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Tag: Ketogenic Diet
How Do You Find All the Hidden Easter Eggs?
What Does a Strong Core Do for You?
I am amazed after just two treatments.
100 percent of the muscle contracts with this amazing technology. Nothing else does that like EMSculptNEO.
I am personally amazed at how much better my motorcycle riding, fencing and sword-fighting has improved with just two core treatments. He is absolutely correct. It’s amazing what you can do when you strengthen your core.
4-6 treatments one week apart. HIFEM + RF gives you 20,000 crunches in 30 minutes while burning fat through a patented radiofrequency wavelength between contractions. I cannot tell you how amazed I am by this technology.
30% more muscle and 25% fat reduction – you can’t beat that.
When combined with a daily exercise program, and a ketogenic diet, you will see AMAZING results. Cut your carbohydrates back to less than 20 grams per day. For women, I recommend 90 grams of protein or more daily. For men, I recommend 150 grams of protein daily or more to see the best results.
Call the office and schedule your consultation with me today!!
Office Number: (623) 584-7805.
#LeadFolloworGetOutOrMyWay #JustKeepEsterifying #Ketogenic #Keto #KetogenicLifestyle #Carnivore #DrAdamNally #DocMuscles #DocMusclesLive #DocTalk #DocsWhoLift #LiftRunShoot #DocMusclesLife #PlantBasedDietsSuck YouTube.com/drnally/.
Dr Nallys Lasers: #PicoSure #Icon #SculpSure #TempSure #EMScuptNeo #EMSella #EMFace
Treating & Reversing Chronic Kidney Disease with a Ketogenic Lifestyle
Check out my latest video on the treatment of chronic kidney disease with ketogenic and carnivorous lifestyles.
Dr. Nally’s Keto/Carnivore LiveStream Video Topics
I will be starting a twice weekly exclusive live-stream here for my amazing online followers and patient who are participating in the KetoClan Group on the following sixteen topics next week. Will be sharing the basics and my 22 years of clinical experience with each of these topics as it relates to health and weight management. These topics will take 10-30 minutes, then giving the remainder of the hour to you to ask questions.
The topics we will cover over the next 8 weeks are listed below:
1. Insulin
2. Monitoring Glucose – CGMs
3. Fat Adaptation
4. Things that make insulin go “bump in the night (or the day)” – (sweeteners, creamers, teas, Resveratrol, nuts, etc)
5. Protein
6. Basic Thyroid Function
7. Female Hormones
8. Male Hormones
9. Testing Ketones in Urine, Breath, Blood
10. Ketoacidosis
11. Medications and ketogenic diets (Metformin, DPP4s, GLP-1, SLT-2s, sulfonoureas, Berberine)
12. Stress – Cortisol & DHEA
13. Exercise – Cardiovascular and Resistance Exercise
14. Sleep
15. Food Cravings and the Subconscious Mind
16. Keto, Carnivore or Fasting – What should I be doing?
Not a member yet? Sign up here.
2022 Keto Awards
I’ve been told that many of you have nominated me. Thank you!!!
Every year Ketogenic.com hosts the Keto Awards with Metabolic Health Summit to highlight some of the best and brightest in our community.
There are five unique categories in which you can nominate and it would be an honor to me for you to add your vote:
Top Keto Educator
Top Keto Book
Top Keto Podcast
Top Keto Researcher
Making Positivity Louder
I’ll be sure to let you know who is selected.
Please take a minute to cast your vote for me.
Vote Here:
Why Am I Bloating On A Ketogenic Diet?
What is the cause of abdominal bloating when following a ketogenic or low-carbohydrate diet?
How Do You Use Exogenous Ketones (BHB)?
BHB stands for beta-hydroxybutyrate. This is one of three naturally occurring ketones formed in the body when metabolizing fat.
I’ve been asked what they are and how to use them quite a few times in the last week, so I thought I’d answer it here. . .
BHB can be used for a number of things:
1) to push you into a ketogenic state for 1-6 hours – I use them to jumpstart keto in people just starting a ketogenic diet (however, if BHB is being used while cheating on carbs at the same time, they often halt weight loss and in some cases can allow for weight gain).
2) I use it as a pre-workout drink for increased energy and stronger muscle contraction (I use them prior to sword fighting and it allows me more energy and endurance.)
3) For appetite suppression when the “munchies” try to kick in due to stress or anxiety.
4) To help enhance cognition in patients with Alzheimer’s dementia and Parkinson’s disease.
5) To improve mental clarity and focus in those with ADD/ADHD.
6) I also use them as a meal replacement while traveling.
7) I use them to help people who are morbidly obese experience a ketogenic state when they have never restricted carbohydrates before.
8) And, to prevent seizures when scuba diving with re-breather type equipment (bubble-less SCUBA).
You can find my exogenous ketones (BHB) at http://www.ketoliving.com
Smoked Pork Shoulder & 12 Essentials About Bacon
A number of people have asked me about how I smoke my pork shoulders. Pork shoulder is a perfect meal if you are on a ketogenic or carnivorous diet. The smoking process is quite simple. The key is in the simplicity. I’ve use a Traeger Select Elite pellet smoker for the last 10 years, but your favorite smoker will do.
In our house, we will smoke a 9-10 lbs pork shoulder and then use the pulled pork for meals throughout the week. I often do most of my smoking on the weekend when I am home and then we have some of the most tasty leftovers throughout the week.
But, before I dive into the recipe and process, we should take a moment to look at the historical essentials of bacon and it’s origins from the pork shoulder.
Bacon Dates Back to 1500 BC
The Chinese were the first to record cooking of salted pork bellies more than 3000 years ago. This makes bacon one of the world’s oldest processed meats.
Romans Called It “PETASO“
Bacon eventually migrated westward where it became a dish worth of modern-day foodies. The Romans made petaso, as they called it, by boiling salted pig shoulder with figs, then seasoning the mixture with pepper sauce. Wine was, of course, a frequent accompaniment. For my wine connoisseur friends, please tell me which wine goes best with bacon. . . you know who you are.
The Word Refers to the “Back” of a Pig
The word bacon comes from the Germanic root “-bak,” and refers to the back of the pig that supplied the meat. Bakko become the French bacco, which the English then adopted around the 12th century, naming the dish bacoun. Back then, the term referred to any pork product, but by the 14th century bacoun referred specifically to the cured meat.
The First Bacon Factory Opened in 1770
For generations, local farmers and butchers made bacon for their local communities. In England. where it became a dietary staple, bacon was typically “dry cured” with salt and then smoked. In the late 18th century, a businessman named John Harris opened the first bacon processing plant in the county of Wiltshire, where he developed a special brining solution for finishing the meat. The “Wilshire Cure” method is still used today, and is a favorite of bacon lovers who prefer a sweeter, less salty taste.
“Bringing Home The Bacon” Goes Back Centuries
These days, the phrase refers to making money, but it’s origins have nothing to do with income. In 12th century England, churches would award a “flitch,” or a side, of bacon to any married man who swore before God that he and his wife had not argued for a year and a day. Men who “brought home the bacon” were seen as exemplary citizens and husbands.
Bacon Helped Make Explosives During World War II
In addition to planting victory gardens and buying war bonds, households were encouraged to donate their leftover bacon grease to the war effort. Rendered fats created glycerin, which in turn created bombs, gunpowder, and other munitions. A promotional film starring Minnie Mouse and Pluto chided housewives for throwing out more than 2 billion pounds of grease every year: “That’s enough glycerin for 10 billion rapid-fire cannon shells.”
Hardee’s Frisco Burger Was a Game Changer for Bacon
Bacon took a beating in the 1980s, when dieting trends took aim at saturated fats and cholesterol. By the ’90s, though, Americans were ready to indulge again. Hardee’s Frisco Burger, one of the first fast-food burgers served with bacon, came out in 1992 and was a hit. It revived bacon as an ingredient, and convinced other fast-food companies to bacon-ize their burgers. Bloomberg called it “a momentous event for fast food, and bacon’s fate, in America.”
The Average American Consumes 18 lbs of Bacon Each Year
Savory, salty, and appropriately retro: The past couple years have been a bonanza for bacon, with more than three quarters of restaurants now serving bacon dishes, and everything from candy canes to gumballs now flavored with bacon. Recent reports linking processed meats to increased cancer risk have put a dent in consumption, and may have a prolonged effect. But for now, America’s love affair with bacon continues.
There is a Church of Bacon
This officially sanctioned church boasts 13,000 members under the commandment “Praise Bacon.” It’s more a rallying point for atheists and skeptics than for bacon lovers, per se, and there’s no official location as of yet. But the church does perform wedding ceremonies and fundraisers, and has raised thousands of dollars for charity. All bacon praise is welcome, even if you’re partial to vegetarian or turkey bacon over the traditional pork. Hallelujah!
There is a Bacon Camp
It’s like summer camp, but with less canoeing and more bacon cooking. Held every year in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Camp Bacon features speakers, cooking classes, and other bacon-related activities for chefs and enthusiasts eager to learn more about their favorite food.
Modern Technology Wants to Help You Wake Up and Smell the Bacon
An ingenious combination of toaster and alarm clock, the Wake ‘n Bacon made waves a few years back with the promise of waking up to fresh-cooked bacon. Sadly, the product never made it past the prototype phase, but those intent on rising to that smoky, savory aroma were able to pick up Oscar Mayer’s special app, which came with a scent-emitting attachment.
There Is A Bacon Sculpture of Kevin Bacon
It had to happen eventually. Artist Mike Lahue used seven bottles of bacon bits, lots of glue, and five coats of lacquer to create a bust of the Footloose star, which sold at auction a few years back. No word on how well the bacon bit Bacon bust has held up.
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Dr. Nally’s Smoked Pork Shoulder
Apply dry rub liberally to all sides of the pork shoulder 30-60 minutes before putting the shoulder onto the smoker using the following dry spices:
Refrigerate the pork shoulder after applying dry rub until ready to place on the smoker.
Preheat smoker to 250˚F degrees and place the pork shoulder fat side up onto the grill. Smoke it until internal temperature reaches 150-160˚F.
To Wrap Or Not To Wrap?
I wrap my pork shoulders in two layers of foil, to better seal in flavor and juiciness. I don’t wrap my briskets (unless I plan on storing them for later use).
Once the meat gets to around 160° internal temp (around the four to five hour mark) is the perfect time to wrap. Your pork shoulder should have excellent color and bark at this point.
