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Thinking About Going Low Carb?


Photo of Me, Vickie Ewell, Owner of Kickin Carb Clutter Blog
Hi. Welcome to the Kickin' Carb Clutter blog.

I'm Vickie Ewell.

Culinary specialist.
Recipe developer.
Educator.
Consultant.
Freelance writer
and founder of 5 blogs:
  • Kickin' Carb Clutter
  • Just Do You
  • The Super Sensitive Celiac
  • Affordable Gluten Free
  • Vickie Ewell
I have over 45 years experience with low-carb diets and lost over 100 pounds tweaking the Atkins Diet in 2007 to be lower in fat and calories.

In 2009, hubby and I discovered that we have celiac disease, so I quit my job as a cook for our local boys' home and turned my passion for research, writing, and cooking into a full-time blogging and online-content writing career.

Today, I share my expertise, insights, research findings, and personal experience with weight loss, self-empowerment, gluten-free cooking, and writing.

Okay. That's the Reader's Digest version of the story. Here's the details if you're interested in learning more about what we do here at the Kickin' Carb Clutter blog.

I Have Over 45 Years Experience in Low-Carb Diets


In early 1975, I lost 40 pounds and reached goal weight by following the original Atkins Diet. It took me only 6 weeks to reach goal weight.

That's it.

Just 6 weeks!

But I didn't understand the value of a strong maintenance plan. Nor did I understand the mental changes I needed to make the diet stick. My ego was much too strong to pay attention to that part of the book.

Like many of you, I believed that the Atkins Diet was a temporary solution. I didn't see it as a lifestyle change.

After a long, rocky road of health challenges, which left me bedridden for 2 years and required me to teach myself how to walk again, and after going on and off of several different types of low carb diets like the Old Weight Watchers Exchange Plan and Sugarbusters -- I returned to a strict low-carb lifestyle in January of 2007.

Unfortunately, the Atkins Diet didn't work as well as it did before.

Determined to unearth what was going on, I decided to embrace the ketogenic journey that had worked so well in 1975 and went in search of Dr. Atkins original principles and recommendations.

By tweaking the modern-day Atkins Diet to be more like it was in 1972, lower in fat and calories, I lost over 100 pounds -- 112 pounds to be exact.

If you'd like to check out the details of my weight-loss story, you'll find a brief history of my background at our first post, My Weight Loss Journey So Far, and an updated version of my Before and After Pictures that I first published on the blog in 2009 and later upgraded it with more pictures.

The Before and After photos have been updated to share my lowest weight, as well as where I'm at in my weight-loss journey today.

I have an updated version of the story, a multi-post series and a mega guide for weight loss that I wrote at the beginning of 2017, just before we left Utah and moved to Texas. It goes into detail about what I actually did to ditch the weight.

These posts offer examples and menus for those who need extra help.

It's far more detailed and comprehensive than I can give you right now.

I did a similar series in 2012 that covered some of the things I did to tweak the Atkins Diet, but the earlier series is more general in nature and didn't go into too many details.

The updated version that I linked to above will be more in-depth and helpful to you.

My Professional Background


My professional background is working with developmentally challenged adults in group homes, workshops, and apartment environments. I was a care taker, culinary specialist, workshop supervisor, and one-on-one educator for adults.

My job was to help them reach the current admitting standards for working at a workshop, how to hold down a job outside of the workshop, and how to live by themselves in an apartment. I was also a production supervisor and co-ran a prototype program to help the lowest functioning to function appropriately in a workshop setting. 

Their production increased a minimum of 300 percent within 6 months, so that prototype program was expanded to include more workshops in the area.

After getting married again and coming down with vertigo, I quit my job as an educator and supervisor and worked on rebuilding my life by teaching myself how to walk again. 

The vertigo left me literally bedridden for about 2 years.

Later on, I was hired as a culinary specialist for a couple of different boys' homes, where I did the cooking, shopping, and meal planning. I also taught the kids how to cook, shop, and run a kitchen.

