Paradoxical Eating: Very low carb eating

It may seem a celebrity's fad but low carbohydrate eating makes a lot of diabetic sense.

If the problem with what you put in your mouth is the consequences of  certain food groups, then why put them in your mouth?

Simple.

I had reduced my carbohydrate intake a year ago to something around -- give or take -- 100-130 grams per day ,

The weight fell away and my blood sugars began to stabilize.

I had rationed my consumption of bread or rice to one 'serve' per day and eschewed potatoes, legumes, pasta and most fruits.

When my weight loss plateaued recently I thought I needed to lift my culinary game  and get back to my low carb roots. So I've cut back even further on the carbs.

No flour. No bread ( one slice of bread  maybe 15 grams). No rice (Basmati: 35 grams/serve). In fact, no grains at all.

My carb intake must now be around 30-50 grams/day.

I can be done...and it can be fun.

Instead I eat a lot of vegetables. I need to ensure I get my daily serve of something fruity -- usually berries or melons or avocado or paw paw.

The usual complication with low carb lifestyling is that you can easily default to  eating more meat, chicken and fish as low carb is often synced with high protein diets. You also eat more fat. But that's a boon. Fat in way of some dairy products -- yogurt, cheese and cream -- becomes kosher and olive oil is elevated to a major food group. Nuts are eaten  by the handful.

You cook differently too as you learn to exploit different ingredients in pursuit of gastronomy.

Where would I be, I suggest,  without pumpkin or cauliflower?

Of course you become out of step with the rest of the planet aside from indigenous hunter gatherers.  Their staff of life, ain't yours. 

Paleolithic diets  -- "Stone Age diets" -- on the other hand  are very low carb.

You also pursue a dietary regime that -- ironically -- isn't as sustainable as one based on grains given present agricultural methods  if the ready convenience of consuming grains is replaced with a higher meat or fish intake.

This leads into the whole question of diets per se as both an environmentally sustainable and personally healthy attribute. As much as we now know, I follow a low carb Mediterranean diet  which means that I haven't automatically  upped  my meat consumption and joined the Paleo Yuppies.

I also get to drink red wine as  vino becomes a bona fide health resource. Ah!: it's so OK to drink plonk.

Recent study:"Within this diet, nuts, vegetables and alcohol intake had the biggest impact on lower mortality rates."

It's all about becoming Cretan via the stomach:

The Cretan diet (Greek: κρητική διατροφή) is the traditional diet of the Mediterranean island of Crete, a typical case of the so-called "Mediterranean diet".The core of this diet consists of food derived from natural sources, whereas food of animal origin was more peripheral in nature. In general, people consumed seasonal products, available in the wider local area, which underwent minimal processing or none at all...Fresh and dried fruits, pulses, endemic wild herbs and aromatic plants, and rough cereals, whose cultivation was favored by the regional climate, were consumed in great amounts and constituted the base of the Cretan diet during that period. Dairy products were consumed on a daily basis in low to moderate quantities. Poultry and fish were consumed on a weekly basis in moderate quantities, whereas red meat was consumed only a few times a month. All animals were free-range, as industrialized animal husbandry was absent at the time: hens were fed local grain and were left to forage, pigs were fed leftovers, and cattle were exclusively grass-fed. The main supply of fat was effectuated by olive oil, which was used not only in salads but also in cooking, unlike the northern European countries which primarily used animal fat. Another essential feature of the Cretan diet was the moderate use of alcohol, mainly red wine which accompanied meals. Finally, the most common dessert was fresh fruits, while traditional pastry based on honey had been consumed a few times a week.

Becoming Cretan is still, for me, an aspiration. But you get the gist of the quest, right?

Mortality rates after observation of 15 years

Per 1000	Coronary	Cancer	All causes
Finland	972	613	2169
USA	773	384	1575
Holland	636	781	1825
Italy	462	622	1874
Yougoslavia	242	394	1712
Corfu(Greece)	202	338	1317
Japan	136	623	1766
Crete	38	317	855

Coronary Mortality rate and general mortality (per 100000)

	Study of seven countries  (10 years)		International Health Organization (1987)
	Coronary	All causes	Coronary	All causes
Finland	466	1390	386	1210
USA	424	961	263	1061
Holland	317	1134	224	1016
Italy	200	1092	148	1066
Yougoslavia	145	1021	137	1302
Corfu(Greece)	149	847	123	932
Japan	61	1200	53	837
Crete	9	627	7	564