The Last Diet I'll Ever Be On... By Kathleen Hi! This is Laura’s Mom….like most of those writing here, I have been struggling with my weight for most of my life…(I weighed 173 when I was 11 years old)…I would lose and gain and lose and gain, etc., etc., etc… The only way I could lose weight was to literally starve, (a calorie limit of 500 to 600 calories per day). And of course, the minute I’d increase my calorie intake, I also increased my weight….This vicious cycle of loss and gain and the extremely uncomfortable process (starvation is painful)….led me to just give up. I considered my situation hopeless…I was some kind of metabolic freak, and would just have to live with it (or die from it). Influenced by some of my co-workers who were doing the “Adkins thing” (I work in the medical field), and by my best friend’s doctor who gave her a copy of the infamous ”Mayo Clinic” diet, I decided to go on the “last diet I’ll ever be on.” That was 9 months and 42 pounds ago…..and that’s not all….There have been some unusual “side-effects” to my low carbohydrate adventure. I had been retaining so much fluid that my ankles and feet swelled daily, and I considered asking my doctor for a diuretic to get rid of the fluid. After the first few days on the “diet”, I no longer had that pitting edema of my legs, and I haven’t been troubled by fluid retention since. I have been a type II diabetic for the past 5 years, taking glucotrol to control my blood sugar. Even though I tried to keep my calorie count at a prescribed level, I had frequent episodes of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) which necessitated my consuming sugar containing fluids or candy, throwing off my calorie count. My blood sugar would range from 160 in the morning to 50 in the early evening. (My sympathy goes out to anyone trying to lose weight on a low calorie diet while on this type of medication! I think it’s close to impossible.) After starting the “diet”, my blood sugar stabilized to the point that I now only take glucophage (a different type of antihyperglycemic which acts to make cells less resistant to insulin). My blood sugar is finally under control! Lastly, I had been taking lipitor, a medication for high cholesterol. My doctor has just placed the medication on “hold” for me because my blood levels were so low. I am a believer!!! I believe that carbohydrate control is what I have needed all along. I believe that I have had a life long problem with carbohydrate metabolism, which no one in the medical or dietary profession recognized. I do not know if this diet is supposed to work for everyone (low calorie diets don’t work for me!), but it has and is changing my life. I believe I can live with this way of eating for the rest of my life…..the last “diet” I’ll ever be on! | 
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