Barry & Monica Groves & Their Long Term Low Carb Success Story

Low-Carb Success Stories: Barry & Monica Groves

Barry Groves is the author of Eat Fat, Get Thin! He and his wife, Monica reside in Oxfordshire, England, and have been eating “the way we have evolved to eat, mostly carnivorous”, since 1962. Barry is 65 years old, 5 9″ tall, and currently weighs 156 pounds from his starting weight of 190 pounds. Monica is 63, 5 6″ tall, and holding at 126 pounds. Monica’s starting weight was 161 pounds.

“All members of both our families are overweight,” Barry told me. “We were a normal weight when we were married in 1957, but soon started to gain weight as Monica is a good cook, and she enjoyed making bread and cakes. I have very few pictures of me when I was younger and none when I was overweight, but I have included before and after pictures of Monica.”

“We tried to lose weight using methods such as low fat/low calorie diets, slimming pills, slimming drinks, liquid protein meals, inert fiber fillers, sweaty clothes, exercise, etc., for five years. These are all really very similar to what is around today – it didn’t work then, except in the short term, and it doesn’t work now. As we continued we each put on nearly 30 pounds.”

“We tried these things one after the other – when one didn’t work, we tried something different. There were no good things about the various methods. None worked long term, and all the failures left a feeling of defeat and frustration. I didn’t know then why they didn’t work. Since the late 1960s, however, I have researched diet and obesity (and other diseases) extensively. I now know that the methods we used 40 years ago didn’t work because they were unnatural.”

“Then in 1962 came the high-fat movement. We found a doctor who recommended eating a high fat diet for weight loss. We were skeptical that it could work, but tried it anyway. It did work! By 1963 we had both lost the weight we had gained – and more. Monica was down to 122 pounds, I was down to 160 pounds. Monica’s success was such that in 1964 she became a professional photographic model!”

“We have remained at a normal weight ever since, and we have been eating a high animal fat, low carbohydrate diet now for almost 40 years. Our weights fluctuate over a few pounds depending on TOM (time of month) for Monica until menopause and what we eat. But we know that if we eat, say, Christmas pud and cake and put a couple of pounds on, it will be gone again by the end of a week so we don’t worry about it.”

“At first it was a revelation as the high fat concept had seemed so implausible – an apparently high calorie diet for weight loss? It stood the current advice – you must eat less and exercise more – on its head. How could this be? I have an encoring mind. I started to research diet and obesity in the late 1960s and was giving lectures by 1971.”

“Low carbing changed the whole focus of our lives. I gave up a well paid job as an officer in the Royal Air Force to research nutrition. I retired from the Royal Air Force in l982 and took up full time research into diet as it affected such diseases as obesity, heart disease, diabetes, cancer. What I found has taught me that dietitians, nutritionists and doctors have very little knowledge of how the body reacts to different nutrients.”

“Now I write and lecture about the high fat, low carbohydrate way of eating. It is a full time job. I have written many papers and two books on the subject of weight loss: The Calorie Fallacy in 1993, and Eat Fat, Get Thin! in 2000.”

“I have also written books and papers on other subjects. My latest book, Fluoride: Drinking Ourselves To Death? was available in the USA beginning in January of 2002. Although not primarily concerned with weight loss, it does have a bearing on the subject, since fluorides in water, food, and toothpaste suppress thyroid activity and make weight loss more difficult.”

“The good parts of a low carbohydrate lifestyle are that we can eat what we like eating. We are healthy, have loads of energy and are bright and alert. There are no bad parts – it is so easy! There have been no health problems, only benefits. For example, I took up archery at the age of 46 when I left the RAF in 1982 purely as a social outlet. However, after just one year I was selected to represent my county in competition. A year later I was the Oxfordshire Team Captain. I took my first British Championship two years later, and have been a British Champion ever since. I have 21 British records! I have also won 11 International gold medals and taken 4 world records. Those last were all accomplished after I reached the age of 60! This is a wonderfully healthy diet.”

“Even now, though, friends and relatives don’t seem to be able to be able to accept that this way of eating can work. This, of course, is because of their being so brainwashed by the anti-fat “healthy diet police,” Barry laughed.

I asked Barry what he would have to say to a group of low carbers on the following subjects:

Barry & Monica Groves Cheating On Low-Carb

“What is the point? You are only cheating yourself. You have to have a complete change of mind when it comes to eating. You cannot continue as before – that’s what caused the problem!”

Barry & Monica Groves & Low-Carb Stalls

“Stalls only happen when you don’t eat correctly – i.e., naturally. Eating my way I have not encountered the problem, nor have any of my readers.”

Most Important Points To Remember:

1. Don’t cut down on carbohydrates too much at the start. Changing your body from burning carbs to burning fat as a fuel places quite a stress on it. This can have undesirable health effects, particularly if you are diabetic or have cardiovascular problems. It also seems to be the cause of ‘stalls’ later. I recommend a minimum of 60 grams of carbs a day. You can cut down more later if necessary, although it probably won’t be. The only ‘foods’ I would cut out are those made from cereals (bread, pasta, rice and breakfast cereals) and anything that contains soy.
2. Reduce sugar intake until sweetness is similar to that of fruits. Never use artificial sweeteners. Although these have no calories, they do perpetuate the taste for sweet things and they also switch on the production of insulin, which will store glucose as fat, thus preventing weight loss.
3. Always have a good high protein/high fat breakfast. Fried egg and bacon is ideal. Fry only in animal fat, never in a vegetable oils as these dramatically increase cancer risk. If you haven’t time to cook in the morning, hard boil eggs the night before and have them cold with a high fat cheese and cold meat — the real ‘Continental breakfast’.
4. Don’t use milk in drinks – it’s mostly water and contains nothing that is not better supplied from foods such as hard cheeses. Use real cream instead. Put cream on fruit as well, and butter on fatless meat and cooked veggies.
5. Remember the saying, “Breakfast like a king, lunch like a lord and dine like a pauper.” It is not a good idea to eat your biggest meal of the day in the evening when all you are going to do is sit in front of the TV or go to bed. You need meals like that early in the day.
6. Relax and don’t try to hard. Your body needs a wide range of nutrients. It will keep you eating until its needs are met. Cut out too much and you will end up forcing your body to conserve nutrients — and you won’t lose weight

Barry concluded in adding, “Be wary of any diet plan that insists you need diet supplements and lots of pills. You don’t! This way of eating is for life. To maintain it all you need to eat is real, natural food – meat, fish, dairy, eggs, fresh fruits, and vegetables. Those who would sell you pills and potions are more likely to be interested in the health and size of their bank balances than your body.”

Barry’s website can be found at: http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/

His book, Eat Fat, Get Thin! is now available in the US in stores and coming soon to CarbSmart.

More Low-Carb Success Stories.