Low Carb Does Not Mean No Carbs

In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were given everything they needed to be healthy and happy. They had plenty of vegetables, fruits, fish, and meats. The garden was a buffet of all you can eat healthy foods.

Now when I say all you can eat, I am not talking about your local pizza buffet or the greasy spoon buffet. I am talking about an abundance of healthy carbs and lean meats.

Yes, they probably had potatoes but without a deep fryer or butter and sour cream, those potatoes were not a problem. There were no chocolate trees, no potato chip factories, no sweet soft drinks, and definitely no ice cream.

They were provided with the nutrients that their bodies were created to need and nothing more. Unfortunately, when they were thrown out of the Garden, the road to unhealthy eating had begun.

As with everything in history, as man progresses, he regresses.

The first warrior's weapon of choice was a stone. Look how far we have come from that stone that was used for the first murder. Now we have bombs that can blow up whole countries.

Progress? -- maybe not.

In terms of food, we have more choices than ever before in history, but one truth has survived since the beginning of time. If you consume more calories than you utilize, you will gain weight. Every diet, no matter which one you look at, still runs on this principal.

Eating a balanced diet of Adam and Eve's fruits, vegetables, and lean meat will allow anyone to lose weight.

Add exercise and you will lose more weight. Even a twenty minute walk will help you lose weight. How many of you ride around a parking lot five or ten minutes to find the closest parking space rather than walk a few extra steps.

Don't deny it; I know you are out there because I have seen you.

I have lived in the South my whole life. Yes, we love fried foods, bountiful tables of food, and a good dessert and yes even bread.

For centuries our Southern ancestors ate this way and created our tradition of fabulous Southern cooking. We cooked our vegetables in meat and couldn't imagine a meal without biscuits or cornbread. My grandmother cooked that way and to this day I remember her meals. My mother cooked that way and I can still taste her fried chicken.

The difference is that in those days people didn't have to run on a treadmill or use exercise equipment. Exercise came from hard work. My mother picked cotton when she was young. My grandmother never had inside plumbing. She worked hard all of her life. She expended those calories she was eating by years of cleaning, cooking from scratch, walking to the out house, using a wringer washing machine, and carrying heavy pans of boiling water for baths and dish washing.

Yes, in short they could eat what they wanted because they expended more calories than they took in each day. Today, we simply do not work as hard. With all of our appliances that make work easier and non manual labor jobs, we simply cannot eat the way our ancestors did. We can't eat the fried everything, the greasy vegetables, bread at every meal, and the desserts our forbearers ate. Of course, we can, but we will pay the price by gaining weight.

My blog is all about finding ways to eat healthy without feeling deprived or hungry. I include recipes that I have created for my husband and myself that follow the guidelines for low carb eating but are delicious and easy to prepare.

I don't know about you, but if a recipe has more than five ingredients, I move on. Learning to stay home and cook simple, delicious meals will also help you to stay away from restaurants where the chef piles your plate with enough food for not only you but the whole table.

Restaurants are definitely a place where you can eat low carb, but take a look at the calorie count. When I did, I was horrified. The slightly boring meal that I thought was low carb and, therefore, low calorie was a disaster. I could have had something really tasty for the calories contained in that mediocre meal.

Low carb has become my life and I have never felt better or healthier. Remember; when you have that desire for bad foods, ask yourself what would Adam and Eve have done. On second thought maybe that's not such a good idea. It's their fault we have all these problems in the first place. If it weren't for them, we'd still be in the Garden of Eden eating the way we were created to eat and we would all be slim as super models without all the air brushing.

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