The Ketogenic Eating Plan

Wanted to share a new diet/nutrition approach, in using Cycling Ketogenic Diet (CKD) as a long term tool - a path which my Dr (both GP and Chinese Medicine - LAC) recommended to me for my needs health-wise and to maintain energy levels, improve adrenal/cortisol levels, heighten my immune system, and consistently maintain low body fat % while retaining desired muscle mass and being able to compete in endurance competitions. I've spent a great deal of time researching this topic and used it effectively in short "bursts" in my original post below - many of you have had success with these periodic Ketogenic periods - but now I would like to maintain a 6 month Ketogenic approach, take a month off, and then continue for 6 months. I will be taking before/after pictures and tracking my progress, believe this could be a phenomenal tool and permanent path for me and it has proved highly successful for others - including major endurance athletes. I'll be drawing primarily from two sources that I would highly recommend purchasing for more in depth analysis/guidance on this topic: 1) John Kiefer - CarbNite Solution and 2) Dr. Warren Willey - Better Than Steroids.

The Science/Background

The science behind the CKD is simple. Carbohydrates consumed in your diet cause an insulin (a "storage" hormone) output in the pancreas. It is used to store glycogen, amino acids into muscles, while causing excess calories to be stored as fat. So common sense asks me, "How can one try to break down fat, when your body is in a storage-type mode?" Difficult to do, indeed. That is why it makes perfect sense for step one to be cutting carbs. The next thing that happens in your body is the rise in catecholamines (a "fat mobilizing" hormone), cortisol (a "breakdown" hormone), and growth hormone. Now your body realizes there’s no more carbs to burn for energy, so it must find another energy source: fat. This usually happens during a metabolic condition called "ketosis." This is when your liver is out of glycogen and starts to produce ketones (by-products of fatty acids). You can check your status of whether or not you are in ketosis with urinalysis strips you can pick up at any local drug store called "Ketostix." Just urinate and see if it turns color. If so, you have ketones in the urine. When the body is fed fat and protein, it will use dietary fat along with bodyfat for energy with protein going towards repair. As a side note, there is another reason why this diet makes the most sense to use while keeping muscle. When one follows a high carbohydrate, low-fat, reduced-calorie diet, there’s a point when some bodyfat is burned, but when the body is still in a carbohydrate burning metabolism while trying to lose "weight," it will strip down precious body protein to convert to glucose for energy. On the other hand, during fat metabolism, protein cannot be converted into free-fatty acids for energy. Although there is no scientific research done on this, there have been reports from followers that there truly is a "protein-sparing" effect. It makes sense doesn’t it? Where else would the body look for fat energy when all dietary fat is burned? Bodyfat. Additionally, many of you and myself included, have tried the "low carb" approach, which gets you border-line to ketosis, but your brain/body is still using a combination of carbs and ketones for fuel. The issues is that w

hen you go low carbs but aren't yet in ketosis, your brain will crave carbs for energy and you get sugar cravings. When ketones are being produced, the brain will use them instead and you won't crave carbs, so those cravings will go away, a far better physiological and psychological state in the long run.

If you are interested in reading more and want additional science/technical write-ups: Perfect Health Diet and Dr. Eades

Process/Rules

1) Foundation: Start with a 10 Day Recalibration. Follow an ultra-low-carb diet for 10 days, eating 30 grams of carbs or fewer per day. Hence, nutritional %'s: 70% fat, 25% protein, and ~5% carbohydrates (<30G). During the 10 day process (it can take from 7-10 days on average for most people, hence the use of 10 days), body will switch over form using carbs to fat as fuel, a far more efficient approach (as fat has 9 calories in it, whereas carbs has 4 and has less favorable hormonal response).

