יום שישי, 22 בנובמבר 2013

Here's why vegans are typically so freezing cold

Hi there everyone,

Around a month ago I was freezing all the time. I was complaining to the maintenance people here that the room is freezing cold to the point that they had to raise the temperature for the whole floor such that me, Aviel will stop shivering...



I didn't understand it, how could I be cold? I mean I was running 8 Km at that stage, my body must have been warm - shouldn't running raise up metabolism? Well the answer is No!

I had to urinate multiple times per night - I didn't understand why.



It continued like this on and on till I read "The Vegan Solution - Why the Vegan Diet Often Fails and How to Fix It" by Matt Stone !! then it stopped!!!



Let me cut it to the chase - It's the reduced metabolic rate!! Vegans don't eat enough calories. They are busying themselves with micro nutrients, organic or not, fiber and all that but they forget about the first thing that counts - Calories - you should have enough calories to have your machine work.

Here are the symptoms for low metabolism as Matt enumerates them:
  1. Thinning hair, dry hair or hair loss
  2. Slow finger nails growth or cracked/brittle nails.
  3. Dry skin esp near the hands and lower legs and feet.
  4. Thinning eye brows.
  5. Slow growing leg hair & beard.
  6. Loss of menstrual cycle.
  7. PCOS
  8. Infertility, miss-carriage, pregnancy complications.
  9. Constipation.
  10. Bloating or delayed stomach entine.
  11. Irritable bowel syndrom or small intestine bacterial growth (SIBO)
  12. Heart burn, indigestion, nausea after eating.
  13. Dry mouth.
  14. Excessive thirst.
  15. Frequent urination, night time urination, strong sudden urges to urinate.
  16. Belly fat esp w low muscle mass and poor strength.
  17. Puffy eyes
  18. Water retention.
  19. Low platelets. 
  20. Low red cell count.
  21. Low white cell count.
  22. Low sperm count.
  23. Reduced size of testis.
  24. Low testosterone.
  25. Low progesterone.
  26. Adrenal fatigue
  27. Tooth decay and sensitivity.
  28. Anxiety.
  29. Depression
  30. Insomnia.

And there are more - way more.

Many people on many diets experience suppressed metabolism issues, not only vegans - they low fat, low carb, low calorie tend to shutdown thyroid function.

He's listing the mistakes that vegans do and I agree that I do many of these 'mistakes' and yes - there's a point to consider correcting some of these mistakes. Here's the list:
  • Not consuming enough calories - When you diet is vegetables based, even if you eat tons of vegetables - your calorie intake shall be small. You can fill your stomach, feel as if you are not hungry and you can do that on very low calorie intake.
  • The cruciferous vegetables that are promoted by vegans because of their miraculous anti cancer capabilities have an enzyme called goitrogen which interferes with the formation of thyroid hormone in people with iodine deficiency. And guess what? Strictly nutritarian vegans don't consume salt and ARE iodine deficient... The good news is that cooking these cruciferous vegetables for 30 minutes can significantly reduce the amount of goitrogens but most vegans and raw-foodists insist on eating these things raw.
  • Eating too many nuts and seeds as well as Avocados. These foods contain linoleic acid (LA). It's an omega 6 fatty acids which makes the ratio between omega 6 and omega 3 too high. LA also is known for suppressing the thyroid function.
  • Consuming too many vegetable oils. These oils also contain considerable amounts of LA.
  • Cleansing, fasting and detoxing thus lowering metabolic rate.
  • Consuming too many watery foods, such as veggies, water melons, fruits. The high water content feels you up w/o many calories. The water itself is lowering the body temperature.
  • Drinking too much water and herbal teas - for the same reasons.
  • Consuming too little sodium. Sodium is the primary electrolyte in the extra-cellular fluid and is involved in fluid balance and blood pressure control. 
  • Doing too much exercise. Many vegans are doing too much exercise cause they believe the more the better, they believe they raise their metabolism - quite the contrary - yes while exercising the body metabolism rise but then, after exercise it drops and I experienced this personally.
  • Eating too many raw foods. Eating raw food means chewing a lot, consuming your calories very slowly so at the end of the day you don't get enough calories. Cooked foods are easy to consume so you get you calories faster.
  • Not eating enough protein, 
  • Consuming too many beans and legumes. 
  • Consuming too little B12.

Stress is a great opponent to metabolism. When stress hormones become elevated, body temperature tends to fall, stress hormones constrict the blood vessels in your extremities making the hands, feet, nose, ears especially chilly. Stress hormones are also diarethic making you want to empty you bladder no matter if it's full or not.

I experience this stress rush about one month ago. I was still in the cold state, w/o too many calories and then at that point I was exposed to some scary something that I wouldn't go into details here. I remember how I could feel my adernaline rush, my anxiety rising immediately to new heights, and then the shivering effect, I was trembling, shivering, I had to wear my coat...  till that point that I understood that there's no threat and it was back to 

He suggests to forget about Joel Fuhrman's equation where you want to maximize N/C (nutrients/ calories). 

Instead he suggests the following equation:

Metabolic Increase = (calories + carbs + salt) / (volume + water content). In other words he's saying that you want to have more calories, carbs and salt per volume and water content of food that you ingest.

