Ritchie C. Shoemaker Lose the Weight You Hate

1. Auflage 2001
ISBN: 978-1-60984-961-0
Verlag: Gateway Press
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 455 Seiten

Finally, a weight loss book that not only is enjoyable to read, but is also jam packed with 'how-to-do-it' based on 20 years of clinical practice and obesity research. The No-Amylose Diet (bet you haven't tried it yet) is a fresh approach to a tired subject that usually features some variation on the wrong-headed ideas that 'the way to lose weight is to cut back on calories, avoid fat and get small amounts of exercise regularly.' Sorry, we have tried that approach for years and it just doesn't work. Just look at the maintenance rate for patients who use the 'expert advice.' Less than 10% of patients lose 30 pounds and less than 5% of that group keeps the weight off at 1 year follow-up. That advice is worthless, yet just look at the New Years' resolutions to push away from the table and go for a 30 minute jog. That's no way to lose weight! It won't work for very long.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Ritchie C. Shoemaker, MD

Leseproben

INTRODUCTION
Sooner or later, it happens to most of us. Maybe it happens in a hotel bathroom—on the night before your long-anticipated high school reunion—when you gaze into the full-length mirror, gasp with sudden shock, and then blurt at your startled spouse: “Honey, I can't face them … I'm too fat!” Or maybe the awful realization takes place at a seaside resort, during that awful moment when you attempt to climb into your favorite bathing suit from summers past … only to discover that the shrunken garment will no longer stretch itself to accommodate your expanded hips! (Or maybe it's your spouse who inadvertently triggers your fat-crisis, by waxing nostalgic about how good you used to look.) Let's face it: Waking up to the knowledge that you've joined the ranks of the “overweight” has to be one of life's most dismal and depressing experiences. Of course, you knew all along that you were drifting toward Fat City … but the final realization is upon you now, and it hurts. Why? Because if you're honest, you'll quickly admit the obvious: You hate that fat. And you hate your failure to keep it off … even though you counted every last calorie in the “Cambridge Diet,” and the “Beverly Hills Diet” … before becoming a dedicated foot-soldier in the “Atkins Diet Revolution.” “Eating less fat and exercising more” is the answer, according to so many of the nutrition experts. But you've tried that already, haven't you? And it didn't work, did it? Sure, you lost a few pounds. Maybe you even shed twenty pounds, over the course of a few months. But then what happened? It all came back, that's what. Within a matter of a few months, every pound returned to you … until you wound up in your present plight—unable to wear your own clothes and gasping like a winded fire horse each time you climb the basement stairs. And what about your self-esteem? Say, Katherine … haven't you gained some weight since I saw you last? Painful? You bet. But at least you're in good company. For millions of Amerians these days, “being overweight”—even to the point of health-threatening obesity—simply goes with the territory. Increasingly, it's part of our national identity, as the Affluent Society rapidly becomes the Fat Society. Whether we blame this fast-spreading health condition on television, lack of exercise or the fastfood industry (they're less responsible for the problem than you probably think), the shocking fact remains: More than one-third of the U.S. population is now officially classified as “obese” by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The grim fact is that there are millions of other struggling souls out there right now who can't face their former high school classmates or get into their old bathing suits, either! So why don't they just decide to get rid of that unnecessary baggage—and do it? The answer to that question can be found in some recent statistics from the American Medical Association. According to the nation's doctors, only ten percent of the millions of people who set out to lose or more pounds actually manage to accomplish the feat. And among that tiny fraction of successful dieters, only five percent—one in 20—are able to maintain the new, lower weight for more than a few months. The bottom line: 99 percent of those who set out to lose 30 pounds or more and keep it off ultimately fail at the task. When the best advice of recognized experts results in dismal failure of weight loss and maintenance, what is the overweight patient supposed to do to defeat his weight problem? They're stuck being fat. And they hate it. Just like you hate it. Question: Does anybody really feel good about the thick, oozy layer of flab that so often rides the belt-lines of 40-something men? And what about those ballooning hip-bulges that can be found on the majority of women past the age of 40? What about their sadly sagging abdomens and their puffy thighs … not to mention those drooping upper arms with their Jello-wobbly triceps? Make no mistake: The models in the magazine ads didn't get there because they were able to