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This raises again the question of the profile of the average person for whom nutrition recommendations are made, and the relevance of this profile for actual individuals with their own lifestyles. If nutrition advice can only give recommendations for average people and will ultimately be used by the entire population of a country (with people with all lifestyles), then why not look at what entire countries with long living people eat on average? The answer is that there are many factors involved, not only diet. For example, in 2020, India was the country with the lowest meat consumption in the world, which made it the largest vegetarian experiment in the world. Yet, the average life expectancy of its people is well below the others, and, worse, its death rates from heart disease and stroke were the highest. What's more, Greece, one of the homes of the Mediterranean diet, claimed by some to be plant-based, was eating an astounding 8 times more meat than India, and was living 11 years more. But that's the whole point: diet is just one of the factors, clearly not the most important one, and a diet (plant-based in the case of India) can't in any way compensate the other factors. That's how little life expectancy is affected by diet, on average (and with limited ultra processed food), compared to the other factors, factors that we don't really know. Reality, at population level, involves all those factors, so anyone who is interested in being a part of a long lived population should eat and do what a long lived population eats and does. Why give nutrition recommendations based on imperfect nutrition studies with conflicting results, which look at foods in isolation, ignoring all other factors, therefore ignoring real life? Why not just remove the clear toxins from food and then live life like the average long lived populations? Nutrition studies should look at national statistics to see what foods countries consume, compare the countries and extract the common elements that show up in long lived populations, and those that show up in short lived populations, while considering the effects of other factors (because different countries have different living conditions and medical care).
The DEMO dietThe word DEMO is short for "DEMOnstration". The DEMO diet is a diet that you can experiment with and personalize. The diet is largely permissive and can be followed in the long term. You can avoid eating some of the listed foods, or you can eat other foods. The goal of the diet is to provide you with information about various generally healthy foods that can be combined based on your needs and preferences. Try to avoid optimizing your diet for just one or two types of food because even if a type of food fixes a problem you have, it may cause another one if it's not balanced by other types of food. Main advice to follow:
In the sections below you can find details about meat, vegetables and fruits, olive oil, hemp, eggs, fermented dairy, chocolate, nuts, and more. In the top countries with the highest life expectancy, above, we can see the maximum amount of food consumed per person per day: meat - 550 g (Hong Kong), eggs - 67 g (Hong Kong), cheese - 77 g (Denmark), vegetables - 520 g (South Korea). Red meat (pork, beaf, sheep, goat): Hong Kong - 216 g, Australia - 196 g. From the top half countries with the highest life expectancy, above, we can calculate the average amount of food consumed per person per day: meat - 346 g, eggs - 36 g, cheese - 45 g, vegetables - 286 g. Eggs and fermented dairy are the most complex foods that animals can provide for a long time, unlike meat. These foods have a lot of calories, proteins, fats and vitamins, and their essential aminoacids balance is on par with that of meat (see this for the essential aminoacids balance). Eggs are more cost effective than fermented dairy, per gram of protein, and are much simpler to understand than fermented dairy. The downside is that eggs require cooking (so time and energy). Fermented cheese is much more practical than fermented dairy drinks (like kefir) because it's more compact per calorie, and doesn't require a bottle. Also, fermented cheese will bring in the diet a fraction of the sugar that fermented dairy drinks bring, not because the drinks bring in a lot of sugar, but because fermented cheese barely has any sugar. Meat isn't required because eggs and fermented dairy can provide all the needed proteins, and much of the needed calories and other nutrients. Meat is more cost effective than aged cheese, per gram of protein. The downside is that meat requires cooking (so time and energy). People who are allergic to either eggs or dairy can exclude them.
Limit ultra processed foodLimit ultra processed food (= the kind made mostly in a factory) as much as possible. Ultra processed food is the kind of food made from multiple components, usually in a factory, usually containing preservatives (other than salt), and is designed to be ultra palatable, meaning that people have to make a massive mental effort to stop eating it. Ultra processed food can be made in a family kitchen, like deserts. Ultra processed food should be avoided because:
Refined carbohydrates (like sugar, flour, cereals). Refined fats (like oils, lard, butter, melted cheese). Even if they were safe to eat, at the very least you don't need the extra calories. Using a tablespoon or two of refined fats for frying food is fine. Sauces. They are mostly made with refined fats and sugar. Combining a lot of fats with a lot of carbohydrates (especially sugar) during the same meal. Such a combination isn't usually present in natural food (nuts are an exception), it's present only in processed food, whether made in a kitchen or in a factory. This combination makes people overeat. Also, the body uses carbohydrates before fats as fuel to produce energy, so, if you eat this way often, the fats may end up being stored long term. Smoked meat. Ultra processed meats, like ham and salami.
Limit sugarLimit sugar as much as possible. The need to eat sweets shows that you're not eating proper food, so your body isn't getting the nutrients it needs, and wants more nutrients. Instead of giving your body proper food, you give it sugar, which feels good and numbs your cravings for nutrients, but doesn't satisfy the nutrient deficiency. Sugar has the same negative health effects, regardless of its source: it makes you want to eat more, produces inflammation (bad bacteria grows by eating sugar), and may create mental fog. Prefer sugar in hard form over soft form, so limit more strictly the sugar in drinks and creams (like chocolate filling). Very low sugar foods like meat, eggs, cheese, nuts and most vegetables bring in only a few grams of sugar. Fruits and sweets bring in large amounts of sugar. Fresh fruits are fine to eat, to some extent, because, while the effects of sugar are the same in the short term, fruits have long term health benefits because of their vitamins, minerals, acids and other nutrients. The fiber from fruits makes fruits satiating and slows down the sugar absorption. Together, these things counterbalance the negative effects of sugar in the long term. Foods that are not fresh fruits: fresh fruit juice, dried fruits. Still, keep in mind that vegetables have the benefits of fruits without the negatives of sugar. Sugar content of fresh fruits: raspberries 3%, strawberries 5%, blackberries 5%, watermelon 6%, grapefruit 7%, sour cherries 8%, nectarines 8%, peaches 8%, oranges 9%, kiwi 9%, blueberries 9%, pears 10%, plums 10%, pineapple 11%, apples 12%, bananas 12%, sweet cherries 13%, mandarins 13%, mangos 14%. Bananas should be eaten when green, not yellow. Frozen fruits may have more sugar than the fresh ones. If you eat deserts, try to limit yourself to only deserts which contain less than 25% sugar. Sugar content of drinks: carrot juice 6%, beetroot juice 9%, orange juice 9%, Coca-Cola 11%, Pepsi 12%, apple juice 12%.
Meat
Land animalsEach 100 g (3.5 oz) of chicken breast contain 31 g of proteins, which is 62% of the daily recommended amount. To get all the daily recommended proteins you need 160 g / 5.6 oz of chicken breast, but you should get proteins from other foods as well. Examples: chicken, turkey. Chicken and turkey breast has proteins, but has no fats or carbohydrates, so it's not a good source of energy, which means that you have to add fats or carbohydrates to the meal. Prefer meat from pasture-raised animals (who spend their daytime outdoors and can eat naturally from the soil), then from free-range animals (who are allowed access outdoors).
Wild fishEach 100 g (3.5 oz) of wild fish contain 20...25 g of proteins, which is 40...50% of the daily recommended amount. To get all the daily recommended proteins you need 200...250 g / 7.1...8.8 oz of wild fish, but you should get proteins from other foods as well. It's recommended to limit fish to maximum 400 g (14.1 oz) per week. Large fish, like tuna, should be limited more. Small fish, like sardines and herring, can be up to 200 g (7.1 oz) per day. Fresh wild fish: sardine, herring, mackerel (not king), salmon, cod. Fresh can mean refrigerated or frozen. Canned small wild fish: sardine, herring, mackerel (not king).
Farmed fish should generally be avoided:
Vegetables and fruitsFresh or frozen vegetables provide fiber which slows down the absorption of refined carbohydrates (like sugar) and refined fats (like oils, lard, butter, melted cheese), and provide various essential nutrients. Canned vegetables are fine if you throw away any fluid they contain (which is likely to contain sugar and particles from the material of the can) and rinse the content / vegetables with water. I've seen beans canned in water vapors. Foods that are not fresh vegetables: fresh juice (from either vegetables or fruits), fresh fruits, fries. Vegetables should be well cooked. Vitamin C is destroyed by heat, in time, so by cooking. Edible hemp is a great vegetal source of proteins whose essential aminoacids rival meat in terms of balance, and lacks the famous hallucinogenic component. Red kidney beans, chickpeas and lentils are good enough vegetal sources of proteins. They are close to each other in terms of amount of proteins, so you can mix them in any way you want. See this for the essential aminoacids balance of beans. Each 100 g (3.5 oz) of beans (like red kidney beans, chickpeas and lentils) contain 9 g of proteins, which is 18% of the daily recommended amount. Canned beans show less on the label. To get all the daily recommended proteins you need 560 g / 19.8 oz of beans, but you should get proteins from other foods as well. Only about 80% of the proteins from beans are absorbed by the body, so the shown amount has to be increased with 25%, which means 840 g / 29.6 oz. Beans (like red kidney beans, chickpeas and lentils) are low in methionine (an essential amino acid), but the above amount contains all the required methionine. Methionine can be easily obtained from a small amount of some vegetal sources: Brazil nuts (30 g /1 oz), hemp seeds (40 g / 1.4 oz), sunflower seeds (70 g / 2.5 oz). In order for vegetables to be satiating, and for fruits to be satiating and satisfying, a large amount of them has to be eaten, which means ingesting a lot of fiber and sugar, both of which cause gas. Eating a significant amount of vegetables (like beans) or fruits (like 1 kg / 2.2 lbs of oranges) in the evening or night may cause a restless and unsatisfactory sleep because their water has to be eliminated, and because their fiber and sugar may cause bloating and gas during digestion, which happens several hours after they are eaten (so during the night) since the fiber slows down their digestion. The body may be in tension all night, and one effect of this may be involuntary teeth gnashing. The next morning, the abdominal area may feel battered because of all the digestive effort. The intensity of these effects varies based on the type of vegetables and fruits. Despite their disadvantages, vegetables and fruits, have long term health benefits because of their vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. The only reason why people eat fruits is because their sugar makes them feel satisfying. If fruits had no sugar, they would be (treated as) vegetables. Many fruits contain acids which get into every crack in the teeth and cause pain when the teeth are brushed. There are types of (expensive) oranges and mandarins that lack the aggressive acids that most oranges and mandarins have. You should wash vegetables and fruits according to this.
Fermented vegetables and fruitsVegetables and fruits must be fermented in water with salt. Things which destroy (most of) the fermentation bacteria: vinegar, acetic acid, heat, pasteurization, desalting. Most commercial canned vegetables and fruits are canned with vinegar, and very few bacteria survive such an acidic environment. Pickled food is very likely to not contain fermentation bacteria, because of the vinegar or because they are pasteurized. However, pickles in vinegar bring acidity in the digestive system, and this acidity may be very useful. Examples of fermented vegetables: sauerkraut (= fermented cabbage), kimchi.
PicklesDuring my experience with inflammation, one interesting realization was the effect of pickles on health. Fats and proteins have no significant acidifying or alkalinizing effect in the body. However, bile and pancreatic fluid neutralize stomach acids, so too much could cause alkalinization, and a lot of them are required to digest fat. More information about the acidity balance can be found here. The paper mentions that some foods, like dairy products, some types of nuts (like almonds) and most vegetables, which were causing me problems, have an alkaline effect. Other foods, like meat, eggs, rice and pasta, which were causing me little to no problems, have an acidic effect. During my experimentation, I found out that eating pasteurized pickles made in vinegar made the mental fog disappear quickly, and virtually completely for many hours. However, I had to eat 360 g / 12.7 of (solid mass) pickled cucumbers. That's a lot of vinegar. However, after two weeks, it seemed that the acid didn't solve the problem but forced the bacteria to move downward instead of upward, because some mental fog and the leakage returned, and I started getting bloated and I was retaining a lot of water. Eating a large amount of pickles for a long time may create other problems because it's too aggressive with the microbiota (like acidifying the digestive system too much), so a "pickle diet" isn't meant to be followed for a long time. For me, eating a jar of pickles per day started to cause mental fog after about 2 weeks, so I had to significantly reduce the amount. Nevertheless, pickles did have a very interesting positive effect. Fiber, especially from beans, was causing writhing in my digestive system, and gas, but didn't increase the bulk of the output, as it's commonly thought, and didn't improve the easiness. In fact, it reduced the ouput as if the body was excessively trying to process it until not much was left. However, eating pickles did cause a massive improvement in the output's bulk, lack of stickiness (oranges, for example, create a lot of stickiness) and easiness. Not all pickles are the same. If they don't taste sour, but taste rather bland or sweetish, they aren't good because there isn't enough vinegar or there is too much sugar. The sugar content should be under 3%. The pickles were made in vinegar, not in water and salt, meaning that the (acetic) acid from the vinegar was important, not more bacteria (found in pickles made in salty water). Also, the pickles were eaten together with the food, so they mixed with the food. Drinking vinegar (1 or 2 tablespoons in a glass with water, per meal) didn't work, likely because the vinegar isn't mixed with the food, so it doesn't stay with the food in the same part of the digestive system. Also, high quality vinegar is fermented and unpasteurized, so its bacteria can increase the imbalance of the intestinal microbiota. There are food supplements with acetic acid in a powder form. The daily dose should be about 1'000...2'000 mg. Such pills didn’t seem to work for me. Either the brand that I was taking didn't contain enough active substance (despite of what was on the label), or the pickles have something else that matters.
HempEdible hemp is a great vegetal source of proteins whose essential aminoacids rival meat in terms of balance, and lacks the famous hallucinogenic component. See this for the essential aminoacids balance. Hemp powder can and must be obtained through cold pressing / crushing. This is why hemp powder doesn't need to contain all the chemicals and sweeteners that other protein powders have. Hemp seeds taste a bit like sunflower seeds, whereas hemp powder (made by the same manufacturer) tastes more like dirt. Each 100 g (3.5 oz) of hemp seeds contain 32 g of proteins, which is 63% of the daily recommended amount. To get all the daily recommended proteins you need 160 g / 5.6 oz of hemp seeds, but you should get proteins from other foods as well. Each 100 g (3.5 oz) of hemp powder contain 50 g of proteins, which is 100% of the daily recommended amount.
EggsThe essential aminoacids balance of eggs is on par with that of meat. See this for the essential aminoacids balance. Each 100 g (3.5 oz) of eggs (scrambled) contain 10 g of proteins, which is 20% of the daily recommended amount, and 11 % fat (which includes the fat, likely butter, considering the shown amount of sugar / lactose). To get all the daily recommended proteins you need 500 g / 17.6 oz / 7 large eggs, but you should get proteins from other foods as well. Eggs can provide the same amount of proteins as meat (like chicken breast), at the same price and quality. To get the same amount of proteins, the amount of eggs has to be twice the amount of meat. Eggs also have fat, which means that they also provide energy in the same price, while chicken breast can't because it has only proteins. It's much easier to find top quality eggs (than top quality chicken meat) because the producers prefer to keep the chickens that make them, to make many eggs for a long time. Prefer eggs from pasture-raised chickens (who spend their daytime outdoors and can eat naturally from the soil), then from free-range chickens (who are allowed access outdoors). In many countries there is a legally mandated labeling of the egg quality, label which indicates how the chickens (who made the eggs) were raised. The label may be some sort of keyword, category or code. Generally speaking, eggs from pasture-raised chickens have the best quality, then from free-range chickens; you should avoid other types of eggs. Where I live, the label which identifies the top quality eggs requires the chickens to be pasture-raised and to be fed organic food (ignoring what the chickens eat from the soil outside). Be careful with eggs which are labeled "organic" / "bio" because these words may not mean what you think they mean, which is the highest quality, but may mean that the food of the chickens was organic, yet the chickens may have been raised in abject conditions. Always look for the legally mandated label of quality. Labels like "omega 3" and "deep yellow yolk" don't say anything about the quality of the eggs. Observational studies (which are low quality) have propagated the idea that eggs aren't healthy because they contain cholesterol. However, randomized control studies (which are high quality) have shown that eating up to 3 eggs per day has neutral or positive effects on blood cholesterol (source, in people with diabetes). No studies were made with more eggs per day. Eggs can be cooked sunny-side-up, in extra virgin olive oil (1 or 2 tablespoons), with the yolk structure having a soft to medium hardness. They can also be made scrambled, which is useful when you want to mix other ingredients in the eggs. You can add fermented cheese over the eggs. Some cheeses, like white hard cheese, don't melt.
