1. Introduction

2. Caffeine

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: 

• It’s all about your liver

• Not all fat is bad fat

• Stress

• Sleep

• 3-stage plan [2 week fat flush, ongoing fat flush, lifestyle eating plan]

• Water, Flax, Cranberry, fiber

• Omega-3

• Organic

• Exercise

• Medicines

• Protein

• Cut out all of the high-glycemic foods

• 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.