It is you versus your sugar cravings, and sugar is both armed and extremely dangerous.

After a few months on the slow carb diet, you will start to build some leverage against sugar, but early on it is a dog eat dog world.

So how do you win the fight?

In a recent episode of The Tim Ferriss Show while interviewing Naval Ravikant of AngelList Tim broke away from the conversation and introduced two novel ways to cut back on sugar cravings while on the slow carb diet.

Here is the audio excerpt from the show:

You can download the audio file here.

As Tim points out:

“With sugar craving for people who wish to cut back on simple sugars. Two things are surprisingly effective for combating sugar cravings particularly if you have just gone onto a slow carb, low carb, paleo or ketogenic diet.”

Two Ways to Cut Back and Eliminate Sugar Cravings While on the Slow Carb Diet

1. Sodium: “Make sure you are getting enough sodium (salt).  A lot of people who go on a lower carb diet (because each gram of sodium can hold about 4 grams of water) they start shedding water, it’s a diuretic and they start craving salt, but they don’t realize that so they start craving carbs again.  So what I will do is sprinkle some sea salt in a couple of glasses of water a day.”
2. Branch chain amino acids: “You can take a few grams of branch chain amino acids and your liver will convert a small amount of that to glucose. You can get that hit without having to digest carbs which is kind of a neat trick.  Also, it’s a great way to maintain muscle mass and even gain muscle while on a low carb diet especially if you take it before your workout.”
   • Dosing: Each time you take BCAAs you should go with about 5-10 grams (easiest to do with powder form BCCA). For muscle mass, the most critical time to take them is around workouts, so add 5-10 grams to your pre- and post-workout shakes. Remember, you do not have to workout to consume BCCAs while on the slow carb diet (see dosing instructions at the end of this post.)

I assume most of you know what sodium is, but what exactly are “branch chain amino acids?” Are they safe, effective and how do you go about implementing this into your already packed slow carb supplement routine?

Advantages of BCAAs:

BCAAs, or branched-chain amino acids, are among three of the nine essential amino acids for humans. Essential amino acids are those that the body cannot synthesize on its own and must get adequate amounts of through dietary sources.

BCAA’s comprise about 35% of the amino acids within muscle tissue. They are isoleucine, leucine, and valine.

The name “branched-chain amino acids” comes from the structure of these compounds. They are the only amino acids that are not degraded in the liver, meaning they head directly into the bloodstream.

Part of what makes the BCAAs so special is how the body handles them. Typically, when you ingest amino acids—either individually or as a whole protein—they first travel to the liver. Here, the liver either breaks them down to use as fuel or directs them toward building and repairing muscle and other tissues.

BCAAs, on the other hand, tend to be spared by the liver and get sent directly to the muscles, so that the muscle can use the BCAAs directly for fuel or to build and repair itself.

This gives BCAAs a two-pronged relevance to athletic training.

1. During workouts, they can act as a fuel source.
2. When the workout is over, they can help build muscle. These effects explain why instructions on BCAA products usually advocate you take them before, during, and after a workout.

The more intense and the longer your workout, the more BCAAs will be used for fuel. So you can see how taking a dose of BCAAs before workouts can help you sustain your energy during a workout and train with more intensity from start to finish. You may not feel them in the same way as a pre-workout supplement, but first-time users often report that they BCAAs make their workout feel more pleasant and manageable.

• Increased Muscle Growth: Research has shown that the BCAAs, particularly leucine, increase muscle growth by directly stimulating muscle protein synthesis. Leucine acts like a key that turns on the process that strings the amino acids together to build muscle protein. Additionally, leucine boosts insulin levels. Insulin is an anabolic hormone that further stimulates protein synthesis.
• Increased Growth Hormone: Another way that BCAAs work to enhance muscle growth and strength is by boosting levels of growth hormone (GH). Italian researchers found that athletes taking BCAAs for one month had higher levels of growth hormone after workouts. The higher your GH levels after workouts, the greater the increases in muscle size and strength you can expect.
• Delayed Fatigue: During exercise, the neurotransmitter serotonin (5-HT) signals to the brain that the body is fatigued. This leads to a reduction in muscle strength and endurance. The amino acid tryptophan is responsible for producing 5-HT in the brain, whereas the BCAAs, namely valine, compete with tryptophan for entry into the brain. Research has shown that taking BCAAs before workouts lowers the amount of tryptophan that gets into the brain and therefore delays fatigue.

A study from 2011 published in the journal of sports medicine and physical fitness concluded that “BCAA supplementation increases resistance to fatigue and enhances lipid oxidation during exercise in glycogen-depleted subjects.”

Another study from the Journal of Nutrition in 2006 stated: “The results obtained in this preliminary study indicate that the ingestion of 5 g of BCAAs before exercise can reduce delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) and muscle fatigue for several days after exercise.”

How BCCA’s can Curb Sugar Cravings

Now that we have seen how taking BCCA’s can help with muscle growth and fatigue how about sugar cravings, which was the original topic of this post?

As Tim points out: “when you take a few grams of branch chain amino acids your liver will convert a small amount of that to glucose. You can get that glucose hit without having to digest carbs.”

Not to mention, you can continue to supplement with PAGG without the worry of problematic interactions.

How to dose Branch Chain Amino Acids while on The Slow-Carb Diet

There is no hard and fast rule here.  BCCA is sold in both tablet and powder form. In order to obtain a 5-10 gram dose pre-workout you would need to use a powder supplement.  Optimum Nutrition makes a decent product which can be added to any liquid. You can simply add a teaspoon as you see fit. Again, this can be dosed with or without an intent to exercise.

In tablet form, 2 tabs is equivalent to approximately 1 gram of BCCA. Taking two tablets to ward off sugar cravings would be a reasonable starting point. You can always titrate upward depending on efficacy.

Are you several weeks or months into the slow carb diet looking to expand your 4-Hour Body repertoire?

