There's a current "funny" going around on facebook -- "i hesitate to ask anymore how dumb people can be, because some seem to see it as a challenge" or words to that effect. But it's still a valid question!
I'm reading a very intelligent treatise on the role of food intolerance on CFS/ME, and after implying that the more perfectly people follow a diet designed to minimize known food intolerances, the better they feel, the article goes on to say that they hesitate to recommend this kind of avoidance technique! It seems that patients consider this healthful practice onerous, difficult and burdensome -- awwwww, poor things.... You CAN get significant improvement of life-limiting illness, but you're actually going to have to give up your favorite toxin!
What's the deal, here??? Is it THAT traumatic to dump wheat, or dairy, or chocolate, or whatever, in order to GET YOUR LIFE BACK?
This viewpoint points out some really screwed-up priorities! YES, you're going to have to think and plan ahead. Yes, you'll have to forgo some goodies MOST OF THE TIME (experience seems to point out that, once identified, trouble foods can be used on an extremely rare basis once the body has done some healing and the reaction threshold is lower). Yes, you WILL have to exercise a certain amount of "won't-power."
There is no free lunch when it comes to wellness. A few people (especially the young) can eat, drink and do whatever they want without noticing deleterious effects, but that doesn't apply to the majority of us, especially aging women. I'm willing to trade regular high-histamine foods in my diet (yes, even wine) for increased well-being! I'd rather be OFF misery-inducing treats than ON side-effect-producing pharmaceuticals! ... How about you?
Showing posts with label food elimination. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food elimination. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Friday, October 5, 2012
"the REST of the story"
I read lots more blogs than i have on my own list -- but there are a few reasons why some aren't there. Certainly the largest group is made up of sites i'm not particularly familiar with; i might have read a couple of examples from bloggers out of hundreds of posts, but until i find their information consistently helpful i definitely won't recommend them ... yet. There are also a bunch of sites that i agree with a lot, but not ENOUGH. Several of the ones i've removed from the list fall into this category, and i consigned them to limbo because just a FEW of their ideas are SO "wrong" (for me) that i consider their advice problematic. Hell, the big reason i write here is to pass along what WORKS for me, and potentially for those with similar challenges!
Other sites i read are on other bloggers' lists, and i only click the link if the title sounds interesting (a lesson: make titles interesting*). Therefore, i come across a LOT of writings which advocate dietary practices that i KNOW are deleterious to MY health, and probably that of quite a few others as well.
This is why i'm compelled to write so often in response to other bloggers' posts -- i can't stand reading those sincere, heart-felt messages full of BAD NUTRITIONAL ADVICE!
So, when i read a post just now, extolling the virtues of one of those hearthealthywholegrains (not wheat), it made me tense up all over. The nice vegetarian dietician lady was telling her readers how to choose and prepare a meal of a less-processed grass-babies. She didn't even advise to disable the antinutrients, or recommend avoiding the kind that can't be thus improved. :-(
Now, i KNOW these particular grass-babies are deleterious to my health. I did a careful elimination-retrial-elimination, and it was almost as bad as wheat when it comes to joint pain. So i have to conclude that, to carbohydrate-sensitive people (like me) who have autoimmune problems with wheat (like me), should stay the hell away from ANY grain that contains ANY degree of gluten, unless an elimination trial shows its side-effects are bearable. Like me.
_______
* not something like ... oh, for instance, "daily quote" or "surprise of the day".... there's nothing compelling in those at all. ;-)
Other sites i read are on other bloggers' lists, and i only click the link if the title sounds interesting (a lesson: make titles interesting*). Therefore, i come across a LOT of writings which advocate dietary practices that i KNOW are deleterious to MY health, and probably that of quite a few others as well.
This is why i'm compelled to write so often in response to other bloggers' posts -- i can't stand reading those sincere, heart-felt messages full of BAD NUTRITIONAL ADVICE!
So, when i read a post just now, extolling the virtues of one of those hearthealthywholegrains (not wheat), it made me tense up all over. The nice vegetarian dietician lady was telling her readers how to choose and prepare a meal of a less-processed grass-babies. She didn't even advise to disable the antinutrients, or recommend avoiding the kind that can't be thus improved. :-(
Now, i KNOW these particular grass-babies are deleterious to my health. I did a careful elimination-retrial-elimination, and it was almost as bad as wheat when it comes to joint pain. So i have to conclude that, to carbohydrate-sensitive people (like me) who have autoimmune problems with wheat (like me), should stay the hell away from ANY grain that contains ANY degree of gluten, unless an elimination trial shows its side-effects are bearable. Like me.
_______
* not something like ... oh, for instance, "daily quote" or "surprise of the day".... there's nothing compelling in those at all. ;-)
Monday, September 24, 2012
...but what does that have to do with hypothyroidism?
Continuing from my not-terribly-well-expressed blog post of yesterday (i was trying to do too much at once)....
I believe that choosing my diet carefully is the most important thing i can do for my health, as it relates to my wimpy thyroid. I'd MUCH rather limit foods that mess with my sense of well-being, than be able to eat "treats" OFTEN and juggle with pharmaceuticals and painkillers. Some people would rather go the other direction -- we all choose our own poisons! :-)
An AWFUL lot of hypothyroidism is of the autoimmune variety. It's well-established that wheat-eating is a trigger for this, via a leaky gut. Other things can cause it to happen, too, like components of dairy foods. Ergo, i will limit problematic foods. ...So what foods are problematic? A SHITLOAD of them, and many people (but not all) will find the same things more troublesome than others.
Many healthyfruitsandvegetables mess with intestinal integrity, for more reasons than i enumerated yesterday. But unfortunately, even a lot of "acceptable" items (in FODMAP terms) are, or should be, limited in the diet of the hypothyroid individual!
Among the conditionally acceptable:
So this is YET ANOTHER reason i go light on the veggies -- so many are doubly problematic because of my physical limitations. I'm very happy for Dr. Wahls, that she healed herself with greenstuffs. I just wouldn't expect that EVERYBODY would have her good outcome.
I believe that choosing my diet carefully is the most important thing i can do for my health, as it relates to my wimpy thyroid. I'd MUCH rather limit foods that mess with my sense of well-being, than be able to eat "treats" OFTEN and juggle with pharmaceuticals and painkillers. Some people would rather go the other direction -- we all choose our own poisons! :-)
An AWFUL lot of hypothyroidism is of the autoimmune variety. It's well-established that wheat-eating is a trigger for this, via a leaky gut. Other things can cause it to happen, too, like components of dairy foods. Ergo, i will limit problematic foods. ...So what foods are problematic? A SHITLOAD of them, and many people (but not all) will find the same things more troublesome than others.
Many healthyfruitsandvegetables mess with intestinal integrity, for more reasons than i enumerated yesterday. But unfortunately, even a lot of "acceptable" items (in FODMAP terms) are, or should be, limited in the diet of the hypothyroid individual!
Among the conditionally acceptable:
And i didn't even strike out the nightshades, as i did the goitrogens! If you go further, and remove the starchy ones as most overweight individuals should, that leaves precious few "safe" vegetables to eat, and some of them definitely belong in the "garnish/flavoring" category rather than as belly-filling choices.Bamboo shootsBean shootsBeans (green)Bok choyBroccoliCapsicumCarrotCeleryChivesCornCucumberEndiveEggplantGingerLettuceOlivesParsnipParsleyPotatoPumpkinSilverbeet [chard]Spring onion (green section)SpinachSquashSwedeSweet potatoTaroTomatoTurnipYamZucchini
So this is YET ANOTHER reason i go light on the veggies -- so many are doubly problematic because of my physical limitations. I'm very happy for Dr. Wahls, that she healed herself with greenstuffs. I just wouldn't expect that EVERYBODY would have her good outcome.
Sunday, August 26, 2012
food elimination for achy old bodies
As today has progressed, the waterlogged feeling from last evening's carb-fest has morphed to generalized weariness and muscle aches. Interesting.
I broke my fast in the early afternoon with The Kitchen Sink burger at Molly's (without the bun, of course), and i was wicked enough to have the Cuban Black Beans as my side-dish. Yum. My belly comfortably full, i immediately got sleepy, so when we returned home i had a cup of coffee to help keep me conscious until it should be a reasonable time to go to bed. I sat down to read, and when i got up again some time later i was stiff and sore.
This isn't the first time that the relationship of diet to pain has come to my notice. But who would intuit such a thing in the medical community? When somebody says, "Doc, i'm full of body aches," does s/he reply, "You need to try an elimination diet," or is it more likely to be, "You have to expect this as you age," or "Here's a prescription for a new fibromyalgia drug"...?
Diet is not an example of "what does not kill me makes me stronger." In the case of food, the adage more like to be helpful is "the dose makes the poison." You CAN have too much of a good thing, but a little of a bad thing tends to be much more likely to occur, over and over, till the body's coping mechanisms give out one by one.
It's a real pity that some people will never know how their choice of food impacts their daily comfort and well-being. Perhaps they'd choose the wheat, sugar and seed-oils anyway, but i'd like to think that some would consider it worthwhile to avoid the irritants rather than live with the irritation and try to numb it with pharmaceuticals.
Well, three days of the anti-inflammatory VLC diet i favor will make a new woman of me, who will eventually whoop it up again ... and so on and on. But i'm making my choices with my eyes open; i feel sympathy for people who don't have a clue. I even feel sorry for medical professionals who are taught that diet isn't important.
I broke my fast in the early afternoon with The Kitchen Sink burger at Molly's (without the bun, of course), and i was wicked enough to have the Cuban Black Beans as my side-dish. Yum. My belly comfortably full, i immediately got sleepy, so when we returned home i had a cup of coffee to help keep me conscious until it should be a reasonable time to go to bed. I sat down to read, and when i got up again some time later i was stiff and sore.
This isn't the first time that the relationship of diet to pain has come to my notice. But who would intuit such a thing in the medical community? When somebody says, "Doc, i'm full of body aches," does s/he reply, "You need to try an elimination diet," or is it more likely to be, "You have to expect this as you age," or "Here's a prescription for a new fibromyalgia drug"...?
