As most of you have heard, my new eBook, 180 Degree Diabetes ? Preventing and Reversing Insulin Resistance, Metabolic Syndrome, and Type 2 Diabetes, has been published.
In that book, I fail to talk about the connection between the hormone leptin and type 2 diabetes, although I’m fully aware of it. The book was complicated enough, and the bottom line is that overfeeding HED-style has the ability to decrease insulin resistance. It is quite possible, however, that it does this because overfeeding raises leptin levels, and leptin is the master hormone that may control insulin resistance ? even more so than cortisol which I chose to focus on instead.
On page 87 of 180 Degree Diabetes, I use a quote by Russ Farris from The Potbelly Syndrome, which is discussed in the book. However, I deleted one important aspect from that quote that needs careful consideration. The quote used was:
??insulin resistance leads to weight gain, but most health professionals believe that the opposite is true. If obesity does cause insulin resistance, then we would expect people who are overfed to become more insulin resistant, but that is not the case. Researchers in Indianapolis overfed six slender, active, young adults for several weeks? Five of the six subjects became LESS insulin resistant!
-Russ Farris
The part left out was (the ? between ‘several weeks? and ?five of the six?):
“At the end of this period, the subjects had gained an average of 9.7 pounds and their leptin level had risen 68 percent.”
That is very substantial when you consider what was written in this blog post, published on January 5th, passed along to me by fellow Condorman aficionado ? Brock Cusick. Thanks Brock!
http://nextbigfuture.com/2010/01/leptin-controlled-gene-can-reverse.html
I know overfeeding seems like a very strange and bizarre and even reckless dietary strategy, but when it reliably raises leptin in a matter of weeks, it’s no wonder why my fasting and postprandial glucose levels dropped by 26% in 30 days.
Couple this with the low-fructose provision laid out in the book, and you have a tremendous insulin-resistance lowering capability that no other diet can achieve without starvation, which, as we know, is a short-term fix that exacerbates the core problems in the long-term and has dire metabolic consequences. Why is the fructose provision key? Because Richard Johnson, author of The Sugar Fix, knows that fructose has two key fundamental properties.
The first is that fructose does not stimulate the release of leptin. Johnson states:
?Blood tests showed that the women’s leptin levels were 35% lower when they drank fructose-sweetened beverages than when they drank glucose beverages.
Raising leptin is key, and since glucose raises leptin more than straight fructose or any carbohydrate containing fructose such as High-Fructose Corn Syrup or sucrose (white sugar), it is vastly preferable. The funny part is that the most glucose-heavy carbohydrates often appear at the top of the Glycemic Index ? grains, potatoes, and corn. Hence the 180 Degree Diabetes chapter title: ?The Glycemic Index Catastrophe.
Also, fructose is the only type of carbohydrate that can induce leptin resistance ? where leptin levels, even if they rise, do not have the intended effect because the leptin isn’t getting through to its receptors. Johnson writes:
?High doses of fructose cause leptin resistance. This phenomenon was demonstrated in a 2008 study led by two of my former colleagues at the University of Florida, Alexandra Shapiro, PhD, and Phillip Scarpace, PhD.
In the new diabetes reversal eBook, the main strategy recommended is to eat at as many non-fructose source calories as possible, with an emphasis on saturated fat in the fat category (which is more metabolically stimulating and does the least oxidative damage), to get maximal results. How many type 2 diabetics will be able to reverse their condition? We just don’t know yet, but I hope it approximates the number that have the courage to try it. Theoretically, any diet that raises leptin levels while decreasing leptin resistance should have the maximal effect – two bangs for one buck, and I believe this is precisely what is achieved on such advice.
Read more about 180 Degree Diabetes at:
Matt,
Are you aware of any studies on milk / dairy and leptin levels? Galactose is the third type of sugar most commonly encountered …
Thanks!
-Brock
Looks like glucose and galactose are the most metabolically stimulating monosaccharides – and perhaps substances period. Only fructose fails to raise leptin levels while simultaneously inducing leptin resistance.
"Theoretically, any diet that raises leptin levels while decreasing leptin levels should have that effect, and this is precisely what is achieved on such advice. "
That sentence doesn't quite scan for me Matt. Maybe edit?
This is pretty danging evidence (I'm being all G-rated today) against fructose.
