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[Dave Pollard]

May 19: Hi everyone. I started the diet on May 10, not to lose weight but to reduce my evening junk food (sugar, fat, salt) cravings. I've posted about it on my blog, How to Save the World, which you can read about at http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2006/05/10.html#a1522. I also wrote today about Seth's paper that led to the discovery of the diet, here: http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2006/05/19.html#a1531

This is my first status report. It's kind of long, to provide background. Future reports will be shorter, I promise.

I haven't lost any weight so far. I am on the 'light' version of the diet (the minimum suggested consumption of canola and sugar-water). So far it has had no impact on my evening cravings either. But a large proportion of those on the diet who have commented or e-mailed me (most of whom I know, so I know they're objective) say that it has worked for them -- reducing weight painlessly, quickly and significantly, and reducing cravings as well. So I'm going to try increasing the dose by 50%.

My weight has varied over the years from 1966 (when I was 15) to this year (when I will turn 55) as shown on this chart: . I'm a relatively small-framed guy, 5'9" (175 cm), so my 'ideal' weight, depending on who you believe, is somewhere between 130 and 170 lbs (59 to 77 kg). I gained weight slowly but steadily throughout my 20s, 30s and 40s, adding about 1.2 pounds (500 g) per year. My waist size went from 28" to 34" (71 to 86 cm) proportionally. My chest size went from 36" to 39" (91 to 99 cm).

I tried to correlate this with my level of physical fitness (best in 1974 and 1988), my level of personal happiness (best in 1969 and 1980), and my stress level (worst in 1972 and 1984), but there is no apparent correlation. About three years ago, the first time I had ever been noticeably overweight, I suddenly started losing a lot of weight inexplicably, and my red blood count plunged from quite high to too low to donate blood. They did a lot of tests but came up with no explanation, and the weight loss stopped, and red blood count returned to normal, about a year later. This year, in anticipation of finally re-starting an exercise program, I started monitoring my weight again. It has varied between 149 and 155 lbs (67 to 70 kg) since the start of the year, and since I started working out (5 km / 3 mi run three times per week) three weeks ago, and started the 'diet' two weeks ago, it has varied more narrowly between 150 and 152 lbs. My chest and waist sizes are 38" and 31" (the same as they were when I was measured for my tux for my daughter's wedding last year). My evening craving for salt, fat and sugar has not been affected by either the exercise or the diet, and although I am more aware of the cravings I have not tried to deliberately ignore them. A month ago I quit drinking soft drinks and started using stevia instead of sugar in my tea and coffee, though that doesn't seem to have affected my weight or cravings either. As I mentioned earlier I have the poor eating habits common to 'night people': consuming tea, water and juice only from when I get up at about 9 am until 3 pm, light late lunch (toast or granola and fruit) at about 3 pm, a full and varied dinner at about 7 pm, one or two snacks from about 9 pm to midnight, but not right before bed at 2 am. Yes, I know I should eat a proper breakfast. Occasionally I do, but when I skip it I don't seem to miss it. I don't eat a lot at any time -- at restaurants I have to either stick to one main course dish only, or dispense with the main course dishes and have two appetizers instead. Half the time I'll have dessert after that.

I may need to adopt Seth's 'insomnia' routine (morning light, breakfast conversation or talking TV heads in the morning) to get to a more healthful circadian routine, which might also help reduce the cravings. And I am going to adopt his '9 hours a day standing' program of replacing my desk and easy chair with a standing-height desk and fatigue-reduction footpad, to improve my posture and strengthen my sprain-prone back.

I'm convinced our cravings are actually withdrawal symptoms from addiction to the ingredients, and Seth does acknowledge that strong, uniform, easily-digested foods do have all the attributes of addictive substances. I know enough about addiction (I am a child of the 1960s) to appreciate its physiological power over us, and so I'm intrigued that the consumption of 'empty calories' of one type (fat or carbohydrate) could reduce craving for another type of food (such as salt).

We shall see.

[Pargiter]

Hi Dave! It's great to see you here. Good luck with the diet!

