Ezekiel said what?

Some people are reluctant to give up wheat because it is talked about in the Bible. But the wheat of the Bible is not the same as the wheat of today. (See In search of wheat and Emmer, einkorn and agribusiness.) Comparing einkorn to modern wheat, for example, means a difference of chromosome number (14 chromosomes in einkorn vs. 42 chromosomes in modern strains of Triticum aestivum), thousands of genes, and differing gluten content and structure.

How about Ezekiel bread, the sprouted wheat bread that is purported to be based on a "recipe" articulated in the Bible?

Despite the claims of lower glycemic index, we've had bad experiences with this product, with triggering of high blood sugars, small LDL, and triglycerides not much different from conventional bread.

David Rostollan of Health for Life sent me this interesting perspective on Ezekiel bread from an article he wrote about wheat and the Bible. David argues that the entire concept of Ezekiel bread is based on a flawed interpretation.

"I Want to Eat the Food in the Bible."


Are you sure about that?

Some people, still wanting to be faithful to the Bible, will discard the "no grain/wheat" message on the basis of biblical example. After all, God told Ezekiel to make bread, he gave the Israelites "bread from heaven," and then Jesus (who is called the "Bread of Life"!) multiplied bread, and even instituted the New Covenant with what? Bread and wine! If you're going to live the Bible, it seems that bread and/or wheat is going to play a part.

But this is unnecessary. Sure, the Bible can and does tell us how to live, but this doesn't mean that everything in the Bible is meant to be copied verbatim. Applying the Bible to our lives requires wisdom, not a Xerox machine.

The Bible was written in a historical context, and the setting happened to be an agricultural one. Because of this, the language used to describe blessing spoke of things like fields full of grain, or barns overflowing with wheat. Had the Bible been written in the context of a hunter-gatherer culture, the language describing blessing probably would have been about the abundance of wild game, or baskets full of vegetables. Whatever is most valuable in your time and in your culture is a blessing. God accommodated His message to the culture as it existed at the time. This is done throughout Scripture.

There is a danger, then, in merely copying what the Bible says, instead of extracting the principles by which to live. Take the above example of Ezekiel, for instance. There's a whole product line in health food stores called "Ezekiel Bread" that supposedly copies the recipe given in Ezekiel 4:9. This is from the website:

"Inspired by the Holy Scripture verse Ezekiel 4:9., 'Take also unto thee Wheat, and Barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and Spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make bread of it...'"

Believing that this "recipe" has some kind of special power just because it's in the Bible is ridiculous. How ridiculous is it? I'll tell you in a moment, but first let me say that this is why it's so important not to confuse descriptives with prescriptives. Is the Bible telling a story, or is it telling us to do something? We would be well-advised not to confuse the two.

In the case of the Ezekiel Bread, what is going on in the passage? There's a siege going on, with impending famine, and Ezekiel is consigned to eating what was considered back then to be some of the worst possible food. It was basically animal chow. But that's not the worst thing going on in this passage. Apparently, when the makers of Ezekiel Bread were gleaning their inspiration for the perfect recipe, they stopped short
of verse 12:

"And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight."

Um...what? Well, there was a good reason for this. God was judging His people, and by polluting this really bad bread with dung (which was a violation of Mosaic law; Lev. 5:3), He was saying that they were no different from the unclean Gentiles.

So why would we take this story and extrapolate a bread recipe from it? Beats me. If you were going to be consistent, though, here's what you'd have to end up with:



Let that be a lesson to you. We don't just go and do everything that we see in the Bible.

Comments (24) -

  • Tony

    6/10/2010 12:23:01 PM |

    If you're going to base your diet on the bible, then you shouldn't be eating pork (Leviticus 11:7), and you should eat plenty of locusts and crickets (Leviticus 11:22)

  • Jim

    6/10/2010 1:46:17 PM |

    Oooh, wait'll the God-deniers get a load of this one.

    Actually, I've wondered about the proper interpretation of passages like those mentioned, and this post is helpful for me.

  • Kathryn

    6/10/2010 2:45:43 PM |

    I appreciate this & putting the verses into context - but was human excrement to be used as content in the bread, or the fuel source to bake it?

  • Rob K

    6/10/2010 3:29:47 PM |

    I'm pretty sure the dung was not to go into the bread, it was to be used as fuel for the fire over which the bread was baked. But your point still holds very well. They also omit the lying on your side for 390 days. If eating Ezekiel bread is so healthy, so must be lying on your side for over a year.

  • zach

    6/10/2010 4:35:05 PM |

    I prefer to "kill the fattened calf."

  • Anonymous

    6/10/2010 5:57:57 PM |

    LOL

  • ShottleBop

    6/10/2010 6:44:12 PM |

    Dung was probably not an ingredient, but the fuel used to cook the bread.  (Still pretty unsavory, though.)

  • Brett

    6/10/2010 7:55:51 PM |

    1) All religion is poetry...

    -- Paul Tillich

    2) I have a huntch that, uh, folks from a couple thousand years ago, uh, never heard of macronutrients, glucose, insulin, etc.

    3) Peace

  • Lori Miller

    6/11/2010 1:11:51 AM |

    For those who are interested in the Bible's statements on food, here's a link to a brief overview of kosher laws:

    http://www.kashrut.com/articles/soul_food/

  • Anonymous

    6/11/2010 2:46:51 AM |

    Combining a lesson in both religion and medicine, Love It!!

