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Saturday 30 April 2011

The youngest low carber I know !

He is our youngest grandchild, and we are doing our best to ensure he has the healthiest upbringing possible. I have got to be honest and admit I cropped the picture, why, the little chimp had a bag of crisps in his hands. I can assure you chocolate, sweets or crisps are a once a week maximum for him. When he went onto solid food it was home cooked pureed vegetables, fruit and meat for this guy. The only liquids are full fat milk and water.

Unbelievably his favourite foods are vegetables. He will eat broccoli, spinach and courgettes until they come out of his ears, the same goes for fresh fruit.

 
 
 
 
Eddie

Great Grub !

Check out the nutrients in a kiwi fruit. OK at around 10 carbs per 100 grams it’s a bit carby. When you consider the average Kiwi fruit weighs around 70 grams, half is only around 3.5 carbs. Thinly slice and serve with some double cream, great grub and very high in vitamin C.



Click on chart to enlarge.  

Eddie
 
For more info on this great food check out the Worlds healthiest foods web site.

http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=41

The best Detox diet, Barry Groves.

 
“There are many conditions in Western industrialised societies today that were unheard of, or at least very rare, just a century ago. The same conditions are still unheard of in primitive peoples who do not have the 'benefits' of our knowledge. There is a very good reason for this: They eat what Nature intended; we don't. The diseases caused by our incorrect and unnatural diets are those featured on these pages.”
 
The link below was sent in as a post comment. I thought it was well worth a new post. It’s by Barry Groves a man who thinks outside of the box, and is very well informed.


If you read this blog and have a new subject or a link you feel will be of interest to others, please post as a comment and we will post it as a new thread, thank you. Eddie
 
Thanks for posting AliB.

www.second-opinions.co.uk/detox.html

Thursday 28 April 2011

Salt intake and chronic disease.

The Ancel Keys data regarding fat and chronic disease, has been proved to be bogus, could it be, the same can be said for salt ?

“Statistics are somewhat like expert witnesses in that they can be used to testify for either side depending on what you want to prove. When Michael Alderman, a highly regarded epidemiologist and past president of The American Society of Hypertension scrutinized the same data in patients who were not overweight he reported that "the more salt you eat, the less likely you are to die."--(from heart disease or anything else).

Alderman has long been critical of the government's low sodium diet advice for large populations and their focus on sodium intake as it relates to blood pressure rather than to the overall health, quality and length of life of individuals. He examined the relationship between sodium intake and health effects in 3,000 patients with mild to moderate hypertension. In addition, his group measured sodium excretion, which is much more accurate than estimating dietary intake. At the end of four years, they found that those who consumed the least sodium had the most myocardial infarctions and other cardiovascular complications.

The reason for this is that when you restrict vital nutrients like salt (or cholesterol) all sorts of strange things can result. Low sodium diets can increase levels of renin, LDL and insulin resistance, reduce sexual activity in men and cause cognitive difficulties and anorexia in the elderly. Tasteless and dull low sodium diets can cause other nutritional deficiencies. Lowering sodium with diuretics to treat hypertension can cause similar problems.

Renin is possibly the most powerful and dangerous blood pressure raising substance known. Indeed, the study done by Alderman's group found that for every two percent increase in pre-treatment plasma renin activity there was a 25 percent increase in heart attacks. No such correlation was found with increased sodium intake.”


Eddie

www.health-report.co.uk/sodium_chloride_salt_myths2.html
 

Wednesday 27 April 2011

Thank you !

Thank you to all the people, currently hundreds of people every day, from all over the world, who read this blog. Thank you to the small team that take the effort and time to post the posts. Thank you to all the people that take the time and trouble to post your comments. Thank you to all.

Each month we are making new friends, and I am very pleased that Jay, a guy from the other side of the pond, is making a contribution to our humble blog.

Check out his article, “the story so far” I found it deeply moving and very inspirational. We are winning, but as you all know, it is hard going at times. What was ever worth winning, was ever easy ?

Thank you again and keep kicking butt, Eddie

www.drjaywortman.com/blog/wordpress/about/

British men among fattest in Europe !

The study, into the rise of heart and lung disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes, ranked UK men as the third fattest in Europe, with 67.8 per cent of males 15 or over either overweight or obese.
Only Greece (77.5 per cent) and Malta (73.3 per cent) are fatter.

Globally, British men are the 21st fattest of 192 countries while our women fare much better, at the 51st fattest. However, contrary to the lean 'Crocodile Dundee' image Australian men like to portray, they are significantly fatter than their British cousins. More than three in four (75.7 per cent) of Australian men are overweight or obese, WHO reported.

Kick the carbs and ask your Doctor, will getting off my arse be good for me. Go lowcarb and get an hour of modest exercise i.e. walking in a day.

