Why My Mother Refused to Eat Hospital Food

Friday, July 22, 2011 Dr. David Brownstein's Blog

Why My Mother Refused To Eat Hospital Food

My mother was in the hospital this week for surgery. Thankfully, she came home today. However, I wanted to write to you about the diet she was placed on while in the hospital.

Since she had bowel surgery, she was put on clear liquids immediately after the surgery. When the clear liquid tray was brought up to my mother she said, "I would rather starve than eat that mess."

There were five items given to my mother (see the picture on the right). Chicken broth from bouillon, diet sorbet, decaffeinated coffee, diet jello, and something labelled fruit ice. The ingredients from the bouillon cubes included partially hydrogenated soybean oil, sugar, hydrolyzed corn pectin,and silicon dioxide. There were a few other ingredients that I could not pronounce--I would assume they are not good things to ingest. In fact, I have been telling my patients for years to read food labels and only purchase items where you can prounounce all the ingredients.

One other thing; she could have as much diet soda as she desired.

As for the fruit ice, diet jello, and diet sorbet, I did not see any healthy ingredients in them. The diet sorbet and jello contained aspartame. Asparatme is a very toxic substance and should be avoided.

You would think that a post-surgery patient, in the hospital, would be given healthy food to help heal the body. You can see what they gave my mother to eat was far from healthy. In fact, I would say what they tried to feed my mother would inhibit healing. The amount of refined sugar in these substances is bound to inhibit healing as studies have shown refined sugar actually disrupts the normal functioning of the white blood cells for a few hours. There was nothing nutritious in any of the items they served her.

What did we do? I was tempted to call the dietician to her room, but I felt that would not go well. Instead, I brought my mother healthier chicken broth made from an organically-fed chicken. I had her drink a lot of water and avoid the 'food' that was served to her.

My mother commented, "How do they expect you to heal with drinking unhealthy food?" It is truly amazing to me that patients do get better eating food like this.

I am sure patients would heal better if served healthy food in the hospital. It makes sense; provide the body with the proper nutrients and it will take care of itself.

What is Carrageenan?

I want to highlight for you an extremely harmful ingredient, carrageenan, that is showing up in many foods today, even baby formula and some organic cream.

Carrageenan is a food additive that is derived from seaweed, also known as Irish Moss.

Although this sounds like it is healthy, because sea vegetables can be healthy, carrageenan is not healthy. Quite the opposite is true.

Avoid Carrageenan!

Carrageenan is known to produce intense inflammation. It is a cheap substitute for fat.

· It is found in baked goods, ice cream, cottage cheese, ice cream, infant formula, diet food, yogurt, whipped cream, Ensure, Slimfast and breads.

· It "triggers a distinct inflammatory pathway" in human intestinal epithelial cells. (Joanne K. Tobacman, MD)

Joanne Tobacman is a researcher from the University of Iowa College of Medicine, who discovered that carrageenan causes cancer in the gut.

There are two types of carrageenan, "degraded" and "undegraded" and Tobacman says that both are associated with cancer and stomach problems.

Human studies show that both types lead to human cancers and digestive disorders because enzymes and bacteria in the gut convert one form, undegraded to the more dangerous form, degraded.

There may also be a connection to breast cancer.

Dr. Tobacman's findings were published in the October 2001 issue of Environmental Health Perspectives, a publication of the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), a branch of the National Institutes of Health.

As always, we need to read labels, read labels, read labels!

Add carrageenan to the list of ingredients to be avoided.

· It tends to worsen all bowel conditions including IBS and can also dramatically stimulate cancer growth. (Russell Blaylock, MD)

Carrageenan is on the list of foods that often contain MSG or create MSG during processing.

“Carrageenan increases free radicals. It is a polysaccharide made from a seaweed, the substance is known to produce intense inflammatory reactions when injected into tissues. In fact, the intense reaction is so reproducible it is used when researchers want to study inflammation. Inflammation is strongly associated with intense free-radical production within tissues. It also may promote accelerated bowel cancer growth.” Carrageenan is used as a thickener. When even small amounts of carrageenan are injected near developing tumors in animals, tumor growth, and eventual metastasis, increases dramatically¹.”
-Source: Excitotoxins: The Taste that Kills by Russell Blaylock M.D.

1.) Raz A, Levine G, Khomiak Y. Acute local inflammation potentiates tumor growth in mice. Cancer Letters 148(2000): 115-120

The use of many foods which may save you from chemotherapy down the line.

