Still busy working on a side?project, but didn’t want anyone to miss out on some more quality carbohydrate propaganda.
First up is Scott Abel, totally abusing?his power as the world’s most successful fitness trainer in marketing some bogus supplement. He?claims this supplement boosts leptin, strengthens your immune system, keeps sex hormones at peak function for muscle building, increases athletic?performance and more. Yeah right Scott, like any supplement could to that!
And then Riles, a total starch-pusher that thinks carbohydrate is good just because it helps him to be really muscular and lean and feel really good, sent me a video of some kid talking about a study in which 11 out of 20 type 2 diabetics were able to come off of their insulin by eating a high-fiber, high-carbohydrate diet for 16 days. The kid’s name is Robby Barbaro. Something sound fishy about that name?? You bet it does! Barbaro sounds eerily similar to “Carbaro.”? But hey, I can’t be trusted. I live in a town called CARBondale – a town mysteriously lacking in obese?people, gyms, and fast food joints. In?fact, THIS is the only fast food?burger joint?in town. Sounds like a Commie conspiracy against America if you ask me!
Oh yeah, here’s CARBaro (who is a 22-year old’type 1 diabetic):
Note, after reviewing several of JW Anderson’s studies, one thing is clear. It’s not the carbohydrate per se that causes the positive insulin-sensitizing impact and enhanced glycemic control. It’s not necessarily the severe fat restriction either. It appears that the big drops in triglycerides and increase in insulin sensitivity’that commonly occur on the type of diet used by Anderson, as well as in real life in clinical practice by guys like Joel Fuhrman (who prescribes a “beans and greens” approach to reversing type 2 diabetes), result from a heavy intake of fiber – including resistant starch discussed last week, and a high ratio of starch or “complex” carbohydrate to simple sugars.
This increases the production of short-chain fatty acids in the gut such as acetate, butyrate, and propionate – discussed in part in this eBook DIET RECOVERY?, which increases metabolism, decreases appetite, causes spontaneous weight loss,?increases physical activity, drops triglycerides, lowers cholesterol, improves?both insulin and leptin sensitivity,?and improves HDL to LDL ratio all in one shot. This also patterns an improvement in gut flora to favor the type of gut flora seen in lean people such as rural Africans as opposed to that seen in the obese, which also provides better?resistance to infection and decreased chance of developing bowel cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, and more.
You can?hear more about resistant starch and fiber in my latest videos at:
I have a friend who's just starting no/low carb. I'm reluctant to push my views but would prefer not to see other people suffer what I suffered. Do people have any suggestions for handling this?
I’ve been on a low-carb diet for 3 months and I’ve never experienced anything remotely close to suffering. I’m never hungary and I lost over 45 pounds. Did you actually get past the sugar withdrawal? That’s a thing you need to deal with – it’s like getting off alcohol or drugs. Also, add more fat to meals if hunger was your issue – fat brings satiety while lowering insulin. Consume a lot of salt/electrolytes and water to get rid of the “keto flu”, if that’s what you had. If you were not well, you were doing it wrong.
Great post Matt!
Yes, I'm so over supplements. I love how they started out by saying totally demeaning things in the video like: "Speak to people at the level of their understanding"…and very propaganda like stuff like "a magical supplement.."…back to being superior: "we know about this supplement"….wow, I wish I knew about it. lol. They then totally made you feel like: "OMG, I MUST have that supplement, it has everything I want!!! Improved immunity, leanness, etc " Having tried most every supplement on the market it's funny how annoying it was to hear all this, since I no longer do supplements (part from yeast flakes temporarily…) And then:
"Carbohydrates!" Wow, I loved that! Didn't expect it at all!
And yes, it's true, I'll never forget how totally fatigued I was during all those power yoga classes I went to on my three years of super low carb. I was just thinking "it's detox, it will get better"…omg. Thank you MATT for getting me out of that hole!!!!
It also took me three months to heal from flying off my bike. I was thinking "as a kid I'd heal from this overnight….now three months later I still can't walk up stairs without feeling the bike injury…"
That's so incredible that type 2 diabetes was so quickly reversed in that many patients. It's amazing what the correct diet can achieve. I wish this info was out there much more.
If they are seriously overweight, a low-carb diet won't f them up too badly, and may help them lose. What I would do is at least try to encourage him/her to do carb refeeds – perhaps giving them a copy of Rob Faigin's Natural Hormonal Enhancement. It's most powerful when you see the dangers of low-carb acknowledged by a low-carb author.
Aaron,
Unfortunately, you can't really 'help' people in that way. I've learned that the hard way. Humans are naturally rebellious, anyway. All you can do is rock your own dietary style and try to live an example of health and happiness. That is the most influential thing on earth.
Nice little read. But the real question Matt is, what's your secrect side project you are working on?
Will-
Creating all kinds of materials and sites that will enable my eBooks to be sold through Clickbank. It's a lot of work. Hopefully it will get 180 massive exposure though.
@AaronF: When someone mentions to me that they're embarking on a low-carb diet, I'm supportive but I also tell them a little about my experience (like crazy mood swings and caffeine cravings after the "honeymoon" period), and how I felt much better I felt immediately after reintroducing carbs. This kind of sticks in their brain so they don't get caught up in the "low-carb-is-perfect-it-must-be-me" mindset that seems to plague so many low carbers. Then if they start to feel some of those symptoms they might remember it could be the lack of carbs causing it and not some other mysterious entity. Obviously you can't change everyone's mind but you can leave a crumb here or there and see if they nibble.
@Matt: Seriously? Hell yeah!
Good advice Annabelle and Liz.
As long as Aaron doesn't present his concerns in a belittling way ("Don't do it, it's bad for you! You'll see and I'll be sayin' 'I told ya so!'") it will definitely plant the right kind of seeds. That's all you can really hope for.
The magic supplement is.. speed.. looking at these two.. they cannot stand still… my video player makes it look like they are dancing .. sort of.. in a manly way.
:)
I find it very funny that people often come to me for health advice. Maybe it's because I'm in the food industry, but it certainly isn't because I'm the picture of health. I mean I'm at least 30 lbs overweight and my weight has fluctuated wildly over the years.
I must somehow give the illusion of health and/or wisdom. Which is awesome, considering I'm a bit of a blithering idiot 99% of the time.
Matt – Clickbank? Sweet. I was hopping you'd do something like that eventually. The affiliates need better health books to market.
Everyone – Been eating more carbs, slightly less fat (can I ever eat fat ? la low carb), and less meat. Think I managed to up my calories a bit, too. Only been a few days, but I've noticed an energy increase, and insomnia decrease. Hope this keeps up.
Anyway, carbohydrate is definitely my favourite supplement of all time. (And I've taken a bunch, in my short lifetime.)
Even the rat experimenters have gotten into going keto and coming off.
"Collectively, these data demonstrate that returning to a carbohydrate-based diet after a period of consuming a ketogenic diet has post-diet effects on caloric intake, body weight gain, and insulin levels."
One should not stay on it after you have accomplished your goals.
Or re-feed as Matt says.
http://nutritionandmetabolism.com/content/6/1/46
Hi. I posted this a few days ago but didn’t get a response and I’m really hoping all of you ?health smarty pants? can give me some advice. I’m new around here and am panicked about my blood glucose levels.
Background- coming from the GAPS protocol for 6 mos., did it as a lowish/moderate carb plan w/high fat, lots of low carb veggies, moderate meat, yogurt, kefir and a small amnt of seeds, fruit and honey. Tried it for digestive problems, autoimmune and tested adrenal issues. I felt like seeds, fruit and honey were not working and after learning from 180 about dangers of low carb I didn’t know what to do because it’s automatically a pretty low carb protocol after cutting those things out.
So last week I started RRARF/HED (Still not sure the difference) and added red and Yukon potatoes. I did about equal starch to fat ratios and had 3 different days of 1 hour postprandial glucose reading being between 106 and 136 which kind of freaked me out. So then I read the addendum about going higher starch and lower fat and really threw back the taters w/only a little fat. I found myself not really able to get full on a mound of mashed potatoes that honestly looked daunting at first. Each meal I ate an exorbitant amount of food, yet I was not really able to get full, but I wasn’t hungry either. So then I did the 1 hour postprandial glucose reading and I’m so freaked out because it was 195.
