It's about food and dieting again.

I have three main topics.  Religion, politics and dieting.  Dieting is it today.

Let me start by saying.  Losing weight is hard to do.  There are so many different aspects to losing weight.  It's not as simple as eat less and exercise more.  In fact, that's probably the most difficult way of losing weight.  I know the struggles of working really really hard to have the diet fall apart on me.

The best way to lose weight and keep it off?  Change the way your brain responds to food.  I'm going to write about that tomorrow though.

Might as well talk about fasting today.  I'm in the middle of another extended fast.  Currently about 36 hours into 84.  I said I'd do 3 days at first so I'm giving myself the option at 72 to have some food.  What a great time to do it, right before thanksgiving too.  But right now, 36 hours in, I'm struggling.  I forgot that I don't sleep well during a fast.  I'm thinking I might need some more water.  I probably didn't drink enough yesterday.  

Why do I do this?  Because fasting is the best way to burn fat, In my opinion.

If you are just joining me on my blog experience, on May 13 I started a Ketogenic diet.  I eat less than 20g of carbs per day.  My primary fuel source is ingested fat or stored fat.  I started at just over 220lbs and am now down to just under 190.  That thirty pounds took a little less than 3 months to lose and I've kept it off since.   I've never been able to do that with a diet before.  I've done 3 other diets in the past ten years.  Every time I had lost around 30 pounds.  But then I let up a little on what I could eat and then I let up a little more.  And then eventually...every time...it all came back.  So far with this one....it's not come back.  But if it does....I'm not concerned.   Why not?

Simplified version here....when you eat food your body uses it as fuel.  It starts with Carbohydrates.  Your body stores carbs as glucose in your blood first, then your muscles.  If you use up all the glucose in your blood, you will run of the stores in your muscles.  When that runs out, your body is forced to burn fat.  Being in fat burning mode is a state called Ketosis.  I've been in it for 6 months.  I use fat/protein for fuel.  But the same thing happens, if you ingest fat, your body will use it for fuel first.  What happened for me was, over the past few weeks, I haven't been exercising enough (foot injury) to use up the fat that I ingested.  And I love me some meats and cheeses.  So I'd been snacking (which you don't have to do while on keto) and I saw my weight start to creep up by a couple pounds.  No worries though, after 36 hours I'm back under 190.  Healthy?  Absolutely.  I'm a fat burner.  I'm not starving.  I eat myself.  That's how our bodies were designed.

But really, I don't need to fast.  I don't have a weight problem.  I'm in the best physical shape of my life.  Other than a foot injury....

I'm fasting to cut the snacking out.  I would argue that food is much more of a drug to anyone today than it is for nutrition.  I constantly eat.  If you saw how much fatty foods I eat, you'd be pissed.  You'd think I should be huge.  But eating fat does not cause you to get fat.  In fact, eating fat causes you to lose fat.

Think of it like a fire.  There's wood burning, that's fat.  Throw a piece of paper on that fire and that fire is going to burn immediately.  That's how carbs work.  As soon as you introduce carbs into your diet, you will use those for fuel instead of your stored fat.  Well,  why can't you just eat a low fat diet.  No.  Science has proven low fat diets don't work.   And have you ever tried low fat food?  Tastes like that paper you threw on the fire.  I particularly love this easy to read article about why your low fat diet doesn't really work.  

75% of the food in the grocery store has added sugar to it.  Why?  Because sugar, like sex, sells.  And Americans are eating it up.  All the food that you "love" your body hates it.  It's your brain that loves it and you've got an addiction.  You know that chip commercial?  Bet you can't eat just one?  They knew what they were asking.  You can't.   Do you know why they put marshmallows in lucky charms?  It's not for the taste.  Marshmallows are cheaper than oats.  The take up more space.  The food industry profits.  The food industry profits big time.  I sure hope you aren't getting dietary advice from an industry that's designed to make money off of you.

Ok.  I'm done.  It's a lot to digest and I've given you a lot to chew on.