The Kitavan Study

It's a double post day today as I will be away all wekend and won't be able to post. I hope you enjoy.

I recieved a great question from Clemells the other day:

 

Hi Zane just wondering if you or Bjorn had any comments about the Kitavan people of New Guinea. They are apparently lean& disease free, yet eat a diet of 70% CHO.

 

For those of you who have never heard of the Kitavan Study check it out here.

 

I love the Kitava Study because it is one of the many studies that really supports eating a Paleolithic Diet. The study was conducted by Steffaan Lindberg, and compares the Kitavan Diet and Medical issues with those of his native Sweden. A summary of the diference in diet can be found here:

 

The residents of Kitava lived exclusively on root vegetables (yam, sweet potato, taro, tapioca), fruit (banana, papaya, pineapple, mango, guava, water melon, pumpkin), vegetables, fish and coconuts [27-29]. Less than 0.2% of the caloric intake came from Western food, such as edible fats, dairy products, sugar, cereals, and alcohol, compared with roughly 75% in Sweden [30]. The intake of vitamins, minerals and soluble fibre was therefore very high, while the total fat consumption was low, about 20 E% [28], as was the intake of salt (40-50 mmol Na/10 MJ compared with 100-250 in Sweden). Due to the high level of coconut consumption, saturated fat made up an equally large portion of the overall caloric intake as is the case in Sweden. However, lauric acid was the dominant dietary saturated fatty acid as opposed to palmitic acid in Sweden. Malnutrition and famine did not seem to occur.

As you can see the Kitavan diet consisted of wild seasonal fruits and vegetables, wild caught fish, and healthy saturated fats. This is exactly the prescription that I would advocate all followers of the paleo diet eat. Sure their level of Carbohydrate consumption is high, but these are a native people who have lived in the same area for ever. They have been eating the same diet for hundreds of thousands of years and are therefore genetically adapted to eating that level of carbohydrate.

Some of the most interesting things I took from the study are:

• Despite a fair number of older residents, none of whom showed signs of dementia or poor memory, the only cases of sudden death the residents could recall were accidents such as drowning or falling from a coconut tree... 
• The main results of the Kitava study, that there is no ischaemic heart disease (and no stroke, see Chapter 4.2), are unanimously confirmed by medical experts with knowledge of the Trobriand Islands or other parts of Melanesia. Likewise, Jüptner noted no cases of angina pectoris, myocardial infarction or sudden death during his 5 years as a provincial doctor on the islands at the beginning of the 1960s, when the population was roughly 12,000. (Jüptner H, unpublished data)... 
• No indications of stroke, diabetes, dementia or congestive heart failure
• No overweight
• Excellent blood pressure
• No acne
• The elderly residents of Kitava generally remain quite active up until the very end, when they begin to suffer fatigue for a few days and then die from what appears to be an infection or some type of rapid degeneration. Although this is seen in western societies, it is relatively rare in elderly vital people. The quality of life among the oldest residents thus appeared to be good in the Trobriand Islands.
• Less than 0.2% of the caloric intake came from Western food, such as edible fats, dairy products, sugar, cereals, and alcohol, compared with roughly 75% in Sweden [30].

So, from the results of this study we can assume that if we avoid the standard diet of grains, legumes, dairy; Stay active and keep moving in later life; and eat a diet that is consistent with our traditional diet then we can expect to avoid heart disease, stroke, diabetes, dementia, high blood pressure and acne, stay lean and have a high quality of life.

Sounds OK to me.

Thoughts to comments.

It's not a diet, It's a diet!

Diet: A regulated selection of foods, as for medical reasons or cosmetic weight loss.

Diet: The usual food and drink of a person or animal.

Listed above are 2 definitions of the word diet. One of these directly relates to the Paleo Diet, one definitely does not. The Paleo Diet is modern man's imitation of eating in the same way our genes evolved to eat. It has nothing to do with Calorie restriction, weighing and measuring, scales, egg whites, feeling hungry, or any of the other things that pop in to your head when you usually hear the word diet. People that diet this way often have a couple of things in common. They are hungry, miserable and fat (or if they lose weight, they tend to put it all back on again with a little extra for the ride!).

