Book Review - Obesity Code

This book was recommended on another weight loss blog so I bought it on Amazon, and just finished it. I thought it was good, and agreed with the author's position that:

• weight loss is no single problem/single solution
• calories in/calories out is simplistic
• low fat diets aren't the answer
• sugar and processed food are the main culprits
• most diets succeed short-term but long-term is a different story

I think he is right that weight issues have a lot to do with insulin and hormones. His discussion of short-term fasting for insulin control was interesting.

He was very opposed to shakes such as Optifast, which made me cringe, and long for the time when I can go back to real food, not sweet, highly processed, chemical-ridden products by Nestle.

I found the book informative, convincing, and empowering. I felt ready to go back to real food after reading it, though worry that the very low-calorie diet I've been on may have messed with my metabolism. (He talks about how our bodies change our metabolism in response to calorie restrictions.) I'm ready to give it a try.

I think after reading this book I'm finally ready to give up sweets and refined starch products (pasta, pastries, buns, etc.). It's going to be harder to give up Diet Coke and artificial sweetener but he's made the most convincing arguments so far, to me at least, about how they are sabotaging my weight loss efforts and health. Sigh...

Rundown of the Products

So the shakes, first. They come in either pre-made, or DIY powdered. Apparently the powdered has milk and the pre-made doesn't (it has soy). We sampled both at the first meeting. I preferred the pre-made. Both types come in vanilla, strawberry and chocolate. The only one I can drink is the chocolate, and only over ice, so cooled and diluted/thinned a bit. But I'm not a milkshake person. Supposedly our leader had one person in another cohort who lived only on shakes (no bars or soups) and only strawberry, the whole time! Wow.

The shakes are my least favorite. But you're supposed to have (at least) three a day. The bars come in more flavors. There's a chocolate mint, a chocolate peanut, a berry, a cinnamon, and a chocolate fudge. I think that's all. Again, I only like one - the chocolate fudge. I don't like mint, and the "white chocolate" (or yogurt) coating on the berry and cinnamon bars is just too sweet. The peanut one is OK but the chocolate one is so much better to ME that I don't waste my time on the others. But members of my cohort have strong and different responses - some love just the cinnamon, or the peanut. Whatever, as long as I like one. (My granddaughters like it too.)

Last is the (powdered) soup. It comes in tomato and chicken. People rave about the chicken but I didn't care for it. But the tomato one works fine, and I add lots of spices so it almost feels like cooking! ;-) I add garlic powder, onion powder, curry, turmeric, and sometimes cayenne. I spice it up! I add extra water to make more. The secret I think is to get it hot, and also to whisk the heck out of it so there's no lumps. High point of the day because it's the only thing we get to eat that isn't sweet! My cravings are for salty and spicy, not sweet.

So there's only one of each product I'm willing to eat or drink - but I only need one of each, thank goodness, so no problem. BTW, the products run from about $2 to $2.50 each, so at 42 products a week (6 a day), that's approximately $95 for food for a week.

Double Hotel Week - So Much Food, So Little Ability to Eat It

So Monday I was at the Embassy Suites in Monterey (with the complementary happy hour, full breakfast, plus extra treats as told in my blog post!) then Saturday night I'll be at another Embassy Suites (Sacramento) for my daughter's birthday - also same happy hour and breakfast, PLUS family dinner out at Joe's Crab Shack in Old Sac. And then there's me with my shake boxes and powdered soup. Party on! 😒

This is a doozy of a week. I don't normally have TWO hotel stays in one week. And then there's Superbowl on Sunday! That's a lot this week, but I'm hoping to make it until our meeting on Monday without succumbing.

Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming....

Day Two - Shakes Getting a Little Old Already!

So I'm on day two - survived day one! Three shakes a day, two bars, one tomato soup.Plus two small servings of Diet Coke. And water. As much as possible. (I've had some with lemon and splenda, and also the crystal light add-in.) And sugarless gum. That's about it!

Yesterday I was definitely NOT hungry - had to force myself to drink the last shake around 10 pm. But I'm sure I was still living on fumes from real food from the day before.

I had a slight headache this morning, but probably due to cutback on caffeine. (I don't drink coffee, but pretty much drink Diet Coke morning to night - or at least I did.)

I forget to weigh myself this morning. So hopefully the scale will have good news for me tomorrow when I wake up! I can do this...