The Preventive Medicine Center Of Gainesville

OBESITY is the number one epidemic in the United States, affecting 1 in 3 people. It is ironic that in the most prosperous nation in the world we are one of the sickest when it comes to diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure.

For over 25 years I have seen patients who truly have tried to lose weight. Many of them had been on diets which temporarily allowed them to lose weight, but then they would regain weight and become even more overweight than before starting the diet.

There is a tremendous amount of misinformation out there about how to lose weight in a healthy manner and keep it off permanently.

Fake Food, Fake Bodies

In this era of microwave meals and fast food restaurants, people are eating highly processed foods and literally tons of “fake” food, loaded with calories and saturated fat, and empty on nutrition. A breakfast of coffee and donuts is just one example. The problem is the body must use what you give it to rebuild itself on a daily basis, and over time, the inferior building materials will allow illness and disease to occur. Many Americans are trading convenience for health.

Which is the Right Diet?

Everyone has heard of the Adkin’s diet (high protein, unrestricted fat, low carbohydrate) and everyone has heard of high-carbohydrate, low fat, limited protein diets as proposed by the American Dietetic Association (ADA). People lose weight on both, but for different reasons. I have come to the conclusion that there is no “one right diet” for everybody, and that a person’s diet must be custom tailored to their specific health problems, genetics, exercise level.

Do Calories Count?

When you restrict your calories below your basal metabolic rate, you will lose weight. Right? Yes, and no. When you drop below 800 calories per day, your metabolism slows to conserve energy and your body becomes more efficient at storing and keeping fat. This is why on a severely calorie restricted diet people plateau and don’t lose weight forever. Then they get discouraged and get off the diet, and gain weight beyond their original weight (their metabolisms are now slower than before up to several months). This is why people who have tried multiple calorie restricted diets have difficulty and get fatter as they get older, and this can be difficult to reverse.

Is Fat the Enemy?

If you listen to the advocates of the Adkin’s diet, almost all of them lose weight and are able to keep it off. They eat unrestricted amounts of saturated fat from bacon, ham, butter, etc.. Calories, for the most part, are unrestricted, so you don’t get the slow down in the metabolism. Protein is not efficiently turned into fat by the body, but excess protein can stress the liver and kidneys in some cases. You are not hungry on an Adkin’s diet due to the hunger blunting effect of ketones, which come from the body’s fat being broken down. If low fat was the answer, then the Adkin’s diet shouldn’t work, and everyone eating Lean Cuisine type of meals should be skinny and have low cholesterols. So obviously replacing fats with carbohydrates is not the answer. I have a concern about all the saturated fats the Adkin’s diet allows. It’s not a question of high fat but what type of fat (needs to be a large portion of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated, totally avoid hydrogenated fats which are harmful).

The ADA type of diets work some of the time, but are dependent on what type of carbohydrate is being consumed and calorie content. The problem with this type of diet is that we are becoming a nation of diabetics, heart patients and cancer victims because there are 2 types of carbohydrates (simple and complex).

So what is the real answer?

Sugar: How Sweet it Isn’t!

The average per capita consumption of sugar and high fructose corn syrup products is over 150 pounds per year for every man, woman, and child in this country! Just pick up any processed food item at your grocery store, including baby formula, read the label and you will see high fructose corn syrup added to it. The corn industry in this country is huge.

Eating sugar and refined carbohydrates (including the “healthy” ones such as honey or molasses) results in a rapid release of glucose (blood sugar) into your blood stream. Insulin, a hormone secreted by your pancreas gland, is secreted to drive the glucose into your cells and tissue where it can be used for fuel. Excess glucose stresses the system, and over time, the cells become less responsive to insulin. We call this condition INSULIN RESISTENCE. The sugar, unable to go into your cells as fuel and be burned, is then stored as FAT. This can worsen on a high carbohydrate diet if the wrong kind of carbohydrates are eaten. Insulin resistence is associated with high cholesterol and triglyceride fats, which, in turn, are associated with heart disease and type II diabetes. When you become insulin resistant you cannot lose weight effectively on a high carbohydrate, low fat, low protein diet.

Know The Glycemic Index of Foods

A diabetic will have better control of his blood
sugar when eating Haagen Daas ice cream than when drinking a glass of orange juice. I didn’t realize this until I read the book Enter the Zone by Barry Sears. All foods have a glycemic index (how fast they can raise your blood sugar). Basically, complex carbohydrates such as most vegetables, whole-grain pastas, many fruits have a low to moderate glycemic index when compared to most sugars, white breads, sodas, candies, pastry, most cold cereals. Combining foods with a high glycemic index with fat (sugar in ice cream combined with butter fat from cream) in some cases will lower the glycemic index, and will allow insulin to be released at a slow rate, not stressing the pancreas.