The Paleo diet is all about eating in a way to optimally fuel your body. It is about correcting any metabolic derangement or gut irritation you are suffering from. It is about allowing Insulin and Leptin to do the jobs that they are designed to do. It is about controlling Inflammation. And through it's ability to do these things you get the bonus of leaning out, feeling better and medically being more healthy.

It is important that we make this destinction because I feel that too many people blur the lines a little. They start on the Paleo Diet and then they treat it like a diet. They drastically under-eat never consuming enough calories to fuel their bodies correctly. The beauty of the Paleo Diet is that it is incredibly easy to regulate how much you eat. By eating a Paleo Diet you should have a much beter controll of your Leptin Sensitivity. If Leptin is working properly then your satiety signalling will be working properly (Satiety = Feeling full). That means that you can simply eat food and keep eating until you feel full. When you feel full, stop. It's so easy.

Eating 2 eggs for Breakfast, a little bit of chicken and avocado for lunch and a couple of Lamb chops and vegetables for tea is a great way to feed yourself if you are a 60kg female. It is definitely not the optimal way to feed yourself if you are a reasonably active 70-80kg male. If you fit into that category (and this is the one that I fit into) then you need to be eating a lot more. Your diet should look more along the lines of; 4 whole eggs, some bacon and some avocado for breakfast, half of a chicken and a large salad or some veg for lunch, and 3 or 4 lamb chops cooked in coconut oil with some veg for tea. You could maybe even throw in some protein and fat rich snacks a couple of times throughout the day.

Maybe that is too much food for you, maybe it's not enough. When you are eating correctly, consuming enough protein and fat (to stimulate Leptin) and eating the appropriate ammount of Carbohydrate your body will tell you when it is full. You will have control over your blood sugar levels and over the course of the day your body will let you know when to eat (you'll feel hungry) and when to stop (you'll feel full.)

Perhaps if more people focussed on eating the correct diet, they wouldn't need to diet!

Post thoughts to comments.

Cholesterol Pt 1

Despite what you may read in the mainstream press, Cholesterol is not some evil monster that you have to avoid or else you will drop down dead. In fact Cholesterol is in fact essential to our well being. 

So exactly what is cholesterol and what role does it play in heart disease. Well, over a series of posts I will introduce you to all of the main players in the supposed cholesterol problem. Let's start with just a simple look at exactly what Cholesterol is.

The word "cholesterol" comes from the Greek word chole, meaning "bile", and the Greek word stereos, meaning "solid, stiff", and it is a waxy, lipid gracing every cell’s membrane and our blood plasma. It is made out of a molecule called acetyl Co A that is derived from the breakdown of sugars, fats and proteins.
It's functions include:

• It builds and maintains cell membranes (outer layer), it prevents crystallization of hydrocarbons in the membrane
• It is essential for determining which molecules can pass into the cell and which cannot (cell membrane permeability)
• It is involved in the production of sex hormones (androgens and estrogens)
• It is essential for the production of hormones released by the adrenal glands (cortisol, corticosterone, aldosterone, and others)
• It aids in the production of bile
• It converts sunshine to vitamin D
• It is important for the metabolism of fat soluble vitamins, including vitamins A, D, E, and K
• It insulates nerve fibers

Each day your liver produces some 1000-1400mg of Cholesterol. However, in another example of the genius of our bodies, our liver's production of Cholesterol is linked with our dietary intake of Cholesterol. Eat more and the liver will produce less, eat less and the liver will produce more.

So far it doesn't sound too bad does it? Let's have a look at some  abbreviations you've probably herd related to Cholesterol.

Cholesterol is carried in the blood by molecules called lipoproteins. A lipoprotein is any complex or compound containing both lipid (fat) and protein. The three main types are:

• LDL (low density lipoprotein) - Often called the bad cholesterol. LDL carries cholesterol from the liver to cells.
• HDL (high density lipoprotein) - Often refer to as the good cholesterol.  HDL does the opposite of LDL - HDL takes the cholesterol away from the cells and back to the liver. In the liver it is either broken down or expelled from the body as waste.
• Triglycerides - these are the chemical forms in which most fat exists in the body, as well as in food. They are present in blood plasma. Triglycerides, in association with cholesterol, form the plasma lipids (blood fat). A high triglyceride level, which is fueled by a high carb diet, is very often a marker for other problems in the body, particularly insulin resistance and inflammation  High levels are often seen with low HDL cholesterol.

