John Bradshaw - Weight Loss
Welcome to Take Charge of Your Health, where we are learning how to... take charge of our health. The modern world, and in particular the United States, is caught up in what has been described as a health care crisis. So what if there were things that you could do to keep out of the doctor's office and enjoy better health? Tonight, a subject that concerns just about every last one of us. Welcome to Take Charge of Your Health.
This is Take Charge of Your Health. I'm John Bradshaw from It Is Written. Thanks for joining me. The World Health Organization says that in 2016 almost 2 billion people aged over 18 were overweight. More than 40% of Americans are dealing with obesity. Many, many more are overweight, and the problem is getting... bigger. Carrying more weight than you need to carry is linked to numerous other health issues. So, while we're not gonna point the finger at anyone or get on anyone's case, we are gonna find out what you can do to turn it around, to take charge of your health. You are going to hear from expert physicians. You'll hear from people who have taken the weight off and kept it off. We'll answer frequently asked questions, and we'll hear from Dr. Fay Kazzi and Dr. Steve Lee. You've got every reason to be encouraged. What you are about to hear could absolutely revolutionize your life.
John Bradshaw: In talking about weight loss, I'm joined right now by three gentlemen, three physicians. One is Dr. David DeRose, president of CompassHealth Consulting. Dr. DeRose, thanks for joining me on Take Charge of Your Health.
Dr. David DeRose: Great to be with you, John.
John Bradshaw: Also, Dr. George Guthrie, who is on the faculty of the graduate medical educational department at AdventHealth in Orlando, Florida. Dr. Guthrie, thanks for taking your time.
Dr. George Guthrie: Uh, thanks for having us.
John Bradshaw: And Dr. Harvey Hahn is a cardiologist, the director of the cardiology fellowship training program at the Kettering Health Network just outside Dayton, Ohio. Dr. Hahn, thanks for being part of Take Charge of Your Health.
Dr. Harvey Hahn: Thank you, John.
John Bradshaw: As we talk about weight loss, I want to start, gentlemen, by asking you why people gain weight. Dr. Hahn, I'll start with you. What causes weight gain?
Dr. Harvey Hahn: Basically, I think life happens to you. You start getting busy, marry, kids, job, and it's hard to take care of yourself. You exercise less, and you start eating more conveniently.
John Bradshaw: Uh, Dr. Guthrie, are there other reasons that people gain weight? What, what, if there are, what are they?
Dr. George Guthrie: Well, our culture is a bit unfair to us because they've designed foods that are very hard to put down. They even advertise, "I'll bet you can't eat just one". So, you know, the environment that we're in, uh, not only does it leave us a bit sedentary, but it also feeds us a lot of calories.
John Bradshaw: Dr. DeRose, I think we're beginning to touch on this. So, what is it that actually goes on inside a human body when weight is being gained? Describe that process. What's going on in there?
Dr. David DeRose: Well, I think the, the scariest thing that happens is you, accumulate what we call adipocytes, or "ad-i-po-cytes," depending where in the world, uh, you, have learned to speak the English language. And those fat cells are not just, uh, quiescent storage factories, if you will. Uh, they're not just, uh, storehouses for the fat, but they are actually biologically active cells. They're producing inflammatory compounds. They're increasing our risk of things like cancer and cardiovascular disease. So it's, it's scary business to us as physicians because, it's not this old idea, "Hey, yeah, you put on some pounds; uh, you can just lose it". These, fat storage cells are actually doing damage to your health, and it's why it's so critical to try to trim down, even if it's a little bit, can make a big difference.
John Bradshaw: Dr. Hahn, weight gain, as Dr. DeRose just mentioned, has this, this, this flow-on effect that sets people up to be predisposed towards many other different kinds of health problems. Uh, excess weight is the culprit in lots and lots of health issues. Tell me what some of those health issues are.
Dr. Harvey Hahn: Yeah, if you have increased weight, you're set up to have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, even metabolic syndrome, or all the way to full-blown diabetes. And all those risk factors can kind of culminate in heart disease or heart attacks, stroke, um, blocked-up arteries in your legs, causing, muscle pain when you walk, and even it's directly related to cancer.
John Bradshaw: So getting the weight down is a huge help in lots and lots of areas. But I think it's important that we emphasize this and, and, and speak directly to this. Dr. Guthrie, there are some people who pretty well cannot lose weight. I'm not trying to give people a get-out-of-jail-free card or provide somebody with an excuse, but there are times, aren't there, where for a variety of reasons someone is just big or bigger than they wanna be. What are some of those issues?
Dr. George Guthrie: I think one of the things we need to recognize here is that your weight, your overall weight, may not be the most important factor, in your, your overall health. Uh, Dr. DeRose mentioned the inflammation that's present. Uh, Dr. Hahn has pointed out that that inflammation tends to cause a lot of problems, throughout the system. I like to tell people, "You need to be moving towards a lower weight. You don't have to lose all that weight in order to be healthy. You just need to start moving in that direction". As Scripture says, you know, man looks on the outside, he may look overweight, but God "looks at the heart". And as one starts to lose weight, that inflammation tends to decrease. So, those people that cannot lose weight, I try to get them to take their eyes off the mirror and start enjoying the feelings of, of, of health that come as they start moving in that direction. They may never reach that ideal bathing-suit weight or that figure that they're after, but they can have good health even if they're overweight.
John Bradshaw: Dr. DeRose, somebody is overweight, and now, this isn't somebody who is stuck there and can't get up but somebody who might be able to do something about it. Where do we begin? How do we start talking people through the process of taking off the pounds?
