Don't Sell the Steak; Sell the Sizzle

[Chupacabra 44]

Has anyone like myself tried drastic dietary interentions in order to determine possible health benefits?

Here is what I've tried -

Carnivore diet - only animal kingdom food.
Ketogenic diet - high fat, moderate protein, low carb.
Vegetarian diet - you know what this is.
Vegan diet - no animal products.
Fruitarian diet - almost all fruit with small amounts of low carb green veggies.
Elemination diet - isolating foods to ascertain food sensitivities.
Water Fasting - no foods.
Gluten free and dairy free diet.

What did you experience, if you tried any of these diets?

If you knew that there are some studies showing benefits to some of these diets for mental/physical health issues, along with annectodal testimonials, would you be interested in learning more?

If you haven't tried any of these, but are interested, let me know and I can explain some potential benefits of which ever one seems interesting to you.

 

[Dr Iron Arc]

I tried a keto diet for one day and immediately stopped when I realized almost all of my favorite foods have carbs.

 

[Brick In The Wall]

That's an impressive list of dietary plans that you've tried. I've been on the drugs and alcohol diet lately and it works fucking wonders lemme tell you.

I get plenty of exercise and stay in relatively good shape, but I'm not trying to live forever either.

 

[Deleted member 19654]

How did the fruitarian diet go? I can't imagine only eating fruit and the occasional vegetable.

 

[mahakaliSS_MahaDurga]

Has anyone like myself tried drastic dietary interentions in order to determine possible health benefits?

Here is what I've tried -

Carnivore diet - only animal kingdom food.
Ketogenic diet - high fat, moderate protein, low carb.
Vegetarian diet - you know what this is.
Vegan diet - no animal products.
Fruitarian diet - almost all fruit with small amounts of low carb green veggies.
Elemination diet - isolating foods to ascertain food sensitivities.
Water Fasting - no foods.
Gluten free and dairy free diet.

What did you experience, if you tried any of these diets?

If you knew that there are some studies showing benefits to some of these diets for mental/physical health issues, along with annectodal testimonials, would you be interested in learning more?

If you haven't tried any of these, but are interested, let me know and I can explain some potential benefits of which ever one seems interesting to you.

I tried keto briefly, and I am willing to try again.

 

[Chupacabra 44]

I tried a keto diet for one day and immediately stopped when I realized almost all of my favorite foods have carbs.

The ketogenic diet has it's historical roots from the 1920s and was used to treat epileptic children. Since I have bipolar disorder, once diagnosed and given the anti-epileptic medication, Lamictal (did not work for me - no longer taking), was intrigued as to the potential association between bipolar and epilepsy. Like everything in the field of psychiatry plenty of theories as to why the possible link.

Researched and came accross Keto, and I researched it to death. (Once medications like lamictal were invited physicans stopped using keto for those with epilepsy). Last I checked there was at least two studies concluding that some of us with Bipolar disorder can become symptom free following this diet and some are able to come off all medications.

Highly recommend anyone who has bipolar disorder give keto a shot and see how you respond! Research thoroughly and best to coordinate with your physician, but most doctors aren't keto friendly, so be prepared with knowledge to counteract any potential protest

I'm a healthy vegan eater by preference (with a touch of non fat plan Greek yogurt sprinkled in). So, eating meats, butter, eggs made me unhappy, but I needed to try it.

As an interesting aside, my testosterone levels were low and my endocrinologist told me I could start supplementation if I wanted. Told him no. But, after 3 months hard core keto - 1 pound ground beef, 4 eggs covered in duck fat, and one entire stick of butter - as my daily consumption (I used to do tons of cardio to burn the calories), I went for my regular endo visit and my endocrinologist said, it looked like I was on steroids because my t-levels skyrocket. He said, tell me everything your doing so I can tell my other male patients. But, my diet struck him as a huge mistake, and he had me take a CT Coronary Calcium test.

Unfortunately, my hard core version of Keto messed up my cholesterol (fixed it) and elevated my liver enzymes (fixed it).

 

[mahakaliSS_MahaDurga]

1 pound ground beef, 4 eggs covered in duck fat, and one entire stick of butter

You ate this every day? Is this the only thing you ate throughout the day? I obsess about my diet constantly, but I have real trouble getting rid of junk food, chips, biscuits etc. Sometimes I feel like I have no control over the food I eat.