  • Ned Kock

    6/11/2010 2:56:55 AM |

    I agree with you, Dr. Davis, that religious issues are very important to many people concerned about dieting. And it is important to discuss them, even though some people think that religious issues should not be part of any discussion related to diet.

    In fact, a lot of people who think  about diet issues from a scientific standpoint tend to think that religiosity is a product of pure stupidity. This post and the comments in response to it illustrate what I am talking about:

    http://healthcorrelator.blogspot.com/2010/05/atheism-is-recent-neolithic-invention.html

  • Cassie

    6/11/2010 3:24:05 AM |

    Waiting for my local library to get a copy of Pandora's Seed by Spencer Wells. In it, he examines the unforeseen costs of farming, which began to transform society 10,000 years ago (using a scientific timescale), such as diabetes and obesity.

    Definitely one of man's worst inventions.

  • Anonymous

    6/11/2010 4:48:04 AM |

    Interesting fact:  The Catholic church will not use anything other than wheat to make the wafers for the Eucharist.  If you have wheat intolerance, you can request a low-gluten wafer.  But a non-wheat wafer will never be used as part of that sacrament, no matter how badly one might react to wheat.

    I think that stance is a bit much, but I am not a devout Catholic.

  • Anonymous

    6/11/2010 10:58:52 AM |

    Dr. D.
    As the Brits say; you are on a losing wicket.

    No person of religion will be pursued to move from the crowd. That is why they follow.

  • Mia

    6/11/2010 11:45:27 AM |

    Great post! I've never understood how people can take the Bible literally. As someone mentioned in the comments, it's mainly poetry, and it describes a frame of reference and customs of thousands of years ago. Would be very weird to apply all that literally to our high-tech society.

    I looked the Bible fragment up in Dutch. It says he has to bake it on human dung (i.e. using the dung as fuel). The fun thing is that a couple of verses later Ezechiel complains and says he has never eaten anything impure in his life and then God gives in and says, 'OK then, you can use cattle dung instead of human dung.' Smile

  • olddude

    6/11/2010 12:36:48 PM |

    Sounds to me like the beginning work on "fecal transplant".

  • Mary Beth

    6/11/2010 1:25:15 PM |

    But, here's the question: do you think the Ezekiel Bread is worth eating for health reasons?

  • Jonathan

    6/11/2010 4:52:44 PM |

    Other translations have the dung as a source of fuel.  
    As much fat as I eat, you'd probably have to put a wick in it.
    I don't think that would give it a nice smoke flavor or anything. Wink

  • David

    6/12/2010 2:33:26 AM |

    I think some of these comments are missing the point. Whether the dung was used as fuel or incorporated into the recipe makes little difference to the interpretive thrust of the passage. According to Mosaic ceremonial law (which was typological, not perpetual), excrement was to be covered with dirt. You don't touch it, and you certainly don't cook with it. The point is that the bread was polluted, and this served as a typological symbol of Israel's pollution and rejection. Israel, the elect and "clean" nation, has become filthy.

    God didn't make Ezekiel write this stuff down so we could whip up a great recipe 2400 years later. And by the way, the same goes for the book of Daniel. Just because Daniel and his buddies ate nothing but vegetables and water for ten days doesn't mean that vegetarianism is the best diet. That's not even close to the original intent of the passage. Yet I see these kinds of non-contextual claims all the time. It saddens me when I see fellow Christians using the Bible this way.

  • David

    6/12/2010 4:01:22 PM |

    FYI: The "Wheat and the Bible" article can be accessed in its entirety on my website here: http://www.reforminghealth.com/Wheat_and_the_Bible.pdf

    David

  • Dr. William Davis

    6/12/2010 10:20:46 PM |

    Thanks, David.

    For anyone else interested, David's article provides a very nice overview of the broader topic of Wheat and the Bible.

  • Paleo Phil

    6/14/2010 1:38:22 AM |

    Dr. Davis, I appreciate your courage in tackling this difficult subject. Dr. Kurt Harris has also discussed the fact that even traditional methods of processing wheat do not eliminate all of its negative qualities: http://www.paleonu.com/panu-weblog/2009/12/28/avoid-poison-or-neutralize-it.html.

    Religious concerns are undoubtedly one of the trickiest issues that biologically appropriate diets raise. Everyone on the planet is not going to abandon what they see as their religion principles for health reasons, so I try to meet people where they're at. For those Christians who tell me that wheat must be healthy because it's in the New Testament and the Levitical diet, I say, sure, the Levitical diet is older and healthier than the SAD of today, but there was an even earlier diet in the Bible that's even healthier. It's composed of God-made foods instead of man-made foods. It usually occurs to them that this is the diet of wild foods available at the time of humanity's creation, which I also refer to as the "Garden of Eden diet", which was free of wheat bread, even unleavened, and certainly wouldn't contain any pizza, pasta or processed breakfast cereal. This doesn't always convince people, but it rarely fails to give them pause.

    Plus, in Genesis 3:17-19, bread is part of a curse, not a blessing. So wheat could be regarded as a blessing compared to starvation, but a curse or penance compared to the original Biblical foods of the Creator's making.

