EXCESS BODY WEIGHT

EXCESS BODY WEIGHT

'The secret of caring for a patient is caring for the patient.'

Sir William Osier

Q: Why are 30 percent of Americans overweight? A: Because of a most basic confusion!

They don't know when they are thirsty; they also don't know the difference between 'fluids' and 'water.'

Let us discuss the letters from Mr. Peck, Mr. Paturis, Priscilla Preston, and Donna Gutkowski that follow. All of them stated they lost between 30 and 45 pounds in weight when they switched to water as their preferred beverage. There is another person who gradually lost 58 pounds in less than a year, weight she had gained in six years. As you read on, you will see how simply we gam weight. You would think it 'simplistic' if you did not have the proof in front of you.

The central control system in the brain happens to recognize the low energy levels available for its functions. The sensations of thirst or hunger also stem from low, ready-to-access energy levels. To mobilize energy from that which is stored in/the fat, one needs hormonal release mechanisms. This process/takes a while longer (and some physical activity for energy release) than the urgent needs of the brain. The front of the brain either gets energy from 'hydroelectricity' or from sugar in blood circulation. Its functional needs for hydroelectricity are more, urgentnot only the energy formation from water, but also its transport system within the microstream flow system that depends on more water.

Thus, the sensation of thirst and hunger are generated simultaneously to indicate the brain's needs. We do not recognize the sensation of thirst and assume 'both indicators' to be the urge to eat We eat food even when the body should receive water. In these people who lost weight, by drinking water before eating food, they managed to separate the two sensations. They did not overeat to satisfy an urge for the intake of water.

Overeating Further Explained

The human brain is roughly 1 /50th of the total body weight. It is said to possess about nine trillion nerve cells (computer chips). Brain cells are said to be 85 percent water. Twenty percent of blood circulation is allocated and made available to the brain. This means that the brain gets to pick and choose from the circulating blood what is needed for its normal functions. The brain is the only part of the body that is constantly active. It processes all information from different parts of the body, as well as that which enters it from daily exposure to physical, social, and electromagnetic environment.

To process all these inputs and alert all parts of the body for coordinated response, the brain spends a vast quantity of energy. At the same time, it spends energy in manufacturing primary ingredients and different brain chemical messengers (neurotransmitters) that are made in the brain cells and have to be transported to the nerve endings wherever they are. The transport system uses a vast quantity of energy. This high rate of energy consumption by the brain is the main reason why it receives about 20 percent of blood circulation.

Brain cells stockpile energy in two main forms: ATP and GTP reserveslike the coal and coke dumps next to power plants. Certain actions are supplied with energy from ATP stockpiles that are located in different parts of the cell, mainly within its membranes. The cell membrane is where the information enters and where an action is initiated. There is a system of energy rationing in operation in each cell. Not all stimulation will achieve an allocation of energy from the ATP stockpile to get registered and invoke a response.

There is a threshold for energy release for some 'inputs.' The brain calculates and understands what is important and what is not for its energy expenditure. When ATP reserves are low, many stimuli do not invoke a response. This low ATP reserve in some overactive brain cells will become reflected as a fatigue state in functions controlled by those brain cells. Exactly the same process is in operation for the GTP stockpiles. In certain emergency actions, some energy from GTP stockpile can be diverted to boost the ATP stockpile to sustain some of the most essential functions that would otherwise suffer from lack of local energy.

Storage of energy in the brain's energy pools seems to rely heavily on the availability of sugar. The brain is constantly drawing from the blood sugar to replenish its ATP and GTP stockpiles. Recently it has been discovered that the human body has the ability to generate hydroelectric energy when water, by itself, goes through the cell membrane and turns some very special energy generating pumps; very much like the hydroelectric power generation when a dam is built on a large river. Thus, the brain uses two mechanisms for its energy requirements:

One, from metabolism of food and formation of sugar: two, from its water supply and conversion of hydroelectric energy. It now seems that the brain depends very extensively on energy formation from 'hydroelectricity,' particularly for its transport system in its nerve supply to different parts of the body.

