Primal Health Initiative

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What You’ve Been Taught is Not Working

You’ve undoubtedly been taught, much like I was, that meat should be limited. You’ve learned that you need a “balanced diet” that included carbs, proteins, and a little fat (but NO saturated fat.) Vegetables, whole grains, and fruits are supposed to be emphasized with very little meat (and of that meat, fish is recommended over red meat.)

One serious result of this faulty belief is called sarcopenia – loss of muscle. And it’s why people get weaker, experience more illness, and fall as they get older. They don’t get enough protein – namely animal-based protein. It’s even know in the medical community that this is happening, but our answer is to supplement with cheap protein like Ensure:

Gotta love those “healthy” ingredients.

Another serious result of this belief is the climbing rate of obesity, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, neurodegenerative disease, and auto-immune disease.

It has become so common to hear someone speak of themselves or a relative with one or more of these ailments. But it’s NOT NORMAL! It’s time to put a stop this this growing trend of illness, degeneration, and painful aging.

Your way of eating directly affects your physical and mental health

It’s time to return to a way of eating that is specific to what you need and what you’re made of as a human. You’re not a plant and you’re not processed food. When you eat foods that aren’t essential, you’ll eventually pay the price. Let’s avoid that tax.

Vegetables and grains are considered foods we’ve cultivated to help us survive. Animal-based nutrition helps us thrive.

First let’s remove some of the primary concerns about eating meat – our most natural food.

Meat Does Not Cause Cancer… or Any Other Problems

You may have even heard that too much meat can cause cancer, heart disease, kidney problems, and even diabetes! There is a reason for that, but it has nothing to do with the truth. If meat was such a problem, we wouldn’t be here today as a species as it’s what we subsisted off of for about 1.8 million years prior to settling and becoming farmers (about 10K years ago.)

There is no actual credible, valid, reliable evidence that shows meat causes cancer or any other problem for that matter.

In fact, the Standard American Diet (SAD) consists of 2 oz of meat per day on average. More calories in our western diet actually come from soybean oil of all things! Up to 70%! The SAD has been largely plant-based for the last several decades so the fear mongers that blame meat for all these problems like heart disease and colorectal cancer apparently have it wrong.

At the time of this writing, residents of Hong Kong lead the world in longevity with an average life expectancy of 83 years. They eat on average 1.5 pounds of meat a day!..And no it’s not all fish.

India has one of the lowest life expectancy ratings coming in at 68, and they are largely a vegetarian population (source UN data 2010-2015 Life Expectancy in Years.)

There is NO EVIDENCE that meat causes any problems whatsoever. Even the World Health Organization has red meat classified as a Class 2 carcinogen, and the science they used to support this is woefully inept. In fact a close look at these studies reveals that pizza was considered “red meat” in some of the surveys! They also didn’t account other lifestyle factors such as smoking, sedentary lifestyle, and other risky behaviors. Besides, who can remember what they ate exactly last month much less last year?! That’s what these studies are – questionnaires.

In fact, beef consumption has been on the decline for decades, yet chronic disease continues to rise. Meat is NOT the problem. Moreover, the number of cows have significantly decreased, so they can’t be blamed for climate change as some would have you believe. There are approximately ninety million cows in the U.S. today, down from a high of about one hundred forty million in 1974.

Many people think that diets have actually been studied by people in white lab coats running randomized, double blind, controlled studies with actual humans in large numbers, similar genetics, and similar age and lifestyles – NOPE. Never been done and never will be.

There is NOT ONE GOOD STUDY that proves meat (red meat or process meat) causes cancer or any other problem

Moreover, these studies are epidemiological, and they DO NOT point to the CAUSE of cancer or other problems. Most all nutritional studies are designed like this unfortunately.

For details on problems with these types of studies in nutrition Go HERE. In many cases, the data was cherry-picked to try and show correlation but the evidence again was statistically insignificant.

However the largely vegetarian board of the WHO chose to put the word out to all the governments of the world that red meat is bad and that we should eat our vegetables and shut up. Sound familiar? Of course it does! You were told that as a child! Guess what, you were right!

Veggies aren’t so good as we thought after all!

You’ve also been instructed that you should eat less, spread it throughout the day (3 meals and 2-3 small snacks) and exercise more to be truly healthy. In fact, depending on your age, your supposed to be doing around 20-40 minutes of aerobic exercise 5 times a week and more! Whew!…Again all while eating less! Talk about suffering! Moreover, that’s the reason why we have so much obesity, chronic disease, and general health decline –

Eat Less and Exercise More DOES NOT WORK!

As a physical therapist, I know that exercise is a modality or a procedure I can use in a very specific way to improve the health of a particular part of the body that needs to heal and recover from a problem. However, if someone is simply unhealthy due to a host of systemic issues, exercise will not be very effective.

Exercise is good to enhance health where health is already present. It cannot create health if there is none to begin. Diet is where health begins. Diet is first, exercise is second.

Have you ever heard “You can’t out exercise a bad diet?”… It’s True.

What About Cholesterol?

What we know about cholesterol today is that it’s bad and it clogs our heart arteries and causes heart disease and death for those who eat too much meat, right? WRONG!

This practice is called the Lipid Hypothesis, and it’s the basis for all medical education, hence why your physician is trained to put you on a statin if your total cholesterol goes over 200. The intent is to stifle your production of cholesterol to prevent its buildup and subsequent heart disease.

Based on this hypothesis, you can keep eating your crap, take a statin, and live longer with less disease. Guess what? It’s not working. Statins are not preventing heart disease or extending life. Why? The Lipid Hypothesis was proven wrong.

Eating animal fat and cholesterol is actually healthy and does not cause heart disease! The plaques of cholesterol are a result of your body’s natural repair process to fix vascular damage from eating grains, vegetable/seed oils, and sugar! Inflammation!

Cholesterol is just doing its job!

Simply quit eating crappy, damaging food and the problem is fixed, but it has nothing to do with cholesterol. Even in the famous Framingham Study from which all this info comes from, there was no difference in the mortality rates of those with a cholesterol of 180 vs 1000! You never heard this, did you? Nope. Even the director of the study reports that those who ate a higher fat diet lived longer with less problems than those who didn’t.

For a FULL Unbiased look at ALL the research, check out Dr. Zoe Harcombe PhD’s excellent work HERE

Understand that high cholesterol while still eating high carbs, processed foods, fast foods, junk, and meat is NOT GOOD! The problem is that the meat is getting blamed for the high cholesterol, not the junk! Stop eating junk, and stick to good meats, and cholesterol then becomes meaningless. In fact your cells and your brain are made from a lot of cholesterol. We need it!

It’s Time to Unlearn and Relearn

When looking at how to do the carnivore diet, it’s actually super simple. The hard part is to get past your fixed beliefs and your general knowledge that runs counter to what you’re about to learn! This is not really a diet as much as it is a return to a very normal way of eating. It’s NOT a FAD!

Meat eating for health has been around a long time, including modern times. In the late 1800’s Dr. Salisbury was using a meat-based approach (broiled meat and hot water) to address almost any medical ailment you can think of. He had an extremely successful cure rate. Of course, you’ve probably heard of the Atkins Diet by Dr. Atkins. People to this day still use the Atkins diet to improve their weight and their health!

By the way, medical doctors are not nutrition experts. They are experts in diagnosing and treating pathology. Treatment interventions boil down to medication, injection, or surgery. Lifestyle medicine is not yet a reimbursable form of treatment, but it’s getting there! However, when an MD or DO departs from their traditional mainstream training, and they put these methods into practice with results, you have a super expert. Physicians are the highest most rigorously trained health professionals, so they are still a great resource. Most are willing to listen to you and learn from you if your methods result in health improvement. Low Carb USA is a great resource in finding progressive physicians and qualified health care practitioners in your area.

The ONLY professionals that have a medical training background, who spend 45 min to an hour with a patient, use natural means of healing, and who focus on prevention as well as lifestyle changes are Doctors of Physical Therapy (PT’s.) However, not all PT’s practice at a high level. Many do not engage in nutritional education.

All Diets Work and All Diets Fail!

You can lose weight on any diet and like 99% of all diet participants, you’ll typically quit and regain the weight. They’re not sustainable. The carnivore diet was sustainable for more than a million years, so no worries on the “can I stay on this diet?” concern.

Contrary to contemporary diets, the Carnivore Diet does not reduce your calories and it doesn’t give you a complex array of rules. The more complex a diet is, the more apt you are to fail sooner!

You see so many people walking around, counting their steps, counting their macros, weighing their food, eating a lot of salads, making green smoothies, and even counting old school calories! Everyone is trying keep variety, color, and a balanced diet approach, again which has never worked in terms of achieving optimum health.

Complexity yields failure in dieting

The Carnivore Diet is disqualified as a diet by conventional standards, so it won’t fail. There is a chance you may decide it’s not for you and that’s fine. Food addiction is strong, and it does take effort on your part to break that addiction. The good news is that the Carnivore Diet is perfect for breaking food and carb addiction! Keep reading…

FACT: Carbohydrates are NOT ESSENTIAL

You learned that your primary fuel source is that of carbohydrates. You’ve probably also learned that there are healthy carbs and bad carbs. With all the talk about carbs today, I’ll keep it simple and just say that CARBS are NOT ESSENTIAL. They have no significant nutritional value other than energy, and you know what happens when you consume more energy than you use – you store it as FAT!

