Hormesis, ever heard of it? Probably not. I'd never heard of it until I listened to the latest podcast at robbwolf.com. For those who don't know, Robb Wolf is the renouned author of The Paleo Solution.
The guest of this podcast talked about a website called gettingstronger.org and it's philosophy of "hormesis". Hormesis, as far as I understand it, is the idea that increasing one's exposuer to stressor's slowly over time, can in fact re-wire pathways in the brain and rest of the body to make us stronger. Ironically enough, if you have read my last blog post, I was working on not being so reactive towards one of my bosses. This website has the potential to provide me with a way to do that through applying the pricipals of hormesis.
This brings me to my next topic. gettingstronger.org's "Deconditioning Diet". This diet is designed to help eliminate or control cravings and put a stop to so-called "emotional eating"- something I've learned I still do from time to time, usually during periods of high stress. And yes, even after doing Primal Blueprint for as long as I have, I still get cravings. What I crave has shifted from largely sweets to things like hard-boiled eggs or prime ribe, but that intense "need" for some sort of food is still there and I do not wish to be controlled by this.
So, as of today, I am doing a deconditioning diet. Bye-bye cookies, fudge, and all the other crap foods from the holidays; welcome, wholsome real foods and freedom from cravings (at least I hope).
The first "phase" of the diet is involves just following a low-carb diet iwth three scheduled meals and no snacking for at least a week. This is were I'll be starting since I did fall off the Primal wagon this weekend. Even though, I'll be following Primal Blueprint again, I will be leaving out more foods than usual. Eggs will be one of these food. I know I've loved the eggs I make for breakfast, but the lictins in them may still be causing me digestive problems.
The last part of phase one is making a craving log where you note all your cravings: the time and date. nature of the craving (general hunger or a specific food) and speculate what could have caused the craving. I've already used mine twice today.
That being said, let's get down to business! Updates to come in the future.
Sayonara!
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
More Tweaking
I've been doing some tweaking with my diet as of late. After doing some further research, I decided to add more "safe starches", as The Perfect Health Diet calls them. Their blog/website has some really good resources and PHD is very similiar to the Primal Blueprint/Paleo way of eating, but with more starches. These include, white potatoes (without the skin), sweet potatoes (for now), white rice, tapioca, and others that I can't remember at the moment.
One blog post of theirs talked the body's immune response to fungal infections being dependant on glucose levels, and how very-low or low carb dieters can be prone to them. Having read this blog and that white potatoes digest into only glucose, while sweet potatoes digest into a combination of glucose and fructose (something we want to limit our consumption of), I decided to try adding one white potato a day to my meal plans to help fight the fungal infection on my legs. I've also started putting coconut oil on the effected area twice a day as I've read coconut is a natural anti-fungal. It seems to be helping, abate, at a slow pace. The effected areas have not got worse or spread, but not getting better as quickly as I'd hoped.
Now, this could be the safe starch I'm using. Potatoes are also nightshades, plants that need shade to grow and have low levels of neurotoxins in them. I've notices red spots on my right arm recently and am wondering if they might be a delayed allergic reaction to the increase in potato consumption. I only have three left, so I will finish those off and switch to white rice for 30 days to see if the spots go away,
On another note, I've discovered that dark chocolate may be causing me indigestion. I ate only half a bar of Trader Joes 72% Cocoa Dark Chocolate bar yesterday morning around 9:00 am, A half an hour later, yep you guessed it- indigestion. Looks like I'm going to have to cut out dark chocolate for awhile. So much for that Pound Plus 72% Cocoa bar I bought! Oh well, it's not that big a deal. I needed to cut down on bother the amount and how often I eat it anyways.
That means I need to find other ways to manage my stress levels, particular the stress coming from one of my jobs and dark chocolate has become a bit of a "comfort" food for me since going Primal. The owner of the store and I just don't quite see eye to eye and he seems to be one of those people who is always right and everyone else is wrong. I know he's the owner and there's really nothing I can do about it, yet he always seems to get some sort of reaction out of me.
I'm working on not being so reactive to his craziness and finding another job. One where I get the money I earn on time, a schedule more than a day or two in advance, and isn't nearly as stressful. The stress from this job will often add to the temptation to eat thing that are not good for me or eat more than I need to or when I'm not even hungry. This usually results in weight gain or stalled weight loss and feeling like shit/lower energy levels for the next day or two. Not something I want since I've not reached my goal weight (I've got 20ish more lbs to loose) and I want to feel healthy with lots of energy to get through each day.
I hope to get through the holidays without consuming too much food. We shall see how I do.
Sayonara
One blog post of theirs talked the body's immune response to fungal infections being dependant on glucose levels, and how very-low or low carb dieters can be prone to them. Having read this blog and that white potatoes digest into only glucose, while sweet potatoes digest into a combination of glucose and fructose (something we want to limit our consumption of), I decided to try adding one white potato a day to my meal plans to help fight the fungal infection on my legs. I've also started putting coconut oil on the effected area twice a day as I've read coconut is a natural anti-fungal. It seems to be helping, abate, at a slow pace. The effected areas have not got worse or spread, but not getting better as quickly as I'd hoped.
Now, this could be the safe starch I'm using. Potatoes are also nightshades, plants that need shade to grow and have low levels of neurotoxins in them. I've notices red spots on my right arm recently and am wondering if they might be a delayed allergic reaction to the increase in potato consumption. I only have three left, so I will finish those off and switch to white rice for 30 days to see if the spots go away,
On another note, I've discovered that dark chocolate may be causing me indigestion. I ate only half a bar of Trader Joes 72% Cocoa Dark Chocolate bar yesterday morning around 9:00 am, A half an hour later, yep you guessed it- indigestion. Looks like I'm going to have to cut out dark chocolate for awhile. So much for that Pound Plus 72% Cocoa bar I bought! Oh well, it's not that big a deal. I needed to cut down on bother the amount and how often I eat it anyways.
That means I need to find other ways to manage my stress levels, particular the stress coming from one of my jobs and dark chocolate has become a bit of a "comfort" food for me since going Primal. The owner of the store and I just don't quite see eye to eye and he seems to be one of those people who is always right and everyone else is wrong. I know he's the owner and there's really nothing I can do about it, yet he always seems to get some sort of reaction out of me.
I'm working on not being so reactive to his craziness and finding another job. One where I get the money I earn on time, a schedule more than a day or two in advance, and isn't nearly as stressful. The stress from this job will often add to the temptation to eat thing that are not good for me or eat more than I need to or when I'm not even hungry. This usually results in weight gain or stalled weight loss and feeling like shit/lower energy levels for the next day or two. Not something I want since I've not reached my goal weight (I've got 20ish more lbs to loose) and I want to feel healthy with lots of energy to get through each day.
I hope to get through the holidays without consuming too much food. We shall see how I do.
Sayonara
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