The Hormone Diet

I bought the book The Hormone Diet. (No worries, no one pays me to say anything. Don't think anyone really reads this but me. And that's OK too.) I'm not following the book in depth. I barely read it in depth. One of the reasons why is over the years I read a lot of nutrition books, diet books and had one semester of a nutrition class. I skipped over the information that was repeated time and time before. I soaked up things that seemed like new or different information. Because something sure as hell wasn't working!

Lost five pounds. Whoop! Back to where I was before the holidays.

What I'm doing different that I think is helping from the book:

1. Eat breakfast within an hour after waking.
2. Eat protein first to ready the brain and stomach and blood sugar.
3. Don't eat three hours before bed. If you must have something, make it higher in protein and very few carbs.
4. Fish oil. (I actually started taking a fish oil, flaxseed oil and borage oil combo. I still have to look that last one up. I have no idea what it is) Provides  Omega 3, 6, and 9.
5. Within 45 minutes after exercising, not much fat, higher in carbs snack. To feed the muscles that are trying to repair.
6. GET YOUR 8 HOURS OF SLEEP! There are hormones that try to revive themselves while we sleep. We interrupt that production when we don't get enough sleep. So I've been trying to get to bed earlier since I can't sleep in later. That one is still a tough one to do. Working on it though.

Things I'm still doing that I did before:
1. Keep carbs to 45 - 50 grams during meals.
2. Snacks not over 160 calories.
3. Protein source every time I eat.
4. Avoid high fructose corn syrup.
5. Eat lean meats.
6. No caffeine.
7. No artificial sweeteners. I have experienced muscle fatigue and rashes from these so I just avoid them anyway.

There is a section in the book that suggests a detox to see if you have food sensitivities. I'm not big on dairy anyway, so I don't pork out on it. Not a concern for me.  I did find that corn gives me a headache, like corn chips, so I avoid those now. Who knew, right?  I like peanut butter. I have cut my consumption of it down because too much seems to make me uncomfortable. There are certainly a lot more fruits and vegetables in my fridge. I have been feeling better and lord knows my skin looks a heck of a lot better.

I haven't dedicated my time towards regular exercising yet. Nothing new there, right? This book recommends strength training. I've seen this advice before and, let me tell 'ya, I really am caught in a "must be high cardio to make a difference" mind set. I hesitate at weight lifting because I hurt myself when I was 15. Just felt something give weird during a butterfly move. Wonder if something tore and didn't know it. I'm cautious about it now. Let you know how that goes next week.