Sunday, July 29, 2012

I've switched my fasting routine again.

This time it seems to be sticking.

What's working best for me is a daily 16 hour fast with an 8 hour eating window. And 2 meals a day seems to satisfy me.

The eating window that seems to work best for me is 10:30am to 6:30pm. My breakfasts have included lots of protein and fat, for example, hard boiled eggs with nuts. The protein/fat combo prevents hunger until the late afternoon. Eating 2 meals a day has been pretty painless. I'm still having a daily glass of wine before dinner too.

I think I'll stick with this daily type of IF for awhile..


Saturday, July 28, 2012

The revolution has begun!

I began this whole wheat/grain free journey after reading Wheat Belly www.wheatbellyblog.com 


Although I've dabbled in paleo/primal eating, my core has been the details in Dr Davis's book.

Bill O'Reilly is now on the Wheat Belly diet. He spoke about it on his tv show..


On Monday, Dr Davis will be on Live with Kelly..


I'm tickled pink for Dr Davis. If it wasn't for his book I would still be eating bagels for breakfast and pizza for lunch. I'd still be looking at a round carb face in the mirror. I'd still need an afternoon nap. I'd still be only fitting into half the pants in my closet.

I've still got work to do. Yesterday I weighed in at 142.8 lbs. I want to be in the 130's when I go for my follow up doctor visit on August 14. I'm confident that sticking to the Wheat Belly guidelines will get me there.

Viva La Wheat Belly!

Friday, July 27, 2012

Another Wheat-free race is around the corner

Next week I'll be in Las Vegas for a marathon. I'm confident that I'll be Wheat and Sugar-free. I'm not so confident that my knee will hold up. I'll see what happens..

Sunday, July 22, 2012

I think it's finally happened...

I'm over my cravings for carby, sweet things.

I'll be darned.

I gave up grains/wheat on Memorial Day. I gave up sugar on July 4th.

Sugar was tough, even though I wasn't eating grains, there were still lots of desserts to ingest. Ice cream and flourless chocolate cake, to name a few. I'm eating a couple stevia and sugar alcohol desserts. I don't overeat them, they don't hold the same appeal as the real sugar stuff.

I've been living on a mostly carb, sugar almost everyday diet for my whole life. I'm amazed that I was able to make the switch.

Besides dropping the extra weight, my hope is that my blood pressure comes down to a normal range. My follow up visit with Dr Gerber is on August 14, I'm fully committed to staying on his low carb diet. I'm eating alot of cream and cheese. After the appointment, I'm hoping I can stop counting carbs and just follow the Wheat Belly guidelines outlined in the book.


Saturday, July 21, 2012

I'm switching my fasting routine

For my experiment of one, I was going to do Fast-5 www.fast-5.com

I'm switching to EatStopEat. www.eatstopeat.com I'll be doing 2 24 hour fasts a week.

The reason I switched is simplicity. I know that on 2 days, from 6pm to 6pm the following day, I won't eat.

No food from 6pm to 6pm 2x a week
I'm also counting carbs, as per Dr Gerber, until my next visit in August. That's plenty of rules for now. I tend to rebel if I have too much structure.

I received my blood work results, everything is in the normal range. I'm even more motivated to stay on low carb, to lose the extra weight. I'm certain that this is the cause for my higher than desired blood pressure.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

My visit to the paleo doctor

Yesterday I had an appointment with Dr Jeff Gerber in Denver. He calls himself the Denver Diet Doctor. denverdietdoctor.com

Here's the good news..

-My EKG showed that my heart is healthy.
-Dr Gerber said that I have one of the highest levels of HDL cholesterol he's ever seen. Before I got too big of a head, he said that my high number is probably due to good genetics, not because of anything I've been doing. Either way, I'll take it.
-I have excellent triglycerides and glucose levels.

Now the not quite as good news..
-My blood pressure is on the high side.
-I weigh 145 lbs. Ouch, that's about 20 lbs too much.

Dr Gerber recommended a low carb diet for about a month. He thinks that will help me lose some weight, which will decrease my blood pressure.

The difference between low carb vs paleo is that low carbers eat more fats. Paleo people eat more proteins.

Dr Gerber said I should eat about 60g of carbs a day. He also suggested I increase my intake of butter, cream and cheese.

I have a follow up appointment in 4 weeks. At that time he's re-take my blood pressure and weight.

So I guess I'll be a carb counter for 4 weeks. I've never wanted to count calories or carbs but what the heck, I can do it for a month. Here's what my food pyramid will be..


Time to go eat some meat and cheese..

Sunday, July 15, 2012

8:30 Breakfast

Today is Day 1 of the Fast-5 experiment. Breakfast is pushed back to 8:30. Gradually I'll push it back until 2. I think it will take about 20 days to do so.

I usually eat around 7:30, waiting an hour wasn't a problem. Since it's Sunday, I was in bed until 8!

Here's a photo of last night's dinner. I love sticking a fried egg on top of a salad...


Saturday, July 14, 2012

Experiment of One

Every so often I'm going to conduct experiments on myself. Some may be excluding certain foods, like dairy or nuts. Some may be a different way to eat, like incorporating intermittent fasting.

It's good to shake things up once in a while.

My first experiment will be intermittent fasting. I'm going to start with Dr Bert Herring's Fast-5 Program.



Dr Herring's website is www.Fast-5.com. One of the things I really like is that Dr Herring gives away his book for FREE! You can download it from his site.

In a nutshell, I'll be training my body to extend my nightly fasts to 19 hours a day. Then I have a 5 hour "feeding" window. One of my goals in using the WheatBelly diet is to train my body to burn fat instead of sugar for energy. That is also one of the objectives of Fast-5. I think this will be a good complement to what I'm already doing, eliminating grains and sugar.

