Checking In!

Here's an easy reading post...

I still feel great!

I am NOT struggling to eat right!

I have found a few new products that are fab!

TMI: remember what always happens to me when I eat right... the thing that PCOS makes me NOT do... well, yep...it's happening! Most women complain... I CELEBRATE!

Energy!!

No joint pain!

More positive mood and outlook!

I pray that this continute and that I do not LET myself go back to old ways. Self: keep this up. You do NOT want to give up this awesomeness.

Love to all of you!

Wheat Theory Tested...Accidentally

Can something be accidental, but kinda not accidental?

Well, I guess it was accidental, I just was not thinking...

I decided to make a loaf of my pretty-dang-good low carb bread in my awesome honkin' bread machine Wednesday night. I added the wet ingredients, then the dry, some extra flaxseeds, a bit of the active yeast and let it roll.

Lots of mechanical kneading, rising and baking time later, there it was a piping hot loaf of bread that I could eat a slice of!! I got out our tub of a local creamery's sweet cream butter and prepared myself for a piece of goodness.

(insert eating said piece of goodness here)

Fast-forward about 20 to 30 minutes later. I am curled up in a miserable ball on the bed in pain. Gas, belly pain, headache, etc. Yuck.

Coincidence? or the one-and-a-half cups of "Vital Wheat Gluten" I put in the bread as an ingredient?

Keep in mind, I have cut probably 75 to 80% of the wheat/gluten out of my diet lately. I have not been celiac-strict, but just mindful of checking labels and staying away from the obvious breads/flours/etc. Well, I survived the night and stuck to my regular non-processed-no-starch-etc. ways the next day. That afternoon, I had a a big helping of some "low glycemic" type of crackers that had very few carbs and no junk...about half an hour later, same reaction as the night before. I checked the label, yep... wheat.

Our chickens got the rest of the loaf of low carb bread and someone else can eat those crackers as far as I am concerned. I have already located a couple of gluten-free and low carb bread recipes...using almond flour, nut flours, etc. I cannot wait to try them!

I think there is definitely some sort of intolerance there.

CK's Seared Tuna

I have had several requests to share my simple method of cooking a beautiful tuna. This is very picture-heavy, but I wanted to take enough so you know what things should look like.  :) I even used nice dishes this time, sometimes it's paper plates around my house!

Ingredients:

Fresh Sashimi Grade Tuna
Black Sesame Seeds
Regular Sesame Seeds
Salt & Pepper
Sesame Oil & Olive Oil

Other: (for dipping)

Wasabi, prepared
Mayo
Soy Sauce

Directions:
Right before you sear your tuna, go ahead and complete these steps, as the cooking time is really no more than about 30 seconds on each side.

Mix a bit of wasabi with some mayo...

...and dice a ripe avocado for garnish.

Go ahead and have out your plates, chopsticks, soy sauce, etc. too.

OK, now on to the good stuff...

Drizzle some sesame oil and some olive oil in your pan and let it start heating up on Medium-High while you prepare your tuna. (stainless steel or a wok, I have used both)

Take a handful each of black sesame seeds and regular sesame seeds and mix them together in a dish. Add in a few grinds of fresh sea salt and cracked black pepper. Take your tuna and coat all sides in the seeds. No egg whites, no water, no nothing. Amazingly enough, the sesame seeds just stick to the fish without you having to use anything else. Really get it on there good, and on all sides as this forms a tasty "crust".

Careful place your tuna into the hot pan/wok. The seeds will jump out and they burn. Consider yourself warned.

Sear the tuna.

That's it.

I sear mine on all sides for no more than 30 seconds. We like our tuna very rare/raw on the inside. (see my pictures)

Sear yours until desired doneness is achieved.

(Please, please do not overcook and ruin it!)

Slice seared tuna and plate up. See how the tuna is seared all the way

around? I take my tongs and hold pieces up in the pan so that the edges

have a chance to sear too. A little extra work, but it ensures a nice crust.

Add avocado garnish and soy sauce on the sides.

Do not forget your wasabi mayo.

Now, enjoy!

I hope you find the time to make this absolutely tasty dish very soon.

Meyer Lemons

Oh my loves...it's that time of year and I have finally found you in the stores again...

Believed to be a hybrid between a lemon and a mandarin orange, Meyer lemons were first introduced to the USA by a US Dept. of Agriculture "plant hunter", Frank Meyer. Meyer "discovered" these lemons in Peking (now Beijing), China in 1908.

