"...Once the election is over, the glittering generalities of rhetoric and style will mean nothing. Everything will depend on performance in facing huge challenges, domestic and foreign. Performance is where Barack Obama has nothing to show for his political career, either in Illinois or in Washington. Policies that he proposes under the banner of "change" are almost all policies that have been tried repeatedly in other countries-- and failed repeatedly in other countries....
Sowell on Obama
Here is a brilliant article by Thomas Sowell on the consequences of voting for Obama. Remember, Sowell is an African American (to highlight that none of his criticisms of Obama have anything to do with "the color of his skin, but rather the content of his character"). In part:
MIT, Methane, and "Mother Earth"
Here's a new study by MIT explaining the strange phenomena of simultaneous global increases in methane gases are not consistent with current models of global warming. The article on this study by TG Daily concludes:
"One thing does seem very clear, however; science is only beginning to get a handle on the big picture of global warming. Findings like these tell us it's too early to know for sure if man's impact is affecting things at the political cry of "alarming rates." We may simply be going through another natural cycle of warmer and colder times - one that's been observed through a scientific analysis of the Earth to be naturally occuring for hundreds of thousands of years."
food oct 29 & 30, 2008
oct. 29.
Breakfast: apple, some pineapple, pumpkin seeds, strawberries
Lunch: collard green smoothie, potato skins (made baked potatoes for house-mate and she doesn't like skins--they were good and sweet)
Snack before dinner: carrots, apple, strawberries, rest of a cantaloupe (not a lot, not too bad, not too great). The strawberries were better than usual even though it's the same brand, whatever that ubiquitous organic strawberry from California is. It seems the smaller ones are better.
Later dinner at my vegan cooking class: lots of different kinds of soups (3 of them from the Fuhrman member site, so I can't share, sorry): Black Forest Cream of Mushroom Soup, Carrot and Red Lentil Soup, Dr. Fuhrman's Famous Anti-Cancer Soup, and French Minted Pea Soup. For dessert, we had blueberry-fig sorbet. It was fun having all the soups together to taste-test. I was surprised to find that I liked the Anti-Cancer Soup more than the Cream of Mushroom, though maybe it's because I had 3 bowls of the mushroom soup on Tuesday! It's hard to pick the best. I think I'd pick the pea soup; and maybe the carrot-lentil soup next; and maybe the anti-cancer soup next. That's interesting because the cream of mushroom was hardest to make, so why bother?
oct. 30
Breakfast: apple, some pineapple, some pumpkin seeds, made a collard green smoothie and had the leftovers (3 oz maybe?).
Lunch: wasn't very hungry from yesterday, just had some steamed broccolli, and a few bite's from housemate's soup (carrot-lentil)
Dinner: collard green smoothie, carrot, some strawberries, and a banana with some walnuts. this was so good I had another! then I was too full. I may go on a banana with walnuts kick for a while. it's a great easy dessert.
I'm in a mind to just eat what I enjoy and see where that leads me to. I seem to really like fruit and the green smoothies more than anything else. But it goes in phases. I like cooked vegetables too, but probably just had too many of them this week with all the soups I was making. I don't like how the soups make me feel so full, due to the beans. I guess the solution is not to eat so much! Next week for the last cooking class, by student request, I'll make something with tofu, perhaps tempeh, and then some potluck type things.
Breakfast: apple, some pineapple, pumpkin seeds, strawberries
Lunch: collard green smoothie, potato skins (made baked potatoes for house-mate and she doesn't like skins--they were good and sweet)
Snack before dinner: carrots, apple, strawberries, rest of a cantaloupe (not a lot, not too bad, not too great). The strawberries were better than usual even though it's the same brand, whatever that ubiquitous organic strawberry from California is. It seems the smaller ones are better.
Later dinner at my vegan cooking class: lots of different kinds of soups (3 of them from the Fuhrman member site, so I can't share, sorry): Black Forest Cream of Mushroom Soup, Carrot and Red Lentil Soup, Dr. Fuhrman's Famous Anti-Cancer Soup, and French Minted Pea Soup. For dessert, we had blueberry-fig sorbet. It was fun having all the soups together to taste-test. I was surprised to find that I liked the Anti-Cancer Soup more than the Cream of Mushroom, though maybe it's because I had 3 bowls of the mushroom soup on Tuesday! It's hard to pick the best. I think I'd pick the pea soup; and maybe the carrot-lentil soup next; and maybe the anti-cancer soup next. That's interesting because the cream of mushroom was hardest to make, so why bother?
oct. 30
Breakfast: apple, some pineapple, some pumpkin seeds, made a collard green smoothie and had the leftovers (3 oz maybe?).
Lunch: wasn't very hungry from yesterday, just had some steamed broccolli, and a few bite's from housemate's soup (carrot-lentil)
Dinner: collard green smoothie, carrot, some strawberries, and a banana with some walnuts. this was so good I had another! then I was too full. I may go on a banana with walnuts kick for a while. it's a great easy dessert.
I'm in a mind to just eat what I enjoy and see where that leads me to. I seem to really like fruit and the green smoothies more than anything else. But it goes in phases. I like cooked vegetables too, but probably just had too many of them this week with all the soups I was making. I don't like how the soups make me feel so full, due to the beans. I guess the solution is not to eat so much! Next week for the last cooking class, by student request, I'll make something with tofu, perhaps tempeh, and then some potluck type things.
Thomas Sowell Interview
A while back I started to blog about a book that I was reading by Thomas Sowell -- A Conflict of Visions. I never finished reviewing the book in subsequent posts simply because I never finished the book, yet. But I did stumble across these posted video discussions with Thomas Sowell about this very book. Check it out if you were intrigued earlier.
oct 28 ramble
I have been feeling self-conscious because I told my cooking class about the blog and I'm embarrassed that someone might actually look at it. Compared to normal people, I eat really weird. This makes me think I'm weird and I tend to look down on myself at these times without asking why. I was thinking, will people think I have an eating disorder? Do I? I happened to make one of my self-deprecating remarks out-loud in a conversation and it was then that I realized how self-critical I am. I should be proud of myself, or at least happy with myself for becoming healthy through nutrition. I'm reluctant to be proud of myself because I can't stand it when people feel superior about anything. It is my biggest pet peeve (actually I have another biggest pet peeve which is women who pee on toilet seats! these are such different pet peeves that it's hard to compare them. but this is off-topic). Anyway, so I can't be proud of myself, but I should be happy with myself. Maybe I should be proud of myself in a non-superior way. I think I'm proud of myself in a non-superior way for being vegan. I'm still trying to figure out why it's easy for me to be vegan but more of a struggle to be a healthy eater in social situations. I don't care what others think about my veganism. I feel strongly about it and no one can make me eat animals. With the healthy stuff I'm much more worried about not offending or rocking the boat. oh well, I gotta get back to work.
oct 27-28 food
oct. 27
breakfast: apple, some walnuts and strawberries
snacked while making lunch and dinner
lunch: leftover carrot lentil soup. salad (lettuce, avocado, strawberries) + dressing (orange juice, almonds, figs blended)
dinner: collard green smoothie
oct. 28
breakfast: apple, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds
snacked while making lunch
lunch: made "Black Forest Cream of Mushroom soup" from the Fuhrman web site (which means I can't share it, sorry...). It took a while to make but was wonderful and makes lots of leftovers to freeze so the time investment is worth it---though it's harder to do on a weekday than a weekend, I was rushed today. I'm going to bring all these soups to my Vegan cooking class tomorrow.
dinner: leftover salad and dressing from yesterday. a very small bowl of soup leftover from lunch. collard green smoothie. Last night we had our first freeze in the garden. The collard greens barely survived but the kale mostly looked okay. if they freeze tonight, I'll cut them up and freeze them. I think I might have another week's worth of collard greens and kale from the garden. The growth rate has slowed a lot. This has been such a great crop though. I haven't had to buy any collard greens or kale! And I eat a lot of them!
