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Two Week Food Challenge
Below is a 2 Week Food Challenge created by Dr. Maffetone that I believe is a great tool to utilize at least once every quarter of the year. This 2 Week Food Challenge is designed to help stabilize your blood sugar levels and determine if you are carbohydrate intolerant (CI). CI is a common problem in many populations and the diseases associated with this condition are reaching epidemic proportions. Common symptoms of CI include sleepiness after meals, intestinal bloating, increased body fat, fatigue and others.
- Early stages of CI include elusive problems associated with blood-sugar handling, such as fatigue, intestinal bloating and loss of concentration.
- Middle stages include a more serious conditions including hypertension, elevations of LDL, lowering of HDL, elevated triglycerides, excess body fat and often obesity.
- Long term CI manifests itself as various diseases, including diabetes, cancer and heart disease.
- Final stages include a condition referred to as Metabolic Syndrome. This stage is includes disorders such as: hyperinsulinemia, Type 2 Diabetes, Hypertension, Obesity, Polycystic ovary, Stroke, Breast Cancer, Coronary Heart Disease, High Blood Cholesterol and Triglycerides.
Please note, CI is an individual one, affecting different people in different ways. The key to avoiding disease is to be aware of CI in its earliest stage and to make the appropriate diet and lifestyle changes. The following are some common complaints that occur immediately after eating a meal or for others remain a constant symptom or feeling.
STEP ONE
Prior to beginning this challenge, evaluate if you experience any of the following (Please note so that you can reference if the symptom(s) still persist after completing the two week food challenge):
- Physical Fatigue: Overall feeling of fatigue; morning through lunch or even all day.
- Mental Fatigue: Inability to concentrate; loss of creativity, poor memory, poor grades, various forms of “learning disabilities”. This is more pronounced immediately after a meal or if a meal is delayed or missed.
- Blood Sugar Handling Issues: Fluctuations in blood sugar are normal during the day, but are amplified if meals are not eaten on a regular schedule. Feeling jittery, agitated and/or moody (symptoms that immediately subside once food is consumed).Craving for simple sugars, chocolate or caffeine; bouts of dizziness.
- Intestinal Bloating: Suffer from excessive gas; antacids or other remedies are not successful in dealing with the gas levels. Gas tends to be worse later in the day and into the night.
- Sleepiness: Feel sleepy immediately after meals containing carbohydrates, particularly a pasta meal or a meal that contains bread, potatoes or dessert.
- Increased fat storages & weight: For most individuals, too much weight is too much fat. In males, abdominal fat is more evident and in females it is more prominent in the upper body, upper thighs and in the face.
- Increased triglycerides: High triglycerides are not only found in overweight individuals. Individuals with high triglycerides are the direct result of carbohydrates from the diet being converted by insulin into fat.
- High Blood Pressure: Most individuals dealing with hypertension produce too much insulin and as a result are carbohydrate intolerant. For some, sodium sensitivity is common and eating too much sodium causes water retention along with elevated blood pressure.
- Depression: Because carbohydrate adversely affect the levels of neurotransmitters made in the brain, feelings of depression and/or sleepiness can result. Sugar has been promoted as if it is a stimulate, but in actuality, has the opposite effect.
- Addiction: Individuals who are addicted to alcohol, caffeine, cigarettes or other drugs often have many of the above mentioned symptoms.
STEP TWO
Double click on Coach Robb Report Card. When you open up the file, please refer to the Body Measurement tab. You will want to capture these numbers prior to completing the 2 Week Food Challenge. Click here to watch a video on how to correctly capture your body measurements for accuracy.
STEP THREE
Purge your cabinets and refrigerator of the following:
- Breads, rolls, pasta, pancakes, cereal, muffins, chips, crackers and rice cakes
- Sweets and products that contain sugar such as ketchup, honey, etc. (read the labels to ensure there is no sugar)
- Fruit juice
- Processed meats that contain sugar
- Fat Free, Skim & 2% Milk, half and half
- Fat Free or Low Fat Yogurt
- Energy Bars and Energy Drinks
- All soda, including diet
- Alcohol, except dry wines
STEP FOUR
Time to go shopping to stock up with what you will need to get this challenge under way!
