The Eat For Keeps Experience: A Life-Saving Manual for People with Diabetes and Weight issues

care.

What This Book’s About

Scarcely a day of my life goes by now without me hearing about someone who has lost weight permanently, by using the simple process we have developed over the past 10 years. This book has been inspired by these continued success stories and the potential this way of eating has for widespread, positive change.

Let me explain what this book is about. Achieving permanent weight loss has obviously become an elusive and precious commodity throughout the developed world and a key issue in the obesity and type 2 diabetes epidemics. How could it be that a little private company called Eat For Keeps (EFK) achieves this holy grail on a day-to-day basis with relative ease?

This book is the story about how Eat For Keeps has already helped thousands of people lose weight permanently. It’s also about a plan to share this success, and to help people in New Zealand and hopefully around the world have access to and understand these effective concepts.

We believe there is a compelling logic to all this mayhem, and our plan is to help develop a cohesive and integrated solution for the prevention and management of these epidemics. Most astonishingly, experts worldwide do agree that an integrated solution needs to be developed but, to our knowledge, this challenge has not been taken up.

Jacob C Seidell, from the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands, sums it up like this in the British Journal of Nutrition:

So, what is happening?

One of the key reasons a solution has not been developed and no one has put their hand up to grasp this nettle, is that experts worldwide seem to be confused as to how they would tackle this and what methods would be used.

As I write this, new studies will be continuing and international meetings of high-ranking nutrition and medical professors will be taking place to discuss this pressing issue.

The likely truth of the matter is that if you ever get a room full of nutrition and medical experts together discussing this complex equation, it would be highly unlikely you would get collective agreement. They will all have different ideas and agendas. The likely outcome of these meetings would be to agree on another costly three-year study.

Many of these thousands of studies are actually coming up with results that are already highly predictable, as other similar studies have been carried out elsewhere. These studies often only back up basic physiology which we have known about for hundreds of years. Good examples are the many studies using lifestyle interventions to better manage type 2 diabetes. Some of these studies from around the world have been done by leaders such as Kosaka, Lindstrom, Nathan, Hernan, Tuomilheto and Coppell.

Francis Coppell of Otago University in New Zealand has this to say:

This statement speaks volumes and indicates an insidious trend, which now sweeps across most areas of medicine. My only personal experience is here in New Zealand, where GPs, for example, are at the coal-face day in day out with a waiting room full of patients who are waiting for the relatively small number of minutes allocated to treat their individual needs. GPs simply do not have time for a pastoral care type approach, and at this point will usually treat the symptoms, and in some cases refer patients on for blood tests and/or additional diagnosis with the relevant specialists.

This is the GP’s business model, and to run a financially viable practice the system dictates these brief time frames. A high percentage of their patients will be overweight, obese, or on the cusp or presenting with potentially life-threatening conditions like diabetes or heart disease.

Are we getting the right advice

A middle-aged obese bloke turns up at his doctor’s with a great big tummy feeling pretty glum about himself. The GP will talk about lifestyle changes, perhaps order some blood tests or maybe offer the depressed patient an anti-depressant.

If that patient is on the cusp of type 2 diabetes, the GP can send him to a diabetic educator and if the blood tests warrant it, he may be prescribed, say Metformin to improve insulin sensitivity.

In my experience, the abilities of diabetic educators to help patients vary enormously and there appears to be no national standard operating procedures in this critical area.

Sadly, many of these educators have problems managing their own weight. I only know about their ad hoc approach because I have often picked up from where diabetic educators have left off, and been somewhat bemused by some of the stories I hear.

I have seen no sign of an integrated and complete process to help these patients. There are a couple of odd examples that I remember. One insulin-dependent patient was told to weigh her potatoes in order to work out her insulin requirements. This patient’s blood-sugar readings improved dramatically within two weeks of an EFK intervention and she has subsequently reduced her medication by at least one third.

Tony Christiansen – double amputee, great adventurer and world-class motivational speaker – was told not to eat nuts because they were full of fat.

Tony lost his legs in a train accident when he was nine years old and has had to overcome many challenges in his life. He is proud of his achievements, which include winning gold medals at Paralympics, gaining a black belt in tae kwon do and racing cars. Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro was a great highlight of his life, and he now travels widely in his role as a motivational speaker.

TONY CHRISTIANSEN – DOUBLE AMPUTEE

"One of my greatest challenges has been to overcome a serious weight problem which has lead to diabetes. I consulted a number of health professionals and tried a number of diets but could not make any headway. In 2009 I had a consultation with Leigh Elder, the founder of EFK , and I read his first book, Eat For Keeps.

I now have a really clear view on how and why I put on weight and have the skills and know-how to manage my weight, even when travelling around the world. I have lost about 15 kg and my diabetes is now under control.

Here’s a challenge for you. If you have a problem with weight, learn these simple and practical EFK concepts. You will never look back. Good luck."

We want to give you the help the current system doesn’t provide

Doctors are general practitioners and rely on specialist help in the different disciplines of medicine. Is there a specialist who delivers an integrated service for the prevention and management of obesity and type 2 diabetes? Not to our knowledge.

When I was in my late 50s, I was fairly fit and relatively careful about what I ate. After all, we all knew about fat and sugar in foods and to avoid them! I was, however, putting on weight and going up a dress size was the last straw. We all know how it feels to be in a dressing room trying on clothes and hardly daring to look in the mirror!