2) Ongoing: Enjoy a "Carb Load" on the 10th day and once a week thereafter which entails a focus on eating carbs, on a single day during a specific window. Nutritional %'s for this window only: 10% fat, 30% protein, and 60% carbohydrates. Kiefer recommends 5pm-bed, however in FAQs, shows flexibility and I am going to recommend 12-8pm to correspond with circadian rhythms, metabolism speed, and consistency (he recommends a 6-8 hour window in total, though Dr. Willey recommends a 3 hour window, so would aim for between 3-6 hours of consumption). After the 10th day/recalibration period, continue on <30G per day 6/7 days (may be able to get away with 50G, must monitor using Ketone Sticks), taking in those 30G of carbs pre/post-workout meals ideally and then enjoying a Carb Load one day a week. Ensure that Carb Loads are 4 full days apart (e.g. would recommend, as in 4HB, picking a day - Tim Ferriss and I both prefer Saturdays - or planning for it in specific weeks, for example around an occasion, for holidays/parties/etc.). No need to count calories on this diet, the % mix you are getting from each of three nutrient groups is the critical area of focus - so, eat to satiety, but maintain your ratios!

3) Maintenance: Cycle the CKD approach: 6 Month on and then take a break for 1 month.

Carb Load Rules:

• Time period: 12-8pm (aiming for 2 meals + 1 snack) and aim for 1 day a week only, at least 4 days apart from prior Carb Load
• Nutritional % goal: 10% fat, 30% protein, and 60% carbohydrates
• Avoid soft drinks and fruit juices (high concentrations of fructose in these make you fat and fail to create any of the beneficial hormonal responses)
• Focus on Classical Carbs and avoid Bulk Carbohydrate Sweeteners (below)
• First meal for Carb Load, should be a full meal, including lean protein and plenty of starches like break, pasta, rice, or potatoes.
• Make sure to treat yourself to bread, pasta, pie, cobbler, cookies, and other bakery items - eating sweets is good, but go for the specialty/homemade versions, as mass-marketed items contain large amount of trans-fats and high-fructose corn syrup.
• Drink plenty of water/fluids and electrolytes, as your body is going to store some of those carbs in your muscles along with a lot of water - helps prevent muscle breakdown
• Why the Carb Load? Quoting Kiefer, the Carb Load: "One 6-8 hour Carb Nite, solves the problem of falling metabolism and hormones, ignites excess fat burning,helps prevent a diet relapse, keeps the body confused, fat cells become extremely disoriented (the low levels of insulin together with skyrocketed levels of leptin, instruct fat cells to empty out while already being empty - killing fat cells."

Allowable Foods:

• Summary: On Ketogenic days (6/7 days a week), avoid any Traditional Starches (Rice, grains and cereals, breads/crackers, rice cakes, and any flour-based food), Legumes (Legumes of all shapes, sizes and colors - Pinto beans, garbanzo beans, lentils, peas and lima beans), Fruits, and Starchy Veggies (Sweet or white Potatoes, corn, parsnips, pumpkin, squash, yams and plantains). Most Ketogenic diets (including both Kiefer and Willey's) allow for Dairy, cheese specifically (as it's high fat/protein, no carb), however, as discussed in the original Carpe Life nutritional rules, dairy has a high insulinemic response and will impede weight loss.

Approved Foods on Ketogenic (<30G of Carbs) Days - effectively stay away from all high-carb foods in order to keep total daily carbs below 30G!

Vegetables: Alfalfa Sprouts, Arugula, Asparagus, Baby Spinach, Celery, Green Olives, Kimchee, Pimientos, Romaine Lettuce, Watercress, Mushrooms

Nuts & Seeds: Flax Seeds and Pumpkin Seeds - Hulled, other low-carb density nuts

Egg Products: Egg Whites and Liquid Egg Substitutes

Seafood: All seafood except Scallops and Squid

Poultry: All poultry

Red Meat: All red meat, except Salami

Pork/Sausages: All lean pork/pepperoni/ham, except no panceta, prosciutto, salami, Spam, or chicken-apple

Baking goods: Baking soda, flaxseed meal, guar gum, and xantham gum (no pure vanilla extract, cocoa powder, almond meal, etc.

