3. The Diet
4. Progress
So far I have covered what I am doing and the ridiculous amount of caffeine I was drinking. This post will focus on the diet I’ve started. Just to recap a little on my current weight situation and goal. I am 5′10″ and weighed about 200 pounds going into my diet. My goal was to drop down to around 187 pounds. From there I can work back on building lean muscle. About 4-5 years ago I was in the best shape of my life and was weighing about 195. Right now, just five pounds heavier, I feel so much more out of shape.
Like many diabetics, I have struggled to keep my blood sugar consistently in the acceptable range of 70-140. I will be in the range, then high, over correct, then low, etc. You know the drill, right. This diet is really more than just a diet. It’s a life style change. I can’t be eating the garbage I do [did] all the time and expect to take diabetes head-on. I mean seriously. Now, let’s talk about what I did eat. I was pretty good and only occasionally hit the fast food joints (maybe once a week at most). My weak spot was chips. I could devour a bag of Doritos, Fritos or Cheetos without thinking twice. Almost always, I would under estimate the amount of carbs, probably because I was in denial, and ended up with a high blood sugar. I have done some research and know that this is the time for a drastic change and not just one to get ready for my vacation in 4 weeks. A change for good and for the good.
I have to credit Ann Gittleman’s Fat Flush Plan for the motivation, shopping list, recipes and direction. I started this plan a few weeks ago and things are going better than I expected in some areas and not so in another. I’ll talk more about my specific progress in the next post. Here are some keys to the plan:
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It’s all about your liver
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Not all fat is bad fat
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Stress
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Sleep
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3-stage plan [2 week fat flush, ongoing fat flush, lifestyle eating plan]
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Water, Flax, Cranberry, fiber
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Omega-3
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Organic
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Exercise
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Medicines
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Protein
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Cut out all of the high-glycemic foods
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cellulite targeting (women)
At a high level, you start out by loading up on cran-water (mixture of water and pure cranberry juice), cut out all of the processed (white) carbohydrates, most of which are high-glycemic, and maintain high fiber and protein portions for each meal. I can honestly say that I haven’t eaten one slice of bread in over two weeks. This coming from someone who A) loves me some Italian bread with olive oil, Peccorino cheese and rosemary and B) ate a cold cut sandwich on the daily for lunch.
Warning – Always consult your nutritionist/physician before going on a strict diet like this one. What works for me may not work or could seriously affect someone else’s health. Also, the carb/calorie restriction has a huge impact on insulin intake and could lead to hypoglycemia.
The last post of this series will outline my results so far with the caffeine cut back and diet.
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