Category

Nutrition

Sep 01
2

An Elimination Diet Will Change Your Eating Habits

By | General Health Topics, Nutrition

Last September my wife and I did this elimination diet called the Whole 30. It cuts out certain food groups, reintroducing them one-at-a-time in order to identify foods that are inflammatory and don’t agree with you specifically (everyone’s different).

What you DO EAT: Moderate portions of meat, seafood, and eggs; lots of vegetables; some fruit; plenty of natural fats; herbs, spices, and seasonings; tree nuts (almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamias, pecans, pistachios, walnuts).

What you DO NOT EAT for 30 days: No beans (black, red, pinto, navy, white, kidney, lima, fava, etc.), chickpeas, lentils or peanuts (peanut butter too). No soy (MSG, soy sauce, miso, tofu, tempeh, edamame, lecithin, soy milk). No added sugar or sweeteners, real or artificial. No alcohol…sorry. No grains (wheat, corn, quinoa, rice, buckwheat, oats, rye, barley, etc. No dairy (any type of cheese, yogurt, cream cheese, milk, cream in your coffee, ice cream, butter, kefir). No baked foods or junk foods (muffins, cookies, crackers, cakes, pies).

Since today is September 1st, I am, once again, doing a Whole 30. Mind you, I am not doing this to lose weight. While that may be the goal for most people that do this diet, I am doing it to change my relationship with food. Even though I was not trying to lose weight the first time I did the diet last year, I did end up losing 20 lbs. in 3 weeks. This year I want to see if I can lose no weight, but just really clean up my eating. Since doing the diet last year, I noticed some less than healthy habits creeping back in, so I figured it’s time for a re-set.

This diet takes some mental work and physical preparation. It’s kind-of hard because you’re shifting out of your automatic patterns (binging and eating without thinking about what you’re putting into your body), but I think people make it out to be way harder than it is. I like it because it’s a self-experiment that you’re doing for the betterment of your health. I’ve learned that what you eat is way more important than I ever gave credence to. I did ok with my eating, but allowed way too many infringements.

What ended up sticking for me after last year’s Whole 30 is that I almost completely eliminated wheat (all bread, muffins, crackers, beer, wheat pasta, sandwiches, pizza). I say almost because one or two times I’ve had a cheat desert, like pie with a crust. Everything else wheat is totally gone from my diet. I did re-introduce other grains back into my diet successfully, such as rice, oats, and quinoa. Although I did also re-introduce corn, I’ve cut back on it. I eliminated red wine, which, surprisingly, ended up being really toxic for me. After eliminating it for 30 days and then re-introducing red wine, it turned out to be really noxious to my system. I eliminated almost all dairy. I say almost because the only thing I allow is very occasional ice cream when we’re out as a family to get it. Otherwise, all cheese, cream cheese and yogurt is gone. I use cashew milk in my coffee and eat a special type of unsweetened almond milk Greek yogurt made by Kite Hill. Another thing that ended up being toxic for my system was black beans. While I re-introduced other types of beans, black beans ended up being particularly irritating to my gastric system. Another habit that I changed after the diet was that I don’t drink any alcohol during weekdays anymore, only on Friday or Saturday if I want a drink.

2 other things that I noticed while on the Whole 30 were that (1) my gastric system did way better and (2) my adult acne, which I’ve had for 40 years, totally cleared up like I’ve never seen before. It came back a little when I re-introduced foods, but nothing like before.

That’s the beauty of an elimination diet…you can wipe your system clean and then see what works and what doesn’t work for you. It’s completely specific to you and, I think, very revealing. If you feel like you’re on automatic pilot with your eating habits, it’s worth a try. But commit to all 30 days and see what your body tells you after.

Jan 13
2

For Losing Weight, What’s More Important, Diet or Exercise?

By | Exercise, General Health Topics, Nutrition

tortoiseandhare

Last September, my wife and I did an elimination diet (the Whole 30); I was astonished by the results. I was not doing it to lose weight, although I did. Instead, I was doing it to re-set how and what I ate and to eliminate cravings. It worked beautifully and it changed how I eat to this day. I am in my mid-50’s and have been starkly reminded that the amount of time it takes to exercise off a piece of cake or a morning muffin is disproportionately long to how long it takes to eat them.

As far as losing weight, diet is much more important than exercise. Exercise is critical for maintaining lean muscle mass and quality of life, but regarding weight loss, it’s not nearly as important as what you eat or drink. In other words, for weight loss, eliminating poor dietary choices is much more important than how much you exercise. Think of the equation CICO (calories in, calories out). 100% of ‘calories in’ come from what you eat and drink, whereas only a small portion (10-30%) of ‘calories out’ are lost through exercise.

There are 3 main sources of‘ ‘calories out’ :

  • BMR – Basal metabolic rate is the energy used to keep your body operating (ie: heart and brain function, breathing). It consumes 60-80% of calories that you take in.
  • Thermogenesis – The breaking down of foods. It consumes 10% of calories that you take in.
  • Physical activity – Exercise, going upstairs, walking, gardening, etc. It consumes 10-30% of calories that you take in.

The average person only loses, specifically from exercise, 5-15% of the calories that they take in (from what they eat and drink). Even if you’re a hardcore exerciser, you are only burning 30% of the caloric intake that you derive from foods. In addition, exercising will increase appetite. If you choose a burger, shake, and fries, it will kill that hour or two that you just spent in the gym.

For the average person, let’s say that 300-400 calories are burned with an hour at the gym. That can easily be undone by eating a few cookies, a Starbucks latte, or a scoop of ice cream. Even a high-intensity workout that burns 800-1,200 calories could be canceled out with 2 mixed drinks or 3 slices of pizza. With this scenario, it would be better to just eat less and not exercise. This all rings true in the common sayings “abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym” and “you can’t out-exercise your mouth.”

I should also clarify that some people may have weight gain issues from organic pathologies, such as thyroid or hormonal disorders. In such cases, blood-work is valuable. However, as a general rule, CICO is worthwhile to keep forefront in your mind.

If you’re someone who diets in the spring because you want to fit into your bathing suit in the summer, remember the story of the tortoise and the hare. People who slowly lose weight end up keeping it off in the long run. It really is something that you have to work on daily and constantly, not just for a season. Losing weight and maintaining ideal weight level involves lifestyle modifications and making better choices every time you eat or drink something. The big thing is to make sure that the calories that you do consume are nutrient dense (whole, clean, healthy foods loaded with nutrition) rather than empty calories (a lot of calories with little beneficial nutrition). For me, choices, like drinking water over juice at lunch-time, doing away with my daily bagel for breakfast, or forgoing the weekend growler of stout beer, are examples of small modifications that, over time, have helped reduce visceral fat in my abdomen.

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