I'm an addict

If you're like me and you can spend HOURS on the internet *hangs head in shame*, then chances are, you've ended up at a website or a blog and you honestly can't remember how you got there.

You started at Becky's blog, then clicked on a comment that Heather left, now you're at Heather's blog and you click on one of her sidebar blogs that looks interesting and 10 minutes later, you end up at Kevin Bacon's blog (6 degrees of Kevin Bacon..get it?).....

That happened to me earlier today and I'm so glad it did! I somehow ended up at Tara's blog and was very intrigued by her approach to weight loss. Apparently, she's an addict. A Carbohydrate addict. She raves about The Carbohydrate Addict's Diet, a book by Drs. Rachael and Richard Heller.

Always the skeptic (and researcher), I immediately Googled the book and read mixed reviews. Everything from, "I've kept off the weight for 5 years!" to "this diet sucks and I've put back on the weight I had lost."

Basically, it's the same mixed reviews you hear with any diet.

What has me interested in this lifestyle is the science combined with the low-carb approach. When I read this excerpt, I related:

"It seems like an uncontrollable craving at times. I think I should be able to control myself but I don't. I know I'm not weak-willed. I keep most other aspects of my life together- but not my eating."

The approach to this diet is: consume high-protein, low carb meals for breakfast and lunch, then eat whatever you want in a 60-minute period for dinner.

The Basics: Your body releases insulin (the "hunger hormone") a few minutes after you begin eating a meal. How much insulin is released at this time depends on what you ate during your last meal. If you ate a meal higher in carbs, then the first round of insulin release will be significant. The second round of insulin your body releases occurs about 90 minutes after your meal and the amount released is based on what you ate during the meal. Again, if you consumed a meal higher in carbs, then the second release of insulin will be significant. An entire biological process occurs with insulin, glucose, etc but the end result is this: "an excess of insulin remains in the bloodstream. As insulin levels fail to drop, the brain levels of serotonin fail to rise..." and the body thinks its hungry again.

Here's how it works: By eating high-protein, low-carb meals for breakfast and lunch, your pancreas releases the right amount of insulin. When you eat your Reward Meal (whatever you want at dinner) and you eat it within 60 minutes, then the first round of insulin your body releases will be appropriate (based on what you ate earlier in the day) and because you're done eating in 60 minutes, the second round of insulin released will be minimal and you won't experience the sugar drop that most people feel after eating a high carb meal.

Interesting, huh?

I've read about 1/2 of the book and I'm very curious and will probably take this approach.

I've studied insulin resistance and the science is the same. Too many of the complex carbs results in increased insulin being released. Too much insulin circulating in the blood over time makes your body less resistant to it and then the problems begin.

As excited as I am about this, I approach it with caution. Afterall, it's a "diet" that should develop into a lifestyle, but aren't all diets like that??

We'll see!