The Battle of the Diets

Christopher Gardner PhD of Stanford University made this very interesting presentation in 2008.

He is comparing four different diets: Atkins, Zone, LEARN, and Ornish from a perspective of the every day book reader. (If you read this book - how well will you success on the diet it is recommending?) So the research is very public friendly.



One thing that the study shows is that it is VERY hard to follow a book without assistance from someone helping you get back on track every month or so. Off course this takes me back to my every day longing of becoming a nutritionist to have classes and follow up sessions with all of those who wants to succeed, but that is another story.

Enjoy the show!
If you cannot watch this post please click to get to the YouTube page

Yasmin & Yaz Information Group

It’s been over a week now since I stopped taking Yasmin… I still feel many of the side effects that I listed in my previous post but I didn’t expect this to go away over night either. This has taken me very hard. Not as hard like someone died but hard as in “I have to do something about this”. I have started sending a letter to every person I know and have received great response from many; both to thank me for sharing this and from people feeling the same thing as I have.

And I am not stopping here. I just started a Facebook Group: Yasmin & Yaz Information. My goal with the group is off course to get the word out to as many as possible and then we will see where this leads. I am also working on notifying both the FDA and Bayer about my health but have not gotten to that yet.

All I know is that this is the beginning of something big…
Something has to be done about the medical companies’ ways of getting their products approved. It is so much bigger than just the birth control pills… I am on a roll here and I cannot be stopped!

Help me getting the word out by joining the group and spreading the word.

Thank you for your support.

Yasmin and I

For as many people that I have been trying to “save” from heart disease and false information, I myself have been walking a straight path to stroke and heart attack every single day. I never cared to take a look at myself; I ignored the signs for the benefit.

It is almost funny how someone like me can even be in a situation like this. But it is not funny… it is scary to say the least. I have made a horrible mistake, probably the biggest mistake of my life, and for what?!

Today when I look at it – the benefit isn’t worth it, not even a little bit. Not for anyone! I understand that I didn’t know better when I was 18… but NOW after experience the side effects for so long. But instead of question them; I have taken the side effects into my life and I have accepted them as part of me and my life. How crazy is that?! I have done something that I tell other people to watch out for… How can I be so stupid???

My biggest mistake is my companion Yasmin. She has been here for probably 6 or 7 years. Before her I was friends with some others, but Yasmin was introduced to me as the new and fresh thing, the better thing. The safer thing.

It started with me wanting to be protected against pregnancies off course but after having numerous of issues with the first few brand names I tried you would have thought that someone simply would have said that I should just stay off the pill completely. That is off course not what happened, since no one put two and two together. I was recommended Yasmin as the last option, take it or leave it. I wish someone would have told me to leave it, because I took it. And I have been taking it ever since.

Side effects
The very same year I started my pills I developed pollen allergy, and my allergies have been developed into other allergies as well since then. My vision has been drastically decreased the last few years. Not long ago I received my first prescription glasses ever due to my lack of ability to see in the dark. I was seriously a traffic danger before my glasses. The optician classified my problem as astigmatism, and that is normal I guess… But my vision issues goes beyond that. Sometimes I can’t see what I am actually looking at. It is like something is blocking the exact point I am looking at that I have to look just a bit to the side of what I want to look at… It is milder than the migraine aura but similar. At first I thought all of these vision issues were due to old age (I’m 29) but I am not convinced anymore. I am starting to believe that this is because of the pill…

So far I have told you about my allergies and my vision blurs, and there is more to come. For years I have been suffering from bad sleep and hard time falling asleep and this has resulted in me being tired all the time. Never felt rested. Headaches and neck pain has also been two close companions. Probably because the body can’t take up any water and is dehydrated.

Another issue that I have been battling with is my heart. I can wake up in the middle of the night with it beating like I am running for my life and sometimes the heart beats are so hard that it hurts and it feels like the heart is going to explode out of my body.

I experience panic/anxiety attacks that are a mix of heart palpitation issues, feeling warm, feeling faint, and feeling that I have to either vomit or run to the bathroom. Off course the only thing I can do is lie down in my bed to try to breathe calmly. Standing up is not even an option when this happens. I don’t even think I would be able to take myself to a car if I had to be transported to the hospital without passing out.

