Exercise, Nutrition, WLS & Cooking Q&A - 11/11/2013

I haven't posted one of these in a while so lets see who's got some questions!

Just keep in mind I am just like you! I am not a medical professional. I am just a guy with an analytical mind that had VSG and has had some success working his way through the puzzle. My advice is not better or worse than anyone else's on here. It is certainly open for debate and it is up to you to decide if it works for you and if it doesn't your responsibility to stop. My ideas and approaches strike some as radical and off script, perhaps they are, however they come from a number of sources including nutrition, exercise, physiology textbooks, lectures, blogs, medical journals, body builders, and others who have been successful. I believe a variety of sources that confirm or deny what I have read make the results of what I think I know that much stronger. I also test a lot of this stuff on myself to see what works and what doesn't. Since I am the only test subjects I can only affirm the results work or do not work for me, not anyone else.

    Hi! I am on day 7 of a pre op liquid diet. My surgery is scheduled for November 18.  I'm noticing that SF and "light" are staples in a lot of vsg recipes and meal plans. I'm really concerned about aspartame and all the other artificial sweeteners. It is in most everything I'm consuming in this 2 week diet. My question for you is this, do you think I would be able to adopt a full Paleo lifestyle once my sleeve is fully healed? I'd like to eliminate as much processed foods as possbile. Do you know of people who don't take any supplements at all and still have healthy labs?  Any input would be appreciated. Also, I've been on this site for about two weeks and a lot of your post stick out to me. They are always insightful Oh, and did you ever pursue tapping?  It seemed interesting. Thanks a bunch!

The short answer is yes you should be able to adopt a paleo lifestyle after the sleeve but not right away, it will take you some time. Most paleo is inherently low carb. But not eating paleo does not mean you can't eat whole. You should be focused on whole foods and proteins. So you can eat grass fed beef, and other meats. Grass fed butter, coconut oil, things like that. Things that all appear on the paleo as well as low carb list.

Just keep in mind that most paleo recipes are very calorie dense so it will be difficult early out to fit that into your plan. As you get closer to your goal and you start to add calories back in to slow your weight loss you will be able to go more true paleo. I have made several paleo recipes but tend to leave out the fruits and honey.

As for S/F yes a lot of the products do contain aspartame and personally I believe in small amount there is no harm unless you are particularly sensitive to it. For other sweetening needs I use mostly Stevia/Truvia and Monk Fruit in the Raw (also called Nectreese) and occassionally Splenda. I have also used Swerve which is I belive a stevia and Eurthritrol mix but I don't use it that often. There are natural sweeteners that are low/no cal and low/no carb you just have to find what you can live with. Some say stevia leaves a slightly bitter aftertaste. I don't taste it but may have just gotten used to it. I don't think the MonkFruit leaves any at all and I think it tastes pretty good.

I was pretty good in the beginning about taking vitamins. You don't get enough whole foods early out so you should supplement at the very least with a multi-vitamin and protein. As you can stabilize your eating plan and can include whole vegetables the vitamin may not be necessary. All of the supplements I take now are geared toward body building so not nutritionally focused.

I'm laid up with a bum hip right now, and am so bummed out that I can't walk that I can barely stand it!  I'm doing some upper body work, lifting cans of beans with my arms.  LOL.  Not much of a workout, but better than nothing right now.

I just ordered some walking sticks that you use to exercise your upper body while you're walking.  Pretty much the same as ski poles, but have a rubber foot on them.  The idea is that you're lifting them, and your arms, up and down as you walk.  As I'm a walker and plan on continuing to just be a walker, I thought this was a great addition to my workout.  I'll let you know how they work out.

I have an appointment with a chiropractor this afternoon for this hip of mine.  Hopefully I'll be back out there walking again soon.

Jane

A friend of mine told me that if I drink too much water I would wash myself out. She says I need to drink juice, milk, et****asionally to keep my electrolytes in balance. I do occasionally have a little glass of milk but I do not want to drink my calories! I know that you CAN drink too much water. But I'm drinking 80-100oz per day and at times using the flavoring that has the B vitamins and such in it. Am I doing ok? Is she just talking about something she doesn't know a whole lot about? Funny thing is, she's telling me all this while she's continually drinking Dr Peppers, sweet teas, Pepsi, Starbucks, etc. And she's no skinny minnie either.

Sounds like you are right on with the water. I use the flavorings sometimes too just make sure you are drinking more plain water than flavored. I typically will not have more than 1 or 2 glasses of water with flavoring.

So your friend is not completely wrong but gave you some bad advice. You don't say how much you are exercising but if you are not sweating to death everyday you are probably just fine. Electrolytes are a fancy word for salt and you are probably getting enough salt in your food for normal activity. Interestingly enough Milk does have a fair amount of sodium in it so milk would definitely add some back, but you are right, don't drink your calories (except protein shakes).

Sounds like you are doing fine just the way you are. Definitely do not drink juice its loaded with sugar. If you are truly worried about electrolytes, once in a while pick up a PowerAde Zero or a Gatorade G2 or sugar free pedialyte. And you only really need to worry about it if you start doing like an hour a day of hard cardio. I work out 5 to 10 times a week and I do not do anything special for electrolytes but I do add salt to my cooking.

Tell your friend to layoff the sugared drinks that she is killing her self and just begging for Type 2 Diabetes.

I do 40-45 min of cardio every other day, 3-4 days a week. In between, I do 10-15 min cardio and then do weights 2 days a week. I'm building myself up to do more a little at a time.  If you don't mind me asking, why do you need more plain water than flavored? Is the flavors not good for you? I always use the sugar free ones