I am a 40 year old male looking to gradually lose 40 pounds. A few years ago, I had a surgery. Leading up to it, I took steroid shots to try to avoid the surgery and then pain killers after the surgery. I believe my digestive system has been screwed up since.

I recently went to a Chiropractic Nutritionist and took a Meridian Stress Assessment. Basically, through acupunture points and electronic probing, an assessment is given telling what organs/systems are stressed the most. I am wanting to know if this is legit or not. My digestive system showed to be the worst, as I thought.

My prescribed eating plan is lower carb, low sugar, no sodas (diet or regular). I can have all the meat I want and most fruits and veggies are on the good list. I need to stay away from processed grains as well...No bread. This plan will be in effect until I get my digestive system corrected. This is doctor supervised. If anyone has been down this road, please give me your thoughts. Glad to meet you all. By the way, I had never been to a chiropractor in my 40 years.

I havent been down that path - but I can say that anything that says that you can have "all the x that you want" has a potential problem if weight control is desired.

Meat contains protein which is something that we all need. However - you make no mention as to whether you have been advised to eat lean meat only. Meat which is fatty (or indeed includes the skin) can bring problems for any serious attempt at weight loss.

Portion control can also add issues. You can gain weight if you eat a lot of anything. At the end of the day - if you eat more calories than you burn up you will gain weight.

I would tend to follow the advice for the main part - to see what happens. I would however be inclined to log my food and exercise in FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal to see that I was in deficit and limit my portions accordingly. I would also make my meat choices - healthy meat choices. Too much saturated fat from the meat is not a good idea.

It may be worth asking whether there is a multivitamin that you can take in order to ensure that you are covered for any deficiencies coming from a lack of grains in your diet.

Omega,

Thanks for the good points. I appreciate your points about lean meats and good food choices. I will be eating lean meats and in reasonable quantity. I will also be logging my foods. Thanks for the advice.

I wish you well buddy!! I have not been down that road, but what Omega said in regards to lean meats...sounds very wise!!

I know you can do this!! You have made the first step, and I'm happy and proud of you for being here!!!! That eating plan sounds good actually, and I see you dropping down to a healthier range in no time!!

Good Luck!!!....I'm rooting for you!! !

I echo what Omega said.

I think any diet that gives you the "you can eat as much X as you want" has potential to be either misunderstood or abused and as a result, not give the results you want.

I have never heard of the Meridian Stress Test, so I can't comment intelligently on that part of it, but I also personally have an issue with any diet that restricts an entire category of foods. Whole grains are an important part of a healthy and balanced diet (god, I sound like a cereal commercial, don't I? ), and I don't understand eliminating them entirely. I do think that limiting them and making sure to eat whole grains and complex carbs, rather than simple carbs and sugar and so forth, is a good thing.

But in the long run, it probably won't hurt you to follow the diet for a while. It's not stupidly restrictive from what I can see.

In the long term the breads and other carbs won't be off limits. It is only during the process of getting by digestive system back in track. From what I have read before about candida and bacteria balances in my digestive system, healthy bacteria can be detroyed by steroids and pain killers. I took them both to try to avoid shoulder surgery. Ever since, I get a thick white paste on my tounge when I comsume sugars or a lot of carbs. So I see evidence of something. I also have thrush, a red blochy skin condition around my mouth. When I go to doctors and even dermatologists they prescribe more steroids (creams) even though I tell them that I think I have a candida overgrowth. When I take the creams, etc, my skin breaks out in more blotches. I was frustrated with regular doctors. That is why I went to alternative medicine.

I am completely at a loss. That is why I am trying this. I am taking supliments as well for my digestive system. I hope if anything I can help others. Thanks again.

I could be way off base, so just let me know if I am .. but it seems to me that you're swinging from one extreme to the other. Since your experience with the drugs and steroids and medical issues have left you with the thrush and other stuff ... you're going the radically opposite direction in order to try to fix it. To me - and I'm going to stress that this is my personal view - that's going overboard.

IMO, polarization is one of the big problems with the American diet mentality (and I mean both diet as in "go on a" and diet in the more holistic sense of "what you eat"). For some reason Americans seem to dive right into the deep end of things - that "any thing that's worth doing is worth overdoing" mindset.

We don't just moderate our junk food intake, we declare that we'll never eat junk food again.
We don't cut back and limit our intake to healthy fats, we declare "war on fats".
We don't cut back on carbs and make sure those we eat are whole grain based, we declare Zero Carbs!
Etc.

Personally, I don't see what's wrong with taking a more moderate approach. You said you get the thrush symptoms stronger when you eat "a lot of carbs". So moderate your carbs - make sure you're getting healthy complex ones when you do eat them. Yogurt (not sugary, flavored ones, but plain yogurt with live cultures) is a tried-and-true remedy for thrush and also for helping to restore the bacterial balance to your digestive system.

If it were me (again, my personal perspective), I would stop taking the creams and steroids (as you have), and try a moderate, whole-foods based eating plan, with a balance of complex carbs, lean proteins, and healthy fats. I'd try to get in some good quantities of low fat yogurt with live cultures to help restore needed bacteria (and help with the thrush) and try to load up on fresh fruit and veg as much as possible.

That's me. Again, I don't think this alternative diet will hurt you - I just don't think it's necessary to be so restrictive.

Either way, I wish you luck.

Quite a lot of us here are big fans of low fat yoghurt.

Not only does it have a track record in this area - but it provides great protein and calcium. Mine is truly yummy and gives a nice boost to fibre too - all for very few calories.

Since research indicates that getting sufficient calcium (1000mg / day) boosts weight loss - I would certainly think it to be a good idea for you to incorporate it into your new eating plan as Kara suggests.

Well, I have been on my new eating plan for one week. I have noticed some positive changes. My digestive system seems to be working better. I have had more energy and have been exercising more. Yogurt is on my list of things I can eat in moderation. I have lost 6 pounds in the past week. Most importantly, I just plain feel better.

KaraCooks, I know it may seem like I am going from one extreme to the other. However, I have spent at least two years trying to fix this on my own through eating fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and eating lean meats. I haven't been a yogurt eater regularly, but have been taking probiotics for the past year or more. With all the positive yogurt comments, I will start eating yogurt everyday. I know what I should be eating. I have been in good shape before. In 2005 and 2006 (at age 35 and 36) I trained and ran half marathons. I was a consistant runner from 2000-2006. After my shoulder surgery, I have had lower energy and that keep me from having the same desire to keep in shape as I had before.

Thanks all for your comments.