Forget Dieting!

It's All about Data Driven Fueling

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Published by Rowman & Littlefield
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Copyright © 2020 by The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Rosen, Candice P., 1954– author.
Title: Forget dieting! : it’s all about data-driven fueling / Candice P. Rosen.
Description: Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield, [2020] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
| Summary: “The dieting industry has done little to decrease obesity and its associated health
issues. Candice Rosen encourages us to Forget Dieting! and tune into our bodies to discover the
foods that work best for us. By focusing on blood sugar, readers will learn to listen to their bodies
to achieve lasting weight loss, increased energy, and better sleep”—Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019041732 (print) | LCCN 2019041733 (ebook) | ISBN 9781538131497 (cloth) |
ISBN 9781538136317 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Reducing diets—Health aspects. | Nutrition.
Classification: LCC RM222.2 .R64748 2020 (print) | LCC RM222.2 (ebook) | DDC 613.2/5—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019041732
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019041733

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National
Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO
Z39.48-1992.
This book is dedicated to my reasons for being, Melissa, Jennifer, Natalie,
and Nicholas, and my wish upon a star, Lillian Marlene Mack

To my mother and father, who provided a solid foundation and encouraged

critical thinking—to always question and never take anything at face value

To my husband Steve for supporting my evolution

And to my clients, who place their faith in me

 Health Disclaimer

his publication is intended to provide helpful tips, advice, and

T suggestions to assist readers with interest in obtaining information
regarding dietary and activity changes. It is not intended to diagnose,
treat, cure, or prevent any health condition or concern.
The information provided in this book should not be interpreted as a
substitute for physician consultation, evaluation, or treatment. Nothing
written in this book should be construed as medical advice or diagnosis.
Before beginning any diet and/or exercise program, always consult with
your physician or primary health-care provider to ensure your health and
safety. Any suggestions or inferences drawn from this book should be
reviewed with a licensed medical professional before implementation. The
author and publisher will not be held responsible for individuals who carry
out intended or unintended harm to themselves or other individuals.
The author, publisher, its agents, and its representatives shall not be held
responsible for any information interpreted as such by any readers. The
author, publisher, its agents, and its representatives specifically disclaim all
responsibility for any liability, loss of risk, personal or otherwise, which
may be incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, from the use or
application of any contents of this book. The statements made in this book
have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration of the United
States of America.
 Contents

Cover
HalfTitle
Title
Copyright
Dedication
Health Disclaimer
Contents

PREFACE

NOTE TO THE READER: CHALLENGING A DELUDED NATION

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Section I: The Basics

CHAPTER 1 What Happens When I Eat?

CHAPTER 2 How Do High Glucose and Insulin Affect Weight and
Health?
CHAPTER 3 Hormones, Stress, and Weight

Section II: Data-Driven Fueling

CHAPTER 4 Data-Driven Fueling Guidelines

CHAPTER 5 The Data-Driven Fueling Lifestyle
CHAPTER 6 The Data-Driven Fueling Program
CHAPTER 7 A Day in the Life of Data-Driven Fueling
CHAPTER 8 Data-Driven Fueling Calendar

Section III: Other Issues Affecting Health

CHAPTER 9 Behavior Modification

CHAPTER 10 Movement
CHAPTER 11 The Importance of Sleep
CHAPTER 12 Sabotage
CHAPTER 13 Addictions Other Than Food: Drugs and Alcohol

Section IV: Data-Driven Fueling Toolbox

CHAPTER 14 Basic Food Combining

CHAPTER 15 The Anatomy of a Meal
CHAPTER 16 Meal Choices
CHAPTER 17 The Importance of Journaling and Meal Discovery Cards
CHAPTER 18 What to Do with a High Glucose Number
CHAPTER 19 Vitamins
CHAPTER 20 What to Do If You Hit a Plateau
CHAPTER 21 Eating Out of Your Element: College and Travel
CHAPTER 22 Recipes for Meals and Liquid Fasts

