Oct. 16, 2006
I told you I’d keep you posted on my Zone/Cederlane diet. You are my very own online support group! But, this is not just for my own personal purposes. I very much want to share, in detail, some powerful things I have discovered, that can maybe even save your life! Read my article on Dr. Sears and the Zone Diet here…
When I began living in the Zone, I noticed a big change in as quickly as a day and a half. The food I put in my body in the way of meals from Zone/Cedarlane was perfectly balanced in the amounts of protein, fats and carbs. It felt as if my body had made a shift. I just felt better right away, and noticed a change in my energy…I had some! I truly would not have believed this if I read this or heard someone saying these things ? I’d would have dismissed it as hype.? But I am here to say that it is true!
I was shocked when I stepped on the scale and saw that in less than 2 weeks, I had lost six pounds. I had to do a double-take because I really thought I was seeing things. I have to confess, I hadn’t taken the time to exercise except for one bike ride at the beach. Most of the time my time had been spent working at the computer, daily keeping busy with the magazine. I thought it would’ve shown maybe a pound or two less. My body looked slimmer, felt slimmer. It was a beautiful thing. This type of results keeps me interested and continuing to keep doing what I?m doing, But the other thing I’ve noticed is feeling better overall, lighter – not so bogged down.
I am guilty of having spent the better of two years (or more) in the past on the that famous almost-all-protein diet. Oh yes, I looked great. But didn’t feel great. I ended up with indigestion, heartburn, and low energy. It really threw off my body’s chemistry balance. And, yes, I gain the weight back when I went back to eating normally! Since I am on the Zone/Cedarlane diet and writing about my journey, my research led me to Dr. Barry Sears site www.DrSears.com. I knew I had stumbled upon something very powerful when I learned about the following, that I will share with you. It could just be the underlying cause of many people’s chronic health problems, with which your doctors continue to prescribe drugs to merely deal with the symptoms, which can only be making your condition more chronic! Read on.
SILENT INFLAMMATION
Silent inflammation is a condition that occurs when the body’s natural immune response goes awry. It’s when the chemistry balance in the cells go awry. It’s been linked to heart disease, cancer, diabetes, even dementia and other health threats; and it can go on for years, undetected, as it slowly but surely wreaks havoc on your body. It has been discovered that inflammation is a primary factor in the development of a wide number of chronic disease conditions, especially in the heart, brain, and immune system. A certain level of inflammatory response is needed to protect us from invading organisms (bacteria, viruses, and parasites) and to treat traumatic injuries.
However, left unchecked, it can continue to wear down every organ in the body. This can lead to chronic diseases. There are two types of inflammation. The first is associated with pain, swelling, and redness, when you get injured or have an infection. The other type of inflammation is silent inflammation or silent pain that is far more insidious. It doesn’t generate the pain associated with classic inflammation and it is usually left untreated for years. Silent inflammation is the underlying cause of heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease. Virtually every type of chronic disease has a significant inflammatory component as its underlying cause. If silent inflammation is the underlying cause of chronic diseases that take years, if not decades to develop, then why not simply take anti-inflammatory drugs on a lifetime basis to quell excess inflammation? Because of the side effects (osteoporosis, immune suppression, and death) that these drugs cause. Death in the United States from prescribed use anti-inflammatory drugs exceed the number of deaths from AIDS!
So, why am I sharing this with you, you ask? Because it is treatable and curable without anti-inflammatory drugs. This can be achieved by the combined use of a low glycemic-load diet, and ultra-refined EPA/DHA concentrates (fish oils). The combined use of these two dietary interventions can keep silent inflammation under control for a lifetime without side effects. This is just one of the many benefits of The Zone Diet. Low-glycemic foods, in balance, can and will reduce silent inflammation.
Do you have SILENT INFLAMMATION?
According to Dr. Sears, If you take only one blood test in your life, it should be the AA/EPA ratio in your blood. This is the most powerful marker of silent inflammation and thus the strongest predictor of future chronic disease. This one test may be the most predictive blood test that you can ever take because of its’ ability to determine your eicosanoid balance. The lower the AA/EPA ratio, the better the balance of “good” and “bad” eicosanoids in your body. Shown below is how this test relates to the development of chronic disease: State of Wellness AA/EPA Ratio Existing chronic disease > 15 Headed for chronic disease > 10 Good > 3 Ideal > 1.5. An AA/EPA ratio of 1.5 is considered to be ideal since this is the ratio found in the Japanese population who has the greatest longevity and the lowest incidence of cardiovascular disease.
