I'm a breakfast girl. I loooove breakfast. The picture below was taken maybe a month ago and big deal, right? A bunch of eggs and bacon -- well, these are not just any eggs and bacon-- these are grass fed, pasture raised organic eggs and bacon that literally fueled me 'til dinner while hiking and running over 10 miles in the High Sierra Nevada Mountains. Now that's a breakfast of champions.

Since then, I've actually been fairly fascinated with the concept of eating fat, because I literally had so much energy that day. Now, I'm talking about high quality fat, mind you, not the trans fats that are in packaged, processed foods or unstable cooking oils.

The fat of the matter is (eh? anyone?), I eat a fairly high fat diet. Fat does not spike your blood sugar, like at all, it's a slow burning source of fuel. It's the lowest of the low on the glycemic index scale. So, that's why when we eat cereal or even oatmeal for breakfast, we get hungry just an hour or two later, but when we eat eggs and bacon (hopefully, really cleanly sourced) we can just keep going like the energizer bunny. Literally, the less you spike your blood sugar, the less your cortisol has to manage your insulin, which means the less your body produces fat.

Making breakfast before the 10 miler up and down a mountain.  I had no idea what I was in for when I started the day. — Making breakfast before the 10 miler up and down a mountain. I had no idea what I was in for when I started the day.

So, what about heart disease and all that good stuff, you ask. Well, recent studies are all proving that fat, even saturated fat, does not cause heart disease or clog your arteries. It's actually all the sugar and processed foods. (For more info on these studies go here and here.) This is one of the reasons why the Mediterranean diet is revered as so healthy.

Plus, eating fat is awesome for your brain. I remember a cleanse I did a year or so ago, where I juice fasted for about 10 days and man, my body and my brain just craved eggs. Eggs, eggs, eggs, eggs. That was my brain. On a juice fast. Eggs.

Eating low fat or avoiding fat for a while is actually what convinced me that it is so vitally healthy for our bodies.

Anyway, here is a list of fatty foods that I enjoy often:

-avocado, nuts and seeds, coconut, coconut oil, olives, olive oil, grass fed butter, fish, meat (yes, usually dark meat and red meats - preferably grass fed or at least organic, although I'm not always great at this.). I even make my pancakes and cakes with almond flour or coconut flour . . . and I cook with butter and coconut oil instead of vegetable oils.

Here are the list of fatty foods that I try to avoid:

-vegetable oil, canola oil, deep fried foods from restaurants, processed foods and packaged foods like crackers, pastries, cereals, chips . . . ehhh, you get the point . . .

Renny Grames

August 2, 2015

diet, health, exercise

Fat Burning Mode

Renny Grames

August 2, 2015

diet, health, exercise

There's an interesting concept out there that I've been trying out due to Unicity's Transformation program that I've been doing called 4-4-12.

You only eat 3 times per day.

Now, as someone who for the past decade has eaten 4-6 small meals and snacks in a day this has been a particular challenge.

For example:

9 am: breakfast

1 pm: lunch

5 or 6 pm: dinner

No snacks.

The idea is, your body is burning the food you ate for about the first 2 hours and then transitions into 'fat burning mode' for the next 2+ hours before your next meal.

This concept is similar to, although not quite as extreme as the ever popular intermittent fasting concept that has hit the health scene.

Transitioning to this new regimen has been a bit of a challenge because my body is like a clock. I get hungry about every 2-3 hours.

Which is exactly the point-- according to Abel James, in his book The Wild Diet and on his blog, Fat Burning Man, we have literally trained our bodies to be hungry every 2-3 hours by eating so often. Which I have found to be true in my own case.

I'm not convinced this practice is for everyone. Especially since I have really struggled with it - not just being hungry, but actually experiencing dizziness or a shakiness due to not eating. So I did some reading and found that while intermittent fasting is extremely popular and effective for men, it might not be the best for women. Stefani Ruper on her blog www.paleoforwomen.com says that 'women's metabolisms suffer from Intermittent Fasting'. You can read up on her study here.

Often in a time crunch, I will do a cardio HIIT - where I run at a normal pace for about a minute and then sprint as fast as I can for a minute for 12 minutes. Killer!

While 4-4-12 is not technically IF - I've found that when I eat every 4 hours, I often eat dinner around 5 pm and then do not have breakfast until 9 or 10 am the next morning - which, can be up to 17 hours of without food. Interestingly, I don't struggle much with not eating after dinner - it's not snacking before dinner. Some days are definitely easier than others due to exercise and my cycle, etc. Again, my approach after stressing about it, is to not stress about it . . . If I'm feeling shaky one day due to not eating, I will definitely eat.

More Tips to put your body in Fat Burning Mode:

1. Exercise before you eat

2. Weight lift

3. Do a cardio HIIT (high intensity interval training)

Let me know what you think of Intermittent Fasting or the concept of 4-4-12 and if you've ever tried it.

Happy Sunday everyone!