Yep, you read the title right. The sole purpose of this post is to appreciate pork fatback.
Despite living in the Midwest for 40 years, where a great quantity of pork is produced, I never saw/noticed pork fatback in the meat department until I was living out here in Nevada and living on whole foods.
What I noticed first was that they basically give it away. The prices must barely cover the labor and packaging costs, but I guess they'd be trimming the pricier meat cuts anyhow. After I became enchanted with it and learned how it works best for me I chatted with a few ladies and found it's popular in Hispanic cuisine so they're probably offering it due to local demand.
I just realized this instant that I forgot to take a picture of some I bought yesterday. The next time I buy it I'll take a pic and insert it into this post. It's not a uniform, cookie-cutter item, but the best general description is small irregular strips/pieces of pork fat with variable amounts of meat scraps.
Sometimes there's a surprising amount of meat in there too--yesterday I bought 2 small packages for a total of 27 cents which was more than enough for 6 nice portions that I'll describe in more detail later. Like I said, nearly free. One of the packages had a surprise in the middle--a small pork cutlet that would have cost a couple dollars in another package but was probably judged too small.
As a single, I typically break packages of meat up into individual portions and freeze them. If I buy fatback at the same time I add some pieces to each meat portion. I've also frozen separate portions of meat and fatback and just defrosted both so I do whatever's more convenient at the time.
I use the fatback almost exactly the way I used to use bacon and/or butter, but the win-win is that I actually like the flavor of fatback better and it also allows me to buy more produce with the savings over bacon. I've gradually shifted my daily cooking routine to make more and more use of the fatback. If I'm having meat, particularly with vegetables, I usually season the pan with a portion of fatback. What I call a portion would probably be the equivalent of 3 strips of bacon in volume. If I'm not having meat and the main dish is eggs and/or vegetables, I season the pan with lard from the fridge.
Anyhow, some pieces are quite flat and "thick bacon" thin, and others are twice that thick and look like trimmings from the outside of a roast. The pieces have a wide range of sizes too, with some taking half a medium skillet but most fairly small and some tiny. When I cook the fatback, I do my best to equalize the thickness of the pieces by slicing the thicker ones.
I render the lard out of the fatback, pouring it out a couple times as I fry the fat/meat pieces to a wonderful golden brown crisp. It's more tender than bacon as it's thicker, and I've found I like the flavor much better because it's uncured and has only the salt I sprinkle on it once cooked. The lard is refrigerated. In the Midwest I think they'd call what I make cracklings, which I remember my elderly mother in law making in Wisconsin.
The cracklings are fabulous as an appetizer while you're cooking your main dish or munching your salad. I use some or all of the rendered lard to cook the main dish, which for me is usually a mixture of meat and vegetables. If not used as an appetizer, meaning you have more patience than I, the cracklings are also very tasty crumbled over stir-fried veggies or meat/eggs.
Just as I've found that the vinegar and EVOO left over from my salad is a great sauce on my main dish, I've also found that the home-rendered lard is a tasty substitute for butter or mayo. I haven't yet mastered home-made mayo and don't want to use store bought, so the last time I had tuna I used some of my home-rendered lard to hold the tuna together in a salad with celery, cheese, tomato and green olives and I was delighted with the flavor.
In addition to no longer buying expensive bacon, my Kerrygold butter costs are way down as well and it's a preference decision rather than just money driven. The only caution I'd throw out is that I've always had low cholesterol. I assume anyone with a pattern of high cholesterol might want to do some experimenting and test the results before using it as a frequent menu item. My body's reaction has been very positive, better I believe with the fatback than the bacon and butter it replaced.
P.S. Did you notice my new mugshot at left? I didn't notice at first that my face looked shiny, but you know it's usually shiny now because it's over 100 outside and at least 80 inside because I don't like cool drafts. If you saw me in person, odds are my face would be moist. :-)
Anyhow, what struck me about the new pic is that I'm not the thinnest I've been since 2011--I'm not that far from it, though--but I believe I'm the healthiest I've been in 30 years despite the "avoid processed food" ups and downs I've had to describe here. It's been a struggle due to my binge eating history, but it's definitely been worth it.
Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
June 7, 2013
May 13, 2013
About the Relative Importance of Food
If you thought my recent silence might mean I was having difficulties with my eating approach or health, I have good news--the opposite is true.
First, I have a story too funny not to share.
A little background: a month or 2 ago I ordered some water kefir grains and about 4 days ago I discontinued the daily brewing routine of water kefir (again.) I wasn't enjoying the kefir as much as I had a year ago and I decided I didn't want to be tied to a daily routine for something that wasn't proving delightful. Either my taste buds have changed or those grains didn't produce kefir as tasty as the ones I had before (I was using the same ingredients otherwise.)
My practice has always been to rinse bottles, bowls, etc., in plain water. When I stopped brewing the water kefir I had a little juice left over so I put a little in some plain water in a well-rinsed seal-tight bottle and put it in the fridge to chill. As it happened, I had company and forgot about it and I just opened it today. To my surprise, there was a hiss when I opened it and it had become very light, slightly carbonated WATER KEFIR! Oh, I laughed so hard.
Anyhow, I've been doing very well eating meat, fruit and vegetables. About once per week after my 2 mugs of coffee--cream and honey--I decide to skip solid food that day. I am so "normal" the next morning that last week I realized at 8 pm I'd accidentally skipped for a second day. My rate of fat loss has picked up because I don't seem to eat any extra food after the skip days. But I do think one skip day per week is enough. I'm just about back to the best measurements I achieved on my first round of "paleo" and this time there's been no need for willpower, no cravings and no anxiety.
Since I haven't had to apply much energy to food management, I've been knitting and helping out with a new web site, NewsBacon. I've been enjoying it so much that food just isn't as important as it was. And that's good.
I hope you're also having the kind of spring that makes food management a natural part of your life rather than a focal point.
Oh, I almost forgot. About once every month or 2, I now have a treat day and my usual choice is to drink some Coke since most manufactured/baked treats have negative consequences but a tall glass of Coke doesn't seem to trigger any problems at all. For the first time since I began having weight issues, I'm able to savor how much I love the Coke and even have a 2nd glass if I wish. The next day I go back to drinking carbonated water with a wedge of lemon or lime and life is good.
First, I have a story too funny not to share.
A little background: a month or 2 ago I ordered some water kefir grains and about 4 days ago I discontinued the daily brewing routine of water kefir (again.) I wasn't enjoying the kefir as much as I had a year ago and I decided I didn't want to be tied to a daily routine for something that wasn't proving delightful. Either my taste buds have changed or those grains didn't produce kefir as tasty as the ones I had before (I was using the same ingredients otherwise.)
My practice has always been to rinse bottles, bowls, etc., in plain water. When I stopped brewing the water kefir I had a little juice left over so I put a little in some plain water in a well-rinsed seal-tight bottle and put it in the fridge to chill. As it happened, I had company and forgot about it and I just opened it today. To my surprise, there was a hiss when I opened it and it had become very light, slightly carbonated WATER KEFIR! Oh, I laughed so hard.
Anyhow, I've been doing very well eating meat, fruit and vegetables. About once per week after my 2 mugs of coffee--cream and honey--I decide to skip solid food that day. I am so "normal" the next morning that last week I realized at 8 pm I'd accidentally skipped for a second day. My rate of fat loss has picked up because I don't seem to eat any extra food after the skip days. But I do think one skip day per week is enough. I'm just about back to the best measurements I achieved on my first round of "paleo" and this time there's been no need for willpower, no cravings and no anxiety.
Since I haven't had to apply much energy to food management, I've been knitting and helping out with a new web site, NewsBacon. I've been enjoying it so much that food just isn't as important as it was. And that's good.
I hope you're also having the kind of spring that makes food management a natural part of your life rather than a focal point.
