Your Personal Paleo Code: The 3-Step Plan to Lose Weight, Reverse Disease, and Stay Fit and Healthy for Life (34 page)

Goal/Population
: Significant weight loss, severe blood-sugar issues, neurological and cognitive problems

Carb Intake (% of Total Calories)
: <10

Carb Intake (G/D on A 2,600-Calorie Diet)
: <65

Carb Intake (G/D on A 2,000-Calorie Diet)
: <50

Goal/Population
: Weight loss, blood-sugar regulation, mood disturbances

Carb Intake (% of Total Calories)
: 10–15

Carb Intake (G/D on A 2,600-Calorie Diet)
: 65–100

Carb Intake (G/D on A 2,000-Calorie Diet)
: 50–75

Goal/Population
: General health and maintenance

Carb Intake (% of Total Calories)
: 15–30

Carb Intake (G/D on A 2,600-Calorie Diet)
: 100–200

Carb Intake (G/D on A 2,000-Calorie Diet)
: 75–150

Goal/Population
: Athletes, people who are highly active and/or lean with fast metabolism

Carb Intake (% of Total Calories)
: 30–45

Carb Intake (G/D on A 2,600-Calorie Diet)
: 200–300

Carb Intake (G/D on A 2,000-Calorie Diet)
: 150–225

Most people naturally eat the right amount of protein for their needs. Protein is such a crucial nutrient that the brain has specific mechanisms that increase your desire for it if you need more and decrease your desire for it if you’re getting too much; these mechanisms are difficult to override through willpower alone. For this reason, my general recommendation is to simply eat as much protein as you crave. In most cases, this will be about 10 to 20 percent of total calories, or roughly 65 to 130 grams per day on a 2,600-calorie diet (260 to 520 protein calories) and 50 to 100 grams per day on a 2,000-calorie diet (200 to 300 protein calories).

This recommended range is supported by observing protein intakes (as a percentage of total calories) in healthy, preindustrial cultures around the world:

Interestingly, it’s also supported by observing what we consume here in the United States, where the average protein intake is 15 percent of calories. (As a comparison to another Western country, in Sweden, it is 12 percent.)

It’s rarely a good idea to decrease protein intake below 10 percent of total calories. However, there are some situations where it may be advantageous to increase protein intake to 20 to 30 percent or even as high as 35 percent of total calories (that is, 150 to 175 grams per day on a 2,000-calorie diet), at least temporarily:

Why stop at 35 percent? Studies suggest that the ability of humans to metabolize protein tops out at 35 percent of total calories. The body releases nitrogen in the process of metabolizing protein. Nitrogen forms toxic ammonia, which is then converted to urea, a safe, nontoxic compound. But conversion of ammonia to urea is limited when protein intake exceeds 35 percent of calories. Eating more protein than this for an extended period can lead to a toxic buildup of ammonia in the body, which may have serious consequences (including nausea, diarrhea, and death) if protein intake exceeds 45 percent of total calories consumed.

This threshold may be significantly lower in pregnant women. During pregnancy, the conversion of ammonia to urea appears to peak at a protein intake of 25 percent of total calories. Some studies suggest that protein intakes above this level may lead to poor pregnancy outcomes, such as decreased birth weight, and increased risk of disease and death for the baby. For these reasons, I recommend that pregnant women limit protein intake to 15 to 20 percent of calories, regardless of whether they are overweight or have blood-sugar problems.

There is some research surrounding protein restriction and longevity. To read more about these studies and the link between protein intake and increased life span, please see the notes for this chapter on my website.

Goal/Pop Ulation
: Pregnancy

Protein Intake (% of Total Calories)
: 10–15

Protein Intake (G/D on A 2,600-Calorie Diet)
: 65–100

Protein Intake (G/D on A 2,000-Calorie Diet)
: 50–75

Goal/Pop Ulation
: General health

Protein Intake (% of Total Calories)
: 10–20

Protein Intake (G/D on A 2,600-Calorie Diet)
: 65–130

Protein Intake (G/D on A 2,000-Calorie Diet)
: 50–100

Goal/Pop Ulation
: Weight loss, blood-sugar regulation, gaining muscle mass

Protein Intake (% of Total Calories)
: 20–35
^*

Protein Intake (G/D on A 2,600-Calorie Diet)
: 130–230

Protein Intake (G/D on A 2,000-Calorie Diet)
: 100–175

Once you’ve determined your optimal carbohydrate and protein intakes, the remainder of your calories will come from fat. This can range from as high as 80 to 85 percent on a very low-carb, relatively low-protein diet to as low as 10 to 15 percent on a high-protein, high-carb diet. Fortunately, as I mentioned above, studies of traditional diets indicate that humans can thrive and remain free of modern disease on a wide range of fat intakes—provided they have the right mix of fats (that is, mostly saturated and monounsaturated fats with a much smaller amount of polyunsaturated fat).

