Dr. Colbert's Keto Zone Diet

DR. COLBERT’S

KETO ZONE DIET

Burn Fat, Balance Appetite Hormones, and Lose Weight

DON COLBERT, MD

Copyright © 2017 by Don Colbert, M.D.

Published by Worthy Books, an imprint of Worthy Publishing Group, a division of Worthy Media, Inc., One Franklin Park, 6100 Tower Circle, Suite 210, Franklin, TN 37067.

WORTHY is a registered trademark of Worthy Media, Inc.

HELPING PEOPLE EXPERIENCE THE HEART OF GOD

eBook available wherever digital books are sold.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Colbert, Don, author.

Title: Keto zone diet : burn fat, balance hormones, and lose weight / Don Colbert, M.D.

Description: Franklin, TN : Worthy, [2017]

Identifiers: LCCN 2017020127 | ISBN 9781683970248 (hardback)

Subjects: LCSH: Ketogenic diet. | Reducing diets. | BISAC: HEALTH & FITNESS / Nutrition.

Classification: LCC RC374.K46 C65 2017 | DDC 613.2/5--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017020127

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Medical Disclaimer: Because each individual is different and has particular dietary needs or restrictions, the dieting and nutritional information provided in this book does not constitute professional advice and is not a substitute for expert medical advice. Individuals should always check with a doctor before undertaking a dieting, weight loss, or exercise regimen and should continue only under a doctor’s supervision. While we provide the advice and information in this book in the hopes of helping individuals improve their overall health, multiple factors influence a person’s results, and individual results may vary. When a doctor’s advice to a particular individual conflicts with advice provided in this book, that individual should always follow the doctor’s advice. Patients should not stop taking any of their medications without the consultation of their physician.

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ISBN: 978-1-68397-024-8

Cover Design: Marc Whitaker, MTW Designs

Cover photo: istock.com 680547462; AlexRaths

Graphs and Graphics: Abraham Mast

Printed in the United States of America

17 18 19 20 21  LBM  8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

DR. COLBERT’S

KETO ZONE DIET

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

THIS BEING A UNIQUE BOOK, one that has so much potential to change our lives, homes, futures, pocketbooks, communities, and world, I wanted to begin with a few special acknowledgments (confessions, really) that I hope will help you.

I acknowledge:

•  I used to recommend the usual high-carb, low-fat diet to my patients.

•  I used to prescribe the normal statin drugs to lower my patients’ cholesterol.

•  I used to fear fat.

•  I used to suffer from psoriasis over most of my body, and did so for more than twelve years.

•  I used to have very little in the line of defense against the disease that killed my father: Alzheimer’s.

However, that is no longer the case. Now, I see food and use food for what it can be … the best medicine in the world for everything that ails us.

From head to toe, the results have been astounding!

INTRODUCTION

LOSING WEIGHT, getting healthy, and staying fit come down to a belief system. That is because we all choose to do whatever we believe in. Obviously, believing that eating donuts is a valid weight-loss strategy does not make it so, no matter how much we hope it to be true. The point is, our choices directly affect our actions and are influenced by what we believe. We choose to do whatever we believe in.

The challenge is, what do you do when the rules change?

Take eggs for example. For decades, we were taught that egg yolks were bad for us because they contain cholesterol. Like many people, I would eat one yolk and three egg whites, and I recommended that to my patients. After all, cholesterol is bad, right?

Well, things change.

According to the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans published by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, it is now okay to eat the whole egg.¹ In fact, you can now eat as many whole eggs as you want. The rules changed!

We are so used to eggs being “bad guys” that now we are faced with a choice: believe what we were taught since the 1950s or accept the new reality that whole eggs are in fact healthy.

What to do? What to believe? Naturally, what you choose to believe will be your course of action.

This eggs-are-now-healthy breakthrough is just one of countless examples. What is happening on a much bigger scale is that the much-touted high-carb, low-fat “healthy” lifestyle is springing leaks. Holes are appearing in this rusty metal tub of a belief system. The ship is sinking. And it is time to abandon ship as quickly as you can.