Oh, I almost forgot. About once every month or 2, I now have a treat day and my usual choice is to drink some Coke since most manufactured/baked treats have negative consequences but a tall glass of Coke doesn't seem to trigger any problems at all. For the first time since I began having weight issues, I'm able to savor how much I love the Coke and even have a 2nd glass if I wish. The next day I go back to drinking carbonated water with a wedge of lemon or lime and life is good.
April 23, 2013
The Blackout Was a Healthy Thing
For a 24 hour period I stayed off the web. I'm embarrassed to admit I got more done in one day than I had in the previous week.
Granted, it was an extraordinary week and I spent many hours browsing and chatting about the events in Boston and Texas. But still ...
I'm feeling great and eating healthy but it's time to look at how sedentary I've been lately. I was very active in March but somehow in April my primary exercise routine has involved my sitting muscles. ::-)
I did enough yesterday to feel ouchy in my back and a little stiff and tired in my muscles--in other words, wonderful. Physical work is always great for my spirits.
Thanks to walking my dogs and tending my potted garden, plus parking in the outer fringes of parking lots, carrying my own laundry, groceries, etc., I get more exercise than most of my friends. Despite being 66 my muscles still respond vigorously to work and have good tone.
I certainly don't plan to stop knitting, reading, and engaging in online activity but I need to do a better job of keeping the body machine in motion and using those muscles.
Granted, it was an extraordinary week and I spent many hours browsing and chatting about the events in Boston and Texas. But still ...
I'm feeling great and eating healthy but it's time to look at how sedentary I've been lately. I was very active in March but somehow in April my primary exercise routine has involved my sitting muscles. ::-)
I did enough yesterday to feel ouchy in my back and a little stiff and tired in my muscles--in other words, wonderful. Physical work is always great for my spirits.
Thanks to walking my dogs and tending my potted garden, plus parking in the outer fringes of parking lots, carrying my own laundry, groceries, etc., I get more exercise than most of my friends. Despite being 66 my muscles still respond vigorously to work and have good tone.
I certainly don't plan to stop knitting, reading, and engaging in online activity but I need to do a better job of keeping the body machine in motion and using those muscles.
April 11, 2013
Resuming Water Kefir Production
I think I mentioned in one or more of my recent posts that I used to brew and drink water kefir, then stopped during a significant relapse back onto SAD (standard American diet) because water kefir only tastes good to me if I'm not eating a lot of sugar.
A week ago, I decided that since I've been back on whole foods for a while it would be nice to have water kefir available again. It seems to have a great effect on my gut, making me more lactose tolerant, and I enjoy making home-made sodas by adding fruit juice and bottling it.
Anyhow, my new water kefir grains came yesterday. Very exciting! I'm pretty sure they were somewhat starved; when I opened them, they looked a little dehydrated and there was an "off" smell I don't remember from the first time I ordered grains.
I gave them a good rinse and put them into feeding solution, expecting to refresh the liquid this afternoon. Last night, though, I noticed the liquid was already a very light color and I realized I may have put in too many grains for the amount of feeding solution I made. So, I fed them then and carefully measured the right amount of grains for the amount of solution.
This morning the grains look more plump and the solution is lightening but not yet exhausted. I want a mid-day feeding schedule, so I plan to feed them again in a few hours. They may or may not have consumed all the sugar by then but I'm only planning to drink a small amount so it doesn't matter.
Update: It's now mid-morning and I just did a routine jostling of the jar. I have tiny bubbles! That's a great sign that my water kefir grains are happy and are actively turning my feeding solution into water kefir.
One thing I learned the first time around is that you start with a small dose and work your way up to a glassful per day. Water kefir clearly makes it though the stomach and interacts with your gut flora. If you happen to have some nasty bugs, or SIBO, the kefir could actually make you ill if you drink a lot to begin with. Since I had a very unhappy gut a couple days ago I plan to be very careful.
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Update #2: I started a new brewing cycle at noon PDST as planned. I was very happy to see a few grains that were markedly bigger than any of them were when received. As suspected, they were dehydrated when they arrived.
I measured 2 tbsp of grains into 2 cups of feeding solution in late evening yesterday, and by noon today I had about 3 tbsp. In a full 24-hour cycle the ideal is for the grains to about double in volume.
I tasted the "kefir" from this batch. Because of the incomplete brewing cycle, it still had a sweetness to it and didn't yet have the signature kefir flavor; it was as if I was expecting to taste hard cider but tasted fresh cider instead. I will consider tomorrow's spoonful my first "dose" and take things very slowly as planned.
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I was disappointed when I bought supplies for brewing the water kefir. I found a lemon and organic raisins easily, but I didn't yet find a wheel of dehydrated, non-additive figs. Not only do the water kefir grains seem to like having a fig in the solution, I absolutely LOVE the fermented figs after they've been through 1 or 2 brewing cycles. So I need to try more outlets to find some. The fermented raisins are okay, but nothing like as good as those figs.
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Update, 4/14: I'm now making and drinking carbonated blueberry sodas as described in Brewing Water Kefir, part 2. The grains smell nice and fresh and they're doubling in volume each day. The fresh water kefir has a nice zing to it and the first soda, which I drank today, had great flavor and was nice and fizzy.
The good news is that I didn't have any strong reaction to drinking water kefir again despite my relapses last winter with wheat. Apparently my gut community was still pretty robust, because the kefir tastes great to me both fresh and carbonated and there was no churning or cramping from the initial doses of the kefir.
April 9, 2013
Online Reading and a Digestive Upset Impact My Thoughts
Well, this will be a fun post to write! It's now about 2 months since I went back to eating whole foods. I resumed reading some paleo blogs and discussion sites a little over 2 weeks ago and I resumed posting thoughts on this blog at the very end of March. And today, I have suffered the first digestive upset not caused by wheat since April 2011.
So, what has been the impact of all this? Well, good and bad--what else did you expect?
Let's consider these things in temporal order:
My return to eating whole foods again fostered a dramatic improvement in my subjective health and energy. I did things differently this time.
In April 2011, for my first few weeks I ate a high-meat, high-fat, very-low-carb regimen. I then gradually introduced fruit with later additions of fermented foods and tubers.
This time, with a playfully coined label of "easygoing" paleo, I reverted immediately to the fully-rounded whole foods assortment I had most enjoyed in 2011-2012. During my first 2 weeks I had 2 social situations in which I ate a significant amount of sweets. At the first, I deliberately chose to take a sugary dessert--jello, mandarin orange segments and whipped cream topping. At and after that event, I hit the jello hard. At the second event, a buffet, I ate a pretty spartan paleo meal with 2 exceptions: a tall glass of Coke and a few bites of a breaded fried chicken wing. The Coke was wonderful, but I think the breaded wing bit me back a little.
Since then my general regimen has been to eat fruit and low-starch vegetables as desired, with main servings of meat and tubers on alternate days. About the only specific goal I have tried to follow is to average 6 teaspoons or less of sugars per day from my honey, fruit and whatever.
During the first few days that I resumed scanning paleo sites, I enjoyed checking out the recent topics and seeing which sites were about the same and which had changed in tone or opinions. The impact of the sites on my mental state was benign. I'm pretty comfortable with my approach to eating and whether I agree or disagree with other bloggers doesn't seem to affect my mental balance.
I also resumed reading and participating in 2 paleo discussion sites: the paleo sub on reddit.com and the question/answer forum on paleohacks.com
My reactions to the 2 discussion sites are different but, surprisingly, both have had a negative impact on my mental balance. In the case of the subreddit, I think I simply don't have a "pure" enough alignment with what their definition of paleo is. On paleohacks, I'm troubled by the amount of spam and the impulsive, anxious nature of many of the questions. I tried to respond to some of the latter, but I found myself stirring up the old conflicts and anxieties of my disordered past. <Step away from the edge!>
Resuming my participation in this blog has been a positive thing for me and a few of my recent posts actually were valuable to me this morning in an unintended way.
That's my segue to discuss today's digestive upset. I was quite surprised to wake up this morning with a bloated, gassy gut. Unlike my historical symptoms from wheat, there was no brain fog or GERD or head/chest congestion. Just the unhappy gut.
