Why don't you eat normally?

There is a grand assumption on the part of many who don’t understand the low-carb lifestyle that we don’t eat normally. One mention of “Atkins” and folks picture Michael Moore bathing in a vat of bacon grease, scrubbing under his armpits with a big pork rind loofah.

I have had people question my willful discounting that breads can be healthy and that potatoes are necessity, staple wise.

I’ve also learned to question them in return.

To some, this is Socratic dialogue. To others, it is a colossal annoyance.

When someone says, “Why don’t you eat normally?” I ask them, “What do you perceive as ‘normal’?”

They will tell respond to me that there are vegetables ‘and other things’ (discounting other things as being breads and potatoes).

Knowing that I eat anywhere from 3-7 servings (as per the food pyramid) of vegetables per day while on Atkins, I ask them, “How many servings of vegetables do you eat daily?”

That usually disquiets many, as so few actually do eat vegetables. Hearing that I eat so many is a frustration for those who have been told that vegetables are anathema to the low-carb swiller of all things hamburger.

Discussion then generally follows to mention of dairy (I have dairy), vitamins (I take supplements), exercise (I exercise), and that fats are bad (to which I reply that fats only in conjunction with processed carbohydrates are actually bad. Fat serves a very real purpose of satisfying pleasure sensors in the brain, satisfying hunger, and giving food staying power. Fat also takes an extreme amount of effort to break down to sugar in the bloodstream).

Despite the fact that my ‘diet’ has consisted constantly of spinach, berries, yogurt, deviled eggs, I am told I need to eat normally.

I look at her Fudgecicle and her Diet Wannaspaz cola.

I don’t think I want to be normal.