Sal Daher in San Sebastián
I’m Sal Daher and I’m keeping off 100 pounds of body weight with no drugs and no surgery. I’m doing it by building and reinforcing healthy habits. I eat a lot but do not put on weight. It was not easy to build the healthy habits I practice but it can be done.
Click here for additional bonus episode on Sal’s travel diet.
Highlights:
Introduction
Food Intake Is the Main Driver of Weight Management, Not Exercise
Repeatable Changes You Can Live With
What I Eat for Lunch Regularly Now
My Fat but Fit Delusion
Your Longevity Is Up to You, Nature Does Not Care About It
I Could Not Change My Habits Alone, Not Even in Singapore
I Needed Help to Build and Maintain My New Habits
A Cool Mind Trick
There’s a Reason They Are Called “Support Groups”
Getting Back to Diet – Here’s What I Eat Throughout the Day
Breakfast – This One Is for You Ralph Wagner
Hydration Is Really Crucial – Always Trying Cool New Drinks
Mid-morning Snack – Efficiency Is the Keyword
Lunch – See Above – But There’s More
Vegetables and Fruits Are My Best Friends
Mid-afternoon Snack – My Vitamix Blender Comes in Handy
Supper – It’s a Lot of Food So I Try Not to Eat Too Close to Bed Time
Evening Snack – The Treat I Look Forward to All Day Long
After My Evening Snack, My Probiotic
The Biggest Aha! Moment of My Dieting Career
Conclusion
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Transcript of “Sal’s Diet”
Guest: Sal Daher
Introduction
Hi, I’m Sal Daher, I’m keeping off 100 pounds, no drugs, no surgery, just healthy habits.
This episode focuses on diet. It’s a part of a series I’m doing on my weight loss journey. I’ll describe here how I eat a phenomenal amount of tasty food every day and yet I don’t gain weight.
You see? I’ve had a life-long battle with being overweight. Now, in my sixties, I’ve finally succeeded in taking off and keeping off 100 pounds. I’m sharing how I did this in the hope that it will hearten others struggling with excess weight. I realize that it’s really hard, but assure you that maintaining ideal body weight can be done with sufficient effort and patience.
I’m not in the business of weight loss. My business is investing in early-stage biotech companies. However, due to my genes and my habits, keeping a healthy body weight is a huge part of my life.
Food Intake Is the Main Driver of Weight Management, Not Exercise
I’ve realized that what I eat is the most important driver of my weight, period. Exercise is essential for good health and supports weight control, but unless I’m racing in the Tour de France, I need to worry about food intake. Here’s why.
Suppose I weighed 150 pounds (I don’t, but just to make the math easier…) and I just finished walking 10 miles. That means I have burned an extra 1,000 calories beyond what it takes to keep my body functioning. So, I say to myself: “Sal, you can afford to splurge on calories now”. I sit down for two big slices of pizza and a pint of craft ale. I love hoppy ales! But bingo, I have now eaten well beyond the 1000 calories I walked off. Those extra calories would inevitably show up on my waistline.
Suppose instead I celebrated that 10-mile hike by eating my regular lunch plus 8 ounces (half a pint) of that delicious ale, accompanied by a 12 ounce can of a Hoplark 0.0. I’d enjoy it and would be fuller, more sober and healthier. And, I would have experienced a deficit of 200 calories. Conclusion, calories in affects body weight a lot more than calories out. We can’t be fit with exercise alone; we need to work on calories.
Repeatable Changes You Can Live With
I won’t pretend the healthier option is as much fun as the pizza and the pint. But it’s close enough that I don’t feel deprived. This points to something really important in long-term weight management: look for calorie-reducing changes that are bearable and sustainable in the long run. Those changes will be different for each person depending on taste, health and habits. Design your own repeatable changes.
What I Eat for Lunch Regularly Now
To give you an idea, here's what I eat regularly for lunch: an HMR Chicken Enchilada entrée, a cup of frozen peas, two cups of frozen cauliflower florets, half a small avocado, a medium tomato, diced shallots, half a lime, salt and pepper. It’s a huge bowl of tasty food that takes time to eat and comes in at about 600 calories. Certain people in my household joke about Sal and his dogfood bowl (mixing foods is not for everyone) but it works for me. What would work for you as standby lunch that’s satisfying yet healthy?