I walked my dogs and when we returned I used the bathroom. [warning: I'm about to get grossly specific so make your own best choices.]
The ensuing bowel movement was larger than my usual. It looked completely digested, but was the consitency of oatmeal which is definitely not my norm. After a brief period of relief, I noticed lower gut soreness and mild cramping and was back in the bathroom. This time, I had a very small movement with some gassy spatters.
Okay, another short period of relief followed by more soreness and somewhat more urgent cramping sent me back to the small room. To my considerable surprise, this third movement was about normal volume but consisted of at least half undigested food. The 2 most untouched items were sweet potato and chopped hazelnuts, which had been eaten on recent-but-separate days.
The bottom line there is that something I ate was apparently contaminated or beginning to spoil. It shut down my gut temporarily and some of my food was pushed through rather than being digested. I'm not assuming the guilty party was either the yam or the nuts--it could just as easily have been the the boiled shrimp or fresh pineapple I also ate on the days in question. Whatever the cause, my Superwoman cape is slightly tattered because this is the first time in 2 years that I've suffered any illness or GI distress not caused by wheat.
So, where does all this leave me?
1- I plan to continue eating mostly whole foods with occasional sugary treats. The only thing that will stop me from sweet indulgences is elevated blood sugar.
2- I will still read at least a few of the paleo sites listed on this blog's reading list, but I may prune that list and I plan to *stop* visiting the 2 discussion sites. It's just not worth risking my hard-earned and slowly-gained mental balance even if I know I could possibly serve as a resource for some anxious people. If I can't control my own anxiety, it's not feasible right now.
3- I won't change anything because of today's gut rebellion. If you are going to buy and eat fresh fruit, vegetables and meat and particularly if your budget forces you to shop at big-box supermarkets, you will occasionally bring home some uninvited guests. That beats the heck out of eating processed food-like items that are mildly toxic in their own right and have minimal nutritional value. After all, I used to have an unhappy gut every morning.
4- I will continue to share thoughts on this blog. I won't recommend any one way of eating other than to build your nutritional foundation around foods that have been processed as little as possible. After that, to each their own!
Next Day Update: LOL, my resolution to avoid the discussion sites isn't going so well. Curiosity is driving me back "to see if I have comments deserving responses." Yeah, right. Okay, so I'll probably keep visiting *but* I am doing better at avoiding threads that seem based on anxiety.
Yesterday after my gut calmed a bit I ate a baked potato, a baked sweet potato and a leftover piece of beef with garlic. Everything seemed to hit the spot except the garlic. My spirits are good but my lower gut is still a bit sore so I plan to avoid citrus, nuts and garlic today--mainly because the thought of eating any of them turns off my appetite.
March 16, 2012
Training for Maintenance vs. Weight Regain
Fall and winter are wonderful here in the RV park as I have a number of American and Canadian friends who come down for 5-6 months every year. The cool season is my social time! It's also the time when I can take long walks outside, which isn't sensible when morning lows are 100 or above.
The weather here is gorgeous right now, with morning temps around 56F and mid-afternoon highs in the 80s. Unfortunately, though, some friends have left already and others are getting ready--the last will leave by May 1st.
The park will be a sleepy little desert village for the summer, which has its own benefits. The warm season is for recharging and serenity. I tend to focus on myself a little more with physical/diet challenges. We have an equipment room and one challenge this summer will be to use the treadmill and cycling machine to reach a higher level of fitness so I can walk longer distances next fall--or at least be up to my 4 mile standard. Last summer, I suffered a lower leg injury that put me out of action for months and it felt like I spent the whole cool season just trying to get back to normal. Which, thankfully, I did.
I deeply believe there's no one "standard" daily routine that maximizes my health and strength. For me, the long-term goal is to vary my eating from day to day but establish and "set" a desirable weight level. Between now and May 1st I will focus on my friends and attempt to follow a maintenance plan, with an overall goal to have my weight about the same as it is right now. If I happen to lose a little more or gain a few pounds back I won't call that failure--rather, it will be a typical training result won't it?
I have never been very successful at maintenance--my history being a yo-yo pattern with no stability--so this next month's test of a maintenance lifestyle is as important for me as the past ones in which I gradually or quickly lost fat. After all, if I succeed in dropping another 20-30 pounds this summer I'll be approaching a weight I'd like to keep and maintenance skills will be my primary need. I've already proven at least 4 times that a lack of preparation/training for maintenance produces rapid weight regain.
If something else surfaces I'll blog about it; otherwise, my intent is to post weekly progress updates about my maintenance training results before buckling down in May for a final campaign of fat loss.
How about you? If you're currently in fat-loss mode, do you have a set of maintenance principles and techniques ready to go or are you just hoping for the best? What will YOUR maintenance routine look like?
The weather here is gorgeous right now, with morning temps around 56F and mid-afternoon highs in the 80s. Unfortunately, though, some friends have left already and others are getting ready--the last will leave by May 1st.
The park will be a sleepy little desert village for the summer, which has its own benefits. The warm season is for recharging and serenity. I tend to focus on myself a little more with physical/diet challenges. We have an equipment room and one challenge this summer will be to use the treadmill and cycling machine to reach a higher level of fitness so I can walk longer distances next fall--or at least be up to my 4 mile standard. Last summer, I suffered a lower leg injury that put me out of action for months and it felt like I spent the whole cool season just trying to get back to normal. Which, thankfully, I did.
I deeply believe there's no one "standard" daily routine that maximizes my health and strength. For me, the long-term goal is to vary my eating from day to day but establish and "set" a desirable weight level. Between now and May 1st I will focus on my friends and attempt to follow a maintenance plan, with an overall goal to have my weight about the same as it is right now. If I happen to lose a little more or gain a few pounds back I won't call that failure--rather, it will be a typical training result won't it?
I have never been very successful at maintenance--my history being a yo-yo pattern with no stability--so this next month's test of a maintenance lifestyle is as important for me as the past ones in which I gradually or quickly lost fat. After all, if I succeed in dropping another 20-30 pounds this summer I'll be approaching a weight I'd like to keep and maintenance skills will be my primary need. I've already proven at least 4 times that a lack of preparation/training for maintenance produces rapid weight regain.
If something else surfaces I'll blog about it; otherwise, my intent is to post weekly progress updates about my maintenance training results before buckling down in May for a final campaign of fat loss.
How about you? If you're currently in fat-loss mode, do you have a set of maintenance principles and techniques ready to go or are you just hoping for the best? What will YOUR maintenance routine look like?
March 14, 2012
ADF* findings (So Far)
"The best of all medicines are rest and fasting." Benjamin Franklin
*ADF is alternate day fasting. For more information, see this post or click on the ADF label on the right side of the page.
I'm fasting today. In general, I have given myself permission to decide on the morning of any scheduled fasting day whether I will actually fast or eat. I've done this because my day-to-day reactions to recent family-driven stress vary--on some mornings, it actually makes fasting easier but on others the idea of fasting seems to add more stress. Which I really don't need.
Note: Since you've probably had enough of my vague clues, please know that my teen-aged grandson is being quite self-destructive, doing risky things and not seeing that they are risky--a situation that could last for years. I cannot change the situation much and I cannot turn my back, therefore I must cope.
Here are a few other things I've noticed about ADF:
FACT #1: By evening on a fasting day, my blood glucose sits right around 70.
SO FAR: This is the real difference I have seen between IF (intermittent fasting) and ADF, as my fasting blood sugar never went that low on IF and I have sensed/seen deeper bodily healing on ADF--I now have no symptoms from eating wheat (although I don't intend to make that a habit,) the new "groove" at my waist has become more distinct and my gums/tongue have improved color.
Regarding my waist, the circumference of belly/kidney fat had gradually decreased throughout the past 10 months but there was one long arc with no groove at my waist; after 2 weeks of ADF I noticed a distinct groove and my midriff and belly fat pads are now independent arcs.