I've been thinking about what the effects of alcohol are in the prediabetic mix. You didn't talk much about it in the book, but most of the people I know who were type 2 diabetic were big drinkers.
Anyway the E-book was really great. I wish I'd looked into some of this five-ten years ago, as it comes too late for my dad. However, i still know plenty of diabetics and prediabetics who would be interested in this information. Then there is my own future to consider as well…which simply reinforces my determination to follow through on this. Maybe I can use some of those visualization techniques I learned so well on earlier diets to fight my fructose cravings.
You'll be fine with a little fructose – especially from real food. Reversing diabetes obviously takes more extreme measures. If you crave it, have some. Alcohol has some involvement with diabetes, but it's hard to say to what degree.
Sorry about the mistake. I meant it raises leptin while lowering leptin resistance, which has a double-whammy effect on delivering an active, functional, leptin injection. Perhaps one of the great keys of overcoming insulin resistance. Of course, simply cutting out the fructose will make a big difference, and is more the root of the problem for most people, and doesn't come with the typical initial weight gain of overfeeding.
Okay, I'll go fix it now.
Thanks Matt!
Hi Matt, been doing HED, and it has helped with digestion (fiber and all) and a bit with stability. Now, there's one thing I want to ask you: I've been craving rather small amounts of protein, like 1 or 2 eggs per meal in 4 or 5 meals a day. With carbs and fat I can eat tons of, but just some more protein than what I want can mess with my apettite. Should I just go with the flow?
Nice post! So far, I really seem to be doing very well on the HED. I think I'm still eating a little too much protein, this also seems to be the nutrient that's still the hardest to digest. But so far, I feel better, my temperature was a bit higher today and I actually gained weight! And even though this probably was mostly fat, that's still a good thing as I'm pretty much underweight.
This post has also really made me curious about your eBook. Currently I don't really have the money for it, as I am still going to school and food actually takes up most of my budget as my parents are only semi-supportive here. But I still might buy it one day.
Also, Matt, even though you recommended otherwise, I think I'm gonna start taking Maca again, as it'd be a shame to throw it away and it seems to be a common treatment for adrenal and thyroid issues that has very much an adaptogenic effect like the other recommended herbs. It's not that much maca that I have here, so it won't last that long anyways, however I still think it's very well worth it. Also it seems to be helpful at bringing up the temperature as well.
Matt-
Just wanted to drop by and state my appreciation for your work, especially your 180 degree diabetes ebook which was devoured upon download; as well as today's post. It made some sense of some of the things that were happening that didn't make any sense in regards to my type II diabetes. For instance, my blood sugar rising after exercise as opposed to dropping. For someone educated and working professioanlly in the exercise field, that kind of went against everything we are taught. I also was initially part of the low carb brigade; simply because initially it worked and continued to work for over a year without using any medication. But when I tried it again, even more stirctly, it just didn't have any effect. Neither has metformin, so unfortunately I have begun using insulin within the past week. Since raw milk won't be available again until March, I have begun implementing the HED, though I'm struggling to average over 3500 calories/day. I have been tracking everything bext I can in an excel spreadsheet with the assistance of fitday, and have also just started a blog to document my adventures at http://www.prickymart.blogspot.com. You are welcome to the spreadsheets if it ever interests you. I'm excited to be a guinea pig!
Good feedback. Protein requirements aren't all that large, especially while eating a lot of starchy whole foods and vegetables, which are typically 10-50% protein by percentage of calories. Some days I don't have the appetite for much meat either. Other days, I put it away like a champ. It was originally postulated that the HED would work better if protein was kept lower anyway – not restricted, but like 10-15% of calories as opposed to 20-25%.
Thanks Russell. I really hope the HED can deliver the same results that it delivered for me. I know in theory it can, and should, but we all still need to see it to believe it. Your experiences sound right in line with my summaries – lots of short-term gain and long-term pain. You can do it, and you bet your ass I'll be following that blog!
Hi Matt
I've got the book and am almost finished reading it. First let me commend you on an excellent job of bringing all the different schools of thought together in an easy to understand and easy to read manner.
Re the HED diet I have several comments:
1. You say you 'believe' this or 'think' that…. are you basing all this projecture on the 2 week experiment you and your girlfriend did?…Two people in the prime of their lives and non-diabetic? I am 30 years older than you and insulin resistant.
