I read nutrition books like people read suspenseful detective novels. Staying up late into the night waning drowsiness just to see what will be on the next pages, or struggling to keep my eyes open just to finish the chapter.
I find the study of our bodies, how they move, how they digest, process, retain, obtain, learn, injure, cure.....I find food interesting from cooking, to eating, to allergies, to traditional cultures, evolutionary change, scientific changes, the more information I find about these topics the more I want to know. And Kindle is great because it is always recommending similar books to the one I just read. If I had all the time in the world I would read and write (well and maybe, do some yoga and cook) all day every day.
I just finished Grain Brain by David Perlmutter, MD. I couldn't put it down and then when I did, all I wanted to do was talk about it and tell everyone what I just learned.
While many of the topics covered I knew or had read about on the periphery. The detail and range of topics Perlmutter covers is mind-blowing. I always assumed gluten had great adverse affects for those who ignore it and those you have a mental incapacity already, but to read from a neurologist the devastating effect gluten has on most brains from diabetes to ADHD to schizophrenia to Alzheimer's was just amazing. It was interesting to read scientific evidence and from a doctor in the current healthcare system debunking what so many of us, our government included, hold true. I have always been flabbergasted by the disconnect between health care and nutrition, like there are not seemingly related, but Perlmutter points out the ludicrous nature and practice of our current healthcare system. It was so refreshing to hear someone from within the industry to come out, against pharmaceuticals, against big agribusiness, even the government to say how we have been doing is wrong, and trajectory we are on, and is even recommended, is actually killing us and making us sicker. Hallelujah! Finally someone said it, and someone with clout.
Alternative medicine has been saying this for years, quietly and in it's own way. You kind of had to source it out yourself. If you have chosen or even happened upon alternative medicine for your own healthcare needs, you know. You know first hand how crucial nutrition is to everything we do, from sleep, to defecation, to consumption, to mental stability and focus, to sex drive, you name it, nutrition plays a role in everything we do. And we need our bodies to do these things. In order to do them well and with enjoyment, we have to fuel our bodies with good, whole, organic, natural, real foods, not the foods we have been told to eat.
I would recommend reading Grain Brain to anyone. Even if you are already living an "alternative lifestyle," but since when did real food, that you can find locally or better yet grow yourself, become "alternative"? Eating food that comes in packages, in a cardboard box or wrapped in plastic and has no identifying feature that it came from the Earth, IS alternative. It is like we are eating "space food" yet making it our everyday lives. Even if you are already gluten free or even toying with going gluten free for your own health needs, this book is eye opening. I learned a lot and I have now added my mental and brain health to the list of priorities on my wellness journey. I've specifically added some of Perlmutter's recommended supplements to my daily routine.
Fascinating excerpts from Grain Brain (of which there are a plethora) (Just go read the book!):
- Modern grains are silently destroying your brain
- I believe that the shift in our diet that has occurred over the past century-from high-fat, low-carb to today's low-fat, high-carb diet...is the origin of...chronic headaches, insomnia, anxiety, depression, epilepsy, movement disorders, schizophrenia, ADHD, and those senior moments that quite likely herald serious cognitive decline and...Alzheimer's.
- 133 pounds of wheat the average American consumes in a year - Wha!!?? Serial dude!? No wonder...
- Preventable, non-communicable disease account for more deaths worldwide today than all other diseases combined. - Meaning we can control our "inevitable" diseases with lifestyle choices!
- Gluten sensitivity represents one of the greatest and most under-recognized health threats to humanity
- Inflammation is meant to be a spot treatment. It's not supposed to be on for prolonged periods of time, and never forever. But that's what's happening to millions of people. Unbridled inflammation is rampant..[and is the] fundamental cause of the morbidity and mortality associated with coronary artery disease, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and virtually every other chronic disease you can imagine.
- LDL has been given the derogatory title of "bad cholesterol." In reality, LDL is not a cholesterol molecule at all, good or bad. (!!!) The fundamental role of LDL in the brain is to capture life-giving cholesterol and transport to the neuron, where is performs critical functions. - How have we gotten this wrong for so long!? LDL is the sole carrier of cholesterol to neurons and we have spent all this time trying to lower it. So crazy! If anything we should be trying to help it.
- There hasn't been a published study in the last 30 years that has unequivocally demonstrated that lowering serum cholesterol by eating "low-fat, low-cholesterol diet" prevents or even reduces heart attack or death rate. - Again crazy! The low fat craze was blatantly wrong. And the fats we are eating today are bad for us. We need to and should be consuming large amounts of good fats: olive oils, coconut oil, naturally occurring oils in nuts, seeds and avocado. We can't be so afraid of fat. It is crucial to our body's functions. Perlmutter even goes on to explain the ramifications of low-fat and low-cholesterol is worse on your heart and brain than if you were to eat high fat. A high fat diet does not cause heart attacks. We have had it all backwards for years!
- The human dietary requirement for carbohydrate is virtually zero; we can survive on a minimal amount of carbohydrate, which can be furnished by the liver as needed. But we can't go long without fat. Unfortunately, most of us equate the idea of eating fat to being fat, when in reality, obesity has to do with our addiction to carbs. - The low-fat craze of the 80s and 90s is the exact time we started seeing obesity rates and chronic diseases increase. Helloo!??! Sign much? We are not fat from fats, we are fat because we have cut out good fats.
- Gluten is our generation's tobacco.
- The more sugars we eat, the more we tell our bodies to transfer them to fat.
- Cardiovascular exercise rivals diabetes medication in helping patients.
Grain Brain is eye opening.
Go read it now!
(Because I have to jump from one page turner to the next, and Kindle so kindly recommended it, I have started Wheat Belly by William Davis, MD. I am 4 chapters in and I am already amazed by the history of wheat and how much it has changed over time because of human modifications. The wheat consumed thousands of years ago is not even remotely the same wheat we eat today. And this really makes you wonder why we are seeing a correlation between this "new" genetically modified grain and an increase in obesity and many diseases? Oh I just can't wait! Report back later.)
