Fourteen years ago I
gained a few pounds and ever since I’ve been on a quest to lose that weight,
very unsuccessfully I might add. So unsuccessful was this quest that I actually
gained an extra few stones instead of losing the few pounds that I initially
gained. (For my American friends 14 pounds equals 1 stone) I’ve been on every
diet known to man/woman, you name it, and I’ve tried it. Every fad going under
the sun at some point has had a friend called Ammo.
My problem has been that
initially success of these diets has not resulted in sustained long term weight
loss. (When I say long term, I mean past the initial first few months).
Then last September I
thought I’d cracked it when I stumbled upon Gary Taubes’ book “Why we get Fat”.
In the book he totally debunks the myth that to lose weight all you need to do
is diet and exercise. Although the book did more to further my knowledge on the
reasons why I wasn’t losing any weight, there were still unanswered questions.
Losing weight is one
thing, but does it mean you’re healthier?
Are thin people any healthier
than their overweight counterparts?
My overall goal over
the past few years has been to lose weight, but of late I’m not sure that
really matters, what I really want is perfect health, if there is such a thing.
(This latter quest has led me to some very interesting research and over the
next few blogs I’d like to share that with you.)
Trawling the net for
answers is quite a difficult task, especially when you only have a very vague
idea of what it is you’re actually looking for. However the upside is that you
do get to find out interesting information that somehow is all connected but at
the time you just don’t know how.
One of the most
important discoveries I’ve made is that overall health has more to do with
nutrition and less to do chance.
In their book “Naked
Calories” by Jayson & Mira Carlton; go to great lengths to explain the relationship
between micronutrients and real health. The book goes on to pose an interesting
question; could obesity be the result of malnutrition? (I’d never thought of
anyone in the developed world as been affected by malnutrition.) Also could
this malnutrition be the cause of some of the most debilitating diseases that
are so common in today’s society. Diseases like Alzheimer’s, Cancer, Diabetes,
High Blood Pressure, Heart Disease, and Arthritis to name but a few. Mira
herself suffered from Osteoporosis and had the bone density of an 80 year old
woman. Thankfully she was able to reverse this with good nutrition as well as
additional vitamins and minerals.
Could this be true?
Is overall health as
simple as eating the right micronutrients?
What are the right
micronutrients?
These are some of the
questions that I’ll try to answer over the next few blogs. But I must warn you,
I am no Doctor, I am no nutritionist, and I am no health guru. I’m just a simple
shopkeeper who is looking to improve his own health and in so doing has come
across information that is sadly lacking in the general domain. To be honest I was
totally ignorant of all this until I started to seek answers for myself, and I’ve
only just barely started to scratch the surface.
So if you’re
interested then please look out for my next few blogs and I’ll try my best to
write in words the information that is swirling around in my head.
Ammo
