JULIA Cameron’s Morning Pages are called as such because they should be written first thing in the morning, upon waking up. Since my morning ritual may last for about two hours, I have to wake up before 6 am if I want to start writing by 8 am. Otherwise, the daily writing would morph into the Noon Pages, Afternoon Pages, Evening Pages, and even—gasp—the Midnight Pages.
I used to be a night owl but old age, er, the necessity to have a good night’s sleep has changed that. If I’m still awake after midnight, the harder it is to sleep. Thus, slowing down by 8 pm is a must. I’d read a book and listen to low-carb-fasting videos. Yes, listen, not watch. Like it’s muzak or white noise, brainwashing me on the pros of a carnivore diet and the perks of being in ketosis.
I can still have fun after midnight if I choose to, but the hangover the morning after, even without tequila, is not worth it. That’s why friends prefer to celebrate their birthdays during lunchtime. We are more or less of the same age, we can all relate to the poem, “Early to bed and early to rise/Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”
It’s called WOE, by the way. Whatever you choose—vegan, vegetarian, high-carb, keto, carnivore, etc.—that is your Way of Eating. And woe to those who can’t find the WOE they can stick with forevermore in their quest to remain healthy.
High-carb has been bad for me. Yeah, blame it on food. Haha. I gained a lot of weight—about 50 pounds. Five pounds should have been alarming enough, but I was young then and believed I could easily go back to my goal weight. As my body fats increased, the harder it was to slim down, so, I continued eating.
My old photos, which the smartphone provides through its “For You” section, reveal “before” images of my weight, and I can see I looked different then. I always wore navy or black—to hide the fat. But those color choices did simplify shopping. I didn’t have to check out other colors.
And to think I adopted the low-carb diet to heal my hypertension. I was concerned about my weight but since I was already used to my XXL size, the weight loss simply became the cherry on top of the icing on the cake. Which I couldn’t have anymore. Darn.
Our low-carb group has several group chats. That’s where we post our meals, seek advice from low-carb doctors and coaches, and share learnings and struggles.
In July, a low-carb doctor created a new group chat to help us start a reset on August 1. On August 2, the day after, a group chat member confessed that she wasn’t able to resist a high-carb goodie right on the first day of the reset. Did we kick her out of the group? Of course not. It’s already standard operating procedure, to immediately return to low-carb in the next meal.
The side effects will immediately appear, anyway, “to remind you/Of the mess you left when you went away.” Er, yeah, enough already.
