Questions & Answers
Below
are the answers to some questions that you may be asking. Included are
the answers to some questions that you should be asking.
Is there one
diet that is better than all the others?
Yes and No. According to the research, all diets work - at least on average. But very few people actually lose the average. Some will lose way more while others may actually gain weight. The average tells you nothing about what you can expect. Your results will be unique to you.
There is certainly one diet out there that will work better for you than all the others. All you have to do is find it. There are two things that you should keep in mind when evaluating the potential of a diet. They are the only two facts about nutrition that appear to apply to everybody.
Unprocessed plants make you healthier.
Overeating compromises your health.
In other words, there is one thing you can do right and one thing you can do wrong. Whatever diet you choose should help you accomplish the one and avoid the other.
As vegetarian as you want to be.
When you look at the totality of research on animal products, the results come down in a very narrow range - either neutral to our health or slightly bad. And they probably are slightly bad only when they are overconsumed (remember that is the one real mistake you can make).
That having been said, eating animal products is not going to make you any healthier. And if they take the place of whole plant foods that actually could make you healthier, then you will be worse off in the long run.
Join the Meatless Monday movement. If every single American reduced their meat consumption by just one seventh, the positive effects on every aspect of our society would be staggering.
In traditional cuisines, animal was used more as a flavoring than as a main part of the dish. A similar concept would be to make a vegetarian stir-fry with rice, but make the rice with a chicken or beef broth instead of water. This will drastically change the taste of the meal without really affecting it nutritionally.
We prefer the term juice diet because a fast is when you don't consume anything. It can be a good idea for a short period of time.
There is no faster way to get quality nutrients into your body than to drink fresh juice. If you are having trouble making a break from the food industry, a short fast may be a good idea. We recommend that you not go longer than ten days on just juice. Three to seven days should be plenty of time to make you feel better and change your food drive.
The problem with an extended juice fast is the lack of chewing. As far as your body is concerned liquids are for thirst/hydration. Anything that is going to satisfy your hunger needs to be chewed.
Eating is an autonomic activity. That means it is involuntary. But not like your heartbeat, more like your breathing. You have complete control over your breathing - up to a point. You can even stop breathing for a while. But if you do, the autonomic processes of your body will eventually take over and for a period of time you will have almost no control as your body makes a mad grab for oxygen.
This is a potential problem for any diet that restricts your intake. But it is particulary problematic for a liquid diet. The longer you restrict or eliminate chewing the more likely you are to enter into the so-called "Re-Feeding Period" where you gain back all the weight you lost and then some.
Absolutely. You are probably better off that way. Knock yourself out. This is enough for one person for one day:
Human chorionic gonadotropin, better known as hCG, has been around as part of a weight loss methodology since the 1970s. It is always coupled with an ultra-low-calorie diet (more on that in a minute). The supposed benefits of hCG are:
1) It causes additional weight loss by preferentially burning fat for energy.
2) This extra fat burning will cause a more attractive or “normal” distribution of fat than would otherwise occur.
3) It will reduce the sense of hunger and provide energy and a sense of well-being.
I guess the people who believe in hCG must know a lot of even-tempered pregnant women who lose lots of weight in just the right places as they effortlessly turn down dessert. I mean come on! It doesn’t even work that way for the pregnant women! Why would it work that way for you?
But let’s forget about that. Let’s also forget that the FDA has required a disclaimer on hCG since 1976 stating that there is no substantial evidence that it works. We’ll also have to forget that as of December 6, 2011, the FDA has prohibited the sale of “homeopathic” and OTC hCG products, calling them fraudulent and illegal. Instead, let’s assume that hCG works as advertised. That still leaves you with a HUGE problem.
It’s that diet.
Which is ironic because the actual food on most hCG diets is pretty healthy. It is simply far too restricted. hCG diets contain as little as 500 calories per day, which is half of what is considered subsistence level. Such a restricted calorie diet has been shown to cause gallstone formation, irregular heartbeat and an imbalance of the electrolytes that keep the body's muscles and nerves functioning properly.
