DOC MAC'S WEIGHT OPTIMIZATION COURSE
ORGANIC STRAND
VEGETABLES AND FIBER
"The menu a menopausal woman or an andropausal man should consume to optimize their weight consists of a palm-sized serving for women and a hand-sized serving for men of clean animal protein. The next item to add to your plate is a large handful of high-fiber, low-glycemic vegetables.”
In the last course, I discussed how important protein was to maintaining muscle as we age. Muscle is of utmost importance because muscle atrophy is the cause of us looking and feeling old.
In this course, I am going to discuss how important it is to complement that palm-sized or hand-sized serving of protein with a large handful of high-fiber, low-glycemic vegetables.
"High-fiber vegetables are synonymous with low-glycemic vegetables. "
Some of you don’t accept my visual serving sizes and ask how many ounces of animal protein or vegetables you should eat. I have found that measuring food signifies that you are on a diet. This is not a diet. This is a menu that manipulates your hormones to optimize your waist.
"The menu we use is not a caloric-restricted diet; it is a hormone manipulation menu that eliminates belly fat."
When you are in your pauses, you lack fat-burning hormones. We are using this menu to manipulate two hormones, insulin and glucagon. We are not using a calorie-in vs. calorie-out model.
Diet is defined as…“to restrict oneself to small amounts or special kinds of food to lose weight.” A Deprivation Diet is defined as…“food intake below the dietary required minimum energy level.”
“Diets, especially Deprivation Diets, don’t work!”
I call the menu we use to eliminate belly fat The Meso Menu.
As I mentioned in the last course, a mesomorph is a person who is not underweight or overweight but is just right when it comes to their body weight.
I-shaped body = Ectomorph
V-shaped body = Mesomorph
O-shaped body = Endomorph
To lose weight while in your pauses, you must fake the brain into believing you are starving or, better said, fasting.
The brain has a hormone thermostat called the hypothalamus. When it sees that no insulin has been released for an extended amount of time, it alerts the brain that you are fasting.
The brain then signals the pancreas to release glucagon. Glucagon is the key that opens the exit doors of your cells to release your emergency stores of fat.
Eating an appropriate serving of clean animal protein each meal will NOT cause a blood sugar spike; therefore, the release of insulin will not occur.
“To lose belly fat, we add a large handful serving of high-fiber, low-glycemic vegetables to your palm-to-hand-sized serving of clean animal protein.”
THE MAC VEGETABLES
When you search for a definition of a vegetable, the dictionary gives us a very confusing definition.
“Vegetable - any kind of plant life or plant product, namely “vegetable matter”; in common, narrow usage, the term vegetable usually refers to the fresh edible portions of certain herbaceous plants—roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruit, or seeds.”
Fruits!
Seeds!
How are these two food groups included in the ‘narrow usage’ of defining a vegetable?
When I am writing about vegetables, I mean vegetables. Therefore, let me break it down for you. There are primarily SIX types of vegetables.
Leafy Greens – lettuce, spinach, and kale, to name a few.
Cruciferous – cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and broccoli.
Squash – pumpkin, cucumber and zucchini.
Root – potato, sweet potato, and yams.
Stems – celery and asparagus.
Allium – onion, garlic, and shallot.
As you know, I speak to dozens of women and men every week about hormones and weight. I often hear, ‘But I need carbs. I can’t live off of meat and veggies because I suffer from hypoglycemia and must eat carbs to maintain blood sugar.’
I have them purchase a glucometer and measure their blood sugar during hypoglycemic episodes. Guess what? Not one of them has had low blood sugar. NOT ONE!
Oh, and by the way…
“Vegetables are carbohydrates.”
If you consume one-half cup of cooked vegetables or a full cup of raw vegetables, the general breakdown of macronutrients will provide 5 grams of CARBS, 2 grams of protein, and 0 grams of fat.
(If, for some reason, you feel like you are having a hypoglycemic episode, and the glucometer indicates that your blood sugar is within normal limits, you are suffering from a blood sugar shift or symptoms caused by sugar withdrawals. Your adrenal hormones, cortisol and adrenaline, are released after a sudden shift in blood sugar. The sudden release of these hormones will make you feel shaky, sweaty, and weak. To relieve yourself of these symptoms, eat an apple)
FIBER
“Women should try to eat at least 21 to 25 grams of fiber a day, while men should aim for 30 to 38 grams a day.”
