The first of many nutrition rants

For a couple of years now I’ve been following (by that I mean ‘interested in’) the 40 30 30 diet composition. Many people know this as the “Zone diet” but I first learned of it through a book called “The Formula”. The simple concept is that the total calorie count of a meal should be broken down into 40% carbohydrates, 30% protein and 30% fat. Eating this way keeps your blood sugar, insulin and glucagon levels where they should be, enabling your body to use stored fat for energy. That’s it in a tiny nutshell but you can read much more about it in the book called The Formula: A Personalized 40-30-30 Fat-Burning Nutrition Program. I can’t say enough good things about this book! Though it was written primarily as a resource for those looking to lose weight, I believe it is a diet plan that can be followed for LIFE, regardless of weight. A word about losing weight though, if you want to lose it, this is THE way to do it. If I will never attempt any other ridiculous “diets” after finding this one. If you’re one of those people who has “tried them all” and not lost weight, believe me, you have not tried THIS. I followed the book’s concept in my day to day eating for much of 2009 and I can say that for the extended periods of time that I ate 40-30-30, I had never felt better in my whole life. You can also follow the Zone diet which is the same concept but is structured differently. (The Formula book/plan was developed because of the Zone diet, by the way.) The Zone diet is unique in that you can easily develop your meal plans by selecting “blocks” of food groups that have been broken down into their appropriate portions. If I want to create a balanced meal, all I need to do is select 3 blocks in each category, carb, protein and fat. Personally, I prefer the Formula because it is what taught me all the science behind the 40-30-30 concept, and because it’s what I read first. (ha) I would strongly recommend reading the Formula book first and then combining it with the Zone diet block system if you want some variety. Here is an excerpt from the Formula book:

“If you eat a meal that is primarily carbohydrate…the level of glucose in your body will rise. When large amounts of glucose enter the bloodstream at one time, your blood sugar level rises and insulin is released to lower it. Elevated insulin levels force your body to burn glucose for energy instead of stored body fat. Even worse, elevated insulin levels convert excess carbohydrates into fat.”

Yep, that totally makes sense.

Anyways, as I mentioned, I implemented the 40 30 30 concept in much of my diet over the course of 2009. Yes friends, you still saw me pig out on Little Italy’s and Ali-Oop’s and I will not deny that I have a problem with social overeating. (I plan to stop perpetuating those jokes in 2010 so we’ll see how that goes.) But for the 5 or 6 days a week that I wasn’t stuffing myself for the sake of big laughs all around (is this sarcasm or not?), I sincerely made an effort to eat in a very balanced and healthy way. In order to have a balanced diet in accordance with the 40 30 30 concept, you have to change a lot of “habits”. Some of those habits for me included cereal, huge portions of rice or pasta, orange juice, bananas, crackers, bread and *cough*dessert*cough*. Basically all carbs that have a high glycemic load. They aren’t all inherently unhealthy, but eaten in an unbalanced way, they become unhealthy. For example, if you do the math for a bowl of your average raisin bran with skim milk, you come up with a ratio of a 52 carbs to 9 protein. What??? Is that a joke? That’s nowhere near 40 30 30. For the record, a bowl of raisin bran (and I mean, ONE serving, not a huge heaping bowl) has not once been enough for me as a satisfying breakfast. I always pour some more into my bowl. Yeah, I do. Now, contrast that with a bowl of oatmeal with cottage cheese and almonds and you get 20 carbs, 15 proteins and a satisfying breakfast. (Notice I didn’t even mention the calorie count. Calories are made up of essential nutrients called, ahem, carbohydrates, protein and fat. It is the ratios of those nutrients that are important not the sum total calorie count. ) As much as I adore cereal and could eat it for every meal plus dessert, I’ve found it hard to justify now that I know about the science of a balanced meal. So I cut it out. Instead of cereal for breakfast, I ate oatmeal, eggs, cottage cheese and fruit or a protein smoothie. For those that could not possibly fathom cutting out cereal, I do believe it can have a place in a balanced meal, just like a lot of other carbohydrates, but you have to read the label and plan to combine it with other proteins. For the most part, I’ve found that having 1/2 cup cereal to stay within a reasonable percentage for carbs just isn’t worth it. Nor is it worth it to pay big money for expensive cereal that has added protein. I’ve found the alternative that works really well for me and I have not at all missed eating cereal for breakfast.