 

[Chupacabra 44]

How did the fruitarian diet go? I can't imagine only eating fruit and the occasional vegetable.

There are a few varies versions of the Fruitarian diet. There is the 80-10-10 version (carbs = 80%; protein = 10%; fats = 10%). Essentially eating just fruit and lettuce and cucumbers, you would hit these ratios, because even fruits have trace amounts of fats and proteins.

Another version is something called 30 Bananas were people are eating 30 bananas a day and nothing else! (Tried it - lasted one day. Don't like bananas much). The inventor of this diet us a hard core, high level cyclist (road bikes) seemingly like a class 2 or 3 level professional (not Lance Armstrong level, but good enough to empress me). He is an Ozzy and goes by the handle DurrianRider, his first name is Harley can't recall his last name. He has an interesting youtube channel, also.

If you are so inclined, google his ex girl friend "Freely the banana girl", I think she goes by. Take a look at her before and after pictures on google. She too has a channel on youtube.

Highly recommend caution if you might react like me. For some reason eating this makes me feel so good it triggers my mania - BIG TIME! I concluded for myself all the fruit sugar impacted my neuro chemicals?

So, if one has bipolar (like me) be careful. Extrapolating from my reaction, if one has any psychosis (I don't have this), I would highly recommend against thIs diet. But, if one has depression I highly recommend you consider this diet to see how you respond. I speculate all the fructose and glucose from fruit might be helping elevate one's mood.

Each year there is an annual fruitarian convention. If you Google and look at these people's pictures - not one over weight person in their group.

Be advised, however, the late Steve Jobs was fruitarian for much of his life and he died from pancreatic cancer in his early fifties. From the diet perhaps? And, the actor who was portraying Steve Jobs in an upcoming movie tried this diet (character acting) and ended up in the emergency room with pancreatic pain. Psychosomatic? Clever publicity stunts for the movie? A genuine reaction?

You ate this every day?

You ate this every day? Is this the only thing you ate throughout the day? I obsess about my diet constantly, but I have real trouble getting rid of junk food, chips, biscuits etc. Sometimes I feel like I have no control over the food I eat.

Yes.

Keep watching my thread, and I'll address some aspects of your post indirectly so you can see my opinion on part of your diet. I don't want to commingle some of my points for clarity and redundancy prevention purposes.

Every single day here is what I ate for three months (with a little cheating - which I'll explain) - 1 pound, organic grass fed beef; butter; 4 eggs covered in Epic brand duck fat; and, one whole stick of Kerrigold butter (shout out to SS members from Ireland).

Hated those foods, but here is what else I found with this diet. It 100% stopped my fibromyalgia and joint pain! Plus, my testosterone levels skyrocketed, as mentioned. I told my rheumatologist about my response. He had another patient eating this way and obtain relief from their fibromyalgia pain too.

So, if one has body pain maybe try this diet?

Another downside is this diet messed up my sleep. A theory is one needs carbs for serotonin production and I wasn't getting enough serotonin perhaps? Lack of sleep is often a huge read flag going into mania with my bipolar, but not the case here.

I cheated by periodically eating two high fat, plant foods - avocados and nuts.

How did the fruitarian diet go? I can't imagine only eating fruit and the occasional vegetable.

I addressed some of this already before seeing your post. But, will add this. I read lots of annectodal stories for all these diets and plenty of long term fruitarians seem mental unstable to my eye. Not judging - I have my own issues. I mentioned DurianRider and he seems really unstable to me in his youtube videos. Correlation is not causation? Pre-existing issue unrelated to this diet? I have no clue.
But, I have seen enough on this diet that my educated guess is it's related.

Some experts suspect lack of omega three fats can adversely impact mental health. So, I would think maybe eat fruitarian and supplement with omega 3 fish oil would be wise.

 

[Chupacabra 44]

Another idea I would like to convey is become mindful and assume everything you're feeling physically/mentally is directly caused by what you're eating, drinking, or otherwise consuming (gum, mints, vitamins, supplements, etc), until proven otherwise.