A Cancer-Free Future
Dr. Fred Pescatore


In this edition of Dr. Pescatore’s Logical Alternative Newsletter, I’d like to discuss a “Cancer-free Future”–


It seems you can’t go two weeks without hearing about the next cancer-busting super food (Dr. Oz will you please go on hiatus).

But there is good evidence to support the use of many foods which may save you from chemotherapy down the line. Many patients come in to help prevent cancer; or it is at least one of their many goals. For anyone who wants to live and stay healthy, cancer prevention comes as a natural part of the territory.

So, to that end, and because there is so much confusing and contradictory information available about what foods to eat and not eat, I thought I would compile the list of my favorites.

Cancer- free Future Food List:

1. Green Tea – the healing power of this substance has been known for more than 5,000 years. In fact, this has one of the highest ORAC values which is a measure of a substance’s anti-oxidant ability. In multiple studies, this has been shown to protect or even increase longevity in those with breast, gastric, lung, colon and prostate cancers. The more you drink, the better the effect.
2. Pomegranate – another time tested anti-oxidant which has been used since at least biblical times. This fruit has been shown to have 3 major anti-oxidants and polyphenols and three times the anti-oxidant power of red wine. Studies have shown effectiveness in breast, skin, prostate and lung cancers.
3. Spinach – just as Popeye always told you – you’ll be strong to the finish, if you eat your spinach - now we know why. It is rich in vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients including lutein and zeaxanthin. In one study, spinach was shown to have a 42% reduction in the risk of bladder cancer. Spinach is rich in folic acid and can work to make and repair our genes. Other studies have shown its effectiveness in ovarian, colon, lung, stomach and prostate prevention.
4. Kale – this is a member of the cruciferous family of vegetables and has been shown to lower the risk of bladder, breast, colon, ovarian and prostate cancers. Studies have shown that the isothiocyanates which are made from the glucosinolates produce this effect. It is also a great detoxifying agent and contains both carotenoids and flavanoids.
5. Broccoli – Another cruciferous vegetable, the isothiocyanates can target and block a defective gene associated with lung, breast and colon cancer prevention. These substances found in broccoli preferentially destroy the mutant tumor proteins while leaving the healthy ones alone.
6. Turnip Greens – this is another cruciferous vegetable and it outscores cabbage, kale, cauliflower and broccoli for total glucosinolate content. They act as a detoxifying agent, an anti-oxidant as well as an anti-inflammatory
7. Cabbage – And this includes red, green and savoy cabbage as each contain different patterns of glucosinolates. Savoy is an especially rich source of sinigrin which is converted into allyl-isothiocyanate with unique cancer prevention properties with respect to bladder, colon, and prostate different from other cruciferous vegetables.
8. Turmeric – the active ingredient is curcumin and has been shown to make head and neck cancer treatment more effective. Those who consume more turmeric leads to a decrease in the rates of breast, prostate, lung and bladder cancer. Not only is this a powerful anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory but it helps the body to destroy mutated cancer cells before they cause harm in the body.
9. Salmon – While there is mounting evidence to suggest that farmed raised salmon (please see my blog entitles Old McDonald had a farm for my visit to a fish farm) may cause cancer, the ingestion of salmon biopeptides can decrease the risk of colorectal cancer. An increase in the intake of omega-3 fatty acids is associated with a decrease risk of prostate, breast, leukemia, multiple myleoma and non hodgkins lymphoma.
10. Ginger – The active ingredient is gingerols which have been shown to decrease the growth and to kill ovarian tumor cell lines and may inhibit the growth of colorectal cancers.
11. Garlic – I certainly don’t need to convince you of this one. There have been a host of studies showing that the organic allyl sulfur components of garlic are effective inhibitors of the cancer process especially in the prevention of prostate and stomach cancers.
12. Dark Chocolate – This may actually stop cancer cell division and is one of the most powerful anti-oxidants on the planet. In fact, pure cocoa has a higher ORAC value than any other food I have listed here. Yet, hear what I just wrote (yes, I did mean to type that) it’s the cocoa powder that has all the benefits NOT the added sugar which can work to counteract all of the chocolate’s health benefits. You need to look for a cocoa with at least 72% cacoa with a higher concentration being better.
13. Brussels Sprouts – These may have unique benefits in the area of DNA protection because the quartet of glucosolinates found in this cruciferous vegetable can block the activity of sulphatransferase enzymes protecting our DNA from cancerous mutations.
14. Shrimp – These contain astaxanthin, the vitamin world’s next top model, I mean polyphenol. Shrimp are also rich in omega 3 fatty acids which can starve tumor cells and help fight cancer. In fact, just 8 or 9 of these per day can decrease your risk of breast and colorectal cancer significantly. The astaxanthin can strengthen the immune system, prevent the destruction of cell membranes (important in the fight against cancer and why it is important to have a healthy cholesterol level – but don’t let me get started there) and can stimulate the regeneration of cells to name just a few of the many exciting properties for this rising star nutrient.

