For the sake of convenience: Commercial sources of prebiotic fibers

3. May 2015 William Davis (0)
Our efforts to obtain prebiotic fibers/resistant starches, as discussed in the Cureality Digestive Health Track, to cultivate healthy bowel flora means recreating the eating behavior of primitive humans who dug in the dirt with sticks and bone fragments for underground roots and tubers, behaviors you can still observe in extant hunter-gatherer groups, such as the Hadza and Yanomamo. But, because this practice is inconvenient for us modern folk accustomed to sleek grocery stores, because many of us live in climates where the ground is frozen much of the year, and because we lack the wisdom passed from generation to generation that helps identify which roots and tubers are safe to eat and which are not, we rely on modern equivalents of primitive sources. Thus, green, unripe bananas, raw potatoes and other such fiber sources in the Cureality lifestyle.

There is therefore no need to purchase prebiotic fibers outside of your daily effort at including an unripe green banana, say, or inulin and fructooligosaccharides (FOS), or small servings of legumes as a means of cultivating healthy bowel flora. These are powerful strategies that change the number and species of bowel flora over time, thereby leading to beneficial health effects that include reduced blood sugar and blood pressure, reduction in triglycerides, reduced anxiety and improved sleep, and reduced colon cancer risk.

HOWEVER, convenience can be a struggle. Traveling by plane, for example, makes lugging around green bananas or raw potatoes inconvenient. Inulin and FOS already come as powders or capsules and they are among the options for a convenient, portable prebiotic fiber strategy. But there are others that can be purchased. This is a more costly way to get your prebiotic fibers and you do not need to purchase these products in order to succeed in your bowel flora management program. These products are therefore listed strictly as a strategy for convenience.

Most perspectives on the quality of human bowel flora composition suggest that diversity is an important feature, i.e., the greater the number of species, the better the health of the host. There may therefore be advantage in varying your prebiotic routine, e.g., green banana on Monday, inulin on Tuesday, PGX (below) on Wednesday, etc. Beyond providing convenience, these products may introduce an added level of diversity, as well.

Among the preparations available to us that can be used as prebiotic fibers:

PGX

While it is billed as a weight management and blood sugar-reducing product, the naturally occurring fiber--α-D-glucurono-α-D-manno-β-D-manno- β-D-gluco, α-L-gulurono-β-D mannurono, β-D-gluco-β- D-mannan--in PGX also exerts prebiotic effects (evidenced by increased fecal butyrate, the beneficial end-product of bacterial metabolism). PGX is available as capsules or granules. It also seems to exert prebiotic effects at lower doses than other prebiotic fibers. While I usually advise reaching 20 grams per day of fiber, PGX appears to exert substantial effects at a daily dose of half that quantity. As with all prebiotic fibers, it is best to build up slowly over weeks, e.g., start at 1.5 grams twice per day. It is also best taken in two or three divided doses. (Avoid the PGX bars, as they are too carb-rich for those of us trying to achieve ideal metaobolic health.)

Prebiotin

A combination of inulin and FOS available as powders and in portable Stick Pacs (2 gram and 4 gram packs). This preparation is quite costly, however, given the generally low cost of purchasing chicory inulin and FOS separately.

Acacia

Acacia fiber is another form of prebiotic fiber.  RenewLife and NOW are two reputable brands.

Isomalto-oligosaccharides

This fiber is used in Quest bars and in Paleo Protein Bars. With Quest bars, choose the flavors without sucralose, since it has been associated with undesirable changes in bowel flora.

There you go. It means that there are fewer and fewer reasons to not purposefully cultivate healthy bowel flora and obtain all the wonderful health benefits of doing so, from reduced blood pressure, to reduced triglycerides, to deeper sleep.

Disclaimer: I am not compensated in any way by discussing these products.

How Not To Have An Autoimmune Condition

20. April 2015 William Davis (0)

Autoimmune conditions are becoming increasingly common. Estimates vary, but it appears that at least 8-9% of the population in North America and Western Europe have one of these conditions, with The American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association estimating that it’s even higher at 14% of the population.

The 200 or so autoimmune diseases that afflict modern people are conditions that involve an abnormal immune response directed against one or more organs of the body. If the misguided attack is against the thyroid gland, it can result in Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. If it is directed against pancreatic beta cells that produce insulin, it can result in type 1 diabetes or latent autoimmune diabetes of adults (LADA). If it involves tissue encasing joints (synovium) like the fingers or wrists, it can result in rheumatoid arthritis. It if involves the liver, it can result in autoimmune hepatitis, and so on. Nearly every organ of the body can be the target of such a misguided immune response.

While it requires a genetic predisposition towards autoimmunity that we have no control over (e.g., the HLA-B27 gene for ankylosing spondylitis), there are numerous environmental triggers of these diseases that we can do something about. Identifying and correcting these factors stacks the odds in your favor of reducing autoimmune inflammation, swelling, pain, organ dysfunction, and can even reverse an autoimmune condition altogether.

Among the most important factors to correct in order to minimize or reverse autoimmunity are:

Wheat and grain elimination

If you are reading this, you likely already know that the gliadin protein of wheat and related proteins in other grains (especially the secalin of rye, the hordein of barley, zein of corn, perhaps the avenin of oats) initiate the intestinal “leakiness” that begins the autoimmune process, an effect that occurs in over 90% of people who consume wheat and grains. The flood of foreign peptides/proteins, bacterial lipopolysaccharide, and grain proteins themselves cause immune responses to be launched against these foreign factors. If, for instance, an autoimmune response is triggered against wheat gliadin, the same antibodies can be aimed at the synapsin protein of the central nervous system/brain, resulting in dementia or cerebellar ataxia (destruction of the cerebellum resulting in incoordination and loss of bladder and bowel control). Wheat and grain elimination is by far the most important item on this list to reverse autoimmunity.

Correct vitamin D deficiency

It is clear that, across a spectrum of autoimmune diseases, vitamin D deficiency serves a permissive, not necessarily causative, role in allowing an autoimmune process to proceed. It is clear, for instance, that autoimmune conditions such as type 1 diabetes in children, rheumatoid arthritis, and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis are more common in those with low vitamin D status, much less common in those with higher vitamin D levels. For this and other reasons, I aim to achieve a blood level of 25-hydroxy vitamin D level of 60-70 ng/ml, a level that usually requires around 4000-8000 units per day of D3 (cholecalciferol) in gelcap or liquid form (never tablet due to poor or erratic absorption). In view of the serious nature of autoimmune diseases, it is well worth tracking occasional blood levels.

Supplement omega-3 fatty acids

While omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA, from fish oil have proven only modestly helpful by themselves, when cast onto the background of wheat/grain elimination and vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids compound anti-inflammatory benefits, such as those exerted via cyclooxygenase-2. This requires a daily EPA + DHA dose of around 3600 mg per day, divided in two. Don’t confuse EPA and DHA omega-3s with linolenic acid, another form of omega-3 obtained from meats, flaxseed, chia, and walnuts that does not not yield the same benefits. Nor can you use krill oil with its relatively trivial content of omega-3s.

Eliminate dairy

This is true in North America and most of Western Europe, less true in New Zealand and Australia. Autoimmunity can be triggered by the casein beta A1 form of casein widely expressed in dairy products, but not by casein beta A2 and other forms. Because it is so prevalent in North America and Western Europe, the most confident way to avoid this immunogenic form of casein is to avoid dairy altogether. You might be able to consume cheese, given the fermentation process that alters proteins and sugar, but that has not been fully explored.