To satisfy the brain's requirements, the human body has developed a very delicate balancing system to keep a normal range of sugar concentration in the blood. It/does this in two ways. One, by stimulating the intake of proteins and starchy foods that it will convert to sugar, in addition to the sugar in the diet; two, by converting some starch and proteins from stored reserves of the body into sugar. This latter mechanism is called 'gluco-neo-gene-sis.' It means remaking of sugar from other materials. This re-manufacturing of sugar for use by the brain is done in the liver.

The dependence of most brain functions on energy from sugar has developed a satiety or pleasure association for the sweet taste. It has established a certain coding system for coordination of functions by the other organs, particularly by the liver when sweet taste stimulates the tongue. When there is not enough sugar in circulation, the liver begins to manufacture it and constantly tops up blood levels by the addition of more sugar. At the beginning, it will convert stored starch, followed by proteins and small quantities of fat. Fat conversion is a very slow process.

The body needs to go without food for some time before a higher rate of fat metabolism is established. Proteins are more accessible and broken down more easily than fat. Fat deposits are made up of many single units of 'fatty acids' joined together. It is the individual fatty acids that are broken for their energy value. Each gram of fat gives nine calories of energy. Each gram of protein or sugar provides only four calories of energy. This is the reason, when fat is metabolized, a person is far less hungry.

In children, fat stores are brown in color and have much blood circulation in them. In brown fat, fat is metabolized directly and heat is generated. In later years of life, fat stores have less blood circulation and are less accessible to the enzymes that would mobilize the fatty acids for conversion in the liver and the muscles. When muscles are inactive, they are more easily attacked and their protein is broken down for conversion into sugar. However, if muscles are used, they begin to metabolize some of their stored fat as a choice source of energy to do work and maintain or increase their bulk To do this, they begin to activate a fat-breaking enzyme called 'hormone sensitive lipase.' It has been shown in repeated blood tests in Sweden that this enzyme's activity is seen after one hour's walk and retains its fat-breaking activity for 12 hours. Once muscles begin to use fat, more sugar will become available to be used by the brain.

With repeated walks, activity of the fat-burning enzymes become much more pronounced. Thus, a component of any dieting program should be muscle use for its long-lasting, primary and direct physiological effect on fat breakdown. It is this enzyme in blood circulation that will also clean all blood vessel walls of fatty plaques and deposits. It was this physiological response of the body to walking that reversed the health problems of Mr. John Fox. Increased water intake gave him energy and stamina and walking stimulated the enzymes that cleared his arteries.

Office work and desk jobs in our modern way of life are only a cultural transformation. The body physiology has not yet transformed sufficiently to accommodate for this functionally abnormal use of the human body. The human body still needs muscle activity to maintain normal functions. If the body functions normally, it will know when to eat and how much to eat without storing fat. Every part of the body will use its share of energy supply for efficient and well-coordinated functioning. This is what it is designed for.

However, if the brain is used more (in times of stress) and the body is not used proportionately to supply the brain with its sugar needs, a less-disciplined person will give in to eating more often and in larger quantities. It becomes more dramatic if one does not recognize the other thirst signals of the human body when it needs water for its energy supply, when in place of drinking water by itself more food is consumed. In stress, the body becomes dehydrated. The reason we tend to gain weight is one simple fact: we eat to supply the brain with energy for its constant round-the-clock activity. However, when food is eaten, only about 20 percent of it reaches the brain. The rest will gradually become stored if muscle activity does not use up its allocated portion. With water as a source of energy, this storage does not happen. Excess water is passed out in the form of urine.

Diet Sodas Can Cause Weight Gain

My observation has been that diet sodas (all variety of manufactured soft drinks are called soda instead of using the label on the drink), even though containing no appreciable number of calories, are possibly the cause of more weight gain in people who resort to taking them to control their weight. One person stands out: A young man in his twenties, about 5' 5' in height. lake most college students, he used to drink regular sodas while under constant pressure for completion of his studies. He had already gained excess weight by the time he graduated.

