A fellow forumer asked about my weight loss program and even though we have gone over this in our previous blog, here is a run down of how I did it. Remember, no two people are the same but the principle is the same and you will obtain various degrees of weight loss.
Here was my answer:
Hi,
Sorry for the late reply. How are you? Are you planning to reduce your weight?
I'll tell you how I did it after many years of failed attempts.
The plan is actually quite simple but you have to stick to it no matter what.
First measure your weight in Kg, then your height in meters. Calculate your Body Mass Index by dividing your weight (kg) by the square of your height (m2): weight(kg)/heightXheight (m). Your BMI should be less then 25. BMI of 25 to 30 is overweight and 30 to 35 is obese. You can then calculate your ideal weight by substituting the numbers in the formula to get a BMI of 25.
OK, next measure your waist at the navel. Males should be less or equals to34, females less or equals to 28. Any more than this puts you at a greater risk for heart disease.
So now you have an idea of what you should aim for. Personally, I think the waist measurement is much more important. The BMI may be in the overweight area but may be normal especially if you have lost fat and gained more muscle (fat is lighter than muscle).
Next....get a blood test. You can do this through your GP or from some labs. The basic should include a full blood count, kidney/renal function, liver funtion, Cholesterol profile, fasting blood sugar, Urine analysis.
Hormone imbalances are the commonest cause of weight gain, inability to lose weight or weight loss plateau, and regaining the weight lost.
A thyroid profile is also important to know as inadequate thyroid function may cause weight gain. Get a TSH, Free T4 and Free T3 tested and morning serum cortisol.
BTW, if you are a woman, hormones play a major role in weight gain and loss especially a lack of progesterone. This is indicated by irregular menses, severe PMS symptoms, breast tenderness during menstruation, polycystic ovaries etc. In this case you should check your serum progesterone level on day 21 of your menstrual cycle. Men are also affected by hormone especially if a person is more than 35. There can be a reduction of growth hormone and testosterone which leads to obesity.
OK, got the results back. You can send me the results if you want me to have a look. Some results may seem normal but not optimal and will require correction.
Assuming all your results are normal, we can begin.... If not hormone deficiencies may have to be corrected.
Weight management is about life style change. If you don't change what you're doing it either won't go away or it will come back to haunt you.
The basic diet I follow now is zero or minimal simple carbs like sugar, sweets, chocolates. read labels..if the sugar is an ingredient don't buy it. potatoes are also high in simple carbs.
High complex or low glycemic carbs from fruits (epals, pears, guava-without asamboi, apricots, kiwi), vegetable, whole grain and nuts.
High Protein from fish and poultry, occasionally beef.
So, this is how I lost weight.....pay attention..
2 Weeks Intensive Phase:
Breakfast: Mee Hoon Soup with extra chicken and fish ball, less noodle-1bowl
Only drink plain or better still mineral or RO water.
Lunch: Meal replacement drink (make sure it is a complete meal: carbs,protein, fat, vitamins)- mix with water. (about 250 cal)
Dinner: Meal replacement drink
I drank lots of water for 2 reasons, 1) I thought I was hungry but in actual fact, I was thirsty. This was crucial to learn. After drinking water, I realized I was no longer hungry. 2) It keeps me well hydrated and flushes out all the toxins in my body.
I also took a good multivitamin, which is high in chromium, selenium, zinc and vitamin E. Important factors for optimal bodily enzyme funtions.
You see, most people who tried to do it my way failed within the first week. That's because they were not determined enough and they think it can't be that simple. I'm amazed that people seem to prefer complex solutions. It is this simple. Stick to this and you will be amazed at your own body. Some people argue that a low calorie diet is not good. studies show that reducing calories extends your lifespan. For people who are obese, this is the only way to overhaul that engine and start you metabolism working for you...optimally burning fat and building muscle.
You can change the food you take for breakfast to something else if you want but this is the best.
What next:
After the 2 weeks you will feel a new level of energy and determination as you see your weight reduce. So time for step 2.
Yahooo!! Now you can eat 2 nutritious meals...breakfast and lunch. again no simple sugar, high in protein . As Malaysians you may miss the rice. My advise to you is take a quarter of what you used to take. replace the rest with vegetable and fish or poultry. You may take low glycemic fruits 1 per meal e.g. 1 apple. Also, Remove the skin from the chicken.
Take the meal replacement for dinner so that your stomach does not have to work hard, digesting the food while you sleep. Also remember the vitamins.
At this stage start to exercise to build up muscle. I have the exercise recommendations at my blog. do both cardio and strength. Swimming is a good option as it is weightless, and it is both cardio and strength. Remember, you will be losing both fat and some muscle during the first phase and its time to replace the muscle. You do not want to have flabby skin hanging out do you. I did not exercise during the first stage. There were too many biologic changes to adjust to and you will feel weak the first week as the body detoxifies. All this will go away after 1 week.
