You know you’re a low-carber when:
- You can’t remember the last time you were in the cookies/biscuits aisle of the supermarket
- People look at you like you’re crazy when they see you ‘remove the bun’
- You feel like an outcast at work outings that involve a meal
- People are always asking you ‘What do you eat?’
- You pretty much know what you’re going to eat for weeks in advance
- You constantly have to explain to people that you DO eat vegetables
- People nearly faint when you tell them how many eggs you eat
- You constantly ask yourself, “mmmm, how can I make a low-carb version of that?”
- You often feel like strangling every TV diet ‘guru’ you can get your hands on
- You are much leaner than all the ‘high-carbers’ around you
- You are more muscular than all the ‘high-carbers’ around you
- You have a healthy lipid profile
- The smell of bread baking causes a sudden outburst of saliva (unfortunately it’s true)
- You enjoy red meat regularly, not as an occasional treat
- You realize you have wasted a lot of time on other diets and wish you had discovered it sooner
- You can stay lean all year round
- Your kitchen is virtually devoid of any pre-packaged foods
- You’re slowly becoming a great chef
- People can’t believe the body you have when you eat ‘all the wrong foods’
- You never have to worry about ‘getting enough protein’
- People sometimes say you’re on a ‘fad’ diet
- You eat right based on human genetics (so much for the fad)
- You haven’t been sick in YEARS
- Vegetarians and vegans have a problem with you
- You’d be a millionaire if you had a Euro/Dollar/Pound for every time someone asked you to research ‘The China Study’
- You’ve done a lot more research than those who tell you to read ‘The China Study’
- You have to constantly explain that Dr. Atkins did NOT die an overweight man
- You have to constantly explain that Dr. Atkins did NOT die of a diet-related disease
- You read product labels on autopilot when shopping
- You’re like “YES!” when it’s less than 5 grams of carbs per 100
- You’re always surprised when you meet another low-carber in real life
- You’re starting to realize that those around you are addicted to sugar
- If you’re Irish, you’re mum wants to kill you for giving up potatoes!
- You hope low-carb becomes popular again so you can stop ordering food products from the web
- “Do you want fries with that?” is just annoying by this stage
- You wonder how many comparative studies have to be done before it’s accepted that low-carb is healthy and effective
- You get genuinely excited by the prospect of an all-natural calorie-free sweetener hitting the market
- You think the supermarkets have some nerve putting the low-fat, high sugar items in the ‘healthy living’ section (ahhhhhhhh!)
- You’ve a little less respect for doctors than most others. Is it too much to ask that they think for themselves?
- If you were suddenly transported back in time 20,000 years, you wouldn’t notice any difference food wise 😉 (slight exaggeration there)
Got any more?
PS Here’s some other great Low Carb blogs while we’re on the subject
- Jimmy Moore’s Livin La Vida Low Carb
- Weight of the Evidence
- Ask Dr. Vernon
- The Spiky Haired Girl
- Kudos For Low-Carb
- Amy Dungan’s Healthy Low-Carb Living
- Protein Power Blog
- Mark’s Daily Apple
So true Mark!,
Great post…
man u are the best
just reading your posts gets me so enthusiastic about going to the gym, but f***ing university gives no time for gym and making my own food
# You have to constantly explain that Dr. Atkins did NOT die an overweight man
# You have to constantly explain that Dr. Atkins did NOT die of a diet-related disease
Huh ? Didn’t he ?
According to his death certificate Atkins was 258 lbs at the time of his death, so he certainly did die an overweight man. The proximate cause of his death, however, was a fall on ice whereupon he cracked his head. He entered a coma and was admitted to a hospital. During this time he was fed mainly by a glucose IV and he experienced major organ failure, fluid retention and bloating. A copy of his medical records given to USA Today by his widow indicated that he weighed only 195 lbs upon being admitted to the hospital.
He did suffer a heart attack at some point in his life. There is speculation that it was a heart attack that caused the fall, but as no autopsy was performed there is no way to prove this either way.
nope, far s i no sammy, he slipped on ice, cracked his skul n died. no idea if he had a ponch though
Haha good stuff man.
