Quick Survey -- For the UK folks, and others

Hi!

Quick survey ... mostly for the UK folks but if you live in the US, Australia, Canada, etc. where some version of our American My Plate/Food Pyramid is recommended you can participate too (just identify please ;-) )

Your government counsels limiting fats in general and saturated fats in particular.  Can you list 3-5 foods that you would limit in order to limit sat fats?  In other words, what foods does your government suggest be limited in order to lower sat fat consumption.

Thanks!

A hypothetical.

I don't often appeal to emotion here.  I'm not sure this hypothetical technically qualifies as such but here goes anyway.

The Hypothetical:

Imagine if you will your daughter or sister ... feel free to substitute any young woman ever, that you have been close to and cared for in what one might describe as a protective way.   She's off to college soon.  You worry that if she gets in trouble, and struggles a bit, that she'll have a good support system so far away from home, friends and family.  No matter how strong those bonds, you recognize that at that age, some may even disregard those closest to them from "their past".  Also, you recognize that at that age, being out from under a parent's ever watchful eye, they may act out of a little rebellion.

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Just a quick post ...

I don't usually fall off the blogging planet with no new real content here for two weeks without some sort of notice.  Sorry about that!  I've been about social media somewhat, but far less of that too.  Here's why:

1.  I have a project in the works that requires my dedication and is actually working off of recent discussions here on sugar/food addiction.  So ... sorry ... but that is going to get dropped like a hot potato, which was not my intent at all, it's just how this unfolded.  It will be a while before anything on that becomes public I presume.

2.  I went away for a short getaway.

3.  I have been sick this past week like I don't remember ever being ... or it's just been that long!  On my way home from work on Wednesday, after maxing my limit on hot tea therapy for a nagging cough and having chills, I actually had to stop to get soup at a pizza place and stop twice on the rest of the ride home to have some more!  I have been in bed/on couch most of the past 2+ days ... sleeping most of the time.  

4.  Feeling a bit better yesterday I did try to finish up the blog post I started earlier in the week ... it's a mess b/c I should have finished off the old one I never published and written on the related topic in a new post.  Too late now.  Maybe that gets finished today, maybe next week.  Who knows.  Maybe I turn it back into two posts after all ;-)

So ...

Yes, I will be blogging.  Just less frequently, I presume, for the near future.   In the meantime, if you've stumbled on this blog or even if you've been around a while, if there's a topic you are interested in but can't seem to find if I've written on it, please do ask in the comments here and I'll do my best to direct you to content.  

Thanks for your patience!

Agents of Health & Death

Now that I've got your attention ...

Another day, I'll have a few more words to say about the recent editorial in the British Medical Journal "exonerating" saturated fat, but for now, one of the things that stuck out at me was the following (I broke the paragraph up a bit):

Indeed, recent prospective cohort studies have not supported any significant association between saturated fat intake and cardiovascular risk. Instead, saturated fat has been found to be protective.

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Paleo Water III (and final)

I want to begin this post by apologizing to Tyler LeBaron for dragging him inadvertently into this "controversy" of sorts.  As I understand it, Tyler has done the chemical analyses on the water produced by the Alkaway filter, and can attest to its chemical properties, but has no other connection to this company.  After trading comments in my last post, we decided that speaking on the phone might be a more efficient way to discuss the science and misunderstandings.  From his point of view it seemed like I was dissing hydrogen water and the science there.  From mine, largely based on the electrolysis video, I thought he was misrepresenting the science.  As it turns out, neither of those impressions are true.  I also admit to baiting Ian in the comments about ORP and such, and this unfortunately snared Tyler.  As always, my comments are open to Tyler to expand/clarify/etc. whatever I've written here.   I hope this clears things up a bit anyway.  I had considered editing an update into the last post, but then deleting/editing/etc. would leave the discussion disjointed, thus I think this is the best option.

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Low Carb Circus Acts ...

In the Center Ring:

Jimmy Moore was on the Christian Broadcast Network's 700 Club yesterday.  I was going to leave this just for the social media stuff, but the appearance was quite disturbing in a few ways so I thought I'd share a few thoughts on that.  

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Ketogenic Triathlete?

I noticed a little traffic blip to my posts here on SuperStarch scamming which reminded me that AHS13 panel member on keto diets for athletes, and woo woo peddler, Ben Greenfield, would have completed his ketogenic diet fueled triathlon by now.   He has.  And for $9.99 you can get the full scoop on how it went.  No thanks.  Still, from reading the comments, one can surmise how he fared.

