Everything Starts With Nutrition

[Brooke]

Excellent conversations in here.

I got interested in low-carb based on reading the book "The Big Fat Surprise," by Teicholz.  It's an excellent book, even just from the view that the generally approved dietary advice we all heard for the prior 50+ years is total BS.

I was fascinated to learn that the idea "eating a lot of cholesterol gives you high cholesterol" was totally false.  It was based on an old study where rabbits were fed animal fat, and it increased the cholesterol in their blood.  But rabbits never evolved to eat animal protein.  When you feed primates animal fat, it doesn't increase their blood cholesterol.

I was fascinated to learn how the US went from cooking in lard (which is actually good for you), to hydrogenated oils (to get something with shelf life like lard) which ended being horrible for you, to liquid seed oils which are horrible for you (heat causes them to polymerize in bad ways).

I tried low carb.  It was great.  I love meat.  Lost weight easily.  Felt great.  But over time drifted away from it because I found it hard to eat nothing but meat and green vegetables.  It was inconvenient in context of eating out with friends, having people over for dinner, etc.  And it is expensive.  I might go back on it, though, as I do think it is very healthy.

[Brooke]

I also read the book "Wheat Belly," by Davis.  That is another great book.

Theme is that US wheat starting in the 1970's went through a genetic selection process to produce our modern wheat that has significantly altered glutin protein.  And that new version is inflammatory and leads to weight gain.

The book as various evidence for that thesis.  It is interesting, and it matches various anecdotal evidence in my life, including friends who go to Europe, eat whatever they want (including just as much pasta and bread as they eat in the US) yet lose weight.  Europe doesn't use the US modified wheat.

[Brooke]

More recently, I read the book "The Obesity Code," by Fung.

That one is about intermittent fasting.  The theme is that obesity is caused by your body having a high body-fat setting (like a thermostat).  This setting is controlled by insulin resistance.  Have higher insulin resistance, you body will be hungry until you are eating enough to hit a particular higher fat content.  Eliminate insulin resistance, and you will get to a different set point, a lower body fat, and you aren't hungry all time at that new set point.

There are other positives as well, such as autophagy others have talked about here.

Intermittent fasting has worked great for me any my wife.  For us, is is very easy, and has excellent health benefits.  Key is eating inside a smaller window of time -- and NO CALORIES AT ALL outside that window.  Outside the window is water, black or green tea, black coffee.  No flavorings.  No artificial sweeteners.  No tiny splash of milk.  All of those cause an insulin response and spoil the effect of the intermittent fast.

I have no problem having my eating typically be in a 6-hour window.  That's lunch and dinner some days.  Some days, it's just a big dinner.

Once in a while (maybe 2 times a year), I fast for a couple of days.  I actually feel GREAT during that time.  High energy.  Crisp thinking.  Feel good.  I do get hungry at my normal eating times, but it's not "Can't do anything else!  Must have food now!"  I can recognize that I'm hungry but be OK with it.

I do feel not so good once I go to 3 days.  After about 2.5 days, I start to feel sluggish and not so sharp.  Could be that I didn't have any salt or other electrolytes during the whole time, though.  I might try it again sometime.  But 2 days for me works great.

[Brooke]

With all of that said, having read those books, and various papers on studies of this or that dietary test:

My feeling is that all three are good:  low carbs, low (or no) US wheat, and intermittent fasting.  And best is probably all three together, which is what I will probably try out sometime soon.

I don't need to lose much weight.  I'm 5'9" and 155 lbs.  I could lose 5 lbs and it would be OK.

It's more about other health factors that the above mix of diets is, I think, very good for your health long term.  Less inflammation.  Longer lifespan.  Longer healthspan.  More vigor.

[Brooke]

Oh, and duh on my part, forgetting to mention the most-important of them all.

Cut out sugar.  Especially high-fructose corn syrup, as that's the worst.

If there is only one thing anyone does for health, I think that's the one.

[xanax]

Probably not Bizman. What more than likely would happen is you would gain muscle from all the protein. I've heard from about several people who went carnivore and lost a huge amount of weight but then as they reached their natural weight they leveled off and gained just a little.

