Fried Eggs with Smashed Avo & Togarashi recipe here.
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Welcome to the very first day of the Low Carb Love 28-Day program!
Welcome Video: Watch OVER HERE
NOTE: This video was recorded when this program was under the Deliciously Diabetic brand – so just ignore the references to Deliciously Diabetic and focus on the lessons.
I’m super excited that you’ve decided to join me on this journey of moving to a healthier way of eating.
One of the most important parts of being successful with making changes is to have a clear and compelling reason why.
Change is hard and when things get tough (which they inevitably will) you need to have a rock solid reason to keep going.
So lets set you up for success with that reason today!
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN TODAY:
- 6 reasons carbs are problematic.
- Why you don’t need carbs (but have been told you do).
- How to simplify nutrition.
- How to track your progress.
WHY LOW CARB?
You’re probably already aware of the effect of carbohydrates on your blood sugar levels and the problems that causes. But just to make sure we’re on all the same page let’s look at all the reasons carbs can be damaging to our health.
6 Reasons Carbs Are Problematic.
1. Blood sugar control.
When we eat carbs they are digested and broken down into simple sugars. Mostly glucose and fructose.
These sugars are absorbed into our blood stream.
Our blood sugar levels rise.
To stop the sugar level going too high, insulin is released.
This hormone helps our bodies store the excess sugar in our blood as glycogen (short term energy storage) and fat (longer term energy storage).
So the more carbs you eat, the bigger the influence on your blood sugar.
And the more insulin is released to store the sugar.
As the sugar is stored, our blood sugar levels decrease rapidly causing a ‘crash’ which makes you feel hungry.
You eat more carbs and the whole cycle starts again.
Like a roller coaster of highs and lows.
There are differences between the types of carbs and how quickly they are digested.
And how much they spike blood sugar.
The format in which you consume the carbs makes a difference as well.
But at the end of the day, all carbs eventually impact your blood sugar in some way.
2. Interfere with your hormones.
Apart from increasing insulin production, carbs also influence our hunger and satiety hormones.
The balance between our hormones is complex and I won’t go into the detail here.
You just need to know that Leptin, the hormone which regulates satiety (when you feel full) and Ghrelin (the hunger hormone) are influenced by the amount of insulin in your system.
If these are out of balance, it means your hormones are compelling you to eat more than you actually need.
And you know where that leads.
3. Carbs can be addictive.
You’re probably familiar with this but the less carbs you eat, the less you crave them.
There are two reasons for this:
i. The blood sugar ‘roller coaster’ discussed above.
ii. Carbs change the types of bacteria in your gut. The carb-loving bacteria then signal to our bodies that we need more carbs, resulting in cravings.
4. Impact your brain health
Glucose in the blood is used as fuel for your brain.
But when blood sugar levels are high for long periods of time the excess sugar actually causes damage leading to an increased risk of Alzheimer’s and dementia.
Which is why these conditions are now being referred to as Type 3. Diabetes.
For more on this I recommend reading a book called ‘Grain Brain’ by Dr David Perlmutter. Or this research paper.
5. Feed cancer cells.
It’s been known since the 1940s that cancer cells can only burn glucose for fuel.
So if you have cancer cells in your body and high blood sugar, the cancer is able to grow more quickly.
There is research happening now looking at using an extremely low carb diet (ketogenic) to help treat cancer in conjunction with other treatments and the initial results are promising.
That’s not to say that eating Low Carb will cure you of cancer, but it’s certainly a compelling reason for me to keep my blood sugars as low as possible.
6. Give you wrinkles!
One of the major causes of ageing and wrinkles in particular is when sugar binds with protein in your body.
I won’t go into the details but it’s nice to know that following a Low Carb approach is good from a beauty perspective too!
Why you don’t need carbs (but have been told you do).
We have evolved to run on two different sources fuel – carbs and fat.
Burning carbs for energy is the easiest pathway so whenever we have glucose in our systems, our bodies use that first.
But we’re also able to convert fat into things called ‘ketone bodies’ and use these ‘ketones’ for fuel.
There are people who follow a purely ketogenic diet where they eat tiny amounts of carbs and get their energy from fat and protein.
And many of them have lost massive amounts of weight doing so.
They are proof that you don’t need carbs to survive and even thrive.
There are still nutritionists out there who will tell you you need to eat a certain amount of carbohydrate to meet your energy needs.
But this isn’t true as long as you are getting enough fat to burn instead.
Here’s the thing, your body can actually make any glucose it needs from protein via a process called ‘gluconeogenesis’.
You literally don’t need to eat any carbs to survive.
Personally I find a ketogenic diet too restrictive from a pleasure perspective, which is why I choose a Low Carb approach.
This gives me a balance between minimizing the side effects of high blood sugar.
And actually being able to enjoy food and life.
How to Simplify Nutrition.