Wrap the pork up in foil and place it back on the smoker, making sure you keep your temp probe in and wrap the foil around it. Once it is wrapped, place it fat side up and continue to smoke it at 250˚F until it reaches an internal temperature of 205˚F.
How Long Does It Take to Smoke a Pork Shoulder?
Smoking time averages 60-90 minutes per pound, depending on the level of doneness smoked at 250 degrees.
If you’re going to slice it, cook to 185˚F.
If your going to pull the pork smoke it longer, until it reaches 205˚F.
What Collagen Supplement Should I Use?
Many people are looking for natural sources of collagen. Every day in my clinic, I get asked about which collagen supplement I recommend using. People have been convinced over the years by great sales and marketing that they must have some form of supplemental collagen.
This is an important question, because there are many benefits to collagen. As the most abundant protein in our body, collagen is essential for:
· Fighting signs of aging like wrinkles
· Improving joint health and osteoarthritis
· Healing Irritable Bowel & Leaky Gut Syndrome
· Boosting metabolism
· Improving mental health
· Reducing the appearance of cellulite
· Strengthening hair & nails
· Great looking skin
WHAT IS COLLAGEN?
In the body, collagen is mostly found in the skin, bones, and joints. It also is found in the lining of the gut. We’ve known for years that gut health is incredibly important for overall health!
Collagen in the body is made up of amino acids which wrap together to make a triple-helix structure. The helix structure is why collagen is so strong.
The amino acids which make up collagen are:
· Glycine: Makes up about 33% of collagen
· Proline: Makes up about 10% of collagen
· Hydroxyproline: Makes up about 10% of collagen
· Hydroxylysine: Makes up about 1% of collagen
The 5 most common types are Type I, II, III, IV and V.
· Type I Collagen is the most abundant in our body (over 90%) and stronger than steel by weight. It is found in skin, hair, nails, muscle, joints and organs.
· Type II Collagen makes up movable joints.
· Type III (the so-called ‘baby collagen’) is the second most abundant collagen in human tissue.
· Type IV forms basal lamina, the epithelium-secreted layer of the basement membrane.
· Type V is present in cell surfaces, hair and placenta.
WHY YOU NEED COLLAGEN
Our bodies make collagen out of amino acids we consume through food. However, as we age, our bodies ability to make collagen declines. Thus, around the age of 30, collagen production begins to diminish by about 1% to 2% yearly. By the age of 40, you and I lose 10% to 20% of our collagen!
UV rays, cigarette smoke, pollution, poor diet lacking in the necessary amino acids causes our skin’s structural integrity to be compromised.
Our dermis is made up of more than 80% Type I Collagen and 15% Type III Collagen, along with Elastin and Hyaluronic Acid, and specialized cells called ‘Fibroblasts’ (the essential ‘collagen factories’ that synthesize new collagen).
Together they are the key components for the extracellular matrix which gives our skin its structure, elasticity and firmness.
Collagen is the key foundational protein for healthy, youthful-looking skin.
To produce collagen, our bodies first need to have amino acids as the building blocks for collagen. Millions of people around the world were indoctrinated in the low-fat diet dogma taught in grade school since the 1970’s. If you’ve been eating a low fat, vegetarian or vegan diet, which is lacking in those crucial amino acids, your body won’t be able to produce enough collagen!
Why? Because those amino acids above are found in animal proteins and animal fats, specifically from the connective tissues of cows and pigs (amazing how bacon is necessary for everything, right?!)
To make things worse, naturally-occurring enzymes in our bodies also break down collagen. Environmental factors like pollution, free radicals, and excessive sun exposure can also break down collagen.
THE #1 SOURCE OF COLLAGEN: Natrual GELATIN
When it comes to sources of collagen, you won’t find anything better than gelatin. Why? Because gelatin IS collagen. As mentioned above, gelatin comes from the connective tissue of cows, pigs and is found in whites and yolks of eggs. You can also get some types of collagen from fish.
Slow cooking or smoking beef and pork liquifies the connective tissues in these meats and creates the moistness that is so very delicious.
The great thing about gelatin is that it is easy for the body to digest and absorb. But, don’t expect your wrinkles or joint pain to disappear overnight.
Yes, you can buy expensive collagen powders or gelatins and help pay for supplement company CEO’s boat. And, some of these have been shown to be effective in helping the skin. However, most of the stuff you find in the supermarket is so highly processed that it isn’t likely to deliver any benefits.
Many collagen supplements found in powders can also cause diarrhea, bloating, a sensation of heaviness in the gut and stomachache.
Instead, save your money. Consume slow cooked beef & pork, eggs, fish and/or cook with bone broth. It will do wonders for your hair, skin and nails and it tastes great.
Sources:
1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK21582/
3. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23949208/
Doc Holiday Was Right . . .
Toward the end of Tombstone, one of my favorite movies, Wyatt Earp tells his long-time trusted friend, Doc Holiday, that he just wants to live a “normal life.” The doc’s response has resonated with me for years. His answer pierces the façade that society and civilization try to sell each of us.
“There is no such thing as a normal life. There is just life,” Said Doc Holiday.
In my 20+ years of medical practice, and almost 30 years of marriage and family, I have come to realize that the wisdom shared by this young tuberculosis infected physician was correct. What most people mean by a “normal life” is actually a calm, even, unchallenged life with neither great victories or disappointing defeats. This “normality” has a very seductive charm. A life that lacks pains, frights and failures is often dreamed of by the masses and is often portrayed on the big screen. And, in that portrayal, it emphasizes the want of challenge, opportunity and the delight of victory.
Yet, such a “normal life” is simply non-existent. Disruptions, explosions, setbacks, failures combined with celebrations and victories small and large are all part of life. The individual or family that mistakenly believes there is some way to play it safe, some private sanctuary where they can insulate themselves, has failed to take into account the mortality of an aging body, the prevalence’s of cancer, and the imperfect genetic codes we inherited. We fail to consider global financial collapse, war, and the sins and failings of a civilization of humans, each having their own moral agency. That is life. That is “real” life. We live within a test-tube of filth, mire and ever changing chaos.
We even fail to recognize the destruction that good things bring to a “normal life.” Consider an infant. The newborn baby has no respect for “normalcy.” As wonderful as the newborn child is, they seem intent on creating chaos around themselves until their needs are met, destroying the “normal” peaceful life and sleep of it’s parents.
Life Is Life
Life is life. In fact, life frequently sucks, and then we die. However, in between, there are some really joyful and momentous events that make living in this test-tube of filth and mire worth the struggle. This life was never meant to be lollipops, roses and sunshine. Days are hard, Relationships are hard. If they aren’t hard, you’re not growing. (That’s not to say abuse should ever be tolerated).
Take a relationship like marriage. Relationships are made, they don’t just happen. They are made and grow as two people strive for many of the same goals. The problem is most people don’t communicate their expectations, and frequently don’t even know what their expectations from a relationship actually are. Most people are afraid of commitment because they expect that the relationship should provide sunshine on the other side of the wedding ring and yet are shocked when that sunshine leaves a sunburn. Not knowing what their expectations should be, they leave when they don’t feel frequent pleasure and happiness.
The “normal” happy life is a façade. Most people raised on participation trophies misunderstand that the paradox of life is seeking pleasure from a relationship or a job first. That’s the most effective way of missing it. Lasting joy in life, a job, a relationship or a family occurs when one seeks that joy outside of one’s self, daily directing one’s focus on the principle of filling your life with purpose.
So, shall we call Doc Holiday prophetic? I don’t think he was a prophet, but, as a physician suffering from a chronic disease that would eventually end his life, he was correct in his assessment of life in general. The determination to create and cling to a “normal life” will result in frustration, cynicism and even bitterness because it cannot be done. In Doc Holiday’s experience, the brave doctor contracts a terminal illness like tuberculosis in his attempt to help others. The disruptions of “normalcy,” even the good ones, that affect us day to day become obstacles to the “normal.” This can cause resentment of the irritable baby, the spouse, the job, the co-worker, the daily routine and even those we desire to help.
The disruption may become such an obstacle to the facade of normal that a parent, for example, may resent the baby. Seeing that a baby, one of the most noble things a mother can bring into this world, can disrupt and even threaten the ease of someone’s “normal” life, the noble disruption may even lead one to consider aborting it. Society today worships at the alter of “normal.” Hence, the pursuit of the myth of the “normal life” actually allows the horrific to become normal.
Is there an antidote? There is. Life should be meaningful. Life should be purposeful. What brings meaning and purpose in a test-tube of mire and struggle?
All the Things We Experience Make Life Better
The Apostle Paul, in his letters to the Roman saints, gives the most expansive, all-encompassing statement about life in all of the religion and philosophy that I’ve ever read. “All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
All things, . . . not just the good stuff -not just the easy, normal stuff work for our good. It is the combination of good and bad that make this life meaningful. Seeing the meaning in your life takes an antidote against the cynicism and and bitter taste that the bad often leaves behind.
The antidote comes in a few steps:
Improve your health
As a doctor, I’m a huge advocate of improving your health which plays a dramatic role in happiness. Losing as little as 10 lbs has been shown to improve energy, decrease your risk for major disease, improve sleep, improve sex life, and decrease inflammation. Improvements in any of those areas will reduce stress and anxiety and increase happiness so you can imagine while improvements in ALL of these areas could dramatically change your life.
As an advocate of the ketogenic lifestyle, I’ve found that the majority of my patients are able to lose 5-15 lbs each month for the first three months using this approach. They average 2-5 lbs pf weight reduction each month there-after while following a ketogenic approach over the long term. Understanding that this is one of the long term keys to success in happiness I want to make sure you know that I’ve developed some custom strategies to help with this and will share them with you below. This lifestyle decreases risk for diabetes by 75%, improves mental clarity, and slows the aging process. (Who wouldn’t want those side effects while eating bacon?)
Use food as an antidote
A number of studies have demonstrated that a ketogenic diet increases gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), a key neuro-hormone signaling satiety and pleasure, in the brain. GABA increases sensations of happiness and euphoria. (Yes, this is why eating bacon makes you and I happier. It’s probably why the thought of bacon in the video above made you smile.) Shifting into a ketogenic state at least periodically has the effect of increasing your sense of happiness throughout the day. It is actually the ketone that does this. Whether you get into ketosis through diet alone, or through the use of exogenous ketones, both methods are effective in aiding you in your quest for happiness.
Savor daily experiences and record them
Savor the daily experiences. We live our lives at such a high speed, we often neglect to take time to enjoy the experiences around us. A trip to down town Amarillo, Texas, a few years ago brought me to the front doors of a restaurant that served cream-cheese & sausage stuffed, bacon wrapped, jalapenos (try saying that 5 times fast). I had a bit of time and decided to try them. It was the first time in 3-4 days that I actually had the chance to slow down and savor the place around me, the flavors of the food, and the atmosphere of the restaurant.
