In preparing for the lectures on weight loss, I had to look into the use of fad diets. So many people have tried the Pritkin, Atkins and South Beach diets. The concepts are very novel but in the end, when the human body is presented with an extreme of conditions in environment or food intake, it will stabilize and adapt. If no other option is given to the body and it believes there is no good food to eat, it will slow down. (reset its own basal metabolic rate and make you gain weight or get frustrated by giving you a short temper) Remember that old commercial from the 70's..."you can't fool mother nature!"
I know the first few months of a new diet are great. The body hasnt figured how to adapt to the loss of food for hunting and it burns off all remaining calories from storage places like the love handles, the beer belly, the arm fat, the buttocks. Eventually though, no further fat to burn off or brain gets way to tired of not having any energy to function and it will make you "hunt" and there goes your diet! Most studies show that at 12-18 months, most people will blow the diet. There was a 4 pound weight loss for most people that participated but is this good for a year and a half of suffering? Not to mention that the cholesterol levels will usually shoot up during the diet phase. I recently was contacted by and old patient and he wondered if the Atkins was good and I told him what I thought. I said if he was going to try it, reevaluate at the 4 month mark and add an exercise program to it so he can loosen up on the strict carb cutting. He should make it until then. I did suggest omega 3 and a multivitamin. I will help him adjust the caloric intake in 4 months to make up the difference of his exercise. I would probably shift him to more of an antiiflammatory diet and try to bring down his cholesterol with red yeast rice and co q10. Then we reassess in the fall and prepare for the winter in Chicago. I always believe small portions and small goals are easier to achieve. But the applications that work for me might not work for others....this is why everyone has a different approach in my eyes. This is the "Saguil Approach".
