Category Archives: Whole Food-Fats

Weight and Avocados (Replace Refined Carbs with Half or Whole Avocado)

Summary: Few studies look at the role of nutrient combinations (particularly fat and fiber) to enhance satiety. With avocados the rage now, many wonder about the impact on their waist from eating avocados because they are high in fat. What most don’t realize though is that avocados are inherently rich in fiber and that fiber/fat combo should remind you of another functional food (i.e., nuts) which have loads of documented health benefits! Spoiler alert: If you haven’t begun yet to add avocados to your meal, read on. This newly published study found that those replacing refined carbohydrates with fat and fiber (from avocado), as part of a meal, felt significantly less hungry and more satisfied after 6 hours, compared with those who ate a low-fat, high-carbohydrate meal. Spoiler alert: They also found that this group had a healthy metabolic hormonal response, and that combo can help mitigate overweight and obesity! In other words, isocaloric dietary manipulation with a whole avocado promotes favorable metabolic responses in addition to enhancing satiety and reducing motivation to eat. This study was a randomized three-arm crossover clinical trial, [Zhu et al 2019], and it published in the journal Nutrients. The researchers looked at how meals that SUBSTITUTE a half or whole fresh avocado for refined carbohydrates affects hunger and meal satisfaction both subjectively and physiologically over 6 hours, in overweight and obese adults. Many of us are eating low-fat, high-carbohydrate meals so from a practical standpoint, the population studied represents a typical cohort of middle-aged people at risk for cardio-metabolic disease—a point when realistic dietary changes can make a significant impact on reversing the disease risk trajectory. The cohort, N=31, was relatively healthy overweight or obese volunteers having elevated fasting insulin concentrations with insulin resistance [27]. Listen up –> The important physiological implications learned from the study was that the addition of avocado limited insulin and blood glucose excursions, and this correlated with an intestinal hormone called PYY which is an important messenger associated with the physiological response. What that means is that this study provides more evidence that adding healthy fats and fibers into a regular daily diet can modulate blood sugar and insulin spikes and that can reduce the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Britt Burton-Freeman, Ph.D., the senior study author and director of the Center for Nutrition Research at Illinois Tech said, “The responses on the different satiety variables was surprising and helps us understand [or] think about how the fat and fiber may work to enhance satiety, even later, in the post-meal period.” End-game thought: E- A -T AVOCADOS in place of the refined carbs!

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Guacamole Avocado Mash, PALEO, SCD GAPS

Summary:  This is the third of five family favorite VEGETABLE redic delic recipes I’m posting –> Guacamole Avocado Mash, PALEO, SCD GAPS!  The other two recipes posted at SCD PALEO Cucumber Salad and SCD PALEO Cauliflower Mock Potato Salad! These salads meet all healing diet tenets be it:  Mediterranean Diet, Whole Foods, SCD, GAPS, PALEO, AIP…  I’m posting these recipes because so many stumble over how to make vegetables taste fabulous!  I was there too ⇒ These recipes evolved over a decade of trialing what our friends and kidos loved vegetable-wise!  Increasing consumption of many different colorful vegs is vitally important to your health ⇒ The American Gut Data finds that a target of 30 different vegetables each week increases microbiome diversity, and that is thought to be correlated to improved health because most all chronic diseases have reduced microbiome diversity! The beauty of all of these recipes are that they top leafy greens deliciously which further increases vegetable diversity, and this Guacamole Avocado Mash ALSO is a great topper on salmon or chicken!  Four take-aways from this recipe include use of fermented apple cider vinegar for probiotics, use of garlic and onion for prebiotics (or FODMAPs) to feed the microbiome (and hacks to those if intolerant), and the benefits of avocado which includes its fiber and high monounsaturated fat content for heart and brain health!  Here’s my Instagram recipe card:

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SIX Family Fav SCD PALEO Salad Dressings

