wholeClo Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 Hi, I've finished my whole30 with incredible results, and my sister would like to do it too. But she wants to check with her doctor first, since she's 17 and pretty thin, so her parents don't want her to follow any strict regime without doctor's approval. Do you know of any text or document that she could bring to her doctor's appointment to make a point for the program, apart from the book -which is too long for this case? Something that explains the program in a science-y tone? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amberino21 Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 IMO it's not a strict regime - no one is restricting foods or calories, all food groups are covered, they are just all whole, real foods! Following a whole 30 would probably see her eat better and more frequently than most teenage girls! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wholeClo Posted July 21, 2013 Author Share Posted July 21, 2013 Yes, I agree with you, and that is why I wish she would go for it. But I respect their parent's opinion and do not want to impose my own. I think the best strategy is to get her Dr's OK. BTW, some groups of food are indeed left out, such as diary and grains. Of course I think this is not of any concern, but that's not the mainstream opinion. And also, it is true that usually there is weight loss with the whole30, and since she's very thin, I understand her parent's concerns... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amberino21 Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 if it's your sister....aren't they your parents too? A dr isn't really going to be the best person to ask - many have no idea about nutrition! maybe if you can find one who has some idea, she'd have more luck I meant food groups in terms of macros....I know plenty of diets that cut out fat or carbs nearly completely! I think she's likely to gain weight, or stay the same - especially if she is following the template, and making sure she sticks to the upper size of the template if she wants to gain weight. i'm not overweight, technically I probably have too low BF%, and in two weeks I haven't noticed any difference in body composition besides a bit less bloating. ive read that people tend to go towards a healthy range - for most that means losing a little weight, for others that may mean putting on a bit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GFChris Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 I would start with these documents:- Whole30 summary http://whole9life.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/the-official-whole30-program-whole9life.com.pdf- meal planning template http://whole9life.com/book/ISWF-Meal-Planning-Template.pdf - shopping list http://whole9life.com/book/ISWF-Shopping-List.pdf ... and I would bring ISWF as backup, highlighting the science-y parts.​I would also explain the reasons why she wants to eat this way. She should be prepared to explain where she'll be getting her nutrients from (i.e., she's really not missing out), and that it's a 30 day elimination diet of eating whole read food plus subsequent reintroduction to see how her body responds to potentially inflammatory foods. It's also about teaching her body when she's full/satiated. Is she in the proper mindset to eat this way? She will likely be eating very differently from her peers and there can be a lot of pressure/questions at that age to do differently and go off-road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto3 Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 Not to be a downer, but it is going to be very hard to find a conventionally trained MD that will endorse this way of eating. I wholeheartedly believe in the Whole30 and Paleo but my husband is a cardiologist and doesn't support this way of eating at all. Doctors have to recommend the AMA nutrition guidelines or they could open themselves up to malpractice lawsuits. As an aside, I so wish I could convince my husband that this is the healthiest way to live at least for us and our kids. If there are any physicians on the board that have any insights into this,I would love to hear them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bet Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 I belong to a Hashimoto's group on FB. Many of the people on there are going towards a Paleo or at least GF diet to help with Hashi's. There was one woman who was trying to get help with her husband who is a doctor who didn't want her to go on it saying it was 'unhealthy'. It's really disturbing that eating whole foods, lots of veggies and good fats is considered 'unhealthy'. Don't these doctors see people everyday in their office that are eating high grain low fat diets that are unhealthy? I am frankly over doctors and their advice on most things digestive. I like my GE, he did my colonoscopy and endoscopy. I don't have cancer, which is what I wanted to know. But no, I'm not going to take prilosec, and if I've told you that I haven't had gluten in 6 months of course I am not going to test positive for gluten antibodies. I think that doctors are threatened when people take control of their own health (unless they follow the Drs advice to the T). Maybe it's an ego thing, I don't know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vian Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 Yes, I agree with you, and that is why I wish she would go for it. But I respect their parent's opinion and do not want to impose my own. I think the best strategy is to get her Dr's OK. BTW, some groups of food are indeed left out, such as diary and grains. Of course I think this is not of any concern, but that's not the mainstream opinion. And also, it is true that usually there is weight loss with the whole30, and since she's very thin, I understand her parent's concerns... It's true that food GROUPS are left out, but not macro nutrients, or even micro nutrients. I think Amberino21 meant macro nutrients when she said "food groups" Vegetables and fruits are carbs, meat is protein, and fat is fat. Those are your macro nutrients. It's no different than vegetarianism leaving out a food group or two, just WHICH food groups is different, and most doctors would say that vegetarianism is healthy. I would argue that all of her macro nutrients will be covered with moderate amounts of high-quality animal protein (paleo and whole30 is NOT about eating crazy amounts of protein unless you are bulking to build muscle), loads of fresh vegetables, and healthy fats like coconut oil, avocados, and olive oil. Explain that it is an elimination protocol (i hate the word "diet") that removes potentially inflammatory substances from your system for 30 days with a scheduled reintroduction at the end to see how certain foods - that are well documented as causing or contributing to certain health issues - affect you. I thought of something else...Emphasize that the goal of the protocol is not to lose weight (since you said your sister is thin already), but rather to identify foods that promote inflammatory processes in the body so they can be eliminated for improved health. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenna@mymissingfactor Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 And something else to think about - I remember when I was a teenager, and for a lot of my classmates, stress (whether emotional or through bad food choices or injuries) actually resulted in weight loss not gain. But this was very specific to my teen years. By the time I'd hit my 20s my body had reverted to the usual stress = weight gain conundrum. So a whole30 might stabilise her hormonal responses to food and see her weight stabilise, not drop even more. It's certainly something I noticed as a teen girl so her body might respond the same, and actually gain a little bit of weight to help her health. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wholeClo Posted July 21, 2013 Author Share Posted July 21, 2013 Hi! thanks for all the replies. I agree with all your arguments, but there is one tiny detail that seem to have been misunderstood in my original post: it's not me who we need to convince! I won't be in the doctor's office with her (she is not my daughter, and we live in different countries), so I wanted some written materials to pass her along. I was looking for some more hard-core scientific bibliography. I am a researcher in human genetics, and interact with doctors every day. My family is full of doctors (my mom, my grandfather, among others). I speak their language. I know the type of texts they may pay attention to, and the tone of the website is not what will convince a traditional doctor, IMO. To my mom, for example, in order to convince her to drop splenda and such, I had to find her three original papers showing the increase of insulin after eating sucralose. After the email with the original articles, she immediately stopped all artificial sweeteners. So I understand the reluctance of momto3's husband. I'll post what I found as articles a little bit later, in case it's useful for somebody else. I think that gaining a few traditional doctors to the cause may be a big victory, so I wouldn't stop trying to show them the evidence... if it's your sister....aren't they your parents too? A dr isn't really going to be the best person to ask - many have no idea about nutrition! maybe if you can find one who has some idea, she'd have more luck Yes, she's my half sister (we share the same father). English is not my first language, I found it easier to refer to them as her parents, sorry for the confusion . At the same time, I wanted to stress that her parents (my father and her mother) are concerned, and I don't want to cross any boundaries there in order to push my point of view. If they want to consult with the doctor because they trust him (hey, he's been their pediatrician for 17 years!), it's very valid. Is she in the proper mindset to eat this way? She will likely be eating very differently from her peers and there can be a lot of pressure/questions at that age to do differently and go off-road. You have a point, thanks for asking. I think she is. Me, and my two sisters are doing it with great results, and she really looks up at us. She's not feeling great lately, so I think she's ready. Once again, thanks for the replies! PS: the quotes don't seem to be displaying properly, I'm new to this forum, so I apologize Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto3 Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 I would love to see any scientific articles you find...thanks so much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GFChris Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 The ISWF appendix has 20 pages of bibliographical references to back up their claims: knock yourself out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wholeClo Posted July 22, 2013 Author Share Posted July 22, 2013 The ISWF appendix has 20 pages of bibliographical references to back up their claims: knock yourself out! Yes, I know. I was looking for a shortcut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wholeClo Posted July 22, 2013 Author Share Posted July 22, 2013 Hi, momto3, here are a couple of articles I found that seem pretty straightforward, published in well-known scientific journals, and with a lot of citations (a measure of the impact an article has in the scientific community): -> here, several healthy, non-obese, sedentary individuals are fed a paleo diet for 10 days. Many physiological measures are significantly improved in such a short time: blood pressure, arterial distensibility, cholesterol, triglycerids, insulin response. The article is published in one of the Nature journals (European Journal of Clinical Nutrition) and received over 100 citations: http://yaboga.com/paleo-metabolic.pdf -> http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1475-2840-8-35.pdf -> http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17583796 I put a couple with references to heart disease since your husband is a cardiologist, but there are many out there, really... Show them to him, and let me know if you want more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto3 Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 Thanks so much and good luck to your sister! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snailytrail Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 Not necessarily for your sister's doctor, but for your parents I'd recommend a book called 'Escape the Diet Trap' by John Briffa. It's a British book but you could get it on amazon. Here is his bio http://www.drbriffa.com/about-2/ He's an MD and goes into all the science in his book in a way that I haven't seen any other Paleo/low carb authors do. It's very much written for people who are like your parents in that regard; it covers tons of different studies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wholeClo Posted July 23, 2013 Author Share Posted July 23, 2013 Thanks! That sounds very interesting for myself, in fact... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaeM Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 Just wondering if it would be at all helpful if your father and stepmom read It Starts With Food themselves? Maybe then they wouldn't require a doctor's approval? If none of the articles your sister presents are successful in getting a doctor on board, maybe she could just get the doctor to admit that eliminating dairy and grains for 30 days shouldn't have any negative, long term effects. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wholeClo Posted August 2, 2013 Author Share Posted August 2, 2013 Just wondering if it would be at all helpful if your father and stepmom read It Starts With Food themselves? Maybe then they wouldn't require a doctor's approval? If none of the articles your sister presents are successful in getting a doctor on board, maybe she could just get the doctor to admit that eliminating dairy and grains for 30 days shouldn't have any negative, long term effects. ;-) Yeah, it would be great, but not possible... They speak Spanish, and there are no translations yet available... They are starting to get on board, though, since my other two sisters (older than her) are doing it themselves, with, again, great results. Thanks for the suggestion, anyway! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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