My Fat but Fit Delusion
I used to think that exercise alone would keep me fit. I was very good at exercising. My resting heart rate was in the high 50s, which indicated pretty good fitness. That was because I ran and played squash. But I was fat because my mouth could eat calories way, way faster than my body could burn them.
My doctor would warn me sternly: “Mr. Daher, you are obese. You must lose weight. You don’t see a lot of obese 80-year-olds running around, do you? If you want to see your grandchildren grow up you must lose weight.” But I would not listen to him. I used to fool myself into thinking that I was fat but I’d be OK because I was fit.
Your Longevity Is Up to You, Nature Does Not Care About It
Eventually, thanks to avid listening of the Peter Attia podcast, I realized that being fat but fit is an impossibility. I came to understand that the mechanisms our bodies use to store excess calories were optimized by evolution to help us survive periods of famine long enough to reproduce. They were not designed to allow us to enjoy our grandchildren. Nature really does not care about our survival past reproductive age. Longevity is up to us.
I woke up to the fact that if our bodies are having to contend with excess calories on a regular basis, its response will eventually, decades in the future, lead us to debilitating metabolic diseases that kill us slowly. Non-alcoholic fatty liver, diabetes and clogged arteries will rob us of our ability to enjoy life long before we die. Fat but fit was a delusion of mine.
I Could Not Change My Habits Alone, Not Even in Singapore
Once I realized that there is no fat but fit option, I looked for help in building my new habits. My long experience told me I could not do it alone.
You see, when I was in my mid-thirties, I went through the HMR Program and got down to ideal body weight. I fully intended to go through their weight maintenance program with weekly group meetings and regular coaching but I moved to Singapore and could not participate given the technologies of the time.
Singapore is not a bad environment in which to control one’s weight. While there are a lot of tempting things to eat, there are also a lot of healthy and appealing foods available and many opportunities for exercise. I managed to keep exercising (never a problem for me) but did not build the dietary habits needed to stay at ideal body weight.
Slowly the weight came back on, particularly when I got back to the US and went through a stressful time at work when I was exercising less and eating less healthily.
I Needed Help to Build and Maintain My New Habits
I could not have achieved my recent weight loss, and maintained it, without the support of my coach Jina Klapisch (look for the upcoming interview with Jina, she’s amazing) and also of the weekly support group Jina leads. She has worked with the HRM Program for decades so she is deeply experienced in helping people build the healthy habits that result in weight management without feelings of privation.
A Cool Mind Trick
The support of a capable coach and the interactions with others struggling with their weight makes it much easier to build healthy habits to control weight. HMR coaches know cool mind tricks.
Jina taught me not to think about what I have to give up to control my weight but rather what I can add to make the change bearable. They call it “more is better”. More protein shakes, more vegetables, more fruits, more water, more fizzy hoppy drinks with no calories, more exercise. The idea is to crowd out the less healthy options with more healthy ones.
There’s a Reason They Are Called “Support Groups”
Weekly support meeting with others working on their weight is really powerful in many ways, here are three of them. One, it builds one’s identity as a person who is controlling her or his weight. Two, it makes the burden of weight control more bearable if one knows others are contending with it too. Three, you learn things from other support group members.
Getting Back to Diet – Here’s What I Eat Throughout the Day
HMR emphasizes what they call “structured eating” (another cool mind trick). I learned to break up my eating into six smaller meals rather than one or two big meals in the day. This prevents me from getting extremely hungry and start noshing on high-calorie foods. It also promotes planned eating. I usually input what I’m planning to eat for the day into MyFitnessPal. This keeps me grounded in the reality that I need to stay below 2,900 calories per day to prevent my weight from drifting back up.
I structured my eating into breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, supper, snack. It’s kind of eating like a hobbit but minus the cakes and pastries.
