Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine just published results from a 12-month study which aimed to identify which diet was the best – Low-carb or Low-fat. And the winner is…
Well, first, let’s see what were the basic questions (hypotheses) that the leader researcher, Professor Christopher Gardner and his team were aiming to answer whether either of the following factors would dictate your success at losing weight:
Genotype (that which predicts other factors such as your eye colour), or
Baseline insulin secretion level (how much insulin your body produces to process glucose).
And the winner was?
Neither.
No evidence was found for the existence of a genotype or a baseline insulin level that would clearly favour your chances of losing weight.
Both diets resulted in an overall weight loss:
An average 13 pounds / 5.8 kg weight loss within the 609 study subjects
Wide variability – some gained as much as 20 pounds/9 kg while others lost as much as 60 pounds / 27 kg.
More detail about the methodology used can be found here.
Conclusions from the Research
Professor Gardner says “We have all heard stories of a friend who went on one diet – it worked great – and then another friend tried the same diet, and it didn’t work at all. It is because we are all very different, and we are just starting to understand the reasons for this diversity. Maybe we should not be asking what is the best diet, but what is the best diet for whom?”
His takeaway lesson from this study was that we should eat:
less sugar,
less refined flour,
more wholefoods (e.g. “wheatberry salad or grass-fed beef “), and
as many vegetables as possible.
Future projects are likely to focus on questions related to:
the microbiome (the billions of bacteria in our guts),
epigenetics (looking at gene expression rather than potential changes to the genetic code itself)
He goes on to say “I’m hoping that we can come up with signatures of sorts…I feel like we owe it to Americans to be smarter than to just say ‘eat less.’ I still think there is an opportunity to discover some personalisation to it.”
In his own words:
What Others Say
In the Telegraph article that discussed this research, they drew the conclusion that “the research showed the key to losing weight was simply eating less.”
Tam Fry, from the National Obesity Forum, a UK campaign group, said: “The best diet in town is not a fad but much less of what you actually fancy – and stick to it.”
Some Thoughts
The findings of the research do not surprise me at all. And I applaud some of the conclusions that Professor Gardner draws – cutting down on (refined) sugars/flours, eating more (plant) wholefoods and vegetables – but there are some issues that require clarification.
When weight loss is the only factor considered, other issues related to the overall health-promoting aspects of nutrition are marginalised. There appears to be no stated justification for Professor Gardner’s jump from talking about the results of the research (genotype and insulin secretion levels) to then recommending specific nutritional elements (less sugar, more wholefoods etc). If he is going to make these statements (especially if he includes “grass-fed beef” in the list of healthy wholefoods), then it would be useful to see some justification for such statements – and, as we would suspect, any justification would not come from a study that simply focuses on weight-loss without also measuring other health factors (cholesterol, triglycerides, mineral/vitamin balance, etc).
Professor Gardner’s statement “It is because we are all very different, and we are just starting to understand the reasons for this diversity. Maybe we should not be asking what is the best diet, but what is the best diet for whom?” is somewhat misleading. It suggests that there is no evidence from large population studies (such as the largest of them all, The China Study) that optimal health appears to depend on diet, to a large extent, irrespective of the individual genetic variations within the members of that population. Indeed, the Stanford University research itself dismisses the primacy of genetics or “insulin secretion levels” as markers for future weight gain, let alone the uncharted, and more vital area, of overall health gain.
There appears to be a misunderstanding in the media about what conclusions can be drawn from the study. Professor Gardner says “I feel like we owe it to Americans to be smarter than to just say ‘eat less.’ The Telegraph, on the other hand, states that “the research showed the key to losing weight was simply eating less.” No wonder the public get confused. And to add more confusion, Tam Fry (National Obesity Forum) states “The best diet in town is not a fad but much less of what you actually fancy – and stick to it.” Again, the implicit assumption here is that all foods are equal, all diets that do not include “moderation in all things” are fad diets, and, again, the mistaken implication that the research is suggesting we should simply eat less calories.
Professor Gardner’s comment “Maybe we should not be asking what is the best diet, but what is the best diet for whom?” is, for me, a frankly shocking indication that he may not have looked at the wealth of research demonstrating that there is one diet that has been proven to be optimal for human health – a whole food plant-based diet, with minimal or no animal protein. I suspect that if his research subjects had been rural Chinese, Papua Highlanders, Central Africans or Tarahumara Indians from northern Mexico, then he would not have even bothered to do this research study since more or less everyone within those communities would already have been at their optimal body weight, largely regardless of genome or insulin secretion level.
When such research projects are taken up by the media and then the public, they are thrown back, once again, on the mistaken belief that nutrition is simply a matter of the quantity and not quality of the calories being “eaten”. People do not eat calories. They eat food. And our bodies are made out of the food we eat.
Yet again, this research focuses in a reductionist manner on genetic and individual biochemical responses in order to establish something so vitally important to our populations’ health and well-being. It still makes me recall Nero fiddling while Rome burned…
In my experience and that of my clients, even increasing the amount of calories consumed after making the transition to a WFPBD (whole food plant-based diet) from a standard diet (whether it be a meat-based, vegetarian or vegan diet), can cause excess fat to drop off the body. Just as a vitamin C supplement does not cause the same bodily responses as compared to the vitamin C derived from eating an apple, the calories “consumed” from eating animal foods (whether processed or unprocessed) have a very different effect on the body than those derived from eating plant foods (whether organic whole plants or even less-healthy processed plant-foods). And the added bonus from eating a wide variety of organic whole plants represents yet another step in the direction of optimal health from eating those less-healthy processed plant foods.
Gardner CD, Trepanowski JF, Del Gobbo LC, Hauser ME, Rigdon J, Ioannidis JPA, Desai M, King AC. AMA. 2018 Feb 20;319(7):667-679. doi: 10.1001/jama.2018.0245. Effect of Low-Fat vs Low-Carbohydrate Diet on 12-Month Weight Loss in Overweight Adults and the Association With Genotype Pattern or Insulin Secretion: The DIETFITS Randomized Clinical Trial.
There are so many diets out there – drinking dirty bathwater, swallowing tapeworms and inserting yogurt enemas – each claiming its own miracle cure for weight worries and disease distress. But does this display a genuine concern for one’s health?
Most people try and fail at some kind of New Year’s resolution, and most of these are connected to ways in which we want to improve our health – generally diet or exercise. Wreckage of our best intentions are visible in a garage or spare bedroom full of dumbbells, overpriced running trainers, and cross-training machines.
This concern about weight and diet is nothing new:
In 1087, William the Conqueror was already morbidly obese and decided to fight his own battle of the bulge with an alcohol-only diet. Big Bill took to his bed and refused everything but liquids until he had shed the pounds. Ironically, this didn’t really do him any health favours as later that year, when he’d lost enough weight to get back on his horse, he was thrown from his trusty steed, ruptured his gut, and died in agony. He was still so large, his body had to be wedged into the stone coffin.
In 1760, Dr Flemyng’s soap diet recommended eating soap to shed the pounds. Flemyng reasoned that as soap removed fats and oils from clothes it could also wash away excess fat from inside the body. His patients were told to eat soap made from alkaline salt, oil and fat dissolved in quicklime and water. When soap diet devotees complained that they were just as fat as they were when they started the diet (though hopefully somewhat cleaner), he insisted they must be eating the wrong soap or in the wrong amount.
In the 18th century, the Bath water diet attracted thousands to spa towns in order to ‘take the waters’. And this was not just bathing in the mineral-rich baths, it also involved quaffing back gallons of unfiltered water that hundreds of other people have sweated and stewed themselves in each day.
In 1810, the Vinegar Diet of British surgeon William Wadd (1776-1829) was published in his ‘Cursory Remarks on Corpulence’. Drinking large quantities of vinegar would supposedly dissolve fat. The poet Lord Byron (1788-1824) was an advocate of this particular diet plan as he was morbidly fixated with his weight and had yoyo dieted all his life. Records show in 1806 he weighed 13st 12lb (88kg), but by 1811 Byron weighed under 9st (57kg). In order to purge his body and melt away fat, not only would Byron drink vinegar each day, but he restricted solid foods to potatoes – soaked in vinegar. And the vinegar diet still does the rounds of the “out there” diets to this day.
In 1863, the first low-carbohydrate diet book ‘Letter on Corpulence, Addressed to the Public’ was written by William Banting. Meat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The original Banting diet forbade complex carbohydrates, beer, starchy fruit and veg and dairy, but lean protein, eggs, and the odd sherry with a claret chaser were fine.
At the start of the the 20th century, John Harvey Kellogg (1852-1943), of cornflake fame, manufactured plain cereals to suppress sexual urges. The so-called “masturbation diet” not only promised to improve health, aid digestion and regulate weight, but it would also stop you masturbating. Kellogg (and many other doctors) argued that masturbation caused ‘cancer of the womb, urinary diseases, nocturnal emissions, impotence, epilepsy, insanity, and mental and physical debility’. He reasoned that spicy, ‘exciting’ food, overly stimulated the senses, therefore the plainer your diet the less inclined you would be to give yourself a treat. Yoghurt enemas were also encouraged by Kellogg, who actually invented a machine to administer such enemas to his patients. The latter dietary innovation never really caught on the way cornflakes did.
