IF MECHANICS BECAME NUTRITIONISTS
“Welcome to Joe’s Nutrition. What can we do for you today?”
“Well, my doctor wanted me to talk to you about my diet. He says I’m eating too much. I know he’s probably right, and I keep trying to cut back, but then I get so hungry –”
“So you’re needing more fuel than you used to?”
“Well, I don’t think I really need it. I just don’t seem to have any willpower.”
“Willpower’s got nothin’ to do with it, pal. If you’re burning too much fuel, then something’s wrong with the system, you see? Something’s messing up the works.”
“Uh … I hadn’t really thought of it that way.”
“Could be an endocrine imbalance, maybe something wrong with the blood sugar regulator, not enough oil … all kinds of things. So let’s start simple. What kind of fuel are you using?”
“Only the best. Whole grain cereals, potatoes, wheat bread, lots of fruit –”
“Wo, wo, wo. So you’re stuffing the tank full of sugar?”
“No, of course not! Whole grain cereals, potatoes-”
“Same fuel, different name. It all turns to sugar in the tank, buddy. You got any idea what all that sugar does to the rest of the system? You’re working the blood sugar regulator to death. Half of what you’re eating is probably going straight into the ol’ storage tanks. No wonder you’re eating so much.”
“But … uh … they always told me –”
“Forget what they told you. They don’t know jack. You want clean combustion in the engine, stop putting sugar in the tank. Your engine needs oil, and I don’t mean the cheap synthetic stuff, either. I’m talking about real butter, olive oil, and lots of good quality saturated fat.”
“Saturated fat?! But that will just gum up the engine!”
“You know who started that rumor? The people who make the synthetic crap, that’s who. Trust me, you switch to the good stuff, you’ll feel better than you have in years.”
“Wow, that’s a relief. So I don’t need any expensive repairs, or –”
“I’ll be happy to do all kinds of expensive repairs if you decide to ignore my advice.”
IF NUTRITIONISTS BECAME MECHANICS
“Howdy, welcome to Kelly Brownell Auto Repair. Can I help you?”
“Yeah, something’s not right with my car. It’s sluggish and it’s burning way more gas than it used to. Can you maybe take a look under the hood, or run some kind of test, or–?”
“You say she’s burning too much gas?”
“Definitely. I have to fill up like twice a week now, and I don’t even drive that much anymore.”
“Well, there’s your problem.”
“Huh?”
“You’re putting too much gas in it.”
“Uh … I’m not sure I’m following you here.”
“Well, it’s simple. She’s burning too much gas. So stop putting so much gas in the gas tank. You see?”
“Well, uh … don’t you think maybe something’s wrong with the engine, or the fuel system, or maybe there’s a leak, or–”
“No offense, buddy, but you’re talking to a professional here. I see this all the time. People come in with cars that are sluggish, and every darned one of them is filling up the tank all the time. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to put two and two together. If she’s burning too much gas, stop filling her up all the time. Then she can’t use too much gas. Like I said, it’s simple.”
“Okay. Right.”
“And if she’s still sluggish, you need to get her out on the highway a few times a week and run her at a high speed for an hour or so.”
“Well … that kind of seems like it might just make the car use more gas.”
“No, no, no, you’re missing the whole idea here. Give her less gas, but drive her around a lot more. That’s how you get your mileage up. Less gas, more miles, that means more miles per gallon. You understand the math?”
“Uh …”
“Look, it’s not hard. Lucky for you, the gas stations around here are required by law to show you exactly how many gallons you’re putting in the tank. So let’s say you normally put in fifteen gallons. Just watch that meter real close, and then stop when you’ve put in, say, ten gallons. Then drive her around a lot more. Problem solved.”
“Uh, yeah, sure. Thanks.”
“And if that doesn’t work, come back next week. I’ll be happy to give you the same advice again.”
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This post is very funny and unfortunately too true. For the longest time I wanted to be a nutritionist. I have a degree in geology, so I had most of the science classes needed to switch over to get a nutrition degree. I just couldn’t spend all that money, though, and have to give out advice that I knew was wrong. I’m sure my future boss wouldn’t have appreciated me going all rogue and praising sat fats to my clients.
I then tried Clayton College of Natural Health. They have a Masters in Holistic Nutrition. Well I looked through some of the literature, and it praised whole grains and trashed sat fats. So I gave up on nutrition. I couldn’t see spending all that money.
So I became a graphic designer. It’s a good career, and now I can tell everyone I meet about my beliefs in nutrition and I can’t get in trouble for it.
