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Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Igniting Some Low-Carb Lifestyle Fourth Of July Fireworks
Before you celebrate the 4th of July, here's a low-carb update
It's almost time for the fireworks, backyard barbecues, vacations, and all the rest that comes with the extended Fourth of July weekend in celebration of our nation's independence. I am proud to be an American and appreciate all the freedoms and opportunities that this nation affords me as a citizen. While a lot has been said over the past few years about this great country I call "home," there's no denying the United States is and will always be the greatest socio-political experiment in the history of the world. God bless America now and forevermore!
Before you get caught up in all the busy activities of the holiday, I wanted to share a few low-carb headlines with you that have been in the news lately. It simply amazes me how a way of eating that has been so incredibly maligned and dragged through the mud like livin' la vida low-carb can somehow still be talked about so much in the media. Albeit it's not always in a positive light, but they can't help bringing it up. Maybe deep down inside they realize there is more to low-carb than they're letting on.
Here's what is going on in the world of low-carb right now:
People always ask me if low-carb living is healthy for children. Why wouldn't it be? Our bodies were never meant to handle high amounts of carbohydrates, so it stands to reason that eating a low-carb diet is gonna be healthier for kids. And now we have this study published in Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition from a researcher down in Australia I've blogged about before named Dr. Manny Noakes. She found that an unlimited low-carb, high-carb diet produces more weight loss than higher carb diets with limited calories, primarily because the protein seems to increase satiety. Additionally, these obese elementary school study participants placed on a low-carb diet experienced a significant drop in their total cholesterol and triglycerides. WOO HOO!
From the Department of Well Duh!, the results of a 12-week low-carb program for Type 2 diabetics found that they were continuing to improve their health and weight one year later. The program is called "Why WAIT" and was shared at the recent 68th Annual Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association. Lead researcher Dr. Osama Hamdy followed 85 people with type 2 diabetes for an average of 10 years. The plan included regular exercise as part of the initial 12-week plan.
Although there were obvious improvements at the end of the intervention period of the study, the remarkable thing is that the study participants CONTINUED to lose weight on their own. However, their A1C levels did increase, but blood pressure was stabilized and HDL cholesterol was "significantly higher" at the end of one year. And, one shocking finding in light of all the negativity about low-carb diets, the study participants saw an IMPROVEMENT in their kidney function with a slight decline in protein in the urine.
For the purposes of this study, carbohydrate restriction was defined as 40 percent of the calories from carbs which is closer to The Zone level of carbs than the Atkins diet. It does make you wonder how much BETTER the weight loss, A1C levels, cholesterol, and other health markers would be if a truly low-carb ketogenic diet would be used on these patients. Dr. Hamdy says the reason patients regain weight is because they don't eat enough protein or cut back on exercise which results in the accumulation of belly fat. Interestingly, the financial impact of diabetics losing weight, according to this study, is huge--a 65 percent DECREASE in medical expenses coming out to a cool $560 annually. And let's not forget how good healthy feels! You can't put a price on that!
Don't be alarmed at the question in that headline above, but it's basically what this column from MSNBC recently wanted to know. They analyzed the financial burden that overweight and obese people have on our society in a rather uncaring and some would say demeaning way. That's why I appreciated one of my readers sharing this blog post from Chet Day with a very impassioned response to such an insensitive post. While I don't subscribe to the fat acceptance movement that tells overweight and obese people to just be happy with their large bodies, I don't think threatening to wanna wipe out fat people is the right way to motivate them to make the changes necessary to improve their weight and health. But it is a sensitive subject that warrants a little more class and a lot less crass.
I was listening to the radio the other day and a commercial for a colon cleanse product asked the question, "Are you eating too much red meat..." I didn't even hear much of the rest of the ad because that turned me off so much. This idea that high-fat meat consumption is somehow harmful to your health is so teetering on insanity that we should get straight jackets ready for anyone who chooses to declare something as absurd as that. But leave it to our buddies at Newsweek to jump right off the cliff with a column a couple of weeks ago entitled "Your Lifestyle, Your Genes and Cancer."
They assert in this article that if people would simply live a "healthier lifestyle" (which isn't exactly what you and I might consider healthy), then 70 percent of all cancers would cease to exist. Okay, now that's a pretty bold statement, especially in light of the specific kind of changes they expect people to make--get thinner (easier said than done!), exercise regularly (is that cardio or resistance training?), avoid diets rich in red meat (why would I do that when this is the basis of a healthy low-carb lifestyle?), eat diets rich in fruits and vegetables (I already do being selective about choosing low-sugar fruits and non-starchy veggies), and stop using tobacco (you don't need to smoke--EVER!).
We learned from my podcast interview with Doug Kaufmann earlier this year that fungus is at the root cause of most cancers and the best way to reduce the existence of fungus is to eat a low-carb diet. In fact, Newsweek competitor Time magazine last September featured a column about German researchers using a very high-fat, low-carb ketogenic diet with GREAT success on cancer patients who have been told there was no hope for them. While it may be en vogue to continue repeating that red meat and saturated fat is harmful and leads cancer, the truth doesn't bear that out. These people won't be able to get away with such bombastic statements for very much longer without being sent to the funny farm!
You gotta love it! Mike Benoit competed recently in the Newfoundland and Labrador Amateur Bodybuilding Association Championships as a 37-year old man and placed first in the Light Heavyweight Division (176-198 lbs), first in the Masters Class (35 years and up), winning the Top Poser Award and capturing the overall title of Mr. Newfoundland and Labrador as the best of the best in this competition. He was the oldest person EVER to be given that distinction and he credits his win to something that should put a big smile on your face.
"I was the only one at the show that did fat burning; every other competitor there avoided fats to get lean where I consumed mostly fats, essential oils and protein...So I did a modified fat diet for the show and at 37-years-old, I was the leanest one there with doing the least amount of cardio. Many people have heard of the Atkins diet, well I basically did a modified Atkins diet."
Holy cow, isn't that amazing?! Mike consumed dietary fat to burn fat, was thinner than anyone else in the competition, did little to no cardio at all, and was livin' la vida low-carb. Can you say WOW?! I'd love to interview this guy and have him share some of his training techniques with us because I'm sure it will turn everything we think we know about fitness training on its head. The unbelievable part of this story is the fact that this was the first competition he participated in since the late 1990s. AMAZING!!! Kudo Mike Benoit and if you're reading this, contact me about that podcast interview at livinlowcarbman@charter.net.
We know how deceitful the American Diabetes Association (ADA) has been about the negative impact of carbohydrates on the health of people suffering from both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. But did you catch this recipe posted on their web site for a Strawberry-Banana Smoothie? They have GOT to be kidding, right? Check out the nutritional content of this concoction:
Calories 130 Calories from Fat 5 Total Fat 1g Saturated Fat 0g Trans Fat 0g Cholesterol 0mg Sodium 0mg Total Carbohydrate 32g Dietary Fiber 31g Sugars 23g Protein 1g Exchanges 2 fruit
Did anyone else catch a MAJOR problem with those numbers? Aside from the fact that a diabetic has NO business at all eating a very high-sugar food like a banana, check out the dietary fiber content of this recipe--the ADA claims it has 31 grams. HUH?! If the total carbohydrates include all sugars and dietary fiber, then those two numbers should add up...but they don't! If you add 31g (dietary fiber) plus 23g (sugars), then your total carbs are ACTUALLY 54g per serving. And this recipe makes 2 servings, so ostensibly a diabetic could see this as a "healthy" recipe and consume both servings for a grand total of 108g total carbohydrate if indeed those numbers are accurate.
