Nervous About Perfect Health Diet

I did it today. I started in earnest the Perfect Health Diet. And I am nervous about it. We potatoes with dinner tonight and I figure I consumed about 35 grams of carbs with my potatoes. I finished the day at about 85 grams of carbs, which, for me, is a lot. I haven't consumed that many carbs since before I started a low carb way of eating.

The Perfect Health Diet makes a lot of sense; it recommends getting 50 to 150 grams of carbs from "safe starches," such as rice, potatoes, yams, and taro. The logic: your body needs a certain amount of glucose to function, and if you go very low carb, you force your liver to produce the glucose from protein. Which is not necessarily healthy for your liver. So I get why "safe" carbs are necessary, but it is hard to change old habits. It's a bit like changing religions, really.

And I am a type II diabetic and I really have to watch the carbs I consume. So I checked my blood glucose levels after dinner and they were fine. Two hours after eating dinner, including the potatoes, it was 118. Ideally, two hours after a meal, it should be below 120 but at a bare minimum, be below 140. So I met that standard. Jenny Ruhl said in a recent podcast with Jimmy Moore that most type II diabetic men she knows can handle 75 to 100 grams of carbs per day, so I am hoping she is correct. If not, I will have to scale back.

Another issue making me nervous is I am likely to gain five pounds, almost over night, by replenishing glycogen stores. But I have to keep reminding myself that it is only a water gain. The theory is, one molecule of glycogen bonds with four molecules of water, and since we normally carry around a pound of glycogen, that means, gulp, one pound of glycogen and four pounds of water. It's all psychological. I know it is going to happen and I know it is water, but it still makes me nervous. Paul Jaminet says it may not happen, so I can at least hold out a little bit of hope.