Just taking a bit of time to savor these things made this experience a very memorable and happy experience that to this day I have not forgotten.
Take 3-5 minutes today to just think about where you are. Savor the smell of a rose, the color of the sky, the shape of the clouds or the sight of a bird. These sensory images can, and will, leave indelible memories and release dopamine and serotonin naturally in the brain. Savoring the daily experiences of life can be part of the process of meditation we will talk about below.
Volunteer
Doc Holiday could have groveled in the sadness of his illness and pain. But, instead, he risked his life to save the life of Wyatt Earp in Texas. Then, in 1879, he joined Earp in Las Vegas, New Mexico and then rode with him to Prescott, Arizona, and then to Tombstone. In Tombstone, local members of the outlaw Cochise County Cowboys repeatedly threatened Doc Holiday and spread rumors that he had robbed a stage. On October 26, 1881, Holiday was deputized by Tombstone city marshal Virgil Earp. The lawmen attempted to disarm five members of the Cowboys near the O.K. Corral on the west side of town, which resulted in the famous 30-second shootout, and the legendary stories and movie Tombstone.
Get involved and volunteer in meaningful activities around your neighborhood, church & community. Research shows that voluntarily giving of time increases happiness in the giver. It also allows one to see, participate with and help those around you who may be less fortunate. Volunteering your time and energy regularly increases your gratitude we will discuss further below.
Express gratitude
Expressing gratitude daily has been shown to dramatically increase your sense of well-being and happiness. Expressing gratitude requires awareness. It requires you to take inventory of everything around you (something you will already be doing if you are savoring your daily experiences). Gratitude can be expressed in a journal, through prayer & meditation, or directly to those around you. However, expressing gratitude requires effort.
In the Judaeo-Christian view, expressing gratitude is actually a method of expressing faith. The 17th chapter of Luke holds a biblical example of this concept. When the leper returned to express his thanks to Jesus Christ for being healed, he wasn’t told “Your gratitude made you whole.” Christ told him, “Thy faith hath made thee whole.” He implied that the act of expressing gratitude is a demonstration of faith, a necessary and essential process in human development.
Recognize personal value
I’m not talking about your bank statement or personal financial statement. I’m talking about recognizing the value of your soul. The only successful non-medication based program to help people overcome addiction is the 12-Step Program through Alcoholics Anonymous. The essential second step of the twelve is recognition that a power greater than ours is involved in our lives. Whether, you believe in God or a greater universal power, recognition of your value is an essential perspective to gaining happiness. This has been demonstrated thousands of times through the 12-Step Programs.
Often, the feeling we have of our personal worth is based on the love and interest we receive from those around us. Yet, this love is sometimes lacking. The love of men is often imperfect, incomplete, or selfish. What if you looked at yourself with the same benevolence, love, and confidence that God does? Imagine the impact it would have on your life to understand your eternal potential as God understands it. If you could view yourself through His eyes, what influence would that have on your life? Recognition of this principle is essential to making any lasting change.
Look for the growth in who you are
The celebrated Greek poet, Pindar, said, “Become who you are.” This is confusingly paradoxical. How does one become who they already are?
Many of the younger generation grew up to the sounds and images of The Lion King. You probably remember the scene where Simba receives a visit from his father, Mufasa, the deceased king. After his father died, Simba fled from the kingdom because the guilt he felt about his father’s death. He wanted to escape his responsibility as heir to the throne.
His father appears to him and warns him: “You have forgotten who you are and so have forgotten me. Look inside yourself, Simba. You are more than what you have become. You must take your place in the circle of life.” Then this invitation is repeated several times: “Remember who you are. … Remember who you are.”
Simba, completely shaken by this experience, decides to accept his destiny. He confides in his friend, the shaman monkey, that it “looks like the winds are changing.”
The monkey replies, “Change is good.”
And Simba says: “But it’s not easy. I know what I have to do. But going back means I’ll have to face my past. I’ve been running from it for so long.”
Recognizing and accepting our past for what it was brings happiness. Hiding or running from our past prevents us from experiencing true joy.
Meditate
Meditation and prayer have been shown to actually change areas of the brain that relate to stress management and mood regulation. People who meditate regularly over long periods of time have better ability to find and maintain positive states like joy and compassion. Richard Davidson and his colleagues found that meditation increases brain activity in areas related to happiness as well.
The ability for a person to access the subconscious mind and to address aberrant thinking errors attached to powerful emotions confers advantages that cannot be acquired through any other medical medium. Wholeness of the mind, body and spirit are ultimately the goal. Meditation & hypnotherapy change fragmented, unhappy people into integrated, happy people by simply helping people to identify and repair the broken subconscious thought patterns that can occur in all of our day to day lives. Check out Dr. Nally’s information on mind-body medicine here.
Improve the quality of your relationships
Happiness has been linked to quality relationships as well. Robert Wallinger, psychiatrist at Harvard University, conducted a 75 year multi-generational study on happiness. He found that the quality of the relationships was powerfully connected to happiness. Lonely people were less happy and had poorer health. People with higher-quality relationship or social ties were the happiest.
However, it wasn’t just having a relationship, but having one with a stable and consistently caring person that made the difference. Having lots of acquaintances or being in a relationship with an unreliable or abusive partner did not make people happier. Amazingly, listening (savoring shared experiences) and complimenting (expressing gratitude) improve the quality of relationships. (
Don’t know where to start? Start by sharing some bacon . . .
Allow others to help
I know you are probably familiar with the phrase “it is better to give than receive,” but did you know there is evidence to support the reverse mantra is also true? Happiness also comes from allowing others to help. Think about it. When you are helping others, especially when they appreciate it, you feel happiness or joy. Others experience those same feelings when they are able to help you. Think of a child that wants to make you a meal. No matter what it looks like when it gets to you, you smile and feel happy at the effort, the child smiles back proud at their success. There is happiness in giving and receiving.
So today’s your chance to receive. As a doctor, I find myself shying away from sharing this information with you directly because I never want anyone to feel like my efforts are about me. I’ve spent years learning and understanding the benefits of a Ketogenic lifestyle and spent additional years researching products that work and my local patients are experiencing tremendous results! A friend told me that not sharing this information with people directly was actually being selfish. (Ouch!) “When you know someone has a problem that you can solve, shouldn’t you share it and then let them make their own decisions?”
Although that was painful to hear, it helped me commit to being more direct about how I can help all of you to feel better. If you are ready to change the way you feel and want to live a happier, healthier life, the time is NOW. Put these 10 steps in action, click the link and get a copy of my diet. Then, enjoy the benefits of a Ketogenic or Carnivorous Lifestyle.
If you want to know more about what I do, keep reading my blog, join my weekly newsletter by signing up below. Then, watch my videos every week on YouTube and listen to my Podcast giving you free tips and tricks to stay healthier. I even developed my own line of vitamins and supplements specifically for myself and my patients. If you know you are ready for a change, and you want to see how I can help, check out the variety of Ketogenic programs I offer to help you find the meaning in your life.
How to restart your keto/carnivore diet after the holidays
Using Quinine to Prevent Coronavirus is Really BAD Advice
I’ve had multiple people send me links to people and/or “supposed experts” recommending the use of quinine to prevent coronavirus or COVID-19. In my perspective, this is really bad advice and borders on malpractice.
Quinine was and still is used for the treatment of malaria. Yet, there are some significant reasons using quinine is, and should continue to be, limited. Anyone recommending liberal daily use of quinine does not have any grasp of the potential for harm and death that can arise with the use of this substance. I have seen quinine toxicity on a number of occasions in my 20 years of medical practice, and it ain’t pretty.
There is NO Evidence that Quinine Prevents COVID-19
There is absolutely no evidence that using quinine prevents infection from coronaviruses or COVID-19. Quinine differs in its mechanism of action from hydroxychloroquine, one of the drugs currently under investigation for use with COVID-19. Please, DO NOT confuse the two.
Even Small Amounts of Quinine Can be Deadly
Quinine use is the most common cause of immune-mediated drug induced thrombotic microangiopaty (DITMA), a life threatening condition caused by small-vessel platelet clots. In a systematic review of all published reports describing drugs and other substances as a suspected cause of thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA), quinine was responsible for 34 of 104 cases in which there was definite evidence for a causal association (33 percent) [1].
The Oklahoma Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura-Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (TTP-HUS) Registry found quinine-associated TMA in 19 of 509 patients (4 percent) referred for a possible TMA over a 25-year period and found quinine as the cause of DITMA in 20 of 23 patients (87 percent) for whom a drug could be implicated as having a definite or probable causal association with the TMA [2, 3].
A 2017 report describing the 19 individuals included in this registry found the following features [3]:
- All were white. This is distinctly different from Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (TTP), in which approximately one-third are black (seven-fold higher than the reference population).
- Eighteen (95 percent) were women. This is greater than the increased frequency of women (75 percent) among patients with TTP.
- Eight (42 percent) had a prior history of quinine-related symptoms (nausea, vomiting, fever, chills, headache, confusion, ataxia).
- Thirteen (68 percent) could recall the precise timing between quinine ingestion and symptom onset (all ≤4 hours).
- Eighteen (95 percent) were caused by a quinine tablet; one was caused by quinine in tonic water of a vodka/tonic drink.
- Eighteen (95 percent) had evidence of quinine-dependent antiplatelet (or antineutrophil) antibodies.
- All had acute kidney injury; 17 of 18 required dialysis; three developed end-stage renal disease; and two underwent kidney transplantation.
- One died from complications of central venous catheter insertion. Of the remaining 18, eight died a median of nine years following diagnosis, five from cardiovascular disease or stroke that may have been related to the TMA.
Quinine is implicated in causing neutropenia (decrease of white blood cells in the immune system). When it occurs, neutropenia is often accompanied by other organ-system findings that may include thrombocytopenia (low platelet count), microangiopathic hemolytic anemia (the most common being DITMA referenced above), rash, acute kidney injury, fever/chills, and others. The mechanism in many cases appears to be an acute, immune-mediated reaction to the drug. Evidence to support these associations was evaluated in a 2016 systematic review of published reports, which found neutropenia in 24 (17 percent) of the 142 patients who had an immune-mediated quinine reaction.
