Good Diet Good Health

Newsletter 30, January 2012: hCG Diet Guide and Why Can't I Lose Weight Update

2012-01-14T10:36:00.000-08:00

I lost 35 pounds in less than 10 weeks of dieting!

Well, it's certainly been a busy and eventful year. Having spent quite some months researching the hCG Diet, navigating through the copious conflicting and often scientifically unsupportable information about it, I eventually felt confident enough to try it out for myself. I am more than delighted to say it lived up to its reputation for producing unbelievably fast weight loss, even in a hard loser like myself.

I did two 'Rounds' of the hCG Diet, because I needed to lose 35 pounds - more than the maximum number you are allowed to lose in a single Round. In the very low calorie diet (VLCD) fat-loss phase of Round 1 (I did four weeks) I lost 17 pounds. That's only one pound less than the average of between 18 and 24 pounds for a female. For me, this was an astounding result, bearing in mind my long-standing thyroid and adrenal problems. I would have been surprised and delighted had I lost only half that!

Despite only taking in 500 calories a day on the VLCD, I was not hungry. I then came off the VLCD and kept my weight stable in the 'stabilisation' phase for eight weeks with my usual low carb way of eating before starting Round 2, losing a further 18 pounds (five-and-a-half weeks of VLCD this time). So my total loss over the entire four month period (of which incredibly only nine-and-a-half weeks were actual VLCD and weight loss weeks) was 35 pounds - bang on target! For more on my personal weight loss story see My Story.

This kind of rapid weight loss is usually termed a crash diet. Whether the hCG Diet should be termed a crash diet I do not know, as it is usually used as a perjorative term - a warning that it is not good for your health and that the weight loss is illusory, probably mostly water weight, or worse, it's lean muscle rather than fat that you're losing. However, to tar the hCG Diet with this brush would seem wholly unjustified, as not only does it have a reputation for being very safe but reports are that it produces a much higher loss of fat compared with lean muscle than other diets, which has to be good from the point of view of maintaining the weight loss in the future. And the weight loss is far too high and too sustained to be accounted for by 'water loss'. So I shall categorise the hCG Diet as a healthy ultra-rapid fat loss diet.

Then of course, as is my way when I find something that is of use to those of us who struggle with weight- and diet-related issues, I decided to write a comprehensive guide to the hCG Diet so that others could benefit from it without having to spend months of time and effort sorting the truth from the myth like I did. Writing the "The Easy Guide to the hCG Diet" took up another couple of months, and then there was a major update of my e-book "Why Can't I Lose Weight" to make, together with a minor update of my "Low Carb is Easy Cookbook". So if I haven't updated my blog or websites quite as regularly as I would have liked, that's the reason. I have nevertheless continued to respond to questions about weight loss problems, low carb and stone age diets and recipes and other diet-related issues during the year, and look forward to receiving and responding to more of your interesting questions in 2012.

Your Successes, Requests and Questions

This is your spot. Whether it's your dietary success story, a request to cover a particular topic in a future newsletter or a question you would like answered, we would love to hear from you. Please do contact us.

Here is a question we answered recently:

Q: I am just starting Atkins, but saw something about trying to eliminate coffee or strong teas... why? Also, having just started I bought a grand amount of salami and have been wolfing that down ... afraid I will get cravings otherwise...

A: There are lots of opposing views on whether the caffeine in coffee (and in tea, chocolate, colas and some other soft drinks, some painkillers and cough/cold remedies too for that matter) will affect weight loss. Dr. Atkins recommends avoiding caffeine as it may trigger insulin. One thing is for sure - you know you're having too much caffeine if you get palpitations/nervousness/jitters with it. And if you 'need' your caffeine to get you going (and very probably, if you get headaches or other withdrawal symptoms when you stop) that indicates you're addicted to it. So although no-one is sure whether caffeine will affect your weight loss on a low carb (or any other) diet, it's not that good an idea to get too much of it for other reasons.

Salami is not too good for you because it usually contains a lot of cancer-promoting chemicals called nitrites (as may any processed meat and fish). Processsed meats (and fish) may also contain carbs due to the sugar they are cured with, or sugar may be added, and/or they may contain fillers such as 'rusk' or other forms of starch which all contain carbs.

Having said that, you may (as I do) take the view that if a certain amount of caffeine and salami helps you get over the first period when you are adjusting to your new low carb way of eating, then that is better than cutting them out entirely if this results in your succumbing to cravings and giving up your low carb diet altogether.

Personally I switched to decaffeinated coffee and herbal caffeine-free teas some years ago and don't miss the ordinary coffee and tea at all now. I'm now lessening the impact of the decaffeinated coffee (which has issues of its own) by having just half a teaspoon of decaff together with half a teaspoon of a chicory-based coffee substitute. I think the main thing is to be open to trying new (and hopefully less damaging) foods and drinks and not get stuck in a rut with what we've always eaten/drunk.

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With best wishes for your continued good health
Jackie Bushell
Founder Director, GoodDietGoodHealth.com

Newsletter 29, October 2011

2011-10-16T05:11:00.000-07:00

The hCG Diet

The hottest diet of the year (and possibly the decade) must surely be the hCG Diet. Claiming that it produces an average weight loss of three to five pounds a week, resets your set point so that you do not suffer the accelerated fat storage that dogs the return to 'normal' eating of most other diets, keeps you fed 'internally' so that you do not feel hungry on the 500 calorie a day fat-loss phase of the diet, and leaves you looking remarkably unscraggy by taking off unwanted or 'abnormal' fat rather than the much-needed structural fat that comes off on other diets, what's not to like?

Well, and I say this from recent personal experience, the hCG Diet is very stringent, exacting and demanding of your time in learning how to do it and organising your shopping, meals and social life around it. However, the potential benefits of the hCG Diet are great. Many people are reporting fantastic success with it, particularly those who have had trouble achieving weight loss with other diets, and those who are hypothyroid (have an underactive or sluggish thyroid). Both of these problems are of course very close to my heart, so once I became aware that both my thyroid doctor and my nutritional therapist were in favour of the hCG Diet, I felt confident that it was safe for me to try. I am extremely pleased with the results, as you can read in my latest update to My Story.

So do I think the hCG Diet will supplant the low carb diet that I have been faithfully following since 2000? No. Dr Simeons, the author of the original hCG Diet, which he published in his book "Pounds and Inches - A New Approach to Obesity" in 1967, clearly recognised that carbohydrates are the villains for many people. In his book he is very emphatic about the need to refrain from all sugars and starches in the fat-loss and stabilisation phases of the hCG Diet, only reintroducing them gradually in the long term maintenance phase, and then only if they do not cause an increase in weight. Like me, I suspect that most dieters will find that their tolerance to carbs is such that they will effectively end up on a low or at least a controlled carb way of eating.

This is not cause for dismay, though. The number of clinical studies demonstrating the health benefits of a low carb way of eating for the large sector of the population that is carbohydrate intolerant has ballooned in recent years. So too has the availability of low carb substitute ingredients and knowledge of how to use them. The many good low carb cookbooks that are now available are testament to this, and low carbers no longer need to go without their favourite foods. On the subject of low carb cookbooks, we have just released another couple of recipes into our own Low Carb is Easy Cookbook.

New Recipes in the Low Carb / Low GI Cookbook

For those of our readers who are subscribers to the Low Carb / Low GI Cookbook, two new recipes have just been released: Red Grape Fool (4-22) and Banana Cheesecake (4-23). You will find these recipes already in your Cookbook next time you log in.

Your Successes, Requests and Questions

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Hypothyroidism and the Adrenal Connection - Explained on Video

2011-08-21T15:00:00.000-07:00

From the maker of the brilliant video about the TSH Test for Hypothyroidism and why it is often useless, another great video called 'Why Isn't My Thyroid Medication Working?' This time it's about weak adrenals (also called low adrenal reserve, adrenal insufficiency, or adrenal fatigue)and how they affect the thyroid.

If your thyroid medication is not working, you really need to watch this video, and so probably do your doctor and endocrinologist!

The TSH Test for Hypothyroidism - Explained on Video

2011-02-20T14:38:00.000-08:00

For those of us hypothyroids who have suffered and still are suffering at the hands of the TSH test, here is a video which I think sums up the situation perfectly with a wonderful sense of humour. May all doctors and endocrinologists the world over watch it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOb2POQGE6g

Newsletter 28, January 2011

2011-01-29T04:08:00.000-08:00

Fructose, Diabetes, Weight Loss and High Blood Pressure

Is fructose healthy? Is it good for diabetics? Does it help you lose weight? Surely it must be good for you, because it is a natural sugar contained in honey, fruit and vegetables?

