"Life Without Bread"

[TOTEM36]

Well there seems to be a sort of sick cosmic joke here in that they have managed to convince humanity to starve their hearts and brains of fat. As STS always uses the line of least resistance, what better way to get us to starve ourselves than to tell us that fats are bad for us and let us do the work on starvation?

Last week there was highly regarded nutritionist on prime time news repeating the meme that people should find alternatives to eating meat as it causes bowel cancer. Sickening!

 

[Don Genaro]

Well there seems to be a sort of sick cosmic joke here in that they have managed to convince humanity to starve their hearts and brains of fat. As STS always uses the line of least resistance, what better way to get us to starve ourselves than to tell us that fats are bad for us and let us do the work on starvation?

Last week there was highly regarded nutritionist on prime time news repeating the meme that people should find alternatives to eating meat as it causes bowel cancer. Sickening!

Sadly these scientist whores can be very convincing with their degrees and corporate sponsorship :(

 

[manitoban]

I was a bit surprised by the strong symptoms, because I foolishly thought that my already quite low consumption of carbs and sugar (I've never in my adult life been interested in sweet/sugary things) would make the transition easy. I've always been the skinny type, so I too was concerned about loosing too much weight. The first days I did loose a few kg:s, mostly water I guess, but now in the last few days I've actually gained some weight.

I had the exactly the same thoughts, Aragorn, I thought it was going to be no problem at all, because of being off gluten, dairy, etc for so long. The transition was definitely harder than I expected. :)

The "extra strength" and "mind clarity" I've been feeling the last few days appears in a curious way: at many instances I've noticed AFTERWARDS that I've done some chore or task that I previously would have thought of "Blah, not today - I don't have the will/strength to do it". I hope that these moments will be more of a on going phenomena in the future.

Yeah, I've had a few similar realisations, and at the end of a day lately, I realised I got a lot more done than usual, though I hadn't planned or intended on it. It just happened, or more likely I didn't get side tracked in the usual way by some kind of carb caused weak will!

Which makes me think that there must be VERY powerful forces at work promoting these completely unhealthy eating habits that most people are following.

Yep, the promotion of carb eating is so widespread and such a huge effort has gone into deceiving people that this is probably affecting people on many levels, besides the physical poor health it causes. The whole thing is diabolical!!

 

[Don Genaro]

Anyway, I have finally managed to catch up on this thread! It's taken some time and I will have to go back and read some parts more carefully but for now I want to concentrate on the diet and psychology books that have been sitting on my bookshelf for too long. Funnily enough, the psychology book I'm reading is "Unholy Hungers" which sounds more appropriate for this thread!
I was very pleased to discover at the EE workshop in Barcelona that I have been pretty much following the elimination diet for some time now. As I reported earlier, I recently cut back hard on the carbs. I went through the low energy with lots of constipation interspersed with diarrea and came through pretty okay. I guess I have been in ketosis for some time now but fear I may have knocked myself out of it the other day. I haven't done the work to find my carb limit yet as I was just overwhelmed by all the info so I just upped the dosage of meat and fats and reduced the carbs to very very low. I find that there are still the occasional problem days- if I have an exceptionally big breakfast (e.g. yesterday, lambs kidneys, pork liver, belly pork and a couple of fried eggs) it can tend to feel a bit like a rock in my stomach all day. Today, in contrast, I had virtually the same breakfast, just reduced in quantity and I haven't got that feeling.
I've also made a good broth from beef bone to which I added a good portion of kombu (which I bought before the Fukushima disaster!- Will have to be careful of the source from now on) which really adds to the mineral content. I've started taking potassium supplements as well as magnesium and vitamin C. They are not ideal as they contain magnesium stearate but I figure that until I can get affordable products, they'll do in a pinch. This along with the idea that the increased fat intake will hopefully provide some protection.
As I mentioned above, I think I knocked myself out of ketosis. I may or may not have surpassed my carb limit since I don't know exactly what it is. I guess it was more to do with the amount of carbs I consumed at one sitting. I had lunch with a friend and we had serrano ham with melon, as well as Spanish potato omelette. I didn't have a huge amount of either but I suspect I have a very low carb tolerance which is why I reacted badly. I've started reading Life Without Bread and the following stood out for me on pages 42-43 on Hypoglycemia:

It occurs in some people after they eat a mostly carbohydrate meal, usually after a few hours. To eliminate this problem, people usually find something to snack on, such as candy or bread, or perhaps some sugar or coffee in their tea. No one should have low blood sugar episodes just three or four hours after a meal and we'll talk about this in more detail in the next chapter.

I used to get chocolate cravings not an hour after lunch at work, never mind 3 or 4 hours! That is until I took potato out of my stew.)

After lunch with my friend the other day the cravings came back that night and I ate half a bar of dark chocolate which, again is probably not even "too many carbs" for most but the fact is the chocolate had been sitting there untouched for days because I had had absolutely no desire to eat it! I don't know if this puts me back at square one. Somehow I don't think so as I guess most of the plant bacteria have been eliminated so at least I won't have to go through that again! Now I think it's time to get the calculator out, read the relevant books and work out what I can handle!