In the late 19th century, Horace Fletcher was a great proponent of the mastication diet where you were required to chew each mouthful of food 100 times. The theory was that the food would become liquefied, which meant the chewer wouldn’t overeat and the mush would be easier to digest. Fletcher claimed his method of eating produced stools “with no stench, no evidence of putrid bacterial decomposition, only with the odour of warm earth or a hot biscuit”. Apparently, Fletcher carried around a sample of his own faeces to back up this claim should anyone challenge him on this point. He became known as ‘the Great Masticator’, although I imagine there were variations of this nickname.
In the 1920’s, ‘obesity soaps’ were produced by companies in London. This more recent version of s soap diet ony promised that internal fat would dissolve if people washed with i. Luckily, eating it was not necessary this time round.
And there are many, many more diets throughout history which have tried to help with a seemingly insatiable public appetite for weight-reduction and improved health through dietary interventions – smoking yourself to thinness, taking vast quantities of speed, dosing up on sugar, using radium, eating nothing but cabbage, fish, milk or eggs – even taking arsenic to shed those extra pounds.
We can all laugh at historical diets, but there are few signs in the 21st century of a slowing-down in similar attempts to achieve optimal weight and health (with minimal effort). The internet is awash with dodgy diet pills and pseudo-scientific weight loss advice (tried the zodiac diet lately?).
It appears that if a media-reported “scientific study” told us that by drinking a bottle of grimy, slightly hairy bathwater we would definitely lose weight, some people would actually try it – you know they would! I mean, Beyoncé once advised us to eat nothing other than maple syrup and Reese Witherspoon advocated eating a diet consisting solely of baby food.
This obsession with diet can be viewed as an indication of a fundamental human desire to be healthy.
I can get annoyed at how so many companies and individuals make profits out of peddling diets that will eventually fail; but it makes me sad that the only thing people need to do in order to achieve optimal health and ideal body weight is to eat what all the healthiest human populations have always eaten – a diet largely or completely consisting of whole plant foods.
Sometimes the most obvious solution can be the most difficult to swallow…
One of my clients emailed me to say that he was concerned about his blood pressure. On the WFPB programme for nearly four weeks, his blood pressure has been dropping consistently from around 160/100 when he started, to 113/78 two days ago. Then it looked like it was starting to rise again. I sensed some panic in his tone…
When I looked at his nutritional/lifestyle diary for the past days I could see the problem – sleep or rather the lack of it.
A recent study of US citizens found that 1 in 3 were chronically sleep deprived. It is likely figures for other Western countries are similar. Sleep – or, rather, the lack of it – is a BIG problem for many people.
Health conditions associated with lack of sleep
And what few fully appreciate is that blood pressure (BP) rises if you have insufficient sleep. And raised BP is not all. The following are also associated with sleep deficiency:
So, how do we ensure that we stand the best chance of getting enough good quality sleep? The following are associated with improved sleep patterns according to both third-party studies and my own professional/personal experience:
Melatonin is a hormone secreted at night by the pineal gland in the center of our brain to help regulate our circadian rhythm. Supplements are used to prevent and reduce jet lag. MIT got the patent to use melatonin to help people sleep. But melatonin “is not only produced in the pineal gland—it is also naturally present in edible plants.
The above is by no means meant to be a comprehensive list of the chronic health conditions associated with sleep deficiency; nor have I provided a definitive list of suggestions for improving sleep quality. If it forms a basis for discussion or for you to undertake your own research (and send me the findings, please!) then that is a sufficient achievement.
What I will add is that the four cornerstones of health that I continue to mention (diet, sleep, exercise and stress-avoidance) are all a part of the wholistic approach that I consider optimal for human health and well-being.
Diet is perhaps the most important element in all of this, since it forms the basis for being able to sleep well, recover from and endure exercise, and enjoy a positive, stress-reduced mental attitude. Part of the reason why it is able to do this is because it is fundamental to maintaining the body in a state of homeostasis (balance), rather than having to constantly detoxify, protect and repair itself from the inferior “foods” we have so often forced our poor bodies to eat.
Wholistic = Diet+Exercise+Sleep+Stress Reduction…They work together. They compliment one another.
A few final words from Dr Neal Barnard about high-protein foods and sleep
“While many people believe that high-protein meals are key to getting a good night’s rest, the opposite is true. High-protein foods block the brain’s ability to produce serotonin. Because high-protein foods contain more amino acids, tryptophan—the amino acid that eventually turns into serotonin—is crowded out of the brain. As a result, high-protein foods will leave you feeling alert.
High-protein plant-based foods, like tofu, beans, and lentils, are very nutritious. But if you’re having trouble sleeping, try eating these foods earlier in the day. You’ll feel more alert during the day, while favoring carbohydrates later on can help you rest at night.”
Dr Neal Barnard in his own words:
References
Health conditions associated with lack of sleep (in addition to the above links)
Osamu Tochikubo, Akihiko Ikeda, Eiji Miyajima, Masao Ishii. https://doi.org/10.1161/01.HYP.27.6.1318. Hypertension. 1996;27:1318-1324. Originally published June 1, 1996. Effects of Insufficient Sleep on Blood Pressure Monitored by a New Multibiomedical Recorder.
Noguti J, Andersen ML, Cirelli C, Ribeiro DA. Sleep Breath. 2013 Sep;17(3):905-10. doi: 10.1007/s11325-012-0797-9. Epub 2013 Feb 1. Oxidative stress, cancer, and sleep deprivation: is there a logical link in this association?
Redeker NS, Pigeon WR, Boudreau EA. Support Care Cancer. 2015 Apr;23(4):1145-55. doi: 10.1007/s00520-014-2537-0. Epub 2014 Dec 16. Incorporating measures of sleep quality into cancer studies.
Wang P, Ren FM, Lin Y, Su FX, Jia WH, Su XF, Tang LY, Ren ZF. Sleep Med. 2015 Apr;16(4):462-8. doi: 10.1016/j.sleep.2014.11.017. Epub 2015 Feb 3. Night-shift work, sleep duration, daytime napping, and breast cancer risk.
Olsson M, Ärlig J, Hedner J, Blennow K1, Zetterberg H. Sleep. 2018 Feb 7. doi: 10.1093/sleep/zsy025. Sleep Deprivation and CSF Biomarkers for Alzheimer Disease.
Ju YE, McLeland JS, Toedebusch CD, Xiong C, Fagan AM, Duntley SP, Morris JC, Holtzman DM. AMA Neurol. 2013 May;70(5):587-93. doi: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2013.2334. Sleep quality and preclinical Alzheimer disease.
Malhotra RK. Sleep Med Clin. 2018 Mar;13(1):63-70. doi: 10.1016/j.jsmc.2017.09.006. Epub 2017 Nov 10. Neurodegenerative Disorders and Sleep.
Holingue C, Wennberg A, Berger S, Polotsky VY, Spira AP. Metabolism. 2018 Jan 31. pii: S0026-0495(18)30029-5. doi: 10.1016/j.metabol.2018.01.021. Disturbed Sleep and Diabetes: A Potential Nexus of Dementia Risk.
Lao XQ, Liu X, Deng HB, Chan TC, Ho KF, Wang F, Vermeulen R, Tam T, Wong MCS, Tse LA, Chang LY, Yeoh EK. J Clin Sleep Med. 2018 Jan 15;14(1):109-117. doi: 10.5664/jcsm.6894. Sleep Quality, Sleep Duration, and the Risk of Coronary Heart Disease: A Prospective Cohort Study With 60,586 Adults.
Solarz DE, Mullington JM, Meier-Ewert HK. Front Biosci (Elite Ed). 2012 Jun 1;4:2490-501. Sleep, inflammation and cardiovascular disease.
Ancoli-Israel S, DuHamel ER, Stepnowsky C, Engler R, Cohen-Zion M, Marler M. Chest. 2003 Oct;124(4):1400-5. The relationship between congestive heart failure, sleep apnea, and mortality in older men.
Patyar S, Patyar RR.. J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis. 2015 May;24(5):905-11. doi: 10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2014.12.038. Epub 2015 Mar 25. Correlation between Sleep Duration and Risk of Stroke.
Miller MA, Kruisbrink M, Wallace J, Ji C, Cappuccio FP. Sleep. 2018 Feb 1. doi: 10.1093/sleep/zsy018. Sleep Duration and Incidence of Obesity in Infants, Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Prospective Studies.
Bell JF, Zimmerman FJ. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2010 Sep;164(9):840-5. doi: 10.1001/archpediatrics.2010.143. Shortened nighttime sleep duration in early life and subsequent childhood obesity.
Hart CN, Jelalian E. Behav Sleep Med. 2008;6(4):251-67. doi: 10.1080/15402000802371379. Shortened sleep duration is associated with pediatric overweight.
Taveras EM, Gilliman MW, Pena MM, Redline S, Rifas Shiman SL. Jun;133(6):1013-22. Pediatrics. 2014. Chronic Sleep Curtailment and Adiposity.
Patel SR, Hu FB. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2008; 16:643-53. Short sleep duration and weight gain: a systematic review.
