A Good Use of Taxpayer Money?

There is a lively debate occurring at all levels of government about how we need to cut spending in order to be more fiscally responsible.  Without turning this into a political discussion, I think most of us can identify areas where OUR money is being wasted without having to strain our eyes very hard.  

Case in point – Last week the USDA gave us a new guide to healthy eating, the colorful food plate shown above.  Granted it is simpler than the food pyramid, but is it really going to motivate anyone to eat a better diet?  And why should the obvious work product of big, commodity agriculture be the standard for what is a healthy diet?  Clearly it isn’t.

Personally I think the food plate as advocated by the folks at Nom Nom Paleo makes a lot more sense.

 Thoughts?

More Odds and Ends

1)      We harvested our first “new” potatoes yesterday (a mixture of La Ratte fingerlings, Cranberry Red’s, and Arran Victory).  They should make a great side dish tonight to go along with our Spice Rub Slow-Cooked Chicken from Everyday Paleo.

2)      The NIH has halted a major trial of a combination drug (a statin and Niacin) that was expected to have benefits to people with cardiovascular risk.  “The lack of effect on cardiovascular events is unexpected and a striking contrast to the results of previous trials and observational studies….”  Here is a link to more information.

3)      Yesterday our family sampled the burgers (grass fed beef) and fries (cooked in duck fat) from Bull City Burger and Brewery.  Highly recommended!

4)      What do you think about these two?  Separated at birth?

Odds and Ends

1)  Dr. Andrew Weil has recently revised his stance on saturated fats: 

“You’re correct that my thinking on saturated fat has evolved. One catalyst was a scientific analysis of 21 earlier studies, which showed “no significant evidence” that saturated fat in the diet is associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease. The 21 studies analyzed included nearly 348,000 participants, most of whom were healthy when they were enrolled. They were followed for five to 23 years, during which 11,000 developed heart disease or had a stroke. Looking back at the dietary information collected from these thousands of participants, the investigators found no difference in the risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, or coronary vascular disease between those individuals with the lowest and highest intakes of saturated fat. This goes completely against the conventional medical wisdom of the past 40 years. It now appears that many studies used to support the low-fat recommendation had serious flaws.”

2)  In spite of Dr. Weil’s intelligent reevaluation of the facts, our local newspaper dietician, Suzanne Havala Hobbs, continues to dole out the dogmatic advice of avoiding “artery clogging saturated fats.”  Come on Mrs. Hobbs, your readers deserve guidance that is based on sound science, not fat phobic conventional wisdom.

3)  If you are interested in making your own bacon, check out my guest post at Robb Wolf’s site.  This post is similar to my very first blog post Makin’ Bacon; however I have made the instructions much easier to follow.

4)  You have a few days left to post your June fitness goal in order to be eligible for the free, signed copy of Sarah Fragoso’s Everyday Paleo.  I will pick a winner on June 1.

Managing Cholesterol

I am NOT a true believer with respect to cholesterol being the root of all evil when it comes to heart disease.   That said, I think there is good evidence that elevated LDL levels (across large populations of people) may be an indicator of (BUT NOT CAUSE) heart disease.

From Paul Jaminet at Perfect Health Diet:

“LDL cholesterol is the ambulance crew that arrives at the scene of the crime to help the victims. The lipid hypothesis is the view that ambulance drivers should be arrested for homicide because they are commonly found at murder scenes.”

From Chris Masterjohn at The Daily Lipid:

“I think the evidence for the central role of the LDL particle in the development of atherosclerosis is overwhelming.  However, I believe the evidence is very strong that the LDL particle is a victim rather than a perpetrator in the process, and that it is the oxidative destruction of the particle itself rather than the concentration of cholesterol within it that is the culprit.”

With respect to HDL, there appears to be good evidence that higher HDL levels are associated with better health; however the simplistic explanation that HDL mops up the bad LDL seems to be both inadequate and wrong.

Again, Paul Jaminet:

“The lipid hypothesis presumed that the function of HDL is to clear toxic cholesterol from arteries, cholesterol having evolved for the purpose of giving us heart attacks. HDL then brings cholesterol to the liver which returns it to the blood via LDL (which evolved for the purpose of poisoning arteries with cholesterol, and giving HDL something to do).”

“But there is an alternative hypothesis: that infections cause disease, and that HDL has an immune function. This hypothesis would explain why HDL protects against infections and against all diseases of aging.”

I would strongly encourage you to read all three of Paul’s recent articles regarding HDL:

1. HDL and Immunity
2. HDL:  Higher is Good, But is Highest Best?
3. How to Raise HDL

I found the last article, How to Raise HDL, especially interesting (and it certainly doesn’t require taking a statin).

Here is additional information if you are interested in learning how to read Scientific Research.

SmackDown: Raw Vegan versus Paleo

photo credit: realhealthdebate.com

Last week Harley Johnson (a.k.a. Durianrider) champion of the “low fat, raw, vegan” experiment attempted to debate Richard Nikoley (blogger at Free the Animal).  With facts and reasoning on his side, Richard clearly articulated the benefits of eating a Paleo diet based on nutrient dense animal products. 

