Low Carb
Ancestral Nutrition (Esp. Low Carb) in the Crosshairs: Two Fascinating Examples
Like many of you, I find it most interesting when critics sling their arrows at the revolution happening in the human nutrition world these days.
I’m specifically referring to the tidal wave of evidence suggesting that consumption of overly processed, carbohydrate-centric, and fat-phobic diets has led to an unparalleled decline in overall health and disease markers over the last 40 years or so, and the rather stunning results that people from all walks of life have had when reverting back to more “ancestral” eating patterns.
And for the sake of discussion, let’s stipulate that these ancestrally-aligned food plans, when compared to the standard American (or Western) diet, are lower carb, feature moderate protein intake, and high amounts of healthy fats. There are a lot of different ways to skin this dietary cat if you will, but for discussion today we’ll focus on a LCMPHF approach.
Like many of you, I read different versions of what are often very repetitive talking points hammering ancestrally-oriented nutrition plans; many of the criticisms are based upon myths, hearsay, and some even overt misrepresentation.
Here are two that particularly caught my eye of late, in part, due to their sources.
An Interesting Perspective From the Foodie World
Late last month, Bon Appetite’s healthyish published this article – Before You Go Paleo, Keto, or Whole30, Think About These Side Effects. The thrust of the piece was that rigid food rules can have unintended consequences, with the author focusing on food obsession and a sense of loss and deprivation, which led to her personal failure when attempting to use Whole 30 to revamp her nutritional paradigm.
The author shared –
…Through my work as an eating psychology coach, I’ve seen that we can’t undo the cycle of dieting and weight gain until we understand what’s underlying our constant desire to drop pounds. At its core, dieting is a coping mechanism, and not a healthy one. We’re not born wanting to change our bodies, but billions of dollars are spent telling us that we should.
I’ve come to believe that, to end the diet-binge cycle, there has to be an inherent acceptance of the bodies we’re in. We don’t have to love it, but we can start with accepting it…
Bottom line – she missed the entire focus, and point, of eating a more ancestrally-aligned food plan. The game is not about deprivation, and it’s not about weight loss. The game is all about optimizing your health and function.
Is weight loss part of that process? It sure as hell can be (or should be) for some of us (obesity rates remain impressively high, just look around at the grocery store today…). But that’s not in any way, shape, or form the primary objective of eating ancestrally. The goal is optimizing health.
An Angry Perspective from Conventional Medicine
Early last month, MedScape, a physician and health provider news aggregator and CME site, published an interesting online piece titled The Low Carb Community is Its Own Worst Enemy.
You’ll need a free account to read the piece in full, and I heartily recommend that you do so when you have 20 minutes to spare. You’ll need that much time to read through the comment section as well; it’s packed with fascinating perspectives and as much vitriol as I’ve seen in some time directed toward the ancestrally-oriented community.
In part, the author’s premise (of note, he’s a family physician working in a bariatric clinic in Canada) is that physicians and leaders of the “low carb community” manifest all sorts of unprofessional and unbecoming behaviors. To wit, from the article –
Of interest – the author calls out what he classifies as vitriol and misrepresentation with, ironically, vitriol and misrepresentation. The comment section is similarly filled with all sorts of fascinating opinions…
I agree wholeheartedly with those who suggest that the increased attacks flowing toward the ancestral or non-standard American / Western diet folks these days are most likely evidence that we’re honing in on significant issues, issues that have been sadly mismanaged by the bulk of conventional medicine and nutrition gurus for several decades now. Why use the term mismanaged? Simply looking at obesity rates and incidence of T2DM is enough to prove the point.
Two quick additional points. The vital key is using the best food and nutrition plan you can find to best suit your personal physiology today – as your system adapts and changes, your nutrition plan very likely will need to as well. Customize, customize, customize.
Second, not all those good folks practicing conventional medicine are out to persecute you as a Paleo guy or keto gal; modern medicine offers so much in terms of potential contribution to your overall health, it’s frankly insane to throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater here. A thoughtful, skillful, listening primary care doc deserves a seat on your health and wellness team, and they’re out there – you might have to do a bit of prospecting to find one, but they’re out there.
Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Older Bolder Links, Reads, Recipes, and More 7 September 2019
This one’s been making the rounds over the past week – can a pharmacological cocktail reset a human’s biological clock? Read two lay news reports (here and here), and note the formal report of the very small study is not available online at Aging Cell (via Wiley) as of this morning.
A low carb (not very actually) diet trial for firefighters made ‘em healthier.
An argument for early day time restricted feeding.
A fairly stunning statin critique from European Scientist.
And thinking about conventional medicine getting their hackles up, how about this low carb community critique via MedScape (free account required).
Living closer to nature makes you happier, and longer-lived.
Speaking of life span, sleep disordered breathing ages you faster. (Free MedScape account required).
Exercise makes sex better.
A decent review a very common cause (and a poorly understood one at that) of mechanical low back pain.
Thought provoking podcast featuring Dr. William Davis.
Is there a higher hemorrhagic stroke risk for vegans? (The study is here.)