To everyone else: you should really check out Dave's blog. There's a lot of great writing there that should be of interest to anyone on the planet.

(sorry Dave, I had to do that. Love the blog

[Dave Pollard]

Second report -- 18 days in. Increased dose to 1 tbsp oil + 2.5 tbsp sugar water daily after last report. Still no weight change (150-152 every day). Still no reduction in evening cravings. No side effects, though. I've tried the oil & sugar-water at different times of day and that doesn't seem to make a difference either.

I wandered through these forums looking for others with similar characteristics, but couldn't find any precise matches that could give me ideas what to do next. My new exercise program is going very well -- doubled my running distance to 8km, three times a week and average speed is up 20%. Feel better and look fitter. At 5'9" I don't really need to lose any weight but would like to shake the cravings -- too much sugar, salt and fat in my diet. The exercise program hasn't changed the cravings either, so I can't blame the craving for salt on dehydration.

Favourite snacks are ice cream, candy bars, nuts, potato chips, cheesies, berries and aged cheese -- all foods with a lot of flavour. At meals I also like highly-flavoured foods -- Thai, Szechuan, Indian, Mexican. I make my own all-natural unsweetened fruit freezies, and I like salads (dill/cucumber dip) and high-flavoured breads (pumpernickel). I'm mostly vegetarian. I can't really get into pasta, popcorn or baked snacks. I gave up soft drinks and coffee a couple of months ago, and reduced my alcohol consumption to a glass of wine or a beer per week. I drink a lot of water, and juices (sometimes sweetened, mostly not, no real preference). Lately I'm drinking less tea, possibly because I'm getting the liquids I need from water and juice (or maybe my caffeine addiction is abating).

Perhaps what distingushes me most is that, as I've gotten older, my appetite has decreased naturally. I don't eat a lot, even including the evening snacks. At a restaurant, I either have one entree or two appetizers -- that's all I can handle (though I often want dessert a few hours later). Maybe this is my problem with the diet -- when your appetite is already low, how much lower can lowering your set point make it? I tried eating a full breakfast to see if that would reduce evening cravings, but it didn't work.

The SLD is all about self-experimentation (as helpful as the book and these forums are, we're all unique) and about coming up with and testing imaginative hypotheses (theories). Here are a few of my thoughts on what to do next, though I'd love to hear ideas from others:

• If my cravings are addictions, is there something healthier I can substitute for sugar, salt and fat that will satisfy the addictions yet be healthier? I suspect not, because I now use stevia instead of sugar in beverages, and eat sherbets instead of ice cream,  yet still crave chocolate bars and other very sweet desserts every evening.
• If my cravings are my body telling me it needs something, what is it telling me? I don't salt my food, but I crave nuts and potato chips and even breads. I'm thinking of trying unsalted nuts to see if there some trace element in starches that my body wants, that it connects with salty and starchy snacks. I love berries (and other tart-flavoured fruits), and don't sugar them, but want them with cheese, ice cream or whipped cream. I'm thinking of trying them with something spicy rather than fattening (maybe chana masala or curried soup). But I'm not optimistic -- my body seems to want fat, and won't settle for anything else. Wonder why that would be?
• I've been exercising during the day, but I'm thinking of switching to evenings to see if that reduces my cravings (vigorous exercise does temporarily lower my appetite)

Any hypotheses on why my body is craving fat, sugar and starch? What else should I try, to address these cravings without eating junk?

(BTW, thanks for the kudos, James)

[Seth Roberts]

Cravings are often place-specific (in addition to being time-specific). You might find that your cravings are diminished if you spend the evening in a different environment, which might be as simple as a different room of your house/apartment with unfamiliar music and/or unfamiliar scent.

[Dave Pollard]

That's a good point, Seth. By late evening, I've usually done the necessary work for the day, and am relaxing and 'rewarding' myself for having done so. I just need to make sure the 'different environment' I choose isn't a restaurant ;-)

[zhavah]

Hi Dave,

I got here from your blog on sustainable living / peak oil which was excellent.

