Last Saturday January 11th I spoke at Lakewood Church's Young at Heart Ministry in Houston, TX on the Top 5 Eating Lifestyles to kick off the New Year. Below are my notes from my wellness talk. 

KETOGENIC DIET
The Ketogenic Diet or Keto diet was created by the pediatric epilepsy team at Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1920s and has used the high fat, low carbohydrate diet to address seizures in children and adults.

The diet causes the break down of fat deposits for fuel and creates substances called ketones through a process called ketosis.

It sounds contrary to common sense, but it allows the body to burn fat as a fuel, rather than carbohydrates. It takes about 3 days to get the body into ketosis. Then the weight will start coming off.

Don’t rely on your scale for encouragement as some people will lose inches before seeing the actual pounds coming off. Weighing once or twice a week is enough.

Keto works best for weight loss and improving overall health when you only eat healthy fats, such as those found in avocados, coconut oil, Brazil nuts, seeds, oily fish such as salmon, anchovies, and olive oil are liberally added to the diet to maintain an overall emphasis on fat. There are many books on Keto.

All of your fats in the diet must be healthy fats. Healthy fats will improve your brain health with better focus and less stress. It can lower the risk for Alzheimer’s Disease, high cholesterol and cancer as good fats promote better health.

It’s only the bad fats from fried foods, most cooking oils, junk food, fast food and processed carbohydrates that will lead to disease.

The Ketogenic Diet is low carb and it was something that taught me to relearn the way I eat. I have a friend of mine who has lost 35lbs on the Keto Diet and feels better than ever. I’ve lost 10lbs during the holidays by following the diet as close as possible.

The only drawback with the Keto Diet is when you stop it you can gain weight back quickly as any type of sugar will flood the system and put you back to square one. It is best  to slowly transition into one of the lifestyles I’m about to explain to maintain a healthy weight.

Ladies, ever wake up in the morning and you go stand on the scale and wonder where the 3-4lbs came from the day before?

Look at your diet the day before. For every 1 gram of bad carbohydrate you eat will cause you to retain 3.5 grams of water weight. So if you eat a piece of cake with 400 grams of sugar in it, you will retain 1400 grams of water weight.

The Risk:
This diet has risks including ketoacidosis for people with Type 1 diabetes, however, it is highly recommended for those with Type 2 Diabetes.


PALEO DIET (referred to as The Caveman Diet)
This is a natural way of eating, one that almost abandons all intake of sugar. The only sugar in a Paleo diet comes from fruit. However, abandoning sugar is not the only stipulation.

• You could say this diet may have been something Adam and Eve ate in the garden, but one piece of fruit ruined it all.
• Processed foods and grains are also eliminated from the Paleo diet. That means no breads or pastries of any kind. So no Olive Garden if you go Paleo and in a Paleo diet, dairy is also eliminated so definitely kiss Tex-Mex goodbye as no cheese is allowed.
• The fewer number of carbohydrates in your system leads to a decreased amount of glucose. So your system will then begin to use fat as its fuel source. Just like it will with Keto.
• So what can be eaten?
• A Paleo diet consists of fish, chicken, vegetables, some fruits such as apples and berries because they are low in sugar and high in fiber, nuts, coconut oil, olive oil, macadamia oil, avocado oil, sweet potatoes, eggs and meat, so long as that meat is grass-fed and not grain-fed.
• If you are diabetic, check with your doctor before trying the Paleo Diet.
• Also, there are many companies who are creating foods for those doing the Keto or Paleo diets. We live in a world of desired convenience and many people are making it happen.

VEGETARIAN DIET
There are various types of vegetarians: The majority of vegetarians are lacto-ovo vegetarians, in other words, they do not eat animal-based foods, except for eggs, dairy, and honey.

Studies over the last few years have shown that vegetarians have a lower body weight, suffer less from diseases, and typically have a longer life expectancy than people who eat meat.

The two risks of being vegetarian is the lack of Vitamin B12, so one must supplement B12 to make sure they do not become anemic. The other risk is the lack of animal based EPA and DHA we get from our omega-3s. There is a major argument about plant based Omega-3s, which have not shown to actually cross over into the brain.

