Was it psychologically difficult to do all of that?
I won't lie my life is quite empty , so loosing weight and getting healthier is something I find usefull in order to get back on track, feeling better about myself and all, that's a problem I have because even if I wasnt strictly bullied at school I was picked on about my weight.
It tooks a pretty messed up turn at the start of unniversity I went so restrictive I end up having bulimia for a few months.
So I stopped any attempt to loose weight for years and I keep loosing self condifence, now I am getting my life back basically.
So it is important for me, but I totally understand that someone with a busier life would have a harder time trying a new diet, especialy with a family and kids.
Was it psychologically difficult to do all of that?
It's been not even a month so I wont say that the psychological struggle is over. Its far from over as I have still 7 kg to loose and the last ones are the hardest.
In addition, my relation to carbs ( so candies, bread , anything like that, pasta, chips blablabla) has always been unealthy, I have always eat to cope with my negative emotions, And I am sure I am not the only one in my family doing that, in addition, diabetes runs in my family (both side) , I have knee and ankle issues, I feel weaker and weaker every year...running with my few friends is a pain...
So I started to realize ( thanks to my mother telling me that everyday aswell) that If I didnt change my habits (like eating a bag of candy everyday or chips or 200g of rice) my life would become even more a mess in a few years, just because I eat too much. Especially carbs.
Starting from that, I promised myself that I wont bash myself If I eat a cake or a few chips at a party or even a beer, few times a month, because a years is 365 days even If I eat unhealthy sometimes it will still be 300 healthy days out of 365. The goal is to be healthy the majority of the time , not all the time, especially not at the cost of the few socials interractions I have.
In addiiton, I do some intermitent fasting, I dont know if I will do more than 24h hours , today I did 24h ( I am studying my finales) , but before doing 24h I started slowly by cutting my hours of eating almost one by one. I am eating 2 meals a day with a window of 8H eating 16H fasting most of the time.
And about the carbs,well I think reducing your global amount of carb is essential for an healthier life, because insulin spikes ( up and down) are parts of many many problems, it is still hard to prove but in addition of making you eat more ( this is a fact) , insulin may also amplify your negative feelings.
This is just acting like a drug in a way, you have a negative emotion and then eat to compensate but after the insulin is down you are hungry again and the emotions can come back. Not to mention that, except fiber ( with bread I guess) most carbs heavy food has no nutritionnal value, it just makes you fat.
How are these kinds of diets done with sensitivity to taste? Or is it just the ones who don't have that doing it? Or do they just power through it?
Now is is a part more personnal, I dont think this applies to everyeone, but I think something is wrong with me and carbs the way I digest it, Iv always felt tired after eating a meal containing carbs, maybe this is because i'v eat too much of it since childhood, but I have old memories of this aswell...
Anyway I had pain in the stomach, bloating, tiredness,cycle of diarhea and then constipation ...and even sometimes a low mood after a big meal with carbs.
Since I have cut all carb heavy food I dont feel any of that anymore, and still eat a lot( I mean I eat less but not to the point where I feel hungry, carbs make you more hungry).
I still eat food that I thought were the cause of my bloating and digestive issues, (greens ,cabbage and others),Everybody around me was telling me that, but I can eat a ton of it , it doesnt hurt my guts, so it was the only thing I did put away from my diet, "heavy carb food"
So I have made up my mind about it with all the health benefits , I dont realy feel like I am restricting my diet, even with intermitent fasting( I even do more sport now that I am not eating carbs like I used too.)
And I feel better about myself, I have lost slowly but surely (around 0.5 to 2 kg per week , ofc depending on the day I did eat carbs hehe)
I am back at the gym I feel less ugly and it will make easier for me to be at unni next semester, so its all good for me.
Carbs craving is a thing, but with time it reduces, even outside now I notice less the smell of bakery that used to make me want to eat, now its just a smell like any other.
I started with a less "healthy" way my diet, I love cold cuts ,butter and all of that,dairy products etc... So instead of heating unhealthy food based on carbs I eat those, I reduced my consumption of cold cuts a lot now, but for a week it helped me starting this, and If I have to bring unhealthy food at a party , I will choose unhealthy food based on fat more than carbs.
And I know I have the chance to have no digestive issue with cheese, unlike many people on the spectrum, So I have still the opportunity to eat things I love.
Basically I am less of a picky eater than most of people on the spectrum.
The one food I should eat on a ketogenic diet is avocado but I HATE THEM, so I didnt try yet.
So I think that its obviosully more complicated for people who enjoy carbs only...this is not my case fortunatly.
But to be fair, with a good (homemade) sauce, everything is a better, and when you eat less foods in general taste better IMO.
Iv enjoyed eating broccoli
I eat dark chocolate sometimes (90%; I dont think 100% of available in my area or even exist) , at first it tasted like crap I will be honest, BUT, today I'v eat one square of it and the very few amount of sugar exploded in my mouth like I was eating a candy xD
Maybe our sensitivity to taste can also be turned around in a positive manner, like if you realy reduce your amount of carb you may enjoy the sweetness of other low carbs products?
Are these diets common for autistic people?
Well our friend a few post earlier posted a link related to ketogenic diet and autism , it might reduce the expression of autistic traits, in my opinion this is related to insulin, but I am no expert, I just feel better now so that's good enought. And fat has been demonized for years but its actually usefull, if we dont eat bad fat or bad products ( like any other diet anyway)
Keep in mind that if you want to change your diet you need to talk about it a little to your doctor, to know if you dont have any specific problem
(but many doctor will just say keto is bad because its too much based on fat , this argument has been debunked many times, the problem with keto is that you need to eat fiber with greens , and you also need to check how well you digest other type of food, keeping protein at a normal level is also important.)
To be totally honest I also eat supplement for vitamins( but I dont take a full dosage, just half of it) because I dont eat fruit on this diet neither ;And I totally understand if you dont want to give up on fruit (just dont eat them at the end of a meal lol)
I suppose fasting can't be done when you're taking medications
Well I would say no, if you have a medication I guess this is a situation when you need to talk about it to your doctor, because many times medication needs to be taken with a meal in order to be properly "digested".
Basically fasting itself should be considered as a type of treatement, when done properly and very carefully.
You may have notice diet is a bit of a special interest for me.
And you also eat sometimes when you fast, I dont know, if you have one pill to take a day and eat one meal a day it will be close to 1day of fasting^^ But medication is often on multiples takes.
Overall, don't mind the ketogenic and IF stuff, it's not about following this strictly, but if you can eat less carbs and eat less often you will feel better that's for sure. And that's how I started. One babystep is still moving forward !
2 months ago I could eat a bag of candy on any frustration, and I did that all my life! But everything can change!
