Slow Carb Diet

[KingEnergy]

Recently read the 4 hour body by Tim Ferris.
 

He proposes the slow carb diet to lose fat:

1. Only carbs you can eat are from vegetables, beans and lentils

2. Eat the same recipes over and over again

3. Don’t drink calories

4. No Fruit

5. One cheat day per week

 

Has anyone tried this diet and got results? How quick?

[Michael569]

5 hours ago, KingEnergy said:

4. No Fruit

what's his argument against it? 

[KingEnergy]

@neutralempty thanks haha.

@Michael569 Too much sugar (its a diet for losing fat)

[mandyjw]

I did it hardcore a few years ago. Felt great for a short time then felt weird on it, and then later developed major digestive issues. I still can't eat beans and lentils without stomach problems today. Cheat day doesn't help with stomach issues and can psychologically really frig up your eating. My blood pressure was really high because when you cut carbs like that you inadvertently end up with high amounts of salt, especially with the recommended foods on the diet. It did teach me a lot though, I learned a huge amount of self discipline from following it and how important protein is in the mornings, and how effective simple carbs are at making you hungry.  

I eat lots of fruit, whole grain carbs and get plenty of protein now and I'm thinner than I ever got on the slow carb diet, all while using WAY less willpower. 

5 hours ago, Michael569 said:

what's his argument against it? 

Says fructose is the devil, is most easily stored as fat and it ages you. 

[Michael569]

1 hour ago, KingEnergy said:

Too much sugar (its a diet for losing fat)

And losing your health as well I'd say. Anyone who tells you fruit is bad for you because of sugar is completely clueless about nutrition. 

[KingEnergy]

4 hours ago, Michael569 said:

And losing your health as well I'd say. Anyone who tells you fruit is bad for you because of sugar is completely clueless about nutrition. 

What are the nutrients from fruit that you can’t get from vegetables?

[Leo Gura]

20 hours ago, KingEnergy said:

Recently read the 4 hour body by Tim Ferris.
 

He proposes the slow carb diet to lose fat:

1. Only carbs you can eat are from vegetables, beans and lentils

2. Eat the same recipes over and over again

3. Don’t drink calories

4. No Fruit

5. One cheat day per week

 

Has anyone tried this diet and got results? How quick?

Here's an even better diet:

1. Only carbs from non-starchy vegetables and low/med-sugar fruits like blueberries, apples, oranges, etc. No bean, no lintels, no corn, no rice, no wheat, no oats.
2. Have 3 recipes you cycle so you don't get bored.
3. Don't drink calories other than low-sugar veggie juices like tomato, celery, cucumber, etc.
4. Liberal use of high quality oils like olive, avocado, coconut.
5. Lots of lean protein like chicken or turkey. Or eggs if you tolerate them.
6. No cheat days.

[Michael569]

15 hours ago, KingEnergy said:

What are the nutrients from fruit that you can’t get from vegetables?

I think what Tim Ferris sees is that fruit is just a bunch of sugar wrapped in colourful peels. He can't be blamed for this because this is not his expertise but he shouldn't be bashing on nature's most healing foods just because he has an uneducated opinion on it. 

There is a difference between sucralose (white table sugar) you get in mars bars and chocolate and the types of sugars you get in apple. I think most people afraid of fruit fail to make this basic distinction. In nutrition, when we say sugar we mean glucose, the smallest and the most foundational unit of carbohydrate molecules. Glucose is essential for your body to create energy. Your brain prefers glucose (although it can also run on ketones) and so do your muscles and most cells. Glucose is the easiest source to burn. It is a clean fuel that does not create a lot of waste residue such as when you burn protein for energy. As such fruits provide the cleanest and most rapidly available source of energy. 

But besides some essential vitamins a& fibre that you can indeed get from vegetables, fruit contains cocktails of phytochemicals and polyphenols. These cannot be found anywhere else at least not in such amounts. These are substances we buy in pills nowadays because we believe we can isolate them and used them to our benefit, although that is rarely the case. You would have heard of examples of these: resveratrol, quercetin, anthocyanidins, proanthocyanidins, malvidin, kaempferol, carotenoids etc. There are hundreds of these and we don't know most of them. These chemicals can act beneficially to different systems in the human body. They heal tissues, support brain, strengthen immunity, clear out cholesterol, dump inflammation, strengthen the heart muscle, get rid of free radicals.....

You won't find any phytochemicals in animal foods so focusing solely on macros and micros is missing the whole picture. 

There is also the energetic/vibrational component of fruits. I don't know too much about this but it appears that fruits also feed the energetic body, not just the physical one and we know that lot of diseases that cannot be traced to physical imbalances are caused by a wounded energetic body. I know this sounds pseudoscientific and I can't really prove this in any way but I do believe this to be the case. 

[Leo Gura]

Low sugar fruits are definitely a must for good nutrition. Berries and such. All that colorful plant pigment is like natural medicine.

Just try to avoid overly sugary and carby fruits like bananas and watermelons.

