The Perfect 10 Diet

This is taken from Bottom Line Secrets and I thought it was worth reading:

The Perfect 10 Diet

Michael Aziz, MD
American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine

Like most physicians, I used to advise overweight patients to follow the American Heart Association’s low-fat guidelines, but most of these patients continued to gain. After years of research, I discovered that most diets fail because they don’t take into account the hormones that regulate appetite and control weight.

The body contains more than 100 hormones, substances that regulate bodily functions. People who maintain an optimal hormonal balance are more likely to maintain a healthy weight than those who count calories.

Overall, I have found that the diet that is best for hormone optimization has 40% carbohydrates (vegetables, fruits, legumes and whole grains)... 40% fat (saturated fats from dairy products, coconut and palm oils, and monounsaturated fats in olive oil, avocados and nuts)... and 20% protein (eggs, fish, shellfish and poultry, plus red meat in moderation).

Many people are surprised that I recommend eating saturated fats. Probably the single greatest nutritional myth of past decades has been that saturated fat is unhealthful. Eating foods rich in saturated fat boosts the production of anti-aging hormones, including estrogen, progesterone and testosterone.

The important hormones* for weight control and how to regulate them...

Insulin

Up to 75% of American adults produce too much insulin. This increases appetite and leads to obesity as well as diabetes.

What happens: A low-fat diet with excess carbohydrates causes the pancreas to overproduce insulin. Excess insulin increases fat storage and makes it extremely difficult to lose weight.
Solution: A diet high in natural foods (whole grains, vegetables, fish, etc.) with a minimum of processed carbohydrates.
Also helpful: One to two tablespoons of brewer’s yeast daily. It’s high in chromium, a trace mineral that reduces blood sugar and improves glucose tolerance. Better glucose tolerance reduces the amount of insulin that is produced by the pancreas.

Glucagon

Levels of glucagon (glu-ca-gon) rise when insulin is low. Unlike insulin, which transports the sugar in blood into the body’s cells, glucagon pulls sugars out of storage to provide energy. It melts away fat in the process.

What happens: Glucagon and insulin can’t be present in large amounts simultaneously, because they have opposing actions. If your insulin levels are high, your levels of glucagon will always be low.
Solution: Limit yourself to three meals a day. It was once thought that "grazing" (having frequent small meals) would help people lose weight. This style of eating promotes weight gain because it elevates insulin and depresses glucagon.

Leptin

The hormone leptin is secreted by fat cells and is the main hormone that controls satiety, the feeling of fullness after eating.

What happens: People who produce too little leptin -- or, paradoxically, too much -- tend to gain weight because they’re hungry all the time. A diet high in processed foods, particularly those that contain trans fatty acids or high-fructose corn syrup, causes the body to burn fewer calories and store fat even in the presence of leptin.
Solution: A diet high in natural fats, such as the omega-3 fatty acids in fish, along with whole grains, vegetables and fruits.

Thyroid

About 25 million Americans suffer from hypothyroidism, an underactive thyroid gland. This lowers the body’s metabolism and can lead to obesity -- even in people who don’t eat very much.

Hypothyroidism is an autoimmune disease that requires medical care, but it can be exacerbated by a poor diet.

What happens: People who follow a low-fat or low-carbohydrate diet often develop low thyroid hormone levels. So do people who eat mainly processed foods. Iodine from excess salt blocks enzymes that produce thyroid hormones.
Solution: Use sea salt instead of regular salt. It contains less iodine. Eat sea vegetables (such as wakame and nori) at least twice a week. They contain just enough iodine to help you maintain optimal thyroid function. Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables -- they enhance the body’s production of thyroxine, the active form of thyroid hormone.

Human Growth Hormone (HGH)

HGH is produced by the pituitary gland to promote the growth and repair of muscle tissue.

What happens: People who don’t produce enough HGH tend to have less muscle and more body fat. Excess body fat further depresses HGH.
Solution: As with glucagon, HGH rises when people eat less frequently. Eat just three meals a day.
Also helpful: Eat eggs, poultry or fish most days. These foods increase HGH. Get a good night’s sleep. Most of the body’s HGH is produced during sleep.

Cortisol

Cortisol is a stress hormone because it rises during times of stress. In our high-stress society, virtually everyone has elevated levels of cortisol.