SUMMARY:  Sharing  SIX  of my ridic delic family and friend approved SCD PALEO Salad Dressings along with my homemade fermented Dijon mustard recipe (because some recipes have this as an ingredient)!  I want followers here to have these recipes since they just posted on my Instagram, patty.carter, and this is a work around to Pinterest truncating image descriptions (which meant that you couldn’t see all the description, and thus ingredients, for some of these recipes)! Of course, continue contacting me direct for those Pinterest recipes, all of which focus on the healing diet tenets from SCD, PALEO, Mediterranean Diet, and others! ♡  These dressings are what got my kiddos eating massive amounts of colorful microbiome boosting salads!  They are that redic delic!!!  We even take these salad dressings to the beach! 👙  I double these recipes making them in bulk to always have them on hand and to make light the work prep! Also learn in this post that there’s good reason these dressings are always in healing fridges 👉

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Simply Amazing SCD Avocado Dressing & Dijon Mustard Recipes

Summary: =&0=&grocery store and restaurant options are not doing your gut or your waistline any good!=&1=&and=&2=&needless gut damaging food-like ingredients like emulsifiers, that are obesogenic, cause low grade inflammation, metabolic syndrome, IBD if predisposed, inhibit your liver’s main detox P-450 gene, and precludes your absorption of essential life preserving fat soluble carotenoids which you can literally see in all the eat-the-rainbow colors I preach!  =&3=&Valentine’s holiday,=&4=&Simply Amazing SCD Avocado Dressing along with it’s Ranch Dressing variations and the=&7=&  which is used in the dressing recipe.  Both are staples in my healing kitchens!  I am in total ♥ with the mayo product that I also use in this recipe — Mark Sisson’s Primal Kitchen Mayo with Avocado Oil=&8=&Dr. Suskind NIMBAL SCD PRODUCE study materials!  Many of you know I have been eating the healing diets for over a decade, settling into SCD’s modified versions now in microbiome test, to induce and maintain remission of an autoimmune disease medication–free all=&9=&arounds=&11=&njoy my redic delic creamy truly healthy Simply Amazing SCD Avocado Dressing along with it’s Ranch Dressing variations As a double added bonus, the Delicious Homemade Dijon Mustard (SCD legal of course) recipe is also included!  XOXO to you and yours, Happy Valentine’s holiday ♥

 

 

Make the redic delic creamy truly heart, body, and brain healthy Simply Amazing SCD Avocado Dressing along with it’s Ranch Dressing variations! As a double added bonus, make the Delicious Homemade Dijon Mustard (see the second recipe in this post)! Enjoy knowing all are of course SCD legal!

Ingredient nuances

Primal Kitchen Mayo with Avocado Oil is SCD legal according to Dr. Suskind NIMBAL SCD PRODUCE study materials!  From the Primal Kitchen website, the ingredients are: Avocado Oil, Organic Cage-Free Eggs, Organic Cage-Free Egg Yolks, Organic Vinegar (from Non-GMO Beets), Sea Salt, Organic Rosemary Extract.

Further, from the website :  Primal Kitchen® Mayo takes us back to our primal roots—pure, nutritious, real-food ingredients with no artificial colors, preservatives or additives. It’s the first ever avocado oil-based mayo, made with organic, cage-free eggs and vinegar from non-GMO beets whipped into that full, rich classic mayo taste you love. Because avocado oil boosts the bioavailability of nutrients it’s paired with, you increase your body’s absorption of antioxidants whenever you add a dab of Primal Kitchen Mayo. And our mayo is free of sugar, gluten, dairy, soy and canola-oil, and Non-GMO Project Verified so you can indulge to your taste buds’ delight.

  • Heart-Healthy, Monounsaturated Fats
  • Nutritious Ingredients
  • Primal, Paleo & Keto Friendly

=&13=& mustard.  This recipe is a staple in my healing kitchens. It is on my Pinterest Condiment Board.  I always double the recipe to make it in bulk — it is that redic delic, and it is a real ferment!!!  Use it whenever you need mustard, including just for a dip of cheese! This recipe is SCD and PALEO, but not AIP because of the mustard (the wine boils off).  If you don’t make your own Dijon, perhaps use SCD legal Annie’ s Organic Dijon Mustard or Trader Joe’s Deli Style Mustard  (both are listed on the  Dr. Suskind NIMBAL SCD PRODUCE study materials.)

