DoingTheCaveman

Bariatric surgery could be good for type II diabetics - not for me

Interesting, diabetes could be cured by bariatric surgery

Just a quickie, my thoughts on the above article.

I intended to post one day about bariatric surgery.  I did consider it briefly but eventually decided it wasn't for me. 

In relation to a potential diabetic cure personally I think that changing part of the anatomy in order to affect the sugar absoption issues, like pill popping, isn't addressing the underlying issue -- how the excess sugar got there in the first place. 

Note also that as the article says the gastric band doesn't cure diabetes it's the weight-loss that does that.

Clinical studies have shown that procedures that simply restrict the stomach's size (i.e., gastric banding) improve diabetes only by inducing massive weight loss.

Personally, when it I did toy with the idea of this surgery I decided that since it's basically about inducing someone to eat less I should be able to do this myself without having to take that incredibly brave decision to turn to irreversible surgery. 

It's interesting to see that surgery could in the future be offered to diabetics, although I hope that something so invasive wouldn't be dished out too hastily.   

I do recognise that surgery has to be done as a last resort but personally I've always hankered after a retreat from daily living  - a desert island or isolating experience with no phones, no shops.  Wouldn't this could have the same effect be far more enjoyable than painful surgery.

The happy dance

First off... your missing inch AND recent diabetes related good news are both really, really big developments. No need to downplay them, dear... I say well done, you! Even if you won't, I'm jumping up and down on your behalf!

Thanks Jennifer for this comment.  I'm not, really I'm not - I have been doing that 'happy dance' all weekend.

See...

***Doing the happy dance****Doing the happy dance***Doing the happy dance***

This entry is dedicated to anyone whose weight has triggered a serious health problem.  Mine, diabetes is a progressive disease, but these changing results are testament to the fact that you should never write yourself off.  It should never be too late. 

My own weight gain is probably only half as bad as for some, but I guess because underneath I'm quite petite, my body was overwhelmed and the health problems had begun to stack up.

(i) PCOS, (ii) several really bad episodes of cholecystitis and a couple of hospitalizations (leading to cholecystectomy (gall bladder removal)). I was fair and fat but certainly not 40. I was 26 at the time. (iii) diabetes, (iv) hypertension, (v) finally totally deranged liver function tests.

As I said before all that was left was the stroke or heart attack. Apart from that, it wasn't the greatest or most dignified experience being an in-patient with a ward of confused OAPs.

I have to say not only was it the threat of insulin, but those LFTs that were the straw that broke the camels back; the fact that my liver was turning into fois gras, yuck, was pretty scary and particularly shocking when you're virtually teetotal.  This is when a sense of urgency *suddenly* hit me.

But as the doctor said to me on Friday a fatty liver, although is a problem associated overweight diabetics IS *completely* reversible with weight loss.  So deranged LFTs, well I can now cross those off too. 

It's great to know that there is a route to get better, better still don't even go there in the first place. I'm on that road now and wherever you are with your weight I am sure if you're on that road you can get better too.  Maybe a little too addictively I'm really enjoying the re-modeling and body-sculpting process, and there's no way, at my age, I'm prepared to accept compromised health any more. 

I really do look forward to seeing other tales of improved health and wellness.

***Doing the happy dance****Doing the happy dance***Doing the happy dance***

The big bad wolf

How many times have I re-joined a huge well known diet organisation, and failed.  Every magazine I picked up, what would I see, yet another inspiration story of a person who'd lost weight with that  brand - but afterall that's their marketing strategy in action.  Without naming it, I sure would know the name of this company, I mean it's probably the biggest *BRAND* in the weight loss industry.  But for every person you see succeeding, what's the betting there's 10 failing. 

Last time I returned I really began to resent the process - was all this *really* necessary! 

Whatever time I turned up, early or late, there was *always* a 45 minute wait to be weighed.  The evening was gone and I no longer had the energy to stay for the class I'd paid for. Would any other good business really expect a valued customer to wait in a 45 minute queue? What does that say about what the company *really* thinks about you. 

That queue, well it's all part of the marketing process.  Don't forget as queue you how pass all those tables of yummy interpretations of products that got you there in the first place; tables of expensive chemical loaded, 0 point  snacks, essential scales and calculators.  Then, perfectly timed for the New Year, their proven formula for weight loss suddenly morphs into a new and improved weight loss plan of, what is essentially exactly the same formula, disguised. 

But you've got to go -- weight loss just won't happen unless you're part of this group.  What a joke...

