Medical Tuesday Blog
Total Body Re-Conditioning
Chapter 1: Principles of Eating, Dieting and Exercise (for Physical & Mental Health) Health data suggests that maintaining a normal weight, a good aerobic exercise program with muscle strengthening, and mental exercises may delay or prevent arthritis, delay or prevent clinical diabetes, improve mental health and well-being, increase productivity and may delay or possibly prevent dementia. Diets Can Not Cure Obesity (Permanent Weight Loss) Diets usually cause a temporary drop in weight, which will rebound as soon as you finish the diet. Bob Schwartz (see appendix) has written two books on the subject (Diets Don’t Work, and Diets Still Don’t Work). He states that after 100 diets he has lost over 2000 pounds but re-gained 2001. I have personally observed this in my practice hundreds of times. When a patient brings up a weight problem, they frequently allege that they don’t eat enough to make them obese. In a restaurant sitting next to a table with three obese women, I was watching their meals being delivered. All were salads on large plates (no salad plates), all had meat, fruit, vegetables, and a large amount of dressing. I visualize these ladies saying, as so many of my patients have done, “Doctor I don’t eat much, mostly salads.” However, the calories on each plate were easily over a thousand or perhaps even fifteen-hundred—more than necessary in one meal to maintain their obesity. Hence, the first goal is to change your eating or dietary habits permanently. Thus, the changes we will recommend must be accepted as a new way of eating or living forever, not just for the few months of a diet. Diet Pills Cannot Cure Obesity (Permanent Weight Loss) Diet pills have the same success and failure story. They can normally be given for a short period of time. Most recommendations are to limit them for one to three months if there is no hypertension, strokes or heart disease present. At the end of that reasonably safe period there is frequently rebound weight gain. This weight-gain often exceeds their prior baseline weight, at which point they request another prescription and repeat performance. But I allow this only once every year because of the hazards of these types of drugs. After several treatment periods, charting the course on a graph demonstrates that, in many cases, the increase in weight over the several years is significantly greater than the pretreatment weight. Despite this incontrovertible evidence, patients frequently voice their disbelief. This is also part of the obesity syndrome. Sugar Substitutes Do Not Help (They Actually Increase Obesity) A study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal searched the literature for randomly controlled studies involving non-nutritive sweeteners. They found a mere seven trials, with a total of only 1,003 people, that evaluated consumption of sugar substitutes for more than six months. They found that sweeteners generally failed to help people lose weight. Most people use sweeteners for controlling or losing weight. However, if this substance was considered a drug instead of a food substance, it would be deemed ineffective based on the best evidence available. The researchers also looked at 30 observational studies, those that did not involve changing people’s diets, but merely cataloging the diet and determining changes over time. They found that people who consumed these sweeteners were more likely to have increases in weight and waistline, and a higher incidence of obesity, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular events. It is therefore, important to avoid all artificial sweeteners. Exercise Cannot Cure Obesity (Permanent Weight Loss) A common rationale given by women is that they have not lost weight because they can’t exercise. A study by the health exercise and rehabilitation group at Bangor University in Wales, was done to determine whether exercise causes people to lose weight. They divided their women age 18-34 into two exercise training groups. They recorded the women’s body weight, muscle, and fat mass at the start and at the end of the study. They took blood samples to measure appetite hormones and measured their food intake. Results showed that neither lean or obese women lost weight including the 34 finishers of the four-week exercise program and the 36 finishers of the eight-week exercise program. However, the lean women did gain muscle mass. This confirmed that exercise alone is not effective in weight control. It is easier to not eat calories than to burn them off. Unfortunately, food is everywhere, not only in the grocery store, but also in the pharmacies, book stores, gas stations and even hardware stores. And portions are out of control in restaurants. Most people have no concept of how many calories can be burned with exercise. The slowest eater can eat more calories than an Olympic runner can lose. For example: if you weigh 175 pounds, you would burn off 100 calories per mile. Since there are 3500 calories in 1 lb. of body fat, a 175-pound person needs to walk 35 miles to work off one pound or 350 miles to work off 10 pounds. Most of us would find it impossible to lose weight that way. However, that’s a frequent excuse in the consultation room when patients gain weight. “I haven’t been able to exercise—that’s why I can’t lose weight.” That reasoning is totally invalid but keeps surfacing almost daily in a clinical practice. That hurdle must be overcome before you move to being successful in weight loss, which is keeping the weight off. THE ONLY WAY TO LOSE WEIGHT IS TO EAT LESS BY CUTTING THE PORTIONS OF EACH SERVING YOU PUT ON YOUR PLATE AT MEALTIME, WITH NO SECOND HELPINGS, NO BETWEEN MEAL OR BEDTIME SNACKS OR SODAS. REMEMBER, WHETHER SODAS ARE SWEETENED WITH SUGAR OR ARTIFICAL SWEETENERS, THEY INHIBIT YOUR WEIGHT-LOSS PROGRAM AND INCREASE YOUR RISKS FOR GETTING CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE AND STROKES. REPLACE THOSE SNACKS WITH A HALF GLASS OF WATER OR CHEW ON A CARROT OR PIECE OF CELERY INSTEAD. REMEMBER ALSO THAT CARBOHYDRATES CAN COME IN MANY FORMS BESIDES SIMPLE SUGARS: SUCH AS STARCHY VEGETABLES, GRAINS, INCLUDING RICE, BREAD, AND PASTA. WHOLE GRAIN FOODS MAY BE HEALTHIER, BUT NOT WITH REGARD TO CALORIES. Men following these simple rules of no second helpings or between meals or bedtime snacks will lose approximately 50 pounds in the first year with no other change in their diets. Women following these simple rules of no second helpings or between meals or bedtime snacks will lose approximately 25 pounds in the first year with no other change in their diets. Hence, you may not even need a doctor or see a dietician if you do this first. Just think about the health care costs you then will save. Do A Trial Run If you can do this for 8 weeks, and lose 8 pounds, then you will be successful in returning to a normal weight with improved physical and mental health and well-being. PLEASE NOTE: We make no specific dietary recommendations. This is not a diet book. People reading this book who have diabetes, hyper Lipidemia (high cholesterol or triglycerides), gout, etc.will more likely than not be under a physician’s care and already know what their specific dietary restrictions are (e.g. diabetics know to avoid sugars; people with high fats know to avoid animal fats, gout patients to avoid foods high in purines, etc. et. al.). This book is about improving the deconditioned body to healthy eating habits, joint and muscle function, mental health and memory stimulation, a life-long pleasant journey. This book excerpt is found at https://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Total-Re-Conditioning-Delbert-Meyer/dp/1732134316/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1542055858&sr=8-1&keywords=handbook+for+total+body+reconditioning To read more book reviews . . . To read book reviews topically . . . Feedback . . . The Book Review Section Is an Insider’s View of What Doctors are Suggesting you Read. |
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