Fermented dairyThe essential aminoacids balance of milk and fermented dairy products (like cheese and kefir) is on par with that of meat; see this for the essential aminoacids balance. Dairy products aren't good for people who are allergic to lactose, casein or histamines because dairy is generally high in them. Fermented dairy is satiating without creating a feeling fullness and slowness in the stomach, and produces no gas, no bloating, no stomach cramps. Dairy products, especially fermented ones (and even more, the moulded cheeses), are associated with a neutral or beneficial effect on health, despite their high saturated fat content. Milk and butter appear to be exceptions. Fermented dairy products, and fermented foods in general, are generally healthy because they bring into the digestive system bacteria which produces short-chain fatty acids (which are healthy), bacteria which is beneficial for humans. The fermentation bacteria isn't required to be alive when the food is eaten because the food may already contain a significant amount of short-chain fatty acids. Fiber (from vegetables and fruits) ferments in the digestive system and also produces short-chain fatty acids, but at the cost of creating gas. The only dairy product which appears to be fine to be consumed daily in a significant amount is cheese which is aged (at least a month). Cheese which is aged less than a month, and kefir, can be fine to a more limited extent. In Denmark, a country with one of the highest consumption of cheese, the average consumption of cheese per person per day is 77 g / 2.7 oz, while in France it's 72 g / 2.5 oz. Any other dairy product, especially unfermented dairy products, like milk and butter, should be limited. If you do drink milk, try goat milk because its after taste feels much lighter than that of cow milk, as if it has much less sugar (but doesn't). Introducing air into cheese and (sour) cream, through whipping, and making their fat become even more easily absorbed by the body, seems to make them cause a dramatically negative health effect. It's not possible to look at a certain product and know whether it contains beneficial fermentation bacteria or byproducts, which is why the desirable products are labeled in a special way which indicates their link to fermentation. Because fermentation is a complex process with a variable degree of fermentation, the labeling varies and isn't easy to understand. A dairy product which is labeled to contain "lactic cultures" or "lactic acid starter (cultures)", like non-aged cheeses and sour cream, has something which is needed to start the fermentation process, but says nothing about whether the bacteria is still alive or whether the fermentation process did actually happen (and to what degree). Note that "lactic acid" is a byproduct of the fermentation started by "lactic acid starter (cultures)". Such dairy products should be monitored if you eat them regularly in large amounts. The taste of fermented dairy products usually varies based on how long / strong the fermentation was. Sourness varies the most, but some products can taste bitter, and some can taste spicy. If you don't like the taste of the products which are strongly fermented, you can find products which are only slightly fermented. You can also eat them together with foods whose taste balances the taste of the fermented products, like red / yellow bell peppers. I've seen sheep cheese which was aged for 6 months, yet it was soft and its taste was similar to that of non-aged cheese and lacked any spiciness. Prefer fermented dairy products made from goat or sheep milk over those made from cow milk. Goat and sheep cheeses have more short-chain fatty acids than cow cheeses, about 60% more. Many cows produce an inflammatory protein called A1 beta-casein (and it's nearly impossible to know if you eat that), while goats and sheep don't. In the case of the dairy products made from raw milk, compared to those made from pasteurized milk, the manufacturing process is stricter to avoid bad bacteria, so the products are more expensive (and cheese is usually aged for many months). Lactic acid starter (cultures) are added after the milk is pasteurized, so the fermentation will occur whether the milk was raw or pasteurized. Raw milk has more bacteria which can benefit the intestinal microbiota, but it can also cause issues in some people because it's wild bacteria (unlike the controlled fermentation bacteria). There are 3 main types of pasteurization (a higher temperature destroys more bacteria):
The only ingredients in dairy products should be: milk, whey, salt, and lactic acid starter (cultures). A coagulant (like animal or microbial rennet) may be present in cheese. Avoid products which contain additives, preservatives, thickeners, emulsifiers, stabilizers (like xanthan gum, carageenan, guar gum, carob bean gum), sweeteners, which, at the very least, may cause gas and have a laxative effect. Milk, butter and cream are not (usually) fermented dairy products. The desirable products are labeled in a special way which indicates their link to fermentation. Do not eat the low fat versions of fermented dairy products. A dairy substitute product is not a dairy product.
WarningsDairy products, fermented or not, are not healthy for people who are allergic to lactose or casein. Fermentation reduces the amount of lactose from milk. Eating a lot of unfermented dairy products (like unfermented cheese, milk, butter, cream), or not fermented enough, especially when mixed with sugar, may cause a slight pain in the chest (= angina), or a heaviness in the chest (which feels like something makes the heart activity more difficult), or just tingling in the chest. If this happens once you start eating a lot of dairy products, change their type and make sure they are fermented. Other factors, like sugar (whether in fruits or deserts) and stress, can cause the same health issues. When I was eating a lot of cheese, the angina vanished. Some fermented dairy products can cause too much fermentation in the digestive system, which can be felt as inflammation (in the digestive system). If this happens to you then change the product (even if it's only for a few days). Heating or melting fermented dairy products makes the fats easier to absorb and destroys the fermentation bacteria (because of the high heat). Consumption of such products should be limited. Avoid eating dairy products together with vegetables or fruits, because they can cause digestive problems. Separate them by at least 8 hours. Cheese with vegetables is fine. Some deserts with dairy and fruits are fine. Be careful with dairy products made with milk from cows that are raised in an accelerated manner. In the USA cows are raised even 3 times faster than in Italy. If a child were to reach adulthood (18 years old) in just 6 years, you would surely think that such a child can't be healthy.
Fermented cheeseEach 100 g (3.5 oz) of cheese (cheddar or similar) contain 23 g of proteins, which is 46% of the daily recommended amount. To get all the daily recommended proteins you need 220 g / 7.8 oz of cheese, but you should get proteins from other foods as well. The fat content should be 25...35%. The protein content should be 15...25%; yellow cheese usually has 25%, while white cheese usually has 15%. Salt should be maximum 2.5%; you can find good cheese with up to 4%, but that's quite salty. Sugar should generally be maximum 0.5%, but can be maximum 1%. Not all cheeses are fermented. Fermented cheese is labeled "aged", "matured", "stagionato" or "vieilli", depending on the country and language. Prefer cheese which is aged at least one month over cheese which is aged less than a month (or without a specified period); in extreme cases, cheese is fermented / aged for years. Be careful with cheese which is labeled "fresh", "fresco" or "cream". Buyers are tempted to buy it because they think that fresh cheese is healthier than old / aged cheese, but the reality is the other way around. Fresh cheese has no link to fermentation. Still, you can enjoy it occasionally.
Fermented dairy drinksExamples of fermented dairy drinks: kefir. The fat content should generally be around 3.5%, but can be 3...5%. The protein content should be about the same as the fat content. Sugar must be maximum 4%. Salt should be almost 0%. The sugar content shown on the label is from before the fermentation started. If a fermented dairy drink gets more sour as time passes, it means that the fermentation continues and the sugar content decreases. This extra sourness is an indication that it's better to consume fermented dairy drinks which are one or two weeks old rather than freshly made ones; they usually have a shelf life of about 30 days. Fermented dairy drinks must be sold in solid glass or plastic bottles, with a solid sealed cap, in order to withstand the pressure of the fermentation gas. Fermented dairy drinks must release gas (= fizz) when the cap is unsealed, in order to prove that the fermentation did work at some point. If the fermentation bacteria is still alive, more gas will be released when the (half empty) bottle is opened in subsequent days. Yogurts which are sold in a cup will likely not fizz when unsealed, which means that they either haven't been through fermentation, or the fermentation bacteria isn't alive anymore (so the yogurt isn't useful for the body). Prefer kefir over yogurt because kefir has, traditionally, a wider diversity of beneficial bacteria.
Fermented sour creamThe fat content should be 15...20% fat. Sugar must be maximum 4% sugar, but some products have as low as 2.5% sugar. Salt should be almost 0%. Fermented sour cream must be labeled to contain "lactic cultures" or "lactic acid starter (cultures)". Fermented sour cream must release a bit of gas (= fizz) when the cap is unsealed, in order to prove that the fermentation did work at some point. Fermented sour cream should be fine to be consumed occasionally.
Falsehoods about dairy
Dairy is inflammatoryPeople who are allergic to lactose, casein or histamines should not eat dairy. Many cows produce an inflammatory protein called A1 beta-casein, while goats and sheep don't. You may have heard some statistics claiming that 70% of people have some form of lactose intolerance. Oddly enough, the people who make this claim have to justify why Europeans don't seem to have this problem, so they claim that Europeans are an exception. But here's an important question: where do most North Americans come from? Europe. So, unless these people start claiming that genetics can change to this level in a few centuries, despite continued immigration during that time, the above statistic makes no sense. If pizza makes you bloated, it's more likely that it's because of the flour / gluten / wheat than because of the cheese. Carbohydrates, especially the refined ones (like flour) cause gas and bloating. Many dairy products have stabilizers (like xanthan gum, carageenan, guar gum, carob bean gum), which, at the very least, may cause gas and have a laxative effect. Analysis of studies shows that dairy products, especially fermented ones (and even more, the moulded cheeses), are associated with a neutral or beneficial effect on health. Milk and butter appear to be exceptions. It's possible that the dairy products made in certain countries are generally inflammatory, but that's not because of dairy as a category of food, but because of the way the animals which produce the milk are raised (= in an accelerated manner), and how the dairy products are processed (= not traditionally, but ultra processed with various additives, preservatives, thickeners, emulsifiers, stabilizers, sweeteners). In the USA cows are raised even 3 times faster than in Italy. If a child were to reach adulthood (18 years old) in just 6 years, you would surely think that such a child can't be healthy. Do you expect the milk of such cows to be healthy? Before you blame an entire food category for health issues, you should start asking how that food is being made.
Pasteurized dairy is a dead foodPasteurization is the process of heating raw milk in order to destroy the bacteria which is dangerous for people. However, pasteurization also destroys the bacteria which is good for people, bacteria which can add to the diversity of the intestinal microbiota. There are several types of pasteurization. The higher the pasteurization temperature is, the more bacteria is destroyed. In fermented dairy products (like cheese and kefir), lactic acid starter (cultures) are added after the milk is pasteurized in order to start the fermentation process. Analysis of studies shows that dairy products, especially fermented ones (and even more, the moulded cheeses), are associated with a neutral or beneficial effect on health. Milk and butter appear to be exceptions. Since these studies don't and can't (normally) analyze the food to know whether the dairy has live bacteria, and because commercial products are varied, it means that fermented dairy products are healthy regardless of the bacteria from raw milk being alive or not, and regardless of the fermentation bacteria being alive or not.
Dairy has a lot of unhealthy glutamateThis claim seems to be a new scheme for promoting a plant-based diet, since meat and dairy are bundled in the same claim. Looking at the data, we can see the aminoacids from various foods, and there we can see how much "glutamic acid" is in each food:
From this, we can see that beans do indeed have an amount of glutamic acid which is lower than that of meat and cheese. But this is the wrong parameter to look at. What you should look at is the total amount of food you eat. This is because the listed values are per 100 g / 3.5 oz of food. How much you should eat depends on what's the purpose of that food. The main reasons for eating food are to get all the necessary calories and proteins (especially the essential aminoacids). To get the essential aminoacids, the following amount of food is required: chicken breast or hemp seeds - 100 g / 3.5 oz, cheese - 150 g / 5.3 oz, milk - 900 g (31.7 oz), eggs - 300 g (10.6 oz), beans (red kidney beans, chickpeas and lentils) - 400...600 g (14.1...21.1 oz, the absorption rate of proteins from vegetables is about 80%). So, the amount of glutamic acid from chicken breast and hemp seeds doesn't have to be multiplied, from cheese has to be multiplied with 1.5, from milk has to be multiplied with 9, from eggs has to be multiplied with 3, from beans has to be multiplied with 4...6. This puts the amount of glutamic acid ingested from beans above meat and slightly above eggs and cheese. So, even if you believe that this isolated parameter is unhealthy, cheese is not worse than vegetables. In fact, chicken breast would be a better choice.
Olive oilOlive oil must be labeled "extra virgin" and "cold extracted" (or "cold pressed"). Olive oil should be made / packaged from olives / oil made from a single country, preferably even a single area from a country. Olive oil should have the production date on the bottle, and should be consumed within one year from that date; the expiration date from the label is not important. Commercial olive oil only shows the expiration date. Olive oil must be stored in dark-colored glass (or steel) bottles. Olive oil must be stored in a kitchen cabinet, away from heat and sunlight. Olive oil must not be stored in the refrigerator. Olive oil is naturally bitter / tangy and creates a slightly burning sensation in the throat (when drank plain). Olive oil has a lot of calories, about 910 kilocalories per 100 ml, so 1 tablespoon (about 15 ml) has about 140 kilocalories. Olive oil contains mostly monounsaturated fats.
ChocolateSome studies show that cacao is good for health, despite its very high amount of saturated fat. Cacao contains polyphenols which show anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-atherogenic (= reduces arterial plaque) activity in the body. Pure cacao contains theobromine, magnesium and tryptophan, and reduces blood pressure. Pure cacao contains no sugar (under 1%). If you like to eat chocolate, look for chocolate which:
Ultra processed cacao:
To get the healthy benefits of cacao, you can mix 1 tablespoon of cacao powder in your daily food (like a smoothie). However, pure cacao is very bitter. If you eat any other type of chocolate, eat it for its taste, don't expect it to improve your health.
Heavy metals and oxalateCacao contains contaminants, like heavy metals, specifically cadmium and lead. Contaminants are very slow to eliminate from the body. In some cases it takes decades for the level of contamination to be reduced to half, and in the meantime the contaminants have negative effects in the body. The reality is that the entire environment is contaminated with various elements that are toxic for human life. Tea (black and green) and coffee also contain contaminants, so you're not any better by avoiding only cacao. Unfortunately, these plants grow in exotic areas, in countries where such contamination is not a priority. It doesn't matter if the cacao, tea and coffee are organic or not because the contaminants come from the soil, water and air, not (necessarily) from pesticides. It's important to note that the total amount of ingested contaminants matters, not their mere presence, so the more cacao, tea and coffee you eat and drink, the more contaminants you ingest. Children should not be exposed to lead at all. A person's consumption of chocolate with at least 80% cacao should be maximum 30 grams (1 oz) per day. To benefit from the healthy properties of cacao you need less chocolate than this. Chocolate with less cacao contains proportionally less contaminants. See a list of contaminants in chocolate here. For coffee, you can see these studies: Specialty coffee beans and Instant coffee drinks. Cacao powder is very high in oxalate.
NutsNuts are generally healthy, but they are heavy on the digestive system and their satiation per calorie is low. Personally, I can eat 300 g (10.6 oz) of (lightly salted) peanuts in under 2 hours, which have almost all the calories that the average person needs in a day. If you eat nuts every day, limit them to one or two handfuls per day. A handful is 50 g (1.8 oz) for the average man. Nuts have high levels of oxalate, so you should limit them severely if you have kidney problems. Macadamia nuts are medium in oxalate. Pistachio nuts are also medium in oxalate, but cause thirst and gas. Almonds have a very high level of oxalate (11 times of what macadamia nuts have). You should mix several types of nuts (to eat at the same time) in a large bowl, and take a handful from there every day. To limit the potential negative effect of the oxalate, most nuts should be macadamia, pistachio, pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, cashews, pumpkin seeds. All the other types of nuts (including almonds and Brazil nuts) should together be a quarter or less from all the nuts in the bowl. Prefer nuts without peel / skin (= blanched) because the peel is unneeded fiber that makes the nuts taste bitter, create thirst, may create microcuts on the tongue (especially the peel of almonds), and may create gas. Eat nuts that are either baked or roasted without oil, or raw. Avoid nuts that have a lot of salt on them, since too much salt isn't healthy and creates microcuts on the tongue. If stored for a long period of time, nuts should be stored in a cool place, preferably in a refrigerator, in airtight containers. Almonds contain a substance called amygdalin that is toxic in a large amount; this is present in a massive amount in bitter almonds. For sweet / non-bitter almonds, the risky dose for the average adult is 500 g (17.5 oz) per day, but if you eat them daily, you want to stay as far as possible from this general limit. I've found that organic-labeled almonds are softer but contain a few bitter almonds.
