116: Geraint Hole – From Long Term Anxiety To Taking On Life

Geraint Hole  I’m 56 and I am a husband to Louise, my rock and sweetheart. I’m a dad to our 2 grown ups kids, and a grandad (Grampy) to my daughters’ 4 beautiful children. I work as an Employment Specialist for a mental health charity supporting people with serious and long term mental health issues to find meaningful paid employment. I have struggled with my weight since I was in my 20’s. I’ve tried all the main diets – Rosemary Connelly (low fat), Slimming World, Weight Watchers, the Cabbage Soup Diet etc. And I’m sure like you, I had some successes for a few weeks or months, but inevitably they / I failed. They weren’t sustainable ways of eating and I’d go back to eating my “usual” diet and the weight would creep back on and I would end up heavier/fatter than I was before the diet!!! I hated being overweight. I always felt other people were judging me! I hated going clothes shopping and looking at myself in the mirrors from a 360 degree angle – front and back views, warts and all!!!!! I hated being sweaty all the time, especially in summer! I did have a period of success when I went into the fitness industry as a personal trainer and did a lot of activity and exercise and kept my weight at a reasonable level for me. For various reasons I stopped training and my life became a car wreck of stress and anxiety, and I piled on the pounds again. So, I thought I’d share some of the info and my insights that I’ve picked up along the way on my journey since October /November 2020 into the low carb / keto world. So, why choose low carb / keto? The appeal to me is that this way of eating is what our ancestors ate like! We are humans because our ancestors ate fatty meat. If we’re carried on eating plants like chimps or gorillas we’d still be just another type of ape spending 12hrs a day eating plants, sleeping in trees. The second reason is to help maintain a lower insulin level in your body. As I understand it elevated insulin levels, which are caused by eating foods that spike blood sugar, like the high carb, highly processed diets we’re advised to eat, are believed to be the root cause of many modern chronic diseases like diabetes, obesity, heart disease, dementia and even cancer. Restricting your carb intake will help you maintain a lower and more even insulin level. For the first time in my life I feel in control of my food intake. I no longer feel like I am ruled by food or hunger. I no longer have cravings for junk fake foods like sugary drinks, sweet treats, cakes, biscuits or crisps! It has worked for me, and I’ve lost over 4 1/2 stone in since November 2020. I was obese, unhealthy, I had low energy and had to snooze every afternoon! and felt like I was on my way to some bad health outcomes. The SARS-COV-2 situation focused my mind on improving my metabolic and general health, and losing weight. So, having listened to many hundreds, possibly 1000’s, of hours of podcasts and YouTube videos/lectures, I decided to take the step to take responsibility for my health and cut out processed foods, sugar, cereals, bread, pasta, rice, potatoes and seed (vegetable) oils from my diet. I started gradually and just cut bread, pasta, potatoes and rice from my diet. For me I knew I had to get rid of the starchy carbs out of the house, and therefore have less temptation to eat these addictive foods! Having my wife adopt the low carb lifestyle at the same time has been a massive help as we’re in it together and support this lifestyle change together. Over a period of weeks I gradually moved breakfast later and later in the morning, until in the end my first meal of the day was lunch at noon. I view it now through an ancestral lens. Our ancestors wouldn’t have had food available to them 24hrs a day!! They would have had periods of no food available to them and this natural “stress” on our bodies seems to have beneficial consequences accor