It is a paradigm shift, and it is happening now. It will take time for new breakthroughs to be tested and retested, and even more time for the public to be informed through the slow-to-change medical community and government agencies.

One of my professors in medical school explained that in about ten years, half of what we were being taught would be outdated and pretty much of no value. He noted, “The problem is we don’t know which half that is.”

Eventually, though, public opinion will shift. People will understand and accept the new paradigm, and then they will choose to take action. Unfortunately, that will take a very long time, and time is a commodity many of us do not have.

For years I have treated patients who suffered from advanced cancers, obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, mental illness, and much more. They needed help yesterday so they could be on the road to healing today. They were desperate, and they had no time to wait!

Thankfully, we already have sufficient data, research, studies, and real-life examples to know we are going in the right direction. What is more, many of my patients—who were written off by their own doctors—are alive and well today.

The answer was not a pill, medication, pharmaceutical drug, or surgery. The answer was a nutritional one completely based on the food we eat.

In a nutshell, this diet is low-carb, high-fat, and moderate protein. It is incredibly healthy, and not only does it work to cure or manage disease, it is the best weight-loss method in the world.

I call it the Keto Zone diet.

When you are in the Keto Zone, extra weight falls off. I’ve seen people lose as much as a pound per day, but one to two pounds per week is more common, perhaps three pounds with daily exercise. In a few weeks or months, the results are cumulative and astounding.

Wait a minute, you might be thinking. Did you just say this was a high-fat diet? How can fat be healthy?

To clarify, the Keto Zone diet is a purposeful combination of reduced carbs, increased healthy fats, and a moderate amount of healthy proteins. Yes, it is high-fat, but it is also (and very importantly) low-carb and moderate-protein. These elements go together to create a body that is satisfied, alert, happy, and fat-burning.

When it comes to fats, not all are bad for you. However, we have been taught for so long that fats are bad that we have a very real and tangible fear of fat. And why not? The message from most doctors, food guidelines, trends magazines, and every other “authority” in life tells us in big bold letters that fat is BAD.

In truth, healthy fats are good. They are necessary. They will help you lose weight. And no, they will not make you fat, clog your arteries, or cause you to drop dead.

The Keto Zone diet works. It also cures or manages countless diseases.

If you are ready for that, then come on. A new life awaits!

This book is divided into three main parts:

Part One: What the Keto Zone diet is, the science and history behind it, and the reasons why it is so effective for weight loss and fighting diseases. The benefits of the Keto Zone diet are off the charts!

Part Two: Why the Keto Zone diet works, why each piece of the puzzle goes together so well, and why the Keto Zone diet is, indeed, the best and healthiest way to lose weight.

Part Three: The simple steps to implement the Keto Zone diet and exactly what it takes to get you into the fat-burning zone. This includes practical shopping guides, step-by-step instructions, and menu plans.

I recommend that you read part one and part two before plunging into the diet and menus, as these sections answer many questions, empower you, and give you unstoppable confidence moving forward. But if you are ready to jump in, then feel free to move directly to part three. That is where action and change take place.

The Keto Zone diet works, and in more ways than one. I have had literally thousands of patients on this diet, and the positive results are amazing, life-changing, and in some cases unbelievable.

On a personal note, I am incredibly excited about my second book with Worthy. As a Christian first and medical doctor second, my beliefs fall right in line with my publisher’s mission statement: “Helping people experience the heart of God.” My desire is that you experience a healthy lifestyle that allows you to not only enjoy life to the fullest, but to also love God and serve Him to the best of your ability. May the Keto Zone diet give you the hope you’ve been searching for. To your health!

What the Keto Zone diet is, the science and history behind it, and the reasons why it is so effective for weight loss and fighting diseases. The benefits of the Keto Zone diet are off the charts!

