THE DIET EXPERIMENT BEGINS

So, it has been a while since Ive updated. Last time I was about to start prepping for the British Finals, and I did start. However, 3 weeks into the diet I wasnt feeling motivated and decided not to go for it. I didnt want to do it half hearted, so no more competitions this year. Maybe next year.

So till now I have enjoyed a few holidays, still been training but have put a bit more meat on me. Although the scale have increased a bit, I am now comfortable in my own skin, which is the most important thing. However, it is soon time to start my diet project. I will start on Monday 5th of October and I will start off with the rebuild diet.

The first stage of this diet is removing all potentially inflammatory foods from your diet, giving your immune system the chance to calm down and your gut the chance to heal. Since the digestion take up a lot of our bodies energy, if we make our bodies use less energy by digestion, it will be easier for our bodies to detox, rebuild and have more energy in general. 

It's quite a restrictive diet, but I believe it can be very powerful.

These foods will be removed:

• Grains / Pseudo grains
• Nuts
• Dairy
• Starch
• Seed and Industrial oil
• Soy
• Nightsades
• Eggs
• Cocoa
• Alcohol
• Tobacco
• Legumes
• Caffeine
• Processed sugar

I will post more specific guidelines about the diet when we get closer to the start date.

When doing the diets I will tell you how I feel, what the scale says and also how it is to follow the diets. Before and after pictures. Also the cost of the diets, which I know it is a very important factor for a lot of people. And of course what I consume every day.

My aim with this project is to get a better understanding of the different lifestyles, how the body and mind react to certain foods and also what is optimal for weightloss and muscle building. And of course the most imporant question - how easy is it to maintain?

If you are curious on any of the diets and want to give it a go, please join me. I will post guidelines for every diet before I start it. You can also email me on: dinacelina@gmail.com if you want help during the diet or have any other enquiries.

FRUIT POPS

Its already Thursday folks. And I do not know where the time went. Ive been having some lovely days off with my man, went away for a little get away to Lochside House Hotel and Spa, had some nice wine and food, spa treatments and just simply relaxed. Indeed needed. 

If you are as crazy about Ice Cream as I am, and do not want to consume all the calories they contain, I highly recommend for you to try these fruit pops out!

You can add whatever fruit of choice, 1-2 tsp truvia(or other sweetener) and fresh lemon and/or lime juice(I added 2 lemons and 2 limes). Until desired taste. 

These ones I made with watermelon, cherries and added the rest of my raspberry coulis I made last week. Pop in the freezer and enjoy on a hot summer day. If youre lucky enough not to live in Scotland ;)

Stay happy!

THE POWER OF FIBRE AND PROTEIN

Its Sunday folks, one of my favourite days of the week. Especially if you are hangover free! 

Today I made a very simple nutritious breakfast. Mixed greek yoghurt with vanilla protein powder, blended in with the rest of my raspberry coulis from yesterday and top upped with raspberries, chia seeds and coconut. This meal is high in protein, fibre and good fats. Did you know protein and fibre are thermogenic? Which simply means it produces heat and need more energy to break down and uses stored energy. Which mean it gives a boots to the metabolism and are fat burning. Perfect start of the day if you ask me.

Stay happy!

DONT WASTE FOOD

I am a foodie, and I love love love cooking. Especially to experiment and try out new recipes, healthy or not. I also dont like to waste food. I normally buy a lot of fresh produce, sometimes I buy a bit too much, or I forget that i have it. So sometimes I end up throwing something that could have been a lovely meal in the bin. I dont like that.

Today for instance, I had a look through my fridge and had some veggies i needed to use. Quickly had an idea for a soup and 50 min later I have soup for the rest of the week.

I made a soup with butternut squash, peppers and some spinach who was living its last day. Threw it it in a large sauce pan with some garlic, salt and topped up with water. Made it simmer for about 35-40 min, took of the heat, blended it and added some pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, nutmeg, paprika and some more salt until my taste buds said this is it. In a soup bowl and added some oat milk and more pepper for taste. Easy, simple, done, with a good feeling that I havent wasted any food.

Making up soups like this are so easy. You can pretty much add whatever you want. Some sort of stock would probably be nicer, but unfortunately I didnt have any.

Also the best part that one of these servings are around 50 kcal give or take.

Stay happy!

FOREVER SOBER?

When Monday arrived I was already thinking of what was going to happen next weekend. Who was I gonna go out with and where? My life was surrounded by the weekend - I lived by the weekend as they say. When I was living in Tenerife, it didnt matter if it was Tuesday or Saturday, everyday was a weekend! I never thought of the negative impact the alcohol, neither the amount of calories I was consuming.  As I hope you all know that alcohol are very calorie dense.
Hangovers was "normal". Yes you felt like shite, some days worse than others. But you got on with it, as the benefits of the night before was better? Was it?

