A Diet Is Not A Period Of Time — It’s What You Eat Daily

You can change your diet, but you can’t go on a diet.

There are a billion ways to lose weight and get healthy. Discussing a diet as if it’s a brief experience — is not one of them.

In 2016, I completely changed my diet. This is what worked for me.

Full disclaimer — I tend to view diet like a religion so take my thoughts with a grain of salt.

Let’s start with blood sugar

I have always had “weird” blood sugar. Sometimes I would become very shaky and have to eat to feel better, and for years this made me believe I had to eat regularly to avoid this dreaded low blood sugar. The issue with this belief was that I mistakenly ignored why my blood sugar was falling.

Then in 2015, I noticed on a blood test that my fasting blood sugars were 99 or 1 below what’s considered pre-diabetic. Being fairly fit, I had never for a moment thought that I could have high blood sugar issues and even my doctor dismissed my concerns with a comment of — eat one less chocolate bar a week.

But, I began to research (probably too much) and found a great deal of frustration in how little attention is paid to diet as it relates to health. For example, the entire low/no fat movement didn’t really begin until the 1970s when food manufacturers realized fat costs more than sugar.

In a similar vein, this is also when the size of people really began to swell, and so as a person who’s always been quick to find interest in a good conspiracy theory, I began to wade through the vague waters of nutrition to figure out what’s a conspiracy and what’s true.

Success Came Quickly

Regretfully, as a sample size of 1, my experience does not mean much, but this doesn’t mean I haven’t been successful. For example, I generally weighed around 175 at the end of 2015 and while my weight never really fluctuated, I always thought I should maybe be around 160.

After I switched my diet as I describe below, I accidentally fell to 155–160 and often have to consciously eat more. The only real difference was that while before I ate around 75% of my calories from carbs, I now eat around 75% of my calories from fat.

Also, when I switched to eating lower carbs, I found that not only did my cholesterol improve overall but also that my good cholesterol went up and my bad went down. Beyond this, my blood sugar stabilized, and I stopped having headaches in the afternoon.

Additionally, the more low carb I eat, the less I think about food. For example, if I eat carbs I begin to think about food again in an hour or two.

If I eat low carb I will sometimes forget to eat for hours and I feel much calmer while carbs cause my mind to function — differently or I might react more emotionally, or be unable to sit comfortably, or just have some fuzzy thinking.

When I eat lower-carb dinners I sleep much better and do not wake throughout the night. Again, these are all just random things I’ve noticed and could be in my mind or just specific to be.

Here are a few things I changed

A typical day of meals pre “blood sugar awakening” in 2015. • Breakfast — a bowl of granola and orange juice. • Snacks might consist of crackers, chips, etc. • Lunch could be pasta • Dinner could be pasta, and I often ate very little meat.

A typical day of meals beginning in early 2016 • Breakfast — Sauteed bell peppers, half an avocado, one egg poured on top of peppers, some cheddar cheese — ***This is a magical breakfast that helps so much. • Snack — Macadamia nuts, cashews, peanuts, sunflower seeds, and a small number of kind oats and honey granola. • Lunch — Leftovers from dinner • Dinner — All meals have some effort to decrease carbs.

Rules I try to follow

• I always view food as energy now. So if I’m going running then I might eat a granola bar because carbs are essentially pure energy. If I’m going to sit around then I’ll eat more nuts or higher fat items.
• I try to make the vast majority of my meals. Since 2016, I’ve probably made 99% of the meals I eat. If people don’t have much time, I could see how this one will be tricky, but healthy people spend more time making food and less time eating it — I’m confident of this. I always think about a statistic I read one time about how people used to spend 20-30% of their budget on food and now we spend less than 10%. Quality? Lack of Time?
• I buy things with the least amount of ingredients — for example, peanut butter should include nuts and salt, but many (even organic) include stuff like sugar, palm oil (this stuff is horrible), and various other ingredients that don’t seem to serve a purpose.
• I try to replace items where possible — coconut flour and almond flour have lower net carbs (carbs — fiber) than regular flour. Or zucchini/cauliflower instead of pasta.
• I look for keto recipes. Keto is the ketogenic diet and is an almost impossible and probably unhealthy feat. Keto recipes though really just mean low carb. The benefit of searching keto recipes is that if you search for low-carb recipes you will get ingredients that most have never heard of. I don’t know why this is, but I’m really not a fan of eating all the weird sugar replacements(why do people want so much sweetness)?
• Have meals planned ahead — lack of time equals carbs
• If I eat carbs, I try to do some form of exercise 10–20 minutes later. This can be something simple like walking for 10 minutes.
• Muscle development is better for blood sugar control. So, we’re not talking weight lifter status, but having some muscles helps control blood sugar.

General blood sugar theories

• Many primary care doctors use only the fasting test or possibly an A1C, but the best test is probably done 1–2 hours after a meal. Ideally, blood sugars would be under 120 or even at 100 two hours after a meal. If they aren’t, then this is where things like walking, exercise, etc can help pull them down.
• A1C tests will show the average and miss people like what it sounds like you and I have where our blood sugar will rise and then our body dumps insulin (reactive hypoglycemia) and overcompensates.
• Blood sugar that goes up and down wildly causes many odd symptoms so the goal is a nice steady level.

