A miracle of nature

One friend has suggested I must have discovered the secret of nuclear fission and am hiding it in my marrow, and another suggested I'm an autotroph. The doctor and dietician had no explanation but seemed less inclined to propose explanations.

After 2.5 weeks on a low-carb diet (the dietician checked over my eating record), with my usual exercise routine, I haven't lost any weight. Normally, she said, she first puts people on a healthy diet (which I had when I first saw her), and if that isn't effective, she tries the low carb diet, which has never before failed to deliver results. She gave me instructions for gradually re-introducing carbs into my diet, so I'm no longer low-carbing, although I still have a number of low-carb recipes to post. Then she sent me back to the doctor.

The doctor couldn't find anything medically wrong with me, but also doesn't know what could be causing this. She referred me to the obesity clinic (although I'm not technically obese), so in the next month or so I'll find out what some more experts have to say about it.

In the meantime, I'll enjoy the fact that I'm otherwise in better physical condition due to picking up exercise again, and continue to enjoy my (mostly healthy) food.

Entering low-carb land

I try to eat well. For the last 10 years, I've been avoiding sugar, and for the last 6 years I've been making sure I actually get at least 3 portions of vegetables a day. But when I started grad school a few years ago, exercising quickly dropped from my agenda, and I became overweight.

I've been trying to fix that for the last four and a half months by exercising 5 days a week, 2+ hours a day...and I haven't lost a single kilo. I'm not expecting the flab to melt away, but I do expect some progress! The gym instructor was surprised. When I saw my doctor, she thought it was so odd that she ordered a thyroid function test (it came back fine). So I was referred to a dietician, who has put me on a low-carb diet for the next two weeks. I should aim for 30-60 grams of carbs a day.

I don't really have experience with low-carb eating. But I do have some tools which I hope will help me make this cuisine a bit more interesting than the sample diet I received, which seems to be aimed at people who don't especially care for cooking. First, because I already eliminated sugar, I know how to get a pretty good taste using stevia and a touch of agave syrup (important, given my sweet tooth!). Second, I have cooked for someone with a wheat sensitivity, so I know a little bit about using almond flour and coconut flour. Third, I already know of some dishes which naturally contain few carbs, which is good, because I don't want to spend all my time trying to make replacements. I'd rather apply the same principle that I do with vegetarian food, and look for dishes which are already complete without the ingredient that's being avoided. I'm already looking forward to making gado gado and ratatouille. Finally, I like to cook, which is an essential quality when embarking on a non-standard diet if you aren't willing to torture your tastebuds.

I've decided to start this blog to give me incentive to keep trying to make tasty food. I expect some failures, but hopefully there will also be some successes I can share.