At one point in the debate, Richard challenged the listeners to compare the nutritional value of a small four ounce serving of beef liver to a “healthy” vegan alternative.  One listener (via 30 Bananas a Day) suggested that his meal of 5 pounds of fruit (mangos and strawberries) was nutritionally equivalent to the liver.  Five pounds of fruit (at one meal) – You must be joking (211 grams of sugary carbohydrates)! 

Note:  Not everyone loves to eat liver; however almost any cut of pasture-raised meat will show a vastly superior nutritional profile to the vegan alternative.

My Take

My worldview is strongly shaped by a belief that humans are a product of millions of years of evolution and adaptation.  While our large brains have enabled us to achieve great things (from a human point of view), we too often think that evolutionary rules do not apply to us, that we are special and different from the other creatures on the planet.

A case in point is the belief that humans are best suited to a vegan diet, one devoid of ANY animal products.  This belief is based on a moral argument that says keeping and/or killing animals for human needs and nutrition is wrong and unnecessary.  While I can appreciate the sentiment, it totally ignores how our species has eaten (AND ADAPTED) for thousands of generations. 

Let me be clear – I think that vegetarians, partaking of nutrient dense animal products such as eggs, milk, and cheese, can live in a healthy fashion.  Vegans on the other hand are choosing to ignore evolution and experiment with an unproven diet.  I do not think their experiment will end well.

Favorite Posts from the Past Three Months

I want to take the opportunity to say thanks to all of the readers of Soil to Sustenance who have visited during its first three months.  Your comments, encouragement, and suggestions have been fantastic. 

Also I want to say a special welcome to first-time readers who found the site via Real Food Wednesday.  You can subscribe to the blog by clicking on the RSS feed button or email button in the upper right hand corner and if you read a post you particularly like, please take advantage of the “Share” button.

Generally, I write about experiences here on the farm, as well as my ideas about food and nutrition.  Below are a few highlights since the blog began in December. 

1)      My So Called Healthy Diet – Part One, Part Two, and Part Three provide an overview of my journey to improve diet and health.

2)      A couple of widely-read farm posts are Keeping a Family Cow and Fashioning a Farm.

3)      Experiments in Blood Glucose Control – Part One and Part Two explain how I was able to improve my blood glucose levels through diet and exercise.

4)      Finally, Do You Have a Healthy Heart is an introduction to heart rate variability and how it can be used as a predictor of disease and stress.

Even if you don’t have a specific comment, feel free to say hello and introduce yourself.

Does Vitamin D Supplementation Work? You Tell Me.

Near the end of the 2008/2009 school year, Jenny and I began giving Neil and Evan a daily dose of Green Pasture Fermented Cod Liver Oil, and in late 2009, we added an additional 1000 IU of vitamin D in the form of a chewable gummy. 

Their quarterly attendance report is pretty compelling evidence that the stuff works.

Quarterly Absenteeism

		Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Total
Kindergarten	Evan	2	7	4	4	17
2008/2009	Neil	1	3	3	5	12
First Grade	Evan	1	0	2	0	3
2009/2010	Neil	1	0	2	1	4
Second Grade	Evan	0	0	0		0
2010/2011	Neil	0	3	0		3

 Comments are appreciated and welcome.

Do You Have a Healthy Heart?

photo credit: ekgtrainingonline.com

Most everyone knows that a low resting heart rate is a positive indicator of a healthy heart, one that is capable of moving blood around the body in an efficient manner [1].  In fact, some world-class athletes, Lance Armstrong for example, have resting heart rates as low as 32-34 beats per minute where the average person is more likely in the 60s or 70s.

However, resting heart rate is only a small part of the story (as I have recently discovered).

“When you lose flexibility and responsiveness, you die.  Perhaps the most spectacular example of this is heart-rate variability, i.e. the amount by which the heart rate alters from beat to beat.  This is, possibly, the single most sensitive indicator of a healthy heart, and a loss of beat-to-beat variability is one of the most powerful single indicators of the risk of dying of heart disease.”  From The Great Cholesterol Con by Dr. Malcolm Kendrick

Smart People Should Know Better!

Cognitive Dissonance:  “an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding conflicting ideas simultaneously.” 

When faced with facts that are hard to explain or inconvenient, many of our leading health experts take an approach of willfully sticking their fingers into their ears or repeating their pet theory over-and-over, as if that will make it true.   Unfortunately this approach doesn’t advance our knowledge and understanding and limits our ability to deal with many modern day health problems.

Below are a few examples where conventional wisdom doesn’t seem to match all of the facts.

Recent Reads – February 6, 2011

Here are a few items that caught my eye during the past week:

• For a bit of inspiration, take a look at Dave Parsons’ story at Mark’s Daily Apple.   Below are his before and after photos (16 months apart).

• Dr. Kurt Harris at PaNu wrote an interesting post a couple of years ago called Eliminate sugar and refined carbohydrates like wheat flour.   For the average American, 22% of daily calories come from sugar and HFCS and 30% comes from wheat flour.

Unbelievable!  What a waste of an opportunity to eat something nutritious.

• The USDA has updated its dietary guidelines again (amazing what a room full of bureaucrats can dream up). 
  • For a thorough but simple overview of the changes, check out this post by Stephan Guyenet.
  • For the geeked-out, uber-detailed, smack down version, check out Denise Minger’s post.

 

•  Finally, if you would like to make progress like Dave Parsons, don’t emulate these folks who ran in the annual Krispy Kreme Challenge (over 5000 people entered).