The carnivore diet is a dietary regimen that restricts food intake to animal products, primarily meat, and animal-derived products, while excluding plant-based foods. Advocates of the carnivore diet (I am one of them) claim that it provides numerous health benefits, such as weight loss, improved mental clarity, and relief from various health conditions. One common concern with diets that exclude plant foods, like the carnivore diet, is the potential risk of vitamin and nutrient deficiencies, including vitamin C. A well-rounded carnivore diet, including fatty meat and organs, should contain all of the nutrients we require. However, it is important to understand why people on a carnivore diet that includes organ meat should not need to worry about their vitamin C status.
Read MoreIf you have ever taken vitamin supplements, you might have noticed bright yellow urine afterward. It's natural to wonder which vitamin or vitamins are responsible for it, whether you're losing your vitamin investment, and if it's a sign of something wrong. This post will explain why it happens, what it means, and whether it's a cause for concern. I will also cover the normal and abnormal colors of urine.
Read MoreIn my post last week, I jokingly listed seven things that one could do to be unhealthy. However, I didn't want to leave it at that, so I also provided a list of seven things that can be done to maximize our health. All of the recommendations I made were related to lifestyle changes related to the ways our ancestors lived. The concept of incorporating ancestral behaviors such as proper sleep or whole foods diets universally embraced by our predecessors to achieve optimal health is known as the Ancestral Health Movement. Given the option, I would rather follow ancestral wisdom and reduce my chances of needing the care of a physician who may increase my chances of dying through error. This post will cover why I think ancestral medicine is a viable option for good health,
Read MoreLast week, I discussed the importance of taking charge of your own health and promised to provide tips for maintaining your well-being. Now, let's explore some habits that might lead to poor health. If you want to be unhealthy, make sure you…
Read MoreThe driving force behind our high-carbohydrate grain-based diet and aversion to meat goes back to the eighteen-hundreds. The story centers around the religiously driven temperance movement that later spawned a new religion that cornered the nutrition sciences and industry. This post covers some of the little-known history.
Read MoreHealth experts and doctors have long touted the benefits of grains, with rice being a particularly healthy option. They also caution against consuming too much fat, particularly saturated fat. In recent years, low-carb-high-fat diets like keto have gained popularity because they reverse high blood sugar and blood pressure and improve BMI. This has led many to question the traditional belief in high-grain, low-fat diets. According to the PURE study, there is a connection between the amount of fat and carbohydrates consumed, cardiovascular risk, and mortality. The results will surprise you.
Read MoreAfter repeated conversations with me, a close relative in his late 50s decided to try the carnivore diet. He immediately began to feel better than he had ever felt. The carnivore diet is ultra-low-carb, similar to the ketogenic diet, which often raises LDL and total cholesterol. He has lost 22 pounds, lowered his BMI from 25.8 (overweight) to 22.8 (normal), lowered his blood pressure from 110/70 to 100/66, has more energy, lowered his triglycerides from 106 to 71 (lower is better), raised his HDL from 47 to 79 (higher is better), lowered his VLDL by 1/3, rid himself of chronic foot and hip pain, and he has no more leg cramping. As we will see later in this post, these changes indicate inflammatory, metabolic, and cardiovascular health improvements.
At the same time, he raised his LDL from 69 to 192 and his total cholesterol from 137 to 285, which made his doctors panic. Later in this post, we will see that LDL levels below 105 cause twice the amount of death. Despite this, his doctors have ignored nine positive changes and stressed two that, as we will see in this post, have little relevance in their ability to predict cardiovascular disease. What kind of a world do we live in when doctors fret when their patients become healthier? Read on if you are curious.
Read MoreMost people, whether they consider themselves vegan, omnivores, or carnivores, will agree that processed food should be avoided. I have some bad news; plant-based meat is highly processed. It has gained a place in the market because of the bad press meat gets, none of which is deserved. Additionally, plant-based foods are promoted as the healthiest food choice. This post will discuss the processed nature of plant-based meat versus the benefit of including meat in our diet. I will only discuss three ingredients for brevity. I will conclude by explaining what JERM means.
Read MoreBrushing twice and flossing once daily is a smart idea if your diet contains processed carbohydrates. Toothpaste always comes along for the ride on our brushes. Did you ever stop and wonder how necessary it is? I have. I say no. I will explain my rationale in this post.
Read MoreI love concise quotes that convey deep wisdom. This post contains seven gems that could help change your mindset. Here they are in no particular order
Read MoreA recent study found that lean people's brains respond to nutrients differently than obese people. Specifically, the obese people's brains did not respond as quickly to the presence of nutrients. Sadly, when the obese people lost weight as part of the study, their brains still did not recognize they had eaten as quickly as the lean group, explaining why diets only result in temporary weight loss. I will go over the particulars of the study in this post and what it might mean in practical terms.
