There has been quite alot of excitement in the press recently when researchers at Oxford University discovered a link between Vitamin B and Alzheimers. It is good that this is coming into the public domain. As we are about to discover, the body needs the B group of Vitamins for prevention of many of the major diseases prevalent today – and, for many of us, uptake of these B vitamins is compromised.
The B Vitamins used in the research were B6, 9 (folic acid) and 12. The latter is interesting since its main dietary sources are clams and mussels, liver, red meat, oily fish and some dairy - which puts vegans at a distinct disadvantage.
These 3 varieties of B vitamins reduce something called homocysteine in the body.
It has been known for quite a while that homocysteine is the best predictor of heart attacks and diabetes. And, to lower homocysteine you take B vitamins. These, of course cannot be patented as Statins can be. (or - unlike Statins, these cannot be patented and sold by the drugs companies).
So what is homocysteine? Well, when you eat protein, the body breaks it down and uses the methionine which whizzes about the blood stream to be used in various ways.
It is all very complex, and the following is vastly simplified. It is all about methylation, which is a bio-chemical term for the body adding or subtracting a methyl group (=1 carbon plus 3 hydrogen atoms) to all the various systems of the body to keep things running – eg it is how noradrenaline gets turned into the adrenaline that you need when that sabre toothed tiger jumps out at you.
As the body goes endlessly through this methylation process, during the conversions homocysteine is produced. Homocysteine is a poison to the body. So the body rapidly changes it to either SAMe or Glutathione using long named things like homocysteine methyltransferase, methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (thankfully shortened to MTHFR) PLUS B6,9, 12 , zinc, magnesium and something else called TMG (trimethylglycine).
Well, all these chemical terms bring me out in the heebie geebies. However, I’ll batter on because it is about to get rather interesting.
What is SAMe (S-adenosyl methionine)? It is a natural anti-depressant, anti-arthritic and liver protecting agent. Glutathione is a powerful anti-aging antioxidant and detoxifying agent – ie critical in the immune system.
Also methyl groups are added to and taken away from our DNA. When not enough methylation is happening the DNA cannot properly repair itself, leaving us at higher risk from cancer and autoimmune diseases.
Unless you are a vegan, all this seems interesting, but why should it be relevant? Well, certain things reduce the methylation process in the body. The most important of which is if your pee smells if you eat asparagus. Now this is argued about. All I will say is that no, not everybody’s pee smells if they eat asparagus. And if yours does, it is extremely noticeable. Apparently is it a gene that comes from the Romans and it is dominant, so it is on the increase. This gene is called the MTHFR gene (shortened by industry insiders to The Mother Fucker Gene). So 3 paragraphs ago I said that this stuff, MTHFR, is a critical player in methylation. And if you have the gene, this pathway is broken so the body cannot use the B vitamins to complete the cycle. Eek. Also if you are on the pill, methylation is compromised.
There is good news and that is that you can take B vitamins as a supplement – but they must be in methylated form. So rushing down to Holland and Barrett to buy B Vitamins will not necessarily help (in fact if B6 is not methylated, it can cause nerve damage. Even more eeeks.) More good news: the B group of vitamins are all water soluble, like vitamin C, so if you have too many in a day, you will simply wee them away.
Bad news; here are some of the medical conditions associated with high homocysteine:
Pregnancy problems (inc miscarriages, pre-eclampsia, premature birth, infertility)
Alzheimer’s
Anaemia
Birth defects
Cancers (breast, colon, thyroid, leukaemia etc)
Atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries)
Coeliac disease
Crohn’s
H Pylori
Parkinson’s
Pernicious anaemia
Psoriasis
Strokes
Heart Attacks
Polycystic ovary disease
The list is long – the above is a small sample. And it all happens because the body is lacking the pathway to make those vital substances to keep these horrible things at bay. Yes, people get ill for genetic reasons. But there is more choice in this than the drug companies would have us believe. You do not have to get these diseases even if they are in your genes.