WatermelonHow do you pick a good watermelon? The more of the following statements are true, the better the watermelon is:
All other indicators of ripeness are unreliable. You will find people who show you various signs of ripeness, but they don't cut open the watermelons that are supposedly bad, to compare the "good" with the "bad". I like to slap the watermelon (when it's on other watermelons), to feel the propagation of the vibration, and expect it to sound like a wood beam, but this is more a need to tell myself that I did everything that I could, than an indicator of ripeness. I've eaten very good watermelons that sounded dull (= the opposite of a wood beam). The best indicator of ripeness is the trust you have in the seller. The farmers and the sellers have more options at their disposal to check the ripeness, like knowing when they planted the watermelons and actually cutting them open and tasting them. Buy watermelons within their season, but avoid those brought from thousands of kilometers / miles away. As with all fresh products, you should buy them from the market, not from the supermarket. A green stem is an indication of a fresh watermelon, while a dried one is an indication of a potentially stale watermelon. Watermelons which sit for a few days in the sun at the market become soft inside, so you might want to buy them from shaded shops. The rule about the firm rind might not apply because the fiber inside gets soft faster than the rind, so the rind may be hard when the fiber is soft. Watermelons don't continue to ripe after they are harvested, but they do get softer inside as time goes by. A watermelon is good, perhaps, up to about two weeks after being harvested, unless they are kept in a cool place (which for most people is not available). Don't keep sliced watermelons in the refrigerator; keep them at room temperature, away from sunlight. When you slice them, cover the uneaten parts with plastic foil and put them in the refrigerator, but eat them within a few days. Don't simply accept the seller's advice. Always follow the rules! To slice watermelons, use a sharp, thin and rigid knife; the blade should be 20...25 cm (8...10 in) long. A pointy tip is useful in creating a starting spot for slicing, a safety measure. During watermelon season, I usually eat about 1.5 kg (3.3 pounds) of watermelon (without the rind) per session, which is 450 kilocalories, and 3 kg (6.6 pounds) per day (in two sessions that are several hours apart), which is 900 kilocalories. A thin rind has about 50% from the entire weight of the watermelon, a thick one has about 60%. So, to understand how much watermelon with rind I was eating, multiply the weights without the rind with 2.0...2.5. The amount of natural sugar in watermelon is 6...7%; it's not specified whether the rind is included in the weight. Watermelons contain mostly water, and a few liters / kilograms (for example, 4) of water a day can dilute your intestinal microbiota so much that it makes you sick. The sickness limit for me, discovered after a few days of overindulgence, is around 4 kg (8.8 pounds) of watermelon (without the rind), of average sweetness, in two sessions per day. If eaten in a single session, in under 60 minutes, the limit decreases even down to 3 kg (6.6 pounds). This limit appears to be because the water dilutes too much the intestinal microbiota, but appears to depend on how sweet the watermelon is (that is, the sweeter, the lower the limit).
AlluloseA possible replacement for table sugar is allulose, a sweetener that is usually made from corn (but can be made from other plants as well). Allulose is less sweet than sugar. Allulose doesn't increase blood sugar or insulin. Allulose has about 10 times fewer calories than sugar (for the same amount, to keep recipes unchanged). The amount of consumed allulose should be limited to 0.5 grams per kilogram (0.23 grams per pound) of body weight, per day; above this, it can upset the stomach. Allulose is much more expensive than sugar.
WaterAvoid bottled water because it can't be both of high quality and widely available. If your city's water supply is good to drink, put it through a basic water filtration system (which reduces impurities and chlorine, like a Brita jug) and drink that water rather than bottled water. If you need cleaner water, you can either filter it again through the filtration system (have two systems available), or boil it. Don't cover the water while it's boiling, so that whatever chemicals can evaporate, do evaporate. Let the water cool before drinking. Don't filter hot water because it would destroy the filter.
Mercury in fishGenerally, the smaller the fish is, the less mercury it contains. Fish which is low in mercury (starting with the lowest): sardine, salmon, trout (not saltwater), herring, mackerel (not king), cod, light or skipjack tuna. It's recommended to limit fish to maximum 400 g (14.1 oz) per week. Large fish, like tuna, should be limited more. Small fish, like sardines and herring, can be up to 200 g (7.1 oz) per day. This research indicates the maximum amount of fish that can be eaten by pregnant mothers daily, amount below which the fish has a beneficial or neutral effect in their children (these are the more restrictive values). Here is a study about the advantages and disadvantages of wild and farmed salmon, which includes data about mercury and other chemicals.
OxalateA high oxalate content in food can cause kidney stones and other health issues. The average adult who has kidney problems should limit the oxalate intake to 50 mg / day. The limit isn't clear for people who don't have kidney problems, but should be under 200 mg / day. Meat and dairy contain virtually no oxalate. Oxalate content in food: Nutritional Management of Kidney Stones, Wake Health, Oxalate in nuts, UCI Kidney Stone Center.
ConstipationIf you follow a very low fiber diet (= with little vegetables and fruits), your body will have little matter to eliminate, so the bowel movements will be small and possibly even more rare. This can be considered a form of constipation, but lacks any gas and bloating. This isn't a health concern, there is less matter to eliminate. The effect may be undesirable, but if the alternative is to eat fiber and have an inflammation (in the digestive system) which is a hundred times worse, then surely you would prefer to live with this kind of constipation rather than the inflammation. So, ask yourself why you're trying to optimize your diet for more output. If you want to eliminate more matter, eat more fiber from vegetables. Something which should work is to eat daily some vegetables which cause little to no gas: bell peppers, avocado (1 large avocado, when ripe / soft under the peel), potatoes. Beans (like kidney beans, chickpeas) create a lot of gas, which doesn't help with the constipation. If you still think that something isn't right then make sure that you drink enough water (listen to what your body is saying). For me, eating pickles in vinegar had a surprising beneficial effect.
MultivitaminsIt's actually cheaper to get the essential nutrients from multivitamins than from food because multivitamins are made either from the actual chemicals that form the essential nutrients, or from plants that are not normally used as food and are easier to grow than food is. However, since people have to eat, and since they can live well without having the extra amount of multivitamins, taking multivitamins may be an unnecessary cost. Fluorescent-yellow pee indicates that some component of the multivitamins that you are taking is being eliminated by the body because either it doesn't need it, or because it can't assimilate it. Usually, multivitamins contain this component in a dose much higher than the body needs because it is known that such a high dose has no negative effect, and is likely used as a simple way to see that the body does process (though not necessarily assimilates) the multivitamins. If you see any side effects, like itching skin or headaches (but which can even be as severe as blood loss), immediately stop taking the multivitamins. Your body is reacting to the specific recipe with which those multivitamins were made. Some people, including some physicians, might tell you that the yellow pee is proof that you are wasting money on multivitamins, but this shows that they misunderstand and misrepresent several factors: both food and multivitamin cost money, the recommended doses of vitamins and minerals can't be obtained from food by most people, multivitamins contain larger than recommended doses because the body absorbs what it needs, but only a part of the multivitamins are absorb by the body. There is in fact a trend of denigrating multivitamin supplementation. However, if you read such articles you can see that the people writing them, aside from trying to provoke emotions instead of explaining facts logically, imply that the people who take multivitamins do so in order to heal themselves of various diseases, a fact which is false (excluding what is told by the people who have a financial interest to say that they heal diseases). Nutrients, vitamins and minerals don't fight diseases, but taken in appropriate doses they give the immune system the resources with which to fight the body's enemies. That's it. So, while they may help the body avoid a cold, they will not work against disease X (unless the body's immune system can fight it with the extra resources). While multivitamins may prevent a cold, if a cold has (nearly) installed, it will continue its usual course, but the symptoms of the cold may be less severe (although the duration stays the same, even though it may seem shorter). So, why do some people who change their diet to vegetables think that these have cured their disease? It's not because of the magic nutrients from vegetables, it's because they have stopped eating whatever foods were poisoning their bodies before the change, or because some vitamin or mineral deficiency that they had was filled. These clarifications are not meant to be merely semantic, they are meant to limit any potential irrational enthusiasm regarding the healing potential of vegetables, multivitamins and "supernutrients". As for the ability of various vitamins to decrease the chances of cancer, there is no evidence that they do so with a significant relevance. In fact, vitamin E taken in a daily dose of 400 IU appears to increase the risk of prostate cancer by 17% (this increase represents an extra 1% of the total male population). The most popular multivitamin supplements contain less than this dose of vitamin E.
Should multivitamins be from a natural or artificial source?Generally, it doesn't matter because the essential nutrients are literally chemicals, not magical elements, so they can be precisely created in laboratories. More important are the absolute amount and ratios of the components, in what amount they are assimilated by the body, and what potentially toxic chemicals do the pills contain (chemicals which are used during manufacturing). When you decide which to take, go for the company that you trust most, and for the ones that you can afford.
Should I take breaks from taking multivitamins?It's generally recommended to do so, for example take multivitamins for 3 months then stop for a while, and so. The main claimed reason is that the body gets used to them and therefore they become less useful. I have not seen scientific evidence that this is necessary, or that the claimed reason is based on studies rather than mere precautions. Vitamins and minerals are chemicals that the body uses in its normal operation, like water, air and food. When things are put in this perspective, it sounds silly to say "stop eating because the body will get used to food or to the vitamins and minerals from it". Just as well, it sounds silly to say "stop taking multivitamins because the body will get used to them". However, it's important to note that multivitamins usually contain some elements which are in a dose far higher than the daily recommended dose. Studies have shown that they don't present a risk on the average population, but you can never know how your body will react to them on the long term. You also can't be sure how your kidneys will react while processing (for elimination) huge amounts of those vitamins and minerals. Then again, you also can't be sure how your kidneys will react while processing the calcium (/ limestone) from the water you drink. One way to follow precautions and still take multivitamins is to take a dose smaller than the daily recommended dose, like two thirds.
Should I eat foods with added multivitamins?You should avoid foods (including water and milk) which are specifically marketed as having added multivitamins and minerals, because you can't control their type and amount. There are studies which show that food fortification benefits people on the average, and people with a low income in particular. However, you can't know if you are part of that average, especially if you don't have a low income, so you can't know that you are indeed deficient with regards to those multivitamins and minerals. Multivitamin pills can be easily controlled, especially by not taking them, but you can't avoid the food that you want to eat (and is fortified). If you avoid fluoride water / milk / salt, brush your teeth with fluoride toothpaste.
Supplements
Omega 3 supplementsTake omega 3 supplements only if you don't eat fatty wild fish (like sardine, herring, salmon) regularly. Some fatty wild fish are rich in omega 3 (DHA and EPA). Examples (per 100 g / 3.5 oz of fish): sardine 1'000...1'400 mg, salmon 500...2'000 mg. Most farmed fish doesn't have omega 3 because it's fed with grains, whereas wild fish gets its omega 3 from oceanic algae. Some farmed fish is fed omega 3 supplements. If you don't eat fish which is rich in omega 3, you can take omega 3 supplements. Look for supplements in the form of capsules with krill oil (phospholipid form) or fish oil (triglyceride form). Check the label of the supplement for how much DHA and EPA is in a capsule; ignore the total content of the capsule because it contains other things as well. The combined daily dose for DHA and EPA should be 1'000...3'000 mg; for krill oil, the dose can go as low as 700 mg. If a capsule contains less than the minimum dose, you can take several capsules per day. Take this into consideration when you're evaluating whether a specific product is worth the price. It's unknown what the ratio of DHA to EPA should be, but the safe choice is when the lower of the two is at least half of the other one. Is generally considered that DHA is better for the brain. Take each capsule with a meal. If the supplement is in the form of ethyl ester (check the product label), the meal has to contain fat, else the omega 3 will not be absorbed well. The bioavailability of the omega 3 is not very different between fish and krill oil (source 1, source 2). A high temperature makes fish oil prone to oxidation, especially after the supplement is unsealed. Manufacturers usually specify to store the supplements below 20 Celsius (68 F), so a refrigerator is likely the best place. Omega 3 supplements are more useful for people who have a high level of triglycerides. Omega 3 supplements may make bleeding more likely, so avoid combining with blood thinning / coagulation medication. If you want to test your omega 3 blood level, wait at least 4 months after you start taking an omega 3 supplement.
Lutein and zeaxanthinPeople who work a lot in front of a computer display can benefit from a lutein and zeaxanthin supplement. A common daily dose is around 30 mg (total, could be 25 + 5 or 20 + 10). Take this supplement during a meal which contains fat, else the lutein and zeaxanthin will not be absorbed well. The marigold flower is a common source for the lutein and zeaxanthin used in supplements. Within two weeks of taking this supplement, you should see the white of your eyes becoming extremely white, and your eyesight should feel slightly improved and more resilient.
Washing fruits and vegetablesBefore you eat fruits and vegetables whose rind / peel can be removed, like oranges, wash them vigorously by hand. If you wash them with soap, the chemicals with which the food was sprayed will be easier to remove and will not be able to stick as much on your hands. Before you eat fruits and vegetables that you can't vigorously wash by hand, and whose rind / peel can't be removed, like berries and grapes, soak them in water. Get a bowl and pour (room-temperature) water in it, enough to contain the food without it being crowded. For example, for every 250 g (8.8 oz) of berries or grapes, you need (less than) 1 liter / quart of water. To better clean the food:
Put the food in the bowl and let it sit in the water for 10...15 minutes. Don't drop the food into a strainer because that would only move the dirt back, from the bottom of the bowl, over the food, and would leave all the dirt in the strainer's small holes (making it very difficult to clean). Take the food out of the bowl, with your hands, and rinse it with fresh water. Baking soda is similar to salt, so if it's left on the food it can cause dehydration of the tissue that it touches, like lips.
Elimination dietIf you have health issues, like an inflammation of the digestive system, mental fog, or dizziness right after you eat, it's possible that you have bad bacteria in your digestive system, bacteria which produces toxins when it eats (which is usually when you eat). In such a case, you can try, for a short time, an elimination diet, that is, a diet which is very limited in categories of food. Possible combinations: only meat, only meat and eggs, only meat and aged cheese, only meat and eggs and aged cheese, only vegetables and fruits. Keep in mind that eggs and dairy products are some of the major allergens; "major" doesn't refer to most people, but to most people who have allergies to food (who are a small part of the whole population). If you have a negative reaction to some foods or some combinations of food that you can't determine, it's likely specific to you, so the diet you should follow isn't necessarily either carnivore and vegan. You'll have to experiment. Start by eating just one category of food, for a few weeks. If you feel good, try to introduce other categories of food, but only one at a time in order to see which works for you, and which doesn't. You have to be ready for anything, including the bacteria's ability to adapt and use a different fuel, meaning that the foods that were fine for you at one time, might no longer be fine at a later time. If vegetal foods (like vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, beans, grains) cause you a negative reaction, you can still test if you can eat very well cooked vegetables (the mushy type), since the intense cooking may destroy whatever compounds are causing you problems. For example, canned beans may cause problems, but mashed potatoes could be fine. Vegetables, even when mushy, can add variety to your diet. Some vegetables which should not cause gas, that you could try are: bell peppers, avocado (1 large avocado, when ripe / soft under the peel), potatoes. Be sure to read my experience with inflammation.
