The 4-Hour Body_ An Uncommon Guide to Ra - Timothy Ferriss [39]
• It is the lowest of all cooking oils in omega-6 fatty acids but high in palmitoleic acid, which isn’t found in any other plant oil. Because palmitoleic acid is found in the sebum of human skin, macadamia oil can also double as a potent skin moisturizer. Not suggested with olive oil unless you want the sex appeal of a Greek salad.
• The fat in macadamia oil is 80% monounsaturated, the highest percentage among cooking oils.
Sources and Resources: Species Nutrition (http://www.speciesnutrition.com)—President Dave Palumbo was the first to introduce me to macadamia oil and I get mine from his producers.
CAN I DRINK ALCOHOL? WHAT TYPES OF WINE ARE BEST?
On cheat days, all is fair. Have a keg by yourself if the spirit moves you. On diet days, stick to dry wines, “dry” being defined as less than 1.4% residual sugar. The driest red varietals are Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot, whereas the driest whites are generally Sauvignon Blanc and Albariño. This certainly doesn’t stop me from enjoying my favorite big reds: Malbec from Argentina and Zinfandel from California. I have found better fat-loss results with red wine compared to white.
Though there are exceptions, it is best to avoid Riesling, White Zinfandel, and Champagne.
WHAT SHOULD I EAT FOR SNACKS?
There should be no need, or real physical urge, to eat snacks. If you are hungry, you’re not eating enough protein and legumes at each meal. This is an uber-common novice screwup. I’ve been there too. Eat more.
If you’re eating enough and still feel the urge to snack, it’s a psychological addiction, one that most often goes hand in hand with procrastination. Some of us go to the bathroom, others go to the water cooler, and others eat. I’ve done all three, so I know the drill.
If all else fails and you must have a snack, go for carrots, but a bag of carrots will hit you like a donkey kick in the stomach, so don’t binge. If I snack, I’ll most often make a small snack—200–300 calories—out of restaurant leftovers like Thai chicken basil with no rice. If you’re really starving, just eat another slow-carb meal. It won’t do any harm.
If you get headaches or have other symptoms of low blood sugar, 90% of the time it will be because you are not eating enough. First-time slow-carbers are accustomed to eating small portions of calorically dense carbohydrates (think bagels or pasta), and they duplicate the portion sizes with the calorically lighter slow-carb foods, resulting in insufficient calories. Expect that you can eat two to three times as much volume, and assume that you should.
Likewise, if you have trouble sleeping due to hunger, you’re not eating enough. In these cases, consume a bit of protein prior to bed, which can be as simple as 1–2 tablespoons of almond butter (ideal) or peanut butter with no additives (the only ingredients should be peanuts and perhaps salt). Note to the ladies, for whom peanut butter seems to be like crack: the tablespoon scoop should be no more than a small mound, not half the jar balanced on a spoon.
DO I REALLY HAVE TO BINGE ONCE A WEEK?
It is important to spike caloric intake once per week.
This causes a host of hormonal changes that improve fat-loss, from increasing cAMP and GMP to improving conversion of the T4 thyroid hormone to the more active T3.
Everyone binges eventually on a diet, and it’s better to schedule it ahead of time to limit the damage. The psychological benefits outweigh even the hormonal and metabolic benefits. I eat like this all the time and have for seven years. Few ways of eating (WOE) are this sustainable and beneficial.
CAN YOU GET AWAY WITH ONE CHEAT MEAL PER WEEK?
Most men can. Some women can’t.3
Menstruation can stop if leptin levels get too low. This happened to one reader for seven months until she returned to “refeeding,” as she called it (binge day), though she only did it once every two weeks. Forced overfeeding can temporarily increase