Why Foods May Turn Against Us
Even Hippocrates suggested to “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” When did food turn against us and we away from it as our medicine?
Ancient Egyptians are well-known for their agriculture, dominated by growing and harvesting grains. At this time, we see the first documentation of obesity, the first heart attack on a hieroglyphs, along with the many heart disease cases among mummies found and analyzed. This already should pose a question in your mind: what do grains do to us? Are they harmful in any way? If so: why and how? And if they are not good for humans: why not?
Increasingly, grains occupy a highly controversial area in health and nutrition. As we know, the USDA, the ADA, and the AHA all recommend very high “whole grain” percentages for our caloric intake—45% to 65% of our calories are advised to come from mostly complex carbohydrates and the most carbohydrate-rich elements are grains. We listened to the USDA, ADA, and the AHA, and eat a ton of sandwiches, rice, pasta, cereal, corn tortilla, popcorn, pretzels, crackers, and so on.
The goal of these organizations originally was perfectly legitimate: they wanted to reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease, which was believed to have been caused by red meat and their saturated fats. These organizations recommended that we increase grain and carbohydrate consumption and reduce animal meats and fats, which now we know was based on a false hypothesis. But this hypothesis started a movement that was all based on a lie. Millions of people were misled by Ancel Keys doctored data and findings. So the benefit of moving to a plant-based diet is/was based on misinformation. This was a theory by Ancel Keys, which was (and still is) suppressed by a very large scientific community, because so many have major published papers based on this false hypothesis.
The hypothesis posits the theory that high LDL cholesterol causes cardiovascular disease, and much of modern cardiovascular treatment still follows this theory (including statins and LDL guidelines), based on the goal of reducing cholesterol, specifically LDL. Plant-based anything reduces LDL, but whether this reduction actually helps (or hiders!) went unchecked. Several studies that showed that lowering cholesterol hurts health went into the trash and the scientists were unable to publish against the dogma. See a study here and here. By far the biggest blow came from this paper, which re-examined an original data never published, and found that low LDL is actually harmful. This data was never ever published because the findings were against the “theory” of Keys, and the researchers decided to hide it, as if the study never happened. It was literally hidden in a basement box!
“High” cholesterol itself is very interesting, since by now we understand that cholesterol is the most important element our body makes for survival. It is so important, that it makes about 3 gr cholesterol a day, come rain or shine. After all, every single cell has cholesterol as part of its structure, our brain is over 80% fat and cholesterol, our hormones–including insulin, testosterone, estrogen, etc.,–are all made as part of the end process of cholesterol-making by our body. Now we also understand that LDL is actually part of our immune system. So reducing LDL is detrimental rather than helpful because it carries the fat-soluble vitamins, such as A, D3, K2, and E. So reducing LDL means reducing our vitamins… not very smart!
While we followed the instructions, see the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which started in the mid-20th Century, and is updated every 5 years since, recommends the reduction of saturated fat to almost zero and also removed red meat from our diets, we all got sicker. What I am suggesting here is that the people in the US (and, indeed, the whole civilized world) followed these guidelines and now we are all sick. Not only did we not reduce cardiovascular risks, but we increased them. The death-rates didn’t change relative to the increase of the population, simply because of the improvements in medical treatments, which keep people alive even with cardiovascular disease longer.
However, we have ended up with a host of new diseases we rarely had to deal with before. Metabolic diseases, like type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, obesity, high blood pressure, and others like cancer, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, etc. have doubled since the 1980s. Even the incidence of type 1 diabetes is increasing—associated with “environmental influences,” which can mean pretty much everything, including the foods we eat (or aren’t eating!). Humanity consists of a wide range of individuals. So one would expect that individual responses to a type of nutrition, such as grains, would differ. Interestingly, while there is a slight difference, the general population seems to be affected similarly, though the symptoms are broad.
“Houston, We Have a Problem”
Indeed, dropping animal meat and saturated fat and increasing carbohydrates (like sugar, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds—and of course grains), was not good for our health. Since I wrote about sugar and carbohydrates in general already, see here, and sugar and fat here, I will only discuss grains in this article. What are grains? Are they nutritious? Healthy? Or are they toxic? While I wrote about grains previously, see here, I would like to introduce a different angle that very few people know about.
