Why?

So, our journey starts with a conversation with my very good friend, Eugene, who asked me to listen to two podcasts:

http://www.grc.com/health/lowcarb-podcasts.htm

These are a couple of TWIT Live Specials Hosted by Leo Laporte.  He was interviewing Steve Gibson, the host of the Security Now podcast.  Steve explained his journey into nutritional ketosis by eating a very low-carb diet.  As I listened, there were several things that caught my attention.

1. He reached a point several days after starting that he was no longer hungry.  After I heard this, I actually began to resent lunch since it is an interruption to my day that I am required to deal with.  If I could get control of my hunger and addiction to sweets, that would be worth it alone.
2. He found that he was feeling better and recovering faster from exercise.  This was also very interesting.  I enjoy my workouts, but sometimes the soreness and stiffness doesn't seem worth it.

These podcasts and a little online research helped me understand that when a person lowers their carbohydrate intake below 50g per day, their body starts a process where it switches its main fuel source from carbohydrates to fat and ketones.  Ketones are necessary because fat cannot cross the blood brain barrier so the brain can only burn ketones and glucose.  When the body is deprived of glucose, it begins to generate ketones to feed the brain. 

Steve's story led to me continuing my research and reading two books by Dr. Stephen Phinney and Dr. Jeff Volek.

The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance
The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living

The first one is a subset of the second one that focuses specifically on the application of low-carb diets on athletes.  These books go into great detail on how to live on a well formed ketogenic diet and how to avoid the pitfalls that usually come along with them.  There were a couple of things that added to my interest in the diet in these books.  The first was with respect to my mom, who has been struggling with her weight as long as I have memories and has been struggling with type 2 diabetes for the last several years.  There has been a lot of success using a ketogenic diet to treat type 2 diabetes.  The second had to do with reduction of inflammation.  I have struggled with atopic dermatitis for 15 years.  If this can help, I am on board.

Well, that give you an idea of why we are starting this.  I will fill in more details later and share more about our experience.