BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

I have heard Christians say, “Didn’t Jesus say, ‘Give us this day our daily bread’? We should eat bread every day, right?” That is faulty logic on many levels, but even if it were true, the bread 2,000 years ago was not the same as today’s bread. Our bread is hybridized, crossbred, refined, and devoid of fiber and many nutrients. It’s almost like comparing an orange M&M with an actual orange. Not the same by any means! History Supports It This ketogenic program works well, especially for those with excessive belly fat. The low carbohydrate, ketogenic diet is incredibly effective and has actually been practiced and prescribed for more than 150 years. In the mid-1800s, an English undertaker named William Banting was trying in vain to lose weight but instead continued to gain. Medical doctors during that era told him what most doctors are telling their patients today: Restrict calories, and exercise. This did not work for Banting. He had also tried laxatives, diuretics, Turkish baths and starvation diets, among his 20 failed attempts at losing weight. Banting, who was short and weighed over 200 pounds, suffered from a painful umbilical hernia that required constant bandaging, and his knees ached so badly he would wrap them to get relief. Climbing stairs left him short of breath and perspiring heavily. Needless to say, Banting was desperate for answers. One day he made an appointment with Dr. William Harvey for a hearing problem. Dr. Harvey had studied in Paris and recommended a new diet for Banting that included meat, fish and poultry, along with no limit on animal and dairy fat. It also included small amounts of fruit that were low in sugar, and only a few bites of toast. No other sweets, sugars or starches were allowed. As a result, Banting lost approximately 50 pounds in about a year, suffering no side effects as he had with previous diets. In addition, this diet gave him more energy, reduced his knee pain, and no longer was he out of breath and sweating profusely after climbing stairs. Banting was so excited with his weight loss that he wrote a small book about his story and the diet that changed his life. Demand for his book was great and was translated into several languages. Banting, himself, became very popular. In fact, the phrase “Do you Bant?” which was another way of asking, “Do you diet?” became synonymous with Banting. When people thought of dieting, they thought of Banting. Modern Medicine Agrees The high-fat, low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet was rediscovered in the 1920s to treat seizures in children and adults, and was used until the early 1940s when medications for epilepsy were developed. In the early 1960s, Dr. Robert Atkins opened his cardiology practice in New York City. Even though Atkins was only 33, he looked about 45, had three chins and weighed over 200 pounds. He was so exhausted that he would not get up before 9 a.m. and never saw patients before 10 a.m. Frustrated, Atkins came across a low-carbohydrate diet by Dr. Alfred W. Pennington, and weight loss became easy. Eventually, Atkins was hired by a company to help its employees. He was incredibly successful, helping 64 out of 65 employees lose down to a normal weight. Over the years, Atkins refined his diet to be a low-carbohydrate, high-protein, high-fat diet. As his reputation spread, his diet eventually ended up in "Vogue" magazine and was called the “Vogue diet.” In 1972, he published "Dr. Atkins’ Diet Revolution," a book that sold tens of millions of copies and became the best-selling diet book of all time. Despite (and because of) the success of his diet, Atkins was seen as controversial and was branded a “quack” by many of his medical peers. In the 1990s and early 2000, I would meet and talk with Dr. Atkins almost every year at medical conferences. We discussed health and diets, and I would pepper him with questions about the newest advances in nutritional medicine. In 2003, Dr. Atkins slipped and fell on an icy sidewalk, fracturing his skull. He died nine days later. Rumors swirled that he died of a heart attack and was morbidly obese at the time of his death. But those rumors were completely false. The truth is, Atkins was at an average weight at the time of his death. BVOV : 21

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