The Question of Alcohol in you Diet

Alcohol, like caffeine and nicotine, is a drug. As such, it is capable of bringing about serious damage to mind and body when taken over a long period of time. Made from the fermentation of carbohydrates with yeast enzymes, alcohol is rapidly absorbed through the digestive system, affecting coordination of the muscles, nerves, and vision. It also stimulates stomach secretions, inhibits mobilization of lymphocytes so that the body's ability to fight infection is reduced, and causes sludging in the red blood cells, thereby reducing oxygen to the heart and lungs. And it affects the brain, adversely affecting the specific centers that govern self- control, judgment, and personal inhibitions.

Alcohol is a depressant. The transient feeling of well-being that goes with a couple of glasses of whisky or a dry martini—the "lift"—is followed by a series of miseries to which your body is subjected, not the least of which, for a woman, is the effect drinking alcohol has on the liver. And the insidious thing about the detrimental effects which alcohol has on health and beauty is that they occur even to the average social drinker, not just to the serious drinker and the alcoholic.

A joint study by Dr. Charles S. Leiber of the Section of Liver Disease and Nutrition at Bronx Veterans Administration and Dr. Emanuel Rubin of the Department of Pathology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine showed that too much social drinking can cause serious damage to the liver, even though the drinker may feel fine, act normally under the influence of alcohol, and not be an alcoholic. Leiber and Rubim took a group of healthy nonalcoholic volunteers and put them on a carefully controlled eight-day drinking regimen. Then they tested the subjects' livers to see what changes, if any, the alcohol had caused. The amount given to a particular group was considered equivalent to the average intake of a business executive-7 ounces of 86-proof whisky per day for the first four days, 11 ounces for the new two, and then 14 ounces for the last two. The results were surprising: there was an increase in the fat levels in the subjects' liver of from five to thirteen times, all in only eight days, and in spite of the fact that the diet of the subjects had been supplemented with vitamins.

Similar studies have turned up similar results. Researchers have also found that liver-cell damage and the increase in fat in the liver can be reversible if the drinker abstains from alcohol for long enough. But longterm damage to the liver resulting from daily consumption of alcohol over the years can be irreversible. Persistent drinking can also be a precursor not only to specific diseases of the liver such as cirrhosis, but also to other toxic conditions in the body.

Next to the skin, your liver is your body's largest organ. In many ways it is also the most important. One could, for instance, live without a stomach if necessary but never without a liver. It is the body's chemical purifier, performing more than five hundred different functions, many concerned with detoxifying the system from all the drugs, pollutants, and poisons you take in every day, including alcohol. If the liver is overworked or worn out by excess alcohol consumption, eventually and unavoidably your whole body suffers. Biochemists used to believe that excess alcohol was no more damaging to the liver than too much sugar or too much fat in the diet; that the real damage to the liver came only from malnutrition. But these theories have been disproved. Both the quantity of alcohol you drink and the duration of time over which you drink it are important factors in determining liver damage.

Because the liver is responsible either directly or indirectly for controlling levels of many hormones in a woman's body (particularly estrogen), when liver damage occurs as the result of a diet too high in fats or of drug taking or long-term alcoholic consumption, the endocrine balance can be severely upset, leading not only to disruption of the menstrual cycle but also indirectly to feelings of depression, anxiety, and chronic fatigue.

These troubles may have another cause, also related to alcohol. In order to metabolize alcohol, your body calls on its reserve of many B- complex vitamins which act as coenzymes in the process. When one eats foods containing natural concentrations of carbohydrates or sugar, such as grains and fruits, the B-complex vitamins necessary for their proper digestion and assimilation are provided by nature in the foods themselves. But the B-complex vitamins have been discarded in the processing of highly refined sugars and alcohol. So the body's own reserves can easily get depleted when you drink alcohol and eat refined sugars. Results of this depletion are many, the most common of which can be fatigue, a craving for more alcohol or sweets, or diverse emotional complaints from severe premenstrual tension to simple feelings of chronic misery.

These are just some of the reasons why the Lifestyle Diet excludes alcohol in quantities of more than a glass of wine a day. This may seem like a tremendous sacrifice to you if you are used to taking a great deal more, but once you eliminate stimulants such as coffee, tea, and alcohol from your life and begin to experience the enormous sense of well-being that comes with the low fat, low protein, complex carbohydrate diet (and all the other important things that also go with discovering and expressing your potentials mentally and physically, such as deep relaxation and exercise), you will never miss it.

