So You Want To Lose Weight? Don’t Skip The Supplements
For anyone that has not been following my series on weight loss, I have turned my formerly 351 lbs body into test subject “A”. As of last Saturday I was already down 11 lbs in 10 days. I am only 2 days away from my next weigh in and I continue to feel amazing. I am excited to see where the scale will have fallen to this time as this is my first full week of supplements.
There are two ways I have been accomplishing this weight loss. It’s a one-two punch with dietary changes and supplements.
My dietary changes have primarily been limited to the loss of all gluten in my diet (see my article 10 Foods That Kill). No wheat, barley, rye, or oats (which obviously means I just gave up drinking, as that pretty much covers all beer and whiskey). Also, I gave up all cooking oils, fried foods, nitrates and nitrites (luncheon meats (that include them), sausage, pepperoni, etc) and soda. Finally, you can’t eat tater skins, or well-done meat (which is fine by me, because I believe that is a waste of steak) if you were to follow my plan.
Honestly, I know initially that sounds like I’ve given up a HUGE portion of the foods we eat on a daily basis, but maybe that’s the problem. America is in the middle of an epidemic with obesity, as this year – over a third of our entire population is obese. . . According to Dr. Joel Wallach, the Naturopath physician who created this diet, I can again eat red meat, butter, cheese, whole milk and I’m enjoying dozens of eggs – all guilt free. The “Why”, is perhaps tomorrow’s blog.
From what I have learned, obesity is not a disease of excess – it is one of deficiency. If we were only getting the proper nutrition from our foods, we would all eat far less. But as it is, that is not the case. Our foods are grossly deficient in the nutrition they offer, so our bodies compensate by consuming 1,000’s of extra calories to absorb the vitamins and minerals that it should have had with far less.
This isn’t even truly your fault. It would be too convenient to just blame the government, but they were warned as early as 1936 that our farming soils were becoming dangerously depleted of minerals. It would be convenient to blame the M.D.’s as wthey are famous for saying, “taking a bunch of vitamin supplements is going to do nothing other than give you expensive urine – all the nutrition you need is in your four food groups – here take this shot, it’ll help and I’m going to put you on this prescription. . .”
You are only as intelligent as you have been trained to be. Medical Doctors (M.D.s) spend the majority of their schooling learning about anatomy and physiology. Even where they do learn of “supplementation” their specialty is pharmaceuticals, not vitamins, minerals and amino acids. They are required to take no more than one credit hour on nutrition through out eight years of school. So you could blame the pharmaceutical companies, but even then that isn’t entirely fair. It is truly the whole medical system that has listed anything not included in the “M.D. tent” as “alternative medicine” as if it is somehow second class, or “quackery”.
Their arrogance and hubris has led to a void in the realm of nutrition, where many practices that heavily rely on nutritional health for overall wellness are outcast as seemingly modern “witchcraft”. Not just Naturopathy, but Osteopaths, Homeopaths, Acupuncturists, Herbalists, and Chiropractors are all placed a full tier below the M.D.s and it truly is a crime. Over 118,000+ people die on the operating table annually, most for physician caused diseases (and literally “Death By Physician” is the #5 cause of death in America).
That brings me back to the supplements I have begun to take. Now in the interest of full disclosure I have not only been taking the Beyond Tangy Tangerine that I have mentioned a few times already, but I decided I would also adopt a protein-whey shake diet as well.
There is no reason to do this according to my diet, but I assure you I look forward to my shakes. The “shake” component itself is 109 calories per serving. To that I usually add a cup of whole milk (150 calories), 2 eggs (140 calories) and say a few strawberries (30 calories). All totaled, that is a very balanced meal for under 500 calories and even with two of those per day, I can still consume another 1000 calories for dinner and be at or below 2000 calories per day. It is just a great way to control your caloric intake and if you like them as much as I do, I highly encourage it.
Going into this program, that is exactly what I had planned. But here’s the reality of it. I haven’t needed two shakes a day. Most days I have only had one and that is because in starting my day with the Beyond Tangy Tangerine. I am fully supplementing my body with everything I need – All 90 essential vitamins, minerals and amino acids in a single drink (at only 30 calories per serving). After finishing this, I feel completely satiated and I am literally not hungry again for hours (and there is not a single appetite suppressant in the formula – it works because your body has all the nutrition it requires from a meal).
For the naysayers out there that don’t believe I could get such balanced nutrition from a vitamin/mineral supplement, I’ll admit – I’m no dietician. But I can tell you, not only is my hunger satiated, I am bursting with energy. Everything a dietician would tell you would be the effects of a well balanced meal.
In the future, I may just order more Beyond Tangy Tangerine and keep some healthy snacks around during the day and skip the shakes altogether. Because there have been days already, when I have just had my Beyond Tangy Tangerine for breakfast, a shake for lunch, a balanced dinner and a second Beyond Tangy Tangerine while I’m winding down at night and I never felt a single hunger pang all day.
It’s pretty amazing stuff.
Now just to finish things out here. There are three other supplements I am taking: Osteo-FX Plus, EFA Plus and a product called Sweet-Eze. First off, let’s talk about the Osteo-FX plus. . .