Almost all weight loss diets rely heavily on creating an energy deficit, but the hCG plan puts them all to shame! And how do you think your body is going to respond to that? It is going to adapt and when all is said and done you will likely be considerably heavier than before you started.
Maybe you’re convinced that hCG will magically protect you from that reaction. Doesn’t that seem at all like wishful thinking? Just remember: Dr. Newberry is a highly reputable doctor who researched hCG and decided it would violate his own personal code of conduct to charge people for a product of such questionable effectiveness.
We don’t carry hCG even though “Do you carry hCG?” is easily our most frequently asked question. It’s not illegal and we could be selling a lot if we offered it. Ask yourself: why don't we?
Ask your friend if she was taking any other prescriptions. She was probably taking Phentermine (one of the appetite suppresants we also carry) in addition to the hCG. This is a big part of why she wasn’t hungry and had so much energy. She also simply adapted. That same process that causes unwanted metabolic changes on such a restricted calorie diet will also have dampening effects on hunger. If you do anything for long enough you will get used to it.
Our advice is to wait.
See how your friend is doing six months down the road before you spend any money on hCG.
No. That's not true.
Physical activity and good food are the foundation of a healthy lifestyle. Exercise is what you do to make up for a lack of physical activity. If you were active enough in your daily life there would be no need for exercise. Even more shocking - if you sit around too much, exercise won't really help!
No matter what you eat, you can improve your health by being active. But don't get confused, if your food is bad, your health will be bad. Exercise just keeps it from being as bad as it could be. Your health is primarily determined by the food you eat. Exercise makes you fit. Good food makes you healthy.
There is a very seductive logic at play when you try to use exercise to get healthy or lose weight. It feels proactive and, more importantly, it feels like penance. So, you just ate a cream cheese danish. Bad human! Oh, the guilt! What can you do right afterward to make up for it? Obvious answer: take a jog. Actual answer: nothing.
If you want to make up for the danish wait a while then eat a carrot.
First and foremost, being physically active makes it much easier to maintain weight loss. Just remember that "exercise" is not the only form of physical activity. Gardening, cleaning, dancing and sex are also forms of physical activity. There must be all sorts of physical activity you enjoy but don't consider exercise. Guess what. If you're moving, it counts.
If you want to be physically capable, you had better be active. If someone you really admire were to ask you to run in a 10K charity race with them would you be capable? What if it was just a 5 mile walk in the woods? How capable you are depends on how active you have been.
If you want to age well, you had better be active. No matter how well you eat, no matter how healthy you are, you will eventally reach the age where you can't do anything for yourself anymore. How old you are when you start to physically deteriorate depends on how active you have been over the course of your life.
If you want to be as sharp as possible, you had better be active. There is a surprisingly strong connection between exercise and mental function, particularly holding off the deterioration of mental function that comes with age. How sharp you are and how sharp you stay depends a lot on how active you are.
Keep in mind that any type of movement
helps you
become healthier and more fit. Gardening and housework count about as
much as time on the elliptical trainer.
Remember that it is never too late in life to start being more active. You will see some very rapid improvements in your physical capabilities.
If you have been inactive for a while then start slow. Just walk.
And keep walking. At least 20 miles per week. Build up to 35. If you want to be more fit than that, go see a fitness expert.
And don't sit down. Statistically, sitting is worse for you than smoking. Look for opportunities to stand instead of sit. Talking on the phone is the perfect opportunity to get off your ass. In fact, do you really need to be sitting down right now?
Nutrition
Is there one
diet that is better than all the others?
Yes and No. According to the research, all diets work - at least on average. But very few people actually lose the average. Some will lose way more while others may actually gain weight. The average tells you nothing about what you can expect. Your results will be unique to you.
There is certainly one diet out there that will work better for you than all the others. All you have to do is find it. There are two things that you should keep in mind when evaluating the potential of a diet. They are the only two facts about nutrition that appear to apply to everybody.
Unprocessed plants make you healthier.
Overeating compromises your health.
In other words, there is one thing you can do right and one thing you can do wrong. Whatever diet you choose should help you accomplish the one and avoid the other.
How vegetarian should I be?
As vegetarian as you want to be.