What is the ADA trying to hide keeping these actual totals hidden like this? Are they TRYING to make it look lower in carbohydrate than it really is so they don't freak out their well-educated and informed Internet readers who know carbs will make their blood sugar levels go haywire? What is the story with this very obvious mistake? Send your e-mail to them at AskADA@diabetes.org and ask what's up. Let me know if you hear back from them with an explanation. :)
Everybody's favorite health and nutrition expert Dr. Jonny Bowden, author of Living The Low-Carb Life and 150 Healthiest Foods On Earth, was featured this week in the New York Times in a story entitled "The 11 Best Foods You Aren't Eating." Jonny is quoted promoting these 11 foods that are PERFECT for your healthy low-carb lifestyle because of their powerhouse nutritional content, including cinnamon, sardines, and frozen blueberries. Don't forget you can meet Jonny in person on The 2nd Annual Low-Carb Cruise coming up in January 2009 and hear him speak about the subject of weight loss and health. He'll also be a special guest on my podcast show again coming up soon to talk about his other projects, including his latest recipe book called Healthiest Meals On Earth as well as his brand new Diet Boot Camp that's been 13 years in the making.
I recently shared in this blog post that my total cholesterol is 326 which includes an LDL cholesterol reading of 246. While this may shock a lot of people who still buy into the traditional cholesterol hypothesis (that number is diminishing more and more each day!), the fact of the matter is I am healthier with these numbers than someone like the late Tim Russert was at the time of his unexpected death. Why? This well-written article by Dr. Paul E. Lemanski, MD explains all about how LDL particle size is what is most important in assessing heart health.
The most interesting part of this two-page paper was when Dr. Lemanski noted that "individuals with triglycerides below 70 do not have small, dense LDL," the kind that are especially dangerous to cardiovascular health risk. These people have the large "fluffy" kind of protective LDL particle size that you want. Only those with triglycerides above 100 and HDL below 50 need to be concerned about having their LDL particle size measured. We need more doctors who are willing to talk about particle size rather than the total or LDL cholesterol number if we are ever gonna actually help people get healthier.
Dr. Lemanski noted that statin drugs, like Lipitor and Crestor, "do not change particle size appreciably." So it doesn't really do any good going on these drugs when you can remedy particle size problems through changes to a low-carb diet. Additionally, triglyceride therapies are needed when those exceed 150, but once again a low-carb nutritional approach can bring those numbers down below 100. Low triglyceride levels (below 100) and high HDL numbers (above 50) are two of the most effective ways to improve your cardiovascular health and both can be accomplished by livin' la vida low-carb. Why wouldn't you do that instead of taking a bunch of pills?
One of the most popular diet programs in the world today is Weight Watchers. How in the world did they become so successful? They tapped into the community aspect of weight loss by bringing overweight people together in one place to share in their experiences as a group and to provide each other with the support they need to be the success they want to be. It's a good concept on paper. But it doesn't work for everybody.
And the people at Weight Watchers have been taking notice of this. That's why they created their program called "Weight Watchers Core." While this is indeed a low-carb option for people on Weight Watcher who need to be mindful of their carbohydrate intake, you can't help but notice all the low-fat crap they say you have to eat, too, that I wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole: fat-free milk, fat-free cheese, fat-free sour cream, soy milk and cheese, whole-wheat pasta, brown rice, potatoes, and grains, cornmeal, rolled oats, puffed wheat, puffed rice, shredded wheat, and 100% bran cereals, "lean" meats, tofu, vegetarian burgers, fat-free salad dressings, fat-free margarine, fat-free mayonnaise, and popcorn--AAAAAACK! Make it stop! Make it stop!
If you wanna start livin' la vida low-carb, then just read Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution or Protein Power and do it! Keep attending your meetings if you are locked into an obligation to be there and show off your amazing weight loss totals. When they ask you how you do it, be sure to proudly say that you are consuming a healthy high-fat, low-carb diet. If the leaders keel over at that point in utter shock, then I think you will have made your point beautifully!
In early 2007, I shared with you about a new documentary film from an independent filmmaker named CJ Hunt called In Search Of The Perfect Human Diet. Hunt interviews all sorts of people in the world of diet and health including many low-carb researchers and activists you may know including Dr. Mike Eades, Dr. Barry Sears, Dr. Abby Bloch from the Atkins Foundation, Dr. Jay Wortman, Dr. Steve Phinney, Mrs. Veronica Atkins, Dr. Mary C. Vernon, Dr. Eric Westman, and MANY MANY more! It's quite a lineup and this film is now in post-production.
But the GOOD NEWS is CJ Hunt has received this letter of official interest from San Francisco's PBS station group led by KQED and they would like to share it with the 353 other stations in the PBS system to have them air this nationwide on PBS. How amazing would that be? CJ is hopeful this will be just what the film needs to secure the much-needed sponsorship and donations for the remaining completion funds.
I know I shouldn't do this to myself, but I subscribe to a wide variety of diet and health publications online that offer varying viewpoints about what is considered healthy. Reading some of this stuff helps me solidify in my mind exactly what I believe and why I believe it. This article from ShapeFit extolling the virtues of consuming carbohydrates for weight loss was just a little too much for me, though.
This line alone was enough to make me nearly blow a gasket: "To lose body fat, you want to shoot for 150 g carbs/day, 150 g protein/day, and 75 g fat/day if you were the above person!" They were referring to a 200-pound individual with 25 percent body fat. I wonder how many carbs they'd recommend for a 350-pound man with 45 percent body fat?! Would they dare say 300 g carbs/day?! Sheeeeez!!!
Then you look at this list of the top ten carbs and it's the same stuff we always see. not all of it is bad, but most of it is:
10.) Brown rice (just because it's brown don't make it healthy!)
9.) Steel cut whole oatmeal (not going inside my body!)
8.) Quinoa (if I can't pronounce it, I ain't eatin' it!)
7.) Yams/sweet potatoes (Uhhh, no!)
6.) Winter squashes (not too bad, these are good!)
5.) Peas and Legumes (I don't eat beans or peas--too starchy!)
4.) Colorful fibrous veggies (again, not bad, but be choosy!)
3.) Super fruits (berries are amazing, but most other fruit is not!)
2.) Leafy green vegetables (this is the lifeblood of a low-carb diet!)
1.) Cruciferous vegetables (non-starchy veggies are truly the best!)
Yes, you want to eat some carbohydrates for their phytonutrient profile and nutritional impact on your body. But giving people the impression that they should be consuming triple-digit carb counts is irresponsible no matter how virtuous you make the carbs sound. Limiting your carb intake to double digits will make you healthier, more fit, and live longer than you ever would consuming a consistently triple-digit daily carbohydrate diet. There's no debating that based on all we know about carbs.
In the UK, one of the leading voices on behalf of livin' la vida low-carb is Dr. John Briffa. It shouldn't come as a shock to anyone that he is under constant attack from the medical and health establishment in that country for his positions in support of the low-carb diet for diabetics and the obese. In fact, one prominent health blog called NHS Blog Doctor has been relentlessly railing against Dr. Briffa over the past month in posts here, here, here, here, here, and here, just to name a few (I think this Dr. John Crippen must have some sort of man-crush on Dr. Briffa as much as he's writing about him!).
Despite these personal assaults against him, Dr. Briffa is still able to be an influential voice of reason in the health media in the UK as evidenced by this Business Day column highlighting the findings of the large-scale Action in Diabetes and Vascular Disease study that found intensive treatment to lower blood sugar levels is a safe, effective way to reduce the serious complications of diabetes. This was the PERFECT response to the ridiculous ACCORD study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that warned diabetics AGAINST testing their blood sugars or else risk an increase in mortality rates.
Dr. Briffa breathed some sanity back into this discussion by stating the traditional diabetic diet of high-carb, low-fat "disruptive" foods just doesn't work to control blood sugars for diabetics. He adds that eating a diet low in carbohydrates and higher in vegetables and dietary fat will result in better control of this disease quite possibly without the need for medications. YES!!! THANK YOU Dr. Briffa for articulating what needs to be said.
I will be interviewing Dr. Briffa for my podcast show in the future when things settle down for him a bit. He's one of the most knowledgeable and articulate defenders of the healthy low-carb lifestyle across the pond and I'm grateful for the work he is doing there to help the British people suffering from weight and health ailments.
