Brain Tumour Shrinks on Program Testimonial

October 3rd 2011
The other day I went to my neuro-oncologist to get my bi-annual MRI as I
have a brain tumor that was discovered in 2001. Do you know what she said to
me, the tumor had remarkably shrunk. It is a benign tumor but it has
actually shrunk. I remember Bee, telling me that my tumor would shrink but I
didn't think that it would actually happen as quickly as it did. I have been
on the diet for about 3 months now. My MRI shows a considerable between the
most recent tumor and the previous one. I am so floored that for all of
those who are non-believers in the importance of diet in the acquisition of
good health, all they have to do is just look at my MRI's.

Thanks again,
Christine





March 23rd 2012
I just got back from my Neuro-oncologist who told me that remarkably my
brain tumor has shrunk but again. She told me that she's even going to
undertake a study on the ketogenic diet and brain tumors because of the
progress that my tumor has made.

Christine
15 months on program and shrinking

To Eat Dairy or Not to Eat Dairy that is the Question

The Goodness of Butter and Cream
  
Grass fed animal butter contains the X factor vitamin, vitamin K2. The indication of the Vitamin K2 content is the colour.   The butter should be dark yellow and the cream should have a yellowish tinge 





Butter is also a very good source of vitamin A.  Vitamin A is much better absorbed than Carotene which need converting first within the body to Retinnol (Vitamin A).  Caratenoids come from most vegetables not just the orange ones, as so widely believed.  It takes a lot for the body to convert Carotene to the readily usable vitamin A (Retinol) especially when the body has some common health conditions. 
A study was done on lactating women supplying them with dark leafy greens in an amount which was to believed to be giving them three times the recommended amount of vitamin A.  These women did not improve vitamin A status but instead it left them with a vitamin A deficiency.
In another study it was demonstrated that eating more Carotenoids actually reduces the amount that is being converted to Vitamin A.
I recommend that we get our vitamin A from other sources than vegetables as we do need quite a lot of this amazing vitamin.  Vitamin A is also found in organ meats and egg yolks.
If taking vitamin A as a supplement always include vitamin D and K2.
The other great thing about grass fed dairy is a very important fat which is conjugated linoleic acid which is an anti tumour agent.

The Problems of Dairy
There are three problems with dairy products.  The first one is 
Lactose the milk sugar, the second in Casein the milk protein and the fact it raises insulin levels very fast.
Lactose
Lactose is problem or intolerance caused by simply a lack of an enzyme called Lactase.  About half the population of the world can tolerate lactose as they continue to create Lactase into adulthood, but in the other half Lactose causes bloating and other symptoms.  
The good news is that heavy cream and butter have very low lactose levels and probably will not cause much of a problem.  
Casein
Then there is Casein.  It turns out that the Casein in dairy produces a Casamorphine which creates opioid peptides in the brain.  This gives a feeling of euphoria for a while until you need to get your next fix.  The process of making yogurt creates even more of these opiates.
This explains the downright teariness every time I have gone off dairy.  
It's a good idea to not have to give up dairy more than once so be sure you are healed completely before reintroducing cream and butter.  You really don't want to go through those withdrawal symptoms twice or more.
Four casein proteins make up about 80% of the protein in cow's milk. One of the major caseins is beta-casein, of which there are several types, but "A1" and "A2" are the most common.
It is possible though that the casein in A2 Dairy does not produce these opioid peptides.
In those with Intestinal Permeability cannot tolerate either A1 or A2 until they have healed their gut issues.
Gluten problems will cause Casein problems
If we have a gluten problems then we will more than likely have a Casein problem.  The Gluten causes the leaky gut syndrome and then casein becomes a problem too as it so closely resembles the Gluten protein and the body then sees the casein as a threat as well.
I say this because I believe that casein would not be a problem for us if it wasn't for gluten starting the trouble, after all we had casein in our mothers milk when we were babies.
Insulin Problems with eating Dairy
Cheese and milk causes insulin spikes.  Surprisingly it is not because of the lactose but a particular protein found in the dairy.  
This is not a good thing when we have problems in any way with insulin resistance.  This is the very thing that we are trying to avoid when we go low carbohydrate.  So even though milk contains a lot of fat for some reason it has a bad affect on the glycemic load in the body, similar to refined grains.
Eating cream and butter have not got the same problem as they have very little protein.
What's the best dairy:  Sheep, Goat orcow's milk
 Relative lipid composition in sheep, goat and cow milk in relation to the composition of human milk = 100%

