Intensifying the detoxification (Day 15)

My weight and readings stayed identical to yesterday’s readings. Weight: 68.8kg; BF: 18.1%; BW: 56.3%; BM: 42.6%

No Meat. No Dairy. No Kidding.

No Meat. No Dairy. No Kidding.

Despite me cutting out: 1) all forms of meat – including fish and eggs; 2) alcohol; 3) tobacco; 4) caffeine; 5) granulated sugar; 6) artificial sweeteners; 7) white carbohydrates; and 8) drugs; I am not finding the diet side of things particularly challenging. I have had to learn about food as I’ve gone along and have been discovering which foods are good to eat when and what their nutritional value is. However since the beginning, I have had a niggling in the back of my mind based on what other detox diets recommend, that I should remove wheat and dairy products from my diet and I should only be drinking filtered water. So from this day forth 9) wheat products (e.g. bread and pasta), 10) dairy products (e.g. milk, yogurt, fromage frais, and cottage cheese) and 11) tap water are also being banned from my diet for the rest of this detox. The diet I am now following is similar to the one called the Whole Food Diet:

“Whole food diet: This type of detox programme is based on the intake of fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds and their cold pressed oils, legumes, sprouts and whole grains with the avoidance of caffeine, alcohol, tobacco, drugs, meat, fish, dairy produce, wheat and other gluten-containing grains, refined foods, fried foods, sugar and salt. Drinks may include filtered/bottled water, fruit and vegetable juices, and herbal teas. Eating a whole food diet is the gentlest way of detoxifying the system and can be continued for a longer period of time without depleting the body or encouraging it to detoxify too quickly.”

From the Inside OUT – tips on how to detox

Soy milk

Soy milk

I started my morning with my usual lemon in hot water drink. For breakfast I needed something new. My usual muesli with fromage frais were now out (no wheat and no dairy allowed). I wanted something high in protein for breakfast. I looked for vegan alternatives to milk. The options were: hemp milk, almond milk, rice milk, coconut milk, soy milk, and oat milk.

Protein per 100ml:

  1. Soy milk 3.7g
  2. Hemp milk: 2g
  3. Coconut Milk: 1g
  4. Oat Milk: 1g
  5. Almond Milk: 0.4g
  6. Rice milk: 0.1g
Quinoa, soy milk, blueberries, raspberries and Agave Nector

Quinoa, soy milk, blueberries, raspberries and Agave Nector

I will try all alternatives to milk. It seems this detox is a good opportunity to come out of my comfort zone and explore food I have never tried before. As I have also just run out of protein shake I will start by consuming the highest protein value milk, which is Soy Milk. I bought 1L of organic unsweetened Soy Milk from Holland and Barrett for £1. Seems reasonable. Instead of muesli I mixed the soy milk with quinoa, raspberries, blueberries and a drizzle of agave nectar. Not bad, not bad at all. It was a bit like rice pudding.

In the morning I did the second part of my HIIT experiment. A couple of days ago I did it on an empty stomach. This time I went fueled on a banana and some almonds. My readings before the 20 min High Intensity Interval Training on the cross trainer were: Weight: 68.8kg; Body Fat: 17.8%; Body Water: 56.5%; Body Muscle: 42.8%. After the training session my readings were: Weight: 69.3kg; Body Fat: 17.7%; Body Water: 56.5%; Body Muscle: 42.8%. My fat decreased by 0.1%. I’m not sure how the scale managed to show an increase in weight of 0.5kg, whilst not showing an increase in Body Water percentage. It makes me wonder how reliable these scales are after all! The immediate decrease in Body Fat does not compare to the 0.5% decrease in Body Fat following HIIT session on an empty stomach. However a better comparison will be made tomorrow morning when I can see my morning after results too.

My scales always seem to be telling me to Go Run

My scales always seem to be telling me to Go Run

Apple and carrot juice

Apple and carrot juice

I came home to a fresh apple and carrot juice. I didn’t have any protein shake so I tried improvising by stirring in peanut butter into Soy milk. I tried, but the peanut butter refused to mix with the Soy milk. I ended up eating peanut butter off a tablespoon instead. In the quinoa, the soy milk tasted fine. On its own it might be white like cows milk but tastes like water. It does not compare to cows milk at all. Soon after I ate my lunch which was an Urid Whole Dal curry with red kidney beans, peas, almonds and lemon zest. It was the first time I ate this dal. And what can I say?! It was absolutely delicious. It had a creamy texture to it. So! So! Good!

