Tag Archives: Diet

Nutrition Advice That Actually Makes Sense

8 Oct

I have been struggling with my nutrition for almost ten years now. After a very bad accident left me unable to walk for over a year, I developed an insatiable sweet tooth. I comforted myself with donuts and jelly covered English muffins. Before my accident I was able to pretty much eat what I wanted and not gain weight. When it came to sweets, I could take them or leave them. Nowadays I don’t eat nearly as much sugar but I am still dealing with the negative consequences. I gained 30 lbs and still have not lost the last ten. I am overwhelmed by the amount of conflicting nutritional advice doled out by so called experts who seemingly contradict each other. I’ve danced around with a low carb diet, which does make me lose weight, but I find it unsustainable. I am so depleted by the end of the day that I can’t help but binge on carbs. I was online researching the Paleo diet when I came across the website of Dr. Clyde Wilson. Dr. Clyde is a nutrition expert and adjunct professor at the School of Medicine for the University of California San Francisco and the School of Medicine at Stanford University (where I did my undergrad). Dr. Clyde maintains his own site at DrClydeWilson.com where he blogs about nutrition, health, emotional eating and weight loss.

Dr. Clyde offers some of the most sound advice on eating that I have heard in a long time. The term moderation is bandied about a lot, but he actually offers a workable solution to enjoy the foods that you love by adding course vegetables to all of your meals in order to slow down digestion. He explains very clearly the biological drives that make us crave sugar, fat and satiety, and how to navigate these primitive drives in our modern toxic food environment.

Check out his eloquent metaphor in this video below.

For more information, take a listen to his podcast where he goes into further detail.

I am pre-diabetic and I struggle with keeping my blood sugar in normal ranges due to my love of carbs and sugar. I’ve already started following his recommendations and I hope to see great improvement in my blood sugar levels. I also feel like this advice is doable. I must be honest. I really don’t like vegetables. I don’t even really like salad but I eat them because I know that’s what I need to do in order to be healthy. Upping my vegetable intake won’t be easy but I know it’s what I need to do. I tend to binge and then mercilessly beat myself up over it. Hopefully I can break that cycle and stop demonizing food the way I have been.