Avoiding genetic diseases (and cancer) is a long and inevitably complex subject – but as you see from the subject matter of this blog, sorting out your B vitamins is 1 answer. I want to finish with a very favorite quote of mine that I first heard from Jonny Bowden (who wrote books like Living the Low Carb Life): Genetics Loads the Gun. Environment Pulls the Trigger. Environment = how we live, eat, drink, breathe, rest and detoxify.
Saturday, 30 October 2010
Tuesday, 26 October 2010
Protein
Man is an omnivore. We are designed to eat meat, fish, fowl and vegetables. We neeeed fat. The vitamins A,D,E and K are all fat based. The most important fat in the brain is DHA (the oil omega 3, commonly known as fish oil, has 2 components, EPA and DHA).
Barely a week goes by without us being warned not to eat red meat more than twice a week. Ditto with oily fish. We are constantly told to avoid saturated fat. And this is found in the fat of animals and butter – and other natural things like coconut.
Before I get onto the subject of protein, for some mysterious reason, manufacturers are now trumpeting that they are taking transfats out of their products. Since saturated fat is apparently public enemy number one, why should this matter??? Could it be that transfats are actually more dangerous to our health than saturated fat?? (The answer, if you are in any doubt, is a most emphatic YES, transfats are far far more dangerous to health than saturated fat).
What does protein do in the body? Well it builds and repairs muscles and connective tissue. It also does other things and one of those is its use by the liver as part of the detoxification process.
A constant problem I encounter is that because people can’t see something, they assume it doesn’t matter. It is rather like the men that go to the gym and just exercise the ‘beach muscles’ = chest, biceps, quads and abs. These are the muscles they can see in the mirror. The muscles the can’t see – the back muscles, the triceps, the hamstrings are ignored. So it is with the air we breathe and the food we eat and the water we drink. Pesticides cannot be seen. Fumes from aeroplanes/cars and their tyres cannot be seen. A shortage of vital minerals and vitamins cannot be seen (well sometimes they can in the form of skin disorders, for example). The damage you do to your liver by excessive alchohol, painkiller intake or inadequate protein intake cannot be seen. What you cannot see cannot harm you. Would that this were true.
The truth of the matter is that our liver in under constant assault from a cocktail of chemicals that we breathe in, rub on ourselves, eat or drink. In the past liver detox diets that excluded protein and involved fasting were succesful. Now the liver is under such assault that to undertake such a detox is very dangerous.
So the liver deals with the myriad of toxins it encounters on a daily basis in a 2 stage process to turn that toxin into a water soluble form that can be excreted by the body in the urine, sweat or faeces. The second stage is heavily amino acid dependant. Amino acids are what proteins are made of – the body breaks down protein in the stomach and then utilises the 20 amino acids it releases.
My point is that most people start their day with grains – in the form of cereals, porridge (or) toast. Protein is eaten rarely at breakfast on a regular basis. Lunch these days is frequently a sandwich – and how much of anything can you get in a sandwich? A sliver of ham, a leaf of lettuce, a couple of slices of tomato. Instead of eating a sandwich, what if you were to eat, say, a starch-free salad ? If this were to be satisfying it would have to contain rather more than the contents of a sandwich! Then comes dinner – and for most people this is the only time of the day that they eat an appreciable amount of protein. Poor old liver.
Another all too common problem I encounter is that people can no longer tolerate all forms of protein. I frequently hear ‘I only eat chicken and salmon; I can’t stand red meat – it is the smell that puts me off!!’. Many are vegetarians. And such is the misinformation given out that all this is seen as quite acceptable – if not desirable.