2. I was a McDougall starch-based vegan for over a year – never gained an ounce but instead lost more than I wanted…so much for the "insulin makes you fat" theory! Of course even though I ate all day long (things like sweet potatoes, potatoes, corn, grains, salads, veggies, beans, etc.)I remained hungry most of the time.
It lowered my FBG only about 10 points to around 100-110 still often spiked to 170 or so after some meals. The only thing it did big time was lower my cholesterol from around 250-280 to 155. And it RAISED my normally low triglycerides from around 50 to 100. I have always had low to normal blood pressure. I don't seem to fit the mold of metabolic syndrome.
3. Before becoming a vegan I pretty much followed westonaprice.org foundation – all my life ate whole foods, butter, dark meats, etc. But I DID love fruits of which I ate a lot.
Right now I'm sort of following Schwarzbein and LOWER carb and will not change since my 6 month blood tests are coming up in a couple of weeks. I don't want to make any radical changes till after I see what I have.
It sounds so plausible and common sense to just "eat your way out of insulin resistance", but when you see your BG readings skyrocket after every meal it's hard not to panic – knowing the damage this can do – especially for an older person who doesn't recover as easily you might.
I will check back later.
Rmarie –
I carefully select my language, because this is an ongoing exploration which has culminated in my current beliefs. They will change and become refined over time. The formulation of my opinions were affected by the glucose experiments I performed on myself, but that was only one factor. As you know, there are years of research, pondering, writing, and interacting with others behind that experiment and those conclusions.
I think an older person can change as well, and it's only more difficult because hormonal output is lower, and the results often less dramatic. Still, the older you get the more important it is to optimize the metabolism to the best of your ability and overturn insulin resistance. A starvation vegan diet may help a little in the short-term, but it's a pitiful solution to the overall issue.
I have no doubts that Schwarzbein's diet is excellent, and that many of your numbers will improve. It's slightly low in carbs, but not excessively so.
Keep in mind, a high cholesterol is associated with longevity in older females, not a lower one. There's no reason to want to have lower cholesterol, especially as a female.
Keep us posted.
Matt,
Perhaps this was addressed already, but are you going to send us a working link for the January eZine?
Thanks!
Gina
It does work, the hyperlink just does not contain the full web address. Just copy the full address instead of using the hyperlink
Basically, I have been following a HED (at least as high as I can) for almost a year along with VitD and organ meats. Of course, that also means no junk. No sugar, no fructose, no PUFAs… I quit the grains for most of the time.
After about 5 months the first cavity ever was identified. No idea if a cavity can be caused in such a short time or if it was some old thing. Who knows?
What worries me is that I never had pain sensitive teeth/toothache. Since some time this has become normal. Not to the extreme but rather an unpleasant feeling with short and sudden, medium pain when starting to eat.
I wonder if anything is too low or too high in my HED causing this.
I've another question. Since you, Matt, showed us pictures of your friend with perfectly white teeth I have been wondering why mine aren't white although I don't smoke and don't consume coffee or tea. Does your friend apply some special treatment or is it a nutritional thing? Maybe genetic?
Cheers,
Jerry
Forgot to mention that I put on more than 16 lbs but I am still lean. So yes, it was quite "high".
This HED-approach sounds frighteningly reasonable, so I'll try it. The first day I tried I overdid it, though, and had to vomit.
Is vegetable juice okay on the HED? My question is especially regarding self-made carrot juice, which I really like. Since I'll get mostly glucose from that stuff, I wonder if that's fine – It may be just what the doctor ordered – high-GI and such, but may count as a refined carb since it's basically carrot minus fiber. Just curious.
Also, there's something wrong with the Digestion ebook. (I bought the 2009 package) My browser couldn't digest it. It said that the file is damaged. Can you reupload it?
Jenny the Nipper ? Oh. My. Great. Goodness. That last post was hysterical. Great job! Love to see you pop up.
Matt ? Great post today. This look at fructose/sucrose/glucose and insulin resistance is fascinating. All sugars don’t have the same effect. I’ve had the best luck avoiding all of them, but if someone, for sweetening purposes, could transition (a la Schwarzbein) from fructose to glucose then nothing it would do their insulin sensitivity, ghrelin & leptin good. Maybe stevia is primarily glucose? The beloved sweetener of the WAPF? I’m not sure, but that stuff is awfully bitter.