PatelSR, Malhotra A, White DP, Gottlieb DJ, Hu FB. Am J Epidemiol.2006; 164:947-54. Association between reduced sleep and weight gain in women.
Kim CW, Chang Y, Sung E, Ryu S.. Diabet Med. 2017 Nov;34(11):1591-1598. doi: 10.1111/dme.13432. Epub 2017 Aug 14. Sleep duration and progression to diabetes in people with prediabetes defined by HbA1c concentration.
Briançon-Marjollet A, Weiszenstein M, Henri M, Thomas A, Godin-Ribuot D, Polak J. Diabetol Metab Syndr. 2015 Mar 24;7:25. doi: 10.1186/s13098-015-0018-3. eCollection 2015. The impact of sleep disorders on glucose metabolism: endocrine and molecular mechanisms.
Orzeł-Gryglewska J. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2010;23(1):95-114. doi: 10.2478/v10001-010-0004-9. Consequences of sleep deprivation. [Immunological changes]
Riemann D, Baglioni C, Spiegelhalder K. Bundesgesundheitsblatt Gesundheitsforschung Gesundheitsschutz. 2011 Dec;54(12):1296-302. doi: 10.1007/s00103-011-1378-y. [Lack of sleep and insomnia. Impact on somatic and mental health]. [Article in German]
Riemann D. Sleep Med. 2007 Dec;8 Suppl 4:S15-20. doi: 10.1016/S1389-9457(08)70004-2. Insomnia and comorbid psychiatric disorders.
Papadimitriou GN, Linkowski P. Int Rev Psychiatry. 2005 Aug;17(4):229-36. Sleep disturbance in anxiety disorders.
Roehrs T, Hyde M, Blaisdell B, Greenwald M, Roth T. Sleep. 2006 Feb;29(2):145-51. Sleep loss and REM sleep loss are hyperalgesic. [Increased cute/chronic pain sensitivity]
Alexandre C, Latremoliere A, Ferreira A, Miracca G, Yamamoto M, Scammell TE, Woolf CJ. Nat Med. 2017 Jun;23(6):768-774. doi: 10.1038/nm.4329. Epub 2017 May 8. Decreased alertness due to sleep loss increases pain sensitivity in mice.
Pastuszak AW, Moon YM, Scovell J, Badal J, Lamb DJ, Link RE, Lipshultz LI. Urology. 2017 Apr;102:121-125. doi: 10.1016/j.urology.2016.11.033. Epub 2016 Dec 14. Poor Sleep Quality Predicts Hypogonadal Symptoms and Sexual Dysfunction in Male Nonstandard Shift Workers.
Hirotsu C, Soterio-Pires JH, Tufik S, Andersen ML. Int J Impot Res. 2017 May;29(3):126. doi: 10.1038/ijir.2017.1. Epub 2017 Feb 16. Sleep disturbance and sexual dysfunction in postmenopausal women.
Opstad PK.. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1992 May;74(5):1176-83. Androgenic hormones during prolonged physical stress, sleep, and energy deficiency. 9 [Adrenal & Testicular Androgens]
Sheldon Cohen, PhD, William J. Doyle, PhD, Cuneyt M. Alper, MD, Denise Janicki-Deverts, PhD, and Ronald B. Turner, MD. Arch Intern Med. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2010 Jan 12. Published in final edited form as:Arch Intern Med. 2009 Jan 12; 169(1): 62–67. doi: 10.1001/archinternmed.2008.505. Sleep Habits and Susceptibility to the Common Cold.
Liu TZ, Xu C, Rota M, Cai H, Zhang C, Shi MJ, Yuan RX, Weng H, Meng XY, Kwong JS, Sun X. Sleep Med Rev. 2017 Apr;32:28-36. doi: 10.1016/j.smrv.2016.02.005. Epub 2016 Mar 3. Sleep duration and risk of all-cause mortality: A flexible, non-linear, meta-regression of 40 prospective cohort studies.
Tso W, Rao N, Jiang F, Li AM, Lee SL, Ho FK, Li SL, Ip P. J Pediatr. 2016 Feb;169:266-71. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2015.10.064. Epub 2015 Nov 19. Sleep Duration and School Readiness of Chinese Preschool Children.
Street NW, McCormick MC, Austin SB, Slopen N4 Habre R, Molnar BE. Sleep Health. 2016 Jun;2(2):129-135. doi: 10.1016/j.sleh.2016.03.002. Epub 2016 Apr 18. Sleep duration and risk of physical aggression against peers in urban youth.
Luyster FS, Strollo PJ Jr, Zee PC, Walsh JK; Boards of Directors of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society. Sleep. 2012 Jun 1;35(6):727-34. doi: 10.5665/sleep.1846. Sleep: a health imperative. [Increased risk of fatal accidents]
Philip P, Akerstedt T. Sleep Med Rev. 2006 Oct;10(5):347-56. Epub 2006 Aug 22. Transport and industrial safety, how are they affected by sleepiness and sleep restriction?
Akerstedt T, Kecklund G, Alfredsson L, Selen J. J Sleep Res. 2007 Dec;16(4):341-5. Predicting long-term sickness absence from sleep and fatigue.
Lim J, Dinges DF. Psychol Bull. 2010 May;136(3):375-89. doi: 10.1037/a0018883. A meta-analysis of the impact of short-term sleep deprivation on cognitive variables.
Esposito MJ, Occhionero M1, Cicogna P. Sleep. 2015 Nov 1;38(11):1823-6. doi: 10.5665/sleep.5172. Sleep Deprivation and Time-Based Prospective Memory.
Lima AM, de Bruin VM, Rios ER, de Bruin PF. Naunyn Schmiedebergs Arch Pharmacol. 2014 May;387(5):399-406. doi: 10.1007/s00210-013-0955-z. Epub 2014 Jan 15. Differential effects of paradoxical sleep deprivation on memory and oxidative stress.
Eun Yeon Joo, Cindy W Yoon, Dae Lim Koo, Daeyoung Kim and Seung Bong Hong/ J Clin Neurol. 2012 Jun;8(2):146-150. English. Published online June 29, 2012. https://doi.org/10.3988/jcn.2012.8.2.146. Adverse Effects of 24 Hours of Sleep Deprivation on Cognition and Stress Hormones.
Suggestions for improving quality of sleep (in addition to the above links)
Nutr Res. 2012 May;32(5):309-19. doi: 10.1016/j.nutres.2012.03.009. Epub 2012 Apr 25. Peuhkuri K, Sihvola N, Korpela R. Diet promotes sleep duration and quality.
St-Onge MP, Roberts A, Shechter A, Choudhury AR. J Clin Sleep Med. 2016 Jan;12(1):19-24. doi: 10.5664/jcsm.5384. Fiber and Saturated Fat Are Associated with Sleep Arousals and Slow Wave Sleep.
G. Howatson, P. G. Bell, J. Tallent, B. Middleton, M. P. McHugh, J. Ellis. Eur J Nutr 2012 51(8):909 – 916. Effect of tart cherry juice (Prunus cerasus) on melatonin levels and enhanced sleep quality.
H.-H. Lin, P.-S. Tsai, S.-C. Fang, J.-F. Liu. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr 2011 20(2):169 – 174. Effect of kiwifruit consumption on sleep quality in adults with sleep problems.
Brand S, Gerber M, Beck J, Hatzinger M, Pühse U, Holsboer-Trachsler E. J Adolesc Health. 2010 Feb;46(2):133-41. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2009.06.018. Epub 2009 Aug 18. High exercise levels are related to favorable sleep patterns and psychological functioning in adolescents: a comparison of athletes and controls.
Thakkar MM, Sharma R, Sahota P. Alcohol. 2015 Jun;49(4):299-310. doi: 10.1016/j.alcohol.2014.07.019. Epub 2014 Nov 11. Alcohol disrupts sleep homeostasis.
Ebrahim IO, Shapiro CM, Williams AJ, Fenwick PB. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2013 Apr;37(4):539-49. doi: 10.1111/acer.12006. Epub 2013 Jan 24. Review. Alcohol and sleep I: effects on normal sleep.
Jeanne F. Duffy, M.B.A., Ph.D.a, and Charles A. Czeisler, Ph.D., M.D. Sleep Med Clin. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2010 Jun 1. Published in final edited form as: Sleep Med Clin. 2009 Jun; 4(2): 165–177. doi: 10.1016/j.jsmc.2009.01.004. Effect of Light on Human Circadian Physiology
Giménez MC, Geerdinck LM, Versteylen M, Leffers P, Meekes GJ, Herremans H, de Ruyter B, Bikker JW, Kuijpers PM, Schlangen LJ. J Sleep Res. 2017 Apr;26(2):236-246. doi: 10.1111/jsr.12470. Epub 2016 Nov 10. Patient room lighting influences on sleep, appraisal and mood in hospitalized people.
Yamauchi M, Jacono FJ, Fujita Y, Kumamoto M, Yoshikawa M, Campanaro CK, Loparo KA, Strohl KP, Kimura H. Sleep Breath. 2014 Dec;18(4):829-35. doi: 10.1007/s11325-014-0951-7. Epub 2014 Feb 13. Effects of environment light during sleep on autonomic functions of heart rate and breathing.
