Age, diet, type 2 diabetes and you.

[Skipper]

Poor ol'Frankie Knuckles got done by type 2 it appears.
Have a whistle for him today.

I'm fortunate enough not to have any weight issue other than being
underweight on occasions.
I've mentioned elsewhere how I got that gastro bug a few weeks ago.
I went from analready underweight 60k to 53k in three days.
I'd been smoking up to that point again. My last abstinence period was well over a year ago.
I stopped about 2 weeks ago. I know it'll have to be the last
time I stop. They say it takes a few attempts and I agree and that's a guiding focus now. And the hooch ended a week before that.
So I've had so much energy. I've needed very little sleep. Or rather have had no more that about 4 hours straight sleep since then.
I'm eating heartily and healthily.
I've always had low cholesterol, low blood pressure, and no concerns from my yearly blood tests.
Just fortunate I s'pose.
I tend to go the Mediterranean diet.
Any other so called 'diet' I am always suspicious of.
This paleo one similarly so. For no other reason than if you consider the Med one, it seems to make the most common sense.
So all which follow bear doubts and inconsistencies. Because they don't necessarily apply to all people all of the time.
The Med one does.
Some people need more protein, some need more carbs.
No one size fits all. Except if you just look at the basics of the Med and consider the main consistent features are good oils, unprocessed fruit and vegetables, legumes, nuts and grains. Lean meat/poultry/seafood less frequently than we tend to eat it generally.
I've never been a soft drinker. We've never had it at home for our sons. Likewise chips and crackers and all that baked/fried fatty shit,
porridge for brekky most of the year, variations on anything else the rest of the time.
Mentone sounds like you need to do something radical, cause you've just drawn the straw of health issues and victim
to genetics.
Starting to believe in a few essentials that we need to eat/consume...not cans of worms but if I list them I'll be opening up one.

[marauding mullet]

Mentone sounds like you need to do something radical, cause you've just drawn the straw of health issues and victim to genetics.

No need for anything radical Skipper I'm doing whatever I need to do and it's working for me, and like I said I'm only doing what everybody else should be doing. Things may deteriorate later, but you know…..something's going to get us all eventually.
If I turned up my toes tomorrow I couldn't complain.
It makes me sad to see fat teenagers who will probably be blind by the time they reach their 40's, if they live that long. In most cases it's all preventable, but it's an epidemic these days.

[ctd]

For lunch - no need to cut all carbs. You can have thin wraps if you are interested in making the reduction. Or just have the stuff without bread as a salad. I tend to have a lot of hamburger patties plus cheese on top. Make them at home - $6 of mince gets you 3 lunches and takes about 10 minutes. Have a wrap with them if you have been doing some exercise at lunch.

The Med diet is actually quite similar to the 'paleo' - that is, protein and fats (oils, olives etc) with some, but low amounts of, carbs. The Atkins diet is the same. The CSIRO diet the same. All of them are 'reduced carb' diets (reduced from the standard 'food pyramid' diet concept). As I said, all are good for weight loss. Some people take each of them to the extreme.

Many people wont put weight on with the standard higher carb diet but some will. The problem is that eating excess carbs (sugar for example) can be a hidden problem with processed foods.

No diet can be said to be ideal for any specific person, as everyone is different. But some diets are better for more people and some diets work (in terms of weight loss) for more people than others.

Some studies have found that people on the 5:2 diet tend to eat more protein than before, because the protein fills them up and that is what their body is craving.

[PeepeelaPew]

...

[marauding mullet]

Mentone M, was that dizziness and stuff you had related to the diabetes thing?

No but good pick-up Gregory Peck.
It's low blood sugar which causes dizziness and fainting, mine is never low.
Excessive salt can cause it too, so I'm told.
As far as lacking energy, good days and lacklustre days for me, I don't fight it.
The trouble with working harder at exercising is you want to eat more, it's a vicious cycle.
I crave carbs to keep me going for the exercise, but try to eat just what I can burn up.

[Morgan The Moon]

... since my stomach shit itself.

Sorry for asking, but are you a coeliac?

[marauding mullet]

I worked with a couple of guys who had coeliacs, if they got so much as a whiff of gluten, they were running off to the toilet with one hand pressed up against their bum. They learned to live with it, but had to be very careful.
Even Boc choy boiled in the same water as noodles was enough to upset their stomach for days.

As you say Matt, educating yourself is the key, and it isn't easy.
Even doctors won't just hand you some sort of explains-everything book.

[Morgan The Moon]

Sorry for asking, but are you a coeliac?

Why sorry?

Cos it's personal and none of my business.

