Ketosis May have some benefits for Epileptic Children

The British journal Pediatrics has pre-released research findings on children who were put on low carb diets to prevent epileptic seizures. The diet was effective in preventing seizures but also created kidneys stones. The addition of potassium citrate supplements helped the participants continue the study. Those who maintained the diet for two years were free of seizures. Metabolism and epilepsy are subjects for further research in nutrition.

Horror @ the Bookstore

Just in time for Halloween. They call it a Zesty Low Carb Protein Snack. I call it a .25$ a shot recipe for a heart attack or worse. Look at the ingredients. Then the Nutrition "Facts" See any Trans fats listed? No, neither do I, yet we know hydrogenation creates trans fats from PUFAs we find in soybean oil. They taste a little stale (the pull date 2/10) as these nuts should be in a non-clear container as PUFAs are sensitive to light and heat. Definitely low in carbs but at what price? Trans fats may be less than 1 gram per serving and not be listed according to a spokesperson @FritoLay in Plano TX.
Guess who took someone out to lunch? Someone with a big machine that makes hydrogenated products for junk food junkies some of who are diabetic. Who is kidding about healthy food I had trouble finding anything in the bookstore worth putting in my body. This is a thing we might take on as a class project.

The Queen of Fats

I am reading Susan Allport's book The Queen of Fats: Why Omega-3s were Removed from the Western Diet and What We can Do to Replace Them. As we have discussed briefly in class it is difficult to find populations that are isolated from western dietary influences. One of these occured in a Danish study of greenlander Indigeneous diet. These hunting and fishing communities ate a diet high in animal fats and cold water animals. Heart disease as experienced in comparable ethnic populations in Denmark was only 10 % of the rates. This was in the early 70s before we knew as much about Omega-3 fatty acids and its role in keeping blood from clotting. It was discovered during the process of drawing blood samples that the natives kept bleeding. It was also found that nosebleeds were common in the community.As the towns progressed and began consuming the western diet that arrived on the ships the cohort was lost and they were soon experiencing the same rates of heart disease, diabetes, and obesity as European ancestors.The book talks about the role of EPA in cognition and degenerative disorders of the eye, brain and heart. The oils that flex and turn to create vision in the optic nerve cannot be replaced with corn oil. eat your greens the dark green leafy kind.

Your Gut

It is your connection to the outside world. The alimentary canal aka the gut. 5 pounds/2.3 Kg of flora and fauna living on the walls and in suspension in "hole in the doughnut" that is where we derive energy for all our life activities.These colonies and communities are not part of us(not human tissue but have evolved to exist in symbiosis) yet we need them as much as they need us. It is also where we acquire pathogens that can infect and start "eating" us. Keeping the intestinal flora and fauna healthy is discussed here.
http://yourownhealthandfitness.org/
available as a free podcast until 10/27/09.

The Oiling of America

I discovered another opinion out there. A woman named Mary Enig PhD., as in enigma to the oilseed industry has been stirring the pot since 1978. Ms Enig is doing research on lipids and is quite an authority on lipids. She is not in agreement on the USDA AHA ACA line on PUFAs being the only fats we need to be healthy and fit. Of course, admissions that up to 3 grams of omega 3 oils are admissible, the limits on omega 6 are not as strict and the total elimination of tropical oils has had an unexpected outcome. She takes an historical perspective on the history of heart disease and how there may may be a different way of looking at lipids than is currently germain. I will have more top say about this later.
http://www.totalfitness.net/downloads/Oiling%20America.pdf
You might want to read it now, but if you are like me and have a mid-term tomorrow, it will wait for you.The revolution has not started to gather enough steam yet. I am gonna have a latte and think about this and microbes for a while.

New Findings on Folate and Birth Weight

Birth Weight Increase Seen with Folic Acid Supplementation
October 2009
A study from the Netherlands finds that supplements of folic acid taken by the mother before conception may increase the birth weight of the baby by more than 60 grams.

Beginning folic acid supplementation before becoming pregnant was also associated with a 57% reduction in the risk of low birth weight and a 60% reduction in the risk of a baby that was small for gestational age (SGA), according to findings published online in the British Journal of Nutrition. The results add credibility to recommendations of a daily dose of 400 mcg for women of childbearing age, starting before conception.

Currently, supplementation with folate and folic acid—the synthetic, bioavailable form of folate—is recommended for all women of child-bearing age, since most neural tube defects (NTDs), including spina bifida and anencephaly, occur within the first 22 to 28 days of pregnancy, when the mother-to-be is not yet aware she is even pregnant. Folic acid supplements after this time are too late to prevent neural tube defects and therefore fail to benefit women with unplanned pregnancies—more than half of all pregnancies in the U.S.

This connection between folate deficiency in early pregnancy and an increased risk of NTDs led to the 1998 introduction of public health measures in the U.S. and Canada, where all grain products are fortified with folic acid.

The Dutch researchers, led by Sarah Timmermans, analyzed data on 6,353 pregnancies and considered the effects of folic acid supplementation (400 to 500 mcg per day) before, during and after conception on the birth weight of infants.

The Generation R Study found that folic acid supplementation before conception was linked with heavier babies and heavier placentas (13 grams more), compared to the infants of women who did not take any folic acid supplements.

Benefits were recorded for women who started the folic acid supplements after having their pregnancy confirmed, with an association noted for a 39% reduction in the risk of low birth weight. Starting folic acid supplementation before becoming pregnant was associated with reductions of over 50% in the risks of low birth weight and small for gestational age (SGA).

"In conclusion, periconception folic acid supplementation is associated with increased fetal growth resulting in higher placental and birth weight and decreased risks of low birth weight and SGA," concluded Timmermans and her co-workers.