So all the above mentioned side effects (allergies, sleep issues, vision problems, head aches, heart palpitations, feeling faint, and panic/anxiety attacks) are things that I only have to deal with sometimes. They don’t haunt me every day. They don’t remind me every day that something is wrong. But I have one thing that does – one thing that I will never get rid of from taking the pill. Never ever. Every time I stop taking the pill (I have done that for a few months here and there) I instantly feel a difference. I feel like ME, like Helena.

This thing that stalks me EVERYDAY is what most people would classify as depression. It increases and decreases, but it is always there. Everything is gray. Nothing is fun, exciting, and nothing impresses me. This is something I feel the second I go back on the pill and I feel it every single day from that day. It is horrible for me to even say this but I have come to be a pretty good actress, most of the time anyway. I would act excited when I know I should and I would sound happy when I know I should. But sometimes people see through it, especially my husband. He sees it right away but probably don’t realize how deep it goes… But here goes – I am depressed and I have been depressed for the last six or seven years. Sometimes the depression isn’t as heavy but sometimes it is unbearable. Off course I have wonderful days too and I can enjoy myself but there is a shadow somewhere in there… always.

Heart issues, vision issues, head aches… anyone hearing that bell? I didn’t for years and years. Now it feels like the bell is sitting in my very own ear… I am lucky to be ALIVE! As so many healthy young women fall victim for heart attack and stroke due to Yasmin or Yaz I should feel so lucky I am alive, that I am not them. I am thankful to what caused me to even look into myself and these side effects, I am thankful for all other women before me that have posted their experiences with Yasmin. They made me feel confident that all this is related. They made my feelings real and not imagination. They made me realize that now is the time to stop.

Yesterday morning was my last day on Yasmin… now I will work on stepping out of the gray shadows that have been an evil parasite inside of me for so many years. It is time that my husband gets his real Helena. It is time I get to enjoy who I really am!

I say this now and I will never take it back: I will never, ever take a hormone based birth control ever again. And I will say this to everyone that wants to listen, and probably a few more.

To all my ladies out there: Be strong! We can do it!

Good websites about Yasmin Side Effects
Yasmin Survivors Forum
Yasmin Side Effects at Medications.com

Express Course; Cholesterol

Translated and slightly modified by Helena Mathis from: Snabbkurs i kolesterol (blodfetter) by Andreas Eenfeldt, M.D.

The underlying reason for the low fat diet ideology is based on the theory that fat increases the cholesterol and high cholesterol generates heart disease.

But eating natural fat has never been proven to increase the risk of heart disease. In fact, many late studies, done in the 21st century, have shown that there is no health gain in lowering the intake of natural fats. On the contrary, it might even be dangerous to do so.

How dangerous is cholesterol?
Cholesterol as a key risk factor for heart disease has been heavily questioned by many, especially because cholesterol is a substance that we cannot survive without. Cholesterol is needed to protect our cells and to sustain normal hormone levels. And many of the people that suffer heart disease do not have high cholesterol levels.

A more modern view
It has been proven that the total number of the cholesterol is not a good reference to show a correlation between cholesterol and heart disease (with the exception of genetic deviation). There is a much more reliable risk analysis when looking at the different types of cholesterols.

Most of our cholesterol travels in our blood in small packages called lipoproteins with the largest being VLDL or Triglycerides > LDL > HDL; which is what most cholesterol tests will give you along with the total amount.

Triglycerides and LDL
Triglycerides and LDL is what many refers to as the bad cholesterol but there are very few that know it is crucial for keeping us alive. The only danger is if you get too much of some of them.

The fat we eat gets transported to the lever where it then gets packed into VLDL (triglycerides). These get released into the blood and bonds with cells in the body to supply energy or as cell building blocks. During this process the VLDL will shrink into a smaller size and will soon become LDL. Unless the LDL gets completely absorbed by a cell it will continue to decrease in size and can later be referred to as small-LDL. The smaller it gets the easier it will oxidize and get stuck on a damaged part in the endothelium (the blood vessel lining). And cholesterol can on this path contribute to heart diseases when added to other reactions in the body.

What is important and interesting to mention is that fat we eat is not the major reason we develop LDL cholesterol, but large amounts of fast carbohydrates like sugar and refined wheat is.

HDL
HDL is referred to as the good cholesterol and works by picking up the surplus of cholesterol in the blood and transports it back to the lever. A high level of HDL decreases statistically the risk of heart disease due to its capacity to remove small LDL that has gotten stuck in the endothelium.

