Time for Kickin' Carb Clutter to Evolve into Something NEW (Latest Update)

[This article has been edited and reworked to reflect where I'm headed, as of May 2019. I've realized that many super-sensitive celiac topics and recipes are not appropriate for a ketogenic website, so I'm planning on downsizing instead of integrating all my blogs right now. I might still decide to integrate later on, but just not right now.]

A few months ago, I was reading an article on maltodextrin over at the Keto Concern website, (no longer online) and got succor-punched in the gut.

Although, I've written articles on sugar substitutes a few times here at Kickin' Carb Clutter, and have spoken out about maltodextrin's high glycemic index, (maltodextrin is NOT Keto-friendly), I never realized that the blood glucose issues I'd been having could have been tied to the maltodextrin in foods and beverages.

Not until I read that article at Keto Concern that morning.

I have always blamed the carbs, because that's what the Keto influencers preach, but that might not be correct at all.

At the time, I thought it might be maltodrextrin, but:

After I wrote this post, I also realized that my blood glucose issues could have something to do with the way insulin is stored and utilized by the body. 

And that is what it actually turned out to be.

Maltodextrin is the number one ingredient in bulk sugar substitutes, unless a company is using erythritol -- which is becoming more popular these days -- but I never thought to check the ingredient list for maltodextrin on products other than bulk sugar alternatives.

To my surprise, and dismay, maltodextrin is the number one ingredient in Crystal Light soft drink mixes, and number two in some generic brands. It's also a main ingredient in the powdered bouillon I've been using lately.

I don't drink a lot of Crystal Light, but I do use that bouillon quite often.

[Since I wrote this article, it's come to my attention that the bouillon also included yeast extract, which is derived from barley. That means it's not gluten free.]

What I forgot until I read that article was that maltodextrin is a popular ingredient in all sorts of processed foods and beverages, so it might be more prominent in our diet than I realized.

If you're struggling with your weight loss on Atkins or Keto and you're having trouble keeping your blood glucose level under control, you might be consuming too much maltodextrin.

However, after reading about Atkins' new diet, called Atkins 100, which is closely related to Atkins 40, I started experimenting with the idea of spacing out my carbs throughout the day.

This post discusses both possibilities.

It also talks about what I'm going to do to evolve what I've been doing here into something that is more relevant, yet expanded, at the same time.

I realized yesterday, after looking at the stats for my two recent herb garden articles, that I don't have to keep talking about the same things all the time.

I can branch out into additional topics that are of interest for those doing low carb. And even low carb diets come in many interesting and different flavors.

Maltodextrin is in Many Processed Foods

I honestly didn't realize that I was over-consuming maltodextrin until I started reading the ingredients on the products I had in the pantry.

I guess that's what happens when you try to rely on memory.
You become too sure of yourself on low carb, or even a healthy, gluten-free diet.

I'm currently working on ditching my fear of gluten contamination, which isn't easy because I'm reacting to something right now; [this turned out to be the contaminated bouillon which I mentioned above]; but realized that being more relaxed enables me to forget some of the essential things that I need to do to protect myself and family from harm.

These essential things include reading the ingredient list for all of the health conditions that hubby and I have and not just reading the ingredients for low carb or gluten free by themselves.

I don't always take all of our health problems under consideration when hubby and I go grocery shopping together. 

This was a huge revelation for me, and it is a large mistake that I've been making. I actually found yeast extract in Knorr Swiss beef bouillon, which is not gluten free. Yeast extract is a by-product of making beer, and isn't in the chicken flavor.

Just the beef.

*NOTE: This is not true, anymore. Both varieties now contain gluten in the form of barley, so I've switched to the Herb Ox brand.

Since we're juggling gluten free, a low-carb diet, and high blood glucose levels, I need to keep all of our health conditions in my awareness while reading food labels, so I don't miss something that's important.

I've been reading the label for only one condition at a time, instead of looking for ingredients that are both gluten free and low carb together.