There is NO fiber in a four-ounce steak.
There are about 2.5 grams of fiber in a handful of broccoli.
"So…if we eat a Meso-Meal that includes a palm-sized serving of steak and a handful of raw broccoli, we would have eaten 2.5 grams of fiber. We only need to do that nine more times to achieve the 25 grams of fiber recommended."
While eating the meso menu or eating the great American Diet, your lack of fiber makes me concerned about your digestive health for two reasons.
You’ll starve your symbiotic (the good bacteria), shifting your microbiome.
When your microbiome shifts, you will likely suffer from constipation or diarrhea.
“Currently, dietary fiber intakes among adults in the United States average about 15 grams a day. That's about half the recommended amount.”
Since eating enough fiber during Phase One of The Meso Menu will be difficult, we will have to cheat to keep your microbiome healthy and you regular.
SOLUBLE VS. INSOLUBLE FIBER
“Soluble fiber easily dissolves in water and breaks down into a gel-like substance in the colon. Insoluble fiber does not dissolve in water and is intact as food moves through the gastrointestinal tract. The term fiber refers to all the parts of plant-based foods that cannot be digested or absorbed by the body.”
SOLUBLE FIBER
I am a big fan of soluble fiber, especially while we are in Phase One of The Meso Menu. The Meso Menu is a balanced meal of clean animal protein and high-fiber vegetables. Recall this menu keeps insulin bottomed out.
“Soluble Fiber slows down the digestion of carbohydrates, therefore decreasing the chance that you will spike blood sugar and cause insulin to be released.”
Soluble fiber is also a weight management tool of the highest order. Science tells us that soluble fiber blocks the absorption of fats, hopefully, the human-made fats (vegetable oils) that are so inflammatory. Soluble fat does this because it becomes a gel that coats the intestines.
Soluble fiber is also heart-healthy. Science tells us that soluble fiber is one of the best ways to prevent dietary cholesterol from being digested; therefore, over time, it lowers cholesterol.
Soluble fiber is found in Brussels sprouts and broccoli. We will introduce more foods that have soluble fiber in Phase Two of The Meso Menu.
As mentioned, eating enough broccoli and Brussels sprouts will make it difficult to achieve our fiber goals.
Fiber Goals
Women need to aim for 8 grams of fiber in each meal.
Men need to aim for 12 grams of fiber in each meal.
So, how do we fill the gap if a cup of broccoli only has 2.5 grams of fiber?
Adding psyllium is one of the best ways to add soluble fiber while on Phase One of The Meso Menu. Below is an Amazon link to purchase psyllium.
Now, you know that I am not a fan of multi-ingredient supplements unless each ingredient has been tested. But here is a multi-ingredient supplement that makes sense when supplementing with soluble fiber. It has my favorite soluble fibers extracted from psyllium, inulin, and chia seeds.
INSOLUBLE FIBER
When you change from The Great American Diet or any other diet to the Meso Menu, you may experience constipation.
The best form of fiber to prevent this is insoluble fiber.
Insoluble Fiber is an indigestible carbohydrate found in plant foods. Since it is insoluble, it will sit in the gastrointestinal tract and bind with everything else in your gut to form stool.
Insoluble fiber speeds up the movement and processing of digestive waste. With better movement, there will be less of a chance of intestinal blockages; therefore, less chance of diverticular diseases, from colon cancer to hemorrhoids.
Most foods with insoluble fibers, such as legumes and nuts, are not within Phase One of the Meso Menu, but I do not recommend taking solely insoluble fiber as a supplement.
We have found that soluble fiber works best while in Phase One of the Meso Menu. There are supplements that have insoluble cellulose. I prefer this to be used if constipation occurs after adding the soluble fiber.
Follow the instructions on the container for both soluble and insoluble fiber supplements.
Always talk to your healthcare provider before adding any supplement.
🥦 Doc Mac
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THIS WEEK'S US-IE
Farmer's Market
Vicky and I, purchased fresh high-fiber vegetables this past weekend at the Farmer's Market.
And remember...
"IT'S ALL ABOUT YOUR HORMONES!"
"Because when your hormones are balanced, your weight, health, and mind will follow."
🥬 Doc
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