Once I started learning how foods were causing so many physical and mental problems for me (and others), I isolated all the variables with diet and I know exactly what I am consuming and exactly what it's doing to my body and mind. This idea might sound kind of far out, but hundreds and hundreds of people are resolving health issues this way.

A friend of mine, listened to me and learned what exact foods were causing her problems. For her, she knows now exactly what triggers her menopausal systems; she avoids these foods and now has zero menopausal symptoms! I told her "blame everything you are feeling mentally or physically on food until proven different. And, become extremely mindful - best to keep a journal - and you will see what you are intolerant too". Worked for her.

I think it will work for anyone who has the motivation to try.

Next, dietary cravings are a result of your microbiome in many cases, IMO, based on all my extensive research. Cracking of the genetic code has shown that humans are 10x more foreign cells than human cells (100 trillion viruses, bacteria and parasite cells inside your body vs 10 trillion human cells). Thus, humans are more foreign, based on DNA, than human.

Let that last sentence sink in for a minute.

My personal theory is your gut microbiome controls, in large part, what one eats.

One is craving chips, cookies, candy, ice cream, in part, because your foreign DNA in your gut microbiome is causing these cravings.

How did I successfully fight and win this battle with my microbiome? Baby steps. One will not likely be successful in transitioning cold turkey, IMO. Be loving and forgiving with yourself. Take two steps forward - one step back. Over time you will win and the composition of your microbiome will be altered to microorganisms that want healthy foods. Took me years to do this, but I did it. (If microbiome ideas interest anyone, look into the "American Gut Project"....this is on going research and will be such great results from this project once completed. It's through UCSD (a top American University if you are outside the States - it's a cousin to Cal Berkeley). Unfortunately, Covid has halted it's research for now. But, they will have data soon that will lead to ground breaking implementation of microbiome strategies.

Another idea to stop cravings and help change your microbiome is to experiment with probiotics.
I'm going to keep "spamming" my thread with dietary knowledge that I've acquired over the years, so keep checking back as I think of stuff, for anyone interested. Fyi, I'm middle aged. I disconnected from TV fifteen years ago to focus much of my time on reading and researching to try and resolve my "shit".

Wish I had any concept of the relationship between diet and health before I turned 35. I thought that food pyramid stuff was B.S. and I ate SAD (Standard American Diet - if outside the US - this means all the crap you know most us Americans eat Hamburgers, fries, pizza, hot dogs, etc...)

My siblings ate healthy. They have no physical health issues. I ate SAD until aged 35. Big mistake.

If I could go back in time magically and change one thing about myself, I would go back and change my diet!!!!!

Thus, I hope I can reach at least one younger person with my thread. Learn from my mistake.

All my peer's ate crappy processed foods. We are all in our 50s. Of my close, circle of friends from high school - about ten people - two have dropped dead - the rest of us have major health issues. I'm convinced it's from diet.

On the other hand, where I live in the states we have lots of immigrants from Mexico, etc. I have many immigrant friends around my age. Not one has any signicant health issues. They grew up poor and ate rice, beans, corn tortillas, veggies, fruits, and a little bit of meats and seafood (no junk food or too much animal foods, because their parents could not afford these luxury items).

As I age it's one step forward, two steps back (not a typo). In other words, each time I figure out and solve one health problem with diet, a medical specialists finds two more issues.

 

[mahakaliSS_MahaDurga]

Another idea I would like to convey is become mindful and assume everything you're feeling physically/mentally is directly caused by what you're eating, drinking, or otherwise consuming (gum, mints, vitamins, supplements, etc), until proven otherwise.

Once I started learning how foods were causing so many physical and mental problems for me (and others), I isolated all the variables with diet and I know exactly what I am consuming and exactly what it's doing to my body and mind. This idea might sound kind of far out, but hundreds and hundreds of people are resolving health issues this way.

A friend of mine, listened to me and learned what exact foods were causing her problems. For her, she knows now exactly what triggers her menopausal systems; she avoids these foods and now has zero menopausal symptoms! I told her "blame everything you are feeling mentally or physically on food until proven different. And, become extremely mindful - best to keep a journal - and you will see what you are intolerant too". Worked for her.

I think it will work for anyone who has the motivation to try.