Soy Milk doesn't taste so good on its own

Soy Milk doesn't taste so good on its own

I extended my resistance training to include squats, lunges and a military shoulder press. I did these exercises at home before going to the park to do the rest of my training. I thought they would be easy as I’m used to doing squats with weights in the gym. However I was quite surprised how hard I actually found them. After about 30 squats I was done. For my shoulders I improvised as I have no machine or any free weights. I used a case full of CDs instead. I’d like to see if I can get fit without spending a penny on gym membership or equipment.

This is the silver CD case I use to do my military press shoulder exercise

This is the silver CD case I use to do my military press shoulder exercise

In the park it seemed the additional exercises I did at home, the HIIT session I did earlier in the morning, plus the brand new diet were now taking their toll on me. I was very tired. My performance during the resistance training in the park reflected this. My sets were not so good. I completed the laps around the park in 56 min 36 sec. When I returned to the gym to do the cross trainer, I found someone was using it. I was tired and felt I had done enough for the day and went home.

I had a fresh pear and carrot juice as soon as I got home and had my evening meal which was the Urid Whole Dal curry with some salad.

Urid whole dal, lemon zest and almonds with salad

Urid whole dal, lemon zest and almonds with salad

 

Lush Bubble Bath and Food For Thought (Day 14)

Its day 14 and it’s my one day out of every 7 days off. I’m not exercising today, nor am I writing a blog post. I’ve been writing everyday for the last 13 days. I need a day off! 

My weight stayed the same at 68.8kg, however my fat went down 0.1% to 18.1% and my other readings both went up 0.1%. Body Water was 56.3% and Body Muscle was 42.6%

I had a hot lemon juice in the morning and muesli with fromage frais. 

Orange Wednesdays

Orange Wednesdays

I wanted to have a day out and relax. I decided to go to the cinema and watch Toy Story 3 with my wife. As it was Orange Wednesdays, I text Film to 241, queued up at Cineworld in Ilford and waited for my code to allow me to buy one ticket and get another one free. We had missed the 2D showings of the film and so the only option was to watch it in 3D. By the time we got to the front of the queue I had not received my code. I spoke to the ticket issuer and told her what the problem was. I asked her if she’d let us come straight to the front of the queue if it did arrive, as we didn’t want to queue all over again. She agreed. We went outside of the building. Still nothing. We walked into the High Street. Still nothing. I thought of what else to do. I text Orange two more times. Still nothing. Buying two 3D tickets was out of the question, it would have cost a fortune! I thought I’d get on Facebook and ask if someone had a spare Orange Wednesdays code. Such pleas have worked successfully in the past, thanks to some generous friends on my friends list. However it seemed there was a problem with reception in the area and I could not get online. It was getting quite frustrating. I switched my phone on and off. Still nothing. I started walking home to get online at home or maybe reception would be better at home, but then I checked my watched and realised that even if I went home, by the time I got back to the cinema with a code it would be too late and we would have missed the start of the film! I wanted to relax today, and instead felt stressed at not being able to get hold of an Orange Wednesdays code in time for the movie we wanted to watch. 

Josie Lawrence from The Comedy Store Players

Josie Lawrence from The Comedy Store Players

I decided to give up waiting for the Orange Wednesdays code, try and stay positive and do something else in the mean time, and perhaps watch the movie later on in the evening by which time the code would hopefully have arrived. I decided to go to the Comedy Store in Piccadily Circus. As it was a Wednesday it was improvisation night. These nights are always good. The comedians have to be comical on the spot in response to suggestions from the audience. If you go to watch someone doing stand up, they can be hit and miss. Sometimes the comedian isn’t that funny, or if he is famously funny you might have seen some of his routines before. 

As we swiped our oyster cards in at Ilford station and got on the platform I finally received my Orange Wednesdays text! Grrr… the timing couldn’t have been worse. 