Dr. David DeRose: Well, you know, if you wanna make it as simple as possible, what we've said in the, the weight-loss field for years, it's really an equation. It's calories in versus calories out. Uh, you might say that oversimplifies things, but really that's a lot of what we look at. So, if we're trying to move in the right direction, like Dr. Guthrie said, we're wanting to look at simple ways that we can decrease the calories that we take in. Maybe we're gonna leave off those soft drinks and have water instead. We're gonna look at ways to try to increase the calories out. We're going to perhaps increase our activity. Maybe, it's just gonna be a, a five-minute walk. Compared to nothing, that's a quantum leap. And, when you start decreasing the calories in, putting more calories out, you start moving in the direction generally of, if not weight loss, actually losing fat and building muscle.
John Bradshaw: Dr. Hahn, I would not be the only person surprised to learn that you have knowledge of this from a, an experiential, personal point of view. You lost weight. You were much bigger once. So, a couple of questions for you: What was the, the tipping point? What motivated you to do something? And what did you do in order to, get the results that you saw?
Dr. Harvey Hahn: Yeah, basically, like I said at the beginning, I was busy with my job, I got married, I had two children, and weight just kind of creeped on. So after my cardiology fellowship training was done, I put on about 45 pounds. And at that time I was not exercising at all, and I was eating anything and everything I could get my hands on, so that's why I was gaining weight. Um, the big turning point for me, the internal motivation that made me kind of look at myself, was I tore ligaments in my left knee, and I quickly realized that the reason that happened is I was carrying a backpack of fat, a 45-pound backpack every step, every day, on top of me. And if I didn't kind of get my act together, I wasn't gonna be able to play, you know, basketball with my two boys. I was gonna be just watching them at the sideline, and I didn't wanna do that. So that was really strong motivation to actually just take my own advice, follow the health message, and get healthy.
John Bradshaw: Yeah, that's fantastic. Dr. Guthrie, let me ask you this. Is medication the way out? Is this the sort of thing where somebody who's battling weight should go to the doctor and say, "Hey, write me a prescription, please"? Is, is that, is that a help? Is it a hindrance? Can it be a little bit of both? What's the role of medication in, weight loss?
Dr. George Guthrie: Well, medications can be helpful, uh, for weight loss. The problem is when you finish the medication, the weight tends to come back. Uh, one really needs to change their lifestyle to make this a long-term health issue. What's more, many of the health, the weight-loss medications actually cause problems for our health. Uh, some of them have, killed people. We've taken them off the market because of that. So medications all have side effects. We really, when we get overweight, we change our physiology, and that physiology is towards inflammation. If we throw a pill in to try to change a part of that in, that physiology, we're not fixing the whole thing, so the rest of it continues to happen. One has to change the lifestyle, diet, exercise, and other things to really see that weight come off in a way that it, it can improve the health over the long haul.
John Bradshaw: Okay. Dr. Hahn, let's say somebody is hearing us and they say, "Right. I've got to make some changes". They come to you; they say, "Doctor, help me get started". So where does a person get started? They want to start rolling some of this back and start to slowly seeing gains, which in this case would be losses. Dr. Hahn, where do we begin?
Dr. Harvey Hahn: Yeah, I think the one thing I try not to do is tell them, "Jog for 20 minutes a day," or, "Eat more of this," or, "Avoid this food". You actually, you can take, like, a diet history and an exercise history and see what they like to eat and what they like to do, and then really work with them to maybe make one agreed change to work on until the next appointment. Like if someone drinks a six-pack of Coke a day, you can ask them, "Can you go down to five a day"? Um, or, "Can you eat one more piece of fruit, one more serving of fruit per day"? Instead of making these radical changes that are gonna be really hard to keep.
John Bradshaw: Okay, Dr. Guthrie, let me ask you this. So we've spoken about diet, but I want to ask you about diets. Lots of diets that are around, the keto diet and the paleo diet and the Atkins diet, and this diet and that diet, and, anyway, they're everywhere, and you know all about them. Is there a diet that you recommend? What's your, relationship with or your attitude toward diets, Dr. Guthrie?
Dr. George Guthrie: Uh, for long-term health, I, I don't think a diet is a good idea. I encourage people to make a lifestyle change. And I encourage them to eat more plants. Uh, plants tend to be high in fiber, uh, no calories, high in water, no calories, so they fill you up, and the, and we call this the caloric density. So when the caloric density is low, you can eat till you're full, and you don't get too many calories in. This is a reasonable and a way of attacking the problem of too many calories in and not enough calories out.
John Bradshaw: Okay, Dr. DeRose, two things for you. One, what do we tell the person who says, "Oh my goodness, that sounds boring. Plants"? And secondly, where did we first encounter the idea of the diet that Dr. Guthrie is proposing? Two questions: What do you say to that guy or that lady who says, "Unh"? And secondly, where did we first see this diet promoted?
Dr. David DeRose: John, I have never had that question asked me as masterfully, because you, uh, deftly connected the, the two answers. And, we, we all well know that that diet first comes to us from the book of Genesis where, God created the perfect, the most enjoyable state of existence for the human race, and, it was nothing that they were foregoing. It was, it was entirely pleasurable. And our problem is, like Dr. Guthrie alluded to, we've, gotten used to eating all these artificial foods. Our tastes have changed, and the research is just stunning. If you make a change in your diet, even something that's not palatable today, unless you sabotage yourself, the Creator has made us in such a way that we can develop new enjoyments. So those lower-fat foods, those lower-sodium foods, those lower-caloric-density foods, I start eating more of those, I'm gonna start enjoying them, and I will be reconnecting with that optimal diet that God gave Adam and Eve in the beginning.
John Bradshaw: Okay, Dr. Hahn, what I want to ask you is this. So somebody is starting down this road, and it may just seem to them to be the longest "Ah, I've gotta lose 200 pounds" or whatever the case might be. Um, is there a shortcut? Can, can you, can you short-circuit this and somehow race to the finish line faster? What's your advice to the person who wants to see instant results?