So should I go back to even amnts of starch/fat or ride out high starch/low fat. Should I work slowly up to higher starch/lower fat? Will I normalize? I was having blood sugar issues on GAPS but had never done glucose testing. I appreciate any advice?
Okay, Matt, I'm getting discouraged. I was really encouraged to see my temp go up, and was putting up with my 15-20 lb weight-gain for the greater good. I was okay with it because I wasn't gaining any more weight. But I just gained a few more pounds!!!! I'm eating lots of unrefined starch, very little fat, protein is on the low side, all whole foods, no sugar…. I don't have much left to wear! My size 14s are getting snug and I hate my body this way!!!!!!
So here's my question… I know that you haven't had good results with exercise, and that maybe it's because of your history of over-exercising. I'm done with the 30 days of rest and napping and general laziness. So would my sedentary self, without a history of very much exercise, do well to start exercising? And if so, what kind of exercise and how much? My arms feel very weak. And it has to be reasonable for a stay-at-home mom with 3 kids. I have some weights in the basement, a treadmill, and a yoga dvd. Any advice from anyone would be GREAT!
Also, what's the target oral temperature for women before and after ovulation?
Sheri: I'm sorry you're having such swings in blood glucose levels. All I can say is that it took me some time. After my low carb diet my blood glucose levels did shoot up a lot, but not as high as yours. If you've only been on RRARF for one week I'd give it at least a few more weeks. Hopefully others will be able to give you a better answer.
It is my understanding that HED was the original name for what Matt was developing, then he realized that RRARF was a better name cause it includes the important rest aspect, and aggressive re-feeding is no longer necessarily high everything, since it's been figured out that fat and protein should be adequate but not super high.
Kaylin: I also wondered what the target for basal body temperature is after and before ovulation. I believe that our temperatures should not go below 97.8. I think that's the perfect temperature. Between 97.8 and 98.2 is the ideal range. This is of course not the oral but the underarm temperature. That's the only thing I measure. Also, the goal is as you probably know to hit 99 degrees on ovulation. Something I've not yet succeeded with. But my temps have gone up and stayed in the more healthy range and the lows especially have gotten much higher.
Kaylin: Don't get discouraged. You might be ready for a light workout. Just start something simple, like walking, and see how you feel. Keep checking your temps every morning.
LeonRover,
I find it very odd that the ketogenic rats had more fat and consumed similar calories as the chow group. Every ketogenic study I have seen shows a need for more calories to maintain weight and less adiposity. The foods are not given in the paper. I am very intrigued to know what they were eating.
My 4 month experience with high carb, low fat is over. It was great at first, coming from the very low carb, excessive exercise background. But I've reached the point now where grains and potatoes are causing me breakouts, anxiety, never feeling full. Maybe I'm hypermetabolic or have an allergy, but no matter how many carbs I eat I never feel full and I never gain weight. I hate the feeling and going low fat has caused skin problems and mood problems. Going high carb all I want to do is daydream and zone out while I am doing things. I'm convinced that centering carbs around workouts, then going with protein/fat/veggies for the other meals is the way to go. Everyone's different, but I just wanted to warn anyone that going too high in carbs and too low in fat WILL cause problems. Also be careful of grains if you have a subpar metabolism. It can cause skin problems, joint pain, and anxiety. The Paleo group isn't too far off, but scheduling high carb refeeds post workout is mandatory if you choose low carb the rest of the day.
Hi John
Peter at Hyperlipid would likely say that the high fat is extra Corn Oil, and that at half of the Chow CHO is sucrose.
I've noticed that some rat feedings compare CHO composed of (34% Starch, 34% Sucrose) with Starch 68%, All Sugar 68% Sucrose, Fructose/Starch (34% Fructose, 34% Sucrose) etc.
LeonRover,
Usually in rat/mice ketogenic diets, they use a combination of fats. I'm not concerned about the chow diets, but for the keto diets to have such odd results, I don't know, maybe they did use all corn oil.
Either way, I don't see the point of the paper. They got a little fatter after going from keto to chow. The fact that the keto diet didn't cause fat loss raises a question mark. What conclusion can we draw from this?
I must be pretty dumb, because it took me a while to realise that the tone of Matt's post is ironic.
So basically what this seems to be saying is the same as RRARF, eat starches (potatoes/yams/rice), veggies (for the vitamins and fibre) and some meat/dairy/eggs (for protein and fat). Am I getting the right message?
Hi RyanL,
Good luck to you. I'm thinking that the reason that people feel good going to one extreme of diet, like high carb to low carb, is that their previous way of eating was unbalanced and is now getting what it wasn't getting before. Just like the little old Chinese guys standing in the park that sway back and forth, looking for their "center", perhaps that is what we should be doing. From high carb, go to low carb (but not as low as before), then to higher carb (but not as high as before) until the oscillation settles in the middle near the optimum. Of course it's more variable than just carbs, but that illustrates my point. Maybe the oscillations will settle at something where you vary everything at the daily or weekly level, like a type of carb cycling, or fat cycling, etc.
One question, were you doing any kind of "refeeds", like switching from high carb / low fat, to having a big old fatty steak every now and then?
Thanks for your response Will. No I didn't do any protein/fat refeeds. I was basically high carb every meal, as I was doing my best to stroke the metabolism and up the body temperature. High starch worked fantastic but I completely burned out and my body is showing the consequences. It's from a combination of low fat and grains. Therefore going forward, I'm scheduling one big carb meal post workout and the rest of the day I'm going protein/fat/veggies as this gives me the most stable/consistent/focused energy, where carbs leave me in lala land where all I want to do is sit down/relax/daydream and have this weird anxiety feeling. We'll see how it goes. I'm much more in tuned with my body so if I crave starch I will absolutely refeed it, but I'm at this point a pound of chicken/beef, 30 g of olive oil/coconut oil/, and a bunch of broccoli/spinach is what's keeping me satisified. Carbs just don't give me that full feeling anymore. I'm not going Paleo again by any means, but I'm convinced long term that high carb/low fat is not the way to go. Grains are not all that great either, at least for me. Three well balanced meals just didn't cut it. So I'm going high carb postworkout with low carb the rest of the meals and eliminating grains as they continue to do strange things to my body/mind. I wonder if Matt will run into any problems down the road going high carb, or if scheduling a couple high protein/fat meals, like a big steak and veggies for dinner, a few times a week is good to do. Who knows anymore. Maybe none of the macronutrieint totals even matter and our bodies are just laughing at us because all it wants are calories in any form. Look forward to hearing if anyone else has encountered problems gonig high carb/low fat…
Hi,
Interesting stuff. As I have posted elswhere (The heart Scan Blog) I tend to stay middle of the road. I just try to "eat right" (for me). Once things get too complicated it doesn't seem like eating anymore; it looks more like a lab experiment. C'mon, is eating that dificult? Barring any medical disorders it shouldn't be this hardt…taking temperatures,percentages and ratios etc. I posted this on the Heart Scan blog and I'm copying it here:
"As I browse the internet it amazes me how every blog or forum you visit is a success story. Whether it's high carb, low carb, high protein, low protein, low or high fat and on and on. The followers all swear by their method. Does everything work then? I think it boils down to what works for "YOU." Everyone is different and we each need to tweak our diets to meet our individual needs. But remaining "middle of the road" I have to say that avoiding extremes in either direction is key.
When I see some of the food people are eating I can't believe it. I couldn't survive on such small amounts of food. I get hungry quick and always have no matter what I eat. Lots of meat, lots of fiber, carbs, protein, it doesn't matter. In an hour I'm hungry again. Yet I'm thin…5'10" 169 lbs and fit.
I eat around 3000 cals per day (yesterday was 3,255 calories,420 g carbs, 94g fat, 150 g protein)
For breakfast I eat 1/2 cup organic rolled oats (I soak them with an acid medium overnight) 2 tbsp ground flax, handfull of raisins, 1/2 cup of cottage cheese. I have been eating that for years. A few times per week I add an egg (free range). I eat quinoa daily as well as brown rice (which I soak). Sweet potatoes 2-3 times per week. 1 lb of free range chicken per week in 3 to 5 oz portions and 100 % grass fed ground beef 2 to 4oz once per week. A protein shake with 8 oz raw milk and banana daily. 1/4 cup walnuts and 20 almonds per day. Lot's of fruit and veggies too. My last bloodwork showed LDL 63 HDL 40 (working on that) Triglycerides 67, CRP below 4.
