Help me get back on track?

YES! Thank you, Janet! Choices are important and now I remember how I framed my choices while I was experiencing my best success! Thank you for reminding me! I love the idea of scooping out the inside of breads! I hadn't thought of that before! Definitely going to do this from now on!

I took nutrition classes in college, so I define carbs as anything plant-based; wheat, potatoes, asparagus, carrots, sugar...they're all carbs and some are better than others. I used to have success counting only quickly digested carbs and processed carbs, but gave myself a free pass with slowly digested carbs. So if it had a high glycemic index (easily digested), like bread (even whole wheat), pasta, rice, potatoes and yes, anything with sugar in it, I counted the grams. If it was raw or had a low glycemic index (slowly digested) I gave myself a free pass. So I would count the baked potato I had with dinner, but not the asparagus. This gave me more to eat, in both quantity and options, while helping me maintain my blood sugar levels. In short, I ate like I was diabetic.

Maintaining blood sugar levels is important because the faster food we eat gets converted to energy, the higher the levels of glucose in our blood. Protein and fats get converted to energy too, but at a much slower rate than carbohydrates.

The more glucose free-floating in our blood and not being used, the faster our pancreas kicks out the "hoarder" hormone, insulin, which converts and hoards excess glucose that isn't being used for energy in the form of body fat. This explains why A) more muscle mass means higher metabolism (more energy is required to maintain, so insulin can't store excess energy) and B) why fats (especially DSers) don't make us fat. Simple carbohydrates do.

The DS works by creating a therapeutic malabsorption, but doesn't work as well with carb absorption, nor does it control our pancreas, which explains why and how we need to continue to control our carb (plant based) intake.

I like to understand why and how things work. I enjoy research. But I also, unfortunately, have a short memory. Your comment about choices reminded me about all of this and will help me formulate my intake to easily get myself back on track! Thank you!