I've been intensely interested in diet and nutrition since about 1970 (I'm 53) and I read the medical literature daily on nutrition (I work in a university medical library) both for my own information and to research topics for our physician clients.  When I heard about the SLD I was very curious.  I would like to comment on a few of your points.

You're exercising so even though your weight isn't decreasing, you are probably converting fat to muscle which weighs more than fat of equal volume. 

The following is what I do and recommend and/or what the research says.

Fat addiction:  add more nutritious fats to your diet any way you can, for example, cook with more olive and canola oil, and eat more unroasted nuts such as walnuts, pecans, and almonds and avocados. Keep unroasted nuts in the fridge.  Don't try to reduce the good fats! Personally I don't restrict dairy fats, but there's not a lot of justification in the literature to support my practice.  I do believe that the hysteria around cholesterol in food is overblown however, because most cholesterol in the blood did not start out as cholesterol in the diet - your liver manufactured it from bad fats.  Support for that position comes from the high cholesterol diet but low heart disease rate in the Inuit people and in people who consume the Mediterranean diet. The good fats and vegetables are thought to inhibit heart attacks regardless of the cholesterol content.

Salt addiction: if you have normal blood pressure you most likely don't need to worry about cutting back.  The research shows this even though most doctors don't seem to know it. Unfortunately the salt comes along with high starch and bad fat foods.  If you do have high blood pressure, add potassium supplements (follow the label limit), and potassium rich foods like bananas, mangos, cantaloupe, oranges, green vegetables, pumpkin, tomato, (and avocado again) regardless of your blood pressure.  It is thought that most people don't get enough potassium to balance or offset the sodium. If you have kidney disease, ask your doctor first.  Because you also have sugar addiction, go easy on the sweet fruits at least initially.  If you ever go on a high protein diet, do not restrict salt and do add potassium.

Sugar addiction: To lick your sugar addiction: cut out all sweetened foods and drinks and highly refined carbs like flour, white rice, white bread and potatoes etc. This is tough but worth it. Switch to baked sweet potatoes in their jackets (in moderation) and limit even your whole grain bread intake because it also contains some flour. Real rye bread (100% rye - the heavy tough German stuff) has a better effect on blood sugar levels. You've only gone part way to killing your sugar addiction if you're still eating flour and such. The starch in white potatoes is converted to sugar and absorbed by your body more quickly than pure cane sugar because of a difference in the two molecules and predigestion of the starch in your mouth - that maintains your sugar and starch craving. Cut out unsweetened fruit juice - switch to water. Just because it's natural sugar doesn't mean it's not sugar!  Until your body has adjusted to the low sugar/carb diet you will crave sugar - hang in there - sugar is immunosuppressive, growth-hormone suppressive, and causes diabetes and heart disease.  After a few weeks without sugar and refined carbs you will find your craving reduced dramatically and naturally sweet foods like organic carrots (e.g. A&P BunnyLuv 8 inch organic carrots) will taste like candy. Eat them raw to slow down absorption of the natural sugar.  Consider using small amounts of honey as a sweetener once your sugar craving is gone.  Research shows honey is superior in all aspects to cane sugar.  I will be acquiring a beehive as one of my sustainability projects - I had one 20 years ago. 

Sugar Water: I don't have any experience with the SLD so I don't know how that would impact on your sugar craving, though I would be inclined to suspend the sugar water until the craving is under control.

All the best.

David

[Will]

Dave - I would suggest that you might want to suspend the sugar water usage and substitute completely with an oil option.  A number of people in the forums have mentioned that the sugar water has increased cravings for them so you might be counteracting the effects by mixing the two.   Replacing the 2.5 tbsp of sugar water with an additional tbsp of oil might help you finally reach the Shangri-La effect that many others have found.

Good luck.

[SF]

Dave -
Just wanted to second Zhavah's message.  Very good advice in there.  I think it is normal for our bodies to crave fat, but we feed that craving with bad fat.  Like zhavah, I don't restrict my intake of good fats: organic dairy, as well as olive oil, coconut oil, and nut oils such as walnut, avocado, hazelnut.  All the plant oils should be cold pressed or expeller pressed.  Heat damages oil! 