 

 

Monounsaturated Fatty Acids

The cream type dressing I use to buy for my family was Cindy’s Kitchen of Brockton, Roasted Garlic Caesar Dressing Dip.  I hated the ingreds, but my family luved the taste.  You have to pick your battles, and I was not making my own mayo which is used in creamy salad dressings.  I bought the Cindy’s from Whole Foods Market and even though it didn’t pass my strict muster, at least it was refrigerated.  So I caved.  Thanks to Primal Kitchen Mayo with Avocado Oil, that is no more as I use this as a base ingred in all my  creamy redic delic ranch type salad dressings which also happen to be SCD legal!

Label de-coding the ingreds in Cindy’s Kitchen of Brockton, Roasted Garlic Caesar Dressing Dip (red highlights problem ingreds):

Non-GMO Expeller Pressed Canola Oil, Filtered Water, Tapioca Syrup, Imported Pecorino Romano Cheese (Sheep’s Milk, Cheese Culture, Salt and Enzymes), Garlic, Pasteurized Egg Yolk, Non-Fat Dry Milk, Lactic Acid, Anchovies (Anchovies, Salt, Olive Oil), Non-GMO Soy Sauce (Water, Non-GMO Soybeans, Wheat, Salt, Organic Alcohol) Worcestershire Sauce (Distilled White Vinegar, Molasses, Water, Sugar, Onions, Anchovies, Salt, Garlic, Cloves, Tamarind Extract, Natural Flavorings, Chili Pepper Extract), Sea Salt, Lemon Juice Concentrate, Black Pepper, Roasted Garlic, Mustard Flour, Xanthan Gum. *CONTAINS: EGGS, MILK, ANCHOVIES, SOY, WHEAT.

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CME MICROBIOME Questions & Answers

SUMMARY CME MICROBIOME Questions is where the rubber meets the road!  I learn what you really take away from the evidence packed Introduction to Microbiome presentation!!!  Not only was it a GREAT turnout for the CME MICROBIOME, DISEASE, THERAPEUTICS, NUTRITION held OCT 25, 2017 in Pittsburgh, at Passavant Hospital (see this post for details), but the questions asked by these medical providers were spot on! Read below for some of the Q&A with focus on:  What to do if on the “Avoid Diet”,  the MIND Diet and Dementia Prevention, fermented foods, and the ketogenic diet — MACS, fruit and weight!  The Therapeutic Manipulation of Microbiome slide (see below) shows how microbiome nourishingly sick the Standard America Diet is.  Some call this diet void of MACs, or microbiota-accessible carbohydrates, leaving the microbiome to nosh on our carb-rich mucus gut lining, when dietary pickings get slim.  [Desai et al 2016]  This CME crowd took their first ever pass into the anaerobic world of this newly discovered organ and saw its systemic body-wide devastating health impact when the gut lining becomes compromised (see the below slide) ⇒ The next step is to learn our bolt on presentations of evidence based therapeutic diet ⇔  lifestyle changes that can move this organ to health.   ♥ You want great timely, current, incredible microbiome and nutrition CME programs  because microbiome information is what your medical professionals NEED to stay cutting edge current in understanding how to help patients keep (or move) off diseasespan!  Click here to contact us 

Biome Onboard Awareness, LLC

Businesses (especially self insured) looking to reduce healthcare costs, can contact us too because microbiome information is what  your employees NEED to hear to keep (or move) them off diseasespan.   Individuals and other groups wanting to hear this information can also CONTACT us to make that happen!  See here for our SERVICES!

CME MICROBIOME Questions & Answers

I’m on the ‘Avoid’ Diet. “What do you recommend I do to get off that diet? 

First, the ‘Avoid Diet’ is on my ending slide, shown below!  Generally, it is associated with the most restrictive elimination diet, Wahl’s Protocol, having research including clinical trial for neurological based MS as well as grants written for study for Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and ALS.  I explained that ALL of the healing diets meld together in that they are =&0=&.  David Katz, MD noted the same, Oct 2017, in “Awakening From Alzheimer’s”, Episode 11.  Further, he explained that what we can ALL agree on resolves over 80 percent of the health concerns as shown by the North Karelia Project (Finland).  Consider the ‘Avoid Diet’ tenets as food for thought when health isn’t restored.  I totally ♥ this question because it shows that my presentation motivated this doc to rethink diet and instilled desire to act to get off the path leading to diseasespan!  Patient microbiome awareness education nudges nearer, and that is so necessary!