Diabetics have been encouraged to favour fructose (or 'fruit sugar') over ordinary table sugar (sucrose) because it does not require insulin to process it and because it is low on the glycaemic index, so it does not cause a spike in blood sugar.

The health-conscious and those trying to lose weight have also been encouraged to see the granulated fructose on their supermarket shelves as more healthy and natural than the bags of granulated sucrose sitting next to it. Agave syrup is another high-fructose product that has been marketed in this way.

However fructose may not be as benign as we have been led to believe. Fructose moves into the liver where it is processed into glycerol, a component of the triglyceride molecule. As a consequence, eating significant amounts of fructose usually causes levels of VLD (Very Low Density Lipoprotein) and triglycerides to rise, which is absolutely not what we want.

The latest buzz from the natural health world is that a byproduct of fructose metabolism is uric acid, which drives blood pressure up. Studies have also shown that regular consumption of fructose can impair the body's handling of glucose and lead to insulin resistance (the end point of which is type 2 diabetes). In fact, feeding lab rats fructose is a standard method of causing them to become insulin resistant and develop high blood pressure.

And what usually goes hand-in-hand with the development of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes? Obesity. Many fructose researchers believe that high levels of fructose in our diet may be a significant factor in the development of today's obesity epidemic.

What's more, fructose is readily able to attach to proteins and damage them in the process called fructation. This can wreak havoc with critical body structures, causing permanent damage ranging from premature aging of the skin to cataracts and even failure of major organs such as the kidneys and heart.

The amount of fructose ingested and therefore the risk of suffering these effects increases massively with the consumption of processed foods and drinks. Particularly worrying in this regard are soft drinks and sodas. Almost all of those sold today contain very high levels of fructose because they are sweetened with high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Manufacturers use HFCS instead of sucrose because it is cheaper.

So the bottom line seems to be that products containing HFCS have no place at all in anyone's diet, that granulated fructose 'fruit sugar' and agave syrup may be even worse for you than other forms of sugar, and that those who know they already have a problem with overweight, insulin resistance, diabetes or high blood pressure may even need to minimise their consumption of raw whole fruit (especially those with high levels of fructose such as grapes, mango, sharon, apples, pears and cherries).

For more information there is an excellent Youtube video on the dangers of fructose by Robert H. Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Endocrinology. On Dr Joseph Mercola's website there is also a transcript of his very interesting interview with fructose researcher Dr Richard Johnson.

New Recipes in the Low Carb / Low GI Cookbook

For those of our readers who are subscribers to the Low Carb / Low GI Cookbook, two new recipes have just been released: Sea bass with ginger (5-25) and coconut, hemp, sunflower and pumpkin seed cookies (3-27). You will find these recipes already in your Cookbook next time you log in.

Your Successes, Requests and Questions

This is your spot. Whether it's your dietary success story, a request to cover a particular topic in a future newsletter or a question you would like answered, we would love to hear from you. Please do contact us.

Here is a question we answered recently:

Q: I've been on the GI diet for three weeks now, and have lost only 2 pounds in total. I'm desperate to lose each week on a regular basis to keep me motivated - has anyone else had the same problem? I know there's not much between, low carb and GI, but from what I've read on this site, maybe I am eating too many carbs? I've been on a low carb diet before (not Atkins) and lost 7lbs my first week, and then 2-3 lbs thereafter. Perhaps I should switch, or perhaps it takes time for my body to adjust to a new way of eating?

A: It sounds to me that you may be one of those people whose level of carbohydrate tolerance is too low to lose weight on a low GI diet. I'm the same!

It is also true that losing weight gets more difficult on each successive diet. There are lots of other reasons why you might not be losing weight, but my advice would be to try out a low carb diet first to see if that helps. You might also find it helpful to read 'Why Can't I Lose Weight - the Real Reasons Diets Fail and What to Do About It'.

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Newsletter 27, December 2010

2010-12-05T10:10:00.000-08:00

Christmas Diet Willpower

Christmas is coming. Time to get my Christmas diet strategy sorted out. For me that means minimising any 'off-diet' time by replacing the traditional high carbohydrate, high sugar foods with low carb versions.

Tins of chocolates have already started appearing in the office (horrors!) but luckily I am fairly immune to temptation at the moment, having been low-carbing without a break for many months. As a result, I am in what I call 'non-addicted mode'. I can look at something carby, think it would be nice to eat, but I don't absolutely have to have it. I'll stay that way until I eat something that triggers a strong blood sugar/insulin reaction (like a piece of non-low carb bread or cake, or more than just a small piece of fruit). At that point, I'm in 'addicted mode' and carby treats become almost impossible to resist. I may succeed at first, but the 'I must eat that' messages will keep disturbing whatever I'm doing. And one piece of course will not be enough. By then my biochemistry has well and truly taken over my conscious will.

This is why I hate it when failing on a diet is blamed on 'lack of willpower'. I think those who use the phrase have never experienced this 'addicted mode' and don't understand that there is a great difference between 'willpower' as they experience it and the willpower that a carbohydrate intolerant person has to exert when in addicted mode. The pity of it is that the dieters themselves accept this insult of 'lack of willpower' as some sort of character defect, not realising that they are fighting against a biochemical imperative that is almost as strong as the basic urge to eat or drink. Until they escape from 'addicted mode' they cannot hope to succeed on their diet. And they cannot do this while listening to the 'everything in moderation' brigade. Expecting a carbohydrate-intolerant person to moderate their food intake is about as logical as suggesting 'just a tiny sip won't hurt' to a recovering alcoholic.

So, if you 'just can't resist' a carby food, and particularly if you keep wanting more, you may well be in addicted mode. If you haven't ever tried a very low carb diet, you may never have experienced the 'take it or leave it' kind of easy willpower that 'normal' people experience. Try it and see!

To get back to my own diet strategy this Christmas, the first danger event will be an early Christmas lunch at work. I'll be having the usual turkey and bacon rolls and lots of veg but leaving out the potatoes. Christmas pudding and mince pies are on the menu for dessert, which would send me into 'addicted mode' straight away, so I'll either take a piece of my own low carb Christmas pudding or a low carb chocolate éclair, and perhaps one of my low carb mince pies. That way I'll fully enjoy the meal and won't feel deprived. But most importantly of all, I'll come away feeling satisfied, with no awful cravings to fight against.

That should keep me on the straight and narrow until Christmas Day, when I'll follow a similar strategy of replacing the most carby foods and minimising the damage if I choose to indulge in the odd chocolate. The leftovers of the big meal will figure largely in menus in the days after Christmas, risotto and bubble and squeak (fry-up of cooked green vegetables and potato) being particular favourites of mine. Of course, the risotto will be rice-less and the bubble and squeak will be potato-free (grated cauliflower and mashed swede substituting for the rice and potato respectively.) A low carb Yule log will also ensure I've always got a low carb dessert treat on hand when necessary.

All my low carb Christmas recipes are in my Low Carb / Low GI Cookbook.

Your Successes, Requests and Questions

Here is a question we answered recently:
Q: I have given up coffee and really hate tea so I like to start my day with a cup of Cocoa as I need a hot drink. I make it with one heaped teaspoon of cocoa powder and 60ml of cream (I also hate soy milk) topped up with water. I add some sweetener. Is this low GI and low carb?

A: Yes, this is both low GI and low carb (presuming your sweetener is not in granular form, which usually means sugar has been added as the filler, and that your cocoa is pure cocoa powder and not a ready-mix cocoa drink powder - these also contain sugar).

Visit our Newsletter Archive

Did you miss an issue? Want to review an issue you really enjoyed? Be sure to check out our newsletter archive.

With best wishes for your continued good health

Jackie Bushell
Founder Director, GoodDietGoodHealth.com

Newsletter 26, September 2010

2010-09-26T09:38:00.000-07:00

This issue of the Good Diet Good Health Newsletter includes...

1) Exercise And Obesity

A recent study concluded that 'fatness leads to inactivity, but inactivity does not lead to fatness'. Hooray! At long last the message may be starting to get through that obesity cannot be solved simply by getting people to do more exercise.

The 'obesity is caused by lack of exercise' card has been a very convenient way for the food and drink industry to divert the focus away from their sugar- and refined carbohydrate-laden products as a major factor in the obesity epidemic up to now. And look how many food and drink companies have become involved in encouraging and very often financially supporting sports in an attempt to make their products look healthy. But studies like this will eventually show this tactic for what it is, and we can then get on with tackling the real cause of obesity, which is the type of food we eat (note I said 'type' and not 'quantity'. An important distinction.)

