Elaine bought me 'The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing' by Dr Philip Maffetone for my birthday. Not only does he talk about training, but there is also a large section on diet.
Dr Maffetone's main diet theme is to avoid processed carbohydrates. His advice is that you should not buy food from any of the aisles in supermarket because all that food is not good for you. In particular he singles out Bread, Cereal, Milk, Pasta, White Rice, Desserts and Soft drink. He also does not like fruit juice, potatoes and corn (high GI and too many starches). Instead he wants you to have foods high in protein and dietary fats. You should buy as many different colored vegetables as possible, eggs, nuts, avocados, bacon, cheese, sour cream, meat and fish (wine, coffee & tea).
In fact he attributes nearly every unhealthy symptom (even dental decay) to an overload of processed carbohydrates. He advises a two week test where you try to avoid all carbohydrates to allow your insulin levels to stabilise and your body to adjust. During this time all your unwanted symptoms such as intestinal distress, bloating, irregular bowel movements, insomnia, fatigue should disappear and weight loss also usually occurs. After the 2 weeks, you can slowly start re-introducing carbohydrates and take note of which foods cause symptoms to reappear.
With only 2 weeks before Elaine's work Christmas Party, she was very keen to start the 2 week test straight away. We are now just over a week into the test and Elaine is feeling much better and has lost 2 kilograms. Unfortunately, I discovered this morning that I have lost 3 kilograms, and I didn't have any extra weight that I could afford to lose - I'm now down to 75.9kg (190cm tall). So in the interest of good health I just had 2 Tim Tams and am currently drinking a beer.
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