There are 2 essential foods in the human diet. We need these to survive and thrive! These 2 foods are animal fat and protein

Your early human ancestors (homosapiens) prior to agriculture were known as hunter-gatherers, and evidence shows that they were more hunter than gatherer. In other words, their diet was largely animal-based, and megafauna was the meal of the day – i.e. mastodons, woolly mammoths and the like. This food in terms of energy and survival made sense than trying to acquire the same number of calories by way of collecting vegetation.

The amount of time and energy it took to take down a slow moving herbivore was a lot less than spending hours and hours foraging for food with very little nutritional density. So it made sense to kill and eat the big boys that were eating all that stuff.

The Problem!

The problems is that we are now surrounded by food and most of it is carbohydrate and refined processed junk! We no longer have to hunt to survive. We can push a button on our phone and have any type of food brought to us.

We have refrigerators and ways of storing and processing food in order to store for long periods of time. And of course, with carbs as an immediate energy source, and with sugar being more addictive than cocaine, we often go for the sweet satisfying foods.

Our genetics are still basically the same as our ancestors, so we are designed to eat anything and everything in sight! There was no guarantee we’d have food the next few days or even longer.

Our bodies are designed to handle scarcity better than they are designed to handle over-feeding (hence all the problems such as diabetes, obesity, cancer, and stroke.) This is why so many people have reversed their health and weight problems using fasting strategies and ketogenic and carnivore dieting.

#1 They are eliminating carbs for the most part, and #2 they are using our inherent survival design of being in a healthy fasted state – this is to prepare you for the hunt and keep you alive until you acquire your next kill or meal. Insulin levels drop, human growth hormone and adrenaline ramp up – you are ready and focused!

In a fasted state, your human growth hormone levels elevate to 5 times their original levels and adrenaline kicks up – this is why you don’t lose muscle and you feel energized around the 3rd day and more of being fasted. Granted, most people use an intermittent fasting strategy that’s closer to a normal human eating frequency, but it’s still a lot.

More on this later, but just know that when learning how to do the carnivore diet, you don’t have restrictions on time or volume, and most end up eating around 1-2 times a day.

You Are a Scavenger

Carnivore, herbivore, or omnivore? Which one are you really?! You are actually an opportunistic carnivore but you have the stomach pH (acid and base level) that resembles more of what’s known as a scavenger – like a hyena or a crow. It’s very low (acidic.) We can handle some really nasty stuff, and that’s what such a low pH is for – to kill off unnecessary bacteria and other harmful substances. Carnivore’s like wolves and tigers have a little higher pH than us. Herbivores like our ape cousins, zebras, and cows have a fairly high pH.

Proof: look up any video on “high meat” and be prepared to be blown away. This is not for those with a weak constitution – it’s basically people who eat fermented meat, yes rotten meat, as many of our ancestors did. They call it high meat because you can literally feel a little euphoria after ingesting it.

Don’t worry! This is not a part of the Carnivore Diet. It’s allowed if you really want to be adventurous.

The Difference Between Carnivore and Zero Carb

You may hear the Carnivore Diet also described as the zero carb diet. When you are practicing a carnivorous diet, you aren’t eating carbs, so basically you are zero carb dieting. However, you can also be on a zero carb diet eating many calorie free foods and drinks such as certain vegatables, processed foods, and diet sodas. You can eat a really crappy unhealthy diet and be considered zero carb. The Carnivore Diet is NOT an unhealthy diet. In fact, it is the most nutrient dense way of eating you can practice in this day and time. Remember, we NEED the essentials and these are ONLY found in animal protein and fat. The best source for these 2 essentials is red meat from ruminant animals (i.e. cow, sheep, bison, goat, deer, mastodon, woolly mammoth – of which only the first 5 are available today 😉

The Carnivore Diet is a zero carb diet, but a zero carb diet is not a Carnivore Diet

What About Vitamins, Minerals, and Fiber?

I could write a book on this, and many already have . We now know that what we’ve learned about vitamins and minerals is mostly not applicable. The paper value of the amount of vitamins and minerals you might see for vegetables and fruits does not necessarily equate to what is actually used by your body.

In the 1950s is when the vitamin craze hit, and marketing strategies focused on getting people to buy food stuffs with the most vitamins regardless of what the food was made of.

In 2007, what you know as the Recommended Daily Allowance (put forth by the USDA) of all vitamins and minerals was deemed ineffective by the Institute of Medicine. These values of vitamin C, B12, D, Calcium, etc are all basically based on “their best guess.” Not only that, but the methods used to obtain these values were based on carbohydrate-consuming populations. There is no data on populations that consume a low-carb or carnivore type diet.

Your way of eating will dictate your vitamin and mineral needs, and there is no valid set of nutritional requirements

For instance, we now know that carnivore dieters who eat meat only do not get scurvy (vitamin C deficiency,) and they do no develop atherosclerosis (hardening and clogging of the arteries.) You would think based on the information you have about vitamin C from the 1940’s (RDA for vitamin C is 65-90 mg per day with upper limit of 2000) that a meat-only diet would cause you some problems here, but it does not. Meat actually has vitamin C in it (even though the USDA never tested for it!) and it’s why fresh meat prevents and cures scurvy. This was found by the sailors of old who would get scurvy eating dried/jerky meats on long trips. They were cured with either fresh meat or fruits like oranges. Guess which food got the credit?

Eating a meat-only diet does not lead to nutritional deficiencies

This is evidenced anecdotally in people like Charles Washington who is in his 60’s and doesn’t look a day over 35 (an over 20 year carnivore.) Joe Andersen and his wife Charlene who healed all sorts of issues and look, function, and feel amazing – they are also 20+ year strict carnivores. These people can be found and followed on Facebook and Instagram.

What you never learned is that vegetables contain anti-nutrients and other constituents (natural pesticides) that deter animals, including you, from eating it! It’s why most vegetables in their original state are virtually inedible. These anti-nutrients can prevent absorption of vitamins and minerals. Not only that, it’s now known that some of these substances cause inflammatory and other problems in humans! Did you realize that only 1% of the worlds plants are actually edible. 99% of the worlds meat is edible. Hmmm.

How to Do the Carnivore Diet

I will give you my approach as I’ve used it a few different ways in practice. Absorb this information and make a decision on how you’d like to proceed.

The 12 Week Full Elimination Protocol

This is a gradual process of eliminating any and all food substances that could be affecting your health adversely over a 12 week period. You see people doing 1 and 4 week carnivore challenges, and that’s cute, but it doesn’t do anything to actually achieve the full effect of expressing the healthiest you. It takes 3 months for new cells to regenerate and those cells will be genetically expressed based on how you fuel them.

Now that your removing all but your primal, original fuel source, these will be your best cells. Honestly, it’s a 6 month process to really see how healthy you can be although most people notice results in just a few days to weeks!

Every one is different, but we are all the SAME SPECIES! So yes, we all need and thrive on meat! Now what you’ve been eating and what you’ve been made of over the last few years is going to dictate your response.

Please note that every animal has a species-specific diet – we’re the only animals that have mucked it up. The Plant-based community and money-backed vegan propaganda machines are in full force trying to convince you that you are a plant. You need to eat mostly plants and avoid the natural order by avoiding animal based produce so they can all roam free. Yeah, that sounds sane – NOT!

Follow the money and you’ll see there is much more $ in the profit margin of grain as well as plants in general. James Cameron, has invested 140 million in a pea protein company so here come the vegans and tons of ads to support veganism and plant-based dieting!

Want to cure veganism? Take away their blenders 😉

Back to sanity – Eat meat, get healthy, live a great disease-free, energetic life. Here’s how:

The Carnivore Diet Rules

PHASE I: The first 4 weeks on the Carnivore Diet

You will eat only meat, eggs, real butter, and hard aged cheeses for the first 4 weeks.

What to drink? You can keep coffee in the mix for the first 4 weeks if you’re really an addict. I understand. I was. Your liquid consumption should be limited to water – carbonated water is fine.

Eat to satiety! There is no rule and when or how much to eat.

Use plenty of salt! I recommend Redmond Real Salt. Any good sea or Celtic salt is fine. Avoid refined salt like Morton’s. Salt is your new sugar.

If you get hungry or get a craving (more on this later,) eat more meat and don’t forget SALT.

Grassfed or Store Bought? It doesn’t matter. There is an argument for grass fed having a better nutrient profile, but for the sake of what we’re doing here. It doesn’t matter. I personally preferred grass-fed/grain-finished. There is more to this, but that’s not within the scope of this article.

For the record: I fully recommend pastured animals that were raised by a farm or farmer that practices regenerative agriculture. If you have a relationship with a local farm, farmer, or butcher that uses local resources – you’re in good hands.

The cheapest meat at the store is better than eating a bunch of non-essential foods that could be causing health issues!

Ideas: Steak and Eggs!, ground beef with shredded aged cheddar and eggs! Cheeseburger patties! Steak cuts dropped in scrambled eggs with aged cheddar shredded over it – ALL with SALT! There are super good ideas and recipes if you need at MeatRx.com

Emphasize Red Meat from ruminant animals!

Cow, lamb, deer, bison, goat are the common ones.

Economic version: just stick to ground beef and eggs! Make burger patties, mix it up, prepare the eggs any way you want – the main ingredient is SALT.

If you’re concerned about too much salt intake, be sure to read “The Salt Fix” – it’s on the banner to your right. Salt is not a problem typically – more bad info we’ve been fed for many years without any evidence.

