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This is another list of fabulous, low carb recipes especially tailored for diabetics but this time the websites featured are more diabetes focused with some providing their own take on sensible, drug-free, diabetes management and reversal. Feel free to look through each blog as all of them have a bunch of great low carb recipes and some of them contain a wealth of knowledge on natural diabetes treatment.

Top 10 Diabetes Blogs with Recipes

#1. Miso Poached Salmon with Ginger  

I picked this recipe because the ingredients are mostly low glycemic and mostly non-inflammatory. Miso is fermented soy (big differerence over regular soy) which means it is safe to eat – healthy even. Regular soy (unfermented) contains phytochemicals or anti-nutrients that are toxic to humans. This built in poison is nature’s way of protecting the plant from predators. The only way to get rid of it is to ferment it.

Make sure to source wild salmon – do not use farmed salmon. Alaska wild salmon is the best because the waters are still fairly pristine up there.

This dish also has vegetables, including, broccoli and asparagus so all the bases are covered.

Get the full recipe at GestationalDiabetesRecipes.com.

#2. Spinach Salad with Strawberries and Kiwifruit  

You might be thinking, isn’t fruit bad for diabetics? Strawberries and kiwifruit are relatively low in fructose and will not affect your blood sugar too severely. Plus the fact that when fruit is eaten raw and whole, the fiber slows down the absorption rate and you get all the phytonutrients and live enzymes intact. To put the sugar load in perspective; one cup of strawberries has about 7.7 g of sugar and one kiwifruit, 6.8 g of sugar. In the case of a salad you would use about half this volume. Contrast this with a 355ml can of Coke having about 39 g of sugar and you can see that we are talking about pretty small amounts.

We all know the superfood strength of spinach, it’s rated #4 on Dr. Fuhrman’s nutrient density chart. As is always the case, try and use organic ingredients and buy the chicken free-range.

Go here for the details DiabeticFoodie.com.

#3. DIY Pumpkin Seeds  

With Halloween about a month away, pumpkins will be coming onto the radar shortly. Pumpkin seeds are their healthiest eaten raw but if you prefer to eat them lightly roasted with a bit of oil and sea salt (as I do) then check out this great recipe. There are 3 versions: roasted, spicy, and sweet and salted.

*Note: The recipe suggests that you first boil the seeds in water and then roast them in the oven at 400 degrees F. I wouldn’t do that because if you do you will change the structure of the pumpkin seed fats. In order to retain these fats in their optimal state you should bypass the boiling step and roast them in the oven at 170 degrees F (the threshold temp) for 15-20 minutes. This will give you a nice roasted flavour and texture while still keeping the available nutrition intact. With the sweet and salted version I would skip the Splenda and use stevia instead.

Here’s the recipe DianeKress.wordpress.com.

#4. Sprouting Grains for a Whole Grain Diet – Sprouted Quinoa  

Many traditional cultures have historically eaten grain products for thousands of years and maintained robust health – diabetes free. The grains we are eating now, however, are very different from yesteryear. For starters they have been hybridized and modified to boost crop yields and withstand drought etc. Second, the way we prepare them has changed. We grind them into bran, germ and starch. We mill them at high temperatures and we do not properly prepare them. Both factors are causing disease in our body.

Grains contain anti-nutrients that are poisonous to humans. When we consume them unprepared, the effect can lead to health problems, like mineral deficiencies, bone loss, irritable bowel syndrome, impaired digestion, leaky gut and even mental illness. (http://www.westonaprice.org/food-features/be-kind-to-your-grains)

This is why grains must be properly prepared aka sprouted. They need to be soaked in water for a certain amount of time. This process neutralizes the phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors and other substances are broken down further resulting in better absorption when eaten.

Quinoa is an ancient grain, high in protein, rich in fiber, low on the glycemic index and gluten free.

Learn how to sprout quinoa (and other grains) at GitasKitchen.blogspot.ca.

#5. Avocado Tahini Salad Dressing  

I’m a big fan of avocado, mainly because it tastes so good and is very filling. It is the comfort food of health food. Avocado contains over 25 essential nutrients and is high in fat, saturated and monounsaturated, both of which are essential for your health. It is high in calories, 200 calories per 100 grams so you can fill up on this super fruit and be less tempted later by junk food.

Tahini is a seed that needs to be eaten in moderation due to its high ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fat (1:57). Ideally you want this ratio to be 1:1. Most folks get far too much omega-6 in their diet which causes chronic inflammation. Otherwise tahini, in small doses, is perfectly okay.

Get the recipe at SavvyVegetarian.com. Note: This recipe is from the ‘Wild About Greens’ cookbook by Nava Atlas.

#6. Thai Chili  

Although this recipe appears to be carb heavy because of all the beans, Tony, a type I diabetic, over at BloggingDiabetes.com says that it doesn’t spike his blood sugars. This may be due to the low glycemic index of kidney beans at about 38 GI . The recipe calls for adding bulgar wheat but I would probably skip that step. Instead you could add some ground beef (grass-fed ideally).

Check out the recipe here at BloggingDiabetes.com.

#7. Cold Tomato Basil Soup  

Tomatoes are a low glycemic fruit, measuring in at 38 GI. They are also rich in lycopene, an antioxidant that gives the fruit its red color. Consuming regular amounts of lycopene may prevent high cholesterol, heart disease and some cancers. Lycopene has been found to lower glucose levels in studies on rats.

When tomatoes are cooked the cell walls are broken down making it easier for your body to absorb the lycopene. Get eatin’ some of this soup today.

Find the recipe at HillbillyHousewife.com.

#8. Low-Carb Almond Pound Cake  

If ya just gotta have cake then this recipe may just fill the need without a blood sugar spike. This is cake made from almond flour so you avoid all the nastiness associated with wheat flour. My mother made a cake with almond flour (not same recipe) a few weeks back and it was super dry and didn’t stick together so keep that in mind. The author, Dr. Parker, had the same problem. Perhaps adding some coconut butter would fix that. The recipe calls for Splenda but I would skip that and use stevia instead.

Get the recipe now at DiabeticMediterraneanDiet.com.

#9. Three Great Appetizers  

These are actually three dips or sauces that you can use with appetizers.

The first is salsa which, if you are serious about your health, you should be making at home – stay away from the store bought variety. As the author says, salsa is mostly tomatoes and we know the health benefits of those (see above).

The second is guacamole, a popular Mexican dip that usually goes with corn chips but being a diabetic you will want to avoid. We also went over the health benefits of avocados earlier in this post. Can’t get enough of avocado!

The third is hummus, a Middle Eastern dip made primarily from chickpeas and a bit of tahini. Chickpeas are low glycemic at 30 GI but as mentioned in recipe #5, tahini is high in the wrong kind of fat, omega-6. Since tahini is not the main ingredient then you should be okay. The author says that it is fine to buy hummus if you can source a high quality brand otherwise you need to make it but don’t sweat it – it’s easy.

Since the appetizer part, a la chips, are carb central, the author suggests crudites, which in France means raw cut up vegetables like celery and carrot. That is a great tip!

Check out the recipe here at Mendosa.com.

#10. Atkins Stuffed Baked Mushrooms  

This Atkins recipe uses white button mushrooms but I am sure it would work with other varieties. White button are the most common type of mushroom but that does not mean they are lacking in nutrition. They have been shown to reduce inflammation in the arterial cells and thus reduce hardening of the arteries. They also boost your immune system by activating the cells responsible for killing viruses and they help ward off cancer.

I have never tried this recipe but looking at the ingredients makes my mouth water.

Get the recipe here at HealthyLowCarbLiving.com.

Top 10 Diabetes Blogs with Recipes

If you enjoyed this post then please consider leaving a comment below. You can also get my FREE guide on diabetes reversal by clicking here now.

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Diabetes sure can put a damper on what you are allowed to eat but hopefully this list will liven things up a bit. All the recipes here will surely satisfy your taste buds and keep your blood sugar stable.

