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The article mentions a probiotic pill. I think that the microbiome is the place to look for answers, but not with pills, just with better fuel. I managed to los

The article mentions a probiotic pill. I think that the microbiome is the place to look for answers, but not with pills, just with better fuel. I managed to lose 70 pounds (from 215 pounds down to 145) and keep it off so far. At the moment, I have to make efforts to get more calories now, not less. - I think of food as fuel that goes into a fermentation-based engine. I make sure to add the right ingredients for proper fermentation. - I only eat high-nutrient, whole foods that I mostly cook from scratch. The staples are vegetables, legumes, fruit, nuts, seeds. - No meat or dairy except for fish (salmon, herring, and sardines). - I eliminated: refined foods, alcohol, grains (except small amounts of brown rice and grain-like seeds like buckwheat), sugar, sweeteners, oils (except small amounts of coconut oil and high quality olive oil). - I don't eat nightshade-family vegetables (including potatoes), but I do eat sweet potatoes (the regular yellow ones and satsuma "yams"). - I say, "I don't eat those foods", not "I can't eat those foods." (self identity vs. permission) I view junk food as a recreational drug. I don't eat junk in the same way that I don't smoke cigarettes. - If I'm out, and there is nothing on a menu that I can eat, I don't eat, or I find some fruit or buy nuts and dried fruit at Berkeley Bowl. - I restrict calories on some days, similar to the calorie restriction in the 5:2 diet. - I eat a lot of fermented foods, often homemade: sauerkraut, pickles, water kefir, etc. - It's sometimes difficult to get enough calories, but I often eat one avocado per day, plus a few handfuls of nuts. I've also experimented with 2-5 day water fasting (very difficult) and alternate day fasting (too difficult for me to continue more than a week). I don't know if those methods would work for anyone else, but maybe there is some information there that other people could find useful. (I'm not making recommendations -- just sharing my experiments. Check with a doctor before trying any unusual diets.) The plan is based on thinking about the body as a farm of microorganisms. Different foods cultivate different microorganism. As far as I can tell, things like refined carbs and animal products (beyond small amounts) are not beneficial. It isn't "paleo" though -- I don't think that paleo is a good idea.