Other meats that are fine: chicken, bacon, ham, pork, and duck – these are meats from monogastric (one chambered stomach animals) animals. These meats should not be emphasized but they are fine to include. They’re considered “neutral.”

Organ Meats are great but not required

You’ll see various “experts” saying you need to eat nose-to-tail to get the most nutritional benefit from the Carnivore Diet; however, previous carnivore dieters of 20 years and more did not practice this way and they experienced no problems. Yes, organ meats, especially the liver, contain a surplus of vitamins and minerals that are perfectly absorbed (unlike veggies and fruits,) but organ meats have not been proven “essential” for optimal health.

I personally eat liver (both chicken and beef) maybe once a month -depends on convenience. I DO NOT eat kidney – sometimes you get a nasty urea hit. Heart is pretty good and you can get it blended with beef by US Wellness Meats

Phase 2: Weeks 4-8 on the Carnivore Diet

All the rules above remain!

You simply eliminate cheese. Yes you can keep your coffee, butter, eggs, and other meats.

Phase 3: Weeks 8-12 on the Carnivore Diet

Now it’s time to go FULL CARNIVORE – Red Meat and Water ONLY. Yes drop the coffee and deal with the oncoming headache and malaise! This will not be fun if you’ve been a long term coffee drinker. You can always put coffee back in later. First let’s get all plant-based substances removed.

For the next 4 weeks it’s all about having fully eliminated any substance that could have been creating a problem. Your body can now fully repair and recover without having to deal with any foreign or non-essential substance. Meat is the most natural food to your body.

Coffee does affect your gut bacteria and your adrenals (adrenal fatigue.) This is a great time to allow for a re-set of sorts. Give your body a break. You can always return to drinking coffee perhaps on a more limited scale and without the addiction.

What to Expect on the Carnivore Diet

The Adaptation Phase! This is where your body, especially your gut, adapts to this new way of eating. This usually lasts about 3 weeks.

First of all, if you’ve entered this way of eating from a SAD, you’re going to definitely experience what is known as the carb flu (first week). You’ve been using carbs for a long time as an energy source and now you’re not. Your body will give you signals that it doesn’t approve – fatigue, headache, and a little misery. Fortunately, it’s temporary!

Diarrhea is also a fairly common initial symptom (first 3 weeks.) Your gut/gallbladder has probably never processed this much protein/fat and it has to adapt. Rendered fat (burger meat) is notorious for causing this. Leaner cuts of meat like sirloin and NY Strip are generally well accepted in the beginning – and thereafter!

Weight Loss! Keep in mind, this is not exclusively a weight loss diet. Yes, most do lose substantial amounts of weight. This is more of a health restoration diet – a way to allow your physiology to return to a more normal state without inflammation. It’s a way to set a good healthy foundation from which you will have full control.

Is the Carnivore Diet for Everyone? No. There are some people who are pleased and happy with where they are physically and mentally. I only recommend making changes in your diet when you know you need to take action to improve your health – whether it be simple weight loss or addressing a health concern.

I do not recommend beating other people over the head with this diet as the only diet a human should practice. You know it’s good, I know it’s good, science shows it’s good, history shows that it’s our reason for existing – but nutrition is right next to religion and politics in many circles. Simply lead by example and You do You.

Be prepared for criticism: NO ONE…absolutely NO ONE at the time of this writing understands how healthy this approach is assuming they have the standard education background and have some version of internet access. What you’re doing will not make sense. Either don’t engage or simply let them know you are working on a food allergy protocol. I have a video for my fasting group to send “concerned people” to, and I should have one soon for your concerned people – watch for it soon!

After the 12 Week Carnivore Diet:

You can now re-introduce foods that you choose to eat and see how you react – see how you feel. The most common food/drink that people return to is coffee. Do one at a time for several days. Don’t load up on a variety.

By now, you will have learned so much about this way of eating as well as your own body. Most people simply continue with Carnivore as their base and they eat occasional other foods.

For those who have food allergies, intolerances, and sensitivities – the re-introduction phase is very important. You may have healed and can now eat the formerly provocative food – or you may not! I was lactose intolerant. Now I’m not. I also don’t have Fall Allergies – life changer for sure!

Stay connected and involved with others practicing a carnivore way of life on social media. Focus on those who are succeeding and who have done it for over a year or more.

Be sure to opt in to my Carnivore group above! There is always more to learn!

Cheers! Now go eat a steak!

The Carnivore Diet Book!

At the time of this writing the first copies of The Carnivore Diet by Dr. Shawn Baker are being released! It’s the first book that goes in depth into the complex world of nutrition and simplifies what you need to know about eating an all meat diet. There is no dogma or zealotry and there is definitely no fuzzy science like the vegans use to try and convince you that this way is the best. You are given the truth as it stands, and you can make your own decision about how you can implement this knowledge into a way of improving your health.

A must read book about the carnivore diet

Before Carnivore was cool, there was Mike Sheridan putting out how to get healthy and fit with his book “Eat Meat and Stop Jogging.” My patients and clients will tell you that I don’t use steady state cardio or running/jogging in any of my health and weight loss plans. Why? It doesn’t work and it’s more damaging that beneficial. Mike goes into detail with good scientific references. It’s a great read and must have!

Carnivore ZC, Diet & Nutrition, Fasting

Fasting 101

January 27, 2019 Wade Baskin 4 Comments

You’re either considering fasting or connected to someone who is fasting and you want to know what the heck is going on? Why on earth would anyone want to go without food? Makes no sense, right? This article is a very basic run-down of fasting that will help you determine if going without food is helpful or harmful. Watch this quick 10 minute video!

You’re probably concerned that it’s unsafe! How in the world can going without food, be healthy?!

Fasting is EXTREMELY healthy! It is the fastest way to lose extra fat while preserving muscle. NO other diet does this.

I have never been able to over feed someone into better health! However, when I remove food, their health improves! By this very simple and powerful observation, I think you can use a little common sense here and surmise that adding more food doesn’t equate to better health.

In fact, the ONE thing that the 3 most influential people in all of human history (Jesus, Buddha, and Mohamed) agree on is that fasting is good for the body and the spirit.

Fasting means going completely without food. When you are not ingesting food, your body uses it’s own food. First, it uses the glycogen (sugar) it has stored in the liver. Your body will keep your blood sugar at a certain level at all costs. When the liver runs out of glycogen (24-48 hours), your body then goes to it’s stored food (your FAT stores! Yes!) and this is what we want! Your body is now living on it’s own food that you’ve stored. You are now in a state of “ketosis,” because when your body uses fat as a fuel, it creates a new source of energy called ketones.

However, achieving ketosis is easier said than done! You ARE ADDICTED to CARBS! And once you deplete your body of this drug, you will have symptoms! Once you get past these symptoms, and your body learns how to use it’s own fat reserves for energy, this is called being “fat adapted,” and life is really good once you achieve this state. It can take several weeks to months. Most experienced fasters who remain low carb can easily go back and forth from using carbs to fats for energy, and this is called “metabolic flexibility.”

Being metabolically flexible is like being a bit superhuman. You can go with or without food. You can use carbs or not. You have no food addictions, but you can enjoy anything. You can use fasting at the drop of a hat with no drop in energy, and your health remains excellent.

FASTING IS NOTHING NEW!

Your genetics (assuming you are a homosapien) are designed to be more in a fasted state than in a fed state. Our ancestral heritage spans over the last 1.8 to 2 million years during which we certainly did NOT eat 3 times a day! Moreover, we didn’t have cavities, heart disease, cancer, digestive disorders, dementia, Alzheimer’s, obesity, Diabetes, or any of the collective autoimmune diseases that plague and perplex us. Keep in mind, the first recorded heart attack was in 1921! What we assume is a normal part of aging – arthritis, weakness, falling, heart disease, stroke, etc…IS NOT NORMAL! However these problems are COMMON!

These problems started to appear when our eating frequency increased and our food sources started to shift away from animal-based nutrition. Literally, in the last .01% of human history (the last 100 years,) we’ve managed to create a new most prevalent cause of death – chronic disease.

Intermittent Fasting Anyone?

Recently, many celebrities are jumping on the “Intermittent Fasting” bandwagon, and I applaud this effort! However, Intermittent Fasting (IF) is actually a return to a more normal pattern of eating. IF is basically shortening your feeding window with the most popular one being the 16:8 (16 hours fasted: 8 hours feeding time.) My favorite is the Warrior Fast which is 20:4 (20 hours fasted: 4 hours feeding.) Studies use terminology such as TRF or Time Restricted Feeding and they all find that the shorter the feeding window, the better your health!

Does IF work? It’s better than eating 3-6 meals a day! But most will plateau in their fat loss efforts. In order to lose fat, you have to trigger release of your extra fat reserves and IF only does this to a certain extent.

Extended Fasting! Now this is where we get into true restoration of health, rapid/safe fat loss, rejuvenation, cellular repair and all things related to the popularized concept of Autophagy! Extended fasting is going 48 hours or more without food, and most people cannot wrap their head around this concept as they still believe that going without food is bad! WRONG! Eating 2-3 times a day and MORE is BAD! EF is the best and most effective method of achieving fat loss without muscle loss due to it’s powerful ability to put you in ketosis by burning YOUR OWN FAT!

I frequently go 2 and 3 days without food just to show my patients that you wont die!

There are 2 types of fasts.