What happens: It promotes the storage of fat, particularly the dangerous visceral (belly) fat.
Solution: Maintain your emotional equilibrium with activities such as yoga and meditation. Also, people who eat natural foods and avoid processed foods tend to have healthier cortisol levels.

Sex Hormones

Men start producing less testosterone at about age 20, while women have a sharp drop in estrogen and progesterone as they approach menopause. It’s not a coincidence that most people start to gain weight when levels of these hormones decline.

What happens: Declines in sex hormones are a natural, age-related phenomenon. But excessive drops in these hormones usually are caused by too much sugar in the diet and lack of natural fats, such as butter, along with lifestyle factors, such as smoking and alcohol consumption.
Solutions: Men and women can improve their hormonal profiles by exercising regularly... not smoking... and drinking alcohol only in moderation (no more than two drinks daily for men and one for women).
Also important: Drink less coffee. Caffeine lowers testosterone.
Women can maintain a healthier estrogen/progesterone balance by eating high-quality proteins and fats (from eggs, butter, whole milk and poultry) at least once a day. The same foods will help increase testosterone in men.

DHEA

DHEA is the "precursor" hormone produced by the adrenal gland that the body uses to manufacture other hormones, including estrogen and testosterone.

What happens: People who drink too much coffee or eat margarine or other foods that contain trans fats tend to have lower levels of DHEA. Processed carbohydrates, including white bread, also can cause DHEA to decline.
Solution: Avoid processed foods, and eat some saturated fat most days of the week. This will help increase the body’s production of DHEA.

10 Steps to The Perfect 10

To optimize your hormones and lose weight...

40% carbohydrates: Vegetables, fruits, legumes and whole grains.
40% fat: Saturated fats from dairy products, coconut and palm oils and monounsaturated fats in olive oil, avocados and nuts.
20% protein: Eggs, fish, shellfish, poultry and red meat, in moderation.

Also...
Limit yourself to three meals a day (avoid snacking).
Have one to two tablespoons of brewer’s yeast daily.
If you have low thyroid, eat sea vegetables twice a week and choose sea salt over regular iodized salt.
Reduce stress with yoga and meditation.
Get regular exercise.
Limit alcohol and caffeine, and don’t smoke.
Get a good night’s sleep.

*Few physicians routinely test all of these hormones in overweight patients. To find a specialist in your area who uses this approach, go to the Web site of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine at www.WorldHealth.net.

Bottom Line/Personal interviewed Michael Aziz, MD, founder and director of Midtown Integrative Medicine, which blends traditional and complementary therapies. He is an internist and attending physician at St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York City, where he also maintains a private practice. He is author of The Perfect 10 Diet (Cumberland House). www.Perfect10Diet.com.

This is Dr. Judi again: If a person is able to eat a palm size piece of protein, including red meat and eggs, along with plenty of vegetables and some fruit at their meals, their blood sugars will maintain between meals. However, if the diet isn't quite that healthy, eating a healthy snack between meals is important to keep the blood sugar up and maintain brain function until the blood sugar/insulin/glucagon levels begin to stabilize.

Until we meet again,
Dr. Judi

What Causes Diabetes?

Type 1 diabetes usually develops due to an autoimmune disorder. This is when the body's immune system behaves inappropriately and starts seeing one of its own tissues as foreign. In the case of type 1 diabetes, the islet cells of the pancreas that produce insulin are seen as the "enemy" by mistake. The body then creates antibodies to fight the "foreign" tissue and destroys the islet cells' ability to produce insulin. The lack of sufficient insulin thereby results in diabetes.

It is unknown why this autoimmune diabetes develops. Sometimes it is a genetic tendency. Sometimes it follows a viral infection such as mumps, rubella, cytomegalovirus, measles, influenza, encephalitis, polio, or Epstein-Barr virus. It has been shown through studies that children who develop DM 1 have a higher number of life stress events than controls. Cow's milk has been implicated. Other less common (very rare) causes of type 1 diabetes include injury to the pancreas from toxins, trauma, or after the surgical removal of the majority (or all) of the pancreas.

The medical community still does not know the cause of DM 2, or what makes one person's cells become resistant to insulin and not another person. However, there are various factors that have been shown to increase the risk of getting DM 2.