You know it makes sense, why fight it. Eddie

www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8476754/British-men-among-fattest-in-Europe.html

May the force be with you !

Breaking news! After the publication of the article "Seeking an Explanation for Canute’s Behaviour", indicating that a diabetic forum moderator had unknown sources of energy (not from protein, carbs, fat or alcohol, world famous cosmologists are urgently trying to locate the diabetes forum moderator known as King Canute.

A spokesman explained "After reading the article we realised that if we could reject the hypotheses that King Canute was a 10 year old boy with a huge appetite for meat or that he was an alcoholic then there remains the possibility that his metabolism may exhibit the properties of ‘dark energy’. When we examine the Universe, it appears that the galaxies are moving away from each other with acceleration greater than that made possible by the known amount of energy in the Universe. To explain this phenomenon, cosmologists have postulated the existence of ‘dark energy’. Unfortunately, the dark matter is invisible and currently undetectable. Rather than spend huge amounts of money on attempts to detect it indirectly, a detailed examination of King Canute’s metabolism may lay to rest one of the greatest mysteries of modern cosmology."

We warned the cosmologists not to try and communicate with Canute through the diabetic forum. Canute is the font of all knowledge and any attempt at meaningful interrogation of his metabolism would result in the banning of the cosmologists. We proposed that a better approach would be direct observation of Canute. This would allow the earlier hypotheses – 10 year old boy, alcoholic or others – lying mistaken etc to be tested. If all other hypotheses are rejected then a possible rendition to a laboratory and serious examination work of Canute’s metabolism could begin.

We offered the help of the Black-Ops squad, directed them to Sutton Coldfield and wished them good luck.

John

Featured great food of the week Salmon.

Salmon is rich in omega 3 and is highly beneficial in warding off cardio vascular disease, heart attack, strokes, and high blood pressure.

Click on chart to enlarge.

Dr. Jay Wortman on salt intake and diabetes.

We are constantly told salt is a killer and we all consume too much, everyone knows that, yes. I like many have cut back on it drastically over the last few years. A day never goes by when we don’t hear of the perils of saturated fat, the same pretty much goes for too much salt eh. Over the weekend on a UK diabetes forum a new member (forum name Canuck) known in the real world as Dr. Jay Wortman made some very interesting comments regarding salt, and general observations regarding sustainable long term lowcarb diets.

As so often on the forum in question, a person with an alternative point of view, a point of view that does not sit well with moderators and a small group of sycophants, all hell broke loose. The following debacle has been well documented on this blog, and resulted in Jay being banned, labelled a troll and most of his interesting and informative posts deleted.

One of the points Jay raised was the need to consume adequate quantities of salt, the know-alls rubbished his comment, but Jay got me thinking. Could we go too low on the salt ? Well the answer to that is yes we can, and it can lead to very serious consequences.

Check out the link.
 
CONCLUSIONS

In patients with type 2 diabetes, lower 24-h urinary sodium excretion was paradoxically associated with increased all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. Interventional studies are necessary to determine if dietary salt has a causative role in determining adverse outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes and the appropriateness of guidelines advocating salt restriction in this setting.
 
Advice to reduce dietary salt intake is a key element of many lifestyle intervention programs for type 2 diabetes. However, the association between dietary salt intake and mortality outcomes has not been previously studied specifically in the context of type 2 diabetes. In this article, we show that 24hUNa was independently associated with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes such that the highest mortality risks were observed in individuals with the lowest sodium intake and vice versa. 


What a tragedy, that a forum that likes to describe itself as the largest diabetes forum in the UK, stifles immediately, anyone who goes against the dogma, or has an alternative point of view, especially when the moderator likes to state “"You see we have a great tradition on this Forum that we don't all blindly kowtow to medical people as if they have some right to tell us what we should do." Who is the guy kidding, not us for sure.

To be continued.

Eddie

http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/34/3/703.full

Tuesday 26 April 2011

A great post from our friend Canuck.

This is a great post made on the forum diabetes.co.uk over the weekend. It was deleted by the mods, why ?

Ketosis occurs when your intake of carbs drops below the point where there is enough glucose coming in to fuel your brain. Your brain cannot burn fuels other than glucose or ketones. When your carb intake drops below that point your liver starts to make ketones from fat. Your brain can get 75% of its energy from ketones. The remaining 25% can come from glucose which is also produced in the liver (from protein). The muscles will burn fat or ketones. There are actually very few tissues that must have glucose. These include the renal cortex, red blood cells and lens of the eye. All their needs can be supplied by the liver. This is why there is actually a zero requirement for dietary carbohydrates. Most people need to get below 100 gm of carbs per day to achieve ketosis. For people with severe insulin resistance, the carbs would need to be much lower to achieve normal blood sugars and to get off the meds. I avoid meds by eating less than 50 gms and usually well below that.