When you look at the totality of research on animal products, the results come down in a very narrow range - either neutral to our health or slightly bad. And they probably are slightly bad only when they are overconsumed (remember that is the one real mistake you can make).
That having been said, eating animal products is not going to make you any healthier. And if they take the place of whole plant foods that actually could make you healthier, then you will be worse off in the long run.
Join the Meatless Monday movement. If every single American reduced their meat consumption by just one seventh, the positive effects on every aspect of our society would be staggering.
In traditional cuisines, animal was used more as a flavoring than as a main part of the dish. A similar concept would be to make a vegetarian stir-fry with rice, but make the rice with a chicken or beef broth instead of water. This will drastically change the taste of the meal without really affecting it nutritionally.
Is a Juice Fast a good idea?
We prefer the term juice diet because a fast is when you don't consume anything. It can be a good idea for a short period of time.
There is no faster way to get quality nutrients into your body than to drink fresh juice. If you are having trouble making a break from the food industry, a short fast may be a good idea. We recommend that you not go longer than ten days on just juice. Three to seven days should be plenty of time to make you feel better and change your food drive.
The problem with an extended juice fast is the lack of chewing. As far as your body is concerned liquids are for thirst/hydration. Anything that is going to satisfy your hunger needs to be chewed.
Eating is an autonomic activity. That means it is involuntary. But not like your heartbeat, more like your breathing. You have complete control over your breathing - up to a point. You can even stop breathing for a while. But if you do, the autonomic processes of your body will eventually take over and for a period of time you will have almost no control as your body makes a mad grab for oxygen.
This is a potential problem for any diet that restricts your intake. But it is particulary problematic for a liquid diet. The longer you restrict or eliminate chewing the more likely you are to enter into the so-called "Re-Feeding Period" where you gain back all the weight you lost and then some.
I can't stand the thought of green juice. Can't I just eat the vegetables instead?
Absolutely. You are probably better off that way. Knock yourself out. This is enough for one person for one day:
 |
|
What about the hCG diet?
Human chorionic gonadotropin, better known as hCG, has been around as part of a weight loss methodology since the 1970s. It is always coupled with an ultra-low-calorie diet (more on that in a minute). The supposed benefits of hCG are:
1) It causes additional weight loss by preferentially burning fat for energy.
2) This extra fat burning will cause a more attractive or “normal” distribution of fat than would otherwise occur.
3) It will reduce the sense of hunger and provide energy and a sense of well-being.
I guess the people who believe in hCG must know a lot of even-tempered pregnant women who lose lots of weight in just the right places as they effortlessly turn down dessert. I mean come on! It doesn’t even work that way for the pregnant women! Why would it work that way for you?
But let’s forget about that. Let’s also forget that the FDA has required a disclaimer on hCG since 1976 stating that there is no substantial evidence that it works. We’ll also have to forget that as of December 6, 2011, the FDA has prohibited the sale of “homeopathic” and OTC hCG products, calling them fraudulent and illegal. Instead, let’s assume that hCG works as advertised. That still leaves you with a HUGE problem.
It’s that diet.
Which is ironic because the actual food on most hCG diets is pretty healthy. It is simply far too restricted. hCG diets contain as little as 500 calories per day, which is half of what is considered subsistence level. Such a restricted calorie diet has been shown to cause gallstone formation, irregular heartbeat and an imbalance of the electrolytes that keep the body's muscles and nerves functioning properly.
Almost all weight loss diets rely heavily on creating an energy deficit, but the hCG plan puts them all to shame! And how do you think your body is going to respond to that? It is going to adapt and when all is said and done you will likely be considerably heavier than before you started.
Maybe you’re convinced that hCG will magically protect you from that reaction. Doesn’t that seem at all like wishful thinking? Just remember: Dr. Newberry is a highly reputable doctor who researched hCG and decided it would violate his own personal code of conduct to charge people for a product of such questionable effectiveness.
We don’t carry hCG even though “Do you carry hCG?” is easily our most frequently asked question. It’s not illegal and we could be selling a lot if we offered it. Ask yourself: why don't we?
I have a friend who has done very well on hCG and I am very enthusiastic about it. How come she has done so well if this stuff doesn’t really work?
