What Doctors Don't Get Taught - Latest What Your GP Doesn't Tell You Podcast
Dr Rob Lufkin argues medical teaching gets critical facts wrong, which has serious consequences for a range of health conditions
The latest episode of the What Your GP Doesn’t Tell You Podcast - What Doctors Don’t Get Taught is now available on Apple, Spotify and other podcast platforms. And you can sign up to the podcast mailing list at What Your GP Doesn't Tell You, where you can also find out more about the pod. Due to the Christmas holiday, the next episode of the podcast will go out on Tuesday 9th January 2024.
This week, I am talking to Dr Rob Lufkin who argues in a new book: Lies I taught at Medical School, How Conventional Medicine is Making You Sicker and What You Can Do to Save Your Own Life that much of the dietary advice that doctors and dieticians are taught is wrong and, as a result, we are now seeing an explosion of chronic diseases across the industralised world.
In 2010, 16-21% of Americans had two chronic diseases or more. Today, shockingly, the figure is 40%. Yet Lufkin says he knows from his own personal experience, how it’s possible to make major improvements to your health just through simple lifestyle changes.
He argues medical teaching mistakenly teaches that all calories are equal, a belief also widely shared and promoted by the weight loss industry. But Lufkin says the composition of the food you eat - whether it is largely fat, protein or carbohydrate - will have a far greater impact on your ability to lose weight.
Another misconception Lufkin tackles is the subject of artificial sweeteners, people often use these believing they will be better for their health, but perhaps surprisingly, in many cases they can be worse for you than sugar. When we eat something sweet or something our bodies think is sweet, this produces insulin. Too much insulin, too often, leads to a condition called insulin resistance, which drives many chronic illnesses.
One of the most common chronic diseases in which insulin resistance can play a part is high blood pressure. Lufkin discovered just by eating a very low carbohydrate diet, which reduced his insulin levels, he was able to bring his high blood pressure down to normal and get rid of his medication.
Other medical conditions in which insulin resistance plays a role are heart disease and stroke. This causes an inflammation of the blood vessels and their lining (known as the glycocalyx). Lufkin argues high sugar levels in our bloodstream are a much greater risk factor for these illnesses than high cholesterol.
In the full podcast, Lufkin discusses the other essential points he believes medical schools get wrong and explains the information that he thinks you really need to know.
Lies I taught at Medical School, How Conventional Medicine is Making You Sicker and What You Can Do to Save Your Own Life By Dr Robert Lufkin, is published by Benbella books
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