Just low carb, or just gluten free, isn't enough for us.

This has to change, especially since I've been struggling with my blood glucose levels again lately, which means I have to keep four conditions uppermost in my mind instead of one or two.

[If you're not interested in the plans I have for my blogs, then scroll down to the bottom of this post where I talk about spreading out the carbs throughout the day and my results from experimenting with that idea.]

Where Kickin' Carb Clutter is Headed Next

Where I plan on taking this blog to next:
something that is both low carb and gluten free!

I have almost always blogged from a gluten-free perspective, so moving into the gluten-free space here won't be new.

But to recover my health, mental, and emotional stability -- by itself:

• low carb isn't enough
• gluten free isn't enough
• thyroid care isn't enough
• vertigo care isn't enough
• stable blood sugar isn't enough
• correcting my emotional attachment to certain foods isn't enough
• correcting my perception of weight loss isn't enough, either

Neither is balancing carbohydrate intake with adequate protein and just enough fat to make my weight-loss diet work well.

Instead of taking each condition or mindset by itself, one at a time, I've realized that I need to see my health condition as a single issue instead of dividing it up into several separate conditions. I'm not just low carb.

I'm low carb, gluten free.

And it's the separateness that seems to have gotten in the way of fully recovering.

I've been playing around with low-carb diets since 1975. That's far too long. This tells me that up to this point in time, I haven't really made any permanent changes in:

• diet
• mental health
• emotional stability
• and lifestyle

So, I have realized that I need to integrate my health, mental, and emotional problems, as well as my perspective on life into one complete whole. 

This goes for my blogs, too.

I have a variety of blogs that deal with:

• weight loss (low carb and moderate carb)
• celiac disease, including super sensitivity
• cooking and recipe development
• saving money
• mental and emotional health
• personal development and self-improvement
• online writing

This is too many blogs!

Having all of these narrow-niche topic blogs has just left me feeling fragmented and going backward. It's a struggle to devote enough time and energy to all of these niches.

The time has come to see myself as a complete individual instead of a variety of people:

• one who does low carb
• one who wants to do moderate carb
• one who is emotionally attached to food
• one who fears that there won't be enough food in the house tomorrow
• one who is gluten free
• one who has hyperthyroidism
• one who has vertigo
• one who struggles with her blood glucose level
• one who loves to cook and create recipes
• one who is a super-sensitive celiac
• one who enjoys doing lots of research
• one who writes online and for private clients

Dividing yourself between the various roles in life can get way too complex as you age and your memory begins to fail you.

Hubby has only a few years left before he has to make a decision on whether to retire or work part-time for a little bit longer, so I've decided to leave the past behind, and only focus on today and tomorrow.

Having 7 narrow niche blogs isn't practical.

However, even though I'm low carb, rather than ketogenic, there is a lot of information here at Kickin' Carb Clutter for those doing Keto, so I don't want to walk away from everything I've written on the topics of Atkins, Keto, low carb, very low carb, and zero carb.

Moving forward, I'm not going to take this blog down.

Please don't worry that I'm going to disappear. 

I've been working really hard over the past year on getting rid of the outdated posts and updating everything I have on this site, so it's fresh, relevant, and useful for you.

This site has evolved from a stream-of-consciousness, personal opinion journal into a solid resource for low-carb diets and it's going to stay that way.

That part isn't changing.

I've just realized that downsizing my favorite topics and interests, whittling down my projects into 3 blogs instead of 7 will be easier to manage right now as we head forward toward hubby's retirement.

Hopefully, the day will come when I only have 2 blogs to handle. That's what I'd really like to whittle myself down to. One for Keto and one for everything else -- but I don't know how practical that would be.

How willing would you be to read a blog where low carb is only one of the topics being discussed, instead of the only topic?