Holy crap Mark, you nailed it!
I find myself wanting to strangle someone on a daily basis..
Samuel, you are on the top of my list as of right now, by the way.
You get mad when the local coffee shop only offers low-fat milk and aspartame sweeteners
You feel like you can add cheese to anything and you do.
You get dazzled by any restaurant TV commercial that shows a steak being cooked
You spend 1/2 hour in the salad dressing aisle looking at the back of each bottle for the lowest net carbs
You are the only one ordering a cobb salad at a morning breakfast restaurant.
You drink gin and diet coke with lime because it’s zero carbs.
You actually love corned beef and cabbage.
You know what rutabaga is and how to cook with it.
“You actually love corned beef and cabbage. ”
Yes! I could eat this just about every day.
I still have experimented with rutabagas or turnips yet, but I’m getting closer.
Great post! so true…
But still got a question
From livin la vida lo carb:
Those in the CARBOHYDRATE-RESTRICTED group saw an INCREASE in the production of glucose by the liver through gluconeogenesis, where the body can make its own carbs from the protein consumed in the diet. This is why even in the absence of a significant amount of carbohydrates the body can still function at a high performance level–something the researchers took note of.
My Question:
Doesn’t that mean that we should have some carbs after sport to avoid that the protein we’re eating gets transformed into glucose? Or, that we should eat some sugar before workout to avoid that most of the available protein gets transformed into glucose (before our body starts attacking fat)???
I always heard that Atkins died fat because of his diet, and that cycling with carbs was one way to solve the problem. Didn’t read how he really died anywhere else, so… forgive my ignorance.
Great post! It’s funny, but a lot of these are things that a lot of people should be doing anyway like having no (or at least very few) pre-packaged foods. I agree with the baking bread comment, too 🙂
#38 Couldn’t be more true. Thanks for the link!
That was true for me… but if you are a sportsman and you are on competitive level….im sorry but you NEED carbs…. a LOT of them
There is no point to show more muscles if you cant use them properly
😉
@ Samuel. Yes, he slipped on ice. He also bloated up in hospital. So an average-weight man hits is head and dies, nothing sensational about it. Unfortunately, the truth often gets in the way of a good story.
@ Andrew. It’s whisky and diet coke for me! Yeah, I’ve stood in the condiment aisle for ages too, looking at all the labels. You gotta try corned beef and pickled onions! Hope they’ve got jars of pickled onions in the US.
@ G. I don’t know what study is being referred to there or what the exact carb, fat and protein levels were, it sounds more like the higher end of a low carb diet. However, when carbs are low enough the body will depend largely on ketones, not glucose from protein conversion. NOT good for cyclists and such as Cacouno states BUT for short, high intensity bouts with breaks in between (as in THT training), ketones are great. Another point is that I stress in the MANS article to assess your own lowest carb level, or ‘carbohydrate threshold’. For me, it’s quite low, but if you need 65grams a day, go for it. Therefore our protein being ‘stolen’ for glucose isn’t a concern for MuscleHackers. (Also see my post on the mid-week carb spike for more tips).
Mark
This website is fantastic because this guy, Mark McManus, knows what he’s talking about and most of all C-a-r-e-s about his readers.
MuscleHack is the best muscle building diet website on earth !
@ g 😀 😀
Thank you
haha this list is hilarious and so true!
Samuel, don’t worry my friend, I don’t really want to strangle you. I want to strangle the people who put out the lies about Dr. Atkins.
You know what really happened to Dr. Atkins? The Vegan Mafia. That is all I can say, they are watching me. They are watching us all. Shh….
You cringe when you see the words “fat free/cholesterol free” on the packages of candy, ice cream, graham crackers and other sugary junk.
Your cart at the grocery store looks vastly different from anyone else’s (no colorful boxes).
Every time you see a new drug being pushed as the next cure for cancer/diabetes/heart disease you sigh and think that if low carb diets were widely accepted these drug companies would go out of business.
When you start speaking in nutritional jargon you watch people’s eyes glaze over and wish others cared about their health as much as you do.
hmmm well you can still have potatoes during carb ups, right 😉