FINAL THOUGHTS

NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 Preface

orget Dieting! Who wants or likes to diet? I don’t! There are thousands
F of diets worldwide. I read somewhere that on any given day, one in three
women and one in four men are dieting. What does that tell you?
Essentially, that diets don’t work!
Diets equal restraint, self-denial, major workouts, abstinence,
restrictions, and anticipated loss of enjoyment.
Well, no more. I don’t diet, and I don’t work out vigorously. Instead, I
follow a Data-Driven Fueling lifestyle based on solid empirical information
from my body. It’s really about personalized precision nutrition: I know
exactly what foods/fuels work best for my body, and I want to help you
learn too!
I am a registered nurse, social worker, certified health counselor, and the
author of The Pancreatic Oath (a diet book that details how blood glucose
affects weight and health). Forget Dieting! —my third book—is different. I
often talk too much. I often explain too much. A dear friend said to me,
“Keep it simple, please!” So, I have really tried to do that with this book.
Forget Dieting! will convince you that you have the power to achieve
sustainable, long-term weight loss and transform your health. I know
you’ve heard it before, but trust me—you really do. But first you have to
understand how food affects your weight and your health. Once you
understand that, you’ll be able to say, “F dieting!”
It took me a long time to understand and accept this fact. For years, I
thought my size was embedded in my DNA. I was born into an ethnic
family that equated appetite with health. The more you ate, the healthier
you were. Skimping on food was unheard of.
 My whole family has a history of weight issues, heart disease, and
diabetes—commonly referred to as “medical baggage.” I was convinced
that this baggage would be my burden to carry and pass on. I now know
that isn’t true. In fact, I don’t have heart disease or diabetes and weigh less
now than I did in high school!
I believe the reasons for my family’s health issues were misinformation
and a general lack of understanding about how the body (especially the
pancreas) functions. My mom self-soothed with food. She was incorrectly
informed that Stella Doro dietetic cookies, along with Tab and Diet Pepsi,
were healthy choices for a type 2 diabetic. She believed that the drug
Metformin allowed her to eat whatever she wanted. Her view of “healthy”
was skewed, and consequently so was mine.
Although I was never obese, as a nonpregnant adult, I was about thirty-
five pounds overweight. I hid it well by wearing oversized clothes and lots
of black. I fooled myself into thinking that there was nothing I could do. I
believed that my size was the by-product of being the mother of four
children, or that I had a genetic issue, and I was convinced that I was eating
healthily. I was taught that meals should include a protein, a starch, salad,
lots of bread, and a homemade dessert. My mom believed this was not only
a healthy meal but also a loving meal.
Before I started Data-Driven Fueling, I tried what seemed like every diet
out there: Weight Watchers, liquid protein, cabbage soup, the Zone, Atkins,
SlimFast, Scarsdale, the grapefruit diet, and even diet pills. Each attempt to
lose weight was prompted by a special event: a reunion, a wedding, or a
vacation. I would lose twenty pounds through restricted calories and
draining workouts, only to gain back what I had lost—and then some.
Regaining what you have lost is frustrating and depressing. According to a
University of California, Los Angeles review of more than thirty studies, 83
percent of dieters who achieved their goals gained back all their weight and
more.1
The weight-loss market is a $66 billion industry, with dropping pounds
being the ultimate goal. Yet more than 70 percent of U.S. adults remain
either overweight or obese.2 It doesn’t make sense. I hated dieting, and I
hated complicated diet programs. To me, counting calories, points,
carbohydrates, or fats, along with keeping track of workouts or steps, was
time consuming and overwhelming.
 With that in mind, I developed a program that I know works. Called
Data-Driven Fueling, it is a sister plan to my Pancreatic Nutritional
Program. This program is about a simple and long-lasting lifestyle change
that is rooted in data.
Your body is hardwired to heal itself and maintain an appropriate weight.
Your mind, body, and spirit are intertwined. I believe in the practice of self-
health. In this practice, you are your primary caregiver; your physician is
your secondary caregiver.
My hypothesis is that many noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), such as
high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, type 2 diabetes, polycystic
ovarian syndrome, metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, low testosterone,
renal issues, and even some cancers, stem from pancreatic abuse. What is
pancreatic abuse? Any time you raise your blood sugar over 100
milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) ninety minutes after you eat a meal or a
snack, you should expect weight gain and NCDs. The goal is to keep your
blood sugar between 70 and 100 mg/dL.
I’m going to show you a very simple way to lose weight and heal
yourself. This book is not going to be filled with excessive studies; you are
going to have to trust what I tell you. Please don’t rush through Forget
Dieting! It’s loaded with important information that will enable you to
weave the Forget Dieting! lifestyle into your being. It’s a process. My
personal experience; the experiences of my clients, family, and friends; and
the success of a recent study of the Pancreatic Nutrition Program at City of
Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center (Duarte, California) all confirm that
protecting your pancreas by maintaining normal glucose levels works.

Study Results

Pancreatic Nutrition Program (PNP): A Novel Weight-

Reduction Program for Breast Cancer Survivors

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer survivors have a high prevalence of

metabolic dysfunction—characterized by high glucose and weight
gain. Regardless of menopausal status, overweight and obese women
are at increased risk for developing breast cancer and those who are
diagnosed with breast cancer experience adverse cancer-related
outcomes. The underlying principle of the Pancreatic Nutrition
Program (PNP) is that bio-individualized healthy food choices—
eating the correct foods and food combinations for an individual’s
body—can minimize fluctuations in insulin by keeping blood glucose
regulated (70–100 mg/dL) and this will promote sustained weight
loss, improved health, and quality of life.