Salt craving could indicate a need for other minerals.  Salt in its natural form comes packaged with thousands upon thousands of trace minerals that our body needs.  Try switching to a "Whole salt" such as Celtic Sea Salt or RealSalt, and unless you have high blood pressure, don't restrict your usage of it.

As you will see from the above, this would require eliminating potato chips (which are deep fried, and heat damages oil! thus, bad fat! and they have purified salt which is straight sodium and doesn't have the balance of minerals our bodies need) and junk food.

I cut out sugar and refined flour from my diet a few months ago and I feel fantastic.  I can definitely recommend this.  My cravings for it have gone down a lot, although not gone entirely - I treat myself to a small dessert about once a month.  This has had more health benefits than you can imagine.

Definitely do some reading about good and bad fats and the effect of refining/heat on oils...also on salt and the difference between whole salt and purified salt...and the health affects of kicking the sugar habit which are too many to enumerate here.

-SF

[Dave Pollard]

Day 23:
zhavah, Will & SF: Thanks for the excellent advice.

In the last 5 days, the increased dose and/or the increased exercise (now up to 8km three times a week) and/or the switch to evening exercise has paid off: Weight is down to 147, and it shows. I also feel better. I'm trying not to change too many things at once, so I can see what works. The salt craving seems down but the craving for fat (esp. cheese and ice cream) and sugar (chocolate) is still evident. I've given up potato chips and other salty foods, and have resisted the chocolate, but I still indulge the fat craving. I'd already given up coffee, soft drinks, and alcohol, and my appetite for tea has abated (maybe finally over the caffeine addicition). Still drinking home-made fruit/ice freezies (no sugar or juice, just fruit and ice), and lots of water. I'm going to stick with this another week (30 day point) and then I'll try some of your suggestions. Thanks again.

[Will]

Another minor point to consider as far as weight loss goals:  Most professionals I have read mention that you shouldn't expect or try to lose more than 1-2 pounds a week.  My understanding was that really you were supposed to use 1% of your body weight per week was a healthy rate (assuming you weren't already in excellent shape).  For everyone but the very large (or obese) 1-2 pounds ends up being 1% so it was an easy number to use.  Of course as your weight drops from say 200 to 150 the healthy loss rate will drop with it and that is why it is increasingly harder to lose weight without drastic measures.

Assuming I am not confused this means that for a man your weight in ~4 weeks the upper bound of healthy loss would be ~6 lbs.  Which if you initial number (152) and most recent weighing (147) are correct you have been losing at exactly the right rate.    Do you have a particular goal weight or are you just one of those "I'll know it when I see it" folks?

[Dave Pollard]

Will: Good question. I love playing with numbers, and my exercise progress chart, with age-adjusted performance curves and computations of calories burned etc., has very precise targets. When I was in my early 20s, I weighed 135 lbs and had a 28" waist and a 36" chest and was in the best condition of my life. Right now I'm 12 pounds over that and my waist is 2.5" and chest is 2" above that. I don't know if it's reasonable to expect to match prime-of-life weight and dimensions (my running time targets are all age-adjusted). If you'd asked me four years ago (when I peaked at 170 lbs) I'd have said 150 was my ideal weight, and that is the midpoint of the 'ideal weight range' for someone of my height and stature. I'm more concerned with taking 1.5" off my waist and 1" off my chest (and curbing the cravings) than losing weight, but if history is any indication, that will bring me in at 140 lbs. I'd be happy with that.

I went off the 'cravings' wagon this weekend -- big poker party Friday night and birthday party Saturday night. Way too much junk food, though I stuck to drinking water and unsweetened juices. Last night (Sunday) I was so hungry that at midnight I ate two grilled cheese sandwiches. I figured I'd be back up over 150 but I'm still hanging in at 147 -- don't know whether to thank SLD for that or the exercise program, but whichever it is I'm grateful!