Today there are fewer people than ever before who eat glutenous grains; the recent “trend” is to eat gluten free. I decided to examine what gluten free means, and could it be somehow connected to the problem. My reason for this research is a personal one: while I tested non-allergic to gluten, I have a huge negative reaction to even a morsel of grain. My reaction is an asthma attack to all grains—including rice. So if it is not gluten sensitivity then what is it?
Another reason for my curiosity, also personal, is that I am a migraineur and specialize in helping migraineurs prevent and abort their migraines without the use of any medicines. In that work, I have learned that carbohydrates are a migraineur’s enemy and grains are notoriously high in carbohydrates. It is also true that high carbohydrate foods, particularly those high in starches, such as grains, cause much more trouble to migraineurs and other glucose sensitive people than low starch low glucose carbohydrates, such as raspberries, for example. So what is the connection of all these to grains? Should we just look at gluten or is there something else of concern in grains?
What Are Grains?
Grains are seeds of grasses and are separated into two basic groups by most people: glutinous and gluten free. However, the distinction between these two is not nearly as significant as is believed. There is much to be said about non-gluten specific grain sensitivity—the condition I have—only it is less understood and seldom discussed. Gluten itself, is now understood to be a definite problem1. What about gluten free? To understand what gluten free means, one must understand where gluten comes from. I am fully aware that there are many celiacs—around 1% of the population are documented celiacs—who have major gluten allergies. For them gluten is a cause of major problems. The key to this sentence is “a” cause of major problems but perhaps not “the whole” problem.
Prolamins = Gluten + Gliadin + Zein +Hordein + Secalin +++
Gluten is not one thing but is just one member of a collection of proteins that largely fall into two groups: gliadins and glutenins, both of which belong to the main group of prolamin proteins. Prolamins have a high content of proline and glutamine (these are amino acids that are used to biosynthesize other proteins—so they have critical functions). In wheat, these prolamins are called gliadins, while in other grains they have mostly unheard of Latin names, such as zein of maize (corn), hordein of barley, secalin of rye, etc. See the complete (rather complex) article here. Since gluten is just one protein within this prolamin family, might the other proteins also be a problem? If they are, gluten-free is not enough protection.
Oats and rice, long considered to be gluten free and safe to eat, also have prolamins only to a smaller percentage. If you are gluten sensitive or have non-gluten specific grain sensitivity, you really should consider stopping all grains, including rice, corn, flax, and oats. Sensitivity to any protein within the prolamin family may mean one is sensitive to prolamin, all proteins in the prolamin group and not just gluten. So now you can see the reason for non-gluten specific grain sensitivity.
Are Grains Digestible?
Grains are grass seeds, after all, and the goal of a seed is not to dissolve in our stomach or intestines but to germinate and grow into another grass. Grain proteins are amazing plant chemicals capable of stimulating direct immune responses due to their peptide fragments and their huge molecular size. This may explain why so many people have grain (especially wheat) allergies even without being celiacs2.
What is common in all grains is that their proteins are not water soluble (some to a small degree) and are heat stable—meaning even heat doesn’t break them down into digestible proteins. As a result, grains are indigestible by the human body. Grain proteins have an unbelievably high capacity for molecular mimicry (an alien protein’s ability to pretend they are human protein), but because they are large and ride attached to smaller human proteins, this initiates an immune attack against them to our detriment. Our immune system causes damage to our own cells by the attack, as the immune cells must destroy our own proteins in order to destroy the grain proteins. The only animals that are able to metabolize grains are birds3. Even cows are not meant to eat grains—they get fat and age very fast from grains and become very unhealthy at an early age. The quality of their fat also changes into something vastly less healthy than pasture-raised grass-fed cows.
So, what happens to people who eat grains? While each human individual is different, and each reacts to food somewhat differently, some basics are the same: grain proteins cause damage to human proteins. The difference between individuals and their responses to grain consumption may show up in the length of time it takes for symptoms to appear and in the symptoms’ intensity and duration. Unlike symptoms of something simple, such as a broken arm, where pain is the most prominent temporary symptom and which is an immediate reaction to the broken bone, grains do their damage little by little via making changes in health conditions that appear completely unrelated to grain sensitivity and often take years to appear—except for baker’s asthma4. Entire fields of medicine and the associated pharmaceuticals have formed to cater to the damages that grains cause. Why does it take so long for grains to cause harm?