The average AA/EPA ratio for Americans is 11, and it is considerably higher for those with existing chronic disease. If your physician is a medical professional licensed in your state, then ask him or her to set up an account with Nutrasource Diagnostic Inc. at 519-824-4120 x 58817. The fastest way to lower your AA/EPA ratio is to take more fish oil. If your AA/EPA is between 1.5 and 3 you are probably taking the correct amount of fish oil for your biochemistry. If the AA/EPA ratio is greater than 3, you might consider taking some additional pharmaceutical-grade fish oil to lower the ratio. Should your AA/EPA ratio be less than 1.5, then consider decreasing your intake of fish oil.
In addition, the more you lower your insulin levels, the less fish oil you will need to bring the AA/EPA into the desired range. The AA/EPA serum ratio is not a standard test. It requires a very precise determination of the levels of AA and EPA levels in the plasma phospholipids of the blood. As a result, very few laboratories can do this type of testing. The laboratory they use for this test is a university research-based laboratory that has decades of experience in fatty acid analysis. To get more information, ask your physician to set up an account with Nutrasource Diagnostic Inc. at 519-824-4120 x 58817. If your physician is unwilling to do the AA/EPA, Silent Inflammation Profile, test then please contact Natures Pharmaceuticals at: 866-820-3168 or visit www.siptesting.com to arrange for the AA/EPA, Silent Inflammation Profile test to be done for you. I hope this helps someone who is suffering needlessly or is headed for chronic diseases. Please tune in next week for my latest update. All the best and may I weigh less!
Oct 31, 2006 The most challenging part of a diet, I believe, is the beginning. You’re used to eating what you want, when you want, and not used to passing on the things that you crave. And when you do start a diet, it takes a lot of time, thought and effort to make sure you are eating everything on your plan. What I have found with the Zone/Cedarlane Plan is that you do get to eat what you want, and having everything already prepared takes the effort out of it completely. There is no racking your brain as to ‘What should I eat’? Is that the right proportion? There is no getting bored with bland, boring food. In the first week, I didn’t miss the foods I was used to eating because I was eating delicious foods. And not having to always figure out what I am going to prepare is a wonderful thing. The only thing I have to think about is which delicious choice I want – the cheese omelet, the cheese and asparagus omelet, or the spinach, cheese and mushroom omelet?! Or the flavorful breakfast burrito? Or the lasagna or cheesy eggplant parmasian. And many other choices.
The other nice aspect of this plan is the feeling of discipline and structure this gives me. I know a lot of people struggle with disparaging feelings on a daily basis when it comes to their daily diet and their weight. Following this plan, where I know I’m putting healthy food in my body as well as healing my body is such a peaceful feeling. Not to mention the fact that I’m losing weight! It is a healthy weight loss, too; you are not losing muscle, only fat, because of the balance of carbs, fats and proteins.
Now, I have to be honest. This past weekend I was at several events and I just plain went off my plan for a couple of days. But, when I did eat ‘regular’ food, I was so aware of the fat content of what I was eating, and the sweet foods tasted over-the-top yucky sweet. It was as if my natural tastes for healthy foods had kicked in and when I ate?typical foods, the revelation was almost shocking. It’s as if your normal tastes for foods gets perverted and you get used to eating unbalanced, high-fat, oversweet foods, that you think it?s normal. So, even if you do try this plan only short-term, it’s clear how it balances you in more ways than one. Oh, and I have now lost 10 effortless pounds, despite the fact that I went off it a couple of days.
Nov. 9th I just returned from 4 days in Vegas on business. I also reviewed two incredible restaurants?while there?- the Corsa Cuchina at the Wynn and Postrio at the Venetian. So…yes, I did detour from my plan…but not too badly thanks to the good habits I began developing with the Zone plan I had been following. In the past I might have indulged in an over-abuldance of food and drink when in Vegas (it is Vegas, after all), but this time I was consciencious of what and how much I ate and drank (except at Corsa Cucina and Postrio). But because of the previous few weeks or so that I’ve spent on the Zone plan, several things took place: I had gotten into the habit of eating properly balanced healthy food. My appetite and tastes had ‘normalized’. I wasn’t craving sweets or fatty foods. So even though I ventured off the path of my eating plan, it was easier for me to get right back on track.
