Breaking Stalls and Plateaux

by | May 20, 2012 | Fat Loss, Sensible Eating, Stalls and Plateaux | 0 comments

At some point during the Low Carb weight loss journey, nearly everyone experiences a slowing down or a halt in weight loss.

It’s almost as if it’s part of the right of passage, something that you just have to go through.

Well, first of all let me give you some good news and say that in many cases the slow down is avoidable and in all cases it is possible to overcome the stall, plateau or whatever else you want to call it.

In this three part series, I go over most over the most comprehensive list of things that can cause your at/weight loss to tail off and in the last part I’ll give you three ways that you can use to bust a stall or plateau… Guaranteed!

Part One

First off, let’s discuss exactly what a stall is and set some ground rules.

You can consider yourself in a stall if neither your weight, body measurements, nor body volume has not shown any change for a minimum of 4 weeks.  That said, if you have not had any change for two weeks, at least start the investigation process as to what may be the likely cause of the stall.  Quite simply, if it is something simple and you make changes that cause the weight and measurements to move in the right direction, then sooner is always better than later, particularly for your own encouragement.  And if it is something simple then why wait another two weeks?

That brings us to the first of the ground rules.

Ground Rules

99% of us diet not to lose weight.  In truth we are dieting to lose excess FAT.  That is a very important distinction.

Never forget – You do not want to lose weight -you want to lose excess FAT FAT FAT.

Another important thing to remember at all times is:-

The scales are not your friend. They are no more accurate at measuring your fat loss as your horoscope is about your day to day finances.

The second ground rule is one on how to start any diet properly. (And if you haven’t done this, do it today)

When you begin any diet, and particularly an LC diet, first thing in the morning before you eat you should record the following:

  • Your weight.
  • Your body measurements:
    • Waist,
    • Chest,
    • both upper arms at the largest part,
    • both thighs at the largest part,
    • both calves at the largest part and
    • around the neck.
  • Body volume.
    • You can get this done professionally at a health centre or gym that has the equipment for the purpose, or if you don’t want the hassle of that, choose a pair of trousers and a top that are a bit tight or better still one or two sizes too small and try to put them on and note how far up you can get them. Keep them together on a hanger in your wardrobe as you will use them often.

On the day you start your diet and then only every seven days after,  weigh, measure and try on the clothes and MAKE A NOTE of all the weights, measurements and just where you could struggle to get the trousers etc to.

If all of these three types of measurement have NOT changed in the past 4 weeks running, it’s time to consider you may be in a stall.  If only two have remained stable, then the good news is you’re not in a stall. And there is no cause for alarm.

Even if all three have stayed the same for a number of weeks – anything less than 4 weeks running is just a temporary stall and could be considered a good thing, as it is most likely your body is adjusting its function to suit your new lifestyle and way of eating.  And despite all appearances, you will still be losing fat especially if you remain in ketosis.

The other important thing to remember is that you are dieting only to

IMPROVE YOUR HEALTH.

You have made these changes to become slimmer, leaner and healthier again.
The fact that you will lose weight is a by-product of the main process.

Now I very boldly said that most stalls can be avoided.  We can see that most clearly by looking at the things which cause stalls.

Frankly speaking, these can be divided into three categories.

  • Food intake – the type of food you are eating and the amount
  • Body functions – Just what your body is doing at this particular stage of your diet.
  • Outside causes – allergies, sweeteners, alcohol, medications – it’s a long list.

Some of the causes of stalls

The actual thing, or number of things, that is causing your stall may be one of the following.  Let’s discuss them one at a time.  Although that may be a bit difficult as many are interlinked.

Too Many Carbs.

Yes it can be as simple as that. Some people have the type of metabolism that requires that they need maybe as few as 10gms of carbs a day to get into ketosis and not many more to remain there. Whilst others can continue to lose while consuming as much as 80 to 100 grams daily.

Too Many Calories.

Barry Sears of Zone fame hits it squarely on the head when he rightly maintains that it not just carbs you have to watch, but also calories too. There is a widely held misconception that calories don’t count when in fact it’s obvious they do. If you are not using more calories than you are consuming, they don’t just magically disappear. They do in fact get metabolised by the body and are stored for the future as FAT. It is worth remembering that even Dr Atkins did not say calories didn’t count.  He actually said carbs count more than calories. There is a difference and it is an important one.

Hidden Carbs.