Other “habits” that I’ve either cut out or cut way back on are orange juice, bananas and bread. I used to love a glass of OJ every morning until I realized how much of a waste it was to drink my breakfast. You’ll never find health at the bottom of a juice glass, I can tell you that much. Want OJ? Eat the whole orange. (Or juice it if you must) Far, far better for you. Bananas are a littler tricker to maneuver because, well, I love them. Their fault is that they have a very high glycemic load and I’ve learned that they make my system react the same way it would after eating ice cream or candy. Alternatively, I like to throw in half a frozen banana with a strawberry protein smoothie. Voila, balance. And bread, sweet, glorious bread….. I’ve known for a long time what a wolf in sheep’s clothing you are. I”m all for bread, obviously. Who doesn’t like bread? Bread is, simply, heaven. Unfortunately, bread can be very very sneaky. Over the past couple of years I’ve become more and more aware of how selective you need to be when it comes to what bread you decide to give in to. We all know about the goodness of “whole grains” and “100% whole wheat” and blah blah blah. Bread is bread. Some bread is better for you, most definitely but all bread has a high glycemic load (expect for sprouted grain bread, I believe). My simple criteria for a good bread in-stores is one that has no high-fructose corn syrup, no soy of any kind, and nothing that ends with “extrin”. So, I guess that means no bread for me. To be honest, I’ve just completely eliminated bread from my at-home diet. I only buy it for Dave’s lunches. I don’t eat it for my lunch and I don’t serve it, as a rule, with dinner. I would be interested in exploring alternatives to store-bought breads. After all, I do have a bread maker. Genius. And that WOULD be one way to ensure that my bread has nothing in it I don’t want. Another excellent bread-y option is sprouted grain bread. It is THE best (most healthy) bread you can eat and it is so delicious. It’s also astronomically expensive at the health food store. Yes, it is. The good news is that one can actually make their own sprouted grain bread. Beware, it is nothing like the bread you’re used to. It’s not soft or fluffy, rather it’s dense and chewy and nutty and seedy and grainy and sprouty and…well, I think you understand. I’ve never tried to make it but I’ve definitely researched how. Though I’ve found that it’s easy for me to live without bread on a day to day basis, I would be very interested in bringing sprouted grain variety into the mix.

Lastly, sweets. I don’t personally know anyone with a bigger sweet tooth than myself. Frankly, I’m not sure that I know many people who enjoy eating more than myself. But, it’s kind of a no brainer that dessert is bad for you. It just is. If you can learn to stop buying it at the grocery, you can learn to stop consuming it on a regular basis and your body will in turn learn to stop craving it. I know mine has. Caveat: I am fully aware that I have this great tendency towards weekend bingeing and I would actually really really like to change that about myself. As much as my 2009 eating habits were leaps and abounds ahead of my past gluttonous tendencies, I still have a lot of room for improvement. I’m a big social eater, unfortunately, and I still haven’t figured out how to get control of that. I know quite a lot about health and nutrition but I can’t seem to implement it when I’m “just hanging out” with friends. Or inexplicably eating a bagel between services on Sunday. What is WRONG with me?!?!?! Haha.

Good health and well being isn’t everything, in fact, at some unknown point in the future, it won’t be anything. However, I still want to resolve this year to improve my eating habits further and especially learn how to disassociate eating with “fellowshipping”. Oh my word, for example, care group snack. How pointless is THAT?!?!? We do NOT need it. We don’t need ANY snacks at these events. It only encourages desperate social eaters like me. No more snacks. No more chips. No more of the most delicious bean dip I have ever eaten. PLEASE. It only makes me want….more. Ok sorry. Tangent.

I have issues.

Other upcoming blog posts include my adventures with making steel cut oatmeal in the crock pot, more posts about FOOD, a list of things I want to accomplish this year and so much more frivolity it will make your little head spin. Weeeeee.