Sugar + Gluten = inflammation

It is becoming clear that inflammation is the main cause of most ill health.  The biggest causes of inflammation are sugar and gluten.
This has nothing to do with property management. But it had to go somewhere!

inflammation sucks
inflammation sucks.. search google images for ‘inflammation’ for more charts
LOW FAT  –  Low fat, high sugar has been the norm for 40+ years. The big problem with low fat is that if you don’t use fat in processed foods, you have to replace it with sugar or a sugar substitute.  So skimmed milk or low fat yogurts have more sugar than the full fat equivalent. Fat fills you up.  If you don’t eat fat, it is hard to stop eating.
SUGAR –  Sugar fuels the diabetes & obesity epidemic. Cancer cells feed off glucose. Alzeimers is regarded by many as type 3 Diabetes. Eliminate / reduce sugar in your diet, is the best way to increase your chance of good health.   Sugar is in nearly every processed food… breakfast cereals, jams and condiments, snack foods, sugary fizzy drinks (beer included sorry), pre-cooked meals.  To avoid sugar you need to read the labels closely of packaged food products carefully.  A glass of wine is OK.  But wine has sugar, so ….
GLUTEN – Gluten is the sticky protein that makes bread, pasta, cakes and  processed food taste good.  Combine gluten with sugar and you have a deadly combination.  Studies show that avoiding gluten and sugar will reduce your chances of getting diabetes and dementia considerably.  It also is connected with other conditions such as hypothyroidism and Ataxia Cerebellum. see paper on  Gluten-Ataxia (2012)
Gluten is addictive and it is best to give it up slowly.  Even so you will be lucky if you do not experience withdrawal symptoms.  I had three months of unpredictable mood swings, before I adapted to a life without gluten.  Now I am free of gluten, I find that I think more clearly and I feel much happier in myself.
GOOD FAT –  The best way to cut down on sugar and gluten is to increase your consumption of good fat.   Good fats include coconut oil,  olive oil, butter, animal fat, fish oils, avocadoes, most nuts, full fat cheese, eggs.  The less processed the food,  the better.  So Virgin oils and grass fed meat is best.Bad fats included vegetable oils, margarine, most processed meats. Nuts fried in palm oil are not good either.
See The real truth about fat in Coconut Oil
CHOLESTEROL – Doesn’t fat cause cholesterol?  you may ask.  Good saturated fat promotes good HDL cholesterol.  Sugar and bad unsaturated fats promote bad LDL cholesterol.  When you eat cholesterol, it does  not automatically increase your levels of cholesterol, which is why eggs are so popular .

As you get older, cholesterol levels rise.  In 2013 a cause for concern were “very high levels (above 190) of the harmful cholesterol known as LDL — not a patient’s total cholesterol”.   If you eat good fat and avoid sugar and gluten, cholesterol is not such a problem.

CARBOHYDRATES – When you are young you can eat anything, provided you exercise to burn it off.  But as you get older your metabolism slows down and it is best to reduce the intake of carbohydrates, especially carbs high in sugar, such as bread, pasta, pizza, potatoes, cakes, snack food.

Carbs like oats or rice may not include much sugar in their composition.  But when carbs are digested they generate glucose (ie sugar).  So if you are trying to avoid sugar in all its forms, you need to restrict your intake of carbs.

KETO HIGH FAT, LOW CARB –  Keto is short for Ketones.  The body and brain have two sources of fuel Glucose and Ketones.  If you eat a ‘normal’ diet you will be eating more than enough glucose, which creates inflammation and prevents your body using the ketones that are stored in your body fat.  To make Ketones the primary source of food for your brain and body, you need to eat high fat low carb.  if you have ill health – physical or mental – or carry too much weight , then a Keto diet (partial or full) could be a solution.
FOOD SUGGESTIONS  –  The internet is full of recipes for those on the Keto (high fat low carb) path.  Recommended books include :  The Grain Brain and Brain Maker by Dr David Perlmutter and Wheat Belly by Jimmy Moore.

Dr Perlmutter‘s father had severe Alzheimers in his later years.  His interest is to avoid that fate and to help others do the same.  Jimmy Moore was a big 24 stoner.  He went keto and lost almost a third of his weight.  Since then he has been an Keto evangelist.  Neither are in it just for the money.

Dr Permutter’s  Brain Maker tells us why a healthy gut is so important.  Here is some of what I learnt from it, without the long words.

The gut is full of stuff that the body cannot use, which should be eliminated on a daily basis.  The gut is separated from our blood system by the gut wall.  When the wrong things build up in the gut, the gut wall becomes permeable and when it becomes really bad, it is given the name ‘leaky gut’ or ‘celiac’.  When the wrong things get into the blood system, your immune system has to work overtime to correct them and you get ill.

Most people who eat a normal diet low in fat and high in sugar and gluten will have problems brewing in their gut.  Most don’t  know it, till it’s too late.

People will also probably have poor gut bacteria, as explained in the book,  if

  • they were born by caesarean,
  • were not  fed with breast milk,
  • have taken a lot of antibiotics especially when young,
  • have taken regularly drugs like Nurofen/ Ibuprofen

When too much of the wrong stuff is in the blood stream, then the blood brain barrier becomes compromised, which is another way of the saying that the bad stuff then gets into your brain to cause all sorts of problems.

The first thing Dr Perlmutter does, when he gets a new patient with neurological (brain) problems, is to prescribe a diet free of gluten, high in fat and low in carbohydrates (sugar).  He has found this to benefit people suffering from most neurological conditions including depression, autism, ADHD, diabetes, even Parkinsons and Alzheimers  (provided they are not too advanced).  He also recommends

  • pro-biotics taken orally or by enema.  A Pro-biotic suppository would work well, if you can find one.
  • eating home made fermented food like natural yoghurt, saukraut, pickled veg, fish or meat.

Prevention is better than cure and the best prevention is to eat and drink right.

Click Keto Tips to see how I get by

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