Chapter
6.
Low carbohydrate
diet - THE SOLUTION
Overview
This is the correct
way to eat, not only for weight loss but also for good general overall
health. It is the ONLY way to eat if you wish to lose weight permanently,
safely, and without going hungry.
The low carbohydrate way of eating has been around for quite a long
time and has been the subject of ridicule and distortion by 'authorities',
nutritionists and the food industry. This way of eating flies in the
face of modern conventional 'nutrition' and it directly conflicts with
the 'food pyramid'. You will recollect that I touched on the issue of
the food pyramid in an earlier chapter.
This concept of
eating was first made popular by Dr Robert Atkins. For several decades
he fought against the 'establishment' in trying to change the 'official'
recommended way of eating. He was the ongoing subject of verbal attacks
in the media but that only made him more determined. His diet was labeled
as one in which you basically ate fat... which is an unfair distortion.
The low carbohydrate way of eating is not a high fat diet but as the
name suggests it restricts the intake of carbohydrates... specifically
those in refined and processed foods. It also eliminates the intake
of artificial fats which the body cannot process and is the cause of
much illness. More about these fats and oils in a later chapter!
Opponents to the Atkins diet claimed that it was not safe and were very
vocal in suggesting all manner of ailments that could arise from someone
following it.
However, things started to change in 2002 when several well published
studies were released showing that the Atkins diet was indeed not only
more effective in helping people lose weight and keeping it off, but
it also had other health benefits as well, particularly in the prevention
of heart disease by improving the blood lipid profiles.
But as expected
the critics tried to dismiss the findings of these studies by saying
that although they were carried out by reputable independent institutions
they were in part funded by the Atkins foundation.
However, as more studies came to light the critics were forced to change
their 'tune' a little because the evidence in support of this method
of eating was becoming overwhelming. So, in order to reduce the 'loss'
of face, the critics and authorities are now saying, "OK, it may
work in the short term but there needs to be much longer studies (years)
before the safety of the diet can be established".
Pity that they didn't apply this principle to pharmaceutical drugs before
they release them and find even within months that some drugs kill people
or do serious damage through side effects before they are eventually
withdrawn!
However, the opponents
of low carbohydrate diets have just been struck with a severe blow!
Just this week 19th May 2003 the results of a controlled trial on the
Atkins diet was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The
study which was carried out in three US centers over a period of one
year and showed the subjects not only lost weight and kept it off but
significantly improved their blood lipid profiles with a massive impact
on reducing their risk for heart disease.
These
were the blood test results.
Group on standard low fat diet with carbohydrates
Group following Atkins Diet:
HDL Cholesterol
Up 3%
Up 18%
Triglycerides
Down 1%
Down 28%
Just to expand
on these results a little. HDL cholesterol is the GOOD cholesterol.
It acts like the garbage collector and picks up the bad oxidized cholesterol
known as LDL. In this study the levels of LDL cholesterol did not change.
It is very hard to raise HDL cholesterol! If you have high levels of
HDL your overall level of cholesterol is less important. For more information
refer to the special report that I wrote on preventing heart attacks.
You can find it HERE
Triglycerides. These are fats that you have circulating in your blood
stream. Combine high levels of triglycerides with low HDL and high LDL
cholesterol and you are a walking time bomb for a heart 'event'.
You will probably recollect that earlier in this report I explained
that fat is created by eating carbohydrates which when taken in excess
creates an insulin imbalance and ultimately turns the glucose generated
by carbohydrates into fats or triglycerides. Most of the fat goes into
your body storage areas as visible body fat... BUT, a percentage of
it continues to circulate in your blood stream.
This not only raises the risk of a blockage in a capillary leading to
a stroke but also puts a much greater load on your heart as it is harder
to push blood around the body when it has higher levels of fat in suspension.
This study shows
the dramatic effect that reducing carbohydrates has on lowering triglycerides
which is after all just fat in suspension that has not found a 'home'
on the thighs, stomach or buttocks... as yet!
I was going to devote several pages more quoting proof of this biological
fact of what produces fat but I feel that these results say it all,
so we will move on...
But first... a
short note. Dr Robert Atkins who was one of the most courageous individuals
in modern medicine died after a tragic accident recently. He battled
for three decades against mainstream medicine and he has been responsible
for improving the health of millions of people throughout the world.
I had the privilege to meet him personally early in 2002. What is sad
is that after all this time his work is now finally being vindicated
and his severest critics will be forced to eat humble pie, but he is
not around to witness it.
Dr Atkins is not the only person to advocate the low carbohydrate approach
over the years. There are a number of other individuals who have also
contributed. Amongst them...
• Barry Sears who wrote the Zone Diet.
