Diana Schwarzbein

I'm a Fan

I really enjoy Dr. Diana Schwarzbein's speaking style.

I know this because I watched 2 hours of her lecture that was upload to Youtube (linked  below)

Survival of the Smartest Part 1

Survival of the Smartest Part 2

I'm not talking about a tightly constructed 20 minute TEDtalk.

These are a lecture with complicated power point slides, scientific jargon and medical stuff, which usually puts me to sleep.

I watched it and when it ended I wanted more. That's how I know I'm a fan.

I think that makes me pretty Smart, so I plan on Surviving by adopting the philosophy of the Schwarzbein Principle



Plan-W: survival of the Wisest!

Weighed in at 332.8 lbs.

After my holiday merry making I'm only up 8/10's of a pound. I had a good time and I'm still 3 month ahead of schedule. I'll count this as a win.

Schwarzbein's Take On The Old Classic Bacon and Eggs

The Next Recipe in The Schwarzbein Principle Cookbook  is "Bacon and Eggs" on Page 14.

Bacon and eggs have been a staple of my ketogenic diet since the beginning - mostly a 2 egg cheese omelette with 3 slices of  bacon on the side.

Schwarzbein, like so many of the other proponents of healthy eating, touts "nitrate-free" bacon and "unsalted" butter. I, however bounce back and forth on these stipulations depending on what is available to me. I'm not always the one buying the groceries and some stores simply don't stock these items.

What am I doing different because of Schwarzbein's principle?

How I cook bacon.

There is instructions in the Cookbook on how to cook bacon on low heat.

A gray box at the bottom of Page 14 of the cookbook refers to chapter 27 of "The Schwarzbein Principle" book for a "complete explanation of damaged fats." But in my copy of the book, chapter 26 on "What Not to Eat" has the information about Damaged Fats.

On page 277 of my copy, it states that the cells of the body don't recognize or metabolize damaged fats.

That "damaged fat molecules become cellular debris, clogging cellular compartment and, in turn damaging those cells." (that can't be good.)

At the end of chapter 27, "Planning Your Meals" which is pretty much the end of the book (I read it though before I realized there was a typo) there is a parting paragraph that says:

"By reading this book you have received an education in metabolism, physiology and nutrition that you can use for the rest of your life."

Dr. Schwarzbein doesn't promise "quick fixes" from her program and she acknowledges that it will take adopting small steps toward the healthy lifestyle to make them into healthy habits.

So my first small step is to slow down and cook my bacon at a low-heat "to avoid damaging the fat contain in the meat."  This is something that I do have control over and all it costs me is a little time.

Plan-W: the Willingness to Change!

(Full Disclosure: the above are an affiliate links so if you buy I get a small fee)

My plan to use the Schwarzbein Principle Cookbook

Plan- W and my year of Cooking not so Dangerously

I've started using the Schwarzbein Principle Cookbook for ideas of what eat. My plan is to try a recipe a day for about a year. (I loved that movie "Julie and Julia") The back of the book touts that there are more than 380 recipes, but more than 30 of them are what the book describes as "Chutney, Compound Butters, Mayonnaise, Pestos, Salsas and Sauces". So I Should be able to cover it in less than a year.

The Schwarzbein Principle Cookbook
(Full Disclosure:this is an affiliate link so if you buy I get a small fee)


I started with the first recipe, Annette Matrisciano's Cheesy Eggs. It is eggs scrambled with cream cheese and garlic mostly and those 2 ingredients is where most of the texture and taste comes from.

It was okay. (I'll let you know when I find something yummy, but full disclosure I'm not much of a connoisseur.)

Plan-W to the Rescue!

My plan to implement the Schwarzbein Principle

As of 12-26-17 I am 332 lbs, my April of 2018 goal.

I did it with keto type diet. I took a Holiday from that diet for the past 3 weeks during the Christmas season. But beginning today (1-2-18) the holidays are over and I'm going to get back to limiting my sugar and starch.

Although I am having success with the ketogenic diet, I'm not convince it is all that healthy in the long term.

What happens after I deplete my excess fat stores?

That question lead me to The Schwarzbein Principle.

What is the Schwarzbein Principle?

I'm glad you asked.

It was a program developed by Diane Schwarzbein, M.D. in the 1990's when she was working with patients with Type II Diabetes. She discovered that following the American Diabetes Association's guidelines was not helping them. So she had them eat lower carbohydrates than guidelines prescribed and introduced some fats back into eating.