Autoimmunity
Autoimmunity refers to our own immune system misdirecting its attack against an invader and attacks self instead—earlier I referred to this as molecular mimicry. Autoimmunity may be followed by many symptoms, all vastly different from one another, appearing to be unique and independent diseases. For example, grain proteins may stimulate zonulin, which relaxes the seams of gut endothelium causing leaky gut syndrome. It may take years to discover leaky gut because currently it is not part of the “medical standard of care” to check for the possibility of leaky gut syndrome, also referred to as increased gut permeability. Leaky gut syndrome leads to local or systemic immune-mediated diseases (autoimmunity), such as Celiac disease, Crohn’s disease, food allergies, and even type-1 diabetes mellitus. Because leaky gut is primarily an inflammation, atherosclerosis, which is an inflammatory response to grains and carbohydrates in general, may follow. In fact, reduced carbohydrates (and thus reduced grains) diets reduce cardiovascular risks. As a result of the negative effects of grains on the body, a high-grain diet gives rise to overeating while remaining malnourished, for a very simple physiological reason, which is well summarized in the following quote:
“Eating more of poor quality but abundant forage to obtain these components generates too much energy, which may be stored in white adipocytes or dissipated by diet-induced thermogenesis5. In other words, ‘burning off’ excess energy’ can help to correct nutritional imbalances in …barely adequate diets, distilling out scarce nutrients including amino acids, essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals from energy-rich but nutrient-poor foods…”6.
Such malnourishment by overeating low nutrition/high energy foods, such as grains, aids in developing nearly all autoimmune health conditions, such as Hashimoto’s disease, Multiple sclerosis, PCOS, systemic lupus erythematosus, Sjögren’s syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, celiac disease, and also by some researchers: Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia7, cancer8, and many more. A more complete list can be found in the book Wheat Belly Total Health9.
In fact, the wheat germ agglutinin, is used specifically to increase immune response to produce antibodies in vivo. Grains cause autoimmunity—a deliberate, evolved plant strategy that ends up causing human diseases. However, since symptoms of autoimmunity differ among individuals, and because these autoimmune conditions take so long to evolve into full blown health conditions, most people don’t know about and won’t even suspect the causation. Human beings have proven to be excellent at adapting to all kind of adversity in their environment, including the availability – or lack of – certain food types. Certainly, some people alive today are less affected by grain consumption than others. Many of them may die in some unrelated illness, or what we term, “due to natural causes” before showing any symptoms as consequences of their grain rich diets. But we tend to live longer than ever before in the past so chances are that there is enough time for the emergence of some symptoms even for the most adapted individuals among us.
Autoimmunity and the Health Industry
Grains cause an immune response disrupting human health. However, they are cheap, have long shelf-lives, are addictive (grains release morphine-like substances in the brain), and they create life-long diseases that need medical care and medicines. While decades ago the health industry may not have been aware of the connection between grains and autoimmune diseases, by now we are closer to a more widespread recognition, and for conscientious scientists and medical professionals the information about the dangers is available. Production and selling of grain products in ever tastier and cheaper presentations will not be affected for quite a while, but you don’t have to eat them! There are hundreds of thousands of people who have already decided to take their health into their own hands and quit eating grains completely.
Why Are You Still Eating Grains?
This is a good question and I cannot answer it for you. Here is your chance to understand that grains may harm you. Now you cannot say “Oh I didn’t know”. I quit grains many years ago and I have reversed (or at least put to remission) all my autoimmune diseases within three years. You too can become a medicine-free healthy individual, free of diabetes, obesity, metabolic diseases, cardiovascular disease, lupus, Crohn’s disease, IBS, rosacea, acne, arthritis, asthma, osteoporosis, and many other autoimmune diseases. Make the change today!
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Sources
1 Aziz, I., Branchi, F. & Sanders, D. S. The rise and fall of gluten! Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 74, 221-226, doi:10.1017/S0029665115000038 (2015).
2 Watkins, R. D. & Zawahir, S. Celiac Disease and Nonceliac Gluten Sensitivity. Pediatric Clinics of North America 64, 563-576, doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pcl.2017.01.013 (2017).
