After about five months of eating low carb, I’ve learned a few things….
1) I learned how many carbs go into my body. There’s nothing like having a low carb diet to shock you speechless when you look at the carb count on food you normally wouldn’t have given a second thought. Or the time that my husband and I went out to eat…I consumed my usual low carb meal….his meal came to a total of about 150 carbs (can’t remember what all he had…burger, onion rings, soda? Whatever it was it added up). When we got home his blood sugar was perfectly normal!!! How did he do that??? 😉
For most people, a hamburger and onion rings are okay for the blood sugar. And that’s fine. But it was rather eye opening to realize how many carbohydrates I typically eat!
2) I learned self-control. I learned how to walk through the grocery store and walk by all the delicious breads, pasta, cookies, egg rolls, ice cream, ______ (fill in the blank) that called out to me. I learned how to scroll quickly through Facebook posts of people’s donuts. I learned that I don’t need dessert sugar to fill a sugar craving. (Fruit is seriously amazing!) In short, I learned how to say no to myself. I had never before had to say no to something that sounded good, so it was rather new to me. It’s been good to learn and practice self-control over my body as one of the fruits of the Spirit.
3) I realized that healthy eating will look different for different people. Most people when they talk about healthy eating or diets are all about calories. Counting calories. But calories aren’t what everyone needs to be concerned with. I just found it fascinating to glimpse a whole new realm of health and taking care of your body through diet.
4) I learned how to creatively ration. At first I conscientiously avoided all sugar and all dessert. Slowly I realized that when I keep my blood sugar level, it’s okay to sometimes have a couple bites of ice cream. Or eat that higher carb piece of fruit.
Even after the baby is born and I will (probably) not have to worry about high blood sugar anymore, I definitely want to still be aware of our family’s carb intake. I plan to still make a bunch of the low carb meals I’ve found. But….I will also definitely be adding in things like pasta and bread (I’m ready for a plain old sandwich again!) to our meal plan!
While this diet definitely has been difficult and there have been many times where I felt like “there’s nothing to eat”, I really appreciate all the opportunities to learn and grow on so many levels. Changes in health and changes in diet don’t have to be horrible and dreaded.
-Bonnie
Life with You 