Moderation, Reducing Fats, & Exercise

    This post is for those friends who think moderation, reducing fat, and exercise works in losing weight. This holy trinity has been preached by the medical community, government, and nutritionists for such a long time that no one dares question it's validity. The inspiration for this post came from a friend that I saw recently. He had just visited Macdonalds and consumed a quarter pounder and a medium soda. He proudly reported that his meal was only 1000 calories. He had made a great sacrifice of giving up the french fries and reduced the total calories of his meal. A commendable act on his part to eat less, but the question is.. for how long he can sustain that? Can he continue to deprive himself for a month? What would happen to him when he got hungry in the afternoon? Would he head for the vending machine and grab a snack? Suppose he exhibits extra will power and manages to go through the day with less food, then he probably would find himself getting irritated, losing concentration, and just being miserable all day. Once again the real question is how long can he maintain that lifestyle before reverting back to his old self and putting the weight back on? Despite governmental policies and countless numbers of awareness campaigns to reduce calories, fats, and more exercise has produced no positive results in our overall health. Michelle Obama has been on the news with several campaigns to reduce the junk food and fats in our school cafeterias. National Football League (NFL) has several positive advertisements geared towards the younger crowd to get out and be active. I think we are reasonably smart people and when told to reduce fat, moderate our caloric intake, and exercise we do our best to take this advice to heart, and we try. But the question is why do we fail? Why don't we follow this and make it a lifetime change? The recent government data is now indicating that by 2030 a whopping 60% of the US population will be obese. Obese person is defined as one having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 and above. So why moderation, reducing fats, and more exercise are not working for us? In this post I would like to tackle each pillar of this paradigm and hopefully demonstrate why these things do not work?

   Let's tackle moderation first. Another word for moderation is calorie counting. This is exactly what my friend was doing when he proudly reported consuming only 1000 calories. Let's define moderation first. What it means to eat in moderation? If I have a piece of bread in front of me, do I eat 2/3 and save 1/3 for a meal to come? Other words I should walk away slightly hungry from any of my meals presented to me from here until I die? The society frowns upon gluttonous behavior. Gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins in the Christian tradition. We find Prophets, sages, and wise men all over the world preaching some form of moderation. And I fully concur that moderation is essential for your health. The problem with this is that WE ARE HUMAN. As human beings we make mistakes and making mistakes is in our DNA. I don't have any statistical data but I can safely assume that a very high percentage of people living on this planet or people who have lived in the past are not able to lead a mistake free life. We tend to falter, fall down and then get up again. Some of us are able to pick up the pieces and regroup their lives..while some are not. This is the way life works and this is the way life has worked for a long time. Just imagine in your life how many times you over ate until your stomach literally hurt. I can attest to that from my own experience, I have over eaten many times in my life, simply because my eyes were bigger than my stomach. My stomach was full, but my brain and my eyes kept saying go ahead and eat more and I simply complied. Now if you are going to play the calorie game and eat a precise number of calories that your body requires and you are able to maintain that for a whole life span then I salute you. Other words, your body requires 2000 calories and you are able to eat exactly 2000 calories per day to sustain life, then in that case you would not gain a single pound over a course of your life. Can you be that precise all your life? Now take the scenario of eating less and leaving something behind every single meal. Once again, if you are able to do it, then great. But realistically, how long can you maintain that? Now suppose you consumed on the average 20 more calories per day than what your body required. Consuming 20 calories extra per day can go unnoticed for a long time. Heck, every office building around the country have candy jars in most cubicles. Popping a handful of M&M's or mini snicker bars is way more than 20 calories per day. A minscule 20 calories increase per day can amount to a gain of 2 pounds per year or 41 pounds in 20 years. If 20 calories increase can cause a gain of 41 pounds in 20 years then the inverse should be true as well. A decrease of 20 calories per day should cause you to lose 41 pounds in 20 years. We actually observe that most people tend to put on 30-40 pounds over a course of 20 years as they go from their youthful twenties to mid forties. I personally put on 30 pounds in my 18 years of marriage. This slow steady weight gain happened while I was leading an extra active lifestyle. I played sports and hiked but was still able to pack those pounds. I blamed the weight gain on my wife's good cooking...:-) I know many friends who blame their metabolism for their weight gains. But you see my point that a tiny fluctuation in daily caloric intake can cause you to gain weight. We are talking about 1% fluctuation on a normal 2000 calorie based diet. How many of us are realistically able to monitor that one percent or willing to monitor that one percent for the rest of their lives? Throw in the fact that we are humans and we make mistakes. Pretty tall order don't you think? And that is why we tend to get fat as we age regardless of how active of a lifestyle we may lead. Normally, we blame our metabolism or few other external factors and we move on. Oh yes by the way the calorie deprived diets initially work and the results are immediate. The simple fact that you are depriving your body of the calories it likes to receive, so it starts to burn stored fat and the pounds come of. But once again, managing it over a long period of time is a problem and people tend to fall back to their old habits and the weight simply comes back. That is why diets or programs like Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers give immediate results but once the person decides to leave their portion controlled diet then the weight simply comes back. At my work, we have a Weight Watchers program and I have seen people get really skinny and few months later they are back to their old selves. We are talking about managing just few calories per day. Simply put, managing calories is not a long term solution for weight loss.

