Nov 13, 2012 | The Fat Revolution
Many people accept acne as an inevitable part of growing up. Acne is blamed on everything from “evolutionary biology” to genetics, hormones, chocolate, or too much sun. The most common explanation is hormones. Experts often say that during periods in our lives, hormones become unbalanced and ‘wreak havoc’; most notably during puberty.
While we do have times in our lives where our hormones change, I believe that the effect of those changing hormones can be greatly mitigated by a good diet. Studies have shown that “acne is a disease of Western civilisation”. Studies of current hunter-gatherers and other populations living traditional lifestyles (1200 subjects in total, including 300 aged between 15 and 25), showed zero cases of acne. However, in Western populations, 79 to 95% of teenagers are afflicted with acne. In addition, up to 54% of adults over the age of 24 also suffer with a degree of acne. And for up to 12% of women and 3% of men, it can continue well into middle age.
I believe our Western diet is a huge contributing factor. Over-consumption of sugar and carbohydrates can increase insulin and an insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), which increases testosterone and leads our pores to secrete more sebum; oil that traps acne-causing bacteria. A more natural, low carbohydrates diet can have a huge impact on skin. My son is has never had an issue with acne through his teenage years—except when he has a weekend away and eats what his friends eat, but makes a choice knowing he will have about a week of bad skin.
Cordain L, Lindeberg S, Hurtado M, Hill K, Eaton SB, Brand-Miller J. Acne Vulgaris: A Disease of Western Civilization. Arch Dermatol. 2002;138(12):1584–1590.
Aug 12, 2012 | The Fat Revolution
Buckwheat crepes are delicious, very versatile, and are extremely easy to make. And, they satisfy the bread craving if you have given up grains. Buckwheat is not a grain (it is actually related to the rhubarb), so it is a fantastic grain alternative.
Ingredients
4 eggs
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1 cup filtered water
pinch salt
Coconut oil (for cooking)
- Preheat a cast iron skillet to medium heat (or a healthy non-stick fry pan).
- Beat the eggs with a whisk until egg yolk and white are well combined.
- Add the water and whisk.
- Add the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth.
- Using a pastry brush, oil the pan.
- Using a large serving spoon, pour the batter into the pan (approximately 1/4 cup for each crepe).
- Tilt the pan in a circular motion so the thin batter coats the surface evenly.
- Cook for approximately one minute, then loosen with a spatula, and flip to cook for another minute or so.
- Place cooked crepes into a tea towel, and if using later, store in an air tight container.
Tips
- Contrary to popular belief, crepes are very easy to make. If you end up with holes in the crepe, just fill them in with some extra batter.
- Use refined coconut oil so it doesn’t overheat (refined coconut oil has a much higher smoking point).
- Some buckwheat flour is stronger in taste than others (especially if it is not fresh). Shop around until you find a good one that is light in colour and very mild in flavour. We buy Coles brand of organic buckwheat flour.
Savoury (warm)
Ham and cheese
Ham, cheese and tomato
Chicken and cheese
Vegetables like fried mushrooms and asparagus with cheese
Wraps
Egg salad (boiled egg mixed with mayonnaise, salt and pepper)
Roast beef, chicken, or any kind of left over meat with salad
Butter with a dab of honey…yum!
Dessert
Strawberry and cream
Dutch apple (stewed apple with cinammon and a dash of stevia), served with ice cream or whipped cream
The possibilities are endless…
Jul 13, 2012 | The Fat Revolution
Whole grains are pushed on us like our lives depend on them. But are they a vehicle for weight loss? Or are they making us fat?
We have two beautiful Russian blue cats. One has a sleek figure, and the other is slightly pudgy. They are sisters, so why the different physique? The pudgy one misses her crunchy carbohydrate-filled cat food she got from the breeder, so she gets into the chicken food (grain). Not very appetising, surely, but addictions are funny that way.
The fear of fat is constantly drummed into us, but the real culprits continue to be excess sugar and grain; they both produce a strong insulin response and prompt our body to store fat. This is why livestock are fattened with low fat, whole grains (not fatty foods).
It is often claimed that whole grains do not cause a spike in our blood sugar the way that refined carbohydrates do. However, the fact is, there is very little difference in the blood sugar response of white bread and whole wheat bread. How? Our digestive enzymes convert the starch into glucose very easily, regardless of whether the flour is made with refined white flour or the wholesome variety, especially once the grain is milled into flour.