Ask your friend if she was taking any other prescriptions. She was probably taking Phentermine (one of the appetite suppresants we also carry) in addition to the hCG. This is a big part of why she wasn’t hungry and had so much energy. She also simply adapted. That same process that causes unwanted metabolic changes on such a restricted calorie diet will also have dampening effects on hunger. If you do anything for long enough you will get used to it.
Our advice is to wait.
See how your friend is doing six months down the road before you spend any money on hCG.
Physical Fitness and Exercise
My friend told me that you say not to exercise. Is that true?
No. That's not true.
Physical activity and good food are the foundation of a healthy lifestyle. Exercise is what you do to make up for a lack of physical activity. If you were active enough in your daily life there would be no need for exercise. Even more shocking - if you sit around too much, exercise won't really help!
No matter what you eat, you can improve your health by being active. But don't get confused, if your food is bad, your health will be bad. Exercise just keeps it from being as bad as it could be. Your health is primarily determined by the food you eat. Exercise makes you fit. Good food makes you healthy.
There is a very seductive logic at play when you try to use exercise to get healthy or lose weight. It feels proactive and, more importantly, it feels like penance. So, you just ate a cream cheese danish. Bad human! Oh, the guilt! What can you do right afterward to make up for it? Obvious answer: take a jog. Actual answer: nothing.
If you want to make up for the danish wait a while then eat a carrot.
So, what does exercise accomplish?
First and foremost, being physically active makes it much easier to maintain weight loss. Just remember that "exercise" is not the only form of physical activity. Gardening, cleaning, dancing and sex are also forms of physical activity. There must be all sorts of physical activity you enjoy but don't consider exercise. Guess what. If you're moving, it counts.
If you want to be physically capable, you had better be active. If someone you really admire were to ask you to run in a 10K charity race with them would you be capable? What if it was just a 5 mile walk in the woods? How capable you are depends on how active you have been.
If you want to age well, you had better be active. No matter how well you eat, no matter how healthy you are, you will eventally reach the age where you can't do anything for yourself anymore. How old you are when you start to physically deteriorate depends on how active you have been over the course of your life.
If you want to be as sharp as possible, you had better be active. There is a surprisingly strong connection between exercise and mental function, particularly holding off the deterioration of mental function that comes with age. How sharp you are and how sharp you stay depends a lot on how active you are.
What, exactly, do you recommend for exercise?
Remember that it is never too late in life to start being more active. You will see some very rapid improvements in your physical capabilities.
If you have been inactive for a while then start slow. Just walk.
And keep walking. At least 20 miles per week. Build up to 35. If you want to be more fit than that, go see a fitness expert.
And don't sit down. Statistically, sitting is worse for you than smoking. Look for opportunities to stand instead of sit. Talking on the phone is the perfect opportunity to get off your ass. In fact, do you really need to be sitting down right now?
A Note From Dr. Newberry
My name is
Marcus Newberry. I am a physician retired from the Medical University
of South Carolina with practices in Greenville and Spartanburg. At MUSC
I was Dean of the College of Medicine from 1974 to 1985, interim
president in 1982, and Academic Vice President and Provost from 1985 to
1996.I went to medical school at Emory University in Atlanta and served two years in the Epidemic Intelligence Service of the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention, which contributed to a lasting interest in public health and primary prevention. In 1977 I founded the Cooper River Bridge Run to promote fitness and health in the Charleston area.
Currently, I spend some of my time in Charleston chairing the steering committee that assists Mayor Joe Riley with his challenge to the community to lose 100,000 pounds. The project is Lighten Up Charleston. The committee consists of the City of Charleston, MUSC, The Citadel, College of Charleston, Charleston County School District, SC DHEC Region 7 and Roper/St. Francis Hospitals. My co-chair is Dr. Patrick O'Neal who is on the faculty at MUSC and is currently President of the Obesity Society.
My practice in Spartanburg was established in 1997 and Greenville in 2000. My focus is weight management through lifestyle transition. I named the practices Nutritional Health Center to indicate my intention of developing a concept and a model for the practice of primary prevention. Healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle can help keep you from ever having to participate in our sick care system.
