Background
From early 2014 through the end
of 2017, I was controlling my weight and diabetics by following Ideal Protein
diet (IP). IP is a low calorie, high protein, and ketosis-based diet. One has
to stop all grains, legumes, fruits, and dairy products.
I lost close to 40 lbs, my daily
glucose was averaging 210 mg/dL, my A1C was as low as 5.90, my energy was
higher than before. This is the good
news.
The bad news is experiencing
continuous constipation, intake of extra supplements, and consumption of
several manufactured food products that the diet requires. Also, I had to
endure long periods of no fresh fruits, no grains, and no legumes.
The maintenance component of the
program was difficult but doable. I noticed over time, the maintenance program,
irrespective of the period of restriction, began to loose its
effectiveness. In 2017, I slowly began
to gain weight reaching 195 lbs plus or minus 3 lbs, my sugar measurements started climbing and
becoming more erratic, my A1C climbed to 6.1 and then climbed again to 6.5.
I started a learning process over
all of 2017 to learn more about nutrition, food, health, diabetics, and health
improvement. After listening to hundreds of hours of videos on YouTube[1], reading several authoritative books[2], learning more about various groups, in early
2018, I developed the following hypothesis.
The hypothesis
If I switch
completely to the following diet program:
•
Move to plant-based
diet
•
Low SOS (salt, oil,
and sugar)
•
Use minimal processed
or raw food
•
Stop canned and
highly processed foods
•
Stop all sodas,
alcoholic beverages, juices, and any source with added sugar.
I will be
able to realize the following objectives:
A- Improve
control of sugar in my blood and lower sugar density
B- Lower my
weight
C- Improve
my energy and performance.
Findings
F 01. I
started implementing the shift to the diet after I returned to health from my
long bad illness in the end of January 2018.
F 02.
Coupled with continued education and intensive study I moved to meet the
elements of the program by early April 2018. My concern was that I will shift
to more processed grains with higher glycemic index foods. In other words, higher sugar intake.
F 03. By mid-April
and through mid-September 2018, I became a full vegan meeting the requirements
of my program (i.e., Plant-based foods, raw or limited processed food, low
SOS). I had stopped juices and sodas
over ten years ago. I had low alcohol
consumption for decades. In the last three years it is down to zero.
F 04. I continued myself education and reading to
learn about how to prepare food, how to cook various meals, and other related
dietary practices. I introduced oat meal
for breakfast and became a regular consumer of berries — blue berries, black
berries, raspberries, and strawberries.
F 05. Three
months into the program, I noticed few disturbing trends. Here are the results:
One, my
weight started inching up after eight weeks of trending down or mostly
unchanging from before starting the new life style.
Two, after
a period of glucose trending down, it started fluctuating and tended upwards.
Three, my
energy was the same for the period of three months, but I started feeling lower
energy levels and less able to move.
Four, my
blood pressure tended downwards towards normal levels largely because I further
restricted my salt intake.
Fifth: It
was easy to give-up eating meats and eggs.
Cheese and yogurt were hard to give-up. I continued to have withdrawal
symptoms from giving up cheese. I did not have any eggs or dairy products.
F 06. I
decided to take my life style to the next level and contacted Barnard Medical
Center[3]. I have
read the book by Dr. Barnard[4] and viewed
several conferences and speeches that he gave over the past five years. I had a
meeting with a nurse-practitioner Gretchen Housel, NP-C on June 27, 2018. It
became clear that the life style I was following was close to the program
suggested by Dr. Barnard for controlling and eliminating diabetics. The meeting was professional and
valuable. The only recommendation she
gave was to make an appointment to meet and work with nutritionist in the
Center.
I did not
feel enthusiastic about this. I have worked with several nutritionist over the
years and the problem is not my vast knowledge of food types, cooking, and/or
nutrition. It is mostly due to the following factors:
•
I tend to eat a lot
when I eat. So, quantity control is a problem.
•
I tend to nibble and
eat more when I am nervous or depressed.