Diet is not an example of "what does not kill me makes me stronger." In the case of food, the adage more like to be helpful is "the dose makes the poison." You CAN have too much of a good thing, but a little of a bad thing tends to be much more likely to occur, over and over, till the body's coping mechanisms give out one by one.
It's a real pity that some people will never know how their choice of food impacts their daily comfort and well-being. Perhaps they'd choose the wheat, sugar and seed-oils anyway, but i'd like to think that some would consider it worthwhile to avoid the irritants rather than live with the irritation and try to numb it with pharmaceuticals.
Well, three days of the anti-inflammatory VLC diet i favor will make a new woman of me, who will eventually whoop it up again ... and so on and on. But i'm making my choices with my eyes open; i feel sympathy for people who don't have a clue. I even feel sorry for medical professionals who are taught that diet isn't important.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
progress update time, part 1
More than half a year has flown by, since i started writing here. Whereas i haven't made much linear PROGRESS in losing weight, the scale hasn't been stuck anywhere ... and i feel i'm significantly wiser about the whole subject.
In January, i began the Personal Paleo Code program, which was an eye-opening experience. Whether a person wants to lose weight or not -- i firmly believe it's in EVERYBODY'S best interests to go through a strict elimination diet and slowly add back every other ordinarily-eaten food, just to see what causes problems that were never even SUSPECTED before. I understand the Whole 30 is pretty much the same thing, and there are others out there, too, which offer a description and how to go about it without spoiling the results ... but i really think people who care about their health need to check it out.
I discovered that i have issues with nightshades, which i never suspected before. Industrial seed oils seem to give me zits, especially when i'm not getting enough zinc. Milk products (even fermented) seem to contribute to tremors (like any overdose of carbs) -- could high insulin the be the cause? Cream SOMETIMES contributes to an unhappy gut, but butter, never -- could have something to do with carrageenan in the former....
Wheat doesn't give me overt gut symptoms, but it really brings on the knee pain ...AND hip, and shoulder. Oats (even soaked) do the same, to a lesser degree. An occasional (rare!) bowl of porridge will stay in my future, but it's gotta be the unsteamed kind, and it has to be soaked overnight with whey. I allowed myself so little of the true-sourdough ("salt rising") rye/rice bread, i don't know if it causes much trouble -- further tests are in order.
Home-cooked food (by me) is the highroad to health and weight control. I've eliminated dozens of products i used to use with confidence because SO many of the things we buy are adulterated -- you have to be careful even buying tuna in "water" because it ISN'T -- it's a soy-laced broth. "With olive oil" in the commercial world doesn't mean OF olive oil; i make my own mayo and dressings anymore. The caveat above, "by me" is important -- my husband is sympathetic but not thoroughly aware. And as for other people? Absolutely, completely, incomprehensibly BLIND. Obviously, most people think that if it doesn't kill you SOON, it doesn't have a negative impact on health (face-palm...). Think CIGARETTES, kids....
I've learned a bit about alcohol, too. The "cleanest" drink i can have is warm sake; a small amount satisfies and it's easy to stop there. Even cold (filtered) sake is more ... moreish! And other things also contribute to a low-grade headache while sake doesn't. My low-carb cocktails come next, then tepid wine -- which is to say, reds. White and/or chilled, and the "food reward" thing kicks in -- wonder if the "good doctor" can explain that one?
A very nice lady who went by the screenname "H" made the next big impact on my dietary adventures; she introduced me to "Strong Medicine," Dr. Blake Donaldson's retrospective on how he learned to treat allergy and weight loss, in the early part of the 20th century. This book, and my subsequent reading, have revolutionized my view of limiting carbs. H did her good deed, then kinda disappeared like The Shadow. OOOOhhhh. ;-)
This, as the title suggests, is going to have to be just the first report, because i realized after i started that the ground i've covered so far this year is going to take longer than i thought. ;-) I do hope this isn't just an exercise in self-absorption, but a useful record....
In January, i began the Personal Paleo Code program, which was an eye-opening experience. Whether a person wants to lose weight or not -- i firmly believe it's in EVERYBODY'S best interests to go through a strict elimination diet and slowly add back every other ordinarily-eaten food, just to see what causes problems that were never even SUSPECTED before. I understand the Whole 30 is pretty much the same thing, and there are others out there, too, which offer a description and how to go about it without spoiling the results ... but i really think people who care about their health need to check it out.
I discovered that i have issues with nightshades, which i never suspected before. Industrial seed oils seem to give me zits, especially when i'm not getting enough zinc. Milk products (even fermented) seem to contribute to tremors (like any overdose of carbs) -- could high insulin the be the cause? Cream SOMETIMES contributes to an unhappy gut, but butter, never -- could have something to do with carrageenan in the former....
Wheat doesn't give me overt gut symptoms, but it really brings on the knee pain ...AND hip, and shoulder. Oats (even soaked) do the same, to a lesser degree. An occasional (rare!) bowl of porridge will stay in my future, but it's gotta be the unsteamed kind, and it has to be soaked overnight with whey. I allowed myself so little of the true-sourdough ("salt rising") rye/rice bread, i don't know if it causes much trouble -- further tests are in order.
Home-cooked food (by me) is the highroad to health and weight control. I've eliminated dozens of products i used to use with confidence because SO many of the things we buy are adulterated -- you have to be careful even buying tuna in "water" because it ISN'T -- it's a soy-laced broth. "With olive oil" in the commercial world doesn't mean OF olive oil; i make my own mayo and dressings anymore. The caveat above, "by me" is important -- my husband is sympathetic but not thoroughly aware. And as for other people? Absolutely, completely, incomprehensibly BLIND. Obviously, most people think that if it doesn't kill you SOON, it doesn't have a negative impact on health (face-palm...). Think CIGARETTES, kids....
I've learned a bit about alcohol, too. The "cleanest" drink i can have is warm sake; a small amount satisfies and it's easy to stop there. Even cold (filtered) sake is more ... moreish! And other things also contribute to a low-grade headache while sake doesn't. My low-carb cocktails come next, then tepid wine -- which is to say, reds. White and/or chilled, and the "food reward" thing kicks in -- wonder if the "good doctor" can explain that one?
A very nice lady who went by the screenname "H" made the next big impact on my dietary adventures; she introduced me to "Strong Medicine," Dr. Blake Donaldson's retrospective on how he learned to treat allergy and weight loss, in the early part of the 20th century. This book, and my subsequent reading, have revolutionized my view of limiting carbs. H did her good deed, then kinda disappeared like The Shadow. OOOOhhhh. ;-)
This, as the title suggests, is going to have to be just the first report, because i realized after i started that the ground i've covered so far this year is going to take longer than i thought. ;-) I do hope this isn't just an exercise in self-absorption, but a useful record....
Friday, July 6, 2012
when will i ever learn?
This week of indulgent vacationing is almost over -- thank heavens! ;-) It's been something of an inversion -- a PERversion of what food-elimination diets are all about. I've eaten things over the last week that i KNOW i should not eat, and am observing the consequences -- and don't try to tell me it's a reverse-placebo effect!
I have body-aches that i haven't felt since last year. Anyone who has read some of my oldest postings might remember my awe when, after three weeks of the Personal Paleo Code program, i took a roadtrip and found that i was able to get out of the car (after driving for 6 hours straight) and experience no stiffness upon moving around. At the time, i was SO impressed with the effects of the frequently-problematic-food avoidance, i couldn't see ever eating them again.
I ate them this past few days. OUCH. Wheat. Corn. Sauces containing mystery ingredients. Industrial seed oils. Sugar.
I HAVE had individual-meal "excursions" before, from my ideal diet, with limited repercussions. One day of being "bad" can affect my knees, my water-balance, my allergies, and/or my digestion. It takes several days to give me this gawd-do-i-feel-old sensation. I'm sitting here right now with my feet up, leaning back comfortably against cushions; my lower-back hurts, my upper-neck hurts and my temples ache -- inflammation causes my glasses to fit poorly, and i get a pain behind my ears, as well. I woke this morning with my hands and feet aching from the water retention. Climbing out of bed was more trouble than it has been for seven months; i limped to the next room.
Today i'm fasting until dinnertime, and i anticipate feeling MUCH better. I'm also going to do a little upper-body bodyweight exercise right before dinner -- some planks, maybe some pushups. (Weightbearing exercise, especially in the upper body, is reputed to burn a LOT of glucose/glycogen.) I'll be drinking as much coffee as is comfortable, with cream if i start feeling hungry. I CAN LICK THIS! ;-)
When i fly home tomorrow, i trust i'll be feeling at least a little better than i do right now. When i get there i'll start being "perfect" again. Perfection is MUCH easier than moderation.
I have body-aches that i haven't felt since last year. Anyone who has read some of my oldest postings might remember my awe when, after three weeks of the Personal Paleo Code program, i took a roadtrip and found that i was able to get out of the car (after driving for 6 hours straight) and experience no stiffness upon moving around. At the time, i was SO impressed with the effects of the frequently-problematic-food avoidance, i couldn't see ever eating them again.
I ate them this past few days. OUCH. Wheat. Corn. Sauces containing mystery ingredients. Industrial seed oils. Sugar.
I HAVE had individual-meal "excursions" before, from my ideal diet, with limited repercussions. One day of being "bad" can affect my knees, my water-balance, my allergies, and/or my digestion. It takes several days to give me this gawd-do-i-feel-old sensation. I'm sitting here right now with my feet up, leaning back comfortably against cushions; my lower-back hurts, my upper-neck hurts and my temples ache -- inflammation causes my glasses to fit poorly, and i get a pain behind my ears, as well. I woke this morning with my hands and feet aching from the water retention. Climbing out of bed was more trouble than it has been for seven months; i limped to the next room.