Covent Garden Apple Market

Covent Garden Apple Market

We had some time to kill before the doors opened at 6.30pm so we stopped off at Covent Garden for a wonder. I vaguely remembered it had a few eco-friendly shops and hoped I might find something of interest there during this detox. There were lots of street entertainers doing their thing. We had about an hour or so. I wasn’t hungry but as we were in Covent Garden I imagined there might be a vegetarian or vegan restaurant about. I’ve never been to one and was looking for a new experience. As we walked about half looking for somewhere to eat, half looking for something interesting to pique my interest we walked past a Lush a fresh handmade cosmetics shop. I was on the hunt for a natural bubble bath that could make me feel as relaxed as Radox. 

Lush Covent Garden

Lush Covent Garden

We walked in, downstairs and around. It was like an underground maze. Actually it was more like an underground science museum! There were lots of staff handy. There was a member of staff at each display and they were doing lots of demonstrations with their products. We went around sniffing the merchandise. They all looked colourful enough to eat, however upon smelling each cosmetic we noticed most of the products smelt very similar to each other. And they had a very soapy, dull fragrance to them. Nothing like The Body Shop, where each line has a very distinct fruity smell. Their cosmetics were really expensive as well. A bath bomb for example would be used for just one bath and would set you back £2.95. I hadn’t tried their bath products before, so maybe after trying one I would find that it was worth the money for treating myself on the odd occasion after all.

The Comforter from Lush

The Comforter from Lush

What I really loved was the energy and enthusiasm of the staff. They were all clearly very passionate about the company, the products and the ethical business model. I felt obliged to buy something just from the joyfulness of the staff. We found one Bubble Bar that had the aroma of a delicious fruity sweet. It is called The Comforter and has the scent of blackcurrants. Its fragrance made it seem good enough to eat. It set me back £3.95 but can be used four times. Its scent made every penny seem well spent. 

At the till I asked the member of staff if there were any vegetarian restaurants around worth checking out. Whilst pointing out that most if not all Lush members of staff were either vegetarian or vegan she said there was a vegetarian/vegan restaurant called Food For Thought on Neal Street. I said thanks and we made our way there. 

Food For Thought, Neal Street, Covent Garden, London

Food For Thought, Neal Street, Covent Garden, London

At first glance it didn’t seem like a posh restaurant. It looked more like a local café. To eat in we had to walk down into the basement area. It seemed quite busy. We looked through the limited menu and tried to figure out what was what. There was some food on display. I recognised a salad dish that was made from quinoa. I hadn’t tried quinoa as a salad dish before but had read somewhere that it was worth a try. I’ve been eating quinoa hot as a substitute for rice. I asked the lady behind the till what it was. I knew what it was. But I had never heard anyone say it before and I wanted to make sure I had the pronunciation correct. With the warm look of someone who imagines themselves to be more civilised sharing her knowledge and wisdom with a heathen she said: “That is keen-waaaaaaaah”. “Thanks” I replied. It sounded like an oriental food even though it is South American in origin. Fantastic. I had the pronunciation correct down to a tee. Whilst trying to discern what the different things on the menu were, a couple of customers ordered ratatouille. It may be a sign of me being uncultured, but I have to admit I wasn’t sure what it was. So I waited with anticipation to get a glimpse at what they had just ordered. It had vegetables in it, was grainy and seemed warm. It looked quite nice. But I also wanted to try the quinoa salad.

Quinoa Salad, Lettuce Salad, Beetroot Salad, Ratatouille and Stir Fried Vegetables

Quinoa Salad, Lettuce Salad, Beetroot Salad, Ratatouille and Stir Fried Vegetables

I ordered. My wife wanted stir fried vegetables and I ordered the ratatouille with a little bit of the quinoa. The lady looked at me, thought something, paused and then said: “Do you want all four salads or just the quinoa?” “All four salads!?” I thought. I just wanted to try some of the quinoa that’s all. Not two portions of food. But as it seemed she was going to charge me for the ratatouille and a full blown salad meal, I considered my options. I looked at the salads on offer. Quinoa salad – good. Lettuce salad – good. Beetroot salad – good. Pasta salad – bad. No white pasta for me as it is out for the purpose of the detox. “I’ll have the quinoa, beetroot and lettuce but no pasta thanks.” As she gathered our meals together I was gobsmacked by the large portions she gave me. I don’t like wasting food, however there was a whole day’s worth of food on my plate. I wasn’t even hungry. I had some time to kill so wanted to try something new. This was going to be a tough task ahead of me.

We took our seats. I sat with my back to the stairs whilst facing the rest of the room. I don’t like facing the wall when eating or in any situation I guess. I like to be fully aware of my surroundings. I guess it’s partly a security-conscious thing. I looked at the food on my plate, thought here it goes and dug in. First the ratatouille. It was warm, grainy, quite nice. I’d give it a 6.5 out of 10. Next quinoa salad. Nothing special to be fair. 6 out of 10. Lettuce, well lettuce is lettuce, 6 out of 10. Beetroot salad. Now this was good. It had a creamy texture and tasted lovely. 8 out of 10. I tried my wife’s stir fried vegetables. Had more flavour than my ratatouille. 7.5 out of 10. To me good food is amazing, if it’s capable of momentarily making a theist out of an atheist. When you look at it, when you taste it, feel it, and indulge in its aroma, if it doesn’t make you thank God or sing praises to Allah – even though you’re not necessarily a believer at other times then it hasn’t quite hit the spot. Overall I thought the food we tried at Food for Thought was so, so. Nothing special. And frankly I believe over the last few weeks I have really enjoyed the food both I and my wife have been making. Many times a day, the food we have been eating has made a believer out of me for those few moments.

One thing that stood out for me at Food for Thought was the punters. At Lush the staff were young and looked healthy, with smooth skin, good complexion and just had a great vibe about them. However in Food for Thought the customers were generally an older crowd. To my eyes most of them seemed very pale and they also looked as if they might be a little bit neurotic, like grumpy, stern. I started to wonder… does a vegetarian or vegan diet over the long term have that effect on people? Do you become more neurotic? Does it make you pale and make you look like a zombie? It seems I may well be onto something.

Michael Cera at the Premiere of Scot Pilgrim Vs the World in Leicester Square

Michael Cera at the Premiere of Scot Pilgrim Vs the World in Leicester Square

After eating, we made our way to Leicester Square. Scot Pilgrim Vs the World was premiering at the Odeon cinema and the stars of the movie were given the red carpet treatment. We were walking by just as Michael Cera, the lead playing Scot Pilgrim came out to greet his young pubescent screaming fans. I wasn’t sure who is was at the time; he just looked like any old regular nerd. It turns out he was in Superbad, which I vaguely remember was pretty funny. Oh yeh! How could I ever forget McLovin!?

The Comedy Store Players Line Up for Wednesday 18th August 2010

The Comedy Store Players Line Up for Wednesday 18th August 2010

We queued outside The Comedy Store. My wife pointed out how one of the bouncers was quite rude to me on a previous visit. He was tall, stocky, black, shaved head with a beard. I have to admit, I think I pull off the shaved head and beard look much better myself. It was very strange… as she mentioned him; he came over to us and asked me if I was paying by cash. I said yes. But then he carried on checking and explaining that the credit card machines were not working downstairs and I needed cash to pay. I’m not sure why he took his time emphasising this to me rather than the other people in the queue. I wondered if it had something to do with my apparent race or class. We were the only Asian/Black people in the queue. I was wearing a white blingy t-shirt with a silver necklace. Most other people were white middle-class in suits that had clearly come from work. Throughout the evening we communicated with each other and overall it seemed he was really polite to us this time compared to his poor attitude last time we had seen him working there.

We took our seats at the front. I was in the middle seat on the front row. On a stand up night people on the front row get picked on by the comedians. This was less likely to happen in this case as it was improvisation night. I wanted to laugh hard tonight, and thought if something happened by sitting at the front it be something interesting to blog about. Nothing of the sort happened. Overall it was an ok night. I didn’t laugh as hard as I have done in the past. Maybe it was because I was sober. Or maybe we were sat too close. Or maybe I just didn’t find it that funny anymore. The comedians looked stressed and warn out prior to starting their performance. Maybe it had become a job to them and it had lost its spontaneity? Or maybe I am the one who is too stressed at the moment?!