    Also, at times in the Bible, suffering is treated as an opportunity for penance or purification. It doesn't mean the bad stuff that causes the suffering (ie wheat) is "good" in and of itself. Perhaps this could be a way to explain Jesus' direction to eat bread in remembrance of Him? I generally avoid this subject as potentially too touchy, so I'm curious for input from wheat-avoiding Christians on how they deal with this.

    On top of all the above, bread is no longer necessary for survival in wealthy modern cultures, like it may have been in some of the regions and times covered by the Bible. So the contexts are very different.

    Hope this helps.

  • David

    6/16/2010 11:13:27 PM |

    Paleo Phil,

    As a wheat-avoiding Christian, I deal with this issue by actually trying to return the focus to the intent of the Biblical text(s). Was it the biblical author's intent to communicate wheat/grain as perpetually appropriate and required foods for all time (unlikely), or was it rather simply that the biblical narrative existed within an agricultural context and was thus accommodated to those times? I think the latter option is the reasonable one.

    In the biblical account, all of creation is said to be "good" (as opposed to Gnosticism, which says that matter is intrinsically evil) but I think it is a mistake to take this as synonymous with "harmless," and it is important to remember that despite being "good," elements within creation can be either appropriate or inappropriate depending on the use and context. Plant toxins are "good" in the creational sense in that they make for a balanced and workable ecosystem, but are relatively "bad" for the unwary animal that eats them. The wheat/grain issue is no different. Grains might be creationally good and play an important role somewhere in the broader order of things, but this doesn't mean they're harmless if the circumstances are right (e.g. genetic modification, improper preparation methods, etc., etc.).

    Appealing to the "Garden of Eden diet" might work for some Christians, but I think there's a deeper problem going on. Too many modern Christians see the Bible as a sort of "prescription" for what they should or should not eat. For instance, the Levitical diet (clean vs unclean foods) is often pointed to as the ultimate "healthy diet." However, the health aspects had nothing to do with the actual declared purpose of the restrictions. The diet was purely typological and temporary, and any health benefits were merely coincidental side-benefits. These typological requirements have had an antitypical fulfillment, however, so the diet should have no bearing on anyone today.

    Likewise, many Christians point to the supposedly vegetarian diet in Genesis as the "original" diet that mankind was created for. But again, this misses the point of the author's literary intent. What was going on in the Genesis creation account? Was Moses telling us how to eat, or was he telling us something completely different? Most Christians are clueless here. As it turns out, the creation story has nothing to do with scientific explanations or dietary prescriptions. It was written in an ancient Near Eastern (ANE) context where creation myths abounded, and Moses was contrasting the Hebrew God with the surrounding deities of the ancient world. The account is not relating scientific facts, but is rather a literary polemic written to combat other ANE pagan religions point for point. The God of Israel is not like Ptah, or Shu, or Marduk, or Baal. The Genesis account powerfully overturns the Enuma Elish and other ANE creation stories. That was its historical intent.

    Unless one is familiar with ANE culture, many of the subtleties within the Genesis account will not make sense, and you will end up with an interpretive disaster, like Young-Earth Creationism or Vegetarianism, for instance. The Bible does say that God created, but it does not tell us how He created. This is nowhere near the intent of the original author.

    (Continued)

  • Bryan

    10/21/2010 4:47:41 AM |

    As I read the chapter, it looks more like Ezekiel is instructed to act in a symbolic manner.  He is instructed to symbolically lay seige to a model of Jerusalem that is drawn or built on a tile--even building miniature seige engines. In essence, the call to moral behavior in the book is a "seige" against the transgressions done within the city.  Thus, the "bread" is also to be made and eaten as a symbol.  The context is fairly plain.  Nowhere is there any statement that Israel, or even just Jerusalem, is to make or eat the stuff.  Ezekiel is told to bake and eat the bread "in their sight" or "in the sight of the people" and then tell anyone who sees him that this is the level of wretchedness they will be reduced to, I presume because of their faithlessness and obstinacy after many warnings, given the general context of the Book of Ezekiel.

    Thus, "Ezekiel bread" is actually a symbol of the wrath of God against the obstinately faithless and not a "recipe" for what God wants a faithful believer to eat daily.

Loading
Goodbye, fructose

Goodbye, fructose

A carefully-conducted study by a collaborative research group at University of California-Berkeley has finally closed the lid on the fuss over fructose vs. glucose and its purported adverse effects.

The study is published in its entirety here.

Compared to glucose, fructose induced:

1) Four-fold greater intra-abdominal fat accumulation--3% increased intra-abdominal fat with glucose; 14.4% with fructose. (Intraabdominal fat is the variety that blocks insulin responses and causes diabetes and inflammation.)

2) 13.9% increase in LDL cholesterol but double the increase for Apoprotein B (an index of the number of LDL particles, similar to NMR LDL particle number).

3) 44.9% increase in small LDL, compared to 13.3% with glucose.

4) While glucose (curiously) reduced the net postprandial (after-eating) triglyceride response (area under the curve, AUC), fructose increased postprandial triglycerides 99.2%.


The authors propose that fructose specifically increases liver VLDL production, the lipoprotein particle that yields abnormal after-eating particles, increased LDL, and provides building blocks to manufacture small LDL particles. The authors also persuasively propose that fructose metabolism, unlike glucose, is not inhibited (via feedback loop) by energy intake, i.e., it's as if you are always starving.

