The importance of small changes

One of the best things about Eat Stop Eat is that it allows you to really take control of how you eat.

After all, once you have gone without food for 24 hours a couple of times, you really start to get a feel for the real reasons behind why you eat, what you eat and when you eat.

Often times, hunger isn't one of these reasons. Habit and emotional connection are usually the culprit.

If you take this new found wisdom, you can create a big difference in the way you eat by making SMALL changes.

Take coffee for instance.

One of the first things I noticed when I started fasting was how much I loved my coffee with cream and sugar (I put up with black coffee during my fasts, but I DEFINITELY don't like it)

Fasting also made me realize just how often I craved coffee...typically drinking 2-3 cups per day.

I realized very quickly that this was the perfect opportunity to make SMALL CHANGES for BIG RESULTS.

My typical coffee was (at the time) was an extra large with two cream, two sugar - which contains about 280 calories.

I slowly weaned myself down to a large coffee with 1 sugar and 1 cream, which contained about 110 calories.

After about a week of drinking large coffees with 1 sugar and 1 cream I realized I wasn't enjoying my coffee nearly as much as I used to, so I switched to 2 cream, 1 sugar..about 180 calories.

This did the trick.

So, thanks to one small change I reduced my coffee calorie intake by 100 Calories, 2 to 3 times per day, saving myself between 1,400 to 2,100 Calories per week without cutting out any of my favorite foods.

In my opinion this is much better than simply trying to stop drinking coffee all together. After all, I enjoy my coffee, so this would have been punishment, and weight loss and eating healthy should NEVER be about self-punishment. Plus, I know that I would have lasted about 3 days without coffee before going back to my old habits, so it would have been futile punishment at that.

Small changes, big results.

BP

PS- the other day I tried a coffee with 2 cream, 2 sugar (for old time's sake)..I can honestly tell you I like my coffee with 2 cream 1 sugar better!

Baby Boomers Waste Their money!

Here's an interesting piece of information I want to share with you:

According to Packaged Facts, The baby boomers and their strong interest in 'the preventive health benefits' of supplements (whatever that means) is what will protect the supplement industry during a negative economic climate.

In other words, the fact that baby boomers WASTE THEIR MONEY on false hopes in a bottle will keep the supplement industry alive even during a recession.

It's a big mistake to turn to supplements for anti-aging.

Anti-aging is becoming a BIG player in the health and supplement industry.

Aging can be scary, but the fountain of youth CANNOT be found in a pill (at least not yet).

Many people beleive that long term caloric restriction is the key to longevity, but others would argue that the toll that caloric restriction takes on appearances outweigh the potential benefits of longevity

(after all we don't just want to live forever, we want to LOOK GOOD while we do it!)

It is a well known fact that starved people look much older than their years. I'm not talking about people who are dieting, rather people who have suffered through true starvation.

The one exception to this would be the fitness industry, where self imposed diets are almost as bad as starvation...anyone who has seen a professional body builder or fitness model up close the day of a competition knows what I mean..they look OLD and DRAWN. This look goes away once these people start eating 'normally' again.

Research suggests rather strongly that chronic caloric restriction prolongs the natural life span, but we also know that chronic caloric restriction makes people look feel and even act prematurely old. This happens despite any changes in basal metabolism or in sexual function.

This creates a true paradox. Like I said earlier, we want to live longer, but LOOK GOOD while doing it.

luckily, the answer is a simple one (and it doesn't involve spending hundreds of dollars on supplements) - mix short periods of undereating (fasting) with periods of normal eating to get the benefits of caloric restriction without the possibly negative physical appearance effects that might come from long periods of caloric restriction.

By combining the practice of flexible intermittent fasting once or twice a week (creating a chronic 10-20% reduction in average calorie intake) with weight training (to prevent muscle loss and age related metabolism declines) and adequate rest and recovery
and you have a great recipe for longevity and looking great at any age.

You also have the precise formula for living the Eat Stop Eat lifestyle. ;)

Fasting, weight training, and a good nights sleep will keep your body looking good and working great long into your boomer years!

BP

(Brad Pilon, 2058)

Cholesterol, Red Yeast Extract and Health

It was about a month ago that I attended a seminar that was covering the health benefits of red yeast extract. During this seminar I heard some pretty convincing evidence supporting the beneficial effects that supplemental red yeast extract has had on cholesterol levels in various clinical trials.

As a scientist, I tried my best to pick apart the research, however that data was fairly convincing. I left the seminar open to the idea that red yeast extract may hold promise for its beneficial effects of lowering cholesterol.

This morning I read in an issue of Nutrition Outlook Magazine that stated that some red yeast extract products have been pulled from the market because they were adulterated with Lovastatin, a cholesterol lowering drug.

Now, this has me wondering, what kind of red yeast extract was used in the scientific trials? Did they also contain Lovastatin, and can that account for the cholesterol lowering effects that were observed?

While most likely we will never know the answers to this question, and I am sure that not all red yeast extract products have been adulterated, this kind of thing does make me even more hesitant about the efficacy (and safety) of herbal supplements.

This is another reason why I like the simplicity of using exercise combined with caloric restriction or short periods of fasting for weight loss purposes- you are getting the health benefits (including improvements in cholesterol profiles) simply by eating less, so you don't have to worry about what might, or might not be, in your functional food.

In this regard, you can think of eating less as "functional NO food".

BP

More on the new book

As I mentioned earlier I've been hard at work finishing off my first nutrition book.

It's just about finished, and let me tell you, this book is going to raise some eyebrows.

Now, I know it's a tired cliche to say that an upcoming book is 'controversial' or 'politically incorrect', but in this case...it's true on both counts.

And not in a 'my book is controversial because I've peppered in some swear words' way, but in a true, 'I've written what I feel is right and I don't care if it goes against what people think is right' way.

I justify it this way - making a radical change to the entire way people eat isn't going to happen if I dance around the issue - I have to go for the knockout. And that's exactly what I did.

People may call me crazy now, but in ten years time, it just might be the new way we look at nutrition

PS- the book is called "Eat Stop Eat"

More updates to come.

BP

Eat Stop Eat