Posted on: October 4, 2009

This is an overview of the nutrition lifestyle change that Susan and I undertook starting in August 2008. Because we have spent so much time educating ourselves since that time in the areas of nutrition and health, and because the benefits for us have been so profound, I like sharing our story. Also, people often ask me how we lost weight/etc., and I found myself at first typing the same information again and again in emails. I later started reusing the emailed story, but now this webpage is serving as a more robust description for those who are interested.

I truly hope that people visiting here will benefit from the information provided. To better enable this, I have broken up this page into a few sections:

• Personal background: How we got started
• The nutrition changes we've made
• Summary guidelines we follow
• Meal examples
• Our results so far
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Recommended resources: Books, Videos, and Blogs

NOTE: There are several spots where I am indicating "LINKS COMING" in what follows. These are topics that I expect readers to want to read more or to be given good references. We have plenty of good resources/references we can share in these areas, and in the near future I'll be creating a links page, and then link to each section of that page as appropriate in place of the "LINKS COMING" placeholders.

Personal background: How we got started

Susan had the summer of 2008 off (for those reading this who don't know, she is a philosophy professor). In July of 2008 she read a few standard health articles that were the last straw for her: they contradicted things she had just read, also supposedly from "the medical establishment", a week prior. So she then started spending all of her time, for several weeks, reading up on diets, nutrition in general, biochemistry, the connections between nutrition and evolution, and so on. I followed behind her, generally by a few weeks, educating myself on major points.

We relatively quickly navigated our way through the wide range of opinions and evidence, and our initial thinking was that a "lower-carb" or somewhat "paleo" (meaning consistent with the diet of early humans) approach to nutrition would be worth giving a try.

The nutrition changes we've made

Since sometime in August 2008, we have been eating a very different diet than previously. We made some changes in the first few weeks, and then continued to make more changes in the months that followed -- eliminating some items from our diet, adding others. It has been, and continues to be, a very enlightening -- and fun! -- process of change and discovery. The first few weeks were a bit easier for Susan, because she has Celiac Disease and so had been off of wheat, barley, etc. (products with gluten) for years anyway. But even for me, for a few weeks I still desired some items I had been used to all of my life, but this quickly faded.

The main changes we made, within a 1-2 month period in 2008, and have continued and built upon since then are as follows:

