Fat loss with a super high fat diet

By now if you still believe fat is bad and fat-free is good for you you are trapped in the 80s.

We don't talk enough in society as a whole about how to get good food sources that are high in fat.

This blogger did a super high fat diet of bacon and cream, coconut oil, etc. along with vegetables and lost 7 lbs:
http://www.vox.com/2015/1/6/7481067/high-fat-diet

In particular, I related to this quote:

"Fat is more satiating, per calorie, than carbs, and it curbed my otherwise ravenous appetite. I didn't even count calories; I just went with my hunger pangs.

I ended up learning a very important lesson: that carbs trick my body into consuming far more food than necessary."
Here's an interesting slice:"But the real key to my diet was pork fat Boccalone, in San Francisco's historic Ferry Building
imports Italian pigs. Boccalone slices the fattiest cuts of pork I've ever seen. I tried to consume at least a third of a pound of their delicious bacon per week."

I do a lot of my best work after eating a couple coconut almond bars high in fat and fiber and low in carbs. Blood sugar/ketones remain steady.

HSL is key to burning fat

HSL (hormone-sensitive lipase) is the hormone that does what everybody wants: it gets fat out fat cells.

"HSL is responsible for getting fat back out of fat cells by breaking triglycerides down into fatty acids that can mobilize out of fat cells and get used for energy elsewhere. Insulin shuts off HSL in fat cells."

Yet many of the major diets today actually deactivate HSL, sabotaging fat loss. Meanwhile, fat-burner drugs artificially stimulate HSL with the side effect of keeping people from really learning how to eat right. The moment they stop using the drugs, the fat comes back and they balloon out. There is a much better way--the natural way--to lose fat than becoming dependent on fat burning drugs.

How protein-heavy diets sabotage HSL and fat loss
I myself have long subscribed to the protein-heavy diet prescriptions that most strength-oriented diets suggest is necessary. Lift and eat a ton of protein, get big. The logic of the protein-heavy diets is that protein, espeically leucine, triggers mTor which is the muscle-building hormone, putting you in an anabolic state. Protein also breaks down into amino acides, the building blocks of muscle itself.

All this is correct and sounds great... except protein and mTor have additional effects:

High-protein problem #1: mTor inhibits HSL
"A chronic over expression of mTOR, though “anabolic,” can be detrimental. mTOR aids in the inhibition of certain hormones like hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL), which impairs the body’s ability to break down stored triglycerides. So the "perma-bulkers" can now understand why they're always fat and have a hard time losing this fat. They're constantly force feeding themselves and are experiencing an over expression of mTOR."

Fat loss by Fred Duncan
http://www.elitefts.com/education/motivation/fasts-and-sprints-for-fast-fat-loss/

High-protein problem #2: Both insulin triggered by protein and amino acides themselves inhibit HSL
"Amino acids themselves can shut down HSL activity."

Eat fat to burn fat
by John Kiefer 2012
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/eat-fat-to-burn-fat-a-counterintuitive-approach-to-shredding.html

"Insulin shuts off HSL in fat cells."
"Amino acids themselves can shut down HSL activity."

Bottom line: applications for increasing HSL to lose fat
Understanding HSL brings a new level of clarity about how to lose fat.
1. Eating high fat will trigger HSL which by definition helps you lose fat.
2. Eating excessive protein is the achilles heel which keeps many lifters from losing weight even as they gain muscle. Excessive protein inhibits HSL in at least three different ways: insulin, mTor, and the amino acids themselves.
3. Eat high carbs triggers insulin which inhibits HSL, plus carbs turn into fat. High carbs never a good idea except post-workout.

So:
-Make good healthy fats your #1 source of calories by far. If you have a fast, heavy metabolism this could mean a lot of fat--that's OK.
-Eat protein but not excessive protein. Don't be a "perma-bulker" because in bulking you cannot lose fat.
-Make carbs your lowest source of calories from macronutrients. Post-workout is the best time to eat carbs.

Betting on Beta-Glucans - may be the best type of soluble fiber

While fiber is divided into soluble and insoluble, there are also many subdivisions within these.

Of the soluble types, beta-glucans are especially good for lowering blood sugar and increasing satiety,/decreasing appetite, the two big things dieters are looking for.


“'Beta-glucans are the new frontier in medicine,' Gregory J. Berry says, but 'much research still remains to be done.'”