Read MoreI grew up on the shore, fishing on the bay and ocean, so I have always loved to eat seafood and spend time on the beach. I spent the Memorial Day weekend on a local barrier island and was surprised to see an oyster vending machine outside a market. We purchased a box, ate half of them raw, and cooked the other half on the grill. I had never seen anything like it and was very impressed with the concept. I eat oysters every chance I get, Oysters are one of the most nutrient-dense foods, and in this post, I will talk about the incredible oyster and why you should include them in your diet.
Read MoreI have always preferred the warmer months to the colder, darker ones. Since I was a teen, I noticed I had less energy in the cooler, darker months and was sleepier. A few decades later, I noticed that I became less lean in the cooler months. No one would notice my condition because my energy levels are adequate and the extra weight is minimal, but I can see the seasonal difference in my body composition. My energy increases, and my leanness returns when the days lengthen, and it gets warmer. My transition to my more energetic, leaner self took longer this year. As always, I looked for a reasonable explanation for why I tend to gain some winter season weight, and why it stayed longer this year. This post will cover a few reasons for seasonal body compositional transitions and factors that can alter the normal process.
Read MoreColostrum is something that many people are totally or partially unaware of. If you have heard of it, it may have only been because you or someone you know had a child and had to deal with lactation. Colostrum is the first yellowish fluid produced after childbirth. It is pure for about the first four days of lactation, and then it is slowly replaced by milk over several weeks. The early milk that still contains some colostrum is called transitional milk. All lactating mammals produce colostrum. Research has proven that pure colostrum promotes growth and health in all newborn mammals, including humans.
Bovine (from cows) colostrum is consumed by some traditional cultures and is becoming more popular as a supplement for its supposed health benefits. This post will cover what it is, what it does for newborn babies, and its use for adults.
Read MoreMicronutrients are the smaller building blocks, such as minerals and vitamins, we need to sustain life and have optimal function. Micronutrient deficiencies (MNDs) are quite common worldwide. Iron, iodine, folate, vitamin A, and zinc deficiencies are the most common MNDs. They are responsible for perinatal complications, poor growth in children, and increased mortality and morbidity. 1 They can be just as devastating to adults. This post will describe the deficiencies, their symptoms, and how to correct them.
Read MoreIt may surprise you, but I would not wish a denture on my worst enemy. This may seem hyperbolic, but it is accurate-I wish good health over less-than-perfect treatment for everyone. I make them, but I warn patients that as much as they can replace teeth and improve appearances and chewing, they have many pitfalls. I warn patients that they may appreciate appearing as if they have all of their teeth, but there will be a host of problems with them. In short, the best dentures in the world will still have numerous problems; they may marginally function as natural teeth. This post covers the good, bad, and ugly of dentures.
Read MoreWelcome to part five. The use of toothpicks is uniquely human. The famous dental anthropologist Peter Unger discovered tiny striations in teeth that could not be caused by chewing. He concluded that the marks could only have been caused by the overuse of toothpicks made of hard materials like bone. He also drew a parallel between tool use and the introduction of meat to humans' diets. Ungar said toothpick use is one of the first lines of evidence from the hominid fossil record that shows our genus consuming significant amounts of meat in the ancient past. Tooth picking likely served to remove food, especially meat, but it caused visible damage. To quote him, "Teeth are not well designed for eating meat, so our early ancestors had to use toothpicks." This post will cover the evidence and discuss the proper use of toothpicks.
Read MoreThe carnivore diet is based on eating animal-based foods as much as possible. In some of my previous posts, I have listed supporting evidence that we tolerate animal-based foods well. Our highly acidic stomachs, longer small intestines, and lack of a cecum are a few patterns we share with carnivorous-leaning mammals. Additionally, fat cells have two patterns: one indicating herbivory and one carnivory. It turns out that humans have the carnivorous pattern.
Read MoreMy father had been hospitalized several times recently and lost significant leg strength. Lately, he was put on hospice due to heart failure, and his legs ceased to be of any use after about two weeks. After living a great life, he sadly passed on March first, 2023, at 93, three days before his 94th birthday. He had a massive heart attack when he was about 52. His heart was so damaged they gave him poor odds of survival. They told him he would die young, even if he survived the next few weeks. They told him not to exert himself. He complied initially but then started lifting weights and walking. He regained his youthful vitality, which kept him alive for the next 42 years. One of his last lessons was about being confined to bed and its many downsides, even if it is sometimes unavoidable. This post is dedicated to him.
Read MoreAs part of patient care, I have conversations about the introduction of processed grains to our diets about 10,000 years ago and all the detrimental effects that came with it; tooth decay, gum disease, stunted growth, etc. I also discuss the introduction of industrially processed seed oils like corn, canola, and soy and their connection to heart disease, diabetes, obesity, inflammation, and more. A frequent response I hear is the phrase, "everything in moderation." I am unsure what they mean, and I wonder if they do either. I believe seeking moderation has risks. I suggest optimizing as a better approach to health. This post will cover the difference between the two and seven things we should optimize for health.
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