Cultivate healthy bowel flora

People with autoimmune conditions have massively screwed up bowel flora with reduced species diversity and dominance of unhealthy species. We restore a healthier anti-inflammatory panel of bacterial species by “seeding” the colon with high-potency probiotics, then nourishing them with prebiotic fibers/resistant starches, a collection of strategies summarized in the Cureality Digestive Health discussions. People sometimes view bowel flora management as optional, just “fluff”–it is anything but. Properly managing bowel flora can be a make-it-or-break-it advantage; don’t neglect it.

There you go: a basic list to get started on if your interest is to begin a process of unraveling the processes of autoimmunity. In some conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis and polymyalgia rheumatica, full recovery is possible. In other conditions, such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and the pancreatic beta cell destruction leading to type 1 diabetes, reversing the autoimmune inflammation does not restore organ function: hypothyroidism results after thyroiditis quiets down and type 1 diabetes and need for insulin persists after pancreatic beta cell damage. But note that the most powerful risk factor for an autoimmune disease is another autoimmune disease–this is why so many people have more than one autoimmune condition. People with Hashimoto’s, for instance, can develop rheumatoid arthritis or psoriasis. So the above menu is still worth following even if you cannot hope for full organ recovery

Five Powerful Ways to Reduce Blood Sugar

4. April 2015 William Davis (0)
Left to conventional advice on diet and you will, more than likely, succumb to type 2 diabetes sooner or later. Follow your doctor’s advice to cut fat and eat more “healthy whole grains” and oral diabetes medication and insulin are almost certainly in your future. Despite this, had this scenario played out, you would be accused of laziness and gluttony, a weak specimen of human being who just gave into excess.

If you turn elsewhere for advice, however, and ignore the awful advice from “official” sources with cozy relationships with Big Pharma, you can reduce blood sugars sufficient to never become diabetic or to reverse an established diagnosis, and you can create a powerful collection of strategies that handily trump the worthless advice being passed off by the USDA, American Diabetes Association, the American Heart Association, or the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Among the most powerful and effective strategies to reduce blood sugar:

1) Eat no wheat nor grains

Recall that amylopectin A, the complex carbohydrate of grains, is highly digestible, unlike most of the other components of the seeds of grasses AKA “grains,” subject to digestion by the enzyme, amylase, in saliva and stomach. This explains why, ounce for ounce, grains raise blood sugar higher than table sugar. Eat no grains = remove the exceptional glycemic potential of amylopectin A.

2) Add no sugars, avoid high-fructose corn syrup

This should be pretty obvious, but note that the majority of processed foods contain sweeteners such as sucrose or high-fructose corn syrup, tailored to please the increased desire for sweetness among grain-consuming people. While fructose does not raise blood sugar acutely, it does so in delayed fashion, along with triggering other metabolic distortions such as increased triglycerides and fatty liver.

3) Vitamin D

Because vitamin D restores the body’s normal responsiveness to insulin, getting vitamin D right helps reduce blood sugar naturally while providing a range of other health benefits.

4) Restore bowel flora

As cultivation of several Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria species in bowel flora yields fatty acids that restore insulin responsiveness, this leads to reductions in blood sugar over time. Minus the bowel flora-disrupting effects of grains and sugars, a purposeful program of bowel flora restoration is required (discussed at length in the Cureality Digestive Health section.)

5) Exercise

Blood sugar is reduced during and immediately following exercise, with the effect continuing for many hours afterwards, even into the next day.

Note that, aside from exercise, none of these powerful strategies are advocated by the American Diabetes Association or any other “official” agency purporting to provide dietary advice. As is happening more and more often as the tide of health information rises and is accessible to all, the best advice on health does not come from such agencies nor from your doctor but from your efforts to better understand the truths in health. This is our core mission in Cureality. A nice side benefit: information from Cureality is not accompanied by advertisements from Merck, Pfizer, Kelloggs, Kraft, or Cadbury Schweppes.

Cureality App Review: Breathe Sync

7. March 2015 William Davis (0)


Biofeedback is a wonderful, natural way to gain control over multiple physiological phenomena, a means of tapping into your body’s internal resources. You can, for instance, use biofeedback to reduce anxiety, heart rate, and blood pressure, and achieve a sense of well-being that does not involve drugs, side-effects, or even much cost.

Biofeedback simply means that you are tracking some observable physiologic phenomenon—heart rate, skin temperature, blood pressure—and trying to consciously access control over it. One very successful method is that of bringing the beat-to-beat variation in heart rate into synchrony with the respiratory cycle. In day-to-day life, the heart beat is usually completely out of sync with respiration. Bring it into synchrony and interesting things happen: you experience a feeling of peace and calm, while many healthy phenomena develop.

A company called HeartMath has applied this principle through their personal computer-driven device that plugs into the USB port of your computer and monitors your heart rate with a device clipped on your earlobe. You then regulate breathing and follow the instructions provided and feedback is obtained on whether you are achieving synchrony, or what they call “coherence.” As the user becomes more effective in achieving coherence over time, positive physiological and emotional effects develop. HeartMath has been shown, for instance, to reduce systolic and diastolic blood pressure, morning cortisol levels (a stress hormone), and helps people deal with chronic pain. Downside of the HeartMath process: a $249 price tag for the earlobe-USB device.

But this is the age of emerging smartphone apps, including those applied to health. Smartphone apps are perfect for health monitoring. They are especially changing how we engage in biofeedback. An app called Breathe Sync is available that tracks heart rate using the camera’s flash on the phone. By tracking heart rate and providing visual instruction on breathing pattern, the program generates a Wellness Quotient, WQ, similar to HeartMath’s coherence scoring system. Difference: Breathe Sync is portable and a heck of a lot less costly. I paid $9.99, more than I’ve paid for any other mainstream smartphone application, but a bargain compared to the HeartMath device cost.

One glitch is that you need to not be running any other programs in the background, such as your GPS, else you will have pauses in the Breathe Sync program, negating the value of your WQ. Beyond this, the app functions reliably and can help you achieve the health goals of biofeedback with so much less hassle and greater effectiveness than the older methods.

If you are looking for a biofeedback system that provides advantage in gaining control over metabolic health, while also providing a wonderful method of relaxation, Breathe Sync, I believe, is the go-to app right now.

Amber’s Top 35 Health and Fitness Tips

7. November 2014 Amber B (0)
This year I joined the 35 club!  And in honor of being fabulous and 35, I want to share 35 health and fitness tips with you! 