These babies are not nearly as tart as regular lemons. They have a much appreciated sweetness to them. In fact, I tend to eat mine like an orange, sometimes adding a packet of Stevia. They have a thinner peel, but just as many pesky seeds. There are tons of recipes you can try and if you find yourself buying too many (like me) you can always preserve them. (Seriously, they rival olives in my book.) I have placed a "how-to" at the end of this post.

Meyer Lemons

In the packaging that I typically see in stores. 

This was my mid-morning snack today. If *only* you could smell this. You know you are tempted to stick your nose on the screen and sniff!

(and yes, I really did do a happy dance at the store last night when I found them...my husband just rolled his eyes)

Preserved Meyer Lemons

Recipe adapted from Paula Wolfert

Ingredients:

10 to 12 Meyer lemons
2/3 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup olive oil

Directions:

You will need a 6-cup jar with tight-fitting lid
Blanch 6 lemons in boiling water 5 minutes. When cool enough to handle, cut lemons into 8 wedges each and discard seeds. Toss with salt in a bowl and pack into jar.
Squeeze enough juice from remaining lemons to measure 1 cup. Add enough juice to cover lemons and cover jar with lid. Let stand at room temperature, shaking gently once a day, 5 days. Add oil and chill.
Cook's Note: Preserved lemons keep, chilled, up to 1 year.

17 foods

Avocado.
Greek Yogurt.
Spring Mix.
Zucchini.
Vidalia Onions.
Sauerkraut.
Raw/Rare Sashimi Tuna.
Red Bell Pepper.
Pomegranate.
Jalapenos.
Watermelon.
Raspberries.
Blue Cheese.
Meyer Lemons.
Olives.
German Johnson's.
Basil.

What is that? It's a list of my top 17 favorite foods. Non-negotiables. Foods I want. Foods I love.

Why not a top 20? Well... I thought long and hard about this list. I am sure there are others, but these were the ones that really jumped out at me. (In fact, I kept sitting up in bed the night before last and jotting them down. I woke up the next morning, and bam! there was my list.)

Look at that list. It's a pretty good list. Hotty Scotty tends to say I like "weird foods". (Realize though, that he is a meat-and-potatoes-and-little-debbies-and-whole-box-of-chocolate-covered-cherries-at-a-time-and-all-sorts-of-other-crap kind of guy. He manages to eat things and amounts of stuff that would make you want to slap him and *still* stays right at his ideal weight. His job is extremely physically demanding though, and I swear that has to be what offsets his caloric/junk intake.)

Anyway...my point with this post is this:

Look at what I love. There are no cupcakes, or pastas, or donuts, or sodas listed. In fact as I was making this list, those things did not even cross my mind. (Yes, I do like an occasional pasta dish... but look at this and this.)

The question I have had to force myself to face is, "if that list contains the foods that I absolutely love, then why the *HELL* (sorry, mom) have I spent a good say, twenty of my 31 years eating crap??!".

I do not like donuts. At. All. (Yes, really-really.) Have I eaten them plenty of times? Yes. In fact, I have, at times, eaten not one, but like three or four. (or five.) Now the next question I have to face is why? Why eat said donuts or other stuff when it is not even something I really like.

Remember my posts about insulin resistance, addictions, and other struggles? (In fact, just go back to the oldest posts and start at the beginning. You will see my struggles ~ then you will call me a nut-job fo' sho'.) Well, once I get a small taste of something (like said donuts or maybe a cupcake at a birthday party) it's on. I mean it's on like Donkey Kong. The sugar and other processed stuff sets off a reaction in my body that would easily rival a drug addict. Once I get in to the "cycle" you've seen me write about, I go into a downward spiral. I. Must. Have. Donuts. I eat them, a lot of them, then I feel bad about it, but they were soooooo "good", they gave me my fix. Blood sugar and insulin SPIKE. Crash. Need. More. Donuts.

Yep.

Now, if you have read this bah-log from the beginning, you have seen my seemingly-bipolar-indecisive-multiple-personalities battle over Weight Watchers vs. Low Carb/No Sugar. I am learning more and more everyday that tailoring a plan to your own body and medical issues is vital. I need the portion control that WW offers, but more than that I also need the restricted sugar/starches/wheat to keep my hormones and body chemistry happy.

