I did not lose the weight on purpose though I need to lose about 50 pounds. I have had panic attacks waking me from my sleep and I think my adrenal glands are shot. I actually licked a sucker only about 4 times and within minutes felt like I was going to pass out. I have no idea what to eat except for meat and some complex carbs. This is scary for me indeed.

A:
I used to have terrible panic attacks and anxiety. About a year and a half ago I read this book called The Mood Cure by Julia Ross. It is about how to get rid of anxiety, depression and panic attacks using natural methods. It totally changed my life, and the concepts go well with this plan. Since I completely gave up sugar 3 months ago, I have had zero anxiety and no panic attacks at all which is shocking because I have suffered with this for 20 years. Up until I gave up sugar 3 months ago, I have had some level of anxiety every single day, even when on vacation and even when things were going really great.

Meat and vegetables and healthy fats are probably best for you now.
You should also get some Virgin Coconut oil and take at least a teaspoon with each meal. It keeps your blood sugar stable which helps prevent anxiety and panic. Fish oil is really good too. I take Carlson’s liquid. I like it because it is completely flavorless and because it is a liquid it is easy to take a high dose without taking a million pills.

If you feel like you must have sugar, get some Stevia. It has no carbs or calories and does not elevate your blood sugar whatsoever.
The brand I use is Stevia Canada and has no bitter aftertaste like most of them in the US.

A: If you’ve never had experience with even a less-restrictive low-carb diet, changing cold turkey probably isn’t the best idea. I can say though that when you do that and experience those symptoms, I’m betting it’s not actually blood sugar related even though it feels like it is. (I’ve had those symptoms myself at times, and I’ve checked my blood sugar, and it’s fine.)

When you’re first starting out on a plan where carbs are significantly restricted, it’s crucial that you pack in as much fat as you can! As soon as your glycogen stores run out, your body’s got to learn to derive energy from fat and protein, and there’s a transition there that’s not always pleasant. You can make it go a little smoother though by cramming in the fat!

I agree with most who advocate making slower dietary changes (in most cases), but there’s something to consider. High fat in the presence of high carbohydrate is NOT healthy, so you don’t want to get stuck in that situation for too awfully long.

It’s tough, but actually, I HAVE to do things the cold turkey way or I never make the switch. And you only feel real yucky like that for a couple days (if you choose to do it that way.)

Since I’m not only eating the way I do to try and deal with Candida but also to ward off diabetes, control my blood pressure, and deal with food addiction, I’ve learned that higher-sugar fruit, grain, starchy veggies and legumes just do NOT work for me.

There aren’t any nutrients in grain, legumes, and starchy veggies that I can’t get from other foods that work better for me. I feel a TINY bit differently about fruit, but I don’t NEED fruit to be healthy, and I certainly can’t tolerate much (if any) while trying to address the Candida issue. Heck, even too many cooked onions give me issues. *sigh*

I wish this wasn’t true for me. I wish I could eat whatever I wanted and be healthy. I wish I didn’t have to limit my diet the way I know I have to in order to get healthy. That’s a “head” issue that I still have to work on though — accepting the fact that I’m probably never going to be able to eat certain foods and stay healthy.

I found that for me I thought I might like a workout buddy but when I tried it I found it was not a good idea for me for several reasons.
One is that if your motivation hinges on other people then when they lose their motivation yours is gone too. I found that workout buddies tended to suck out of all my motivation too.. it’s so much better IMO to find your own way of making exercise rewarding.

Plus scheduling is a pain and I have a hard time carrying on a conversation when I’m breathing a bit heavy. Plus it takes a lot longer to do your workout often if you are waiting around for someone else to move on to the next machine or what ever. Or you find the person has every excuse in the world, when it’s hard enough to motivate yourself.

So what I recommend that really worked for me (I was never big into exercise until recently – the last 2 years – so this really worked!) is start by finding something you enjoy that you can do any time, set a time to do it on a regular basis and commit to doing a very small amount.

Also, absolutely pace yourself, and as soon as you feel any burn in your muscles stop. Why? Because as a human being your nature is to avoid pain and gravitate towards pleasure. When exercise feels good, you continue to do it, and are motivated to do it. When you are sore or have burning muscles during exercise, your mind associates the pain with what you are doing.

So having a gung-ho attitude and overdoings things is the #1 reason why people don’t stick with it.. in their subconscious, exercise causes pain, and they subconsciously avoid doing it. Also if it is boring that’s also not something people will stick with. When I started out I could only do 2 minutes on the elliptical before my muscles started burning, but I was consistent with it.

I kept going because I had a promise to myself to do this. I really couldn’t justify to myself not finding the time to do 2 mins of exercise. I *highly* recommend setting a very slow pace for yourself, because sometimes we get so gung-ho, then we end up hurting ourselves or get sore, then the exercise is associated in our mind with pain and we do not look forward to it.

I stopped at 2 minutes but I could have probably done a bit more.. but as soon as my muscles burned I stopped. I kept at it at a total snail’s pace, and never once was I sore after a workout or dealing with pain. Instead I got wonderful endorphins without the pain. But too many people get all excited about it.. over do it then quit.

I can’t express how important it was for me with everything I have done to do it SLOWLY, one step at a time. In the past I have overdone it but my mentor told me that people burn out if they make too many changes too quickly.. physically and mentally. It’s like the new years resolution mentality, rather then a life-changing mentality.
The other thing is that I make it enjoyable for myself by rewarding myself while I workout.

I listen to my favorite tunes on my MP3 player and I look forward to that. I also read while I’m working out, but not some responsible textbook or self-help book but a hot-n-trashy romance novel.. I love those. LOL. So getting to read is my reward for working out. Ok and I’ll be honest it is fun to be reading a naughty book when you are surrounded by plenty of well-muscled men. Meow!

