On living without carbs and sugar

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I come from a family of "sweet tooths" (it doesn't make sense to say teeth eh, LOL), and though being a sugar freak isn't exactly genetic, our environment and what we eat growing up pretty much dictate what we'll be eating when we become older and start making our own food choices. 

Photos by Dianna Capco 

Danah and I grew up with desserts after meals and eating out to celebrate—and we celebrate almost anything so that meant we ate out a lot. LOL. So it's no surprise that we developed the habit of getting take out and turning to sugary treats for comfort. Sweet, sweet comfort. Specially when I find myself PMS-ing, I use it as a pass to get double my sugar fix. I remember times of eating Nutella a spoonful at at time until my throat hurt!

Things slightly changed when we moved out, and I had to learn how to cook. After realizing how much we splurge on dining out and food delivery, we knew we'd be able to stretch our money if we did our own groceries. So we did. We tried making "healthier" choices. We switched to brown rice, added more salads in our every day meals, lessened eating processed food and ate more chicken and fish. For some time we even tried the 1200-calorie meal plan (home delivery) but our fridge would end up stocked with container and container of spoiled food. Apparently we didn't like it. Taste matters to us!

However, despite all the changes, I didn't feel any changes let alone see them.

Asan ang pagbabago?! Asan??? LOL

Then I realized...because weed.

Early last year, I was at my heaviest weight. I was probably more or less 200 pounds (I wouldn't know exactly, I don't weight myself) at size 16. All the munchies after every smoke up session were finally taking a toll on my body. I can't even begin to describe how crazy those binge sessions are. And like I shared in my previous posts, when I smoke up, I smoke up all day, every day, until I decide to pause again for a while. So you can just imagine how many times I binge a day due to the munchies. LAMON KUNG LAMON TALAGA. And it goes without saying that the best stuff to eat when you're having the munchies is junk food. I always end up getting food delivery or hoarding potato chips, cornick (Boy Bawang is the shiiiii), and pastries in Family Mart (their lemon square is the bomb!!!!!).

At that time, I told myself I'm loving my body no matter what. I accepted my new dress size that's two sizes bigger, and remained confident in it. I even learned to love and accept the stretch marks that formed on my lower my belly due to the weight gain. But being a self-aware person, at some point I had to acknowledge the truth. The truth that I wasn't living healthy anymore, and I was becoming more and more complacent and careless about my health. It dawned on me that the love I gave my body was very superficial. And perhaps, a little obligatory too, since you know, "body love advocate" is what I am for a living. 

I got sick of it. I made a decision to start working out more and smoking up less, but it didn't make much of a difference. I actually started to feel how heavy I've become for my frame.

By this time, I wanted real change. A lifestyle change.

Around late September, I told myself before I turn 26, I'm gonna clean up my eating habits. That I'm gonna focus on my health and wellness. Fortunately, I got reconnected with an old friend who told me all about the ketogenic diet. He told me he's been eating high fat foods and he's never felt better. I must admit, he did look way younger from the last time I saw him. His skin was glowing, and he looked great. I got intrigued, so I said, okay, I'm interested in trying it out. There was one catch though—I had to get rid of sugar and carbs from my diet completely.

He told me to watch documentaries to educate myself about the truth behind those two food groups, and I did. The facts I gathered made the very challenging decision bearable, and right after, I rummaged through my kitchen, checked labels, and got rid of everything that had sugar and carbs in it.

I quit cold turkey starting the second week of August, and I told Danah either she's with me on this or she wasn't. Either way, I wouldn't let anything stop me. (Thankfully she supported me and began the journey to wellness with me!)




Five months later, here I am still living life carb-free and sugar-free. It's the best thing I've done for my body and my life! I'm not strictly following the ketogenic diet, but a more forgiving version of it instead. It's called PRIMED FOR YOUR LIFE. I realized I can't sustain computing my macros every meal every day.

My new lifestyle has been a breeze. Sure, there were a few moments of indulgences during the holidays, but the sweet, satisfying taste of desserts and treats have become more like fine, expensive wine to me—something to celebrate with occasionally. Besides, my body has completely adjusted to not having sugar in its system, hence getting really terrible food intolerance when I eat more sugar or carbs than my body will allow. And I can say that it's just not worth getting bloated, gassy, and having stomach pains over.

I've been getting a lot of questions regarding my fitness journey and I just wanted to answer all of them here!


What did you experience after quitting sugar and carbs cold turkey?
The first two weeks were pure hell, but I anticipated it so I knew how to deal. I took a lot of magnesium pills as I read somewhere when I geeked out about the keto diet that it can help lessen the headaches. It takes time for the body to be keto adapted—different for everyone. During the third week, I had the much-feared keto flu. The symptoms vary from person to person, but what's common is fatigue and diarrhea. That's what happened to me!!! I had diarrhea for about a month straight. Like pissing through my anus. (Sorry for being graphic, but it is what it is!) I kept at it because I didn't want any of my efforts to go to waste. After a month things eventually subsided. The diarrhea started to lessen until it was completely over. My body was finally adapted after a month and a half. I poop normally now. LOL.

What are the changes that happened to your body once you got adapted to a high fat and low carb diet?

JUST SO MANY AWESOME THINGS! First, I don't even crave for sugar and carbs anymore. People can eat all the ice cream and Potato Corner they want in front of me and I wouldn't feel like I'm torturing myself around them. It's pretty amazing! I never thought this was possible!

I must also say that I used to be so lethargic before, with the need to nap in the middle of the day. Now, I just have more energy. I no longer have mood swings from sugar highs. I sleep 6-7 hours every night and wake up early. No more oversleeping!

My periods are no longer irregular too. My cycle used to be messed up back when I kept consuming sugar and carbs.


Is eating high fat and low carb expensive?

I only eat twice a day without snacking in between. My grocery list is usually the following: veggies, meat, butter, cheese, and eggs. It might seem expensive but it's really not. It's more expensive to keep eating shit food and end up getting sick in the hospital! 


What do you eat when you're out?

I usually eat meats and salads. I always check if there's sugar in the dressing. If yes, I ask if I can have it replaced with stevia (or Splenda if I have no choice). I also prefer to get seafood when it's available. For drinks, I stick to water. If they have fresh lemonade, I get that, but I use stevia as sweetener. My simple rule is this: if it's sweet, don't eat it. Of course it goes without saying that I also skip everything that's considered a carb: breads, pastas, rice, corn, and potatoes.


What are the documentaries that changed your outlook?

That Sugar Film and Fed Up on Netflix.


Who's your wellness coach?

 My coach now is Chad Davis of Primed For Your Life. He's an amazing wellness coach. Very hands on. We see each other twice a month to catch up and check progress. He's super passionate about educating Filipinos about the lies that the food and health industry have been feeding us. He knows about the system that keeps us sick and he's so determined to make a change! (Watch Fed Up to know more about this.) I really love him, he's the best.


How much weight have you lost?

Okay, first thing's first. I just wanna make it clear that I did not change my lifestyle merely to lose weight. It's really to feel healthy from the inside out. If it were only for weight loss I wouldn't have lasted this long! LOL. I just lost weight naturally as my body adjusted to my new lifestyle.

Normally, I wouldn't know how much I weigh since I made a vow not to. I don't wanna get caught up with numbers. But my coach insisted on knowing so I had to go and weigh myself. The last time I checked was probably a month ago, and I found out that I lost 20 pounds.


What do you eat on a regular day?

Sardines, seafood, eggs, butter, coconut oil, salads, meats, almonds. (I'll make more posts on this!)


Do you have a regular cheat day? What do you when you crave sweets?

Nope. No regular cheat day for me. I don't want it scheduled. I avoid it as much as possible. The only time I really cheated for a pretty long period of time (that wasn't even long) was during the holiday season last year. I didn't even go full on cheating because of the food intolerance I got every time I ate sugar and carbs. I really keep it to a minimum for the fear of getting gassy, bloated, and nauseous!

For sweets, I eat sugar-free dark chocolate (70% up). My favorite healthy desserts are the stevia chili dark chocolate of Garahe Produce, and the guilt-free brownies and strawberry cheesecakes of The Good Kitchen.


Do you work out regularly? What's your routine?

Nope, not anymore. The key to a healthy body is really eating right. I think it's way more important than spending hours regularly at the gym. I do swim sometimes, and I'm considering going back to boxing because that's one activity I really enjoy.


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So there! I hope this helps! May you be fueled with real self-love to start your fitness journey this year. Don't get obsessed with losing weight as your goal. REAL FITNESS AND WELLNESS SHOULD BE THE ULTIMATE MOTIVATION TO PURSUE A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE! 💖

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