3 Díaz, M. Food choice by seed-eating birds in relation to seed chemistry. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Physiology 113, 239-246, doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/0300-9629(95)02093-4 (1996).
4 Anton, P., Walter, W., Colin, W., J., D. M. & Angelika, G. Sequence analysis of wheat grain allergens separated by two‐dimensional electrophoresis with immobilized pH gradients. ELECTROPHORESIS 16, 1115-1119, doi:doi:10.1002/elps.11501601188 (1995).
5 CANNON, B. & NEDERGAARD, J. Brown Adipose Tissue: Function and Physiological Significance. Physiological Reviews 84, 277-359, doi:10.1152/physrev.00015.2003 (2004).
6 Pond, C. M. in Adipose Tissue Biology (ed Michael E.; Symonds) (Springer Science+Business Media LLC, 2017).
7 D’Andrea, M. R. Add Alzheimer’s disease to the list of autoimmune diseases. Medical Hypotheses 64, 458-463, doi:10.1016/j.mehy.2004.08.024 (2005).
8 Giat, E., Ehrenfeld, M. & Shoenfeld, Y. Cancer and autoimmune diseases. Autoimmunity Reviews 16, 1049-1057, doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autrev.2017.07.022 (2017).
9 Davis, W. Wheat Belly Total Health. (Rodale, 2014).
Interesting answer, Angela. That’s inspiring. Thank you.
+I have enjoyed reading your interesting article about eliminating grains. Although I am new at this, I believe that you are what you eat. I want to explore eliminating grains from my diet. Can you recommend a source of information for me that will outline/list the various grains? You mention bread, rice, pasta, cereal, tortillas, popcorn, pretzels and crackers but I would like a more extensive list. I have been referred by my sister in law who is delighted with your research on migraines; she is now migraine free!
Dear Mary Beth,
Thanks for reaching out. In the article I have a link to my first article, in which I detail the list of all grains–yo should read that article as well to get a full understanding of grains. In there I have the following list: “wheat, rye, barley, corn, oats, rice, flax seed, finger millet, fonio, foxtail millet, Japanese millet, Job’s tears, kodo millet, millet, pearl millet, proso millet, sorghum, spelt, teff, triticale.”
I need to add that although I suggest that pseudo grains are not grains and are safe to eat, it merely means that they are not seeds of grasses and contain no gluten or prolamin. However, they are seeds. Seeds–all and any seeds–are the “babies” of the plants and are, therefore, the most protected of all plant forms. This protection implies: huge amounts of plant toxins, which are antinutrients. Such antinutrients block nutrient absorption, not just from the seed you are eating, but also from the foods you are eating with the grains. These are: amaranth, buckwheat, chia, quinoa, chickpeas, common beans, common peas, fava beans, lentils, lima beans, lupins, mung beans, peanuts, pigeon peas, runner beans (green beans in the US), and soybeans. In addition, what we often refer to as nuts: almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, pecans, walnuts, Brazil nuts, cashews, pistachio, pine nut, sesame seeds, hazelnuts, chestnuts, macadamia nuts, etc., are all such treasured “babies” of the plants and so are filled with serious toxins.
It follows, that I recommend avoiding all seeds and nuts, be it grains or not!
Best wishes,
Angela
This is a very interesting article. It makes a lot of sense. There was one inexplicable sentence though. The last one in this quoted section
“The goal of these organizations originally was perfectly legitimate: they wanted to reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease, which was believed to have been caused by red meat and their saturated fats. These organizations recommended that we increase grain and carbohydrate consumption and reduce animal meats and fats. We followed the instructions, resulting in minimal reduction in the rate of coronary vascular disease because of improved medical treatment. ”
Please can you explain/correct.