Maybe you have lost a bit of body fat, are interested in adding muscle mass, experimenting with Tim’s tripling testosterone protocol or 4-Hour Body sleep hacks.

It’s time to take the next logical step.

Finding Balance in a Sea of Supplements

If you have read the 4-Hour Body beyond the Slow Carb Diet you may have noticed that there is quite a bit of overlap, as well as several contradictions, among the protocols.  Especially from a supplement and dietary standpoint.

It can become a very confusing mess!

Here is the good news: if you are already familiar with the Slow Carb Diet you can use this as the foundation of any of Tim’s protocols. It is not only extremely effective, but a recommended way to create a healthy “4-Hour Body lifestyle.”

Over the next several weeks I am going to detail some excellent “4-Hour combinations” that you can use to your benefit.

We will start today by discussing one of my personal favorites:

Slow Carb + Occam’s Protocol

As I have discussed before on the blog combining Occam’s and the Slow Carb Diet is one of my favorite combinations.

Let’s look at how you would approach this from a dietary and supplement standpoint.  In the process, we’ll design an easy to follow regimen to get you started today.

Lets Compare Occam’s and Slow Carb Side by Side:

Occam’s Protocol + The Slow Carb Diet Supplements and Subtleties

In Occam’s, if you want to build more lean muscle, you need to increase your calories. One way to achieve this goal is to add a morning and afternoon shake. The key points here are that in Occam’s you will add a starch to your non shake meals. You will continue your PAGG as before which will nicely cover the ALA requirement from Occam’s. You will add in Creatine for at least 28 days (you can definitely do this longer ) and you will have to decide if you would also like to include Cissus Quadrangularis. In my opinion this is completely optional. If you do use CQ you must limit your supplementation to 8-12 weeks “growth cycles” or risk potential side effects.

Tim’s shake recipe uses milk which is an essential slow carb no-no. You can get around this by replacing milk with water or using a meal replacement shake such as VegaOne or Matrix Meal.  Another option is to give into the fact that milk is a good source of protein and calcium and will probably do very little to stave off your fat loss. (I can see all the Paleo people cringing as I write this).  Tim also adds a bit of fruit in the form of banana to his shake recipe.  Again, no big deal.

Here is what a typical day would look like:

* ALA (which is part of Occam’s) is not necessary as it is already dosed in the AGG
* CQ should be used as Tim recommends during 8– 12 week growth cycles, on “off” days, or after joint sprains.

[box title=”Tim’s Morning Shake” box_color=”#83b0c6″ title_color=”#000000″]

Caloric and protein profile with 2% milk: 970 cal, 75 g protein

• 24 oz (3 cups) 2% whole milk
• 30 g whey protein isolate (chocolate tends to work best)
• 1 banana
• 3 heaping tablespoon almond butter with no added sugar
• 5 ice cubes

[/box]

Some common concerns:

Will adding the extra “calories” associate with Occam’s Feeding stall my fat loss?

The answer here is absolutely not! You are adding calories in parallel with weight training.  Studies prove that adding weight training to a healthy diet will not only help  stabilize insulin levels and promote fat loss but can also improve your IQ! Just another reason to begin Occam’s. Most importantly, you can tailor the Occam’s feeding schedule to fit your individual needs. Are you just trying to add some bulk and stimulate fat loss without the need to dead lift 3x your body weight? Then by all means skip the shakes and focus on whole food meals. If you aren’t performing an effective Occam’s routine (i.e pushing yourself to failure and increasing the weights as prescribed) then you could run into problems. So take care to follow Tim’s instructions.

Do I need to take all these supplements?

No, you don’t. You can have excellent results without taking supplements. Supplements are meant to do what their name implies: “supplement a healthy lifestyle and diet.”  Whether you choose to supplement the dietary and exercise protocols is completely up to you. You can add, subtract and design a protocol that works best to suit your lifestyle. The recommendations from The 4-Hour Body are recommendations, not absolutes!

Didn’t Tim say I don’t need to work out while on slow carb?

Tim recommends waiting a month after starting the Slow Carb Diet before you add exercise and as the book claims you can lose fat without exercise. There are many types of exercises, and our goal with the 4-Hour Body is to break the “eat less exercise more cycle.”  Occam’s is not an exercise program for weight loss, it will help you build physical strength, stabilize your insulin, make you healthier and more efficient in the long run with minimal time input. It is perfect in combination with the slow carb diet!

So what are you waiting for?

If you have been having success (or you have hit a plateau) while on the Slow Carb Diet or are on the sidelines about trying Occam’s Protocol, now is the time to start.

You can choose to follow the supplement and dietary protocols as noted above or simplify them to fit your needs.  Again, there is some overlap and you can use this to your advantage.

Although Occam’s Protocol is a bit difficult to begin, after 2 weeks I am confident you will find Occam’s is the most time efficient workout routine you have ever tried.  If you need a good place to start take a look at my modified Big 8 Occam’s Routine. It combines the best of Occam’s with the Big 5 workout from Body by Science. If you do this, consider dropping the k-bell swings, I don’t think they are necessary.

After nearly 4.5 years of Occam’s myself, I am convinced this can be an effective tool for nearly everyone trying to lose fat and gain some strength without the risk of injury or over-training. Combined with Slow Carb Diet, it is golden!

The Great Cholesterol Hustle

1. Hustle 1: Cholesterol is “sticky” so it clogs arteries.
2. Hustle 2: Statin drugs (think Lipitor), the second most prescribed class of drugs worldwide, will lower your “bad” cholesterol and help you live longer.
3. Hustle 3: Eating cholesterol increases cholesterol levels in your blood.
4. Hustle 4: Cholesterol is the leading cause of heart disease.

The Truth is Often Harder to Swallow Than a Pill

If you have had a physical exam this year, weather voluntarily or through your companies work well program chances are they drew serum cholesterol levels.