1. Liquid fast. This is where you only drink a calorie free drink like water, and unfortunately, water is not a great way to fast. It “bottoms you out!” … Water pushes your electrolytes out, and you don’t feel good. There is a solution to this, and I’ll address it below.

2. Dry fast. This type of fasting method is where you refrain from food or drink. You’re body will use it’s own “metabolic water” and this will also come from fat as adipose tissue is 60% water. Your fat literally has all you need regarding nutrition to live…including water. Dry fasting is used mostly for healing a medical problem or disorder, i.e. skin problems, illnesses, cancer and more. The most common dry fast is called a “soft dry fast.” This means contact with water is allowed such as brushing your teeth and taking a shower. A “hard dry fast” simply means absolutely no contact with any liquid – no shower, no swimming, no brushing teeth, no washing your face, etc.

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Here are the top fasting concerns:

First of all, know that they are NOT GOING to DIE! Hospitalized , comatose, dying people who have the feeding tube and IV removed (no food, no water) will literally live 7-9 days! Now the person fasting may feel like they’re going to die as they begin the process of breaking their addictions to carbs, caffeine, and whatever else they’ve been pounding their body with. These “detox” symptoms are temporary! And in my opinion, these symptoms are a bit of a punishment for abusing the body all these years 😉

1. Isn’t fasting basically starvation? Absolutely NOT!

What differentiates fasting from starvation is the hormonal response. When you fast, your HGH (Human Growth Hormone) levels and adrenaline increase thus preserving your muscle. The moment you put any food substance in your mouth, you go into a “fed” state and this hormonal response stops. Your body is now waiting on food. If you don’t eat enough to meet your caloric needs, then your body will catabolize itself to achieve this caloric need – it will take from muscle and fat. So yes, you will lose weight, but part of that weight is muscle! The very tissue that burns fat. This is starvation!

ALL DIETS that have you eat multiple times a day but do not meet your caloric need are basically putting you into starvation mode. You will lose weight, but you will lose muscle and fat. Most people who can stick with it end up being “skinny fat” people as their body fat percentage remains high due to the loss of muscle.

2. How long can you go without food?

As long as you have extra fat reserves on your body! Literally. That fat on your body that you can feel plus the fat all around your organs (the dangerous kind) that you can’t feel is basically food! It has all that you need to survive when you’re not stuffing your face.

It is not uncommon for very obese people to fast for 30 days with liquid only. The longest recorded fast is 382 days! It was done in 1973 in Scotland. Fasting is nothing new.

There is a myth that you can only last 3 days without water and 3 weeks without food. It’s the “rule of 3’s,” and it is simply WRONG. I do 72 hour (3 day) dry fasts while I’m working, and I have no problems doing this!

3. Why drink salt water instead of regular water?

Plain water flushes your electrolytes (mainly sodium and potassium), and you can feel really bad. When you drink an electrolyte solution, you keep your electrolytes balanced and you’ll feel as good as possible. This strategy also helps break food addiction. Many people do fast with water only, but I don’t recommend it. You only need to use electrolyte solution during a prolonged fast of 2 days or more. For those doing a 1 meal a day (OMAD) fast, water is fine. You’ll get plenty of sodium and potassium from your food.

GO HERE to see how to make the electrolyte solution!

3. When should you not fast?

Once your body fat is in a normal range and you are approaching a “lean” body composition, multiple day fasts are no longer necessary for fat loss. People who are already in a low body fat range such as 4% or below and/or have an eating disorder should also refrain from using fasting strategies without proper professional supervision.

Moreover, if you have an obvious or diagnosed nutritional deficiency, you should not fast.

4. What’s that funny smell and taste?

First of all, there is no telling what toxins you’ve been storing in your fat cells all your life and now they’re being purged, or released. That could be one reason for body or breath odor, and it is very temporary.

You will also enter a state of “ketosis” which means your body is now using fat as a fuel vs sugar or carbohydrate. This is a very natural and awesome physical state to be in! However, your body is not used to it, and the ketones produced as a byproduct of fat metabolism can be temporarily noticed in your breath – it’s a little strong, sweet, fruity type flavor. This is not ketoacidosis which is a condition that type 1 diabetics experience when there ketones reach excessive amounts. It’s not possible for a non diabetic to develop ketoacidosis.

5. Why doesn’t my doctor – trainer – therapist or other professional not know about fasting?

First of all, they weren’t trained in fasting strategies. Simple as that. They are incredibly intelligent people and they’ve most likely mastered their discipline, but fasting was not a part of their curriculum.

The lowdown on carbs…

Unfortunately, there are still professionals who believe you MUST HAVE CARBS! This is sad, because it is simply not true. They are super smart people, probably some of the smartest in the world, however they are trained to practice in a certain way with a model of physiology that requires frequent feeding. I was taught the same! Glucose is the primary fuel source of the brain so we must ingest it to keep ourselves healthy, energetic, and able to live! It is also the primary fuel for our general metabolism, right? WRONG – we got fat, and it all started in 1977 when the first food pyramid came out recommending 6-11 servings of grain per day. We then started snacking (carbs make you hungry at least every 2 hours) to keep our “blood sugar” from bottoming out – laughable! Carbs are simply not essential. Fat and Protein are essential, and carbs are simply an optional energy source.

A possible exception…

Physicians that are trained in Functional Medicine are an exception as they do work to find the underlying cause of a disorder, and they are more apt to be training in the use of fasting strategies and nutritional remedies vs toxic drugs.

Be sure to check out Low Carb USA for practitioners that are up to date on the latest nutritional approaches to health.

How to mess up your metabolism

Trainers are educated to diet folks multiple times a day and create a caloric deficit while exercising you in some way. Metabolism drops as your weight does, you feel exhausted eventually, and you quit. The weight comes back just like all the participants experienced on the show “The Biggest Loser.” Eating less calories and exercising your butt off is not a sustainable way to drop extra fat. Besides, what it took these folks about 9 months to achieve can be achieved in 3 months with fasting!…And without all the exhausting exercise, mental fatigue, drop in metabolism, loss of muscle, and ultimate failure. People who fast continue to live their lives, work, go to school, and they actually perform better!

Hard truth

You will only find a few professionals “in the know.” The food industry that is a large part of our economy, especially the grain industry that has a huge profit margin, stands nothing to gain by people choosing healthier options such as fasting. They only stand to lose. So be prepared to see the media come out in force with fake stories like …”the dangers of fasting,” “low carb kills,” “Keto Dieters Shorten Life Span’s,” “Meat Diet Causes Heart Disease” on and on!

As you read this right now, you are basing your decisions on what you believe. What you believe is what you’ve learned mostly from the media. The media is paid by the food industry to advertise it’s food. You literally believe that oatmeal is heart healthy, right? Why? Because you were told so in advertisements. It’s a lie – plain and simple. The purpose of this lie is to get you to buy oatmeal – not get healthy. No grain is considered heart healthy, and grains are a large part of the reason we have some much obesity, digestive problems, diabetes, alzheimer’s and other chronic disease.

6. Should vitamins and minerals be taken while fasting?

No, not necessarily. On most fasting regimens which are typically spread throughout the week, you get plenty of the essentials from your own fat and the re-feeds (when you eat.) People that fast for 30 days or more do incorporate vitamins/minerals on a limited scale. There is no evidence that vitamins/minerals should be included in prolonged fasts. Your fat cells contain all that you need regarding vitamins/minerals – and a lot of stuff you don’t need (hence the term “detox.”) The vitamin/mineral requirements are also very inaccurate as they were established back in the 40’s and based on carb dieting soldiers. When you don’t eat carbs, your requirements change. No study has ever shown that vitamin/mineral supplementation provides any benefit or protection from disease. This vitamin chasing phenomenon was popularized in the 50’s and the marketing since then has been relentless. The only vitamins I recommend giving valid attention to are vitamin D3+K2.

7. Can you lose weight too fast?

Everyone loses weight at different rates. It is not uncommon for heavier people with a lot to lose to drop 10 pounds a week and/or 30 pounds a month. As you grow leaner the fat loss slows. When you get down to the last 10-15 pounds is when you don’t need to do aggressive fasting. One meal a day and a few 48 hour fasts once to twice a week works well and is very comfortable. Exercise can also be implemented at this stage, but again, it’s not necessary for fat loss. Exercise is excellent for strength, muscle gain, and overall fitness and function.

Perspective on Fasting & Our Current Diet

Keep in mind that homo sapiens (our species) have been on earth for about 200,000 years! Most of our time on earth has been as hunter-gatherers, and we ate animals, nose to tail to sustain us. We experienced times of feasting during a kill and fasting until the next kill. Vegetation was scarce, and virtually non-existent in many parts of the world due to the ice age. Fruit presented after the ice age when the earth began to warm about 11,000 years ago, and it was only found in a few locations. Agriculture (growing crops and cultivating grains) started about 10,000 years ago when we began to create settlements. We started to substitute vegetable oils, sugar, and grains for animal products about 100 years ago, the first heart attack was recorded in 1921.

Supermarkets started in the ’40’s, and we started increasing our grain consumption due to government dietary guidelines (the food pyramid) in 1977. Snacking became the norm in the 80’s and obesity rates, diabetes, and autoimmune disorders began to sky-rocket. Now we are ridden with obesity and chronic disease. We turn to our medical professionals, but they are trained to treat your pathology, not fix your diet that lead up to your disease. In fact, most are trained in such a way that does not teach them that diet is in any way related to disease!