Oct 25-26 food
Oct 25
I fell off the wagon today. I bought a bunch of muffins and cookies for an all-day work event and I ate some of them. Then later on, housemate and I decided to go to the Blue Plate Diner for dinner. I had a barbeque seitan sandwich, curly fries, and a vegan mint/vanilla chocolate chip shake! It was good and I enjoyed eating it. Oh, I also had a cup of decaff coffee in the morning. Well, I guess both the coffee and the chocolate in the shake was too much caffeine for me--I slept very poorly and was wide awake and more animated than usual. I can't believe how sensitive I am to caffeine now. And the salt in the dinner made my fingers swell up. geez louise I'm like this this caffeine/salt/sugar sensitivity meter now. So I don't know what to think. Is it okay to splurge every once in a while? Or is it easier to be 100%? I find it completely easy to be vegan, as it requires one rule--if it's not vegan, don't eat it. No emotion or feeling of feeling of deprivation accompanies this because I have no desire to eat animal products. But I go through different thought processes with healthy eating. A lot of the time my splurges are just because I'm wondering if I am missing something.
Oct. 26
Breakfast: apple, some delicious carrots
Lunch: collard green smoothie
Dinner: carrot lentil soup. It was a Fuhrman recipe so I can't post it here. It only had 3 ingredients: carrot juice, red lentils, and onions! It was sweet and good. I'm trying to make crackers from the leftover carrot pulp, based on what someone from the Fuhrman forums posted. I don't know if my first attempt is not going to be post-worthy. I'll let you know if it is.
The Jefferson School of Health Policy and Population Health
I wanted to give our readers an update on the progress of the new Jefferson School of Health Policy and Population Health. I am happy to report that we have successfully brought on board a great leader for the Masters Program in Health Care Quality and Safety, namely Dr Susan DesHarnais from Penn State Medical School at Hershey. Susan is an accomplished scholar and teacher who will be responsible for this program in the new school. We have finished our new school bylaws which we hope will be approved by the Board of the University at their winter meeting. We have begun to sculpt the content and sequence of the key courses across several of the Masters Programs and they are coming together nicely. We have accessed additional space on our campus to house many of our new recruits. Our new book on healthcare governance will be out very shortly and we will add this book to our other faculty edited texts, currently in use in the program.We are about to confirm a new communications director and very shortly, we will be publishing our first of many new brochures. For now, please visit our expanding web site at www.jefferson.edu/jshpph/. Thanks again for your support and I sure would like to hear from you. What do you think of our efforts to date?? Where do you think our initial class roster will come from?? What would YOU put in a Masters program in quality and safety?? Thanks for our support, DAVID NASH
Food Oct 23-24
Oct. 23
Breakfast: still full from yesterday and last night!, no breakfast
Lunch: leftover salad and dressing from yesterday's cooking class. good! for dessert, a cup of warm soy milk with carab powder. For fun, I experimented buying some raw and roasted carab. tried both out. Usually I make my own soy milk but bought some for the cooking class. It is sweet! They must add a lot of sweetener to it. It is good I admit that. the best brand in my opinion is Organic Valley.
Dinner: collard green smoothie. ate some grapes and an apple while making it. had a cup of warm soy milk with the carab again. I think I like the raw better.
Oct. 24
Breakfast: apple, some sunflower seeds, a little of last night's green collard smoothie--it filled more than 2 glasses. and finished off with warm soy milk. this time without carab. that was best of all I think.
Lunch: took some of that Fuhrman's famous anti-cancer soup out of the freezer. I'm sorry but that name does not appeal to me. It gives me visions of cancer and medicine. But it's great that it makes so much and I still have a few more containers in the freezer. I also had some carrots and an apple. I'm running low on food which made me break in to my first bag of locally grown carrots for the season. Boy are they good. Amazing how much better the locally grown stuff is. That's why I've been eating a lot of apples too because they are local and they are so much better than the ones shipped from Washington and New Zealand.
Dinner: rest of yesterday's collard green smoothie (I freeze it to keep it fresh and it thawed in the fridge during the day). more carrots, an apple. then 2 vegan "cowgirl" cookies at a gathering I went to tonight. these are the co-op's healthier version of chocolate chip cookies and I think they taste better than their regular vegan version.
Comment: I've noticed that my breakfast time is pretty close to lunch--only about 2-3 hours difference because I go to my exercise class first and then often grocery shop or run errands on the way home; and then I'm not really hungry at lunch. So I'm experimenting with eating less for breakfast and then having the smoothie at dinner. I have funny work hours so dinner for me is more like lunch for most people and lunch for me is more like dinner for most people. So the smoothie is easy to make for dinner. It is very filling, which is why it's problematic to eat at breakfast.
Oct. 22 food
Breakfast: apple, some sunflower and pumpkin seeds
Lunch: mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli and cauliflower, very good.
snacks all day: I was preparing for my first ever vegan cooking class (as teacher!). so I cooked a bunch of stuff and ate all day and night. Boy was I ever full. No wonder chefs are often portly. Well, I didn't have to eat it, but I don't resist desserts very well. So here's what I made during the day:
Salad: lettuce, mushrooms, edamame
The first two were from Fuhrman's member site so I'm guessing I'm not supposed to share them. They were both good. Dip the strawberries and apple pieces in the chocolate dip: YUM. And I love pumpkin pie so the pudding was a treat too, without all the unhealthy stuff in it. I ate too much of that during the day, whew.
Then at the class I made
Orange-walnut-fig salad dressing (like the orange-cashew one only with walnuts since I didn't have cashews), which went on the salad
Banana walnut ice cream
The ice cream was the surprise hit. Who knew that frozen bananas, walnuts, dates, and soy milk could be so delicious? and easy too. I'll have to remember that one. You really need a vita-mix for that one though---it even stresses the vita-mix. But it makes a real creamy half-frozen mixture, like custard in texture.
Vitamin D: It's Not Just Another Vitamin
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If I described a substance with the following properties, what would you guess it was?-It's synthesized by the body from cholesterol
-It crosses cell membranes freely
-It has its own nuclear receptor
-It causes broad changes in gene transcription
-It acts in nearly every tissue
-It's essential for health
There's no way for you to know, because those statements all apply to activated vitamin D, estrogen, testosterone and a number of other hormones. Vitamin D, as opposed to all other vitamins, is a steroid hormone precursor (technically it's a secosteroid but it's close enough for our purposes). The main difference between vitamin D and other steroid hormones is that it requires a photon of UVB light for its synthesis in the skin. If it didn't require UVB, it would be called a hormone rather than a vitamin. Just like estrogen and testosterone, it's involved in many processes, and it's important to have the right amount.
The type of vitamin D that comes from sunlight and the diet is actually not a hormone itself, but a hormone precursor. Vitamin D is converted to 25(OH)D3 in the liver. This is the major storage form of vitamin D, and thus it best reflects vitamin D status. The kidney converts 25(OH)D3 to 1,25(OH)D3 as needed. This is the major hormone form of vitamin D. 1,25(OH)D3 has profound effects on a number of tissues.
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 suggested that it may protect against cancer, hypertension, type 1 diabetes, bone fracture and enhance athletic performance. However, the evidence is pretty thin for most of these effects and requires more research.
It all makes sense if you think about how humans evolved: in a tropical environment with bright sun year-round. Even in many Northern climates, a loss of skin pigmentation and plenty of time outdoors allowed year-round vitamin D synthesis for most groups. Vitamin D synthesis becomes impossible during the winter above latitude 40 or so, due to a lack of UVB. Traditional cultures beyond this latitude, such as the Inuit, consumed large amounts of vitamin D from nutrient-rich animal foods like fatty fish.
