Did you know that about 75% of longevity is the result of your own choices (that includes foods you eat, stress, sleep, exercise and exposure to toxins) rather than your genes? Odds are, it’s not in your genes, and that is great news!
Combine that reality with the fact that the right foods can reverse, prevent and cure most of what plagues (or scares) you, and you have a very bright future. So, what is your motivation for taking stock of your health?
— Is your goal to lose weight?
— Do you have a family history that concerns you?
— Are you currently suffering from a sickness or disease?
— Are family members dying early of disease?
— Are family members suffering from dementia and ending up in nursing homes?
Unfortunately, if you have a strong family history of Alzheimer’s, diabetes, dementia, heart disease, cancer, insulin resistance or another such disease, you are really signing up for it with the standard American diet. In fact, if you have prediabetes, diabetes or insulin resistance, you have almost double the risk of developing dementia. And if your parents had it, you need to change your diet right away.
Testimony of Dementia Reversal
One recent patient suffered from moderate dementia. I told her family, “Dementia can sometimes be reversed through diet, lifestyle and supplements if we start when the symptoms are mild to moderate. I’ve done it many times.”
The family was encouraged, but naturally hesitant to get too hopeful. They were about to take her out of her house and put her in a nursing home for fear that she might forget to turn off the stove or wander away. She had already been forced to quit her part-time job because the details were too much for her.
We started her immediately on a healthy keto diet, which for her meant revising her eating habits entirely. Her family helped, and within a few months she was thinking more clearly, talking more to her adult children, engaging with the grandchildren and even doing light exercise such as walking in her neighborhood. Six months later, she started working part-time!
Needless to say, her family was both thankful and amazed, but such turnarounds happen all the time. Had her dementia been more advanced, the keto diet would still have helped, but it would have probably been too late to reverse all the symptoms.
Also, many patients on a keto diet have high cholesterol levels, and their doctors are prescribing statin medications that may be impairing their memory.
There are over 100 autoimmune diseases that can often be treated and many times be reversed by changing to a keto diet. The same is true with people losing weight; keeping the weight off; healing a leaky gut; restoring a fatty liver; getting rid of acid reflux; preventing or fighting cancer; lowering high blood-sugar levels; stopping seizures; beating polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS); small-intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) and IBS; and so much more. The success stories are endless.
It works because the healthy keto diet usually slows or stops inflammation, heals the gut, feeds the brain, enhances weight loss, lowers insulin levels, reverses insulin resistance, balances sugars, helps prevent plaque buildup and lowers cholesterol, to name just a few of the benefits to your body. And all of that fuels hope, fresh vision and new dreams! Life is meant to be lived to the fullest, but it’s hard to do so when health problems are staring you right in the face.
One great thing about the keto diet is that it is the only weight loss program that increases your metabolism. Instead of starving yourself and slowing down your metabolism, the keto diet actually revs up your engines. And with a higher metabolism, you naturally burn more fat.
Not long ago I had a woman come into my office who was frustrated with her current weight loss efforts. “I’ve tried all the diets,” she exclaimed. “Nothing works. I’m hungrier than ever.”
Being hungry usually results in more weight gain, and she admitted that she had actually gained more weight after she enrolled in a local gym! I listened to her situation, discussed her health concerns and then laid out the science behind the keto diet. She immediately adjusted her diet, kept up her exercise routine and long story made short, the fat melted off!
She had over 100 pounds that she wanted to lose, but most people have a spare 20 to 50 pounds they want to lose.
As you well know, when it comes to people’s health and living a long-term healthy lifestyle, many will start, but few will stick around long enough to really enjoy its benefits.
The preceding is an excerpt from Chapter 2 of Dr. Don Colbert’s book, Beyond Keto (Charisma House, 2021).. For more information, or to order the book, please visit mycharismashop.com.
Don Colbert, MD, has been a board-certified family practice doctor for over 25 years in Orlando, Florida, and most recently in Dallas, Texas. He is also board-certified in antiaging medicine through the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine and has received extensive training in nutritional and preventive medicine. He is the author of three New York Times bestselling books: Dr. Colbert’s Keto Zone Diet, The Seven Pillars of Health and Dr. Colbert’s “I Can Do This” Diet, along with bestsellers Toxic Relief, the Bible Cure series, Living in Divine Health and Stress Less. He has sold more than 10 million books and treated over 50,000 patients in his years of practicing medicine.
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