Just two years ago I reported in this blog post that the number of Americans with diabetes or pre-diabetes totaled 73 million. But in just two years, that number has already jumped to 81 million, including a 5 million American increase in diagnosed cases of all types of diabetes, according to this CNN story.
Dr. Ann Albright from the Centers for Disease Control was lauding the fact that there was a 5 percent drop in the number of people who had diabetes and were unaware of it--dipping down to 25 percent from 30 percent. But in today's information-oriented society, there's no reason why people can't tell if they are dealing with blood sugar issues or not. Blood glucose monitors are readily available and diabetes care is quickly becoming a common health condition (although the way many doctors are treating it is out of whack!). Expect those numbers to continue to rise unless groups like the ADA takes their recommendation of livin' la vida low-carb to the next level. Expect that to happen within the next few years as diabetes rates keep rising!
Do you remember those two stupid cartoon characters that the American Heart Association (AHA) created last year called Bad Fats Brothers? Sat and Trans (stands for saturated fat and trans fat) remind people of all the foods they are in and how much they'll "break your heart." Well, now the AHA has come out with a new set of characters Mon and Poly--aka the Better Fat Sisters. Get it? Mon for mono-unsaturated fat and Poly for polyunsaturated fat. Riiiiiiiight! These are supposedly the only healthy fats which is ridiculous since saturated fat isn't as bad for you as it has been made out to be by those brilliant minions at the AHA! And then to have Sally Squires from The Washington Post write this story about the Better Fat Sisters just puts this one over the top for me.
When the American Diabetes Association showed their support for low-carb diets in January 2008 just for weight loss up to one year, you had to know there would be some naysayers who are strongly in support of livin' la vida low-carb who realize this way of eating is more about blood sugar control than weight loss. And now it has happened.
This Diabetes Health column talks about a new study conducted by 24 doctors from around the world who say the ADA position of consuming a minimum of 130g carb daily is unreasonable for diabetics. This new "critical appraisal" of these recommendations is an effort to get the ADA and other diabetes health groups to rethink their position on low-fat, high-carb diets which usually lead to a pharmaceutical drug to handle the negative blood sugar/insulin response. YES! Here's hoping this leads to progress that will genuinely get the ADA to wake up to low-carb for diabetes control--and not just weight loss.
When I read this Newsweek magazine article, I couldn't help but laugh out loud because she was talking about people like ME! Of course, I disagree with her conclusions about how people on a diet that restricts their choice of foods leads to a drag on a summer party. Come on, don't put that onus on those of us who are choosing to live healthy lifestyles. ENJOY a good laugh with this one.
Finally, after posting this cheesecake recipe on YouTube a couple of weeks ago, I was happy to see this Commercial Appeal story pushing a low-carb cheesecake recipe for people with diabetes. YEPPERS and it's red, white, and blue colored just in time to celebrate Independence Day. :D
Unfortunately, you'll notice the recipe calls for fat-free cream cheese, confectioner's sugar (WHAT?!!!), bran cereal crumbs for the crust (UGH!), fat-free yogurt...OH MY! Make appropriate full-fat, sugar-free substitutions and this one has promise. I just can't believe they're pushing this HIGH-CARB cheesecake as a "low-carb" cheesecake. Come on, where is the journalistic integrity?
Got a low-carb diet, health, or nutrition story to share with me? I'd love to hear it, so e-mail me the blog idea anytime to livinlowcarbman@charter.net. THANKS for reading and be sure to have a SUPER July 4th weekend!
In March 2008, I blogged about a new Canadian documentary about a revolutionary documentary featuring a whole community of Canadian Namgis First Nation people who went on a traditional high-fat, low-carb diet to see if that would help curb the trend towards obesity and disease that has afflicted them in recent years. It was an innovative and ingenious experiment to determine if the modern Western influence on their diet was responsible for their decline in health.
Did it work? Uh, DUH!
The results of this remarkable study were unbelievable in light of all the continued negativity about low-carb living that STILL occurs in the media and from so-called health "experts" in 2008. Led by Dr. Jay Wortman, along with assistance from some of the most prominent low-carb researchers and genuine low-carb experts in the world (Dr. Eric Westman, Dr. Mary C. Vernon, Dr. Stephen Phinney, Jackie Eberstein, etc.), the lives of these people experienced quite a turnaround thanks mostly to the healthy low-carb lifestyle they now enjoy which was the original diet of their early ancestors.
To help get the message out about this study featuring a high-fat, low-carb diet, Dr. Wortman had a film crew from Mystique Films come out to document what was happening to the people as they went on this "big, fat diet." As we heard in my podcast interview with the producer Mary Bissell and Dr. Wortman last month, the documentary was a big hit on CBC Newsworld when My Big, Fat Diet aired earlier this year and it has gone on to become one of the most-watched documentaries of the year in Canada. Not too shabby for a film about a dying "fad" diet, huh? :)
During my trip to Phoenix, Arizona for the ASBP/Nutrition & Metabolism conference in April, Mary and Dr. Wortman showed their documentary to a group of bariatic physicians on Sunday morning and these obesity doctors just ate it up! When an announcement was made that there were copies of the DVD available for purchase at the conference store, there were droves of bariatric physicians lining up to get their own personal copy like they were purchasing concert tickets for Hannah Montana for their kids! It was mayhem--and a beautiful thing!!! :D
Up until now, people in the United States have been unable to see this surprisingly funny documentary because it has neither been shown on television here nor has it been made available for purchase on DVD. But after Mystique Films received tons of public demand since it aired in Canada, the filmmakers have finally decided the time was right to release this groundbreaking documentary about the Canadian high-fat, low-carb diet study to the masses. And you're hearing about it first here today at my blog!
Be one of the first people in your area to own a copy of My Big, Fat Diet by clicking here. You can purchase an Individual View version of the DVD (which means for your personal use inside your home) or the Public View version of the DVD (for larger audiences in a group setting) by using PayPal. You can purchase this DVD by using your Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, or PayPal account and the price includes your shipping and handling charges. I cannot think of a better gift for someone you love and care about who needs to hear about how low-carb has changed the lives of real people.
I've been inundated with e-mails from so many readers who have been waiting for this DVD to arrive. Well now it's here, so let's show Mystique Films how much we appreciate all their hard work in bringing this pro-low-carb documentary to us. ORDER TODAY and get extra copies for your doctor, your friends and family with weight and health issues, and anyone else who could stand to benefit from livin' la vida low-carb.
Special THANKS to Dr. Jay Wortman for conducting this study and to My Big, Fat Diet producer Mary Bissell who was at first skeptical about a high-fat, low-carb diet but became thoroughly convinced after she saw the changes happening to them right before her very own eyes. That's the power of this message of a healthy low-carb diet and I can't wait to hear what you think about this DVD!
Low-carb activist Per Wikholm gives an update from Sweden
There seems to be so much pessimism about the low-carb lifestyle in the United States that it can sometimes make you wonder if anyone in the world actually understands the science behind this way of eating for weight and health management. Unfortunately, the "low-fat diet religion" continues to rule the church of nutrition with a vice-grip that absolutely refuses to let go. But there is hope happening right now within the country of Sweden on behalf of the high-fat, low-fat dietary approach.
In Episode 143 of "The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore," we catch up with one of the leading voices on behalf of livin' la vida low-carb in Sweden named Per Wikholm. He is a molecular biologist who stays abreast of the latest happenings in the world of low-carb living in his home country and is a strong proponent of educating the people there about the benefits of the healthy low-carb lifestyle. There's so much positive happening over there right now with low-carb diets that it should encourage you that GREAT things are to come here in America soon, too!
