Further praise for The Adaptation Diet “If you have no hope you can ever lose weight and feel at peace, read The Adaptation Diet. It provides clear, concise suggestions that can help you shed not only the pounds but also many of your other health concerns. Yes, you are holding the book that has proven, sensible recommendations and explanations to resolve many medical challenges. Turn your life around today by simply trying this diet.” —Doris J. Rapp, MD, author of Our Toxic World: A Wake Up Call “The Adaptation Diet offers a unique perspective on weight loss, pointing out the weight-gaining effects of ‘dietary stress,’ and how to deal with them. Going way beyond just calorie control, Dr. Charles Moss points out that dietary stress reduction—with or without calorie reduction— will result in significant and sustained weight loss. He tells us which foods and supplements actually reduce the food-stress-induced, over- active cortisol response, allowing that elusive goal, weight loss, to happen while at the same time improving your health. If you want to lose weight, The Adaptation Diet is an excellent place to start!” —Jonathan Wright, MD, Editor, Nutrition & Healing Newsletter “Dr. Moss is a colleague I’ve admired for decades for his competence, compassion, clarity, and communication style. His latest book reflects his considerable accomplishments in ways accessible for all those interested in better health. With epigenetics or lifestyle and environment determining 92 percent of health due to what we eat, drink, think, and do, the healthier choices recommended in this guide can add years to life and life to years.” —Russ Jaffe, MD, PhD, Founder/Chief Executive Officer Fellow, Health Studies Collegium Perque Integrative Health Elisa/Act Biotechnologies “Too tired to exercise? Is your willpower ambushed by unrelenting food cravings? Start reclaiming your health with The Adaptation Diet. Patients self-prescribing this book can consider it as a toehold for scaling impediments to optimal wellness. They can be confident in the medical science and in Dr. Moss.” —Ingrid Kohlstadt, MD, MPH, FACPM, FACN, Faculty, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Executive Director, NutriBee National Nutrition Competition, Inc.; Editor, Advancing Medicine with Food and Nutrients, CRC Press, December 2012 “As a colleague of Dr. Charles Moss in integrative medicine since the 1970s, I can attest to his pioneering work in nutritional medicine, and to his wide-ranging knowledge and contemporary application of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the world’s oldest mind-body medicine model. In this book he blends the wisdom of the latter with his thirty-five years of practical clinical experience with cutting-edge nutritional medicine. The result is a book that helps the reader deal with modern health risks with clear and practical suggestions and with the wider understanding of how our diet itself directly affects our stress levels.” —Ronald Puhky, MD, BAc, Dip Ac. Medical Director, InspireHealth Integrative Cancer Center, Victoria, BC Copyright © 2013 by Charles A. Moss, MD. All rights reserved. No portion of this book, except for brief review, may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the written permission of the publisher. For information contact North Atlantic Books. Published by North Atlantic Books P.O. Box 12327 Berkeley, California 94712 Cover design by Suzanne Albertson The Adaptation Diet: A Three-Step Approach to Control Cortisol, Lose Weight, and Prevent Chronic Disease is sponsored by the Society for the Study of Native Arts and Sciences, a nonprofit educational corporation whose goals are to develop an educational and cross-cultural perspective linking various scientific, social, and artistic fields; to nurture a holistic view of arts, sciences, humanities, and healing; and to publish and distribute literature on the relationship of mind, body, and nature. MEDICAL DISCLAIMER: The following information is intended for general information purposes only. Individuals should always see their health care provider before administering any suggestions made in this book. Any application of the material set forth in the following pages is at the reader’s discretion and is his or her sole responsibility. The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows: Moss, Charles A., 1947– The adaptation diet : a three-step approach to control cortisol, lose weight, and prevent chronic disease / Charles A. Moss, MD. pages cm Summary: “Based on his 35 years of clinical experience, Dr. Charles Moss presents an easy-to- implement approach to normalize cortisol (the main stress hormone), lose weight, and reduce your risk for diabetes, heart disease, and cancer”—Provided by publisher. Includes references. eISBN: 978-1-58394628-2 1. Weight loss. 2. Reducing diets—Recipes. 3. Health. I. Title. RM222.2.M654 2013 613.2′5—dc23 2012033900 v3.1 Dedicated to my mother, Helen Moss, for her unconditional love and many nutritious home-cooked meals. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Over the course of my practice experience, I have learned more about stress and diet from my patients than from any book or medical conference. I am indebted to their commitment to improve their lives through the ideas presented in this book. I have had many colleagues over the past thirty years who have shared their own clinical experiences and helped me to refine my approach with patients. A partial list includes Jonathan Wright, MD, Jeffrey Bland, PhD, Theron Randolph, MD, Doris Rapp, MD, David Buscher, MD, as well as other members of the following professional organizations, of which I am a member: the American Academy of Environmental Medicine, the American College for Advancement in Medicine, the Institute for Functional Medicine, and the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture. I want to thank Kate Jordan, Deb Blotner, and Kathy Sartain for their professional help in organizing this information and making this book possible. CONTENTS Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Acknowledgments Preface Adaptation and Health CHAPTER 1: Food and Adaptation CHAPTER 2: Detoxification and Adaptation CHAPTER 3: Phases One and Two of the Adaptation Diet: Detoxification and CHAPTER 4: Identification of Food Allergies Phase Three of the Adaptation Diet: Control Inflammation and CHAPTER 5: Maintain Healthy Cortisol Levels throughout Life The Stars of the Adaptation Diet CHAPTER 6: Cortisol Tamers CHAPTER 7: The Curious Cases of Gluten and Candida CHAPTER 8: Beyond Adaptation: The Promise of Epigenetics CHAPTER 9: Conclusion CHAPTER 10: APPENDIXES Glycemic Index APPENDIX A: Recipes for Phases One and Two of the Adaptation Diet APPENDIX B: Recipes for Maintenance: Phase Three of the Adaptation Diet APPENDIX C: Rotation Diet APPENDIX D: Wheat-Free Diet APPENDIX E: Anti-Yeast Diet APPENDIX F: Resources APPENDIX G: References About the Author