Two sayings that I hear frequently are... “I’ve never won anything before” and “I’ve tried every diet and nothing works.” I always want to ask the speaker clarifying questions about their experiences. For instance... “I’ve never won anything before.” Do you mean a raffle? a lottery prize? a sporting event game? a board game? a trophy? an essay contest in school? What is your definition of “winning?” I bet you’ve won something before... but stating that “I’ve never won anything before” has a context.
“I’ve tried every diet but nothing works” leaves me asking questions... what does “a diet working” mean to you? Is it just weight loss? or does it also include improving your cholesterol levels? or increasing your energy levels? or did this diet work for a temporary period of time, then when it was stopped, you returned to your original status? I bet that every diet tried (for a significant amount of time) had successes, even though they maybe difficult to see in a mirror... like lowering LDL cholesterol levels, or stable insulin/glucose levels.
Morgan Spurlock’s 30-day binge on McDonalds’ food items allowed us to observe what this diet does/could do to weight, emotions, physical pains, blood work, and organs. By the end of the experiment his weight increased by 25 pounds, his triglyceride and LDL levels sky rocketed, and doctors were pleading for him stop the project before his liver failed. The full picture of his health was on display... well, what if the reverse happened... say someone voluntarily puts their body on a diet for 30 days tracking every way that way their body responds to the dietary treatment? John Bradley, recently placed his competitive cyclist body through 6 different diets, each diet had his full commitment for 6 weeks. The diet (in chronological order) are as follows...
The Abs Diet - emphasizes foods high in protein and good fats, while eliminating all simple carbohydrates. If you keep to this diet, you’ll be healthy, and develop six pack abs (?). Every day consisted of three meals, and three snacks were the daily routine.
The Paleo Diet - Created for the ultimate endurance athlete! This diet was always an interest to John since he was already an intense cyclist. The Paleo diet consisted of raw veggies, game meats, no processed foods, and only allowed carbohydrates during physical activity.
The Mediterranean Diet - The first one I recognized... filled with red wines, fresh produce, nuts, whole grains, fish and olive oil. Avoids calorie counting, encourages social meals, and promotes a diet that takes time to prepare, cook and consume.
The Okinawa Program - Inspired by the diets consumed by the “longest lived people on earth,” the Okinawans in Japan. The diet has the likeness of a traditional Japanese diet, chicken, fish, brown rice, and a large amount of soy products.
The Nutritionist - A diet that was formed by a certified nutritionist and John, by looking at his family history and personal energy needs. The diet ended up being a balance of protein, carbohydrates, and fats.
mypyramid.gov - I never really considered this a diet method, but I guess it is. I have the bad habit of referring to the food guide pyramid as a tool to maintain weight. He used the website to guide him in eating a balance of every food group.
John researched each diet before he began, like reading The ABS Diet book or setting up various meetings with a nutritionist. To gauge the effects of each diet he kept a daily food journal and tracked his weight, body fat percentage, triglyceride levels, cholesterol level, and LDL cholesterol:HDL cholesterol ratio.
A few things to note about John’s experimental procedure.
He started each diet the day after ending the previous one, so the effects maybe slightly bias.
He continued a physical activity regime for cycling
He synced the diet so that he could have 3 weeks for his wedding and honeymoon and a week for during the holidays, at the end of these diet vacations, he began on of the new diets (meaning he did not stop in the middle of a plan, and go back on, each diet received its entire 6 weeks, uninterrupted)
I could go into the results now... but instead I’m interested to hear your hypothesis. What diet do you think will be the “most successful” in terms of all the different health aspects he will be recording? Perhaps a bit more detailed, which diet plan caused John’s cholesterol to reach 217 (one does in fact do this)? What diet worked his total body fat to 5%?!?!! Share your thoughts, next Thursday, I will share the results.
I am dying to know!!! The athletes I counsel through SportFuel do really well on the Paleo Diet (or a modified version). I wonder if Bradley had game meats that were grass-fed and grass-finished!?
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