Edit: added sentence for clarity

 

[anart]

It sounds okay doesn't it? Or does anybody see any "danger signs"?

No - do not consume refined coconut oil. It's not as good for you - and the clue is 'refined like other vegetable oils' - which basically means they're heated and filtered and brought as close to plastic as possible!

 

[Don Genaro]

It sounds okay doesn't it? Or does anybody see any "danger signs"?

No - do not consume refined coconut oil. It's not as good for you - and the clue is 'refined like other vegetable oils' - which basically means they're heated and filtered and brought as close to plastic as possible!

Got it- thank you! I'll save up and get the good stuff :)

 

[Mr. Premise]

Funny you should mention that- where I live there is a brand of cocont oil available that is 3 times cheaper than the virgin coconut oil in the healthfood stores. Since it doesn't say "cold pressed" on the label I emailed the company to ask them about it. Here's the response:

Thank you for contacting KTC (Edibles) Limited.

KTC Coconut Oil is 100% pure, refined, coconut oil. There are no other ingredients, additives or process aids in this oil.

The oil is refined in exactly the same way as other, more familiar, vegetable cooking oils. Refining removes any impurities which could be present to produce an oil of the highest quality. Refining also destroys much of the vitamin content of an oil, but as coconut oil contains virtually no vitamins when freshly extracted, this does not affect the nutritional quality of the oil. The chemistry of coconut oil is unique in that it contains medium chain triglycerides which are the building blocks of the body's immune defence and hormones produced by the thyroid gland. These fatty acids are not affected by the refining process.

Nutritionally, refined coconut oil is as good for you as the cold pressed oil.

Our oil is not hydrogenated at any point in its production and naturally contains less trans- fatty acids than any other vegetable, animal or marine oils.


Kind regards

Graham Booth
Technical Director

It sounds okay doesn't it? Or does anybody see any "danger signs"?

Yes, big danger signs. You definitely don't want oil processed like other vegetable oils. You want cold-pressed. Regular vegetable oils use heat to extract the oils. Now since coconut oil is higher in saturated fat which can take a higher temperature, this might not be as big a deal as with other oils, but I would stick to the higher priced organic extra virgin cold pressed, etc. stuff.

 

[dugdeep]

Funny you should mention that- where I live there is a brand of cocont oil available that is 3 times cheaper than the virgin coconut oil in the healthfood stores. Since it doesn't say "cold pressed" on the label I emailed the company to ask them about it. Here's the response:

Thank you for contacting KTC (Edibles) Limited.

KTC Coconut Oil is 100% pure, refined, coconut oil. There are no other ingredients, additives or process aids in this oil.

The oil is refined in exactly the same way as other, more familiar, vegetable cooking oils. Refining removes any impurities which could be present to produce an oil of the highest quality. Refining also destroys much of the vitamin content of an oil, but as coconut oil contains virtually no vitamins when freshly extracted, this does not affect the nutritional quality of the oil. The chemistry of coconut oil is unique in that it contains medium chain triglycerides which are the building blocks of the body's immune defence and hormones produced by the thyroid gland. These fatty acids are not affected by the refining process.

Nutritionally, refined coconut oil is as good for you as the cold pressed oil.

Our oil is not hydrogenated at any point in its production and naturally contains less trans- fatty acids than any other vegetable, animal or marine oils.


Kind regards

Graham Booth
Technical Director

It sounds okay doesn't it? Or does anybody see any "danger signs"?

Yes, big danger signs. You definitely don't want oil processed like other vegetable oils. You want cold-pressed. Regular vegetable oils use heat to extract the oils. Now since coconut oil is higher in saturated fat which can take a higher temperature, this might not be as big a deal as with other oils, but I would stick to the higher priced organic extra virgin cold pressed, etc. stuff.

I think organic is the main issue. Heat processing isn't going to hurt coconut oil, as you said Mr. P. The main concerns with coconut oil are the solvents used for extraction and hydrogenation, both of which would be forbidden in organic processes (although check the organic standards in your country to be sure of this). Organic refined coconut oil has usually been expeller pressed, heat distilled and filtered, none of which should be damaging to a highly saturated oil (http://www.omeganutrition.com/static.asp?htmltemplate=faqs-nutrition-coconut.html#q8) like coconut oil.

I think in some cases the refined (organic) coconut oil is a better choice than the virgin, particularly for cooking. It has a completely neutral flavour, for one thing (I don't always want my cooking to taste like coconut). Also, since it's refined, it's just pure fat and doesn't have any compounds that can be damaged by heat when it's heated to high temperatures.

But, if you're eating it by the spoonful (or rubbing it on your skin) it's probably better to use the organic virgin stuff. This is what I'm doing, as I do my cooking with ghee and other animal fats when I can get them and keep my coconut oil for cold applications.