Carnivore dietIf you eat a carnivore diet, do it only because it works for you, not because you believe that humans have evolved to be carnivores. You may hear some arguments in favor of the idea that humans have evolved to be carnivores. At least some of them have no basis in evolution:
Fiber doubtsThe microbiota has to be fed the food it needs to keep you healthy, but this food can vary from person to person, depending on the specific types of bacteria from the microbiota. Bad bacteria can be stimulated by various things and by any kind of food, including by the same foods that the good bacteria eat. The one thing that fiber does well is to slow down the absorption of various things, be they good or bad, or of good things which could have a negative effect if they were absorbed faster by the digestive system in the absence of fiber. There are some indications that the fibrous material which remains when you squeeze the juice out of vegetables and fruits (think of oranges), so the colloquial fiber, is more protective for the digestive system than the dietary fiber which is listed on food packages. As an aside, this fiber is missing from ultra processed food. The idea that fiber is food for the good bacteria is wide spread. But the question is: why wouldn't the bad bacteria also eat fiber? Maybe fiber can protect the digestive system before the bad bacteria gets in, but not after it's in. Maybe. Or maybe some types of bad bacteria can eat fiber, just like some types of good bacteria can do the same. But if you have digestive (or even general health) problems and you don't know which type of bacteria causes your problems, eating fiber to improve your health is only a coin toss. The same can be said about the idea that bad bacteria eat sugar. But why wouldn't the good bacteria also eat sugar? The answer is most likely the same: some types of bacteria eat sugar, be they good or bad bacteria, and unless you know which bacteria you have, choosing to eat or avoid sugar is a coin toss. Of course, you can base your decision on how you feel after you eat sugar, but that means that you have more information to base your decision on, not just on the statement that the bad bacteria eat sugar. There is also the issue of carnivores, be they human or other animals (like lions). How is their bacteria thriving? A possible answer is that they are adapted to the carnivore diet. But that means that it's possible for bacteria to thrive on various diets, in certain conditions. Perhaps not eating fiber makes carnivores sensitive to eating vegetables and fruits. But lions don't seem to care about being unable to eat vegetables and fruits. Personally, I am an omnivore and I like being able to eat various foods, so I don't have a reason to avoid eating fiber, vegetables and fruits, unless my digestive system rejects them. But I'm not convinced that fiber is required for a healthy life. I'm not convinced that we know what keeps the microbiota healthy. Maybe it's fiber, maybe it's some types of fiber, maybe it's something else that fiber happens to also affect (which means that other foods / lifestyle / things may also affect that). My experience with inflammation showed me that other things may be more important. The conclusion is that the nutrition advice which says "eat in this specific way" is a coin toss. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't. Without knowing the specifics of a person's lifestyle and digestive system, such advice is just a coin toss.
Quick mealsSmall fish. Ingredients: canned small wild fish (150...300 g / 5.3...10.6 oz). Optional: bell pepper (300 g / 10.6 oz), avocado (1 large avocado, when ripe / soft under the peel). The fish should be small wild fish like sardines, herring or mackerel, preferably canned in water / brine or extra virgin olive oil, without bones and skin. Eggs. Ingredients: eggs (up to 6 large chicken eggs / 400 g / 14.1 oz). Can be cooked sunny-side-up or scrambled, in extra virgin olive oil (1 or 2 tablespoons). Vegetables can be cooked first, then the eggs can be cooked over the vegetables, making scrambled eggs. I sometimes also add aged cheese (not melted). Vegetable smoothie. Blend several types of vegetables. Use a blender with a capacity of 1...2 liters; a chopper chops the vegetables in chunks, but can't make a smooth paste. A fluid, like water (or even oil), is required, as the blender won't blend without it; in the blender, the water should raise to about a third of the vegetables height. If you use fruits, they can be fresh or frozen.
Comments per foodOranges: Have both advantages and disadvantages, but their practicality makes them a good choice. Not good for people who avoid sugar and carbohydrates because they have 9% sugar, and 12% total carbohydrates. Have a long shelf life because of their peel (which makes oranges relatively cheap and available everywhere, at any time), can be easily eaten in a high amount, hydrate well (because of the water), don't have to be cooked, and can be easily washed (even with soap). When eaten in a high amount, oranges are a good source of fiber. Bell peppers: Very high in vitamin C. Green bell peppers have only about 70% of the vitamin C of the red / yellow bell peppers. The sweetness of red / yellow bell peppers can balance well salty cheese (like feta cheese). Green peas: Have about 6% fiber, 4% sugar, and 10% total carbohydrates. Are a good source of fiber. Avocados: Have 12% unsaturated fats, considered to be healthy. Not good for people who are allergic to histamines. Must be ripe, soft under the peel; the peel should not be bright, shinny green, but should be matte and should have slight brownish spots. Taste a bit like a hard boiled egg yolk. If they aren't ripe, they taste horrible and causes digestive discomfort. Unripe avocados can be bought and kept for a few days, in the kitchen, at room temperature, to ripen, but this makes them impractical. While avocado is a fruit, it has very little sugar and should be eaten as a vegetable. Avocado is expensive. Mushrooms: Have ergothioneine. Examples (ergothioneine in decreasing order): enoki, king oyster, pioppini, lion's mane, oyster, shiitake, maitake, beech, portobello. Potatoes: Should be baked or mashed (with extra virgin olive oil). Not good for people who avoid carbohydrates because they have 20% carbohydrates. Boiled potatoes, without skin, are low in fiber. Tea: Prefer green tea and chamomile tea. Warm chamomile tea may be relaxing enough to cause drowsiness at night, and facilitate sleep. Negative: Personally, I find that eating a lot of corn changes the smell to something similar to paint remover, which isn't normal.
What I eatI am an omnivore. I don't optimize my diet based on nutrition mechanisms, but on the effect of food over the long term. I eat virtually no red meat because I don't like its taste. There are ways to cook it so that it tastes good, but that's because its true taste is hidden, not because it turned good. I avoid foods which produce significant gas. Fiber and carbohydrates, especially the refined ones (like flour), cause all the gas. I particularly avoid vegetables which produce bloating, contractions and writhing of the digestive system (remember the feeling of fiber or refined carbohydrates being broken down). My experience with inflammation left me intolerant (but not allergic) to fats, regardless of type and source food, particularly to nuts and dairy. Fats cause (me) problems like: inflammation in the digestive system, mental fog, dizziness, a slight feeling of my brain being stretched and compressed, nausea. A lot of fats cause a feeling of a high temperature (not visible on a thermometer). My experience with inflammation forced me to mostly eat lean meat and fruits, in order to avoid fat. I strongly dislike the taste of alcohol, so I only occasionally drink wine, and then either frizzante (7% alcohol) or demi-sweet (because sugar balances the taste of alcohol). I never drank coffee because I strongly dislike its smell and taste. I take omega 3 supplements, unless I eat small wild fish (like sardines, herring, mackerel). Twice a year, in the spring and autumn, usually when a slight fog appears in the air, I used to catch a cold that would last about 2 weeks. For a few years it seemed that multivitamin supplements were able to keep away the cold, but they no longer seem to help. Instead, I drink warm tea (green tea, chamomile) every evening, after coming home from outside. The tea seems to be able to wash the throat of whatever virus is causing the cold, before the virus can latch on. However, the tea will have to go through a few years of testing until I can say for sure that it works. I try to avoid having snacks (= foods that can be readily eaten, without cooking) in the house because I would eat them. I eat breakfast and dinner. I don't do fasting, unless it's accidental. I snack late, although it's still a few hours until sleep. I go to sleep well after midnight. (Not a good thing.) I spend most of my life sitting in a chair (at the desk) or sleeping. The only physical exercise that I do is to walk a lot, fast. This means that my results are due to my diet, and in no way related to strenuous physical exercise. I have a slim body with a BMI of 20 (maximum was about 26.5). I do have around 1...2 liters of unneeded abdominal fat, but you can't see that even if you see me dressed in tight clothes. If I eat a diet which is very low in carbohydrates (especially refined carbohydrates and sugar, even if from fruits), for a significant period of time, my personal scent (skin, perspiration and output) is much improved compared to when I eat a diet which is average in carbohydrates (which produce a somewhat unpleasant sugary smell). The best scent I had by far was when I was eating a lot of blanched almonds (125 g / 4.4 oz per day). It was sweetish nutty / buttery. This was an experiment, don't eat this amount of almonds regularly; read here details about nuts.
Highest amount of fatsThe highest amount of fat I've eaten from dairy products, at lunch and dinner during a day, was about 170 g / 6 oz (from cream cheese and sour cream, that is, an entire cheesecake and some leftover sour cream, so from easily digested food). I wouldn't say that the saturated fat is the whole problem, but also the fact that it's fat which is easily absorbed by the body (the equivalent to ingesting about 185 ml / 6.3 floz of oil in a day). By the end, my body was very much in the red zone, as I was feeling tired, slightly nauseated, the start of a headache and slightly light-headed. I went for a walk in the freezing cold and most issues went away within 10 minutes, with walking feeling fast, precise and energetic. The body felt to be running significantly hotter than usual, and had a slight sweat, even at night, but an IR thermometer showed that the forehead temperature was as usual at 36.7 Celsius (98 F; at temple was similar: 36.6...37.0 C). Later that night I've measured my blood pressure and it was lower than that morning, 98 / 60 and pulse 73 (compared to 101 / 66 and pulse 60 in the morning). It took about an hour to fall asleep because I had too much energy and a slight nausea, but sleep was as usual. The next morning, the blood pressure was higher, and by evening it was 123 / 68 and pulse 61; the highest I had seen up to that point was 111 or 113. A few hours later, after dinner, it had dropped to 103 / 63 and pulse 90. Two days later the blood pressure was the lowest I had ever seen, 88 / 59 (pulse somewhere near 70), about 10...15 points lower than the usual. This was probably my genetics at work, compensating. In my youth, I always had the so called astronaut blood pressure, that is, very low (which is probably why I've always liked to eat a lot of salt, to raise the blood pressure). Food doesn't usually seem to change my blood pressure (or the delay is much higher than expected), but the quality of sleep seems to. I did this experiment at some point during my inflammation issue, and it didn't seem to cause any inflammation. I do such crazy experiments so you don't have to.
Low abdominal sizeThe biggest factor that made a difference in the reduction of abdominal size, after I've achieved a slim body, was to eliminate from my diet sugar, fruits, vegetables and nuts. Other carbohydrates, like pasta and rice, were also limited, but not necessarily eliminated; they do cause abdominal swelling but only temporarily. I've replaced the calories with commercial chocolate with 85% cacao (and under 15% sugar). Since the extra abdominal size was persistent throughout the day, it was likely caused by the (size of the) fiber from the vegetables, fruits and nuts. This isn't a recommendation of what to eat, it was a test to see what happens.
Proteins and musclesOne experiment I did, that may help performance athletes, was to eat a lot of proteins. I had a months-long period when I was eating 400 g (14.1 oz) of salmon (farmed), every evening; I wasn't eating anything else with it, except for some lemon juice. That's about 100 g of proteins in one meal, for an average, slim body. After the meal, I was going for a walk and I was feeling exceptionally light and strong, with no feeling of stuff filling my stomach. My body posture felt like that of an athlete, with muscles effortlessly supporting the upper body, and with shoulders clearly wanting to spread out. Eating that much protein felt like my muscles were powering up in the half hour that I needed to eat. At some point, when I looked in the mirror I was shocked to see that my (naked) torso looked like that of a swimmer, with the size of the upper torso and shoulders looking clearly impressive compared to before. Chicken and turkey breast appeared to have a similar effect, but the intensity of the effect was clearly lower (at a similar amount of proteins), while the swimmer torso was gone. Perhaps the salmon is better because its fat provides some extra energy, or perhaps the salmon does have some extra nutrients that help. I did try the same experiment with only 200 g (7.1 oz) of salmon, and the effect was similar, but had a much lower intensity. My body doesn't look like that when I eat a similar amount of proteins from anything other than fish. I can look like that only if I breath in and hold. If I eat carbohydrates or fats to replicate the so called "energy for the gym", my body is no way at that level of look, posture and energy, while my stomach feels full and slow. Is this effect worth the price, for the average person? Absolutely not. But a performance athlete might benefit from it. Getting 100 g of proteins from vegetables would cause an enormous amount of gas. There is a study which shows that 100 g of proteins eaten in a single meal are used by the body to build muscle.
What I cookSome examples of food that I cook.
Experience with inflammationDuring my experience with the inflammation of the digestive system, the problems were most likely caused by an imbalance in my intestinal microbiota. It's likely that my lifestyle and my diet have together caused this imbalance. The main factors were most likely: working in front of a computer screen for too long, working too much and having virtually no time to relax, sleeping for too little time, going to sleep toward the morning rather than before midnight, eating increasingly more fat (bile, which is required to digest fat, neutralizes stomach acids, so too much could cause digestive alkalinization). Other factors may have contributed: eating too many nuts (150 g / 5.3 oz per day, for about 10 years, mostly peanuts, almonds toward the end), eating too few vegetables and fruits (so little fiber), eating too often at a restaurant. It's also possible that I had caught a bad bacteria somewhere, but this is likely not the reason because some problems were there many years before the inflammation, although at a very low intensity, like tiredness / mental fog and occasional dizziness. Various foods seemed to stimulate the growth of some bad bacteria which was out of control, bacteria which was then releasing toxins whose negative effect was lasting for days. The foods which were causing the most problems were: nuts, dairy, sugar (including from fruits), vegetables which were causing gas. The foods which were causing the least problems were meat (chicken breast, and canned small wild fish like sardines, herring and mackerel) and eggs, although their effect did vary in time. Up to 3 or 4 large eggs per day increased the mental clarity, but more eggs increased the mental fog. The negative effects were very insidious and misleading (because they were subtle, delayed and unconnected). I was attributing them to: aging, lowering testosterone, degrading eyesight, working in front of a computer screen for too long, working too much and having virtually no time to relax, sleeping for too little time, going to sleep toward the morning rather than before midnight, eating too few calories, eating enough fats to enter ketosis but too much carbohydrates to allow ketosis to set in (this was a natural drift, I never intended to follow a ketogenic diet). The negative effects were (listed in the order in which they've appeared over many years): unclear vision, tiredness, low energy, mental fog, dizziness (when walking), inflammation in the digestive system (left side of the body, under the ribs, likely in the stomach), sometimes minute leakage from the other end (especially after walking). Related issues may have been: slight angina, sleeping in tension (= body not relaxed), occasional cramps in the digestive system (almost at the exit). There was no acid reflux or heartburn. My digestive system was otherwise functioning as expected based on what I was eating, that is, I wasn't experiencing the symptoms that are associated with, for example, SIBO. During that period (and for years before that), I didn't have any other medical problems or medical interventions, I wasn't on any medication, I didn't have any food poisoning (that I know of), I didn't have abdominal pain. Mental fog wasn't clear to me as such, initially, but as tiredness, unclear vision and a desire to try to open my eyes wider by lifting the eyebrows, in an attempt to wake up. The facial muscles also changed as in a tired, mean person. I was having this kind of tiredness for years before the original inflammation occurred, and during that time there was nothing to indicate that they were connected to digestive issues. How can anyone make a connection between mental fog and digestive issues when there are no digestive issues to be felt? Without the inflammation, I would have never known that the other problems were caused by an imbalance in my intestinal microbiota. Ultimately, it became clear that the mental fog was setting in after I was eating various foods and ingredients, like sugar (in small amounts and regardless of source, so fruits included). My diet had become increasingly more fat-based over the years. When I was young, I was avoiding to eat fat in any form, except for small amounts of butter and cheese. I was especially avoiding the fat from meat and oil. Maybe this instinct was there for a reason, maybe my body can't metabolize fat well. About one year after the initial inflammation appeared, I tried the last remaining unchanged part of my diet: I reduced the fat as much as possible, and switched to carbohydrates as fuel. The inflammation started to disappear, and while the experiment is ongoing, fat seems to be the root cause of the inflammation and of the cascade of problems. It doesn't matter what kind of fat; this explains why I first became aware of the inflammation when I was eating a lot of olive oil. It seems that some foods (like meat) somehow partially neutralize the effect of the fat, in the sense that the inflammation is still there, but there is no mental fog. The proteins don't seem to be the neutralizing factor since eggs seem to work fine only up to 3 or 4 eggs, but more eggs start to cause mental fog. Cheese also has proteins and causes problems, but that could be because its bacteria amplifies the existing issues. My metabolic situation seems to be this:
The really insidious part was that as I was eating more and more fat and getting more problems. Most foods were causing problems, but carbohydrates, and sugar in particular, were having the worst effects. Because of this, I thought that I should eat more fat. I was getting more and more cornered into eating fewer and fewer foods, until I eventually had to eat mostly meat. The problem was, fat was causing the imbalance in the first place, but for whatever reason the carbohydrates were having worse effects, which is why I was eating more foods containing fat. It's possible that this situation was created or amplified by my stressful lifestyle: working too much and having virtually no time to relax, sleeping for too little time, going to sleep toward the morning rather than before midnight. I wonder how many people who are on the carnivore diet have the same root cause (of their metabolic problems) as I have. This root cause might be a reason why some people report (more) mental fog on a ketogenic / carnivore diet. The conclusion is that I can eat either extremely high fat (and extremely low carbohydrate), but I get the inflammation and the related problems. The maximum mental clarity seemed to be the same for both cases (extremely high fat and extremely high carbohydrate): extreme. The biggest disadvantage, for me, of the high carbohydrate diet is that sugar (from fruits) creates a favorable environment in the throat for bacteria to develop, which makes it easier to catch a cold. This raises an interesting question. Think about macronutrient composition of foods: ultra processed food has of a lot of fats and a lot of carbohydrates, natural whole food has only one of them (vegetal foods have virtually no fats, animal derived foods have virtually no carbohydrates). So, could it be that one of the (major) reasons of the metabolic disease experienced by the people who eat a lot of ultra processed food is the combination of a lot of fats with a lot of carbohydrates? Could it be that when people blame seed oils, they are right, but only in the sense that fats, all fats, are the problem in combination with carbohydrates? Food for thought.
