I weighed in at 260.8 this morning. The good news is that I probably lost some water weight from my binge. I had the usual oatmeal and protein drink for breakfast. Chilli for lunch with some ground turkey. Peanuts as snacks. Turkey tossed salad for dinner and mushrooms fried in olive oil and garlic. I was curious about the nutritional value of mushrooms. 1 cup has about 15 calories, 0g fat, 1g fiber, 1 gram sugars, and 2 grams protein. Seems like a nice low calorie dish.
I'd like to go into eicosanoids. The whole basis of the diet is that the perfect balance of protein to carbohydrates to fat will promote good eicosanoids. Insulin is negatory for good eicosanoids and glucagon is negatory for bad eicosanoids. So, what are eicosanoids and what do they do?
In short they are signal molecules that are similar to hormones. They are derived from oxidized fatty acids. The are involved largely in inflammation pathways as well as the immune system and nervous system. Eicosanoids are mainly derived from omega 3 and omega 6 essential fatty acids.(omega 3's lead to "good" eicosanoids and omega 6's lead to "bad" eicosanoids generally. That's why Barry Sears is all on about taking supplements of omega 3 oils.
Specifically eicosanoids are derived from 3 types of essential fatty acids:
1. EPA = eicosapentanoic acid (omega 3)
2. Arachidonic acid (omega 6)
3. DGLA = Dihomo gama lineolic acid (DGLA)
Arachidonic acid being an omega 6 leads to bad eicosanoids, that why Sears recomends avoiding them. They are found in large amounts in beef and chicken egg yolks.
This is a complicated series of pathways and will take several blogs to get into all of them. That's it for today.
Transforming biochemistry knowledge into weight loss:
This page was begun as an experiment. An experiment I was conducting on myself. An experiment to test which conditions would allow me to loose weight. Now that I have been at it for a while I realize this page serves as more. It serves as a means for me to research. It is a way for me to pick health topics of interest, research them from a biochemistry stand point, and then share them with the world. Sharing them with you gives me an official feeling and keeps me motivated. However, as described below, I am still experimenting on myself.
How did this happen? I don't know exactly although I am almost sure it boils down to diet and exercise. I hope to find the answers as I explore my journey through weight loss on this blog. I was not always fat. Therefore, I know that I can be unfat again.
I am a biochemist. I should have known better. Of all people, I should have known how to avoid this predicament I am in now. I now wish to harness my scientific knowledge to experiment on myself as well as explore the chemical basis for weight loss methods.
Methods:
I will try new diets. I will experiment on myself. The diets will be chosen from among the most popular in our society. I will chronicle the results and my general experience in my blog here. I will also explore the biochemical basis for these diets as well as evaluate their effectiveness and truthfulness. I will also exercise as regularly as possible, 3-5 times per week, to avoid biasing the results. I will try to keep everything constant in my life except the diet. My method is not perfect. I don't necessarily want to lose raw pounds, but rather gain an understanding of what methods work best for me to permanently regain my health.
Hypothesis:
1. No diet will be clearly better than the others. Conversely, each diet will offer some truth, some piece of knowledge or methodology that I can take away with me to help myself. I think that in the end, I will be able to formulate my own diet based on a synthesis of all the things I have learned from all of these diets.
2. I have been on diets before, lost weight, and then regained it. I wasn't born fat. Given that, I think that my main problem will be shown to be psychological. I think that I may have compulsive eating problems- compulsive eating problems associated with very unhealthy foods.
3. I will lose quite a bit of weight. My blog will help keep my motivation levels high.
4. There will be a lack of clear scientific basis to many of the diets.
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