I've been eating up to 2 cups of brown rice and 1/2 cup of beans to try and add a few lbs but I still stay the same and when I workout I lose another 3 lbs. I think my metabolism is very high.
We're all different and we need to address our needs as individuals. I tend to require a lot of food. I'm 53. But what I eat is clean and my body utilizes all of it."
Like you said Tommy, barring any medical problems. I think most of us who surf the web and play around with our diet so much have some sort of medical problem, sometimes physical but in most cases mental. Yes, everything in moderation and balance is key, but it doesn't work for everyone. Looks like you found a nice balance like Clarence Bass going high carb, but it simply doesn't work for everyone. Grains don't agree with me, nor does dairy or fruit or high carb. Yet I can knock down over a pound of meat with 8 oz of broccoli and some added fat and feel full and content. Carbs work for me post workout, but other times of the day they just leave me hungry all the time and my day revolves around food. Like you said, you are always hungry no matter how much you eat and I used to be like that with high carb but I got tired of my day revolving around food. A couple pounds of potatoes postworkout, then meat/veggies/fat for lunch and dinner are what sustains me for 4-6 hours. Everyone's body and mind are different. I think just listening to your body/mind and not "following" a diet is the way to go. Overthinking things is definately not the way to go, but sometimes it's easier said than done.
Ryan,
I'm not without my medical problems. I have always kept a good diet and worked out as well as watched my cholesterol etc, due to family history of heart disease. My numbers have always been good and the doctors always said I was perfect, a model patient and would live forever. After a regular checkup and bloodwork last summer, I got the same results. My numbers were all good and again the doc smiled and said I was doing real good. In October I had a heart attack. A completely collapsed artery. Can't escape genetics I guess. A few months later I was back to running ten flights of stairs carrying a medicine ball, 100 pushups and working 6 rounds on the heavy bag. Now when I go to my cardiologist he says the same as my doctors always said. "I'm a model patient…I wish all my patients wee like you. Yea I know…I'm gonna live forever right? That comment scares me now!! lol. I don't listen to them, I listen to "me" now.
My eating habits were good before but now I tightened them up even more just hoping for the best. I remain thin because I think it's healthier but I tightened up what I eat so much that I can't gain weight if I tried! Not unless I added back in some of the "cheats" I thought I could get away with before. I didn't eat processed food or white rice and flour, sugar etc before but I didn't really worry about it once and awhile either. Now I don't go near it…or bread. But I could eat a lb of meat and be hungry shortly after. Or a lb of Rice and beans and also be hungry in a short while. It's always been like that. Bottom line at the moment is that I feel good, have lots of energy, my weight is good as well as my fitness level. I followed a similar eating pattern (and still do to a degree) as you as far as eating and training goes. But when I work out I lose weight for days and have to fight to get it back. And that food combination still makes me hungry an hour later. After a workout I may eat brown rice and beans, large sweet potatoes, veggies (broccoli/Brussel sprouts), chicken breast, a protein shake, nuts and fruit and 60-90 minutes later I'm searching for a healthy snack! Right now my numbers are good and being thin is better than being overweight so I'll stay on my path and at the same time continue to gather information from all sides while always finding my "middle of the road."
Sorry to hear about the heart attack Tommy. Glad to see you're back healthy again. I suffered the same appetite problems you did when I was competing in marathons, ironmans, etc. That's why I stopped and keep my workouts to 30min a day max, weight lifting, HIIT, no cardio. I was tired of being "that guy" with the super fast metabolism, had to eat every 2 hours, wasn't social because all I thought about was my health, people saying I'll live forever. I looked great, but mentally I wasn't all there. That's what exercise did to me. And obsessing about food/carbohydrates. Matt's articles are really good because they focus on being in good health but at the same time giving people the freedom to say screw it and just eat the food. He's also finding a nice balance between keeping catecholamines high at certain times, but low most of the time through rest and refeeds. Balance is the key, but it's hard because we live in the real world where things have to be done and bosses don't care about our exercise and eating patterns. So to live in today's society and be a functional member of it I think finding the balance between exercise, carbohydrate refeeds, low carb, and being able to sit down with friends and have a pizza withough fear of digestion or health problems is the key. Whatever makes you happy I guess. We're all gonna die sometime no matter what we do, so might as well enjoy it while it lasts.
Matt, was that you on the Cooking Channel in a grilling segment with forest rangers?
Matt, you do realize the link you posted to the guys youtube video (type 1 diabetic) and the study your referring to, is like, mostly raw vegan… Meaning lots of fruit
FRUIT cures diabetes. SUGAR can CURE it!
Raw honey in huge amounts was used by ancient Greek to CURE, not treat, but cure/improve diabetes.
Matt this is a bit random. But is there anyway naturally to reduce thyroid antibodies and increase testosterone, cortisol and thyroid hormone without taking Cortisol, armour, Testosterone gel?
It seems the latter is the only surefire way and diet/supplements is simply only work for very minor cases.
Anonymous,
Ha, that's what a lot of people are ting to figure out. Maybe this is a start:
http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/86/4/1040
*Vitamin A supplement increases t4 w/ out increasing TSH
Also, check out Chris Masterjohn's article "Vitamin A: The Forgotten Bodybuilding Nutrient" for some good info/refs regarding testosterone.
Of course, as always with supplements, they are usually not helpful–perhaps because your metabolism isn't making proper use.
Hi — Does Psyllium Husk count as a resistant starch? If so, is it okay for longer term periodic use or only for short term cleansing use?
I did the Blessed Herbs colon cleanse and used this (psyllium husk) along with bentonite clay and hydrotherapy and my blood sugar was gone for the first time in three years, since I gave birth to my daughter. Even though I have been following a whole foods Weston A Price diet with soaked grains, raw milk, liver, cultured veggies, cod liver oil, little to no sugar, etc, I still had massive blood sugar problems! Since this cleane i can now go 4-6 hours b/t meals and have no cravings or blood suagr issues. I would like to keep it this way and suspect the extra fiber for the Psyllium husk helped.
But am cnfused b/c I also read the Fiber Menace, so not sure if this is safe for longer term use…..
Last spring I sort of did the RRARF with raw milk, but since i have a small child I could not have 30 days of real rest…. It seemed to help, but I gained ten pounds…..so ten I needed to lose 40lbs instead of the 30….
In July, I did the colon cleanse to heal my digestive track. And suspect I will need to do 1-2 more over before next february since my eczema returned and my tounge analysis is still not as it should be. But my massive blood sugar problem seems to have diminished / is gone!!! I believe it is the extra fiber…..
Is it safe to continue with psyllium husk once daily in a smoothie or before bed with water as a resistant starch addition? Or is this too much of a fiber menace on the digestive track long term?
-lg
My Vitamin A,Zinc, D are in good ranges via spectracell.
my mineral status is fine, its my antibodies, high shbg and somewhat low Testosterone thats the problem
Anonymous – Have you considered iodine? The best supplement is Lugol's/Iodoral (same thing, different form). Lugol's helped me reduce my Armour from 2 1/2 pills/day down to 1/day. Iodine is a very common deficiency in America. Iodine is necessary for the thyroid, and also for the production of sex hormones. Read David Brownstein's books on the thyroid and also on iodine.
You may be interested in this WAPF article. It argues against some of Dr. Brownstein's arguments.
Too much iodine can cause an imbalance of selenium and zinc. Here are some studies:
Interactions Between Selenium and Iodine
Single and Multiple Selenium-Zinc-Iodine Deficiencies Affect Rat Thyroid Metabolism and Ultrastructure
Dietary Iodine and Selenium Interact To Affect Thyroid Hormone Metabolism of Rats
Excessive iodine may be toxic to the thyroid gland because it creates free radicals and thus may permanently damage the thyroid.
