To Your Health

There's no question that America has been the breeding ground of ill health in the last few decades. The US leads the world in obesity, diabetes, heart attack, stroke, cancer, as well as more "minor" issues such as psychological disorders, ADD, ADHD, and many more.

"If diet is wrong, then medicine is of no use. If diet is right, then medicine is of no need."
- Ancient Ayurvedic Proverb

How many times have you heard someone say "I try to diet, but it just doesn't work!" Or "I exercise a lot, but it doesn't help much!" I think these statements are often true, and largely correct!

In 2011, I was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes - at age 36. My father was diagnosed at a similar age. My mother diagnosed a couple of decades later. My mother died from a heart attack brought on by complications from uncontrolled diabetes. My father has lost one foot and half of the other, as well as an eye to the effects of diabetes.

To say I had a dog in this fight was an understatement.

What I found was that doctors could measure blood-sugar levels: both instant and 3-month averages, but they couldn't tell you a lot about what caused those levels to raise or lower. These doctors could prescribe medicine that would artificially lower those numbers... but it only made you think that it was all a game so they could prescribe you more and more things and pay for their BMW payment with your money.

So, I put my education to work. Degree in Chemistry from UTC - 1998.

To be clear, I didn't put to use any specific knowledge I had of chemical reactions or such. I put to work the scientific method. I used my body as an experiment. I found a baseline food that did not raise my blood-sugar (aka "Blood-Glucose" or BG) levels at all. One by one, I added more foods, and determined their effect on my BG levels.

I found that a candy bar might raise my sugar levels 50-100 points, but only for a few hours.
I found that meat did not affect my BG levels appreciably.
I found that most vegetables did not affect my BG appreciably.
I found that grains did affect my BG levels. And it varied.

Wheat was worst. 
A single serving of the white bread used for Subway sandwiches would raise my BG 120-150 points and keep it up 50 points or more for over 12 hours.
A single serving of the "whole-grain" bread from Subway would elevate my BG 80-100 points and keep it elevated by 40+ points for over 12 hours.

Potato was next
Potato would elevate my blood-sugar levels about as much as whole-grain wheat... but for only half the time. There was a distinct bell-curve to the effects, vs. the plateau of elevated BG levels.
Raw potato had almost no effect, but who likes that?

Corn was next on the list
Nowhere near as much an effect as wheat. A slight peak at 50 points elevated Only slightly elevated BG levels (20-30 points) for 6-hour time frames. Corn on the cob was even less.

Rice was unpredictable
Or so I thought. Bleached (processed) white rice was almost as bad as wheat for the peak, but only elevated my BG levels for 6 hours at a time. Brown rice from home had a minimal effect - 30 point peak and 10-15 points elevated for 4-6 hours.

Beans were like brown rice
Lentils and beans had effects like brown rice on me - almost not even enough to worry about.

Milk / Dairy had little effect
Small peaks like brown rice or beans, but the effects on my BG were gone in 4 hours.


About the time I had this figured out, my brother directed me toward the Primal Diet. That blog and the anecdotes by the thousands of Primal fans mimicked my experience to the "T."

Since then, I have discovered similar eating plans advocated in the form of Paleo Diet, The Wheat Belly Blog, Free The Animal, and even The Bulletproof Executive advocates a similar version.


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