Breakfast – This One Is for You Ralph Wagner
My buddy from Walnut Ventures, Ralph Wagner, is fit, trim and sharp. He’s also in his 90s. Ralph’s where I’d like to be at his age, yet he’s always looking for ways to improve his nutrition and exercise. When I told him about my focus on getting at least 30 grams of protein as soon as I wake up, he wanted to know the details of my breakfast routine. So here it is, Ralph Wagner.
BTW, protein early in the morning is to get muscle metabolism going and help build muscle faster. I got this tip from Don Layman, PhD on the Peter Attia podcast.
Here’s my usual breakfast food:
1 HMR Multigrain Cereal packet
¼ cup of wheat bran
1 HMR 70+ Chocolate shake
A dash of cinnamon
1 cup of fat free Greek yogurt (Fage or Siggi’s)
A medium orange
24 to 30 ounces of black coffee
I mix the cereal, the bran, the HMR shake powder and the cinnamon in a large bowl with enough water to wet all the powders. Then I microwave it for two minutes on high, stir it, then give it another two minutes to get a pretty solid texture. Do play around with cooking times because some people like their cereal goo-like, I like it crumbly. I pour the yogurt over the cereal after it cools a bit.
The resulting breakfast comes in at about 600 calories. It also gives me 16 grams of fiber and 55 grams of protein, of which about 40 grams are from animal sources. Eating animal protein is important unless you want to make a career of supplementing the three amino acids in which plant proteins are deficient.
Ralph, I hope this helps you get in an early dose of protein in your day to keep you well-muscled and healthy into your hundreds. BTW you can listen to my interview with Ralph Wagner titled “Flunk Calculus. Ace Life”. It’ll give you valuable lessons drawn from the early days of tech in New England.
Hydration Is Really Crucial – Always Trying Cool New Drinks
I also drink at least 24 ounces of water with the psyllium and Citrucel I take in the morning. I find that hydrating well in the morning is important because we lose a lot of fluids while sleeping. In addition, I find that I’m less tempted to nosh when I’m full of water. Some of what I think is hunger may turn out to be just thirst. When I feel like eating, I drink some water first. It helps me eat less.
While I love drinking water, I also enjoy some healthy fizzy drinks. Right now, I’m really psyched about the Hoplark 0.0 line; hoppy concoctions with no calories, alcohol or caffeine. I also enjoy their hoppy teas. Having the hoppy drinks as chasers help me drink less beer on the rare occasions when I do drink alcohol.
San Pellegrino also has a line of no-calorie or low-calorie drinks that are awesome. I’m nuts about the Dark Morello Cherry & Pomegranate Essenza flavored water. My grandkids are wild about the San Pellegrino Pomegranate and Blackcurrant Momenti which comes in at just 35 calories per can.
It's really wonderful to see the free market responding to the growing demand for fun but healthy beverages.
Mid-morning Snack – Efficiency Is the Keyword
My snack of choice is a double HMR 70+ Chocolate shake. It’s only 220 calories and filling. It also provides me with about 30 grams of animal protein. I make it with 16 ounces of water in a shaker bottle. It’s fast, easy and satisfying. I drink water with it.
Lunch – See Above – But There’s More
The typical lunch I described earlier that has 600 calories provides me with 24 grams of protein and 27 grams of fiber.
Vegetables and Fruits Are My Best Friends
Frequently I’ll have some fruit a while after lunch. I choose the tastiest fruits I can find in season. For example, I glory in the Opal apples when they are around and the Sumo mandarins when it’s their time. I’m nuts about fresh figs when I can get them. Don’t get me started on berries and cherries and peaches and pears and bananas, and plums and grapes. I love them all but try to keep them to two or three servings per day because the calories add up.
When I have time, rather than using frozen vegetables, I’ll cook vegetables from scratch. I love collard greens, thinly sliced and sautéed in a tablespoon of olive oil. I’ll grill eggplants on our charcoal grill. I slice them into circles and put a bit of oil on them.
I have a whole variety of peppercorns in my grinders that I put on all my savory foods. I also use salt.