1.  Foam rolling is for everyone and should be done daily. 
2.  Cold showers are the best way to wake up and burn more body fat. 
3.  Stop locking your knees.  This will lead to lower back pain. 
4.  Avoid eating gluten at all costs. 
5.  Breath deep so that you can feel the sides or your lower back expand. 
6.  Swing a kettlebell for a stronger and great looking backside. 
7.  Fat is where it’s at!  Enjoy butter, ghee, coconut oil, palm oil, duck fat and many other fabulous saturated fats. 
8.  Don’t let your grip strength fade with age.  Farmer carries, kettlebells and hanging from a bar will help with that. 
9.  Runners, keep your long runs slow and easy and keep your interval runs hard.  Don’t fall in the chronic cardio range. 
10.  Drink high quality spring or reverse osmosis water. 
11.  Use high quality sea salt season food and as a mineral supplement. 
12.  Work your squat so that your butt can get down to the ground.  Can you sit in this position? How long?
13.  Lift heavy weights!  We were made for manual work,.   Simulate heavy labor in the weight room. 
14.  Meditate daily.  If you don’t go within, you will go with out.  We need quiet restorative time to balance the stress in our life. 
15.  Stand up and move for 10 minutes for every hour your sit at your computer. 
16. Eat a variety of whole, real foods. 
17.  Sleep 7 to 9 hours every night. 
18.  Pull ups are my favorite exercise.  Get a home pull up bar to practice. 
19.  Get out and spend a few minutes in nature.  Appreciate the world around you while taking in fresh air and natural beauty. 
20.  We all need to pull more in our workouts.  Add more pulling movements horizontally and vertically. 
21. Surround yourself with health minded people. 
22. Keep your room dark for deep sound sleep.  A sleep mask is great for that! 
23. Use chemical free cosmetics.  Your skin is the largest organ of your body and all chemicals will absorb into your blood stream. 
24. Unilateral movements will help improve symmetrical strength. 
25. Become more playful.  We take life too seriously, becoming stress and overwhelmed.  How can you play, smile and laugh more often?
26.  Choose foods that have one ingredient.  Keep your diet simple and clean. 
27.  Keep your joints mobile as you age.  Do exercises that take joints through a full range of motion. 
28. Go to sleep no later than 10:30pm.  This allows your body and brain to repair through the night. 
29. Take care of your health and needs before others.  This allows you to be the best spouse, parent, coworker, and person on the planet. 
30.  Always start your daily with a high fat, high protein meal.  This will encourage less sugar cravings later in the day. 
31. Approach the day with positive thinking!  Stinkin’ thinkin’ only leads to more stress and frustration. 
32. You are never “too old” to do something.  Stay young at heart and keep fitness a priority as the years go by. 
33. Dream big and go for it. 
34.  Lift weights 2 to 4 times every week.  Strong is the new sexy. 
35.  Love.  Love yourself unconditionally.  Love your life and live it to the fullest.  Love others compassionately. 

Amber B.
Cureality Exercise and Fitness Coach

To Change, You Need to Get Uncomfortable

25. September 2014 Amber B (0)
Sitting on the couch is comfortable.  Going through the drive thru to pick up dinner is comfortable.  But when you notice that you’re out-of-shape, tired, sick and your clothes no longer fit, you realize that what makes you comfortable is not in align with what would make you happy.   

You want to see something different when you look in the mirror.  You want to fit into a certain size of jeans or just experience your day with more energy and excitement.  The current condition of your life causes you pain, be it physical, mental or emotional.  To escape the pain you are feeling, you know that you need to make changes to your habits that keep you stuck in your current state.  But why is it so hard to make the changes you know that will help you achieve what you want?  

I want to lose weight but….

I want a six pack but…

I want more energy but….

The statement that follows the “but” is often a situation or habit you are comfortable with.  You want to lose weight but don’t have time to cook healthy meals.  So it’s much more comfortable to go through the drive thru instead of trying some new recipes.   New habits often require a learning curve and a bit of extra time in the beginning.  It also takes courage and energy to establish new routines or seek out help.  

Setting out to achieve your goals requires change.  Making changes to establish new habits that support your goals and dreams can be uncomfortable.  Life, as you know it, will be different.  Knowing that fact can be scary, but so can staying in your current condition.  So I’m asking you to take a risk and get uncomfortable so that you can achieve your goals.  

Realize that it takes 21 days to develop a new habit.  I believe it takes triple that amount of time to really make a new habit stick for the long haul.  So for 21 days, you’ll experience some discomfort while you make changes to your old routine and habits.  Depending on what you are changing, discomfort could mean feeling tired, moody, or even withdrawal symptoms.  However, the longer you stick to your new habits the less uncomfortable you start to feel.  The first week is always the worst, but then it gets easier.

Making it through the uncomfortable times requires staying focused on your goals and not caving to your immediate feelings or desires.  I encourage clients to focus on why their goals important to them.  This reason or burning desire to change will help when old habits, cravings, or situations call you back to your old ways.
Use a tracking and a reward system to stay on track.  Grab a calendar, journal or index card to check off or note your daily successes.  Shoot for consistency and not perfection when trying to make changes.  I encourage my clients to use the 90/10 principle of change and apply that to their goal tracking system.  New clothes, a massage, or a day me-retreat are just a few examples of rewards you can use to sticking to your tracking system.  Pick something that really gets you excited.  

Getting support system in place can help you feel more comfortable with being uncomfortable.  Hiring a coach, joining an online support group, or recruiting family and friends can be very helpful when making big changes.  With a support system in place you are not alone in your discomfort.  You’re network is there for you to reach out for help, knowledge, accountability or camaraderie when you feel frustrated and isolated.  

I’ve helped hundreds of people change their bodies, health and lives of the eleven years I’ve worked as a trainer and coach.  I know it’s hard, but I also know that if they can do it, so can you.  You just need to step outside of your comfort zone and take a risk. Don’t let fear create uncomfortable feelings that keep you stuck in your old ways.  Take that first step and enjoy the journey of reaching your goals and dreams.  

Amber Budahn, B.S., CSCS, ACE PT, USATF 1, CHEK HLC 1, REIKI 1
Cureality Exercise Specialist

The 3 Best Grain Free Food Swaps to Boost Fat Burning

25. September 2014 Lisa G (0)
You can join others enjoying substantial improvements in their health, energy and pant size by making a few key, delicious substitutions to your eating habits.  This is possible with the Cureality nutrition approach, which rejects the idea that grains should form the cornerstone of the human diet.  

Grain products, which are seeds of grasses, are incompatible with human digestion.  Contrary to what we have been told for years, eating healthy whole grain is not the answer to whittle away our waists.  Consumption of all grain-based carbohydrates results in increased production of the fat storage hormone insulin.  Increased insulin levels create the perfect recipe for weight gain. By swapping out high carbohydrate grain foods that cause spikes in insulin with much lower carbohydrate foods, insulin release is subdued and allows the body to release fat.

1. Swap wheat-based flour with almond flour/meal

  • One of the most dubious grain offenders is modern wheat. Replace wheat flour with naturally wheat-free, lower carbohydrate almond flour.  
  • Almond flour contains a mere 12 net carbs per cup (carbohydrate minus the fiber) with 50% more filling protein than all-purpose flour.
  • Almond flour and almond meal also offer vitamin E, an important antioxidant to support immune function.

2. Swap potatoes and rice for cauliflower

  • Replace high carb potatoes and pasta with vitamin C packed cauliflower, which has an inconsequential 3 carbs per cup.  
  • Try this food swap: blend raw cauliflower in food processor to make “rice”. (A hand held grater can also be used).  Sautee the “riced” cauliflower in olive or coconut oil for 5 minutes with seasoning to taste.
  • Another food swap: enjoy mashed cauliflower in place of potatoes.  Cook cauliflower. Place in food processor with ½ a stick organic, grass-fed butter, ½ a package full-fat cream cheese and blend until smooth. Add optional minced garlic, chives or other herbs such as rosemary.
3. Swap pasta for shirataki noodles and zucchini

  • Swap out carb-rich white pasta containing 43 carbs per cup with Shirataki noodles that contain a few carbs per package. Shirataki noodles are made from konjac or yam root and are found in refrigerated section of supermarkets.
  • Another swap: zucchini contains about 4 carbs per cup. Make your own grain free, low-carb noodles from zucchini using a julienne peeler, mandolin or one of the various noodle tools on the market.  

Lisa Grudzielanek, MS,RDN,CD,CDE
Cureality Nutrition Specialist

Not so fast. Don’t make this mistake when going gluten free!

25. September 2014 Lisa G (0)
Beginning last month, the Food and Drug Administration began implementing its definition of “gluten-free” on packaged food labels.  The FDA determined that packaged food labeled gluten free (or similar claims such as "free of gluten") cannot contain more than 20 parts per million of gluten.