The body has several mechanisms for regulating the amount of vitamin D produced from sunlight exposure, so overdose from this source appears to be impossible. Sunlight is also the most effective natural way to obtain vitamin D. How much vitamin D is optimal? 30 ng/mL 25(OH)D3 is required to normalize parathyroid hormone levels, and 35 ng/mL is required to optimize calcium absorption. It's probably best to maintain at least 35 ng/mL 25(OH)D3.
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 skim the fat off in the first place!). The resurgence of rickets is not surprising considering our current lifestyle and diet trends. In a recent study, 40% of infants and toddlers in Boston were vitamin D deficient using 30 ng/mL as the cutoff point. 7.5% of the total had rickets and 32.5% showed demineralization of bone tissue! Part of the problem is that mothers' milk is a poor source of vitamin D when the mother herself is deficient. Bring the mothers' vitamin D level up, and breast milk becomes an excellent source.
Here's how to optimize your vitamin D status: get plenty of sunlight without using sunscreen, and eat nutrient-rich animal foods, particularly in the winter. The richest food source of vitamin D is high-vitamin cod liver oil. Blood from pasture-raised pigs or cows slaughtered in summer or fall, and fatty fish such as herring and sardines are also good sources. Vitamin D is one of the few nutrients I can recommend in supplement form. Make sure it's D3 rather than D2; 2,000 IU per day hould be sufficient to maintain blood levels in wintertime unless you are obese (in which case you may need more and should be tested). Vitamin D3 supplements are typically naturally sourced, coming from sheep lanolin or fish livers. A good regimen would be to supplement every day you get less than 10 minutes of sunlight.
People with dark skin and the elderly make less vitamin D upon sun exposure, so they should plan on getting more sunlight or consuming more vitamin D. Sunscreen essentially eliminates vitamin D synthesis, and glass blocks UVB so indoor sunlight is useless. Vitamin D toxicity from supplements is possible, but exceptionally rare. It only occurs in cases where people have accidentally taken grotesque doses of the vitamin. As Chris Masterjohn has pointed out, vitamin D toxicity is extremely similar to vitamin A deficiency. This is because vitamin A and D work together, and each protects against toxicity from the other. Excess vitamin D depletes vitamin A, thus vitamin D toxicity is probably a relative deficiency of vitamin A.
I know this won't be a problem for you because like all healthy traditional people, you are getting plenty of vitamin A from nutrient-dense animal foods like liver and butter. Vitamin K2 is the third, and most overlooked, leg of the stool. D, A and K2 form a trio that act together to optimize mineral absorption and use, aid in the development of a number of body structures, beneficially alter gene expression, and affect many aspects of health.
Thanks to horizontal.integration for the CC photo.
oct. 21 food
Breakfast: Collard Green smoothie
Lunch: Leftover black-eyed pea soup, cabbage salad, snacked while preparing the food, so got really full. I think my breakfast and lunch are too close together, and I get too full. My smoothies are very filling.
Dinner: cabbage salad, and random scraps (strawberries, figs, grapes, mushrooms)
DART: Many Lessons Learned
The Diet and Reinfarction Trial (DART), published in 1989, is one of the most interesting clinical trials I've had the pleasure to read about recently. It included 2,033 British men who had already suffered from an acute myocardial infarction (MI; heart attack), and tested three different strategies to prevent further MIs. Subjects were divided into six groups:
Here's what the authors have to say about it:
On to fish. The fish group tripled their omega-3 intake, going from 0.6 grams per week of EPA to 2.4 g (EPA was their proxy for fish intake). This group saw a significant reduction in MI and all-cause deaths, 9.3% vs 12.8% total deaths over two years (a 27% relative risk reduction). Here's the survival chart:
Balancing omega-6 intake with omega-3 has consistently improved cardiac risk in clinical trials. I've discussed that here.
The thing that makes the DART trial really unique is it's the only controlled trial I'm aware of that examined the effect of grain fiber on mortality (without simultaneously changing other factors). The fiber group doubled their grain fiber intake, going from 9 to 17 grams by eating more whole grains. This group saw a non-significant trend toward increased mortality and MI compared to its control group. Deaths went up from 9.9% to 12.1%, a relative risk increase of 18%. I suspect this result was right on the cusp of statistical significance, judging by the numbers and the look of the survival curve:
You can see that the effect is consistent and increases over time. At this rate, it probably would have been statistically significant at 2.5 years.
I think the problem with whole grains is that the bran and germ contain a disproportionate amount of toxins, such as the mineral-binding phytic acid. The bran and germ also contain a disproportionate amount of nutrients. To have your cake and eat it too, soak, sprout or ferment grains. This reduces the toxin load but preserves or enhances nutritional value. Wheat may be a problem whether it's treated this way or not.
Subjects in the studies above were eating grain fiber that was not treated properly, and so they were increasing their intake of some pretty nasty toxins while decreasing their nutrient absorption. Healthy non-industrial cultures would never have made this mistake. Grains must be treated with respect, and whole grains in particular.
- One group was instructed to reduce total fat to 30% of calories (from about 35%) and replace saturated fat (SFA) with polyunsaturated fat (PUFA).
- The second group was told to double grain fiber intake.
- The third group was instructed to eat more fatty fish or take fish oil if they didn't like fish.
- The remaining three were control groups that were not advised to change diet; one for each of the first three.
Here's what the authors have to say about it:Five randomised trials have been published in which a diet low in fat or with a high P/S [polyunsaturated/saturated fat] ratio was given to subjects who had recovered from MI. All these trials contained less than 500 subjects and none showed any reduction in deaths; indeed, one showed an increase in total mortality in the subjects who took the diet.So... why do we keep banging our heads against the wall if clinical trials have already shown repeatedly that total fat and saturated fat consumption are irrelevant to heart disease and overall risk of dying? Are we going to keep doing these trials until we get a statistical fluke that confirms our favorite theory? This DART paper was published in 1989, and we have not stopped banging our heads against the wall since. The fact is, there has never been a properly controlled clinical trial that has shown an all-cause mortality benefit for reducing total or saturated fat in the diet (without changing other variables at the same time). More than a dozen have been conducted to date.
On to fish. The fish group tripled their omega-3 intake, going from 0.6 grams per week of EPA to 2.4 g (EPA was their proxy for fish intake). This group saw a significant reduction in MI and all-cause deaths, 9.3% vs 12.8% total deaths over two years (a 27% relative risk reduction). Here's the survival chart:
Balancing omega-6 intake with omega-3 has consistently improved cardiac risk in clinical trials. I've discussed that here.The thing that makes the DART trial really unique is it's the only controlled trial I'm aware of that examined the effect of grain fiber on mortality (without simultaneously changing other factors). The fiber group doubled their grain fiber intake, going from 9 to 17 grams by eating more whole grains. This group saw a non-significant trend toward increased mortality and MI compared to its control group. Deaths went up from 9.9% to 12.1%, a relative risk increase of 18%. I suspect this result was right on the cusp of statistical significance, judging by the numbers and the look of the survival curve:
You can see that the effect is consistent and increases over time. At this rate, it probably would have been statistically significant at 2.5 years. I think the problem with whole grains is that the bran and germ contain a disproportionate amount of toxins, such as the mineral-binding phytic acid. The bran and germ also contain a disproportionate amount of nutrients. To have your cake and eat it too, soak, sprout or ferment grains. This reduces the toxin load but preserves or enhances nutritional value. Wheat may be a problem whether it's treated this way or not.
Subjects in the studies above were eating grain fiber that was not treated properly, and so they were increasing their intake of some pretty nasty toxins while decreasing their nutrient absorption. Healthy non-industrial cultures would never have made this mistake. Grains must be treated with respect, and whole grains in particular.
Oct. 19-20 food
Oct. 19
Breakfast: oatmeal and fruit salad. I went to a brunch and brought my own oatmeal and fruit salad for the group. I'm glad I did because they served something non-vegan, even though they had vegan toast. The oatmeal was really good and no one seemed to care.
