Good Diet Good Health

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