Immune Complex Food Sensitivity

These occur when antibodies attack allergens but don't manage to kill them. The result is an allergen (called an antigen) with an antibody stuck to it. This creates a whole new animal (an antigen-antibody complex) that the body doesn't recognize. When this happens, the 'new animal' starts circulating around the body, and this circulatory immune complex, or CIC, can eventually lodge in tissue.

CICs create many of the same reactions as classic allergies. When they circulate through or lodge in tissues, such as those of the kidneys, lungs, liver, or joints, they can cause terrible problems by starting immune and inflammatory responses. They can cause joint problems similar to arthritis, and they can cause organs to malfunction. They often interfere with the body's filtering mechanisms, such as the lymphatic system and kidneys. Some researchers believe they contribute to many types of kidney disease, some of which are eventually fatal.

Sometimes, people with serious CIC problems experience widespread conditions — such as migraines, kidney problems, and joint pain — and never realize that all of these problems have a single cause.

Frequently, patients come to me hoping only to lose weight, but when they resolve problems such as excessive CIC production, they also overcome other serious health conditions. One recent patient, for example, not only lost 22 pounds but also recovered from chronic joint pain, migraines, and gallbladder inflammation. This patient was happy to lose her weight, but was overjoyed to solve the other problems. Of course she had to make a serious commitment to her health and change her lifestyle. But she enjoyed the whole process, because she felt so much better every step of the way.

This reinforced my belief in the adage, 'If you just strive for thin, you'll never win. Strive for health, and thin will follow.'

Now you know about the risk factors that make you vulnerable to food reactions, and you know how food reactions work. Good for you! You now have more knowledge about this subject than many doctors do.

Now that you have a good foundation of knowledge, you'll be able to understand why food reactions cause bloating and swelling. Once you understand this, you need never again be a victim of false fat.

My recommendation: The 3-step dietary programme Do what I did, look the results

The dietary plans that follow offer simple, nutritious and delicious recipes on a staged regime that should take you from overweight to optimum weight and enhanced well-being.

The reason many people depend on junk and convenience foods is because they lead such busy lives. Most of the recipes in these plans are quick to prepare, and should be within the capabilities of even the most reluctant cook. There are exceptions: preparing the Chicken Soup will take a couple of hours, but it makes a lot and you can freeze separate portions, ensuring that you can have a nutritious low-carb meal even when the clock is ticking away.

So blitz your cupboards and discard any foodstuffs that don't fit the bill. The journey to a healthy, lean body begins here.

The Plans

The 3-step programme includes 3 eating plans. The Fast-Track Plan will help you lose weight quickly and give you that all-important boost on a 50 per cent protein/20 per cent carbohydrate/30 per cent fat regime that will initiate benign dietary ketosis. It should last for 7-21 days, after which you are ready to move on to the next stage. Your weight loss should be around 2-5.5kg (4-121b) if you are a woman and 4-7.25kg (8-161b) if you are a man, depending on how long you remain on this plan.

During the Keep on Tracking Plan you increase your levels of low-tomedium GI carbohydrates and move into a 35 per cent protein/35 per cent carbohydrate/30 per cent fat regime. You still monitor ketosis and watch how introducing higher levels of carbohydrates affects your weight loss, which should now even out to 0.25-1 kg (¹/2-21b) per week.

The No Backtracking Plan is your eating regime for life. You can gradually introduce fruit and vegetables, grains and pulses from the higher GI ranges, in moderation. It is important to keep an eye on how your body reacts to these and to establish your perfect weight-management level.

If you are a vegetarian, there is plenty of advice on how to adapt the plans and recipes to suit your dietary requirements. Granted, your choice isn't as varied as that of a non-vegetarian, but don't use this as an excuse not to give it a go. If you follow the basic guidelines and make simple changes to the recipes where necessary, you should lose weight and eradicate insulin resistance successfully.

FOOD TO THROW OUT

• White flour and sugar
• Honey
• Biscuits
• Crisps
• Sweets
• Sugary drinks
• White rice, bread, pasta
• Processed foods high in carbohydrates
• Ready-made sauces
• Gravy mixes

Customize the plans to suit your lifestyle and dietary preferences

The suggested menu plans are not set in stone - they are templates to encourage you to eat the right sort and amount of food.

