Archive for October 2008
Type 2 Diabetes Rate Doubles
Reader Bud sends along this link. Some highlights: The rate of new diabetes cases nearly doubled in the United States in the last 10 years, with the highest levels in the South, the government said Thursday in its first state-by-state review of new diagnoses. […] About 90 percent of the cases are Type 2 diabetes, the form linked to obesity. The findings echo geographic trends seen with obesity and physical inactivity, which are also tied to heart disease. Southern states rank worst in those measures, too. […] More than 23 million Americans have diabetes. The number is growing quickly. About 1.6 million new cases were diagnosed in people 20 or older last year, according to the CDC. […] The annual rate of new diabetes cases rose from about 5 per 1,000 in the mid-1990s to 9 per 1,000 in the mid-2000s […] Now stop and think about this. What has been the single most common diet drone over the last 10-20 years? Low fat, low fat, and more low fat. Low fat products line the shelves, the fat calories replaced with high fructose corn syrup and other carbohydrate, and as you look around you it’s becoming just ridiculous how many…
Read MoreGood Books Page
I’ve created a static page that I can edit over time with worthwhile books about food, diet, cooking, exercise, and intermittent fasting. It’s quite spare in terms of design, so it can only improve over time. Thanks to Lisbon, Portugal reader Richard Carvalho for kindly compiling this for me.
Read MoreWhat Causes Heart Disease?
In a mental exercise I posted yesterday, I asked readers to speculate as to the order of most likely cause of heart disease and death from myocardial infarction. The facts are that death by MI was unheard of in 1910 (about 100 years ago), had risen to 3,000 deaths per year by 1930, and to 500,000 by 1960. Then I provided eight food group categories, A – H, and indicated how much each had changed over the last 100 years, but without telling you which group was which. So here we go: A; sugar and sweeteners: 100% increase B; eggs, fruit (excl. citrus), vegetables, whole grain: Moderate decrease C; lowfat milk: 100% increase D; whole (full fat) milk: 50% decrease E; butter, lard, tallow: 70% decrease (30 lbs. per person per year to under 10) F; vegetable oils (incl. hydrogenated): 437% increase (11 lbs. pppy to 59) G; poultry: 280% increase (18 lbs. pppy to 70) H; beef; 46% increase (54 lbs. pppy to 79) So, if one were to simply line it up by the numbers, the order would be like this: Massive increase in vegetable oil consumption. Huge increase in poultry consumption. Large increase in sugar and sweeteners….
Read More“Opposing Views” Asks…
Are Vegetarians Healthier? Could veggie burgers increase your lifespan? Many experts insist that switching to a vegetarian lifestyle can greatly increase overall health, leading some to ditch their pork rinds like an old smoking habit. Still others swear by an omnivorous diet, saying that occasional New York steak never hurt anyone. Is a fresh helping of tofu just what the doctor ordered, or only a lot of empty calories? You do notice the smuggled premise, right? Not to mention the typical smug assurance which, is really the more necessary the more wrong you are. At any rate, the Weston Price Foundation does a very admirable and thorough job. Much of the veggie stuff is shallow assertion. The comments are generally shill with far too much protestation; but then again, that’s what has to happen when you go up against reality in such a stark manner. Thanks to Diana for emailing that link. Here’s one of my recent — and infrequent — posts on vegetarianism.
Read MoreA Mental Exercise
I was going to try to design a poll, but let’s just get on with it. Do your own personal poll; discipline yourself to create an actual list of probable causality, in oder of most likely to least likely. If you think the causation is likely multiple factors, then place two or more categories next to each other, like 1, 2, 3. In other words: in order of priority, of likely cause. The most certain vector for approximating the level of heart disease is a data point relatively easy to obtain: death from myocardial infarction (“heart attack”). It’s well established that heart attacks are typically caused in first-order by heart disease (generally used to describe a number of related conditions). Naturally, everyone is thusly focussed on second-order causes: what causes heart disease? Let’s take in some statistical data. Myocardial infarction was almost non-existent in 1910 (heart attacks were unheard of). By 1930, deaths from MI had escalated to 3,000 per year. That would constitute a thousands of percentage increase, approaching infinite, the lower the actual number of deaths in 1910. It began to taper off in terms of percentage increase, so that by 1960, there were 500,000 deaths from MI…
Read MoreAlexander’s Steakhouse
Three hours and counting… Do yourself a favor: click on the link, then click the “Food” link in the header, then click on each of the photos in the left sidebar. I can’t believe this restaurant has never been on my radar. That’s about to change. Have you gone over there yet? What are you waiting for? OK, now are you going?
