General Food Guidelines and Dietary Recommendations

General Food Guidelines and Dietary Recommendations

1. No fried foods, and highly processed or junk foods.
2. Regarding fats:
   1. Very much Less (mostly eliminate) Omega 6 fats (soy, corn, safflower oils etc. but also no canola oil.)
   2. Omega 3 fats are preferred but best from fish – otherwise: Cod Liver oil/day (Cod liver oil is my preference) or 2-4 caps of Krill oil. These will also be found to a lesser extent in grass-fed meats and butter from grass-fed cows.
   3. Higher omega 6 (Linoleic acid) intake was linked to a 92% increase in breast cancer risk among lean or obese women. In addition, polyunsaturated (omega 6) fats, commercial processed meats and excessive sugar are irritants to the gut lining, weaken the immune system and stimulate tumor growth.
   4. Caution with nuts – walnuts, pecans and pumpkin seeds have very high levels of Omega 6 Linoleic acid (the damaging factor in omega 6 oils) almonds, cashews, pistachios and macadamia nuts are all low in Linoleic acid
   5. Trans fats (margarine, shortening, French fries, commercial baked goods must be avoided
3. No non-stick cookware and avoid microwave cooking, frying or charbroiling your food. Boiling, steaming or stir-frying is much preferred.
4. Healthy Carbohydrates/low glycemic foods should make up the majority of the calories you eat. We are aiming to keep insulin levels low. Colorful fruits and vegetables should supply your carbohydrate needs.   Rice is acceptable as well as heated and cooled potatoes and whole grains if not sensitive
5. foods like ripe fruit, raw honey and maple syrup. Tropical fruits such as papaya, watermelon, oranges and tangerines are preferable, as in addition to higher levels of fructose, they also contain flavonoids that help to digest the sugars. Ripe melon, apples, peaches, plums, pears and grapes are also good
6. Calorie Ratio : 45% – 55% carbohydrates, 20%-25% protein, 25% – 30% fats
7. Another powerful tool is intermittent fasting. Work towards keeping all food within an 8–10-hour timeframe. 2 meals daily are adequate for almost all adults
   1. Research suggests time-restricted feeding (intermittent fasting) drastically reduces a woman’s risk of breast cancer, in part by lowering insulin
8. Use only butter, coconut oil or healthy sources of lard or beef tallow when cooking – Olive oil on salads is preferred, actually. But again, all grain and seed oils must be avoided
9. Eat fermented foods like Bubbies sauerkraut, Kimchi or other fermented vegetables – start slow if needed and increase the amount as you tolerate more
10. Add some detoxifying foods – garlic, green tea, whey, celery, turmeric, cilantro
11. Use only meats from animals that are fully grass-fed and not given hormones or antibiotics and free from pesticides or herbicide contamination – avoid all high temperature cooking (well done), over cooked meats and blackened meats
    1. Most fish consumed in this country come from China or Vietnam and are highly contaminated. Atlantic fish are not much better at all. Fish should only be purchased from sources known to be obtaining their fish from uncontaminated waters and not from confined fish pens.  My recommendation is Vital Choice.com
12. Eat fresh organic vegetables, especially cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, etc.) which have been identified as having strong anti-cancer properties. Most individuals need to only eat vegetables that have been cooked, not raw.  Stir-fry or lightly steamed
    1. see the dirty dozen and the clean fifteen at the Environmental Working Group on line –

ewg.org.  The dirty dozen are the fruits and vegetables highly contaminated with pesticides and should only be consumed if organic.  The clean 15 are ones that are clean and can be purchased and eaten whether organic or not

10. Eat organic eggs from free-range chickens only. Enjoy them hard-boiled or scrambled, be careful when fried; do not use the wrong oils
11. Get antioxidants and other powerful healing nutrients from colorful foods, red and blue berries, cherries, artichokes and deep green colored foods.
12. If you use dairy foods try to obtain and use raw milk and dairy products such as yoghurt, cheese, butter (all very healthy foods) from grass-fed cows or goats. Always avoid typical store-bought products from animals confined, grain-fed, and produced with antibiotics and rGBH growth hormone from Monsanto. Many may need to avoid dairy altogether when sensitive to those foods
13. Avoid soy products (unless fermented) due to their anti-thyroid effects, difficulty in digestion, genetically modified foods (GMO) and MSG (fertilizer for cancer cells)
    1. Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Round Up and used heavily on GMO foods, has been found to drive cancer cell proliferation, damages the microbiome and the mitochondria
    2. Unfortunately, there has been widespread contamination in our ground water and 60 to 100% of air and rainwater samples of this toxic chemical.
    3. All grains and legumes that are not organic are contaminated with glyphosate
14. Consider the need to completely avoid gluten to which many individuals are genetically intolerant or allergic. It can be very inflammatory
15. Decrease your inflammatory foods
16. Remove or significantly minimize what are now called ultra-processed foods. So, anything that comes in a package, has an ingredient that if it was in your kitchen, or you wouldn’t know what’s in it or what to do with it – omit these
17. High-fructose corn syrup in sodas and other products is highly damaging to our bodies. It makes it extremely difficult to lower inflammation, have good blood sugar control, and good immune function when HFCS is being consumed.
18. Be sure you have regular bowel movements – at least one or two daily
19. Take time to exercise but do not get overtired and get regular and adequate sleep – 7 to 8 hours in a completely dark room. No TV in the bedroom or alarm clock light (unless red light)
20. Be cautious with alcohol. A study by the Fred Hutchison Cancer Center found that more than 1 drink/day was shown to increase a second breast cancer recurrence by 90%. More studies are now confirming that any amount of alcohol will have damaging effects on the brain
21. Coffee (use organic only) and green or black tea – lowers levels of hemoglobin A1c and post-meal increases in blood sugar. Non-organic is riddled with pesticides
22. When implementing the transition to healthy carbs you need to be careful not to eat too many carbs as excess carbs will be shunted to glycolysis and into glucose into your blood and lead to an increased blood sugar. The more muscle mass you have and the more exercise you do, the more carbs you can eat. I suspect most people could easily transition to 200 grams of carbs

And then there is this

Research across multiple fields continues to confirm that consistent physical activity outperforms nearly every drug or supplement for extending life and reducing chronic disease risk. Exercise doesn’t just add years to your life — it adds life to your years by preserving strength, mobility, and independence well into old age.

