Low Carb Experiment
As many of you know from my Instagram, I went on a low carb diet for the past week. Why and what came out of it? Let’s dig in!
What is Low Carb?
There’s plenty of information online, but this is the low carb foods infographic I used to identify which foods I could and couldn’t eat during the week. In short, I couldn’t eat bread, pasta, potatoes and other starchy vegetables. To compensate for the lack of carbs, it is recommended to have more high fat foods, like avocados, salmon and high fat dairy.
Why Low Carb?
As often it happens in life, we make our decisions in a moment. Sure, we can ponder for weeks and years, go back and forth, but once we decide, it happens instantly. This is the story with this low carb experiment as well.
Salad with spinach, arugula, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, avocado and chicken breast (can be baked salmon or tuna instead). Olive oil, vinegar and lemon dressing.
I met up with a friend who I haven’t seen in a year or so and she told me about this same experiment she did with a purpose of seeing whether carbs affected her body and skin in a negative way. She shared that her skin has cleared up and overall she felt better.
Having heard from my dermatologist years ago that high carb and high sugar foods are not good for me and having gotten a push from my friend, I finally decided to test it out as well! Plus, I wanted to train myself to have more veggies! So what came of it?
Disclaimer: I don’t think a week is enough to 100% say whether a certain diet/lifestyle is a good fit for you, yet there are some observations that I started making and hence will share with you.
1. Low carb diet is not hard at all, especially if you cook at home. It is true, however, that grabbing something on the go or eating out will be a little more challenging, though, not impossible!
2. I was surprised and happy that I felt full and nourished after each meal. Before trying low carb I was convinced that I can’t get full without a piece of bread or a side of fries/pasta.
Scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and avocado.
After a low carb meal you don’t feel hunger anymore, but you also don’t feel “super full” or bloated as it often happens when you have too much carbs. It is a much healthier and nicer feeling in your body!
3. I loved discovering new recipes and simple dishes that are delicious and healthy: salads, grilled vegetables, variety of breakfast options to play with, the list goes on.
4. As for my skin and overall body feeling, like I mentioned, it is hard to accurately say after a week, but my skin did seem to clear up quite a bit and it feels less dry.
I feel enough energy and strength in my body, which tells me that I don’t need to rely on carbs to feel that way.
Will I Continue Eating Low Carb?
LowER carb, definitely, but I can’t give up carbs completely, nor do I want to.
This experiment taught me that I can and should bring more veggies and low carb foods to my diet and have everything in balance. It is simple and worth 2 minutes of your life to whip up a salad. Now, instead of just eating a plate of meat and pasta, for example, I will make sure that at least a quarter of the plate is green as well.
I do have a fear of losing weight, which often can happen when you’re on low carb, so this is another reason I don’t want to give up carbs completely. Having struggled with being underweight all my life, I just can’t risk this for my health. And it just helps that I love carbs too, and you should eat and do what you love 🙂
Chicken breast with tomatoes and cucumbers salad, sour cream dressing.
This was an interesting experiment and I think everyone should try experimenting with your diet to see what fits YOUR body exactly.
Don’t follow trends, follow yourself.
If you feel sick after eating meat, maybe vegetarian or vegan option is for you. If your stomach can’t take dairy, exclude it from your diet, and so on…
Take care of yourself!
Xoxo,
Sasha
