Tasty Low Carb Lifestyle
If you want a diet to shed those extra pounds, it will happen quickly when you eat low carb. If you are diabetic, you can manage your glucose and reduce the need for insulin. However, making a low-carb or moderate-carb diet a “lifestyle” is more difficult.
The secret is TASTE – if your low-carb meals are not tasty you will abandon the lifestyle, and lose the benefits. In fact, if you try to improve taste by increasing your carbs and continue with a high protein high fat food regimen, you will gain weight!
We support each other and we enjoy cooking together. Joanie, our family chef, adapts our favorite recipes. She also creates new and unique recipes using low-carb ingredients without sacrificing great taste. I handle the photography and posts, and once in a while I venture into the kitchen.
We are not dietitians or doctors. Joanie and I are just foodies like you who have made a commitment to enjoy a TASTY LOW CARB lifestyle and offer this blog to share our recipes and our experience.
Here is our story . . .
UPDATE TO OUR STORY –> After ten years in the desert of the Southwest, we have moved back to Pittsburgh! The move was made to get closer to children and our precious Grandchildren (now there are three)! We will soon be posting new Tasty Low Carb Recipes, and many Mediterranean Diet low-carb creations!
Joanie
Approximately ten years ago I was diagnosed with Adult Cystic Fibrosis (CF), an inherited disorder that affects the lungs and digestive system. Not a diagnosis that anyone wants to hear, but one that finally explained the respiratory problems that I had been plagued with most of my life. The CF has also led to limitations in the ability of my pancreas to produce insulin, leading to what is called CF related diabetes (CFRD). So like many in our world, I began monitoring my blood glucose daily and became acutely aware of how much food can impact the levels and my health.
Since retiring from nursing nine years ago and relocating with Chris from Pennsylvania to Arizona, my job has been to stay as healthy as possible through diet and exercise. In the Phoenix area we have a plethora of gorgeous mountain trails, so hiking and walking has become a daily early morning activity for me for nine months of the year. When it becomes too hot in the summer, swimming takes over as my daily routine. Exercise is great for maintaining adequate lung function and also helps with my diabetes.
The best diet for diabetes is a low-carb diet. It helps with weight loss and will lower the blood glucose. Excess carbs cause spikes in glucose and danger for a diabetic. But, in my case I do not need to lose weight. In fact, doctors encourage me not to lose weight. I have to make sure that I get enough calories and fat in my diet to maintain my healthy weight while keeping my glucose numbers stable. It is a balancing act, but our low carb lifestyle works for me as I am able to control my diabetes with diet and my daily exercise, all without the need for insulin.
As you can see, it is a full-time job balancing exercise, calories, carbs, and weight. Our low-carb lifestyle does bring us closer together, sharing recipes, dishes we cook, and our blog. We both give each other a lot of TLC – TASTY LOW CARB!
Chris
My story is likely one that you may have heard, and even lived. A battle with hypertension, a family history of catastrophic heart and stroke issues, a sedentary lifestyle, and a diet consisting of pizza, pasta, and bread. Years of trying many diets provided little success. Gaining more weight each year became the norm. I would rationalize – the cause was hereditary. But, I know it was more about will power and lifestyle.
For the past twenty years, I have been living with atrial fibrillation caused by hypertension. With medicines, my health issue is controlled. Yet, being overweight combined with the irregular heart rhythm caused increased fluid retention. My cardiologist Son continued to sound the alarm, “Dad, you better do something about the weight.”
When I was first diagnosed with atrial fibrillation I tried the Atkins diet and quickly lost over twenty pounds. Then I fell victim to a passion for high-carb food. The maintenance phase of the diet began and I quickly spiraled back to my old ways. The weight came back with every carb-dominated meal.
Fortunately, it was not one shocking event that caused my increased will power. It was a number of events linked together. A realization that social security was on the horizon. The birth of our first Grandchild and hopes of being around to see her grow up. An understanding that time becomes more important than anything. There was no epiphany. I simply accepted that to be happy and healthy a new lifestyle was long overdue.
Eating a low-carb diet had worked before. But, to make it a lifestyle, the food had to be tasty! That became my goal – tasty low-carb meals for health and happiness.
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We hope that our blog and recipes will combine with our story line to motivate others to make a similar lifestyle change. Please, enjoy the tasty recipes and stop back to our website often. We encourage your comments on our recipes and to sign up for our recipe e-mails.