Today i'm fasting until dinnertime, and i anticipate feeling MUCH better. I'm also going to do a little upper-body bodyweight exercise right before dinner -- some planks, maybe some pushups. (Weightbearing exercise, especially in the upper body, is reputed to burn a LOT of glucose/glycogen.) I'll be drinking as much coffee as is comfortable, with cream if i start feeling hungry. I CAN LICK THIS! ;-)
When i fly home tomorrow, i trust i'll be feeling at least a little better than i do right now. When i get there i'll start being "perfect" again. Perfection is MUCH easier than moderation.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
the case against sucralose
addendum (11/18/12):
I was looking up something on the Gnolls.org site, and happened upon this mention: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18800291 ... which of course inspired me to figure out how much canned soda the SMALLEST test quantity (100 mg/kg) would represent. At 70 mg (approx. from info on a website about sucralose) per can, and my present weight of 145, that would mean i'd have to swill NINETY-FOUR cans of Diet Rite before i'd reach the experimental minimum.
On a "wild" day at home, i may drink two -- most days it's not any. On the highway, it may be more -- perhaps as many as five. I don't think i'll worry about upsetting my gut flora very much for awhile....
***
...Actually, i have yet to see ANY real evidence that sucralose is problematic.
I tuned in to Jimmy Moore's "Ask the Low-Carb Experts" even though i dislike listening to podcasts/radio-shows, because he had a guest whom he'd announced as being an authority on sweeteners. And what did he say about Splenda, beyond the stuff i'd heard before? Nothing.
Detractors like to report that the lab-rats who invented the stuff were actually researching things that might be good pesticides -- it's said that sucralose is manufactured "just like a pesticide," whatever that is supposed to mean. They also talk about the CHLORINE in it (oooooh!). Jimmy's guest referred to sucralose as a toxin but didn't go into details about what it's supposed to do, or how. Sorry, but that just isn't good enough; "guilt by association" isn't enough to convict in a courtroom, either.
A lot of things are invented/discovered when people are looking for something else entirely; i don't consider that a good reason to find fault with this sweetener. "Oh -- this isn't the Indies!" thinks Columbus, "let's just pretend we never found land at all, and keep looking!" (A lot of people would have been happier if he HAD done this, but he didn't, for obvious reasons.)
And as for demonizing chlorine...??? Last time i looked, chlorine is a very important element in the body, though i'm not knowledgeable enough in physiology to insist that it's only the ion that's essential. Yes, yes, i know that chlorine GAS is remarkably nasty stuff.... ;-) Without enough Cl in the body in the form of NaCl and HCl though, we are in TROUBLE. You'd have to show me that THIS chlorinated molecule is a bad one in reasonable trials before i'll get excited about it.
For the record, in discussing aspartame, Jimmy's guest insists (more than once) that the evidence against THAT is well-proven in controlled trials, but he doesn't get nearly as specific in describing the ill-effects of sucralose. He drops the T-word and changes the subject.
There has been a small amount of anecdotal evidence that people CAN have trouble with Splenda-sweetened foods, but beside the number of people who have trouble with aspartame, they're few indeed. When i did the elimination diet back in January, i gave up all sweeteners, natural and otherwise. At the end of the month i added sucralose back in the same way i did rice, dairy, alcohol and other things, and i perceived NO effect (except that it just didn't taste that good). So until there's a lot more solid data, i'll continue to use the stuff in the negligible quantities i'm accustomed to.
I was looking up something on the Gnolls.org site, and happened upon this mention: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18800291 ... which of course inspired me to figure out how much canned soda the SMALLEST test quantity (100 mg/kg) would represent. At 70 mg (approx. from info on a website about sucralose) per can, and my present weight of 145, that would mean i'd have to swill NINETY-FOUR cans of Diet Rite before i'd reach the experimental minimum.
On a "wild" day at home, i may drink two -- most days it's not any. On the highway, it may be more -- perhaps as many as five. I don't think i'll worry about upsetting my gut flora very much for awhile....
***
...Actually, i have yet to see ANY real evidence that sucralose is problematic.
I tuned in to Jimmy Moore's "Ask the Low-Carb Experts" even though i dislike listening to podcasts/radio-shows, because he had a guest whom he'd announced as being an authority on sweeteners. And what did he say about Splenda, beyond the stuff i'd heard before? Nothing.
Detractors like to report that the lab-rats who invented the stuff were actually researching things that might be good pesticides -- it's said that sucralose is manufactured "just like a pesticide," whatever that is supposed to mean. They also talk about the CHLORINE in it (oooooh!). Jimmy's guest referred to sucralose as a toxin but didn't go into details about what it's supposed to do, or how. Sorry, but that just isn't good enough; "guilt by association" isn't enough to convict in a courtroom, either.
A lot of things are invented/discovered when people are looking for something else entirely; i don't consider that a good reason to find fault with this sweetener. "Oh -- this isn't the Indies!" thinks Columbus, "let's just pretend we never found land at all, and keep looking!" (A lot of people would have been happier if he HAD done this, but he didn't, for obvious reasons.)
And as for demonizing chlorine...??? Last time i looked, chlorine is a very important element in the body, though i'm not knowledgeable enough in physiology to insist that it's only the ion that's essential. Yes, yes, i know that chlorine GAS is remarkably nasty stuff.... ;-) Without enough Cl in the body in the form of NaCl and HCl though, we are in TROUBLE. You'd have to show me that THIS chlorinated molecule is a bad one in reasonable trials before i'll get excited about it.
For the record, in discussing aspartame, Jimmy's guest insists (more than once) that the evidence against THAT is well-proven in controlled trials, but he doesn't get nearly as specific in describing the ill-effects of sucralose. He drops the T-word and changes the subject.
There has been a small amount of anecdotal evidence that people CAN have trouble with Splenda-sweetened foods, but beside the number of people who have trouble with aspartame, they're few indeed. When i did the elimination diet back in January, i gave up all sweeteners, natural and otherwise. At the end of the month i added sucralose back in the same way i did rice, dairy, alcohol and other things, and i perceived NO effect (except that it just didn't taste that good). So until there's a lot more solid data, i'll continue to use the stuff in the negligible quantities i'm accustomed to.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
radical health improvement from diet X
Every time i hear about a spectacular health turn-around after a person changes his/her dietary style, the first thing i want to know is, exactly what was changed?
Yep, a Real Home Cooking diet, in which whole foods replace CIAB will make the whole family feel, look and perform better, even if it contains the worst grains and beans in the world. Most plant toxins aren't nearly as nasty as some of the man-made ones which flood the food supplies of modern countries!
I heard the success story of Terry Wahls, and i couldn't be more happy for her! Especially considering her profession, this is a coup for advocates of nutritionally-based medical treatment; she's harder to shrug off than most of us grunts. AND she's very vocal about her situation; :-D ...i do so admire the people who get out there and fight for what i believe in, but into which i am not willing to pour my whole life's-energy. But do i think that her diet is optimal for universal health? No, at least not for me.
The "wow factor" of dietary change frequently depends upon your starting point. Mine has been changing step-wise, and to see how my health has improved i have to search my memory for details that are confounded by (comparative) youth, fitness, etc.
I started out from i categorized above as a Real Home Cooking diet. I grew up eating white bread and corn oil, but at least we always COOKED. Frequent eating-out didn't happen till about twenty years ago, and i had been fighting the battle of the bulge before that. As food-and-supplement fads came and went, i never noticed a significant improvement with ANYTHING until i added systemic enzymes to my daily routine. I suspect i was developing fibromyalgia; i would sit with my feet up and vaguely ache all over. My chronic fatigue i attributed to the hypothyroidism.
So, first enzymes actually promoted some improvement, then my doctor recommended iodine supplementation, and that helped much more. I went on Atkins next, and my general improvement was immensely noticeable. No more morning brain fog, significantly improved allergies, better energy, and weight-loss without constant hunger. I was a FAN.
The biggest reason that low-carbing didn't result in all the weight-loss i could ever have wanted was the temptation to add foods in too soon. One sees all those opportunities to again eat the things the low-fat-me had been denying myself so long.... And, as an enthusiastic cook, i was also hot to adapt old recipes to the new philosophy, and got caught in the carb-creep that is so hard to resist. I screwed up.
I don't remember what led me to Mark's Daily Apple, but it was my portal to the paleo/primal world. I no longer link his site from mine, but it's still one of the first to which i send my paleo-curious friends. Like so many other eating plans, if you go straight to it from the SAD your results will be absolutely stunning: i didn't, so mine were much less noticeable. Not perfect, and nor is the Perfect Health Diet ... for me.
What DID produce jaw-dropping IMPROVEMENT for me was the Personal Paleo Code program, and the Strong Medicine protocol i tried after it. In my case, i found out that health challenges have been all about dietary intolerances and "personal toxins."
So yeah: a veg*n diet will be beneficial ... if you ate absolutely horrible things before. So will Atkins, despite the highly-questionable ingredients in their trademarked products. So will a low-fat diet, if you go from lots of omega-6 oils to almost none (and can stand the hunger).
To eat OPTIMALLY is going to take a lot of n=1 experimentation. Eat only things that are "never" toxic or allergenic for a month, then add things back one at a time, slowly. It's ILLUMINATING.
Yep, a Real Home Cooking diet, in which whole foods replace CIAB will make the whole family feel, look and perform better, even if it contains the worst grains and beans in the world. Most plant toxins aren't nearly as nasty as some of the man-made ones which flood the food supplies of modern countries!
I heard the success story of Terry Wahls, and i couldn't be more happy for her! Especially considering her profession, this is a coup for advocates of nutritionally-based medical treatment; she's harder to shrug off than most of us grunts. AND she's very vocal about her situation; :-D ...i do so admire the people who get out there and fight for what i believe in, but into which i am not willing to pour my whole life's-energy. But do i think that her diet is optimal for universal health? No, at least not for me.
The "wow factor" of dietary change frequently depends upon your starting point. Mine has been changing step-wise, and to see how my health has improved i have to search my memory for details that are confounded by (comparative) youth, fitness, etc.
I started out from i categorized above as a Real Home Cooking diet. I grew up eating white bread and corn oil, but at least we always COOKED. Frequent eating-out didn't happen till about twenty years ago, and i had been fighting the battle of the bulge before that. As food-and-supplement fads came and went, i never noticed a significant improvement with ANYTHING until i added systemic enzymes to my daily routine. I suspect i was developing fibromyalgia; i would sit with my feet up and vaguely ache all over. My chronic fatigue i attributed to the hypothyroidism.