Betting on Beta-Glucansby Densie Webb Today's Dietician
http://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/050114p16.shtml

Excellent description of the importance of stimulating leptin the "fullness" hormone for all other processes to work

Excellent description of the importance of stimulating leptin the "fullness" hormone for all other processes to work

Fiber, leptin, and weight loss - Byron Richards
http://www.wellnessresources.com/weight_tips/articles/fiber_leptin_and_weight_loss/

Key points -
-soluble fiber is especially important although both are important
-overweight people need an extra amount of fiber to feel full because their leptin levels are out of whack
-fiber is a major stimulant of leptin
-without leptin stimulation the body produces too much insulin, thyroid does not run metabolism at full speed, and you stay hungry
-most American food is low fiber, does not stimulate leptin and fullness

My tips:
-If you eat out a lot, find some go-to restaurants which sell good high-fiber vegetable sides like green beans, beans, cole slaw, etc. For example all the fast-Mex places have beans and avocado/guacamole, both high fiber. Popeye's has pretty good green beans and so-so cole slaw, lots of barbecue places have good cole slaw and beans. Many pollo places have the best beans, the Latin touch has a flair for beans. Even add double mushrooms and onions at Five Guys. Double up and chow down on these the fiber sides. Even if you don't eat your main dish there you can get your two or three veggie sides and go somewhere else for chicken, tuna, beef, pork, etc.

-Increasingly companies are making higher-fiber bars. Certain KIND nuts and spices bars are high in fiber like Dark Chocolate Nut and Sea Salt. I found a new one recently at MOM's Organic market called Rawxies, their Mint Chocolate Chip is good with 5 g fiber and gluten free.

-Eat the skins on everything to get more fiber provided they are edible and clean (have to be organic). You can eat orange skin it is very good for you as long as it is pesticide-free. Potato skins are really good for you (although I don't eat potatoes because of a big nightshade intolerance).

-Also see which fibers you tolerate better than others for example fructooligosaccarides, raffinose, etc. have very different effects. Not all fiber is created equal. If beans make you bloated there are other fibers that won't.

-The problem with Whole Foods veggies for me personally is a lot of their salad bar is raw and they tend to put huge amounts of nightshades like peppers in everything, at least near me. The veggies behind the deli are cold and clammy and not all that good. I like hot cooked vegetables, that's why it's hard to beat restaurant side.

"Once your brain gets the leptin driven full signal, all other hormonal systems, such as thyroid, are given a green light, and energy production and metabolism run at an optimal pace (as your subconscious brain knows you aren’t starving). At the same time, the higher levels of leptin signal your pancreas to quit making insulin, thus completing the feeding and calorie transport process. This is the normal way your body handles a meal, transports the calories to needed places, and tells you that you are full.
...

If you eat less food, so that your brain doesn’t really get the leptin driven full signal, then your body thinks it is starving and your metabolism is not given a green light, again resulting in weight gain even though calorie intake is lower. People stuck in this rut are darned if they do and darned if they don’t. Any person who is overweight and cannot easily lose weight is stuck in one of these two patterns of insulin and leptin inefficiency.

Adequate soluble fiber can go a long way toward breaking you out of this metabolic rut, cut your desire for food, and help you get normal leptin driven full signals eating less food."

ADD diets for high concentrations vs. low concentration

On one hand, ADD is typically associated with low concentration. For this "Classic ADD" Dr. Daniel Amen prescribes a low carb high protein diet. He calls this a "low concentration diet," it would also be called a "fast oxidizer diet" in common Metabolic Typing.

On the other hand, Dr. Amen identifies a type of ADD called "Overfocused ADD" that he says needs the opposite type of diet, a higher carb, lower protein diet.

In other words

Diet to achieve higher concentration = high protein, low carb

Diet to achieve lower concentration = lower protein, higher carb

"High protein low carbohydrate diets are concentration diets. You do not want to put somebody who can't shift their attention on a high concentration diet. They actually do better with more simple carbohydrates in their diet."

Daniel Amen - Healing ADD - around 1 hr 2 min
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItieANAruo8

Killer instinct pros and cons

Bomani Jones made a good point 2 nights ago on ESPN radio.

The discussion was about Shaq's comment that he would take Kobe as a teammate over Lebron in part because of Kobe's "killer instinct."

Similar comments have been made about MJ vs. Lebron, that MJ had the killer instinct. (At the same time, MJ and Lebron are also frequently said to both make their teammates better, so the killer instinct and lifting teammates are two separate issues.)

But Bomani made a good counter point: the guys who have the killer instinct are often also the guys who end up overshooting taking 7 straight shots in a row etc. ex. Iverson, Kobe, Carmelo, even early MJ.

I found this article from 1988 in which Pat Riley agreed that Jordan shot too much:

Jordan too much of a shooting star
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1988-11-22/sports/8802180834_1_bulls-charles-barkley-pat-riley

The author Jerome Holtzman notes at the beginning of the season

"And Jordan does seem to be making more of an effort to find the open man. But the Bulls won`t be a genuine contender until Jordan is among the league leaders in assists."
In Jordan's case, he seems to have channeled it into working without the total team concept, getting his teammates involved. Phil Jackson likely helped facilitate that change. Three years later in 1991 Jordan had his first championship.

Actually several of these guys who shoot huge amounts of shots also are NBA all-time assist leaders including MJ, Kobe, Iverson, etc.

NBA Career Assist Leaders
http://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/ast_career.html

So my take is that the killer instinct is what it is and can be channeled for good or bad.