Salad dressings: All no-carb/low-carb options

Condiments: All except Soy sauce, lemon/lime juice, and au jus

Risky Product Ingredients (bulk carbohydrate sweeteners, artificial trans-fats, or poor quality proteins): Fructose, Glycerin/Glycerine/Glycerol, High-fructose corn syrup, Hydrogenated Starch Hydrolysate (HSH), Isomalt, Lactitol, Maltitol, Mannitol, Sorbitol, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Cottonseed Oil, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil, Hydrogenated Canola Oil, Xylitol, Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil, Collagen, Erythritol, Gelatin, Mechanically Separated Chicken or Turkey

Special Supplements on CKD:

• Leucine and Lysine amino acids - the only two pure Ketogenic amino's, helps retain muscle and keep you in ketosis
• Short/medium-chain fats as primary fat source - coconut oil or preferably, pure MCT oil (medium chain triglycerides) - purely Ketogenic fats and fast acting to provide Ketones for energy
• Psyllium Fiber (digestive health)

Workouts on CKD:

• Workout Nutrition: Pre-workout (shake or real food) - High protein meal (20-30G and ~10G of Carbs; In-workout - Amino Acids/Electrolytes only; Post-workout - 20-30G of Whey Protein (or blend of Whey/Casein) + 15G of carbs + any supplements.
• Cardio: HIIT and high intensity training overall is very difficult on the Ketogenic Cycling Diet, so it will be used minimally and only after you've re-loaded your Glycogen stores, so stick to 1 hour of steady-state cardio (at a heart rate target of 120-140BPM)
• Workout Schedule:
• Monday: Steady-State Cardio
• Tuesday: Off
• Wednesday: Weight-lift Workout - Lower Body
• Thursday: Weight-lift Workout - Upper Body
• Friday: Off
• Saturday: Weight-lift Workout - Whole Body Cycle (Pre-carb load)
• Sunday: HIIT Cardio

Beyond Wealth by Alexander Green - Highly Recommend

Highly recommend Beyond Wealth: The Roadmap to a Rich Life, by Alexander Green, below are just some highlights that I took note of in my own reading, I'll be re-reading over and over again to be sure, incredible pieces with profound and deep insights about living your life and becoming the best version of yourself.

