After Phil Maffetone, this is not a diet!
Eat all you want, but nothing high-glycemic. Nothing that jacks your blood sugar in other words, and causes insulin to start storing fat.
By the end of two week the test is over, you can gradually add processed carbohydrates back to your meals and see what happens. E.g if you eat a slice of bread and feel fine,
okay. But if it makes you feel bloated, sluggish, or sleepy, you will know to much starch for your body to metabolize efficiently. That is hwat the 2-Week test is
all about; it is designed to reactivate your natural diagnotic panel. So instead of relying on some diet book to tell you what to eat, you will actually know what to eat,
you will get instant feedback from your own body.
YES Foods
You MAY eat as much of the following foods as you like during the Two-Week Test.
Plant Foods:
Raw and cooked vegetables: Tomato, onion, garlic, greens such as spinach, kale, chard, and all lettuces, broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts (for those with thyroid dysfunction, cabbage-family veggies are best eaten thoroughly cooked), carrots, zucchini, etc.
Tree nuts (and nut butters): Macadamia, almond, walnut, for example. (Does NOT include peanuts or cashews).
Coconut: cream, oil, milk and flour.
Animal Foods:
Beef: Look for organic, grass-fed varieties.
Turkey: organic.
Lamb: Look for organic, grass-fed varieties.
Fish: Wild-caught cold water fish (tuna, salmon, etc) are best.
Eggs.
Shellfish.
Dairy:
Unprocessed Hard Cheeses: Cheddar, asiago, parmesan, etc.
Unprocessed Soft Cheeses: Feta, brie, camembert, mozzarella, etc.
Cream: Heavy cream, sour cream, full-fat crème fraiche.
Fats:
Oils: Avocado, coconut, and olive oil.
Drinks:
Vegetable Juice.
Coffee or tea: If you usually drink it.
Vinegar: balsamic, apple-cider, etc.
Pure, distilled spirits: Small amounts of gin, vodka, whiskey.
Dry white wines: Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc.
NO Foods
You may NOT eat any of the following foods during the Two-Week Test.
Plants:
All sugar products: Includes basically anything with honey, sugar, agave, fructose, crystals (e.g. beet crystals), cane, extract, or syrup in its ingredient list.
Many canned and prepared meats: Read the labels to make sure they don’t contain hidden sugars!
Dairy:
Milk: Especially low-fat and non-fat milk.
Half-and-half.
Yogurt and kefir: All types, including full-fat yogurt.
Processed cheeses: Stay away from pre-sliced, single-serving, pre-shredded, high-value corporate branding, etc.
Fats:
Avoid corn, safflower, or canola and other vegetable oils during the test and after.
Drinks:
Fruit Juice: Any type — orange, berry, watermelon, etc.
All soda: diet and non-diet soda.
All diet drinks: Diet shakes, etc.
"Enhanced" Beverages: Vitamin water, mineral water with “health” additives.
Sports drinks.
Sweet wines: liqueur, Champagne, rum, etc.
If it comes in a box, bag, jar or can, there's a good chance it's a no food for the Two-Week Test. Be sure to read the ingredients for all packaged foods,
as some form of sugar or carbohydrate is typically added. Better yet, simply avoid all packaged and processed foods for two weeks!
Step 2: The 180-Formula
To find your maximum aerobic training heart rate, there are two important steps.
Subtract your age from 180.
Modify this number by selecting among the following categories the one that best matches your fitness and health profile:
a) If you have or are recovering from a major illness (heart disease, any operation or hospital stay, etc.) or are on any regular medication, subtract an additional 10.
b) If you are injured, have regressed in training or competition, get more than two colds or bouts of flu per year, have allergies or asthma, or if you have been inconsistent or are just getting back into training, subtract an additional 5.
c) If you have been training consistently (at least four times weekly) for up to two years without any of the problems in (a) and (b), keep the number (180-age) the same.
d) If you have been training for more than two years without any of the problems in (a) and (b), and have made progress in competition without injury, add 5.
