Looks like I failed again. As my friend so pointed out in the comments of my last post it has indeed been once again 5 days since I last posted...FAIL... In the last few days there have been many things brought to my attention, either personally or by hearing a news story or what not. What I have come to notice is all of the misinformation about nutrition. As it has been said before if you ask 15 different people you will get 15 different answers. Where that my be true there is a right answer. As you may know I am against the consumption of grains on a regular basis, along with sugar and dairy. Many "experts" out there will tell you that moderation is the key, I understand the idea here and could argue that if you only eat bad on your cheat day then that is moderation, but that is not what they mean. They are saying things like a little of this and a little of that is ok. Now you may not see a huge weight gain or feel all that different from eating one chocolate chip cookie but it is still not good for you. Moderation in these terms is a joke. Ive also heard many people claim that it is all natural so its ok. Well lets think about that for a sec. There are plenty of "natural" things out there that we could eat and suffer the adverse side effects. Take this for example; I am walking in the woods and decide that I would really like to have a salad. So I start looking around for some good old green leaves. Now there are plenty out there and lucky for me I am well versed in woodland plants. (not really). Now I know that this certain leaf tastes amazing, it has a sweat refreshing taste and fills you up so fast. The problem is that this particular leaf is from a little plant called poison Ivy. Following our experts advice instead of making a whole salad out of it I just put a few leaves in with the rest. I eat the whole thing up and man did it taste good... What do you think would happen? Unfortunately this is the way we look at things that we have been told are food and really dont serve much purpose for us. I am here to tell you that grains, dairy, and sugar will mess you up, even in small amounts. For more info on this topic of food check out this link and search for one of the above food groups.
This Saturday was again my cheat day and man did I cheat... I had about 10 cadbury cream eggs, KFC, Sushi, and donuts. So much crap. I definitely over did it and for me I think I need to structure my cheats a little more, there was no need to go that far overboard. Today I weighed in at 236lbs. Went up again but not as bad as I thought that is would. I have also been really bad at logging all my food in so I am going to start doing that again, I have just been lazy, as is apparent by all my posts lately. Thanks again to all that read this are keeping me accountable on my eating and bible reading.
Quote time:
"Let the wife make the husband glad to come home, and let him make her sorry to see him leave."
You asked for it....and I'm feeling feisty, so here are my thoughts, playing devil's advocate.
ReplyDeleteWhat this post and others like it fail to acknowledge is that humans have an affective, social, and cultural relationship to food that goes beyond any mere biological need for nourishment. I derive genuine enjoyment from a glass of wine and a chocolate bar. I am completely unsatisfied by six meals a day of ground turkey and broccoli. Does this make me weak? I would argue that it makes me human,these are the attributes that make us human and differentiate us from other living things.
Second, I believe moderation is a sound strategy, because as you say, ask 15 people get 15 different answers. Well ask now and ask 6 months from now and you get different answers as well. "This is bad for you, avoid it at all costs." "ok well maybe it's not so bad for you, you can eat some of it." "Wait, this is really good for you, go ahead." No one is ever sure and as scientific knowledge advances our understanding of human biology on an ever refined micro level, recommendations continue to change.
Finally, I am anti- extremism in all forms. Is chocolate the best thing I could possibly eat for my body? Probably not. Is it the worst? Definitely not. And if I am going to avoid all grains, dairy, sugar, etc. etc. etc. because of potential health consequences down the road, [which, by the way, are in terms of unspecified percentages, are not black and white (i.e. avoid grains and you will be healthy) and also have a significant amount to due with genetic makeup, family history, lifestyle, geography, etc.etc.], then I had better avoid driving (because that certainly poses serious health risks and people die every day in cars) as well as all sun exposure (because UV light rays cause skin damage, cancer, etc and sunscreens are full of chemicals and dangerous ingredients that have unknown health consequences), probably shouldn't spend any time in an urban area to avoid exposure to air pollution, water pollution, and any other of a host of chemicals that we have no idea about.
So if I generally look good, feel good, and function well, I say moderation works, because in the end you cannot avoid all possible health risks without becoming a complete and total recluse....which probably has mental health risks associated with it anyway :) The real problem is that our cultural ways of being promote excess and people are incapable of practicing moderation. More and bigger is always better right? There is such a thing as exercising too much. Too much of anything, even a good thing, is bad for you.
Oh, and as a side note, I also take offense to your quote, because it presumes that the woman is sitting home all day waiting for her man to arrive, probably with slippers and a pipe dinner on the table and an apron :)
Love you Ryan. Hope I got the discussion going!
