New Beginnings

Every morning I wake up, the first thing I do is run my hand over my abdomen to see if I am still skinny. I used to do this every morning when I was heavier as well, but the intent was different.  Today I look to see if I still have hip bones and how little flesh covers my belly.  Before it was to see how much flesh was on my belly and how far away my hip bones were from being palpable through the padding.

Every day I am scared I am going to wake up heavier, and that little bit heavier today will balloon into heavier tomorrow.  Before long I would be back at my heaviest weight again, completely miserable because I allowed it to happen again.

All this transpires in 10 seconds before I even open my eyes.

Then I remind myself that things are different this time.  I have learned so much about diet and about what works for me.  A year ago I started with my fabulous nutritionist, Carla Heiser, who ran a boat load of tests on me to determine why and how I metabolize food.  We learned a lot about me in particular, and what specifically was standing in my way of being the me I have always struggled to maintain.

My beloved boyfriend Chris is a very athletic person.  He has trained himself and many others for triathlons.  He understands how to get someone into shape to be able to run a marathon or compete in an Olympic distance triathlon.  He trained himself for IronMan competition.  He was absolutely stunned by my ability to hold on to weight, despite 'clean' eating and 8 hours a week+ in training.  He wanted to know WHY if I ate 3 ounces of food, I gained 4 ounces of weight.  Each pound I carried during training created wear and tear on my joints.  Typical approaches to weight loss didn't work for me and he was hoping Carla had some answers.

Carla came to me through a friend who was starting a health driven website.  He abandoned that website when his travel site got startup funding, but he was already working with Carla and recommended her highly.  After sitting on her number for 6 months, I finally called her.  We have worked together on the phone only as she is in Chicago, I am in California.  But we have accomplished some great things.  I won't bore you with the specific details, but suffice it to say that nearly EVERY balance and system was out of whack in my body.  My fasting glucose readings were way too high (over 85 is a marker for increased risk of everything from cardiac arrest to diabetes, though your doctor and your lab will say that under 100 is normal), my hormones were out of control, I had yeast issues in my gut, and most distressing of all, my heavy metal readings were outrageously high. Any one of these issues alone could create the fat grabbing body I was living in.  This is where my life changed forever and for the better.

I take a lot of supplements that Carla specifically recommended for me.  I will not be taking all the supplements for the rest of my life.  I consider this my therapeutic stage, and once my readings are normal, I will taper off some of the supplements.  Some I will take always, such as:
1. Fish Oil - I take 4 pills of fish oil a day.  Life Extension has some great, non-burpy fish oil supplements.
2. Multi-vitamin - I take one from NuMedica for women.  4 a day.
3. Zinc - I take this twice a day and am working up to where I have a metallic taste in my mouth, considered the therapeutic level for optimal health.  I firmly believe that taking Zinc regularly is why I don't get sick when others are dropping like flies.
4. Magnesium - twice a day.
5. Super Bio Curcamin - this is essentially a tumeric extract that addresses inflammation.  Studies suggest tremendous benefit from taking daily to reduce joint and systemic inflammation.  From Life Extension
5. Cinnergy - NuMedica Cinnamon supplement to address the elevated glucose readings

I take vitamins twice a day for maximum potency.  A once a day pill is not going to be as effective, but is better than nothing if you just can't remember to take your vitamins.

My basic diet beliefs are as follows:
1. No Gluten - massive inflammatory response from ingesting, along with a spike in insulin levels.  Gluten is poison (I will blog on this subject alone in the near future)
2. Low/No Carbs - This takes a complete rewiring of what you have ever known about eating.  Essentially, of the 5 food groups, I have eliminated one for the most part.  I substitute veggies for the bread, pasta, chips, crackers...
3. Lots of Veggies - I try to eat veggies at every single meal.  Breakfast consists of eggs and tomatoes or spinach.  You don't need bread to sop up the yolk.  Use your head and grate some veggies up for a wonderful substitute.
4. High fiber, low sugar fruits only - I eat apples and grapefruit regularly.  Berries are also good, but stay away from mango, banana, and papaya which are considered high sugar fruits.  If you do eat them, take with a handful of nuts to help you metabolize the sugars.
5. Lots of Oil - Yep, that's right.  I eat a ton of oil.  I do not restrict it in anyway, except to say the oils need to be healthy and you need to be very aware of the heating abilities (or inability) of certain oils.  The best oils to use are coconut (good in high heat), lard (I know!), and butter/ghi because they are saturated in MCTs - Medium Chain Triglycerides.  MCTs do not store as fat but are utilized as carbohydrates.  They actually assist the body in burning stored fat.  Extra virgin olive oil is great, but DO NOT HEAT this oil.  It breaks down and causes the fats to function more like a trans fat.  I have seen it myself in slides of my blood where all my platelets were sticking together due to excessive heated olive oil consumption.
6. Nuts- Walnuts, Almonds, Pecans by the handful!  All healthy oils and full of fiber.
7. Meats - I don't care for chicken, probably the life long diet mentality of eating lean meats like chicken has turned me off forever, but any uncured meats are fair game. Steak, Turkey, Chicken, Pork...you name it!  If you eat fish, stay away from the predatory fish which are more likely to have high levels of mercury.  That means saying goodbye to your favorite seared Ahi on a regular basis, along with swordfish, shark, tuna, and any other fish that eats other fish.  Its just safer that way...

Enough for now.  Next Blog - Inflammation and pH balance!

References:

www.lef.org - Life Extension Foundation.  Great source for information and vitamins
"Wheat Belly" - Dr. William Davis
Carla Heiser, Nutritionist - Phone/email available on request.