I’ve heard from people in the health field who are literally afraid to speak up and tell patients what they know. It’s a shame.
I’m a massage therapist and I have that exact mechanics conversation with my clients almost daily. I’m tempted to put “Forget what they told you. They don’t know jack.” on all my business cards since I say it so often.
Sounds like a good slogan to print up and keep on the wall.
That was FUNNY! If you’ve seen any recent photos or video of Dr. Brownell, it looks as though he’s practicing what he’s preaching. Bloated. Soft and pudgy. His gas mileage must be turribel (as Charles Barkley would say).
That’s part of what annoys me about the guy. He thinks menu laws will make people thinner, but you can’t tell me he doesn’t know the calorie counts of the food he eats.
You know — I bet if I sent this to my friends, they’d say “but that doesn’t make any sense.”
To which the only reasonable reply is “NO, IT DOESN’T”
… but we’d be talking about different things. :-/ 🙂
Indeed.
Awesome.
Thanks.
What a great analogy! Spot on.
Fill ‘er up with some unleaded butter.
I think Kelly Brownell used the excuse that he ate more and put on weight because he was writing a book. Thank God your car didn’t write its own manual, else who knows how much petrol it would be guzzling!!!
I heard that excuse as well. I believe he was writing a book telling other people how to lose weight.
“And if that doesn’t work, come back next week. I’ll be happy to give you the same advice again.”
Classic.
I’m afraid it’s a case of sad but true.
Oops! There were significant errors in my [previous] comment; so here it is again, corrected:
I saw your documentary a few weeks ago. It was spot on. Your cartoon demonstrating how sugar gets stored in the body taught me a lot–it was the visual that made the difference; no way could I have understood it with words only. Your doc made me realise why I have been unable to lose weight. Although, I eat real food (grass fed beef, pastured eggs, raw butter and cream, coconut oil, red palm oil, “pastured” pig’s meat and chicken; have a good balance of Omega 3 to Omega 6; vegetables, fruit), I did not give up the other “sugar” foods like potatoes and grains (although, I stopped eating sugar). I have been on a good fats and protein AND a high carb diet. All the carbs that I eat, regardless of the other good stuff, make it so that I unable to drop any pounds. Because of your doc, I’ve gone low carb.
It was because of the book, by Nina Planck, called “Real Food” and the radio show “Your Own Health and Fitness” that provided me with the information to make the change, about two years ago, to stop eating ALL processed/fake foods to eat real, whole foods, and to stop being afraid of fat, especially, saturated fat. Here is a link to the radio show I mentioned: http://kpfa.org/archive/id/55434 It will take you to the October 20th show, which is about gut health. The hosts of the show prescribe the pre-agriculture diet for good health.
Thanks for the link, and I’m glad the visuals helped get the point across. That was what I hoped would happen.
HAHAHAHA! Oh my, that busted out my sides! I love your blog, cause I always know I am going to get a good laugh. 😀 The analogy is absolutely perfect, too! I’m gonna recommend this post to all those thick-skulled backwards-thinking psuedo-nutritionists out there. Hehe!
Don’t be surprised if they don’t laugh.
Brilliant again, Tom. You ARE the ticket. Just checked on Kelly Brownell – ain’t he a chubby little cherub. Merry Christmas!
It amazes me the media keep seeking this guy out for advice. It’s like going to a bankrupt investment adviser for stock tips.
Wow. That analogy really fits perfectly.
Thanks.
If bariatric surgeons were mechanics:
“Hi, my cars chewing too much gas, I think it might be something with…”
“Oh, we see this all the time, we need to do a fuel-line bypass and that’ll fix it right up.”
“But my brother drives the same car with different fuel and gets better mileage, I was just wanting some…”
“Of course you won’t be able to drive it more than 30 miles from a gas station because the fuel storage will be reduced.”
“But I live on a ranch 2 hours out of town.”
“Oh, no. Better move off that. Any difficult terrain driving will unseat the bypass and fuel will come out the air conditioning. City streets only”
“In that case I’d prefer to just burn more fuel.”
“But legislators have have moved in to stop excess fuel burn. I’m afraid I’ll have to bypass or impound.”
“Well, I’ve paid my taxes, so at least it won’t cost me much.”
“Well actually, you are over the threshold of eligibility. Better get your chequebook.”
Good analogy. Now if legistlators were mechanics, it would have to be a horror movie …
Excellent! Thanks, Tom. I’ll have to pass that on to my friends.