Next, dietary cravings are a result of your microbiome in many cases, IMO, based on all my extensive research. Cracking of the genetic code has shown that humans are 10x more foreign cells than human cells (100 trillion viruses, bacteria and parasite cells inside your body vs 10 trillion human cells). Thus, humans are more foreign, based on DNA, than human.

Let that last sentence sink in for a minute.

My personal theory is your gut microbiome controls, in large part, what one eats.

One is craving chips, cookies, candy, ice cream, in part, because your foreign DNA in your gut microbiome is causing these cravings.

How did I successfully fight and win this battle with my microbiome? Baby steps. One will not likely be successful in transitioning cold turkey, IMO. Be loving and forgiving with yourself. Take two steps forward - one step back. Over time you will win and the composition of your microbiome will be altered to microorganisms that want healthy foods. Took me years to do this, but I did it. (If microbiome ideas interest anyone, look into the "American Gut Project"....this is on going research and will be such great results from this project once completed. It's through UCSD (a top American University if you are outside the States - it's a cousin to Cal Berkeley). Unfortunately, Covid has halted it's research for now. But, they will have data soon that will lead to ground breaking implementation of microbiome strategies.

Another idea to stop cravings and help change your microbiome is to experiment with probiotics.
I'm going to keep "spamming" my thread with dietary knowledge that I've acquired over the years, so keep checking back as I think of stuff, for anyone interested. Fyi, I'm middle aged. I disconnected from TV fifteen years ago to focus much of my time on reading and researching to try and resolve my "shit".

Wish I had any concept of the relationship between diet and health before I turned 35. I thought that food pyramid stuff was B.S. and I ate SAD (Standard American Diet - if outside the US - this means all the crap you know most us Americans eat Hamburgers, fries, pizza, hot dogs, etc...)

My siblings ate healthy. They have no physical health issues. I ate SAD until aged 35. Big mistake.

If I could go back in time magically and change one thing about myself, I would go back and change my diet!!!!!

Thus, I hope I can reach at least one younger person with my thread. Learn from my mistake.

All my peer's ate crappy processed foods. We are all in our 50s. Of my close, circle of friends from high school - about ten people - two have dropped dead - the rest of us have major health issues. I'm convinced it's from diet.

On the other hand, where I live in the states we have lots of immigrants from Mexico, etc. I have many immigrant friends around my age. Not one has any signicant health issues. They grew up poor and ate rice, beans, corn tortillas, veggies, fruits, and a little bit of meats and seafood (no junk food or too much animal foods, because their parents could not afford these luxury items).

As I age it's one step forward, two steps back (not a typo). In other words, each time I figure out and solve one health problem with diet, a medical specialists finds two more issues.

There are so many different approaches to diet that it's really hard to determine which diet is right. I have tried a few low-calorie diet challenges that made me extremely hungry all the time, and I get really overwhelmed by thinking about food. Do you have any suggestions on what should I eat, other than probiotics? I have low blood sugar.

 

[Chupacabra 44]

There are so many different approaches to diet that it's really hard to determine which diet is right. I have tried a few low-calorie diet challenges that made me extremely hungry all the time, and I get really overwhelmed by thinking about food. Do you have any suggestions on what should I eat, other than probiotics? I have low blood sugar.

First, ask me all the questions you can think of. I have all this dietary knowledge wasted mostly on myself. IRL my dad yells at me when i tell him "don't eat egg beaters it has 27 different chemicals in it, instead eat 100% liquid egg whites". My sibling looks at me with a glazed over look as she eats her deep fried (read Trans fats = heart attack) chicken sandwich.

Love helping people. It fills a void in my life. Anybody passively watching, would be happy to help you too.

The fastenating thing about diet is doing extremes like I have as have hundreds of other on line, each of us oftentimes finds a competely different approach compared to others, which works best. Never has the phrase "no two bodies are a like" been more apropos as with dietary intervention. For instance, some find eating keto or carnivore stabilizes their blood sugars while for others their blood sugar skyrocketed. Same concept with cholesterol...same concept with constipation (amazingly many people cure chronic, horrible, life long constipation by only eating meat!!!)

I've read some evolutionary anthropologist types who think nature did this inside humans to better ensure survival of the species.