Our Modern Diet

Notice that literally within the last 100 years, we’ve managed to destroy our health and make being unhealthy and overweight the norm! Even in the 70’s we fasted at least 12 hours, and obesity was not very prevalent. We ate breakfast at 7, lunch, then dinner around 7. Repeat. Nowadays it’s breakfast, a snack, lunch, a snack, dinner and dessert…maybe another snack. Refined carbs/snacks surround us, cost next to nothing, and are super addictive. Insulin spiking has never been greater, nor have our rates of type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart disease and cancer.

For some odd reason, our governments say we should eat a balanced diet of vegetables, fruits, grains, and low fat dairy. This combination has never been a part of a healthy human diet. First of all, this is the first time in history we’ve had the transportation and technology to ship food to all parts of the world. Our health does no require shipments of food. It requires 2 things: protein and fat (mostly animal-based). You cannot get all your essential nutrition from plants only. Simply look at the problems the vegetarians and vegans have. It’s astounding.

We have come to the point where we’ve moved so far away from a normal human diet that it’s now unrecognizable.

You are now being taken advantage of by all the fad diets and methods meant to take your money only to have to grow fatter and unhealthier. ALL diets cause you to lose weight by caloric restriction and multiple meals a day – not fasting. ALL popular diets cause people to lose weight and regain it. There is a 99% failure rate in the industry. So yes, ALL commercial diets are basically a scam. They take your money and they don’t work.

What works?

Quit eating – it’s guaranteed. Fasting will not decrease your metabolism, cause muscle loss, or kill you. However, you will lose fat, break food addiction, resolve underlying and active diseases, and all for the grand cost of zero!

And all you really have to do is take a step back in time, take a lesson from our ancestors who did not have obesity, chronic disease, diabetes, heart disease, or bad health. They lived long healthy lives and died of injury primarily. The myth about them dying early is wrong as it uses infant mortality to calculate life span, and yes, they had a much higher infant mortality. But in general, they lived just as long as we do and in a much harsher climate.

We can simply use a fasting strategy (like we’re genetically designed to do) in order to help restore our health by mimicking the feast and famine ways.

For LIVE HELP and SPECIFICS on HOW to FAST in a way that’s best for you all while getting support, GO HERE to Join my Live Fasting Focused Lifestyle Group.

How to Maintain Being Lean

Once we are back to a natural, lean body, we can eat a more normal caloric load usually once or twice a day in a small window of time. That may sound foreign to you, but once you are lean, healthy, and happy with tons of energy and vitality; frequent eating is simply not desired. You can still eat bad foods, and you’ll know how to “fix it with fasting!” Life is good, and now you’re in control. You can live without being a prisoner to food addiction and always wondering when and what you’re going to eat next.

Your physiology will have changed. The way you think and feel about food now is not what it will be when you are lean. It’s hard to imaging for some, because you have certain feelings and thoughts about food. Therefore, when people talk about freedom from addiction and full control of their diet, that may sound completely foreign to you! And it should! More than likely you’ve never had complete freedom from food addiction, and you’ve eaten more days in your life than you haven’t eaten.

The ones who don’t fare well on a fasting regimen (they lose weight then gain most back pretty quick) are the ones why try and fast for a long period of time right off the bat! Then they go right back to their old ways.Yo Yo fasters. It’s rare, but it does happen.

The way to succeed is to build a fasting regimen into your life and be consistent. Use a combination of 48’s, 72’s, and 96’s. In other words, set up 2,3, 4, and/or 5 day fasts that fit your lifestyle. On your feeding days, just eat once and keep it on the high protein/low carb end. Our ancestors (hunter-gatherers) ate a carnivorous diet followed by fasting, hunting, and repeating the process.

I hope you take this life saving information and put it into action. Common sense has probably kicked in by now, and you KNOW that what is going on (and will continue to occur in the food world around us) has nothing to do with helping us return to optimal health. It is to keep us eating as much and as often as possible. You now know what you can do and it’ll save you a ton of money and misery. Fast 😉

PS: Please Remember the FIRST RULE OF FASTING:

DON’T TELL PEOPLE YOU ARE FASTING! First of all, they have no clue about fasting and think that you are crazy. Conversation deteriorates down a rabbit hole of ignorance. You simply don’t have time to explain all the things you’ll want to discuss – It’s like giving a 1st grader 12th grade information. It just won’t compute. Send them to this article! I’ll take care of them for you 😉

PPS: Not everyone will want to fast. Some people are simply not willing to forego their food as they have a “relationship” with food that they’re unwilling to break. It’s like smokers who know they need to quit, but they haven’t reached to stage to where they want to quit. We know fasting is natural, it is good for you, and it’s the most powerful and fastest fat loss and health restoration method God gave us. But that doesn’t mean others will want to fast. Fasting is for EVERYONE, but not Everyone is for fasting.

The SCIENCE of Fasting

For those of you who just have to know the inner workings of this very natural state of rejuvination, repair, and recovery…Watch this video:

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Diet & Nutrition

The Final Word on Coconut Oil, Cholesterol, and Heart Disease

September 18, 2018 Wade Baskin 2 Comments

Coconut Oil Comes Under Attack

Just when it seemed that mainstream medical practitioners, the American Medical Association, and the American Heart Association were starting to actually ‘get’ the fact that saturated fats do not cause heart disease and diabetes, and that sugar, processed carbohydrates, and vegetable oils do, they did an about face and the AHA (June, 2017) came out with this information about coconut oil:

“This American Heart Association presidential advisory on dietary fats and CVD [Cardiovascular Disease]… concludes strongly that lowering intake of saturated fat and replacing it with unsaturated fats, especially polyunsaturated fats, will lower the incidence of CVD…Because coconut oil increases LDL cholesterol, a cause of CVD [cardiovascular disease], and has no known offsetting favorable effects, we advise against the use of coconut oil…”

So what the AHA is saying is this:

Saturated fats [all kinds] increase LDL cholesterol
An increase of LDL causes cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Let’s talk about both of these.

First, not all LDL cholesterol is ‘bad’, although we have been taught to believe that. In fact, LDL is made up of several different types of particles, not all of which are bad or tied to CVD. Increases in LDL that come from eating more saturated fats in the diet are associated with a healthier version of LDL, the larger, fluffy particles of LDL, which is generally what coconut oil increases. Additionally, LDL has important functions in the body, delivering nutrients to various types of cells, protecting the cell membranes, the building blocks for important hormones (namely, increasing testosterone in men), and strengthening the immune system.

Very Small Particle LDL is the harmful type. So, increasing LDL is only bad when it is directly tied to Very Small Particle LDL or VSLDL. But, of course, the AHA left that vital information out of their report. VSLDL is increased by eating high sugar, high starch diets often accompanied by high triglycerides.

More than 17 studies and analyses have been unable to establish a clear link between saturated fats and CVD. And the American Heart Association cherry-picked their studies–some of them as old as 50-60 years old to use for their latest report. Tell me, does that make ANY sense?

The American Heart Association (AHA) is a non-profit organization made up of cardiologists and other medical professionals. Their mission to “build healthier lives free of cardiovascular disease and stroke.” In their 2011-2012 financial statement, the AHA noted $521 million in donations from non-government and non-membership sources and many well-known large drug companies, including those who make and market statins, contribute amounts in the $1 million range. If you or someone you know has a total cholesterol over 200, all of a sudden, a statin is now required! And you need to know that there is no difference in death rates of those who have a total cholesterol of 180 vs those with a cholesterol of 1000!

A quick look at some of their funding sources includes:

Amarin (Pharmaceutical Company)
Amgen (Pharmaceutical Company)
AstraZeneca (Pharmaceutical Company)
Eli Lilly (Pharmaceutical Company)
Glaxo-Smith Kline (Pharmaceutical Company)
Merck (Pharmaceutical Company)
Pfizer (Pharmaceutical Company)
Regeneron/Sanofi (Pharmaceutical Company)
Takeda (Pharmaceutical Company)
California Walnut Commission (incentivized to undermine saturated fats)
Ag Canada and Canola Oil Council (incentivized to undermine saturated fats and promote vegetable oils).
(More funding sources here)

In addition, the AHA takes in millions from big food companies, who—besides their donations– also pay $5-7,000 per product to gain the ‘heart-check mark’ that goes on the labels for advertising. These foods merely have to be low in fat and saturated fat and cholesterol. Doesn’t really matter how refined or how much sugar is added. Take a look at some high sugar cereals in the supermarket and you will see that they have the ‘heart-check’ mark, in spite of the fact they are one of the biggest causes of obesity, heart disease and diabetes. This is completely misleading.

I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but…It doesn’t take a genius to see that there may be a (not-so-hidden) agenda, as in:

…take statin drugs, eat more vegetable oil like canola oil, and only eat the AHA ‘approved products’. Isn’t that the advice that increased heart disease and created a country of overweight, unhealthy adults? It’s time to wake up.

Gary Taubes, noted science writer and author of several books, including “The Case Against Sugar”, says this:

“[T] he AHA concludes that only four clinical trials have ever been done with sufficiently reliable methodology to allow them to assess the value of replacing SFAs with PUFAs (in practice replacing animal fats [with] vegetable oils) and concludes that this replacement will reduce heart attacks by 30 percent …

These four trials are the ones…the AHA experts have systematically picked through…and found reasons to reject all that didn’t find such a large positive effect, including a significant number that happened to suggest the opposite…including among the rejections the largest trials ever done: the Minnesota Coronary Survey, the Sydney Heart Study and, most notably, the Women’s Health Initiative, which was the single largest and most expensive clinical trial ever done. All of these were…rejected from their analysis.”