The food that increases the HDL is saturated fats and fast acting carbohydrates decreases HDL.

Why have we been told a lie?
If carbohydrates gives you unhealthy types of cholesterol and fat gives you healthy cholesterol – why have we, for the past decades, been told by official authorities the complete opposite?! There are many reasons to this but the biggest basis is probably because focus was put on LDL very early as the biggest risk factor for heart disease.

They knew that saturated fat seemed to rise LDL cholesterol short term. Later there was medication in form of statins that showed to decrease both LDL cholesterol and the risk of heart disease.

All of a sudden it became very profitable to recommend people to control their cholesterol levels with statins. Pfizer’s Lipitor sold for 12.6 billion dollars in the year 2006; making it the world’s most profitable medicine. And why would they want to change this reliable cash cow?

The question is if this is not the biggest reason to why we are focusing on lowering our LDL levels as a main goal to stay away from heart disease. As new research shows, LDL comes in different sizes. The larger don’t seem to be that dangerous from what we know but are the easiest to detect because they are larger. De larger LDL particles such as VLDL increases when eating saturated fats, but the smaller more dangerous LDL particles increases when eating carbohydrates.

It is however much more profitable to sell statins to all people that have raised LDL levels than to those who just have raised small-LDL levels; as that number is probably significantly lower.

It is not only ironic but rather dangerous to accuse dietary fat to be the biggest reason for increased cholesterol levels and danger of getting heart disease. Dietary fat increases the larger LDL particles and the HDL particles – those particles that are good and necessary for us! This off course raises the total number of cholesterol showing again that the total number is far from reliable to use as a risk analysis.

If lowering dietary fats according to many heart healthy recommendations a normal person would increase their intake in fast acting carbohydrates to feel full. This on the other hand raises the small LDL particles that are hard to detect on a regular LDL test. And the carbohydrates also lower the protecting HDL particles. In the end this will most likely result in a lower total cholesterol level but with a VLDL, LDL, small LDL, and HDL quota that increases the risk of heart disease!

To eat less fat and more carbohydrates will lead to lower HDL levels and higher small LDL levels. High levels of triglycerides may be a sign of high levels of small LDL.

Prestige and Money
Many cholesterol researchers know all this very well. This is not new controversial news to them. Yet we don’t get to hear about it, why? One reason is that this goes against the older (and current) heart healthy low fat recommendations and it is hard for authorities to admit that they have been wrong all of these years. Unfortunately the human race pays for them to keep this secret with their lives.

Another reason is that the pharmaceutical companies don’t want to give up their market share of this huge cash cow and food producers don’t want to loose money on their very profitable low fat products. The result is that these new studies become disliked and companies that make profit of the old habits will oppose to result like these. And once again we are paying for it with our lives!

What about cholesterol in food?
Many times you hear that you should avoid eating too much cholesterol for example egg. The yolk has the highest cholesterol levels we know of today and is probably because it is needed to build up all the cells in the chicken. Even though we hear about restrictions in dietary cholesterol no one has been able to prove that less cholesterol in food gives better health.

It has, however, been showed that about 80% of the cholesterol found in our body is made by our body (mostly in the lever). If we eat less cholesterol the body will make more, if we eat more cholesterol the body will make less. The dietary cholesterol has pretty much no impact of your health and there is probably safe to not care of how much of it is consumed.

How should I read my cholesterol results?
Total Cholesterol – is in the most cases a very poor measurement all by itself. Most often the recommended levels are 200 or lower. About 70% of people between 30 and 50 have higher levels than 200, and about 90-95% of people older than 50 have levels over 200. (Good for statin selling business).

Triglycerides (VLDL) – A low number is good. A high number depends mostly on high intake of carbohydrates. The recommendation is 150 or lower. Over 200 may be a sign of metabolic syndrome and is a threat to your heart health.

HDL – A high number is good, natural fats increases HDL. Low levels leads to higher risk of heart disease, dietary intake of many carbohydrates decreases HDL. Men should strive for a number over 35 and women a number over 45, the higher the better.

LDL – Most often is the recommended number for LDL between 100 and130. But this is, as we have previously discussed, a hard number to interpret. The small LDL particles are the dangerous ones but also the particles that will not show up accurate on the LDL result. If your HDL is high and your triglycerides are low than that would show that most of your LDL particles are bigger and safe and your number could safely be larger than 100-130. If your HDL is low and your triglycerides high then your LDL particles are most likely a formation of many small particles and are dangerous to you and your LDL should be lower than 100-130.