On the way home we stopped off at a few cinemas but by then it was too late as they were all closed.

Moong Dal Chilka, Lemon Zest and Almonds

Moong Dal Chilka, Lemon Zest and Almonds

For my evening meal I ate Moong Dal Chilka with a sprinkle of lemon zest and almonds.

 

HIIT | High Intensity Interval Training (Day 13)

Pregnant man

Pregnant man

I woke up this morning feeling fatter. My stomach felt as though it was protruding a bit more. Ahh man… was it a mistake eating the houmous and coleslaw the night before? Time to check. I got on the scales. Damn. It was a mistake. Though my weight dropped 0.4kg to 68.8kg my fat content had increased 0.3% to 18.2%. My body water dropped to 56.2% and my muscle dropped 0.2% to 42.5%. Was it the coleslaw and houmous responsible? Was I over doing it with the Bertolli on the corn on the cob? Was I overdoing the walnut oil in my salad? Or was this a consistent response to working out in the morning on an empty stomach? So many questions and possibilities and no definitive answers yet. 

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

Despite the doubt I continued with my experimentation and decided to see what would happen if I did a 20 min High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) session on the cross trainer on an empty stomach. HIIT is a strategy of doing cardio that burns fat in a short space of time, compared to hour-long workouts at a slower pace (e.g. walking). If you’re pressed for time, have a busy lifestyle and don’t have time to do cardio for more than 20 minutes then HIIT is the way to go if you wish to burn fat and boost performance. You can do any cardio exercise: running, cycling, rowing, cross training, whatever suits you. There are a few approaches to HIIT, however, in essence, the philosophy is the same: cycles of an intense workout period followed by a moderate period. For example a runner could run for 20 seconds followed by 10 seconds of jogging and so on. The benefits of HIIT include: improved endurance; improved athletic performance; an increased resting metabolic rate, which leads to burning fat long after you’ve stopped working out; and improved insulin action which means it could lead to prevention of type-2 diabetes

I exercised on the cross trainer at moderate levels for 1 min 15 sec and then 45 sec as hard as I could, followed by 1 min 15 sec at moderate and so on until 20 min was up. I weighed myself immediately before and after the session. My weight stayed the same; however, my fat dropped 0.5% to 17.7%. My body water increased to 56.5% and my body muscle increased 0.3% to 42.8%. This is what my initial readings are. The effect the empty morning HIIT cardio training had on my body throughout the day will be more evident when I weigh myself tomorrow morning. 

Coleslaw

Coleslaw

After my workout I had a hot lemon juice. I was planning on having muesli, but then I saw my wife having a coleslaw sandwich and the temptation got the better of me (despite my doubts concerning my fat increase this morning) and I ended up having two slices of wholemeal bread, one with houmous and one with coleslaw spread on top. Whether they was healthy or not, they were both tasty. And if there was anytime I was likely to get away with eating either item it would be in the morning rather than the evening. In hindsight it seems one of the problems of working out on an empty stomach is that you end up feeling very hungry straight after which can lead to binging on whatever one fancies regardless of the consequences. After that I had my protein shake with a teaspoon of hemp seed oil. 

Moong Dal Chilka

Moong Dal Chilka

For lunch I ate Moong Dal Chilka for the first time. It was really, really nice. My wife made it as a curry and we ate it with brown rice. 

I did my second training session close to dusk. Up till now I’ve opted to listen to a couple of Armin Van Buuren A State Of Trance (ASOT) sets. They are great as I love trance music and they make me feel good. I’ve only got three of his sets on my phone and started to get bored listening to the same thing again and again. Sometimes I prefer not to listen to anything so that I can aurally appreciate my surroundings, like the sound of the wind blowing or the sound of birds chirping as I walk through the park. For a change today I thought I’d put on some tracks of The Prodigy while doing my walk. The Prodigy are awesome to listen to whilst working out. The beat is fast, and the music gives me a boost of energy and a sense of aggressive confidence. Whilst listening to them it’s not surprising when I find myself walking to their beat. I’m not sure how this looks from a third person perspective, but it certainly feels like my walk has a bit of rhythm to it. Thanks to The Prodigy I completed today’s two laps in 55 min 45 sec! I couldn’t believe it when I saw my stopwatch. I wondered if I had made a mistake, or if the stopwatch had stopped working. After the walk I did 30 minutes on the cross trainer. As usual, as the sun set, a bat flew past me into the tree in front of me. It seems like clockwork, this bat makes an appearance everyday at the same time. 