The following recipes are a mixed bag, really, that I collected from the blogosphere. I consider them both tasty and healthy and easy to make. I hope you like them!

Visit each blog for the full recipe, and be sure to leave your comment sharing your favorite at the end of this blog post.

Top 10 Diabetes Friendly Recipes

#1. Green Smoothie  

Dark green, leafy vegetables are powerhouses of nutrition and one of the keys to reversing diabetes. Dr. Fuhrman ranks kale at #1 on his nutrient density chart. When you eat vegetables raw you benefit from the enzymes, vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients that would otherwise be destroyed by the heat of cooking. We all know that we need to eat more vegetables and one of the best ways to do this is by juicing.

Allow Robyn from GreenSmoothieGirl.com to show you on video, how to make a green smoothie using the superfood kale, other veggies and fruits. She’s got a whole whack of other videos there to check out as well.

#2. Meat, Tomato, and Mozzarella Stuffed Zucchini Cups  

This is for folks who are not big fans of veggies (myself included) or who have a bunch of overzealous zucchini growing in their garden. The meat and cheese give you the yum factor and the zucchini provides the nutrients. Zucchini contains vitamins A & C, as well as folate which combine to act as powerful antioxidants, reducing both oxidative stress and hyper-inflammatory disorders.

KalynsKitchen.com lays out the recipe in detail.

#3. Mexican Stuffed Peppers with Quinoa & Black Beans  

Another stuffed vegetable recipe but this time using peppers and no meat. Diabetics need to be careful with beans as they are carb heavy but at least the high fiber content will offset the glycemic load somewhat. Quinoa is an ancient grain originating in the Andes over 5000 years ago. It is classified as a pseudocereal which means it is not a grass, such as wheat or rice. Quinoa is gluten free and for a plant based food it has high amounts of protein and is low on the glycemic index which is great for diabetics.

OneLovelyLife.com is where you can find the full recipe.

#4. Salt & Vinegar Kale Chips  

Potato chips are my favorite food, period! But I seldom eat them because they add inches to my belly like no one’s business. The solution is kale chips – these things are pretty insane! The taste and texture trick you into thinking you are munching on potato chips, when you are really eating crunchy, yummy, superfood veggies. Variations on this flavour would be adding cheese and/or mustard.

Foodess.com is where this all goes down.

#5. Where’s The Crust Pizza  

Everybody loves pizza, as an occasional treat and this wheat free version ticks all the right boxes (almost). Indeed, where is the crust? How is this possible? The crust in this case, if you can call it that, is made from cream cheese…huh? This is pretty out there, wild! This is low carb pizza but high on loaded taste. Make sure you are real hungry for pizza as I don’t think it would take much to fill yourself up on this rich delight.

Get the inside scoop at PlainChicken.com.

#6. Avocado Egg Salad  

This is a basic recipe that every diabetic needs to know about. It’s quick and easy to make and very filling (in a good way) and has a low glycemic load. Avocado is high in monounsaturated fat (good fat) and contains nearly 20 essential nutrients. Eggs are an excellent source of protein and despite what you hear, from time to time in the mainstream press, they absolutely do not lead to high cholesterol. Just make sure you use free-range eggs – the few extra dimes is money well spent. This concoction is something you could easily wrap in lettuce if you want to avoid bread.

Go to SkinnyTaste.com for the complete recipe.

#7. Parmesan-Roasted Green Beans  

Here’s another basic recipe that is easy on the taste buds and encourages finicky eaters to get their veggies in. This is a popular dish in N.E. China and I ate it often when I lived there for 7 years but the Chinese use far too much oil for my liking. This version is not fried in oil, instead a baking pan is used, with just a smattering of oil on top of the beans. The best olive oil to use for cooking is “pure” olive oil as it has a high smoking point. “Extra-virgin” olive oil has a lower smoking point and breaks down at a lower temperature.

Visit BudgetSavvyDiva.com for the full recipe.

#8. Classic Buffalo Wings  

This one will go down well with the men in your life. I wasn’t sure if I should include this recipe as it is such a popular dish. For the few folks that are unaware about chicken wings then you are in for a serious treat and for the majority who already know about them then consider this as friendly reminder – make these wings tonight! Ideally you will want to use free-range, pasture fed chickens but don’t sweat it too much if you can’t source these birds.

Visit IBreatheImHungry.com for the instructions.

#9. Spaghetti Squash Au Gratin  

This dish falls in the comfort food category but without the blood sugar spike that comes from excessive carbs, in this case, potatoes. Spaghetti squash has a glycemic index of less than 20 so diabetics needn’t worry about blood sugar issues. Enjoy this dish guilt free.

DandyDishes.blogspot.ca has the recipe for you.

#10. Cilantro Lime Shrimp  

This Tex-Mex dish would be perfect as a light meal, accompanied with quinoa or wild rice. Can’t say I have ever eaten this but since there is shrimp involved then I know I would just love it. Hope you do too!

Take a peek at LanasCooking.com for the recipe.

Top 10 Diabetes Friendly Recipes

If you enjoyed this post then please consider leaving a comment below. You can also get my FREE guide on diabetes reversal by clicking here now.

When you follow a raw food meal plan don’t be surprised if you see results like the one of this man in the photo. This dude transformed himself by following a raw food diet. This is THE energy diet because you will be energizing your body in the best way possible and for the long haul. And I’m not talking about the quick jolt of energy that you get from coffee or energy drinks that give you a short burst of energy followed by a big crash shortly afterward. This is real energy – the fuel that your body can thrive under.

When your body is getting the ultimate fuel, it is better able to rejuvenate and heal from the ground up. Say goodbye to diabetes!

What Is The Raw Food Diet?

A raw food diet consists of eating uncooked and unprocessed foods, as much and as often as one wishes. Depending on the individual and their goals, the amount of raw food intake can range anywhere from 30 to 100 percent of total calories.

What qualifies a food as being uncooked is any food that hasn’t been heated above 115 degrees. Note: some enzymes in food are destroyed at temperatures as low as 72 degrees.

When foods are heated beyond 115 degrees the food enzymes are destroyed as well as many of the vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients. Cooked food aka dead food, has lost its life force which is important for humans vital energy.

Additionally, it’s not just the heat from cooking but any process that involves high heat – food processing, manufacture, handling and storage – will denature the food.

Enzymes Are Alive In Raw Foods

Enzymes are fragile proteins, that help break down food and transform minerals into a state where they can neutralize the by products of acid forming foods which are in abundance in a typical western diet. Enzymes are essential to balance out our body’s pH levels.

When a person eats a lot of dead food (and most of us do) the body is constantly required to use enzymes to break the food down. When live foods are introduced, however, these foods are much easier to digest because the naturally occurring enzymes predigest the food for you. This way the body does not need to rely so much on its enzyme stores and these freed up enzymes can be used instead on secondary duties, like healing. 

The Importance of Alkalinity and pH Balance

When your diet is acidic, like it typically is for folks on the Standard American Diet (SAD), once the food is broken down, it leaves an acidic residue in your bloodstream. If you continue to do this over a period of time, the body can no longer deal with all this toxicity and this inevitably leads to serious health problems, like diabetes.

Our blood needs to be slightly alkaline, 7.35pH and above. Below this level, the red blood cells have difficulty delivering oxygen to our cells and things start to clump together in our blood. As a result, our energy levels drop and our overall health is compromised. By alkalizing our blood through proper diet – eating more plant based foods (especially green veggies), you can restore the oxygenation of your cells and see some radical improvements in your general health.

The pH level of our blood is an important marker of overall health. Linus Pauling, over eighty years ago, found that cancer cells cannot grow in an alkaline, oxygenated environment. Remember, green foods=alkalinity=oxygen=energy.

