Josh(ua Sarkis) Prowse

Technology. Education. Iambic Pentameter.

4-Hour Body: Cheat Day Food Porn

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Breakfast was rosti and bacon, a belgian waffle with ice cream and maple syrup, fresh squeezed OJ and an americano at Manuel Latruwe downtown. Lunch was the Keith's burger with poutine, Dr. Pepper and a mint chocolate milkshake at Boogie's Burgers in Bridgeland. Dinner was gyoza, sushi rolls and sashimi from Sushi Kai in Kensington. My midnight snack was a pint of Ben & Jerry's, an Aero mint bar, a bag of chips and a root beer. Not sure exactly how much I ate this Saturday, but just the midnight snack was almost 2000 calories.

After doing this for a few weeks, I've noticed a couple of very common "symptoms" every cheat day; or more accurately, I noticed symptoms that had disappeared on the other 6 days of the week: congestion, runny nose, headache, and some stomach discomfort. Sexy, I know. What I am now aware of is that when I was eating dairy, carbs, and sugar on a daily basis, I was living in a permanent state of having a mild cold. And it finally explains why all my life I had an annoying habit of constantly sniffling and clearing my throat.

Diets aren't just to lose weight after all.

4-Hour Body: Buying Supplements in Canada

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I have been on the 4-Hour Body diet for just over a month now, and while it is tricky to stick to the food restrictions, it's certainly not a lot of work, and it's a hell of a lot easier than running 5K every day. I will be doing blood and body fat analyses at the end of September, but in the meanwhile let's just say that the results have been striking.

One of the things this diet recommends is taking supplements (the so-called "PAGG stack") 30 minutes before all 3 meals, and once before bedtime. Finding policosanol, alpha-lipoic acid, green tea extract and garlic pills all in the same store, and for a reasonable price, is a major pain in the ass. Online stores often have good deals, but the shipping quickly eats up any savings, and the cross-border delivery always makes me nervous.

After much Googling, I found the above combination at NationalNutrition.ca, which is priced in Canadian dollars, and has free shipping in Canada for orders over $79 (and believe me, if you use the supplements, you will definitely be over $79). The shopping cart shown above does not include provincial or federal taxes, but it works out to a 3-month supply (PAGG once per day, AGG 3 times per day) of 4-Hour Body dosages, at a cost of just over $4 per day.

Even though I'm not taking these supplements as rigorously as I should--there was a period of 10 days when I didn't take any supplements at all--I'm seeing good weight loss results. I'm going to wait until I have the scientific results at the end of September to judge whether this is a body fat improvement or just an overall weight loss, but I feel confident in saying that if you want to lose weight without exercising, this seems to do the trick.

I am eating large portions at meals of meat, beans (mostly chili), and vegetables and salad. I am drinking 2 glasses of red wine several days a week. My cheat days continue to include obscene amounts of chocolate, ice cream, cheese and other carb-based foods (pizza, french fries, etc.).

No Sugar 2011: Blood Test Results Show Lower Cholesterol

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(photo courtesy of nowyou33)

So while I did not notice any fat loss or health improvements by giving up sugar for the first 7 months of 2011, I recently got my blood test back and the results are interesting.

Almost all of the basic measurements were unchanged from the beginning of January to the end of July. I also compared my final July results to a test I had done in July of 2009, and even those numbers were very similar.

In the seven months I gave up sugar, my thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) dropped by almost 50% (1.29 to 0.66), but I have no idea what this means.

My triglycerides dropped by 54% (0.85 to 0.39), and this indicates a lack of carbohydrates, which is typical in low sugar or low carb diets. The 0.39 was flagged as "low" but my doctor didn't point it out as a problem. I'll be curious to know what my new "cheat day" will do to this number when I do new blood tests later this year.

However, the most amazing result is that my "good" cholesterol (HDL) went up by 14% (1.38 to 1.58), and my "bad" cholesterol went down by 20% (2.62 to 2.09). Not sure if these things can be correlated, but my doctor said these cholesterol results were "incredibly good" for somebody in my age group, and considering how much meat, butter, bacon, and other salt and fat laden foods I consumed, I can only conclude that low carbs must have played some role.

4-Hour Body: First Cheat Day

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Today I had my first cheat day on the 4-Hour Body diet. It was also the first time I had sugar since last New Year's Eve, over 7 months ago.

Started with a coffee with cream and sugar. For breakfast: a waffle sandwich with caramel chocolate crackle ice cream in the middle, bacon and eggs. For lunch, Five Guys double burger with bacon, cheese and jalapenos, and a large Coke. Next, a large popcorn with extra butter and a root beer while watching Cowboys and Aliens (that's right, junk food for my body AND my brain). Then a medium dark chocolate and Skor dipped waffle cone with dark double chocolate and mint chocolate ice cream and extra Skor bits from Marble Slab Creamery. Then a small box of Castelyn Belgian chocolates, and finally a triple glass of Whyte & Mackay scotch as a night cap.

Absolutely. Bloody. Marvelous.

(Remember: there are no rules on cheat day.)

This morning I weighed 182 lbs, and at this moment I weigh 189 lbs.

This could end very badly.

No Sugar 2011 becomes the 4-Hour Body

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As of August 1, I have decided to end my No Sugar resolution.

The main reason is that I simply don't feel any different, and have not noticed any change in weight (although to be fair, I probably have put on muscle mass and burned some fat to maintain the same total weight). Unfortunately, I can't make this assessment scientifically as I didn't take any measurements when I started other than my blood tests (and my final blood tests after 7 months without sugar should be in next week).

I haven't given up exactly--in fact, I still haven't eaten any sugar products. What I'm doing is trying a new "slow carb" diet as outlined in Tim Ferriss' book The 4-Hour Body (I highly recommend this book--even if you don't agree with the pseudoscience, it's a hilarious read and it will realign your idea of how you should think about health and human potential).

