LiterateGr, I think you have a great attitude, and from coming to this board for years, and wrestling with my own unique challenges, it all comes down to crafting it for yourself, anyway.

There are excellent guides out there, of course. It is very important to figure out the science so we can make informed moves in the right directions. And the first moves are very basic and clear, like you said:



But the longer we do this, and the closer to our goals we get, the more tweaking is needed, and the more personalized it becomes.

I started with Atkins, didn’t do induction, just reduced my carb load to 1/6 of what it was before, and it worked great. Found my first snag was climbing the carb ladder: everything above rung 5 gave me issues no matter the carb count. And I couldn’t increase my carb count to maintain.

Then health issues made me go Primal; no seed oils or artificial sweeters like Atkins. All went well until I had to go Epi-Paleo because of stubborn insomnia and exhaustion; now that I know what is wrong, I cut my carbs way down and am seeing more improvement.

Plus, my Phil Escott Protocol is the polar opposite of two other plans that are highly successful for other people: the Tara Grant Protocol which is too high carb for me, and the Terry Wahls Protocol which calls for 9 cups of vegetables a day.



My point being: good for you being so determined to figure out what works best for you. Because we all have to do that!