Plus, I wrote a few cookbooks to help other boys homes in the area cook more frugally and cheaply, as well as gave the staff one-on-one training to do what I do best.

When I discovered that I have celiac disease, I quit my job as a culinary specialist, and turned my passion for writing, research, and cooking into a full-time online writing career.

We have quite a few delicious low-carb recipes and lots of food posts here at Kickin' Carb Clutter, most of which are also gluten free.

We offer lots of nutritional information that I have gathered over the years and plenty of in-depth how-to guides to help you on your journey to slimness and better health.

How We Can Help You


I'm a baby boomer.

If you're like me, you probably have been struggling with your weight for most of your life.

While I wasn't born a fat child, I did put on a few pounds in my teens and started having serious weight problems after having my appendix taken out when I was 18.

Over the years, I chased many of the popular diets and methods for carving off the pounds. My weight-loss background is quite extensive, but none of the diets I went on were any more successful than low carb was, so when the time came to get serious about my health conditions and weight, I returned to what I knew best:

The Atkins Diet.

From that new commitment, this blog was born.

Originally, it was a journal of my weight-loss journey where I shared what I did to lose those one hundred pounds of body fat. However, this site has gone through many transformations over the years.

What started out as a daily log, journal, and commentary on low carb has morphed into a major resource for those of you who are seeking a carb-restricted, permanent way of life that will enable you to take charge of your health and lifestyle.

To help you do that:

I am going to divide the site up into various pages to assist you in finding what you're looking for quickly and easily:
  • New Here?
  • Atkins
  • Keto
  • Lifestyle
  • FAQ
  • How-To Guides
  • Recipe Box
  • Meal Plans
It's going to take me a while to do this,

You'll find links to those category pages in the top navigation bar. Just click on the three vertical dots that are to the right of the tabs, and you'll get instant access to our large variety of topics:
  • All of the Atkins diets
  • LCHF diets (Nutritional Ketosis and Keto)
  • General low-carb articles
  • A Beginner's Guide to get you started
  • State of ketosis 
  • Mindful eating tips and strategies
  • Health articles and concerns
  • Weight loss stalls and plateaus
  • Weight management (maintenance)
  • Holiday ideas and special occasions
  • Low-carb recipes, meal ideas, and food posts
Switching to a low-carb diet can be rough when you try to go it alone, but Kickin’ Carb Clutter is here to help make the transition easier. We want to do everything we can to assist you in making your weight-loss journey a success, so don't be shy.

We absolutely love to hear from readers!

We Tackle the HARD Questions Here


We also try to tackle the hard questions that no one else wants to ask, let alone answer.

Instead of blindly accepting theory as fact, we have forged our own trail here at KCC, and want to share what we have learned along the way with you.

Many of our articles deal with the science behind low-carb diets, but they also include tips and strategies to make the low-carb lifestyle easier and more fun for you.

Lifestyle changes can be quite challenging, so we seek to inspire you and support you in your daily efforts.

We also share our own personal experiences with diets and weight loss.

We cover some of the insights we've gained over the five decades that we've been involved in the low-carb movement by interacting with you, the readers, and even reveal what might be embarrassing or go against the low-carb party flow.

We'd rather tell you the truth than feed you a bunch of promises that may not happen.

Switching to a low-carb diet will affect your daily life, of course.

But it will also affect the lives of your family, friends, and co-workers. It will uproot everything you thought you knew about nutrition and health, impact your financial situation, and require you to take a good look at yourself and personal habits.

If you have medical conditions, they may, or may not, be impacted as well.

Whether you’re just beginning your low-carb journey, are in the middle of the path, or you have traveled many miles already, Kickin’ Carb Clutter will introduce you to a healthier mindset and a different way of thinking about your self and the world.

Here, you'll get practical ideas for daily living, the information you need to make your own personal decisions about health and fitness, and a sense of empowerment that goes well beyond any common diet advice you're used to hearing.

Sure, we offer menu ideas, tasty recipes, and help for the holidays, but we also provide everything you need to live life to the fullest.

