Two Diets:

If you had to choose between having eggs and beer for a month, or a diet of smoothies for a month – which would you pick? Which do you think you would be more successful at maintaining, and which would reduce or increase any medical problems you might have? You think the answer is obvious, but until we test something – it is all guess work.

The Contestants:

Ruth Carter and Evo Terra – two good friends, but for the month of April, contestants in battle diet

Evo Terra

You may remember him from the Evo diet – soon to be a book, where we examined Evo for a month where he had nothing but sausages and beer. During that time he lost weight and his laboratory values improved. For more about that diet click here.

Evo has been a good friend for several years, we share cigars, food, and he is introducing me to proper beers. A typical 44 year old, who weighed in at over 200 pounds last year, lost weight and improved his health in one month eating beer and sausage. His weight creeped up a bit, so it was time to start this new diet.

Ruth Carter

Ruth is a practicing lawyer in Phoenix, and specializes in all things internet, as well as flash mob law.

I’ve known Ruth for several years, meeting her during an Ignite presentation, where she immediately put me at ease, and I instantly knew that I found a friend.

She felt that her weight of 124 pounds was too much for her 5 foot four inch frame, and being a former gymnast wanted to get more comfortable.

She is competitive, and wanted to challenge Evo- her diet to his – and let the chips fall where they may (and not be eaten).

The Diets:

Both were seen weekly in my clinic. Their body composition was analyzed to see if they had lost fat content, muscle mass. In addition, laboratory values were drawn before the diet, and after they were finished.

Ruth’s diet was anything you could put into a smoothie. She made a number of great smoothies- we gave her some ideas- and worked to balance the micronutrients into her drinks so she would not suffer.

Evo’s diet was six beers a day, and eggs (however they came) with a limit of 1500 calories per day. We modified his diet a bit so that ingredients served with eggs- such as some vegetables, would be added.

The Weight Results:

Evo went from 184 lbs to 170 pounds in a month – with a weight loss of 14 pounds. This brought him from a category of “overweight” to “normal” – and that may be the last time I use the word “normal” with Evo in a sentence. He did this without losing muscle mass. He did loose two pounds of non-fat mass during this time – which would be the amount to support the fat cells. His body water was the same throughout the month.

Ruth went from 124 lbs to 113 lbs in a month. A weight loss of 11 pounds. She was already in the “normal” category and remained in that category. Like Evo, she did not loose muscle mass during this time, and only lost one pound of non-fat free mass. Her total body water stayed the same.

Health Parameters:

Evo has hypercholesterolemia – with a total cholesterol of 290 at the start of the diet. At the end of the diet his cholesterol dropped from 290 to 232. His triglycerides dropped from 192 to 66. His Non HDL went from 247 to 177 and his LDL dropped form 209 to 164.  Some of those numbers are still a bit high even after the diet, and some physicians might consider medication for him – I wouldn’t. The improvement in his lipid panel is impressive.

Ruth’s cholesterol went from 160 to 157 (no real change but a great number). Her Triglycerides went from 55 to 28 (both of which are great numbers) Her HDL went from 78 to 76 (again no change) and her LDL stayed at 73.

Liver and kidney function, as well as blood counts were normal from the start in both individuals, and remained so during the diet.

What did we learn?

We discovered that eggs and beer are not that bad – and that people can loose weight when they put their mind to it on different diets. Clearly a diet of eggs and beer results in a lowering of cholesterol, weight, and those cardiac parameters that we need.

If you ask Ruth, her biggest challenge was finding something to chew on- and if you ask Evo his biggest challenge was finding a new craft beer to drink.

Our weight loss surgery patients go on a liquid diet for the first three weeks after we alter their stomach. If someone who weighs 124 pounds can loose 11 pounds on this, they should be able to loose more.

Eggs are just not bad for you- apparently neither is beer – although we could separate them for a month and see- but, right now, a person clearly can do well with eggs and beer.

Who Won:

Ruth is competitive, and every week she asks me when I am going to announce the winner. In terms of absolute weight loss- Ruth win. In terms of health parameters improving – Evo wins.

Caution:

Both were carefully monitored during this time by me, so we were able to not only monitor what they ate, but see that they didn’t hurt themselves.

Before you jump onto a strange diet- remember: you should see a physician who is willing to follow you, and help you modify your diet.

The real answer to weight loss is lifestyle changes- not a fad diet – but losing this amount of weight in a month is impressive — pass the beer.