Last weekend I met a friend of mine whom I have been in "fatty food comms" with for about a year now. Actually, it started out as fatty food comms with a threesome of 50 somethings - long time mates keen to push one another to get healthier before it's too late and all that.
Three great blokes - Richard, Rob and Peter - set out with great intent. The omens were good. Peter had competed internationally in swimming, Rob was a solid cyclist and Richard was gym fit and lean. If Peter had significant weight to lose, Richard had his eye firmly on metabolic health markers. Rob was somewhere down the middle.
The Whatsapp group started off in a blaze of communication but activity petered out within 3-4 weeks. The road to freedom from sugar and fat adaptation can be bumpy, so this is not unusual at all. Anyway, Richard stuck at it and I stuck with him.
Fast forward 12 months and here we are sitting over a coffee in Cape Town.
Richard had just put himself through a particularly thorough cardiac/metabolic health testing procedure with Preventative Cardiologist, Dr Philip Mills (whom you see in Run on Fat). When he shared his report with me, one line stood out.
"Richard is in great shape risk stratifying into a fantastic prognostic group with no clinical vascular disease."
That his measurable metrics were clearly excellent did not surprise me at all. When we sat down 12 months earlier to configure a food plan that would be sustainable for Richard, we included shots of extra virgin olive oil - his favored fat source.
What he told me next I found more interesting.
"Donal, I am running free of pain again. My knee pain is just gone. I literally jump out of bed in the morning now. There is no more stiffness. I feel fannnntastic"
In that one sentence Richard had neatly summed up the 3 key benefits of fat adaptation beyond the obvious +ve impact on lipid/metabolic profiles.
1. Increased energy
2. Lowered joint specific inflammation
3. Improved recovery rates from exercise
This is something I am hearing more and more from athletes, medics and regular guys like Richard. When I woke up this morning to a similar "success story" from an Aussie bloke of Richard's age called Michael Gavin, I figured it was time to share the spoils.
When Richard gets back to Zimbabwe I have no doubt he'll be jovially goading his mates with a certain medical report and that new knee of his. Of course, that may or may not be enough to re-ignite their own interest in walking this walk.
But it may be enough to convince you.
The Whatsapp group started off in a blaze of communication but activity petered out within 3-4 weeks. The road to freedom from sugar and fat adaptation can be bumpy, so this is not unusual at all. Anyway, Richard stuck at it and I stuck with him.
Fast forward 12 months and here we are sitting over a coffee in Cape Town.
Richard had just put himself through a particularly thorough cardiac/metabolic health testing procedure with Preventative Cardiologist, Dr Philip Mills (whom you see in Run on Fat). When he shared his report with me, one line stood out.
"Richard is in great shape risk stratifying into a fantastic prognostic group with no clinical vascular disease."
That his measurable metrics were clearly excellent did not surprise me at all. When we sat down 12 months earlier to configure a food plan that would be sustainable for Richard, we included shots of extra virgin olive oil - his favored fat source.
What he told me next I found more interesting.
"Donal, I am running free of pain again. My knee pain is just gone. I literally jump out of bed in the morning now. There is no more stiffness. I feel fannnntastic"
In that one sentence Richard had neatly summed up the 3 key benefits of fat adaptation beyond the obvious +ve impact on lipid/metabolic profiles.
1. Increased energy
2. Lowered joint specific inflammation
3. Improved recovery rates from exercise
This is something I am hearing more and more from athletes, medics and regular guys like Richard. When I woke up this morning to a similar "success story" from an Aussie bloke of Richard's age called Michael Gavin, I figured it was time to share the spoils.
When Richard gets back to Zimbabwe I have no doubt he'll be jovially goading his mates with a certain medical report and that new knee of his. Of course, that may or may not be enough to re-ignite their own interest in walking this walk.
But it may be enough to convince you.
Check out our #1 blog post ever here