Lunch: green smoothie (was out most of the day so this was a good take-along)
Dinner: snacked on fruit and leftovers while cooking. This was stupid because then I overate. I steamed brussel sprouts and beets for about 15 minutes, and then added about 2 oz of arugula and raisins and vinegar for another 5 minutes. It was good but then I was too full, so that was dumb.
Oct. 20
Breakfast: Collard green smoothie. yum
Lunch: black-eyed pea stew. yum. apple for dessert. yum. and about 4 oz warm soy milk.
Dinner: brussel sprouts and cauliflower.
black-eyed pea stew
I made this up following Dr. Fuhrman's philosophy of combining juice, greens, vegetables, and beans to make a delicious soup. I had in mind the combination of black eyed peas and sweet potato (or butternut squash).
Ingredients:
2 cups dried black eyed peas (about), soak overnight. or 2 cans no-salt black-eyed peas
1 large sweet potato or 1/2 butternut squash, peeled and chopped
1 onion
1/2 cup rice (I use a brown/wild rice mix, yum)
2 bunches kale or collard greens or other leafy green, cut up one, juice the other
1 green bell pepper (optional)
1 Tbsp veggie zest or some veggie powder or nothing at all
5 cups veggie juice (combination of carrots, greens, beets, celery, or just carrots at a minimum)
~1 cup water
some fresh or dried herbs (I had fresh tarragon, thyme, basil, marjorum, parsley)
Soak the black-eyed peas overnight, if using dry. Rinse them. Juice the veggies, add to the peas, start cooking. Add the rice. Chop the onion and throw that in. Add the water as needed while cooking. Chop the kale and bell pepper. Peel and chop the squash or sweet potato. Add these all in the 2nd hour of cooking. Add the herbs. Total cooking time is about 2 hours, or until peas are tender. If using canned peas, total cooking time is one hour (determined by rice), so add the ingredients as they are chopped.
Oct. 16-18 food
Oct. 16
Breakfast: green smoothie. Lots of locally grown spinach at the co-op so it's been competing with my collard green smoothies.Lunch: mashed potatoes, broccoli & carrots. dessert: fresh cut pineapple (perfect ripeness, delicious). small cup warm soy milk (made from my new soymilk maker which I love!).
Dinner: Brussel sprouts (locally grown, yum) and some odds and ends (orange, pear, figs, carrot)
Oct. 17
Breakfast: green smoothie
Lunch: salad (lettuce, mushrooms, boiled and shelled edamame) with dressing (fresh squeezed orange juice, handful of walnuts, about 4 figs). very yummy! finished off with a small cup of warm soymilk (my coffee substitute).
Dinner: this was surprisingly good: I steamed brussel sprouts for about 15 minutes, added a bag of arugula and about 5 chopped figs for another 5-10 minutes. added some vinegar (Dr. Fuhrman's black fig vinegar. This sat for several hours (in the fridge) since I made it at lunch and I think that allowed the flavors to blend more. Then I also had some leftover lunch salad. And then I was full and should have stopped but I had some fruit salad too (strawberry, pineapple, grapes, pear, figs). ugh. I was too full. so already failing on the Fuhrman plan.
Oct. 18.
Breakfast: wasn't hungry after too much food last night!
Lunch: this was also surprisingly good: I cooked up some quinoa (about 1 cup quinoa and 2 cups water), with some chopped onion, Dr. Fuhrman's veggie zest (1 Tbsp or so), and later on in the cooking, some chopped mushrooms, and 1 cup each frozen peas and corn. oh, and some chopped figs (can you tell figs are in season?). These added a nice sweetness. grapes or raisins would work too. Total cooking time, about 30 minutes. Then had some fruit salad--cut up strawberries, banana, apple, grapes, raisins, figs. Lunch was a picnic at a nearby state park. a beautiful day hiking and viewing the fall colors.
Dinner: Green smoothie
I went grocery shopping tonight and there is so much great local produce now! wow, so that's what I'll be eating the next several days. About the only non-local vegetable I got was carrots because I want to make cabbage salad. And lots of the fruit was non-local because I have to make a fruit salad for a breakfast gathering tomorrow. But the apples and pears are local and much better. All of this local produce is much better than shipped stuff.
update
So from Oct 6 - 10 I continued my 16 hour work days and did fall off the wagon a few times. I ate some dark chocolate covered almonds (vegan) on Oct. 6. It seems that the caffeine in chocolate keeps me awake so I ended up working all night! and went to exercise class at 6:30 am the next morning without sleeping. I felt a little crazy and by that I mean mentally insane. But the workout did relax me. Then on Oct. 9, the day before the proposal was due, I thought it was crunch time so okay to do the drugs so ate some more chocolate almonds and stayed up late. Then on Oct. 10, let myself splurge with some cookies (always vegan) and decaff coffee (yes, this stuff affects me now that I'm totally off caffeine!). Then I splurged some during the next week with some vegan cookies and a couple of muffins, and some seitan stroganoff from the co-op. It was good but salty and oily, and the salt in all these things bothered me more than the oil. I think once your body gets used to no salt, it has a hard time dealing with an onslaught. Now I'm back on the wagon and I have to say, I feel better and am not sure what the point of these splurges are. It is a psychological thing where I feel I deserve a treat. But I think next time I will consider a non-food treat. Like a massage.
Dr. Fuhrman has this program where you can become an "Eat for Health Counselor" and I'd like to try it. You have to read a bunch of books and take an exam. I figure if I wanted to actually become a counselor (and I do as a community service to help people improve their health, not as a job since I currently have one), I should be able to follow his plan. So I am trying to do that for 6 weeks. To show you how much confidence I have, I don't think I will succeed. This isn't a diet so much as an eating plan, but I have never succeeded on either in my life. It is true I usually eat super healthy. So I have succeeded at becoming healthy. But sticking to a plan, I'm not so good at that. But I'd like to try it. So as of two days ago I've been trying to eat as Fuhrman recommends. However, I'm busy busy as always, so don't have much time to make recipes so am just throwing stuff together. I did make his "famous anti-cancer soup" last weekend and that was quite a production and I have to admit it was fun, and it made a gazillion servings, so I still have a bunch in my freezer. It involved juicing 5 lbs of carrots and two bunches of celery! But that added a nice flavor I have to admit. Then it had 8 zucchinis! and mushrooms and a few beans and cashews and onions. wild. but quite good!
Anyway, one thing Fuhrman emphasizes is to let your body have time to digest and detoxify between meals, so to only eat 3 meals a day and no snacks. Well, this took me forever to adopt but when I do it, I do feel better. And it does seem like a reasonable thing to do! Otherwise, I will just eat all the time because I like to eat. I notice that after about 2-3 hours I feel hungry in my stomach, but then if I just wait another hour, I'm no longer hungry until about another 2-3 hours have passed. So I can go 5-6 hours without any problem really. And then I am truly hungry at my next meal and the food tastes better. So I'd like to try this as part of adopting the Fuhrman plan.
Helping Kids Think for Themselves with Media
Between Two Worlds has a great post called "A 3(D) Guide to Making Responsible Media Choices". From the post:
While many of us mistakenly continue to “think for” students as they pass
through the teenage years on the road to adulthood, the 3(D) Guide enables you
to “think with” students about their media so that they will be equipped to
launch into adulthood with the ability to “think for themselves” about media in
faithful, obedient, and God-honoring ways.
Preventing Line Sepsis
I recently had the opportunity to chair an important expert panel in Washington DC concerned with reducing the occurence of line sepsis. The COOK corporation gave an unrestricted educational grant to our department to organize and facilitate this panel. There were representatives from many major national organizations, hospitals, and policy groups. We explored all the issues and were treated to two spectacular summaries by former Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill and the key ABC News Flight Safety correspondent, John Nance. The bottom line---it's the culture of the organization!!! You can lead a doc to water but you can't, apparently, make him follow agreed upon, evidence based guideline of care, without paying sufficient attention to the culture. We have to give docs, and others, good reasons to follow the guidelines and give them good information about how they might do a better job. Slogans, exhortations, and the like, will not work. Culture beats technology every time. The day after the panel we held a press conference at the National Press Club and we got some outstanding attention from both the lay and medical press. Be on the lookout for our materials, especially at US NEWS and WORLD REPORT. See the links posted here too. As always, I am interested in your views. How are you preventing line sepsis today?? DAVID NASH
We're Starting to Get It
I just read an interesting post on the Food is Love blog.