What About Sugar Substitutes?

Aspartame (NutraSweet) is comprised of 2 amino acids, aspartic acid and phenylalanine. Both of these amino acids can alter brain chemistry. It can cause mood disorders and lower the threshold for seizures. It is also hard to get off of (could the altered brain chemistry cause an addiction to it?).

The remaining component of aspartame is a chemical that changes into methanol (wood alcohol, which is a poison!) after ingestion. Wood alcohol is notorious for harming the optic nerve of the eye, causing blindness. Methanol is converted into formaldehyde by the body. Formaldehyde causes cancer and neurological problems. Use stevia instead of artificial sweeteners.

Protein, friend or foe?

Adequate protein, whether from animal or vegetable sources, is critical for good health. Protein is the basic building block for tissue repair and maintenance, and to support a healthy immune system. I am not an advocate of low protein diets or vegetarian diets, except for special circumstances in a cleansing program for a few weeks. The problem with meat sources of protein is not the meat, it is the saturated fat content. Buy meat with no more than a 5% fat content, and with a strong emphasis on poultry and fish. And make sure the meat and poultry you buy does not contain preservatives, hormones, or antibiotics added to the animal feed. Again, we are talking about the quality of the fuel you are putting into yourself and your family.

So how much protein do you need? If you are dieting, you want to spare protein and lose fat, and a low protein diet does not allow this. In general, you will want to consume 1 1/2 grams of protein per kilogram of your ideal body weight. Read on.

The Blood Type Connection

In 1996 a book entitled Eat Right For Your Type was published. It either cleared the waters or made them even more “murky.” It’s author, Dr. Peter J. D’Adamo proposed that there are 4 different blood types (A, B, AB, and O) and each type did better with a different diet. Type O’s needed more protein to do well and type A’s did better with a vegetarian type of diet with limited animal protein. Type B did well with a varied diet and also tolerated dairy products the best, and type AB had a mixture of types A and B qualities. It makes interesting reading and I find some of what he says makes sense, especially in the foods to avoid category based on blood type.

Hormonal and Genetic Factors

Further complicating the picture are genetic factors and also hormonal factors. Patients whose genetics are against them will have a more difficult time with losing weight than those who don’t. Patients who are taking hormones such as birth control pills or estrogen are altering their biochemistry and will gain weight. Patients who have thyroid, pancreatic, or adrenal problems will also need to be treated in a different manner.

Summary

> Buy the 3 books I have listed and read them to gain a better understanding of the factors that contribute to weight gain and health:

1. The Type II Diabetes Diet Book - Calvin Ezrin, M.D.

2. Enter the Zone - Barry Sears

3. Eat Right For Your Type - Dr. Peter J. D’Adamo (He also has a new version out)

•Eliminate sugar and artificial sweeteners from your diet and substitute stevia and xylitol (both are natural sweeteners from plant sources that you can obtain at a health food store). Keep yourself and your children off the sodas, cookies, cakes, pies, candies, except for special occasions.

•Familiarize yourself with the glycemic index of the foods you are eating. Limit servings of high glycemic foods such as white potatoes, corn, bread, cereal, and anything made with white flour.

•Add fat to your diet in the form of mono or polyunsaturated fat. I take 2-3 tablespoons of organic flax seed oil or olive oil a day and use it on salads or vegetables.

•Eat a variety of fresh (preferably organic) vegetables and fruits each day as well as legumes and whole grains.

•Eat adequate protein primarily from fish and poultry sources.

•If you are having sugar craving, see Dr. Erickson for help. This can be easily handled by correcting nutritional deficiencies with Standard Process™ supplements.

•If you have been unable to lose weight on a calorie restricted diet, you may have insulin resistence or other factors contributing and should see Dr. Erickson for evaluation.

•When shopping, keep to the periphery of the store and buy fresh or frozen foods. Stay away from processed foods or foods with preservatives or artificial anything.

•Drink 8 eight ounce glasses of purified well or spring water with a little lemon or lime added each day to flush toxins and wastes.

•Take a 20 minute or more walk a day.

•If you want to lose more than a few pounds, set a goal or target, and then ask to be evaluated by Dr. Erickson to individualize a game plan especially for you.



