Diet Outline (Day 2)

Current weight: 157lbs

"As to methods, there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

So I've been pretty busy with errands and whatnot lately and I haven't really had time to sit down and think of exactly what to eat and how to work out, but I'll give you guys (all one or two of you reading this) a brief summary of what I'll be eating/not eating this post.

Diet:

I've been reading 4 hour body fanatically the last few weeks and the author, Tim Ferriss, has some pretty interesting ideas on dieting to lose fat. His plan is broken down into 5 simple rules.

Rule 1: Avoid "white" carbohydrates (or anything that can be white).

I like this rule and it's one that I generally follow because white usually means that the food has been processed and refined which translates into something that is high glycemic index (more on this later for those of you who don't know what this is)

Rule 2: Eat the same few meals over and over again.

Tim suggests doing so for convenience. You eat the same things and you get into a routine of making the same things over and over again. Variety causes headache in preparation and cleanup. I like this idea as well.

Rule 3: Don't drink calories.

I was playing badminton today and nonchalantly bought a giant gatorade and consumed half of it in one gulp. Then after realizing what I did, I look onto the side of the bottle only to find that I've just consumed nearly 30 grams of sugar. Epic misstep on my behalf.

Anyway, I usually follow this rule religiously. Artificial drinks are notoriously deceptive in the amount of sugar they contain. Processed and refined sugar in our diet is probably the number one culprit of obesity in America. Think drinking diet is any better? Studies have shown that the artificial sweeteners in diet drinks produce the same insulin response in your body that sugar does. Translation: 1. Your body goes into conserve fat mode due to this. 2. You get hungry from drinking diet and end up eating more anyway. Lose-lose. More on insulin response and the glycemic index in a future post for those of you wanting to understand more about this. As for now, I've sort of gone onto a tangent, but in short, I don't drink sweet artificial shit and stick to tea, coffee or water.

Rule 4: Don't eat fruit.

I think this is a little far fetched. I can understand the logic behind this rule; Tim wants to completely limit the amount of fructose/sugar consumed. Fruit has sugar. Fruit is bad. But fruit such as raspberries and blackberries contain vitamins and antioxidants while providing some much needed fiber for digestion. Grapefruit and cherries have probably have some of the lowest glycemic index values of almost anything we eat. In essence, eating certain fruits don't cause nearly the same insulin spikes you see from sugary drinks and refined carbs. I think the benefits they provide far outweigh the detriments.

Rule 5: Take one day off per week and go nuts.

This is what's commonly known amongst the fitness community as carb-cycling. Without going into the science behind why this is beneficial, a long story short, eating the same thing everyday just sucks balls from a psychological standpoint. But more importantly, your body actually starts reacting to your new diet by slowing metabolism; an uphill battle for someone who wants to lose body fat. Loading up on carbs one day a week effectively resets the process and jumpstarts your body's metabolism again. I've put this in laymens terms as much possible, but for those of you wanting to understand the science behind this, google carb-cycling.

All in all some effective rules to abide by, but I'll probably be doing something slightly modified but following the same principles.

1. Zero refined carbs. My staples for carbs are: unsweetened oatmeal, whole grain bread and brown rice.

2. Loading up on carbs in the morning and tapering them off toward the evening (No carbs after 8pm) for a total of 1g carb per lb of body weight per day.

This method is also called "frontloading." The reason for this is because studies have shown that carbs you eat in the morning are used toward energy throughout the day. Carbs eaten in the evening tend to be stored as fat as the body's metabolism wanes throughout the day. Hence the old saying that you should eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a peasant (or something to that effect) is true; at least for staying lean and healthy.

3. Consuming protein with every meal for a total of approximately 1g per lb of body weight per day. Eggs, fish, chicken, turkey, nuts, peanut/almond butter, lean beef and pork.

4. Four to five small meals a day with breakfast eaten within an hour of waking.

5. As much vegetables such as broccoli/spinach/peppers/cauliflower as you like for additional vitamins/antioxidants/fiber.

6. Zero regard to calorie counting (more on this for a future post), moderate fat consumption (also for another post)

That's going to be my diet in a nutshell for the next three months! Workout routine and other goodies to come.

Edit: One last important thing to add: 7. Drink LOTS AND LOTS OF WATER!

Studies have shown that drinking 17 oz. of water can increase your body's metabolism by as much as 30%. The increased metabolism was measurable in just as little as 10 minutes after fluid intake and the peak of the body's thermogenic response to fluid intake was 30-40 minutes after the fluid intake! Stay hydrated my friends.