This Week in Low Carb News: Nitrites Might Be Healthy and How to Eat Healthy During Lent

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!

Gary Fettke diagnoses Billy Connelly’s Parkinson’s in Hotel Lobby – Fettke just saw this British comedian walking and from his gait, told him he might have Parkinson’s.  You know, as one does.  Pretty amazing story.  If you need a reminder, you can find my interview with Gary Fettke here.

Study on Obesity being transferred from obese mice to thin mice through fecal transplant recalled – Remember that study?  The one that implied that obesity was more a result of your gut microbiome rather than what you put in your mouth?  Turns out the data was falsified.  Don’t get me wrong, your gut microbiome is important but you don’t have to transplant your fecal matter to change it. (In most cases)  You can just cut out the processed carbs and sugar and focus more on the fats our ancestors ate.

Maybe Nitrites in meat don’t cause cancer – Most of us have heard that processed meat causes cancer and usually the finger is pointed at the nitrites but wait, that might not be the whole story.  There is at least some evidence that nitrites are actually healthy!  So what causes the correlation between processed meats and cancer?  Could it be that most processed meats contain added grains and sugars?  Yeah, probably.

Dietary Carbohydrates Impair Lifespan and Increase Mortality – Well, duh.  Not the best designed study in the world but interesting none the less.

How to Eat Well During an Orthodox Christian Lent – Love anything Chris Masterjohn puts out and am always interested in the intersection between faith and nutrition so this of course was a must read for me.  Very informative and helpful document to help navigate not just an Orthodox Lent but most meat-less fasts.

Surgery vs Placebo Surgery for Tennis Elbow compared – And holy cow, the placebo surgery was better for the patients.  This reminds me of the interview I did with Stuart McGill where he said he gives his patients “Virtual Surgery” where he makes them act like they had back surgery and undergo a lot of rest.  Maybe all these surgeries aren’t doing what we think they are doing and it’s just the downtime and rest after surgery that is actually repairing the issue.

Pre-op Keto diet improves outcome for bariatric patients – Man, oh man.  I’ve been screaming this for years.  Before you pay someone thousands of dollars to cut out part of your stomach or implant something that makes it difficult to eat, try the ketogenic diet.  You will get all the benefits of bariatric surgery with none of the downside.

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