The title says diet(s) because I tried more than one pattern depending upon the phase of weight loss I was in.
Overall however, I used the Paleo template. And I’ve mostly stuck with it over the last 10 years.
Basic rules.
No grains
No sugar
No dairy
No processed foods
No vegetable oils
Unlimited meat, vegetables, fish, eggs, fruits and nuts.
The good parts about the diet, there was no portion control. No calorie counting. There was clarity on what could be eaten and what shouldn’t be. Macros didn’t matter as much. You looked at real food instead of thinking of it in terms of calories, carbohydrates, fats proteins etc.
Bad part, for me, nil. If there was a bad part, I wouldn’t be still using it ten years later. People tell me it is restrictive. Maybe restrictive for them. But every diet is restrictive. If you hadn’t gotten so fat in the first place, you wouldn’t need restriction. You’re being restricted from eating what is making you fat and sick. If you go in with a mindset that this is a restriction, you’re going to fail. I thought of it as avoiding crap that poisoned my system. Someone was telling me not to eat poison. I’m ok with that, especially when I was getting visible results and the results were consistent over 10 years (and counting)
If you’ve had success with any other diet, why are you here? This is for people who’ve tried everything else and failed. I have no intention of justifying this dietary pattern. Take it, or leave it. I’m past trying to convert people to my side. I have argued with people for 10 years about how grains and sugar are making us unhealthy and I’m not as enthusiastic as I used to be about continuing the argument with endless zombie hordes. I’m tired of telling people that real food like meat, fish and eggs that we’ve been using as food for millennia, as staples, can’t possibly be dangerous. I’m telling you this is what I did. You can try it and see how it works for you. If you do blood tests before and after a period in this diet you’ll get your proof about whether this is healthy for you or not. I don’t advise my regular patients to go on this diet. My regular patients get only one simple instruction, stop eating wheat, sugar and processed foods. This is reserved for people who have tried everything else and have failed and are now asking me explicitly for help with weight loss. This is for people who are willing to do their own reading and their own convincing and are smart enough to take charge of their own health.
The details
I ate my fill thrice a day. I didn’t hold back. And I ate what I wanted, as long as it wasn’t in the “naughty” list. The pictures in this post give you an idea of what that looked like. The daily intake varied. Depending on hunger and what was available at home. There was no special dish made for me. I ate the same food that the rest of my family ate, just that I ate more of it. I had to compensate for the lack of grains and the calories and bulk I derived from them.
I aimed for 50% of my plate to be filled with vegetables. The rest was either meat/fish or eggs. Sometimes the quantity of meat was much higher. Sometimes less. Depending on how much I felt like eating and whether that much was available at the table. I didn’t use chicken much. Chicken was used only when no other meat or fish was available. I stuck to beef, pork and eggs. Mainly pork. I didn’t waste the fat, I ate that too.
General pattern
Breakfast was mainly omelettes, with 3 whole eggs. Some meat if available. Usually is.
Lunch is basically a big quantity of vegetables with some meat+fish
Dinner is a repeat of lunch, but quantity was usually less because I wouldn’t be very hungry anyway
Benefits I noticed right away-
Allergic rhinitis that I had since I was 13 years old and took tablets for daily, went away. Haven’t used an anti histamine in 10 years.
I was lactose intolerant when I started the diet. My ability to use dairy came back in 3 months of starting this diet
Constipation went away. Earlier combination of food was meat+rice or wheat. My vegetable consumption went much higher after this diet. Maybe that’s what fixed the problem.
Skin got better. Could be even better, and I’m still working on it. Dry skin on my legs continues to be a problem, but I don’t need moisturiser all over my body anymore.
Brain started working better. I started writing, talking clearer. Some of you may dispute that 😬
More endurance and strength to pursue my hobbies
Less prone to rage. Notice, that I said “less prone”. Hopefully my long term friends who saw me at my worst, will be able to corroborate. Wife will agree, and she normally never agrees to anything I say.
There was no post meal drowsiness. I could continue working after a heavy lunch, without needing a nap. I stopped needing naps, altogether.
I stopped snoring at night. I started sleeping better at night, woke up feeling fresh. I stopped needing an alarm to wake up. I’d wake up on the dot at 4am every morning, ready and raring to go.
I got interested in stuff, in general. The apathy went away. I picked up a while new host of interests, wanted to start learning again. Whatever the topic (except mathematics)
My Hba1c dropped from 6 to 5.5. triglycerides went from 200 to 60. HDL went from 34 to 84. LDL went from 120 to 150.
Questions. How much should I eat? I already answered that. What should I eat? Answered. What should I not eat? Answered. People still have questions. If you’ve got questions that you can’t get answers to, ask them. If I’ve already answered them, be prepared for sarcasm. For eg, here’s one- how do you manage to eat meat at breakfast? Ans- I pick it up with my hands, put it in my mouth and chew it. Here’s another one- don’t you get tired of eating meat and vegetables all the time? No- don’t you get tired of eating rice and wheat all the time?
Isn’t meat unhealthy? Yes, it’s unhealthy(SARCASM) Go be a vegetarian and eat chappathis and oats(MORE SARCASM). I’m NOT asking you to eat meat. I’m telling you what I did. I started doing this 10 years ago. And every year I’m getting stronger and better at physical and mental pursuits. If this is making me “unhealthy”, I’m ok with that. I’d rather be 24kgs lighter than eat healthy whole grains, and sugar in “moderation”
Coming up next- Keto, carb restriction, carb cycling and overcoming weight loss plateaus.