Quinine + Sugar is A Perfect Storm
The problem that many physicians find is that quinine tablets may be borrowed from a friend or family member, or the exposure may occur from a beverage like Schwepps (eg, tonic water, bitter lemon). And tonic water is loaded with sugar or high fructose corn syrup. This high carbohydrate content, in combination with quinine is a perfect storm for kidney failure.
In the United States, the only available quinine tablet (Qualaquin) requires a prescription, and the only approved indication is for malaria treatment. This restricted availability of quinine tablets may explain why we have not seen a patient with quinine-induced TMA since 2009 [3]. There are also several over-the-counter tablets and herbal remedies for leg cramps available in the United States that may contain quinine, and quinine tablets can be purchased over-the-counter in Canada and other countries. Quinine may also be added to drugs of abuse such as cocaine.
Just One Dose of Quinine Can Be A Trigger
Importantly, TMA from quinine can be triggered either by a single ingestion (eg, one quinine tablet, one quinine-containing beverage) occurring many months or years after a previous exposure, up to 10 years in our experience. This is because the drug-dependent antibodies can persist for many years, but they cannot react with target cells in the absence of the drug. Acute immune-mediated tissue damage can occur within hours of re-exposure. It is not known whether the homeopathic doses of quinine present in remedies for leg cramps in the United States can trigger TMA, but in principle, immune-mediated DITMA can occur with extremely low levels of re-exposure.
Chronic kidney disease is common following quinine-induced TMA [3].
So, please, don’t follow bad advice about using quinine from people who have no concept of what these drugs can really do.
Please see my Coronavirus Page for information and recommendations on prevention and treatment.
References:
- Al-Nouri ZL, Reese JA, Terrell DR, et al. Drug-induced thrombotic microangiopathy: a systematic review of published reports. Blood 2015; 125:616.
- Reese JA, Bougie DW, Curtis BR, et al. Drug-induced thrombotic microangiopathy: Experience of the Oklahoma Registry and the Blood Center of Wisconsin. Am J Hematol 2015; 90:406.
- Page EE, Little DJ, Vesely SK, George JN. Quinine-Induced Thrombotic Microangiopathy: A Report of 19 Patients. Am J Kidney Dis 2017; 70:686.
Keto Misconceptions – Have You Heard Any Of These?
The keto misconceptions abound and this week is no different. A popular health website recently published an article warning people about the “dangers” of a ketogenic diet, including the keto-flu, kidney disease, gut bacteria, nutritional deficiency, bone health and low blood sugar. They claimed these dangers are “evidence based.” Dr. Nally very quickly debunks these dangers, explains how the naysayers “spin” the science and talks about why these misconceptions are false.
Check it out:
I Can’t Do Keto Because . . .
I hear this all the time. “I can’t eat keto because. . . ”
What is your excuse?
I am amazed at how tightly people cling to these excuses. They are just that excuses. In the 16 years I’ve been training people how to use these diets to treat disease, I have yet to find one that is not just an excuse that covers up the real reason . . .
Check out my video on this:
Just Keep Esterifying
I’ve had many of my patients and followers on social media ask about my continued use of the hashtag #JustKeepEsterifying. Well, here is the answer. Check out the short 4 minute video below to get the answer:
“Keep the carbs low and the fat high.”
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Hair Loss and the Ketogenic Diet
Hair loss is an issue that I am asked about quite frequently. With any dietary change, transient hair loss can occur in the first 2-3 months but will usually resolve. Continued hair loss is a problem with any diet and if you are experiencing hair loss it could be due to one of five issues:
1. Medication
2. Lack of protein or caloric restriction
3. Hypothyroidism
4. Iron Deficiency
5. Hormone imbalance (especially estrogen dominance or poly-cystic ovarian syndrome)
Dr. Nally discusses these and how to address them in his most recent YouTube video. Check it out below.
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Is Your Celebration of Independence Day a Deception?
Our celebration of Independence Day is a deception.
Laying beneath the fireworks, barbecue and fun is the hard to swallow truth . . . It’s all a sham.
Are you and I really independent anymore? No. Not anymore.
243 years ago, the British oppression was a threat. It was singular, visible and involuntary.
Now, the threat we face daily is an entirely new form of tyranny, infinitely more complex.
The scary thing is that oppression is now:
- Fractionated
- Invisible
- Voluntary
Fractionality of Our Millennial Tyranny
Slavery has changed. The oppressor previously owned the slave individually. However, with time we learned that when there are multiple owners, the burden of ownership is lessened. Joint ownership became the norm. Now we have joint ownership of our condos, boats, and jets. The burden of slave ownership was the risk of revolt and revolution.
If ownership of debt can be spread among the masses, the individual risk is mitigated.
Our fractional oppression is spread throughout the legion, and the tyranny is masked as a principle of the great “free market.”
BIG FOOD sells cancer, diabetes, heart disease and fatigue through the FOMO of fake food.
BIG MEDIA sprinkles us with malaise, despair, anxiety and post-traumatic stress with lurid half-truths, click-bait shock value, and salty emotion all with the intent to sell us more advertisement.
BIG PHARMA peddles side-effects, addiction and false hope convincing the feeble mind, created by BIG FOOD, that a pill is necessary to prevent us from experiencing the pain, emotion and struggle of life – that same life that BIG MEDIA keeps ever present in the palms of our hands. In bed with BIG GOVERNMENT, their evangelism recommends medicating instead the more difficult learning from struggle and failure.
BIG GOVERNMENT covers us with red tape to stop the financial bleeding and hemorrhaging of the tumor’s growth it stimulates, through greed and invasion of individual inalienable right.
BIG MONEY circles us on wings of dread and fear singing a song of doom, all the while sampling emotional cookies and Danishes of immediate gratification, while slipping the “plastic card with a security chip” shackles over the wrists of the enslaved.
BIG EDUCATION preys upon our children with glib platitudes, group-think, and participation trophies. It teaches the weakened minds to prize test-taking, rote memorization, and fact regurgitation above problem-solving, creative thinking, and learning from failure. They prepare our children to work as drones on the factory floor of cyberspace instead of art and enterprise.
And, that’s just the beginning.
Look no further than your bank statement to see how the oppression is itemized. Each line item takes it’s pound of flesh round the clock each month.
Invisibility of Oppression
“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe that they are free.” -Goethe-
200 years ago, the shackles were visible.
Today the shackles are disguised. Independence is a deception.
We are smarter than an outright shackle. So, they were re-tooled, re-imagined, re-formed, and hidden like landmines in cyberspace:
- 0% APR
- Matching contributions
- Free Miles
- Free Samples
- No Money Down
- 84 Month Installments
These are just grease on the slaughterhouse chute.
It Can’t Be Oppression if You & I Now Volunteer?
Forced slavery is no longer acceptable in our “free society.” The dark genius of modern oppression is the creation of cultural norms, rituals and addiction that invite us to PUT ON OUR OWN CHAINS.
Modern slavery is now VOLUNTARY.
“No one put a gun to your head or forced you to buy our product or service,” is the mantra of the oppressor while billions are spent on engineering conditions that make the shackles look like icing on your cyberspace cake.
But there is an escape . . .
Massive in scale, fractional, and nearly invisible, there is still a choice.
CHOICE IS THE ESCAPE
So, this evening, as the cardboard tubes of fireworks lay discarded in the park grass, and the toy flags lay rolled up on top of the fridge, awaiting their return to the attic for storage, let your Independence Day celebration be much deeper. Choose.
Let your Independence Day stir the same indignation for oppression that our fore-fathers felt.
Cultivate within yourself the desire to fight and win a second Independence Day.
You will need every ounce of resolve and strength you can muster.
Today, there are no chains, hangman’s noose or firing squads, there is but chemistry, habit, choice and instinct. The Oppressor will attempt to use it against you. You can still see it if you look. You can still choose.
Have the courage to flip them the bird of indignation as they present you the “standard American prepackaged life.”
Reject What Isn’t Real
Reject the drama and depletion of paycheck-to-paycheck living . . . instead, create wealth. Save a few dollars each day.
Reject the cardboard food in the grocery store and eat real food: bloody, fresh and wild. It will re-energize you.
Reject the FOMO of the dutiful consumer and become a CREATOR. Create the world you dream of by small and simple daily choices.
Reject the fake new, fake government, fake food, fake medicine, fake success, fake friendships, and fake happiness that encircles us. Create a life that is REAL. You’ll know it’s real because you can feel it, beyond the pain of trial and error and failure, REAL encompasses heart, mind, body and soul at the same time.
Take off the blinders so that you may see the leeches and parasites sticking to you. Rip them from your body and warm yourself as you burn them in the fire.
Only then will you escape the clutches of the modern tyrant.
Only then will you be free.
[Adapted from Bryan Ward and his “Third Way Man” series]
Adam S. Nally, D.O. (aka DocMuscles)
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Overcoming a Weight Loss Stall On a Ketogenic Diet
What do you do when you hit a weight loss stall while living a ketogenic lifestyle? Find out below. Dr. Nally goes into detail on the multiple causes of stalling while following a low-carbohydrate or ketogenic lifestyle. He dispels the myths around counting calories and macros. And, he discussed the basics of overcoming a stall.
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What You MUST Know about Total Cholesterol & LDL-C on a Ketogenic Diet
Is following your Total Cholesterol and LDL-C really that important?
You may be quite surprised.
Watch as we discuss the important markers of heart disease and vascular disease risk. We will talk about how these markers can help you understand what your body is doing in the process of making or reversing atherosclerosis (plaque in the vessels). And, should you really be taking that STATIN (cholesterol lowering) drug? Get the scoop here as Dr. Nally very simply points out how the right diet can and will lower your cholesterol without the use of medications.
Research in the last 10 years points to the small-dense LDL particle as the atherogenic component of cholesterol (Hoogeveen RC et al., Arterioscler Thoromb Vasc Biol, 2014 May; Ivanova EA et al., Oxidative Med Cell Longevity, 2017 Apr). Studies in the last five years have identified that elevated small-dense LDL cholesterol correlates much more closely with risk for inflammation, heart disease and vascular disease (Williams PT, et al. Atherosclerosis. 2014 April; 233(2): 713-720.)
Recent research in the last three years demonstrates that small dense LDL cholesterol is a better marker for prediction of cardiovascular disease than total LDL-C (Hoogeveen RC et al., Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. May 2014, 34(5): 1069-1077l; Ivanova EA et al., Oxidative Med Cell Longev. 2017).
Additionally, higher LDL-C is actually predictive of longer life and has been demonstrated to correlate with longevity (Ravnskov U et al., BMJ Open, 2016 Jun 12;6(6): e010401). And, a low LDL-C actually increases risk of early mortality (Schwartz I et al., Lancet 2001, 358: 351-55).