And Matt ? The Diabetes book is tops. Excellent organization & explanation. The ?Nutritional History? chapter in particular showcases your talents as a health writer for the people. Great job on the HED explanation, too. This was my favorite thing I got for Christmas this year! (Don’t tell my family.)
And Anyone ? What are your thoughts on raw vs. crispy nuts? Crispy nuts (specifically almonds, pecans, walnuts) are a WAPF/Nourishing Traditions cookbook thing. You soak the nuts 7+ hours in salty water, rinse, and then dry them out in a low oven for 12-24 hours. Supposedly this gets rid of the enzyme inhibitors and improve digestion. But does this form of processing compromise the nutritional goodness?
They certainly are tastier than raw nuts and the crispy walnuts don’t give Jim digestive probs like the raw ones do.
Fun Facts about nuts from Sally Fallon in NT:
?Like all nuts, pecans contain enzyme inhibitors that can irritate the mouth and cause digestive problems. Native Americans understood instinctively that pecans had to be treated in some way before they were consumed. They ground the nuts and soaked them in water to make a nutritious milky drink, much as European farmers made a kind of milk from walnuts.
?Nuts are rich sources of natural oils, ranging in total fat content from 60% to 80% of calories. Almonds, pecans, cashews, macadamia nuts and peanuts have a high content of stable oleic acid. Thus, they do not go rancid easily and once prepared by soaking and dehydrating may be stored for many months at room temperature in an airtight container. Walnuts, on the other hand, contain large amounts of triple unsaturated linolenic acid and are much more susceptible to rancidity. They should always be stored in the refrigerator.
Hmm, makes me wonder, what kind of sugar is in coconut milk? I'm consuming this stuff like crazy lately.
Oh, and another question about processing. How important is it to eat potatoes with the skin? Would eating them without the skin every now and then be too much "processing" already. And I know that things like mashed potatoes are semi optimal, because as far as I got it that would already make the body excrete too much insulin in comparison to the actual carbohydrate load. Then what about things like potatoe soup? Is it the same here?
Lisa, I've got Nourishing Traditions too, and I took the whole soaking thing very seriously for a while, I was trying to soak everything that she recommended. I've never had any problems that I'm aware of with raw nuts, and the only one's I currently soak and dehydrate are almonds because they are so ridiculously good that way. Not because of the enzymes, maybe I should take the soaking more seriously. -Sarah
First off, sorry about the link glitches and uploads. I have no idea what that's all about. I heard it here first. Man computers can be annoying sometimes. E-mail me directly if you don't mind and we'll try to clear this up. I'll also take a look and see what I find.
As for crispy nuts, Sally Fallon and the WAPF are right on with that information. The problem is that for the amount of time it takes, you get little health benefit in return. Most find the soaking/fermenting thing to be impractical and overwhelming when trying to be healthy. Achieving health doesn't require such painstaking measures, a message I really try to get across to the average Joe.
Jerry –
The cavity and tooth pain thing is unexpected, but very revealing. For one reason or another, your body doesn't seem to be in balance. As you can see, it's not all about nutrients. Your diet was excellent from that perspective. Let us know what works to fix it. Layla's white teeth are a result of heredity. She is basically flawless on that front as a result of accumulated generations of perfect diet without interruption. As it pertains to HED, that's really a short-term strategy for a few months. There's no benefit to force-feeing yourself as much as you can eat every day for the rest of your life. It's just a healing regimen for those with weak digestion, insulin resistance, and a low body temperature.
MadMUHH,
I don't think unpeeled vs. peeled potatoes are really very relevant. I notice the more fiber I consume the lower my peak glucose level is after meals, but it's only a small difference between peeled and unpeeled potatoes. I still eat mine unpeeled. I love the cocoa-ish bitter flavor of the skins.
And on carrot juice – I'm undecided. I always want to drink it, but have always been better off without it.
Hi Matt,
Good post.
I have a question about your Massaman Curry recipe, if you don't mind.
I have whole cloves.
Should I toast and grind them, or just leave whole?
Thanks for your time, Matt!
Jerry,
Are you drinking a lot of un-fermented milk? Melvin Page noted that many patients could not achieve optimal blood levels while consuming any milk at all. I can handle a fair amount, but even I over-did-it one week and felt like my teeth were a little softer. I cut back and they reverted to their normal strong and clean feel.