Unlike low fat diets, low-carb is very effective at burning off the fat around the middle. Properly done it will also spare muscle loss and may even cause muscle growth along with fat loss. For type 2 diabetics, I recommend the most recent Atkins book which was authored by three scientists who do research on ketogenic diets (Westman, Phinney and Volek). I get the best results by staying on the induction phase of the diet indefinitely. I have done this for over 8 years. I asked the authors why they didn't recommend this in the book. They said that they actually had written a chapter on this but that the publisher removed it for fear it might confuse people. Phinney and Volek have recently written a guide for physicians on how to properly administer a low-carb diet. It will be published as an e-book and will be available soon via Amazon.

Seeking an explanation of Canute’s behaviour.


We’ve had some incredible posts on diabetes.co.uk from King Canute, the troll formerly known as wrunkelt, etc. Unfortunately, the most revealing ones have been deleted in order to cover his tracks. Not to worry, the Black Ops squad have them safely logged and filed. The posts concerned a trained qualified professional medical physician attempting to inform an ex-traffic cop that with the ex-traffic cop’s stated amounts of daily carbs and fats; his diet was not viable in the long run.

The matter is easily resolved with some simple arithmetic. Using the notation let:

F denote the number of gm of fat eaten per day
P denote the number of gm of protein eaten per day
C denote the number of gm of carbohydrates eaten per day
A denote the number of 50 ml of premium whisky drunk per day
K denote the number of calories generated per day

It is known that:

F: 1 gram = 9 calories
P: 1 gram = 4 calories
C: 1 gram = 4 calories
A: 1 50 ml = 140 calories

Therefore

K = 9F + 4P + 4C + 140A

Now from the Black-Ops files we know that King Canute has stated that he eats 20 – 30 gm of fat per day, 30 – 50 gm of carbohydrates per day, enjoys Glenfiddich in moderation (he likes to give an impression of refinement but the Black-Ops files reveal the foul mouthed bilious reality).

To maintain stable weight an average adult male requires around 2500 calories per day.
Now we can use the midpoint of the stated intake of fat and carbohydrates and 1 50 ml of whisky to estimate the required number of gm of protein to attain the stable number of calories.
2500 = 9(25) + 4P + 4(40) + 140(1)

A little arithmetic results in:

P = 525 gm

It is difficult to eat excess protein and that a reasonable maximum would be about 100 gm which is 425 gm short of the amount King Canute needs to maintain a stable body weight with his stated food and drink inputs.

What are we to make of it? Well, one answer would be that King Canute is underestimating (deliberately?) his food and drink intake.

Let’s put his protein intake at 100 gm per day and keep his fat and carbohydrate intake at the midpoint of their stated range.

Thus

2500 = 9(25) + 4(100) + 4(40) + 140(A)

A little arithmetic results in:

A = 12.25 x 50 ml of premium whisky.

In the post "Seeking an explanation of Canute’s behaviour" on another blog, a similar analysis was undertaken excluding the alcohol. It was found that a reasonable hypothesis was that Canute was a carnivorous 9-10 year old boy.

In this post, the analysis indicates that Canute is a very heavy drinker which again provides a reasonable hypothesis for his behaviour.

John

How to run a Diabetes forum. Moderation Part 1


If you want to survive in the forum moderation business you have to be ruthless. The first rule is never ever admit you are wrong. You must keep up constant vigilance, ready to thread lock, delete or alter a post at a moments notice. The slightest sign of criticism or dissent, must be dealt with swiftly with an iron fist.

The wise moderator must surround himself with toadies, who will agree with anything he says, about six is an ideal number. They must be available to back his posts and decisions 24/7. If they are employed or have any interests outside of the forum, discard them, they will be useless. Grovelling toadies must be available at a moments notice, to intimidate, ridicule and threaten any poster that contradicts the moderators opinions, decisions or obvious lack of knowledge.

All high profile, and regular low carb, adequate fat posters, must be kept under special surveillance. They are the scum of the earth and should be banned at the earliest opportunity.

In my former life it was easy, I had the Gulags, but times have changed.

Joseph Stalin

The carb war has been won, now it's fat wars !

  
As is often said, we are all different, ain’t that a fact. It’s also a sad fact some diabetics, follow to the letter the NHS dietary information regarding carbs, but eventually, many see the light, and dump the carbs big time. The same enlightenment cannot be said for fats. They, like the medics, have totally brought into the extremely flawed, and fraudulent data provided by Ancel Keys. Last year The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reported the following:
 
“Conclusions:

This statement referred to 5–23 years of follow-up of 347,747 subjects.