Jones C, Dawson D. Nurs Crit Care. 2012 Sep-Oct;17(5):247-54. doi: 10.1111/j.1478-5153.2012.00501.x. Epub 2012 May 15. Eye masks and earplugs improve patient’s perception of sleep.
Hu RF, Jiang XY, Hegadoren KM, Zhang YH. Crit Care. 2015 Mar 27;19:115. doi: 10.1186/s13054-015-0855-3. Effects of earplugs and eye masks combined with relaxing music on sleep, melatonin and cortisol levels in ICU patients: a randomized controlled trial.
Zaharna M, Guilleminault C. Noise Health. 2010 Apr-Jun;12(47):64-9. doi: 10.4103/1463-1741.63205. Sleep, noise and health: review.
Andrew J.HowellNancy L.DigdonKarenBuro. Personality and Individual Differences (ISSID). Volume 48, Issue 4, March 2010, Pages 419-424. Mindfulness predicts sleep-related self-regulation and well-being.
Huang X, Mazza G. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2011 Apr;51(4):269-84. doi: 10.1080/10408398.2010.529193. Application of LC and LC-MS to the analysis of melatonin and serotonin in edible plants.
Kehara S, Iso H, Date C, Kikuchi S, Watanabe Y, Wada Y, Inaba Y, Tamakoshi A; JACC Study Group. Association of Sleep Duration with Mortality from Cardiovascular Disease and Other Causes for Japanese Men and Women: the JACC Study. Sleep. 2009 Mar;32(3):295-301.
I had a recent email asking me whether there really was any problem with swapping nasty old butter for cholesterol-lowering coconut butter. Well, let’s see, shall we?
“Eating a lot of saturated fat can increase the levels of cholesterol in your blood. Having high cholesterol can increase your risk of heart disease, which includes heart attack and narrowed arteries (atherosclerosis).”
“HEART UK advises people who want to lower their blood cholesterol to avoid using coconut oil in cooking and certainly not use it as a dietary supplement. Creamed and desiccated coconut contain around 60-70% coconut fat should also only be consumed occasionally or in small amounts as part of an overall healthy diet….The Cholesterol Charity wishes to correct the misleading claims being made in the press…claiming coconut oil helps lower blood cholesterol and have even suggested taking coconut oil as a dietary supplement. Coconut oil contains about 85% saturated fatty acids mainly as lauric and myristic acid which potently raise both total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein cholesterol more than other fatty acids (1,2,3,4).”
“…coconut oil. Harmful? Harmless? Or, helpful? In terms of what it does to our cholesterol, it is as harmful as butter.”
PCRM (Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine)
“According to the American Heart Association, consuming saturated fat raises cholesterol levels in your blood, increasing risk for cardiovascular problems and Alzheimer’s disease. Setting aside saturated fat can also decrease your risk for obesity, diabetes, and cancer.”
“…replacing dietary saturated fats with ‘good carbs’ such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, reduced the risk of cardiovascular disease.”
So, in light of the foregoing, does this mean I consider saturated fat and especially coconut oil/butter to be our number one public enemy?
No, not at all.
Focusing on any individual food “fragment”, whether it be a vitamin, mineral or an extracted oil from olives or organic Free Trade coconut butter, is a reductionist approach to nutrition that, in my opinion, is simply misguided. Concentrating on the individual harms or benefits of any individual part of our diet at the expense of stepping back and looking at diet as a whole is the reason that we have drifted into the pandemic of obesity and other diet-related chronic diseases.
Of course, if someone held my arm up my back and forced me to decide whether I would recommend eating coconut butter or an animal butter, I would have to say do NOT eat the animal product; but this would be like forcing me to decide whether I would recommend smoking cigars or smoking pipes! Without any doubt, I would say that it is better to smoke neither.
I believe exactly the same when talking about deciding between animal fats/oils and plant fats/oils – eat neither.
Why would I recommend anything to my clients, family or friends other than the diet that has repeatedly been shown to be the optimal diet for human health and longevity – a whole food plant-based diet.
And the emphasis here in on the word “whole”. The whole plant. Not the oil. The human body understands what a whole food is – it has been surviving and evolving on whole plant foods for millions of years. The body simply does not understand what concentrated and isolated components of plants are, let alone what to do with isolated animal or commercially altered and processed components. The body is used to the whole food (macronutrients, micronutrients and fibre) so that it can digest and absorb what it requires and safely excrete toxins and surplus nutrients as it sees fit.
Shock the system with isolated and concentrated saturated fat, or pretty much any other fragment of food, and the body cannot maintain homeostasis without a cost being paid right down at the cellular level – from the endothelial cells lining blood vessels to adipocytes bulking up that adipose fat around your waist (and your heart!)
“People eat food. Studies focusing on the health impact of differing amounts of saturated fat intake often fail to look at what the subjects are actually eating. Many foods that are low in saturated fat are still unhealthy. Therefore, what you eat instead of foods high in saturated fat is also critical…Not surprisingly, when you replace an unhealthy diet with an unhealthy diet, they both look about the same…if you replace saturated fat with plant-based foods, people do better.”
Replacing unhealthy animal foods with unhealthy plant foods might have some benefits, but you just have to look at an overweight and diabetic vegetarian or vegan to know that jumping out of the BBQ into a deep-fried tofu frying pan is no solution if you want optimal health.
“…animal-based protein is more hazardous than lipids (cholesterol and fatty acids)…Unsaturated fats (PUFAs) are susceptible to tissue damaging oxidation, and saturated fat is not…[which] cause aging and increases cardiovascular disease and cancer…plant oils experimentally promote cancer much more than does saturated fats—that’s right. This is an experimental observation that is at least 30-40 years old…this mainly refers to added oils-isolated from plant sources. It does not refer to the oil within those plant-based foods because plants contain lots of antioxidants to keep the tissue damaging effects of ROS [reactive oxygen species] under control. In my opinion, this is a primary reason for avoiding consumption of added oils. Another reason for avoiding these oils is their contribution to total calorie intake which displaces, in effect, the consumption of calorie-containing whole, plant-based foods.”
So, in summary, my considered opinion is that if a person is really concerned about what food they put in their bodies – if they really want to be healthy and do all they can to weigh the balance in favour of a long and useful life – then forget about debating which food fragment is better than another, just transition to the only diet that has been proven to reverse heart disease and many other chronic diseases – one that is based exclusively on whole food plants.
I will leave the final word on added oil (ANY oils, including coconut oil or coconut butter) to Dr Esselstyn:
References
1. Sundram K, Hayes KC, Siru OH (1994) Dietary Palmitic Acid Results in Lower Serum Cholesterol Than Does a Lauric-Myristic Acid Combination in Normolipemic Humans. Am J Clin Nutr 59, 841-846. 2. Temme EHM, Mensink RP, Hornstra G (1996) Comparison of the effects of diets enriched with lauric, palmitic or oleic acids on serum lipids and lipoproteins in healthy men and women. Am J Clin Nutr 1996; 63: 897-903. 3. Zock P L, de Vries J H, Katan M B (1994) Impact of Myristic versus palmitic acid on serum lipid and lipoproteins levels in health men and women Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 1994;14:567-575. 4. Sanders TA (2013) Reappraisal of SFA and Cardiovascular Risk. Proc Nutr Soc, 72(4), 1-9.
You know how there are two styles of chef – there’s those that precisely record and follow recipe quantities to the milligram, and there’s those who instinctively alter everything to taste as they produce their masterpiece…well Lynda is a proud member of the latter. Therefore, I would suggest that you experiment with quantities until it suits your palate.
200g organic tomato sauce or passata 1 leek (sliced) Cup of sweetcorn 10 cherry tomatoes (halved) 1 avocado (sliced) 1 teaspoon dried basil
Sprinkle low-salt soy sauce 200 grams jackfruit (sliced – if you can’t get it, double up on mushrooms. I used this one) 100-150g mushrooms (sliced) Lemon juice Black pepper Clove of garlic, chopped Sprinkle balsamic vinegar
Garnish after cooking: throw on the top a mixture of fresh green leaves, rocket, baby spinach and basil
INSTRUCTIONS 1. Preheat oven to 180°C or 350 F. 2. Prepare the egg replacement: whisk flax seeds and water together until thick, gelatinous and gloppy. Add more flax/water as required to get a really gluey “dough ball”. 3. Prepare the cauliflower: chop the florets into small pieces, place into a food processor and blend until pureed. Put cauliflower in a colander. 4. Put boiling water in a saucepan and steam colander of cauliflower over it (with lid on top of colander) for 5-10 minutes until soft, then place it into paper towels and squeeze all the excess water. Transfer cauliflower to a clean tea towel and squeeze the ‘bag’ of cauliflower (get help if you need strong hands) until no more liquid comes it. Getting it as dry as possible also gives your hands and forearms a nice workout! 6. Combine the cauliflower in a bowl with the remaining base ingredients and hand mix very well, pressing into a ball. 7. Spread the dough into a pizza shape if you have one otherwise on a baking tray. Mine ended up as a square. 8. Bake at 180°C (350F) for about 25/30 minutes, until the top is golden brown then flip and cooked the other side for 10 minute (just be careful not to destroy the dough while you flip it). 9. Then take out of the oven and spread with tomato passata. 10. Combine mushrooms, jackfruit, soy, lemon juice and garlic in a saucepan (or microwave) for a few minutes until soft. Spread this over the tomato base 11. Top with fresh leaves, cherry tomatoes, leeks, avocado slices and sweetcorn. 12. Drizzle with a reduction of balsamic vinegar (just heat the balsamic vinegar in a saucepan till it becomes thick) and enjoy! 13. Back in oven until golden brown.
