fasting

Dr. Fuhrman recommends occasional fasting to maintain health. The break from digestion allows the body to detoxify and repair cells and tissues. I'm normally too active to want to rest all day, as fasting requires. I'm on a 2-day road trip with a companion so I thought, maybe this is a good opportunity to try a fast. I'm also hoping maybe it will help me get rid of this cough that has lingered since I got my cold almost 2 weeks ago.

So I fasted today. It went fine. I napped while companion drove, and that rested me enough for when I drove. I got hungry at dinner time but I'm not hungry anymore, which is a surprise. I was tired walking up the stairs with my suitcase, but I'm fine just sitting here playing on the computer. I wonder if I'll make it through tomorrow. I have to do some work tomorrow which is just mental, but that might be affected by the fast. Plus I might get hungry and not have the will to continue the fast. I'm not good at suffering through things. We'll see. I definitely have to break the fast on Friday because I have to socialize with strangers all day and go out to breakfast, lunch and dinner, and give a talk.

Fasting certainly made the travel preparation easier. I could see doing this on airplane trips, where you are also just sitting around and there is no good food to be had anyway.

Post Office Jobs

I thought only GM and the auto-worker's union did stuff like this. But I guess someone thought it was a good business practice for the US Postal Service as well.

I really don't understand how anyone can justify this. But that's what happens when you get a government job, I guess.

refrigerator soup

This is the soup you make when you are leaving town and don't want your veggies to go to waste so you throw them all into a pot. It was really good. Of course, it will vary, depending on what you have.

Ingredients:

whatever is in your fridge and pantry. I used:

2 patty pan squash

3 carrots

2 small eggplants

1/2 sweet potato

1 cup green beans

1 head broccoli

1 head cauliflower---cut into about 4 big pieces, not small

a bunch of tomatoes (1-2 lbs?)

a couple green bell peppers

2 cups dried white beans--soaked over night and cooked in pressure cooker for 10 minutes

(or cook 3-4 hours on stove, or 2 cans of beans already cooked)

juice of 1 lemon

herbs from the garden: parsley, basil, chives, cilantro

corn (optional)

1/4 cup sesame seeds

1/4 cup hemp seeds

First I cooked up the beans and let them cool (I was doing other things). Then I cooked up the vegetables in the bean juice in the pressure cooker. It just turned into a soup. I took out the big cauliflower pieces, put them in the blender with 1/4 cup raw sesame seeds and 1/4 cup hemp seeds. Then added that back to the soup. That made it a nice a creamy soup. It seemed to need something else so I added a little less than 1/4 cup nutritional yeast. I chopped up the herbs and added that. Then it was really good. I froze it in big bowls (below). I look forward to eating it when I return home. I will probably eat it with greens. Note, I would have added frozen corn to it and it would have been a nice "chowder", but I have been getting tummy aches lately when I eat corn (I always overeat corn so that's probably why). Our corn is so sweet, you probably wouldn't need the nutritional yeast flavoring--or maybe it would be good too.

Malocclusion: Disease of Civilization

In his epic work Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, Dr. Weston Price documented the abnormal dental development and susceptibility to tooth decay that accompanied the adoption of modern foods in a number of different cultures throughout the world. Although he quantified changes in cavity prevalence (sometimes finding increases as large as 1,000-fold), all we have are Price's anecdotes describing the crooked teeth, narrow arches and "dished" faces these cultures developed as they modernized.

Price published the first edition of his book in 1939. Fortunately, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration wasn't the last word on the matter. Anthropologists and archaeologists have been extending Price's findings throughout the 20th century. My favorite is Dr. Robert S. Corruccini, currently a professor of anthropology at Southern Illinois University. He published a landmark paper in 1984 titled "An Epidemiologic Transition in Dental Occlusion in World Populations" that will be our starting point for a discussion of how diet and lifestyle factors affect the development of the teeth, skull and jaw (Am J. Orthod. 86(5):419)*.

First, some background. The word occlusion refers to the manner in which the top and bottom sets of teeth come together, determined in part by the alignment between the upper jaw (maxilla) and lower jaw (mandible). There are three general categories:

• Class I occlusion: considered "ideal". The bottom incisors (front teeth) fit just behind the top incisors.
• Class II occlusion: "overbite." The bottom incisors are too far behind the top incisors. The mandible may appear small.
  
• Class III occlusion: "underbite." The bottom incisors are beyond the top incisors. The mandible protrudes.
  

Malocclusion means the teeth do not come together in a way that's considered ideal. The term "class I malocclusion" is sometimes used to describe crowded incisors when the jaws are aligning properly.

Over the course of the next several posts, I'll give an overview of the extensive literature showing that hunter-gatherers past and present have excellent occlusion, subsistence agriculturalists generally have good occlusion, and the adoption of modern foodways directly causes the crooked teeth, narrow arches and/or crowded third molars (wisdom teeth) that affect the majority of people in industrialized nations. I believe this process also affects the development of the rest of the skull, including the face and sinuses.

In his 1984 paper, Dr. Corruccini reviewed data from a number of cultures whose occlusion has been studied in detail. Most of these cultures were observed by Dr. Corruccini personally. He compared two sets of cultures: those that adhere to a traditional style of life and those that have adopted industrial foodways. For several of the cultures he studied, he compared it to another that was genetically similar. For example, the older generation of Pima indians vs. the younger generation, and rural vs. urban Punjabis. He also included data from archaeological sites and nonhuman primates. Wild animals, including nonhuman primates, almost invariably show perfect occlusion.

The last graph in the paper is the most telling. He compiled all the occlusion data into a single number called the "treatment priority index" (TPI). This is a number that represents the overall need for orthodontic treatment. A TPI of 4 or greater indicates malocclusion (the cutoff point is subjective and depends somewhat on aesthetic considerations). Here's the graph: Every single urban/industrial culture has an average TPI of greater than 4, while all the non-industrial or less industrial cultures have an average TPI below 4. This means that in industrial cultures, the average person requires orthodontic treatment to achieve good occlusion, whereas most people in more traditionally-living cultures naturally have good occlusion.

The best occlusion was in the New Britain sample, a precontact Melanesian hunter-gatherer group studied from archaeological remains. The next best occlusion was in the Libben and Dickson groups, who were early Native American agriculturalists. The Pima represent the older generation of Native Americans that was raised on a somewhat traditional agricultural diet, vs. the younger generation raised on processed reservation foods. The Chinese samples are immigrants and their descendants in Liverpool. The Punjabis represent urban vs. rural youths in Northern India. The Kentucky samples represent a traditionally-living Appalachian community, older generation vs. processed food-eating offspring. The "early black" and "black youths" samples represent older and younger generations of African-Americans in the Cleveland and St. Louis area. The "white parents/youths" sample represents different generations of American Caucasians.

The point is clear: there's something about industrialization that causes malocclusion. It's not genetic; it's a result of changes in diet and/or lifestyle. A "disease of civilization". I use that phrase loosely, because malocclusion isn't really a disease, and some cultures that qualify as civilizations retain traditional foodways and relatively good teeth. Nevertheless, it's a time-honored phrase that encompasses the wide array of health problems that occur when humans stray too far from their ecological niche. I'm going to let Dr. Corruccini wrap this post up for me:

I assert that these results serve to modify two widespread generalizations: that imperfect occlusion is not necessarily abnormal, and that prevalence of malocclusion is genetically controlled so that preventive therapy in the strict sense is not possible. Cross-cultural data dispel the notion that considerable occlusal variation [malocclusion] is inevitable or normal. Rather, it is an aberrancy of modern urbanized populations. Furthermore, the transition from predominantly good to predominantly bad occlusion repeatedly occurs within one or two generations' time in these (and other) populations, weakening arguments that explain high malocclusion prevalence genetically.

