David R Hack - The Back to Basics Diet: Seven Weeks to Change Your Life

Seven Weeks to Change Your Life

David R Hack

Copyright 2014 David R Hack
The moral right of the author has been asserted.

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.

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To Carol, the love of my life

The ideas and concepts in this book are for information and educational-purposes only and do not constitute medical advice. This book is sold on the understanding that the author is not offering medical advice nor attempting to replace the advice of a doctor or other health care professional. It is vital that before beginning any diet or exercise programme, including the Back to Basics Diet, you receive clearance and guidance from your doctor or other appropriate health professional.

The decision to follow any information in this book remains solely the discretion of the reader, who does so of their own free will and assumes full responsibility for any or all consequences arising from such a decision. The author is not responsible for any specific health or allergy needs that may require medical supervision and is not liable for any loss, damages or negative consequences that might arise directly or indirectly from the use, application or interpretation of the material in this book. References are provided for informational purposes only and do not constitute endorsement of any websites or other sources.

Part One:
Setting the Scene for the Back to Basics Diet

5. Lose weight and stay young forever?
Your hormones hold the key!

7. Changing when we eat
the final piece in the weight loss jigsaw

Part Two:
Getting to grips with the Back to Basics Diet

Some years ago, I became profoundly unhappy. My father had recently died and I was struggling to cope with the aftermath of some unpleasant incidents in my business. To top it all, one day, when I was at particularly low ebb, I stood alone in front of my bedroom mirror and got the shock of my life. Somehow, I had become really fat! To make matters worse, my doctor told me I was suffering from numerous obesity-related problems i.e. disruptive sleep apnea, hypertension (high blood pressure) and pre-diabetes. I was stunned. If I carried on in this way, I was headed for a lifetime of illness and an early grave. How on earth had I got myself into this state?

I grew up in a London suburb, surrounded by a loving family. My sister and I were fortunate that our parents had lived abroad before they were married (my father in India and my mother in France and Italy), meaning they both had experience of exotic cuisines. As a result, we benefited from delicious, healthy meals cooked by our mum, who like many woman of that era had grown up during the war and so was adept at making ends meet and using leftovers. These meals included wonderful curries (thanks, Dad) and Mediterranean foods inspired by the years my mother had spent in Europe. This diet helped keep me fit, healthy and slim.

Unfortunately, soon after leaving home, the wheels began to fall off. My bachelor years were spent in the armed forces, where each day followed a familiar pattern of work hard, play hard. It wasnt long before my tailored uniform soon became a bit snug. This was the start of my weight problem, which peaked about the time I stood in front of the mirror, when I had reached nearly 17 stone (240 pounds), almost 50% over my ideal weight. Enough was enough!

Desperate for answers to my declining health and gripped by a severe mid-life crisis, I took myself off to university ostensibly to find myself again, but really in search of the answers to my rapidly declining health. Over the next few years, I learned about human biology, biochemistry, anatomy and human evolution before the answer I had been searching for started to emerge. In fact, it wasnt long before I realised that the solution to my ever-increasing waistline was staring me in the face. That was the start of my journey back to an ideal weight, to improved health and to a sense of happiness and contentment a feeling I hadnt experienced for many years. What had I found? I had discovered how you and I are designed to eat.

We have all been led a merry dance towards a lifetime of obesity and ill health by the very foods we put in our mouths each and every day. It is time to change that now, once and for all. In fact, we need to look at our diet and lifestyle from a completely new perspective, which is what this book is all about.

I sincerely hope the Back to Basics diet will change your life, for better and forever.

David, Cumbria, September 2013

Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without
Confucius

There is little doubt that we are living in the midst of an obesity epidemic. As a result, we suffer from so many weight-related illnesses (e.g. type 2 diabetes) that our healthcare systems have reached breaking point. How and why have we got ourselves into this situation?

If you or I walked down a typical high street fifty years ago, we would have struggled to spot a fat person amongst the crowd. If we repeated that exercise today, we would probably find the majority of people in the crowd to be technically overweight or obese. What has changed in those fifty years? Has something gone terribly wrong with our relationship with food or are we just seeing evolution in action, as we adapt to the foods of our highly industrialised society?

When you visit your doctor for a check-up, he or she will compare your weight against a scale known as the Body Mass Index (BMI) a mathematical relationship that relates your weight to your height. In the UK, the National Health Service (NHS) uses the BMI score as follows:

By using this method, the NHS calculated that almost 25% of adults in the UK were obese and 66% of men and 57% of women officially overweight in 2010 .

We certainly have an obesity problem in the UK but things are much worse in the USA, which can lay dubious claim to being the home of obesity. A couple of years ago, roughly 35% of all Americans were classed as clinically obese.

The problem is not just confined to the USA across the globe, obesity rates are skyrocketing. But does any of this really matter? I mean, isnt our body shape our business? Unfortunately not ask any doctor and he or she will give you many reasons why carrying excess weight is bad for your health. Obesity is a leading cause of type 2 diabetes and heart disease, with at least six different types of cancer directly linked to excess body fat.