It has been years in the making for the FDA to define what “gluten free” means and hold food manufactures accountable, with respect to food labeling.  However, the story does not end there.

Yes, finding gluten-free food, that is now properly labeled, has become easier. So much so the market for gluten-free foods tops $6 billion last year.   However, finding truly healthy, commercially prepared, grain-free foods is still challenging.

A very common mistake made when jumping into the gluten-free lifestyle is piling everything labeled gluten-free in the shopping cart.  We don’t want to replace a problem: wheat, with another problem: gluten free products.

Typically gluten free products are made with rice flour (and brown rice flour), tapioca starch, cornstarch, and potato flour.  Of the few foods that raise blood sugar higher than wheat, these dried, powdered starches top the list.

 They provide a large surface area for digestion, thereby leading to sky-high blood sugar and all the consequences such as diabetes, hypertension, cataracts, arthritis, and heart disease. These products should be consumed very rarely consumed, if at all.  As Dr. Davis has stated, “100% gluten-free usually means 100% awful!”

There is an ugly side to the gluten-free boom taking place.  The Cureality approach to wellness recommends selecting gluten-free products wisely.  Do not making this misguided mistake and instead aim for elimination of ALL grains, as all seeds of grasses are related to wheat and therefore overlap in many effects.

Lisa Grudzielanek MS, RDN, CD, CDE
Cureality Health & Nutrition Coach

3 Foods to Add to Your Next Grocery List

25. September 2014 Lisa G (0)
Looking for some new foods to add to your diet? Look no further. Reach for these three mealtime superstars to encourage a leaner, healthier body.

Microgreens

Microgreens are simply the shoots of salad greens and herbs that are harvested just after the first leaves have developed, or in about 2 weeks.  Microgreen are not sprouts. Sprouts are germinated, in other words, sprouted seeds produced entirely in water. Microgreens are grown in soil, thereby absorbing the nutrients from the soil.

The nutritional profile of each microgreen depends greatly on the type of microgreen you are eating. Researchers found red cabbage microgreens had 40 times more vitamin E and six times more vitamin C than mature red cabbage. Cilantro microgreens had three times more beta-carotene than mature cilantro.

A few popular varieties of microgreens are arugula, kale, radish, pea, and watercress. Flavor can vary from mild to a more intense or spicy mix depending on the microgreens.  They can be added to salads, soup, omelets, stir fry and in place of lettuce.  

Cacao Powder

Cocoa and cacao are close enough in flavor not to make any difference. However, raw cacao powder has 3.6 times the antioxidant activity of roasted cocoa powder.  In short, raw cacao powder is definitely the healthiest, most beneficial of the powders, followed by 100% unsweetened cocoa.

Cacao has more antioxidant flavonoids than blueberries, red wine and black and green teas.  Cacao is one of the highest sources of magnesium, a great source of iron and vitamin C, as well as a good source of fiber for healthy bowel function.
Add cacao powder to milk for chocolate milk or real hot chocolate.  Consider adding to coffee for a little mocha magic or sprinkle on berries and yogurt.




Shallots

Shallots have a better nutrition profile than onions. On a weight per weight basis, they have more anti-oxidants, minerals, and vitamins than onions. Shallots have a milder, less pungent taste than onions, so people who do not care for onions may enjoy shallots.

Like onions, sulfur compounds in shallot are necessary for liver detoxification pathways.  The sulfur compound, allicin has been shown to be beneficial in reducing cholesterol.  Allicin is also noted to have anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-fungal activities.

Diced then up and add to salads, on top of a bun less hamburger, soups, stews, or sauces.  Toss in an omelet or sauté to enhance a piece of chicken or steak, really the possibilities are endless.  

Lisa Grudzielanek,MS,RDN,CD,CDE
Cureality Nutrition & Health Coach

3 Band Exercises for Great Glutes

15. August 2014 Amber B (0)
Bands and buns are a great combination.  (When I talk about glutes or a butt, I use the word buns)  When it comes to sculpting better buns, grab a band.   Bands are great for home workouts, at gym or when you travel.  Check out these 3 amazing exercises that will have your buns burning. 

Band Step Out

Grab a band and place it under the arch of each foot.  Then cross the band and rest your hands in your hip sockets.  The exercise starts with your feet hip width apart and weight in the heels.  Slightly bend the knees and step your right foot out to the side.  Step back in so that your foot is back in the starting position.  With each step, make sure your toes point straight ahead.  The tighter you pull the band, the more resistance you will have.    You will feel this exercise on the outside of your hips. 

Start with one set of 15 repetitions with each foot.  Work on increasing to 25 repetitions on each side and doing two to three sets.



Band Kick Back

This exercise is performed in the quadruped position with your knees under hips and hands under your shoulders.    Take the loop end of the band and put it around your right foot and place the two handles or ends of the band under your hands.  Without moving your body, kick your right leg straight back.  Return to the starting quadruped position.  Adjust the tension of the band to increase or decrease the difficulty of this exercise. 

Start with one set of 10 repetitions with each foot.  Work on increasing to 20 repetitions on each side and doing two to three sets. 



Band Resisted Hip Bridge

Start lying on your back with feet hip distance apart and knees bent at about a 45-degree angle.  Adjust your hips to a neutral position to alleviate any arching in your lower back.  Place the band across your hipbones.  Hold the band down with hands along the sides of your body.  Contract your abs and squeeze your glutes to lift your hips up off the ground.  Stop when your thighs, hips and stomach are in a straight line.  Lower you hips back down to the ground. 

Start with one set of 15 repetitions.  Work on increasing to 25 repetitions and doing two to three.  Another variation of this exercise is to hold the hip bridge position.  Start with a 30 second hold and work up to holding for 60 seconds.

"Hey buddy, wanna buy some exorphins?"

"Hey buddy, wanna buy some exorphins?"

31. May 2009 William Davis (18)
Dr. Christine Zioudrou and colleagues at the National Institutes of Mental Health got this conversation going back in 1979 with their paper, Opioid peptides derived from food proteins: The exorphins.

Exorphins are exogenously-derived peptides (i.e., short amino acid sequences obtained from outside the body) that exert morphine-like properties. Mimicking the digestive process that occurs in the gastrointestinal tract using the gastric enzyme, pepsin, and hydrochloric acid (stomach acid), Zioudrou et al isolated peptides from wheat gluten with morphine-like activity. They followed this research path because of the apparent association of wheat and mental illness.

In the bioassays used, wheat-derived exorphins competed successfully with the endogenous opiate, met-enkephalin. Interestingly, casein-derived (i.e., casein milk protein) exorphins were also identified that also displayed opiate-binding activity, though less powerfully. The morphine-like activity was also blocked by the drug, naloxone (the same stuff given to people exposed to morphine overdose).

Among the many devastating effects of celiac disease , the immune disease that develops from wheat gluten exposure, are mental and emotional effects, such as anxiety, fatigue, mental "fog," depression, bipolar illness, and schizophrenia, that disappear with removal of gluten. Many parents of autistic children also advocate wheat-free diets for similar reasons.

Among the many wonderful comments posted on the last Heart Scan Blog post, "I can't do it," was Anne's:

I am not the Anne in your post, but I was addicted to wheat. It was my favorite food. I lived on and for breads. Then I discovered I was gluten sensitive and I did go through a withdrawal of about 4 days. After 4 days I noticed my health problems were disappearing. Depression, brain fog and joint pain are 3 of the many symptoms that disappeared. That was 6 yrs ago.