Food, Glorious Food
Does music make cheese age better?
One of the most impressively wrong portrayals of healthy eating you’ll read.
1015 Onion Marinated Skirt Steak
Grill Roasted and Marinated Red Peppers
Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Older Bolder Links, Reads, Recipes, and More 10 August 2019
Fitness At Any Age: Thoughts From the Week
Much has been written of late covering quarterback Tom Brady’s 19th NFL season which officially started last week; while I’m not necessarily a fan of his TB12 methodology and program being a fit for most mere mortals over 40, Men’s Health recently published a nicely done interview piece on his pre-season training program.
4 laws of muscle; great reminder about the importance of protein (and protein signaling).
Nice piece from Sisson on microworkouts.
91-year old woman breaks age world record in 400 meters.
89-year old deadlifts 405 – twice!
An Eclectic Collection of Other Older Bolder Topics of Interest
5 ways to conquer an impossible task.
Elevated fasting glucose levels raise pancreatic cancer risk. (I lost a good friend years ago to pancreatic cancer – improvements in diagnosis and care have transpired since then, but dammit, what a bad actor that disease can be…)
People with T2DM lowered hepatic fat and improved glucose tolerance on a LCHP food plan in only 6 weeks.
Speaking of protein above, higher protein in seniors may help combat osteoporosis too.
Food, Glorious Food
Should you be thinking about sesame seeds as an allergen? The study…
Countries eating more butter are happier? (Beware the correlation v. causation issue)
Scapegoating red meat? (A chef friend who sent this over had some interesting commentary, more to come in a post…)
Our Recipes from the Week
Sweet Potato Hashbrown Cheeseburger Pie
Libby’s Verde Cashew Wonder Sauce
Easy Romesco Sauce
The Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Sweet Potato Hashbrown Cheeseburger Pie
Several weeks ago a friend approached me and asked for help adapting a video recipe she’d seen recently for an upcoming backyard party she was hosting for a group of her daughter’s teen friends.
Apparently they’d discussed doing something “different than the usual burgers and dogs” and wanted a tasty dish that would appeal to teenage palates and yet reasonably accommodate their own recently-adopted paleo/primal food plan.
The video was a fairly uninspired version of this recipe, with store-bought, industrial seed oil-prepared string potato crisps as the bottom layer, devoid of any spice, yet it offered some promise.
We set to experimenting a bit, playing with different versions of sweet potato for the foundation – including crisped up oven fries, sautéed crispy home-style fries (medium dice), though for taste, texture, and interest, finally settling (somewhat to my surprise, I first guessed that homemade oven fries would win out) on this hashbrown version where we essentially made a large sweet potato rosti for the base and then built the cheeseburger “pie” on top of that.
We’ve even served this recently for an informal dinner with friends, where it was a big hit. And as with any burger you can dream up – add whatever tickles your fancy to the stack, like sautéed mushrooms, caramelized onions, your favorite quick guacamole, pickled onions or jalapeños, and so on…
Don’t be intimidated by making a giant rosti, just pat the grated hash browns out into your largest skillet (preheated with a bit of avocado oil) and cook over medium heat until browned and crispy. Slide the rosti out onto a large cutting board or platter, place another cutting board or platter over and invert, then slide the rosti – uncooked side down – back into the pan to finish. My big skillet is large enough that I needed to cut the rosti in half to fit it onto a sheet pan without overlapping the sides. Easy peasy, and well worth the effort.
2 large organic sweet potatoes, trimmed and grated
1 tsp good salt
2-3 tbsp avocado oil
1/3 pound bacon in 1/4-inch dice
1 medium onion, diced
1 pound grass fed ground beef
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp chile powder
1 tsp good salt
1/3 cup avocado oil mayo (homemade is best!)
1/3 cup homemade Primal ketchup
1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup dill pickle chips, finely diced
2-3 tbsp dill pickle brine
1/2 to 1 cup grated cheese of choice
Handful of grape or cherry tomatoes
Small head iceberg lettuce, shredded
Clean and trim the sweet potatoes, then grate. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat, add half the avocado oil, and then spread the grated sweet potatoes in the pan, patting into a firm, even layer. Cook for 5-7 minutes until the bottom begins to brown; lift an edge to peek. You may need to turn the heat down if getting too crispy. When browned, turn the rosti as per the last paragraph above. Cook for another 6-8 minutes until browned, then slide onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet (you may need to cut it in half if you have a big skillet as we do).
Now sauté the diced bacon until crispy, remove to drain, leaving the drippings in the pan. Sauté the onions until softened (6-7 minutes over medium heat), then add the ground beef, cumin, chile powder, and salt. Cook until the meat is browned and crisp, breaking it up as you go; set aside when done.
While the meat is browning, to make the sauce combine the mayo, ketchup, sour cream, pickle chips, and brine; set aside when well mixed. Grate the cheese, rinse and halve the tomatoes, and shred the lettuce.
