Case Study: James – part 1
Sugar is a dangerous addiction
September 9, 2016
Case Study: James – part 2
July 29, 2018
Introducing James. A 49 year old male who presented at my clinic in May this year.
His major concern was fatigue by mid-afternoon/ evening most days. He worked in IT so his job was not strenuous. He was keen to resume Karate training fearing getting very unfit sitting most of the day in an office.
Along with his fatigue, James suffered intermittent constipation/ diarrhoea, stomach bloat above the navel within 30 minutes of a meal, chronic sinus congestion past 10 years, frequent catching of colds and flu, and global muscle aches and pains particularly after exercise.
Testing by his doctor found he had a history of Glandular fever and Epstein Barre virus at some time in his life. He likely has a weakened immune system. Ultrasound found a fatty liver and along with that he had high blood pressure.
He was carrying extra weight at 116 kg and 5 ft 10 inches tall.
All in all, James was not doing so well.
The first thing I wanted to know was what did he eat and drink.
Let’s look at an average day:
- Breakfast
- Rice bubbles with full cream milk
- Lunch
- Fast food, kebab or McDonald’s
- Dinner
- Spaghetti, small portion meat or pizza
- Drinks
- 2 cokes per day and orange juice
- Alcohol
- 6-7 beers twice per week
James’ diet was high in carbs with very little protein, fruit or vegetables to get vitamins and minerals.
There’s lots to think about here.
High sugars feed bad bugs in the gut contributing to constipation/ diarrhoea.
It’s likely eating lots of high sugar foods was promoting blood sugar instability with energy highs and lows and insulin resistance. The stress hormone cortisol is stimulated to recover blood sugar after a low, plus too much cortisol eats your muscles and grows tummy fat!
Too many sugars inhibit production of stomach acid for digestion. Chances are he was struggling to digest his food and draw on his diet’s limited nutritional value. A fatty liver is caused by excess sugars deposited into the cells as fat and consequently, his liver would struggle to clear toxins efficiently.
A deficiency in essential minerals like zinc, magnesium and B vitamins starves the cells of energy and the brain a supply of chemicals to concentrate and think.
The first and most important step for James was to clean up his diet. The second step was to test to see where his energy factory was failing and where to best target treatment.
Stay tuned for the next stage in his recovery from chronic fatigue. What did we test and what did we find?
