Changing Diets..........

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Well, first off, I got it from the wikipedia article on creatine. For the full paragraph, here.

So first, do you as a vegan know any protein sources rich in those specific amino acids? Second, if I have to take supplements, that doesn't mean it's a good diet.

As far as vegan athletes, I don't really have an answer for you. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herschel_Walker eats one meal a day (is a vegetarian, too, btw), and sleeps 5 hours a night. Does this mean everyone can do that? Obviously not. He's a genetic freak.

Some people might do well on vegan diets, some people don't. And you'll notice, too, that most athletes brought up by vegan/vegetarian groups aren't vegan, they're vegetarian, and vegetarian you're still allowed as much milk and eggs as you want. It'd be quite easy to get good daily protein, cholesterol, and SFA values as a vegetarian.

That’s an interesting take.

The Stanford study shows the people on the Atkins diet had the best, most heart healthy blood chemistry. BUT, as the doc in the video points out, this is Atkins as done by educated women in Palo Alto CA. Chances are their diet was not all steaks and whip cream….

That being said, I’m betting much of their protein did come from animal sources. Sure, you can get plenty of protein and fat from veggies, but it is hard to do so without getting lots of carbs too. The thing is, all animal fats, just like all plant based carbs, are not created equal. A meal of lean meat supplemented with a plate of greens dressed in olive oil is probably better than a pile of bacon swimming in its own grease, and a meal of grilled salmon steaks is probably better than both.

Also, there seems to be a lot of science showing that animal fat in general is not as bad as we thought it was (at least when it is not consumed with lots of refined carbs)…

Personally, I think (as recent science is showing more and more) the real villains in the American Diet are flour and sugar.

I'm trying out more like...a Russian/Polish diet, as I'm part of that ancestry anyway. Trying out making some borscht today. I figure you should eat somewhat close to what your parents/grandparents ate, and I know my grandparents were good sized and healthy. I don't feel like I need to go to crazy extremes in dieting, but yeah. Also, I notice rye is a better bread for me. But it's harder finding pure whole rye bread. So I wanna see if I can get some pure whole rye flour and see how that goes, maybe attempt making my own bread. Rye promotes a lot less of a glucose spike. And it's traditional, too. I don't think rye's had any genetic altering for higher yields, either. Plus with my leftover rye bread, I could make kvass.

I'm really glad this thread got started, I am in the process of rereading WWGF (I read really fast so I usually read books a few times).
Anyway, so I was diagnosed with PCOS and came across some references that a low-carb diet could be beneficial. I can't do anything without first researching and reading everythin I can, after scouring the library I found this book. I'm finding it really interesting, kind of radically changes what I thought I knew . . .
Day three into the diet, I feel good, but I ate very healthy (at least what I believed to be healthy) before so this hasn't been a giant change. If this thread sticks around I'll make periodic posts, if anyone else is doing this feel free to pm and we can share experiences.

I want to read Gary Taubes earlier book Good Calories, Bad Calories, it delves a bit deeper into the science (WWGF was written to appleal to a wider audience). This is becoming an obsessive interest, and I'm in that happy researching/ thinking about it constantly stage.

Hey!

Welcome to the thread. I'm glad you're finding it interesting.

I'm planning to post "progress reports" about once a week or so, please, feel free to do so here as well! I would be extremely interested to know how you're dealing with the diet. I'm sure others would be interested too.

I've been eating low carb since Friday--not as low as the Atkins induction phase (20 grams or less) but pretty low (between 50-70 grams), with no sugar or flour.

My experience has been pretty good, so far. Monday, I did get a bit shaky between meals and I have noticed a general reduction in energy, but my mood is much better and I "feel" like I'm losing a bit of weight....

Well, from my vacation weight of like 203ish (circa mid June), that I got up from 195 to, I'm down to 189. I'm a mesomorph somatype, it's very easy for me to gain and lose weight. I figure if I get down to 180, I'll be able to see abs. I did have a bit of a cheat meal yesterday, 5/8 slices of a Little Caesars large pizza, oh well.

Generally here's my meal plan.
3-5 slices of bacon for breakfast, along with some Spam, 2 eggs, pan toast of rye bread fried in bacon grease

Then when I'm hungry again (which is usually quite a while) I'll have about 3 links of Italian pork sausage, 1/3 a head of cabbage, and some meatballs/ground hamburger thrown in. I've been changing it up now, with cheaper basically hot dog style Polish sausage (cuz it's cheap), and some chicken breast, and then adding more collard greens. But, I pretty much eat when I'm hungry and don't when I'm full. That's about it. It is calorie restricting to a point, but you're at least like, full. For me, though, calorie restriction is like....3000 calories. I can pretty much eat a ton of food if I feel like it.

The only variable now is I'm drinking a Dragonfruit leave tea I made, as it's not a bad tasting tea, but helps fat loss. Dragonfruit leaves, some ginger, and a little jasmine green tea. I make a pitcher of iced tea and throw some lemon juice in the glass.