What Foods To Include In A Raw Food Meal Plan

Within the raw food diet there is food that is classified as raw and food that is classified as living. There is an important distinction between the two, most commonly applied to seeds and nuts. When these foods are in their raw state they still contain the inhibitor enzymes and must be soaked (now considered living food) so that the body can properly digest them.

The same can be said for grains which must be sprouted. This means they have been soaked and hence activated. This process activates the enzymes, increases vitamin content and neutralizes anti-nutrients.

At the top of the list, in terms of health, raw foodists strive to eat as many living foods as possible, such as, greens, other non-starchy veggies, sprouts, fruits and properly prepared (soaked) nuts and seeds.

Next on the hierarchy of health are animal products like raw eggs, fish (like sashimi), meat (like steak tartare) and raw dairy products. With dairy, raw means unpasteurized so you must seek out a supplier. Find a supplier here.

The raw foodist can and should incorporate lacto-fermented foods into their diet. Lacto-fermentation is when the sugars and starches in milk and vegetables convert to lactic-acid. This process leaves the food full of healthy bacteria which is excellent for your gut health. When you ferment cabbage you get sauerkraut. When you ferment milk with kefir grains you get kefir. When you ferment milk with yogurt culture you get yogurt. See this article for more.

The raw food diet is the energy diet! (Tweet Me)

What Percentage of Your Diet Should Include a Raw Food Meal Plan?

Each person is unique with a distinct biochemical individuality. There are three types of people based on this criteria, protein type, carbohydrate type and mixed type. To determine your type you can either take a test or listen to your body and determine what foods are right for you. Check out nutritional typing for more. Some people do better on more animal products and fats and would need less plant based foods. These folks are considered protein types. Conversely, carbohydrate types need more veggies so more of their diet would include a raw food meal plan. 

Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead by Joe Cross

This is a wonderful film about Joe Cross an obese Australian who travels across America drinking only fruit and vegetable juice for 60 days. In the process he loses A TON of weight and ‘cures’ his rare skin disease. He also meets up with an American trucker weighing 429 lbs who he inspires to go on this plan as well. It is a very inspirational film.

Yuri Elkaim And Eating For Energy

Yuri Elkaim, BPHE, CK, RHN, a holistic nutritionist, is the creator of Eating For Energy, the #1 raw food diet on the internet – as seen on TV. This is a comprehensive wellness program that shows you step by step, how you can incorporate whole foods and a raw food diet into your daily life.

According to Yuri:

“If you lack energy, have dwindling health, are overweight, or simply are sick and tired of struggling with the latest “fad diet” then Eating for Energy may be your ticket.  It is a healthy eating guide outlining nutrition principles found in nature that when applied create an abundance of energy, a perfect body, and life-long health.”

Eating For Energy has satisfied customers all over the world and to date, over 50,000 eBooks have been sold! Not too shabby! I have seen dozens of testimonials of people telling him how the program has helped them reverse illness (including diabetes), lose weight and accomplish other feats of amazing transformation. It’s pretty obvious that this program works.

Although I have not tried Eating For Energy yet, I do believe that this could well be a killer program due to the many bang-on-correct things that I have heard Yuri talk about – this guy knows his stuff. Plus the massive number of eBooks sold, the huge number of satisfied customers and the high profile folks endorsing it, sure doesn’t hurt the credibility factor. I really do believe the answer to health lies in eating as many living foods as possible! His program will show you how.

Here are two testimonials from a couple of the big guns in the personal development/health industry.

New York Times Best Selling Author, Raymond Aaron says:

“In a world filled with dubious diet books, Eating for Energy identifies the proven steps that will lead to abundant health, a fit body, and radiant energy. I can’t think of a better book on healthy eating to help you get from where you are to where you want to be. It is easy, understandable, inspiring, and applicable. It’s the best tool to come along in years.” 

David ‘Avocado’ Wolfe, the ‘rock star of the superfoods and longevity world’, says:

“The entire book is framed positively and contains a wealth of solution-oriented action steps for readers. The recipes are very extensive as well.  Enjoy Eating For Energy and have the best day ever!”  

If you don’t believe that eating natural whole foods is crucial to your health and vitality then you’re selling yourself short big time.

Ever wonder why animals in the wild do not succumb to the diseases that plague mankind?  And even worse, that they begin to exhibit “our” diseases when we domesticate them? Obviously, the way we are eating (and living) is killing us…and our pets. Don’t you think it’s time for a change?

Eating for Energy is based on natural nutrition principles. It is not a fad diet. It does not restrict you. Instead, it empowers you to make smarter and healthier food choices for a radiant and energetic body and life.

To learn more about how raw foods can supercharge your health, Yuri has developed a special 27 page report that he normally sells for $49 but today I am giving it to you for FREE! This guide will help you transition into raw foods more easily.

You can download it for FREE right now ———> Harnessing the POWER of Raw Food – The Easy Way!  

In this valuable report, you’ll discover:

• Why you NEED to eat more raw food (especially if you want to reverse diabetes).
• The truth about getting protein on a raw food diet.
• 3 simple transition tips to the “raw side”.
• 6 deliciously EASY raw food recipes that you can enjoy today.

But that’s not all. In fact, there are several other “golden nuggets” that you’ll pick up once you get through this information. I guess you’ll just have to check it out for yourself.

==> Download Harnessing the POWER of Raw Food – The Easy Way! now.

Happy reading.

P.S. I know firsthand how frustrating it can be to succeed at eating healthy. And I’m tired of people (maybe even you) having to struggle with ridiculous suggestions and overly complicated gourmet recipes that take ages to prepare. That’s why you should read this and combine a raw food meal plan into your diet today.

——–> Get FREE Report Now!

]]> http://www.curediabetesnaturally.org/raw-food-meal-plan/feed/ 2 http://www.curediabetesnaturally.org/actos-bladder-cancer/ http://www.curediabetesnaturally.org/actos-bladder-cancer/#comments Thu, 28 Jun 2012 06:18:32 +0000 Alwyn Smith http://www.curediabetesnaturally.org/?p=796

Actos Bladder Cancer

There is evidence diabetes has been observed since the 6^th century B.C. It has been treated with insulin since 1921, but researchers are still uncertain as to what causes the body to lose the ability to produce and use insulin. The theory is that obesity and inherited risk factors make a person’s cells unable to accept insulin. Cells need to do this to process sugar and make energy.

The prevalence of the cell desensitization theory drove drugmakers to create medication designed to re-sensitize cells. The most famous of these type 2 diabetes medications is Actos. It lowers a person’s HbA1c by about 1.5 percent with its sensitizing abilities. HbA1c (glycated hemoglobin) is the measurement of a body’s average blood sugar.

Actos Bladder Cancer And Other Side Effects

As with many other unnatural remedies, Actos causes serious side effects. In May 2012, a medical study indicated that Actos increases a patient’s risk of bladder cancer by 83 percent. Actos already has the Food and Drug Administration’s toughest black-box warning for its congestive heart failure side effect. Several thousand Lawsuits have been filed due to this.

Why does the insulin-sensitizing drug cause these side effects? How does it sensitize cells to insulin? Researchers still don’t know for sure. Like the cell mechanisms that cause diabetes, there is still much about the microscopic universe that science does not understand.

In the realm of natural remedies, a new theory has been submitted as to what exactly causes diabetes. A study published in the journal Diabetologia in 2011 proposes that excess fat in the liver and pancreas stops insulin secretion and creates insulin resistance in the body.

To test this theory, researchers limited subjects to 600 calories per day. The participants in the study consumed a liquid diet formula. The diet was supplemented with three portions of non-starchy vegetables. These people were also encouraged to keep up regular physical activity.

In the first seven days of the study, fasting blood glucose and the liver’s insulin sensitivity returned to normal. At that time, the liver had lost 30 percent of its fat. Fat in the pancreas also fell away. In the next eight weeks, beta cells in the pancreas began to return to normal functional levels. That finding was significant because researchers had previously thought beta cells’ ability to make insulin couldn’t be restored once it was lost.

