In the meantime, tonight I needed to make dinner, and I also needed to use about 1.5 lbs of hamburger.  I decided to throw together something similar to the above recipe, only using taco meat instead of bacon.  It turned out really good, so I thought I’d share.

I’ve provided the recipe below.  Here it is already neatly formatted in a Word document.  The taco meat seasoning is a recipe I threw together a few years ago to approximate Old El Paso taco  seasoning, without the MSG.  It’s mild but flavorful, just the way I like it.

However, if the taco meat portion of the recipe doesn’t look tasty enough for you, here is another Word document, which is a recipe for taco meat from America’s Test Kitchen (from one of their publications, Cook’s Illustrated) that takes more work but would probably have more robust flavor.

I highly recommend that you do not omit the ham.  Putting diced ham into the  casserole adds a nice richness of flavor.

I used an 8×8 baking dish for this recipe.  As you can see from the picture, that made the dish pretty full.  If you prefer to use a 9×13 dish, I would suggest adding a few more eggs so you’ll get a decent “crust”, and watch it carefully as it cooks.  You still want some uncooked egg on the top of the “crust” when you add the meat mixture, so it will mix with the meat and provide some firmness to the finished casserole.  If you forget and cook the egg crust completely, I’d suggest you scramble a couple more eggs and thoroughly stir them into the meat mixture immediately before you add it to the baking dish.

I used bacon grease to grease the baking dish, but of course you can use butter, tallow, or coconut oil just as well.  I am happy to report that hardly any of the egg crust stuck to the baking dish, and it was easy to clean up afterwards.

This recipe is easily altered to suit your tastes or available ingredients.  You can vary the seasonings to taste, of course, or use more or less hamburger or diced ham, or more cheese, or different cheese.  Ground turkey or pork (unflavored) should substitute easily for the hamburger.

I used 80/20 hamburger (20% fat) and didn’t drain the grease, and I did not find the finished dish to be greasy.  However, if you don’t like grease, and are using a fatty meat, you may want to drain the grease before adding the seasonings.

This is a very rich dish!  I was almost finished eating it before I even thought about topping it with some sour cream – which I didn’t do, because I was almost done, and it didn’t need it anyway.  However, if you would like some suggestions for toppings, here they are:   salsa, sour cream, chopped black olives, chopped tomatoes, hot sauce, and whatever else you like to eat with tacos.  The Cook’s Illustrated recipe I mentioned above has some suggestions at the end for other toppings, like avocados and onions.   If you feel the need for a low-carb side dish, I’d suggest a light salad.

I have not provided a carb count because your ingredients may differ from mine.  Eggs usually have about 1 gram carb each.  Check the packages for the cream cheese, shredded cheese, and diced ham for their carb content.  The seasonings probably add a few carbs, but not enough to worry about.

low-carb taco casserole, in an 8x8 in baking dish

Low Carb Taco Casserole

For the “crust”:

• 5-6 large eggs
• 1 tsp bacon grease

For the filling:

• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 8 oz.  shredded Mexican cheese mix, divided
• 8 oz. cooked diced ham

For the taco meat:

• 1.5 lbs hamburger
• 2 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1½ tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp paprika (optional – for color)
• ¾ tsp onion powder
• dash cayenne pepper powder

1. Brown hamburger in a large pan or skillet on medium heat, breaking up the hamburger into at least bite-size consistency or smaller (whatever consistency you prefer for taco meat).
2. While the hamburger is browning, mix together all the taco seasonings.
3. After the hamburger is browned, drain grease, if desired.  Reduce heat to medium-low, add the seasonings and mix together.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
5. Add cream cheese to hamburger and cover the pan or skillet.  After the cream cheese has softened, mix it in thoroughly with the meat.  (Or you could pre-soften the cream cheese in another pan or microwave, but I prefer to use as few dishes as possible!)
6. Add the diced ham and about half of the shredded cheese to the hamburger and mix thoroughly.  Reduce heat to low and cover, checking and stirring occasionally.  (This is to keep the hamburger mixture warm until it is added to the casserole.)
7. Crack all the eggs into a single bowl and scramble them thoroughly.
8. Grease an 8×8 baking dish with the bacon grease and add scrambled eggs.  Put dish in preheated oven on middle rack, and check in 5 minutes.  Bake until the eggs are cooked on the bottom and edges of the dish, but still liquid on top.  The eggs need to be partially cooked since the cooked portion will be the “crust”.
9. Remove the eggs from the oven and add the warm meat and cheese mixture to the baking dish, on top of the egg “crust”.  The uncooked eggs should mix up somewhat with the meat and cheese; this will help hold the casserole together when done.  Try not to disturb the crust.
10. Spread the remaining shredded cheese evenly on top of the meat mixture, and return to the oven for 10 minutes.
11. Casserole is done when the eggs are completely cooked and the cheese on top has melted.
12. Let casserole cool for 5 minutes on the countertop before serving.

