I received an e-mail last night from a reader and I thought it was a great question because when I started Occam’s protocol myself about 1 year ago I felt really confused about how Occam’s feeding and Occam’s prescriptions combined with those of Tim’s Slow Carb Diet recommendations.

This is especially tough when you plan on implementing both aspects of the book together at the same time.

Our friendly reader first asked:

Which supplements should I take? Tim doesn’t really say in the book if you can combine different sets of supplements i.e. PAGG + those in Occam’s…

Here is my answer:

The overlap between Occam’s and PAGG is in the ALA. So you can take the PAGG but I would avoid supplementing with additional ALA. If you look at the chart I made you will see the overlap.

I just started the PAGG myself 2 weeks ago and I have been personally using Occam’s Protocol for 11 months. I supplemented with Creatine and L-Glutamine and took Gold Standard Whey Protein for several months. I stopped because it felt too …. what is the word… “synthetic”.

So I just focused on more natural proteins in the form of lean meats, beans, eggs. etc. to meet my protein requirements.

Here is a quick side by side comparison of the two protocols. You can see where the ALA overlaps.

Our friendly reader then goes on to ask another wonderful question:

I also am not sure what I can/can’t be eating. I am trying to avoid all things that could be white but Tim says for his Geek to Freak section that he likes whole wheat macaroni..

Let’s look at one of Tim’s two proposed food schedules from the book:

First Proposed Food Schedule

• 9:00 A.M.—Protein shake
• 11:00 A.M.—Protein bar (Balance Bar or, preferably, a Training 33 YouBar)
• 1:00 P.M.—High-protein/-carb lunch (usually chicken breast with potatoes)
• 3:00 P.M.—Protein bar 5:00 P.M.—High-protein/-carb dinner (usually sushi/sashimi with extra rice)
• 7:00 P.M.—Protein bar
• 9:00 P.M.—Protein snack with carbs (chicken or eggs or tuna)
• 11:00 P.M.—Protein shake

I personally can’t imagine eating like this.

So I like Tim’s proposed schedule better:

Tim’s STANDARD NIGHT-OWL SCHEDULE

• 10:00 A.M.—Wake up, immediately breakfast + ½ Shake (details later in this chapter)
• 2:00 P.M.—Lunch
• 6:00 P.M.—First dinner
• 7:30 P.M.—Training, if scheduled (I sip low-fat protein just before and throughout. Tim recommends Isopure)
• 8:30 P.M. (30 minutes post-training)—Dinner 15 minutes before bed—Second half of morning Shake

As Tim says in the book:

The meal composition is nearly identical to the Slow-Carb Diet, as are the tenets, though we now add a starch such as brown rice or quinoa to the non-shake meals. There is no need to mimic my hours, of course. Just look at my meal spacing as one option that has worked.

In Summary:

Follow your basic five tenets of Tim’s Slow Carb Diet.

Then add the starch as noted above if you would like to your non shake meals.

If you are planning on following Occam’s Prescriptions and you are going to be considering combined therapy with PAGG. Avoid the added ALA from Occam’s Prescriptions.

I have not personally taken the Cissus Quadrangularis. But I would encourage you to view my Monograph from Natural Medicines Database and see if you think it would be a good match for you.

As always, there are no limits to the bounds of moderation. I like to think of most of life’s “rules” as guidelines. Ones that can be tailored to suit your own individual needs and preferences.

A personal thanks to my friendly reader who proposed this great question. As always feel free to email me or ask me a question in the comments section.

Good luck to everyone who is on their way to making real life changes in the new year!