Even if you conscientiously count every carb you eat, the annoying part is that you will be eating more than you bargained for.  There are a number of reasons for this. The first is that the labels on the food don’t always tell the truth.  Manufacturers are allowed a margin of error of 140%, that can mean that there could be nearly half as many more carbs than you might think in some foods, snacks or ingredients.  Also, in many countries, the labelling laws allow a rounding down of ingredients.  So 0.99 of a gram of carbs could in fact be recorded on the label as 0 grams.  It would not take many like that to add up to many more grams of carbs in the day.

Then there are the carbs hidden away in condiments and seasonings and so forth.  Stop, look at the label.  Even if they are not listed many will contain more carbs than you might think.  (See info block right)

Not Eating Enough.

Not so obvious this one, but true enough.  When we don’t eat enough, our bodies go into what could be best described as starvation mode. Here the body tries to hang on to everything it can, so it uses every trick it can to hold on to its store of emergency rations.

Not Enough Protein.

This is vital particularly if you combine exercise with your diet. (In fact a high protein diet combined with proper exercise is a sure way of losing fat. There is a study by the University of Illinois that confirms this). This works so well because a protein diet contains a high level of Leucine which working together with insulin help stimulate protein synthesis in muscles. The extra protein reduces muscle loss while the low carbs result in low insulin, allows fat to be burnt.  Simple really.

Over Eating.

So obvious it’s often overlooked.  Low carb ethos of ‘eat until you’re satisfied’ is often interpreted by some as eat until you’re stuffed.  A sure fire way of not losing weight.  You can never get past the equation energy from food in (calories in)  – energy used by the body (calories out) = the direction of weight movement.

Eating Only Once a Day.

This has two effects. The first is that the body gets the message that food is scarce so goes into starvation (fat retention) mode. The second is that because you get so hungry by the time you eat then you are inclined to over-eat and by eating so much the blood sugar levels go high, too much insulin is produced and the cycle of metabolising food to fat starts all over again. This is often compounded by the fact that many who eat only once a day eat at the end of the day too close to bed time, and all that food has nothing to do except be turned to fat.

No Exercise.

The body can only build muscle if there is a demand to do so.  If you don’t exercise while you eat the same quantity of food, you have in effect reached a stalemate.  Firstly, by exercising, you will feel a lot better by getting active and making the body work as it’s meant to. Secondly, your metabolism will be increased causing more fat to be burnt. Thirdly, as your muscles use energy to move, so fat burning will increase.

Whats to Come…

Well, if you have not found a likely culprit in any o those listed above then the nxt part may be just what you’re looking for… Would you believe I have identified 16 more products, foods and reasons why your weight-loss may have stalled.

Stay tuned…

Drinking Raw Milk

by | May 17, 2012 | Sensible Eating | 0 comments

Where I live, I’m able to by raw milk in my local grocery store. This has been a real blessing as you can imagine. In fact it is not only on sale literally 2 minutes walk from my house, The cows that produce it live in the same valley and I see them from time to time when I’m out or a walk in the countryside.

Why is this such a blessing?

Simply because I know I’m getting a balanced food just as nature intended it – with all the vitamins, minerals and enzymes intact and ready to be used to help keep my body in tip top condition.

Thomas Cowen - Raw Milk Expert

Thomas S Cowan

But anyway… Don’t just take my word for it. Instead, see what Thomas S Cowan MD (Who I consider one of the worlds finest experts on the subject) has to say instead…

As I’m sure most of you know by now, there are very few subjects as emotionally charged as the choice of one’s diet. Sexual relations, marriage and finances come to mind as similarly charged subjects and, like diet, we are all sure we know all we need to know about each of these subjects. The subject of milk, as I have discovered during the past four years, when properly viewed will challenge every notion you currently have about what is good food and what isn’t. The story of milk is complex and goes something like this.

The Story of Milk

Back in the pre-processed food era (that is before about 1930 in this country) milk was considered an important food, especially for children. Not only was there an entire segment of our economy built up around milk but, as I remember, each house had its own milk chute for the delivery of fresh milk directly to the house. It was unquestioned that milk was good for us and that a safe, plentiful milk supply was actually vital to our national health and well-being. It was also a time (now I’m referring to the early part of the century) when many of the illnesses which we currently suffer from were rare.

As an example, family doctors would often go their whole careers without ever seeing a patient with significant coronary artery disease, breast or prostate cancer, whereas current doctors can hardly go one month without encountering a patient with such an illness. Furthermore, as scientists such as Weston Price, DDS discovered, there were pockets of extremely healthy, long-lived people scattered about the earth who used dairy products in various forms as the staple of their diets — further evidence that milk and its by-products were amongst the most healthful foods man has ever encountered.

