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30 Days Later

Feb03
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Rick

On January 1st, I launched a new nutrition experiment based on Mark Sisson’s Primal Blueprint.  After 30 days of no grains, no dairy, and no legumes, the question is: What happened?

First off, doing a significant dietary change isn’t easy.  I love my homemade corn tortillas and my wife’s gluten-free scones, muffins, and pancakes. I love butter.  I like half-n-half in hot coffee. Cheese is a convenient and easy snack.  No rice and beans at a Mexican restaurant? You’ve got to be kidding!  But I stuck with it for the sake of the experiment.

I tracked everything I ate for the month in myfitnesspal (free, and allows for inputs on the web, iPad app, Blackberry app – everything that I use!).  I didn’t track my food for calorie counting purposes, but to look for total macronutrient breakdown as well as to potentially find links between what I ate and how I felt.

The recommended intake for macronutrients as a percentage of calories (at least according to myfitnesspal) are 55% carbohydrates, 30% fat, and 15% protein.  On a diet of basically meats, vegetables, fruits, and nuts, my macronutrient makeup was:

  • Week 1: 24% carbs, 54% fat, 22% protein
  • Week 2: 27% carbs, 51% fat, 22% protein
  • Week 3: 32% carbs, 47% fat, 21% protein
  • Week 4: 30% carbs, 52% fat, 18% protein
  • Current week-to-date: 30% carbs, 51% fat, 19% protein

What?!? Greater than 50% of my calories came from fat? Get the AED device and statin drugs, quick!

Sorry. The science simply doesn’t support the cholesterol myth. Besides, at my last check, after I’d made the first big change in my eating habits to eat least clean 6 days a week, my cholesterol markers were all well within standard guidelines (much different than they had been in the past on a grain and sugar-heavy diet).

How did those macronutrient breakdowns happen? Did I get a target from a Paleo Diet website and work to follow it? Nope. I ate meats, vegetables, fruits, and nuts and that’s how it came out. Did I purposely seek out more dietary fat? Nope. I just don’t fear it. I ate whole (and usually organic) foods until I was full, letting the chips (that I didn’t eat) fall where they may.

So what happened with the experiment?

Most people would want to know whether or not I lost weight. That wasn’t what I was going for, but it was a nice side benefit. I ended up losing 12 pounds over the month, dropping from 224 on January 1st (I had gotten a little sloppy since the end of the sugar-free summer experiment) to 212 on January 31st. 212 is the lowest weight I’ve been at in over 20 years.

For me, however, the experiment was about what it would do for my skin. I have seborrheic dermatitis that I was looking to clear up without applying a prescribed steroidal cream. Steroidal creams can have an effect of thinning the skin over long-term use, and that didn’t sound good to me. So I looked to nutrition for a potential answer. Based on a clean diet for the month of January, I’d say it’s a success. My skin is more clear that it’s ever been and I’m not experiencing red, patchy flareups at all. Early into the experiment, I did allow about 1/2 tablespoon of shredded cheese to enter my diet and within 2 days, I had very painful flareup. It cleared quickly and hasn’t come back.

From here, it’s hard to even want to experiment with bringing things back to see if I can identify the exact trigger. Besides, my wife already eats gluten-free, dairy-free and it makes sense within the family to be more aligned in our diets. But, Superbowl Sunday is coming up and I’m thinking about throwing all caution to the wind, eating a bunch of crap like I did last year by punishing my body with about 5500 calories and getting back on track the next day. I haven’t had a “cheat day” in a while, but with results like feeling better, losing weight, and clearing skin, it’s hard to want one.

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You’re Not Paula Deen

Jan20
2012 2 Comments Written by Rick

Paula Deen, Food Network star, announced that she’s been dealing with type II diabetes for the last three years.  She and her two sons have also been revealed as  corporate spokespersons for the blood sugar management drug Victoza because as she says “we, like everybody else, have to work.”

Paula Deen adds an injection to her daily routine and collects a paycheck for becoming the face of the drug. That’s not your reality. You don’t get to sell your health out to a drug manufacturer and collect a pile of cash for your family. Paula Deen does. She has to work like everybody else.