Last year I did my first 3 months sober, this was big for me, especially living in Tenerife. There was times I used to drink everyday and my life was surrounded with alcohol and going out. Im not gonna lie, I found it really hard not being able to enjoy a drink. Also thinking of that most social stuff has alcohol involved in it. There was a few friends I didnt see during that time just because I couldnt go out and drink. It wasnt any different this year. This year I was sober from 1st of January to 24th of May. But this time, it was surprisingly easy. I dont know if it had anything to do with that I was living in a different place, a different country. Or that I had other people to surround myself with? Still, there was a few people I didnt see during that time as well. Why? I dont know.

On the competition day I had loads to drink, I was actually a bit tipsy on stage. I went out for a bit on the night because I had to and I could. After falling asleep a few times on my man, it was time to go home. The next day I felt like I have always felt when having a hungover, and I hated it. The last few weeks Ive been drinking a lot of alcohol, again, just because I can. Yes I enjoyed it when I was sipping on my wine glass, but the next day, oh I feel horrible, you all know the feeling. And I must say I miss the feeling of waking up feeling fresh, not feeling like I want to spend the day in my bed. Even just having a few glasses of wine and some drinks makes me feel not 100 %. And I do not like that. And by saying that, Id rather not drink, Id rather stay sober, waking up every morning feeling my best and have that amazing feeling of feeling alive, that you certainly dont have when youre hangover.

Saying that it would be a lie if I said Ill never drink again. Of course I will, I love fine wine, a good gin and tonic or a liquor coffee. But I will without a doubt cut down dramatically.
Going out drinking seems like a bit of a chore for me now, maybe a bit sad to say, I do like putting on lovely makeup a nice dress and go out having fun, but I cant stand the next day. I hate it, I absolutely hate it. I can go the whole day regretting it. I hate it. I think it from now on it would be a diet drink with some lime in my glass than a gin and tonic.

Also do not forget I work out nearly every day and I want to build muscles, alcohol doesnt really help that progress. Alcohol can make it hard for the body to absorb nutrients and also impairs protein synthesis, which is very important for muscle growth. Although saying that, alcohol also have certain health benefits, if it is consumed in moderation.

Alcohol is a part of our life and it tastes delicious if you ask me. But we do drink too much and should really cut down. I used to be one of those who thought it was "funny" if I had a black out as because I had too many shots of tequila the night before and couldnt remember all the "funny things" I did, or even worse, the not so cool things I did and ended up being paranoid for days later(with a 3 day hangover) Life is precious, and you shouldnt miss any of it. 
Im writing this as I used to be one of those who loved to go out drinking, "party hard" and see how many shots I could drink in one go(10 tequilas in a row is my record so far). In my prep I thought I was going to go back to that, as I missed the alcohol. I see back and I can tell you I was very wrong.

Enjoy the fine wine and the expensive whisky, but not to a point when you miss a day or regret things you shouldnt say.

Stay happy.

THE DIET EXPERIMENT

Dieting and healthy eating can become an obsession. Especially if you are in the fitness world. There are so many different diets out there, some better than other, one more extreme than another. Its a bit sick to be honest. When I dieted down for my show in May, there was times I couldnt stop thinking about food, note that I am a foodie and I do think about food all the time but it came to a point where it became mentally exhausting. I ended up researching if I actually had to consume 6 meals a day, regards to my previous post I stopped that, some days I had 4 meals some days 5 or 6. Although I still consumed the amount of calories I was meant to be eating, just with fewer bigger meals. Just that took a big burden off my shoulders.

Im always online reading about new diets and lifestyles everyday, to see if there is anything new to the market and also educate myself in different types of lifestyles(diets). For instance, yesterday I read about the banana diet, eat over 30 bananas a day. I like bananas, but 30+ bananas a day?!' Jeez!

 Earlier this year I decided to do a diet experiment and Im gonna take that into action later this year. Probably in October as I got 2nd place in UKBFF Scottish Championship and got an invite to the British Finals in October, so will have to start cutting again very soon. So an diet experiment wouldnt be good to start right now. 

I dont know how long this experiment will take, as there is quite a few I want to try out. And I want to do them for 30 days. The reason for this is I want to find out what diet is best for staying healthy, lean and still gaining muscles. And what would work for me and give me a more relaxed relationship to food. After my competition Ive been eating a lot just because I can, not because I wanted it but because Im "allowed". Trust me, these cutting diets for competition mess up with your head quite a lot. But on the plus side, as I was sober for 5 months, and got to proper know the benefits of that,  now I actually prefer to stay sober. But I will write more about that in another post.