After graduation, to reduce weight, he began drinking eight cans of diet sodas per day. In about two years, he must have gained another 30 pounds. He seemed to get as round as he was tall. His walk became difficult, and he seemed to have to swing his hip to take a step. He also drank his diet soda at mealtimes and ate more than his body needed. He still consumes his diet sodashe seems to be addictedand, despite all other efforts, continues to be overweight.

This paradox in our understanding of the relationship between taking a sweetener that does not directly contribute to the total calorie intake of the body and weight gain needs explanation. The following is the result of my research into this enigma. There are many such persons who resort to taking diet sodas and, instead of losing weight, they begin to gain it. The transcript of a testimonial from Donna Gutkowski, who for years only consumed sodas and steadily gained weight regardless of anything else she did to shed the excess pounds, will also follow.

In America in 1850, about 13 ounces of soda were consumed per person per year. In the late 1980s, more than 500 twelve-ounce cans of sodas were consumed per person per year.

The 1994 annual report of the beverage industry shows that per-capita consumption of sodas is 49.1 gallons per year. Of this amount, 28.2 percent of consumption is the share of different diet sodas. Diet soda consumption is beginning to decline. Eighty-four percent of all sodas consumed belong to two companies (Coca-Cola 48.2 percent and Pepsi-Cola 35.9 percent). Of this 84 percent share of market and their different labels manufactured, only 5.5 percent are caffeine-free diet sodas. These figures indicate that a vast number of people are drinking caffeinated sodas, of which 22 percent consists of diet sodas.

A survey at the campus of Pennsylvania State University has shown that some students drank 14 cans of soda a day. One girl had consumed 37 Cokes in two days. Many admitted they could not live without these soft drinks. If deprived, these persons would develop withdrawal symptoms, very much like those addicted to other drugs. Boys Life magazine surveyed its readers and found that eight percent of them drink eight or more sodas a day. The administrators of one Boy Scout Jamboree had collected 200,000 empty cans for recycling. The Soft Drink Association surveyed the use of soft drinks in hospitals in America and found 85 percent of them serve sodas with their patients' meals. Research has shown that caffeine is addictive. The media, to placate a beverage industry that spends vast sums of money for advertising its products, have come up with a less expressive word to announce the news. They call it 'caffeine dependency.'

When consumption of sodas is encouraged by society, it is assumed these manufactured beverages can replace the needs of the body for water. It is assumed, just because these beverages contain water, the body will be adequately served. This assumption is wrong. This broad-base increase in consumption of mainly caffeine-containing sodas forms the background to many of the health problems of our society. The mistaken assumption that all fluids are equivalent to water for the water needs of the human body is the main cause of many of the ills of the human body, and it is frequently associated with the initial excessive gain in weight. To understand the above statement, we need to recognize some simple principles of anatomy and physiology of the brain that regulate eating and drinking.

The confusion that all manufactured beverages will supply the body with its daily water needs, more than any other cause, is responsible for some of the diseases that we encounter. Gross disfigurement of the body by fat collection is the initial step in the decline of the human body, and in my opinion is caused by the wrong choice of fluids intake. Some of these beverages do more damage than others.

Caffeine, one of the main components of most sodas, is a drug. It has addictive properties because of its direct action on the brain. It also acts on the kidneys and causes increased urine production. Caffeine has diuretic properties. It is physiologically a dehydrating agent. This characteristic is the main reason a person is forced to drink so many cans of soda every day and never be satisfied. The water does not stay in the body long enough. At the same time, many persons confuse their feeling of thirst for water. Thinking they have consumed enough 'water' that is in the soda, they assume they are hungry and begin to eat more than their body's need for food. Thus, dehydration caused by caffeine-containing sodas, in due time, will cause a gradual gain in weight from overeating as a direct result of confusion of thirst and hunger sensations.

