Weight Loss Through Diet

Pickles: I've lost 55 lbs in the last 4 months. I dropped from 250 to 195 and it's entirely due to my diet. And I don't mean "diet" as how much I consume--I'm eating a lot of food each day. I mean "diet" as what I consume--where I choose to get my nutrients from.

When starting this diet my goal wasn't losing weight; it's just an amazing side-effect. I started down this path because I wanted to bring my psoriasis under control. As I researched this class of diets the books I read frequently mentioned weight loss, so I knew that I might see some weight reduction but I didn't expect to lose this much and definitely not this quickly.

So what is this miracle diet? The short answer is an "anti-inflammatory diet". The long answer is much more involved; I followed 3 diets simultaneously.

At the core, I am choosing to follow the Paleo Auto-Immune Protocol (a.k.a. Paleo AIP) because food outside of that diet appears to contribute to my psoriasis. The second diet was low FODMAP because high FODMAP foods cause me digestive distress. Finally, I also avoid high-fructose foods because I have fructose malabsorption meaning lots of fructose also causes digestive distress.

In the last 4 months my gut has healed a little so I have relaxed my FODMAP restrictions; I'll eat high FODMAP food, just not in large quantities. I expect to start eating more fructose, but I am waiting a while longer before testing that. However, I believe I will need to follow Paleo AIP--or some other anti-inflammatory diet--the rest of my life. My psoriasis symptoms have improved and almost disappeared, but it's taking a lot of time and deliberate choices throughout my life.

This post is the start of a series of posts which will explain what I've learned over the last few years about diet and exercise. Along the way I will detail my adventures in cooking while Pineapple critiques my efforts. From the best steak ever and my smoothie recipes, to newly-discovered allergies.

I'll occasionally cover non-food topics such as my exercise regiment or how I improved my symptoms by changing my soap. But I promise that the vast majority of my posts will be focused on food.