What I’ve discovered in my dieting history and experience is that when you develop a habit of eating a certain way i.e.: If you are eating what you want, when you want, and don’t control it, that is what you’ll continue to do and eventually gain weight. It becomes a vicious cycle that is tough to break. The Zone/Cedarland meals has made it really easy for me to get back on the right track and stay on course. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve started diets, only to blow them within the first week. This has not felt like a diet, because the food is great, the selection is varied, and you feel so much better right away. So, yes…I’m not perfect – no one is, and no one expects you to be. The reality is that life gets in the way of your perfect plan. So…you adjust, and get back on track. Which is what I’m?doing tomorrow morning with a tasty Zone/Cedarland omlette. It’s back on! If you’re not trying to lose weight, but want to maintain your weight and stay healthy, this is a great choice. When you don’t have the time to cook or to eat right, having a selection of Zone meals in your freezer that you can prepare within minutes, like the deliciously gourmet shrimp pasta or the?tasty chicken and cheese lasagna, is so convenient and makes it easy to stay in shape and feeling good. It makes life so much easier. And you don’t have to worry that you’re consuming processed food full of chemical additives. It’s a nice feeling to ‘be back in control’.
Nov. 16th: It feels great to be back on track. They say that the toughest part of a diet (or any new habit such as exercising) is the first week. After the first week, it becomes an easier routine. As I mentioned in my last update, I had gone out of town and gone off my plan. What a huge difference it made in the way I felt – in a not-so-good way. When I was following the Zone, I felt great; energetic, rested when I woke in the morning, never hungry. After going off for the week, I was back to feeling lethargic, bloated, craving sweets and salty foods, etc. It is so good to be back on track. To feel great after you’ve had a meal, instead of full and uncomfortable. But what I love the most is the secure feeling that when I am eating Zone/Cedarland meals, nothing I am eating is unhealthy. The chicken is not full of antibiotics. The vegetables are not genetically-engineered or full of pesticides. Nor is the food irradiated. There is a reason one out of three people are getting cancer now. And studies predict that by 2010, that number will be one in two people. Some of the reasons include the four things I just mentioned.
That, coupled with being in a state of silent inflammation creates the environment for cancer. These days we do have to take steps to insure our good health. We can no longer take it for granted, and think it can never happen to us. It’s happened to 6 people I personally knew, who were in their mid-thirties; leukemia, terminal brain tumors and prostrate cancer. Eating in the Zone is one way to insure that you are at least keeping your system balanced; the correct acid/alkaline balance and that you are consuming foods that are not putting chemicals into your body. I am persisting and will continue to persist on my Zone eating plan. When I get weak and want to grab something not healthy, I just think of you, my online support system, and it keeps me on the straight and narrow. Thank you!
Read my article on Dr. Sears and the Zone…
April 7, 2007
I realize it has been a number of months since I’ve placed my last update. As I became overwhelmingly busy with the magazine, little by little I was able to retrain my eating habits to what I had learned from the initial 3 months on the Zone Diet. I became conscious of eating in balance, as opposed to all low-carb or too much sugar, too much protein without the accompanying balance of low glycemic carbs and fat. I felt a change come over me. I had more energy in the morning, I my body?fat ratio?came down. I didn’t have the all-over muscle aches which I now recognize as having been silent inflammation. Although I didn’t follow the Zone diet to the letter, I slowly but surely attained the knowledge and habit of eating the right balance of food every meal I could. One of the most difficult things overweight people face when attempting a diet is the change in their comfortable eating habits. What I want to say to that is, it?s ok to take your time and not be hard on yourself. Just keep making the attempt every day, and, when eating in the Zone, you will find yourself not getting voraciously hungry, and you will stop desiring the ‘bad’ foods like dessert, fried foods, etc.
Where I had been just working excessively and not exercising, the extra energy and overall good feeling I had attained from following the Zone perfect balance enabled me to not only get my exercise in, but had me enjoying the exercise I was doing. I have found my weight to come down slowly but surely and am fitting into smaller sizes. This was a slow but steady transition, but now, in April, I look back over the last 5-6 months and see the huge difference. It took me over a year to gain the weight?and I am being patient as the weight is slowly but surely coming off.
I am publishing a lot of articles on the Zone diet, Zone products, and the healing benefits that result. I feel that this diet and products are?so important, especially in this day and age where everyone at every age are dying of horrible diseases. I want to get the word out that the underlying cause of disease is silent inflammation. When you eat sugar, for instance, it is stored in your fat cells and causes the resulting inflammation. It becomes?a vicious cycle. According to Dr. Sears, being overweight doesn?t exactly make you unhealthy, what makes you unhealthy is the unbalanced intake food, and too much?of?high-glycemic carbs (sugar!) He says that there are a lot of healthy overweight people, and there are a lot of unhealthy thin people. It’s all in the diet. Silent inflammation causes acidity, heart disease, cancers and more. One of the most important things a person can do is use the Omega oils daily, as I do. (Read our article on Dr. Sears Ultra-Refined Oils here). I start my day with the delicious Zone shakes, and if I?m feeling hungry, I just have a Zone bar, and that? satisfies my desire to nosh. Eating in the Zone has truly changed my life! Give it a try! It could save your life.