Many nutritionists use the glycemic index to preach the benefits of whole grains for weight loss. But even that argument doesn’t hold up. Have a look at glycemicindex.com and search for bread. Surprisingly, the whole grain bread is almost just as high on the glycemic index as white bread.
New Australian dietary guidelines encourage us to eat six servings of grain a day. Other ‘health’ recommendations recommend between six and 11 servings of grain per day. I know if I consumed the minimum six servings per day, I would be overweight; no question. In fact, I was overweight in my early 20s when my diet was based on ‘healthy’ whole grains.
If whole grains aren’t good for our waistline, what about our health?
‘Experts’ claim that whole grains help reduce risk of heart disease and cancer. But, many people are unaware that researchers don’t actually agree about the benefit of whole grains. In fact, some very strong evidence contradicts conventional claims, and suggests that eating these grains is detrimental to optimal health.
Researchers have presented studies claiming that whole grains prevent all sorts of illnesses, including diabetes, heart disease and obesity, but the subjects consuming whole grains have been compared to people eating white flour and other processed food. This is like saying that filtered cigarettes prevent cancer because in a study comparing filtered and unfiltered, the filtered cigarettes caused less cancer.
Our hunter-gatherer ancestors relied on meat, fruit, vegetables, and nuts. We now are dependent on cereal and grain, with some populations getting 80 per cent of their intake from a single type of grain.
Why are we so reliant on grains? Who does it benefit? With agriculture came the ability to cheaply feed billions of people with products that can easily be stored, shipped and processed; the most common are wheat, maize (corn), rice, sugar, soy, barley and oats. But there are several problems with heavy grain consumption.
When we eat a lot of grain, we don’t eat the food that nutritionally supports us like meat, eggs and fats. When we don’t eat enough protein from animal products, we are low in vitamin B12, which results in anaemia and cognitive dysfunction, and increases risk for arterial vascular disease and thrombosis. Too many grains also inhibit our absorption of vitamin D and our ability to absorb iron. Low levels of iron can impair children’s learning, and cause many other health issues. High grain diets can also interfere with the absorption of zinc and calcium, which dramatically impacts our health and bone strength.
Excess grain also inhibits our assimilation of protein, which can cause growth issues and deficiencies of essential nutrients, including zinc, iron, copper, calcium, vitamin D, vitamin B 12 and vitamin A. In addition, the protein in grains is inadequate for us to thrive.
Grains also act as allergens, which is why many people develop allergies to wheat and other grains. Excess grain causes severe autoimmune responses and obesity, and the excess fibre can cause gas, bloating, stomach cramps, rectal bleeding, constipation, and more. Most people are very pleasantly surprised when they discover bloating and gas are NOT a normal part of life once they reduce or eliminate grain.
Why are most grains so toxic to humans? The answer is to do with survival—of the plants! Grasses are eaten by herbivores; to protect themselves, grass seeds contain toxins that poison the digestive track of mammals. Why? So the seeds can pass through undigested and germinate.
As a result, when we ingest most grains, we end up with large amounts of undigested starch in our colon. Bad bacteria thrive on undigested food, particularly sugars and starches. In addition, gluten triggers an immune response that inflames the intestines in most people, not just those who have identified gluten intolerance. It is more serious in some because of further reactions to wheat, but gut damage occurs in the majority of those who consume it.
Cardiologist Dr William Davis, author of Wheat Belly, suggests that the reason wheat is the most toxic is that it has been hybridised several times, and in fact contains the toxins from three separate species. The original grain (einkorn wheat) started with 14 chromosomes. It was hybridised with goat grass, and then later with Triticum grass, resulting in modern wheat, which has 42 chromosomes.
So, if you have been stuffing down tasteless whole-grain kibbled bread thinking it would aid your health, you can replace it with more of the tasty real food like eggs, bacon, lamb chops, chips, fruit, whipped cream and other indulgences, and you and your digestive track may just breathe a huge sigh of relief.
Apr 13, 2012 | The Fat Revolution
Interesting question. Currently, we again have a big push to switch tasty, natural butter for artificial spreads or margarine, because, we are told, they are better for our heart health, and better for our waistline. The spreads look harmless enough. When I opened a carton recently, it looked inviting, smooth, pale yellow, soft, and spreadable. I am not sure about the taste though. Even the health organisations pushing margarine admit that our taste buds will have to adjust in time, and it is about our priorities.