So what is going on? Why does the government recommend eating red meat only twice a week? Well protein is broken down in the stomach. For this to happen the stomach needs to make hydrochloric acid (HCL) – a highly corrosive acid. One of the main building blocks of HCL is zinc. In order to function properly the body needs about 42 vitamins and minerals everyday, a plant needs 17. Chemical fertilizers rely on just 3: NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Were we to farm naturally – and this means putting rotted compost that contains vegetable matter and waste products from mammals back on the soil, we wouldn’t have a problem. But for many years farmers have been encouraged to use agro-chemicals and so most of the vital minerals are being progressively leached from the soil. The principal ones in this case are zinc, magnesium and selenium. I run a very simple test for zinc levels in the body. And I have never ever had anyone come anywhere near passing this. Zinc is one of the unseens. What I find even more amazing is people don’t seem to be bothered by a catastrophic fail. Anyway, I digress. So with a lack of zinc comes a low level of HCL production. Sometimes people produce absolutely none whatsoever. So when they eat red meat, which does require HCL to break it down, the meat enters the stomach which bashes it about a bit but the lack of HCL means it stays in there for some time before reluctantly passing through and into the small intestine and on to the large intestine. The guts are a nice, warm, bacteria rich environment. Just right to make the undigested protein rot as it passes through. Now the brain is not stupid. It knows this is happening and it will discourage you from eating first red meats and then ultimately all forms of protein of animal/fowl/fish origin.
So rotting meat passing through the digestive tract is not healthy. Neither is a lack of fibre in the diet. This means people need to eat far more vegetables than they do. Different coloured vegetables. Lots of them. Rather more at lunchtime than a sandwich will provide. Unless, of course, you have the dislocating jaw of a snake and can eat a simply huge sarnie...
So I would argue that instead of avoiding red meat, which the government apparently urges, we need to sort out why we can’t eat it. This means restoring zinc levels, healing the guts and restoring optimal HCL levels. I have also yet to meet anyone with optimal HCL levels.
HCL in the stomach is highly corrosive, and its other job, apart from breaking down protein into it’s constituent amino acids is to bathe the other foods we eat in HCL which will kill off most of the bacteria living there. This is a good thing.
Other useful things found in animal proteins are vitamin B12 and carnitines. Now carnitines are fat burning enzymes – so not all parts of food are fattening. Hurrah. BUT you do need to break the protein down to access the fat burning potential.
More good news: meat protein is what they call thermogenic. This means the body has to work quite hard to break it down and this tends to raise metabolic rate. Starchy carbs are easily broken down – bread can be digested in the mouth. So no thermogenesis from your pasta with tomato sauce or pizza marguerita.
So Eat More Dead Things - they are surprisingly good for you. And those Dead Things you currently can't eat - if you sort out why, you will become an awful lot healthier on the inside.
Barely a week goes by without us being warned not to eat red meat more than twice a week. Ditto with oily fish. We are constantly told to avoid saturated fat. And this is found in the fat of animals and butter – and other natural things like coconut.
Before I get onto the subject of protein, for some mysterious reason, manufacturers are now trumpeting that they are taking transfats out of their products. Since saturated fat is apparently public enemy number one, why should this matter??? Could it be that transfats are actually more dangerous to our health than saturated fat?? (The answer, if you are in any doubt, is a most emphatic YES, transfats are far far more dangerous to health than saturated fat).
What does protein do in the body? Well it builds and repairs muscles and connective tissue. It also does other things and one of those is its use by the liver as part of the detoxification process.
A constant problem I encounter is that because people can’t see something, they assume it doesn’t matter. It is rather like the men that go to the gym and just exercise the ‘beach muscles’ = chest, biceps, quads and abs. These are the muscles they can see in the mirror. The muscles the can’t see – the back muscles, the triceps, the hamstrings are ignored. So it is with the air we breathe and the food we eat and the water we drink. Pesticides cannot be seen. Fumes from aeroplanes/cars and their tyres cannot be seen. A shortage of vital minerals and vitamins cannot be seen (well sometimes they can in the form of skin disorders, for example). The damage you do to your liver by excessive alchohol, painkiller intake or inadequate protein intake cannot be seen. What you cannot see cannot harm you. Would that this were true.
