About Dr Penny

Dr Penny Figtree has been a GP in Port Macquarie for 18 years. GPs spend a lot of time helping patients with diseases that really are dietary diseases. Dr Figtree has tried to help patients using various diets such as low fat diets, Optifast, the 5:2 fast but nothing really worked. In the end she would just say “ as long as you are not gaining weight then that’s great”. Until one day Dr Figtree read a book called “ Always Hungry” By Professor David Ludwig.

Dr Ludwig explained the INSULIN CARBOHYDRATE MODEL OF OBESITY. It made so much sense. All these chronic diseases and obesity are due to high insulin.

The body makes the hormone insulin when we eat carbohydrate. That is sugars and starches. The white stuff in our foods. Insulin is pretty much the fat fertiliser. It loves to store fat away and does not let the fat out. Just like the turnstile at the swimming pool.

When people are overweight it is usually because they have a high level of insulin in the blood. They cannot access the fat stored on their body so they feel HUNGRY and they feel TIRED. The brain is yelling out it needs some energy but the insulin won’t let the fat out to be used by the body. That’s why calorie restricted diets are so miserable. However, once you know this trick you can switch the body to burning fat by lowering your insulin level. JUST STOP EATING CARBOHYDRATE. The insulin falls and the fat comes out of the cells to be burned as fuel , you do not feel hungry anymore and your energy levels go up.

Dr Penny Figtree and other doctors using the low carbohydrate diet are finding new joy in their work. Diabetics coming off their insulin, people losing 30kg in 5 months, sleep apnea gone, reflux gone, aches and pains gone. It is so much fun as a doctor to stop medications rather than starting them. So if you have a problem with weight or diabetes Dr Penny Figtree would love to help you.