Well, I found a regular old peanut butter pie recipe several months ago on the Kraft website, and I recently adapted the filling part of the recipe to be both low-carb and delicious.  Here’s the recipe – I hope you enjoy it.  And here’s the recipe already conveniently formatted in a Word document.

If you decide to try the recipe, please let me know how it works for you!  And I already have plans for tweaking it, so if you do anything different, I’d like to know about that too.

Low-Carb Peanut Butter Pudding

Makes:
10-12 servings  (6-7 g carbs per serving)

Ingredients

1 envelope Knox Unflavored Gelatine  (or 2 tsp gelatin powder)

1 cup whole  milk   (approx. 10g carb)

3/4 cup creamy no-sugar-added peanut butter     (approx. 24g carb)

salt (optional)

1/2 cup granulated Splenda        (12 g carb)

15 oz ricotta cheese (I prefer Great Value  Original Ricotta)       (14 g carb)

Optional Garnishes

½ cup whipping cream         (3 g carb)

optional 1 packet Splenda, to sweeten whipped cream          (1 g carb)

cocktail peanuts (for garnish)       (per serving:  1-2 g carb)

Directions

1.      Sprinkle gelatin over milk in a small pot on the stovetop; let stand 5 min. or until gelatin is softened.

2.      Gently heat milk on low to medium heat, stirring occasionally, until gelatin is completely dissolved, 2-3 minutes.

3.      Put milk, peanut butter, granulated Splenda, and ricotta cheese in a blender or food processor. Blend on high speed until smooth.  You may want to add optional salt to taste, especially if the peanut butter has little or no salt.

4.      Spoon mixture into 10-12 small containers or ramekins.

5.      Refrigerate 3 hours or until set.

Optional Garnishes

6.      Whip cream and optional Splenda with mixer or food processor until stiff peaks form.

7.      Top each serving with about 1 Tbsp. of the whipped cream and a sprinkling of peanuts.

Other optional garnishes:  chocolate chips; chocolate shavings; peanut butter chips.  Of course these will add carbs if they aren’t sugar-free, so be careful!

Notes

I highly recommend putting the pudding in individual containers, because you may just go face down in this stuff if you have it all in one large container!  Smaller containers makes for easier portion control.  I realize the individual servings seem small, and that was for 2 reasons.  One – to keep the carb count low, and two – I like my desserts or sweet snacks to be small but satisfying.  This pudding has a lot of fat and even some protein, moderate sweetness, and even a little bit of salt, so a small serving is very satisfying.  If one serving isn’t enough, you can always eat another, but it’s harder to keep track of how much you ate if you just put it all in one big bowl.

I also recommend using the highest quality peanut butter you care to buy.  The other ingredients have a very mild flavor and therefore do not cover up any  off-tastes in the peanut butter.  The first time I made this, I used a cheap store brand peanut butter, and the harsh flavor notes in the peanut butter came through loud and clear in the pudding.  The second time I made it, I used one of my favorite peanut butters, Maranatha, and the pudding had a full, rich taste.  The Maranatha also had a much smoother texture than the store brand, and that texture made the pudding easier to blend and also made for a much nicer mouthfeel in the finished pudding.

I prefer the Great Value Original Ricotta (surprisingly, since it’s from Wal-Mart) because it has a lower carb content, and higher fat content, than Sargento Whole Milk Ricotta.  At the very least, use whole milk ricotta – not the skim milk stuff!

This recipe could easily be adapted to be a rich and tasty peanut butter sauce for ice cream or cheesecake.  Simply omit the gelatin, and add a little extra milk to get your desired consistency.

low-carb peanut butter pudding, garnished with peanuts

delicious homemade yogurt from whole raw Jersey milk - look at the cream on top!

I’ve been eating homemade yogurt for awhile now, made from fresh raw whole milk produced by pastured Jersey cows (the gold standard in raw whole milk).  I’ve been eating it because I have longstanding digestive issues, and eating yogurt once or twice a day just about eliminates those issues.  My husband did a great post on how to make homemade yogurt without a yogurt maker, and I did a blog post on making homemade yogurt with a yogurt maker.

However, as I noted in my blog entry referenced above, and as a little searching online would confirm, homemade yogurt does not have the consistently smooth, thick, creamy texture of store-bought yogurt (which is usually achieved with additives like vegetable gums, which are not always easily available for individual consumers).  Homemade yogurt tends to have a softly lumpy texture, with the “lumps” swimming around in the clear whey.  Now, it’s still really good for you, and probably far more nutritious than store-bought yogurt – especially if you don’t add any sugar to it.  But if you’re accustomed to store-bought, it can be a rough transition to eating homemade, and it’s also not something that looks very appealing to, say, houseguests, or anyone else you might be trying to convert to the homemade yogurt cause.

