February 26 Progress Report
Just to “weigh in” here…
I have been following the Paleo Diet more closely lately, and have thrown in a little bit of exercise here and there. While I still eat dairy, as I believe that it is not harmful, the Paleo diet has been gently putting my body back into balance. I am more alert, active, and happier. Not that I wasn’t happy before, but I was more moody than now. Case in point: my spouse and I have been arguing about how we wanted things to go on a certain project. Before, on the high carb diet, I would have bitten his head off. Now, I am listening to what he is actually saying, and we got the argument cleared up almost immediately. There was not the moodiness that was present before…protein and fat, baby!
So, here is my official weight loss report:
I am now at 268 pounds–down from 285 starting weight in December! That is a total weight loss so far of 17 pounds in a time period of 2 months!
I have lost about 2 inches off my waist, and my face is glowing with health. This is on a diet that our ancestors ate long ago, before the agricultural nutrition scam–the biggest scam in history!
Actual Truth? Or Insane Advice?? (part 1)
My mother is battling kidney cancer, and has been for a couple years now. She is overweight and has been almost her entire adult life. She is following a high carbohydrate, low fat vegetarian diet as she believes this is healthy. (I will not go into why this is not–at least on this post anyway.) But she is trying to lose weight and put her body into balance, so that the cancer will disappear. But the most insane thing I have ever heard was when she told me what her primary care physician told her: “Don’t try to lose too much weight while you’re on the chemo, because your immune system will not work properly.” HUH?? My jaw hit the floor!
But it gets better…one of her friends agreed and said the same thing! So I asked her, “What does your friend do?” “Oh, she’s a therapist.” Okay, so I was thinking maybe a physical therapist…or some type of therapist who would actually know about the body and how it worked. Nope…her friend is a psychological therapist! A doctor of the mind–not the body. While we all know that the mind and the body are deeply connected, the above statement made to my mother had nothing to do with psychology and her friend has absolutely no training in that area.
What I want to know is–how does a doctor come to the above conclusion, when the entire medical community preaches that obesity has been linked to a host of diseases, such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease? Why would he tell her that? In many cases, when people are being treated with chemotherapy, they tend to lose interest in eating, and will simply not eat as a result. This is very dangerous, as the body needs extra nutrition during this time of extreme treatment. Many people will waste away and become even more ill as the body tries to repair itself.
And yet…while someone in the clutches of the doctors’ extreme measures needs the extra nutrition, do they need to keep the extra weight? People who were treated for cancer who were overweight experienced recurrences of the cancer shortly after being treated. My mother has had the cancer twice–the first time, it was completely removed by surgery. The second time–well, she still is battling it. And she is still overweight, and maybe in the obese category. One would think that the doctor, instead of telling her not to lose weight, would actually tell her how to eat in a way that will provide her with the nutrition she needs, while being able to lose weight. Oh wait–no, I don’t think he would even know the correct nutrition that she needs…he is operating a disease management system, not a health care system!
(Tomorrow’s post will contain what she needs to get rid of the cancer, and how she can lose weight effectively, while at the same time, keep her immune system at top performance. Don’t miss what will be the most controversial post yet!)
February 16th Progress Report
While I have stayed on the Paleo diet, I have not exercised for the last 3 weeks. So, I have not gained any weight, but I have not lost any either.
And, with Valentine’s Day, I’ve had a little more candy than I needed, but then again, I don’t need any candy. 
My goal for the month is to lose 10 more pounds before I see my doctor. Which means that I need to start exercising more….
I will let you know more about how that turns out…
No-Trans Fat Margarine is Still Trans Fat!
Last night, my family and I went to a large restaurant chain, open 24-7, for supper. My kids ordered pancakes and when they got their order, they got margarine instead of butter to top it. The problem is that our family has not consumed margarine for the past 4 years now, and they absolutely hate the taste of that artificial crap. Plus, margarine, no matter how many companies claim it has no transfats in their products; margarine is always going to be transfat. How is this? Because when you heat up the oils, and then process it the way margarine is, the properties of the oils are going to be forever altered in a transfat form.
Well, here’s what happened. We asked our server if the kids could have regular butter. However, here is the answer they gave us:
“The company has decided that butter was unhealthy because of the saturated fats in butter. We had butter until the inspector came out last summer, but he made us get rid of it.” Even the manager came over and told that they were not allowed to have butter there, because of the corporate decision that they must change things to make the food healthier. He even claimed that the margarine they had was non-tans-fat. I told him that no matter what the companies say, their products are still going to be transfat. He just ended the conversation then, and walked off.
Then, I learned later that the only state where they can have butter is in Wisconsin, because that is the “dairy state”. Huh? What sense does that make? What makes one state immune to the saturated fats while the other states aren’t? But here is the worst part–saturated fats are nowhere near the enemy that we are being led to believe it is. You can read more about that here…
A summary of the above article:
“Cholesterol may be ingested in animal products, but less than twenty percent of your body’s cholesterol needs will be supplied in this way. Your body then makes up the difference. If you eat less cholesterol, your body merely compensates by making more.”
Saturatd fats are not the enemy, but grains. In future articles, I will tell you why grains will make you sicker than just eating saturated fats. You can cure most nutrition related diseases by not eating grains…but until then, have some butter!
Carbs, Junk Food, Oh My!
So, I backslid a little this past weekend. I had pizza, pop, and a bit of junk food. And my weight went back up a few pounds. And…I got really cranky as a result. Apparently, there have been some studies done that shows how depression, violence, and suicide happens more in people who are eating large amounts of bran, soy foods, high carb diets, and/or are vegetarians. You can read more about it here.
The basics of the article states that:
- Carbohydrates are often recommended by nutritionists to be eaten at night, because of the sedative effects it has on your system. In someone who is already prone to depression, this could have disastrous and debilitating results! The article states that, “But with depression, if you are tired, you really don’t feel like doing anything: it’s an effort to get up, work, play, interact with people, get meals, and so on. And under these conditions, carbohydrate meals have exactly the opposite effect from what you might expect. They make you relaxed and slow your reaction times…“
- Low cholesterol can lead to suicide and violence.
- The simple solution is to get rid of the high carb diet, and eat more of a protein/fat diet.
It’s not a wonder I got really down and cranky, then…if grain based carbs, and a low-protein diet is to blame for depression, suicide and violence, then maybe it would be better for me to eat high protein and fat, and a low carb (no grains) diet. Worth a shot, eh?
