For the past year or so, I’ve suspected that I have a gluten sensitivity. When I eat bread and baked goods, not only do I have a much harder time losing and maintaining weight (even if staying in my calorie allowance), but my energy levels drop way down (which usually leads to my drinking more caffeine), and I end up spending the rest of the day craving more bread, more sweets.
Long ago, I did all the easy swaps: gluten-free pasta, wheat-free tamari, oats & granola instead of cereals, cutting nearly all the bread out of my life. I did start to feel a lot lighter and I had noticeably more energy throughout the day.
The one thing I just could not give up was seitan. And I held firmly to the belief that I didn’t have to give up seitan, because eating seitan made me feel good! Yes, it was high in gluten, but after I ate it, I felt satisfied and full of energy, and I dropped weight really easily.
Well, it turns out that I was right. Or, rather, I was wrong. I was right that seitan isn’t a problem for me because I was wrong in thinking that I am gluten-sensitive. What I am is a fast mid-oxidizer.
Oxidation is the process by which your body converts food into energy. The rate at which this process happens is your oxidation rate, and people fall on a spectrum between fast and slow, with most people ending up closer to the middle (balanced oxidizers). I took a test which placed me as a fast mid-oxidizer, and then I went about my merry way to find out what that meant.
Then I got to this page, and when I read this sentence, I had a giant AHA moment:
“When a fast mid-oxidizer eats too many simple carbohydrates it is likely that there will be weight gain, hypoglycemia, uncontrolled hunger, and chronic fatigue.”
YES! So that’s the good news! I know what is going on with me!
Then I read on to find out how I can adjust my diet to my oxidation rate, to increase my energy levels and keep off weight. What I discovered is that the suggested protein percentage for mid and fast oxidizers is 40%, and they recommend that fast oxidizers avoid grains as much as possible, getting their carbs and fiber instead from root vegetables and starches.
Uh.
In a way, this completely makes sense, because when I was pregnant and cramming protein in my pie-hole every chance I could, I felt really sensational. You know, except for the whole pregnant thing. Many of the tricks that I learned as a pregnant vegan are about to come in really handy, I think!
So I’m off to make a giant batch of seitan. Wish me luck as I attempt to reduce my soy and double my protein intake. If you take the oxidation test, I’d love to hear from you if you feel the same AHA moment as I did, or if it’s way off for you, or what.
15 Responses to “Oxidation”
When I took the test, it said I was a “balanced oxidizer” (17 B answers — 9 A answers, 9 C answers). According to the page, I should eat an omnivore diet. I see how that can be true — I felt great when I was a teenager eating an omnivore diet. It wasn’t until I became vegetarian/vegan that I started feeling physically shitty no matter what I ate (veggies don’t fill me up, but enough soy, seitan, and meat analogs to fill me up will all make me feel bloated and sick; beans are great, but often I don’t feel like I’ve really had a meal if I just eat beans and rice, or whatever).
But when I was an omnivore teenager, I was also exercising an average of 6 hrs per day as a gymnastics coach, whereas now I don’t do more than a few hours of yoga every week, and an average bit of walking.
So… I don’t know. But I am definitely not willing to go back to eating meat, so it will remain inconclusive.
hi anna!
i think your extreme exercise regiment in your teens probably had a lot to do with how you were feeling and shouldn’t be discounted. i mean: seratonin and endorphins, hello. but balanced oxidation is good news! it means you can eat whatever you like and it doesn’t really impact you negatively, so long as it’s still relatively healthy.
i think i was a balanced oxidizer until my mid-20s, and hormone stuff has sped up my oxidation. but like you, i’m not ever going back to meat, so… dear stomach, get ready for the seitan.
Very interesting – I look forward to taking the quiz! And SO great that you found out what was going on – those health mysteries can be so energy-consuming.
One small note…
>The rate at which this process happens is your oxidation rate, and people fall on a speculum between fast and slow,
I think you mean “spectrum.”
Feel better soon!
erin – hahahaha! thanks. i wrote this before i drank any caffeine this morning.
I am a fast oxidizer too! with flying colors! i need to look into this as it seems we share a lot of symptoms.
Also, I feel sad that everything I am finding about this says vegetarian diets aren’t good for FO. I bet we can find a way. I am happy to try anything if it might make me feel better!
megan, i was also pretty disappointed about that. some of the sites i saw acknowledged plant-based protein sources, but a couple just flat out said that it would be hard for a vegetarian to follow a fast oxidizer optimized diet. SAD, dude. we will need to get crafty, i think. lots of hearty bean salads in our future.
at least i love turnips.
I haven’t quite finished the test yet, still one question to answer, but it looks like I am a slow to balanced oxidizer. All of my answers are A or B with just two C’s. I guess that explains why when I went vegetarian then mostly vegan that I lost a few pounds and can’t seem to gain any. And I have really only gained about 10 pounds since graduating from high school (which was over 20 years ago). Now the big question is why am I so thin when the rest of my family on both sides, particularly my mothers, is so overweight.
Joanna, I am very interested, so I googled this, and I am not coming up with any reliable sources that explain where the test comes from. Can you give me a link? Without background, I start feeling askance when I see something like this, a la Eat Right for Your Blood Type, and then I involuntarily make weird faces.
I’m another mid oxidizer and another one who’s also not going back to meat! Being a “balanced person” doesn’t really fit me, however a few of the other things about being a mid oxidizer do.
jocelyn, i don’t know who came up with the test originally, but i know it’s the same quiz that fitness and weight loss expert jillian michaels puts on her website and gives her contestants. she is a huge believer in it, has discussed it in several of her books, and since she knows pretty much all there is to know about the science behind weight loss, i feel okay putting my faith in her, but understand if you don’t.
she has also said that the blood type diet is utter bullshit, if that makes you feel like she’s more of a credible source.
you might have more luck if you search for “fast oxidizer” or “oxidation weight loss.”
Thanks for that! I did some googling, and I traced it back to an MD in Florida. I admire Jillian Michaels (although I haven’t seen much of Biggest Loser), so I would be willing to consider the oxidizing seriously . . . and I admire her MORE for calling the blood type diet bullshit!
Thanks for this! I think I’m a fast-mid oxidizer as well.
If I eat just fruit for breakfast, I am really hungry-and angry-until lunch, and I’m usually starving before every meal, even though I eat at least three meals a day. When I eat sweets, I just get hungrier, so I eat more sweets, and so on… I did South Beach as a vegetarian, and was at my lightest and most energetic.
Then I went vegan and discovered the (wonderful!) world of cupcakes and cookies, and the thing is that I just cannot eat sweets in moderation, so I’ll have to just get them on special occasions.
I know some of how I feel has to do with not exercising as much and emotional eating, but still, I’m going to try modifying my diet and see how I feel.
I found out I’m a mid-fast oxidizer, too, and I’m bummed because I’m not good at including protein. To boot, I cook for my mom, and she’s mid-slow. But now we both know to cut out the sugar, I guess..