Expert: Gerri Helms - 2/6/2009

Question
Gerri
My husband,50 suffers from a lot of abdominal discomfort, abdominal distension- especially after eating,and gas.
He carries around most of his weight on his upper body and belly, and is frustrted that he cant get it off.
Because of a family history of colorectal cancer, he recently went for a sigmoidoscopy. He passed but had one polyp that was removed.His Dad and uncle were big meat and potato guys,with the same big belly that stuck out (not fat) and they died in their late forties from colorectal cancer.
In the last year he has really changed his lifestyle to get his waist down. He has cut way back on the calories to under 2000 a day, eats lots of fruit and fibre, and he quit smokeing and drinking, and he jogs daily.
My concern is that he does eat a lot of meat,especially red meat,and cheese.
He justifies this by saying that he is trying to lose the belly and carbs are fattening,although since he went 'low carb' he hasnt lost weight.
His blood pressure is also staying high for the past few months (also since the low carb thing).I am a RN and I check it weekly .He has made an appointment to see his doctor about that.
Do you think if he cut back on the meat,especially the red and processed meats,his health would improve? Would his swollen abdomen go down?
Thanks!

Answer
Dear Bonnie,
Your husband would be best served by talking to his doctor about this, as well as a registered dietrition. He may also consider looking at Overeaters Anonymous. Their email address of www.oa.org.

Husbands are funny animals. I have one too and he does not want to hear anything I have to say about eating, although I'm a health coach. I bet you are also discounted as a nurse, right?

If either of you would like a complimentary coaching session, please let me know.
Life and Health Coach Gerri Helms,CAM, CEG
www.lifecoachgerri.com
lifecoachgerri@aol.com