goals beyond fat loss

I was thinking about the kind of goal that helps you choose a permanent dietary plan....  What do you want to do, eat as much as possible without gaining (or while still losing), or be able to eat as little as you can and still be healthy and comfortable?

Of course, "we" know that our low-carb plan does both, but what do we really WANT out of it?

When we come to low-carb from a "normal" diet, i think the former goal is the attractive one.  Eating all the steak, bacon, butter, cheese, cream, whatever it was i wanted and shorted myself on, back in my calorie/fat restrictive days, seemed like a vision of heaven.  Imagine eating that stuff, and being able to lose weight at the same time...!!!

Nowadays, i actually relish the other aspect of it.  The ability to go most of the day without HAVING to refuel myself is a real luxury.

You'll probably get sick of hear this, but back in the old low-fat days, i was ALWAYS "hungry" ... that is, when i was eating for weight loss.  My belly may have been crammed to bursting with pasta, fruits, vegetables, and chicken breasts, but i was never satisfied.  That's a nasty feeling, and it pours over into other aspects of life.  I was NOT HAPPY in those days.  "Triumphs" didn't come close to often-enough to be encouraging, and although not actually depressed, i was more like constantly irritable.  Doing my best, i might be able to lose one pound in a week, and that was when i was in my 30s!  Walking the dogs every night and riding the stationary bike regularly.  It's no wonder that people can't keep going on that kind of program -- there's way too much privation and effort for very little return when you're young, and when you're at my current age ... well, "best of British luck" as they used to say....

My mother is a stick-in-the-mud for moderation.  She's one of those lucky types who was always healthy, though as far back as i can remember she was considered "pleasingly plump" -- it's been a long time since you heard that expression, isn't it?  :-)  In her later years, she's had a number of problems:  high-blood pressure for decades, GERD, both knees replaced, skin cancers, breast cancer, recently some colon cancer, too (she'll be 89 this month).  She thinks i'm some kind of nut because i try to eat to improve my health, and she loves to remind me of the old low-fat days ... even though she believes the saturated-fat nonsense.  For decades she hasn't been able to delay a meal for more than a half-hour without extreme loss of energy and mood.  If unavoidable circumstances take things farther, she gets shaky and weak.  She likes to keep peanut-butter-cheese-crackers in her purse, just in case.  I tell her why she feels so bad, but i don't think she believes it.  In any case, for her to improve metabolic flexibility at this age is probably a pipe dream.

Compare this food-dependent situation with my recent experiences:  one of the best examples is what i carry in the car to eat and drink, when i do one of my marathon drives.  I USED to pack (in my Atkins days) a bagful of bars and shakes, nuts, cheese, and processed meat along with the cooler full of diet sodas and water.  Last trip (coming back from Houston, a 13-14 hour drive), i had the cooler and the remains of a bag of home-processed pumpkin seeds.  Oh, i was fully prepared to stop for a bunless double hamburger (and i ended up doing so, in Atoka, Oklahoma when i stopped for the dog's sake), but the bit is -- it's now easy to go for a LO-O-O-ONG time without refueling.  No snacks.  It's a rare glucose-burner who can say that.

Along with low-carbing and eating whole foods, i have also come to believe in eating instinctively, in the sense of not eating when not hungry.  If a certain food really calls my name these days, it probably means i need something that it provides.  I track nutrients and calories in Fitday not because i'm really CONCERNED about them, but because it can be interesting to "keep score."  For example, one day this week i consumed about 2200 kcal (protein refeed day), and yesterday less than 1000.  I wasn't planning to, it just happened through eating TO APPETITE.

Once the carbohydrate "addictions" are overcome, i think it becomes possible to listen to your appetite cues again.  Of course, being a predominant fat-burner is important in this equation, otherwise you'll be cued to eat when the fuel switchover drags a little.  Regaining the best possible degree of metabolic flexibility seems to be the other goal that low-carb-diet-success aspirants need to aim for.

Training your body to primarily burn fats and ketones for fuel seems to be like training a child or dog -- until the lesson is well ingrained you need to be very consistent.  If i ALWAYS require Spenser to be patient and submissive before i reward him, his behavior is reliable.  Switching back and forth, confusing him with unfamiliar demands and allowing him to run amok occasionally makes him an unruly and self-willed dog.

progress update conclusion (i think): what WORKS

I'm down another pound this morning, putting me under my "San Francisco starting weight" of three weeks ago.  As i don't have to go anywhere for over a month (knock on wood), i COULD actually make my goal weight before summer ends.  Here's hoping i won't get any surprises in my life to derail me....

