Social Justice

Let’s take a look in your fridge; What in there will help you lose weight?

W. Gifford-Jones MD & Diana Gifford-Jones

February 8, 2025

BY W. GIFFORD- JONES MD & DIANA GIFFORD-JONES

Dr. Richard Z. Cheng, Editor-in-Chief of the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, reports that years ago hunters survived eating low-carbohydrate diets. Their food was rich in animal protein, along with berries and seeds, but often food was scarce, and hunters used any bodily fat reserves to survive. There was no becoming obese.

Now, food companies offer high-carbohydrate foods, with too much sugar and too many calories. Half of North Americans are overweight, with many people suffering diseases such as type 2 diabetes and its expensive medical complications. I interviewed Dr. Cheng to get his views on dietary measures that have a chance to reverse this disastrous situation.

He promotes nutritious diets that are low in carbs, ultra-processed foods, and (omega-6 rich) seed oils, which are also ultra-processed. He also reminds people that plants are full of self-defensive toxins that may be harmful to humans, if eaten in excess. A low-carb diet includes all types of meat and fish. Add eggs, hard and soft cheeses, leafy vegetables, fruits and seeds. Fruit is healthy, but only in moderation, given the high sugar content.

In contrast, a high-carb diet includes grains, bread, pasta, and root vegetables. pizza, mac and cheese, muffins, fries, cakes, brownies and ice cream are high carb foods. This diet of high-calorie and high-sugar foods leads to weight gain. Over time, following a high-carb diet is associated with chronic inflammation. Inflammation is a red flag that the body is not in good health. It increases the risk of big killers such as heart attack, hypertension, and stroke. Today 50% of Type 2 diabetes cases are due to excess pounds.

Diabetes doesn’t happen overnight. The bodily process of managing excess dietary sugar demands more insulin to control blood sugar levels. Over time, insulin becomes less effective. Finally, unless medical treatment begins, people develop type 2 diabetes. It’s the leading cause of blindness in those over age 60. It is also why year after year more people are requiring: renal dialysis, or kidney transplant, and falling victim to heart attack.

There is some good news. Dr. Cheng stressed that by changing to a low carb diet many medical metabolic functions would improve. For instance, our body’s cells contain what are called mitochondria that provide energy at the molecular level. It’s one reason why we have good days and bad ones. Cheng says that a low-carb diet enhances the performance of mitochondria. The diet also reduces inflammation in the brain and has been used to treat epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease.

Many factors start people on the path to obesity. A low carb diet is a first step to stop this pandemic that gets worse year after year. It must also be stressed again and again that homes need a bathroom scale that should be stepped on every day. Use of a calorie counter shows the huge number of calories in some foods. Finally, people must use their two legs for exercise!

I have great respect for orthomolecular medicine. It was because of the research of Dr. Linus Pauling that, following a heart attack at 74 years of age, I declined cholesterol-lowering drugs with their many side effects and potential for medical complications. Rather, I’ve been taking 10,000 milligrams daily of vitamin C for 28 years. I’m convinced this is why I’m entering my 102nd year. I’ve followed a sound lifestyle with no weight gain, moderate exercise, and I avoid sugar like the plague.

My cardiologist was not amused, but for a quarter of a century, I have avoided the complications of synthetic drugs. Natural remedies like vitamin C have never killed anyone!

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Written By W. Gifford-Jones MD & Diana Gifford-Jones

Dr. W. Gifford-Jones, MD is a graduate of the University of Toronto and the Harvard Medical School. He trained in general surgery at Strong Memorial Hospital, University of Rochester, Montreal General Hospital, McGill University and in Gynecology at Harvard. His storied medical career began as a general practitioner, ship’s surgeon, and hotel doctor. For more than 40 years, he specialized in gynecology, devoting his practice to the formative issues of women’s health. In 1975, he launched his weekly medical column that has been published by national and local Canadian and U.S. newspapers. Today, the readership remains over seven million. His advice contains a solid dose of common sense and he never sits on the fence with controversial issues. He is the author of nine books including, “The Healthy Barmaid”, his autobiography “You’re Going To Do What?”, “What I Learned as a Medical Journalist”, and “90+ How I Got There!” Many years ago, he was successful in a fight to legalize heroin to help ease the pain of terminal cancer patients. His foundation at that time donated $500,000 to establish the Gifford-Jones Professorship in Pain Control and Palliative Care at the University of Toronto Medical School. At 93 years of age he rappelled from the top of Toronto’s City Hall (30 stories) to raise funds for children with a life-threatening disease through the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Diana Gifford-Jones, the daughter of W. Gifford-Jones, MD, Diana has extensive global experience in health and healthcare policy. Diana is Special Advisor with The Aga Khan University, which operates 2 quaternary care hospitals and numerous secondary hospitals, medical centres, pharmacies, and laboratories in South Asia and Africa. She worked for ten years in the Human Development sectors at the World Bank, including health policy and economics, nutrition, and population health. For over a decade at The Conference Board of Canada, she managed four health-related executive networks, including the Roundtable on Socio-Economic Determinants of Health, the Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Management, the Canadian Centre for Environmental Health, and the Centre for Health System Design and Management. Her master’s degree in public policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government included coursework at Harvard Medical School. She is also a graduate of Wellesley College. She has extensive experience with Canadian universities, including at Carleton University, where she was the Executive Director of the Global Academy. She lived and worked in Japan for four years and speaks Japanese fluently. Diana has the designation as a certified Chartered Director from The Directors College, a joint venture of The Conference Board of Canada and McMaster University. She has recently published a book on the natural health philosophy of W. Gifford-Jones, called No Nonsense Health – Naturally!

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