ams6110 9y ago
Fruit, nuts, seeds, fish -- sounds at least in the "paleo" ballpark.
- imesh 9y ago
  People get so sensitive about the word and weather it's paleo or not, but eating like that clearly works.
  - JoshMnem 9y ago
    Before I was into computers, I studied "primitive wilderness skills" for a long time.[1] The paleo diet doesn't match with what I studied about hunter gatherer cultures. I don't like it for a few reasons, so I avoid the term. Check out some of the criticism of it online.[2] Paleo tends to rank pretty low relative to other diets.[3] [1] http://artofmemory.com/forums/traditional-wilderness-living-skills-6093.html http://artofmemory.com/forums/traditional-wilderness-living-... [2] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-paleo-diet-half-baked-how-hunter-gatherer-really-eat/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-paleo-diet-ha... [3] http://health.usnews.com/best-diet/best-diets-overall http://health.usnews.com/best-diet/best-diets-overall
    - imesh 9y ago
      I know paleo isn't an accurate term, but I am saying your dietary guidelines fall into what a lot of the "Paleo" talkers advise. Unprocessed meat and vegetables with carbs from sweet potatoes... Half the "Paleo for athletes" types articles advise even eating legumes.
      - JoshMnem 9y ago
        > Unprocessed meat That's one major difference. The Paleo Diet recommends getting 55% of all calories from meat and seafood, but I don't eat any meat other than occasional fish (maybe 700-1,000 calories per week), and I do eat some brown rice. Most healthy diets recommend eating a lot of vegetables. For me, sweet potato is the same as any other vegetable -- not exactly a staple by itself. I would intentionally avoid the word paleo, because I think that it would confuse people or give some kind of implicit approval to ideas that I don't agree with. I used to seriously practice real paleolithic living skills[1], and I think that the Paleo Diet gets too many things wrong. If I would use the world "paleo", people might think that it has something to do with the other paleolithic activities I used to practice, so I'm making an effort to distance myself from it. :) [1] http://artofmemory.com/forums/traditional-wilderness-living-skills-6093.html http://artofmemory.com/forums/traditional-wilderness-living-...
morgante 9y ago
You say you eliminated sugar, but fruit has lots of sugar in it. I actually think there are lots of different diets that can work. Mine is rather different than yours (keto, with tons of meat and fat) but I've lost about 60lb on it and never felt better.
- geowwy 9y ago
  I assume he means added sugar
- JoshMnem 9y ago
  I mean refined sugar. I don't add sugars or other sweeteners to my food. The fiber in fruit reduces the effect of the sugar. See this article: https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/31/making-the-case-for-eating-fruit/ https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/31/making-the-case-fo... Also, I don't eat huge amounts of sweet fruits. Avocados, cucumbers, and squash are fruits too.
  - morgante 9y ago
    If it works for you, great.
toomuchtodo 9y ago
> The article mentions a probiotic pill. I think that the microbiome is the place to look for answers, but not with pills, just with better fuel. No, its the microbiome first. http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/woman-becomes-obese-after-fecal-transplant-overweight-donor/ http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/woman-becomes-... https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-gut-bacteria-help-make-us-fat-and-thin/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-gut-bacteria-...
- JoshMnem 9y ago
  That's what I'm saying. :) I focus on creating the ideal environment for a healthy microbiome, and I don't think that people should wait around for a pill, because the most obvious answer is to change one's diet. People say, "it's too hard to change my diet", but they don't realize that changing diet is much easier than dealing with health problems. Unhealthy food has literally become an addictive, recreational drug, and most people have trouble quitting or even admitting that they have a problem.
pugio 9y ago
I eat a very similar diet, and use good fats to move my total caloric intake up to my desired range. Eggs in butter, coconut cream in the smoothie, avocado oil for a vegetable stir fry...
ryandvm 9y ago
Congrats on your success. Just my two cents, but I suspect the fact that you've given up sugar, grains, and alcohol is probably the main reason for your weight loss. For most people that restriction would chop about a thousand calories off their daily intake.
- JoshMnem 9y ago
  Thanks. I'm not sure that it's just the calories. I suspect that it's a lack of certain types of fuel in the gut that results in the wrong balance of microorganisms.
  - mnm1 9y ago
    Parent comment is definitely not suggesting it's just the calories.
kk_cz 9y ago
I've heard most of the things you do suggested before, except for fermented foods - could you please elaborate on what is your reasoning behind that?
- JoshMnem 9y ago
  My goal with this way of eating isn't just to reduce calories, but it's to create the an environment that feeds a healthy collection of microbes. Basically this: "a future step for researchers could be to identify probiotics or diets that encourage the right kinds of microbes to grow to promote weight loss."[1] I don't look at myself as a single organism, but more as a farm that needs proper gardening. See this[2], and this[3]. Here[4] is an example of one beneficial organism that you can find in fermented foods. I think that humans are generally doing things the wrong way -- we shouldn't simply kill bacteria and other microbes, but we should create environments that cultivate a good balance of beneficial ones. Another interesting place to look is the hygiene hypothesis.[5] Eating healthily after a lifetime of not eating well takes a lot of effort, but so does not smoking cigarettes (if one is addicted). [1] http://www.sciencealert.com/gastric-bypass-surgery-gives-patients-a-new-set-of-helpful-microbes http://www.sciencealert.com/gastric-bypass-surgery-gives-pat... [2] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/strange-but-true-humans-carry-more-bacterial-cells-than-human-ones/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/strange-but-true-... [2a] That above ratio may be incorrect, but it is still significant. See also https://www.sciencealert.com/bacteria-cells-don-t-actually-outnumber-human-cells-in-our-bodies-study-finds https://www.sciencealert.com/bacteria-cells-don-t-actually-o... [3] http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/47125/title/Bacteria-and-Humans-Have-Been-Swapping-DNA-for-Millennia/ http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/47125/... [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactobacillus_rhamnosus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactobacillus_rhamnosus [5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis
tbihl 9y ago
I think your comment and the article both pointed toward the same thing without saying it: we don't know enough to brute force our way to good health with engineered food, so we should have humility and embrace a combination of tradition and what we find in nature.

ams6110 9y ago

Fruit, nuts, seeds, fish -- sounds at least in the "paleo" ballpark.

imesh 9y ago
People get so sensitive about the word and weather it's paleo or not, but eating like that clearly works.
- JoshMnem 9y ago
  Before I was into computers, I studied "primitive wilderness skills" for a long time.[1] The paleo diet doesn't match with what I studied about hunter gatherer cultures. I don't like it for a few reasons, so I avoid the term. Check out some of the criticism of it online.[2] Paleo tends to rank pretty low relative to other diets.[3] [1] http://artofmemory.com/forums/traditional-wilderness-living-skills-6093.html http://artofmemory.com/forums/traditional-wilderness-living-... [2] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-paleo-diet-half-baked-how-hunter-gatherer-really-eat/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-paleo-diet-ha... [3] http://health.usnews.com/best-diet/best-diets-overall http://health.usnews.com/best-diet/best-diets-overall
  - imesh 9y ago
    I know paleo isn't an accurate term, but I am saying your dietary guidelines fall into what a lot of the "Paleo" talkers advise. Unprocessed meat and vegetables with carbs from sweet potatoes... Half the "Paleo for athletes" types articles advise even eating legumes.
    - JoshMnem 9y ago
      > Unprocessed meat That's one major difference. The Paleo Diet recommends getting 55% of all calories from meat and seafood, but I don't eat any meat other than occasional fish (maybe 700-1,000 calories per week), and I do eat some brown rice. Most healthy diets recommend eating a lot of vegetables. For me, sweet potato is the same as any other vegetable -- not exactly a staple by itself. I would intentionally avoid the word paleo, because I think that it would confuse people or give some kind of implicit approval to ideas that I don't agree with. I used to seriously practice real paleolithic living skills[1], and I think that the Paleo Diet gets too many things wrong. If I would use the world "paleo", people might think that it has something to do with the other paleolithic activities I used to practice, so I'm making an effort to distance myself from it. :) [1] http://artofmemory.com/forums/traditional-wilderness-living-skills-6093.html http://artofmemory.com/forums/traditional-wilderness-living-...

