An acquaintance called me recently
to say she had been talking to a mutual friend who had said that I had helped
her lose 30 pounds (and 2 bra sizes!), by eating low carb. LOL. She (the
acquaintance) wanted to know how to do it? Well, my friend suggested, she
should call me and ask. So, she did, and I was glad to help.
I am always pleased when my
low-carb, moderate-protein, high, healthy-fat message is heeded. I offered to
lend her my favorite books to learn the physiology of low carb eating,
suggested the best websites for a neophyte to visit, and offered to mentor her,
answering any question she had, as I had for our mutual friend.
It turns out that the acquaintance
– let’s call her Pam – is a very busy woman and doesn’t have time to learn
about the science. She just wants to know what to eat, and what not to eat.
Apparently Pam had read that I had lost 60 pounds in 9 months 15 years ago, by
following “Atkins Induction” (20 grams of carbs/day). Then, a few years later I
had lost another 110 pounds following Dr. Richard K. Bernstein’s “6-12-12
Program,” in which you eat just 30 grams of carbohydrate a day. For some
reason, Pam decided she wanted to try Bernstein.
So, I loaned her Bernstein’s “The
Diabetes Diet” and his encyclopedic “Diabetes Solution.” I also told her I had
recently become an acolyte of Dr. Jason Fung, fasting advocate and author of
“The Obesity Code,” about Intermittent and full-day fasting. I had unsuccessfully tried 16-8 for about a
year, in which I ate basically just one meal a day, or a small lunch and then
supper within an 8 hour window, thus fasting 16 hours a day.
More recently, because I eat Very
Low Carb and am therefore FAT-ADAPTED, I transitioned to full-day fasting. So
far I have lost about 50 pounds since early February. Concerned that I would be
hungry or lacking in energy, I started off with alternate day fasts (Tuesday
and Thursday). But because I am FAT-ADAPTED, I was neither hungry nor lacking in
energy. My body transitioned easily from fed to fasting states, using glucose
from the fed state and then fatty acids from body fat and ketone bodies, the
by-products of fatty acid breakdown, for brain food during the fasting state.
Because of that smooth and natural transition, my metabolism continued to run
at full speed. In fact, my sense is that I am actually more “pumped,” more
energized, in my fasting state.
I then described what I put in my
mouth on my 300 kcal/day Fasting Regimen: Coffee with heavy cream for
“breakfast” and a wine spritzer at the supper hour. Pam asked, “Don’t you drink
more water during the day?” I said, “Only if I am dehydrated from working
outside on a hot day.” “You should, you know,” she admonished. I said, “I also
drink some brine from the pickle jar” (to maintain my electrolyte balance). Pam
was apoplectic.
In a later email exchange, I told
Pam that she would have to cut way back on fruit to eat Low Carb. To eat Very
Low Carb, she’d have to virtually eliminate fruit. Fruit is basically just
sugar. Fruit juice is worse. It’s nature’s candy. Pam replied she had a
serious problem with constipation and didn’t want to give up fruit on that
account. I replied that that was a rationale that I did not understand, but she
didn’t explain how they were associated. I suggested it was an irrational
justification, a rationalization, if you will. The subject was dropped.
I then suggested taking magnesium
as a mild laxative and sleep aid. Most older adults are deficient in magnesium
and should probably take a supplement. Pam then said she currently takes 400mg
a day and her cardiologist doesn’t want her to take more. Her cardiologist!
That’s new information to me. I replied that I take a full gram a day: 400mg
morning and night plus 200mg in a multivitamin. And I had
never experienced constipation on a Very Low Carb diet, even before I added a
magnesium supplement morning and night.
Finally, I suggested
increasing her fat consumption to ease her bowels. She said, “Thank you” and
signed off. I guess she, and maybe her cardiologist, think the US Dietary
Guidelines still limit dietary fat to 30%, or worse, cause CVD. Not true!
Change is a slow process, starting with curiosity and intrigue, with a lot of
resistance throughout. Sometimes intransigence shuts down the process
completely. “Intransigent Resistance” (IR).
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ReplyDeleteThank you, Honey, but I do not support comments that promote commercial products. This blog is simply educational.
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