Too Much Information, Part 2

Today is a great day to try the 6:30pm Track Workout at Santa Monica College!

“Griff”

For time:

Run 800 meters

Run 400 meters backwards

Run 800 meters

Run 400 meters backwards

Michael Winchester 10:13, Lance Cantu 10:16.

here).  This is about the time that sectionals started and my diet began to give me doubts.

I was a little bummed going into sectionals.  I hadn’t done a pull up in almost six weeks because of my arm injury, my feet were hurting from the marathon and I just wasn’t feeling like myself.  I was still getting workouts in every now and then, but something had changed.  About a week later, or about six weeks ago, I began to get the shits.  (this part of the story is where I got the post title from:)  And then it didn’t go away.  It lasted for a couple weeks and I suffered in silence, no one knew, not even Martina.  The cause had to be something in my diet, so I went back to the research to see what I was doing wrong.

My first reaction was that I was missing fiber from veggies, or maybe some micronutrient that the blood tests missed, so I started adding some carbohydrate into my meals.  A little yam here, some kale there.  Not a lot, but just a little in every meal.  (I had previously been adding this only every second or third meal, details on what I eat later)  But this had no effect, it kept on coming!  Then I reread the Mat Lelonde article in which he states, “I should note that I did not suffer from Steatorrhea at any point during the experiment.”  When I read that, I thought, that must be exactly what I’m suffering from!  I’m eating too much fat and its loosening my stool!  That made sense to me, so I cut down on my fat intake.  Now before we continue, lets discuss an average day of what I was eating around this time…

Breakfast – 1lb Skirt Steak, 3 pieces of beef bacon and a pemmican bar (picture)

Lunch – 1lb ground meat (fat reserved) with some sauteed veggies like kale or onions with coconut milk or avocado

Dinner – 1lb of sausage or flank steak with avocado

At this point I was going on almost six weeks, practically the entire duration of the sectionals ,with the shits!  What was the deal!  This wasn’t part of the plan!  I knew this couldn’t last much longer before I had to go to the doctor.  My research continued until I finally ran into this wonderful blog post.  An excerpt: You can stay alive indefinitely on 80/20 fat/protein (% by calories) but will die quickly on the reverse ratio due to protein toxicity???. He follows this up with a mention of rabbit starvation.  I google rabbit starvation, I rememeber hearing about it from Mat Lalonde’s DVD, but I cannot remember what it is.  I read that the human liver cannot metabolize more than 200-300 grams of protein per day, symptoms include diarrhea.  Quickly, I google, “How many grams of protein in one pound of steak.”  There ends up being 80-100 grams of protein in a pound of ground beef and 120-135 grams in a steak…I’m eating TOO MUCH MEAT!!  I realized that I had gradually been eating more and more meat and less fat over the previous couple months.  Too much of a good thing, I immediately lowered my amount of protein to 1/2 or 3/4 of a pound per meal, upped my fat, and within 48 hours my problems were over!

That was last week.  I had just completed my last sectionals WOD, I performed the Fight For Air Climb a few days later, biked all day Sunday in the heat, and almost PR’d on “Jackie” the following monday and then performed above expectation on “Jeremy” two days ago.  That was when I decided to write about this entire experience.  A few lessons can be taken from this story, but I want the overall lesson to be that your health is in your hands!  I do not expect everyone to live their life in this manner, like I do not expect everyone to be a competitive athlete.  There is an amazing amount of (free) information out there.  We need to take the time to educate ourselves, to be curious, to be critical and to try things for ourselves.  Do not take your life for granted.  I look forward to hearing what you learned over the past 8 weeks.  I can only hope it sparked an interest and the knowledge that you have a great deal of control over your health.

Thank you to Martina for putting up with my obsessive behavior through all of this.  The sometimes bloody meat drawer in the fridge, the constant oil splatterings on the stove, and eating a different meal than me for the past six months.  You have been amazing…I love you, thank you:)

On that note, there are a lot of realities that you should be aware of for those that are thinking of giving this a try.  In honor of Ronnie’s post, and the number of questions I had today about what I eat, I am going to write down the thoughts I have that didn’t make it into the story.  Good luck to all that want to give it a try and please ask any questions that you may have!