	WOULD YOU LIKE TO LOSE WEIGHT? by Robert A. Erickson, M.D. 2000© OBESITY is the number one epidemic in the United States, affecting 1 in 3 people. It is ironic that in the most prosperous nation in the world we are one of the sickest when it comes to diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure. For over 25 years I have seen patients who truly have tried to lose weight. Many of them had been on diets which temporarily allowed them to lose weight, but then they would regain weight and become even more overweight than before starting the diet. There is a tremendous amount of misinformation out there about how to lose weight in a healthy manner and keep it off permanently. Fake Food, Fake Bodies In this era of microwave meals and fast food restaurants, people are eating highly processed foods and literally tons of “fake” food, loaded with calories and saturated fat, and empty on nutrition. A breakfast of coffee and donuts is just one example. The problem is the body must use what you give it to rebuild itself on a daily basis, and over time, the inferior building materials will allow illness and disease to occur. Many Americans are trading convenience for health. Which is the Right Diet? Everyone has heard of the Adkin’s diet (high protein, unrestricted fat, low carbohydrate) and everyone has heard of high-carbohydrate, low fat, limited protein diets as proposed by the American Dietetic Association (ADA). People lose weight on both, but for different reasons. I have come to the conclusion that there is no “one right diet” for everybody, and that a person’s diet must be custom tailored to their specific health problems, genetics, exercise level. Do Calories Count? When you restrict your calories below your basal metabolic rate, you will lose weight. Right? Yes, and no. When you drop below 800 calories per day, your metabolism slows to conserve energy and your body becomes more efficient at storing and keeping fat. This is why on a severely calorie restricted diet people plateau and don’t lose weight forever. Then they get discouraged and get off the diet, and gain weight beyond their original weight (their metabolisms are now slower than before up to several months). This is why people who have tried multiple calorie restricted diets have difficulty and get fatter as they get older, and this can be difficult to reverse. Is Fat the Enemy? If you listen to the advocates of the Adkin’s diet, almost all of them lose weight and are able to keep it off. They eat unrestricted amounts of saturated fat from bacon, ham, butter, etc.. Calories, for the most part, are unrestricted, so you don’t get the slow down in the metabolism. Protein is not efficiently turned into fat by the body, but excess protein can stress the liver and kidneys in some cases. You are not hungry on an Adkin’s diet due to the hunger blunting effect of ketones, which come from the body’s fat being broken down. If low fat was the answer, then the Adkin’s diet shouldn’t work, and everyone eating Lean Cuisine type of meals should be skinny and have low cholesterols. So obviously replacing fats with carbohydrates is not the answer. I have a concern about all the saturated fats the Adkin’s diet allows. It’s not a question of high fat but what type of fat (needs to be a large portion of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated, totally avoid hydrogenated fats which are harmful). The ADA type of diets work some of the time, but are dependent on what type of carbohydrate is being consumed and calorie content. The problem with this type of diet is that we are becoming a nation of diabetics, heart patients and cancer victims because there are 2 types of carbohydrates (simple and complex). So what is the real answer? Sugar: How Sweet it Isn’t! The average per capita consumption of sugar and high fructose corn syrup products is over 150 pounds per year for every man, woman, and child in this country! Just pick up any processed food item at your grocery store, including baby formula, read the label and you will see high fructose corn syrup added to it. The corn industry in this country is huge. Eating sugar and refined carbohydrates (including the “healthy” ones such as honey or molasses) results in a rapid release of glucose (blood sugar) into your blood stream. Insulin, a hormone secreted by your pancreas gland, is secreted to drive the glucose into your cells and tissue where it can be used for fuel. Excess glucose stresses the system, and over time, the cells become less responsive to insulin. We call this condition INSULIN RESISTENCE. The sugar, unable to go into your cells as fuel and be burned, is then stored as FAT. This can worsen on a high carbohydrate diet if the wrong kind of carbohydrates are eaten. Insulin resistence is associated with high cholesterol and triglyceride fats, which, in turn, are associated with heart disease and type II diabetes. When you become insulin resistant you cannot lose weight effectively on a high carbohydrate, low fat, low protein diet. Know The Glycemic Index of Foods A diabetic will have better control of his blood sugar when eating Haagen Daas ice cream than when drinking a glass of orange juice. I didn’t realize this until I read the book Enter the Zone by Barry Sears. All foods have a glycemic index (how fast they can raise your blood sugar). Basically, complex carbohydrates such as most vegetables, whole-grain pastas, many