Confused About Diet? Watch This!

Interviewer:  When we talk about diet, is that something that you think is still largely overlooked in terms of people's overall health?

Derrick DeSilva:  I don't think diet's overlooked.  I think people are confused.  I mentioned to you that I do a television show and we're doing a series right now on the diet dilemma.  Okay, what diet do I follow?  Do I follow the cookie diet?  Do I follow the cucumber diet?  Do I follow...Everyday, I mean, why are we confusing people?  I got a card yesterday from a patient of mine who actually is the mother of one of the chiropractors that I refer to in my area.  This guy called me and said, "Eric, my mother smokes, is overweight, she can't talk, she can't even walk down the street."  She came in to see me.  Her mouth was covered with yeast.  He tongue was like a sheet of white paper.  it was gross.  She came into me and I said to her, "Look, this is really simple."  I said, "How much soda do you drink a day?"  "About three or four cans."  "How much sugar do you eat?"  "Oh, I love cake and cookies."  "Fruits and vegetables?"  "They give me gas."  "So you're basically living on soda and sweets and you smoke.  Great.  Wonderful."  And she says, "Can you help me."  I said, "No.  I can't help you."  She said, "But."  I said, "I can help you once you decide you need to be helped."  I left the room and I said, "You need to decide.  I'm going to go see another patient.  You need to decide whether you want to be helped.  And when I come back I want an answer."  I left the room and went and saw another patient.  I came back and she was crying.  I said, "Why are you crying?"  She said, "Well, because nobody ever talked to me like that before."  I said, "I'm not being disrespectful."  She said, "No, no, no, no, no.  You're not being disrespectful."  She said, "Nobody really cared enough to ask me what I thought."  Well, she sent me a card yesterday that she made with my picture on it.  So it really scared me and it was a thank you card.  She'd lost 50 pounds in the past, I think, four months, five months that she's been seeing me.  She lost about, it basically comes down to eight to ten pounds a month.  You know what she gave up?  She gave up sugar.  She gave up sweets.  She gave up the candy, cookies, and ice cream.  She treats herself occasionally.  And she's gotten rid of the bread.  She's gotten rid of the white carbs.  You know, the white flour.  And she's eating a little bit more fruit, more vegetables.  And she's just paying attention to what she'd doing.  And she's walking.  Stopped smoking because I told her, "It isn't about what your son wants.  It isn't about what your daughter wants.  It's about what you want.  Once you make that decision, it's simple.  And you know what you're doing."  Right.  People know that they drinking too much soda.  Every time, you know, I travel a lot.  I see people on the plane drinking sodas.  I feel like slapping them and saying, "What is wrong with you?  Don't you know that that crap is bad for you?"  Am I allowed to say crap?  I think so.  "Don't you know that this stuff is bad for you?  Come on.  You know that.  What's wrong with water?"  That's all she drinks now is water.  So it isn't hard.  It's getting rid of the candy, cookies, ice cream, sweets.  It's drinking more water.  It's getting rid of the soda.  And it's making a mental decision.  You will loose weight.