It's that time of year.  People are full of regrets and vow to restart their diets and stick with them this time!  I expect many people are relaunching their low-carb diet plans, going back to induction.  I'm no exception.  While I didn't completely lose it over the holidays, I definitely indulged a bit too often and completely stalled my weight loss. 

I'm not necessarily 'restarting Atkin's induction' because I've been following Bernstein's diet plan more so than Atkins.  For anyone that has diabetes and hasn't read it yet, I highly recommend Bernstein's book.  He teaches you how to tailor your carb intake to your particular needs, but generally prescribes very low carb consumption for the rest of your life  His philosophy is that you can't make huge mistakes with your blood sugar/insulin control if you are only eating small amounts of carbohydrates.  The general rule for his plan is 6/12/12, which is 6 grams of carbs for breakfast, 12 for lunch, and 12 for dinner, without snacking in between (he subtracts 1/2 the fiber carbs from the count vs all of them in Atkins).  Many people would run scared from this formula, because diets like Atkins allow you to start adding carbs back into your diet, but this means you must severely limit yourself for the rest of your life.  Diabetics must come to terms with the fact that we will never be able to eat many carbohydrates.  We must readjust our mind to come to terms with it.  When the trade-off to eating carbs is losing a limb or going blind, it seems like it SHOULD be a much easier thing to do than it actually is!

However, it truly amazes me how much of a psychological impact carb cravings have.  Even though I feel 1000% better when I'm not devouring carbs, and I can generally make pretty decent tasting low-carb food, I still constantly want the m&ms, fries and potato chips.  Part of it for me is sheer convenience.  Fast food is so much faster and easier than cooking, and after working a full day, I absolutely hate cooking.  My better half doesn't understand why I hate cooking so much when he says that I do it so well (I think he's just brown-nosing to get me to make some more deviled eggs soon). 

I don't know what the solution is except to just grit my teeth and push forward with sheer willpower.  Maybe eventually it won't seem like such a chore, but I know that it's something that I absolutely must do.  Living a long life with all of my limbs and sight intact is much more important than my hatred of meal prep.  In the meantime, I will continue posting any recipes that I come up with that I believe are worthy to be shared.

I hope everyone is having an easier time with their New Year's resolutions!