Bonnie i think you say it great right from the start. The "affective, social, and cultural relationship", thing. But that in and of itself just goes on to show one of the yes im going to say it "weaknesses" of our current society. Can food be enjoyable? Absolutely...But every time we get together with friends and family it almost always surrounds itself with food, and more often then not, bad food. We decided at some point in time to make food about pleasure instead of life. We no longer eat to live we simply eat because it tastes good with little to no thought as to what it is actually doing inside our bodies. Now im not here to force anyone to eat a certain way, however I will set out a challenge to try it for 8 weeks and see how you feel. If you did it and did it right, i suspect there would be a significant change in how you felt. When our bodies run optimally in a ketogenic state(that is burning fat for fuel instead of carbs)and if you eat too many carbohydrates in a day it will throw your body out of ketosis then for optimal health you want to live in a ketogenic state as much as possible. I have watched person after person switch to this kind of diet and amazing things happen. I no longer have seizures, i dont have stomach problems anymore, I dropped 15 lbs in two weeks etc.. The results speak for themselves. Now could you get some of these results doing a different diet? Sure. I could get you do drop 15lbs in two weeks by simple calorie restriction but its not an end all. The last thing i want to hit on is someone who has been sick their whole life has no idea how it feels to feel good... So if you "feel good" but are still sick your good is an illusion. You may feel good for you, get off of those foods, feel ten times better and when you get back to the "feeling good" it actually feels like crap. Have a goodnight...
ReplyDeleteOh and on your side note if she knows whats good for her she will. HA HA HA...
Ryan you may very well be correct....but I have not yet reached a state of dissatisfaction with either my appearance or the way that I feel which is sufficient to motivate me to make such a sacrifice and drastic life change. Plus if I lost any weight, most people I know would probably start to worry about me :) Guess, I'm fortunate in that respect.
ReplyDeleteBut I do have a question/comment, which I mean in all due respect. I don't fully understand the science behind all this, but isn't it better to eat one cadbury creme egg a day for a week as part of a generally well-rounded and healthy diet, but as an exercise in moderation, than to binge once a week and eat 10 along with a lot of other bad stuff? Doesn't the body handle something like that better if it is not assaulted all at once with mass amounts? And if this stuff is so toxic and bad for your body, then why cheat at all? Aren't you just negating everything you have just done? On another note, is it possible to see benefits by simply reducing the amount of grains, dairy, etc, or is it all or nothing?
Just some food for thought...no pun intended :)
First you can and will see some benefits by reducing grains no doubt about it. As for the spread out the cheat thing, i will do my best to answer and can get you the specifics if you like. Anything you eat will have an effect on your glycemic index. Some things more than others, and carbs and or sugars will spike it through the roof. And it can take a while to correct itself. so the idea is to keep it very balanced all week and then throw it off only on one day. That means that for 6 days my GI was balanced and moved only marginal, but on day 7 I spiked it. That is better then spiking it every day. Again this may not be exactly right and it is late, so if you want to know more about it I will gladly get the info. I need to be better versed in it anyway. JB if you read this can you give a more sound explanation, please?
ReplyDeleteNow that it is morning let me answer a little better for you and correct a brain fart i had last night. Glycemic index is a measuring system of how food effects your insulin levels so the higher a food ranks on the GI the more it will spike your Insulin. You dont want to spike your GI. The less time you spend in an elevated state the longer you live...They actually came up with a cool acronym for Age.
ReplyDeleteAdvanced
Glycation
End product
Its why we age..
I'm curious too. Why do you NEED a cheat day? My understanding from the Primal Blueprint is that the 80/20 rule is about allowing yourself the freedom to fail and bounce back rather than making sure you don't hit 100%.
ReplyDeleteHere's where I got that:
"Even though 100% compliance isn’t the exact everyday expectation, 100% commitment is the intention. While we concede that real life happens, the acknowledgement is a necessary reality check, not an easy excuse... An 80% end result will have you well on your way to success and sustainable health.
A practical baseline is this: if you align your life with the PB principles 80% of the time, consider yourself on course."
(http://www.marksdailyapple.com/8020-principle/)
Does this have to do with carb-reloading? (I don't really understand that concept). But even there I thought people usually went with high carb clean options like sweet potatoes and fruit instead of processed carbohydrates. Please explain! :)
Also, I think we need to see a before and mid-challenge set of pictures. It sounds like exciting results and those of us not in Ohio don't really get to experience this with you. I, for one, am jealous. ;) Keep up the good work.
I like the primal blue print for the most part and think that it is a really good program, but and i cant guarantee this but i dont think it is what i would call a 100% paleo plan. The majority of people out there will excel on the PB but what im doing is just more strict. But you are right if the majority 80% of what you eat is on track and 20% is not you will be doing really good.
ReplyDeleteTo be a little more direct though if you are going for optimal health and wellness you want your insulin levels to be as level as possible. Anything you eat and I mean anything will have an effect on your insulin level. If I eat really good at breakfast and then before lunch i have a cadbury cream egg, I just spiked my insulin to a ridiculous level and it will take a long time to come out of it, and thats if I dont eat anything else but i will still eat lunch and then probably dinner which all have an effect on my insulin and will cause it to rise. Its already at an elevated level. So this everyday will continue to keep my Insulin levels high all week but if I only do it on Saturday I have a very long fast saturday night for my levels to correct themselves and my insulin was only bad for one day instead of 7.
