THE HONEY DIET ... I wanted a diet where I could eat as much as I possibly could, as a fairly lean individual already, and still lose weight. This is my attempt at that. It seemed to work -- eating 1 lb of honey + 1/2 pound of dates a day, I lost 10 lbs in a month or so, and my bloodwork just got better. ... Protocol: ------------- Waking - 3pm: ------------- - As much of simple, non-starchy sugars as you want. No fat, no protein. - Honey - Orange juice - Maple syrup - Dates - Grapes - Cherries - Oranges - Watermelon - Black coffee with sugar (If you absolutely want protein, do gelatin only in this phase) ------------- 3pm - 7pm: ------------- Fast. Go to the gym. Burn off that last blood sugar. ------------- 7pm - Sleep: ------------- - Eat dinner. I prefer to do something big like: - 1 lb lean beef - 1 lb green vegetables (well cooked - broccoli, asparagus, etc.) - 1 lb boiled mushrooms - A glass or two of chocolate skim/low fat milk See here for a suitable dinner menu: https://longestlevers.com/anabology-top/good-foods.html I prefer a lower carb dinner on this diet. If you want to maintain weight but want this diet for other benefits, just eat more calories at dinner. ... The rationale: This came from a few key observations: 1. Blood glucose goes back to baseline within a few hours of eating pure sugar, even if you have a lot of it. 2. Blood glucose stays slightly elevated for a long time after eating a meal with protein and fat. 3. Protein and fat make diabetics require more insulin to process the same amount of sugar. 4. Both protein and fat appear to be elevated for ~12 hours after eating a meal with them. 5. When animals overeat sugar with no protein, 'FGF21' is strongly induced, which speeds up the metabolic rate. 6. Fat, without protein, induces FGF21 less strongly. 7. Protein inhibits FGF21 (most likely isoleucine/BCAAs, so gelatin may be okay during the sugar phase). 8. The primary way in which humans store fat is by reesterifying dietary fat, not by converting sugar to fat. 9. The Randle cycle + Fructose can cause a fatty liver, but added Fructose in isolation does not appear to cause a fatty liver. This is a lot of information, but it all points to a few key conclusions: 1. The "Randle Cycle" is real (where fat inhibits carbohydrate utilization), and it can be avoided with proper nutrient timing. 2. Protein makes your metabolism less flexible and insulin less effective. 3. Your 'calories-out' can adapt to sugar overfeeding in the right conditions. So, the protocol is designed to maximize the calories you can consume without gaining fat by avoiding protein and fat while blood sugar is elevated. There are some drawbacks to not eating any fat or protein, though, but intermittent fasting seems safe. So, you can do a modified version of intermittent fasting, which I term "intermittent carbosis." You can still get all the benefits of protein and high-quality fat at dinner, just do it without too many carbs to avoid the Randle Cycle. ... Considerations: - Try not to eat more food after feel full. If you feel full, your cells are likely resisting insulin transiently ("they don't want more calories right now" -- this is a natural, beneficial action). Fructose can bypass insulin signaling. Your cells could become desensitized to insulin in the longer term if they receive too much energy in an insulin-resistant state. This is kind of a modified version of the carbohydate-insulin model based off of the ideas of the Hyperlipid blog. - You can get a fasting insulin taken every couple weeks for like $20 at a labcorp/quest on demand, with $5 for a venopuncture. Check our Marek Health for example -- very cheap to get. - Ensure you're fasting for >12 hours, especially with a high protein dinner, before your fasting insulin test. Even a dinner at the 12 hour mark could elevate your insulin if your protein content is very high in that one meal. - If you want to maintain weight, eat more at dinner. - If you want to lose weight faster, make the volume (but not calories) of your dinner bigger. - You will be very hungry from 5-7pm. This is when I think you burn all of the fat. Occupy that time with the gym, imo, and it won't be so bad. - If you feel much fatigue from 3-7pm, you're not eating enough. Eat more calories in the sugar phase. - Avoid starchy fruits or starches. Starch has strange effects when raw and may facilitate fat storage. - You can easily get a low calcium to phosphate ratio diet, which isn't favorable. I'd supplement with calcium -- adding 2g calcium carbonate to orange juice can neutralize it and provide the much needed mineral. - Honey is not very nutrient dense. Fruits are better, but contain more protein (which is not ideal for the metabolic rate). I'd recommend a mix. - Supplemental thiamine can go a long way. I like the TTFD verison. ... Benefits I experienced: - I ate as much as I could and still lost weight. - My cortisol and estrogen both went down. My DHEA went up. Blood biomarkers generally looked better. - Never had so few migraines. - Good constant energy and mental clarity. Drawbacks: - Honey was not very tasty. If I did it again, I'd diversify with more simple sugary fruits. - Near the end, I was committed on the "1 lb of honey a day" thing, and some days I had a lower appetite due to lack of sleep from work. I still forced myself to eat all the honey, but if I did it again, I would never force myself to eat when I'm not hungry. Just not worth it from the insulin perspective. ... -- anabology