First, let me say this.  My hat goes off to anyone that can complete one of these races in any amount of time, etc. and all that jazz.  But at Ben's level, people don't generally compete in these things for recreation, there's money at stake -- whether it be endorsements/sponsorships or less directly involved in promoting his business.   So this was yet another publicity stunt, which is fine, but it doesn't seem to have been a success from any other viewpoint.  

I'm not a fan of his delivery, but Durian Rider is in fine form there in comments laughing at Ben.  

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Today is a very special day ...

... no longer does the name Gary Taubes hold a position in the five most popular posts of all time here.  

I think that's a good thing.  His ill-conceived hypothesis that is unsupported by a plethora of solid scientific evidence is no longer a hot topic in the carb-wars on the internet.  I see that as a good thing, because despite convincing some hedge fund guys to fund NuSI, it never was much of a hot topic in the real world.  

My work here is done.

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Aug. 22 Over the Hump Bump: Paleo Summit Flashback

I changed the title of this post entirely for obvious reasons.  

So, in T-minus 4 days the world will finally achieve Cholesterol Clarity!  Thanks to NYT Bestselling (hopeful is he) author Jimmy Moore.   The banner states that:

So I looked at the list of experts and recalled this post highlighting how one of them, Dr. Cate Shanahan, blamed carbs for being turned into LDL and then make us fat.  You can browser search to "Skip to here!" and skip the intro stuff.   You might also be interested in my notes from the full presentation, HERE.  I've also had a chance to see what she says about LDL in her book Deep Nutrition, a whole 'nother theory there, and her interview with Jimmy for the book was quite enlightening.  Beware the shaman lab tech and doctor trying to read your bloodwork tea leaves!  If you don't get hungry between meals you are a healthy fat burner ... don't worry, be happy.  

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The Grand Carbohydrate-Cholesterol Switcheroo ~ Are We Repeating History?

In Deep Nutrition, one of the World's best health experts* Dr. Cate Shanahan writes this of cholesterol:

Genetic Experimentation—On You

You may have noticed the various cut-off levels over the years to identify people at “high risk” of a heart attack.  Years ago, if your total cholesterol was 300 or less, your doctor would have said you were fine. Soon, that number was lowered to 200.  Now people also watch their LDL, “safe” levels of which have been lowered from 200 to 160, to 130, to 100, and now 80.  Currently, the average person’s LDL level is still about what it’s always been, around 120–130. The controversial 2001 revision of the cholesterol guidelines means nearly half of the US population can now be labeled “high risk.”  And drug companies are raking it in.

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A note about comments ...

Last week, or so, there was an issue with a comment that had never shown in my moderation queue jumping back and forth.  It said awaiting moderation when I viewed the post here, then I saw it in Pending, then I'd approve it.  All was well then it jumped back.  Then I whitelisted the ID ... In the end I think it eventually "stuck" ... I think.

For most of the time I've been using Disqus, using the Disqus dashboard has been a mixed blessing.  While new comment notifications appear (sweet!) when I am reading comments on the blog, they do not appear "real time" on the dashboard (not so sweet!)    Therefore I'm left to have to refresh the dashboard from time to time.  Which is OK, but it does not alway refresh properly.

And then there's Feedly which I am using to replace my sorely missed Google Reader.  Perhaps it's time to look for other options there.  I don't like it all that much on its own, but its interaction with Disqus is rather spotty.  I won't see comments sometimes for like 12 hours!  Not good.

Which leaves me with email notifications or Blogger's dashboard.  I do try to check the email and I have notices pop-up, but I have enough clutter in the email as it is so I'd prefer not to go that route.  I used it for a while where you could moderate by email by replying "Approve" and all that.  Eh ... it's glitchy as well.

So I guess this is a long winded way of letting you know that managing Disqus comments has been frustrating to say the least of late and I've probably missed out on replying to more than a few.  Maybe Disqus expanded too quickly.  Maybe they'll work out the bugs.  I hope so, but Disqus has rendered the Blogger feed (preferable for the "latest comments" widget) useless from Anonymous spam.  I think I'll stick with Disqus as on the balance it is preferable to shutting down the doors when a bout of Razwell virus hits, and other plusses.  But it would be nice if it weren't so glitchy ...

How to live to 100

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The poor, misunderstood kilowatt•hour

I probably won't be around much longer.