I will probably be posting some pics around day 60. Mrs. Julia, and thanks for the questions and encouragement.
Thanks, Ryan! I think that answers part of the question out there. I'm still curious why you want to spike your insulin once a week.
ReplyDeleteGotcha, its not really a desire to spike my insulin once a week. Its that I love food and want to eat bad things so if I give myself one day a week to allow that it helps me to hold out. Now there is a benefit to doing it every so often but i dont know what the time table is for that, but it can help to keep your body from going stagnant. I will have to look into it to get specific but thats the idea.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ryan. That helps a bit. Does JB have citations for the primary sources for some of this stuff? I'm not talking about books like the Paleolithic Diet, etc. which are presented for profit with an agenda, but the actual primary scientific studies that were done- probably published in peer-reviewed scientific journals- I would be interested to see some of the citations and check out their methodology, sample sizes, controls, statistics, etc. I'm an academic, I can't help it :)
ReplyDeleteYeah he reads a lot on pub med and other things like that. he is resourced and researched.
ReplyDeleteI will say I grazed these comments and took what Ryan asked me about earlier, and what I gathered in between writing my own book which will smash Primal Bullshit....answering tons of direct diet questions via email, and writing blog after blog in a million different ways detailing the answers to these questions phrases and stuff in ridiculous length and capacity that try to fit everyone....and the conclusion don't mean shit, papers are fake, and you peer reviewed studies are meta researched to be disproven because its absolutely impossible to have a validated study these days because people that get the results the funder was seeking will always win, and the true results or bad ones will be published in a magazine no one reads, a million lines down on Google. I found the true test long long ago, the true test doesn't invole calling your local douche trainer, or getting on pub-meb to see which studies line up with the 17 cadberry cream eggs you wanna eat, the true test is just pick something...do it honestly...then if your happy, or less unhappy which is where most of us live, then stop looking around for other things....but clearly if people are even cruising blogs such as this your doing it cause you not happy, you think you could be better by diet, or you love Ryan.
ReplyDeleteSO the answer to any and every thing is...get your base..test your shit...and then if its voodoo, who gives a shit why the magic worked, betters better just duplicate...it it doesn't its bullshit, move on...but if you test my way fairly....I always win
All required blood work is taken
hdl/ldl...kind bs really as those are really pro, but it seems to make people feel cute
c-reactive pro...measure of inflamm..good one
gycohemoglobin...toxic 3 month sugar...good one
fasting bg...usually good, if not I can tell you why
trigylcerides...measure of carbs..good one
Vit D...vey good
Free testosterone
bp
you then test your max deadliest, and squat
then u eliminate bad stuff and be the extremist you so demise because saying I don't wanna be an extremist means I don't really have to try so I never really fail
Grains Legumes, Nightshades Dairy and Soy are all simple horrible bad, even if you cute outside, you can be very metabolically obese inside...but again, if you don't feel like finding out, then so be it.
After you have test...then key word..ELIMINATED..then you wait, and stay all pretty meats, nuts, seeds green veggies, clarified butter, coconut, no starch no sugar no alcohol for 45 days....then get retested...and then here is for those academic who need the literature...PROVOKE
After your all happy tactic and cleaned out for 45 days, take a week eat grains...and watch....
by way of the best diet none to man Elimination,Provocation diet, or don't eat retarded, then eat retarded....you became your own study and proved it on your own body just as I have and have tons of others to back it up, the easier isn't to look what study did what, its for those looking to feel better to do the work themselves and then get rewarded for it.
I have RXD diets, and donnas them with everything for almost 12 years, and it took me forever to stop believing the "Studies" I read and to start studying what I know...once I did that I won...and anyone who follows me wins too
After JB's post got pulled I felt compelled to respond....I respect JB for his knowledge, application of, and his joy and commitment to leading his followers down the road to salvation, and I'm not kidding at all. I understand his frustration with constantly explaining himself, and completely relate to his give it shot, and see if it works for you attitude. But I feel compelled to write something that no one is taking into consideration here. The reason that we are all eating correctly to live as long as possible and feel as long as possible. I may be a bit off track but I feel as if JB may be trying to prepare himself for the inevitable armageddon that is peering around the corner, first, before I write more I'm wondering if I'm write on that account. I believe that at the very least he has eluded to that fact in posts on his blog/ practice's blog? Am I right in that Ryan?
ReplyDeleteplease do not take the completely wrong use of the word write, or my not missing the word good after feeling....my editor took the morning off...lol
ReplyDeleteFor those of you out there that read his comment and hear him ranting and yelling all that stuff, to a degree he probably was. I dont always agree with how he goes about doing somethings, but the end result is usually the right answer, and if its not, he will tell you. I am in no way saying that the ends justify the means. We all make mistakes and what I think JB is doing, is not necessarily preparing people for Armageddon, but just trying to inform and educate.... I dont know for sure, as im sure he would love the opportunity to prepare the people for Armageddon. either way he is right in this case. Try it. if it doesnt work it doesnt work, and if it does awesome.
ReplyDelete