The Slow Carb Diet, popularized by Tim Ferriss in his "4-Hour Body" book.
Presented at the Quantified Self Conference in San Francisco, October 11, 2013.
More at http://wiki.dandascalescu.com/reviews/fitness/slow_carb_diet
12. Proteins
Breakfast: 30g protein 30 minutes from wakeup
Allowed:
Eggs
Chicken breast or thigh; turkey
Beef (preferably grass-fed), pork
Fish
Other meats
27. Concerns
High cholesterol
High sodium
How many calories?
Imprecision (e.g. max cottage cheese or
peas amount)
28. Do different next time
Get quality sleep (~8h/night)
Use the “PAGG” supplement stack
Use DEXA or BodPod
not my OMRON body fat scale
Eat more calories
29. Stick with it
4-6 weeks until results for some people
No known explanation
This is a work in progress
Must fix sleep before further conclusions
Why I did it:Want to look like this, or this?I’m an entrepreneur and don’t have much time
Takes time but you learn something useful – self defense, instead of, say, pointless running
Passive device, doesn’t take much time, but didn’t work very well, either
P90X just takes a lot of time
FIVE YEARSIs how much time passed since I last lost fat significantlyBut that provided a good baseline without much fluctuation
SCD can be summarized as the elimination of starches and anything sweet (including fruit and all artificial sweeteners), and a strong preference for lean protein, legumes and vegetables.
Many diets are too complicated, and require careful calorie and portion control, which leads to non-compliance.SCD is simple.
Prohibited: all bread, rice (including brown), cereal, potatoes, pasta, tortillas, and fried food with breading.
SCD is made to be practical, not fun. It can get boring to eat the same meals over and over, but I found it liberating – the fewer choices I had to make, the better.Canned foods are fine. Eat four times a day.
Get at least 20g of protein / meal, no matter what.*Eggs*Chicken breast or thigh*Beef (preferably grass-fed)*FishPork
*Lentils (also called "dal" or "daal")*Black beansPinto beansRed beansSoybeans
VEGETABLES*Spinach - incredible for body recomposition.*Mixed vegetables (including broccoli, cauliflower, or any other cruciferous vegetables)*Sauerkraut, kimchee (full explanation of these later in "Damage Control")AsparagusPeasBroccoliGreen beans
Don’t drink milk, soft drinks, or fruit juice. Cottage cheese is the only allowed dairy.Limit diet soft drinks to 16oz/day.Butter is fine, as long as it has no other ingredients than salt.Avoid soy milk and soy isolate supplements.
Except tomatoes and avocados, and the latter only one cup/meal per day.Humans don’t need fruit, which contains sucrose. You only need the Vitamin C, which can be taken as a supplement.
MANDATORY - Dramatically spiking caloric intake in this way once per week increases fat-loss by ensuring that your metabolic rate doesn't downshift from extended caloric restriction.
Sleep and stress are the top factors cited by 4HB forum users as preventing body recompositionSee http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/sleep-obesity.htm – sleep regulates leptin and ghrelin, which control calorie burn and fat depositing
I had followed the diet religiously
Drop occurred after a vacation, but then for ~3 weeks, weight stayed within 1lbThere appears to be some hope at the end, we’ll see about that
Body fat was within measurement error at all timesHowever, Tim advises against using electric impedance body fat scales
I never ate beans in my lifeI actually hate beans!Salsa, mustards, condiments – anything becomes edible!
Tim is big on not counting calories, but also advises to eat more than usual. How much more, exactly?
Sleep is the big factor not mentioned in the book, that forum participants indicate as the #1 reason for lack of progressPAGG stands for Policosanol, Alpha-lipoic acid, Green tea flavanols, Garlic extractPolicosanol - an extract of plant waxes, often sugar cane. Increases fat loss when combined with AGG.Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) is a potent antioxidant and free radical scavengerEpigallocatechingallate (EGCG) is a catechin and flavanol found in green teas. Appears to increase programmed cell death (apoptosis) in mature fat cells. This means that these hard-to-kill bastards commit suicide. The ease with which people regain fat is due to a certain “fat memory” (the size of fat cells decreases, but not the number), which makes EGCG a fascinating candidate for preventing the horrible rebounding most dieters experience.Garlic extract (Allicin) – inhibits fat regain