Chapter 9: Diet

“Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you?are”

-Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

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I will tell you what you are. You are a CEO. A decision maker for over 30 trillion employees and 38 trillion customers.

As you can probably guess, I am a referring to the human cells and microorganisms in your microbiome respectively. Whether you know it or not, your urges and cravings for food are partly due to the microbiome (your customers) you have been cultivating. Studies have shown that certain foods feed certain microbiota and allow them to grow in population while others shrink. These specific microbiota then send signals to you through the gut brain connection to get you to crave certain foods over another.

Diet, what you eat, is an important aspect of improving your health and reversing Type-2 diabetes. Discussion around food can garner a passionate response and that is a large part of the problem. Food is tied to emotions in many, maybe all, cultures around the world. Changing your diet may be asking you to change your traditions or asking you to remove emotions around a certain type of food. I understand this is a big ask and one you may need to recalibrate often. As mentioned before, allow yourself time to have enough “wins” to make your new lifestyle a habit. I gave myself time from November to January, a time filled with my favorite foods, to research what diet would work for me, but allowed myself to partake in the holiday foods I loved. This way, I felt comfortable that I could spend all of January and February dedicated to the new diet.

Choosing a Diet Protocol

The diet I ultimately chose for myself was the Keto diet. It would be fairly easy for me to adhere to and as noted in my physical health chapter, I would need to eat a lot of protein in a short amount of time. I am not saying that this is the best diet overall, you will need to do some research to find out what works for you and your personal beliefs. One thing I will note is that any deviation from the standard American diet (high in carbs and sugar) will be massively beneficial for your health.

Because there are a wide variety of different types of diets, I have written down some general rules of thumb that I have found to work with a variety of diets. In a future chapter, I will list out everything I now have regularly in my pantry and refrigerator/ freezer.

Fresh and Whole foods are best

Every research paper I’ve read and longevity expert I’ve listened to points out that whole, fresh foods are best and to avoid processed foods. Eat leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables. Enjoy wild caught fish and grass fed/grass finished beef. Have pasture raised chicken and eggs over caged. Buy organic vegetables and fruits (though not necessary for everything). As much as I agree, it may not be realistic to avoid all processed food products. Below I have highlighted what I have learned about reading the contents on the side of the box with some quick rules on what to avoid. Note: I live in the United States and these tips may not apply to you.

What to look for in processed foods

For me, I first look at the carbohydrates, fiber and sugar content and in context to the serving size. Because I chose the Keto diet, I am committed to keeping my carbohydrate intake to less than 50g per day. I have to choose what I eat wisely. Carbs can be calculated by carbohydrates minus the amount of fiber per serving. If a process food passes the initial test of being low-carb enough, I then look at number of calories and protein. Lastly, I double check the ingredients to determine if there are things I need to avoid. In the image above, you can also see total carbs per serving (16 carbs – 6 fiber - 5 allulose) for a total of 5 net carbs. However, its not listed anywhere that allulose is 5g per serving. Can this really be trusted? You will have to do research to determine the trustworthiness of each company.

Here you can see the another example of a packaged good that fits into my diet protocol easily. The ingredients used to make this food is simple and easy to understand. Using this as a component in my cooking will give me better control over what I am consuming and more importantly, not consuming.

What to watch out for and avoid

Here is a short list of things I have learned to avoid. Seed oils like palm, corn, sunflower, safflower, soybean are red flags due to the Omega-6 content. Aspartame, Sucralose, Acesulfame Potassium or Ace-K and xylitol have been shown to be problematic Artificial sweeteners in recent years. I’ve stuck to Allulose, Erythritol, Stevia and Monk Fruit as my artificial sweeteners of choice. If you are pre-diabetic or diabetic, I would avoid all sweet fruit with exception to blueberries, raspberries and blackberries. Avocados, however, are recommended daily and limit eating tomatoes and gourds for fruit intake. Also avoid grains and oats, including corn, and starchy vegetables like potatoes and yams because of the carbohydrate content. Lastly, avoid drinking too many alcoholic drinks and in exchange drink more water. Caffeinated drinks such as coffee and soda are diuretic so they don’t really count as hydrating.

Life is Sour, not Sweet

Since I’ve started my research on the best diet to reverse Type-2 diabetes, I’ve heard many great things about Apple Cider Vinegar. I’ve since started taking a tablespoon or 2 everyday with a drink. In addition to that, foods made with vinegar such as anything pickled seems to be beneficial to our health as well. I’ve taken to eating more pickles, capers, sour Greek yogurt and kim chi since I’ve changed my diet and have actually come to appreciate them more. My suggestion is to try more fermented and pickled foods and find a way to have some Apple Cider Vinegar each day and enjoy the sourness of life.

Glucose content is going to be very important metric moving forward, its important to note the glycemic index of foods including fruits. Even though fruits may seem healthy, there are some with such high glycemic indexes, that its best to avoid them as you work to reverse Type-2 diabetes. I am not saying you’ll have to give fruit up forever, but it may take a while to return to eating them (in limited quantities)

Supplements

Another thing to note is that current day vegetables may not have as many nutrients in them as compared to a few decades ago. We’ve focused on larger, genetically modified varietals, and potentially neglected the density of the nutritional value and flavor of the fresh fruits and vegetables we buy. For this reason, I’ve seen many reports on which minerals and vitamins to take in addition to the food we eat. Almost universally, I’ve seen Potassium and Magnesium come up as well as Omega-3 fatty acids (to counter the amount of Omega-6s we are absorbing day-to-day).

As a word of caution, supplement manufacturers are not regulated like prescription medication and it is difficult to tell how accurate the information is on any container, please research brands. Currently I take Magnesium Glycinate everyday and add Cream of Tartar (excellent source of Potassium without sugar) to my drinks daily. I’ve also added nutritional yeast to my salads as a cheesy-flavor topping which covers my B-Complex needs.

Balancing act for fatty acids.

There are some things I’ve found that need to be in balance in our bodies. Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Omega-6 Fatty Acids for example. The ratio of Omega-6 Fatty Acid to Omega-3 Fatty Acid should be 1:1 for optimal health. However it is shown that the ratio of Western diets is closer to 15:1! Where does this imbalance come from? According to the National Institute of Health the likely culprit is Omega-6 rich seed oils. Soybean, Corn, Safflower are some examples. Due to the low cost, many of these oils are used in restaurants (especially fast food) today. You may also be using Omega-6 rich oils in your cooking as well. For this reason, I’ve started using avocado oil for cooking and am now taking multiple Fish Oil pills per day to help balance out.

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Action Items

1.????? Research diets that make sense with your goals and beliefs.

2.????? Look up recipes that fit with your chosen diet.

3.????? Stick with your diet strictly for 1 month and track progress (how you feel, energy levels, sleep, etc.)

4.????? Increase your consumption of Magnesium, Potassium and Omega-3 Fatty Acids at minimum.