Even Ray Peat dismisses iodine dosages above 150 mcg per day:
"A dosage of 150 mcg (micrograms, not milligrams, e.g., ug not mg) is a safe amount of iodine. There are excellent references describing the effect of a moderate iodine excess (even below a milligram per day) on the thyroid. An iodine deficiency can cause hypothyroidism (rare now), but so can an excess. Iodine deficiency is an unusual cause of hypothyroidism, except in a few places, like the mountains of Mexico and China, and the Andes."
That's the other problem… i read and everyone as a different approach.. some people are for all types of diets, supplements and some are very against Hormone replacement thearpy..
I was on iodine for some time… i think 25mg. I tested low in iodine via iodine spot urine test.
Sheri,
I see the same thing with blood sugars. I wasn't coming off GAPS though, just a controlled low-carb diet. My postprandial blood sugars are around the same and when I try to force high starch, I see the same thing you did.
Kaylin,
I totally diet crashed today. My rough estimate is that I ate around 8000 calories. It's funny because I'm supposedly not dieting, but my body was definitely annoyed about or demanding something. I think I've had a low-grade hunger going the past few days that I wasn't really sure about.
I will say this though. I was starting to run this low-grade depression, and right now I feel revved up. As in get out of my way. So I have no doubt brain chemicals play a role in a lot of this too. I'm currently reading The Mood Cure, and I've got The Diet Cure and Gut And Psychology Syndrome to go through next. I'm gonna ride this binge out Gabriel style and refocus my efforts. I also have to figure out a motivation why I want the weight back off. I don't think vanity will cut it. An upstaging kind of F you to all the diet dogma of the medical establishment could be a possible reason though. I have to think about that.
I'm still really not sure about the whole high-carb thing, especially with low-protein. If that's not what you're body's telling you to do, then I would say don't do it. I think it's worthwhile to read some of the other books, just to reinforce how important it is to keep getting all the nutrients and amino acids and avoiding the crack foods.
I probably have a vegetable binge coming up here pretty soon. My body will demand it after too much crack/junk food. Why is so much of our food supply junk?
Oh well.
Luming Zhou,
Why are WAPF articles always 10 miles long? Seriously, like we have nothing better to do?
And while I'm at it, one final rant. How the hell do PUFAs keep getting off the hook in the mainstream dogma? Seriously, I can't turn around without tripping over some new fact about how they F up your body. I studied it to death and never found anything but strong evidence you need to have animal fats in your diet. Nutritional science pisses me off.
Well, that didn't take long…about a week or so into my "fruit-fest", I now have have tooth pain and extreme sensitivity to hot and cold foods. I guess that's why we try stuff for more than a few days before declaring it the next great thing! I will be cutting back on the fruit…not sure if I will cut it out altogether…but I am going to add a glass of crappy supermarket milk for awhile to get my teeth back into shape. I should have listened to you Matt!
I'm somewhat in debate with consuming high fat and maintaining quality muscle. It's most important to take in carbohydrates before a workout. Other times of the day your body can depend on fat as it's primary source of fuel.
Then there is the fact that higher carbohydrate, especially starches with fiber, raises leptin levels and may raise testosterone far more so than fat can. This thing he said about muscle fibers though, I would still think your muscle fiber development is affected by the carbs you take in before a workout and that the higher fat you take in for the rest of the day shouldn't affect it. Starches are much better than simple carbohydrate because they digest slower so 100% gets converted to glycogen.
Did anyone have any problems with a high fat diet who made sure to take in higher carbohydrate before a work out?
Some reasons the people were able to reverse type 2 diabetes in those studies were they went to eating high nutrient whole foods, took in more fiber, and more slow digesting starches. The high fat group were most likely taking in lots of vegetables oils and margarine which makes diabetes even worse.
Daniel Holt,
Many professional athletes/trainers/bodybuilders/etc have articles on their diets. Some like high fat (Dave Palumbo, Charles Poliquin), while some like high carb (Jay Cutler). There are two female pro BBs at my gym who eat ketogenic diets without carb refeeds, but I'm sure you can easily find others who eat 1000 carbs per day with minimal fat.
Letting your appetite guide your macro nutrient intake may be helpful as long as you stick to real foods…
Louming Zhou, I haven't had a chance to read the articles yet, but I don't agree that iodine deficiency-induced hypothyroidism is unique to those remote regions in Mexico and China, etc. Americans consume large amounts of fluoride, chlorine, and bromide (abundant in almost all commercial baked goods), which are all halides like iodine, and displace iodine in the body. Extra iodine is necessary to flush the other toxic halides out and load up the thyroid and other tissues all over the body. High amounts of iodine could be harmful in some long term, but Dr. Brownstein recommends "iodine loading", which is taking large amounts for 6 months or a year to build up the body's iodine stores, and then cutting back to a maintenance dose. I keep going back to my chiro and getting muscle tested, and my body is still saying I need high amounts. My thyroid blood tests also show that taking large doses of iodine has effectively decreased my need for Armour Thyroid medication. In some regions of Japan people eat 50-100 mg (not mcg) of iodine every day because they eat so much seaweed and their thyroids are doing quite well.
AaronF, I think you're right about moods. Gut and Psychology Syndrome is one of my favorite books. I never understood digestion so well before reading it! Being on the GAPS diet cured my gluten intollerance and cleared up a whole bunch of other symptoms in myself and my children. However, I definitely don't recommend eating baked goods made out of ground nuts like the book says to do. It destroyed my son's teeth. Six months after coming off the diet I'm still loading him back up with minerals and vitamin D3 to strengthen his teeth.
And I know that everyone has their own motivation for wanting to lose weight, but mine is definitely vanity. After losing almost 40 pounds, getting compliments from almost everyone I know, and then gaining it all back when I started messing around with iodine and my thyroid medication dose, I'm miserable. Could be a girl thing. Guys don't have to wear fitted clothing. You guys can argue if you want to, but I think all of us girls would agree that an extra 20 pounds on a guy isn't nearly as detrimental to him as an extra 20 pounds on a girl is.
Louming Zhou, I haven't had a chance to read the articles yet, but I don't agree that iodine deficiency-induced hypothyroidism is unique to those remote regions in Mexico and China, etc. Americans consume large amounts of fluoride, chlorine, and bromide (abundant in almost all commercial baked goods), which are all halides like iodine, and displace iodine in the body. Extra iodine is necessary to flush the other toxic halides out and load up the thyroid and other tissues all over the body. High amounts of iodine could be harmful in some long term, but Dr. Brownstein recommends "iodine loading", which is taking large amounts for 6 months or a year to build up the body's iodine stores, and then cutting back to a maintenance dose. I keep going back to my chiro and getting muscle tested, and my body is still saying I need high amounts. My thyroid blood tests also show that taking large doses of iodine has effectively decreased my need for Armour Thyroid medication. In some regions of Japan people eat 50-100 mg (not mcg) of iodine every day because they eat so much seaweed and their thyroids are doing quite well.
AaronF, I think you're right about moods. Gut and Psychology Syndrome is one of my favorite books. I never understood digestion so well before reading it! Being on the GAPS diet cured my gluten intollerance and cleared up a whole bunch of other symptoms in myself and my children. However, I definitely don't recommend eating baked goods made out of ground nuts like the book says to do. It destroyed my son's teeth. Six months after coming off the diet I'm still loading him back up with minerals and vitamin D3 to strengthen his teeth.
And I know that everyone has their own motivation for wanting to lose weight, but mine is definitely vanity. After losing almost 40 pounds, getting compliments from almost everyone I know, and then gaining it all back when I started messing around with iodine and my thyroid medication dose, I'm miserable. Could be a girl thing. Guys don't have to wear fitted clothing. You guys can argue if you want to, but I think all of us girls would agree that an extra 20 pounds on a guy isn't nearly as detrimental to him as an extra 20 pounds on a girl is.
Hey Tommy,
Yours isn't the first story I've heard about someone very fit and eating very well to have a heart attack, stroke, etc. I would love to be able to figure that one out.
If you don't mind, could you give us some details of how you were eating, exercising, and sleeping during that time? It just doesn't make sense for someone who is fit and seemingly healthy to have heart problems. Even Jack LaLanne just had some sort of heart surgery (I think it was a valve). I never would have thought that he would EVER have any kind of issue with his heart.
Puzzling.
Thanks Tommy!
