This Lunchtime Trick Sheds Belly Fat and Crushes Inflammation (try today)

DeLauer says lunch was the meal he never questioned. He assumed skipping breakfast was the only acceptable option for intermittent fasting. When he finally paid attention to hunger cues, he realized he often wasn't hungry at noon. Simply honouring that signal and skipping lunch made him leaner and broke plateaus. He emphasizes that this isn't about chronic calorie restriction but about avoiding a socialized eating pattern that doesn't serve your body. He contrasts it with forcing a small lunch that can backfire (see snack-lunch protocol).

DeLauer explains that lunch often becomes a catch-all meal where people throw together moderate carbs and moderate fats. The classic sandwich with bread, meat, and mayo is emblematic. He caught himself eating sweet potato with turkey-cheese roll-ups and felt metabolically stuck. Adopting a 'commit to one fuel' rule immediately improved his energy and body composition. He suggests if you want carbs, keep fat very low; if you want fat, keep carbs very low. This also dovetails with the fat-burning window between meals – a cleaner lunch composition makes it easier to return to a fasted state.

DeLauer acknowledges the seed oil debate is unsettled, but he feels 'like dog crap' when he eats them, with appetite spiking and brain fog settling in. He noticed immediate clarity when he cut them out. His advice is 'you got to do you' – test it yourself. He specifically calls out cruddy mayonnaise as a stealth source, because many low-carb dieters use it liberally without checking ingredients. The protocol is simple: choose better products.

DeLauer details his nut-snack pattern: a large handful could hit 600+ calories without filling him up, leading him to eat a large dinner anyway because he felt psychologically entitled. A protein shake, by contrast, delivers 25–30 g of protein and ~150–200 calories, with fiber and sometimes digestive enzymes to improve tolerance. This keeps him satisfied until dinner but not full, so he still gets the beneficial between-meal hunger window. He specifically mentions Sunwarrior Active Line because it contains Aquamin (minerals), probiotics, and fiber, making it more of a 'full food' experience.

DeLauer recounts how he used to eat lunch at 2–3 PM and dinner at 6 PM, essentially never giving his body a break. He also fell into this trap while trying to extend his morning fast by eating breakfast as late as possible, which compressed lunch and dinner. The result: no between-meal fat burning and evening insulin spikes favouring storage. His fix: either skip breakfast and eat lunch at noon, or eat breakfast early and keep lunch early enough to preserve the afternoon gap. He describes the 'sweet spot' between meals as a time of mild hunger that is actually anabolic for fat loss. Solving the lunch timing was the final piece of the puzzle.

DeLauer's love of iced tea as a calorie-free drink led him to consume 5–7 glasses daily from sources like McDonald's. Over time he felt unwell. Discovering the 2013 CFIA data on tea pesticide residues made him reassess. He reasons that while diet soda sweeteners have debated effects, pesticides are known biocides. His risk calculus: if forced to pick, he'd take the artificial sweeteners. He still drinks iced tea but limits volume and sources quality leaves. This protocol is about harm reduction, not elimination.

DeLauer describes years of struggling with weight and metabolic health, trying different fasting protocols, yet never questioning whether he needed to eat lunch. He notes that he could mentally get behind skipping breakfast or dinner, but lunch seemed sacred. However, when he paid attention to his true hunger signals, he realized he wasn't hungry at lunchtime 50–60% of the time. By simply skipping that meal on those days, everything clicked: he got leaner, broke through plateaus, and felt significantly better. He emphasizes that we eat lunch simply because we're 'supposed to,' not because our bodies need it. This reframes lunch as optional and highly context-dependent. He suggests that if you do want to eat lunch, there must be cardinal rules, but the primary shift is recognizing you don't always need it. He also connects this to avoiding the 'snack lunch' trap and preserving the spacing between meals to maximize fat burning.

DeLauer recalls how his lunch routinely became a 'hodge podge' – a moderate amount of carbs (sweet potato, fruit) combined with moderate fat (turkey cheese roll-ups, mayo). This happened because his breakfast was higher-fat low-carb and his dinner was higher-carb low-fat, leaving lunch as a confused middle ground. He realized that this inadvertent mixing was problematic for someone with a disrupted metabolism. The Randle cycle, he argues, is much more potent in the metabolically unhealthy. When both fuel sources arrive, the body preferentially burns glucose, leaving the dietary fatty acids to accumulate in tissues like muscle and liver, driving insulin resistance and inflammation. By committing lunch to a monotype – either mostly protein, high-fat low-carb, or high-carb low-fat – he eliminated this conflict. He points out how classic 'on-the-go' lunches (sandwiches with bread, mayonnaise, and deli meat) are perfect examples of this damaging combination. The lesson: separate fats and carbs, especially at the midday meal.

DeLauer admits he used cruddy mayonnaise for years without considering ingredient quality. When he eliminated seed-oil-based mayo, his afternoon brain fog lifted, and his appetite became more controlled. He attributes this to the endocannabinoid system, which regulates hunger and mood; certain fatty acids in seed oils may overstimulate this system, driving cravings and cognitive haze. He stresses that while he cannot cite a definitive body of literature proving seed oils are 'the problem,' he can point to studies on both sides – meaning the decision must come from self-experimentation. His advice: 'You got to do you.' This pragmatic stance – acknowledging the messy science while using a clear personal outcome – gives the listener permission to test the variable without needing global proof.

DeLauer describes his pattern: when busy, he'd grab a large handful of mixed nuts, call it lunch, and feel virtuous. But that handful often contained 600+ calories with little volume, leaving him still hungry. By dinnertime, he'd overeat because (a) he was ravenous, and (b) he psychologically justified a large dinner since lunch was 'light.' The net result was a lunch that was calorie-dense yet unsatisfying, plus a heavy dinner, creating a surplus. He warns to look at the actual calorie count of such snacks. His solution: if a meal must be quick and snack-like, use a protein shake instead – it's lower calorie, higher volume, provides genuine satiety, and prevents the dinner compensation. This shifts the 'snack' from a trap to a functional bridge.

DeLauer used to drink large quantities of iced tea, including from McDonald's, thinking it was a calorie-saving health choice. Over time, he felt unwell. He encountered the 2013 CFIA study and realized the cumulative pesticide ingestion from multiple glasses daily could be substantial. He makes a striking comparison: if forced to choose between the potential harms of sucralose/aspartame and the known harms of pesticides, he'd pick the artificial sweeteners because pesticides are directly organism-destroying, while sweeteners may be less disruptive systemically. He acknowledges the controversy and expects backlash but stands by the harm-reduction logic. His modified approach: still drink iced tea but much less, and be mindful of sourcing – ideally organic, screened tea brewed at home. This shifts the beverage choice from blanket 'tea good, soda bad' to a nuanced risk assessment.

DeLauer explains that after a meal, insulin rises to manage glucose, and once levels fall, the hormone glucagon increases. Glucagon activates hormone-sensitive lipase and other fat-burning hormones, creating a state where stored fat is mobilized. This between-meal 'sweet spot' of mild hunger is actually a highly beneficial metabolic window. When he habitually ate lunch at 2 or 3 PM and dinner at 6 PM, he never allowed that window; his body was still processing the lunch when the next meal arrived. He admits this often happened because he tried to extend the morning fast by eating breakfast late, compressing lunch and dinner. He now advocates either skipping breakfast entirely so lunch can be at noon and dinner at normal time, or eating breakfast early enough to leave a several-hour gap before lunch. Additionally, compressing meals into the evening works against circadian biology, where insulin sensitivity declines later in the day, making fat storage more likely. The solution to the 'lunch equation' – getting timing right – was the final piece that made everything click.