Exemptions:
The 180 Formula may need to be further individualized for people over the age of 65. For some of these athletes, up to 10 beats may have to be added for those in category (d) in the 180 Formula, and depending on individual levels of fitness and health. This does not mean 10 should automatically be added, but that an honest self-assessment is important.
For athletes 16 years of age and under, the formula is not applicable; rather, a heart rate of 165 may be best.
For example, if you are 30 years old and fit into category (b), you get the following: 180-30=150. Then 150-5=145 beats per minute (bpm), is your aerobic training heart rate.
Set your heart rate monitor max tracehold to your maximum aerobic training heart rate, and the minimum to 10 points lower.
Some thoughts and personal experience
Heart rate zones:
Zone
% of Heart-Rate Reserve
Recovery
50-60%
Long, slow runs, easy or recovery runs
60-70%
Aerobic zone or "target heart rate zone"
70-80%
Anaerobic zone
80-90%
VO2 max "Red line zone"
90-100%
Calculate Heart-Rate Reserve:
Traditional Formula 1:
(220 - age) x %zone
Traditional Formula 2:
(206 - (0.7 x age)) x %zone
Karvonen Formula:
((MHR - RHR) x %zone) + RHR
MHR: Max Heart Rate RHR: Rest Heart Rate BPM: Beats per minute
Phil Maffetone 180-Formula says: 180-age = max BPM, using this together with the Traditional Formula 1:
For a 20 years old this gives 180-20 = 160 BPM. Using the Traditional Formula we get the %zone to: 160/(220-20) = 80%
For a 30 years old this gives 180-30 = 150 BPM. Using the Traditional Formula we get the %zone to: 150/(220-30) = 79%
For a 40 years old this gives 180-40 = 140 BPM. Using the Traditional Formula we get the %zone to: 140/(220-40) = 78%
For a 50 years old this gives 180-50 = 130 BPM. Using the Traditional Formula we get the %zone to: 130/(220-50) = 76%
For a 60 years old this gives 180-60 = 120 BPM. Using the Traditional Formula we get the %zone to: 120/(220-60) = 75%
By this it is confirmed that Phil Maffetone works in the Aerobic Zone (70-80%), but the %zone decrease with age
For me as a 57 years old man:
Using the 180-Formula: 180 - 57 = 123 BPM
Using the Traditional Formula 1 for the Aerobic Zone: (220 - 57) x 70-80% = 114 - 130 BPM
Using the Traditional Formula 2 for the Aerobic Zone: (206 - (0.7 x 57)) x 70-80% = 116 - 133 BPM
Using Karvonen Formula for the Aerobic Zone:
My MHR: 180 BPM (Measured with the "5 Km Race Test" (see below))
My RHR: 51 BPM
((180 - 51) x 70-80%) + 51 = 142 - 152 BPM
We can see that the Traditional Formulas and the 180-Formula agrees fairly well, but the Karvonen Formula gives me a much higher BPM.
The nice thing with the Karvonen Formula is, it takes my real physical shape into account. So what should I use?
Running at 123 BPM is really too slow for me, it is almost only a fast work, so I decided to set my Heartbeat high level alarm to 140 BPM,
nearer to the Karvonen Formula and my sensation when running.
In the start of the 2-weeks test, this setting gave me a average pace at 7:30 min/Km, 35% slower than my normal speed on a 10 Km distance
Measure your Max Heart Rate
- 5 Km Race Test
Do 5 Km race.
During the last 1-2 minutes go to a full sprint.
Add 5 beats to the highest number recorded during the sprint period.
- Repeats Test
Run for 2 minutes with gradually increasing intensity. Get up at maximum speed for the last 15-20 seconds.
Then run slowly for about 1 minute.
Repeat the test 2 more times, after the 3rd time read pulse immediately after completing the interval. The value will fairly accurately reflect the maximum pulse that you are able to achieve within race - if you have given it all you have.
You have to go through 3 intervals, as the body (including the heart) need some time to respond to severe stress and only after some time it can reach the final maximum limit.