Hi everyone,
I’m starting out a few diet experiments on myself and decided to journal it on here.
I know diet and nutrition isn’t directly related to the theme of these forums, but your diet affects everything from the way you feel, think and even influences anxiety and depression. So indirectly it is.
Journaling the process helps keep me accountable and better track my progress but may also help others on here who are interested in nutrition.
A bit of background on me… I’m 27, overall very healthy and in good shape around 77-78kg, 180cm tall, low body fat and decent muscle. I don’t suffer from any bad health conditions. Since I was about 19-20, I’ve eaten a pretty healthy diet, consuming very little junk food most of the time and exercising at least 4-5 times per week.
My energy levels are generally very stable, I rarely suffer from afternoon fatigue. I don’t have any issues with putting on fat, if anything gaining weight is a challenge for me. My sleep is generally pretty good, usually 7-8 hours sleep every night, except weekends.
So overall, everything is pretty good. The only real issues for me are hair loss, dental health and focus/attention.
My hair has been slowly receding and thinning out since I was around 17. It’s not terrible at this stage but is getting worse. I have a small bald spot at the crown, which has got worse in the past 18 months.
In the past 4-5 months, I’ve been noticing a lot more hair falling out when I wash my hair or brush it. This was happening around 3-4 years ago but up until this year, I rarely noticed any significant hair shedding when I showered. It's got me concerned.
Obviously genetics plays a big part in hair loss but I’m convinced diet must play a role as well and there seems to be evidence to support this. So I’d like to see if any dietary changes will have an effect on my hair.
Dental health is another problem for me. Since I was 18, I’ve had an awful lot of cavities. Just recently I’ve had to get 5 fillings done…which is freakin expensive!
Besides flossing, I follow all the standard dental advice…brushing my teeth twice a day, drinking lots of water, avoiding sugary foods. And even when I started flossing regularly it didn’t make much difference.
I’ve just finished reading the book The Dental Diet by Steven Lin. He says there is a strong connection between diet and dental health. Really interesting read.
Aside from the obvious minimizing sugar advice, he also says cutting back on grains, getting plenty of vitamin D (from the sun and food), Vitamin K2, fibre and eating fermented foods to increase the balance of good bacteria in your mouth help.
And the other problem is focus or attention. Just mental performance in general, I guess. When I am able to focus on something, I’m very productive and work well. But I’ll have a lot of days where I just can’t focus on anything and don’t seem to think clearly.
This seems to be pretty common in our modern, excessive stimulus world. And it’s probably a result of many things, not just diet.
But many books have been written on diet and mental performance. I’m sure diet does influence focus and mental performance to some degree. I find that food cravings and a serious focus and productivity killer. It’s very difficult to focus on something when you’re getting up to go to the fridge every 10 minutes haha.
I’ve been taking modafinil (usually no more than once a week) and usually I notice a serious improvement in focus and mental performance when I take it. But I’d rather not have to rely on a drug for this. If I can lift mental performance with diet alone, that would be much better.
The plan is to experiment with a few different dietary changes (eg. Eliminating grains, eliminating sugar, etc..) for 2-4 weeks each and keep track of what I’m eating and how it affects my hair, focus, teeth and anything else relevant….That’s what this journal is for.
I’ll try to update at least once a week with my diet for each day during the week and observations.
My first experiment is going to be eliminating all grains – including bread, pasta, rice, cereals, oats, etc..
There are a lot of advocates for removing grains from your diet. I’ve read the book Wheat Belly, which makes a pretty compelling case against grains.
There have been a lot of grains in my diet – especially oats, rice, bread and sometimes cereal. So it will be interesting to see what impact a grain free diet has.
Oats has been my staple breakfast for a long time and it’s going to be hard to go without them!
I’m starting today and will continue for at least 2 weeks, possibly 4.
I’ll report back with my first update soon!
I’m starting out a few diet experiments on myself and decided to journal it on here.
I know diet and nutrition isn’t directly related to the theme of these forums, but your diet affects everything from the way you feel, think and even influences anxiety and depression. So indirectly it is.
Journaling the process helps keep me accountable and better track my progress but may also help others on here who are interested in nutrition.
A bit of background on me… I’m 27, overall very healthy and in good shape around 77-78kg, 180cm tall, low body fat and decent muscle. I don’t suffer from any bad health conditions. Since I was about 19-20, I’ve eaten a pretty healthy diet, consuming very little junk food most of the time and exercising at least 4-5 times per week.
My energy levels are generally very stable, I rarely suffer from afternoon fatigue. I don’t have any issues with putting on fat, if anything gaining weight is a challenge for me. My sleep is generally pretty good, usually 7-8 hours sleep every night, except weekends.
So overall, everything is pretty good. The only real issues for me are hair loss, dental health and focus/attention.
My hair has been slowly receding and thinning out since I was around 17. It’s not terrible at this stage but is getting worse. I have a small bald spot at the crown, which has got worse in the past 18 months.
In the past 4-5 months, I’ve been noticing a lot more hair falling out when I wash my hair or brush it. This was happening around 3-4 years ago but up until this year, I rarely noticed any significant hair shedding when I showered. It's got me concerned.
Obviously genetics plays a big part in hair loss but I’m convinced diet must play a role as well and there seems to be evidence to support this. So I’d like to see if any dietary changes will have an effect on my hair.
Dental health is another problem for me. Since I was 18, I’ve had an awful lot of cavities. Just recently I’ve had to get 5 fillings done…which is freakin expensive!
Besides flossing, I follow all the standard dental advice…brushing my teeth twice a day, drinking lots of water, avoiding sugary foods. And even when I started flossing regularly it didn’t make much difference.
I’ve just finished reading the book The Dental Diet by Steven Lin. He says there is a strong connection between diet and dental health. Really interesting read.
Aside from the obvious minimizing sugar advice, he also says cutting back on grains, getting plenty of vitamin D (from the sun and food), Vitamin K2, fibre and eating fermented foods to increase the balance of good bacteria in your mouth help.
And the other problem is focus or attention. Just mental performance in general, I guess. When I am able to focus on something, I’m very productive and work well. But I’ll have a lot of days where I just can’t focus on anything and don’t seem to think clearly.
This seems to be pretty common in our modern, excessive stimulus world. And it’s probably a result of many things, not just diet.
But many books have been written on diet and mental performance. I’m sure diet does influence focus and mental performance to some degree. I find that food cravings and a serious focus and productivity killer. It’s very difficult to focus on something when you’re getting up to go to the fridge every 10 minutes haha.
I’ve been taking modafinil (usually no more than once a week) and usually I notice a serious improvement in focus and mental performance when I take it. But I’d rather not have to rely on a drug for this. If I can lift mental performance with diet alone, that would be much better.
The plan is to experiment with a few different dietary changes (eg. Eliminating grains, eliminating sugar, etc..) for 2-4 weeks each and keep track of what I’m eating and how it affects my hair, focus, teeth and anything else relevant….That’s what this journal is for.
I’ll try to update at least once a week with my diet for each day during the week and observations.
My first experiment is going to be eliminating all grains – including bread, pasta, rice, cereals, oats, etc..
There are a lot of advocates for removing grains from your diet. I’ve read the book Wheat Belly, which makes a pretty compelling case against grains.
There have been a lot of grains in my diet – especially oats, rice, bread and sometimes cereal. So it will be interesting to see what impact a grain free diet has.
Oats has been my staple breakfast for a long time and it’s going to be hard to go without them!
I’m starting today and will continue for at least 2 weeks, possibly 4.
I’ll report back with my first update soon!