The truth of the matter is that our liver in under constant assault from a cocktail of chemicals that we breathe in, rub on ourselves, eat or drink. In the past liver detox diets that excluded protein and involved fasting were succesful. Now the liver is under such assault that to undertake such a detox is very dangerous.
So the liver deals with the myriad of toxins it encounters on a daily basis in a 2 stage process to turn that toxin into a water soluble form that can be excreted by the body in the urine, sweat or faeces. The second stage is heavily amino acid dependant. Amino acids are what proteins are made of – the body breaks down protein in the stomach and then utilises the 20 amino acids it releases.
My point is that most people start their day with grains – in the form of cereals, porridge (or) toast. Protein is eaten rarely at breakfast on a regular basis. Lunch these days is frequently a sandwich – and how much of anything can you get in a sandwich? A sliver of ham, a leaf of lettuce, a couple of slices of tomato. Instead of eating a sandwich, what if you were to eat, say, a starch-free salad ? If this were to be satisfying it would have to contain rather more than the contents of a sandwich! Then comes dinner – and for most people this is the only time of the day that they eat an appreciable amount of protein. Poor old liver.
Another all too common problem I encounter is that people can no longer tolerate all forms of protein. I frequently hear ‘I only eat chicken and salmon; I can’t stand red meat – it is the smell that puts me off!!’. Many are vegetarians. And such is the misinformation given out that all this is seen as quite acceptable – if not desirable.
So what is going on? Why does the government recommend eating red meat only twice a week? Well protein is broken down in the stomach. For this to happen the stomach needs to make hydrochloric acid (HCL) – a highly corrosive acid. One of the main building blocks of HCL is zinc. In order to function properly the body needs about 42 vitamins and minerals everyday, a plant needs 17. Chemical fertilizers rely on just 3: NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Were we to farm naturally – and this means putting rotted compost that contains vegetable matter and waste products from mammals back on the soil, we wouldn’t have a problem. But for many years farmers have been encouraged to use agro-chemicals and so most of the vital minerals are being progressively leached from the soil. The principal ones in this case are zinc, magnesium and selenium. I run a very simple test for zinc levels in the body. And I have never ever had anyone come anywhere near passing this. Zinc is one of the unseens. What I find even more amazing is people don’t seem to be bothered by a catastrophic fail. Anyway, I digress. So with a lack of zinc comes a low level of HCL production. Sometimes people produce absolutely none whatsoever. So when they eat red meat, which does require HCL to break it down, the meat enters the stomach which bashes it about a bit but the lack of HCL means it stays in there for some time before reluctantly passing through and into the small intestine and on to the large intestine. The guts are a nice, warm, bacteria rich environment. Just right to make the undigested protein rot as it passes through. Now the brain is not stupid. It knows this is happening and it will discourage you from eating first red meats and then ultimately all forms of protein of animal/fowl/fish origin.
So rotting meat passing through the digestive tract is not healthy. Neither is a lack of fibre in the diet. This means people need to eat far more vegetables than they do. Different coloured vegetables. Lots of them. Rather more at lunchtime than a sandwich will provide. Unless, of course, you have the dislocating jaw of a snake and can eat a simply huge sarnie...
So I would argue that instead of avoiding red meat, which the government apparently urges, we need to sort out why we can’t eat it. This means restoring zinc levels, healing the guts and restoring optimal HCL levels. I have also yet to meet anyone with optimal HCL levels.
HCL in the stomach is highly corrosive, and its other job, apart from breaking down protein into it’s constituent amino acids is to bathe the other foods we eat in HCL which will kill off most of the bacteria living there. This is a good thing.
Other useful things found in animal proteins are vitamin B12 and carnitines. Now carnitines are fat burning enzymes – so not all parts of food are fattening. Hurrah. BUT you do need to break the protein down to access the fat burning potential.
