Crazy Uncle Larry

Do you think of yourself as a crackpot, dear reader?

The survey that I put up 2 weeks ago shows that a lot of you have been on low carb for a while – and you’ve lost weight doing it. And part of the reason you visit the site is to hang out with other folks who are doing some sort of low carb diet.

I’ve been maintaining this blog for about a year now, and had little clue why people would read my drivel (I’m not including Megamas – the Hemingway of Low Carb – in this characterization). From the survey it seems that many of you enjoy the camaraderie – that there are other souls out there that understand.

What that must mean is that you’re not getting a lot of support from those around you. When you tear in to a greasy burger, but ask for it without the bun, you get that look, usually reserved for that crazy uncle Larry that you have to invite to Thanksgiving because he’s family.

Every family has a crazy uncle Larry

When you get that look, you have become crazy uncle Larry. You are the family crackpot.

Let’s face it: the conventional message to anyone who thinks about nutrition and health is that a low fat diet is the way to go, and fat, especially the modern bugaboo of saturated fat, will cause you to swell up like a liferaft and cause your arteries to clog up like a bathroom sink with a hairball.

Try to tell them that there is no direct proof that dietary cholesterol leads to serum cholesterol, and you’re uncle Larry.

This leads me to another thought: are we low carb adherents here because we are naturally contrarians, or have we become contrarians because of low carb? It’s the chicken/egg problem: some of us might have been attracted to low carb precisely because most people think it’s crazy.

And here’s yet another thought: one study I recently read mentioned that a ketogenic diet made people a lot more grumpy than a non-ketogenic low carb diet. Might going on a low carb diet cause a personality change? Especially for those of us who tough it out and stick to a low carb diet long-term – does it change us in mind as well as in body?

As crackpots go, we low carbers aren’t in the same league as this fellow who thinks cutting a hole in his skull has made him smarter, but we do stand out in a crowd, especially if we are at an event where food is being served – then it’s hard to hide.

Here’s some questions to ask yourself to see if you’ve become uncle Larry:

1. When I meet new people I usually mention that I live a low carb lifestyle.
2. When I see someone eating donuts or cake, I make a comment about blood sugar, insulin, or the production of tryglycerides.
3. Some of the things I cook scare family members.
4. I tend to correct people when they talk about saturated fat being bad for them.
5. I annoy servers at resturants by asking them obscure questions about how my food is prepared.
6. When asked to bring food to a gathering, it’s always low carb.
7. I always mention that the food I brought is low carb.
8. I try to convince people on low fat diets that they are wasting their time and ruining their health.
9. I feel guilty eating an orange.
10. I tend to use the word Splenda a lot.
11. I think everybody else is nuts – I’m the one who has the facts straight. 

If you answered ‘yes’ to at least 3 questions, you are compared to uncle Larry.

If you answered ‘yes’ to 4 to 7 questions, you are uncle Larry.

If you answered ‘yes’ to more than 7 questions, you scare uncle Larry.