New T-Shirt Design – My Microbiome Made Me Do It!

I read a bit about the microbiome and how those “animalcules” have such a strong influence on our health. This design channels that message and the effect of the microbiome on us. Who’s really in control? The T-Shirt is obviously meant for fellow biome geeks; imagine yourself at the next gut-bug conference sporting this T-Shirt! 🙂

Go check out the new design at the DietaryDogma Store.

My Microbiome Made Me Do It
Sample Microbiome T-Shirts

 

What the Hell Should We Eat? Natural Fats Should Be Fine!

I recently found myself reading the article “If the Low-Fat Diet Is a Lie, What the Hell Should We Eat?” located on Elle’s website. I thought the author Jane Black did a terrific job illustrating the frustration the average consumer has on this conflicting information. I enjoyed the background information on where we were and where we are today. It was a very informational and well balanced article. 

I placed a comment on Elle’s site to share my thoughts regarding fat and the part of the article about how we knew “low-fat” meant more vegetables and not snack-wells. My comment is at the bottom of this post.

Firstly, the USDA has dropped Total Fat (TF) recommendations in the general verbiage (That lame chart in Appendix E-37 Table 4 leaves much more to be desired though) of the latest Dietary Guideline Advisory Committee (DGAC) report located here. I welcome this because it was ridiculous to limit fat in the first place as fat was not the problem as some have been arguing this for decades. Dr. Katz recommends we focus on “themes of healthy eating: diets that center on minimally processed foods and lots of fruit and vegetables. ‘We need to focus on foods and forget about the nutrients,'”.

I completely agree with him on this. I will take that one step further and say that Natural Fats (NFs), which include Saturated Fatty Acids (SFAs) that are also minimally processed, belong in this healthy eating theme. Let all minimally processed foods be fair game and the let the individual’s situation dictate what they need to do. I’m not the “no-carbs” guy, the “all-carbs”, “no-meat” or “all-meat” guy. We all have different dietary requirements and it is wise to not try and replace one dogma with another. The universal theme across all popular heritage, traditional and modern diets that revolve around real food: more real food (to include minimally processed food) and less (to no) processed refined garbage with added sugars, oils, fats, chemicals, etc. The individual variance in the diet is related to heritage, genes and personal preference; nearly all limit what you’d find beyond the perimeter of the grocery store.

Let the macronutrient ratio of the diet become unimportant so long as it provides the necessary nutriment to the person ingesting the diet. The American Nutritional Forefather W.O. Atwater (Also worked at the USDA) stated “the most healthful food is that which is best fitted to the needs of the user”. Let those who wish to restrict fat, meat, carbs, dairy, wheat, etc. do so as long as they acquire the nutriment they need.

Here is the comment I posted on the Elle website:

A lot of the promotion of foods containing saturated fat is completely aligned with what Katz stated. We are promoting real food. Natural saturated fats (Note that there are many types of Saturated Fat) are real food and fit into a healthy dietary pattern. We are being told, “No, you can’t say that SFA is OK. You need to focus on foods and forget about the nutrients. No, not that real food, that has Saturated Fat, are you insane!”. WTF??? According to the USDA’s Dietary Guideline Advisory Committee (DGAC) report “In the United States, the top sources of foods contributing to saturated fat intake are mixed dishes, particularly burgers and sandwiches, and snacks and sweets”. You can’t blame the impact of the highly refined mixed food on ones health on the Saturated Fat that was present in the product. To me, that is not different than saying vegetables are unhealthy because they are in supreme pizza.