Thanks
Dear Jan,
I can see that this may be misunderstood, and I could have done a better job at explaining, only I tried to keep the article short and not bore those who are familiar with the “story”. I can explain though in a comment response in better detail. I highlight with bold the parts of the sentence that I will explain in detail, so that it will make sense to you:
The goal: in the mid-20th Century, there was a huge movement toward replacing animals products with plant-based products. This was an unproven theory put forth by Ancel Keys. The theory was not only unproven but actually fraudulent and manipulated data, which started to surface–but was (and is still) suppressed by a very large scientist community, because so many have major published papers based on this hypothesis. The hypothesis posits the theory that high LDL cholesterol causes cardiovascular disease, which is absolutely not true, but much of modern cardiovascular treatment still stands as a result of this theory, based on the goal of reducing cholesterol. Since plant-based anything reduces LDL, whether this helps (or hiders!) health went unchecked and studies that showed that it actually hurts health went into the trash and were unable to be published. See a study here and here and by far the biggest blow came from this paper, which re-examined the original data and found that low LDL is actually harmful. This data was never ever published because the findings were against the “theory” of Keys, and the researchers decided to hide it, as if the study never happened.
they wanted to reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease, which now you can see was based on a false hypothesis, which started a movement that was all based on a lie. Millions of people were misled by Ancel Keys “findings, in which he doctored the data. So the benefit of moving to a plant-based diet is/was based on a lie.
believed to have been caused by red meat and their saturated fats is meant to explain that Ancel Keys had, as part of his hypothesis, that it is saturated fats and red meats that increase cholesterol, and since “he knew” the “fact” that high cholesterol caused cardiovascular disease, therefore saturated fats and red meat, by induction, must cause cardiovascular disease. Of course, by now we know that not only is this evolutionarily inconsistent–humans have consumed wild game
These organizations recommended that we increase grain and carbohydrate consumption and reduce animal meats and fats, but prehistoric humans lived off of wild game. We all know of the giant mammoths, the buffalo, the tools, the cave painting, the increase in brain size, the making and use of fire, etc. There is no cave painting of broccoli or carrots… and whatever plants prehistoric humans ate back then were mostly fiber and contained almost no carbs.
So the human evolution happened as a result of and with the help of red meat and saturated fat! And “high” cholesterol itself is interesting, since by now we understand that cholesterol is the most important element our body makes for survival. It is so important, that it makes about 3 gr a day of it, come rain or shine. After all, every single cell has cholesterol as part of its structure, our brain is over 80% fat and cholesterol, our hormones–including insulin, testosterone, estrogen, etc., are all made as part of the end process of cholesterol-making by our body, and now we also understand that LDL is actually part of our immune system. So reducing LDL is actually detrimental rather than helpful because it carries the fat-soluble vitamins, such as A, D3, K2, and E. So reducing LDL means reducing our vitamins… not very smart!
We followed the instructions refers to the Dietary Guidelines for the Americans, which started soon after this time and which recommended the reduction of saturated fat to almost zero and also removed red meat from our diets. What I am trying to say here is that the people in the US (and indeed, the whole civilized world) followed these guidelines and now we are all sick.
minimal reduction in the rate of coronary vascular disease: so not only did we not reduce cardiovascular risks, but we increased them. The death-rates didn’t change relative to the increase of the population, simply because of the improved medical treatment. This is I think what caused the confusion.
Thanks for your comment. I will update this last sentence–and some of the rest–to reflect what I actually tried to say there instead of what I said.
Best wishes,
Angela
Oh I forgot to say after reading Dr. Lonsdales work about B1 I recall him saying that for some keto can cause B1 deficiency and I often wonder if my experience doing keto might have been different/successful had I been taking B1. If I had it might have been a game changer. I do tell my friends who are doing keto to read Dr. Lonsdales work on K1. I am on B1 now and it has been a big help.
I am so glad keto workes for you. It works for many of my friends but for me eating that way nearly killed me, literally no exaggeration, by the end (4 years total) when I realized low carb and keto was making me sick I ended up with hashimotos, which I didn’t have before. I was very precise about it all and made sure to study up on how to eat that way and I too also used coffee but after the damage that happened I can’t do coffe anymore. I did no grain and did both intermittent fasting (not eating breakfast) and keto over a four year period and it made sicker and sicker every year until I was deathly ill. I only recovered by adding back fruit, rice and blue corn. I am finally not deathly ill it took me 3 years to recover without feeling like I needed to go to the ER every day. I likey will never try keto, IFing or low carb again as it isn’t compatible with my body. I have some friends who had the exact same experience as I had and another set of friends who thrive on it and even though we eat differently we all meet regularly to discuss health protocols and share info. We all decided that the only way to know if it will work for you is to try it. Some who do keto the occasionally do water fasting for 10 days at a time and they get great benefits from it. I likely won’t be doing any water fasting anytime soon 🙂 but it sure is interesting hearing them talk about it in detail and to root them on with their journeys. Thank you for sharing what you do I really appreciate it.