CHAPTER ONE

MEETING A REAL NEED

THE WIFE WAS CONFUSED, but the husband was terrified. I could see it in his eyes. This was because his wife of more than thirty years had just been diagnosed with early dementia.

With her back against the wall, so to speak, the couple was willing to try pretty much anything. Believe it or not, mild dementia in its early stages is usually pretty easy to treat and even cure, and within six months, she had a clean bill of health. Her dementia was completely gone.

And she had lost almost forty pounds.

And she looked great, was full of life, and had a sparkle in her eye.

And her husband could smile again!

What was the secret? It is no secret at all. She went on a revised ketogenic diet that I call the Keto Zone diet. As a direct result, she got her life back. Today, years later, I am pleased to report that she is still doing well.

WHAT IS THIS DIET?

I have been practicing medicine for more than thirty years. About twenty years ago, something strange started to happen. People with incurable, inoperable, late-stage cancers began showing up at my office.

They all needed help, but I was not a cancer specialist. I had found a way to beat the psoriasis (my own twelve-year battle that was incredibly expensive, not to mention time-consuming) that had plagued me, but I did not feel qualified to treat these cancer patients adequately. I wanted to help, and even more, I wanted to improve and prolong their lives, but I knew what I knew, and it was not enough. There had to be an answer. There always is. Many of these patients were past the point where surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, or some other form of traditional cancer treatment would help.

Out of an intense desire to help, mixed with the humble reality that I needed to learn more, I went on a journey to find answers that would allow my patients not only to survive but to thrive as well.

Every continuing education class that was remotely related to cancer, nutrition, diet, lifestyle, and longevity went on my must-attend list. I firmly believed the answer was a nutritional one. That was true for my psoriasis, and I not only knew the stats on such things as obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and mental illness, I saw those stats walk through my office door every single day.

The national rapid rise in preventable diseases wreaking havoc on so many lives was not new to me. I saw it firsthand. Part of the problem had to do with the foods we ate. That much I knew.

Along the way, I studied nutritional and preventative medicine, antiaging therapies, and integrative cancer therapy. I visited cancer treatment centers and listened to specialists from all around the world present their best and most recent findings on alternative and nutritional therapy for cancer. In all, I cannot tell you how many seminars I attended (my wife probably could), but after several years of training and then coming back and working with my patients, I was convinced there was no silver bullet. There was no miracle cure.

But I kept returning to food. I was certain that the answer for my cancer patients, and the multitude of preventable diseases we are experiencing today, had to do with the food we ate. But even that is a pretty broad field.

During my fellowship in integrative cancer therapy, I asked the head instructor, “Is there any key nutritional therapy for cancer patients?”

He thought for a moment and replied, “The only major impactful thing is a ketogenic diet, but nobody can really follow that. Nobody can stick to it over the long term.”

So there was an answer! There was a diet that actually could help reverse, manage, or even perhaps cure cancer. No doubt it would also work on other diseases if it was so effective with cancers. The only roadblock was that people lacked the stamina or motivation to stick with it.

I did not view that as a good enough reason to ignore the ketogenic diet. I knew from countless experiences that most cancer patients would do absolutely anything to live a little longer. When faced with death, our comforts and wants and preferences do not seem as important as they once were.

EXPLORING KETOGENIC DIETS

I made it my goal then to find out just what made the ketogenic diet so beneficial. Could it actually help my patients?

Back then, the word ketogenic was looked down upon. Dr. Robert Atkins, whom I had known for many years, was the biggest name associated with the ketogenic diet. His famous Atkins Diet had always seemed very unhealthy to me, but I was determined to study it further.

In time, I would go through countless books on the subject from experts who were medical doctors, dieticians, nutritionists, naturalists, and researchers. I investigated every premise inside the books. If it was important enough for authors to write it down, and it could be verified in some way, then it was worth considering.

Another filter that I ran every detail through was the reality of my own patients. Outrageous claims have a way of being brought down to earth when applied to the living and breathing patients in my office. I wanted this to work for them, both scientifically as well as practically.

