So I finally finished the 4 weeks on the slow-carb diet, just like I promised myself I would.\u00a0 I cheated a couple of times, but nothing major.\u00a0 In the end, even though I mostly hated everything about this experiment, I’m still glad I went through it because it’s always a good idea to test oneself.\u00a0 I think it was interesting to look at what I eat critically and think about what changes I want to make.<\/p>\n
I discovered that I eat a lot of junk that I don’t even crave… wait, let me rephrase that.\u00a0 I never really ate that much junk.\u00a0 I always had this perception of myself as someone who eats “bad” food because I indulge in a daily treat but comparing myself to the way a lot of other people eat I think I was actually doing ok.\u00a0 We won’t speak about my childhood eating habits when I was a picky eater in a household where the typical offerings were stew, or meat and potatoes and then some more stew, so I supplemented with rockets, or my starving college student days when ramen and cookies from the dollar store was a meal.\u00a0 Since\u00a0I’ve been an employed adult I’ve eaten fairly well. \u00a0I always joke that my favourite\u00a0meal is poutine,\u00a0but it’s actually\u00a0spinach and bean salad.\u00a0 I eat vegetables every day and have never been into foods that are often pitfalls for others, like pasta or red meat.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I thought I was naughty because occasionally I would pollish off an entire bag of chips, or eat ice cream every night during August.\u00a0 But when I watch those shows about overweight people battling the bulge it is always a wake up call to how relatively healthy my eating habits are.\u00a0 Sometimes it is shocking to see what other people consume.\u00a0 But judging oneself relative to Americans is not fair, one should judge oneself according to what is appropriate for one’s age, sex and energy output.\u00a0 But appropriate according to who?<\/p>\n
I think Canada’s Food Guide is kind of a scam.\u00a0 You’ll notice that the bottom of the food pyramid is for bread products, which are forbidden on the slow-carb diet.\u00a0 The\u00a0Canadian government pushes\u00a0wheat and grain products as though they somehow have something to gain from such products being sold… oh wait, that’s exactly the case.\u00a0 One of Canada’s main exports\/products is wheat.\u00a0 Of couse they push that shit like they’re a dealer pushing meth!\u00a0 They’re trying to sustain the economy!\u00a0 Same goes for milk products.\u00a0 The Canadian government does not want us to give up on cows!\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because Canada is full of dairy farms and there would surely be economic collapse if we all decided to ban milk and cheese.\u00a0 So the food guide makes a lot more sense when you think about it in financial terms rather than nutritional ones.\u00a0<\/p>\n
All of that having been said, I’m happy that I’m done with this diet because I can now reintegrate dairy and wheat into my life.\u00a0 But as previously stated, I’m glad I went through the slow-rage diet because it taught me what foods I really enjoy and which ones I eat only out of habit.<\/p>\n
Milk: I really like skim milk.\u00a0 Yes, I prefer skim over 2%. On the diet I could have a bit of cream but no milk.\u00a0 Screw that shit.\u00a0 I’m going back to milk.\u00a0 I won’t chug it like it’s sody pop but a splash in my nightly tea is quite welcome.<\/p>\n
Cheese: Ahh, my old friend, I’m so sorry I abandoned you for so long.\u00a0 Actually I could never completely give up cheese.\u00a0 I cheated a few times and threw a bit of cheddar on my chilly and some feta on my salads but overall I cut back my cheese intake by a ton.\u00a0 Well no more!\u00a0\u00a0Actually this is one of those interesting things the diet forced me to realize: I probably do eat too much cheese.\u00a0 It really has no redeeming nutritional\u00a0features beyond a bit of calcium and protein, which I can get in higher quantities elsewhere.\u00a0 In fact, the diet forced me to\u00a0discover cottage cheese, which is the only cheese sanctioned by the diet.\u00a0 Cottage cheese is in no way as tasty as other cheeses but I think in the future I’ll examine my cheese choices much more closely rather than just blindly scarfing down an entire wheel of brie just because it’s there.<\/p>\n
White carbs: Interesingly I did not miss any of these products.\u00a0 Didn’t miss bread, didn’t miss pasta, didn’t miss rice, didn’t even miss potatoes, which I’ve always thought of as a favourite food.\u00a0 But now that the diet is over I won’t avoid them like the plague either.\u00a0 At one point in the diet I was given a free lunch and part of it contained pasta salad.\u00a0 I actually threw that part out.\u00a0 Yeah! I know, right?!?!\u00a0 I couldn’t believe it either.\u00a0 I seriously threw perfectly good food into the garbage.\u00a0 In the future I won’t be so wasteful.\u00a0 If I eat out and my meal comes with rice or potatoes or whatever, I will eat it, but I don’t think I’ll buy that stuff for home anymore.\u00a0 It was actually quite fascinating to see that I had absolutely no cravings for white carbs, so I might as well stop eating them.\u00a0 That having been said, chilly is better with garlic bread, and peanut butter is better on toast (as opposed to celery) so maybe I’ll buy a loaf of bread and freeze it, only taking out slices when I want them.<\/p>\n