Total cholesterol / HDL – A low number is good. This is easy to measure and is more recommended to use as a risk analysis for heart disease than just the total number of cholesterol, the LDL alone, triglycerides, and LDL/HDL.

The blood test of the future
As you have probably noticed there are controversies over the way to measure cholesterol and prove relationship between that and bad health. Luckily there is a much more reliable method to measure the small dangerous LDL particles than to measure triglycerides and LDL levels: Every LDL particle have one protein composition called apolipoprotein B and HDL have one protein composition called apolipoprotein A1.

By measuring the Lp(B) we get to know the total amount of LDL particles, small LDL included! By knowing your apolipoproteins you can measure the apo-quota: Lp(B)/Lp(A). This is probably the best way of measure blood fats to use it in risk factor analysis for heart disease.

Suggested quotas for men are under 0.7; 0.7-0.9 is ok but not excellent, over 0.9 means increased risk. Recommended quotas for women are under 0.6; 0.6-0.8 is ok but not excellent, over 0.8 means increased risk.

So does increased risk in this case mean that a healthy person needs medicine like today? No, the first treatment should always be change of lifestyle. If it is not enough, after trying for 6-12 months and there are other risk factors involved, not until then should statins be considered. One good lifestyle change is to start eating LCHF.

Statins
Statins are most often used to lower blood fat levels, example of statin drugs are Simvastatin and Lipitor. Statin drugs work by slowing down the enzyme (called HMGR) that produces cholesterol in the body resulting in lower levels.

The outcome of using statins is that the cells get starved with too little cholesterol and have to start using the LDL cholesterol that exists in the blood. First the body has to produce something called LDL-receptors that get attached to each cell membrane. The LDL particle will later attract to the LDL receptor and the cell will absorb the LDL particle and receive the cholesterol it needs that way.

The point with statins is to induce a deficiency of cholesterol in the cells of the body so that they will use the LDL cholesterol from the blood, and the number of LDL cholesterol in the blood will decrease.

The most interesting thing is that the body can do this transformation by itself, without the help of statin drugs! The HMGR enzyme production is related to blood insulin levels and insulin levels are directly triggered by eating fast acting carbohydrates… Let’s take it the other way…

When eating carbohydrates your insulin levels will go up fast in order to try to take care of all the sugar. Parts of the carbohydrates will be absorbed by the body and used as energy and the carbohydrates that the body can’t use right away will be stored as fat. When the body gets too much carbohydrates then what it can absorb the insulin level will spike. At the same time the high insulin level will call for an increase in HMGR enzyme resulting in a higher cholesterol production. Did you get that?

Eating fast acting carbohydrates > High insulin levels > Spiked HMGR enzyme > Faster cholesterol production > Cholesterol staying in the blood stream longer and can develop small LDL easier > Risk for heart disease

Solutions
So there are really two solutions on the issue with the risk of heart disease. One is simply to take statin drugs for the rest of your life and watch out for side effects. The other is to decrease your intake of sugars and other fast acting carbohydrates such as pasta, bread, soft drinks, juices, and dried fruit. This will also promote a lower risk of inflammations just as statin drugs are said to do. The back side of taking statin drugs (except for the side effects) without changing your lifestyle is off course that the body will always crave the sugars as its main source of energy, causing your blood sugar constantly go up and down, which often results in overweight.

Off course there are some people at very high risk that might not have time to waste and may have to do both for a while until the levels are manageable.

I will always vote for the natural way what way you choose it entirely up to you!

Vaccines - Learn about them before, not after

It is our responsibility that we know what we are getting.

Learn about you and your family's vaccines before you approve of them.

The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) is a national, non-profit educational organization founded in 1982. The oldest and largest consumer organization advocating the institution of vaccine safety and informed consent protections in the mass vaccination system, NVIC is responsible for launching the vaccine safety and informed consent movement in America in the early 1980's.




To download this booklet click here

My Ultimate Dream

I have wanted, for a long time, to do some studies on diets, health and other symptoms. I always wanted to do a trial of LCHF. But I am constant facing one issue. For it to be real research you would need some kind of control group.

