ORIGINAL CONTENT

DISCLAIMER: I am not a nutritionist or a trainer of any kind. The following is simply my opinion from what has been true for me on my weight loss / long-term maintenance journey. I have completed extensive research from credible sources, however, the information below is my interpretation of that information. So read with a grain of salt.

It has been 3,045 consecutive days since I have been logging my nutritional choices on MyFitnessPal which calculates to a little over 8 years of logging.

I read an article recently on Intermittent Fasting (“IF”) and it was an interesting read. Intermittent Fasting dictates the number of hours of fasting verses the number of hours of eating within a 24-hour period or week – depending on the version. The theory is that by prolonging the period of no food consumption, it forces the body to burn through the calories consumed during the last meal and begin burning fat. There are also research which shows that the period of fasting not only induces Human Growth Hormone levels which benefits fat loss and muscle gain, improves insulin levels, impact gene functions related to protection against disease, but also allows the body to initiate cellular repair because it is not burdened with processing food. Please see Healthline & Hopkins for additional details.

Over the years, I have had to continue to adjust both my nutritional and fitness plans in order to maintain – it’s just what it takes as we get older. I had followed the 80/20 Rule (eating on plan 80% of the time) for years but since I’ve hit the half-century milestone I noticed that the impact on regulating my weight was decreasing. So I transitioned to IF and found that 14:10 works best for me and my schedule. IF has made a noticeable difference in easing long-term weight management but it also has alleviated my angst in extensive meal planning.

Article Summary: The writer had been on 16:8 IF for years but was experimenting with a new version of IF called the “Warrior Diet.” The Warrior Diet consists of fasting for 20-hours and limiting eating to only 4-hours a day which I thought was utter madness. However as I read on, she explained that by only eating 4-hours a day, she was liberated to eat larger quantities and whatever she wanted which relieved a lot of the stress related to counting calories and feeling deprived. She also claimed that eating only 4-hours a day essentially eradicated the possibility of overeating which for her, helped reduced her sugar cravings and feeling bloated. The writer seemed to have success with the Warrior Diet after trying it for 2-weeks.

My Perspective: What stood out to me was her mention of bloating and admitted struggle with it. In reviewing a sample day of foods she consumed,

” … tofu kale salad … a bowl of roasted tofu, sweet potatoes, and red peppers … banana, raw almonds or cashews, black-bean burritos, avocado pasta with Trader Joe’s Meatless Meatballs and steamed broccoli, lentil soup and bread, or veggie burgers with roasted veggies. If I felt like it, I’d eat a little dessert after. Sometimes it was some trail mix and fresh fruit, and sometimes it was a vegan brownie sundae”

https://www.popsugar.com/fitness/warrior-diet-1-week-2-weeks-43966339

I can’t help but to think that perhaps she maybe is FODMAP intolerant.

As I had incrementally phased out nutrition-poor food options, for the first time in my life I made the decision to incorporate vegetables with each dinner meal. Not being a vegetable person, I defaulted to the four vegetables I didn’t mind eating – green beans, carrots, mushrooms, and broccoli. I was so proud of myself for eating lean protein and vegetables but after a few weeks, my waistline increased, I gained weight, had severe constipation, and was constantly uncomfortably bloated – sometimes so painful that all I could do was curl up in the fetal position until the pain passed. I was very upset, frustrated, and couldn’t understand what I was doing wrong.

Around the same time, one of my dearest friends was diagnosed with Celiac. Her unfortunate diagnosis gave me the idea that perhaps I had some form of gluten or carbohydrate sensitivity. After hours of research, I had concluded that I was FODMAP intolerant. FODMAP stands for Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides And Polyols and unlike Celiac, FODMAP intolerance is not an immune reaction but an intolerance to certain types of foods. High FODMAP foods are short-chain carbohydrates (sugars) that the small intestine absorbs poorly which can result in the large intestine retaining too much water causing sometime unbearable bloating. Please see Cleveland Clinic; Healthline; Hopkins for additional details.

And to my surprise, many healthy foods are also high-FODMAP foods. Foods like wheat, soft & silken tofu, legumes, lentils, fruits like apples, avocados, ripe banana, and vegetables like mushrooms, snow peas, onion, cauliflower, and broccoli. And sadly, FODMAP intolerance varies greatly from person-to-person, therefore there really is no one-list to definitively identify all high-FODMAP foods for all people. To further complicate things, each person can have a certain persona tolerance to certain high-FODMAP foods. For example, onion and broccoli are both a high-FODMAP foods, but I can consume a small amount with no ill-effects. So it is truly a matter of persistent trial & error with a lot of patience in determining what the trigger FODMAP foods are.

Given the sample of foods the writer listed, there’s a possibility that perhaps all the Warrior Diet accomplished was to reduce her consumption of high-FODMAP foods within her tolerance level like onions & broccoli are for me.

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