The Truth, The Whole Truth And Nothing But The Truth

Saturated Fat Vote

A UK magazine called Healthy is doing a poll - is saturated fat bad or good for us?

Scroll to the bottom and vote!

Red Meat Increases Mortality Risk

Well...sort of.

Many of you have emailed me asking for some clarity on this new 'study' recently published called Meat Intake and Mortality.

First, this study is an observational study. Observational studies (really surveys) by their very nature can only suggest an association. They absolutely do not prove cause and effect. There are so many other confounding variables that were left unchecked you might as well use this study for your new puppy's poop.

From the study:

"The inherent limitations of measurement error in this

study are similar to those of any nutritional epidemiological
study that is based on recall of usual intake over a
given period. We attempted to reduce measurement error
by adjusting our models for reported energy intake.
15 The correlations for red meat consumption assessed
from the food frequency questionnaire compared
with two 24-hour recall diaries were 0.62 for men and
0.70 for women, as reported previously by Schatzkin et
al.7 The problem of residual confounding may still exist
and could explain the relatively small associations found
throughout this study despite the care taken to adjust for
known confounders."

Uh huh. They also suggest that vegetarians are somehow healthier than meat eaters:

"Vegetarians have lower arachidonic, eicosapentaenoic, and docosahexaenoic
acid levels and higher linoleate and antioxidant levels
in platelet phospholipids; such a biochemical profile
may be related to decreased atherogenesis and thrombogenesis."

But in another recent study published in March 2009, Mortality in British Vegetarians researchers found no difference in mortality between meat eaters and vegetarians. From the study:

"The mortality of both the vegetarians and the nonvegetarians
in this study is low compared with national rates.Within
the study, mortality from circulatory diseases and all causes is not
significantly different between vegetarians and meat eaters.."

Let's use a little common sense. If eating red meat was so unhealthy, how in the world did humans come to exist? We've been eating red meat for hundreds of thousands of years.

If you torture the data enough it will confess...

Eat your red meat and enjoy it. What you don't want to eat is grain fed, hormone ridden and processed meats.

Diabetes Handprint

I received an email last week from an organization called Onetouch.com. They were promoting an idea called the Diabetes Handprint created by Manny Hernandez in order to raise global awareness of diabetes. His organization is called Tudiabetes.com.

The idea is interesting - create a word or phrase inside the palm of your hand, take a pic of it, and send it in. For every hand sent in $5 will be donated to the cause by various sponsors.

Here is an example:

So I decided I'd add a hand via their website by creating a virtual hand.

If you are up your low carb research reading (as you'd think all organizations who are interested in ending diabetes would be) you see quite vividly that a low carb diet is THE cure for type II diabetes. On that page you have to give a short story about your word. Of course I explained the science in brief.

So, I designed a hand that said (drum roll please):

No Carbs

The website says that you will receive a confirmation that your handprint has been received and added to the group. Not so fast rabbit! I received an email saying:

"Dear Fredhahn,

We're sorry but your submission was not accepted for publishing on the Diabeteshandprint.com website."

Here are their content submission terms. I violated none of them.

So the bottom line is, the review staff (a staff that clearly has not read a single study on the subject) denies a hand print that holds the answer for virtually all type II diabetics.

Pretty interesting doncha think? As the late Carl Sagan wrote: "Science as a candle in the dark." Clearly not in this case.

Silver and Strong

Go Winifred!

Great Seafood

Vital Choice. When you can't bring yourself to the sea....

Eat Before You Train

A growing body of evidence suggests that eating a quality protein rich meal or drinking a protein shake before and after your workout will significantly improve your results.

According to Dr. Jeff Volek, author of the TNT diet:

"In respect to the pre and post-workout nutrition, I think the research is clear that protein is most important for stimulating a positive protein balance. Additional carbs is not necessary and may only offer a small benefit to protein anabolism which in my opinion is not worth the trade off with the potent effects of the carb-induced insulin spike on inhibiting fat breakdown and fat oxidation. I’d recommend trying to get a pre-exercise elevation in plasma amino acids by ingesting some fast absorbing aminos or a hydrolyzed whey protein. Post-workout may not be such a concern on the absorption profile, as most proteins will work fine to stimulate protein synthesis."

Personally, I have gained some added muscle mass sticking to this plan over several months. So don't waste your efforts when hitting the weights. Get some protein in your gut mixed with some fat for better absorption.

Here's what I do before and after my workout (I have little fat to lose. Those who wish to maximize fat loss omit the carbs):

24 oz. of water
2 tablespoons fish oil or two tablets or Krill oil (careful taking this if you are on blood thinners)
1 table spoon liquid aminos
1 scoop of Ultra InflamX (15 grams carbs and protein)
30 grams protein powder

Try this for at least one month and report your results here. I'd love to know how it's working for you.

The experts speak

Here is a promo video that everyone who is interested in low carb eating should watch. My Co-author Dr. Michael Eades as well as my friend Gary Taubes are part of the video.

We need more of this sort of thing to get onto the radar screen of physicians and registered dietitians.

More good info here.

Enjoy.

Count your carbs

Here is a great resource for doing so: Nutrition Facts and Analysis.

As a reminder:

Eating carbs (save for leafy, cruciferous veggies only) = sharp increases in insulin production = body fat storage = obesity and type II diabetes.

Savor the flavor

One of the things that a lot of folks do when they eat is they scarf their food down like a pogrom is coming. Besides resembling a vacuum cleaner and potentially choking to death, eating fast has other negative effects.

I am now reading Dr. Richard Bernstein's book The Diabetes Solution. In it he makes mention that eating too quickly and too much raises insulin levels far higher than if one eats slowly.

Like a jerk, I lost the page that its on and cannot seem to find it (the book is over 500 pages) so, I can't quote the good doctor directly. But suffice it to say, to minimize insulin spikes which facilitate fat storage, eat slowly - savor the flavor. Don't swallow until the food in your mouth is close to a liquid.

And of course the food in your mouth will preferably be not a grain or a processed food. But real food. Something like this:

Or this:

My wife is finding Paul McKenna's book (with a somewhat self-serving title) I Can Make You Thin (which should have been titled You Can Make You Thin) a very motivating book. In it he discusses the same idea - enjoy your food and eat slowly.

Try it!

An apple a day keeps the doctor away

Notice that the adage says 'an?'

Smart.