Can you imagine that these foods can affect us on a cellular and genetic level.
Who says we aren’t what we eat?
And remember, man cannot fight cancer by diet alone but food is a crucial part of the equation and the foundation for being healthy.

It is just part of the prevention matrix which includes, oral nutritional supplement ingestion, and intravenous vitamin therapies.
I spoke about the intravenous use of nutrients in the May 2011 newsletter.
In case you missed it, you can always browse through the full archives here.
- Dr. Fred Pescatore

One Picture is Worth 1000 Words and 140 Pounds

Get Better Wellness

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE Cut Out Pasta??? Recipe: Grain-free bread ************** Coming this fall! Achieving Wellness & Weight Loss $99 includes 4 - 1.5 hour classes Dates: Sept. 13, 27 and Oct 11, 25 7-8:30 pm Round Lake Beach Civic Center Space will be limited! Register at GetBetterWellness.com e-course! Achieving Wellness & Weight Loss Check out the e-course Get the e-book plus personal coaching from me on-line. $59 What results can you expect? Learn why eating real food transforms health and boosts energy. Discover hidden food sensitivities that may be at the root of your stubborn weight issues and chronic conditions Practical help for ditching processed food and incorporating whole food into your diet. Achieve desired weight goals and keep extra pounds off permanently. Erin Chamerlik, MT(ASCP) Holistic Nutrition & Wellness Coach STAY IN TOUCH Become a Facebook fan Visit my blog Follow me on Twitter Contact me Visit my website Sign up for this newsletter Get Better Wellness Radio Show iTunes Blog Talk Radio One neurosurgeon's quest to figure out why he had an unexplained meniscus tear in his knee led to discoveries resulting in 140 pound weight loss Interview conducted by Jimmy Moore of The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb (LLVLC) Show, Episode 474 Neurosurgeon Dr. Jack Kruse was attending a spine conference, drinking a glass of wine, talking with colleagues. When he stood up he felt intense pain in his right knee. He was scheduled to talk at the spine meeting the next day and he could barely walk. He didn't know what was wrong. After returning home from the meeting he found out that he had a huge "bucket-handle" meniscus tear in the knee. Dr. Kruse described to LLVLC's Jimmy Moore an account of what happened next. How did this happen? "One of the other surgeons said, "I know exactly how this happened." His wife was an Amgen researcher working on a hormone called leptin. His wife contacted me the next week. She said, "I'm going to send you two books and a bunch of papers. I want you to read these books and then read the papers." She was very specific. She told me to read the book in the correct order and then read the papers. A week later I get the FedX from her. The first book was The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma and I couldn't figure out where this was going after getting that. The second book was called Sex, Lies and Menopause by T.S Wiley and Dr. Julie Taguchi. I didn't understand where this was going. The third FedX package was a stack of papers about leptin. As I sat there I came to about the fifth or sixth paper and there was a note. "Right now you need to stop and think about everything." And I did. There was an incredible link between these books and all the papers. One thing led to another and I went on about a six week bender in a medical library starting to pull a variety of different papers on insulin, leptin, inflammation and things like that. I now knew why I tore my meniscus without doing anything." What did Dr. Kruse find out? He summarized the biochemistry by saying: Carbohydrates make you fat. Inflammation makes us obese. At my peak I was 340 pounds. In 11 months I lost 140 pounds putting to action what I learned. It completely transformed my practice. The doctors thought it was crazy but the patients adapted. People lost tremendous amounts of weight and they weren't hungry. Listen to the podcast HERE on Jimmy Moore's Livin' La Vida Low Carb Show. If you are impatient and want answers now, the secret is he stopped eating carbs found in bread, chips, crackers, sweets, soda, cereal, bagels, corn, pasta, candy etc. and focused on eating low-carb whole foods like quality animal/fish protein, vegetables and natural fat (butter, olive oil and coconut oil). What can REAL food do for you? Cut out Pasta??? Yes, you heard me right. You can live without pasta. This is a picture of 3/4 cup of whole grain organic pasta. Not very much is it? This is the standard portion size listed on the nutrition facts label on the package. Next to this smackerel of pasta is 10.5 tsp of sugar. This represents the amount of glucose (blood sugar) that the pasta converts to once it is quickly digested. Let's be realistic, pasta eaters, a typical portion is going to be at least 2 cups of pasta, right? 