	Sheep	Goats	Cow
Saturated fatty acids	229	133	103
C4:0 butyric	2000	1300	1100
C6:0 caproic	1400	900	600
C8:0 caprylic	1400	1000	400
Cl0:0 capric	800	520	150
C12:0 lauric	96	48	36
C14:0 myristic	213	103	110
C16:0 palmitic	176	99	96
C18:0 stearic	310	152	138
Monounsaturated FA	104	67	58
C16:1 palmitoleic	100	62	62
C18:l oleic	105	66	57
Polyunsaturated FA	62	30	24
C18:2 linoleic	49	30	22
C18:3 linolenic	260	80	100
MCT-FA C6:0-C12:0	288	178	84
Compared to other milk  the  45%  of the fatty acids in Sheep milk  are Mono or  Polyunsaturates closer resembling our own fat makeup and the fat in Human milk.  It contains a higher portion of short and medium chain fatty acids, which have recognized health benefits. For example, short-chain fatty acids make milk easier to digest.   Recent studies show high levels of Conjugated Linoleic Acid and omega 3 (Collomb et al.,2006) are found in Sheep Milk.

Sheep milk is highly nutritious, richer in vitamins A, B, and E, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, and magnesium than cows milk.
Sheep milk has a much higher quantity of Medium Chain Triglycerides, (MCT's).  MCT's create Ketones in the body are a much more preferable form of fuel for the brain.   This would be a very good reason to have Sheep milk products over Cows. 
The casein found in sheep milk may not cause as much problems for people with problems with cow casein.
Goat's is the next best milk to ingest.
Of course raw and grass fed would be the best.


Should I or shouldn't I  eat them then?
I will have to leave it up to you to make your decision on whether to eat dairy products. 
If you have leaky gut definitely make sure this is healed before eating any dairy products.
 I suggest going off dairy completely for 1 month and then reintroduce them back into your diet and see if you get any symptoms.  You don't know what the symptoms of eating dairy are until you have been off it for a full month.  

How is Ian's Leg Healing?

Ian's leg was broken 10 long weeks ago.  His leg is still in a  support boot (after his rather special leg cast!) because it has been taking ages to heal. 
That's because as we found out he has bad Osteoporosis and when you have Osteoporosis you bones take much longer to heal.
  
Since we found out about his Osteoporosis we have learned so much about this disease and how, it is right now, affecting not only older people but people as young as 30 years.  
Neurosurgeon, Jack Kruse, attests to this as he operates on these people's spines when they crumble.  


Finally after taking the divine trio for the last three weeks,  Vitamin D, A and K2, and of course being on this program we are happy to say his leg in finally mending.  


And... the other great news is, when looking at this Xray, we saw a lot less arteriosclerosis in his leg.
This in only 3 weeks!  

Arteriosclerosis plaque is made of a mixture of calcium and oxidised LDL cholesterol.  LDL cholesterol becomes oxidised by eating too many polyunsaturated oils and not enough Omega 3's. 
When there is a lot of calcium floating around in the bloodstream, which occurs with a lack of Vitamin K2, then that calcium binds with the oxidised LDL's and causes Arteriosclerosis.

Study on Fermentation of Grains Reducing Gut Inflammation

Well lo and behold a study has been done on fermented non gluten grains on Celiac sufferers and guess what?  They have found the inflammation in the guts of Celiacs from those grains has been greatly reduced by the process of that fermentation.  That means that all grains are a problem for Celiac sufferers not just the ones with gluten.

