A few words about the real DIR guys...

[O-ring]

It makes me happy...I also love ice cream...it too makes me happy.

 

[SeaJay]

Genesis once bubbled...


Me thinks you need to talk to some real physicians SeaJay, rather than religious zealots, er, DIR 'diving experts'.

Oh, I have, Gen.

Not one DIRite told me to "go veg." Andrew G. is a veg, and that may have inadvertently served as an example, but if you remember my writeup, we very much made fun of each other about it... All in good humor. He did not tell me to go veg. That was my own decision.

And of course, the first thing I did was talk to a physician about it. Next I did the research. This had nothing to do with DIRites.

1. Animal protein needs to make up a significant part of your diet. Perhaps 30% or so. Eggs, cheese, meat, chicken, and cold-water fish in particular. Note that all of these have some animal fats in them - they're perfectly ok to eat. We're DESIGNED to eat this stuff!

That's pretty much where I am now... During my phase-out. Well, maybe I'm at 20% animal product. My point is that this is a huge change in the 80% animal product that I was consuming previously.

2. Stay away from high glycemic vegetables and starches in particular. That would include potatoes among the worst of the sinners. (Yes, this includes french fries ) Pastas and such are SPARING, if at all (same reason.) If you want bread, eat only whole-wheat (NOT "wheat bread" from the store - WHOLE wheat.) Consider refined flour and what contains it junk food.

I couldn't agree more.

3. In addition, eat NO "artificial fats" (margarines, etc); nothing hydrogenated. This will be difficult; if you want "butter", eat BUTTER! The reason is that the "artificial" fats - the hydrogenated ones - are of questionable bioavailability without causing problems with your bad/good chloresterol balance, etc.

Again, agreed. Don't even talk to me about Nutrasweet.

4. Finally, no refined sugar. At all.

Hmmmm... Perhaps this has to do with your diabetic reference, but I've found that some people's bodies are more tolerant of refined sugars than others.

I make it a point to reduced my sugar intake considerably, but have not completely cut it out from my diet. I believe that refined sugar (for that matter, most sugar) is burned in place of long-burn fuels, and thus, in a desire to promote a lower body fat ratio, have chosen a lower sugar diet.

The balance of your diet is vegetables, fruits and nuts.

Do that and you'll find that the "swings" go away. You'll also be eating pretty close to the balance that our digestive system was designed for, and avoiding "engineered" foods that our digestive system couldn't have been designed for (since they are not naturally-occurring!)

Again, I couldn't agree more. Don't forget that the best vegs, fruits, and nuts are of the uncooked variety.

You'll also enjoy maintaining this diet and won't have to play the "health food store" games, along with their prices.

If you doubt this approach before you start have your blood worked up, eat this way for six to eight weeks, then have your blood worked up again. If you don't like the triglyceride and LDL/HDL changes, along with your blood sugar stability, following this for six weeks I'll be shocked.

Been there, done that, have the T-shirt and am missing 20 lbs (happily) as a consequence.

I'm with ya, on this one, Gen...

 

[JamieZ]

I think O-ring hit it right on the nail head. ICECREAM

 

[SeaJay]

O-ring once bubbled...
It makes me happy...I also love ice cream...it too makes me happy.

Oh, me too. Tobacco made me happy as well.

Not that there's a real comparison... I'm just trying to make the point that just because you enjoy it doesn't make it "okay" or even "desireable."

I have found that as I've filled my body with the better stuff, my craves for tobacco, ice cream, and meat has subsided. Like Gen has pointed out, not the absence of these things, but rather, a significant change from what the "norm" is in our culture. 20% to 30% seems like a healthy balance to me... Although I am on the downswing, and have full intentions of trying a diet devoid of those things... True "veg." I'll let you know how it goes...

 

[WreckWriter]

Uncle Pug once bubbled...

First off... I keep seeing a Sponge Bob avatar in your future.

I'm glad I'm not the only one......

WW

 

[chickdiver]

GI3 is not anywhere close to a vegetarian, believe me.

 

[Cave Diver]

SeaJay once bubbled...


Heheheee... Funny.

What you're sensing there, when you crave meat (and enjoy the pleasurable sensations when you consume) isn't a positive thing. It's your body craving more of what causes those chemical reactions which bring you pleasure. It's got nothing to do with what's good and healthy for your body.

Guess you think the same about sex too huh? The cravings aint a positive thing, it's just your bodies craving to perpetuate the species, brought on by the endorphines that bring you pleasure?

 

[Genesis]

Personally, my research on this subject (not unlike the research I did on DIR) has shown me that animal products of whatever kind... Eggs, meat, dairy... Can be consumed in small quantity, but that our bodies aren't designed to carry the high loads of animal product and sugar that we feed it in our culture. Common sense tells us that all of the dietary-affected diseases (high cholesterol, obesity, diabetes, heart disease) have not always been such a big killer in humans... Else we would have developed by now a natural resistance to these diseases. Thus, I invite you to question your diet... In fact, question how we as Americans eat on a regular basis. Compare and contrast our dietary habits with those of other societies. I suspect that you will find what I did... That in societies where the consumption of animal products are reduced, the general state of health is improved, even with a lowered standard of health care. Ditto for fatty foods and foods high in sugar and acids.

There's no way you were consuming 80% of your calories from meats and fats.

No way.

You eat a hamburger on a bun, you are consuming about half the calories in the BUN! The bun is made of the "bad stuff" - refined flour - and that is an extremely-high-glycemic index food.

