Last Week of the Eades Cure

Week 6 of The 6 Week Cure for the Middle-Aged Middle

It feels like I have established a new set point ten pounds lower than my start.  I dropped ten pounds easily in the first two weeks and then bounced around plus or minus two pounds for the next month.  The Cure is simple and effective.

The First Weeks of The Cure

The 6 Week Cure for the Middle-Aged Middle was written by Drs. Mary Dan and Michael Eades to efficiently lose abdominal visceral fat and tone the abs.  It starts with two weeks of three whey protein/cream/leucine shakes and one high fat/protein-low carb veggie meal per day.  This surprisingly tolerable regime (without all but essential medications, no alcohol and no grains) helps to reduce fatty liver and use up visceral fat around the abdominal organs.  I noticed the impact immediately and lost about a pound a day.  This also eliminated hunger and exposed snacking habits.

The Middle Weeks of The Cure

The second two weeks of The Cure permits occasional alcoholic beverages and three low carb meals per day, but without dairy.  That is basically meat/fish/eggs and low carb veggies for each meal.  Most calories were from fat rather than carbs.  Portion control became a new issue, but hunger was still not a problem.  The meals were very satisfying.  Energy for exercise returned, but weight loss ebbed.  It was harder to stay away from old snacking habits, since meals were back to a more normal pattern.

The Last Weeks of The Cure

During the last weeks of The Cure there is a final turn to what may be for some a new, low carb, higher fat eating style.  I chose The Cure, because I already knew that the eating philosophy of the Drs. Eades was consistent with my own anti-inflammatory diet and lifestyle.  I did not expect to be surprised by The Cure, but I was.  I learned a lot about my own eating habits.

Gut Flora Matter

I started The Cure, because I thought that the progression of dietary components would destabilize my gut flora and simultaneously destabilize my weight set point.  I anticipated that my gut flora would reorient, and they did.  There were all kinds of changes and some of the weight loss and gain was probably elimination of a pound of gut flora and reestablishment of a new bacterial order.  The new order also came with a lower body weight.

Hunger Comes with Carbs

For the first month of the diet, I was only hungry if I went longer than six hours without eating or if I slipped on the diet and introduced some extra carbs.  Straight protein early in the morning can cause an insulin rise and a blood sugar dip that leads to a little hypoglycemia, but it produces dullness, rather than hunger.  The only problem with the easy weight loss first two weeks, was that there was less energy with the protein shakes.

BMs Are Bacterial Motivated

The noticeable changes in bowel movements during The Cure, should have been expected, but they forced me to contemplate stools.  When I first realized the absurdity of eating breakfast cereals, because of their high carb/grain content, I went in search of alternative day-starters in other cultures.  At that time, I was still hesitant to embrace saturated fats, so I ran across salsas and stewed tomatoes.  The addition of stewed tomatoes to my breakfast (usually stewed tomatoes on a poached egg) made my gut happy and regular. 

The point in this context, is that my studies of BMs and constipation brought pectin to my attention again.  I had previously considered pectin (poly galacturonic acid) as a competitor for biofilm acidic polysaccharides, but in this context pectin is also recommended to aid the development of probiotic biofilms.  Thus, I added apples to The Cure, to help the establishment of a new bacterial order.  The rapid result was a return to a happy, regular gut.  This was the duh moment.  Apples = pectin, tomatoes = pectin, and pectin = happy gut flora.  Adding either apples or tomatoes to your diet can make your gut flora happy.  An apple (or tomato) a day keeps the antibiotics away.

The Cure Works

The Cure did what I expected and more.  My wife was also pleased with the rapid initial weight loss and an ongoing loss of about a pound per week.  The continued loss is due to alteration of diet with a further reduction in carbs.  The Cure makes the connection between weight retention and a high carb diet.  Elimination of grains/starch makes weight loss much easier.  Absence of sugar, high fructose corn syrup and other sources of fructose also makes weight loss easier.  The inclusion of saturated fats and elimination of omega-6 vegetable oils is anti-inflammatory and provides an improved sense of well being.  I recommend The Cure, because it simply works.