   In the past few decades fats have been demonized and have been systematically reduced in our diets. Now we are at a point where a mention of fats makes us cringe. The famous government food pyramid tells us that we must use fats and oils sparingly and use more breads and cereal grains. Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers all promote low fat healthy portion controlled meals. Many restaurants offer low fat menus. Thousands of grocery store products are labeled low fat. The low fat message is everywhere. The consumers spend more money buying low fat products because their doctors have told them to reduce their fat intake. Despite, a bombardment of low fat messages from every direction, the heart disease is still the number one cause of death in the United States and in many more countries around the world. Certain states have passed legislations to outlaw saturated fats from being served to public. Once again, low fat diets simply do not work and will never work, because the food manufacturers are adding sugars to fill the calorie void left by the reduced fat. Fats are an essential part of our diet. During the paleolithic era, humans evolved by eating calorie dense foods, other words fats. By eating fats, humans developed larger brains and developed smaller stomachs. Human body was designed to consume and process fat. A pound of fat is 3500 calories, which goes a long way, it burns slowly, efficiently and provides energy for a long time. So low fat diets simply do not work for the simple reason that they are loaded with carbs and simple sugars. The carbs and sugars give you quick energy and then the energy level drops leaving you desiring for more carbs. This process goes into a never ending loop, the dietary fats never gets used and is packed away and we end up getting fat. On the other hand a diet rich in saturated fats and proteins is preferred by the body. The body ends up using the fats for fuel and the proteins to rebuild muscles. In this scenario the dietary fat is consumed by the body as fuel and you never get fat.

   What about exercise? Here we are told by the government that we are becoming lazy. Sloth is another one of those seven deadly sins. We are told that it is a simple math problem, we are consuming more calories than what we are expending. There is an energy imbalance. Once again, there are flaws in the exercise paradigm. To burn 300 calories you must spend almost 30 minutes on a treadmill, yet couple of chocolate chip cookies contain more than 300 calories and can be consumed in less than two minutes. A 5 miles moderate level hike may burn a 1000 calories, but you might feel more hungry afterwards and consume more food than you normally would and gain 1000 calories in less than 10 minutes. You may even rationalize and reward yourself extra ice cream or a piece of cake for doing extra exercise. As a matter of fact many exercise books will tell you to treat your self occasionally to keep your self motivated. The point I am trying to make here is that by doing exercise the calorie demand is automatically increased and you end up eating more. Exercise has many other benefits besides weight loss. Exercise burns off the stress hormones and makes you feel better. Exercise also helps strengthen muscles and tones the body. I prefer outdoor exercise, so for me fresh air and just being outdoor helps. However, exercise is not the ultimate solution for weight loss. There are numerous studies that cast a doubt on exercise's ability to lose weight. It is estimated that there are 45 million Americans who belong to a gym. About 19 billion dollars a year is spent on gym memberships. Of course, there are several folks who will pay for a membership and then will never go. Usually, around January 1st, when the new year resolutions are made, the gym enrollments go up, and folks hit the gym feverishly to shed the pounds accumulated during the holidays. But comes March or April, the motivation is gone and many folks return to their sedentary life styles. Once again, we are humans and we do things like these all the time. Again, with high number of gym enrollments and government telling us to get active, the obesity is still on the rise.