Despite the bad press, a low-carb way of eating isn’t a slab of bacon for breakfast, greasy cheeseburgers for lunch, and 16-ounce Rib Eyes for dinner. Along with an adequate amount of protein foods, it’s a hearty, tasty cuisine that includes:
  • vegetables
  • nuts
  • dairy products
  • eggs
  • fruit
  • healthy fats
But a low-carb lifestyle isn’t just about food. It also includes:
  • Becoming more active.
  • Finding new ways to pamper yourself.
  • Enjoying and appreciating what you have.
  • Learning about your emotions.
  • Becoming more aware of your food habits and urges.
  • Overcoming a lifetime of bad eating habits.
  • And getting excited about Life.
Conscious thought and actions are as important to your health and emotional well-being as what you put in your mouth.

Whether you’ve always been curious about a low-carb diet, want to give it a trial spin, are returning to a low-carb diet, or have been at this for a while now, pull up a chair and let’s talk.

You won’t find any preaching about low-carb magic here.
  • No exaggerated claims.
  • No hypothesis or theory, unless clearly stated that way.
  • And no broken promises.
JUST THE TRUTH

Unlike other low-carb blogs, we seek to cut a path through the puffy clouds of fantasy that can leave a low-carb dieter discouraged and get right to the heart of what’s important.

For that reason, we don’t always follow the crowd.

In fact, following what everyone else is doing is pretty rare around here.

Since we launched in January of 2007, Kickin’ Carb Clutter has been cutting its own path in the low-carb world.

Sometimes, that makes us unpopular with the low-carb experts. 

We believe that:
  • Calories count.
  • A high-fat diet can make some people fatter.
  • Everyone does not have insulin resistance.
  • Low-carb diets are not the perfect choice for everyone.
The standard American diet with its average 300 to 500 grams of carbohydrates per day is disgustingly unhealthy. It’s purposely designed to make you fat, sick, and poor. This, we are in total agreement with.

But low-carb diets can be unhealthy as well. And that's where we come in. If you’re looking for:
  • a different twist on low-carb diets;
  • one that takes advantage of nutrient-dense foods,
  • deals with the subconscious reasons why you overeat,
  • and focuses on balancing mind, body, and spirit,
Then this is the perfect place for you!

Keto Calculator

Keto Calculator - The Keto Diet (at Reddit) includes eating at a calorie deficit, so if you're following that low-carb diet path, I'm linking to the calculator that can help you set up your stats. These macros will tell you how much protein, fats, carbs, and calories you need to eat each day to lose a reasonable amount of body fat week after week.

The calculator can be a bit confusing, so if you can't figure it out, contact me at:

Lavender.Rose27@yahoo.com

And tell me your:
  • age
  • gender
  • height
  • current weight
And I'll run the stats for you.

I Am Not a Doctor

We love receiving emails from you, and sharing our own  experience with weight loss and research that I've gathered over the past 45 years, but I am not a doctor. 

Nor am I trained in body recomposition.

As I stated above, I am a Culinary Specialist (a fancy name for a cook) with a background in educating those who are developmentally challenged to live life to the fullest of their capacity.

Most of my knowledge about weight loss comes from my own personal experience.

If you are already at a healthy weight and just want to get buffed or lean out, mainstream low-carb diets are not designed to do that. 

It takes a very low calorie, protein-sparing modified fast (PSMF) or cyclic low-carb diet of the Lyle McDonald variety to achieve that fitness goal.

If you have Type 1 diabetes, I cannot offer you any advice. Type 1's need a lot of medical supervision. Dr. Bernstein is the leading authority on low carb for Type 1's.

While low-carb diets are not dangerous for Type 1's, you do need to be supervised by a doctor because your insulin will have to be adjusted to fit your diet.

If you try to low carb on your own, you can harm yourself.

Type 2's also need to be under a doctor's care, so your medication can be adjusted as your metabolism adjusts to carbohydrate deprivation. This is what Dr. Phinney, the author of the Keto Diet (Nutritional Ketosis) recommends.