• Grains We've gone off of rice and bread -- not just white bread/rice, but all. While we'd agree that "whole grain"/etc. is less harmful than white bread/rice, we now consider even whole grains to have net negative value (LINKS COMING)
• Cereal We don't eat breakfast cereals anymore, as comparatively speaking, it is junk -- or at best nutrient-fortified junk -- even the supposedly healthy cereals (e.g., "Grape Nuts").
• Flours In baking, regular flours (even gluten-free ones) are no longer used and instead we use low-carb alternatives such as almond meal and coconut flour. After some experimentation to get things right, the results are very good and much lower-carb.
• Potatoes We've greatly reduced our potato consumption. I'd estimate we have potatoes in some form or other perhaps five times a year at this point, instead of the 1-2 times a week that we did previously.
• Sugar Susan had quite a sweet tooth, but she no longer has sweet tasting foods that have real sugar in them. The one exception for both of us is dark chocolate, which Susan's taste buds have grown to prefer now over milk chocolate, and that I have always liked a lot. Dark chocolate -- in various forms and with 70% cacao or higher -- is now my primary sweet-tasting traditional dessert item.
• Soda Susan had long ago switched from full-sugar soda to diet soda, and in 2008 I switched from full-sugar Pepsi/etc. for diet as well - the trick there was finding a diet cola that I can stand the taste of (the cola with lime variants did it for me). Longterm, I'd like to stop drinking soda altogether, but it will be a transition.
• Cold desserts I still eat ice cream, but now I get low-carb ones ("No Sugar Added") rather than low-fat ones. In July 2009, I decided to cut back on this almost-nightly dessert item, now having it only a couple of days per month. I did this in part when I discovered that freezing slices of peaches, mangoes, etc., create a tasty, and more natural, sweet and cold dessert.
• Artificial Sweeteners Based on our current understanding of its potential harmful effects, we try to avoid the artificial sweetener aspartame as much as possible, This is no easy, as almost all brands of diet soda pop in the USA use aspartame. But in dessert baking and so on, we try to opt for more natural artificial sweeteners instead such as Splenda or stevia. We see this as a progression, with a possible future being virtually no sweeteners in our food at all. By limiting the sugar and artificial sweetener you use, your taste buds will be better able to pick up on the more subtle natural sweetness found in foods you previously thought weren't sweet at all. And some foods that seemed too bitter before can become more palatable -- witness Susan's new preference for dark chocolate, and my new ability to eat broccoli.
• Fish We always at plenty of fish, as some types of fish are particularly good because they are high in Omega-3 fats. This is important, because the average Western diet doesn't provide enough of Omega 3, so your balance of Omega-6 to Omega-3 is out of whack because of overuse of vegetable oils and other reasons (LINKS COMING).
• Other Meat We already ate plenty of meat, but now we eat a bit more - beef, pork, chicken, lamb, and more. And we aren't limiting our saturated fat as we used to either, as we now doubt the demonization of saturated fat by the medical establishment and mainstream media (LINKS COMING). We've also experimented with a broader range of meats for variety, and also educated ourselves on the importance of various aspects of the meat we purchase, such as getting grass-fed beef as often as we can rather than always settling for supermarket fare.
• Eggs We eat eggs a couple times a week (plus as used in baking). Even the mainstream nutrition "experts" have changed their tune on eggs in the past 10-15 years, no longer demonizing them as they once did. The eggs we buy weekly from the supermarket are ones with increased Omega 3 included. Like with meat, we try to also buy eggs from free-range chickens from farmers' markets when we can, and for variety we've tried things like duck eggs too.
• Dairy We still eat as much cheese as before, continuing to experiment with new types that we aren't familiar with. This hasn't been a big area of change for us since August 2008. We don't drink milk, and certainly not skim milk like I used to drink. We recently tried Kefir, and found it an interesting product -- something we'll use for smoothies sometimes and perhaps started drinking more of in the future.
• Vegetables We eat more vegetables than before, and have already had some mixed success with introducing "new" vegetables for us, e.g., spaghetti squash (both sauteed with onions and nuts, and also baked as cheese gratins), butternut squash, zucchini, celeriac (celery root), jicama, and others. While a typical meal in the past might have had meat, vegetable side dish, and rice/potato/other starch, now a typical dinner plate for us just has more of the meat and vegetable dishes.
• Beans We eat less beans than before, but sometimes still eat the lower-carb varieties in chili or similar dishes. Beans have nutrients, but they are high carb and also have anti-nutrient aspects to them (LINKS COMING).
• Fruits Susan is definitely limiting her fruits, or rather switching from apples and so on to more berries. I probably still eat more fruit than the true low-carb folks would recommend, though I too have eliminated the highest-sugar fruits (e.g., bananas) and cut back on others (e.g., apples, pears) and have increased the lower-carb fruits, e.g., berries. Fruit juice has been eliminated, as you are much better off eating the actual fruit than just the juice. We generally have splenda-sweetened fruit-flavored beverages available as an alternative to water and soda pop. We always made fruit smoothies with fresh or frozen fruit and yogurt, and we still do this several times a month, treating it as a dessert now, as it should be.
• Nuts and Seeds We already were fans of nuts, but now we eat more of them, and have added seeds as well. These are now the primary "finger-food" snack item, replacing potato chips, Doritos, corn chips, and the many other junk food items we used to eat. Blue Diamond flavored almonds are the new favorite snack in our house. We recognize that nuts and seeds have a high omega 6 / omega 3 ratio, so we try to not eat too many: but we figure they are better as a snack than what we used to eat as snacks!
• Whey Protein Powder Something new we've started doing in the past year is using Whey Protein Powder. On mornings when we are in a hurry and can't have a proper breakfast (e.g., eggs, some variety of bacon, some berries, etc.) we will instead have vanilla flavored whey protein, mixed with Almond milk -- the Almond Breeze brand, unsweetened. Tastes surprisingly good!
• Water and Fiber I don't actually worry about drinking a huge amount of water, and I don't worry about eating a lot of fiber. That advice to prevent constipation assumes you are eating a typical Western, high-carb diet. With much lower carb intake, you don't need to force feed yourself a lot of fiber. (LINKS COMING)
• Coffee and Tea Susan continues to drink coffee each morning. I have never been a coffee drinker. Neither of us have been heavy tea drinkers.