This is the first evidence that pancreas abnormalities in people with type 2 diabetes may be corrected naturally.

More research is necessary to prove the connection between calorie imbalance and pancreatic function. Restricting the body to 600 calories may not even be necessary — or healthy. The experiment set that extreme number in an effort to get results.

Ironically, this natural treatment isn’t so different from Dr. Frederick Allen’s treatment around 1919. Before insulin was invented, Allen sought to prolong his patients’ lives by limiting them to 450 calories a day. It worked, but kept his patients weak and starving.

People with diabetes shouldn’t attempt a low-calorie diet by themselves. Consuming fewer calories than you use can be dangerous. Consult a doctor and a dietitian if you are interested in the treatment.

Is The Actos Bladder Cancer Link Real? Click on the link below to find out more.

William Richards researches and writes about prescription drugs and medical devices for Drugwatch.com.

The primal diet, or paleo diet, is a way of eating that human beings were genetically designed for. It is a basic nutrition plan not only for weight-loss and vibrant health but also for peak performance in sport.

Dr. Loren Cordain is the author of the seminal book, The Paleo Diet and he has spent many years researching the evolutionary and anthropological basis for diet and health in modern humans.

Here he states:

“Simply put, human nutritional requirements for optimal health are determined by our genes, and our genes are shaped by the environment of our ancestors through natural selection. Many modern staples and processed foods were not present throughout most of the more than 2 million years hominin species have been present on earth.

The nutritional qualities of modern processed foods and foods introduced during the Neolithic period are discordant with our ancient and conservative genome. This genetic discordance ultimately manifests itself as various chronic illnesses, which have been dubbed “diseases of civilization.”

By severely reducing or eliminating these foods and replacing them with a more healthful cuisine, possessing nutrient qualities more in line with the foods our ancestors consumed, it is possible to improve health and reduce the risk of chronic disease.”

The Primal Diet Is The Original Diet

The primal diet is what we have been eating for about 99.5% of our approx. 2 million year existence, beginning with Homo habilis. Until around 12,000 years ago when we began farming and cultivating wheat we ate this diet exclusively. In the period since we switched from hunter-gatherers to farmers our genetics haven’t changed that much, if at all.

During our caveman days, we were tall, muscular, athletic and durable. As of late, we have devolved into overweight, sick and tired shadows of our former selves where about 66% of Americans are either overweight or obese.

The foundation of the primal diet is lean meat and organ meat derived from game, wild seafood, healthy fats including saturated fat, seasonal berries or fruit, non-starchy vegetables, nuts, a few tubers, roots and seeds.

Doesn’t Fat Make You Fat?

A big part of the primal diet is eating healthy fats, of which saturated fat is one of them. The myth that saturated fat causes heart disease has struck deep within our psyche. This myth was started by Proctor & Gamble around 100 years ago when they were introducing their brand of processed vegetable oil, Crisco.

At the time everyone used lard and butter for cooking – both animal fats. P & G saw amazing potential in their new product but they would first have to convince the public that Crisco was in fact superior to the old. Thanks to an incredibly slick and all-encompassing marketing scheme they were able to get the public over to their side and had them believing that this new vegetable oil was healthier than animal fat.

It wasn’t until around 10 years ago that this myth was finally debunked and the mainstream became privy to it. The public now knows that these hydrogenated vegetable oils (trans fats) that Crisco is made from, are terrible for your health and increase your chances of heart disease, contribute to cancer and a whole host of other serious illnesses.

Natural foods that contain saturated fat, like meat and tropical oils (coconut oil), are foods that are advocated by the caveman diet. They are a concentrated source of energy that your body needs and can be easily and efficiently used. They DO NOT make you fat!

Why Carbohydrates Are A Problem

Before man began farming the food we ate least of were carbohydrates, as they were few and far between. As a result, our bodies developed a signal to store energy from the foods that were least available – carbs. Today this is still with us so when we are stuffing ourselves full of carbs, our bodies are telling us to store this energy in our fat cells rather than burn it.

This is the reason sugar, especially fructose, and carbohydrates lead to excess body fat, obesity and metabolic syndrome. It’s not hard to see why America has an obesity epidemic on it’s hands – just look at the top 10 sources of calories in the American diet:

1. Baked grain goods and desserts
2. Breads
3. Chicken
4. Soda and energy drinks
5. Pizza
6. Alcoholic drinks
7. Pasta
8. Mexican food
9. Beef
10. Dairy desserts

Eight out of ten on this list are either carbs, sugars or alcohol, all of which lay waste to our metabolism. The foods eaten on the primal diet are in stark contrast to this sickness inducing list of foods.

Eat like a caveman! (Tweet Me)

Another reason carbs are a problem is because they contain gluten and lectins. Gluten is a protein found in many grains, including wheat. Many people today are gluten-intolerant and many others go undiagnosed. This condition can lead to all sorts of maladies including diabetes and autoimmune disorders.

Lectins in plants are toxic to humans and can wreak havoc on our gastro-intestinal tract. This can lead to the leaky gut syndrome and autoimmune disorders. Again, many sufferers go undiagnosed.

A big part of the primal diet is the elimination of sugar in all its forms with only one exception – fruit, in limited amounts. As we all know by now, sugar is TOXIC to our body and is one of the root causes of obesity, insulin resistance and diabetes. 

Foods to avoid on the primal diet then, are grains, sugar, dairy and processed food.

Exercise the Primal Diet Way

You are genetically wired to move like a hunter-gatherer. Exercises that we have engaged in over the eons include leisurely walking, heavy lifting and short bursts of sprinting or climbing etc.

When we were living in caves, folk weren’t running long distances for extended periods of time (aerobic exercise). Instead, we would sprint for short periods (anaerobic exercise) while chasing after deer and other game or evading predators. After a short duration of this, man would then rest for an extended period.

The idea is to mimic this sort of exercise whereby you exert yourself to your maximum capacity over a very short time period, say 30 seconds, rest and repeat. You can do this by sprinting, riding a bike, lifting weights, running on a treadmill or using a stationary bicycle etc. For more on this you can see my article on interval training.

It is now known that short (21 minute) but intense workout sessions 2 to 3 times per week are better at fat burning than daily aerobic exercise. While 80% of the success of any health program revolves around the diet, exercise is still important.

More Detailed Information

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The primal diet could be the answer you have been looking for.

In the video below, The Skinny On Obesity (Ep. 2): Sickeningly Sweet, the discussion continues on the impact that sugar (particularly fructose) is having on the world’s health and how people are addicted to sugar.

See the previous episode here ——> The Skinny On Obesity (Ep. 1): An Epidemic for Every Body

Increase in Calories Consumed vs Increase in Diabetes Rates (Worldwide)

It’s clear from this data (above) that a calorie is not a calorie when it comes to diabetes and obesity. The researchers found that when you break down what those calories were, the only food that correlates with this rise is sugar.

The world sugar consumption has gone from 98 million tons in 1985 to 160 million tons in 2010.

This is an increase of 63% but according to Dr. Lustig, sugar is 50 times more potent than total calories in explaining diabetes rates worldwide.

The cause is the combination of fat and carbohydrate consumption that has increased over this time frame. Eating fats and carbs separately is one thing but when the two are combined in one food, it’s a different story altogether. Sugar is the ONLY food that metabolizes in the human body as both a fat and a carbohydrate simultaneously, as it contains both sucrose and fructose.

How Sugar Is Metabolized

Table sugar (sucrose) is 50% glucose and 50% fructose and your body has to process each one differently. Glucose is used by every cell in your body for energy and only about 20% of it is metabolized in your liver. Fructose, conversely, is sent straight to your liver – all 100% of it – as it is the only place where it can be metabolized.