My blood sugar has never dropped below 70 and I haven't experienced any "low blood sugar" symptoms at all even if I go shopping or take a long walk with my dogs (that evening or the next morning.)
FACT #2: My first few fasting days MAY have caused some sleep disruption but I didn't notice any fatigue; it simply took longer to fall asleep and I woke up once or twice. It's hard to tell if it affected my serenity as there were multiple incidents with the grandkid that definitely caused upsets. In fact, I'm not sure if the sleep disruption was actually caused by the ADF, the incidents or a combination of both.
SO FAR: I am watching this but since my overall reaction to ADF is very positive I don't think minor sleep disruption is a reason to stop. My mood and energy levels have been great during and after fasting days. So far today (fingers crossed) my stress level is mild and I'll be interested to see what happens at bed time tonight.
FACT #3: I don't like black coffee. I either need to ditch the coffee or use heavy cream/coconut oil and (possibly) ditch the honey I add to those fats on eating days.
SO FAR: I tried black-coffee-only on 3 different fasting days. Not going to work. I seem able to cope with cream-only, though, and in recent experiments I've found adding a little coconut oil too is "okay" but not an improvement. I now put the coconut oil in the first mug only. It tends to pool on the surface so I use a spoon to drink it plus coffee first and then drink the remaining coffee and cream normally. I do miss my honey, though, which actually makes the coffee taste GOOD.
Calorie-wise, ADF allows up to 25% of typical calorie intake. I KNOW this isn't intended to be cream and honey, okay? The cream's actually okay as it has very little of either protein or carbs and shouldn't interfere with either ketosis or (protein) autophagy in small quantities. The honey is a sweetener and is officially an "avoid" whether I'm eating or fasting. So far today I'm doing okay without the honey but I may add a little to my last mug of the day.
Here in the southern tip of Nevada the current morning temps in which I am walking my dogs are in the mid- to high-50s. When they rise another 10 degrees or so I may lose my interest in coffee and shift to water with a wedge of lime.
FACT #4: One reason to continue drinking coffee is that it seems to inhibit hunger pangs.
SO FAR: I usually drink 3 mugs of coffee, sometimes 2 and sometimes 4 but usually 3. I sip it fairly slowly so it's mid-day when I reach my "enough" point. At times I'll notice hunger before drinking coffee but I never have any while I'm sipping some or for 1-3 hours afterward.
FACT #5: Even with cream and honey, I don't have a strong blood glucose response to the coffee--usually it's around 93-94 and, if I test again, gradually drops back to the 80s.
FACT #6: I usually have some hunger pangs between mid-afternoon and early evening on a fasting day.
SO FAR: Mild hunger pangs and "time to eat" brain impulses are easy to ignore in the absence of new mental upsets and they are gone by 7 pm as I'm usually done eating for the day between 4 and 6 pm.
FACT #7: When I am fasting, the presence of bananas, berries and other fresh produce in the house isn't an issue and neither are my grandson's neolithic treats. Having lots of fresh produce does increase my pleasant anticipation of eating the next day.
*ADF is alternate day fasting. For more information, see this post or click on the ADF label on the right side of the page.
I'm fasting today. In general, I have given myself permission to decide on the morning of any scheduled fasting day whether I will actually fast or eat. I've done this because my day-to-day reactions to recent family-driven stress vary--on some mornings, it actually makes fasting easier but on others the idea of fasting seems to add more stress. Which I really don't need.
Note: Since you've probably had enough of my vague clues, please know that my teen-aged grandson is being quite self-destructive, doing risky things and not seeing that they are risky--a situation that could last for years. I cannot change the situation much and I cannot turn my back, therefore I must cope.
Here are a few other things I've noticed about ADF:
FACT #1: By evening on a fasting day, my blood glucose sits right around 70.
SO FAR: This is the real difference I have seen between IF (intermittent fasting) and ADF, as my fasting blood sugar never went that low on IF and I have sensed/seen deeper bodily healing on ADF--I now have no symptoms from eating wheat (although I don't intend to make that a habit,) the new "groove" at my waist has become more distinct and my gums/tongue have improved color.
Regarding my waist, the circumference of belly/kidney fat had gradually decreased throughout the past 10 months but there was one long arc with no groove at my waist; after 2 weeks of ADF I noticed a distinct groove and my midriff and belly fat pads are now independent arcs.
My blood sugar has never dropped below 70 and I haven't experienced any "low blood sugar" symptoms at all even if I go shopping or take a long walk with my dogs (that evening or the next morning.)
FACT #2: My first few fasting days MAY have caused some sleep disruption but I didn't notice any fatigue; it simply took longer to fall asleep and I woke up once or twice. It's hard to tell if it affected my serenity as there were multiple incidents with the grandkid that definitely caused upsets. In fact, I'm not sure if the sleep disruption was actually caused by the ADF, the incidents or a combination of both.
SO FAR: I am watching this but since my overall reaction to ADF is very positive I don't think minor sleep disruption is a reason to stop. My mood and energy levels have been great during and after fasting days. So far today (fingers crossed) my stress level is mild and I'll be interested to see what happens at bed time tonight.
FACT #3: I don't like black coffee. I either need to ditch the coffee or use heavy cream/coconut oil and (possibly) ditch the honey I add to those fats on eating days.
SO FAR: I tried black-coffee-only on 3 different fasting days. Not going to work. I seem able to cope with cream-only, though, and in recent experiments I've found adding a little coconut oil too is "okay" but not an improvement. I now put the coconut oil in the first mug only. It tends to pool on the surface so I use a spoon to drink it plus coffee first and then drink the remaining coffee and cream normally. I do miss my honey, though, which actually makes the coffee taste GOOD.
Calorie-wise, ADF allows up to 25% of typical calorie intake. I KNOW this isn't intended to be cream and honey, okay? The cream's actually okay as it has very little of either protein or carbs and shouldn't interfere with either ketosis or (protein) autophagy in small quantities. The honey is a sweetener and is officially an "avoid" whether I'm eating or fasting. So far today I'm doing okay without the honey but I may add a little to my last mug of the day.
Here in the southern tip of Nevada the current morning temps in which I am walking my dogs are in the mid- to high-50s. When they rise another 10 degrees or so I may lose my interest in coffee and shift to water with a wedge of lime.
FACT #4: One reason to continue drinking coffee is that it seems to inhibit hunger pangs.
SO FAR: I usually drink 3 mugs of coffee, sometimes 2 and sometimes 4 but usually 3. I sip it fairly slowly so it's mid-day when I reach my "enough" point. At times I'll notice hunger before drinking coffee but I never have any while I'm sipping some or for 1-3 hours afterward.
FACT #5: Even with cream and honey, I don't have a strong blood glucose response to the coffee--usually it's around 93-94 and, if I test again, gradually drops back to the 80s.
FACT #6: I usually have some hunger pangs between mid-afternoon and early evening on a fasting day.
SO FAR: Mild hunger pangs and "time to eat" brain impulses are easy to ignore in the absence of new mental upsets and they are gone by 7 pm as I'm usually done eating for the day between 4 and 6 pm.
FACT #7: When I am fasting, the presence of bananas, berries and other fresh produce in the house isn't an issue and neither are my grandson's neolithic treats. Having lots of fresh produce does increase my pleasant anticipation of eating the next day.
March 7, 2012
Update on my Annual Physical
"A healthy outside starts on the inside." Robert Urich
I won't have the mammogram until April but other than that I'm done with this year's physical. And I'm feeling vindicated in one area and foolish in another.
When I went for my first visit, my blood pressure was high. I explained that I monitor it at home and it's been just fine, but they said my meter must be wrong. On a second visit, it was still high but I forgot to take my cuff and the doctor was talking about meds but I said no. This morning I went back to discuss my blood work. Before going, I walked my dogs and took my bp and it was 133/74. At the doctor's office, they got 160/97; I took it with my cuff and got 159/96. Sheesh! I showed her my home reading in memory and she said, "You're fine. You definitely have 'white coat' syndrome." I told her I've checked it at all times during the day, active and resting, and it's fine--I informed her that visiting her is bad for my health and she laughed. So, no blood pressure meds. She did say that being more active might help even out my highs and I confirmed I'm planning that anyhow as I've been a slug this winter and I'm ready to get going as the days get warmer (not today, though--brrr!)