Before i answer your question, let me ask you this, roughly how old are you? Give me a three year range, as I don't want you to disclose your exact age, since each little piece of info reveled can potentially get yourself doxxed. (So, say like between 19 - 22 years old....or 35 - 38), whatever the range is.

If you know your blood sugar levels give the number. If you dont know the number, where do you fall with respect to diabetes or pre- diabetes. These two questions will help me guide you better.

 

[mahakaliSS_MahaDurga]

Thank you for your time. I am around 35 years old and I have low blood sugar (I don't know the exact number). I was anemic in the past. I have a family history of diabetes and heart disease. I am a woman.

I would like to have a balanced diet, but I do not have enough time to cook every day (I spend half of my day at work and I usually eat sandwiches when I am there).

I would like to have a few basic meals that I could eat every day and that would be beneficial for me, healthwise. I am out of energy very often and I get tension headaches almost daily. On which food groups should I focus?

 

[Chupacabra 44]

Thank you for your time. I am around 35 years old and I have low blood sugar (I don't know the exact number). I was anemic in the past. I have a family history of diabetes and heart disease. I am a woman.

I would like to have a balanced diet, but I do not have enough time to cook every day (I spend half of my day at work and I usually eat sandwiches when I am there).

I would like to have a few basic meals that I could eat every day and that would be beneficial for me, healthwise. I am out of energy very often and I get tension headaches almost daily. On which food groups should I focus?

 

[mahakaliSS_MahaDurga]

You just quoted my post.

 

[Chupacabra 44]

My pleasure. The first recommendation, has anemia, red meat can help, but family heart disease. Do you supplement with Iron? Fyi, I've read that once a female goes through she should not supplement iron,.nor should any males. So, keep this in mind for the road as you age.

Since you want balanced diet, as I'm perceiving it, I would focus 100% on whole non processed. Ideally, I would forget about the sandwich. The bread is a source of carbs, but it's processed and has chemicals/preservatives/additives included. And, most likely gluten unless your eating expensive gluten free bread.

Here is what I suggest. Do you have sweet potatoes or yams over there? If so bake 5 of these on Sunday night. Purchase 5 Tupperware containers (make sure these are non BPA containers - glass is best), so you can make your health lunch for the entire work week in one night. (Lots of really serious body builders do this). Next, I recommend figuring out what source of protein you want in your meals. If you tolerate dairy well, my person for you would be to eat Fage brand plan non fat Greek Yogart (do you have this available)? Any brand you use. You want to examine the ingredient list and make sure that all it includes is dairy and "live active cultures" - these are probiotics. In the states, where I live we have Fage Greek Yogart in 8 oz. ContIners. This is perfect. If stock up on these when these are on sale at your grocery store.

Next, in states where we have Trader Joe's, they sell 5 pound bags of individually frozen skinless boneless chicken breasts. It's very affordable unlike anywhere else where I live. Do you something like this available to you. Don't be presumptuously, but I'm assuming your like me and don't want to spend $15 bucks US for a pack of two chicken breasts.....let me know....also, can you eat and somewhat enjoy sardines, anchovies and/or salmon?

Get back to me on this on this.....then I'll continue.

You just quoted my post.

Deleted it....I guess fat fingers on my stupid phone.....cumbersome for me to be using my phone for the forum.

 

[mahakaliSS_MahaDurga]

My pleasure. The first recommendation, has anemia, red meat can help, but family heart disease. Do you supplement with Iron? Fyi, I've read that once a female goes through she should not supplement iron,.nor should any males. So, keep this in mind for the road as you age.

Since you want balanced diet, as I'm perceiving it, I would focus 100% on whole non processed. Ideally, I would forget about the sandwich. The bread is a source of carbs, but it's processed and has chemicals/preservatives/additives included. And, most likely gluten unless your eating expensive gluten free bread.

Here is what I suggest. Do you have sweet potatoes or yams over there? If so bake 5 of these on Sunday night. Purchase 5 Tupperware containers (make sure these are non BPA containers - glass is best), so you can make your health lunch for the entire work week in one night. (Lots of really serious body builders do this). Next, I recommend figuring out what source of protein you want in your meals. If you tolerate dairy well, my person for you would be to eat Fage brand plan non fat Greek Yogart (do you have this available)? Any brand you use. You want to examine the ingredient list and make sure that all it includes is dairy and "live active cultures" - these are probiotics. In the states, where I live we have Fage Greek Yogart in 8 oz. ContIners. This is perfect. If stock up on these when these are on sale at your grocery store.