You see Con Ed (my electricity provider) contacted me and said that because my usage this past year exceeded what my level payments cover, they will need to recalculate that payment.   Which got me thinking CON Edison.  Hmmmmm sounds conspiratorial.  So I investigated.

Well, they are pushing all manner of energy saving schemes!  How can I cut my bill?  And then I look at my bill.  My home intakes kilowatt•hours (kwh) ... but how can I know what to do to reduce that intake when I use:

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Crying Wolf II

Crying Wolf

In a 12 point email* to Charles Grashow, dated April 1, 2013, Mark Sisson wrote:

Why discuss this now? Oh ... it probably should have been dealt with months ago, but somehow I expected this would have settled down by now and this wouldn't need to be aired. 

You see, Robb Wolf got mad at me for asking what the paleo diet that the Reno First Responders were counseled to consume actually entails. Or near as I can figure that's what first got under his skin. Either that or the fact that he couldn't then, and still can't now, take a solid position on carbohydrates in the paleo diet. Either way, he felt the need to lie on his website, in this comment:

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Crying Wolf?

NewsChannel5.com | Nashville News, Weather
news story link

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Medical Ethics

image link

It has recently been discovered that antibodies to Substance X are associated with neXt Syndrome and over the past 6 months you have discovered that you have been exhibiting 8 of the 10 symptoms of XS as described in some online medical article you read.   So you go to the doctor and describe your symptoms. 

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What Paleo™ can learn from Paula Deen. If it's not too late already.

In case you haven't heard, Paula Deen's career has imploded, exploded and all but vaporized in the past few weeks.  Gone from Food Network.  No more Smithfields or diabetes drug endorsements.  Gone are the product lines and Ceasar's Deen themed restaurants.  All for why?  Well, it turns out that Deen and her brother were being sued for sexual harassment and a racially charged atmosphere in the restaurant they co-own.  Deen was deposed and asked a simple question:  Have you ever used the N-word. 

"Yes, of course," Deen replied, though she added: "It's been a very long time."

Asked to give an example, Deen recalled the time she worked as a bank teller in southwest Georgia in the 1980s and was held at gunpoint by a robber. The gunman was a black man, Deen told the attorney, and she thought she used the slur when talking about him after the holdup. "Probably in telling my husband," she said.

Deen said she may have also used the slur when recalling conversations between black employees at her restaurants, but she couldn't recall specifics.

"But that's just not a word that we use as time has gone on," Deen said. "Things have changed since the '60s in the South. And my children and my brother object to that word being used in any cruel or mean behavior. As well as I do."

Now, I'm not about to carry water for Paula Deen here, but the 1980's?  The lawsuit also mentions sexual harassment. The 1980's would be before all the sexual harassment laws that have been put into place since high profile cases like Anita Hill, Jessica Hahn and Tailhook. I imagine that many a man in Deen's place, who might own a business and find themselves sued in today's world might be in a pickle if asked something like: Have you ever told sexist jokes? In 2010, transgressions from the 1980's might be forgiven (you'll have to get with Deen on that, I'm sure she never foresaw what is happening to her!). In 2020, will transgressions from 2010 be? Less likely.

I suspect the internet will have a much longer memory should this paleo thing ever really make it mainstream. That is the goal still, right? There probably wouldn't have been anyone to counter Paula Deen had she lied ...

Food for thought. Grain, dairy and legume free of course.

Eating less .....

Japanese style.  I just had two quotes/sayings to share today.  The first is one you may be familiar with:

Hara hachi bu:  (腹八分), or hara hachi bunme (and sometimes misspelled hari hachi bu), is a Confucian teaching that instructs people to eat until they are 80 percent full.  Roughly, in English the Japanese phrase translates to, "Eat until you are eight parts (out of ten) full", or "belly 80 percent full".

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A Quote for Thought

... After shedding pounds of cognitive dissonance, I adopted the idea that health problems were likely the result defective energy metabolism.

While this may sound abstract, the idea shifts the conversation to the health of the living cell, rather than speculative theories about evolution or reductionist physiology obsessed with blood sugar, cholesterol and insulin.

Danny Roddy

Toxic!

There hasn't been much buzz about this year's LC Cruise, but a couple of days ago, a tweet from the presentation of one Dr. Dwight Lundell made a little splash on Twitter and FB.  

The most toxic chemical in the human diet is GLUCOSE. -Dr. @dwightlundell #sugarkills #LCCruise13
— Dietitian Cassie, RD (@dietitiancassie) May 7, 2013

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