Dr Herring uses 5pm to 10pm as his eating window. I don't usually eat past 6:30,  my eating window will be 2-7pm.

My first step is to gradually push back breakfast from 8am to 2pm. Dr Herring suggests delaying the first meal for 30 min, every 2 days. Tomorrow I'll have breakfast at 8:30 instead of 8.

Friday, July 13, 2012

2 good things

A tasty lunch of roast chicken and zucchini



And my knee is healing! After 6 weeks of ice, heat, a knee brace and lots of motrin, my knee feels alot better. Not perfect but better. Tomorrow I'm going on an easy hike with my knee brace on.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

It's been 45 days

since I ditched grains and wheat. This is the longest I've ever been able to do so.

So how do I feel?

Pretty darn good.

My "english muffin for breakfast" habit has been kicked to the curb. I rarely think about them anymore. Before Wheat Belly, I didn't think I'd ever be able to get this monkey off my back. But I did it.

I'm not very not tempted when I pass the bakery section at Whole Foods. I was a regular buyer of all things carby and bread-like. Now I can pass by without a problem.

I wish I could say that weight is falling off me. Sadly, this isn't the case. I think it's due to the fact that I was still consuming sugar. Now that I'm on the sugar wagon, I'm hoping to have saggy pants in the near future.

I sleep through the night. I used to wake up around 3am.

I don't get the "I need a nap" signal around 3pm anymore.

My eyes aren't as puffy. My whole face is de-puffing, which makes me happy. It's no fun staring at a biscuit face in the mirror.

Next week I have an appointment with the primal doctor Dr Jeff Gerber. I'm hoping I see good results with my blood tests.

In summary, I'm a happy camper. I don't have any plans to go back to grains, not even for a weekly "cheat" meal.

I hope the next 45 days busts my sugar habit. I also want to begin adding some weekly intermittent fasting days.

Let's go..


Desserts with sugar alcohol

I'm eating 2 of them..

Vosages Sugar free chocolate

This is the Barcelona bar with sea salt, smoked almonds and maltitol.

These are little cakes from Poparubies made with xylitol. ...



I really like these desserts. They don't have any fake sugar after taste.

Besides the taste, the other benefit is portion control, whether I want to or not. I can only have a small amount of these sugar alcohols at a time. If I overdo it, my stomach revolts!

Monday, July 9, 2012

I'm in a Mid-Life food crises

I was eating (and enjoying) a bun-less hamburger yesterday. About halfway through, it hit me.

I'm having a mid-life crises. It doesn't pertain to my job or my life in general. It's just with food.

I turned 55 in April. Before then I was a vegetarian for 25 years. Now I'm a carnivore. I've embraced and nurtured my sweet tooth for my entire life. Now I'm working on eliminating it. Low fat has been replaced with full fat. My diet is being completely overhauled.

I guess it's better than having a face-lift and becoming a cougar....

Sunday, July 8, 2012

My go-to meals

For breakfast it's been a couple eggs with some berries and nuts.


For lunch it's turkey and cheese with sauerkraut.




Since I'm working on eliminating sugar, I'm only eating fruit in the morning. Dr Davis says that berries are the best. Since they're in season, that's what I'm using.

This afternoon I'm going out for my first walk since I messed up my knee. The doctor said to rest it for 10 days, today is Day 11. It's not 100% but it's better. I'm going to wrap it to make sure it's stable. I'll never take my knees for granted again!

Saturday, July 7, 2012

I've got an appointment with a Primal Doctor!

His name is Dr Jeff Gerber and he's in Denver...


He's a general practitioner who recommends a primal diet to his patients. This is his food pyramid..


It seems pretty close to the Wheat Belly diet by Dr Davis. That's the blueprint I'm currently following...


The biggest difference seems to be with cheese. Dr Davis says it's ok to eat freely. He says that other dairy should be in moderation. It looks as if Dr Gerber only uses raw dairy in moderation.

My appointment is a standard physical on July 17. This keeps me motivated to be grain/sugar free. I'll be interested to see how my blood tests turn out.

I'm excited to have a consultation with a primal doctor. My ultimate goal is to have a consultation with Dr Davis. When I get around my goal weight I want to fly to Wisconsin to thank him personally. Without his book I would have never begun this journey. I'd still be eating english muffins for breakfast.

Friday, July 6, 2012

These little cakes are gonna save me

Here are some photos of teeny cakes from Poparubies, a bakery out of Denver..



More info..
Gluten-free, no added sugars, low glycemic, high fiber, and made from garbanzo bean flour.


The cakes are sweetened with a sugar alcohol called xylitol. 

I was seriously thinking about adding a couple weekly "sugar cheat meals". Although I enjoyed the raw dessert I had yesterday, it wasn't the same as having a piece of the real thing. It's only been 36 hours and I was already feeling sorry for myself.

Not anymore.

I'm going back to Whole Foods and buying up their entire inventory of these cakes. I'll allow myself 2 a day, topped with some whipped coconut milk. The only other sugar source will be from fruit. I'l officially ditching honey and maple syrup.

Thank you little low glycemic cakes!


Thursday, July 5, 2012

Before and after refined sugar

Yesterday I was eating the white stuff. Here's what I had for dessert..


Chocolate flourless cake with vanilla ice cream.

As of today I'm not a refined sugar eater anymore. Here's what I had for dessert..


Raw chocolate ganache sweetened with maple syrup. It's topped with chilled coconut cream (no sugar) and fruit.

My journey to being sugar-free has begun...

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

It's July 4th


I gave up grains on Memorial Day. On the 4th of July I'm ditching sugar. First I'll start with the refined stuff, then I'll get off the rest.

Ack!