The diet industry is a treadmill aimed at desperate and therefore vulnerable people. It's a huge wolf in sheep's clothing; caring kind 'counsellors' who, of course, have have their own weight loss story (I don't denigrate that), but then have bought a franchise to earn a bomb, perhaps to claw their money back.  An industry makes jobs, they're not there giving up their nights because they care about you.

I shouldn't really discuss money here, but I've been there ... I've wasted so much money on diets in the past. But when I started to add up what I've spent on diets in the past, finally I saw myself for the pawn I was in the game. How gullible.  Remember that VLCD, well it cost me £40 a week. I repeat more than 3 months at £40 a week.  *Sharp intake of breath*.  How sad. That could have been a wonderful memorable holiday. I've wasted so much of my life with this weight problem and then been manipulated for the pain.

I don't in anyway mean to discount the efforts of anyone puts into a diet and is choosing to go for the support -- but you really shouldn't need to pay to lose weight.  Weight-loss is simply down to personal effort.   You need to work on understanding why you got fat.  You really can't do that if you're replacing what you were eating before with look alike food.

These are my tips:

1. Buy good REAL food, peruse the web; there's some fantastic informative free stuff out there.
2. If you do, therapeutically, feel you have to invest watch out for those Guru's who are *genuinely* interested in nutrition, fitness and health and buy *THEIR* books.
3. Read, learn, absorb everything you can about food and nutrition.  Here's a pointer.  If you want to know why you're fat look into the politics of food, supply and government subsidies (what's the basis of your food and why).
4. Form your own *free* diet support group.
5. Save a little for every pound you lose to invest in rewards and fun activities, along the way and for after you lose weight.  That's what I'm going to do.

The diet industry doesn't want you to lose weight.  That's why it's called diet *industry*.

I'm for the first time starting to lose weight and I'm doing this by turning my back on this industry - yeah - so there - two fingers up to the diet industry.

On the trail of Stevia

Hands up if you've heard of Stevia - possibly not if you reside in the UK. 

I heard of Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni the first time just a few months ago.  It's a naturally growing herb, it has zero calories and doesn't affect blood sugar, therefore apparently is safe for diabetics.  I hear it does have an after taste, but is used widely as a sweeter in Japan. 

There are so many diabetics and people struggling with their weight, surely it's the answer we've all been looking for. Where do I buy it? 

Unfortunately *definitely* not in the UK.

WHY?

On my quest for this herb I dug around some more and found that, although you can purchase it in the USA, apparently it cannot be marketed in a way that would indicates sweetness.... hmmm I see. 

Then I attempted to purchase it here, only to find there was no legal way in the UK and, like a drug, it's illegal even to possess it.  The reasons given, seem to me, to be no more questionable than some of the suggested side effects of aspartame and other sweeteners.

At the end of the day personally I feel frustrated that the informed choice to buy this food product is denied.  Obesity is projected to be entirely the fault of the individual...

• But why has sugar and dubious alternatives found their way into just about every food product? 
• Why are we struggling, hopelessly, to balance sugar and weight? 
• Why do we hear daily news reports of the huge obesity crisis?
• Why is there no stevia marketing campaign?

When there is a natural alternative to satisfy our sweet lust, why is it banned, who really has our interests in mind? 

Cravings - what do you REALLY want?

As I've mentioned before, I was admitted to hospital a couple of years ago following an acute post-holiday illness.  What I didn't say was that on admission the doctors said I was severely malnourished.  Of course, on that occasion the illness had certainly caused this, but the fact that I am now no longer experiencing cravings  and changed diet has made me to take the connection between malnourishment, obesity and cravings far more seriously. 

It's not uncommon knowledge that just because you're obese it doesn't mean you're well nourished. If you eat and you're not providing the nutrients your body requires it constantly cries out for more; you feed your body more empty calories and so the cycle goes on... 

I'm sure this is why my appetite was never previously satiated, all the bad high calorie foods were totally displacing the good.

Now, although many of the foods I eat may be rich in calories they are also rich in the essential nutrients my body requires. I no longer waste time eating empty calories and now when I eat, that's it, I'm truely satisfied. It's more than measuring what calories you put in and then burn off.  I always keep in mind food density and hope that heeding this keeps all my previous cravings at bay.

I believe that contrary to dieting by starving and withholding calories, the key may be actually be feeding my body what it's *really* demanding from me.

Why I started on Man's first diet

It's been bought to my attention that new visitors may be completely bemused as to quite what's involved in the Caveman diet, so this post is just the story about why it's my diet choice.