• Michael and Mary Dan Eades who wrote Protein Power.
• Leslie Kenton who wrote the X Factor Diet.
At the end of this report I will list some recommended books for you
to read.
Phase
One of the low carb way of eating.
Most experts in the field of low carbohydrate eating advocate two approaches
or stages. Dr Atkins calls the first phase the 'induction' stage whereas
Leslie Kenton calls it Ketogenics. Although the names are different
the approach is similar.
In simple terms this first phase is designed to convert your body from
burning carbohydrates for energy to burning your fat reserves for energy.
To accomplish this you need to set up your body to get into a state
of ketosis... which is burning fat. To achieve this state it requires
a drastic cut back in carbohydrate intake.
The positive aspect of this 'induction' phase is that ketosis can be
achieved without enduring hunger pangs. In fact, unlike a calorie restricted
diet which leaves you continually hungry and craving for more food you
will still feel satisfied.
This first phase may last for just a few weeks or even a few months
depending upon what your objectives are. This is something each person
needs to assess for themselves.
I am not going to go into detail about this initial phase of the low
carbohydrate diet as you really need a book to reference material from.
I will come back to this later in the report.
Phase
Two.
This part is easy. If you are only a little overweight you can go direct
to this phase, or, if you are not overweight at all you can adopt this
as your standard eating plan for good health. Once again I am not going
to go into detail because one of the books I am going to recommend will
do that.
What I will do now is give you the main points of how my family and
I eat which enables us to keep our weight normal, our energy levels
high and our health excellent. It is really a phase two way of eating.
It's divided into two sections. What we DON'T eat and what we DO eat.
The No's:
- • Processed
food or anything out of a packet. The reason for this is that most
of these products have high levels of hydrogenated or transfats as
well as high levels of carbohydrates and sugars. Not to mention all
the artificial colorants and flavorants that are present, many of
which have been proven to be carcinogens. The low fat 'healthy' convenience
meals are the furthest from being healthy. As a general rule, if it
comes out of a packet don't eat it.
- • Margarine.
It has too many questionable chemicals in it. This is a classic example
of heavy advertising 'molding' public perception. It won't help with
your weight loss efforts. We only use good natural butter when there
is a need.
- • White
flour products! This means breads, bagels, muffins, doughnuts and
virtually all other baked goods. These substances provide no valuable
nutrients to your body but even worse they activate your fat production
mechanisms. They will also drain you of energy because of the insulin
imbalances they cause.
- • We avoid
products made of grain as much as possible, even whole wheat bread.
A little occasionally is OK but keep it to a minimum. Same principle
applies for white rice.
- • Don't
eat processed meats or farmed salmon. If you knew what went into these
processed meats you would be turned off for life. (I will do an article
on this at some point). The problem with farmed salmon is that they
have high levels of antibiotics and the pink color is not real...
it is chemically induced.
- • Avoid
genetically modified foods. Don't be influenced by the pro GM foods
people. There are some SERIOUS problems developing with some of these
foods which the general public is not aware of as yet. I will do a
special article on this before too long. Try to avoid these foods
if you can even though it is becoming more and more difficult to do
so.
- • Don't
drink diet sodas. They contain chemicals that are even worse for you
than sugar.
- • Never
drink tap water. In some parts of the world including the USA the
drinking of tap water over a long time will kill you or at the very
least promote disease or illness. This is due not only to contaminants
in the water which comes from all manner of sources including the
pipes themselves but also through the addition of chemicals at the
water treatment plants.
The two most common
chemicals are chlorine and fluoride.
The chlorine is unavoidable as it is needed to kill bugs but the fluoride
is a dangerous chemical and has no place in the water…but that
is another story for another time. The bottom line is to make sure that
you have either a high quality carbon activated filter fitted to your
tap or, set up a reverse osmosis unit. Don't rely on bottled water as
many of the products sold in supermarkets are little better than ordinary
tap water.
The Do's:
- • Drink
lots of PURE water!
- • Eat
plenty of QUALITY meat and fish. We are fortunate in New Zealand in
that we can easily access good quality organic meat. If you live in
the USA, Canada or Europe it is much harder to get good meat. Most
meat in these areas is produced by being grain fed plus other 'unmentionables'
which include rendered carcasses.
Cattle beasts
are natural grass feeders not grain feeders and they are certainly not
carnivorous. When cattle are raised in a modern 'production' grain fed
facility they are prone to disease and as such are subjected to high
levels of antibiotics in their diet. Many of them are also injected
with growth hormones to promote faster growth.
Good meat is essential for good health. It is generally possible to
get it no matter where you live in the world, but cost does come into
it. Enquire about grass fed beef which although not organic is far superior
to the normal supermarket meat.
