Let’s start exploring the details of my plan

Now that I’ve vented my preoccupations with added work, what is it exactly am I going to be doing? Let’s start with nutrition.

Because I want the average person to benefit from my findings, it led me to select different strategies than my natural tendency. In the past 4 months of preparation, I reviewed my eating habits and have chosen 4 nutritional approaches to experiment with over the upcoming 2 years. Each dietary plan will be 6 months long, and my total daily caloric intake is set at 2000 calories a day based on my height, weight, age and gender for the entire length of the project.

The first year of my journey is set at a caloric division of 33/33/33 of my macronutrients. This means an equal division of caloric intake from carbs, protein and fat, about 33% for each macronutrient group. In the first 6 months, I will follow average North American food choices before switching to a predominantly plant-based with sustainable, conscious animal products in the last part of the year. Year two is for more advanced health enthusiasts and is recommended for those who enjoy keeping close tracking of their dietary habits. The Keto diet will constitute the first half of the year with a macronutrients breakdown of 5% net carbs (will elaborate more on the subject of net carbs vs total carbs in future posts), 25% proteins and 70% fats. I will complete the program with intermittent fasting at a 33/33/33 calorie division where windows of fasting will gradually increase from 12 hours to 20 hours.

You can only imagine how radical going from the Keto diet, where my net carbohydrate consumption was only 5% of my calorie count, to 33% will be. I’m also reducing my fat consumption by 42%. Regardless, I eagerly await to improve my relationship with carbs, and I’m confident I will achieve my health goals. Hopefully, my exploration will help my readers mediate their food choices with or without sensitivities or conditions.

I have been easily maintaining my waist size and reducing food sensitivities by eliminating a large portion of carbohydrate sources in the past. However, this opportunity to reintegrate certain foods will allow me to deepen my studies on the heavily criticized and dreaded macronutrient. Instead of rejecting all and all most carbs, how about finding the ones that best suit me. Hopefully, this more stimulating question will allow my readers and me to understand better the broad diversity of carbohydrates and their impact on the metabolism.

This past season, I have not controlled my eating in any shape or form. It has enabled some decadent culinary indulgences as well as a much-needed vacation from counting calories and journaling. I feel rejuvenated to start again, but most importantly, I learned a lot about what my body can and cannot tolerate nowadays. It had been so long that I had eaten grains, that I no longer knew if I could bear them. It so happens I cannot. Now, how could I reach my targeted daily carbohydrate intake?

As an ex-professional cook, that’s where my fun begins! Creative cooking and exploring new culinary methods to play with food has been a lifelong passion. From the legumes that agree with me to low glycemic load fruits, I binged nerded out the subject and will reveal my discoveries as I go.