The CPF Diet Thread, Part 2

At time of OP, it is 2015.

That whole Atkins/Sugarbusters/Southbeach/Paleo thing has come to a head!

People are talking glycemic index now. When I went through "education," it was basically like learning to be a diabetic. (I know some of those...)

Here's the TLDR; Intensively studied paleo, the more I learned the more I didn't have to force myself. Once it came from within, I was a winner. (well, loser.) My girlfriend says she wants me because I can cook Paleo and I'm thin.

Heaviest: 230lbs. Hated life, my everything hurt. Auxillary medical problems were maximized.

July 2015, 169lbs holding steady. Diet and lifestyle change did it, was not really working out. Where did those 61 lbs go? Very little hurts now in comparison. Really.

Tell ya, I don't miss the 61 lbs one bit. The key was the Paleo concept of "listen to your body, eat when you are hungry." It was the single hardest concept to internalize. When combined with glycemic index concepts, it worked for me. Sharp onset and withdrawal of carbs seems a real, articulable, and valid health threat with the knowledge available in 2015. Carbs cannot be the bulk of your consumption, afaik.

Original post was a while ago. Part 2 is in 2015.

SO CAFE CPF: What worked for you? How did you succeed or fail? Cravings, diet breakings? How did you do (or not do) it?

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?20281-The-CPF-Diet-Thread

Time for a necro-bump, vitae arete semper super something something. Whatever. Latin. It's inspiring, well.. works for the USMC, anyway. (Oh wait, arete is greek. Crap.)

Anyway, how are you staying alive and enjoying life?

What about diet breakers: I eat a meal containg some carbs once or twice a week. No corn, no white flour, no white sugar. Carbs are a treat, I select black rice and whole grains normally (if I have any carbs at all.) Beer? Well, beer is a cheater for me. It's the only way I really do carbs and I manage my other foods around my liking of beer. Not really cheating if you plan for a brew (or two, even.) Balance. Beer is not paleo. Sweet potatoes and black rice are fine by paleo due to the fiber.

GO!

I've been sick for the last four weeks. Not being able to eat and losing all desire for my beloved beer, I lost 13 pounds. Unfortunately, I'm still fat, so it must have been muscle that I lost. :sigh:

~ Chance

Hey Chance, I hate to ask, but if you are over 50, have you had a colonoscopy? Two years ago I would not have been so bold in asking the question, but my father in law, who I loved and admired passed away from colon cancer. He was self employed his entire life and did not think the testing was necessary. The success rate for treating colon cancer is incredibly high, IF CAUGHT IN TIME. He & I both saw the same doctor, and he told me that a yearly visit and colonoscopy would have caught it. I hope it is just a bug and by the time you read this you are feeling better. Sorry if I got on my soapbox, but if even 1 person is tested and saved it will have been worth it...

Hello Eddie,

I'm 58. My doctor requested that I have one over a year ago. It would have been my first. I know, I know. Now that a flashlight friend as asked me to get one, well I'm just going to have get er done. Thanks for being so bold. I'll make the call tomorrow.

Did you hear about the billboard stating, This year thousands of men will die from stubbornness?

Some guy climbed up on the catwalk and spray painted, No we won't?

~ Chance

I was supposed to go on that trip but had too much chest pain, so I took 2 Nitros and had a cold beer instead...

Chauncey Gardiner said:

I lost 13 pounds. Unfortunately, I'm still fat, so it must have been muscle that I lost. :sigh:

Click to expand...

Ketosis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketosis

Unfortunately, the body eats its own muscle faster than it can break down fat during periods of fasting aka "starvation."

It's why "binge and fast" is really unhealthy. Muscle burns calories just sitting there, fat does nothing just sitting there.

Thus, ketosis can reduce your ability to burn calories and lose weight. It's testable by urine sample. I am not a doctor.

Colonoscopy: Get one if you're past the suggested age. A friend of mine (age 61) got his first and that's how he found out he had colon cancer.

Stubbornness, yes. He refused treatment. His choice.

more_vampires said:

At time of OP, it is 2015.

That whole Atkins/Sugarbusters/Southbeach/Paleo thing has come to a head!

People are talking glycemic index now. When I went through "education," it was basically like learning to be a diabetic. (I know some of those...)

Here's the TLDR; Intensively studied paleo, the more I learned the more I didn't have to force myself. Once it came from within, I was a winner. (well, loser.) My girlfriend says she wants me because I can cook Paleo and I'm thin.

Heaviest: 230lbs. Hated life, my everything hurt. Auxillary medical problems were maximized.

July 2015, 169lbs holding steady. Diet and lifestyle change did it, was not really working out. Where did those 61 lbs go? Very little hurts now in comparison. Really.

Tell ya, I don't miss the 61 lbs one bit. The key was the Paleo concept of "listen to your body, eat when you are hungry." It was the single hardest concept to internalize. When combined with glycemic index concepts, it worked for me. Sharp onset and withdrawal of carbs seems a real, articulable, and valid health threat with the knowledge available in 2015. Carbs cannot be the bulk of your consumption, afaik.

Original post was a while ago. Part 2 is in 2015.

SO CAFE CPF: What worked for you? How did you succeed or fail? Cravings, diet breakings? How did you do (or not do) it?

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?20281-The-CPF-Diet-Thread

Time for a necro-bump, vitae arete semper super something something. Whatever. Latin. It's inspiring, well.. works for the USMC, anyway. (Oh wait, arete is greek. Crap.)

Anyway, how are you staying alive and enjoying life?

What about diet breakers: I eat a meal containg some carbs once or twice a week. No corn, no white flour, no white sugar. Carbs are a treat, I select black rice and whole grains normally (if I have any carbs at all.) Beer? Well, beer is a cheater for me. It's the only way I will do carbs and I manage my other foods around my liking of beer. Not really cheating if you plan for a brew (or two, even.) Balance. Beer is not paleo.

GO!

Click to expand...

Congrats! That's great news about the weight loss.

Over the long term, though, paleo diet with high protein intake could be hard on your kidneys. I've scaled back to max of 10-15% of my calories from meat. Average American is getting 60-70% of their calories from meat and fat. Make sure you monitor your kidney numbers, GFR, etc.

Ahh yes, thanks! Any complex system can have problems, I agree. Pros and cons to everything. Run too much and blow out your knees...

The Paleo Potato: Sweet potato.

Sweet potatoes have a lower glycemic index than white potato. Combined with the fiber content, sweet potato is actually paleo... Just don't go crazy with it.

The Paleo Salad Dressing: I've stopped using actual salad dressing on my salads. I spray olive oil, salt, pepper. I have a bottle of each sauce Tobasco makes and sprinkle a little of that on there. Though the "Sweet and Spicy" Tabasco is sweetened, look at the quantities. You're barely using any, thus you can get away with it. Favorite tobascos: Chipotle Raspberry, Family Reserve, Sweet and Spicy, Green.

The Paleo Condiment: Simple yellow prepared unsweetened non-dijon mustard. Something like the cheap yellow French's mustard is paleo. Zero carbs. Paleo says you can drink shotglasses of this, if you wanted.

The Paleo Potato Chip: These are fried pork skins. Though there is a little carb in there, particularly the sweetened ones, its index points to paleo.

The Paleo Cocktail: (Vodka or gin) and (soda water or tonic.) Alcohol metabolizes and turns to sugar more or less. The interesting thing to note is that corn products can do to the body what alcohol can do. Liver problems, etc. They are quite similar by paleo standard. A paleo cocktail would likely not contain fruit juice due to the fructose (which is still better for you than straight glucose.) A twist of lemon or lime is acceptable.

My favorite Paleo Breakfast: a small glass of unsweetened almond milk, 1 avocado with salt, 1 or two slices of sandwich ham or turkey.

For a loooong time, I've tried to observe a few simple rules:

• Try to have a decent amount of fibers in each meal. Vegetables, whole grain bread, beans, brown rice etc, rather than white bread, pasta, processed potato snacks and so on. Makes energy-intake more gradual (avoiding high peaks or lows in your blood sugar levels), gives you a satisfied feeling longer so you're less likely to grab unhealthy snacks in between meals.
• Same for proteins. They seem to give you a longer-lasting satisfied feeling all on their own (esp. compared to carbs), so I try to have some in each meal. Not to mention proteins are your body's building blocks & brain food.
• Fat isn't bad - each calorie you take from fat, is less calories taken from carbohydrates (or worst among those: sugars). Again: combine with fibers so the intake is gradual.
• Try not to go overboard on any of these. I'm not a nutrition expert in any way, but I think that a diet where the bulk of your calories come from one of protein / fat / carbs, can't be good if humans survived for millennia on a varied mix of those.
• Listen to your body! Some sugar-packed fruit is okay when you feel your blood sugar running low. And at other times: why stuff more food into your body when it tells you its energy-stores are all in the green?
• Unless no other energy sources are available, you don't need sugar(s) in your food. No need to be paranoid about it, but in general: the less, the better.

The above controls my -average- energy intake well. And with that in order, my weight has been pretty constant over the years, going slightly up or down mostly as a function of how much daily exercise I get. :sweat:

Lately I've been cutting back on salt (read: sodium) intake. Check with nutrition guidelines, and put that next to what you read on pre-processed food packages, it's ridiculous! Sometimes there's your 'maximum daily dose' in a single (small) bag of crisps, or that jar of sauce you pour onto your pasta. So I cut down on the salty snacks, ready-made herb mixtures, and season with salt that's mostly potassium rather than sodium. Plain (non-salted) nuts rather than salted peanuts, etc etc.

