From Evolution to Evolutionary Diet

The Paleo approach to eating is based on the idea that human DNA has evolved over time and adapted itself to a time when food was scarce.  Only in the agricultural age about 10,000 years ago was grains introduced as a staple in human diets.  Only the relatively recent industrial revolution did sugar and wheat become abundant.

To appreciate a sense of time and processes necessary for our universe, the following video might be helpful.




Victor

A Partial Blog Roll

These are some of the blogs I read on a regular basis:

The Daily Lipid by Chris MasterJohn
Whole Health Source by Stephan Guyenet
Primal Wisdom by Don Matesz
HyperLipid by  Petro Dobromylskyj
Heart Scan Blog by William Davis
PaNu by Kurt G. Harris
Health Correlator by Ned Kock
MarksDailyApple by Mark Sissons
Conditioning Research
FreeTheAnimal by Richard Nikoley


Victor

False Hypoglycemia, Set Points and My New Blood Sugar Readings

I have an update on my blood sugar readings.  I typically range between 5.3 to 5.7 mmol (95 to 103 mg/dl)  during the day. My fasting blood glucose as tested by the lab in January 2010 was 5.3 mmol (95 mg/dl) and by the end of the year in December 2010, it was 5.2 mmol (94 mg/dl)- pretty much the same.  After meals it might be 7.3 mmol (131 mg/dl) depending on what I ate for the meal.

A few weeks ago, I broke into heavy, drenching sweats during the night while I was sleeping.  It was so bad I would wake up and have to take a shower before proceeding back to bed.  My research led me to suspect these were episodes of false hypoglycemia.  It was a mystery to me why this was happening as my blood sugar tends to be high and not low.  These episodes have not repeated themselves since.

I decided to start measuring my blood sugar levels again.

Lo and behold, the meter read 4.2 mmol (76 mg/dl) . Two hours after eating, 4.8 mmol (86).  One reading at 5 p.m. before food showed 5.0 mmol (90 mg/dl) and a post-prandial reading of 5.7 mmol (103 mg/dl).

Another day at 11:30 a.m. it was 4.6 mmol (83 mg/dl).  I would eat lunch, go boxing and read 4.1 mmol (74 mg/dl) before eating.  Two hours after eating, it was 5.3 mmol (95 mg/dl).  It goes on.

1:21 p.m. before lunch and its 4.8 mmol (86 mg/dl).  Today after cycling home from work, it was 4.4 mmol (79 mg/dl) after having a sushi lunch.  Its been like this since February 12 onwards.

How to make sense of this phenomenon?

What I believe happened was my body reset its blood sugar levels from the 5.x (90s mg/dl) range down to the 4.x range (70s mg/dl).  Those episodes of hypoglycemia during the night was the body reaching a new set point level during the circadian cycle where gene expression is rampant.

All I know at this point is that my blood sugar is lower than it has ever been ever since I started measuring it over a year ago.  All other things being equal, this is an improvement in a health marker for cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

This was achieved with a Paleo\Primal Diet and regular exercise.


For further reading on blood sugar levels:
What is normal blood sugar: http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/16422495.php
How to lower your blood sugar: http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/14045524.php
The 5% HbA1c club: http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/16535158.php



Victor

The Pareto Principle

Back in 1906, an Italian economist called Vilfredo Pareto observed that 80% of the peas in his garden came from 20% of the pea pods.  From there he extrapolated that 20% of the Italian population held 80% of the land. This observation became known as the Pareto Principle which roughly states that in many cases, 80% of the effects arises from 20% of the causes.  This is also known as the 80-20 Rule.

Applied to business, it can be observed that 80% of a typical company's sales revenues come from 20% of its clients.  In software optimization, Microsoft purportedly noted that 80% of crashes and errors could be cured by fixing the top 20% of reported bugs. Likewise criminal science reports that 80% of crime is committed by 20% of criminals.  It is important to note that the proportion between cause and effect does not need to add up to 100.  It could easily be 80-30. The point is a majority of the effects experienced is caused by a minority of sources.

Does this hold true with life?