Of course, the food and drink industry will continue to play the exercise card for as long as they can. But for the sake of our health and that of our children, we must stop being fooled into believing that sugar- and refined carbohydrate-laden products can ever be healthy.

2) New Recipes In The Low Carb / Low GI Cookbook

For those of our readers who are subscribers to the Low Carb / Low GI Cookbook, two new recipes have just been released: Salade Nicoise (7-16) and Palm Heart Salad (7-17). These two recipes make a refreshing change to the usual basic lettuce, cucumber and tomato salad and are perfect for events and celebrations when you want to serve something cold that is a little extra-special. You will find these recipes already in your Cookbook next time you log in.

3) Your Successes, Requests And Questions

This is your spot. Whether it's your dietary success story, a request to cover a particular topic in a future newsletter or a question you would like answered, we would love to hear from you. Please do contact us.

Here is a question we answered recently:

Q: I have recently stopped the Lighterlife diet and decided to go onto the Atkins with my husband and son. I really do not know what to eat. I have been doing eggs and bacon for breakfast, chicken salad for lunch with mayo and the evening meals are pretty much the same as lunch.

I am so scared to eat anything other than meat, eggs, mayo, butter and lettuce. I did have some cauliflower which I pureed with creem and butter but felt very guilty eating it.

A: Have you looked at my Atkins Diet Plan summary at my LowCarbisEasy website, which shows what you can eat? The cauliflower with cream and butter sounds fine! You're probably being stricter than you need to be, but in order to understand how you can relax things and expand what you're eating, you need to understand how and why low carb diets work. You may find helpful my Easy Guide to Low Carb, Low GI and Low GL Diets and Atkins & low carb menu plans

4) Visit Our Newsletter Archive

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Hypothyroids NEED a 'suppressed' TSH - the evidence

2010-08-01T04:30:00.000-07:00

Many people with hypothyroidism suffer continuing symptoms despite treatment with thyroxine or other medications. This is often caused by too low a dose but GPs and endocrinologists usually feel obliged to follow the current (we say incorrect) guidelines which say that the dose must not be so high that the TSH level is 'suppressed'.

Now an electrical and electronics engineer with special knowledge of control systems has applied this understanding to the workings of the thyroid/pituitary feedback loop and concluded that someone on thyroid supplementation HAS to have a 'suppressed' TSH in order for their levels of thyroid to be high enough. This paper is a must-read for anyone on medication for an underactive thyroid who has continuing symptoms and has been refused a raise in their dose on the basis that their TSH will be 'suppressed', ie if it shows signs of being around 0.3 or lower.

The Warmingham TSH Hypotheseis can be found at thyroid expert Dr Lowe's site at
http://www.thyroidscience.com/hypotheses/warmingham.2010/warmingham.intro.7.2010.htm

Why you should consider a low carb / low GI diet

2010-06-06T08:53:00.000-07:00

As we get closer to summer holiday time I overhear an increasing number of conversations about losing weight in time for the beach. What's so frustrating is the knowledge that most of these attempts at weight loss are going to be based on reducing calories and fat when many of the individuals concerned would not only lose weight more effectively but also reduce their risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancer and other chronic illnesses with a low carb or low GI diet instead.

Handing out copies of my free book 'Why You Should Consider a Low Carb or Low GI Diet' is a bit too 'in your face' for most people. So I thought I'd mention it on my blog so that those who want to learn about why the traditional low calorie / low fat diet may be bad news for them can avail themselves of it at my low carb website at http://www.lowcarbiseasy.com/whylowcarb.htm.

Those who have already repeatedly attempted to lose weight and are at a loss to know what to try next may wish to check out my book 'Why Can't I Lose Weight – The Real Reasons Diets Fail And What to Do About It', which is currently on sale with a 30% price reduction.

The faster we get the word out that low carb and low GI diets really are the healthy eating of the future, the faster people can try them for themselves and resolve their weight loss and other chronic health problems. Let's not wait for government health departments and other sources of 'official' healthy eating advice to catch up on low carb science. There are not only obesity but also heart disease and diabetes epidemics out there to solve, and the solution to all three is staring us in the face.

A new way of receiving the Good Diet Good Health Newsletter

2010-05-23T09:12:00.000-07:00

In future we will be managing the Good Diet Good Health Newsletter differently, as our subscriber list has become a victim of its own success in that our Internet Service Provider will no longer allow us to send bulk emails. We will therefore be using Google Feedburner in future to contact our Good Diet Good Health Newsletter readers when a new Newsletter is published. To sign up, please enter your email address in the Google Feedburner box near the top right of this blog page or subscribe here.

If you are an existing subscriber, anti-spam regulations mean we are unable to transfer you to any new list, so unfortunately we cannot email you to let you know about this change. You will still be able to read current and previous Newsletters in the Good Diet Good Health Newsletter Archive but you will need to resubscribe by signing up in the box on the page or here if you wish to continue receiving our Newsletters into your inbox.

The nonsense with the diagnosis and treatment of hypothyroidism

2010-05-08T13:46:00.000-07:00

The nonsense with the diagnosis and treatment of hypothyroidism continues. Hopefully, organisations such as the National Academy of Hypothyroidism, a non-profit, multidisciplinary medical society dedicated to the
dissemination of new information on hypothyroidism, led by Kent Holtorf, M.D., will help dispel the myth that your TSH level is always a reliable guide to thyroid function.

The National Academy of Hypothyroidism have a website at
http://nahypothyroidism.org/, where there is excellent information on what hypothyroidism is and why the tests used currently such as the TSH are a disaster for many sufferers. The information has been set out so that it can easily be printed out and given to your physician or GP.

For more information on the poor diagnosis of hypothyroidism, the link between hypothyroidism and weight problems and the scandal of thyroid testing and treatment, see my previous blogs at http://gooddietgoodhealth.blogspot.com/2008/03/hypothyroid-and-still-suffering.html and http://gooddietgoodhealth.blogspot.com/2007/03/low-thyroid-and-obesity.html .

The 'saturated fat causes heart disease' myth must die now!

2010-04-02T03:37:00.001-07:00

Most of us have grown up with the 'truth' that saturated fat causes heart disease, and along the way another belief built up that saturated fat (and fat generally) makes you fat.

Well, the success that many millions of people have had with losing weight on a high-fat low carb diet such as the Atkins Diet has convinced them that the second belief is a myth. And since low carbing (REAL low carbing, that is), is founded upon eating a healthy diet, which Dr Atkins and many others have explained includes saturated fats, low carbers have generally tended to regard the first 'truth' as a myth, too.

Over the years evidence has grown that the claim that saturated fat causes heart disease was founded on bad or even no science at all. Dr Atkins and the many other proponents of low carb diets were apparently right all along. However, this seems to have passed by unnoticed by most providers of healthy eating advice, focusing as they usually do on a low fat diet. Powered by its own momentum, the low fat myth has careered on despite the evidence that it is based on false beliefs.

Thankfully, landmark studies demonstrating that these beliefs are indeed just myths are now starting to appear in mainstream medical journals. An example is a recent paper entitled "Meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies evaluating the association of saturated fat with cardiovascular disease", which appeared in the highly respected American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Its conclusion was "There is no significant evidence for concluding that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease or cardiovascular disease". Other studies appearing in equally well respected journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine have produced similar conclusions.

The evidence surely cannot be ignored for much longer. We must be approaching the 'tipping point' where suddenly, opinion changes. It will be interesting to see who is the last to change their tune - agricultural concerns, food manufacturers and calorie counting weight loss organisations, who have vested interests in the low fat-focused status quo, or mainstream medicine and healthy eating advice authorities, who depend upon the painfully slow machinery of government health departments to tell them when they may start believing something different.

Successful Weight Loss - the Importance of the Right Diet

2010-03-16T11:08:00.000-07:00

Once you've decided a weight loss diet is unavoidable, how do you decide what sort of diet to follow? There is so much confusing advice out there. Sadly, the official 'healthy eating' low fat/low calorie weight loss diet, which recommends basing the diet on carbohydrates, is not the best course for many people. A carbohydrate-based diet can be a real problem for up to sixty per cent of people in Western populations. For these people, foods high in carbohydrate, even 'good' carbs such as wholemeal bread and fruit, trigger an excess of insulin and cause blood sugar imbalances. This results in an increased tendency to store instead of to burn surplus energy and to crave yet more carbs in a way that is very similar to addiction to nicotine, alcohol and other 'feel good' drugs.