2 cups pasta = 28 tsp sugar That is the equivalent of eating 4 Twinkies, but with a Twinkie you get a bonus of 36 other ingredients to go with the flour. But, but... This is "healthy whole grain pasta" Add that phrase to the biggest little list of oxymorons online along with "jumbo shrimp" "long shorts" and "numb feeling." Your pancreas just got a wake up call it did not want and starts secreting insulin to get 28 tsp of sugar under control. This pasta-sugar will take one of three routes: Burned for energy Stored as glycogen Stored as fat The storage facility for glycogen isn't very big so most of this pile of sugar goes through door number three - stored as fat. The biochemistry involves the formation of fatty acids and then triglycerides which are then stuffed into your fat cells. Oh, and if you put a tomato pasta sauce over the pasta then you are adding another 2 tsp of sugar per 1/2 cup of sauce. Pasta is fat-making food, not diet food. Furthermore, you'll be ravenously hungry before you have the dishes cleaned up from the pasta meal and you'll be scrounging around the pantry looking for a snack. Here are a few pictures I snapped of better meal choices that will bring balance and satiation: Breakfast: 2 eggs fried in butter, asparagus, sweet potato, strawberries. I usually eat eggs 5 or 6 days a week and my HDL cholesterol (the good guy) is 132 (anything over 50 is desirable). Sometimes I'll have organic sausage or uncured bacon on the side. If I don't feel like eggs, a green smoothie with Garden of Life Raw Protein Powder, berries, dark green leafy veggies and full fat coconut milk is pretty awesome. Lunch: Tuna salad, cucumber, another egg, tomato, cultured veggies, and grain-free coconut-almond-flax bread (see recipe below). Dinner: Any meat, chicken, fish along with a salad, steamed vegetables and occasionally some fruit and/or quinoa or rice. Tonight it is chicken quarters in the crock pot simmering away with onion, bell pepper, garlic, Tamari sauce and ginger. Served with fresh green beans from the garden. Maybe a salad, but I'm still full from my green smoothie lunch and cashews. Looking for a delicious coffee substitute? Try Dandy Blend! Dandelion root tastes amazing and it is good for your liver too! Costs pennies per cup. At first I drank 1/2 coffee with 1/2 Dandy Blend. Now I like just Dandy Blend and full fat coconut milk, yum! Here's a comment I received from a student: "For anyone trying to quit coffee, the Dandyblend that Erin suggests tastes amazingly like coffee and is VERY good with coconut milk (and if you need a tiny bit of Stevia). My husband loves it and he was a HUGE coffee drinker." Eat your way to health and optimal weight with whole food! Grain-Free Coconut-Almond-Flax Bread Revised from http://autoimmunediseasesgfliving.blogspot.com 4 eggs 1/4 cup unrefined coconut oil, melted 1/4 tsp Real Salt 1/3 cup coconut flour 1/4 cup almond flour (buy raw almonds and grind them at home into a flour) 1 1/2 Tbs flax meal (purchase whole flax seeds, grind in coffee grinder and store in freezer to preserve the fats) 1 tsp baking powder 2 T raw honey (optional), or use 1/4 tsp Stevia instead 1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. 2. Lightly oil a small loaf pan (like a 6.5" x 4" glass loaf pan) 3. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, honey/stevia, and coconut oil thoroughly. 4. Combine the salt, coconut and almond flours, flax meal and baking powder in a separate bowl 5. Stir dry ingredients into the egg-oil mixture, blending well. 6. Spoon the batter into the small loaf pan, and smooth the top with the back of the spoon. 7. Bake for approximately 30 - 40 minutes, until a knife inserted into the loaf comes out clean and the top is a dark golden brown. 8. Muffins: Add blueberries, bake in muffin cups, about 18 minutes

What is Leptin?

by Byron Richards, CCN Wellness Resources

I have spent more than twenty years on the front lines of clinical nutrition helping thousands of people solve very difficult health problems – naturally. In all these years I have never encountered more powerful principles of health than those relating to leptin.

Leptin is the king of hormones, the commander and chief of virtually everything that takes place in your body.

Understanding how leptin works and applying that information to your day to day life can totally change your health. This is especially true regarding issues of weight management, thyroid function, stress, mental capability, inflammation, immunity, reproduction, and cardiovascular health.

Leptin is actually a hormone – meaning that once it is released it will travel to another area of your body to make things happen – similar to the idea of placing a phone call to someone you wish to speak with and asking them to do something.