• Green - 25 years as an investment adviser, research analyst, and financial writer
• Believes that everyone should strive for some measure of financial freedom. "If you have money, you have power, in the best sense. Wealth is freedom, security, and peace of mind. It allows you to do and be what you want, to support worthy causes and help those closest to you. It enables you to follow your dreams, to spend your life the way you choose. Money gives you dignity, it gives you choices. That's why every man and woman has the right-perhaps even the obligation-to achieve some level of financial independence."
• True rich vs. "aspirationals."  The true rich/millionaires are wealthy from a total balance sheet perspective (assets and liabilities) - as Thomas Stanley illustrated in Millionaire Next Door, the vast majority live in a house that cost less than $400K, do not own a second home, have never owned a boat, are more likely to wear a Timex over a Rolex, do not collect wine and generally pay less than $15 a bottle, are more likely to drive a Toyota over a Beemer, have never paid more than $400 for a suit, and spend little on prestige/luxury brands. The prestige/luxury/status items are being consumed by the "aspirationals," those that act rich and want to be rich but really aren't rich!
• Passion in career. According to over 40 Gallup studies, 3/4 of us are disengaged from our jobs and the most recent U.S. Job Retention survey found that more than 60% of employees are currently searching for new employment opportunities. Voltaire argued that work exists to save us from 3 great evils: boredom, poverty, and vice. But, as a society, we have since put our believe in two great ideas: romantic love and meaningful work. Passion/work may be difficult to achieve, but work should give your life dignity and meaning. You should view your work as a context, a challenge, and an opportunity as opposed to purely in terms of responsibilities and obligations. Choosing meaningful employment often involves accepting a temporary pay cut. Staying in a current dead-end/meaningless job typically is drive out of fear. References Bill Gates who calls himself an "impatient optimist" - great term.
• Harvard study by Vaillant to try and define "a good life," and what is most important driver to happiness - determined that relationships to other people are paramount, human connections to parents, siblings, children, friends, neighbors, and celebrations. Education/stable marriage/healthy weight, etc., all are things we focus on, but "true success is more about US than ME."
• In managing money and in many other facets of life, success comes down to core principles. As Emerson said "Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles." Principles are the wisdom of our species, they tell us what is valuable, they warn us what is not - there will always be arguments about doctrine, but there is little disagreement on core principles: Honesty, compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, perseverance, justice, humility, charity, and gratitude. Wallace said that you must revere some timeless set of ethical principles, "Anything else you worship, will almost certainly eat you alive. If you worship money and things - if they are where you tap real meaning in life - then you will never have enough...worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly, worship power - you will feel weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to keep the fear at bay...worship your intellect, being seen as smart, you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out."  Cannot lead a life based on craving, on the worship of self, must cultivate relationships and focus on core principles to guide you.
• The search for happiness as an end in itself is a source of genuine unhappiness!  Happiness is a by-product, it is achieved indirectly by producing something beautiful or useful or by making someone else happy. The Stoics argued that happiness results not from pursing affluence and status but rather virtue and wisdom. Pythagoras argued that everyone should pose three questions to themselves before going to sleep at night: 1) What have I done?; 2) Where have I failed myself; and 3) What responsibility have I not fulfilled?
• In Zen and the Art of Making a Living (1992 - Boldt) writes: "Without self-expression, life lacks spontaneity and joy. Without service to others, it lacks meaning and purposes. Conceiving of ourselves as artists in whatever work we do gives us a metaphor for a life of integrity, service, enjoyment and excellence. I know of no better nutshell statement of the path to find one's true calling in life than the simple formula given by Aristotle: Where your talents and the needs of the world cross, there lies your vocation. These two, your talents and the needs of the world, are the great wake-up calls to your true vocation in life. To ignore either is, in some sense, to lose your soul."
• Nielsen Company has showed that as Internet usage has gone up, TV viewing has either held steady or increased! We are a nation addicted to electronic media. BOOKS - including ebooks - require calm, focused, un-distracted concentration that allows ideas to germinate and take hold. Deep reading inspires new associations, insights, and the occasion epiphany. Thoughts expand, language grows, consciousness deepens.
• Keys to personal freedom - obsession with improving your circumstances leading to over-consumption: 1) Recognize that we are wired to feel dissatisfied with our circumstances - it's genetic and nurtured; 2) Understand the psychology of desire. We all tend to "miswant" - want things we don't really need and won't appreciate once we acquire them. Recollect how your last major purchase failed to do it for you and you're less likely to believe that this time will be any different; 3) Stop regarding life as an ongoing competition for social status. Opt out of the game - even if everyone else seems to be playing it - and you can't be controlled or disappointed by the opinions of others. Do  work you enjoy, even if it's lower paying. Spend your time and money collecting great memories rather than more stuff; 4) Instead of focusing on what you want, try appreciating what you already have. Nothing cures craving for the next bauble like the thought of losing your partner, your children, your health, and the things you already own. 
