Page 1 of 3

Breakfast / 4hb / slow carb

PostPosted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 6:59 pm
by everything
I was reading some of Four Hour Body about various ideas I've read many times (slow carb diet, kb swings) but that Tim does a great job selling and encouraging normal people. Anyway, challenged the whole family to what I'll call level one: basically eat a higher protein breakfast for five days instead of something crappy like cereal or toast. Something like egg whites, spinach, pinto beans. They readily accepted since it sounds easy (a point Mr. Ferriss makes well, even better than does Pavel). We are starting Monday. I'll try to report back.

Re: Breakfast

PostPosted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 10:01 pm
by chud
everything wrote:I was reading some of Four Hour Body... (snip)


Is that book legit?
I've heard good and bad.

Re: Breakfast

PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 7:43 am
by Teazer
pretty much every day I start out with a couple of refried bean + cheese +millet, salsa etc burritos. I make a tub of the filling to last the week and add a fried egg if I've got time. So much better than toast/cereal options.

Re: Breakfast

PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 9:02 am
by vadaga
chud wrote:
everything wrote:I was reading some of Four Hour Body... (snip)


Is that book legit?
I've heard good and bad.


It is a mixed bag. I think that while some of the individual tips that were in there are good, and some are even good and useful, the biggest take-away is the amount that the book can serve as a starting point of thinking about overall health and what the reader is willing to do to get it.

Re: Breakfast

PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 3:48 pm
by Steve James
If the idea is to eat protein for energy, I guess it depends a bit on one's lifestyle after breakfast. I mean, if you're going to be sitting for the rest of the day, eliminating fats and carbs is a good idea as far as the waistline is concerned. Otoh, back in the day, one of the popular meals was "steak and eggs." Now, that was very high protein, but that was for people who were laborers. Afa lunch time, it was worse (probably still is). Workers got 1/2 hour to get their lunches, eat them, and get back on the job. There was no time to eat lots of carbs anyway. Anyway, I also think that there's always been a question about when to eat the breakfast. For ex., many cyclists eat breakfast after their morning workout. Or, they eat a bit of carbs before and then eat a big breakfast with lots of protein after the workout. The carbs burn easily, especially if there's little fat, ans the protein speeds up the muscle regeneration and growth. All this assumes an athlete, however. If the person is overweight, and the idea is to lose pounds, then avoiding high carbs in the morning seems very sensible.

Personally, I tend to like some fruit for breakfast (bananas this week) --since I'm too lazy to go out running or riding at dawn anymore. Usually, that's with a couple of eggs (including yolks), a strip of turkey bacon (yeah, I know there are all sorts of chemicals), and a slice of toast with butter.

Re: Breakfast

PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 4:16 pm
by Bao
Steve James wrote:If the idea is to eat protein for energy, I guess it depends a bit on one's lifestyle after breakfast. I mean, if you're going to be sitting for the rest of the day, eliminating fats and carbs is a good idea as far as the waistline is concerned. Otoh, back in the day, one of the popular meals was "steak and eggs." Now, that was very high protein, but that was for people who were laborers.


For about five-seven years ago, I red an interview with an english man, 104 years old:

Interviewer:
"What is the secret of old age?"

Old man:
"To start every day with a sturdy breakfast with bacon and eggs"

He had allready from a long time ago stopped working hard, or even hardly move much. But he continued with his breakfast every day until his death a couple of years ago.

Re: Breakfast

PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 5:29 pm
by Steve James
He had allready from a long time ago stopped working hard, or even hardly move much. But he continued with his breakfast every day until his death a couple of years ago.


No arguments from me. There was an article about centenarians a while back. Oh well, here's a sample of something similar.

What do Super Centenarians eat?
09/27/2012

I am always on the quest of finding out what people eat who live the longest. During my educational years I have heard everything from eating meat, no meat, raw food, cooked food, dairy or no dairy. I am a strong believer that real life sometimes can teach us more than scientifically controlled double blind studies.

Here are some longevity tips from the HUNZAS, OKINAWAS and VILCABAMBANS

The Hunzas live at the northern tips of Pakistan, at the Himalayan Mountains. The Hunzas are famous for their high rate of centenarians, people who live up to 100 to 110 years old.
Dr. White studied the health of 20 100 year old Hunzas, and could not find anything wrong with them, not even their eyesight decreased by age.. Compared to our believes aging is not associated with health decline, instead most of the elderly living in Hunza have extra ordinary vitality and energy. Famous mountain climber recall to have Hunza people as old as 80 years, carrying their heavy photographic equipment up the mountains, without a trace of exhaustion.

