I Don't Want To Be On A Diet

I love food. That's the first thing that you need to know about me. I enjoy eating it, I enjoy making it, I even enjoy looking at it. I like to read recipe books in my spare and not-so-spare time. And I adore trying new things.

This is why I hate the idea of being on a diet. It means that a large portion of food is out of my reach. I don't care too much for prepackaged stuff--that doesn't bother me--but losing basic ingredients and unique flavors bothers me a lot. Substitute away, but every ingredient has its own taste and its own properties, and when you eliminate it from your food, you've lost those possibilities.

Unfortunately, I don't have much of a choice. I'm hypoglycemic, and if I'm going to remain functional, I have to take out the foods that are draining my energy and destroying my life. It took me a while to figure this out. I also have to lose the weight I gained attempting to control my symptoms before I knew what they meant. It is so difficult to know what and when to eat when eating really does make me feel better, at least for a little while.

After consulting with a couple of dietitians, I think what is necessary is to drastically reduce my consumption of carbohydrates. When I do consume them, it needs to be with protein and fat. A once-a-month treat eaten on its own will mess with the blood sugar/insulin/adrenaline cycle nearly as much as eating it every day.

I hate these constraints, but my life is going to revolve around food no matter what I do. I want to ditch the shaky, nauseous, depressed, food-coma life that I have, and be happy, healthy, and energetic. It is way too early in my life to be dragging. I have things to do, and things I want to do. I need to have more energy than average, not less.

So I am trying to convince myself that these restrictions and constraints are like writer's guidelines. (Writing is a passion of mine as well.) I find that narrowing my options there inspires and challenges me. It is much easier to be creative when you have parameters--in fact, the more stringent the requirements, the more your innovations shine. I need to delight in the limits, and not allow them to depress or frustrate me.

I can do this.