So, first enzymes actually promoted some improvement, then my doctor recommended iodine supplementation, and that helped much more. I went on Atkins next, and my general improvement was immensely noticeable. No more morning brain fog, significantly improved allergies, better energy, and weight-loss without constant hunger. I was a FAN.
The biggest reason that low-carbing didn't result in all the weight-loss i could ever have wanted was the temptation to add foods in too soon. One sees all those opportunities to again eat the things the low-fat-me had been denying myself so long.... And, as an enthusiastic cook, i was also hot to adapt old recipes to the new philosophy, and got caught in the carb-creep that is so hard to resist. I screwed up.
I don't remember what led me to Mark's Daily Apple, but it was my portal to the paleo/primal world. I no longer link his site from mine, but it's still one of the first to which i send my paleo-curious friends. Like so many other eating plans, if you go straight to it from the SAD your results will be absolutely stunning: i didn't, so mine were much less noticeable. Not perfect, and nor is the Perfect Health Diet ... for me.
What DID produce jaw-dropping IMPROVEMENT for me was the Personal Paleo Code program, and the Strong Medicine protocol i tried after it. In my case, i found out that health challenges have been all about dietary intolerances and "personal toxins."
So yeah: a veg*n diet will be beneficial ... if you ate absolutely horrible things before. So will Atkins, despite the highly-questionable ingredients in their trademarked products. So will a low-fat diet, if you go from lots of omega-6 oils to almost none (and can stand the hunger).
To eat OPTIMALLY is going to take a lot of n=1 experimentation. Eat only things that are "never" toxic or allergenic for a month, then add things back one at a time, slowly. It's ILLUMINATING.
Monday, April 30, 2012
alternatives to alternatives
When circumstances occur that make us reconsider what we have "decided" before, it's probably a good thing. I mentioned the other day that my esteemed DIL has deadly allergies, the most virulent of which are to nuts. Tree nuts, from coconuts on down to filberts (is there anything larger and/or smaller?) ... she can't have 'em.
Low-carbing is something she's willing to do, and has done with success in the past, but for her the choices are more limited. Therefore, i've been considering what might be some nice alternatives.
Most of us make do with nut flours when we want to "eat our cake and have it too." Coconut pancakes and tortillas, hazelnut-meal bread, almond cakes and cookies are out the window this week. What to make instead? Well, i think we ARE going to have to go a little higher in carbs. It's time to experiment with legumes, and to cave in to flours made of tubers.
I'm thinking that a sourdough starter can be begun with a little rye, augmented with chickpea meal, and finished with potato or rice flour (i need to look at the exact protein/carb ratios of these). It will require some baking soda to lighten the texture.... By souring the legume flour during the week the starter ripens, the antinutrients should be weakened considerably.
Sunflower and pumpkin seeds should be legitimate to use as well, ground up to a meal in the food processor. And mixing those with finely chopped peanuts should be pretty tasty -- i'm seeing a cake made with these ingredients and iced with chocolate cream cheese. Do i have anyone's mouth watering yet (besides mine)?
Resuscitating ground-up pork-rinds is a good idea as well -- i've liked using them in the past (during the Atkins Era), but of course when i started avoiding omega-6 oils, they had to be relegated to "neolithic purgatory." I don't think ANYBODY in my neck of the woods is frying the things in acceptable fats, so if i want to start using them again, i'll have to fry them myself. Coincidentally, i have a package of pork skins in my freezer at home, some tallow in the deep-fryer, and lard in the pantry -- let the experimentation begin!
At a higher carb count, there are quinoa, buckwheat and that sort of thing. Compared to wheat, they're angels of light. Tapioca ... sweet potato ... maybe even konjac flour....
Oh, and i almost forgot the original Revolution (or "oopsie") Rolls! All is not lost -- there are LOTS of options we can explore!
Low-carbing is something she's willing to do, and has done with success in the past, but for her the choices are more limited. Therefore, i've been considering what might be some nice alternatives.
Most of us make do with nut flours when we want to "eat our cake and have it too." Coconut pancakes and tortillas, hazelnut-meal bread, almond cakes and cookies are out the window this week. What to make instead? Well, i think we ARE going to have to go a little higher in carbs. It's time to experiment with legumes, and to cave in to flours made of tubers.
I'm thinking that a sourdough starter can be begun with a little rye, augmented with chickpea meal, and finished with potato or rice flour (i need to look at the exact protein/carb ratios of these). It will require some baking soda to lighten the texture.... By souring the legume flour during the week the starter ripens, the antinutrients should be weakened considerably.
Sunflower and pumpkin seeds should be legitimate to use as well, ground up to a meal in the food processor. And mixing those with finely chopped peanuts should be pretty tasty -- i'm seeing a cake made with these ingredients and iced with chocolate cream cheese. Do i have anyone's mouth watering yet (besides mine)?
Resuscitating ground-up pork-rinds is a good idea as well -- i've liked using them in the past (during the Atkins Era), but of course when i started avoiding omega-6 oils, they had to be relegated to "neolithic purgatory." I don't think ANYBODY in my neck of the woods is frying the things in acceptable fats, so if i want to start using them again, i'll have to fry them myself. Coincidentally, i have a package of pork skins in my freezer at home, some tallow in the deep-fryer, and lard in the pantry -- let the experimentation begin!
At a higher carb count, there are quinoa, buckwheat and that sort of thing. Compared to wheat, they're angels of light. Tapioca ... sweet potato ... maybe even konjac flour....
Oh, and i almost forgot the original Revolution (or "oopsie") Rolls! All is not lost -- there are LOTS of options we can explore!
Sunday, April 29, 2012
plateauing problems
One of the irritations we encounter on ANY weight-loss diet is the plateau. How to break through these stalls is tricky indeed, and i suspect they may be the reason most people never manage to meet their goals -- especially for those of us who have a hard time losing weight in the first place.
Sometimes you read a person's record and they say, "i plateaued out but kept doing what i was doing, and three months later, i started losing again." THREE MONTHS??? Hell, i plateau that long, and there's no way on earth i'd be able to keep my motivation to continue what i'm doing!!!
On the other hand, i have a suspicion that the body so likes to have homeostasis that it can actually be good for you to remain at a stable weight for an extended period. The problem arises when your mind has a reason for wanting to continue losing, and your body refuses to cooperate.
I think Dr. Atkins didn't consider a plateau a real issue until it had gone on for a month. He had a set of suggestions ready and waiting for his patients when/if it happened, but not having my book available right now, i really can't enumerate many of them. I suspect his first rule would be to step back 5 or 10 daily carb-grams, and to make sure one was using all the appropriate supplements. Making sure allergies and hormones are under control would be another suggestion. Checking fat-burning status through the use of keto-sticks might be yet another, and if they didn't show "enough pink" he might have recommended a fat-fast.
The tricky bit is, if you ARE producing ketones, a fat-fast is superfluous -- ITS major virtue is forcing a recalcitrant body to burn FFAs rather than glucose. In the presence of decent ketosis, other tricks will be far more effective in spurring weight loss.
I've long suspected that "shocking" the body with an abrupt change in food or exercise habit makes it perk up and take notice, start "thinking" about how it functions instead of coasting along on autopilot. What we DON'T want to do is make it think it's threatened, by dipping protein or total calories TOO low, or working out so excessively that stress hormones actually encourage more fat storage! That's the "logical" thing to do, from the point of view of a physicist; unfortunately, the biological system doesn't behave like a mechanical one....
This "shock technique" MAY be why low-carbers who abruptly start eating more starches see an immediate loss -- the question in my book would be, how long can it last? Now, in my case, an addition of carbs to spur weight-loss is out of the question -- i start feeling terrible, i get palpitations and tremors upon a too-large increase of carbohydrates in my diet! Not fun. Adding in fasts are effective for some people, too, which could theoretically work the same way, shaking things up.
For me, the most effective thing seems to be to stop drinking wine and spirits, stop eating any nuts, dairy or fruit that i may have been indulging myself with. A more strict observance of what kinds of vegetables i eat, too, can be important. Anything that sets off allergic symptoms is an automatic suspect.
Please, everybody -- leave a comment on your favorite and most effective means of breaking a plateau! I think that learning from each other is one of the best aspects of the internet!
Sometimes you read a person's record and they say, "i plateaued out but kept doing what i was doing, and three months later, i started losing again." THREE MONTHS??? Hell, i plateau that long, and there's no way on earth i'd be able to keep my motivation to continue what i'm doing!!!
On the other hand, i have a suspicion that the body so likes to have homeostasis that it can actually be good for you to remain at a stable weight for an extended period. The problem arises when your mind has a reason for wanting to continue losing, and your body refuses to cooperate.
I think Dr. Atkins didn't consider a plateau a real issue until it had gone on for a month. He had a set of suggestions ready and waiting for his patients when/if it happened, but not having my book available right now, i really can't enumerate many of them. I suspect his first rule would be to step back 5 or 10 daily carb-grams, and to make sure one was using all the appropriate supplements. Making sure allergies and hormones are under control would be another suggestion. Checking fat-burning status through the use of keto-sticks might be yet another, and if they didn't show "enough pink" he might have recommended a fat-fast.
The tricky bit is, if you ARE producing ketones, a fat-fast is superfluous -- ITS major virtue is forcing a recalcitrant body to burn FFAs rather than glucose. In the presence of decent ketosis, other tricks will be far more effective in spurring weight loss.
I've long suspected that "shocking" the body with an abrupt change in food or exercise habit makes it perk up and take notice, start "thinking" about how it functions instead of coasting along on autopilot. What we DON'T want to do is make it think it's threatened, by dipping protein or total calories TOO low, or working out so excessively that stress hormones actually encourage more fat storage! That's the "logical" thing to do, from the point of view of a physicist; unfortunately, the biological system doesn't behave like a mechanical one....