Finally, throw on the garnish and ENJOY! Mine was served with a seedy/nutty green salad.
Joe’s Comment
I tried this one and it was really nice. Thanks Lynda.
Another recipe for homemade healthy bread. Making your own bread is a lot easier – and much more satisfying – than most people think. And, to top it all, it is far better for you than the vast majority of prepared breads you will find in shops and restaurants. See here for what manufacturers are allowed to put into your daily loaf.
Okay, over to Yuri:
He used two flours that I have not come across before:
He mentions that flours from both these makers are available in Waitrose. They are also available at other outlets and online.
Ingredients
Yuri’s Suggested Method
1) Mix the flours in a bowl, add 2 leeks finely chopped, the olives finely chopped too, the cumin seeds, the nutmeg, the rosemary (you can also add some chilli powder 0.5 tsp).
2) Put the dry yeast and sugar in a cup with 300 ml of lukewarm water.
3) Add the activated yeast and 1.2 litres of water in the bowl. Mix with a big spoon.
4) Knead the dough energetically until it becomes compact and elastic. If the mix is still a bit dry, add some extra water).
5) Move the dough into separate trays (A silicone tray is ideal – but standard trays are fine, just dust them with extra flour to reduce sticking).
6) Pre-heat the oven to the lowest temperature possible (ideally 50 degrees). Switch off the oven and put the trays into it. Wait for a couple of hours…
7) Bake at maximum temperature (ideally 250 degrees) for 45 minutes.
The outcome is delicious, tasty and crispy!
Joe’s Comment
The ingredients list displayed above is taken from the computer program used with all my clients to reliably and easily record all foods and drinks consumed daily. The program also allows us to monitor your weight, blood pressure, mood, exercise, sleep, medications, supplements, and much more. All macronutrients and a wide range of micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) are immediately available for you and your nutritional therapist to monitor and check against your optimal calorie and nutrient intake.
If you are interested in finding out more, I would delighted to hear from you.
Finally…
If you try this recipe – or if you adapt it in any way – send me photos and details and I am sure our readers would like to know how you got on.
Thanks again to Yuri for taking the time to share this with us.
I tried Yuri’s recipe myself but didn’t get quite the same results:
I let it rise for too long (actually forgot for over two hours that it was in the warm oven!) and so it went beyond the realms of gravitational possibility, dropped and thus formed a rather crunchy crust. But the taste and texture of the bread itself is really nice. Thanks again, Yuri.
Eating cakes and biscuits appears to impair memory.
Research (1.) suggests that there is relationship between consumption of dietary trans-fats and word-memory.
1018 individuals were given word recall tests that were scored and matched against the amount of trans-fats consumed by each individual.
The results are worth remembering next time you reach for the cookie jar. Every gram of dietary trans-fats consumed per day was associated with an estimated 0.76 fewer words recalled.
Is this causation or just correlation? The researchers consider that the pro-oxidant (2.) and energetic detriments of dietary trans-fats (3.) are evidence of causation. They used triangulation (4.) with other evidence to ensure that other causal factors were not being mistakenly included. (See charts below if you are interested in the statistical data).
Trans-fats are found in many biscuits, cakes and other processed foods. They are made by pumping hydrogen into liquid vegetable oil so that the oil becomes more solid. Food manufacturers do this in order to increase the shelf life of the products and to improve flavour and texture. You will know that they are present in products if you see the words “partially hydrogenated oils” on the ingredients list.
The leader of this study, Dr Beatrice Golomb, said: “Trans fats were most strongly linked to worse memory, in young and middle-aged men, during their working and career building years…From a health standpoint, trans fat consumption has been linked to higher body weight, more aggression and heart disease…As I tell my patients, while trans fats increase the shelf life of foods, they reduce the shelf life of people.” (5.)
What does this mean for our love affair with biscuits and cakes?
Well, it appears that we love them but they don’t love us. Maybe the best thing to do is to forget about eating them before they make us forget that we have eaten them…
2. Pro-oxidants are substances that accelerate the oxidation of another substance. This process can produce free radicals which are associated with many chronic health problems such as cardiovascular and inflammatory disease, cataract, and cancer. Antioxidants prevent free radical induced tissue damage by preventing the formation of radicals, scavenging them, or by promoting their decomposition. Berries are a great source of antioxidants.
3. Ascherio A, Willett WC. Am J Clin Nutr. 1997 Oct;66(4 Suppl):1006S-1010S. Health effects of trans fatty acids.
4. Triangulation means using more than one method to collect data on the same topic. This is a way of assuring the validity of research through the use of a variety of methods to collect data on the same topic, which involves different types of samples as well as methods of data collection.
I was recently asked for breakfast ideas by a client who is making the transition to a WFPB diet – swapping the brioche and croissant for berries and cashews.
So here goes…
Five suggestions from Dr Greger’a How Not To Die Cookbook:
SUMMERTIME OATMEAL MAKES: 2 SERVINGS
Some people think of oats as a hot cereal perfect for when leaves start falling or there’s snow on the ground, but I love them all year round. In our house, we call this version Summertime Oatmeal because it’s a cool and refreshing way to enjoy oatmeal even when it’s sweltering outside. Prepare it the night before and spoon the goodness into jars for a quick and easy breakfast.
1 cup/ 100g rolled oats 1 tablespoon chia seeds 1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds (or linseeds) ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 ¾ cups /425ml Almond Milk 2 tablespoons Date Syrup 1 2- to 3-inch/ 5 to 8cm piece vanilla pod, split and scraped (or 1 teaspoon extract) ⅔ cup/ 65g fresh or frozen blueberries or ⅔ cup/ 125g strawberries
Combine all the ingredients in a medium bowl and stir to mix. Spoon into two 1-pint/ 470ml jars with tight-fitting lids or two small bowls and cover tightly. Refrigerate overnight and remove the vanilla pod before serving.
Stash these delicious bites in the fridge for an easy on-the-go breakfast or after-workout snack.
¾ cup /130g pitted dates, soaked in hot water for 20 minutes, then drained ¾ cup/ 185g raw walnuts, pecans or cashews ¾ cup/ 115g dried cranberries, apricots, apple slices or other dried fruit, chopped if necessary ¼ cup/ 35g sunflower seeds 2 tablespoons goji berries or barberries 2 tablespoons chia seeds or hemp hearts (hulled hemp seeds) 2 tablespoons ground flaxseeds (or linseeds) 1- to 1 ½-inch/ 2.5 to 4cm piece vanilla pod, split and scraped (or ½ teaspoon extract) ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
In a food processor, combine the drained dates and nuts and pulse until the nuts are finely ground and the dates are incorporated. Add the remaining ingredients and process until well combined. The mixture should be very sticky. If it seems too dry to hold together, add a little water, 1 tablespoon at a time. If the mixture is too wet, add a little more ground flaxseeds or some rolled oats. Roll a heaped tablespoonful of the mixture between the palms of your hands to form a 1-inch/ 2.5cm ball. Transfer to a plate. Repeat until all the mixture has been rolled into balls. Cover the plate with foil or baking parchment and refrigerate for 4 hours before enjoying. Store in the refrigerator.
This creamy, chocolatey smoothie tastes so rich and delicious, you’ll forget how healthy it is! 1frozen ripe banana, cut into chunks before freezing ⅓ cup/ 35g frozen blueberries 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder 1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds (or linseeds) 1-to 1 ½-inch/ 2.5 to 4cm piece vanilla pod, split and scraped (or ½ teaspoon extract) 1 tablespoon almond butter 2 tablespoons Date Syrup (optional, depending on the sweetness of the fruit) 1 cup/ 225g raw spinach leaves 3 to 4 ice cubes (optional)
Combine all the ingredients with 1 cup/ 250ml of water in a high-speed blender. Blend until thick and smooth. For a thinner texture, add less ice (if using) or more water. Serve immediately.
SUPER GREEN SMOOTHIE MAKES: 1 (2 ½-CUP/ 600ML) SERVING
You can check off six of the Daily Dozen scorecard boxes with this delicious and refreshing drink. Six with just one smoothie! For a thinner texture, add a little more water, if desired.
In a blender, combine all the ingredients and blend until completely smooth. Add ⅔ cup/ 160ml or more of water and ice (if using) and blend until smooth. Serve immediately.
DATE SYRUP MAKES: ABOUT 1 ½ CUPS/ 370ML
Green Light sweeteners are a little hard to come by. Date sugar, which is simply dried, pulverized dates, can be used as a whole-food, granulated sugar, and blackstrap molasses is a good choice for a healthy liquid sweetener, but it has a strong, sometimes overpowering flavor. We’ve come up with our own DIY date syrup we hope you’ll love as much as we do.
