For most of my adulthood, I struggled with sugar addiction, eating disorders (bulimia and then compulsive overeating), and body image issues. In my 20s, I hit rock bottom. In addition to hating my body and having a compulsive relationship with food, I suffered from depression and low self-esteem. I hated myself for my out of control bingeing.To find healing, I read just about every health, diet and nutrition book on the market. (Exercise was never my problem, as I enjoy moving my body. The problem was what I was putting in my mouth.) I also tried just about every eating plan on the market.
Here's what I learned:I'm sugar sensitive - someone whose body reacts to sugar like a toxic drug. Sugar and other simple carbs - flour products, dried fruit, processed snacks (tortilla chips and potato chips) and grains - yes, even whole grains - trigger a reaction in my body that makes me crave more and more and more.
By contrast, when I stopped eating sugar (and foods that act like sugar in my body - those grains, processed snack foods, and flour products), it was like a switch was turned off in my brain. My cravings disappeared. My hunger vanished. I was no longer insatiably hungry for food, but could take it or leave it. My weight normalized. My moods improved. My depression lifted. I felt like a completely different person.
Eating this way - a high fat, moderate protein, low sugar (hunter-gatherer type) diet - makes me feel on top of the world. (Here's what that looks like in a typical meal: a large serving of low glycemic veggies with butter or olive oil, nuts or some other fat, and a serving of protein.) I am no longer obsessed with food or my body, but am able to turn my energy to what is most important to me. What freedom.
And yet...
I have often gone *off* this way of eating for several reasons:
* As a spiritual seeker, I want to eat vegan because it's non-harming.
* I feel insecure about eating this way. It's unconventional, and in many "experts'" eyes, unhealthy. It takes a lot of courage to live outside the box.
* I feel embarrassed about my struggles with food and I want to eat like a "normal" person - to eat whatever I want and never gain weight.
When I go off my eating plan, I go right back into the compulsive overeating - and the pain.
Enter Jimmy's book. What Jimmy's book, website and informative podcast have done is given me the courage to stick with a low sugar/carb way of living. His passion for low carb living is evident in every page of this book. Like me, and probably you, if you're reading this review, Jimmy wants to help you find freedom from weight and food issues. For good. Let his story and knowledge guide you into a space of trust where you can eat in a way that isn't necessarily conventional or "normal" but that makes your body *sing* with health and vitality.
It has taken me a lot of soul searching (and courage!) to honor my body's make-up (there's that sugar sensitivity piece) and recognize that I need to eat in a way that honors my body, how *my* body was made - and not some general one size fits all prescription from the medical or nutritional community. Non-violence begins with myself.
Eating vegan made me feel crazy. Just awful. Eating my unconventional high fat/low carb way makes me feel amazing - it enables me to serve the world with love.
I will never be one of those people who can eat just one bite of cake or eat anything I want without any consequences. Some people can. I am not one of them.
What is *your* truth? What makes your body thrive? If you suspect that a low carb diet will help you, read Jimmy's words. Listen to his podcasts. Use his website. When you're trying something new, it's normal to feel terrified, to be unsure or scared. That's why it's so helpful to have someone like Jimmy to help you - he's traveled the path before you. He will lead, inspire and guide you.
Use his story as an anchor to root you on this new path, to ground you into freedom.
Wishing you health and wholeness, Karly Randolph Pitman
Click Here to see more reviews about: 21 Life Lessons From Livin' La Vida Low-Carb: How The Healthy Low-Carb Lifestyle Changed Everything I Thought I Knew (Paperback)
Product Description:
After shedding 180 pounds in 2004, Jimmy Moore quickly realized that low-carb was about so much more than just weight loss -- it was a way of eating that he needed to do for the rest of his life not just to manage his weight, but to improve his health, too!What if almost everything you've ever been told and thought you knew about diet and health was 100 percent dead wrong? "21 Life Lessons From Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" takes you through the daily education that has taken place in Jimmy's life through his voracious researching, blogging, interviewing and being engaged in constantly learning more about the healthy benefits of an effective controlled-carbohydrate nutrition over the past few years.Now he's sharing 21 of the most invaluable lessons he has learned over the past five years with those who are struggling with what to do about their obesity, health, and this thing called life. Class is now in session! Learn these lessons for yourself without doing it the hard way!
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