My youngest son got diagnosed with Coeliac's about 2 years ago - he grew up on carbs, loved 'em. Fell ill in year 5 and missed 4 months of school with chronic stomach pain, howling in pain at times.

Specialists said it was all in his head. He dropped about 6 kilo's down to 34 kilo's at the time.

Saw a naturopath who took him off wheat and over about 4 weeks we saw an improvement. Over the next 6 months he gained 50% of his bodyweight and was a different kid.

He slipped back last year, caught some bug. We gave him antibiotics and it came back. Turned out that there was gluten in the antibiotics. The stuff is every where.

When I read what you had changed with your diet Matticus, it was pretty similar to what we'd gone through with him. The food isn't as convenient to make and buy, but you know what you're getting.

Amazing gut shots - good luck with your journey mate.

[alakaboo]

Been drinking gluten free beer recently, it goes alright.
got it for a coeliac friend coming to a bbq but i liked it.
not intolerant myself but you do feel less bloated.

[ctd]

Have you had a look at the 'Wheatbelly' stuff (blog and book)?

I'm not really convinced about the foundation of his argument, but the consequences of wheat and some grains on some people (for whatever reason) is certainly indisputable.

[Beerfan]

I cut out most carbs and found similar, I felt better, and now if I have too much pasta etc, I get mild pain. Nothing crazy just bloated and uncomfortable. I eat more veg though, for fibre. There is quite a bit of reading that wheat based stuff can cause inflammation inside the body. True or not I dunno but since I cut out most carbs and sugar I've lost fat but not muscle, and felt better. I do have carb once a week though, as long term low carb seems a little dicey.

Many ways to skin a cat though I guess.

[ctd]

Have you had a look at the 'Wheatbelly' stuff (blog and book)?

Hadn't heard of it before but I'll give it a read.

I find with most of this stuff it's the agenda that shits me. It often starts out with something to hate on and presents a series of made up things that sound a bit logical as facts to show how evil it is, or someone has a hammer in their hand and the world is made of nails. There's always something to pick up on though and if it works for you it's great. I don't mind experimenting a little, but I do it in small steps.

Maybe I should write a cabbagelife blog and book.

Yeah, a lot of the paleo type stuff from the USA has a political aspect. Namely that 'the government', with its healthy grains/high carb food pyramid, is forcing a diet onto people that is not only wrong but is part of how the government wants to control lives. US school lunch policy is a big flashpoint ('you are making my kids eat something I disagree with!'). The anti statin stuff, which is also linked to diet and opposition to the 'cholestorol hypothetis' (high cholestorol causes heart disease but paleo is a high cholesterol diet), is another fun area- the govt 'forcing' people onto drugs that only assist big pharma rather than telling them to eat the right food.

The 'Fathead' website is a great example of this (its a low carb/paleo website that tries to explore the science behind it all); but like you say amongst it all there is a lot of good stuff and some thought provoking material.

The apparent conspiracy between the government, big business and doctors to feed us all the wrong food seems unlikely to me, but I'm prepared to consider the argument that what is common wisdom is actually not supported by the evidence, but it takes a while for people to change their opinion. Thats happened a lot in the past. The US libertarian view that accompanies it all is generally quite far from my political opinion and extremely simplistic. And annoying.

Wheatbelly might - potentially - explain some of your reactions to grains. But it may not give you much advice about doing anything that you dont already do. Given that many (many) people can tolerate wheat and grains with no side effects or weight gain etc, as mentioned I'm not convinced by the central premise of the wheatbelly argument as it applies to the general population. However, it may be entirely accurate for some people.

My overarching view is eat what you want and if you are suffering in some way (bloating or weight gain or sore joints or diabetes etc), then figure out the cause (if you can) and change. But only change if you want or need change. If what you do works, then just do it even if this person or that school of thought disagrees with you.

[Beanpole]

This 5:2 business ...... Is it preferable to:
- group the 2 "starvation days" together ,
-split them into a routine eg. Monday and Thursday or Tuesday an Thursday , or
- randomly throw the starvation days around ( averaging 5:2 over a month ) to keep the body guessing ?

No its definitely advised to not have them grouped together. I usually go Monday Wednesday or Tuesday Thursday depending on what Ive been up to over the Weekend. If Ive been gutsing myself I try to go Monday. If Ive had a bit of a slog booze wise I have found it puts a bit too much stress on your system to immediately follow up with a fasting day. Not saying I make a major habit of either but I don't restrict myself either if the situation presents itself.

Part of the principle is that by limiting your calorie intake to 600 if your a guy or 500 if your a girl over 24 hours you actually do it for more like 36 unless you decide to eat half a pig for breakfast the next day.