Patient Profile – Gina
Jan 18. 2017
Gina was recently feature on People Magazine’s ‘Half their Size 2017′ issue. According
to People Magazine:
“I overhauled
my entire diet,” says the Port St. Lucie, Florida, resident, who gave up sugar, processed foods and swapped starches
like pasta for veggie-heavy salads. Lassales also started wearing a Fitbit and talking long walks. Now she logs about 15,000
steps per day.” She started off
at 300 pounds and now weights 120 pounds according to the website. Reading the article, it appears that she ate small
meals throughout the day and increased her exercise for walking.
This is the classic
‘Eat Less, Move More’ prescription that we’ve all been taught. It has been spectacularly unsuccessful for
the great majority of people, so how did it succeed for her?
You Can’t Handle the Truth!
Well, the truth
is that you can’t always believe what you read. Gina happened to be part of
a Facebook group called Fung Shweigh, a support group for fasting and LCHF/ Ketogenic diets. Shortly after the article in
People magazine came out, she wrote this on Facebook:
“They did
not mention my fasting protocol at all, which I kind of
guessed they wouldn’t. They described it as “small meals”….um, no. Only two and small, hell no. More
like huge. They did not mention the ketogenic diet by name,
which I also guessed they wouldn’0t since they weren’t truly understanding it when I described it to them but
thank God they said I cut the sugar and replaced carbs with salads. They chose pasta even though I told them it was rice. I get that they have to cater to their sponsors but at the very least, the message
of getting rid of sugar to lose weight was told.”
Ahh… This
is starting to make more sense. Gina, in fact did not eat 54 small meals throughout the day, starting from the minute she
awoke to the time she went to bed. She was implementing a fasting schedule – virtually the exact opposite of what People
Magazine wrote. I emailed Gina to ask her if she could possibly share her own,
more accurate story, and she writes:
“My weight crept
up in my late 20’s, but at that time, I was never concerned about it. I just figured I ate a lot, even though I was
typically eating about two meals a day when I first started my very low fat diet. I was recommended this low fat diet by my
doctor because of high cholesterol. The more I
replaced fat with carbs though, the hungrier I became, and I gradually added several snacks between my two meals. Then I added an extra meal. I started getting hungry while out and so I started eating out. I would pick up snacks
at the gas station, at fast food places, at the supermarket. I counted calories and tried to get snacks with a lower fat content,
but my weight continued increasing. I was being told that snacking helps weight control
but that wasn’t happening to me. I got up to 300lbs. The feedback from my doctor was conflicting. Supposedly I was
eating too much but I also wasn’t eating enough. I had to eat many small meals, all day, even when not hungry. I was
following this and now I was getting really hungry.
In my early thirties,
my health had started to deteriorate rapidly. I went from moderately high cholesterol to full metabolic syndrome. My blood
pressure and triglycerides were very high. I had extremely high postprandial blood glucose, in the triple digits range. My
HDL cholesterol was low and my VLDL cholesterol was high. My resting heart rate was in the 100+ range. I then developed very rare ocular migraines, which left me blind
in my right eye on a weekly basis. I would have visual disturbances constantly and other neurological effects from these “silent”
migraines. On few occasions, I experienced the debilitating migraine pain as well. But no answers were given as to what
was causing them or why I had them. I had also developed extreme tenderness throughout
my body, to the point that I could hardly sleep because the mattress pressure would cause me to feel sharp pains. No one could
hug me. My clothes hurt on my body. I was weak as well and experienced, so much fatigue that I had to crawl upstairs at times.
I had to walk on a cane from reoccurring lower back injuries which I sustained from just doing normal, everyday things like
bending over to pick something up. It was one health issue after another and one doctor after another. It felt like I was
at the doctors office on a daily basis.
My cholesterol
was still the same, in the high 200’s. It hadn’t gone down, even on a very low fat diet. I was having heart palpitations
and I was getting winded from just going up the stairs. The final straw was that I failed the heart stress test. I was pretty
much at the end of my rope by then. The cardiologist told me the failure was because I didn’t exercise but I was on
a cane most of the time, so I couldn’t exercise. I was done with the double talk. (Jason Fung – notice how physicians ‘blame the victim’, even though ultimately the cause of
disease was the calorie reduced low fat diet advised by those very physicians)
I wasn’t
getting answers from my doctor, so I decided that I would learn everything that I could about obesity myself. I went online
and also read several books that linked carbohydrates to obesity. Though I didn’t really believe it at first, I significantly
reduced by carbohydrate intake by getting rid of all grains and most sugars. I was scared of what this might do to my cholesterol
levels but at this time, I was willing to risk it. I had nothing to lose at this point since nothing else was working. I dropped a significant amount of weight but stalled at about 200 lbs. I just wasn’t
loosing anymore weight after that but I continued with the low carb protocol, hoping that eventually the weight will begin
to go down again. (Jason Fung
– again, so sad that Gina healed herself despite, not because of her physicians)
My health improved
but not to where I wanted it to be. I was still having migraines, which was the most debilitating health issue I was having
at the time. I couldn’t leave the house without dark sunglasses or I would lose my vision and have horrible pain. I
felt like a prisoner to this condition. My weight went down into the 190’s. I felt relieved that I was finally below
200 but it was taking forever and I stalled again. I was in the 190’s a long time, so I went back online to get more
information and I came across The Etiology of Obesity on YouTube. I spent a few nights watching the entire thing.
That’s when I
got rid of ALL sugar, every grain (not just wheat), every starch and upped the fat content of my meals, with plenty of fear
because of the cholesterol issue. I was technically following a ketogenic diet at this point but wasn’t aware of it.
The first thing that happened was that the hunger
went away. That’s when I decided that
I would be able to implement a fasting protocol. I felt that was the last piece of the puzzle.
I wasn’t sure which fasting regimen to do because I had been having so many side effects from the carb restriction that
I was concerned the fasting would cause them to get worse. I had to find a regimen that would work for me and that I could
sustain long term. I decided extended fasts were not right for me.
On the videos it said that you can do a fast for as little as 12 hours and it would be beneficial so I began by getting
rid of all the snacks. Then I got rid of a meal. Then I shortened by eating window to only 4-6 hours
a day. It worked. I was able to follow this regimen very comfortably.
The weight finally started dropping again and the migraines went away. The weight dropped very quickly. I was surprised at
how much weight came off. I was not expecting to end up
at 120 lbs. Now I can sometimes eat only one meal a day and be completely fine. I am
more in tune to what real hunger is and so I don’t eat if I am not hungry. I am happy to be liberated from all those
snacks I had to carry around with me everywhere.”
Congratulations, Gina
on your amazing achievement. I’m a little saddened
that People magazine decided to impose their own agenda upon your own story. Otherwise, it may
have helped thousands of people with their obesity struggles. However, I thank you for the opportunity to share your unaltered
story.