Caffeine has 'pick-me-up' properties. It stimulates the brain/body even when a person is exhausted! It seems that caffeine lowers the threshold of ATP stockpile control. Stored ATP is used up for some functions that would not normally gain access to it when there is a set level of reserves.

When sodas contain sugar, at least some of the brain's need for sugar is satisfied. If caffeine is releasing ATP energy to enhance performance, at least its sugar companion will replenish some of the lost ATP, even if the final result is a deficit expenditure of ATP by the brain.

In early 1980s, a new product was introduced into the beverage industryan artificial sweetener other than saccharin. It is called aspartame. Aspartame is 180 times as sweet as sugar without any calorie output. It is now in common use because the Food and Drug Administration (PDA) has deemed it safe to use in place of sugar. In a very short period of time, it has been incorporated in over 5000 recipes.

In the intestinal tract, aspartame converts to two highly excitatory neurotransmitter amino acids: aspartate and phenylalanine, as well as methyl alcohol/formaldehydewood alcohol. It is claimed the liver renders methyl alcohol non-toxic. I personally think this claim is made to brush aside voiced objections for commercialization of a manufactured 'food' that has a known toxic byproduct.

If caffeine converts ATP to AMP, a spent energy 'ash,' aspartate converts GTP energy stockpile to GMP. Both AMP and GMP are spent fuels; they cause thirst/hunger to replace the lost fuel stockpiles in the brain cells. Thus, diet sodas cause indiscriminate overuse of energy reserves of cells in the brain.

It is a well-recognized, scientific fact that spent fuel (AMP) does cause hunger. Caffeine causes addiction, and people who consume it on a regular basis should be assumed to be 'sodaholics.' Hence, caffeinated diet sodas in sedentary persons must cause weight gain; they indirectly stimulate more food intake because of the brain's forced use of its energy reserves. Bear in mind that only some of the energy value of foods eaten will be used by the brain. The rest of the consumed energy will be stored in the form of fat if not used by muscle activity. This weight gain is one of many results of diet soda consumption.

The more important reflex that occurs is a brain reaction to sweet taste. The jargon used is 'cephalic phase response.' A conditioned reflex becomes established as a result of life-long experience with sweet taste that is associated with the introduction of new energy into the body. When sweet taste stimulates the tongue, the brain programs the liver to prepare for acceptance of new energy sugarfrom outside. The liver, in turn, stops the manufacture of sugar from the protein and starch reserves of the body and instead begins to store the metabolic fuels that are circulating in the blood. As Michael G. Tardoff, Mark I. Friedman, and other scientists have shown, cephalic phase responses alter the metabolic activity in favor of nutrient storage; the fuel available for conversion is reduced which leads to the development of appetite.

If it is indeed sugar that stimulates the response, the effect on the liver will be the regulation of that which has entered the body. However, if sweet taste is not followed by nutrient availability, an urge to eat will be the outcome. It is the liver that produces the signals and the urge to eat The more sweet taste without the accompanying calories that stimulates the taste buds, the more there is an urge to eatovereat.

The effect of cephalic phase response to sweet taste has been dearly shown in animal models with the use of saccharin. Using aspartame, several scientists have shown a similar urge to overeat in humans. Blundel and Hill have shown that non-nutritive sweetenersaspartame in solutionwill enhance appetite and increase short-term food intake. They report: 'After ingestion of aspartame, the volunteers were left with a residual hunger compared with what they reported after glucose. This residual hunger is functional, it leads to increased food consumption.'

Tardoff and Friedman have shown that this urge to eat more food after artificial sweeteners can last up to 90 minutes after the sweet drink; even when all blood tests show normal values. They showed that even when blood levels for insulin, the higher readings of which is thought to be the cause of hunger, achieved normal levels test animals consumed more food than the control batch. What this means is that the 'brain' retains for a long time the urge to eat when the taste buds for sugar are stimulated without sugar having entered the system. The sweet taste will cause the brain to program the liver to store supplies rather than release supplies from its storage.

