2-02pm
Oh wow, today has been one of the most relaxing days this year! You know what set it apart, was that I didn’t need to watch the time! My life evolves around knowing the time. The alarm goes off and from that moment on, I’m checking the time throughout the day until 8-30pm when I begin saying things like, ‘it’s almost bedtime’! Today, the time didn’t matter! I took the day off, I slept late, I lay in bed and read, I watched telly, I did the paper’s crossword, I watched the rain falling. It was wonderful!
Breakfast on Day 2 of high protein eatin’, was not very different to my regular breakfast. The only difference was usually I eat a lot more fruit. This morning, it was my only fruit for the day – 3 medium strawberries, doused in great lashings of double cream, natural yoghurt which I love and sprinkled with a generous handful of almonds. 
Yum, it was good and filling. I settled down with everything required for a lazy morning in bed…
Bible, pen, notebook, book, remotes, phone and tissues…still trying to shake off cough and runny nose.
Lunchtime came, and with it, a salad, filled with avo and olives…
This is actually the photo of last night’s dinner (that’s salmon at the back), but lunch was the same sans the salmon! 🙂 Scrumptious and filling! The one thing about eating protein is it is very very filling. There’s no need for in-between snacks. With all this fat and protein, immediately after eating, I feel a bit ‘liverish’ but after an hour or two, my stomach has settled and I find myself comfortably full and stay that way for several hours. Any new way of eating needs adjustment. So if you are trying this, be patient with yourself. I am still filling in my calories at www.myfitnesspal.com. With all the fat and protein, yesterday I was a bit over, but that is expected. Another thing that came to mind was Dr. Caroline Leaf, who I remember also followed a high protein/high fat diet & went a step further in eating 80% raw which sounds a bit extreme when you first hear it…here’s what she writes:
Sugar and processed food are addictive and destructive, and over time those “foods” take over our taste buds and deceive our reward circuits into creating false cravings; we will only be satisfied when we get those foods. They are drugs themselves. Science has even shown that processed foods (which become sugars) are addictive in the same way as cocaine. People who claim they could never give up junk food are willingly holding onto an addiction – a choice.
(From her blog: http://drleaf.com/blog/general/superthinking-plus-superfood-helps-get-and-maintain-a-super-brain)
It would be interesting to hear Prof Tim Noake’s take on vegan diets. (Note to self: ask him on the 13th November when he comes into the Rise and Shine studio!)
If we are going to live our best life, we have to give careful thought to what we eat. It all begins with our thoughts…we think more thoughts than words we say, so stop to think about what you are thinking about. We need to think about what we say. The spoken word has much power – once those words are out of our mouths we can’t put them back. Take control of negative thinking and cut it down before it turns into toxic speech. We have to eat to live, so we think carefully about what we eat. Make every mouthful count. Everything is a choice.
1 Corinthians 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
Have a fab weekend!
In His Grip, regardless.
Helga xx 🙂
Hi Helga
I’m a trained Nutritional Therapist, and please note I am NOT a Dietician, in fact I went to great pains to find a course in Clinical Nutrition that was NOT based on the “old school” Dietetics model, and had to choose an overseas training as nothing was available in South Africa at the time. Don’t get me wrong – Dieticians have a big role to play in hospital and clinic settings here in SA and are doing some fantastic work – including research, but I felt and still feel a deeper look at HEALTH (and I don’t like saying it as it is always misconstrued as airy-fairy, but WHOLISTIC is the best word to use) and the INDIVIDUAL person with all their genetics, life, medical and emotional history – needs to be assessed, so that an eating plan and nutritional program can be specialised just for their needs. A general “diet” can be prescribed for anyone – but doesn’t always work! AND can even be detrimental to some people’s health as well!
Proof = 1000’s of “diets” and “diet” books – but not everyone is slim and trim and brimming with health!
I am back at university again full-time, studying Natural Medicine for 5 years (almost finished my 2nd year now), while still trying to fit a few patients in. I previously qualified as a Clincial Nutritionist (but cannot call myself that in SA – so Nutritional Therapist is what the Association came up with (SAANT).
