Phase 2 - First two weeks
Step-by-step detailed checklists on what to do and how to monitor your progress are in the attached [Guide] The guide uses Microsoft Excel. If you don’t have Excel free alternatives are available, two of the more popular are Google docs and OpenOffice. The guide has talking points to discuss with your doctor, instructions on blood sugar, blood pressure, stress, feeling, measurements, foods to avoid and foods to eat. Keeping up the guide monitoring templates is critical on your quest for wellness. The template written records will help you and your health practitioner understand why your succeeding or not.
The focus of the first two weeks is adopting the 5 keys. This involves reducing stress, a gut microbe tuneup, switching your gut microbes from carb burners to fat ones, removing sources of inflammation…including lectins, practice fasting and light exercise. Yes, there a lot of changes to your lifestyle but they are pretty small ones. Even these small changes can result in weight loss.
Hints on exercising – Morning workouts are best. Even better – try your workout with only water, eat nothing before you start. An empty stomach really helps to kick start your metabolism in the morning. Exercise is beneficial on so many levels. The increased circulation and movement gets oxygen, water and nutrients to the cells while removing toxins. A build up of toxins within your body is believed to be a precursor to chronic inflammation, pain and disease. Exercise that builds muscle tone will increase your basal metabolic rate. Muscle burns up to 3 times more energy than fat cells. Building muscle is a great way to increase your BMR. The best part, the more muscle you have the more calories your burn, even when doing nothing laying around on the couch. When it comes to exercise there is no need to go hard, the goal is to be able to do it every day. If you can’t then your are trying to do too much. Pain – if it hurts a little, ok, if it hurts a lot, especially in your joints or you are badly out of breath, stop. Reduce what you are doing by 50%. If the pain persists see your doctor right away. When it comes to exercise more is NOT better as we age. If over the age of thirty aim for a maximum of 15-30 minutes of resistance/weights and 15-30 minutes of cardio per day.
Please review [Foods].
When shopping for food understanding what food labels mean is important. Remember anything labeled as fat free is usually full of sugar, for example fat free yogurt has the same amount of sugar as a candy bar. To achieve wellness, it is just as important if not more so to take bad foods out of your diet than putting good foods into it. Good food doesn’t balance with bad food in the form of a math equation. Bad food is still bad. “I took all the bad foods out which I’m love to eat…I’m starving.” Until your gut microbes are weened off sugar and accustom to healthy fats some hunger and cravings are to be expected.
Week One 12/12 - 12 hours of fasting, 12 hour eating window
You have completed all the phase 1 preparations and reviewed the checklists in the [ Guide]. It’s action time.
Hormones - Insulin
In the guide use the blood sugar Tab to record blood sugar. Pay close attention to the limits, if your blood sugars are consistently greater than 7 mmol/l (125 mg/d.) or less than 4 mmol/l (72 mg/dl) see your doctor.
Your insulin levels are directly affected by carbs. If your insulin levels are high, the body will NEVER burn stored fat. To lower your insulin levels you have to get rid of the carbs. Easiest way to do this is by adopting a low carb high fat diet (LCHF) often called a keto diet. In the guide use the food Tab. The foods listed are not only low carb they are lectin free. Getting rid of carbs is not easy. In week one the goal is eat in a ratio of 30% carbs, 30% protein, 40% healthy fats. The easiest carbs to get rid one are the highly processed ones, like bread, pasta and dairy. A challenge on any restricted diet is making the same food day after day…tasty. There are hundreds of great tasting, free keto recipes available on the internet.
Link to keto recipes [here], [here], [here], and [here]
Fast 12/12 to give your hormones a rest. Try 8 pm to 8 am for the fast period. If you can’t make it 12 hours at night without a snack, then you don’t have enough healthy fat in your diet. During the intermittent fast: water, green tea, electrolytes and coffee are allowed.
Hormones - Cortisol
Cortisol is a stress hormone. If you are stressed your body wants to store energy in the form of fat to fight off the effects of stress. There are hundreds of books on the internet to relieve stress. It doesn’t matter what you do, just find something that works. One often over looked stress reliever is sleep. Try getting 8-9 hours of sleep ever night for two weeks. You will see and feel a difference.
In the guide use the blood pressure Tab to record blood pressure.
Start a gentle exercise program. Track you exercise program in the guide exercise Tab. Do cardio 15-30 min and resistance/weight train 15-30min everyday. Don’t over do it! You need to feel well enough to exercise everyday.
