338 Learning from the Paleo Diet [28 Sept 2015]

My topic last week was “Debunking the paleo diet” based on a Ted Talks lecture by archaeologist Christina Warinner. She concluded her lecture with three things we can learn from what we do know of our ancestors’ diets. Let’s look at each of these in more detail.

1. There is no one correct diet for humans; diversity is the key ingredient. Never before has such a variety of foods from around the world been available year-round as in North American supermarkets. Yet most of our processed foods contain three species – wheat, corn & soy. Take advantage of the available diversity and try different fruits, vegetables and grains.

2. Ideally food should be eaten fresh, ripe, and in season. This is when foods have the highest nutrient content. Preservation methods extend the usefulness of foods but come with a price – salting adds excess sodium; drying, freezing, and canning deplete some nutrients; smoking and chemical preservatives have poorly understood effects on our health. They all work by inhibiting bacterial growth which can have undesirable effects on our beneficial gut bacteria.

3. Whole foods, with all the fiber and other nutrients intact, are best. Warinner illustrated this concept by showing that in a 34 oz. soda we can gulp down the sugar equivalent to 8 feet of sugar cane. We have not yet adapted to this sudden change in diet, resulting in the modern epidemics of obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Processed foods in which real food is broken into constituent parts and recombined to look and taste good, rarely improves its nutritional value. One nutrient that is usually lost is fiber which is important for regulating bowel function, feeding our good gut flora, and slowing absorption of sugar.

I don’t think the Paleo Diet proponents are all Luddites as Warinner implies, eschewing modern food technology for a misplaced ideology. We can take the best of both worlds – enjoy a variety of modern cultivars and embrace technology that maximizes nutrient content. Eat more protein, including red meat. Avoid most processed foods. Reduce carbs, especially modern grains and sugars. Eat plenty of fresh raw vegetables and fruit. Include healthy fats from fish, nuts, seeds and fruit (olives and avocados). Limit dairy and alcohol. In moderation the Paleo Diet is just plain healthy eating.

For more information on this or other natural health topics, stop in and talk to Stan; for medical advice consult your licensed health practitioner.

337 Debunking the Paleo Diet [21 Sept 2015]

Back in May 2014 I first wrote about the Paleo Diet fad and what we can learn from it. A recent Ted Talks video expands on that theme. Archaeologist Christina Warinner titled her 22 minute talk “Debunking the paleo diet”. Warinner looked at the modern paleo fad diets from the perspective of her study of the health and diet of ancient peoples using bone biochemistry and DNA.

To review, the modern Paleo Diets attempt to emulate what people ate before the development of agriculture. The diet is high in meat and vegetables with some fruits, nuts and oils, but no grains, legumes or dairy. But is this really what our Paleolithic ancestors ate? Not quite, Warinner argues. She first busts three myths about the Paleo Diet, then lists three things that we can learn from our ancestors’ diets.

1. Meat was not as large a part of the Paleolithic diet as believed. We have few adaptations to eating meat and many to plants (molars for grinding, longer intestinal tract, lack of vitamin C synthesis). And the one adaptation to animal husbandry many people have, especially in Africa and northern Europe, is tolerance to dairy.

2. Grains and legumes were a bigger part of the Paleolithic diet than believed. Mortar and pestles for grinding seeds date back 30,000 years; fossilized plaque from ancient human teeth show evidence of grains, legumes and tubers.

3. Modern foods – meat and vegetables – are much different than what our Paleolithic ancestors ate. Wild game was mostly small, lean and tough; and all the organs and marrow were consumed. Eggs were small, hard to find, and seasonal. Wild fruits and especially vegetables were unrecognizable from modern cultivars – tiny, tough, bitter tasting, many with toxic chemicals. And modern foods come from all over the world year-round; our ancestors were limited to locally and seasonally available food resources.

So, what can we learn from what we do know of our ancestors’ diets?

1. There is no one correct diet for humans; diversity is the key ingredient.
2. Ideally food should be eaten fresh, ripe, and in season.
3. Whole foods, with all the fiber and other nutrients intact, are best.

I may expand on these points in a future column.

