Every human endeavor, it seems, has got to have its very own set of buzzwords. Why? I think it's because we like to think that we are in a secret club, like the ones we had in elementary school. Only certain kids knew the secret password or the secret handshake, and we felt really smug around those who did not share the secret. Well, low carbohydrate dieting has its buzzwords, some self-explanatory, and some downright scary. In the scary group, the scariest for a diabetic are ketones and its friend ketosis.

plenda, Splenda, Splenda. This word was drilled into my head like a mantra when I started this way of eating. Every low carb email list I belong to extolled its virtues. Almost every low carb recipe designed for the sweet tooth included packets of Splenda. I'd never heard of the stuff. Politely I asked, "What the @#$% is Splenda?" I was desperate to know.

I am a Carb Addict. I've been enthralled with cereal since I was three. I watched a commercial on television where they were introducing cereal in snack packs. Back then, a snack pack was a box of cereal with individually cellophane wrapped portions of cereal. The announcer, a Donna-Reed-looking lady, opened the little cello-pouch, poured out the cereal, and wadded the cellophane up in a ball and it disappeared! I was awestruck and I begged my mother to buy this new snack pack.