I identify as someone who follows the slow carb diet, but I don’t entirely, not really.

We all adapt diets to suit our needs and desires. For example, cutting things out that we know will lead to overeating. For many on the slow carb lifestyle, that’s nuts. We also add things in that we’re not technically “allowed”, but we’ve found don’t have a negative affect on our weight loss (or maintenance). I suspect though, that the biggest difference is in foods that we’re encouraged to eat, but that we don’t particularly enjoy.

I’m not adverse to beans, I particularly like them in my Sausage, Chorizo and Bean Casserole, but I struggle to add them to a meal just for “the sake of carbs”. That means that actually the majority of my diet is closer to keto, than slow carb as I can often go a whole week without eating carbohydrates.

On Sundays I often spend all day on a hillside flying rc gliders. On those days I never skip breakfast, but that will be all I eat until the evening, and my body’s reaction to coming off #faturday, half starved and the mild exercise can be pretty unpleasant. The symptoms suggest ketoflu, which would make sense.

Most Sunday’s though, I don’t suffer from ketoflu, so either I’m a special snowflake that can transition relatively seamlessly, or something is keeping me on the wrong (right?) side of ketosis. I don’t know whether the former is a recognised possibility, but that’s my current theory.

…and I don’t notice any additional hunger from the lack of slow carbs. I’m hungry when I get home from work whether I eat a salad, or bean based stew, and it’s something I am able to manage in either case.

So for me at least, beans aren’t necessary, but when they’re in something delicious, happy days!