Since collecting a paycheck for being sick is likely out for you, you have a different choice to make:

Will I choose to manage symptoms or address causes?

For Paula Deen, managing symptoms means using Victoza, and according to the literature:

“Victoza® is an injectable prescription medicine that may improve blood sugar (glucose) in adults with type 2 diabetes when used along with diet and exercise.”

Wait a minute. The drug MAY improve blood sugar? WHEN USED ALONG WITH diet and exercise? Then why not just do the diet and exercise thing? The simple answer comes down to money. There’s no money in healthy people, or at least not nearly as much as sick people.

Let’s say that Paula Deen did indeed try the diet and exercise route. If so, she was obviously unsuccessful, hence the need for the injection. So why would she have been unsuccessful? It’s either:

a: She truly has a problem that cannot be dealt with through nutrition alone.
or
b: She didn’t follow the recommended plan for diet and exercise.
or
c: The recommended plan sucks.

I suspect that many people upon finding out they have type II diabetes go to the American Diabetes Association for help. Looking through a few articles will generally come to the same conclusions: watch your carbohydrate intake (but still eat whole grains), lower your fat intake (especially that dangerous saturated fat), get some exercise, lose some weight. In losing weight, the ADA does say that both the low-carbohydrate approach and the low-fat approach may provide benefits up to one year, but it does caution readers about the safety of a low-carbohydrate approach.

In essence, the ADA mimics the government stance on general nutrition. Eat your grains. Eat less fat. That leads to two main questions:

1. How’s that working out for you?
2. Why should you be concerned about the ADA’s nutrition advice?

How’s that working out for you?
Despite improvements like some weight loss or perhaps a generally lower level of blood glucose, I’m guessing that it hasn’t resulted in the elimination of medication. Despite the assertion that whole-grain pasta, whole-grain cereal, and whole-grain bread are all good sources of dietary fiber the pasta, cereal, and bread will all increase your blood sugar. According this CDC report, diabetes cases in the United States have more than doubled since 1980. How’s that standard, recommended American diet working out? Not well.

Why should you be concerned about the ADA’s nutrition advice?
While the stated mission of the ADA is to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by it, there is a significant conflict of interest. A quick check of the annual report shows the four donors of over $1 million in 2010 were all drug companies. Four of the next five highest donors at the > $500K level were also drug companies. The other is a supplier of diabetes supplies, devices, and technologies. The biggest donors to the ADA have the largest amount to lose if diabetes were actually cured without medical or pharmaceutical intervention.

Paula Deen, the ADA, and the drug companies all have a significant financial interest in NOT curing you, but simply managing illness. There is no financial upside (except to you, the consumer) to finding a cure that is not drug-related.

You’re not Paula Deen. You can’t afford to be sick, so it’s time to start addressing the cause instead of just managing the symptoms. Start with a 30 day elimination diet and remove all known common causes of health problems: eliminate processed foods, grains, sugars, dairy, and legumes and see how you feel. Eat until you’re full and ignore the government recommended daily allowances. Add things back one at a time and see how you feel. Do you feel better, worse, gaining weight, losing weight? Those are all clues about whether or not you’re on the right track. You are an experiment of one. Think you can’t live without soda? That’s a great potential experiment. I’ll bet you can.

It’s inconvenient, sure. But it’s only 30 days. What have you got to lose?

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Nutrition and Faith

Jan11
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Rick

The early results for this month’s nutrition experiment are looking good. Since January 1st, I’m down 6.5 pounds. There’s also some subtle measurement drops, most notably an entire inch of moobs. Beyond that, the spots of seborrhic dermatitis appear to be clearing up, but I’d say it’s too early to put it in the win column because I’ve had other times of it improving without trying anything.  Meanwhile, I had some thoughts:

On day one of any change in diet, I’ve always had the same experience thinking:

  • “There’s nothing to eat around here!”
  • “This is stupid.”
  • “This is too restrictive.”
  • “But, I don’t want to not have alcohol, or sugar, or (whatever I’m cutting out)

Then I start to justify why I should have the things I’m cutting out:

  • “It’s not that big of a deal.”
  • “I can handle it.”
  • “What difference does it make anyway?”

