Tom Bri wrote:
> Hi Todd. How about a very high fat, lower protein diet? Seems like that
> would do the trick.

That seems to be the consensus of the discussion so far.

Although I haven't looked at any of Barry Sears's books in quite a 
while, I recall him claiming that one reason for having plenty of small 
meals and snacks was to get enough protein without causing a 
disproportionate insulin response.  His claim was that we can only 
"handle", i.e., assimilate about 25-30g of protein at a time, and 
anything in excess of that *must* be converted to glucose.  Thus, it 
makes a difference whether one eats 100g of protein at one sitting or 
spread out over three meals and two snacks.  This, of course, is in 
direct opposition to the intermittent fasting (IF) approach.  I don't 
recall Sears's evidence for his claim, but I do know that over the years 
there have been numerous discussions of protein utilization on this 
list, and if I learned anything from all of this it's that there's still 
a lot we don't know about protein utilization!   For example, some 
things I've read about IF suggest that as one adapts to it, one becomes 
more efficient at protein utilization.  A few years ago I read some 
articles about religious ascetics who fast, and the same point was made.

Those who haven't read Michael Eades's blog entry on IF will find it 
interesting: http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/?p=278

At any rate, I'm going to try putting these ideas together.  I've been 
IFing for a few days now, and I'm going to try to keep protein intake 
down, and fat intake up.  As others have noticed, it's dismayingly 
difficult to get fatty meat these days.  The typical supermarket roast 
tends to be quite lean, and of course the stores take pride in that.  
I've seen some beautifully marbled prime rib roasts at Whole Foods.  
They're expensive but worth it I guess.  In my house, no one else 
touches leftovers, so if I get a roast like that I get to eat most of it!

I'm coming from an "off-diet" situation.  My weight is up and I've been 
eating any old thing for until fairly recently, so it'll be interesting 
to see what happens.  I even have some fairly recent blood work, which 
wasn't too good.  In the interest of full public disclosure:

Weight: 250 lbs
Height: 6'1"
Age: 53
FBG: 92 (plasma)
Total cholesterol: 253
Triglycerides: 151
HDL: 55
LDL (calculated): 168
BP: 135/85

So there you have the sad "tale of the tape" of a fat, out-of-shape, guy 
in his 50s.  Actually, I thought it would be worse.  I am a large-framed 
man, with short legs (30" inseam) for my height.  I've done weight 
training intermittently for most of my adult life, so in addition to the 
fat I carry a fair amount of muscle.  In recent memory, I have never 
been able to get my weight below about 210, except by pretty radical 
caloric restriction (i.e., the Zone), and when I did, I didn't feel 
particularly good (i.e., constantly cold hands and feet, weak, etc.).  
So at the moment I'd be thrilled to get back down to about 210 and then 
see where I want to go, if anywhere, from there.

I'll post updates from time to time.

Todd Moody
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