i will write down much of my experience, good and bad.
i don't go into learning about my metabolism, just about food-health reactions.
i did calorie restriction (1300kcal), often ketogenic, quickly lost 50 of my 80 pounds of bodyfat,
hairs thinned out at accelerated rate, got verry bad gums during ketosis
reached a plateau, became hypersensitive to hunger, too much appetite,
strong urge for more carbs - sometimes up to 200g of carbs, up to 2600kcal
(my metabolic rate must be around 1800, seemeds rather constant during all this time of calorie restriction)
gained back 10 pounds lost them again (with few days of disciplin), gained them back, lost them again, gained them back
help!!! need to find a way to hack my metabolism, or it will go on like that for ever.
this low carb is the best way i ate in my life, but it's not a fix of my issues (derailed metabolism - body "wants" to be fat) and it's not right.
low carb is a fad diet. it's just a workaround for a disease (bad insulin measurement)
this body does want carbs. carbs are essential. without carbs this body thinks its is starving.
this is why it becomes hypersensitve to carbs, when they are eaten, meaning in the tiniest amounts, meaning that eating some carbs makes you hungry for more carbs. not after a while, after a sugar crash. but while eating the carbs and immediately after. the body is like: "this - i want this, more of this, motherfucker !!!"
this is not addiction, there is no model that explains why a body would be addicted to carbs after 2 years of low carb.
maybe this body needs no more than <60g of few carbs. 80 grams? 150 grams? 200? i haven't found a ballance.
this body has made it verry clear, that it does not like ketosis, too.
recently i noticed a yellow tongue. i have read that this indicates liver damage.
it only happens on some days. those days come with headache.
this could be days with too much protein, or days with too much liquid and unsaturated fats or days with too much carb and protein combined.
not sure yet.
i also seem to get verry weird and super bad issues with acidity, dry mouth, weird blood sugar, on days where my body doesn't seem to know wheter to rely on fat, ketones or glucose. it feels like my body fills my blood with both glucose and fat at the same time. not too much glucose in it self.
i have chronic dry skin on the forehead and nose. the skin forms scales/flakes or whatvere the right english word. i wonder if coconut fat may be the culprit behind this. i have coconut fat every day and i have bad skin every day. it's only my forehead.
i can't imagine going back to higher carb (higher than fat) for several reasons, though.
too much carb foods seem to fuck my digestion up.
i am suspicious about how my body digests plant proteins (like those in veges or potatoes). i associate this with leaky gut or liver-fail or whatever it is that leaks substances into my brain that cause fog or headache.
i have had bad issues with internal oxidation after doing sports on verry low carb (almonds for breakfast, bicycling a few hours, nothig else to eat, feel fine with open eyes but as i lie down, i am unable to sleep the hole night, body burning in oxidative stress)
all in all i seem to have the most stable blood sugar on low carb.
i love having ketones in my head.
i have alzheimers in the family (my poor mother is in zombie land) and alzheimers is considered to be in part diabetes type 3 (insulin resistance local to the brain) and i don't want to eat like she did, which was a women-type-of high carb diet (little portions, bread, potato, veges, litte fat)
i have developed a love for herring. i can taste the omega 3
i eat tons of nuts. almonds, walnuts, macademia, cashews, pistachio, brazil nuts.
eggs. avokado.
verry rarely cheese or meat.
(I ate a lot of salami during my weight loss period - but have abandoned "nitrit" german name of the conservation stuff)
too rarely vegetables (too lazy to mess around with fresh stuff like kale - allergic against peas and corn - can only eat some frozen asia mix - gets boring)
like tomato soup or champions with coconut oil
if i eat carbs, potatoes and chickpeas are my favorites. starches (potato, rice) are not the devil, they are the best of all carbohydrates. they don't constitute a complete diet of course.
i react against most legumes, but chickpeas are okay after good soaking.
honestly most of my carbs came from almond chocolate and chroissaints, though! those fucking awesom chroiisants, filled with dark chocolate.
the wheat from croissants fucks up my teeth. not sure if gluten does anything bad to my stomach. i ate noodles all my life, almost daily and had no issues with digestion. i just skip gluten to be sure and because of low-carb/insulin logic.
i have become verry suspicious about rancid fats and fats from seeds.
you should check out the critical info about flaxseed (it's on youtube), if you take a spoon now and then, for omega 3!
what's cool about low carb - the "sweet tooth" went away. i was a super sweet tooth a "4
tablespoons of sugar in coffe" type of sweet tooth. i would not drink anything but coke because water seemed disgusting. now i love the taste of plain water and i can enjoy instant-coffe black without sweetener
eating all natural did away with many of my allergies/sensitivities.
can tollerate eggs - used to agitate me
can have unpeeled raw almonds used to do something to my throat
can have high load of tomatoe stuff and fish - used to give me histamin overload
little to non hayfever in april/may/june
can tollerate little portions of legumes and peanuts (gives me allergic back-ache)
i no longer become hungry when tired - this hunger is high carb related.
on low carb, i can easily change from high coffein to none and back without three days of headache. not sure if this has to do with low carb or with not using sweetener no more.