Dr. Harvey Hahn: Yeah, I think the one thing is you have to kind of remember it took years to put on all this weight. It's probably gonna take years to take it off. A recommended weight-loss goal is two pounds per week, which most people think is pathetic. But if you do the math, that's over 100 pounds in one year. So you can make a huge impact. I think the big thing is that every long, difficult journey stops with starts with a first single step. You're gonna have to make some change now. And over time, small changes, you know, built on top of each other, make a huge impact.
John Bradshaw: Dr. Guthrie, I'd like to ask you this question, and that is about a certain shortcut that some people take. What about lap band surgery? Or, or bariatric surgery? Dr. Guthrie, how, how should we relate to that? Do, do you go there first? Is it a, a last-ditch thing? What is it?
Dr. George Guthrie: One of the things that, has been laughable to me about those getting these surgeries to help them lose weight is that the doctor will often tell the patient, "You have to lose 50 pounds or 30 pounds", whatever it is, "before I'll do the surgery on you". Uh, to me it's much more the, kind of the lifestyle component. We know that doing the surgery does help there and extends life in people that are obese. We have, what, 20 years of experience from Scandinavia demonstrating that. But these surgeries, I, I've cared for these people after they've had the surgery, never done the surgery myself, because that's not my skill, but after the surgery there are continued problems with nutrition. Uh, things don't absorb as well because the stomach has been short-circuited. Uh, when it's just a, a banding sort of a thing, the stomach will stretch out if people eat past it. So it's really, not a, necessarily a pleasant and, kind of successful experience.
John Bradshaw: Dr. DeRose, have you got anything to add about this type of, approach to weight loss?
Dr. David DeRose: Well, you know, none of us want to, uh, speak ill of something that's, that's helped people, but by the same token, we have to think with all these things. As we talked about earlier, medications have side effects. Of course, surgery does, too. Some years ago I took care of, a woman. Just did great on a intensive lifestyle program, lost a lot of weight, ended up coming back through a program. I was working at the time at a intensive lifestyle change facility. And, but then when she went back, she saw that her, her boyfriend was able to, to lose the weight with bariatric surgery. And, she said, "Well, boy, that sounds a lot better than, you know, sticking with a healthy lifestyle". The tragedy was she died on the table of that surgery. Um, I mean, that's not a common scenario, but the point is, yeah, when we take shortcuts, sometimes they're too short.
John Bradshaw: Okay. All right. Let's go, I want to ask each of you for some closing thoughts. Uh, are there things that people don't know that they should, or is there one piece of advice or wisdom or insight that you'd like to share, Dr. Hahn?
Dr. Harvey Hahn: Yeah, I think the big thing is people are focused on weight loss, but what people really want to do is actually lose fat. Um, and one of probably the best ways to do that isn't running on a treadmill for hours; it's actually lifting weights and building up your muscle mass. Um, cardiovascular, training is great. I totally endorse that. I love doing it myself. But for return on investment, that's the, probably the worst time investment for losing fat.
John Bradshaw: Dr. George Guthrie, give me some closing thoughts.
Dr. George Guthrie: Well, I kind of, I've got too much to say, so let's try this. When I was in, medical school, we'd just discovered that, olive oil, monounsaturated fat, is good for cholesterol. And what do you know, the cardiologists running, cardiology residents running around the hospital had little flasks of olive oil in their pockets, which they would take out and take a drink out of now and then to help, of course, improve their heart health. I had the privilege of working with one of these cardiologists, uh, a, a couple of decades later, and, he'd really put on quite a bit of weight. This is kind of a challenge that we have when we take concentrated foods. It's the whole-plant foods that we eat that bring us to health. There's just so much in them. We should be focusing, on minimally processed foods, uh, for most of our diet. I, I tell patients, "Use your animal products as a condiment. Focus on the whole plant".
John Bradshaw: Dr. DeRose, final word.
Dr. David DeRose: You know, John, you and I had the privilege of, focusing on "the Methuselah factor" in a series of programs. It's, something that's overlooked by a lot of people. It's improving blood fluidity. And if people have, run up against roadblocks in their attempts to shed some pounds, really look into this, this topic of improving blood fluidity. I call it the Methuselah factor, but it can help your, your cells, to get better oxygenation. That can help with weight loss. And, it's something that really can be incorporated into a lifestyle without, too much challenge, if you look at some of the practical things that you and I have talked about in the past.
John Bradshaw: One of the things I appreciate greatly about what you've shared, we've talked about lasting, real change, and no one had to...do the impossible. This is attainable. Thank you, gentlemen, for making it reachable. Dr. David DeRose, Dr. George Guthrie, Dr. Harvey Hahn, thank you all very much. I'm joined now by Yves Monnier, a friend and one of our It Is Written team members, and Yves has had a really interesting weight loss journey all of his own. Yves, welcome to Take Charge of Your Health.
Yves Monnier: It's good to be with you here.
John Bradshaw: Okay, so tell me, when did you come to the realization, or how did you come to the place where you said, "Got to make some changes"?
Yves Monnier: Well, I've known that I needed to make some changes a long time ago, but, the pivotal moment took place about two years and some months ago, and, uh, that's when I was significantly overweight. Uh, probably the, the more correct term was obese. I had some significant digestive issues, high blood pressure, something that I've had for many, many years, and, and I couldn't sleep well at night. So here I am, going to the doctor's office for my regular annual checkup. And I'm bracing myself for some of the same stuff that he's going to tell me like he's been telling me year after year after year. But this time, in addition to the stuff that I anticipated, he says, "Well, let me add another wrinkle. We've taken some tests, and, guess what? You also have the beginnings of a fatty liver". "What? Fatty liver"? And, and so I'm just imagining the worst. And, yes, it is the worst, because if the liver goes and continues to go bad, it opens up a whole can of worms. So I said, "Doctor, listen to me. What do I need to do"? I'm thinking maybe he's gonna suggest another pill or something, and he says, "Well, Mr. Monnier, my recommendation for all of your ailments, or these basic ailments that you're facing now, what you need to do is lose weight".