So, it’s not surprising that there are a number of ways to thicken homemade yogurt, in an attempt to give it a better appearance and mouthfeel.  I did some online research awhile ago, and I found four different yogurt thickening techniques:  straining to remove whey; adding powdered milk; heating milk to 180 degrees F; and adding gelatin.  I tried a couple of them, and didn’t try the two others for good reasons.  Below I discuss my experiences using straining and gelatin, and also why I did not try powdered milk or heating milk to 180 degrees.

Straining

This yogurt thickening technique is simple and makes sense – strain the finished yogurt through cheesecloth to remove whey (although some people mentioned using coffee filters, or a clean t-shirt).  I used a few layers of cheesecloth, draped over a sieve and set over a bowl to catch the whey.  I let it drain for about an hour.

However, as it turned out, I wasn’t able to just put the yogurt in the cheesecloth and walk away.  A film formed after awhile on the cheesecloth, impeding drainage, so I kept scraping the yogurt around, to open up some areas in the film to let the whey continue draining.  As you might expect, it’s a lot of bother to keep doing that.

Result:  the yogurt was definitely thicker, somewhat closer to smooth and creamy but still lumpy looking.  It had a much smaller volume than the original yogurt; I’d say I ended up with one-third yogurt and two-thirds whey.

Pro:  whey drained off yogurt is great for other stuff, like making sauerkraut or pickling fruits or veggies.

Con:  a lot of work, what with all the scraping, and resulting yogurt is considerably reduced in volume.  To be fair, some websites I read said to just leave the yogurt for several hours or overnight, but I wasn’t that patient; maybe it would have drained well on its own, with more time.

Recommendation:  I’d recommend using this method mainly for obtaining whey, and also if you’d like to use the resulting yogurt as a very tasty substitute for crème fraiche or sour cream (although again, it would not be as smooth and creamy as store-bought crème fraiche or sour cream, since like store-bought yogurt, they are usually made thick and creamy by additives).  I’d also recommend this method if you don’t want to use any of the other three methods discussed below, as it is the most natural of all four methods mentioned in this post.

Powdered Milk

A lot of people use powdered milk to thicken their yogurt, although I could not find a consistent suggested amount; recipes varied considerably.  I decided to not even try this method (after, of course, already buying a package of powdered milk) for a number of reasons:

Extra carbs: the only powdered milk available around here is the non-fat kind, which means I’d be adding extra carbs and protein to the yogurt.  The protein would be okay, but not the carbs, since I eat low-carb and milk is already a somewhat carby food (although yogurt is a bit less so, since some of the sugar is used by the fermenting bacteria).

Taste and texture:  some people commented that they didn’t like the taste of powdered milk, and I felt reasonably certain I wouldn’t either.  I don’t like skim milk – why would I like it powdered?  Others commented that sometimes powdered milk added a gritty texture – not what I’m going for.

Nutritional quality:  I honestly can’t imagine powdered milk being highly nutritious, especially since this milk is probably from the usual sort of conventional dairy cow – confined in a stall 24/7, being fed distillery swill, antibiotics, and growth hormones, never getting to soak in some sunlight or fresh air, or even just take a walk once in awhile.  Such cows produce poor quality milk (which is why it needs to be pasteurized and supplemented with vitamins), and the quality is reduced further by the pasteurization and dehydration process.  Yuck.

Heating Milk to 180 degrees F

This method thickens yogurt a couple of ways, dehydration (which depends on how long you heat the milk) and protein denaturing, which occurs at high temperatures (here’s a simple explanation, a technical one, and a really technical one).  I didn’t try this method either.  I don’t want to denature highly nutritious raw whole milk; I want the nutrient content to be as whole and intact as possible (although some people using high heat with raw milk do have their reasons).  Also, this method pasteurizes the milk, killing off a lot of beneficial bacteria that are naturally present in high-quality raw milk.  These beneficial bacteria are good for the digestive system, and they also fight off pathogenic (disease-causing) bacteria, both in the milk, and in your gut.

Recommendation:  If the only milk you can get is store-bought pasteurized milk, you’ll have to use this method in order to produce safe yogurt.  Pasteurized milk has had all the beneficial bacteria killed out of it, leaving it extremely vulnerable to “infection” by pathogenic bacteria between the time it’s pasteurized and the time it gets put in your fridge.  By pasteurizing the milk again, prior to adding the yogurt culture, you are giving the beneficial yogurt culture bacteria enough of a head start that they can outcompete or kill off any new pathogenic bacteria that will inevitably get introduced into the milk in your home environment (no offense!  Bacteria are everywhere).