Click on the "LISTEN NOW" link below or download it to your iPod to hear Episode 143:
"The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore" Episode 143 [21:18m]: LISTEN NOW | Download
You'll recall I interviewed Dr. Annika Dahlqvist from Sweden on my podcast show back in January 2008 when she was vindicated by the government there following a charge by two duh-duh-dietitians there who claimed she was harming her diabetic and obese patients by putting them on a low-carb diet. The ruling was that low-carb is "in accordance with science" and "well tried." In other words, livin' la vida low-carb is based on FACTS from the latest research studies and it WORKS in the patients who have tried it. AWESOME!
Do you have any reaction to the things that are happening in Sweden right now as reported by Per Wikholm in today's podcast? I'd love to know what you think in the show notes section of Episode 143. You can also call our convenient new comment line at (206) 202-6516 and share your response. If you live in the country of Sweden and wish to respond or share your added insights, then please do. We'd LOVE to hear from you!
And a VERY special thanks to Per Wikholm for his willingness to come on the podcast show to share about the exciting news from Sweden. He did a fabulous job and I appreciate him for sharing. Read this op-ed column he wrote in response to the government leaders in charge of Swedish dietary recommendations who are deeply entrenched in the food industry. We need people just like Per in the United States who can call a spade a spade and challenge these hypocritical leaders dictating public health mandates.
While much of the diet and health debate around the world is still caught up and enamored by the imaginary allure of the high-carb, low-fat diet as a means for losing weight and improving health, there is something rather remarkable happening in Sweden. An open dialog about the merits of a high-fat, low-carb diet has ensued ever since Dr. Annika Dahlqvist was vindicated by the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare on January 16, 2008 when that government-led institution concluded that a low-carb diet is "in accordance with science and well-tried experience for reducing obesity and Type 2 diabetes."
Yep, that's right! Livin' la vida low-carb is now promoted by the government of Sweden alongside the low-fat diet as an option for people desiring weight loss and improvements in their health. However, as Dr. Dahlqvist noted in my interview with her in January 2008, they're not very happy about it and neither are the so-called health "experts" who desperately tried to get a ruling AGAINST low-carb--but it backfired on them!
I've been trying to get organizations like the American Medical Association, the American Heart Association, and even the USDA (creators of the infamous Food Pyramid, set to be revised and updated for 2010 by Brian Wansink and his team) to consider low-carb alongside low-fat diets so that the general public will have an informed choice rather than all the needless scaremongering about the healthy low-carb lifestyle. Although it didn't go far enough in the opinion of most supporters of low-carb, the change in recommendations by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) in January 2008 in favor of supporting low-carb diets for diabetics for weight loss is indeed a positive step in the right direction that I think will put pressure on these other health groups to follow suit. In light of all the evidence that has come out, they'll have no choice.
In fact, at the recent ASBP/Nutrition & Metabolism conference in Phoenix, an entire lecture was dedicated to why the ADA suddenly changed its tune regarding low-carb living for diabetics. Their conclusion: the science has shown it to be safe for weight loss over the span of at least one year. Of course, you and I know the science says a LOT more than that about low-carb and there was plenty of evidence of that during that weekend of lectures from the best and brightest in the world of low-carb research. As this evidence continues to mount, it will be impossible for the ADA, AMA, AHA, or any old "A" to ignore anymore!
And this brings me back to Sweden for a moment. The "science and well-tried experience" behind low-carb is what has led Dr. Dahlqvist and many of the most famous advocates of carbohydrate restriction from around the world to call for a critical appraisal of this way of eating for the purposes of treating metabolic syndrome and Type 2 diabetes. We really have come to an impasse in the hyperbole against low-carb where an all-out discussion is now sorely needed about this nutritional approach. It happened in Phoenix among a couple hundred bariatric physicians, but the scale of the conversation needs to become larger--MUCH larger!
That's why I was pleased to see Johanna Söderlund take it on at her blog last week by interviewing some of Sweden's most intelligent and articulate proponents of the high-fat, low-carb hypothesis. This is the kind of open-minded conversation that needs to take place in the United States, Canada, the UK, Australia, and around the world. It MUST be done if we are wanting to get serious about dealing with obesity, diabetes, and diseases that plague modern society. The question is no longer a matter of if we will, but rather when. That's why we should take our cue from what is happening in Sweden and get the conversation started.
Special thanks to my Swedish low-carb blogging friend Arne Anderson for translating Johanna Söderlund's interview into English so we can enjoy the answers provided to some rather pertinent questions about livin' la vida low-carb. As you read through these answers from the leading low-carb experts in Sweden, imagine the same thing happening in Congressional hearings on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC from such notable researchers as Dr. Eric Westman, Dr. Mary C. Vernon, Dr. Richard Feinman, Dr. Jeff Volek, Dr. Stephen Phinney, and others. A clear unbiased presentation of the data would speak for itself.
Here's that interview with the Swedish low-carb experts:
1. In terms of fat, protein and carbohydrates, how much of each of these macronutrients should people who are healthy and free from illness (Defined as free from insulin resistance and feeling well) eat?
Annika Dahlqvist:I recommend healthy people eat liberal amounts of natural fat. Then they automatically consume less carbohydrates because they have normal appetite regulation. If you count on it I guess the intake of carbs will be half of what is recommended (by the health authorities). Protein should be consumed "normally"--that is 1g per kilo of normal body weight.
Lars-Erik Litsfeldt:Healthy persons have a greater freedom of how they put together their diet. For example, people keeping a diet low in the glycemic index make it fine with that. The more insulin resistant you are, the less freedom you have to eat if you want to regain your health. I can't see any reason for a healthy person to keep up a specific level of carbohydrates in his diet. Carbohydrates are the only macronutrients we don't need to eat. I think most people realize what level is most suitable to them.
Andreas Eenfeldt:I think across the board recommendations like 55:25:20 (carbohydrate:protein:fat) become arbitrary and in the end are not very meaningful. I believe it is arbitrary because there are no comparing studies looking at the different amounts of carbs within the definition of "low-carb." Therefore, that recommendation is just a personal opinion based on anecdotal stories. It's not meaningful at all because it is a very small minority of people who actually keep up with the breakdown of macronutrients of their daily dietary intake.
It is my opinion that healthy persons who don't feel they need to lose weight should exclude sugar from their diet. The rest of the carbohydrates ought to be natural and not refined--that is carbs with a low glycemic index. Plus, the less physical activity you engage in, the more careful you must be with the total amount of carbohydrates consumed.
Sten Sture Skaldeman:For healthy persons, the most important thing is to eat food that is natural and not processed. How it is divided in macronutrients you don't have to feel distressed about. Fat must be the primary source of energy intake and protein and carbohydrates can divide the rest. Your diet should look like this: 20% protein, 10-20% carbohydrates and 60-70% fat. This will give you a lot of freedom in making up your diet.
Johanna Söderlund:Many proportions can work well, but most people would get the best health if they had an intake of 40–60% fat, 20–30% protein and 10–20% carbohydrates. Muscular persons need to eat more protein than others and inactive people ought to eat less carbohydrates than others. The distribution of macronutrients also varies based on how much you eat. A person who eats smaller portions may need to have a larger percent of protein than a person who eats larger portions because protein gets stored in the body as energy.
2. In your opinion, will some people feel bad following a low-carb, high-fat (LCHF) diet because it is too low in carbohydrate intake or is this diet that can work well for everybody?
Annika Dahlqvist:I know some people say that they are not feeling well while on a low-carb, high-fat (LCHF) diet and I usually give them this advice: Increase the carbs and decrease the fat and then go back slowly to see what level of carbohydrates suits them best.
Lars-Erik Litsfeldt:I don't know, but I believe feeling bad on a low intake of carbohydrates is only temporary. But it is all about individuals and you can't exclude the possibility that some people need a certain intake of carbs in order to feel fine. I have heard that people who workout a lot need carbohydrates to recover faster after their workout.
Andreas Eenfeldt:I think it is possible that some people feel more tired and weak even after been on a low-carb, high-fat (LCHF) diet for a longer time, although it's not very common. I think practical issues arise because people on these diets are eating different from others or different from their previous diet and that's what presents an even bigger problem.