This is for the person talking about nuts. Take this for what it’s worth as it is simply my theory on the raw vs. cooked debate.
Everything in nature has one overwhelming purpose ? self preservation. So when you look at nuts and seeds you have to look at its role in nature. Their key role is to ensure the survival of its species so of course it would make itself as hard to digest as possible, just as a gazelle would make themselves as hard to catch as possible. Trees give fruit so animals can eat freely from it and either spit out the seeds or swallow them and later excrete them so more trees of that species can grow.
This is where the whole raw foodist philosophy falls apart for me. They claim it’s intuitive but is it really. Take onions for example. Onions do everything in there power to make sure you don’t eat them. They make you cry, and if you decide to get past that defense and take a bite the taste is so strong most people can’t handle it. But if you kill it (by cooking it), and destroy that living defense mechanism the taste become sweet to the palate and they no longer make you cry.
A lot of greens are bitter and offensive to the palate but people eat them anyway, but if you cook it most of the bitterness will go away.
Potatoes contain toxic compounds known as glycoalkaloids, of which the most prevalent are solanine and chaconine and cooking at high temperatures (over 170 ?C or 340 ?F) helps to destroy them. People know not to eat raw potatoes but why is it so hard to except this for other plant foods.
Most plants don’t want to be eaten any more than you do. You have to kill them in most cases.
Meat is ok to eat raw and actually is usually preferred in an under cooked state because the animal itself was the defense mechanism. They don’t have to evolve to secrete deadly toxins, instead they evolve physically in other ways to fight back or flee.
Anyway, just wanted to respond about the nuts, and why I think they should be cooked. I hope that helps someone, or perhaps get them thinking about something they may have never thought about before.
Matt,
Thanks for your answer. I think the reason why I have been craving a HED for almost a year was simply being underweight. But the craving to stuff myself definitely diminished and gave place to a "normal" amount of food along the journey.
Cusick, (and maybe also interesting to Matt)
I have been drinking raw milk and eating raw milk yogurt for most of the last year. But there were longer times (each several weeks) where I did not. I didn't feel much different. Also I have been drinking pasteurized and homogenized milk and milk products for my whole life.
It's really weird. I had perfect teeth eating rubbish, little meat, a high-carb (read: sugar) diet, using fluoride, having very little VitD inside and now that I changed that i get a first cavity after some months. I even think that my teeth have become more transparent. If that's true, I don't know. Well, lots of people think that according to your favorite search engine.
But let's not forget all those symptoms I left behind or significantly reduced: bad skin, allergies, asthma, inflammation, chronic fatigue…
Still I wonder – at least dentists say that – if that cavity was there before. Hardening teeth with fluoride may lead to hidden cavities, some say. Maybe it was there before and just became seeable now that I stopped fluoride?
When I first changed my diet I went on and off low-carb. First more low-carb because I really felt much better without the carbs, then again more carbs because I really felt better with the carbs. But short periods of low-carb aren't such a high suspect of causing a cavity in no time… especially when rubbish food didn't succeed in decades. Maybe the cavity was already too far to be immediately stopped by good nutrition? At least I don't feel any pain. And I didn't let the dentist drill half my tooth away to fill it with rubbish. I am a believer that the best way to treat a non-aching cavity is to eat right and let it be alone. Hopefully I am right on this one…
Jerry
Dermatend,
well said! I totally agree. In meat you lose heat sensitive but essential amino acids when cooking too long or at temperatures too high. Well, people would still call those temperatures low until they touched them with their own meat!
Jerry
Jerry, Dermatend, excellent commentary. I have the exact same theory Dermatend, and have held it for quite some time. I think cooking gives us the best of both worlds. Our instincts kicked in strong once we tasted cooked plants, and we never went back.
I also think fruits, wanting to be spread around and eaten up at ripeness in a short window of time deployed the rare sugar known as fructose. It is a powerful appetite stimulator and both a psychological (sweetest monosaccharide) and physiological (leptin resistance + no rise in leptin) level. But they were never meant to be feasted upon 365 days per year. What bear does that?
DML –
Funny you should ask. I'll be uploading a video making Massaman curry from scratch later today. When it's up there should be a link to it in the Twitter box above. I toast the whole cloves and then grind it up with the rest of the spices. You can use pre-ground spices if that is easier. It's really optional to toast and grind, but I love it!