I disagree very strongly that everyone knew that “low-fat” meant less fat and more vegetables. That is BS in my opinion. Look at the bottom of the food pyramid and tell me they (The government) really meant more vegetables. Detach your profession from this and imagine you are the consumer. Luise Light’s recommendations to the USDA meant more vegetables (5-9srv) and less grain (2-3srv), her bosses decided that more grains were needed for all instead (6-11srv). Tell me where the healthy vegetables are in the 6-11 servings of grains we were told to eat per day. Be mindful that we were not told to eat whole grain, we were told to eat grain. Even in the earlier guidelines it was clear that grain should be consumed. The grain recommended was not whole grain. Sure, the professionals that do this for a living might have knew whole grain and more vegetables, but the whole system did a shitty job of communicating that to the consumer. Then again, Cocoa Puffs had the heart check logo and I can’t find that shit on a bag of carrots. The AHA must want us to eat more vegetables too.

Look at this post which outlines the various dietary guideline releases: http://www.dietarydogma.com/historical-view-obesity-dietary-guidelines/

Thanks for your time and have a nice day.

So, what are your thoughts?

New T-Shirt Design – The Fallen Food Pyramid

Since the release of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) report to the HHS/USDA, I cannot help but feel as if a change is coming (Guess I’m a little optimistic).

The food pyramid, my friends, has fallen. This design is very simplistic but takes this infamous symbol of “health” ~*cough* “disease” *cough* ~ and turns it on its side letting others know that times are a changing. I think the shirt is a great conversation starter and plan on wearing it to the grocery store and other food-filled places. Go check out the new design at the DietaryDogma Store.

There are 17 different premium styles spanning Men, Women and Children. Several of the designs are available in different colors and also in material such as Organic Cotton.

Fallen Food Pyramid Men's and Women's T-Shirts T-Shirts

Fallen Food Pyramid Men’s and Women’s T-Shirts

If there is a particular style or type of apparel/merchandise you would like to see, please let us know in the comments section or via the Contact Us Form.

There are several other designs accessible from the main Store page; most of the designs are themed for alternative diet and health.

Just Released! Cereal Killers 2 – Run on Fat

Cereal Killers 2 was just released to Rent or Own via Digital Download. This movie expands upon the premise of the first movie into elite endurance athletes and the use of high fat diet. You can watch the preview, rent it, or even buy it below. Highly recommended.

Yekra Player

Yekra is a revolutionary new distribution network for feature films.

Cereal Killers 2

Run on Fat charts world class triathlete Sami Inkinen’s transition from pre-diabetic sugar burner to a faster, healthier, fat fueled endurance athlete under the guidance of New York Times bestselling author Dr Stephen Phinney.

When Sami embarks on an epic anti sugar crusade with his wife Meredith – rowing 4,000 kms unsupported from California to Hawaii – their remarkable journey reveals the astonishing performance benefits and pitfalls of successful fat fueling strategies for athletic performance.

As more and more evidence emerges of world class athletes adopting a similar protocol – with remarkable results in some cases – “Run on Fat” challenges the very foundations of sports nutrition.

#DONTFEARFAT

It is time to stop fearing fat! Time to wear it proud and spread the word #DONTFEARFAT! This design was just added. I felt it was a great message based on the current Twitter trend to spread the word and the OMHealth LCHF2015 conference that just kicked off in Cape Town, South Africa.

The Store page has a few other designs that I created last year that I never really got around to promoting. The classics include “LOW-FAT KILLS”, “ARTERY CLOGGING CARBOHYDRATE” and “MY LDL IS BIGGER THAN YOURS”.

Enjoy! 🙂

http://www.cafepress.com/dietarydogma/12233516

#DONTFEARFAT T-Shirt

It is time to stop fearing fat. #DONTFEARFAT Spread the word by grabbing one of these T-Shirts.

Selection of T-Shirts, Hats and other accessories. Help spread the word to stop fearing fat!

Help spread the word to stop fearing fat!

 

Can Nicotine Cessation Be Applied to Sugar?