morgante 9y ago

You say you eliminated sugar, but fruit has lots of sugar in it. I actually think there are lots of different diets that can work. Mine is rather different than yours (keto, with tons of meat and fat) but I've lost about 60lb on it and never felt better.

geowwy 9y ago
I assume he means added sugar
JoshMnem 9y ago
I mean refined sugar. I don't add sugars or other sweeteners to my food. The fiber in fruit reduces the effect of the sugar. See this article: https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/31/making-the-case-for-eating-fruit/ https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/31/making-the-case-fo... Also, I don't eat huge amounts of sweet fruits. Avocados, cucumbers, and squash are fruits too.
- morgante 9y ago
  If it works for you, great.

toomuchtodo 9y ago

> The article mentions a probiotic pill. I think that the microbiome is the place to look for answers, but not with pills, just with better fuel. No, its the microbiome first. http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/woman-becomes-obese-after-fecal-transplant-overweight-donor/ http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/woman-becomes-... https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-gut-bacteria-help-make-us-fat-and-thin/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-gut-bacteria-...

JoshMnem 9y ago
That's what I'm saying. :) I focus on creating the ideal environment for a healthy microbiome, and I don't think that people should wait around for a pill, because the most obvious answer is to change one's diet. People say, "it's too hard to change my diet", but they don't realize that changing diet is much easier than dealing with health problems. Unhealthy food has literally become an addictive, recreational drug, and most people have trouble quitting or even admitting that they have a problem.

pugio 9y ago

I eat a very similar diet, and use good fats to move my total caloric intake up to my desired range. Eggs in butter, coconut cream in the smoothie, avocado oil for a vegetable stir fry...

ryandvm 9y ago

Congrats on your success. Just my two cents, but I suspect the fact that you've given up sugar, grains, and alcohol is probably the main reason for your weight loss. For most people that restriction would chop about a thousand calories off their daily intake.

JoshMnem 9y ago
Thanks. I'm not sure that it's just the calories. I suspect that it's a lack of certain types of fuel in the gut that results in the wrong balance of microorganisms.
- mnm1 9y ago
  Parent comment is definitely not suggesting it's just the calories.

kk_cz 9y ago

I've heard most of the things you do suggested before, except for fermented foods - could you please elaborate on what is your reasoning behind that?

JoshMnem 9y ago
My goal with this way of eating isn't just to reduce calories, but it's to create the an environment that feeds a healthy collection of microbes. Basically this: "a future step for researchers could be to identify probiotics or diets that encourage the right kinds of microbes to grow to promote weight loss."[1] I don't look at myself as a single organism, but more as a farm that needs proper gardening. See this[2], and this[3]. Here[4] is an example of one beneficial organism that you can find in fermented foods. I think that humans are generally doing things the wrong way -- we shouldn't simply kill bacteria and other microbes, but we should create environments that cultivate a good balance of beneficial ones. Another interesting place to look is the hygiene hypothesis.[5] Eating healthily after a lifetime of not eating well takes a lot of effort, but so does not smoking cigarettes (if one is addicted). [1] http://www.sciencealert.com/gastric-bypass-surgery-gives-patients-a-new-set-of-helpful-microbes http://www.sciencealert.com/gastric-bypass-surgery-gives-pat... [2] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/strange-but-true-humans-carry-more-bacterial-cells-than-human-ones/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/strange-but-true-... [2a] That above ratio may be incorrect, but it is still significant. See also https://www.sciencealert.com/bacteria-cells-don-t-actually-outnumber-human-cells-in-our-bodies-study-finds https://www.sciencealert.com/bacteria-cells-don-t-actually-o... [3] http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/47125/title/Bacteria-and-Humans-Have-Been-Swapping-DNA-for-Millennia/ http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/47125/... [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactobacillus_rhamnosus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactobacillus_rhamnosus [5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis

tbihl 9y ago

I think your comment and the article both pointed toward the same thing without saying it: we don't know enough to brute force our way to good health with engineered food, so we should have humility and embrace a combination of tradition and what we find in nature.