The Food Experiment: Hypothesis Statements

The Food Experiment is the last one to perform and in many ways it is the most complicated of the experiments. It is once again, a compound experiment, where you will be testing the impact of food timing and food content on internal measures of metabolism and inflammation and external measures of body composition. Begin the Food experiment by re-stating where you are at the beginning of the experiment. Once again, you have now completed 3 other experiments, so hopefully you have already made some progress and you are beginning to see results. A starting statement for this experiment can look something like this:

After completion of the sugar, fitness/strength and sleep experiments I am already feeling much better in general. My HbA1c has normalized at 5.6 and my body fat percentage has improved to 22% (man), 32% (woman). But my triglycerides remain elevated at 175 mg/dl and my hsCRP seems to fluctuate and most recently was measured at 2.0.

The first part of the food experiment relates to timed eating or intermittent fasting with a goal of achieving ketosis as measured by urine test strips. A hypothesis statement for that experiment may look like this:

By adopting a fasting plan where I eat food during an 8 hour window every day, I will achieve ketogenic state prior to breaking my daily fast for at least 2 hours.

The second part of the Food Experiment relates to food content. An intervention statement for that experiment may look like this:

While remaining focused on my intermittent fasting plan, I will alter the content of my food to emphasize whole foods, plants and some seafood in moderation. I will eliminate red meat and pork.

The second hypothesis for this food experiment may look like this:

By achieving ketosis for 2 hours per day and maintaining that timed eating and food content plan for 3 months, I will reduce my body fat percentage to less than 20% (man) and 30% (woman), normalize my hsCRP and achieve a fasting triglyderide level less than 150.