Fat Girl vs Office Chair

I'm feeling so good right now, that it is hard to talk about this topic, but it really had a profound effect on me and I wanted to share.

Background: I am taking some online classes right now and have been working on my assignments at my craft table in the craftroom a couple of nights a week. I sit in our office/desk chair when I am in there...a traditional chair with non-adjustable loop-style arms.

Secondary Information: (and TMI *snort*) I tend to run around the house in a tank top and undies in the evenings. (sometimes knit shorts) This was one of those sans shorts evenings. (*chuckle*)

Anyhoo...

Hotty Scotty was getting B ready for bed so that I could do some homework and they were in the bathroom brushing their teeth. I ran in there really quick for something and everyone was carrying on life as usual when I heard Scott say:

"Christina, (...pause...) is that what the office chair does to you?"

(in the softest, most sincere, caring, almost hurt voice I have ever heard him use)

The way he said my name before his statement...the way his voice sounded...the pain in his eyes (not disgust, but pain, for me)...the whole situation. My world stopped spinning for a moment. It was one of those "oh-my-gosh-I-think-he-just-realized-I-am-fat" moments.

He was referring to the large, deep, angry red indentations that the chair arms had formed across my upper/outer thighs. Yeah, I know the chair is tight when I sit in it. I know it is uncomfortable. I guess I am just used to it. This was one of the first times I can remember ever being truly embarrassed and ashamed of myself in front of my husband.

I simply nodded and replied an emotionless "Yes." to his question.

But...then I silently added "...but I am doing something about it."

To say that I am thankful

for his loving me the

way I am is yet another

understatement.

End. Of. *That*. Moment.

A Dance in Your Car Type of Day

Wow. I feel so good today.

(Seriously, that is the understatement of the year right there!)

Today was one of those days where it seemed like the radio stations played nothing but GREAT songs. Add that to my good, no, awesome feeling and it became what I like to call "an-oh-my-gosh-that-is-sooo-my-theme-song" type of day! The fun part was, every song that came on had me saying "No! THIS is sooo my song!" Nicki Minaj and Drake were definitely the front-runners :)

Yeah, today rocked! I found myself in the car a lot today, so I did a lot of dancing :) (Okay, and yes, I did a lot of the checking-myself-out-in-the-mirror-while-rocking-my-stunner-shades and ducky-kissy-face-pictures of myself too.)

• I had a long to-do list that I wanted to accomplish since it was my last day of vacay.

To-do List = Nailed it!

• My jeans were a tad looser in the belly today.

Freaking awesome!

• I have finally eliminated a lot of processed crap and other inflammatory items from my diet.

Energy = Check!

Positive Mood = Check!

Puffed uppedness/Bloating = Diminishing! (yeah, I said uppedness.)

Eczema = Improving!

I am still counting my "points", while also avoiding starches like the plague. Anything white or containing wheat (I think I have an allergy) just has no place in my body. Perhaps I am actually (after a looooong period of time that we will not even discuss) finding a good balance between portion control and lowering the sugar/starch that I consume.

I will do a longer post on this topic, but I wanted to say that my best piece of advice right now (since I can preach it, but cannot always seem to practice it, ugh) is to stop beating yourself up and second guessing things. Just do something. Pick something that WORKS FOR YOU and do it. You dont even have to talk about it. Actions speak soooo much louder than words. It has taken me a long time to figure that out.

(Though, I do like to talk about it...)
(Anyone want to do the Dougie with me? LOL)

Roughage

This is definitely not-your-typical-breakfast, but it is what I had today...

It. Was. Awesome.

Here's the rundown:
4+ cups of organic mixed baby greens (arugula, frisee, spinach, radicchio, red & green chard, etc.)
1 oz sharp cheddar
2 Tbsp french dressing
2 tsp canola oil
fresh cracked black pepper
handful of raspberries

Important to note:

Only 9 WW Points+

I used real, full calorie, full fat dressing because it is worth it.

Just got in 4 servings of vegetables.

I got 1 serving of fruit.

Also, a serving of dairy

AND I just got in both of my "healthy oil" servings for the day!

A fantastic start to my day. Now I can go on my Niki-date-night and feel good about my choices.

Move it.

I walked for 24 minutes yesterday and 30 today.

I just cannot get it out of my head...

Move it or lose it.

It = Mobility 

Or it could be positive and read...

Move it AND lose it.

It = Weight

Yay me!

I'm counting points. I am trying to move.