More good news: meat protein is what they call thermogenic. This means the body has to work quite hard to break it down and this tends to raise metabolic rate. Starchy carbs are easily broken down – bread can be digested in the mouth. So no thermogenesis from your pasta with tomato sauce or pizza marguerita.
So Eat More Dead Things - they are surprisingly good for you. And those Dead Things you currently can't eat - if you sort out why, you will become an awful lot healthier on the inside.
Monday, 4 October 2010
Stress
I do a very advanced form of fat callipering called The Biosignature. Basically where you store your body fat tells you alot about your health. And if you hold most of your fat around your navel, this is a sign of stress. Guess what one of the most common profiles in the UK is? You got it, stress. Profiles are different in each country – the Americans have much more of a problem with the insulin sites. The Australians have problems with pesticide detoxification. But we have stress.
OK, if your house is falling down, your significant other is having affairs, awful illness is found in your nearest and dearest, you will be stressed. But fortunately most of the time most of us are not experiencing this degree of stress. Yet still we collect that fat around the belly button.
So what exactly is stress? The simplest explanation is that it is when a sabre tooth tiger jumps out with the intention of making you lunch, you get stressed. The body mobilises all it’s energy into running away – and you either get away or get eaten. Job done. Ho, ho. No more sabre toothed tigers now. The stress response is when the body mobilises itself to move in order to survive. In response to a stressor, it releases cortisol into the blood stream which shuts down digestion, reproduction and any repair jobs being done around the body and raises the heart rate in preparation to feeding oxygen to the limbs in order to survive. It also releases Glucocorticoids. These things are like the back up guns – they essentially prepare more bullets for the fight for survival. Temporarily your immune system is ramped up. And you charge on through life.
Did you notice what I just said in the middle of that? It shuts down digestion, reproduction and any repair jobs being done around the body. This is hardly the time to repair the roof (read thyroid/pancreas/liver etc etc etc). The guts are lined with mucus to protect the stomach and small intestine from the Hydrochloric Acid and various digestive enzymes necessary to break down food. And the large intestines are similarly lined with mucus. Under stress, this vital mucus production is turned down. In other words the body is geared up to save you at every unnecessary expense. And we in Britain are highly stressed.
So why is our life so stressful? Here are some factors - not exhaustive, depressingly.
Missing breakfast. Body thinks it is a famine. It gets stressed. Mobilises you to get some food.
Skipping lunch – same as above
Eating lunch at your desk. Body not relaxed and able to digest food properly – not enough mucus lining the intestines, no production of HCL and digestive enzymes to properly digest the food.
Not eating regularly – going for more than 4 hours between eatings.
Poor diet – not enough protein and fat and too many carbs. Amazingly common in the UK. Body keeps on producing insulin exhausting the pancreas (which isn’t being repaired, remember) and blunting the response of the insulin receptors. (Carbs are all sugars, the worst offenders being starches (pasta, bread etc) and things like biscuits and sweeties. Ie too much sugar therefore increases the stress load on the body).
Not crapping enough.
Not getting enough sleep. Huge issue. It does matter. When on earth is the body meant to repair itself????
Daily hassle of commuting.
Squeezing too much in in the day
Pollution – we are an old and overcrowded country. It is very stressful on the body to constantly have to detoxify the very air we breathe – never mind the rest (eg painkillers for that irritating headache or cold you keep getting and won’t go away). The liver gets overworked. And not repaired.
Reverse breathing patterns. Unless you sang or played a brass/woodwind instrument, it is likely that you have reverse breathing. This means when you breath in, your tummy goes in. When you breath out, it sticks out. This is not good. It means your breath is shallow and akin to panic breathing.. Just as you would if a sabre toothed tiger suddenly appeared.
Perception of personal wealth. If you feel you are poorer than you would like = stress. Go, kill more tigers. But the bloke next door has already killed them all.
Not enough proper laughing. Find your favourite comedian on You Tube – and laugh out loud. It’s good for you. It helps you relax and lets the body get on with things other than mobilisation of the troops.
