American Die-et

The American Die-et
By Ken Anderson


After eating a typical meal, do you feel tired or lethargic? Do you feel unsatisfied or crave something sweet, even though you're stuffed? Is it necessary for you to have a snack to make it to the next meal? Have you ever starved yourself on a special diet that someone else lost weight on, but you didn't? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you may not be eating the right proportion of foods for your body. Think of food as fuel. You can't put regular gasoline into a vehicle that requires high octane fuel. Actually, you could do that, but it would knock and ping like a drummer in a punk rock band. Our bodies are much the same. God made us as individuals, not carbon copies. There are no two people exactly alike anywhere.


One size does not fit all:
http://www.GKworkshop.com

Awhile back, a man named Nathan Pritikin put together a diet that he claimed would cure everyone's weight problems. It consisted of foods high in carbohydrates, low in protein and almost no fat. He has some wonderful success stories (with about a third of the people who went on his diet).
Then there was the late Dr. Robert Atkins that came up with a diet plan that would cure everyone's weight problems. His plan consisted of foods high in protein, moderate carbohydrates and low fat. He also has some wonderful success stories (with about a third of the people who went on his diet). Recently, a man named Barry Sears has put together a diet he calls the "Zone" diet. He stresses more fat than Atkins or Pritikin, high protein and low carbohydrates, and virtually eliminates an entire food group while heavily restricting others. Time will tell, but it can probably be predicted that he too will have alot of wonderful success stories (with about a third of the people who go no his diet). How can three different diet plans have such wonderful success stories and at the same time have so many significant failures? Are they all wrong? Yes and no. The problem is they each have a "one size fits all" philosophy. Let's use our analogy of food being like gasoline again. It would be rather stupid for someone who owns a gas station to only sell one kind of gasoline; let's say it was regular unleaded. Obviously, anyone owning a vehicle requiring high octane gasoline or diesel would not want to buy there gas there, would they? Why is it when it comes to our bodies' fuel (foods) that we take on this same mentality? People can be as different as gas and diesel engines in their nutritional needs.

As Solomon said in Ecc. 1:9, ". . . there is no new thing under the sun."
The concept of people requiring different foods is at least as old as the first century. The Roman philosopher, Lucretius, is credited with saying, "One man's meat is another man's poison." The foods that may make one person feel great may make another feel lousy.


Drugs and Weight Loss:

Is simply lowering the numbers on the bathroom scale the goal of weight loss? The truth is, most weight loss drugs coupled with the American mentality of dieting (simply not eating) may produce a significant loss in bone density and lean muscle tissue (which includes vital organs such as the kidneys, liver, etc.). Many people who are trying to lose weight are actually losing weight in areas of their bodies that could produce fatal results, and still not losing any body fat. There are no drugs that can honestly be called silver bullets. All drugs have side effects. Not even the best natural health supplements will produce the right results without a change in lifestyle. At best, they may offset bad eating habits a little, but will not give you optimal results.

Body fat is now one of the greatest predictors of future disease. The average American, around the age of 29, loses 1/2 a pound of lean muscle and gains 1.2 pounds of fat every year. In order to attain good health and proper weight, we must manage our body fat and lean muscle tissue. Simply eating less and starving yourself may be fatal to your health. Rather than focusing on the negative side of foods (what you should NOT eat), we should focus on the positive side of foods (what you SHOULD eat). How do we practically do that? http://www.GKworkshop.com


Metabolic Profiling:

If we look at the different countries of the world that have the lowest incidence of heart disease, we will find that the Eskimo and the East Indians have virtually no heart disease. If we compare their average diets, things get a little confusing. The Eskimo eats about 10-20 pounds of protein and fat per day, and gets no carbohydrates. On the other hand, the East Indian eats a diet high in carbohydrates, and virtually no protein or fat. How can two different diets produce such wonderful results?