Tommy,
From what you posted, the only things that I would think that would have a negative effect would be the protein shakes or the nuts. Everything else looks stellar. You would make a great experiment, LOL!
@Real Will,
Yea, everyone was shocked. My diet consisted of small meals every 2-3 hrs. 1/2 cup rolled oats with 1 tbsp ground flax and a handfull of raisins, 1/2 cup cottage cheese every morning. Whole grain bread (sometimes sprouted wheat) with a tbsp fresh ground peanut butter mid morning. Salad for lunch with plain tuna or a veggie burger for lunch on whole wheat bread (2 slices. Mid afternoon snack of nuts or fruit or something small…yogurt. Dinner was quinoa or brown rice with chicken and veggies. Another snack before bed of whatever I could find. A few (7 or 8) tortilla chips and salsa. Nuts etc. I drank skim milk but not a lot. No sweets. Pasta sometimes. Chinese food steamed (chicken and veggies. I ate the white rice with that. I ate rice and beans also. No soda in many years. I drank moderate coffee. Never fast food in too many yers to remember.
I didn't drink shakes before. I added the protein shake now just to get a little extra protein. That is my one 8 oz glass of milk per day (I now drink raw milk)to which I add a scoop of whey and a banana. I no longer drink skim and I only have 8 oz of milk per day. I no longer eat bread or pasta (or wheat) no sugar no flour no white rice etc. I soak my rice in an acid medium as well as my oats and legumes. I go right to the farm for my eggs, milk, chicken and ground beef and I see the chickens eating right outside the door and all around the farm. Same for the cows…grass to the end!! I was a fighter and a coach and was still fighting up to my heart attack. 5'10 and 183 lbs. I'm now 169. I'm back to training but I don't fight anymore. I got 7-8 hours sleep per night and still do. My cholesterol at the time was HDL 65, LDL 126, Triglycerides 87 total 191 and ratio 2.94. BP was normal also. I've been training most of my life and very seriously for the last 30 years. I never slowed down because I never had to…I felt good and still fought and trained with the 20 and 30 year olds. My dad had his first attack at age 49. Mine was 52. His third killed him. His first , they say, was just like mine. Even the type of pain. But I'm back to training again since 4-5 months after my attack. Things are a little different but you would never know I was sick. I know (barely) but I'm still ahead of a lot of the younger guys. Docs say it's because of what I was doing "before" my heart attack. Be prepared.
The more I read the Paleo websites, the more articles I see about carbohydrates. Most fall under the theme that the body doesn't 'need' carbohydrates, but you're metabolism does. Very true. One can go low carb and feel great but a carb meal every now and then is a must. Very easy to do post workout. Guys at my gym either fall into high carb low fat, or low carb high fat. But the one constant is moderate-high protein. A high protein, low carb, low fat diet is a disaster, but a moderate-high protein diet with either high carb or high fat is ideal. Looking and talking to the guys at my gym I don't see much difference. I think the low carb guys are angrier and more intense though. Guess it comes down to personal preference, lifestyle, and listening to your body. Another constant I see is NO cardio. All strength training and HIIT. After years of doing marathons and triathlons, I'm convinced steady state cardio is not healthy at all. Makes one too hypermetabolic and over reliant on exercise and carbs, which leads to increased sugar, grain, fructose, and low saturated fat intakes. I certainly don't want to look like a Kenyan marathoner. Or if you look at some people who are overweight doing marathons and triathlons and wonder why they workout so much and actually put on weight. Excessive exercise will end terribly because long term it puts one in to much of a calorie deficit and over-reliant on the exact things Matt says to avoid because they lower body temperature and cause diabetes. Even though Matt is on the high carb bandwagon now, I think the verdict is still out on whether a high carb diet is better than high fat. A person's mental and physical health are more determinant than any blog.
Tommy:
Your story is not very encouraging. You can do everything right and still end up with a heart attack. What is your basal temperature? Sounds like you have a high metabolism though. What about your blood sugar, FBG and PP?
Tommy, do you know which artery it was that collapsed? Also, I guess they didn't find any calcium deposits, did they?
Tommy,
Wow…it's hard to find much of anything wrong with your diet with our current understanding of nutrition.
Do you think maybe excessive training/overtraining?
What do you think went wrong?
Again, puzzling.
Kaylin said:
"I think all of us girls would agree that an extra 20 pounds on a guy isn't nearly as detrimental to him as an extra 20 pounds on a girl is."
I definitely agree! I personally don't think an extra 20 lbs on a guy is a big deal. In fact, I would barely even notice it. I do not feel the same way about myself!
Also, in my mind what kind of exercise you do depends on a couple things: one, how much time do you have to exercise each week? If it's only a couple hours I would focus on resistance exercise only. Two, what do you enjoy? There's a whole lot of different training methods out there, even for just resistance work. Yoga, pilates, classic bodyweight exercises, etc. I personally choose to mix it up a lot, but I still lean the most toward bodyweight and free weight exercises.
I have to run…busy busy…will write more later. The doctors said it's genetics from my father and by being in the condition I was I saved myself and have no permanent damage. But they say that there is no way I would have avoided it. Somehow I grew a little plaque and it burst. The junk inside plaque is a coagulant and clots the blood. Actually I have another 40-60% blockage in an artery at the bottom of my heart that they are treating with statins (supposedly statins stabilize the plaque from breaking). I don't believe it so I'm using my own regiment of diet, fish oil and looking into niacin. I may have small particle LDL? That could account for the numbers being meaningless in my bloodwork. Who knows.
Tommy: You are saying that no matter what you did with your life/diet/exercise that this heart attack would have occurred but that you would not have survived it. That,mostly, it's your Dad's genetics to blame.
I have to say that I share this family genetic sort of thing.. only mine is leukemia. My fathers mother (my grandma) died of leukemia I think when she was around 60?, then her son, my father died at 58 of a rare form of leukemia. I got dx with CLL chronic lymphocytic leukemia at age 48.. but so far, it is staying slow and low.. the tempo that I like.. stage one..
Like you, I feel that exercising, eating good whole foods and lots of good sleep make all the difference in outliving our genetics.
I hope you live a long healthy life with no more heart issues.
You CAN change your genetics or at least deal with them better. We are proof of that!
deb
Dr. Poppy here: Tommy, did you take any supplements at the time? Do you now? Besides your FLP, did you have any information on: Vitamin D, CRP, magnesium, zinc, homocysteine, lipoprotein (a), fibrinogen levels? I know everyone is anti-supplement around here, but as a clinician, I test and add supplements for deficiencies, then retest; objective data is important. Some of the healthiest people were all Vit D deficient…would never know by looking at them, ditto for iodine deficiency, hormone deficiency. Some people need more support than just dietary changes and I like Jordan Rubin's take which is that you will see sick and healthy vegans, omnivores, raw foodists, etc. We can't always account for genetic factors that haven't even been identified yet.
@ Betsy. the artery was the PDA (posterior descending artery}.
Debbie
Not surviving was a possibility but not a definite conclusion. I suffered what they termed a moderate event but if not for my prior conditioning and diet it would have been worse or fatal according to the doctors…who knows. But I just alter my path and just keep on keepin' on.
I feel great, have lots of energy and my mood is good. I'm not as strong as I was but then again I'm a lot lighter and not doing any heavy weight training.I'm only advised to do light weight high rep. I've attempted heavier lifts but it made me nervous and I figured there was no point to it. Now I stay middle of the road in my eating. Not low or high anything.
I can see a flaw in Tommy's lifestyle. Stress. Keeping up with a very regimented diet-exercise routine can be very stressful. I hope you are replacing some of those reps with an occasional nap, dude.
The answer is not to be even more perfect with your diet and exercise. It is to take relaxation seriously.
I just got back from five days of lying on the beach, drinking beer (did you know they put fat tire in cans? Yes!) and existing on a pork-based diet. Talk about a fat refeed. My hair and skin took a much needed rest from the high starch low fat routine. The sun + fat are better than spending a week at a spa. Digestion is A+ again. I'm craving rice and sweet potatoes again.
I like the idea that we find balance by moving from one extreme to another. I can see myself going in for low fat high starch in the summer and higher fat lower carb in the winter. Milk madness in the spring. It's a diet wacko cycle of the seasons.
