Modern Epidemic

“When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use. When diet is right, medicine is not needed.“ 
- Ayurvedic wisdom

Obesity and chronic diseases

Today, obesity is increasing at an alarming rate. Fat tissue growth increases our risk for chronic diseases, such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease etc. By this logic, if we lose fat tissue, we also reduce our risk for these diseases at the same time. So, what makes us fat?

Fat Loss Instead of Weight Loss

Fat tissue is built with the help of the hormone insulin. When insulin levels are high, we store the energy from our food as fat. Carbohydrates (bread, pasta, noodles, potatoes etc), if consumed in excess, will be converted to fat and stored in the fat tissue.

Insulin is released in response to:

Carbohydrate Tolerance

We are all different and our tolerance to carbohydrates also differs depending on:

• the quantity of carbohydrates consumed
• the quality of these carbohydrates
• the amount of time we've been consuming these different types of carbohydrates
• the genetic profile of the individual.

Diabetes and Blood Sugar Control

"There are essential amino acids and essential fatty acids, but there is no such thing as an essential carbohydrate."
                                                                         - Dr. Bernstein (Diabetes Solution)

Dietary Fat as Brain Fuel

Interesting article: The Fat-Fueled Brain: Unnatural or Advantageous? Are we better adapted to a ketogenic diet, where we use the energy from dietary fat rather than from glucose (carbohydrates)? I already gave details about how our body adapts when carbohydrates are lacking from our diet: Do We Need Carbohydrates in our Diet? Apparently, this kind of diet was not a problem for the Inuit, Aborigines and many native tribes of Africa. They did not develop the diseases of the modern world.

Dr Oz on Alzheimer's

Finally, we can see some changes on television. Here is a very recent episode (aired on 10th October 2013 in the U.S.) of Dr Oz featuring David Perlmutter, MD, the author of Grain Brain.

VIDEO: Do Carbs Cause Alzheimer's?
Don't forget to watch part 2 after the "unavoidable" commercial.

For more information, here is an interview with Dr Perlmutter:
Your “Healthy” Diet Could Be Quietly Killing Your Brain

So, eat your butter! Bon Appetit!

Alzheimer's Prevention

Very excited to read articles like this on the web: You Can Prevent Alzheimer's.

(I already mentioned the harmful effects of sugar on the brain and how it really works: Brain - Cancer and Alzheimer's.)

"[...] in diabetics having the highest level of various diabetes associated factors, things like vascular issues or leg ulcers, the risk of becoming demented was increased an astounding 37 fold."

Burger King Fries With Less Calories?... Misleading!

From this article:

"Fast-food giant Burger King has introduced lower-fat, fewer-calories french fries to united States patrons, allowing customers to order a side of 'Satisfries' with their meal."

Do We Need Supplements?

It is a bit of a paradox that in this world of plenty, most of us are deficient in vitamins and minerals. The question is why we became deficient and what to eat or take in order to overcome these deficiencies. Many people has the mistaken belief that a bad diet will be rebalanced by taking supplements.

Dietary Fat and Health - Medical Review

An important review by NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information):

Dietary fats and health: dietary recommendations in the context of scientific evidence.

"[...] the evidence of dietary saturated fats increasing CAD [Coronary Artery Disease] or causing premature death was weak."

Brain - Cancer and Alzheimer's

Article Number 1:

When it Comes to Brain Cancer, Let's Look Beyond Chemo

In cancer research, it is very important to understand how cancer cells work, what they need to thrive and multiply, in other words their metabolism. As I've mentioned before, sugar (glucose) is an important "food" for cancer cells, as they generate energy by fermentation (Sugar and Cancer and Starving Cancer Cells). They are unable to survive in an oxygen rich environment and without sugar.

My Shopping Cart

To give you an idea of what kind of food I buy every day, please check out my shopping cart for today:

My Food

Many people ask me what I eat if I don't eat carbohydrates like bread, pasta, rice, potatoes etc. Well, I eat pretty much the same food without the mentioned starchy foods.

Do We Need Carbohydrates in our Diet?

This is the inspiration for my post today: Mute Girl Can Finally Talk on a LCHF Diet 

(LCHF = Low-Carbohydrate, High-Fat)

Fat Head - The Documentary

Very clear explanation on why we get fat and the accompanying conditions such as heart disease and clogging of the arteries. Today, there are ZERO studies showing that a high-fat diet is responsible for heart disease. It is rather the high amounts of carbohydrates, sugar and alcohol we consume that are to blame for these conditions.

Starving Cancer Cells

In the 1920s, Otto Warburg won the Nobel-prize for demonstrating that cancer cells multiply by fermentation, a process requiring sugar, rather than respiration, where oxygen is needed (the case of normal cells). I quote Wikipedia:

Hungry Planet - Kuwait

The Al Haggan family (and 2 servants from Nepal, on the left) living in Kuwait City, Kuwait, and their one week's worth of food (from the book Hungry Planet by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio).

Hypertension

Effects of a high-carbohydrate diet on blood pressure:

Hungry Planet - United States

A family from the United States, the Revis, living in Raleigh, North Carolina, and their one week worth of food (from the book Hungry Planet by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio).

What the World Eats

In their new book, What I Eat, photographer Peter Menzel and writer Faith D'Aluisio present thought-provoking portraits of individuals around the globe and the food that fuels them over the course of a single day.