Gelatin

This is my preferred method for thickening yogurt.  I simply add a packet of Knox gelatine powder (2 teaspoons) to two quarts (8 cups) of milk, as I’m heating the milk up to 110 degrees F.  (No need to “pre-soak” the gelatin in a separate container.  I just sprinkle the powder on top of the milk, distributing it as evenly as possible, wait a few minutes, and then whisk it in with a fork)  This method produces some very good, reasonably thick yogurt, although it doesn’t thicken up until after the finished yogurt cools in the fridge and the gelatin sets up.  Note:  You can also use more or less gelatin for different texture.  I just made a two-quart batch using only 1 teaspoon of gelatin (half a packet) and it turned out real well – still with a thick and creamy texture, but not as firm as when I had used 2 teaspoons.

Pro:  considerable improvement in texture and thickness, with good appearance and mouthfeel.   I wouldn’t be ashamed to serve this to other people, although still with the caveat that it is homemade, because it’s not perfectly smooth and creamy like store-bought yogurt.

Con:  If you’re using small packets of dried gelatin powder, and you want to make significantly more or less than two quarts of yogurt, then you’ll have leftover gelatin you’ll have to store somehow (it needs to be kept dry).   You also won’t be able to strain whey out of this yogurt, since it is bound up with the gelatin.  Finally, if you are avoiding animal flesh products, then obviously you couldn’t use gelatin; there are, however, substitutes for gelatin, including vegetable-based ones, although you might have to experiment to figure out which one you like and how much to use.

Recommendation:  this is the easiest method for thickening homemade yogurt.   You could also use this with any of the other methods.  I’d recommend varying the amount of gelatin you use to see what texture you prefer.

Final note:  it is important, while the yogurt is fermenting, to not jostle the container(s); this will interfere with the formation of the yogurt texture, regardless if you are using any thickening technique or not.  Be sure to ferment your yogurt in an out-of-the-way place where it will not be disturbed.

I’m glad I finally got around to researching this topic and learning how to thicken yogurt up to a texture that I like.  Before I started thickening it, eating it could almost seem like a chore, since the texture and appearance were not appealing, and so sometimes I avoided it, to my own detriment.  I enjoy eating my yogurt now, though, and I certainly enjoy having a happy, well-functioning gut!

Pastured Jersey cows - happy cows make great milk!

Salton Yogurt Maker, model GM-5, cooking up some yogurt

About a week ago, I was browsing through the local Salvation Army thrift store, when I stumbled upon this little gem – an old Salton Yogurt Maker, model GM-5.  I thought, “Wow!  How cool is that?” because I had wanted to get a yogurt maker for some time (I registered for one on my bridal registry – a Salton yogurt maker, but not one of these antiques!).  I wanted to call my handsome hubby and have him Google it real quick, to find out if these yogurt makers were reliable, but as is often the case with my cell phone, the battery was dead.  So I threw caution to the wind and plopped down $4, and took it home.

Of course, only after I got home did I consider how unnecessary this purchase was – Aaron already makes perfectly good yogurt, which gets incubated (fermented) in a small cooler with warm water – sans electricity.  Well, the deed was done – so we might as well try out the yogurt maker.

Also after I got home, I googled “Salton yogurt maker GM-5″ to find out exactly what I had.  I knew I did not have a user manual, but it turns out I also did not have a handy little thermometer/spoon combo, which fortunately I did not need anyway.  A little more Googling turned up a PDF of a user manual from 1976.  The picture of the yogurt maker on the manual appeared to only differ cosmetically (it had printed on it “Thermostat controlled” whereas mine does not) so I figured it was close enough.

Aaron cooked up a quart of yogurt last night, and got it all poured neatly into the 5 little glass containers.  I tucked the containers into their slots, put the lid on the maker, and plugged it in.  I checked it awhile later to make sure there was some heat being generated somewhere, and there was.  The instructions said the yogurt would be done in 10 hours, which would have been 5:30 AM this morning … I checked it at 8:00 AM.  The yogurt turned out great – just the same as cooler-incubated batches.  We have already discovered that when we use the yogurt culture that we are currently using (from Kalona Organics, an organic yogurt with several strains of bacteria available at our local Hy-Vee at 12^th and Harrison) that we have considerable leeway in the incubation time without the yogurt getting too tart.

And here’s a picture of the finished product.  The yellow stuff is delicious cream!  No skim milk low-fat yogurt for me!  We use whole raw milk from pastured Jersey cows (I have awesome in-laws).

mmm ... fresh raw milk yogurt - good food for your gut

And I figured out that there were some advantages to using this maker after all.