   If moderation, reducing fats, and exercise do not work in weight loss then what works? The answer lies in the types of foods we eat that make us fat. If we can reduce our simple carbs and sugars and consume more proteins, fats, and carbs from vegetables then weight will come off quick and will stay off. So my paleo pitch is to read my earlier blogs posts, give paleo a chance and see what happens. From the above arguments, moderation, reducing fats, and exercise are not necessarily helpful in losing weight, but they might be making it hard for you to lose weight. Think about it...
 

My First Year

   I have a major milestone to report in this post. September 1st marks my first year being on Paleo. It has been a long year with plenty of criticism thrown at me by truckloads. I have been called an extremist,  a criminal, and my behavior simply indecent. This was an experiment that I conducted on myself after much studying. The Paleo Diet made sense to me, and I started to feel better within few weeks after. Few of my friends joined with me and their health greatly improved as well. A friend lost over 65 lbs. and basically had to replace his entire wardrobe. Another, friend lost over 30 lbs. and stopped taking his cholesterol and diabetes medications. I hope my friends will share their stories in the future. There are few more stories which I won't bore you with, my goal is to explain my own personal experiences and share my journey with you. Here is one year in snapshot.

• September 1st, 2011 started my Paleo plan starting weight 170 lbs. 
• Zero consumption of breads, tortillas, or naans (Indian bread). Consumed no rice for the first 11 months, just recently incorporated a small quantity of boiled rice in my diet. Maybe once or twice per week. Boiled rice taste good in various soups.
• Zero consumption of corn and legumes.
• Zero consumption of desserts, cakes, cookies, soft drinks, and juices.
• Consumed very little dairy products. Only heavy cream in my coffee, or butter in my soups.
• Consumed about 1400 eggs this year, on the average 3-4 eggs per day. There has been days when I consumed 8 or more eggs. This translates to about 372 grams or 0.82 lbs. of cholesterol consumption this year.
• I probably consumed about 300 lbs. of meat this year. Mostly beef, chicken, fish, and some lamb. 
• Consumed liver, brain, heart, kidney's, bone marrow, and cow feet soup once a month or every other week.
• I consumed ample amount of fresh cooked and raw vegetables. Consumed very little fruits. 
• Consumed various nuts like almonds, macadamias, cashews, and Brazil nuts in low quantities, but consumed them regularly as good snacking option.
• Did not give up coffee, drank decaf and regular. Also drank plenty of tea and water.
• This past year I basically ate foods that I could look at, read all the ingredients, and importantly be able to pronounce all the ingredients.
• Kept up with my hiking, golf, ping pong, and just being active with the kids in my back yard. Hiked Mt. Diablo (Concord, California) several times, hiked Rockville hills regularly (Fairfield, California), and hiked Mt. Whitney (Eastern Sierras, California).

What it did to my body? 

• Lost 20 lbs. and the weight stabilized at 150 lbs. I am not losing any more weight. The weight loss was quick and then it stabilized within  couple of months. The waist size went from 36 to 34 and now all my 34 size pants are way too big. I can comfortably fit in waist size 32 pants.
• Numerous stomach issues, like bloating and excessive gas disappeared.
• The joint pains in my hands completely went away.
• Mouth feels cleaner, no excessive bad breath.
• Waking up in the morning and coming out of bed is not a chore. No excessive pains and aches.
• Simply more energy.
• Recovery time after hikes or other extraneous activities is quick. 
• My recent blood pressure is at 106/60 pulse rate of 65 BPM and BMI at 25.
• Several friends and family members told me that I look younger and healthier, but few concerned souls out there told me that I look horrible as If I am on drugs.
• My lipid panel is listed below.

Name	Cholesterol	HDL	Low density lipoprotein calculated	Triglyceride
Standard range	< 239 mg/dL	> 40 mg/dL	< 129 mg/dL	< 199 mg/dL
11/1/2007	214	43	138	167
8/4/2011	182	44	126	58
10/31/2011	152	45	98	45
9/4/2012	168	48	110	48

