The maddening logic of metabolism struck again this week. I ate according to my low carb diet all week -- no splurges, no wild indulgences, no day out of the norm. For the week, I averaged 1,727 calories, 139g fat, 26g net carbs, and 91g protein per day. That average daily calorie total was significantly lower than for past five weeks, and the macro-nutrient percentages were about the same. All in all, a great week of sensible low-carb eating, and yet I gained a bit of weight, tipping … [Read more...]
Book collects the evidence behind ketogenic diets
If you're into the science of low-carbohydrate eating, and haven't already done so, you may want to pick up a copy of A. Simmonds' Principia Ketogenica: Low Carbohydrate And Ketogenic Diets - Compendium Of Science Literature On The Benefits. The Kindle version linked to here is currently selling for 99 cents. I'm not sure how long it will be available at that price. It's a fantastic deal -- over 300 pages of hardcore nutrition science for less than a buck! (Update: the price has gone up, but … [Read more...]
A real person eating (mostly) real food
One day, in a fit of flexibility, I changed the tag-line of my blog from whatever it used to be to "a real person eating (mostly) real food." I feel I ought to explain -- to define my terms, or at least try to. First, what do I mean by a "real person"? I mean me, of course, good ol' Jim Anderson -- as ordinary a guy as you will ever meet, with an ordinary name, the son of a factory-working man and a home-making woman. A guy born in a city whose name denotes a hard, sharp, slivered rock -- the … [Read more...]
My low-carb week in review: March 22-28, 2015
I lost 3.6 pounds this week. (Correction! I only lost 2.4 pounds for the week, going from 227.2 to 224.8. I had the wrong number in mind for the previous week. I apparently was looking back two weeks. JA, 4-26-15.) I'm happy about the drop, of course, but wary. Was that all fat, or was some of it water? Based on my past experience, I mistrust any weight loss greater than two pounds per week. It's likely to be followed by a week of little or no weight loss. But, then, 3.6 pounds lost this week, … [Read more...]
Whole grain consumption and/or many other factors may help you live longer
From the headlines, you'd think that just eating more whole grain would enable you to live to a very ripe old age. "Eat Whole Grains For A Long Life, New Study Says" (Forbes). "Fiber From Whole Grains Linked To Longer Life" (Huffington Post) "More Whole Grains May Boost Life Span" (WebMD) It turns out that things are more complicated than the headlines. There are many factors determining when you bid the world good-bye, with how much whole grain you chewed your way through possibly being … [Read more...]
My low-carb week in review: March 15-21, 2015
It was a good week. I kept my daily averages to 34 net carbs and just under 2,000 calories, with 73% of my calories coming from fat, all identical to the week before. (If nothing else, I'm consistent!) As a result, I lost almost two pounds. My weight dropped from 229 to 227.2 pounds. For my low-carb reboot, now entering its third week, I'm down 4.8 pounds. There were a couple challenges. On Thursday, we ate out at our favorite Chinese restaurant in the area, which had been closed a year … [Read more...]
My low-carb week in review: March 8-14, 2015
The table here shows my average daily intake of fat, carbs, and protein for the week of March 8 to March 14, 2015. This was the first full week of my low-carb reboot. Not that I ever stopped eating a reduced carbohydrate diet in general, but I 'd gotten a bit lax and allowed some "carb creep." I was probably eating excessive protein, too. As a result, my weight loss that began in 2011 had stopped and then reversed itself. I'd gone from a low of 207 pounds in early 2012 back up to 232 pounds. … [Read more...]
Red meat and colon cancer: what’s the real risk?
Life is full of risks -- some real and some statistical. Most of the risks claimed by observational studies fall into the statistical category. By "statistical," I mean "imaginary." For instance, a study published yesterday in JAMA Internal Medicine (online) entitled "Vegetarian Dietary Patterns and the Risk of Colorectal Cancers" suggests that eating a vegetarian diet will reduce a person's risk of getting colon cancer by over 20% . Or to put it the other way around, regularly eating red meat … [Read more...]
Walnuts in a healthy low-carb diet
Walnuts are a good low-carb food. Like peanuts and almonds, walnuts provide protein, fat and fiber with relatively few net-carbs per serving. For instance, a quarter cup of walnuts has two grams of net-carbs (four grams of total carbohydrates minus two grams of fiber). Taste and Cost Some people find walnuts bitter. I admit I prefer the taste of roasted almonds and peanuts, and seldom eat walnuts as a stand-alone snack. The big drawback to walnuts is cost. Many consumers only encounter walnuts … [Read more...]
A new season, same old me
I'm a faithless blogger, perhaps, but a faithful low-carb eater. The lack of entries here has nothing to do with any back-sliding or change of approach in my way of eating. I continue to avoid starches and most grains in my diet, and the pounds have stayed off. Winter, spring, summer, fall -- the seasons roll by and I keep to the low-carb course. It's just how I am now. I don't think about it much, which is probably why I don't write about it much. Then, I will encounter someone at work who … [Read more...]