Post holiday blitz, and what I learned while drinking my own bodyweight in wine and eating cheese and pasta

One week ago I came back from holidays in Portugal, where I stuffed my face like a complete pig and let everything all hang out. I went to the gym 4 times to keep myself fit and not drop all my motivation but aside from that, it was diet out the window. I spent the entire week reading, and read a couple of fitness and health books that have been really inspiring and have helped me have a much better awareness of the science behind the kind of workouts Ive been doing (weight training and body-building, less cardio). 

One thing I learned while I was over there eating 100% carbs (damn vegetarian food on holidays is all carbs and fruit!) was that carbs make me feel AWFUL. White pasta, pizza, breads etc - all make me really ill. I felt sick, tired, lethargic and sometimes anxious after eating. Also I drank lots of wine which I had been avoiding and this made me feel hideous altogether. I loved my holiday but I could NOT wait to get back to my proper diet and get something green into my belly.

One of the books I read while I was away was The 4 hour body by Timothy Ferris. Timothy is a life- and body-hacker and multi millionaire from silicone valley, and has worked all his life to refine body building and optimum health and nutrition for a low body fat and high muscle density physique which is what I'm trying to cultivate. The book goes into extreme detail on diet, supplements and training regimes. He's much more focussed on the diet though, and the more I work out, the more I know that my diet counts so much more than anything else. Even though I'm pretty sceptical about these kinds of 'diets', as what he advocates is so close to what I'm already doing, I'm going to do his diet for 30 days and let you know how I get on. Today is day 1.

Ferriss's Slow-Carb Diet

Ferris reckons you can lose 20 pounds in 30 days without exercise, by introducing what he calls a "slow-carb" diet. I'm always allergic to anything that promises a quick-fix, but the rules are are simple, intuitive, and tried and tested (see the 4 hour body forums), and worth a try. 

Here's what you have to cut out: white bread, white rice, potatoes, and other white carbs, whole grains and steel-cut oats, all fruit and dairy (except cottage cheese). This will be a challenge for me as I have porridge most days for breakfast :( I dont think I'll be sticking rigidly to the diet beyond a couple of weeks, by I'm going to try as much as possible to stick to it initially and test the theory.

He also suggests eating the same small meals over and over and over again.

He allows two glasses of red wine each night (preferably a dry Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, or Merlot). “Red wine is by no means required for this diet to work, but it’s 100% allowed (unlike white wines and beer, both which should be avoided).” Lucky for me as I love red wine, but have been limiting my intake seriously over the last while, and doubt I'll be having two glasses a night....

Finally he allows for one full binge day per week, where you break all the rules and have what you like, but you use supplements, food (like cinnamon) and exercise to keep your blood sugar regular and ensure your body doesnt store the binge food as fat. This is explained in detail in the book and is fascinating science so I'm going to try it.

Other stuff in the 4 hour body

Another thing I'm going to take from the book is the use of supplements, which I havent used before. He recommends the use of a fat-burning stack called PAGG. PAGG is a combo of 4 different supplements, taken in a combination at particular doses: Policosanol, Alpha-Lipoic Acid, Green Tea Extract and Garlic. All these simply increase your body's ability to burn fat. If youre interested in finding out more about the science behind this, just google PAGG stack. I'll also be supplementing with Magnesium. 

He also advocates something that I'm going to try but am not happy about: cold showers. He talks in detail about how plummeting temperatures can significantly help with fat burning. But really I am just excited about the challenge of cold showers, because I'm a cold creature and always tend to have boiling hot showers and HATE the cold. It'll be good for my mind to overcome the discomfort, so Im happy to try this without the fat loss benefits.... well, happy is a strong word... :)

Day 1:

Breakfast: Poached eggs with roasted tomato
Lunch: Giant salad with lentils and chickpeas
Dinner: Taco salad and roasted sweet potato chips
Snacks: Nuts