How can I possibly ask people to stay on their high carbohydrate and low fat diets when I know it is harmful for them? How can I tell them to eat like that for 3, 6, 9, or 12 moths when that can slowly kill them? It shouldn’t even be allowed!

First do no harm is a well known fraise in medical literature but overseen by many. To have significant proof a control group is required… but where is the ethic in that when we know it is wrong? I don’t understand. Sure, if you have no clue of what is right and wrong and truly are testing one method over another without having a set goal already with it, like me, it would be ok I guess.

Off course we can now also argue that someone that is trying to prove a point, like me, can do so no matter the hypothesis… you can just simply deny to include studies that prove your point to be false. That is off course illegal – but yet we see it everywhere.

To me it is proof enough to see the groups I would love to work with (Diabetes, Weight Loss, Heart Health, and Skin Irritations) improve their own health. The health of others is my goal – not to really prove a point. The proving point part is just there to show when someone asks for it.

See, my dream is to become a certified nutritionist – open my own office – help people reach optimal health – and eventually I would go out of business because there would be no more people to help! That is my ultimate dream!

Anyone ready to sign up for any of my LCHF groups?

Influenza Vaccine - Don't do it!

Dr Mercola posted this on his blog last week and as I am a big NO to vaccine of this kind I wanted to send it out to reach some more people.

Why You Should NOT Vaccinate Your Children Against the Flu This Season
By Dr. Mercola
September 18 2009


This year it is more important that you protect your children and loved ones from the flu vaccines than influenza itself. Here are the reasons:

1. This flu is simply another flu. It is not unusually deadly.

2. This is the first time both season and pandemic flu vaccines will be administered. Both seasonal flu and swine flu vaccines will require two inoculations. This is because single inoculations have failed to produce sufficient antibodies. This is an admission that prior flu vaccines were virtually useless. Can you trust them this time?

3. Adjuvants are added to vaccines to boost production of antibodies but may trigger autoimmune reactions. Some adjuvants are mercury (thimerosal), aluminum and squalene. Why would you sign a consent form for your children to be injected with mercury, which is even more brain-toxic than lead?

4. This is the first year mock vaccines have been used to gain FDA approval. The vaccines that have been tested are not the same vaccines your children will be given.

5. Over-vaccination is a common practice now in America. American children are subjected to 29 vaccines by the age of two. Meanwhile, veterinarians have backed off of repeat vaccination in dogs because of observed side effects.

6. Modern medicine has no explanation for autism, despite its continued rise in prevalence. Yet autism is not reported among Amish children who go unvaccinated.

7. Researchers are warning that over-use of the flu vaccine and anti-flu drugs like Tamiflu and Relenza can apply genetic pressure on flu viruses and then they are more likely to mutate into a more deadly strain.

8. Most seasonal influenza A (H1N1) virus strains tested from the United States and other countries are now resistant to Tamiflu (oseltamivir). Tamiflu has become a nearly worthless drug against seasonal flu.

9. Public health officials are irresponsible in their omission of any ways to strengthen immunity against the flu. No options outside of problematic vaccines and anti-flu drugs are offered, despite the fact there is strong evidence that vitamins C and D activate the immune system and the trace mineral selenium prevents the worst form of the disease.

LCHF what to eat

Print and put on your refrigerator!

In Whom Can We Trust?

Do you know who Jim Mann is?

If you have diabetes, you might have heard of him. If you don’t know him by name you probably know him by the way you are “supposed” to eat to control your diabetes.

Jim Mann is one of many published researchers within the field of diabetes and food advices. He also represents the Department of Human Nutrition and Medicine and the Edgar National Centre for Diabetes Research, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.

In the book: Type 2 Diabetes: Principles and Practice by Barry J. Goldstein and Dirk Müller-Wieland; Jim Mann and Monika Toeller wrote chapter 5 – Nutrition in the Etiology and Management of Type 2 Diabetes.
In this chapter it is clearly stated what a person with type 2 diabetes should eat:
Page 68; Table 4
Advise
• Carbohydrate intake should be higher and fat intake lower than presently consumed in most countries – reducing saturated fats and/or trans fats (e.g. in cream, chocolates, fast foods, high-fat cheese, sausage, meat, spreads, and fatty bakery)
• The use of fresh fruit and vegetables (5 servings per day)
• Consuming preferably whole grain breads and cereals, parboiled rice, pasta, legumes
• The use of vegetable oils (e.g., olive oil, rapeseed oil, soya been oil) nuts, seeds, and oily fish
• Sugar does not need to be excluded but should be limited
• Alcoholic beverages, if desired, should be consumed as part of the total caloric intake (no more than 1-2 small drinks/day)
• Meals, snacks, and food choices should match individual therapeutic needs, preferences and culture.

