Although I want this blog to be open to almost any aspect of human life, I do want to discuss weight loss a little more.
As I mentioned in my opening letter, weight gain(always do to over eating) is mostly caused by psychological factors. Understanding the issues that cause overeating for each individual will help in applying the modifications needed to loose weight. That doesn't mean that knowing will automatically take weight off. That is the problem with those who try to say that there is not a psychological cause of obesity. They look at people who are in therapy, who are dealing with their problems, but are not loosing weight. So, we need to go on to the modifications that are needed.
Increased exercise is important, and I will discuss that at a later time. Right now I want to get into diets.
There are hundreds of diet out there. Some work, some don't. The real problem is that a diet is thought of as a temporary fix for a permanent problem. What I am trying to say is that diet means what you eat, not just what you eat when you are watching yourself. We need to find a way of eating that is healthy and permanent. That will leave out the single product fad diets. A permanent diet will most likely also leave out the diets that send you food, because it is unlikely that you are going to keep that up for life. So what does that leave? It leaves a discussion on what is healthy eating.
All foods are made up of Proteins, Fats and Carbohydrates, plus vitamins and minerals. We are made up of the same things. The only question is how much should we eat and what is the make up of our foods.
Proteins : the main building blocks of our bodies. Although there can be problems with too much protein if a person has a damaged liver or kidney function and with people with gout, rarely is too much protein a problem.
Fats : the second of the building blocks of our body and energy storage. Rarely do dietitians note the importance of fat as a building block. They mention the essential fatty acids, linoleic and linolenic acid, they mention in passing the need for body function but they still push that fat is mainly for energy. Every cell membrane is made up of fat and protein. Fat is essential for health.
Carbohydrates : Although carbohydrates also have a building block function, it is minimal compared with proteins and fats. Carbohydrates are the major source of energy. Therefore the quantity of carbohydrates is very dependant on the activity of an individual and their need to lose or gain weight. Despite all the modern conveniences that have been created in the industrialized world, there has been no decrease in the recommendation that 40% to 60% of calories that are taken in should come from carbohydrates. This may be fine for an athlete but it is not for the average person. This is the reason so many people have done well in losing weight with "Dr. Atkins'" and "The South Beach" diets. They are both low carbohydrate diets. Actually, there has been a steady increase in the percentage of carbohydrates in our diets for about 10,000 years. Man was initially a "lean, mean, fighting machine". Our diet was meat, fruits and roots. Then came civilization with farming and the milling of grain. The beginning of processed carbohydrates.
In order to loose weight we need to cut our carbohydrate intake. It is impossible to go to zero carbohydrates because they are present in all foods, and besides the brain only burns carbohydrates. That doesn't mean that we can't realistically remove the excess carbs from our diets. This will help us loose weight and cure about 90% of the type II diabetes, which costs this country hundreds of billions of dollars and kills and maims millions of people.
Besides stopping sugars, stop eating the soft carbohydrates: Pasta, Rice, Corn, Bread and baked goods, and Potatoes.
In order to understand how a low carbohydrate diet will cure type II diabetes you first have to understand that eating soft carbohydrates is really worse than eating straight sugar. These soft starches (carbohydrates) break down into sugar and are absorbed into the body as sugar. Where as no one is going to eat a bowl of sugar we all have sat down to a meal of a bowl of pasta at one time or another.
Type II diabetes is not due to a lack of insulin. In fact, type II diabetics have too much insulin. For years the endocrinologists have thought that the problem is that the insulin doesn't work well with certain individuals and they become type II diabetics. This has been found to be convoluted thinking. When the body takes in too much soft carbohydrates and therefore a surge of sugar the pancreas pumps out more than enough insulin to cover the sugar. That does two things. First the person becomes hungry, and second there is damage to the arterioles of the kidneys which tends to lead to hypertension.
This is why type II diabetics are over weight. It is also why the traditional medical care for a type II diabetic is counterproductive. The more insulin, the more weight gain with type II diabetics. The way to really care for a type II diabetic is with a 20% carbohydrate diet and exercise, till weight and insulin output are controlled.