Jerry,
Very interesting insight. My guess, especially as you revealed all the health problems that have cleared up for you, is that the development of that cavity was underway before you began, and is probably an accumulation of the diet you ate prior, which takes years and sometimes decades to manifest as dental decay for some. It's an interesting observation. FYI, I developed a lot of tooth pain on low-carb, which went away in less than a week on HED.
Yup, same here,
even though most people seem to develop exactly the other way around my teeth got worse on low-carb. Right now they don't feel that problematic anymore, so I hope they'll get better again.
My teeth got healthier on low-carb at first, and then got worse, which reaffirmed to me that Melvin Page was the grand master of tooth decay. He knew that dental health was just a reflection of the balance of hormones, vitamins, minerals, and biochemicals – mostly hormones. Low-carb may have balanced my body chemistry at first, but it became equally capable of disrupting it long-term. Our bodies run within very tightly-knit parameters, and it's all about balance. What is balancing to a vegan may be totally different from what is balancing and healing to someone that has been following a low-carb diet for too long.
And even though this is completely off-topic, your post has reminded me of a theory of mine. You say what is balancing ofr another might not be balancing for someone else.
I think that is the only reason why metabolic typing seems to work. I personally do not believe that there are certain metabolic types (protein type/carb type) out there. I just believe that most persons are out of balance and metabolic typing seems to be a good way to adress at least some parts of the inner balance. This would also explain why metabolic types are said to change with time. This is why I also do not believe that any diet based on metabolic typing will be sustainable in the long term.
What's your take on metabolic typing btw? Haven't read the book and so I actually don't really know that much about it, but generally I do not think too much of it.
Those are my thoughts about it exactly. Metabolic typing can identify what diet is best tolerated. My interest is how to best tolerate every diet.
madMUHHH,
Wolcott states in his metabolic typing book that dietary needs can change with age, with activity, with life. They would probably agree with the notion of being temporarily of a certain type. Doing their testing from time to time will ensure two things: 1) you notice changes to your metabolism and 2) you keep filling their pockets. I enjoyed reading the book although I disagree in some details.
If I lived in the US, I would give Nutri-Spec (http://www.nutri-spec.net) a try. I have read those ~150 monthly newsletters and recommend everybody to do so. Their web site gives a short introduction but there is also a book to order which documents the science behind. I am sure Matt's comments would be quite interesting but he seems to be only mildly interested. ;)
(No, unfortunately, I don't get money for this.)
madMUHHH and potatoes,
Peeling or not peeling potatoes might be a non-issue. If solanine is indeed mainly found in the skin, then peeling could be slightly beneficial. But modern breeds might have little solanine to begin with. Also one should exactly find out how much nutrients are in the skin. If that amount is not significant, I would not mind. I once read that solanine was resistant to heat. It was stated that only boiling in water would flush it out.
Raw plants eaters,
Nobody could ever tell me how much nutrients a human being is able to extract from uncooked plants that have cell walls mainly built of cellulose. For my part, I only know that I do not have an enzyme to break cellulose. If you ever take a look at such a cell wall with a microscope, you might start to question that any nutrient could find its way through this impressive armor.
@Markus:
Well, to quote Nourishing Traditions, page 396:
"…Most of the nutrients are just under the skin, so don't peel them. The skin itself is full of fiber and can be retained in many preparations…"
Also, my main issue is whether eating them skinless would already count as refining and whether it would in consequence lead to an inappropriate insulin response.
madMUHHH,
"just under the skin" is a just not so helpful choice of words. I have been removing the skin for some time and it is possible to remove very little flesh in addition to the skin. Do I remove "just under"? No idea. What is "just under"? Does "just under" apply to different cooking methods and different breeds?
Peeling obviously removes some fiber which might be a good or bad thing. If it is in all cases true, that less fibre means less insulin, then you might have the answer you searched for.
"whether eating them skinless would already count as refining " —that's completely ridiculous
So back to the nut issue, are store-bought unsalted dry roasted peanuts ok? The only ingredient on mine is peanuts. Does dry roasting destroy the anti-nutrients?
