I started my final weight loss crusade at 283 pounds in March 1998. Since the age of thirteen, I had tried almost everything. No weight loss system could be endured without constant hunger, headaches, moodiness and distracting "I want food" thinking. I bought into the low fat-high carbohydrate diet regimen with full devotion. I also continued to gain weight. Before I was willing to take such a radical deviation from the high carbohydrate diet guidelines we have preached for the last twenty years, I carefully employed it on myself. I couldn't be more pleased. I am down fifty pounds, two shirt sizes and about six inches on my waist. My cholesterol, triglycerides and pre-diabetes factors are all marked improved. Three months later I began employing the same dietary techniques with my patients. The results when followed correctly, are always the same. I have taken the best of Enter the Zone by Barry Sears, Ph.D., Protein Power by Michael and Mary Dan Eades, MD and Dr. Atkins Diet Revolution by Robert Atkins, MD to formulate a plan for life that anyone can follow. Not only is this done with no medicines, but also, often medicines for high blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol needed to be adjusted downward.
This is a "Made Easy" book. My intent was to give the reader everything needed in the least time. To that end, the must read parts are in bold print. I have also made lists of essential important points. You can get started quickly with these convenient aides. Most readers find my personal experiences and insights helpful and encouraging.
If your are in a hurry to get started, skim through the book first. Read all the bold print and all the material in the lists. This will safely get you started. After you have begun, you can go back and learn the finer points of adopting this amazingly empowering new life style. For more information on these subjects and for recipes, please see the reference section at the end of the book.
The Corpus Christi Better Health Institute
Robert J. Bolster, MD, MS
5833 Spohn Drive
Corpus Christi, Texas 78414
Tel: (512) 993 4226 Fax: (512) 985-9714
email: goodhlth@flash.net
Dear Doctor,
Your patient, _________________ has just enrolled in the Low Carbs Made Easy program for life enhancement through dietary control of hormonal responses. This is a powerful program for weight reduction that is based on the simple principle that all carbohydrates, one of the three dietary energy forms, are sugars. The body responds to these sugars by secreting insulin to mediate the storage of that particular energy form. It is speculated that more than 75% of the overweight American population are obese because of excess insulin production. This excess insulin has astounding affects on the body.
Sincerely,
This is a very exciting time for the neuro-hormonal mind body connection understandings. The science is absolutely fascinating! This book is not about the science. Dr. Eads and Dr. Sears have done wonderful jobs at delineating that. This is where the science hits the roads. This is an owners manual. It is not a technical manual.
We have come to understand much about the opiate like substances that we produce in our own brains and the receptors they stimulate. We know about the vasoactive subtances in the brain with blood vessels' intricate relationships with the nerve cells and how to stop migraine headaches in thier tracks. We understand and can treat the chemical imbalances that result in clinical depression, obsessive compulsive, disorders and panic disorders. We are coming to understand the deficiencies related Alzheimer's dementia and are coming close to finding ways to treat and prevent that awful slow degrading disease. We have CAT scanners, MRI"s and PET scanners that igve us more information about brain and neuronal sturcture and function than we could only dream about or see on Star Trek just thirty years ago. We are coming to understand about stimulators and inhibitors that not only are at work in the brain but throughout the boyd. We are learning about prostaglandins, eicosanoids and other chemical transmitters and enzymes and thier amazing inter-relations with the hormonal and nervous systems. The low carbohydrate diet plan is a product of these great strides in medicine. It is my personal experience that our feelings, drives, appetites are perceived needs can change by altering our brain chemistry. The food we eat alters our body's hormones and those hormones can affect our brain chemistry. My assertion is as Barry Sears, Ph.D., asserts, all food must be considered as is medicine as much as it is nutrition. Every food you eat has an affect, good or bad, on your hormones. These have far reaching effects throughout the boyd. It is this new understandg of these connections that enables us to now change our diet and not only change the chemical composition of our blood and tissue fluids but other hormones and even the neurotransmitters in our brains.
This is a dietary life style change. For some with a weight problem, the problem might be more than genetics. For most, the genetics are there but there may be more. For some, their physical condition allows only a sedentary lifestyle. Asthmatics sometimes get into a vicious cycle with shortness of breath leading to inactivity and boredom leading to compulsive eating and weight gain and on and on. Others are so debilitated by their arthritis or back injury or whatever, that they hurt every time they try to get some exercise. These are only likely to be part of their weight problem. There is medical help for these individuals. There are some great new medicines and some wonderful old medicines for both asthma and arthritis. Now, we also understand more about the chemistry of their obesity. I used to take a portable aerosol machine on scout campouts so that one asthmatic young man could participate. There are amazing things that physical therapy people can do to get the pain suffers going usually making their pain circumstances better from even the pre-exercise pain level. Exercise in the pool is remarkable for some folks.
Sometimes we over eat because of habits we grew up with. My brother could never figure out why every time he visited our parents at the house we all grew up in, the first thing he did was to go to the refrigerator. Just a habit? Perhaps. If part of your weight problem has to do with emotional problems, or just a habit, the "low carb plan" may only be a part of what you need. It will take the pounds and inches off. It will definitely give you some control over your life that you might have never thought was possible. That in turn makes one feel much better about themselves. However, the "low carb plan" may not address some other emotional needs. If there is an accompanying chemical imbalance resulting in a clinical depression, that needs to be addressed with medication and/or counseling. Chemical dependence issues need to be addressed. Old issues of abuse and neglect do not usually just go away.
If there are emotional issues and social issues hindering good nutrition, any dietary plan is likely to have only limited success. Make no mistake about it our emotions can sabotage the best plans we can make. People who need to address chemical addictions, past abuse experiences, dysfunctional family experiences, etc. must do so. This may be done through professional counseling, self help and support groups such as AA, NA, OA, Alanon, ACA, personal or organized religious study and practice and/or meditation practices. Diet is an excellent adjunct to all those efforts. If a person eats because they are nervous, upset, angry, hurt, bored, or whatever, any diet may only be marginally helpful by itself. On the other hand, if an individual has any of the above because of the hormonal imbalance of the poor nutrition of too many carbohydrates, than the diet will do more than lose weight, improve cholesterol, triglycerides, diabetes control and blood pressure control. It will alleviate those symptoms that are resulting from the neuro-hormonal imbalance.