But wait! This is 2017, and we have already discovered that Ancel Keys’ study on cholesterol and diet in the 50’s and 60’s was extremely flawed, and the results were ‘cherry picked’ to show what his head researcher wanted to show. Keys tried to show that dietary saturated fats contributed to heart disease, ignoring the fact that processed carbs and sugar were major contributors to heart disease. When researchers have gone back in and looked at the data from all of the countries, there actually was no link between fat consumption and heart disease deaths, and there was no consideration of other factors such as smoking rates, stress factors, sugar intake, exercise frequency, or other lifestyle factors. So his conclusions were not actually even valid!

Unfortunately, Keys’ faulty study has been followed for the last 5 decades to the major detriment of modern society.

After the world replaced meat, butter and eggs (which were staples of the American diet back when heart disease wasn’t even on the map yet back in the early 1900’s) with processed margarine, grains, and vegetable oils, we watched as populations grew obese, heart disease increased, and diabetes and other inflammatory diseases increased dramatically over the last 50 years. In fact, did you know that the first recorded heart attack was in 1921! Instead of improved health, Americans have just gotten fatter and sicker. Heart disease rates increased, even though people have been eating what the AHA suggests is a heart-healthy diet. So if the AHA’s advice didn’t work 65 years ago, WHY would it start working now?

The REAL causes of heart disease are these:

Trans fats (artificially hydrogenated oils) proven to be major contributors to heart disease
Heavily refined inflammatory vegetable oils such as soy, canola, cottonseed, corn oil, etc. Read more about healthy cooking oils vs unhealthy cooking oil here
Too much refined sugar, especially high fructose corn syrup
High intake of carbohydrates such as ‘whole grain’ bread, packaged cereals, snacks, crackers, etc
Smoking
Stressful lifestyle
Lack of exercise

Before I go further, if you would be interested in being a part of an Exclusive Keto, Carnivore, and Fasting Club where you would have access to novice level to advanced keto and fasting training, including LIVE, Q&A and training and support; Enter your name, email, an hit “Yes I’m Interested.” We are in development right now! We will only be taking a select number for FREE. I love helping people succeed, and you will have access to me and other top keto, carnivore, and fasting pros.

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Clearly we are not headed in the right direction—at least if we let the AMA and the AHA (mis)guide us. The point is, saturated fat CAN be very good for us, or at worst, it’s just neutral. Many primitive tribes in Africa have subsisted on high saturated fat diets with almost no heart disease. The Masai, and the Samburu, and Fulani tribes ate mostly raw whole milk, red meat, and cows’ blood. And the Kitavans and The Tokelau people really did show zero signs of heart disease despite eating a diet high in coconut fat. They actually started getting fat, heart diseased, and diabetic after they started eating a more modern diet full of wheat, sugar, and vegetable oils. Not only were these primitive tribes extremely healthy, they were lean and had very little disease or health issues.

So, yes, American Heart Association and USA Today and everyone else–coconut oil is STILL HEALTHY for you!

Coconut oil has been a dietary staple of many civilizations for years and years, and it provides healthy, high quality fat that benefits your health. It helps support healthy thyroid function, boosts your metabolism, balances blood sugar, and is an excellent low glycemic, ketogenic fuel to use for energy.

The ketones that coconut oil stimulates your body to make are actually the preferred and more efficient type of fuel for your body to use, especially healthy for blood sugar, and also prevention of Alzheimer’s, and heart disease. The medium chain triglycerides (MCT’s) in coconut oil are very easy for your body to metabolize, and utilize immediately as fuel, making it an effective ‘fat-burning’ fuel, that doesn’t raise blood sugar or insulin or stimulate fat storage. MCT’s from coconut oil do not have to be broken down or semi-digested in order to be utilized by the body, unlike most other fats (Long Chain Fatty Acids) that do.

Coconut oil also contains lauric acid that helps to increase your healthy HDL cholesterol, and boost the immune system. Palmitic acid is another component of saturated fat and increases HDL as well. Higher HDL is linked to protection from heart disease. A higher HDL to cholesterol ratio is also one of the best protective factors against heart disease. Coconut oil is also scientifically proven to not only increase cardioprotective HDL, but it decreases waist circumference (a risk factor in heart disease) and decreases body mass in patients with coronary artery disease.

Coconut oil is also very beneficial to the hair and skin for a healthy scalp and to ease skin irritations, as well as being an excellent moisturizer. Coconut oil reduces cavities when used as a tooth brushing aid, and the lauric acid it contains has powerful antimicrobial effects, even on toenail fungus.

So, in the long run, coconut oil is GOOD for you, and will not kill you or cause heart disease. Yes, it does raise LDL cholesterol and can raise overall cholesterol (many studies show higher total cholesterol leads to longer lives in elderly, and lower cholesterol leads to increased death), but don’t believe the AHA when they say that you will have a heart attack from coconut oil. Heart disease is caused primarily by inflammation in the blood vessels, brought on by inflammatory, highly processed (that’s most all of them) vegetable oils, sugars, and starchy refined processed carbohydrates.

In summary, eat healthy saturated fats from coconut oil, grass fed butter and grass fed meats. Slather on the extra virgin olive oil, eat nuts and avocados. Enjoy your free-range, pasture-raised eggs cooked in butter, and savor that raw, unpasteurized cheese. Hey, the French enjoy lots of butter, cheese, and eggs and have much lower heart disease rates than Americans! Avoid the sugar, avoid the refined grains, and avoid the processed foods and vegetable oils. Your body will thank you!

Dr Wade

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Diet & Nutrition

Mainstream Nutrition Myths That are Killing You

August 19, 2018 Wade Baskin Leave a comment

There is a lot of misinformation circling around in mainstream nutrition.

I have listed the worst examples in this article, but there are MANY MORE!

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The top 11 biggest lies, myths and misconceptions of mainstream nutrition.

Myth 1. Eggs Are Unhealthy

There’s one thing that nutrition professionals have had remarkable success with… and that is demonizing incredibly healthy foods.

The worst example of that is eggs, which happen to contain a large amount of cholesterol and were therefore considered to increase the risk of heart disease.

But recently it has been proven that the cholesterol in the diet doesn’t really raise the cholesterol in blood. In fact, eggs primarily raise the “good” cholesterol and are NOT associated with increased risk of heart disease (1, 2).

Barring allergies to eggs, what we’re left with is one of the most nutritious foods on the planet. They’re high in all sorts of nutrients along with unique antioxidants that protect our eyes (3).

To top it all of, despite being a “high fat” food, eating eggs for breakfast is proven to cause significant weight loss compared to bagels for breakfast (4, 5).

Bottom Line: Eggs do not cause heart disease and are among the most nutritious foods on the planet. Eggs for breakfast can help you lose weight.

Myth 2. Saturated Fat is Bad For You

A few decades ago it was decided that the epidemic of heart disease was caused by eating too much fat, in particular saturated fat.

This was based on highly flawed studies and political decisions that have now been proven to be completely wrong.

A massive review article published in 2010 looked at 21 prospective epidemiological studies with a total of 347,747 subjects. Their results: absolutely no association between saturated fat and heart disease (6).

The idea that saturated fat raised the risk of heart disease was an unproven theory that somehow became conventional wisdom (7).

Eating saturated fat raises the amount of HDL (the “good”) cholesterol in the blood and changes the LDL from small, dense LDL (very bad) to Large LDL, which is benign (8, 9).

Meat, coconut oil, cheese, butter… there is absolutely no reason to fear these foods. In fact, your diet should consist of mostly healthy fats and proteins as those are essential to optimal health. There is no such thing as an essential carbohydrate.

Bottom Line: Newer studies have proven that saturated fat does not cause heart disease. Natural foods that are high in saturated fat are good for you.

Myth 3. Everybody Should be Eating Grains

The idea that humans should be basing their diets on grains has never made sense to me.

The agricultural revolution happened fairly recently in human evolutionary history and our genes haven’t changed that much.

Grains are fairly low in nutrients compared to other real foods like vegetables. They are also rich in a substance called phytic acid which binds essential minerals in the intestine and prevents them from being absorbed (10).

The most common grain in the western diet, by far, is wheat… and wheat can cause a host of health problems, both minor and serious.

Modern wheat contains a large amount of a protein called gluten, but there is evidence that a significant portion of the population may be sensitive to it (11, 12, 13).

Eating gluten can damage the intestinal lining, cause pain, bloating, stool inconsistency and tiredness (14, 15). Gluten consumption has also been associated with schizophrenia and cerebellar ataxia, both serious disorders of the brain (16, 17).

Bottom Line: Grains are relatively low in nutrients compared to other real foods like vegetables. The gluten grains in particular may lead to a variety of health problems.

Myth 4. Eating a Lot of Protein is Bad For Your Bones and Kidneys

A high protein diet has been claimed to cause both osteoporosis and kidney disease.

It is true that eating protein increases calcium excretion from the bones in the short term, but the long term studies actually show the opposite effect.

In the long term, protein has a strong association with improved bone health and a lower risk of fracture (18, 19).Additionally, studies don’t show any association of high protein with kidney disease in otherwise healthy people (20, 21).

In fact, two of the main risk factors for kidney failure are diabetes and high blood pressure. Eating a high protein diet improves both (22, 23).