TimelineI had been eating about 150 grams (5.3 oz) of peanuts every day (the kind with a red peel, without eating the peel), together with oranges (1...1.3 kg / 2.2...2.9 lbs), for about 10 years, without a visible negative effect. Sometimes I was replacing the peanuts with 125 g (4.4 oz) of other types of nuts (like peeled almonds and macadamia). At some point I had started following a high fat diet because it was easy to eat most calories from nuts (50% of calories) and butter, and no more oranges (for the last 2 years of the period). I also stopped eating lunch. I was optimizing my time. At the same time, the acids from fruits were getting through a tooth nerve, which was causing pain when I was brushing my teeth with an electrical toothbrush. I was also trying to limit sugar as much as possible, so eliminating the (about) 100 g of sugar from the oranges seemed like a simple way to do it. While sugar has the same negative health effects, regardless of its source, fruits aren't just sugar, and their fiber matters a lot. Lack of fiber, writhing and gas in the digestive system feels amazing (and the flat abdomen looks amazing), but it's the wrong thing to optimize for. This is why it's wrong to study (nutrition) mechanisms and food components in isolation. Health is the result of all the mechanisms and (whole) foods interacting together, they can't be separated. On top of these things, I was encouraged by my abdomen getting flatter and flatter. Problems started to appear (long) after I've stopped eating oranges. I was also not eating vegetables regularly because most need cooking, and I was optimizing for time. Not eating oranges meant: I wasn't eating fiber (other than what's in nuts), I wasn't ingesting the acids from oranges, I was overwhelmingly getting my calories from fats and proteins (since I was eating few carbohydrates from other sources). My digestive system likely became sensitive to certain things. After about two years of this diet, inflammation started to occur whenever I was eating fats or carbohydrates. In less than half an hour I was feeling some abdominal organ having no more room in my body. The inflamed organ was, likely, the stomach (the pancreas tail was also a possibility). The location was mostly on the left-front side of the body, at the level of the lower half of the ribs, and sometimes below the ribs. When the intensity wasn't at the maximum, the inflammation was occurring in slightly different places, from the middle of the body all the way to the left side (next to the arm, slightly above the elbow); it was very rarely occurring on the right side. The first time the inflammation occurred was when I ate a lot of olive oil. I was testing with about 60 grams (2.1 oz) of high quality 80% fat organic butter, and 80 ml (2.7 floz) of high quality, organic, cold extracted, extra virgin olive oil, at breakfast and lunch, each with 100 grams of bread; this is the equivalent of about 120 grams of fat and 100 grams of carbohydrates; I've also tried only with oil. In less than half an hour I've felt the inflammation occur. In this case, the inflammation appeared immediately and disappeared after two days of not eating the oil. I've later seen that a lot of refined fat (oil, butter, lard, around 100 g / 3.5 oz), ingested in one meal, was causing me problems like inflammation or nausea. Not eating for lunch, and stress were causing the same kind of inflammation, but to a lower degree. For the foods that did cause the inflammation (some didn't), the effect appeared to be proportional with the amount of fats and carbohydrates. I couldn't clearly determine any specific element that was causing the inflammation, especially because some (unknown) elements were able to block the inflammation (when present in some foods that did contain a lot of fats and carbohydrates). The inflammation was the first and main problem that I became aware of. A secondary problem was that when I was trying to eat a lot of fruits, even if the inflammation wasn't present, there was soon a need to eliminate them (on the other end), and the need appeared to be proportional with the amount of sugar (and maybe of water, water alone wasn't a problem). Oranges were relative fine, but nectarines were really bad, even though the weight of the nectarines (with the pit) was smaller; cantaloupe was toward the bad side; watermelon was in the middle, as I had to eat 2...3 times the weight (rind excluded) of the nectarines to have the issue. Vegetables and fruits were causing me not just the usual gas, but (low) gas pressure which was leading to minute leakage (from the other end, which was as fun it sounds). Fruits were the worst, by far, likely due to the high amount of sugar, and their effect was visible in hours, not days, so their fiber didn't have much slowing effect. There was one issue I had even years before, which now seems relevant: occasional cramps in the digestive system, almost at the exit. Quite painful, like leg cramps, but with no ability to press on the soles in order to stretch the muscles to force them to relax. I was never able to pinpoint their cause. All these problems seemed to be independent in the sense that various foods were triggering one or multiple of them, but not all of them. So, multiple mechanisms were interacting in the body, when eating each food and all foods together. Even not eating was causing some inflammation and mental fog. Walking was also causing dizziness (perhaps the bad bacteria was disturbed by the walking). About 5 months after the original inflammation, the problems mostly vanished. The minute leakage disappeared, and vegetables and fruits started to cause only the normal gas. However, a bit later, there was inflection point when the inflammation returned and two other problems started to occur: dizziness and mental fog. Rarely, there were also low intensity headaches. I don't know what caused the inflection point. Maybe the bad bacteria had adapted to my new diet, or maybe I was eating too much cheese (which I started to eat because it wasn't causing any inflammation). Since cheese is a fermented food, it's possible that it started amplifying the microbiota imbalance. Another possibility is that I was severely undercaloric because so many food categories were causing problems... and I wasn't feeling hungry because the low amount of carbohydrates and the (about) 150 g (5.3 oz) of cheese that I was eating daily was that satiating. Long before the inflammation, when I was eating nuts (150 g / 5.3 oz) and oranges (1 kg / 2.2 lbs), I was eating about 500...700 more calories per day, and my weight was only about 3...4% higher. While the inflammation reappeared, it was only at about a third of the original intensity, and more clearly localized (perhaps because the lower intensity meant a lower diffusion of sensation). Continuing to eat vegetables and fruits made the leakage return. The only exceptions seemed to be soft vegetal foods like mashed potatoes and pasta, seemingly because they weren't causing gas. Even worse now, it seemed that sugar (regardless of source, so fruits included) and my fermented dairy breakfast were causing dizziness and mental fog immediately; other non-sugary, non-fatty foods were also causing dizziness. More foods started to cause problems like inflammation in my digestive system. Moreover, the effects that foods had seemed to flip. For example, cheese, kefir and commercial chocolate with 85% cacao (and 12% sugar) initially had positive effects, but after about 5 months they started to cause dizziness and mental fog. I also tested chocolate with 80% cacao sweetened with erythritol, and it's effect was roughly similar with the chocolate sweetened with sugar; I couldn't test chocolate sweetened with allulose. On the other side, canned fish, eggs and olive oil (in a limited amount) initially caused inflammation but by the end of the period they were no longer causing problems. The health problems became more severe and were visible much quicker, so I was finally able to see that they were linked. Warm showers were almost completely eliminating the mental fog, for a short while. Sleeping longer was helping a bit, but not significantly. If the problems continued, it seemed that I had to go on the carnivore diet. Most carnivores recommend eating red meat because it has fat, whereas chicken breast doesn't. Aside from the fact that this is a very restrictive diet, I dislike the taste of red meat. Also, eating a lot of lard (with bread, instead of butter) was causing me nausea. Sidenote: Some people recommend avoiding chicken breast, for people who have a high cholesterol, because, they say, it's high in saturated fat. According to USDA, chicken breast has 0.35 g of saturated fat per 100 g. As for its cholesterol, the cholesterol in food doesn't increase the cholesterol in blood. Besides, eggs have about 5.5 times more cholesterol, and studies show that they are fine. Some people might think that the solution to my problems would be to eat more fiber. But, as I said above, vegetables and fruits were causing gas, and the gas pressure was causing minute leakage. That doesn't sound healthy. Beans cause a particularly high amount of gas. It's surreal to listen to people describing problems they have from eating a lot of fiber, and other people recommending them to eat more fiber as the solution. Some vegetables, like bell peppers and potatoes didn't seem to be a problem, perhaps because they weren't causing gas (since they are low in fiber). Eating varied made things worse because each food had its own effect, and all foods together produced all problems: inflammation, dizziness and mental fog. Fruits (like oranges), cause all problems, seemingly because their absolute amount of sugar is high. However, for the sugar in fruits to cause problems, it has to be more than in non-fruit sources (like chocolate). Other refined carbohydrates, like bread, seem to have an effect similar to sugar. It's interesting to note that the fiber from 0.5...1 kg / 1.1...2.2 lb of oranges wasn't able to compensate the negative effect of the sugar, and above 0.5 kg the effect was clearly negative. It seemed that I had become intolerant (but not allergic) to nuts, sugar and dairy. These issues manifested as inflammation in the digestive system, dizziness and mental fog. The intolerance meant that I couldn't eat nuts, sweets, fruits and dairy products. Cheese was very helpful for about 5 months, and I've eaten a lot of it, but it eventually started to cause dizziness and mental fog, along with many other foods. After about 9 months from when the initial inflammation appeared, the mental fog became persistent. Going back to the 5 month inflection point, what had happened was that I was no longer eating fruits (because sugar was causing problems), nor vegetables (because their fiber was causing gas which led to minute leakage), nor dairy and chocolate (because their effect had flipped at the inflection point). This meant that I was eating under 15 grams of carbohydrates per day, virtually no fiber, and less fat than before. My brain was, perhaps, no longer getting enough fuel from either fats or carbohydrates, or my body was unable to convert fat to glucose (in order to feed the brain). This explanation is unsatisfactory because while my brain was slow and foggy, my body was energetic, but it would make sense if the brain running at full capacity isn't a priority for the biology of a human who doesn't get enough calories (without feeling hungry). I then started to eat more and more bell peppers and avocados, because their low fiber was causing little gas. Once I had ramped-up these vegetables daily, and also started to eat oranges and other fruits, the mental fog had reduced in less than a week. For example, after a dinner consisting of 6 eggs, an avocado and (shimeji) mushrooms, the mental clarity became extreme. However, right after that, after eating oranges (about 90 g of sugar), the inflammation, some mental fog and a bit of dizziness returned. About two days later, I had no lunch and, in the evening, I was feeling some mental fog, so I ate 80 g / 2.8 oz of chocolate with 85% cacao (12% sugar). It initially reduced the mental fog, then created a bit of dizziness (within 30 minutes) which disappeared quickly, then the mental fog disappeared (a few hours later). The next day I tried chocolate with 75% cacao (22% sugar), but it wasn't even able to reduce the mental fog. I've tried the same with nuts, and it worked similarly, with a lower intensity, but later caused more mental fog. This was meant to show me that my brain would benefit if I ate some food between breakfast and dinner, even though the body was energetic anyway. In the evening, I ate 150 g / 5.3 oz of cheese (with 200 g / 7.1 oz of small canned fish, 2 large avocados and 200 g of bell peppers), which first created slight waves of mental fog, and then a light but persistent state between dizziness and mental fog, and some slight abdominal discomfort, and finally inflammation. This was meant to show how complex the interaction of multiple nutrition mechanisms is in the body, in real time, and how fiber isn't be able to compensate negative effects, at least not in the short term, just like the fiber from oranges wasn't able to compensate the effect of sugar. By this point, eating almost anything was producing mental fog. After another week of eating up to 3 avocados per day, plus bell peppers, it was fine to eat in one meal, though with a slight digestive discomfort, oranges (1 kg / 2.2 lbs), nuts (mixed, up to 200 g / 7.1 oz), and crackers (100 g / 3.5 oz, 20% fiber, made from various seeds, like flax seeds). Some inflammation was still present after eating nuts or oranges. I wasn't eating nuts and oranges regularly at the time. While eating eggs, I could feel the mental fog clearing by the middle of the meal, then I could feel the mental fog setting in again. As time went by, I had started to have longer and longer periods of almost complete mental clarity, especially a few hours after a meal (as meals were creating more or less mental fog). Then, I started eating again large amounts of nuts, around 100...200 g / 3.5...7.1 oz per day. In about a week, the inflammation reappeared, and so did the leakage and mental fog. So, large amounts of nuts are causing me digestive problems. Even eating 50 g of nuts causes me a slight digestive discomfort, but, oddly, not in the area which gets inflamed, but throughout the center, discomfort which mostly disappears within 15 minutes (which I remember was there years before, but which I ignored since it was short-lived). Eventually, I had to eliminate from my diet the following: nuts, dairy, sugar (including from fruits), vegetables which were causing significant gas. However, the problems didn't disappear. Maybe the bad bacteria had adapted again to my diet, clinging to the smallest amount of sugar. Perhaps it even started to eat fiber from the vegetables that I was eating. After all, why wouldn't the bad bacteria also eat fiber, just like the good bacteria? I was thinking how I could go back to what I was eating before the inflammation, mainly the oranges. However, since sugar was a problem (and eating oranges caused some mental clarity initially, but mental fog later), I though that I should try another important component from oranges: the acids. It seemed a real possibility that, for whatever reason, my digestive system wasn't acidic enough. Almost one year after the initial inflammation appeared, I've found out that eating pickles in vinegar made the mental fog disappear quickly, and virtually completely for many hours. As soon as I ate a few pickles, the bad bacteria didn't like it and immediately caused mental fog and a slight headache. I ate more, and while nothing more happened then, I had a more intense headache during the night, and some in the morning. I also ate pickles during the breakfast, and until dinner there was virtually no mental fog. In total, during dinner and breakfast, I ate 360 g / 12.7 of (solid mass) pickled cucumbers. That's a lot of vinegar. After just a few days of the "pickle diet" I was able to eat 1 kg / 2.2 lbs of oranges daily. I had also started eating unsalted nuts and noticed that the sweetness of the nuts produced a desire to eat pickles afterwards. I think salty nuts numb this desire, which may be a problem. After a few days of eating nuts (mixed, no peanuts), they started to feel heavy on my digestive system and slowly caused mental fog, a slight temperature, dizziness, a slight feeling of my head being stretched and then compressed, nausea, and a slight inflammation in the digestive system. Peanuts (baked, salted) did cause leakage within a few hours. The most important things were that the leakage stopped, the massive mental fog turned into a light mental fog (with some hour-long periods of extreme clarity), and the inflammation generally vanished. Over the course of two weeks it seemed that the acid didn't solve the problem but forced the bacteria to move downward instead of upward, because the mental fog returned, and I started getting bloated and I was retaining a lot of water. I then tried the last remaining unchanged part of my diet: I reduced the fat as much as possible, and switched to carbohydrates. The inflammation started to disappear, and while the experiment is ongoing, fat seems to be the root cause of the inflammation and of the cascade of problems. You can read about the conclusion above.
Possible causesThese were various possibilities that I was thinking about during my investigation. I will leave them here. One possible cause of the inflammation is that I've developed some sort of reaction to nuts in general. Not an allergy, but a reaction, since I can still eat them occasionally, in a small amount, without serious problems. Another possible cause of the inflammation is an excess of oxalate from nuts. This doesn't explain why nuts did cause the problem, but not oranges (the 1 kg / 2.2 lbs I was eating at times is high in oxalate). It also doesn't explain why it happened with olive oil. Olives contain a lot of oxalate, but olive oil appears to not contain any (I couldn't find something definitive).
