This story starts back in January of 2003, when life seemed normal and all seemed well.

I was sitting at my desk at work and noticed myself getting drowsy. My next recollection was myself in my boss’s car rushing to the hospital.

Most of my memories of the following 6 weeks are pretty much a blur but, as I am told, I passed out at work from lack of oxygen and was rushed to the hospital.

In the interest of keeping this story as short as possible, I then spent the next 6 week in the hospital undergoing a battery of test in order to determine the reason for my deprivation of oxygen. With no clear answers and the insurance Company pushing for my release I was prescribed to be placed on a very high dose of oxygen (6 liter) at home and spent the next 4 to 5 months continuing the testing to no avail.

Frustration was setting in coupled with my Drs. telling me I could end up with no other recourse than a mechanized vest that would have to simulate the breathing process for me and I said enough of this, and fired my Drs and started back at square one.

Luckily I received a referral from a concerned Dr. who had preformed a test on me and this referral started me on the path that would truly end up to be a god send. Within a month and several different Drs., I was diagnosed with a Larynx that was paralyzed shut and had been for years. I was always able to compensate for it until my body finally was too weak to continue.

Their best guess of what caused this was Post Polio Syndrome, which is a reoccurrence of polio symptoms after about 40 years of lying dormant.(I had polio when I was 5 years old till about 7 years old when it seemed to go into remission)

The fix was to perform laser surgery on my Larynx burning a hole where the 2 flaps of the Larynx join thus creating a positive airflow. Although the surgery was an eventual success, it required them to pump me full of steroids to fight the infection. Thus taking me from my pre-surgery weight of 160 lb to a well overweight 230 lb by the time I was at home and healed. The procedure also left my voice very weak and raspy of which the Drs warned me of from the very beginning. When its a choice of breathing or a raspy voice it doesn't take a lot of thought. The video on my Links Page is my post surgery voice. They also warned it would be a long process to wean me off the 6 liters of oxygen that I had become dependent on.

Depression and inactivity kept the weight on till May of 2005 when a further complication of the steroids and weight gain had me diagnosed with type 2 Diabetes and a blood glucose level of 500(diabetic shock numbers) and nerve damage(neuropathy) in my feet.

Fearful for my life I started to educate myself and created a modified lo-carb hi-protein diet suited to my personal glucose readings. I took my readings 3 or 4 times a day adjusting my diet and exercises to whatever was necessary to bring my numbers back in line. At first there were many days that I had to keep my carb consumption to as little as under 10 grams of carbs per day(about the amount in 1/2 slice of wheat bread). The rest of what I ate was protein and fiber. And for any of you who have eaten this way it get boring way to fast.

Thus my motivation for lo-carb cooking and my reason for sharing in the hopes that someone can benefit from the experiences that I struggled with.

Dropping about 20 lbs a month, by mid-September 2005 I was back to my pre-surgery weight of 160 lbs and went from a 44 waist back to a 34 waist. I am also currently maintaining a normal glucose level using exercise and a lo-carb diet. Losing the weight has also allowed me to raise the amount of carbs I consume per day thus permiting me to add more options to my diet.

I can truthfully say that I have made meals that I served to people on a normal diet and they didn't even know it was lo-carb.

Also if any of you find yourself on this path and need some answers you cant find, drop me a line in my guest book and if I know or know where the answer might be I'd be glad to help if I can.