Obviously the above is not an exhaustive list of everything we have eaten since August 2008, but rather a list of the highlights.

Summary guidelines we follow

In summary (adapted from my friend Diana Hsieh's list), here are the essential take-aways from the above, restated as guidelines for you:

• Greatly reduce your carbs, especially sugar and refined carbs. The majority of your carbs should come from vegetables, not grains and sugar.
• Eat a variety of vegetables, that will provide you with a range of nutrients. Keep the high-starch ones, like potatoes and beans, to a minimum because they are not a good deal in terms of their nutrient-to-carb ratio. (True, some people in the past relied heavily on potatoes during tough times, that doesn't mean they are an optimal food.)
• Similarly, eat a variety of fruits, that will provide you a range of nutrients. Avoid or limit quantities of tropical fruits that are high in sugar, such as bananas, mango, pineapple, because again, you can get the same benefits from other foods that are lower-carb.
• Increase good fats. Saturated fat from coconut oil or grass fed/pastured animals and their by-products like butter and milk -- not those raised entirely on grains -- are good for you.
• Get enough protein for your body weight.
• Avoid fried food, especially those cooked in vegetable oil (use coconut oil instead).
• Avoid transfats, such as partially hydrogenated oils of any kind. This is one area where the mainstream nutritionists have it right -- everyone it seems agrees that trans-fats are bad for you!

These are guidelines, not absolute rules -- in the sense that if you have some french fries while on vacation, you won't undo all of your health gains. Just keep such things to a bare minimum.

Meal examples

To make this concrete for you, here are some typical meals for us:

• Breakfast example: two or three scrambled eggs with cheese and onions, some variety of bacon (we have tried various kinds), some berries, coffee (Susan), water (Tom).
• Lunch example: tunafish salad on low-carb crackers or lettuce wraps, carrots with hummus, a peach or other piece of fruit, or other such light items.
• Dinner example: any combination of meat dish and veggie dish. We eat these in slightly larger portions than in the past, given that the rice/potato side dish is no longer present.
• Dinner example: any combination of low-carb soup and a large salad, with a low-carb biscuit (made from coconut flour for instance).
• Snacks throughout the day: favorite item is a variety of nuts, in place of chips, doritos, candy, etc. (I do still eat M&Ms, esp. Dark Chocolate ones, in the office!)

Our results so far

Within a matter of months of making these nutrition changes, we both lost significant weight, and with relative ease. In fact, I lost 25 pounds from August 2008 to March 2009, and have kept the pounds off since then without problem, even losing a few more. And its not like I was really overweight before (I am 6 ft. tall and maxed at 190 pounds in early 2008). Susan has lost about 20 pounds and is delighted with this result.

Some other key benefits have included:

• Better sleep habits for both of us
• Improved skin (Susan)
• Much more energy for me on the basketball court. This is partially due to the weight loss no doubt, but it is important to note this against naysayers who would claim one needs a lot of carbs for energy for sports -- that is not correct (at least not for the average person's exercise/athletic pursuits). I no longer eat a banana (a very high-sugar fruit) before playing mid-day basketball, but I do make sure I have some good protein that morning.
• No more "crashes" after a big meal, where you almost or literally need to take a late afternoon nap on a Saturday or Sunday after a huge 1:00 lunch.

Frequently Asked Questions

What about the financial cost of this lifestyle change?
It is hard to say whether we are spending more now or about the same, because during this past year we also started a membership in the BJ's wholesale club and going to local farmer's markets and so get lower prices that way. Some new items we buy are more expensive than what they are replacing, but we also have cut out a lot of stuff (crackers, chips, bread, rice, pasta, etc.).

Do you have a target for carbs per day?
Basically, I try to stay around 100g carbs a day. So that is low compared with most Americans' diets, as the government food pyramid recommends 300g of carbs a day, and many people often go above that! But it isn't particularly low compared to what low-carb purists would advise. When I travel I often go over that number, but 100g is my rough target. I counted for a few weeks to educate myself how many carbs are in each food, but I stopped doing that once I got a general sense for what things have. Susan tries to stay below 50 carbs a day.

