Welcome to Diary of a Biohacker a biohacking blog for individuals interested in ways that they can improve their own well-being through changes in diet, introducing new breathing techniques and supplements.
Some of you may have heard or read about changes in peoples perception of what they view as a healthy diet, and in particular the role of fat. A report in The Guardian not so long ago, accused public health bodies of colluding with the food industry with regard to the role of fats play. It's now very difficult for many people to alter their mindset after decades of misleading information that has filled health clinics, been pushed by doctors and brainwashed parents into avoiding or minimalising saturated fats in their families diets. Most of you will be familiar with the food pyramid that has been pushed as the model for a healthy balanced diet, yet there was no concrete scientific evidence to back up a diet that recommends cereals, bread and rice as being the staple foods for us and our children.
Back in the 70's The American Heart Foundation hired a top market research professional Ancel keys to twist the facts and exclude statistics that didn't suit the results they wanted to achieve, suppressed, censored and withdrew funding from scientists who opposed the hypotheses that fats and more specifically saturated fats were bad for you. If you did consume fats, it was advised that they should be in the amounts recommended at the sharp end of the pyramid and that they should be those derived from vegetable or sunflower oils high in polyunsaturated fats.
The reason that these organizations were so aggressive in demonizing fats and oils back in the 70's had nothing to do with being in the best interest of the general public, it was more to do with increasing market share and profits for those industries providing them with funding. Even the oils that were classed as healthier fats were based on an industry's attempts to provide cheaply processed oils like partially hydrogenated oil, which The American Heart Foundation convinced the McDonald's food chain to switch to back in the early 1980's. The oil previously used was beef tallow, a far healthier saturated fat, with about 55% less trans fats than the processed oil they switched to.
Given what is known now, and the way in which industries manipulated data and twisted the facts to line their own pockets, I'm surprised that there hasn't been more of a backlash from those who have sufferered as a consequence of this scam, which was to convince the American public that their best interests were being considered. There was even a marketing campaign to demonise imported coconut oil, which was born out of fear of US manufacturers losing market share. Most you will already know the health benefits of coconut oil, and if you don't, it has anti-viral, anti-bacterial properties and contains lauric acid, which is found in mothers milk. It has been known reduce viral loads in HIV patients and there is a book called Coconut Cures, which lists many more of this miracle oils health benefits.
Generations of Pacific Islanders who followed a coconut based diet were described as having the healthiest appearance when Western explorers visited their shores for the first time. Now that the current generation of Pacific Islanders have adopted a Western diet, since the introduction of fast or processed foods, they are now seen as having been the worst affected by obesity, and it's not down to eating too much, it is down the metabolic disorders they've developed as a result of eating cheap processed food bought in fast food chains and supermarkets.
Bad fat:
Structurally, polyunsaturated fats are weak, and although there are some good polyunsaturated fats like omega 3 & 6 and certain cold pressed vegetable oils, polyunsaturated oils that are exposed to heat, overused or processed, can have a significantly negative impact on your health. Polyunsaturated oils, that were previously thought to have been good because they decreased serum cholesterol levels, have actually been shown to increase cholesterol in tissues. The reason for this is that the structurally weak polyunsaturated fatty acids are deposited in cell membranes and because it's structurally weak, the body needs to put more cholesterol into these membranes to stabilise them in order to maintain cell fluidity.
Determining what are healthy and unhealthy fats or oils is down to the pairs of carbon atoms missing at certain points in the chain that makes up fatty acids. The reason omega 3 and 6 have their names, is due to the pair of carbon atoms being missing from the 3rd and 6th row from what is called the Carboxyl end of a fatty acid.
Oils high in trans fats like partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, have pairs of carbon atoms missing at points delta -8, -9, -10 and -12 and have been described as "molecular misfits". Trans fats can disrupt cellular function, and affect the conversion of omega 3 and 6 into their elongated forms (EHA and DHA), that are necessary for prostaglandin formation (to prevent blood clots among other functions) as well as visual function.
Through this blog, I'm hoping to shed some light on how fats work in the body, which fats are the healthiest and how by switching to a low carbohydrate, high (good quality) fat diet can have significant health benefits.
My son, who is now almost 18 months old has not eaten rice, potatoes, pasta or bread since he started eating solids a year ago. He hasn't had one sugary drink, including fruit juice, and the fruits he does eat are low in sugar like blueberries and raspberries. His diet consists mainly of high fibre low carb vegetables cooked in coconut oil, pork belly, beef, chicken, fish, avocado, cheese and he loves his yoghurt and natto, which give him the probiotics he needs for a healthy gut flora. He has great energy levels, and 95% of the time sleeps from the moment we put him to bed around 7:30 pm till 6:30-7am. He's very strong, and based on his last check-up, is in the 80% percentile group in terms of growth for children of his age. Another reason we avoid bread, in particular, is the potential impact and damage from consuming gluten. I highly recommend reading "Grain Brain" by Dr. David Perlmutter, in which he provides evidence through various case studies, where the exclusion of gluten has had a significantly positive impact in some children with neural or behavioural disorders.