In other words he also says that the recommendations for people with type 2 diabetes are the same as for people in general.

In another study: Free sugars and human health: Sufficient evidence for action? (Also written by Jim Mann). Where he states that there is insufficient evidence to recommend that sugar intake to be restricted. He uses a 1998 FOA/WHO report as a reference saying that there may not be a direct casual association between consumption of sugars and coronary heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic diseases.

However he is bold to say that drinks rich in free sugars may be particularly important in promoting weight gain and saying that children that consume a lot of sugary drinks are more likely to be overweight.

In the end of the report he calls for corrections of governments and health professionals. That the interest is shifted from focus on the economic gains of some food industries to the general public and health.

Great – right?!?!

Well after further investigation this incredible man – Jim Mann is also one of SRAS advisors. SRAS stands for Sugar Research Advisory Board. But after looking through their material SRAS is clearly a marketing device for SUGAR! SRAS is trying with many colorful Fact sheets to make sugar look healthy, good, and something every human need for survival…

So who is calling for what here??! Sugar is OK to eat is coming from a man with tight bonds to the sugar industry but published under Diabetes Research…

Can we trust the diabetic recommendations made by a man that is paid to lobby sugar?

Please note: Do not follow the recommendations mentioned above if you have Type 2 Diabetes. You are better off trying the LCHF diet.

What is LCHF?

LCHF stands for Low Carbohydrates and High Fat diet or as many would refer to it – a better lifestyle.

This is how it works:
By eating minimal amounts of carbohydrates your blood sugar will not spike and your insulin production will stay low. The insulin works by lowering the high blood sugar as fast as possible. This means that if you eat carbohydrates your insulin production will raise to lower your blood sugar, leaving you feeling hungry soon after you just ate.

The insulin also stores your fat and blocks the fat burning process, while it at the same time transforms unused carbohydrates into fat. Eating carbohydrates results in higher amounts of insulin – resulting in higher amounts of stored body fat and your body will have a harder time burning the fat it already carries.

The body is able to produce the blood sugar it needs from protein and fat from the food we eat. And by doing so the blood sugar levels will stay stable and you will never feel the sugar spikes of high’s and low’s that the carbohydrates give you.

Burning fat gives your muscles energy and your brain can also use the fat burning products as energy. If you eat normal amounts of fat, protein and vegetables the total amount of calories will stay low and you can start loosing weight without feeling hungry. Research also shows that it is not dangerous to increase the amount of fats and protein in your daily diet.

A low carbohydrate diet is perfect for people with Type II diabetes because the blood sugar will stay at a normal level even right after eating. If taking medicine for your diabetes you should gradually work your way down to a low carbohydrate diet while watching your blood sugar levels closely, so that you can lower your medication as well without reaching too low levels of blood sugar. A recommendation is to work out a plan with your doctor regarding this.

Most over weight people have tried to diet many times with the previous recommended low fat diets without succeeding. Their time is now; they will succeed with the low carbohydrate and high fat diet.

Cholesterol is always in focus when people start to talk about fat and what types of fat to eat and so on. To make it clear the amount of cholesterol in food has almost no effect on the cholesterol in your blood, because your body makes its own cholesterol when it needs to. So if you choose to eat no cholesterol your body will produce more, if you choose to eat more cholesterol high foods your body will make less.

So how do we get cholesterol and plaque blockage in our blood stream then if it is not from the fat and cholesterol we eat?

The answer goes ones again back to the insulin and the effect of eating carbohydrates and sugars. The insulin also spikes something called the HMGR activity, this is the activity that tells the body to make more cholesterol. With low amounts of insulin the HMGR activity will stay low too; telling the body to produce less cholesterol. So once again the fat in our diet is not the culprit, the carbohydrates are!