Chances are they reviewed your LDL-C and HDL-C numbers with you and maybe briefly discussed that other “not so important” lipid level: Triglycerides.

They checked briefly to make sure your fasting blood sugars were less than 100.

They did a risk analysis on your body weight, made sure you were not smoking and then sent you home with instructions to follow a fairly low fat diet, focusing on “healthy carbs”, more fiber and plenty of fruits and vegetables.

You may have even felt good about yourself because you had an LDL-C of 70 and and HDL that was in the 40’s, Triglycerides? Can’t remember.

Maybe your blood sugars were “just fine” at 96 and yeah, you had a little belly fat, but we all have some of that.

Feeling good, but knowing you could makes some changes you wen’t home, made a goal to drink a bit less alcohol, exercise just a bit more and maybe eat less fried fatty foods.

This would have been fine, except it is not.

You could be ripe for a heart attack, ready to “kick the proverbial bucket” and not even know about it.

Because this physical exam and how they chose to focus on your labs (today we are looking at cholesterol) was pretty much worthless.

It is no longer debatable

The whole theory that cholesterol causes heart disease was wrong in the first place!

A mixture of misinformation, scientifically questionable studies, corporate greed, and deceptive marketing has conspired to create one of the most indestructible and damaging myths in medical history:

That cholesterol causes heart disease

The millions of marketing dollars spent on perpetuating this myth have successfully kept us focused on a relatively minor character in the heart disease story, and created a market for cholesterol-lowering drugs worth more than $30 billion a year.

The real tragedy is that by putting all of our attention on cholesterol, we’ve virtually ignored the real causes of heart disease: Inflammation, Oxidation, Sugar and Stress.

What You Need to Know About Cholesterol

• Cholesterol is a minor player in heart disease.
• Cholesterol levels are a poor predictor of heart attacks.
• Half the people with heart disease have normal cholesterol.
• Half the people with elevated cholesterol have healthy hearts.
• Lowering cholesterol (at least in traditional ways) has extremely limited benefits.

Not surprisingly:

Statin drugs are the 2nd most prescribed drug in the world (just behind Vicodin!)

When the National Cholesterol Education Program lowered the “optimal” cholesterol levels in 2004, eight out of nine people on the panel had financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

The new cholesterol guidelines qualified millions of new people to take statin drugs… And as a health care provider this is the definition of EVIDENCE BASED MEDICINE!

As student of medicine I believed what I was taught…

That a diet low in fat and high in carbohydrates was heart healthy.

Fat was considered dietary enemy number one, and saturated fat was considered especially bad because we all “knew” it clogged your arteries, raised your cholesterol, and led to heart disease.

So, like most practitioners, I put my patients on low-fat diets and encouraged them to do a ton of aerobics plus a little bit of weight training.

Which worked, sometimes, but more often than not, the strategy bombed.

At the same time I had several patients on low carbohydrate diets and some on very low carbohydrate, ketogenic diets, such as Atkins.

Because these diets were generally high in fat I told them they were surely going to die of a heart attack.

And then something interesting happened

• A good friend of mine on Atkins lost 80 pounds. 
• These “high fat eating rebels” saw their health actually improve.
• Triglycerides went down, other measures that indicated heart disease risk also improved.

Which got me thinking…

Why weren’t we seeing consistent results in my patients who were faithfully following low-fat diets and getting plenty of aerobic exercise?

Conversely, why were my patients who were going on low-carb diets getting such high marks on their blood tests and losing weight?

What if everything we’d been told about the danger of saturated fat wasn’t exactly correct?

And—if what we’d been taught about saturated fat wasn’t the complete truth—what about this relationship between fat and cholesterol?

Was it really all as simple as I’d been taught?

Then I began reading the studies

Contrary to what everyone thought, study after study on high-protein, low-carb diets, including those rich in saturated fat, showed that the blood tests of people on these diets were excellent.

The Lyon Diet Heart Study found that certain dietary and lifestyle changes were able to reduce deaths by 70 percent and reduce cardiovascular deaths by an even more impressive 76 percent, all without making as much as a dent in cholesterol levels.

The Nurses’ Health Study found that 82 percent of coronary events were attributable to five factors, none of which had anything to do with lowering cholesterol. And that was just the tip of the ever-growing iceberg.

CHOLESTEROL BASICS

• Cholesterol is a waxy substance—technically a sterol—that is an important constituent of cell membranes. The vast majority of cholesterol in the body is made in the liver, while the rest is absorbed from the diet.
• Cholesterol is the basic raw material that your body uses to make vitamin D; sex hormones such as estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone; and the bile acids needed for digestion.
• Cholesterol travels in particles called lipoproteins, the most common of which are high-density lipoproteins (HDL) and low-density lipoproteins (LDL).

Decreasing cholesterol with cholesterol lowering drugs (particularly statins) has a risk benefit ratio that is not favorable for the majority of the low risk patients that have been placed on these drugs.

Below I will address the long-held, conventional views on cholesterol basics that are outdated. 

(Adapted from the amazing book “The Great Cholesterol Myth“)

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WHAT IS HDL?

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WHAT IS LDL?

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HOW CHOLESTEROL IS MEASURED?

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DIETARY ADVICE

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RELATIONSHIP TO HEART DISEASE

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So it may appear that those cholesterol levels you received from your physical exam were worthless. But they are not.

The information you received has value, most of which rests in 3 factors.

1. Your fasting blood sugar.
2. Your HDL and Triglyceride numbers as a ratio. 
3. Your waist to hip ration – i.e your belly fat (think Christian Bale in the picture above)

In my next post I will address what type of testing you should focus on to address cardiovascular risk and how to use basic, uncomplicated (and relatively cheap lab tests) to assess your health and your TRUE RISK for cardiovascular disease.

The good news is that none of this really matters if you are following the SLOW CARB DIET.

The Slow Carb Diet is anti-inflamatory, low in sugar, high in healthy fiber and protein and if you focus on a minimalist workout routine, while getting plenty of sleep you will be on your way to a better, and healthier you.

