Successes

What is the solution to our obesity epidemic?? Eat Right And Exercise.

Everyone knows this. But what we also know is that this simple logic may be great in principle, but terribly difficult to follow in the real world. All of the successes we have produced result from this basic common sense -- there are no miracle pills or powders, nor will we tout magic foods or drinks to solve your problems for you.

But we do provide a structure ... a framework for success, inside which our participants can make healthy food choices in the long term. The stunning success you see below is the result of this lifestyle approach to living well every day.

Diabetes is perhaps the most damaging health consequence of overweight and obesity. It’s very clear that, if you lose the weight, the symptoms of diabetes abate as well – and we have seen this over and over.

But what about the more severe case of Type 1, in which the diabetes is not tied to weight at all? Does the Mediterranean approach work beyond simple weight control?

These data demonstrate the changes in blood sugar produced through this program. The vertical line represents the start of the program, and the data points are glucose readings.

Long Term Diabetes Management

• Data Points = Glucose Readings, taken 4-5 times daily 
• Day 0 = the beginning of our Healthy Eating Curriculum
• Average Glucose before = ~300
• Average Glucose after = ~100
• Average swings in blood sugar before = 119
• Average swings in blood sugar after = 35

 Long Term Weight Control 

First of all, let’s get this straight – “weight” is not our problem. Weight is a symptom of a life out of balance, where volume is value and quantity is quality. Caloric imbalance reflects the problem but is not the problem itself. Thus, all programs that micromanage everything from carbs and calories to points and proteins,  are treating symptoms.

The Mediterranean approach to eating will never specify your portions, your carbs, or any other parameter. It teaches a healthy lifestyle that happens to result in lower consumption, and so controlled calories, and so controlled weight.

Even better, because participants learn new healthy eating behaviors, they retain their weight loss over time.

Long Term Cholesterol Reduction  

Creams, cheeses, butters, breads, wines and chocolates. These are the typical constituents of a Mediterranean diet – which produces lower weight, healthier hearts and longer lives than our American low fat approach.

To test whether their sumptuous success could be applied to our culture, our lives, our grocery stores, and our hectic schedules, we ran the doctors, nurses, and staff of the Vail Valley Medical Center on our program, and found a 13.3 point reduction in cholesterol in just 9 weeks – with no adjunct medication.