 A meta-analysis of prospective epidemiologic studies showed that there is no significant evidence for concluding that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of CHD or CVD. More data are needed to elucidate whether CVD risks are likely to be influenced by the specific nutrients used to replace saturated fat.”

What amazes me, is so many people are quite rightly angry, when they realise the medics have sold them a crock regarding carbs, but still believe the medics know what they are talking about re fats. The fats I am talking about here, are the fats found in avocado, coconuts, extra virgin olive oil, fresh meat and fish, nuts, cheese and butter etc. The fats man has been eating for hundreds of thousands of years. Did these foods, ate since the beginning of time, cause obesity and heart disease and pre/diabetes type 2, in over a third of the adult population back then? No way, the human race would not have survived.

Look around an average supermarket, take out all the food that was not around 100 years ago, and more than half the food, (or chemically produced poisoned junk sold as food) would disappear. There will be meat, fish, eggs, cheese, cream, vegetables, some seasonal fruits and nuts etc. So what’s the problem !

Plenty, the foods left are very time and labour intensive, margins are low, the big money is in the junk, made in 7 day a week, 24 hour a day food factories, that look more like petro chem. installations, than a place for healthy food to grow and be nurtured.

OK, many reading this will think so what’s new, what is this guy telling us we do not already know. A fair point, but looking around my supermarket, and looking at the obese shoppers, and the sort of diets being recommended by the NHS and dietitions, looking at the escalation in heart disease, obesity and type 2 diabetes, a lot more people need to be told. This all sounds so simple doesn’t it, the fact is, it is, it really is that simple. Eat the food your great grandmother ate, before the industrial chemists and marketing mob got their hands on it.

Eddie

Monday 25 April 2011

Words fail me, almost !

They say if a man lives long enough, he gets to see it all. Well, over the weekend I’ve got to see it all, well, as far as diabetes forums go that is. Those who are familiar with the forum of flog, are no strangers to the ridiculing, thread locking, thread deleting, post deleting and post alteration etc. etc. conducted by the arch buffoon and moderator Cugila, aka, Ken, aka the spooky and foul mouthed troll WRUNKELT. Assisted by his Moll, Sugarless Sue, another mole, both known and outed as trolls on the forum lowcarbdiabetes.co.uk

Over the weekend, they and their small gang of full time forum vultures, bit off more than they could chew. A new member called Canuck, was clearly in a different league, to the usual combatants the miscreants take on. The new guy shredded them, with science, experience, and plain old common sense.

As was swiftly predicted by our team, he was banned and called a troll. He joined the ever growing ranks of banned members who dare to question the ludicrous ravings of King Canute. I have a feeling, we will be hearing  more from this guy, and as you would expect, you will be hearing a lot more from me and the team.

Money can’t buy this sort of entertainment, but the big question is, how much is old Kenny boy and his misfits adding to the misinformation industry. Time will tell, but god help the newbie’s and the confused and the misinformed.
 
Eddie

The Wonder Diet Mysteries Are Revealed part 2 !

What a weekend on the forum of fun eh ! Canuck a new member (now banned and labelled a troll) brought up the subject of low carbing and low fat. Like me and other successful lowcarbers, on nil or minimal medication, he had looked at what some members were stating regarding their carb and fat intake, and quite rightly come to the conclusion they must be eating a huge amount of protein.

Think about this, very low carb, very low fat that only leaves protein left to eat. That’s if you are eating a diet that provides adequate calorie intake to live a healthy and active life. Where ever you look the general consensus is around 2500 calories for a man and 2000 for a woman.

According to Dietitian, Juliette Kellow BSc RD, the daily recommended calorie intake for an infant aged between 1 and 3 is 1230 for a boy and 1165 for a girl. Imagine my utter astonishment when a forum monitor and SRN stated the following.

“A calorie intake of 1000 or slightly more is quite easy to live on for certain people and indeed was a recognised reducing diet for many years.”


Suddenly all became clear, you cannot survive on a low carb-low fat diet and consume any calories, it’s a mathematical impossibility…………. isn’t it. Unless of course you are eating quite a few carbs and quite a bit of fat, or living on a starvation diet !

Thank you to the forum of fun member who sent us all the posts regarding the debate over the last few days, (including the deleted) we will be publishing them in the near future, they make very interesting reading and I am sure we can all learn from them.


 
Eddie

Sunday 24 April 2011

Choppers back to post deletion and editing big time !

First a special thanks to the forum of flog member who sent us this post which was deleted by Canute the font of all knowledge earlier today. The new member Canuck has got Kenny the font in such a state he does not know whether to have a shit, shower or a hair cut. As is usual with the chump, he results to ridicule, help from the vultures and miscreants, or deletion of members post.

Part of a deleted post.

