Diet Specifications

Saturday, January 18, 2020

So I've been thinking.   

I've read a lot of information about various diet plans.  A lot of it conflicts.  My read yesterday was the Optimal Diet, also known as Polish Atkins.  There's a lot of overlap there with other lower carb plans, but not complete overlap.  Some of the stuff is just the opposite.  There will never be any way to completely harmonize all the different plans.

What I need to formulate are a list of rules for myself.  "How I Eat". 

In making that list, for a starting point anyway, I should take into account the material that I've read.  Atkins, Eades, Optimal, Nourishing Traditions, TCD, all the different sources.  Yeah, I'm not going to consider vegan sources -- I'm satisfied that I'm designed to eat protein and fat from properly raised and wild animals.  Also, I'm going to take into account the things I've learned about myself from past success -- and failure.

So, a first draft:

1.  It needs to be obvious enough that I don't have too many "can I eat this?" questions.  

The rules need to be simple, easily applicable and repeatable.  As part of that I think it will be helpful to think out in advance a few things I can eat at any given restaurant that I'm likely to visit.  

2.  I shouldn't have to track macros or do any other detailed calculations. 

I've used My Fitness Pal to track things and frankly, it's kind of a pain.  Reporting here is as much as I want to do.  I don't want to have to.  Which is not to say that I will entirely refrain -- I think it will be interesting to try and do calculations from time to time.  But I don't want to have to plan meals based on macros.  Really, it's simple:  People managed not to be fat in the past without tracking, so no reason I shouldn't be able to do the same.

3.  Eat protein liberally, fat generously and carbohydrate sparingly.

The core principle.

My chosen sources aren't too far apart on this.  Sure, they differ.  Carnivores advocate zero carbs.  TCD thinks they're necessary to get enough fat and for the body to process it optimally.  Whatever success I've had in the past was mostly with carb restriction.   I don't think I'm at a point where zero carb would be sustainable, so let's try and restrict them and consume them with fat following the other rules.

4.  Avoid vegetable and seed oils like the plague and minimize other consumption of unsaturated fats / lineolic acid.

This is going to be a new one.  And a challenge.  Processed and restaurant food contains "vegetable" oil.  It's the blessing and curse of civilization.  I can control it somewhat by cooking and eating at home, from scratch, with real ingredients.  But as above, I need to be prepared when I'm not.

It's virtually impossible to completely avoid unsat fats, since pretty much everything that has fat has a combination.  But if I can avoid the worst of the worst that'll be a huge improvement.  Bye bye restaurant french fries.  Potato and tortilla chips.  Lots of stuff.  I don't eat a lot of some things that I would avoid under this rule, like mayonaise.  I can live without avocadoes, though I do enjoy them and have seemend (see taco night) to tolerate them well.  They may make a comeback.

5.  Eat when hungry but it's okay to be hungry.

I think this will settle in at two meals a day during the week, usually, with three on the weekends when I am home or on the road for golf.  If so, it'll work a lot like intermittent fasting during the week without any special effort to fast.

6.  Don't sweat the small stuff

This is really a corrolary to rules 1 and 2.  A little bad stuff won't kill me.  A little sugar here.  A little extra flour there.  Sure, I'd probably lose weight faster if I slavishly followed some very restrictive rules, but honestly I'm fat enough that the weight should come off steadily for now with just these basics.

I'm not sure how I'm going to deal with some of the issues like Sunday family dinner.  I can control what I eat, of course.  I may just have to be more assertive / take more control.

Anyway.  There it is, for now.  Let's see how it goes.  Today and tomorrow have some off-plan things lined up already, but there are things I can and will do to get going.