“Don’t ever underestimate the public — the key issue is lack of knowledge about microbes, not lack of intelligence,” 

—Ed Yong keynote, October’s 2017 MoBE.

My suggestions were:

  • Quitting things cold turkey can be hard.  I don’t recommend it!
  • Try eliminating the bad by crowding it out with better alternatives!  
  • You cannot make the transition over night.
  • The tools I provide really help!  The Interactive Fiber Spreadsheet teaches what YOUR fiber loads are and especially those supporting your beasties.  The EASY 10 Day Journal Spreadsheet teaches you what YOUR proportion of meats, dairy… and most important, processed and prepared foods are.  Those usually contain gut harming emulsifiers [see this post], sweeteners, and other additives as well as low quality antibiotic and hormone laced meat and dairy protein and pesticide laced vegetables and fruits.  The worksheet listings of vegs and fruits (Wahl’s Protocol and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Phytonutrient PDF) helps you bump  up your intake.  Target 30 different vegs each week for microbiome diversity [see this post].  There are 21 meals in one week (3 each day).  Think about eating a different vegetable or two at each meal!
  • You can’t stop everything you are doing if you aren’t prepared to replace it with healthier alternatives.  You need some recipes.
  • I already armed you with a bank of recipes!  Use my  Pinterest Boards to learn what to eat and how to cook redic delic family and friend approved whole real microbiome friendly food.   Focus on eliminating processed foods (having gut harming additives like emulsifiers) and increasing vegs! 
  •  Certain vegs contain microbiota-accessible carbohydrates, or MACs, which nourish the beasties towards anti-inflammatory, and provides them food so that they don’t nosh on our carb-rich mucus gut lining, when dietary pickings get slim.  [Desai et al 2016] The post, Fiber Additives Starve Gut Gut Microbes, They Eat Mucus Lining helps to explain.
  • Contact me if recipes alone are not getting you where you want!
Healing Diet similarity

The top healing diets in each category share similar attributes including balance, higher vegetable and some fruit (especially low sugar like berries, avocados), wild caught fish/increased Omega-3s, fermented food, awareness of EWG toxin recommendations, along with self-awareness and monitoring of what you eat through journaling, and most important, finding a like-minded tribe of experienced healing diet eaters able to support your learning thereby establishing Blue Zones within families, to friends, to communities. =&1=& An emphasis on frequent, structured exercise and physical activity are also common themes.

With awareness of the many tenets of healing type diets and lifestyle impact on the microbiome, small diet and lifestyle changes result in big health improvement without the perceived rigidity of following a traditional diet plan, and these changes motivate you to your NEXT.  – much is an excerpt from my post, What’s in a Practical Whole Foods PALEO, SCD, GAPS Healing Fridge?

Replicate the MODEL that WORKS for people successfully implementing diet change:

Experienced Eaters TEACH ‘Need to Know’ =&2=&

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Coconut Oil Safety, Issues, Truths of the Matter

SUMMARY:   No doubt you’ve heard and read the USAToday.com article, Coconut oil isn’t healthy. It’s never been healthy, June 16, 2017 where the American Heart Association said in a new report, We advise against the use of coconut oil.  Given that the amour de ma viemy sent me that article, I wanted to document the issues and truth of the matter!  Learn in this post, Coconut Oil Safety, Issues, and Truths of the Matter because getting fats right impacts breast cancer, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular diseases just to name a few!  The Pearl:  Eat coconut oil, not 24/7, but that is just the same as with any other food.  I mean, brains and trees (cauliflower and brocoli) are good for you, but you wouldn’t eat those 24/7!  Use coconut oil for hot uses and to add some fat (which your body and brain truly needs) into your diet.  But mix up those fats choosing among the healthy fats:  EVOO (unadulterated), avocados, butter, handful of nuts, whole fat dairy in whatever form tolerated (see here for lactose-free SCD yogurt and lactose-free SCD cheeses), and yes, coconut oil (unrefined and cold pressed)!

Listen to a credible authority discussing Coconut Oil Safety, Issues, and Truths of the Matter.