“Interesting forum. So far I have learned that you can do low-carb/low-fat after weight loss has stopped, something I hitherto thought was impossible since it defied the laws of physical chemistry. Also, that it is possible to sustain a stable weight on fewer calories than has ever been reported in the scientific literature, something only yogis sitting in caves in the Himalayans have heretofore claimed. Another fascinating idea - that the guidelines can be flaunted when it comes to carbs but not for fat.”

Canuck has wiped the floor with the chump, but the imbecile never knows when he is beat. Thank you Canuck, your a low carb star ! 


Latest from the font !

"We await your credentials after your holiday and before you can post again.......you should think about the way you conduct yourself before you come back. We have better things to do than spend the holiday weekend bandying words with you, whilst there are other more deserving Member's who need assistance.

Thank you for wasting everybody's time."

The Wonder Diet Mysteries Are Revealed !

I have often wondered, how a diabetic can low carb, and reduce fat, down to what many people would regard as a very low fat diet, and stay fit and active. With only three main food groups, proteins, fats and carbs, how do you reduce carbs to a low carb level, for me, that’s between 30 and 50 carbs per day i.e. around a tenth of what is considered normal, for a non diabetic, and reduce fats down to, let’s say half of the daily recommended 90 grams. Other than supplementing with a huge amount of protein. The answer appears to be starvation and minimal physical activity!

Reading various posts on the forum of fun, calorie levels reported range from “I can maintain my weight at 1000 calories per day” to “I do not eat anything like 2000 calories a day” and “I don’t normally count the calories as carbs are more important to me, but when I have done I was consuming less than 2000”
 
According to Dietitian, Julie Kellow BSc RD, the daily recommended calorie intake for 4-6 year old boy is 1715 and for a 7-10 year old boy 1970. So, how does an adult get by, and live an active life, on the above quoted calorie levels ?

Let’s take a look at energy expenditure.

About 70% of a human's total energy expenditure is due to the basal life processes within the organs of the body. About 20% of one's energy expenditure comes from physical activity and another 10% from thermo genesis or digestion of food. So, with 70% of energy being used just to stay alive and only 20% of ones energy available for physical activity, one has to ask the question. What levels of physical activities do low carb, low fat and low calorie diabetics participate in ?

Judging by the times, frequency and duration of some individuals on the forum of fun, and the minimal calorie intake, I deduce the total physical activity appears to be, the moving of a plastic mouse.



Eddie

Saturday 23 April 2011

Fat, Carbs and one hell of a lot of Bullshit !

As I have said recently I keep away from most diabetes forums these days. There is one I like to drop in on, if only for a larf ! When I see a thread re. fat or carbs, I will give anyone, good odds on a bet, who the posters will be. Almost without fail, the old vulture pack are giving someone a hard time. Very often, the posters who give me the most amusement, are the low carb-low fat brigade.

Some talk of a carb level of 30 carbs per day and very low fat. One person today, a low carber stated “I eat between 20 and 30 grams per day of fat“, i.e. 180 to 270 calories per day from fat. Let’s assume carbs at 50 grams per day, i.e. 200 calories per day, total so far, 470 calories. For a Woman that leaves a shortfall of 1530 calories per day and for a Man, a shortfall of 2030 calories per day. One high profile member, was stating not so long ago, he consumes 30 carbs per day, and again, consumed a very low fat content diet.

OK what have we got left to eat, protein, let’s have a look at protein, and the low fat, 30 carbs per day man. 30 grams of carb, 120 calories, 45 grams of fat (half the daily recommended) 405 calories, total calories 525, again a shortfall of close to 2000 calories. So back to protein.

Protein has 4 calories per gram, to get 2000 calories from protein we need to consume 500 grams from protein foods. If you are eating a low fat diet, double cream, cheese and eggs etc. are a no, no. So we are talking about meat and fish. So around 500 grams of meat and fish, is one hell of a lot of meat.
But it gets even more interesting. Why, because cooked beef and chicken contain over 50% water, and the last time I checked, water ain’t overly rich in calories. It seems to me to get 2000 calories net from meat etc. you would have one hell of a thick wallet, and the constitution of an ox. We are talking about a kilo of meat or fish per day for a net calorie count of 2000 calories.


Like I said, ya gotta larf.

Eddie


www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/Water_in_Meats/index.asp


 
“The amount of naturally occurring water, or moisture, present in meat and poultry may surprise consumers (see chart). An eye of round roast is 73% water before cooking. The same roast after roasting contains 65% water. A whole broiler-fryer contains 66% water before cooking and 60% afterwards.”

Friday 22 April 2011

Eat like Popeye !

One of the truly great foods re. healthy nutrients is spinach. Try some salmon served on a bed of creamy spinach and mascarpone cheese. Absolutely delicious and full of great nutrients !
Click on chart to enlarge. Please visit a great website.



