Why I Love Low Carb, by Luke Hopkins

I had a big realisation as a teenager where I went from living to eat, to eating to live. For me, low carb just makes sense. It's not a diet, it's not a fad, it's not restrictive and I rarely feel like I'm missing out. These are all arguments that anti-low carb proponents use against low carb living but for me, none of them ring true. Why is that? When I eat good quality, simple wholesome food I feel hundreds of times better than I ever thought I could when I was eating a lot of carbs. I sleep so much better which means I wake up with more energy, I'm happier and have a lot more mental clarity and focus. I have energy which allows me to do the things I want to do. The benefits of so far outweigh the "downsides" that the thought of throwing it away to eat an ice cream or some pasta just doesn't make sense.

Let's take it back a few years.

As far back as I can remember, I was quite an overweight child. You wouldn't say obese but it was a fair bit more than just a bit chubby. I did participate in team sports but I wasn't particularly sporty. I much preferred to just go off on adventures on my bike or with friends. Growing up on 20 acres near Bega on the far south coast of NSW we had plenty of space to go and explore! I battled with my weight all through primary school and into the early years of high school. My weight would fluctuate quite a bit as I went through growth spurts, first in width, then in height. Rinse and repeat until I reached almost my current height of 200cm. I was using food as a coping mechanism and I ate from frustration as well as boredom. It was unequivocally emotion eating and as you might know if you've ever been there, your body craves junk food and sugar, not vegetables.

The transition.

Around the time I was a young teenager a family friend who was quite into health and fitness suggested I tried increasing the amount of protein in my diet and subsequently reducing the amount of carbs. Much to my astonishment, it started to show signs of working. With the belief that "this is just how I am" suddenly shattered I started to become more active and spent more time riding my bike with friends and just being out of the house, moving. From then on I ate less carbs than I was eating before. I wouldn't say it was low by my standards today, but it was significantly less. I was eating more meat and vegetables and salads and nuts and seeds and started to feel better and lose more weight. This has continued on to this day. I really don't look it as deliberately not eating carbs, I look at it as fuelling myself with protein from dairy and meat, good fats from seafood, nuts and seeds and plenty of fibre and nutrients from vegetables and salad greens.

Why I'm so passionate about Low Carb

Realising the transformative effect eating low carb has on my life has inspired me to share it with as many people as I can. I see so many overweight and unhappy people and want them to experience the transformation shift that I did when I started reducing the amount of carbs I was eating.

My transformation is what makes me so driven to help Australians as well as people all around the world fitter, stronger, healthier and ultimately happier, through the power of eating low carb.

I'm thrilled to see the support of this movement by large credible scientific organisations like the CSIRO with the recent release of their CSIRO Low-Carb Every Day diet book/guide. It brings rigour and confidence knowing that what we've understood for years is now being backed up by science. This new found credibility means that more and more people will be empowered to eat low carb, they'll lose weight, they'll reduce their dependency on medicine and they too will be able to live life to the fullest. And that's why I love low carb.