Observations After the First Cheat Meal

Hi,

It is late Sunday night and I wanted to share about yesterday's cheat meal and the later body reactions I observed and recorded.

First I want to explain the purpose of the cheat meal on my veggies and protein diet which is, essentially, a low-carb program.  (I'm not going to get technical -- because at the moment I can't find the original sources I read on these ideas. Sorry. When I find them, I'll post and share them. For now, this is what I remember about it and what I'm basing my program on.)

The best explanation I've heard, and the reason I wanted to try it, was a description of the progress of a person on a normal low-carb diet which often follows a pattern similar to this:

Week one -- six-pound weight loss (oh happy day -- all is well and I'm feeling very successful)
Week two -- three-pound weight loss (still happy)
Week three -- one pound loss, happy to still be losing but wishing it were more
Week four -- half pound loss, happy to still be losing but getting a little frustrated at doing all the right stuff and only losing half a pound
Week five -- no weight loss, but hey, you did not put any on, so that is good (trying to remain optimistic about still doing all the right stuff and seeing no results.)
Week six -- one pound gain -- and you were good all week long -- what gives?
A few weeks of no weight loss and then some weight gain and, man, this is getting harder and harder -- I'm doing everything right and not losing any weight -- so what's the use?
Binge

OK, you get the picture and if you've ever dieted you know exactly what I'm talking about. The information I read said that the diet itself is the culprit because what is happening is your metabolism is actually slowing down which slows down the weight loss. Your body has perfectly adjusted to what you are feeding it and it has gone into "starvation mode" meaning it is not giving up any more weight, no matter what. What the once-a-week, hour-long, cheat meal does is rev up your metabolism again, so that you don't hit plateaus, but continue to lose pounds each week. The cheat meal actually fools your metabolism and takes you out of "starvation mode" so you can continue to lose weight. At least that is the theory that I'm testing.

I have first-hand experience in knowing that carbs are what I call "cumulative." It takes a while to totally remove or deplete them and their effects from my body.  It takes three days for the cravings to stop, because it takes that long for the body to adjust to a lower amount of carb intake. It takes about three days for edema to disappear. It takes six days for the pain levels to reduce. Excess carbs, which produce excess sugar in the blood and excess fat to be stored in the body, which also causes inflammation and pain are still affecting the body for six more days.

All this is evidence that excess carbs are stored in the body. Notice I'm talking about "excess" carbs here. The body uses a normal amount of carbs to keep us going, to keep us feeling good (comfort food), and they are necessary for certain processes in the body but excess carbs are ultimately stored as fat in the body. The Diabetic or Pre-Diabetic person has a body that no longer functions quite properly in relation to excess carbs. It has gotten worn out and is in the process of being completely overwhelmed by sugar and trying to deal with it. It is very slowly shutting down and the medical profession calls this "diabetes."

So, for these reasons, I believe the cheat meal, replenishes just enough carbs for our bodies and brains to function properly (stay healthy) without adding too much which causes both inflammation, cravings, edema, and weight gain.

The reason for the one-hour time limit on the once a week cheat meal is that when you first start to eat, even when your mouth starts watering, your body sends out an insulin release to prepare for the onslaught. Insulin is called the "hunger hormone" because it makes you feel hungry. If you eat your meal in under an hour that initial response is the only insulin release your body sends out and you experience a normal amount of hunger.

But, if you eat (or even sample something) at from 65 to 75 minutes later, your body sends out another insulin dose -- and you get hungry again which leads to a great deal of over eating. So if you limit the time period to one hour (60 minutes) you don't get that "hungry again" reaction -- and you keep your blood insulin levels lower -- which keeps your inflammation (and pain) response smaller. (Think about Thanksgiving and how you could not believe you were still eating after the meal. All you had to do was have one cookie and you were off again and eating more of everything. This was the meal after the meal. That occurred as a result of the second insulin release. If you had simply not sampled that cookie past the one-hour time limit, you would not have wanted any more food.)

There are also psychological purposes behind the cheat meal -- if you know that every week you will have one real opportunity to "go crazy" on your favorite food for an hour you won't feel so "deprived." Oddly enough that feeling of diet deprivation can lead to resentment and rebellion -- at least in me. Having that one-hour long cheat meal, once every seven days means that I don't have to give up everything I love! I can have my cake and eat it -- as long as it is only once a week. If I am not rebelling against my own diet... if I am not in resentment.... I am more likely to stay on the program the other six days. And that also is why I'm trying out the cheat meal approach.

So now. I've had my first cheat meal and wanted to record the observable reactions of my body and psyche -- just for the record.

What I did was go to a Chinese buffet with my cousin Julianna at about two p.m. and purposefully pig out on all the things that I normally avoid and the first reaction I had to this experience was a feeling of freedom and relief. It was almost exciting to know that I could eat anything on the buffet that I wanted without restrictions. It was like being let loose in a candy store. LOL.

I was actually a little timid as I wandered the aisles with my empty plate. First, I very carefully chose one spoonful of fried rice, a couple of small pinches of angel hair rice noodles, and a few of their stir fried potatoes. I also had a little chicken and broccoli. Then I took an almond or "finger-nail" cookie. It was a bit strange to not be in a state of rebellion, but in a state of obedience, while I did this. It was kind of nice, really. As I ate my plate of food I savored the textures and the flavors. They had a new item, chicken pie, which reminded me of chicken pot pie, but it was in small wedges rather than a round bowl shape and I really liked it. Then since the hour was not up... I had a second plate of food.

By the end of the second plate I was beginning to feel absolutely stuffed to the gills. That is when I remembered that I don't really like that kind of "stuffed" feeling. It feels almost bloated and stiff or nearly painful, but not quite. I always feel like the food is somehow expanding in my stomach and making me feel uncomfortable. Then I had ice cream and cookies for dessert.

When I mentioned that I could "feel my heart beating," Julianna did not seem to understand what I was saying. I meant that after gorging on all that high carb food my body was reacting and I could feel the slow, pump, pump, pump of my heart as I secretly wondered if I had gone too far. Since she did not have a point of reference, I just changed the subject.

When I got home, I had to sit in my chair with my feet up and rest. After about twenty minutes the heart pumping disappeared and I felt a little better -- especially after I had burped a really loud one. I laughed and challenged Julianna to beat that one. Her reply was that a lady does not do such things. That gave me pause, so I asked her if she had just told me I was not a lady, and reproved her for talking to her elderly cousin that way. We both had a good laugh!!

At about 7:30 Julianna said she was hungry so I offered to cook one of the steaks I had originally planned for our get together along with a bowl of salad -- but I was way not ready to eat anything, yet.

At a little after 8 p.m. I also got a little hungry so I had a large sausage patty and that was it. I could not face a whole steak, yet, and did not want any salad -- so I just smothered the sausage in spicy brown mustard and ate that.

This morning my blood sugar was 109 but my blood pressure was a little high at 166/83. I ate properly today and had no cravings. That was what I wanted to find out the most. Would that crazy cheat meal put me into craving mode. It did not. Not even a little bit. So far. So good.

I don't want to start applying more restrictions to the cheat meal but I think it would be wiser if I did not go quite so far over board next Saturday. I am wondering if I should cook my own cheat meal next week -- but I'm afraid of having left overs in the house. I will decide when the time is nearer if I will once again go out, or if I will make something myself. Oh well. That decision is for another time.

Anyway. I think this might work really well. I had lost five pounds before the cheat meal, and I put on two pounds this morning -- but my ankles were not swollen even a little bit this morning. So I will record my daily weights this week and see what happens.

Hope you are doing well and walking your chosen path with hope in your heart.

Be back soon,

Marcia