Is Sugar Toxic ?

Two of the good guys, Gary Taubes on Robert Lustig.

Lustig is a specialist on paediatric hormone disorders and the leading expert in childhood obesity at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, which is one of the best medical schools in the country. He published his first paper on childhood obesity a dozen years ago, and he has been treating patients and doing research on the disorder ever since.

The viral success of his lecture, though, has little to do with Lustig’s impressive credentials and far more with the persuasive case he makes that sugar is a “toxin” or a “poison,” terms he uses together 13 times through the course of the lecture, in addition to the five references to sugar as merely “evil.” And by “sugar,” Lustig means not only the white granulated stuff that we put in coffee and sprinkle on cereal — technically known as sucrose — but also high-fructose corn syrup, which has already become without Lustig’s help what he calls “the most demonized additive known to man.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sugar-t.html

Tuesday 19 April 2011

Nobel Prize Awarded to Scientists for Nitric Oxide Discoveries

Nitric oxide was named "Molecule of the Year" in 1992 by the journal Science, but it took another 6 years for those responsible for the major discoveries surrounding it to win the Nobel Prize. Three US scientists—Robert F. Furchgott, PhD, Louis J. Ignarro, PhD, and Ferid Murad, MD, PhD—will receive the 1998 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine on December 10, 1998, in Stockholm, Sweden.

The discovery of nitric oxide's signaling role in the cardiovascular and nervous systems is now nearly 20 years old, but its clinical use is only beginning. Dr Furchgott, a distinguished professor of pharmacology at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Brooklyn, began the studies that led to the identification of nitric oxide as a biological agent in 1980. At that time, he was trying to reconcile the contradictory effects drugs had on blood vessels. He concluded that endothelial cells produce an unknown signal molecule that makes vascular smooth muscle cells relax. He called the signal molecule EDRF, or endothelium-derived relaxing factor.



On the forum of flog. The font asks, Just as a matter of interest.....what is this stuff for ? And from the Bonkers one, Just walk next to a main road for half an hour a day, you should be fine.

www.diabetes.co.uk/diabetes-forum/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=20763&p=188253#p188253

Quotes of the Century !

From the queen of misinformation.

“But there is lot of misinformation about my profession so i like to inform people!”

From the font of all knowledge regarding the above dietition.

"I agree 100% with Ally5555. She is a Dietician and knows what she is talking about."

From Ken, who usually does not have a clue what he is talking about.

Beam me up Scotty !

Featured great food of the week.

Several epidemiological studies have revealed that people who consume nuts regularly are less likely to suffer from coronary heart disease (CHD). Nuts were first linked to protection against CHD in 1993. Since then many clinical trials have found that consumption of various nuts such as almonds and walnuts can lower serum LDL cholesterol concentrations. Although nuts contain various substances thought to possess cardio protective effects, scientists believe that their Omega 3 fatty acids profile is at least in part responsible for the hypolipidemic response observed in clinical trials.



 

Monday 18 April 2011

Great posts from the past !

This post was made by a Doctor on a well known diabetes forum.
 
“I think there would be a lot less hostility towards you Ally if you actually gave constructive advice to people. Many diabetics have not had a positive relationship with NHS dieticians, myself included. A few have had their problems listened to and appropriately addressed and I hope the situation will continue to improve.

I have yet to see a post from you which is written with the aim of helping someone get better control of their diabetes or improve their nutritional state. So far I have simply seen one post after another of the "Do not try this at home variety." None of your negative comments regarding low carbing have been substantiated by scientific evidence. I am patiently waiting for your scientifically based expose of the errors of Dr Bernstein's method and Gary Taubes collection of evidence. All we have got so far is personal opinion.”

Three years on, I and many others, are still waiting for some positive constructive advice, from dietitions. Check out almost any forum re. posts regarding dietitions, and you will find the vast majority of diabetics, state their dietition was against low carbing. The same goes for most Doctors. At best a low carber will hear is “if it works for you stick with it” With the cut backs on non insulin type two medications, there will be a choice for many diabetics and healthcare professionals, Insulin or a drastic change in diet and lifestyle. Start buying shares in Insulin manufacturers, sales will be going through the roof !

Then again maybe not. If a type two is on Insulin the medics will have to start issuing one hell of a lot of test strips, and many know it can be easier getting blood from a stone. Interesting times ahead for sure.
Eddie

Sunday 17 April 2011

Great Grub !

This makes a great starter or maybe a main course. Hot Camembert and salad. Salad is ice burg lettuce, spring onions, cherry tomatoes, radishes, red pepper and mushroom. These camembert’s usually come with a jam sauce, junk it.



