A new beginning

Well, new for this blog at any rate, though not really a new beginning for me. That began half-heartedly several years ago, when I began to develop some health problems, and seriously about 15 months ago, after I read Gary Taubes's "Good Calories, Bad Calories". That book changed my life like nothing else I had ever read. At about the same time I read Sally Fallon's "Nourishing Traditions" which also had a profound effect on my life.

I was morbidly obese in 2006, and my doctor was pressing me to consider weight-loss surgery, something I totally did not want to do, so I told her I wanted to try a low carb diet - the only thing I had ever felt I could live with forever. Over the next three years I lost 60 pounds on a half-assed low carb diet - one that included lots of cheats and side tracks.

It took Gary Taubes and Sally Fallon to make me see there was more to eating than weight loss, and in January 2009 I began to get serious about eating for *health*. Yeah, I still had a ton of weight to lose, but they made me realize that losing weight was not everything. What I wanted to do was *regain health* and I am totally convinced now that it cannot be done with the processed frankenfoods that so often pass as part of the Standard American Diet.

So my new mantra became, low carb, made from scratch, no frankenfoods, no sugars, no high PUFA oils, no gluten grains. In 2009 I lost an additional 40 pounds, bringing my current total loss to just over 100 pounds. Alas, still miles to go before I sleep. But good health is a journey, not a destination.

Early in 2009 I signed up to go on Jimmy Moore's Third Annual Low Carb Cruise, which took place last week. The cruise was awesome with an outstanding panel of speakers: Dr. Mary Vernon, Dr. Andreas Eenfelt, Dr. William Davis, fitness expert Fred Hahn, low carb cookbook authors Dana Carpender and Judy Barnes Baker, Jackie Eberstein, R.N., who worked with Dr. Robert Atkins for nearly 30 years.

I had decided ahead of time that I would stick to my eating plan and eat only "real food" on the cruise, and found it easy to do. I didn't lose weight on the cruise but I didn't gain either, unlike the folks who claim it's common to come back 10-20 pounds heavier after a cruise.

My friend and shipmate Sandy and I both agreed we want to go back for the 2011 cruise, but we have set ourselves the goal of being thinner and healthier for the 2011 cruise. This is part of my plan to keep myself accountable. I look better than I did 4 years ago and am healthier too, but I hope to be even thinner and more healthy next year. So I will try to document this coming year and what I try to do to achieve my goals, and will close this with a photo showing the me of 2006 versus the me of now. I hope next year to have an even better "now" photo to post.