Sustainable Low-Carb Eating

I have lost 21 pounds so far (in 11 weeks), following a diet that allows 50 grams of carbohydrate per day, and I have not been hungry or dissatisfied.  The only thing I really miss is ice cream.

One of the common misperceptions about a low-carb diet, one that I myself am guilty of believing, is that it means you eat mostly meat.  I've been surprised to note that my consumption of meat hasn't increased much since I returned to the low-carb lifestyle a few months ago.  Low-carb eating appears to go against the grain, no pun intended,  for someone who tries to eat a sustainable diet, but in the balance, I believe it would take more of society's resources to medicate my obesity-related health problems or raise my orphaned child than it does to provide me the kind of food I need to be healthy.  It isn't my fault I have developed insulin resistance, it's a product of the high-sugar, high-refined-starch American diet I've eaten since childhood.  Still, I do my best to make my low-carb diet sustainable.

While we don't do anything as formal as Meatless Mondays at our house, we actually do have plenty of days when we don't eat meat, and some of them happen to be on Mondays.  I eat protein in the form of eggs from our chickens, cheese, yogurt, and locally-grown peanuts.  Often, when I do eat meat, I end up eating the same portions or the same meal I would have eaten before, minus the starches: I don't replace the missing starches with meat, because I don't need to eat that much any more.  My consumption of vegetables and salads is the only thing that has increased dramatically.

Nose-to-tail eating has always been my soapbox issue, and it applies here especially.  When I buy offal from local farmers and they ask me what I'm using it for, they're always surprised I'm eating it myself rather than feeding it to dogs.  If, as many assert, it is immoral to feed livestock food that people could eat while there are hungry people in the world, is it not worse to feed pets?  People can eat almost anything dogs can eat.  It's simply a question of learning to prepare and eat the whole animal so that nothing is wasted.  Look to authentic ethnic cuisines for ideas.  If we don't request and buy offal from our farmers and butchers, those parts get discarded.

Food storage is more of a challenge when you can't rely on grains and other dry goods.  Meats and fish can be canned, dried, cured, and smoked, although it is expensive to build a supply of preserved meats.  In the garden, we've started growing peanuts, and we're growing seed pumpkins (Lady Godiva) and spaghetti squash rather than pie pumpkins this year.   Greens and low-carb root vegetables are easy to grow, especially in the fall garden.  Growing stevia is something I haven't had success with yet, but I intend to keep trying. 

Not all family members require a low-carb diet. I do feed my child and my husband bread, rice, pasta, tortillas, beans and potatoes.  I believe whole grains and natural starches are fine in moderation for healthy people.  But, we must be careful not to perpetuate the plague of obesity in the next generation by feeding our children too much sugar and white flour.