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True Forgivness - article Let's Be Thankful - article What Keeps Us from Blessings -article Secret Power of Being Thankful - article Life is better when you find companionship Ask questions, listen to answers Hope sees what faith will produce Should innocent party be punished? Are you sabotaging yourself? Have we covered up idolatry in our lives? Survival tactics for spiritual growth Get free by changing what you think Writers respond to "Divorced People Bad Risk" Exactly what does she mean by "secure"? Make a list of what you want in a partner What if "Love" makes you sick? Can your relationship pass the test? The beginning and the end of all love stories Toxic faith, new area of treatment Finding God's plan and purpose "Divorced people are a bad risk" Loneliness may open door to abuse Even if people reject you, God will not The glory is a revelation of Jesus What is being a doer of the Word? We change our lives with words Is your low-fat diet working for you? Who do you say Jesus is? It's dangerous to be foolish Give thanks with a grateful heart The sacrifice of thanksgiving God had antidote for depression Will He be able to say "Well done"?
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Did I ever lose that 15 pounds I needed to lose? No. But I attributed this failure to what seemed like an uncontrollable appetite. For me a serving of spaghetti was half the box or maybe the whole box. And my night time high carbohydrate eating seemed out of control. It was like an addiction. My appetite was being fueled by something other than my own will.
But, I reasoned, I must be okay with my cholesterol because after all, I'd been eating low fat for years. Again - no. When I went for a cholesterol test recently my cholesterol was 299 and my triglycerides 480, well over the danger level.
The doctor I see once a year had recommended a diet book to one of my relatives. He and his wife had themselves been on the diet for a year or more, the doctor said. As I began to read the book and all the scientific studies the authors reported to back up their recommendations, I began to see my situation more clearly.
My compulsion to eat was being fueled by the insulin released into my blood stream by the high carbohydrate diet I had been consuming, believing I was doing myself a favor. For my particular body chemistry it was possibly the worst thing I could have done.
The book the doctor recommended is Protein Power by Michael R. Eades, M.D., and Mary Dan Eades, MD.
The true culprit in many of the diseases of civilization, the authors conclude, is hyperinsulinemia, a condition where it takes more and more insulin released into your blood stream to keep your blood sugar normal. A companion problem, insulin resistance, means that the insulin receptors no longer respond properly, resulting in the higher levels of insulin needed in the bloodstream.
"It is the sustained elevated insulin levels -hyperinsulinemia - that lead to the high blood pressure, cholesterol elevation, diabetes, and excess weight of midlife," the authors say.
One chapter in particular in the Eades book is fascinating. It's called "Overcoming the Curse of the Mummies." The Egyptians were farmers and subsisted mainly on fruits and vegetables and whole grains, very little red meat, and limited amounts of fish and poultry, the same low fat diet promoted today by many physicians as healthful.
Medical scientists have analyzed many of the mummified remains and have concluded from that analysis as well as a study of the papyrus chronicles that cardiovascular disease was extensive among the ancient Egyptians, just the opposite of what one might expect from the diet they consumed. The Egyptian populace was "rife with disabling dental problems, fat bellies, and crippling heart disease," say the Eades.
The basic diet promoted in Protein Power as empowering you to take control of your health again is moderate protein, moderate fat and consists of meat, eggs, cheese and other dairy products and a strict limitation of carbohydrate grams, no more than 30 grams per day during the first phase of the diet.
Most people with high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol will find their readings normalized or greatly improved within three weeks or less if the diet is followed, the authors promise. Weight loss is more gradual because fat has to be burned and that takes time. But an increase in lean body mass and a reduction in size and in body fat are special rewards of the low carbohydrate way of eating.
Many people will recognize this plan as the Atkins diet promoted for decades by Dr. Robert C. Atkins, and written off as heresy by many proponents of low fat eating.
The bottom line is this. Does it work? If your health is better eating low fat, high carbohydrates and your weight, your blood pressure, and your blood readings are normal, by all means continue to eat this way.
But if you still can't get control of your health on a low-fat diet without blood pressure medicine and maybe even cholesterol lowering drugs, it would be good to look at another way of eating, described by the Eades in their book Protein Power and by Dr. Robert C. Atkins in his book Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution. Both these books are available in paperback from your local bookstore.
Either book will give you the details of this adequate protein, moderate fat, no hunger way of eating. I would recommend you get both books.
As for me, I've been on the protein diet for a month. No big change so far on the scale, but my blood pressure is definitely lower. And in another few weeks, I'll have the cholesterol checked again. I'll let you know.
(original printing June '98)
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Note: When I followed this diet for 8 weeks, my cholesterol dropped 30 points and my triglycerides went from 480 to 99, although I didn't lose any weight.
My daughter lost 30 pounds on this diet with little discomfort, even though, like me, she is a pasta addict, now reformed.
Always check with your doctor before making any great changes in your diet. The low carb way of eating is growing in popularity, but it may be difficult to find a doctor who would recommend it, unless he or she has tried it themselves.
From Singles Scene/Spirit & Life
Copyright © Singles Scene/Spirit & Life, 2009