Topic: Supersize Me

Last night, I started writing the Anthropik Manifesto; I was quite proud of myself for my analogy of civilization to a disease, and how nature would lead us to expect a single problem with many symptoms. It is the same principle that has allowed medicine to make such strides; applied to societies, it helps us to diagnose the root of all our ills with agriculture. And yet, for all that wonderful insight, I never applied that idea to myself. Until now.

(Most of the entry excerpted)

Quinn’s work highlighted the essential connection between food production and society for me, and so I made a study of food production and the anthropology of food. So my knowledge of nutrition is generally much better than average; I know how to do it. I just lacked the proper motivation. Until now. The last piece has clicked into place, and I now see that everything I dislike in my life comes down to just one problem: my weight.

So I’m going to do something about that.

I started tonight, cold turkey. The next week will be a caffeine and carbohydrate detox as I start a regular exercise regimen.

The biggest hurdle will be commitment, of course. Which is why I’m posting it here. Not only to record my inevitable success story for posterity, and not just because I figure it’ll make a good read (though, I think it just might). I am most committed to those things where I perceive there to be an audience depending on me to pull through, expecting to see me do it. That has always been my best motivation, and so I’m putting it to use here. By laying bare my biggest, darkest problems publicly before the entire Web to mock and shame, I’m providing myself the best motivation I’ve ever had: not letting down all my fans.

Most people don't know this, but in sufficient quantities, caffeine causes hallucinations.

Most people don't know this, but in sufficient quantities, caffeine causes hallucinations.

I started tonight, cold turkey. The next week will be a caffeine and carbohydrate detox as I start a regular exercise regimen.

on edit: mcdonalds has one semi-semi-saving grace, and it is their sweet and sour sauce. if i could get a lifetime supply i would be a nicer person.

What the Count forgot to tell you, is that he developed colon cancer from years and years of eating sugar-coated chocolate crap (with marshmellows).

This explains so much... I was listening to this bizarre They Might Be Giants song, "Hovering Sombrero," (lyrics here) and I thought to myself, "Now this HAS to have something to do with drugs." But my friend Meagan assured me that TMBG didn't do drugs. But they ARE addicted to coffee. So now I'm thinking: caffiene hallucination. It's the only explanation, really.

He introduced the term 'Glycemic Load' to express not only the amount of sugar entering the bloodstream -- but the amount of sugar released relative to the amount of food overall. Just an example... parsnips have a GI of 97 -- sounds bad. But they only have a GL of 12 (<10 Low, 11-19 Med 20+ High).

He also created his own food pyramid including a bottom row of exercise, Whole grains and plant oils at most meals, Vegetables, 'in abundance', Fruit 2-3/day, Nuts & Legumes 1-3/day, Fish, Poultry, Eggs, 0-2/day, Dairy or Calcium supp 1-2 Day, and then red meat, butter, white rice, pasta, potatoes, white bread, sweets all listed as 'use sparingly.'

The whole thing just seems to be a very reasonable application of what we know as opposed to the (oh so common) 'one factor' diet fads.

And Jason, eating no carbohydrates is going to take you to Ketosis Central.

actually i doubt the sugar would give you colon cancer. the milk and steak you put on top of it would though.

More studies can be found doing a search on www.pubmed.org

sounds similar to the food pyramid revision i've heard. of course meat was completely off of it. and if you factor in toxicity, we should probably take fish off this one too....

Yea, Jay, how's it going?

No, steak gives you cholesterol, not cancer. There's a difference.

Seriously, though, a no-carb diet sustained for years will run you into the ground and turn your blood into toxic goop. But it will also make you very thin. I was quite overweight, and had good blood, so I could afford to run up my cholesterol a bit to lose some weight. That's what I did.

In diets that contain fewer than 900 calories, all food eaten including protein and fat is broken down into glucose to provide fuel for the body. Protein and fat are very expensive fuels for your body. You can only convert 70 percent of the protein and 30 percent of the fat you eat to glucose. The nitrogen from the protein is excreted in the urine. This leaves no protein for repair or maintenance of muscles and organs. Also, in diets containing fewer than 130 grams of carbohydrates, ketosis occurs and your body starts breaking down muscle and lean tissue to provide glucose for brain and nerve fuel. Your body's first need is for fuel. Your body's use of dietary fuels cannot be changed drastically by altering your diet.

Your body can and does take stored fat (as triglycerides) and incompletely breaks it down into ketones, which can be used as a fuel source for muscles and organs. To completely breakdown body fat, you need glucose and oxygen. If glucose is not available for fuel by your limiting dietary carbohydrates, your body learns to run on ketones, but your brain doesn't. Your brain gets sluggish because it only runs on glucose. Your body starts breaking down muscle and organ tissue to provide the needed glucose for brain tissue. Protein contains glucose in its structure and it can be scavenged for use by the brain and nerves. Quick weight loss diets claim they spare muscle protein, but they don't. A diet high in protein and low in carbohydrates does not spare muscle protein from being broken down, unless you eat enough carbohydrate. As you continue on a high protein, low carbohydrate diet, the amount of ketones increases and ketosis occurs. Ketones are very irritating to your kidneys and the kidneys try to get rid of the ketones through the urine.

Your body can only form fat out of leftover carbs, and if you're exercising and have no carbs to burn, you can't gain weight from kicking into "siege mode" (which usually happened to me with exercise regimens in the past), and your body is forced to start dipping into its fat reserves a lot quicker.

carbs and protien have FOUR calories per gram, people! 8O

Janene

(Im a vegetarian/vegeaquarian).

carbs and protien have FOUR calories per gram, people!

Oh and the bodies preferred fuel source is glucose, and its stored as glycogen in skeletal muscle tissue, not the other way round

Why waste your time hating someone for a reason like that?

Who cares what someone calls themselves? What difference does a label like that make to you?