* This paper is worth reading if you get the chance. It should have been a seminal paper in the field of preventive orthodontics, which could have largely replaced conventional orthodontics by now. Dr. Corruccini is the clearest thinker on this subject I've encountered so far.

Diabetics on a Low-carbohydrate Diet, Part II

I just found another very interesting study performed in Japan by Dr. Hajime Haimoto and colleagues (free full text). They took severe diabetics with an HbA1c of 10.9% and put them on a low-carbohydrate diet:

The main principle of the CRD [carbohydrate-restricted diet] was to eliminate carbohydrate-rich food twice a day at breakfast and dinner, or eliminate it three times a day at breakfast, lunch and dinner... There were no other restrictions. Patients on the CRD were permitted to eat as much protein and fat as they wanted, including saturated fat.

What happened to their blood lipids after eating all that fat for 6 months, and increasing their saturated fat intake to that of the average American? LDL decreased and HDL increased, both statistically significant. Oops. But that's water under the bridge. What we really care about here is glucose control. The patients' HbA1c (glycated hemoglobin; a measure of average blood glucose over the past several weeks) declined from 10.9 to 7.4%.

Here's a graph showing the improvement in HbA1c. Each line represents one individual:

Every single patient improved, except the "dropout" who stopped following the diet advice after 3 months (the one line that shoots back up at 6 months). And now, an inspirational anecdote from the paper:

One female patient had an increased physical activity level during the study period in spite of our instructions. However, her increase in physical activity was no more than one hour of walking per day, four days a week. She had implemented an 11% carbohydrate diet without any antidiabetic drug, and her HbA1c level decreased from 14.4% at baseline to 6.1% after 3 months and had been maintained at 5.5% after 6 months.

That patient began with the highest HbA1c and ended with the lowest. Complete glucose control using only diet and exercise. It may not work for everyone, but it's effective in some cases. The study's conclusion:

...the 30%-carbohydrate diet over 6 months led to a remarkable reduction in HbA1c levels, even among outpatients with severe type 2 diabetes, without any insulin therapy, hospital care or increase in sulfonylureas. The effectiveness of the diet may be comparable to that of insulin therapy.

Diabetics on a Low-carbohydrate Diet
The Tokelau Island Migrant Study: Diabetes

sept. 28

I am super busy with work and preparing a trip on Wed. so may not blog much this week.

Today I had the same old sort of thing: smoothie for brekky,

lunch was kale with sweet potato sauce. two lessons learned here: 1) the local sweet potatoes haven't been that good. they are kind of tasteless. Usually, the local stuff is way better. and 2), I don't like sesame seeds in the sauce. I thought since my zucchini and rutabaga sauce is good with sesame seeds, this would be too. But it's not. Maybe it needed onion. I don't know.

dinner was a big ole' salad with mango dressing. very yummy. and an apple.

mango dressing #4

I didn't realize I have 3 other mango dressings already until now. This is similar. I got this one from Darryl, and modified slightly. Scale ingredients according to how much mango you have.

Ingredients:

1/2 avocado or 1 oz cashews

1 oz pecans

1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice (vary to desired consistency)

1 bag frozen mangos (or 2 cups fresh)

1-2 Tbsp Riesling raisin vinegar (Darryl uses 3 Tbsp on a smaller batch!)

blend it all up in the blender. the vinegar and pecans are a nice touch. yummmmmmmm!

beans and greens

Here's a basic meal:

I cooked up a ton of collard greens with an onion in the pressure cooker for 4 minutes (on high). Added some pomegranate juice and fig vinegar.

The beans are from this recipe: 2 cups red beans, an onion, about 5 cups carrot and beet juice. oh I should have added part of a lime and some herbs but I didn't think of it.

It was a satisfying meal.

The Health Care Reform Dialogue Continues at JSPH

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was on the Jefferson campus last week with a local Congressional delegation. She emphasized the need for reform of our broken system and campaigned for the house bill. She is committed to a public option and to universal coverage. Her comments were compelling and they attracted a good deal of local press attention too. Dr. Nash was fortunate enough to be interviewed by Jefferson’s local ABC affiliate in a story that aired just after the Speaker’s visit!

Last week the Jefferson School of Population Health (JSPH) also hosted a symposium on The Future of Health Care in Pennsylvania: Developing Leaders in Health Care Quality and Safety. Thomas Jefferson University (TJU)’s president, Dr. Bob Barchi, kicked off the event by speaking about the need to improve quality, outcomes and access to health insurance. He also highlighted TJU’s commitment to improving the health care crisis by founding JSPH. The event included two panel discussions, and Kim Taylor, President of Centocor Ortho Biotech Inc., announced the recipients of full scholarships for two JSPH Health Policy students.

Rosemarie Greco, Senior Advisor to the Governor’s Office of Health Care Reform, served as the featured speaker and talked about the need for cultural transformation within health care. According to Greco, everyone must be involved in this transformation, and everyone must ask and understand the “why” behind need for health care reform. Unless there is a common understanding of the “why,” meaningful reform cannot take place.

The first panel discussion, moderated by Josh Goldstein of the Philadelphia Inquirer, focused on the stimulus plan and its national impact on health care. Much of the conversation centered on stimulus dollars for Health Information Technology (HIT) and the use of HIT to improve outcomes. Panelists also called for research to build the evidence base for higher quality bedside care and better outcomes.

The second panel, moderated by Chris Satullo of WHYY, explored health care reform in Pennsylvania and how we can leverage our state resources. Significant takeaways from the panel included innovation and its role in health care reform, opportunities and obstacles in the greater Philadelphia region to encouraging and embracing innovation, and the lack of a regional start-up culture. The panel also touched on public medical education in Pennsylvania and the importance subsidizing the cost of medical education in this region in order to bring young, talented people into a setting where medical innovation thrives. Dr. Nash concluded the afternoon by announcing that he hopes everyone will continue to participate in local and regional dialogue about these key issues.

David B. Nash, MD, MBA
Dean, Jefferson School of Population Health

Laura Kimberly, MSW, MBE
Director of Special Projects, Jefferson School of Population Health

fun with smoothies

Today I made extra special smoothies. I made 6 servings (about 16 oz I think) to freeze. I used 12 oz of spinach divided into three batches of 2 smoothies. They had their usual supplements too. And for a treat I used raw cashews instead of my usual seeds (1/3-1/2 cup for batch). Here were the variations; that is, along with the spinach and raw cashews, here are the fruit additions to each one:

1. fresh pineapple, mango, pear, and orange juice. Extremely delicious and a pretty lime green.

2: fresh figs, fresh-squeezed pomegranate juice, fresh pear, and 2 bags of frozen blueberries. I added 1 Tbsp date sugar. I forgot to take a picture but as you can guess, it was blue.

3: fresh pomegranate juice and orange juice (totaling 1 cup), 2 bags of frozen sweet cherries. I added 1 Tbsp of date sugar and wished I hadn't. It was already plenty sweet!

