Low Carb Zen is essentially a Low Carb notebook maintained by Dixie Vogel, former owner of the LowCarbEating website. Emphasis is on low carb cooking since that’s at the heart of any healthy, sustainable low carb lifestyle.
For the record: I am NOT a doctor or nurse or dietician, nor medical professional of any kind. I don’t give medical advice. I’m a formerly fat chick who found a better option. That’s it.
Dixie’s Story
I could give you a ton of reasons why I decided to go Low Carb in earnest on November 15, 2003. The doctor was telling me I was headed toward Diabetes and with a family history, I knew she was right. I was sick being fat–and the aches, pains and various complications of my weight. I asked myself what advice I would give a friend or one of my kinds in the same position, and realized I’d tell ‘em to suck it up and make some changes. No more excuses!
I’d been fat all my life, so it wasn’t exactly my first try at weight loss. By this point, I had tried low cal, low fat, the Rice diet, the Cabbage Soup Diet, the Grapefruit diet, Phen/fen, living at the gym, fasting, Slimfast, Dexatrim, and a few others I’ve no doubt forgot. I knew people who were doing well on LC, so I went searching for before/after pictures. That made an impression. Here are mine.
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 Summer 2003, approx 285 lbs, size 26W |
 2010, approx 185 lbs, Size 16 |
I cannot tell you exactly what I weighed in the first picture, because I had tossed out my scale by that point. All it did was make me cry. In the second picture, I am also not too sure. I had a new scale by then, but cared a whole lot less what it said.
What I can tell you is that Low Carb was the only weight loss plan I’d ever found that I could LIVE with–eating when hungry, finding substitutes for all my old favorites, and not feeling guilty every time I sat down to a meal. Once I worked on changing my habits a bit and got past the initial discomfort of sugar withdrawals, it flowed with shocking ease. I knew I’d never go back and while I’ve done sometimes better and sometimes worse with my choices, I never have left LC behind completely.
Why LC Zen?
Zen refers to the” screw-what-the-scale-says-just-eat-well-and-be-kind-to-your-body” approach to the LC lifestyle. It’s when you stop struggling and start to just do. It’s moving from “I’m on a diet” to “this is just the way I eat.” Zen is being present, in the moment, not living in disgust over the past or longing for the future validation of the scale (that never seems like enough anyway).
Low Carb ZEN is all about moving from destination to journey, from ends to means, from dieting to living! You can find your Zen indepentent of pants size or scale tyranny. This is the sweet spot, the magic zone where you CAN do it, because you just ARE doing it. Probably while asking yourself why you didn’t do it sooner.
Wishing you Low Carb Zen, with love (and liquid Splenda on top),
