The Hunger Games

No pictures today, and nothing about gramerlings, chickens, gardening or bees.  Instead a bit about me. I just wasn't sure about blogging about this, but I've had more success in the past when I've felt like I wasn't the only person on this road.
What road?  The "Why Can I Not Control My Appetite" road.  Ughh.  After trying multiple diets, I realized that I just can't eat carbs.  Not just because they make me fat, but both sides of my family has a tendency toward diabetes.  If you don't have it, nor know someone who does, it can be a very debilitating disease.  Watching Kaye was enough to make me dread the thought.
Once, cutting carbs, I lost fifty pounds.  Still, I haven't ever gained all of it back, but certainly way too  much.  Later attempts have not produced the same loss.  I don't believe it is because it doesn't work, it's because I don't work.  Now, they have so very many sugar substitutes that I turn too much to those and never really break that sugar cycle.
So, for more than one reason I decided to give it another go.  The other main reason is that Handy Man of mine.  Does he have rampant diabetes in his family? No.  Is he overweight? No.  What in the world?
Well, he has had serious reflux all of his days on this earth. It is not getting better and nothing helps for long. I know that reflux can also have some nasty fallout.
I'm a big believer in using natural products and not such a big believer in our current healthcare system.
A bit of history.  Years ago Rae came up or down or around with something wicked.  It started with hives and ended up with hives as big as dinner plates and a full blown rheumatoid arthritis response.  She was nineteen and moving around like she was ninety, in much pain.  After multiple trips to multiple docs, someone told me about a gal a couple of towns over who was a practicing pharmacist/nutritionist that had a health food place.  What did we have to lose at this point.  I wasn't able to go with Rae, so I sent Ol' Mother Hubbard.  Both were impressed, so much so that after years of infertility, Ol' Mother Hubbard made an appointment for herself. Well, you know how that turned out.
Anyhoo, we call her the "root doctor" and me and mine have been in touch with her many a time over the years. She uses Nature's Sunshine products.  She claims there are many good companies out there, but she cannot research them all. She's a big believer in this product, so I've used various things with good results.
They have some new products that are safe and beneficial to help decrease sugar cravings and also to slow sugar down.
Back to the Handy Man. I've been looking under every rock for why people have reflux and is there something you can do about yourself.  One thing I know. When I am faithful to low carb, I have never once had an incident of  reflux. Now, I don't have it as bad as him, but still.  All that digging turned up research to support the part sugar and wheat plays in poor digestion and reflux, so I asked if I prepared all his meals, would he say, "so long" to the carbs and see what happened.  He said, "Yes."
So folks, here we are.
Some more background. I haven't practiced eating carbs for breakfast in years.  A couple of times, usually my birthday and Easter, I'll get Entemann chocolate donuts and a very few times I will eat a waffle.  Handy Man, on the other hand, ate donuts, pie, cobbler, cake etc. every day that I left it for him on the bar.  Then he eats popcorn for break, the kind they make in that fake orange fat, with fake orange powder over it.  Then he eats lunch(leftovers) and Little Debbie snack cakes. He eats vegetables at supper because I put them on his plate.  Then, oh, maybe a cup of spice drops before bed. Yeah, a carb or two here and there, ahem.
Do you watch what people buy at the grocery?  I do. I'm just a people watcher.  I always laugh to imagine what might go through a watcher's mind seeing me.   When his stock was low  I'd be pushing a grocery cart full of corn chips, white bread, beer, spice drops, snack cakes and donuts through the line, knowing that a person watching wouldn't be surprised to see a chub like me, buying all that fat and sugar, none of which I would touch.
So, here we are, five days in.  How are things?
Player One- I'm mostly miserable.  There is hardly anytime that I'm not aware that I want a carb.
I've been reading a very currently popular book called Trim, Healthy Mama. There are many recipes there that I haven't used in the past and the hopes of finding some filling, satisfying items that didn't sabotage my plan was very encouraging. I even bought a new, better blender. Sadly, I'm not loving anything that is a carb replacement so far. This is the very same experience I've had anytime I've tried this. If you can stick with it, the cravings do decrease dramatically after a couple of weeks, but it is the longest two weeks. It's ridiculous.
Player Two- Fine, perfectly fine.  I asked if he felt deprived, or if he got too hungry at any certain time?
"No, the chicken and pesto for lunch was wonderful and I'm full and content all the time." Oh, and less reflux.
Well then. Handy Man wins.