Basically, this physiological response to sweeteners without their accompanying calories that the body has been told has entered it will compel the person to find and make good the registered marker for energy consumption. This is another physiological reason why people who consume diet sodas to reduce weight may suffer from the paradoxical response of their body to repeated stimulation of the taste buds with sugar substitutes.

When caffeine and aspartame are introduced into the body, they will dictate their stimulating effect on the cell physiology in the brain, the liver, the kidneys, the pancreas, the endocrine glands, and so on. Aspartame is converted to phenylalanine and aspartate. Both have direct stimulatory effects on the brain. The sum total of the effect of caffeine and aspartame will very quickly establish a new mode of activity for the brain just because they are repeatedly available in larger quantities than the ones that would otherwise establish a balanced physiology.

Most neurotransmitters are secondary products from one or another amino acid. However, aspartate is one of a pair of unique amino acids that don't need to be converted to a secondary product to act on the brain to cause an effect. There are receiving points (receptors) for these two stimulant amino acids (aspartate and glutamate) on certain nerve cells that influence body physiology very dramatically.

The use of artificial sweeteners for their false stimulation of 'nerve terminals' that register the entry of 'energy' supplies into the body have more severe repercussions than simply causing increase in weight. These chemicals constantly swing the body physiology in the direction dictated by the nerve system they stimulate. Their use without a thorough understanding of their long-term effects in the body, just because they also pleasantly stimulate the taste buds, is shortsighted. My understanding of the microphysiology within cells causes me concern when I think of the routine use of these amino acids. I worry for the outcome of the long-term effect of the direct stimulation of the nerve/ glandular systems in the brain with these chemical sweeteners. They are naturally positioned for other important, but balanced functions, in the body.

Research has shown that receptors for aspartate are abundantly present on some nerve systems whose products also stimulate the reproductive organs and breasts. A constant stimulation of breast glands without the other factors associated with pregnancy may well be implicated in the rise in the rate of breast cancer in women. The hormone, prolactin, may play a major role in this direction. One of the less explored complications of aspartame may be its effect as a possible facilitator in cancer formation in the brain. Fed to rats, aspartame has been implicated in brain tumor formation in experimental animals.

As an analogy, imagine a small sail boat that is going from one nearby port to another and has to reach its destination before dark when the direction of the winds is not ideal. If the sailor, instead of paying strict attention to the rules of sailing, gives in to the pleasure and exhilaration of fast sailing with the wind, he will have abandoned his purpose and sailed his boat to totally different and unknown shores, and in the dark. The odds are that he and his boat will not survive the trip.

On its journey of life, the human body is just like a sail boat. If the mind abandons purpose and forgets the design of the body, and gives in to the overstimulation of the palate with artificial and non-representative products (such as spices), in the long run, the body chemistry may not be able to deal with constant false information and not suffer damage.

It is primitive and simplistic thinking that one could easily lace water with all sorts of pleasure-enhancing chemicals and substitute these fluids for the natural and dean water that the human body needs. Some of these chemicals, caffeine, aspartame, saccharin and alcohol, through their constant lopsided effect on the brain, unidirectionallysingle mindedlyprogram the body chemistry with results contrary to the natural design of the body. Very much like the sail boat in the dark that will get beached in uncharted shores if its sailor gives in to the pleasures and exhilaration of fast sailing in place of sticking to the rules of sailing with safety in mind, the intake of wrong fluids will affect the life of anyone who continually consumes them.

As it has been explained so far, the human body has many different indicators when it runs short of water. At these times, it needs only water. As it has been explained, it will complicate matters if one gives the body artificial taste-enhancing fluids on a regular basis and in full substitution of the water needs of the body.