Click above and listen to Dr. Mark Hyman Live.  Dr. Hyman is the Medical Director at Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Functional Medicine among many other accomplishments!  As of midday June 29, 2017, there has been 703,600 views, and that is within 2 weeks of posting!  You need to listen too!  And if you prefer to read Dr. Hymans blog post, see  Coconut Oil – Are You Coco-Nuts to Eat It?

Update:  Another credible source for the fat debate is the GREAT summary authored by UK leading light cardiologist

Dr. Aseem Malhotra

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Eat eggs. Help heart, brain.

SUMMARY:   Eat eggs. Help heart, brain! Learn about two January 2017 studies (Finland & UConn) that found a high-cholesterol egg diet did NOT increase risk of dementia or Alzheimer’s, and it improved the lipid profile!  Serum antioxidants increased as well!  Also learn about the benefits of eggs, egg quality, and pass the word to avoid BPA exposure (plastics used for food storage) especially for those pregnant and during lactation because low dose BPA exposure (below that which the FDA considers is safe) increased the risk of an egg white allergy for infants.  AIP folks literally separate the white from the yolk for re-introduction!  Last, think about eggs as a healthy fat boosting carotenoids as found in the salad — egg studies posted here.   

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Microbiome Awareness TMAO Conversation

SUMMARY:  Microbiome Awareness TMAO was summarized in the May 26th seminar, and I suggested condiment size portions for red meat regardless of meat quality (pastured or confined feed lot operations).  Carnitine in red meat acts as an antioxidant and plays a crucial role in the mitochondria—the energy-producing structures in cells—notably in muscles, including heart muscle. But carnitine has a dark side — TMAO.  This post shares TMAO follow-up so that all can benefit, even those unable to attend!  A subsequent post will share more conversation from that evening, but TMAO is a lot of good information, and it deserves a post of its own.  

TMAO is made in our liver from a gut flora metabolic (TMA) which is made from red meat, eggs, energy drinks, and some supplements.  TMAO is associated with heart disease, chronic kidney disease and IBD UC.  TMAO is a “greater risk for inflammation and all things that go along with inflammation like stroke, memory loss, impotence, decaying orgasm quality, wrinkling, cancer, and brain rot,” says Dr. Michael Rozin, MD, chief wellness officer and chairman of the Wellness Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. This post expands the Microbiome Awareness TMAO conversation!  Follow along, learn great tips, and amaze yourself with how much you actually learned and know!  Comment if I don’t touch on your thoughts; lets continue the Microbiome Awareness TMAO conversation! 

First, my take on TMAO.  Until the dust settles and studies confirm human dietary modulation of the microbiome that mitigates TMA and TMAO production,

lightbulb2Consider consuming condiment size red meat (and up to 2 eggs a day if desired) as described in the Pegan diet (detailed below) crafted by Dr. Mark Hyman, Director of Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine.

Further, consider integrating meat prep using these TMAO mitigation strategies (shown in recent mice studies, April 2016 and Dec 2015):

  • Marinate meat in EVOO and/or balsamic vinegar,
  • Consume along with salad dressing containing EVOO and/or balsamic vinegar, and
  • Have that glass of red wine along with the red meat.
  • Though not yet tested, add other antioxidant spices, phytonutrients, and flavonoids (see Drs. Mimi Guarneri and Jeff Blands thoughts below).
  • Make certain the EVOO is unadulterated, organic, and cold pressed — for sourcing tips scroll to below the light-bulb on the post, Meet The Fats & Best Salad Dressing Oil, Part 1.
  • For Balsamic vinegar insights… they are pricey and yet most are not “Real Balsamic Vinegar” due to insufficient barrel aging and crazy additives. The “real balsamic vinegar“ I recommend is Olivier Napa Valley which is SCD/GAPS legal as it is fermented properly (25 years) and free of additives.  Olivier’s was actually pulled from Williams-Sonoma stores a few years back as they introduced their own brand.  Due to customer demand, Olivier’s is now back in their stores or online, or get it direct from Olivier’s online.

A picture is worth a thousand words, so here are some pics of condiment meat meals we frequently have.  Test question from the Microbiome Awareness Seminar, Do you spot the components actually nourishing your microbiome and know what they are called?” 