The family we were born into, the spouse we marry and where we choose to live probably do more to affect our lives than all other decisions put together.  Think about the monthly email traffic coming into your inbox. Chances are 80% of your email correspondence is from 20% of your contacts (excluding solicitation emails).   How about mobile phone conversations?  80% of our calls come from 20% of the people in our address books?

Diet wise, I advocate eliminating sugar and wheat.  Avoiding those two items alone will produce a large portion of the benefits.  Avoiding refined carbohydrates is one of the keys. Next is getting adequate sleep in a dark room (use dark curtains and turn the clock away from you). If that's not possible, wear an eye patch to sleep. Walk a lot and stay active.  These items comprise the 20% from which we will experience 80% of results.

Pareto's Principle is liberating in that it only requires the right combination of minority actions to obtain 80% of desired results.

These are the 20% of my inputs which determine 80% of my results.  What 20% comprise yours?

Victor


Reading for Extra Credits
Because the Pareto Principle is based on an observation in nature, it shares traits with Kepler's Third law of Planetary Motion, Kleiber's Law on animal metabolism, inverse-square laws of Newtonian Gravity and fractals.  Since metabolic networks in organisms share recursive features subject to the same behavior as Power Laws which describe mature, self-organizing complex systems, what should our diet and energy expenditures look like?

Art De Vany describes Power Law exercise in the following manner:

"A power law distribution of activities means the intensity; spacing, duration and volume of training are variable in order to present a constant novelty in metabolic challenges while retaining enough structure and repetitiveness to maximize adaptive capability. When you train like a hunter, you follow a power law distribution of intensity and frequency. You distribute activities so that you hit highly intense metabolic peaks briefly and intermittently."

The Cheetah & The Cow

The cheetah is the fastest land animal on earth capable of reaching speeds up to 70 mph (112 km/h). It is a muscular, slim and athletic hunter.  Note its strong shoulders, arched back, svelte waist and powerful hind quarters.  Shown at full stride in the picture above, it is elegant and majestic.

Most of the time, it lounges and plays.  When its time to hunt, the cheetah will stalk and expend sudden bursts of energy to chase down prey.  Full sprints chases usually last 20 seconds and seldom go longer than a minute.

The cow on the other hand, is a domesticated animal which doesn't hunt. As a ruminant, it is a herbivore and grazes between 7 to 12 hours a day. Commercially bred cows are fed a high-grain diet to facilitate rapid weight gain.  I think the cow reminds me of a modern sedentary office worker.

We end up looking like what we eat.  Do we graze or only eat when we are hungry?  Do we plod along like a cow or do our exercise patterns mirror the sudden energy intensive patterns of a cheetah?

To summarize, I work like a cow but play like a cheetah.  :)

Victor

Why We Get Fat and Why Paleo and Atkins are Right in their Low Carb Approach

I could have titled this post many different ways.  I settled on a verbose and inelegant title for the sake of inclusion.

Gary Taubes is a science reporter.  Driven by curiosity, he asked questions about diet, nutrition and health without preconceived ideas and without the bias of being funded by interest groups.  His findings contained in his resulting book, Good Calories, Bad Calories was nothing less than a damning indictment of shoddy science. It launched a paradigm shift in the understanding of metabolism and obesity.  He has since published a new book called, Why We get Fat which makes the information found in his previous book a little more accessible to the average reader.

ABC News published an excerpt from Taubes' Good Calories, Bad Calories book with the following points (the parts which are underlined are my emphasis):


1. Dietary fat, whether saturated or not, is not a cause of obesity, heart disease, or any other chronic disease of civilization.

2. The problem is the carbohydrates in the diet, their effect on insulin secretion, and thus the hormonal regulation of homeostasis of the entire harmonic ensemble of the human body. The more easily digestible and refined the carbohydrates, the greater the effect on our health, weight, and well-being.

3. Sugars sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup specifically are particularly harmful, probably because the combination of fructose and glucose simultaneously elevates insulin levels while overloading the liver with carbohydrates.

4. Through their direct effect on insulin and blood sugar, refined carbohydrates, starches, and sugars are the dietary cause of coronary heart disease and diabetes. They are the most likely dietary causes of cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and the other chronic diseases of civilization.