Yeah, I've noticed decrease in energy to a point. Mental states are a bit better. But, definite decrease in energy for just around the house, lifting seems to make no difference as the muscles use creatine as an energy source and I do mostly singles and doubles and stuff anyway. I don't know if it'll make much difference as far as weight loss/gain, but I could throw in some more carbs in the diet. I pretty much think total low carb diets are only good for losing weight, but then once you're at the weight you like, you can introduce back carbs again, just don't eat like an idiot. That's my way of looking at things. I guess in the future for carbs, knowing what I do about wheat, I should try making my own rye bread (almost all commercial rye I find here has majority wheat flour, it's still better than wheat bread, but still), and eat more potatoes.

But yeah, I've done this before, it was how I got from 215 to 180 in a couple months of basically ice skating and some cardio. But with that, I'd do more severe calorie restriction, and I wouldn't allow much fat in the diet (ie, I'd cook 93/7 hamburgers with no cheese) so I felt like crap. But yes, now I'm a bit wiser and know fat won't make me get a heart attack at age 21 and make me fat, so I feel much better having "normal" levels of fat and cholesterol in the diet (ie, levels that'd be normal seventy to a hundred years ago.)

Good luck with the diet- I've been borderline PCOS for a number of years (no insulin resistance yet, but multiple ovarian cysts/menstruation cessation and sky high testosterone)

(off-topic: there was a long-running thread in the women's section for a while about the [of course anecdotal] seeming prevalence of hormonal disorders among women on the spectrum, and several AS men chimed in about their female relatives having them- lends itself well to the theories involving higher exposure to testosterone in the womb, and "Extreme Male Brain" theory, I think, and might be an interesting correlation to investigate in future years. Will try to find the thread in a moment...)

and am currently trying the low-carb thing, on advice from some people here, to maintain some weight loss after a lifetime of being obese. (I'm up to around 500 calories a day, and try to keep carbs below 10g), cutting out refined sugars and wheat (I already eat so few of these, it won't be much change, but still).

Added GC, BC to my Amazon wishlist, thanks for the mention!

Seriously try to get more saturated fat in the diet. Your body can readily turn saturated fat into cholesterol, and most hormones are made of cholesterol. Unfortunately, there's no vegan sources of cholesterol, but I think palm oil and coconut oil are good vegan sources of saturated fat. So if you can, get red palm oil, and just fry up some greens or something in that and you should be good. I have a theory that the 500 calories thing with you now might actually be able to be solved if you put more SFAs into your diet.

Also, lift some heavy weights. It's good for you. Having more muscle mass will raise your metabolism up, and no, lifting heavy will not turn you into the She Hulk overnight. Most guys struggle to put on 15lbs of muscle in a year, so women can only reasonably expect to put on like...7-12 or so without drugs?

Alas, I stay away from oils. The only thing that really seems to deviate in my case from the calorie-is-a-calorie theme is carbohydrates, so I long ago stopped with corn, rice, potatoes, and the vast majority of wheat products and fruit, as well. I can't really justify eating oil, at a hundred calories a TABLESPOON, when for that I could have an entire small head of cauliflower.

Right now, it's just steamed vegetables with either mustard or vinegar, and almond milk.

I've gained (I estimate) around ten pounds of muscle since joining a gym earlier this year and walking on the treadmill at an incline.

I know that the smallest size I revolve around now is much smaller than in December (6-0), and yet I'm eleven or so pounds heavier. 113-124. Such is why I've stopped weighing myself.

Well, I know in my experience, calorie is not a calorie. If you're deficient on some of your nutrients, your body will be...f****d up. That's why I don't think low carb is sustainable much of the time, it works to lose weight, but you gotta introduce back carbs eventually, just moderately and the right ones. But yeah, you need oil for your body to have fat to repair stuff. Doesn't mean go nuts on fat, but you do need some. I'm guessing if you had some properly balanced meals, with adequate amounts of fat and protein, you could up your calorie intake.

Do not be fooled by olive oil! It is NOT healthy. It is pure fat and fat causes your body to produce too much cholesterol. People who try to make fat sound healthy are just trying to peddle their oils, avocados and nuts. Fat is not good for you.

I need cholesterol to make hormones (like testosterone), so I can lift heavy weights up.

Yes, you need some and cholesterol is the main component in hormones but you do not need too much. An excess will cause blockages in your arteries. So, it's not necessary to rely on oils in your diet. They add too much fat which causes an overproduction of cholesterol which your white blood cells sees as an enemy and attack, leaving plaques along the walls of your arteries that can rupture, causing pus to clog them leading to strokes and heart attack. This is why your don't need olive oil and why it is not healthy. No oil is healthy.

I'm sorry, but more and more science does not support your statements. Watch the vid in my first post! (really. it's good )

But there is science that backs up my statement. One study in particular, the China Study, backs up what I say one hundred percent. A population with a cholesterol level below 150 mg/dL daily had a zero risk for heart disease while populations with levels higher had increased risks. Diets with fats produce more of the bad cholesterol than diets without. If you want your level to stay 150 or less, you have to cut fat out of your diet. Then your risk will be zero.

Sure, there's also some recent research that suggests it is not cholesterol that causes clogged arteries but the SHAPE of the LDL carrier which is adversely affected by high levels of carbs in the diet...

Anyway, I'd say the science is far from settled and no one is justified in making absolute statements on this subject....