fruits have a low to moderate glycemic index when compared to most sugars, white breads, sodas, candies, pastry, most cold cereals. Combining foods with a high glycemic index with fat (sugar in ice cream combined with butter fat from cream) in some cases will lower the glycemic index, and will allow insulin to be released at a slow rate, not stressing the pancreas. What About Sugar Substitutes? Aspartame (NutraSweet) is comprised of 2 amino acids, aspartic acid and phenylalanine. Both of these amino acids can alter brain chemistry. It can cause mood disorders and lower the threshold for seizures. It is also hard to get off of (could the altered brain chemistry cause an addiction to it?). The remaining component of aspartame is a chemical that changes into methanol (wood alcohol, which is a poison!) after ingestion. Wood alcohol is notorious for harming the optic nerve of the eye, causing blindness. Methanol is converted into formaldehyde by the body. Formaldehyde causes cancer and neurological problems. Use stevia instead of artificial sweeteners. Protein, friend or foe? Adequate protein, whether from animal or vegetable sources, is critical for good health. Protein is the basic building block for tissue repair and maintenance, and to support a healthy immune system. I am not an advocate of low protein diets or vegetarian diets, except for special circumstances in a cleansing program for a few weeks. The problem with meat sources of protein is not the meat, it is the saturated fat content. Buy meat with no more than a 5% fat content, and with a strong emphasis on poultry and fish. And make sure the meat and poultry you buy does not contain preservatives, hormones, or antibiotics added to the animal feed. Again, we are talking about the quality of the fuel you are putting into yourself and your family. So how much protein do you need? If you are dieting, you want to spare protein and lose fat, and a low protein diet does not allow this. In general, you will want to consume 1 1/2 grams of protein per kilogram of your ideal body weight. Read on. The Blood Type Connection In 1996 a book entitled Eat Right For Your Type was published. It either cleared the waters or made them even more “murky.” It’s author, Dr. Peter J. D’Adamo proposed that there are 4 different blood types (A, B, AB, and O) and each type did better with a different diet. Type O’s needed more protein to do well and type A’s did better with a vegetarian type of diet with limited animal protein. Type B did well with a varied diet and also tolerated dairy products the best, and type AB had a mixture of types A and B qualities. It makes interesting reading and I find some of what he says makes sense, especially in the foods to avoid category based on blood type. Hormonal and Genetic Factors Further complicating the picture are genetic factors and also hormonal factors. Patients whose genetics are against them will have a more difficult time with losing weight than those who don’t. Patients who are taking hormones such as birth control pills or estrogen are altering their biochemistry and will gain weight. Patients who have thyroid, pancreatic, or adrenal problems will also need to be treated in a different manner. Summary > Buy the 3 books I have listed and read them to gain a better understanding of the factors that contribute to weight gain and health: 1. The Type II Diabetes Diet Book - Calvin Ezrin, M.D. 2. Enter the Zone - Barry Sears 3. Eat Right For Your Type - Dr. Peter J. D’Adamo (He also has a new version out) •Eliminate sugar and artificial sweeteners from your diet and substitute stevia and xylitol (both are natural sweeteners from plant sources that you can obtain at a health food store). Keep yourself and your children off the sodas, cookies, cakes, pies, candies, except for special occasions. •Familiarize yourself with the glycemic index of the foods you are eating. Limit servings of high glycemic foods such as white potatoes, corn, bread, cereal, and anything made with white flour. •Add fat to your diet in the form of mono or polyunsaturated fat. I take 2-3 tablespoons of organic flax seed oil or olive oil a day and use it on salads or vegetables. •Eat a variety of fresh (preferably organic) vegetables and fruits each day as well as legumes and whole grains. •Eat adequate protein primarily from fish and poultry sources. •If you are having sugar craving, see Dr. Erickson for help. This can be easily handled by correcting nutritional deficiencies with Standard Process™ supplements. •If you have been unable to lose weight on a calorie restricted diet, you may have insulin resistence or other factors contributing and should see Dr. Erickson for evaluation. •When shopping, keep to the periphery of the store and buy fresh or frozen foods. Stay away from processed foods or foods with preservatives or artificial anything. •Drink 8 eight ounce glasses of purified well or spring water with a little lemon or lime added each day to flush toxins and wastes. •Take a 20 minute or more walk a day. •If you want to lose more than a few pounds, set a goal or target, and then ask to be evaluated by Dr. Erickson to individualize a game plan especially for you. Back to Topics of Interest Table of Contents Welcome \| About Dr. Erickson \| Practice Philosophy \| Services Available Hours & Location \| Insurance & Fees \| F.A.Q. Whats New \| Topics of interest \| Contact us \| Home Contact Webmaster