Klick on the picture to see a larger image:

Vitamin D, LCHF and Swine Flu

Today at work everyone received an email about the swine flue; stating different things to think about when trying to prevent getting infected by it, but what they also said was "Do not self-medicate" and I wrote a response to their contact email. I am not expecting to see an answer, or an action based on what I wrote, but I was unable to keep quiet. So after sending it to them I thought I could send it to all of you, so I can educate more people than only those reading that email:

Hello,

First of all I would like to thank you for constantly updating us on the Swine flu issue; and as we are reaching fall and winter season soon information like this should increase, helping people to remember some easy avoiding techniques.

However, I think it is horribly wrong to tell people “Do not self-medicate” as there are numerous of findings out there telling us to what benefits we can receive from adding Vitamin D3 to our daily diet.

Vitamin D has been known for many years as the bone health vitamin only. Luckily we know much better today – as there are Vitamin D receptors on almost every cell in the body (Dr. E. Owings). Vitamin D is also referred to as the sunshine-vitamin as we receive most of our Vitamin D levels from skin exposure to the UVB light from the sun. As a matter of fact the skin can make up to 50,000 IU of Vitamin D in one day, even though 20,000 IU is more common (Dr. E. Owings).

Vitamin D is technically not a vitamin, but a hormone. And at enough vitamin D levels in the blood, vitamin D is known to prevent from: 17 different cancers, heart disease, stroke, hypertension, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, depression, chronic pain, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, muscle wasting, birth defects, periodontal disease (Dr. J. Cannell). And as well as improving many diseases Vitamin D gives us substantial protection from viral infections, including influenza and the swine flue (Dr. W. Davis).

As the US government recommendation stays at a low 200 IU per day – experts are calling for much higher dosages: Children are recommended to take 1000 IU per every 25 pounds of body weight and the recommendation for adults is 5000 IU or more if over weight. A recommended blood level of vitamin D should stay in between 50-80 ng/mL (125-200 nM/L) (Dr. J. Cannell) and this can be tested through a test called: 25-hydroxyvitamin D test at your doctor’s office.

So how do we obtain an efficient level of Vitamin D? Either we can spend most of our days outside in the sun with as little clothes as possible, right?! Well wrong – it is impossible, in the winter, for those who live above the 37th parallel to get enough vitamin D from sunlight. The 37th parallel would represent a line starting in Santa Cruz (south of San Francisco) California continuing on the northern border of Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina… And still the people on the southern side of this border people are not getting enough Vitamin D by sun exposure (Dr. E. Owings). Why? Well air pollutant, sun block, fear of skin cancer, skin color – the lighter skin the better we can absorb the vitamin D from the sun, and age – the older we are the less effective is the vitamin D metabolism in the skin.

So what else contains vitamin D3? Milk – an adult would have to drink 50 glasses in a day to obtain these levels, and this is off course not something anyone should do. But the proper way of supplementing vitamin D3 is by food supplementation that can be found in many local stores such as CVS or GNC.

Why Vitamin D3 and not just Vitamin D. Well if you go to your doctor and ask for vitamin D he will simply give you D2. D2 is called Ergocalciferol and is made from irradiated mushrooms and is not a human form of vitamin D as vitamin D3 (Cholecalciferol) is. D3 is extracted from wool in an animal friendly way. The reason why most doctors gives you D2 is based on pharmaceutical industry marketing and not concern for what is healthiest or most natural (Dr. E. Owings). D2 is not only unnatural to us humans, but not even nearly as efficient as D3. To reach the same levels as 5,000 IU of D3 you need to supplement with 15,000 IU of D2 (Dr. W. Davis). Also, Vitamin D3 does not come with all the side effects that D2 has.

So what does Vitamin D3 do to prevent the swine flue? Well it boosts the immune system better than anything out there. It boosts both the innate and the immediate immune system (Dr. J. Cannell) giving you the best protection ever recorded (Dr. E. Owings).

Off course there are other things we can do to boost our immune system but most people will think I am crazy when saying this: Stop eating, or at least decrease your intake of highly inflammatory carbohydrates (bread, pasta, potatoes, chips, rice, cake, breakfast cereals…) and start eating more natural cheeses, butter, animal fat, avocados, cream and so on. Never look at a “low fat” or “non fat” product ever again! If you are still dead set on that carbohydrates being healthy for you, please start supplementing with some Omega 3 as you are getting too many unhealthy omega 6 from your daily carbohydrates…

A low carbohydrate diet contains of 10 gr per day and a mediate intake contains of 50 gr per day. Levels over this should be avoided for a better health, along with eating high levels of natural fat.