Sten Sture Skaldeman:No, nobody can feel bad from eating a low-carbohydrate diet, except for the first two first weeks. When we are adapted to operating on fat for fuel, the need for carbohydrates is zero. (No, a low-carb, high-fat (LCHF) diet is not for everyone. It demands people have both willpower and intelligence.)
Johanna Söderlund:I see a strict low-carb, high-fat (LCHF) diet as a method for insulin resistant people. Insulin resistance means that insulin regulation doesn't work properly, probably because of too much stress on the system because of too much high-glycemic food. As a result of too high insulin levels in the body, the organs have decreased their sensibility to insulin. That leads to problems with high levels of blood glucose that can be remedied with a low-carb diet because it is mostly the carbohydrates that raises the glucose level in the blood. (Insulin resistance depends on the diet and lifestyle mostly, but heredity is also a factor. The more insulin resistant you are the more important is minimizing carbohydrates.)
If you start a strict low-carb diet and have no problems with insulin resistance, then your blood glucose level will fall. Different hormone systems will be activated to keep the blood glucose at a normal level. There are different hormones that can be activated to normalize the blood glucose levels and some are more desirable than others. Cortisol and glucagon are both working to increase the blood glucose level. Cortisol is a stress hormone but glucagon will be activated when you workout.
If you change to a new diet suddenly, there may be major changes in the hormone systems and that can make you feel bad. Insulin resistant people usually have no problem when changing to a strict low-carb diet. You may have a good production of blood glucose even before you start a low-carb diet and there will probably no problems when changing and you will feel better after you reduce the carbs.
3. Which differences–if any–can you distinguish between the kinds of carbohydrates (for example, sugar and starch) and do you differentiate these differences in your dietary advice?
Annika Dahlqvist:They are all the same to me. Future research will perhaps point out the differences that may be there.
Lars-Erik Litsfeldt:I don't see any differences. Fiber may be harmless for most people, but the point is it is still about the amount of carbohydrates.
Andreas Eenfeldt:Yes, there are a lot of things indicating that an excessive intake of sugar (sucrose) is worse than a high intake of starch because of the fructose in the sugar. If the carbohydrate intake isn't very low, then the glycemic index comes into play.
Sten Sture Skaldeman:Sugar and starch are equally bad. The addiction is as equally strong in both sugar and starch. I accept the carbohydrates that come from animal products without limitations. For example liver, seafood, eggs and cheese. Vegetables (grown on top of the soil) can be eaten without limitations by most people. I myself restrict tomatoes and peppers, but I'm very liberal with onions. I think the healthy benefits of the onion are more important than the few carbohydrates that are in them.
Johanna Söderlund:I think there is a big difference between the different kinds of carbohydrates. I wrote earlier about insulin resistance and a lot of the science that tells us that different sources of carbohydrates influences our body differently. Most important is that sugar releases more insulin than starch. That means that insulin resistant persons should reduce starch and non-insulin resistant persons should reduce sugar intake first.
Fructose should not be consumed in any larger amounts at all by anyone. In short: When the glucose stores are filled, there will be problems with the surplus of fructose. Diabetics should not eat very many carbs at all, but for those who are not insulin resistant and want to eat carbs I recommend them to eat most of it as starch. Sugar is also a problem for those who are addicted to carbohydrates. Sugar seem to cause addiction easier than starch does. Sugar also stimulates your appetite mostly because of its content of fructose.
Fructose activates ghrelin and ghrelin stimulates your appetite. Of course, you should pay attention to the glycemic index of those starchy foods and how easily the carbs are digested. Parboiled rice increases the blood glucose level slower than sticky rice. You must understand that foods containing sugar (like fructose and lactose) have a relatively low glycemic index, but it is not healthy to eat a lot of fructose and lactose.
What a truly fascinating interview that was! I welcome your comments about the answers provided by these health pioneers in Sweden who are blazing the trail and setting a precedent for how the rest of the world of low-carb supporters should be addressing the misinformation that exists about the healthy low-carb lifestyle. In fact, I'd love to ask these exact same questions to the low-carb experts in the United States. Wouldn't that be a great follow-up to what Johanna Söderlund did with her interview? And I could even give my own answers to these questions too. What do you think?
While it can sometimes seem discouraging when you see an anti-low-carb story in the media, be encouraged my friends. We have the truth on our side and the science speaks for itself. Even more importantly, in my not-so-humble opinion, are the scores of people like you and me who have been changed for the better because of the positive impact of low-carb. This is the testimony of livin' la vida low-carb that the ADA, AMA, AHA, and those in the government who make dietary recommendations need to hear. We should never stop sharing our stories because one-by-one we are making a difference.
I will soon be blogging about how we can band together in an effort to put pressure on the United States Congress to take a closer look at the current dietary recommendations in light of the latest science that has come out regarding low-carb diets. We need to encourage our U.S. Representatives and U.S. Senators to call for Congressional hearings on this subject because it is a vitally important issue that directly impacts such political hot potatoes such as healthcare, Medicare, and other aspects of public policy. Waiting on the sidelines for them to act on their own is no longer acceptable, so we must provide public pressure on them to do something. More on that coming soon.
For now, I want to publicly acknowledge and applaud the brave researchers and practitioners in Sweden who support the high-fat, low-carb diet for their courage in the face of opposition to stand up for what is right. We need this kind of testicular fortitude to rise up in the United States, Canada, the UK, Australia, and around the world if we truly care about the health and well-being of the world population. If we choose to remain passive and simply allow the same old, same old to continue, then it will be our own fault when we reach the point of no return in this debate.
The time to act is NOW and I'm ready to step up the pressure on the powers that be. Won't you join me in this effort?
Can it REALLY be? A television show about a low-carb diet? YEP!
With popular weight loss reality television shows like "The Biggest Loser" in the United States, Australia, and around the world, it was only a matter of time before a television network was gonna be willing to give the low-carb lifestyle an opportunity to be featured and displayed prominently in its very own program. And now it's here for all the world to see for themselves the life-changing impact of healthy low-carb living!
Have you heard about the new Canadian show called "My Big, Fat Diet" which premiered on the CBC on Tuesday night at 10pm? Oh my gosh, if you are a fan of livin' la vida low-carb, then hold on to your hats folks--they're actually putting the participants on a sugar-free, no junk food, high-fat, low-carb diet. WOW doesn't even begin to express how amazing it feels to see something like this on television.
Wanna see a sneak peek of the show? Check out these three YouTube videos:
Based in the Alert Bay area of British Columbia in Canada, the premise of the show is to get the people to return to the native diet of the orginal Namgis First Nation ancestors. With outside influences changing the makeup of the aboriginal community there, the negative impact on the weight and health of the people there has been undeniable with rampant obesity, metabolic syndrome and diabetes. It's a sad state of affairs which is why Métis physician Dr. Jay Wortman, who I have had the privilege of interviewing at my blog previously, took a strong interest in researching and developing a diet program which closely mirrors the one used by the people not that long ago.
Dr. Jay Wortman is passionate about the high-fat, low-carb diet
Most upsetting to Dr. Wortman and like-minded doctors in that area is that the typical diet and lifestyle intervention prescribed to people with the conditions that are being seen in the health of these participants is a high-carb, low-fat diet and hours of exercise. But Dr. Wortman knows better based on the studies he has conducted with his unique approach to improving weight and health issues through the use of a high-fat, low-carb nutritional approach. He blames the cultural influence of the United States on most of the problems the people of his country are suffering from today.
"Obesity, diabetes and heart disease were unknown in these populations until very recently," Dr. Wortman exclaimed. "No aboriginal language has a word for diabetes."
As a Type 2 diabetic, Dr. Wortman is keenly aware that he needed to make drastic, immediate changes in his diet when he was diagnosed with it four years ago so he could not only survive his disease, but thrive despite it.