The effect fructose has on the liver is identical to that of alcohol and other toxins and like alcohol it is metabolized directly into fat, not energy, like glucose. Eating fructose makes you fat – plain and simple – and leads to mitochondrial disease and metabolic syndrome.

Note that HFCS ranges in fructose level from 42 to 55 percent so now you know why it is considered so detrimental to health.

The strain that fructose puts on your liver is the driver behind non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, insulin resistance, weight gain, high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, dementia and when the pancreas is shot from producing too much insulin you get diabetes.

Hunger and Hormones – A Vicious Cycle

The standard advice of eat less and exercise more may work to reduce weight and mitigate chronic metabolic diseases but in the real world this simply doesn’t work. Science has now discovered that there are powerful biochemical reasons why this is not possible. They now know that the hormones leptin and insulin work in tandem in controlling how much you eat.

In The Skinny on Obesity (Ep. 3): Hunger and Hormones – A Vicious Cycle, Dr. Lustig takes us through the explanation.

Addicted To Sugar – Leptin and It’s Job

Leptin has worked perfectly for thousands of years telling our brains when we have had enough to eat but as Dr. Lustig says, today this hormone has stopped working in the way it should and something is messing up the communication.

Leptin’s job is to relay messages to your brain that tell your body whether it is hungry and should eat and/or whether it should make more fat.

Normally when you gain weight, the extra fat makes more leptin which in turn tells your body that you should stop creating and storing more fat and kicks your body into burn mode.

These messages are sent to your brain that you are full and to stop eating but if the message does not get through then your body will continue to feel hungry and you will continue to eat and pack on the pounds.

The researchers have determined that today, in a lot of obese people, that this message is not transmitting.

Why isn’t the message getting through? The scientists now know that it is because people have become leptin resistant – these people have high levels of leptin but the leptin is not doing it’s job.

What is happening with people who have leptin resistance is their body is constantly bombarded with leptin and eventually it stops paying attention to the messages.

The main cause of this is too much sugar intake. The way in which sugar messes up the channels of communication is sugar gets metabolized and stored as triglycerides in the fat cells from where the leptin is released.

When a person eats too much sugar, then their body is producing a heck of a lot of fat cells and the corresponding leptin hormone with it. Now their body is constantly flooded with leptin and all too often this results in leptin resistance.

Insulin Makes You Fat

When a person with a normal metabolism eats 2000 calories of food, the natural reaction and the way our body is programmed to feel good is to burn all 2000 calories, through exercise and what not. This person’s weight would stay the same and they would feel content.

The more calories we have to burn, the better we feel.

With someone who takes insulin shots such as a diabetic or someone who has high insulin levels from their diet, the scenario is quite different. When this person takes in 2000 calories of food, 500 of these calories goes to fat, as ordered by the insulin. Now they only have 1500 calories to burn but their body wants to burn 2000. The natural equilibrium is now out of whack and the body reacts in a negative way.

The body interprets these lost 500 calories as a deficit and switches into sloth and hunger mode. Now your body wants to make up for these lost calories by eating more, adding yet more calories to the fat cells (especially around the gut) and continuing this cycle.

The industrial global diet that we eat now is loaded with the sugars and carbs that force our bodies to produce far too much insulin and this is the driver of obesity.

Is sugar more addictive than cocaine? (Tweet Me)

And on top of this, insulin blocks leptin at the brain and makes you hungry. The higher your insulin level gets, the more energy you store and the hungrier you get and creates this vicious cycle.

Addicted To Sugar – A Sweet Addiction

In the fourth installment, The Skinny On Obesity (Ep.4): Sugar – A Sweet Addiction, Dr. Lustig explains how we get addicted to the white stuff.

How can we eat more than we are supposed to? Well, we know that part of the reason is because of the brain’s inability to hear the message sent by the hormone leptin, telling it that the body is full. The message the brain gets instead, with people who have leptin resistance is, “Gee whiz, I’m starving here, give me some more of those Ho Hos”.

To find the other part of the equation we need to look inside the reward center of the brain. Here we will find that the pleasure center of the brain has been overly stimulated by too much sugar and the dopamine receptors have down regulated – become fewer. Now you need more sugar to get the same pleasurable feeling – your tolerance has gone up and when you are not on the sugar you experience withdrawal.

Being addicted to sugar – the process of down regulation, where the pleasure receptors of the brain are made fewer and an increased tolerance and withdrawal occurs is exactly the same process as an addiction to booze, cigarettes, marijuana, cocaine etc.

When you eat sugar, your brain’s natural opioids kick into gear and this is the start of an addiction. Keep this up and over time you will have developed a potent addiction. Your brain becomes addicted to releasing these opioids again and again.

Researchers believe that the sweet receptors located on our tongue evolved many thousands of years ago when we had very little access to sweet stuffs. This mechanism has not been able to adapt to today’s high sugar environment and therefore the brain is overly stimulated, leading to a powerful, biochemical addiction.

The more sugar you eat the more you crave. Fructose is a powerful pro-inflammatory agent that speeds up the aging process. It also promotes the worst kind of fat, belly fat which is indicative of diabetes and heart disease.

It is obvious by now that sugar is most certainly toxic, is highly addictive and even has the power to rewire our brain. It should be clear that you need to avoid this stuff at all costs. For those of you who may be addicted to sugar, it is best to quit cold turkey but if this doesn’t work then you should seek help from an addictions specialist.

If you still need the occasional something sweet on your lips then you can try stevia, a non-addictive, natural sweetener. Whatever you do do not use any artificial sweeteners as these are even worse than sugar. You CAN stop being addicted to sugar!

Why is obesity so common today? Is high fructose corn syrup behind this?

Since 1970 there has been a dramatic increase in obesity rates in America. In 1970, about 15% of the population were obese and by 2010 the rate had skyrocketed to over 40%. America now has an obesity epidemic on its hands.

What is going on here? Why are people getting so fat?

High Fructose Corn Syrup Is Playing A Big Role

Many different factors are at play but the main thing are the changes in today’s food environment – the industrial global diet.

Many people falsely believe that a calorie is a calorie regardless of what it is that they put into their mouth. The mantra from the diet industry is you eat too much and exercise too little therefore you are fat.

The truth is that some foods play a much larger role than others in contributing to weight gain and obesity.

You can have the same calorie count but the metabolic effect will be completely different depending on the food.

In the accompanying video, The Skinny On Obesity (Ep. 1): An Epidemic for Every Body by Dr. Robert Lustig, highlights the effects that the industrial global diet is having on obesity rates worldwide.

Obesity And Its Attendant Diseases

The industrial global diet is having a huge negative effect on people’s metabolism. When your metabolism goes, the result is metabolic syndrome and the related diseases. Metabolic dysfunction or metabolic syndrome, usually but not necessarily afflicts people who are obese. This is generally defined as a body mass index of 30 kg/m2 and above. Metabolic dysfunction diseases are:

• Type 2 diabetes

• Hypertension

• Cancer

• Polysystic ovarian syndrome

• Lipid problems

• Dementia

• Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

• Heart disease

These eight diseases account for a breathtaking 75% of the global healthcare costs.

It’s important to note that obesity is not the cause of these diseases but is a marker only. The cause of obesity is metabolic dysfunction and a major cause of that is excessive fructose intake.

Surprisingly 20% of obese people have a completely normal metabolism and will live a long life. For people of normal weight this figure is 60% so metabolic dysfunction still strikes 40% of thin folk.

What Causes Metabolic Syndrome?

Modern society with all it’s advances is fine and good but when it comes to the effects it has had on our food supply, food preparation and eating habits, it is disastrous. Some of the factors at work here are:

• People don’t prepare wholesome meals like they used to – it’s a fast food and junk food nation.

• Processed foods are loaded with unhealthy plant based oils, that have been processed and heated and these foods are loaded with sugar – two sure fire ways to really screw up your metabolism.

• People are stressed and sleep deprived.

• Folk now eat Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) meats, which are higher in omega 6 fat, pumped up with antibiotics and fed GMO feed.

