In April, I gave up sugar. Well, added sugar. I wasn’t super strict about it. If we’re being specific, I really gave up sweets. Anyway, among the things that were on the Off Limits list was diet soda, for which I have deep affection.
After the no-sugar month ended, I returned to diet soda. But lightly. It’s no longer an every-day necessity.
And I’ve been won over to La Croix, which I previously found revolting. My favorite flavor is mango, which has a nice mango-ness essence to it. My least favorite flavor is tangerine, which tastes like licking someone’s hand after they’ve peeled an orange.
In May, I gave up carbs. But, as with sugar, I don’t mean CARBS. I mean, I was back on sugar after all. I was not turning down the occasional scoop of ice cream, that’s for sure. What I mean when I say “carbs” is the biggies. You know. Rice. Pasta. Bread. Potatoes. Oh, and I also gave up beans and legumes.
And I wasn’t even THAT strict. Sometimes I would have corn on my salads. One day I was sick with a stomach bug and so I ate a bagel. I still drank alcohol.
Even though I cringe a little bit at saying this, because it sounds like I am being glib about something that is very serious for some people, I wasn’t going low-carb because I had to; I was doing it for entertainment. So I could bend the rules here and there.
Really, though, I stuck to it. I found a previously unknown love for zucchini noodles (I REFUSE to call them zoodles), which were a perfectly delicious alternative to rice in my favorite Instant Pot Panang Curry dish. I made basically the same meals that we always make, which includes a lot of chicken/pork and a veggie side. And sometimes I would make a side of rice or couscous for my husband, and sometimes we would both just eat veggies. I begrudgingly ate taco salads instead of tacos-in-shells. And it was all fine.
There were a couple of meals I just didn’t make in May. Pizza, obviously. (I toyed with the idea of getting one of those cauliflower crusts from Trader Joe’s but I didn’t end up trying it.) I didn’t make anything that required potatoes or pasta, like chicken paprikash or spaghetti. I did make more stir fries than I thought I would (since I usually eat stir fries with rice); I either substituted zucchini noodles or I just added extra veggies.
I thought it was going to be SO HARD. I love pasta. I love pizza. I love rice. I love potatoes. I love beans. And I wouldn’t be able to have ANY of those things! For a month!
But… it wasn’t that hard.
Maybe it’s because I had just come off a month of no-sugar, and that was SO UNBEARABLE at the beginning, that going low-carb felt easier. Maybe it’s because I was allowing a little bit of sugar/sweets back into my life, so I felt like I was getting TREATS. Maybe it’s because I eat fewer carbs than I think I do. Maybe it’s because it was only for a month, and I was high on the feeling of power that I got from giving up sugar for so long. If I had to do it full time, it would probably be a lot more unpleasant. It was so not-difficult that I kind of feel like I got away with something. Or I didn’t do it correctly, which is probably more likely.
As with the no-sugar month, I didn’t experience any of the supposed benefits of a low-carb lifestyle. No weight loss, for instance. No feelings of increased energy. Possibly, this is because I didn’t cut out sugar. Or because I didn’t cut out ALL carbs. Or because I didn’t do it long enough. It was an entertaining experiment, that was all.
In any case, I am back on carbs. I have enjoyed MUCH pizza and MANY chips since May ended. There has been no longterm effect of my month off. If anything, I may be OVERcarbing. So perhaps it was harder than I realized.
With celiac disease, I don’t eat pasta or cereal or pizza. (I don’t bother with the gluten free versions because they suck and they are highly caloric). I can honestly say I TOTALLY HATE IT. I can eat rice and potatoes. I am not a huge rice person, but I am Irish . . . so potatoes, YES! When I was diagnosed with celiac the symptoms included being grumpy/mood swings. I told Coach, ‘Oh, you think I was grouchy BEFORE my food was limited. Watch out.’
I am not carb-dieting, but i have been generally trying to eat more veggies, so recently I have been experimenting with the cauliflower options. I have made cauliflower breadsticks and cauliflower pizza crust, and it tastes good! (it doesn’t taste like PIZZA, but it’s good for what it is and not that hard to make) Also I’ve been making fried rice with cauliflower rice, and that’s actually really good and the leftovers hold up quite well (unlike zucchini noodles, for example). At this point you can buy bags of frozen cauliflower rice at the grocery store and you don’t have to thaw it or anything, so you can have fried faux-rice in the same time or less than real rice. (bonus: it’s not actually rice, so you can have another carb, like mac & cheese, as your other side dish!)
I do eat carbs but I try to limit them, a little. Like, I make roasted cauliflower on pasta night, and I fill my bowl 1/2 full with a sensible portion of pasta, and then I eat – literally, this is not an exaggeration – a head and a half of the cauliflower. It’s delicious. Turns out that what I love is the SAUCE, so putting the sauce on the cauliflower is perfect for me. But I still do eat some pasta. I find that much cauliflower is much more filling and satisfying though.
Zoodles! That reminds me, when people first started making zucchini noodles, I was confused because to me, zoodles were those little animal-shaped pasta in a can that my mom used to give me for lunch when I was little.
I think your way of “giving up” carbs is the only sustainable way to do it. Unless medically required (so sorry, Ernie!), you just can’t go cold turkey on everything. It’s too miserable. Sometimes a sandwich is just convenient, you know? And PIZZA. I miss it so much when I’m doing the Whole Life Challenge (like now, 4 weeks to go). And flour tortillas. Sigh.
Ha ha! I LOVE the Tangerine La Croix. It tastes like orange juice. It’s like I’m getting something sweet, but I’m not. I have not tried the mango, but will grab some of my next grocery store trip. (Note: You know what’s gross? Coconut La Croix. It’s so disgusting I can’t stand to think of it anymore.)
Yeah, with a person who has Celiac in the house, our carbs are super limited. I don’t miss them much, to be honest, but I do wish that GF pasta was a bit better because it seems like most people’s quick “go to” meals are pasta. I also wish desperately that I could order a pizza on Friday night because isn’t that what people do on Friday nights after a long week at work?