If we fast forward to the 1980’s, we now find an entirely different picture. For one thing, there have been numerous books written in the past decade about the dangers of dairy products — the most influential being a book by Frank Oski, MD, the current chairman of paediatrics of Johns Hopkins University and perhaps the most influential paediatricians in this country. It’s called Don’t Drink Your Milk. In it Oski pins just about every health problem in children to the consumption of milk, everything from acute and chronic ear infections, constipation, asthma, eczema, and so on. Secondly, just about all patients I have now in their initial visit proudly announce that they have a good diet and that, specifically, they don’t eat dairy (which they pronounce with such disdain).

A Simple Experiment

One might well ask where the truth in this picture. Perhaps the experiments of Dr. Francis Pottenger in the 1940’s can help to solve this mystery. In these experiments Dr. Pottenger fed one group of cats a diet consisting of raw milk, raw meat and cod liver oil. Other groups were given pasteurized milk, evaporated milk or sweetened condensed milk instead of raw milk. The results were conclusive and astounding. Those that ate raw milk and raw meat did well and lived long, happy, active lives free of any signs of degenerative disease. Those cats on pasteurized milk suffered from acute illnesses (vomiting, diarrhea) and succumbed to every degenerative disease now flourishing in our population, even though they were also getting raw meat and cod liver oil. By the 3rd generation a vast majority of the cats were infertile and exhibited “anti-social” behavior — in short, they were like modern Americans.

Since the 40’s the “qualities” of milk have been extensively studied to try to find an explanation for these dramatic changes. Studies have shown that before heating, milk is a living food rich in colloidal minerals and enzymes necessary for the absorption and utilization of the sugars, fats and minerals in the milk. For example, milk has an enzyme called phosphatase that allows the body to absorb the calcium from the milk. Lactase is an enzyme that allows for the digestion of lactose.

Butterfat has a cortisone-like factor which is heat sensitive (destroyed by heat) that prevents stiffness in the joints. Raw milk contains beneficial bacteria as well as lactic acids that allow these beneficial bacteria to implant in the intestines. All of these qualities are destroyed during pasteurization. Once heated, milk becomes rotten, with precipitated minerals that can’t be absorbed (hence osteoporosis), with sugars that can’t be digested (hence allergies), and with fats that are toxic.

Raw Milk as Medicine

Raw milk has been used as a therapy in folk medicine — and even in the Mayo Clinic — for centuries. It has been used in the pre-insulin days to treat diabetes (I’ve tried it — it works), as well as eczema, intestinal worms, allergies, and arthritis, all for reasons which can be understood when we realize just what is in milk — such as the cortisone-like factor for allergies and eczema.

Another way we ruin milk is by feeding cows high protein feed made from soybeans and other inappropriate foodstuffs. Rarely is anyone truly allergic to grass-fed cow’s milk.

Fresh raw milk, from cows eating well-manured green grass is a living unprocessed whole food. Compare this to the supposedly “healthy” soy milk which has been washed in acids and alkalis, ultrapasteurized, then allowed to sit in a box for many months.

The Pottenger cat studies provide a simple but profound lesson for all Americans: Processed, dead foods don’t support life or a happy well-functioning society. We must return to eating pure, wholesome, unprocessed foods, including whole raw milk from pasture fed cows.

In my practice I ALWAYS start there — I encourage, insist, even beg people to eat real foods— no matter what the problem. Often with just this intervention the results are gratifying. SO, find a cow, find a farmer, make sure the cow (or goat, llama, or whatever) is healthy and start your return to good health!

Author: Thomas S Cowan MD

Benefit of Higher Protein Diet and Execise

by | May 2, 2012 | Exercise, Fat Loss, High Protein Diet, Sensible Eating | 0 comments

Everyone knows that a good weight-loss program combines diet and exercise, However, a University of Illinois study reports that exercise is much more effective when it’s coupled with a protein-rich diet.

There’s an additive, interactive effect when a protein-rich diet is combined with exercise. The two work together to correct body composition; dieters lose more weight, and they lose fat, not muscle,” said Donald Layman, a U of I professor of food science and human nutrition.

A higher-carbohydrate, lower-protein diet based on the USDA food guide pyramid actually reduced the effectiveness of exercise, Layman sai

Forty-eight adult women participated in Layman’s 4-month study, published in the August 2005 issue of the Journal of Nutrition. One group ate a protein-rich diet designed to contain specific levels of leucine, one of the essential amino acids. A second group consumed a diet based on the food guide pyramid, which contained higher amounts of carbohydrates.