British Journal of Nutrition Published online ahead of print.
Eat your greens all you pregnant ones. Your babies are healthier and happier.

The daily planner

Before I start this, I want to ask, what is a Grip? I seem to have lost mine. I looked for "grips" on the walmart.com site I googled it. With all the resources I could muster I could not find a nutrient fact on "grips". So I assume they are very low in fat sugar and calories but useful on the golf course. Will wait for further instructions.

I logged in my eating for a day and then the next day and realized I was not getting enough CALORIES for my BMI and activity level(about 3200Kcal).I figured it out@ about 90-110 calories deficit a day = -10 pounds a year. Is this why I crash energy wise about 3-4 pm? I have used saturated fats to extend my energy after breakfast i.e. nuts and seeds and soymilk. I am waiting too long after arising to eat. My mom suggested I take 5 grams of vegetable protein after I get up and take my herbs and enzymes for my allergies. I have done this, though not noting it in the log, and I feel this has taken away some of the jaggedness I feel first thing in the morning. The other thing is I tend to wait too long to eat my evening meal because this is a very active time of day.
So I guess my goals are to eat more and eat more often. I think my diet is pretty good. If I followed the fat % guideline I think I would have difficulty keeping my weight up as I do not consume dairy or gluten and the amount of fiber I consume leads to a low BTT.I also would have difficulty maintaining the activity level I now enjoy although with some brief periods where I am cheating my reserves of stored ATP. I am hoping this is all I need to be steady in mood and energy.
The label reading exercise surprised me in that the two favorite kid foods; hot dogs and mac and cheese, were the highest in fat and calories respectively. These are one reason there is so much obesity. That and TV. But that's another subject for later.

Squash Cake

This morning I had some summer squash leftover from dinner.
I made this

Squash cake
in a food processor or blender place
2 1/2 C baked summer squash peel and all
3 eggs
1/2 C raisins
1/4 C agave syrup
1/2 C soymilk
1/2 tsp gingerroot
blend well

sift
2 C rice flour
1/2 C coconut flour
1/2 rolled oats
1tsp soda
1tsp powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
add to dry stuff
1/4 c grapeseed oil
1/2 apple grated
add blended stuff(squash etc) and mix well
place in an oiled 9x11 pan
bake @350 35 minutes until toothpick comes clean
Enjoy.

Soda Bread

Soda Bread Makes 2 loaves or 20 biscuits (oven 350) 35 minutes for biscuits
1 hour for bread

Part A
in a large bowl
2 carrots grated or 2 C baked squash or yams
1 cucumber grated
1 zucchini grated
Part B add these to the vegetables
¼ C apple cider vinegar
spices
fennel seed
caraway seed
cumin seed
dill weed
Sea salt
Set aside

Now…
Part C put all these in a food processor/blender in this order
2 ribs celery
½ onion or 2 bunches green onions or one leek (all if you want a really savory taste)
¼ C peanut butter
¼ C sunflower butter
¼ C coconut oil
1/3 C agave syrup
1 ½ t xanthan gum or two egg whites or ¼ C flaxseed meal
after some blending the mousse should hold a wave before combining with the A+B mixture to make ABC.

This(ABC) should look like a cake mix except its green and orange. At this time, I usually add 1 C of water or stock
Now Part D
10 C Brown rice flour
3 C Rolled Oats
1t soda
1t baking powder

add 3C rice and 1 C of oats and mix(henceforth3-1)
Part E
Repeat 3-1 with a10 minutes rest before the third 3-1 adding and mixing in of the soda and powder.
Continue mixing until the flour is used or the mixture is the consistency between cornbread batter and cookie dough.
Either take ½ c scoops and place biscuits on baking sheets or divide in half and toss in oiled and floured bread pans. The biscuits take 35 minutes and are great with hummus.

The bread takes just about an hour and needs to be completely cool before slicing. That is why I now make a few biscuits with the bread so I don’t have to wait. Good luck.

10-08-09 Salmon Phytochemicals may Help against the ravages of Glucose

Today I shared the article from the American Journal of Epidemiology 170(4):464-471,2009.
Half the Canadians surveyed had less than optimum levels of Vitamin C which correlated with disease risk factors such as waist girth, BMI, inflammation, and blood pressure.
From the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry the phyto chemical Astaxathin found as the pink coloring naturally occurring in Salmon.Not yet published but findings are that this substance has a preventative against Advanced Glycation End (AGEs) which leads to kidney disease.
I am glad to finally study nutrition as a science rather than just as I read and learned from my own experience.
I was drawn to nutritiion as a teen-ager who wrestled and had to maintain a fighting weight. I was drawn even deeper into the need for quality nutrition while attending undergraduate school and taking stimulants to cheat sleep and metabolic limitations I thought were a "hassle" to deal with.
At age 35 while working on my second degree in Music Therapy I was struck with prostatitis and bladder infection. I made a vow to stop abusing myself after 17 years away from home. I started listening to the elders who knew a lot about food and longevity. I cut down on alcohol, cigarettes, and junk foods. 3 years later my father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I found out the AMA does little to prevent disease(sic) through nutritional means. I called a Naturopath as the oncologist wrote my father off as "terminal" and suggested he "go to the liquor store buy a case of gin and prepare to die." The Naturopath had plenty to say about what to do next which lead to 8 months of remission and quality living before he went off the diet and died two months later. I am sure he was on the mend but was unable to resist his old diet of biscuits and gravy. He made the choice that I think killed him. We all make choices each day about food and nutrition. Some can be life changing for better or worse.
It was this event which inspired my present work and study at Blue Mountain CC in Hermiston Oregon. I am taking course work with the intent of becoming an RN. I hope this blog will keep a record of the events leading to the career I plan to do for the next 30 years if I am able.