Actually I chatted to Prof Noakes about 5 years ago briefly (at an Iron-man event my husband was doing), about high carbs being a problem for many people – Nutritional Therapists have been trying to turn the old Dietetics food pyramid around a bit for the last 20 years! He wasn’t interested then, as it hadn’t affected him personally yet, as it did fairly recently with his family. Now that he has started digging deeper, he is uncovering many of the work/studies that Nutritional Therapists have been looking at for years. BUT I MUST SAY……Prof Noakes – although a very highly respected, intelligent and learned man, is not TRAINED in nutrition and all its finer nuances! He has some of the basics correct, but the tweeking for individual biochemistry needs to be considered in careful detail, and making sweeping statements about some nutritional info that he has been making (I read his newspaper article and listened to his talk on CCFM a few mornings ago), can be detrimental to people’s health if they aren’t working through this process with a qualified nutritional professional.
The reason I say this is I have a few young male patients who want to “buff-up” or build muscle – we are talking 20’s and early 30’s – so they were doing the HIGH protein and low fats and virtually no carbs, excl some veg. They started developing issues with their bowels and kidneys at an alarming rate! The 1st thing I did was test their kidney function, as anyone who understand the basics of the Urea cycle and glomerular filtration within the kidneys – would understand the issues relating to excess or high protein can have on the kidneys. yes there are studies that show that a high protein diet does not affect kidney function – BUT there are also MANY studies that DO show an effect! Also increased bowel cancer, liver problems etc. etc.
As a practitioner I see patients regularly with many different health issues – including Diabetes Type I and II. Some have “fat” issues – but are not always overweight – and others are both over-weight and over-fat! The “outside fat” or what is termed subcutaneous fat is not always the main issue, but rather in the “inside fat” or intra-abdominal and fat around the organs – that is the most harmful. This is tested using a specialised machine called a Bioimpedence machine – and is testing what we commonly call “body composition” – fats (everywhere in the body), fluids (inside and outside the cells) and muscle.
I do agree with Prof Noakes, that generally most people ARE over-doing the carbs! We have become white-wheat-flour obsessed – BUT the people I see who are OVER DOING the PROTEINS and FATS are also having problems down the line! I also find that 90% of our SA pouplation cannot afford to eat this way! Many are struggling financially – and just keep to keep from being hungry – need to eat the cheaper more filling foods, which unfortunately are the high GI CARBS!
I personally tried the Atkins Diet when I was starting out in nutrition 10 years ago or so, and got very ill after 2 weeks. I got severly chronic sinusitis (which I have never had before or ever since) My liver and kidneys were also affected, but fortunately I managed to recover without any major damage being done, but it took a few months! I was feeling nauseous daily on this type of eating because my liver (genetically I have found out) cannot cope with high levels of fat! I need liver support to process and digest fats effectively – healthy OR unhealthy fats (sound like you are struggling with this as well!). Also my stomach acid levels were a little on the low side and my proteins were not digesting sufficiently – which caused rotting of all the meats in my intestines – leading to constipation, bloating, gas etc. and feelings of constant “toxicity” – headachy / heavy / sluggish / low-energy etc.
All I am trying to say (not very eloquently however) is that people should be cautious before jumping in and trying a fairly drastic change. A new nutritional program should be monitored carefully by a trained Nutritional Therapist, to see if it is suitable for your body (and all its uniqueness God has created), by testing various things – like Ketone bodies, Liver & Kidney function and making sure the bowel is working regularly and properly etc. Lumping us all into benefiting from Paleo-type of eating scheme is just not correct! I also do not believe – as a Christian – that we did are descendants from the caveman, or that we evolved over millions of years! I believe God made fruit and veg for us to eat, (initially only that as Adam and Eve loved) and then later certain meats, poulty and fish God provided for us. So advising people not to eat fruit is just unethical, but YES, SOME POEPLE need to monitor their fruit intake if they have major blood sugar issues and possibly similar genetics to Prof Noakes and his family, but others need to eat more fruit a day for fibre, nutrients and phytochemicals provided by God for us to consume! Read Daniel 1:8-20. A vegan “diet” or some say “fast” – I also don’t think vegetarianism or veganism is beneficial/suited for EVERYONE either!
I believe God has created us as individuals and that each of us needs to find a nutritional programme that suits us best! A qualified Nutritional Therapist can help people who are wanting to investigate this further, achieve this in a healthy way, without doing damage down the line.
Hello Adele, I hope you got my email reply! I left this up so others can benefit from your wisdom! God bless. Helga