I understand the problem with American doctors. Most of them are not knowledgeable about low-carb diets, so you need to use a bit of common sense when it comes to making dietary changes.

Despite what you'll hear online, we honestly do not know exactly why a low-carb diet works, other than it reduces basal insulin levels and hunger, which makes eating at a caloric deficit more comfortable. 

Research is costly, so the answers have been slow in coming forth.

Why We Use Old-School Atkins Here


Many people have stayed on low-carb diets for years and are fine.

Others haven't been as lucky.

Whether very low carb (20 carbs, or less) is best for you, or not, depends on your hereditary genes.

Your body needs to increase the enzyme that oxidizes dietary fats efficiently for low carb to work well. 

Everyone does not have the physical capacity to do that.

You have no control over that hereditary aspect of the process.

You can either eat high-fat, or you can't.

If you don't oxidize fats well, you'll need a higher carb diet (higher, not high) than those who can oxidize fats easily and efficiently. 

That's the bottom line.

Which is the major reason why we keep Old-School Atkins information here because it allows for individuality. However, no one needs to eat 500 carbs a day. That's a recipe for obesity. I'm definitely not advocating that.

When I say you'll need a higher carb diet, I mean you might need to eat between 60 and 120 carbs, rather than at 20, or less.

Old-School Atkins = Atkins 72, Atkins 82, Atkins 92, Atkins 2002

Over the years, the Atkins Diet has evolved quite a bit, and the changes haven't always been beneficial.

We use the low-carb diets that were actually designed by Dr. Atkins and published in 1972, 1982, 1992, and 2002 most of the time, but I also give a welcome nod to Atkins 20, Atkins 40, and Atkins 100.

If you're following one of those 3 plans, you'll still find a lot of useful articles here that will help you reach your weight loss goals.

The Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. is the marketing company that owns the Atkins name today. They have created these additional versions of the Atkins Diet, and publish their own books on the Atkins Nutritional Approach, but in our personal experience, they don't work as well as Old School Atkins does -- unless you're young and only mildly insulin resistant.

Those with moderate to high insulin resistance will see better results from one of the old-school Atkins plans.

We Have Extensive Experience in Various Weight-Loss Diets


Low carb isn't the only diet that we are experts in.

We have extensive experience in many different weight-loss diets -- not just low carb -- so if a ketogenic diet isn't right for you, it's fine if you want to email me and talk about another diet you're following.

Just be upfront with me.

You can also start a discussion in the comment section of any blog post, if you're more comfortable talking that way. Questions and comments do not have to be low in carbs or deal with the post topic. I'm open to you sharing whatever is going on in your life.

You can also visit our moderate-carb blog which focuses on self-empowerment and intuitive eating at:

Just Do You

Or our blog that deals with celiac disease at:

The Super Sensitive Celiac

Or our blog that focuses on affordable gluten-free food:

Affordable Gluten Free 

Or our blog that handles personal development topics:

Vickie Ewell

The only thing I ask:

If you contact me, please tell me which diet you're following.

And be sincere and honest about what's going on.

I do not believe that very low carb is the only way to live, so being truthful will make communicating and helping you get to the correct resources so much easier and quicker.

Lavender.Rose27@yahoo.com

Comments

  1. Hi Vickie,
    I just wanted to say that I'm very glad to have found your blog. Your story was very interesting and helped me get back on track. I was in a "support" group on FB for a very short while and I put the support in quotes because it wasn't really supportive. I was told by mods that I had to stop commenting about total carbs and calories because "we only count net carbs, not total carbs or calories". For me, this is the fourth (I think) time I've gone back to Atkins but I was reading one of the newer books and the net carb thing didn't work for me as well as the diet had in the past when I was using the older book. After reading your blog, I went old-school and it's going much better. None of this butter in your coffee nonsense :)
    Anyways, I've enjoyed reading!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much for sharing your experience. It frustrates me how the majority of low carbers are so anti-calories and total carbs. It's not helpful for those of us who need to do it old-school. I really have to limit my fat and calories or the fat just doesn't come off.

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