Now, about the blood work. I'm feeling foolish about that because as the day of my blood draw approached I got more and more nervous about what my results would be. There are quite a few people--much younger people--on Paleo Hacks reporting sky-high cholesterol. I've always had normal cholesterol readings, but obviously this was going to be my first one since changing to a high protein/fat diet last April. During the week before my test, I ate more fish than usual although I also had some beef. I feel foolish because my reading turned out to be 178--there's definitely no need for me to avoid beef! I do plan to continue eating sardines more frequently than I used to because I felt a good reaction when I went from a can every week or so to 3-4 cans per week. BUT, beef is back where it belongs as my primary meat.
All of my blood metrics were stellar, even thyroid, so when I've been saying I feel fabulous eating real whole foods (including whole fruit, which many foolishly avoid) I've been RIGHT. I'm not going to lie, I'm feeling pretty smug and it was worth giving up my full-time junk food diet to feel this good and have another year of no prescription meds.
Kidding aside, though, I do think it's important for older people to get annual blood tests and make the changes needed, if any, for best possible health. For example, if I had bad thyroid results I was prepared to take meds but I was going to decline meds for either blood pressure or glucose (if they had been bad) in favor of stricter diet and increased exercise. I'm planning to crank up the exercise anyhow.
I won't have the mammogram until April but other than that I'm done with this year's physical. And I'm feeling vindicated in one area and foolish in another.
When I went for my first visit, my blood pressure was high. I explained that I monitor it at home and it's been just fine, but they said my meter must be wrong. On a second visit, it was still high but I forgot to take my cuff and the doctor was talking about meds but I said no. This morning I went back to discuss my blood work. Before going, I walked my dogs and took my bp and it was 133/74. At the doctor's office, they got 160/97; I took it with my cuff and got 159/96. Sheesh! I showed her my home reading in memory and she said, "You're fine. You definitely have 'white coat' syndrome." I told her I've checked it at all times during the day, active and resting, and it's fine--I informed her that visiting her is bad for my health and she laughed. So, no blood pressure meds. She did say that being more active might help even out my highs and I confirmed I'm planning that anyhow as I've been a slug this winter and I'm ready to get going as the days get warmer (not today, though--brrr!)
Now, about the blood work. I'm feeling foolish about that because as the day of my blood draw approached I got more and more nervous about what my results would be. There are quite a few people--much younger people--on Paleo Hacks reporting sky-high cholesterol. I've always had normal cholesterol readings, but obviously this was going to be my first one since changing to a high protein/fat diet last April. During the week before my test, I ate more fish than usual although I also had some beef. I feel foolish because my reading turned out to be 178--there's definitely no need for me to avoid beef! I do plan to continue eating sardines more frequently than I used to because I felt a good reaction when I went from a can every week or so to 3-4 cans per week. BUT, beef is back where it belongs as my primary meat.
All of my blood metrics were stellar, even thyroid, so when I've been saying I feel fabulous eating real whole foods (including whole fruit, which many foolishly avoid) I've been RIGHT. I'm not going to lie, I'm feeling pretty smug and it was worth giving up my full-time junk food diet to feel this good and have another year of no prescription meds.
Kidding aside, though, I do think it's important for older people to get annual blood tests and make the changes needed, if any, for best possible health. For example, if I had bad thyroid results I was prepared to take meds but I was going to decline meds for either blood pressure or glucose (if they had been bad) in favor of stricter diet and increased exercise. I'm planning to crank up the exercise anyhow.
March 1, 2012
Monthly Update: March
The March mug shot appears at the right of the strip and my waist was a little less than an inch down from last month. One difference I've noted is that I lost relatively more fat from my limbs this past month. I don't know if that would've happened anyhow or whether fasting somehow caused that but it's very nice because I happen to be someone who carries more fat on my arms and legs than many women in proportion to my torso/butt fat. I don't think my new mug shot looks much different than the last 2, but in real life my cheek pads and throat do look a little leaner to me. Also, as mentioned before, my clothes are noticeably looser lately in the arms and legs.
When I first read about ADF (alternate day fasting) they said most people wind up eating about 120% of their normal 1-day intake prior to ADF on their feed days--and 20-25% on their fast days--and they lose weight. I quickly found I eat 100% of my pre-ADF intake on my feed days and, of course, 0% on my fast days. The latter is because I've always hated "diet" meals and if I ate a meal of 300-500 calories on a fast day that would actually be harder for me than not eating at all. As it is, about once an hour on a fast day I get an instant impulse to eat and I give the impulse a condescending mental smile and it goes away. My particular body is REALLY good at fasting and I feel as good as I can imagine feeling.
Until yesterday, I fasted when scheduled and ate sensibly (translation: whole foods) when scheduled. Yesterday I wound up eating in the evening so I will have only 2 fast days on record this week. I'm mulling whether to go for 2 or 3 fasting days next week; yesterday it started to feel like there was too much deprivation too fast and I may just shift to 2 days based on how I feel. Or, I may fast 3 times but try the 300-calorie meal recommended in the write-ups for fast days. Or, a 3rd option, I may do 3 zero-calorie days one week and then eat for a week straight. You see what I'm doing here? I'm reserving the right to experiment and find what suits me best before settling into anything long term.
I've now had 2 ADF weekends. On the first, I fasted on Saturday and ate on Sunday because I started ADF on a Thursday. During that weekend, through routine reading I discovered many people fast 3 days per week and I immediately realized I'd like that better than having my fast days vary every week. I could just hear myself asking, "Was yesterday a fast day or a feed day?" When I used to take medicine for GERD, I had to buy one of those day-of-week dispensers because I was never sure if I'd taken it that morning or not.
I designated my fast days as Monday, Wednesday and Friday so this past weekend I ate both days. Going into the second weekend, I wondered how I would react to eating both days. Would I be hungrier and eat more the second day? Would it be harder to resume fasting on Monday? Would I lose the deep feeling of physical calm that appeared during the first week of 2-day cycles?
No, no and no. I enjoyed being able to eat again and that was it. All day Sunday I was aware of Monday as an upcoming fast day but there was no urge to binge in preparation and when Monday came it was just another fast day meaning black coffee still doesn't do it for me but it's not quite as bad as it was the first time.
The really interesting measurements will be next month--will I continue to lose fat at the current rate or will adaptive responses cause weight loss to slow/stop? What will my blood glucose/pressure do as I continue ADF?
There are no negatives here, only the thrill of self-discovery (and the joy of more time to read/knit/walk.)
When I first read about ADF (alternate day fasting) they said most people wind up eating about 120% of their normal 1-day intake prior to ADF on their feed days--and 20-25% on their fast days--and they lose weight. I quickly found I eat 100% of my pre-ADF intake on my feed days and, of course, 0% on my fast days. The latter is because I've always hated "diet" meals and if I ate a meal of 300-500 calories on a fast day that would actually be harder for me than not eating at all. As it is, about once an hour on a fast day I get an instant impulse to eat and I give the impulse a condescending mental smile and it goes away. My particular body is REALLY good at fasting and I feel as good as I can imagine feeling.
Until yesterday, I fasted when scheduled and ate sensibly (translation: whole foods) when scheduled. Yesterday I wound up eating in the evening so I will have only 2 fast days on record this week. I'm mulling whether to go for 2 or 3 fasting days next week; yesterday it started to feel like there was too much deprivation too fast and I may just shift to 2 days based on how I feel. Or, I may fast 3 times but try the 300-calorie meal recommended in the write-ups for fast days. Or, a 3rd option, I may do 3 zero-calorie days one week and then eat for a week straight. You see what I'm doing here? I'm reserving the right to experiment and find what suits me best before settling into anything long term.
