Dr. Mark Hyman, MD has just published a ground breaking new book I highly recommend that you read it!
From the moment I glanced at the dedication, I knew there were some real answers waiting in Dr. Mark Hyman’s latest book, Eat Fat, Get Thin: “For the one in two Americans with chronic disease, for those who struggle to answer the question, ‘What should I eat?’ this is for you.” He is speaking to an America that has followed so many food crazes in search of better health, that we find ourselves totally confused and, as Hyman says, “fatter and sicker than ever.” I almost fell out of my chair when I read the statistics: in 1960 1 in 100 Americans had type 2 diabetes, today it is 1 in 10 people.
You could say Dr. Hyman is on a mission to change the world as he says, “The single biggest health problem we face globally is the metabolic disaster that has led to a global epidemic of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease.” We experience this tragedy every day as we see countless obese children who don’t know what it means to run effortlessly and be carefree, our parents and grandparents die prematurely, and our friends go through the motions of living but never feel alive. Dr. Hyman’s book makes me feel hopeful because he gives us both the why and the how to reverse chronic disease and climb out of this disaster.
In Part I of the book, Hyman tells the story of how we got to this state of what he calls “metabolic havoc” in which fat was demonized and food manufacturers responded with a dizzying array of low-fat, but high-sugar alternatives. Current research points to sugars and refined carbs as the “true causes of obesity and heart disease—not fats,” as we have been trained to believe. Hyman tells us that “carbs turn on the metabolic switch, causing a spike in the hormone insulin, and leads to fat storage.” Hyman is very clear that sugar by any other name (…Agave nectar…Honey…High-fructose corn syrup…) is still sugar and sugar is our true villain.
My favorite concept of Dr. Hyman’s is “diabesity,” his term for all sorts of problems that come about because of blood glucose and insulin imbalances. You could almost call it his bread and butter theory of carbohydrate intolerance! This is the epidemic that haunts us today as we do everything in our power to avoid fats while we flood our bodies with carbs that create a metabolic reaction that blocks our path to wellness. Dr. Hyman shares an increasing body of research showing that “high-fat diets outperform low-fat diets for weight loss and for reversing every single indicator of heart disease risk, including abnormal cholesterol, diabetes, hypertension, inflammation and more.” Hyman shares the evolution of knowledge that leads us to an understanding today that there is no clear link between dietary fat, saturated fat, or cholesterol and heart disease!
Part II of the book is where Dr. Hyman really takes off in his quest
to dispel harmful myths and clear up ambiguities about fats. He explains
that fat calories are burned differently from sugar calories and the fat calories can actually speed up metabolism, but they don’t turn on the metabolic switch to spike insulin the way carbs do. It is the composition and quality of foods that determine whether we gain or lose weight.
Dr. Hyman does a wonderful job at explaining the wide world of fats, especially discussing the dangers of the inflammatory oils (such as trans fats, refined omega 6 oils, shortening, vegetable and seed oil, etc.) and he lays out an understandable case for the healthy fats (Omega 3 fats, olive oil, coconut oil, avocados, wild-caught cold-water fatty fish, etc.). I wasn’t expecting the crash course on fats and heart disease. Thanks to Dr. Hyman, I now feel prepared to hold my own in discussions about inflammation, cholesterol, and statins, especially when it comes to questioning so many myths that have been bolstered by Big Pharma. I am happy to once again say that eggs are my friends and they are even better with grass-fed butter!
Part III offers a 21-day “Eat Fat, Get Thin Plan.” Hyman simplifies and clarifies food choices, not as a manual to lose weight, but to get healthy. He has been refining the approach for years in his work with patients and has shown real results through pounds dropped, waists trimmed, and reductions in blood pressure and blood glucose levels. Dr. Hyman’s goal is not looking for fast results, but an initial “reset” followed by a long-term, individualized eating plan for life. The plan outlines everything one should eat (the right fats to increase weight loss), drink and do, including ideal exercises and strategies to relax and sleep better. A daily schedule is laid out which is a fabulous way to ensure success!
Once readers have journeyed through the 21-day plan mastering the principles of an optimal human diet, they are transitioned to Part IV that presents Eat Fat, Get Thin Cooking Suggestions and Recipes. Dr. Hyman’s extensive experience following his patients’ successes and understanding the nature of their roadblocks remains an undercurrent as he attends to every detail, such as the best way to plan eating for the week “the easiest way to make a healthy eating plan is to pull it together over the weekend…with this basic framework, you can’t go wrong.”
I’ve only had a chance to try a couple of the recipes. So far, Dr. Hyman’s Green Breakfast Smoothie is a favorite. What better way to power up for the day than by drinking a whole avocado, spinach, cucumber, and lots of other healthy ingredients? It is a great way to enjoy healthy fats and I have to remind myself when it is time to eat later in the day. Food cravings disappear when we are on a sure-footed path to wellness!
Eat Fat, Get Thin is an excellent resource I look forward to referring my readers to when they reach out for suggestions to help them achieve their goals of better health, weight loss, and reversing the epidemic of chronic diseases that are disastrously robbing life from so many people.
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By Dr Hyman via Healthy Holistic Living
