Tell me how you have benefitted from low-carbing other than losing weight

[MrsDesperado]

Lots of people low-carb for reasons other than weight loss. For example, I see lots comments about improved skin etc (In what way has your skin improved? Does it turn you into a polished goddess? )

Have you noticed any other changes/benefits/unexpected perks since doing it?

I think it's not mainstream because the thought of dropping carbs is quite a challenge for most people - they are the epitome of quick comfort food, they form the basis of many people's limited culinary repertoire and without them people feel deprived. I think it takes a while to get your head around cooking and eating without grains or a starchy component and it requires people to cook from scratch with few short cuts and for people with limited ability and interest in the kitchen that kind of diet is never going to be their first port of call. Slim fast anyone?

That's true. So many of the recipes we've grown up with involve carbs, so it's starting from scratch, building up a new repertoire of meals to serve.

I must admit I struggle to think of what to cook sometimes and tend to serve the same meals each week. I'm always on the lookout for a good British low carb/no carb recipe book.

Well I haven't found it too difficult to cut the carbs. But then I guess we've always cooked from scratch, I've NEVER liked cereal (like chewing hay fgs) and so all I've really had to do is substitute the starchy part of the meal with something low carb. I'm loving it as well and I've lost about 1 stone since I started LC.

i eat better food.

Stop a moment - did you say no thrush, BIWI? I'm 39 weeks pg and considering low carb as soon as I've given birth. I've had thrush every single day of this pregnancy :(

Is that a common benefit f low carb?

What Humphrey said, we have spoken about this on another thread.

The difference to my pms has been unbelievable, it's non existent now.

I feel much better, more energy, better hair, nails and skin.

Has anyone seen an improvement in eczema / itchy skin? I have suffered terribly since my second pregnancy and, having tried every cream on the market, I suspect I need to heal from within. However, I haven't yet heard of a diet / WOE that has made a fundamental difference.

I've heard Primal/Paleo can really help with eczema and other conditions Themobster. I've no experience with it myself though, so that's not something I can vouch for personally.

I have psoriasis and had high hopes that low carbing would help, but unfortunately it hasn't made much difference. I wish it had. However, I feel better in many other ways.

Thanks both. Grrrr! Really need to sort my skin out. Its becoming so depressing. Maybe I should just try eating more healthily in the first instance.

I'm doing paleo too; for health rather than weight loss but have lost weight anyway. My tummy is much flatter, my legs are more defined, my hair feels thicker and shinier and the near-constant thrush I suffered with for years has gone completely. I cheat a little too...cream in my coffee, yogurt occasionally and a glass of wine every night. The biggest thing is not having cravings anymore...someone on here once said that wheat is an appetite stimulant and now I really believe that. I think if you did really strict paleo or Whole 30 you'd see some pretty awesome results .

does anyone vegetarian low Carb.?

can you tell me about it please?

Yes to better skin and slimmer face;
no post-lunch slump;
and overall, it's like pressing the reset button on dietary habits and palate-I stop craving sugar, stop eating so much generally, and have much more varied vegetables in my diet.

When I started low carbing 14months ago I was veggie of over 20 years - I am now a meat eater! It's doable but I didn't want to eat all the processed soy products - so for protein it was eggs and cheese...I started feeling like eating meat and that's what I ended up doing. Try to get hold of Celia Brooks Browns low carb book and there are loads of resources online - good luck!

It's pretty much stopped my IBS dead in it's tracks. Before that I'd had loads of tests and tried different diets, but low carbing has really helped.

bigkidsdidit Yep - no thrush. I had years of suffering from it every bloody month. I came off the pill, which helped a bit, but didn't eradicate it. It makes sense, because the overgrowth of candida albicans, which is what causes the thrush, feeds off sugar and yeast.

amigababy low carbing as a veggie is harder, but not impossible. Rose Elliot has a really good cookbook - The Vegetarian Low Carb Diet Recipe Book"