Eddie

Saturday 16 April 2011

Sister Scurvy Returns !

 
After a break, my nemesis’s Ally, aka sister scurvy returns. This is the dietition that three years ago was warning low carbers about the perils of scurvy, cancer, osteoporosis and worse. Also known as sportdiet, I will refrain from posting her address and phone number.

Never slow in spreading gloom to diabetics (she is a not a diabetic ) and after many requests to answer the question “ how do low carbers in control, keep non diabetic numbers without resulting to low carbing) has never had an answer, she slithers out of the woodwork, on an irregular basis.

This person, in my opinion, is a disgrace to the so called profession of dietitions. With the NHS cuts, it will benefit many no end, if she and her cohorts are soon joining the ranks of the unemployed, it can only improve the outcome of many diabetics.

Eddie

Friday 15 April 2011

Byetta and Victoza on PCOs’ drugs blacklists part 2.

For type two diabetics, drugs will never be the answer ! The very best reduce HbA1c by two points. In my case, almost 12 to 10. Lowcarbing took me to HbA1c in the 5's. Three years on, HbA1c still in the fives. Only diabetes drug, Metformin at a cost of pennies per day to the NHS. Metformin can reduce HbA1c by 1.5. Diet and exercise far exceed what type two drugs can achieve, full stop ! And no side effects !

Drugs on PCOs’ blacklists-

• Amlodipine and olmesartan
• Atorvastatin
• Diclofenac spray gels
• Escitalopram
• Esomeprazole
• Exenatide
• Glucosamine
• Grazax
• Indacaterol
• Intanza
• Liraglutide
• Oilatum
• Oxycodone and naloxone
• Prednisolone enteric-coated tablets
• Rosuvastatin
• Sitagliptin
• Tadalafil
• Vildagliptin

Source: Pulse FOI of 134 PCOs

A comment on the Pulse site.

"I heard on Radio 5 live that GSK chief reportedly told his shareholders '90 percent of our drugs does not have the desired effect on 70% of patients. Looking at my experience on the prescriptions forced upon me by relatively inexperienced doctors in secondary care, I would say this statement is true. It makes sense to blacklist quite a few drugs in the market."

 
 
www.pulsetoday.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=4129104&cid=Latest_headlines_1_120411&sp_rid=NzIzMjE0NDA2NAS2&sp_mid=36490539

Thursday 14 April 2011

Statins and Women !

 
“Concern about the absence of evidence of benefit for many women increases given the known adverse effects of statins and their widespread use, possibly resulting in billions of wasted healthcare dollars.

However, for some groups of reasonably healthy women, the concern may run deeper than the absence of benefit and wasted money. Some primary prevention clinical results raise the possibility of not only the absence of cardio protection, but also of increased cardiovascular risk for some women.”
 
www.futuremedicine.com/doi/full/10.2217/14796678.5.1.1

Wednesday 13 April 2011

Drug Companies: Rats leaving a sinking ship ?

With the drug black list reported in the Pulse magazine yesterday, and huge cutbacks being planned, it appears big Pharma knew the writing was on the wall some time ago. The reports below were reported in the media months ago. What is the message from big Pharma, if we can’t rip the NHS off on drug pricing, or you want proper safety tests and trials, we are off ?

With most of the type two diabetes drugs on the black list having minimal benefits, and side effects including Black Box cancer warnings, this may well turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Low carb is of course the answer, it was a hundred years ago and it is today. With the money saved from black listed drugs, maybe the money could be spent on re-educating dietitions and others involved with diabetic dietary advice.

“The pharmaceutical firms Novartis and Roche have threatened to pull out of Britain and relocate thousands of jobs abroad, in an ongoing row over pricing for the NHS and rules surrounding safety trials.”

“The government's plans to rebuild the economy around key hi-tech industries suffered a blow after the drugs maker Pfizer closed its only research and development facility in the UK .The factory in Sandwich, which developed the impotence drug Viagra, will close with the loss of 2,400 jobs, leaving an area of deprivation on the Kent coast with few remaining private sector jobs.”

“The Swiss drug companies made their threats known in personal meetings with a government minister, according to Whitehall documents seen by the Guardian.”

“The documents also make clear that cabinet ministers have been conducting a vigorous charm offensive to prevent multinational drug companies leaving Britain. Novartis employs 3,500 people in Britain at nine sites while Roche has 1,500 workers in this country.”
 
Source The Guardian

Tuesday 12 April 2011

Byetta and Victoza on PCOs’ drugs blacklists !

GPs face bans on high-cost drugs.
 
