Posted by Linda Lazarides on April 28, 2009 under Waterfall Diet FAQs | 
Some readers will note that there is a discrepancy between the first two editions of the Waterfall Diet, and the 3rd edition, which will be published in January 2010.
The discrepancy concerns the length of time allowed for Phase I of the diet. This was previously two months and has been reduced to four weeks.
The book also says that if you have serious problems with keeping to the diet for this amount of time, you can reduce Phase I to two weeks before proceeding to Phase II (testing). However it does also say that this is not ideal, because Phase I is not just for allergy testing, it also aims to give your body a rest from all the usual dietary stressors with a view to improving your metabolism.
In order to help as many people as possible I was torn between recommending the ideal (two months) and what most people would see as a more manageable target.
Posted by Linda Lazarides on April 27, 2009 under Waterfall Diet FAQs |
One of the most frequently asked questions about the Waterfall Diet is “Where can I get potassium salt?”
It used to be readily available from health food stores in the UK under the name “Ruthmol”. But just after the publication of the Waterfall Diet, the company that used to make this product was taken over by another company, which discontinued it.
Fortunately now that the UK government is recommending a reduction in sodium consumption (sodium is the main component of salt) the food industry has started making potassium salt products again. These are known as “salt substitutes”, and the following brands are available in health food stores and supermarkets:
United Kingdom
“No Salt” (from Prewett) or “Salt Rite”.
United States
“Also Salt” or “Morton Salt”.
Please do use them sparingly. Like sodium-based salt, potassium salt also has a high chloride content.
Posted by Linda Lazarides on April 10, 2009 under Misc |
Back in the 1980’s I trained as a Nutritional Therapist. I learned all about recommending balanced diets, vitamins and minerals, weight loss programs, and helping people with problems like irritable bowel and chronic tiredness.
But when I started working as a practitioner, I found that helping people to lose weight wasn’t as easy as I’d been led to believe. The people who consulted me had already tried every imaginable diet. They’d done low-calorie, detox, low-fat, low-carb, food-combining; dieting plus jogging and swimming, dieting plus gym. But they were still overweight. Many had been turned away by their doctor. I heard tearful, angry stories that “My doctor more or less accused me of stuffing myself with chocolate”. One woman was on the verge of desperation, eating less than 1,000 calories a day, jogging for half an hour every morning and going to the gym twice a week. But she still weighed 180 lbs and her weight was still slowly creeping upwards.
I’m the kind of person who doesn’t like to let people down. I believed my clients when they told me they were working hard at their dieting; but that meant I had to discover something for them that hadn’t been part of my training.
My Quest Begins
One thing that a lot of my clients seemed to have in common was that their weight would go up and down quite dramatically in the course of a single day. Some would also complain of problems like swollen knees or painful breasts. Some had been diagnosed with arthritis and were on long-term painkillers. Others had tight and bloated tummies. I wondered if they could be suffering from hidden water retention. I asked them if their doctor had mentioned this, but everyone said “No”.
But this was all I had to go on. Only water retention can make someone’s weight go up and down by 4-5 pounds in the course of a single day. I started looking for all the information I could find to do with water retention. This was in the days before the Internet was around. Whenever I could I would travel to the Science Reference Library in central London, and spend a day finding out everything I could about water retention and its causes. This is a giant library, with thousands of medical journals going back many decades.
An Amazing Discovery
After several visits I made a truly stunning discovery. There are two very distinct types of water retention. Like most health professionals, I was familiar with one type, which is the swelling caused by a tired heart or faulty kidneys. In these cases there is too much water in the blood as well as in the tissues. This kind of problem is best treated with diuretics - medicines which stimulate your kidneys to work harder.
But then I discovered that there was another type of water retention. Like the first type, this can cause bloating, or swollen legs and ankles but may also be distributed all over the body, causing general weight gain. This is sometimes known as “idiopathic edema”, which means edema of unknown cause. I prefer to call it “Type 2 water retention“.
What Causes Type 2 Water Retention?
Fired with excitement, I trawled through hundreds of volumes of the “Index Medicus” looking for medical articles which might give me clues. It soon became clear that with Type 2 water retention, there is not necessarily a lot of water in the blood. In fact it is possible for your tissues to be bloated with water, and yet for your blood to be dehydrated. Some doctors warn that with this type of water retention it could be damaging to take diuretics.
Water is constantly being exchanged between your smallest blood vessels, and the spaces between your cells. Water collects in your tissues when it leaves your blood to bathe your cells but cannot get back again. As it collects in your tissue spaces, your body gradually expands (and gets heavier).
My next task was to find out why the water doesn’t return. One reason is congestion of the lymphatic system. The lymphatic vessels should act like an “overflow” to return it. But they can get overloaded.
Another important factor is histamine. If you’ve ever had a rash, insect bite or hay fever, you know that histamine makes your tissues swell up with water. That’s because histamine makes your smallest blood vessels leaky. If your whole body is making too much histamine, water leaks out of your blood and may stay in your tissue spaces.
Too much histamine in your kidneys is very damaging. Scientists in France have been researching how histamine and inflammation in the kidneys can be triggered by abnormal reactions to foods. This type of kidney problem is known as Nephrotic Syndrome. It becomes very hard to urinate, and your body swells up with water.
