Interesterified Fats: Trans Fat Replacements

As Trans fats are being pressured out of the processed food market (not gone yet though) there are new fats that have replaced them without much ado. Even to this day little is said or known by the lay public and health care industry alike about the deleterious effects Trans fats have on our health. These hydrogenated omega-6 vegetable oils stabilize food to dramatically prolong shelf life of foods. This allows those processed foods to remain on the grocery store shelf for many months without allowing the food to become stale, go rancid or lose significant nutritive value. The problem, though, is that they have now been linked to several cancers, heart disease, stroke and many inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. It has been almost thirty years [more]

Omega-3 Fat: How Much is Enough?

“How much omega-3 fat supplement should I be taking daily?” Frankly, it is not a simple question to answer. The reason for this is that our body needs a balance between omega-3 and omega-6 fat intake. Several recent studies validate this point. A paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine demonstrated no benefit from taking just one gram of fish oil per day. Yet, a brand new study released a couple weeks ago showed that six grams of fish oil daily achieved the goal of the study. What is telling about all of the recently published information is that only studies that consume a much higher quantity of omega-3 oil than we consume daily in our diet do we see any clinical benefit. [more]

Save the Date: Class Announcement

Hello everyone. I taught a six week course at Tacoma Community College, Gig Harbor Campus last year and they have asked me back for another turn at teaching nutritional health. Six weeks from today the class will begin. Wednesday, September 26, 2018 at 6 p.m. is the first night of the six evening, one hour class to be held at the Gig Harbor campus. We will explore the nutritional mess that we find ourselves in that has evolved over the past 65 years. Hypertension, fatty liver, type two diabetes, vitamin D deficiency as well as many other problems are caused primarily by our Western diet in most of us. This course will map out many of the nutritional problems and guide you in making appropriate [more]

Prediabetes: A Dangerous "Numbers" Game with Your Health

When do you begin to worry about your average blood sugar levels? When it averages 115? 125? 135? 145? If you are showing no signs of insulin resistance (prediabetes) or type two diabetes, your average blood sugar level is typically under 100. If you obtain a fasting blood sugar level, it is typically in the 80-100 range. If you have a fasting level between 100-125, you are considered to be prediabetic and if it is above 126 you are considered to have type two diabetes. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 84 million adults suffer from “prediabetes” and another 30 million suffer from type two diabetes. There are over 1.5 million individuals who are being diagnosed with diabetes annually and now, [more]

Coronary Heart Disease: Making Real Changes to Reduce Risk

As we approach cumulative sales of $1,000,000,000,000 for “Statins” worldwide, we have witnessed the steady, unrelenting deaths, heart failure and debility related to strokes and heart disease not just in the United States but the world over. What is amazing is that when I was in Medical School and participating in my first Advanced Cardiac Life Support Course in 1979, I was taught that there were approximately 200,000 out of hospital victims of sudden cardiac death in that era. That number has risen to somewhere between 350,000 to 700,000 people suffering from the same malady in recent years (depends on what you read as to the exact number) in spite of spending massive amounts of money to try to reduce that number. Why is it that [more]

The Omega-6 Imbalance Found in Vegetable Oils

If you have been following my posts or read my books concerning nutritional health for any length of time, you know that it is critical to balance omega-3 fat with omega-6 fat intake. Omega-3 fats are the oils that we must consume in order to preserve neurologic function and reduce inflammatory processes in our bodies. Omega-6 fats are also essential fats (the ones we need to stay healthy but can't make in our bodies so we must eat them) that stimulate inflammation through several immunologic pathways. It is imperative that we consume both of these oils daily to maintain our dietary fitness; but, the critical aspect of this is that they must be ingested in the proper ratio.  Balance between omega-3 and omega-6 fat in our [more]