I'm your usual dieting veteran, I've re-joined WW more times than I have fingers (& toes), Slimming world, Very Low Calorie Liquid Diet (medically monitored 400 cals a day); the Cabbage Soup Diet; The Grapefruit and Egg diet; Hay Diet; Atkins and the Greek diet.  BTW I love the Greek/Mediterranean diet (for taste and healthiness), but I didn't lose weight.  Finally, at the beginning of last year I finally went on a medically monitored weight loss diet, with the institution of this both my weight and diabetic control rocketed out of control.

Since I was gradully ticking through a list of weight related medical problems it looked like the next on the list were the biggies, it definitely was time to re-evaluate.

After all the above diet failures I instinctively didn't feel that paying out for another mainstream diet (ones that I'd already repeatedly failed before) was not going to be the answer, for me.  Then I had the most awful and patronizing doctor's appointment, one that left me in tears (I DON'T BELIEVE YOU DIET, YOU'RE GREEDY AND YOU EAT TOO MUCH - yes he did say that to me). The bottom line was, you need to lose weight otherwise you will be starting insulin, and soon .  So, if you know anything about diabetes and you're overweight that's very bad news - insulin will make you gain weight. 

I was an emotional wreck that week.  On the Friday before my grandmother (who had been suffering for a long time) fell ill and they said she wouldn't last the w/e,  Sunday was my birthday and obviously didn't want it to happen that day, Tuesday was the hospital appointment and my grandmother died that Friday.

BUT, that week was also the turning point.  An article was published, a diabetic study on the benefits of Caveman diet. It compared a group on the Caveman diet and a group on the Mediterranean diet.  At the end of the study the blood sugar of those on the Caveman diet had dropped significantly compared to those on the Mediterranean diet.  Secondary to that, the group on the Caveman diet also lost a significant amount of weight. 

When I chose to go onto this diet it as much for getting a grip on the blood sugar issues as it was about weight. 

There was also an element of distrust, I mean I've followed all the prescribed diets, trusted the packaging, counted the calories, taken every bit of advice I could, but for my efforts I simply got fatter and fatter and fatter......

*Light-bulb moment* I was simply expecting too much from my body and it obviously wasn't coping.  I believe I had a false sense of the quantities I should be eating, and additionally I wasn't in control of what I was eating; much of it was canteen, packaged or ready made, or if it had a low calorie count that was good enough for me.  So I concluded that if I took all the extras out the equation (all the man made foods) my body would have the opportunity to be able to work in the way it was designed. 

Why should I expect my body to understand and process foods that aren't natural?  It was time for me to get back into the driving seat take back control of everything I ate.

'A wise man ought to realize that health is his most valuable possession and learn how to treat his illnesses by his own judgment.  Hippocrates

Anyway that's just my little story as to how I've arrived at this lifestyle change.  It may some appear to be a faddy diet but I've read around it and started to follow it after a great deal of consideration. I've experienced a lot of physical changes not just to the diabetes, but also to my gums, my blood pressure, my gums. Heck, even my fat has changed (ie where's the cellulite gone).  It feels right and sustainable (for me) but it has entailed lifestyle changes that may not suit everyone.  It's working for me and I believe it's the healthiest choice for me.

I've gabbed on for far too long now so I'm going to have to save exactly what the diet entails to a future entry, for anyone who's interest a past entry regarding the rules is posted here.

Goodbye Brighton

Firstly I'd like wish anyone passing by best wishes and your very good health for 2008.

This year I resolve not to make any New Year Resolutions.  Voila, nothing to fail. Although, 2008 is going to signify quite a complete lifestyle overhaul that will help my weight loss endeavor.

When you examine your life there comes a time when you may have to admit when you're simply not happy.  I've been thinking about where I am for some time, what I'm achieving (or rather not achieving) and there are areas that need refinement. Now it's time to take action.  Some of those things I won't bore you with right now, what  I'm concentrating on is work and location. 

It's scary as generally things are OK and you could just plod on; I love my job, and I live in a beautiful corner of England (South Coast of England, nr Brighton) and although beautiful it is probably one of the most expensive places in the UK to live.  It's great to be so convenient to be near London - that is - if you need to be and I don't!  Local salaries do not support the cost of living here, so I'M OFF (fingers crossed). 

What's wrong:  I guess the usual stresses - a long, long commute, or camping out during the week, full time job and additional self-employed work most evenings.  This time poverty is my biggest gripe, as I'm sure anyone reading this can relate to. 

TIME POVERTY = STRESS. 

STRESS = CORTISOL = FAT.

Addressing the issue of being time poor can only benefit my weight loss - more time for exercise, be with friends and family, plan meals and eat correctly! 

