Diet update

First, the numbers: 20 pounds down, 1/3 of the way to my goal.
Eva's done considerably better than that...clothing she couldn't fit into before this low-carb regime started are now baggy and loose on her; she swims in what used to fit her.
I'm still hearing from all over the place that low-carb diets are useless and even dangerous. (The most recent attack came from the Toronto Sun's doctor columnist, who said that low-carb diets deprive the body of folic acid, a deficiency linked to heart attacks.)
Even he admits that folic acid is available in pill form, including in the multivitamins I take daily, but of course that's buried in the middle of his column where many people won't see it.
Dr. Gifford-Jones, it's hard to argue with my bathroom scale. Or with the increased energy I have. Or with the fact that my stomach almost never sings doo-wop any more.
I've cheated twice. On one occasion, I had hot dogs--with buns. The next day...
Have you heard of the trots? These were the sprints. Accompanied by a kind of low groaning cramp that made it difficult to walk at times.
Tonight was my second cheat: a visit to a restaurant that used to be a staple of ours. A den of carbs, to be precise. And I'm sure I'm going to likewise regret this little excursion. In fact, I already do: after the first mouthful, which was sublime, the food actually tasted terrible. And the service this time out didn't help: we were stuck in a corner and promptly forgotten. We actually had to get up and walk across the place to get somebody to take our drink orders, and we were about to get up to request the bill when our server finally showed up. And it wasn't even busy. I guess our waitress didn't really need a tip.

I've noticed some changes in my attitude toward food. Specifically, I've learned the difference between "I'm hungry" and "I could eat". Fact is, I almost never felt real hunger before...and still don't, despite cutting my food intake by at least 50%. Skeptics might insist that this cut has more to do with my weight loss than what I have or have not been eating. I would argue that it's damn near impossible to just eat half of the junk I was eating before. Ever had one serving of potato chips and called it a day? I doubt it...that's eleven chips. Likewise popcorn, mashed potatoes, rice, french fries: what they call a standard serving of any of these things just leaves one wanting more immediately...and "hungry" again in an hour.

To reassure Dr. Gifford-Jones and others of his ilk, we're not on a no-carb diet, just a low-carb diet...and we will be adding 'good' carbs back in gradually, once we've accomplished our goal. But we'll never be back to the ridiculous 'recommended daily allowance' of 300 grams of carbs a day: I'm firmly convinced this, coupled with our society's absolute refusal to exercise, is what is causing the epidemic of obesity.