Let me first say I admire your self-experimentation. You seem to take theories and put them to the test – and get real empirical (though anecdotal) info out of them.

I think that sometimes, anecdotal data from a human is better than well-designed studies on mice.

To be honest, I can’t quite wrap my head around a high-carb diet ‘conditioning’ a person to not be as insulin resistant, though I do have some understanding of up-regulation and down-regulation, and in that sense I can see some logic in it.

Is is possible though that it works for some and not for others? I’m more of the mind lately that there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ diet, and that some of us might respond better to one diet than another. Michael Pollan’s book ‘In Defense of Food’, makes the point that many different cultures have varying diets, and all of them are healthy for them – except the standard American diet, which, sadly, seems to be getting adopted by most of the world.

I myself have taken 8 lbs. off doing low carb in the past 6 days. I’ve been in ketosis for three, and my appetite and my cravings have reduced, while my energy has increased. Interesting, though – my blood glucose (which I measure as part of my own self-experimenting, though I am not a diabetic) has remained in the same 10-point range.

I’ll be sure to keep tabs on your current experiment, and I recommend anyone reading this to check out your blog, as your experiments are fascinating – both high carb and low carb (or the zero carb diet you went on), and you are a very lucid and engaging writer – though readers should be warned that they face the potential of their own sacred cows getting gored in your writing – but that’s part of what I like about it.

Thanks for writing.

LCC

Thanks for the kind words.

I am also glad that you are out there, providing a great resource for people curious about low carb, or to those of us who need info and support as we plug along while living low carb.

As I know how much work I put in just to keep my paltry postings coming, I know how much work you must put into this – and I am humbled.

Keep on keeping on.

Regards,

LCC

Unfortunately, the basal metabolism typically lowers over the long haul with low-carb dieting, which creates the unbreakable plateau. Then weight loss typically creeps back in, and the cravings you still battle become stronger, and stronger, and…

To go “all the way” you have to cure yourself of insulin resistance. I think it can be done, and the current experiment I’m doing on my blog is a big piece of that puzzle.

http://www.180degreehealth.blogspot.com

Intelligent, reasoned discourse is so rare these days that it’s valuable on that basis alone!