"My immediate instinctive response was to stop eating any food that caused my blood sugar to rise," he added. "So I eliminated carbohydrates from my diet. Within four weeks, my blood sugar and blood pressure had normalized and I began to feel much better."
And he's STILL feeling better to this day which is one of the reasons why he wanted to be involved in this new television project following real people from the Namgis First Nation to see how they do giving up the culprit carbohydrates and replacing it with more fat. Wanna see what they are eating on this diet? Check this out:
- Wild salmon - Oolichan grease (wickedly EWWW!) - Bacon - Eggs - Cauliflower, broccoli, and salad greens - Beef, pork, chicken, fish or seafood - Cream (but not milk because of lactose--sugar!)
There was absolutely NO pasta, rice, potatoes, bread or sugar allowed. Dr. Wortman is convinced the introduction of these foods to the culture in the late 1800s is what led to the problems with health that exist today. Avoiding all starches and sugars was the key to the diet plan on "My Big, Fat Diet." It's a very unique concept considering the continued antagonistic attitude held by the media and health "experts" who believe the low-carb diet is a "dangerous fad" that can cause damage to your health over the long-term. I'm waiting for some pompous low-fatty health group to file a lawsuit against the CBC for daring to do such a television show about livin' la vida low-carb.
Directed by Mary Bissell, this Bare Bones Productions show follows the lives of six real Namgis First Nation people who willingly give up sugar and starch and replace it with fat over a period of a year with fantastic results. This program is sponsored by Health Canada and the University of British Columbia. Mixing a bit of historical culture influences with sound documented medical science is what makes "My Big, Fat Diet" the first such program like this in television history.
Interestingly, on the official web site for "My Big, Fat Diet" at the bottom of the page there is a big disclaimer that I couldn't help but laugh at when I saw it.
"The research in this study is still being evaluated. Anyone taking medication for diabetes or high blood pressure should consult their doctor before starting a low-carb diet."
Isn't it funny how we NEVER see these kind of warnings against a high-carb, low-fat diet because we all KNOW how healthy they are. HA! Just you wait and see the outrage that comes when there is so much positive improvement in the weight and health of the people on this show. How will people like Dr. Dean Ornish and his ilk explain away results that speak for themselves? Oh, they'll downplay it as anecdotal and say there's no evidence to support this for others. And yet the lives of these people, like mine and many others who read this blog, SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES!!!
I will have the distinct pleasure of meeting Dr. Jay Wortman at an obesity conference taking place in Phoenix, Arizona in April and will try to interview him for my podcast show about his work with the First Nation people and this exciting new television show "My Big, Fat Diet." I've met him once before and he's a really funny guy for a researcher who has turned out some very serious studies on the efficacy of low-carb living. Be looking for that podcast in the next few months.
In the meantime, if you live in Canada, then you HAVE to watch "My Big, Fat Diet" and see the remarkable turnaround that happens in the lives of the diet participants. I only wish we could see this show in its entirety in the United States. But you know what? They need to do something like this in America. Why not have a "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" weight loss reality show, hmmmm?
We could get a group of experts like Dr. Eric Westman from Duke, Dr. Richard Feinman from SUNY Downstate, Dr. Jeff Volek from the University of Connecticut, and Dr. Stephen Phinney from the University of California to head up the nutritional plan with consulting from Drs. Michael and Mary Dan Eades, Dr. Barry Sears, and others. Then implore the training assistance of people like Fred Hahn and his "Slow Burn" workouts along with inspirational messages from Dr. Jonny Bowden who could actually host the show and you've got a real recipe for a ratings winner in my book! Sure, I'm dreaming but wouldn't you love to see a show like that one!!! I SURE WOULD! How about it ABC, CBS, NBC or FOX? Do you have the guts to take a chance on a controversial, but very unique television show idea?
If you'd like to learn more about Dr. Jay Wortman and the work he is doing with low-carb diets in Canada, then you might want to check out his new blog. You can find out anything you want about "My Big, Fat Diet" as well as get in touch directly with Dr. Wortman. Like I said, he's a very personable guy who is open to helping people understand how living the low-carb life can radically transform your life for the better. It happened to him and now he wants others to experience that same gift.
3-12-08 UPDATE: There's more good news about low-carb featured on television happening in the UK. According to this The Sun column, a 6-part series on Channel 4 entitled "The Diets That Time Forgot" will feature the low-carb diet created by William Banting.
"But which diet plan is the most effective? Is it the 1863 phenomenon the Banting Diet (which is essentially the Atkins diet)."
WOO HOO! If you live across the pond, then be sure to tune in to Channel 4 at 9pm beginning on Tuesday, March 18, 2008 for "The Diets That Time Forgot." Could we be getting closer to programming like this coming to the United States? Cross your fingers!
Why does Connie Bennett agree with Dr. James O'Keefe about high-fat?
It's not that often when I disagree with a fellow low-carb blogging friend who agrees with me that consuming sugar and excessive carbohydrates is bad for your weight and health. But when "SUGAR SHOCK!" blog author Connie Bennett wrote a post this week entitled "Just One High-Sugar, High-Fat Meal Can Damage Your Body, Study Stays," I felt compelled to respond.
The report was actually written by Connie's correspondent Jennifer Moore (no relation), but there was a brief "Note from Connie" at the beginning of the post that made me raise my eyebrows. Here's what she wrote:
"If you think one fatty, culprit-carb-laden meal won't do harm to you, think again."
Say it ain't so, Connie! I'll agree that a "culprit-carb-laden meal" may cause harm, but what's with the "fatty" part? Why even go there when you have seen all the studies in research for your SUGAR SHOCK! book showing a high-fat, low-carb diet is not only healthy, but beneficial in so many ways to the body. In fact, you should take a closer look at the book by Gary Taubes (who you interviewed recently) called Good Calories, Bad Calories to find out more of the science behind this.
The study cited on Connie's blog was published in the January 2008 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and led by a well-known pro-vegetarian, low-fat diet loving internist from the Mid America Heart Institute and University of Missouri–Kansas City named Dr. James H. O'Keefe. The primary point from his study is to eat more whole, high-fiber foods that come from plant sources as well as lots of whole grains, legumes, and nuts to prevent your blood sugar from rising too fast which then increases your triglycerides to in turn lead to inflammation in the body.
Sounds good, right? But...
But we already know what causes those health issues to happen. It's carbohydrates! Even those so-called "good" carbs that come from some fruits and vegetables as well as the much-heralded whole grains craze and legumes can and will spike your blood sugar and release insulin inside the body almost as fast as sugary junk foods do in those of us who are especially carb-sensitive (which is why we started livin' la vida low-carb to begin with!). Ignoring this fact is not giving people the entire picture and Dr. O'Keefe knows that.
Although you have people like Dr. Judith Wurtman espousing the absolutely absurd theory that saturated fat consumption can lead to Type 2 diabetes, the truth of the matter is a high-fat diet in the absence of carbohydrate is not at all harmful. Nobody has yet to offer any credible published research to counter this fact, so why do we continue to have imbecilic researchers like Dr. O'Keefe trying to shove their personal beliefs into the science when the evidence is just not there? And why is such research embraced by people like Connie Bennett who should know better?
And, with all due respect to my fellow low-carb blogging colleague Connie Bennett, she should know better. Sure, consuming the "culprit carbs" (as she calls sugary, simple carbs) is indeed unhealthy and most of us agree with that wholeheartedly. But why lump in dietary fat with the whole kit and kaboodle? No, Connie, one high-fat meal will NOT cause damage to your body when carbohydrates are severely reduced or eliminated. A high fat diet is only unhealthy in tandem with a high-carb one.
And perhaps that's what Connie's correspondent Jennifer Moore was TRYING to say in her post. But the way it was written with that finger-pointing headline, it certainly made it appear to be damning to fat. Perhaps some clarification is in order, Connie, and I welcome your feedback. We'd love to know why you believe a high-fat diet is so unhealthy (if you do). Feel free to share your comments so we can better understand where you are coming from.