If you wish to change a recipe - because you don't like lamb and would rather have chicken, say - it really doesn't matter. Just try to use foods of a similar dietary value. When swapping vegetables and fruit, go for ones in the same GI category; try to exchange meat for meat, or fish for fish, in the same amounts. If you change a recipe from meat to fish, you may need to use slightly more fish to give you the same level of protein. For example, 125g (4oz) of poultry or lean meat should be replaced with 175g (6oz) of fish.

Simplify the recipes

If you are short of time, or like your food a bit plainer, simplify the recipe. If you don't fancy Baked Tuna with Tomato and Herbs, adapt the ingredients, ensuring that you still have sufficient protein, carbohydrates and healthy fats - have a tuna salad with tomatoes and dark green leaves.

On a budget

If money is short and you find some of the suggested ingredients a little expensive, use some budgetary ingenuity to bring down the cost. Fresh salmon can be replaced with coley or whiting, or even tinned salmon.

Use the suggested meals as inspiration. In order to manage your weight in the future, you will have to experiment and be prepared to adapt.

The weight question continue…

Take a health check .. .

Before you begin a new dietary regime or exercise programme, check with your doctor that your health status allows you to do so. A health check is vital if:

• You are suffering from any ongoing health problems
• You take regular medication
• You are under 20 or over 65, because children, teenagers and the elderly have specific nutritional needs.

And a reality check ...

If you do have a problem with your weight, stop beating yourself up over it. Being fat is not a sin or a criminal offence. It is simply a consequence of careless eating and lifestyle.

Even if you have tried every diet going, this one does not have to be the same. You are going to change your lifestyle and give up a few bad dietary habits. So, unless you have a medical condition that prevents you from losing weight, this approach will help you become slimmer and, more importantly, fitter.

Being overweight can undermine your self-esteem and the way you deal with situations. Losing weight won't change the fact that you have money worries, an unsupportive partner or hate your job, but when the pounds start to fall away and you begin to feel better about yourself, you will deal with those issues very differently. Your confidence levels will rise and you will have lots more energy, which will help to make all of your problems seem more manageable.

Don't be negative even before you start. This is not the problem you think it is - it's the solution.

OBESITY AS A DISEASE - NOT A MORAL FAILING

`Obesity is a heterogeneous disease in which genetic, environmental, psychological, and other factors are involved. It occurs when energy intake exceeds the amount of energy expended over time. Only in a small minority of cases is obesity caused by such illnesses as hypothyroidism or the result of taking medications, such as steroids, that can cause weight gain.'

TAKING A HOLISTIC APPROACH

• What you weigh is the result of several factors:
• How much and what kinds of food you eat
• Whether your lifestyle includes regular physical activity
• Whether you use food to respond to stress and other situations
• Your physiological and genetic make-up
• Your age and health status.

Successful weight management should address all of these factors. That's the reason for ignoring products that promise quick and easy solutions, or permanent results without permanent changes in lifestyle. Any product that promises that you can lose weight without lowering your calorie intake and/or increasing your physical activity is trading on fantasy and false hope.

Play it safe – earn immunity!

Anyone who follows the Survivor show on television will know how importantimmunity is But the difference between playing Survivor and actual physical survival lies in the fact that you have to provide your body with immunity and not merely play a game to avoid being voted out.

In today's stressed-out concrete jungles the body is in constant baffle to earn itself immunity. And the odds are stacked against it-odds known as free radicals.

When I think of free radicals, I immediately think Procydin. The whole world is agog about this remarkable supplement that restores physical immunity.

But what exactly does it do, you might ask. Well, tales of miraculous recoveries abound - from heart attacks to rheumatoid arthritis, yuppie flu to emphysema, hypertension, diabetes, arteriosclerosis, high cholesterol and a long list of other lifestyle-related (auto-immune) diseases. They are called auto-immune diseases because they involve the immune system, the body's first line of defence against disease. Auto-immune diseases develop when the immune system goes awry during an onslaught of free radicals and begins to destroy healthy cells. Obviously this becomes easier when the immune system is weak. One of the reasons for a weakened immune system is age - it simply becomes less effective as we grow older. But it is also affected by genetic make-up, stress, unhealthy lifestyle, antibiotics, unhealthy foods and toxins in the environment.