This "shock technique" MAY be why low-carbers who abruptly start eating more starches see an immediate loss -- the question in my book would be, how long can it last? Now, in my case, an addition of carbs to spur weight-loss is out of the question -- i start feeling terrible, i get palpitations and tremors upon a too-large increase of carbohydrates in my diet! Not fun. Adding in fasts are effective for some people, too, which could theoretically work the same way, shaking things up.
For me, the most effective thing seems to be to stop drinking wine and spirits, stop eating any nuts, dairy or fruit that i may have been indulging myself with. A more strict observance of what kinds of vegetables i eat, too, can be important. Anything that sets off allergic symptoms is an automatic suspect.
Please, everybody -- leave a comment on your favorite and most effective means of breaking a plateau! I think that learning from each other is one of the best aspects of the internet!
Thursday, March 8, 2012
progress assessment point
During the two-plus months i've been writing here, my eating patterns have been far from consistent! To recap:
I began, strictly following the Personal Paleo Code, with very good results. I leaped into a new physical activity after only one week and irritated my weak knee, causing inflammation which hasn't completely left me yet. At the end of four weeks, i began introducing a few foods, because i was on a short holiday and felt entitled/self-indulgent (that's so frequently a bad idea...). For a couple of weeks after that, i experimented with a handful of different foodstuffs, which i had eliminated at the beginning.
Almost three weeks ago, i discovered "Strong Medicine," a book by a retired doctor whose experiences during the first half of the twentieth century taught him a considerable amount about diet and health, and which he decided to share. I chose to try some of Dr. Donaldson's recommendations, but had to tweak them a little to make them work for me. Both ways, they were remarkably effective.
About a week and a half ago i took another trip, and was away from home just over a week. Most of the time i adhered quite well to a dietary pattern which was a hybrid of the two above, but on ONE day, i was VERY naughty.
So here we are, just over nine weeks from my starting point: i've learned a CONSIDERABLE amount ... and lost about ten pounds.
I began, strictly following the Personal Paleo Code, with very good results. I leaped into a new physical activity after only one week and irritated my weak knee, causing inflammation which hasn't completely left me yet. At the end of four weeks, i began introducing a few foods, because i was on a short holiday and felt entitled/self-indulgent (that's so frequently a bad idea...). For a couple of weeks after that, i experimented with a handful of different foodstuffs, which i had eliminated at the beginning.
Almost three weeks ago, i discovered "Strong Medicine," a book by a retired doctor whose experiences during the first half of the twentieth century taught him a considerable amount about diet and health, and which he decided to share. I chose to try some of Dr. Donaldson's recommendations, but had to tweak them a little to make them work for me. Both ways, they were remarkably effective.
About a week and a half ago i took another trip, and was away from home just over a week. Most of the time i adhered quite well to a dietary pattern which was a hybrid of the two above, but on ONE day, i was VERY naughty.
So here we are, just over nine weeks from my starting point: i've learned a CONSIDERABLE amount ... and lost about ten pounds.
- the Personal Paleo Code WORKS. It's a powerful tool for determining what foods promote well-being, as well as weight-loss. Without even giving up ALL the "autoimmunity compromising" foods he listed, and despite the injury to my knee, i felt incredibly WELL -- considerably younger;
- rice seems to be a harmless food for me -- but not for breakfast. I must eat a fat-protein breakfast, or i'm hungrier all day. My body agrees with the studies about meal composition and metabolic flexibility (for a change);
- alcohol is NOT harmless, though i tolerate sake much better than wine. I'll need to do the same sort of introduction as with the former, before i can make a comparative judgement about spirits. The difference in joint pain and stiffness (between the beginning of February and now), i believe, can be attributed to the alcohol i used;
- the "Strong Medicine" prescription also works, but doing without salt is out of the question for me -- my digestion apparently needs it. It seems to work well, past that one-week point during which one is losing the easy stuff, and after which most eating plans don't render much progress. It's not for the weak, though; you've got to be determined and motivated to forgo variety in the diet, even though hunger is not a problem;
- the book "Deep Nutrition" made a big impression on me, and i'll be keeping Dr. Cate's viewpoints in mind while formulating my menus from now on. Meat on the bone, organ meats, bone broths, fermented vegetables, etc., will be more heavily used in my house!
- i have suspicions about eggs and many nuts as allergens for me -- they no longer get a free ride. I also seem to have a fructose malabsorption issue;
- i've decided to add tyrosine to my list of supplements. That amino acid is not heavily present in the foods i customarily eat, so my body is only getting significant quantities through conversion from phenylalanine. Since it's a building-block of thyroid hormone, and i've craved protein all my life, and i know i have absorption issues, i'm postulating that this may be something i need to consciously supplement. My uneven energy levels MAY improve: we'll see, and i'll let you know later.
Friday, March 2, 2012
and even more blinding light
Oh boy.... Just the other day i was exchanging comments with Steph about the studies that indicate low-carbing inhibits thyroid function; i wondered if the subjects might be confirmed glucose-burners (because it can sometimes take awhile to achieve metabolic flexibility).
Today, while surfing around other people's links, i found something which illuminates the situation -- check THIS out! Dr. Cate explains what happens and why, and how one can get around one's body's limitations so as to benefit from the perks of low blood sugar and insulin. YEA!
This is not the first time that "the rules" didn't seem to apply to MY body! When i hear blanket recommendations for certain health practices from "experts" (who have maybe read a couple of studies, but who have no experience of handling the condition, in themselves or patients), i want to tell them to shut the #$%& up!!!
You HAVE to learn to decipher the messages your body is giving you -- and your body does NOT necessarily speak your language! In some, the craving for sweets or snack foods isn't a message that you need carbs, but rather that you have an addiction to them, and would do well treating them with distrust.
I can't sufficiently praise food-elimination programs like the Personal Paleo Code! If your sensitivity to a particular food doesn't send you acute symptoms, you may miss your body's signal that it's problematic -- AND it may have more of an impact on your quality of life than you realize.
Today, while surfing around other people's links, i found something which illuminates the situation -- check THIS out! Dr. Cate explains what happens and why, and how one can get around one's body's limitations so as to benefit from the perks of low blood sugar and insulin. YEA!
This is not the first time that "the rules" didn't seem to apply to MY body! When i hear blanket recommendations for certain health practices from "experts" (who have maybe read a couple of studies, but who have no experience of handling the condition, in themselves or patients), i want to tell them to shut the #$%& up!!!
You HAVE to learn to decipher the messages your body is giving you -- and your body does NOT necessarily speak your language! In some, the craving for sweets or snack foods isn't a message that you need carbs, but rather that you have an addiction to them, and would do well treating them with distrust.
I can't sufficiently praise food-elimination programs like the Personal Paleo Code! If your sensitivity to a particular food doesn't send you acute symptoms, you may miss your body's signal that it's problematic -- AND it may have more of an impact on your quality of life than you realize.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
we interrupt your regularly-scheduled program for this announcement
Sunday was a busy and discombobulated day. Flying may take less actual travel-time than pursuing the same course on the ground, but it's far more upsetting to the routine. Had i driven for the eight or nine hours which that evening's trip monopolized, it would have been a piece of cake (piece of steak?) for me to comply with the Strong Medicine requirements. Three half-pound chunks of meat and three coffees, a quart and a half of water. Done.
Instead, i ended up eating a lot of cheese (for the first time this year), a little shrimp and smoked salmon, melon and nuts, and one glass of red wine for dinner. Since then, not only is Ralph giving me more pain than usual, but my hips and legs in general are aching. And one shoulder. Even my eyes have been dry and itchy (not from the flying -- that's different), which i learned is a common symptom of this sort of food sensitivity. It doesn't look good for casein!
I remember my surprise and delight after a stiffness-free drive of some 12 or more hours, two different days last month. Opposite situation here, and one gets to move around a LOT more in a plane than behind the wheel of a car. My mood, energy and sense of well-being have been disrupted too, though i concede that i had way too little sleep on Sunday night, to blame it ALL on diet.
New dietary conclusion and rule: being freshly self-diagnosed as dairy-sensitive, cheese must be eaten IN EXTREME MODERATION. Butter seems to be fine. Cream definitely requires a careful test period. Ditto for yogurt/kefir.
[sniff, sniff, pout] Dammit, i love cheese....
Instead, i ended up eating a lot of cheese (for the first time this year), a little shrimp and smoked salmon, melon and nuts, and one glass of red wine for dinner. Since then, not only is Ralph giving me more pain than usual, but my hips and legs in general are aching. And one shoulder. Even my eyes have been dry and itchy (not from the flying -- that's different), which i learned is a common symptom of this sort of food sensitivity. It doesn't look good for casein!
I remember my surprise and delight after a stiffness-free drive of some 12 or more hours, two different days last month. Opposite situation here, and one gets to move around a LOT more in a plane than behind the wheel of a car. My mood, energy and sense of well-being have been disrupted too, though i concede that i had way too little sleep on Sunday night, to blame it ALL on diet.
New dietary conclusion and rule: being freshly self-diagnosed as dairy-sensitive, cheese must be eaten IN EXTREME MODERATION. Butter seems to be fine. Cream definitely requires a careful test period. Ditto for yogurt/kefir.
[sniff, sniff, pout] Dammit, i love cheese....
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
i can't bear eating all this FOOD!
The scale is down 3/4 pound again, and i even allowed myself half a cup of cooked white rice with my beef tenderloin last night.
But my discomfort level has risen: between the lack of salt and the high meat intake (about 50% higher than it was a month ago), my stomach is not at all happy, even with daily use of betaine-HCl. Today is a day for readjusting the formula. (I just took a 1/4 t. of sea salt, washed down with water, as a good beginning.)
I was VERY comfortable on the IF technique of coconut milk in my coffee for breakfast, and only two real meals per day. The only trouble with that was, i wasn't losing any weight, despite consuming fewer calories than i am now. (So THERE, CICO people!) When one of Donaldson's patients reported in without having lost any weight on one occasion, it turned out that he had begun skipping breakfast in hopes of reducing faster....
