It's not that I was living on doughnuts.
But a few years back my diet wasn't that great.
Lots of sugar.
Tons of carbohydrate.
Liberal doses of caffeine.
And quite a bit of Coke, Pepsi and other sodas.
The reason it got this way was that I became disillusioned with the ever contradictory advice coming from the nutrition industry.
One day eggs are good. Then they're bad. Then they're good again.
I just thought I'd ignore all that nonsense and eat what I feel like eating. I reasoned that because I was doing quite a bit of exercise I didn't need to obsess about my food intake.
And I felt okay and wasn't overweight.
However, as time passed there were a few signs all was not well:
My waist started to get bigger.
My allergies got worse.
My energy level plummeted after eating.
My blood pressure went up.
None of which I connected with my diet. My solution was even more exercise.
Then our oldest son became ill. He developed chronic fatigue which left him unable to go to school. We searched everywhere for a solution.
What helped (eventually) was changing to a low carbohydrate diet. As we eat together, it was easier for the whole family to adopt this new regime.
The effect on me was dramatic.
Within a few weeks, I had lost 9kg without trying.
My eczema and nasal congestion disappeared.
I stopped going unconscious after meals.
It made me realise that there is something in this diet stuff after all.
I'm not a dietician and a low carb diet may not suit everyone. However, it certainly works for me.