He's saying that he too came from this school of thought were any refined food like dry fruit was sub optimal, any form of salt is toxic and if you ate any amount of cooked food you were not quite ready to go all raw yet. But then when he talked to his raw-foodist friends they told him that just sprinkling a little bit of salt on their evening salad can improve his sleep significantly, he tried it and it succeeded.

So my take from all of this is not to exaggerate with the low calorie concepts - I should still have my metabolism working. And this is also one of the reasons I decided to double my fats consumption - instead of 50 grams a day of nuts & seeds - I consume now 100 grams per day. And yes, now my body can burn calories and I am no longer cold.

Yes, whatever Matt is saying is against calorie restriction but actually we should think and re-think calorie restriction - they are lowering the body temperature, the are living the life of a slaw, dead people walking... - and I am not sure if it makes sense.

As I said - this blog is all about my journey into health, longevity and fitness. I started it as a fat slob, I tried the weight watchers approach for a month, I changed to Joel Fuhrman and I now add some calories and less icy blue water.

I highly recommend this book to vegans, raw foodist and health nuts - read it before it shall be too late.

Aviel.




יום חמישי, 7 בנובמבר 2013

The single most potent advice I can give you

Hi there folks,

If you are following a diet, be it nutritarial diet or any other diet and you are always hungry then let me help you - it's most probably your hunger. It's your false hunger to be more precise.

Let me expalin.

A friend who is following the nutritarial diet asked me today how come he is following the G-BOMB diet, eating his salads and still he has these food cravings? Why is he hungry all the time? After 2 minutes I think I found the root cause and I want to share it with you.

When we eat - we feel great, we get our nutrition back, it feels good, great and suiting. That's very nice. Then about 2 hours later - we feel what we call 'hunger'. During these 2 hours the body was busy digesting - that's the anabolic stage.

Then starts the catabolic stage. The body has already digested the food and is now using the fuel. This is the stage where the body is busy detoxifying and yes it is during this stage that we get this un comfortable feeling. Especially if we ate processed foods - we built up lots of toxic free radicals and moving them around, cleansing makes us feel bad temporarily.

My advice to you - DON'T START EATING AGAIN! Let the body detoxify, let it heal, let it do what it needs to do.



Look - the body is like a programmed washing machine. When it's done digesting it starts dealing with this and then with that and then yet with that function but when you pour in some more food then the body stops whatever it was busy doing, goes back to square 1 and starts digesting. It doesn't digest and detoxify at the same time - it focuses the energy on digestion. It takes so much energy that you feel sleepy. 

So I am saying 'HOLD IT!' - Don't, don't, don't eat !!



Get rid of those cravings - how about breakfast at 8, lunch at 2 and dinner at 8 with no nothing in between? yes I mean it - don't snack between meals, don't drink coffee, and of course no coffee with milk even if it's soy milk duh. Don't be a faggot! Just STOP EATING and let your body STARVE for a change.

It won't starve - don't worry - it won't. Cause this uncomfortable feeling that you get? it's not true hunger - this is false hunger.  You will know true hunger. In time you will know - but for now, trust me, you haven't felt true hunger since you were a baby. Just hold on.

And yes the first 3 days are gonna be tough on you Mister fat slob, hu humm - they are going to be hard on you. But then you will get over it. You will be freeeee from all the food cravings and addictions.

Do yourself a BIG FAVOR and stop TORTURING yourself by eating 'only this small banana cause it's healthy' or drink 'only this tea cause it is so healthy'. Yea right - stop all of these excuses and avoid touching food or drink except cold or warm water till the next meal.

Remember that book you got from weight watchers telling you how important it is to avoid hunger and how important it is to have your afternoon snack? Remember that book??? Well throw it. Yes, do it right now, take it from the shelf and throw that book in the garbage. You will do yourself a big big favor. 

Don't be afraid of hunger. Hunger is your friend! When you feel that false hunger - you know that right now your body is busy detoxing, building, healing. Embrace this hunger - it's a good sign.

Stop torturing yourself with those silly candies, coffee breaks and snacks - be a man! Eat only during your meal and nothing, absolutely nothing so help me God between meals.

Love,

Aviel.

יום ראשון, 3 בנובמבר 2013

Lost 37 Kgs in 4 months

Hi everyone :)

Well time for a toast...

4 months ago I was a fat slot. I weighted 139.6 Kilograms, My BMI level was categorized "Morbid obesity" and I was "diagnosed" as diabetic. "Metabolic Syndrome" - the doctor said. It was then that I started my diet. First 1.5 months under the umbrella of weight watchers and then I read the book "The end of diabetes" and  switched to Dr. Fuhrman's  nutritarial vegan diet. My diabetes was wiped and my cholesterol as well as my triglycerides levels dropped significantly. I an physically active, running, walking, lifting heavy weights. I enjoy preparing my food and enjoy it even more when others are enjoying my food. Overall I would say - most recommended!!

My special lady was kind enough to use her GIMP skills again and edit this pic here.

Am I getting too skinny? Don't be shy you can tell me...


Aviel.