Both groups consumed the same number of calories, but the first group substituted high-quality protein foods, such as meats, dairy, eggs, and nuts, for foods high in carbohydrates, such as breads, rice, cereal, pasta, and potatoes.

“Both diets work because, when you restrict calories, you lose weight. But the people on the higher-protein diet lost more weight. Some people refer to this as the metabolic advantage of a protein-rich diet,” said Layman.

The study included two levels of exercise. “For one group, we recommended that they add walking to their lives. They usually walked two to three times a week, less than 100 minutes of added exercise,” the researcher said.

The other group was required to engage in five 30-minute walking sessions and two 30-minute weightlifting sessions per week. In both groups of dieters, the required exercise program helped spare lean muscle tissue and target fat loss. But, in the protein-rich, high-exercise group, Layman noted a statistically significant effect. That group lost even more weight, and almost 100 percent of the weight loss was fat, Layman said. In the high-carbohydrate, high-exercise group, as much as 25 to 30 percent of the weight lost was muscle.

While this protein-rich diet works for everyone, it seems to be even more effective for people who have high triglyceride levels and carry excess weight in their midsection–a combination of health problems known as Syndrome X.

“The protein-rich diet dramatically lowered triglycerides and had a statistically significant effect on trunk fat, both risk factors associated with heart disease,” he said. “Exercise helped dieters lose an even greater percentage of body fat from the abdominal area.”

The protein-rich diet works so well because it contains a high level of the amino acid leucine. Leucine, working together with insulin, helps stimulate protein synthesis in muscle. “The diet works because the extra protein reduces muscle loss while the low-carbohydrate component gives you low insulin, allowing you to burn fat,” he said.

“We believe a diet based on the food guide pyramid actually does not provide enough leucine for adults to maintain healthy muscles. The average American diet contains 4 or 5 grams of leucine, but to get the metabolic effects we’re seeing, you need 9 or 10 grams,” he noted.

To achieve that leucine level, the researcher recommended adding dairy, meat, and eggs, all high-quality proteins, to the diet. According to Layman, losing weight doesn’t have to mean relying on supplements to fill in nutritional gaps in your diet. “If you use a high-quality protein approach to your diet, you can actually improve the overall quality of your diet while losing weight,” he said.

My comment on that…

Layman’s diet for the study was lower in fat and called for more fruits and vegetables than say the Atkins diet but other diets such as Barry Sears Zone Diet and the South Beach Diet are much closer to the target regime the dieters in the study followed.

What is telling though is the fact that none of the USDA food pyramid have been shown scientifically not to be adequate and that by following the USDA recommended dietary proportions you are actually decreasing the effectiveness of the diet and exercise.

How is that for vindication of the low carb diet?

While the study was carried out using female participants, there are excellent indications that similar results would be obtained for men. Particularly when you realise that most men carry their excess weight around the mid section in the infamous beer belly.

Note too, that the high carb group lost muscle mass while in the high protein group the losses were almost entirely FAT.

Other researchers involved in the study are Ellen Evans, Jamie I. Baum, Jennifer Seyler, Donna J. Erickson, and Richard A. Boileau, all of the University of Illinois. The study was funded by the Illinois Council on Food and Agricultural Research (C-FAR), the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the Beef Board, and Kraft Foods.

Phyllis Picklesimer

University of Illanois

 

 

Skipping Meals is a Recipe for Failure

by | Feb 27, 2012 | Sensible Eating | 0 comments

Eating only one or two meals a day is a recipe for disaster, no matter what diet you are on.

This ‘starving and then stuffing yourself’ pattern of eating will set you up for uncontrollable food craving and massive binges later on.

The problem is that your blood sugar plummets when you go long periods without food. Because of that, it’s nearly impossible to control the  hunger that follows that has been created by your hormones so you become ravenous. And let’s face it, when you’re that hungry, you couldn’t care less about eating properly let alone making good food choices, you just want food and you want it now!

Have you ever had strong cravings later on in the day for specific foods you don’t normally eat and you don’t know why? Just think back to what you ate earlier in the day – chances are you weren’t eating regularly every few hours or you ate something high in carbs.

By doing that, you set off the hunger alarm by skipping your  breakfast or leaving big gaps between other meals. If you don’t want those cravings again, close the gaps and eat every three or four hours.

You need protein every three hours or so. So it makes sense to eat something regularly. We’ll be covering that soon in more detail.