The answer to my fat loss dilemma

I love the fact that there are so many different eating styles and preferences out there.
We have Keto, Fodmap, Paleo, Vegan, Pegan (paleo x vegan), raw food, 80:20, etc etc…

This absolutely excites me. Never used to though. It actually used to freak me out. I found it insanely overwhelming.
However, it took a major health disruption to force me to research my little (gorgeous) arse off and develop a nutritional lifestyle for me.

This was 8 years ago… and yes I began to eat very similarly to what is now known as Paleo.
But in my terminology back then, I just ‘started eating well.’

Everyone has their opinion but most follow along blindly without definition, personal consideration or defining their personal goal.

Does it mean eating 6 meals a day?

Or the trusty conventional 3?

Or perhaps intermittent fasting – normally fasting for 16 hrs and an 8 hr window of food consumption?
Hmmmm

That’s a few of the “how’s”. Now what about the “what?”

What is best to eat?

Do you Vegan? All plant based foods, including grains, sugar/fructose and soy products and possibly processed ‘vegan’ packaged foods. Zero everything that comes from an animal, including honey and bee pollen.

Do you Paleo? A grain free, dairy free, soy free, sugar free, processed food free style, which emphasises a balance of vegetables, preferably leafy green and some root veggies, plus high quality grass fed and finished meat sources, wild fish, a few nuts and berries and a dose of good fats.

Or there’s Pegan – Basically completely vegan, without the grains, soy or processed foods (a cross between Paleo and Vegan)

How about Keto? Otherwise know as the Ketogenic diet or LCHF (low carb high fat). Where your diet mostly consist of high quality fats from grass fed animals and eggs, plus dairy, avocados and vegetables. Root vegetables however are a complete ‘best to leave out’ option because of the carb/fructose content, as are fruits. Purely because of the abundant sugar levels (which are known to exacerbate inflammation, and also keeps you as a sugar burner instead of fat burner – just think non sustained energy levels and lots of cravings.)

Now all of these eating preferences have fabulous benefits to them. And I find a Paleo based style works beautifully for me. Then there are days I’m not hungry at all in the morning. But all in all I comfortably slip into my Paleo rhythm.

Being in the profession that I am though, I am constantly exposed to new ideas and information from industry experts. People like Nora Gedgaudas and Aaron Mckenzie have long been mentors of mine when it comes of optimal body health. So over the past 12 months I have found myself entering into the Ketogenic diet… which makes fabulous sense and works wonders for most people.

Yet it did the exact opposite for me. I put on body fat…6 kilos actually. Not because it is an inferior style of nutrition but because of a couple of factors. One because I didn’t completely eliminate fruit from my diet (green apples were my weakness) and secondly because I had liver issues… and along with detoxification, one of the key functions of the liver to is metabolise fat and process nutrients from food.

So here’s the deal. This will explain a lot.

High carbohydrate consumption causes inflammation in the body. All over. And when you have inflammation in your body, any bit of sugar can exacerbate it. The consequence – your liver turns into the primary back-up location for stored fat. This is because during the inflammatory response, your fat stores are full and your digestive tract is dealing with with symptoms eg: candida, bacterial imbalances (unhappy gut), and low immunity.

Storing all this fat, your liver then becomes clogged, your waistlines expands and so does the potential for other serious health problems. If your liver can’t deal with the excess congested fat , then the problem can spill over to your gall bladder. Put simply this is not a pretty sight.

A clogged liver has difficulty breaking down fat to use as fuel. Meaning it’s function dips more into fat storage rather than fat burning.

So go heal your liver Annie!

But here’s the thing. I was already eating a very, very healthy diet, (which included homemade pâté.) I was on a super low carb diet, (green apples the exception y’all) and although my training schedule decreased slightly, I was still in fact consistently moving my body well.

So what was it?
What was going on with my liver and why was I putting on body fat?

Discover the solution in Part 2 of I found the answer to my fat loss dilemma – Annie x