Weight loss - My experience with the Engine 2 Diet

About 5 weeks ago on a lazy Sunday I was flipping through Netflix and saw a documentary Knives over Forks.
 
Its about the US diet and all the changes we have seen in what we eat.featuring Dr Caldwell Esselstyne who is a cardiac surgeon at Case Western Reserve who wrote the book How to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease" and Colin Campbell PhD who wrote The China Diet.

I went online to my local library to see if they had either book and I saw the Engine 2 Diet by Rip Esselstyne who is the son of Dr Caldwell Esselstyne.  Rip Esselstyne was a scholarship swimmer for Texas who stayed in Austin after graduation and became a firefighter for the city.  The book came about after one of his fellow firemen got some awful results from his physical.  So I checked it out.  Read the book and decided to follow the diet.  Wife agreed as well.  (no pics)

Basically its no eggs, no dairy, no meat or fish, no refined sugar and no alcohol.
If it has a face or comes from something with a face you don't eat it.  Vegan.
Lots of legumes, vegatables, whole grains, brown rice, nuts, fresh fruit, peanut butter etc. We used almond milk on cerial and drank at least 5-6 12oz glasses of water a day.  about 12 oz of black coffee every morning so we wouldn't kill each other.  Did use some oil when making grilled veggies and using a wok.

I'm 6'3" and was 244 when I started it.  Lost about 7 pounds the first week and after 28 days I got rid of 19 pounds.  Suddenly that 210-215 number I've been told would be a good number tby my orthopedic surgeon looks within reach. (happier hips and knees).   Wife lost 10 pounds and wants to continue.   I walked about 1.5 miles a day and bout 15 minutes of stretches daily.

Its not for everybody but its a lot better than taking God knows what diet supplements and we weren't buying shit from Dan Marino and Marie Osmond either. So if you want to drop some pounds and willing to make major changes for a few weeks its possible.  It also makes your shopping trips much faster because you are walking past about 70% of what Meijer and Kroger are trying to sell.

Congrats.

My question is, once you start to eat some dairy and meat again will the weight come back? How do you maintain after the fad?

The_Dude wrote:Congrats.

My question is, once you start to eat some dairy and meat again will the weight come back? How do you maintain after the fad?

The author says he sees people stick with it full time while others go to 75% or 50%.  I think we are going to fall into the 75% category.  We will add some meat.  Primarily fresh turkey and chicken we buy locally.  Will probably have meals a week with meat and use 4-5 oz servings.
Will add some cheese for toppings on pasta in small amounts but the days of buying pounds of cheese every couple of weeks is history.

Will break on Thanksgiving and Christmas and we aren't food nazi's if we are guests.  Don't go overboard and try not to fall back into old habits.  I eat a few walnuts or almonds with an apple or have mellon for desserts.  

The biggest thing I've noticed is after eliminating dairy my joints felt better. (Wife noticed the same thing).  Every morning I add 2 tbs of ground golden flax to my steel cut oats along with some fresh fruit.  The flax ($6.99 for 3lb at Costco) is loaded with omega 3's that's supposed to be good for joints.  

What got me interested was the Forks over Knives talked about reversing damage a high fat/high protein/high dairy intake diets does to your vascular system and how our modern diet has led to a higher incidence of diabetes.  I've been dancing at the warning end of type 2 for a couple of years.  But to date the only daily med I take is an aspirin because its a cheap way for people over 40 to help their heart.

If you drink so much your liver is damaged, its damaged for good regardless of how many good things you drink after you quit alcohol.  But when I saw you could reverse plaque buildup in your arteries I thought WTF, I'll give it a shot.

Congrats on putting aside the murder and rape! Glad to hear you're getting healthy. Best of luck.

GRR Spartan wrote:About 5 weeks ago on a lazy Sunday I was flipping through Netflix and saw a documentary Knives over Forks.
 
Its about the US diet and all the changes we have seen in what we eat.featuring Dr Caldwell Esselstyne who is a cardiac surgeon at Case Western Reserve who wrote the book How to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease" and Colin Campbell PhD who wrote The China Diet.

