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Weight gain is due to addiction to foods that make you hungry and sick, and due to lifestyle habits such as not bagging your lunch or going to a gas station for coffee and always walking by the heated junkfood. It might help to read Lysiak's Fiat Food book, but ultimately weight loss only comes with change of lifestyle which is easy to say but very hard to understand the meaning of. There are ways of tricking yourself into a change of behavior, but willpower never cuts it.

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Mike Dilger ☑️ 2y ago

I live alone. I do all my own shopping, I work from home. So... my food choices are entirely mine. I don't buy snacks. I don't buy cakes. I don't buy soft drinks. My doctor is impressed with what I eat. I eat cabbage salads, sauteed onions, capsicum, eggplant with boiled potatoes on a bed of rocket leaves. I eat pickled onions, sauerkraut, canned sardines with mustard. I eat lamb. I eat some wholegrain breat but not much. I eat pasta with tomato sauce. I eat dried fruit, banana yogurt smoothies. I eat canned beans, lentils, and peas. I roast, grind, press and drink coffee with a little skim milk. I eat cottage cheese, sometimes I eat roast chicken.

I maintain a 12 acre farm, which always needs work. I work an hour or two a day on it, but honestly I spend most of my time on the computer.

Which food am I addicted to (besides coffee) that makes me hungry and sick? Which lifestyle habits did I get wrong (the computer? yeah probably).

I'm 105 kg with a BMI of 31.

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Brunswick 2y ago

It is my belief that BMI is skewed toward the lean side to favor the pharma and diet industries, so a BMI of 31 if probably healthier than you give credit for, though the low 20s is a reasonable target for people of our age. Another thing to consider os your actual BMI may be inflated due to inflamitory water retention.

I suggest discarding lentils, whole wheat bread and pasta. Firstly, lentils are high in phytoestrogens which are not good for mental health and the endocrine, and they contain high levels of linoleic acid, which interferes with cellular metabolic anti-inflammatory processes.

White unbleached and unfortified sourdough bread is far superior to whole wheat foam bread, contrary to modern guidance. Remember, industrial bread is laced with soy flour to cut cost and seed oils to reduce mixture heating and to lower energy expenditure during mechanical kneading. Germ, bran and other components of wheat are not intended for human consumption and lead to chronic inflammation (regardless of gluten). I'm not convinced industrial dried yeast is good for the immune system, and varieties of yeasts should appear in a more naturally balanced proportion in your dough to lactobacilli and other airborne bacteria and fungi.

Dried fruit and banana should more of a rarity than you probably consider moderate, perhaps once a week or two rather than daily.

I have mixed feelings about whole potatoes. Intellectually, I believe they are bad due to their high levels of carbohydrates, but it's also possible they contain significantly long enough starch chains and cause less of an insulin spike than other carbs. They don't contain seed oils, but have a nontrivial level of lectins which lead to inflammation.

Lastly, regarding dairy; from my personal experience, and from some recent things I've heard on the subject, I prefer to avoid it altogether or at least only consume it as a minority constituent of a dish. It's been found to irritate the mucosa of the esophagus and intestinal lining, may contribute to leaky gut, contains large amounts of indigestible proteins and often clogs the gastrointestinal tract.

As a rule of thumb, anything that leads to increase in insulin or general inflammation is bad. It causes water retention that is bad for overall energy levels and diverts immune response from cancerous tissue and blocks the body repair mechanisms that normally would maintain the heart, lungs, liver, and brain.

Mike Dilger ☑️ 2y ago

The only person that calls me "obese" is me. Doctors and pharmacists correct me saying "nah, you're not obese. You're overweight." But according to the charts, a BMI of 31 is obese. So I use the technical term. I don't care much about inferences about what it means. The fact is that I'm carrying 25kg of adipose tissue weight beyond what would be healthy, a bunch of it on my belly. And I have metabolic syndrome so it is of significance. But yes your BMI comments I concur with.

I think my metabolic syndrome is related to my weight, but the causation isn't strictly weight-causes-syndrome. Losing weight doesn't really fix it. I still had hypertension and high cholesterol at 78kg (although now I think that the hypertension was caused by sleep apnea which I recently discovered I have, and the high cholesterol runs in my family).

It would be nice if someone figured out "you react poorly to foods X Y and Z and they are causing gut inflammation and liver inflammation. Avoid those foods" and then I could do that and all my problems would go away. I do have gut inflammation - IBS. But after a lifetime of searching for magic food choice solutions I never found any. I'll keep trying though.

