The Nutrition Idea that "Saved" My Life.

First of all, if the mods decide that there is a better forum for this thread, please, by all means, move it there.

General Disclaimer: I am by no means advertising the lifestyle that I spend the majority of this thread talking about. I'm only relating my own personal experiences with it.

Hey ATS'ers. It's been quite a while since I have authored a serious thread of my own (mostly through lack of time), but I decided to sit down on this cold and windy Saturday afternoon and share with you an idea that has literally changed every facet of my life.

A little background...

I grew up as the stereotypical “fat kid.” I always kept active in sports, from soccer to Little League, to doing “neighborhood tag” for most of my early life. I kept gaining weight. I had plenty of friends and an equal amount of enemies (bullies and those of small mind). I was able to shrug them off, and got in quite a few physical conflicts throughout junior high. I won due to my stature, and gained respect by high school.

In high school I was a section leader with the competitive marching band I was involved with. The physical activity involved with that kind of organization rivaled that of the football team...and that's no joke. In an average field practice (4-12 hours depending on the day), I burned upwards of 8,000 calories (no joke), lugging around a large metal instrument on my shoulders for the 8 hour practice days. Running back and forth to field spots and rehearsing the movements over and over again attributed to the calorie burning. I was quite in shape by the time I reached my junior year of high school. I could run a solid 8 minute mile, march in formation for hours on end, and outplay and out maneuver most of my other classmates. Of course, I added more food to my diet (mostly carbs) to keep up with the pace of our rehearsals. By the time I graduated high school, I was 212 lbs., around 19% body fat, and the rest lean muscle. Now, that's a lot to carry on a diminuitive 5'7” frame, but I looked, and felt great.

I went on to college and continued to have the high carb diet that I had sworn by during high school. I was no longer doing anything remotely resembling the amount of physical activity I did in high school. I immediately gained 30 lbs. in the first semester of college. It only went up from there. By the time I was a junior in college, I weighed in at a whopping 312 lbs., which caused a horrible break up and some health problems for me. I ended up purchasing an X-Box and Dance Dance Revolution at the time in an attempt to start losing some of that weight in a fun way (at my doctor's orders). I shifted my diet quite a bit and was able to lose around 22 lbs. I was still hulking at that point, and I lost interest. I had bouts of depression over my seemingly hopeless situation. This was in 2006.

I returned to grad school in the fall of 2006, and once again, had a weight gain. I was back to 300 lbs. by December of that year. At this point, my roommate got me involved in gym activities, and showed me how to cook more healthy foods. I was a great cook before, but I managed to cook more like Julia Child---very rich foods, and lots of carbs involved. I lost around 40 lbs. by the time I left grad school. I was at 260 in May of 2008. I landed my first professional job the following Fall, but the stress involved with it, as well as being away from my entire support network caused me to drink heavily and eat really bad foods. Back up to 280 by the end of that year. The following summer, I moved back home due to family illness and budget cutbacks, and spend the next 6 months in isolation. I didn't eat much due to severe situational depression. I gained and lost 20-30 lbs. for the next year and a half, and something someone said to me changed my outlook. I hated the way I looked in the mirror, and I hated being out of breath climbing stairs. I retreated into the online world, which is how I found ATS. In February of 2011, something snapped inside of my head. I was determined not to live the life of a fat man. I started with subtle changes in my diet: cutting out “white foods,” most dairy, and eating more veg and fruits, with low fat meats. I also exercised my arse off---7 days a week of intense cardio, and 4 days a week of weight training. It worked, for the most part. I dropped 30 lbs. in about 3-4 months. Lost a few pant sizes, and clothes that I hadn't worn in years were starting to fit again. However, I got back into my old routine of massive carb consumption during that summer, as the job I worked demanded that I had high energy for most of the 12-16 hour work days. I didn't shift back to low carb, high fat foods in the Fall, and gained some weight back. In January of this year, I decided that I had enough, and started following a strict low-carb regimen. I started losing weight, yet again, but it didn't seem to have the effect that I wanted. I was still eating low-fat foods, and calorie counting like a man with OCD in a Lego plant. It didn't work. I stalled at 238 lbs. in March. Which leads me to the next section of this rather long-winded thread.