My pleasure.
I’m a nurse. I have been told there will be “consequences” (including possible malpractice accusations!) if it is discovered that I teach my patients anything but the food pyramid and standard nutritional advice. It’s very very frustrating! Even those of us in the medical field who ARE enlightened are forced to keep that knowledge to ourselves. *sigh*
It’ll be even worse when the feds “harmonize” medical care, which is what’s being proposed.
People are hammering at me all the time to take in less calories and less fat. When I tell them I’ve done that already, lost tons of weight and gained it back plus some they tell me to take in less calories and less fat. Isn’t that the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over with the same negative result? Thanks for a great and very funny analogy. I’m sharing your post on my facebook!
For most of us, it’s a symptom of insanity. For the experts, it’s a symptom of keeping their research grants.
Kelly Brownell is *still* quite fat, and I believe his book came out in 2006.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06bBjX9Pwdg&feature=player_embedded
Must be following his own advice. I can’t imagine why it doesn’t work for anyone else either.
I guess he must be working on another book.
I got my master’s degree in counseling almost a year ago, and maybe I would be a practicing counselor now … except that halfway through getting my degree, I started eating low-carb, and starting doing some research on the connection between mental health and nutrition.
I eventually decided that I could not in clear conscience work as a counselor without also telling clients that maybe they need to change their diet to feel better – that maybe the depression or anxiety *preceded* the problems that they think caused the depression or anxiety. (That’s actually not an unusual reversal of causation in the field, but to my knowledge it is not generally linked to poor nutrition. Depression and anxiety are still considered very mysterious, and best treated with drugs.)
So, like Cindy D, I thought maybe I should get a degree in nutrition so I wouldn’t be violating any ethical codes when talking about nutrition with clients. I couldn’t find any programs that correspond well to what I know to be true about nutrition. (sigh) And there’s virtually no openness in the counseling field to the concept of mental health and nutrition being related. In one of my last classes while getting my counseling degree, I told my professor that I was interested in doing a paper on the link between poor nutrition and autism spectrum disorders, and he was decidedly cool on the idea. (I didn’t end up writing the paper, for unrelated reasons.)
I wrote a blog post about my decision to not enter counseling not long after I got my degree.
http://www.divinemind.biz/blog/2009/01/06/why-i-dont-want-to-be-a-counselor/
Thanks for another really great post, Tom. As usual, top notch.
Some months ago, a friend of mine from years back sat down to watch a DVD with a friend of his who was enrolled in a naturopathic medical school. She had a weekend homework assignment to watch some independent documentary called Fat Head. He jumped up a minute or so into it and yelled, “I know that guy!”
So there’s hope …
Very clever post Tom. I like your style.
You’re wrong about the potatoes, whole grains, and fruit bit though. Those foods have never caused problems with glucose and insulin regulation. Excluding them might give a person some relief – because they have glucose and insulin regulation problems, but they weren’t causal of the disorder.
Granted, whole grain cereals and whole grain breads are not just whole grains. They are highly processed and sugared and are part of the problem.
But one can easily lower fasting and postprandial glucose levels eating nothing but potatoes, fruit, and whole grains as I have proven. I’ll continue to ride your ass like a bike until you realize the truth and validity of that.
Just because Republicans are a bunch of redneck, ignorant, stubborn, backwards jagoffs doesn’t mean that you have to be a Democrat and vice versa. You can simply be neither, and have complete and utter contempt for both parties.
The same can be said of mainstream low-calorie/high-carb/low-fat/anti-saturated fat nutrition vs. low carb/pro-saturated fat nutrition. You don’t have to be one or the other. You can transcend both, as I have.
So hurry up and quit screwing around with this potatoes, whole grains, fruit = sugar = diabesity mindset. It’s for toddlers. You’re a big boy now. There are enough Eades’s and Taubes’s and Cordain’s and Lutz’s and Rosedale’s out there already.
Gotta go with my own experience, which differs from yours. When I was in my vegetarian phase, I thought I was on a healthy diet. I didn’t eat sugar, didn’t drink sodas, etc. I lived on whole-grain pasta, rice, potatoes, fruit, etc. Breakfast was often a banana and an apple. I didn’t drink alcohol at all for three years.
The result: I gained weight, developed arthritis, was diagnosed as having asthma, and began showing signs of pre-diabetes. Those symptoms are all gone now.