5. Obesity is a disorder of excess fat accumulation, not overeating, and not sedentary behavior.

6. Consuming excess calories does not cause us to grow fatter, any more than it causes a child to grow taller. Expending more energy than we consume does not lead to long-term weight loss; it leads to hunger.

7. Fattening and obesity are caused by an imbalanced disequilibrium in the hormonal regulation of adipose tissue and fat metabolism. Fat synthesis and storage exceed the mobilization of fat from the adipose tissue and its subsequent oxidation. We become leaner when the hormonal regulation of the fat tissue reverses this balance.

8. Insulin is the primary regulator of fat storage. When insulin levels are elevated either chronically or after a meal we accumulate fat in our fat tissue. When insulin levels fall, we release fat from our fat tissue and use it for fuel.

9. By stimulating insulin secretion, carbohydrates make us fat and ultimately cause obesity. The fewer carbohydrates we consume, the leaner we will be.

10. By driving fat accumulation, carbohydrates also increase hunger and decrease the amount of energy we expend in metabolism and physical activity.

Check this link to hear Maureen Cavanaugh from KPBS conduct an interview with Gary Taubes about weight loss.

The Paleo Diet and Atkins Diet independently arrived at the same conclusion that insulin was the key hormone to control.  Paleo approached this from an evolutionary diet perspective while Atkins targeted low blood sugar as a goal; and low glycemic index foods for the stimulation of ketosis (especially during the induction phase).  In contrast to the Dr. Bernstein Diet which severely restrict calories to less than a 1000 calories per day,  the Paleo Diet and Atkins Diet typically allows you to feed until you feel full.

Taubes' ground-breaking work is one main reason why Harvey and I keep repeating on this blog that weight loss occurs in the kitchen and NOT the gym.  Exercise will make you stronger and fitter.

But if you want to lose inches around the waist and get leaner, the diet has to change.  Stop eating sugars (orange juice, apple juice, soda, pop,  sports drinks), grains (whole grains, cereal, oats, pancakes, pizza, breads, pasta, muffins, scones, etc.) and starchy foods. When you have reached a healthy weight and are in maintenance mode, you can gradually incorporate a little tubers (potatoes, yams, etc) back into the diet. Mark Sisson's has long promoted the idea that as much as 80% of the body composition is due to what we eat.  What we eat also affects how much we eat.

Diets that severely restrict calories will cause weight loss too. In the long term however, they are unsustainable.  Who enjoys feeling perpetually underfed?  With the emphasis on whole foods, protein and healthy fats, the Paleo Diet is not only healthy, it is satisfying and sustainable.

Another option by Ian Ayres is to commit to weight loss with the punishment of losing money if you don't achieve your goal in the $500 Diet.  The diet uses a website to create Commitment Contracts to hold you accountable for your articulated goal.  I think I have more fun eating Paleo.

Once the role of carbohydrates and what they do to the human body is understood, carbohydrate restriction makes sense.  Suddenly all the reasons why we benefit from avoiding sugar and wheat; and why we should occasionally fast make sense.  The pieces of the puzzle all begin to fit.  Here is how to eat Paleo.

Victor

Live Curious

I love this advertisement made for National Geographic TV.

National Geographic Channel. IF - Live curious.

Victor

Primal\Paleo Food Links for the Beginner

Don Matesz over at Primal Wisdom summarizes food this way:

Primal Diet in a Nutshell

Eat
1. Meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and any natural animal fat
2. Vegetables, including leaves, stems, bulbs, roots
3. Fruits and berries (includes avocados and olives)
4. Nuts such as almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, coconut, etc.
5. Herbs and spices

Avoid/minimize (in order of importance)
1. Sweeteners, including sugar (white, brown, organic, whatever), maple syrup, rice syrup, etc.
2. Vegetable oils other than extra virgin olive, avocado, palm, and coconut.
3. Cereal grains and grain products (bread, pasta, pastries, etc.)
4. Legumes (beans and peas, including soy and peanuts)
5. Dairy products

(Note that dairy is a gray area among Paleo\Primal folks.  Some say have it in moderation if you're not allergic to dairy, others say no dairy at all.  My household eats cream, cheese and butter.)