Add to this the data that show that fructose increases uric acid (that causes gout and may act as a coronary risk factor), induces leptin resistance, causes metabolic syndrome (pre-diabetes), and increases appetite, and it is clear that fructose is yet another common food additive that, along with wheat, is likely a big part of the reason Americans are fat and diabetic.

Fructose is concentrated, of course, in high-fructose corn syrup, comprising anywhere from 42-90% of total weight. Fructose also composes 50% of sucrose (table sugar). Fructose also figures prominently in many fruits; among the worst culprits are raisins (30% fructose) and honey (41% fructose).

Also, beware of low-fat or non-fat salad dressings (rich with high-fructose corn syrup), ketchup, beer, fruit drinks, fruit juices, all of which are rich sources of this exceptionally fattening, metabolism-bypassing, LDL cholesterol/small LDL/ApoB increasing compound. Ironically, this means that many low-fat foods meant to reduce cholesterol actually increase it when they contain fructose in any form.

When you hear or say "fructose," run the other way, regardless of what the Corn Refiners Association says.

Comments (35) -

  • Anna

    7/12/2009 4:32:48 PM |

    Don't forget agave syrup/nectar.  That is the latest "low glycemic" sweetener temping sugar addicts, particularly to those interested in health.  Agave sweeteners are VERY high in refined fructose, with some brands much more fructose than HFCS (I've seen figures as high as 92% fructose).

    Even more worrying, agave sugar products  are labeled as safe for diabetics, who are particularly prone to damage from frequent consumption of concentrated fructose.

    The people I see using or recommending agave sweetner products seem to think that because they can't detect an immediate post-prandial BG rise, that agave syrup is somehow better (therefore healthier) than sugar and safe for liberal and/or frequent use.  Not so.  All refined/concentrated sugars need to be limited in both quantity and in frequency, including concentrated fructose.

    I see "moderation" used a lot in reference to sugars and agave products whenever criticism of sugars is made.  But what is "moderation"?  Do we even have a reference point anymore in our sugar-drenched culture?  "Moderation" in the 21st century is still at least a hundred pounds per capita more sugars than most humans consumed just a few hundred years ago, and much more than our paleolithic ancestors consumed. Even "moderation" needs to be considered in moderation.

  • Nameless

    7/12/2009 7:21:03 PM |

    Wow, that's really interesting.

    In the past I've wondered if something real simple (like removal of soda/sugary drinks) from society would have a major impact on both heart and general health.  Apparently it would.

    It's also weird how cardiologists (in general) overlook sugar intake almost completely. When I last saw my cardiologist, I was sort of baffled that they were offering the patients waiting for infusion therapy snacks while they wait. The nurse commented how  the patients go  first for the peanut butter/jelly sandwiches and they run out fast. And I'm there thinking... are they crazy, giving  sugary food to heart patients?  Then I remembered most cardiologists tend to be fat intake oriented only.

    Question for Dr. Davis -- what amount of fructose, daily would you consider safe? Is any amount  safe? As certain fruits do provide health benefits even if they do contain fructose. Berries are still acceptable? What gycated hemoglobin level do you aim for with your patients and have you noticed any differences in plaque progression based solely on this value?

  • Rick

    7/13/2009 3:33:37 AM |

    Hi Dr Davis,
    Could you tell us more about beer? Do you mean that beer has fructose added to it? Or that it contains a lot of fructose naturally? In general, how high up is beer on your list of things that we shouldn't eat? I ask because I'm having some success cutting down on sweet things and on wheat, and beer is one of my chief culinary pleasures. I don't mean that I drink a lot or that I drink everyday, just that I thoroughly enjoy the 3 or 4 beers a week I do have. (I generally drink brews made with 100% barley malt.)

  • pmpctek

    7/13/2009 3:40:40 AM |

    So low glycemic fruits (which are high in fructose) like apples, apricots, berries, cherries, grapefruit, plums, and prunes can be hazardous to our health...

    I'm starting to run out of things I can eat.

  • Cynthia1770

    7/13/2009 1:27:47 PM |

    Hi,
    Thank you for the link to the JCI
    study. I can hardly wait to see how the CRA will militantly respond. As a former research technician I am driven crazy when the CRA claims that sucrose and HFCS are essesntially similar. Take the variant HFCS-55. To the casual observer the 55% fructose: 45% glucose composition looks 5% different than the 50:50 ratio found in sucrose. That is, until you do the math.
    55%:45% = 55/45 = 1.22.
    This means in every can of Coke
    (bottled in the USA) there is, compared to glucose, 22% extra fructose. The CRA can't deny the math; they designed the ratio. To your health.

  • homertobias

    7/13/2009 3:17:12 PM |

    Did anyone notice that one of the authors of the article is RM Krauss? I love chasing his articles on pubmed.  His saturated fat articles from a few years back are particularily interesting.  I think of him as "small dense krauss" in the age,rage and ldl series on Peter's blog.

  • Curious

    7/13/2009 7:02:44 PM |

    Dr. Davis - there's so much great information here, but when we ask questions to try to understand the information, you don't answer them!

  • Dr. William Davis

    7/14/2009 12:43:22 AM |

    Thank you, Curious.

    But most of my time is spent in my more-than-full-time cardiology practice, consulting to the nutritional supplement industry, research, and the practically full-time website, Track Your Plaque, in which I engage in discussions with your wonderfully savvy Members. So I have to triage my time accordingly.