John Bradshaw: So what'd you do? You took it seriously. Uh, you, you, when you're looking at this thing, you say, "How do I start"? How did you answer the question? How did you start?
Yves Monnier: Well, looking back, I call them my four E's, okay? So the first "E" was eat better. And, I, I really made my mom, would have made my mom proud, because all these years growing up she was telling me, "Eat your vegetables. Eat," you know, "the fresh stuff". So finally I'm listening to my mother. So I'm eating vegetables like there's no tomorrow. I'm eating fruit. I'm eating everything that's fresh. I mean, I'm, I'm just eating better. Also, as I'm eating better, I'm eliminating some stuff that should not be part of my diet, and so, sodas, gone. Water, absolutely, lots and lots of water. And also, sugar, or as much sugar as possible, all the sweets, gone. So, that, that was the eating better part. Now, the second "E" is eating less. Slowly but surely I started to see things beginning to change with, my weight. So, that's, number two. The third "E" was exercise. So, I started walking. A little bit at first, a little bit more as, as time progressed, and then a few miles every day and, and then I said, "Hey, maybe I could even run". I'm not sure that was a smart thing to do, because pretty soon my knees started to hurt. So it's like, oh man, I, I wanna go a little faster than walking, so I said, "Hey, maybe I should just get a bike". Got a bike and, same principle, you know, left foot, right foot, and, a little faster, and, so now I ride my bike about, 50 to 70 miles a week, and, it's great exercise. Finally, the last "E," John, expectations. You know, we're used to immediate gratification. I'm certainly one of those. I mean, I, I want to see things happen now, as soon as possible. I had to put in my mind realistic expectations, and that is, it's going to be a journey, it's gonna be a hard journey, and, it's gonna take a while. And so here I am, about two years later, and, the result, John, do you wanna hear it?
John Bradshaw: Yes, I do. Tell us about the result.
Yves Monnier: All right. The result is I lost, over 70 pounds, made significant lifestyle changes. So it was not a pill, like I already said. And, and so what happened to my blood pressure?
John Bradshaw: Right.
Yves Monnier: Uh, I, I realized that, hey, I don't need blood pressure medication anymore because my blood pressure went down, and, and it's, it's staying down without pills. So that was awesome.
John Bradshaw: Okay, just briefly, you took off all that weight, and you've kept it off, and it's been off for some time. Just quick, how, how, what are you doing to keep it off? How do you keep it off?
Yves Monnier: Well, I, I keep doing the same things. I keep eating better, but one thing I do very faithfully, and that is exercise. Uh, every morning I try to walk, three miles a day. And, it takes about an hour, but, that means getting up earlier. And, it, it, it just gets the, the, the blood flowing, and it just feels great. So there is a sacrifice involved. I mean, the temptation, John, is just, phufff! "I might as well stay in bed a little longer; I'm tired. It was a late night working. Uh, I don't wanna get up this early," But, no, I, I've, I've come to the conclusion that in order to maintain where I'm at, I need to continue to pay the price. And let me tell you, it's a price that is worth paying because I feel better than I've ever felt. I've often, thought to myself, if only I had done this a long, long time ago, what a difference it would have been.
John Bradshaw: Yves Monnier, thank you for sharing your story.
Yves Monnier: Thank you, John. It's been a pleasure to be with you and, and share a little bit of my journey.
John Bradshaw: I hope you are encouraged as you are learning how you can take charge of your health. There are so many things that you can do that make an enormous difference to your health today and to your health outcomes. Well, let's speak again with Dr. Fay Kazzi. She is a dietician, a health professional, an author, and I'm grateful to be able to welcome her to Take Charge of Your Health. Fay, thank you very much for joining me.
Dr. Fay Kazzi: Thank you again for having me.
John Bradshaw: Hey, let's talk about water. So what would you as a dietician advise when it comes to water? Why is it so important, and what are some simple ways we can get more of it into our, well, into ourselves?
Dr. Fay Kazzi: Yeah, so, wonderful question. Um, water actually is a very underestimated nutrient, and actually it is considered a nutrient the same way that nutrients, that you find in fruits and vegetables. Um, so the wonderful thing about water is that it's available in a lot of whole-food, plant-based foods, such as, obviously, fruits and vegetables are very high in water. Um, they're available also in grains and legumes. You can find water pretty much everywhere in the whole-food diet family. So what you want to think about when it comes to water in terms of getting more of it into your diet, obviously drinking your water is the best way, and it's the most pure way to get your water, but it will be available as well in fruits and vegetables, if you want to get your water from there. So, there's lots of recommendations out there for how much water you're supposed to drink. But actually, it is interesting to know that, and I'm not sure if you knew this, but this typical eight-cups- a-day water recommendation actually can be traced back to 1921, and it's very interesting. Um, there wasn't a lot of research behind it; it was just the author himself of this article studied the amount of water that exited his body, whether through urine or through sweat, and he came up with eight-cup recommendation. So, today, though, we do like to depend on evidence-based research, and in, recently they were able to produce an amazing study on 20,000 individuals. The Adventist Health Study actually conducted this, 20,000 people, half of which were vegetarian. And it was found that those who drank over five cups of water a day, five or more cups of water a day, were 50 percent less likely to get heart disease or to die from heart disease than individuals who were only drinking two cups of water or less. So, that's a big wakeup call in terms of the benefits of this nutrient. And the study stated that this could be because of the dilution of the blood and decreasing of viscosity and just making it overall a lot cleaner for the system, and as you probably already know, 70 to 80 percent of your body is water. So, constantly or every day replenishing this amount is important.