We'll pause here to let all that sink in. Have a look at this video from the Mercola institute to wet your appetite for the future posts.

Food inc.

Below is a trailer from an amazing documentary called Food Inc. Food Inc. was nominated for an Academy Award last year. I first watched in on a flight back from the UK in January (about the best thing that happened on that flight) It is riveting and will leave you questioning just how our food industry ended up the way it is. Check out the trailer and then try to get your hands on a copy of the DVD.



Post thoughts to comments.

Homemade, Healthy, Paleo Snacks

One of the complaints that I hear often regarding the Paleo Diet, is that there is nothing that you can snack on. Well, today I have some suggestions.

Yesterday, I went and bought a food dehydrator. Last night I used it to make some brilliant Paleo Snacks. I made some kangaroo jerky, and dried some strawberries, blueberries and mango. It was brilliant. Not everything went exactly to plan (flavours of things like chilli and garlic are accentuated in the dehydrator!!), but I was really happy with the result.

Check out the results below!

Busy, Busy!

Sorry for the lack of posts over the last couple of days. Competed in CrossFit Victoria's Throwdown yesterday and spent some quality time with family today.

I'll be back with a post on healthy paleo snack's tomorrow.

See you then.

It's NOT low Carb!

One of the most common responses I get from people when I tell them the way I have chosen to eat is, "Oh, so you don't eat carbs." This really grates on me. When I tell them that I do eat carbs, they then tell me that I eat a low carb diet.

Well, I certainly eat a lot less carbs than the normal person eating a traditional Australian diet, but I would argue that they eat a high carb diet. I like to think that I eat an appropriate Carbohydrate diet. I eat sufficient carbohydrates to fuel my activity level and strongly believe that this is all anyone should eat.

I have told you numerous times that all carbohydrates break down to sugar. It doesn't matter whether that carbohydate comes in the form of Bread, Pasta, Rice or Fruit and Vegetables, it all ends up as sugar. The ammount of sugar that we consume in our diet has grown an unbelievable ammount since the change of the century. The standard American diet is very similiar to the standard Australian diet (which is why both countries are suffering from an obesity epidemic!). In the years 1887-1890, Americans consumed an average of 5 pounds of Sugar per day. Nowadays, Americans are consuming upwards of 130 pounds of sugar per day.

I find this quote scary:

  In a paper published earlier this year, USDA researcher Shanthy A. Bowman, of the Agricultural Research Service, reported that heavier consumers of refined sugars (more than 18 percent of calories from added sugars) typically consume more calories but less of 15 different nutrients than do lighter consumers (under 12 percent of calories). The high consumers consumed 15 times more soft drinks and fruit ades per day than the lower consumers.

     USDA has stated that the average American, who consumes about 2,000 calories per day, can eat up to 10 teaspoons of added sugars, if he or she eats a healthful diet containing all the recommended servings of fruits, dairy products, and other foods. In fact, though, the average American is not eating that healthful diet and consumes 20 teaspoons per day of sugar.

For the full article see here.

Now I stated earlier that I consume enough carbohydrates to fuel my activity level. I am an active guy who works 2 jobs, CrossFits 5 times a week, walks his dog and plays with his son. Therefore, my activity level would be higher than most people, but still lower than a lot of people. If your activity level is lower than mine, then you should probably eat less carbohydrates than me. If your activity level is higher than mine, then you might need to eat more carbohydrates than me.

By default, when you switch from the standard Australian diet to a more Paleo way of eating you will eat less carbohydrates. This is because you will avoid a lot of those foods that are very dense in carbohydrates (Breads, Pastas etc). Once you have found a comfortable level of adherance to a paleo way of eating (and only then!) you might want to have a look at your activity level and compare that to how much of your diet is made up of carbs. (Remember that fruit and vegetable like sweet potato can still pack a high carb whack!) Once you have those two criteria lined up properly you will be flying. You will look, feel, and perform close to your optimum. Then, when people refer to your diet as a low carb diet, you can smile and hit them with the reply:

"I prefer to call it  carb appropriate diet!"