Then I remember why:

  • “I’m doing this to improve my health.”
  • “I’m doing this to take care of my body.”
  • “I’m doing this to be effective and strong.”

This nutrition experiment is no different.  I had the same thoughts, justifications, and realizations.  This time, however, as I searched the refrigerator to find something to eat that would match my new nutritional mindset, I thought about something different:

This is similar to what people go through when they make a decision for Jesus. Facing a changed life, there are thoughts about “Really? Never again?” and “But I like getting hammered with my friends” and justifications like “It’s just sex” and “A little hit of weed just keeps me sane” and the remembering whys like “I’m choosing to change out of heart of gratitude for Jesus’ sacrifice for me.”

Outsiders might call my way of eating too restrictive, and they might say the same about my faith. I choose to look at it in terms of freedom. I have absolute freedom to choose my actions, whether it’s how I eat or how I choose to act in relationship to my faith in Christ.

Posted in Christianity

New Year, New Experiment

Dec31
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Rick

It’s been nearly a year since I made some changes in my diet.  To recap, I started with Tim Ferriss’ Slow Carb Diet as outlined in his book, The Four Hour Body and dropped 20 pounds of fat in 40 days.  Despite looking and feeling better, I was still nagged by painful gout flareups after nearly every sugar-bathed “cheat day.”  Then I watched Dr. Robert Lustig’s lecture, The Bitter Truth.  From there, I started my Sugar-Free Summer Experiment to see if I could eliminate both gout flareups and medication.

It worked perfectly.  I dropped a few more pounds by going sugar-free, eliminated the medication, and haven’t had a flareup since.

Over the course of the last year, I’ve been doing a lot of reading on Paleo and Primal-style eating.  Each style has its own recommendations, but it really comes down to this:

Eat real food.

Paleo/Primal styles focus on quality meats, seasonal vegetables, seasonal fruits, and healthy fats.  The styles also generally avoid grains, legumes, and dairy.  Enter the new experiment:

I’m already virtually gluten-free, so that’s already covered, but for the month of January, I’ll eliminate legumes and dairy as well.  The point of this part of the experiment is to see if the elimination of dairy will clear up a long-standing skin condition.  Years ago, a doctor told me that the reddened, occasionally flaky dry patches I get were from seborrheic dermatitis.  He said there was no known cause, but prescribed a steroid cream to manage the symptoms.  The danger of the steroid cream is thinning of the skin at the application site.  That doesn’t sound like a side effect that I want, so I want to see if I can resolve the problem in another way.  As a secondary experiment, I’m interested to see if the change restarts my plateaued weight loss.

To add to the experiment, I’ll also do what’s called The Primal Blueprint 30 day challenge.  Click on the link for more detail, but here are the basics:

  1. Eat lots of plants and animals (high quality paleo/primal food)
  2. Avoid poisonous things (no junk food)
  3. Move frequently at a slow pace (3-5 hours/week of walking, biking, etc)
  4. Lift heavy things (2 bodyweight or weightlifting workouts/week)
  5. Sprint once in a while (1-10 minute sprint workout/week)
  6. Get adequate sleep (whatever your body needs to wake up refreshed)
  7. Play (shoot baskets, toss the football around, surf)
  8. Get adequate sunlight (15 minutes a day of full sun, no sunscreen)
  9. Avoid stupid mistakes (don’t push through injury, for example)
  10. Use your brain (engage your brain in problem-solving)

Join me? 

 

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Do Whatever, Manage Symptoms Later

Oct17
2011 2 Comments Written by Rick

I spent the summer experimenting with the idea that if I could eliminate sugar and other refined carbohydrates from my diet, I could eliminate taking a daily medication for gout.  So far, that experiment seems to have worked perfectly. No sugar, no medication, no gout flare-ups or other symptoms. At the same time, I’ve lost weight and my health has improved.

