This conference will now be recorded. So in this video, today, we're going to do a
follow up with James West and his diet. He's - we've done a couple of videos and
they may have seemed a little bit disorganized. They were just
conversations but one of the things that you continue to see as you go through
there is that diet - There's hardly anything more critical to our health
than diet and there's hardly anything more challenging to managing in terms of
our lifestyle than diet. So James is, again, a very smart guy. He started off as
a - what - uh - was it Southern Baptist preacher, James? (James:) No, but that's close
enough. (Dr. Brewer:) Started off as a pastor. Did some
missionary work in Russia; came back got involved in the finance business and
community; Turned around and did another turn, ended up founding and running a
thriving genetics lab. At this point, James - uh, actually got me into the
Medicare Advantage world. So somebody with a lot of - a lot of exposure in a lot
of different lifes. So James, tell us a little bit about when you decided - look
I've got to lose some weight and then, what - you know - what sort of things were
you looking at, in terms of what's going to happen if I don't lose weight? How am
I going to lose weight? and what - how is it going to look different?
you know - what was that moment like when you made the change? (James:) Well, probably most
of us - the moment is every morning we look in the mirror - you know - as you
progressively gain weight over the last few years. I actually wasn't overweight
until the last few years, you know, 10 years ago, I was healthier than I am now.
and lighter than I am now. So it was in my 40s that began putting on extra pound or two
or three a year. So - but this epiphany came right before
our last interview; Was during the Thanksgiving week. I ate like everyone else.
They had very heartily around Thanksgiving. I knew I kind of tipped
over several pounds even beyond my - you know - my belt - normal weight. And I went to
Sam's Club to pick up some medications for my wife or kids; So I have a bunch of
children - 6 children. The youngest, being at the time - was only a few months old;
And I think I went to the store at the Sam's Club and they had one of those
little Enbo chairs, I forget what they're called - that you put your arm in -
Enbo or - and you get your blood pressure. So I checked my blood pressure and it
was (I think) 180 / 120, 180 / 115 - some number like that and, of course, my first
response were "These chairs are broken" and so I did it with the other arm and
it came out very similar. So that was disconcerting - Then I went, I got the
medicine and - and I didn't feel well at all. So I knew my clothes didn't fit, I
knew I was feeling poorly, something was bothering me - just headaches and others.
So I stopped at a Walgreens on the way home and I said "Well, I'm gonna try
their chair. you know - so I went into Walgreens, excuse McRo - it was Kroger.
Went into Kroger's, and you know they had a chair - same result but there was a
nurse practitioner - nurse, sitting out front. They had a little clinic and so I
asked the lady what it was just to get my blood pressure checked manually, and
she said "I'll do it right now; sit down." and sure enough, it was that high - you
know, my blood pressure was - continued to be that high so I picked up a
phone and called you if you were called, and said "Is this really something to be
concerned about?" And you gave me some positive encouragement, we'll just call
it that and so that was kind of the moment where I said "I'd..." - I think I
scheduled a call with you the next day or two and said "Okay, I gotta get serious
about this. What do I need to do?" And your response was "Well, we'd certainly put
you on medication. You need to be and a couple of other
things." But I think it was you that said "Until you lose weight and take control
of your lifestyle, you just..." I think you told me "Savin over a wound that won't
heal" So that was - that was yet - so that was the Friday after Thanksgiving, when I
started my diet and you and I talked about a plan. I wrote that plan out, so I
think it was November 24th or 25th, one day somewhere right there that I
actually started the diet and today is February 8th. (Dr. Brewer:) So that's a good point
and it reminds me that I forgot the punch line between - how many days was
that? 2 months and a half... (James:) Pardon?
(Dr. Brewer:) How many - how long - what was the time period here?
two and a half months? (James:) Yeah, about 2 and a half months. (Dr. Brewer:) How much did you lose? (James:) I have lost
25 pounds, actually two days ago. Across the 25 pound, even weight loss fluctuates.