If anything, a high protein diet should be protective against osteoporosis and kidney failure!

Bottom Line: Eating a high protein diet is associated with improved bone health and a lower risk of fracture. High protein also lowers blood pressure and improves diabetes symptoms, which should lower the risk of kidney failure.

Myth 5. Low-Fat Foods Are Good For You

Do you know what regular food tastes like when all the fat has been taken out of it? Well, it tastes like cardboard. No one would want to eat it.

The food manufacturers know this and therefore they add other things to compensate for the lack of fat.

Usually these are sweeteners… sugar, high fructose corn syrup or artificial sweeteners like aspartame.

We’ll get to the sugar in a moment, but I’d like to point out that even though artificial sweeteners don’t have calories, the evidence does NOT suggest that they are better for you than sugar.

In fact, many observational studies show a consistent, highly significant association with various diseases like obesity, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, heart disease, premature delivery and depression (24, 25, 26).

In these low-fat products, healthy natural fats are being replaced with substances that are extremely harmful.

Bottom Line: Low-fat foods are usually highly processed products loaded with sugar, corn syrup or artificial sweeteners. They are extremely unhealthy.

Myth 6. You Should Eat Many Small Meals Throughout The Day

The idea that you should eat many small meals throughout the day in order to “keep metabolism high” is a persistent myth that doesn’t make any sense.

It is true that eating raises your metabolism slightly while you’re digesting the meal, but it’s the total amount of food that determines the energy used, NOT the number of meals.

This has actually been put to the test and refuted multiple times. Controlled studies where one group eats many small meals and the other the same amount of food in fewer meals show that there is literally no difference between the two (27, 28).In fact, one study in obese men revealed that eating 6 meals per day led to less feelings of fullness compared to 3 meals (29).

Not only is eating so often practically useless for most of the people out there, it may even be harmful.

It is not natural for the human body to be constantly in the fed state. In nature, we used to fast from time to time and we didn’t eat nearly as often as we do today.

When we don’t eat for a while, a cellular process called autophagy cleans waste products out of our cells (30). Fasting or not eating from time to time is good for you.

Several observational studies show a drastically increased risk of colon cancer (4th most common cause of cancer death), numbers going as high as a 90% increase for those who eat 4 meals per day compared to 2 (31, 32, 33).

Bottom Line: There is no evidence that eating many small meals throughout the day is better than fewer, bigger meals. Not eating from time to time is good for you. Increased meal frequency is associated with colon cancer.

Myth 7. Carbs Should Be Your Biggest Source of Calories

The mainstream view is that everyone should eat a low-fat diet, with carbs being around 50-60% of total calories.

This sort of diet contains a lot of grains and sugars, with very small amounts of fatty foods like meat and eggs.

This type of diet may work well for some people, especially those who are naturally lean.

But for those who are obese, have the metabolic syndrome or diabetes, this amount of carbohydrates is downright dangerous.

This has actually been studied extensively. A low-fat, high-carb diet has been compared to a low-carb, high-fat diet in multiple randomized controlled trials.

The results are consistently in favor of low-carb, high-fat diets (34, 35, 36).

Bottom Line: The low-fat, high-carb diet is a miserable failure and has been proven repeatedly to be vastly inferior to lower-carb, higher-fat diets.

Myth 8. Vegetable Oils Are Good For You

Polyunsaturated fats are considered healthy because some studies show that they lower your risk of heart disease.

But there are many types of polyunsaturated fats and they are not all the same.

Most importantly, we have both Omega-3 fatty acids and Omega-6 fatty acids.

Omega-3s are anti-inflammatory and lower your risk of many diseases related to inflammation (37). Humans actually need to get Omega-6s and Omega-3s in a certain ratio. If the ratio is too high in favor of Omega-6, it can cause problems (38).

By far the biggest sources of Omega-6 in the modern diet are processed seed and vegetable oils like soybean, corn and sunflower oils.

Throughout evolution, humans never had access to such an abundance of Omega-6 fats. It is unnatural for the human body.

Research that specifically looks at Omega-6 fatty acids instead of polyunsaturated fats in general shows that they actually increase the risk of heart disease (39, 40).

Eat your Omega-3s and consider supplementing with cod fish liver oil, but avoid the industrial seed and vegetable oils.

When you cook, I recommend real butter, coconut oil, beef tallow, or avocado oil. These are super healthy saturated fats that hold their health benefits when heated. Olive oil is a monounstaturated fat that’s ok for salads and such but it does not alway hold it’s structure when heated, so cooking with it is not recommended.

Bottom Line: Humans need to get Omega-6 and Omega-3 fats in a certain ratio. Eating excess Omega-6 from seed oils raises your risk of disease. Cook with healthy saturated fats.

Myth 9. Low Carb Diets Are Dangerous

Unfortunately, the low carb approach is under assault by the media. Real surprise. I personally believe low-carb diets to be a potential cure for many of the most common health problems in western nations. The results I achieve with people by simply removing grains is astounding.

The low-fat diet peddled all around the world is fairly useless against many of these diseases. It simply does not work.

However, low-carb diets (demonized by nutritionists and the media) have repeatedly been shown to lead to much better outcomes.

Every randomized controlled trial on low-carb diets shows that they:

Reduce body fat more than calorie-restricted low-fat diets, even though the low-carb dieters are allowed to eat as much as they want (41).
Lower blood pressure significantly (42, 43).
Lower blood sugar and improve symptoms of diabetes much more than low-fat diets (44, 45, 46, 47).
Increase HDL (the good) cholesterol much more (48, 49).
Lower triglycerides much more than low-fat diets (50, 51, 52).
Change the pattern of LDL (bad) cholesterol from small, dense (very bad) to Large LDL, which is benign (53, 54).
Low carb diets are also easier to stick to, probably because they don’t require you to restrict calories and be hungry all the time. More people in the low-carb groups make it to the end of the studies (55, 56).

Many of the health professionals that are supposed to have our best interest in mind have the audacity to claim that these diets are dangerous, then continue to peddle their failed low-fat dogma that is hurting more people than it helps.

Bottom Line: Low-carb diets are the healthiest, easiest and most effective way to lose weight and reverse metabolic disease. It is a scientific fact.

Myth 10. Sugar is Unhealthy Because it Contains “Empty” Calories

It is commonly believed that sugar is bad for you because it contains empty calories.

It’s true, sugar has a lot of calories with no essential nutrients. But that is just the tip of the iceberg.

Sugar, primarily because of its high fructose content, affects metabolism in a way that sets us up for rapid fat gain and metabolic disease.

Fructose gets metabolized by the liver and turned into fat which is secreted into the blood as VLDL particles. This leads to elevated triglycerides and cholesterol (57, 58).

It also causes resistance to the hormones insulin and leptin, which is a stepping stone towards obesity, metabolic syndrome and diabetes (59, 60).

This is just to name a few. Sugar causes a relentless biochemical drive for humans to eat more and get fat. It is probably the single worst ingredient in the standard western diet.

Bottom Line: The harmful effects of sugar go way beyond empty calories. Sugar wreaks havoc on our metabolism and sets us up for weight gain and many serious diseases.

Myth 11. High Fat Foods Will Make You Fat

It seems kind of intuitive that eating fat would make you get fat.

The stuff that is gathering under our skin and making us look soft and puffy is fat. So… eating fat should give our bodies even more of it.

But it isn’t that simple. Despite fat having more calories per gram than carbohydrate or protein, high-fat diets do not make people fat.

As with anything, this depends on the context. A diet that is high in fat AND high in carbs will make you fat, but it’s NOT because of the fat.

In fact, diets that are high in fat (and low in carbs) cause much greater fat loss than diets that are low in fat (61, 62, 63).

My friends, this is just the tip of the iceberg. There are many more myths in mainstream nutrition. Be sure to follow me on Instagram for more on this!

drwade_physio

Carnivore ZC, Diet & Nutrition, Keto, Weight Loss & Fat Loss

From Keto to Carnivore: My Carnivore Zero Carb 90 Day Experiment

July 8, 2018 Wade Baskin 18 Comments

Welcome to my carnivore zero carb 90 Day Experiment! I’m doing this to share my experience in order to learn as well as help you make a good decision for you. I’m interested in this approach due to it’s potential overall health benefits with fat loss being a nice “side effect.”

Week 1

So What is the Zero Carb or Carnivore Diet?

(courtesy of Dr. Shawn Baker @shawnbaker1967)

In short, it’s eliminating non-essential foods and only eating the known essential food since human history began – meat. Most of your questions will be answered as you scroll down. First, most people do this diet to fix a problem (not just weight loss). Problems that are chronic and not healing: arthritis, skin problems, neurological problems, chronic pain syndromes, auto-immune disorders, hormone and metabolic problems, as well as type 2 diabetes are being successfully resolved everyday! This is not hype. Is it for you? Test it to find out. Here is how I’m doing it:

90 Days:
1st 4 weeks: meats, eggs, real butter, coffee, occasional unsweet tea, sparkling water, water, occasional hard cheese
2nd 4 weeks: eliminate eggs and cheese
3rd 4 weeks: eliminate all except meats (grass-fed) and water only

The preferred meats are the fatty ones. Fat heals – more important, saturated fat heals. Hamburger, ribeyes, other steaks, chicken, bacon, pork, chicken, turkey, bison, venison, lamb and some fish (wild caught). Bone broth is also allowed.