We're realizing that a return to traditional, wholesome food is the only path to whole health and well-being.
Further reading:
My Real Food manifesto.
According to the USDA (admittedly not always the most reliable source of accurate information, but we’ll go with it for the moment), the number of farmers markets in the US has risen significantly in the last ten years, from 2,746 in 1998 to 4,685 in 2008. If we get another 580 markets, an increase possible in the next year or two if trends continue, we’ll have tripled the number of recorded markets since 1994.Furthermore,
Plenty of farmers markets don’t get tallied in official lists, of course. Valereee, over at Cincinnati Locavore, points out that the USDA database only lists a quarter of the markets in her hometown. I see a few missing on the Seattle list as well.People are slowly starting to get it. We're realizing that the processed food industry does not look out for our best interests. We're realizing that the frailty of modern children as well as our own health problems are due to the outsourcing of agriculture and food preparation. We're realizing that local farms and markets build strong communities.
We're realizing that a return to traditional, wholesome food is the only path to whole health and well-being.
Further reading:
My Real Food manifesto.
One Last Thought
In Dr. Lindeberg's paleolithic diet trial, subjects began with ischemic heart disease, and glucose intolerance or type II diabetes. By the end of the 12-week study, on average their glucose control was approaching normal and every subject had normal fasting glucose. Glucose control and fasting glucose in subjects following the "Mediterranean diet" did not change significantly. He didn't report changes in cardiovascular risk factors.
Why was the paleolithic diet so effective at restoring glucose control, while the Mediterranean diet was not? I believe the reason is that the Mediterranean diet did not eliminate the foods that were causing the problem to begin with: processed grains, particularly wheat. The paleolithic diet was lower in carbohydrate than the Mediterranean diet (40% vs 52%), although not exceptionally so. The absolute difference was larger since the paleolithic dieters were eating fewer calories overall (134 g vs 231 g). When they analyzed the data, they found that "the effect of the paleolithic diet on glucose tolerance was independent of carbohydrate intake". In other words, paleolithic dieters saw an improvement in glucose tolerance even if they ate as much carbohydrate as the average for the Mediterranean group.
This study population is not representative of the general public. These are people who suffered from an extreme version of the "disease of civilization". But they are examples of a process that I believe applies to nearly all of us to some extent. This paper adds to the evidence that the modern diet is behind these diseases.
A quick note about grains. Some of you may have noticed a contradiction in how I bash grains and at the same time praise Nutrition and Physical Degeneration. I'm actually not against grains. I think they can be part of a healthy diet, but they have to be prepared correctly and used in moderation. Healthy non-industrial cultures almost invariably soaked, sprouted or sourdough-fermented their grains. These processes make grains much more nutritious and less irritating to the digestive tract, because they allow the seeds to naturally break down their own toxins such as phytic acid, trypsin inhibitors and lectins.
Gluten grains are a special case. 12% of the US public is though to be gluten sensitive, as judged by anti-gliadin antibodies in the bloodstream. Nearly a third have anti-gliadin antibodies in their feces [update- these two markers may or may not indicate gluten sensitivity. SJG 2011]. Roughly 1% have outright celiac disease, in which the gut lining degenerates in response to gluten. All forms of gluten sensitivity increase the risk of a staggering array of health problems. There's preliminary evidence that gluten may activate the innate immune system in many people even in the absence of antibodies. From an anthropological perspective, wherever wheat flour goes, so does the disease of civilization. Rice doesn't have the same effect. It's possible that properly prepared wheat, such as sourdough, might not cause the same problems, but I'm not taking my chances. I certainly don't recommend quick-rise bread, and that includes whole wheat. Whole wheat seemed to be enough to preserve glucose intolerance in Lindeberg's study...
Why was the paleolithic diet so effective at restoring glucose control, while the Mediterranean diet was not? I believe the reason is that the Mediterranean diet did not eliminate the foods that were causing the problem to begin with: processed grains, particularly wheat. The paleolithic diet was lower in carbohydrate than the Mediterranean diet (40% vs 52%), although not exceptionally so. The absolute difference was larger since the paleolithic dieters were eating fewer calories overall (134 g vs 231 g). When they analyzed the data, they found that "the effect of the paleolithic diet on glucose tolerance was independent of carbohydrate intake". In other words, paleolithic dieters saw an improvement in glucose tolerance even if they ate as much carbohydrate as the average for the Mediterranean group.
This study population is not representative of the general public. These are people who suffered from an extreme version of the "disease of civilization". But they are examples of a process that I believe applies to nearly all of us to some extent. This paper adds to the evidence that the modern diet is behind these diseases.
A quick note about grains. Some of you may have noticed a contradiction in how I bash grains and at the same time praise Nutrition and Physical Degeneration. I'm actually not against grains. I think they can be part of a healthy diet, but they have to be prepared correctly and used in moderation. Healthy non-industrial cultures almost invariably soaked, sprouted or sourdough-fermented their grains. These processes make grains much more nutritious and less irritating to the digestive tract, because they allow the seeds to naturally break down their own toxins such as phytic acid, trypsin inhibitors and lectins.
Gluten grains are a special case. 12% of the US public is though to be gluten sensitive, as judged by anti-gliadin antibodies in the bloodstream. Nearly a third have anti-gliadin antibodies in their feces [update- these two markers may or may not indicate gluten sensitivity. SJG 2011]. Roughly 1% have outright celiac disease, in which the gut lining degenerates in response to gluten. All forms of gluten sensitivity increase the risk of a staggering array of health problems. There's preliminary evidence that gluten may activate the innate immune system in many people even in the absence of antibodies. From an anthropological perspective, wherever wheat flour goes, so does the disease of civilization. Rice doesn't have the same effect. It's possible that properly prepared wheat, such as sourdough, might not cause the same problems, but I'm not taking my chances. I certainly don't recommend quick-rise bread, and that includes whole wheat. Whole wheat seemed to be enough to preserve glucose intolerance in Lindeberg's study...
Prison Study
Here is a fascinating website about a British study done in 2001. It addresses several social issues, but the one I find most interesting is how humans can become willing to commit atrocities against other humans. Check it out if you have time.
Paleolithic Diet Clinical Trials Part II
There were a number of remarkable changes in both trials. I'll focus mostly on Dr. Lindeberg's trial because it was longer and better designed. The first thing I noticed is that caloric intake dropped dramatically in both trials, -36% in the first trial and a large but undetermined amount in Dr Lindeberg's. The Mediterranean diet group ended up eating 1,795 calories per day, while the paleolithic dieters ate 1,344. In both studies, participants were allowed to eat as much as they wanted, so those reductions were purely voluntary.
This again agrees with the theory that certain neolithic or industrial foods promote hyperphagia, or excessive eating. It's the same thing you see in low-carbohydrate diet trials, such as this one, which also reduce grain intake. The participants in Lindeberg's study were borderline obese. When you're overweight and your body resets its fat mass set-point due to an improved diet, fatty acids come pouring out of fat tissue and you don't need as many calories to feel satisfied. Your diet is supplemented by generous quantities of lard. Your brain decreases your calorie intake until you approach your new set-point.
That's what I believe happened here. The paleolithic group supplemented their diet with 3.9 kg of their own rump fat over the course of 12 weeks, coming out to 30,000 additional calories, or 357 calories a day. Not quite so spartan when you think about it like that.