• Irvine in On Desire: Why We Want What We Want writes "a sense that we are lucky to be living whatever life we happen to be living - that despite our circumstances, no key ingredient of happiness is missing. With this sense comes a diminished level of anxiety, we no longer need to obsess over the things - a new car, a bigger house, a firmer abdomen - that we mistakenly believe will bring lasting happiness if only we can obtain them. Most importantly, if we master desire, to the extent possible to do so, we will no longer daydream about living the life someone else is living; instead we will embrace our own life and live it to the fullest."  The prison is self-imposed, the key is to make the conscious choice to turn our backs on the consumptive lifestyle and live simply, happily, and with dignity.
• As a Man Thinketh - recommended read - essential premise is that, even if you're unaware of it, your underlying beliefs shape your character, your health, your circumstances, and ultimately your destiny. Your thoughts create your reality, you literally are what you think! While you cannot always command the situation, you can always command yourself. Indeed, to a great extent, you create your world with your thoughts. Most personal achievements begin with an abiding faith that we can and will accomplish them. However, even realizing your goals will not lead to lasting satisfaction, that's because human wants are insatiable - most of us are trapped on what psychologists call the hedonic treadmill: we work to achieve what we desire, those things satisfy us for a while, but we soon adapt to them and dissatisfaction returns, so next time we set the bar a little higher, and so on. Dissatisfaction is not all bad, of course, desire can motivate us to achieve good things in our lives, but a continual sense of lack creates anxiety and undermines our satisfaction, peace of mind eludes us. One approach to overcoming this process and recapturing the contentment we seek is through negative visualization (developed by the Stoics) - spending time each day imaging that you have lost the things you value most - vividly imaging your job has been terminated, that your house - with all of your possessions - has burned to the ground, that your partner has left you, or that you have lost sight, your hearing or the use of your limbs. By contemplating the impermanence of everything in your world, you can invest all of your activities with more intensity, higher significance, and greater awareness. 
• Try to break out of being "uncurious" - get out of your comfort zone and actively seek to be interested in the world and everything and everyone in it - seek out new friends and novel experiences, pay attention to what's going on around you and why.
• On art - "Art is a quintessentially human activity. It separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom. Only humans have an aesthetic sense, a need for expression in words, music, painting, or sculpture, although no one really understands why. Artists with extraordinary skill probe the content of life and articulate strong emotions. They create a feeling of recognition and communion with others. It is more than just the sheer wonder of seeing something beautiful or new. A great artist stimulates our imagination. The action takes place in the theater of the human mind. Music is intelligible but untranslatable, the most abstract and sublime of all of the arts. It is the universal language of emotion, bypassing the intellect and tackling the heart directly, making music is one of the fundamental activities of mankind, as characteristically human as language or drawing. 
• Eat like a Zen master -Nhat Nanh, Buddhist Zen Master from Vietnam, argues that we must practice "mindful living and eating." You must turn your meal times into an art by: 1) Honor the food - unplug all of your daily distractions, take a moment to consider everything you are about to consume and be grateful for everything and everyone that contributed to it; 2) Engage all of your senses; 3) Serve modest portions; 4) Savor small bites; 5) Eat slowly; 6) Eat regular meals (2-3 hours; and 7) Eat a plant-based diet.
• If you are too busy/have no free time, what kind of affluence is that? Having money but no money to enjoy it is another form of poverty and lack of freedom.  Lin Yutang noted, "the wise man is not hurried and the hurried man is not wise." Slowing down enhances your sense of gratitude, improves your mental and physical health, allows you to gain control of your life, lets you appreciate beauty, and enables you to reconnect with those around you. Sometimes the best way to spend a day is savoring what you've got before it's gone. Idleness leads to contemplation, creativity, and inventiveness. 
• Tolstoy felt that his life was meaningless. No matter what he achieved, he asked himself, "What is it for? What does it lead to." He came up with another of thoughts on living life - in summary "the more upset you are with other people and circumstances, and the more satisfied you are with yourself, the further you are from wisdom." 
• Has enumerate other examples from people that inspire him and hobbies that have driven to fulfillment (jazz, wine collection, etc.)
• Defining spirituality - such a a broad term, but believes it has several common areas of understanding: 1) You recognize the eternal mystery; 2) You have a genuine sense of awe; 3) You appreciate the sacredness of life; 4) You are profoundly grateful for your life; 5) You have a well-developed ethical sense; 6) You strive for higher consciousness and wisdom; 7) You seek a life of meaning.  Overall, "We may not be able to define it. But we know it when we see it."