It is commonly understood that LDL-C will rise with increased saturated fat intake on a ketogenic diet. This has been know and reported in the scientific literature for over twenty years. This is to be expected, because LDL-C is really a measurement of three different LDL sub-particles (“big fluffy, medium, and small dense”). Increased saturated fat intake, while at the same time lowering carbohydrate intake, actually causes a shift in these low density particles to a bigger “fluffier” particle conformation (Griffin BA et al., Clin Sci (Lond), 1999 Sep).
The 2015 British Medical Journal, referenced above, analyzed the relevant 19 peer reviewed medical articles that included over 68,000 participants. This review showed that there is no association of high LDL-C with mortality (meaning that an elevated LDL-C does not lead to an increased risk of death from heart or vascular disease). I realize that, in stark opposition to the landmark review above, The American Heart Association’s Presidential Advisory published their position in the June 20, 2017 issue of Circulation. They stated that saturated fat is the cause of increased LDL-C and they further extrapolated that elevated LDL-C is associated with an increase in death by cardiovascular disease. This boldfaced claim is only based on one single small four year (2009-2013) literature review completed by the World Health Organization with a total of only 2353 participants, most of these studies only lasting 3-5 weeks (not nearly long enough to see fully effective cholesterol changes) and none of which had any focus on carbohydrate intake, insulin levels or LDL sub-particle measurement (Mensink RP, Geneva: WHO Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data, 2016).
Based upon the most current scientific evidence above and my clinical experience, the large body of evidence above demonstrates the use of total cholesterol and LDL-C to determine vascular disease risk to be ineffective tools. A low carbohydrate/ketogenic diet lowers small dense LDL cholesterol, triglycerides and blood sugar and in many cases, the use of cholesterol drug (STATIN) therapy is not needed and ineffective in comparison with a ketogenic/carbohydrate restricted lifestyle.
Why Salt is So Important on a Ketogenic Diet?
The most common complaint that I get in my office when someone has started a ketogenic diet is, “Doc, I feel fatigued. Will this ever go away?”
That feeling of fatigue, some refer to as the “keto-flu,” is usually due to a couple of things. First, you may not be eating enough fat (I recommend a 1 gram to 1 gram ratio of protein to fat when getting started). Second, you’re not taking in enough salt (specifically sodium, potassium, magnesium and/or zinc). These four salts are essential electrolytes our body requires for proper function.
If salt is the problem, the you will be experiencing leg cramps. Cramps during daytime activity are usually due to low sodium or potassium levels. Cramps that wake you up at night are usually due to low magnesium or zinc. Leg cramps can also be due to hypothyroidism or significant blood sugar swings. Dr. Nally will usually check for this during your visit with him.
“But isn’t too much salt bad for you?” I am frequently asked.
Too much salt is only bad for you if you’re eating a “low-fat” diet.
What if increasing salt intake actually lowered your blood pressure?
Did you know that increasing your salt intake can actually improve your diabetic blood sugar if you are following a correct diet? Could it be that easy?
Almost every patient that I see in the office has a significant worry about salt intake, some greater than others. In fact, some people are so fearful about salt that when I initially began encouraging its use, they told me that I was crazy, and they left my practice.
Has restricting salt over the last 50 years really worked, or is it doing more damage than we think?
That was the question that was asked by Dr. Ames in the American Journal of Hypertension 17 years ago. However, his answer never got a mention. In fact, I’ve been in practice for almost 20 years, and incidentally stumbled upon this article when it was mentioned by a colleague of mine. Granted, the study is a small sample size of people, only twenty-one. However, the results are profound.
Twenty-one patients with hypertension were randomized to periods of no salt (placebo) and periods of 2 grams (2000 mg) of sodium chloride four times a day (a total of 8 grams of salt per day). Glucose tolerance tests were completed with insulin levels at the end of each intervention period.
Insulin Resistance and Hypertension Improve by Adding Salt
Three very noteworthy results happened. First, those patients with insulin resistance and diabetes had improvement in their glucose levels while on 2 grams of sodium supplementation.
Second, those with hypertension also, shockingly, showed improvement in their blood pressure while on the 2 grams of sodium supplementation.
Third, those with insulin resistance had a lowering of their insulin levels during the period of increased sodium intake. These findings fly in the face of the dogma that’s been drilled into our heads that “salt is bad!”
“But, Dr. Nally, you can’t base your findings on a small group of 21 people,” the experts say.
Yes, it is a small study group. However, these findings are identical to what I, also, see clinically every day in my practice for over 20 years.
We know that the average human needs at a minimum 3 grams of sodium per day and 3 grams of potassium per day. The standard American diet (SAD diet) including processed foods contains 2-3 grams per day of sodium and potassium. In fact, the CDC claims the worst salt containing meals for you are:
- Bread
- Processed chicken dinners
- Pizza
- Pasta
Insulin also stimulates additional retention of sodium at the kidney level. If you are insulin resistant, producing excess insulin in response to starches or sugars, you retain notably larger amounts of salt when eating the standard American diet (SAD diet) or a “low-fat” diet. However, if your following a low-carbohydrate or ketogenic lifestyle, you won’t be eating the meals above and you’re probably not getting near enough salt.
Salts, or electrolytes, are essential in normal cellular function. Low salt in the body is like running your car without oil. It will run, but not very efficiently and over the long term will cause problems. This is the cause of the keto-flu I wrote about previously. And, according to the study above, it is a potential driver of our persisting insulin resistance, diabetes and hypertension.
How Much Salt Should I Use?
In my office, I encourage use of 3-4 grams of sodium and 3-4 grams of potassium daily when using a ketogenic lifestyle. That’s approximately 1 ½ – 2 teaspoons of salt per day. I like the Redmond’s RealSalt or pink Himalayan salt because these products contains all four types of salt (sodium, potassium, magnesium and zinc).
It is probably that your salt restrictions is making your insulin resistance and blood pressure worse. That’s what the clinical evidences are pointing toward, and it is what I see every day in my office.
Want to know more about a ketogenic life-style? Click the KetoLife link to get some basics.
If you’re already following a ketogenic lifestyle, then let me help you navigate the bumps and turns by going to the KetoKart and checking out the products I recommend to jump-start ketosis DocMuscles-style!
Until then, I’ll have another piece of bacon, please . . . and, oh, pass the salt!
Estrogen Dominance – The Dead Man’s Curve on the Road to Ketogenic Happiness
Over the last 18 years of my practice, I’ve seen tremendous success in helping people improve their health when low-carbohydrate dietary changes are anchored as the foundation of treatment. However, there is still a group of people that struggle with seeing success. Even with the most effective ketogenic dietary control, there are those that see abnormal weight gain, inability to lose weight, poor libido, fatigue, foggy thinking, mood swings, persisting depression, headaches, bloating, breast tenderness, fibro-cystic breast changes, hair loss, and hot flashes. They may not experience all these symptoms, however, many are often present. If you have been following a ketogenic lifestyle and are still experiencing any of these symptoms, you are probably suffering from estrogen dominance.
Estrogen dominance is a condition that elusively effects thousands of women (and men) and your doctor probably doesn’t even know about it. I didn’t know about it. I, like all of my physician colleagues, were trained in school that the symptoms above are related to fluctuations of estrogen as a woman ages (or dropping of testosterone as a man ages). We were, and still are, taught that they are fixed by giving more powerful doses of estrogen or testosterone.
Over the years of my clinical experience, giving more estrogen frequently didn’t work. And, giving men more testosterone didn’t work either. What I found very effective, for many, was changing the diet. And, for about 85% of people, the symptoms list above resolved. However, the cause of the symptoms above in that last 15% of patients I see was still elusive. Examinations, blood tests, and even psychological evaluations never revealed the answer. Giving synthetic estrogen, progestin or testosterone when the blood work showed abnormality partially alleviated some of the symptoms for a few months, but then the patients would end up back in my office with the symptoms having returned.
I’ve found a number of problems following the “standard” medical approach to using synthetic sex hormones.
The first problem is that estrogen, progesterone and testosterone are heavily bound to proteins in the blood. It is only the free component of the three forms of estrogen and progesterone in the body and the free testosterone that acts upon the delicate cells located throughout the body. Blood testing does not account for the levels of free estrogen forms and progesterone effectively. These can only be tested through salivary testing.
The second obstacle is that the synthetic forms of progesterone (progestin), cannot effectively enter the brain. When synthetic forms are used, a person only gets half the benefits of progesterone found in the human body. This is why so many women have depression, anxiety and foggy brain feelings when using the synthetic versions.
The third challenge is that pharmaceutical companies cannot patent a drug that is identical to your human hormones. The chemical structure of the synthetic estrogen, progestin or testosterone must be slightly different. Hormones effectively work on certain aspects of various cells throughout the body, however, progesterone and progestin (the synthetic version found in medroxyProgesterone) DO NOT have the same hormonal effect on each cell. Natural progesterone is broken down by the stomach when ingested. That’s why progestin was invented, however, it doesn’t act the same in the body and only does half the job.
The fourth dilema is that much of our food in the standard American Diet stimulates increased estrogen production or inhibits clearance of estrogen excess through the gut and digestive tract. This happens in men and women. We can get excess estrogen from animals treated with hormones in meats, milk and dairy products. Hydrogenated oils in processed foods change the way estrogen and progesterone are handled in the body. These unstable fats increase the effects of estrogen on the body and amplify the risk for cancers. Excessive omega-6 fatty acids in the diet magnify estrogen receptor response to estrogen.
Estrogen metabolism in the liver and removal in the gut are dependent on vitamins B & E, magnesium and idol-3-carbinol (IC3). Diets without adequate IC3 from glucobrassicin found in leafy green and crucirferous vegetables allow re-uptake of estrogen in the gut leading to high estrogen levels and estrogen dominance. This is where gut health is even more important, and where I see failure in the “carnivore” approach to a ketogenic lifestyle.
The fifth problem is that the more estrogen I give a person, the more estrogen receptors are unregulated to the surfaces of the cells in the body. When that happens, more estrogen is required. Excess estrogen can actually cause many of the same symptoms present in progesterone deficiency including:
- Irregular or heavy bleeding
- Breast tenderness
- Depression
- Fatigue
- Poor concentration
- Fibrocystic breast changes
- Decreased libido
- Fibroid growth on the uterus
- Endometriosis
- Water retention and bloating
- Fat gain around hips and thighs
- Bone mineral loss (osteoporosis)
- Hair loss
- Skin thinning
- Disturbed sleep
- Breast and uterine cancer
More estrogen isn’t needed. Balancing natural progesterone with the current estrogen the body is already making is the solution in most cases. This can only be effectively assessed through a salivary hormone test.