Well, that title could be the short-version of this post...

Here is a medium version...

I am NOT going to go into the repeat mental battle that I have fought the past two months because I have preached it on this blog before. In fact, I will not even link the old post. I have to just move on from this indecisive mess.

I rejoined Weight Watchers and after friggin floundering around with it for a month, and actually following the plan for a month, I am down 10 pounds. (*clap, clap, clap!*)

WW has changed their program (again) twice in the recent months. Points values for foods changed and you must exercise. Basically, higher carb and sugary foods end up "costing" you more points and you must meet a minimum amount of points earned doing activities of your choice (minimums are based on your age/height/weight/lifestyle, etc... just like your food points allowances). Sooo, that's cool. It is definitely not LC/NS like I sometimes feel I *should* do, but you do tend to eat less of the sugary/carby stuff since it eats away at your points. (a pun, yay!)

Like I said, I will not dwell on that stuff. I am just doing it.

********************

What I really wanted to talk about was the fact that I have had two things happen this week that have made me actually want to M-O-V-E.

I have seen a woman (with some aggravating knee problems - like me - and probably partially due to weight - also like me) end up tearing ligaments in her knee. She is now on crutches and miserable. I will not go into much detail there either, but ouch.

The other thing - I saw on Yahoo! where a girl, Natalie Strawn has lost 252 pounds on Weight Watchers (she started at 500+, so don't hate...) and when they interviewed her on television, she mentioned that at first she was unable to exercise. Literally, unable... she was so obese and sedentary that she was PHYSICALLY unable to get up and move around.

Well. That got me ta' thinkin'. I AM able to move. I AM able to get off my (2XL) butt and MOVE. I don't have to do a 5K, or even jog. However, I CAN move. I am blessed to be able to pretty much go and do what I want.

Here's the kicker...
With my current weight and the direction I tend to head with eating and being OUT OF CONTROL with my weight... I could VERY easily have my ability to MOVE yanked away from me. So easily.

Scott and I were talking just last night about that girl's weight loss and how I thought that it was awesome. Of course he (obviously-still-a-14-year-old-perv) says, "I wonder what it would be like to have sex with a 500 pound woman." My quick witted reply? (which is *so* not like me by-the-way) "Well, if I cannot keep myself in gear, I guess you will know pretty soon..."

Go ahead... you are either appalled, or laughing. I do not want to know.

I am nowhere near 500 pounds, but I could be...so easily.

Then we talked about why it seems that even following WW now is *soooo* much harder for me than it was six years ago. Well...let us go back and read that sentence. SIX years ago. I was SIX years younger. That plays more into it than I care to even begin to think about. I am 31 years old now. I have more working against me now than I did then, I'm sure.

That being said, Scott said that he felt like movement was going to be key for me now. Well, how nice and coincidental that WW now requires movement?! The good Lord sure does have good timing and a sense of humor.

So, there. Yep, I am still here. I have not completely abandoned my blog... I am just trying to focus on being phat, not fat. A hott mess, not just a mess. Bahahaha, yep, I went there.

LKB

I am going to go waaay off into left field (as far as weight loss etc. is considered) and talk about something else for a minute. (or five) Call it weird, not to do this in a nice little card or in person, but I "seems ta' do my best thinkin' n' writin' on the keyboard"! (and on my blog) Plus it's 2011...I am keeping up with all this fancy "teknolegy" :)

Anyhoo...

We found out last week that a very important person in the life of our sweet little B is moving on to different (greener?)  pastures. Scott and I both struggled with this all weekend...

                             Oh. My. Gosh.                                                                What?!

What are we going to do?!

        How is B going to feel?!

Crap.                    How could they let her leave?!

                        How can we keep in touch?!

We just did not see this coming.                                Who will take her place?!

We have to learn to trust a new person?!

                  Crap.                          We are supposed to be happy for her.       

I strongly believe in the saying "it takes a village to raise a child". This is probably especially true for folks like us who have to leave our children in the care of other folks for eight or nine hours a day. (If you have never had to do this, I will tell you it is hard. You worry. You miss them. You appreciate them more when you finally get to see them at the end of the day.)

That being said... this person has been around for almost the entire two years of B's life. She has had such a positive, profound effect on B and each child she has worked with. I really think that these developmental years are sooo important. A young baby/child is literally a sponge. Listening. Watching. Thinking. Learning. Mimicking. Repeating. The ultimate goal is to expose your child to someone who is worth listening to, and worth watching and thinking about; someone to learn from, and who does and says things you want your child to mimic and repeat.