In the case of leptin it is actually made in your white adipose tissue or stored fat. This finding alone has revolutionized the entire field of endocrinology – as previously stored fat was just thought to be a warehouse for extra calories. Our new understanding means that your stored fat is actually a metabolic organ, much like your thyroid gland or adrenal glands.

Once leptin is released from your fat it enters your blood and travels up to your brain, delivering a message as to how much fuel you have on hand. When your brain answers the leptin phone call and listens to the message, it tells you how fast you can run your metabolism based on how much gas is in your gas tank.

In a sense the leptin phone call to your brain is like a gas gauge in your car. You have no way to see how much gas is in your tank – you rely on the gauge, before you pull over and fill ’er up. Likewise, your subconscious brain has no way to see how much stored fat you have on hand, it relies on the leptin gauge to determine your state of overall nutrition and fuel reserves.

If the leptin gauge is reading low it means eat more. When you’ve eaten enough, leptin levels rise, and the leptin gauge in your subconscious brain now says your tank is full – resulting in a full signal. One of the most basic leptin problems encountered by any person who is overweight is that their leptin gauge is sticky, or in more advanced cases broken. This means that you will have a subconscious drive to eat more food than you really need, in order to feel satisfied.

Once you do get a leptin-related full signal then permission is given for your body’s metabolism to get in gear and go. Leptin acts like a traffic cop in your brain – when levels are adequate the speed limit is raised and your metabolism can run faster. When leptin levels are too low your brain thinks there is a famine and your metabolic rate is set to hibernation mode so that you don’t perish from malnutrition. Your subconscious brain has no idea that there is food on every corner.

Since leptin is controlling the rate your body makes energy, and since energy is needed by everything in your body to do anything, leptin issues are core to survival and your health. This is why leptin is so powerful, and why I call it the king of hormones.

Now most people will eat until they get a full signal, and many people who are overweight ignore their internal full signal and eat compulsively until all food in sight is gone. This means they are responding to environmental cues – something I call the SEE FOOD diet, meaning any food that is seen will be eaten. Unfortunately, this type of adverse eating behavior actually causes the leptin gas gauge to become sticky which means you will feel compelled to eat more food than you truly need just to get a full signal. This exact problem is tormenting millions of Americans – there is little wonder why we have an obesity epidemic on our hands.

What I have described to you this far are some of the very basic concepts of how leptin works. As it turns out leptin also plays a major role in regulating the function of your brain, the function of your immune system, and the coordinated efforts of all other hormones in your body – including thyroid function, adrenal function and stress, and reproductive function.

Even though there are now over 15,000 studies relating to leptin in the scientific literature, many of you may have never heard of leptin before. The reason for this is rather simple, most of the research on leptin has been done to make leptin drugs for weight loss and such drugs simply don’t work. And as you can guess from such a large number of studies it is not for a lack of research effort.

The discovery of leptin is an interesting story itself. Back in 1994 scientists at Rockefeller University were able to show that a particular strain of obese mice lacked a gene that prevented them from making an important hormone, which they later named leptin. Lacking this gene the mice had no control over their body weight or feeding behavior. These mice became three times the weight of normal mice, developed type II diabetes, lost reproductive function, and always wanted to eat. The researchers synthesized leptin and when they gave it to these mice they lost all their extra weight, became un-diabetic, went back to normal reproductive function, and developed a normal appetite. The science community thought this would be the greatest weight loss discovery of all time, and in many ways you can say that it is – but not in terms of giving leptin drugs to people.

This is because only a handful of people are like the mice who are unable to make leptin at all. 99.9 % of the overweight population make way too much leptin from their extra pounds of fat. All this extra leptin actually clogs leptin function, sort of like a traffic jam, and induces a problem called leptin resistance – which means that even though there is far too much leptin it isn’t getting into your brain correctly and thus your brain is behaving just like the mice that don’t make any leptin at all. You always know you have a problem with leptin resistance because you will tend to be obsessive about food, thinking about your next meal too often, eating foods you know you shouldn’t, and feeling like it is a constant battle of your will just to do the right things to be healthy – that is if you are even trying. If you live to eat, you have a leptin problem. If you eat to live, you are likely in much better control of leptin.

At any rate, you obviously can’t give a leptin drug to someone who already has too much leptin – a problem that continues to baffle those who are looking for the next pharmaceutical blockbuster weight loss drug. No, I’m sorry to say that the only way to get a handle on this problem is to learn the ins and outs of leptin and how to eat to be in harmony with the hormone. It’s unfortunate, but our bodies came without an owner’s manual – and most of your trial and error regarding dieting is error. Well its time for you to learn how to be in charge, there is a right way to live and eat in harmony with leptin.