Today, I'm 24 and a half weight lost count. So you know my weight - steady. I
started charting it, created an Excel spreadsheet because that's the OCD that I am
and daily weigh myself. Put that weight into a - into a graph and then track it
and then make comments during some weeks. (Dr. Brewer:) So, you lost 10 pounds a month? (James:) that's about
right; about two and a half pounds a week. (Dr. Brewer:) How did you do that? (James:) 2 primary things
I'll credit for it, that we discussed when I started this - we had a call and
discuss what my strategy was - that we discussed. So I did start intermittent
fasting; So I did adopt that and I'm stuck and stuck with it fairly
consistently. (Dr. Brewer:) What form of intermittent fasting? How do you define that?
My definition is - I go the 16-8. So I 16-8, however, at least once a week and
then probably, more than once a week, I go 24 hours with only coffee tea or water.
So at least one can and that - it's very natural. So, I'd like to say I have
it on the calendar: This is a fast day, This is not.
But it it happens more naturally, I'll eat typically a supper - you know - 4 or
5 o'clock in the afternoon and I'll eat and then I'll drink coffee in the
morning; Not eat breakfast; Not eat lunch and then not eat til 4 or 5, 6
o'clock the next evening. So I'll get the 24 hours just - just easily. I say easily.
- it was very difficult the first month doing that and now I'm coming up to
stage where it's almost - you got to remind yourself to eat. Dr. Brewer: So part one was a
combination of intermittent fasting or intermittent and some people would call
prolonged fasting. Daily 16 and 8 and, also a prolonged fast of 24 hours or 36
hours once a week. (James:) Sometimes 48. I've done 48 a couple of times. (Dr. Brewer:) Okay, that's very similar
to what I've been doing for the past 6 months or so. Now, that's part 1. What's
part 2? (James:) Part 2, I changed to a insulin resistant type diet per conversations
you and I have had and other YouTube videos I've watched clinically. And my mother
was insulin resistant, she was diabetic. (and) my grandfather, and so I know that's
running through my - through my nature. And so I shifted to trying to cut out
all sweets, as much as possible, and go to more of a fat diet and less protein and
try to cut out sweets completely - no breads so no - if it's white, except for
cauliflower, I don't eat it. so I cut out milk, bread, potatoes, anything starchy and
replaced it. So my breakfast will be - when I eat breakfast, most time I don't, but if
I were to eat breakfast, it would be eggs, salmon. So I eat a lot of salmon, a lot of
avocados. I eat salads; Eat almond - yeah, I got almonds, walnuts, pecans for my - when I
need to mix something in and eat. Ate a lot of avocados, eat a lot of salmon. Ate -
had a lot of - ate red meat. Red meat has - it seemed to
adversely affect me - I know that's controversial for people, but when I do,
I'll eat a prime rib or a ribeye and don't eat a lot of protein. (Dr. Brewer:)So part 2
is focused on low glycemic - getting those carbs out of your diet. For sure, the - the
simple carbs but also a lot of the complex carbs, as well. (James:) Right, yeah, I gave
up fruit. So the difference between multiple times over the last few years,
trying to go into a few week diet and I would find I could lose 5 to 10
pounds, fairly easily which I now know was just my water weight and other
things but then it would just - I just couldn't do anything but I know what I
was - I look back and go - I was replacing my diet with a high starch diet by that
I mean, yeah, lots of fruits, lots of vegetables, and so now, beef, vegetables, I
eat a lot of spinach and sometimes, you just can't avoid some starches. I
mean it - just, you're out with someone, at a friend's and they put supper on the
table, you just can't go "Sorry, I'm not going to eat your food" So you know that
it's - I'm not 100% pure always, but fairly consistently avoid
things that are starchy and that's different than I did in the past. In the
past, I would eat and that was a lot more Apples; a lot more berries; a lot more
Tangerines; and so I've cut those simple or complex sugars out, almost entirely at
this point. (Dr. Brewer:) So, you're basically - you're losing two and a half pounds a week. You
lost 25 pounds in 10 weeks - good job! Very exciting to hear that and that made
a huge impact on your health. Last question or 2 - First one is - so what's
next? Are you stabilizing here or you're gonna lose some more? What - what is your
planfrom here. (James:) We still have more to lose 25 was my goal and you get to 25 and you go
"I can still see - I see a lot of -" I do what you call the Jump Test to which is very ugly.