Oh and fwiw: I'm a vegetarian (since early childhood, and I'm in my 40's now). Many good reasons for being one... Do eat eggs & dairy products though. And some fish every now & then.

RetroTechie said:

For a loooong time, I've tried to observe a few simple rules:

• Try to have a decent amount of fibers in each meal. Vegetables, whole grain bread, beans, brown rice etc, rather than white bread, pasta, processed potato snacks and so on. Makes energy-intake more gradual (avoiding high peaks or lows in your blood sugar levels), gives you a satisfied feeling longer so you're less likely to grab unhealthy snacks in between meals.
• Same for proteins. They seem to give you a longer-lasting satisfied feeling all on their own (esp. compared to carbs), so I try to have some in each meal. Not to mention proteins are your body's building blocks & brain food.
• Fat isn't bad - each calorie you take from fat, is less calories taken from carbohydrates (or worst among those: sugars). Again: combine with fibers so the intake is gradual.
• Try not to go overboard on any of these. I'm not a nutrition expert in any way, but I think that a diet where the bulk of your calories come from one of protein / fat / carbs, can't be good if humans survived for millennia on a varied mix of those.
• Listen to your body! Some sugar-packed fruit is okay when you feel your blood sugar running low. And at other times: why stuff more food into your body when it tells you its energy-stores are all in the green?
• Unless no other energy sources are available, you don't need sugar(s) in your food. No need to be paranoid about it, but in general: the less, the better.

Click to expand...

A friend of mine violently insisted he wasn't paleo. He said he "did what he figured out." I kept laughing the more he explained it. "What? WHAT?" I said, "You say you're not paleo and keep saying paleo things, that's a page out of the "maintenance phase" of paleo!

RetroTechie said:

The above controls my -average- energy intake well. And with that in order, my weight has been pretty constant over the years, going slightly up or down mostly as a function of how much daily exercise I get. :sweat:

Click to expand...

You need more salt in drier environments. You don't realize that you're losing salt and how dehydrated you are getting. On my trips to the sandbox for Sam, once in a while I'd start feeling really bad. I'd get confused and feel like crap in general. The solution? 2 bottles of water and a packet of salt. Screw gatorade. Don't drink Brawndo (the thirst mutilator.) That's for idiots.

RetroTechie said:

Lately I've been cutting back on salt (read: sodium) intake. Check with nutrition guidelines, and put that next to what you read on pre-processed food packages, it's ridiculous! Sometimes there's your 'maximum daily dose' in a single (small) bag of crisps, or that jar of sauce you pour onto your pasta. So I cut down on the salty snacks, ready-made herb mixtures, and season with salt that's mostly potassium rather than sodium. Plain (non-salted) nuts rather than salted peanuts, etc etc.

Click to expand...

When nuts become a sizeable chunk of your calories (in a small handful,) most find that they cannot do salted. Try eating 1 cup of salted almonds, you can't do it without a glass of water or two. At least I can't.

Dehydration hinders digestion and enhances colon cancer. A bowel movement while dehydrated can cause bleeding if you're in bad enough shape. A friend of mine who passed out while running turned out to be dehydrated. Dehydration caused colon ulceration in his case.

Don't strain, it's supposed to be effortless. Dehydration and diet are crucial concepts.

more_vampires said:

Ketosis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketosis

Unfortunately, the body eats its own muscle faster than it can break down fat during periods of fasting aka "starvation."

It's why "binge and fast" is really unhealthy. Muscle burns calories just sitting there, fat does nothing just sitting there.

Thus, ketosis can reduce your ability to burn calories and lose weight. It's testable by urine sample. I am not a doctor.

Click to expand...

It really depends if you are starving yourself deliberately. Ketosis just means your body source of fuel is fat over glucose. If your body needs glucose, the body can create it by itself. I read this book called, "good calories bad calories" by Gary Taubes. He talks about this experiment where the mice had there ovaries remove. The mouse was starved deliberately, and most of them died with lots of body fat. The body consumed the mice muscles and its heart muscles, over the fat. Hormones play a vital part in weight loss is what the experiment showed. In another book called "Brain Maker," I have only read the review not the actual book yet. It said that in an experiment with mice, they did a fecal transplant of a thin mice to a fat one. The fat mice got lean and it works vice versa apparently. The bacteria in your gut also plays a vital role in weight loss. From what I understand, there are a lot factors that contribute to fat loss, and it is not as simple as, "watch your calories fatty." If it was that simple, all of us would be skinny. Problem solve, no need to do any more research.