  • Dr. William Davis

    7/14/2009 12:44:41 AM |

    Also, I read the comments and I try to cover as many of the points as possible in future posts or in the content we post on Track Your Plaque.

    Remember: As I post prominently on the blog: The Heart Scan Blog accompanies Track Your Plaque; it is not meant to be a standalone source of information.

  • Anonymous

    7/14/2009 2:46:29 AM |

    Dr, D.  Those of use who TYP ( "track your posts") on this Blog may not be as "bought in" as the members of your track your Plaque members.

    If fructose is added to beer, it will be converted to alcohol so none left in the final product.  If wheat is used in the beer grist, the starches that are extracted are converted (mostly) to alcohol so no residual "toxins" to cause swelling.

    It isn't high fructose corn syrup consumption or prepared meals that makes Americans one of the most overweight nations in the world, its eating more calories that you need; it comes down to pure physics

  • Jammer

    7/14/2009 7:41:45 PM |

    I'd like to see a post about the lie of Calories. Fat is calculated at 10 kcal/gram because if burns (bomb calorimeter) better than sugar (calculated at 4kcal/g, the same as fiber).

    But of course sugar is much more available to our bodies as energy than fat or fiber.

    This makes the Calorie a big lie and emphasizes even more the low-fat diet (because fat would obviously be easier to cut by calorie than carbs).

    When people try to talk about the "physics of losing weight", they need to address the underlying assumptions that make the whole system a lie.

  • Anonymous

    7/15/2009 3:11:32 AM |

    Jammer, Please, it is a fundamental law: you can not create or destroy energy.  Mechanistically the body may deal with fats, sugars and proteins differently but unless you live in an alternate dimension, calories absorbed by the gut are either expended as energy or stored in the body in one form or another.  Belief in some magical effect of being able to "eat all the xyz without putting on weight" is a matter of faith and faith is neither fact nor science.

  • Apolloswabbie

    7/16/2009 7:28:23 PM |

    Anonymous, on the contrary, you are expressing faith in but one interpretation of the Laws of Thermodynamics (LoT).  When tested, results often show that one can eat more calories on a restricted carb diet and be less hungry and lose more weight.  The reasons are many and I refer you to Good Calories Bad Calories should you wish to learn more.  The body is not a closed system, and your interpretation of the LoT imply that it is.  What do I mean?  â€œCalories in = energy expended + fat accumulated/depleted” is correct, but only if one realizes that some calories drive hormonal responses which have an effect on the equation.  Eat more protein, feel less hunger, be more active, thus expend more energy.  Eat more carbohydrate (measured by glycemic load in particular), feel more hunger and behave like hungry people do - rest more, thus expending less calories.

    Do teenagers grow because they eat too much or because their bodies are responding to the complex interaction of hormones?

    Do pregnant ladies gain weight because they eat too much or because their bodies are responding to the complex interaction of hormones?

    Do post-menopausal ladies gain weight more easily because they suddenly begin to eat too much, or because their bodies are responding to the complex interaction of hormones?

    Do tall thin people (ectomorphs) just magically match their consumption and expenditure (thus remaining slender despite what appears to be high food intake)?  Or are they genetically programmed to a different hormonal response than endomorphs?  

    If you met two people, one tall and thin and the other shorter, wider, with a large pelvis and heavy bones – don’t you already know that one will struggle more with their weight than the other?  You do, and you know it long before you know which one is the least disciplined in the non-food arenas in their lives.  

    Are you aware of the research that shows, repeatedly, that the obese consistently eat less than many or most of those who are not obese?

    Do those who are heavier than we think they should be eat too much, or are they responding to the hormonal mileu they have created by eating foods which we are not designed to eat?  I think the later.  Obesity is not the result of a character flaw, it is a result of widespread consumption of foods (primarily cereal gains, sugar and agricultural products which have exceptionally high carb content) we are not genetically adapted to.  These foods drive a hormonal response the results in energy accumulation as fat.

  • Anonymous

    7/19/2009 12:01:19 AM |

    Aplloswabbie,notwithstanding the impact on what drives people to consume or expend energy at different rates, all excellent info., the equation is still balanced in the end.

  • Apolloswabbie

    7/19/2009 4:37:21 PM |

    Anon, agreed, but the significance of our agreement on that fact is low, as it provides little utility in assisting ourselves or others with their health.  For me, the realization that "low fat" diets are unnatural and drive metabolic derangement gave me a chance to eat good food to satiety, but avoid the high body fat that plaques my family.  Best regards.

  • JLL

    7/20/2009 1:57:42 PM |

    How much fructose does beer have then? From what I could find, the fructose content of barley malt is significantly lower than other sugars.

  • stern

    7/29/2009 9:50:44 PM |

    how about mal;tose from tapioca syrup?

  • Anonymous

    7/31/2009 8:51:33 PM |

    Now if you could get Congress to drop the high tariffs on sugar so it becomes less expensive than HFCS, we all could live longer.

