Sunday, October 12, 2008

I'm Back!


Thanks to all the people who left excellent comments on my archived posts. Each one of your observations has been very much appreciated. As I've realized during this month of real-life challenges, the most important information about the science of low-carbing can already be found on the previous posts in this blog.

Woodswalker tactfully pointed out that the subject of low-carbing may not be inexhaustible. She's right. There are lots of interesting aspects of low-carb that we will address in the future, but the basics involve a few well-known principles of biochemistry and physiology. Medical students have learned about these for years, but once they graduate into the world of practicing medicine, they seem to absorb the dogma about low-fat/low-cholesterol/low-calories and forget about their original training.

So, a word to the wise. Go back often. Review frequently. Remind yourself of the many scientific reasons we have for low-carbing. Most of the mainstream medical and nutritional community hasn't caught up to us yet. Someday it will. In the meantime, let's do all we can to keep ourselves on the path to good health that low-carbing provides.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You have some great articles and you make a lot of the tech stuff easier to understand and I really like that. That's a huge help for all us non-sci-med folks. Kinda like "Low-Carb Science for Dummies".

I'm glad to see you're back and look forward to hearing from you! Ron, aka The Former Donut Junkie

Alex said...

Hey Stargazey,

Me too!

I'm back from a month of experimenting with my diet and I have some great news.

By limiting the amount of protein I eat in each sitting and waiting 5 - 6 hours between meals, I think I may have my problem of reactive hypoglycemia licked!

I wrote all about it in my most recent post. I'd love to talk more about it as reactive hypoglycemia has plagued me ever since I was a kid and I'm so psyched to have made some progress against it finally.

Thanks for the help Stargazey. You're advice about waiting long enough between meals to let insulin come down has been an essential part of my recovery.

It's so cool that I don't have to be afraid of getting attacks of anxiety and depression after eating anymore.

Thanks again. You do us all a great service.

If you want to talk more about it, we can do it here in comments or by email. You can get me at lowcarbnewengland@gmail.com or drop me a comment on my site.

Cheers,
Alex
Low Carb New England

Stargazey said...

Alex, that is such good news!

I read your blogpost and am quite intrigued by it. It looks like you did a long-term series of personal experiments. Low-carbing was helpful. Getting protein down to the levels recommended by the Eades was also helpful. It seems as if the idea of waiting 5-6 hours between meals was the final piece of the puzzle.

When you think about reactive hypoglycemia as an insulin resistance problem, all three aspects of this approach make quite a bit of sense. By limiting carbs, moderating protein and waiting for serum insulin to return to baseline, you are allowing your muscles, liver, brain and pancreas to regain their insulin sensitivity.

I hope to make a comment on your blog, but I need to think about it a bit before I do. Thanks again for keeping us updated!