Another possible cause of the inflammation is a vitamin C deficiency. Vitamin C is required for the body to use fats for energy, through the production of carnitine, and since my diet was extremely restricted and I was eating a lot of fats (mostly from nuts) and no more oranges (which contain vitamin C), this could have been the cause. However, I had inflammation even in the days when I ate bell peppers and oranges, which have a high amount of vitamin C. Another possible cause of the inflammation is the farmed salmon that I was eating at the restaurant, 400...600 g (14.1...21.2 oz) per week, for over 2 years. I knew for a long time that something was... fishy. Considering all the factors (especially the taste), the quality of the fish had to be low (which means that it may have had traces of antibiotics). As more time was passing, I was feeling that my digestive system was becoming more and more sensitive, but since this wasn't synchronized with eating the fish, I've ignored the possible link. The only issue I was having with the fish was a small sensation of the fish moving in the abdomen for a short while (something that wasn't happening with any other food, at least not immediately), but I was thinking it may be from the lemon juice I was eating with the fish. This is how my attention was directed toward the nuts. But it's possible that the fish was the problem, although a delayed problem, and the nuts only amplified it. The inflammation started to decrease in intensity only after I've stopped eating nuts for several weeks and added more diversity in my food (although the diversity could have been a coincidence). Later, I've done further tests with macadamia nuts, which have caused a mild nausea, and pistachio, which have caused gas. Even two months after I've stopped eating nuts, I was still having inflammation (although with a significantly lower intensity than before), and some sort of slight angina and slight tingling on the left side of the heart. I've then stopped eating farmed fish (I was barely eating canned fish anyway), and the issues decreased a lot in less than a week. My body also appeared to get much better at processing fruits. I've later also stopped drinking bottled water and the issues have decreased further in about a week. Maybe it was a coincidence, but I have no reason to go back. Almost 5 months after the major inflammation started, the issues seem to have disappeared in general. The minute leakage disappeared, and vegetables and fruits started to cause only the normal gas. A few weeks later, after eating a handful of nuts for several days, the inflammation reappeared, but only at about a third of the original intensity, and more clearly localized (perhaps because the lower intensity meant a lower diffusion of sensation). Continuing to eat vegetables and fruits made leakage return. The only exceptions seemed to be soft vegetal foods like mashed potatoes and pasta, seemingly because they weren't causing gas. Even worse now, it seemed that eating my fermented dairy breakfast wasn't helping anymore and was causing me dizziness immediately (non-fatty foods also caused dizziness). But this time I did one thing differently: I've considered that the food wasn't necessarily the problem, but the restaurant where I was eating almost every evening, so I've stopped going there. In about three days, the inflammation subsided. What's more, my mental fog and tiredness started to clear. This was something that I was previously attributing to my insane sleep-work schedule, so I didn't think it could be from something else. The dizziness after the breakfast also vanished. In hindsight, it took months of going to that restaurant for the mental fog to occur, and about a year for the inflammation to occur. Understanding the problem was made more difficult by the fact that not going to the restaurant took several days to show a positive effect. Eating food fried in oil, at any restaurant, seems to cause the inflammation, but this doesn't mean that it's the actual cause, it could be just an irritant. I'm saying this because even when I wasn't eating foods cooked in oil for several days, the inflammation was still there, so either the oil isn't the issue, or there is a very long delay in healing from its effects. I've retested eating nuts several times (as low as 10 g of walnuts, peanuts, hazelnuts and almonds), and I've had an unpleasant feeling in my digestive system, including a feeling of slowness of the food moving through. The last tests were very clear, as about 12 hours after eating the nuts, the minute leakage reappeared. The negative effects last a few days. So, I won't be eating nuts anymore. It's clear that even small amounts cause me problems. Interestingly, the desire that I was previously feeling to eat them, disappeared. I've then returned to that restaurant and the negative effects showed up within two days, so I've stopped going there completely. I've then started eating at a different restaurant and the negative effects returned, to a more limited extent, so I've completely stopped eating at restaurants. This time the inflammation did subside, but much slower, it took several weeks. The inflammation and dizziness are now gone. An exception is when I eat sugar, regardless of its source, which causes inflammation and dizziness, even in amounts smaller than 20 g per day, although the intensity is low. This was a very difficult thing to track because the amount is so small that it can come from anything, including the kefir that I was eating (which I've stopped in order to test the effect of its absence, but that didn't improve much). In fact, it seems that even just a few grams of sugar cause a short-lived attempt to start the inflammation, at least during periods after I've eaten larger amounts of sugar (meaning that my body could have remained sensitive to sugar for a few days). In summary, so far it seems that the following things cause my health issues, issues which seem to start in the digestive system: nuts, sugar (regardless of source, so fruits included). The conclusion is different, and you can read it above.
Effect of foodsFoods that have caused (at least some) inflammation, initially:
Foods that have caused little to no inflammation, initially:
Foods which had a mixed effect:
QA
Should I count the calories that I eat?No, because you have no idea how many calories your body needs. However, you should compare how many calories are in the types and amounts of foods that you eat, so that you can choose the ones with fewer calories.
How fast should I be losing weight?If you can lose at most 1 kilogram (= 2 pounds) per month, that's great, but if you want to lose your extra weight faster than you can increase this limit several times without negatively affecting your health. If you lose a lot of weight, especially if it happens fast, your body will not lose fat everywhere just as much or just as fast, and some fat will remain in certain areas, like on the abdomen, making the skin look floppy. While losing weight, fat isn't the only thing that you will be losing, but muscles as well. Read this for details.
What about fried foods?Beware of fried foods! Fried oil can be toxic. See here when oils become toxic. Cooking in oil can bring you a large amount of unnecessary fats. Raw potatoes contain about 16% carbohydrates but have a small amount of calories (per 100 grams). However, home made french fries have 2 times the number of calories because they absorb the frying oil; the ones fried at fast foods restaurants have 4 times the number of calories (I don't know why, but you can check this at the USDA food list).
What if I crave sweets?Try fruits. If you don't know what to start with, try apples or oranges first. If you were to abstain from eating something sweet, you would increase the probability that you would simply drop your new eating habits and start eating without limits again.
Should I eat a lot of food fewer times a day, or little food more times a day?You should eat satiating food, when you feel the need. You have to find your own balance depending on how you feel. Refined carbohydrates reduce satiation, so people (desire to) eat much more calories than they need, which makes it very difficult for people to stop eating only the calories they need. It's better to eat a small treat every day than a lot of them once a week.
I feel the need to eat a lot as if my body is looking for a specific type of food, but I don't know which. Why is this?Leaving aside any possible medical condition that you may have and the medical tests that you could take, one possible cause is that your body is low on some essential nutrients, and perhaps most importantly, low on water. Many people delay drinking water when their bodies request it, and when they get used to it and feel no more thirst, they think that they don't need water so much. However, the body simply starts getting water from food, and asks for a lot of food in order to get the needed water. If at the same time you feel that you are low on energy, you should reduce the ultra processed food as much as possible, and eat proteins. If you are limiting the number of calories for fear that you may gain weight, you could eat more and at the same time do some physical exercise in order to burn the extra energy.
Should I avoid eating meat?There is no scientific reason for the average person to avoid eating meat. To the contrary, eating meat is associated with increased life expectancy. Avoiding to eat meat will make it more difficult for you to get the vitamins and essential aminoacids needed by the human body, will most likely push you to eat things that should never be part of a diet (like refined carbohydrates and refined fats), and will produce massive amounts of gas (from the fiber and carbohydrates of the vegetables and fruits). Avoiding to eat eggs and dairy makes it even more difficult. Be aware that "proteins" is a generic word which encompasses any combination of aminoacids, but the body needs a specific combination of aminoacids which are essential for it, and meat provides a much better balance, among the essential aminoacids, than vegetables do. It's more difficult to get the essential aminoacids from vegetables than from meat. If you want to avoid eating meat, you need a source of balanced proteins (with aminoacids in the ratio that people need). Edible hemp is a great vegetal source of proteins whose essential aminoacids rival meat in terms of balance, and lacks the famous hallucinogenic component. Red kidney beans, chickpeas and lentils are good enough vegetal sources of proteins; if canned, the label has to show close to 9% proteins. See this for the essential aminoacids balance. Keep in mind that the food industry has something called "ultra processed meat" (for example, burgers), which is in fact not meat because the entire food may contain (for example) 30% meat (where the rest is anything except meat). Frequent eating of ultra processed meat has been linked to some health issues.
Should I avoid eating carbohydrates?The dominance of refined carbohydrates (like sugar, flour, cereals) causes serious health problems. Also important is what type of food you eat and how it's cooked, because the carbohydrates from raw vegetables and fruits are absorbed much more slowly by the body. Carbohydrate content examples: oranges 12% (9% sugar), bananas 22%, pasta 75%, nuts 10...30% (40...50% fats, 20% proteins), rice 80%, bread 50% (10% proteins), and sugar 100%. Wheat bread is half made of carbohydrates, so 100 grams (3.5 oz) of bread contain 50 grams (1.8 oz) of carbohydrates, which has 200 kilocalories, which makes 10% from the 2'000 kilocalories daily dose recommended for an average adult.
Does eating carbohydrates cause tooth decay?Yes, eating (refined) carbohydrates (especially sugar), creates an acidic and sticky environment in the mouth which dramatically increases the risk of teeth deterioration (like cavities). A high risk is indicated by the presence of the biofilm, which is a soft and white substance between the gums and teeth, which mostly forms when eating (refined) carbohydrates. The frequency of sugar ingestion, not the amount, is the most important factor of tooth decay. When sugar is eaten, the formed acids soften the tooth enamel and leave it vulnerable for about half an hour. Eating more sugar doesn't increase this time, but eating sugar more often leaves the enamel vulnerable for longer, so it's better to eat sweets once a day rather than eat a bag of candies throughout the day. Tooth decay can be reduced by flossing (after dinner) and brushing the teeth with an electrical toothbrush (twice a day, after breakfast and dinner).
Does salt increase the risk of cardiovascular disease?It's commonly thought that salt (actually the sodium from salt) increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. The maximum daily dose of sodium is 2300 mg, which means 6 g of table salt. This dose includes the sodium from the eaten food, it doesn't refer strictly to the sodium from the table salt that you add to food. Too much salt has some effects which indirectly cause health issues, like creating cravings for sweets, that is, for sugar.
Which is better: fruits, fruit juice, vegetables or vegetable juice?Fruit juice isn't fruit, it's water with sugar. The fact that the sugar comes from fruit makes no difference. Avoid drinking fruit juice because it has the same amount of sugar as sodas, so they have the same negative effects on the body (both on the flora of the digestive system, and on the liver). Fruit juice contains a concentrated amount of calories and acids, due to the high amount of natural sugar, more specifically, about the same amount as sodas, which is about 10%. If you drink fruit juice, sip it with a straw in order to keep the acids off your teeth (as much as is possible). Fresh fruit, in its entirety, has a positive health effect because its fiber makes it satiating and slows down the sugar absorption. Fresh fruit also has compounds, like acids, which actively counteract the negative effects of sugar. Together, these things counterbalance the negative effects of sugar in the long term. If you want to drink juice, choose (unsweetened, unsalted) vegetable juice, but still avoid drinking it in large quantities. There are practical advantages to drinking vegetable juice over eating vegetables, like availability (can be purchased all year around). The amount of sugar from vegetable juice can be close to that from fruit juice. For example, beet juice contains about 10% sugar. Tomato juice contains 2.5% sugar, but it often contains 2% salt (in grams), which for 1 liter is 20 g, several times the daily recommended amount.
Some people say to not eat many vegetables because they can't be digested by the body. Is that correct?It can be, but the amount depends on how your body handles each type of vegetable. Some vegetables may have to be cooked in order to make them easier to digest. It depends on each type of vegetable, and also on the specifics of your digestive system (mainly on what types of bacteria reside in your digestive system). For example, it's unlikely that your digestive system requires apples and oranges to be cooked, but it's most likely that it requires potatoes and beans to be cooked. An unfortunate side effect of eating vegetables and fruits is that the digestion of their fiber causes gas, but so does the digestion of carbohydrates; carbohydrates are also present in vegetables, fruits and nuts. The amount of gas produced depends on how you prepare the food for eating; for example, a cream soup of vegetable X produces less gas than the whole, uncooked vegetable X.
Is canned food safe?Canned food is very practical, but it's important to understand its health effects, and what can be done to minimize the possible health risks. In part, canned food is safe to eat if you throw away the fluid from the can (which is likely to contain particles from the material of the can, or a sugary sauce). Fat / oil should not be thrown down the drain because it solidifies and will clog the pipes. However, despite the cooking at a high temperature and the complete insulation from the air outside, most canned food still contains preservatives to protect it from bacteria. It's recommended for the fish to be canned in water / brine. If it's in oil, the oil isn't going to be of the best quality. In modern times, the cans are made of steel, aluminum or tin, possibly coated inside with a plastic layer which prevents the metal from leaching into the food; some producers even use plastic envelops instead of metal. The healthiest choice is to use glass jars, but they are also the most expensive products (if available at all). However, the plastic layer usually contains bisphenol-A. Some producers use a plastic layer which doesn't contain bisphenol-A, but there is no guarantee that the replacement is safer. The problem is that the bisphenol-A (BPA), a chemical which may be dangerous to health, leaches into the food. The amount of leached bisphenol-A which ends up in the body depends on the type of food, with canned soup being by far the worst. This doesn't necessarily make the canned food unsafe, because the absolute amount of ingested bisphenol-A is still below the level which is considered safe. Both Europe's and USA's food safety administrations say that bisphenol-A is safe to use in the packaging of foods. Bisphenol-A is present in most plastics, including plastic water bottles, so it's quite difficult to avoid. There are some alternatives to this chemical, but there are no guarantees that they are any safer. Buy canned food with a lower shelf life (below 5 years), presumably because these contain less preservatives. Look for cans which are close to their manufacturing date, because the metal or plastic had less time to leach into the food. Throw away the cans that are bulging, dented, cracked, leaking or rusted. Wash the lid, especially its rim, before you open a can. After you empty the can, smell it inside. If you have a tingly sensation, if it smells like metal / oxidation, don't buy that product / brand again. You may even be able to smell the oxidation in your breath, after you eat the food. Basically, the metal of the can has leached into the food, which makes it taste bad and unsafe on the long term. Looking at meat from a metallic can, you can see that it's pink inside, but grayish on the outside. This is because the meat has oxidized on the outside. This doesn't happen with meat from glass jars. If there is oil in the metal or plastic can, throw away the oil because it attracts bisphenol-A. Oil should not be thrown down the drain because it solidifies and will clog the pipes. Throw away the liquid from the can because the it contains (more) microparticles from the material of the can (either metal or plastic). If possible, rinse the food with water. Don't scrape (the inside of) the can. Never cook food in the can, first move it in your normal cookware. Since heat is normally used during canning, vitamins B and C are destroyed in part. However, this also happens during cooking at home, it's not limited to canning.
Should I do strenuous physical activity to lose weight?Studies show that the average people don't lose weight if they do strenuous physical activity over long periods of time, and that the composition of their bodies doesn't change either. That's because the body is very efficient at energy consumption while doing strenuous physical activity (no matter how tired you feel afterward), because the body asks for the consumed energy to be replaced by eating afterwards, and because the caloric intake from small amounts of food overwhelms the calorie burning that happens during the strenuous physical activity. Strenuous physical activity should be done for health reasons, not for losing weight. However, simple exercise, like walking at an average pace, or even standing rather than sitting, should complement a healthy diet and may help losing weight because it doesn't triggering hunger to compensate the loss of energy (like strenuous physical activity does). However, some types of strenuous physical activity may be particularly effective at removing fat from specific areas of the body. When you realize that you can't lose the fat from, say, your abdomen, by dieting, some strenuous physical activity may help you do that.
Why do I feel tired after eating?A possible cause of fatigue after eating is that you've eaten a lot of carbohydrates, especially refined carbohydrates (like sugar, flour, cereals). The digestion of carbohydrates requires the body to generate insulin, and the need of the body to produce a high amount of insulin causes the fatigue.
Why do most people get fatter as they age?This is because the physical activity of older people is reduced, because the body's basal metabolic rate (BMR) is slightly reduced with aging, yet people continue to eat as much as they were used to eat when they were young. Older people should eat fewer calories than they were eating when they were young, in order to maintain their weight.
What are some general habits of people who maintain a normal weight?Stop eating when their bodies tell them that they are full, not when their plates are empty, and not when their parents or friends tell them to stop. Eat mostly unprocessed food, meaning the way it grows in nature, without heavy processing, without extracting it's "essence", without adding preservatives to it. Avoid sugar. Walk a lot (like an hour every day). Prefer to stand or walk rather than sit.
