Saturday, December 28, 2013

Not Another N=1

I have some very early childhood memories of insisting my mother make me tuna fish cakes, lamb chops and mince rissoles for breakfast (not all at the same meal although that would be awesome). I'm pretty sure such a nutrient (not to mention) fat dense breakfast would have fueled me up for the day ahead, but, sadly, that part I can't really remember. I do know that I got side-tracked from this diet somewhere along the line and spent the next 30 years in a carbohydrate induced haze. For a few years I was even vegetarian (horror), during which time I consumed an appalling amount of “healthy” soy.

Early morning, south coast, NSW

About five years ago, I quit eating grains of any kind and, since then, I've gradually been eating less and less carbohydrate. In the last few months, I've discovered that I “look, feel and perform” best on a really low carbohydrate diet. Of course, I wish it hadn't taken me over four decades to work this out, but, I guess I can at least look forward to the next four decades now being very healthful.

In paleo land, that amorphous place where all us wackos who don't eat “bird seed” hang out a lot of people are experimenting with nutritional ketosis, a condition implicated in improvements in cancer, autoimmune conditions, and neurological disorders (among other things). I've been naturally slipping in and out of ketosis frequently over the last couple of months without really trying and I've noticed that I sleep better, but less, have no hunger but massive energy, can go hours or even all day without eating yet have great strength, have great mental clarity, and just generally feel pretty awesome. Skeptics will also think I am also suffering from ego-mania, illusory superiority or just some generalized narcissism.

Whatever the real truth is (if you believe truth is relative you'll think there is no one truth), I am going to enter the n=1 experimental realm of which paleo folks are so fond, and try for the foreseeable future to stay in a state of nutritional ketosis. I am not Jimmy Moore, or Peter Attia, so I won't be measuring all kinds of blood levels and making copious notes on my experience, but I will keep some rough notes of how I'm feeling and how the experiment is working out. Either my illusory superiority will become real, or I'll come crashing down. Stick around and see how it turns out.

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