GI tract tuneup/repair
There are two parts to the gut tune up. Repairing the gut with supplements and the removal of foods and the enemies of wellness causing inflammation.
Take the following supplements, vit D, apple cinder vinegar, fish oil, prebotic and probotic. You are already on a LCHF diet to lower your insulin levels by cutting out 50% of your daily carbs. To lower gut inflammation you want to remove 50% of the foods containing lectin. Start with removing all grains, dairy, beans, and anything heavily processed. Next you want to remove enemies of wellness.
- Avoid Non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)
- Broad-spectrum antibiotics – follow the directions to the letter
- Take stomach acid blockers, (PPI drugs) exactly as directed. Apple Cider Vinegar and Tums are a good replacement.
- Avoid all artificial sweeteners
- Avoid all GMO foods
- Avoid highly processed foods containing chemicals believed to disrupt hormones functionality.
- Avoid all products that contain glyphosates ie Roundup
- Avoid any products containing added fructose
Inflammation
Reducing inflammation has two parts, remove lectin and the enemies of wellness. This overlaps with insulin and the GI tract. You are already doing it.
Fasting
Recommend you start with a 12/12 intermittent fast. Why? It is much easier to start with an intermittent fast than a multi-day water-only fast. On the 12/12 fast, nothing after 7 pm, nothing before 7 am. During the intermittent fast: water, green tea, electrolytes and coffee are allowed. In reality you are at most only cutting out only a couple of snacks. More importantly this proves that you can go long periods without eating. If you are still hungry, there is not enough good fat in your diet. Because you are changing your diet and adding exercise it’s helpful to record subjectively how you feel. In the guide fill out the feeling Tab.
You need to objectively see you progress and if you are not experiencing success why not. Remember weight is influenced by many factors and can change drastically from day to day.. In the guide fill out the measurements Tab.
Starvation
The 5 keys unlike most other diets does NOT substantially reduce you calorie intake. It does substitute fat calories for carb calories. Make sure the substitution is balanced and AVOID putting your body in starvation mode which happens on all reduced calorie diets. Reduced calorie diets that lower your basal metabolic rate (BMR) only work for a little while, once you stop, all the weight will come back and bring friends.
To make sure that your BMR doesn’t drop, take a break once every 7 days. Feel free to eat what you want. Once your gut microbes are weened off sugar, you won’t like to eat as much of your old food favorites.
Week Two 18/6 - 18 hours of fasting, 6 hour eating window
Hormones – insulin, no change, keep testing and recording.
In week 1 you ate in a ratio of 30% carbs, 30% protein, 40% healthy fats. In week 2 the goal is to eat in a ratio of 10% carbs, 20% protein, 70% healthy fats. For the average person this means limiting carbs to no more than 50 grams per day. Note the calories are still the same, as your fat intake increases to make up for the lost calories in carbs and protein. Remember carbs and protein have the same caloric value of 4kcal/gm. While protein has a different affect on insulin levels than carbs, protein can still raise insulin levels. Unfortunately, you still have to watch how much protein you eat.
Hormones – cortisol, no change for stress relief, blood pressure or exercise, Press on!
GI tract
No change to supplements. Press on! You are already on a LCHF diet to lower your insulin levels. To lower gut inflammation you now want to remove 100% of the foods containing lectin in week 2. Continue to remove the enemies of wellness.
Inflammation
This overlaps with insulin and the GI tract. You are already doing it.
Fasting
In week one you tried fasting 12/12, now you will extend the fast to 18/6. Try 5:30 pm to 11:30 am for the fast period. If you can’t make it 18 hours without snacking, then you don’t have enough healthy fat in your diet. During the intermittent fast: water, green tea, electrolytes and coffee are allowed. In reality your are cutting out breakfast, and late night snacks. The 18/6 fast proves to yourself that it is easy to go an even longer period between meals/snacks without feeling ravenous. Because you are changing your diet and adding exercise it’s helpful to record subjectively how you feel. In the guide fill out the feeling Tab.
Starvation
In week 2 you reduce your carb intake by 50% and lectins by 100%. Make sure the substitution is balanced, replace the lost carbs with good fats.
To make sure that your BMR doesn’t drop, take a break once every 7 days. Feel free to eat what you want. Once your gut microbes are weened off sugar, you won’t like to eat as much of your old food favorites.