• As you can see from above that I was treading some dangerous waters back in 2007. The ratio triglycerides to HDL was 3.9. This is the most important ratio to worry about. Anything above 2 is bad. I also remember reaching around 180 lbs. of body weight. Between 2003 to 2007 I was drinking lots of diet coke and eating out at fast food places. Also working a part time job, so frequenting Taco Bell, and Burger King every day did not help my cause.
• Around 2008 started hiking regularly. The period between 2007 and 2011 hiked and simply became more active. Started to cut down on the fast foods. Although, did not give them up completely. However, gave up diet coke. Then shortly after gave up all types of soft drinks. There were weeks when I hiked 20 plus miles per week. As you can see my numbers improved but only slightly. The  most noticeable change was in my triglycerides. It went from 167 to 58mg/dl. The ratio triglycerides to HDL improved from 3.9 to 1.3. My over all body weight stabilized to around 170 lbs. and then it stopped! No matter how much I exercised I could not break the 170 barrier. 
• October 31, 2011, these numbers represent, me on Paleo for two months. I have lost about 10 lbs. at this point and the lipid panel is looking great. The triglycerides to HDL ratio is at 1. A sharp decline in total cholesterol from 182 to 152 mg/dl, and sharp decline in LDL. Basically my body responded positively to this new adopted lifestyle, thus explaining the sharp decline. It is common to observe extreme outliers when data is observed in small samples, but over a large sample the data ends up following a standard bell curve as you will observe in the next bullet point.
• Let's fast forward a year later to the present. I had my blood works done last Tuesday on September 4, 2012 and the last line represents the latest test results. My HDL has been highest it has ever been. A decrease of 14 points in cholesterol, an increase of 4 points in HDL, a decrease of 16 points in LDL, and a decrease of 10 points in triglycerides from a year ago August 4, 2011. My weight is down to 150 lbs. As mentioned above that I probably consumed 1400 eggs and about 300 lbs. of meat in this time frame. I can not even begin to calculate the amount of cholesterol I consumed this year. Yet all the numbers are down and well within range. The triglycerides to HDL ratio is at 1. This ratio represent the type of LDL cholesterol in your body. The researchers are now discovering that there are actually two types of LDL cholesterol: big foamy molecules and small dense molecules. The big foamy cholesterol molecule is the good cholesterol. The TG:HDL ratio of less than 2 means LDL molecules are big and foamy and will not get stuck in your arteries. But really don't be afraid of cholesterol. Cholesterol is needed for many important functions in the body. The most important of those functions is to travel the body and build cell membranes. The liver manufactures 1000-1400 mg/day of cholesterol and fills the gap depending on the dietary intake. So if we consume more cholesterol through food then the liver production of the cholesterol is throttled down and the inverse is true when the dietary cholesterol intake is low. If nature intended the cholesterol to travel and rebuild the cell membranes then why would it allow it to get stuck in the arteries, the only medium of its travel? 
• Here are my glucose numbers. Frankly, I was expecting a big drop in my glucose levels. I was expecting this number to be in the mid-eighties, but some how this number is staying at mid-nineties. My family history of diabetes on both sides of my parent makes me an ideal candiate for developing diabetes. And around my age is when diabetes start to surface its ugly head anyways. So at this point, I am happy that my glucose is stable.
  
  

  Name	Glucose, fasting
  Standard range	60-99 mg/dL
  11/1/2007	94
  8/4/2011	89
  10/31/2011	93
  9/4/2012	94

What is next?

• One thing for sure, I do not see me going back and eating grains in the near future. Gluten free is the life for me. I believe I had the celiac disease for years with my overactive stomach and simply accepted it as a sad fact of life. Now that I do not have those bad stomach issues, I have no desire to go back and get them again. At this point I simply have no desire to eat bread or any other grain product. I simply do not miss them or have any cravings for them.
• I would focus more on eating omega 3 fortified eggs and more grass fed meat. Yes, it is expensive, but spending the money there is well worth the investment. It is a well known fact that grass fed ruminants' meat and range free chicken eggs have higher amount of omega 3 fatty acids. 
• Incorporate more coconut oils and coconut product in my diet. Coconut is a miracle food and should be part of a healthy diet.
• Try to get more sleep. 
• The Paleo life style will continue for another year. Hopefully have my blood work done next September and go from there.
• I am working on a blog post titled "Paradise Lost" and I plan to turn that into a book. I have plenty of research around that subject to do this year. It may be a two year project.

