Fuel

With a disease like Friedreich's Ataxia (FA), and really for any human, dieting is important. For me, it must be realistic, safe, and something I can commit to. If I see and feel immediate results, I can keep going and stay on track to work towards my goals.

Over the years I've tried a handful of "fad" diets and have always seen results. However, when I would do those diets, I would constantly daydream about what I will be able to eat at the conclusion of the diet. All of the results that I saw quickly diminish and within two weeks, what I lost on a month long diet would come back and more!

As of the last few months, I have kind of taken pieces from all of those diets and formed a plan that I can sustain and fight the fatigue that is a significant characteristic of FA. I am not suggesting that everyone with FA can or should do this, but for several reasons including increasing mobility and independence as well as to improve my cardiovascular function, I started to diet. With my goals in mind, I naturally lost 26 pounds since September of 2023. Now that the foundation has helped me to get back into the gym on a more routine basis, I hope to maintain and possibly add muscle and lose more fat. Below is a glimpse of what I eat on my daily basis. By eating like this, I am actually consuming twice as much food as before but it is better for the body.

Breakfast:

3-4 eggs, 2 tablespoons nut butter, piece of fruit, cup (probably 2) of black coffee, water, and protein shake.

Lunch:

Can of tuna plain or with olive oil, carrots, hummus.

Dinner:

6 ounces chicken, vegetables, potatoes.

Dessert:

Piece of dark chocolate, tea with honey.

Little to no processed foods, sugars, or refined carbohydrates. I stopped drinking alcohol two months ago and try to eat within an 8-10 hour window but I'm not 100% focused on that. You could say it's a lazy approach to intermittent fasting (juggling work and family doesn't always allow this). I'll talk about all of these separately in future blogs but this is a start to explaining where I am now. Stay tuned!