In conclusion Warinner stated “We still have a lot to learn from our Paleolithic – and Neolithic – ancestors”.

For more information on this or other natural health topics, stop in and talk to Stan; for medical advice consult your licensed health practitioner.

336 Alzheimer’s & Vitamin D [14 Sept 2015]

A few weeks ago I listed nine things you could do to reduce your risk of developing Alzheimer’s. Here is a tenth item to add to the list: keep your vitamin D levels up.

In honor of the 4th annual World Alzheimer’s Month this September the Vitamin D Council [vitamindcouncil.org] re-published the top five studies they had covered evaluating the link between vitamin D and Alzheimer’s. I will summarize them here:

1. A meta-analysis published last month in Nutrition Journal found people with vitamin D deficiency (level less than 50nmol/L) had a 21% greater risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
2. Researchers in Argentina found that vitamin D treatment slowed progression from mild to more severe stages of Alzheimer’s disease by about one year.
3. A 2014 Canadian study published in the Journal of Neuroscience found that supplementation with vitamin D reduced amyloid-beta plaques in the brain and improved learning and memory in mice.
4. A 2013 systemic review of 31 studies found statistically significant lower outcomes in cognitive function tests, or a higher frequency of dementia, with lower vitamin D levels in 22 of the studies (no association was found in 9 of the studies).
5. Medical researchers from UCLA published a small pilot study in February 2013 in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. They identified specific genes regulated by vitamin D and the omega-3 DHA that reduce inflammation and clear amyloid-beta plaques from the brain.

No one of these studies by itself proves that taking vitamin D supplements will reduce your risk of dementia, but together they provide a fairly strong indication. There are many other reasons to supplement with vitamin D, this is just one more (but an important one). Remember that at this latitude we are now past the season where we can synthesize vitamin D in our skin from sun exposure, even at noon.

For more information on this or other natural health topics, stop in and talk to Stan; for medical advice consult your licensed health practitioner.

335 The Shaklee Story [8 Sept 2015]

Forrest C. Shaklee was a pioneer in the natural health product industry. At his birth, in November 1894, Forrest was diagnosed with tuberculosis. The family moved from a coal mining community to rural Iowa to allow him to convalesce in clean fresh air. As a young boy Forrest spent much time outdoors observing nature. Here he began to develop his philosophy in the healing power of nature and the importance of exercise and good nutrition.

After graduation from Palmer Chiropractic College Shaklee began to incorporate nutrition in his practice. To help his patients Shaklee developed a supplement he called “Vitalized Minerals”, released in 1915 (100 years ago this July). It was one of the first, if not the first, food supplement manufactured in America.

In 1917 he opened a multi-disciplinary facility which included the new technology of X-rays. Due to radiation exposure Shaklee developed cancer in his shoulder and hip. He rejected his doctors’ advice for amputation, sold his clinic, and went about healing himself with nutrition and positive thinking.

After regaining his health Shaklee opened another clinic, more determined than ever to share his nutritional ideas with people. He focused his research on building good health rather than treating disease. He retired from active practice in 1943 to concentrate on writing, developing his philosophy on the influence of the mind on health and well-being.

In 1956, at the age of 63, he created Shaklee Corporation to manufacture and sell his health supplements to America. To market the products he chose multi-level-marketing, the first of many health product companies to adopt that model. That was a time when America was enthralled with modern food processing and didn’t believe supplements were necessary, so education was an essential part of marketing (still is!).

A few of the firsts for the Shaklee Corporation include: instant protein powder (1961), Basic-H organic cleaner (1960), and Basic L organic laundry detergent. Shaklee died in 1985 at age 91 but the company is still going strong and is still dedicated to researching cutting edge nutritional products. This year (1915) the Dr. Forrest C. Shaklee Innovation Center was opened, housing all their research and development team under one roof “for the next 100 years of scientific breakthroughs”.

Sources:
A Fascinating History - Dr Forrest C. Shaklee www.whyiridehorses.com
The Roots of Shaklee www.healthisalifestylechoice.com
A History of Innovation www.shaklee.tv

For more information on this or other natural health topics, stop in and talk to Stan; for medical advice consult your licensed health practitioner.