   I have really enjoyed the Paleo life style. I never worry about counting my calories and do not worry for the weight to come back. The weight simply does not come back. The winter time is especially good, the rainy season keeps me in the house and I do not gain a single pound. In the previous years, I always gained 5-10 lbs. in the winter and in the summer months I lost them. Not the case any more. THE WEIGHT SIMPLY DOES NOT COME BACK. Creating new recipes is exciting. Talking about food and what it can do to you is great around the family. My children have picked up on this and they constantly ask me questions about the Paleo Diet. I know how to make several delicious soups that my family loves. Of course, none of my children have given up their junk foods yet, but training and exposure is there and may click for them later in their lives. I think I have talked enough about blood works and it is truly time to stop, it is Friday evening start of a weekend, the kids are allowed to stay up tonight and are watching some TV, I simply can not get enough of blood, so I am going to watch an episode of True Blood...:-)

   

Mt. Whitney

     On August 30, my friend Chris and I completed our day hike of Mt. Whitney. We both made it up and down safely in about seventeen hours. Yes, you read this right, 22 miles in seventeen hours. It was a brutal hike that tested our mettle, but we both survived. This was Chris' first hike to Mt. Whitney, and he was able to accomplish a goal from his long list of 101 goals that he has set for himself. Way to go Chris, and congratulations!!!  This was my fourth trip to this treacherous hill (14,496 feet), but the first trip being on the Paleo. Overall, I required much less food than in the previous years and was able to recover from the hike a lot faster. Later in the post I will share the food choices I made during the hike, but first I would like to share what it takes to prepare for this hike for the benefit of those who might be willing to do this grueling torture in the future.

• A permit is required and the Inyo National Forest Ranger Station issues 100 day passes each day. You have to apply for a permit around February time frame. In the previous year you had to fill out an application and mail it in, but this year the whole system is online and you can complete your permit application online at www.recreation.gov 
• The best time to hike Mt. Whitney is the month of August. The days are longer, the snow has melted from the trails and the weather on most parts tends to be nice. But there are no guarantees, the weather can change without a warning and risk of lightning is greater with increased clouds. I prefer to hike in the last week of August. I try to get a permit for the last Thursday in August. Because, this gives me a long three days weekend (labor day) when I get back home.
• This year Chris and I started our journey on Tuesday and got to our hotel late in the evening. Had dinner and slept. Woke up on Wednesday went to the Ranger's station in Lone Pine and picked up our day permit. Came back in town had breakfast, walked around the town and came back to the hotel and rested. Late in the afternoon got our backpacks ready and made final arrangements. We left our hotel at 11:30 P.M. and headed for the mountain which is only 13 miles away from Lone Pine. We were at the Mt. Whitney trailhead by 11:50 P.M. and after parking and strapping on our back packs started our hike at midnight.
• The first hour and a half we reached our first stop Lone Pine Lake and at this point the Inyo Wilderness starts and permits are required. We took our first official break.
• The next two hours after climbing granite rock steps (mostly a rocky trail) and getting lost few times we reached the trail camp. Took another long break of about 10 minutes.
• The next three hours were extremely painful as we climbed the switchbacks, basically an elevation change of about 1800 feet in little more than two miles. We were almost near the top of the switchbacks when the sun started to come up and we were able to see a beautiful sunrise at an elevation of almost 13,000 feet. We reached trail crest (13,600 feet) around 6:30 A.M.
• The next three and a half hours are extremely painful as we went from trail crest to the summit. A distant of 2.8 miles and only an 800 feet elevation, but the trail is rocky, the air is really thin and you are out of energy. The last 2.8 miles are a pure roller coaster, the trail dips down and then comes back up and then dips down again. You are stepping over big boulders and pointy rocks as you traverse the trail and head for the peak. You meet several people coming down and they are always offering encouraging words to continue on. The peak is finally on site and you see the Mt. Whitney Cabin in the distance and it still takes you a long time and several short thirty second breaks to get to the top. Our trip to the top took 9 hours. On the summit we rested for about 40 minutes. I fell asleep on a rock and Chris reported that I was actually snoring. After eating few snacks we both signed the guest register and headed down the mountain around 10:00 A.M. It would take another muscle aching knee and hip wrenching 7 to 8 hours to finally reach the bottom. At few points you get the feeling that this thing is never going to end. But the trail does end and you are finally at the trail head. A sense of relief overcomes you and you are grateful for cars, toilets, showers, and all modern amenities. A sense of deep appreciation for our hunter gatherer forefathers is felt, who walked on the average 11 miles per day hunting and gathering their foods. 
• We were back in the hotel around 5:30 P.M. Jumped in the pool to calm down the aching leg muscles. Took a long shower. At that time my eyes were closing due to overwhelming sleep, but I was hungry and we went to dinner. I had a 16 oz rib eye with mashed potatoes and asparagus. After dinner came back to hotel, brushed my teeth and was hoping to catch a preseason foot ball game, but could not stay awake. I was knocked out around 7:00 P.M. and slept for 11 straight hours. It was an amazing sleep. I have not slept this good in years. I woke up around 6:00 A.M. and felt totally rejuvenated. After shower and breakfast we headed back and 450 miles later, were back home around 5:00 P.M. Another year of Mt. Whitney is behind me. A day later as I write this post, I feel totally recovered and feel very little pain in my legs. 
• I omitted this from my post earlier and then decided to add this section back in. It is important to train throughout the year if you are preparing to make this trip. Mt. Whitney is a good motivation for me because it keeps me active all year long. To prepare for the Whitney hike, I usually climb Mt. Diablo (3800 feet) on the monthly basis and do short 5 mile hikes on the weekly basis just to keep in shape. Mt. Diablo is a great mountain only about 50 minutes from my house and has many trails of various levels of difficulty. The take home point is that keep doing something throughout the year if you expect to complete the Whitney hike. 