Tell Anne that I had dreams about bread in the beginning - they will pass. Now the donuts, breads, cookies and cakes in the stores and at work don't even look good. In fact, I don't like the smell of bread anymore. It takes time, but the cravings do pass.


Combine wheat"s exorphin-driven addictive potential with its flagrant blood sugar-increasing properties, and you have a formula that:

1) makes you fat
2) increases likelihood of diabetes, and
3) makes you want to keep on doing it.

Reminds me of nicotine.

My personal view: I have absolutely no remaining doubt that wheat products have no place in the human diet. Not only does the research provide a plausible basis for its adverse health effects, but having asked hundreds of people to remove it from their habits has yielded consistent and remarkable health benefits. Just read the reader comments here and here.
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Comments (18) -

  • Anonymous

    5/31/2009 4:49:20 PM |

    Sometimes I get confused when people say "wheat". Do you think this also applies to other grains? What about rice and oats?

    Thanks,
    David

  • Anonymous

    5/31/2009 9:10:11 PM |

    Received so much valuable advice from Dr Davis blog(Vit D,Fish Oil, Thyroid,Niacin) that even though I love wheat(the thicker the crust on anything the better)That I decided to trust him on this one too. I had 10 days of misery ie:no energy,grumpy,and hungry. My wife said bad words about Dr D.... threatened to force feed me donuts because I was so nasty tempered. Now 2 months later I dropped the 15 lbs I needed to, feel better and have found it easy to stay off the stuff. Thanks Dr Davis (my wife says she is sorry!)

  • Neonomide

    5/31/2009 11:21:57 PM |

    Or rye, perhaps?

  • Materialguy

    6/1/2009 2:23:18 AM |

    I was listening to a CD version of the book "1491". It talked about the uniquely Native American ("Indian") invention of agriculture combining maze (corn) and squash and other beans. This provides all the essential amino acids.

    It somewhat paralleled the Western invention of agriculture based on wheat and other grains(barley, oats,...).

    The comment of significance was that the Native Americans were considerably taller than the newcoming European settlers.

    I wonder if that is a "wheat thing" as well.

    I read not long ago that when Lafayette and the French soldiers joined forces with the new Americans during the Revolutionary war, it was noted that the new Americans were also taller than the French soldiers.

    I wonder.

  • kris

    6/1/2009 2:47:33 AM |

    Although i have reduced my wheat intake by 90% now, but it is not always easy to follow this diet. specially when you also have to avoid few other grains because of the hypothyroid issue. even though it has been said that iodine sufficiency shouldn't let goiter foods do any harm but, i can still feel the effects of these foods with in minutes after consuming, cooked or uncooked.
    Few years ago i had bloody stomach every time i went to the bathroom. tired of doctors wait game and suggested operation date 3.5 months away, that's when i decided to become my own doctor and basically started studying my self. i was lucky that with in 3 days i was able to stop the bleeding with simple usage of Aloe (not the regular aloe it is high dose of Aloe Mucilaginous Polysaccharides) and manuka honey. but i learned later on that, all of this started with hypothyroid. while studying this stomach issue i went through this made sense notes from this alternative mental health site.
    http://www.alternativementalhealth.com/articles/walshMP.htm
    where the author talked about oxidative stress and said,
    "factor to consider is the high incidence of oxidative stress in the G.I. tract. This environment can destroy key digestive enzymes such as DPP-IV (needed to break down casein & gluten)..... This condition is especially common in autism-spectrum disorders. Failure to correct the oxidative stress would doom supplemented enzymes to an early death. The result can be similar to Pickett's Charge at the battle of Gettysburg.... The digestive enzymes are mowed down as soon as they enter the G.I. tract. The casein-free, gluten-free diet often results in rapid striking improvements. However, nutritional supplements which overcome G.I. tract oxidative stress can make the CF/GF diet unnecessary.
    Normalization of zinc, metallothionein, and glutathione in the G.I. tract isn't difficult to accomplish. It's a lot easier to take a couple of capsules daily than this difficult diet. It takes about 6-8 weeks for the G.I. tract to get "fixed" using this therapy.
    We've had many patients who were extremely sensitive to dairy and wheat.... and did marvelously after the CF/GF diet. Many of these same patients completely lost their sensitivity to casein and gluten after the antioxidant supplementation..... and now can eat a normal diet without a problem".
    the reason that i am bringing this discussion that i have seen people in certain communities where wheat is their at least 40% of the total diet. yet some individuals in that same community are still got no wheat belly and no major health issues what so ever.

  • Andrew

    6/1/2009 5:35:55 AM |

    "Mental fog" seems very ambiguous.  Is there any kind of scientific data or quantifiable means by which one can measure the effect of wheat on "brain fog?"

    Any studies, or is it all anecdotal evidence?

  • Anonymous

    6/1/2009 11:20:52 AM |

    Please read about the Specific Carbohydrate Diet and the book "Gut and Psychology Syndrome" by Natasha Campbell McBride. Very interesting and nothing we learned in medical school.

  • Lena

    6/1/2009 11:22:41 AM |

    There are some who propose that we shouldn't eat any grains at all, because all grains have some particular proteins (particularly defence peptides) which provide protection to the grain plant, but which are harmful to the human immune system. This includes rice, corn, maize, etc.

    Check out this article: "Cereal Grains - Humanity's double-edges sword" http://www.thepaleodiet.com/articles/Cereal%20article.pdf

  • Nameless

    6/1/2009 5:11:06 PM |

    Although I don't doubt the health benefits of eliminating wheat, I am interested in how the Mediterranean diet is considered healthy, yet includes pasta.

    Fruits/veggies/grapes mitigate the damage wheat does, or is there some other mechanism? Perhaps genetics play a role, where certain individuals have a much bigger problem with wheat (as to heart disease) than others?

  • Anonymous

    6/2/2009 1:46:35 AM |

    Wheat is the enemy. Ah well....that explains the Italians; and for that matter, the French.  But wait, they are, on average, more healthy than Americans,...... So what about those Japanese and other Asian cultures who consume vast amounts of Omega 6 from soy....maybe their delta-6 desaturase is higher than the average American, and maybe, just maybe they have more exercise in their daily routine.

  • Anonymous

    6/2/2009 1:35:34 PM |

    Dear anonymous, it is a myth that Asians eat vast amounts of soy. They actually eat very little each day. Our food manufacturers have sold us that bill of goods so that we will buy products (franken-foods) with "healthy soy" which is actually the waste product of the soy oil industry--yet another bad for you food.

  • Anna

    6/5/2009 2:58:00 PM |

    No disrespect to the French and the Italians - I love to visit both countries and know many natives - but the French and Italians are just "less sick" than we are, they aren't necessarily good examples of abundant health, esp the Italians.  They don't eat as much pasta as we are led to think, but wow, they do eat a lot of bread and sugar.  I saw lots of signs of diabetes among the locals when I was in Italy last summer.  

    Overall, my impression from my visits to friends and family of my husband's (for nearly 15 years) is that Europe seems to be heading down a similar  sorry path we've already trodden; they are just a few years behind behind us.  Some European countries are following at a slower pace or a slightly different route, but the signs are there that the industrial food culture is permeating and doing damage, esp in the younger generations.  I think it's happening in industrial parts of Asia, too.

    Celiac disease research is very active in Italy because  of the high rate of celiac incidence there.  Check Pub Med, you'll see a high number of Italian papers.

  • Anonymous

    6/11/2009 3:20:44 AM |

    Anna,
    You have more personal experience than I do from visits and I respect you observations.  I have not been to either country for over 10 years.