15 Tips to Eat Primal Cheaply

http://followingmynose.blogspot.com/2010/11/15-tips-for-eating-paleo-on-cheap.html

Making the Switch to Primal Living
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-living-transition-six-easy-steps/

Here are some ways to transition your pantry:
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/clean-your-pantry-for-health/

Why Can't I Eat Grains?  What about whole grains? What about oats?
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/why-grains-are-unhealthy/

Still holding on to grains?  Avoid them in general.  (I still eat white rice.  Ask me why).
http://www.paleonu.com/panu-weblog/2010/3/12/the-argument-against-cereal-grains-ii.html
http://www.paleonu.com/panu-weblog/2009/6/23/the-argument-against-cereal-grains.html

Primal Food Eating Pyramid
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-to-succeed-with-the-primal-blueprint/

As long as you are compliant say 80% of the time, the times you do cheat won't undo the benefits you'll experience being on the Paleo Diet.



What about starches?

How about white rice (I'm Chinese!), potatoes, sweet potatos, yams and tubers?   My personal feeling is that they are fine in moderation.  I don't think eating a baked potato will make you diabetic. However, eating french fries from a restaurant is unhealthy due to the kind of vegetable oil they use in the fryer.  Its not just starch as a food group, but how the starch is prepared, the portion size you are eating and your caloric expenditure throughout the day.   We tend to steam our tubers.  We seldom make rice at home and only eat it when we're at social meals outside the home.  As a result, I have not bought rice in over a year - highly unusual for a Chinese immigrant family.

If you are sedentary and never workout with peak intensity, I don't see a compelling reason to incorporate starch in your diet.  If you cycle many miles a day, run, swim, hike mountains, box, wrestle or practice mixed martial arts, then having a bit of starch isn't going to harm your metabolic profile.  The key as in all things, is knowing yourself and being honest with who you are.

If you're trying to lose weight, then cut out starches completely.  Get your carbs from veggies and increase your fat and protein intake.  This leads to better satiety,  You'll feel full for longer periods of time.  Overall, most people eat fewer total calories by eating more protein and healthy fats than by decreasing fats.  This caloric deficit is necessary for weight loss.

Victor

Blood Donation and Paleo Life

So I gave 0.5 liter of blood during my lunch hour today.  In downtown Vancouver, the donation clinic is located at 888 Dunsmuir and it is administered by Canadian Blood Services.

Part of the screening procedure involves checking if you have enough iron (ferritin) in your blood, taking your resting heart rate and blood pressure.  My resting heart rate was 52 bpm with a blood pressure of 112/54 (machine read not manual). This is low for my age and as a marker for cardiovascular health, it is better than having high blood pressure. Prior to my weight loss, I was borderline high at 130/80.

Although some Paleo adherents use blood donation to simulate blood loss on the battlefield, I don't subscribe to the re-enactment school of thought.  I donate blood simply because it might save a life. There is some research which indicates blood-letting reduces iron in the blood which in turn lowers blood sugar which I consider to be a side benefit to donating blood.

Victor

Victor's Blood Test Results (2010)

Here are the results of my blood test which was taken on December 20, 2010.  For readers in British Columbia, it was LifeLabs who did the test and the results were obtained the next day through www.myehealth.ca. The following figures represent approximately one calender year of eating a Paleo\Primal diet with about 80% compliance.

Test Results

                                               SI            USA

Hemoglobin A1C =     6.1%

Glucose Fasting =    5.2 mmol       94 mg/dl

Total Cholesterol = 5.23 mmol      202 mg/dl

LDL Cholesterol =   2.94 mmol      114 mg/dl

HDL Cholesterol =   1.88 mmol       73 mg/dl

Triglycerides =     0.91 mmol       81 mg/dl

Chol/HDL (Risk Ratio) = 2.78       

Resting Heart Rate (RHR) = 49 bpm

Blood Pressure =    110/75

Exercise Regimen
As part of my profile, it is important to note that I am 5'6", about 143 lbs. and not on any medication.  I workout with a kickboxing class twice a week, do weight resistance exercise regularly and cycle from my home to my office downtown 2 or 3 times a week as circumstances permit.  This is a round trip commute of 40 km (25 miles) with hills.  My torso currently looks like this.

