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Stories“I was constantly fatigued and eating”
Before and after
I received an email with Paul’s story about how he was tired and overweight. Here’s what happened when he found LCHF:
The Email
Andreas,
I started with LCHF on April 4 of 2012, so it’s been 2 years and 10 days. What can I say, besides I had a huge stomach and a difficult time going up flights of stairs. I had serious gout attacks, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and skyrocketing triglycerides. I was constantly fatigued and eating.
I went to a physician and was given 7 different kinds of medicine to take. Of course, I instinctively knew that taking meds wasn’t going to cure me; I knew I needed to change what I was eating- but I didn’t know what to eat. I didn’t want to weigh food, count calories; play that game. So, I started researching and found “The Food Evolution” online as well as “The Bitter Truth”, Dr. Lustig. It became absolutely clear to me that carbs were the problem.
I planned one day; eggs, cream, bacon, cheese, salads, steak… I wasn’t hungry. I got more help with meals from Maria Emmerich. I went from a size 40 pant down to a 32. My younger look returned to me. Whenever I consider going back to carbs I take a 2-second look in the mirror and grab a slice of bacon… No pills, my cholesterol/triglycerides went down, blood pressure is great; my entire body corrected itself. More energy, more clarity in my thinking, my skin is perfect – no acne or pimples ever. Others that watched me lose also went on LCHF with the same results.
Comment
Congratulations on your health and weight improvements! Great that others were inspired by your results!
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PS
Do you have a success story you want to share on this blog? Send it (photos appreciated) to andreas@dietdoctor.com, and please let me know if it’s OK to publish your photo and name or if you’d rather remain anonymous.
Your story will encourage a loved one of mine who is struggling with obesity and has just started LCHF. Thanks!
"Others that watched me lose also went on LCHF with the same results.". The same here: a couple of friends (one of them a T2D) and my wife saw my radical change with lchf and they made lchf their way of eating. At least now they know there is a solution.
I wish the very first question doctors asked patients were: "What do you eat and drink?". The standard seems to be to pull out the prescription block and send the patient off with yet another pill to suppress symptom X, Y or Z, even if the patient is open to lifestyle changes and would've accepted sound advice gladly. Maybe this is driven by a perceived demand for quick fixes, but I have yet to come across a doctor that openly discusses nutrition first and then, only if things don't improve after giving things sufficient time to adapt, suggests to use pharmaceuticals. Some of them even openly deny that nutrition has "anything to do with it". And in one case I got such an answer so quickly, that the doc (an endocrinologist, who really should have known better) had absolutely no time to think about it. It was an automatic reply it seems. Suffice to say that my respect for that person dropped instantly.
Robert, your remark about doctors asking their patients what they eat is right on the mark. None of the conventional physicians I spoke with had a clue about looking into nutritional causes. Not one.
@Tyranocaster
I have to say you are right. Thirty years ago, when I went through Medical school, we covered nutrition in one single afternoon:"get rid of the darn thing and move on to more important stuff". I would have hoped things would have gotten better with passing years. They have not. Nutrition (even "useless" main stream nutrition) is paid lip service in medical school. And it is not only medical education: there is a strong feeling among my colleagues that nutrition is a waste of time. I am just finishing a course in tropical medicine and the grain-based diet of many third world countries affects very negatively many diseases because of the massive lack of nutrients of these diets. We were given an excellent lecture about that very subject. It was very badly received and most of the 110 people in the class (I was, as far as I can see, the only exception) bitterly complained about this "useless" course.
We have a long ways to go before mainstream medicine truly opens to nutrition and even more before LCHF becomes the reference diet. This being said, websites like this one are essential. it is going to be a bumpy road, but the trip is worth it. The science is there. We who have had success with this way of eating must share this success with others, until we hit a critical mass.
Paul, perhaps you lost the weight because you shaved off your beard and mustache! (LOL)
I have gone on and off on low carb, but have not taken seriously until now. I gave birth to my 3rd child a year ago, and my fasting blood sugar is on the pre-diabetic level, my weight is closed to my full term pregnancy weight even though I am not pregnant!! I have read every main book on low carb, high fat nutrition and fully understand its benefits and I know unequivocally this is what I must do to gain my health and be here for my children a little longer. I'm on day 5 and I can tell you the first thing I notice on low carb, high fat is clear thinking! in fact, I've come up with some brilliant ideas at time while on low LCHF. I'm getting this clarity back. I know I need to respect myself and my body and that is the basis of continuing on my journey to better health. Funny thing, as I get older, it becomes more about health than weight, but I know LCHF is the key to both. All the best to all of us who get up everyday and take one more step forward.
