I get it: we want to lose weight. But at what price? If you knew the dangers
associated with these popular diets, you would run for cover.
Who in their right mind would want to stick around with all these risks?
Lowcarb diets are a thing of the past because insulin is not the only hormone in
play when it comes to weight loss. Your metabolism is controlled by other
hormones. You have to support your whole metabolism, not wreck it.
Weight Gain Is Not about Calories
Today, we have a greater understanding of the role hormones play when it comes
to metabolism, health, and weight. The bottom line is that low-fat and lowcarb
diets failed us because they disturbed our hormones. Hormones are affected by
everything you eat, whether it’s fat, carbs, or protein. Your lifestyle, stress, and
exercise play a role too. It happened to me in the past.
In my twenties, I was in perfect shape. Then came the big 3-0 and I gained 40
pounds in less than two years during my residency. I didn’t understand how this
happened since I really watched my calories. I look at my pictures now, and I
know it wasn’t pretty. At the time, I figured it all had to do with the fact that I
worked 80 hours a week and exercised less than I used to. I couldn’t do a thing
to change my lifestyle because I worked 36-hour shifts every other day in the
hospital, then went home to study.
Residency is like being jet lagged for years. I stayed awake during nights in
the hospital by drinking coffee and sometimes eating a chocolate bar to give me
energy. At home, I didn’t cook; I ate TV dinners. I treated all food as calories,
just like experts tell us. Who was I to question their knowledge at this early stage
in my life? But now looking back, I realized why I easily gained weight. My
hormonal balance was disturbed. My body was not able to cope with all the
abuse inflicted on it with such tremendous stress combined with my poor eating
habits. The pressures of residency probably raised my cortisol, the stress
hormone, to the max, and that made me fat. Lack of sleep for years messed up
my growth hormone, since it is secreted at night. Growth hormone is a fat-
burning hormone that puts the brakes on insulin, the fatstoring hormone. Did I
eat right to control insulin? Of course not. In fact, I raised my insulin level with
my excessive coffee consumption and by eating bad foods such as sweets and
frozen dinners. No wonder I gained weight.
Too Much Processed Food in our Diet
It’s not just sugar, polyunsaturated oils, and trans fats that made us sick. Our diet