You can download a full size copy of this slow carb infographic here.

Thanks to fitnessinfographics.com for this wonderful ingographic on The Slow Carb Diet. You can download and print this infographic here. They also have a wonderful free carb maintenance infographic here.

This is her story, a story of slow carb success, a story of a hard earned paradigm shift. A story that took years to play out, but proves that life is a process and we should never give up on ourselves.

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Problem list circa 2012:

• Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome
• Infertility
• Diabetes Mellitus Type II with an A1C of 10.3
• Depression/Anxiety
• Acne
• Generalized Fatigue
• Obesity
• Chronic Allergic Rhinitis

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Medication list:

• Allegra
• Celexa 20 mg daily
• Wellbutrin SR 150 mg daily
• Metformin 1000 mg twice daily
• Amaryl 2mg once daily
• Lexapro 10 mg once daily
• Lisnopril 10 mg once daily
• Calcium and Vitamin D3[/column]

The History of a Pathology

The following is a timeline of office visits dating from September 2007 through April 2013:

September 2007

Seen for a chief complaint of chest pain. After workup initial diagnosis was diabetes mellitus with a fasting blood sugar of 286, hypertension and atypical chest pain. Her weight was 179 lbs. she was placed on Metformin 850 mg daily and Lisinopril 5 mg tabs.

November 2007

Seen for a chief complaint of chronic daily headaches. Given a diagnosis of stress related tension headaches, started on muscle relaxants and anti-inflammatory medications. Weight now 183 lbs.

March 2008

Diagnosed with carpel tunnel syndrome and worsening diabetes mellitus. Her A1c was 9.o, she had gained 2 more pounds, continued to have frequent headaches and chronic fatigue. She had been placed on Glyburide and Actos by a different physician. Her fasting blood sugars were now worse and she developed diabetic nephropathy (kidney disease).

Two weeks later she followed up, with better glucose control and a weight of 186 pounds. She was having response to bilateral wrist braces used for carpel tunnel.

Mach 2009

Seen for a mild case of bacterial conjunctivitis (pink eye) weight 184 lbs.

April 2009

Seen for upper respiratory tract infection, weight 183 lbs.

August 2009

Chief complaint of headaches and stress, weight 182 lbs.

October 2009

Hirsutism, dizziness. tentative diagnosis of PCOS. Diagnosed on that day with influenza.

Feb 2010

Anxiety, diabetes mellitus, chest pain again. This time she was started on Ativan as needed for anxiety.

Two weeks later in February still with chest pain, sent to cardiology for evaluation and had normal workup, weight 177 lbs.

May 2010

Anxiety, depression, PCOS, suicidal ideations, diabetes mellitus. Weight 176 lbs., medications Amayrl 2 mg daily, Metformin 1000 mg twice daily, lisinopril 5mg daily, prn Ativan.

June 2010

Ativan refill, in office counseling, crisis line was given as precaution to suicidaltiy, weight 173 lbs. started on Wellbutrin.

November 2010

Discontinued Wellbutrin, doing better with new counselor, weight 180 lbs.

January 2011

Susan became more involved with counseling. Started on Celexa 20 mg daily for depression, sent for more labs.

April 2011

Allergic rhinitis had become more sever she was placed on Allegra 180 mg tabs daily and Iprotropium Bromide nasal spray, weight 183 lbs.

January 2012

New diagnosis of hyperlipidemia, DM, PCOS, HTN.

The Slow Carb Manifesto

May 2012

I saw Susan and despite her initial reluctance we initiated the Slow Carb Diet. Her weight was 170lbs. She had worsening diabetes. We had 30 minutes of in office counseling. Blood pressure on meds 134/90.

June 12 2012

Just one month on the slow carb diet and her weight was now 164 lbs. Her resting blood pressure was 102/70. We discontinued her Amaryl and for several reasons I placed the patient back on Wellbutrin SR at a dose of 150 mg daily. She continued twice daily Metformin.

October 31 2012

After 6 months on the slow carb diet her weight was now 136 lbs. Her resting blood pressure was 120/80. Her diabetes was now diet controlled with no oral meds, she was off all her BP medications and the Wellbutrin.

April 1, 2013

BP 102/66, weight 128 lbs, BMI 25 off all meds, fasting blood sugar 89, A1C 5. 9, Cholesterol is perfect!

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Problem List April 2013

• “I have to purchase new clothes every month”

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Her medication list April 2013:

• The patient takes daily vitamin D3 and a Fish Oil Supplement.

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What Secret The Pharmaceutical Company Hasn’t told You

You are perfect the way you are.

The healthy that many of us seek is locked up inside an ailing body. Let your healthy out, believe that you can make a change today, find a support system and somebody who is willing to work with you and believe in you. Believe in yourself and most of all… The road is often long and bumpy, but please don’t give up.

When I walked into the exam room on April 1’st I may have seen Susan for the last time, but I left with a new hope of where we may be headed, if we take the time to change our process. And as medical providers, if we take the time to believe in our patients.

The slow carb diet may not be the answer for everyone, but it has changed my practice of medicine and had a direct impact on countless lives.

The fact that this came from a lifestyle hacking guru from Silicon Valley who just published a book on how to kill and skin game, give a 15 minute orgasm and how to live a 4 Hour Workweek…. Priceless!!!

The Slow Carb Diet Better Fat Loss Through Simplicity

5 simple rules to follow

Rule #1: Avoid “white” carbohydrates (or anything that can be white).

Rule #2: Eat the same few meals over and over again.

Rule #3: Don’t drink calories.

Rule #4: Don’t eat fruit.

Rule #5: Take one day off per week and go nuts.