The big problem with the official 'healthy eating' low fat/low calorie weight loss diet is that it ignores these hormonal aspects of weight regulation and fails to deal with the fundamental issue of carbohydrate sensitivity. Carbohydrate sensitivity (sometimes referred to as carbohydrate intolerance) should not be thought of as a disease or medical condition. It is in fact our bodies' normal response to a diet high in refined carbohydrate - food that we were never designed to eat.

So what does this mean to the average person who is about to embark on a weight loss diet? Well, sadly, it means an awful lot of dashed hopes as dieters fail to lose weight or else lose a little weight at first but are then unable to keep it up long term. They don't understand that, because their weight loss diet is unsuited to their biochemical and hormonal make-up, they are being set up to fail. And worse, when they do fail, they are made to feel that they are at fault, when in fact it is the diet that is at fault.

So is going on a 'healthy eating' low fat/low calorie diet always a bad idea? Well, if this means eating far fewer foods high in refined carbohydrates than you were before, that's undoubtedly a big step towards a healthier body and significant weight loss. But if you're already ahead of that game, and your normal way of eating is already low in refined carbohydrate foods such as cakes, cookies, pastries, pasta, pizza, white bread, white rice, ice cream, desserts, candy, sugary breakfast cereals, sugary drinks and the like, then you may well find that you lose little or no weight on the official 'healthy eating' low fat/low calorie diet. If this is the case, then don't waste time and energy trying any of the countless diets that are all based on the 'reduce the calories and fat and keep carbs high' principle. Don't fall for the 'You overeat for emotional reasons' or 'You only need more willpower' trap either. Understand that your biochemical and hormonal make-up prevents you from losing weight on a carbohydrate-based diet, and try the low carb approach instead.

Unfortunately there are many myths about what you actually eat on a low carb diet and many dietary 'authorities' still maintain that the carbohydrate-based low calorie/low fat 'healthy eating' diet is the only safe and effective diet, despite more and more clinical trials saying otherwise. Other 'authorities', although still wary of low carb diets, recommend their near relations, low GI (glycemic index) diets. However, low GI diets are still not generally low enough in carbs for those who are very carbohydrate sensitive - which probably includes most of us who find it hard to lose weight. Weight loss is actually a very complex subject, until you find a straightforward explanation of how it all works. If you're interested in finding out more, then free e-book Why You Should Consider a Low Carb or Low GI Diet is a great way to start. It helps dispel these myths by explaining the science behind low carb and low GI diets, why they are healthier for many people than the standard low calorie/low fat diet and why low carb diets may be better than low GI diets for many people.

What if you've already gone low carb but are feeling you may not be able to keep it up because you're bored with your food choices and menus, and it's too hard to stick to? Then you're probably missing some important knowledge in the low carber's armoury - how to use low carb substitute ingredients to make low carb versions of favourite foods such as bread, pizza, pastry, cakes, cookies, sauces, ice cream and desserts. If you're feeling deprived on your low carb or low GI diet, then getting a good cookbook is a must for the success of your weight loss. But be aware! Many of the low carb and low GI cookbooks out there contain lots of great recipes - but they're mostly main courses of the type that don't contain carby ingredients in the first place. If the kinds of foods you most miss are baked goods, with the right knowledge you can make low carb versions of these extremely successfully. If these are the kind of recipes you need, then the Low Carb / Low GI Cookbook is definitely one to put on your list of low carb cookbooks to investigate.

Unfortunately, as seasoned dieters will know, many diets seem to work for a while and then the weight loss comes to a stop. This is often called a diet plateau or diet stall. This can happen whatever diet you are on, and there are many possible reasons for it. As a result, it can be very difficult to work out what to do to break the stall. Much of the advice out there will focus on one or two things to change to try to get your weight loss started again. But breaking your diet plateau depends upon dealing with all, not just some, of the many nutritional, biochemical and hormonal factors that may causing it. It's important therefore to find a source of information that goes systematically through all the factors that may be causing your diet plateau and helps you to draw up a personal action plan, such as Why Can't I Lose Weight.

Life is too short and precious to spend years of it unsuccessfully pursuing a weight loss goal because you have the wrong tools!

Osteoporosis, 'unavailable' vitamin D supplements and the 'perils' of sunlight

2009-08-26T02:44:00.000-07:00

A friend here in the UK saw his NHS doctor recently for the first time since his osteoporosis diagnosis.

The doctor prescribed him a calcium and vitamin D3 supplement but when asked about testing his current vitamin D levels, he said that this was 'not allowed'. He said that 'it takes very large amounts of vitamin D to increase it if you test low, and the drugs aren't available in this country. The view is that we can't treat it, so therefore we shouldn't test it'. (I suggest vitamin D preparations ARE available, but it seems that the NHS has done a good job of brainwashing its doctors into believing that if something isn't on the list of items prescribable on the NHS then it doesn't exist at all).

My friend was appalled at this, and suggested that if he found out his vitamin D levels were poor, he could take remedial action himself (such as sourcing vitamin D via a private doctor, or via the internet). He could also make an effort to get out in the sun a lot more, since sunlight is a far more efficient (and
natural) provider of vitamin D than any pills. He was astounded when the doctor replied that using sunlight as a source of vitamin D would be unwise because of the risk of skin cancer! He made no distinction at all between getting healthy, desirable levels of exposure to the sun and getting sunburnt. Yet another example of some pretty effective brainwashing by the sunlight-causes-skin-cancer brigade.

Most worrying of course is that I suspect this doctor is far from unusual in his views. My friend has enough nous to go and research his condition and, if necessary, access his own medications or natural supplements. What happens to all the millions of other people who believe their doctors have all the answers and follow what they say without question?

The NHS thinks it is protecting patients from harm by not acknowledging that medications or supplements can be sourced from outside the NHS, and by effectively telling them that all sunlight is dangerous. What it is actually doing is preventing patients from getting the most effective treatment, and creating a much bigger drain on NHS resources in the long term.

The sooner the NHS wakes up to the importance of giving doctors proper training in nutrition and environmental medicine the better. I'm not holding my breath though.

CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) and FM (Fibromyalgia) cure

2009-06-23T09:24:00.000-07:00

It pains me whenever I hear that someone has chronic fatigue syndrome (more often called ME or myalgic encephalitis in the UK) or fibromyalgia, and has been told that there is no cure. Sure, these are very complex conditions to treat, and that seems to be a major part of the problem.

Mainstream medicine focuses on identifying specific organs as the source of a patient's symptoms. It has extreme difficulty in recognising or treating ailments caused by a malfunctioning in fundamental processes which cannot be ascribed to one single organ or hormonal problem. As a result, those suffering from CFS or ME and fibromyalgia often end up visiting a string of specialists and undergoing various treatments, without any real, longlasting benefit. All too often, they are fobbed off with 'there's nothing more we can do'.

Yet there's plenty of evidence that the problems underlying CFS, ME and fibromyalgia are becoming better understood, and most importantly, treatable. Thyroid and adrenal dysfunction seem to be common facets of these conditions, and readers of my blog will know that it is my belief (and that of many others) that thyroid and adrenal problems are themselves poorly understood and diagnosed.

One of the best sources of information on the latest understanding of CFS, ME and fibromyalgia, the link with thyroid and adrenal dysfunction and how to treat these conditions is the website of Kent Holtorf MD at http://www.hormoneandlongevitycenter.com/cfidsfibromyalgia#1b. This is must-read information for sufferers of CFS, ME and fibromyalgia and their doctors.

Diabetes diet - high carb or low carb?

2009-01-11T10:05:00.000-08:00

Today I was in a health food shop buying flax seeds to make my usual low carb bread. Just out of interest, I asked the assistant whether the Daily Mail's recent series about the 'All-new Atkins Diet' had increased the number of people asking about the Atkins Diet. Her answer was that she was totally against low carb diets. She then said that she was a diabetic, and therefore needs her carbs! A lady of considerable weight shall we say, I thought this unlikely. I mentioned that there is a lot of evidence now that diabetics get better control on a low rather than high carb diet, but she was obviously unwilling to be convinced. Another customer came along, so I was unable to suggest she look at some of the information about low carb diets in diabetes on my website.

In view of the increasing evidence to the contrary, when are Diabetes UK, the American Diabetes Association and other diabetes care organisations and health professionals going to stop telling diabetics that high carb is the only safe diet for them?