John Bradshaw: Dr. Kazzi, one more time, how many cups a day? How many glasses of water a day would you recommend?
Dr. Fay Kazzi: Well, according to, several studies that came out recently, we have the Institute of Medicine, the, the World Health Organization, and other authorities from Europe finally came up with the recommendation. For women, you're looking at about four to seven cups on average per day of water; we're talking just water, not, not fluids you can get from other, not water you can get from other fluids or foods. And then for men, it's six to 10, or six to 11 cups of water, excuse me; that is the recommendation. Of course, if you're an athlete, and you're burning a lot of calories outside and sweating, it's going to be different. You're probably gonna need to add a few more cups above that. But in general, for the average person, those are the current accepted recommendations.
John Bradshaw: Okay, Dr. Kazzi. I have one more question for you. People thinking of losing weight, trying to lose weight, but they want to go out to eat. Ai yai yai, what do you do if you're going out and you're wanting to be health-conscious, particularly in the area of watching your weight?
Dr. Fay Kazzi: Right. So that's a really good question, and it's hard to navigate when you have all of these huge manufacturing industries that are really trying to sell their not-so-healthy food to you. So, here's a few tips that can help you, though. When you go out, the first thing you need to think аbout: How do I pick something that is not as heavily processed? When I say "processed," it's food that isn't exposed to too much heat, to too much oil, or to, or is changed up to become something that it didn't originally used to be. So those are some three easy principles you can think about. Um, and so, for example, let's say you wanna go to Chick-fil-A, and you wanna get a chicken sandwich. So, the better alternative to the typical, you know, fried chicken burger, you could go with the grilled chicken burger. So the chicken is not actually doused in a batter and deep-fried; it's just grilled on an open flame. So that one is a little bit better. Now, if you want to take it a step further, you'll go with, let's say, a chicken wrap, which is a whole-wheat wrap, versus just the, refined white bun, and it has some vegetables in it, and it has some grilled chicken in it. That's an easier, healthier way to navigate. And instead of going with those delicious waffle fries, trust me, I know those are good, you can go with a side salad or a fruit cup, which they do offer in fast-food restaurants right now, especially at Chick-fil-A. Another example would be, let's say, my favorite is Chipotle, and I love it because they really do have some really healthy items that are not as heavily processed. For example, you can, it's a, you know, you have all the different dishes you can choose from. You can go with a whole-grain, rice rather than, so it's the brown rice over the white rice, and then you can go with adding sofrita, instead of the meat, which is the, scrambled tofu. Uh, you throw in those extra vegetable, vegetables on top of that. If you want a meat source, you can have it. Um, the meat that they do have is grilled. And then it's a matter of topping it with all those delicious salsas, which is basically just chopped-up tomatoes and, wonderful nutrients there. And then you have the lettuce, and you can, you can ask them for a little bit of cheese or a little bit of sour cream. You don't have to go too crazy with that. And get a nice, handsome helping of that avocado right on top. That's actually a pretty good, healthy "fast food," outside-the-door, quick- and-easy, option. You know, and there are, of course, other options as well.
John Bradshaw: Really appreciate it. Dr. Fay Kazzi, thank you so much for joining me.
Dr. Fay Kazzi: Thank you so much for having me.
John Bradshaw: This is something I really enjoy, asking our physicians the frequently asked questions. What are the questions you get asked again and again by the people with whom you work? Let me start with you, Dr. Guthrie. What is a frequently asked question that you hear when it comes to the question of weight loss?
Dr. George Guthrie: I, I see people, losing weight, starting the exercise and the dietary changes, and they get down to the place where they kind of reach a plateau. Uh, the weight's not coming off anymore, and they tell me, they ask me, "What can I do? What's going on"? And so, I like to share several kind of clues, and I think you've set it up here so I can tell you a little bit about my own, favorite soapbox when it comes to lifestyle. And that is, when you eat makes nearly as much, matter as what you eat. So, I like to put it this way. If you're flying in a plane from Orlando to Paris, do you want them to put the fuel in the plane when you get there when you start? You're in Orlando. Or after you get to Paris? I mean, there's a gestalt to this. We need to feed the, the airplane. We need to put the fuel in when we start. And indeed the science supports this. When we take the same number of calories in the morning, our weight will tend to come off better. If we take the same meal in the evening and we just lay down, then, and sleep, then what can happen but store that energy? And indeed, one of the best things one can do is to move their food towards the beginning of the day and minimize the amount of food in the evening.
John Bradshaw: Okay, let me follow up on that, and I know you don't want to be too prescriptive or, or, or too rigid here, but if I'm eating after a certain hour, what would that hour be where you're saying, "Yeah, you might wanna roll that back"? What's too late?
Dr. George Guthrie: I try not to get that specific. The goal is to go to bed with an empty stomach.
John Bradshaw: Okay, that's good enough.
Dr. George Guthrie: So, if it's, you know, if it's an apple at, 6:30, uh, my own habit is to have breakfast and then lunch and then nothing in the evening. Uh, actually when you sleep with nothing in your stomach, your gut makes a lot of melatonin; you tend to sleep better. You're more rested in the morning. As a matter of fact, breakfast tastes better. And once the cycle gets going, you really would rather not, uh, go back to that old way of, of eating.
John Bradshaw: Outstanding. That's very helpful. Dr. Harvey Hahn, frequently asked question, what do you hear, and how do you answer?
Dr. Harvey Hahn: Yeah, one of the big ones is, "What is the best exercise to do"? And my advice to the patient is, "What do you like to do? What are you going to do"? It's got to be something sustainable you're gonna keep doing as you make a lifestyle change. A lot of people treat exercise like a punishment. "I ate an extra croissant; that means 20 more minutes on the treadmill". That line of thinking is just gonna make you miserable. So it's great to actually play if you can, train if you can, but the last thing you really wanna do is exercise just to do it.