“PCOs are redrawing formularies in changes they estimate will slice £250m from this year’s drug budget. Responses from 134 PCOs under the Freedom of Information Act show that more than half have blacklists of drugs – in some trusts of more than 100 – that GPs are banned from prescribing.
Some 73 PCOs said they had added drugs to blacklists or placed additional restrictions on prescribing in primary care in the past year, as they strive to make average estimated savings in 2011/12 of £1.9m each.”


“Other trusts are encouraging GPs to explore ways of avoiding prescriptions altogether, by recommending weight loss and nutrition advice or relying on non-medical prescribing.”

Looks like some common sense is on it’s way. With most type two diabetic drugs doing more for big pharma’s profits than for patients health, low carb will not only improve many diabetic outcomes, it will save the NHS a fortune.

www.pulsetoday.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=4129104&cid=Latest_headlines_1_120411&sp_rid=NzIzMjE0NDA2NAS2&sp_mid=36490539

Some people are just plain Bonkers !

 
These days I try to keep away from diabetes forums. Some are great and do a good job, others are dominated by a small group of nothing better to do monitor cronies. The trouble is they are like car crashes, you know looking at them will do you no good, but it’s hard to look away. This comment made me sit up this morning.

“I have two kids living at home who are 20 and 16 we have a cupboard full of biscuits and cakes, white bread in the bread bin and ice cream in the freezer just because I am diabetic and should not eat these things does not mean it should impact on other peoples lives, that’s just being selfish IMHO”

Well, as someone who has seen relatives succumb to type two diabetes complications, and has a type two diabetic son, we know diabetes can be hereditary. We are doing our best to ensure our grand children escape the family curse. If you are a type two diabetic, I suggest you do not fill your cupboards with cakes, biscuits and white bread, and that is not being selfish IMHO. You may just stop a relation from becoming a diabetic.

Eddie

The best natural sources of Vitamin D

Most of our Vitamin D comes from sunlight on our skin, it forms under the skin in reaction to light. While the best source is summer sunlight, Vitamin D is also found in a small number of foods.

Cod liver oil 1,360 units per standard serving
Salmon 360 units
Mackerel 345 units
Tuna fish 200 units
Sardines 250 units
Milk 98 units
Margarine 60 units
Cereals 40 units
Eggs 20 units (per egg)
Beef liver 15 units
Swiss cheese 12 units

Just keep away from Margarine and cereals !

Source: US Food and Drug Administration. Adults are recommended to consume 400 units of Vitamin D a day.

Saturday 9 April 2011

Arsenic and toxic metals found in baby foods !

 
The products tested by the researchers were made by major baby food manufacturers including Organix, Hipp, Nestle and Holle - some of which are available in British supermarkets.

Researchers found feeding infants twice a day on the shop-bought baby foods such as rice porridge can increase their exposure to arsenic by up to fifty times when compared to breast feeding alone.
Exposure to other toxic metals such as cadmium, which is known to cause neurological and kidney damage, increased by up to 150 times in some of the foods tested by Swedish scientists, while lead increased by up to eight times.

Trust the big food companies, good luck ! They will kill anyone for profit !

www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8440126/Arsenic-and-toxic-metals-found-in-baby-foods.html

Eddie

Friday 8 April 2011

Sulphonylureas raise mortality risk in diabetes, compared with Metformin !

Dr Brian Karet, a GP in Bradford and RCGP national lead for diabetes, said: ‘This is a reminder that Sulphonylureas are not safe drugs. There has been a feeling for some time that they are safe, but they are not. The trouble for GPs is that – with the exception of Metformin – the alternatives are just as risky and do not have good outcomes data.’

Other than Metformin. Almost all type two diabetes drugs have serious downsides. Consider the fact that nothing comes close to a lowcarb diet and regular exercise for the control of type two diabetes. If you think drugs are the answer, you are probably on too many drugs.

www.pulsetoday.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=4129082&cid=Latest_headlines_2_080411&sp_rid=NzIzMjE0NDA2NAS2&sp_mid=36477203

Sunday 3 April 2011

Yanni "Prelude & Nostalgia"

OK I’m back on the music theme. Check this out, some Armenian music brought up to date.
Stunning !


A few years ago I brought a Duduk, it was hand made by the worlds best maker, it sounded like a cat being strangled in my hands. A Steinway does not make a pianist eh !

www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7d-G1Q8neg


Check this out, if it does not move you, check your pulse.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozG62dXyTzo&feature=related

Eddie

More Frankenstein food, GM baby milk.

"Professor Ning Li, the scientist who led the research and director of the State Key Laboratories for Agro Biotechnology at the China Agricultural University insisted that the GM milk would be as safe to drink as milk from ordinary dairy cows."

Safe, that’s what the boffins said about Fukushima ! Would you feed this to your child ?

 
www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/agriculture/geneticmodification/8423536/Genetically-modified-cows-produce-human-milk.html