I started this journey kicking and screaming.
As many men in their mid-to-late 30’s, my body was starting to slow down. My shirt sizes were getting larger and I found myself needing to add more holes in my belt. My energy levels felt flat and so did I. I really felt that the best days were behind me.
My wife, Yvonne, had been trying for years to find a sustainable way for us to eat better and keep excess weight off. We were sick of yo-yoing through weight-loss/weight-gain cycles. We were good at dropping weight and even better at rebounding (and then some!).
Yvonne had found this online community that was into “low carb high fat” and she was constantly in my ear about this. I was a bit shocked when she first told me about it. You see, Yvonne and I are both from the world of healthcare. She is a nurse with extensive post-graduate qualifications and I am a pharmacist working in the pharmaceutical industry following the “evidence”. Low carb high fat was contrary to everything that I knew to be right up to that point. Let me explain.
The food pyramid was adopted and accepted by the medical community as the ideal way of eating to maintain a healthy weight (and most importantly a healthy “inside” – your heart, blood vessels and more). The widest part of the pyramid (i.e.: the bit that you’re meant to eat the most of) is loaded with carbs, grains etc. Towards the top are foods high in fat. As a society, we have had over 30 years of medical associations and dietary associations telling us that “low fat” was the way to go, that full fat food is a fast way to a heart attack. I’m not going to get to how we got to that point… the internet is full of conspiracy theories (I love a good one!). What I will tell you is that to lower the fat content in food and to keep it palatable, sugar is added.
There is a good and growing body of evidence linking sugar and its co-conspirator, insulin, to a raft of diseases. We will explore those in future posts. What is drastically clear is that the way we are eating today is broken. We live in an age where there is fat-free everything. But at the same time we have record obesity levels. The pharmaceutical industry has made billions of of dollars from diabetes and cholesterol medications. No wonder all research has been focused on combatting the symptoms rather than the cause.
Back to my journey… I ready the data and spoke to my GP (he was shocked and made me do lots of blood tests – they were all fine) and we carefully tracked my progress. 10kg lost in 4 months and I feel great. The journey started over 9 months ago, so it is sustainable.
Yes, I blame my wife for all of this… and I am grateful.
Jack