Here it is when I'm all done. You can see my mangled vita-mix plunger from one time when I forgot to use the rubber top to stop the plunger from hitting the blades. I need to order a new one. You can also see the mess at the end of the job.

These are in the freezer covered with foil, to eat over the next few days.

Sept. 26

late brekky: smoothie. this one was the other half of the mango-blueberry (spinach) smoothie I made a few days ago. This was really good. I was at a 4-hour meeting at a restaurant that specializes in cupcakes. I thought I might eat something from the menu but there weren't many vegan options and nothing jumped out at me. I wondered if I was going to eat a cupcake (they had vegan strawberry ones). I enjoyed looking at them but didn't want to eat one (surprisingly). I think that's because I got sick last time I ate them.

late lunch: I was grocery shopping and I got a banana and fresh-ground peanut butter. This seems to be one of my favorite treats these days. Let's see, then when I got home, I had some fresh figs, some raw cashews (didn't need those after the peanut butter), a kohlrabi and a carrot.

Dinner: mashed baked sweet potato with a little date sugar and fresh pineapple cut up. another kohlrabi and carrot. then snacked on smoothies while making them. I ate a lot. each smoothie had a little extra I had to eat up. oops. mmm.

I'm eating too many sweets and not enough beans and greens. I have to admit I'm having fun with it. maybe I'll stop tomorrow. I'm enjoying my favorite foods before going out of town next week.

cherry walnut ice cream

This is really simple and really good.

Ingredients:

1 bag frozen cherries

1/4 cup raw walnuts or cashews

1/2 cup pomegranate juice or orange juice (fresh squeezed preferable!)

Blend in a high powered blender. If you think ahead of time, put your bowl in the freezer 15 minutes before preparing. then the ice cream doesn't melt as fast. Super sweet and good with no added sugar!

sept. 25

brekky: smoothie

lunch: veggies and black bean hummus. This is the best hummus in the world. I've made the same with chickpeas and it's not as good. My collaborator loves this too. He's starting to come over every day to get lunch along with working. The working is very productive too. I still keep overcooking the veggies in the pressure cooker. I cooked up whatever was in the fridge: eggplant, zucchini, potato, sweet potato, broccoli. I cut them into longer dipping strips. After cooking the potato and sweet potato, I put them in the oven at 350 F for 10 minutes, dusted in a little date sugar, to dry them out a bit. Everything was great, just a little too well-done for dipping. Next time I need to use the low setting in the pressure cooker. and cook for 1 minute. I'll try to remember.

dinner: small bowl of lentils and greens. Then I made the same salad I've been making lately: lettuce, orange bell pepper, tomatoes, avocado, D'Angou pear vinegar. Here's a picture:

It was outstanding. Then I should have stopped but I made some cherry ice cream. I have been having fun with the pomegranate juice so was looking for things to make with it. I ate the whole thing. I got too full. It was fantastic though.

sept. 24 food

It's two days later but I think I can remember:

brekky: smoothie

lunch: made my usual salad of late from fresh local stuff: lettuce, orange bell pepper, tomatoes. oh, the dressing was fresh squeeze pomegranate juice mixed with ground walnuts. That was sooooo good. I heated up some veggie pot with sweet corn for housemate. This was the last of the veggie pot. I ate some frozen sweet corn myself, and then got a tummy ache. I'm wondering if it's the sweet corn. It's really sweet and I didn't cook it before freezing. I'll have to monitor.

dinner: I was at a meeting, then went grocery shopping. I ate a banana and some fresh-ground peanut butter at the co-op. yum. then came home and made smoothies--these had fresh pom/grape juice in them, fresh pineapple, and frozen blueberries, and strawberries. I'm having fun throwing fresh fruit into the smoothies. I nibbled a lot on the pineapple and grapes. no regrets there, yum.

fresh-squeezed pomegranate/grape juice

I invested in a hand-crank citrus juicer and it's the best I've ever used--faster and easier to use. You can juice a pomagranate same way as an orange. First, cut it in half:

Then put it in the juicer and smash with the crank:

I also tried some concord grapes for fun:

It was a little more messy. I tasted this and it was yummy. I added the rest to a smoothie. mmmm.

Humanity Undone

On a recent trip I took, I had several hours in a hotel room to watch some tv. I don't own a tv, so this was an opportunity to channel surf and explore. I was honestly blown away by two different shows that I saw. I can't tell you the last time I felt something so strongly after watching a tv program. Maybe it could be compared to the feeling I had walking out of the movie theater after watching The Passion of Christ - dumbstruck, silent, amazed. But this time for very different reasons.

The two shows I watched were Hoarders and Half Ton Dad. I guess I always knew in my mind, and realized from personal experience, that humanity is lost and, left to our own, prone to self-destructive behavior. But there were limits to my imagination. Yes, there is Mardi Gras and all the debauchery you can think of with passions gone wild. But these two shows exposed the more subtle, almost benign means by which people can actually destroy their lives.

Considering that there are almost 3 million people classified as "Hoarders" and almost 7 million Americans are considered "Morbidly Obese", it is difficult to wrap my brain around these obsessions/compulsions. To watch the stories of a man who played football in high school, had 4 kids, and lived a fairly normal life balloon up to 1000 lbs in 7 years after his divorce is truly shocking. To say it is a sin is to miss the point. To say it is demonic is probably closer in that the enemy of our souls is known to seek every avenue to steal, kill, and destroy. He will do it "by any means necessary", including eating ourselves to death! At a point this surpasses the concept of gluttony, for sure. It is simply unexplainable to me. It all gave me a great sense of sadness at the lostness of people in our world.

Flag Burning 101

Don't burn the flag flying in front of a VFW hall!

This guy learned the hard way. I think he got off easy.

Global Warming Videos

Here's an interesting website/link that has 25 videos posted regarding the scam that is Man-Made Global Warming. I browsed through a few of them and thought it was worth at least a link. There's everything from documentaries, interviews, and newscasts. Enjoy.

Another Fatty Liver Reversal, Part II

A month ago, I wrote about a reader "Steve" who reversed his fatty liver using a change in diet. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a truly disturbing modern epidemic, rare a few decades ago and now affecting roughly a quarter of the adult population of modern industrialized nations. Researchers cause NAFLD readily in rodents by feeding them industrial vegetable oils or large amounts of sugar.

Steve recently e-mailed me to update me on his condition. He also passed along his liver test results, which I've graphed below. ALT is a liver enzyme that enters the bloodstream following liver damage such as hepatitis or NAFLD. It's below 50 units/L in a healthy person*. AST is another liver enzyme that's below 35 units/L in a healthy person*.

Steve began his new diet in November of 2008 and saw a remarkable and sustained improvement in his ALT and AST levels:

Here's how Steve described his diet change to me:

I totally eliminated sugar, heavy starches, and grains. Started eating more whole, real foods, including things like grass-fed beef and pastured pork and eggs, began supplementing with good fats and omega-3 (pastured butter, coconut oil, cod liver oil). Ate more fruits and vegetables instead of refined carbs. Also completely gave up on the idea that I had to eat only "lean" meats. After my last results, the GI doc said that I wouldn't need the biopsy at all, that things were great, and that if I kept it up I "would live forever."

He did experience some side effects from this diet though:

My triglycerides also went from pre-diet measures of 201 and 147 to post diet 86, 81, and 71.

