Research & Science

The 2013 Ancestral Health Symposium will be held in Atlanta, GA from August 15th through August 17th for all low carb dieters, diabetics and Paleo enthusiasts.

The amount of sugar (or really glucose, technically speaking) is tightly regulated in the human bloodstream. A normal blood sugar (glucose) is under 100 mg/dL, and when the sugar rises to between 100 mg/dL to 125 mg/dL the serious medical conditions of glucose intolerance, pre-diabetes are diagnosed. Once above 125 mg/dL diabetes is diagnosed. As more research is done, the optimal blood glucose number goes lower and lower. The bottom line is you want to keep the blood sugar as low as you can for optimal health.

When most people switch to a high-fat/low-carb diet, they dump foods like grains, sugars and tubers and get more of their calories from foods like meats, eggs, butter, cheese and cream. The switch can produce a number of positive effects (lower blood sugar, lower insulin levels, lower inflammation levels), but there is one negative side effect: a diet based on animal products makes vegans really, really mad. Especially the guy that wrote a misinformed rant about William Banting.

While the topic of “food addiction” remains controversial, scientists have found significant overlaps between the effects of overeating certain palatable foods and drugs of abuse. There are innate biological processes that occur in our brain daily which reinforce the feeding behavior as well as other behaviors that are essential for survival. Dr. Nicole Avena, noted research neuroscientist/psychologist and author of Why Diets Fail explains the science behind the truth of sugar addiction.

I had the privilege of meeting Jonathan Bailor and his lovely wife Angela on the 2013 Low Carb Cruise. I was impressed by Jonathan's passion for helping others and his talk was informative and entertaining. By the end of the cruise I knew I had to read his book The Smarter Science of Slim. I can honestly say this book didn't disappoint.

The population as a whole spends the majority of their waking hours sitting – to the tune of 10 or more hours a day, whether it be in a meeting or in front a computer screen. While the television has been blamed for our sedentary lifestyle, when it comes down to it, leisure time is in short supply but we still need to get up and move!

Here we go again with another "Read Meat Kills!" study. This month, Tom Naughton points his bologna meter at the headlines and another study of misinterpreted facts.

Many types of pollution clutter our environment, but none are as insidious or inescapable as Food Information Pollution. Here's your "Top Ten" shortcut through the "everyone knows" and "science says" thicket.

Bologna Meter: Alzheimer's Bologna. A new study made a splash in the media recently – the splash coming in the form of headlines like these: Saturated Fat May Make the Brain Vulnerable to Alzheimer's and How a High Fat Diet Increases Alzheimer's Risk. Holy moly! Saturated fat causes Alzheimer’s?! I’d throw away all my sausage, except I can’t remember where I put it.

Eat Your Veggies for Optimal Metabolic Functioning! by Dr. Eric Westman. We look at carbohydrates in their most nutritious – and benign – form.

Many people taking prescription or OTC meds are willing to risk some mild side effects to feel better. Package inserts, drug info sites on the Internet, pharmacists, and the prescribing practitioner can be helpful providing information about side effects. However, one of the potentially damaging side effects you are rarely told about is the negative effect of medications on nutrient levels. Drugs can interfere with absorption of nutrients or inappropriately increase excretion. Keep in mind that vitamins and minerals play a major role in hundreds and hundreds of chemical reactions in the body vital for life.