I would like to add that the store where we bought most of our provisions has a large neon pig on the front.
http://www.fdmeats.com/
Best invention ever:
http://thefullpint.com/beer-news/fat-tire-rolls-out-cans
Ben-
Yeah, that was totally me on the Food Network. It was filmed in 2005. I have a DVD of it and hope to figure out how to upload it to youtube someday.
Sheri-
It's normal coming off a low-carb diet to have big increases in blood sugar. In my experience, this is an indicator of impaired glucose metabolism, but the name of the game should be fixing it, not avoiding carbs. A low-carb diet for dealing with poor glucose metabolism is a last resort, not a first line of defense.
lg-
I do think the fiber and also resistant starch are huge game changers when it comes to high-carbohdyrate eating. In fact, when pursuing a high body temperature, increased leptin and insulin sensitivity, and all that comes with it – fiber and resistant starch are more or less the best-looking performers. I would prefer upping the intake of natural, intact fiber by eating more beans or something like that vs. psyllium husk. My response to psyllium in the past has always been poor – but you never know. But there's no question that fiber is the component in the diet that healed people of diabetes in the study Robby mentions (which was not a vegan fruitarian diet – but contained meat and dairy).
Leon-
Sweet study. Agree with John that it was odd that they did not reduce calorie intake and body fat on a ketogenic diet. Still, everyone knows that that is the typical response from going from keto back to mixed eating. That's also the response from going from extreme exercise to low exercise. Or low-calorie to high-calorie.
Ryan-
Even now I haven't gone more than 3-4 days without meat/dairy/fat. I have been adding more fat back in slowly to get into better balance as well. Coconut flakes, a little more butter, a few nuts. Makes all the difference in the world.
Tommy-
Only 1 doctor to my knowledge ever had any real tangible results with reducing heart attacks – and that was Broda Barnes, who focused exclusively on body temperature and thought that heart disease was entirely hereditary. What we're exploring here is the possibility that:
a) It's mostly NOT hereditary
b) Diet and lifestyle changes can improve body temperature more effectively and more safely than thyroid medication
What I can tell you personally, is that exercise functions as sort of psuedo metabolism. It raises adrenal hormones and endorphins and gives a feeling of energy and vitality. But in reality, exercise has shown me time and time again that it lowers my body temperature or has no effect at best. The larger the quantity, the bigger the fall in body temperature.
Broda Barnes never said that a healthy diet or exercise did diddley squat for preventing heart attacks. It was keeping the body temperature high that did it, regardless of what the diet consisted of.
But I argue based on history and personal observation that poor diet, stress, and overexercising cause low body temperature – even hereditary low body temperature.
Will-
Totally. Fruit feels good from time to time, but my repeated experience has been tooth pain as the first downside which surfaces in a few days, followed by others. The fact that Melvin Page, another of the most successful doctors in actual clinical practice saw the need to restrict it in order to reverse tooth decay as well as bring blood sugar back to the ideal range is very telling.
?Even fruits, which are wholesome foods, should be eaten in moderation. The body can be overloaded with natural sugar. Refined sugar is such a harmful food, being a major factor in causing degenerative ills, that it may well be the one food that could lead us to be a nation of physically sick people.
Thanks, Matt!
?Even fruits, which are wholesome foods, should be eaten in moderation. The body can be overloaded with natural sugar. Refined sugar is such a harmful food, being a major factor in causing degenerative ills, that it may well be the one food that could lead us to be a nation of physically sick people.
And what evidence does great Melvin provide to proove his theory? Why should sugar be more harmful to the teeth than starch? All people I know agree with me that white flour for instance is much more a problem than sugar.
Is tooth decay a sign of poor insulin sensitivity then?
For starters, fruit is more acidic. You cannot have tooth decay without the first step in the process, which is acid wearing away tooth enamel. This usually results from overly-acidic saliva (from impaired calcium:phosphorous ratios Page suspected), not necessarily direct contact with acidic substances, but both can do the trick.
Melvin Page was not a theorist. Melvin Page was a realist. He used trial and error to come up with what worked, and the sugar-free diet was what he found to make glucose metabolism healthy again in those with impaired glucose metabolism.
But that's cool that you are willing to negate his career because you don't respond that way to sugar.
Page also demanded a deletion of white flour if that makes you happy, and was a strong proponent of animal fat. Once again, this is not something he gleaned from a study or put together as part of a theory. He just did what worked, and used glandulars to help those who could not heal themselves with dietary changes alone.
I just wanted to say how grateful I am for the information that you, Matt, have coalesced and put forth to help those wandering in the wilderness. I am doing RRARF for about 10 days, and even though I have gained some weight, I am starting to feel so much better. Aches and pains going away, much better physical and mental energy. Your sense of humor is refreshing, mixed in with your primo scientific investigations. And, on top of that, I'm learning to cook. For $35, it's one of the best deals on the planet. I was very ill back in 2002, almost died with heart problems, but now, armed with this cutting edge nutrition info, I feel I am finally on the way back.
Matt,
You said "Even now I haven't gone more than 3-4 days without meat/dairy/fat. I have been adding more fat back in slowly to get into better balance as well. Coconut flakes, a little more butter, a few nuts. Makes all the difference in the world."
When you mention "better balance" what kind of macronutrient ratios are you leaning toward or thinking are good?
And when you mention "makes all the difference…" what are you noticing?
Hello again, in addition, as a jew growing up in New York, eating pig was not a jewish thing to do (it's supposed to be an unclean animal and I think the cloven hoof has something to do with it, but now I realize it was hogwash, hehe). What's your take on combining meat and dairy products such as a cheeseburger or a nice glass of milk with your steak? The jews have considered this a dietary no-no for centuries.
Thanks Carl and good luck. Milk with a steak sounds like a little protein overkill, but who the hell could eat a burger without cheese on it?
The Jews seem to have cultivated more wisdom on finance and investment than diet, Lol!
Tyler-
In a former blog post I mentioned that I was really enthusiastic about and doing well on a high-starch/low-fat diet, and thought a lot of this had to do with needing to overcome some imbalances that I got eating a low-carb diet for several years. So yes, for a time I was eating about 10% of my calories as fat. But that's not really sustainable long-term, not for me at least.
But now I'm coming back and enjoying more fats, but still probably 20% of calories. Maybe that will evolve to 30% or 40% before I really find my "sweet spot," but who knows.
By "all the difference in the world" I was referring to the comment made earlier by Ryan that stated he had all kinds of problems from eating very, very low fat for 4 months continuously. If he had eaten some meat and fat here and there his fate might have been different.
Matt,
Thanks for holding the sugar line against all comers. I find myself easily influenced on the topic of sugar, even after noting years of negative personal, anecdotal and clinical evidence. It's just so easy to ignore all the bad stuff I know about it when a chocolate milkshake is staring me in the face.
Doing VLC, I turned to sugar substitutes daily. In hindsight I feel pretty stupid about that. But whatever. The question is, what now?
When I started RRARRFing back in February, I was pretty much off the sugar train, in that I didn't have cravings and could refuse it in most situations without discomfort. But as I got more into the spirit of letting rules go, sugar slipped back in, to the point that now I'm back to being an addict. I don't crave it daily, but when I do I get really grumpy until I have some.
So what now? I know you've mentioned in the past that it takes you several weeks (or was it months?) of strict abstinence to kick the addictive feelings. I'd really like to be able to have a dessert once a week or so without it triggering cravings, or go on vacation and completely not worry about what I'm eating. But how do I know when it's "safe"? Are there clues? How do I know if something will trigger cravings BEFORE I eat it?
And for what it's worth, I don't tolerate white flour very well either, but I never get angry if I can't have it.