Welcome to a new world. May you never again be the same.

To learn more about the power of leptin read either book I have written on the subject:

Mastering Leptin – the original breakthroughs and how leptin relates to all aspects of health, containing extensive scientific documentation (ideal for health professionals and those who want to understand the detailed science).
The Leptin Diet – an easier read that explains the Leptin Diet® as well as how leptin and other hormones actual behave in your body – so that you can understand how and why you crave food and how to be in charge.

How Neurosurgeon Lost 140 lbs by Changing What He Eats

The following is a portion of an interview conducted by Jimmy Moore of The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show, Episode 474

Neurosurgeon Dr. Jack Kruse was attending a spine conference, drinking a glass of wine, talking with colleagues. When he stood up he felt intense pain in his right knee. He was scheduled to talk at the spine meeting the next day and he could barely walk. He didn't know what was wrong. After returning home from the meeting he found out that he had a huge "bucket-handle" meniscus tear in the knee.

How did this happen? One of the other surgeons said, "I know exactly how this happened." His wife was an Amgen researcher working on a hormone called leptin. His wife contact me the next week. She said, "I'm going to send you two books and a bunch of papers. I want you to read these books and then read the papers." She was very specific. She told me to read the book in the correct order and then read the papers.

A week later I get the FedX from her. The first book was The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma and I couldn't figure out where this was going after getting that. The second book was called Sex, Lies and Menopause by T.S Wiley and Dr. Julie Taguchi. I didn't understand where this was going.

The third FedX package was a stack of papers about leptin. As I sat there I came to about the fifth or sixth paper and there was a note. "Right now you need to stop and think about everything." And I did. There was an incredible link between these books and all the papers. One thing led to another and I went on about a six week bender in a medical library starting to pull a variety of different papers on insulin, leptin, inflammation and things like that. I now knew why I tore my meniscus without doing anything. The more I dug, the more common ties I start to find to my own medical practice. Then I started to realize the link to some of the diseases I treat - specifically to osteoporosis.

I found out that the biggest area of growth in my practice was osteoporosis which kind of shock me. The people who had this problem were more obese and out of shape. I started to see this in younger people like a 26 year old man who cuts grass for a living who had evidence of osteopenia.

One thing led to another. I went back for more training in nutrition and hormonal status. I spent about a year doing that.

It became crystal clear to me that the whole issue tied to basically every human disease out there is tied to something called nf kappa beta regulation.

This is controlled by leptin function and leptin sensitivity. All of these things tied back to carbohydrate metabolism.

It is a very, very, long circuitous path that ties back to this one issue.

What we now know is any type of fat in the body, but specifically abdominal fat - the visceral fat - secretes a couple of inflammatory chemicals:

• IL6
• Tumor necrosis factor alpha
• Nuclear Factor-kappa beta (NFkB)

Those three things cause changes in the hormonal pathways not only in the whole body but specifically in the hypothalamus which is the main controller of carbohydrate metabolism in the body. It also dictates changes in every single cell of our body. That's what really underlies most of the diseases out there.

The key is getting doctors to understand that these links are out there.

Carbohydrates make you fat.

Inflammation makes us obese.

• At my peak I was 340 pounds.
• In 11 months I lost 140 pounds putting to action what I learned.

It completely transformed my practice.

The doctors thought it was crazy but the patients adapted.

People lost tremendous amounts of weight and they weren't hungry.

Listen to the podcast HERE on Jimmy Moore's Livin' La Vida Low Carb Show.

Low Salt Diet Increases Death Rate Over 500%

by David Brownstein, MD

Low Salt Diet Increases Death Rate Over 500%

An article in The Journal of The American Medical Association (May 4, 2011. Vol. 305, N. 17) looked at the influence dietary salt had in cardiovascular disease.
The authors studied 3681 subjects for a median of 7.9 years.
What the researchers found made headlines in major newspapers.

The scientists reported that there was a direct, inverse linear correlation between the amount of salt ingested and the rate of cardiovascular deaths.

What that means is that as salt intake went up, cardiovascular deaths went down. They stratified the subjects into three groups; a low, medium and high salt intake group.

The death rates declined as the subjects ate more salt: from 4.1% in the lowest group to 1.9% in the medium group and 0.8% in the highest group.

