benefit to her, please leave them in the comments of this post. I really think knowing she has the support of others (in addition to her old mom) will be of benefit to her. Thanks in advance!

*I have since explained to her that the optimal diet for a human is high fat/moderate protein/low carb, but she wasn't too far off!

Another Trip Down The Primrose Path Anonymous 7:07 AM

 

I was perusing my local TV station website this morning and came upon an interesting headline,  Can Aspirin Blur Line Between Fat, Healthy?  Seems the NIH is testing a "cousin" of aspirin to see if it can reduce inflammation in obese and Type II diabetics, thereby creating healthier, non-inflamed fat people.

Typical of modern science these days - - find some drug to treat some symptoms while ignoring the cause completely.

You, too, can be as fat as you want and still be healthy! Here, just take these...Ha.

Carbohydrates (especially the processed crap in every packaged food on the shelves) cause inflammation, folks...as does the overabundance of Omega-6 fatty acids in our government suggested (and subsidized) "healthy" diet.

This is my favorite part of the article (emphasis mine):

"If fat cells functioned perfectly, you could be as obese as you want and not have heart disease," says Dr. Carey Lumeng of the University of Michigan. "It's something we don't understand, why some people are more susceptible and others are not so susceptible."

Solving that mystery could point to more targeted treatments for obesity's threats than today's effective but hard-to-follow advice to lose weight.

Effective? I'm laughing out loud! Hard to follow? You betcha!

The story was a complete roll of the eyes for me, but it is frightening to think that a lot of people are going to follow the suggestions born of this study. More prescriptions to be written, more money for Big Pharma, more health care costs for the average fat Joe...I see it in my crystal ball. Yes, I do.