The trouble is, it takes many years for long-held beliefs to change in medical and government health advice circles. This is especially the case where these beliefs are constantly reinforced by the drug companies and agricultural and food manufacturing industries, who have much to lose should healthy eating advice change from the status quo.

Nutritional medicine experts such as Dr Richard Bernstein, Dr Robert Atkins and Weston Price have long maintained that type 2 diabetics can often be cured and taken off their diabetes medications completely by following a low carb diet, but they have largely been ignored by mainstream medicine. Now, however, the weight of scientific evidence is fast becoming overwhelming. Although this is unlikely to translate into official changes in dietary advice for diabetics for some time to come, many diabetics may now feel there is sufficient information on the issues around low fat versus low carb diets for them to make their own informed choice about the diet they should follow. It is important, though, to carry out any changes in diet in consultation with your doctor, as you may need to reduce or even stop your insulin or other diabetes medications.

If you or someone you know is diabetic, particularly type 2, and you want to know more about recent advances in understanding about using low carb diets in diabetes, the Nutrition and Metabolism Society website is a good source to start with, particularly the section on low carb diets and diabetes, the recent research and presentations pages, and the Nutrition & Metabolism Journal review article on low carb diets in type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

Remember: it's your body, and your right to make an informed decision on how to deal with your diabetes. Challenging what your doctor or other sources of dietary advice say and seeking out the information you need can be daunting. But perhaps the following might help spur you into action:

Dr Bernstein, diabetes doctor and a diabetic himself, writes in Diabetes Health of his belief that the only way to keep insulin levels down and blood sugars normal is to reduce fast-acting carbs such as bread, pasta and sugar. He says that the American Diabetes Association does not support this approach because they maintain that 'diabetics are either too stupid or lazy to follow it'. He also suggests there is another institutional problem with normalising blood sugars via a low carb diet: doctors' fears of having a patient die from hypoglycemia, for which they could be sued. So doctors might prefer to keep their patients' blood sugars unnaturally high. If they die of heart attacks, or of other disease, as often happens, they won't get sued for that.

Dr Mary Vernon, co-athor of 'Atkins Diabetes Revolution' says on her website that she used to tell her diabetes patients what she had been told to tell them in medical school but it wasn't helping. This made her wonder whether the advice was wrong, so she went back and looked at the biochemistry. This reminded her of a fact which has long been known, but which often gets forgotten. Insulin's primary job is to store fat and block fat burning. What her patients were doing on their high carb diets was to make large amounts of insulin, store fat very effectively and gain weight hand over fist. So she started advising them to eat low carb and they lost weight and improved their blood sugar levels tremendously. The news got around and soon she started getting referrals from other physicians whenever they had patients with metabolic problems.

A low carbing diabetic who contacted me recently told me: 'I get so cross that all my current ills are due to the high carb low fat diets that the doctors had me following. I followed them to the letter but my diabetes etc got steadily worse with all the nasty complications. Every time I had a blood test I was told I was not in control, I told them I followed the eating plans their nutritionalist gave me but they just basically called me a liar! Now I am low carbing and suddenly the blood test that shows how well your control is over a 12 week period came back at 6, it seems 5 to 7 is normal. I told them I am low carbing and proud of it and the nurse shocked me to the core by saying "I thought so, it is the only way you could get those results!". So they do know it works but they still push the high carb low fat diets!'

All-New Atkins Advantage diet which lets you eat those forbidden carbs and STILL lose weight - Really?

2009-01-11T09:42:00.000-08:00

The UK national newspaper the Daily Mail has been running a series this week on the so-called All-New Atkins Advantage diet. Seasoned low carbers and Atkins Dieters have been struggling to see how the diet is 'new', apart from the addition of some of the Atkins Nutritionals bars and other products in the induction phase, and possibly more 'carby' products such as bread at an earlier stage than in previous version of the diet.

I say possibly, because if you read the article carefully, you see that, as ever, you bring these more carby foods back as and when you can tolerate them. And, as ever, most people who need the Atkins Diet or another low carb diet in the first place will find they cannot lose weight when they include these products. So much for the attention-grabbing headlines 'The All New Atkins Diet Plan which lets you eat those forbidden carbs and STILL lose weight'.

I also took issue with the Daily Mail's explanation of 'net carbs'. Although correct for a North American audience, it was factually incorrect and very misleading for a UK audience and for readers in most other countries. I submitted a 'comment' explaining this to the online version of the Daily Mail, but they declined to publish this fairly vital clarification (or issue a clarification of their own). So, for those who are unaware that calculating 'net' carbs is mostly only an issue for our low carbing friends in North America, here is my comment that the Daily Mail felt unable to publish:

"The advice in this article on calculating the net carbs is incorrect for the UK, Europe and most countries except the US and Canada. The article is taken from a book written for an American audience, and in North America, nutrition labelling is different. There, labels list fibre as a sub-category of carbohydrate, hence the need to subtract the fibre to get the net carbs. Elsewhere, including the UK, fibre is shown as an entirely separate category. So in the UK, the carbohydrate value IS the net carbs. There's more information on this at http://www.lowcarbiseasy.com/labelling.htm."

It would have been so much more refreshing had the Daily Mail published an article about the new clinical studies that support the safety and efficacy of the original Atkins Diet, rather than this quick guide to doing the watered-down politically correct version of the diet recently put out by associates of Atkins Nutritionals, who now control the Atkins brand.

And as some dieters have said of the menus in the Daily Mail articles in the various Atkins/low carb online forums, why bother with such fussy menus and recipes when simpler ones are just as good? Those who find these and the menus in the Atkins New Diet Cookbook too fussy or difficult to shop and cook for may like to explore the Low Carb / Low GI Cookbook.

The high cholesterol causes heart disease myth

2008-12-05T08:41:00.000-08:00

If health professionals such Dr Malcolm Kendrick, Dr John Briffa and Dr Joseph Mercola (to name just a few) can be so convinced that high cholesterol is not the cause of heart disease and stroke, then why are our health services still geared towards the reduction of cholesterol levels at all costs? Why doesn't anyone in mainstream medicine or government health departments appear to be able to hear what they say?

If you still believe that (1) saturated fat causes high cholesterol and (2) that high cholesterol causes heart disease, then watch these videos of the presentation that UK General Practitioner Dr Malcolm Kendrick gave to the BMA (British Medical Association)at their meeting in Leeds:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

Unbelievably, despite being presented with evidence such as this, the 'healthy eating' industry and mainstream medical profession continue to maintain that the 'reduce saturated fat and cholesterol' message is the right one. See an example of the level of denial they exhibit in the video below of a debate on saturated fat and heart disease at which Dr John Briffa was a member of the panel. See how, when he suggests that the debate was not supposed to be about how best to deliver the 'reduce saturated fat and cholesterol' message, but whether saturated fat intake and high cholesterol levels cause heart disease in the first place, he is told that 'fifty years of evidence exist' and is thereafter virtually ignored. As far as the Food Standards Agency spokesperson and other members of the panel are concerned, the concept that the saturated fat and cholesterol theory could be wrong in the first place just doesn't seem to exist.
Debate on saturated fat and heart disease

Do you remember how long 'officialdom' held out against the growing evidence that smoking damages your health? Don't wait for the nanny state to recognise they're wrong on the cause of heart disease and eventually pass the revised message onto you. It is evident that they still have a long way to go on this issue, and in the meantime, it's your body and your health that is at risk.

Use of the Atkins Diet in place of the traditional ketogenic epilepsy diet

2008-05-03T05:21:00.000-07:00

Epilepsy has been in the news today with a new trial in the UK which showed that a ketogenic high-fat diet can significantly reduce the number of seizures. Although the mechanisms are not fully understood, the ketogenesis alters the metabolism of the brain in a way that can reduce the risk of seizures. The ketogenic diet was in use in epilepsy many years ago, but fell out of favour due to difficulty in keeping to the diet and concerns about the high fat content of the diet and cholesterol levels.

In the UK trial, the researchers called for the diet to be more widely available on the NHS. But why wait for what could be a very long time? The concerns about cholesterol levels have now been shown to be groundless. Moreover, researchers elsewhere have reported that less strict versions of the ketogenic diet, such as the Atkins Diet or a modified version of it, can be just as effective and may not need such close hospital supervision.

