Introduction

I started this as the introduction to a blog, and it ended up as nearly a full-length book. I don't know if anyone will read all the way through it, but I'm putting it up here anyway, hoping that someone may -- and may get something useful out of my musings on why I believe my low-carb way of life is the only reason I'm still alive now, at almost 70 years of age.

Ten years ago I weighed 206 pounds. I could barely walk due to arthritis pains in my hips, knees and ankles. For three miserable years I'd starved myself on a strict, low-fat diet ordered by my doctor. While I was on that diet I gained almost 25 pounds, and my previously normal blood pressure and blood lipids went through the roof.

Then I found low-carb! Two years later my weight was down to 145 pounds.I was never hungry. I was walking up to two miles a day without pain, working out several days a week at a local gym and doing water exercises at home on the other days. I'd gone from size X and XX clothing to size 12. My cholesterol and triglyceride levels were back down, as was my
blood pressure. And I kept my weight down and activity level up for three more years simply by avoiding high-carb foods.

Then came a series of health concerns not related to my low-carb WOE. They say if you want to have a long and healthy life you should choose parents who came from healthy families, and who lived long, healthy lives themselves. My parents were wonderful people, but both of them came from families with a history of serious genetically-based medical conditions.

Almost four years ago I found I had breast cancer, bequeathed to me by my mother's family. After three operations, two rounds of chemo and one of radiation therapy I'm apparently cancer-free. But during those treatments it was discovered that I had an aortic aneurysm -- in the exact place my father had one. It, too, required major surgery. My father's mother had a prolapsed bladder and uterus. I inherited both, and had three major surgeries to repair them -- one many years ago, but two in the past two years. After all that it's not surprising that Celiac Disease, another genetic problem found in my mother's family, surfaced in me. It lies apparently dormant in many people until a stressful situation -- or series of them -- triggers its acute stage. The only "cure" is lifelong adherence to a gluten-free diet, which I'm now combining with low-carb.

Throughout my testing, diagnoses and treatments my doctors all remarked on my excellent physical shape for a woman in her mid 60's. They said my conditioning helped my body survive the "insult" of intense chemo, radiation therapy and six surgeries in less than four years. The doctor who did an arteriogram before the aneurysm surgery marveled that my arteries were cleaner than those of most children. When I told him the low-carb diet and exercise program I'd been on for about six years, he said, "Whatever you've been doing, keep it up. I'm amazed!"

Unfortunately, in the last four years I couldn't keep up what I'd been doing, due to the effects of the treatments and the surgeries. In fact, I lost all of my hard-won muscle tone and once again I could barely walk. But last month my doctors finally gave me the okay to begin low-impact exercises again. With Central Florida's frequent warm spells in the winter, I've been able to resume toning my muscles with water exercises, and have already reached the point where I can walk a slow quarter mile on the treadmill on days when it's too cool to swim.

Despite my recent health problems, I've already lived almost eight years longer than my mother did. She was a carbaholic who, as far back as I can remember carried 80 or so extra pounds on her 5' 3" body. Seeing her die at age 62 of a massive heart attack was one of the incentives behind my beginning a low-carb way of life and doing my best to stick to it.

If anyone has really taken the time to read all the way through this, I hope my story may be an incentive for you. I never really craved lots of sweets and starches, so eating low-carb has been fairly easy for me. But even if I suffered from sugar cravings every hour of every day, I'd still find some way to overcome them and stick with low-carb in the future. Because if I didn't stick with low-carbing I don't believe I'd have any future!

My resolution for 2009 was to start a blog. Well, I've done that -- in spades! And now I have another resolution: [COLOR="Red"]"In the future when writing blog posts, Keep it shorter, Stoopid!"[/COLOR]

I plan to post fairly regularly, and to keep them quite short. My plans include blogging on meal ideas, some of the best low-carb, gluten-free recipes I've found, comments on low-carb-related items I find that either interest me or infuriate me, and links to other blog posts that I find interesting and relevant. If anyone's still reading this, I hope you'll come back, and will enjoy my future offerings.