#1: AVOID “WHITE” CARBOHYDRATES

Avoid any carbohydrate that is, or can be, white. The following foods are prohibited; except for within 30 minutes of finishing a resistance-training workout like those described in the “From Geek to Freak” or “Occam’s Protocol” chapters: all bread, rice (including brown), cereal, potatoes, pasta, tortillas, and fried food with breading. If you avoid eating the aforementioned foods and anything else white, you’ll be safe.

#2: EAT THE SAME FEW MEALS OVER AND OVER AGAIN.

The most successful dieters, regardless of whether their goal is muscle gain or fat-loss, eat the same few meals over and over again. There are 47,000 products in the average U.S. grocery store, but only a handful of them won’t make you fat.

#3: DON’T DRINK CALORIES.

Drink massive quantities of water and as much unsweetened tea, coffee (with no more than two tablespoons of cream; I suggest using cinnamon instead), or other no-calorie/low-calorie beverages as you like. Do not drink milk (including soy milk), normal soft drinks, or fruit juice. Limit diet soft drinks to no more than 16 ounces per day if you can, as the aspartame can stimulate weight gain.

I’m a wine fanatic and have one to two glasses of red wine almost every evening. It doesn’t appear to have any negative impact on my rate of fat-loss. Red wine is by no means required for this diet to work, but it’s 100% allowed (unlike white wines and beer, both of which should be avoided). Up to two glasses of red per night, no more.

#4: DON’T EAT FRUIT.

Humans don’t need fruit six days a week, and they certainly don’t need it year-round. If your ancestors were from Europe, for example, how much fruit did they eat in the winter 500 years ago? Think they had Florida oranges in December? Not a chance. But you’re still here, so the lineage somehow survived.

The only exceptions to the no-fruit rule are tomatoes and avocadoes, and the latter should be eaten in moderation (no more than one cup or one meal per day). Otherwise, just say no to fruit and its principal sugar, fructose, which is converted to glycerol phosphate more efficiently than almost all other carbohydrates. Glycerol phosphate → triglycerides (via the liver) → fat storage. There are a few biochemical exceptions to this, but avoiding fruit six days per week is the most reliable policy.

#5: TAKE ONE DAY OFF PER WEEK.

I recommend Saturdays as your Dieters Gone Wild (DGW) day. I am allowed to eat whatever I want on Saturdays, and I go out of my way to eat ice cream, Snickers, Take 5, and all of my other vices in excess. I make myself a little sick each Saturday and don’t want to look at any junk for the rest of the week.

Welcome to Utopia. There are no limits or boundaries during this day of gluttonous enjoyment. There is absolutely no calorie counting on this diet, on this day or any other. Start the diet at least five days before your designated cheat day. If you choose Saturday, for example, I would suggest starting your diet on a Monday.

4 Hour Body Slow Carb Supplement Combo: Click Here

Foods That are OK to Eat

Mix and match from the following list, constructing each meal with one pick from each of the three groups.

I’ve starred the choices that produce the fastest fat-loss for me:

No need to panic you can eat all those wonderful fruits and bread on your cheat day!

Is it Really This Easy?

Start your diet at least five days before the day your appointed cheat day!

Eat as much as you like of the above food items, but keep it simple. Pick three or four meals and repeat them. Almost all restaurants can give you a salad or vegetables in place of French fries, potatoes, or rice. Surprisingly, I have found Mexican food (after swapping out rice for vegetables) to be one of the cuisines most conducive to the Slow-Carb Diet. If you have to pay an extra $1–3 to substitute at a restaurant, consider it your six-pack tax, the nominal fee you pay to be lean.

Most people who go on “low”-carbohydrate diets complain of low energy and quit because they consume insufficient calories. A half-cup of rice is 300 calories, whereas a half-cup of spinach is 15 calories! Vegetables are not calorically dense, so it is critical that you add legumes for caloric load.

Eating more frequently than four times per day might be helpful on higher-carb diets to prevent gorging, but it’s not necessary with the ingredients we’re using. Eating more frequent meals also appears to have no enhancing effect on resting metabolic rate, despite claims to the contrary. Frequent meals can be used in some

Resources:

1. Slow carb diet English/Spanish patient handouts
2. Four Hour Body Food Matrix
3. How to get 30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking up

I am now reading The Power of Habit in an attempt to work with these principles and develop a resource both for myself and to help my patients make long lasting positive life changes.

The entire book is based on this one simple yet powerful principle:

The Golden Rule of Habit Change

Which states: To change any habit we must keep the same cue and the same reward, then a new routine can be inserted.

There are a lot of habits we need to change. Today we are going to focus on something perfect for the new year. Creating a Slow Carb Diet Habit!

Lets take a moment to focus on the key players of any habit change: Cue, Routine, Reward Craving and Belief.

CUE

An action or event that is a signal for somebody to do something.

*ROUTINE

A set of normal procedures, often performed mechanically.

REWARD

The result of an action, whether good or bad.

CRAVING

To want strongly as to satisfy an appetite. To long for, to yearn.

example: I know I should diet more, but every afternoon I crave a soda so I have one.

BELIEF

*Mental acceptance of a claim as truth regardless of supporting or contrary empirical evidence.

notes:

*I highlighted routine because this is where we will be focusing the majority of our attention!

* Remember that to believe something you do not have to have any evidence that it exists. You can believe that you have the potential to be thin, healthy and sexy despite any physical proof to the contrary.

Cue, Routine, Reward, Craving, Belief… Oh My!

I want you to repeat these 5 words until you can recite them without looking at this page.

This is the habit loop: Cue, Routine, Reward! Craving drives the loop and Belief is the secret juice that makes it all possible.

How to Make a Habit Loop:

Find a Cue, Create a Habit, Experience the Reward, Make it a Craving!

To change a habit, you must keep the old cue, and deliver the old reward, but insert a new routine.

That’s the rule: If you use the same cue, and provide the same reward, you can shift the routine and change the habit. Almost any behavior can be transformed if the cue and reward stay the same.