Anonymous, are you aware that peanuts are more than 15 % PUFAs, have a o6:o3 ratio of ~5000:1 (some do care) and are heated? I wonder if anti-nutrients are of any significance compared to roasted PUFAs. Or did you mean roasted PUFAs when you talked about "anti-nutrients"? :)
u should get the no stir peanut butter for marantha, they put palm oil in it, maybe that will help protect if from oxidation in the body…. i can eat the shit out of peanut butter and celery..mmmm!!!
troy
Peanuts are quite controversial, as are nuts in general. On one hand, cooking them destroys phytic acid, on the other, it damages the pufa. Can't win man! With peanuts though, being legumes, I think dry roasted is the best. Eat peanuts, peanut butter, and nuts if you want – especially if they taste nice and fresh, but don't go overboard. I don't think there's any reason to freak out about nuts including peanuts. As a health issue, it's majorly in the periphery. If you eat no omega 3, I would certainly keep nuts as a very minor component of the diet though as the d-miester pointed out.
I'm pretty well off nuts since finding this community. The PUFA haterz here set me straight. I used to eat a lot of "healthy" peanut butter, almonds. Recently I read some stuff matt posted about using pecans in a recipe. So what's up with that are nuts OK again? Gah. Frankly, it's not like I've been pining for them.
I also was wondering about the sugar in coconut milk. That stuff is kind of addictive.
Hey, all this talk of potatoes comes at the right time. It's been potato week at my house. Cooking them in the peel and then removing the peel after they cool, will remove the least amount of potato flesh under the peel. That's what I've done for preparations that demand peeling. But most preps can stand having the peels on there. I routinely mash, roast and make hash browns from potatoes with peels.
By the way coconut oil+potatoes=awesome. The slightly sweet coconutty flavor, plus they always seem to brown better in coconut oil.
Re Raw Food: D'oh! I should have done a raw foodist as car mechanic parody. Those people are bat shit.
Raw food "roasts," no pun intended, are just too damn easy. Don't bother.
Data on the type of carb in coconut is very difficult to find. Still, coconut milk is only 5% carbohydrate, so whatever it is it must be relatively inconsquential. It is damn good though. Usually I get into just drinking it straight for a few days and then lose interest.
It's not a matter of whether nuts are okay are not. Nuts of course are not the devil. But in context of assuming we have too much pufa in our own fat cells, it becomes a little more prudent to be conscientious of it and keep the quantity low. Eating nuts every single day is probably pushing it – but if you are going to eat omega 6, that's the place to get it from. Nuts are swimming in vitamin E. I'd say I go through 4-6 ounces of nuts in an average week, mostly raw almonds, pecans, and occasional peanuts (as in Massaman curry – the videos are now both uploaded… http://www.youtube.com/mnobeyed) or peanut butter.
This is off-topic, but does anyone have any experience with healing a broken rib? I have many of the symptoms of one, including a soft spot below my left breast, the 'crunching' feeling occasionally, and my rotator cuff on my left shoulder keeps 'popping' as well. It happened from a fall about 5 weeks ago. I know I should be patient and wait until at least 6 weeks for it to heal, but I was wondering if any fellow 180ers had any tips or advice or what not. I'm not too afraid; my grandmother broke two ribs when she was in her 50s and is still well today @ 87!
matt, thanks for the videos on the curries! question: do they keep well for a few days and reheat well? i am planning on making the tom kha gai tonight. :)
No problem. Glad you like the videos. All the Thai food keeps well and reheats well. I still make small batches with the curry though. I make lots of extra curry paste, which, thanks perhaps to the microbial properties of garlic, onion, ginger, and hot chiles – keeps in the fridge for at least 3 weeks and sometimes longer.
Rachel,
Bummer about the ribs, but you should heal just fine. This may sound weird, but based on paying close attention to fingernail growth and strength, I think eating how we talk about here (HED) is probably your best bet for recalcifying and strengthening bones. Strangely, the biggest positive influence I've noticed on nail strength and growth is perfect for your situation – RIBS!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPIjQ7sG1Xk
Interesting read; http://entropyproduction.blogspot.com/2010/01/leptin-and-anorexia.html
Your blog is very interesting, It shares lot of things on health diseases and steps to cure them. As far as diabetes 2 is concerned it can be cured with proper balanced diet and regular exercise. You can also take medicines like actos,gyburide to cure diabetes 2.
Every time I visit your blog i see something new and innovative.
Great work,keep sharing your posts.
Thanks for updating this on your blog.
Is your diabetes book no longer available?