Those who read my last article (Parikiaki 17/10/19) will be aware that as a by-product of reversing my diabetes, I lost in less than 6 months, 2½ stones (15 kilos) in weight. Although clinically obese, my portly figure was not an issue for me, but I am acutely aware that for many people, even skinny ones, weight is a serious debilitating physical and mental issue that can lead to depression, body dysmorphia, self-harming, sleep deprivation and suicide. The science behind reversing my diabetes turns out to be the same for weight loss.
Statistically, your attempts to lose weight will fail. Even if you succeed, it will be temporary, and the weight will return with a vengeance. For most, it’s a merry-go-round of constant yo-yo dieting that causes anguish, stress and loss of confidence.
Our body needs energy 24/7 and in today’s world, that comes predominantly from processed carbohydrates (cereals, breads, pasta, pizza and rice). Carbs are a form of sugar, an addictive drug that our body craves for and brakes down into glucose for fuel. When you eat carbs, even a very small quantity, your pancreas produces insulin, our master hormone, that unlocks the cells in your body to eat the glucose. Excess sugar is stored as fat and in order to do that, it suppresses the burning of your existing fat and the functions of your other hormone, particularly in the distribution of essential nutrients and vitamins. For the last 50 years we have been wrongly encouraged to reduce our meat and fat intake, to eat more carbs and to do so frequently. We have become so dependent on processed carbs and eat them so frequently that our insulin levels never normalise. So much so that the organs in your body start to resist the insulin. When they do, they cannot efficiently feed on the glucose and they remain hungry, telling your brain to tell you to eat more sugar, hence the cravings and constant snacking. This metabolic imbalance will take its toll on your mental as well as physical wellbeing. It is often the case that those suffering from depression, bipolar and other mental disorders are more often than not suffering from high insulin levels or insulin resistance.
Even if you reduce across the board the food you eat, on the logical assumption that you will burn more calories than you eat, you may reduce your weight for a short while, but then the body’s survival mode kicks in, and it will deliberately reduce your metabolism to ensure that you burn less calories than your putting in. As a result, you stop losing weight and instead start putting it on again. It is a cycle of eating and fat creation that is difficult to break, and they have yet to find a pill to cure it.
To lose weight and keep it off, you need to make a lifestyle change and start to look at food in a different way. For a start, ignore calorie counting. You need a regime that doesn’t keep you hungry. You need to change the type of food you eat rather than worry about quantity. You need to take out or at least drastically reduce processed carbs from your diet. Bring meats, fish, fats and eggs back into your diet. If you’re vegetarian, concentrate on a wholefood plant based diet (that exclude grains), healthy fats can be obtained from olives and avocados. Supplement essential vitamins such as B1 and B12 and minerals such as iron, which you can only get from meats.
As you wean your body off processed carbs, the cravings will diminish. You can reduce your frequency of eating back to the traditional three or even two times a day, creating healthy gaps between meals to allow your insulin levels to normalise. Once it is normalised and your carbs reduced, your body will stop producing fat and instead you will see a gradual reduction. Your metabolism will be restored, your other hormones can concentrate on what they should be doing, and that brain fog will start to clear. If you can reduce your carbs to below 20 grams net (it differs slightly from person to person), your body will begin to burn your internal fat to produce ketones for energy to replace the lost glucose, which is when you will really see your weight drastically fall. Your abundant fats will provide a constant supply of ketones for fuel, reducing the need to actually eat and when you start skipping meals you will see amazing body transformations and restoration.
Exercise, and this will be difficult for most people to accept, has little impact on your weight. What it does is give your body definition and strength. As you get older, it is important to maintain and add skeletal muscle to your body which you can only achieve by stressing the joints with weight.
You will, on this low carb/high fat diet be tempted at times to cheat, but the occasional blip will make little difference if you can maintain it. If you’re like me, you want to make the journey as easy as possible and not to stress over everything you eat. You need to simply maintain a clear idea of what is good and bad food and to opt for the good food as often as possible. A little cake at a birthday party is fine, a regular biscuit with your tea is not. A dozen organic eggs and a bag of kale from a supermarket is perfect, a low fat / reduced calorie, diet friendly, pre-prepared processed meal on the other hand is likely to be poison.
You can also investigate other more extreme options which will produce similar, if not better results. If you’re a meat eater, you can look for keto, paleo or carnivore diets. If you’re a vegetarian, you can go completely wholefood plant-based vegan. Fasting works on any diet.

Andreas E. Alexandrou
21/10/2019