It turns out that I didn’t need to eliminate sugar at all.  All I really need to do is do whatever I want, and just take more and more medication to mask the symptoms. At least that’s what I gather from this article discussing diabetes and Halloween. Endocrinologist Kenneth McCormick at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Comprehensive Diabetes Center, says:

“This [increasing insulin dose] is an easy option for kids on an insulin pump because they can just dial in an extra dose of insulin to compensate for what they are about to eat.”

So an “easy option” is confessional-style medicine. Sin and confess, sin and confess, over and over.  Sin on Saturday, confess it on Sunday.  Just go see the priest, say you’re sorry.  Get it off your chest. No need to change anything about how you live.  In fact, that’s one of the philosophies behind Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating stating: “DAFNE allows people to fit diabetes into their lifestyle, rather than changing their lifestyle to fit in with their diabetes.”

That’s how it was with me and gout.  I’d eat sugar, get a painful, arthritic flare-up [despite already taking a daily medication, allopurinol], then have to take another medication to get the pain to stop.  I’d think to myself, “you know, my dosing of allopurinol must not be high enough because I’m still getting attacks.”  So, working with my doctor, we increased my dose.  I would still get the attacks, so I got better at recognizing the symptoms earlier. That way, I could take a dose of the other medicine as a preventative measure, just ending up with a stomachache instead of a full-blown gout attack.

Most people, including myself, are whiny little children that just want whatever we want without consequences.  If there are consequences, we really don’t care, so long as the consequences are manageable.  We’ve got hangover cures, morning-after pills, and email tone checkers.  We’ve got radar detectors and proxy servers to bypass internet filtering. And, we’ve got symptom management drugs masquerading as quality medical advice.

People have told me that I’m crazy, weird, and that I’ve gone off the deep end with regard to changing my eating habits to support my health.  That’s what philosophies like DAFNE would have you believe. “Normal Eating” suggests that there is something wrong with eliminating refined sugar.  ”Normal Eating” suggests that it’s somehow strange to not use boxes of factory prepared food with lab-synthesized chemicals that you can’t pronounce.  I’ll take my chances being considered a crazy food radical because normal wasn’t working out so well.

 

 

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Doctors’ Notes

Sep24
2011 2 Comments Written by Rick

My sugar-free summer experiment officially ended on Labor Day.  It’s almost 3 weeks after the experiment end and I haven’t had any desire to reintroduce refined sugar into my diet, especially considering the results have been so positive.  I wanted to see how I’ve done so far from a doctor’s perspective, so I saw my primary care physician today to follow up.  Here’s the results:

  • At 216 pounds, I am no longer considered obese, but merely overweight.  I’m a big dinner away from obesity and another 33 pounds away from the BMI standard of “normal” weight.  Chasing a chart number is insanity.  A mirror is a pretty good indicator of how you’re doing.  200-205 may be a good target weight for my build, but if the mirror tells me the 216 is fine, no worries.
  • I am off of all prescribed medication.  I’ll take ibuprofen or acetaminophen for aches and pains, but I no longer take allopurinol or colchicine for gout and I no longer use albuterol as a preventative medicine for exercise-induced asthma.
  • Blood pressure results are good at 118/76. I happily use salt without restriction. Resting pulse is better than it’s ever been at 60.
  • I’m interested to see how my lipid screen looks, but I just noticed that my doctor didn’t order it.  I skipped breakfast for nothing!  On 5/31, my lipid screen revealed total cholesterol at 142, HDL at 48, LDL at 82, Triglycerides at 60. That was after following Tim Ferriss’ Four Hour Body Slow-Carb Diet beginning on January 31st, but before eliminating sugar and grains.
  • My doctor is apparently not a fan of my eating choices, stating that “It sounds a lot like Atkins.  You know he died obese and from a heart attack?” I pointed out that my lipid profile changed to the best it’s ever been after I changed my eating habits.  He replied “Well, that’s because you’re also exercising.”  Interesting… I have been regularly exercising for a good 10 years or more.