The first risk factor is genetics. About 5 to 11% of people who have DM 2 have a family history of it. People who have DM 2 in their family history are 25% more prone to getting it than those who don't.

The medical community claims that eating sweets does not cause diabetes. They do admit, however, that if eating sweets leads to obesity, then eating sweets may be related to diabetes because there is a much increased risk of DM 2 when a person is obese.

Increasing age is another risk factor, as is smoking and drinking caffeine. Interestingly, using artificial sweeteners has also been shown to increase the risk of DM 2.

Race is also a risk factor. Native Americans, Eskimos, African-Americans, Hispanics, Asian-Americans and those of Pacific Island descent are at increased risk of DM 2.

High emotional stress has also been shown to be a risk factor, because elevated levels of cortisol which comes from chronic stress increase the insulin levels. Also, adrenaline from anxiety causes a rapid release of glucose into the bloodstream, causing chronic elevation of blood glucose.

My personal theory is that diet DOES play a very important role in creating the disease process of DM 2. The two problems in diet are 1) eating too much, and 2) eating too many refined carbohydrates. If a person has a family history or other risk factors, a poor diet can often “turn the switch” and start the disease process. It can also affect those without a family history.

Eating too much puts a strain on the pancreas in both digestive enzyme production and in insulin production. It increases fat cells which also cause impaired glucose uptake.

Eating too many refined carbohydrates (sugar, sugar sweets, processed foods with a lot of sugar and flour, eating a lot of bread—flour is a refined carbohydrate) causes a rapid rise in blood glucose. This causes an excess of insulin to be secreted.

Too much insulin drives the blood glucose down so quickly that often low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) results. When a person has low blood sugar they crave more refined carbohydrates, and there is a yo-yo effect of blood sugar and insulin levels bouncing up and down.

The brain doesn't like low blood sugar. The rest of the body has ways to make energy when glucose isn't available, but the brain doesn't. That's why we often feel tired and can't think straight when our blood sugar is low. If it goes too low, the brain shuts down and we can go into a coma (a diabetic coma is not caused by the blood sugar being too high, but by being too low because of medication or insulin usage).

Symptoms of low blood sugar can include (most people don’t have all of these but they do have some): anxious feelings, unusual tiredness or weakness, difficulty in concentrating, drowsiness, excessive hunger or cravings, headache, shakiness, nausea, anxiety and nervousness, blurred vision, cold sweats, confusion, cool pale skin, fast heartbeat, nightmares, restless sleep, slurred speech, and behavior change similar to being drunk. Blood sugar that drops too low can lead to complete unresponsiveness (coma).

So the body tries to compensate for the problem of low blood sugar by becoming resistant to the elevated levels of insulin. If the cells don't respond to the higher levels of insulin so easily, then the blood sugar doesn't drop as rapidly, saving the brain from problems.

However, the insulin resistance keeps the higher levels of glucose (from eating too much or from eating too many refined carbohydrates) in the bloodstream. This causes hyperglycemia, and leads to DM 2.

This theory explains the rapid rise in cases of DM 2 in the last fifty years, and why it is still rising. Up to 75 years ago, sugar was not as easily available. There were few processed foods with sugars and refined carbohydrates. People ate whole foods and cooked from scratch. Desserts were a treat, not a diet. The amount of high fructose corn syrup in sodas, drinks and other treats has dramatically increased in the last ten years. High fructose corn syrup has been shown to cause obesity, diabetes and heart disease even above table sugar.

Since that time, with an increase in sugar and processed food and drinks, children are eating sugar cereal (both the sugar and the cereal are refined carbs) for breakfast, sandwiches and chips and chocolate milk and desserts for lunch (bread and chips are refined carbs, and a hamburger, fries and a sugary or artificially sweetened caffeine soda for dinner (fries are also considered a refined carbohydrate). Even so-called “healthy” snacks like fruit snacks and granola bars are usually made with high-fructose corn syrup and other refined carbohydrates.

The diet of the modern first-world countries with an ever increasing amount of refined carbohydrate processed foods, high-fructose corn syrup drinks, chemicals and sweeteners is predisposing our population to a dramatically increased risk of insulin and blood sugar problems. Add to that the chronic, increased stress of our modern society and we have an excellent recipe for the creation of diabetes.


My next blog will be on how diabetes is diagnosed.

Until we meet again,
Dr. Judi