Yesterday, i DID feel improvement in my bad knee, and the other felt pretty much normal again. I did my half-hour of walking on the treadmill upstairs instead of around the neighborhood, because i suspected the cold was affecting my knee badly. Treadmills aren't perfect walking-machines, though -- posture and muscle use don't mimic REAL walking (see Dr. Wong...). Today i'm going to walk outside at a warmer hour, or use the stationary bicycle; i customarily use it for my Tabata sprints, as it's MUCH kinder to the knee.
...I just resolved to name my knees -- "my once-injured knee" is so unwieldy -- so it'll be Ralph (the "bad" one) and Louie. ;-) I'm so original!
Volume of meat is going down! Instead of 8 ounces, it's going to be 6, and i'm going to put salt on it. Truly, it hasn't been my taste buds that missed the salt, it's been my stomach-acid missing the chlorine! In all the agonizing over sodium in the last few decades, "experts" predictably overlooked the other important ingredient of table salt. Without a good source of chlorine, less stomach-acid is produced -- and contrary to what "everybody knows," an awful lot of indigestion is due to LOW acid, not high. As a hypothyroid, i'm already inclined to have low stomach acid (which is why i keep the betaine supplement on hand), and i've been exacerbating it. That stops now.
On the positive front, allergic symptoms are reduced on my lower-toxin diet. I was surprised to see, under the strict PPC regimen, that i still showed a little cheek-flushing in the evenings -- something that i hitherto blamed on wine. The most likely suspects were nightshades (which i took it very easy with), eggs (eaten in moderation), and nuts (mostly consumed in the form of coconut milk). Last night i took stock, and found the flushing significantly reduced.
Well, today is going to be a low-intake day, just to reset my system. I WILL stick to the approved food list in "Strong Medicine" though! Considering that i lost approximately 3 pounds in three days, there's no doubt that Dr. Donaldson was onto something, even though the medicine seems to be a little TOO strong for ME.
p.s. Despite the dire warnings of reduced thyroid function on a VLC diet, i've noticed no such reaction -- and believe me, i know what it feels like. I hypothesize that: 1) sufficient protein ingestion raises insulin levels enough to allow the receptors to work just fine, and; 2) being well-adapted in ketosis with plenty of glucose made by the liver from protein AND fat (as confirmed with my glucometer) provides all the glucose necessary for T4 conversion. Dare i suggest that the trials where thyroid function was impaired took place in particularly-established glucose burners...?
But my discomfort level has risen: between the lack of salt and the high meat intake (about 50% higher than it was a month ago), my stomach is not at all happy, even with daily use of betaine-HCl. Today is a day for readjusting the formula. (I just took a 1/4 t. of sea salt, washed down with water, as a good beginning.)
I was VERY comfortable on the IF technique of coconut milk in my coffee for breakfast, and only two real meals per day. The only trouble with that was, i wasn't losing any weight, despite consuming fewer calories than i am now. (So THERE, CICO people!) When one of Donaldson's patients reported in without having lost any weight on one occasion, it turned out that he had begun skipping breakfast in hopes of reducing faster....
Yesterday, i DID feel improvement in my bad knee, and the other felt pretty much normal again. I did my half-hour of walking on the treadmill upstairs instead of around the neighborhood, because i suspected the cold was affecting my knee badly. Treadmills aren't perfect walking-machines, though -- posture and muscle use don't mimic REAL walking (see Dr. Wong...). Today i'm going to walk outside at a warmer hour, or use the stationary bicycle; i customarily use it for my Tabata sprints, as it's MUCH kinder to the knee.
...I just resolved to name my knees -- "my once-injured knee" is so unwieldy -- so it'll be Ralph (the "bad" one) and Louie. ;-) I'm so original!
Volume of meat is going down! Instead of 8 ounces, it's going to be 6, and i'm going to put salt on it. Truly, it hasn't been my taste buds that missed the salt, it's been my stomach-acid missing the chlorine! In all the agonizing over sodium in the last few decades, "experts" predictably overlooked the other important ingredient of table salt. Without a good source of chlorine, less stomach-acid is produced -- and contrary to what "everybody knows," an awful lot of indigestion is due to LOW acid, not high. As a hypothyroid, i'm already inclined to have low stomach acid (which is why i keep the betaine supplement on hand), and i've been exacerbating it. That stops now.
On the positive front, allergic symptoms are reduced on my lower-toxin diet. I was surprised to see, under the strict PPC regimen, that i still showed a little cheek-flushing in the evenings -- something that i hitherto blamed on wine. The most likely suspects were nightshades (which i took it very easy with), eggs (eaten in moderation), and nuts (mostly consumed in the form of coconut milk). Last night i took stock, and found the flushing significantly reduced.
Well, today is going to be a low-intake day, just to reset my system. I WILL stick to the approved food list in "Strong Medicine" though! Considering that i lost approximately 3 pounds in three days, there's no doubt that Dr. Donaldson was onto something, even though the medicine seems to be a little TOO strong for ME.
p.s. Despite the dire warnings of reduced thyroid function on a VLC diet, i've noticed no such reaction -- and believe me, i know what it feels like. I hypothesize that: 1) sufficient protein ingestion raises insulin levels enough to allow the receptors to work just fine, and; 2) being well-adapted in ketosis with plenty of glucose made by the liver from protein AND fat (as confirmed with my glucometer) provides all the glucose necessary for T4 conversion. Dare i suggest that the trials where thyroid function was impaired took place in particularly-established glucose burners...?
Monday, February 20, 2012
shades of Stefansson....
Even though i've been a "locarber" for years now, i seem to be following the classic pattern old Vilhjalmur described in his men: they take to the fatty meat-eating enthusiastically enough, but soon have a lapse in appetite for a couple of days before regaining their relish. I'm in that middle phase. The first day i easily ate and drank the quantities prescribed, but yesterday i had a heck of a time choking it all down!
I was tempted to reduce the volume, and wondered if Donaldson's recommendation of half-pound-beef-eating might have been the male version of the diet -- one case history he discussed was a stout young woman, whom he directed to eat two two-rib frenched lamb chops three times a day -- exactly how many ounces would that be? Tempting to do exactly the same, but EXPENSIVE. Other women cited DID have comparable prescriptions to that of the men, though....
Soldiering on, i managed to consume 1/2 pound of home-made pork sausage for breakfast, another patty of my home-ground chuck/liver/parsley/green-peppercorn burger, and an appropriate amount of the over-large KC strip steak, each meal accompanied by a short cup of coffee, interspersed with the six total cups of water. Damn, i felt my stomach was overloaded all day!
This morning i woke with a reasonable appetite and the scale a pound lower than yesterday. The before-breakfast exercise took a goodly amount of my appetite away, though, and i had little enthusiasm for the half-pound of leftover pot roast i ate. Stuffed again! ...On the other hand, it beats hell out of my low-fat days, when my stomach could be overloaded but my satisfaction level inadequate.
Allergy symptoms are lower than they were yesterday, but not gone. I'll be sticking to ruminant meat today (i have goat and lamb in my freezer as well as beef), and if i decide to sneak in a little starch at supper, it'll be white rice. I predict less sinus inflammation tomorrow.
This remains an interesting experiment! Like the Atkins "fat fast," i think it makes for a reasonable method of getting past a frustrating plateau.
Bette Davis (LOVE that actress...) once said, "Getting old is not for sissies." I'll go a step further and say, losing weight WHILE you're getting old isn't for the weak, either!
I was tempted to reduce the volume, and wondered if Donaldson's recommendation of half-pound-beef-eating might have been the male version of the diet -- one case history he discussed was a stout young woman, whom he directed to eat two two-rib frenched lamb chops three times a day -- exactly how many ounces would that be? Tempting to do exactly the same, but EXPENSIVE. Other women cited DID have comparable prescriptions to that of the men, though....
Soldiering on, i managed to consume 1/2 pound of home-made pork sausage for breakfast, another patty of my home-ground chuck/liver/parsley/green-peppercorn burger, and an appropriate amount of the over-large KC strip steak, each meal accompanied by a short cup of coffee, interspersed with the six total cups of water. Damn, i felt my stomach was overloaded all day!
This morning i woke with a reasonable appetite and the scale a pound lower than yesterday. The before-breakfast exercise took a goodly amount of my appetite away, though, and i had little enthusiasm for the half-pound of leftover pot roast i ate. Stuffed again! ...On the other hand, it beats hell out of my low-fat days, when my stomach could be overloaded but my satisfaction level inadequate.
Allergy symptoms are lower than they were yesterday, but not gone. I'll be sticking to ruminant meat today (i have goat and lamb in my freezer as well as beef), and if i decide to sneak in a little starch at supper, it'll be white rice. I predict less sinus inflammation tomorrow.
This remains an interesting experiment! Like the Atkins "fat fast," i think it makes for a reasonable method of getting past a frustrating plateau.
Bette Davis (LOVE that actress...) once said, "Getting old is not for sissies." I'll go a step further and say, losing weight WHILE you're getting old isn't for the weak, either!
Sunday, February 19, 2012
second day of extra-clean eating
Actually, my diet yesterday wasn't as "pure" as Donaldson suggested for his patients, but not as wicked as ANY of my days last week. :-) I had some tomato slices with my breakfast steak yesterday, and a small piece of Japanese sweet potato with butter, with my dinner's lamb rack half. The chuck roast i ground into hamburger (lunch) had some lamb liver added in, too. He recommends no added salt*, and the steak and the lamb were cooked with some.
I slept better last night than recently, and awoke a little less stiff. I feel a little touch of upper-respiratory inflammation, so i'll delete those vegetables from today's menu. My right knee is still giving me trouble, and the left is even a little unhappy -- i blame last Thursday's dinner (Valentine's Day celebration) for the distress! Even though we dutifully avoided the bread, some flour must have snuck in somewhere. ;-) Ya just gotta do your own cooking....
At any rate, this regimen isn't as easy as the basic PPC, but i'm going to hang in there for the week, as i suspect doing without eggs and nuts might be prudent -- this way, i'll figure it out for sure. I weighed a pound less today than yesterday; we'll see where i am tomorrow.