Epilepsy consultant Dr Eric Kossoff has been very active in this area of research, and has shown that the traditional ketogenic diet for epilepsy is needlessly restrictive. He uses a modified version of the Atkins Diet (10 g rather than 20 g of carbohydrates for the first few months). He has also found that epileptic kids don't need to start off with a fast, so no initial hospitalization is needed, and their carers can more or less just get the Atkins book and follow it (under the epilepsy consultant's supervision). This, together with the increased availability of low carbohydrate substitutes for making bread and other foods hitherto off-limits on the ketogenic epilepsy diet, should make life much easier for epileptics and those who cook for them.

I see that National Epilepsy Week 2008 is 18 - 25 May (in the UK). My contribution to the Week is to help raise awareness of the work of Dr Kossoff and colleagues. If you know of any epileptics for whom medications are not effective, I urge you to join me in bringing this information on epilepsy diets to their attention.

Here are summaries of Dr Kossoff's recent studies:

'A modified Atkins Diet is an effective and well-tolerated therapy for intractable pediatric epilepsy.'
Kossoff, E.H., McGrogan, J.R., Bluml, R.M., Pillas, D.J., Ruberstein, J.E., Vining, E.P., 'A modified Atkins Diet is an effective and well-tolerated therapy for intractable pediatric epilepsy', Epilepsia, 2006, 47(2):421-424.

'The ketogenic diet is effective for treating seizures in children with epilepsy. The Atkins Diet can also induce a ketotic state, but has fewer protein and caloric restrictions, and has been used safely by millions of people worldwide for weight reduction. ... This provides preliminary evidence that the Atkins Diet may have a role as therapy for patients with medically resistant epilepsy.'
Kossoff, E.H., Krauss, G.L., McGrogan, J.R., Freeman, J.M., 'Efficacy of the Atkins diet as therapy for intractable epilepsy', NEUROLOGY, 2003;61:1789-1791.

'The ketogenic diet is effective for treating seizures in children with epilepsy. The Atkins Diet can also induce a ketotic state, but has fewer protein and caloric restrictions, and has been used safely by millions of people worldwide for weight reduction. ... This provides preliminary evidence that the Atkins Diet may have a role as therapy for patients with medically resistant epilepsy.'
Kossoff, E.H., Krauss, G.L., McGrogan, J.R., Freeman, J.M., 'Efficacy of the Atkins diet as therapy for intractable epilepsy', NEUROLOGY, 2003;61:1789-1791.

'Only a decade ago the ketogenic diet was seen as a last resort; however, it has become more commonly used in academic centres throughout the world even early in the course of epilepsy. The Atkins diet is a recently used, less restrictive, therapy that also creates ketosis and can lower the number of seizures.'
Kossoff, E.H., 'More fat and fewer seizures: dietary therapies for epilepsy, THE LANCET Neurology, 2004, 3:415-20

Footnote:
The recipes in the Low Carb / Low GI Cookbook are particularly suitable for those following the Atkins Diet or a modified form of the Atkins Diet for seizures as they are extremely low in carbohydrates and fit well into the allowance of 10 to 20 grams of carbohydrate per day that are recommended for epileptics using the diet. Good results have also been obtained by starting the diet with a low level of carbs which is then increased after a period of time. The interactive features of the Low Carb / Low GI Cookbook are particularly useful as the carbohydrate values of individual ingredients are shown, and ingredients can be adjusted and carb counts automatically recalculated, according to the changing needs of the person using the diet. Recipes can also be added, and imported from other sources.

Hypothyroid and still suffering the symptoms?

2008-03-22T13:31:00.000-07:00

If you're hypothyroid and still struggling with symptoms such as difficulty in losing weight, tiredness, dry skin, brain fog, aches and pains and the rest, read this paper on the treatment of hypothyroidism by expert Dr John C. Lowe. It's long and detailed, but explains everything that is wrong with the treatment of hypothyroidism or underactive thyroid today, and what needs to be done about it.

Fast weight loss - or long term health?

2008-03-22T11:37:00.000-07:00

When our thoughts turn to losing some weight we often focus on how fast we can lose it. Any diet will do, as long as we lose those extra pounds fast. Unfortunately, not many of us stop to think about the long term health consequences of the diet we choose. Losing the weight is the only thing that matters, isn't it? And losing weight is a simple matter of going on a low calorie/low fat diet, is it not?

But supposing there's more to it than that? What if we've overlooked a crucial aspect of why we become overweight? Supposing whether or not we put on surplus weight is heavily determined by the way as individuals we respond hormonally to the highly processed foods we now eat? And, if there are hormonal reasons for putting the excess weight on in the first place, wouldn't it be more effective and healthy to follow a diet that takes these into account?

At this point we should be clear that when we talk about hormonal reasons for putting on weight, we're not just talking about those of us of the female persuasion. The hormones we're referring to here are just as much an issue for the male of the species.

The main hormone concerned is insulin. Insulin controls fat storage. High insulin levels mean our bodies are more efficient at storing than burning energy. Insulin acts as the gatekeeper in the other direction too, preventing the release of our stored fat. In other words, we may reduce calories in our attempts to lose weight, but if insulin is too high, the desired release of stored energy from our fat cells can't happen. A double whammy.

So which are the foods which cause high levels of insulin? It's carbohydrates, particularly the highly processed sort, deficient in fibre and nutrients, which have become our staple foods today. For instance, sugar, white flour, white rice, pasta, pizza, sugary drinks, sweets and candy, biscuits, cookies, cakes, pastries, sugary desserts and many savoury foods too, such as corn or potato snacks.

Researchers and clinicians have been saying for years that the low calorie/low fat approach doesn't work long term for many people. The millions of 'yoyo' or serial dieters who keep the low calorie/low fat-focused multibillion dollar diet and diet food industry in business are testament to this. In recent years many clinical studies have been done which demonstrate that diets which keep insulin in balance are indeed more effective at weight loss for many people than the traditional low calorie/low fat diet. Diets which work on this principle include low carb and low GI (glycemic index) diets.

However, that's not all that recent research has discovered. Controlling the passage of fat in and out of our fat cells isn't insulin's only role. Insulin has other, far-reaching effects in our bodies and it is now increasingly recognised that the long term damage that leads to type 2 diabetes and heart disease is down to high insulin levels, too. In other words, low carb and low GI diets are likely to be better for our long term health than the standard low calorie/low fat diet generally promoted as 'healthy eating'.

Unfortunately, most dieters (and, sadly, most medical professionals) are unaware of the latest research and understanding of the part hormones such as insulin play in not only weight regulation but also in conditions such as diabetes and heart disease. I think it is so important for everyone who is interested in their long term health to know about this that I've written an e-book about it, and I'm making it available completely free. My e-book is called "Why You Should Consider a Low Carb or Low GI Diet".

Healthy eating - how can people be persuaded to eat a healthy diet?

2008-01-18T08:43:00.000-08:00

A recent government report said that almost 70,000 deaths could be avoided every year if Britons followed healthy eating guidelines.

Alas, it's not only about how to persuade people to follow healthy eating guidelines. Firstly officialdom needs to question whether the healthy eating guidelines are correct in the first place. (They're not).

A high carb diet is not the diet most of us are genetically programmed to maintain weight and good health on. A high fat diet doesn't cause high cholesterol (unless you have a rare inherited condition) and high cholesterol doesn't cause heart disease - it's sugars that do the damage. That includes refined white flour and any other form of refined carbohydrate. Refined carbohydrates have the same effect on your blood sugar and insulin levels as white sugar - your body doesn't know the difference. A low fat diet isn't the only healthy diet, and in fact many people are deficient in the essential fats while continuing to consume the real villains, the trans fats.

The problem is that medical and public health officialdom has so far failed to recognise that many accepted truths about healthy eating are just that - accepted but not necessarily supported by good science. Until they take a fresh and honest look at their beliefs, and revise the healthy eating guidelines accordingly, persuading people to follow the guidelines is a waste of time and money. It is also a gross dereliction of their duty towards the health of the people they serve.

Does exercise help you lose weight?

2007-10-28T11:16:00.001-07:00

Most people today would say that it's obvious that exercising more helps us lose weight. After all, exercising makes you burn calories, and if you burn more calories than you eat, you must lose weight. Right?

Well ... Many of us have tried exercising and found that it makes very little difference to our weight loss attempts. But exercising more to lose weight has become such an accepted truth that we haven't thought to challenge it.

That may all be changing, though. Gary Taubes, the New York Times journalist who wrote 'What If It's All Been a Big Fat Lie?' blowing the lid on the myths about saturated fat, has now written another insightful article, this time on how exercising may actually cause you to store fat, much less burn it.