I knew, for example, that cancers feed on sugars. Lowering or eliminating sugar intake had a direct effect on the cancer. The normal high-carb, low-fat diet of most people was simply feeding the cancers. That much I already knew.

What about cholesterol? I did not want to start my cancer patients on a low-carb, high-fat ketogenic diet that would blast their cholesterol levels through the roof and give them a heart attack. Some of my patients were dying of cancer, but I certainly did not want to speed up the process and have them die of heart disease.

What about fats? I had been taught that low-fat diets were better because fats were known to cause heart disease. But were fats really the cause? Some ketogenic diets recommend large amounts of bacon, lard, beef tallow, and fried foods. How could those be healthy? Amazingly, the diet actually helped people lose weight, which was the goal, but could the same results be achieved in a healthier manner? And would that benefit my cancer patients?

I also knew inflammation was the root cause of many sicknesses, including the psoriasis that I had battled for many years. For me it was certain foods that caused the inflammation, so it only stood to reason that many other illnesses were caused by inflammation from other foods we ate—maybe not directly but probably indirectly.

After much sifting, sorting, examining, measuring, verifying, researching, and dissecting, it was time to start introducing a modified version (a healthy version) of the ketogenic diet to my cancer patients. The patients I initially started on the modified ketogenic diet had advanced cancers (stages 3 and 4) and were much more likely to die of cancer than heart disease.

EXAMINING THE KETOGENIC DIET

The ketogenic diet seemed to be part of the answer. But I had a lot of questions, not to mention reservations and feelings of responsibility for my patients.

Mentally, I had my list of critical components that needed sufficient answers:

✓  Inflammation

✓  Cholesterol levels

✓  Fats

✓  Sugars

✓  Proteins

✓  Nutrients

✓  Starches

✓  Carbohydrates

✓  Medications

✓  Appetite hormones

I did my best to combine the best of everything I knew. I incorporated the research on nutrition, antiaging, the ketogenic diet, exercise, and natural cancer treatments all together.

I had been taking patients off gluten for years, not just because some are deathly allergic to it (as are celiac patients) or because gluten-free is a good trend to jump on, but rather because of the inflammation associated with gluten and especially the inflammation and disruption that it triggers in the GI tract where approximately two-thirds of the immune system is based.

Whether it is bread, cereal, pasta, crackers, or chips, these foods are not what they used to be. Today, grains like wheat, corn, oat, and rice are hybridized, crossbred, refined, and devoid of fiber and many other nutrients. Comparing today’s processed grains to unrefined whole grains is almost like comparing an orange M&M to an actual orange. Not the same by any means!

I cannot tell you how many patients have shown immediate improvement after removing gluten from their diets. The ketogenic diet being low in carbohydrates was in line with that thinking.

Fats were another source of inflammation, but what about raising cholesterol levels and weight gain? I had noticed that fats controlled appetite and helped tame hunger, and I knew the body, principally the brain, could not thrive on a low-fat diet. Clearly, fats were a vital part of a healthy body, but how much fat? What types of fat? Was there an ideal ratio or combination of fats that would help with weight loss while at the same time protect against disease? Balance seemed to be a vital part of the whole equation.

The numbers of people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, obesity, and heart disease have been increasing dramatically for years. Nothing seems to hold back these diseases, no matter how many medications are prescribed or how many suggested daily caloric intake revisions are made. Was much of this because we did not understand fats? If so, this lack of knowledge was literally killing us on a scale of millions per year.

Some of the foods recommended in ketogenic diets, such as excessive animal proteins and animal fats, might not be good for my advanced cancer patients. I was not worried about their cholesterol levels, because many of these stage 3 and 4 cancer patients usually had only a few months to a year to live. Nobody was checking their cholesterol levels anymore. It was irrelevant information.