For 6 days of the week, I will be adhering to the diet rules:

  1. No "white" carbs (basically any rice, potatoes, flour, etc. of any kind)
  2. Don't drink calories (no milk, juice, or beer, but some red wine is OK)
  3. No fruit
  4. Repeat a few simple meals (to make it easy to stick to) and eat as much as you need to avoid hunger

On the last day of the week (probably Saturday), I will be following rule 5:

"Go nuts."

This means I can eat whatever--and as much of whatever--as I want. Look out internal organs!

Yo-yo-ing your calorie intake like this is supposed to be good to maintain a high overall metabolic rate--that is, if you keep a low-calorie diet, your body learns to burn fewer calories at rest (or something like that, I think).

To see what effect this has, I had a BodPod analysis done here in Calgary, and the results are in the photograph above. I have also taken body measurements (circumference in inches) as suggested in Tim's book:

Left arm, mid-bicep: 14.5
Right arm, mid-bicep: 14
Waist, at navel: 37.25
Hips, widest below waist: 36
Left leg, mid-thigh: 22
Right leg, mid-thigh: 22
TOTAL INCHES: 145.75

Tracking inches (if you main goal is weight loss) helps you see how your body is changing even if you're not losing weight. In addition to shifting some inches from my gut to my arms, I'd like to see a reduction in my overall body fat percentage, in addition to gaining another 5 to 10 pounds of muscle mass by this time next year.

I feel bad about giving up my New Year's Resolution, but I think this diet will be a much harder challenge, and I am confident that if I decided I wanted to commit to a no sugar diet for other reasons, I could stick to it.

My First Time Doing Stand-Up Comedy

If you missed me at Broken City last night, I've got a recording of my open-mic stand-up bit for your listening pleasure. It was great fun, though my first joke bombed and needs some work, the rest of it was pretty well-received. Enjoy, and if you are ever free on a Monday night in Calgary, come down to Broken City for a wicked, hilarious show!

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No Sugar 2011: Day 111

(photo courtesy of msmail)

Here's an irregular update on my experiences giving up sugar for the year. Day 111 is as good as any arbitrary month separation, right?

The Good

My palate is definitely recalibrated to be hyper-sensitive to sugar. For example, I now love grapefruit, when it used to taste like battery acid. I'm not having any trouble finding sugar-free foods to eat, and my shopping experiences are much simpler now: meat aisle, dairy aisle, fruit and vegetable aisle, checkout. Just sticking to the perimeter of a grocery store is probably the best advice you can follow to make sure you're buying healthy food.

The Bad

My weight has settled firmly at 190lbs. This is an increase in my average weight--not what I was hoping for when kicking sugar! I don't know what my fat percentage is, but I'd like to believe that my initial weight loss has been replaced by muscle gain, as I'm working out almost every day except the weekends.

In the middle of February, I had two migraine headaches. I haven't had migraines in years, and so in considering the causes I wondered if it was related to a change in diet. They seem to have gone away, so I'm hoping that if the lack of sugar played a part, my body has stabilized.

I don't feel any healthier or have any more energy.

The Ugly

I have to admit a few minor cheats that have helped me survive. First, when having popcorn at the movies, I have been drinking diet pop because I like the fizz with the butter and salt. Alan suggested soda water, which you can get at the theatre if you ask (I did not know this, and they don't have it listed anywhere on their menu), so I will try this next time. My unflavoured protein shake after workouts was making me nauseous, so I am using one scoop unflavoured, one scoop sugar-free chocolate flavour. And worst of all, this morning I opened a plain yogurt and licked a small bit off the tinfoil lid, only to immediately realize it was strawberry flavour, with sugar added (I did not buy the yogourt). So I have inadvertently eaten a tiny bit of sugar, which I am think any fair cop would let slide :)

Conclusion

Considering that I haven't lost any real weight, and don't feel any healthier or energetic, I am seriously reconsidering this resolution. Maybe I'm just lucky and my body's metabolism digests sugar in a way that keeps me from putting it on as weight, or the amount of sugar that was not making a significant contribution to my weight. I thought I had a bigger-than-average sweet tooth, but maybe I was being hard on myself?

Anyway, No Sugar 2011 continues, admittedly with diminishing enthusiasm.

No Sugar 2011: Blood Test Results

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Here are the results of my recent blood tests. According to my doc, everything looks good, with one minor exception:

I am vitamin D deficient!

This is no big deal, and a large percentage of Canadians are vitamin D deficient. I asked if I could fix this with diet, and the doc said no. I need to take 2000 I.U. of D3 daily to get back up to normal levels.

By the way, the whole "you'll get vitamin D from the sun!" only works if you live in a California nudist colony.

No Sugar 2011: Day 30

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(photo courtesy of Perfesser)

Here's a quick update at the 30 day mark.

I've discovered that going without sugar is a lot like golfing: when it goes smoothly, it's pretty boring.

I don't really have much to report. I am still adhering to Alan's Rule, and I've eaten more fruit in the last month than I ate all of last year.

I have about 3 servings of my artificially sweetened whey powder left, and unfortunately there are unflavoured powders available. Yuck.

Last night I made a green thai curry, and added a teaspoon of sugar to the coconut milk (used to cut the taste of the fish sauce). It felt weird using the sugar; it was as exotic and rare as using cinnamon or paprika. (And in case you were wondering, since the green chicken curry dish isn't sweet, it doesn't break Alan's Rule).

My weight hasn't dropped at all, but I feel like I have sugar back in balance in my diet, and any cravings that I have are easily ignored.

I get my blood test results on Tuesday, and I will report the data here. Not that I'll know what any of it means.