The added bonus, of course, was that my weight went from 205 pounds to 162 pounds and my body fat percentage from 24% to 12% in the matter of five months--all without the typically excessive cardio I used to try unsuccessfully for weight loss.

The liver is the body's "metabolic grand central station". It's essential for nutrient homeostasis, insulin sensitivity, detoxification, and hormone conversion, among other things. What's bad for the liver is bad for the rest of the body as well. Don't poison your liver with sugar and industrial vegetable oils.


* The cutoff depends on who you ask, but these numbers are commonly used.

How to Fatten Your Liver
Excess Omega-6 Fat Damages Infants' Livers
Health is Multi-Factorial
Fatty Liver Reversal
Another Fatty Liver Reversal

sept. 23

late brekky at the co-op: 1/2 small dal (yellow) watermelon--though it was bigger than usual. then my eyes were bigger than my stomach and I had gotten a peach and some blackberries and pistachio nuts too. I ate the peach and some nuts. Definitely didn't need that!

late lunch: smoothie with mango & blueberries. very creamy and good. used a fresh mango (then froze overnight). ate the blackberries I got at brekky. and 2 small apples. and more nuts. okay, now I was really full. I'm eating way too much fruit today.

early dinner: okay, not hungry but I have a meeting tonight. ate some veggie pot with fresh frozen sweet corn. and then kept eating the sweet corn.

today I ate way too many sweets and have a tummy ache as a result. my body is pretty good at telling me when I'm overdoing it. Now I just have to listen to it!

Present from Obama

The word "Present" honestly sums up the man, President Obama. This is true in several ways:
1) During the election it came out that he voted "Present" more than any other IL Senator. This can only be to avoid making difficult or politically risky decisions. It is the least courageous and most troubling aspect of the man.

2) Since he has taken office, he is constantly demanding that "Now is the time...." There is no better time than the PRESENT. And everything is critical. We must solve the financial crisis NOW. We must solve health care NOW. We must deal with global warming NOW. We must have a Palestinian/Israeli Peace NOW. Now is the time to do everything. There is no nuance, no prioritizing, no depth or complexity to life and global issues. Now is the time - let's get it done. It's as if in his world there is only now and everything is as equally pressing, important, significant, and doable. But this isn't reality. And this is proven by the fact that the Democrats can't even find agreement on a health care bill and the Palestinians and Israelis both were unimpressed with Obama's weak attempts to move them closer together. There is more than just declaring something must be done now in order to make something important or even to get movement toward progress.

3) And today I was reminded of another "Present" from Obama. It is so bizarre that he references so many things as if the world began when he became President. He has almost no recollection of even recent history - or at least his speeches give no indication that he is aware of it. It is as if the present year, hour, season is all there ever was. There is nothing before now and nothing after worth considering. Just focus on the present and we won't have to look back at campaign promises or possible consequences of present decisions. The present is all we have and all we need - according to Obama.

Well, all of these "presents" from Obama are quite disturbing.

Beyond Kyoto - Before Obama

"Kyoto" is the title for the world agreement to cut carbon emissions in order to stem the tide of global warming. However, it has many critics and has had difficulty getting off the ground. Google it to find the details. However, I bring it up because President Obama spoke at the UN today and mentioned that his Administration has done more in 9 months than has been done in the 8 years before to address carbon emissions. I honestly can't figure this guy out. Does he really just think no one knows what happened before he was inaugurated? Well, on one blog I came across a link that I found very interesting. It is an article from 2005 that discusses some then-current actions taken by the Bush Administration to address "Kyoto", but in a pro-growth, low-tax, multi-lateral fashion. Here's the link. The article starts:

"In a surprise move that caught Europe's smug moralists and the environmental movement's noisy extremists flatfooted, the United States announced in Vientiane, Laos, last week that it was joining five other nations - China, India, Japan, South Korea and Australia -- in a new pact that offers a refreshing and effective alternative route to tackling the problem of climate change.

While given short shrift by the puzzled media, this is a big deal, in many ways.

First, it breaks the climate-change deadlock. This is the agreement that responsible scientists and public officials have been seeking since the failure of the Kyoto Protocol became evident at the global warming conclave in Delhi two years ago. Call it "Beyond Kyoto" - Way Beyond Kyoto...."

Sept. 22

brekky: smoothie from the freezer (thawed overnight). then I made more for the next few days and froze them. I nibbled while making them, on the pumpkin and sunflower seeds too.

lunch: Veggies and Sweet Potato Sauce: This was really good and I whipped it together in 30 minutes total: For me I cooked up brussels sprouts, and a very small eggplant for 1 minute in the pressure cooker (PC). For housemate I cooked up potatoes in the other PC for 1 minute. Then to mine I added yellow summer squash, sweet potatoes and frozen sweet corn and cooked for another minute. To housemate's I added frozen corn and peas and cooked for another minute. Then I took out the sweet potatoes from my PC, put them in the blender with walnuts and fresh pomegranate juice (I just cut a pom. into pieces and smashed it with my hand-crank juicer) and made the sauce--oh, I should have added some blueberry vinegar. I poured that over our veggies into two big bowls which we shared with a visitor working with me today. He loved it.

Dinner: I ate it backwards but liked it this way. Started off with a ripe peach (dessert). Then had a bowl of lentils from yesterday. Then a salad from lettuce, tomatoes, orange bell pepper, and green bell pepper. All the ingredients were from a local farm or my garden so it was really good and didn't need dressing. I just added some d'angou pear vinegar. I actually like ending with a salad. When I end with fruit, I just want more. It's opposite to what Dr. Fuhrman recommends which is to start with a big salad, the idea being to fill up on that, and eat less of the more high-caloric food.

I didn't exercise today so I didn't get very hungry. I had coughing fit last night and couldn't get to sleep. I hope I sleep better tonight. The cold is almost gone except for the cough.

Lentils and greens soup

This is easy and flexible with amounts.

Ingredients:

~2 cups red lentils (other color is fine too).

1-2 onions

2-4 cups carrot and/or beet or celery juice

Then add water as needed

a bunch of collard greens and/or kale, chopped in a food processor so you can squeeze even more in.

juice of 1/2 lemon

a little cilantro or other herb (e.g., chives)

1-2 tsp curry powder if you like it (I prefer without)

1-2 tsp cumin powder if you like it

Cook up everything except the lemon and fresh herbs for an hour or so, until tender. add the chopped herbs and lemon at the end. If you are using dried herbs, add them add the beginning instead of the end.

sept. 21

Late brekky after yoga and grocery shopping: fresh mango and blueberries. yum! I also had 3 carrots.

Of course, I wasn't very hungry for lunch an hour later. I had a small baked sweet potato and was nibbling on housemate's lunch while preparing. For her I made veggies (romanesco broccoli, carrots, peas & corn) cooked in pressure cooker and the topped with yesterday's tomato soup. It was really good. Wowsa. That soup is even better on vegetables. She had the leftovers for dinner tonight.

then I nibbled while making lentil/collard green soup. I started snacking about 4 pm. That is bad, because I just keep eating. I had an apple. then a peach. Then some soup. then some pineapple. then some more soup. Then it was about 6 pm and I said, okay, that was dinner.

Creamy Tomato soup

This is a recipe from Chef AJ. You can find the original recipe on this website, scroll down to the "Cream of Tomato Soup."