* no reason is given for banning salt in "Strong Medicine" -- i wish Donaldson had been more explanatory! Potassium balance (with sodium) in plain meat is decent, and i seem to remember reading somewhere that increased meat intake requires increased salt, though i can't find it again. Perhaps he's just referring to excessive salt use that some people DO indulge? It's hard for me to believe that this guy falls for the kind of pseudo-science that had other doctors avoiding saturated fat....
I slept better last night than recently, and awoke a little less stiff. I feel a little touch of upper-respiratory inflammation, so i'll delete those vegetables from today's menu. My right knee is still giving me trouble, and the left is even a little unhappy -- i blame last Thursday's dinner (Valentine's Day celebration) for the distress! Even though we dutifully avoided the bread, some flour must have snuck in somewhere. ;-) Ya just gotta do your own cooking....
At any rate, this regimen isn't as easy as the basic PPC, but i'm going to hang in there for the week, as i suspect doing without eggs and nuts might be prudent -- this way, i'll figure it out for sure. I weighed a pound less today than yesterday; we'll see where i am tomorrow.
* no reason is given for banning salt in "Strong Medicine" -- i wish Donaldson had been more explanatory! Potassium balance (with sodium) in plain meat is decent, and i seem to remember reading somewhere that increased meat intake requires increased salt, though i can't find it again. Perhaps he's just referring to excessive salt use that some people DO indulge? It's hard for me to believe that this guy falls for the kind of pseudo-science that had other doctors avoiding saturated fat....
Friday, February 17, 2012
being able to ensure appropriate intake is important
What with one thing and another, i haven't been eating very "cleanly" the last day or so.
My mood is distinctly impaired, and i blame my diet. If you ever read Dr. Emily Deans' blog "Evolutionary Psychiatry," you'll find many instances of documentable (because, God knows, she's a Harvard-trained and -approved "limb" and dares not break the old lockstep...) effects of nutrition (or lack of it) on mental function. Don't get me wrong -- i think well of Dr. Deans' work and respect her intellect and ability, and i understand why she has to cover her ass, but i deplore the good-ol'-colleagues' system, and she DOES belong to it....
If my experience with the Personal Paleo Code has taught me anything, it's that "clean" eating makes me feel exceptionally good, and that consuming an inferior diet makes me feel bloody awful. Most of my acquaintance doesn't believe this. My best friend, although she is also convinced that diet is important, doesn't share in my rejection of grains. I'm sure she doesn't think the same of dairy as i do (forgoing it with regret), either, and nor is she inclined to abjure aspartame. I think i've corrupted her a bit, though: i'm pretty sure she's already ordered "Paleo Comfort Foods"! :-)
Even when my husband is in town and we're eating out, i make every attempt to eat a diet that does not contain things i know are deleterious. That's not good enough for optimal nutrition. One can't be sure of what is in restaurant food, even in the best places. I have to do my own cooking -- and if that's not easy for me, it's got to be INCREDIBLY difficult for most other people.
But again, it's time to take things into my own hands once more. For the sake of my health and well-being, nothing less is good enough. Tomorrow is Day One again, and i will be deleting even more -- because self-indulgence only delays achieving what i know to be worthwhile, and indulgence isn't THAT rewarding, after all.
My mood is distinctly impaired, and i blame my diet. If you ever read Dr. Emily Deans' blog "Evolutionary Psychiatry," you'll find many instances of documentable (because, God knows, she's a Harvard-trained and -approved "limb" and dares not break the old lockstep...) effects of nutrition (or lack of it) on mental function. Don't get me wrong -- i think well of Dr. Deans' work and respect her intellect and ability, and i understand why she has to cover her ass, but i deplore the good-ol'-colleagues' system, and she DOES belong to it....
If my experience with the Personal Paleo Code has taught me anything, it's that "clean" eating makes me feel exceptionally good, and that consuming an inferior diet makes me feel bloody awful. Most of my acquaintance doesn't believe this. My best friend, although she is also convinced that diet is important, doesn't share in my rejection of grains. I'm sure she doesn't think the same of dairy as i do (forgoing it with regret), either, and nor is she inclined to abjure aspartame. I think i've corrupted her a bit, though: i'm pretty sure she's already ordered "Paleo Comfort Foods"! :-)
Even when my husband is in town and we're eating out, i make every attempt to eat a diet that does not contain things i know are deleterious. That's not good enough for optimal nutrition. One can't be sure of what is in restaurant food, even in the best places. I have to do my own cooking -- and if that's not easy for me, it's got to be INCREDIBLY difficult for most other people.
But again, it's time to take things into my own hands once more. For the sake of my health and well-being, nothing less is good enough. Tomorrow is Day One again, and i will be deleting even more -- because self-indulgence only delays achieving what i know to be worthwhile, and indulgence isn't THAT rewarding, after all.
Friday, February 10, 2012
convinced!
<sigh...>
I repeated the "trial of the boxed chardonnay" -- and he's been declared GUILTY. Also, it seems likely that he had accessories to his crimes.
For brunch yesterday, my big bacon-and-egg scramble was accompanied by about a quarter of a cup of grapefruit juice. Then, for dinner, I had a glass of chardonnay with about a half-cup of oven-roasted cauliflower and a few buffalo wings made from the Perfect Health Diet recipe. Coffee with coconut milk, a handful of macadamias, and a square of 70% chocolate comprised the rest of my intake. I woke up this morning with a touch of intestinal gas and bloating, and not only was my bad knee a bit achey, but so was my right shoulder. Stretching and flexing also revealed a bit of all-over discomfort.
I hope that wasn't too much information, but this blog is all about what diet can do to a 56-year-old body....
The bacon and eggs were found not-guilty a month ago, even though the diet police consider that keeping an eye on them is worthwhile. The cauliflower is probably completely responsible for the GI issues, even though i still suspect i have a fructose-absorption complication (but 1/4 cup of grapefruit juice sipped while eating the BES??? no way can i imagine that to be significant). This leaves the wings and the chardonnay....
I had a few of the wings the day before yesterday, when they were fresh out of the oven. Now, bear in mind the minute quantity of rice flour and rice syrup in them -- five pounds of raw wings were tossed with 1/4 cup of rice flour and there was a lot of this left in the shaking-bag, AND one tablespoon of rice syrup was in the sauce that was tossed with the finished wings. I ate about a cupful of rice the night we went out for Mexican food in Houston, and had no perceptible problem with it. Also, several months ago (after i determined that oatmeal bothered my knees) i ate quite a bit of rice without feeling it. Rice flour/syrup also found not guilty!
Boxed chardonnay -- as Sherlock Holmes said, when you eliminate all the suspects who could not be guilty, whoever is left (however unlikely) HAS to be "it." You are now to be incarcerated in the basement refrigerator unless there's a darned good reason to let you go free. I'm going to get "clean" again, and then try some red wine -- but i have a strong suspicion i'll have a reaction to that, too. ...Maybe i should try potato vodka next, instead...?
I LOVE the Personal Paleo code for how it makes it so simple to figure out what impacts one negatively! Since the first week, my weight loss hasn't been very impressive, but i feel that i'm learning some important things, and that may be far more significant.
I repeated the "trial of the boxed chardonnay" -- and he's been declared GUILTY. Also, it seems likely that he had accessories to his crimes.
For brunch yesterday, my big bacon-and-egg scramble was accompanied by about a quarter of a cup of grapefruit juice. Then, for dinner, I had a glass of chardonnay with about a half-cup of oven-roasted cauliflower and a few buffalo wings made from the Perfect Health Diet recipe. Coffee with coconut milk, a handful of macadamias, and a square of 70% chocolate comprised the rest of my intake. I woke up this morning with a touch of intestinal gas and bloating, and not only was my bad knee a bit achey, but so was my right shoulder. Stretching and flexing also revealed a bit of all-over discomfort.
I hope that wasn't too much information, but this blog is all about what diet can do to a 56-year-old body....
The bacon and eggs were found not-guilty a month ago, even though the diet police consider that keeping an eye on them is worthwhile. The cauliflower is probably completely responsible for the GI issues, even though i still suspect i have a fructose-absorption complication (but 1/4 cup of grapefruit juice sipped while eating the BES??? no way can i imagine that to be significant). This leaves the wings and the chardonnay....
I had a few of the wings the day before yesterday, when they were fresh out of the oven. Now, bear in mind the minute quantity of rice flour and rice syrup in them -- five pounds of raw wings were tossed with 1/4 cup of rice flour and there was a lot of this left in the shaking-bag, AND one tablespoon of rice syrup was in the sauce that was tossed with the finished wings. I ate about a cupful of rice the night we went out for Mexican food in Houston, and had no perceptible problem with it. Also, several months ago (after i determined that oatmeal bothered my knees) i ate quite a bit of rice without feeling it. Rice flour/syrup also found not guilty!
Boxed chardonnay -- as Sherlock Holmes said, when you eliminate all the suspects who could not be guilty, whoever is left (however unlikely) HAS to be "it." You are now to be incarcerated in the basement refrigerator unless there's a darned good reason to let you go free. I'm going to get "clean" again, and then try some red wine -- but i have a strong suspicion i'll have a reaction to that, too. ...Maybe i should try potato vodka next, instead...?
I LOVE the Personal Paleo code for how it makes it so simple to figure out what impacts one negatively! Since the first week, my weight loss hasn't been very impressive, but i feel that i'm learning some important things, and that may be far more significant.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
pleased to report, my dog still loves me
Ahhhh -- home! :-D Only the pleasure of spending time with my daughter's family makes it reasonable to stay away so long!
Rolled into my parking spot at about 11 last night -- long day! Thank heavens for my satellite radio.... Stopped only twice for gasoline and etcetera, including a good steak dinner at the over-halfway point, and the lack of gimpiness whenever i stepped out of the car continued to be a real treat. I'm going to continue doing without dairy products (except butter), as i consider them the most likely suspects.
