Well hello there! Welcome to my little virtual corner of the world. Sit down, take a load off, and stay a spell.
My name is Iris, and I have recently embarked on a low-carb lifestyle. Mostly because I want to lose weight (41 pounds of it, to be exact) but also because I've read over and over that low carb eating has a very positive effect on the pain associated with RA, or rheumatoid arthritis. A lot of carbohydrates are inflammatory foods, meaning they cause your body's immune system to go a little nuts (yes, that is a technical term) and attack its own tissues. I don't like the fact that my joints generally feel like there are shards of glass inside them, so if there is a way of eating that promises to change this, I'm all over that.
I started out reading "The Carb Sensitivity Program" by Natasha Turner, a naturopathic doctor. It seemed to make sense, and it didn't look all that hard, so I decided to give it a shot. That was 5 days ago. I discovered that I tend to eat less carbs than her program calls for, and more fat. That had me concerned a little, especially since the scale really hasn't budged since the first two days when I lost 2 pounds.
On a whim this afternoon, I purchased a package of KetoStix and tested my (warning: icky word coming up) urine. Lo and behold: the stick turned purple. I am in ketosis. This means that my body is all out of glucose (or carbs) and burning my fat stores. I'm positively giddy.
Tomorrow I will explain what ketosis is about, and why it is a big deal. Oh, and also about prior dieting attempts and subsequent failures, and a whole lot of other stuff that is most likely blatantly missing from this introduction post. All I want to say right now is:"Yay! I'm burning fat stores!" and I will leave you with the unattractive mental image that that undoubtedly conjures up. Come back soon! I promise it won't always be gross.