The Golden Rule has influenced treatments for alcoholism, obesity, obsessive-compulsive disorders, and hundreds of other destructive behaviors, and understanding it can help anyone change their own habits. (Attempts to give up snacking, for instance, will often fail unless there’s a new routine to satisfy old cues and reward urges. A smoker usually can’t quit unless she finds some activity to replace cigarettes when her nicotine craving is triggered.)

As much as I love The Power of Habit I didn’t feel that the author provided many easy to digest action steps. The process is easy . Today we are going to go through the steps of our new Habit for 2013:

4 Easy Steps to Creating a Slow Carb Diet Habit Loop!

Let’s look at one habit loop: Beginning a slow carb diet.

Step 1

Identify the keystone habit you wish to change

Where should a would-be habit master start? Understanding keystone habits holds the answer to that question: The habits that matter most are the ones that, when they start to shift, dislodge and remake other patterns.

In the case of Slow carb we are looking at changing the keystone habit of eating.  It sounds complex but it is not.

Step 2

Identify and sketch the habit loop of  our keystone habit: Identify the Cue, Routine Reward cycle.

In this case:

[box title=”The Slow Carb Diet Habit Loop” color=”#4b7c7c”]

• Cue: Hunger, Mealtime.
• Habit: 4 Hour Body Slow Carb Foods.
• Reward: Feeling of satiety, enjoyment of food.
• Craving: Health Feeling, looking and feeling great!
• Belief: I believe that I can be thin, healthy and vibrant. I believe that these slow carb foods and these dietary changes can help me achieve my goal. I believe that my life and health are the most important thing I have and I believe that inside me there is great potential.[/box]

Here was your damaged habit loop before:

• Cue: Hunger/mealtime
• Habit: Crappy high carbohydrate food, highly processed, fat generating food.
• Reward: Satiety.
• Craving: Taste.
• Belief: I don’t believe that I have a thin healthy vibrant person inside me. I do not believe that eating more can help me become thin. I don’t believe I am worth the time and effort.

All you are really doing is creating a new habit loop. We are keeping the same “cue” (in this case hunger/mealtimes) and replacing it with a new habit: slow carb foods.  The “reward” actually stays the same, you eat to feel satiated.

Important Point:

Many people stop the slow carb diet within the first month or two claiming the reward is not the same. People often feel unsatisfied after or during meals when beginning a slow carb diet.  They complain that the food is “boring” or “feel a lack of energy” or “low blood sugars.”  In this case both the habit and the reward have been changed which is a recipe for disaster.

Your Goal:

Keep the Cue and the Reward exactly the same. Thus you must find slow carb foods that make you feel satiated and content.  The Craving will be the healthy feeling you will start to develop, but you have to Believe in the process and give it time.

Step 3:

Belief

This is the final ingredient: you need to believe that this diet will work. This is not placebo effect, this is just pure fact. In order for something to work you have to give yourself over fully to the process.

Take it from me THIS DIET WORKS. I have given this to well over 100 patients and the ones who believed in the process have done very well. Several have gone on to lose over 100 pounds. Others have lost less but developed a leaner more sculpted body.

Step 4:

Reinforce the CRAVING for health.

It is easy to be beaten down by the world. It could be work, our love life (or lack there of) our kids, families, responsibilities, coping with loss, illness or injury, a lost job or fear of future uncertainty. It doesn’t really matter. The point is that a craving comes from a sense of enjoyment or pleasure.

After watching my sister go from 289 pounds to a light and lean 165 pounds she gets nothing but compliments. She feels and looks great this = craving.

Many of my patients who have successfully transitioned to a slow carb diet say now when they eat unhealthy foods they feel horrible. This is not a simply mental. It is your body working in a new and renewed state of health.

Myself personally, being able to run like the wind, feel healthy, play with my kids, know that I am treating my most important asset (time) with care makes me crave healthy living. For the first time in a long time I feel good about myself and this is a huge reward.

Final Note:

ADDICTION VERSUS HABIT

The line separating habits and addictions is often difficult to measure.  And in the case of food the lines become blurry. I will talk more about this in my next post and give you some tools to help you kick the food “addiction”.

But believe me when I say. There is a healthy new you inside just waiting to come out.

Start today, change your HABIT. Define your Cue, Routine Reward Cycle and Believe in yourself and the process!

Resources:

• The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
• The Habit Change Worksheet

“Fat loss MED = consume 30 g of protein within 30 minutes of waking up. Dozens of readers have lost 100 + lbs each; thousands more have lost 10– 100 lbs.”

I have listened to many of the recent media appearances of Tim promoting the 4 Hour Chef and this seems to be his new tag line.  It fits with the idea of true behavioral change: Start with the least amount of change and you will have better compliance.

For  last year and a half I have been providing my patients with the  5 rules of the slow-carb diet. I have had some great successes but overall I would say it is in line with the 80/20 rule. Meaning 20 percent of my patients really roll with it and have excellent results, the other 80 percent I am afraid do not.

So I decided that I would simplify this  and see if I could make an 80/20 flip… My goal is to have 80 percent patient compliance by 2013.

Testing the claim – 3 Steps to Slow Carb Success

So this week I decided to test Tim’s claim and throw away the 5 rules of the slow carb diet as my first step in favor of the new fat loss MED.

Every patient that needs (and wants) to begin a weight loss (or insulin crushing) regimen is receiving one simple recommendation:

Take 30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking up. That is it. Don’t worry about any other part of your day, diet or routine. 30/30 and you will lose weight “I guarantee it!”

Step 1

I have created this patient handout/cheat sheet:

Step 2

The goal is to focus on the 30/30 rule  for 30-90 days (going case by case) and then begin to implement the five rules. I will give this out at the next visit only after they have successfully initiated the 30/30 rule.

Step 3

And then later provide a more comprehensive food matrix:

The Whole 30/30

Surprise, people love this idea!  After just one week of testing my theory I have been amazed by the initial enthusiasm:  “What that is all I have to do” Yep, I say, eat more protein and lose more weight. It is as simple as that!