OSIT

Edit: clarity

 

[Don Genaro]

So the main issue is whether or not it's organic in the case of coconut oil? I was using it for cooking, just adding it to stews by the tablespoon to up the fat intake. I did notice it had a pretty neutral taste. Maybe it would be worthwhile to check out where these guys source their coconuts and see what the cultivation process is like- i.e. if they use pesticides for example? The fact that they don't state that it's organic suggests that they probably do...

 

[Jacques]

Perso I don't take any chance and I buy organic, cold-pressed, unrefined, unbleached and undeodorized coconut oil.

 

[mcb]

...Well there seems to be a sort of sick cosmic joke here in that they have managed to convince humanity to starve their hearts and brains of fat. As STS always uses the line of least resistance, what better way to get us to starve ourselves than to tell us that fats are bad for us and let us do the work on starvation?...

I can't help but think that there is a practical side to this, all joking aside. The C's mentioned the 4D STS taste for "nonsmoking vegetarians." I wonder if oxidative stress and/or other side effects of a high-carb diet make people "tastier." After all, our CAFOs use forced feeding of grain (carbs!) to fatten livestock for slaughter.

 

[aragorn]

During those days I really cranked up the intake of fat (adding ca 5 table spoons of olive oil/day)

Try animal fat or butter or something similar instead. Olive oil can be inflammatory for some people, and may not be the best fuel source.

Well, actually the olive oil was just on top of all the animal fat and butter I took :) But thanks for the reminder, I haven't had any problems with olive oil...at least not that I know of.

I've resorted in taking a few cups of coffee.

This will likely spike your insulin levels and may delay full transition to ketosis. In effect you may 'feel good' for a while but that's only because you are using the old carb metabolism not the new fat burning one.....every time you use the old one you delay (and perhaps reset) the transition to the fat burning one.
At worst you may find that it has delayed you transitioning by another two weeks.

Yeah, I know coffee is bad, and I've been without it for over two years. But if you don't mind me asking, what is it in the coffee that you mean spikes the insulin levels? Maybe I'm missing something , but according to my sources the Finnish coffee I drank contains 0,3g of carbs/100g - so if the carbs/sugar is the concern, that isn't much. Of course there are other negative health aspects with coffee, but just thinking about the carbs here...and I was taking it black, no sugar or milk ;)

 

[RedFox]

Yeah, I know coffee is bad, and I've been without it for over two years. But if you don't mind me asking, what is it in the coffee that you mean spikes the insulin levels? Maybe I'm missing something , but according to my sources the Finnish coffee I drank contains 0,3g of carbs/100g - so if the carbs/sugar is the concern, that isn't much. Of course there are other negative health aspects with coffee, but just thinking about the carbs here...and I was taking it black, no sugar or milk ;)

Caffeine Causes Glucose Level Spikes In Type 2 Diabetics
_http://www.articlesbase.com/diseases-and-conditions-articles/caffeine-causes-glucose-level-spikes-in-type-2-diabetics-397310.html

 

[Courageous Inmate Sort]

I would like to share a positive result of the high fat diet. Last Saturday I had my blood drawn for some medical tests. As per the doctor's orders, I was in a 12 hours fast before the blood test. Usually my pressure drops pretty quickly during blood tests and it is not unusual for me to pass out. I know this effect has much to do with the 12 hour fast, since when I have my blood drawn without having to fast I do not have the same symptoms, or have them at a much lesser degree.

However, this Saturday was different. I had my blood drawn and my pressure remained perfectly Ok, no negative reaction what so ever. What came to mind was that maybe my body no longer depends on my blood sugar to stay up. But I have no scientific grounds for this, it's just a thought.

While on the subject, it might be interesting for you to know what happened to my body after some 6 months of increasing meat and then particularly fat intake. The first number is from this Saturday and the second number is from a test dated January 29, 2011, just before I started on the paleo road.

LDL Cholesterol 155 89

HDL Cholesterol 67 58

VLDL Cholesterol 7 11

Triglycerides 34 53

 

[Don Genaro]

...Well there seems to be a sort of sick cosmic joke here in that they have managed to convince humanity to starve their hearts and brains of fat. As STS always uses the line of least resistance, what better way to get us to starve ourselves than to tell us that fats are bad for us and let us do the work on starvation?...

I can't help but think that there is a practical side to this, all joking aside. The C's mentioned the 4D STS taste for "nonsmoking vegetarians." I wonder if oxidative stress and/or other side effects of a high-carb diet make people "tastier." After all, our CAFOs use forced feeding of grain (carbs!) to fatten livestock for slaughter.

It might be a literal taste thing or it might simply be the fact that skewed blood sugar levels from excessive carb consumption leads to disease and hence, suffering (which is after all apparently a favourite food of 4dSTS) not to mention the negative emotions from people who are emotionally out of balance and prone to rage, for example when the blood sugar dips.