The result was healthier patients.

Now Dr. Schwarzbein is quick to point out that The Schwarzbein Principle is not a high protein - low carb weight loss plan like Atkins or  the South Beach diets and she warns against Paleo, Ketogenic and intermittent fasting regimes.

What she  does advocates is a balanced nutrition plan, with stress management, and exercise. She maintains that her program isn't a weight loss diet at all, but rather it is metabolic healing system that promotes longevity and proper body composition is just a byproduct of being healthy.


I am currently reading "The Schwarzbein Principle" book and trying out recipes from her "Cookbook" that compliment my present Keto diet.

(Full Disclosure: the above is an affiliate link so if you buy I get a small fee)

I'm easing into the Schwarzbein Principle way of eating. Dr. Schwarzbein's writings acknowledges  that sustaining the lifestyle is more likely if the changes are gradual. I'm hoping that by the time I've used a significant amount of my fat stores I will have the habits I need to succeed with her program.

Plan-W rides Again!

Happy New Year!

Hello, World.
It is a new year and I'm starting over on my commitment to this blog. I am going to post everyday even if it is only to say "Hello, World!"

Where have I been?

It has be a significant time since I written in this blog.

I first thought I'd be chronicling my lifestyle changes as I changed it in small ways.

Instead I changed a huge part of my life of my life by giving up sugar and starch for the past 3 months. That endevour seem to take up all my  energy to keep up. So this blog fell by the wayside.

The effort paid off with more than a twenty pounds weight loss but more importantly my size reduction makes putting on a seat-belt again possible. (It is the little things that motivate me.)

But as pleased as I am with the results, I'm worried that it is coming at the cost of my health.

You see, I lost the weight by following a pseudo Ketogenic diet. I say pseudo because the advocates of this lifestyle will tell you that your food needs to be GMO - free and grass-fed and organically produced. (Which is all code for expensive.) "Keto is more than going to Wendy's and throwing away the bun," they say. (Which is pretty much what I was doing.)

I realized as I continued this diet I was missing something and it was more than just my sweet tooth crying out to be fed.

Most of the proponents on YouTube admitted that the diet has drawbacks and they were more than happy to sell you the supplement that fill the holes that were missing from this meal plan.

Now I'm not dissing these people, I'm grateful for the information and services that they offer because I realized the Keto may be a good idea for fighting cancer and for young men who are trying to achieve a certain look or sports performance.

It doesn't seem to be good for women who are interested in their fertility. The same goes for intermittent fasting. Which I also looked into and tried on a limited basis. While both these strategies seems to be okay for guys under fifty, but not so much for gals of any age.

Being a woman over fifty, I'm not so worried about my fertility at this point. I am however concerned about my longevity and more importantly my mobility, which is what started me on this journey in the first place.

So that leads me to my search for a "plan" that will get me what I want.

I started the Ketogenic plan in support of the eating habits my Dad had adopted to fight his cancer. Now my sister has been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes and I am looking in to the Schwarzbein Principal.

Not too many gurus promoting this plan on YouTube and that is because it does not purport to be about quick weight loss which is the motivating factor for most other plans.

Even the first Schwarzbein Principal book was designed for those suffering from Type 2 Diabetes. Dr. Diane Schwarzbein put out the "Schwarzbein Principal II" for the rest of us looking into our endocrine system's health.

My original "Plan" (Plan-W) was to lose my excess weight over the space of four years. 200 pounds at the rate of a pound a week. I'm already at my February 2018 goal of 336 pounds. I was hoping to achieve those goals through the 3 "W"s - Water; Walking and Wake

The first "W" I've pretty much started. I'm drinking water as my beverage of choice. I still need to add water rich foods to my diet but I've been improving on that too little by little.

The second "W" I've got to confess I haven't worked on at all. I need to start walking. Even if it is for five minutes around the cul-de-sac on my street.

The third "W" stands for waking up in the morning. Originally I had a goal to get up each morning at 5 AM so I could write this blog, but as I researched I found sleep is a key factor in the body using its fat stores. So I change "Wake" to emphasize getting enough sleep so I wake naturally. (Hopefully around 5 o'clock in the morning.)

There is a now a fourth "W" that I have added. It stands for "Write-it-down". I need to document my journey as I navigate through all the information out there.

So I am rededicating myself to writing this blog.