As for Dr. O'Keefe, you can contact him to share your comments about his study at jhokeefe@cc-pc.com. Tell him it's not the dietary fat, but the carbs that cause damage to health. Encourage him to take up my suggestion to do a study on a high-carb, high-fat vs. low-carb, high-fat diet comparison. Who knows, if he's a real scientist, then he should be up for the challenge, right? :)
1-29-08 UPDATE: Well, Connie Bennett responded today and attempted to clarify what she meant by what she wrote in the column that was posted at her blog. I appreciate that, but I do think she took this way too personally. It was all about the message and not YOU, Connie. Perhaps this will make you pay closer attention to what you allow on your blog from now on, hmmm?
Low-Carb Diet Prevents Sagging Skin, Prostate Tumor Growth, And Hypercholesterolemia
The science behind livin' la vida low-carb continues to pour in like gangbusters and it's sometimes hard to keep up with it all. In fact, much of the research has already been out there a few years--especially before I started blogging in 2005.
But don't worry, I'm committed to finding it all and compiling it together for you right here when I come across research of interest. That's what I have for you today with not one, not two, but THREE discoveries from the scientific community on the health benefits of the low-carb lifestyle. Check these out!
SUGAR CONSUMPTION LEADS TO SAGGING SKIN
Although this study was published in the July 2001 issue of The British Journal of Dermatology, it certainly bears repeating early and often. French researchers discovered that consuming sugar can actually make you develop premature sagging, wrinkling skin. Yikes!
It's all because of a process known as glycation--where the glucose (sugar) in your blood finds proteins to stick to to form what is know as advanced glycation end products, aka AGEs. As the acronym implies, these ages will age you. The more sugar you eat, the more ages that get produced.
Why is this so harmful? Because the AGEs start attacking good skin proteins like collagen and elastin which help to keep your skin firm and elastic. But AGEs minimize the impact of these good proteins and the result is droopy skin. EWWW!
Aren't you glad you've greatly reduced or eliminated sugar from your diet? :D
Lead researcher Dr. Stephen Freedland, a urologist from the Durham, NC-based Duke University School of Medicine, observed 75 male mice who were fed an isocaloric diet of either a ZERO-carb, very high-fat diet (84 percent fat), a high-carb, LOW-fat diet (72 percent carbs, 12 percent fat), or the traditional Western diet (40 percent fat, 44 percent carbs). Each of the mice were injected with cancerous cells after 24 hours on their new diet.
The mice who ate the ZERO-carb diet actually lost up to 15 percent of their body weight compared with increases by the low-fat and Western diet groups. In fact, they needed MORE calories to try to even out the body weight of the mice. Interesting!
But even more interesting is what happened after 51 days...the size of the tumors in the ZERO-carb diet group were 33 percent smaller than the Western diet group and survival was longest among the ZERO-carb diet group. Dr. Freedland credits a decrease in insulin production that happens when you consume fewer carbs for the stunted tumor growth in the mice.
The researchers were very hopeful about the results this study could have on humans.
"If this is ultimately confirmed in human clinical trials, it has huge implications for prostate cancer therapy through something that all of us can control, our diets," Dr. Freedland exclaimed.
Yep, it sure will be! How about getting that going, eh?
"We are planning to start clinical trials sometime next year," he said. "The results of this study are very promising, but of course much more work needs to be done."
Well, alrighty then! We'll be watching!
HIGH-FAT, LOW-CARB DIET DOES NOT RAISE CHOLESTEROL
Lead researcher Dr. James Hays, a cardiologist from the Newark, DE-based Christiana Care Health Services, observed 23 obese heart disease patients over a 6-week period on a high-fat, ZERO-starch diet after they had previously been put on a risky cholesterol-lowering statin drug treatment like Lipitor or Crestor. They remained on their drug treatment during the study, but something amazing happened in the study.
Each of the participants were told to EAT MORE FAT and that HALF OF THEIR CALORIES MUST COME FROM SATURATED FAT! WOW! They were instructed to eat this way for six weeks in a row (can you imagine how these people reacted to this? I bet there were a lot of jaws on the floor when they were instructed to eat MORE saturated fat!).
At the end of the six weeks, the median weight loss was 5.2 percent of their body weight and similar amounts of body fat. Even more important was what happened to cholesterol--it remained steady while total triglycerides dropped significantly.
Dr. Hays said he would expect this trend to continue for up to one full year. Here we are four years later and the results of this research are being proved anecdotally over and over again by people who are deciding to start livin' la vida low-carb for themselves heading into 2008. WOO HOO!
Have you seen some interesting high-fat, low-carb research that I may have missed? Feel free to share it with me anytime at livinlowcarbman@charter.net.
Dr. Michael Miller puts his personal low-carb bias ahead of science
Despite being called out by Gary Taubes in his book Good Calories, Bad Calories, the use of sensationalism by the active players in modern health research and journalism hasn't changed a bit! Want an example of this? Just look at today's headline from Reuters to see what I mean:
Most people will simply read that headline and say to themselves, "Oh my God, why in the world would I ever go on the Atkins diet?" Then from there, people will infer that they shouldn't go on ANY low-carb diet at all because we all KNOW how unhealthy it is, don't we? This is the kind of sloppy science and reporting that has prevented the healthy low-carb lifestyle from ever gaining any favor in the public eye. And that's such a crying shame.
Lead researcher Dr. Michael Miller, director of preventive cardiology at the Baltimore, MD-based University of Maryland Medical Center, and his colleagues wanted to see what effect a maintenance diet has on blood fat levels, cholesterol, and other markers for inflammation. They observed 18 people over a ONE-MONTH period following one of three diets:
ATKINS--50 percent of calories from fat SOUTH BEACH--30 percent of calories from fat ORNISH--10 percent of calories from fat
The researchers made sure that NONE of the study participants lost weight so the results would not be skewed by weight improvements since it was about weight control and not weight loss. Each of them had their blood tested for all of the health markers checked out for the study.
What was the result?
The ATKINS group allegedly saw an increase in their cholesterol levels and inflammation which the researchers concluded would cause "long-term damage to blood vessels" and could very likely lead to heart and artery disease. On the other hand, the SOUTH BEACH and ORNISH groups saw their cholesterol levels come down and artery function was improved.
Using an ultrasound machine to measure flexibility and dilation of the blood vessels as well as proteins in the blood, the researchers found major inflammation in the ATKINS group.
"Some markers of inflammation were increased by as much as 30 to 40 percent during the Atkins phase, whereas during the South Beach and Ornish phases, the markers either were stable or went down, some by as much as 15 to 20 percent," Dr. Miller remarked.
Oh my God, oh my God, what am I gonna do now?! Oh my God, somebody hurry and call 911 for me or something because this "study" says I'm gonna blow a blood vessel or something, oh my God, oh my God! EEEEK!!! What a freakin' crock of horse manure if you ask me! I've been livin' la vida low-carb for MUCH longer than one month (nearly four years and counting!) and I have not been harmed by my high-fat Atkins diet.
What's most interesting about this grand conclusion about how dangerous the Atkins diet is for people to be on is that it is merely based on the results of SIX PEOPLE! Yep, the millions of us who are enjoying our low-carb lifestyle must now put up with a very small-scale study reported on by an overzealous anti-Atkins researcher and his willing accomplices in the press reporting on it as the gospel truth. And that's the worst part of a study like this one.
So, was this "study" actually published in some prestigious medical or science journal? Nope! Instead, it was presented as a paper at the Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association help in Orlando, Florida this week. No peer review. No long-term observations. No real proof of anything except a sloppy way to compare the supposed impact of diet on blood vessels. The lack of substance in this study along with some rather suspicious and shady implications about what the Atkins diet is should have made anyone with a brain at this conference stand up and question the validity of such research.
Did it happen? Yeah right!
