New Diet Plan

[KarateKen]

It is 11 weeks exactly, 77 days, until my annual blood test.  To try and improve my health a little before the test I have taken on a new diet plan of high protein and lower carbs/sugars, which incorporates nuts, dark chocolate, and 14 hours of intermittent fasting. I've also added almond butter and kombucha, trying both for the first time today.  Here is a further breakdown:

High protein (150+ grams), low carbs, low sugar, probiotics, daily vitamins, at least a half-gallon of water a day, fasting for 12-1t6 hours, seven to nine hours of sleep no more than ten,

Snacks: Peanut Butter, Almond Butter, Fruit, Carrot Sticks, Cashews, Chia Seeds, Protein Bar, Protein powder mixed into milk or water, dark chocolate

Meals: Lamb Chops, Baked or Rotisserie Chicken, Fruit Smoothie, Turkey Bacon (breakfast), Steak with green beans and rice, whole wheat bread turkey sandwich with mustard, olive oil, pickles, and black olives, the occasional pizza.

Drinks: Water, Carbonated Water, Flavored Water, Protein Shake, Kombucha, Milk, possibly Almond Milk 

In Moderation: Soda, Energy Drinks, Pastries, Fro Yo, Candy, Frozen Packaged foods, Potato Chips, Hot Dogs, Burgers, French Fries, Nachos, Pastas, Breadsticks, Potatoes

 

My goal is to lower my blood sugar, so I don't become prediabetic, I was getting close to this at my last blood test. Also to lower my cholesterol and reduce inflammation.  This diet was inspired in part by former NFL lineman Ndamukong Suh who was one of the few players to play as long as he did and never miss a game due to injury. He played 13 seasons. 

[Nidan Melbourne]

Thats a good plan; the only thing i'd say if you want to improve your Bloods is: 

- Remove unnecessary sugars (Soda*, Energy drinks and majority of the 'moderation' category)

- *Soda: I don't know if you have it where you are, but Soda Water (its just fizzy water without additives - you can make it with a Soda Stream). It is great to have without all the sugars and other stuff that's in Soda (Like Coke, fanta etc). I just noticed though that you have it already as Carbonated Water! 

Keeping your Hba1c (3 month maker of glucose attaching to bloods) down is a big one; which doctors tend to look at along with how you go with testing your blood sugars at the time of the blood draw. So as you go without the extra sugary things (I know US foods and drinks can be notorious for it) long term; you can reduce the risk of running into Type 2 Diabetes. 

I admit I had to convert gallons to litres (yay metric system); 1.89L throughout the days seems like a reasonable amount to have if your not as active throughout the day. But like most of us, 1.8L may not be sufficient. 

When I was in the Pallet Racking World; cold days i'd have 2 Litres easily on hot days >4L. then throw in training; where i'd have a further 2L. 

I can understand why you are inspired to do something similar to an athlete; but you do need to remember that he is an a Professional Athlete who trains 5-6 days/week + 1 Match weekly for 20-30 weeks of the year. And you aren't in that position. 

One thing I have noticed when people do a "new" diet is that they do one that doesn't work for their body. 

[sensei8]

First steps can always be difficult. My congrats for you taking that first step to improve your health.

With any diet, I encourage you to share your diet plans with your doctor. Your doctor might be be able to fine tune your new diet. Worth a try.

Good luck!!

[Nidan Melbourne]

11 hours ago, sensei8 said:

First steps can always be difficult. My congrats for you taking that first step to improve your health.

With any diet, I encourage you to share your diet plans with your doctor. Your doctor might be be able to fine tune your new diet. Worth a try.

Good luck!!

I'd say a Dietitian or a Nutritionist would be a better approach IMHO! 

But a doctor would be fine to do the bloods and give you a direction to work with once results come back. 

The only reason why I say that, is because Doctors aren't trained to provide Diet Advice whilst Nutritionists/Dietitians are solely trained on that. 

If anything if they (the doc and nutritionist) work together to provide a comprehensive approach to your overall health. 

[KarateKen]

Excellent tips, thank you @Nidan Melbourne and @sensei8 for taking the time to read and comment. 

[DarthPenguin]

The other point that might be worth thinking of is sometimes it is easier to make changes gradually and let them bed in rather than adopt a large amount of changes at once. A complete change to routines etc. for many people can lead to easily 'falling off the diet wagon'.

As an example, i needed to reduce my sugar intake (which genuinely wasn't too high) since when i have more than a certain amount it causes gout to flare up in one of my big toe joints (legacy of a foot injury that i didn't get dealt with properly from training!). What i did to start with was replaced any sodas etc. with diet ones to gradually wean off any sugar, then replaced the diet sodas with diluting concentrated juices, then moved from them to sugar free diluted juices, then made them more and more dilute so that they are in essence flavoured water. Also just stopped buying any sugary desserts etc. For me it is easier to just totally avoid something than have it occasionally in moderation. Doing that allowed me to have the odd amount of sugar when appropriate (birthday cakes etc.) without any worry - since it seems to be a build up over time in my system that causes the issue.

I would echo Nidan_melbournes suggestion of speaking to a dietician / nutritionist, though with the addendum of trying to find one who works with people exercising more often, and develop a long term plan to shift towards. 

[Patrick]

Good on you, Ken!

This is very random, but it is top of mind for it because I just discovered something yesterday... do you have CVS near you? If so, see if they have the Sprecher low-cal sodas. They might be hiding in a distant corner, haha. I gave up soda many years ago, and I have never liked diet sodas (or sodas with stevia), so I just rolled with seltzers, which I like. But I happened to see these... and I am kind of blown away. They make a root beer, a cream soda, and an orange cream soda, and are like 35-45 calories for a large can (16 ounces). So far, I have tried only the first two... and they taste very good, just like regular soda. They are sweeter mostly by honey, with some saccharin. I figured I'd never enjoy a soda again, but here I am, enjoying these. Perhaps they would be helpful to you.

On 12/10/2024 at 7:08 PM, KarateKen said:

In Moderation: Soda, Energy Drinks, Pastries, Fro Yo, Candy, Frozen Packaged foods, Potato Chips, Hot Dogs, Burgers, French Fries, Nachos, Pastas, Breadsticks, Potatoes

[KarateKen]

3 hours ago, Patrick said:

Good on you, Ken!

This is very random, but it is top of mind for it because I just discovered something yesterday... do you have CVS near you? If so, see if they have the Sprecher low-cal sodas. They might be hiding in a distant corner, haha. I gave up soda many years ago, and I have never liked diet sodas (or sodas with stevia), so I just rolled with seltzers, which I like. But I happened to see these... and I am kind of blown away. They make a root beer, a cream soda, and an orange cream soda, and are like 35-45 calories for a large can (16 ounces). So far, I have tried only the first two... and they taste very good, just like regular soda. They are sweeter mostly by honey, with some saccharin. I figured I'd never enjoy a soda again, but here I am, enjoying these. Perhaps they would be helpful to you.

There is a CVS five minutes away from me, I will look for this next time I go in there.  Thanks!