Friday, September 5, 2008

I like fat

My current lifestyle of fitness and healthy eating began over 15 years ago when I decided it was time to clean up my act. Years of inactivity and unhealthy eating finally got me disgusted as I was overweight and out of shape. I wasn’t obese, just fat and fleshy, even though that is not what I saw when I looked in the mirror. I was in denial big time. Looking at a photo my wife had taken of me eating a hot dog definitely contributed to my wake up call. I remember to this day looking at myself in the mirror, butt naked before entering the shower, and telling myself “enough is enough, we are going to make some changes”.

And I made those changes with zeal, both exercise and nutrition. I’ll talk about the exercise changes I made on a different day. Today I’ll share the nutrition changes I made and compare them with what I do now.

First I started reading. A popular nutrition expert named Covert Bailey had written several nutrition books, and he often appeared on public television stations during their fundraising campaign periods. I bought one of his books titled Fit or Fat and began to immerse myself in its contents. It was easy to read and I liked that. Another book I read was Eat Smart Think Smart, written by Robert Haas. I had seen Mr. Haas on afternoon talk show programs. He was a nutrition advisor to Martina Navratilova, a great professional female tennis player.

Both Covert Bailey and Robert Haas advocated a low-fat diet and that is how I began to eat. I limited myself to 30 grams of fat per day. Along with daily exercise, I started losing alot of weight and getting physically fit. I felt boundless energy and my clothes started fitting looser, getting to the point where I had to go out and buy new ones.

But that was then and this is now.

Now I favor a high-fat diet. All kinds of fat. I like olive oil, avocados when prepared as guacamole, cheese, nuts such as almonds and peanuts, and meats of all kind - steak, baby back pork ribs, you name it I like it. I have re-discovered how satisfying a high-fat diet is. I probably average about 35 to 40 percent of my calories from fat, far more than when I eating only 30 grams per day.

When starting this high-fat diet about three years ago, I had concerns about higher and unhealthy cholesterol and triglyceride readings. So I eventually had new blood work done. Surprisingly, my cholesterol and triglyceride readings actually improved. And I experienced no weight gain. I had not made any changes in how I exercised, training hard and often with a significant running component to it. I believe the improved reading was because I had significantly reduced eating what I call the 7 forbidden C foods – cakes, cookies, candies, chocolate, ice cream, crackers and chips. I had decided to eliminate these foods from my diet concurrently with starting this high-fat diet. I’ll have more to say about the 7 forbidden C foods on a different day.

Today I still eat a high-fat diet but the way I train has changed. I am running less these days due to my middle-age man knees. So once again I think it is time to get some blood work done to see where I stand. I’m hoping that the readings will be good because I have discovered that I like fat.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm very impressed with the photo of your back!

Most dedicated olympic lifters I've seen up close don't even come close to the definition of your back. Good job.

Pierini Fitness said...

Thanks for your comment and thanks for stopping by. There is a saying that abs are made in the kitchen and that is true for backs too.

That photo was taken in February 2007 when I was doing high-volume bodyweight-only training - pullups, pushups, dips - and running alot, plus eating clean. It was before I began my Olympic lift training. One of these days I'll post some update photos.

Have a great day!

Justin_PS said...

I like fat too. I eat a lot of nuts, whole milk and eggs on a daily basis. I agree that the 7 C's are the real culprits. If I eat those than I feel like I swallowed cements when I go to work out.

Nice Blog!