• Glass containers – while we are not Luddites, we do prefer to avoid plastic, and use glass instead, for food storage.  We had been incubating yogurt in small plastic containers in the cooler.  These Salton glass containers are really nice little containers.  And I would guess from the condition of the containers that they were rarely, if ever, used (although the yogurt maker lid is a bit scratched up).  So even if we no longer wanted to use the maker, we could still use the glass containers, which were worth the purchase price alone.  NOTE:  if any of the glass containers are broken or missing, don’t despair!  Half-pint canning jars fit nicely in those small compartments.
• More convenient – no messing around with putting warm water of just the right temperature and depth in the cooler.  Just gotta pour the milk with starter culture into the containers, put them in the yogurt maker, and plug it in.  No fancy-shmancy on/off switch either.  Plugged in = on, unplugged = off.  The power cord isn’t even polarized!
• Less mess - when incubating yogurt in the cooler, we end up with wet containers that need to be dried off before being put in the fridge.  Plus, the cooler has to be emptied out and allowed to air dry before being put away.
• Just the right amount - a quart of yogurt is just about right – that’s about how much I eat in a week or so.

So I’m pretty happy with my discovery, and I think we’ll be using it pretty regularly.

I just wish I knew how old it was.  I can’t find a picture of a GM-5 Salton yogurt maker that looks exactly like mine (without “thermostat-controlled” printed on it) and of course no year is printed on the bottom.  The Salton website was not helpful.  To anyone who stumbles upon my little blog here and has any information, I’d appreciate any help. 

But there are also drawbacks to pursuing a low-carb lifestyle – physical, psychological, and social.  Given that many of the drawbacks that I have experienced are the same ones that discourage others from starting or staying with low-carb, I thought in the interests of fairness, I should discuss the drawbacks.

Side effects during transition due to electrolyte deficiencies – I had dizzy spells when I first started eating low-carb, and I didn’t really get them “cured” until I went back and read “Protein Power” more closely, and found out that the body will dump a lot of potassium and sodium (which are electrolytes, along with magnesium and chloride) as it’s dumping the extra retained fluid.  I started supplementing with potassium and magnesium, and eating more salt, and this eventually worked itself out.

Heart palpitations – same thing – some sort of electrolyte deficiency or imbalance.  It worked itself out as I got used to the diet and was taking supplements, but it was weird.  Fortunately, I knew it was diet-related and that I wasn’t having a heart attack.  The main problem with electrolyte deficiencies is that the symptoms are pretty much the same as when you’re getting too much!  So you really have to know how much of them you’re getting so you can adjust your dosages properly.

I had other side effects as well, but I didn’t document them so I don’t remember them!  This is like a lot of other health stuff – your results may vary.  You can pretty much count on experiencing some odd or uncomfortable side effects, so it’s really important to educate yourself on them.

Different body – the body I have now is not the same one I started with on low-carb.  It has just as many quirks but some of them are different ones than before.

I can easily get muscle cramps due to (I assume) a lack of potassium.  I still take potassium supplements on occasion but I still haven’t figured out how much or how frequently is just the right amount.  This is a significant deterrent to exercise (not that I need any deterrents, though).

I seem to be more easily dehydrated, but (like a lot of people) I don’t seem to feel thirst until I really really need it (although I will drink quite a bit if water is sitting right in front of me, fortunately).  I’ve always had a problem drinking enough water, but it’s more of an issue now that I’m not carrying around an extra gallon or so in vivo.

Skipped meals – hunger signals are more subtle now that my blood sugar isn’t surging up and down to unhealthy levels.  So, if there’s nothing in the fridge that I want to eat, it’s a lot easier to snack on a glass of milk or a few crackers with butter or cheese than it is to cook a decent meal.  This is an advantage, of course, when no food is available, but it can be a disadvantage when I just don’t feel like cooking (which is most of the time) and there are no tasty leftovers in the fridge.

Reduced dental hygiene habits – I didn’t realize the extent to which I relied on mouth fuzz to prompt me to brush my teeth until I stopped getting it.  Since I still eat some carbs (including sugar) I still get some fuzz, but not nearly as much as I used to – so the fuzz rarely gets to the point where I feel I absolutely have to brush my teeth.  I don’t have bad breath and I have really strong teeth – so I just don’t have as much incentive to brush my teeth as I used to.  It’s embarrassing to admit this in our hygiene-crazed culture, which makes it all the more important to talk about.  And no, I will not tell you how often I actually do brush my teeth!  But obviously – less fuzz means less decay due to sugar, so I don’t believe I am compromising my dental health.  Here are a couple of great blog posts about preventing and reversing tooth decay in case you get more worried about my teeth than I am.  And good luck finding a dentist who is aware of this information (which should be known by all of them).

