Right food+exercise=weight loss

Published May 18, 2002 in the North Island Weekender

Last year July 28^th 2001 I wrote an article speaking about the carbohydrate and insulin resistance connection to weight gain. In this continuation I would like to touch on other important aspects. Losing weight is just not about what the scale is telling you but how your clothes fit and how well you feel. Naturopathic medicine offers programs where muscle mass is not lost during the attempt to lose weight.
Cecilia, age 44 came into the office frustrated at her lack of ability to lose weight in spite of not eating many calories in a day. Her diet was virtually free of sugar, unhealthy fats, and junk food. Her doctors had done all the tests and found all to be normal including her thyroid. My approach with her included the following steps.
1. Look at her carbohydrate intake.
2. Rule out food allergies.
3. Look at the blood type diet. 
4. Look more closely at blood work results.
5. Weight lifting and aerobic program. 
6. Detoxification program.
7. Candida program.

The carbohydrate diet I explained in great detail in the above article. In Cecilia’s case her intake of wheat was greater than desired as I find in most North Americans’. I suggested she eliminate wheat from her diet as much as possible. This will get rid of a lot of breads, crackers, pasta’s and those easy foods. The rice and rye sources of carbohydrates are easy to find in grocery stores once you look for them. Cecilia did think twice about eating them as they are still carbohydrates and if eaten to excess will not allow her to lose weight. At the same time we determined she was blood type 0. This blood type does not do well with wheat or dairy. However I find that most North Americans’ have food sensitivities to these foods and when they are eliminated or greatly reduced in the diet many lose weight easily. Most people find following the blood type diet as outlined by Dr. D’Adamo in his books helpful for weight loss and general improvement of health. If weight loss does not occur as much as expected then a food allergy testing is recommended. This measures IgG reactions in the blood to determine reactions to food that you may not know that you are reacting to. When a person is toxic or eating foods they are allergic to they retain water as well as have increase in cravings for the wrong types of foods.
Cecilia did well on the type 0 diet. Eating 40 grams of protein per day really helped her cravings for carbohydrates.  I had her bring in her blood test results that had been done recently. I found her thyroid function to be sub optimal, her triglycerides to be on the high side of normal along with her fasting blood sugar and she was slightly anemic. I treated the thyroid with nutritional support, her triglycerides with the addition of good essential Omega 3 fats by recommending Carlson’s Cod liver oil, her anemia with an iron rich diet as well as a supplement which did not aggravate her digestive tract and her blood sugars with the above diet changes.
The next step was to optimize her exercise program. She had a membership at a local gym so I encouraged her to set up a 30-minute aerobic program and a 30-minute weight lifting program with a fitness trainer. According to Jim Karas author of The Business Plan for the Body weight training is more important than aerobic training.  Weight training boosts the metabolism up to 7% 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, whereas aerobic training burns calories for one to two hours after a workout.  Often all you need is an exercise ball and weights ranging in weight from 5-20 pounds if you don’t want to join a gym. As you continue your program you will find yourself graduating to the higher weights.  The trick is to maintain a fairly high heart rate while weight training by tiring out the muscle until you can’t lift anymore. You need to push your body beyond what it can do hence the benefit of getting a fitness trainer! The minimum requirement is 30 minutes three times per week and better to do 4 one-hour sessions per week. Now if patients have previous injuries then I recommend that they see their physiotherapist for a custom made program.
Celica started to really lose the weight and inches once we had completed a detoxification program (see Nov 2001 articles as well as Woman’s World March 12, 02) and started her on a candida program (Jan 2001) in addition to the above program.

Dr. Pincott has been practicing naturopathic medicine since 1985 and is currently practicing in Campbell River. She can be reached at (250) 286-3655 or www.DrPincott.com