Read MoreYummy Cauliflower Dish
This is a derivative of a dish my mom makes sometimes. Pretty simple. It’s a head of cauliflower steamed, then breadcrumbs browned in butter pored over. Instead, I chopped up the head and quick fried it in the wok in coconut oil. In a saucepan, I melted ghee (a couple tbsp) on low heat and added 2-3 heaping tbsp of almond flour (almonds ground to the consistency of flour or meal). Even on the low heat they browned to a nice dark pretty quickly. That’s a whole head and a third, and Bea & I finished off all but 3 pieces, along with grilled jajapenio burgers from Whole Foods (amazing — try them). Speaking of Whole Foods, here was my shopping run the other day. Notice the lack of processed foods, sodas, and junk in general. Do notice things like fresh sauerkraut (to go with the pork spareribs in the large brown package). The “beef” in the clear package is actually buffalo, with which I made a Thai mussman curry Friday evening to the astonished delight of Bea and a couple of friends.
Read MoreDr. Barry Groves
He and his wife, eating a high fat, low-carb diet since 1962. See how he looks, now, at 72. Despite following this shockingly high-fat diet for more than 40 years, Barry now weighs 6lb less than he did on his wedding day in 1957 when he tipped the scales at 11st 7lb. He and Monica break every single diet diktat that has been trumpeted as “healthy eating”. And yet, here they are, trim, fit and full of beans, albeit metaphorical ones. How on earth do they do it? And where are the rest of us – eating piles of fruit and veg, and steering clear of cholesterol-laden butter – going wrong? After all, we’ve never been subject to so much education on good dietary practice, and yet prey to so many illnesses, ranging from diabetes to heart disease. “Most people are eating in a way that is unnatural to us as a species,” says Barry, who holds a doctorate in nutritional science and has just written a book called Trick and Treat: How Healthy Eating Is Making Us Ill. “We’re a carnivorous species – our gut is identical to that of a big cat. Yet we’re encouraged to eat foods…
Read MoreD
Everybody’s on about Vitamin D, now. I’ve written about it a number of times, including just last week. Now here’s a must-read from Stephan the biologist. Vitamin D was originally identified as necessary for proper mineral absorption and metabolism. Deficiency causes rickets, which results in the demineralization and weakening of bones and teeth. A modest intake of vitamin D is enough to prevent rickets. However, there is a mountain of data accumulating that shows that even a mild form of deficiency is problematic. Low vitamin D levels associate with nearly every common non-communicable disorder, including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, autoimmune disease, osteoporosis and cancer. Clinical trials using vitamin D supplements have shown beneficial and sometimes striking effects on cancer, hypertension, type 1 diabetes, bone fracture and athletic performance. Vitamin D is a fundamental building block of health. […] Here’s how to become vitamin D deficient: stay inside all day, wear sunscreen anytime you go out, and eat a low-fat diet. Make sure to avoid animal fats in particular. Rickets, once thought of as an antique disease, is making a comeback in developed countries despite fortification of milk (note- it doesn’t need to be fortified with fat-soluble vitamins if you don’t…
Read MoreAdmin Note
Sorry for the must & dust around here last few days. I have reader questions in email to get to, some reader food pics, and oodles of other stuff. Have been very busy with another project, but I’m beginning to get a handle and so should be able to channel more energy to the blog very soon. Thanks for the support and for the patience.