Carb cravings – well, this is a problem I also had before low-carb, of course, I just didn’t feel as guilty as I do now when I satisfy them.  I wonder how much of the carb cravings might be due to some sort of deficiency, versus the simple psychology of “it feels good to eat carbs”.  Dr. Michael Eades of “Protein Power” advises people to start or increase magnesium supplementation if they have carb cravings, but I still have the cravings even with supplementation.  I discuss my effort to puzzle out my feedback mechanism for cravings in a previous post, A buzz or a glow?

Lots of guilt and shame – am I craving carbs (especially sugar!) because I am a weak person, or is there something going on physiologically that I just don’t know the cure for yet?  It’s just so easy to assume my frequent desire for ice cream or sweets is “just me” and feel ashamed at my weakness.  It’s also a lot easier to feel guilty/ashamed than it is to devote considerable effort, time, and perhaps money to figure out what is actually behind the carb cravings (if it is other than psychological … or even if it is psychological!).  Of course, there was also constant guilt with the low-fat diet, because even if I followed the guidelines, I was still hungry and wanted more fat/protein – so then, too, the easy assumption was that there must be something wrong with me… which was true … I wasn’t getting enough fat and protein!

Toxic culture – well, this is a huge issue, and has been discussed in so many other media (like this recent excellent post by Dr. Michael Eades (Protein Power))  that I’ll just mention the basics.  Our culture – particularly the media – aggressively criticize a low-carb lifestyle.  Numerous studies showing its benefits are ignored, or worse, skewed into showing no benefit.  Health experts, most with virtually no training in nutrition other than the food pyramid, preach the non-existent benefits of grain-based diet.   Anyplace where food is sold has numerous high-carb, low-fat, no-nutrition products touted as health food.  It’s an upside down world in so many ways, and this toxic culture is one of the most basic, one of the most insidious, and is the single most difficult issue that low-carbers must contend with in pursuing their own good health.

Not a cure-all – I believe that anyone that has done a decent amount of reading about the benefits of eating a low-carb diet could be forgiven for forming an unconscious assumption that low-carb will cure anything.  Every aspect of human health is either directly or indirectly affected by unbalanced blood sugar and by insulin resistance.  While following a low-carb lifestyle will certainly improve many aspects of one’s health (as I have already attested) it can’t cure everything, especially if a health problem has been plaguing someone for years.

This leaves an enthusiastic but disappointed low-carber (like myself) to wonder – am I just not doing it right?  What else could be the problem?  This is especially true for weight loss. I’d bet good money that when people stop losing weight with low-carb, they lose faith in the diet, regardless of how good they feel otherwise.  I certainly did!  Some really good long-term studies on what is going on when weight loss stalls, but the low-carb diet is maintained, would provide a tremendous boost for people who are struggling to maintain a low-carb lifestyle while facing tremendous pressure from their culture, family, friends, and health experts to switch back to a high-carb, low-fat diet.

Conclusion - pursuing a low-carb lifestyle has most certainly been worth it for me and my husband – we are healthier because of it, and if we ever get around to reproducing, our kids will be healthier for it, and much more knowledgeable about optimal nutrition than we were.  I am grateful to all those health care professionals who wrote books and set up websites to get the message out about low-carb diets.  I feel confident now that I, my husband, and our (future) children will not have to suffer from diabetes or other lifestyle-related metabolic disorders, and that gives me some measure of peace in this upside down world.

Recommended reading:

Weston A. Price Foundation

Real Milk Campaign

Nourishing Traditions – great book on food raised and prepared naturally

Lardy, Lardy – great post on the health benefits of lard by Dr. Mary Dan Eades (Protein Power)

The benefits I’ve experienced from eating low-carb for almost two years:

• Better sleep
• Weight loss
• Stronger nails
• Longer hair
• Less water retention
• Better between-meal endurance
• Less “fuzz” on teeth
• Fewer skin tags
• no more heartburn
• Candida intertrigo clearing up
• milder symptoms of cold and flu
• milder symptoms of seasonal affective disorder
• More sensitive sweet tooth (i.e. decreased appetite for sweets – sometimes!)

Longer version:

A short weight problem history

Twelve years ago, for the first time in my life, I went on a diet.  I was in my late 20s and had gained 20-25 pounds since high school (I’m not exactly certain what I weighed in high school).  I had bought the book “The Zone Diet” by Dr. Barry Sears, and was blown away by how little I knew about eating properly.  I followed this diet almost to the letter (I needed a few more carbs than he claimed, to avoid a low blood sugar feeling) and I lost 12 pounds in 2 months, all without exercising and while working rotating shift work (which makes anything, especially dieting, more difficult).  This was a great diet for me (and I still think it is a great diet) although it did get pretty technical.