Cure for Middle-Aged Middle

My First Two Weeks with the Drs. Eades Diet

The Drs. Eades (Mary Dan and Michael) see eye to eye with me on the health benefits of a low carb diet for avoiding chronic inflammation, the foundation of most degenerative and autoimmune diseases and cancers.  Recently they applied their clinical experience with the diets they developed to combat obesity to produce a book that focused on the protruding gut:  The 6-Week Cure for the Middle-Aged Middle:  The Simple Plan to Flatten Your Belly Fast!  That book seemed to be a great way to introduce most people to a healthy diet based on obtaining calories from fat rather than carbs, so I featured it as the recommended book on my blog for the last several months.  Two weeks ago my wife and I decided to practice what I preach and started The Cure.

The Cure Reduces Visceral Abdominal Fat

"The Cure” consists of three, 2-week blocks, that adapt the body metabolism to a new low carb, higher fat diet.  The focus is to reduce visceral fat stored primarily in the abdomen.  Equally important, from my perspective, are the changes that take place in the gut flora -- The Cure changes the composition of the gut flora to facilitate change in body fat and to restore complete function to the immune system.

Basic Outline of The Cure

The first two weeks of The Cure consist of three protein shakes (low carb flavored whey plus cream) and a very low carb meal each day.  Weeks 3 and 4 are no-carb, dairy-free meals of meat/fish/eggs with calories from fat and protein only.  The final two weeks are the new low carb, higher fat diet.  Research on diet and gut flora would predict that the bacterial species in the gut stay basically the same and provide a recognizable individuality, but the relative quantity of each species in the gut changes to maintain body fat.  The efficiency of the total gut flora would increase, if the diet resulted in weight loss and become less efficient, if there was increased fat deposition.

After the First Two Weeks of Protein Shakes

A diet of protein shakes changed my view of food.  I was simply not hungry and cravings disappeared.  My wife was shocked that she felt satisfied after drinking a shake and did not panic without snacks or seconds.  It was relatively easy to eliminate most of the bad eating habits associated with weight gain.  There was no problem about portion sizes or eating outside of meals.  All of the bad habits became noticeable and I could see when I normally reached for some food out of boredom.  There was simply no physiological support for snacking.  Hydration is important and bowel movements were irregular as gut flora adapted to the severe change in diet.  [Also note that the milk whey protein used in the shakes is high in lactoferrin, a protein found useful in controlling bacterial pathogens, e.g. Clostridium dificil, and intestinal candidiasis.]

Weight Loss Was Effortless

It was easy to drop some weight on the protein shakes.  My wife (15 lbs) and I (5 lbs) both lost weight easily.  This is significant, since neither of us was able to reduce our weights in the last several years.  My weight at the start was 20 lbs over what I weighed as a high school gymnast.  I didn’t feel like I had a lot of energy in the first two weeks of The Cure, so I slacked off on walking and weight training.  Now that I am into the luxurious second phase with lots of meat, gaining strength by exercising is a pleasure.

Reduced Need for Fish Oil with Altered Gut Flora

Something that I need to highlight and that I attribute to the change in my gut flora, is a lowered need for fish oil.  I was taking four fish oil capsules per day, to eliminate minor aches in my fingers.  After the first two weeks of The Cure, without vitamin D supplements or fish oil, I still don’t have any finger aches. My wife, also no longer needs fish oil to make our 3-mile hikes along Indian Creek painless for her knees. The Cure seems to have uncovered a remaining source of inflammation in my previous diet.    The most likely inflammatory candidate was the small amounts of grain and starch still in my old diet.  It will be very easy for me to transition to a new anti-inflammatory diet more consistent with the one I have been advocating on this blog.  I think that the anti-inflammatory diet would be a simple, healthy and enjoyable way to avoid most diseases or as an essential part in the treatment of most degenerative and autoimmune diseases and cancers.

My thanks go to the Drs. Eades for creating a smart diet sequence that alters gut flora for loss of visceral abdominal fat and provides a transition to a healthy low carb, increased fat diet.  The diet sequence may also be useful in restoring gut flora destroyed by antibiotic use or dysbiosis indicated by constipation.