ITIS -- It's the Insulin, Stupid (pt 2/8)

Warning: This is a ridiculously long post. I was going to break it up into two, but I figured, what’s the difference between one really long post, and two semi-long ones? You can always read a couple paragraphs and then come back later if you don’t have time to read it all at once.

Also: My blog has a very eclectic audience. I have physicians, PhDs, and others well-educated in biochem and A&P reading this, but I think the bulk of my readers are interested laypeople. I try to tailor my posts to the laypeople, keeping in mind that they are of above-average intelligence, and certainly above-average knowledge about all this low-carb, high-fat, Paleo, and ancestral health "stuff." Just wanted to remind everyone of the diverse audience here, because this post, in particular, contains simplified explanations of complex processes, and I apologize if any of the pros find themselves bored. :-/ 

OKAY! Now we come to the next part of why all of this insulin stuff is so important. (Missed the first part? Click here. And you’ll notice I’ve changed the title of this post to say it’s part 2 of I-don’t-know-how-many. In starting to write part 3, I realized this is going to be more like 5 or 6. I am learning new things about this every day that I feel are important enough to write about, and the number of posts it will take to include them keeps rising.) 

Here we go...

ITIS -- It's the Insulin, Stupid (pt 1 of 8)

As you can imagine, I spend a lot of time educating myself about health, nutrition, and food. Whether I’m reading papers in the scientific and medical literature, keeping up with posts by intelligent bloggers, or learning more about human anatomy and physiology, a good portion of my week is devoted to ensuring that, as a nutritionist and blogger, I know what I’m talking about, and I provide my clients and readers with reliable information. There’s so much hashing and rehashing of old news in this field, and you can’t walk five feet without bumping into a dead horse that’s been beaten over and over—and over—again. So it isn’t often that something comes along that really blows my mind. (Like this. I am still fascinated by this.) Once in a while, something that’s actually very simple, and which should be totally obvious, blows my mind, if only because it makes me think about things in ways I’d never considered before.

With the help of some very cool people in the low-carb, high-fat (LCHF) world, I have been introduced to a new concept—well, new to me, but certainly not “new” at all—and I’d like to share it with you. There’s a lot to talk about, but the overall theme boils down to this: by focusing almost exclusively on blood glucose, the medical and nutrition professions have been missing the boat on a much larger, much more insidious problem: insulin.

As you know, blood glucose and insulin are intimately related. It’s hard to discuss one without the other. But when was the last time your basic bloodwork panel included a measurement of your insulin levels? Have you ever had a doctor look at anything but your fasting glucose and maybe your A1c if (s)he was concerned about your blood sugar management? (Never mind that the A1c isn’t even included in a typical blood panel. You often have to specifically request it.) If you’ve ever been the victim of experienced an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), did your doctor measure your insulin levels, or only your blood glucose?

With a single-minded focus on glucose, glucose, glucose, we have distracted ourselves from what is really driving the ship in type 2 diabetes (T2D), metabolic syndrome, Alzheimer’s disease, and many more conditions that we’ll explore in detail in part 2 of this series. Hence, the title of this post.

OH - EM - GEE!

HOLY.

CATS.

!!!!!!!!

http://robbwolf.com/2015/09/15/episode-287-amy-berger-nutrition-and-alzheimers/

Remember: Amy Berger, M.S., NTP, is not a physician and Tuit Nutrition, LLC, is not a medical practice. The information contained on this site is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any medical condition.

Bacon Revelation

Hey Everyone!

It looks like it’s bacon week here at Tuit Nutrition. (And there ain’t nothin’ wrong with that!) As a follow-up to Monday’s post about bacon from “100% vegetarian fed” pigs, with no added nitrates, let’s dive a little deeper into this salty, smoky, sweet, and darn near intoxicating food.

Generally speaking, I like to think I'm a pretty intelligent gal. I recognize, however, that there are some subjects that render me a complete eejit. All mathematics beyond your basic algebra comes immediately to mind, as does anything you might find in a high school physics textbook. I am not at all above admitting that I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer. However, on subjects about which I am truly passionate, I’d like to think what I know exceeds that which I do not know. Until recently, I had thought this was true regarding my knowledge of bacon. But I was wrong! I had a revelation about bacon a few days ago, and at the risk of exposing what a total moron I am, I thought I’d share it here on the blog, in case anyone out there is even slower than I am, and hasn’t yet had this epiphany. (Good thing there are only four people reading. Chances are, all four of you learned this long ago, and the only useful thing you’ll gain from this post is a hearty guffaw, at my expense.)

Okay. Maybe I’m late to this party, and if so, I’ll just don my dunce cap and head off to go sit in the corner. But really, if it’s taken me this long to realize something pretty neat about bacon, then I have to figure there are others wandering around out there, ignorant of this very cool thing.

Label Madness Monday: Pigs are Not Vegetarians (Also: Nitrates)

We need to talk about animals, everyone. Specifically, we need to talk about animals that we raise for food. You’ve probably heard the phrase, “You are what you eat.” And in the ancestral health and real food communities, we sometimes take this one step further and say, “You are what you eat, eats.” Most of us use this to convey the idea that we prefer to eat animals that have consumed their own natural, species-appropriate diets. For example, meat and dairy products from grass-fed cows, and, generally speaking, meat, fowl, and seafood that have not been fed rations of genetically modified corn and/or soy. (In the case of seafood, actually, no corn or soy of any kind. ’Cuz, really? Corn and soy? In the marine food web?)

When I say “species-appropriate diets,” I mean this: some animals are herbivores, some are carnivores, and others are omnivores. While herbivores (such cows and sheep) and carnivores (such as felines) can survive—at least for a time—on diets primarily made up of substances that are not plants or animals, respectively, eventually, problems will develop.

Over the last several years, consumers have become more discerning when it comes to how they spend their food dollars. Movies like Food, Inc., and books like The Omnivore’s Dilemma have opened at least a few people’s eyes to the larger issues around sustainable agriculture, humane animal husbandry, and more. Unfortunately, the average consumer still remains in the dark, and food manufacturers delight in taking advantage of this collective food label ignorance, laughing all the way to the bank.

Attention Fiction Lovers!

Hi Everyone,

If you’re reading my blog, I’ll go ahead and assume you have at least a smidgen of appreciation for my writing style. (And I thank you for that!) If you also happen to enjoy reading fiction, I’d like to present you with an opportunity to combine the two.

I’ve mentioned here and there in past posts that I’ve been working on a novel. (My undergraduate degree is in creative writing, in fact. While I do love talking about how the human body works, and introducing you to interesting and underutilized cuts of meat, writing fiction is my first love.) Well, I’m pleased to report that the very rough draft of this novel is complete. There are some weak spots, and the draft definitely needs work and revising, but there are also some lines that literally make me cry, and some sections that, upon re-reading, make me say to myself, “I wrote that? Damn, I’m good!”

So where do you come in? Well, what I need at this point is honest, unvarnished, unbiased feedback. I need a few people to give this thing a read and tell me what works and what doesn’t, preferably while providing suggestions on how to make the not-so-good parts better. Ultimately, a good professional editor will help me with this, but first, the draft needs to be good enough to catch the interest of a literary agent, who can then connect me with editors and publishers. I know I can self-publish if I want to, but I’d prefer to go the traditional route first and see if I can get this published through mainstream channels. (Including, one would hope, all the marketing bells & whistles and distribution channels that are not as easily accessible to me if I were to do it myself and sell it solely through, say, Amazon.)