• The soil that our food grows in is depleted of the nutrients that our bodies need.

• Folk are consuming way too much sugar/fructose mostly in the form of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).

What Is Wrong With High Fructose Corn Syrup?

Americans are now consuming about 150 grams of sugar per day and half of this is high fructose corn syrup. These kind of numbers are disastrous for our metabolism and about 3 times above our daily maximum.

According to Dr. Lustig excessive fructose consumption triggers biochemical mayhem – here’s why:

• Metabolizes differently than glucose whereby the majority turns directly into fat. Fructose is processed in your body in the same way as alcohol. Too much fructose consumption leads to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and one of the early signs of this is a “soda belly”.

• Fructose sends the hormone insulin mad, switches on the ‘hunger hormone’ ghrelin and switches off the ‘full hormone’ leptin. The result is your insulin level spikes, you become hungrier and you don’t know when you are really full.

• Leads to excessive fat around the middle and all the telltale signs of metabolic syndrome – lower HDL, higher LDL and higher triglycerides, higher blood pressure and higher blood sugar.

• With time you’ve got insulin resistance and full blownn type 2 diabetes.

So counting calories to lose weight ain’t gonna work. Calorie for calorie fructose does the most damage and should be avoided completely. Other foods to add to this list would be other sugars and all grains. It’s these three foods that are the leading cause of obesity today.

High fructose corn syrup is pure nastiness! (Tweet Me)

When these three foods are consumed in large amounts then your insulin levels will soar. When your insulin levels are chronically high, the message it sends out to your body is to create and store fat. Remember that you don’t get fat because you are eating too many calories. You get fat because you are eating too much of the wrong kind of calories, like fructose, sugar and grains.

What Is The Answer Then?

Minimizing the consumption of fructose, sugars and grains (in that order) and replacing these calories with healthy fats especially saturated fats.

Grains may seem harmless, whole grains healthy even, but this isn’t the truth. Grains quickly break down into sugar, sending your insulin level soaring and in the long run, insulin resistance. Your insulin level is the most important factor that determines your overall health and longevity.

Fats in general have been demonized for years and there is a lot of confusion about them especially saturated fat which is said to lead to heart attacks and cardiovascular disease. This is simply not true. The only fat that is truly dangerous is trans fat – vegetable oils and margarine.

Saturated fats are vital for your health. Some of the benefits include:

• A concentrated form of energy.

• Lowers cholesterol levels.

• Important for many biological processes.

• Required for production of hormones.

• Controls your genetic regulation.

• Acts as anti fungal and antiviral agents.

• Acts as building blocks for your cell membranes.

When cutting down on carbs you will need to replace this lost energy with saturated fats. Saturated fats are the perfect fuel for your heart and they do not raise your insulin levels, unlike carbs. Note that we are not suggesting that you cut down on vegetable carbs, these you should increase to make up for the lost energy.

Healthy saturated fats include (ideally organic and unprocessed):

• Olive oil

• Coconut oil and palm oil

• Raw butter

• Raw nuts

• Egg yolks

• Avocados

• Grass-fed meats

Note that olive oil should not be used for cooking, instead you can use coconut oil. Another healthy fat you should be eating is animal-based omega-3. The best source is krill oil or wild salmon oil.

How Much Fructose Can I Eat?

If you are in good health then a maximum daily intake would be 25 grams of fructose with a max. from whole fruit of 15 grams.

If you have any of the following : diabetes, high blood pressure, insulin resistance, high cholesterol, high uric acid or obesity then limit fructose to only 15 grams per day. It would be best if you avoided all sources of fructose until you get your insulin under control and then add it back in carefully. Remember that high fructose corn syrup is in so many foods today so always check the label.

Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride is the author of the book Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS). In short, GAPS is a condition that establishes a connection between gut health and the health of the brain. 

As Hippocrates said over 2,000 years ago, “All disease begins in the gut.” And modern science is finding that this is indeed true. If our gut health is compromised then the health of our entire body will go into decline.

It is estimated that 80% of your immune system is located in your gut and when this gut flora is in poor condition then your entire body and mind will be affected and can be the cause of chronic illness such as diabetes.

You probably didn’t know that a human carries about 2 kg of bacteria in the gut. We are talking about 100 trillion bacteria – more than 10 times the number of cells in your entire body.

The good and bad bacteria in your gut have to be balanced out otherwise your health will be severely affected. These little guys play a huge role!

Indicators of having too many bad bacteria in your gut are sugar cravings, headaches, diarrhea, gas, fatigue and more.

Incredibly, the latest research is finding that our gut even acts like a second brain and has the remarkable ability to influence our mind, mood and behavior. It has now been determined that depression and other behavioral problems are linked to our poor gut health.

What does this have to do with diabetes? Well, more than you can imagine. Diabetes can be a symptom of grossly mismanaged gut health and by understanding the GAPS theory and then following the diet or even just parts of it, you can significantly improve your health.

First we will discuss, Dr. Campbell-McBride’s primary focus – brain impairment in children.

When your gut is not functioning properly, GAPS theory has determined that the functioning of your brain could be impaired as a result and lead to neurological and psychiatric disorders such as ADD, depression, eating disorders, allergies, digestive problems and more.

GAPS and Autism

One of the conditions that GAPS addresses is autism. Twenty years ago in the western world autism was very rare and diagnosed in one out of every 10,000 children. Now in the UK and other countries it has increased to 1 in every 66 children.

Why such a massive increase in autism rates? The reason is not because of some growing abnormalities in the children born today but because they do not develop normal gut flora from birth. Gut flora is a big deal – recent research has found that 90% of our cells and genetic material resides in our gut flora.

As a result of these children’s abnormal gut flora, toxins leak into the bloodstream and end up in the brain affecting their cognitive functions.

Growing Abnormalities In Gut Flora and The Causes

How does a baby acquire it’s gut flora? At the time when the baby goes through the birth canal of the mother – if the mother’s flora in this region is abnormal then this will be transferred to the baby.

Dr. Campbell-McBride has noticed an increasing incidence of abnormalities in the gut flora ever since antibiotics were introduced in the late 1940′s.

• Antibiotics get rid of the beneficial bacteria (the probiotics) in the gut leaving pathogens to do uncontrolled damage. The more courses of antibiotics through the generations, the worse the damage in the present day child.

• Another factor which has compromised healthy gut flora is the lack of breastfeeding that has been in use now since the 1970′s. We now know that breastfed babies develop much better gut flora than bottle-fed babies.

• A third factor in ruining the good bacteria in the gut is the widespread use of contraceptive pills.

• To this list you can add all the processed carbs and sugars that people are eating, as these foods feed the pathogens in the gut and contribute to their rampant growth.

Gut Health And The Dangers of Vaccines

It is important to note that vaccines should not be used on a GAPS child as their immune system is too weak to withstand this highly dubious practice. Children are now receiving 20-22 vaccines and there is little proof that they do anything. Don’t expect any let up soon as this practice is highly profitable for the pharmaceutical industry and the FDA just rubber stamps it.

Dr. Campbell-McBride says:

Our children are being used as a market for selling vaccines. The children are vaccinated in our Western world I’m afraid not for the sake of saving the child but for the sake of making money. I’m afraid the situation came to that. It’s an extremely sad and worrying situation.

The future outlook is poor as all the factors listed above are not in decline and appear to be increasing.

Traditional Cultures Worldwide Ate Fermented Foods

Dr. Campbell-McBride believes everyone should incorporate probiotics (beneficial bacteria) into their diet. It is something that people all over the world have been doing for as long as we have existed. And as we now know – for good reason! Before the invention of the refrigerator people had no choice but to ferment their vegetables in order to preserve them.

Traditional cultures did the same with their freshly killed meats, like in Italy where they have cured hams such as prosciutto. In fact, ancient cultures fermented almost everything they had at their disposal because it was their only way of keeping the food for more than a few days. As a result they often consumed large amounts of healthy probiotic bacteria and kept their gut health in check.