Read MoreArnold “The Girly-Man” Schwarzenegger Gets Milked By Big Dairy
So, how much would you pay to make sure your neighbor doesn’t drink milk or cream in raw form, i.e., non-pasteurized or homogenized? How much? A few bucks a month? No? I guess The Girly-Man Governor thinks otherwise, having recently vetoed popular, bi-partisan legislation (SB 201) that has the effect of making it even more difficult (AB 1735) than the already ridiculous level of compliance California’s two raw dairies had to go through in order to sell raw milk products to the 40,000 Californians who already enjoy them and have been enjoying them for years. I drank both raw cow milk and goat milk as a kid, and we made various products like butter and cottage cheese ourselves. We didn’t need anyone’s help, especially not from a girly-man (pdf). I am returning Senate Bill 201 without my signature. This bill weakens food safety standards in California, something I cannot support. Translation: it removes onerous, unreasonable “safety standards” designed for pasteurized milk, lobbied for by Big Dairy in California. […] Based on fears with no basis in fact… Now it ought to be the plain obvious truth that the baseless fear-mongering taking place is and has always been the hysterical fear…
Read MoreBarefoot
It’s just hard to beat several million years of evolutionary adaptation, even accounting for the fine craftsmanship of Church’s handmade English shoes (all the rage in France, when I lived there). Nonetheless, just as I blogged in my entry Learning to Walk a few months back, barefoot or nearly so is best. I love my Vibram Five Fingers (which have been dubbed my “feet” by my wife; as in: “should I toss down your feet?”) and I even walk just plain barefoot now and then. People tease me about the soles of my feet, often on display, and thoroughly black. It’s quite easy to get used to. Matt Metzgar dug up a study, and guess what? Shoes increase stress on your knees and hips (pdf). He quotes a portion and I can personally attest to part of the speculation: “A final explanation of the biomechanical advantages of barefoot walking may be attributed to increased proprioceptive input from skin contact with the ground compared with an insulated foot contacting the ground.” This is exactly what I have been noting when discussing the issue with people (the Vibrams are quite a conversation piece). Just as I have often commented that flexible, intermittent…
Read MoreDoubling of Vitamin D for Children Is Urged; I Also “Urge” K2, Menatetrenone (MK-4)
Yet again, something I blogged about 18 months ago may just now be coming to the mainstream. Stay tuned, and it’s not the only thing. Within another 18 months, you might hear a bombshell about K2, Menatetrenone (MK-4) as well. More on that, below. Here are my past entries on Vitamin D. Politicized Science: How the Sun Might Save Your Life Vitamin D An elegant slice of evolution “Loving Lard” The first of those is the most important. Feel free to go take a look at how I used to blog (political), but the important thing is the article I linked. How-a-bouts a couple of quick excerpts? For decades, researchers have puzzled over why rich northern countries have cancer rates many times higher than those in developing countries — and many have laid the blame on dangerous pollutants spewed out by industry. But research into vitamin D is suggesting both a plausible answer to this medical puzzle and a heretical notion: that cancers and other disorders in rich countries aren’t caused mainly by pollutants but by a vitamin deficiency known to be less acute or even non-existent in poor nations. […] What’s more, researchers are linking low vitamin D status…
Read MoreMother Earth News…
Has published an article by Gary Taubes, author of Good Calories, Bad Calories, and whom I’ve blogged about several times in the past. Fasting, Diet, Carbohydrates, Cause & Effect 180 Degree Errors Big Fat Lies Good Calories, Bad Calories What Do You Really Know About Dietary Fat? Anyway, there’s all your background. Those first two are the more important, as I attempt to explain his “alternate hypothesis.” Now that I’ve read the principal part in GCBC that relates to that I’m soon going to have another post about that. In the meantime, check out the Mother Earth News article, and most particularly, the comments (in reverse chronological order). Lots of vegan & vegetarian ignorance, hysteria, and old myths and modern ignorance. As always, I wish them well. I even wish that sort of diet was healthy from an evolutionary perspective. But it’s not; and I don’t make up the facts, just report them to you.