Carl, so I guess bacon-wrapped corn on the cob is right out? Tis a pity.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/bacon-wrapped-grilled-corn-on-the-cob-recipe/index.html
Jennythenipper said:
I can see a flaw in Tommy's lifestyle. Stress. Keeping up with a very regimented diet-exercise routine can be very stressful. I hope you are replacing some of those reps with an occasional nap, dude…
I interpreted your post to mean we need built in cheat days along with rest etc. To be honest I think that was my downfall. I do rest and I do take time to smell the roses. Me and my wife would eat out every Saturday. We have been on a cruise every year the last 3 with other small weekend vacations inbetween. I believed in the "it's not what you do the last 15% that matters it's the 85%." I was good with diet and exercise and that made me comfortable enough to enjoy myself once and awhile. On Saturday at the restaurants I would try to make good choices but often had ribs and beer. At times I would devour a whole Pizza Pie myself not worrying because I would work it off the next day. On my cruise I would think what the hell….8 days is nothing compared to all the "good" days I put in. I didn't exercise on the cruise, I drank and I ate things I normally don't. I gained 14 lbs and then worked it off within a after coming home. My cheat days were few but they were my downfall IMO looking back. Too much complacency from the confidence of the 85% of the time being good can be dangerous. I'm going on another cruise in a few weeks and this time I am being cautious. Somehow I think the last one had some bearing on my heart attack a month later. Exercise will be done every morning.
I think that with my family history, the cheat days tend to be the days my arteries sneak in a little plaque. My body must be prone to forming that stuff. Little cheats for me may be equivalent to bigger ones for normal people…who knows. It's the best I can figure.
Matt, can you comment on the iodine disagreement? I'd like to know what you think about the WAPF position that too much iodine can damage the thyroid. Dr. Brownstein seems to have better reasons why it doesn't damage the thyroid (in my opinion), but if too much iodine can damage the thyroid I'd really like to know as I take quite a bit to keep my Armour Thyroid dose low. I really don't want to permanently damage my thyroid in my attempt to nourish it.
On sugar, I can get that refined sugar is bad, but I'm still wondering about the fruit. How do we break down an apple vs. a tomato say? I mean it's that time of the year and the apples and tomatoes around here are pretty good.
Also, what if a peach just tastes really really good?
AaronF,
I think the only way to know would be personal experimentation. There aren't studies that I know of that replace refined sucrose with fruit calories or vice versa. Maybe the cariogenicity of foods is important. You can do a pubmed search on that–but I've seen mixed results. The overall effect on the body is a guess though. Personally, my digestion is much better with fruit than with "sugar" as in Haagen Daz or something (I eat cream and eggs all the time, so that's controlled).
PEACHES!
slurp slurp..
yes, My Name is Debbie and I am a fruitaholic.
and I need to get sober.
shit on a stick, last thing I wanted to hear.. but I need to listen to Matt's expert research.. and get off the sweet stuff.
I have weaned off of stevia, I Know, it's "the good sweetener" but I suspected even that was tripping me up. So No sweeteners for me, even my beloved raw honey.
So a few berries, an apple a day (to keep pesky Oncologists away..) and the rest will be.. well, it's won't be fruit.
damn.
Dannyelle,
I'm currently working through The Mood Cure and The Diet Cure by Julia Ross. I haven't started The Diet Cure yet, but The Mood Cure has a Food Craving Tool Kit in the back of it. It's not something you can just put a finger on. There are a number of possible causes: depleted brain chemistry, low-calorie dieting, blood sugar instability, low thyroid, hormone imbalance, yeast overgrowth, etc.
I got these books, along with Gut And Psychology Syndrome because others have been talking about them and they're covered over at The Nourished Life as well. I would recommend them just for all the knowledge they contain.
Matt, this is kind of an off topic question… but I was wondering if anemia can be overcome? I just found out that I'm anemic, so I've been meaning to ask.
Thanks Aaron for the book recommends. I got 'em on hold at the library now.
Dr. Poppy here: Are you really asking Matt about what do with your thyroid and iodine dose? Nor are Ray Peat, Chris Kresser or Masterjohn,or Stephan Guyenet medical doctors…something can be so elegant and plausible in theory and even in physiological terms, can be completely unpredictable when you are applying all these complex factors to the human body in real time; it is not so simplistic and DOES frequently require objective data to sort out.
Dr. Poppy, I am not asking Matt to recommend a thyroid or iodine dosage for me. I have worked closely with my doctor to get the proper dose of medication. There is much controversey about what an adequate intake of iodine is, even among doctors. All I want to know is, as far as Matt's read, if a person takes iodine doses in the mg, instead of mcg range, is it possible to damage the thyroid? My doctor knows that I'm taking iodine, but he really knows nothing about the importance of it, or how much a person should take. He thinks iodized salt is good enough. My blood tests have proved otherwise. Do you have information on whether mg doses are generally safe?
Kaylin-
I know, just like most issues, there's a wedge driven between two points of view on iodine. On the one hand you have doctors like Mark Starr and Datis Kharrazian saying no way on iodine supplementation for those with autoimmune thyroiditis. Then you have the Brownstein cult that recommends taking absolutely retarded amounts of iodine and say it is the divine cure for a jillion different things.
I still haven't read Brownstein. It's on my desk. If anyone has a miracle Brownstein story please let me know. Actual testimonies from real people that I've heard totals a whopping ZERO right now. Granted, many of the negative things I've heard could legitimately be a halide detox, which is part of the reason for the megadose.
Danyelle-
When I really well and rest up my sugar cravings go away in about 3 days. Although supplements like what Julia Ross recommends can be helpful, I seem to hear few reports of people not overcoming sugar cravings while overfeeding on a high-starch diet with plenty of fat and protein to go with it and not too much physical activity.
I still think you should eat it once per week, but keep it controlled. As long as you overcome sugar cravings and then space your sugar feedings at least several days apart you won't rekindle the flames.
Matt, why do you think it's good to eat sugar once a week?
I've found that I can tolerate starches and fruit in large amounts now, but sweets still make me feel very crappy. Eating refined sugar gives me dark rings under the eyes. My conclusion is, I just don't eat dessert, and I don't miss it as long as I eat enough and healthy food.
Want a Brownstein story? I don't know how miraculous you'd consider it, but after being on thyroid medication for 11 years (since age 19), I reduced my Armour dose from 2 1/2 grains/day to 1 grain/day within 6 months. (a grain is 60 mg, I believe). I got the okay from my doctor, took 1/2 tablet of Iodoral, and started my period 1 hour later (after not having it at all over a year while breastfeeding). Ya think my hormones needed a little kick? I started on a very low dose of iodine and monitored my basal temp. I would increase my dose a little, watch my temp go up for the next few days, then when it dropped again I increased my dose a little more. Eventually I was up to 125 mg iodine/day and my thyroid kicked in enough that my T3 and T4 were too high and I had to reduce my dose of Armour. Now, a year later, I've significantly reduced my iodine intake, and my blood tests are perfect on one tablet of Armour a day. I don't know if I'll ever get completely off my meds. My doc. thinks maybe a virus permanently damaged my thyroid and I have scar tissue. I may never know. But the huge list of hypothyroid symptoms that I put up with for 11 years, even while taking Armour, are gone.
I've really been trying to go to bed earlier (i.e. rest more) but lately I just can't fall asleep before 11:00. Which is especially weird since my entire life I've never had any problem falling asleep. This is new with the advent of upping my starch and lowering fat and trying to avoid sugar. Of course, last night after my small sugar binge I fell right asleep at 10.
I've tried all the tricks – don't watch tv or computer before bed, eat most of my protein and fat in the morning/midday, big pile of starch/vegetables for dinner about 3-4 hours before bed, making sure it's completely dark. I think this is another reason I was kind of believing some of the sugar hype – it does a great job of knocking me out at night. On the other hand, so does alcohol, but drunk sleep is obviously inferior.
I'm pretty sure you mentioned before that the high unrefined starch was giving you good sleep with lots of dreams, but so far that hasn't happened to me with starch, even lots of resistant starch. I've experienced it with sugar. I want to be happy with starch but my sleep is not cooperating in that area.
No Tommy, what Matt said about Broda Barnes and body temperature has a direct effect on what I'm saying. Exercise can be a body temp killer. Getting up early to work out, etc. is stressful. Were you getting enough calories for the work outs you were doing? Exercising on too few calories is another body temp killer. Seriously, replace some of that gym time with sack time and you are on the right track. Matt's overfeeding strategy is one way to get the temps back up and heal your body. It probably wasn't your cheat days that undid you. It was your good days. This is 180 degree health dude.
Matt's suggestion was to start monitoring your body temps. Check out his metabolism e-book for more details on this.
