This Week in Low Carb News: What Causes Heart Attacks and Cancer?

By Aarn Farmer
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Every week I come across a bunch of articles I want to tweet about and comment on and every week I run out of time to do it. This is my attempt to clear out the open tabs on my browser by putting them all in one place. Enjoy!

What causes a heart attack? – I thought the most interesting aspect of this article was the discussion of rapid weight loss as a risk factor in heart attacks. Our fat acts as a reservoir of toxins that can be released into the body when we lose fat. Remember that the best weight loss is gradual and the result of lifestyle change, not from radical surgeries or starvation.

Alcohol increases risk of cancer – Whoa. Absolutely fascinating article on the links between alcohol and cancer. I would definitely suggest you read this.

People aren’t born with a taste for fat, they learn it. – Dumb article predicated on the idea that fat is bad. Humans don’t have to learn to enjoy fat, we have to have it drilled into our heads that fat is bad until we start avoiding it with terrible consequences.

New Diabetes Canada Dietary Guidelines allow for low carb option – The long slow crawl to LCHF continues. Not too fast though because if they just said LCHF fixes everything, then people would wonder why they were told to avoid fat for all those decades and start suing on behalf of all those dead relatives.

Vegetarian Protein is just as complete as meat based protein – Uggh! Another terrible brick in the wall of vegan propaganda using terrible science and dietary silliness. Put down your whey and pea protein and eat a steak the way nature intended.

Chimps Eat Baby Monkey Brains First – Disturbing image I know but it backs up the hypothesis that the thing that made us Homo Sapiens is meat consumption, especially organ and brain meat.

What is in wholewheat bread? – Turns out mostly soya flour.

Link between NSAIDS and Heart Attacks – Is there anything that won’t kill us? Oh yeah, meat.

Plastic in Take Out – Read this and you will want to cook at home a lot more.

The Germs that Love Diet Soda – Pretty uncomfortable reading this while drinking my Coke Zero.

Killing for Profit – Love Dr Fung. He’s not pulling any punches.

Interview with Dr Aseem Maholtra – Relevant part starts at 8 minutes and continues on for about 30 minutes. The UK is instituting a sugar tax and Dr Malholtra fields questions from the public. Pretty interesting.

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What is Sugar Free and Keto Friendly at Panera Bread?

By Aarn Farmer
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We are continuing our look at What’s Sugar Free and Keto Friendly at Restaurants with a look at Panera Bread. Panera is a lot like Subway in that all the ingredients are separate so the best thing to do is order a salad and piece meal the ingredients you want together. The real tragedy here is that none of the soups are low carb but if you looking for the lowest carb option, the broccoli cheese cup has 19g of carbs and 4g of sugar.

Panera has done us the service of posting both sugar and carb counts for everything on their menu for which I am very grateful and wish more restaurants did. Unfortunately, the carb counts are for the full meal, bread included so subtracting out the sugar and carbs from the bread requires a bit of math but I’m reasonably confident in the list below. Also, every single salad dressing has a PUFA base and I don’t see olive oil as an option so you may have to compromise a bit here. Just use your best judgment but the Greek and Caesar dressings are both very low in both sugar and carbs.

Let’s take a look at what is Sugar Free and Keto Friendly at Panera Bread!

Breakfast

Ham
Bacon
Sausage
Scrambled Eggs
Cheese
Cream Cheese

Lunch/Dinner

Bacon
Turkey
Avocado
Chicken
Cheddar
Swiss
Ham
Steak
Lettuce
Tomato

Specialty Drinks

Plum Ginger Hibiscus Tea
Iced Tea
Iced Coffee
San Pellegrino

Salad Dressing

Greek Dressing
Caesar Dressing

The good news here is that it looks like you can eat pretty well here without much difficulty which is impressive considering they actually have the word “Bread” in the name. Do you have something I can add to the list? Please let me know in the comments below!

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This Week in Low Carb News: Autoimmune Diseases Helped by Metabolic Therapies and Splenda is Bad For You!

By Aarn Farmer
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Artificial Sweeteners Impact Metabolic Health on Cellular Level – The article is a bit misleading because the only sweetener studied was Sucralose (Splenda, or the Yellow stuff) but it showed a detrimental impact on health at the cellular level. The money quote: “At a cellular level, those who consumed sucralose experienced increased glucose uptake, inflammation, and adipogenesis” so for those of us specifically using the ketogenic diet to lose weight and reduce inflammation, it would appear that using Splenda would put us at cross purposes.

To treat immune illnesses, researchers are probing drugs that could starve troublemaker cells – So great to see articles discussing the metabolic root of most autoimmune issues. The money quote: “Potentially, all immunologic diseases are targets for metabolic therapy”. We even get a mention of Otto Warburg so the authors actually did some research on the history of the issue.