Here are the ingredients Chef AJ calls for:

1 lb Roma tomatoes, chopped

2 red bell peppers, chopped

1 clove garlic

6-8 large basil leaves

Juice of one lemon

2 tablespoons sun-dried tomato powder

1/4 tsp chipotle powder

1 cup shelled hemp seeds.

Here's what I used:

1.5 lb fresh garden tomatoes, cut into chunks

~1 cup fresh carrot juice

1 large clove garlic

7 basil leaves

Juice of one lime

ground up sun-dried tomatoes

1/8 tsp chipotle powder

1/2 cup shelled hemp seeds (raw cashews would work too)

I didn't have any red bell peppers so I thought, what flavor does that add? sweetness. so maybe carrot juice would be okay. but that might be too liquidy so add some more tomatoes. I didn't have a lemon so used a lime. You just put all the ingredients into the blender. Chef AJ says, leave out the hemp seeds and let it blend until it gets warm, then add the hemp seeds. I just blended it all and then heated it on the stove some more. It has a unique flavor. Housemate really liked it. She'll have the leftovers for dinner tomorrow night. I should have taken a picture.

sept. 20

I didn't eat brekky because I wasn't hungry before church. Afterwards I went grocery shopping, and got some brazil nuts and ate those on the way home, about 11:30 am.

Today was the last day of corn at the corn stand. I can finally say I'm tired of corn. We kinda went overboard eating it every day and it does squeeze other things out of the diet. Plus it hasn't been as good lately as it was during the peak. It's not as tender. The sweetness varies depending on whether they picked too early--the bigger corns are sweeter. So for lunch we had 2 corn on the cobs, and a salad made from fresh salad greens, tomatoes from the garden, avocado, chopped walnuts, and orange vinegar. When we have fresh garden tomatoes, I have no desire for salad dressing because the tomatoes are sooooo flavorful.

I got some local carrots at the co-op today that I think are the best carrots I've ever tasted. So I snacked on those before dinner. Boy were they good. For dinner I made this creamy tomato soup. This had a really nice flavor. We had that with our last piece of corn on the cob. I also made smoothies for housemate which I nibbled from because there was extra. I also ate a small raw kohlrabi while preparing dinner. I also snacked on the tomato soup while heating it up--taste testing. I definitely eat too much while preparing dinner!

Playing on the "Green Team"

I came across this story, which sounds vaguely familiar to another one I heard about before. If I find the other one, I'll link it. But the gist is that one high school football team allowed the other team to score a touchdown for a very special reason. The video looks like your average HS football game, but what is happening there is so much more. Here's the video. And here's the back story.

“I’ve got a special situation,” McCamy remembers telling [the opposing team's] defensive coach David McEnaney. “I know you guys want to get a shutout. Most teams would want a shutout, but in this situation I want to know if maybe you can let one of my guys run in for a touchdown.”...

As he headed across the field to talk to McEnaney, McCamy wasn’t sure what the reaction would be. He asked the players to avoid physical contact with Ziesel but to make it as real as possible for him.

“The (Maryville) players, they didn’t hesitate at all,” McEnaney said. “They jumped right on board.”

And so Matt Ziesel ran a sweep to the right and just kept going.

Jimmy, I hope you get to be on a "Green Team" one day. That's what true compassion and sportsmanship looks like.

The Deal With Disability.com

Bits and Pieces had this link up and I checked it out. It is a blog by a girl with Cerebral Palsy. She tells stories of how people treat her because of her disability and ways that she would prefer people to treat her. She is very kind in her descriptions of very humiliating experiences by the non-disabled. It's worth checking out just to get a a sense of her world. It's amazing because she can't talk, but she is a very good writer. Read and Learn.

Marshmallow Torture

This made me laugh, but how painful it would be.

sept. 18 & 19

I went on a kayaking trip this weekend, left yesterday afternoon so no time to blog before I left.

Yesterday for brekky I had a smoothie. I put in some concord grapes, blueberries, cherries and orange juice, along with the spinach, for a more sweet treat than usual. The grapes were delicious but the seeds gave it a crunchy texture, not sure how much I liked that. But I could probably get used to it. Hmm, I overate at lunch, I wonder if it was the sweetness of this that triggered it. I had a peach after the smoothie and didn't need that.

At lunch I had 2 ears of corn, and collard greens and tomatoes and onion and garlic cooked in the pressure cooker. I added the black fig vinegar and ground hemp seed. I didn't like the fig vinegar as much as the riesling raisin--oh, but I think the main reason is that I added basil. I don't think it mixed well. So I should give the fig vinegar another try. This was followed by another peach. Later in the afternoon I had 2 bananas and walnuts---unnecessary, because I wasn't hungry.

Dinner was leftover collards followed by a peach at the campground.

Brekky today at the campground was a delicious salad made from a lot of garden salad I cut yesterday, a mango, a small box of blueberries, small box of blackberries, and chopped walnuts. Fantastic.

Lunch was veggie pot. I took it out of the freezer yesterday, added some frozen corn, let it thaw in the ice chest overnight, let it heat up a bit in the kayak today, and it was still cool but tasted good at lunch. Also two small fresh local apples.

Dinner was 2 small apples, and a can of Dr. Fuhrman's VitaBeanaVegamin soup. Then when I got home I had an orange and some sunflower and pumpkin seeds (too many...).

It was a good kayaking trip.

sept. 17

Today I had a smoothie again for brekky. I'm enjoying these right now. Today's was blueberry and mango, and fresh lettuce from the garden. Yum.

I knew we were having lunch at Chipotle's so after brekky I cooked up some brussels sprouts and leek from the fridge (in the pressure cooker for 3 minutes)---the only veggies in my fridge. So what to do with this...well, how about adding some chopped walnuts (small handful). What else? well, I had another half of a musk melon from last night. It wasn't the sweetest melon in the world so I have no great desire to relish it by eating it alone. Let's cut up and add that; and some riesling raisin vinegar. And a small apple for dessert. Well, I wasn't expecting much, but when I ate it at lunch, it was really good! The nuts added a great crunch and flavor, and the musk melon added nice texture and flavor too. I thought it was way better than what everyone else was eating. yes, I am weird.

Dinner: Fortunately I've got some veggie pot in the freezer that I took out last night. I added frozen sweet corn to it and warmed it up. That was really good too. There was some flavor that mixed nicely with the corn and made it taste like clam chowder. I'm not sure what it was, the blended hemp and almonds and relatively small amount of tomatoes? or the eggplant?

I had stopped at the grocery store for a few things and got some watermelon, so had some of that for dessert. It was great. I love watermelon and the season is probably coming to an end soon, so I relished that. Tomorrow I'll have the rest.

It was a delicious day of eating, considering I didn't work hard at it. Freezing food definitely comes in handy later.

Diabetics on a Low-carbohydrate Diet

Diabetes is a disorder of glucose intolerance. What happens when a diabetic eats a low-carbohydrate diet? Here's a graph of blood glucose over a 24 hour period, in type II diabetics on their usual diet (blue and grey triangles), and after 5 weeks on a 55% carbohydrate (yellow circles) or 20% carbohydrate (blue circles) diet:


The study in question describes these volunteers as having "mild, untreated diabetes." If 270 mg/dL of blood glucose is mild diabetes, I'd hate to see severe diabetes! In any case, the low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet brought blood glucose down to an acceptable level without requiring medication.

