Tokelau

Tokelau is a group of three atolls located in the South Pacific Ocean with approximately 1400 inhabitants. Administratively it belongs to New Zealand.

From a dietary point of view the case of Tokelau is very interesting: we can observe what happens when a population transitions from their traditional diet to a more westernized one, and back.

Allergies - M's story

M is a beautiful, 37 years old girl, from Japan. She was introduced to me through one of my friends. When I first met her, she was suffering from allergies (dairy products and eggs) which she tried to cure with expensive Chinese medicine. She was struggling to loose weight, and she was hungry all the time. All her life, she had problems with her periods (painful and not regular).

Weight Loss

On request of some of my friends, here are more details about weight loss. This is a kind of more easy to understand version of this earlier post: Calories - Eating less doesn't work.

Tim Noakes on High Fat Diet

Even this legendary exercise Professor Tim Noakes embraced a high fat diet. When he was on a high carbohydrate diet, he developed a pre-diabetic condition and gained weight over the years, despite all that running. It's not possible to loose weight and maintain it for a lifetime with a high-carb diet.

Deficiencies - Vegetarians, Vegans

"Any lifelong dietary plan that requires nutrient supplementation on a regular basis makes no sense from an evolutionary perspective. You don't have to be an evolutionary biologist to realize that wild animals don't take nutritional supplements, nor do they normally develop vitamin deficiencies when living in their native environment."
                                                                  - Loren Cordain, Ph.D.

Total Cholesterol - It is not a predictor of heart disease

After I posted on Cholesterol and Triglycerides, I was asked by my friends to give more details on why total cholesterol level does not matter in the risk of developing heart disease. I think, this video below, summarises this problem very well.

Cholesterol - The dangers of low-fat diets

For a lot of people it is not clear whether high cholesterol levels are a risk factor of coronary heart disease. The conventional wisdom tells you to cut fat from your diet in order to reduce total cholesterol level or the bad cholesterol level (LDL). So doctors advise to lower your fat intake. This is a bit simplistic.

Dietary Fat is Healthy

"Civilised man is the planet's only chronically sick animal" 

Our body cannot work without the adequate nutrients, which compose the base of proper hormonal and immune functions. These nutrients have very specific metabolic effects on the human body. If we do not give the needed building blocks to our system, over the years, we develop chronic diseases linked to obesity, like allergies, diabetes, heart disease, certain types of cancer, auto-immune diseases.

Paleo Diet - Muscle Cramps

My friend, who just started the High Fat (Paleo) diet, have been having muscle cramps during the night. She asked me what the cause can be. (Otherwise, she is feeling great).

Defeating Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

What is Multiple Sclerosis (MS)?

The nerves of the central nervous system are covered with an insulating material called myelin, just as the electrical wires are covered with plastic. In MS, the myelin disappears due to inflammation. 

Low Fat Mistake

Interesting article on the mistaken recommendation of low fat diets.
Heart Surgeon Speaks Out On What Really Causes Heart Disease

And here are 17 trials showing weight loss on a low carbohydrate diet. Is there a study showing greater weight loss on a high carbohydrate diet? I haven't seen one.

Calories - Eating less doesn't work

This is the conventional wisdom: we are gluttons and sloths, that's why we get fat.

Obesity is not simply a question of energy balance : you eat less and exercise more, then you will loose weight. It does not work like this.

Insulin - Why going to the gym doesn't work

Obese patients are at higher risk of developing chronic diseases (heart disease, diabetes, cancer...). So if we find a cure to obesity, we considerably reduce the incidence of these chronic diseases.

Sugar - "Pure, White and Deadly" - John Yudkin

(I try to keep it very simple.)

Definitions:
- Sugar: glucose (in starches: rice, flour etc), fructose (in fruits), lactose (in milk)
- Simple carbs: one or two sugar molecules bound together
- Complex carbs: chains of sugars, it can be tens of thousands of molecules long (broken down to simple sugars during digestion)
- Glycemic Index: measure of how quickly carbohydrates are absorbed and converted to blood sugar. The more simple (refined) the carbohydrate, the greater the blood sugar and insulin response.