One should remember that caffeine is similarly an addictive drug, the use of which has become 'legal.' Children, in particular, become vulnerable to the addictive properties of these caffeine-containing beverages. Stimulating the body at the early stages of life of a child with pleasure-enhancing chemicals in beverages, in some will program the senses to use harder addictive drugs when they reach school age.

Thus, the long-term and constant use of sodas in general, and diet sodas in particular, should be assumed to be responsible for some of the more serious health problems of our society. Distorting the physical appearance of the body as a result of excess fat storage is the first step in this direction. Some manufactured beverages should only be used sparingly, if at all, by younger people, when the right programs for the future health of a child is the aim of parents.

Dr. Marcia Gutkowski is a nutrition consultant. After reading my book, she convinced her daughter Donna to begin changing her habit in fluids intake. The result has astounded the mother and daughter. The following is the transcript of Donna's testimonial.

Dear Dr. Batmanghelidj

April 25,1994 I

My mother asked, that I write to you and tell you about my recent weight loss success. I know that I could have a much more successful loss if I would follow your formula and curb my eating habits, along with starting a regular routine of exercise. However just getting myself to get off of 6 to 8 cans of Mountain Dew a day is a miracle in itself.

Within the last 9 months to a year, I have successfully been able to keep 35 excess pounds of baggage off. I am able to wear clothes that I thought would never touch my body again. I also have just about reached my goal size for my upcoming wedding. Even my fianc had to admit that lam looking much better than when he first met me five years ago.

My success has been contributed to faithfully drinking 1/2 my body weight in ounces in water every day. Wherever I go, so does my water. To work, shopping, even my long 7 hour long car rides. (That does make for a lot of rest area stops, but they are worth it.) I do treat myself to an occasional mineral water or beer when I go out, but I have usually gotten my quota of water in for the day.

One interesting thing that I have noticed however is that once I have finished drinking my quota of water, I have absolutely no desire to drink anymore. Also I have found that I'm not thirsty anymore and it will usually take me awhile to drink some other type of beverage whether it be juice, milk, beer, mineral water, etc.

I am looking forward to October 1st which is my wedding day when I can walk down the aisle looking better than I have looked in 15 years, since I graduated from high school. It will also be nice to put my weight on my new drivers license without having to cringe for the first time in my life.

Thanks for the smaller me!!!! Donna M. Gutkowski

It is now February of 1995. Donna is happily married. By the time of her wedding in October 1994, she had lost over 40 pounds.

This science-based way of weight loss will be permanent, whereas with only food limitation, even if some weight is lost, it is regained in a short period of time. Worse still, one is constantly hounded by the fallacy of needing to limit this or that food, particularly on the subject of cholesterol content of food, a temporary present-day vogue. Do not be shocked. Contrary to present trends for exclusion of eggs from daily diet, I eat as many eggs as I feel like eatingno limitation whatsoever; eggs have a well-balanced protein content. I also happen to understand how excess cholesterol formation in the body is associated with prolonged dehydration.

Priscilla Preston's letter on the next page further explains the relationship of dehydration, not only to weight gain, but to the more devastating problem of asthma, the subject of the next chapter. In taking steps to prevent asthma, she managed to lose 35 pounds. Another important point in her letter is the role of salt in disease prevention. Salt is important to the body. Salt sensors on the tongue, when strongly stimulated, remove the body's anxiety and stop it from panicking for water. When salt is available, the body is at least assured of an efficient water filtration system for its emergency supply to the important cells. You will read more about salt in chapter 12.

Please bear in mind, these letters are real-life stories. They are not 'anecdotes.' We do not need statistics to convince people of the efficacy of water, when the body is demonstrating an urgent need for it. Whose fault is it that the human body's regional calls for water, and its programs of adaptation to dehydration, have been labeled as disease conditions? Is there any plausible reason why, for evaluation of natural treatment procedures, we should adhere to the self-serving methodology and the yardstick of the pharmaceutical industry? Their inaccurate assertions have until now caused so much pain and agony for people whose bodies were only crying out for water!