Same thing happened with my composer, who lived on a largely macrobiotic diet. He didn’t touch sugar, doesn’t drink, but ate lots of brown rice. After cutting the carbs, he lost 20 pounds and his lipids improved. Meanwhile, the sound engineer for Fat Head cut out his big bowl of whole-grain cereals for breakfast and stopped eating bread after seeing the film. He also lost 20 pounds and was able to stop taking drugs for irritable bowel syndrome, which had plagued him for years.
Your mileage may vary, but I wasn’t convinced just by reading Taubes, Eades and Cordain; I was convinced by my own experiences and the experiences of other people I know. The books just gave me biochemical explanations for what had already happened.
NO carbs are needed by the human body. The Inuit (eskimos) thrive eating ONLY seals, whales, walrus. Of cours, they eat the ENTIRE animal. Starting with the blubber and digestive parts. Europeans who have lived with them also eat this diet and remain perfectly healthy. Note: they eat NO vitamin C, they do not get scurvy because vitamin C is only required when you eat carbs. Such data imply that you can cut carbs as low as you want and remain healthy.
Another fantastic post Tom. Going to post a link to this on my blog today.
Thanks, Amy.
Fabulous post, you are a genius at shining a spotlight on idiocy! Sad to say, but I would never go to a traditionally trained nutritionist or dietitian for health advice. I also have looked for a nutritional program that supports the low carb diet and they just aren’t out there. It’s a shame, although maybe there is some hope. I received an email from the Weston Price Foundation which offered nutritional courses at Goddard College in Vermont. Didn’t have much information though, and their website isn’t much better. But if they teach WAPF principles, at least the real food aspect would be covered.
My mom’s doctor set her up with an appointment to see a dietician. I suggested she ignore everything she’s told. Unforunately, there’s a bit of that white-coat awe going on.
So hilarious, Tom! I’m sending this to everyone I know. Fortunately, not ALL nutritionists give out this kind of advice. But you’d sure have a tought time hitting one of us if you threw a rock into a room full of nutritionists. 😉
And if the rock hurt someone, they’d blame saturated fat.
Cars don’t get addictions or form habits, though, do they? How would you address that?
Kelly Brownell would say the car is addicted to consuming too much gas.
Tom said: “It amazes me the media keep seeking [Kelly Brownell] out for advice. It’s like going to a bankrupt investment adviser for stock tips.”
Funny how that works. Ben Bernanke and Alan Greenspan, the men who missed the housing bubble and allowed 8 trillion dollars of American wealth to evaporate, are quite the sources on how or when we are to get out of this recession.
Believe me, I think about that every time I see them on TV. Meanwhile, the Austrian-school economists who warned about what was coming are still ignored.
Hi Tom
Just a great post. I love your humor blended with fact. It makes the lifestyle more attainable. Prior to the release of Fathead, I phoned you one day to find out when it would be released and what date I could expect it in Canada. I have a couple of copies and lend it out to people who ask me what the hell happened to me over the past six or seven years. Check out my daughter’s web site to see the results of paleo and crossfit on a 58 year old former fattie. http://www.briohealthclub.com/2009/09/brians-birthday-filthy-58.aspx People like you and her saved my life. Thanks (seems kind of inadequate)
Those are terrific results, Brian! What a difference.
Aloha!
Just a quick note to remind you not all nutritionists are created equal. Please know many of us struggle and swim against the main stream every day.
Loved the post and will be back for more! 😉
Gina Ryan, CN
We love the swim-upstreamers out there.
Tom…….one of your very best. I like to think of good food (meat and fat)……as “Achievement Fuel”. In our more modern era of knowledge work over physical labor…..we need good fuel more than ever. Our ancestors who worked 10-11 hours at hard manual labor…..may have been able to stay “semi healthy”…..on a higher carb diet (ANY type of carbs….(are you listening Matt Stone?)………but we need better fuel to perform at a better level in our more cerebral and less physical modern work environment.
I saw an example of that awhile back, when I met with a client’s team to talk over some very complicated additions they wanted included in a database system. When lunch came around, I had a chicken salad. Their IT guy had a sandwich, soda and chips. An hour or so later, he started slumping big-time, then asked if we could resume the conversation the next day because his brain needed a rest.
Have you seen this new book coming out – I suspect there’s about to be a big anti-meat media onslaught (here we go again…hi, Oprah), so I wondered about your take:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/OPINION/10/28/opinion.jonathan.foer/index.html
I haven’t seen the book. In this article, at least, his complaint seems to be centered around how animals are raised. I think those complaints are legitimate. The food-poisoning episodes linked to meat consumption are the result of the animals being penned up and fed corn. I hope someday there’s enough demand for pasture-fed meat that the industry will be forced by economic factors to move in that direction.