Leigh is a good friend, and in 2005 he introduced me to Eat For Keeps. A big break-through for me was learning about the effect that carbohydrates could have on weight gain, together with the importance of protein in my diet. From here I focused on finding ways to eat sustaining meals and snacks and the results have been amazing. All it took was a few key changes and learning how to apply EFK concepts in everyday life, and also in situations such as eating out.

Permanently losing those 12 kg has been positively life-changing for me and great for my sense of well-being. And I have gone down a dress size!

Many of my friends and golf club members have benefited from using EFK concepts and we are all right behind Eat For Keeps initiatives to make this information and programme available to wide sections of our population. It’s a great formula for having both a healthy weight and a good life.

EFK is looking to fill the gap in this critical area and this will be discussed in some detail later.

Our glum patient with the big tummy, for example, could have been given a wide-ranging blood test, which may have revealed a common problem, low testosterone levels.

If this was the case, the cause of many of his problems could be treated with a course of cream applications and/or injections. Low testosterone levels mean a man’s basic libido will be at a low ebb, and he’ll have very little chance of shifting the big lump of viscera around his tummy.

Now, coming back to the science. We all agree that there are certain irrefutable givens in our lives and these include the law of gravity, Pythagoras’s the square of the hypotenuse, Newton’s laws of physics and so on.

More specifically, one of these givens in physiology is that we all need a certain amount of glucose for energy each day. If we exceed this ideal amount, the excess is stored as fat. Now, while this may be an oversimplification of a complicated process, EFK has used this to our advantage by giving people a clear focus on this equation.

We know that glucose overloading can eventually cause type 2 diabetes and is closely related to obesity, hence the new word, diabesity. In years to come, it’s predicted that almost 50 percent of our population will develop type 2 diabetes or be at risk – this is glucose overloading on a grand scale. We also need to factor in the numerous scientific studies that have proved that the right lifestyle interventions will help prevent the problem.

Imagine if Alzheimer’s and cancer researchers actually knew what primarily caused these diseases and how to fix them. There would be much celebration and an immediate response to put this right.

Sadly, this is not the case and this book is about showing how to use these givens to their best effect. It’s about first showing how and why the game has changed, and how we must challenge existing paradigms. It’s also about how to learn to adapt to this complex new world and eventually gain control over this desperate situation.

We’ve brought this on ourselves

Our DNA and basic physiology has not changed for hundreds of years, so it is quite clear that it is our dramatically changed environment that causes most of these problems.

Fifty years ago, when there were no signs of these epidemics, we had a much more basic range of food and drink to choose from and we ate a healthy mix almost by default.

The landscape has changed dramatically and in Chapter 2 we will discuss how we are going to have to first challenge our existing, ineffective paradigms and form a strategic plan to make the necessary changes.

In our experience, most people are confused by the enormous range of food and drink options on offer, as well as all the mixed messages they hear on a regular basis about what they should be eating and drinking.

For example, one headline will shout that coffee helps boost metabolism. The following article will list a number of other benefits, while another will highlight various perceived health hazards of this popular drink such as constricting our brain’s blood vessels. This confusing routine goes on across a wide range of different options.

Many of the messages and much of the advice is negative, and I remember a recent major cancer study recommending that people avoid all processed meats. Can you imagine no more bacon and eggs or sausages on the barbecue?

People from Europe and the rest of the world have been eating the likes of black sausage and salami for hundreds of years. Most of us are well aware that processed meats do contain additives like salt and nitrites – surely a more realistic approach would have been to suggest people eat this type of food in moderation.

Early in 2012, a New Zealand researcher came up with a list of needn’t eat foods. This collection of forty-nine blacklisted foods for obese people to avoid, included muesli bars, whole milk, alcohol, quiche and even honey. Some substitutes were recommended, and if we look at the whole milk versus trim milk example, we find that today’s milk has had most of the fat taken out of it.

Whole milk has about 3.5 percent fat and trim has 1 percent, and after all, most experts will agree that we should get about 30 percent of our energy from fat. This is the typical, old school fat and sugar bashing routine. We cover why this approach is too simplistic and ineffective in the next chapter.

Cutting through the confusion

Many experts and commentators often suggest other negative measures, such as limiting fast food advertising and taxing high-fat and sugar foods. We take a more positive approach and say that all biologically safe food has its place. It’s all a matter of how much you eat or drink and what you combine it with.

There is no question that it is a real minefield out there and many people lack the food and life skills to manage in this complex environment.

Even some health professionals such as nurses struggle with their own weight and the mass confusion about how to lose it. I can remember a few years back making a presentation to a group of occupational health and safety nurses. They were delighted to hear about a concept that packaged up this complex stuff into a simple, practical and workable programme.

Judy Walker, an occupational safety and health nurse from Kawerau says:

EFK subsequently consulted for three companies where these nurses worked and achieved some inspiring results. Some of these stories are included later in this book.

We take a simple and practical approach

Much of Eat For Keep’s work involves visiting relevant places like supermarkets and food courts. People get to experience the feel, weight and texture of different foods and learn how to pick the right combinations.

In the supermarket, we highlight that what is written on the nutrition labels only tells part of the story, and that the real key is to understand what actually happens after you