METHODS: The primary endpoint was change in body weight at 24

weeks post-PNP. The study was powered to detect a 10% loss of
weight from baseline. Secondary endpoints included change in:
glucose levels, insulin resistance, body composition, body chemistry,
physical fitness, biological markers, quality of life, and compliance.
Postmenopausal, nondiabetic breast cancer survivors (stages I–III)
within 5 years of completion of treatment who had a body mass
index of 25–33 kg/m2 were recruited. For the first 12 weeks, patients
wore a glucometer (Abbott), which recorded glucose every 15
minutes continuously, and kept a food journal. During weekly
meetings, glucometer data was reviewed with journal entries to
identify food choices and combinations that would keep the subject’s
glucose levels between 70–100 mg/dL. At the end of the 12-weeks,
the weekly meetings and glucometer were discontinued and patients
were expected to maintain the PNP for an additional 12 weeks. Study
endpoints were measured at baseline, 12-week and 24-week visits.

RESULTS: Of the 21 patients enrolled in the study, 12 were non-

Hispanic Caucasian, 5 were Hispanic, 2 were African-American, and
2 were Asian. The median age was 56 years (43–76 years). Twenty
were estrogen-receptor positive, 18 progesterone-receptor positive,
and 8 were HER2/neu positive. The mean body weight at baseline
was 170.9 lbs (±20.4 lbs). Two patients dropped out prior to 12-
weeks and 1 developed recurrent disease. Among the 18 eligible
women who completed the first 12 weeks, the median weight loss at
12-weeks was 10.1 lbs (1.5–19.6 lbs). The median waist
circumference lost was 2.5 inches (gain of 0.4 inches–loss of 5.5
inches). Among the women whose total cholesterol was above 200
mg/dL, 71 percent reduced their cholesterol below 200 mg/dL by 12-
weeks. All women who had triglyceride levels above 150 mg/dL
 reduced their levels below 150 mg/dL by 12-weeks. Likewise, among
women who were identified as being pre-diabetic based on fasting
glucose or hemoglobin A1c levels, all were within normal range at
12-weeks. 6-month testing will be completed in August. Among the
15 women eligible for 6-month testing, 8 (53%) completed the
testing. Of those, 7 (88%) maintained their positive results.

CONCLUSIONS: Bio-individualized food choices based on glucose

response combined with culturally-sensitive nutrition counseling may
provide a feasible mechanism for sustainable weight loss in a
population at high-risk of metabolic dysfunction. However, to
increase adherence, a tapering strategy should be developed after the
first 12-weeks of health counseling.

Your body is a living miracle. As an organic machine, it requires daily

maintenance and proper fuel to function at its optimum level. I believe the
body has the ability to heal itself if given the proper tools: wholesome,
nutritious, responsibly grown, pancreas-friendly foods and activity.
Let’s Forget Dieting! and begin Data-Driven Fueling for health and
wellness!
 Note to the Reader: Challenging a
Deluded Nation