In my clinical experience, a ketogenic lifestyle is foundational to balancing these hormones consistently and naturally. Carbohydrate restriction by itself corrects many of the diseases of civilization. I addressed this in my book The Keto Cure. For many, there are few more steps necessary to living a long, happy and healthy life.
The treatment to this issue isn’t difficult. For that reason, much more is to come on this subject. I will address each of the points above in future blogs. However, the first step is get your hormones checked by someone who understand this problem. And, then knows how to interpret it and treat it.
Will A Low-Carbohydrate Diet Kill You?
Will a ketogenic diet or very low carbohydrate diet kill you? Will it increase your likelyhood of death? That’s what the media and the dietary world is saying this week. Is it really true? How do you know? That’s the question that I ponder as I smoke my brisket while reading the headlines this week.
My inbox has exploded with patients and acquaintances suddenly worried that my very low-carb lifestyle is bad. This all revolves around the publishing of a study in the Lancet this week, and the interpretative spin that has been placed on it by “those in the know.” To quote one of the NHS dietitians, Catherine Collins, RD FBDA, “In summary, this paper will disappoint those who, from professional experience, will continue to defend their low-carb cult, but contributes to the overwhelming body of evidence that supports a balanced approach to calorie intake recommended globally by public health bodies.” Either she didn’t actually read the paper, or she clearly doesn’t understand the low-carbohydrate/ketogenic dietary world. Before you go throwing out your bacon, turning off my smoker and buying bags of rice, let’s talk about some principles that seem to be completely misunderstood by the “low-fat, calorie restricting” nutritional aristocracy.
Ketogenic Diets are Powerfully Effective
First, ketogenic diets are powerfully effective. They are effective in weight loss, reduction of blood sugar, reversal of diabetes, decreasing cardiovascular risk and reduction in blood pressure. These are just a few of the powerful effects of a ketogenic lifestyle. (I wrote a whole book on the 16 different diseases dramatically improved by carbohydrate restriction.) It’s why I’ve been using carbohydrate restriction for over 14 years both personally and in my clinical practice. 85% of the people in my practice don’t respond effectively to anything other than carbohydrate restriction. This is because their insulin levels are 2-20 times normal. The question the Lancet should be asking is “why do 85% of people fail calorie restriction?” But, that is for another article.
Few Diets Keep the Weight Off Long-Term
Does the ketogenic diet keep weight off in the long term? All diets seem to fail in this regard, even the ketogenic diet will show rebounding of weight after 1-2 years. Yes, I hate to be the bearer of sour news, but as an obesity specialist, this is what I do for a living. The Lancet article implies that the low-carb diet is singular in the issue of weight rebound, but that is not the case. The only diet I have found to effectively keep the weight off long-term is a ketogenic diet, combined with pulsed eating and the correct type of physical activity.
Definition of a Very Low-Carbohydrate Diet
Third, commentary, and the researchers themselves, extrapolate that based on the results, very low carbohydrate diets increase the risk of mortality. However, this study wasn’t even “low-carb.” It was Paleolithic at best. The lowest calorie intake group was just under 1600 kcal per day and the carbohydrate restriction was only 120 grams per day. A low-carb diet is defined as less than 100 grams per day. A very low-carbohydrate diet is defined as less than 50 grams per day, and a ketogenic diet is defined as less than 20 grams per day. This study and the cohort studies involved in it weren’t even low-carb!!!
Only Two Data Gathering Points in 25 Years?
Fourth, although people were followed for 25 years, there were only two data gathering points consisting of 66 questions spaced 5-7 years apart asking the 15,428 participants to “remember what they ate” over previous 3-5-year intervals. Seriously?! I can barely remember what I ate last week and I take pictures of my food and journal my meals frequently. How can you publish an article with only two data collection points over 25 years? And, how can extrapolated data over 25 years be accepted as valid in a premier medical journal? It is beyond my understanding.
You Gotta Lower Insulin to Reduce Mortality
Fifth, insulin must be lowered to a “baseline level.” Increasing fat intake in the presence of abnormally elevated insulin will actually increase risk of cardiovascular disease, peripheral vascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, gout, kidney stones, and death by multiple causes. This cohort of people only partially lowered carbohydrate intake, and raised fat and or protein intake. Those of us who’ve been treating obesity and practicing in the trenches are well aware that if you don’t bring the insulin levels under control, raising fat and protein is just a ticking time bomb. Of course, the all-cause mortality went up in this group. I’d expect nothing less. This is what I saw with a large portion of my Paleolithic dietary patients.
This is also why caloric restriction doesn’t work. These participants had average calorie restriction of 1600-1800 kcal per day. Yet their risk for all-cause mortality (death by all causes) increased.
Weight Gain Continued
Sixth, all of the groups continued to gain weight. Body mass index increased by almost a full point ever 6 years. Carbohydrates were NOT restricted enough to be effective. It also, demonstrates another example of calorie restriction failure in 15,000 plus people.
That’s what I’d call successful – not really!
Smokers Not Excluded
To make matters worse, 60-70% of the population were smokers or former smokers and this study did not specifically eliminate this as a risk factor for all-cause mortality. We know that smoking dramatically increases risk of heart disease, peripheral vascular disease, hypertension, stroke, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, etc. The contribution of tobacco in this cohort was not adequately isolated.
Follow the Money
Lastly, I’ve learned that when you look closely at research, it is very important to follow the money. The National Institutes of Health funded the study. They openly state that a healthy eating plan “emphasizes vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and fat-free products.” Their position falls right in line with the WHO Millennium Development Goals established at the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Conference in 2000 and reconfirmed in September, 2015.
The World Health Organization has developed sixteen goals as their “Call to Arms.” Goals 12 and 13 specifically discuss “ensuring sustainable food consumption patterns throughout the world.” These goals specifically outline a transformational vision of the world. This will occur by “doubling agricultural growth” and restricting food production that worsens the “carbon footprint.”
Really?!
Over the last ten years, multiple progressive groups and sites have made the claim that the greatest threat to Climate Change is the cattle industry. They link cattle, livestock and our consumption of red meats to global warming and have been preaching the politics of nutrition. They claim that the only real way to stop climate change and global warming is to “eat less red meat and dairy products.”
Low-carbohydrate and ketogenic diets are a threat to this transformational vision. Because of this, we will likely see more and more scientific research used as propaganda, let’s call it what it is, to sway the general populous in their buying and eating patterns.
So, if you’ll excuse me, my smoked brisket is ready to pull off the smoker. . .
Ketogenic Weight Loss Class
I’ve opened up my ketogenic weight loss class to the public. Come and join us if you are struggling to lose weight. Many people are struggling to understand how a ketogenic diet works, or finding confusion with all of the different “experts” teaching people to live a ketogenic lifestyle.
Come join me this Friday, and lets put you on a course for success.
Habit-Loop Cycle of Weight Gain & Obesity
In my last blog post about willpower, I described habits being neural impulse channels in our brain stimulated by a cue following a path leading to the same outcome each and every time – without exerting much effort. Researchers call the formation of these impulse channels habit-loop cycles. Much of the original obesity research of the 19th century was conducted by psychiatrists and psychologists recognizing that people had habitual eating patterns. Because of this, gluttony became the perceived influence of obesity. This underlying philosophy still permeates the obesity research, treatment and low-carb dietary world today. Yet, over the last 15 years, I’ve found that the habit-loop cycle is tied to powerful hormone responses. These responses to very subtle and often unknown triggers or cues powerfully drive weight gain, obesity and struggles with willpower. How does the habit-loop cycle effect you? Before we can change these habit-loop cycles, we have to understand what they are, and how they were created.
It’s All About That Basal Ganglia
Meghan Trainor tells us that “It’s all about that bass . . .” However, it’s really all about that basal ganglia. Deep inside our brains, close to the brain stem, at the location where the brain meets the spinal cord, is a little “nub” of neurological tissue called the basal ganglia. This little nubbin of tissues was identified by the really smart scientists at MIT in the 1990’s as the location where habits are formed and executed. The brain is – to take a quote from my favorite ogre, Shrek – “like an onion – it has layers!”
The Brain Is Like an Onion
If you picture the outer layers of the brain tissue, those closest to the hair and scalp, you can create a mental image of where our most complex thoughts occur. When you think up a new invention, create a new way to cook with bacon, laugh at a friend’s joke, or link two complex thoughts about how habits form, you are using these outer layers of the brain.
However, our interest today is deeper . . . much, much deeper. Deep within the center of the brain at the basal ganglia is the location where our automatic behavior originates. Swallowing, breathing and the startle responses are housed in this little nubbin of brain tissue. It is this area of the brain that learns to recall and record patterns of neurological thought and stimulating action. This part of the brain has the ability, like the water drops on the mound we discussed last week, to record neural pathways and tracks leading to reduced mental effort and habit. The basal ganglia even has the ability to store habits while the rest of the brain is asleep. It is in this location, the basal ganglia, where the habit-loop cycle occurs.
Habits Created by Chunking
The habit-loop cycle is the process where the brain converts a sequence of actions into an automatic routine. The really smart guys at MIT call this “chunking,” and it is the root of habit formation. There are hundreds of behavioral chunking activities that you and I rely upon every day. Some of these are as simple as the process you use to squirt toothpaste on your toothbrush before brushing your teeth. Others are more complex like getting dressed or making a lunch box for the kids.
The Habit-Loop Cycle in Your Car
A habit-loop cycle is performed by this little nubbin of tissue by millions of people every morning. Take, for example, backing your car out of the garage. When you first learned to do this, it required huge amounts of concentration – and for very good reason. You’re steering 3000-5000 lbs of steel between a 16 foot garage-door opening into oncoming traffic. 
Safely backing your car requires you to open the garage door, unlock the car, adjust the seat, insert the key into the ignition, turn it clockwise, move the rear-view mirror and the side mirrors to visualize any obstacles, put your foot on the brake, put the car into reverse, gently remove your foot from the brake, mentally estimate the distance between the garage and the street while keeping the wheels straight and looking over your shoulder, applying a slight pressure between the gas pedal and the brake, and in some cases, slapping your teenagers hand while they fiddle with the radio dial.
But think about it . . . did you actually put any thought into these actions this morning? You and I probably did this once or twice today without any additional thought. It happened because the basal ganglia took over and created a habit-loop out of it. This routine, repeated hundreds of times, became a habit, requiring very little mental effort.