[Dave Pollard]

Day 35: I'm going to stay with the same dose -- 1 tbsp oil, 2 tbsp sugar water -- a while longer to see what happens. I may then switch to all-oil.
Weight: 144 lbs (65 kg) (down about 7 lbs). My lowest weight since 1978 (age 27).
Waist: 30" (down 1"). But interestingly, still a full 1" more than in 1978. Maybe this is an 'age' thing.
Diet: Unchanged. Still can't get myself to eat in the morning. Otherwise, except for the evening snacks, my diet is very healthy -- well rounded, mostly natural, organic, vegetarian, and unprocessed, with no Trans fats and few saturated fats.
Cravings: Unchanged. Still can't pass up the nuts, chips, cheese or ice cream in the late evening. Getting more selective, though -- unsalted, untreated nuts; tortilla chips instead of potato; natural and light ice cream and sherbet.
Exercise: After dramatic and noticeable improvement days 1-28, I've since hit a plateau (5mi/8km in 45 min -- not a bad time for me, as I'm built for speed not endurance -- short, stocky legs; in the 1970s I ran it in 37 min which is 43 min age-adjusted to today).
Goals: I'm getting more ambitious, and now aiming for 135 lbs, 29" waist, zero cravings and 5mi/8km in 40 min.

All in all, pretty good progress for a guy with no patience. Going to plug on and cross-post this to the 'over 30 day' list. Thanks to all who have posted or sent me suggestions and comments -- a 'support group' really makes a difference!

[Dave Pollard]

Day 44:
Weight 141 lbs (64 kg) (down 10 lbs). My lowest weight since 1976 (age 25).
Waist: 29.5" (down 1.5").
Diet: Unchanged. Eating less at dinner, but the evening cravings continue.
Exercise: Performance still at a plateau, but have increased distance to 10km three times a week, in 58 min.
Goals: 135 lbs, 29" waist, zero cravings and 10km in 52 min.

Steady as she goes.

[Dave Pollard]

*Looking for some advice*

Day 55:
Weight 140 lbs (64 kg) (down 11 lbs). My weight has not changed in the last week.
Waist: 29.5" (down 1.5").
SLD Regimen: Switched a week ago to all-oil instead of oil/sugar-water combination, but my system didn't take well to it, if you get my meaning, so I've switched back. And for the last week I've been nauseous after both, and my system, which handled the regimen with no problem for more than a month, is really resisting it -- cringing at taking it, and suffering from indigestion, bloating and occasional stomach cramps for the last week. Tempted to quit for awhile and see if I recover, but this malaise could also be due to my exercise program rather than the 'diet', so I'm not sure what to do.
Diet: Unchanged. Appetite at mealtimes still low, but the evening cravings continue.
Exercise: Performance still at a plateau, still running 10km three times a week. My time has actually worsened by about 90 seconds, to 59:30, though this could be due to not feeling 100%.
Goals: 135 lbs, 29" waist, zero cravings and 10km in 52 min.

I'll take a look elsewhere in the forums for others having adverse reactions to the regimen, but would welcome any advice.

[Dave Pollard]

On July 11, a week after my last post, I was diagnosed with severe ulcerative colitis. The doctors believe it was brought on by some stressful news I received a couple of months ago, just before I started my exercise program and the SLD. It has nothing to do with the diet, of course. There is no known cause or cure for this disease, which is chronic, and which is expected to recur for the rest of my life. For the last month I have stopped the diet and exercise program and concentrated on healing the disease. Kind of a grim irony -- because of the disease I lost another 8 pounds (down to 132), and my waist measure dropped to 28.5". But I would definitely not recommend this disease as a diet regimen. 

I've just resumed my exercise program, but the SLD experiment is on indefinite hiatus, so I won't be posting here again. However, I AM using Seth's self-experimentation process to take charge of healing my ulcerative colitis, and Seth will be interviewing me for his next book in that connection. I'll be posting progress reports on the self-experimentation section of these discussion boards, if anyone is interested. Thanks to all for your encouragement, and I wish you all success in your SLD program.