Diet Confusion

Ever hear of muscle confusion? It is a term my personal trainer (one of them) used. He said that our bodies are so adept at adapting to what we are doing that they get used to it and we stop getting as good a result. This results in plateaus, where even though we are doing everything the same as before, we are not getting as good a result. Dr. Wright and I were talking a couple of weeks ago (when I was having the blood sugar problem) about "diet confusion." According to research done by Dana Thornock (among many others) when the body feels stressed, it goes into "fat storing mode." This is why it is possible for people to eat under 1000 calories per day and still gain weight. Anyway, since you already know that I EAT all the time, (I once had a boyfriend jokingly tell me that no one would marry me because they couldn't afford to feed me! And on my mission I was known as "the sister who eats- I wasn't fat then, so I didn't care if that was how people knew me) and you know that I am a cheater (but I don't cheat every day) I thought I would talk a little bit about confusing your body with a different amount of calories periodically. Here is how I did it:

So on my cheater day, I ate double the food that is allowed on this diet, and (of course) the pumpkin muffins (I think I had 4). I estimate that was about 2000 calories for the day. Dana Thornock believes that for the body not to go into starvation fat storing mode, you have to hit that 2000 calories. She taught people to up their calories to 2500-4000 depending on your body type (like the larger the frame, more muscle etc. needs more calories) then when your body is comfortable at that caloric intake, drastically reduce calories to access the fat stores. But, because the body is so adaptable, she taught to bump the calories up on the weekend to be sure that your body doesn't adapt to the lower amount. Since the hcg program that I am on has the additional variable of the hcg releasing fat stores, we seem to be able to skip the part of getting the calories up for a long period of time (although, Dr. Simeons did say to eat normally for a week if you have been cutting calories significantly, then binge for 3 days before starting the 500 calorie protocol) and just go straight to the cutting calories. However, on days when I cheat (up to the 2000 calorie line) I can expect to gain a pound or a pound and a half. But then when I go back on the reduction, my body is still burning and hasn't adapted back down, so I lose rapidly. I lost 4 pounds today. I am OK with the small gain, and feel like my body is "taking a breath" or "changing gears" to continue the burn.

For now, this is still very experimental, and not according to the approved plan at all, but I want to find the balance in my life so that when I am done with this, I have good habits and delicious recipes to be able to maintain my new fabulous look.

So today, I took a family favorite recipe and adapted it to the diet. Now I am using more veggies in this recipe than are recommended, but I figure when I am too hungry, if I put some more veggies in my mouth, it is better than grains or dessert!!

The family recipe is called Meatloaf Italiano, and I got it from the book "How to Dry Foods by Deanna DeLong. The filling is delicious, made with ground beef, mushrooms, peppers, onions and etc. (she does it with dried veggies, since that is what her book is about- I use fresh and canned if I have them) and then it is baked in a bread crust that is braided around it and sprinkled with sesame seeds. The original recipe calls for cheese, but I leave it out more often than not, because the filling tastes so good to me without all the extra fat and calories (although, it is parmesan and mozzerella, so it is not so bad to add either). Anyway, here is what I did to modify it:

Stuffed Peppers (serves 2)
2 bell peppers, hollowed out and boiled till crisp-tender
7 oz extra super lean (7%) ground beef
1 small yellow onion
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 large can mushrooms, chopped (these are good filler, that is why I use so many)
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp worcestershire
1 8 oz can tomato sauce

While peppers are boiling, cook the ground beef with onion, and garlic. Add the rest of the ingredients, and cook until thick-ish (about 10 min or so) you could probably add corn starch if you wanted to hurry it up. The peppers take about 10-15 minutes to boil anyway.

Grease a bread pan and place the boiled peppers there. Fill with the filling, then bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes. Delightful!

PS
You can reach Dr. Wright at the Murray Health Clinic by telephone at 262-4228