What is TMAO (trimethylamine-N-oxide) and TMA (trimethylamine)

TMAO is a metabolic end by-product of certain gut microbes (a.k.a. metabolites).  TMAO forms following ingestion of red meat and eggs no matter the quality (pastured or confined feed lot operations) unless you are vegan, in which case, little TMAO forms since the vegan microbiome either neutralizes it or keeps those microbes in check that produce the metabolite.  The exact mechanism is still unknown!  TMAO is a gut flora-dependent metabolite resulting from the oxidation of TMA.  The quality of the red meat or eggs, grass-fed or pastured,  means that the Omega-3 fatty acid profile improves but the same compounds that are used to produce TMAO, L-carnitine and choline, are still present regardless of quality.  

Berkeley Wellness, University of California, Carnitine in Meat: Heart Hazard explains carnitine and choline:

  • The word carnitine comes from the Latin word for meat because red meat—even if it’s lean—is by far the richest dietary source. Pork and lamb also have fair amounts; chicken, fish and dairy products contain small amounts. The biologically active form is called L-carnitine. The body makes carnitine from amino acids (lysine and methionine), which are building blocks of protein.
  • Carnitine plays a crucial role in the mitochondria—the energy-producing structures in cells—notably in muscles, including heart muscle. It also acts as an antioxidant. As we age, carnitine levels drop and mitochondrial function becomes impaired, which may contribute to some adverse effects of aging as well as to some diseases. Thus, it’s hoped, carnitine supplements may help prevent these problems.
  • L-carnitine is sold as a supplement. It’s in many “healthy-aging” products and formulas claiming to improve athletic performance and build muscle. It’s also promoted as a treatment for many disorders, including heart disease, diabetes and dementia, and is supposed to boost energy, improve memory and promote weight loss. Most of this is just marketing hype or wishful thinking.
  • Choline is a vitamin-like compound that plays key roles in the body.  It is found in many other healthful foods—salmon, sardines, broccoli, milk and beans—along with meat and poultry
Reducing dietary choline or carnitine would lower TMAO levels, but may have undesirable effects.

TMAO is implicated in vascular inflammation and formation of unstable plaques in arterial walls, and more. “TMAO levels predict risk for atherosclerosis [15, 112, 115], and are elevated in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) [116] and obesity [17, 98], and decreased in ulcerative colitis [117]... [While]upplementation with lower levels of l-carnitine than needed for TMAO formation may improve cardiovascular function [121]  A meta-analysis of 13 controlled trials (n = 3629) showed that l-carnitine supplementation reduces all-cause mortality by 27 % [122].  While potentially beneficial for cardiovascular health, choline deficiency markedly increases risk for non-alcoholic liver disease [NAFLD prevalence is 19.0% in US].”    — Microbial metabolism of dietary components to bioactive metabolites: opportunities for new therapeutic interventions, April 2016.

Dr. Rob Knight was asked in a class I took, “What are your thoughts on red meat?”  [–]DrRobKnight replied, A Western diet, which often includes more meat has been linked repeatedly to differences in the gut microbiota (when compared with diets based more heavily on plant material). See, for example,  Human gut microbiome viewed across age and geography and Diet rapidly and reproducibly alters the human gut microbiome.  Also, a study by Stan Hazen’s group,  Intestinal microbiota metabolism of L-carnitine, a nutrient in red meat, promotes atherosclerosis [which] showed that when gut microbes metabolize a certain compound (L-carnitine) found in red meat, they produce another compound (TMAO) that can lead to a hardening of the arteries.  So red meat affects both your gut microbiota and your health, and gut microbes appear to be playing a role in determining HOW red meat affects your health.

