Managing fruit cravings

I find myself many times confusing thirst for hunger. When I develop a food craving these days, the first thing I try to do is take a drink.

If the craving remains, a trick that I’ve used successfully with fruit is to reduce the quantity significantly, and then bury it in cream (unsweetened whipped cream works particularly well with berries). My wife jokes that I’m having a little fruit with my cream. The thing is, though, that it’s much easier to eat a huge bowl of fruit than it is to eat a huge bowl of cream; the cream works to activate satiety, where the fruit does the reverse. At least for me. The added fat also reduces the overall GI, which in turn helps minimize blood sugar swings.

Measuring your nutrient levels

I have found that detecting and then correcting nutrient deficiencies is a very important aspect of treating a number of otherwise "resistant" health conditions. Accurate measurement of your current status is the first step.

Measuring nutrient levels is complicated by the fact that enzymes and molecular pumps in cell walls selectively create concentration gradients between the plasma and the inside of the cell for some nutrients. In general, measuring the level inside red blood cells, as opposed to in the plasma, results in the measurements that most accurately reflect functional ability. However, there are exceptions—for example magnesium, for which there isn’t really a good blood test (a loading test is the best measurement).

[[MORE]]There’s also another class of tests related to “functional” levels of both vitamins and minerals. I know a couple of docs and researchers that swear by those tests, but my personal experience with them hasn’t been very good (and they’re expensive).

You can get some sense of deficiencies from looking at trace mineral levels in hair. The advantage is that the test is cheap and easy to do. Unfortunately, those results are easily contaminated (even from things like chromium on the blades of scissors used to cut the hair, as well as shampoo contents). Mineral levels in hair are generally most useful for detecting heavy metals.

Here are links to a few labs that do the right kind of tests:


http://www.doctorsdata.com/home.asp
http://www.metametrix.com/content/Home
http://www.genovadiagnostics.com/

Correcting deficiencies is a whole other art and science, because so many factors are involved: everything from stomach acid to minerals that compete, to gut dysbiosis, to the form of supplement that’s used, associated microcontaminants, competing foods or drugs (including alcohol), etc, etc.

What about potatoes?

I generally don’t eat potatoes for two reasons:

1. They are rich sources of carbs, and will cause an insulin spike when eaten in quantity. For optimal health, as well as weight control, that’s something I strive to avoid.


2. They are nightshades, which mean they contain toxins that include nicotine and other alkaloids. I also try to minimize toxins in my diet. Although humans are adapted to handling many food toxins, proper and complete detox may be impaired in those with mild to moderate mineral deficiencies—a condition that is surely epidemic for those who ate SAD foods for any length of time.

[[MORE]]In my case I’m pre-diabetic and have arthritis, which are two more reasons that I avoid them (the toxins they contain are pro-inflammatory and can cause or aggravate arthritis in some people). I also know from detailed blood tests that I am still deficient in certain detox-oriented nutrients, in spite of years of supplementation.

Having said that, you might also think of them like fruit or honey: infrequent small amounts won’t be a disaster. The problem for some people is that potatoes can be quite addictive, and if you eat a lot, the insulin spikes can aggravate hunger problems and carb cravings.

I think yams and sweet potatoes are slightly better, because they aren’t nightshades.

BTW, did you know that some vodkas are made from potatoes?

Managing carb cravings

Like many people who move from a grain-based diet to Paleo, I too had trouble with carb cravings at first.

My solution was two-fold.  First, I had tried a number of times in the past to ease my way into a low-carb diet, and ended up failing every time.  This time, I decided to go cold-turkey.  Although the first two or three weeks were very difficult, it got easier after that.  The other thing I did was to find something that I liked as well as carbs, that was an acceptable Paleo food, but that had also been considered relatively taboo previously.  In my case, that ended up being cream, in several different forms (plain, mixed with a little milk, mixed with baking cocoa, whipped, etc).  If I had a carb craving, I trained myself to have a cup of cream instead.  Rather than just drinking it, I eat it with a spoon to make it last.  At the end of the cup, I found that the carb craving was almost always gone.  If it wasn't, I would drink a large glass of water, and that usually did the trick.

[[MORE]]Two things I found to cause big problems in the craving area were the taste of something sweet (even toothpaste), and the smells of some carb-rich food cooking, such as bread or pizza (often coming from other family members who don't eat like I do).  The problem is that those tastes and smells can cause insulin to be released, which will lower blood sugar, and make you hungry.  My solution was to eliminate anything sweet tasting from my diet for the first three months or so, and to replace the carb-rich smells with fat-rich ones, such as bacon.  At the end of the three months, I found that sweets tasted much sweeter than before, and that I actually preferred slightly bitter foods (unsweetened baking cocoa is an example).

After being on Paleo for about 6 or 8 months (and losing 35+ pounds in the process), I fell off of the diet for about a week.  I didn’t go back to my old ways, but “just” had one carb-rich item a day (rationalizations are a dangerous thing).  However, by that time, my body had adjusted to low-carb, and as a result, I felt really terrible: fatigue, new aches and pains, and even bloating.  Plus, I gained about a pound a day.  After that brief experience which tied the theoretical to the concrete, it was easy to see how bad the carbs were for me, which also made them very easy to avoid.  I never want to feel like that again.