The Primal Blueprint and Me

I was introduced to the Primal Blueprint in March of this year through a friend of mine. He had started doing this extreme lifestyle change last year and bulked up in lean muscle and lost a ton of body fat. He explained it as this: “Eat whatever high fat meats you want, with copious amounts of veg and fruits. Cut out ALL wheat-based products/grains (including corn and certain types of beans), and eventually your body will start seeing some massive changes. To put it simply: if you couldn't kill it/gather it/grow it yourself, don't eat it.” He introduced me to the blog: Mark's Daily Apple.

(Mods, if I wasn't supposed to link to this blog, then please remove it, but it does have quite a bit of weight within the context of this thread, so please keep that in mind.)

I became enamored with the success stories, the simplicity of the lifestyle, and the way that it works with all different kinds of body types. Simply put, just as my friend stated, by eating only natural, unprocessed foods, keeping between 100-150 grams of carbs a day (through plants only), doing light walking for a total of 2.5 hours a week, and doing weight lifting 3-4 days a week, your body will shed fat and gain muscle. I was very skeptical, considering all of the “government tested” food pyramid studies*.

*more about this later

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The conspiracy theorist in me wanted to test this system out to see if it worked with my body type (endomorphic---meaning I hold on to fat like I was going to starve tomorrow). I put myself under a 30 day test trial, whereas I cut out all wheat based products, and strictly stuck to the author's recommendations about foods. No alcohol, no sweets, no wheat---just pure, unadulterated steaks, pork (BACON!!!!) chickens, fish, fresh fruits and veg, and water/tea/coffee. I'll freely admit that I thought this was just another “Atkins Diet” that I would eventually fail at, as I did in the past. This lifestyle change, as I have now found out, is one of the most life-changing things I have ever done. Nothing before Primal worked for me. No amount of exercise and strict calorie counting really amounted to anything. I hate working out. I hate the multiple hours a week I spent “running off the flab” only to be sick and tired of it. I don't have an athletic mindset, nor have I ever had a truly athletic body. My body was meant for the long haul, not for quick bursts.

After the initial 30 days of changing what I ate, walking, and weight lifting, I dropped 12 lbs. I knew that was directly fat, as my clothes fit better (and some of them were becoming too big for me), and I could start seeing the small stretch marks attributed to weight loss. I'm at day 39 now, and I've lost 14 lbs. and another inch off of my waist. I've slowly started to reintroduce beer into my diet as I'm a huge beer snob and love microbrews from all over the world. It's one of the vices in this lifestyle that can be unavoidable if you're a beer-lover like myself. I really have to say that through all the “official skepticism” over this lifestyle change, it worked for me, and I'll keep doing it until I reach my goal (and beyond that) of 180 lbs., 19% or less body fat, and definition in my muscle groups.

The Government, The Grain Industry, The Obesity Epidemic and You

The grain industry is one of the biggest thriving industries in the United States at this point in time. With over $20 Billion in Federal subsidies for corn production in this country (as of 2004), it's no surprise that you see high-fructose corn syrup in just about everything. It's cheap because of the government subsidies, and farmers are making tons of money off of this cash crop. I won't even mention the ethanol industry, as that is part of a different discussion.

There is a reason why everything from fruit drinks to ketchup is laden with this “cheaper” alternative to cane sugar. The difference in price can be staggering. A 16oz. bottle of ketchup with high-fructose corn syrup will run (in my area) at around $1.75 compared to the natural alternative of close to $3.00 for 16 oz. I don't use ketchup because of the added sugar, of course, but you can learn more about that in the link I provided in the previous section. The same goes for many products that consumers buy each day, from “healthy” frozen dinners (sometimes 10 for 10 depending on the week), to “vegan” foods (Morning Star is bad this way), to “all-natural” ice creams. Yes, even some of the best ice cream on the market uses Corn Syrup instead of real sugar.

The government recently released an updated form of the food pyramid for modern times.



As you can clearly see, this pictorial is in complete opposite of what is recommended by the Primal Lifestyle. Grains still take up more than a fair percentage of the types of foods that the Government recommends that we eat each day, with meats and fats being second to last, and last, respectively. I wonder why that is? It is because the government makes money off of these subsidies. The government wants the bang for their buck so they say: “Hey, make at least 30% of your diet dedicated to grains!” Once again, think back to our ancestors and what they ate. They foraged for various types of foods (nuts, berries, etc.), ate the natural plants they found, and loaded up on meats and fats when they had a huge animal kill. They didn't stuff their faces with a bowl of Cheerios or bread every morning. They ate what they could find.


