An open letter to the medical profession
It saddens but doesn’t surprise me that there is such a vitriolic response to Prof Tim Noakes’ recommendation of a low carbohydrate, high fat diet to achieve sustainable weight loss. It saddens me because I, and so many of us, have elevated the medical profession to a higher level of trust than other professions and it takes much to feel we can question or challenge a doctor’s prescription. It doesn’t surprise me though as the groundswell of popular support threatens the status quo. It is becoming much harder for medical professionals to diagnose, prescribe and engage with patients to discuss their thoughts in the 15-minute billing increment.
But times have changed. Prescriptions are no longer written in latin to maintain the veil of mystery and in today’s connected world, access to knowledge from the globe’s most respected universities, is a click away.
Perhaps the time has also changed around the closed-mindedness (and, in my judgement, fear-based protectionism) by the medical profession in only considering randomised controlled studies as the basis for revisiting what was once believed to be true.
The reason, to my mind, anyway, why Prof Noakes is so vilified is that he is not satisfied to simply publish his findings in the popular press and discuss them on talk-shows. He needs to, and has, shared his opinions and findings within the sacred pages of the SA Medical Journal – a move too far for the establishment which has responded with fear and ridicule. It is this point that disappoints me the most. Instead of engaging in robust debate and re-thinking to help shape a new way to manage obesity the medical profession appears to me to simply be protecting its position.
It is a fact that obesity and the lifestyle diseases that stem from it threatens not only our nation and health-care budget but also those of many countries abroad. Surely, if for no other reason, this has to mean that the existing approach to healthy-weight management is not working?
Prof Noakes is so committed to his view that there is another way to manage obesity that he risks professional persecution for it.
I am not alone in my appreciation to him for doing so. As someone who successfully managed to shed 70kg and have maintained the same healthy weight for 10 months now, I am hugely grateful for his outspokenness and fervour. Of course there are many factors that have contributed to my successful weight loss but I believe that the main one was my new-found appreciation that I was addicted to sugars and starch-based carbohydrates. It was only after purging myself from these toxins to my body that I was able to manage and maintain my weight loss. It is true that the terror of pending weight-loss surgery helped focus my mind on the reality of the problem but it is also true that eating a diet similar to what he recommends has allowed me to feel sated and without the cravings that haunted and ultimately undermined every other diet.
Rather than investing so much in dismissing Prof Noakes I would have preferred his detractors to mobilise a study to test his theories.
Well said Brian and I agree with you all the way.
I have now lost 15kg’s from my top weight and am at my goal weight.
I have been on the Paleo eating plan for over 5 months now and would not go back to a high carbohydrates diet for any reason as my overall health has improved beyond expectation.
Well said! Keep on fighting the good fight!
I could not agree more. Tim Noakesliterally saved my life. Reading challenging beliefs was a turning point for mr. I started at 137kilos and am now 88kilos all in 11 months.
I would be concerned about the long term effects of a high protein diet and these are the reasons why:
1. We are designed for a 75-80% alkaline forming diet. On a high protein diet you seldom get more than 40% alkaline forming food. Less than 75% and you are in a line for cancer, heart diseases, diabetes, osteoporosis and arthritis.
2. The longest living communities follow a plant based diet. There are no long living high protein communities Eskimos and Masai do not live long.
3. Our physiology is not even close to true herbivores (pigs and bears) never mind carnivores (lions and tigers) – not enough hydrochloric acid and the inability to kill and animal with bare hands or our mouths are just 2 basic differences.
4. The countries that consume the most animal products have the most heart disease, cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis and arthritis. USA Cancer Associations finding are more than 600g of animal protein a week, results in cancer. That’s less than the size of your palm 1 x a day!
5. The largest study ever done in nutrition – The China Study found that “man is designed for a plant based diet”. Yes there are critics on the web, but Dr Colin Campbell , who headed this research is one of the (if not the) most qualified nutritional biochemist in the world (the critics are not nutritionist). He is not funded by a food company, endorses no products and sells no supplements and used to be a huge meat eater until he saw the results of the study.
6. By removing all carbohydrates you will be removing gluten, and refined and processed carbs. These are usually the two culprits that contribute to weight gain and insulin resistance and prediabetic conditions.
7. By removing all carbohydrates you are also combining your food properly – this will also contribute to improved health and weight loss
8. Children, sick people and the elderly cannot thrive on a high protein, carbohydrate free diet.
9. Common problems on a high carbohydrate diet are depression, constipation and heavy menstrual bleeding with pain (in women)
10. A high protein diet is expensive and not available to poor rural communities, there are therefore more people world wide that are vegetarian than meat eaters.
11. You use on average at least 20 times more water to produce 1 kg of animal protein than plant protein, plus more fuel, electricity and resources at every level. So it is environmentally irresponsible to promote high protein diets.
12. but for those who are panicking keep the animal products organic and not more than the size of your palm a day, maximum, but aim for every 2nd day rather.