Your Basal Ganglia Makes You Fat
The habit-loop cycle occurs hundreds and maybe thousands of times throughout our day. It is the cycle that drives hundreds of our activities. In fact, it is this same cycle, in combination with 30 different hormones, that drives our weight gain or weight loss. Yes, I said it, your basal ganglia can make you fat.
Habits Make for a Smaller Brain
Your brain will try to turn any regular routine into a habit, because habits allow our minds to slow down and conserve effort, energy and fuel. The efficient brain allows us to stop thinking about basic behaviors like walking, breathing and eating. This effort-saving effect of the brain is a major advantage, otherwise our brains would be huge, requiring heads the size of watermelons, or even the size of a water tower, causing their own weather systems. Your wife will thank you for an efficient brain that is smaller and requires less room. Can you imaging giving birth to a watermelon or a small Chevy? (Did you notice the size of Shrek and the Donkey’s head? Just say’n . . . )
Habits Are The Root of Behavior
What all this leads to is this – habits, as much as memory and reason, are the root of our behavior. We often don’t remember the experiences that create our habits. However, once they are created, they influence our action without our own realization. Charles Duhigg’s book, The Power of Habit is a great resource for further information on how habits drive our behavior.
The Habit-Loop of Obesity
So, how does all this affect obesity and weight gain? Let’s, first, look at the habit-loop cycle. Researcher, Larry Squire, documented the habit-loop through three decades of research. He and others published numerous articles showing that habits have a cue or trigger that stimulates a routine. The routine leads to an outcome or reward. The reward usually satisfies a craving. Cue-> Routine -> Reward. What we learn through our studies in obesity is that the reward often stimulates a hormonal response of 1-30 different hormones in brain and body leading to repeat cues or triggers. The cravings are hormonally driven. I call it the Habit-Loop of Obesity.
The Craving is the Key
Human psychology and emotion is the key behind habit creation. First, there must be a trigger or cue. Second, the trigger is attached to a previously experienced emotion or craving tied to the cue. The key to habit formation is the craving. The craving is what stimulates the physical routine to occur. It is an emotion or craving that drives the brain to create the habit. Third, there must be a clearly defined outcome or reward that satisfy the emotion or the craving. The emotion or craving doesn’t have to be associated with hormones, however, in the relm of obesity, it is usually tied together.
I am all about making things easier. Your brain does it. We all do it. And, I’m all about trying to help you lose fat and get healthy more easily. Let food be your medicine, let medicine be your food. That’s my mantra and that is as easy and natural as it gets. But, in our day and age, we don’t always have access to growing and raising our own food. That’s why my second mantra is – better living through chemistry. So, I created the KetoKart. Over the last 15 years of medical practice, I’ve found products and supplements that aid in letting food be your medicine, changing triggers, modifying hormones, and help to satisfy cravings in a healthy way to make your decisions easier. Go to the KetoKart, see which package works for you and order it. You’ll thank me.
How do we change our obesity habits? Stay tuned for the third part in this series: Fixing the Habit-Loop of Obesity.
So, I want to know . . . which package did you choose?
Ketones – One of the Keys to the Fat Lock-Box
Do you have the keys to your “fat lock-box?”
Lock-boxes have always fascinated me. Lock-boxes with special keys are even more fascinating. The more I’ve learned about fat cells (adipocytes), the more I think about them as special fuel depositories or fat lock-boxes. Before the invention of refrigerators, fast-food, Bisquick and beer, our bodies preserved and reserved fat as a precious commodity.
The body, when given fat with carbohydrates or excess protein, quickly places the fat into a lock-box for safe keeping. It does this for two reasons. First, the body can store fat very efficiently. Second, hormone signals stimulate fat storage when other fuel sources (carbohydrate & protein) are present in excess. The body can access this stored fuel only when the right presentation of hormonal keys are present. Fascinatingly, we now know from recent research, there are actually three types of lock-boxes for fat in the human body (white adipose tissue, brown adipose tissue, and tan adipose tissue).
The greatest challenge for the obesity doctor is getting into the fat lock-box. Some people’s boxes are like the “Jack-in-the-Box” you had as a child – just add a little exercise spinning the handle and the box pops open (These are those people that say, “Oh, just eat less and exercise and you’ll lose weight.”) For the majority of the people I see, it’s more like the lock above with a four or five part key required to turn the gears just right. (And, that key often only seems available on a quarter moon at midnight when the temperature is 72 degrees.) Fat cells, called adipocytes, require four, and possibly more, keys to open them up and access the fuel inside. Exercise is only one of those keys. However, exercise alone often fails.
Over the last 18 months, I have been surprisingly impressed with the results patients have by the addition of both medium chain triglycerides and exogenous ketones. A number of people have asked me, “Why do you encourage the addition of exogenous ketones to a person already following a ketogenic diet?”
Others just accuse me of self promotion, saying, “You’re just trying to sell a product!”
Or they exclaim, “Giving more ketones is just a waste of time and money.”
A few of the uneducated holler from across cyberspace, “You’re just going to cause ketoacidosis!”
Believe me, I’ve heard it all. And, the skepticism is understandable. I work with people every day, looking closely at weight gain/loss, metabolism, cholesterol, blood pressure, inflammation, etc. With any “low-carb” or “ketogenic product,” I test it out on myself and my family, before I offer it to my patients or even consider encouraging its use in my practice. I have this desire to understand “the how” and “the why” before I prescribe the who and when.
The Fat Lock-Box Keys
First , let’s talk about the adipocyte as a fat lock-box – and where you find the keys. Then, we’ll discuss how products may or may not help.
Insulin
There is only one door INTO the adipocyte for the fat, and the key to that door is insulin. Insulin stimulates an enzyme called lipoprotein lipase that essentially pulls the fat from the cholesterol molecule into the fat cell. Without insulin, fat doesn’t enter the fat cell. As a result, type I diabetics (those that make absolutely no insulin) look anorexic if they don’t take their needed insulin. Insulin is also the first key to the back door on the adipocyte. Actually, if there is too much insulin in the system, fat enters easily through the front door but cannot exit the back door (Picture 1). Insulin seals up the back door so that fat cannot exit very effectively.
That’s why insulin is the master hormone when it comes to obesity. You’ve got to lower the over-all insulin load to get the adipocyte slowing fat entry and increasing fat exit. If you don’t do that, I don’t care how much you exercise, 85% of the population will struggle with weight loss. Hmmm, seems kind a familiar to the last 50 years of our obesity epidemic, No?
Catecholamines
The second key to the back door of the fat cells are the catecholamines. These are adrenaline (epinephrine), norepinephrine, adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and even serotonin. These hormones are produced in the adrenal glands through exercise, fear and even recollection of powerful memories. Medications can also stimulate production of these hormones. The catecholamines stimulate cAMP. cAMP opens the fat cell, releasing fatty acids for fuel.
The thyroid hormone conversion of T4 to T3 also plays a role in uptake of the catecholamines by adnylyl cyclase (AC). Low levels of T3 (like those seen in hypothyroidism or in cases of thyroiditis) also inhibit unlocking of the fat lock-box. Conversion of T4 to T3 is driven by the presence of bile salts in the gut. Increase fat intake increases the presence of the bile salts which naturally leads to better T3 conversion. Hence my constant references to eating more fat and bacon. .
Inflammation & Medications
The third key is an inhibitory effect on adenylyl cyclase (AC) activity by alpha and beta adrenoreceptors, adenosine, prostaglandins, neuropeptide Y, peptide YY, HM74-R & nicotinic acid. These inhibitory and inflammatory hormones produced in the brain, gut and other areas decrease cAMP activity in the fat cell and slow fat loss. The fancy long names are all hormones causing inflammation. Of note, many are also stimulated by medications including blood pressure lowering drugs. Check with your doctor if the medications you are taking may be causing weight gain, or halting your weight loss.
Please note that the first three keys have effect on the cAMP pathway for release of fat from the adipocyte. These three keys turn on or off effective function of cAMP leading release of fatty acids from the fat cell.
Naturitic Peptides
The fourth key follows a separate pathway. This is why I’ve clinically seen patients experience weight loss even in the presence of higher insulin, inflammatory disease or hypothyroidism. This key activates release of the naturitic peptides (ANP, BNP). These hormones are released from the heart when it squeezes more powerfully. As the cardiac muscle contracts, it releases ANP & BNP hormones. These hormones stimulate the cGMP pathway in the adipocyte. It then activates hormone sensitive lipase (HSL) and perilipin to release free fatty acids. Again, this pathway is separate from the pathway by which the first three keys released fat. Exercise increases heart contractility, but is inhibited by high insulin levels. However, ketones themselves also stimulate this increased contractile effect.
Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Gonadal (HPG) Axis & Testosterone
There actually is a fifth key not referenced above. The fifth key to the fat lock-box amplifies testosterone’s presence through the HPG axis. Insulin resistance and leptin resistance lower testosterone in men and raise it in women, causing poly-cystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). Normalizing insulin levels (with a ketogenic diet) while at the same time increasing ketones as the primary fuel powerfully resets the HPG axis through a complex series of hormonal reactions. Growth hormone is balanced and testosterone returns to a normal range.
Clinically, 60% of the people I see in the office have abnormal testosterone due to insulin resistance. This leads to hypogonadism in men and PCOS (abnormal periods, facial hair growth and/or infertility) in women. Restricting carbohydrates and maintaining nutritional ketosis by diet and/or addition of exogenous ketones has a powerful corrective factor in these people.
Testosterone influences the up-regulation of the alpha & beta adrenergic receptors (the 2nd & 3rd key above). Hence, if your testosterone is low, it has a suppression on the way that the catecholamines influence fatty acid release from the fat cells. If your testosterone and growth hormone are normal, muscle development and adrenaline stimulus from exercise helps amplify the use and mobilization of fat from the fat cell. In people with insulin resistance and leptin resistance, exercise and the catecholamines don’t have the same fat burning effect.
What Does This Actually Mean?
Yes, I have greatly simplified a series of very complex hormonal pathways in the explanation of the keys above. Why do you think understanding obesity has been so difficult? Think of your adipocytes as a fat lock-box.
What’s even more important is the knowledge that the fat cell DOES NOT open or close because of calories. There is no dogmatic calorie-meter on the wall of the fat cell. There is no calorie key to the fat lock-box. Really, . . . in the 50 years of studying fat, researchers haven’t found one. (Prove me wrong when you show me an electron micro-graph of a calorie-meter in the wall of a cell). Science has demonstrated multiple times that the lack of food from starvation or excessive fasting suppresses thyroid function (an inhibitory effect on key #3). Restricting calories actually inhibits fat loss in many people.