John Bradshaw: Dr. David DeRose, what's another question you hear frequently? How do you respond?
Dr. David DeRose: You know, sometimes people say, "Hey, I'm, I'm willing to tackle one thing. Is there one thing that would give me the most bang for my buck"? And I'll just tell you from the experience I've had as a physician treating patients, probably the single biggest thing that I've seen in multiple patients that has made a difference is where they say, "You know, I'm gonna cut out those sugar-sweetened beverages. I'm gonna get rid of those soft drinks. I'm gonna get rid of the juices". And, they just move to drinking water. Uh, or at least, even if they don't make it that extreme, they just drop, off the soft drinks. I remember a patient; he came in; he dropped like 30 or 40 pounds. I said, "What are you doing"? He said, "I just stopped buying the soft drinks". So if you're looking for one thing to do, if you say, "I don't know where to start," that's a powerful way to start, and I've seen it multiple times.
John Bradshaw: I've seen the same thing. That really is powerful. Dr. Guthrie, what's another frequently asked question?
Dr. George Guthrie: Well, I'll feed off of what, uh, Dr. DeRose has said. You know, the Stanford Weight Loss Study, was designed for a year to look at people's, diet, and it had everything from, from Atkins to Ornish. And they compared kind of what, what people ate and how their weight came off. Once the study was done, they went back and looked at the data since they had all the nutritional data, and they asked the question, "What about water"? And about every liter of water a day accounted for about two kilos, or around four pounds, of weight loss no matter which diet they were in. It doesn't work for dairy; it doesn't work for milk; it doesn't work for sweetened, beverages, as Dr. DeRose pointed out, or even the fruit juices. We often think that orange juice is a health food. No, it only really worked for water.
John Bradshaw: Dr. Hahn, I'm gonna ask you this question, and I hope you don't mind me, taking the lead on this one, because I think it's very, very important. Motivation, what does a person do to find motivation? Because I think most of us know, maybe all of us know, you ought to keep your weight in the right range. But it's getting around to doing it that can be the challenge. What do you advise in terms of motivation? How can a person find motivation and motivation that will really keep the fire burning?
Dr. Harvey Hahn: Yeah, I think the, important thing to note is when you have external motivation, like a doctor telling you, or "I want to look good for my 20th anniversary high school reunion," those things are very short-lived, and they're not very powerful. The, the really powerful motivations are the internal ones, and that's the ones that say, "I wanna be on less medication. I wanna be healthier. I wanna travel with my spouse. I wanna be alive for my kids and my grandkids". Things like that can get you over the hump. These other motivations, such as, "I want to get in bikini shape" or "get a six-pack," that's not enough to get you over, um, and get you healthy.
John Bradshaw: Fantastic, gentlemen, I appreciate it immensely. Dr. Harvey Hahn, Dr. George Guthrie, Dr. David DeRose, thanks for joining me on Take Charge of Your Health. I appreciate it.
Dr. George Guthrie: A pleasure.
Dr. Harvey Hahn: Thank you, John.
John Bradshaw: Kely Green has a remarkable story when it comes to weight loss. Not only did she experience weight loss, but that weight loss was an integral part of another remarkable transformation in her life. Kely Green is joining us from northern California. Hi, Kely, thanks for joining me.
Kely Green: Hi, John, thank you for having me.
John Bradshaw: Hey, let's talk about this weight loss. Uh, you can fill in the details, but, you lost a little bit of weight. Tell me a little about that.
Kely Green: Well, I actually had to change my lifestyle. Um, I have always been a little bit overweight, and I went to the depression recovery program, and I realized that I was actually obese. I weighed about 215 pounds when I got there, and a little under two years I lost, a total of 60 pounds.
John Bradshaw: Well, that's fantastic. We want to say congratulations. I wanna talk to you specifically about this, but then we're gonna get to the other question in a moment. Um, what sort of things do you credit the weight loss for? What, what were the steps that you took, and maybe part of it was taking a lot of steps. But what were the things that helped you shed the pounds?
Kely Green: It was a lot of changing my thinking. Um, mental health has been a challenge for me. Um, I had to really deep, you know, dive deep into what the root of the problem was. And once I figured that out, the steps to weight loss were pretty amazing and, and easy to follow. It was, you know, setting the alarm to get up and exercise in the morning, and, making an easy breakfast, like oatmeal, and, eating the right foods to get me through the day and give me the energy that I needed, and drinking a lot of water. Um, those are the keys to weight loss: exercise, eating the right foods, and, and water.
John Bradshaw: Now I wanna ask you this question. When you're many pounds overweight, you're probably there because you were eating some of the, let's call them the wrong foods, but I'm gonna guess, foods that you loved. So, now you're not eating those things. Do you miss them? Is there a great big hole in your life, or are you saying, "Oh, no, no, this new plan, it's okay, and I'm enjoying it"?
Kely Green: Um, I can honestly say that I don't miss those foods. Those foods I was using as coping skills, and, now that I have been, you know, getting those character defects exposed and dealt with, I don't need to comfort myself with those, you know, bad habits, I guess.
John Bradshaw: Okay, now, here's what's really interesting. You lost a whole lot of weight, but that was also part of another transformation that was taking place in your life. So, without the weight loss, likely you wouldn't have experienced, okay, fill in the rest of the story. What else has been going on in your life?
Kely Green: If I would not have lost the weight, I probably would not have been able to... feel good about myself. And, the depression and the anxiety would still be very, very prominent in my life. And coping would have been, I would have been incapable of, of healthy coping skills.
John Bradshaw: Okay, so talk about that. The depression, the anxiety, where had that taken you? How tough had it, had it become for you?
Kely Green: It was so bad I was contemplating suicide, and I even brought something into action. Um, thank God that, divine intervention happened, because it could have been a different story.
