I have this idea that carbohydrate cause high blood sugar level and exabericate diabetes. I notice that I am eating a lot of rice in my diet, which is carobhydrate heavy.
So my idea is to standardize rice consumption and take picture of my meal, so that I can eventually later approximate it when I have the tools for measuring my meal(I don’t have a scale to measure how many grams I am eating).
I think the consistency is key to getting good data. So I am going to eat 3 bowls of rice a day for one week, two bowl the next week, and one bowl two weeks later. I am allowed to consume as much calories I want, so long as they’re not rice or other carbohydrates(such as sandwiches).
I am already measuring my steps, weight, pulse rate, blood pressure, and sugar level each day.
What do you guys think? How I can make it more rigorous?
I think it sounds good, except I think the photos of your food are likely to be a waste of time. Also, I would simplify the treatments. If I could go from 3 bowls/day to 1 bowl/day, I’d do that. Find out what happens with the first change you make – from 3 to 2 or from 3 to 1 – before deciding what to do next.
Why not take pictures of my food? I thought there might be confounding factor that I couldn’t find out if I didn’t take picture of my food. The theory is when I have more money or more time, I can eventually backtrack data to the food I eat by remaking them.
Since my weight is recorded everyday, I’ll know regardless as I reduce my rice consumption.
My wife grew up eating a lot of white rice, and has had trouble reducing it from her diet. She does not like beans as an alternative.
She has found quinoa, as well as brown rice mixed with some mung beans to be a good substitute.
Hi Kiba - one of the things I’ve learned from Seth’s experiments is that the more conditions you establish, the more likely you are to fail to complete the experiment. He always advises people to do the simplest thing that is likely to lead to some evidence that their idea has merit. Then, if you get any kind of signal, you can do something more to confirm it.
I have to agree with Gary. Keep your methods simple and focus on just sticking to it. I’ve also found that it’s helpful to have a “control” period where you don’t change your existing behavior (in your case, eat as much rice as you regularly do) but simply track your raw data.