The most remarkable thing about Lindeberg's trial was the fact that the 14 people in the paleolithic group, 2 of which had moderately elevated fasting blood glucose and 10 of which had diabetic fasting glucose, all ended up with normal fasting glucose after 12 weeks. That is truly amazing. The mediterranean diet worked also, but only in half as many participants.
If you look at their glucose tolerance by an oral glocose tolerance test (OGTT), the paleolithic diet group improved dramatically. Their rise in blood sugar after the OGTT (fasting BG subtracted out) was 76% less at 2 hours. If you look at the graph, they were basically back to fasting glucose levels at 2 hours, whereas before the trial they had only dropped slightly from the peak at that timepoint. The mediterranean diet group saw no significant improvement in fasting blood glucose or the OGTT. Lindeberg is pretty modest about this finding, but he essentially cured type II diabetes and glucose intolerance in 100% of the paleolithic group.
Fasting insulin, the insulin response to the OGTT and insulin sensitivity improved in the paleolithic diet whereas only insulin sensitivity improved significantly in the Mediterranean diet. Fasting insulin didn't decrease as much as I would have thought, only 16% in the paleolithic group.
Another interesting thing is that the paleolithic group lost more belly fat than the Mediterranean group, as judged by waist circumference. This is the most dangerous type of fat, which is associated with, and contributes to, insulin resistance and the metabolic syndrome. Guess what food belly fat was associated with when they analyzed the data? The strongest association was with grain consumption (probably mostly wheat), and the association remained even after adjusting for carbohydrate intake. In other words, the carbohydrate content of grains does not explain their association with belly fat because "paleo carbs" didn't associate with it. The effect of the paleolithic diet on glucose tolerance was also not related to carbohydrate intake.
So in summary, the "Mediterranean diet" may be healthier than a typical Swedish diet, while a diet loosely modeled after a paleolithic diet kicks both of their butts around the block. My opinion is that it's probably due to eliminating wheat, substantially reducing refined vegetable oils and dumping the processed junk in favor of real, whole foods. Here's a zinger from the end of the paper that sums it up nicely (emphasis mine):
This again agrees with the theory that certain neolithic or industrial foods promote hyperphagia, or excessive eating. It's the same thing you see in low-carbohydrate diet trials, such as this one, which also reduce grain intake. The participants in Lindeberg's study were borderline obese. When you're overweight and your body resets its fat mass set-point due to an improved diet, fatty acids come pouring out of fat tissue and you don't need as many calories to feel satisfied. Your diet is supplemented by generous quantities of lard. Your brain decreases your calorie intake until you approach your new set-point.
That's what I believe happened here. The paleolithic group supplemented their diet with 3.9 kg of their own rump fat over the course of 12 weeks, coming out to 30,000 additional calories, or 357 calories a day. Not quite so spartan when you think about it like that.
The most remarkable thing about Lindeberg's trial was the fact that the 14 people in the paleolithic group, 2 of which had moderately elevated fasting blood glucose and 10 of which had diabetic fasting glucose, all ended up with normal fasting glucose after 12 weeks. That is truly amazing. The mediterranean diet worked also, but only in half as many participants.
If you look at their glucose tolerance by an oral glocose tolerance test (OGTT), the paleolithic diet group improved dramatically. Their rise in blood sugar after the OGTT (fasting BG subtracted out) was 76% less at 2 hours. If you look at the graph, they were basically back to fasting glucose levels at 2 hours, whereas before the trial they had only dropped slightly from the peak at that timepoint. The mediterranean diet group saw no significant improvement in fasting blood glucose or the OGTT. Lindeberg is pretty modest about this finding, but he essentially cured type II diabetes and glucose intolerance in 100% of the paleolithic group.
Fasting insulin, the insulin response to the OGTT and insulin sensitivity improved in the paleolithic diet whereas only insulin sensitivity improved significantly in the Mediterranean diet. Fasting insulin didn't decrease as much as I would have thought, only 16% in the paleolithic group.
Another interesting thing is that the paleolithic group lost more belly fat than the Mediterranean group, as judged by waist circumference. This is the most dangerous type of fat, which is associated with, and contributes to, insulin resistance and the metabolic syndrome. Guess what food belly fat was associated with when they analyzed the data? The strongest association was with grain consumption (probably mostly wheat), and the association remained even after adjusting for carbohydrate intake. In other words, the carbohydrate content of grains does not explain their association with belly fat because "paleo carbs" didn't associate with it. The effect of the paleolithic diet on glucose tolerance was also not related to carbohydrate intake.
So in summary, the "Mediterranean diet" may be healthier than a typical Swedish diet, while a diet loosely modeled after a paleolithic diet kicks both of their butts around the block. My opinion is that it's probably due to eliminating wheat, substantially reducing refined vegetable oils and dumping the processed junk in favor of real, whole foods. Here's a zinger from the end of the paper that sums it up nicely (emphasis mine):
The larger improvement of glucose tolerance in the Paleolithic group was independent of energy intake and macronutrient composition, which suggests that avoiding Western foods is more important than counting calories, fat, carbohydrate or protein. The study adds to the notion that healthy diets based on whole-grain cereals and low-fat dairy products are only the second best choice in the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes.
oct. 3-5 food
I'm still super busy at work for 5 more days. I think eating healthy is helping me with the endurance on this work project. You can use drugs (caffeine) for an all-nighter but you can't keep it up and this work project has been going on for over 2 weeks of 14-16 hour days. It helps to get a little break too. Yesterday I only worked for about 8 hours (it was Saturday. believe me, I can't wait to get back to a normal life!). I had a great workout at the gym too. and I took a nap in the afternoon. So I sort of relaxed (sort of).
Oct. 3
Breakfast: collard green smoothie, this one had mangos and OJ and two bananas, very good
Lunch: rest of yesterday's spinach-berry smoothie.
Dinner: went grocery shopping, bought tons of fruit, salivated over that, so just ate a bunch of stuff from the produce aisle for dinner--apples, figs, strawberries, pineapple, a carrot, some grapes, some mushrooms, made some blueberry fig sorbet and ate half that. It was yummy.
Oct. 4
Breakfast: another spinach-berry smoothie
Lunch: "spaghetti." I didn't have onions, so used a bunch of mushrooms instead. I added figs too, at the end. figs are great in just about anything! I'm realizing if you don't use oil and salt, some sort of fruit is a good flavor addition. Oh, I didn't put the carrot in because I was just making one serving and didn't feel like it. See, you don't have to follow recipes exactly! --unless you are baking, which is why I'm such a lousy baker.
Dinner: cabbage salad, rest of yesterday's blueberry-fig sorbet
Oct. 5
Breakfast: rest of yesterday's spinach-berry smoothie
Lunch: cabbage salad, some mushrooms, lots of grapes, a small pear, 2 figs
Dinner: edamame and pesto.
at least, that's the plan...
Paleolithic Diet Clinical Trials
If Dr. Ancel Keys (of diet-heart hypothesis fame) had been a proponent of "paleolithic nutrition", we would have numerous large intervention trials by now either confirming or denying its ability to prevent health problems. In this alternate reality, public health would probably be a lot better than it is today. Sadly, we have to settle for our current reality where the paleolithic diet has only been evaluated in two small trials, and medical research spends its (our) money repeatedly conducting failed attempts to link saturated fat to every ill you can think of. But let's at least take a look at what we have.
Both trials were conducted in Sweden. In the first one, lead by Dr. Per Wändell, 14 healthy participants (5 men, 9 women) completed a 3-week dietary intervention in which they were counseled to eat a "paleolithic diet". Calories were not restricted, only food categories were. Participants were told to eat as much as they wanted of fruit, vegetables, fish, lean meats, nuts, flax and canola oil, coffe and tea (without dairy). They were allowed restricted quantities of dried fruit, potatoes (2 medium/day) salted meat and fish, fat meat and honey. They were told not to eat dairy, grain products, canned food, sugar and salt.