I got down to 154 or maybe 156 once but it was too low. I was doing some heavy climbing on my bike in the California Alps (Sierras south of Tahoe to east entrance to Yosemite) and being that light helped but I felt worn down off the bike. Staying at 164 to 170 via muscle mass increase feels really good.

I don't think folks are realizing that eating a meal of meat once a day isn't eating ten thousand calories. After you get settled into the diet you are eating until sated-which, depending on the person, is 1800 to 2500 calories I'd imagine. You eat until full and then you aren't hungry again for a long time. A 16oz ribeye is maybe 1500 calories or so and some shrimp a few hundred more. I'm done after that. I don't eat ribeyes every day so I'd imagine I pay about the same as a "normal" diet but probably a bit more due to egg prices. For me, it's worth it.
If were to pound down a few slices of pizza to get to 2000 calories, I might feel full for a few hours but I guarantee I'm sniffing out that roll of frozen Girl Scouts Thin Mints nestled in the freezer next to the vanilla iced milk container in a few hours. That stuff doesn't curb my hunger, it increases it.
 
Again, carbohydrates are heroin to me. I'm not doing this for vanity or to fit in size small clothing, I'm trying to extend my life in a way where I want to feel good as long as I can. I think this is the way for me but I don't think I'm preaching or anything, I think I'm putting my story and my reasons out there for folks that may have shown interest after Getback recounted his fantastic journey.  To each his own as I know plenty of folks who are in stupendous health and can handle eating a couple Dilly Bars after a burger and fries at DQ once in a while. I can't, I've tried. My wife eats an old-school Okinawan diet as that's where she's from. A pretty limited diet calorie-wise but maybe that's the secret to their longevity. She eats a little, rounds mound of rice and a bit of pork pretty much every day. Once in a while she'll eat a sliver of dark chocolate.
I'm actually 57 and not 56 as I said earlier.....not sure how I fouled that math. Anyhow, I'm on one prescribed drug and that's Xarelto due to increased chances for blood clots after having a clotting event earlier in my life. I've had 3 pulmonary embolisms but not again since starting the Xarelto about 10 years ago. I was able to stop needing the statins, beta-blockers, H2 antagonists, proton pump inhibitors and SSRI's along with CPAP some 20 years ago or so and I haven't looked back.

I'm out. If anyone is further interested, I suggest all the links provided previously in this thread. Again I stress: "to each his own."

[Bizman]

Probably not Bizman. What more than likely would happen is you would gain muscle from all the protein. I've heard from about several people who went carnivore and lost a huge amount of weight but then as they reached their natural weight they leveled off and gained just a little.

I'm not sure about my fat percentage, it has only been measured by the electric conductance or whatever, first time by grabbing a pair of handles some 25 years ago and later by standing on a scale having a similar feature. It was below 20. That said, my six-pack doesn't actually show but I don't consider myself being padded either.

[Getback]

Oh, and duh on my part, forgetting to mention the most-important of them all.

Cut out sugar.  Especially high-fructose corn syrup, as that's the worst.

If there is only one thing anyone does for health, I think that's the one.

Yeppers! Seed oils are pretty nasty too.

[fuzeman]

One of the best ever threads on the AH Boards IMO!!

Last week did a 14+ hour fast for my blood test.  High glucose, BP, anemia, type II diabetes, weight 157 and going down. I have much to work on. Vastly reducing carbs as best I can and trying to eat more protein and fats. Seems its hard for me to keep or even gain weight.  2000 mg of metformin a day.
Have to get healthy so I can keep participating in scenarios!!
And regarding nutrition and and it's importance I came across YT video and it caught my eye.  It's got marijuana in red but that's just one thing they discuss. Among the others gaming, porn, alcohol, etc.  Many things that mess up your coconut. Those who exercise reduce their risk of alzheimers by 30% and 50% of us will have it by age 80.  We might not display the symptoms buy we have it according to the video, IIRC. Maybe I should have started a separate thread on that.

[DmonSlyr]

More recently, I read the book "The Obesity Code," by Fung.

That one is about intermittent fasting.  The theme is that obesity is caused by your body having a high body-fat setting (like a thermostat).  This setting is controlled by insulin resistance.  Have higher insulin resistance, you body will be hungry until you are eating enough to hit a particular higher fat content.  Eliminate insulin resistance, and you will get to a different set point, a lower body fat, and you aren't hungry all time at that new set point.