I went off the Zone diet several months later, even though I liked it and felt great while following it, and over the next several years gained 45 pounds.  During that time, I tried the Zone diet again, and lost no weight.  I later tried the Atkins diet, and, although I experienced some interesting and positive side effects, I also suffered some very intense carb cravings, AND I lost no weight, so I only stuck with it for 3 weeks, then went back to my “normal” diet of whatever I wanted to eat, which was a lot of carbs, mostly.  I also went back to having a lot of low blood sugar symptoms (irritability and inability to concentrate, among others) whenever I went too long without eating, usually 3-4 hours.  I was almost a slave to my blood sugar, and I thought this was normal.  And I never considered the idea that I might have some blood sugar issues, because my fasting blood sugar tests were always normal.

Three years ago, I was kicked out of the Navy for being overweight.  I’d been over the weight standard for five years, and a change in the regulations meant that I either had to lose the weight, or get involuntarily separated.  I managed to lose a few pounds, but not nearly enough.  I can still remember the late July afternoon when I was sitting in my gorgeous flat in England (where I was stationed at the time), and I realized that I just was not going to lose the weight, and I was going to get kicked out.  This was such a huge shock for me – I had been planning on staying in for 20 years!  I also had to leave the best place I’d ever been stationed (England) only one year into my three year tour.  I was also making about $50K a year at that time.  I want to emphasize strongly here – I lost my awesome, lucrative job because I was overweight, and I didn’t know the real reason why. I was involuntarily discharged a few months later, given a bit of severance pay, and I came back home to Quincy.

Figuring things out

I started dating my boyfriend (now husband) Aaron a few months after getting back to Quincy, and he told me that he had previously used a low-carb diet to lose quite a bit of weight.  He still needed to lose more, but since he wasn’t sticking to the low-carb diet too well he wasn’t really losing weight anymore.  I usually cooked low-carb meals for him when he was at my house, which he appreciated, and which I enjoyed too.  Aaron had suspected for some time that he may have some problems with his blood sugar, and a purchase of a blood glucose meter in May of 2007 confirmed it; his blood sugar readings were way too high.  He decided to get religious about low-carbing again, and has been controlling his blood sugar pretty well, and he’s also lost a bit of weight.

I was curious about my blood sugar too, so I used Aaron’s meter, and to my disappointment (although not really my surprise) my blood sugar readings were also somewhat high (I don’t remember the reading – probably over 140, which is when organ damage starts to occur).  Well, this scared me – not only the organ damage, but I also have a family history of diabetes!  I knew I had to get serious about controlling my blood sugar, and diet was the way to go, if I didn’t want to take insulin shots or lose any limbs.  So I reluctantly started eating a low-carb diet in late June of 2007.  My only goal was to control blood sugar; I didn’t anticipate any other benefits.

Staying on the low-carb wagon

Unlike when I went on Atkins, though, I didn’t go cold turkey in cutting out the carbs.  I just couldn’t, because I knew I couldn’t handle those awful carb cravings again.  In fact, it was a rare meal where I ate fewer than 10 carbs (which is the induction phase requirement of the Protein Power Diet, by Drs. Michael and Mary Dan Eades) and I would guess I averaged about 50-60 carbs a day, and still do.  However, this still was a significant reduction in my carb intake – I would guess 70-80% – so my blood sugar readings also significantly decreased, and that was my main goal.  I also was comforted by eating a LOT of fat, more than I’d eaten in ages.  Fat is a great appetite suppressant!  And it tastes so good!

To my surprise, I started losing weight.  I figured I couldn’t lose weight since I was not suffering miserably from carb cravings and I was eating lots of tasty fat and red meat, but fortunately, I was wrong.  I lost about a pound a week for the first several weeks, all while not exercising.  I seemed to have lost most of it in my face, which apparently was my body’s favorite place to retain water.  While I still have a bit of a double chin, my face looks far less bloated and I’ve gotten a lot of comments about how I look like I’ve lost a lot of weight, even though I don’t feel that I have … and I still have a long way to go to my ideal weight.  I stopped losing weight in September 2007 and I haven’t lost any weight since then (unless you count losing the few pounds here and there that I regained, then lost again).

I wish I could say I don’t have carb cravings anymore, but I still do.  Fortunately, they are relatively tolerable, and easily assuaged with a small amount of carbs.  Overall, my body has adjusted well to a low-carb diet.  At the beginning of this post, I listed all the benefits I experienced from the low-carb diet.

One  great strength – and great weakness – of the low-carb movement is that there are a lot of different ways to eat low-carb.  I mentioned 3 ways above – The Zone Diet, Atkins, and Protein Power.  I’ve stuck with Protein Power (more or less) because it’s the most recent one I’ve tried, it works, and Aaron likes it too.  Dr. Michael Eades has a great blog that feeds the science geek in me regarding research that supports low-carb diets (and debunking bad research that doesn’t).  There are other low-carb diets too, like Dr. Bernstein’s Diabetes Solution, the Paleolithic Diet, the Optimal Diet, and the Primal Diet,  to name just a few, and lots of people find them effective too.