  • trinkwasser

    8/3/2009 12:32:58 PM |

    Not much longer, we predominantly have sugar from local beet rather than HFCS in the UK, yet our stats aren't much better. IMO there's little difference in the relative toxicity between sugar and HFCS within the context of a high wheat diet

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    9/10/2009 5:06:10 AM |

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  • メル友募集中

    9/11/2009 5:18:12 AM |

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  • Anonymous

    2/8/2010 8:08:00 PM |

    So fruit, in moderate portions, is bad for me?
    *snort*
    I understand targeting HFCS just as you would large amounts of sucrose.  It's the AMOUNT of these substances that can be a problem.  The other nutrients I get from a piece fruit can far outweigh any possible negative of small amount of fructose in the piece of fruit.  Decisions are all about risk vs. benefit. I imagine there are no risk-free food choices.

  • Anonymous

    8/8/2010 8:41:07 PM |

    No risk-free food choices, Anon?  Whole fruits and vege have little risks!

    Very good post that busts everything that http://betterworldcookies.blogspot.com/2010/06/why-i-use-agave-nectar-examination-of.html says!

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    Fructose is concentrated, of course, in high-fructose corn syrup, comprising anywhere from 42-90% of total weight. Fructose also composes 50% of sucrose (table sugar). Fructose also figures prominently in many fruits; among the worst culprits are raisins (30% fructose) and honey (41% fructose).

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Life without Lipitor

Life without Lipitor

One of the most common reasons people come to my office is to correct high cholesterol values without Lipitor. (Substitute "Lipitor" with Crestor, simvastatin, Vytorin, or any of the other cholesterol drugs; it's much the same.)

In the world of conventional healthcare, in which you are instructed to follow a diet that increases risk for heart disease and not advised to correct nutrient deficiencies like vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids, then a drug like Lipitor may indeed provide benefit.

But when you are provided genuinely effective information on diet, along with correction of nutrient deficiencies, then the "need" and apparent benefits of Lipitor largely dissolve. While there are occasional genetic anomalies that can improve with use of Lipitor and other statins, many, perhaps most, people taking these drugs really would not have to if they were just provided the right information.

Anyone following the discussions on these pages knows that wheat elimination is probably one of the most powerful overall health strategies available. Wheat elimination reduces real measured LDL quite dramatically. Provided you limit other carbohydrates, such as those from fruits, as well, LDL can drop like a stone. That's not what your doctor tells you. This approach works because elimination of wheat and limiting other carbohydrates reduces small LDL. Small LDL particles are triggered by carbohydrates, especially wheat; reducing carbohydrates reduces small LDL. Conventional LDL of the sort obtained in your doctor's office will not show this, since it is a calculated value that appears to increase with reduced carbohydrates, a misleading result.

Throw vitamin D normalization and iodine + thyroid normalization into the mix (both are exceptionally common), and you have two additional potent means to reduce (measured) LDL. Not restricting fat but increasing healthy fat intake, such as the fats in lots of raw nuts, olive oil, and flaxseed oil reduce LDL.

While I still prescribe statins now and then, a growing number of people are succeeding without them.

(Note that by "measured" LDL I am referring to the "gold standard," LDL particle number by NMR provided by Liposcience. A second best is measured Apoprotein B available through most conventional labs.)

Comments (17) -

  • Anonymous

    6/25/2010 5:19:20 PM |

    Hi Dr. Davis,

    I follow much of your advice.  On my NMR, I had an LDL of 50 and particle number of "less than 300".  Also, HDL was 82.  My LDL particle size was 21.1.  Large VLDL was 2.6 nmol/L (and the share of large VLDL was above the reference range), but I did the test postprandially.  My small LDL was "less than 90".  Interestingly, last year, my LDL particle number was 530 and small LDL was 120, but LDL size was larger at 22.3.  Is there anything to make of this?

  • Anonymous

    6/25/2010 7:02:42 PM |

    I'd like to see a discussion of what you'd do for a patient who didn't eat wheat, was on a LC diet, ate a lot of fish, had high vitamin D levels, had normal thyroid tests and still had high LDL levels.

  • Dan

    6/25/2010 7:31:34 PM |

    My father takes Lipitor.  He's also suffering from occasional short term memory loss (he's visiting a neurologist often to figure out why).  I'm damn sure it's because of the statins.  I've been on the "no wheat" & high good fat diet for a while and am in great shape.  I Can't get my father to ditch the drug and adopt my diet though (even if he does, I'm not sure if the memory issue will resolve itself).  Going against conventional wisdom is a constant uphill battle.

  • JamesSteeleII

    6/25/2010 9:07:32 PM |

    "...then the "need" and apparent benefits of Lipitor largely dissolve."

    I was unaware that there was any research supporting statin use at all except maybe in one group (men under 65 with pre-existing conditions) which is still questionable. Could you further explain what this 'need' might actually be in abscence of such dietary intervention?

  • mongander

    6/26/2010 1:58:26 AM |

    8 months ago my 91 year old mother was out of her mind in the hospital.  She had no idea where she was and was too weak to walk to the bathroom.  She was falling frequently.

    Now that she's off lipitor she has a new lease on life.  She works in her flower garden and bathes herself.  

    I'm now her caregiver and ensure that she takes 5 to 10 thousand iu of D3, Iodoral, 200 mg Ubiquinol, and a couple of grams of fishoil, but the biggest move, in my opinion, was taking her off Lipitor.

    We have no family history of heart disease.

  • Anonymous

    6/26/2010 10:38:27 AM |

    This advice works!

