Archived News of the Week

The Paleo Diet, Good News/Bad News/ A Recipe

I have been asked more than once what I think about the Paleo Diet, so I thought I should address it. The good part is that it deemphasizes grains. The bad part is that it seems to emphasize saturated fats i.e. too much meat, like the original Atkins. Years ago when I was experimenting with the Atkins, I guiltily loved the fried bacon/eggs Benedict breakfast and I did lose some weight, but I quickly tired of the monotony of oily, saturated fats, the rank taste in my mouth and the narrow window of allowed foods. Furthermore, I am fairly sure I would be toes up by now had I stayed on it. But forget spending anymore money on any book with the word "diet" in it because my easy solution is this: Make sure that your plate of food is 80% vegetables and fruits. The other 20% could be maybe 3 or 4 ounces of organic meat/fish of some sort or an unrefined grain, or 10% grain and 10% animal product. Eliminating sugar, to me, is perhaps the most important thing to regain/maintain your health.

Bad News: When you choose the aforementioned "grain" for your food plate, keep this in mind, especially important to those of us who are gluten intolerant. Apparently there are five foods - potato, tomato, barley, rye and rice - that have properties similar to wheat, as they contain "chiten binding lectins" which are similar to wheat lectins. So be careful. If you eat corn and don't feel so hot, then you are probably sensitive to the chiten binding lectins in corn. Same goes for eating potatoes and tomatoes. If you are Gluten Free, then you wouldn't be eating rye or barley anyway because they are gluten containing grains. The same article in Mercola.com (7/5/11) mentioned something else which cleared up a head scratcher for me: Can GF people do sprouted grains? Well, maybe, maybe not. Sprouted wheat breads, like Ezekiel, not only have a high amount of wheat lectin, but also contain something called "benzoxazinoids," a highly toxic component. I myself, a GF person, cannot do sprouted grains. I just don't feel well after I eat them.

Good News: I can't open a new jar now to save myself. They are screwing the lids on tighter, aren't they? It would behoove me - and you - to develop strong hands: Listen to these numbers from the latest research in the UK: 53,000 people, 14 separate studies, ranked into four groups based on the strength of their grips. Compared with the groups that had the strongest hands, those with the weakest grips were 67% more likely to die during the study periods (from less than 5 years to more than 20). The link between grip strength and longevity was seen not only among seniors, but also in studies in which the participants were younger than 60. I now keep a rubber ball in my car and on my desk.

Bad News: More bad about biphosphenate osteoporosis drugs, like Fosamax and whatever it is that Sally Fields does so cheerily. Boniva? As if osteonecrosis (crumbling and breaking) of the jaw bone is not horrible enough as a side-effect, here is another one for you: Men and women on long-term biphosphenates (5 years or more) are starting to experience spontaneous fractures of their femur. Out of nowhere, just sitting, just standing, or taking a walk, "the femur just snaps in half." Jane Brody in the N.Y.Times, (3/8/11). "Sometimes the breaks occurred in both thighs and many of the fractures were unusually slow to heal."

Good News: Apparently, there is a newly discovered vitamin in a product I carry, called Fermented Cod Liver Oil. The new vitamin is called pyrroloquinoline quinine, or PQQ. It's an antioxidant, it helps keep your mitochondria healthy and is also neuro-protective. The company, Green Pastures, performed an assay on their latest batch of fermented cod liver oil and found not only PQQ, but remember this? B17 or Laetrile. If you were alive and reading in the 70's you know what a lauded cancer cure laetrile was.

More good news: Telomeres are those bitty things inside our DNA protecting the end of chromosomes from deterioration, much like a plastic tip protects the end of a shoelace. Telomeres shorten with cell division and as we age. When they get really short, we die. Latest news says that telomeres can be preserved by two things: Glutathione and vigorous exercise. What they mean by vigorous exercise is a high O2 max with a heart rate of whatever your age maximum is for 20-30 seconds. Then you recover for 90 seconds. Repeat this cycle for 8 reps.

Bad News/Good News: I'm sure that the Big Pharma execs are collectively tearing their hair out about the latest bad news research article on statin drugs published on page one of the NY Times in March. Their profit making darling statins aren't all that they are cracked up to be. This is good news for you and me. Maybe we won't be hounded anymore by our well-meaning M.D's to accept the statin script. Even though a combination of a statin drugs (Zocor) and Niaspan (Big Pharma's unnecessarily expensive version of the common B vitamin, niacin) appeared to be working in that patients had lower levels of blood fats which (to Big Pharma and most cardiologists) are alleged measures of heart health, people just kept dying. I have said all along that not only are low cholesterol levels dangerous (under 150) but higher levels actually increase life span, especially in older women.

Very Good News: From Raw Foods by Erica Palmcrantz: Broccoli Salad with Raisins

Coat the broccolini with EVOO and salt to soften. Mush around a bit in the bowl. Add all the other stuff (not the seeds) and dress with lemon juice. Toss well. Sprinkle with the roasted sunflower seeds. Yum.

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