Next, in states where we have Trader Joe's, they sell 5 pound bags of individually frozen skinless boneless chicken breasts. It's very affordable unlike anywhere else where I live. Do you something like this available to you. Don't be presumptuously, but I'm assuming your like me and don't want to spend $15 bucks US for a pack of two chicken breasts.....let me know....also, can you eat and somewhat enjoy sardines, anchovies and/or salmon?

Get back to me on this on this.....then I'll continue.



Deleted it....I guess fat fingers on my stupid phone.....cumbersome for me to be using my phone for the forum.

I am not taking any Iron supplements, I only use multivitamins, calcium, magnesium and zink. I can get sweet potatoes here, but is one sweet potato going to be satiating enough?

I eat greek yogurt, tuna, ground turkey and chicken breast. I like salmon, but it is very expensive where I live. What about fruit and nuts? Should I avoid those or not? I really like smoothies with fruit, nuts and leafy greens.

I get hungry a lot when I try to reduce my intake of carbs. Can you suggest some meals I should make? I mean, with Greek yogurt, I usually eat it with honey and an orange, I don't know if I could eat it on its own.



Thank you once again for your time, I appreciate it.

 

[Deleted member 1465]

That's an impressive list. I'm potentially interested in keto. I've heard many people swear by it to bypass the need for blood sugar control. However, it is an extreme diet with harsh short term side effects and long term health implications. And I've not seen any convincing way to mitigate against those complications effectively, despite what the key evangelists sayd. Also, it's not something you can ease into, it's all or nothing due to having to achieve ketosis without starving.
Background: it's possible I may have sub clinical t2 diabetes, ie. I have symptoms and history but normal blood sugars, so my insulin resistance may be high. I'm not obese.
If I ever get back to the docs and get properly diagnosed by the right specialist, it's something I may have to try, but not until after a shit load more research about how to manage the issues.
Personally, I'm trying to move towards a very simple diet where I refrain from eating anything out of a packet or with an ingredients list. If the virus wasn't in town, this would involve shopping at the market for local meat, fish, veg and fruit and avoiding supermarkets.

 

[Chupacabra 44]

I am not taking any Iron supplements, I only use multivitamins, calcium, magnesium and zink. I can get sweet potatoes here, but is one sweet potato going to be satiating enough?

I eat greek yogurt, tuna, ground turkey and chicken breast. I like salmon, but it is very expensive where I live. What about fruit and nuts? Should I avoid those or not? I really like smoothies with fruit, nuts and leafy greens.

I get hungry a lot when I try to reduce my intake of carbs. Can you suggest some meals I should make? I mean, with Greek yogurt, I usually eat it with honey and an orange, I don't know if I could eat it on its own.



Thank you once again for your time, I appreciate it.

Does your multi vitamin have iron?

Regarding portion - whole healthy unprocessed foods you eat until satisfied. Bring as many sweet potatoes, etc. To work as you need. Eventually as your body gets nourish it will request less and less food. I'm recommending what to eat; you need to figure quantity.

Based on your age, and for anyone watching, any female considering getting pregnant dont est any fish until postpartum, IMO. Many experts believe the mercury in fish is toxic to developing embryos and fetuses. In the states put has recommended limits for fish.

If you are not in the possible childbearing situation, personally I would suggest eating it more than once or twice per month.

Let me do it this way, I'll put the best foods first and the lessers towards the bottom. For example, broccoli is the healthiest veggie on the plant so I'll put that first.

Proteins -
* Greek yogurt honey is pure sugar. Drop it if you can given your blood sugar deal.
Use oranges, and if you like any other fruit and/or nuts and seeds put them on top. My personal likes, I mix in natural peanut butter with no sugar or chemicals added only peanuts and possibly salt - nothing else read the ingredients label. Use creamy style. Try mixing in avocado too, if these aren't too spendy in your store.
* chicken breast/ground turkey
* low fat cuts of beef (once a week max)
*tuna

Don't eat more than two servings of fruit per day given your blood sugar.

