> I experience a number of clear shifts when I'm off refined carbs...inflammation level (e.g., joint pain).

I'd like to highlight this one in particular. It's not necessarily obvious that your diet has an effect on joint pain, but it really does. I've gone on low carb about four times now. Each time, before I went on the diet I had lower back pain for weeks and weeks or months on end (I have a slight disc protrusion, I know now thanks to an MRI).

Then I stop eating sugars and refined carbs (because I went low carb) and I start feeling better. It's been a week since I went back on low carb and my back pain -- that was present every day for the past several months and made me whimper and collapse on the couch after taking the dog for a short walk each time -- has pretty much completely gone away. After only a week. This is the fourth time in a row where that's happened, where it's gone away after a week of avoiding carbs.

A low carb diet is known to have an anti-inflammatory effect, and it's happened enough times just with me that I don't think it can be a coincidence.

So if you're having joint pains, seriously consider altering the foods you eat so you can reduce inflammation. These aren't the only foods that cause it, you can look them up. For me that small change has made a big difference.

Definitely. I've gone on and off a number of times as well, and the differences get to be obvious after a while. I really encourage people to experiment with diet. I have no idea what will work for bodies that aren't mine, but the process of experimentation has been great for me.