It's interesting to note in the graph above that fasting blood glucose (18-24 hours) also fell dramatically. This probably reflects improved insulin sensitivity in the liver. The liver pumps glucose into the bloodstream when it's necessary, and insulin suppresses this. When the liver is insulin resistant, it doesn't respond to the normal signal that there's already sufficient glucose, so it releases more and increases fasting blood glucose. When other tissues are insulin resistant, they don't take up the extra glucose, also contributing to the problem.

Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), a measure of average blood glucose concentration over the preceding few weeks, also reflected a profound improvement in blood glucose levels in the low-carbohydrate group:

At 5 weeks, the low-carbohydrate group was still improving and headed toward normal HbA1c, while the high-carbohydrate group remained at a dangerously high level. Total cholesterol, LDL and HDL remained unchanged in both groups, while triglycerides fell dramatically in the low-carbohydrate group.

When glucose is poison, it's better to eat fat.

Graph #1 was reproduced from Volek et al. (2005), which re-plotted data from Gannon et al. (2004). Graph #2 was drawn directly from Gannon et al.

sept. 16

I woke up hungry and alert at 5 am, which I took as a good sign that I'm recovering from my cold. Then I went back to sleep until almost 8 am, which is late for me, so probably a sign that I still need rest.

Brekky was same smoothie as yesterday, with strawberries instead of raspberries, juice from 2 oranges (1 for each smoothie), and garden lettuce mixed in with garden spinach. It was yummy.

Lunch was a big pot of greens, same as a few days ago but what a difference the vinegar makes. I seem to not like the spicy pecan flavor from a few days ago, but liked the riesling raisin today. I picked a kitchen sink-full of kale from the garden, washed and ripped into pieces, and added it to my big pot on top of a chopped onion. I topped that with some chopped tomatoes from the garden and chopped garlic. Here it is before cooking. It almost fills the pot.

I cooked for 4 minutes in the pressure cooker:

Quite a smaller volume after cooking! (Sorry the lighting isn't the same for these shots. It wasn't that much darker after cooking.) I added a Tbsp of hemp seed, ground up, to give me some healthy fat and thicken the juice a bit. I ate about 40% at lunch at 60% at dinner. It was good, nothing fancy but I liked it. I also had a couple of carrots and an apple at lunch. At dinner I also had half a musk melon (like a cantaloupe) and an orange.

My cold is getting better, but I sure don't have much energy. Sitting at my desk I feel fine though, so I got lots of work done tonight. But I went to campus today and just was dragging.

First Day of School at JSPH

Last week was quite a week at the Jefferson School of Population Health. On Tuesday we hosted our first Orientation to welcome our incoming students, and Wednesday – 09/09/09 – was the first day of classes for the new school. Appropriately enough, President Obama brought his case for health care reform before a joint session of Congress that very same evening.

It’s likely that the students we greeted last week – the inaugural class of the Jefferson School of Population Health – will have witnessed historic changes to the way we organize and deliver health care in the United States – all by the time they complete their first year as a JSPH student. I continue to be amazed at the synchronous path we at JSPH continue to follow with our nation’s top domestic agenda in passing meaningful health care reform. I know that our students are tuned into our national dialogue on health care reform and how it meshes with our mission of preparing leaders with global vision to develop, implement and evaluate health policies and systems that improve the health of populations, and thereby enhance the quality of life.

The healthcare industry plays an increasingly vital role in our national economy, as employer and generator of almost 20 percent of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The intensifying complexity of this industry in an era of heightened expectations and scrutiny means that there is both need and demand for professionals and researchers who are well versed and prepared to assume leadership roles in public health, health policy and healthcare quality and safety.

To the members of our inaugural class, we look forward to serving you, and wish you success in the 2009-2010 academic year as we work together to fulfill our mission. The future of the United States as a vibrant nation depends on the nation’s leaders bringing affordable, quality health care to all Americans, and we will play a significant role in training and equipping these leaders for the job.

- Caroline Golab, PhD

Associate Dean, Academic and Student Affairs

Jefferson School of Population Health

quote

Laurie on the Fuhrman forums said the following:

If your friends and co-workers don't think the diet you eat is pretty darned weird, you're probably eating an unhealthy diet.

It's sad in the sense that 99.9% of Americans are eating an unhealthy diet. Those of us who are eating healthy are so far from the mainstream that we are considered totally weird, and our biggest struggle is the social stigma, not the food prep and eating. This healthy food is fantastic tasting. But you can't find it in restaurants, so I bring my own food, and yep, I am totally weird for that. But I refuse to compromise anymore for the sake of not offending others. What goes into my body is a sacred choice.

sept 15

just groovin' along with my cold.

had a smoothie for brekky. It makes enough for 2 so I shared with housemate. Normally I make hers differently but we were out of bananas and oranges. She liked this one so I may continue to make these for both of us. They are better freshly made than frozen and thawed. This one just had 2 Tbsp flaxseeds, 1 bag (frozen) blueberries, 1 bag raspberries, 1/2 bag cherries, water, and spinach from the garden. I liked it. I will probably add a little maple syrup to housemate's portion to satisfy her sweet tooth.

Lunch: the corn stand was out, so we had some corn. It wasn't the greatest though. We each had 2 ears, and some sliced tomatoes. I also had a peach.

Dinner: an apple for appetizer; brussels sprouts, leek, carrots cooked in pressure cooker, topped with riesling raisin vinegar; orange.

I'm still not eating a lot but I'm also still sedentary. Every day I'm eating more so I'm progressing. I can't say I feel better than yesterday so don't know if I've bottomed out yet. The cough bothers me the most. I have to try not to talk too much.

sept. 14 food

I still have my cold, but I did get hungry at lunchtime so that's probably a good sign.

For brekky I had a veggie juice from the freezer. As I stated yesterday, this was not a particularly good batch, so it's perfect for when you have a cold (can't taste it as well).

Lunch was yummy cherry tomatoes from the garden. I also cooked up some kale and tomatoes from the garden, with garlic and spicy pecan vinegar. I think I don't like that spicy pecan vinegar. Or maybe I just haven't got used to it yet. I had a small bowl at lunch and then a big bowl at dinner.

Normally this amount of food would leave me hungry but I'm not the least bit hungry. Dr. Fuhrman says the body doesn't want much food when you are sick so it can put it's energies toward fighting the illness. Plus I was completely sedentary today so the body didn't need much fuel.

1 Million Person March

By "The People" against the government. Too bad no one told us.

God OVER Nature

I was sitting in a waiting room the other day and picked up the Sept 2007 issue of Ladies Home Journal. The article The Church of Nature by Margaret Renkl was particularly disturbing to me. It recounts a mother's decision to stop dragging her 7-year old son to church when he expressed his displeasure with God.

"...now [my son] was finding the whole candle-incense-stained-glass scene a boring interruption of what ought to be the best day of the week -- a day with no school, no errands, no soccer game, no homework. Who could blame the kid? And who's to say that a 10-gallon bucket of tadpoles slowly transforming themselves into tree frogs in a little pool near the backyard couldn't demonstrate God's plan at least as well as all the verses of "How Great Thou Art"?"

I find it interesting that this mother views "the best day of the week" one without all the school and other activities. I assume that would imply those things are burdensome. Yet, a child grudgingly getting ready for school doesn't cause the mother to abandon education.