A year ago, i was coming to the conclusion that i might have to reconcile myself to being overweight the rest of my life.  I felt i had gotten all the good i could out of low-carbing and paleo/primal eating, and that hormones had finally gotten the better of me; no matter how i reduced intake, it didn't seem to make any difference to my fat load.

This morning, i sat down in my thinking-chair (OKAY, the wing-chair in my bedroom where i like to read and watch movies) KNOWING that what's healthy for me is effective, and vice-versa.  It doesn't take super-human willpower to eat a restricted diet, and i can even have a wild splurge every month or so with no ill effects.  WOW.  This is the definition of empowerment.

I think that the first thing a person like me has to do is BECOME A FAT-BURNER.  If you're not fat/ketone-adapted, your body will fight you every step of the way.  Hunger and cravings will take over your mind.  Now, i was lucky in that i had broken the spell of carbohydrates quite awhile ago (and fully realize how seductively dangerous they are), so my quest was all about learning to control the metabolic flexibility we all need to thrive ... although, i didn't know that when i started.

I've learned that my instinct to wait a considerable time in the morning before eating is the correct one.  Kindke blogged about the morning cortisol peak, which gave me a good reason to indulge myself.  At home by myself, i have supplements and black coffee for breakfast most of the time.  :-)  The funny thing is, i've learned to PREFER my coffee black -- never in a million years would i have predicted that!  If i have a good reason to eat a meal in the morning, it HAS to be a protein-fat one -- i'm a walking example of a carb-laden breakfast inducing appetite later in the day.

Being fat-adapted, i sometimes have to make myself eat a meal in the middle of the day, because (with the load of "food" i carry around under my skin) i constantly have fuel to burn.  But i NEED my protein, so my dinner (my largest meal, whenever it is) is ideally about a half-pound of pastured meat; if it doesn't carry its own lipids along, it gets the addition of butter or real-cream sauce.  Depending upon how "good" i'm behaving, black coffee or 4 ounces of wine is the mandatory side-dish.  Drinking water or other cold beverages with a meal is a BIG mistake for me -- one thing a hypothyroid needs to make sure of is stomach acid!  Coffee and wine unbalance me the least.

Water, i drink at the midpoints between meals.  If i feel like a cocktail in the afternoon, but am inclined to deny myself the carbs, i'll make a pot of tea.  Jasmine or Earl Grey make for the perfect stress-buster, in lieu of a Gimlet!  The important thing is to make it in a pot and pour it in a cup (not a mug), and not work at anything while drinking it.  It makes you slow down.  Speaking of tea -- should i not be in the mood for coffee with food, i find lapsang souchong is about the only tea that isn't overpowered by a meaty meal.

I make sure to have something to eat before it gets too late; i never really like to start a meal after 8.  If i'm allowing myself any carby food at all, this is when it's acceptable.  Supper can be like dinner if i really feel an appetite, or it can be a tin of sardines, glass of raw-milk kefir, home-made gelatin, or even my own ice-cream if i'm not particularly hungry.

Sleep is immensely important to me.  Even though some experts get really hot about the legitimacy of "adrenal fatigue," i've found that treating it like it's real has improved my health considerably.  Stress creates a whole cascade of horrible effects on anyone with a weak thyroid, so by doing my best to pamper my adrenals, i save myself a world of discomfort.  I've installed F-lux on my old not-quite-dead laptop as well as on the one i'm using now, AND my husband's.  I darken my bedroom to the best of my ability, and cover the blue light of my cellphone.  The goal is my ideal of eight to nine hours of uninterrupted sleep, but if i wake during the night, i no longer stress about it; with the knowledge of biphasic sleep i've gained, i just read something soothing for an hour or so.

Sounds so simple....  But like my supplement routine, it took a lot of trial and error and PAYING ATTENTION to my body to come down to it.  It took input from knowledgeable sources of all kinds, many of whom write the blogs on the list on this page.  It took reassurance by Vilhjalmur Stefansson, Dr. Donaldson and Lucas Tafur that i wasn't ruining myself with the "extreme" diet i thrive on.  It took the notions put forth by eccentric doctors whose central points are sound, despite the lengths to which they push them.  Hell, i want to thank the WORLD for the help i've gotten in managing this tricky body of mine!

the power of "no appetite"

Since my LAST guest left, i put in about 24 hours -- 4 meals'-worth -- of the Strong Medicine protocol, which is to say that i ate 8 ounces of fatty meat and a cup of coffee for each meal, and nothing else but 3 cups of water between breakfast and lunch, 3 more between lunch and dinner, and NOTHING else except for the water and supplements i took first thing in the morning and before bed.  My appetite left me.