I've been thinking about this over the past year and have been dragging my feet a bit trying to follow through with cutting back because I don't know if I really want to start over with a brand new blog that incorporates everything into one resource.

I've done that a few times, started over, and always felt overwhelmed at the idea of how much work it is to completely start over. It takes a long time to earn your readers' trust and devotion and each time I've done that, I've lost most of my readers.

I see the wisdom in only having 2 blogs to take care of as I continue to get older. That is what my heart really wants.

Two blogs.

After discussing this idea with hubby a number of times now, he said he could see how this would be a lot easier for me, too.

• ONE would be best, he said.
• But TWO would work, too.

While writing this post, I suddenly realized that maybe I don't have to start all over from scratch.

For some reason, I thought I did.

Lots of topics would fit under the Super Sensitive Celiac umbrella.

Due to the nature of ketogenic diets, I don't think that integrating everything here is as good of an idea as I originally conceived it to be. While both blogs fall under the weight-loss umbrella, traditional weight-loss diets use ingredients and foods that low carbing does not.

The name of the blog, purpose of the blog, and topic I'm writing on would not always match up.

I want to expand on what I've done here, as well as what I've started over at the Super Sensitive Celiac blog. I want to have a space where I can delve into personal development topics that I'm interested in.

I can see the wisdom in doing this, cutting down from seven to two or three, and expanding on what I have already done.

The Super Sensitive Celiac blog is a fairly new blog.

It's only three years old, but a blog that is desperately needed within the gluten-free community because there are very few resources for those who are super sensitive to gluten.

The needs of that audience can include what I'm doing here, but it's far more expansive then that because most people diagnosed with celiac disease and still struggling to make a gluten-free diet work are in starvation mode.

So many of them can't do low carb at all.

Low carb would have to be a section over there rather than the main focus of the blog.

Getting a brand new blog off the ground can take several years of work, so I've decided to include some new topics here and over at the Super Sensitive Celiac site, depending on which blog is most appropriate for the topic.

The topics at the Super Sensitive Celiac blog are about those that affect someone who is super sensitive to gluten, and not everyone who is gluten free. Many people discover that as they remove gluten from their diet, they begin to react more violently to even trace amounts of gluten.

Super sensitives is who the blog was originally designed to help, so the audience is a bit limited in scope right now. But I'm in the process of expanding it to include beginners to gluten free, too.

Resources for beginners are not all that accurate.

While the blog affects those doing ketogenic diets, and my plan is to put up a Keto Diet section over there, many gluten-free topics I need to cover there would not fit well here.

I can't see a way to combine everything and fulfill the needs of my readers.

I just can't.

I'd like to keep this site devoted to those eating 60-carbs a day, or less for weight loss, as well as low-carb appropriate food choices, such as sugar substitutes. I can then branch out into the realm of nutrition, fitness, and healthy lifestyle topics, as well as other adventures I'm getting into, such as herb gardening in pots.

Included in my plans for this site are some pre-maintenance and maintenance articles, advice, and tips, which might obviously extend a bit over the 60-carb line.

I Am Low Carb, Gluten Free, and Pre-Diabetic 

My health problems are not going to go away.

I am lower carb, gluten free, and pre-diabetic. I will always be lower carb, gluten free, and pre-diabetic.

But the way I have to handle my pre-diabetes is different from the norm. Going ketogenic makes my blood sugar worse.

I need a balanced approach.

This is what I've learned about myself recently.

There is quite a bit of content overlap among my blogs, which is why I thought it would be easy to combine all of my interests into one resource. However, the overlap does give me space to expand the blogs I'm keeping into something more than they are right now.

Some of these topics include information on the old Weight Watchers exchange plans, their new Freestyle program, and lots of other diets, such as Sugar Busters, that may or may not fall into the low-carb, 60-carbs a day or less category.

It just depends on how you implement these other types of weight-loss diets.

Currently, the trend within the low-carb community is Intermittent Fasting coupled with water fasting. One Meal a Day (OMAD) is also popular right now.