- • Eat
plenty of FRESH vegetables and fruits. Notice I put fresh in capitals.
Salads in plastic bags don't come into this category. They may look
good but their nutritional value is very low. Sourcing quality fresh
vegetables can be a challenge in many parts of the world, particularly
in the USA. I used to spend a lot of time in Florida and I had a real
problem finding organic or spray free vegetables and fruits. Granted
the produce looked good but they were 'empty' of quality nutrients.
By contrast organic produce doesn't look so good but it retains its
goodness.
Be very careful
when buying your vegetables and fruits and what looks good is not necessarily
good for you. For example, carrots. Apart from the fact that they are
high on the Glycemic Index you should not eat them unless you are sure
they are organic. This is because they are prone to carrot worm and
in order to combat this and get good looking carrots the ground is heavily
dosed in pesticides. Not only does it kill the carrot worms but the
carrots soak up the pesticides.
Ask a market gardener
what he does to clean up his soil which has been heavily contaminated
with pesticides? You guessed it... he plants a crop of carrots!
Do some research and try to find a source of spray free or organic vegetables.
It's worth the effort.
- • Eat
eggs. They are really good for you SO LONG as they are of the free
range type or organic. We eat a lot of eggs but will not eat the mass
produced supermarket type. The good news is that free range and organic
eggs are becoming easier to get. Even the supermarkets are giving
this option now.
Don't be put off
eggs because you have been told they increase cholesterol levels etc.
That is nonsense and that has been proven. Admittedly they contain cholesterol,
but they are not responsible for excessive blood cholesterol levels.
Only 20% of your blood cholesterol comes from dietary sources. The rest
is manufactured by your liver.
Over the next year or two you will see the 'official' stance on this
change. Already there is some 'backtracking' going on but like the low
fat diet which is wrong you won't see people easily admitting they were
wrong.
There is of course
much more to correct eating than what I have outlined here. As I mentioned
earlier I will recommend some books for more detailed information.
The low carbohydrate way of eating is the key to permanent weight loss
and good health.
Chapter 7.
Don't eat as much!
How much
to eat?
This may seem like a silly question... but it is not! Most of us tend
to overeat without really realizing it at the time. When I explain you
will soon relate to what I mean.
You sit down at the table with your family or friends and the food is
nicely laid out in front of you. You are hungry and the food is delicious.
You start off by putting an appropriate size portion on your plate.
When you finish this and because it tastes so good what do most of us
do?
We dish up some
more because we are still feeling hungry! When we eat until we feel
'full' we will normally find that it is only about 20 - 30 minutes later
that we realize that we have had too much to eat and now feel uncomfortable.
This is because it can take about 20 minutes after you start eating
to get a feeling of fulfillment. Whilst you are having your meal you
can inadvertently be overeating. I am sure that you have experienced
the feeling of discomfort that comes after a meal and can stay with
you for a couple of hours.
This over eating
has a double whammy effect. Not only are you taking in more calories
than you need, a proportion of which will turn to fat you are also expanding
the capacity of your stomach which means that you can eat more without
that feeling of discomfort.
This is really easy to prove as you will see shortly.
But, what
is the solution?
It's obvious of course... don't eat as much! But the solution only works
if you approach it with the right state of mind. I know because this
used to be a problem for me personally. I love my food and in my case
the old saying that 'your eyes are bigger than your belly' indeed was
true.
Approaching it correctly is nothing to do with will power but everything
to do with reason. Solving this problem does not mean going hungry or
depriving yourself of food but rather taking a rational approach to
it. It is quite easy with a bit of experimentation to determine how
much food you really need that will leave you filling satisfied (after
20 - 30 minutes).
What you need to do is when you sit down to each meal to mentally compute
your needs and dish the appropriate amount onto your plate and NOT take
seconds. If you still feel hungry 30 minutes later have a cup of herb
tea with a few nuts.
Also, if you are at a restaurant leave on your plate what you don't
need. Most restaurants in the US serve up large helpings, and most of
us have been conditioned since we were little kids not to leave anything
on our plates. If we did we would be reminded of the starving millions
and made to feel guilty if we leave anything.
On a similar note
it is interesting to recall that a study showed conclusively that young
children only started getting fat when their parents kept pushing food
into them. An infant instinctively knows when it has had enough…but
most parents don't listen to their infant and continue to shove food
down their throats because they think that they are doing the right
thing…but they are not!
So, try to apply
these techniques to your own eating methods. It will in time become
a habit and it will be of immense help in normalizing your weight. This
technique is only possible however after you adopt the low carbohydrate
way of eating because if you don't you will always have cravings and
as such will not be able to apply this rationale.