After three weeks, the participants had:
The second study was conducted by the author of the Kitava study, Dr. Staffan Lindeberg. The study design was very interesting. He randomly assigned 29 men with ischemic heart disease, plus type II diabetes or glucose intolerance, to either a "Mediterranean diet" or a "paleolithic diet". Neither diet was calorie-restricted. Here's the beauty of the study design: the Mediterranean diet was the control for the paleo diet. The reason that's so great is it completely eliminates the placebo effect. Both groups were told they were being assigned to a healthy diet to try to improve their health. Each group was educated on the health benefits of their diet but not the other one. It would have been nice to see a regular non-intervention control group as well, but this design was adequate to see some differences.
Participants eating the Mediterranean diet were counseled to focus on whole grains, low-fat dairy, potatoes, legumes, vegetables, fruit, fatty fish and vegetable oils rich in monounsaturated fats and alpha-linolenic acid (omega-3). I'm going to go on a little tangent here. This is truly a bizarre concept of what people eat in the Mediterranean region. It's a fantasy invented in the US to justify the mainstream concept of a healthy diet. My father is French and I spent many summers with my family in southern France. They ate white bread, full-fat dairy at every meal, legumes only if they were smothered in fatty pork, sausages and lamb chops. In fact, full-fat dairy wasn't fat enough sometimes. Many of the yogurts and cheeses we ate were made from milk with extra cream added. Want to get a lecture from Grandmere? Try cutting the fat off your pork chop!
The paleolithic group was counseled to eat lean meat, fish, fruit, leafy and cruciferous vegetables, root vegetables (including moderate amounts of potatoes), eggs and nuts. They were told to avoid dairy, grain products, processed food, sugar and beer.
Both groups were bordering on obese at the beginning of the study. All participants had cardiovascular disease and moderate to severe glucose intolerance (i.e. type II diabetes). After 12 weeks, both groups improved on several parameters. That includes fat mass and waist circumference. But the paleolithic diet trumped the Mediterranean diet in many ways:
This post is getting long, so I think I'll save the interpretation for the next post.
Both trials were conducted in Sweden. In the first one, lead by Dr. Per Wändell, 14 healthy participants (5 men, 9 women) completed a 3-week dietary intervention in which they were counseled to eat a "paleolithic diet". Calories were not restricted, only food categories were. Participants were told to eat as much as they wanted of fruit, vegetables, fish, lean meats, nuts, flax and canola oil, coffe and tea (without dairy). They were allowed restricted quantities of dried fruit, potatoes (2 medium/day) salted meat and fish, fat meat and honey. They were told not to eat dairy, grain products, canned food, sugar and salt.
After three weeks, the participants had:
- Decreased their caloric intake from 2,478 to 1,584 kcal
- Increased their percentage protein and fat, while decreasing carbohydrate
- Decreased saturated fat, increased dietary cholesterol, decreased sodium intake, increased potassium
- Lost 2.3 kg (5 lb)
- Decreased waist circumference, blood pressure and PAI-1
The second study was conducted by the author of the Kitava study, Dr. Staffan Lindeberg. The study design was very interesting. He randomly assigned 29 men with ischemic heart disease, plus type II diabetes or glucose intolerance, to either a "Mediterranean diet" or a "paleolithic diet". Neither diet was calorie-restricted. Here's the beauty of the study design: the Mediterranean diet was the control for the paleo diet. The reason that's so great is it completely eliminates the placebo effect. Both groups were told they were being assigned to a healthy diet to try to improve their health. Each group was educated on the health benefits of their diet but not the other one. It would have been nice to see a regular non-intervention control group as well, but this design was adequate to see some differences.
Participants eating the Mediterranean diet were counseled to focus on whole grains, low-fat dairy, potatoes, legumes, vegetables, fruit, fatty fish and vegetable oils rich in monounsaturated fats and alpha-linolenic acid (omega-3). I'm going to go on a little tangent here. This is truly a bizarre concept of what people eat in the Mediterranean region. It's a fantasy invented in the US to justify the mainstream concept of a healthy diet. My father is French and I spent many summers with my family in southern France. They ate white bread, full-fat dairy at every meal, legumes only if they were smothered in fatty pork, sausages and lamb chops. In fact, full-fat dairy wasn't fat enough sometimes. Many of the yogurts and cheeses we ate were made from milk with extra cream added. Want to get a lecture from Grandmere? Try cutting the fat off your pork chop!
The paleolithic group was counseled to eat lean meat, fish, fruit, leafy and cruciferous vegetables, root vegetables (including moderate amounts of potatoes), eggs and nuts. They were told to avoid dairy, grain products, processed food, sugar and beer.
Both groups were bordering on obese at the beginning of the study. All participants had cardiovascular disease and moderate to severe glucose intolerance (i.e. type II diabetes). After 12 weeks, both groups improved on several parameters. That includes fat mass and waist circumference. But the paleolithic diet trumped the Mediterranean diet in many ways:
- Greater fat loss in the the midsection and a trend toward greater weight loss
- Greater voluntary reduction in caloric intake (total intake paleo= 1,344 kcal; Med= 1,795)
- A remarkable improvement in glucose tolerance that did not occur significantly in the Mediterranean group
- A decrease in fasting glucose
- An increase in insulin sensitivity (HOMA-IR)
This post is getting long, so I think I'll save the interpretation for the next post.
sept. 30 - oct 2 food
I'm super duper duper duper busy at work right now, basically working every waking hour, sleeping less than usual, and trying to mix in exercise when possible. So I've been having green smoothie for breakfast and dinner, and making something for lunch. Two days ago I made red beans and rice which is great because it's lasted 3 days. I used the recipe from fatfreevegan.com which is excellent. I just threw all the ingredients together and didn't bother to cook the onions and garlic separately--it's easier and when you don't use oil, I don't see why "frying" this stuff separately makes a difference. I used a mix of brown and wild rice I get from my co-op. We had salad on the side (lettuce, mushrooms, tomatoes, all garden or local!) and orange-almond dressing (soak some almonds, blend them with fresh squeeze orange juice, easy and good!). Today for lunch I baked a sliced ripe plantain (put it on a pizza pan, bake for 10 minutes on 350 F. I don't remember the time actually. when it starts smelling good and gets a little toasted, it's ready) and threw that on top of the red beans and rice. It was a nice touch. I also had steamed broccoli rabe with it. That was the first time I ate that and it was pretty good. Oh, I've also been eating carrots and apples to supplement the smoothies, not that I needed them but just wanted them.
My green smoothies have been the usual collard green smoothie, though today I did a spinach-berry smoothie since the store has locally grown delicious spinach now (fall harvest!). It was excellent. Tomorrow I'll be out and about so will probably have smoothies at breakfast and lunch and then will have to figure something out for dinner. I have some edamame in the freezer so will probably do that. I'll be hungry when I get home.
spinach blueberry cherry smoothie
Serves 2
4-8 oz spinach
1 frozen bag blueberries
1 frozen bag cherries
1 banana (optional)
2 Tbsp sunflower seeds (optional)
1 Tbsp ground flaxseed (optional)
some liquid -- juice or water
blend the seeds, liquid, and spinach. add the cherries, blueberries and banana and blend some more. add some liquid as needed (i.e., if it's too thick). Lately I've been having this without the banana or flaxseeds, and with the sunflower seeds and fresh squeezed orange juice. If you want something sweet where you cannot even taste the spinach, include the banana and use a berry juice for liquid--or add some grapes.
Explanation of Financial Crisis
Here is a brilliant, concise, and "for dummies" explanation regarding the current financial crisis, especially how we got here, what is actually happening, and why it matters to you regardless of your connections to the stock market. Well worth reading.
And if you really want to get your blood boiling, here's a video that shows testimony on Capitol Hill of the current players (ALL DEMOCRATS)denying there was a problem with companies like Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. When we actually get this whole mess settled and the hemorraging has stopped, I hope people will actually start looking into holding these DEMOCRATS responsible for their malpractice. The real political history of this crisis is shocking, but predictable given the failed liberal policies that our leaders continue to try to promote.