    Take a look at the stats on Nationmaster:-

    http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_hea_dis_dea-health-heart-disease-deaths

    Italy and France are low on the list for heart disease deaths.

    Also on Nationmaster you can find stats for a whole host of other things EG wine consumption..... France and Italy top this list. On soft drink consumption, they are at the bottom. Obesity stats also show them at the bottom and USA is #1 but USA is not #1 for heart disease deaths, it is in the mid tier.

  • George D. Henderson

    5/19/2010 10:56:38 PM |

    In my copy of Lao-Tzu's Te Tao Ching, which was found in a Chinese Han era tomb dated 168BC, it states that one of the other documents found in the tomb was a treatise on "the health benefits of grain avoidance".

    Pasta is made from Durhum wheat which has a slightly different genetic profile from baker's wheat.
    Even a single amino acid difference in a gluten or casien sequence can change the way it breaks under pepsin digestion, altering or blocking the production of any given exorphin. In my experience the Durhum gluten exorphin is not as vicious as the baker's wheat gluten exorphin, but it is still nasty.
    This is paralleled in milk chemistry - beta-casien from A2 milk has a proline residue where beta-casien from A1 milk has a histidine residue; this means that A1 milk forms the potent exorphin beta-casomorphin 7 in amounts approximately 100x that of A2 milk. A1 and A2 are genotypes of common milk bearing cows. Many people who cannot tolerate A1 milk (normal cows milk) can tolerate A2 cow's milk, or goat's milk, which has A2 properties. (Milk can create other exorphins, but BCM-7 is especially potent and well-researched)
    This is all linked to the use of low-dose naltrexone to stimulate and harmonise immunity by elevating endorphin levels. LDN can be seen as a drug that undoes the harmful effects of exorphins.
    Also, large amounts of digestive protease enzymes are heavily relied on by many alternative canmcer therapists (as is LDN); these will tend to digest exorphins before they enter the bloodstream. This is not the actual rationale for enzyme-based cancer therapy, but to my mind it makes far more sense than the out-dated traditional explanation (the Beard hypothesis). Use of morphine after cancer surgery is associated with a significantly lower rate of remission - morphine is the classical exorphin.
    The exorphins only enter the blood if two conditions are met - inadequate pancreatic digestive enzymes (proteases), and/or excessive intestinal permeability (or stomach ulcer) - "leaky gut" (because exorphins, like classic opiates, act directly on the gut, a lack of pancreatic enzymes can eventually lead to leaky gut. Aspirin abuse (even 1 a day, which has increased the rate of Crohn's disease five-fold in a population study - I use ginkgo or reishi instead), antibiotics, and many other drugs can contribute to leaky gut. Probiotics and good nutrition (adequate protein annd fats) are protective against it.

  • George D. Henderson

    5/19/2010 11:11:02 PM |

    Andrew, there are scientific studies online done on rats in mazes that show orally administered gluten exorphins affect standard tests of learning, memory, etc (mazes and the like) without affecting "swim time" or other more physical parameters. That equates to "brain fog" (cognitive impairment) in humans, I reckon. This is one of the 15 references on PubMed:

    [Delayed effect of exorphins on learning of albino rat pups]
    [Article in Russian]

    Dubynin VA, Malinovskaia IV, Beliaeva IuA, Stovolosov IS, Bespalova ZhD, Andreeva LA, KamenskiÄ­ AA, Miasoedov NF.

    Abstract
    The delayed effect of food-derived opioid peptides (exorphins) after chronic administration on postnatal days 1-14 on the learning of albino rat pups has been studied. Heptapeptide YPFPGPI (beta-casomorphin-7), pentapeptide YPLDL (rubiscolin-5) and pentapeptide YPISL (exorphin C) improved the development of the conditioned foraging reflex in a complex maze. Hexapeptide PFPGPI lacking the N-terminal tyrosine proved inefficient. Only beta-casomorphin-7 had an effect (negative) on passive avoidance conditioning. The obtained data confirm that exorphins (particularly, milk-derived beta-casomorphins) can have significant and long-term effects on the environmental adaptation of young mammals.

  • buy jeans

    11/3/2010 8:42:48 PM |

    Among the many devastating effects of celiac disease , the immune disease that develops from wheat gluten exposure, are mental and emotional effects, such as anxiety, fatigue, mental "fog," depression, bipolar illness, and schizophrenia, that disappear with removal of gluten. Many parents of autistic children also advocate wheat-free diets for similar reasons.

  • Physical Therapy Supplies

    4/28/2011 5:43:24 AM |

    Good post! I respect you observations. Pasta is made from Durhum wheat which has a slightly different genetic profile from baker's wheat. I am interested in how the Mediterranean diet is considered healthy, yet includes pasta.
    Boxing/MMA Supplies

  • Ruth

    3/4/2013 3:22:48 PM |

    While the term "mental fog" is really vague and unscientific, thinking in more specific terms one can see that , yes it is well documented.  The protein in wheat gluten is very difficult to digest, and in the case of certain autistics, schizophrenics, celiacs, people with wheat gluten enteropathy etc. it is not completely broken down, forming long chains of peptides that have a chemical composition similar to opiates.  These people are all known for their resistance to dietary change and extreme addiction to wheat gluten and often dairy, the protein of which has a chemical composition similar to that of wheat gluten and therefore, is also may form similar peptides.  The symptoms such individuals display might be described in similar terms, dazed, spaced out, the appearance of opium addicts, or "mental fog."  There is research on this phenomenon.

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Whole grains and half truths

Whole grains and half truths

14. November 2007 William Davis (13)
(For followers of the Heart Scan Blog, below is a re-posting of a recent post. I've moved it up to make it accessible to a number of patients that I asked to look at this post for some conversation about the concept of wheat-free diets.)


TV ads, media conversations, magazine articles, even advice from the American Heart Association and USDA (a la Food Pyramid) all agree: eat more whole grains, get more fiber.

What happens when you follow this advice to add more and more whole grains to your diet? Look around you: People gain weight, they become pre-diabetic and diabetic. Lipids and lipoprotein patterns emerge: increased triglycerides and VLDL, reduced HDL, small LDL. Blood sugar goes up, inflammatory responses are ignited. You feel crumby, cancer risk is increased.

"Official" agencies have urged us to eat more grains, get more fiber and most Americans have complied. We now have a nationwide health disaster that will eventually lead to more people with coronary plaque, more heart disease, more heart attack, more heart procedures.

This is why I've been urging patients to go wheat-free. It has proven an extraordinarily and surprisingly effective strategy for:

1) rapid and profound weight loss
2) raising HDL and reducing triglycerides, VLDL, and small LDL
3) reducing blood sugars, pre-diabetes and diabetes

So here I (re-) post just a sampling of the comments sent by readers of the Heart Scan Blog who have given this idea a try.






Barbara W said:

It's true! We've done it. My husband and I stopped eating all grains and sugar in February. At this point, we really don't miss them any more. It was a huge change, but it's worth the effort. I've lost over 20 pounds (10 to go)and my husband has lost 45 pounds (20 to go). On top of it, our body shapes have changed drastically. It is really amazing. I've got my waist back (and a whole wardrobe of clothes) - I'm thrilled.

I'm also very happy to be eating foods that I always loved like eggs, avocados, and meats - without feeling guilty that they're not good for me.

With the extremely hot weather this week in our area, we thought we'd "treat" ourselves to small ice cream cones. To our surprise, it wasn't that much of a treat. Didn't even taste as good as we'd anticipated. I know I would have been much more satisfied with a snack of smoked salmon with fresh dill, capers, chopped onion and drizzled with lemon juice.