Read Gary Taubes' fascinating article 'The Scientist and the Stairmaster' at http://nymag.com/news/sports/38001/.

Low carb diets are viable for long term weight control, after all

2007-07-27T09:25:00.000-07:00

Recent studies are confirming what those of us who are already committed low carb dieters have known for a long time - that low carbing spares us from the meagre quantities, poor palatability and constant hunger of low fat/low calorie diets. Not to mention better weight loss and other advantages such as 'healthier' blood cholesterol. (High cholesterol levels are not the villains we have been led to believe, but if lowered cholesterol makes mainstream medicine feel more comfortable about the safety of low carb diets, then hey, who cares!)

It's a great pity that the myth that low carb diets are boring, restrictive and unpalatable and that dieters won't stick to them long term has been allowed to prevail for so long. The only foods that are restricted are fake foods, processed foods full of chemicals, and foods full of unhealthy refined carbohydrates. That leaves heaps of healthy, natural, tasty 'real' foods to choose from, and from which to make alternative, healthier versions of the foods and recipes we love to eat! All that is needed is a little ingenuity (or a good low carb cookbook.)

If low carb is 'undoable', it's not because it leaves you hungry, bored or nutritionally deficient. It's because today's standard diet is full of high carb, high GI refined wheat, corn and sugar, and it is in the food and catering industries' interests to keep it that way.

Those who claim that low carb diets are 'undoable' are rejecting the best chance we have of reversing not only the obesity epidemic but the diabetes epidemic too. Enlightened practitioners such as Dr John Briffa are to be applauded for helping to counter the ignorance and deliberate misinformation that exists about low carb diets. Our future health depends upon us seeing the standard high carb, high GI diet for what it is - junk that is slowly but surely making us sick.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) cure

2007-06-08T03:29:00.000-07:00

Excellent 'alternative health' doctor Dr John Briffa has reminded me that the conventional medical establishment still has its head in the sand about irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS for short. A recent study apparently recommends treating IBS with antidepressants, behavioural therapies and hypnotherapy. In other words, 'we can't find a physical cause, so it must be psychological'.

I don't deny that stress may be a contributor to IBS. But it is a great shame that the conventional medical establishment, and the national health service in particular, seems unable to accept the evidence that there are physical causes.

My husband had IBS for many years, until it worsened to the point where he was forced to 'do something'. His GP diagnosed IBS and referred him to a gastroenterologist. The gastroenterologist did various tests to check for other problems, then confirmed the diagnosis as IBS. Apart from giving him a diet sheet to follow focusing on high fibre foods including plenty of wheat and other grains, and suggesting he try to avoid stress, he had no solutions to offer.

Knowing a little about the varied effects problems such as nutritional deficiencies, food sensitivities and intestinal yeast overgrowth can have, I suggested my husband visit a specialist in nutritional and environmental medicine. Sure enough, he tested positive for all these problems. After treatment with anti-fungal medicine, nutritional supplementation and a Stone-Age style allergy elimination diet, his IBS improved rapidly. He now considers himself cured. His personal prescription for preventing the symptoms coming back comprises avoiding wheat, sugar, refined carbohydrates and processed foods.

Oh, and by the way, the severe hay fever he suffered for years has now disappeared, as well. This is apparently a common result of eliminating allergens from the diet, due to the 'overflowing barrel' principle. (Your immune system can cope with a certain level of stressors, but add just one more and the barrel overflows, causing a variety of allergy-related reactions. Conversely, reduce just some of the stressors, and the barrel stops overflowing).

Alternative health practitioners like Dr Briffa have many examples of IBS patients being cured by these methods, but they are sadly largely ignored by the conventional medical establishment. So my message to all those out there who suffer from IBS - don't just accept there is no cure, and don't rely on the conventional medical establishment to inform you about 'alternative' methods of treatment which actually work, either.

Dr Briffa's article on IBS

Obesity gene

2007-04-13T10:59:00.000-07:00

With the recent discovery of a gene which predisposes people to put on weight more easily, it seems that scientists are finding out at last what some of us have known all along - people aren't necessarily overweight because they eat more than skinny people. But as the researchers say, identifying the gene doesn't mean a cure or a treatment. It's just a step towards understanding more about why obesity happens.

Nevertheless, in my book, that's a very real step forward. For too long, it has just been assumed that all an overweight person needs to do to achieve a normal body weight is to eat less and exercise more. If only it were that simple! Understanding more about the complex ways in which our bodies handle food and regulate weight will eventually bring us new and more effective ways to solve the obesity problem.

Will the discovery of the obesity gene cause people to give up trying to diet? It's important to remember that having the gene doesn't mean we will definitely become obese - it just means that we have a predisposition to it. In other words, we can still prevent it happening if we avoid the triggers. The trouble is, we don't know what these are yet. But we can take an educated guess that continuing to eat the high GI, nutrient-poor diet that has sadly become the norm for many people isn't going to help. In other words, going back to the kind of diet our great-grandparents ate by cutting out refined carbohydrates, highly processed foods and transfats and increasing intake of foods rich in essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals is a good idea.

Low thyroid and obesity

2007-03-16T06:07:00.000-07:00

So many struggling dieters I've got talking to recently have said 'it's not my thyroid, I've been tested' or 'it's not my thyroid - I'm on thyroxine' that I could scream.

That's not to say that everyone who has trouble losing weight has undiagnosed or undertreated hypothyroidism (underactive or low thyroid). But when experts such as Dr Barry Durrant-Peatfield say that up to 30 per cent of people may develop low thyroid function at some point in their lives and that weight gain is a feature of hypothyroid illness that applies to many more people than the medical profession realises', it makes you think, doesn't it? Any when Dr Durrant-Peatfield and other specialists who think the way he does explain that the TSH (the test currently used to diagnose low thyroid and to dictate the dosage of thyroxine if you have already been diagnosed) is hopelessly inaccurate, it gets more worrying.

And when these same struggling dieters say they're tired all the time, constipated, have dry skin, feel like they are in a 'mental fog' etc etc, all standard symptoms of hypothyroidism, doesn't it set alarm bells ringing that they may be amongst the great undiagnosed and undertreated?

Isn't it time that family doctors recognized that hypothyroidism is not uncommon, and looked for it more readily when patients complain of weight loss difficulties on a standard calorie restricted diet? And time that they recognized the limitations of the TSH test and instead relied upon good old methods such as clinical observation and trial of medication?

Hypothyroidism causes many problems which affect a sufferer's quality of life as well as their long term health. Experts such as Dr Durrant-Peatfield say undertreatment can in some cases make sufferers feel worse than no treatment at all. They also say that hypothyroids should expect to feel one hundred per cent well and free of symptoms with the correct treatment, and shouldn't be fobbed off with 'Well what do you expect, you're hypothyroid'.

You only have to look at the information and support sites created by sufferers of low thyroid which are springing up everywhere to see that word is spreading about the inadequacies of the TSH test and the need for better diagnosis and treatment for hypothyroidism. The cat is now out of the bag. Hypothyroid people want a better deal. They want treatment when it eases symptoms such as inability to lose weight, fatigue, depression and the rest, not just when the TSH test says they should be treated. They want better medication choices such as natural thyroid extract which contains all the missing hormones, not the inadequate treatment they usually get just because a couple of large drug companies have managed to pull the wool over the eyes of the medical profession with their synthetic single-hormone pills. Above all, they want to be believed when they say that their overweight is not their fault.

And bearing in mind that the powers-that-be are apparently so concerned with the burgeoning rates of obesity, wouldn't undiagnosed and undertreated hypothyroidism be a worthy avenue of investigation?

Are Low GI Diets Better Than The Atkins/Low Carb Diets?

2007-03-11T05:12:00.000-07:00

Low carbing (and specifically, the Atkins Diet) has been my lifesaver. It was only after countless years of miserable, ineffective low calorie/low fat dieting that I read Dr Atkins' books, found I have a very low tolerance to carbs and finally lost my excess weight.

Low GI diets are in some ways the logical successors of the so-called 'low carb revolution'. (Low GI has been dubbed 'the healthy face of low carbing' because it is more closely aligned to the existing healthy eating guidelines).

Whether low GI is a worthy successor to low carb is open to debate. A low GI diet is undoubtedly more healthy than a diet full of 'bad' carbs such as white bread, cakes, pastries, candy and sugary drinks. However it doesn't cater for those people like me whose tolerance is so low that we can't even eat 'good' carbs such as wholegrain bread and rice, quinoa, amaranth, millet, whole fruits and starchy vegetables without putting on weight. Yet we can eat a healthy low carb diet based on fish, poultry, meat, eggs, nuts and seeds, salads and green veg and berry fruits and plenty of 'good' fats and lose weight despite having more calories than on our 'healthy eating' high carb/low fat diets.