Was anyone else struck by the almost-exclusive focus on the dietary fat content of these diets? What was the ratio of the other two macronutrients--protein and carbohydrate? If that "Atkins" diet with 50 percent fat was matched up with say 30-40 percent carbs, then it is NOT the Atkins diet. If that's the case, then no wonder their LDL cholesterol went up. Fat consumption is only healthy when carbohydrate intake is kept to a minimum.
Most of us who are doing the Atkins plan as outlined in Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution (the only Atkins diet that REALLY counts since it is BY THE BOOK!) even in maintenance are consuming less than 10 percent of our calories in the form of carbohydrates. My personal diet ratio of fat/protein/carbohydrate is close to 60/30/10.
Obviously, Dr. Miller was no fan of the Atkins diet from the beginning.
"It really is the Atkins diet that is the worst," he told Reuters. "The Atkins diet caused the LDL levels to go up by about 7 percent, whereas in the Ornish and South Beach diets ... they went down 7 to 10 percent."
Yeah, so what? What happened to the HDL "good" cholesterol in the ATKINS group, Dr. Miller? How about the triglycerides? I would be willing to bet that there was a SIGNIFICANT difference in the increased levels of HDL and decreased triglycerides for them compared to the other two low-fat groups. Why wouldn't you talk about that data since these are tell-tale signs of health improvements on low-carb, Dr. Miller?
Describing the Atkins diet as "the worst" is merely your opinion, sir. This "study" of yours shows nothing but what happens when you fail to provide honest and trustworthy research to a world who unfortunately trusts everything people like yourself have to say about your research. They rely on you to provide quality, accurate information about health, not some sensationalist, headline-grabbing ruse of a research scam. These kind of shabby conclusions are what drives people away from listening to anything you have to say because they get tired of hearing you cry wolf when there isn't one anywhere close.
While the diets used in this study were supposed to simulate what would happen when you begin a maintenance plan on the various plans, there is something to be said for those of us who DID actually lose weight on these methods and then continued to follow them long-term after the weight has come off. When I weighed 410 pounds in 2004, my weight was bad, but my health was getting much worse. Without the Atkins diet, I never would have regained my health and become the energetic man I am today.
And my lipid profile did improve and has continued to do so four years later. But Dr. Miller believes any positive impact of livin' la vida low-carb will only reach a certain level before your health declines.
"When you lose weight everything looks good but after a while you plateau and you hit a maintenance stage," Dr. Miller contended.
That's right, you do, Dr. Miller. But that's what happens on ANY lifestyle change when you begin as an overweight or obese person and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Whether you choose low-fat, moderate-fat, or low-carb, the end result is still the same--lasting and permanent weight and health control. If one option doesn't work, then another one should be tried. That has always been my motto in trying to help people in their own journey to better health. Low-carb is definitely one of those permanent weight loss solution options that people should consider.
Sadly, you have people like Dr. Miller who insist on pushing the low-fat lie that is at the root cause of why obesity and disease still exists in America and around the world today. Pushing vegetables has forced people into choosing potatoes and other starchy choices (according to statistics from the American Diabetes Association) while shunning healthy meat selections has made the high-carb beans, tofu, and whole grains the protein source for many people to the detriment of their health. But, no, we can't be having people on that low-carb Atkins diet, Dr. Miller says.
"We don't recommend the Atkins diet," Dr. Miller concluded. "Why not start out with a diet that will be healthier for you in the long run after weight loss?"
And what kind of diet would that be, hmmmm? We have such varying definitions of what constitutes a "healthy" diet these days, Dr. Miller, that you can't possibly expect people to know what that looks like. So please tell us. I'm sincerely interested in hearing what you have to say.
But don't spout off sound bytes like a "balanced" diet with lots of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains (that's nothing but a big fat copout if you ask me!) because that doesn't mean a thing to most people. Give us sample menus of the foods you would recommend on your "healthy" diet and let's see how it stacks up with how real low-carbers like me eat now. I would not be surprised to find that my diet is as healthy or even healthier than what you come up with, sir. So why pigeonhole people into following YOUR definition of that kind of diet?
Drawing broad-based conclusions about a healthy nutritional approach like the Atkins diet, which was created by a world-renowned cardiologist who clearly understood the science behind eating a controlled-carbohydrate diet, looking at a very short-term study with a small sample size and trying to extrapolate long-term consequences from such limited data is both irresponsible and repugnant. Isn't the very point of research to help people BETTER understand what may happen to their health in a given circumstance?
So then why would you try to purposely manipulate the results of that research just to suit your own personal agenda? That's just plain shameful, Dr. Miller, and I cannot believe you would put your professional integrity and character on the line just to follow the template of your own biased belief system. Tsk tsk!
The general population of laymen like myself who simply want the science to speak for itself deserve better than this--MUCH BETTER! Weight loss, healthy living, and solid nutrition are too important to just be playing games. What we need and quite frankly DESERVE are researchers who can get back to doing what they were meant to do. And that's looking at problems objectively, following research protocol precisely, and then letting the results show what they show. It's the right thing to do and anything else is merely garbled and twisted chatter among ideological zealots like yourself!
The Atkins low-carb diet is absolutely sound nutrition, pure and simple. For the past three decades, we have seen excellent independent research validating every single point that the late great Dr. Robert C. Atkins wrote about in his books as well as real people like Jimmy Moore who lost nearly half of his body weight and now kept it off for close to three years. Is that not long-term enough for you, Dr. Miller?
It's this kind of validation of the low-carb lifestyle that should have researchers excited about looking into this program (and there is "strong interest" behind-the-scenes) rather than seeking to annihilate and destroy it at every opportunity just because you don't like it personally. The history books will look back someday on all this vile hatred for the Atkins diet and livin' la vida low-carb as a sad time in the history of health in the world with so many people clueless to the benefits of low-carb living while people getting fatter and sicker than ever!
Want more helpful insights about Dr. Miller's ridiculous Atkins diet blood vessel study? Check out what the always-entertaining Dr. Mike Eades wrote about it at his blog today. ENJOY!
11-7-07 UPDATE: Here is the official response to Dr. Miller's study today from Atkins Nutritionals, Inc.:
A presentation at the recent meeting of the American Heart Association in Orlando, Florida, comparing the maintenance stages of three diet regimens, Atkins, South Beach and Ornish, has relied on faulty research and a misunderstanding of Atkins protocols to suggest the Atkins diet may not be heart healthy.
Dr. Michael Miller, who made the presentation, apparently ignored more than 30 years of clinical experience and independent research on low carbohydrate diets, and now four years of trials looking specifically at the Atkins protocols, which have consistently demonstrated the effectiveness and safety of the Atkins diet.
Colette Heimowitz, M.Sc., Vice President of Nutrition & Education at Atkins Nutritionals, commenting on Dr. Miller’s presentation, referenced several peer reviewed studies which report opposite findings. Among the most prominent was a year-long weight loss and health study conducted by Stanford University researchers and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association which showed no increased risk of cardiovascular markers in more than 300 overweight subjects.
In summarizing his study, Dr. Miller acknowledged that researchers considering the effects of low carbohydrate diets have reached very different conclusions depending on sample size, research protocol and any number of other uncontrolled variables. Unfortunately, Dr. Miller's research cannot be fully evaluated since his study has not been peer reviewed or published. But, given the short duration of his study, the very small sample size, and the weak correlations, drawing conclusions about possible long term health risks tied to fat consumption in the maintenance phase of any weight control program is not good science.
According to media reports, the subjects in Dr. Miller’s study were put on what’s described as the maintenance phase of Atkins with 50% of their calories coming from fat. However, this is not the Atkins maintenance phase protocol, nor is it part of the Atkins diet protocols. The lipid response Dr. Miller reported is what one might expect from a combination of rich carbohydrates and fat, but it’s not Atkins.
When it comes to nutrition and weight control, the public deserves science based conclusions. Time and again independent research has shown the benefits of a low-carbohydrate nutritional approach to safe and healthy weight loss and weight maintenance. And that's Atkins!