And if you really want to get your blood boiling, here's a video that shows testimony on Capitol Hill of the current players (ALL DEMOCRATS)denying there was a problem with companies like Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. When we actually get this whole mess settled and the hemorraging has stopped, I hope people will actually start looking into holding these DEMOCRATS responsible for their malpractice. The real political history of this crisis is shocking, but predictable given the failed liberal policies that our leaders continue to try to promote.
Revival Repentance
In his Statement and Appeal Regarding Lakeland, dated August 21, 2008, Dutch Sheets, a leader in the Charismatic Movement, writes a letter, in part, repenting for the role Charismatic Leaders played in the failure of the leadership at the "Lakeland Revival". It is quite a profound letter. You can google and youtube for the details if you need them, but the letter is much more significant than the situation that prompted it. I think this letter, a first that I've ever seen from any religious/spiritual leader, is well worth pondering. In part, Sheets confesses:
1) We, the leaders of the charismatic community, have operated in an extremely low level of discernment. Frankly, we often don’t even try to discern. We assume a person’s credibility based on gifts, charisma, the size of their ministry or church, whether they can prophesy or work a miracle, etc. (Miracles and signs are intended to validate God and His message, not the messenger; sometimes they validate the assignment of an individual, but never the person’s character, lifestyle or spiritual maturity.) We leaders in the Church have become no different than the world around us in our standards for measuring success and greatness. This has contributed to the body of Christ giving millions of dollars to undeserving individuals; it has allowed people living in sin to become influential leaders—even to lead movement, allowing them influence all the way to the White House. Through our lack of discernment we built their stages and gave them their platforms. We have been gullible beyond words—gullible leaders producing gullible sheep. When a spiritual leader we’re connected with violates trust, is exposed for immorality or falls below other accepted standards of behavior, it does not exonerate us simply to say we don’t condone such behavior. Those we lead trust us to let them know whom to trust. We have failed them miserably in this regard. For this lack of discernment, and for employing and passing on inappropriate standards of judgment, I repent to the Lord and ask forgiveness of the body of Christ.
2) We, the leaders of the charismatic church, spin our involvement and fail to acknowledge our responsibility when other leaders fall—all of which stems from our
self-preservation and pride. Enough of the spin—we’re no different than Washington, DC. Every time another embarrassing and disgraceful situation is exposed, the dancing begins. It seems that no one bears any real responsibility except the man or woman who actually commits sin. Incredibly, we even blame “revival” itself—the pressures, attacks, weariness, the “revival is messy” argument, etc., saying it is responsible for the failures. This is disgusting. Those of us on boards of fallen leaders, those who helped give them a voice, put them on TV, published and endorsed their books (yes, I have), etc., are not exonerated simply by saying we don’t condone the wrong behavior or that we didn’t know. We’re supposed to know. I don’t believe anyone is expecting perfection from us—I know I’m not. We’re far too human for that. But we are expected to have enough humility to look the world and those who follow us in the eye when we miss it and say, “we were wrong and we are sorry.” Our careless accountability has caused the body of Christ to be spiritually raped and abused. It has produced disillusionment and brought immeasurable reproach to our God and cynicism to His message. Concerning Lakeland, what was called the greatest
revival since Azusa Street” has become possibly one of the greatest reproaches. We, the leaders of the charismatic church, are responsible. For not accepting and acknowledging our responsibility, for caring more about our own reputation than Christ’s, I repent to God and ask forgiveness of the body of Christ.
3) Our procedures and standards of accountability are incredibly inadequate. We have provided camaraderie, not biblical accountability. For those on Todd Bentley’s board who had previous knowledge of his marriage problems and said nothing, it was more than a mistake—it was reckless, foolish, and irresponsible. For those on the stage the night of his aligning and commissioning who knew and said nothing—ditto. For those there who didn’t know, my question is, “why didn’t you?” You were trusted to know. That is one of the purposes of public commissioning and the purpose behind the concept of endorsement. I’m not trying to point the finger; I’m endeavoring to get us to be honest about our failures—we have serious credibility issues. Have I ever laid hands on, commissioned or endorsed anyone without adequately checking them out? Yes, but you better believe I’ll be more careful next time! And we must not
single out Lakeland. We’re all guilty. What about the leader in my city who ran with some of the leading spiritual fathers in our nation—sincere and good men, I might add, and not all “charismatic” leaders—who sang his praises and helped build his stage—all while he was doing drugs and having sex with other men? But we shouldn’t blame only the high profile cases—what about those of us who unknowingly have had adulterers on our staffs or appointed elders that turned out to have compromise in their life? Sounding familiar yet? This is so epidemic that every member of the body of Christ stands guilty—what pastor or leader did you follow that turned out to have sin issues? What ministry did you support that was unworthy? There is plenty of blame to go around. The big question becomes not “who do we blame” but “how do we fix this mess?” Leaders can live in sin—adultery, homosexuality, financial wrongdoing, drugs, etc.—for years without it being realized. They can offer completely unacceptable lifestyles for the body of Christ to follow and still keep their TV programs and lavish lifestyles. In the name of grace, compassion and forgiveness we have lowered the standard so much that often there isn’t one. We have bought into the lie that true discipline is “shooting our wounded.” We have made a mockery of biblical restoration, making “ministry”—not healthy individuals, marriages and families—its ultimate goal. The fact is, integrity matters. No, we don’t need legalistic, pharisaical standards, but we must have standards. For this lack of biblical accountability, I repent to God and I ask forgiveness of the body of Christ.
4) We, the leaders of the charismatic church, have built on hype, sensation, innovation, programs, personality and charisma. This has produced: shallowness; false movements; novice leaders—gifted but immature and untested; a deficient understanding of God’s word; the building of man-centered rather than kingdom-centered churches and ministries; competition rather than cooperation; humanistic, selfcentered Christians who don’t understand sacrifice and commitment; Christians without discernment; superstar leaders; a perverted and powerless gospel; prayerless and anemic Christians; a replacement of the fear of the Lord with the fear of man; and a young generation that is cynical of it all. We are responsible, not the devil; he takes what we give him. For this compromise in the way we build, for giving the Church watered down wine, commercial Christianity, a flashy but weak Church and hype disguised as anointing, I repent to God and ask forgiveness of the body of Christ.
Acne Anecdotes
Thanks for all the interesting comments on the last post. Here are some highlights:
Methuselah:
I'll add one more anecdote, from myself. In high school, my friends called me "the ghost" because my skin was so pale. I had mild but persistent acne and difficulty tanning. Over the past few years, as I've improved my diet, my skin has smoothed, I've regained the color in my cheeks, I've regained my ability to tan well and my acne has disappeared.
Methuselah:
I had bad acne as a teenager and although the worst of it did clear up for as I got older (this seems to be the pattern, so presumably there are hormones other than insulin involved,) I still had spotty skin into my 20s and 30s. When I went onto a Paleo diet my skin cleared up totally.Neil:
I am lucky enough to have reasonable skin already, but reducing carbs and vegetable oils has at the least coincided with a notable improvementJeff:
I used to get... 2-3 pimples most months. Since I have gone Paleo I have had not a single pimple in 8 months.Itsthewoo:
I had terrible acne that lasted from 9 yrs right up until 20 years - the same week I started the atkins diet. Then it stopped.I see the skin as a barometer of health. A truly healthy person's skin is smooth, free of acne and has a gentle blush in the cheeks. Unhealthy skin is pale, puffy, pasty, dry, oily, or excessively red in the cheeks and face. It's no coincidence that what we perceive as attractive also happens to indicate health.
I'll add one more anecdote, from myself. In high school, my friends called me "the ghost" because my skin was so pale. I had mild but persistent acne and difficulty tanning. Over the past few years, as I've improved my diet, my skin has smoothed, I've regained the color in my cheeks, I've regained my ability to tan well and my acne has disappeared.
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