The Search For Enlightenment

Well the weekend has been perfect for any kite flying aficionados living in Dorset, to say it has been windy is a huge understatement. Despite the breeze, I was keen to get out on the bike, having been unable to do so since last weekend.

Yesterday, I took myself off to Hengistbury Head along the promenade. There was a few piles of soft dry sand, blown from the beach, which made progress a little difficult in places, though the extra effort was nothing compared to that required to get back home against a nasty breeze.

So knowing the obstacles, I decided to have a later start to a repeat trip this morning, and spent a couple of hours reading Dr Douglas Graham’s book which discusses his 80-10-10 diet, the basis of his own, and my adopted eating regime. And very thought provoking it is too, arguing strongly and convincingly just how unhealthy the western diet has become of the last few decades.

Just reading the forward to the book makes one sit and think. So I thought I would share it with you, so you decide whether you might want to read the book, to help you make the right choices for your own dietary decisions …

As an Ironman triathlete, ultra marathoner, and holder of nearly 1,000 race first places, I know how important the right diet is. It dismays me to see how much dietary misinformation is being spread with the main goal being to make money. Because so many people are misinformed about the proper diet, obesity is at the highest rates in history, and as more people buy into these money-making schemes, obesity and its associated diseases are going to continue to increase at horrendous rates.

Over and over again, I hear people saying they’ve tried “everything” to lose weight — low fat, high fat, low carb, high carb, low protein, high protein, all kinds of pills, shots, powders, and shakes — you name it and they say they’ve tried it. The main cause of their failure is misinformation.

There are reasons for each of these dietary failures. What they were told was “low fat,” usually 30%, actually is not low fat at all, and they have no idea how to get to an effective low-fat 10% as described in this book. High-fat diets can be dangerous and put you at risk for the diseases that most Westerners die from prematurely. Low-carb diets are also dangerous, and most people have no idea that the ideal diet consists of 80% carbs. But, it must be the right carbs.

High-protein diets lead to osteoporosis, kidney disease, and lack of energy for exercise. Most people think that low-protein diets will never work, having been convinced by the meat and dairy industries that the more protein you eat, the better — and nothing could be further from the truth.

As for pills, shots, powders, and shakes, these gimmicks will never give people the health they really seek. What they don’t realize is that obesity is actually a symptom of eating the wrong diet. The same is true of most of the other diseases we suffer from, for example, heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, arthritis, colitis, constipation, osteoporosis, acne, erectile dysfunction, dementia, and even vision and hearing problems. These are all symptoms of the diseases of consuming the wrong diet.

You are holding in your hands the book that will give you the dietary information we all need to have. You don’t have to be an Ironman triathlete or even want to be one, but you owe it to yourself to read The 80/10/10 Diet!

Ruth E. Heidrich, PhD
Author, A Race For Life

I’m not trying to sell the book for Dr Graham, I’m not even suggesting that any of you folks change your own diet, but I do think it would be wrong of me to keep this information to myself. If you do want to read it, this is a link to the book on Amazon, if you decide you think the diet is for you.