Industry Guidelines
If you compare these blood test figures to the American Heart Association or the Mayo Clinic's guidelines, they represent a relatively healthy lipid profile for a person with no known blocked arteries or ischemic heart disease.  An aggressive doctor following the recommendations of Merck Frosst might prescribe statins to chase a magic cholesterol number.  However, as we have already discussed previously, cholesterol is less important a predictor of coronary heart disease than post-prandial blood sugar levels as measured by HbA1c.

The one result I have flagged in yellow is an HbA1c of 6.1%.  This means that the average blood sugar over the last 90 days was high. According to Ned Koch's formula, this means my average blood sugar level was 7.1 mmol/L or 128 mg/dl.  As I wrote this post, I tested my post-prandial blood glucose exactly 2 hours after eating a dim sum lunch - hardly primal I know - and it was 6.9 mmol (124 mg/dl).  This post-prandial reading  does not indicate a pre-diabetic or diabetic condition as far as I know.  What is going on?  

If my high HbA1cs was due to pigging out on refined carbohydrates, I would expect my LDL-C and Triglycerides to be higher.  On the other hand, does my exercise regimen and intermittent fasting lower the LDL-C and triglyceride readings even though I am eating too much refined carbs?  

At this point I only have questions, not answers.  Am I even asking the right questions?

So I started researching blood sugar in athletes.  Read up on my findings in the next post HbA1c and Athletes.

Victor

Success Story of the Day (Tara)

Meet Tara.  This is what she looked like before.  5'9" and over 230 lbs.

This is Tara now.  Mother of twins and studying to become a Certified Personal Trainer.  She is still 5'9" but at 153 lbs.  Read about her experience and how she changed here at MarksDailyApple.com.

The journey of 10,000 steps begins with the first.  Life's results are the outcome of a million small choices we make each day.  Its a balance between curiosity, long-term quality of life and immediate gratification.  All we can ever do, is make the choice of the moment.

Victor

Paleo in 3 Easy Videos

Does Low-Carb Really Work?

One of the first studies I looked at was this Stanford Study comparing different diets and their impact on cardiovascular health predictors and weight loss. The Stanford study titled Comparison of the Atkins, Zone, Ornish, and LEARN Diets for Change in Weight and Related Risk Factors Among Overweight Premenopausal Women was published in the Journal of American Medical Assoication by professor Chris Gardner (himself a 25-year vegetarian who was confounded by the results).  The study wanted to compare popular best-selling books which promoted health diets to the general public.  It followed the test subjects but did not house or feed them for the 1 year period in order to test real world implementation of these diets. The diets studied were: Atkins, Traditional (LEARN), Ornish and Zone. Also called the A to Z diet comparison it featured low-carb to high-carb or high-protein to low-protein. The health markers collected included weight loss, triglycerides, HDL\LDL, blood pressure and so forth.  The results are surprising to say the least.  You can watch the entire presentation by Dr. Gardner below: After viewing, you may wish to read the remarks blogged by Dr. Michael Eades: http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/ketones-and-ketosis/low-carb-gaining-a-foothold-with-the-mainstream/ The Atkins Diet is most similar in eating strategy to the Paleolithic\Primal Living\Evolutionary Fitness model of eating where the emphasis is on protein, eggs, good saturated fats (nuts, butter, coconut oil, olive oil, ghee), fresh vegetables and certain fruits. No refined sugar.  No grains as these are inflammatory to cells and are a major contributor to high cholesterol. Grain carbs do not satiate leading to higher caloric consumption and insulin spikes.  This is why people can eat a bucket of popcorn, finish an entire pizza or eat a loaf of bread in one sitting. SUMMARY Low-carb, high protein nutrition is healthy and sustainable in real world conditions.  If you can accept this, understanding the Paleolithic approach to nutrition becomes easier. Additional reading: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-blueprint-101/ http://www.modernpaleo.com/principles.html

How I started my journey - Victor

Since Harvey has introduced himself, I guess its my turn.  Hi, I'm Victor and I just turned 44.