This morning's weigh-in shows that i've re-lost the pounds i put on during this last trip.  Now i can work on actually making some progress!  It's annoying that i spend so much time "recovering" from the damaging effects of "normal" (albeit low-carb) food!  Sometimes you can dig in your heels and say NO to the inappropriate things available to eat, but there are moments when it's rude or just plain unkind to resist.  [sigh]

On those rare and golden occasions when i lose my appetite, i've learned that it's best to RIDE that pony as far as it'll take me!  The first time i tried the StM technique, i was actually alarmed at how fast the weight came off, and i added in some vegetable matter at dinnertime to slow it a bit.  Donaldson said that it's "safe" to take off three pounds a week, but that you want your skin to "follow" the fat reduction....  After two abdominal surgeries, my belly is unattractive enough without screwing it up more, so i got concerned -- or is that too much information?  :-)

If i back off any plan while the going is GREAT, i lose a lot of impetus, AND re-entering the program is less effective than it was before.  While it's working ya gotta HANG ONTO IT!!!  Let the goodies pass you by, and explain to the disappointed face in front of you that you've developed digestive difficulties with whatever it is they're offering ... but that it looks SO GOOD that only the fear of later pain keeps you from digging in.  ;-)    In theory, anyone who cares about you will want to spare you PAIN, so it'll be a lot more acceptable than "you want me to screw up my diet for boxed cake mix and cool-whip frosting???"

So, one would think that having to detour from the StM for a couple of days would be a downer -- well, not THIS time, because the reason is different!  Yesterday i was not hungry until late afternoon (i DID have some coffee during the morning...) so around 5:00 i had a tin of sardines, a little of my hazelnut-chia bread, butter, and some white wine.  (It filled me to the "80%" level, so i really didn't feel the need to eat more, and i didn't wake this morning ravenous.)  Success!  I'm on a roll again, and i give full credit to the diet plan that CAUSES a lack of appetite.

Incidentally, i'm back to feeling good about skipping breakfast -- Dr. Donaldson frowned on this because it "put out the fat-burning fire."  Kindke recently posted about the morning cortisol surge that's normal for us, and how it encourages glucose intolerance, insulin resistance, and fat storage if one eats during it.  Now, this may be fine and dandy for gymrats who want to use it to put on muscle, but frankly i'm FAR more interested in how i can work around it to LOSE FAT.  I simply am not hungry in the morning unless i've been eating too many carbs, so why fight nature? ... As a matter of fact, fighting nature at ANY time is just plain stoopid.

So, fighting natural appetite is HISTORY from my point of view!  The thing that i've found workable is to manipulate it through food choice; i eat StM-fashion till my appetite is pretty much gone, and then i ride it with prudent low-carb variations like a surfer rides a wave.

Kowabunga.

on carbohydrates

There are a few things that ALL camps can agree on:

• carbohydrate foods, even the most "complex," cause a rise in blood glucose;
• a rise in blood glucose triggers secretion of insulin in people with a functioning pancreas;
• until blood levels of insulin lower again, your body will not release stored fat to be burned as fuel.

 There are a few things that will be argued, no matter how clear the science is:

• the properly-functioning human body has no need of exogenous carbohydrate, unlike fats and amino acids -- it can make all the glucose it needs, from dietary proteins and fats, and from stored proteins and fats;
• frequent small carbohydrate-based meals cause insulin to be constantly elevated, thereby inhibiting the burning of stored fat;
• hyperglycemia and/or hyperinsulinemia, which cannot happen in an otherwise healthy individual without high carbohydrate intake, are responsible for a wide variety of deleterious effects in all kinds of tissues;
• although insulin's actions in the brain include a satiating signal, in the rest of the body it promotes fat storage;
• all of the "good" qualities of insulin can be invoked through protein ingestion, which causes a small rise of the hormone compared to carbohydrate consumption;
• carbohydrate consumption promotes appetite through numerous pathways, including opioid receptors, gut signalling, and insulin-induced hypoglycemia;
• the body does not require fiber for intestinal health;
• certain types of carbohydrate promote intestinal woes such as bloating, gas, gut permeability, candida overgrowth, and more.

Conclusions i draw from the above, driving me to prefer a very-low-carb diet:

• as my body doesn't require them, and i get more pleasure out of eating meat*, i'll stick with the latter;
• those that make my joints stiff and achy, and my gut "unhappy," i'll actively avoid;
• fatty meat is the most efficient food for promoting satiation and satiety;
• fatty meat is the most efficient food for weight loss;
• fatty meat requires minimal fuss to procure and prepare;
• as i feel my best on a very-low-carb diet -- no brain-fog, better energy and agility, reduced pain and allergies, good sleep -- i see NO reason to override my instincts and kowtow to "conventional wisdom."

