Just Your Friendly Neighborhood Zen Goddess
Low Carb Zen is basically my personal low carb notebook—kept public for your amusement, encouragement, and maybe the occasional “oh damn, I needed that” moment.
I’m Dixie Vogel, former ringleader of the “Low Carb Eating” community and currently Goddess of the Low Carb Zen Facebook page—dedicated to supporting, inspiring, and sometimes gently side-eyeing our way through this low carb life.
Let’s be clear: I’m not a doctor, nurse, nutritionist, therapist or your mother. I’m not even a great cook, if we’re having true confessions. 😬 Which could honestly make you ask why I’m here. To tell the truth, I don’t know either.
But here I am. So whaddya gonna do?
My main qualification for this job is being a formerly fat chick who found a better way to live; that, coupled with about 20 years of low carb experience, both personal and supporting other folks on this path has taught me a trick or two. My experiences are worthwhile, sure, but ultimately please don’t take what anybody says–including me–as gospel. Take responsibility for your own well-being. That power belongs to you!
Dix’s Obligatory Fat Story
I was pudgy from before I could walk and have always been, except for that year in high school when I exercised 12 hours a week and lived off an occasional salad and truckloads of Tab (shudder).
In the early 2000s, my doctor was once again warning me about diabetes, but this time I was listening. I knew she wasn’t wrong. I was so sick of being fat—and not just the number. The pain, the exhaustion, the hiding behind 4X tees and throw pillows.
I asked myself what advice I’d give to someone I loved in the same position. I knew immediately: suck it up and do what you need to do. No more excuses.
So I went low carb for real on November 15, 2005. But I wasn’t really expecting it to work. By this point I’d tried:
- low fat, low cal, and high self-pity
- The Cabbage Soup Diet 🥬 (never again)
- The Grapefruit Diet 🍊 (and I’m not even crazy about grapefruit)
- Phen/fen, fasting, Slimfast, Dexatrim, fill-in-the-blank-dodgey-supplement
- Basically everything short of witchcraft (but now that’s occurred to me, I should add it in!)
I knew people doing well on low carb, so I went searching for before/after pictures. That made a real impression and I owe every person who put themselves out there like that. So here are mine.
I cannot tell you exactly what I weighed in the first picture, because I had tossed out my scale by that point. All it did was make me cry, literally. In the second picture, I am also not entirely sure. I had a new scale by then, but cared a whole lot less what it said.
What was different this time? I could eat when hungry. I found better-for-me versions of the foods I didn’t want to forego. And I didn’t feel guilty every time I lifted a fork to my mouth. Once I made it past the sugar withdrawal stage (anxious, shaky, and slightly stabby), it flowed. Like… really flowed.
I never completely went back to my old ways. Even when I’ve wandered for a minute or three, made less-than-stellar choices, I’ve never stopped considering myself a low-carber and I’ve never left this way of eating complete behind. Nor will I. It’s a lifestyle, baby!
Now Appearing As: World’s Unlikeliest Food Blogger™ 🍴🙃
I absolutely never aspired to become a food blogger. I was dragged into this whole scene kicking and screaming (and submit my subpar food photography as Exhibit A 📸).
But somewhere along the way, while working with low carb communities, I started sharing food I actually eat. You’ll find no high-falutin’ cooking techniques in my recipes, no perfectly-lit photoshoots of criminally adorable toddlers in oversized aprons licking sugar-free frosting off of spoons–frosting made of kale and broken promises, no doubt. 🥄💔
Much as I’d occasionally like to be that person… I’m not. Not even close.
What you see here is the real me — including the food. I’m a spacy, distractible, and very imprecise cook (but I love myself anyway). I’ll use what’s in the kitchen over going to the store every single time. I hate measuring ingredients, and I rarely make any dish the same way twice. I like to put on airs and delcare my style “intuitive cooking,” but let’s be real — it’s mostly “distracted cooking” with a side of “I hope I didn’t burn that.” Luckily, that intuition/distraction thing? Still works. 🔮 (Usually.)
What that means for you: My recipes are easy to make, hard to screw up, and in general forgiving as heck. Because if they weren’t, I wouldn’t be making them either. Hope you like ‘em. And if not? Well… maybe I didn’t follow my own directions. Sorry! 😅
Why ‘Low Carb Zen?’
Zen refers to the “screw-what-the-scale-says-and-just-be-kind-to-your-body” approach to the low carb lifestyle. It’s when you stop struggling so much with being ‘good enough’ and start to just do, a little every day. It’s moving from “I’m on a diet” to “this is just the way I eat.”
Zen is being present in the moment, not living in disgust over the past or longing for future validation of the scale (that never seems like enough anyway).
It’s letting go of the food obsession, the guilt spiral, and the idea that you have to earn your worth one carb gram at a time. It’s when something goes south, but instead of quitting, you just…keep on. No drama. No shame. Just another day of being kind to yourself.🍃
Low Carb Zen is about the journey, not the destination. It’s pants that fit better, sure—but more importantly, it’s peace of mind. It’s knowing that you can do this, because somewhere along the line, you realize: you already are.
Wishing you TRUE Low Carb Zen, with love (and a sprinkle of erythritol on top)! 💖🥄