Working against the fat-fearing, eat-your-healthy-grains mentality is an uphill battle. Whatever you want to call my eating lifestyle: Atkins, South-Beach, Slow Carb, Low Carb, Low-Carb High Fat (LCHF), Paleo, Modified Paleo, Primal, Sugar-Free, Gluten-Free… I do so because it’s been effective for improving my health.  I don’t feel restricted by my eating choices – maybe inconvenienced, but definitely not restricted, and most definitely not calorie-restricted. I eat until I’m full. I have the freedom to eat whatever I want and live with the result.  So do you.

Want to check some of the resources that have shaped my views?
Gary Taubes – What if it’s all been a big fat lie?
Dr. Robert Lustig – The Bitter Truth
Robb Wolf – blog of the author of The Paleo Solution
Mark Sisson – blog of the author of The Primal Blueprint
Tom Naughton – blog of the maker of Fat Head
Dr. Donald Miller, Cardiac Surgeon at University of Washington – Enjoy Saturated Fats, They’re Good For You.
Dr. William Davis – blog of the author of Wheat Belly
Anastasia Boulais – common sense nutrition blog

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One More Week!

Aug28
2011 2 Comments Written by Rick

The official end of my sugar-free summer experiment is next Monday.  That covers the 17 week stretch from Memorial Day to Labor Day. In that time, I’ve done my best to avoid all added sugar with one fairly minor exception – 85% cacao ultra dark chocolate from Trader Joe’s.  I would occasionally have a stick of the chocolate, roughly equivalent to about 2 grams of sugar.

The longer the experiment has gone, the less I’m interested in going back to sugar at all. But, I am curious as to how I would I feel if I reintroduced it. Back in 2005, when my wife and I started into low-carb eating via the South Beach Diet, I remember the first 2 weeks of the plan, which essentially amounts to sugar elimination.  About 6 days in, I decided that I would have a small cheat – a single Pizza Hut cinnastix. Within 10 minutes of eating it, I started shaking, couldn’t concentrate with my brain buzzing, and felt sick.  I’m guessing the same thing will happen if I have something sugary next week.

What should be on my menu to celebrate the end of the experiment?

I’m thinking steak.  And maybe a mexican Coke, not the nasty HFCS stuff.

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43

Aug16
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Rick

Three years ago, as I headed toward my 40th birthday, I had a goal in mind: be in the best shape of my life by the time I turned 40.  I felt like I was on the right track, faithfully reading my Muscle and Fitness subscription and lifting heavy.  Heck, I don’t even remember what standards I was using to decide how to define “the best shape of my life,” but I was certainly there.  Pictures from 2008 show me looking bigger (in a good way) than I’d ever been.

Then, a week before my birthday, my goal became unraveled.  I had been doing heavy deadlifts and had tweaked my back pretty badly.  My sprint toward best-shape-of-my-life for my 40th birthday became a crippled shuffle as I nursed a painfully nasty back injury.

After the recovery, I actually continued to get stronger and faster through Crossfit. And, oddly enough, a 2008 article in Muscle and Fitness magazine turned me on to Crossfit.  But, I wasn’t getting any leaner.  In fact, despite athletic improvements, I had actually been getting fatter.  In December of 2009, I bought a couple of new business suits.  In 2010, they were getting a little uncomfortable.

As hard as I had been working out, I could not out-train my poor diet.

Today, I turned 43.  And today, I can truly say I’m in the best shape of my life as I clocked my fastest mile ever this morning at 6:50, breaking the 7 minute barrier for the first time.  I wasn’t sure how I was going to top last year’s birthday of having breakfast at The Mission in San Diego when Coolio and his crew rolled in, but this is much better. Happy Birthday to me!

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13 Weeks Sugar-Free Update

Aug08
2011 1 Comment Written by Rick

On January 31st, I started the Slow-Carb Diet as outlined in Tim Ferriss’ book, The Four Hour Body.  It was very successful, as I dropped 20 pounds in 6 weeks.  I took a few weeks off of eating rules, then gave myself a new challenge: go sugar-free for the summer. 13 weeks into that experiment, I’m free of gout symptoms and free of a daily medication used to control my body’s uric acid production (which leads to gout symptoms).  Also, as of today, I’ve dropped an additional 11 pounds down to 217.  217 is the lowest weight I’ve seen in at least the last 15 years.  My previous lowest from 2006 had been 218 following a nasty stomach flu.