  • David M Gordon

    6/26/2010 2:08:23 PM |

    I know you intended "Life without Lipitor" to be for all your readers, Dr. Davis, but you might as well have written it for me (because of my earlier importunate and selfish request). Thank you.

    Some things I still do not get, noted as they appear in your post:
    1) Eliminate fruit?! Fruit, rich with nutrients, now is bad because fruit also comes packed with sugar (its complex carbs)? I respect the notion to eliminate carbs, especially wheat and other grains, but this notion seems rather... narrow. HELP!
    2) "Conventional LDL of the sort obtained in your doctor's office": What test is this? Do you mean the phlebotomist (in the doctor's office) who sends the blood sample to Quest or LabCorp to obtain the calculated score?

    Thank you for these, and all future clarifications. And for this site, of course.

    Best wishes,

  • Anonymous

    6/26/2010 3:14:47 PM |

    while you seem to recommend nuts be a part of the diet, what do you tell your patients who are allergic to nuts?  Peanuts ok?

  • D.M.

    6/26/2010 5:05:55 PM |

    Agree with much of the article but not sure about this:

    "increasing healthy fat intake, such as the fats in lots of raw nuts, olive oil, and flaxseed oil reduce LDL."

    All of these will contain unnaturally* large amounts of omega 6 (at least 9g/100g of almonds or olive oil, for example, or 12g/100 for flax oil). This will unquestionably drive up oxidised (atherogenic) LDL cholesterol. (See WholeHealthSource for details). Is there any reason at all to think that natural saturated fat isn't a far safer option (that will drive up HDL)? I can understand why one would worry at saturated fat increasing "cholesterol" back in the day before we could analyse lipid fractions, but what reason do we have to think it would have negative effects now?

  • Hans Keer

    6/26/2010 5:16:20 PM |

    Very good doc. I hope you come to the point that you will no longer subscribe statins at all.

  • Anonymous

    6/27/2010 3:39:41 AM |

    DM Wrote:

    All of these will contain unnaturally* large amounts of omega 6 (at least 9g/100g of almonds or olive oil, for example, or 12g/100 for flax oil). This will unquestionably drive up oxidised (atherogenic) LDL cholesterol. (See WholeHealthSource for details). Is there any reason at all to think that natural saturated fat isn't a far safer option (that will drive up HDL)? I can understand why one would worry at saturated fat increasing "cholesterol" back in the day before we could analyse lipid fractions, but what reason do we have to think it would have negative effects now?

    ----------------

    Hi DM, I was the first anonymous up top.  I follow Dr. Davis' advice and eat lots of omega-6 rich nuts and, as you can see from the numbers above, my LDL and HDL look pretty good.  Also, my crp was .18 mg/L which is quite low and lp(a) was 2, so I doubt I have much inflammation/oxidation etc.

  • Jeff@muscle mass building

    6/28/2010 4:02:55 PM |

    What are lipitors? Is there any substitute for lipitors?

  • Jeff@muscle mass building

    6/28/2010 4:02:55 PM |

    What are lipitors? Is there any substitute for lipitors?

  • Anonymous

    6/28/2010 7:08:43 PM |

    I've been taking off the shelf Red Yeast Rice instead of lipitor. Works great! My LDL cholesterol went down down down.

    -- Boris

  • D.M.

    6/29/2010 6:01:04 PM |

    @ Anonymous-with-pretty-good-cholesterol.

    That's good for you, but the studies show that across large groups, omega-6 will raise the amount of oxidised LDL, which is probably a *bad* thing for cardiovascular health. Stephan discusses this here: http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2009/07/diet-heart-hypothesis-oxidized-ldl-part.html and here http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2009/07/animal-models-of-atherosclerosis-ldl.html

  • Bill Meli

    7/1/2010 6:27:07 PM |

    Does anyone have a sample diet that they follow that is recommended from this website. I have recently eliminated all sugars from my diet and eat 7 small meals a day, but would like some help on seeing a recommended diet that is wheat free, also interested in what supplements people are taking. Thank you!

  • shaheel

    9/27/2010 12:39:49 PM |

    Heart  disease is one of the most  dangerous disease which takes thousands of life every years all over the world. If we know its symptoms and Treatment for heart disease. We can prevent is to large extent.

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To learn how to eat . . . try fasting

To learn how to eat . . . try fasting

Curious thing about fasting: It teaches you how to eat.

In previous posts, I've discussed the potential benefits of fasting: reduction of blood pressure, reduction of inflammatory responses, drop in blood sugar, weight loss, and reduced heart attack risk. In my recent Heart Scan Blog post, Fasting and Heart Disease, I discussed the just-released results of a study in people who fast for religious reasons and experience less heart disease.

Fasting can mean going entirely without food and just making do with (plenty of) water, or it can mean variations on "fasting" such as vegetable juice fasts, soy milk fasts, etc.

How can fasting teach you any lessons about food and eating?

People who fast will tell you that the experience:

--Helps you appreciate food tastes when you resume eating. After a fast, flavors are stronger; sensations like sweet, sweet, or salty are sharper; you become reacquainted with the variety of wonderful food textures.

--Makes you realize how you ate too much before your fast. After a fast, you are satisfied with less. You will eat more for taste and enjoyment, less for satiety and mindless indulgence.

--Makes you more mindful of the act of eating. For many of us, eating is an automatic activity that provides fleeting satisfaction. After a fast, each bite of food brings its own special enjoyment.