Do the second stage till you are happy with your weight. This may take 4-6 months but you wouldn't want to lose any faster. You need time to build your muscle to avoid flab.Even by losing 5 kg, you would have added 5-8 years to a healthy life.
after 3-4 weeks of stage 2, and as your physical activity increases, add a snack of low glycemic fruit at 11am and 4 pm to stabilze your blood sugar and your hormones.
Occasinally you will need to add Liquid L-Carnitine to boost your fat buring if there is a plateau.
I promise you, you will feel so good about yourself. Imagine fitting into clothes when you were in secondary school!! You'll be digging your closet for these!hehehe. So time to go shopping. I did my shopping a bit to early...I lost more weight and had to go shopping again.
People you've not seen for a while will start commenting on how good you look and this is the ultimate self esteem boost I've had for a long time since I've always been known to be fat.
Once your desired weight is achieved, stick to you meal plan. Have the occasional cake or chocolate and see that the occasional treat will not touch your weight as your metabolism can now handle it.
I really hope this will inspire you and wish you all the best in achieving your goal. Contact me at any time and I'll try to help.
Best regards,
Mahathir Mohamed, M.D.
General Physician and Anti-aging Medicine Practitioner.
* Additionally, several substances have come into the spotlight recently, such as the addition of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), co-enzyme Q10, Alpha Lipoic Acid which some patients will need to boost their fat burning. Amino acids such as L-Glutamine and L-arginine has its role in patients who are deficient in Growth Hormone.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Endometriosis
I will be including some discussions I've had regarding several illnesses with patients through a health forum. These individuals were kind enough to allow me to share their stories for the benefits of others. This first discussion is on endometriosis.
Hi DrM,
I've been suffering with endometriosis (endo) for more than 10 years. I have undergone 3 major surgery to remove cycst. :( . The cycst appeared on both of my ovaries. Luckily, the gynae managed to save them both from being removed. According to the gynae, the size was as big as an orange.
I'm 37 years old, married for 7 years but no kids and desperately trying to conceive...
my hubby and I have been trying to concieve but unfortunately it did not successful.... :'(
We have tried IUI ( 2 Times), IVF (4 times) but failed.
I have done ultrasound last month and the results shows that the cycst on my left ovary is 40mm and no cycst appear on the right ovary. I am planning to do IVF very soon and seek medical advice from several gynae. However, different gynae gives different opinion. One of them suggest to perform another surgery in ensuring that all cycst is cleared prior to perform IVF. While another gynae suggest to have the cycst aspirated vaginally i.e. using similar IVF method in retriving eggs. Currently, I am not sure what my decision will be... too afraid to go for another surgery. If possible I would swallow anything that can remove this cycst.
Currently, I'm not taking any meds. One of my gynae suggest to take planning pills but i have done that previously, it didn't work... the size of the cycst won't budge..
I have mild asthma and bad migrane. Recently, I have done blood screening test at BP lab and found out that my haematology examination havind slight problem in which MCV is 70fl, MCH is 21pg and MCHC is 30%. The doctor indicated that I probably having thalassaemia and suggest to perform Hgb electrophoresis. However,I have not done it yet.
My father has high blood presurre while my mother has diabetic and severe migraine.
Therefore, I am kindly seeking your advice on this matter.
Thanks...
REPLY:
Thank you for your enquiry. I read your story with great interest and sympathy. You have gone through a lot and you seem to be a very strong and determined person.
As you may not have much time with your doctor to go over things I am sure you must have read and know quite a lot about endometriosis. However, it may be helpful to go over it from a different perspective.
The symptoms you are exhibiting (including the migraine) are symptoms of estrogen dominance. Estrogen is essential for living but can lead to problems if it is unbalanced. The result of too much estrogen relative to progesterone is estrogen dominance. It is the chief cause of PMS, fibroids, endometriosis, Polycystic ovary syndrome and infertility. Under the influence of too much estrogen women feel bloated, irritable, fatigued and have sugar cravings. All these estrogenic effects are supposed to be balanced by progesterone but are often not.
Endometriosis is a very difficult condition to treat and even modern medical technology have not found the ultimate treatment for it. In actual fact we do not know why endometriosis occurs. We know that there is deposits of endometrial tissue in sites other than the uterine wall and there are many theories to speculate how it occurs. However, looking through the history of this illness, it was not mentioned in the olden days. We now believe that there is a relationship between endometriosis and environmental toxins especially from petrochemical products such as plastic, processed food, animal growth hormone and even contaminated water. Petrochemicals contain harmful substanses and many of which act like the hormone estrogen but in a bad way (Xeno-estrogens) and lead to aggravation of endometriosis.
