My annual physical in early March came back with some numbers that weren’t exactly alarming, but weren’t nothing, either. Glucose at 102 when normal tops out at 99. LDL cholesterol at 133. Total cholesterol at 205, just over the 200 threshold my doctor uses as a soft line in the sand.
Her take was something like “not a crisis, but let’s recheck next year.” Which is a perfectly reasonable position for a doctor to take, and a perfectly reasonable position for a patient to ignore while continuing to eat chips and Goobers.
This time, I didn’t ignore it.
I’m not sure exactly what the difference was this time, though I am pretty certain it has something to do with the recent passing of my father, and my ensuing conscious and subconscious thoughts about mortality.
I’ve had high-ish numbers before and told myself I’d do something and then didn’t. Maybe it was the combination of factors. Maybe I was just ready. Whatever the reason, I decided to actually sit down and think through what I was eating, figure out what the problems were, and build something I could follow without losing my mind.
I turned to Claude for help with that. I know some people are going to roll their eyes at that, and I get it. But I went in with a very specific request: I don’t want to count calories, I still want to enjoy a cold beer (or two) or a cocktail (or two) on the weekends, and I want meals that actually feel like meals.
I needed a framework that addressed the actual problems while leaving enough room to live like a normal person.
Introducing The FULL Diet
What came out of that conversation with Claude is what I’ve been calling the FULL diet. Which is an acronym because I apparently cannot resist a good acronym, and it is a reminder of what this diet is all about.
F is for Fiber.
U is for Unprocessed.
L is Lean (or Low) fats.
L is Low sugar.
Fiber, Unprocessed, Lean fats, Low sugar. FULL.
The elevator pitch is: low refined carbs, low added sugar, high protein, high fiber, healthy fats. Just swapping the junk out for things that actually do something useful. There’s no calorie counting, no macro tracking app, no points system. Just four things to keep in mind when I am standing in a grocery aisle trying to decide between two crackers.
Tequila on the rocks still clears the bar (my new go-to cocktail is a Ranch Water). Dry wine does too. The framework is clear about what the actual villains are, and a beer with my wife on a Friday isn’t one of them.
The four things I decided to actually eliminate were refined carbs, added sugar, saturated fats, and heavily processed anything. Those four categories cover most of the damage.
Specifically, white flour, anything with an “-ose” early in the ingredient list, fatty red meat and processed meat, anything with an ingredient list that goes on for three lines. If it’s got all of those things working against it, I will not be partaking.
The practical changes weren’t actually that hard once I figured out the swaps. Chips became fruit, nuts, or lentil crisps. White rice became basmati, which has a lower glycemic index, or riced cauliflower when I wanted to go further. Regular pasta became Chickapea chickpea-lentil pasta, which has 13 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber and honestly tastes fine. Earth Balance instead of butter. Unsweetened almond milk.
Dark chocolate when I wanted something sweet instead of whatever I’d been eating before, which was a rotating cast of Goobers and M&Ms and things I don’t need to publicly itemize. Barebelle and Quest protein bars have a great variety of flavors that satisfy my sweet tooth cravings.
I started at 189 pounds at the physical. By mid-April, about six weeks in, I was at 178. By late April I was at 175.8. That’s 13.2 pounds in roughly seven weeks, which was not something I was expecting. I wasn’t starving myself. I wasn’t eating tiny portions. I was just eating different things.
The tire around my belly became noticeably smaller. I felt great about that!
A few things surprised me. The dessert cravings went away around week three. They were actually gone. That was strange to notice. I’d eaten something sweet basically every night for as long as I could remember, and then one day I just didn’t want it. I don’t fully understand the why, but I’ll take it.
The other thing I didn’t expect was that my tennis elbow improved. I had been dealing with that for about six months, tried most of the standard treatments, and it had been stubbornly present regardless. Within a few weeks of changing how I was eating, it got noticeably better. The working theory is reduced systemic inflammation from cutting sugar and processed food. I can’t prove that’s what happened, but the timing is hard to ignore.
My general achiness in the mornings improved, too.
Digestion improved significantly too, which makes sense given how much fiber I added, but it’s worth saying. TMI, yes, but being regular is a great feeling.
My next bloodwork/physical is in March 2027. That’ll be the actual test of whether the LDL and glucose numbers came down, which was the whole point. I feel better, I have dropped a pant size (or more), and I am having to buy new clothes (a good problem to have). The data will either confirm that the food changes are doing what I think they’re doing or they won’t.
Either way, I’ll let you know what happens.
