In an article I wrote last September, I mentioned some individuals who had turned their health around in major ways using lifestyle medicine only.
I always feel it’s important to share these stories with the public (and the clients’ permission) because there still remains unwarranted skepticism about the power of lifestyle and particularly diet as a means to achieving good health. As much as the practitioners of lifestyle medicine, doctors, and coaches alike have an incredible amount of science to rely on, what often resonates with the public are the case studies – the actual real-life successes that people experience.
Although I personally concentrate on the best and latest studies in the field, there is no greater satisfaction than watching it all being put into practice and seeing with one’s own eyes the absolute reversal of disease and the enhancement of someone’s quality of life.
One of the people I wrote about in that September article was a businessman named Abe. Let’s go back five months and remember what I wrote then.
Background
“Abe happened to grow up on my street. Today he is a successful businessman whose business revolves around food. As a child, he was the fat and pudgy kid. Now in his mid-30s, with obesity and very high cholesterol, he felt the time had come for change.
“We started out learning how to eat in a healthy, plant-prominent manner with the emphasis on putting more whole foods into his diet. He quickly understood that you can’t just eat whatever you want and be healthy.
“Abe was and is a huge success. He has lost 32 kg. (70 lb.), his cholesterol has dropped about 70 points, and his triglycerides have also come down 45 points. As busy as he is, he has made time to exercise and do personal training in our clinic in addition to being very strict with the foods he chooses to eat, no matter where he is or how busy he is. He looks like, feels like, and is a healthy person with a new lease on life.”
Remarkable?
I had a wow moment this past week when Abe came in for his personal training exercise session and told me he had a present for me. He then showed me his brand-new blood test. It’s not like I haven’t seen it before, but every time I see something like this, the excitement and amazement is new and fresh. Here is what I saw.
Let’s start with the fact that Abe is 33 kg. (73 lb.) lighter than when he came to me 14 months ago. But that isn’t the main focus. His cholesterol levels have now dropped almost 90 points. More importantly, his LDL, the bad cholesterol, has dropped from a high of 176 to 97.
This is incredibly important in reducing cardiovascular risk. His triglycerides, the measure of fat in the blood, have gone from 226 to 89. Although his sugar was always good, his A1C has dropped down to 4.2%, which is excellent.
This metamorphosis, from extremely unhealthy to extremely healthy, can be called remarkable. Yet the truth is, it’s not remarkable as much as it is just a matter of following the science and attaining the resolve to do the work. Coming to the realization that your health is really more important than most other things helps one to reach that level of commitment.
Focus on what matters
There are multiple reasons for Abe’s success, but none more important than the implementation of true and tried science. First, we don’t focus on weight loss. His drop in weight is a byproduct of changing behaviors to those that are favorable to good health. When Abe saw his physician 15 months ago, he was told that he would have to go on statins to lower his cholesterol and, potentially, blood pressure medication as well.
Our focus has been to make lifestyle changes to lower his cholesterol and his blood pressure, and make him more energetic and feel better. As a wonderful side effect, he loses weight. By changing the focus from portion and calorie counting to eating foods that have an anti-inflammatory and health-promoting effect, we tackle everything at once.
Unfortunately, the mantra most health professionals preach is “lose weight any old way you can and your blood pressure, sugar, and cholesterol will drop.” We need to think in the other direction – eat the foods that lower blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood glucose and prevent Alzheimer’s. That will result in weight loss – and unlike the many diets out there, it will be a sustainable course of action.
Mostly, Abe knows this is a full-time job. He knows this, but it doesn’t take over his life. It’s just a fact of life that he eats a plant-based diet, low in oils, sugar, and salt. He exercises in our personal training program two times a week and stays active on the other days.
He has learned to get more sleep, and he doesn’t smoke. There are times of the year when he can be extremely busy working long days for weeks at a time. As busy as he is, he never deviates from his commitment to eating the healthiest diet we know of.
Doctors need to trust their patients more
Too many doctors will agree that lifestyle medicine is the best medicine, but that they don’t bother with it because most people won’t comply. I disagree. I think most people, once they are taught the ins and outs, can do it and can reap the benefits. Once they make the switch, they will feel so much better that they will never go back.
Just ask Abe – after 36 years of poor health habits and the suffering that comes from it, he is full of energy, happy, upbeat, and able to accomplish all of his tasks – even in the busiest of times.
For Abe and some of the others whom my colleagues and I have worked with successfully, it’s a whole new life. Abe did it, I did it, and you can do it, too!
This treatment and prevention does have side effects. But unlike the side effects of drugs, these side effects are having great health, a great life, happiness and, with God’s help, a longer life, too! Lifestyle medicine will “add hours to your days, days to your years, and years to your lives.”
The writer is a wellness coach and personal trainer with more than 25 years of professional experience. He is a member of the International Council of the True Health Initiative, on the board of Kosher Plant Based, and is the director of The Wellness Clinic. alan@alanfitness.com