Ditto to what Galeen said.
I've been low carbing since 2003 (or is it '02....who knows) I'm mostly happy with this WOE. It has cleared up some chronic health problems and I feel much better overall. I have the energy I remember from my 20s (ok late 20s). When I went back to "regular" high carb eating for a while I felt so crummy. So, yeah, there are trade offs. In a perfect world, I'd rather feel great
and be able to eat all the white rice and rice noodles I want (my only real craving anymore). But as a more mature adult, I realize I can't have everything. I choose to have good health (which makes me very happy
)over eating food that contributes to making me feel unwell.
As someone who cooks a lot, and feels comfortable in the kitchen, it was easy to modify recipes I loved to low carb. I've also cooked a lot of new things that people have rccomended. Prior to low carb I ate a very wide variety of food from a wide variety or cultures - I doubt there was a vegetable I had not tried; for me it was easy to just stop eating the white stuff and still enjoy amazing meals. I could see that for someone who does no cooking at all, this WOE would pose some challenges. Any WOE where you are encouraged to eat whole, natural foods is going to require some effort, or greater resources, in our current society. The good news is that I am CONVINCED that anyone can learn the skills needed to cook at home. But even with a crock pot, and cooking in large batches to take some of the time burden off, it is a committment to cook, beyond the committment of saying no to the foods you cannot eat (and some days I feel a bit bombarded by that, other days it looks gross to me). I cook nearly every night - some days I would rather sit on my --- and read a book while someone else did it for me.
I'm not perfect either. I occasionally have a bit of bread, or sugar sweetened items, or other non low carb things in very limited amounts. I've had my trip to the honey tree during the holidays.
I can live with a way of life where I don't feel guilty or like I should be punished for "slipping off the wagon". But the days I feel the best are those where I'm eating my protein and veggies, and occasional fruits. Becasue I choose to eat something else does not mean I'm unhappy with the WOE. We eat for cultural reasons, emotional reasons...if we only ate for nutrition and to fuel our bodies, I imagine that everyone would be eating low carb and not even thinking about these sorts of questions...don't you think?