Carbs
* sweet potato
* yams
* avocado- even a better source of healthy fats
* carrots
* brown rice
* oatmeal
* other gluten-free grain

Veggies
* Broccoli
* tossed salad - not sure if they use this term across the pond but this would be your lettuce and then whatever you're like cucumber carrots mushrooms you know whatever whatever you guys put in your salad over there. Ideally eat your lettuce with no dressing but if you don't like it that way try and use olive oil and little bit of olive oil with vinegar.
* all other green vegetables
* cauliflower
* cabbage
* etc.

Fruits
* berries
* apples bring to work to munch on. If you like nut butters/ peanut butter putting some on top of sliced apples is even better.
* all other fruits bring to work to munch on.

Snacks
* nuts and seeds
* Greek yogurt
* raw carrots bring these to work to munch on.
* anything else from the list above.

Suggest you drop the smoothie. The blender will pre digest the food and will cause spikes in your blood sugar. But this is way better than eating honey or junk food, for example. 50/50 keep it in your diet if you want.

Assumming you work Monday through Friday, prepare five days of food from our list above. Include stuff from each category. For example, cook 6 sweet potatoes, a dry cup of rice, 6 chicken beast, and a pound of ground turkey and then divide it up into your daily food container (Tupperware)

If you think of other foods let me know and I tell you what I think.

That's an impressive list. I'm potentially interested in keto. I've heard many people swear by it to bypass the need for blood sugar control. However, it is an extreme diet with harsh short term side effects and long term health implications. And I've not seen any convincing way to mitigate against those complications effectively, despite what the key evangelists sayd. Also, it's not something you can ease into, it's all or nothing due to having to achieve ketosis without starving.
Background: it's possible I may have sub clinical t2 diabetes, ie. I have symptoms and history but normal blood sugars, so my insulin resistance may be high. I'm not obese.
If I ever get back to the docs and get properly diagnosed by the right specialist, it's something I may have to try, but not until after a shit load more research about how to manage the issues.
Personally, I'm trying to move towards a very simple diet where I refrain from eating anything out of a packet or with an ingredients list. If the virus wasn't in town, this would involve shopping at the market for local meat, fish, veg and fruit and avoiding supermarkets.
[/QUOTE

How I timed these drastic dietary challenges is I time my experimentation three months before my annual physical. I get blood work annually for my physical and then my endo is running labs on my me all the time. Plus, I've been donating blood platlets every two weeks and they give me my cholesterol results.

I was trying moderation with butter beef and fats and my cholesterol was too high still one year later from my crazy diet I outlined above. My Endo was screaming at me that I was going to die of a heart attack or be paralyzed from a stroke terrifying me into receiving a prescription for statins. Guess what? I did not take one single statin tablet and got my cholesterol back into range after two weeks of getting rid of all beef butter and duck fat. Lol

For those of us who are older you really want to watch your blood work as you do stuff like this, but I even recommend the younger people try to time it so they can get blood work done by their physician to see exactly how their body is responding.

 

[mahakaliSS_MahaDurga]

Does your multi vitamin have iron?

Regarding portion - whole healthy unprocessed foods you eat until satisfied. Bring as many sweet potatoes, etc. To work as you need. Eventually as your body gets nourish it will request less and less food. I'm recommending what to eat; you need to figure quantity.

Based on your age, and for anyone watching, any female considering getting pregnant dont est any fish until postpartum, IMO. Many experts believe the mercury in fish is toxic to developing embryos and fetuses. In the states put has recommended limits for fish.

If you are not in the possible childbearing situation, personally I would suggest eating it more than once or twice per month.

Let me do it this way, I'll put the best foods first and the lessers towards the bottom. For example, broccoli is the healthiest veggie on the plant so I'll put that first.

Proteins -
* Greek yogurt honey is pure sugar. Drop it if you can given your blood sugar deal.
Use oranges, and if you like any other fruit and/or nuts and seeds put them on top. My personal likes, I mix in natural peanut butter with no sugar or chemicals added only peanuts and possibly salt - nothing else read the ingredients label. Use creamy style. Try mixing in avocado too, if these aren't too spendy in your store.
* chicken breast/ground turkey
* low fat cuts of beef (once a week max)
*tuna

Don't eat more than two servings of fruit per day given your blood sugar.