I prefer fish oil over flaxseed oil for brain health. Flaxseed oil is great for your hair, skin and cardiovascular system. Fish oil is great for your brain, cardiovascular system and your eye health.

An acquaintance of mine, guitarist Steve Vai has been vegetarian for over 30 years. He actually credits the vegetarian lifestyle to his creativity in writing music. I would agree with him as eating sugar, bad fats and oils lead to depression, poor mental health and less vitality.

Some of today’s pro athletes are embracing vegetarianism as well as veganism, so now a controversy has erupted as some of them are getting more injuries, especially those in contact sports such as football, basketball and soccer.

If you are eating a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle look into using pea protein and brown rice protein to make sure you muscles are getting what they need.

The biggest no-no in vegetarianism and veganism is using soy products. Soy is a hormonal disrupter and will cause hypothyroidism, lower testosterone levels in men and cause a woman to have a hormonal imbalance.
Vegetarian parents are not aware of the dangers of soy products in children as soy should never be used as a baby formula or food in any child as it can lead to ADD or ADHD and possible increase in allergies.

VEGAN DIET
Veganism is more of a way of life and a philosophy than a diet. A vegan does not eat anything that is animal-based, including eggs, dairy, and honey. Vegans do not usually adopt veganism just for health reasons, but also for environmental, ethical, political and compassionate reasons.

Vegans believe that modern farming methods are bad for our environment and unsustainable in the long-term. If everybody ate plant-based food, the environment would benefit, animals would suffer less, more food would be produced, and people would generally enjoy better physical and mental health, according to vegans.

I interviewed guitarist Phil Collen of the band Def Leppard and he’s been vegetarian for over 20 years and he’s been vegan for the last 7 years. He is now 61 years old and looks like he’s barely in his 40s. He told me his energy levels are so high that he can do a 2 hour concert with the band and walk off stage and come back and do it all over again. Paul McCarthy and other celebs are vegan and still perform into their late 70s.

Eating healthy food and again removing all the bad fats, bad sugars and processed foods from our body will renew our youth at any age. Everyone will see improvements in their overall health, improved brain function, improved cardiovascular health and I’ve seen people healed of cancer by eating healthier and avoiding sugar as it feeds and causes cancer to grow.

At least we know Jesus wasn’t vegan and He wasn’t on the Keto diet as the fishes and loaves proved that point. And he dipped bread at the Last Supper. So He wasn’t against grains or carbohydrates. I’m thinking He was more into the Mediterranean diet since He did turn water into wine. So let me wrap up with the Mediterranean diet, which is considered the healthiest eating lifestyle in the world.

MEDITERRANEAN DIET
The Mediterranean diet is Southern European, and focuses on the nutritional habits of the people of Crete, Greece, southern Italy, southern France and Spain.

The emphasis is on lots of plant foods, fresh fruits as dessert, beans, nuts, whole grains, seeds, olive oil as the main source of dietary fats. Cheese and yogurts are the main dairy foods and these have to be organic and not processed. All store bought yogurt is processed and has sugar in it. I never buy unless it’s the plain White Mountain brand.

The diet also includes moderate amounts of fish and poultry, up to about four eggs per week, small amounts of red meat, and low to moderate amounts of wine. There are some great books on the Mediterranean diet so I encourage you to check them out.

I want to say something about olive oil. Only eat it raw and never fry with olive oil. You are not creating better health by frying with olive oil. It will convert to trans fatty acids which will damage your health. Trans fats are bad for your arteries, your liver and your brain.

Frying is a no-no, but if you must fry use coconut oil or macadamia oil as these are safe at high heat.

Up to one-third of the Mediterranean diet consists of fat, with saturated fats not exceeding 8 percent of calorie intake. The Mediterranean diet is the most extensively studied diet to date, with reliable research supporting its use for improving a person's quality of life and lowering disease risk.

So there you have it. The 5 Top Healthy Eating Lifestyles which are not diets.