We had that and so much more in this person.

You Know Who You Are :)

We really only knew each other through Miss B, (and some crafty-soul vibes!) but B is one of the most precious threads that make up my life... so to know you through her is something I will never forget.

While we are utterly devastated by your leaving, we wish you the best that life has to give.


Who's awesome?  YOU are.



Perspective

Stick with me, I really am going somewhere with this...

My two-year-old throws a fit if her food is not what or how she wants it. Nothing too extreme, but she likes what she likes. (Which, fortunately is a HUGE spectrum.) If you give that little girl peas when she has specified green beans, you are in for a throwdown!

As adults, we tend to just "roll with the punches" sometimes. This is especially so for many of us and our daily diets. We mean to do well, (and have that nice, leafy green salad and lean protein for lunch) but the fast food joint is sooo much more convienent. We may be running low on time, energy, money, etc... whatever it is, we settle for something less. We settle for something easy instead of (throwing a fit like a two-year-old) getting what we want (read: need) to eat.

That being said, this morning I managed to lock my little chica and myself out of the house. I had my purse, her bag, etc., but no car or house keys. I had a mini-melt down, had to call my husband and wait on him to come rescue us.

Granted it was not hot or cold today, it was raining. The car was unlocked so we were able to sit in the car for 30+ minutes while we waited on Scott.

What was I doing? Throwing a fit.

What was my two-year-old doing? Sitting in the backseat, kicking off her shoes, and singing. (about the rain, her ABCs, and her Nor-Nor Eleanor...)

This morning's situation was no big deal to her... but put something to eat in front of her she is not happy with and like a said earlier, throwdown!

Maybe as adults we have our priorities out of order. We could learn a lot from a two-year-old.

Just sayin'.

Stairs

The other day at work, someone asked me to check on something. In order to do that, I had to go to our business department which is upstairs in the main building of our central office. No biggie.

When I got back to my office, the following comment was made:

"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry I made you have to walk up those stairs!"

Soooo, I guess I am that girl. I am the pitiful fat girl who is unable to go up a simple flight of stairs without stroking out from it. I have opinions formed about me (yet again) because of my weight. (Well, obviously I am not always that girl...my knees were not even hurting that day, thank you!) [Read: the person who made the comment was in NO WAY being ugly...in fact, they have seen me with hurting knees...]

Anyways, this takes me my other thought...just because I am overweight does not mean I meet all the preconceived notions of being "FAT". When folks think of a fat person, they sometimes tend to picture a huge, sloppy, stinky, lazy, immobile person. Maybe that is why some of my friends look at me and say "You are not fat." Well, yes, yes, I am, but I think I take fat to literally mean overweight...obese...big... and they take it to be sloppy, stinky, lazy, etc.

Well, either way, the stairs did not bother me that day and I really hated being "that girl".

LOL, don't even get me started on the time someone told me I was the "most mobile/active person of my size" they had ever seen. Hrrrummmphhh. I'm not really that active, but then again I am not laying in bed 24/7, so give the fat girl a prize.

Well, Poop on a Biscuit

So, I am feeling a bit peppy today...it's the first "pep" I have felt in about 4 or 5 months, really.


If you read this post, then you know what has me fired up again.


I have apologized to my best friend in the whole world for always lamenting over and over about the same stuff. (Weight. Sugar. No Sugar. Diets. Willpower. No Willpower...) Perhaps I should apologize to the 7 or 8 readers of my blog too :\

I am no different than a drug addict who gets to their lowest point, then cleans up their act...only to slip-up and start hitting the good stuff again until they are out of control once more. Repeat cycle. See this post.

I have heard stories of addicts who have destroyed their lives. I have heard the pain and sadness in the voice of people telling stories of their loved one's struggles with drugs or other addictions. I have heard how much the addiction hurt families and friends. Maybe I have not hurt anyone with my food addictions (yet), but that mentality is surely something to stop and think about.

Let's just say I have been doing a lot of thinking. (Meanwhile, [testing a theory...] re-attempting Weight Watchers for two months, being constantly hungry and hateful, feeling sluggish and depressed and GAINING weight.)

Addiction

I am giving FULL CREDIT of the following text to Paul John Scott, who's article was published on Details.com's website. The following words are not my own, however they caught my attention. Big Time. If you have the time (and/or have ever doubted the efficacy of a no-sugar/low carb diet), I suggest reading the following in it's entirety.

