Weekend Link Love
A PBS Science Bytes video describes a ketone-rich “life-saving diet” for diabetics that ends up sounding eerily familiar, and halfway through I was pretty jazzed. By the end, though, it was clear that their ultimate goal is to put the effects of having a fat-burning metabolism into a pill so as to avoid all that dangerous meat and fat.
I like this video better: Dr. Terry Wahls gives a TEDx talk on how a Paleo diet cured her MS.
Christmas is coming, parents. From Wired’s Geek Dad, here are the top five toys of all time.
It’s winter in Malibu, but summer in New Zealand. That Paleo Guy Jamie breaks down a recent study showing that endogenous defense against UV damage corresponds with circadian rhythm, and he makes some recommendations about when to tan for the best – and safest – results.
42,000 years ago, humans were deep sea fishing for tuna, a particularly large and crafty fish that requires complex maritime technology, quality hooks, and lots of planning. How awesome were our ancestors?
It’s been a good week for fish. Eating baked or broiled (but not fried) fish once a week was linked to a reduction in Alzheimer’s in a study with well-controlled variables. Another study found that infants who eat fish early may enjoy better immune systems (while both infants who took broad spectrum antibiotics in the first of week life and whose mothers took paracetamol while pregnant had worse immune systems).
How food flavor scientists literally engineer processed food to be addictive, in their own words.
Soft (read: agriculturally-derived, industrial, processed) foods lead to poor lower jaw development, crowded teeth, and trips to the dentist for wisdom teeth removal.
If you wanted to feel weak and puny today, look no further than this video of a guy busting out one-arm, one-finger pullups.
Recipe Corner
- Try to bite just a handful of these sweet potato bacon bites.
- If there’s one traditional, down-home classic American dish I miss from my childhood, it’s aloo gobi. Well, PaleoMe just posted a great looking recipe for Paleo aloo gobi. I’m on it.
Time Capsule
One year ago (Nov 29 – Dec 4)
- Dear Mark: Are Hybrid Fruits and Vegetables Healthy? – Will broccolini eat my liver? Are hybrids the same as GMOs?
- Ancient vs. Modern Fruits and Vegetables – It’s the battle of the Holocene!
Comment of the Week
“try to avoid excessive gasping.”
There are some situations where that just isn’t possible or desirable.
- Too true, oxide, too true.
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Posted By: Mark Sisson
Thank you for posting the video by Terry Wahles. It’s very inspirational. It’s great to see more people coming to this knowledge. I’ve lost 145 pounds in the past 21 months and gained my health back thanks to this lifestyle. What FREEDOM I have now. I’ve put my story down in a blog. I enjoy your web site, keep up the good work.
Inspiring video. Every time I hear a story of recovery or triumph, I am struck at how it is often the result of an unwillingness to give in. Never give up…NEVER!
the “toy” video reminds of the book The Secret Garden, where the housekeeper gives a girl a jump rope…jump ropes are great for sprints- just try it for a few minutes and you’ll see how intense it is!
I just made the aloo gobi recipe for lunch… it is ridiculously, lick-the-bowl, awesome. Thanks!
That CBS story about food flavorists is eye-opening. It is going to make me even more careful about eating processed foods.
Great Ted Talk
Feeding diabetic mice less sugar improved their blood sugar? Shocker.
Science Bytes: “We don’t want to put people on a high-fat diet…” Geez–why don’t they just talk to everybody on this site! There wouldn’t even be any liability and they’d have all the data they need. Sometimes these researchers really work in a vacuum…
The TED talk was great, but there is no way my digestive system could handle the fiber from 9 cups of veggies per day. I also found it off that she didn’t include possibly the most nutrient-dense food in existence–eggs!
I have heard the theory that eating softer foods leads to smaller jaws before. It’s in the Weston Price book. But I think people are leaping to conclusions. Not about jaws getting smaller–clearly that is happening, but about the reason why. First of all, I’m not sure why chewing more would lead to a wider or longer jaw. Is there any evidence of this? Is there any evidence that talking a lot when young leads to a larger jaw, or that walking early leads to longer legs? I don’t see that there is a correlation between use of a muscles and the length or width of the underlying bone.
Also, my impression is that in pre-agricultural societies (and in agricultural societies without access to formula), children breastfeed much longer than they do in modern societies, typically for the first two years or more. If that’s so, then their jaws are not getting bigger from chewing hard foods.
It seems more likely to me that smaller jaws are being caused by the nutrients in the foods we eat, or, I should say, the lack of certain nutrients. Comparing the jaw size and maxilla/mandible width of different babied at birth or in utero would be an interesting way to see if the change takes place before foods are introduced. I suspect it does.
Loved Dr. Wahl’s video and proceeded to poke around her website. Her diet seems to be low fat of the Loren Cordain type. I do primal / paleo because I have an autoimmune condition. I was just about persuaded on the whole fat thing, slather my veg in duck fat have just located a marrow bone supplier but when someone like Dr. Wahl is advocating a low fat paleo version it has me questioning again. Anyone any thoughts on this?
I am an MD, the remark at the end where that guy says “we are looking for a drug” after the recommendation to stay away from that “dangerous fat”(that doesn’t cause diabetic complications, GLUCOSE DOES), made me laugh hysterically. I can’t believe how pervasive this low fat dogma is in the medical profession, the solution is so simple, if your overweight and insulin resistant stop eating CARBS, its that simple. All animals evolved two fuel systems, one fuel is fat(in ketone and FFA form) and carbs. The ketone/fat fuel is not purely for “starvation mode”, most species of mammals are burning Glucose vs Ketones depending on the season and availability of nutrients in the environment. Are modern predicament is a Fructose/Glucose/Polyunsaturated fat/insulin resistance problem not a saturated fat/protein ketogenic problem. I just hope more doctors in my generation wake up to this lunacy and actually treat the etiology of a preventative disease.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Paleo/comments/okn98/this_woman_had_ms_that_she_cured_with_a_paleo_diet/c3i53z2 ‘MS can be asymptomatic and appear to go into remission when in fact there has been no change other than in the symptoms themselves. There is no known cure for MS.’
Great point on the fact that there is no known cure for MS. I’m dealing with this disease myself and it is very individual – what works for some does not for others, and it it very difficult to predict. While I don’t doubt following Dr. Wahl’s diet plan will make people healthier and may very well improve symptoms, it doesn’t mean the disease is cured or necessarily even slowed. Symptoms are just the tip of the iceberg – I’ve linked an interesting article on MS for any interested – and it talks a lot about inflammation, so no wonder her diet helped her
http://www.mscenter.org/images/stories/InformsSummer09lowres.pdf