My journey to a healthier life began a few years ago when I reached a high of 170 lbs.  Being 5'6" (if I tip toe) and 170 lbs. wasn't the epitome of health.  I wore 34" pants and wasn't particularly fit or strong. Like many parents with young children, I did not have a regular exercise regimen.  I seemed to suffer from backaches which I blamed on golf. Worst of all, I had no plan or system of nutrition.  I just ate whatever was culturally appropriate and satisfying.  In my case this meant cookies, cakes, ice cream, bubble tea, Coca Cola, lots of rice, noodles, bread & pasta. The result?  Take a look below.

January 2008

The picture above was taken January 22, 2008 when I was 42. I had double chin with a puffy, bloated look from eating too much wheat, sugar and refined carbohydrates.  My clothes became tight and I had trouble breathing when I wore dress pants due to my gut straining against the waistband.  My blood pressure was 135/90. Blood sugar was high.  If I carried on like this, diabetes and heart disease would be waiting around the corner.

Sometime in the fall of 2009, my wife and I decided to take control of our eating patterns.  We researched various approaches to nutrition with a view to produce healthy weight loss, and to minimize the risk of heart disease and cancer.  Our research led us to the Paleo approach to nutrition, exercise and sleep.  Beginning October 2009, we tried to cut out wheat from our food intake, drastically reduced the amount of rice and noodles consumed and increased our intake of organic meat, healthy fats such as butter, olive oil, coconut oil and nuts, and ate fresh vegetables and fruit.  Whereas in the past we used to eat corned beef and sardines from cans along with tinned vegetables, we changed to buying raw food and cooking the food ourselves.  We stopped having any cakes or cookies or candies in the house.  For the first time we felt as if we were taking control of our nutrition.

I was afraid I would feel hungry when I gave up eating bread and rice during this period.  But in fact, the opposite happened.  My appetite reset itself and I felt full earlier and longer eating the Paleo way compared to my old way of eating.  I cut out all sugary drinks and avoided fruit juices sticking with water, tea or coffee.

Giving up bread, pasta and noodles was hard.  But with the encouragement of my wife, I managed to keep at it with the odd cheats here and there.  I was compliant with the Paleo Way of eating 80% of the time.

My wife and I could hardly believe the results.  My weight had dropped to 146 lbs.  My blood pressure was down to 110/68.  I bought tight fitting Gap t-shirts to reward myself. My wife dug out a picture from 2002 for comparison.  Here it is side by side with a recent picture taken in October 2010.

Eating the Paleo Way has helped improve my quality of life.  After I lost weight, I started to exercise again.  Doing the right kind of exercise in turn stimulated testosterone and human growth hormone (HGH) which basically revived my aging body.  I became leaner, stronger and fitter with greater cardiovascular endurance.

If you are in your forties and wish to improve your health by losing weight and getting fitter, you really should checkout the Paleo approach to managing nutrition and exercise.  For further reading about Paleo Principles, jump to these links below:

How To Get Started
Modern Paleo Principles
Primal Blueprint 101

In future posts, I will discuss exercise and share picture of the foods I cooked using the Paleo approach.  If you can't wait, just search "paleo foods" on the internet and jump right in.

Harvey and I started this blog to share with our forty-something friends who are struggling with weight and health issues.  You can take control of your weight and get your life back.  You can minimize your risk of heart disease or diabetes by choosing Paleo nutrition and exercise.  There is a saying, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."  All we can do is share with you what worked for us.  The rest is up to you.

Being on Paleo nutrition and adopting a Paleo approach to exercise led to some unexpected benefits.  Using mainly bodyweight exercises such as chin ups, pull ups, various push ups and kettlebell work, I worked on toning the body.

Remember earlier I mentioned my waist was 34"?   The following picture shows a pair of shorts I bought from Old Navy this spring.

That's a size 28".  I haven't been 28" since I was a teenager.

Healthfully yours,
Victor