Paleo Diet - Heart Health Success Story!

          Heart disease runs in my father's side of the family.  My grandfather has had a heart attack or two, and it seems all the males in that lineage have high cholesterol.  I probably wouldn't like my numbers, but I'm too busy refusing doctors attempts to check.

          However, there is some good news.  My father, after being put on a statin a few years ago, finally decided to come around and give my wacky Paleo/Track Your Plaque diet ideas a shot.  It took some tweaking and more than a few long phone calls, but he has had a pretty good handle on the diet for the last few months.

Meeting My ND for the Heartburn Battle

          I had a great experience with my ND.  Honestly, he had me at hello when he told me that he was very happy to see I was eating a grain free diet.  Evidently that is one nutritional change he almost always recommends to patients.  For patients with digestive issues like me, he finds that it is often a critical step in solving the problem.  From that moment on, I knew I would like the guy.

          We went through the entire questionnaire point by point.  I'm happy to say that my small degree of medical training (as well as personal education on nutrition) came in handy here, because we had a pretty intelligent conversation about how many things could be related to each other.  I never thought about it, but I suppose my medical knowledge, at this point, lies mostly within the realms of naturopathy.  Not being able to prescribe or access medicine or surgeries, I have focused most of my attention on disease/injury treatment to what can be done through diet, exercise, and supplements.  Thus far it has been a matter of accessibility.  While that stuff is interesting, I'm still deeply excited to learn more about the, often more powerful, medical interventions over the next few years.

Links - A Few More Good Ones

Welbourne is a big, big human being.

1.) Talk To Me Johnnie
          This is a blog that's written by former NFL offensive lineman John Welbourne.  He played in the NFL for 10 years and has dedicated his life to strength and conditioning training, both as a coach and a player.  The guy really knows his stuff and writes a lot about training and life as a pro athlete.  I also like the tough guy mentality (coffee must be black, weights must be heavy, you must know your drink, etc).

          His blog probably would have made my list of the "Go To's," but he only updates it about once a week.  He is a busy guy.  Still, it's worth checking out.  If you're interested, he is also the mind behind CrossFit Football, a football specific version of CrossFit that is much more intelligently designed than mainstream CrossFit.

Off to See my ND... Wait... ND?

Redux

          I wrote in this article about my personal battle with GERD.  I wrote about how badly I wanted to get off the PPI drugs now that my esophagus is healed enough to give it a shot.  Well, I tried.  It was hard, and ultimately, I realized I didn't have all the information I needed, so I stopped.  Fortunately I made this decision in time to enjoy a little bit of Christmas time coffee/chocolate and a wild night out on New Years Eve.

          As a quick reminder, the basic assumption I'm making here is that low stomach acid is actually the cause of GERD, because the esophagus will not close if the stomach's environment lacks a certain amount of acid.  I have found many resources explaining that a "cure" for GERD is to take acid pills to rectify this problem.  I decided to pull off the drugs, although I didn't have any acid pills handy.

Week's Reflections - 1/7/12

          The first week of the new year is in the books!  I am excited to celebrate by heading on vacation next week.  Don't worry, I'll still post a few updates.


1.) New Track Your Plaque Article

          I like this article, because it's a very succinct and to the point summation of the reasoning behind the Track Your Plaque low carb diet.  Dr. Davis briefly describes the phenomena he sees with a low carb vs a low fat diet, through the lens of a cardiologist mainly concerned with heart disease.  His article is backed by many years of clinical experience managing the diet and heart health of his patients.  At the end, he also suggests that avoiding wheat in particular can also cause people to benefit in several non-heart related ways.  He doesn't break any new ground here, but I appreciate it for being short and concise and easy to understand with or without medical training.

