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MOLECULES, DIETS AND OBESITY III - Page 3

© Juan C. Mendible

Ornish is the only one who has published his results in peer-reviewed scientific journals, and it has been demonstrated that his diet lowers the risk of cardiovascular diseases and heart attacks. I think that it is too strict for people free of cardiovascular diseases. Ornish´s regimen calls for patients to become vegetarians and limit dietary fat to no more than 10% of total calories. The patient must exercise regularly and receive stress-management training and attend support meetings. Thus, even though it is good for people with heart disease, it is somewhat complicated and difficult for everybody to comply with.

My experience

I practice karate, and because of a lesion in one foot I had to go without practicing for over a year and half, which led me to gain about 20 pounds. When I recovered, I decided to go back to practicing karate and to lose the extra weight. I have been on my diet for over seven months now; and I have lost 12 pounds, I feel great and I eat what I want. I am sure that I will not regain the weight I lost. Three months ago, I started practicing karate again. Let me tell how I went about it.

First, I understood that if I continued adding weight in a few years I could be suffering any or several of the ailments I told you about in my first article. I was eating my way to disease and to becoming a problem for my family. Then, I understood and accepted the biochemistry of the problem. Also, I internalized the fact that the decision to keep my weight within the normal limits for my age and height was going to last for the rest of my life; that is, it was not just to lose a few pounds. Based on these premises, I designed the diet I wanted. For me, the most important characteristics of a diet are:

a.) It must be easy to do and to maintain. That is, you should not have to drive 50 miles in order to get one particular type of food or have to worry about calculations or what type of food goes with fish or whatever.

b.) A meal must make you feel satisfied. If, after eating, you are left hungry, you will eat again very shortly.

c.) It must be as varied as possible so as to avoid getting tired of eating the same thing every day.

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