In the Battle for the American West, the Cowboys are Losing – A very interesting article showing why we have so many problems finding grass-fed beef and why it is so expensive. The crazy thing here is the “environmentalists” upset at these cows that destroy the landscape by eating the grass and defecating but no mention of how incredibly helpful to the environment and especially the topsoil it is to have ruminants graze land. When the only other viable option is factory farming that has huge detrimental impact on the environment, you would think people would be championing the cause of letting cows graze as nature intended but I guess not.

Still Buying Kibble? Please Heed This Safety Warning – An article about how to best care for your dog if you are still buying kibble but the best food for your dog is no kibble at all. Remember, your dog is an evolved wolf and their best diet is meat. If you are on a ketogenic diet, your dog (or cat) should pretty much be eating what you eat. Lots of fatty meat.

Man Loses 300 Lbs on Low Carb Diet – Such an awesome story about a gut that had to be evacuated and saw people unable to get a seat on the transport because he was so fat. That inspired him to lose 326 lbs with a low carb diet. Having lost 200 lbs myself, I know how hard he worked to do this. Way to go man!

Risk of Death in UK – Awesome graph showing the risk of death of many different ways to die. Biggest RIsk? Preventable medical injuries in hospitals. Easiest way to avoid that? Stay out of hospitals. Easiest way to do that. Stop eating sugar, grains and vegetable oils and eat more fat.

Coca Cola’s War on Science – To the surprise of no one, Coca Cola has been caught trying to manipulate public opinion on sugar.

Nutritional Ketosis and Mitohormesis: Potential Implications for Mitochondrial Function and Human Health – Awesome study on how a ketogenic diet reduces stress on mitochondria by reducing the amount of ROS production.

Can a Keto Diet Slow the Growth of Breast Cancer? – Yes. Yes it can. Just a quick plug for an awesome book about cancer, Tripping Over the Truth. You should definitely read it.

Effects of periodontitis on the colon microbiome – If your teeth and gums are bad, your overall health is sure to follow.

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How Do I Stay Keto When Traveling?

By Aarn Farmer
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As we continue our look at Ketogenic FAQs, I thought it was time to discuss one of the most common ones. If I had a dime every time someone asked me about how to stay keto when traveling, I would be a very wealthy man. Fortunately, this is not a very difficult question because there are a lot of way to stay success even when you aren’t at home. So let’s look at easy ways to stay keto when traveling!

Pick a Hotel Room with a Kitchenette

It makes life a lot easier if you can cook your own food so try to get a little kitchenette or at the very least a microwave and minifridge. If you get one with a stove, you can cook eggs, bacon, steak or even steam a few veggies. If only a microwave, you can still make eggs and bacon, but you will need a way to discard the bacon grease. Probably the easiest thing to do is just to buy a couple rotisserie chickens and bagged salads and eat that.

Drink Lots of Water

Getting your body’s natural thirst craving confused with a hunger pang is a common problem with keto-ers. Be sure you are staying hydrated, especially when you start to feel hungry. here are some additional reasons to drink water on keto.

Take Time to Destress

I know, the whole point of a vacation is supposed to be an opportunity to destress be sometimes it just doesn’t work out that way. You spend so much time running around that you constantly pumping out Cortisol which drives higher levels of blood sugar and hunger signals. Do some deep breathing and possibly some stretching every day to keep your stress in check. Here’s more info on Stress and the Ketogenic Diet.

Consider Fasting

Want to increase ketone levels and reduce calories? There’s no better way to do that than fasting. the easiest way to do that is to skip breakfast. Or maybe you go a full day? Just do what feels right for you. Here is some more info on Intermittent Fasting.

Use Fat Coffee or Tea to Skip a Meal

Don’t want to skip breakfast? Throw some heavy whipping cream in your coffee and it will act as a meal replacement. It’s lowish in calories and will keep you satisfied until lunch. Here is more info on Fat Coffee.

Research what Restaurants are in the Area

Don’t go in blind. Know what’s around where you are going to be and what they serve. I have found steak restaurants are best but burger places are good also. Just know what’s in the area or in the hotel and decide before hand what you will do. Your hotel might offer a shuttle service as well so ask what restaurants are in the radius of the shuttle. Here are some tips on what to look for in restaurants.

Research Local Grocery Stores

This works best if you got a hotel room with a kitchenette but if you did, figure out what you will need to do to get to a grocery store or meat market. Again, rotisserie chickens work great for this or you can get cold cuts and cheese or even pre-boiled eggs.

Meal Prep

If you have some tupperware, fill them with food from home and take it with you, Making up some hamburger patties or grilled chicken works great for this. Here’s how to Meal Plan and Prep.

Commit to the Win

Perhaps the best tip is to absolutely committed to sticking to this way of eating. Nothing is worse than getting home and discovering you gained 10 lbs so commit yourself to sticking with it. Here’s more info on the mindset you need to win.

Do you have any other tips? Let me know in the comments below!

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