Ok so that is what works for me. Now this set up might not work for you, but you can apply the same principles, but tailor them to your situation. For instance I used to dance every night next to my computer speakers. I created special MP3 playlists. I couldn’t afford a gym back then. I used to rollerblade everywhere. When I learned to rollerblade I was 310 pounds. Just standing in those things killed my calves so for a week I did nothing but stand in them for 5 minutes a day.. not rolling anywhere at all.

The following week I stood in them for 7 minutes. The following week I skated but only next to a railing for balance. After a few months I was so good I was blading on the sides of streets and keeping up with bikers. At one time I rollerbladed something like 20 miles a day!

One time I took my husband out rollerblading, and he got upset because he wasn’t great at it right away and never did it again. The point is that I did it really slowly and found something that was fun for me – I also listened to music while I was blading.

It’s so important to have patience and take baby steps.. it’s amazing how far they take you! I ballroom dance and it took me 4 years to start getting better at it.. I took regular classes and such, and then later I did some amateur performances. You can take ballroom classes for exercise, they are fun. Get some videos and practice the steps for a while at home first. You can simply march in place while you watch your favorite TV show.

Just find one that’s on half an hour each day and promise yourself that you are going to march in place through the show or something.
But of course you should start at 3 minutes or so. If you are in really really bad shape like I was, there’s a great show on PBS called Sit and Be Fit.. you can workout from a chair! I couldn’t stand for more than 5 minutes at a time back then. Give yourself a reward for doing your workout (non-food) or make the workout the reward somehow.. that is the point.

Another thing I do is take things that I have to do anyway and make it a workout. Like I have to clean the house, but I do it really fast, briskly walking between rooms, putting things away as quickly as possible. The chore gets done faster and I get it out of the way and it’s more exercise-like. I love things like that! I guess what I am saying is that I have as many reasons for NOT exercising as pretty much anyone else, maybe more.

The point is that not everyone will find that what I do works for them.. but instead you can look at what I do in a more generic problem-solving context. I found a way to make exercise rewarding by reading and listening to music, seeing it as time for myself, etc. My main reasons for not wanting to work out were boredom, motivation, pain, lack of time, etc. I figured out a way to get past the boredom, went slowly to avoid pain, found something that motivated me and restructured my life so I had the time.

But for someone else maybe their problem is they can’t afford the gym or they don’t feel comfortable at the gym, or they go too fast so they are in pain, or any number of reasons. What I would say would be an idea to make this problem solving to be more generic is to start with making a list of the reasons you don’t want to exercise. Then for each item on the list, find a way to creatively get around it. So to give an example, some people don’t go to a gym because they feel uncomfortable with all of the hot bodies there.

Maybe the solution for this person would be to work out at home.
Maybe the solution is to join a place like Curves or a gym that tends to have less than perfect people. Maybe the solution is to confront the emotional reason they are uncomfortable. Maybe they can go really late at night when there’s not that many people like I did at first.

There can be any number of ways to solve the problems. It just takes creative problem solving in some cases. If you want you can share with me your unique list of roadblocks and I can see if I can come up with some ideas for getting around them, and maybe others here will have some ideas or their own roadblocks to share or be helped by others ideas.

While doing all this I spend an hour a day at the gym and cook all my foods from scratch. I am really excited to have our own blog, as we are both passionate about helping people.

We tend to compliment each other with different strengths. One is a fantastic listener, genius-level intelligence, kind and caring and understanding. Being really good with supplement information, blood sugar info, low carb and pregnancy, and a myriad of health issues.

My information in nutrition is usually weight-loss or candida-centric, as I have not has as many health issues to deal with. I definitely try to focus more on the motivational and psychological aspects. It’s great if you can find a diet that works for you, but if you don’t stick with it it doesn’t do you much good.

I’ve managed to turn things around for myself and have a different perspective with food. My only concern for my food is that it’s edible and super-nutritious.
I’ve managed to really seperate my emotions from what I eat.

That doesn’t mean I don’t want things that are off plan.. the want never goes away.. but I know that those emotions are fleeting and will go away a lot
sooner than the consequences if I do decide to stray.

10 minutes of pleasure eating cake can set me back months.. literally. I won’t trade 10 minutes for a few months.

I’ve had candida since age 1 and have been overweight since age 6. I’ve struggled with my weight all my life and finally started getting into low carb in 1994 when I first got on the net.

I felt like I had finally found the truth, and I was definitely on the right track. I became obsessed with the subject and read information on it quite
regularly.

As I learned I found out lots of good information on how to refine low carb so it was even better quality.
Better fats, better ratios, cutting out things like dairy and fruits and fake foods.

However knowing and doing are two different things.
When I found myself after having my son at 380 pounds, barely functioning and afraid I was going to die any moment, that was my wake up call.

With some help from many sources, I finally got my head straight.. I got out of denial that I could eat off plan at any time, that it would ever be OK with my body.

I made that decision and decided I would do what ever I could to stick to what I decided, including pre-planning my foods, avoiding situations that might compromise my peace, and more.
I haven’t done any cheating on low carb for almost three years now. Not a bite off plan. However I did have a few low carb items like fruit and cheese here and there but this happens very rarely and usually with extenuating circumstances.

My last “cheat” was with some pumpkin soup with cream on christmas. I totally understand what it’s like to struggle with cheating. I was on and off the wagon for like 10 years.

It took me a long time to see the cost of what I was doing, to face that no food flavor was worth that, and to see all of the things I gained from better health by giving up a few minutes of pleasure each day.