My health deteriorated on a vegetarian diet as well, including digestive problems, emotional swings, asthma, etc. I’m not stupid. I’m in no way an advocate for any such diet over the long-term.
Low-carb gave me tremendous results as well, including my asthma subsiding tremendously and becoming nothing shy of ripped when I combined it with exercise.
Then, over time, all the benefits vanished such as mood stability, musculature, perfect skin, and so on.
It’s only now that I understand the full complexities and the oversimplifications of both the low-carb and low-fat fronts. They are both right, and they are both wrong.
I certainly wouldn’t label you as stupid. I can’t get a clear idea of how many carbs you eat or what kind you eat from your web site. What does a typical day’s diet look like for you now?
Yes, I agree about the problems with factory farming. I guess I was too distracted the opening paragraph where he talks about how he hadn’t really thought about “what meat is” until he had to feed his children. But yes, it sounds like it’s mostly about factory farming and overuse of antibiotics and such. I do suspect that it’ll be used as ammunition by PCRM and such, but that doesn’t make it an incorrect argument.
Thank You!!! Finally a nutrition article my husband will understand!
Whatever gets the message across.
@Graybull
I always found I performed best in exams after having a jog. Potentially this got rid of all the excess sugars and whatnot so my brain had to use body reserves (fat) to power it, so it ran more efficiently. I guess the two caveats of that are; a) I have always been active (at the moment I would be spending 10hrs a day on my feet) and b) I never followed a low fat diet. There’s way too many factors for any conclusion to be reached from my anecdotes, but I think you have a very valid point.
@Tom Naughton
“I hope someday there’s enough demand for pasture-fed meat that the industry will be forced by economic factors to move in that direction.”
I’m almost through the Tom Woods lecture on your other blog. Having seen it, you should know that economic factors driving change are now a myth. If the demand shifts, then the government will step in to subsidise grain fed meat (already done to a degree) and probably tax grass-fed.
Well, it’s still economic factors that drive change — the Fed’s manipulation of interest rates and the money supply is a huge economic factor — but your point is (sadly) true … as long as Congress continues to suck up to the grain lobby, they’ll use subsidies to affect supply and demand.
Don’t get too hung up on the grass finished vs grain finished debate……at least as far as it relates to your personal health. Once you have established a steady diet that is optimum (minimum carbs…..get your macro-nutrients right first)…..then you can turn your attention to the more minute nutritional variations of grass vs grain fed beef…….before that…you are just confused about details that really don’t matter that much when compared to fat vs carb vs protein composition.
Using Tom’s analogy…
If you are concerned about how your car is running when you use one grade of gasoline versus another grade of gasoline……rather than how your car runs when you use diesel….rather than gasoline…….you have mis-placed your focus.
Please don’t misunderstand….I am a big proponent of grass finished beef……..strive to produce the VERY best grass finished beef………but NOT because of nutritional value…..(higher fat beef may actually be better for your health – Gary Taubes)………rather, because of other factors and especially the superior flavor of good grass finished beef.
IF your concern is animal welfare……then the debate of grass vs grain finished is somewhat valid. I say only somewhat……because it all depends upon the individual conditions of any grass only or feedlot situation. In some cases…….feedlot confinement can be better for the animal’s health and well being than strictly grassfed situations. As with many things…..the details and individual situations matter.
That’s pretty much the attitude I take on it. We ordered some grass-fed meats from a local producer, but I had a steak at a restaurant yesterday and it was probably corn-fed. Still beats the pasta and rice I used to eat.
I also saw a letter written by a farmer in which he explains that when they let their chickens run wild, about a third of them get killed and eaten by predators. I can understand wanting to protect your flock.
I am high unrefined carb, high-saturated fat, high-calorie. The result is a high metabolism. A high metabolism overrides the root of the problem, which is insulin resistance. I am zero-refined sugar though, which makes an incredible difference.
Most low-carb scientists believe that carbs are inherently bad, but there is nothing wrong with rising and falling insulin levels in response to a glucose-heavy meal. Carbs are only a problem is you are insulin resistant, and truly unrefined carbs do not cause insulin resistance. Low-carb advocates oversimplify that just as low-fat people oversimplify the lipid hypothesis – they assume fats just jump from your plate to your arteries as if that is somehow it’s natural destination.