Read MoreNotice to Readers
Just wanted to let my readers know that since Tuesday morning I’ve been absorbed full time (which means: mostly consumed in thought) in an emergent business project having to so with another company. But fear not, valued patrons. I shall make my return soon, and I have a list.
Read MoreMore on Cancer
I previously blogged about a couple of different cancer therapies a couple of weeks ago. That was to call attention to two previous posts dealing with what I’ll just call a pretty obvious way to prevent cancer in the first place, or treat existing ones. If indeed this evolutionary, ancestral, primal way of eating, going hungry, and engaging in activity represents an effective treatment for cancer, then what do you suppose that says as to the validity of this evolutionary approach, and how might you suspect this approach to living works to prevent cancer? Now Dr. Eades blogs about this issue. Actually, it turns out to be about one of the articles I alerted my readers to way back in April. Cancer cells get their energy, not like normal cells, from the mitochondrial oxidation of fat, but from glycolysis, the breakdown of glucose withing the cytoplasm (the liquid part of the cell). This different metabolism of cancer cells that sets them apart from normal cells is called the Warburg effect. Warburg thought until his dying day that this difference is what causes cancer, and although it is true that people with elevated levels of insulin and glucose do develop more…
Read MoreA Dozen Training Ideas
In only three minutes. It’s all brief, and very intense. Remember: endurance and intensity are inversely related. The more intense, the briefer. Watch this and you’ll soon understand why so many fool themselves about “working out” doing slow, boring “cardio.” Very few of them could handle a minute of this, much less three or more. Right here is real cardio, modeled after the way nature intended you to get it: all in, but briefly. That’s from Chris, and the facility is Mountain Athlete in Jackson, Wyoming.
Read MoreHey, Wheyt a Minute!
So there’s no doubt about it: protein shakes are a processed food; but do they have a place in a Freed Animal’s diet? I think so, but in a very limited way. I’ll have one about twice per week, usually on the morning after a previous day’s workout for a real nice boost of good quality whey protein. Chris at Zen to Fitness lays out a lot of the nutritional benefits. For me, sometimes it’s by itself, and other times, along with something like maybe a few slices of bacon, a small 2-egger plain omelet, and/or a little fruit. The shake alone really appeals to me when I’m hungry but really feel like a very light meal — not so much in terms of calories, as just bulk. As far as the flavorings and sweeteners go, it’s so infrequent, I don’t do diet sodas or other artificially sweetened things, so it’s one of those convenience flexibilities for me. But as with all things, I just can’t mix them like the package says (1 scoop in a cup of water). Yuko! Here’s how it goes. 2 eggs 1 scoop of whey protein (chocolate or vanilla – I use Gold Standard) (if…
Read MoreMaking Cauliflower-Crust Pizza
I prepared it last night. Did it on a baking stone and it came out just fine. See for yourself. It was a 15-incher, half & half. One side was pepperoni & onion, and the other ham & mushroom. Greek Kalamata Olives par tout — with the pits, which is the only way to go on a pizza. They shrivel just a bit and the tastiest part is the meat right up next to the pit. In order to get max flavor from both the onion and the mushroom, I ran them through a cheese grater. The canned sauces at the supermarket all had dammed high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). …The hell? So, I just got a small can of tomato sauce and added pizza spice (oregano, basil, garlic) and some additional garlic powder. Also, even though there’s lots of cheese in the crust, I did put additional over the sauce in the standard pizza-making fashion. I doubled the recipe, and like Debs, didn’t spice the crust. For a 15″ stone, I first spread some bacon drippings very thinly, then used a plastic spatula to spread the dough. The stone had an edge, so I was able to build it…
Read MoreThe Free the Animal T-Shirt
Help promote the easy and fun Life Way that’s working for me and others. Buy an FTA T-Shirt. Or, get sweatshirts, long-sleeve shirts, tank tops, hats, mugs, pet products and other odds & ends. Great to wear at the gym, around and about, or to give as gifts. Christmas is just around the bend. More designs and other products to follow.
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