It's a pity some people are still trying to find reasons for the Atkins Diet and other low carb diets 'not working', because it's blinding them to the fact that we could stop both the obesity and the diabetes epidemics if we recognized that overweight is, in many cases, simply the outward manifestation of a biochemical/metabolic inability to deal with a high carb diet.

More information on how to choose between a low carb and a low GI diet is available in the
'Easy Guide to Low Carb, Low GI and Low GL Diets'

Are Our Healthy Eating Guidelines Wrong?

2007-03-11T03:57:00.000-07:00

Obesity, diabetes and heart disease are among the major scourges of the western world. Medical science, although to some degree able to treat these conditions, has so far failed miserably in terms of prevention. Incidence rates are openly acknowledged as having reached 'epidemic' proportions.

It is generally accepted that diet is the main cause, but opinions vary as to which particular aspect of diet is at fault. The conventional belief is that a high intake of fat is the culprit. Accordingly, healthy eating advice in much of the western world is focused first and foremost on reducing fat. Subsidiary messages include increasing fiber, vegetables and fruit and taking around fifty to sixty per cent of daily calories in the form of carbohydrate. But how valid is this advice?

Evidence is mounting that the healthy eating advice we have been following over the past few decades is metabolically wrong for the majority of the population and that carbohydrates rather than fat are the real villains.

Some fats are indeed injurious to health but new understanding shows that saturated fat has been wrongly accused of the misdeeds of the true 'bad' fats -- fats called trans fats or hydrogenated fats and oils. There is also general recognition now that certain fats are essential for health -- the essential fatty acids (EFAs). In fact, many of us are actually deficient in a type of essential fatty acid called Omega-3. This has been caused in no small part by the 'fat phobia' of the past decades.

When it comes to obesity, a high fat intake may well contribute to excessive calorie intake but calories are not the whole story. Some of us are better than others at storing any surplus energy as body fat. In our caveman days our energy storage mechanism was what kept us alive from one infrequent meal to the next. Nowadays however, our food is plentiful and our storage mechanism, namely the hormone insulin, is not quite so useful. Not only do lean times come rarely, if ever, but we burn off ever less physical energy in our daily activities. Furthermore, our food is much higher in carbohydrates -- cavemen did not have refined foods such as the sugar and flour that are our staple foods today. These foods cause our blood sugar levels to rise faster, higher and more frequently than our control system was designed to handle. This results in a constant outpouring of insulin. For many this creates a blood sugar imbalance, which traps them in a vicious circle of eating, feeling hungry and eating again regardless of whether more food is needed.

By process of evolution we might expect to become genetically adapted to a diet high in refined carbohydrates, but this would take millions of years rather than the few decades that we have been eating this way. In the meantime, those who lay down fat in response to today's food are only being more efficient than the rest at doing what they are genetically programmed to do. For this group, a carbohydrate-rich diet is almost bound to cause obesity. Even a diet emphasizing 'healthy' carbohydrates such as whole grains and fruits may be too high in carbohydrates for some. Since it is estimated that this carbohydrate-sensitive group comprises up to sixty per cent of the population, and it is precisely this group that is likely to be obese, reducing fat intake and basing the diet on carbohydrates is more likely to exacerbate the obesity problem than to solve it.

Weight gain is not however the only consequence of this imbalance in our blood sugar control systems. Years of insulin overproduction are likely to be followed sooner or later by insulin resistance and ultimately, type 2 diabetes. Furthermore, there is evidence that it is these constantly high levels of insulin, and not dietary fat, that cause heart disease.

For instance, in December 2002, researchers at Harvard School of Public Health published a study of the diets of more than 100,000 people in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The study had come to the totally unexpected (for some) conclusion that those who did not follow the US healthy eating guidelines lowered their risk of chronic disease by around thirty-five per cent. Dr Walter Willett, chair of the department of nutrition at Harvard, stated 'The public has been told for many years that fats are bad and carbohydrates are good. In fact, we've known for thirty or forty years that that's not really true.'

One of the most respected researchers in the field, Dr Willett also declared in articles in Obesity Review and the American Journal of Medicine: 'Dietary fat is not a major determinant of body fat and plays virtually no role in obesity.'

So if science is showing us that the root causes of the current obesity, diabetes and heart disease epidemics are not what we formerly thought, why aren't the medical world and government health departments rushing to change the healthy eating advice they promote?

Many think the answer to this question lies in conservatism, bureaucracy and vested interests. The first issue to recognize is that the new scientific concepts take more than a little time to explain and understand. Medical professionals are busy people and have little time to devote to new topics. The spread of new ideas is also inhibited by factors such as the average overworked physician's understandable reliance on drug company representatives for information on new research. The general conservatism of the medical world may also play its part in the slow recognition of the new ideas. The position is not helped by the fact that, until now, basic medical training has virtually ignored the topic of nutrition, and postgraduate courses recognized by the mainstream medical establishment are only now being established to teach this unjustly neglected area of medicine.

Slow pace of change in health policy at governmental level is inevitable. New diagnostic and treatment methods are required to go through many years of population studies and clinical trials before they are approved for general use. Moreover, state funding for such studies is limited and the research done by the commercial drug companies focuses, not unsurprisingly, on areas of research that will make them money. In other words, in the current environment nearly all research that is done is targeted at identifying block-busting drugs that can make decent returns for the pharmaceutical companies. Researching unpatentable diet and lifestyle solutions which address the root cause of illnesses is not economically viable for the pharmaceutical industry.

Added to that, the pharmaceutical, agricultural and food manufacturing industries have vested interests in the existing carbohydrate-focused, fat-phobic healthy eating advice. Since they have an extremely powerful voice with government, this no doubt also serves to put a brake on major governmental policy change in the area of healthy eating guidance.

With all these factors acting to slow the pace of change as far as healthy eating advice is concerned, it seems clear that it is up to individuals to take responsibility for their own health. Putting blind faith in official healthy eating advice seems a risky strategy.

More information on these concepts can be found in the e-book Why Can't I Lose Weight -- The Real Reason Diets Fail And What To Do About It.

Welcome to my new blog!

2007-02-10T14:35:00.000-08:00

I have long had an interest in the connection between diet, nutrition and health, because I have always found it a fascinating subject. But as someone who has struggled with weight control and other less easily defined health issues for many years, I have also had a vested interest in becoming knowledgeable about it. As a result, I have built up a vast library of information, and there always seems to be a pile of new books, papers and articles calling for my attention.

One important thing that I have come to realize is that there are two types of information as far as the connection between nutrition, diet and health is concerned. The first is information that ignores the latest scientific understanding of diet and nutrition. This type of information is sadly often found in newspapers, magazines, many diet books and even official healthy eating advice. These myths continue to be repeated because they are the widely accepted truth, even when new scientific evidence shows them to be based on flimsy science at best.

The second type of information is found in books and papers in medical journals written by doctors, nutritionists, biochemists, researchers and other professionals who have taken a special interest in learning the truth about how the body handles food and its present-day environment. Often sidelined or even ridiculed by the mainstream medical profession on account of their new ideas, they have documented their research discoveries and their successes in treating their patients in new ways, in the hope that one day soon the rest of us would understand and embrace their way of thinking. It is this second type of information that I have sought out in my research.

The more I've learned, the more I've become incensed by the amount of misinformation out there, and the seeming inability of the conventional medical profession to accept new ideas and to understand the risks of manipulation by the food, pharmaceutical and other industries. As a result, I've become a bit of an evangelist. I've benefited personally from the information I've learned, and I want other people to know about these things too. I can't recover the thirty years of my life that I've spent being told that 'it's all in your head', 'get a social life' or 'if you're not losing weight you're obviously eating too much', and becoming more and more depressed and desperate as a result. But what I can do is pass on what I've learned to other people, and save them going through what I went through. So I've created a number of websites offering help, support and resources. So far these focus on general information about the link between diet, nutrition and health; a cookbook for people who are prescribed the 'Stone Age Diet' for food allergies; an information and support site for low carb and low GI dieters, and a book for those who find it difficult to lose weight on the standard low fat, low calorie diet.

I think everyone has a right to correct and up to date information about issues that affect their health, and I hope that my websites play their part in making this information available to all.

Jackie