I went online to my local library to see if they had either book and I saw the Engine 2 Diet by Rip Esselstyne who is the son of Dr Caldwell Esselstyne.  Rip Esselstyne was a scholarship swimmer for Texas who stayed in Austin after graduation and became a firefighter for the city.  The book came about after one of his fellow firemen got some awful results from his physical.  So I checked it out.  Read the book and decided to follow the diet.  Wife agreed as well.  (no pics)

Basically its no eggs, no dairy, no meat or fish, no refined sugar and no alcohol.
If it has a face or comes from something with a face you don't eat it.  Vegan.
Lots of legumes, vegatables, whole grains, brown rice, nuts, fresh fruit, peanut butter etc. We used almond milk on cerial and drank at least 5-6 12oz glasses of water a day.  about 12 oz of black coffee every morning so we wouldn't kill each other.  Did use some oil when making grilled veggies and using a wok.

I'm 6'3" and was 244 when I started it.  Lost about 7 pounds the first week and after 28 days I got rid of 19 pounds.  Suddenly that 210-215 number I've been told would be a good number tby my orthopedic surgeon looks within reach. (happier hips and knees).   Wife lost 10 pounds and wants to continue.   I walked about 1.5 miles a day and bout 15 minutes of stretches daily.

Its not for everybody but its a lot better than taking God knows what diet supplements and we weren't buying shit from Dan Marino and Marie Osmond either. So if you want to drop some pounds and willing to make major changes for a few weeks its possible.  It also makes your shopping trips much faster because you are walking past about 70% of what Meijer and Kroger are trying to sell.

Fantastic. I need to lose weight, but I'm at the age where I won't get rid of beef. No way. I've always lost weight when I stopped drinking alcohol. I'm not nutritionist, but when you drink, it seems that your body doesn't process food as well. I think you've also hit it in that many of us don't realize how little water we're drinking a day. I have to remind myself to do so. 64 oz's seems like it's a must. My wife tells me I get water in other things,but I really think you need to drink pure water of 64 Oz's and more.

I know WBH cuts the carbs out, others do various things. But doesn't it always come down to just eating less and working out more?

Good for you losing weight! That's more to give up than I'd be willing. Like Bob, I've found that portion size control and minimizing carbs and sugar was all I really needed along with moderate exercise.

Everyone has to find what they are comfortable with, especially when it comes to what to eat.

I am not proselytizing. It's worked for me and it's a inexpensive way to reduce weight, lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels. For me better than going to my internist and leaving with a handful of prescriptions.

Will be sticking with it until at least Labor Day and go to about 75% adding some meat (even beef).

I will quit eating dairy, eggs and meat after I take my last breath.

Seriously, refined sugar is the problem. Get that out of your diet and the dairy, eggs and meat won't matter. You'll drop weight like a prisoner at Auschwitz.

Cutting out meat seems extreme and pointless. Chicken, Fish, Turkey and certain cuts of Pork are very lean and are filling thanks to high protein content.

If you cut out excessive sugars and carbs you're 90% of the way there with all of these trendy diets.

Its about the US diet and all the changes we have seen in what we eat.featuring Dr Caldwell Esselstyne who is a cardiac surgeon at Case Western Reserve who wrote the book How to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease" and Colin Campbell PhD who wrote The China Diet.

First off his name is correctly spelled Esselstyn, and T. Colin Campbell wrote The China Study, not diet.

I am not trying to bash you, both are great books, but neither are really weight loss books.  Esselstyn's book shows the link between our diet and heart disease, Campbell's book demonstrates a direct link between what we eat and cancer.  Both advocate a vegan diet.

Reading nutrition books is kind of a strange hobby of mine.

I came to the conclusion a long time ago that the human body is designed to be a herbivore.  We like to think of ourselves as omnivores (some like to think of us as carnivores) but I believe our jaw and digestive tract suggest otherwise.

The weird part - if you eat what the human body is designed to eat you will "lose weight." Losing weight is probably an incorrect  term because your body will simply move to it's correct weight.  You will also be much healthier.

The weird part - if you eat what the human body is designed to eat

I never understand these kinds of statements.

There is so much of our evolution and our civilization tied to hunting and the eating of meat. We would not be the humans we are today if we were not "designed" to consume flesh. For it's weight and the amount of energy it takes to digest it, it provides some of the best nutrition that you can get. Be vegan! That's your choice and it's fine. Don't claim that we are "designed" to be anything but what we've evolved to be.

Congrats GRR. We have about the same specs. I was right at my fighin' weight of 225 before blowing out my back about a year ago. Packed on some pounds because i can't run/workout like I used to.