Upgrade your weightlifting - Men & Women alike and latest articles/books reviewed!

Check out Favs for Updates as always! I've added to all of them!

Thanks for sending me your personal updates/encouragement - many of you have sent me notes or called me around your progress on the nutrition/exercise fronts, really humbled by some of the results, most have already dropped 8-12 pounds in the first month with even minor adoption of some of the baseline principles, that's fantastic! For those of you that are struggling to get started or motivated, please feel free to reach out to me and would recommend simply incorporating some of the rules gradually and taking steps in the right direction, this will create momentum and confidence in your abilities to create positive change!  On the workouts front, have heard from many that you're ready for new weight lifting workouts, well, ask and you shall receive!

For a more advanced workout, use these two weight training workouts in place of the original 2 workouts and also feel free to rotate every 3 weeks between them - they follow more of a bodybuilding/muscle driving approach with a muscle split and more intensity and rest for each muscle group - you can further split to 3 days for more advanced routines (2 days a week, rotate between Lift A/B, super set excersies A/B and highly recommend that you take one of your days off after Lift A, before HIIT cardio as your legs will be shot):

Lift A

Warm-up: Stair Master or other steady-state cardio for 20min

1A. Deadlift (three options: bar bell, dumbbells, or trap bar) 

1B. Walking Lunges holding Dumbbells

2A. Leg Press (machine, not the plates leg press version which can cause injury) or Squat (Hack, Smith, or Regular)

2B. Kettlebell swings

3A. Leg Curls

3B. Hamstring Curls

Lift B

Warm-up: 2 sets of 20 Push-ups and 10 Pull-ups

1A. Flat Chest Press (two options: bench or machine)

1B. Seated Rows (machine)

2A. Incline Chest Press (Machine or Dumbbells)

2B. Pull Downs (machine – palms out, wide grip, don’t lean back)

3A. Dumbbell Curl to Shoulder Press (2 dumbbells)

3B. Tricep Push Downs

New Great/Inspirational Articles & Books:

• Great articles/books supporting Ketogenic runs or permanent Ketogenic (burning fat for energy instead of carbs): http://www.medibolics.com/GlycemixIndexNot.htm and  http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0801/is_3_72/ai_n57070044/ and huge fan of Carb Nite by John Kiefer, I'm planning to start this approach on the 10/23 and will let people know, initial Keto Run and then 6/7 days in ketogenic diet (<30-50G of carbs) and 7th day is a carb fest from 5pm-bed. Buy his book for $14.99, great stuff/solid science.
• Jonah Hill shed 30+ pounds for his roll in 21 Jump St and he is now adamant that this is his new weight and life style, he credits a visit/consultation from a prescriptive nutritionist, would imagine he had a trainer as well, though there are skeptics out there reporting potential plastic surgery.
• Have added Leucine supplementation (in addition to that found in BCAAs) - huge benefits in post-workout shake and I like this brand.
• 20 Habits of Skinny People according to MH - Aligns nicely with my rules below!
• 12 Ways to Cut Carbs - Great Substitutes (though in some cases, not aligned to rules, so be careful)
• Think your workouts/races are hard? Try Kona Ironman, humbling!
• RIP Steve Jobs, phenomenal innovator and another one taken by Cancer, the awful/in-discriminant killer. Highly inspired by his speech to Stanford graduating class.
• Not so great books - finished the two latest Diet craze books "17 Day Diet" by Dr. Mike Moreno and "Clean - The Revolutionary Program to Restore the Body's Natural Ability to Heal Itself" by Dr. Alejandro Junger - books that are widely popular and cited by many dieters, trainers, and nutritionists these days. My findings: Despite the positive Amazon reviews, nothing really new, and wouldn't waste your time, as they're not even getting into Ketogenic or more modern drivers of weight loss and maintenance and don't consider endurance athletes or active people at all!