[Opo]

5 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

Just try to avoid overly sugary and carby fruits like bananas and watermelons.

Would a banana before exercise be healthy? 

[Leo Gura]

49 minutes ago, Opo said:

Would a banana before exercise be healthy? 

Look man, don't get anal about it.

It's not like eating a few bananas will kill you.

[Timur]

2 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

Low sugar fruits are definitely a must for good nutrition. Berries and such. All that colorful plant pigment is like natural medicine.

What is your opinion on frozen berries?

 

I would like to buy fresh berries everytime but frozen ones are much cheaper. 

[Opo]

54 minutes ago, Timur said:

What is your opinion on frozen berries?

 

I would like to buy fresh berries everytime but frozen ones are much cheaper. 

I remember reading that frozen blueberries are picked later so they have more of something that is good for you. 

Couldn't find it again but I've found this. 

https://www.bcblueberry.com/features/feature-articles/could-frozen-blueberries-be-even-healthier-fresh-berries

But i fear pesticides from frozen ones. Should I melt them and put them in water, vinegar and baking soda solution, and then freeze them again?

[Leo Gura]

4 hours ago, Timur said:

What is your opinion on frozen berries?

I would like to buy fresh berries everytime but frozen ones are much cheaper. 

Frozen is good l think.

Hard to know about the pesticides. Definitely go for organic berries in all cases.

[Jacob Morres]

29 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

Organic

whatre your thoughts on organic? 

[vinc3nc]

On 18. 9. 2020 at 5:15 AM, KingEnergy said:

Recently read the 4 hour body by Tim Ferris.
 

He proposes the slow carb diet to lose fat:

1. Only carbs you can eat are from vegetables, beans and lentils

2. Eat the same recipes over and over again

3. Don’t drink calories

4. No Fruit

5. One cheat day per week

 

Has anyone tried this diet and got results? How quick?

"How quick" is the problem right there for you. If you want fast results, then you don't have the right mindset to begin with. You need to change your lifestyle to be slim, fit, or whatever. And to change your lifestyle permanently, that requires some time, probably at least a year - to be able to sustain that change.

[Michael569]

6 hours ago, Opo said:

But i fear pesticides from frozen ones. Should I melt them and put them in water, vinegar and baking soda solution, and then freeze them again?

Frozen is a usually better alternative with berries. Often picked at peak of ripeness and flash-freezing preserves most water-soluble vitamins. Minerals are always retained. I always just add them to a bit of warm water and this way you defreeze and wash at the same time. Takes a bit longer but you'll save money on buying frozen berries. You also minimise all the additional handling and picking as frozen once packaged don't get touched by anyone. 

Don't bother with vinegar, you cannot really remove pesticides from the fruits, it is located inside the structure of the berry and can't be removed. Benefits of berries outweigh the cost of any pesticides so it is still a good idea to eat them. Have organic if possible but if not, non-organic are still ok. 

[lmfao]

@KingEnergy Right now I've been losing a bit of weight.

Credit due to David Hawkins, his advice has helped me. Although I don't know if it's his advice or just me anyway. His take on this is that essentially, most our desire to eat is surface level "Pavlovian Conditioning" that can be overwritten without too much effort. When you feel "hungry", you stop calling it hunger and let go resisting it.

Trying to force myself to let go, I've gotten in a few wars with myself which isn't good for anybody. But overall it's worked. We don't need to eat nearly so frequently as we think. 

Another strategy is to eat when you aren't "hungry". That way you aren't re-enforcing the false conditioning. But if you eat whilst operating on that false conditioning, you're making it stronger.

 

Edited September 19, 2020 by lmfao

[Opo]

41 minutes ago, Michael569 said:

Frozen is a usually better alternative with berries. Often picked at peak of ripeness and flash-freezing preserves most water-soluble vitamins. Minerals are always retained. I always just add them to a bit of warm water and this way you defreeze and wash at the same time. Takes a bit longer but you'll save money on buying frozen berries. You also minimise all the additional handling and picking as frozen once packaged don't get touched by anyone. 

Don't bother with vinegar, you cannot really remove pesticides from the fruits, it is located inside the structure of the berry and can't be removed. Benefits of berries outweigh the cost of any pesticides so it is still a good idea to eat them. Have organic if possible but if not, non-organic are still ok. 

Thanks. 

Can't buy organic here but I can easily grow them. 

[KingEnergy]

22 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

Here's an even better diet:

1. Only carbs from non-starchy vegetables and low/med-sugar fruits like blueberries, apples, oranges, etc. No bean, no lintels, no corn, no rice, no wheat, no oats.
2. Have 3 recipes you cycle so you don't get bored.
3. Don't drink calories other than low-sugar veggie juices like tomato, celery, cucumber, etc.
4. Liberal use of high quality oils like olive, avocado, coconut.
5. Lots of lean protein like chicken or turkey. Or eggs if you tolerate them.
6. No cheat days.

Thanks, so you propose no cheat days. I want to lose fat, do you think 2 cheat meals per week is still good? Still want to enjoy some pasta or something once in a while.