There are other positives as well, such as autophagy others have talked about here.

Intermittent fasting has worked great for me any my wife.  For us, is is very easy, and has excellent health benefits.  Key is eating inside a smaller window of time -- and NO CALORIES AT ALL outside that window.  Outside the window is water, black or green tea, black coffee.  No flavorings.  No artificial sweeteners.  No tiny splash of milk.  All of those cause an insulin response and spoil the effect of the intermittent fast.

I have no problem having my eating typically be in a 6-hour window.  That's lunch and dinner some days.  Some days, it's just a big dinner.

Once in a while (maybe 2 times a year), I fast for a couple of days.  I actually feel GREAT during that time.  High energy.  Crisp thinking.  Feel good.  I do get hungry at my normal eating times, but it's not "Can't do anything else!  Must have food now!"  I can recognize that I'm hungry but be OK with it.

I do feel not so good once I go to 3 days.  After about 2.5 days, I start to feel sluggish and not so sharp.  Could be that I didn't have any salt or other electrolytes during the whole time, though.  I might try it again sometime.  But 2 days for me works great.

See that's crazy to me because if I go about 8 hours without eating. I've got a headache and I get very irritable. Do you believe it's just something you have to start slowly and over time get to that level of say even 1 day? Is it a metabolism thing? Or is that the bodies reaction to not having the "drug" sorta speak and having withdrawals from say sugar and carbs?

[CptTrips]

See that's crazy to me because if I go about 8 hours without eating. I've got a headache and I get very irritable. Do you believe it's just something you have to start slowly and over time get to that level of say even 1 day? Is it a metabolism thing? Or is that the bodies reaction to not having the "drug" sorta speak and having withdrawals from say sugar and carbs?

Sounds like your body is only used to burning carbs and you are not fat adapted.

Also at first when you are dumping glycogen that takes a lot of water molecules along with it and can flush electrolytes.
Supplement with electrolytes during a fast can help, but spend a month get good and fat adapted first.

If you are a carb burner, you blow through glycogen quick and then crash and feel like crap.

If you are fat adapted and have > 5%  your body should have plenty of fuel to last at least a week or two but limit it to no more than 5 days to avoid metabolism reactions.

The rest is just psychologically fighting the impulse to eat that ghrelin temporarily induces.  But that comes in waves and will die down again in an hour or two.  Modern people panic at the first sensation of hunger.  No one in the first world is likely to die from a day or two of fasting, but starting with a 24 hour fast is good.  Go from one dinner until the next days dinner fasting .  Half that time you were asleep anyway.

$0.02


 

[Bizman]

Has anyone yet mentioned beer as a source of carbs? Not to mention sweet liqueurs. Wine and spirits not so much but they still include lots of energy. Is that why beer often makes one feel less energetic than the same amount of alcohol as Scotch or wine?

[CptTrips]

Has anyone yet mentioned beer as a source of carbs? Not to mention sweet liqueurs. Wine and spirits not so much but they still include lots of energy. Is that why beer often makes one feel less energetic than the same amount of alcohol as Scotch or wine?

Since I've started Paleo\Keto\Carnivore I consume virtually no alcohol. 

Just lost my taste.  I might enjoy a ice cold beer after sweating hot work outside in summer, but that is rare because I no longer buy it.  So maybe at a friends house helping with a fence or something I'll have one. 

Heck, in my youth I could easily drop a 12 pack in the afternoon helping a friend. 

American beer is the worst of the worst filled with maltodextrin and they use HFCS for the fermentation as it is cheaper than real grain.

I will occasionally have a bourbon or gin and tonic, but found I no longer enjoy them much.  I prefer a puff now and then.

[AKIron]

Capt trips, aka Little Jackie Paper. 

[Eagler]

Colonoscopy prep is a great way to "fast" too...

When you are cleaned out enough for the scope to get good enough photos, you are as cleaned out as well as you can get..endless hours of toilet visits insures that...lol

Also you won't gain muscle just by eating more animal protein...exercise is the missing ingredient there..

Eagler