Even though I’m turning 43 next week, I’m still setting new personal bests.  I’ve now hit 25 consecutive pullups, up two from my previous and I’m down to 21:04 on my favorite 2.5 mile course.  To crank up the core work, I made myself a slosh pipe last week and can now be seen carrying a 40 pound, 9′ hard-to-control pipe, up and down the hill in my neighborhood.

7 weeks ago, I posted some progress pics so you could see the changes over the first 6 weeks of the Sugar-Free Summer.  I’ll post the first pic again, then add today’s 13 week progress pic.  Just like before, if you don’t want to see a nearly 43 year-old guy in shirtless pics, go ahead and move along now.  Also, no need to critique the bad and unbalanced posing.  I already know.  Come back later for another post on some other subject. There’s your warning.

13 weeks ago:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

13 weeks ago:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The two main differences in the pictures are (1) 11 additional pounds lost and (2) my pasty white skin has been exposed to the sun.  Both help a lot!

I’m already thinking about my next experiment in health improvement after the sugar-free summer ends on Labor Day. At this point, it’s hard to imagine adding sugar back in after feeling so much better, so I’m not really thinking of any sort of sugar-filled celebration to cap it off. But, I am considering a 10 day juice fast (as seen in the film Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead), then following that with a full-on 30 days of Paleo eating.  Both seem like daunting tasks.  No solid food (and especially no meat!) for 10 days is a scary thought. Giving up dairy to go full Paleo scares me too.  I like butter, cheese, cottage cheese, sour cream, and half-and-half, but if it results in another significant health improvement, it’ll be worth it.

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Milestone!

Jul22
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Rick

I returned from almost 2 weeks of road trip vacation this week.  Everybody gains a little weight over vacation, right?  Even though I’d been vacation, there was no break from my Sugar-Free Summer Experiment.  I skipped birthday cake.  I skipped a slice of carrot cake from a conference at the Marriott. Well, let me be fully honest – I had a bite the size of about 1/2 teaspoon just to taste it and found it way too sweet. I skipped the ample supply of cookies available during the conference. I skipped cookies and cake and other processed foods, but ate well.  Again, let me be fully honest – there’s a restaurant called Prasad in downtown Portland, which had raw food, unprocessed desserts – like sweetened with agave syrup, chopped dates, or raw honey.  My wife and I split a cookie on each of the two visits there.  Call it a cheat on the Sugar-Free Summer Experiment if you want. When I checked back in at the office scale, it said 218.6.

The last time I weighed under 220 pounds was in December of 2006, just after I finished a battle with the stomach flu. Since then, I’ve fluctuated a bit – mostly staying in the 235-240 range.  In late January when I started the change to my eating habits, I was as high as 248 and now I’m down 30 pounds since then.  Being under 220 may actually be the leanest I’ve been in the last 20 years.  So, in recognition of this milestone, check out some of the worst pictures I could find of myself to one from vacation:

 

One of my biggest keys to being successful in this change of eating habits was to change how I viewed food. I love to eat and I would happily eat anything in any amount if I thought it tasted good. Then I watched the comedy-documentary Fat Head, which absolutely blew my mind. I started looking into the key concepts of the movie, particularly insulin resistance/metabolic syndrome. After doing some research on the effects of different foods on the body, something changed. I started to look at food as a body fuel source first, and something to enjoy second. You can easily have both high-quality fuel AND enjoyment, but that first involves eliminating choices that damage your body. For example, high-fructose corn syrup may taste good to you now, but once you realize that this highly processed sweetener is damaging to your body, you simply take it off the list of things to ingest. As you eliminate these types of choices, you simply find foods that meet your new criteria. Ask, is it the best food for my body? If yes, then move to the second question: Does it taste good? If yes, you’ve found a winner! For a more technical and detailed view of this concept, check out The Framework of Common Sense.

 

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