Don't you feel deprived?
Perhaps you can't concieve of not eating bread, or cereal, or pasta. Whatever your favorites are, how could you possibly give them up? If someone had told me in July 2008 that by July of 2009 I would have changed my lifestyle in this way -- and be delighted with the changes and not miss any of the foods I used to eat -- I would have thought them entirely crazy. And yet, that is the reality for us. For me, for a few weeks, I found myself wanting various things I was trying to do without: potato chips, candy, full-sugar soda, morning cereal, and so on. But this soon faded, and today it just seems utterly natural that I've not bought a loaf of bread or a box of cereal of any kind since August 2008. I don't miss any of the high-carb items I used to eat every day, and I feel great -- finally.

Was some of the weight loss due to changes in exercise too?
Susan has not changed her exercise routine at all. She does very little exercise, going for walks with me on many evenings when we have good evening weather. That is about it, so her weight loss came entirely from the nutrition changes.

I exercise a fair amount. This typically includes full-court basketball for a couple of hours, a few times a week. This has remained the same throughout this nutrition change and period of weight loss. One change I made in spring of 2009 from past years (note: after most of my successful weight loss from the nutrition changes) was no longer running 3-4 miles once or twice a week during the good weather months. Now I instead jog for about a mile and then do 15 sprints.

The point being: often times people notice our weight loss over the past year and assume at least some, if not most, of that is due to increased exercise. The opposite is true -- in fact, I would argue that on average if you want to lose weight you'll get a lot more bang for your buck by improving your nutrition than increasing your exercise. Its not that exercise can't help, its just harder for it to have the weight loss effect. This is in part because many types of exercise can be counter-productive for weight loss in that while you burn more calories, you also increase your appetite and likely end up eating more calories to compensate. Your body does this semi-automatically, and it is very easy to rationalize yourself into a not-very-productive set of behaviors, e.g., "I'll have this cold treat to help myself cool off from that intense exercise." (Oops... that extra treat that you wouldn't have had otherwise just gave you back most or all of the calories you just burned off doing the exercise!) The cliche phrase "Work up an appetite" speaks quite nicely to this aspect of human nature and physiology. Indeed, even some mainstream press articles are saying some of the same things about exercise's role (or rather, lack thereof) in efficient weight loss: see the recent Time magazine story Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin. This article says many of the same things I have just said, and provides some studies and data to back them up too. It does not, however, correctly provide you with what can and does lead to efficient and long-lasting weight loss -- a lower-carb nutrition change.

Do not take me to be saying that exercise is not important. It can help with weight loss, its just not as efficient at doing so as changing what you eat. And exercise does have other benefits, such as improving both your muscles and bones (esp. from strength training).

What vitamins and supplements do you take?
Part of investigation into nutrition has meant increased attention to vitamins and supplements. There is an overwhelming amount to learn in this area, and lots of great info and lots of misinformation too. So it can be very hard to wrap your head around it all, or to try to sum it up in such a short space as this. While I intend to provide links to more information on these in the future (LINKS COMING, the book by Eades listed below is a good starting source), for now I will just note that in addition to an iron-free general vitamin supplement we also take the following each day:

• Vitamin D -- 2,000 IU, in D3 form, in gel caplets (took 1,000 a day starting in early 2009, but in August 2009 increased that to 2000). Plus I get 400 IU from the general multi-vitamin.
• Magnesium Citrate -- 400mg (taking since early 2009). Plus I get 200mg from the general multi-vitamin.
• Omega 3 in the form of Krill Oil caplets (just finally started in Sept. 2009)

Susan also took extra potassium during the first month of this nutritional lifestyle change, as insurance against the possible loss of potassium due to initial loss of water weight.

But isn't what matters calories, not carbs?
A very eye-opening point we've learned is that, contrary to common belief, not all calories are the same. The body handles protein, fat, and carbs differently. Carbs can easily become fattening, because of their impact on insulin that leads to insulin resistance, etc. Dietary fat, in isolation, actually isn't nearly as dangerous in terms of actually being fattening. This might sound strange, but the phrase "eat fat, lose fat" is in many ways true.