In 1995, Dr. Gilbert R. Kaats headed up a study using a dietary system known as metabolic profiling. The 528 people in the experiment were divided into five groups. Four of the groups took glyco-nutritional supplements, and one took placebos. This took place over an eight-week period of time. The results were impressive. Subjects in all five groups lost significant amounts of body fat without any appreciable loss of lean body mass. Those taking the glyco-nutritional supplements lost more than those who were taking placebos, but all had good results. This program was 97% successful.
When comparing these results to the aforesaid programs that only had about a 33% success rate, metabolic profiling looks much, much better! Even the group that didn't take any supplements lost body fat. On top of that, there was a high number of self-reported disease symptoms that were improved, even from the subjects who did not see noticeable changes in body composition.
Essentially what this means is they felt better simply by eating the foods listed on their metabolic profile and adding a small amount of exercise.
Dr. Roger J. Williams, the discoverer of pantothenic acid (vitamin B-5), is the originator of the genetotrophic theory. This theory suggests that every human being has distinct nutritional needs. Dr. Williams believed, "If we continue to try to solve [nutritional] problems on the basis of the average man, we will be continuously in a muddle. Such a man does not exist." In the early 1980s, Dr. William D. Kelley was the first to utilize computer technology to explore Dr. Williams' concept of nutritional needs. From that research, a program has developed called metabolic profiling.

By taking a simple questionnaire test, you can determine your metabolic profile. There are three different categories. These three groups contain different proportions of certain foods for people to eat because people are different. Some people are fast oxidizers, and some are slow. Oxidation has to do with how fast the body burns up energy from food. Think of the body's energy as a fire that keeps you going (kind of like an old steam engine train). The small kindling would be comparable to carbohydrates.
The bigger pieces would be like protein, and the big logs would be like fat.
A person who's fire burns hot and fast is not going to get much sustained energy from throwing alot of smaller kindling on the fire. And likewise, a person whose fire burns slower is not going to want to throw a bunch of bigger pieces or logs onto the fire. A slow oxidizer, which would be a profile 1, needs more carbohydrates because carbohydrates burn quickly.
They will give a slow oxidizer sustained energy. A fast oxidizer, which would be a profile 2, needs more protein and a little more fat because they burn slower. Profile three is a balance between the two. If fast oxidizers (profile 2) eat a diet of high carbohydrates, they will continuously be hungry, never be satisfied after a meal and will need to snack between meals, even though they stuff themselves. It is also very difficult to get high protein foods without alot of unnecessary fat. A person who requires alot of protein (profile 2) may think he is getting lot's of protein but in reality is getting lots of fat. Buffalo meat has a 12.4:1 ratio of protein to fat. Venison has 9.4:1. If you are eating range fed animals, you may be getting your protein because they are significantly leaner. But consider dark meat on turkey, 4:1; and the leanest ground beef you can get is 1.5:1.
You vegetarians are in trouble if you are a profile 2. Tofu is only 1.6:1 and soybeans are 1.59:1. Even almonds are high in fat, .34:1. A protein supplement is a must in my opinion, especially for fast oxidizers (profile 2). If slow oxidizers (profile 1) eat a diet of high protein and low carbohydrates, they will feel sluggish and have no energy. Now I hope you can see why Atkins and Pritikin were right and wrong at the same time. If a person who was a profile 1 (slow oxidizer) went on Atkins' diet plan (high protein, low carbohydrates), it just wouldn't work. Likewise, if a person who was a profile 2 (fast oxidizer) went on Pritikin's diet plan (high carbohydrates, low protein), it just wouldn't work either. Eventually, the result of eating the wrong foods for your body style builds body fat.


Eat According to Your Needs:

Overall wellness is not chance; it's a choice. If we choose to manage our health, we can expect to be blessed. Many people are content with being sickly and overweight simply because they don't know anything else. Let me explain it another way by comparing Health being different than Wellness.
People will say they have health and be 30 pounds overweight taking blood pressure medications and a painkiller and consider themselves healthy but they are certainly not in the category of wellness. Wellness is different than Health. Athletes that do extreme fighting or a big weightlifter if you compare their height with their weight they will fall in the category of being obese (overweight) yet they could have only 10% or less body fat and that's good. 25 to 50% body fat is bad. So again we have to look at the individual not just some of the figures.
Metabolic Profiling has now been replaced with a more scientific program called genetic key. It takes more into consideration in putting a person on a good program. Genetic Key is the best program I've seen in my 40+ years of working in the health field. The plan is a springboard that can lead you into better health and then to Wellness. With all the toxic and depleted foods out there, it is difficult to get all the required nutrients we need to have optimal health. Supplementation is a must in my opinion. I will be discussing certain supplements that I believe to be necessary in future articles. Until then, find out what your Genetic Key Metabolic Profile is and eat according to your needs, not someone else's.
For more information http://www.GKworkshop.com

To your health,
Ken