The Fat Resistance Diet

Fortunately, I was aware of these new scientific breakthroughs for two simple reasons: I had an interest in nutrition and I kept up with the scientific literature. But I'd had a very challenging professor in medical school--one who had insisted that we learn not only how to treat patients but also how to interpret the science that had produced new treatments. In fact, he taught us, the generally accepted interpretations of cutting-edge research are often incorrect. Many medical protocols are too simplistic or represent a misunderstanding of what the research means. If we were to be effective physicians, we would have to keep up with the research ourselves. Only then could we be sure that our patients were benefiting from the most current scientific knowledge.

I put his teachings to good use as I began to review the latest scientific research on the biochemistry of inflammation and its relationship to a wide variety of immune disorders, including asthma, allergies, arthritis, joint pain, fatigue, and colitis. I soon realized that a lack of omega-3 oils and other essential fatty acids was at the root of many of my patients' problems, and that their conditions could be healed with proper nutrition.

In the course of prescribing the seeds, nuts, fish, and oils that contained the healing fats my patients needed, I began to notice something interesting. Not only would my patients show improvement in their "presenting condition"--the asthma, arthritis, or colitis that they had come to me to heal--but they would also feel better generally, more energetic, relaxed, and clear-headed. Many of them told me they no longer struggled with depression, that they had resolved long-standing sleep problems, or that they were getting compliments on their hair and skin. And many of them, without even trying, had begun to lose weight.

Excerpted from The Fat Resistance Diet by Leo Galland, M.D. Copyright © 2005 by Leo Galland, M.D.. Excerpted by permission of Broadway, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.