Carb Free...

So... this past Monday marked 4 weeks that I have been carb free (minus a little bit of cheating while I was at the beach). I have cut out all bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, sugar, etc... basically everything good. My diet now mostly consists of lean meats, veggies, low carb fruits, water, vitamins, nuts, and Breyers Low-Carb ice cream :) with the occasional glass of red wine. When Ben got here, and while I was still nursing, I was seriously obsessed with carbs. Bread, pasta, rice, ANYTHING. I guess I just needed whatever could give me energy quick, because I craved it all- and it was all so bad for me. Now don't get me wrong, I completely understand that it is totally OK to eat whole grains and healthy carbs, but that was not what I was doing. My diet was seriously white, as in, white potatoes (french fries, baked potatoes, hash browns) or white bread (biscuits, rolls, pancakes)... I am honestly kind of embarrassed that it got so bad. Somehow I still managed to lose the majority of my baby weight, but I still had/have about 10 pounds I want to lose. So, about a month ago I decided I was going to give up all of those bad carbs cold turkey for about 4-6 weeks, and then slowly reintroduce "good" carbs back into my diet. My parents are on low carb diets (my dad is diabetic, and my mom does it to support my dad) and it has really helped them. My dad hasn't taken insulin since he started, which was right after Ben was born, and he has also lost about 55 pounds- and counting. My mom is already tiny, but she is working out a lot and in great shape.

My goal is to lose a total of 15 pounds. So far I've lost about 7-8. The first few days of the diet were absolutely brutal. I had no energy, and was seriously starving ALL of the time. But starting on about the 4th day I started feeling so much better. I wasn't hungry all of the time. I didn't have a headache all day. Also, oddly enough, my anxiety level was much lower. It was already fairly low to begin with (since Ben was about 12 weeks old, but before that it was a different story!), but I noticed a definite change. I have been sleeping better too. This is very important because I am not a good sleeper. I'm serious- I am a serial benadryl-taker at night, but for the past few weeks I haven't had to take my usual 1/2 dose to fall asleep, which is great!

Some of my fave dinners are:

Grilled Chicken  <--try this recipe 
Filet with asparagus
Zucchini and squash chopped up and baked with EVOO.. yum. I also sometimes add red onion and red pepper to jazz it up a little bit.

At first this diet sounds awful, but honestly there are plenty of options to keep things interesting. I probably eat a larger variety of foods now than I did before I started doing the low carb thang.

Hopefully it will continue to be this easy. I'll keep you updated!