Here are some great sites to check out if you’re interested in learning more about what is going on in this field – especially what the medical establishment is not telling people about carb consumption and diabetes.

What if It’s All Been a Big Fat Lie? by Gary Taubes.  This is a 2002 New York Times article about the government’s eating pyramid and the sad lack of research supporting it – and the price the American public has paid trying to follow it.

What They Don’t Tell You About Diabetes – a great website by a woman who suffers from diabetes and the amazing research she has unearthed about how diabetes works, and how it can be prevented.  For me, the most dramatic information she has is that “Prolonged exposure to blood sugars over 140 mg/dl (7.8 mmol/l) damages your organs and causes diabetic complications.”  My high blood sugar readings were around 140, and this article, more than anything else, scared me straight.

The Soft Science of Dietary Fat, another great article by Gary Taubes that won a science writing award in 2001.  He discusses how dietary fat has been transmogrified into a great evil when, in fact, it isn’t – and it’s usually good for you.  This is related to the low-carb topic because conventional wisdom holds that fat consumption leads to coronary disease, when in fact, the real coronary culprit is sugar.

Whole Health Source – another great nutrition and health blog!

“Your body craves what it needs. Listen to your body.”

“Your body often craves most what it needs the least. Learn to ignore your cravings, and just eat healthy.”

I have come across both of these ideas in the course of my readings about the body and food. Something that has been frustrating and confusing for me on my low-carb journey has been coping with cravings. Sugar or carbohydrate cravings, usually, but I also crave  protein and fat.  Sugar and many carbs are bad for me, while protein and fat are good. However, (and this is what has been confusing) the way I feel when I satisfy any of those cravings is pretty good. For example, I like to tell my husband after we’ve had a nice dinner of perfectly cooked pork chops with a nice border of fat on them that I have a “pork chop buzz”.

So what’s the difference in how all the different cravings feel? I never thought much about this before, but I’ve been led astray by so many carb cravings that I have decided I need to do myself the favor of figuring this out. The body has different physiological responses to each type of food. As informative as it might be to provide some nice facts here about that, that’s not the purpose of this post. I want to discuss my own subjective experience figuring out the way different cravings feel, before eating, and the happy feelings I have afterwards.

I mentioned the “pork chop buzz” above … buzz isn’t quite the right term for it, though. “Buzz” is more closely associated in American English to the reaction to drugs. Sugar may not be a drug, but the phrase “sugar buzz” is still pretty accurate, because the body’s reaction is almost instantaneous, thanks to the easy digestibility of highly processed carbohydrates. The body also has a good-feeling reaction to consumption of protein and fat, but I think the term “glow” is probably a better descriptor of that feeling, which I’ll explain further here in a minute.

Sugar cravings feel urgent. Back in the day when I consumed a lot of caffeine and chocolate, those cravings were urgent too (although they were always consumed with sugar, which complicates this a little bit … but not much). My experience with these cravings is that I feel them usually in my head, and that they are in response to some sort of shortage in the body – sugar/blood glucose, caffeine/thyroid hormone (possible), chocolate/magnesium. When I satisfy sugar cravings, I get a buzz. It’s not a dramatic one (which perhaps is why it’s legal), but I’d say I feel it mostly in my head and chest – a mild happy feeling, a sense of well-being and satisfaction with the world. And then, of course, once the buzz wears off a few hours later, I feel bad. Not normal – I go from feeling better than normal to worse than normal. My body doesn’t seem capable of maintaining a steady feeling of normality when I consume sugar (or caffeine or chocolate) in the volumes I’d really like, which is to say, the volumes that are generally considered 2 or 3 servings.

Protein and fat cravings, in contrast, come on gradually and I don’t recall ever feeling a sense of urgency when I experience them (now that I am on a low-carb diet). The feeling of protein and/or fat cravings are more diffuse, spread between my gut and my head, and feel like more of a hint or a cue rather than a sense of lack. When I satisfy these cravings, I feel deep satisfaction and sense of well-being, again spread between my gut and my head. I called this feeling a “glow’ earlier because it’s more of a gentle feeling spread throughout the body. To use an analogy with light, I would say that a buzz is like the glare from a bare light bulb with clear glass, while a glow is more like a soft white light bulb behind a nice cream-colored lampshade.

I could, of course, go into more physiological detail as to why buzzes and glows feel the way they do, but as I mentioned earlier, that’s not the purpose of this post. I just wanted to talk about my own experience in figuring out different cravings. Regarding those two sayings at the beginning, I’d say the first one is probably right – and when I have an unhealthy craving, I need to be more aware of what is behind that craving, and work on correcting the deficiency rather than indulging in a quick fix that ends up causing more harm than good.