Mid-afternoon Snack – My Vitamix Blender Comes in Handy
If I’m in a hurry, I’ll just have two HRM 70+ Chocolate shakes in a shaker bottle with 16 ounces of water.
If I have time or if I’m making the mix for ice cream which I’ll tell you about later, I’ll make a shake with crushed ice on the Vitamix Blender.
I put five large ice cubes into the jar and add cold water until the whole thing is between 12 and fourteen ounces. I add two HMR 70+Chocolate shakes, two tablespoons of Ghirardelli Unsweetened Cocoa Powder, and one tablespoon of Jell-O Instant White Chocolate Sugar Free Fat Free Pudding powder. Blend and stir until it’s thick and smooth. It comes in at about 270 calories.
Thanks to my sister Elizabeth for giving me the Vitamix.
The reliable shaker bottle on its trip to San Sebastián
Supper – It’s a Lot of Food So I Try Not to Eat Too Close to Bed Time
The mainstay of my supper is an entire bag of Whole Foods Organic California-style Blend. It gives me almost four cups of volume in only about 150 calories. In addition to cauliflower, it has broccoli and carrots.
I mix it with two. Yes two, HMR Whole Grain Medley with Chicken entrées. Sometimes I’ll sauté some onions in a bit of olive oil (not too much, it’s 135 calories per tablespoon remember). Lots of pepper and some salt and mix it up. It’s delicious and takes a long time to eat thus giving my brain time to receive satiety signals from my gut.
A bit before supper I take more psyllium powder and Citrucel with lots of water. I usually have glass of water while eating supper. Yes, it does cause me to visit the john a lot.
Evening Snack – The Treat I Look Forward to All Day Long
Some of my worst dietary crimes happen in the evening. To counter this common problem, I reserve a treat I make with the Ninja Creami ice cream machine my sister Elizabeth gave me.
I put 16 ounces of water in the Vitamix (no ice) and add four HMR 70+ Chocolate shakes, two tablespoons of the Jell-O Instant White Chocolate Sugar Free Fat Free Pudding powder and four tablespoons of the Ghirardelli Unsweetened Cocoa Powder. Blend until the whole thing is mixed well. I then divide the mix between two of the Creami freezer tubs. I freeze the tubs for 24 hours.
To make the ice cream, I pop the covered frozen tub into the microwave for 50 seconds to soften the mix. I sprinkle two quarter teaspoons of Stevia and 1/32 of a teaspoon of pure monk fruit sweetener on the mix before putting it through the gelato cycle of the Creami two times. While the Creami is going I defrost in the microwave a half a cup of frozen berry mix or frozen pitted cherries.
After My Evening Snack, My Probiotic
After my very satisfying Creami ice cream I cap off my evenings with two little containers of no sugar-added Activia, 60 calories each. It’s a tip I picked from a guest on the Peter Attia show who specializes in the digestive system.
I try to be done eating at least an hour before my head hits the pillow so that my not-young digestive tract does not keep me from sleeping well.
The Biggest Aha! Moment of My Dieting Career
The biggest thing I learned from HMR is that it is possible to eat a lot and still maintain my weight loss. It is tremendously reassuring to me that I don’t have to be hungry to be at a healthy weight. My diet may not appeal to you but I’m convinced that if you work on it, you can figure out a combination of changes to your eating habits which are bearable and that will keep you at ideal body weight. I encourage you to start on your journey as soon as you can.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I’d like to summarize the ideas that orient my diet:
Idea 1 - Controlling weight is mostly about what and how much you eat.
Idea 2 – Think about controlling calories by adding helpful foods and activities instead of depriving yourself of things.
Idea 3 – Lasting weight loss requires permanent changes in habits. It’s necessary to work constantly on your habits to keep them fresh and adapt to shifting circumstances.
Idea 4 – It is possible to eat a lot and yet not gain weight if you design your diet around foods that have high volume but few calories.
I hope you find this audio essay on my diet motivating and helpful. This is the Angel Invest Boston Podcast. I’m Sal Daher.