Dee, what a scary episode of almost fainting! I wonder were you having high fat when you went low carb? I recommend reading the dos and don't on this wonderful page and perhaps Dr. Andreas could chime in from a medical perspective as to your fainting feelings on Low carb and other medical issues. I do think Wheat and fruit are very bad when trying to heal your body and I am sure Metformin is not so good for IBS either as it also hard on your liver. So I would say no to fruit and any kind of wheat and certainly Yes to High quality fats (see doctor's page on what to have) All the best and I know it is never too late to make changes. Big hug to everyone! to you health!
Thanks for asking, though I wrote my text in a public forum. I took a look at your blog. I stand by what I said. My colleagues know very well my opinion. I'd appreciate, though, if you would maybe avoid some of the rather crude pictures you sometimes include (not that I'm prude, but I'd pass on a few very graphic pictures)...
Thanks.
The only bread I eat is coconut flax seed bread that I make myself from a recipe in The Fat Fast Cookbook by Dana Carpender.
Low-carb is a no-hunger diet--just snack on meat, a bit of hard cheese, carb-free gelatin or pork rinds when you're hungry.
May I suggest The New Atkins for a New You for detailed info and, if you don't mind bathroom humor, The Meat Fix: How a Lifetime of Healthy Eating Nearly Killed Me by John Nicholson, former IBS sufferer.
I honestly don't think the problem is that doctors don't ask about your diet. The problem is that most of them have little idea of what constitutes a good diet. Last time I visited my doctor she asked me what I ate and when I mentioned that I consumed a lot of saturated fat she told me that I was in danger and should immediately stop, and start taking statins.
"XYZ is not good, take this pill and come back in 4 weeks if it doesn't get any better."
Sound familiar?
Did you continue the conversation with your doctor in anyway? It would appear Big Pharma really have the establishment tied up good and tight.
Gents, please also remember that - at least here in the US - many (I mean, many, many) physicians have to follow guidelines, including those for cholesterol and statin prescription even if they absolutely make no sense whatsoever for their income will be slashed if they do not. When their income is in jeopardy, many do not hesitate and go with the flow. There are few Malcolm Kendrick and John Briffa in the world. Unfortunately.
And to avoid the liability issues, the doctor must tell his patient that according to the guidelines he is supposed to prescribe medication X for condition Y, even if it is clear that other courses of action are as effective or even better (e.g. LCHF vs. compensating carbs with insulin shots). Then the well-informed patient is asked to make up his own mind and sign a disclaimer (possibly + signature of 1 or 2 witnesses) in case he rejected the drug-only treatment. Once that malpractice / guideline issue is out of the way, the doc should be free to support the patient as best as he can.
Nowadays I see docs as paid-for consultants, whom I "hire" to restore / improve my health. I'm the captain of the ship and ask for evidence-based advice, not some proven-to-be-wrong dogma that was cooked up by a committee 50 years ago.
For those interested in informed consent and pertinently in the context of a low carb medical practice please consider this:
http://www.carbohydratescankill.com/3253/78-attorney-steve-shoulberg-...
It's a talk I did with a low carb physician, Robert Su, MD which he posted as a podcast. (Su tacked on Carlson's comments at the end of our talk; that was Su's idea.)
@ Steven Shoulberg
I side with Murray in that medical professional Colleges have strictly no sense of humor and tend to rely heavily on the opinions of "experts", many of whom are paid by the industry. Not long ago, a dietitian complained to the physician's professional college in Sweden about one of the most prominent LCHF physicians in that country (sorry, I forgot her name) for her use of the LCHF diet. In the end, after a good review of the scientific data, it was concluded that the physician had practiced according to the highest medical standards. She was nevertheless brought to a professional court. It will take a few of these unfortunate events before LCHF becomes mainstream and is accepted.
I still believe LCHF is the way to go and I have recommended LCHF to many patients (mainly diabetes, pre-diabetes, metabolic syndrome and obesity) with great success. I have not had a complaint yet and since I keep a thick file of up to date references, I am ready to back up my recommendations with serious up-to-date science... But I feel the pain of many colleagues who hesitate to do so.
This is where sites like this one and others (authoritynutrition.com for example) are useful for patients so they can educate their physicians. I like the way Robert puts it: "I see docs as paid-for consultants, whom I "hire" to restore / improve my health. I'm the captain of the ship and ask for evidence-based advice, not some proven-to-be-wrong dogma that was cooked up by a committee 50 years ago."
But please do remember that what is regurgitated as "evidence-based" oftentimes is only based on "expert" interpretation of biaised studies and most physicians do not have the biostatistical knowledge to find out what is true evidence and what is not.
So please do your homework and read for yourself. Bring this evidence to your doctor (he's your consultant after all) and discuss. If he is honest and open-minded, you should have a very ineresting and intelligent discussion. If he closes the door to any intelligent discussion and gives you the painful "I'm the doctor, how dare you question my professional advice", I suggest you look for someone else. Once a moron, always a moron.