Combine the dates and hot water in a heatproof bowl and set aside for 1 hour to soften the dates.
BLENDED WHOLE LEMONS AND LIMES
Instead of cooking with lemon or lime juice, use the blended whole fruit to get more nutritional benefit. When you use just the juice, you lose out on the fibre and all the nutrition that was attached to it. Here’s a great time-saver when cooking with blended lemon or lime.
Peel and blend a whole lemon and then freeze it in 1-teaspoon portions – a small silicone ice cube tray is ideal for this. Then, grab a cube from the freezer whenever you need it!
ALMOND MILK MAKES: ABOUT 2 CUPS/ 500ML
Here’s a fast and easy way to make a whole-food almond milk. For taste and convenience I personally prefer unsweetened soya milk. (I like the flavor of Whole Foods Market’s store brand the best.) But I wanted to embrace the challenge of creating recipes containing only Green Light ingredients. This doesn’t offer the calcium, vitamin D and B12 fortification of commercial almond milks, but it avoids the added salt and thickeners of questionable safety, such as carrageenan. Choose almond butter made from raw rather than roasted or toasted almonds to decrease exposure to advanced glycation end products.
2 tablespoons smooth raw almond butter 2 cups/ 500ml water
Combine the almond butter and water in a high-speed blender and blend until smooth. Transfer the milk to a glass bottle or jar with a tight-fitting lid and chill until ready to serve. Shake well before using.
Greger, Michael. The How Not To Die Cookbook: Over 100 Recipes to Help Prevent and Reverse Disease. Pan Macmillan. Kindle Edition.
Now for some of my own recipes…
OATS WITH FRUIT, SEEDS AND NUTS
There is no particular recipe for this, I just add a mixture of the following ingredients and it makes a HUGE breakfast which is filling and full of goodness,
Jumbo organic oats, sultanas, an apple, pear and banana (all chopped small), frozen berries (strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants, blueberries), plant milk (soy, almond, hemp, oat or just water if you prefer), 1 or 2 tablespoons ground flaxseeds, 1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds, 1 or 2 teaspoons chia/sunflower/poppy/sesame seeds, 1 or 2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa or cacao powder, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 6 halves walnut halves, dried unsulphured apricot (finely chopped), two chopped dates.
I usually put the frozen berries in a large bowl with either water or plant milk, then pop it in the microwave for 2 minutes to thaw and warm the milk/berry mix. This releases the lovely flavours. Then I add all the other ingredients and give it a good mix. You decide how wet or dry you want the mixture to be. I tend to like it quite wet so I often add more milk or water once it is mixed. The quantities will vary depending on how much hunger you have, but you can’t go wrong with this lovely recipe. Another tip is to mix all the dry ingredients to your own taste in a huge batch and store in a sealable plastic container. This saves lots of time in the mornings and all you need to do is chop up the fresh fruit and add the berries and milk/water.
NUT BUTTER & BANANA ON TOAST
Use unsalted, organic and 100% nut butters. Almond, cashew or peanut butters are all fine. Ideally use homemade wholegrain bread which is made without added oil or salt and with minimal sugar.
Toast the bread, cover with the butter and slice banana on top. Simple and quick.
BANANA & DATE COOKIES
The dates in these cookies add extra fibre, and dried fruit is known to be rich in iron, making these cookies a great recovery nibble after your morning run or cycle.
2 Large Ripe Bananas, mashed 1 Cup (250ml) Organic raw oats 1 teaspoon (5ml) ground cinnamon 2 Tablespoons (30ml) natural nut butter of your choice ¼ Cup (60ml) Chopped dates
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (200 degrees Celsius). In a mixing bowl combine the bananas, oats and cinnamon. Once you have the mixture at a wet cookie dough consistency, add the chopped dates and mix thoroughly. Scoop the dough onto a silicon baking sheet, the size of each cookie is completely up to you, but since they will be very filling, they might be hard to finish if they are too big. Bake for 15 minutes and allow to cool on the baking tray for 10 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack. It’s best to store these in the refrigerator, once they have cooled completely.
HEALTHY NUT BUTTER BOMBS MAKES: 13-14 cookies
Dry ingredients: 1 cup pecans, toasted 1 cup + 1 tbsp oat flour (I made my own flour in the blender using 1 cup rolled oats)* 60 grams + 2 tbsp rolled oats* 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp baking soda 1 tbsp ground flax seed Wet ingredients: 60 grams pure maple syrup Peanut butter 3 tbsp brown rice syrup 1/2 tbsp pure vanilla extract Mix-ins: 80 grams dried sweetened cranberries 3 tbsp seeds of your choice
1. Preheat oven to 325F and toast pecans for 8-10 minutes, watching closely. Remove and set aside to cool. Turn oven temp to 350F. 2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. In a separate smaller bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients. 3. In a mini processor (or by hand) process/chop the pecans into small crumbs, just smaller than the size of peas. Stir into the dry ingredients. 4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir well until combined. The dough will be very sticky, but not to worry. Fold in the mix-ins. 5. With lightly wet hands, grab about 2 tbsp dough and shape into a ball, packing firmly. Place on a large silicone baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Repeat for the rest, wetting hands every 4 cookies or so. 6. Bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes (I baked for 11.5 mins). Cool on baking sheet for at least 10 minutes. When completely cooled, store in a glass jar or freeze for maximum freshness.
(Sorry, I didn’t take a photo of this one. If you make it, please send me a photo and let me know how you got on.)
BANANA, FRUIT & NUT OAT BARS MAKES: Loads
750 grams oats 3-4 mashed bananas 125-250 grams mixed walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, cashews, any other you like 75 grams ground flaxseed 75 grams mixed seeds (sunflower, sesame, pumpkin, chia, any other you like) 75 grams dried fruit (raisins, sultanas, chopped dates, cranberries, any other you like) 1/2 cup 100% non-concentrate fruit juice (ideally home-made – orange, tropical fruits, any other you like or a mixture of all – use more than 1/2 cup if the mixture is too thick) 2 Tbsp lemon or lime juice 1/2 tsp salt (optional) Pre-heat the oven at 180 degree Celsius.
Combine flaxseed, seeds and dried fruit in a large bowl. Add the fruit juice and mashed banana and mix well. Add the oats and mix everything together. Fold it onto a large baking tray, spread and press well with you fingers. I placed a silicone baking sheet on top so that they would not stick. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Let it cool for 10 minutes. Cut it into squares (I sliced along with a blunt spatula), then turn each square upside down. Put the tray back into the oven and bake it for another 15 minutes. Then turn the pieces over again and bake for another 5 minutes for both the sides to be nice and brown. Let it cool completely and store it in an air tight container for up to a week. The result will be a bar that is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Yummy!
FLAXSEED CRACKERS MAKES: 32 Crackers
Mix 200 grams of ground flaxseeds with 250 ml of water, add whatever herbs and spices you want, and then spread the dough thinly on a silicone baking sheet. Score the dough into thirty-two crackers and bake at 200 ° C for about twenty minutes. To flavor mine, I use half a teaspoon each of smoked paprika, garlic powder, and onion powder, but you should play around until you find a (salt-free) spice profile you prefer. Get as thin as possible. Mine were still slightly soft and moist so I put them in the dehydrator for a few hours until crispy.
COCOA, PEANUT BUTTER & DATE TRUFFLES MAKES: 10-15 depending on how big you make them,
15 dates (choose the softest/moistest possible variety – medjool are ideal and thus don’t need soaking) 2 tbsp unsweetened cacao or cocoa powder Seeds from 1 or 2 (depending on taste preference) freshly scraped vanilla pod/s or 2 tbsp best quality vanilla extract (brandy instead if desired for special occasions) 2 tbsp homemade unsalted peanut butter 50-100 ml 100% freshly ‘squeezed’ orange juice with all the fibre (introduce carefully so as not to make too liquid) 2 tbsp same cacao/cocoa powder kept for once mix is blended additional unsweetened cacao/cocoa more to roll the truffles (you may need loads, but use as much as necessary to get them firmish and in balls)
Soak dates in orange “juice” for an hour or so if you have time. (Otherwise, if dates are already really soft don’t bother.) Whizz up the dates, orange “juice”, vanilla extract, peanut butter and cocoa/cacao (I prefer cacao if you get get it) in blender or grinder. When you have a smooth semi-wet mixture (add more orange “juice” if still too thick), spoon it into a small bowl. Add the extra 2 tbsp of cocoa/cacao and stir until you have a thick mix. Get a small plate and layer it with cocoa/cacao. Fill heaped teaspoons of mix and use your finger to drop one onto the plate. Roll it with your fingers in the cocoa/cacao until covered, then roll into a ball between your palms. Give them another quick roll on the plate to cover well with cocoa/cacao and place them in a sealed container.
These are REALLY delicious. Enjoy!
FRESH NUT & SEED VEGETABLE MEDLEY MAKES: As much as you want!
This is really up to what you have in your kitchen. The photo shows some of the possible ingredients. The following are some suggestions:
Cucumber, chopped red/green cabbage, grated/chopped carrot, onion/spring onions, green peas & sweetcorn (from frozen), green beans, red/green/yellow bell pepper, tomato, celery, broccoli, spinach, cauliflower, lettuce, radish, courgette, French beans, mange tout, gherkins, fresh herbs (basil, parsley). The list goes on and on. Limited only by your imagination.
Walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, cashews, almonds (whole or flaked).
You could also add beans (kidney, butter, cannellini, chickpeas, haricot (navy) beans, adzuki beans, black-eyed beans). Here are some ideas* for salad dressings (quantities can be varied to your own personal taste – experiment!)
MUSTARD VINAIGRETTE
Combine 2-3 tablespoons wholegrain mustard with around 50 ml raw apple cider vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon of agave, maple syrup, or brown rice syrup), 1 teaspoon black pepper and 2 tablespoons water. Blend in a small blender and drizzle onto your salad.
MISO VINAIGRETTE
Combine 1 teaspoon miso with around 80 ml water, 2 whole olives, 2 tablespoon brown rice vinegar, a pinch of black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon agave, maple syrup or brown rice syrup, and a tablespoon of wakame flakes (optional).
CREAMY RANCH-STYLE DRESSING
Combine 3 tablespoons raw organic tahini (you can also use regular roasted if you can’t find raw), 80 ml water, 2 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk, a pinch of black pepper if desired, 1-2 tablespoons Herbs de Provence or Italian seasoning, a tiny pinch of fresh ginger.
CREAMY LEMON AND GARLIC MUSTARD DRESSING
Combine the juice from 2 lemons with 1/4 teaspoon minced garlic or 1/4 teaspoon fresh garlic, 1 teaspoon diced onions, 2 tablespoons raw cashew butter (or tahini, almond butter or almond or soy milk), a pinch of black pepper, 2 teaspoons mustard, 1 teaspoon of dried parsley, and 80 ml water.
SWEET LEMON CURRY DRESSING
Combine 2 tablespoons water, 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, the juice from 2 lemons, 1/2 teaspoon curry, a tiny pinch of cayenne and black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon pure maple syrup, maple syrup or brown rice syrup (or you may used 1 pureed date or a pureed dried fig that has been soaked in boiling water for 30 minutes to soften, or keep soaked dried fruit in the fridge overnight). For a creamier flavor, add 2 tablespoons either tahini, almond butter or cashew butter in addition to the other ingredients.
JOE’S STANDARD SALAD DRESSING
I use this one a lot, usually varied one way or another depending on what I have in stock. Just blend it all together.
50ml water or liquid from a jar of gherkins Juice of half a lemon 3 tablespoons of vegan balsamic vinegar (i/e/ without gelatin – this is a good one) 1 tablespoon homemade soy sauce ** 1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard 2 cloves garlic, minced Fresh parsley and/or coriander, finely chopped
* Thanks to onegreenplant.org for some inspirational ideas.
** HOMEMADE SOY SAUCE
Garlic Vinegar (make this the night before)
150 ml vinegar 2 garlic cloves, sliced
Heat vinegar slightly. Pour over peeled and sliced garlic cloves to taste. Let stand overnight, strain and discard garlic.
Next day
3 tablespoons dark molasses 3 teaspoons onion powder
Combine all ingredients in a glass jar. Refrigerate and use as needed. Warm and shake well before using. Lasts about 1 month refrigerated.
The choice of breakfasts is pretty much only limited by your imagination. If you try any of the above, let me know how you got on. And I would love to know any of your breakfast recipes and ideas (especially if you send them with photos).
You hear a lot about diabetes, but you possibly do not get detailed information about the actual processes involved in its development, nor about the specific and, frankly, disturbing consequences of living with this debilitating disease.
This blog goes into some detail and shows some disturbing photos of the results of diabetes. If you do not wish to see these images, you can contact me for a copy of this blog without any images.
I have a very specific reason for covering this issue in such vivid detail: It is no exaggeration to claim that diabetes, particularly but not exclusively type 2 diabetes, is becoming an epidemic in the western world, and not just starting in middle age, but appearing in younger generations. There is solid and reliable evidence that this is due to the western diet – dependent on animal products, low-fibre, high-sugar and fat processed foods, and deficient in whole plant foods.
I will present other articles in defence of this assertion but, for the time being, I want to focus on the disturbing reality of those people who live with diabetes – a largely avoidable chronic disease which has been shown to be both avoidable and reversible by eating a whole food plant-based diet.
Diabetes mellitus (1.) (DM) is caused by complete absence, relative deficiency of, or resistance to the hormone insulin.
The most common forms of DM are categorised as type 1 diabetes mellitus or type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Definitions
Type 1 diabetes mellitus
previously known as insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM)
mainly occurring in children and young adults
onset is usually sudden and can be life threatening
severe deficiency or absence of insulin secretion due to destruction of β-islet cells of the pancreas
treatment with injections of insulin is required
usually evidence of an autoimmune mechanism that destroys the β-islet cells
genetic predisposition and environmental factors, including viral infections. Diet/lifestyle are also implicated
Type 2 diabetes mellitus
previously known as non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM)
most common form of diabetes, accounting for about 90% of cases
causes are multifactorial and predisposing factors include:
obesity
sedentary lifestyle
increasing age: predominantly affecting middle-aged and older adults but increasingly affecting younger groups
genetic factors
onset is gradual, often over many years
frequently undetected until signs are found on routine investigation or a complication occurs
insulin secretion may be below or above normal
deficiency of glucose inside body cells occurs despite hyperglycaemia (high blood sugar) and high insulin level, possibly because of:
insulin resistance, i.e. changes in cell membranes that block insulin-assisted movement of glucose into cells.
treatment involves diet and/ or drugs, although sometimes insulin injections are required
Pathophysiology (disease processes) (2.) of DM
1. Raised plasma glucose level
After eating a carbohydrate-rich meal the plasma glucose level remains high because:
cellsare unable to take up and use glucose from the bloodstream, despite high plasma levels
conversion of glucose to glycogen in the liver and muscles is diminished
gluconeogenesis (non-carbohydrate glucose production) (3.) from protein, in response to deficiency of intracellular glucose.
2a. Glycosuria (sugar in urine) (4.) and 2b. Polyuria (excessive urination) (5.)
a. Glycosuria results in electrolyte imbalance and excretion of urine with a high specific gravity.
b. Polyuria leads to dehydration, extreme thirst (polydipsia) and increased fluid intake.
3. Weight loss
Cells “starved” of glucose – leading to:
gluconeogenesis from amino acids/body protein, causing muscle wasting/tissue breakdown/further increases in blood glucose
catabolism of body fat, releasing some of its energy and excess production of ketone bodies (6.)
very common in type 1 DM
sometimes occurs in type 2 DM
4. Ketosis (7.)and ketoacidosis (8.)
generally affects people with type 1 DM – in absence of insulin to promote normal intracellular glucose metabolism, alternative energy sources must be used instead and increased breakdown of fat occurs. Results in:
excessive production of weakly acidic ketone bodies, which can be used for metabolism by the liver
ketosis develops as ketone bodies accumulate.
excretion of ketones is via the urine (ketonuria) and/ or the lungs giving the breath a characteristic smell of acetone or ‘pear drops’.
ketoacidosis develops owing to increased insulin requirement or increased resistance to insulin.
if untreated it can lead to:
increasing acidosis (↓ blood pH) due to accumulation of ketoacids
increasing hyperglycaemia
hyperventilation as the lungs excrete excess hydrogen ions as CO2
acidification of urine – the result of kidney buffering
polyuria as the renal threshold for glucose is exceeded
dehydration and hypovolaemia (9.) (↓ BP and ↑ pulse) – caused by polyuria
disturbances of electrolyte balance accompanying fluid loss:
hyponatraemia(10.) (↓ plasma sodium) and hypokalaemia(11.) (↓ plasma potassium)
confusion, coma and death
5, Acute complications of DM
Effects and consequences of diabetic ketoacidosis are outlined above
Hypoglycaemic coma:
occurs when insulin administered is in excess of that needed to balance the food intake and expenditure of energy
sudden onset and may be the result of:
accidental overdose of insulin
delay in eating after insulin administration
drinking alcohol on an empty stomach
strenuous exercise
insulin-secreting tumour
Common signs and symptoms of hypoglycaemia include:
drowsiness
confusion
speech difficulty
sweating
trembling
anxiety
rapid pulse.
May progress rapidly to coma without treatment
Rapid recovery with treatment M
6. Long-term complications of DM (Type 1 and type 2)
Cardiovascular disturbances
DM is a significant risk factor for cardiovascular disorders
Blood vessel abnormalities (angiopathies) may still occur even when the disease is well controlled by medication
Diabetic macroangiopathy (12.). Most common lesions are:
atheroma
calcification of the tunica media of the large arteries. Resulting in:
Often serious and fatal consequences for Type 1 diabetes at a relatively early age.
For both Type 1 and Type 2, the most common consequences are serious and often fatal:
ischaemic heart disease (angina and myocardial infarction)
stroke
peripheral vascular disease.
Diabetic microangiopathy (13.). This affects small blood vessels and can result in:
thickening of the epithelial basement membrane of arterioles, capillaries and, sometimes, venules. Leading to:
Peripheral vascular disease, progressing to gangrene and ‘diabetic foot’
Diabetic retinopathy (14.)