Few considerations:
1. Note: don’t consume anything on this list without prior approval from your doctor NO EXCEPTIONS!
2. Plan ahead so that you are never without sufficient food
3. Avoid becoming hungry – unlimited amounts of food are available to you, eat every 2 hours
4. Don’t focus on the volume of food you are consuming – just eat
5. Take the time to chew your food completely – this will aid in the digestion and absorption of your food
6. Consume enough vegetables (at least 6 servings per day) to maintain fiber intake (and avoid constipation)
7. Drink cold filtered water at a rate of .5 ounces per pound of body weight
- Example: 150 pounds x .5 ounces = 75 ounces per day
Food you can eat in unlimited amounts:
- Steamed or raw vegetables (avoid white potatoes and corn) – organic ideally
- Fresh fruit - organic ideally
- Nuts and seeds – organic and free of any oils and salt
- Almond butter – organic ideally
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Balsamic Vinegar
- Whole fat mayonnaise
- Whole eggs
- Non American yellow cheese – look for hard cheeses like Swiss, Provolone, etc.
- Meats (beef, turkey, chicken, lamb, etc.) – free range and sugar free (read the label here!)
- Fresh Fish (cold water Atlantic) – salmon, sardines, albacore white tuna
- Fresh Shellfish
- Tofu
- Mustard (as long as there isn’t any sugar added)
Helpful Suggestions:
Eggs
- Omelets: any combination of vegetables, meats and cheeses
- Scrambled with guacamole, sour cream and salsa
- Scrambled with a scoop of ricotta or cottage cheese and tomato sauce
- Boiled or poached with spinach or asparagus
Salads
- Chef-leaf lettuce, meats, cheese, eggs
- Spinach-with bacon & eggs
- Caesar-romaine lettuce, eggs & parmesan cheese
- Any salad with chicken, tuna, shrimp or other meat and/or cheese
Salad Dressings
- Extra-virgin olive oil & vinegar with sea salt and spices
- Creamy-heavy cream, mayonnaise, garlic and spices
Fish and Meats
- Pot roast cooked with onions, carrots and celery
- Roasted chicken
- Chili made with fresh meat, and a variety of vegetables such as diced onions, celery, peppers, zucchini, tomatoes and spices
- Steak and eggs
- Fish (not fried) with any variety of steamed vegetables
- Tuna melt on a bed of broccoli or asparagus
Snacks
- Celery stuffed with nut butter or cream cheese
- Guacamole with vegetable sticks for dipping
- Hard boiled eggs
Supplementation
STEP FIVE
Time to eat and train! As mentioned above, eat every two hours (even if you are not hungry). During the next two weeks, keep the majority of your workouts aerobic, which means eliminating any and all weight lifting (it is anaerobic by nature) and any strenuous workouts (above heart rate zone #2).
What to expect during the first week:
- If you have been eating lots of sweets or other carbohydrates, you may experience cravings for sugar for the first few days.
- You may experience a headache associated with withdraws – strive to use manual massage to relax the muscles in the neck and upper shoulders.
- You may find yourself falling off of the program, not because you intend to, but rather due to the realization that processed foods are everywhere. If you eat something that is not “approved” you need to start over and this is ok!
STEP SIX
Stay consistent with both your food and aerobic training. Maintain a food intake log along with a detailed training log – specifically energy levels, average and max heart rate with each workout.
Over the next two weeks you will capture a better snap shot of your eating and how it reflects on your performance as an athlete. Please feel free to email me if you have any questions or need anything clarified.
WEEK TWO
Here are a couple of thoughts for you as you move into week 2:
- Don’t ever allow yourself to become hungry; eat slowly and until you are full. Eat every two hours and maintain a consistent intake of cold filtered water.
- If you are craving sugar, make a conscious choice to eat only food items on the list.
- Avoid anaerobic exercises – including weight lifting.
- If you have “fallen off the program”, simply restart next week. If you complete the 2 Week Challenge for shorter than two weeks, you will not yield valid results.