Everyone is different, YMMV, but that's what worked for me.

Cross-posted at Modern Paleo.

Gluttony, sloth and metabolic syndrome

There was a fabulous post by Peter at Hyperlipid today. I enjoyed his figures so much, I had to pass them on.

http://high-fat-nutrition.blogspot.com/2010/03/getting-fat-is-good-official.html

The issue here is correctly identifying cause and effect; something which I’ve noticed is a common problem in many aspects of modern society.

[[MORE]]Here's the diagram from the original paper Peter mentions, which claims that gluttony and sloth cause hyperinsulinemia, which in turn causes a host of additional maladies:



Here's Peter's alternative diagrams, which more accurately represent cause and effect:

Do you consider yourself to be free?

I am not free, though I work toward that goal every day.

• I can't travel as I wish without government permission.


• I can't own certain objects without government permission.


• I can't take certain actions (which don't harm or threaten others) or ingest certain substances without inviting prosecution or imprisonment.


• I don't fully own much of "my" property: if taxes aren't paid, it can be confiscated; government limits my ability to make changes to my home and land; I can't even freely dispose of it as I might want (large gifts incur taxes)


• I can't earn a living by doing whatever I want, even if those things don't harm others.


• Some of my property is regularly confiscated by government without my consent, through inflation and taxes.

A million other aspects of our lives are controlled, restricted and monitored. Residents of Colorado aren't even allowed to catch rain water without risking prosecution, fines and imprisonment.

Fatigue, mental illness and diet

Based on years of personal experience, I'm increasingly convinced that some forms of fatigue and mental illness, particularly things like depression, anxiety and insomnia, are caused in large part by not getting enough animal products in your diet -- especially Vit B-12 and saturated fat.  B-12 is directly involved with many aspects of brain and nervous system function, and saturated fats are precursors for a number of hormones that affect mood and energy.

[[MORE]]One thing to watch for on the fatigue side is that after a while, Paleo can cause what used to be "subclinical" hypothyroidism to come to the surface. If you're eating right, yet still tired all the time, even when you get plenty of sleep, I would highly recommend having your thyroid levels checked. You might also look at supplementing with a little iodine, particularly if you've stopped using iodized salt.

The best thyroid tests are Free-T3, Free-T4 and ultra-sensitive TSH. See:
http://johndommissemd.com/page/368509
for some info along those lines. You might also try measuring your basal body temperature before you get out of bed in the morning. If it's regularly a degree or more below 98.6, that's suggestive of hypothyroidism.

There are, of course, a number of other issues that can also be at play: everything from sleep apnea (snoring or a morning sore throat are common symptoms) to nutrient deficiencies. Magnesium is by far the most common nutritional deficiency, and correcting it often helps hugely, partly because it allows you to more fully relax, both mentally and physically. Eliminating gluten can help, too, by allowing leaky gut to heal, which then helps you absorb nutrients better while also reducing food allergies.

Treating a cold

I hate going to the doctor, particularly for an illness like a cold that normally falls short of needing prescription medication. One thing I do on my own is to take some vitamin D3 when I first feel cold symptoms coming on. It's a powerful immune system booster, even better than vit C. You can take up to 50,000 IU per day for a few days, or, better yet, get out in the sun, provided it's not winter or overcast.

Another important thing to do is to stay hydrated. With a runny nose and coughing up lots of phlegm, it's easy to get dehydrated. Water will help keep the mucus thin, which in turn helps prevent stagnation and infection.

For a sore throat, I've also found zinc lozenges to be effective about half the time.

[[MORE]]I think it's a good idea to limit physical activity when you're sick. When your body is working hard to fight off an infection, the last thing it needs is to have to divert resources to repairing systems that may have been slightly damaged (as muscles are when heavily loaded), or to dispose of any extra waste products that were generated during the associated metabolic processes. For the latter reason, I don't over-eat while I'm sick. Limiting activity doesn't necessarily mean bed rest, though. It seems like some movement to keep the lymph system active would also be a good idea (since lymph fluid doesn't have a pump of its own, and so is only moved around by physical activity).

I'm also very skeptical about treating fevers, unless they get high enough that they might damage the brain (105+). Fevers are one of the body's natural ways of killing the invaders; why would you want to suppress that?

Definition of processed foods

When should you consider foods to be "processed"? One suggestion I've heard is that processed foods are those whose character has changed from the original. However, I think that's misleading.

Some foods can undergo a change of character, and yet still be perfectly healthy. The creation of butter by whipping cream for an extended time is one example. Even most cooking processes will change the character of the original foods in some way.

One type of food processing that’s not healthy is when it’s natural shelf life is over-extended through mechanical or chemical treatment. One way that’s done is by removing some of the key nutrients that potential pests like to eat. For example, potassium can be replaced with sodium (salt); unfortunately, many micronutrients are removed at the same time. The final result is that while the caloric content of the food may remain, much of the nutritional content does not.

Another type of food processing is when food is combined with non-foods. For example, chemicals galore, for purposes that range from changing the food’s texture or color to changing its taste or enhancing shelf-life.

How about this definition: I consider foods to be “processed” when they either have essential nutrients removed from them, or when they are combined with non-foods.