n 2016, the Centers for Disease Control stated that 70 percent of

I Americans are obese or overweight, but only 36 percent think they have a
weight problem.1 Think about it. Close to half the people who are
overweight or obese do not believe they are overweight or obese.
America is suffering from body dysmorphia. Many overweight and
obese individuals don’t look in the mirror and see a serious health issue.
They see what they believe to be “normal.” They have become desensitized
due to the widespread nature of America’s weight problem.
The American Society of Clinical Oncology stated in 2016 that obesity
has bypassed tobacco as the number one preventable cause of cancers.
Cancers fueled by obesity are on the rise among young adults in the United
States and are appearing at increasingly younger ages, according to a 2019
analysis released by the American Cancer Society.2
If you are overweight or obese, you are at major risk for the following
health issues: high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, coronary heart
disease, gallbladder disease, sleep apnea, osteoarthritis, and generalized
body pain. Obesity can also contribute to an overall low quality of life and
worsen or increase susceptibility to the development of anxiety and
depression.
Like many, I’m deeply saddened about the current obesity and diabetes
epidemics in the United States. With so many magazine articles, weight-
loss and fitness experts, health tips, and apps to educate and assist in weight
loss, why are Americans (especially our children) getting fatter and sicker?
Six- to eight-year-olds with obesity are approximately ten times more likely
to become obese adults than those with a lower body mass index. A third of
the children born in 2000 in this country will develop diabetes during their
lifetimes. More than one in four seventeen- to twenty-four-year-olds in the
United States are now too heavy to serve in the military, a development that
retired military leaders say endangers national security. Since 1980, the
obesity prevalence among children and adolescents has almost tripled.
Children with obesity are already demonstrating cardiovascular risk factors
typically not seen until adulthood. Children with obesity have three times
more health-care expenditures than children at healthy weights, costing an
estimated $14 billion every year.3 It is beyond pathetic and tragic. You need
to Forget Dieting! and think about fueling for weight loss and improved
health—if not for yourself, then certainly for your loved ones.
Currently, we are indoctrinated in the idea that body positivity and self-
love rest on accepting excess weight. But what does excess weight
represent? Typically, excess weight represents present or future poor health.
You may be the most handsome guy or the most beautiful gal, but if you are
obese, you are putting your body and your health in danger. So no more
excuses like “It’s because of menopause,” “I’m big boned,” “My family is
overweight,” “It’s in my genes,” “I was born this way,” or “It’s a thyroid
condition.” No more pretending. You need to challenge the so-called new
normal and get real about your weight and your health! Weight gain and
weight loss are elementary. They really are.
What leads to weight gain? Simply put, it’s food. Weight gain results
from taking in the wrong foods and/or the wrong amount of food for your
body, coupled with living a sedentary lifestyle. Your body responds with “I
can only use about 10 percent of what you just ate, and because you don’t
move much, I’ll just store the rest of the 90 percent in your face, neck,
arms, stomach, butt, and thighs!”
What leads to weight loss? Simply put, weight loss results from taking in
the correct foods in appropriate amounts for your body, coupled with
movement. Your body responds with “I can use everything you just ate, and
because you are moving and not sitting on the couch, I’m forced to go into
the storage tanks (face, neck, arms, stomach, butt, and thighs) for the extra
fuel.” It is the way to lose weight, fuel, and care for your organic machine.
The first step to weight loss and improved health is changing your mind-
set about how you approach fueling your body. Don’t delude yourself
anymore into believing that you have no control over your weight or your
health. You do, and I want to help you.
 Acknowledgments

am fortunate to share my beliefs with you about the pancreas and your
I ability to Forget Dieting! and adapt to a lifestyle of Data-Driven Fueling
because of many people. I want to thank my children, who are my greatest
joys and biggest supporters: Jennifer, who was my first partner on the path
to self-health; Melissa, who exposed me to thought leaders and new ideas
about health and wellness; Natalie, who helped with my manuscript and
was my willing guinea pig; and Nicholas, who provided valuable exercise
information along with insight on stress and motivation. Their opinions,
humor, and love are valued beyond measure. I’d also like to thank my
husband Steve, a source of support who never complained about the dietary
changes in our home.
I am deeply grateful to Nancy Rosenfeld, my literary agent, who
believed in me and my message, and my editor, Suzanne Staszak-Silva at
Rowman & Littlefield, who took a chance on me. Both women were
instrumental in bringing Forget Dieting! to publication. I’d also like to
thank Patricia Stevenson, senior production editor at Rowman & Littlefield,
along with Jennifer Kelland and Charlotte Gosnell. They were patient with
this IT-compromised author.
To Sarah Wilkinson and Ariel Guterman, although brief, your assistance
is very much appreciated. I am indebted to Dr. Joanne Mortimer for
encouraging me to apply for the Circle 1500 grant, which, along with
funding from Abbott Labs (thank you Diabetes Division), made my
research dream a reality. To Dr. Jessica Clague DeHart, thank you for being
my Mini-Me and validating what I witnessed with my clients. The result:
the Pancreatic Nutritional Program, a novel weight-reduction program for
breast cancer survivors, which was presented at the International Breast
Cancer Symposium in San Antonio, Texas, December 2017.
Thank you to Michele Prince for her thoughtful comments and title
brainstorming. Thank you also to Lydia Glass for her insight and support.
I am deeply grateful to Joshua Stroud for his technical support and help
with formatting.
Throughout my career, I have had the honor and privilege of watching
many amazing individuals—clients who have triumphed over illness and
weight issues and health-care professionals who were willing to step
outside the traditional medical model and explore other treatment options
(i.e., the Pancreatic Nutritional Program/Data-Driven Fueling). Every time I
work with a client and witness the body’s ability to transform when given
proper fuel, I am humbled. The human body is like no machine ever
created.
My quest is to educate everyone about the pancreas and the role it plays
in health and weight. I want to put health back into health care. Food truly
is medicine.