I posted this in the intermittent fasting thread, but thought others might find it interesting as well. I’m 45 and have been overweight pretty much since I can remember. I had tried the reduce calories & increase exercise, I’d tried Atkins, paleo, counting points, you name it. Periodically I would lose 10-30 pounds but nothing stuck. And I should mention, all of those diets sucked! I was always hungry or tired or sore or some combination of all of them. I came to intermittent fasting a few years ago kind of by accident. I was trying to shed some pounds and thought what the heck- lemme see if this works. I ate whatever I wanted once a day - and gorged myself for that one meal. I lost 15 pounds and just like all the other times, I crashed and burned. Fast forward to about a year ago and I started carnivore. In a nutshell, it’s as close to zero carb as possible and just animal products. Meat, eggs, fish, some dairy. That’s it. Naturally intermittent fasting paired up with the carnivore way of eating because when you eat nutrient dense food like meat, you’re satiated MUCH longer. Intermittent fasting just kind of happened. I eat about 2-3 pounds of fatty meat a day, usually in one sitting, but sometimes twice. I’ve lost 45 pounds and kept it off for the first time in my life! My energy, mental clarity, focus - all increased. The 2:00 sleepy monster is gone. Skin tags, calcium deposits under my eyes - gone. Joint pain in my shoulders & hands, decreased. I was on BP meds, thyroid meds and cholesterol meds my whole adult life. All gone! But - but - but- , what about fiber, vitamin C, cholesterol levels, salad, you might be thinking...well, I have an answer for all of those - but, this post would end up being entirely too long. Observations I’ve made over this last year: 1. It’s all about the insulin. Every time you eat, you spike your insulin. If you eat a high carbohydrate meal, the insulin turns the food in to instant energy, the rest it stores as fat. Then it crashes and you get hungry again (some diets suggest you should eat 6 times a day. You shouldn’t.) 2. If you want to lose weight, exercise is irrelevant (it’s good for you, no doubt) it’s 100% what you eat. 3. Your body is really smart. It already intermittent fasts every single day while you sleep. And during that time, your body is on a high fat diet. Your own body fat! You can fast much longer than you think. 4. The food pyramid is keeping us all fat, dumb, and not-that-happy. 5. Eat fatty meat. It tastes good, your body craves it, and it prevents you from eating junk. There are dozens of resources available on YouTube, check them out if you’re still reading! A few Carnivore/IF YouTube channels (none of which are me): Dr Ken Berry Dr Shawn Baker Dr Boz Dr Paul Saladino Nutrition with Judy Carnivore Yogi Health coach Kait Strong.Sistas
I don't think there is any perfect diet. If one eats generally healthy whole foods, and limits the sugary, crap food to a minimum, you are going to be eating better than 90% of the USA i would guess. Personally, I eat similarly to what you posted, including: A lot of Dairy, such as eggs, cow milk, cheeses, unflavored Greek yogurt A lot of meat, including bacon, pork, chicken fish and red meat' A lot of vegetable, mainly green ones such as spinach, Brussels sprouts and broccoli Some fresh fruit Hardly any carbs, such as bread, pasta, rices, and potatoes. Hardly any "junk food", like pizza, ice cream, cookies, cakes, pastries, crackers, candy, etc.
Actually it's a little more complicated than that. Every time you eat your cortisol and blood sugar/glucose levels rise, when your blood sugar/glucose levels rise your pancreas reacts and makes insulin to aid the glucose/sugar conversion to energy. If you're not using the glucose in some form of activity insulin also aids storage. Even that's a bit simplistic but why so many believe our Western traditional last meal of the day being the largest isn't wise as we continually teach/facilitate our bodies to store energy. When I was running after supper was when I was able to lose the most and get my belt size down.
Have fun dying. Look into 'Whole 30' if you want to lose weight, remain healthy, and full. You aren't getting proper nutrition and your body can't process that much carrion. Which is why you feel full, yet are dropping weight like you aren't eating at all.
My wife made an appointment with a nutritionist, I believe its next week. Woe and misery for me. I have a sweet tooth and typically only eat once a day about 8 o'clock at night when I'm in for the day. 420lbs and I outwork most people, but my knees are shot and the doc says no "industrial duty " knees exist so loose about 1/2 of yourself and then we'll talk. I'm probably going to get rebooted.
Me neither but I had a medical problem with cortisol that was like a page out of a Steven King horror novel and I really needed to understand just WTF was happening .
We’re all dying. Fact. Have you looked in to just how many people are thriving on this way of eating before coming to that drastic conclusion?
Likely the nutritionist won’t suggest carnivore - but look in to it! Lots of people seem to be healing conditions like yours. And you get to eat like a king. (Just not sweets, sorry!)
No diet is sustainable, fwiw. I too lost a bunch of weight, over 30 lbs, by going with a 5 day ( work week) on strict keto, and 2 days off the weekend with less restrictions. I now am back to a regular non keto diet, but I still watch what I eat. I've found that I just can't eat as much as I previously could, and that is what has allowed me to keep off the weight.
A bit hyperbolic don't ya think? While I am a diehard carnivore, I'd tend to agree that a meat only diet is not likely to be the healthiest. My issue is carbs, plain and simple. I like/love/desire my pasta, potatoes, rice, bread, and beer. Veggies are OK on the side, but meat is primary, and a starch is secondary. And yes, I will not, and do not expect to live forever. But I don't intend to deprive myself while I'm still here.
Most of the world (and our parents) eats rice, bread, pasta, and potatoes and isnt morbidly obese. Americas problem is the overall volume of food that we eat, combined with way too much meat. Think about growing up, you had meals that had meat in them, but not entire meals of meat. For the last 30 or so years, meat has become extremely affordable for the first time ever. We saw hamburgers get bigger, so big in fact that we cut the vegetables(less lettuce, tomatoe,pickle, onion,etc) that were on them to accommodate more meat and cheese. Meat loaf used to be a big meal because you could add bread and diced vegetables to lower the cost. Having steak for dinner was rare, but hamburger steak with mushrooms, onions, crackers,breadcrums was an acceptable replacement. During the week it was always soups or casseroles because you could put alot of rice/bread/pasta/vegetables/ potatoes in to help lower the cost. Fried chicken was a sunday meal, and there was always a ton of sides because chicken was expensive. I'm not saying load up on carbs, but try eating a pizza without meat on it. I can easily eat half (or 3/4) a meat lovers pizza, but if its just cheese or vegetables im done in two slices. I like sandwiches, but im not going to eat a foot long PBJ or grilled cheese. I like fish and french fries, but 1-2 pieces of fish and im done vs 3-4 chicken strips. The last thing is fast food. In the past it was a very rare treat that a family would go out to eat. My parents would buy pizza or hamburgers maybe once a month, and that was a huge treat, now days the average person eats out multiple times a week.
Last thing i'll say, look at Old cook books (or Amish). You can find tons of them online for free, or from family or friends. Most of the recipes are pretty simple and contain only whole ingredients that the average person could afford. I found that when i eat a balanced meal, i dont get all sorts of unbalanced like i do with all the diet fads. Once you do that for awhile you can understand why our parents/grandparents could eat dessert (pineapple upside down cake, bunt cakes with lemon icing, etc) most nights and weren't overweight. Its not going to be as easy as throwing chicken tenders and french fries into the fry daddy, but most of the recipes are extremely easy to put together and hold up well over a few days.
The old farmers used to eat huge meals and then go out and work their butt's off. Nowadays, we eat huge unwholesome meals and then go sit in a cubicle and stare at a computer all day and then slide to and fro in our Lexus all the way home to our recliners and our social media platforms.