Any diet will work if done properly. Calories in - Calories burned = weight loss/gain in every scenario. I agree with Rake, cutting out (lean) meat always seems bad to me. I usually eat one meat meal a day. Meat is packed with protein, relatively low in calories per volume and incredibly filling. I challenge anyone to eat their daily caloric intake in meat alone. It is tough to do. Bread, sugars, etc. it is easy and your hungry shortly after.

That said, whatever works, stick with it.

Rocinante wrote:

The weird part - if you eat what the human body is designed to eat

I never understand these kinds of statements.

There is so much of our evolution and our civilization tied to hunting and the eating of meat. We would not be the humans we are today if we were not "designed" to consume flesh. For it's weight and the amount of energy it takes to digest it, it provides some of the best nutrition that you can get. Be vegan! That's your choice and it's fine. Don't claim that we are "designed" to be anything but what we've evolved to be.

For the record, I am not a vegan. Hell, I am not even a vegetarian. I just truly believe that the human body is designed to be primarily a herbivore.

Evolution takes about a million years. We have not "evolved" into a civilization of hunters and meat eaters.

Actually we have, and you're sort of right, speciation is estimated to generally take about a million years. Evolution is happening all the time. Our nearest primate relatives, who are not our closest evolutionary relatives by any means (probably 8 million years away), choose meat whenever they can get it. Further the evolution of our brains to be complex enough to utilize fire to cook meat, made it an even better resource for high energy, high protein low opportunity cost sustenance. We have evolved to use the most efficient food source available. That is meat.

And now I'm hungry. Thanks butthead.

Rocinante wrote:Actually we have, and you're sort of right, speciation is estimated to generally take about a million years.  Evolution is happening all the time.  Our nearest primate relatives, who are not our closest evolutionary relatives by any means (probably 8 million years away), choose meat whenever they can get it.  Further the evolution of our brains to be complex enough to utilize fire to cook meat, made it an even better resource for high energy, high protein low opportunity cost sustenance.  We have evolved to use the most efficient food source available.  That is meat.

I assume you are talking a chimpanzee?  They may eat meat whenever they can, but in the wild that is about nine times a year (about 3% of their diet).  If meat makes up 3% of your diet, I agree you will not have any health problems associated with meat.

FWIW, Gorillas - a bigger, more muscled primate, don't eat meat.

You should really read "The China Study" which was mentioned in the original post.

Addict is correct about our perceived need for protein and what real need for protein.

What Esselstyn and Campbell found from studies and data around the world and Esselstyn's patient experiences at Cleveland Clinic was the meat, eggs and dairy provide much more protein than our bodies can process. The chemistry leads to plaque in our veins etc.

There is another doc, Joel Fuhrman MD has the Nutritarian diet with his food pyramid. Fuhrman like Esselstyn and Campbell are of the opinion we are eating a lot or meat and cheese because of great marketing campaigns by food producers.

A Dr. Crook who wrote The Yeast Connection thinks the food business and food science have evolved much faster than our bodies have to digest a lot of our modern diet.

Personally and speaking for my wife, we aren't feeling as hungry. Part of it has to do with eating whole grain breakfasts with fresh fruit. I'm sure some of it has to do with drinking at least 72oz of water every day.

No, I shouldn't read the China study. I am very familiar with the primary literature. People cherry pick data to prove their own points all the time. We can survive, and even thrive on non meat or low meat diets, but meat is a huge reason why we are successful, no, dominant as a species. I'm not saying that in the modern world, where you can essentially pay for someone else's labor to collect the nutrition you desire to get from non meat sources, it isn't a completely valid way to get your calories, I am saying that if you're talking about evolutionary "design". Meat allowed humans to become what we are. We aren't "meant" to eat other stuff exclusively. That's patent bullshit.

GRR Spartan wrote:Fuhrman like Esselstyn and Campbell are of the opinion we are eating a lot or meat and cheese because of great marketing campaigns by food producers.

A Dr. Crook who wrote The Yeast Connection thinks the food business and food science have evolved much faster than our bodies have to digest a lot of our modern diet.

Personally and speaking for my wife, we aren't feeling as hungry. Part of it has to do with eating whole grain breakfasts with fresh fruit. I'm sure some of it has to do with drinking at least 72oz of water every day.

The first part is the problem. The problem is people eat too many Fruit Loops, Quarter Pounders, Coke and other pre-packaged foods because it is cheap and convenient. 80% of a typical US grocery store is garbage. We try to stick to the whole foods... fruit, vegtables, nuts and meat as much as possible. Been trying to set healthy habits for our kids.