These eating styles would be quite dangerous for me, so I haven't done much research on fasting yet, but that is definitely something I can expand into throughout the coming months.

For those who are new to this site, I am not very low carb, as most of you are. I do NOT eat a ketogenic diet, except in an emergency situation.

I eat within the definition of a low-carb diet, which is 120 carbs, or less. This helps me manage the vertigo, my blood glucose levels, celiac disease, hyperthyroidism, and the stress that dieting causes.

I feel best on 60 to 120 carbs a day.

And my blood sugar does best when I evenly space out those 60 to 120 carbs throughout the day.

Which means my focus in on lowering calories. Not carbs.

So going forward with this project for 2019:

No matter where my carbohydrate tolerance falls, at any given time, it will always be within this low-carb definition -- due to the pre-diabetes.

However, I honestly don't know if I even have pre-diabetes.

My A1c isn't high. It's in the normal range.

It could be Type 1-1/2, which means that I don't create enough insulin to handle more than a certain amount of carbs per day. But I don't know.

I prefer to handle the problem by diet for now.

I will always have to restrict my carbs to some degree, but that doesn't mean that I can only eat from the Atkins list of appropriate foods.

I eat what's called a "diabetic diet."

I eat whatever foods keep my blood glucose at under 120 mg/dl two hours after meals. This eating style keeps my A1c at normal levels.

Doing it this way, I do have to watch my portions, space out my carbs, and cut down on serving sizes to keep the pounds coming off.

My Pinterest Boards

I have more interests than just low carb and living gluten free.

I think this is why I go into slumps where I get bored with blogging. I don't always want to blog about low-carb diets.

Health, nutrition, and fitness are a huge part of my life, but not the only topics I'm interested in.

For a long time, I've been nervous about posting on other topics here at Kickin' Carb Clutter, such as personal development, because over the years that I've been blogging, most people have come here through Google Search specifically looking for low-carb information.

I don't want to accidentally chase anyone away.

With Google moving to a Mobile-First index, rather than indexing the desktop, and with their focus on those with professional experience and expertise being front-and-center, that isn't true for us anymore.

I do not have a medical degree, even though I have lots of personal every-day experience with a huge variety of weight-loss diets. 

Nor do I pretend to have one.

So today, most people come here from Pinterest. Some come from Facebook Groups, but not nearly as many.

And with the Atkins Diet continuing to evolve further and further away from the old-fashioned Atkins Diets, and a huge portion of the low-carb community jumping onto the fasting trend, I don't want this blog to fade into the past.

I want to keep Kickin' Carb Clutter alive for those who want the truth about how to do low carb correctly.

For those with insulin resistance, pre-diabetes, or diabetes, a carbohydrate-restrictive lifestyle is essential for good health.

However, my boards at Pinterest are not just about ketogenic diets. Instead, they are designed with all of my past, current, and future interests in mind. I have boards on:

• gluten-free topics
• super-sensitive celiac disease
• affordable gluten-free recipes (not low carb)
• low-carb topics and low-carb recipes
• getting into ketosis fast
• grain-free recipes and ideas
• blogs I read
• old Weight Watchers exchange plans
• Weight Watchers Freestyle program
• vegetable gardening
• my NCIS and Harry Potter addictions

Plus, lots more.

When I first wrote this post, I had over 1 million monthly viewers that saw my pins and visited my Pinterest boards. Today, that number is about half of that. The numbers tend to dip during the holidays and summer, but go back up in January when people decide to go back to losing weight.

I am very grateful for Pinterest and the pin I created on how to get into ketosis in 24 hours, or less, because if it wasn't for that single pin, which got the ball rolling over there, this blog would have hardly no traffic today at all!

That's just being truthful.

Today's online friends are not just interested in low carb. They are interested in a variety of topics.

I do very well at Pinterest now, so why not here?