Bing - there goes the sugar in your blood, your pancreas must produce insulin to control it. But nothing with that had to do with the MEAT on the bun at all.

In fact, the protein in the meat is the only good part of that sandwich!

Worse, since you took in the sugar (or things easily converted to it - high-glycemic-index things such as the bun) at the same time as the animal fat, your body doesn't have to CONSUME any of the fat, since it has more than enough immediately-available glucose to run your biological processes on. The result is that it gets stored - and you GET fat.

Fats are NOT bad. In fact, animal and plant fats are NECESSARY to your health. Cut them all out, you will have problems. Your digestive system is simply not designed for that load, and fats and oils are necessary for good health. (So is cholesterol, although you won't hear a doctor tell you that - it is an ESSENTIAL component of your biology!)

The entire "downer/upper" thing is due to sugar swings and the production of insulin necessary to balance it. If you end up insulin resistent as a consequence of the insults you serve up to your body continually in this manner, we call that Type II diabetes.

If you want to model your intake after what man as an animal has historically (last million years, not counting the last 100!) eaten, and what your digestive system is set up for, this is what you will eat:

Animal protein - which I count as meat, poultry and fish (both flesh and fats) - about 30% of your caloric intake, with a specific emphasis on insuring Omega-3 fatty acids are present at least once a week (cold-water fish such as salmon)

Animal byproducts, including eggs, cheese, butter, milk (if you care for it - I don't) etc - about 10-20% of your caloric intake.

That is, about half of your total caloric intake from animal-related protein and fats, and roughly half or a bit more of that DIRECTLY from animal flesh.

The balance from vegetables, fruits, nuts and plant oils, with special care to be aware of vegetables high on the glycemic index (e.g. potatoes.) Most fruits are very high on the glycemic index, but they provide nutrients in the balance and tend to actually be less harmful than high-glycemic-index veggies. So eat the orange, but keep it reasonable (one orange, not 10!)

NO refined sugar or flour products, to the best of your ability. No cookies, cakes, sugar in your coffee (sucralose if you need sweetener, and then only a bit) or other sugar load. No white or "wheat" bread; if you want bread, whole wheat is acceptable, but white is not.

The problem is NOT the animal products SeaJay. That's a common myth that is often repeated by dieticians, but they are ignoring the mechanical and biological design of the human body. We are built to hunt and there is only one reason to do that - to consume animal protein. Our eyes have binocular vision which is a serious impediment to avoiding predators (you can't see out the back of your head!) but a NEED for effective hunting. When you join that with the design of our hands and teeth, along with our digestive tract, its obvious what ought to be going in the pie-hole - and it ain't pies.

The growth of diet-related diseases (specifically, diabetes, heart-disease, etc) can be EXACTLY correlated with the rise of refined flour and sugar and their inclusion in our diet in outrageous doses.

The average American consumes anywhere from 20-50% of his or her calories daily from refined sugar and flour products.

You simply can't do that.

Your body is optimally designed to handle a diet moderately-high in animal-related proteins and fats with low high-glycemic vegetative matter and some fruits for essential nutrients making up the balance.

It is almost impossible to eat the nutrient load you need to be healthy on a vegetative diet.

A "typical" day for me starts with a ham, cheese and mushroom omelette, a light lunch (perhaps a hamburger patty, hot dog or bratworst - but no bun) and ends with a chicken stir-fry (full of veggies such as cabbage, sweet peppers, celery, broccoli, etc) or broiled salmon. If you want a steak, go ahead and have it - but make up some vegetables stir-fried in olive oil instead of the baked potato to eat with it, so you get the vegetables you need in your diet. If I have coffee in the morning its one cup, with sucralose (no sugar.) For a snack I might have a couple slices of cheese, and I'll typically eat an orange at some time during the day as well. For beverages I usually drink carbonated water flavored with lemon juice - no added sugar.

Eat like that and you will find that your weight remains where it should, your energy level remains constant through the day, you feel better and by any objective measure (e.g. blood pressure, trigliceride levers, cholesterol levels, etc) is FAR better than the "average" American Diet.

Occasionally I'll "cheat" and have a cookie (one) or a hot dog on a bun. But that's a "once in a while" thing - not daily.

I changed from the "typical American diet" to this and promptly (over six months or so) lost 20 lbs, and saw my energy level, subjectively, skyrocket.

Try it - its not only healthy but you'll love it - you'll never be hungry, your energy level will remain stable through the day, and you'll find that your general health improves by both objective and subjective measures.

You don't need to cram vitamins to make up for what you don't eat doing it this way either.

Most of the folks pushing this-or-that way of eating are drinking some form of Kool Aid.

 

[detroit diver]

Sounds a lot like the Adkins diet that I'm on.

 

[Genesis]

Atkins preaches almost NO carbs, at least initially.

That probably won't kill you, but its not necessary. You also will have some serious problems actually keeping to that diet for any length of time.

I understand that his view of "maintenance" looks roughly like how I eat, but the rest is really just a way to lose weight more quickly by ditching convertable carbohydrates and simple sugars, thereby FORCING your body to burn fat exclusively.

I'm sure that works - biologically it almost has to - but staying in that mode can't be good long-term.

Then again, his "maintenance" idea isn't radical at all. In fact, it looks a LOT like how the FDA is considering refining the "food pyramid" that we all learned.

As it turns out, its not really a very good model to follow, as all those breads and grains, in the refined form we eat them, are not good for you. In terms of biological load you may as well be eating pure sugar - they convert almost as quickly to glucose in the bloodstream!