@Danyelle,
I have been eating two tablespoons of honey and a banana before bed(9pm eat, 9:30 in bed) to try and eliminate my 4am night wakings, and also get rid of the got hit by a truck messed up adrenal wake up grogginess!
Someone mentioned something about liver glycogen stores and T4 to T3 conversion using liver glycogen. And would seem that only fructose fills liver glycogen… not sure if that is correct.
So far it is starting to help and is pushing the wake back to 6am, I will continue for awhile to see if this improves.
I am also eating 5 to 6 pieces of fruit per day, displacing some of my starch intake. So far appetite is normal, emotions are normal. Acne is more pronounced now, but I will give it some time and see what happens. BM's are much better… added fibre!
Dr. Poppy here. Matt, I would assume you know people can apply the terms "cult" and "retarded" to many different people and their philosophies, including yours…however, Dr. Brownstein is a medical doctor who does testing and treats actual patients and gets excellent results. He is a follower of Broda Barnes who also got excellent results. I also have had several patients who have been able to reduce their Armour dosage when they started on Iodine, but I agree with Kaylin, that often it take a long time and high doses to improve thyroid functioning. Do I think it is the answer to everything…NO, again my broken record stance: It is too complex; in some people, it is thyroid, in some adrenal, in some sex hormones, in some purely diet, in some over-exercise, in some all of the above…too much fruit can cause many, many problems in people. Some feel great and excel on a mostly raw, vegan diet…some (women in particular) totally screw up their hormone balance on such a diet…there is no ONE right way.
Kaylin-
Thanks. That was a beauty.
Danyelle-
Lots of people have trouble sleeping without sugar. It's very common. Sugar and alcohol both spike serotonin, which most people need to have fairly high to be able to go to sleep and stay asleep. My own father, for example, when he did 60 days on a no-sugar diet had all kinds of improvements and lost 14 pounds but couldn't sleep to save his life.
Hans-
This stems back to our conversation on dopamine and the flavor-calorie theory. If you eat a low-pleasure center activating diet you run in circles if your receptor sites become too upregulated. Then you become hypersensitive to refined foods and the fat:carb combo like those coming off of a highly-restricted diet discover (whether former low-carbers, or Pima Indians).
At least, that's the conjecture surrounding that idea. I agree that it is very hard to want to eat sugar or whatever if you are not habitually eating it – as you completely lose your desire for it over time. But there may be a legitimate reason to do it. Maybe not. It was just an idea worth exploring and is a common theme amongst those that truly have been successful at obtaining great leanness with no apparent negative consequences.
Lisa E, AaronF and Matt,
Thank you so much for replying and for your help.
Lisa E, AaronF- did your blood glucose numbers eventually stabilize and if so, how long did it take?
Matt, is it normal to have difficulty getting full coming from lowish carb/high fat to high carb/lowish fat? The amount of food it takes to overfeed is alarming.
My fasting glucose numbers aren’t great but are at least under 100 now. My 1 hour postprandial glucose readings also have a way to go as they are still in the 120’s and 130’s but at least they aren’t in the 190’s anymore. I’ll just keep plugging away at RRARF. I can report I’m sleeping like a rock after years upon years of bad sleep. I cut the small amount of fruit/honey coming off of GAPS into RRARF so I don’t know if it’s the lack of fruit, the high starches/lower fat or both, but something is making sleep so much better. My husband is having the same improved sleep results as well.
Yeah, a 60 mg/dl drop in postprandial blood glucose readings in less than a week.
And yes, it's normal to be hungry, hungry coming from low-carb, but just go with it. As you can see your insulin sensitivity is approaching the superhuman level. You can work more fats back in later once your blood glucose numbers are more like fasting – 85, pp – 100 on a high-starch meal and your temps are up.
Matt, now that I am fruit free as it were.. is it ok for me to eat the yams/sweet potatoes? Don't want to trigger any sweet cravings or spike insulin etc.
sorry if this is a dumb question, brain is in a bit of fog right now.
Dr. Poppy, you're not in IL are you? If you were within 100 mi. I'd come see you! My doctor doesn't know anything but prescribing medication so I'm on my own for the rest. You're 1 in a million.
Matt's overfeeding strategy is one way to get the temps back up and heal your body. It probably wasn't your cheat days that undid you. It was your good days. This is 180 degree health dude.
I've been at this for a long time and have experimented through the years. For me, cutting back on bad foods and increasing the good always resulted in good labs. Flip flopping that and eating more freely, even while still trying to stay at least somewhat on track screwed me up. Lab wise as well as energy wise. But that's neither here nor there, we are all different. I do have a question from all of this though; about overfeeding. Reading through Matts' stuff I have seen this idea of overfeeding or consuming more food etc. Is this keeping the metabolism up? If so, then my question is, is there a difference between doing fewer big feedings and doing more often smaller (or moderate) feedings? I have always eaten up to 7 (sometimes 8) times per day and when training hard, before my attack, all the meals were substantial. Inbetween meals/snacks were always over 200 calories and more often than not over 300. On diets like that I was able to control my weight (much to the amazement of those around me). I still eat multiple meals as I don't believe in filling myself anymore. But I eat many times (sometimes every hour) per day and my metabolism is very "up." Sometimes I'm just standing or walking for no reason except excess energy. Does it matter how you ingest the calories or does it have to be fewer "bigger overfeeds?"
Thanks
Fantastic question Tommy and thanks for your input. That's all up for debate.
Debbie-
Restricting simple sugars is not about avoiding insulin spikes, as your insulin will spike a lot higher after a starch meal than say, a fruit meal of equal calories.
Yams are sweet because of the free glucose in them, and yes, they can make it harder for someone wanting to try a sugar-free excursion to see what happens. They are a healthy food, but it's up to you and your discretion as to whether or not they are keeping your sweet tooth alive.
Thanks Mr. Stone. maybe I will stay off the yams for now.
Anyone get a good NO fruit, no sweeteners smoothie recipe?
might be the end of those green smoothies too…
xo
What I like about what I have been reading here is that it isn't far off from how I already eat. In the E-Book Matt said:
"All you have to do is eat wholesome,
quality foods to appetite, not make any major dietary restriction such as eating a low-carb or
vegan diet, keep your exercise and workloads within reasonable parameters, and go about living
your life."
I already do this with similar percentages of carb/fat/protein to his 60/30/10. Even the foods I eat are the same. Brown rice, potatoes,beans, raw milk, eggs etc. Ok…I add a few things Matt doesn't promote, like a handful of walnuts and a few almonds but I counter that with Omega 3 consumption.
He also gave examples of problems one might be experiencing. I suffer none of those and I get 8 hrs of sleep. No matter what has happened to me I still consider myself healthy and in trying to figure out my future it's usually daunting looking at extreme changes that some advise. Reading what I have been reading has been comforting because it is closer to what I already do which makes me think I have it right. I'm not going to stress about eating. It shouldn't have to be a damn science project. I'm sure there were healthy people before the internet. They just ate.
And they ate real food. I don't crave any of that stuff because I imagine it hasn't been invented yet. I say invented because if it isn't wholesome it was probably designed in a lab and then made in a factory (processed). I eat what grows either from the earth or flesh.
Thanks for all the info.
Dr. Poppy here. @Kaylin, I am in southeast MO, I do phone consults for people out of the area. http://www.drpoppy.com
You must not read scott abels stuff if you think he endorses supplements for anything. Scott is as anti supplement as they get nowdays… I don't know where you pulled up that statement about scott endorsing a product for leptin. It is complete bullcrap.
BIGRED, the term "supplement" is vague. Whether if a food is a supplement or not depends on the definition of the word "supplement." Some people consider coconut oil as a supplement, because it has antiviral, antimicrobial, and antifungal properties which can be justified into taking it itself. Some people consider salt as a supplement, because salt is already is some natural foods.
Sorry for the rambling, but some low-carbers can use carbohydrates as a "supplement." To restore glycogen levels. To alleviate the stress on the kidneys in detoxifying ammonia. To spare protein. Yes, even some low-carbers use carbohydrates as a supplement after they work out to restore their glycogen levels. That's what the video was talking about. And that's why Scott Abel recommends carbohydrates as a supplement.