It’s not just what we eat that affects our health but also how much and how often, though I don’t think it’s necessary for most people to count
calories. Once you determine your Personal Paleo Code and identify your optimal mix of protein, carbohydrate, and fat, you should simply eat to satisfy your appetite.

What if you’re trying to lose weight? While it’s true that eating fewer calories will lead to weight loss, it’s also true that consciously restricting calories often fails as a weight-loss strategy. In the bonus chapter on weight loss on my website, I’ll introduce an approach that leads to a spontaneous reduction (without conscious effort) in calorie intake.

Meal frequency and size are more variable. You’ll hear some people claim that you should eat only one huge meal at night and fast for the entire day. Others will suggest eating six small meals throughout the day. And then you have the conventional approach of three squares a day. What about snacking? Again, some insist that snacking between meals will make you fat and should be strictly avoided. Others say there’s no problem with snacking as long as you’re eating the right kinds of foods.

My experience tells me that everybody (and every body!) is different. Some people do better with smaller meals spaced more frequently throughout the day (and/or snacking between meals), and others will do better with larger meals eaten less frequently with no snacks. The key, as always, is to choose an approach based on your health status and goals and to experiment and see what works for
you
.

With this in mind, I can give you some general guidelines:

Intermittent fasting is a pattern of eating that alternates between periods of fasting and nonfasting. Studies suggest that intermittent fasting may be as effective (and easier to stick with) than voluntary calorie restricting for weight loss. It has also been shown to improve insulin sensitivity and other indicators of metabolic function, reduce inflammation and oxidative stress, decrease seizures, protect brain cells, and promote healthy brain function.

There are several theories about why intermittent fasting provides health benefits. One is that intermittent fasting causes positive stress. As you may recall from
chapter 14
, not all stress is harmful; when cells in the body are under mild stress, they adapt by enhancing their own ability to fight that stress and protect against disease. Another related theory is that intermittent fasting promotes a cellular cleanup and repair process called autophagy, which may protect against the degeneration of brain cells, infections, and cancer.

There are many ways to do intermittent fasting, but the method that I recommend involves restricting your food intake to an eight-hour window each day. For example, you would eat only between the hours of 12:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. During the fasting period, if you feel hungry or
spaced out, you may have some coconut oil (by itself, or perhaps added to coffee—don’t knock it until you try it!). This will not interfere with the benefits of the fast. During the feeding period, you simply eat as your hunger dictates; there’s no need to purposely restrict calories, and you should not try to overeat to make up for the meal you skipped. You might have two meals only; two meals and a snack; or three meals. If you’re aggressively trying to lose weight or you have very high blood sugar, eating two meals without a snack in between is probably the best strategy, but since you’re already getting the benefits of a sixteen-hour fast, snacking during the feeding window of an intermittent fast is less likely to impede your progress than snacking while eating normally.

If you do well with the method I’ve described above and you want to further benefit from fasting, you can add an extended (forty-hour) fast once or twice a month (or as often as once a week, if you’re highly motivated). This involves fasting for an additional twenty-four-hour period above and beyond your daily sixteen-hour fast. For example, on Tuesday you would eat between 12:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. as usual, but your next meal would come at 12:00 p.m. on Thursday rather than 12:00 p.m. on Wednesday.

You might discover that intermittent fasting every day is too much for you but that doing it three to four days a week is just right. This is what I find myself doing most of the time. I will typically skip breakfast about four days a week and eat normally on the other three days. I don’t plan in advance; I let my schedule and my body tell me what to do. If I wake up feeling very hungry, and I have a long and active day ahead, I will probably eat breakfast. If I wake up feeling less hungry and I have a less active day planned, I might skip breakfast. (I’m aware of the research noting the link between skipping breakfast and overeating at lunch, but I am doing this in the context of intermittent fasting and finding what works for me; you should do the same.) The point is, there’s no right or wrong way to do this—there’s just the way that works best for your needs and goals.

While intermittent fasting is a good approach for many people, there are some situations where I don’t recommend it: