PCEC hears tips on how to keep the weight off and prevent disease. These tips were provided by Dr. Peter Lewis to the Pattaya City Expats Club at their Sunday, June 21, meeting. Dr. Peter is an Australian sports medicine doctor who is considered an expert in the field of platelet rich plasma; a regenerative medicine treatment utilizing the patient’s own blood. This is the second time he has spoken to the club. In November 2014, he talked about platelet-riched plasma (PRP) and stem cell therapy, both treatments for osteoarthritis and related conditions. He provides PRP and stem cell therapy through a network of nine clinics in Australia and Thailand operated by Surecell Medical Co. Ltd. There is one clinic in Thailand, located in Pattaya (www.surecell.com).
Dr. Peter focused his talk on how to prevent osteoarthritis through proper lifestyle, diet and exercise. He listed a number of myths people have about this, and then described the reality. He mentioned the following:
Dr. Peter Lewis goes over myths vs reality for what is a healthy diet and effective exercise for losing weight and preventing osteoarthritis.
Myth: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day – Reality: There are several studies that indicate that breakfast is not the most important meal of the day. One particular study suggested that when people skip breakfast, there is a similar or lesser intake of calories over the whole day.
Myth: Snacking is good because it spreads your food intake out over the course of the day – Reality: Snacking is not good; people who are obese are more frequent snackers than people who are not overweight.
Master of Ceremonies Richard Silverberg provides Dr. Peter Lewis with the PCEC’s Certificate of Appreciation for his talk about healthy living.
Myth: You need to consume two glasses of milk a day because the calcium in milk is good for the bones – Reality: Calcium is good, but getting your calcium from milk is not. Countries with the highest rate of dairy intake have high rates of osteoarthritis.
Myth: Not eating for long periods of time slows your metabolism – Reality: Actually, starving may pick up your metabolism.
Myth: We will stay healthy if we follow the health food pyramid – Reality: There are items in the food pyramid that make us unhealthy, such as milk, wheat products and foods high in sugar. There is no need for milk in older children and adults. Further wheat contains gluten, which makes osteoarthritis worse.
PCEC member Tony Heron interviews Dr. Peter Lewis about his presentation to the PCEC. Visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPWgmN9nnuA to view the interview.
Myth: Exercising at low intensity for a long period is the best way to lose fat – Reality: In fact, exercising at low intensity for a long period of time will just make you tired. Doing short, high bursts of exercise is much better. Good forms of exercise are walking, climbing stairs and swimming. Doing 10-12 minutes on an exercise bike four times a day works well. If you don’t have access to an exercise bike, leg squats, push-ups and crunches will do as well.
Myth: Carbohydrates give you energy – Reality: No. What carbohydrates give you is sugar, which is unhealthy, Dr. Peter explained. A diet high in carbohydrates can result in elevated levels of triglycerides and bad cholesterol, which can lead to heart attacks, strokes, diabetes and other serious problems.
PCEC member Judith Edmonds receives a free scan from the Surecell staff using their EIS Bio-Scanner which helps to identify what ails you.
Myth: Cholesterol and animal fats cause heart attacks – Reality: In fact, it is sugar that causes heart attacks.
Myth: Statins reduce heart attacks by lowering cholesterol – Reality: Statins are effective because of their anti-inflammatory properties, but statins have been shown to cause diabetes.
Myth: Eating low fat foods helps you lose weight – Reality: Most low-fat foods are high in sugar.
Myth: Crash diets cause rapid weight loss but you put it all back on – Reality: For people who are obese, crash diets can be effective. Studies show that people tend to gain back about a third of what they lost.
Myth: Exercise is important to lose weight – Reality: Exercise is not the key to losing weight; diet is much more important.
Surecell’s Bernhard Schwyn draws the name of one of four winners from the PCEC audience for a free treatment or discount at Surecell.
Another tip provided by Dr. Peter was that people will have more energy if they drink four glasses of water when they wake up. Often, during the day when you think you are hungry, what you really are is thirsty; in these situations, water will make you feel full.
Dr. Peter also advised people to avoid sugar. He said that sugar causes insulin release, inflammation, hunger, obesity and osteoarthritis. He listed some foods that are high in sugar such as bread, cakes, breakfast cereals, rice, milk (especially low-fat), pasta, soft drinks and fruit juices.
For diets, Dr. Peter recommended the 5-2 diet, which involves eating normally for five days a week and being very careful on the other two (non-consecutive) days. He defined “being very careful” as sticking to about 500 calories. Another popular diet, Dr. Peter said, is the 12-8 diet, where you don’t eat before 12 noon or after 8 pm.
Dr. Peter then responded to many questions and comments from his PCEC audience. After the presentation, his staff held a drawing for some free treatments at the Pattaya Surecell Clinic. The staff noted that the Clinic is a regular medical clinic in addition to being a place to get PRP treatments.
MC Richard Silverberg then brought everyone up to date on upcoming events and called on Roy Albiston to conduct the Open Forum, where questions are asked and answered about Expat living in Thailand, especially Pattaya.
For more information on the PCEC’s many activities, visit their website at www.pcecclub.org.