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Grains, at their core, are the equivalent of eating a bowl of sugar, because the body either uses these things immediately for fuel if you're really pushing your exercise limits (regardless if they are processed white bread or “whole grain” bread), or stores them as fat. A diet high in protein sates hunger, keeps you feeling satisfied, and helps in most, if not all, of the body's natural functions. Carbs have their place (as long as they are from plants and not wheat/grains), but unless you are a marathon runner, you don't need a lot in your diet. Your body re-learns to use proteins and fat as fuel, and burns fat in the process. The types of metabolic processes seen in fat burning and using protein as fuel are far more inefficient than if you load up on carbs. This causes your body to work harder, which in turn causes your body to raise it's “fat-burning furnace” in order to compensate for the extra work done. It is almost a low-level ketosis, and, like I said, your body compensates for that. In pure ketosis, you would be eating nothing but proteins, and very little (less than 30g a day) carbs, if any at all. The Primal Blueprint doesn't recommend this unless massive weight loss needs to be achieved.

So what does this all have to do with the obesity epidemic in this country and around the world?

A lot.


Sure, if people followed the food pyramid and exercise recommendations put forth by our almighty government, perhaps obesity wouldn't be such a problem. Fast food has certainly contributed to the epidemic, but is only a small fraction of the overall problem. After all, you don't see obese people walking into McDonald's on a daily basis. There are a small percentage that do, but that's a discussion for a different day. However, who has time to work out for 30-60 minutes a day, five days a week? A change in nutrition would be a huge step to losing weight. By cutting out the grains that the government says we so desperately need (due to their own money making opportunities), weight loss will begin almost immediately. Within the first ten days. The big problem is our addiction to quick sugars. Our bodies become used to consuming these things, and unless we are doing the daily recommended allotment of exercise, weight and fat gain is sure to follow*.


*And before I go on, I am in no way saying that exercise isn't important in weight loss, but you don't need as much as “they” say you need, unless you are following “their” nutrition recommendations.

The whole system is set up to make people fat. What is the difference between today and let's say, 50-60 years ago? The lack of fast food, the lack of crappy processed food, and the lack of technology that keeps us tied to our computers for hours a day. Everything was homemade. The ingredients that were put into foods back then were pronounceable, and didn't include extra sugars. The things that make people fat today are not the same things that were in foods five decades ago.

What is the point of all of this? Well, if you agree with certain TPTB conspiracies revolving around being able to better control fat, “lazy” people, then this food conspiracy fits the bill. If you're like me, and follow the money trail, you'll see that the government really doesn't care that much about the fat and “lazy” people. They care more about how much they can line their wallets from the production and selling of grains. They have to make money back on their investment, right?


Conclusion

What I am trying to get across to all of you is that this lifestyle has truly worked for me when everything else failed. I realized how wrong these government paid nutritionists were, and I stand by that statement. They are plain wrong. I am currently sitting at 223 lbs. and continue to lose more every week. Perhaps it's time that more people started seeing the benefits of the Primal lifestyle and go back to what our bodies were meant to eat. This lifestyle truly did save my life and has made my outlook much brighter than it did before. The proof is in the pudding, so to speak. Thanks for reading, and if you have any questions on specifics, or if I wasn't clear somewhere, by all means, let me know.


-TS

Well, the food pyramid was based upon what the average American ate, at the time. NOT because it was balanced for our needs.

Check out Dr. Wallach on you tube DEAD DOCTORS DON"T LIE

reply to post by CynicalDrivel




True enough! That's what bugs me so much about it. We don't need grains in our diets. Our ancestors only had grains after the start of the agricultural revolution, and even then, they were doing laborious work for 10-12 hours a day, or however long the sun was out. They could biologically afford to eat these types of things because they were working so hard. Look at our lifestyles now, and compare that to people living during the first millenium. HUGE difference right there.


-TS

I get full just looking at that beastly food pyramid. Eating ALL that much food would make anybody fat!

I DO agree with what your friend said about the meat fat though.