   Let me share few food choices that I made on this hike. While on the hike, I consumed few pieces of beef jerky, one white peach, one Lara Bar, few ounces of nuts (cashews, macadamias, and almonds), few ounces of dried banana chips, about 10 pieces of dates, and about a liter of water. Of course, the knees and hips screamed from intensity of the hike, and several thirty seconds rests helped me get through the hike. In my estimation , I probably consumed around 1500 calories and God only knows how many calories I expended on this hike? I simply had no desire to eat but a strong desire to stop and rest. I totally stayed on my Paleo plan and did not deviate one bit. My regular diet of high saturated fats and animal proteins helped me eat less while on the hike. Since I was not eating much so I did not consume much water. I almost did not finish my one liter bottle of water. I had carried three liters with me, I consumed one liter, brought one back, and gave my third bottle to a hiker needing water. I hit the proverbial wall few times but never felt totally drained of energy. The switchback kicked my butt that is because the scenery does not change and you climb 1800 feet in 2.2 miles. But I got a second wind at trail crest and continued my trek up without a problem. Not having to eat also helped me not go to the bathroom, which can be a drag on this hike. The hikers are not allowed to leave human waste on the trail. They must carry their waste back in a wag bag. So I never used my wag bag on this hike. The most amazing thing is the recovery time for my body. I was up and running a day later after a nice long sleep. The body fully rejuvenated and recovered. The amazing thing is that I only lost about a pound on this hike. I know I consumed very little calories but expended a heck of a lot more. The body's ability to burn fat and using fat as the primary fuel is way more efficient than burning carbohydrates. As you can see from my above account that my consumption of food was little, but the fat storage in my body provided all the necessary energy for a long time. Just imagine 3500 calories are produced from one pound of fat. The 3500 calories go a long way. Since I have been on a Paleo plan for a year my body has learned to burn fat and not ask for the simple carbs to meet and fulfill its energy requirements. So when food was not available the body simply burned stored fat and kept me going for a long time. In the previous years, I remember packing a pound of trail mix, wheat thins, peanut butter and Jelly sandwich, and all sorts of gatorades to just make it through the hike. This year just the opposite, very little food and was able to complete the same hike. It is amazing the body's ability to store fat, even a relatively thin person has plenty of stored fat to keep them alive for several weeks. There have been instances in human history where imprisoned individuals are forced to walk for several miles over multiple days on very little food and water and yet they survived. The Trail of Tears comes to mind as one of those unfortunate events in recent human history. The human body being an amazing machine very quickly learns to switch its energy source from burning carbs to fat. The fat burns slowly and one pound of it is able to go a long way. My hike of 22 miles and seventeen hours is nothing compared to the plight of Native Americans who were forced to move from their homes and were relocated to a different part of the country. I personally believe that being on Paleo helped me recover a lot faster, and putting my body through this extreme test with very little food sharpened my body to burn stored fat. I don't wish to subject my body to this kind of extreme pain all the time but sometimes an extreme almost insane activity like this is necessary to kick start the dormant fat burning metabolism over the easy burning carbs.