How much alcohol is it safe to drink per day?The USA and UK governments specify a maximum of 150 ml of wine (5 fluid ounces) (with 13% alcohol) for men and women, 400 ml (13 fluid ounces) of beer (with 5% alcohol). The USA government allows for men a maximum that's double, but, considering other sources, this appears to be too much. This amount is per day, you can't accumulate a week's amount in a single day of the week. Since women generally have a lower mass than men, they should drink less than men in order to get the same amount of alcohol per unit of mass (kilogram or pound). Alcohol should be drank during meals in order to slow its assimilation. Constant alcohol drinking increases the risk of cancer. Studies show that daily drinking of an amount of alcohol found in 180 ml (6 fluid ounces) of wine increases the risk of cancer by 5%. You may have heard that in the Blue Zones, where there are more centenarians than usual, they drink wine. There is nothing magic about that wine. Those people drink wine because they are happy to be together with their family, while modern people drink because they feel lonely and miserable. That makes the difference in lifespan, not the wine.
Should I do what the studies say it's good for health?One of the biggest problems of studies is that they are either performed in test tubes, on animals, or on very few people. You are neither of these and human bodies, maybe yours included, often reacts in opposite ways. Worse, the researchers measure several (even tens) of health parameters, and in small studies one of them is bound to come out looking good / bad, looking as if eating whatever is studied has made a difference. But the difference exists because there is a huge variation in human physiology and behavior, and in environmental factors. And the more parameters are measured, the higher is the chance that one of them will look good / bad. This is why many studies of the same thing show opposite results. For details, read the Skirts don't cause cancer principle. But leaving aside the weakness of studies, what you should do depends on what matters to you. Is it health, happiness or a long life? Ask yourself how happy are the people who follow that path (compared to those who don't). Are you sure that something which appears to improve health also increases the life expectancy? Studies don't normally look at these factors. In fact, some studies which do look at these factors show that even though some foods and life styles do improve various health characteristics, they don't increase the life expectancy of the people who eat those foods and have those life styles. In other words, in terms of longevity, the improved health has been lost in the noise of life. So, if people feel miserable when eating something and their life expectancy stays the same, why should you eat that? Sometimes, a nutrient which shows a positive effect in a certain amount, shows a neutral or even a negative effect when the amount is increased. This is called hormesis. This is a possible explanation why, for example, antioxidants from some foods show a health benefit, but show none or a negative effect when the antioxidant is taken in a larger dose as part of a food supplement.
I hear a lot about antioxidants and polyphenols. Are they really good for health?While you will hear that they are very good for your health, you will not hear how much the dose should be (= how much you should eat), how they compare with each other or with other things (= which one is worth the trouble), or by how much they improve your health. Most studies regarding these things are done in test tubes, and at best on animals. People are neither of these and the human body often reacts in opposite ways, especially when you consider that it needs a large amount of these things in order to be affected by them. There have been some studies done on people, but while some of them show health benefits, some show no health benefits, and some show a negative health impact. The most important thing is that they don't cure any fatal disease, as claimed by the fans and sellers of the foods which contain antioxidants and polyphenols. When you read any health claims about a nutrient, think about this: if it can't keep the common cold away, never mind heal it, how could it possibly keep away cancer or whatever other serious disease?
All of this is just not working. I barely eat, I have no energy and I'm still gaining weight. Why?If you want to lose weight, you should avoid barely eating. It's possible that your metabolism is storing calories rather than using them to generate energy. You may have to seek medical advice if you want to lose weight.
Does a diet with caloric restriction increase the lifespan?Yes and no, depending on what you actually eat. According to the largest such study, if you are eating a lot of refined carbohydrates (especially sugar), there is an increase in longevity if you then change to a calorie restricted diet. However, if you are eating very little refined carbohydrates, there is no increase in longevity if you then change to a calorie restricted diet.
Was cooking food necessary for human evolution?Some people claim that cooking food has been an important factor in human evolution, and this claim is used as argument in favor of cooking food today. However, cooking food was only a tool for, not a cause of, evolution. The actual cause was an increase of calorie availability in the diet of primates, calories which the body has used to develop, transform and evolve. As it happens, in those times, cooking food was almost the only way that the primates could use to obtain more calories, since calorie rich foods were scarce. Today, calories can be found in abundance without cooking, with virtually no physical effort, so cooking food is not necessary to increase the availability of calories.
Why do I have cramps in my soles / calves?It's possible that you are missing some essential nutrients, like calcium or magnesium, but a simpler possible cause is that you're wearing shoes or slippers with soles which are too soft. I had such cramps, and in my case the cause was the slippers.
Any tips about wine?Red wines are (usually) astringent, white wines are (usually) not astringent. Rose wines are in between. Astringency is a feeling in the mouth similar to that produced by the dentist's numbing spray. The alcohol level of wine doesn't change with the wine's age. This is because the alcohol level remains fixed once the fermentation process ends (and wines are not sold before this happens). However, the changes which occur during the aging process do modify the perception of the alcohol level, usually amplifying the taste of alcohol. If you dislike the taste of alcohol, try wine with an alcohol content around 7...8%, rather than the usual 12...14%. Also try this with a frizzante wine, that is, a lightly sparkling wine.
Any other advice?Stress makes people eat more. The digestion of the fiber present in vegetables (including seeds, nuts) and fruits causes gas, but the level varies wildly depending on the type of food and on the bacteria present in the digestive system. The digestion of carbohydrates causes gas. The digestion of fats and proteins doesn't cause gas. Fruits, vegetables and nuts may cause colon contractions or spasms (a few hours after they are eaten).
Cooking tipsThese tips are about cooking everyday food, in maximum 15 minutes, but they are not recipes. All the heating powers below are specified for an induction cooktop with a maximum power of 14 (the power boost mode is extra). Therefore, all the values are very precisely expressed relative to the maximum (of 14). At heating power 14, the used electrical power is 2.3 KW, which is common for household induction cooktops.
Induction cooktopAn induction cooktop is an electrical cooktop which uses induction in order to directly heat the bottom of the cookware. This results in it working like a gas stove, where changing the heating power results in an immediate transfer of temperature changes on the cookware's bottom, and therefore on the food. An induction cooktop is extremely efficient in transferring energy to the food, as the energy is only transferred to the iron in the bottom of the cookware, not around the cookware. Unlike a gas cooktop, an induction cooktop always transfers the exact same electrical power to the food, for a given heating power. However, professional gas cooktops may be able to produce more heat, which some cooks may need. An induction cooktop is hot only in the area where the cookware's bottom is in contact with the cooktop. The surrounding area remains cold to the touch. An induction cooktop is very easy to clean because of its glass top, although some induction cooktops have a stainless-steel edge. Since induction cooktops are already using electricity, they usually have an integrated timer, so they're great for timed cooking. Gas burning produces water vapors, but induction doesn't, and this results in induction cooking producing less humidity in the kitchen. Keep in mind that the actual cooking of food produces water vapors because food contains a lot of water. A plain electrical cooktop, without induction, directly heats the cooktop surface which then heats the cookware's bottom. Because of this, changing the heating power of the cooktop results in a slow transfer of temperature changes to the cookware's bottom. This slowness makes a plain electrical cooktop inferior to an induction cooktop.
CleaningAfter cooking, before you wash the cookware, wipe any fat / oil from it with paper towels and throw those in the trash bin. Fat / oil should not be thrown down the drain because it solidifies and will clog the pipes. After you wash your cookware, wipe it dry as soon as possible, starting with the silverware; wash knives last and wipe them first. If you don't do this and let the water dry naturally, limestone (and even rust) marks will remain on stainless-steel, glass and ceramic. If you get burn marks on a glass cooktop (like an induction cooktop has), the only way to remove them is to scrape them with an utility razor. Knives don't work (because the handle must be perpendicular on the blade in order to let you push the blade with force).
Cooking in a panWhen food has to be cooked in a pan, in oil, beginner cooks are likely to see: the food sticking to the pan, food that is burned underneath and around the edge, hot oil flying out of the pan, lots of smoke rising from the burning food and oil, burned / black oil in the pan, burn / black spots in the pan, and burn marks on the cooktop (underneath the pan). All these problems are very simple to avoid: heat the pan at a medium power before you put the food in, and cook at a medium power. At all times, the handle of the pan must be on your left / right, not toward you (/ the edge of the cooktop). This ensures that if anyone (like a child) accidentally pulls or presses on the handle downward, the hot oil and food doesn't fall over them. Start by putting the pan on the cooktop and setting the power at medium. Pour some oil in the pan before you start the heat. In a stainless-steel pan the oil can be poured after the pan is hot, without fearing that the empty pan would degrade under heat. If the pan has a non-stick coating, use one or two tablespoons of oil. The reason why you have to put oil in a non-stick pan is that there should be something in the pan to absorb the heat, not because it's going to keep the food from sticking to the pan (like is needed for a stainless-steel pan). The oil should have a high smoke point. Extra virgin olive oil and butter have a low smoke point, although since you're cooking the food at a medium power, so the oil is sizzling not frying heavily, it's fine to also use extra virgin olive oil. Even butter is fine if you're using a medium heating power, but keep in mind that butter has a smell and taste that overpower the smell and taste of other foods. Refined oils have a higher smoke point than their unrefined / virgin versions. Clarified butter has a very high smoke point. You should heat the pan at the power you intend to use for cooking. At heating power 9, leave the pan to heat for 3 minutes; at power 7, leave it for 4 minutes. It's fine to put the food in the pan even a few more minutes later, but keep in mind that the longer you heat the oil, the hotter it will get, and will start to smoke and sizzle when you put the food in the pan. From time to time, move the oil all around the bottom of the pan, by tilting the pan left to right (it's best to avoid tilting it toward you), to ensure that the non-stick coating doesn't overheat. When the oil heats, it becomes more liquid and it's easier to move it around by tilting the pan. There is no need for the oil to lubricate the vertical sides of the pan. Once the pan is hot, if you want, you can wipe the oil off the pan using paper towels. Hold the paper with grill tongs, not with your hand! Careful, the oil is very hot and sticky! You can now put food in the pan. Keep in mind that the food will cool down the pan a bit, so adjust the heating step if necessary. The food should be at room temperature, else it would cool down the pan and oil too much. If the food is meat, and you keep it vertically, place first in the pan the side of the meat that's away from you, in order to avoid the oil splashing toward you (especially if you accidentally drop the meat in the pan). Put in the pan vegetables (like a bell pepper). You can cook the vegetables separately from the meat. Add seasoning in the pan. Move the food around the pan in order to avoid it sticking to the pan. For eggs use a spatula, for meat use either a spatula or grill tongs. The heating power at which cooking should be done is a matter of taste. A low power makes the food soft and cooked homogenously (throughout the food's thickness), whereas a high power makes the food crisp on the outside while the inside is less cooked (than the outside). Keep in mind that the crispy outside hardens as the food cools, and becomes unpleasant if the food is not eaten quickly. In a pan which has a non-stick coating:
As the heating power is increased, the oil starts to sizzle, the smell of the seasoning intensifies, and smoke may start to appear. Make sure to reduce the cooking time for the higher heating power. I avoid cooking at powers above 11 because it's messy, and at 14 there is hot oil splashing, some smoke, the food gets burned easily, the food smell is quite intense, and requires a very fast cook. If you add any fluid in the pan, the food (especially meat) will cook as if steamed instead of fried, so it will be soft and moist instead of crunchy. The same can happen if you cover the food with a lid. If you add any fluid in the pan, the cooking time will have to increase because the fluid absorbs some of the heat that would otherwise go into the rest of the food. Using a high heating power will evaporate the fluids from the pan, making the vegetables drier, so you should use a maximum heating power of 10 or use more fluids. The easiest way to cook food is to put in the pan all the food (almost) at the same time. All the food would then be cooked at the same heating power, for the same amount of time, but each food may need to be cooked more or less. The only way to influence how much food gets cooked is the size of the cut of each food, from minced, to diced, to sliced. The smaller the cut is, the faster the food gets cooked. In doesn't matter if the pieces are equal in size because having some pieces cooked less and some cooked more brings interesting variety. You can't cut bones (like the backbone of fish) with a normal knife, you have to chop it with a chopping knife. Cooking with the skin can be useful for salmon, for example, which becomes flaky the more it's cooked; salmon can be cooked perfectly fine with or without the skin. The skin protects the meat from getting burned, but it also blocks its caramelization. An alternative is to cook the fish with skin for a few minutes, on the skin side, after which the fish can be flipped over to (easily) remove the skin, after which the fish can be flipped over again to continue cooking that side. If the pan's bottom is covered with meat and the vegetables have to sit on top of the meat, the meat blocks the cooking of the vegetables. When the food is overcrowded it will cook less than when it's not crowded, in the same amount of time. If you follow these steps, you will have none of the issues above. While there will be no smoke, it's still a good idea to turn on the kitchen hood for practical reasons (like water vapors and lingering food smell). If you do see (a trace of) smoke raising from the pan, it's possible that the pan is not up to the task, that is, it heats up irregularly. While the oil may sizzle a bit in the pan, it will not splash out of the pan, unless you use the highest heating powers. Have everything ready to eat because the food will cool down very quickly once it's out of the pan. So, if you want to add (uncooked) vegetables on the plate, chop them before you put the food in the pan, because you'll be busy moving the food around the pan, so you won't have time to do anything else. If you cook at a high heating power, the temperature of the food will be higher, so it will remain warm for longer.
If you want meat to get caramelized on the outside, you can do several things: increase the heating power so that you can see the oil sizzling, don't move the meat around the pan, put the meat over sizzling oil (make sure there is enough oil), avoid adding any fluid (other than oil) in the pan, use a stainless-steel pan (not a pan which has a non-stick coating). Caramelization is blocked by covering the meat with a lot of seasoning because a protection layer is formed between the meat and the pan; salt is an exception because it melts quickly. Caramelization is also blocked by skin; if meat has skin on it, it will be soft and fatty under the skin. Caramelization is blocked by fluids other than oil and butter (= fats).
FishFollow the steps from the section Cooking in a pan. This is about cooking fish that cooks quickly, like salmon, dorada (gilt-head bream), sea bass, sardine, herring. Dorada and sea bass have a bland taste, so they need strong seasoning. A portion (for a person) should be about 200...400 g (7...14.1 oz) of fish, depending on what you serve it with. Take the fish out of the refrigerator and leave it at room temperature for a few minutes. You should lightly wash the fish with water. I prefer to cut the fish in small pieces in order to cook it faster and to get it infused with more of the taste of the vegetables. Cooking with the skin can be useful for salmon, for example, which becomes flaky the more it's cooked; salmon can be cooked perfectly fine with or without the skin. The skin keeps the meat soft and fatty, on the side with skin. It's possible to cook the fish with skin for a few minutes, on the skin side, after which the fish can be flipped over to (easily) remove the skin, after which the fish can be flipped over again to continue cooking that side. You can season the fish, on both sides, or you can mix the seasoning with the vegetables. Once the pan is heated, you can put the food in the pan. Put in the pan vegetables (like a bell pepper). Put the fish in the pan. Cook the fish until the original color of the meat disappears, on the outside. For example, salmon is cooked well when it turns entirely whitish instead of pink. Once the fish in cooked on one side, flip the fish over (with a spatula / tongs) and cook the same way on the other side. Use either a spatula or grill tongs to move the fish around the pan in order to avoid it sticking to the pan. If the fish is thick, like salmon, I cook it for 10...12 minutes at power 10. I flip it over at half time. This way, the fish is well cooked inside, without being overcooked on the outside. I've noticed that my body prefers the way I cook salmon (more white fat in between the salmon flakes) rather than how it's cooked at restaurants, but it's more likely just the difference in fish quality. Herring is one fish that I think tastes better when it's crispier, so try cooking it at a high power, which also breaks down most of its tinny bones. You could squeeze one lime or some lemon over fish, especially herring.
