I'm sick of it!

I've been fat all my life. Diets and exercise didn't seem to help.

I've been to a nutritionist. I measured all my foods. I was HUNGRY all the time. The calorie restriction did force me to lose weight. But, at a certain point (if my memory serves, it was after about nine months), the nutritionist said that since I was doing so well, I could stop measuring and measure-by-eye.

What a disaster! I gained all the weight back, plus more.

The most weight I lost was on a modified Atkins-style diet. I lost forty pounds and got under 200 pounds. But, I was rarely ravenously hungry. And, I didn't binge eat.

That was ten years ago. Since then, I've gained it all back with interest.

So, here I am, 53 years old and weighing 280 pounds. (I'm 5'9".) I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis when I was 16, and it has just gotten worse each year. Now, my cholesterol is up, my liver functions are elevated, I'm "pre-diabetic". What a mess!

I bowl once a week and I go to the gym twice a week. Now, just doing that I've lost about eight pounds over two months. That's pretty good, but, I'm not feeling any better.

So, I've been looking at Free the Animal. At first I thought it was a bit kooky. After all, the first article I read was on not using any soap. So, as a test, I stopped using any soap on my body. I would really scrub my scalp with my fingers in the shower, and make sure to rub all the "stinky" spots (i.e., armpits, genital areas) to get them water-clean. I shower Fridays (before the Sabbath), Mondays and Thursdays (after the gym). My wife (who usually is very picky about these things, and has made me take a second shower occasionally) never mentioned anything. And, I've been going soapless for two months now.

So, I've been looking at the paleo lifestyle. Over at PāNu, there is a twelve-step to paleo program.

It goes like this:

1. Eliminate sugar (including fruit juices and sports drinks) and all foods that contain flour. 

2. Start eating proper fats - Use healthy animal fats or coconut fat to substitute fat calories for carbohydrate calories that formerly came from sugar and flour. Drink whole cream or coconut milk.

3. Eliminate gluten grains. 

4. Eliminate grain and seed derived oils (cooking oils) Cook with Ghee, butter, animal fats, or coconut oil.

5. Favor ruminants like beef, lamb and bison for your red meat. Eat some fish.

6. Get daily midday sun or take 4-8000 iu vit D daily

7. Try intermittent fasting or infrequent meals (2 meals a day is best). Don't graze like a herbivore.

8. Adjust your 6s and 3s. Pastured (grass fed) dairy and grass fed beef or bison minimizes excess  n-6 fatty acids and adjusts your 6:3 ratio without excess PUFA. A teaspoon or two of Cod Liver oil daily is good compensatory supplementation if you eat supermarket beef or no fish.

9. Proper exercise - emphasizing resistance and interval training over long aerobic sessions

10. Most modern fruit is just a candy bar from a tree. Stick with berries and avoid watermelon which is pure fructose. Eat in moderation.

11. Eliminate legumes

12. Eliminate all remaining dairy including cheese- (now you are "Orthodox paleolithic")

Now, on top of this, I keep kosher. So, I can't have butter on my chicken. So, I'm thinking that I can substitute, and keep track of it at the same time.

So, here I am. Fat, old, and weak from 53 years of the SAD (Standard American Diet). I'm hoping to change all that, and keep a record of what I'm doing. And, if possible, provide a kosher way to institute the paleo-diet.

So, the first thing I'm going to do is to eliminate sugar and all foods that contain flour. OMG! No more bread. During the week it won't be that hard, but, what do I do about Shabbos challah? Perhaps, I can figure out what is the minimum amount to be eaten, and only eat that amount, but no more.