With the advent of the processed food industry, this practice of eating fermented foods has been largely forgotten. The food industry’s main concern is shelf life and profit and health is just not part of the equation.

We need to get back to our roots and start eating like our ancestors. Our bodies need the probiotic bacteria in fermented foods on a daily basis. Start incorporating fermented foods, like sauerkraut, into your daily eating routine.

Make Fermented Dairy At Home For Better Gut Health

With fermented dairy you must make it at home. Store bought ‘probiotic yogurt’, for example, is not sufficient for two reasons: it is made from pasteurized milk and it is not fermented long enough for all the lactose to be eaten by the fermenting bacteria.

The lactose in milk is a kind of sugar and this is what the pathogens in your gut feed off of and thus proliferate by. This action contributes to the discomfort you may feel.

However, when you ferment dairy at home, the fermenting bacteria(kefir culture) is introduced into the milk, and eats all of the lactose. Now you have this fermented dairy drink with no lactose. This is called kefir. Get Body Ecology Kefir Starter here.

You must make sure to ferment for at least 24 hours in a warm place. The bacteria will not only consume the lactose but also break other things down so that the milk will be very easy for your digestive system to handle.

Raw milk is best for fermentation but if you can’t find that then you can use organic, pasteurized milk. Fermentation will bring back some of the life to pasteurized milk, pre-digest it and make it easier for your gut to handle.

You can also make yogurt by using yogurt cultures, which is milder version of the kefir. And you can also use cream instead of milk using the kefir culture.

All these products will keep for months in the fridge and you can use them as you like to maintain your gut health.

Obesity and Fats

There is this idea that fat especially animal fat is bad for us and makes us fat. This is completely false and in the GAPS diet animal fats play a big role. The composition of human fat and human breast milk is very similar to that of animal fatty acids especially lamb fat. Animal fats are the best fats for us to consume.

Polyunsaturated fats, omega 3, 6 and 9 are important but we need only a tiny bit of these.

Vegetable and cooking oils must be avoided at all cost, like corn, soy, sunflower, etc. These plant oils are very fragile and vulnerable. After the heavy processing to extract the oil from the plant they are damaged and chemically mutilated and the result is great harm for humans.

On top of this, when these oils are heated during cooking they are damaged even further. Ideally, human intake of fats should be 50% from saturated fats, 30-40% from monounsaturated fats and only a small percentage from polyunsaturated fats.

As is the case today, people are overdosing on polyunsaturated fats and this is severely upsetting the metabolic balance of the body. There isn’t a shadow of a doubt (hundreds of papers testify) that these oils cause cancer, diabetes, heart disease et al.

Any malady or degenerative disease today has been caused by the consumption of these vegetable and cooking oils. With the GAPS diet, all cooking, frying and roasting is done with animal fats.

Coconut oil is a saturated fat and can also be used. It’s best eaten raw and can be used to stabilize blood sugar. For folks with blood sugar problems it can be mixed with a bit of raw honey and put in a small jar that you carry around with you.

Whenever you feel the need you can chomp some of this mixture down and it will stabilize things quickly. It will also wean you off of the carb and sugar cravings. You can do the same using raw butter.

GAPS Nutritional Protocol – 3 Parts

The GAPS Nutritional Protocol consists of 3 parts – GAPS diet, probiotic supplementation and detoxification.

Part 1 – GAPS Diet

The first and most important part is the diet. This gets at the root of the problem – the digestive disorder.

The GAPS diet removes all the foods that are difficult to digest and replaces it with foods that are easy to digest and nutritionally dense. GAPS patients cannot digest and absorb food properly so their bodies and brains are starving for nutrients.

The diet works by pushing out the pathogenic flora in the gut, reestablishing healthy flora and healing and sealing the damaged gut lining. Once this starts to occur and your gut health improves you can introduce a wider variety of foods.

Part 2 – Probiotic Supplementation

The second part consists of supplements, the first of which is a probiotic that introduces healthy bacteria into the gut, kills the parasites and replaces them with healthy flora. Get your potent Body Ecology Probiotic Drinks today!

The next supplements are vitamin A and vitamin D; the former can be obtained from the food in the diet and the latter from sunlight.

The last batch of supplements are cod liver oil, fish oils, omega 6 oils from plants and digestive enzymes. Body Ecology Digestive Enzymes available here.

If you were to just go to the store and buy a supplemental probiotic, this would not be much use, as these products are for preventative use only and are not strong enough to make much improvement to your gut health.

Poor gut health can cause mental illness. (Tweet Me)

GAPS patients need a therapeutic dose. Only with a potent probiotic will you get a strong enough die off reaction. It is possible to buy therapeutic supplemental probiotics which you could use in conjunction with the fermented foods. The use of both is sometimes required if the patient has a severe condition.

A word of caution about ‘die off’. If one were new to fermented foods and all a sudden ate a big plate of sauerkraut, the large amount of beneficial bacteria would have a field day attacking the pathogens and would cause a high rate of die off. When this happens a large amount of toxins are released into your system and the result is you feel poorly temporarily.

These are the toxins that make you autistic or depressed or overly emotional or make you arthritic or have celiac disease or, yes, diabetic or something else. So your symptoms will get worse for a bit.

To minimize this effect, it is suggested that you monitor your reactions and if need be take baby steps and introduce fermented foods in small doses at first.

Part 3 – Detoxification

The third part of the GAPS Nutritional Protocol is detoxification. In GAPS patients there is a boatload of toxicity coming from the gut to the liver and all this garbage clogs up the system and toxins build up. By continuing to eat the proper foods the naturally ability of the body to eliminate toxins will come back. Take a peek at these Body Ecology Cleanse Aids.

Recommended for detox:

• Vegetable juicing

• Baths with Epson salt

• Fermented foods

• Supplemented probiotics

GAPS Diet – 3 Phases

There are 3 phases to the GAPS diet: the introduction diet, the whole diet and the coming off diet.

Phase 1 – Introduction

This phase has 6 stages that you graduate into as your gut health improves. A person could stay in this phase, anywhere from a few weeks to a year or two depending on the severity of their illness.

In this phase the emphasis is on healing and sealing the damaged gut lining as quickly as possible. This phase is for people with severely damaged gut linings, like IBS sufferers and therefore they must avoid foods which are irritative.

This would include avoiding fibrous foods like raw fruit, raw vegetables, nuts and baked goods.

They must eat foods that will allow the gut lining to restore and rebuild itself. Foods like meat stock, bone broth, soups, stews and gelatinous meats which produce collagen and gelatin are excellent for gut health.

The vegetables should be well cooked.

This phase of the diet is very wholesome and nutritious and works wonders in preventing many chronic illnesses including cancer, diabetes and more.

Fermented foods, of course, play a large role. You can eat fermented dairy, like yogurt with added cultures and then once this is well tolerated you can introduce kefir also with added cultures. Kefir has a more powerful cleansing action. More on kefir below.

If there is any problem with dairy then you can use fermented vegetables instead.

The go-to fermented vegetable is cabbage, then you can add carrot, onion, beetroot, garlic and others. Organic vegetables have natural bacteria already living on them so you don’t need to add cultures. You can get Body Ecology Culture Starter here for your veggies but again it is not mandatory.

Phase 2 – Whole Diet

This phase is less restrictive than introduction but the fundamentals remain.

Foods that remain off limits:

• All starches and sugars, including lactose of course.

• All starchy beans which includes the majority of dried beans.

Foods to include – nutrient dense foods that are easy to digest:

• All meats – fresh or frozen.

• All fish and shellfish – fresh or frozen.

• All non-starchy vegetables, ripe fruit, nuts and oily seeds.