When ready to assemble, fire the oven broiler, then spread the hamburger mixture over the potato cake, top with the grated cheese, and then the bacon. Slide under the broiler until the cheese has melted. Drizzle with the sauce, top with the shredded lettuce and tomatoes, and go to it.
Enjoy.
Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Older Bolder Links, Reads, and More 23 March 2019
Top of the Fold This Week: An Eclectic Collection
Statins and T2DM: The Link Tightens
The toxic truth about modern food (UK Guardian).
A third of American kids have had reportable back pain in the past year?
Abdominal fat in overweight kids linked to lower bone density.
Another fascinating conventional medicine debate re: low carb diets. (Free Medscape account needed to read, be sure and scan the comments…).
Keto in the News
Sisson takes on Keto Crotch, Keto Body Stink, and Keto Bloat.
Case Study: Ketogenic diet rescues cognition in mild Alzheimer’s.
Case Study: Ketogenic diets as cancer therapy.
Two More Dementia Links
Does the Herpes Simplex Virus play a role in Alzheimer’s?
Gum Disease and Alzheimer’s.
A Few More Odds and Ends
Weight loss before TKA (total knee arthroplasty) improves outcomes.
Predictors of exercise trial dropout in older adults.
Food, Glorious Food
Spicy Cilantro pesto (try this one with pepitas).
Spicy Southern Sausage and Cheese Balls (gluten free and a perfect keto snack/meal on the go).
Michelle Tam scores big with this Moo Shoo Pork.
Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Older Bolder Links, Reads, and More 16 March 2019
Nutrition-Focused Round Up for the Week
Does “Write It When You Bite It” work?
Is your leptin gene making you fat?
Low carb diets and atrial fib? Association, coincidence, or more?
Searching for a diet that balances the many kinds of fats.
Fat cells work different “shifts” throughout the day.
Is there, or should there be, a fertility diet? CNN apparently thinks so…
A Few Other Interesting Odds and Ends
Genetics may contribute to a happy marriage.
If you’re stronger, do your chances of developing T2DM go down? Appears so…
Dementia looks different in the brains of hispanics.
The ups and downs of sit-stand desks.
What I’m Reading This Week
Deep Nutrition by Catherine Shanahan, MD. Picked it up to research a point regarding noxious seed oils, and have ended up plowing through most of the book again. A worthy addition to the library of anyone serious about optimizing their nutrition.
Food, Glorious Food
How nice to bring Hoisin Sauce back into the kitchen again via Michele Tam’s paleo version.
Dig a Little Deeper: The Carbohydrate Insulin Model of Obesity
Dr. David Ludwig recently published a nifty article over on Medium – The Case for a Low-Carb Diet is Stronger Than Ever – in which he discussed a recent study his team conducted looking at the Carbohydrate Insulin Model of obesity.
From the article, in way of introduction –
…The conventional approach to obesity considers weight control as a matter of accounting — too many calories into the body, not enough calories out. The solution: count calories, eat less and move more. As long as you have a negative “energy balance,” you’ll eventually solve the problem.
Sounds simple. The problem is, calorie restriction is devilishly difficult for most people to sustain over the long term, because the body fights back when it’s deprived of calories. Decades of research shows that, as people lose weight, their hunger inevitably increases and their metabolism slows down.
The more weight you lose, the harder it is to burn off those extra calories, even as hunger and cravings for extra calories keep rising. This isn’t a matter of will power. In the battle between mind and metabolism, metabolism wins. According to nationally-representative data, fewer than 1 in 5 people with overweight or obesity have ever lost just 10% of their weight, for just 1 year.
We each have a sort of set-point, a weight that our body seems to want to remain — it’s lighter for some people, heavier for others, and determined in part by our genes. Some people can eat whatever they want and stay thin. Others seem to gain a few pounds by simply walking past a bakery. For both groups, attempts to either lose or gain significant amounts of weight run into biological resistance…
And the alternative, the Carbohydrate Insulin Model (again, from the article, and there’s a great image summarizing the following at the link)-
…There’s another theory of obesity called the Carbohydrate-Insulin Model (CIM), which argues that we’ve had it backwards all along: Overeating doesn’t cause weight gain, at least not over the long term; the process of gaining weight is what causes us to overeat.
Think of a teenage boy. Eating a lot doesn’t make him grow; his rapid growth makes him hungry and and so he eats a lot. (Of course, adults won’t grow taller no matter how much they eat.)
According to the CIM (see Figure 1), processed, high-“glycemic load”carbohydrates — mainly refined grains, potato products and added sugar — that flooded the food supply during the low-fat diet craze of the last 40 years have raised insulin levels, forcing people’s fat cells into calorie storage overdrive. Our rapidly growing fat cells take up too many calories, leaving too few for the rest of the body. That’s why we get hungry. And that’s why our metabolism slows down if we force ourselves to eat less…
Well worth a read; it’s written as a laymen’s-oriented overview of his study, and the diagrams included are quite illustrative. Despite conventional wisdom’s collective panning of the CIM theory, there’s more research coming down the pike about thoughtful and intentional carbohydrate consumption that’s NOT typical of the standard American diet.