The "fat epidemic" did not even start until the mid 1980's when Ronald Reagan (jelly beans) was President and a series of 2, 3 or 4 different meat-fat trimming laws went into effect, as well as dropping the FDA meat inspections and letting the meat industry police itself.

Meat used to be trimmed with 1/2" fat, then they made it like 1/3rd or 1/4th", then less and less until now ... there simply is no REAL fat on meat. The white thin line you see is usually grissel.

A tiny, TINY bit of meat fat "fills you up" as compared to the amount of other foods to reach that same point.

I'm not saying to eat 1/2" of fat trim - I'm saying at least a 1/4th" X 1/4th" piece of meat fat with the day's main meal.

Before the meat trimming law changes; fat people were a RARE site! There was one fat boy in my whole Elementary School in the 60's, and a different fat boy in Junior High. We were all so skinny that people would call us kids "sting beans" or "bean pole".

reply to post by Trexter Ziam


Exactly Trexter. My folks related to me about how there weren't many "fat" people in the 60's and even into the 70's. They had three squares a day and not a lot of extras. Back then, people were much more active too. The human body is made to utilize meat fat as there are some important metabolic things that happen with that stuff. I just got so excited when I found something that worked. Really, the Primal/Paleo/All-Natural people have it more right than our own government, but I already talked about that in the main post.

I can eat a steak and a few eggs for breakfast, and have enough energy throughout the day to keep going until dinner. I might supplement with a handful of walnuts or almonds, but most days the breakfast meal is more than sufficient for the majority of my working day. I specifically hunt down the meat with higher fat content (including chicken breast with the skin on...contrary to popular "wisdom" about eating chicken with the skin on it).

Thanks for posting!

-TS

I had the opposite problem. I was too skinny! Well not super skinny, but I'm in Texas where everyone likes to eat huge meals and get stupid big...

So I started training with crossfit and started eating 5-6 medium sized meals each day.

I took in all organic veggies, & fruits, plus egg whites/yolk 3:1 ratio, oats, spices, beans, legumes, nuts, brown rice, oh yea and tons of avocado (usually two a day) and extra virgin: olive oil and coconut oil, oh plus turkey, lean farm raised beef, and chicken

I went from 153lbs at the beginning of the year to 172 in 13 weeks and my stomach flattened out...it was mostly lean body mass gains.

If you want to get healthy, eat a lot of healthy foods, every 150 waking minutes, and do some compound lifts like: deadlift, squat, push press, and bench press. Throw in some metabolic conditioning like biking, swimming, and even something like wallballs and jump roping for an extra benefit!

You will slim down the fat, while bulking up the muscle in no time.

**BE SURE TO EAT SUPER HEALTHY AND SLEEP WELL TO AVOID OVERTRAINING**

reply to post by unityemissions


Nice unity! What I'm doing pretty much fits what you're saying, but I'm going the opposite way! I just found the whole paleo/primal thing interesting, which is why I made the thread on it in the first place. I'm actually getting by with 2 meals a day now, and I'm not starving, and my body is responding exceptionally well. The days that I do weight training or go on my extended hiking walks, I'll eat a few more meals to make up for the calorie expenditure. Overall, I feel so much better than I did. I don't think my body had a good tolerance for grains in the first place, which is why I packed it all on as fat weight. It had something to do with insulin tolerance. Grains spike the blood sugar within the first 20-30 minutes of consuming them. The same goes for any foods high in sugar. I guess the key to weight loss is maintaining an insulin balance in your body. I've been doing pretty good so far! Congrats on your weight gain (kinda hard to say that with a straight face...haha)!


-TS

reply to post by truthseeker1984


Thanks, TS!

Yes, insulin spikes are a huge part of (fatty) weight gain. I would suggest you could still try brown rice, as it has a lower insulin load. Just don't go eating two cups of pure rice Maybe mix in a little healthy grain with the veggies and meat. Then again, if your system is working well for you, maybe you shouldn't modify anything!

Of all the physical gains I've made, the one that's most psychologically rewarding for some reason is the gains in pullups. I started out barely able to do one with perfect form (three sloppy ones, too). Now I can do ten with perfect form without rest. I'm now to the point where next week I'll be putting 30lbs in my backpack, strapping it frontwards towards my chest, and retraining back up to ten! The v-shape is really starting to show up, and my pecks are rock solid bulging out. Never would have thought my scrawny bum could look like this!

reply to post by truthseeker1984


The problem is that som grains, in moderation, are fine.