When I quit smoking several years ago, I used the smoking cessation resources available at the website whyquit.com. The website features videos for every day during your initial quit as well as a number of articles. Everything on the website is an aid to help someone quit smoking. I believe the lessons I learned from there helped me understand the “why” of my addiction to the point where I could attempt controlling it without it getting the best of me. First, I would say that just as with cigarettes, everyone is different. I was a two-pack a day smoker though I knew people who only smoked on occasion when they drank and never seemed to get “addicted” like I did. I believe it is fair to say that there is a certain subset of the population that may be more prone to addiction than others.

Does smoking cessation apply to sugar? The Law of Addiction states “Administration of a drug to an addict will cause re-establishment of chemical dependence upon the addictive substance”.

According to a 2005 study “under select dietary circumstances, sugar can have effects similar to a drug of abuse”. Intake of sugar can lead to other substance abuse symptoms like withdrawal, behavioral modification and cross-sensitization. Why? It is because of sugar’s effect on your brain. When you ingest sugars, dopamine is released which signals the reward pathway in your brain. We all like reward and that is the reason why cigarette’s, though they smell like ass and kill us, continue to be smoked by the smoker until they either quit or die. The reward center ends up getting hijacked by the substance and voila, you have addiction. Continue reading “Can Nicotine Cessation Be Applied to Sugar?” »

AHA and USDA Websites Have A Few Fatty Surprises

The past few nights I’ve been conducting targeted search queries on Google aimed against specific websites looking for topics of interest related to the Great Fat Debate.

One of the things I stumbled on was a presentation titled an “Overview of the food science behind fatty acid technology” which is found on heart.org at the following location.

I found the brief extremely informative, yet disturbing. The brief is attached at the bottom of this if you would like to take a gander.

From the functions of Palmitic Acid (palm oil, tallow, butter, cheese, milk) slide, it is labeled as a saturated fat which is very stable in storage and frying. It lists the functions which it provides to foods and then states “BUT, ↑ LDL-cholesterol, ↑ heart disease”. It decides to make no mention of the fact that this fatty acid also raises HDL cholesterol. As I mentioned in my post yesterday, saturated fatty acids (SFAs) raise both, HDL and LDL. Of particular importance is the fact that the SFA results in an increased LDL particle size. Research has shown that the small dense LDL particles are the ones which are atherogenic and contribute most to atherosclerosis.

The next slide discusses the saturated fat Stearic Acid (tallow, cocoa butter, animal fats, etc. ). The functions include very stable storage and frying, cooking uses (form margarines and shortenings, spreads, creaming for baked products) and then lists “Neutral health benefits”. That is right, no increase in heart disease, merely “Neutral health benefits”. It is worth mentioning again that this slide-deck is present on the American Heart Association’s website. I observed the same thing for Stearic Acid on the USDA’s site last night. During a review of the 2013 Annual Report for Research Project “MACRO- AND MICRONUTRIENT MODULATION OF BIOMARKERS OF CHRONIC DISEASE AND INDICATORS OF NUTRITIONAL ADEQUACY”, it stated the following:

Evidence suggests that stearic acid, a saturated fatty acid, effects LDL cholesterol differently than other saturated fatty acids – consumption of stearic acid does not increase LDL cholesterol whereas consumption of other saturated fatty acids typically raises LDL cholesterol. Since stearic acid does not raise LDL cholesterol, its use as an alternative for trans fatty acids in foods is possible since stearic acid can provide some of the same functional properties as trans fatty acids without the negative effect on LDL cholesterol.

Of course they are off-base a tad by not addressing LDL particles and putting so much into the impact on LDL being so important. On the other hand, the food-makers need to find a way to show that this is “healthy” so they can use it in food production. Without a solid fat, a lot of the products today would be a mess or an even worse freak of nature.

Getting back to the subject at hand though, the next slide goes into the awesomeness that is monounsaturated fats (oleic acid). It is stable (not very stable like saturated fats) has very limited function in foods as it is liquid at room temperature and says it has neutral to positive effect on health “↑ HDL cholesterol (good), ↓ LDL-cholesterol”. Notice in this case how monounsaturated is specifically mentioned as raising “good” HDL though several SFAs raise HDL cholesterol even more.

