for the last two months, ive been on a high fat diet, plant and animal fat to be more specific. the main idea behind it is pretty straight-forward: if your body knows that you eat alot of fat, then it will use more fat for energy when you exercise. as a distance runner, especially during any run longer than about 15 miles, its vital that my body be able to use fat as fuel. it cost just under 100 calories for most people to cover a mile, and if those calories are primarily coming from blood sugar, then people would have to stop around mile 10. to put it in perspective, you would have to take a GU at every single mile marker to keep you blood sugar from emptying before you even made it 15 miles.
but the human body never relies purely on glycogen (blood sugar). and the more trained you are, the less glycogen youll use at any speed. and by avoiding the high-carb diet of conventional distance runners, the body can be "trained" to use even less glycogen while running, or doing anything else for that matter. exercise aside, general energy levels between meals and throughout the day will be raise in the absence of "sugar rushes" and the crash that follows.
so its not just runners that can benefit. in addition to more even energy levels, non-runners will see decreased body fat percentages as their body realizes that it has no need to store fat since it gets enough through the diet. also, for people looking to lose weight (and trust me, im a personal trainer, its everyone), you wont be as hungry throughout the day and your meals will satisfy you for longer.
im not saying go on the "fried chicken diet." -plant and animal fats. however, things like real butter, cheese, whole milk, and bacon (possibly the best tasting thing the human mouth is capable of processing) are not off limits by any means. try a google search for high fat diets, and if youre worried about fats because theyre "bad," please read over some of what the studies actually say about the effects of a high-fat diet. heres a great site to start on: http://www.westonaprice.org/know-your-fats.html. look over this page along with some of the others and youll quickly realise that there is a ton information in the nutrition field about fat, and most of it is completely false. it seems the media "knows" a ton about health and wellness, until you actually look at what the research says. westonaprice is a great resorce for anyone, not just nutrition-lovers, because its easy to understand and as close to unbiased as it gets. the bottom line is: fat does not make you fat, it does not cause heart problem, and it IS a good thing.
dang, that was quite a tangent... i meant to talk about my current diet, but that just kinda popped out...
the number one priority for my diet is to avoid insulin spikes. any diabetic will tell you insulin lowers blood sugar. pretty much any time you eat, you blood sugar will rise. once it gets to a certain level, your body releases insulin to suppress it. the more fat you add to a meal, the slower it digests, so instead of all the sugar you just ate rushing into your bloodstream, it leaks into your blood more slowly over the next few hours. -this is how high-fat diets even out energy levels, and also why theyre being researched as a way to help diabetics. so in order to avoid a large insulin spike, i need to eat fat with every meal and avoid as much simple sugar as possible (unless im racing). instead of cereal with skim milk and orange juice for breakfast, substitute whole milk for skim, drink a bit less juice and the calories will be the same, but youll feel full until lunch instead of hungry an hour or two later.
ive tried to put enough information and examples on here to help anyone who might be looking for a new diet, but theres simply too much that goes into a full diet to put it all. but i hope seeing my thoughts about food has revealed the process that my brain goes through when assessing my diet.
any specific questions? -this is obviously something im passionate about, so fire away if youre interested.
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