Calorie Density Trial Run

Hi,

In the last two weeks I've been doing a lot of reading and searching as I have investigated the Calorie Density approach to weight loss. In my last post I was not at the place yet where I had given myself over to this approach but I am now at the stage where I have begun to try it out.

I am incorporating the ideas of Jeff Novick, a nutritionist, and Doctor McDougall and his wife, Mary, with some input from the 20-potato-a-day guy, Chris Voight who is the executive director of the Washington State Potato Commission. I've also found a lot of other useful information as I searched around the web following my questions on this subject.

As I read and studied I have become convinced that I should try this approach once again, but carefully. For three days now I have been eating in this style and checking my blood sugars which, surprisingly, seem to be very good. Better in fact, than I expected.

I am eating on the upper "starred" portion of this calorie density chart that I found on the net:

Jeff says that eating in the less than 800 calories per pound category, the upper part of the chart with the star on it, will give you a lot of low calorie food to eat. The foods that should be reduced or eliminated are in the 1000 calories section on the lower portion of the chart with the big X on it. Those foods are high in calorie density and if you eat them and remain within your desired calorie range your body will not be satisfied with the small portions. It is hard to eat low calorie with high calorie foods. You simply get to eat less in volume and have to hard knuckle it to continue doing it. I have always hated the hard knuckle approach to eating, so this is a blessing to me.

I was worried that my blood sugars would go sky high but they are well within normal ranges and are often lower than I was expecting. So I am relieved about that. My ankles still seem to be swelling up, but that may be from sitting at the computer for long periods of time. The county pools that I usually exercise in three times a week were closed today for spring spruce up, so I won't have the opportunity to exercise in that way for the next week. I should probably find some alternative that my knee will allow me to do.

I had not planned on starting on Wednesday but I was on my way home from the pool and wanted something to eat. As I cast about in my head figuring out what I could do it dawned on me that I could stop at Panda Express and get a large side of vegetables and a large side of brown rice and I could try out the new program. I was worried that the bland brown rice would be unpalatable to me for my first meal so I also stopped at Popeye's Chicken and got a side of red beans and rice. I knew this side was not fat free but I remembered that in the past I had liked it and decided I could dilute it with the sides from Panda. Jeff talks about diluting your high density calories with low density calories so that was what I was doing.

I brought it all home and mixed some of the brown rice with a portion of the red beans and rice in a bowl and put some of the veggies on top. Wow, it was delicious! It turned out to make three meals for me that I really enjoyed. I checked my blood sugar an hour after I ate and it was 142. This was a little higher than I would have liked but it was not too extreme so I accepted it as OK.

I had enjoyed the meal so much I decided to go ahead and try out the program for at least 10 days and see how it goes. The next day I made up my shopping list using the guidelines of the program and purchased everything I would need to immerse myself in this style of eating.

The first home made meal I made was split pea soup with an onion, two cloves of garlic, a cup or so of frozen corn (ignoring the GMO issue), spices and a pound of split peas. The pot I had originally chosen ended up being too small to accommodate so I got out my big pressure cooker pot and used it as a regular pot. As it cooked it began to smell good. I kept testing to see if the beans were done but it took 30 minutes or more for them to become soft cooked and edible. Finally when it was done I ladled out enough of the soupy broth and soft beans to fill a deep cereal bowl and enjoyed it. It was very good and I wanted more.

Knowing there was no fat and nothing in it of a high calorie nature, and also knowing the instructions are to eat until you are full, I ate another bowl. I was still not satisfied so had a third one, after which I was completely satisfied -- and maybe a little overfull. I left the pot on the stove for later knowing that as split pea soup cools down it thickens into a kind of paste, which I also enjoy eating. Later that night I finished off the last remaining paste-like bowl and was completely full with the one serving.

Of course, I had gone overboard and with gas-causing beans! My goodness, the next morning and well into the afternoon I had so much gas I think I could have blown up a bouncy house!! Ha ha! But it was unique in one way. It did not have a detectible odor to it. This was new. Gas explosions with no bad odor!! 

When I checked my blood sugar an hour after the first three bowls it read 123. Well within an acceptable range, especially for something that was a carbohydrate. I was really pleased with that. I checked it again an hour or so later and it was 95. Wow! That was great! I think I'm going to like this way of eating.

Today I started the day with a large pile of hash brown potatoes and onion that I tried to brown in my cast iron skillet but I did not want to add a lot of fat to the pan so I put in about a tablespoon and when that dried up I used water to continue cooking them. I also seasoned them with salt, pepper, granulated garlic, and curry powder. They ended up sticking to the bottom of the pan but they were not burned or anything. They were not browned the way I usually like them but I am willing to let things be different this time around. I had purchased some low sugar no fat ketchup and squirted the top layer with that. My gosh they were good! I ate the whole bowl full and did not want anything more for the next eight hours, at least! My blood sugars were also good after this meal but I don't remember the actual numbers to share.

Later in the evening I cooked up some oatmeal and put in some frozen blue berries. It was so good, I had another one. Blood sugars, still good! This is amazing to me, as I had believed if I ate this way it would sky rocket my sugars. I think the difference may be the whole food versus refined food, thing, and also the resistant starch which does not feed me but feeds the good bacteria in my gut.

I got the idea to try this from "Mary's Mini-McDougall Diet" which is potatoes for every meal with a little fruit and veg on the side. After doing some research on the potato thing I was willing to try it out for myself and see.

The potato meal was the most filling, and stayed full the longest of anything I've so far tried so I shall not be reluctant to try them out further.

If you'd like to see where I'm getting my ideas, here are some links to the stuff I used to guide me:

20 Potatoes a Day interview

Mary's Mini-McDougall Diet

Jeff Novick on Calorie Density to Lose Weight

So that's where I am right now.

Be back soon,

Marcia