I will start using my cheat sheet this next week. The holiday’s tend to be a great time to begin a weight loss/slow carb regimen. I like to tap into people’s motivation and get them thinking early about the new year.

I will present my results in a couple of months and let you know how people have done. If you are just starting I recommend giving this above progression a try. Like anything in life start low and go slow for the best results!

If you haven’t already make sure to check out The Ultimate 4-Hour Body Resource for an easy to follow protocol guide! Or more cheat sheets!

You can sign up to receive updates via RSS or email.  If any of this info helped you please share with a like, it really helps!

Today I am going to describe how you can use the amazing iPhone application “Lift” (featured in Tim’s last blog post) to track your 4 Hour Body progress and finally reach your goals.

Step 1: Download the “Lift” App

You can do this through the iTunes store or go into the app store on your iPhone.  Start by typing “lift” into the app center search field and it will be the first app to show up.  Just click “free” or if you are like me and already have the app installed click “open”.  Sorry Android users but as of now Lift is only available on the iPhone, but I am sure it will be coming soon.

Step 2: Add “Slow-Carb Diet” (Just like Tim describes on his blog)

There will be a growing community of passionate users here so I would use the “Slow-Carb Diet” section to post your success (or struggles) and give other people props within the community.  You could possibly use this to post monthly weigh-ins.  But, as you will see in step 3, I don’t think this is ideal for tracking your daily meals or other goals such as your Occam’s Protocol workouts.

Once you have added this it will show up as a “goal” you can track this within the applications main page. 

Step 3: Add Slow Carb Meals:

As much as I love minimalism, I think it is best to break The 4 Hour Body up a bit within the App. I have created several categories specific to the 4 Hour Body. I haven chosen to use the prefix 4HB because it allows me to easily organize my 4 Hour Body goals among my other goals within the app.

I have also created two other categories specific to the book: Occam’s protocol, and the all important 15 minute female orgasm. We will see if anyone champions this category. If you do I will make sure to give you a shout out in the app!

Step 4: Start Tracking

That’s all there is to it. If you eat a slow carb dinner  just tap that option on the home page of the app and then touch that big check mark. It will day stamp your activity and automatically share this within the group.

The app will give you friendly reminders via email if you choose and you can give friends a pat on the back via “props”.  You can connect your Facebook and Twitter accounts easily as well. In the bottom left hand corner (seen in the picture above) are what look like “equalizer” settings in an audio program. This is the incredibly useful “stats” section which is where you can see a record of all your hard work.

Step 5: Place your “Lift” App on the home screen of your iPhone

This may be the most important step. Make sure your lift app is easy to find and prominent on your home screen. Just having to open your phone and swipe to the left may be enough to keep you from tracking as you should.

Make sure you have a quick reference to acceptable slow carb foods saved in Evernote or on your notepad. Refer to it often. I have many free downloadable cheat sheets as well as a 4 Hour Body food matrix that should make this task a breeze.  Also, consider setting up automated daily  reminders on your iPhone that will nudge you to complete your daily tracking

Resources:

If you haven’t already, I would highly recommend Charles Duhigg’s wonderful book: The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. It will change the way you look at habit (and the world) forever!

I have been doing the slow carb diet faithfully since July 30 with the hope of losing 10 pounds.

The first week I lost 3 pounds and was so motivated. That is all I have lost!! I made the mistake of not taking my measurements, but my clothes are not fitting much better, and I usually use my pants as my marker.

I have been working out three days a week with a personal trainer for over 6 years and run three days a week. I am a very physically active person. I am a 57 year old female who takes bio identical progesterone cream and testosterone cream to help with post-menopausal symptoms. Could the hormones be a stumbling block for me?

This is a great question and I feel it best to answer it here:

As many of you may or may not know I have been using a version of the slow carb diet among my patient population since February of 2011. I have put literally hundreds of patients on this diet.

This has been a real learning experience.

Some people begin the slow carb diet and lose a tremendous amount of weight right from the start. It is amazing. Even they can’t believe it.

I have had patients stop mid way through and complain how family members have made comments that they are looking “sickly” and are concerned about their rapid weight loss. This is never because they actually look “sickly” it is just a testament to the amount of weight they lose and the speed at which many can lose it.

There is a middle group, which often loses 5-15 pounds pretty quickly and then starts to wax and wane. Some go on to maintain this weight loss, in fact among this group most do. Some gain the weight back but have an easy time losing it again, empowered with the working knowledge of the foods that are the biggest culprits to their weight gain.

The last group is like my friendly commenter above. They are highly motivated, do everything right, lose a bit of weight and then stall out completely. It is demoralizing and frustrating.

So lets look at Diane’s case specifically.

She is a 57 year old postmenopausal female who is taking bioidentical progesterone and testosterone cream (maybe I will talk more about biodentical creams in a future blog post).

She started the slow carb diet approximately 60 days (8 weeks) ago with a goal of losing 10 lbs.

She lost 3 pounds in one week, kept those 3 pounds off and has not last any more weight since the first week. This means she has had an average weight loss of 1.5 lbs per month. Which in all actuality isn’t that bad!

Should she give up?

First of all there are too many variables here.

The 3 pounds sounds like very little but this is where weight alone can be a deceiving metric.

It’s better to look at this 3 pounds as a percentage of total body weight, or better yet: body fat. Diane mentions she felt little change in the way her clothes fit. It takes roughly 10 pounds of weight loss to drop a dress or pant size. Three pounds may be a significant percentage of her total body weight, but I know from personal experience fluctuations in 1-5 pounds offer little noticeable benefit in the way clothes fit.

It may be reasonable to do body fat measurements but in Diane’s case depending on her goals this may not be necessary. It is important to remember that body weight measurements fluctuate about 5 pounds from the morning to the night regardless. And of course much of this depends on other factors like hydration status, menstrual cycles, dietary salt intake and weather or not you have had a bowel movement.

