In general, humans have one of two genetic programs to manage energy (sugar and fat). One type is the basis for metabolic syndrome, including low hdl, high triglycerides, elevated blood sugar and blood pressure and a big waist. The other type has few or none of those. I describe them below. Following the low sugar, low starch approach is still healthy. Calorie control and exercise are relatively more important in this group.

For those of you with high HDL (good cholesterol) levels, normal blood sugars, normal triglycerides, and normal weight and body shape, Congratulations! Nature has dealt you an excellent genetic deck and/or you are already doing some or all of the recommended things in our website. Following the general guidelines in this website will still help you keep weight down or reduce weight if needed, and keep your risk of cardiovascular (CVD) and dementia as low as possible.

Here is a simple two rule strategy for reducing blood sugars and insulin levels allowing your body to use fat as a fuel more efficiently.:

1. Don’t eat any sugars (honey, molasses, table sugar, corn syrup, maple sugar, agave) or drink any calories (almost all non-alcohol calories in liquids come from sugar ). {The “total carbohydrates” on the label should be zero. (Avoid cow’s milk, juice, soda, any liquid with any carbohydrate calories}
2. Minimize eating anything made from grains including wheat, corn, oats  (bread, pizza, cake, pie, protein bars, donuts, breakfast cereals, etc.) When you do eat grains try to find organic grains (these have been shown to contain less pesticides and have higher nutrient quality.

The Mediterranean diet is another very healthy diet which has been demonstrated to reduce the risk of heart disease (especially when supplemented with olive oil and/or raw nuts daily). It is not as low carb as other diets recommended in this site but studies have demonstrated its effectiveness in lowering your risk for heart disease and would be appropriate for someone with few or no risk factors for metabolic syndrome.

Other General Health recommendations from very recent studies:

• Keep red meat to once or twice a week. A recent study suggested that the carnitine found in red meat might increase the risk of heart disease in the long run.
• Keep total protein below 0.6 gram per pound of body weight and the more of it from plant/vegetable sources the better (for example, a 160 pound person would want to keep total protein below 100 gm a day)
• Maximise “healthy”oils as your source of fat (olive, coconut, other nut oils) but keep seed oils (peanut, canola,) and vegetable oils (corn, soybean) to a minimum (high in omega 6 fatty acids  which promote inflammation in the body).
• Try to find grass fed beef, animals and wild caught fish to maximise the healthy oils in the fat of the animals

Paleo Diet Mythology

Here is an excellent discussion of what a healthy diet should consist based on what our recent ancient ancestors actually ate.

For a web based nutrition plan from Dr. Mercola: click here. It has lots of ads – sorry! – but it is helpful and informative.

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