This is very interesting Betsy and quite counter intuitive, since Hashimoto’s is usually reversed in the ketogenic diet. Were you measuring your blood glucose and blood ketones (beta hydroxybutyrate) every day? The urine sticks are extremely unreliable. I don’t know what your ketogenic diet looked like but there are many ketogenic diets out there that are formulated improperly. In fact, I am working on a book at the moment specifically explaining what so many keto diets are getting wrong and why. The ketogenic diet is our default by the way, we were all born in ketosis and stayed in ketosis for all through out early years till about age 10, going in and out of ketosis but spending every night in ketosis. So given that it is the human base metabolism and is primarily important for the biggest growth and development ever, it cannot be harmful for us.
In terms of B1: most people will benefit from B1. It is a very important vitamin. I take B1 regularly. I also find that other B vitamins are often necessary, since a very large percent of the population cannot methylate folate (B9) properly, and the precursors of folate are B2, B6, and B12. The trick is to get all of these in bioavailable methylated forms (not synthetic). I get all of mine as sublingual–one by one, not a combined pill. The only B vitamin for me that is not sublingual is B9. I find that most people need to take a blood test for these vitamins and also homocysteine to tell us about your methylation ability. I am sure Dr. Lonsdales agrees that testing for homocysteine and B vitamins is one of the most important tests. I have a patient whose homocysteine was so high he ended up with a heart attack and a stent!!! And all he would have needed was the proper B vitamins.
So I think your keto diet was not a correct one and that may have initiated your troubles. In any case, you are doing fine now, and that is the most important thing. 🙂
Best wishes to you,
Angela
I will insist on gently and lovingly disagreeing and stand my ground to say keto does not work for everyone. I understand most keto proponents insist keto is the only diet we all should be on which unfortunately leaves no room for the possibility that it isn’t a good fit for everyone… but not everyone is going to fit into one box… the 4 years I did keto I repeatedly heard I was not doing it right. I thought everyone was right (and I was wrong) instead of respecting my body… so I did keto even harder and better each year only to get sicker and sicker. It literally almost killed me and I became severely disabled… I didn’t have thyroid issues before doing keto and I know keto proponents will say that’s impossible. It reminds me of when doctors say to patients your still fat because you’re obviously not following my instructions.
The kind of foods I ate. I avoided all sugar, grains and all fruits/juices. I went for organic and grass fed. For meats: beef, lamb, oysters, sardines, salmon, cod, shrimp. Vegetables: kale, spinach, bok choy, broccoli, cabbage, zucchini, arugula, carrots, sweet potatoes a few times a week. Good fats: Brain octane oil (MCT oil), Ghee, olive oil, grass fed butter. I used bone broth and gelatin. Dairy: I had eggs and used canned coconut milk without added sugar because milk at the time was not agreeing with me.. Thank God I can eat dairy now and raw dairy products really agree well with me. Desserts: I would make fat bombs with stevia/eurythitol… usually with unsweetened dark chocolate.
Like you I only ate 2 meals a day I did IF every morning and drank coffee with grass fed butter and brain octane (MCT oil). I used a breath meeter to test ketones which some say isn’t accurate but that was what I could afford. I didn’t use blood sticks because I couldn’t afford it. It’s a lot to ask anyone to check their blood multiple times a day to make sure they are doing any diet right. A diet shouldn’t be that hard and require such expensive hoops.
Even though there are people teaching how to do keto wrong there are many out there teaching how to do keto right like (Nora Gedgaudas, Gary Taubes)… I studied for 4 years, watched webinars and listened to podcasts.. It’s more likely that keto isn’t right for my body rather than I did it wrong the entire time. Who are people out there who you believes teach keto the right way so I can look them up?
I am very interested to read your book when it comes out… I do encourage my clients to do keto if that is something they are interested in doing and I tell them they will have to find out if it will or wont work for their bodies.
Betsy,
How can something we all were born with and stayed in it through out early years of the greatest developmental years be not good for everyone Betsy? That’s yet to be explained–you didn’t develop Hashimoto’s as a 2-year old… so clearly it is not ketosis but what you ate to get back into ketosis that is to blame.