VegetablesFollow the steps from the section Cooking in a pan. Vegetables should be well cooked. The smaller the food is cut, the faster it gets cooked. The less crowded the food is in the pan, the faster it gets cooked. Some fresh vegetables that cook fast:
In the pan, first add the onion and the bell pepper, and stir for a minute; then add the other vegetables. Onion absorbs all available oil and becomes soft, so don't put too much oil in the pan before cooking the onion for a minute. This layering will improve the smell of the food. You may have to add in the pan some fluids other than the initial cooking oil, like: (olive) oil, lime or lemon juice, tomato juice. Various vegetables, like tomatoes and beetroot, release some of their juice. As the vegetables are cooked, the fluid will thicken, but will ultimately evaporate. Adding in the pan fluids like water or orange juice has a steaming effect on the vegetables, which is not what you want in fried vegetables. Add in the pan various canned vegetables, like red kidney beans, chickpeas or lentils. Since these are already cooked, you can add them after the other vegetables have been cooking for a few minutes. Throw away the liquid from the can because it contains (more) microparticles from the material of the can (either metal or plastic). If possible, rinse the food with water. Personal variant (per person): red kidney beans / chickpeas / lentils (canned), large bell pepper, medium kohlrabi / beetroot, small onion. Total vegetables: 700...900 g (25...32 oz). Cooking: 15 minutes at power 12, in a 28 cm (11 in) non-stick pan. Frozen vegetables have to be cooked 10...15 minutes, depending on their size. The "output" of beetroot will be red, so you should not worry that you're bleeding.
EggsFollow the steps from the section Cooking in a pan. If you're making scrambled eggs, put the eggs in a bowl, add seasoning and whisk the eggs. You can add (in the bowl) fermented cheese which doesn't melt. There are types of cheese that you can put in the pan from the beginning, which will barely melt, like white hard cheese. If you want to add fresh vegetables (like bell pepper) to scrambled eggs, you can put them in the pan together with the eggs. You can also cook them first for a few minutes, then move them in the bowl with eggs, mix, and put the whole mix in the pan. Heat the pan at heating power 7 for 4 minutes; at power 9 heat it for 3 minutes. Once the pan is heated, put the eggs in the pan. Add seasoning over the eggs. Mint gives eggs a fresh, breakfast-like taste. You can add salt at any time, either at the beginning or at the end of cooking, with virtually the same result. Some people say it should be added only at the end, but my experiments don't show a difference (I'm using Himalayan salt). From time to time, at least if you cook at high heat, insert a spatula under the eggs and move them around the pan in order to ensure that the eggs don't stick to the pan and that the oil doesn't burn. If you don't stir the eggs in the pan (sunny-side-up eggs can't be stirred, but scrambled eggs can be), cook the eggs at power 7 for 8 minutes. For sunny-side-up eggs, let the eggs cook until the white becomes solid but the yolk is still liquid. A slightly liquid egg yolk is easier to eat and digest. If you prefer faster cooking, cook the eggs at power 9 for 3 minutes. Then, sunny-side-up eggs can be flipped over and cooked for 1 more minute; alternatively, you can use a spoon to move the hot oil from the pan over the eggs, but it's much more effort. Scrambled eggs are whisked with a spatula, so the eggs which are still liquid on the top can flow under the cooked eggs and cook. Once the cooking is finished, you can put on the eggs cheese which melts quickly, like the yellow-colored hard cheese; this will continue to melt even though the heat is off, because the eggs are still hot. You can add various vegetables that don't need to be cooked, like fresh tomatoes.
PastaHave ready 100...150 g (3.5...5.3 oz) of pasta, per person. It's that little because pasta is very satiating when combined with other foods, like cheese. When you decide what type of pasta to use, note that shell-shaped pasta is unlike any other type of pasta because each shell may trap moisture and other parts of food inside, like other shells, sauce or minced meat, making each shell like a small package. This is very interesting because the moisture makes oil / fats / sauce unnecessary and, for example, when several shells clump together, the texture becomes a bit firmer for the same amount of cooking. Get a pot that can contain all the pasta that you'll be cooking, and has some space left for the water to boil. For 2 portions, the pot's volume should be at least 2 liters / quarts. Put cold water in the pot. The water should more than cover the pasta because some of the water will evaporate. Put a lid on the pot and let the water boil at the highest power of the cooktop. Once the water starts to boil, turn the kitchen hood on in order to absorb the water vapors, and take the lid off the pot. When exposed to the colder air, the boiling will cool down for a few moments. Put the pasta in the pot. The pasta will absorb some heat from the water, so the boiling will reduce for a few seconds. After that, a foam will start to bubble up from the water and try to overflow from the pot, so you must reduce the heating power enough to stop the foaming, but keep the water boiling. I use power 12 or 13, depending on how the water is boiling (which, oddly enough, depends on the type of used pasta). Add seasoning in the pot, especially salt. Mint gives pasta a fresh, breakfast-like taste. Some seasoning will make the water foam and bubble up, so be ready to stir it in order to slightly reduce the temperature of the water (or temporarily reduce the heating power). The pasta will absorb a bit of the seasoning; for example, salt will make the pasta taste a bit salty. Most seasoning will remain in the water, so the amount of seasoning has to be quite high. If you want all the seasoning to be served with the pasta then put it in a sauce. For fine salt, add about half of a teaspoon per liter / quart of water. For coarse salt, add about three-quarters of a teaspoon. For Himalayan coarse salt, add about a teaspoon, because it's less salty than table / sea salt. Some types of cheese are so salty that you don't need to add any salt for seasoning. You should keep the water boiling for at least the amount of time specified on the pasta package. Personally, I find that the time from the package always produces severely undercooked pasta, so, for example, if the package says to cook them for 7...8 minutes, I cook them for 15; the time from the package is probably for cooking at the maximum heating power (which requires a very large pot to keep the roiling water in). From time to time, stir the pasta in order to keep it from sticking to the pot's bottom. Be extremely careful when you (slowly) pour the pasta into a colander to drain the water! The water was just boiling and will splash in the direction in which you pour it, so pour it away from yourself and away from other people and pets! Make sure to have everything ready to eat because the pasta will cool very quickly once it's out of the boiling water. To blunt negative effect of a large amount of carbohydrates, in particular the refined ones, like a massive insulin rise, add a significant amount of fat, like extra virgin olive oil or fermented cheese, or pickles in vinegar.
Pike fish eggsFisherman recipe for (pike) fish eggs, refined by my mother. Ingredients: 100 grams (3.5 oz) of fish eggs, 100 grams (3.5 oz) of oil, 1 teaspoon of vinegar (average wine vinegar), lemon juice squeezed from a quarter of a lemon, water (only if the fish eggs are too viscous), a small onion. In the original recipe, the oil is canola oil because (my mother said that) its taste is more neutral. Using less oil than what is specified is not recommended. Place the fish eggs in a soup plate (because of its depth). Using a fork, softly move the fish eggs around to find the threads and other abnormal things that have to be removed. It's easier to work with a large fork. Add the vinegar in the fish eggs and softly mix it in. Add oil, little by little, while you continue to mix the fish eggs. If the fish eggs are too viscous, add a tablespoon of water. When all the oil is in the fish eggs, cut the onion very finely and mix it in the fish eggs. The fish eggs can be served spread on (toast) bread. The entire preparation and serving is meant to offset the fatty nature of the prepared fish eggs. Personally, I eat about half of the resulted fish eggs, with 100 grams (4 slices) of (toast) bread, although that is too fatty for most people. Because they are eaten raw, fish eggs must be preserved with salt for a minimum of two weeks in order to destroy any bacteria they may contain. The row should be taken out of the refrigerator one hour before they are prepared, to be at room temperature. If the fish eggs are cold then the oil must be cold too; the plate should also be cold. While the fish eggs can be mixed the day before you eat them, the onion must be added at the time of eating. The mixing must be done in a single direction, not in both, and without interruption (other than that necessary to add the ingredients) from the moment the preparation begins. This recipe makes very high density fish eggs compared to store bought prepared fish eggs (where a lot more oil is used). The type of fish eggs is critical for the quality of the result. You can see this before you prepare them. For example, pike fish eggs have little interstitial matter and this makes them look and taste very well defined. On the other hand, carp fish eggs have a lot of interstitial matter and this makes them look and taste mushier and fattier.
Tools to useOne or two pans with a 25...28 cm (10...11 in) diameter. While you don't necessarily need the space for eggs, you need it for vegetables and meat. You can start with a single pan. A pot with a volume of 3...4 liters / quarts. One or two chopping boards of 45 * 30 cm (18 * 12 in) each, made of soft wood (to reduce the wear of knives). You can work with slightly smaller ones. You can start with a single board. A chef's knife with an 18 cm (7 in) blade. Learn to cut vegetables with the rocking method. Spatula. Vegetable peeler, the vertical kind (with a blade perpendicular on the handle).
Various tipsDon't use too many types of vegetables in one meal. Focus on making the vegetables and the meat taste as good as possible. When you add seasoning to the food which is in a hot pan or pot, you expose the spoon with seasoning (or the seasoning itself) to hot water vapors, and if you reuse that spoon to get more seasoning from a seasoning jar, that jar will get wet inside. So, before you put the seasoning on the food, gather it all elsewhere, like in a small cup. In pans that have a non-stick coating, use silicone tools (not stainless-steel tools because they can scratch the non-stick layer). Food fragments stick to plastic / nylon, but not to silicone, when used in pans with sizzling oil. Silicone is also more resilient than plastic / nylon. Seasoning to try: salt, lime / lemon juice, herbes de Provence, peppercorn (powder), (granulated) garlic, coriander, ginger (powder), dill, parsley, dry mint, chili. Mint works with spicy foods too. The smell of fresh mint is too strong for most food. Put all seasoning in a small cup, and mix it. Be careful with store bought seasoning. For example, most powder seasoning contain around 50% salt. Why? Because similar seasoning but without the salt is twice the price. The problem is that the salt makes it impossible to adjust the flavor with more seasoning, since the amount of salt is proportionally increased. Also, make sure they don't contain food additives and preservatives because they are not required and don't improve anything for you. Dry seasoning, like the store bought ones, have a less intense smell than fresh seasoning.
SleepIn order to allow the body to regenerate to the maximum extent possible, and to maximize your level of energy during the day, you should follow the advice below. Eat light in the evening, preferably with several hours before going to sleep. In the evening, avoid eating a significant amount of vegetables, fruits and foods that contain refined carbohydrates (especially sugar), because fiber and carbohydrates cause gas, so abdominal pressure, and water, which creates pressure that has to be eliminated during the night. Go to sleep before midnight, else various hormones won't get a chance to act and fat will be deposited easier. The bedroom should be as dark as possible. Any (night) light in the first part of the night will block the production of various hormones, which will restrict the body's ability to regenerate. Noise will have a similar effect. Ideally, you should sleep as much as your body needs to wake up without an alarm clock (or any noise). Wake up early, once sunlight becomes strong. Expose yourself to strong sunlight as soon as possible. For even better results, expose yourself to clean, fresh and slightly cold air as soon as possible. An agitated sleep or the lack of dreams could be indicating that you are stressed, and this means that your body, especially your brain, can't fully regenerate. A restless and unsatisfactory sleep may make you look frowny in the morning. If you like to read books before sleep, read this.
How long to sleepWhen it comes to food, the general advice is to not rely on feeling fine, but rather eat according to the nutrition advice of the day, because you could have a heart attack at any time even if you feel fine. But when it comes to sleep, the advice is that you can sleep for a short time so long as you feel fine. Isn't that funny? Yet, this is the best we can do. If you wake up because of an alarm clock (or any noise), or because of artificial light, it means that your body doesn't have the opportunity to regenerate to the maximum extent, and the effects will be visible after years or decades. It doesn't matter that you can sleep for 6 hours and feel fine. Elsewhere, you'll hear things that confuse you, because some people, including researchers, don't (want to) understand the difference between what people can afford to do and what is healthier to do. This is why you'll hear claims like "this is how people used to sleep". The fact that people used to sleep interrupted, and in an environment which was noisy and which was not dark (they were sleeping under Moonlight), simply means that was all that people could afford to do, not that it's what the body needs. Also, the fact that some people sleep with their TV on, simply means that people use the TV to drown the environmental noise, not that the body needs some noise. Also, the fact that some people dislike sleeping in an absolutely quiet environment simply means people know and fear that some environmental sounds will disrupted their sleep, not that the body needs some noise. Some people feel more tired, even have headaches, if they sleep for 8 hours instead of 6.5 hours, and they mistakenly believe that this means that it's better to sleep 6.5 hours. But this is a wrong interpretation of what is happening. The brain can go through multiple cleaning cycles during sleep / night, during which it flushes out the trash that has been produced inside the brain during the day. The problem is that if such a cycle is interrupted, tiredness and headaches will follow. This is similar to trying to stop peeing while in the middle of peeing, when something startles you. However, if the brain wakes up between cycles, there is no such problem. At the same time, if there are fewer cleaning cycles, the brain won't be as clean as it could be, and the effects of the accumulation of the trash in the brain will manifest years or even decades later. So, while for some people it may be better to sleep for 6.5 hours instead of 8, it could be healthier to sleep for up to 9 hours instead of 6.5. From personal experience, I can say that sleeping less than 6 hours, even for a single night, is catastrophic for the brain. How much you should sleep depends on the time of day when you go to sleep, the time of day when you wake up, and how many cleaning cycles the brain goes through. Sleeping more time than your body needs doesn't mean that more brain cleaning cycles will occur. If you were to sleep in a dark and quiet room, away from regular life's stress, and you didn't have to wake up during the night to pee, and you didn't have any illness keeping you from sleeping, and no alarm clock were to wake you up, how long would you sleep? That's how much sleep you really need. The inability to sleep that long every day doesn't change the way biology works.
Health testsThe following blood tests should be performed in the morning, before 10 AM. Don't eat (or drink anything other than water) for at least 10 hours (preferably 12) before the blood sample is drawn. Don't take multivitamin supplements for at least 48 hours (/ 2 days) before the blood sample is drawn. The reference values below are orientative only, for adults, and may vary based on age, gender, ethnicity, time of day and lab used to perform the test. The test report should contain the proper reference values or risk factor. The top limit of the reference values below are set so as to include people who have mild health problems, so getting a value at the top limit doesn't mean "healthy", it means "average". If the results of the tests are outside of the specified range of values, the diet may be causing health problems, meaning that it may also be possible to correct it through diet. To convert from mg/dL to mmol/L, divide the specified value with 18.
Evaluating cardiovascular riskBlood pressure (at rest; can be done at home):
Heart rate (at rest; can be done at home). Should be = 60...90 beats per minute; rates as low as 40 are common in healthy people, at rest. Blood tests:
Combined rules for decreased risk:
Combined rules for increased risk:
If you're trying to optimize your diet to reduce cardiovascular risk, take into consideration the results of all the tests and combined rules, not just one result. One result which is out of the recommended range may not necessarily indicate a high risk, but several of them will surely do.
Evaluating general riskCortisol. Should be = 5...25 mcg/dL. Evaluates stress response, adrenal gland function. Lipid profile. Contains: DHA, EPA, O3 (Omega 3), O6 (Omega 6), AA (Arachidonic Acid), and more. Should be O6 / O3 = 3...5, AA / EPA = 2.5...11. Evaluates cell membrane fluidity. Monocytes (absolute count). Should be = 200...800 / mcL. Evaluates inflammation. IGF1 (Insulin-like Growth Factor). Reference range varies based on age; for 50 year old people should be around 120 ng/ml. Evaluates cancer risk, but uncertain. Dairy fermentation reduces the IGF1 which is normally present in milk. Fasting glucose. Should be = 70...100 mg/dL. Evaluates insulin resistance. Fasting insulin. Should be < 10 mcU/mL. Evaluates insulin resistance. HbA1c (Glycated Hemoglobin). Should be < 5.7%. Evaluates diabetes risk. ALT (Alanine Amino Transferase). Should be = 7...40 U/L for men, and = 7...35 U/L for women. Evaluates liver function. GGT (Gamma Glutamyl Transferase). Should be < 55 U/L for men, and < 38 U/L for women. Evaluates liver and bile ducts function. Uric acid. Should be = 3.5...7.2 mg/dL, and = 2.6...6.0 mg/dL for premenopausal women. Evaluates kidney function. Creatinine. Should be = 0.6...1.2 mg/dL for men, and = 0.5...1.1 mg/dL for women. Evaluates kidney function. Testosterone (for men). Reference range varies based on age; for 50 year old men should be around 500 ng/mL. Cadmium. Should be < 2 ng/mL. Evaluates poisoning with cadmium. Mercury. Should be < 10 ng/mL. Evaluates poisoning with mercury. Lead. Should be < 10 mcg/dL. Evaluates poisoning with lead. Arsenic, inorganic only. Should be < 13 ng/mL. Evaluates acute poisoning with arsenic. Arsenic can be detected in blood within maximum 2 days after ingestion / exposure. Arsenic in urine evaluates chronic poisoning.
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