•
Cereals and breads
are another problem. I love eating bread and love various baked goods. Over the
past ten years: I have nearly eliminated
all desserts; most baked products; except for breads, which I struggle with; I
had eliminated rice and corn, including corn on the cub and popcorn;
•
After turning
plant-based, I reintroduced breads, corn, and some rice, which may have
contributed to these results.
•
Anyway, I had stopped
eating most manufactured or canned foods.
The process had started since 2014 and continues through today.
F 07. Five
months into the program, through July, August, and September, I continued with
the same life style. I noticed the
following trends:
One, the
weight continued to climb to 203 lbs ± 2 lbs.
Two, sugar
levels fluctuations continued and the trend upward continued
Three, my
energy levels deteriorated and I felt really unable to even walk
Four, the
pain in my joints became unbearable and I developed a severe pain in my left
hip and left leg.
Five, my
body cravings became very bad.
Six, I
started wearing a back brace, recommended by my brother Dr. Faisal AlBanna[5] to control or reduce the pain in my lower back
and my left hip.
F 08: I
decided to end the experiment and declare the hypothesis not valid which I did
in September 19, 2018.
Lessons Learned:
LL 01: My
body given years of being a carnivore is unable to gracefully make the shift to
vegan life cycle. However, the experiment was valuable for me.
LL 02. I
learned and enjoyed reintroducing myself to legumes and more raw vegetables and
fruits. I, also, introduced myself to oats and other cereals which I have to be
careful consuming, and will continue to do so, but not in large quantities.
LL 03. I
learned how to successfully sprout various seeds and will continue to do so.
LL 04. Few
days after eating meat and eggs in limited quantities a lot of the pain in my
joints and in my left hip disappeared.
LL 05. I
have enriched myself with deeper knowledge and conviction about Plant-base
food. I am now more convinced that food is the best medicine.
LL 06. Here are the life style steps that I will work
on immediately:
A.
Increase the intake
of plant-based, raw or minimally processed, foods, especially vegetables and
fruits.
B.
I will eat legumes,
regularly.
C.
Avoid processed foods
whether canned, packed, or bars.
D.
Lower SOS (salt, oil,
and sugar). Eat only olive oil or Canola
oil. Avoid fried foods.
E.
Terminate any
processed meats. Eat only, as fresh as possible, meats (poultry, red-meats, and
fish) and in limited quantities.
F.
Continue to use a lot
of spices, like turmeric, curry, garlic, ginger, sea salt, black pepper, Aleppo
pepper, cumin, cinnamon, gloves, fennel seeds, plus others.
G.
Add more quantities
of herbs, like parsley, rosemary, mint, and others.
H.
Continue to avoid
desserts, sweats, and any foods with high SOS. Watch out for the consumption of
cereals and breads. Do eat some oats.
I.
Increase the exercise
program, in time and effort, by increasing walking and yoga. Introduce, if
possible, bicycling or other activities.
J.
Monitor closely my
weight and lower it to low 190s lbs, and monitor closely my sugar in the
morning before breakfast.
K.
Introduce restricted
diet program whereby I fast from any food from 8 pm till 9 or 10 am in the next
morning. That is 13 or 14 hours of fasting. In the future cut one or two hours from
eating time.
L.
Work on reducing
consumption of breads and processed grain products. If I have cravings for
bread I will look into sources like oats.
M.
Consider limiting
fruit consumption. I now consume more than 5 servings per day. I will monitor
to make sure that I consume 3-5 servings per day. Of course, I have increased vegetable
servings, especially raw, baked, or steamed. I have to make sure that I get 7
or more servings.
Dr. Neal Barnard's Program
for Reversing Diabetes: The Scientifically Proven System for Reversing Diabetes
without Drugs. (February 27, 2018).
How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and
Reverse Disease Kindle Edition
by Michael Greger MD
(Author), Gene Stone (Author).
Flatiron Books; 1 edition (December 8, 2015)
https://www.pcrm.org/barnard-medical-center
[4].
Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes:
The Scientifically Proven System for Reversing Diabetes without Drugs. Rodale Books; 1st edition (February 27, 2018)
[5].
Dr. Faisal AlBanna is a licensed neurosurgeon and has been a
great source of health advice for me and my family.