It's time to ditch the fear of what might happen to this blog if I expand it to include:

• gluten-free topics
• gluten-free recipes
• some posts on my personal life
• gardening tips and tricks
• what I'm currently learning or studying
• current events and opinion pieces
• television and movies I watch
• blog, recipe, and product reviews
• Weight Watchers information

And whatever else I feel like blogging about that would be of interest to those doing low carb.

In essence, over the next few months, I'll be pulling ideas from my other blogs and incorporating those topics into 2 main weight-loss and healthy living categories:

• Kickin' Carb Clutter - for those doing 60 carbs a day, or less
• Super Sensitive Celiac - for those who are super sensitive to gluten

The Super Sensitive Celiac blog won't necessarily be about weight loss. Although, weight loss does fall into the personal development category, so eventually having just one blog isn't off the table completely.

I do plan on covering weight loss topics pretty well on these two blogs because of the tendency for celiacs to gain weight easily once they go gluten free. But weight loss won't be the blogs' main focus.

I want to move to a lifestyle approach to blogging for the second half of 2019. Make things a lot more personal and useful than I've been doing so far.

Some of the gluten-free recipes at Super Sensitive Celiac will contain real sugar because I'm reacting to sugar alternatives, yet again. Some recipes will include potatoes and rice, the go-to starches for celiacs.

Also, celiacs use high-starch rice-based flour mixes, instead of all-purpose flour, and love recipes that contain those ingredients.

None of that is appropriate for this site, which is why I'm keeping 2 blogs for now, but I want to be truthful of what I plan to do elsewhere, so you aren't shocked if you decide to pay me a visit.

I want to keep Kickin' Carb Clutter as a solid low-carb resource that deals with additional topics that are of interest to those doing low carb, Atkins, Keto, and other ketogenic diets.

Atkins 40 and Atkins 100: Spreading Out the Carbs

Family members don't have to restrict themselves to 60 carbs a day, which is why Atkins now has an Atkins 100 plan.

Did you know that?

It was introduced last year.

Atkins 100, which is slightly fewer carbs than the 120 to 130 grams of glucose that the brain needs to function optimally, gives you the benefit of being in a mild degree of ketosis, for those who are not insulin resistant.

This can help ward off, or correct, a fatty liver situation, and will teach family members and non insulin resistant people how to make better food choices, which is the point of keeping and posting at the Super Sensitive Celiac blog:

I want to help those who don't want to do low carb or are super sensitive to gluten make better lifestyle choices, by giving them the information they need to take charge of their health and finally heal their celiac disease before it multiplies into more autoimmune conditions.

After looking over Atkins 100, however, I came to another revelation that I decided to test: spacing out your carbs evenly throughout the day!

For awhile, I've been struggling to get my blood glucose under control. The longer I eat at 20-net carbs, the higher my blood glucose numbers are climbing again!

After thinking about what Atkins 40 and Atkins 100 were trying to do, it dawned on me that the amount of insulin the body stores has to do with how many carbs you ate at your prior meal, and not what you're eating in any given moment.

I had forgotten that.

Spreading your carbs out evenly throughout the day tells your body how much insulin to make, store, and secrete when you first start to eat!

So, I've been experimenting with that idea and having great results. I'm back to being able to eat 20 carbs per meal, with a few extra carbs for a snack in the afternoon.

This has brought my blood sugar numbers down!

In fact, my numbers are now perfectly NORMAL.

***************

Today, I wanted to let you know that I've adapted my original plan of only having one single blog into a project that makes room for two -- and WHY I've decided to do it this way right now.

I'm still going to expand this blog, so I don't have to write about the same topics over and over.

The search at the top of the page, also works very well, so don't forget that you can just search for the type of article you're looking for.

Also, feel free to email me if you have a topic you'd like me to blog about or if you want to discuss a topic in private. You can also leave a comment at the bottom of this post. Or any post, for that matter.

I answer every comment and question I get.