The fat lock-box keys I refer to above are hormone responses to the presence of macro-nutrients (food). That means, first reduce your carbohydrate intake by eating real food from good sources. You can learn how to get started by registering for my FREE six part weight loss mini-course. Second, be as active as you can. Third, reduce stress and medications that have inhibitory effect on catacholamines. Fourth, balance your thyroid. And, fifth, get into ketosis and consider adding exogenous ketones to your dietary regimen. It really is that simple.
References
(For those of you that still believe there is a calorie key – or just need something to do while in the bathroom):
- Lafontan et al. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2005
- Lenard NR, Obesity, 2008
- Li XF et al, Endo (April 2004) Vol 145
- Liu YY& Brent GA, Trends Endocrinol Metab. 2010 Mar; 21(3): 166–173
- Max Lafontan et al. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2005;25:2032-2042
- Skorupskaite K et al, Hum Rep Update, Mar 2014, vol 20
Bacon Grease – The Healthy Essential Oil
Bacon Grease Is the Healthy Oil
Is bacon grease really healthy? People in my office stress out about getting all the healthy fats and the right amino acids. I am asked all the time, which protein powder they should be taking? Do I prefer fish oil or krill oil? My answer to this is simple.
“Bacon grease.”
I know, I can see it on your face now. . . the blank stare of disbelief.
Yes, I said “bacon grease.”
If you are following a low carbohydrate or ketogenic diet, bacon grease is your essential oil. Let me explain why:
Bacon Contains All The Essential Amino Acids
Bacon, and the grease it creates, contains all the essential amino acids. Yes, even the coveted branched chain amino acids (BCAAs). Go ahead, have 3-5 slices for breakfast, but keep the grease and re-use it to cook with. Because your saving yourself from having to buy expensive protein powders and less tasty versions of these essential muscle building blocks.
Bacon Is A Great Source of Choline
Bacon grease is a great source of choline, an essential nutrient for stabilizing cell membranes and making the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Acetylcholine is one of the neurotransmitters absent in memory disorders and muscle disease. Fascinatingly, choline helps in the prevention of fatty liver disease, a disease caused by the standard American diet that often progresses to non-alcoholic liver disease.
Choline has also been shown in a number of studies to help ward off Alzheimer’s Disease.
Bacon Grease Contains All The B-Vitamins
Bacon fat is a superb source of all of the necessary B vitamins. It is also a superb source of Vitamin D, phosphorus, magnesium and iron. In fact all of the fat soluble vitamins – any vitamin that sounds like a letter of the alphabet: A, B, C, D, etc.- are found in animal fat.
Bacon Grease Suppresses Appetite
Long-Chain fatty acids are satiating. Bacon grease is a great source of the longer chain fatty acids and has a wonderful effect on suppressing your appetite. That’s why Dr. Nally talks about it so often. Bacon is the duct tape of the culinary world, and acts to suppress the cravings for the pie that might arise 30-60 minutes later.
Bacon Brings Happiness
When have you ever felt a frown after eating bacon? That’s my point . . . you just smiled when that thought crossed your mind. Seriously, don’t deny it . . .
Put a piece of bacon in your mouth, and it doesn’t really matter who the president is, what Kim Kardashian recently posted, or that you’re late for work . . . seriously. Bacon in your mouth reminds you how good life really is. If I die while eating a plate of bacon, my life will be complete.
My wife fries eggs in bacon grease for breakfast when she cooks. I tell you . . . it’s edible love.
Bacon Stimulates the Heart
Bacon grease also contains a significant amount of medium chain triglycerides (caproic, caprylic, capric, and lauric acids). These medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) are all the rage in helping to maintain a ketogenic diet. MCTs convert rapidly into ketones after absorption into the liver from the gut. Rapid conversion of fat into ketones stimulate more effective contraction of the heart. When the heart contracts more effectively, it releases atrial-naturitic peptide (ANP), that opens the “back door” in the fat cell allowing for more efficient fat burning and maintenance of ketosis.
Bacon Smells So Good
Many people us essential oils for the aromatic effect they produce on mood and anxiety. Next time you cook bacon, check your mood. Never has there been an aroma that is so inviting and calming. Very few other aromas actually bring people to a dinner table. And for you men out there, bacon grease improves your manhood. Increased presence of ketones, and the appetite suppressing effect of bacon grease helps to stabilize testosterone and leucine. This improves muscle development, enhances libedo, and prevents the progressive decline in testosterone leading to the “girly-man” status that occurs with so many men eating the standard American diet.
Let me leave you with one last question. When is the last time you saw left-over bacon?
Exactly – the same time you saw leprechauns riding unicorns down your street after a rain storm.
So, cook that bacon . . . and save the grease. Use it to cook your eggs or bake with it. You’ll thank me later.
Coconut Oil – Duct Tape for the Broken Metabolism
Coconut oil can be found in just about every grocery store, health food store and coffee shop near you. It was made popular in the last few years by the highly advertised Bullet Proof Coffee claims of health and taste over the last few years. But in the last few days, the news outlets through video and print have made it clear that the American Heart Association (AHA) isn’t happy with our use of this “duct tape for one’s metabolism.” The AHA has long been a proponent of education against activities increasing the risk of heart disease. Since 1961 the AHA has decried the use of saturated fat, based on their support of Ansel Key’s diet heart hypothesis, and leading to over 60 years of preaching against the use of saturated fats from the pulpits of science. The claim is that 85% of coconut oil is saturated fat (this is the fat deemed “evil” by those “disciples of the low-fat cloth”). Yes, coconut oil is predominantly a saturated fat. And approximately 75% of that is medium chain triglycerides, the form that converts most efficiently into ketones, for those of us using ketogenic nutritional approaches to health. But is coconut oil really bad for your heart health?
Those of us using ketogenic diets know that LDL-C will commonly rise with increased saturated fat intake. And, we’ve know this for over twenty years. This is to be expected, because LDL-C is really comprised of three different LDL sub-particles (big fluffy, medium, and small dense). We’ve known for the last twenty years that increased saturated fat actually causes a shift in these particles to bigger “fluffier” particles. We also know that it’s the small dense LDL particles are the atherogenic/inflammatory particles participating in the formation of vascular disease (arterial blockage) and their presence in the blood is directly correlated with the level of triglyceride, and that the big “fluffy” particles actually reduce the risk of vascular disease. Those of us following ketogenic lifestyles and treating disease with these protocols also know that triglycerides levels are increased directly by increasing levels of insulin.
The 2015 British Medical Journal published a study reviewing the relevant 19 peer reviewed medical articles that included over 68,000 participants. This review showed that there is no association of high LDL-C (a calculated value of all the LDL sub-particles) with mortality (meaning that an elevated LDL-C does not lead to an increased risk of death from heart disease). In stark contrast to this landmark review, The American Heart Association’s Presidential Advisory published this week in the June 20, 2017 issue of Circulation states that saturated fat is the cause of increased LDL-C and elevated LDL-C is associated with an increase in death by cardiovascular disease. This boldfaced claim is based on a single small 4 year (2009-2013) literature review completed by the World Health Organization with a whopping 2353 participants, most of these studies only lasting 3-5 weeks (not nearly long enough to see fully effective cholesterol changes) and none of which had any focus on carbohydrate intake, insulin levels or LDL sub-particle measurement. From this singular study, the AHA concludes that elevated LDL-C is an indicator of increased cardiovascular mortality. That’s the equivalent of saying, “you know cars drive on the roads and cause pot holes, so we should all STOP driving cars because it is causing our freeway system to have increased pot holes.”
You can’t extrapolate mortality risk based on a single small study that doesn’t actually identify correlation or causation. But the AHA did exactly that in 1961, and they are trying to do it again today. The MR-FIT study, largest study ever completed, is incessantly quoted as the study that demonstrates reduction in cholesterol leads to reduction in cardiovascular disease, but this trial was actually a failure and did not demonstrate improved risk by lowering cholesterol. In fact, the Director of the study, Dr. William Castelli actually stated, “. . . the more saturated fat one ate, the more cholesterol one ate, the more calories one ate, the lower people’s serum cholesterol…”
“We found that the people who ate the most cholesterol, ate the most saturated fat, ate the most calories weighed the least and were the most physically active,” he said.
Isn’t that interesting?
So, is coconut oil, or any other food high in saturated fat to blame? Absolutely not! There is no solid evidence to support these facts and there hasn’t been in over 65 years. In fact, clinically, I find that the addition of coconut oil lowers triglycerides, decreases appetite, improves energy, improves skin tone, and plays a huge role in shifting the Omega 3/6 ratios to a more normal 2:1 level.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Is coconut oil, or any other food high in saturated fat to blame? Absolutely not! #docmuscles” quote=”Is coconut oil, or any other food high in saturated fat to blame? Absolutely not! There is no solid evidence to support these facts and there hasn’t been in over 65 years. #docmuscles”]
So, how does coconut oil help the broken metabolism? The majority of people I see in my office have insulin resistance to some degree. Insulin resistance is an over production of insulin in response to any form of carbohydrate or starch. Increasing your saturated fat, does two things. It provides a fantastic form of fuel, one your body can use very easily. And second, it will decrease your craving for starches and carbohydrates, naturally decreasing production of insulin and helping to improve insulin resistance over time.
If you want to learn more about using fat and improving insulin resistance, see my previous blog post here.
You can learn more about how our acceptance of bad science has lead to an obesity and diabetes epidemic in our country over the last 65 years by reading these books below:
SculpSure Non-Invasive Fat Reduction
I am excited to announce that we just added the SculpSure Laser to our treatment offerings at Nally Family Practice. Many of my patient’s have very successfully lost weight with a ketogenic lifestyle; and I am still a strong advocate of a ketogenic lifestyle for maintenance of health, weight and over-all wellness.
After years of carrying extra weight, a number of my patients still struggle with that last stubborn problem areas like the belly and love handles. I’ve been waiting for over 15 years for technology to catch up to treat theses areas, . . . and now it has. 
Introducing SculptSure, the non-invasive fat reduction laser that can customize fat reduction in the problem spots.
Call our office today to schedule your consultation with Dr. Nally and his staff to find out if SculpSure is right for you!
(623) 584-7805
Happy Valentine's Day
May your Valentine’s Day be one full of joy and 80% saturated fat!!
Happy Valentine’s Day!!