Carbs
* sweet potato
* yams
* avocado- even a better source of healthy fats
* carrots
* brown rice
* oatmeal
* other gluten-free grain

Veggies
* Broccoli
* tossed salad - not sure if they use this term across the pond but this would be your lettuce and then whatever you're like cucumber carrots mushrooms you know whatever whatever you guys put in your salad over there. Ideally eat your lettuce with no dressing but if you don't like it that way try and use olive oil and little bit of olive oil with vinegar.
* all other green vegetables
* cauliflower
* cabbage
* etc.

Fruits
* berries
* apples bring to work to munch on. If you like nut butters/ peanut butter putting some on top of sliced apples is even better.
* all other fruits bring to work to munch on.

Snacks
* nuts and seeds
* Greek yogurt
* raw carrots bring these to work to munch on.
* anything else from the list above.

Suggest you drop the smoothie. The blender will pre digest the food and will cause spikes in your blood sugar. But this is way better than eating honey or junk food, for example. 50/50 keep it in your diet if you want.

Assumming you work Monday through Friday, prepare five days of food from our list above. Include stuff from each category. For example, cook 6 sweet potatoes, a dry cup of rice, 6 chicken beast, and a pound of ground turkey and then divide it up into your daily food container (Tupperware)

If you think of other foods let me know and I tell you what I think.

Thank you. My multivitamin does not have iron in it. I will try to follow your advice and start preparing food for a few days ahead.

 

[Leech]

Ive tried fasting and calorie deficit. I was able to lose a lot of weight using calorie deficit for a year but I spent one summer with my non English speaking grandparents so I couldn't record the food I had there. Fell off the wagon and gained all that weight back in half a year and now I'm even heavier than I was before. Tried fasting and I ended up eating more during the day out of desperation so it was kinda redundant.
My good friend lost 150ish pounds via deficit and is still going. If you can stick with it, it's the best diet imo.

 

[Chupacabra 44]

Ive tried fasting and calorie deficit. I was able to lose a lot of weight using calorie deficit for a year but I spent one summer with my non English speaking grandparents so I couldn't record the food I had there. Fell off the wagon and gained all that weight back in half a year and now I'm even heavier than I was before. Tried fasting and I ended up eating more during the day out of desperation so it was kinda redundant.
My good friend lost 150ish pounds via deficit and is still going. If you can stick with it, it's the best diet imo.

How long were you water fasting? How many hours or days without eating?

 

[Soul]

I'm currently a kosher pescatarian, but I spent six months or so on the kookiest diet I could find. I forget the name of the doctor who promoted it, but it was all raw (and preferably local/seasonal) vegetables, fruit and nuts - nothing else. The theory was that a well-cleansed body produces enough protein. It was hard on the digestive system at first but after a few months I felt great, and I believe the benefits lasted for quite some time after I switched back to lacto-ovo vegetarianism.

 

[Chupacabra 44]

I'm currently a kosher pescatarian, but I spent six months or so on the kookiest diet I could find. I forget the name of the doctor who promoted it, but it was all raw (and preferably local/seasonal) vegetables, fruit and nuts - nothing else. The theory was that a well-cleansed body produces enough protein. It was hard on the digestive system at first but after a few months I felt great, and I believe the benefits lasted for quite some time after I switched back to lacto-ovo vegetarianism.

How much fish do you eat per week? Are you worried about mercury levels inside fish? In the States, as you may know, we have government warnings on how much of each species to consume. If not but for my fear of mercury, I too would be pescatarian. I'm curious what type of fish you typically consume. With that stated, our entire food supply is toxic to one degree or another, IMO. It's a case of "pick your poison", as far as what you chose to eat.

 

[Soul]

It varies, @Chupacabra 44, but usually only 2 dinners a week involve fish, so I'm not too worried about mercury. I'm very glad I started noticing what I eat decades ago, but as you say there's always *something* to fret about if so inclined.

 

[Deleted member 17949]

Read title, thought about steak, now I am hungry