In phase 2 it is possible to enjoy baked goods, just as long as you make the flour out of ground up nuts and oily seeds, like sunflower. You can throw an egg in there and a bit of salt and fat and voila – you’ve got bread or pancakes or whatever. To sweeten it or to make it moister you could put in a bit of fruit but do not add yeast. Enjoy tasty food and improve your gut health!

Phase 3 – Coming Off GAPS Diet

The GAPS diet should be followed for around 2 years depending on improvement for each case after which you can add a few foods that were previously forbidden. Foods such as potatoes and fermented grains can be eaten in moderation but you will never want to return to the SAD (Standard American Diet). 

The GAPS diet covers a lot of terrain but if you were just to implement the fermented foods part and made this a daily habit then you WOULD see results not just to your gut health but to your overall health for years to come.

For more information see www.GAPS.me or www.Doctor-Natasha.com

Dr. Weston A. Price is considered to be one of the greatest nutrition researchers of the modern era.

He was a Cleveland dentist and dental researcher who crossed the globe investigating native populations in the early 20th century. He noticed that these native peoples who ate traditional foods all maintained perfect health well into old age.

He studied the Swiss, Indians of North America, Polynesians, Africans, New Zealand Maori, and others. He found that when these native peoples switched from their life giving traditional diets to one made up of mostly processed foods, previously unknown degenerative illnesses began to develop. This was a pioneering discovery at the time.

Being a dentist he noticed that the natives on their traditional diet had robust, straight and non-crowded teeth and when modern diets with processed food were introduced the teeth showed signs of early decay with cavities developing and many more examples of crowded teeth in the young

It is well known that dental health is a strong predictor of overall health.

Watch the video below to learn more about Dr. Weston A. Price

Why Are Native Diets Healthy?

Dr. Weston A. Price’s work stands up to the test of time – which is quite remarkable considering the ever changing nature of diets. What he said in 1907 is acknowledged by the experts as still true today.

Of all the different cultures that Dr. Price studied he noticed a common link in all their diets, that allowed these traditional people to live healthy, disease free lives:

• The foods they ate were locally grown and in season.

• The foods were natural, unprocessed, organic and contained almost no sugar.

• Many of the cultures ate unpasteurized dairy products, and all of them ate fermented foods.

• A significant part of their food was eaten raw.

• All of the cultures ate animal products, including animal fat and, often, full-fat butter and organ meats.

The native diets contained ten times the number of fat-soluble vitamins (A,D,E & K) and at least four times the amount of calcium, other minerals and water-soluble vitamins (B & C) as that of Western diets at that time.

Raw milk is white gold! (Tweet Me)

Their diets were also rich in enzymes because they ate fermented and raw foods (enzymes help you to digest cooked foods).

Their intake of omega-3 fats was at least ten times higher than in today’s diet. The proper ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fats (vegetable oils) is about 1:1 but today it’s about 1:30 due to our heavy intake of vegetable oils.

Highlights of the Weston A. Price Diet

• Saturated fat including animal sources is GOOD for you as long as the animal is wild or pasture fed, or in the case of fish and seafood, that it is not farmed.

• Unfermented soy foods need to be avoided and only consume fermented soy, like miso, natto, etc.

• Vegetable oils (except olive) need to be avoided as they are high in omega-6 fat.

• Raw dairy is healthy and even some lactose intolerant folks can do fine on it.

• Fermented foods, like sauerkraut, kefir and yogurt, regulate your gut and keep it in top condition.

• They advocate bread made from sprouted grains and then cooked at a low temperature (not recommended for diabetics).

• Eat at least one third of your food raw.

• Eat locally grown, organic foods that are in season. Avoid processed foods and all artificial flavorings, colorings and artificial sweeteners.

Further Information On Dr. Weston A. Price

For those interested in reading Dr. Weston A. Price’s classic book, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration you can read it online here for free or support this great man and buy it at Amazon.

You can also get more information at the Weston A. Price Foundation and watch the welcome video below by one of the founders, Sally F. Morell.

This amazing woman along with Mary Enig co-wrote a groundbreaking book in 1999 titled Nourishing Traditions. It is an incredibly popular book and it has over 650 reviews on Amazon that you can view here.

Many diabetes medications fall under the category of sulphonylurea class drugs. For the type II diabetic, recommending a sulphonylurea class drug, with brand names such as Amaryl, Duetact, Glucotrol, Metaglip, DiaBeta, Prandin, Glynase, Micronase, Glucovance or Starlix is a lot like suggesting that someone who just ingested rat poison take more rat poison. It is guaranteed to cure the patient – through death.

To understand how serious this poison is, let’s look at the role of insulin. Most diabetics are aware that insulin signals the cells to take sugar from the blood and use it as energy. As the sugar goes away, so does the insulin. Insulin is a hormone with an instinct for helping us survive. It tells us to eat carbohydrates and to be really satisfied by eating them. It also carries sugars to the liver to be stored as fat for future use.

This would be an extremely useful survival skill if we lived in a feast or famine society, as our forefathers did as hunter/gatherers. As it is, since we live in a perpetual “feast” state, with fast food in the building and a vending machine around the corner, many people release more insulin than necessary, eventually leading to insulin insensitivity.

Insulin insensitivity means that it takes more and more insulin to trigger the cells to take in the energy, thus blood sugar levels increase and overall energy decreases. This leads to diabetes, defined as an inability to control blood sugar resulting in high levels of glucose in the blood. Many doctors attempt to bring the levels of glucose down by using sulphonylurea class drugs.

Sulphonylurea Class Drugs Cause High Insulin Levels

These drugs directly attach to the beta cells of the pancreas, forcing them to secrete insulin constantly. The idea behind them is fairly simple: lower the blood sugar levels by producing more insulin. Sulphonylurea class drugs force the beta cells of the pancreas to secrete insulin, whether there’s a need for it or not. The side effects: excessive levels of insulin.

Just say no to sulphonylurea class drugs! (Tweet Me)

Once a person realizes what insulin does, one can see that increasing the amount of insulin in the blood stream will decrease blood sugar levels, but will do nothing for increasing overall health. Here are a few of the problems commonly seen with people taking sulphonylurea class drugs:

•  Hypoglycemia (dangerously low blood sugar). Hypoglycemia is common and extremely hard to regulate. Patients who are able to “handle” sulphonylurea class drugs are typically instructed to increase blood sugar levels. This defeats the whole purpose of extra insulin.
• Hyperinsulinemia. This is the condition of having excessive insulin in the body, resulting in high blood pressure, high cholesterol, weight gain, insulin resistance, hardening of the arteries, and diabetes.
• Diabetes. Since diabetes is caused by excessive insulin resulting in insulin insensitivity, it is counterproductive to increase the damaging insulin even more.
• Cardiovascular Disease. Excessive levels of insulin are directly linked to higher incidences of heart attacks.
• Obesity. Excessive insulin directly contributes to weight gain, and “slow metabolism,” so that even with decreased calories, weight will easily increase.
• Carb Cravings – The extra insulin causes cravings that will make it even more difficult to maintain proper blood sugar levels and weight.

Sulphonylurea Class Drugs Tax The Kidneys

Additionally, sulphonylurea medicines are hard on the kidneys, which are frequently overtaxed already in a diabetic. Wouldn’t it make more sense to cure diabetes naturally, without the use of poisons such as sulphonylurea class drugs that exacerbate diabetes and decrease overall health? A natural cure, consisting of a healthy diet and proper exercise will reverse the diabetes, increase insulin sensitivity, and naturally decrease both blood sugar levels AND insulin levels.

Sources:

“The Carbohydrate Addict’s Lifespan Program” by Drs. Richard F. Heller and Rachael F. Heller.

“Drugs that Force the Pancreas to Produce (or Overproduce) Insulin” at Blood Sugar 101: What They Don’t Tell You About Diabetes by Jenny Ruhl.

“Hyperinsulinemia” at WebMd.com

“Sulfonylureas for Type II Diabetes” at WebMd.com