show off bra lines straining against vast expanses of dimpled cellulite! It hurts, doesn't it? It hurts to be stuck with at least 30 pounds you never asked for. And you hate it. Because it isn't fair! Not after you've sweated through all of those “miracle diets.” Not after you listened so hard to the experts, and tried so hard to lose that weight. Remember how you switched to low-fat cream cheese on your whole-wheat bagel for breakfast? Remember all those “healthy, Mediterranean-style” lunches you endured, where your plate crawled with various kinds of pasta and the nearest red meat was located at least two counties away from the table? And exercise? Don't even talk about it. Remember the Marathon Man? He had nothing on you, did he? (Even though you had to cram it all into the last remaining 30 minutes of daily “free time” in your insanely busy life.) How much did your “personal trainer” cost you last month? And how many dollars did you spend on membership fees at that health club you could never fit into your schedule? How many thousands of sit-ups or hours of aerobics or miles on the treadmill did you actually manage to complete—before collapsing in an exhausted heap and then discovering that you'd worn out a cartilage in your knee? Unfair! You ate what they told you to eat, and you took the stairs instead of the elevator at work, and you exercised until you developed mat-burns on your poor hindquarters … and what was the result? You stayed overweight, that's what. You continued to struggle in a threatening world where your own clothes—all those size-12 and size-14 outfits still hanging there at the back of the closet—began to silently reproach you for having lost control of your waistline. (And now you face buying a new, expanded-size wardrobe.) And right here is where yet another tragic aspect of failed dieting programs often makes itself known … as weight-loss hucksters prey on the unhappiness and desperation of patients who can only maintain their over-weight bodies. Barraged by infomercials, full-page Sunday newspaper ads and nutriceutical-pushers, these frustrated patients are pursued relentlessly, for a single reason: their money. Sad, isn't it? Unsightly and demoralizing, those excess pounds have been making you psychologically miserable. And they aren't helping your physical health any, either. Like most people today, you're reasonably well educated about the health risks associated with obesity. You've read the scare-stories about diabetes, high cholesterol, elevated blood pressure, gallstones, gout, degenerative arthritis and cancer. They are true. And you've noticed—indeed, how could you miss it?—that all of these ailments seem to turn up far more often in overweight folks than in their skinny neighbors. Really, now: Aren't those bouncy folks in their Spandex exercise-suits enough to make you sick? It's a depressing prospect, you must admit. And what about “quality of life?” Who wants to stand around gasping for breath—just because you bent over to tie your shoes, or to retrieve the Daily Banner from the front lawn? Are you really sure the problem is “deconditioning” and not your heart? And who wants to put up with all those fat-related sleep problems (the muscle cramps and the tossing and turning and the out-of-control snoring) that so often combine to keep overweight people and their worried partners awake half the night? Misery! No matter how you analyze the problem, the answer always comes up the same: Being overweight is bad for you. Chronic obesity will take years off your life, and even if doesn't kill you right away, deep down it will eventually make you wish you were someone else. But here's the good news for overweight people everywhere. You don't have to live this way. And the solution is so utterly simple. By using the chapters of this book as your daily guide, you can “lose the weight you hate.” Even better, you can begin building a new, far more rewarding and satisfying lifestyle … even as you discover a new way to think about eating and about the many different kinds of food you put into your body each day. As you'll soon discover in these pages, I've been prescribing this unique, no-amylose diet for overweight patients for more than two decades. (As a matter of fact, my first weight-loss book—Weight Loss and Maintenance: My Way Works—quickly sold out its first two editions.) Along the way, I've made frequent presentations on the topic to this country's leading group of M.D. specialists in obesity (the American Society of Bariatric Physicians), and my lectures on the physiology of nutrition and dieting have been recorded on Audio Digest, then listened to by thousands of practicing physicians around the country. At the same time, my current findings in clinical research on obesity have shown the fantastic promise contained in a newly developed medication, Avandia. Only recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved my study of this genemodifying substance—manufactured by Glaxo Smith-Kline—showing that it can be safe and effective, without worrisome side-effects, when used in a weight-loss program that uses the diet that you will read about in this book. The results of my Avandia...