Some argue that basic physics -- the laws of thermodynamics in particular -- argue that what matters for weight management is simply "calories in minus calories out". But that is not correct, because calories in and calories out are not independent variables, and again, not all calories are the same in terms of how the body processes them. To understand this better, the two books listed below are great sources.

So what is the connection with Evolutionary Biology?
One very compelling aspect of the nutrition lifestyle changes we've made is the so-called "paleo" or "primal" aspects. Beyond the overwhelming biochemistry evidence (the role of insulin in the body, etc.) this evolutionary biology perspective has been very enlightening for us.

Think about it: for the vast majority of our time on this planet, humans were hunter/gatherers, with emphasis on the hunting part. Although there is some debate on this point, many argue that early humans ate the entire animal, and this meant a high-fat diet. This was a time prior to civilized agriculture, so there were no grains being farmed, not to mention highly refined grains and sugars like we have today. All of that is relatively recent on the evolutionary timescale -- and the latest introduction of high fructose corn syrup and other such things is only a few decades old. So, in short, our bodies, through evolution, are not setup to handle this stuff well.

As a result, we've seen a huge increase in the so-called "diseases of civilization," most notably diabetes, obesity, and heart disease. The common view is that these are largely caused by overconsumption in general and of fat in particular. But this is not true and never was supported by sound science (and good science to the contrary has been systematically ignored and not pursued to develop it further). This is painstakingly documented by Gary Taubes in his outstanding book Good Calories, Bad Calories (see below), with the prominent view today having been pushed by a relative few determined dogmatists, with a good dose of help from the US federal government, and without regard for all the facts.

How "paleo" or "primal" is your approach to nutrition?
The many prominent advocates of the so-called "paleo" or "primal" health lifestyle (LINKS COMING) -- trying to imitate what early man likely ate, long before the introduction of farming and grains into our diet -- differ on some aspects of what it means to truly be "paleo" in one's approach to nutrition. While we have our opinions on many of the issues and questions, we don't get too hung up on the details. And we fully admit that by just about anyone's standard of "paleo" we are not 100%. For instance, we use artificial sweeteners and eat various dairy products.

That said, we appreciate the vision of the "paleo" and "primal" movements in nutrition, and we continue to learn a lot from their writing and research.

You are eating more fat, what about your cholesterol numbers?
Good question. For my age (mid-thirties), my cholesterol blood levels was considered bad according to the mainstream health experts in this area (total well over 200, high LDL, high Triglicerides, low HDL). And now I'm eating more saturated fat! Uh oh...

After one year following the lower-carb/paleo-ish lifestyle described above, I had my cholesterol tested again -- this time with a more detailed test (VAP) than the standard one. And frankly I was not surprised at the results, as they are consistent with what I've read is the usual results for people going lower-carb. My HDL has gone up and my triglicerides have gone down significantly -- both of these I've learned are attributable to the nutrition changes: less carbs and more good fat consumed. My LDL has gone up, and this is the supposed "bad" cholesterol. However, I'm not particularly concerned, for a few reasons. I suspect it was even higher before than previous tests indicated, because the standard test can be very inaccurate for LDL results because it is providing a calculated result based on an equation, not a direct measurement result. But even if my LDL has gone up somewhat in the past year, through the VAP test I've learned that my LDL profile is "Pattern A", which means I have the "large, fluffy" kind of LDL, which is what you want to have as opposed to the "small, dense" kind of LDL. This latter kind are the ones more prone to oxidation and to be a problem for heart disease. I'm still studying this area a lot, but based on my current knowledge, I'm not particularly concerned about my supposedly "high" LDL and total cholesterol numbers. (MANY LINKS COMING)

Recommended resources: Books, Videos, and Blogs

As a first step beyond reading this webpage, spend five minutes and watch the video on YouTube called "Paleo in a Nutshell" This doesn't pull any punches, in that it harshly criticizes "the other side," but it is both educational and entertaining. It manages to cover many key points very quickly, and it even has good music -- which you will recognize if you have seen the funny movie "O Brother".

Next, get the movie "Fathead" from Amazon or rent it via Netflix or a similar service that you use. This two-hour documentary, created by Tom Naughton, is a low-carb response to "Supersize-Me". Fathead is a great documentary/informational video, with parts of it being funny, parts of it actually getting into biochemistry of carbs/fats/insulin/etc. -- but in a way that laymen like us can understand.