The last slide I will cover more in depth is the Polyunsaturated Fat slide. Here is the fat they tout as the one that will save us all, yet its functions in food are minimal (liquid at room temperature) and they admit it is “unstable in storage and frying”. Linoleic is listed as a small amount being OK for flavor and Linolenic being the main source for off-flavors and rancidity. Yum, it sounds like we should be eating more of that. It also states that it lowers, total and LDL cholesterol while raising HDL which jives with current dietary guidance.

The brief is very interesting and goes into Trans Fats, Interesterification (The chemical version is scary shit) and the targets for different food products (salad, cooking oil, frying, margarines and shortening).

Bottom line, we produce too much oil not to use it. That is the reason that adulteration of lard starting occurring back in the late 1800’s. It lowered the price of lard and gave us something to do with the cottonseed oil we were producing. Another slide-show on the American Heart Association website titled “Processing and Stable Oils” from 2006, shows the following chart:

U.S. Usage of Edible Vegetable Oils 2004-2005

U.S. Usage of Edible Vegetable Oils 2004-2005

As long as we continue to produce this much vegetable oil, we will always be told that polyunsaturated fat is “healthy” for us because it not being good for us equates to an “unhealthy” economy.

Attachments:
Overview of the food science behind fatty acid technology
Processing and Stable Oils – 2006
Interesterification – Scary Shit Slide from Processing and Stable Oils brief

Nina Teicholz on NightLine!

Nina Teicholz, author of the amazing new book “The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat & Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet”, was on Nightline June 3rd, 2014.

Check it out. Here’s the clip:

ABC US News | ABC International News

Don’t forget to buy her book, digest it and help spread the word about it to others. The Saturated Fat lie has gone on long enough.

The best part for me was Nina’s cholesterol reading which I won’t spoil.

Effects of Various Fatty Acids on Blood Lipids

A bit of a side-bar rant. The brand name “Saturated Fat” might be a lost cause. The world largely considers it bad thing and making it seem good again might be a waste of resources. These are all individual acids that have distinct names and effects on our overall health. Let’s start touting the acids instead, a re-brand of sorts. If people can know, praise and pronounce “garcinia cambogia” surely they can remember lauric, stearic, butyric and palmitic, etc….

While doing some research I stumbled upon some interesting charts in the  “Encyclopedia of Human Nutrition, Four-Volume Set” on Google Books. The charts show the effect that Saturated Fat Has on Blood Lipids when replacing 10% of carbs in diet. The first chart also examines the effects of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. The second chart shows the different effects of various Saturated Fatty Acids (SFAs).

Chart 1 – Effect of the various fatty acids (sat/mono/poly) s on blood lipids.

SFA_Chart1

Chart 2 – Effects of various Saturated Fatty Acids on Blood Lipids
SFA_Chart2So, what about the LDL going up in the SFA group, cause for concern? Shouldn’t be as more research suggests LDL is not quite the risk factor for CVD that it was once thought to be. It seems to have little impact on mortality and is nuanced as LDL itself has different particle sizes. Without oxidation of LDL, there would probably be no plaque buildup. Additionally, high HDL-C will act as a “shuttle” to transport LDL from blood; I think of it as a street-sweeper. The following Primal Docs post by Posts by Axel F. Sigurdsson, MD has an interesting article about “10 Pitfalls of Using LDL Cholesterol to Assess Risk“.

I’m So FED UP! Movie Review

Fed Up Facebook Banner

I finally had the opportunity this evening to watch Fed Up. It was just released in Hawaii today and my wife and I attended the second-to-last showing. My overall impression of the film is that it had a terrific message, was expertly crafted, and above all else, was very easy to follow. I feel a general audience will learn a lot of from the film and help them start asking some important questions as well as have some important discussions.

Continue reading “I’m So FED UP! Movie Review” »