Saruan
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Twentieth birthday and taking the plungeI officially took the plunge today, I've decided to go zero-carb. Yesterday was my twentieth birthday and I decided to enjoy myself, but as today is the first full and official day that I am twenty years old, I think it would be awesome to say that I haven't eaten carbs since my twentieth birthday. That would be especially awesome to say when I'm fifty-something (looking early thirties, of course).
Now, I posted a while back that I was planning on eating boiled ground beef with celtic sea salt and taking some basic supplements (calcium, magnesium & multivit), but that didn't really work out for reasons that I will verbosely explain. But first, a seemingly unrelated story.
During the space race, after both the USSR and the USA had put their first people in orbit, there were routine missions sending people up there for a couple days at a time to make observations and such. We Americans wanted our people to have the very best at their disposal, so we spent millions of dollars (in 1960s money, mind you) to develop a pressurized pen that would write in zero gravity. It took more than a year, several grants and almost twice the money initially expected (as most government things do) until finally one was found. It worked like a charm, everyone was happy, and the USSR was laughing its collective behind off. Why, you ask? ...They'd just used a pencil.
Now, the reason I tell that story is because I, an overly complicated American, decided to take the absolute roundabout way to get to my zero carb path instead of actually just going for what I had on hand in the beginning. Being that I am in college and live in a dorm, there are several rules that I would be breaking if I just started cooking in my room, and I can't exactly boil things in a microwave that reeks of popcorn and easy-mac. So, in my attempts to find a way to do this, I went for the most complicated thing and worked my way down.
First, I talked to the dean of the school and asked him if it would be alright for me to instruct the cooking staff on how to make my special "stew" and if it would be covered by the fact that I already was paying for a meal plan. No dice, of course, as there would be liabilities if anything happened to me because of my diet. So I directly talked to the boss of the cooking staff, and he said basically the same thing the dean said, except that getting a prescription for what he had previously heard of as the "extreme diabetic diet" from a doctor or nutritionist, then they'd do it without question because the liability wouldn't be on them.
So I e-mail some people I find online that are big in the beef industry and tell them that I'm willing to give them all the test results they want in return for one of the doctors on their payroll writing me a prescription for this thing. No reply, probably because they can't bring themselves to admit they've got a few doctors in their back pocket.
After no reply for a couple weeks, I go to the local hospital's nutritionist and tell him my case (that "starches and fiber are starting to bother me for some reason") and ask him for a prescription. He says no flat out, because there's "absolutely no way that any member of the American Dietetic Association could endorse such an unhealthy diet." Great, back to square one and nobody left.
Then, I walk into the cafeteria and find the proverbial pencil. My cafeteria has the buffet, which has different stuff every day, the salad bar, the two soup dispenser thingies, the soda fountain, the stir-fry guy and...you're gonna love this... the hamburger grill.
So I walk up to the guy at the grill and tell him to grill me up three patties, and the only question he asks is whether I want cheese. I get them, go over and get a couple pats of butter, pour myself a glass of water, and enjoy my lunch. BAM! Zero carb, high fat, and nobody to answer to, all with the resources that were right in front of me the whole time.
The lesson here: Life is only as complicated as we make it.
I am man, I am carnivore, hear me roar.
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Avalon
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Great Story Saruan!
Well written and, well, well written 
Best wishes and God Speed on your journey!
Avalon
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Saruan
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Just as a note, been going for a week, got a few carbs in here and there when there were NO only-meats or hamburgers or anything on the menu, but I've been pretty good.
One thing I've noticed, though, is something that seems to be pretty unique to me; I feel no symptoms of changing "fuels" whatsoever. I can go from 50% carbs in one day to 0% the next with NO detrimental effects whatsoever. This is kinda nice.
Anyway, just wanted to update for accountability the fact that I was (6.5 days out of 7) sticking to the zero carb path.
Also, for those out there who might read this and wonder about physical abilities and such affected by eating no carbs: yesterday I ran 150% as far as I usually do, only stopping because I had a 2.5 mile walk to pick up my wife to be. I could have easily gone twice or more as long as usual, and there was little in the way of cardiovascular exhaustion, though muscular fatigue was still a factor.
You guys rock, keep up the beef!
- Saruan
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adwred
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Wow, that's awesome! The fact that you have energy to spare is a good sing that you're on the right track with your diet. I figure as long as you have lots of energy to do anything you want to do, feel good and enjoy the food, what you're doing is working and you should keep doing it.
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