Not really for bodybuilding but interesting to read.
A Dietary Protocol for Optimal Health, Body Composition, Longevity, and Satiety.
Iâ??ve given in to suggestions that I name my dietary protocol so it will be easier to discuss and compare. Iâ??ve given it the uninspiring name The Whiton Protocol because itâ??s easily searchable, and because I would rather it be adopted for its merits and not because of an appealing marketing name.
The protocol arose from my time in both the paleo and anti-aging communities. In them I found that while each community had uncovered many valuable puzzle pieces there was a need for their synthesis. If you attend a paleo conference, for example, youâ??ll find people who are in great shape but ignorant of what they could be doing to live longer than a Kitavan. Attend an anti-aging conference, on the other hand, and you find people discussing all sorts of powerful and esoteric information who are nonetheless in poor physical shape. The Whiton Protocol aims to integrate their findings into a single practical and practicable protocol that offers maximum benefit, those being:
Optimal Health â?? Living disease free. Highly functional, physically and mentally.
Body Composition â?? Neither overweight, nor too thin. Lean, muscular, and attractive.[6]
Longevity â?? Slowing aging and extending life beyond todayâ??s arbitrary â??normalâ?? life expectancy.
Satiety â?? We should rarely feel hungry and may even feel more satisfied than we have ever been.
Characteristics[8]
In shorthand (or jargon), we could say the Whiton Protocol is: very high-fat, very low-carb, anti-inflammatory, cyclical ketogenic, anti-glycational paleo with pro-autophagic periodic protein restriction. But letâ??s break that into more human terms.
The protocol can be roughly described as paleo. If you donâ??t know what that means, stop now and go learn from Mark Sisson and Robb Wolf for a month and then come back.[9]
The protocol is very high in fat. We rely on fat as the primary macronutrient, composing 70% or more of total calories. We do this because, contrary to popular opinion, healthy fats may be the most innocuous of all the things we can eat. Fat is also very satiating, thereby helping to inoculate us against many of the foods we are trying to avoid.[10]
The protocol is very low in carbohydrate. Carbs are generally restricted to at or below 35g / day, not including fiber. We do this for several reasons: 1) to become lean and stay lean, and 2) to fight aging by dramatically reducing glycation â?? one of the mechanisms of aging, 3) to produce ketones, and 4) to dramatically reduce exposure to insulin.
The protocol generally allows for moderate protein consumption â?? up to 20% of total daily calories, or somewhere between 50 to 130g depending on your needs. This amount of protein allows one to pack on a satisfying amount of muscle, the appearance of which is further enhanced the lack of body fat.
The protocol avoids excess protein, because the body will just convert it to carbohydrate. It is also likely that protein inhibits the anti-aging mechanism of autophagy. Which leads us to another of the protocolâ??s important and peculiar featuresâ?¦
Once or twice each week we have a day where we consume almost no protein. There is mounting evidence that this promotes autophagy â?? an intra-cellular cleansing process that may be one of the key anti-aging mechanisms traditionally observed in caloric restriction. If so, incorporating periods of protein restriction may garner similar benefits to calorie restriction, but without the calorie restriction (and its arduousness).
Instead of a complete fast on these days, we merely curb protein consumption in favor of lots of fat, as usual, and also additional carbs.[17] This is a day for extra fruit, half a sweet potato, and maybe that glass of wine. And because we are only temporarily restricting protein and continuing to eat loads of fat, we are still able to put on muscle and keep it, winning us a much better physique than the CR practitioner can achieve.
The Plan:
5 to 6 days / week â?? High-fat, very-low-carb, moderate-protein
Eat a satisfying high-fat paleo diet (70% or more of total calories as fat), moderate in protein (20% or less), and low in carbohydrate (10% or less). Pay little attention to overall calories as the dietâ??s satiating qualities mean you will rarely eat excessively.
Menu: meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, coconut (milk, cream, oil), butter, heavy cream, olives, avocados, fruit (esp. berries), pickles, sauerkraut, macadamia nuts,[22] coffee/tea.[25]
1 to 2 days / week â?? High-fat, moderate-carb, very-low-protein
Eat a satisfying high-fat paleo diet (~70% fat), with more carbs if you like (up to ~150g). Restrict protein to under 3% or ~15g. This means that, instead of fasting, you still get to eat most of whatâ??s listed above except for the foods in blue, which contain too much protein. Foods in green can still be eaten, but in moderation, because they have small amounts of protein that will add up throughout the day. Use a tool like cronometer to track them as you eat.[35]
The most effective way to restrict protein is still up for debate. Some advocate shorter, but daily, restriction periods of 18 hours. This can be cleverly achieved by consuming all oneâ??s protein between noon and 6pm. Unfortunately, we donâ??t know at this time whether 18 hours of reduced protein consumption is sufficient to induce autophagy and, if so, for how long. It may be, for instance, that autophagy takes sixteen hours to initiate, in which case it is only occurring briefly at the tail end before we halt the process with protein consumption. My preference, then, is to restrict protein for a full day such that, including sleep, we achieve a restriction period of at least 32 hours. This improves our chances of and quantity of autophagy.
This then is my proposed protocol for achieving excellent body composition; reaping the benefits of fasting, while feasting; and eating as much as we want, just not whatever we want; while enjoying what we eat and feeling satisfied all the time. This is, to my knowledge, the most ideal dietary strategy available at this time. I will continue to update and modify it as new evidence becomes available.
[6] I should add here that while I enjoy physical play, I want to minimize the amount of exercise that I have to do. I and others on this and similar protocols, find we can put on and keep a satisfying amount of muscle with less than thirty minutes of light exercise each week. For example, I got a six pack on this protocol without situps, just by holding â??plank positionâ?? for 90 seconds 2x/week.
[9] Paleo: The short of it is that if you avoid: grains, gluten, legumes, dairy, fructose, omega 6â?²s; and embrace: wild / pasteured meats and copious amounts of healthy dietary fat; you will lean up, pack on muscle, feel great, and avoid the western diseases.
[10] I am part of a growing movement rejecting the notion that dietary fat is bad, instead adopting the nearly opposite belief that of all things that can be consumed healthy fats may be the most benign. See this earlier post for my personal results (warning, includes obligatory shirtless health-nut picture).
[17] The additional carbs (ex. up to ~150g) also ensures we are leaving a ketogenic state several times each week which, according to many practitioners, is preferable.
[22] Whereas most nuts are very high in omega 6, macadamia nuts contain a negligible amount. Accordingly, they are now the only nut I buy. Yes, they are more expensive. Cancel your cable service and make the switch.
[25] I usually kick off a day of autophagy by skipping breakfast and having a satisfying mug of protein-free butter-coffee.
[35] Ex. Protein Contents
Coconut milk: ~1g per .25 cup
Avocado: ~1g per half fruit
Heavy cream: ~1g per .25 cup
Sweet potato: ~1.1g per half tuber
Chard (cooked): ~1.5g per half cup
*carbohydrate may inhibit CMA by inhibiting ketone production, but if so we are likely getting lots of CMA on our other days.