Body Work – Part 2: Paunch and Cookies

I didn’t gain weight in the normal way, by increasing in size all over my body. No, my face was not pudgy and cherubic, my legs and arms were not voluptuous and Rubenesque, and sadly I haven’t had buttocks since the mid-1990s.

All of my weight gain was perched conspicuously as a big, round, solid ball right in the center of my belly, an unholy marvel of cantilever engineering. If for no other reason that this, it was no wonder my spine was a wreck. From the front I looked reasonably normal. In profile, though, I looked like an albino Biafran refugee – I only lacked the requisite flies crawling on my eyeballs to complete the disturbing picture.

Although I must confess that during my two months of R&R I was unable to completely eradicate my newfound habit of solitary eating and television, it had much improved. But the weight was not going away.

Concerned about what might be nascent diabetes, I started reading about low-glycemic-impact diets. After some rooting around and investigation, I picked up a copy of The Glycemic Load Diet by Rob Thompson, M.D. He describes a syndrome that is becoming increasingly common in the modern United States: insulin resistance. It is characterized by hard belly fat, accompanied by bad cholesterol numbers, sketchy blood glucose, and high blood pressure, and can be a precursor to diabetes. You might say that by the end of the description he had my attention.

He goes into fascinating detail as to the genesis of the disorder, and how the increase in wheat and other starch consumption (as well as the sugar in sodas) has caused this condition to proliferate in recent years. And he explains at length how these symptoms can be arrested and reversed by The Glycemic Load Diet and regular, gentle walking. He contrasts the Glycemic “Load” approach with the Glycemic “Index” used by other similar diet plans, and convincingly shows why Glycemic Load is a better indicator than the Glycemic Index. By the middle of the book, I found myself tossing starches and sugar out of the pantry, and running to the store to stock up on meat, poultry, fish, dairy, and lots and lots of non-starchy vegetables.

The first evening I started the diet, having not yet augmented my pantry, I ate the only foods in the house that fit the diet plan (I’m ashamed to say): Dry Roasted Almonds and Cottage Cheese.

In the middle of the night, I had a severe reaction, one that felt like food poisoning, although it didn’t last nearly as long as a typical bout of food poisoning. It was done in an hour or two. And I have no idea if it was associated with the change in diet or just a craptacular coincidence. I can’t think of any reason why the food I ate might have caused such a reaction, and I’ve eaten the nuts since the episode without incident.

I lost five pounds overnight. Such weight, obviously water weight, usually comes back after a day or so of rehydration. But oddly, this weight did NOT come back. Continuing to follow the diet plan and adding a gentle regimen of daily walking, I’m continuing to lose weight slowly without any sense of deprivation or hunger (because the diet is not calorie- or fat-controlled, only starch- and sugar-controlled). Time will tell what the impact of the added meat and dairy will do to my cholesterol, and I may have to eventually tweak the diet in that regard, but the weight loss and already-visible change in my gut are encouragement enough to keep me on the plan for the time being.

As an aside, one of my “go-to” foods over the past three years has been a comforting whole-wheat cereal, often consumed right at bed time for maximum comfort. And my personal food pyramid over the past 10 years has always featured whole grains (predominantly wheat) at the base, because of dietary research I’d done previously. Dr. Thompson explains that the increase in wheat consumption over the last 40 years has directly paralleled the obesity epidemic, and that while whole wheat has more vitamins and fiber than processed white flour, it still creates glucose spikes as great as those of white-flour products. Finally, he points out that while many youngsters tend to get their sugar from sugary sodas, most adults (like me) tend to get it from wheat-packed baked goods and cereals – often “low fat” these days. “Paunch and Cookies” indeed!

Eliminating wheat (among other starches) from my diet immediately resolved some long-standing gastrointestinal problems of mine, including a nasty case of acid reflux. Coincidence? I doubt it. I imagine that in addition to insulin resistance I may have been suffering from an allergy or other intolerance to wheat products (perhaps exacerbated by my frequent exposure to the delicious, comforting whole-wheat cereal).

Time will tell whether this diet is a panacea for me – but for the time being, my energy and focus are better than they have been in years, I’ve kept that five pounds off and am still losing weight slowly, my blood pressure is suddenly moving toward normal, and I don’t think anyone will convince I’m on the wrong track.