The other factor to consider is ones baseline dietary regimen before beginning the slow carb diet.

My patients in the first group, the ones who at times would lose 20 lbs. in the first month were often extremely insulin resistant, had a horrible diet to begin with, and had a lot of weight to lose.

One of the most important determinants of success in a slow carb diet is the degree of insulin resistance and systemic inflammation at the start. I may be wrong but it sounds like Diane probably had a pretty good diet to start with. Changing to a slow carb diet therefore does not always solve the problem, especially if you already have a fairly well balanced lifestyle that is not too high in carbs, liquid sweet stuffs and processed foods. And like Diane, high in physical activity.

Also, some people benefit from carbohydrate restriction more than others. Could this be genetic?

CURBING INFLAMMATION

I just finished Loren Cordain’s book “The Paleo Diet” and I think there are some important points to consider here.

First of all he makes a good point for the elimination of legumes and the addition of fruit.

I do think that conditions such as “leaky gut” which are addressed a bit in his book are of notable consideration and I suspect that some people are more susceptible to this than others.

I don’t think though it is the end-all-be-all of all of dietary problems. The Paleo diet is quite hard to follow and is quite restrictive. But, I am beginning to believe this may be a good choice for many struggling with the 4 Hour Body diet, or for those in shape who are trying to lose that last 10 lbs.

The elimination of legumes and the adoption of other recommendations from a Paleo diet have taken many of may patients who have been having good results on 4 Hour Body, over the edge into the great result territory.

GOING ALL IN: ORGANIC AND GRASS FED

Organic and grass fed… This also seems to help some people more than others.

Again, some people likely have a strong systemic inflammatory response as a byproduct of modern agricultural practices and food processing. Making the change to organic fruits and vegetables, grass feed beef, free range chickens, Omega 3 eggs, and eliminating most dairy, grains and legumes can be a turning point for many people struggling on the 4 Hour Body diet.

HOW ABOUT BIOIDENTICAL HORMONES?

Is bio-identical progesterone and testosterone a hindrance in this case?

I certainly don’t think so. In fact using a bio-identical hormone such as progesterone helps curb the natural progression to estrogen dominance that happens in pre and post menopausal women.

It is a much better option than many standard hormone replacement therapies.

At perimenopause most women have just 5% of their pre-menopoausal levels of progesterone, and their estrogen levels may be at 50% or less. I don’t think this is our commenter’s problem. In fact she may need to make sure she is dosing sufficiently.

I don’t have much experience with bio-identical testosterone supplementation in this case, so I really can’t comment. But my hunch is this is not the problem.

ADDING SUPPLEMENTS?

I don’t know if supplements are truly necessary in this case.

It is a fact that our bodies crave homeostasis. Eat a lot of fresh fish and you can forget about fish oil supplements, get enough sun and you can forget the vitamin D3 tabs.

These are 2 supplements I do take, just because when I take them I feel better. I don’t eat enough fish, and the jury on Omega 3’s is still out. But for now these are two supplements I do use:  Vitamin D3 2000-5000 IU per day and two Nordic Natural Pro Omega tabs daily. Many purists will argue against my choice of fish oil, but I find Nordic Naturals fish oil to be of high quality and they are very palatable.

TIME FOR AN OIL CHANGE?

Make olive oil your best friend. Costco makes a great inexpensive virgin olive oil. The garlic one is amazing. There are others but olive oil is cheap, abundant and a good place to start. Coconut oil is also a very good (yet often harder to find) alternative.

THE MEDICATION OPTION

I have used Phentermine at a dose of 15-37.5 mg daily quite successfully in many patients.

I am not a big fan of these medications as many people gain weight back at a rapid rate after discontinuing them.

But, I have seen them work and I have had patients go on to lose 100 pounds and keep it off successfully. Even despite my reservations, I have been proven wrong many a time with Phentermine.

SLEEP , SEX, HAPPINESS, SOCIETY, JOB and ROUTINE oh my!

What you feel inside will make a big difference on how you look and feel on the outside. If you are struggling with depression, a stressful job or home life, lack of sleep etc. etc. This can weigh heavily on a person –  both figuratively and literally!

If you are in a relationship (or not), add some date nights, try to have more sex, it is good for weight loss (and happiness), try the 15 minute orgasm section from the 4 Hour Body, this will definitely add to your repertoire and stimulate those Dopamine centers in your brain for sure.

If you have an old workout routine add something new into your day.

Try a tap dancing class, take a soccer or tennis course at the community college, buy a new bicycle, go for hikes or take scuba lessons. Get your GROUP-ON!

Diane is a runner. I would suggest she take a fresh look at her routine.

If you haven’t already, consider adding high intensity interval training (“seconds” is a wonderful free iPhone app), try trail running, decrease the length of your long runs, add in hills, join a running group, sign up for an event. Make your goals into a social habit with an easy to use app such as Lift.

Mixing up running with swimming or biking is another great thing to consider. Maybe sign up for a sprint triathlon.

Running is an excellent sport, it is not great for losing weight but can be wonderful for maintaining weight and also ones sanity. I have been able to lose weight with running only by making changes to my routine. Let change be your friend!

DON”T GIVE UP!

The struggle to lose weight can be one of life’s greatest challenges. It can be frustrating, and down right demoralizing at times. The truth is that it is possible! It is always possible.

In 9 years of clinical practice I have seen how demoralizing it can be. People reach their goals in all sorts of ways. Sometimes it is as simple as the reduction of complex carbohydrates, at other times it can be as drastic as gastric bypass.

If anybody says it is easy, they are lying.

The path to weight loss has no simple and/or singular answer. It is a process of testing theories, refining them and then a lot of hard work. As the percentage of weight lost goes up it is inversely proportional to the amount of weight and the ease of losing it.

But the essential ingredients are always the same: A mix of determination, and a burning desire to reach a well defined goal.

*photo a 4 hour life adaptation of the original