(begin article)

I'm sitting in a comfortable chair, in a tastefully lit, cheerfully decorated drug den, watching a steady line of people approach their dealer. After scoring, they shuffle off to their tables to quietly indulge in what for some could become (if it hasn't already) an addiction that screws up their lives. It's likely you have friends and family members who are suffering from this dependence—and you may be on the same path yourself. But this addiction is not usually apparent to the casual observer. It has no use for the drama and the carnage you associate with cocaine and alcohol. It's slower to show its hand, more socially acceptable—and way more insidious.

I'm in a Panera Bread outlet. The company is on Fortune's 2010 list of the 100 Fastest Growing Companies and earned more than $1.3 billion in 2009, mainly from selling flour and sugar by the railcar. Last year, Zagat named it the most popular large chain in the United States and ranked it second in the Healthy Options category. The company responded by touting its "wholesome" food. Sure, Panera sells a few salads. But why do the scones, pastries, baguettes, and bear claws get all the good lighting? Why are the grab-and-go packs of cookies and brownies next to the register? What need is fulfilled by serving soup bowls made of bread, with a mound of bread for dipping, and then offering more bread on the side? How come it's noon and the couple behind me are eating bagels while the guy to my right is sawing into a cinnamon roll with a fork and a knife like it's a steak?

The answer is that fast-burning carbohydrates—just like cocaine—give you a rush. As with blow, this rush can lead to cravings in your brain and intrusive thoughts when you go too long without a fix. But unlike cocaine, this stuff does more than rewire your neurological system. It will short-circuit your body. Your metabolism normally stockpiles energy so you can use it as fuel later. A diet flush with carbohydrates will reprogram your metabolism, locking your food away as unburnable fat. When you get hungry again you won't crave anything but more of the same food that started you down the path to dependency. Think of this stuff as more than a drug—it's like a metabolic parasite, taking over your body and feeding itself.

You aren't supposed to talk this way about carbohydrates. According to USDA dietary recommendations, they are not only healthy but are supposed to make up the majority of the food we eat—45 to 65 percent of all calories. Carbs, which are classified as starches and sugars, make up the essence of bread, cereal, corn, potatoes, cookies, pasta, fruit, juice, candy, beer, and sweetened drinks—basically anything that isn't protein or fat. Our government's recommendations were established in the 1970s and have since been accompanied by an explosion of obesity and diabetes. The advice came about as early nutrition scientists rallied around a misguided maxim that remains embedded in the fabric of our attitudes toward food to this day: Eating too much fat makes you fat. But science never bore out this pre-Galilean view of nutrition. What is now clear is this: At the center of the obesity universe lie carbohydrates, not fat.

"You could live your whole life and never eat a single carbohydrate—other than what you get from mother's milk and the tiny amount that comes naturally in meat—and probably be just fine," says Gary Taubes, the award-winning author of Good Calories, Bad Calories, which is helping to reshape the conversation about what makes the American diet so fattening.

If all you knew about food is what you read in the USDA guidelines, you'd think our bodies conveniently come into the world seeking the one nutrient that is cheap and amenable to commercial mass production: carbohydrates. "Sugars and starches provide energy to the body in the form of glucose, which is the only source of energy for red blood cells and is the preferred energy source for the brain," says the latest edition of the guidelines. Wrong, says Taubes, who just released Why We Get Fat, a layman's version of his influential scientific tome. In the absence of carbs, your body will burn fatty acids for energy. It's how you sleep through the night without eating for eight hours. "The brain does indeed need carbohydrates for fuel," Taubes says, "but the body is perfectly happy to make those out of protein, leafy green vegetables, and the animal fat you're burning." As a pair of Harvard doctors (one an endocrinologist and one an epidemiologist) wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association last summer, carbohydrates are "a nutrient for which humans have no absolute requirement."

The Diets That Work

You wouldn't know it from reading the latest dietary headlines, but all of the popular diets—from Atkins to Dean Ornish (Bill Clinton's weight-loss plan) to the diet-of-the-moment, Paleo—are successful because the most important change they advise is the same: stop eating refined carbohydrates. This only reminds us of what had been the conventional wisdom in medicine for hundreds of years before the USDA stepped in: that sugar, flour, potatoes, and rice are what make a person fat, not meat and milk.

