The Power of Low Carb

We went out to eat last night, and as the rest of the table was digging into the garlic bread, someone asked me if I was still doing the no-carb thing. “You have such great willpower,” she complimented. I, the former Ben&Jerry's pint downer, tried to disabuse her of this notion.

See, I have terrible willpower, if there even is such a thing. I love food. I love touching it, making it, smelling it, tasting it, chewing it. I like to eat, a lot! I don't think I could have tipped the scales at 200lbs  if I didn't love food. And if my supposed willpower was so strong, I would have stopped eating long before I ran out of pants that didn't slice me in half at the waist.

I think willpower doesn't make much sense when it comes to dieting. Neurotransmitter and hormones and chemicals and electric impulses collide around the brain and produce a resulting behavior. Humans have far less choice and control in the matter than they like to believe. You can say you had the strength to resist that serving of pie, but I call B.S. Your brain collisions simply guided you to a different reward. By not eating the dessert, you could have the pleasure and satisfaction of a) sticking to your diet, b) having slightly more slender thighs, c) feeling healthy and “clean”, d) not worrying about the scale effects, e) looking like the health-conscious one at the dinner table, f) avoiding sugar rushes, or g) all of the above. Another day, the tantalizing taste of the pie may be more pleasurable than any one or all of the aforementioned rewards, so you eat it. 

While it may have looked as though I had steely strength while resisting cheese-covered garlic bread and flour-battered wings, really, I was just looking forward to my steak. Being “off” sugar for so long means I am mostly free from cravings, so the internal battle of “Oh that looks so good – but I mustn't!”  doesn't happen. The key with this way of eating for me is that I love what I eat. I don't feel deprived or hungry.

Yesterday was a great example of how low carb eating curbs appetite. At around 10:30am, I ate brunch: chicken souvlaki skewers dipped in tzatziki (yum!). Then I became completely engrossed in writing and other website work, and realized at 2:30 that I had three loads of laundry and a pile of dishes to do, the whole apartment to tidy, and myself to shower and dress before leaving the house at 4:30 to catch a train. This did not leave any time to eat, and I didn't have anything quick I could grab.

By the time we got off the train, I was admittedly ravenous. I ate a couple of slices of Monterey Jack cheese, and felt fine. This lasted me another two hours before my juicy, seasoning-crusted steak arrived before me. My total calories for the day, with one patch of hunger? 1000.

Let me be clear about this: with any other macronutrient ratio, such a calorie-restricted day would have me climbing the walls. My responses to hunger range from indescribable sadness and despair to general irritability to outright banshee-esque fury. I grew up in a house where food was plentiful, the fridge always stocked with apples and cheese for quick satisfying snacks and three very square, very English meals a day. (I still remember my shock as an undergraduate at the price of cheese, which had previously magically appeared in the fridge like water from flowing from the faucet!)

However, with 135g of protein spread over the day, I was neither despairing nor demonic. I don't make a habit of cutting my calories this low, but it's nice to not be driven demented with hunger when such situations arise. Also, as my weight gets lower and lower, the low carb magic of eating as many calories as you like and still losing tends to dissipate. The way I see it, it's win-win. I can eat way more calories than someone on a low fat diet, and still lose weight, or at least maintain this weight. Or, I can eat way less calories than that same low fat dieter, and feel less hungry and more satisfied. More weight loss, less hunger, and deliciously satisfying foods. I can deal with skipping the bread for that, even with the worst willpower in the world.

Comments

[Jimmy Moore]

Hey Kate,

THANKS for addressing this issue because it is an important one for people who are livin' la vida low-carb to remember. Things change when you eat this way that have absolutely NOTHING to do with any newfound strength or willpower. It's like a switch has been turned on and you just do it now.

You may enjoy the following blog post I wrote in August 2006 on the same subject:

http://livinlavidalocarb.blogspot.com/2006/08/weight-loss-doesnt-take-willpower-but.html

SEE YA!

Jimmy Moore, author of "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb"
LivinLaVidaLowCarb.com
livinlowcarbman@charter.net
Podcast Show: TheLivinLowCarbShow.com

[Low Carb Dave]

Exactly! Spot on!

It has nothing to do with Willpower!

Just the choice to eat low/no carb!

[Cindy Brickley]

Exactly right! I don't mind passing up the breadsticks waiting for the chicken, and it's really difficult for my carby friends (who are usually moaning about their weight) to understand. I, like you, don't consider myself to have any real will power at all, but low-carbing makes eating well so easy that I don't need to have will power, and that's the magic of it!