Osteo FX Plus is primarily a supplement of Calcium, Magnesium, Glucosamine and Vitamin D, however it also includes Phosphorus, Zinc and Copper. When I first read about it I thought, “This is for old people – I don’t need that.” and for somebody my age or younger you are probably thinking the same thing. However, I’ll tell you my logic behind ordering it. Much of the weight I feel I have put on, is due to sodas and carbonation.
In listening to an podcast of Dr. Joel Wallach’s, Dead Doctors Don’t Lie, I heard of a study that was done on teenage girls and the effects that soda was having on them. They found that in girls as young 14, they had the bone density of an average 60 year old woman and this was primarily due to their intake of soda – Some of these girls were drinking up to 160 oz.’s of soda a day! Now, while you are thinking, these girls must have been fat – the majority of them were health conscious teens, just drinking Diet Coke.
The problem with the soda is not the sugar content, it’s the soda itself. It seems carbonation is a major contributing factor to the early onset of osteoporosis. Take that and the fact I weighed 350+ lbs at the start of this program, and the idea of strengthening my bones didn’t sound like such a bad idea after all. Plus add the fact that if I didn’t want to look like a flabby skinny guy at the outset of this program, I knew that meant getting back in the gym, as well. Well, that meant extra grinding on my bones and joints, so a supplement rich in glucosamine sounded like a pretty smart addition too.
Dr. Wallach expresses various times (on various subjects) that most problems can be cleared up with just a 90 day regimen, so where Osteo-FX Plus is concerned. That is my plan. I will use it for the three months and will probably drop it then, however ladies. This is worth a mention. . . Many of you start going grey at an early age. Yes, of course men grey as well, but women are the ones that rely on hair color to cover this usual first sign of aging.
What if I was to tell you, this was nothing other than a mineral deficiency? Truly, grey hair comes from a lack of copper in your diet and once again, with a 90 day regimen of Osteo-FX Plus you will reverse the graying that has taken place and your natural hair color will return. Pretty cool, huh?
Next is the EFA Plus. This supplement assists in the dispersion of free radicals and a healthy heart. Primarily it contains Omegas 3, 6 and 9 fatty acids, but also includes a healthy dose of DHA. This is among the best EFA supplements on the market and once again, getting my 350 lbs body back into action, heart health seemed like a no brainer.
Finally, I am taking Sweet Eze. Now this one I went back and forth on as well. It is primarily a chromium and vanadium supplement, which Dr. Wallach will tell you are the primary missing components in all Type II Diabetic’s diets. Further, it has been discovered that all signs of Type II Diabetes will be wiped out by a complete 90 day regimen of these two supplements. . . So literally, it CURES Type II Diabetes.
Now, I have not been professionally examined for the effects of Adult Onset Diabetes (Type II), but knowing that Adult Onset Diabetes is typically triggered by weight gain, it seemed a small price to pay for something that may be plaguing me anyway. I know if I run hard my hands and fingers will swell and make my rings and watch feel tight. I don’t think I need a genius doctor to tell me what I already know. . . I have been already been affected by diabetes.
Also, Diabetes aside – chromium is a great supplement to help in the loss of fat. Once metabolized into the blood stream, chromium has the ability to attract fat cells and it will help flush them from your system.
There are other supplements I am learning about that in the future I may try. One of them I may mention now is Rebound FX, which is a sports drink which helps replace electrolytes, like another famous sports drink – but instead of being loaded with sugar, it is loaded with minerals – Helping you replace much of the mineral nutrition you may have sweat out during your workout (and at just 36 calories), while giving you a boost of energy to get on with your day.
I mention the Rebound FX to you as an after thought for two reasons, number one – I am not on it yet and cannot personally review it as something I’d recommend. Second, I don’t think I need it yet. At 350 lbs my workouts are not a day at the beach, but they also aren’t the high intensity workouts I have pushed myself through in the past. All in good time. I know I’m built like an ox and can handle the pressures of a hard workout, but there is no reason to rush back into it and injure myself. So that is my final words to you today. If anything I am writing here is compelling you to get back into the gym after months of time away – Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Get your weight under control. Start rebuilding your muscles back to the point you can comfortably make it through your workout (without having to visit a doctor afterwards) and when you have built up enough strength, your body will tell you when you are ready for more. Even personal trainers will tell you, 90% of weight loss is diet and a good one won’t just stick you in a gym, they’ll offer you a balanced nutrition plan, as well.
Your body does talk to you, you just have to learn to listen and while I would still make the argument, “No pain, no gain”. . . Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Learn to walk, before you run. Learn to run, before you sprint.
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I believe it’s itanrmpot to supplement your diet. Most people don’t eat as healthy as they should and most people don’t get the required 9-13 servings of fruit and veggies a day. When your body has the nutrition it needs you won’t crave things and you will be less likely to over eat. I reccomend all natural herbs and vitamins and not diet pills that can harm you. I have never taken those kind of pills. I have always eaten right and excercised and taken numerous herbs and vitamins. The times in my life when I got out of my routine of exercising are the times when I got rolls I normally don’t have. It is itanrmpot to exercise as often as you can. Walking is very good for you and anyone can do it. Walk briskly at least 30 min. a day, you’ll be amazed at how much energy you have as well as feel better.