______
*  much carbohydrate-eating seems to be pleasure-based.  not being anti-hedonistic, i have no problem with that -- i just prefer home-made, high-fat, sugar-free ice cream over conventional sweets, sashimi over tempura, nuts over chips, wine over cola, ad infinitum.

hunger in this microcosm

OOOOkay:  getting rid of leftovers has already taught me something.  If my diet doesn't have enough protein in it, fat only satisfies me to a point.

Low-carb creamed eggs on paleo biscuits ("Paleo Comfort Foods" recipe) for dinner last night.  Ditto, without the biscuit, for breakfast.  Two hours later, i was hungry.  Each serving had about 2.5 eggs in it, less than 16 grams of protein.  There was ample fat in the meal, PLUS what my own poundage has to contribute.

As a child, i always craved protein.  MEAT.  We were a poorish family, and though we generally had animal protein as a centerpiece for dinner, there was not always a lot of it.  On the occasions when we indulged ourselves at restaurants, i usually opted for beef.  The body is wise when not addicted to carbs.

At the time of life when i started having to work at maintaining an appropriate weight, the low-fat paradigm had taken hold.  I knew i could have all the food i wanted, including things like baked chicken breast and low-fat fish.  Nevertheless, i always felt hungry ... even when my belly was quite full.  In those days, i probably weighed 15 pounds less than i do now, and was less metabolically-challenged.  But i had a hard time accessing my own fat stores, because i was trying to satisfy appetite with pasta and rice and home-made bread (any of you aging ex-athletes remember "Eat to Win"?) -- lipolysis just ain't gonna happen with all THAT insulin floating around.

Inspired by "Strong Medicine" and the ladies on PaleoHacks who report good results on a zero-carb diet, i learned that eating nothing but fatty meat is not going to set me up for ill health.  I tried it, like it, and thrive on it.  But the central message is:  both "fatty" and "meat" have to be ample.  Not enough meat, and my body rebels with hunger.  Not enough fat, ditto.  I don't get carb cravings, though sometimes i want "dessert" after a meal; coffee alone can satisfy this, but if my meal was smallish for some reason, a quarter-cup of cream is the perfect finish.

"The REST of the story"?  :-)  I just polished off the creamed eggs (no biscuit), and now am FULL as well as satisfied.  Happy ending.

thinking too much

The title of today's post is a little on the ironic side to me, as i'm inclined to think that few people are guilty of it.  Perhaps, to be more accurate, i should have said something more like "over-analyzing" because that seems to be a preoccupation of some modern hunter-gatherer wannabes.

What proportion of my diet is too high for protein, too low for carb/fat ... dare i make that paleo chicken-wing recipe in such quantities, because after all, it includes the skin which is full of omega-6s ... i don't feel like fish for dinner but i haven't had a good source of omega-3 in days ... even though i have a cold, i feel guilty about missing my workout yesterday, so should i go to the gym even if i may be contagious....

Mark's Daily Apple has an interesting post today, which influenced me to write on this subject, a thing that has been on my list for some time.  His theme asks, how much should one react when in the possession of certain abstruse bits of information; he begins with the story of one individual who learned he had genetic potential for diabetes, and started tracking certain epigenetic changes.  Like many of Mark's articles, it's worth reading -- that guy is no one-trick-pony....

My slant is, how much micromanagement is wasted time, money and energy?  We already know that young people can abuse their bodies for decades before the damage starts to accrue.  We also know that remarkably small time-investments in fitness can pay off in a big way.  Also, technique X may work for person Y but not for person Z.  When should one stop hunching over the spreadsheet, and go outside to throw sticks for the dog?

There's something to be said for instinctive behavior.  If you have an unreasoning aversion to a food, don't eat it, no matter how many paleo nutritionists tell you it's "healthy"!  Even if people you respect say EVERYBODY should do something-or-other (or not do it) -- if it doesn't feel right to you, don't blindly obey!  Generalizations are generally wrong!  (I, like the Pirate King, enjoy a good paradox.)  Our hunter-gatherer ancestors managed to survive quite efficiently using their instincts in the absence of science.

Being health-conscious and willing to take pains for the sake of wellness is a terrific thing, but i can't help but think that some people micromanage it to a ridiculous extreme.  If you have a health condition which is sensitive to small variations in nutrient status, by all means count your milligrams, but if you're essentially robust, don't waste resources you could be using to actually LIVE.