FEELING BETTER: Lee-Anne Willis says giving up the carbs was the best decision for her health. PHOTO/BEN FRASER 060814BF1
No going back on pact to ditch carbs
Processed foods have no place in Lee-Anne Willis' kitchen.
After a campfire pact with a friend four years ago the Rotorua woman has been following a low-carb lifestyle.
She is the first to admit there was a little bit of doubt but now there's no going back.
"I was surprised at how two eggs could fill me up," she said.
"I've had Weet-Bix all my life and I struggled with how I was going to give that up. I no longer felt hungry at 9am."
Lee-Anne eats eggs at breakfast, tuna or chicken and salad for lunch and then more salad and some meat at dinner.
She eats fruit and has protein shakes and will eat birthday cake if there's a special celebration - she is not depriving herself of foods, just choosing not to eat them.
"We were sat around a campfire and talking about processed foods and how people were getting bigger and we decided to make a pact to go low-carb. I've had more energy and I lost weight doing it. I don't feel so hungry.
"I didn't come home from Ironman training and be starving the moment I got through the door."
She said she had a week early on in the change when she felt lethargic, but that was a common phenomenon known as the keto flu.
"I soon came right. Eating low-carb is the best thing my friend told me. But you have got to be committed to get started."
Kids as young as six finished the trail with the whole family.