What I am saying is that if you reduce the stress on the body, you will lose belly fat – and feel an awful lot happier. Do you really want to stay up late to watch the telly -having drunk too much wine and stuffed down the nibbly bits MORE than you want a flatter belly and a happier and healthier life? For make no mistake about it – apart from giving you a belly, stress really is not awfully good for you....
OK, if your house is falling down, your significant other is having affairs, awful illness is found in your nearest and dearest, you will be stressed. But fortunately most of the time most of us are not experiencing this degree of stress. Yet still we collect that fat around the belly button.
So what exactly is stress? The simplest explanation is that it is when a sabre tooth tiger jumps out with the intention of making you lunch, you get stressed. The body mobilises all it’s energy into running away – and you either get away or get eaten. Job done. Ho, ho. No more sabre toothed tigers now. The stress response is when the body mobilises itself to move in order to survive. In response to a stressor, it releases cortisol into the blood stream which shuts down digestion, reproduction and any repair jobs being done around the body and raises the heart rate in preparation to feeding oxygen to the limbs in order to survive. It also releases Glucocorticoids. These things are like the back up guns – they essentially prepare more bullets for the fight for survival. Temporarily your immune system is ramped up. And you charge on through life.
Did you notice what I just said in the middle of that? It shuts down digestion, reproduction and any repair jobs being done around the body. This is hardly the time to repair the roof (read thyroid/pancreas/liver etc etc etc). The guts are lined with mucus to protect the stomach and small intestine from the Hydrochloric Acid and various digestive enzymes necessary to break down food. And the large intestines are similarly lined with mucus. Under stress, this vital mucus production is turned down. In other words the body is geared up to save you at every unnecessary expense. And we in Britain are highly stressed.
So why is our life so stressful? Here are some factors - not exhaustive, depressingly.
Missing breakfast. Body thinks it is a famine. It gets stressed. Mobilises you to get some food.
Skipping lunch – same as above
Eating lunch at your desk. Body not relaxed and able to digest food properly – not enough mucus lining the intestines, no production of HCL and digestive enzymes to properly digest the food.
Not eating regularly – going for more than 4 hours between eatings.
Poor diet – not enough protein and fat and too many carbs. Amazingly common in the UK. Body keeps on producing insulin exhausting the pancreas (which isn’t being repaired, remember) and blunting the response of the insulin receptors. (Carbs are all sugars, the worst offenders being starches (pasta, bread etc) and things like biscuits and sweeties. Ie too much sugar therefore increases the stress load on the body).
Not crapping enough.
Not getting enough sleep. Huge issue. It does matter. When on earth is the body meant to repair itself????
Daily hassle of commuting.
Squeezing too much in in the day
Pollution – we are an old and overcrowded country. It is very stressful on the body to constantly have to detoxify the very air we breathe – never mind the rest (eg painkillers for that irritating headache or cold you keep getting and won’t go away). The liver gets overworked. And not repaired.
Reverse breathing patterns. Unless you sang or played a brass/woodwind instrument, it is likely that you have reverse breathing. This means when you breath in, your tummy goes in. When you breath out, it sticks out. This is not good. It means your breath is shallow and akin to panic breathing.. Just as you would if a sabre toothed tiger suddenly appeared.
Perception of personal wealth. If you feel you are poorer than you would like = stress. Go, kill more tigers. But the bloke next door has already killed them all.
Not enough proper laughing. Find your favourite comedian on You Tube – and laugh out loud. It’s good for you. It helps you relax and lets the body get on with things other than mobilisation of the troops.
What I am saying is that if you reduce the stress on the body, you will lose belly fat – and feel an awful lot happier. Do you really want to stay up late to watch the telly -having drunk too much wine and stuffed down the nibbly bits MORE than you want a flatter belly and a happier and healthier life? For make no mistake about it – apart from giving you a belly, stress really is not awfully good for you....
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