John Bradshaw: So there you were at a real low. You realized something sort of had to change. Not only did you lose weight, a considerable amount of weight, that impacted in a positive way your mental health, and in a very real way it impacted your whole life. Isn't that fantastic?
Kely Green: Yes.
John Bradshaw: Hey, so how did you get onto the track to improve mental health? What did you do? What got you from wherever you were to where you are now?
Kely Green: Unfortunately, unfortunately for me, I became addicted to a very powerful opioid called Oxycontin, and that led to, some severe depression, and my grandmother recognized, some very serious red flags, and she knew about Dr. Nedley's, depression and anxiety program and recommended that I sign up for that. And I did.
John Bradshaw: And it has evidently been life-changing.
Kely Green: Yes.
John Bradshaw: Fantastic. Let me ask you this question. I know everybody's different. Back at the start of this journey, would you have said, "Okay, I think I can become well"? Or were you in a place where you just thought, "This is impossible. I'm stuck where I am"? What was your outlook at the time?
Kely Green: If I didn't have my grandmother to point that out, I'd probably still be stuck in that depression. Um, I couldn't recognize it. I mean, I, I knew I didn't like the way I felt, but I couldn't physically get myself out without someone pointing it out to me.
John Bradshaw: You know, I'm so grateful that you've shared your story. It, it's a story that we can come at from lots and lots of angles. You lost a considerable amount of weight, your health is so much better, but your mental health is so much better. You really got your life back. Kely Green, thank you so much for sharing your story with me.
Kely Green: Thank you for having me.
John Bradshaw: We both know it's really important to take care of your health, and there are times that you are motivated, inspired to make changes. That time came in my life when I watched my father being wheeled away for heart surgery. My dad died much too young. He had heart surgery, and a number of years, a few years later, he died of a heart attack. As I stood looking down at Dad on the hospital bed, I realized, I'm my father's son. Where he is now, I will be later. I lived the same lifestyle, ate the same kind of food. His genes are my genes. I thought to myself, I've gotta start making some changes. And I wondered what changes they could be. You know it's important in some cases to get out of your life some of the things that you've grown to love. They become habitual in your diet. Then you learn it might not be good for you. The first thing you do is you deny it, then you make excuses for it, and then, far too often, you say, "So be it. It's bad for me, but I love it".
So I want to share with you something, thanks to my friends at Heritage Foods. Now, they didn't pay me to tell you this. I didn't pay them. I called up my friends at Heritage, and I said, "Hey, can I share on Take Charge of Your Health some of your products"? You see, they produce the Worthington line of meatless meats. And it's fantastic. It tastes great, and it is good for you. For example, Deli Slices, these are meat-free. There's five different varieties; chicken, but no feathers, corned beef, but no "moo". It's really good. It's good-quality stuff. The XBURGER, with more protein than most other plant-based burgers. You know that there are other meat substitutes out there, sure there are, but I'm telling you about the Worthington line 'cause I know this food. I've, I've tried this food, and I like it. You'll love this burger. If you try this, you'll never have another good reason to go and get one of those bad-for-you burgers. Lots of protein, not a lot of sodium, really, really good.
So where do you get the Worthington line from? You go online to eatworthington.com, eatworthington.com. You can find out where you can find Worthington products near you. The reason I'm sharing this with you is 'cause you often, you get stuck and you say, "Where would I be without this in my life"? Well, you might be here without that in your life. And you're certainly gonna be a whole lot healthier and live a lot longer. Some things are just plain bad for you. So, you can substitute, and these substitutes are great. And I know what somebody's thinking: "Is he gonna pick this thing up here with the Deli Slices in it and eat it, right as we watch? Is he gonna pick up the Deli Dog"? Oh, did I mention the Deli Dogs? "Is he gonna pick that up and eat it and maybe drip mustard on himself? Is he gonna eat this XBURGER right there while we watch"?
The answer is... no, I'm not going to do that. But I'd like, well, I probably wouldn't like to do it while you watch, but I'd like to while you don't. These are really good. So, think about transitioning away from the bad; grab hold of the good. Here's one way you can do it, thanks to Worthington. Really good products, they taste great, and they're good for you. Something else that's good for you: exercise. We know that by now. So I want to welcome to Take Charge of Your Health our nightly exercise instructor. How to do it, what to do, how to do it safely, how to do it where you're at, how to get the most out of it, it's good for you, makes life better all the way around. So again, welcome, with thanks, Dr. Steve Lee.
Dr. Steve Lee: Thanks, John. I'd like to talk about my favorite form of exercise: cycling. I think the best form of exercise is the kind that's built into the way you live your life. Because let's face it, we're all lazy, and if we make exercise optional, we'll be tempted to skip it. I've been riding my bike to work every day for the past decade, and I credit much of my relatively good health to that. It's built into the way I live, and I have to ride my bike to work whether I feel like exercising or not. Studies show that about 30 percent of Americans commute less than five miles to work, and that's an easily bike-able distance. And chances are you'll be faster on a bike than in a car. Another 24 percent commute about six to 10 miles a day, and that's also a bike-able distance. I highly recommend commuting to work by bike. But biking, apart from commuting, is also a fun form of exercise. And there's many different kinds of bikes. There's an around-town bike that you can use to ride around your neighborhood and get that one ingredient you forgot for dinner from the local grocery store. There's mountain bikes for people who like to ride in the woods. There's road bikes for people that wanna go fast and cover large distances on the road. And there's even electric bikes for people that want a little extra boost. If you can afford an electric bike, that's some of the most fun you're gonna have since you first got your bike as a kid. The whole world would be cleaner and friendlier, and we would all be healthier and wealthier if we cycled more.