Visual impairment
Diabetic nephropathy (15.) and chronic renal failure
Peripheral neuropathy (16.) causing sensorydeficits and motor weakness
Infection
DM predisposes to infection, especially by bacteria and fungi, possibly because phagocyte activity is depressed by insufficient intracellular glucose. Infection may cause:
boils and carbuncles
vaginal candidiasis(17.)
pyelonephritis(18.)
diabetic foot
Renal failure
This is due to diabetic nephropathy (15.) and is a common cause of death.
Visual impairment and blindness
Diabetic retinopathy(14.)
commonest cause of blindness in adults between 30 and 65 years in developed countries
increases the risk of early development of cataracts
increase the risk of early development of other visual disorders
Diabetic foot
Many factors commonly present in DM contribute to the development of this serious situation:
disease of large and small blood vessels impairs blood supply to and around the extremities
if peripheral neuropathy (16.) is present:
sensation is reduced
a small injury to the foot may go unnoticed, especially when there is visual impairment
in DM healing is slower and injuries easily worsen if aggravated, e.g. by chafing shoes
often become infected
an ulcer may form
healing process is lengthy, if at all
in severe cases the injured area ulcerates and enlarges
may become gangrenous
sometimes to the extent that amputation is required.
Why risk or suffer from this truly dreadful disease if the most effective prevention and cure (a WFPB diet) has no side-effects other than improved overall health?
What an unfathomable species we are…
Glossary
” Of or pertaining to honey” – https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mellitus.
“The physiological processes associated with disease or injury” – https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pathophysiology
“The metabolic process in which glucose is formed, mostly in the liver, from non-carbohydrate precursors” – https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gluconeogenesis
“The presence of sugars (especially glucose) in the urine, often as a result of diabetes mellitus” – https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/glycosuria
“The production of an abnormally large amount of urine; one symptom of diabetes” – https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/polyuria
“Any of several compounds that are intermediates in the metabolism of fatty acids” – https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ketone_body#English.
“A metabolic state in which the body produces ketones to be used as fuel by some organs so that glycogen can be reserved for organs that depend on it. This condition occurs during times of fasting, starvation, or while on a ketogenic weight-loss diet” – https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ketosis.
“A severe form of ketosis, most commonly seen in diabetics, in which so much ketone is produced that acidosis occurs” – https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ketoacidosis.
“A state of decreased bloodvolume” – https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hypovolemia#English.
“An abnormally low concentration of sodium (or salt) in blood plasma” – https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hyponatremia#English.
Main source of material: Waugh, Anne; Grant, Allison. Ross & Wilson Anatomy and Physiology in Health and Illness E-Book (p. 236-8). Elsevier Health Sciences. Kindle Edition.
You have probably heard Michelle Obama and many others telling overweight people that they can drop their extra pounds by picking up their running shoes. But is this really the answer to the increasing epidemic of obesity spreading around the world?
Healthy Weight Loss = 80% Nutrition + 20% Exercise
Terri Edwards appeared in the 1998 edition of Shape magazine as one of their “Success Stories” for weight loss.
She was engaged in “an excruciating exercise program of power walking/jogging 35-40 miles per week, plus an additional 20 miles on the bike.” Of course she lost weight, but as the years passed she found that the unwelcome pounds came creeping back.
She read an article that, at the time, seemed to explain why this might be happening: “…as we age, our metabolism slows down due to natural muscle mass decreases, so we need to increase our calorie burning exercise. If we don’t, we gain 10 lbs every few years, even though we are still exercising.”
Discouraged by the thought of having to continually ramp up the extreme exercise as each year passed, she found that her health started to decline – “…high cholesterol, high blood pressure, swollen and painful joints, and hormonal issues. I was only in my forties, and my lack of health had become a source of great stress. I couldn’t imagine what I would be like in my 60’s. My joints already hurt so much!”
Eventually, she came across the landmark documentary film Forks Over Knives. Things changed from then on. And she was not alone. This very film revolutionised my life and the lives of many people I come across daily.
Terri, like many, many others, learned that optimal health was not about exercising more. Rather, it was about eating the right foods. “Not chicken and fish like I had thought, but whole grains, legumes, vegetables, and fruits!”
Leanest cut of beef ~28% calories from fat
Skinless chicken breast ~ 24% from fat
Tuna ~21% from fat
Salmon ~ 40% from fat
Eggs ~70% from fat!
Nutrition is Key
Even though she continued to consider that exercise and stress management are important “…the real key—80% of the equation—is nutrition – in particular, eating plants.”
Now, her main exercise is walking the dog daily for around 30-45 minutes with some gentle yoga four days a week – without the dog, I guess!
She says that her cholesterol levels have dropped and she no longer suffers from inflammation or pain.
While exercise and stress management are “…very important pieces to the health puzzle; it’s not whole without them. But, nutrition is the biggest piece of the picture. “You can’t outrun your fork.” “
Some edited thoughts (1.) from Dr. Greger
The food industries like to blame inactivity as the prime cause of obesity, not the promotion and consumption of their calorie-rich products. (2.) On the contrary, however, research suggests that the level of physical activity may have actually increased in the United States over the past few decades. (3.) We know that obesity is rising even in areas where people are exercising more. (4.) This is likely explained by the fact that eating activity levels are outstripping physical activity levels. (5.)…Researchers who accept grants from the Coca-Cola Company (6.) call physical inactivity “the biggest public health problem of the 21st century.” (7.) Actually, physical inactivity ranks down at number five in terms of risk factors for death in the United States and number six in terms of risk factors for disability. (8.) And inactivity barely makes the top ten globally. (9.)
…diet is by far our greatest killer, followed by smoking. (10.)
Of course, that doesn’t mean you should sit on the couch all day…. in addition to helping you enjoy a healthy body weight, exercise can also ward off and possibly reverse mild cognitive decline, boost your immune system, prevent and treat high blood pressure, and improve your mood and quality of sleep, among many other benefits.
References
Greger, Michael; Stone, Gene. How Not To Die: Discover the foods scientifically proven to prevent and reverse disease (Air Side Edt) (p. 393). Pan Macmillan. Kindle Edition
Freedhoff Y, Hébert PC. Partnerships between health organizations and the food industry risk derailing public health nutrition. CMAJ. 2011;183( 3): 291– 2.
Westerterp KR, Speakman JR. Physical activity energy expenditure has not declined since the 1980s and matches energy expenditures of wild mammals. Int J Obes (Lond). 2008;32( 8): 1256– 63.
Dwyer-Lindgren L, Freedman G, Engell RE, et al. Prevalence of physical activity and obesity in US counties, 2001– 2011: a road map for action. Popul Health Metr. 2013;11: 7.
Laskowski ER. The role of exercise in the treatment of obesity. PMR. 2012;4( 11): 840– 4.
Archer E, Hand GA, Blair SN. Correction: Validity of U.S. Nutritional Surveillance: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Caloric Energy Intake Data, 1971– 2010. http:// journals.plos.org/ plosone/ article? id = 10.1371/ annotation/ c313df3a-52bd-4cbe-af14-6676480d1a43. October 11, 2013. Accessed April 23, 2015.
Blair SN. Physical inactivity: the biggest public health problem of the 21st century. Br J Sports Med. 2009;43( 1): 1– 2.
Murray CJ, Atkinson C, Bhalla K, et al. The state of US health, 1990– 2010: burden of diseases, injuries, and risk factors. JAMA. 2013;310( 6): 591– 608.
Lim SS, Vos T, Flaxman AD, et al. A comparative risk assessment of burden of disease and injury attributable to 67 risk factors and risk factor clusters in 21 regions, 1990– 2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. Lancet. 2012;380( 9859): 2224– 60.
Murray CJ, Atkinson C, Bhalla K, et al. The state of US health, 1990– 2010: burden of diseases, injuries, and risk factors. JAMA. 2013;310( 6): 591– 608.
Joe’s Final Comment
For many years I also considered that exercise was the main answer. I would train for marathons, work myself into the ground – pushing my body so hard that I repeatedly wrecked my muscles and joints; but still I would find that my unwanted weight crept back, and those damned “love handles” would never disappear.
Now, at the age of 56, my body feels like it is at its optimal weight – the lowest level since I was in my teens. I never go hungry or actively control the quantity of food I eat – and I eat A LOT!
Before “going cold turkey” into a WFPB diet, I was starting to feel old and pretty pessimistic about my future, even though I was very conscious of my dietary intake and had been a vegetarian on and off for most of my life.
Now, my arthritis has all but disappeared. My joints no longer ache. I no longer get constipated or have the recurrent mouth ulcers and nose bleeds that I had for years. Getting in and out of the car, or up from sofas, no longer causes exclamations of pain. I feel like I have more energy now than I had years ago. My mental attitude is consistently positive and…I am really looking forward to the future.
Of course my and Terri’s claims about the health benefits of a WFPB diet are merely anecdotal; but without a personal experience of the power of plant-eating I would not be able to recommend it to other people. I just wish my parents had been able to enjoy its health benefits instead of the lingering and painful diet-related diseases that they endured.
If you have a personal story that you think would inspire others, let me know.