The Prodigy

The Prodigy

On my way home I avoided the bus stop by crossing over the street. I’m not keen on playing hopscotch with these rats everyday. Besides it felt as if I had worked out enough for the night! Once I got home I had a fresh apple and carrot juice and protein shake, followed by my evening meal which was corn on the cob, salad and cottage cheese.

 

Healing old wounds? (Day 12)

Healing old wounds?

Healing old wounds?

I woke up with pain in my bottom jaw and teeth in one of the areas it had got fractured in September last year. I wasn’t sure what was wrong. At first I wondered if I may have been gritting my teeth in my sleep. The uncomfortable feeling stayed through the day and evening. While looking into reported effects of detoxing I came across a perspective that says: during stage three (day  8 to 15) of a detox, old wounds can feel painful again. It is said that this is due to the body healing that area properly, as during a detox, the body runs at an optimum healing capacity. When the healing took place originally, it was done with the nutrients and capabilities my body had, based on the lifestyle and nutrition I was providing it with then. With the new improved nutrition and less toxic body it is said that the body is able to revisit the old wound and heal it properly. Whether my pain in my jaw and teeth and my chest feeling filled with fluids is just a coincidence, I don’t know. But it is interesting to see that what I am experiencing is correlating with what has been recorded by people who have previously undergone detox regimes.  

My weight rose 0.5kg to 69.2kg. My Body Fat dropped 0.6% to 17.9%. My Body Water rose to 56.4% and my Body Muscle rose 0.3% to 42.7%.  

I did the second part of my experiment by repeating the same exercises completed the night before but this time first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. I weighed myself before and after completing two laps of the park (took me 1 hour 48 seconds) and doing cardio on the cross trainer for 11 min11 sec. My readings before were: Weight: 69.2kg; BF: 17.9% BW: 56.4% BM: 42.7%. After the exercise my readings were: Weight: 69.2kg BF: 17.7% BW: 56.5% BM: 42.8%. That’s a fat reduction of 0.2% and a muscle increase of 0.1%. This is some useful evidence in favour of the idea that doing cardio on an empty stomach can burn fat stores as long as you don’t over do it, which will lead to muscle burning too. I will continue to monitor my weight and do follow up experiments with shorter but more vigorous forms of cardio to see which approach will give the optimum results for my body.  

Muesli, Muesli, raspberries, blueberries, almonds and Agave Nectar

Muesli, raspberries, blueberries, almonds and Agave Nectar

For breakfast I had a hot fresh lemon juice followed by protein shake. An hour or so later I had low fat yogurt with muesli, blueberries, raspberries and the last of the roasted almonds with a drizzle of low GI Agave Nectar.  

For lunch I had green lentils with coleslaw and a slice of wholemeal bread with peanut butter.

A couple of hours later I did the second part of my workout. Apart from my first set of lat pull downs in which I did 200 reps, the rest of my workout was not as good as previous days. This may have been partly due to the hot weather, or possibly because I had divided my workout into two and this was the second part (normally I would do resistance first followed by the 2 laps). After my resistance training I did an extra 30 min on the cross trainer.  

Post workout I drank carrot juice and a protein shake.  

Corn on the cob

Corn on the cob

A few hours later I ate corn on the cob. Shortly after it was followed up with cottage cheese with salad, coleslaw and houmous. The rest of the evening I drank detox teas.

 

In search of the Wholey Grain (Day 11)

My weight dropped 0.4kg today to 68.7kg. However my Body Fat went up 0.5kg to 18.5kg. My Body Water went down to 56% and my Body Muscle dropped 0.2% to 42.4%

For breakfast I had a fresh lemon hot drink and muesli with blueberries, blackberries and almonds. 

Green lentils, almonds and lemon zest

Green lentils, almonds and lemon zest

Beetroot juice

Beetroot juice

For lunch I had wholemeal couscous with green lentil curry, almonds and lemon zest with a vegetable juice (beetroot, cucumber, carrot, celery, ginger). 

We were running out of food so I went to Sainsbury’s. I bought Sainsbury’s Taste the difference soft wholemeal multiseeded batch, its only 3p more than the white bread version. It doesn’t taste as nice as the white version though. Maybe I just need to get used to wholemeal bread.

Trash all breads and starchy carbs?

Trash all breads and starchy carbs?

After all the confusion with breads last week, my initial findings led me to believe the best bread is wholemeal bread. While writing this I thought I’d check the Glycaemic Index (GI) of breads. White bread, as expected, has a high GI of 70. Wholemeal bread has a GI of 69. 69! That’s just one GI less than white bread! And all this time I thought wholemeal bread was way healthier than white bread. Granted, because it’s less processed, wholemeal bread has more nutrients in it. However its effect on insulin levels is virtually no different than white bread. If you eat bread, white or wholemeal your insulin level will shoot up. If your body doesn’t work well with insulin, e.g. you’re diabetic or insulin resistant then it seems eating either is probably a bad idea! From past experience I have personally noticed that my waistline does not respond well to bread. I had hoped wholemeal was going to be different. At this point it seemed reasonable to me, that if you’re going to indulge in bread you may as well just take the one that you like the taste of as there is only one GI difference between white and wholemeal bread.  Maybe we should just trash all bread!

Holy Grail

Holy Grail

Wholey Grain

Wholey Grain

Stop! The search for healthy bread is really like the search for the Holy Grail. It’s a long journey with many twists and turns. There are many deceptive imposters which pretend to be the real deal when they are not. So I have continued to search and here is what I have found. 

It seems the lowest GI bread is Bürgen Soy Lin, however it’s targeted at women due to the plant-oestrogens in it. It is currently on offer at Sainsbury’s for a £1. Bürgen do other breads all with low GI

 

The Wholey Grain of Breads? Burgen Soy Lin Low GI Bread

The Wholey Grain of Breads? Burgen Soy Lin Low GI Bread

Stone ground whole wheat bread tends to have lower GI values than just ordinary wholemeal bread. If it’s got whole seeds and nuts in it as well, then it’s even better. For example Cranks Organic Honey & Sunflower (available at Sainsburys) is made from stoneground (not stonebaked!) wholemeal bread and has sunflower seeds in it. I’m not sure what its Glycaemic Index is though. 

Here are some other low-medium GI breads to consider. 

Food: Pumpernickel Bread, Glycemic Index: 41, Glycemic Index Rating: Low

Food: Buckwheat Bread, Glycemic Index: 47, Glycemic Index Rating: Low

Food: Oatbran Bread, Glycemic Index: 47, Glycemic Index Rating: Low

Food: Wheat Bread, Glycemic Index: 53, Glycemic Index Rating: Low

Food: Pita Bread, Glycemic Index: 57, Glycemic Index Rating: Medium

Food: Rye Bread (Whole Wheat), Glycemic Index: 58, Glycemic Index Rating: Medium 

It looks like another trip to the grocers is due to find myself a “Wholey Grain.” I’ll let you know in due course if I have any luck! 

I started an experiment today to compare the effects of working out whilst being fuelled versus working out on an empty stomach. I limited the experiment to cardio. For today’s workout I did the two laps in 58:25 and cross trainer for 11 min 11 sec. I weighed myself immediately before and immediately after the workout. I did the workout in the evening, an hour or so after eating. My readings stayed constant at: Weight: 69.6kg; BF: 18.0%; BW: 56.3% and BM: 42.6%. Nothing changed immediately after the workout. The rest of the experiment will be conducted tomorrow morning. 

I noticed that I still had some problems with liquid in my lungs. On my way to the park I was feeling really good and positive. However by the time I finished I noticed my mood had swung completely the other way. I was grumpy and clumsy when I got home (spilled carrot juice all over our new kitchen units). Mood swings are apparently a common experience during a detox

Carrot juice

Carrot juice

When I got home I had a carrot juice and protein shake. For my evening meal I had corn on the cob, cottage cheese and some celery.

Corn on the cob

Corn on the cob

 

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