Berkeley Wellness, University of California, Carnitine in Meat: Heart Hazard explains:

  • A week after the Cleveland Clinic study on carnitine appeared, an analysis in Mayo Clinic Proceedings looked at 13 clinical trials testing supplemental L-carnitine in people who had a prior heart attack. It concluded that the supplements reduce the risk of angina, serious arrhythmias and premature death. And it noted carnitine’s “excellent safety profile.” 
  • How could carnitine be both good and bad for heart health?
    1. The proposed mechanisms (the negative one involving atherosclerosis, the positive one the heart muscle itself) are very different.
    2. The studies involved different populations.
    3. Finally, the supplements may be digested and absorbed somewhat differently than carnitine in meat.
  • It’s known that heart muscle contains high levels of carnitine, that carnitine levels are depleted during a heart attack, and that carnitine deficiency can cause heart enlargement and rhythm abnormalities. In our 2009 article on carnitine supplements, we concluded that the evidence of cardiovascular benefits is promising, though not conclusive. We saw no research indicating cardiovascular risk even from high doses.
How Gut bacteria is Linked to Heart Disease

For generations, eggs and red meat have topped the list of foods implicated in cardiovascular disease because of their high levels of dietary cholesterol.  While dietary intake of cholesterol fat has been exonerated as the cause of elevated serum cholesterol — red meat and eggs are NOT off the hook.  Why?  A whole new line of investigation focusing on intestinal bacteria (our microbiome) is keeping red meat and eggs in the spotlight.  Note:  The studies related to intake of dietary fat cholesterol NOT altering serum cholesterol for most of us are in the section below titled Summary of Dr. Mark Hyman’s Pegan diet concept. 

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Homemade Chocolate Hazelnut Spread, PALEO/FODMAP/UMassIBD-AID

SUMMARY:  This… Thanksgiving morning! Homemade Chocolate Hazelnut Spread.  Actually, don’t save this for only one day; we certainly don’t!  Easily make this in bulk and freeze.

Ingredients and Processing I Prefer to Use


The nut ingredients in this recipe make these bars an advanced food for those on healing diets such as SCD, UMass IBD-AID, GAPS, or PALEO.  For this very reason, I recommend using these instructions to properly prepare nut and seed ingredients  whenever possible to make such more easily digestible.  But if you don’t do this step, no worries since the notes section of the recipe provides alternate instructions for toasting those nuts!  The recipe is not SCD/GAPS legal due to the cocoa, but it is in accordance with The PRODUCE Study (a modified version of SCD), the UMass version of SCD which is called IBD-AID, PALEO and also FODMAP friendly if maple syrup is substituted for the dates; details are broken out below the recipe for those interested.

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Type of fat consumed and breast cancer diagnosis for Mediterranean Diet

SUMMARY:   Women  (eating the Mediterranean diet) consuming certain healthy fats were  less likely to have a breast cancer diagnosis while other fats increased the likelihood of a breast cancer diagnosis.  Seventeen women on the low-fat diet developed breast cancer, compared with 10 on the Mediterranean diet with nuts and eight on the Mediterranean diet with olive oil.

In particular, women consuming a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) were less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer.  The women in the extra virgin olive oil-heavy Mediterranean diet group got 22% of their total calories from the oil, on average. However, the researchers wrote that getting at least 15% of total calories in the form of extra virgin olive oil “seems to be instrumental for obtaining this significant protection.”  If you use EVOO, please make sure you use unadulterated EVOO… scroll down to the lightbulb here for those details.

Though there was also a reduced likelihood of a breast cancer diagnosis consuming a Mediterranean diet supplemented with mixed nuts, it was not reduced as much as those consuming EVOO.  This group consumed extra servings of walnuts, hazelnuts and almonds. A statistical analysis showed that the differences between the low-fat and nut-rich diets could have been due to chance.  This is significant since:

Most important: there was an increased likelihood of a breast cancer diagnosis when consuming a regular low-fat diet.  

This is just one more reason to get your arms around what is a healthy fat is and to not eat low or no fat

The study discussing the above can be found at Mediterranean Diet and Invasive Breast Cancer Risk Among Women at High Cardiovascular Risk in the PREDIMED Trial: A Randomized Clinical Trial, dated Sept. 14, 2015.

One caveat to note: USA Today (9/15, Szabo) reports, however, just “35 women of 4,200 women in the study developed breast cancer, said Barnett Kramer, director of cancer prevention at the National Cancer Institute, who wasn’t involved with the new study.” Thus, the “drop in breast cancer risk came from just a handful of breast cancers.”  Personally, I don’t particularly care about this issue since a trend reduction is a trend reduction.  I don’t need to see 100 cancers or more to buy into the finding learned for 35 cancers, especially when it involves a variable so easy to accommodate in our everyday lifestyles (choose unadulterated EVOO.)

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