About Simon Evans, PhD Expertise I can answer questions relative to eating for long term health - not fad dieting. I can also answer questions about nutritional supplementation, including qualities to look for and things to stay away from.
Experience I am a research scientist at a major medical school studying the interaction between nutrition, exercise and mental health. I focus on lifestyle choices that affect the way you think and feel, and that control your energy, stress and productivity.
Organizations The Society for Neuroscience.
The American Society for Nutrition.
Education/Credentials I have a PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology and have been in the neurosciences for over a decade.
Question I have lupus and take prednisone 4mg alternating w/ 0mg every other day. Someone once told me I couldn't go on a no carb diet due to the steroids. Is this true? If so what would be a good diet to help lose weight?
Answer Judy, first of all there is no such thing as a no carb diet and low carb diets are short - sighted. Carbohydrates are our main source of energy. If you don't eat them you don't get any energy.
The best approach to losing weight naturally is to eat slow burning carbs (low glycemic) and plenty of fiber. Fruits and vegetables, lean sources of protein and high-fiber whole grain foods, and good fats (poly- and mono-unsaturated) from vegetables and fish.
It may be a little more difficult for you because of the prednisone, but you can still lose weight with this approach.
You need to balance these types of foods so that you get carbs, fats and proteins. Your body needs all of these to run efficiently. In fact if you deprive your body of fat you can actually go into a pseudo-starvation mode and store fat more efficiently.
The other key ingredients are getting enough exercise and sleep. Both of these contribute to how your body uses the calories that you eat and drives more to muscle and less to fat storage. You should, of course, work with your physician on the exercise part.
I talk about these approaches in detail in chapters 1-3 of my book, Brain Fitness. If you are interested in that you can check it out at http://www.thebraincode.com/book.html