But ok. Bread, pasta, lentils. Got it.

Shit I should just do an elimination diet again. The tricky thing is you can add something and think there is no reaction, but there was it just was too subtle to notice.

I used to make sourdough bread but it made me far too hungry and I'd overeat that wonderful fresh bread. I'd rather go without the bread entirely I think. I agree with you on bran. Everybody used to sieve out the bran until revernd Sylvester Graham (of Graham cracker fame) insisted it was healthy. But without the sourdough process, bran is horrible for you. I always sieved out the bran and soured the dough.

I think food quality and choice affects inflammatory processes. But it doesn't affect body weight. At least I can make my body weight go up by eating junk food, but I can't make it go down by tweaking my current diet. And my point about this is that even if I force it down through any mechanism, I will be annoyingly hungry, which is not a nice way to live. And so I have learned to accept being overweight, while continuing to focus on a healthy lifestyle to try to forstall cancers and heart disease.

Brunswick 2y ago

I do waver on my commitment to the all-beef diet. I still go back to it because It's the only thing that makes sense to me, but it is too easy to backslide. This last fall, progress was stymied by peak beef. If you're up for an elimination diet, and you want to work in reverse (start with only eating one thing, then introduce other foods incrementally), an all ruminant diet isn't the worst option by any honest measure.

At this stage, I've settled on focusing on all-beef, but permitting some essentials like black-soil-grown carrots, cabbage, celery, and minimizing carb vegetables like tomatoes, barley, and onions.

Part of the problem with weight gain can also be mental. Yes, cause — effect are difficult to disentangle; Is it the diet that causes the sluggishness or is it the sluggishness that causes the diet? Most in the health&fitness industry would tell you it's the food and exercise that is the first cause, but they aren't you, and diet and exercise aren't what I literally get paid to do.

Something, however, I have discovered in the past month is that a standing desk and wireless headset makes a bigger difference for overall health than any exercise regimen for people like us. At least it gets me over the "steep curve" necessary to start to build endurance, not to mention the additional energy it takes to stand and pace all day. You might even find yourself doing the occasional squat or lunge, if only out of needing to move.

Mike Dilger ☑️ 2y ago

I should get a standing desk.

If I hadn't recently had a gout attack (diagnosed recently) I'd go all carnivore. Maybe I can eat more fat and eggs. I'd really prefer to have sauerkraut and onions in there too for fiber and vitamins and such. I'm thinking about it.

Brunswick 2y ago

Sauerkraut is great, low carb and lactofermentation breaks down phytoestrogens. Life is lost without garlic and onions, just minimize them.

Mike Dilger ☑️ 1y ago

I remember reading a top-10 ways to fight cancer list, and one of them was to eat plenty of alliums. No other food was mentioned. So I did some digging and while lots of vegetables have some protective effect, alliums were more strongly coorelated with anti-cancer than any other food by a country mile.

I haven't looked recently, I just remembered that. Maybe sauteed onions develop sugars. But I wouldn't want to remove them from my diet.

Actually I just poked around a bit and garlic is best, then leeks, then onions. Cruciferous/Brassica veg comes next. Most other vegetables don't have a strong effect against cancer. In vitro, garlic completely stops the growth of breast, brain, lung, pancreas, prostate and stomach cancer cells. In epidemiological studies, "alliums" as a group came out far ahead of the rest and I wish I could find that graph but I can't find it right now.

Mike Dilger ☑️ 1y ago

Ok. Fasting tomorrow. Then finishing my veg (capsicums, eggplant, string beans, cherries, bananas, tomatoes, potatoes) so they don't go to waste (onions will keep). Then I'm transitioning to a diet of: Eggs, Bacon, Lamb, Sauerkraut and Garlic. I'll go on that one for a while and see what happens. I'm putting in the eggs because they don't have purines like the meat does. Hopefully my body will produce fewer purines so the extra dietary ones won't matter as much, but I want the eggs to be sure.

Jac 1y ago

This isn’t my conversation but you guys wear me out with your thinking and management. I’m older than both of you and have none of those problems. Fast for at least 72 hours, then tell me how you feel. I suspect you’re running the “keto flu” ridge line consistently by not doing either dietary regime consistently enough. My two sats anyway….

Brunswick 1y ago

Ill give it a try, thanks! I hadn't heard of a 72h fast as part of keto.