The top book I recommend as a "must-read" is The Protein Power Lifeplan, by Dr. Michael Eades and Dr. Mary Dan Eades -- a great read, with definitely some science involved but read-able by most people. It provides actionable advice for you of the "Do this, don't do that" variety, on a wide range of topics (covering health more broadly than just nutrition). It is a steal at just over $10 in paperback at Amazon.

I'll note here the chapter titles from the book, to give you a sense of what is covered:

1. Man the Hunter.
2. The Insulin Connection.
3. The Fat of the Land.
4. Cholesterol: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
5. Antioxidant Use and Abuse
6. The Leaky Gut: Diet and the Autoimmune Response
7. How Sweet It Is... Not!
8. The Modern Iron Age
9. The Magnesium Miracle
10. Sunshine Superman
11. Calisthenics for the Brain

Another great book, indeed the critical book to really get a deep understanding of nutrition science, its history, and the sad state of much of the field today, is Good Calories, Bad Calories, by Gary Taubes (available from Amazon for the amazingly low price of just over $10). This book is a rather long one, and something you won't be able to just breeze through. But, well worth the slog to read it, and highly recommended for those with the time and interest in this subject. It details the long and tortuous history of scientific nutrition research over the past 150 years. It is a sad story of:

• faulty experiments/studies
• bias leading to unshakeable paradigms
• government interference to further entrench falsehoods
• drug companies selling drugs that aren't necessary and even harmful
• and much more that is sad and astounding

Taubes is not a doctor, but rather an award-winning science journalist. But in my view he is also a genius, with a great ability to explain complex subjects in ways that a layman -- with some effort -- can understand and learn from. In the end, his primary ten conclusions are as follows:

1. Dietary fat, whether saturated or not, is not a cause of obesity, heart disease, or any other chronic disease of civilization.
2. The problem is the carbohydrates in the diet, their effect on insulin secretion, and thus the hormonal regulation of homeostasis - the entire harmonic ensemble of the human body. The more easily digestible and refined the carbohydrates, the greater the effect on our health, weight, and well-being.
3. Sugars - sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup specifically - are particularly harmful, probably because the combination of fructose and glucose simultaneously elevates insulin levels while overloading the liver with carbohydrates.
4. Through their direct effect on insulin and blood sugar, refined carbohydrates, starches, and sugars are the dietary cause of coronary heart disease and diabetes. They are the most likely dietary causes of cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and the other chronic diseases of civilization.
5. Obesity is a disorder of excess fat accumulation, not over-eating, and not sedentary behaviour.
6. Consuming excess calories does not cause us to grow fatter, any more than it causes a child to grow taller. Expending more energy than we consume does not lead to long-term weight loss; it leads to hunger.
7. Fattening and obesity are caused by an imbalance - a disequilibrium - in the hormonal regulation of adipose tissue and fat metabolism. Fat synthesis and storage exceed the mobilization of fat from the adipose tissue and its subsequent oxidation. We become leaner when the hormonal regulation of the fat tissue reverses this balance.
8. Insulin is the primary regulator of fat storage. When insulin levels are elevated - either chronically or after a meal - we accumulate fat in our fat tissue. When insulin levels fall, we release fat from our fat tissue and use it for fuel.
9. By stimulating insulin secretion, carbohydrates make us fat and ultimately cause obesity. The fewer carbohydrates we consume, the leaner we will be.
10. By driving fat accumulation, carbohydrates also increase hunger and decrease the amount of energy we expend in metabolism and physical activity.

To learn his evidence and arguments for these positions, read the book!

To sum up these two books, by Eades and Taubes: reading them shook the foundations of what I thought was true in the areas of health and nutrition. Its not that everything I thought before was wrong, just a lot of it. I predict the same will be true for you -- so I dare you to read these books, really study them, and then tell me you still believe what you believed before (assuming you are not already a low-carb/paleo lifestyle practitioner of course!). And if you are like us, then reading them will stimulate you to read other books, blogs, and more to further your understanding in this area (LINKS COMING).

To ask questions or provide comments on the above, please email me at trsmail at rochester.rr.com