I've now had 2 ADF weekends. On the first, I fasted on Saturday and ate on Sunday because I started ADF on a Thursday. During that weekend, through routine reading I discovered many people fast 3 days per week and I immediately realized I'd like that better than having my fast days vary every week. I could just hear myself asking, "Was yesterday a fast day or a feed day?" When I used to take medicine for GERD, I had to buy one of those day-of-week dispensers because I was never sure if I'd taken it that morning or not.
I designated my fast days as Monday, Wednesday and Friday so this past weekend I ate both days. Going into the second weekend, I wondered how I would react to eating both days. Would I be hungrier and eat more the second day? Would it be harder to resume fasting on Monday? Would I lose the deep feeling of physical calm that appeared during the first week of 2-day cycles?
No, no and no. I enjoyed being able to eat again and that was it. All day Sunday I was aware of Monday as an upcoming fast day but there was no urge to binge in preparation and when Monday came it was just another fast day meaning black coffee still doesn't do it for me but it's not quite as bad as it was the first time.
The really interesting measurements will be next month--will I continue to lose fat at the current rate or will adaptive responses cause weight loss to slow/stop? What will my blood glucose/pressure do as I continue ADF?
There are no negatives here, only the thrill of self-discovery (and the joy of more time to read/knit/walk.)
February 25, 2012
The Tastes of ADF
"Fasting is the single greatest natural healing therapy. It is nature's ancient,
universal 'remedy' for many problems. Animals instictively fast when ill." Elson Haas, M.D. in Staying Healthy with Nutrition
Today happens to be my 10th day of ADF (alternate day fasting.) If you haven't read my last 2 posts, I'll explain quickly that I limit my intake to water and black coffee on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. On the other 4 days I can eat as desired but I am trying to lose weight as well as optimize my blood glucose/pressure so my "feed" days so far have included only whole real foods.
On my fast day yesterday I was high energy so I did many chores and errands. At one point I went to Safeway with my son and grandson and I'm happy to report being surrounded by food didn't stress me at all because I knew I could eat until happily full today. Tomorrow is Sunday and it will be the first time I have eaten 2 days in a row since I started ADF because at first I followed a true 2-day cycle pattern. After the first weekend I decided it would be simpler and easier to follow ADF if my fasting days were always the same days each week.
So, this was my 5th "feed" day and I ate 2 meals. Actually, I ate exactly the same meals/amounts as when I ate daily. I broke my fast by sipping 2 mugs of coffee with heavy cream and honey. My breakfast at about 9 am was a banana, a handful of berries, some cinnamon and about 1/2 cup of home-made Bulgarian yogurt. Now, you may think you've had some great meals but let me just say when you haven't eaten in about 42 hours yogurt and fruit taste GREAT.
I was not feeling urgent hunger so I spent the day visiting with my son and then my friends and I didn't have my main meal until about 6 pm. I forgot to eat a grapefruit, my usual appetizer, but since I had fruit this morning no biggie. I started my meal with a 4-5 cup leafy salad; the only dense ingredient was a few stuffed olives. I usually find when I finish a salad that there is some liquid--oil, vinegar and water--left in the dish. Usually I just pour that liquid down the drain but today it became the "magic ingredient" for my main dish (pictured below.)
I slow-fried (setting 4 out of 10 on my induction cooktop) a pound of grassfed ground beef. I removed the cooked beef from the skillet and melted a chunk of Kerrygold butter--between 1 and 2 tbsp. I had rough-chopped about 1/3 of a fresh fennel bulb and had cut a bunch of asparagus into 1-inch pieces; I added those to the skillet and slow-fried them in the melted butter.
To finish my main dish I mixed the vegetables into the crumbled beef AND poured my leftover salad liquid into the dish. I put half of it into the fridge for tomorrow or Tuesday and ate the other half. WOW! The mixture of flavors really worked. In some bites the dominant flavor was fennel and in others there was a hint of the salad liquid. Still others were pure beef or asparagus. I'm glad I have half of this dish left over and I will definitely use my salad liquids in my main dishes on a regular basis.
On the health front, which is why I decided to practice ADF for a couple months in the first place, I am truly amazed at the difference the first 10 days have made. Until the recent family-related stresses affected my blood glucose/pressure I had considered my overall health much improved after 9 months of quality nutrition, but honestly I have never felt THIS good in my life. Not as a child or teen or young adult or middle-ager. This morning I "sensed" every part of my body and could not identify one single complaint. If I had to decide right now I would definitely choose to stay on ADF permanently, although I still intend to shift to 2 fasting days per week in April.
UPDATE: For day 2 of my eating weekend, I sauteed some cauliflower in butter then poured the leftover dish from yesterday on top and covered the pan to re-heat the leftovers. I barely managed to take the photos below before attacking the food:
Today happens to be my 10th day of ADF (alternate day fasting.) If you haven't read my last 2 posts, I'll explain quickly that I limit my intake to water and black coffee on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. On the other 4 days I can eat as desired but I am trying to lose weight as well as optimize my blood glucose/pressure so my "feed" days so far have included only whole real foods.
On my fast day yesterday I was high energy so I did many chores and errands. At one point I went to Safeway with my son and grandson and I'm happy to report being surrounded by food didn't stress me at all because I knew I could eat until happily full today. Tomorrow is Sunday and it will be the first time I have eaten 2 days in a row since I started ADF because at first I followed a true 2-day cycle pattern. After the first weekend I decided it would be simpler and easier to follow ADF if my fasting days were always the same days each week.
 |
| Yogurt and Fruit (archive photo) |
I was not feeling urgent hunger so I spent the day visiting with my son and then my friends and I didn't have my main meal until about 6 pm. I forgot to eat a grapefruit, my usual appetizer, but since I had fruit this morning no biggie. I started my meal with a 4-5 cup leafy salad; the only dense ingredient was a few stuffed olives. I usually find when I finish a salad that there is some liquid--oil, vinegar and water--left in the dish. Usually I just pour that liquid down the drain but today it became the "magic ingredient" for my main dish (pictured below.)
I slow-fried (setting 4 out of 10 on my induction cooktop) a pound of grassfed ground beef. I removed the cooked beef from the skillet and melted a chunk of Kerrygold butter--between 1 and 2 tbsp. I had rough-chopped about 1/3 of a fresh fennel bulb and had cut a bunch of asparagus into 1-inch pieces; I added those to the skillet and slow-fried them in the melted butter.
 |
| Ground beef, asparagus and fennel |
To finish my main dish I mixed the vegetables into the crumbled beef AND poured my leftover salad liquid into the dish. I put half of it into the fridge for tomorrow or Tuesday and ate the other half. WOW! The mixture of flavors really worked. In some bites the dominant flavor was fennel and in others there was a hint of the salad liquid. Still others were pure beef or asparagus. I'm glad I have half of this dish left over and I will definitely use my salad liquids in my main dishes on a regular basis.
On the health front, which is why I decided to practice ADF for a couple months in the first place, I am truly amazed at the difference the first 10 days have made. Until the recent family-related stresses affected my blood glucose/pressure I had considered my overall health much improved after 9 months of quality nutrition, but honestly I have never felt THIS good in my life. Not as a child or teen or young adult or middle-ager. This morning I "sensed" every part of my body and could not identify one single complaint. If I had to decide right now I would definitely choose to stay on ADF permanently, although I still intend to shift to 2 fasting days per week in April.
UPDATE: For day 2 of my eating weekend, I sauteed some cauliflower in butter then poured the leftover dish from yesterday on top and covered the pan to re-heat the leftovers. I barely managed to take the photos below before attacking the food:
 |
| Today's Leafy Salad |
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| Beef, asparagus and fennel with cauliflower added |
Note: With the addition of cauliflower this was again a large batch of food so I ate half and refrigerated the other half for my grandson tonight or my meal on Tuesday. Since I was eating less meat (divided again) I also ate a can of sardines, which went very well with the other flavors.