What inspired me and convinced my wife to agree to this diet for our son and eventually our daughter, who is only three months old and not quite ready for solids, was a case study that I read in "The Art & Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance" provided below.
The product of a Low Carb High Fat gestation, Isabelle was breastfed while my wife continued to avoid carbs. When Isabelle started eating solid foods, we prepared a medley of LCHF baby foods for her. She thrived on her meat sauces and pureed veggies with cheese and butter. Fairly quickly, she progressed to eating the foods we eat. Now, at the age of 2-1/2, when I barbeque a steak, I have to make an extra portion for her. She loves meat and insists on having red wine with it. Of course, all she gets is a small sip but, if we would let her, I think she would down the whole glass. She loves all kinds of foods ranging from olives to French cheeses to smoked salmon and all kinds of meats. Being about average weight and height at birth, she shot up the growth curve and by her first birthday, she had hit the 90th percentile for height and 70th for weight. She has that inner intensity and drive that will serve her well in whatever she chooses to do in life. Since she worships her older brother and wants to do everything he does, we started her skiing quite early. She became familiar with the upper slopes on Whistler Mountain at the age of 17 months. During the following summer, she would frequently ask to go skiing again and would often put on her ski boots to clomp around the house. As the new season got underway, at the age of 28 months, she was skiing full runs with me trailing behind holding onto a tether to ensure she didn’t get away. In just a few days of skiing her strength, coordination and stamina improved to the point where she can ski four full non-stop runs before taking a break. She can handle any slope and speed that I allow. So far, she has advanced to skiing the men’s Olympic downhill race course which is ranked at the black diamond level of difficulty. If she falls, she quickly shakes it off and gets back on her feet. It is rare to see a child skiing the big runs at Whistler at such a young age. I think her LCHF baby diet gives her the amazing strength and stamina to do that at her tender age just as it does for me in my advanced years. She loves skiing. I am looking forward to that day in the future when she and I race down Peak-to-Creek non-stop. If she sticks to her LCHF diet, I have a feeling that day won’t be too far off.
Phinney, Stephen. The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance).
For athletes out there interested in following a low carb/ high-fat diet, there are some amazing physiological changes that take place in the body when in a state of ketosis, and for those of you out there who run marathons, or participate in "Iron Man" challenges, you may want to consider this as an alternative to the carb-heavy diets you may have been following. Some of the benefits of being in ketosis include the following:
Average peak fat oxidation during exercise:
non-keto athlete: 28g per hour
keto adapted: 90g per hour
Maximum calories available from glycogen through carbs and sugars: 2,000 calories.
Keto-adapted: 40,000 calories from your fat stores converted to ketones via the liver (and no carb loading the night before races, so you also feel lighter on your feet)
Better recovery between workouts
RQ (Respiratory Quotient) ratio of CO2 expired to O2 consumed is 1.0 in for those burning carbs versus 0.7 in keto-adapted athletes.
For me, this last benefit was one of the most amazing physiological effects of being in ketosis. I would say it 's probably having a similar effect to doing altitude training, where you feel fitter at sea level due to your body's adaptation to a low oxygen environment. You feel fitter, recover faster, you drop weight faster and the only concerns you need to be aware of would be maintaining hydration, potassium (nuts and berries), sodium (broth or bouillon), magnesium (broth and potentially a slow release supplement if you get muscle cramps) and zinc levels. The last two are really only an issue if you already have these deficiencies prior to embarking on a low carbohydrate diet.
I realize that switching to a high fat, very low carb diet, would be a radical change for most people, and I have many friends who love their carbohydrates way too much to follow this way of living consistently.
As an alternative, I would suggest starting off by following a less radical version, like The Four Hour Body Diet, by Tim Ferris, which recommends restricting carbohydrates for six days and then suggests one "carb loading" cheat day each week. I started off with this diet back in February 2013, and for me, it was less intimidating than going from my previously carb-heavy diet straight into low carb high fat. I followed Tim's diet for about 6 months before I decided to eliminate the cheat days, after reading about the benefits of being a state of ketosis.
Before embarking the ketogenic diet, I read many books about how fats, ketones and the ketogenic diet affect the body. This blog has covered my views on the way fat has been perceived, explained a little bit about what makes certain fatty acids and processed oils bad, and highlighted some of the benefits of adopting this way of living. I don't really like to call it a diet, because it almost implies that it's temporary. I'm keto for life, because once you're there and have experienced that constant flow of energy and mental focus, you won't want to go back. In my next blog, I'll be explaining exactly how our body chooses its fuel source and the various changes that take place, as well as the impact your hormones have when achieving a state of ketosis.