Here is what the Hunzas eat: 80% of their diet is eaten uncooked. When vegetables are cooked, they are typically lightly steamed, using minimal amount of water. Once cooked the water is always consumed with the vegetables. Fresh corn for example is never cooked! They soak lentils, beans, and peas in water for several days. Then they place them into the sun to dry. They eat their beans when they begin to sprout. They grow apricots, peaches, pears, apples, plums, grapes, cherries, mulberries, figs, and many types of apricots. Their favorite food is the apricot. In the summer you can see their roofs of their houses covered with apricots for drying in the sun. Hunza people are famous for eating lots of apricot kernel seeds which evidently have powerful anti-cancer properties (especially vitamin B17). Hunzas eat rarely meat and only in community celebrations.

Okinawa is made up of 161 beautiful islands is sometimes called “Japan’s Hawaii”. Okinawa has been studied thoroughly because of its high life expectancy. Okinawa today accounts for 15% of the world’s documented super centenarians (110 years of age). The word “retirement” does not exist in the traditional Okinawan dialect. Researches confirmed that the elderly had no trace of heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s, arthritis or diabetes.

Here is the Okinawa diet: They eat a diet high in vegetables, nothing processed or packaged. Protein comes from soy most likely fermented soy (miso, tempeh), grains and fish. Seaweed is also a staple food at their diet. The emphasis is on dark green vegetables which are rich in calcium, and they don’t eat any dairy and seldom eat meat.

Vilcabamba is a small village in Southern Ecuador located in an elevated Valley. The Vilcabamba Valley is extremely inaccessible and has therefore been protected from many modern influences just like the Hunza Valley. Vilcabamba people are famous for their longevity, happiness and vitality. These people don’t have the word “old” in their dialect instead they use the word “LONG-LIVED”.

Here is the Vilcabamba diet: They eat lots of whole grains, vegetables, fruits, seeds, beans and nuts. Once in a while goat milk and eggs are consumed but very rare. Their diet is very low in calories, and protein comes mostly from grains, vegetables and beans. Carbohydrates come from quinoa, wheat, barley, potatoes, yucca and sweet potatoes. Fat comes from avocados, seeds and nuts. They never have dessert instead they eat sweet fruits like mangos, bananas, papayas, figs and pineapples.

But besides their eating habits all three cultures have few other similar lifestyles regardless of their natural habitat.

· They laugh a lot and only see the bright side of life
· They are very social sometimes they hike for hours over the mountains to meet their best friend
· They are naturally active, for example long walks through the mountains to get to their work place. (they
don’t engage in excessive exercising, instead they engage in regular daily low-intensity physical activities)
· They stop eating before they feel full.
· They never eat processed or packaged food.
· They have a very strong believe in the PURPOSE OF NOW -
· They take time to quiet their mind via meditations or nature walks. One 107 year old Okinawa said “Life is short. Don’t run so fast you miss it!”
· They are very spiritual orientated.
· They all have a sense of belonging. The young people love being around elderly since aging is seen as something to strive for.

If you are interested to learn more about these cultures I recommend the book “Healthy at 100”, by John Robbins, or the book “The Blue Zone”, from Dan Buettner.


Different strokes.

Re: Breakfast

PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 5:42 pm
by Michael
I'm certainly not the first person to say it, but there is no specific diet of XYZ particular foods that is optimum, or even advisable, for everyone. Call it whatever you want: different doshas, different Wu Xing weak element, different metabolic types, different DNA, whatever.

One thing I really liked about learning qigong was developing sensitivity or hearing ability to what my body was telling me. It tells you a lot about what to eat and what not to eat if you care to listen.

Re: Breakfast

PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 10:36 pm
by everything
chud wrote:
everything wrote:I was reading some of Four Hour Body... (snip)


Is that book legit?
I've heard good and bad.


Good review of many topics you may have covered, esp if you've read Pavel on RKC, and any diet based on no sugar, no white carbs, lean protein, and vegetables. Also good intro to FMS. He does outlandish out of box experiments that are entertaining and thought provoking as well. Very interested in MA and health. Hugely interested in 80/20 rules, which I find terrific, but cites experts so you can nerd out as desired. So even if you know the above basics, it's worth a read. Even with heavy MA interest, FMS was good knowledge for me, not because of left right imbalances, but some specific hamstring inflexibility.

