CarbSmart.com Your trusted guide to the keto, low carb, intermittent fasting lifestyle

I've been hearing a lot lately from people who are having difficulties reaching their goals. So much so, that I can't help wondering if maybe they're relying more on external expectations than internal goals.

Guest articles to help with your low carb cooking.

Do we believe that other people care what we eat? And if we do, do we believe that what they think matters? Even my parents recognized my sister's and my rights to establish a fair boundary in the back-seat. They might have quibbled with our techniques, but no one questioned our rights to boundaries. The same should be true of our eating. It is a uniquely personal decision, effecting no one else directly and only a limited number of people in our lives even indirectly. Why not allow ourselves the dignity of establishing a few no trespassing signs?

Top O' the Morning to ye, boys and girls! Aren't we all Irish on and near St. Patrick's Day? Isn't it a law of our fair land? Doesn't everyone have to wear some article of green clothing, or suffer the pinching consequences? Anticipating that you have been hunting four-leaf clovers and practicing to do a proper Irish jig, I will now ask you this burning question: What's Irish and spends the summer outside the back door? It's Paddy O'Furniture, don't you know!

I'm currently hovering around 240 pounds," says Meg, "and still hope to lose another 50 to 60. My panniculectomy surgery (removal of the abdominal "apron" of skin) only took off 17 pounds, not the 30 that the surgeon estimated, but I'm okay with that, and I've lost a bit more on my own, though the scale isn't moving as much as I'd like due to the fact that I'm building muscle. I do have some hernias from previous surgeries which will have to be repaired at some point, so with luck my insurance will pay for a tummy tuck."

Dawn in South Carolina is 32 years old and 5' 6" tall. Dawn contacted me, expressing the desire to share her success story with pregnancy and low carbing. Dawn had been doing the Atkins program for three years. Her pre-pregnancy weight was 133 pounds, and just prior to her delivery, she only weighed 157 pounds!

This may just be the sleep deprivation talking, so bear with me. It's 2AM, and inspiration has struck me in the form of a red-haired muse. And that red-haired muse? Mrs. Garrett from "Facts of Life," of course!

Fat Fast Flavored Whipped Cream Recipe: ¼ cup heavy cream–whipped, sugar-free sweetener, and vanilla or other extract.

Make multiple servings of Fat Fast Peanut Butter Stuffed Celery and keep it covered in a refrigerator. 2 tablespoons of sugar free peanut butter on an approximately 7 ½-inch stalk of celery.

You know it, you love it, why not just eat some bacon? Bacon is perfect for a fat fast so in order to get a healthy serving, stick to a full serving of bacon.