The Heartburn Battle

          GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease), also known as acid reflux or heartburn, is the result of acid from your stomach washing up into your esophagus.  It is a chronic condition that can cause a burning sensation that is uncomfortable - heartburn - and it can actually erode the lining of your esophagus.  Unfortunately, the most serious complication that can result from this disease is the development of Barrett's esophagus, which is the precursor condition to esophageal cancer.  Cancer of the esophagus is an incredibly deadly form of cancer, with a mortality rate of 87%.  Christopher Hitchens, the writer, recently died of complications arising from this kind of cancer.

          I just painted a pretty bleak picture, and I did that because there can be serious consequences from this disease.  However, in most cases, cancer does not arise.  In fact, this condition can be treated pretty effectively by prescription drugs known as proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) (prilosec, protonix, nexium, etc).  When taken, these can block the secretion of up to 90% of the acid in the stomach.  With the acidity reduced, the fluid that refluxes up into the esophagus is much less likely to burn the esophagus as much, reducing symptoms and the odds of developing more serious complications.

Bending then Breaking

          Unfortunately, even as I extoll the virtues of the paleo diet on this blog, I have to admit that I have slipped a lot lately.  Travel really tends to throw me off, and I have been travelling a fair bit for the interview season.  The fact is, without a kitchen at your disposal, it can be pretty tough to eat high quality foods and avoid the bad stuff... which seems to be everywhere.  For example, did you know that there is wheat, and thus gluten, in soy sauce?  Honestly, I was shocked when I found that out.

          The other problem is that once I bend a little bit on my diet, I tend to throw in the towel and go ahead and break, at least for a few days.  When you have meticulously avoided gluten for a while, even a slight exposure can throw you off a lot.  Once I have already hit that point, I usually decide that I might as well keep going for a few days... and that's when things like McDonalds start to make their appearance.  Not good.  Very not good in fact.  You don't have to tell me.  I know.

Week's Reflections - 12/17/11

Here are a couple things I read and watched this week that might be worth taking a look at.  Enjoy, and as always, let me know if you have any suggestions!


- I, Caveman  

           Curiosity released the two episode "I, Caveman" a while back.  These episodes have come through the paleo community with some fanfare, because one of the participants was Robb Wolf, a big paleo writer I mentioned in this post.  I just got around to watching it this week, and I thought it was pretty cool.  I have to be honest, I probably wouldn't have found it to be worth watching or too terribly interesting had it not been for Wolf's participation.

Links - The Go Tos

          Here are some of my favorite sites to visit.  There will be more links in future posts, but these are the ones I am most likely to visit on a given day.


1.) The Heart Scan Blog

          Dr. William Davis is a preventional cardiologist.  If you want nutritional advice to prevent heart disease, you cannot find a better source than this.  I actually enjoyed his blog so much, that shortly after discovering it, I read it in its entirety from back to front.  It was really interesting to watch his suggestions evolve and become refined over that time.  The nutritional guidelines begin with the elimination of wheat products and continue on to expected staples such as Vitamin D and fish oil, but he also has other suggestions specifically related to different lipoprotein patterns.  I also enjoy the fact that he attributes his thinking and reasoning to scientific studies and clinical experience rather than deduction from the paleo idea.  As a resource, his blog is phenomenal.

Paleo Diet

           I eat a "paleo diet," but I really don't like the term "paleo" with regards to the diet.  I think it conjures up images of a caveman, scrounging for food, wearing furs, dying when you're 30, and etc.  While many of the other paleo bloggers or writers have embraced the caveman idea, I have not.  I am getting a little ahead of myself, though.  The purpose of this post is simply to introduce the paleo diet's framework and concept, so first I need tell you what the paleo diet is.

           A paleo diet eschews grains, legumes, and dairy.  It also removes any processed foods or sugary foods.  Instead this diet encourages you to eat your veggies by the truckload, some fruit, some nuts and seeds, and some meat/seafood.  Yes, this diet requires you to remove your heart healthy whole grains, and it tells you that the reason for that is that grains simply aren't heart healthy!  Or healthy at all for that matter.