Sedentary behavior independently increases disease risk — even if you eat well

Addendum – about Cortisol and Blood sugar – this is important

There is a crucial role that cortisol (the stress hormone) plays in glucose regulation. Cortisol is primarily a rescue hormone. It’s a glucocorticoid, and as the name implies, it increases your glucose level, because if your glucose level drops too low, you will go into a hypoglycemic coma and can die. As such, cortisol is a lifesaver. The downside is that it uses up vital protein to make glucose, so high cortisol takes a toll on your muscles.

 

The reason anabolic steroids build muscle mass is because they’re anti-cortisol. You would’ve thought anabolic

steroids would have some direct action on the muscles, but no, they primarily inhibit cortisol’s catabolic impact. Cortisol, when elevated with stress, tears down muscle, bone or brain protein to produce glucose in your liver, so when your glucose level drops, cortisol rises and shreds these tissues to produce glucose. This is one of the puzzle pieces that explains why you don’t want your glucose levels to be low over prolonged

periods.

 

Cortisol also accelerates the aging process and is implicated in most chronic diseases.

 

In the case of Addison’s disease (adrenal failure), the opposite is present: low cortisol. These patients are typically required to take cortisol injections on a regular basis. On the upside, this chronic cortisol deficiency tends to impart youthfulness.  In most other chronic conditions, high cortisol is a major problem.

 

High Cortisol Speeds Aging

Metabolic researcher Georgi Dinkov comments:

“Studies as far back as the 1950s and 60s demonstrated that you can produce every single phenotype of aging if you inject cortisol or at least create a state of relative glucocorticoid excess (high cortisol) in the animal.

 

The natural anti-cortisol steroids in our bodies are progesterone and DHEA, and in males testosterone and dihydrotestosterone.

 

It has been shown that cortisol levels do not decline with age unless you really have adrenal failure.  However the levels of all the anti-cortisol, youth-promoting hormones (progesterone testosterone,DHEA, Pregnenolone)  decline with age. By the time you’re 80, their levels are at about 20% of what they used to be when you were in your 20s. So, really, what happens is that cortisol stays the same, but your relative state of cortisol increases because there’s nothing to oppose the cortisol that is already there. Multiple intervention studies have demonstrated that if you administer agents that oppose cortisol, block it at the receptor level, or reduce its synthesis, you can achieve really good health results and also improve the

way you look.

 

Anabolic steroids are probably the best known example. It’s really a misnomer because they’re not anabolic. They’re actually anticatabolic. Muscle has one of the highest expressions of the glucocorticoid receptor, through which cortisol shreds the muscle. It binds the receptor and increases a number of different proteolytic fibers.”

 

High Cortisol Linked to Depression

Your gastrointestinal tract and brain also have high numbers of glucocorticoid receptors, so cortisol shreds brain tissue as well, causing brain atrophy and subsequent depression. Research has shown that people with depression have smaller brain volumes than people who don’t have depression.   Georgi Dinkov: “Within 48 hours of the glucocorticoid blocker RU-486 being administered to people with clinical treatment-resistant depression, they experienced remission. So, I think it’s a very good argument that cortisol is catabolic to the brain, and clearly, if it’s catabolic to the brain, it’s probably not going to improve your mood. If anything, it’s going to worsen it.”

Again, when your blood sugar level drops, that triggers your body to increase cortisol, which is the last thing you want if you struggle with depression or other chronic disease. Really, one of your primary goals in achieving optimal health is to limit the elevation of your cortisol. It’s far more destructive than having elevated blood sugar, which most focus on.

 

High Cortisol Is Far Worse Than High Blood Sugar

Many wear continuous glucose monitors that check your glucose level every 5 to 10 minutes. But high glucose is not the real danger here. Cortisol is, and it rises when glucose drops too low. As noted by Dinkov: “All the drugs on the market, especially the more recent ones that lower Hemoglobin A1C, the glycated hemoglobin, all of them increase mortality. So, clearly, messing directly with the levels of blood glucose, it’s not something you want to

do.

 

You may temporarily decrease the biomarker, the glycated hemoglobin, but it does not mean you’re getting healthier. [These drugs] may lower your blood glucose, but they may kill you in the long run faster than the elevated glucose would’ve done by itself.” Metformin is one classic example. Many are using this drug to lower their blood sugar.  While it’s a natural product, and considered safe, it’s basically a mitochondrial toxin that will make your health decline in the long term.  All of that said, we’re NOT saying you should ignore elevated blood glucose. Absolutely not. But elevated glucose is a symptom that is best addressed indirectly. Once you address the foundational cause, it will normalize by itself.

So, it’s not carbohydrate ingestion that’s causing high blood sugar. It’s what’s happening at the mitochondrial level that is the root of the problem