I apologize if this is kind of a shotgun-style rant. I could likely keep talking about this stuff for pages and pages, but I will cut myself off here. The point I’m trying to make is that fat doesn’t seem to cause fatness and I question if good fats (avocados, nuts, etc) cause any kind of ill health effects at all.

And I recognize that most doctors still recommend a balanced diet of whole wheat, complex carbs, etc but it’s difficult to believe when eating far more fat than anyone recommends has allowed me to feel better, be fitter, and analytically seem healthier than I ever was before.

Full disclaimer here — I haven’t had a physical in two years due to Covid, but I still feel good. So my analytical beliefs are only from the first two years of this experiment. Below are some great “keto” style recipes that I find better than most carb recipes and that also provide leftovers for the tricky lunch meal.

With all the above said, I’ve personally found that the negative feelings I associate with eating carbs seem to build up.

So if I eat low carb for a few days and then have a day of eating something like pizza or pasta I feel better than if I tried to mix the two worlds with a low carb breakfast and higher carb lunch, etc. I think this probably gives some credibility to the fasting ideas that seem to make sense.

I have never really tried these but I do believe they could also work well. For example, some try to limit all meals to a small window — maybe noon to 8 pm, and eat nothing else at other times.

Others might fast on Monday and Friday or something similar. I think the idea is that your digestive system needs a break just like your muscles, but again — this one is tricky.

I have read some (potentially conspiratorial) accounts of people curing their own type 2 diabetes through extended fasts and then maintaining a regular schedule of fasting. If I ever get fully diagnosed with diabetes, I would likely try these methods.

I apologize for the lack of complete clarity on the amounts or details below. This is how we save recipes, but they aren’t always complete.

Recipes

1. Egg Breakfast — Sauteed bell peppers, half an avocado, one egg poured on top of peppers, some cheddar cheese — this one had to be repeated.
2. Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

• 2+ lbs shredded cooked chicken
• Pork loin cut into pieces
• 4 oz butter melted
• 1 can coconut cream
• 2 tbsp dijon mustard
• 2 tbsp white wine (optional)
• 2 oz lemon juice
• 1 tsp salt
• 1+ cup cheese
• onions
• mushrooms
• Directions:

Directions — Cook meat then cut into small pieces. Saute mushrooms and onions. Mix all ingredients together and bake at 350 for about 30 min.

3. Cauliflower Mac And Cheese

• 1 large head of cauliflower, chopped into chunky florets tossed in Olive oil and salt
• Bake until brown and mix in with ingredients below in large glassware.
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup milk or heavy cream
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/8 teaspoon smoked paprika
• Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, finely minced
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, finely minced
• 4 ounces mild cheddar

Directions — Saute butter and garlic in a saucepan. Then add the rest of the ingredients to make a sauce. Saute mushrooms, onions, and/or add chicken. Then mix everything together and bake for ~30 min. You may want to double the sauce depending on how many extra ingredients you add. 4. Ricotta Pasta

• 16 oz ricotta
• 1T white vinegar
• 2T dijon mustard
• 1 t basil
• 1 t garlic
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
• salt
• add in chicken, zucchini noodles, and mushrooms

5. Veggie burger — this one has rice, but it doesn’t seem to cause me issues. It’s also great.

• https://www.inspiredtaste.net/36554/veggie-burger-recipe/

6. Mushroom Spinach Crockpot Stroganoff

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 10oz baby portabello mushrooms; quartered 12oz white mushrooms; quartered
• 1 medium onion; diced
• 2 cloves of garlic; minced
• 1/2 cup water
• 8oz sour cream (1 cup)
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1.5 teaspoons paprika
• 8oz cream cheese
• 2.5oz fresh baby spinach (about 4 cups)
• Directions:

Directions — Cook on low for 7.5hrs in a crockpot. Then add cream cheese and spinach and cook for 30 min.

7. Blueberry Muffins

• 2 1/2 cup Blanched almond flour
• 1/2 cup any granulated sweetener
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp Sea salt (optional, but recommended)
• 1/3 cup Coconut oil
• 1/3 cup milk
• 3 large Eggs
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup Blueberries
• Directions:

Directions — Bake at 350 for 20–25 min

8. Lasagna

• Boil only a few lasagna pieces — 3 or maybe 4.
• Make zucchini noodles and saute.
• Saute mushrooms and onion
• 1 lb of beef or chicken
• Around 15 oz of red sauce — tomato basil — your choice
• Half cup cheddar
• Half cup parmesan
• 2 eggs
• 15/16 oz ricotta
• Directions

Directions — Bake until top browns — 350ish.

Summary

I focused largely on diet and blood sugar. This focus is what has worked for me. I’ve spent countless hours trying to find the ideal diet and the only agreement seems to be that the diet should be “plant-based”. Considering how impossible it is to know what this means, my thoughts above are as close as I can get.

One final tip — this is the greatest snack in history —Macadamia nuts (the big can from Costco — Savannah Orchards), cashews, peanuts, sunflower seeds, and a small number of Kind oats and honey granola.

The point of the above is that a diet is complex and should never stop changing. This is what has worked for me for a few years. I will likely change and find new recipes as research comes out or success fades. Everyone should focus more on what they are consuming as it likely contributes to almost all problems.

Best of luck.