Some studies have also shown that women with endometriosis have antibodies against their own tissue. I equate this state to a confused immune system which attacks its own tissue. Therefore a healthy immune system is also important to fight this illness.
With each monthly cycle, the endometriosis spots responds to ovarian hormones just as the endometrial cells do within the uterus- they increase in size, swell with blood and bleed into surrounding tissue during menstruation. The bleeding (no matter how small) into the surrounding tissue causes inflammation and is very painful, often disabling. Symptoms usually begin 7 to 12 days before menses and become excruciatingly painful during menstruation.
Women with endometriosis often have problems to conceive as a result of inflammation and scarring. We have found that in those who get pregnant, endometriosis is retarded and occasionally cured. This is a result of the high levels of the hormone progesterone. You may have received a progesteron-like medicine from you gyne (provera, norethisterone etc). however, these are progesterone-like (chemical form) and not natural progesterone. The body does not process this progesterone the same way.
My recommendations for management of your condition:
1. I feel that you may benefit from Natural Progesterne (in the form of a cream) in a cyclical manner to control the endometriosis. It is important to use natural, bioidentical progesterone instead of progestins.
2. On top of this, the Usana Vitamins will help you as follows:
i) USANA Essentials Multivitamin, Mineral and Antioxidant (1 tablet 3x/day)
Dian Mills, a nutritionist and former trustee of the British Endometriosis Society in London, reported a double-blind study of dietary supplements that resulted in a 98% improvement in symptoms over those not on supplement. The supplements used were thiamine, riboflavin, pyridoxine, zinc and magnesium. (D.Mills, "The Nutritional Status of the Endometriosis Patient", Endometriosis Association Newsletter, Vol.17, nos.5-6 (1996))
ii) USANA Proflavanol (1 Tablet 3x/day)
Proflavanol contains grape seed extract a potent antioxidant and a potent stimulator of the immune system.
iii) USANA Biomega (1 tablet 2-3 times/day)
Omega 3 fatty acids have been shown to reduce inflammation.
iv) USANA Active Calcium (2 tablets 3x/day - introduced gradually)
Calcium has muscle relaxing effects and have been shown to relieve menstrual cramps
Dr Ray Strand, Author of "What your Doctor doesn't know about nutritional medicine may be killing you" has had success in many patients using the USANA Vitamins.
3. Indole-3-carbinol or DIM
As mentioned previously, endometriosis is related to estrogen dominance or excess. Indole-3-carbinol/DIM is the active ingredient of cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower etc) which have been shown to modulate estrogen levels.
4. Increase intake of soy and soy products (tempeh, tofu, etc) which contain the substance genestien, another potent estrogen modulator. You may want to try Enerflex forte which is in powder form with the added benefit of blue green algae.
5. Eliminate caffeine
6. Eliminate red meat, dairy foods, and egg yolk for 2 weeks. You may then reintroduce these one by one and see if symptoms recur.
Dr Christiane Northrup M.D, reported patients who became free of endometriosis after eliminating dairy products.
With nutritional approaches, it's important to give them at least 3 months to achieve optimum results.
Other than these measures, keep yourself active with exercise which will also boost your immune system. You will find that your asthma and migraine will also be controlled.
Hi DrM,
I've been suffering with endometriosis (endo) for more than 10 years. I have undergone 3 major surgery to remove cycst. :( . The cycst appeared on both of my ovaries. Luckily, the gynae managed to save them both from being removed. According to the gynae, the size was as big as an orange.
I'm 37 years old, married for 7 years but no kids and desperately trying to conceive...
my hubby and I have been trying to concieve but unfortunately it did not successful.... :'(
We have tried IUI ( 2 Times), IVF (4 times) but failed.
I have done ultrasound last month and the results shows that the cycst on my left ovary is 40mm and no cycst appear on the right ovary. I am planning to do IVF very soon and seek medical advice from several gynae. However, different gynae gives different opinion. One of them suggest to perform another surgery in ensuring that all cycst is cleared prior to perform IVF. While another gynae suggest to have the cycst aspirated vaginally i.e. using similar IVF method in retriving eggs. Currently, I am not sure what my decision will be... too afraid to go for another surgery. If possible I would swallow anything that can remove this cycst.
Currently, I'm not taking any meds. One of my gynae suggest to take planning pills but i have done that previously, it didn't work... the size of the cycst won't budge..
I have mild asthma and bad migrane. Recently, I have done blood screening test at BP lab and found out that my haematology examination havind slight problem in which MCV is 70fl, MCH is 21pg and MCHC is 30%. The doctor indicated that I probably having thalassaemia and suggest to perform Hgb electrophoresis. However,I have not done it yet.