If there is any diets you would like me to try please comment below. 

Heres a few diets that will take part in my diet experiment:

- The Anabolic Diet

- Full Keto (start off with fat fasting)

- Carb Cycling 

- Rebuild Diet

- Vegetarian

- Vegan

- Raw Diet

- Intermittent fasting

- Carb nite

- The Blood Type Diet

As you can see there is quite a few I want to try, here is 10 months of different diets! I havent decided if this will be in one go or it will be spaced out. Also havent decided which one Im going to start off with first, but I think The Rebuild Diet would be a good starting point. I will write up a proper description of each diet and also everyday meal plans when I start the project. Maybe you want to join me?

Note flexible dieting is a very popular lifestyle in the fitness world; you have a certain amount of fat, carbs and protein you have each day, you can eat whatever you want as long as it fits your macros and hit your fibre intake(30g+ a day). Although this works great for a lot of people, I know myself and I cant count calories and be on my fitnesspal everyday as it makes me obsessed, so even though I think this is a great lifestyle, it is not for me. As this experiment is to find out what works best for me, and let you guys know how they all work and maybe you can find something that would suit you. 

But I must say, looking at the vegetarian, vegan and the raw diet I can now say that I do not think those would be anything for me, as I do love meat and eat a lot of it. But, I dont know until I try.

Please let me know in the comments below what you want me to start off with or if there is any other diets you think I should give a go.

As for the moment Im gonna stop eating everything just because I can and eat healthy as normal, maybe do small experiments here and there, right now Im going to consume a lot of liquid meals to give my digestion a bit of a rest and see if I can get rid of that extra fat Ive gained after my competition because of all the carbs and wine Ive been consuming. 

Ill keep you posted.

Stay Happy!

DOES FREQUENT FEEDING SPEED UP YOUR METABOLISM?

Since the first time I got introduced to a "bodybuilding" meal plan. I was told 5-6 meals a day is how you should eat, because it "speeds" up your metabolism. And thats what Ive read and heard pretty much everywhere since. And I have always tried to eat this way. People have been saying to me; "How can you eat that much?" "Isn't it exhausting eating all the time?" "I could never bring food with me everywhere." And so on. I normally responded with "its not for everyone" or "well if you want it enough you do it". Simple as that. I do still live by those words. But after been reading and researching a bit lately, I have sat a question mark to the typical "6 meals a day plan". Does it really speed up the metabolism? And is it really optimal or even necessary?  

When I first came across articles telling me you do not need to consume your calories over 6 meals a day, was when I was reading about "Intermittent fasting". Which is when you have a time period you eat and when you dont. Normally a 16:8 or a 14:10 ratio. 16 hrs fast and 8 hrs feed. Or there are many other ways you can do it. And also different types of fasting. But we can get into that another time.
However, reading these articles about IF was telling me it does not matter if you eat your daily calories over 2-3 or 6 meals. Some even say you can consume it in one sitting, but do not think many people would be able to eat 2000 -/+ kcal in one meal(Which I do not think is a good thing to do anyway). As we are not saying eat whatever you want here, still consuming nutritious whole foods are important. Also note 2000 kcal of chicken and broccoli is significant more in volume than a pizza.

Anyway, doing some further research I found some studies that slams the frequent feeding off the horse:

In one study they had two test groups, one consuming 6 meals a day and the other 3 meals a day. What they found that there were no difference in fat oxidation for the two test groups. But what they did find was that the subjects eating 6 meals per day, felt more hunger and less satisfied and would have a desire to eat more = more energy consumed = weight gain right?

In another study the two test subject groups where again eating 6 or 3 meals a day, with the same amount of calories consumed. This was tested on obese men and women, both groups lost weight, but there was no indication saying the high meal frequency speeded up the metabolism.

So why are we still being told to eat 6 meals per day? If anyone does have the answer to this, I would love to hear about it, or have any newer studies that disproves this.

Do I support this? I support what the data says. I do not think 1-2 meals per day is optimal, but if that works for you and you have a healthy relationship with your food and yourself great. And the same if you eat 6 or 8 meals per day. Always remember to do what is optimal for you and your health. But frequent feeding does not speed up your metabolism or have any other health benefits.
I think we should all stop complicating things and go back to basic. Hungry? Eat. Satisfied? Stop. Repeat cycle.

(This blogpost was just a very brief comment on this subject. I would like to go into more detail later)