Sugar:\u00a0 SUGAR!!!!\u00a0 The bf jokes that I’m a cookie addict but I didn’t miss cookies.\u00a0 I missed licorice.\u00a0 Interestingly I’ve never considered myself to be all that into chocolate, but on my sanctioned cheat days I always had a chocolate bar (or two).\u00a0 Also, jelly beans.\u00a0 I don’t know what sort of magical fairy queen invented jelly bellys but dude, that shit is delicious!\u00a0 OMG, my mouth is watering just writing about it.\u00a0 So yes, sugar will come back.\u00a0 But no, I won’t eat a fuck ton everyday, which I never really did to begin with.\u00a0 In fact, for years I’ve abstained from certain sources of sugar that alot of people don’t even think about, such as soda and certain dressings.\u00a0 And\u00a0I’ve\u00a0 never been into coffee, thus I’ve avoided the whole Starbucks super latte mega frappe kill your children grande trend.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fruit: The reason fruit was banned from the diet is because of its sugar content.\u00a0 Even natural sugar is apparently bad.\u00a0 Again, it was interesting to note that I did not miss fruit one bit.\u00a0 But I think I will reintegrate\u00a0fruits because they have a lot of benefits that Ferriss poopoos, such as fiber and vitamins.\u00a0 Yeah, you can get those from vegetables but variety is the spice of life and even though I love\u00a0 leafy greens sometimes you need to take a break from someone<\/span> something to remind yourself why you like it.<\/p>\n Protein:\u00a0 Something else\u00a0I’ve taken away from the diet is that I need to eat more protein.\u00a0 As mentioned, I’m not a big meat eater, never have been.\u00a0 I can’t even count the number of times people have asked me if I’m vegetarian.\u00a0 The answer is always a quizzical no.\u00a0 I DO eat meat, just not in quantities that others apparently find suitable.\u00a0 It was very much a struggle for me to eat as much meat as was required on this diet.\u00a0 In fact, I failed on that front and compensated with more beans and protein powder.\u00a0 From now on I think I’ll try to strike a better balance.\u00a0 I won’t force feed myself meat, but I’ll also try to keep my protein intake high.\u00a0 Having a protein rich breakfast actually does keep me satisfied until lunch, whereas pre-diet I always snacked on something mid-morning or else endured hunger pains.\u00a0 Same thing with a high protein lunch.\u00a0 It keeps one satiated until dinner, negating the need for sugary or fatty snacks.\u00a0 But I think I’ll chill out on supper.\u00a0 During the diet I ate super heavy meals in an attempt to keep myself from snacking and sometimes I snacked even when I wasn’t hungry just because I find it very psychologically satisfying to do so in the evening.\u00a0 From now on I think I’ll go back to my pre-diet days of having a good dinner that keeps me full\u00a0only until I’m ready to\u00a0indulge in a nightly snack.\u00a0 I just really enjoy that snack and see no reason to deny myself, because even with my snacks I think I’m pretty healthy.\u00a0 I might as well eat whatever I want because for me, eating “whatever I want” is not akin to Fatty McJumbotron eating “whatever he wants”.\u00a0 For me eating whatever I want means a nice salad, followed two hours later by a couple cookies and a glass of skim milk.\u00a0<\/p>\n And what about the exercises I’ve been doing on this diet?\u00a0 They’re cool.\u00a0 I found that I can do shorter exercise routines than I was used to and still maintain the same muscle mass.\u00a0 Actually, I exercised more than the book suggested just for the fun of it.\u00a0 I enjoy cardio machines so might as well use them even though Ferriss doesn’t deem them necessary.\u00a0 I also do a\u00a0fair amount\u00a0of exercise in my daily life because I don’t own a car.\u00a0 So now that the experiment is over I think I’ll keep on doing the exercises Ferriss recommends and also keep on doing the stuff I like doing.\u00a0<\/p>\n Over these four weeks my weight has dropped by maybe like, 2 lbs.\u00a0 My measurements have stayed the same, which is to say they have always gone up and down by an inch or so depending on the time of day\/week\/month so whatevs.\u00a0<\/p>\n My conclusion is that this diet\/exercise program has had no effect on me physically but it has had a psychological and emotional effect.\u00a0 I don’t know if it’s had a nutritional effect since I didn’t do pre and post blood work but just going by intuition I think I was healthy before and am still healthy and will continue to be healthy.\u00a0<\/p>\n Wow, this\u00a0is a very self-congratulatory post isn’t it?\u00a0 Truly, I am awesome and you should all strive to be more like me.\u00a0 Forget Tim Ferriss.\u00a0 I’ve got my own diet\/exercise plan:\u00a0<\/p>\n The Nique diet:\u00a0 Do whatever the fuck you want and be happy about it.\u00a0 Yay!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" So I finally finished the 4 weeks on the slow-carb diet, just like I promised myself I would.\u00a0 I cheated a couple of times, but nothing major.\u00a0 In the end, even though I mostly hated everything about this experiment, I’m still glad I went through it because it’s always a good idea to test oneself.\u00a0 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