February 19, 2012
Making Lemonade ...
"If life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Dale Carnegie
Everything was going so great. I was sailing along, enjoying ancestral eating and looking forward to my physical since I've lost weight. Yes, there'd been moderate to high family-related stress for months involving my son and grandson but I handled it well--or so I thought. Well, okay, I'd noticed gradual increases in my blood glucose and blood pressure readings but they were still in the normal ranges, just creeping toward the upper regions of normal. I'd given some thought to how I might adjust my routines to encourage those readings to return to their previous levels. For the record, until last week at least half of my ongoing stress came from life/health issues my son was experiencing.
Then, as I was pulling into my doctor's parking lot for my physical, I got a call from the grand-kid's high school--he was being suspended for 3 days. It wasn't really a great surprise that I walked into the doctor's office and had the highest blood pressure I've ever had. It took almost 4 hours for my blood pressure to return to anything like my normal levels and my blood glucose readings were also unusually high that day and the next morning. I haven't had the follow-up tests yet but as far as I know I am in good overall health. Just very, very stressed. To be clear on the events, I was called to the school one day to take the boy home and had to return the next day for a disciplinary conference.
SO--I decided it was time to give top priority to me and to nurture me. I actively avoided anything likely to increase my stress levels (other than the afore-mentioned grandson and son) so I didn't read my usual list of web sites or join conversations on Paleohacks. I also decided not to do any blogging here until I "felt like it." Let's just call it what it was--I POUTED. But you know, I happen to think pouting can be a healthy reaction to excessive stress. And my pout only lasted about 24 hours anyhow.
Despite being very upset and physically out of whack, I didn't suffer a migraine attack and the only specific symptom of the incident was that I needed extra sleep after returning home from the conference. I rarely nap but I took a very long one and still slept all night.
To complete the background info before addressing the ancestral eating topic of this post, I have mentioned before that I have done a lot of intermittent fasting (IF.) My practice for months was to eat one large meal per day so that I was well nourished but my GI tract had periods of rest. I find IF calming and it served me well in the early months of this stressful period. There were some days where I casually skipped my meal altogether because I was busy. I had recently started eating yogurt and fruit as a small second meal, which I enjoyed but which gave my system less resting time. Because of mounting stress, 2 weeks ago I had discontinued the second meal.
Anyhow, to the business of "making lemonade." The day after the conference I sat down at my PC and started reading about non-prescription strategies people use to deal with blood pressure/glucose issues. It is important to me to avoid the need for prescribed medications as long as I possibly can. As I did searches and read both blog posts and research abstracts, one subject kept coming up over and over--fasting. While a somewhat scary concept for many Americans, fasting is actually a natural remedy that's been used all over the world throughout history. And while it's not a cure for the common cold--that's a joke, okay?--there are studies that have confirmed that fasting can in fact have a positive impact on both blood pressure and glucose levels. It's also supposed to allow significant healing and repair of the GI tract and joints which are also issues for me.
Without boring you with too many details, I'll just say that 2 types of fasting were explained. One was long-term fasting, 5, 10, 21 or even 40 days of water-only or juice-only. I was quite intrigued but that didn't sound like something I wanted to try on my own. I watched some YouTube videos by professionals and individuals and if I were going to try a long water fast I'd want to check myself into a clinic where I could be monitored. Since I can't afford that I decided against a long water fast. AND I couldn't imagine leaving the kid and the pets for 3 weeks.
However, another type of fasting also is backed by research and is safe to try at home: alternate-day fasting (ADF.) Several variations of ADF are explained and recommended by various studies and sites. The gentlest version involves eating at least one meal per day and skipping 2 meals every other day. Another version rules out full-sized meals on the "fast" day but allows one small meal of 20-25% of your usual food intake. The classic version requires a no-calorie approach every other day with a "whatever you want" allowance on the feeding day.
People who've been eating the usual American diet find ADF a radical change. They tend to go with the 25% fasting days and their first 2 weeks of feeding days are pretty much junk food binges. Those who adapt well start eating more sensibly but many stick with the 25% fasting days or the "have dinner every day" approach. Many people reported successfully following ADF for months or years.
In my case, after 9 months of ancestral eating and intermittent fasting I am already well adapted to skipping meals. I decided to try ADF for 8 weeks and to go with no-calorie fasting days; I start the fasting day with black coffee and drink water as desired. On my feeding days, I just eat my usual ancestral foods. So far, I haven't needed extra-large portions or extra meals. If I've had a problem, it's that I'm not particularly hungry for food on my feeding days but I assume that will change as I continue to eat only every other day. I've made sure I eat a large fruit-salad-meat-veggies meal on each of my feeding days and I also put cream and honey into my coffee on those days.
And here we are. The important news--the lemonade if you will--is that I've had amazing results so far. Day 1 of ADF, my first fasting day, was the day I was still stressed and pouting while searching for options via PC. On my first feeding day I felt better and my blood pressure and glucose were better but not ideal. On day 3, my second fasting day, I felt FABULOUS--my mood was great and I was high-energy all day. Nearly all my blood pressure/glucose measurements were down to my lifelong norms and I felt the last of my stress leaching out as my body and GI tract rested from dealing with food. This morning, my 2nd feed day, my waking blood glucose was 70--yes, 70! And I had bp to match. I also noticed that my gums look MUCH happier.
I've now completed two 2-day cycles of fasting/feeding. Frankly, I wish I'd tried this a couple months ago. I spend my fasting days happily using my extra time (not taken up by meal prep and cleanup) to do errands, chores and craft projects. My fasting days are also my exercise days since I've eaten the day before--although I've already learned this may not be important. I've always performed well fasted and I've found I don't have any low energy days on ADF. I just have more time on fasting days.
Right now, my plan is to continue with 7 more weeks of ADF. In mid-April, I will either continue ADF for a longer period or switch to a long-term pattern of 2 fast days per week. I haven't yet mentioned weight loss, have I? Losing weight is not my primary goal but I'm happy to report I'm noticeably losing fat on ADF.
The research studies reported that overweight/obese subjects had a start-up loss and then a slower continued loss throughout the study period. People of normal weight stabilized quickly and ate enough on their feeding days to maintain their weights--also, the normal-weight subjects were only on ADF for a short period.
Here's a link to a timely article on the subject of ADF.
Unlike Friday, I had a robust appetite today. I ate blueberries, grapefruit, banana, a leafy salad, beets and roast Cornish game hen. Yum! I was happily stuffed, but only for about 30 minutes and then I noticed a rapid clearing of my stomach. My 2-hour blood glucose was 112.
If you've tried or stayed on ADF, I'd love to hear from you.
Everything was going so great. I was sailing along, enjoying ancestral eating and looking forward to my physical since I've lost weight. Yes, there'd been moderate to high family-related stress for months involving my son and grandson but I handled it well--or so I thought. Well, okay, I'd noticed gradual increases in my blood glucose and blood pressure readings but they were still in the normal ranges, just creeping toward the upper regions of normal. I'd given some thought to how I might adjust my routines to encourage those readings to return to their previous levels. For the record, until last week at least half of my ongoing stress came from life/health issues my son was experiencing.
Then, as I was pulling into my doctor's parking lot for my physical, I got a call from the grand-kid's high school--he was being suspended for 3 days. It wasn't really a great surprise that I walked into the doctor's office and had the highest blood pressure I've ever had. It took almost 4 hours for my blood pressure to return to anything like my normal levels and my blood glucose readings were also unusually high that day and the next morning. I haven't had the follow-up tests yet but as far as I know I am in good overall health. Just very, very stressed. To be clear on the events, I was called to the school one day to take the boy home and had to return the next day for a disciplinary conference.
SO--I decided it was time to give top priority to me and to nurture me. I actively avoided anything likely to increase my stress levels (other than the afore-mentioned grandson and son) so I didn't read my usual list of web sites or join conversations on Paleohacks. I also decided not to do any blogging here until I "felt like it." Let's just call it what it was--I POUTED. But you know, I happen to think pouting can be a healthy reaction to excessive stress. And my pout only lasted about 24 hours anyhow.
