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Lesson One in Twelve 15 Minute Topics.

6/ Dr. Weston Price Identified the Problem

Eating a Poor Diet is Very Common

I (John Veitch) traveled to and from a health conference, by bus over a week (8 trips). All of the bus drivers were obese, two grossly obese. One driver told me that type 2 diabetes was normal for bus drivers, and that all his associates had it. "Nothing can be done unless I lose weight, and I've tried. You don't get much exercise doing this job."

Two points here: One, if you are obese you should not try to walk or run to lose weight. You'll do damage to your joints, and the effect on weight loss will be close to zero anyhow. The Swedish Experts Committee told us that clearly twenty years ago.

Exercise is important to good health, but it's not an effective tool for weight loss.

Second, eating less is not a sensible way to lose weight. You simply get hungry, and while for a few days, of a few weeks you might put up with that, eventually you'll give up.

The popular idea that you need to make a balance between calories in and calories out, by either controlling what you eat, or by exercising more, is nonsense. The fact that many scientific researchers and doctors still believe that, doesn't make it valid.

Your body is not a machine. Definitive proof of that, is in the Women's Health Initiative. (See below) Eight years of eating 350 calories a day less than required for maintenance, created in almost no weight loss at all.

To effectively loose weight forever, you need to eat in a way that ensures that you NEVER feel hungry. If you eat a Banting diet, or a very low carbohydrate diet, with quite a lot of fat, hunger vanishes and the weight will fall away. (Intermittent but regular fasting is a helpful habit too.)

At the Conference I Spoke to Several People About Health

A Paleo Diet Convert

One woman and her husband were both obese. She was very open and approachable. I asked her if weight loss was one of her objectives. "Yes" she said, "But I'm on top of that, I've already lost over 30kg." That took me back a bit.

So, I'm interested, and I asked what's the secret? A Paleo diet, low carbohydrate and high fat. She's got it. The Paleo description is a question mark, it depends who your expert source is. LCHF is right, but once again some people have better knowledge than others.

Here's the problem. She knows the right words. She has had some success, a great deal of success, with the knowledge she has. Because she "KNOWS" it's difficult for me to help and for her to imagine that she might need help. I'll be interested to find out what the next year brings. She can easily lose another 20kg, and I hope she does.

A Weston Price Identifies a Problem

Weston Price was an American dentist who saw how in his professional life, the dental health of Americans declined. In his retirement he travelled to world looking for groups who still ate a healthy diet. In his view the quality of the teeth and the shape of the jaw immediately tells you if that person has been eating a healthy diet. He found many groups in less developed places like the Pacific Islands and NZ Maori who had those features, in the 1940's. None of those groups were in modern communities and none of them were vegetarians.

I have met several Maori and Pacific people who were obese, but were also very well aware that Weston Price was full of praise for Pacific Island and NZ Maori people, for the quality of their diet. But they can't imagine how to eat their traditional diet in today's world.

What Grandma Knew

One woman in particular explained that she eats the diet her grandparents ate, exactly the diet that Weston Price recommended. "My diet is excellent," she says. I can tell by looking at her, that her diet is far from excellent. But if that's what she thinks, there's no room for me to offer her any help.

(4 minutes)

Published by:Newshub - 17 Oct, 2017

People quickly put up walls against dietary advice. Each person has his or her own life experience. Everyone knows what a healthy diet is. Except that if more than 80% of us have weight problems, perhaps we don't really know at all. We all know what we've been told for the last 70 years. That's the diet that failed in the very carefully designed and recorded Women's Health Initiative.

The Women's Health Initiative

This study is very important. It proves that a low-fat diet is not heart protective, and benefits for stroke, breast cancer and colon cancer were not found. Worse, it makes some cancers more likely. The diets of 19,000 women were carefully monitored. They did as they were told, right to the end, when the study was suddenly terminated (because of these bad results). They were told to eat less fat, and increase the consumption of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. They were told to reduce the cholesterol in their diets. They ate just a little less each day than they might have wanted. The diet was planned to be 350 calories a day short, so gradual weight loss of about 14 kg a year would occur. That didn't happen. The body simply down-regulated to make up for the energy short-fall, and the weight remained much the same.

A Busy Young Professional

This woman was complaining about her lack of fitness. I asked if she would like to lose some weight? Immediately the defensive walls went up. I'm OK, I have a personal trainer. I've lost 6kg in the last year. I'm happy.

I've heard that story before. The personal trainer might be very good, at improving strength, aerobic performance, and flexibility. But none of that resolves the poor diet problem. Poor diet is CAUSED by poor knowledge, often the knowledge the person involved thinks is the key to "good health."

What do you understand from this short lesson?

To search the Open Future Health website to find similar content. Choose 2 or 3 Keywords according to your interest.
Search multiple words like: "wordone+wordtwo+wordthree".

In Google, search multiple words like: "wordone+wordtwo+wordthree"

You can use Google here.       

Alternatively ask Chat GP. Suggested prompt in natural language: "Briefly: I understand that (insert your own words here), is that a sensible view?"

You can use Chat GP here.

Keep a brief record of what you have now understood.

Write a short note for yourself, in a document, or in a journal, so that you have a record of what you have understood.

Next Topic: 7/ Obesity "Everywhere" is a Visible Indicator of Poor Health

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