Dario Polisano - The Italian Reset Diet

Much of our bodies is made up of proteins: organs, skin appendages and DNA. Protein deficiency can lead to:

● the metabolism slowing down;

● a poor immune system response*;

● skin appendages falling out;

● asthenia;

● mental confusion and depression;

● poor muscle growth;

● edemas with swollen hands and eyes;

● sarcopenia;

● kwashiorkor: a deficiency of alumina, a protein whose deficiency triggers a phenomenon called osmosis, causing water to escape from the blood vessels into the tissues. This causes the abdomen to swell.

Obviously, it is almost impossible to find that last one in the Western world, but all the other points are, I think, everyday occurrences. Absurdly, many suffer from excess weight and, at the same time, hair loss and nail problems. This is all due to a diet with an abundance of sugars and carbohydrates that is also low in protein. What about fatigue, mental confusion and depression? I think many of you are finding yourselves in what I am saying. Not to mention low muscle growth or sarcopenia, the latter very present in the elderly, who should be consuming more proteins than a man of average age due to the low protein synthesis typical of old age. I marked one of the previous points with an asterisk. In point of fact, a poor immune response may be at fault, present in people who consume fewer proteins than needed, as well as in people who manage to take in their proper protein quota but use proteins unsuitable for their immune system, which, as you will see, lead to the development of autoimmune diseases.

Proteins activate glucagon, a hormone that enables weight loss. There are those who claim that proteins make you fat, but have they ever studied biochemistry?

I have been to Africa, in the area where there are no wars and where they do not have the possibility to buy food. Where I stayed, they eat meat for lunch and dinner and snack on dried meats. Breakfast? Eggs! Any obesity in the population, you may ask? It is almost nonexistent. But there is no need to travel that far; come to my office, and you will see the results of a diet low in carbohydrates and rich in fats and proteins.

Carbohydrates are the best-known macronutrients in Italy. For years, carbohydrates have been thought to be the main fuel for our bodies. There are people who are frightened by the fact that they have to abandon their dish of pasta, due in part to all the careful brainwashing perpetrated by the people in charge. “How can I possibly live without bread and pasta?” This is the question that some of my patients ask themselves as soon as I eliminate these foods from their diets. Allow me to clarify this once and for all: carbohydrates, unlike some fatty acids and amino acids, are not essential for the body, since the latter is able to synthesize carbs from amino acids. Our bodies are able to do this because it has done without this nutrient for long periods of time: our prehistoric ancestors, and even still-living populations such as the Inuit and the Maasai, consumed no carbohydrates for most of their lives.

Yet all they talk about today is the importance of eating complex carbohydrates, such as those derived from the beloved wheat flour, at the expense of sugars. This would be an excellent indication if it was made clear, however, that abusing complex carbohydrates always leads to the same consequences as the intake of simple sugars: diabetes, tumors, cardiovascular diseases, inflammatory diseases, hypothyroidism and more. To the average Italian, it seems normal to consume 200 grams of pasta for lunch and 200 grams of bread in the evening, not to mention the croissant in the morning. Trust me, the croissant is not a pastry product eaten only by people who are not on a diet: I have seen cafeterias for the Italian Olympic athletes overloaded with them. And then we wonder why our athletes fail to achieve certain results! In addition, I would like to make a clarification: the intake of a complex carbohydrate makes no difference, when compared to the intake of sugars, if it comes from white flours. These, in fact, have completely lost their fiber and mineral and vitamin content, and are foods with empty calories, derived from carbohydrates whose glycemic index has skyrocketed. But what is the glycemic index? The glycemic index is the ability of a food to raise the blood sugar level when compared to another food. The scale goes from 0 and continues beyond 100. For example, whole wheat pasta raises blood sugar less than white bread because white bread, being refined, is more easily digested. This concept came about in the 1980s and was used to set up slimming diets. The reason? If you consume foods with a low glycemic index, or better yet, a low glycemic load (with few carbohydrates), the blood sugar level would rise slowly and, therefore, produce less insulin than a food with a high glycemic index. Remember, the more insulin we release, the fatter we get. The goal of all diets should be to slow down this production.

At this point, I find myself telling you a truth that no one has ever told you before: many recommend pasta, even if it is refined, because it has a low glycemic index. This, unfortunately, is a half-truth. Just because a food has a medium-low glycemic index does not mean that it does not stimulate insulin production. Not everybody realizes that, in reality, it is not a food’s glycemic index that counts as much as its insulin index—the effect that that food has on the pancreas and on the stimulation of insulin as soon as that particular food gets to the intestines. The more insulin is released, the fatter we get. The insulin index of the most common pasta is very high and, moreover, common wheat, the kind you likely eat and which has been processed in a laboratory, has a glycemic index almost identical to that of white sugar; this is due to its starch structure, which is composed of amylopectin A, a form of starch that is quickly digested by our intestines. Yes, every day, 3 to 5 times a day, the average Italian is consuming a food product that has more devastating effects on the pancreas than white sugar. Like wheat, other cereals belonging to the grass family, such as rice, also have a very high insulin index. Our bodies have a mainly lipidic metabolism. Breast milk contains more calories from fats than from carbohydrates. In fact, in every 100 grams of milk, there are 3.5 grams of fats corresponding to 31.5 kcal, as opposed to the 28 kcal released by 7 grams of carbohydrates. We, as adults, invert this relationship with the belief that the metabolizing of carbohydrates does not involve the creation of waste substances, such as the urea from proteins and the ketones from fats, but the two are waste products that our liver and kidneys know how to get rid of very well.

● A.A.: 47-year-old female, with Cushing's syndrome via pituitary adenoma. She came to me because she suffered from hypertension, glycemia, and sudden weight gain that had stabilized at 120 kg (approx. 265 lbs.). Examining her bodily composition, I suggested she see an endocrinologist for tests, and a pituitary adenoma was discovered. Six months went by before the surgery, and the doctors were amazed. Through my Italian Reset Method, she managed to control the changes in pressure and her blood sugar concentration. Plus, she managed to lose 40 kg (approx. 88 lbs.) in six months. The scheduled surgery went well, and today she is a very different woman.

● M.R.: 45-year-old male, a diabetic with hypercholesterolemia and asthenia. After only two months of being on the proper food regimen, he managed to stop needing Metformin, bringing his cholesterol back down within normal ranges and losing 10 kg (approx. 22 lbs.). His fatigue disappeared after the first 20 days of dieting.