Aside from weight changes, we both feel so much better in general - feel much more alert and move around with much greater flexibility, sleep well, never have any indigestion. We're really enjoying this. It's like feeling younger.

It's not a diet for us. This will be the way we eat from now on. Actually, we think our food has become more interesting and varied since giving up all the "white stuff". I guess we felt compelled to get a little more creative.

Eating out (or at other peoples' places) has probably been the hardest part of this adjustment. But now we're getting pretty comfortable saying what we won't eat. I'm starting to enjoy the reactions it produces.


Weight loss, increased energy, less abdominal bloating, better sleep--I've seen it many times, as well.


Dotslady said:

I was a victim of the '80s lowfat diet craze - doc told me I was obese, gave me the Standard American Diet and said to watch my fat (I'm not a big meat eater, didn't like mayo ... couldn't figure out where my fat was coming from! maybe the fries - I will admit I liked fries). I looked to the USDA food pyramid and to increase my fiber for the constipation I was experiencing. Bread with 3 grams of fiber wasn't good enough; I turned to Kashi cereals for 11 years. My constipation turned to steattorrhea and a celiac disease diagnosis! *No gut pains!* My PCP sent me to the gastroenterologist for a colonscopy because my ferritin was a 5 (20 is low range). Good thing I googled around and asked him to do an endoscopy or I'd be a zombie by now.

My symptoms were depression & anxiety, eczema, GERD, hypothyroidism, mild dizziness, tripping, Alzheimer's-like memory problems, insomnia, heart palpitations, fibromyalgia, worsening eyesight, mild cardiomyopathy, to name a few.

After six months gluten-free, I asked my gastroenterologist about feeling full early ... he said he didn't know what I was talking about! *shrug*

But *I* knew -- it was the gluten/starches! My satiety level has totally changed, and for the first time in my life I feel NORMAL!


Feeling satisfied with less is a prominent effect in my experience, too. You need to eat less, you're driven to snack less, less likely to give in to those evil little bedtime or middle-of-the-night impulses that make you feel ashamed and guilty.



An anonymous (female) commenter said:

My life changed when I cut not only all wheat, but all grains from my diet.

For the first time in my life, I was no longer hungry -no hunger pangs between meals; no overwhelming desire to snack. Now I eat at mealtimes without even thinking about food in between.

I've dropped 70 pounds, effortlessly, come off high blood pressure meds and control my blood sugar without medication.

I don't know whether it was just the elimination of grain, especially wheat, or whether it was a combination of grain elimnation along with a number of other changes, but I do know that mere reduction of grain consumption still left me hungry. It wasn't until I elimnated it that the overwhelming redution in appetite kicked in.

As a former wheat-addicted vegetarian, who thought she was eating healthily according to all the expert advice out there at the time, I can only shake my head at how mistaken I was.


That may be a record for me: 70 lbs!!


Stan said:

It's worth it and you won't look back!

Many things will improve, not just weight reduction: you will think clearer, your reflexes will improve, your breathing rate will go down, your blood pressure will normalize. You will never or rarely have a fever or viral infections like cold or flu. You will become more resistant to cold temperature and you will rarely feel tired, ever!


Ortcloud said:

Whenever I go out to breakfast I look around and I am in shock at what people eat for breakfast. Big stack of pancakes, fruit, fruit juice syrup, just like you said. This is not breakfast, this is dessert ! It has the same sugar and nutrition as a birthday cake, would anyone think cake is ok for breakfast ? No, but that is exactly the equivalent of what they are eating. Somehow we have been duped to think this is ok. For me, I typically eat an omelette when I go out, low carb and no sugar. I dont eat wheat but invariably it comes with the meal and I try to tell the waitress no thanks, they are stunned. They try to push some other type of wheat or sugar product on me instead, finally I have to tell them I dont eat wheat and they are doubly stunned. They cant comprehend it. We have a long way to go in terms of re-education.

Yes. Don't be surprised at the incomprehension, the rolled eyes, even the anger that can sometimes result. Imagine that told you that the food you've come to rely on and love is killing you!


Anne said:

I was overweight by only about 15lbs and I was having pitting edema in my legs and shortness of breath. My cardiologist and I were discussing the possible need of an angiogram. I was three years out from heart bypass surgery.

Before we could schedule the procedure, I tested positive for gluten sensitivity through www.enterolab.com. I eliminated not only wheat but also barley and rye and oats(very contaminated with wheat) from my diet. Within a few weeks my edema was gone, my energy was up and I was no longer short of breath. I lost about 10 lbs. The main reason I gave up gluten was to see if I could stop the progression of my peripheral neuropathy. Getting off wheat and other gluten grains has given me back my life. I have been gluten free for 4 years and feel younger than I have in many years.

There are many gluten free processed foods, but I have found I feel my best when I stick with whole foods.


Ann has a different reason (gluten enteropathy, or celiac disease) for wanting to be wheat-free. But I've seen similar improvements that go beyond just relief of the symptoms attributable to the inflammatory intestinal effects of gluten elimination.



Wccaguy said:

I have relatively successfully cut carbs and grains from my diet thus far.

Because I've got some weight to lose, I have tried to keep the carb count low and I've lost 15 pounds since then.

I have also been very surprised at the significant reduction in my appetite. I've read about the experience of others with regard to appetite reduction and couldn't really imagine that it could happen for me too. But it has.

A few weeks ago, I attended a party catered by one of my favorite italian restaurants and got myself offtrack for two days. Then it took me a couple of days to get back on track because my appetite returned.

Check out Jimmy Moore's website for lots of ideas about variations of foods to try. The latest thing I picked up from Jimmy is the good old-fashioned hard boiled egg. Two or three eggs with some spicy hot sauce for breakfast and a handful of almonds mid-morning plus a couple glasses of water and I'm good for the morning no problem.

I find myself thinking about lunch not because I'm really hungry but out of habit.

The cool thing too now is that the more I do this, the more I'm just not tempted much to do anything but this diet.


Going wheat-free, along with a reduction in processed sugary foods like Hawaiian Punch, sodas, and candy, is the straightest, most direct path I know of to lose weight, obtain all the health benefits listed by our commenters, as well as achieve the lipoprotein corrections we seek, like reduction of small LDL particles and rise in HDL, in the Track Your Plaque program.
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Comments (13) -

  • Emily

    11/14/2007 10:59:00 AM |

    Diet is an important measure in preventing the diabetes. Look around you: People gain weight, they become pre-diabetic and diabetic. Lipids and lipoprotein patterns emerge: increased triglycerides and VLDL, reduced HDL, small LDL. Blood sugar goes up, inflammatory responses are ignited. You feel crumby, cancer risk is increased.

  • Anonymous

    11/14/2007 1:17:00 PM |

    Speaking of wheat in the diet, I'd strongly urge anyone suspicious of gluten enteropathy, or "celiac disease," to get the Enterolab blood test, which has replaced endoscopy as the "gold standard" for diagnosis (don't let the gastroenterologist tell you otherwise). Quality of life is profoundly preserved through early diagnosis, and the medical community is largely clueless on this issue. -Keith.

  • Ted Christopher

    11/15/2007 8:42:00 PM |

    No.   I eat a lot of whole grains (as part of vegan diet).  What is the health-upshot?  I have a little over 5% body fat, a resting heart rate of about 50, and a cholesterol level a little over 100.  And the diet is easily digested and I'm very active.  And I am more concerned about getting hit by a meteorite than getting diabetes or having heart problems. You can read a good relevant write-up here
    www.drmcdougall.com/stars/peter_rogers_md.html

    Perhaps there are some people with a specific allergy problem with a given grain (such as wheat), but the comments above are way off.

