Finally giving up those breakfast protein smoothies page

[KestrelSF]

So I'm giving up the last bit of my pre-primal "low carb" diet ... morning protein smoothies. For the entirety of my ~140 lb weight loss between 2009 - 2010 I had the same breakfast smoothie every morning. These consisted of: scoops of: whey protein, "green food" (mostly ground seaweeds), multivitamin; some frozen strawberries, rhubarb, raspberries; and a bit of stevia, cinnamon, unsweetened cocoa with Yerba mate tea and almond milk.



When I started my low carb diet in the beginning of 2009, I topped out at 290 and a 48" waist. By March 2010, I was down to 155 and a 32" waist. I transitioned to a paleo / primal diet about 1/2 way through, which essentially consisted of A- eliminating the 1 piece of 'diet' bread I had a day and starting to cook my veggies in some sort of fat instead of steaming them. I managed to maintain between 153 and 158 until ... the dried fruit incident. They stopped keeping almonds in the company kitchen so for a week I kinda went nuts on dried fruit. Who would think eating dried fruit for a week at lunch could mess you up so bad, but I shot up to 165. Panic, horror, freak out! Going back to my "regular diet" wasn't getting me back down under 160.



While attending my college homecoming, and not having access to a blender, I had bacon eggs and sausage from the college cafeteria. I managed to do a meat and veggies for dinners. One night we even had BBQ with a pig from the college farm. (Yes, my college has a functioning farm.)

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On the flight home to San Francisco, I listed to 5 hours of Robb Wolf preach the paleo gospel and one of the topics was protein smoothies. His take on it was that when you liquify your food, you are gonna get an insulin spike no matter if the carbs are under a certain point. When I got home, low and behold, I was under 160 ... around 158. I was 163 when I left. Yes, I know, trudging up and down the mountain paths of my alma matter could have something to do with it, but still.

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Since then, I've switched out my morning smoothie for eggs, bacon and sausage and it seems to be working. I've dropped back to 155 since then, which is where I was wanting to be. I'm still mixing up some yerba mate, almond milk, powdered multi, green food, cinnamon, stevia and unsweetened cocoa in the blender for something to drink, but may play with that as well. I've also added cod liver oil in the mornings too.

I know I should mix up breakfasts some more and I also think from the trudging around campus experience that I really need to get off my arse and join a crossfit gym like I've been saying for the past year.

So, action plan:

Get some Carlson fish oil
Figure out some alternatives to eggs and bacon for a 'real food' breakfast
Figure out how much of the liquid breakfast I want to keep
JOIN A FRAKKIN CROSSFIT GYM

[queen_sheba]

Figure out some alternatives to eggs and bacon for a 'real food' breakfast


you should make those egg square thingys....i can't remember who has them - it's like 12 eggs to make it and you can add veggies and stuff -they look lovely. they keep for ages in the fridge?
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/forum...-Squares-to-Go

check out this thread for ideas?
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/forum...hlight=squares

AWESOME transformation btw - i'm very inspired!

[chronyx]

AWESOME 'transformation' mate! Well done.

[emmie]

Yes, I used to have a protein smoothie after my workout (at 6 am) to get the protein boost without a lot of calories, but I found that I was hungry an hour later. Protein in 'real food' was always totally satisfying, and I figured that my body just didn't register liquids as 'food.' It's nice to know that there's a scientific explanation for this.

So I lost most of my 180 lbs (340-160) with real food. In terms of breakfast, I usually only have eggs on the weekends. My usual breakfast is tuna or salmon salad (chopped celery, mayo). The protein keeps me satiated. At other times, I'll have leftover meat from dinner the night before, but since I only cook for one, I usually don't have any leftovers.

[MonkeyGuy]

Nice transformation, well done!!

I don't think there is evidence, however, of an insulin spike from simply liquifying foods. My friend has type 1 diabetes and checks his blood sugar constantly, and has tested this theory, and says his blood sugar does NOT spike from drinking smoothies vs. eating the same food.

Also, nothing wrong with protein smoothies on a paleo diet! Just get some egg protein powder if you want to avoid whey. Bacon & eggs are fantastic, but it's good to mix it up a bit in the morning, imo.

Cheers,
Kevin

[Pandadude]

Nice transformation, well done!!
I don't think there is evidence, however, of an insulin spike from simply liquifying foods. My friend has type 1 diabetes and checks his blood sugar constantly, and has tested this theory, and says his blood sugar does NOT spike from drinking smoothies vs. eating the same food.

I don't know if I would dismiss the theory based on one piece of 2nd hand anecdotal evidence. It makes sense that blended food causes a bigger insulin spike, because your body won't need to break it down as much and nutrients will be absorbed quicker. I suspect theres a lot of variability though, both in terms of who is eating it and what food it is.
That said, can't say how big a deal a slightly higher insulin response one meal a day will be! I would shoot for food isolates < real food in most cases.

[MonkeyGuy]

I don't know if I would dismiss the theory based on one piece of 2nd hand anecdotal evidence. It makes sense that blended food causes a bigger insulin spike, because your body won't need to break it down as much and nutrients will be absorbed quicker. I suspect theres a lot of variability though, both in terms of who is eating it and what food it is.
That said, can't say how big a deal a slightly higher insulin response one meal a day will be! I would shoot for food isolates < real food in most cases.

I'd love to see the evidence if it exists. You're right, mine is anecdotal evidence but it's all I've got. Robb Wolf is a smart guy, but I still would like to see actual scientific evidence that liquified foods cause insulin spikes. If you could point me to anything that would be fantastic.

Cheers,
Kevin

[john_e_turner_ii]

Actually, KestrelSF's morning smoothie doesn't sound all that unhealthy. I have a smoothie almost every evening consisting of natural, unflavored whey, frozen wild blueberries, coconut oil/flaxseed oil, heavy cream, maybe some egg yolks and some unsweetened dark cocoa. Sometimes I use almond milk for the base and sometimes I use organic whole milk. It's a nice treat for me each day, and it fills me up with all that fat.

[Pandadude]

I'm afraid I can't link you to any evidence, because it doesn't appear to have been studied and published. I wasn't trying to say that blended foods definately cause a bigger insulin spike, but rather that theoretically it would make sense if it did. Then theres the possibility that it doesn't both theories are equally valid at this point and I guess people will just have to go with their gut feeling. Sorry for being a turd !

[KestrelSF]

Well, I've discovered another reason to ditch the breakfast smoothie, whether the insulin spike happens or not ... I'm so damn full after bacon and eggs that I don't get hungry in the afternoon like I was getting. It's only because I was wicked hungry by afternoon that I had my dried fruit fail. Must be all the bacon fat! The smoothie had really no fat at all. I guess I was still hesitant about how much fat I consume due to the lack of a gall bladder. Theoretically I shouldn't be able to consume that much without one but so far cheese is the only thing that really seems to upset my stomach. Well, other than alcohol, I can't really handle any alcohol at all, but that probably has more to do with the 1/3 of my pancreas thats missing.