My father has high blood presurre while my mother has diabetic and severe migraine.
Therefore, I am kindly seeking your advice on this matter.
Thanks...
REPLY:
Thank you for your enquiry. I read your story with great interest and sympathy. You have gone through a lot and you seem to be a very strong and determined person.
As you may not have much time with your doctor to go over things I am sure you must have read and know quite a lot about endometriosis. However, it may be helpful to go over it from a different perspective.
The symptoms you are exhibiting (including the migraine) are symptoms of estrogen dominance. Estrogen is essential for living but can lead to problems if it is unbalanced. The result of too much estrogen relative to progesterone is estrogen dominance. It is the chief cause of PMS, fibroids, endometriosis, Polycystic ovary syndrome and infertility. Under the influence of too much estrogen women feel bloated, irritable, fatigued and have sugar cravings. All these estrogenic effects are supposed to be balanced by progesterone but are often not.
Endometriosis is a very difficult condition to treat and even modern medical technology have not found the ultimate treatment for it. In actual fact we do not know why endometriosis occurs. We know that there is deposits of endometrial tissue in sites other than the uterine wall and there are many theories to speculate how it occurs. However, looking through the history of this illness, it was not mentioned in the olden days. We now believe that there is a relationship between endometriosis and environmental toxins especially from petrochemical products such as plastic, processed food, animal growth hormone and even contaminated water. Petrochemicals contain harmful substanses and many of which act like the hormone estrogen but in a bad way (Xeno-estrogens) and lead to aggravation of endometriosis.
Some studies have also shown that women with endometriosis have antibodies against their own tissue. I equate this state to a confused immune system which attacks its own tissue. Therefore a healthy immune system is also important to fight this illness.
With each monthly cycle, the endometriosis spots responds to ovarian hormones just as the endometrial cells do within the uterus- they increase in size, swell with blood and bleed into surrounding tissue during menstruation. The bleeding (no matter how small) into the surrounding tissue causes inflammation and is very painful, often disabling. Symptoms usually begin 7 to 12 days before menses and become excruciatingly painful during menstruation.
Women with endometriosis often have problems to conceive as a result of inflammation and scarring. We have found that in those who get pregnant, endometriosis is retarded and occasionally cured. This is a result of the high levels of the hormone progesterone. You may have received a progesteron-like medicine from you gyne (provera, norethisterone etc). however, these are progesterone-like (chemical form) and not natural progesterone. The body does not process this progesterone the same way.
My recommendations for management of your condition:
1. I feel that you may benefit from Natural Progesterne (in the form of a cream) in a cyclical manner to control the endometriosis. It is important to use natural, bioidentical progesterone instead of progestins.
2. On top of this, the Usana Vitamins will help you as follows:
i) USANA Essentials Multivitamin, Mineral and Antioxidant (1 tablet 3x/day)
Dian Mills, a nutritionist and former trustee of the British Endometriosis Society in London, reported a double-blind study of dietary supplements that resulted in a 98% improvement in symptoms over those not on supplement. The supplements used were thiamine, riboflavin, pyridoxine, zinc and magnesium. (D.Mills, "The Nutritional Status of the Endometriosis Patient", Endometriosis Association Newsletter, Vol.17, nos.5-6 (1996))
ii) USANA Proflavanol (1 Tablet 3x/day)
Proflavanol contains grape seed extract a potent antioxidant and a potent stimulator of the immune system.
iii) USANA Biomega (1 tablet 2-3 times/day)
Omega 3 fatty acids have been shown to reduce inflammation.
iv) USANA Active Calcium (2 tablets 3x/day - introduced gradually)
Calcium has muscle relaxing effects and have been shown to relieve menstrual cramps
Dr Ray Strand, Author of "What your Doctor doesn't know about nutritional medicine may be killing you" has had success in many patients using the USANA Vitamins.
3. Indole-3-carbinol or DIM
As mentioned previously, endometriosis is related to estrogen dominance or excess. Indole-3-carbinol/DIM is the active ingredient of cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower etc) which have been shown to modulate estrogen levels.
4. Increase intake of soy and soy products (tempeh, tofu, etc) which contain the substance genestien, another potent estrogen modulator. You may want to try Enerflex forte which is in powder form with the added benefit of blue green algae.
5. Eliminate caffeine
6. Eliminate red meat, dairy foods, and egg yolk for 2 weeks. You may then reintroduce these one by one and see if symptoms recur.
Dr Christiane Northrup M.D, reported patients who became free of endometriosis after eliminating dairy products.
With nutritional approaches, it's important to give them at least 3 months to achieve optimum results.
Other than these measures, keep yourself active with exercise which will also boost your immune system. You will find that your asthma and migraine will also be controlled.
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