But is margarine really better for our health?
I recently offered the choice of butter or margarine to some ants, to see what they thought. Ants are simple creatures. They ignore non-food items, and swarm on food items. And, they favour some food over others. Their favourite food is proteins, which we observe daily if our cats leave a few strands of raw meat behind on their dinner plate. As a young child, I grew up without a television, so I spent a lot more time in nature than most. One of my favoured activities was sitting in the gutter feeding ants. I found them fascinating, watching the trails they made, and observing which items they would pick up and take to their nest, and which they ignored.
This is hardly a controlled, scientific study, but it is a very interesting observation, which speaks volumes. I left a plate wit one knob of butter, and two knobs of margarine (one was cholesterol-lowering) for the entire day, and took pictures at intermittent times.
The results? Interesting. The ants would not touch the margarine. I don’t know how you feel, but if we know ants won’t go near margarine, what are these artificial substances doing to our bodies? We are gobbling them down at an alarming rate. As I observed the ants, I frequently saw a lone ant approach the margarine, and once they hit a certain point, they would abruptly turn around and walk the other way. Meanwhile, they swarmed on the butter all day long.
In addition, hundreds of scientific studies have come to the same conclusion; the evidence that margarine is damaging, and NOT food, is undeniable.
Would we substitute petrol in our car for ‘fake petrol’ and expect it to run? No? Why then, do we think we can use fake butter and expect our body to function?
What is margarine?
We are continually reassured that margarine is just as natural as butter, but is it?
Once saturated fat had become the new ‘demon’ of health, we needed a substitute with similar properties to saturated fats like butter and lard. We needed solid fats for quality baking and for spreading on bread.
Because saturated fat has more hydrogen atoms than unsaturated, manufacturers add more hydrogen atoms using a process called hydrogenation; the chemists call the process ‘plasticisation’. The process starts with a very cheap vegetable oil, which is already damaged. The oil is heated to extremely high temperatures again (which damages the oil and creates free radicals), strong pressure is applied, and the hydrogen is forced into the structure of the oil to make it solid. This might not sound too bad, but they need to use toxic chemicals, for example, nickel oxide, to force the change in molecular structure.
And, the process isn’t finished yet. At this point, this chemically altered substance isn’t a replica of butter at all; it is actually grey and smelly. They bleach and deodorise it by using chemicals and more high temperatures. And, to make it resemble butter, they add artificial flavours and colours.
The hydrogenation process creates a different, unnatural molecule (a trans bond), which doesn’t occur anywhere in nature. ‘Health’ organisations love to say that trans fats occur in natural foods, including butter. Small amounts of trans fats exist in natural foods, but they aren’t dangerous. The man-made trans fats are a completely different story; they disrupt our natural bodily processes because our body doesn’t recognise their structure.
I remember my mother telling me that when she was young, the margarine came home from the store white, accompanied by a container of yellow colouring to mix through. At that time, it was illegal for companies to sell it yellow so people couldn’t mistake it for butter. The colour had to be mixed in at home.
The problem with margarine isn’t just the trans fats, it is a whole host of other things, including free radicals, synthetic vitamins, emulsifiers and preservatives, hexane and other solvents, bleach, artificial flavours, and sterols (added to lower cholesterol, but have been shown to inhibit sexual function). They also contain mono-and di-glycerides, which contain trans fats that don’t have to be declared on the label, and are used liberally in the spreads that are classified as ‘low-trans’.
But wait? Surely we would see all that stuff on the label? Not so. A lot of it doesn’t have to be on the label because it is part of the manufacturing process, not an ingredient.
The margarine companies and conventional health organisations like to tell us that margarine is very natural and isn’t processed any more than butter. One health organisation says, ‘Just as milk is taken from the cow to make butter, oil is extracted from plant seeds to make margarine.’ This statement is blatantly false, and anyone who has ever worked in a plant processing oils into margarine could attest to that.