Type 2 water retention can also be caused by eating a Very Low Calorie Diet. One of my clients (”Barbara”) was a vegetarian who had been dieting on and off since she was 13 years old. When she consulted me, she was 24, and weighed 175 lbs. Her total food intake was truly shocking: a grapefruit and black coffee for breakfast, a dry cracker with lettuce and tomato for lunch (no dressing), and plain steamed vegetables for dinner. She ate nothing else at all…. ever, but still her weight was slowly creeping up.
All in all, I found seven separate causes of tissue water retention. The sad fact is that so many people with water retention don’t realise their problem is water. They think it’s fat, and go on a fat-loss diet. Then they end up eating too few calories and so their water retention problem gets worse. They may lose a bit of weight at first, but then the weight-loss levels out and they can’t get any further.
I Design The Waterfall Diet
Taking into account all these seven causes of water retention, I put together a plan of action that could get rid of as many of these causes as possible. First you have to identify which of the causes apply to you, and this involves a procedure to find your “safe foods”. I tried the program on my clients, and was truly amazed at the results. “Jennifer” started Phase I of the program on Thursday June 12th 1997 and I had no idea what result what we would get. But when she returned on Thursday June 26th Jennifer told me the wonderful news that she had lost 14 lbs in 10 days. “After about 2 days I just started urinating constantly” she said. “My bladder was always full, but my clothes started getting looser.” The many trips to the bathroom eased off around the 7th day, but the water and the excess weight did not return.
I wondered what should I call the program. In view of the trips to the bathroom “The Waterfall Diet” seemed most appropriate. Soon I had tested it on many more clients, written down all the details, and my book entitled The Waterfall Diet was published in 1999 and instantly became a best-seller in the UK.
Does The Diet Work for Everyone?
If your weight goes up and down by more than a pound or two in the space of a single day, then water retention is a definite possibility. But I don’t want to get your hopes up unduly. Not everyone will lose 14 lbs in just a week. About 30 per cent of people with Type 2 water retention lose 10 lbs in 7-10 days on this diet. You might be retaining just a couple of pounds of water, but that couple of pounds could be cooling down your metabolism and preventing fat loss.
Another benefit of the Waterfall Diet is it can help to confirm whether or not your tissues are retaining water. If you follow the diet carefully without achieving any water loss, then (if your doctor agrees) you probably don’t have water retention.
If you want to try the Waterfall Diet, the book is available from Amazon.com or from Amazon.co.uk, or you can download an E-guide.
Posted by Linda Lazarides on April 2, 2009 under Your Health |
I’m not an expert on anorexia. The advice I give to those who ask me for help aims most of all to be good common sense.
First, you need to think about why you have anorexia. The more honest anorexics I’ve spoken to admit it’s their way of feeling in control. And it’s also got a lot to do with having an addictive and maybe a compulsive personality.
Self-expression
Many people with anorexia are using it as a way of expressing themselves. Just like when you were angry with your mum as a small child and the only way you could manipulate her was by refusing to eat.
A woman with anorexia (let’s call her “Lisa”) worked in my office once. She was secretive about it, covering up her arms and legs so that I couldn’t see how thin she was. Lisa had issues with being told what to do. Whenever I asked her to do filing work, which she felt was beneath her because it was a job I never did myself, she never openly objected, but she would do it very sloppily.
It turned out that Lisa’s way of expressing her objections was by not eating. One day she very pointedly asked me to unscrew a jar for her. I unscrewed it very easily and she used this as an opportunity to say “I think you’ve probably realised there’s something wrong, haven’t you.” I didn’t really know what she was talking about, but I said yes anyway to encourage her to talk.
“The fact is, I’ve suffered from anorexia for a long time, and it’s got much worse since I’ve been working for you. I’m finding that the filing work is really making it worse, so could you maybe do that instead of me?”
Manipulation
Yes, it was childish manipulation and I wasn’t having any of it. But how sad it was to be stuck at that level of emotional development. When you have such a distorted way of looking at the world maybe it is very tempting, in a world where thin = beautiful, to take your habit just that little bit further until it becomes compulsive.
Some anorexics who claim to be recovering do not really have any intention of doing so. They approach nutritionists for help, not with eating more, but with coping with the side effects of malnutrition. For instance “Is there a vitamin pill I can take to give me more energy?” or “I’ve put on a lot of weight due to water retention because of my anorexia. What should I do to get rid of it?”
If you’re determined
If you’re really determined to get better, people around you will always be glad to help. Yes, it’s scary to eat normally - you think you’re going to look like Pavarotti the minute you eat a potato chip or a piece of steak. But you will not get rid of this mindset unless you throw down your defences and come out of isolation. A really good step is to join a group like the Eating Disorders Association or its US equivalent. Psychotherapy can also help. Try to make friends with people who eat sensibly. Ask them for help and copy what they eat. If they are not overweight then if you eat the same as them you won’t get overweight either. It’s hard at first as your appetite will be small, but perseverance will reap its rewards.
Here’s a picture of a starving child. The tummy is swollen with water retention caused by protein deficiency. I don’t want to be harsh but I think voluntary self-starvation is an insult to children like this who are dying because they cannot get enough food.