Mike Dilger ☑️ 1y ago

Well I have never done a ketogenic diet. So I guess that means I wasn't sticking to the "dietary regime consistently enough." But I'm considering doing it and gout was a concern. I'm gonna try it anyways, and yes I'm fasting into it (but not that long). If I get this dreaded "flu" I'll come to you for advice.

daniele 1y ago

That's a really interesting discussion, thank you and nostr:npub1c856kwjk524kef97hazw5e9jlkjq4333r6yxh2rtgefpd894ddpsmq6lkc for your shares

Jac 1y ago

One final thought, I like having a blood sugar, ketone, and blood pressure, testing outfit through these processes. You may feel different in unsettling ways, a quick test can confirm that you’re not headed for a hypoglycemic crash, even though it might feel that way. Also, if you start feeling bad back away from the regimen a bit. Have a couple tablespoons of juice to bring the blood glucose up a bit. Just a bit is literally all it takes. You’ll be amazed.

Jac 1y ago

So here are a few hard won pieces of wisdom from my own experiences and research.

It is actually not the case that fewer intake calories will result in weight loss. It is true for children, but not for us and here is why. Near constant eating results in near constant insulin release to control blood sugar, which without control will cause coma and death when too high. Eventually insulin is constantly present in the bloodstream, but the effectiveness controlling blood sugar is reduced by cellular insulin resistance. This is commonly called metabolic syndrome or pre-type 2 diabetes by the medical institution. In order to prevent high blood sugar coma, your pancreas releases more insulin, and your liver starts converting blood sugar to blood borne free fatty acids (FFA). As a result you get fatty liver syndrome and adipose tissue. This is all fine except for one thing: insulin in the blood blocks the fatty acid metabolic pathway, making it impossible for your body to utilize stored fat as an energy source and reduce adipose tissue. Understanding that, what is the solution then?

Fast for 72 hours. This will stabilize blood sugar and reduce blood insulin levels, while initiating autophagy, a cleansing process that reduces your chances of developing cancer among many other benefits.

When you begin eating again eat anything you want and as much as you want, it won’t be much at first, for one hour. Wait 48 hours. You may feel lethargic until the insulin levels in your blood drop enough to allow FFA metabolism. This is the “keto flu”. Maintain this regime until your BMI is where you want it, probably a few months.

Eat anything and as much as you want one hour out of 24 to maintain healthy body weight and chemistry. You will feel great.

Drink plenty of water, black coffee, or unsweetened tea through the process. Nothing that tastes sweet, even sweet tastes in your mouth will inspire a pancreatic insulin release. I hope this helps both of you, I have more biochemistry and physiological information to share if you’re interested. Be well!

Jac 1y ago

Autophagy will also address gout eventually. Gout has been considered a disease of the wealthy until recent times, largely because average folks didn’t eat enough quantity or with enough frequency to have uric acid crystallize and accumulate in their joints. How is your kidney function?

Jac 1y ago

Fasting will likely address the gout irrespective to dietary choices. Consistently high levels of blood uric acid causes crystalline uric acid formations in low blood flow areas, typically the ankle or big toes. Time restrictive eating will lower the average uric acid concentrations in your blood. The spikes around meal time matter much less than the average. You might even be able to enjoy beer again! 😏

Brunswick 1y ago

Keto would be easier for me if lb was cheaper and if I could eat pork. I am pretty sure eggs are fully compatible with keto. Get some celery seed and add it to your food, and just eat it like a cinnamon stick at other times. It helps reduce uric acid and allows the gout to reduce. Keep it elevated and NSAIDs are your friend when dealing with that. Soak your foot in COLD water and add magnesium citrate to your water at least once a day. Also, drink more water than you're used to and don't worry if it doesent completely go away after a week. It will resolve, just stay away from beer and mushrooms like the plague.

Brunswick 1y ago

Magnesium citrate to your * drinking water *

Jac 1y ago

Addressing annoying hunger, is hungry to you the feeling of having an empty stomach or does your sense of smell increase in sensitivity and you feel motivated to go seek food?

Saturated fat inspires the release of the hormone leptin. Leptin is the only thing that produces satiety outside of having a physically full stomach. You might try adding medium chain triglycerides, MCT oil to your meal. It’s a healthy way to increase and prolong satiety. Our bodies process and store carbohydrate energy quickly as a survival mechanism for the foragers we once were, the working currency of our metabolism is saturated fat. It makes no difference if it comes from adipose tissue or dietary intake, utilization mechanisms are the same. Nearly everything you eat aside from fat is processed into blood sugar, including proteins. Keto diets miss the mark for a number of reasons and can damage your kidneys. Don’t control diet for weight management, control diet for wellness. Control the frequency of eating to manage your mass. 😁