One of the popular brands is ‘proud’ to show their ingredients:
- Seed oils
- Water
- Salt
- Milk
- Less than 1% preservatives
- Less than 0.5% colour and flavour
The ingredients are advertised with a rosy picture to make it look all pretty and natural. Even though it is a pretty picture, they have admitted to adding the preservatives, colours and flavours. And the seed oils have gone through the process I described above; all the nasties used to process the oils don’t need to be on the label—remember they are part of the process, not ingredients.
How does that sound? And this is the healthy alternative to protect us from heart disease? And, the ironic thing is, research shows that one of the biggest side effects to consuming these rancid, toxic, damaged fats is heart disease.
Butter has been falsely accused and replaced by the very substance that does contribute to heart disease. Actually, that pretty much sums up conventional ‘heart healthy’ advice. If we do the opposite of just about everything we are told, we may get it right. One day people will look back at the history books and shake their heads in disbelief.
And it gets worse. Not only does the research show that these damaged fats increase risk for heart disease, they also increase risk for cancer, bone issues, hormonal problems, skin disease, infertility, problems with pregnancy and lactation, low birth weight, growth problems, learning disabilities and disruption of satiety signals (causing people to overeat). In addition, they have been proven to cause weight gain and damage our immune system.
These toxic oils can also contribute to skin cancer. It seems logical that the sun would be the cause of any skin cancer, but trans fats can interfere with the enzyme system that helps our body to repair damage from ultraviolet light, to detoxify and to eliminate carcinogens. And, most of us are now vitamin D deficient because we now fear the sun; the ironic thing here is that studies show that the vitamin D produced by sunlight protects us against skin cancer. I write a lot more about this in The Fat Revolution.
These damaged fats aren’t just in margarine; they are in a whole host of processed food products because they are cheap. They are normally identified on the label as hydrogenated vegetable oil, or partially hydrogenated vegetable oil/fat.
Because margarines and spreads are SO damaging, and have been directly linked to serious health problems like heart disease, cancer and much more, I believe that those who continue to assert that margarine is a healthier choice could be putting themselves at risk for future litigation. Especially since we have known, without a doubt, about the damaging side effects since the 1980s, and have chosen to completely ignore the evidence.
Bots. D.M.L. and Katan, M.B. (2001). ‘Replacement of dietary saturated fatty acids by trans fatty acids lowers serum HDL cholesterol and impairs endothelial function in healthy men and women.’ National Centre for Biotechnology Information, 21(7) pp1233–7.
Enig, M. (2012). ‘A Response to the National Association of Margarine Manufacturers.’ Available at: https://www.westonaprice.org/know-your-fats/margarine-manufactures Accessed January 2012.
Gillman, M.W. et al. (1997). ‘Margarine intake and subsequent coronary heart disease in men.’ National Centre for Biotechnology Information, 8(2) pp144–9.
Griguol Chulich, V.I., León-Camacho, M. and Vicario Romero, I.M. (2005). ‘Margarine’s trans-fatty acid composition: modifications during the last decades and new trends’ National Centre for Biotechnology Information, 55(4) pp367–73.
Karbowska, J. and Kochan, Z. (2011). ‘Trans-fatty acids–effects on coronary heart disease.’ National Centre for Biotechnology Information, 31(181) pp56–9.
Kummerow, F.A. (2009). ‘The negative effects of hydrogenated trans fats and what to do about them.’ National Centre for Biotechnology Information, 205(2):458–65.
Mozaffarian, D. et al. (2007). ‘Consumption of trans fats and estimated effects on coronary heart disease in Iran.’ National Centre for Biotechnology Information, 61(8) pp1004–10.
Stop Trans Fats (2007). ‘Join the campaign to Stop Trans Fats!’ Available at: https://www.stop-trans-fat.com Accessed January 2012.
Tavani, A., Negri, E., D’Avanzo, B. and La Vecchia, C. (1997). ‘Margarine intake and risk of nonfatal acute myocardial infarction in Italian women.’ National Centre for Biotechnology Information, 51(1) pp30–2.
Willett, W.C. et al. (1993). ‘Intake of trans fatty acids and risk of coronary heart disease among women.’ National Centre for Biotechnology Information, 6:341(8845) pp581–5.
Yanagi, S., Yamashita, M., Ogoshi, K. and Imai, S. (1994). ‘Comparative effects of milk, yogurt, butter, and margarine on mammary tumorigenesis induced by 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene in rats.’ National Centre for Biotechnology Information, 18(6) pp415–20.