I know nutrition can be super confusing there is so much conflicting information. Here are the simple guidelines I follow:
i. Find what works for you
As I mentioned in our Mindset Training, we’re all slightly different in our taste preferences, genes and biochemistry.
This is why there isn’t an easy one-size-fits-all solution to nutrition. You have to experiment and find what works for YOU.
Only you can determine what is going to work best for you at this stage of your life.
ii. Reset your nutritional ‘compass’
We all know that vegetables are good for us and sugar is bad.
But we’ve also been lead astray over the years with the low fat message. It makes me angry when I think about all the damage that’s been done.
So please, please, please reset your nutritional compass.
Fat, including saturated fat is essential as part of a healthy diet. Carbohydrates, including ‘whole grains’ are not. Still with me? Good.
For more on this I recommend reading ‘The Big Fat Surprise’ by Nina Teicholz.
iii. Your lifestyle over the long term is what counts.
As we covered in the Mindset Training, food moralizing, or labeling specific foods as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ is very destructive. Thinking of yourself as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ for eating these foods even more unhelpful.
Eating broccoli doesn’t make you a ‘good’ person just as eating a brownie doesn’t make you ‘bad’.
It’s the overall balance over the years that makes the difference between achieving your health goals. Or not.
Tracking Your Progress
There’s a famous quote from management expert Peter Drucker that in business ‘What gets measured gets managed’.
This applies to lifestyle changes as well.
You have to have some way to track your progress otherwise you won’t know what’s working. Or what’s not.
Its super important to choose which metrics you are going to track.
It’s up to you to choose the measurements that will work for you. Here are the options:
i. Weight.
There is strong research that people who weigh themselves every day are more likely to achieve their health goals. But It’s a personal choice. If you can see the result as a ‘data point’ it’s very helpful. BUT if you know you’ll find it hard not to obsess, best to choose another method. Weighing once a week is another option.
I have a set of scales connected to the internet which automatically logs my daily measurement and graphs it on an app I access on my phone. This is really helpful because it allows me to see trends rather than get caught up in the daily fluctuations.
ii. Waist Circumference
Measuring your waist is a great way to track progress because the amount of fat you carry around your middle is a much better indicator of health than your overall weight.
If you’d like to use this method measuring once a week or 2 weeks is fine. Just remember to write down your results so you can see the progress. An ‘Orbitape’ measure makes doing this measurement yourself super easy.
iii. Fasting Blood Glucose.
A good metric to track if you have problems with insulin sensitvity but will require you to buy a home blood glucose test kit. And prick your finger every day! Don’t worry I used to be terrified of needles and I’m fine with it now.
iv. HbA1C Testing
This is a blood test that measures your average blood sugar levels over the last 3 months. It’s the best indicator of how your blood sugar controal is tracking because it’s your overall levels that count rather than day-to-day variation. You’ll need to go and see your doctor for this test but I highly recommend it especially if you have insulin resistance.
I personally I weigh myself every morning and I have my HbA1C tested by my doctor every 6 months.
There’s no need and track all of these unless you want to. Just choose 1-2 and commit to keeping a record.
Even if things start heading in the wrong direction, it’s important to keep the awareness so you are able to course correct and get back on track.
Don’t beat yourself up about your progress.
Remember our ‘No Guilt’ and ‘No Shame’ philosophy from our Mindset Training.
See yourself as a scientist, using gentle experiments to uncover what works best for you. And these metrics are just your ‘experimental data’ or guideposts letting you know if you’re doing OK or if you need to try something else.
SUMMARY
We’ve covered a lot today! Don’t worry the lessons won’t all be this long. I promise!
Here’s what we’ve covered:
- Carbs are problematic because they cause the blood sugar ‘roller coaster’, interfere with your hunger and satiety hormones, they’re addictive, negatively impact brain health, feed cancer cells AND give you wrinkles!
- You don’t need carbs because you can make them in your body from protein and because you can burn fat for fuel via ketone bodies.
- Reset your nutritional compass so fat (including saturated fat) is fine and carbs (including whole grains) should be treated carefully.
- Ideas to track your progress.
ACTIVITY
1. Don’t change your diet yet!
We’re going to be taking it slowly to set you up for long term changes that you’ll be happy with for the rest of your life.
2. Reset your nutrition compass.
Fat, including saturated fat is essential as part of a healthy diet. Carbohydrates, including ‘whole grains’ are not. Plus you have to find out the right balance for YOU.
3. Choose your metrics for tracking progress.
Weight, waist circumference, fasting blood glucose or HbA1C. Choose one.
Then decide how you’re going to document – in a notebook or a special note on your phone? Just make it super easy to record your data, so you actually do it.
And take your first ‘baseline’ measurements.
See you tomorrow!
Cheers,
Jules x
If you have any questions or comments from today’s lesson head over to the Ask Jules page or leave a comment below.
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