I like the source of fiber, for one.

reply to post by CynicalDrivel


I get all of my fiber from other plant sources: dark leafy greens, broccoli, etc. I'm just trading bad carbs for good ones, and less of them. Since I've finally figured out how my body works, I've realized that most dairy products and wheat products are not beneficial to me personally, after spending this past month experimenting with the primal/paleo lifestyle. I've lost more weight doing this than I have with anything else.



reply to post by unityemissions


Good on you for the pullups! I can't do them due to a shoulder injury from a few years ago (perhaps that will change as I shed more weight), but I do a lot of bench pressing, free weight training, and of course, walking. I'm actually going to reintroduce brown rice into my diet in small amounts over the next few weeks just to see if it makes a difference in my weight loss. Right now, I'm at around 1.5-2.5 lbs. a week depending on what I do and what I eat. These things take time of course, so I'll have to monitor it very carefully. According to this lifestyle, grains are off limits. There are no "better grains," only grains that have less of an impact on insulin levels, so perhaps the occasional corn on the cob, or brown rice won't hurt it too much, but I'm just being careful right now as I've found my perfect balance.



-TS

Originally posted by truthseeker1984
cutting out “white foods,”

Cauliflower is white and I love that flower.

I can't stand tofu but it's soy bean curd ... isn't that supposed to be a good food?

What about cottage cheese? That's white too.

What about 0% (fat) Milk with A&D?

As far as white breads and crackers - those are intestine "gummer-uppers". It turns into a gum and makes little pockets in the intestines and moves into it's own little diverticula collecting bacteria and making you sluggish and ill.

8+ WHOLE grain bread is good in moderation - no more than 2 a day and maximum 4 slices a week so you have room for all the other vitamin enriched foods you have to eat.

Edit to add - Daily Magic Weapons:

Eat a giant dill pickle (buy those big gallons jars of them) but ONLY if you don't have liver disease or stomach ulcers.

Also, black coffee and 1 raw, unpeeled carrot a day - not those baby carrots.

Don't eat the leafy greens on the carrot tops - the greens are poisonous.

Eat a carrot EVERY day - skip a starch to get this orange veggie that's worth more than it's weight in gold(-en orange).

Nice thread, OP! I have gone both ways with the diet and exercise paradigm. With low fat, complex carbs and tons of exercise, my body didn't want to lose a bunch of weight, it held on to it, and I was always starving. I spent a year and a half, walking up to 6 miles every other day, and doing weights on the other days. The most I lost was 18 pounds....Not much considering the Herculean effort I put out, and the constant feeling of being hungry that I dealt with 24/7.

There is something about grains, even whole grains, that really tends to bloat me. I got fed up with the diet and exercise advice from "health experts" from the government. It just doesn't work.

I have gone back to the Atkins-type diet, only I don't do zero carbs, as it tends to cause constipation. I have drastically cut back on my carbs, however, and cut out all grains and sugars. I keep my carb count under 50 every day (most days under 20). I don't drink sodas.

I was born in the very early 60s, and I don't remember many fat people at all.. The rise of processed and fast foods correlates with the average weight of Americans going up. Many skinny people that I recall didn't exercise at all.

Exercise tones and firms, and keeps us feeling good and strong. However, the amount of exercise needed to burn off calories is an insane amount. We must change our diet to things that our body has evolved to work with in order to drop the excess weight. When we stop eating foods that spike our insulin levels, we stop eating so much. Insulin packs the weight on, that is its job, along with dropping blood sugar. Grains and refined sugars are the culprit. Constant spikes in insulin will often result in type 2 diabetes. I'm sure the government knows this, but we're still fed the same old lies about how grains are our friends, super healthy blah blah blah.

Some people can handle grains quite well, but my body has shown me that I cannot.

reply to post by FissionSurplus


If you want to burn a lot of calories each week, but don't have the knees to support your frame running for a considerable period of time, try biking or get a rowing machine. Both of those will burn an insane amount of calories for each hour of use, and are low-impact.

reply to post by Trexter Ziam


I should be a little more specific with the "white food" thing. I no longer eat potatoes because of the starch content, I don't drink any sort of dairy (separate problem with being lactose intolerant...but the upshot is that I lost a ton of weight initially by giving those things up last year), white bread, crackers, white rice, etc.