The solution: Perfectly timed for the New Year last week I was very pleased  to accept an offer on my home.  The plan is to swap the pebbly beaches of the South Coast with the equally beautiful dramatic coastline (and sandy beaches) of North Devon in the not too distant future.   It's still not the cheapest place to swap to but I have family there and can hopefully move on from apartment living and have an outside space of my very own (my green fingers are itching to go).  Once I find a new home there the huge change will be eventually leaving the job that I enjoy, with its security and the camaraderie of a great team. 

Realistically I'm going to be homeless for a while (experience has taught me how difficult it is to search for the right place from a distance), and it may take the rest of the year to complete the move.  The biggest change when I do eventually move will be working alone from home (and this does worry me slightly) but the payoff will be that I'll be able to work my own hours, take advantage of the daylight hours to get out and about, perhaps even learn to surf:) Oh don't laugh... oh well, I guess you may be right , I may be getting ahead of myself there!.   

Well it's not quite goodbye Brighton yet as unfortunately in the England until exchange of contracts nothings certain, but I'm hopeful.  It is really exciting to be able to start 2008 with the prospect of a positive new start.  To keep the weight off one needs to have a lifestyle that supports it. 

It's a fine line

Warning, this is just a rant and a  place to do so and process my thoughts so read no further if not your cup of tea.

I'm finding it difficult to suppress my current opinions on food with my immediate family and draw a line as to how much I pass on. Well I've been on a quest to discover what has driven my weight on this upwards and out of control spiral.  But on this journey I have been learning, and have the urge to cascade what I've learnt down to those that I care about, but you have to tread carefully with that.

Most of the time I'm punching myself in personal annoyance. Why the hell did I allow myself develop a weight problem. It's not as if I didn't know better either!  Heck, I have an uncle who was a chemist in the food industry back in the late 70/80s.  He changed careers and took his family off all processed foods (I recall being told that he changed career because the same ingredients that went into strawberry yogurt were the same as those that went into gravy, etc).

Anyway, during this festive period I'm feeling aggravated by the food that I observe - it's leading to some, lets say, heated discussions.  I know in the past being told not to have one would make me pick up two so I'm the last person to advise. But I have to admit I may soon join up with the food police because it really does bother me when those that I care about eat junk. 

When I mentioned to a family member that I'm totally cutting certain foods, I made the mistake of saying 'because they make me feel contaminated'.  Apparently, she tells me, these are the words used by anorexics so I should be careful not to develop an eating disorder.  Pardon - this comes from someone addicted to exercise to control and enhance their mood level.

The fact is, I have over the last 10 + years developed weight related health problems and, therefore, it should come as no surprise that I'm choosing to totally eliminate the source of my problems. The difference that this 'diet' has revealed is that there is another (darker) level of damage posed by much of the 'normal' food that ladens our cupboards (hidden sugars/corn/trans fats/soy/aspartame/MSG), not just weight gain.  Facts that niggled, but until now I never previously took steps to investigate exactly HOW toxic and damaging they were, or indeed the part they played in my weight gain.

So, I'm not sure what exactly has tipped the scale and caused me to react, but I have for a change decided to care for myself. Not simply using food as an agent raise my mood, but look after myself by investing in my health.  I am choosing to stop putting what I now recognise as s*?!*!! into my body.  After all haven't I been encouraged to stop for so long, now I'm doing so please don't hinder me. It seems that I've taken my diet onto another level, one that is less understood and goes beyond simple 'healthy eating'.  It's trickier to avoid the  s*?!*!! and I have to be vigilent but this surely doesn't mean that I'm developing an eating problem, although I am escaping one!!

The way I see it is that with there are no half measures - OH NO - this time there's no diet food, low fat, low sugar, chemical laden foods for me! 

What am I?

 

re-discovered and ??? allowable on the Caveman diet.

My greens are from Mars

I do seem to keep having bad experiences with food, even my greens!  Over the summer I purchased purple sprouting broccoli, packaged up as organic.  But my meal quickly ground to a halt, what the ***** was in my purple sprouting.  All the way up within the stem was this brilliant white rubbery/polystyrene material, rather like cigarette butt.  Well it certainly didn't look like any broccoli I'd ever consumed before, but seemed to have grown with the stem so I did consider that it might be the sap.  Anyway I complained to the supermarket and they whisked it away to be tested.  A few weeks later an apology letter followed -apologizing for the 'non-organic material that was found in our food but no explanation. Have a look, I took some photos but very poor quality I'm afraid.  If anyone can enlighten me as to what exactly it is I'd be very interested to know.