Elizabeth was a lovely 53 year old lady who came to see me for help with weight loss. She needed to lose approximately 35 pounds and she’d been trying to lose it for the past 8 years. She did manage to lose some weight on her own, but it was the same four pounds that she kept losing and regaining again and again.

Elizabeth’s health was fairly good although she did complain of a few things: Her muscles and joints were achy, particularly her knees first thing in the morning. Elizabeth’s hair was very dry and brittle and her nails were weak. She often experienced a bloated abdomen and felt so uncomfortable after eating lunch at work each day that she desperately wanted to undo the buttons of her trousers, but of course she couldn’t.

I was confident Elizabeth would be able to lose weight and improve her health with a few simple diet changes.

As with all my patients, I asked Elizabeth to tell me the types of foods she eats each day for meals and snacks. The first thing that struck me was all the low fat items that appeared in the list.

Elizabeth added 1% milk to her breakfast cereal each morning. For a mid morning snack she ate 0% fat yogurt. Lunch was usually a tuna and salad sandwich. She made sure to buy tuna in spring water. There is barely any fat in tuna and she never added any oil, avocado or mayonnaise to the sandwich. For an afternoon snack Elizabeth usually had another fat free yogurt, or would sometimes eat fat free jell-o.  Dinner usually consisted of protein and vegetables, such as broiled chicken breasts with salad, steak and salad, or baked fish and salad. She didn’t add any dressing to the salads.

That was her diet on what Elizabeth called a good day. Not surprisingly, she felt continually hungry. More often than not, she felt so hungry at 5pm that she grabbed 3 candy bars on her way home. She said “I’m often so hungry at that time that I know one bar won’t even touch the surface”. On other nights she would wait until she got home after work and eat an entire package of crackers as soon as she walked through the door.

I didn’t blame Elizabeth for feeling so ravenous; everyone would feel continually hungry if they excluded all fat from their diet. She had the mistaken belief that she needs to feel hungry in order to lose weight.

Her low fat diet was also contributing to her other health problems – dry hair, weak nails and sore joints.

I explained to Elizabeth the vital importance of healthy fats in the diet. Fat helps to make you feel full and satisfied and reduces the chances you’ll crave sugar. I asked Elizabeth to add olive oil, avocados, eggs, oily fish (salmon), coconut oil and nuts to her diet. Eating some fat, as well as protein with each meal helps to keep blood sugar stable and reduces hunger and cravings. It would help to prevent the out of control binges, which I saw as a desperate attempt by Elizabeth’s body to consume some fat.

I also recommended the following:

  • A grain and dairy free diet. Grains and dairy products are notorious for causing abdominal bloating and joint pain. I put Elizabeth on a one month elimination diet, excluding those foods to watch for an improvement.
  • Hair, Skin and Nails Food capsules. I asked Elizabeth to take 3 capsules each day with a meal. These capsules provide the nutrients to strengthen and condition her hair and nails, and they provide much faster improvements than just diet changes alone.
  • Surprisingly Elizabeth was on a cholesterol lowering drug. Yes, despite her virtually fat free diet, her cholesterol level was elevated. I told Elizabeth that her cholesterol will come down once she stops eating grains and sugar. To speed up this process I also gave her a liver tonic. I gave her a co enzyme Q10 supplement because the cholesterol lowering drug would have depleted this and that typically causes muscle aches and pains, as well as fatigue.
    I asked Elizabeth to follow the eating plan in my book Fatty Liver: You Can Reverse It. The food plan in this book is free of grains and low in carbohydrate. Following this diet enabled Elizabeth to lose the weight she wanted and the recipes helped to keep the diet varied and interesting.
  • As with most of my patients, Elizabeth was vitamin D deficient. This wasn’t surprising, since she had an indoor lifestyle. Vitamin D deficiency will make weight loss much harder and it contributes to generalized aches, pains and inflammation. I suggested that Elizabeth take a vitamin D supplement and also to try and find some time to sit outdoors in the midday sun.

Elizabeth lost 36 pounds and it took her around 6 months. Interestingly, she stopped putting so much focus on her weight. She remarked how the diet and supplements made her feel so much better and it was worth it just for that.

The above statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any disease.