Forty years into the low-fat, high-carbohydrate way of eating—we can thank it for "diabesity," shorthand for the societal prevalence of type II diabetes paired with obesity—it seems clearer than ever that our problem lies not simply in carbohydrates, but in their fundamental addictiveness. They sidestep our defenses against overeating, activate brain pathways for pleasure, and make us simultaneously fat and malnourished. They keep us coming back for more, even as they induce physical decline and social rejection. They achieve this more effectively than the controlled substances that can get a guy thrown into jail. Maybe the question isn't whether carbohydrates are addictive, but whether they are the most addictive substance of all.

In 2007, researchers at the University of Bordeaux, France, reported that when rats were allowed to choose between a calorie-free sweetener and intravenous cocaine, 94 percent preferred the sugar substitute. The researchers concluded that "intense sweetness can surpass cocaine reward. . . . The supranormal stimulation of these receptors by sugar-rich diets, such as those now widely available in modern societies, would generate a supranormal reward signal in the brain, with the potential to override self-control mechanisms and thus to lead to addiction." Nicole Avena, an expert in behavioral neuroscience at the University of Florida in Gainesville, has spent many hours analyzing the behavior of rats enticed into sucking up sugar. She says that feeding on sugar can, like snorting coke, lead to bingeing, withdrawal, and craving. It does this by lighting up the same circuitry within the brain triggered by cocaine and amphetamines, the dopamine center.

But a carbohydrate addiction is potentially more destructive than an 8-ball-a-day habit, because it hijacks your metabolism. If you eat a low-carb diet, you are able to remain satiated between meals, because the body will burn its fat stores. But eating carbs, especially refined varieties like sugar or flour, sweetened drinks, or starches, causes the body to release the hormone insulin. The body secretes insulin as a response to high blood sugar—a serious, even potentially lethal health risk over time. The hormone directs cells to extract sugar from the blood and store it as fat, and what's worse, in order to get sugar out of the blood as efficiently as possible, insulin makes it extremely difficult for the body to burn its fat stores. Over time, the presence of insulin in our carb-heavy diet causes diminishing returns. As our cells become resistant to the effects of insulin, our bodies frequently release even more of it to compensate. The result is a blood-sugar vacuum: The body craves more of what the hormone feeds on and triggers our hunger mechanism, which works subconsciously, to direct us toward the nutrient causing all the problems in the first place—carbohydrates. You get fatter and your body craves even more carbs in order to maintain your increasing weight. Drug cartels can only dream of a narcotic with an addiction cycle this powerful.

Once hooked, can you quit your carb addiction? It's not like there's a carb-cessation program at Promises, after all. Taubes says it won't be easy, but given the alternatives, you simply have to try. And cold turkey is as good a method as any. "Anecdotal evidence suggests that the craving for carbs will go away after a while," he says, "although whether a while is a few weeks or a few years is hard to say." And frighteningly like an addict in recovery, you're unlikely ever to be totally cured, and you'll always be tempted to relapse when the opportunity arises. Be warned: The number of Panera Bread outlets is 1,421 and counting.

How You Get Hooked (Over Time)

1. When you take in carbs, like Gatorade or whole-wheat bread, you secrete the hormone insulin. Even thinking about carbs causes this to happen.

2. Refined carbs spike blood sugar, and this is a big problem. The first result is that your body immediately stops burning its existing fat stores.

3. Too much blood sugar is a dangerous situation, and in response, insulin, a hormone, rips it from your blood and tells the body to store the energy as fat (in men this first happens around the waist).

4. Normally your liver controls blood sugar, but because you eat so many carbs you have a constant supply of insulin circulating. This turns out to be bad—very bad. This causes you to become resistant to insulin.

5. Insulin resistance means your body pumps out more insulin to make up for the deficit. Now you're getting fat, but what's worse is that your body desires even more carbs as fodder for the excess insulin.

6. You get fatter and fatter and your body craves more carbs to feed your increasing girth. This destructive cycle is why Americans are so overweight (the process doesn't happen overnight).

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Holy crap. Not that this is anything different that what some of my more simple-minded posts have been about...but did you read that?

Sighhh... so I'm sitting here sipping my unsweetened tea. I had 2 strips of turkey bacon for breakfast and some lean turkey for a snack. Sugar is making me miserable...yes, but killing me, and wrecking havoc on my life and those around me too? Yep. Just like a drug.