For those who have read my book, Salt Your Way to Health, there really wasn’t anything new in this study. However, the media (at MSNBC.com) had large headlines proclaiming, “Eating less salt doesn’t cut heart risks.” However, MSNBC missed it here. The headline should have read, “Eating less salt increases your cardiovascular death rate over 5x as compared to those who eat a high salt diet.”

The human body was designed to crave and utilize salt. We have hundreds of grams of salt in our bodies at any one time. As I showed you above, eating a low salt diet does not decrease your risk for heart disease, it actually increases it—this has also been shown in many other studies. Furthermore, restricting salt to very low levels has almost no effect on blood pressure for the vast majority of people.

Finally, it is important to eat the right kind of salt—unrefined salt. Unrefined salt contains over 80 minerals that are essential to the human body. I have successfully used unrefined salt in my medical practice for nearly 20 years. Unrefined salt actually helps to lower blood pressure. More information about salt can be found in my book, Salt Your Way to Health.

What is the take home message?
Use the right salt—unrefined salt.
Examples of inexpensive, well-tested brands of unrefined salt include

• Celtic Brand Sea Salt and
  
• Redmonds Real Salt.
  

I have Celtic Brand Sea Salt available at my office: www.centerforholisticmedicine.com. - Dr. David Brownstein

Article

Don't Wait Until Your Doctor "Gets It"

Paleo Hacks reader comment,

“My parents eat more prescriptions than they do food. They do not think their food choices ultimately affect their health. They bought a Wii for exercise, and only play Jeopardy on it. They BOTH work in the medical field too.”

What you eat matters.
Eat real food.
Organic, free range meat, chicken, eggs.
Wild caught fish.
Vegetables
Fruit (eat it, don't drink it)
Seeds
Nuts
FAT - 1 Tbs per meal is about right of organic butter, extra virgin olive oil, macadamia nut oil, unrefined coconut oil, avocado, coconut milk

Don't eat refined, processed, genetically modified food. Bread, chips, popcorn, soy, crackers, cookies, fast food, fried food, bagels, Starbucks froo-froo coffee, sugar, soda.
Avoid industrially processed oils like soy, corn, safflower, canola, sunflower, and peanut.

Nourish your cells! Rebuild health with every bite instead of destroying your health inch by inch.

Want to know more? Just ask. Read Taubes, Eades, Rubin, Shanahan, Bowden, Schwarzbein.

The information is available, we don't need to wait 10 - 20 years for the standard medical practice to catch up.

The Cancer Fighting Kitchen

I recorded a podcast today with Rebecca Katz, author of The Cancer Fighting Kitchen.

Awesome lady and I recommend her book for everybody - not just those with cancer. Beautiful book, 150 recipes, nice tools and tips for the kitchen novice.

This will change your whole thinking about food and nourishment. If you have a disconnect with food for any reason Rebecca's tips will enable you to navigate picky eater taste buds, too! http://tinyurl.com/Cancer-Figh​ting-Kitchen

Grain-free Coconut Flour Recipes

Coconut Flour recipes from Mark Sisson:

Coconut Bread

Slightly sweet and fairly light (as opposed to the denser breads made with almond meal), this coconut bread should do the trick.

Ingredients:
6 eggs
1/2 cups ghee (or butter)
1-2 tablespoon honey, depending on taste
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup coconut flour

Method:
Preheat your oven to 350. Whisk it all together, or blend in a food processor until all lumps are gone. Grease a bread pan with butter or coconut oil and pour your batter in. Bake for 40 minutes.

If we split it up into six servings each slice will, according to FitDay, have:
30.9 g fat
13.2 g carbs (9 g fiber)
8.35 g protein

Coconut Pancakes

Drizzle these with honey and berries, wrap up some bacon and eggs for a Primal breakfast burrito, or just eat them plain. These things are incredibly easy to make.

Ingredients:
4 eggs
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 pinch nutmeg
1 pinch cinnamon
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 cup coconut milk (full fat)

Method:
Mix these ingredients and let them sit for five minutes. Oil or grease up your pan and heat over medium heat. Pour about a 1/4 cup of batter for each crepe, allowing each side to brown before flipping it.

Without accounting for toppings or cooking fat, FitDay says the whole batch amounts to:

37.2 g fat (20.9 g saturated)
42.2 g carbs (19.4 g fiber)
30.6 g protein

Coconut Crusted Chicken

This doesn’t even require an ingredient list. Simply take your chicken pieces (or shrimp, or fish), season them with salt and pepper, dunk them in an egg bath (just scrambled up raw egg), then dredge them in coconut flour, then back in the egg bath, and then coat with dried coconut flakes. After that, it’s just a matter of frying them in oil (use coconut) or sautéing them in some butter. Crunchy, delicious, and low-carb.

