A Biohack of Nutritional Proportion, Have your Carrots with Cake too!

Beware, this post might change the way you eat at a Mexican restaurant. Or at least I hope it will. I've discovered a hack which can enhance our nutrition despite occasional non-nutritious lapses. I strongly believe in eating nutritious, real, whole food that man hasn't chemically processed. And making sure that when you eat those nutritional delicious goodies (like broccoli and asparagus) that you are absorbing them and getting all the potential health benefits they have to offer. In the case of asparagus, that includes the funny smelling pee.

My biohack means you can still eat the chips. (Amen to that!) I just want to make sure you eat the good stuff loaded with vitamins BEFORE you eat the other stuff. So eat your food in the right order and you are winning in health and satiety! The hack is to go by order of nutrition and digestibility.

The Biohack:

(ta-da!)

Eat healthy to unhealthy, in that order. Example: eat the salad first, then the burger. Dessert if you must. Or drink the green juice for breakfast before the eggs and bacon. Skip the bread until you at least eat something nutritious first. 

Additional Hacks (if you wanna go to 2nd base)
1.  Start with Raw (veggies, smoothies, salads) Raw is where the ENZYMES are. And believe me, no one argues that enzymes are anything but good for you. That's why there are raw foodies out there that won't eat anything heated. Enzymes are helping every system in your boy and they help break down your food.

Raw foodies, yes it's possible

2. Never eat fruit-based dessert after meals, unless you enjoy farts and GI distress. The fruit is like a race car, it shoots into the stomach with lightening speed and if you already have some protein in there, then fermentation happens. The other food is digesting while the fruit just sits on top and stands in line, stewing in anger - like when you sit in traffic. A special note on watermelon. Watermelon is extremely fast moving through the digestive system and should only be eaten first thing in the morning on an empty tummy. No disrespect to the watermelon gods, I love this stuff but it's so full of water that it catches up to any food in the gut.

The Objective:

1) Ease deprivation - Call me a rebel but when someone tells me I can't have something, I usually want it more. This happened recently when we considered buying a house in the suburbs but we didn't put an offer on it. Three days later the real estate agent notified us someone had put an offer on the house and suddenly I REALLY wanted that house. Tell me I'm on a diet and suddenly the cheese cake is more tempting. This way, you can have your cake and enjoy it too
2) Fiber, enzymes and nutrition to satisfy cravings. Twice now, after I complete a big mud race, I crave a cigarette. I felt like a freak having such a craving but at least now I understand why. A craving for cigarettes means I need tyrosine which is my body's sneaky manner of telling me to eat protein. This biohack method has the potential to hit the nail on the head if you have a nutritional craving related to a physical need. You eat a large bounty of veggies right away to allow absorption rather than eating nutrient-depleting chips.
3) Strengthen your digestion. Where the digestion goes, so goes the mind. When your digestion is on track, so are your thoughts. Notice when you have gut distress, you are irritable. When you are suffering from constipation, you are really lethargic or down right ANGRY. You have a gut brain axis and there are many neurotransmitters which originate in the gut. This is big news and reiterates the importance of a good diet. Read more here. This biohack introduces enzymes which help you to digest food properly, it's all in the raw.

Don't try to take my fruit away

The Why...The order of foods you eat can enhance or destroy your nutritional absorption. I didn't even begin to discuss food combining which is really tricky. Below is where it gets complicated, so if you want simplicity, stop reading now. But if you want more, listen as I deepen my rationale.



Digestion Time. 

It takes 20-45 minutes for fruit to digest - this is the fastest food that rushes through you. This is why when you are famished or hangry, you reach for the grapes before the baked chicken. Fruit also has a high water content, the more water food has, the faster it goes through your digestive system. Beware! Fruit is loaded with fructose which is only digested in the liver. I suggest you limit your fruit intake when your goal is weight loss. That's because it's our beautiful loving liver that works to destroy fat and if it's busy digesting fructose, it's hands are tied and it can't help us break down fat. But by all means, don't neglect fruit - it is FULL of vitamins and minerals.

It takes up to 2 hours for carbohydrates to digest- though this is subjective. When I eat a cup of white rice, I get hungry within an hour

It takes 3 hours for proteins to digest - that burger or those eggs in theory will fuel the metabolic fire longer than a cup of rice

It takes 3-6 hours for fats to digest. This is part of the mechanism for people on a low-carb or ketogenic diet, they stay full longer.


What this means is that eating out at a Mexican restaurant changes. No longer would you sit down and eat the basket of chips (and then shamefully say yes when they ask if you want another). Instead you would request raw veggies or a salad, get your body fueled nutrient dense food, then eat your cheesy fried (delicious) food and if you must, eat the chips with dinner or after.

More detailed explanation here:
cleanse and lose weight

Best of luck in your biohacking, Let me know how it goes!