Despite being very upset and physically out of whack, I didn't suffer a migraine attack and the only specific symptom of the incident was that I needed extra sleep after returning home from the conference. I rarely nap but I took a very long one and still slept all night.
To complete the background info before addressing the ancestral eating topic of this post, I have mentioned before that I have done a lot of intermittent fasting (IF.) My practice for months was to eat one large meal per day so that I was well nourished but my GI tract had periods of rest. I find IF calming and it served me well in the early months of this stressful period. There were some days where I casually skipped my meal altogether because I was busy. I had recently started eating yogurt and fruit as a small second meal, which I enjoyed but which gave my system less resting time. Because of mounting stress, 2 weeks ago I had discontinued the second meal.
Anyhow, to the business of "making lemonade." The day after the conference I sat down at my PC and started reading about non-prescription strategies people use to deal with blood pressure/glucose issues. It is important to me to avoid the need for prescribed medications as long as I possibly can. As I did searches and read both blog posts and research abstracts, one subject kept coming up over and over--fasting. While a somewhat scary concept for many Americans, fasting is actually a natural remedy that's been used all over the world throughout history. And while it's not a cure for the common cold--that's a joke, okay?--there are studies that have confirmed that fasting can in fact have a positive impact on both blood pressure and glucose levels. It's also supposed to allow significant healing and repair of the GI tract and joints which are also issues for me.
Without boring you with too many details, I'll just say that 2 types of fasting were explained. One was long-term fasting, 5, 10, 21 or even 40 days of water-only or juice-only. I was quite intrigued but that didn't sound like something I wanted to try on my own. I watched some YouTube videos by professionals and individuals and if I were going to try a long water fast I'd want to check myself into a clinic where I could be monitored. Since I can't afford that I decided against a long water fast. AND I couldn't imagine leaving the kid and the pets for 3 weeks.
However, another type of fasting also is backed by research and is safe to try at home: alternate-day fasting (ADF.) Several variations of ADF are explained and recommended by various studies and sites. The gentlest version involves eating at least one meal per day and skipping 2 meals every other day. Another version rules out full-sized meals on the "fast" day but allows one small meal of 20-25% of your usual food intake. The classic version requires a no-calorie approach every other day with a "whatever you want" allowance on the feeding day.
People who've been eating the usual American diet find ADF a radical change. They tend to go with the 25% fasting days and their first 2 weeks of feeding days are pretty much junk food binges. Those who adapt well start eating more sensibly but many stick with the 25% fasting days or the "have dinner every day" approach. Many people reported successfully following ADF for months or years.
In my case, after 9 months of ancestral eating and intermittent fasting I am already well adapted to skipping meals. I decided to try ADF for 8 weeks and to go with no-calorie fasting days; I start the fasting day with black coffee and drink water as desired. On my feeding days, I just eat my usual ancestral foods. So far, I haven't needed extra-large portions or extra meals. If I've had a problem, it's that I'm not particularly hungry for food on my feeding days but I assume that will change as I continue to eat only every other day. I've made sure I eat a large fruit-salad-meat-veggies meal on each of my feeding days and I also put cream and honey into my coffee on those days.
And here we are. The important news--the lemonade if you will--is that I've had amazing results so far. Day 1 of ADF, my first fasting day, was the day I was still stressed and pouting while searching for options via PC. On my first feeding day I felt better and my blood pressure and glucose were better but not ideal. On day 3, my second fasting day, I felt FABULOUS--my mood was great and I was high-energy all day. Nearly all my blood pressure/glucose measurements were down to my lifelong norms and I felt the last of my stress leaching out as my body and GI tract rested from dealing with food. This morning, my 2nd feed day, my waking blood glucose was 70--yes, 70! And I had bp to match. I also noticed that my gums look MUCH happier.
I've now completed two 2-day cycles of fasting/feeding. Frankly, I wish I'd tried this a couple months ago. I spend my fasting days happily using my extra time (not taken up by meal prep and cleanup) to do errands, chores and craft projects. My fasting days are also my exercise days since I've eaten the day before--although I've already learned this may not be important. I've always performed well fasted and I've found I don't have any low energy days on ADF. I just have more time on fasting days.
Right now, my plan is to continue with 7 more weeks of ADF. In mid-April, I will either continue ADF for a longer period or switch to a long-term pattern of 2 fast days per week. I haven't yet mentioned weight loss, have I? Losing weight is not my primary goal but I'm happy to report I'm noticeably losing fat on ADF.
The research studies reported that overweight/obese subjects had a start-up loss and then a slower continued loss throughout the study period. People of normal weight stabilized quickly and ate enough on their feeding days to maintain their weights--also, the normal-weight subjects were only on ADF for a short period.
Here's a link to a timely article on the subject of ADF.
Unlike Friday, I had a robust appetite today. I ate blueberries, grapefruit, banana, a leafy salad, beets and roast Cornish game hen. Yum! I was happily stuffed, but only for about 30 minutes and then I noticed a rapid clearing of my stomach. My 2-hour blood glucose was 112.
If you've tried or stayed on ADF, I'd love to hear from you.
February 5, 2012
How Do You Measure Success?
No, seriously, how do you measure success? I think each of us knows success when we feel it. Sometimes we plan for it and other times we stumble into it. And I'm sure we have areas of overlap but we probably each have our own personal definitions of success.
For me, there are 3 key areas of my life in which I will judge outcomes with labels such as success or failure: family/friends, health and weight.
Family/friends hasn't always been an easy one for me. I grew up in poverty and we moved around a lot (think gypsy mode) so I didn't have a chance to practice friendship skills. Family relationships were very dysfunctional so it was more a matter of knowing what I didn't want than anything else. And it didn't help that I was a bashful, withdrawn child who grew up to be an introverted-but-assertive woman. However, I look at my son (nearly 40) and grandson (nearly 18) and feel successful to the extent that I've always done the best I could and have extremely close relationships with both. And I'm blessed with great friends, both human and companion animals, to help celebrate the good times and survive the bad ones.
On the health front, that's been an up-and-down story. I've always been a basically healthy woman with a lot of chronic complaints, many of which involved considerable pain. After 9 months of ancestral eating, I can't remember the last time I felt true pain and that's almost spooky. My upcoming physical in 2 weeks will flesh out the story but as far as I know I'm unusually healthy for someone about to turn 65. I feel more like 40-ish.
Then there's weight, which has 2 success/fail elements: appetite control and level of body fat.
Given my 50-year history of binge eating, I have to say it's very weird that in the past 4 months I seem to have lost the ability to binge. Forget desire--I never had that, and who does? If you are able to control what you do/don't eat you may be many things but you're not a binge eater. No, I mean no matter what I do now a binge doesn't happen. Get upset? Nope. Eat sugary holiday treats? Nope. Have cupboards full of highly-processed treats the grandkid bought? Nope.
That doesn't mean I can't get a little off track. Eating a ton of fruit earlier this week made my blood sugar a little unstable and took the shine off my energy and sense of well-being, but there was never any time that I felt a true binge coming on. My body (personally, I think it was my gut flora) told me to knock it off and I did, and after several days of a better-balanced ancestral routine I'm feeling great again.
On the body fat question, I've thoroughly learned in my life that fast-off means faster-back-on. I do my best to eat at equilibrium or only a slight deficit so that any fat loss is very gradual and hardly noticed. And yet, since the first week in September my waist is down at least 5 inches. This morning I pulled out a pair of khaki cut-offs. This particular pair of pants was so much too small this time last year that I couldn't even pull them above my knees. I said MY KNEES. This morning I pulled them up and was able to zip and button them--what do you think of that? Okay, don't get too excited, I'm an old lady and the pants are still too snug for me to wear them in public but in a month or 3 I'm going to be walking around outside in those pants.
That's SUCCESS, baby!
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