Steven R. Gundry - Dr. Gundry’s Diet Evolution: Turn Off the Genes That Are Killing You and Your Waistline

CONTENTS

To my wife, Penny, my soul mate
and the best person I have ever known.

To my mother, Bev, who taught me
to think and cook, and to my father, Bob,
who taught me to love people. They are
the best parents I have ever met.

DISCLAIMER

The information presented in this work is in no way intended as medical advice or as a substitute for medical counseling. The information should be used in conjunction with the guidance and care of your physician. Consult your physician before beginning this program as you would any weight-loss or weight-maintenance program. Your physician should be aware of all medical conditions that you may have, as well as the medications and supplements you are taking. As with any weight-loss plan, the information here should not be used by patients on dialysis or by pregnant or nursing mothers.

JUST A MINUTE

Before you beginDiet Evolution, Id like you to meet some of the people whove tried the program. Flip to Backmatter: One Last Word to find out how theyre doing.

Burt Kaplan

At 76, Burt Kaplan was getting oldor so he thought. Despite eating heart-healthy cereal with a banana and low-fat meals, Burts weight had skyrocketed out of control. He was taking three medications to control his blood pressure and angina, and until he walked into my office, he had never been told he was an insulin-resistant Type 2 diabetic

Judith Rhode

Judith Rhode needed emergency surgery following a heart attack that left her with a leaky heart valve and a severely weakened heart. Paradoxically, the heart attack was one of the best things that could have occurred. Before it happened, she suffered from severe insulin-dependent diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and leg and hip pain that often caused her to use a walker. After her operation, she started Diet Evolution

Sandra Hall

Sandra Hall is a 30-ish mother who had failed at every diet she had ever tried. She suffered from high cholesterol, but when her doctor told her she would have to start taking high blood pressure medicines at her young age, shed had enough. When she saw how well a friend was doing with Diet Evolution, she asked her to make a copy of the small handout Id given that friend, which briefly explained the diet. So without ever meeting or talking to me, Sandra embarked on the program

Margo Hamilton

Two hip replacements in your late 40s and early 50s as a result of obesity ought to get your attention. How about undiagnosed high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and insulin-resistant diabetes? Despite eating healthy, Margos weight kept piling on; moreover, every exercise program was unbearable. Margo didnt believe me when I told her she wouldnt be hungry, would have lots of energy, and would experience zero cravings if she tried Diet Evolution. No way, she said! And lose weight without exercise? Impossible

INTRODUCTION

Is this you? Your skin is clear and unwrinkled, your slim body moves with ease and grace, and youre blessed with strength, stamina, and good health. You look 45 tops, but heres the zinger: youre really 70. No way, you say.

Forget 70; let me introduce you to Michelle (a pseudonym, as are most patient names). At our first meeting, I saw a striking, thin, erect woman who appeared to be about 65. I looked at the chart again and thought I had the wrong examination room. Her age was listed as 95! Michelle had recently seen me on television and said I was the first doctor who talked like one she met when she was 20, who had changed her life. His message was succinct: Go home and throw out every white food in your pantry and never eat such food again. For 75 years, she had done just that. In that time, she had buried two husbands, including a physician, who told her that her eating habits were crazy. He was long dead, but here she was, her perfect skin radiating health. Unlike many women in Palm Springs, she had never had plastic surgery.

When I took Michelles temperature, it was 95 degrees, meaning she had a low, and therefore efficient, metabolic rate. Her blood pressure was an exemplary 95/55. When her blood samples were analyzed, as I expected, they were perfect: low cholesterol, no evidence of inflammation. An active business-woman, Michelle is now 96 and still shows no signs of aging. Why would she? Her longevity genes are activated, preserving her from harm. Rather than being in survival mode, she exists in what I call perfect efficiency, which is what I hope to attainand the same goal I have for you. Live long and prosper, Michelle.

Is this you more like you? You weigh more than you did in high school. Perhaps a lot more. You pop one or more daily pills for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, acid reflux, depression, and/or arthritis. You may be sending your dermatologists children through college by having benign skin tags burned off your neck and armpits. While youre there, you may get treated for adult acne. If youre a woman, your hair may be thinning. Perhaps youve had some colon polyps and/or breast lumps removed. Am I hitting a little too close to home? If so, what if I suggested that even if you do not already have diabetes, hypertension, heart and vascular disease, cancer, or another life-threatening disease, youve got a lot in common with people who do?

What if I could demonstrate that you and they have all unwittingly set into motion what I call killer genes, which caused these and other unforeseen consequences? Preposterous? Until six years ago, I certainly would have thought so, but now I am convinced that these seemingly chance events are, for a great many of us, predictable outcomes. And, to a large extent, its our Western diet and lifestyle that are making us sick and ultimately killing usalthough paradoxically, as youll soon learn, they suit our genes just fine.

Sadly, as a heart surgeon, I dont see many people like Michelleat least initially. Many of my patients are severely ill and often prematurely aged. Most are also overweight. Why some people like Michelle seem to have sipped from the fountain of youth even as they near the century mark, while most of us are wrinkled, arthritic, overweight, and plagued with complaints by the time were eligible for AARP membership, has long been a mystery. Is it luck? Good genes? Over the last five years I have unraveled much of that mystery. Yes, our genes play a major role, but not in the way we have been led to believe. Michelle did not inherit good genes. Quite the opposite: since her life-changing encounter 75 years ago, she has been instructing her genes to be good! Ive also discovered how to do the same no matter what genetic cards a person has been dealt. What I have found argues powerfully for a major and immediate change in lifestyle.