Healthy Living 101

[Vegas69]

I love to see the momentum Lance!

I went up to see a good buddy in Idaho last weekend. After a few days or bacon, sausage, burgers, steaks, etc.. I literally came back with a food hangover and some extra baggage. HA I rarely eat like that for more than a meal here and there.

I just feel far better when I eat clean. It's seems to be getting far more important with age too. Portion control is something I need to focus on. I feel better running a bit leaner as well.

I've gone mostly gluten free, but I haven't eliminated the grains due to convenience and the mountain of vegetables I would need to eat to replace a cup of rice.

I'll be interested to see your numbers after your major lifestyle change!

[SSLance]

So, I'm pretty happy with this...



I tipped the scales at 158.0 this morning, right at 20 pounds less than I was middle of February when the first blood test was done.

The Triglycerides is the biggest change by far. I've NEVER been any where close to that number before.

I have lots of questions and to be real honest, I'm REAL curious what the doc is going to say when she sees these and then I tell her that I did this without taking a statin...

Have a great weekend everyone! Think I'll celebrate with some cake...

[Vegas69]

Wow! You've demonstrated what a change in lifestyle can do!

[OLDFLM]

Todd and Lance,

Would love to see a typical diet plan for what you guys are doing!

[SSLance]

Originally Posted by OLDFLM

Todd and Lance,

Would love to see a typical diet plan for what you guys are doing!

So after some experimenting trying basically a plant based diet, we basically just added back in meats and eggs. Absolutely no grains of any kind and nothing out of any box and no added sugar anything... Otherwise, whatever you like. Salads, veggies, fruits, meats (seafood, white meat mostly, some red meat) and mixed nuts for snacks in between. We typically have 2 full meals a day and a third light meal of just a salad or a protein based smoothie to hold us over. We also mix up when the light meal happens just based on our schedule and how hungry we are. If we have a heavy lunch with meat, a salad or smoothie for dinner will do. If we have a heavy dinner a smoothie for breakfast holds me over well. I will say this, an 8 ounce smoothie isn't enough for me, 16 ounces does the job though.

We'll grill meat up once a day usually, like if we have pork chops for dinner we'll grill one or two extra then the next day we'll mix cut up pork chops in with some eggs and veggies for breakfast. Or if we cook salmon for dinner, we'll cook an extra piece up and put it on a big ol salad the next day for lunch.

I've found that I can't limit portion size too much like this as I'll start to get dizzy when I stand up...so I'm eating plenty of calories (don't count them though). As long as I get a small serving (like 6-8 ounces) of meat 1-2 times a day and then just load up on veggies, I stay satisfied.

We also mix in a lot of sweet potatoes, we'll cook them in the air fryer whole then just slice in half and eat right out of the skin. The wife is great with seasonings so we don't use and condiments like ketchup or mustard or anything like that. For salad dressing she mixes up different kinds of vinegar and olive oils with cranberry whatever and creates her own dressings. I prefer iceberg type lettuces while she likes what I call stick lettuces like spinach and arugula and our salads are chunked full of radishes, peppers, onions, beets, carrots, celery or just about any other veggie. She'll stock up on veggies once a week, prep them all and keep them in containers in the fridge so prepping a salad at mealtime isn't as big of a chore.

Honestly, the hardest part was not having the convenience of a bread to use for sammich making for lunches. Giving up the breads and pastas is WAY harder than giving up sweets. I just make up for it with more nuts, meat and eggs.

Best part is our meals are very tasty and I stay very satisfied. Starving yourself doesn't work for me, satisfying me with non-grain foods is easier and more effective or so it seems so far anyway.

[Vegas69]

You have it dialed in Lance! That sounds like a super healthy approach. And, exactly why most Americans don't eat healthy. It's substantial work!

To simplify, I lean on some rice to help with carb intake with many meals. I do eat some gluten now, but sporadically. It takes a serious pile of vegetables to make up for a small amount of rice or another grain. Vegetables are alkaline and grains are acidic. If you are trying to improve your diet, offsetting grains with more vegetables is a great place to start. Just keep in mind that you will need a healthy amount to get the same calorie intake a 1/2 cup of rice or a slice of bread provide. I also lean on frozen vegetables. They are picked at peak ripeness so they pack a nice punch.

My diet hasn't been as clean lately, but I still eat healthy a majority of the time. I still lean on the 70/30 diet. Seventy percent of my calories from plants and 30% from animals. A healthy amount of vegetables/fruit/rice for carbs. A healthy amount of nuts, avocados, and all natural peanut butter for healthy fats. Mostly yogurt/lean meats for protein and a plant based protein powder before workouts.

There is no perfect diet. It's what agrees with you, how you feel, and the results show in your life and blood work.

[SSLance]

I figure an update is due on this...

It has now been a bit over 4 months on this journey and we've learned SO MUCH about food and how our bodies actually work. The wife is also going through some health issues and has been seeing a Holistic Doc trying to get her tuned up. She basically was in Adrenal Fatigue, most of her digestive system wasn't working properly and almost all of the nutrients she was trying to healthily eat were just passing right through without her body absorbing much. Through many rounds of detoxing, chelation, intensive food sensitivity tests and just plain old life style changes, we now have her pointed in the right direction as well.

About 90% of what she was ingesting, her body was rejecting...it's REALLY cramped her style but what we are hoping is once she finishes the chelation treatments she can slowly start adding things back into her diet to get good nutrients back into her system and restoring her strength. She's down to about 95#s from around 110# or so but her color is MUCH better and her digestive system is back in working order once again. Leaky gut and the issues that come with it are so prevalent in today's world yet so misunderstood and left untreated...I see it VERY clearly now. And I am now reading ingredient labels at the grocery store...whodathunk?

In other news...we joined a Fitness Center. It's been over 20 years since we've belonged to any sort of a gym but we have a brand new Lifetime Fitness 1 mile from the house and it is super convenient and a very nice facility. The weather here mid summer makes it pretty difficult to exercise outside so we figured this was a good way to get back into shape and build some strength up. Part of the orientation includes a body scan which I'll share my results below. It was pretty interesting and really helps to develop a plan going forward to build back muscle and intake the appropriate nutrients and fuel needed to accomplish the goal.

Still not sure what the goal is yet, but I know that I'd like to replace some of the 25#s I've dropped in fat with some muscle.

Anyway, hope everyone's summer is going well...