Re: breakfast, we all want to lose the vanity pounds, and I want to do more sprints, cuts, and stops more easily (10-15 lbs is major when the forces are so high) for football (soccer), with better recovery. Plus I want to surreptitiously change my kids' lifelong eating habits, and help my wife go through her plateau (exercise fiend but complains of the last mile of vanity weight)

Re: Breakfast

PostPosted: Sun Jan 27, 2013 9:58 am
by yeniseri
For the locations mentioned, the people get around by their own power (biking and walking), they work the fields (or fish-Okinawa), the food is fresh, they do not have the distraction anf illusion of TV, sedentary living and the health costs associated with that so anyone who shares that level of QOL will always live longer (needing less medical intervention) than those who espouse the greatness of developed nation status.No doubt 'developed nation status' is positive but when statistics show (at least in USA) that the health economy needs to be fixed, it usually falls on deaf ears (USA)

Re: Breakfast

PostPosted: Sun Jan 27, 2013 2:45 pm
by Bao
To add to yeniseri's analysis, in Japan and especially in places with the longest life span, they have a very well developed social network for the elderly. They are extremely active, have lots of interests and they live rich and interesting lives.

Re: Breakfast

PostPosted: Sun Jan 27, 2013 3:24 pm
by Ian C. Kuzushi
I loved, The Four Hour Body. I read it as a fifth year undergrad, and it really motivated me to make some changes to my diet (they didn't last). I started eating collared greens, eggs, beans, and salmon for breakfast everyday instead of a coffee and a banana. That, and cutting out "white starches" enabled me to loose 20 lbs in a couple of months. I got down to 190 without me having to up my exercise. I was competing actively at the time though, so I was already trail running three times a week and lifting twice a week plus judo workouts and taijiquan.

The coolest things about the book are how it motivates, gets quick results, and how you can pick and choose chapters.

I learned about it here, on RSF, so thanks to whoever posted it back in 2010/11.

Re: Breakfast

PostPosted: Sun Jan 27, 2013 5:46 pm
by Steve James
Well, it's hard to live or eat like an Okinawan if you live in Brooklyn and drive a bus, even if you can get the same food. Genetics and environment play important parts, too. It might be that it has been generations of Okinawans who have lived the same way that has resulted in the higher percentage of centenarians. That is, it might run in families precisely because of the environments those families inhabited and the lifestyle there. When we speak of Okinawa we are talking in terms of percentages. There are centenarians who have spent all their lives in cities. Now, consider that many of the Okinawan centenarians live the same way they did 100 years ago (i.e., 1912). I think I may be too citified to enjoy that lifestyle. Yeah, I'm a wimp, but not elitist about it :).

Re: Breakfast

PostPosted: Mon Jan 28, 2013 3:53 am
by Taichiturtle
Steve James wrote:Well, it's hard to live or eat like an Okinawan if you live in Brooklyn and drive a bus, even if you can get the same food. Genetics and environment play important parts, too. It might be that it has been generations of Okinawans who have lived the same way that has resulted in the higher percentage of centenarians. That is, it might run in families precisely because of the environments those families inhabited and the lifestyle there. When we speak of Okinawa we are talking in terms of percentages. There are centenarians who have spent all their lives in cities. Now, consider that many of the Okinawan centenarians live the same way they did 100 years ago (i.e., 1912). I think I may be too citified to enjoy that lifestyle. Yeah, I'm a wimp, but not elitist about it :).


....Or it might just be that Okinawan food tastes like s**t!!

Pig's ear, pig face, pig trotter, stinky fermented tofu....BLEH!!

Re: Breakfast

PostPosted: Tue Jan 29, 2013 9:46 am
by everything
Day two. Going well. Feel more energetic. (How does that work?) dropped some weight, maybe a pound (water? Despite drinking a lot). Possible violations: I used Stevia in my coffee. I ate brown rice. I think they are not "white" carbs, but not positive. But it really is a net improvement anyway. What I like about the book is it makes it clear if you try a very small step, it'll be feasible, and it will work. He is a good motivator. Doesn't matter if I read Pavel or something else if it didn't motivate me. Of course, it's only day two so we'll see. This is one of my "public" statements so I also have some embarrassment if I don't continue. I did do a few kb swings and TGUs but haven't made it a scheduled, measurable activity yet.