Tuesday, March 27, 2012

#16) THE SECRET-don't tell anyone!!

A few weeks back a nice gentleman enters my Bellevue clinic for care with complaints of  poor digestion.  He was referred in by another patient who had had a similar condition.   This new patient (Jim)  had complaints of burning stomach and heartburn  and bloating after he would eat a meal.  The first thing I asked Jim was what he routinely ate for breakfast, lunch , dinner and I wanted to know what he ate for snacks between meals.  Now I have been in practice long enough to know that when I ask a patient that question  they never tell you the whole story and neither did my new friend Jim.   He told me he would have a couple cups of coffee in the morning at his favorite coffee place and he and his wife would split a scone and they would go home and either have a small breakfast of eggs and toast or they would wait and  have lunch, usually a sandwich.  For dinner he described a chicken/beef/ or fish with mash potatoes and a veggie.   Snacks he said would vary as either  cake or a cookie or cheese and crackers and glass of wine.  Jim was 25lbs overweight and he was mystified as to why he would suffer heartburn and stomach issues  with a relatively decent diet.

I told Jim we have to do some detective work in order to solve this problem and that I would have to ask him a bunch more questions about his diet and that  I would  need  frank and honest answers.   Long story short, what I learned from Jim with my exhaustive questioning is  he would have routinely  three,  16 oz. coffees in the morning at Tullys (refills are free)  and he would use two packs of sugar with each ( let me do some math here, 3- 16oz coffees= 6 cups of coffee and 6 packets of sugar.).  It was true that he and his wife would split the first scone, but he would go back and get another scone  with his final coffee.
Sometimes he did have breakfast  as he detailed  but it was most often waffles and syrup with bacon and a couple of pouched eggs on top.   Breakfast would usually carry them until a late lunch and he would have a sandwich and his favorite was a pork sandwich with his special smoked barbecue sauce  and potato salad.   Mid day snack would be his wife's excellent baked desserts, often cookies or chocolate cake.  Before dinner they would enjoy a glass of wine and cheese and crackers.  His dinner was as he had described , a protein and a veggie with mashed potatoes and late evening snack of either bakery goods or ice cream.

I asked Jim, "how serious are you about correcting your stomach problem and feeling good again?  On a scale of 0 to 10,  Jim, how committed are you to doing what it takes to turn this around?"  "I know I got to do something Dr. Doyle, I would say its a 10."   I then proceeded to lay out a dietary plan for him that would drastically reduce his coffee intake and eliminate his coffee sugar to replace with Stevie.  " No more scones in the morning Jim, instead you will eat a high protein low fat, low carb, low calorie protein bar that  I will provide for you  and you will love it.   I will want you to fully savor every sip of your one 8oz of coffee, no refills mind you Jim.    For breakfast you will have a couple of poached or scrambled eggs,  with the scramble you will add onions, peppers and any vegetables that you like and a couple strips of bacon."
We made a big change also to his lunch,  instead of the pork and barbecue sandwich  he will now have chicken, fish , beef or pork (delete the sugary barbecue sauce) with a variety of vegetables, either stir fry or broiled or raw.  No bread, no rice, no potatoes.    Jim and his wife reluctantly agreed to no more baked goods in the house and for a mid day snack they  could have raw veggies with raw almonds, walnuts, pumpkin and sunflower seeds , or some left over protein from their lunch.   The cheese and crackers routine with wine before dinner will be changed to hard cheese with a few veggies, celery, carrot, cucumbers, peppers and some raw almonds, walnuts and pecans to replace the crackers.  They both liked the idea of  eating a healthy snack with  their glass of wine.
Dinner would be slightly changed with no potatoes .  He would have a nice big salad with raw veggies and a homemade no sugar dressing.  I told Jim to throw out all his ice cream as no more after dinner snacking.

Both Jim and his wife agreed to the changes , both had weight to lose and health issues that would be helped
with an improved diet and resulting weight loss.    They returned a week later in much better spirits and enjoying their new found lifestyle, Jim had lost 7 lbs. and his stomach discomfort was much improved with no more bloating.  They are now walking to Tully's for their morning coffee, "I have much more energy now Doc."

Jim was essentially making himself sick and fat with his consumption of excess  coffee and sugar/carbs and little to no vegetables in his diet.  66% of Americans are overweight  and it certainly does not need to be this way.  What we really need to do with most people is take out the bad and replace with the good, the wrong  foods and junk we eat can make us sick and the right foods  can heal us.  But it is impossible to make the necessary  changes with anyone unless they  have the desire and strong intention to take charge of their own health.

Many folks refuse to change and instead of correcting their diet and losing the weight they would sooner take their blood pressure medications , their Lipitor, that purple pill for heartburn and put themselves at high risk for heart attack, stroke,  gall bladder disease , type 2 diabetes and various forms of cancer.

 Until Next Time, Dr.  Mark Doyle, 30/10 Weight Loss For Life headquarters  in Bellevue is a great service to our slim down clients.



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