Yes, the ketogenic diets would help people burn fat and lose weight, but I would not put all of my patients on the exact same diet. The excessive animal fats and proteins were not the best for everyone. I had to adjust the diet some more for my cancer patients.

Appetite hormone levels were another part of the equation. They absolutely had to be managed. Obesity rates are a tell-tale sign that the hormones controlling appetite—those that signal “I’m full” or “I’m hungry”—are way out of whack. I have had obese patients tell me what they ate in one sitting only to conclude, “And when I finished I was still hungry.”

If the ketogenic diet would bring the hormones related to appetite into balance, that would be a huge win for everyone battling obesity. The more I studied the ketogenic diet, the more I suspected these hormones would manage themselves once the patient was eating the proper foods and the correct balance of healthy fats.

That eventually led me to use the ketogenic diet for weight loss, a vital need for most people who are sick and an all-consuming desire for those who are overweight. The ketogenic diet became for my patients the fastest, easiest, and healthiest way to burn fat (especially belly fat) of all the other dietary programs I have used or recommended in the past thirty years of practicing medicine.

GIVING THE KETOGENIC DIET A TRY

Test after test, study upon study, bit by bit, I kept breaking down the parts of every ketogenic diet I could get my hands on. If I was going to prescribe it, I was going to understand it. I was going to know how it worked and why. And if I needed to tweak something for a patient or if a question arose, I needed to be able to respond accurately.

After much study and research, I felt it was time to begin implementing the ketogenic diet first with my advanced cancer patients. Admittedly, I still had some questions, but I knew that some questions were best answered by doing rather than by studying. Back to practicing medicine!

In case you are worried at this point, let me reassure you by explaining that I live on the ketogenic diet myself. I have a strong reason why: my dad died of Alzheimer’s disease. I did genetic testing years ago on myself and found that I have the risk factor gene for Alzheimer’s disease, which is the APOE4 gene. The risk of Alzheimer’s is approximately ten times higher in those with the double variant of the gene.² Fortunately, I have the single variant of the gene, but still, I am going to do everything I can to prevent getting Alzheimer’s. For me, staying on the ketogenic diet is a strong preventative measure. If I start eating a lot of sugars and carbohydrates, I could eventually develop Alzheimer’s based on my genetic makeup. I do not want to go down that path. Instead, I control those genes by what I eat, and so can other people. For me, that is my compelling reason to stay in the Keto Zone, my version of a ketogenic diet.

As cancer patients came in for their exams, I recommended they follow a revised ketogenic diet. Even though a cancer specialist had told me “nobody can stick to a ketogenic diet,” I’m telling you, a cancer patient with a one- or two-year life expectancy will do almost anything to live!

The patients followed the diet. It was low-carb, high-fat, and low- to moderate-protein. They carefully monitored their intake of carbohydrates, sugars, proteins, and fats. They gave up some of their comforts and habits, such as ice cream, diet sodas, breads, and alcohol. Together we created menu plans, and I had my patients write out their menus as well as their carb intake, calorie intake, and ketone status and e-mail me their meal plans each week.

One adjustment I made along the way was in the area of animal proteins. There was conflicting research at the time about excessive animal proteins being associated with cancers. I lowered animal protein intake for my patients, but now we know it is mainly the processed animal proteins (such as salami, sausage, pepperoni, hotdogs, and bacon) that are more closely associated with cancer, not so much the unprocessed meats.

Grass-fed meats, I later learned, are much healthier than grain-fed meats. In fact, grass-fed meats have more of all the healthy fats, minerals, and nutrients that our bodies need. A small fatty piece of steak, such as a rib eye from a grass-fed cow, is actually very healthy for you. Of course, we are talking about moderate amounts of protein, as we will discuss later.

It was not long before some of my cancer patients’ lives changed dramatically. They got their energy back. They were happier. They lost belly fat. And most importantly, we were able to treat their end-stage cancer as a chronic disease. The diet slowed the cancer growth rates, and for some it was dramatic, by taking away what was fueling the cancer in the first place.