milk_lover
Member
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2015
- Messages
- 1,909
Hello Everybody!
I'd like to introduce myself. I am a 25-years male from Abu Dhabi, the UAE. Before I went to the USA to study in 2007, I had a good strong and bulky body because of our traditional food (lots of camel milk, ghee, dates, feasts on entire animals, etc.). I did my bachelor and master in the USA for a total of six years and a half. I gained a lot of weight. Like a lot. And it was mostly fat. I was eating the American diet (lots of pizza, lean meat etc). Two years ago, I educated myself about food and health in a hope to lose weight. I went to a sub on reddit called keto, which is basically a low carb high fat diet forum. I cut white sugars and fruits almost completely for over a year. I cut milk, which I truly enjoy because it makes me feel happy and energetic and makes me perform better in school. I replaced it with a lot of water bottles and black coffee with no sugar. I didn't eat rice nor bread. I was eating a lot of nuts, salmon, tuna, muscle meats, eggs, and butter. My carb intake was below 50 g.
Surely, the weight gradually started to melt from my body, maybe 2 lbs every week. I felt it's working weight-wise. But there were some alarms. I couldn't perform well in my last semester of graduate school. My teachers were shocked when I told them I am not going to do a thesis, only take classes. They know I am smart academically, but my body failed me. I was under the impression this is for a greater good; my body was just in a transition phase until it reaches optimal health. Another alarm was that my joyful funny personality disappeared. I was not fun to be around like I used to. I hardly laughed. I hardly socialized except with online people on a forum. My hair was falling down, my skin became filled with bumps not smooth like it used to be. I had insomnia. My stomach was aching and hurting. I had tension headaches all the time. My body was basically not in peace internally and externally. But the weight was coming off. I kept telling myself, "it's working just be patient until my body adopts being a fat-burner." Whatever that means! I finished my masters. I returned home.
My family and mother thought I was sick. I looked sick and miserable and thin. My mother told me this is not normal. I stayed in my room when they ate "carb food." My mother made me one day warm milk with honey and saffron, the drink I've always loved growing up, but I refused to drink It was weird to refuse to eat/drink what the body's craving. Five months later, something inside telling me I had to dramatically change my eating habits. I read the Perfect Health Diet by Paul Jaminet and I started to introduce carbs in my life. I still was not feeling my best. He argues against milk so blindly I followed his advice I kept losing weight mainly because I didn't eat enough calories due to the copious amounts of water I consumed, but I had less of a puffy face (thyroid gland kicking in?). The problem with his white rice advice especially in my country is that the freaking restaurants everywhere soak the rice with vegetable oil! deadly food preparation now I think of it. All this craziness lasted until I had a wonderful talk with my 75 years old grandfather.
I will talk in another time about what my grandfather told me and how that led me eventually to Ray Peat and his ideas. Long story short, I was enlightened by my grandfather's simple ideas and Ray Peat's scientific interpretation of the body interaction with the environment through food, light, etc,.
I'd like to introduce myself. I am a 25-years male from Abu Dhabi, the UAE. Before I went to the USA to study in 2007, I had a good strong and bulky body because of our traditional food (lots of camel milk, ghee, dates, feasts on entire animals, etc.). I did my bachelor and master in the USA for a total of six years and a half. I gained a lot of weight. Like a lot. And it was mostly fat. I was eating the American diet (lots of pizza, lean meat etc). Two years ago, I educated myself about food and health in a hope to lose weight. I went to a sub on reddit called keto, which is basically a low carb high fat diet forum. I cut white sugars and fruits almost completely for over a year. I cut milk, which I truly enjoy because it makes me feel happy and energetic and makes me perform better in school. I replaced it with a lot of water bottles and black coffee with no sugar. I didn't eat rice nor bread. I was eating a lot of nuts, salmon, tuna, muscle meats, eggs, and butter. My carb intake was below 50 g.
Surely, the weight gradually started to melt from my body, maybe 2 lbs every week. I felt it's working weight-wise. But there were some alarms. I couldn't perform well in my last semester of graduate school. My teachers were shocked when I told them I am not going to do a thesis, only take classes. They know I am smart academically, but my body failed me. I was under the impression this is for a greater good; my body was just in a transition phase until it reaches optimal health. Another alarm was that my joyful funny personality disappeared. I was not fun to be around like I used to. I hardly laughed. I hardly socialized except with online people on a forum. My hair was falling down, my skin became filled with bumps not smooth like it used to be. I had insomnia. My stomach was aching and hurting. I had tension headaches all the time. My body was basically not in peace internally and externally. But the weight was coming off. I kept telling myself, "it's working just be patient until my body adopts being a fat-burner." Whatever that means! I finished my masters. I returned home.
My family and mother thought I was sick. I looked sick and miserable and thin. My mother told me this is not normal. I stayed in my room when they ate "carb food." My mother made me one day warm milk with honey and saffron, the drink I've always loved growing up, but I refused to drink It was weird to refuse to eat/drink what the body's craving. Five months later, something inside telling me I had to dramatically change my eating habits. I read the Perfect Health Diet by Paul Jaminet and I started to introduce carbs in my life. I still was not feeling my best. He argues against milk so blindly I followed his advice I kept losing weight mainly because I didn't eat enough calories due to the copious amounts of water I consumed, but I had less of a puffy face (thyroid gland kicking in?). The problem with his white rice advice especially in my country is that the freaking restaurants everywhere soak the rice with vegetable oil! deadly food preparation now I think of it. All this craziness lasted until I had a wonderful talk with my 75 years old grandfather.
I will talk in another time about what my grandfather told me and how that led me eventually to Ray Peat and his ideas. Long story short, I was enlightened by my grandfather's simple ideas and Ray Peat's scientific interpretation of the body interaction with the environment through food, light, etc,.