Always getting Muscle Injuries? Possibly Low Vitamin D

Vitamin D discoveries keep growing -- lack of vitamin D linked to muscle injuries and Alzheimer's disease

by S. L. Baker, Natural News

(NaturalNews) Over the past few years, researchers have come up with a mountain of evidence that vitamin D is extremely important to maintaining health and preventing and even treating a host of health problems. For example, studies have shown that too little vitamin D may trigger breast cancer, rheumatoid arthritis (http://www.naturalnews.com/028690_R...)
, brittle bones, heart attacks (http://www.naturalnews.com/025069_V...)
and more.

And now there's breaking news that scientists have discovered two more extraordinary benefits to getting enough vitamin D through sun exposure and supplements. It turns out a lack of the remarkable vitamin could result in sports-related muscle injuries. What's more, vitamin D may, in a sense, help "vacuum" out plaques in the brain associated with the dreaded, mind-robbing dementia known as Alzheimer's disease.

A recent study just presented at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's (AOSSM) Annual Meeting now underway in San Diego has linked too little vitamin D in the body to an increased risk of muscle injuries in athletes. Specifically, the scientists studied National Football League (NFL) football players.

"Eighty percent of the football team we studied had vitamin D insufficiency. African American players and players who suffered muscle injuries had significantly lower levels," said Michael Shindle, MD, lead researcher and member of Summit Medical Group, in a statement to the press.

The researchers worked with 89 football players, average age 25, from a single NFL team, giving them laboratory tests to measure vitamin D levels in the spring 2010 as part of the athletes' routine pre-season evaluations. Over the course of the season, the team provided data to the scientists so they could document how many of players missed games due to muscle injuries. Vitamin D levels were also classified according to a player's race and how much playing time was lost due to muscle injuries.

The results showed that a large number of these super fit, professional athletes were actually seriously deficient in vitamin D. Twenty-seven players were dramatically deficient and 45 more had levels consistent with insufficiency. In fact, only 17 players tested had values in the normal limits. African American players were far more likely to have the lowest levels of vitamin D. And the 16 players who suffered muscle injuries were found to have the lowest vitamin D levels.

"Screening and treatment of vitamin D insufficiency in professional athletes may be a simple way to help prevent injuries," Dr. Scott Rodeo, MD, Co-Chief of the Sports Medicine and Shoulder Service at the Hospital for Special Surgery, noted in the press statement.

While preventing sports injuries with vitamin D is an exciting possibility, consider this other, potentially mind blowing news about the remarkable vitamin -- it may help prevent and even reverse the buildup of amyloid beta plaques in the brain that are associated with Alzheimer's disease.

That's the conclusion of new research just published in BioMed Central's open access journal Fluids and Barriers of the CNS. A lack of vitamin D has been suspected to play a role both Alzheimer's disease and less serious but worrisome age-related memory problems. And now a study conducted by scientists at Tohoku University in Japan has found that removal of amyloid plaques from the brain depend on vitamin D.

The researchers treated mice bred to have amyloid beta plaques in their brains with injections of vitamin D. The result? The vitamin D therapy actually helped remove these plaques, which are the hallmark of Alzheimer's disease, from the rodents' brains.

"Vitamin D appears to increase transport of amyloid beta across the blood brain barrier (BBB) by regulating protein expression, via the vitamin D receptor...These results lead the way towards new therapeutic targets in the search for prevention of Alzheimer's disease," Professor Tetsuya Terasaki said in a media statement.

Editor's note: NaturalNews is opposed to the use of animals in medical experiments that expose them to harm. We present these findings in protest of the way in which they were acquired.

For more information:

http://www.biomedcentral.com/

http://www.sportsmed.org/tabs/Index...

Test your Vitamin D levels with an at home test kit. Supply a simple fingertip blood sample and send to the lab. Results are returned to you via mail.
Order a test kit here.

Detects deficiencies in Vitamin D (independently monitoring both Vitamin D2 and D3 status by LC-MS/MS) as a potential cause of health problems ranging from osteoporosis to cardiovascular disease.

Vitamin D Testing Made Simple

A few drops of blood from a quick and nearly painless nick of the finger are placed on a filter paper to dry. This can be performed easily at home. The dried blood spot sample is then sent to a certified lab for analysis. No more wasted time and resources going to a lab for a painful blood draw.

Once the lab has received your dried blood spot sample, your results will be sent to you via the mail in about a week.