Even when fermented there is still some inflammation but it's not so bad.  

Of course Celiac sufferers already have a lot of damage done already from eating gluten so their guts are already compromised but this doesn't mean the average leaky gut sufferer doesn't also have problems with inflammation from grains. Of course they do and it doesn't get better by eating grains it will only get worse. 

So reducing the inflammation is great but better still, just get rid of those grains.

Eur J Nutr. 2012 Feb 4. [Epub ahead of print]

The sourdough fermentation may enhance the recovery from intestinal inflammation of coeliac patients at the early stage of the gluten-free diet.

Calasso M, Vincentini O, Valitutti F, Felli C, Gobbetti M, Di Cagno R.

Source

Department of Biologia e Chimica Agro-Forestale ed Ambientale, University of Bari, 70126, Bari, Italy.

Abstract

PURPOSE:

This study aimed at investigating the effect of corn, rice and amaranth gluten-free (GF) sourdoughs on the release of nitric oxide (NO) and synthesis of pro-inflammatory cytokines by duodenal mucosa biopsies of eight coeliac disease (CD) patients.

METHODS:

Selected lactic acid bacteria were used as starters for the manufacture of corn, rice or amaranth sourdoughs. Chemically acidified doughs, without bacterial starters, and doughs started with baker's yeast alone were also manufactured from the same GF matrices. Pepsin-trypsin (PT) digests were produced from all sourdoughs and doughs, and used to assay the rate of recovery of biopsy specimens from eight CD patients at diagnosis. The release of NO and the synthesis of pro-inflammatory cytokines interferon-γ (IFN-γ) were assayed.

RESULTS:

During fermentation, lactic acid bacteria acidified and grew well (ca. log 9.0 CFU/g) on all GF matrices, showing intense proteolysis. Duodenal biopsy specimens still released NO and IFN-γ when subjected to treatments with basal medium (control), PT-digest from chemically acidified doughs and PT-digest from doughs fermented with baker's yeast alone. On the contrary, the treatment of all the biopsy specimens with PT-digests from all GF matrices subjected to sourdough fermentation significantly decreased the release of NO and the synthesis of IFN-γ.

CONCLUSIONS:

During manufacture of GF baked goods, the use of sourdough fermentation could be considered as an adjuvant to enhance the recovery from intestinal inflammation of coeliac patients at the early stage of the gluten-free diet.

PMID:

 

22307223

 

[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Are You A Eat to LIve or Live to Eat Kind of Person?

I certainly know I have been a Live to Eat (and drink)  kind of person.  
Changing over to a Eat to Live person has been an interesting (to say the least) experience.
I realised I actually needed to find my passion to fill my need for meaning instead of using food for that purpose.
Wow! and yikes!
How did I find my passion?   Well truth be told I am still finding it.  I think it is an ongoing odyssey.  A long journey yes, but a journey that's turning out to be very interesting.


What do you do when you aren't thinking of what you are going to have at your next meal?
First I self soothe.  I tell myself that I can find satisfaction in other places.  
Actually sex has become  much more important!  And actually much more enjoyable.  I don't know whether it's because I feel healthier but orgasms has become a thing of wonder!  I don't remember ever feeling this way before.  One reason, I'm sure, is my hormonal system is now much much healthier.  Not having the food thing has definitely heightened my senses.


Going out was always about going for a meal or to have a coffee or have an alcoholic drink.
 It's certainly not impossible to go out for a meal as long as you pick the right restaurant and order only the meat and above ground vegetables.  Try and make sure you get enough fat in your meal to make sure you are full and won't go an order a dessert to fill up.  You could ask for some extra virgin olive oil or bring some butter or ghee to put on yourself. Of course your drink will be mineral water not wine. 
Going out for a coffee can be more problematic.  You will have to order a decaf without milk.
This probably won't get your yaya going like it used to do in the caffeinated coffee days.  I really haven't found an answer for this yet.


