I really like the work of Professor Brian Peskin, especially “The Hidden Story of Cancer,” in which he shows the underlying cause of most cancer and how to prevent it. He bases his work on the science that’s available, and I find I’m in agreement with him about 90% of the time. I find he rarely gets off point and I value that as unsupported opinion is what has gotten the field of nutrition such a bad name.
Fact: Calories in do not equal calories out. Calories are not the whole story. Your body distinguishes between the carbohydrates, fats, and proteins you consume because each of these groups has a different role, and then it treats each group differently.
Fact: The ‘heat engine’ calorie theory was disproved over a hundred years ago even though most nutritionists and doctors today still think it’s valid. Unfortunately you are not a heat engine, burning everything like coal in a furnace. Food is not only used to produce energy, but also to reproduce you. Every two years you reproduce a new body, that’s a new liver, pancreas, brain, lungs, etc. Some organs reproduce themselves much more quickly. For instance, the digestive tract replaces itself every 10 days to 2 weeks. Food is needed to provide genuine replacement parts – muscles, enzymes, organs, antibodies, etc. – not merely the generation of energy. A fairer comparison would be to compare your body to a chemical factory. Calories are only the measure of potential energy but do not consider what that particular food may be used for by your body beside producing energy, for example as a genuine replacement part.
Fact: In April of 2003, Harvard University found people on a low carbohydrate diet could eat 25,000 more calories over a 12 week study than those on a high carbohydrate (low fat) diet with no weight gain. Astonishing perhaps, but only if you think your body is a ‘heat engine.’ So by now you are figuring me out, and hopefully coming to the obvious conclusion that all foods are not utilized by your body in the same way. Unfortunately, politics and opinion have replaced science in the fields of human health and nutrition, and doctors and nutritionists still quote the ‘calorie theory’ as if it were gospel.
Fact: Portion control is only a small player in the attempt to bring weight under control and then maintain that healthy weight. Eating the wrong foods will make you fat, tired, irritable, hungry all the time, and eventually sick. Eating the right foods allows the body to lose weight efficiently, become more energetic, have more stable moods, and contributes to regaining your health.
Fact: Almost every patient that presents in my office is addicted to carbohydrates. All carbohydrates break down to sugar, and sugar is killing more people in the industrialized world than the other two deadly white powders, cocaine and heroine combined. On the latter you die with a syringe in your arm, and on the former you die of the ravages of diabetes, heart disease and cancer. I appreciate my addicted patients because I used to be one myself. To break the addiction takes a little knowledge, a lot of desire, and an intelligent diet loaded with genuine replacement parts.
Fact: Your body must have genuine replacement parts. Genuine replacement parts are proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals. These are considered essential. Without the right amount of each in the correct balance, we become sick and eventually die. There are no essential carbohydrates.
I told you about the importance of protein in the February 2009 Newsletter. The article was entitled Protein Is Our Most Misunderstood Food.
I told you about the importance of fat in the March 2009 Newsletter. The article was entitled The Importance Of Fat… And The Misinformation Surrounding It.
I told you about the comparative unimportance of carbohydrates in the April 2009 Newsletter in an article entitled Carbohydrates, the Third Article In A Series On Eating A Healthy Diet.
I suggest you access the above articles, copy them and put them in a notebook. If you follow these instructions you will begin to break your sugar addiction and start on a path to better health.
