Diet

Low-fat diets are starting to be discredited all over the place. Here is a study that spent $700M over 8 years, trying to prove that low-fat diets with lots of added veggies and whole grains helped post-menopausal women avoid or recover heart disease and diabetes. http://www.samj.org.za/index.php/samj/article/view/7343/5494 In fact it found the exact opposite. “Women with diagnosed cardiovascular disease at the start of the trial who adopted the ‘healthy heart’ low-fat eating option had a risk of developing future cardiovascular complications that was 26% higher than that of the non-intervention group.” “The leanest women at the start of the trial gained weight on the low-fat diet and those with the least insulin resistance at the start of the trial were at greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) if assigned to the low-fat diet.” “The low-fat diet also worsened glucose control in women with diagnosed diabetes” ...

My plan for this month is to eat MORE and exercise LESS. Yes, I know that sounds backwards, but here is my thinking. 1. I have had great results with Paleo but I have been playing fast and loose, and having stuff I shouldn’t be having a bit too often. I can have bread, but I’ve decided I don’t want to have it every day. So I’m taking this month to re-focus on core Paleo. Also, there’s some “extra” stuff I’m doing that is sort of OK but not really important to basic paleo. For example, intermittent fasting, and carb re-feeds. It doesn’t hurt, but it would benefit me more to get my basic, core paleo skills back on track. Here is my resource for that: http://everydaypaleo.com/just-paleo/ and Whole30. ...

Here are some of the important life skills and practices that I have learned in my weight loss journey. 1. Logging and measuring everything, at least while I’m making changes. 2. Really listening to my body to know when I’m hungry or satisfied. 3. Being aware of nutrient balance (fat/carbs/protein) 4. Experimenting, pushing the limits for 4-week intervals in the early game. 5. Being honest with myself about what plans will be sustainable over the long term (rest of my life) and rejecting anything that still requires lots of motivation after the first 4 weeks. ...

I have decided to do another Whole30 in June, starting today. Is anyone interested in doing it with me? Reach out to me if so. The story so far: I’ve posted quite a bit about my Paleo journey so far. “A tale of two diets — How I renegotiated my relationship to food” ( /archives/2013/1010 ) is a great summary. Quick version: Over many years I have tried different diets and lost about 20 pounds, but nothing really worked well for the long term. Then I found Paleo and LCHF, then it just clicked. It has been 1.5 years and I’ve lost another 78 (for a total of 98 pounds). ...

Top 11 Biggest Lies of Mainstream Nutrition I love this article… it is a great summary of why everything we think we know about weight loss is wrong. Plus, it has links to real, honest scientific research. Some of the biggest lies: Lie 5. Low-Fat Foods Are Good For You Lie 9. Low Carb Diets Are Dangerous Lie 11. High Fat Foods Will Make You Fat I was also pleased to see that most of the “life lessons” I have learned along the way (in the last 2 years anyway) are actually listed here :) ...

I’m making a list of things I have discovered which are either unexpected, or actually the complete opposite of what I believed before. For now I’m expressing them as “old story” and “new story” and avoiding charged labels like “myth” and “fact”. The old story may work for some people… the new story works better for me. Here’s one: The story about quality vs. quantity. Old story: A great diet plan means eating whatever I want, in moderation. New story: If I find the right set of foods, I can eat whenever I am hungry, and not stress about it other times. ...

What we are always told: Diet and exercise are both important. If you do only one, and not the other, you will not succeed. What I found to be true for me: Exercise never helped me to lose weight. It was usually either a distraction, or messed with my diet, or even worse, gave me pain and injuries. I’ve seen some news lately that suggests exercise is important for health, but not actually effective for weight loss. ...

Someone posted an article “How I Lost 100 pounds” which appeared on Lifehacker.com. I spent some time writing stuff in the comments, but what emerged turned out to be a pretty good summary of my low-carb experience so far. Read on if you are interested in my journey.

I’m not officially “diabetic” but my doctor says I am “prediabetic”. So some time back I got a blood glucose meter and tested myself for a while. Since then I have also started a very low-carb diet (call it Primal/Paleo or LCHF) and have lost a lot of weight. My HbA1C tests have showed I am still on the borderline, but my doctor says it shows “excellent control” (mine is 5.1%, non-diabetic will be 4.9% or less). ...

I want to re-negotiate my relationship to food. Typical low-fat diet wisdom Eat a lot of small meals during the day Diet and exercise together–both are important Portion control is key Eat protein, starch, and veggies about equally Avoid fat, no “bad” fats, small amount of “good” fats Avoid sweets Carbs are the body’s “preferred” fuel Number of calories is the most important measurement of the diet If you eat fat, you can only eat half as much food as when you’re eating carbs What’s wrong with this picture? ...