--Reveals to you how awful you felt when many foods were eaten. For example, many people are physically slightly ill after eating pancakes, pizza, or other highly processed foods but cease to recognize it. Remove the offensive foods entirely and you might realize just how bad you felt.

--Takes away fear of hunger. Many people have a gut-wrenching fear of hunger. It's probably partly instinctive, that animal-like fear of not knowing when your next meal is coming, partly the abnormal, artificial drive to eat ignited by processed foods like wheat and corn syrup.

--Makes you realize just how much of your day is spent in some activity associated with food. Shopping, eating, cleaning up afterwards, thinking and talking about food all occupy an extraordinary portion of everyone's life. A fast can open your eyes to just how much time is spent in these pursuits. Sometimes, gaining an awareness of a mindless, repetitive behavior can provide the first step towards changing direction.


Most people consider a fast for rapid weight loss. But fasting is far more than that. Perhaps fasting has become an integral part of many religious practices because of its capacity for enlightenment, reawakening, revelation, but not of only the spiritual, but also of how far many of us have strayed in diet.

Fasting is what Omnivore's Dilemma author Michael Pollen might describe as looking the pig you're about to eat in the eye, an opportunity to open your eyes to what it is you 've been doing all these years.

Comments (13) -

  • Anonymous

    11/18/2007 6:40:00 AM |

    Thought provoking article. I have never fasted before, and would like to try it out.

    Can you suggest any resources online that describes about how one can fast the right way - the pre-fast preparation, fasting period and post fast recovery? You did touch on these briefly in your previous articles; I was curious if there were any resources out there that you would recommend.

  • Dr. Davis

    11/18/2007 1:47:00 PM |

    Two sources of information on fasting: The Track Your Plaque Special Report, Fasting: Fast Track to Plaque Control, a report on fasting to gain control over coronary risk.

    Also, Dr. Joel Fuhrman's book, Fasting and Eating for Health, is an excellent resource. (But I tell my patients to ignore much of the "low-fat" commentary, which is outdated.)

  • Nancy M.

    11/18/2007 3:22:00 PM |

    I've been doing something called "Intermittent Fasting" where you extend your overnight fast either by skipping or delaying one or two meals the next day.  There's been some study of it by the folks who study calorie restriction.  It isn't calorie restriction but seems to offer the same sort of changes that CR does.  

    Dr. Eades had an interesting blog post about it here: http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/2006/09/13/fast-way-to-better-health/

    That got many of us "low-carbers" interested, some of which were pre-diabetic or T2 diabetic.  Many of those people with glucose control issues have seen their fasting glucose levels plummet by incorporating IF into their low carb routine.

    If heart disease is driven by excess blood glucose and insulin, then anything that gives your body a little rest is probably a good thing.

    Oh, I can vouch for the fact that food tastes EXTREMELY good when you're fasting most of the day. Smile
    Nancy

  • Dr. Davis

    11/18/2007 4:07:00 PM |

    Hi, Nancy--

    Interesting perspective!

    I wonder if the intermittent fasting approach of skipping breakfast and lunch has an effect on metabolic rate. I suppose you can't argue with success!

    Also, thanks for bringing Dr. Eades blog to my attention. He's got a lot of interesting ideas.

  • JoeEO

    11/18/2007 9:50:00 PM |

    I think that having an interview with Dr Eades (both) would be a great addition to this blog (or the typ site). I think that he is one of the best bloggers on the whole internet.

    I recall, in one particular post that might be interesting to TYPers, Dr Mike Eades mentioned that he stopped prescribing niacin for his patients as he found that a low carb diet had most of benefits of niacin - he was speaking of LDL  particle numbers and size and HDL.


    Peace,

    Joe E O

  • Dr. Davis

    11/18/2007 11:38:00 PM |

    Hi, Joe--

    Wonderful idea!

    I also agree with the idea that niacin and weight loss/carbohydrate restriction achieve similar effects. However, there are indeed people with such severe disorders to start with (e.g., HDL 25 mg/dl, called hypoalphalipoproteinemia, or triglycerides of 500 mg/dl, called familial hypertriglyceridemia, or genetic defects in some other pathways that are not uncommon) that do indeed necessitate niacin.

    Also, when your goal is not just correction of cholesterol or lipoproteins, but REVERSAL of heart disease, we push our patients harder.

  • Anonymous

    11/19/2007 6:14:00 PM |

    Talking about how fasting can help with heart disease, and presumably with helping to control glucose and lipids levels, have you heard if donating blood will help in correcting lipid #s?

  • Dr. Davis

    11/19/2007 11:54:00 PM |

    No, sorry, never heard of that. Blood donations reduce iron, but I've never heard of any effect on lipids or lipoprotein patterns.

  • Vesna Vuynovich Kovach

    11/20/2007 1:05:00 AM |

    A word od caution. For some people, fasting can have just the opposite effect. It can derail one's sense of appetite and proper eating practice. I've been there.

  • Anonymous

    11/27/2007 3:25:00 AM |

    I understand that complete fasting can cause muscle wasting.  Conversely (and surprisingly) intermittent fasting has anabolic effects.  (In other words, the bodybuilder's dogma that you need a constant flow of protein to build muscle isn't true.  What's effective is a large portion of protein in a single meal a day, and then nothing the rest of the day.)

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