Dieting Smart

If you have followed my recent posts, you will know that I’ve embarked on a new diet. Basically it’s vegetarian, gluten-free and dairy-free.

This means that I have almost eliminated all meat, dairy products and gluten food and in the meantime I have increased consumption on soy products, fresh fruit and vegetables, nuts and seeds. I also drink lots of mineral water and freshly squeezed juice. It’s been several weeks now and I have actually reaped some benefits already, believe it or not.

A major benefit from this new diet is that I seem to keep my energy level steady throughout the day whereas before I had ‘ups’ and ‘downs’ throughout the day. For example, I used to feel slack and not very alert in mid-afternoon and evenings but now I feel the same alert and energetic during these hours. Accompanied to this benefit is that I seem to have a clearer head now. In other words, my mind seems less ‘cluttered’ and ‘foggy’. It's a nice feeling.

For a person who had never been on a diet before, this is pretty exciting as I get to notice the positive changes. But ...(there is always a ‘but’ even for positive things!)

Yesterday morning I went out for a Power Walk. During the weekdays my Power Walk is usually no more than one hour. Since it was Saturday and I had all the time to myself, I decided to walk a bit further. I walked to the Cornwall Park, and walked all the way up the peak on One Tree Hill. By the time I got home it was almost 9am - I had spent two hours in speed walking! After having some breakfast I felt tired and exhausted and thought I would lie down for a couple of minutes. However, by the time I woke up, it was almost mid-day! I passed out in bed!

This was not my usual self as I almost never got tired like this after my exercises before. As a matter of fact, just a couple of weeks ago I did a walk with similar intensity.

I thought about my recent change of diet and started to wonder if I have done it properly. After all I am on trial and I can only learn by experimenting. I know that in a perfect world, I would like to have a personal trainer and personal dietician to help me to do things correctly. Ah well, back to my reality…

I did some research yesterday on food. I think the problem in my exhaustion lies in the mismatch between my diet and my physical needs, which is probably a common problem for people who go on diet. It’s worth noting that we are all very different. What’s good for one person might not be good for another, depending on age, gender, physical activities etc. I think my current diet may be quite all right say for a monk who does 6 hours of meditation a day; however, it doesn’t seem to provide all that I need considering the amount of physical exercises I do on a daily basis.

I have come to the conclusion that below may be areas where the problems lie:

1. Calcium. Calcium is mostly found in dairy foods. Since my diet has always been low on dairy-food in my entire life, my body may suffer from calcium deficiency. This may also have contributed to my lower-back pain which I’ve had for years although it’s improving.

2. Iron, Zinc and vitamin B12. Since I don’t eat meat, and iron, Zinc and vitamin B12 are mostly found in meat, I am almost certain that I have a deficiency in all these because I have all the deficiency signs which include fatigue, exhaustion and anaemia, especially after intense exercises.

3. Protein. A vegetarian diet and a gluten-free diet side by side is most challenging as protein comes mainly from animal-derived foods. For vegetarians, a main source of protein is from grain products such as wheat, oats, barley etc which all have gluten content. When you eliminate meat and grain foods, there isn’t many food left that provides sufficient protein!

So dieting smart is not as easy as I had thought. It actually involves a scientific approach, a balanced act, good planning as well as good knowledge about oneself. I know that I need to keep learning about food and making adjustments from time to time. Despite a lot of people have doubts as to if a vegetarian diet can provide sufficient nutrition that we need, I believe it’s doable as I know that a lot of Olympic Gold Medallists are vegetarians which proves that it can be a good diet just the same. It’s a matter of doing it in the right way.

I am sure it's a matter of time before I figure out how all the bits and pieces fit in the jigsaw of healthy living. In the mean time, if you have any good suggestions to offer, please feel free to leave your precious comments.