By the way, I finally did see your movie last night. It is friggin’ awesome. I’m really impressed. Truly. You touched on all the important points. It’s like an enjoyable Taubes. Thanks Tom.
I’ve wondered, since researching the film, what my response to carbs would be if I’d never discovered sugary cereals as a kid and become insulin-resistant as an adolescent. Perhaps I would be able to eat unrefined carbs without gaining weight. However, I also seem to be one of those who has trouble with wheat producing an arthritis response, which is due to the lectins. Bottom line for me is that I don’t need wheat, so I skip it pretty much entirely.
Glad you enjoyed the film.
Most assume that insulin resistance is triggered by repeated insulin spikes, then insulin resistance causes a low metabolism. This is the tail wagging the dog. Insulin resistance is a natural response to a low metabolism. Metabolism is lowered by any number of things – ingestion of endocrine disruptors (refined sugar and vegetable oils being the most common), lack of sleep, dehydration, dieting, malnutrition, stress, or a combination of several of those.
Carbohydrate ingestion and even absorption rate are unrelated to insulin resistance. It may exacerbate the condition, but it’s simply not causal.
The oversimplified “carbs are bad” theory will never be a sufficient explanation for the whole picture though. It can’t explain why the Japanese are so much healthier than Americans on an 80% carbohydrate diet, why Neal Barnard or Joel Fuhrman have reduced fasting and postprandial glucose levels in their patients as well as lower A1C’s, why the Pima were healthy when their diet was based on high-glycemic carbs like potatoes, grains, and corn (prior to modern foods), or why guys like T.L. Cleave, Robert McCarrison, Weston A. Price, and Denis Burkitt found countless examples of agriculturalists on predominantly carbohydrate-based diets with profound levels of health (large stature, immunity to tooth decay, lack of heart disease and cancer, obesity and diabetes – regardless of exercise levels).
Anyway, I’ll continue to share with you how I’ve put the pieces of the puzzle together. Keep up the good work.
Hey, I’m always up for learning more. It’s an interesting alternative hypothesis, although again in my case I experienced weight gain and other problems on a high-carb diet devoid of sugar, and I’ve seen the same thing happen to other people.
I think there’s something to the theory that certain ethnic groups have adapated to starches that have been in their ancestral diet for a long time. People with Middle eastern ancestry, for example, seem to be able to tolerate wheat better than northern Europeans.
@ Matt Stone: Did you watch the lecture on the four diets that Tom posted a few days ago? It showed a much better effect on weight loss in insulin resistant patients following low-carb than on insulin sensitive. This could fit with your theory. However insulin resistant and insulin sentitive subjects all gained better blood marker results than other diets, so it may not all be about the weight.
@ Tom: Was your high carb diet devoid of wheat grains etc. (different boat than potatoes and rice from what I’ve seen) and frankenstein fats? Don’t confound factors like many before you.
All evidence is not in yet, and is probably unlikely to become so for a while.
No, I didn’t know better at the time. My diet was wheat pasta, potatoes, rice, etc. Margarine (ick!) on bread. Hard to say exactly which foods were causing the damage.
I agree with Matt Stone. I have lost a lot of fat on a predominately high carb diet from 95+ to 73Kgs which is near my ideal weight. I just vary my eating a lot. Breakfast and Lunch being lower carb, while dinner higher carb. I avoid wheat as much as possible. Eat as much ghee (saturated fat) as possible, and have stopped using any refined oils. I also don’t have much sweets. These are a rare treat and I keep it at that level.
I think the thing that helps me lose weight is that I do a zero carb diet once in a while, and also do IF sometimes. So the rest of the diet keeps me at the proper weight, and these measures reduce my weight. I don’t exercise much, once a week if I am lucky. So exercise is not the reason for my weight loss.
So high carb is really not that bad, if you do avoid unhealthy things. I definitely was insulin resistant, when I started. I had fatty liver with reduced liver functioning. I lost weight inspite of my T3 T4 levels being at the lowest level of the standard recommended range. I would think that the most important thing is to vary your diet. A fixed diet is not as good as a varying one.
This makes a lot of sense. And it explains why I am so impressed with mechanics and other repairmen/women, and why I am so disgusted with healthcare professionals.
I have pretty much the same reaction.
A chum encoraged me to check out this post, great post, fascinating read… keep up the cool work!
Absolutely spot on!
As a helicopter mechanic I now understand why it was so easy for me to start helping people with obesity and diabetes and get healthy again…
Thank you, Fredrik. I’m glad I know how to spell your name now for my cruise report.