Indeed, you did keto wrong. For one thing, sweet potatoes (or any tubers) in no matter what amount, are not keto food. Also, MCT oil (and I know they recommend it everywhere in keto diet books) is also bad. It generates ketones (MCT oils can only turn into ketones) inflating the amount of ketones you have in your blood and not actually letting your switch metabolic process into the fat-burning metabolism. That is, showing ketones in the urine or blood doesn’t mean you were in ketosis. I cannot tell you how many people eat a bowl of rice, then take coconut oil and show ketones, and believe they are in ketosis.
Also fat bombs are a bad idea. The idea of ketosis is that you burn the fat you have in your fat stores (your own body) and not that of fat bombs. Also, any sweetener you eat increases insulin–even if there is no sugar in them. Thati s because the brain thinks “it is sweet I need insulin” and releases insulin, which is then a block for ketone release.
Also, I know that black coffee is OK to have during IF but not butter or any fat, so your IF was not IF at all.
There are many version of what keto is out there but there is only one keto: when your body converts into a fat-burning machine instead of glucose-burning. There is really only one way to do it right such that you become completely “fat adapted” such that your body returns to a fat-burning preference, e.g. ketones, instead of glucose. This is how you were born. This is how human life in the wild was meant to be. Let me also say that thyroid disorders are pretty much associated with modern civilization and Hashimoto’s in general is an autoimmune disease, meaning your body’s immune system is fighting something–could be food, heavy metal, anything really that is not human, and it also kills your own cells in the process. Autoimmune diseases are all preventable, can be put to remission or reversed based on the proper environmental or nutritional change.
It appears that you ate many things in the keto diet that not only isn’t keto but also probably disagrees with your body, hence your negative response. I would not blame the basic human metabolic processes on that! I’d rather blame the application and methods of trying to get there instead. Such condition has never happened to anyone under my care who follows my ketogenic specifications.
Best wishes,
Angela
That is very interesting… add me to your email list when you launch your book.
When will your book be coming out?
What 1-2 other people who you would recommend who you believe does keto right?
I doubt I will ever try keto as I am feeling better than I have in a long time and don’t want to take any risk of feeling sick again… but maybe your book will inspire me to check it out… plus I’d like to pass it on to clients who might be interested… then I can hear about how it goes for them.
I meant to add that a HUGE contributor to me feeling better in a long time, in addition to the diet that I enjoy and works for me, is due to adding Dr. Lonsdales B1 therapy along with mag and supplemental B vitamins.
Thank you Betsy. I added you to the email list–though I am sure it will also be announced on this blog. 🙂 I am hoping to finish the book sometimes this fall and have it out in time for the winter holidays or sooner.
I am very glad you are feeling better by adding Dr. Lonsdales’ B1 therapy. That is great!
Keto is not mandatory; it is just an alternate approach, which many of us find amazingly powerful and easy to apply, particularly by athletes or those who work out a lot (I lift weights and kickbox since January because of all the energy and great health I have achieved from keto).
I am sure there are many books that are good for keto for the general public who have no health condition and just wish to lose weight or prevent disease. The problem comes in when we look for books and providers who would tailor a keto diet for a particular health condition. I found none so far that I agreed with for migraineurs.
The book I write will contain a lot more explanation about ketosis, metabolism in general, and some other nutritional methods as well, all of which are possible to convert into a great migraine prevention diet–and by diet understand nutrition and/or metabolic process. My current migraine book’s success comes from people being able to understand the process and not just follow directions. I aim to replicate that approach in my keto book. 🙂 I am very much looking forward to have it done but I also manage large Facebook groups and so my time is limited.
Thank you for considering passing it onto clients. 🙂
Best wishes,
Angela
I am really looking forward to the book!! Thank you 🙂
In a 3 day period what does your diet look like for 3 days? Breakfast, lunch and dinner.
And what are good snacks to have in between meals. At the moment I have to eat every 3 – 3.5 hrs and will stay on this hourly eating regime for a while… so I have to eat 2 small snacks in between meals.
I don’t eat gluten or wheat. Everything is organic, grass fed and raw dairy (milk, cheese, keifer). I typically eat cheese and fruit for snacks or small amounts of nuts and fruit. I do eat organic blue corn masa and brown rice cooked in the pressure cooker.
