McCullough - Living low-carb: the complete guide to long-term low-carb dieting

Copyright 2000 by Fran McCullough

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

First eBook Edition: January 2003

The author wishes to thank the following for permission to reprint their recipes: Zucchini Posing as Fettuccine in Lemon Cream by Susan Simon. Published in The Nantucket Table. Copyright 1998 by Susan Simon. Reprinted by permission of Chronicle Books; Chocolate Climax and Zucchini Vichyssoise by Rozanne Gold. Published in Recipes 1-2-3 Menu Cookbook. Copyright 1999 by Rozanne Gold. Reprinted by permission of Little, Brown and Company; Flourless Chocolate Cake by Michael Roberts. Published in Parisian Home Cooking. Copyright 1999 by Michael Roberts. Reprinted by permission of William Morrow and Company, Inc.; Voluptuous Cauliflower by Anne Rosenzweig. Published in the New York Times. Reprinted by permission of Anne Rosenzweig.

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ISBN: 978-0-316-05465-2

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Book design by H. Roberts Design

Also by From McCullough

The Low-Carb Cookbook

Great Food Without Fuss (with Barbara Witt)

Great Feasts Without Fuss (with Barbara Witt)

Classic American Food Without Fuss (with Barbara Witt)

Edited by From McCullough, with Suzanne Hamlin

The Best American Recipes Series

Book design by H. Roberts Design

Printed in the United States of America

Before beginning this or any other diet or nutritional program, you are advised to consult with your physician. In particular, if you are pregnant or have any special condition requiring medical attention, or if you are taking or have been advised to take any medication, you should consult regularly with your physician.

The information provided in this book is based on sources that the author believes to be reliable. All information regarding specific products and companies is current as of January 2000.

My first thanks go to my should-be-sainted husband David, who's not only endlessly long-suffering but endlessly supportive and always willing to raise his fork to taste the latest little surprise from the kitchen.

I still had my A-team for the writing of this book, the fantastic group of people who were behind The Low-Carb Cookbook: my agent Irene Skolnick, my editor Rick Kot, and Rick's lieutenant Michael Liss. Special thanks to Jennifer Josephy, who guided this book through the publication process. I'm incredibly lucky to have all of you. And part of my luck is Irwyn Applebaum, the godfather of all my low-carb books.

I'm also fortunate to have great friends, who have contributed their expertise in various fields and let me pick their brains and bounce ideas off them and talk to them incessantly about this fascinating (to me, not always to them) subject. A huge thank-you to Bruce Aidells, Janet Bailey, Jo Bettoja, June Biermann, Carver Blanchard, Catherine Brandel, Dr. Louis Buzzeo, Dana Carpender, JoAnn Clevenger, Darian Cork, Warren Cork, Susan Costner, Robert Crayhon, Marion Cunningham, Drs. Mike and Mary Dan Eades, Susan Fischer, Linda and Fred Griffith, Christopher Gross, Suzanne Hamlin, Diana Kennedy, David King, Niloufer Ichaporia King, Pat Klinkhammer, Wendy Lane, Mark Lindner, Maggie McCarthy, Dr. Larry McCleary, Ben McCullough, Katy McCullough, Deborah Madison, Patty O'Neill, James O'Shea, Gene Opton, Pat Puglio, Dr. Donald Robertson and Carol Robertson, Dr. Ron Rosedale, Lorna Sass, Lindsey Shere, Martha Rose Shulman, Alan Silverstein, Nina Simonds, Brian Termini, Barbara Toohey, Charles VanOver, Eileen Weinberg, Faith Heller Willinger, Barbara Witt, Paula Wolfert, Diane Rossen Worthington, and Rob Wynne.

It took me many years to realize that I am unable to properly metabolize carbohydrates. This became most painfully clear at the dawn of the low-fat era, when I was told by expert after expert that it was fat that made me fat, and I could eat all the carbohydrates I wanted and still lose weight. But I continued to gain weight, and whenever I managed to lose a pound or two after a huge effort, it would come right back in spades after one restaurant dinner.

I began to recognize something was wrong, basically wrong, with the approach I had chosen. But I was afraid to return to the Atkins diet, the only diet I'd ever both felt good on and lost weight on, because I was sure it would kill me, given the medical opinion of the time. And I couldn't simply give up dieting, either, because left to my own predilections I'd typically gain between 15 and 20 pounds a year, just eating whatever appealed to me. At that rate, I'd add on 150 to 200 pounds a decade, and end up weighing over 400 pounds by the time my kids graduated from college.

As I've written in The Low-Carlo Cookbook, my saviors appeared in the form of Drs. Mike and Mary Dan Eades, who more or less fell into my lap when I became their enthusiastic editor. Their book Protein Power convinced me that there was a solution to my problem. I credit the Eadeses not only with whittling my size down by more than 60 pounds but with saving my life. Today, in fact, I got the results of my latest blood tests: perfect cholesterol, perfect triglycerides, and perfect blood pressure. (My homocysteine level was not perfect, though that's easily corrected by taking 800mcg of folic acid a day.)

My weight isn't yet perfect, but that's not the fault of the low-carb regime. My professional life revolves around great food: I'm constantly tasting it and testing it and being treated to extraordinary meals and samplings that only a fool (or a very wise person) would pass up. I'm still working on passing up at least some of it, though.

In my family I'm known as the Pleasure Maniac, the one who insists on the constant little daily pleasures espresso, flowers, real silver on the table as well as the big ones. That tendency very much informs my dieting habits and to some degree it informs this book. I want to responsibly enjoy as much as I possibly can: to eat as well as I can and still lose or maintain; to find the secret weapons that will allow me that pleasure; to test the boundaries without losing my balance.

Because I've had a life-threatening illness (a major blood clot) and because my older sister has had a massive stroke from which she will probably never recover, I'm also determined to be as healthy as I possibly can be. That's why you'll find regular notes throughout this book on little or large details of general health.

No one diagnosed my blood clot but me; I had to go to four doctors (who told me I was wrong) and finally to a vascular surgeon before my original hunch was confirmed. As the surgeon told me, I could have died at any point along the way. That experience has convinced me that we're all responsible for our own health, for listening to our bodies and heeding what they tell us.

What my body tells me on the low-carb regime is that all's well: I have great energy, I don't catch every passing flu anymore, and my bloodwork confirms the value of this regime for me. But low-carb dieting may not be as worthwhile for you or perhaps some variation of it may be what works for you. We're all amazingly different biochemically, and each person has to figure out what's right for him-or herself. You may be lucky enough to find a doctor to guide you, but don't take it for granted that that will be the case.