Finding Our Passion
What's my passion and therefore meaning at the moment?
Getting the message about this program out to all of you wonderful people.
Discovering how food can either rule my life or I can be the captain!


I think the way we have been eating has caused so much problems on a chemical level within our bodies that we haven't been able to evolve as a species.  I think we stopped evolving about 10,000 years ago.  We certainly keep making the same mistakes again and again and never seem to learn anything from our history.  What's the use of history unless we see the mistakes and stop repeating them?  

10 Steps to Make Change Really Happen

Here are 10 steps to make change really happen in our eating habits.
For me the first 4 months on this program were hard. I am not going to kid you that it was easy.  After those 4 months it was a lot easier and after a year it was really easy.
Every one is different in the way they react to this program depending on what is physically wrong with them. Often people will have healing reactions and blame the foods they are eating and so will go back to eating their old high carbohydrate diet.
And yes....they will feel a lot better for a bit, but this is because the healing reactions have now been interrupted by the carb food.  
The trouble is they will still be left with the same chronic health problems.
The Ten Steps to Changing the Way We Eat
1.  It's easier to add a new behaviour than to stop an old one.  Cold turkey works but it is hard.
We could go cold turkey, some people do and it works for them.  They usually have strong motivation, for instance a lot of pain they just can't live with any more.
We could just try eating more coconut oil and some eggs or meat with every meal to begin with.  
The more fat we eat the less likely we will want to eat so many carbs.
Next knock out any form of sugar, be it honey, agave or just sugar.  And then we will knock out gluten from our diet.  
Just take the beginning gradually.  We won't get much in the way of healing reactions with this method but by getting gluten and sugar out of our diet we will be relieving our system enormously from the addiction to these foods.
2.  Do single changes for a fixed time.  We don't want to overload our change muscles as they get tired and we will give up.
Give ourselves a time limit for, let's say, taking sugar out of our diet.  This may seem impossible but it's amazing how good a cup sugar free decaf tastes with some cream (if we aren't casein/lactose sensitive) in it especially when it becomes a treat!  We tell ourselves we will do this for 6 weeks.  It takes 21 day to change a habit, so 6 weeks should give us plenty of time to get this sugar free habit going.
3.  Baby Steps-  Remove guilt and failure
We don't want to set up ourselves for failure.  If we do small things for a set time and achieve them we will feel much better about ourselves.  Also when we slip we won't give ourselves a hard time, we will forgive and pick ourselves up and keep going.
4.  Chains of change
 Each step becomes a link in a chain  to changing our patterns of eating overall. 
5.  Create a trigger for new behaviours
  What habit have we already got that we can use to then remind us of the new habit that we want to achieve?  So maybe we think about having a dessert and then remember what we are doing and why we are doing it.  We envision ourselves healthy and happy with plenty of energy to do all the things we want to do.
6.  Measure the change.
Put up a calender and check off the days we have managed to do the change we wanted to do.
7. Never change alone.
Use this forum or a support group to make these changes in our diet.  We need others to encourage and remind us of what and why we are doing this program.  To tell us of their minor or major successes.  It really helps.
8. Never forget the sticks.
We need incentives to be high enough for us.
For some of us our health getting better may be plenty,  for others we might need to have a friend hold some money for us.  This is so that if we fail at the new habit we have set for ourselves, the friend will burn an agreed amount of our money for every slip.  There nothing like having money go up in smoke to give real incentive!
9. Change our environment
This one is easy.  Take out all the food from our pantry and fridge that is not part of this program and give it away (if our conscience allows) or throw it in the bin.  This is quite liberating but may take a few months before we can throw all that "good" food out.
Your pantry will look quite empty!  Most of you food you eat now is going to be in the refrigerator.
10. Change takes patience
We take a few steps forward and a few steps backward.  There will be times when we find this program really easy and others when we think there is just too much loss involved.  We need   to remember the times that we have found it easy and remember we will feel that that again.
We need to have patience with ourselves.  Slow incremental steps lead to big changes.  We need to give ourselves plenty of warm hugs and encouragement.