John Bradshaw: Okay, let's be sure we're taking care of ourselves spiritually. If you're gonna take charge of your health, take charge of your spiritual health. So let's talk about this as we look at CREATION Life study guide number 4, produced by It Is Written in association with AdventHealth. This one is titled "Activity". It's another good one. I, I want to look at, I'll start at the beginning; then I'll kind of get down towards the end. We don't have time to look at it all, but that's okay, because you can download this, and in just a few minutes I will tell you where you can download this and other resources. And there's a special resource I wanna tell you about tonight as well, in addition to study guide number 4 in the CREATION Life study guide series.
Question 2, well, firstly, as a matter of fact, the lesson begins with a wonderful story about the benefits of activity. Speaks of a fellow named David, who was in his mid-50s, went to his doctor for a physical, got bad news, decided he'd do something about it, began to exercise, lost 65 pounds, and was told by his doctor, "You have reversed your diabetes. No more medication, no more nothing, forget about it. Just keep doing what you're doing". And those are the kind of results you get when you take charge of your health.
So, question number 2: "Where do positive lifestyle choices begin"? Where do you get the wherewithal, the drive, the ability to make changes in your life and to keep those changes there in your life where you want them to be? So listen to this; it's from the Psalms: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever". "When you acknowledge that God is the Maker of the human mind, you will hold God in a high enough regard to allow God to work in your life". You follow God's guidelines. And you say to yourself, "Okay, I, I want to do well physically, so I'm giving myself over to You, to follow Your suggestions and to receive Your assistance".
Uh, you know, when you really understand faith in God, it's not simply about ascribing to a set of doctrines, figuring out what the Bible teaches about this subject or that subject and that'll do. Christianity, vital Christianity, is about allowing God to dwell in you. To take it a step further, about letting Jesus live His life in you. So when you're looking for positive lifestyle choices, when you turn it over to God and say, "I'm willing to do it Your way; come into my life and do what only You can do," then God will do in you what you're not able to do for yourself, and life just changes dramatically, and dramatically for the better. I'm gonna jump down near to the end of this study and look at a, a little section that says, "If you are physically active, you may", you may, and you know that in Take Charge of Your Health, none of this is a, a blanket promise, a guarantee.
Uh, we all respond differently in different ways. The principles are the same. Some things are good for you; some things are bad for you. Uh, some things you want in your life; some things you don't want in your life. I, I just wouldn't want you to be frustrated and say, "I've tried and tried and tried, but somehow my body just won't cooperate". Uh, talk with a physician. Find medical experts you trust. Go and see your doctor and talk to your doctor about that. You keep putting one foot in front of another and your best food forward. Talk to God about it and follow His direction. You'll see results; you'll see great results, the kind of, you'll see good results. Okay. If you're physically active regularly, "you may", may, "prevent chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and stroke. They are the three leading health-related causes of death".
Being physically active helps you turn those aside. That's great news. "You may control your weight, make your muscles stronger, reduce fat, promote strong bone, muscle, and joint development". That's important. You can "condition your heart and your lungs, build overall strength and endurance, improve your sleep", one of the reasons we don't sleep at night is because we're not active during the day, "decrease the potential of becoming depressed, increase your energy and self-esteem". "Hey, where'd ya get those from"? Well, from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service, and those are good principles. That's what you can experience, you may experience, if you are regularly physically active.
So what about Jesus? We don't read about Jesus jogging, do we? Riding a bike? Well, the question asked here is, "Did Jesus get a lot of exercise"? Well, let's read from John, chapter 4: "Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. But He needed to go through Samaria". Jesus did a lot of traveling. He didn't camp in Jerusalem the entire time. He was up at the top of the Sea of Galilee a lot at a place called Capernaum. He was from Galilee; that's far from, uh, Jerusalem. Every time He went down to Jerusalem, He went on foot.
Now, there's nothing that says He didn't ride a donkey some of the way or all of the way, but basically people traveled on foot back then. It has been estimated, and it's recorded here, that Jesus may have walked in His lifetime, His relatively brief lifetime, more than 20,000 miles. So Jesus wasn't driving a car. He wasn't taking the bus. And as grateful as we are for those, inventions, those technological developments, they do prevent us from getting as much exercise as we'd get if we didn't have them. So think about walking to work, if you can, or riding your bike to work, if you can. For some people it's just impossible. I know; I get it. But come home and instead of flopping down in front of the TV, why don't you, say, instead of watching that for 30 minutes, you take a 30-minute walk. You're investing in your life, in your mental well-being and in your physical well-being. The idea is to get active.
And here's what I've learned. After slacking for a while, once I get back into the exercise groove, I don't want to miss exercise. I look forward to it. It's like, "I've got to go". And you build it into your daily routine, and you're so much better off for it. So Jesus absolutely got a lot of exercise. Now, I wanna share this with you: "How can I improve my life spiritually"? Let's go quickly here. It says in the book of Acts, the people, the Bereans, "were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, ...they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so".
Improve your life spiritually by getting into the Bible and reading the Bible and studying the Bible. It says in Mark, "In the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, [Jesus] went out... to a solitary place; and there He prayed". In Luke, chapter 4: Jesus, "as His custom was, ...went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read". So we read our Bible. We want to pray. You wanna worship corporately; that's important. "Even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve". Service is good for you. And then sharing your faith is the next principle mentioned there. So, download this at takecharge.life, takecharge.life. Also, special gift book for you, it was written several years ago by Dr. David DeRose. It's called "Evading Ebola".
"Uh, what does Ebola have to do with anything? That's somewhere else". Ah, the health principles in that book are what you wanna get. They are great, reiterating a lot of what you're learning right here. At takecharge.life you can re-watch, you can watch previous, episodes of Take Charge of Your Health. You'll find the link to share it with others so that they can, take charge of their health also. It's been great having you here tonight. Physically we want to thrive, spiritually also. So let's crank it up. We'll, we'll meet again tomorrow night at the same place for more. Until then, God bless you.