Although there has been extensive press coverage of the merits of Procydin, many overweight people don't read these reports, because they believe they couldn't possibly be suffering from any of the diseases discussed in the articles. It follows that they don't quite understand how this miracle supplement works. We know that most obese people feel like normal folk (just a little overweight perhaps) who simply want to lead a fit and healthy life (and, please God, shed a few extra kilos!). All they really want is a body that doesn't embarrass or inconvenience them.

Well, bingo! You've hit the jackpot with Procydin! Why? Because we 'ordinary folk' who are 'just a little overweight' are the ones most at risk to develop those dreaded lifestyle diseases, that's why!

The truth is that without realising it, you might already be developing what is called 'Syndrome X': The deadly quartet of lifestyle diseases, These diseases include insulin resistance, hypertension, obesity and dislipidemia, a formal term for abnormal blood-fat values such as having low 'good' cholesterol and high 'bad' cholesterol.

If these facts are not enough to galvanise you into action to start taking Procydin, you should also remember that you are constantly under threat of free radicals from food, water and air, which puts you firmly in the highest possible health risk bracket.

Healthy weight management through correct lifestyle and supplementation

Obesity, by medical definition, is a disease - a lifestyle disease that holds the grave potential of leading to an untimely death. We often hear of cancer sufferers who claim that they received a wake-up call that caused them to change their thinking, their lifestyles, their diets and their medication. But the truth is often that by the time the cancer is discovered in a body, a series of warning signals have already been sent.

The first symptom of a serious disease often manifests itself in our weight. Just about every diagnostic procedure regards weight loss or weight gain as a symptom of some disease.

Weight fluctuations are never ruled out.

In a sense, the first 5 kilograms you gain can be regarded as the piercing sound of the wake-up alarm. No, this does not necessarily mean you are already ill, but it does mean that unless you start managing your weight healthily, you will be placing yourself in the first line of fire of just about every serious disease in later life. And no, it does not mean that people who are not overweight are not exposed to lifestyle hazards that could lead to serious disease. But it does say loudly and clearly that obesity is the forerunner of most major health risks.

And just like any other serious disease such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes, obesity should be treated holistically. Because lifestyle plays a large part in the cause, it would follow that the cure has to include lifestyle changes. All these diseases share this common denominator, no matter how you argue the issue. In fact, diets suitable for diabetics, heart sufferers and many cancer patients all share the same guidelines: low fat, high fibre and nutrient rich, especially micronutrients, meaning fruit and vegetables.

No matter from which angle you study our main group of lifestyle diseases, their prevention and cure lie in the four cornerstones of proper health management:

Living positively

Whatever comes your way in life, how you react to it is still your choice. You may regard life as a bottle half full, or a bottle half empty. Either way, you are going to drink from it. The only thing you can do is to exercise your right of choice: how you see it. A positive mental attitude can solve most of the world's problems, heal many ailments and repair much emotional damage, whereas a negative attitude has the exact opposite effect. Living positively is a glorious life discipline with many rewards. The only thing it demands is that it should be actively and purposefully practised, every single day.

Lifestyle

Being involved in a healthy, balanced lifestyle every single day, is the most effective way in which to promote excellent health and wellbeing. Enjoying a holistic lifestyle based on balance and variety is perhaps the best way to achieve quality of life. This includes a good social life, enjoying relaxing and stimulating hobbies and interests, regularly practising stress-relief techniques and paying attention to your dreams. The subconscious uses dreams as its communication tool and many health-promoting messages are sent to us through our dreams.

Diet

The food pyramid -the prudent diet- is hailed by the most respected scientific organisations in the world as the eating plan most beneficial for the promotion of great health. By following the right eating plan you can control and regulate many physical functions such as lowering your cholesterol, blood pressure, weight and blood sugar level and controlling your stress levels and mood swings. A good, sensible diet also contributes most effectively to the prevention of serious diseases such as arteriosclerosis, cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Complementary health practices

Taking care of the body means taking care of the soul as well. Practising yoga, tai chi, meditation and/or regular, physical exercise offers immeasurable emotional and physical advantages. Regular massages, manicures, pedicures, facials, acupuncture, lymph drainage, colonic irrigation, hydrotherapy and a host of other health facilities contribute greatly to an increased zest for life. Herbal remedies and food supplements are extremely powerful means of attaining a better quality of health.