Additionally, when she asks "who's to say...", I would respond: God. Church is not about "demonstrating God's plan" as much as it is to connect with God's people, express God's worth (worship), and interact with God's truth in a corporate setting. More simply, It's about God; and He's revealed what he expects of us and how he has chosen to manifest Himself on Earth - in the Church.

I appreciate what Dennis Prager said in his commentary on Gen 1:1 - God is not IN nature. He is OVER nature. He created nature. Although he reveals Himself in what He created, religious rituals and theology, as expressed in "How Great Thou Art", are most definitely more substantial (if they can be explained to a child) than a bucket of tadpoles.

sept. 13 food

Today I have a cold so I'm taking it easy. I was supposed to go to the Packer-Bear (NFL football) game tonight! This may be the only chance in my life, but someone else who is a lifelong fan used my ticket so I actually think that's better. I'm watching it on TV with my blanket and tea.

I haven't been hungry today, and plus I don't have much food, having just arrived back in town yesterday. So I drank one of my frozen (thawed) veggie juices. That was perfect because with my cold I don't taste much, and I don't particularly like the taste of this juice (it will not be made again). Then we have a bunch of beautifully ripe garden tomatoes so I had a few small ones. And I drank lots of herbal tea. If I feel more hungry and energetic tomorrow, I'll go after the kale and collards in the garden with tomatoes and garlic.

sept. 12 food

Today I travelled home.

Before leaving, we had a brekky of blueberries and mango. Even though I wasn't hungry, it was really yummy. I agree with Gail that it is a fantastic brekky. I'm going to try this out at home. Maybe the mangos at my co-op are good this time of year. I might have got the wrong impression by buying them in winter, when they are shipped from South America.

Then Gail supplied me with a bunch of nuts that I didn't need because I wasn't hungry, and yet I still ate them. Oh yeah, I ate some date nut pop'ems that she sent with me too. oops.

When I got home I went to the corn stand and got a baker's dozen of corn, a musk melon and a peach. I ate all three--well, just 2 of the corns. But then I scraped the others to freeze and ate a bunch of it while scraping.

Dinner: some frozen corn right out of the bag. I wasn't hungry then either but I couldn't resist.

I've caught a cold and lost my appetite so I think I'd better stop eating and let my body heal itself.

sept. 11 food

Still on travel in a hotel, but I had food in the fridge at the office from yesterday's grocery shopping so I was set with food:

Brekky: banana and nuts (cashews, walnuts), some fruit at the continental breakfast at the office: grapes, pineapple, cantaloup, melon. a few carrots.

Lunch: huge salad made from lettuce greens, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, chickpeas, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, and orange vinegar. I was full after this!

snack: ooops, Gail picked me up for our final bike ride and brought some of the dessert from a few days ago. I wasn't hungry but it was too good to resist.

After the bike ride: some carrots, half a banana, some brazil nuts. then dinner. We cooked a couple of Fuhrman recipes: Sweet and Sour Fancy Cabbage Salad. This was easy and really good. And Dr. Fuhrman's Acorn Squash Supreme. We used a fresh pineapple instead of canned--blended some to make the "juice", and cooked the squash in the pressure cooker to speed it up. I overcooked it. It was still good, just really mushy.

Then after all that, we finished off the Super Fruit Tart from a few days ago.

So as usual, I overate! Good thing I've been so active this week (ran 3 miles this morning, mountain biked in the evening), but still, this is too much food!

Paleolithic Diet Clinical Trials Part IV

Dr. Staffan Lindeberg has published a new study using the "paleolithic diet" to treat type II diabetics (free full text). Type II diabetes, formerly known as late-onset diabetes until it began appearing in children, is typically thought to develop as a result of insulin resistance (a lowered tissue response to the glucose-clearing function of insulin). This is often followed by a decrease in insulin secretion due to degeneration of the insulin-secreting pancreatic beta cells.

After Dr. Lindeberg's wild success treating patients with type II diabetes or glucose intolerance, in which he normalized the glucose tolerance of all 14 of his volunteers in 12 weeks, he set out to replicate the experiment. This time, he began with 13 men and women who had been diagnosed with type II diabetes for an average of 9 years.

Patients were put on two different diets for 3 months each. The first was a "conventional diabetes diet". I read a previous draft of the paper in which I believe they stated it was based on American Diabetes Association guidelines, but I can't find that statement in the final draft. In any case, here are the guidelines from the methods section:

The information on the Diabetes diet stated that it should aim at evenly distributed meals with increased intake of vegetables, root vegetables, dietary fiber, whole-grain bread and other whole-grain cereal products, fruits and berries, and decreased intake of total fat with more unsaturated fat. The majority of dietary energy should come from carbohydrates from foods naturally rich in carbohydrate and dietary fiber. The concepts of glycemic index and varied meals through meal planning by the Plate Model were explained [18]. Salt intake was recommended to be kept below 6 g per day.

The investigators gave the paleolithic group the following advice:

The information on the Paleolithic diet stated that it should be based on lean meat, fish, fruit, leafy and cruciferous vegetables, root vegetables, eggs and nuts, while excluding dairy products, cereal grains, beans, refined fats, sugar, candy, soft drinks, beer and extra addition of salt. The following items were recommended in limited amounts for the Paleolithic diet: eggs (≤2 per day), nuts (preferentially walnuts), dried fruit, potatoes (≤1 medium-sized per day), rapeseed or olive oil (≤1 tablespoon per day), wine (≤1 glass per day). The intake of other foods was not restricted and no advice was given with regard to proportions of food categories (e.g. animal versus plant foods). The evolutionary rationale for a Paleolithic diet and potential benefits were explained.

Neither diet was restricted in calories. After comparing the effects of the two diets for 3 months, the investigators concluded that the paleolithic diet:

• Reduced HbA1c more than the diabetes diet (a measure of average blood glucose)
• Reduced weight, BMI and waist circumference more than the diabetes diet
• Lowered blood pressure more than the diabetes diet
  
• Reduced triglycerides more than the diabetes diet
• Increased HDL more than the diabetes diet

However, the paleolithic diet was not a cure-all. At the end of the trial, 8 out of 13 patents still had diabetic blood glucose after an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). This is compared to 9 out of 13 for the diabetes diet. Still, 5 out of 13 with "normal" OGTT after the paleolithic diet isn't bad. The paleolithic diet also significantly reduced insulin resistance and increased glucose tolerance, although it didn't do so more than the diabetes diet.

As has been reported in other studies, paleolithic dieters ate fewer total calories than the comparison group. This is part of the reason why I believe that something in the modern diet causes hyperphagia, or excessive eating. According to the paleolithic diet studies, this food or combination of foods is neolithic, and probably resides in grains, refined sugar and/or dairy. I have my money on wheat and sugar, with a probable long-term contribution from industrial vegetable oils as well.

Were the improvements on the paleolithic diet simply due to calorie restriction? Maybe, but keep in mind that neither group was told to restrict its caloric intake. The reduction in caloric intake occurred naturally, despite the participants presumably eating to fullness. I suspect that the paleolithic diet reset the dieters' body fat set-point, after which fat began pouring out of their fat tissue. They were supplementing their diets with body fat-- 13 pounds (6 kg) of it over 3 months.