I'm not going to put that on YouTube (Dr. Brewer:) Could I interrupt? So the jump test, I
got from reading Arnold Schwarzenegger. He was talking about having body fat
content for for competition and he said you stripping that good or have some
shorts on and you jump up and down in front of the mirror and you can see
where the body fat is. Yeah, it's ugly and so there's still - there's still a good
ways to go in my adult life. I have been a little bit lower than this but so - now
I'm going to exercise more. There was not a lot of exercise. So the two points I'd
make: 1 is - During this process; This was from right after Thanksgiving so I had
to go through family Christmas parties and even through the Superbowl and so
there were lots of occasions, during the holidays, for breaking the fast and there
was a couple of examples, you go to my wife's family's grandmother's Christmas
dinner you can't - as a group, down south, no one stopped and went "Hey, let's make a
- you know - a diet, a stone - you know, what James needs to do - so you're either gonna
eat and just be quiet about it and so there was some Christmas parties in
there that I just broke the rules and because I tracked it daily and I could
absolutely see though, you'll see a couple of those spikes and I put
highlights at Christmas party and the days afterwards, you'd pick up a pound or
two and then it would be very difficult. There were some weeks where it doesn't -
it wasn't - it's consistent two and a half, two and a half, two and a half. There were
a couple of weeks when I'd make - break that fast and eat poorly. I'd gained one
or two pounds and just stick there for six or seven days - you know - and usually
and be that's where I can - when I was 24 48 hour fast and, and more activity. And
then, the next week, you lose 3 or 4 and so you could - you could recover.
But it's - you start recognizing the effort that comes from that choice. You
make breaking the - the diet rules and your glycemic index up. (Dr. Brewer:) So you met your
goal of 25. You did your jump test, you said you know
what? I want to go further. Now, what is your next goal? Is it a certain -
(James:) Okay, someone's asked me "Well - you know -how do you think - " the diet is fine, I've
embraced and enjoy it and know how to navigate a low glycemic diet. I know
where I can go grab something to eat, when I'm out I know what to order so I
feel good. I'd stick with the diet. It's just become a lifestyle. Now, I need to
exercise more. I was telling you I didn't have a lot of exercising during that
time so now I've added - started adding more activity, more exercise. I need to
build a little bit more lean muscle, I think and so I'll do that. (Dr. Brewer:) So you're
bringing up a good point. The poundage loss goal that you had,
originally. Now you're changing the way you make your goals. You're saying: "Goal
number 1 is to keep that healthy diet that got me here. I'm not going to change
that. Goal number 2 is to now add exercise into the equation" Is that - is
that what you're saying? (James:) [Pardon me, took a break there] God, yes -
right, I think -cI think I can see another 5 - 10 but probably 5 for
certain. Just by - by exercise - push-ups, situps, more hiking, more activity. (Dr. Brewer:) That's -
this has been very, very helpful James. It shows a lot of people how - just another
spin on how to get to a healthy weight and stay there. Anything else to add? (James:) No
it's uh - if I'm encouraging people, like myself, it's just getting started. It's
like any journey. It's a long way. You just got to start at some point. Once I -
once I got through the first week, someone asked me this question earlier
while speaking to them about the headaches they get. They said - you know -
I've tried making those changes but I get those headaches, you all - you do. I did.
I did. That first week or two were the more difficult. There was - during that
first 2 to 3, 4 weeks, There were times when I would have chewed
my coffee cup to get some to eat so you do get hungry. I'm not gonna - I'm not - I
don't have anything to sell. There's no diet fad about this is easy, there's no
problem. No. there were - there were times, mentally, it was challenging that you go
in and you see some of the children's food in the cabinet and you go "Mmmm... boy,
That'd be tasty, right now. Rice krispie treats..." So you just have to have the
discipline of not gonna do it. So that- that was challenging, not to fall prey to
that. That's, I think, the biggest hurdle is to get through the - that first week or
2 lifestyle choice. (Dr. Brewer:) Sounds good. Thank you, again, for the time James, have a
great day. (James:) You too, bye bye.