Hi Betsy,
Thank you for your question. Any corn or rice–be it organic–is still grain. Please see the list of all grains in this article.
In terms of what I eat: I only eat maximum twice a day. This is possible precisely because I don’t eat grain. Grains are volume and bulk but no nutrition, so while they fill one up, they generate hunger. The biochemistry of this is beyond the scope of this response, but grains and other carbohydrates (fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds in addition to grains) all end up making us hungry. So by cutting grains out of my diet, eating animal meat/seafood, dairy, and fat, I am less hungry eat maximum twice a day, and in the process, I reversed all my ailments.
Therefore I don’t ever snack. The frequency of eating is a very important factor in metabolic disease control. The more often one eats, the more insulin gets stimulated, and the more likely that one ends up with insulin resistance. In nature, there is a rhythm of eating, and snacks are added extras that are completely unnecessary.
I don’t actually eat breakfast! My first meal for the day is usually between 12 noon and 4 pm. With that start, a typical day of eating for me is as follows–and consider that I am not only not eating grains but I am on the ketogenic diet where most of my carbs come from dairy only. Others on the ketogenic diet eat lots of vegetables but they don’t agree with me so I usually eat no vegetables at all. I eat fruits like peppers or tomatoes, zucchinis and cucumbers, raspberries and blackberries, an occasional strawberry, some legumes but minimal, such as black beans usually cooked with raw sprouted (by me) almonds for extra nutrition. Black beans are very high in fiber and lots of very valuable nutrition.
My first meal is usually a couple of eggs with cheese, or just eggs, or just cheese, or a can of sardines, or pork rinds (a favorite), or leftover dinner from the night before (like my first meal today will be–I have not yet eaten and it is past 1 pm–my leftover steak from last night), followed by a glass of A2 (no A1 protein in my milk, which is inflammatory but A2 protein is not) whole fat milk with a half a teaspoon raw, unsweetened, cacao powder mixed up really well (cacao powder has lots of nutrients), and a small dash of salt. Delicious warm or cold. I then follow this with about 3 oz freshly brewed decaffeinated coffee to which I add the same cacao powder, a small dash of salt, and also add a quarter teaspoon cold pressed unsweetened cacao butter (it is creamy white in color–and adds wonderful flavor) and I add something here that is specific to my ketogenic diet: 5 oz unsweetened heavy whipping cream. The ketogenic diet is 80% fat. I eat nothing till dinner time. This breakfast can exceed 1000 Calories very easily!
Dinner is usually a good size meat or seafood–I am now in love with Sous Vide cooking, in which steak, any type of roast or sliced pork, and fish turn out amazing. I sear at the end in butter or animal fat–depending on what kind of meat I eat. I usually don’t serve side dish but if I do, I make zoodles (zucchini spiralized or shaved coleslaw size, cooked in butter, cream, garlic, and salt for a couple of minutes), or cauliflower with sour cream and almonds (cauliflower cooked, raw almonds ground to smaller pieces, roasted over butter on low heat, poured on top of cauliflower, add an entire container of sour cream and cook in over at 350F for 25-45 minutes, depending on the size of the cauliflower, just to get the edges of the sour cream browned), or a cucumber salad or just pickles, or sauerkraut or in the case of steak sour cream with prepared horseradish, etc.
In the ketogenic diet, we also don’t eat any starchy vegetables that grow underground, such as potatoes. So side dishes are limited and optional. Many people on the LCHF or keto diet eat lots of avocados, green leafy vegetables, and similar. They are very healthy so I recommend you eat quite a bit of those. Dressing on those woudl be olive oil.
A typical day is high in fat, medium in protein, and very low in carbs for me personally. I also work out very heavy nearly every day of the week with high-intensity weight training and kickboxing and so I eat perhaps more calories than most average people my age would eat. However, on the ketogenic diet one can eat as much or as little as one wishes. I keep short-term fasts of 24 hours not eating anything other than water and salt every week at east once. This improves immune system and recharges my body. I have never been healthier in my life. 🙂
Long answer for a short question but I think it is helpful to see how a grain-free diet can be utterly satisfying and beneficial.
Best wishes,
Angela