I'm going to back away from drinking conventional wines, too, and i'll tell you why: after allowing the water heater a chance to respond to my turning it up last night, i poured myself a good hot bath AND a glass of chardonnay by way of relaxer, and i almost immediately felt water retention in my hands and feet. I don't know what made it happen -- does my home box wine contain an additive that the restaurant wine in TX did not have? I need to do some research. Meanwhile, it's back to sake ... and i did NOT get on the scale this morning.
Today is going to feature nothing more strenuous than unloading the car and visiting the grocery. I think i'll take Spenser along, as he's a great traveler and i'll only be running in for coconut milk. NO (because people always ask) -- it's NOT "like Spencer Tracy" -- that man was an abusive, alcoholic JERK. The poor dog (American Eskimo, aka White German Spitz) had already been renamed when previously adopted, and i chose not to change it again, but i at least changed the spelling to match the Elizabethan poet, Edmund Spenser (though hardly a faultless character -- ask the Irish...). My Spense isn't faultless either -- he bites.
Rolled into my parking spot at about 11 last night -- long day! Thank heavens for my satellite radio.... Stopped only twice for gasoline and etcetera, including a good steak dinner at the over-halfway point, and the lack of gimpiness whenever i stepped out of the car continued to be a real treat. I'm going to continue doing without dairy products (except butter), as i consider them the most likely suspects.
I'm going to back away from drinking conventional wines, too, and i'll tell you why: after allowing the water heater a chance to respond to my turning it up last night, i poured myself a good hot bath AND a glass of chardonnay by way of relaxer, and i almost immediately felt water retention in my hands and feet. I don't know what made it happen -- does my home box wine contain an additive that the restaurant wine in TX did not have? I need to do some research. Meanwhile, it's back to sake ... and i did NOT get on the scale this morning.
Today is going to feature nothing more strenuous than unloading the car and visiting the grocery. I think i'll take Spenser along, as he's a great traveler and i'll only be running in for coconut milk. NO (because people always ask) -- it's NOT "like Spencer Tracy" -- that man was an abusive, alcoholic JERK. The poor dog (American Eskimo, aka White German Spitz) had already been renamed when previously adopted, and i chose not to change it again, but i at least changed the spelling to match the Elizabethan poet, Edmund Spenser (though hardly a faultless character -- ask the Irish...). My Spense isn't faultless either -- he bites.
Monday, January 16, 2012
further enlightenment
I got a flash of insight this morning as i was finishing my first cup of coffee: although fulfilling the "hot caffeinated beverage" function for which it's intended, coffee without heavy cream is much less of a pleasure-delivery system than it used to be.
Now, "duh" is the expected response to a statement like that. If i stopped my analysis there, this would be the most banal post i could possibly write, but the way my mind works, it's the subtle ramifications that i find most intriguing. I'm attracted to the tiny rills which swell the mighty river.
Two reactions will probably inhibit a lot of people who might otherwise try this dietary scheme: the "i can't give up grains" response, and the "but i always ... because it relaxes/invigorates/pleasures me." The problems are addiction, habit, and fear of loss of pleasure. Been there.
The first time i specifically banished grains from my diet was when i started Atkins, about 8 years ago. I don't specifically remember it being all that difficult, though i sorely missed a few foods which had been staples when i suffered under the low-fat paradigm. But on the occasions since then, when i allowed myself to indulge in bread, rice, or oatmeal, i clearly felt the pull of such foods -- the urge to continue eating, scarfing them down, despite the lack of actual HUNGER. When my husband was working in New Orleans ... OH MY GOD ... the wonderful french bread you could buy for a SONG at Croissant D'Or....
Some foods are physically as well as psychologically addictive. Treat them as the evil seducers they are -- they want to convince you that it's all about innocent pleasures whose only downside is disapproval by puritanical anti-hedonists. They're lying. The downside is disease and misery.
Various blogs (and the recent book "Wheat Belly") explain why, with their discussions of the addictive properties of grains. You don't notice it so much when it's a part of your everyday diet, but quit for a while and reintroduce -- WOW. My name is Tess, and i'm an addict. I won't embarrass myself by getting technical with talk of opioid receptors and endocannabinoids, but i'll willingly confess to being their thrall. Just recently, during the holiday season, i allowed myself a treat in the form of "party mix" made with only rice chex and nuts, and the usual butter/spice topping. i rationed my servings, but after the butter-rice combination hit my digestive tract, i felt the urge to stuff my maw like Cookie Monster! Butter and vegetables don't have QUITE that strong an appeal.
A HUGE number of people actually exhibit signs of panic when they're asked to give up bread and cereals. (Note to self: add "auto-hypnosis" to "addiction" and "habit" above....) If they believe they can't give up these things, they're very likely to saboutage themselves. They're addicted, and the best thing they can do is go cold-turkey. Eat pre-cooked mini-quiches for breakfast, and wrap your sandwich in leaf-lettuce rather than bread; order restaurant sandwiches and hold the bun -- it's not that hard to substitute.
Enter, "habit." That glorious first cup of coffee of the morning, as a vehicle for cream ingestion ... i did it every day, and didn't think about it, because cream is "legal" in low-carb diets. I expected to want it much more than i do, now that i've gotten used to coconut milk. I expected cheese and wine to elicit cravings, because i love them and used them often. I DIDN'T. When i got back from taking my husband to the airport last night, i wanted to sit down with a cocktail; a month ago, i would have done just that. But i didn't CRAVE it (because these are not physiological NEEDS) -- it was easy to resist. I don't NEED all these things i consumed regularly, before. I hardly miss them at all.
I suspect that "fear of loss of pleasure" may be a very strong motivation to continue eating things we shouldn't. To get back to the cream and wine as exemplars: i LOVE cream, and there's no reason from a low-carb point of view, why i shouldn't allow myself to enjoy it ... UNLESS it causes physiological effects which i'm significantly better without. The ONLY WAY i'll ever learn exactly what these effects may be is to strictly CUT THEM OUT of my diet. For the space of a month??? If this is the hardest thing i'll every do, i lead a charmed existence! Hell, gestating a baby makes this look like dancing around the maypole. The sheer pleasure of being able to walk around with less pain and more agility makes the "pain" of giving up "neolithic agents of disease" laughable.
Think about it. Think of all the things you've dreaded doing, then found it wasn't such a big deal when you actually started. I've discovered that being "perfect" on the PPC is MUCH easier than i ever anticipated.
Now, "duh" is the expected response to a statement like that. If i stopped my analysis there, this would be the most banal post i could possibly write, but the way my mind works, it's the subtle ramifications that i find most intriguing. I'm attracted to the tiny rills which swell the mighty river.
Two reactions will probably inhibit a lot of people who might otherwise try this dietary scheme: the "i can't give up grains" response, and the "but i always ... because it relaxes/invigorates/pleasures me." The problems are addiction, habit, and fear of loss of pleasure. Been there.
The first time i specifically banished grains from my diet was when i started Atkins, about 8 years ago. I don't specifically remember it being all that difficult, though i sorely missed a few foods which had been staples when i suffered under the low-fat paradigm. But on the occasions since then, when i allowed myself to indulge in bread, rice, or oatmeal, i clearly felt the pull of such foods -- the urge to continue eating, scarfing them down, despite the lack of actual HUNGER. When my husband was working in New Orleans ... OH MY GOD ... the wonderful french bread you could buy for a SONG at Croissant D'Or....
Some foods are physically as well as psychologically addictive. Treat them as the evil seducers they are -- they want to convince you that it's all about innocent pleasures whose only downside is disapproval by puritanical anti-hedonists. They're lying. The downside is disease and misery.
Various blogs (and the recent book "Wheat Belly") explain why, with their discussions of the addictive properties of grains. You don't notice it so much when it's a part of your everyday diet, but quit for a while and reintroduce -- WOW. My name is Tess, and i'm an addict. I won't embarrass myself by getting technical with talk of opioid receptors and endocannabinoids, but i'll willingly confess to being their thrall. Just recently, during the holiday season, i allowed myself a treat in the form of "party mix" made with only rice chex and nuts, and the usual butter/spice topping. i rationed my servings, but after the butter-rice combination hit my digestive tract, i felt the urge to stuff my maw like Cookie Monster! Butter and vegetables don't have QUITE that strong an appeal.
A HUGE number of people actually exhibit signs of panic when they're asked to give up bread and cereals. (Note to self: add "auto-hypnosis" to "addiction" and "habit" above....) If they believe they can't give up these things, they're very likely to saboutage themselves. They're addicted, and the best thing they can do is go cold-turkey. Eat pre-cooked mini-quiches for breakfast, and wrap your sandwich in leaf-lettuce rather than bread; order restaurant sandwiches and hold the bun -- it's not that hard to substitute.
Enter, "habit." That glorious first cup of coffee of the morning, as a vehicle for cream ingestion ... i did it every day, and didn't think about it, because cream is "legal" in low-carb diets. I expected to want it much more than i do, now that i've gotten used to coconut milk. I expected cheese and wine to elicit cravings, because i love them and used them often. I DIDN'T. When i got back from taking my husband to the airport last night, i wanted to sit down with a cocktail; a month ago, i would have done just that. But i didn't CRAVE it (because these are not physiological NEEDS) -- it was easy to resist. I don't NEED all these things i consumed regularly, before. I hardly miss them at all.
I suspect that "fear of loss of pleasure" may be a very strong motivation to continue eating things we shouldn't. To get back to the cream and wine as exemplars: i LOVE cream, and there's no reason from a low-carb point of view, why i shouldn't allow myself to enjoy it ... UNLESS it causes physiological effects which i'm significantly better without. The ONLY WAY i'll ever learn exactly what these effects may be is to strictly CUT THEM OUT of my diet. For the space of a month??? If this is the hardest thing i'll every do, i lead a charmed existence! Hell, gestating a baby makes this look like dancing around the maypole. The sheer pleasure of being able to walk around with less pain and more agility makes the "pain" of giving up "neolithic agents of disease" laughable.
Think about it. Think of all the things you've dreaded doing, then found it wasn't such a big deal when you actually started. I've discovered that being "perfect" on the PPC is MUCH easier than i ever anticipated.
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