I would be very happy if you could distribute at least a little note to our employees about the benefits of supplementing with Vitamin D3 over the fall-winter-spring season as it is known to fight many unwelcomed diseases and illnesses. I would be more than happy to be a contact person for people with questions regarding this, but I understand if this is a legal matter too.

To read some of the references please click on the links below:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/
http://www.ehealthdiscoveries.com/vitamind.html
http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/search/label/vitamin%20D

With my warmest regards,

Vitamin D3 is not the same as D2

Not many weeks ago a colleague of mine (let’s call him Eric) asked me if I knew the difference between D2 and D3 and I told Eric that D2 comes from irradiated mushrooms and D3 comes from the sheep wool. In other words D3 is the same kind of vitamin as humans get from the sun. Humans just don’t get enough and we can’t produce it on our own (Owings E. 2009), like the sheep can. (D3 is natural for humans, D2 is not)

After telling Eric this, he asked me how he would know what he is taking and I gave him the medical definitions of them both (D2 = Ergocalciferol; D3 = Cholecaliciferol). Since I was aware of that he had gotten his Vitamin D by prescription I told him “I am 99.9% sure that you are taking D2, but I would be thrilled to find out I am wrong”.

Eric called his pharmacy right away and got the answer I was expecting: Ergocalciferol. When confronting the person Eric was talking to the answer he got back was that Ergocalciferol is the only Vitamin D they are giving out.

A week later, Eric had a new appointment with his doctor and decided to ask him about the D2/D3 issue. The doctor said he knew that there was a difference in them both, but could not say what, not even the basic facts I mentioned above. But the doctor stamped a post-it with what he had sent to the pharmacy just to show Eric… “Vitamin D3; 50,000IU tab” is what the stamp said.

Eric, off course, got confused and was starting to believe that the Pharmacy had made a mistake by giving him Ergocalciferol (D2) since the doctor had given him D3, or at least that is what was stamped on the little note he had.

Today, after getting a refill of his Vitamin D he also got and kept all his paperwork that came along with it. Still in believe about that stamp the doctor had given Eric earlier he asked me to double and triple check that my definition of D2 and D3 was correct. I did, just for my own sanity, and I was still right.

One of the sheets Eric brought me today was the “Patient Education Monograph” sheet stating the drugs and how to use it and so on… The thing the jumped out the most to me was this:

Generic Name: Vitamin D – Oral
Common Brand name(s): Drisdol, Maximum D3
Identification: PA140 Green Oval Capsule



This is the Drug Eric was given:



My researching mind went into high concentration mood and I started to dig. And this is what I found:

The brand name Drisdol is Ergocalciferol (D2), not D3. The Brand name Maximum D3 seems to be hard to find out there in cyber space as a brand name. But the ones I found that was called Maximum D3 seems to be the real stuff, however none of them required a prescription.

When trying to find out through the identification number on the pills (PA140) I now know for sure that Eric is taking Vitamin D2 and not the preferably Vitamin D3. The Brand Name Drisdol had the identification W on one side and D92 on the other, but it is still Ergocalciferol.

The only conclusion I can draw from all this is that the medical industry does not know or care about the difference in D2 and D3 – it is all same to them. And as long as the pharmacies only give out D2 it does not matter what the doctor prescribe anyway.

I knew that people are most likely to be prescribed a D2 pill than to be told to buy over the counter D3. But it was almost heart breaking to see the letter D and number 3 right next to the drug Drisdol as we know is a D2 vitamin. It just didn’t make sense to me that they can be labeled as the same type of medication, when we know it is not!

We need to take action our selves in this matter. So instead of going in to the pharmacy and giving the prescription away for some D2 in return go to the supplement isle and pick up some REAL Vitamin D3 supplement over the counter!!! You don’t have to look for long to find a Vitamin D3 supplement: GNC has it, CVS has it, RiteAide has it… and your local grocery store probably has it too. Don’t get your Vitamin D from a prescription – it requires roughly twice to 250% of D2 to match the effect of D3 (Trang H. et al 1998; Armas LA et al 2004; Harris SS et al 2002).

Most Vitamin D3 recommend a daily dose of 1000 IU, I would increase it to 5000 IU a day for an adult. More if you are overweight, have Type II Diabetes, have high blood pressure, and are in general deficient in Vitamin D levels.