The other notable difference between the two diets, besides food types, was carbohydrate intake. The diabetes diet group ate 56% more carbohydrate than the paleo diet group, with 42% of their calories coming from it. The paleolithic group ate 32% carbohydrate. Could this have been the reason for the better outcome of the paleolithic group? I'd be surprised if it wasn't a factor. Advising a diabetic to eat a high-carbohydrate diet is like asking someone who's allergic to bee stings to fetch you some honey from your bee hive. Diabetes is a disorder of glucose intolerance. Starch is a glucose polymer.

Although to be fair, participants on the diabetes diet did improve in a number of ways. There's something to be said for eating whole foods.

This trial was actually a bit of a disappointment for me. I was hoping for a slam dunk, similar to Lindeberg's previous study that "cured" all 14 patients of glucose intolerance in 3 months. In the current study, the paleolithic diet left 8 out of 13 patients diabetic after 3 months. What was the difference? For one thing, the patients in this study had well-established diabetes with an average duration of 9 years. As Jenny Ruhl explains in her book Blood Sugar 101, type II diabetes often progresses to beta cell loss, after which the pancreas can no longer secrete an adequate amount of insulin.

This may be the critical finding of Dr. Lindeberg's two studies: type II diabetes can be prevented when it's caught at an early stage, such as pre-diabetes, whereas prolonged diabetes may cause damage that cannot be completely reversed though diet. I think this is consistent with the experience of many diabetics who have seen an improvement but not a cure from changes in diet. Please add any relevant experiences to the comments.

Collectively, the evidence from clinical trials on the "paleolithic diet" indicate that it's a very effective treatment for modern metabolic dysfunction, including excess body fat, insulin resistance and glucose intolerance. Another way of saying this is that the modern industrial diet causes metabolic dysfunction.

Paleolithic Diet Clinical Trials
Paleolithic Diet Clinical Trials Part II
One Last Thought
Paleolithic Diet Clinical Trials Part III

911 - 8 Years Ago Today

On this day:

• We should have the flags across this nation at half-staff.
• We should have a national holiday today, where all government offices are closed to remember and honor the memories of those who died this day; a day that forever changed our nation.
• We should renew our passion and clarify our vision of what evil is and how we should defeat it around the world.

That's what I think.

I have heard various radio programs today, and did hear the Presidents speech at the Pentagon today. It really was an eloquent speech and I thought it struck the right note. I am disappointed that he has instead chosen to call this day to be considered for a day of service instead of a day of remembrance and national mourning.

The other most recent political news that has come to light and/or been ignored by the MSM is this whole scandal regarding Van Jones. There were two articles today that were brilliant. This one from Charles Krauthammer particularly said it well. His conclusion:

But on the eighth anniversary of 9/11 -- a day when there were no truthers among us, just Americans struck dumb by the savagery of what had been perpetrated on their innocent fellow citizens -- a decent respect for the memory of that day requires that truthers, who derangedly desecrate it, be asked politely to leave. By everyone.

sept. 10 food

I moved to a hotel last night for 2 nights for a 2-day meeting. I brought some fruit and nuts with me. The hotel has a decent buffet breakfast with oatmeal and fruit. But I wasn't hungry. At the start of the meeting, we had a continental breakfast. By then I was hungry, so had a banana and some walnuts, and some of the fruit provided by my hosts: grapes, melon, cantaloupe, strawberries, pineapple. Like most meetings, there was constant food available: breakfast, morning break, lunch, afternoon break, and dinner. I am not immune to everyone eating constantly so I ate at the breaks too. I had carrots at the morning break.

At lunchtime, a friend took me to a grocery store so I got my supplies for the next 2 days. I made a salad with greens, nuts, apple, strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries. It was very good. I forgot my orange vinegar--left in the hotel room. During the afternoon break, I ate some nuts and carrots, even though I wasn't the least bit hungry and didn't need it.

For dinner I brought a big salad made with greens, nuts (raw cashews and brazil nuts), chickpeas, banana, apple, and this time I remembered the orange vinegar. Dessert was an orange. I was overfull after eating all this, because I ate too many nuts today. My companions at dinner thought I was totally weird. The dinner was provided by our company and included free drinks. Most people at my table chose the steak, mashed potatoes and green beans and lots of beer and wine, followed by coffee and dessert. I have to admit, the food looked good. I have no desire to eat meat but I do recall enjoying it. The only attraction I felt to the alcohol was that it was free but it still tugged just a bit. The chocolate cake and coffee looked good. A good friend sitting next to me was stunned at my extreme eating habits and lack of drinking. I think he's worried that I've gone mad. This is where being a nutritarian can be difficult---having your friends think you are weird. I didn't really want the food though. It's too salty for me now. But it's not as much fun socializing in these situations anymore. People are uncomfortable with someone being different. Maybe over time I'll get better at making others comfortable. Also, since I don't drink anymore, I'm not all that interested in sitting around watching others drink. Overall, I didn't really want their food and alcohol and didn't feel deprived and still don't, but I did feel a little uncomfortable and a little bored, which makes me a little sad. Am I becoming boring? In these situations, I think maybe yes.

sept. 9 food

I'm still visiting my friend Gail today.

For brekky we had her favorite breakfast and I can see why: it's blueberries and mango. It was so good we had a second helping. so we each had a box of blueberries and and entire mango. yum! and I think we ate some nuts too. and a banana. Then we went on a very strenuous bike ride so I'm glad we had a big brekky. I described the ride on my biking blog. I never could have done this ride if I hadn't changed my diet a few years ago. This is the most stress I've had aerobically in a few years because of the altitude and constant steep climb, but since my arteries are all cleared up, I was able to get enough oxygen for the entire climb.

Lunch was late and we were starved. We made a salad with lots of nuts and apples and raisins and orange-sesame dressing. It was fantastic.

Dinner was Quick Bean and Vegetable Chili, from the Fuhrman recipe site. Dessert was also from the Fuhrman member site but it's not in the recipe site. It was called "Super Fruit Tart" and Gail found it on the "Custom Daily Menu" link in the "High Activity and Muscle Building Plan." It was fantastic. It had this ground nut/oat/date crust, a blended dried apricot (boiled) compote, and fresh berries and coconut flakes. I'm going to experiment with this recipe some more, trying dried mango instead of apricot. I love it. Here was the pie before we cut into it. The dish is about 9 inches in diameter so a reasonably big pie.

SHAPE THE FUTURE

SHAPE THE FUTURE---In a stirring and forceful speech, President Obama delivered a bipartisan centrist message that appealed to our character as a nation. Noting that we cannot fix the economy without fixing health care and promising not to increase the deficit he inherited, the President called for mandated insurance coverage for all Americans. Recognizing that the status quo is untenable, he called for the creation of an insurance exchange and for the so called "public option" to be created whereby those without insurance currently, could get coverage ----noting that it might take up to four years to implement. He also explicitly linked our need to reduce waste, improve quality, reduce hospital acquired infections and practice better team based care to the set of tools needed as part of the solution. From a policy perspective the speech clarified his own views and reinforced the notion that we have to build on the existing system. He did not disconnect insurance from the place of employment, he did not call for a major Medicare overhaul and he did not create major new federal bureaucracies to make his plan operational. Much more work needs to be done but I believe he effectively re--set the clock, re--set the arguments, and crafted a political umbrella under which lawmakers can now operate together. DAVID NASH MD MBA, Dean, Jefferson School of Population Health, Phila, PA