Confessions of a Personal Fitness Trainer
by Deborah Caruana
zone3
As your personal fitness trainer my passion is to teach, coach,
understand, push, prod, cajole, investigate, research and apply, over and
over… As a ‘Fitness Role Model’…well…I feel vulnerable with weakness, so,
in hopes we can all learn, from my own weakness, here goes…My Confession.
Last year I had a number of clients who started stubbornly on the
Atkins diet despite my warnings. Immediately I saw almost profound results
in their weight loss. I reminded them it was the loss of water weight, and
warned of the strain on the kidneys and the high cholesterol risk.
During this time I was mastering my yoga practice as a complete vegan
but found that my immune system had been profoundly compromised and I was
currently on my third cold for the fall season
Atkins was in the media
again because of new study results indicating lowered cholesterol. I went
to the Atkins book yet again with a more open mind, and decided to try the
diet. I liked the contrarian view point to the current AMA position of the
low fat diet, which seemed to be producing a society of increasing
obesity. Atkins view of sugar as the culprit making you fat, not fat, made
sense and the extra work from all the protein for the kidneys… it’s
benign. I wanted to use his diet as a tool to get myself entirely off of
any sugar.
I started out on the high protein, low carb aspect of the
diet. As I reintroduced the animal proteins into my diet I could feel
myself get stronger and the colds, finally stopped. I also saw my muscle
bellies start to open and swell again. The cold of winter was not as
painful as it had been while on my vegan diet.
I then summoned up the
courage to start bringing fats into my diet, including bacon, egg yolks,
cream cheese, heavy cream, whipped cream, even bacon rinds. On a daily
basis I would marvel at having eaten these “forbidden foods” only to
awaken the next day thin, svelte. I couldn’t believe this, result! I was
loving eating all these foods so familiar yet banished since …childhood
I was in full swing eating the high fat, high protein, low carb diet
at the time when the pictures on my website were taken.
www.vitalsignsfitness.com I felt strong, but I had no energy!!! My walks
on the beach were lethargic, I had to force myself to go that extra mile.
I was thin but I felt like a beached whale. My love affair with Atkins
continued a few more months. I followed his prescriptions
religiously.
Eventually I had to add more carbs, I needed more energy.
By carbs I mean vegetables, salads and whole grains. At this point I
gained back the total of two pounds I had lost on Atkins. Body fat went
from 16% to 18%, my energy was better. After 7 months I decided it was
time to get the blood checked out and to my horror discovered that my
cholesterol which had always been around 150 had rocketed up to 300!!
Luckily my HDL to LDL ratio was still at a healthy level. Thanks to my
forcing myself to exercise, I kept my HDLs high.
I immediately started
drinking hot lemon juice with cayenne pepper every morning to clean my
blood. I have now thrown away all the high fat foods and have once again,
come back full circle to moderation and balance. A balanced diet. It takes
a little more discipline but my energy is back and I can now eat the same
meals as my husband so dinner preparation is simpler. My weight has not
changed since I gradually introduced the carbs. I avoid at all costs the
“white foods” flour, sugar, milk. I drink unsweetened soy milk I avoid
foods in packages, boxes and bags. I feel a fine layer of fat but that’s
okay its winter, I need it, and in the summer, heat always melts it off. I
am completely off sugar and alcohol to keep blood sugar low.
Log into
www.vitalsignsfitness in the Chat page where a discussion has already
begun re: Atkins and other diet plans, add your comments or just read and
muse. Or go to the Nutrition Program page and find out how many calories
(protein, carbs, fats) you should eat to sustain your current or ideal
weight.
Deborah Caruana RN, AAHRFP, NASM, ACE,
www.vitalsignsfitness.com
email deb@vitalsignsfitness.com
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
DEBORAH is a highly respected authority in personal training for
overall health and fitness, with more than 22 years of experience and
success.
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