The upside of falling down . . .

Since I started this new low carbohydrate lifestyle at the end of August I've had three days of limitless carb consumption. Yesterday was one of those days.

I'm not going to make excuses for myself, and I'm not going to fall permanently off the wagon. In fact, I'm learning that my occasional falls back into old eating habits are highly illustrative of why a low carbohydrate diet is so necessary for my health.

I've learned:

High carb consumption makes me retain water. Lots of water. And water retention makes my joints hurt. Water retention also makes sleep more difficult, not just because I'm a side sleeper and my hips are tender, but also because my hands go tingly and fall asleep -- which wakes me up during the night.

When I eat a lot of carbs I'm more tired and fatigued. When I'm tired and fatigued, I'm snappy and irritable. (I'm a nicer mom on fewer carbs.)

After a binge of carbs -- especially carbs from bread -- I wake up with a stuffy/runny nose. I used to think that I had an allergy to something, and now I'm wondering if it's to wheat in large quantities.

I have 'hot flashes' after a high carb meal and facial flushing. I don't have rosacea, I have high carb rosacea.

The day after a carb-fest I experience carbohydrate cravings. Bad!

There you have it. Learning from mistakes is the upside of falling down.

In other news, I've decided that reading about eating makes me want to eat. And whether it's carbs or protein and fats, eating too much isn't conducive to weight loss. So for the month of October I'm going to stop reading Dr. Phil's weighloss book and books about low-carb living.

I'll simply write down what I eat and count the net carbs. I'm going to try the Dr. Atkins approach and try to stay under 25 net carbs each day. I'm hoping that by jump-starting my weight loss I'll be able to feel energized to walk more and be more active all day.

Life is for living, not for dieting and obsessing about weight.