If you have any questions or need anything clarified regarding how you are feeling or experiencing, please don’t hesitate to email me directly robb3@earthlink.net
POST TWO WEEK FOOD CHALLENGE
Congratulations on completing the 2 Week Food Challenge! If by chance you didn’t complete 14 straight days of avoiding simple sugars and white starches, please re-group and start over. Anything short of 14 days will not yield consistent results and an accurate assessment of your sensitivities associated with various foods. Before you begin adding food items that you had removed during the last 2 weeks, here are a few things to complete to accurately assess your sensitivities to certain food items:
STEP ONE
Recapture your Body Measurements on Coach Robb Report Card that was sent to you (if you can’t find your file, please email me and I will re-send to you). Click here to watch a video on how to correctly capture your body measurements for accuracy.
STEP TWO
Re-evaluate the symptom survey that you completed prior to beginning the 2 Week Food Challenge [Please note if your symptoms have lessened or have been eliminated all together]:
- Physical Fatigue: Overall feeling of fatigue; morning through lunch or even all day.
- Mental Fatigue: Inability to concentrate; loss of creativity, poor memory, poor grades, various forms of “learning disabilities”. This is more pronounced immediately after a meal or if a meal is delayed or missed.
- Blood Sugar Handling Issues: Fluctuations in blood sugar are normal during the day, but are amplified if meals are not eaten on a regular schedule. Feeling jittery, agitated and/or moody (symptoms that immediately subside once food is consumed). Craving for simple sugars, chocolate or caffeine; bouts of dizziness.
- Intestinal Bloating: Suffer from excessive gas; antacids or other remedies are not successful in dealing with the gas levels. Gas tends to be worse later in the day and into the night.
- Sleepiness: Feel sleepy immediately after meals containing carbohydrates, particularly a pasta meal or a meal that contains bread, potatoes or dessert.
- Increased fat storages & weight: For most individuals, too much weight is too much fat. In males, abdominal fat is more evident and in females it is more prominent in the upper body, upper thighs and in the face.
- Increased triglycerides: High triglycerides are not only found in overweight individuals. Individuals with high triglycerides are the direct result of carbohydrates from the diet being converted by insulin into fat.
- High Blood Pressure: Most individuals dealing with hypertension produce too much insulin and as a result are carbohydrate intolerant. For some, sodium sensitivity is common and eating too much sodium causes water retention along with elevated blood pressure.
- Depression: Because carbohydrate adversely affect the levels of neurotransmitters made in the brain, feelings of depression and/or sleepiness can result. Sugar has been promoted as if it is a stimulate, but in actuality, has the opposite effect.
- Addiction: Individuals who are addicted to alcohol, caffeine, cigarettes or other drugs often have many of the above mentioned symptoms.
STEP THREE
Begin to add only 1 food item back into your diet PER WEEK. As you add the item into your daily consumption, pay close attention to your energy levels, bloating, mood swings and quality of workouts. Be honest here, just because you like a particular food item doesn’t mean that it is a food item that sits well with your overall health and performance. Evaluating the impact that a particular food item has on your energy levels, bloating, mood swings and quality of workouts will provide you immediate feedback and the responsibility of deciding if the cost/benefit ratio of consuming that item is worth keeping into your diet.
If the food item has a negative effect on your overall health and performance – eliminate the food item.
If the food item has a positive effect on your overall health and performance – keep the item in your diet and ADD 1 MORE ITEMthe next week. Continue this process until you have a diet that you are comfortable with.
Though this process may take a few months to complete, when you are finished, you will have a personalized, detailed diet that you can trust enhances your training and racing efforts!
If you have any questions, please feel free to email me directly robb3@earthlink.net
-Coach Robb
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FAQ
Q: Can I use salt? What types and amount
A: Sea salt/lightly
Q: Many almond butters and milks are sweetened are they allowed
A: If it has sugar added, avoid
Q: Agave nectar allowed for sweetening.
A: OK
Q: Tea and Coffee limits
A: Avoid if possible; if necessary – black only
Q: Sweeteners (sweet and low) are they allowed
A: Avoid all artificial sweeteners