    The diet I'm describing has profoundly helpful affects on both the heart and diabetes front as someone like McDougall's work makes clear.

  • Dr. Davis

    11/15/2007 10:35:00 PM |

    I'm afraid that you are the occasional exception. These comments do not apply to everybody. Just the majority.

  • John

    11/16/2007 8:28:00 AM |

    I'd appreciate a little clarity around what is meant by "grains" Whole grains cover a wide range of
    different types ... wheat, rye, oats, etc. Are they all "bad"? You have mentioned flax (a grain)
    for example as being "good". So which is which?
    I ran across a grain called Salba promoted by a health food store as a healthy alternative for
    those allergic to wheat ... but it's still "grain".

  • Dr. Davis

    11/16/2007 12:18:00 PM |

    It depends on what you are trying to accomplish.

    Some people who are exquisitely sensitive to any grain can do well by restricting themselves to ground flaxseed, barley, and some of the more obscure wheat "alternatives" in small quantities like quinoa, sorghum, and bulghur.

    However, some people just need dramatically reduce wheat only and can do quite well.

    Some people, e.g., those at true ideal weight with Lp(a) and no small LDL, don't benefit by a grain restriction at all.

    I'd estimate that 70% of people would fall into the first or second category.

  • Anonymous

    11/17/2007 10:55:00 PM |

    I can't argue with your results, but as a physician with a very strong interest in nutrition I have to disagree with your conclusions. In most cases it isn't the wheat that is harmful but the processing that strips it of its nutritional value, or the other junk like partially hygdrogenated fats found in the wheat containing products. Your simplified message works well for those that lack nutritional sophistication but is an unnecessary limitation for those with more nutrititional knowledge and the discipline to use it(such as the vegan commenter, Keith).

    A breakfast of kamut (an ancient form of whole wheat), barley, and oat grains soaked overnight and rinsed, ground flax seed, and rice milk is low glycemic, high in protein, B vitamins, minerals, and both soluble and nonsoluble fibers. Soluble fibers improve lipid abnormalites and the insoluble fiber promotes proper digestion and colon health. It will also provide satiety easily until noon. I incorporate grains in this manner into my vegan diet. At 49 I have low blood pressure and pulse and low lipid levels and am proof that those with the nutritional knowledge and the discipline to use it need not avoid grains.

  • Dr. Davis

    11/17/2007 11:07:00 PM |

    Yes, wonderful point.

    I'm guilty of over-simplifying to make a point, though I believe a very important one.

  • G

    11/20/2007 3:39:00 PM |

    I don't recall if I have read here on this site about the JAMA study from Stanford reviewing the 4 low carb diets and finding that the most effective in pre-meno women was the Atkins in reducing LDL (they presume, small hard atherogenic), lowering TGs 30% and promoting permanent 1-yr wt loss goals.

    CONCLUSIONS:  In this study, premenopausal overweight and obese women assigned to follow the Atkins diet, which had the lowest carbohydrate intake, lost more weight and experienced more favorable overall metabolic effects at 12 months than women assigned to follow the Zone, Ornish, or LEARN diets. While questions remain about long-term effects and mechanisms, a low-carbohydrate, high-protein, high-fat diet may be considered a feasible alternative recommendation for weight loss.

    http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/297/9/969

    Comparison of the Atkins, Zone, Ornish, and LEARN Diets for Change in Weight and Related Risk Factors Among Overweight Premenopausal Women
    The A TO Z Weight Loss Study: A Randomized Trial

    Christopher D. Gardner, PhD; Alexandre Kiazand, MD; Sofiya Alhassan, PhD; Soowon Kim, PhD; Randall S. Stafford, MD, PhD; Raymond R. Balise, PhD; Helena C. Kraemer, PhD; Abby C. King, PhD


    JAMA. 2007;297:969-977.

    ABSTRACT  

    Context  Popular diets, particularly those low in carbohydrates, have challenged current recommendations advising a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet for weight loss. Potential benefits and risks have not been tested adequately.

    Objective  To compare 4 weight-loss diets representing a spectrum of low to high carbohydrate intake for effects on weight loss and related metabolic variables.

    Design, Setting, and Participants  Twelve-month randomized trial conducted in the United States from February 2003 to October 2005 among 311 free-living, overweight/obese (body mass index, 27-40) nondiabetic, premenopausal women.

    Intervention  Participants were randomly assigned to follow the Atkins (n = 77), Zone (n = 79), LEARN (n = 79), or Ornish (n = 76) diets and received weekly instruction for 2 months, then an additional 10-month follow-up.

    Main Outcome Measures  Weight loss at 12 months was the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes included lipid profile (low-density lipoprotein, high-density lipoprotein, and non–high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglyceride levels), percentage of body fat, waist-hip ratio, fasting insulin and glucose levels, and blood pressure. Outcomes were assessed at months 0, 2, 6, and 12. The Tukey studentized range test was used to adjust for multiple testing.

    Results  Weight loss was greater for women in the Atkins diet group compared with the other diet groups at 12 months, and mean 12-month weight loss was significantly different between the Atkins and Zone diets (P<.05). Mean 12-month weight loss was as follows: Atkins, –4.7 kg (95% confidence interval [CI], –6.3 to –3.1 kg), Zone, –1.6 kg (95% CI, –2.8 to –0.4 kg), LEARN, –2.6 kg (–3.8 to –1.3 kg), and Ornish, –2.2 kg (–3.6 to –0.8 kg). Weight loss was not statistically different among the Zone, LEARN, and Ornish groups. At 12 months, secondary outcomes for the Atkins group were comparable with or more favorable than the other diet groups.



    Trial Registration  clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00079573

  • stephen_b

    11/21/2007 8:25:00 PM |

    Is the recommendation to go wheat free entirely an effort to reduce carbohydrate intake or is the claim that gluten has an impact on blood lipids in and of itself?

    Stephen_B

  • Dr. Davis

    11/21/2007 8:56:00 PM |

    Eliminating wheat reduces the carbohydrate load. But it also has the curious exaggerated effect of diminishing appetite considerably. I won't pretend to understand this phenomenon, but the appetite-stimulating property of wheat can be substantial. Removing it returns control to appetite.

  • G

    11/21/2007 10:18:00 PM |

    So Dr. D, is whole grains actually 'whole cr*p'...*pardon ze french*?  I know that personally (and I'm very physically active) that I would gain 10 lbs per year if I followed the Am Diabetes Assoc pyramid diet eating 11 servings of whole grains and 4-5 servings fruit daily (and insufficient protein and good oils like nuts/seeds, fish oil). And I did gain wt prior to going low carb!
    Have a great Thanksgiving!!  We have so much to be thankful for... including this great souce of info and commentary.

  • Dr. Davis

    11/22/2007 2:14:00 PM |

    The world has clearly gone way overboard on the whole grain kick. 6-8 servings per day of grains according to the USDA food pyramid and the ADA's diet you cite would make the majority of people gain enormous amounts of weight. I see these people every day who come to me frustrated. They're eating "right," following the standard advice and can't understand why they've gained 50 lbs over the past four years and have disastrous lipid/lipoprotein numbers, along with pre-diabetes or diabetes.

    Drop the wheat specifically and weight, as you read above, drops like a stone in the majority.

    Not everybody needs to do this. If you eat like this and are already at ideal weight with no small LDL, etc., then it may not be necessary. But I find it necessary in at least 70% of people I see.

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