As far as the whole grain thing, what I've learned with my body is that the grains turn to fat unless I run for an hour or more every day. It has something to do with my insulin levels. All I know is that what I've been doing has worked, and I've made up for the lack of fiber from whole grains by eating more veg higher in fiber.


-TS

We can burn fat when we eat it and unneaded fat just goes out the other end. Some of the oils they say are good for us aren't really good though. We are dealing with the western diet though, one that was designed to make capitalism grow. Eating certain foods only makes you eat more. Eat the right foods and we can live easily on six hundred calories a day. I enjoy eating though, it's a good passtime.

reply to post by truthseeker1984


GREAT POST!

My wife discovered she had Celiac's disease, and in shopping "gluten free" for her, we find that everything unhealthy has gluten in it, and everything we should all be eating anyway also happens to be gluten free.

I concur with everything you wrote. EVERYTHING!

About 8 weeks ago, I decided to get in a little better shape. It started with my talking smack about the UFC/MMA, and that led to me deciding to get in fighting shape, LOL, anyway.... To lose weight, I did 3 simple things.

1. I cut out all white sugar, and white flour. I'll still use limited whole grains, although I try to stick to nut wafers instead of carbs, but I do allow myself a few carbs, just no flour. I don't allow myself any sweeteners, no sugar, no artificial, nothing except a daily spoonful of honey.

2. Cutting carbs and sugars creates monstrous cravings. So, I try to eat a palm sized meal/snack every 2-3 hours to stabilize my insulin/sugar levels and to avoid the cravings. Usually it is a can of tuna, or a piece of fish, or some organic homemade walnut or peanut butter. Sometimes I'll have a Spirulina protein shake or once in a while I splurge for a Cliff's Bar. But, eating every 2-3 hours is key.

3. I cut out all my food after 7 p.m. I know one of my worst vices was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and chocolate milk before bed. I had to quit that cold turkey, and I just drank a lot of water to stay full. If I had a bad night, and I just couldn't help myself, I would have a poached eggwhite with salt, pepper, and hot sauce about 9 p.m. Protein, no sugar, and with salt and tabasco it helps quell the cravings.

Long story short, I lost 24 lbs in 5 wks and it was rather effortless. I felt great, I woke up refreshed, I had more energy throughout the day, etc. BUT, I slipped up. About 3 weeks ago, I started eating icecream, and drinking cokes. I fell off the wagon, and I immediately started feeling sluggish. In 3 weeks, I have gained back about 5 lbs, and I have been waking up late, feeling groggy at work, etc. SO, yesterday, I got back on the wagon, and in only a single day, I already felt refreshed this morning. Just having ONE day without carbs and sugars made me sleep better and wake up refreshed.

Great post OP, I hope lots of people try it for themselves!

reply to post by truthseeker1984


Without grains, how do you fill the vitamin B complex? Taking vitamins alone is useless as the vitamins need a food to 'work on'. The only other way I know is by regular shots from the doctor.

We grew up without bread at meals and no deserts. Heck, the Easter Bunny ate all our candy, so did Santa Claus and the Halloween candy mysteriously vanished when our bags were confiscated as soon as we got home and hidden in Mom's closet ... so, we never got a sweet tooth. That was a plus.

Potatoes actually are okay IF you understand the following:
1. Use it as your only carb of the day.
2. No more than ONE small red potatoe, boiled, pepper okay but NO butter and NO sour cream and no more than once a week or you'll be skipping other stuff you need.

I checked one time years ago, either carbs or calories (forgot which) and on a 1500 cal a day diet one could have 33 potatoes if they ate NOTHING else during the day. Put a single pat of butter on the potatoes and your limit goes down to 13! Two pats of butter and the limit drops to 3.

The point is, the goodies piled on a potatoe is what gives it the bad rap. Check out the nutrients it has!

I did 10 carbs a day - tell you what. I lost no weight (I was anorexic and underweight then anyway) and ended up with proteinuria because my body started eating itself. So, hmmm okay 25 carbs a day MAX!