Mr Davis revealed his story within the Daily Mail yesterday, recalling the health scare he had after stepping down from his cupboard place final 12 months. He reported routine medical revealed some troubling blood take a look at outcomes, after which his physician despatched him for a liver scan.
The scan revealed that Mr Davis had non-alcoholic fatty liver illness (NAFLD), a situation characterised by a build-up of fats within the liver, which may result in everlasting liver harm and kind 2 diabetes.
“I was not entirely surprised by the diagnosis,” Mr Davis mentioned. “A government minister’s lifestyle is never healthy. Being driven everywhere rather than walking, long days without time for exercise along with endless dinners and cocktail parties made me put on 25lb.”
Following his analysis, Mr Davis determined to take motion and tackle his situation; the one query was how. He reviews that he set himself a weight reduction aim of 25 lbs (11kg) earlier than Christmas, and started an train routine to that finish.
Unfortunately, regardless of working round 40 miles every week, Mr Davis discovered himself being continually hungry and nonetheless unable to drop a few pounds. So, making additional efforts, he doubled down and lower out alcohol, which allowed him to lose 6 lbs (3kg) over two weeks.
However, this weight reduction quickly trailed off and left Mr Davis as soon as once more planning his subsequent transfer. Being of a scientific background, he trawled by means of the revealed diet literature to search for an answer.
“I assumed I used to be acquainted with meals science. I might spent most of my enterprise profession within the meals trade, as an govt of the sugar big Tate &Lyle. That was some 30 years in the past. I had a low opinion of the standard of the meals science again then.
“So I used to be astonished to search out that over the previous couple of many years, huge numbers of high-calibre research have been carried out on the biology of meals, digestion and train, and the way metabolic illnesses are brought about.”
It was by means of this analysis that Mr Davis discovered about how sugary and starchy carbohydrates break down into glucose within the physique, stimulating the manufacturing of the hormone insulin, and rising the physique’s propensity to retailer fats.
In mild of this new information, Mr Davis lower “carby white meals” out of his diet, taking the likes of bread, rice and potatoes off his plate. He had additionally beforehand been taking 4 sugars in his tea. He famous that the butter, cheese and meat he was consuming made him really feel fuller and extra happy than the sugary meals he was used to.
“And as a result of I wasn’t hungry, I did not discover myself falling into the lure of substituting extra calorific fatty meals to make up for misplaced carb energy. There was actually nothing to check my feeble willpower.”
This new manner of consuming allowed Mr Davis to simply meet his weight reduction goal earlier than Christmas. He mentioned that his spouse, associates and colleagues all observed that he had slimmed down.
Mr Davis drew reference to the success of Tom Watson, who has additionally lately turned his health round with a low carb way of life, shedding seven stone (45kg):
“We had each succeeded utilizing very low carbohydrate diets however our approaches weren’t similar…
“Nevertheless, our views of public health policy are near identical. We both think it a disaster. For once, it’s no fault of the politicians. Much of the blame lies with Ancel Keys, an American researcher whose work purported to show that saturated fats cause heart disease.”
Mr Davis shared his concern for public health, stating that the associated fee to the NHS will quickly develop into “mind-boggling”. He opines that though many good efforts are being made to enhance the state of the meals surroundings, far more must be accomplished, particularly in tackling childhood weight problems.
Since final Christmas, Mr Davis has maintained his weight and is in good health. He wrote: “I’ve lost a significant proportion of the internal, visceral fat that sits around the abdominal organs and is linked to NAFLD. I lost 2in (5cm) from my waistline. And I feel pretty fit.”
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Photo credit score: Adrian Lourie / Evening Standard