Before I go further, if you would be interested in being a part of an Exclusive Keto, Carnivore, and Fasting Club where you would have access to novice level to advanced keto and fasting training, including LIVE, Q&A and training and support; Enter your name, email, an hit “Yes! Please Reserve My Spot.” We are in development right now! We will only be taking a select number for FREE. I love helping people succeed, and you will have access to me and other top keto, carnivore, and fasting pros.

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What to do After 90 Days on the Carnivore Zero Carb Diet:

Start reintroducing foods you want to put back in your diet to test your reaction or sensitivity to it. For example, eggs first. Then coffee. If you want to reintroduce a vegetable, go for it. Also check how you feel if you use supermarket meet vs grass-fed. Some veteran carnivores get just as good results with supermarket meat and some prefer grass-fed.

I’ll be doing weekly videos on my carnivore zero carb experience and results. This is a 90 day experiment. For Day to Day reports follow me on snapchat username wadebaskin.

The word “carnivore” is interchangeable with “zero carb” for most people, but it’s not the same. You can do zero carb with certain vegetables, diet drinks, and other foods and non-foods. Basically, when you go carnivore zero carb with your way of eating (woe), you are basically eating meat. Carnivore means your nutrition will come from animal-based sources. When doing so, many people experience variable results like this…

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MY INITIAL RESULTS (WATCH VIDEO):

Why Zero Carb AKA Carnivore?

The greatest common denominator in most chronic human disorders is the consumption of carbohydrates.

I’ve decided to simply eliminate what we already know as the problem in today’s modern ailments that plague so much of the population. It goes beyond obesity. I see the ravages of carbohydrate consumption daily in my practice where my patients present with auto-immune diseases, premature aging, skin disorders, metabolic disorders, digestive problems, inflammatory issues; and they’re all on so many medications to “manage” these problems. It’s as if pharmaceuticals are now the primary source of nutrition. This is simply not a sustainable healthy practice.

I looked to where people with these problems were not only getting results, but they were experiencing full remissions – they were cured! I found them. #ketotransformations. First I found ketogenic dieters using combinations of low carb/high fat dieting and intermittent fasting (IF) and getting rid of type 2 diabetes, PCOS, hypothyroid, certain cancers, rheumatoid arthritis, MS, and the list goes on. I engaged with these people to find that they had to find their answers on their own. Their medical providers were not “in the know” about dietary approaches that could help them. In fact, most were against ketogenic or LCHF dieting.

For those who were keto dieters and still had some remaining health issues or weight plateaus, I found they were having success when they shifted to a full zero carb approach and were basically eating meat only. How could this be?! Well, it was true. I found this huge subculture of some of the healthiest people including serious athletes, medical providers, and other very smart people (smarter than me!) thriving with the carnivore zero carb diet approach.

Great interview with noted professor who used carnivore to eliminate his depression and his daughter used to go into full remission on a serious autoimmune disorder. A must watch!

The hardcore keto community is suspect of eating too much meat as this high protein approach might kick them out of ketosis via gluconeogenesis. However, the science here is not supportive of this and results are highly individual. Most carnivores stay in ketosis. Gluconeogenesis happens more on demand vs supply. In other words, just because you eat what you consider “too much protein” does not mean that the extra will convert to glucose and increase your blood sugar thus kick you out of ketosis. It’s just not happening enough to call this a law.

I will be tracking my ketone levels so stay tuned (I ran out of strips!..coming soon!)

And BEFORE Anybody Asks About Cholesterol Concerns…

(This is a massive study often used to prove that saturated fat and cholesterol cause cardiovascular disease when in fact the data show otherwise).

First of all, what you think you know about cholesterol is wrong (I’m 99.9% sure)…Unless you are educated on the actual studies starting in 1936 showing no correlation of high cholesterol with atherosclerosis or heart disease. Learn about cholesterol and fat here first, then ask me any questions you need…Watch the first 30 minutes to consider yourself qualified ;-). You will be “in the know.” This is factual reporting. This is not ideology or conspiracy mess. I have no time for that – only results based on facts we can use. Watching just the first 25 minutes of this will help you! Be sure to save it to watch the entire video:

FACT: There is no correlation or evidence that links high cholesterol to cardiovascular disease.

FACT: There were NO HEART ATTACKS recorded in early 1900’s when eggs, lard, animal fat, and butter (all saturated fats) were consistently consumed. The first heart attack was recorded in 1921 after the change made to use more vegetable oils vs animal fats.

FACT: “High Cholesterol” is not a bad thing. Small density LDL is the bad cholesterol and some clinics do not test for this. They do an LDL measurment (both large and small). Large “fluffy” LDL is actually very good! So the distinction must be made between the types of LDL. It’s called a particle test. In fact your HDL to triglyceride ratio is a good measure for heart health:

Triglyceride (TG) to high-density lipoprotein (HDL) ratio values >2.75 in men and >1.65 in women were found in the Metabolic Syndrome in Active Subjects (MESYAS) study -18,778 active workers enrolled in 3 insurance companies in Spain- to be highly predictive of the metabolic syndrome (MS) diagnosis. TG/HDL ratio was also found to have a high predictive value of a first coronary event regardless of body mass index (BMI). (From European Society of Cardiology)

ENOUGH INFO and RATIONALE for NOW! ON With the EXPERIMENT!…

WEEK 2 Carnivore ZC Experiment Results: (Uh oh…)

Adaptation or something else?…Watch the Video to see what happened..

1. I did NO EXERCISE this last 1.5 weeks. I felt very good as if I wanted to exercise.

2. I cheated a few times: just 3 days – once with heavy whipping cream, once with a keto meringue dessert, and a few “bad drinks.”

Be sure to follow me on snapchat at wadebaskin and instagram at drwade_physio for my day to day reports and pics of my foods and mistakes!

What About Fiber on the Carnivore Diet?

This is not a mistake: the “Zero fibre diet” category below literally had zero (0) symptoms.
Here is the actual study for reference: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3435786/. Complete elimination of fruit, vegetables, cereals, and rice lead to these results.

In other words. The need for fiber is actually a myth. Early human history tells us this and updated studies without special interests or political influence do as well. In fact, our guts are not designed to handle fiber, and that’s why it gets eliminated fairly quickly. Moreover, there is a recommended limit to fiber intake for obvious reasons. Thousands of carnivore veterans at the time of this writing have only reported GI improvement after the adaptation period (1-3 weeks).

WEEK 4 (End) Carnivore Zero Carb Results:

See my instagram feed above and be sure to follow.

Abs Update! On the way to cook the Ribeyes!

Week 7 Carnivore Zero Carb Results:

I am 50 years old BTW

WEEK 8! Carnivore Zero Carb Results

WEEK 9! Carnivore Zero Carb Results

Not mentioned in the video:

My waist size is smaller and I now where between a 29-30 pant. All my 31’s are way too loose. I was 30-31 while on keto. I’m definitely “leaner” as my daughter states. Here is my latest waist shot.

Comment and Ask Questions BELOW!

I love watching Dr. Shawn Baker’s Instagram feed as he gets so many stories like this one. Be sure to follow him @shawnbaker1967

WEEK 12! Carnivore Zero Carb Results

My Instagram Feed…Click Follow Me at the Bottom!

drwade_physio

Diet & Nutrition, Keto, Weight Loss & Fat Loss

What is This Keto and Fasting Thing

November 25, 2017 Wade Baskin 1 Comment

You’ve heard about it, you’re curious, you want to know if this is something you should do, and now you need more information. There are volumes written on this topic, so I’m giving you the best, most concise information you can use to make a good decision for you.

I’m not a “keto only” practitioner; however, I do like ketogenic dieting as a tool to achieve better health and a better body composition while allowing you to still enjoy some of the foods you love.

If you’re already doing a keto approach or you’re just starting, this will be a good refresher article that may give you additional information to improve your results.

What is the Keto Diet

It’s how I fixed my weight and health by practicing what I preach. Now I want to help you reach your goals! Below are my pics as I decided to make turning 50 my healthiest year ever. I’ve also committed to this lifestyle that you’re about to learn a lot about.

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Keto or ketogenic dieting is simply eating in a way that puts you in a state of ketosis. It’s really not a diet per se. It’s a way of eating ( #ketowoe ). Ketosis is when your body produces ketones (also known as ketone bodies) in response to burning fat as fuel. These ketones are now being used as your source of energy. This means you’re no longer using carbs as a fuel source as much. Congratulations, you’re now a healthier you! Now does that mean you are burning your fat or the fat you’ve been eating? The magic is when you get your body to burn your own fat! Keep reading…

Why would you want to do this way of eating? Deplete your body of carbs? YES! Our genetics are not designed for constant bombardment from carbs that elevate our insulin and blood sugar levels. This is why we have so much diabetes (type 2), heart disease, obesity, cholesterol problems, and autoimmune diseases than ever in human history. Shifting your body more towards using fat as a fuel source is having it operate like our genetics are still designed to. Your fat burning engine may be a little rusty because you’ve been carb fueled probably most of your life! Interestingly, you’re born in ketosis and during your years as an active child, you were probably in and out of ketosis an you never knew it!

It’s really that simple, but it’s not necessarily easy. Why? Because you are addicted to carbs – and they are everywhere!. And, you’ve come to believe that fat is bad for you as it’s what makes you fat and unhealthy. You think that all you really need to do is eat less and move more to lose weight. Just push back from the table a bit – sound familiar? You already think you know what to do but it’s just too hard to do it and your lifestyle doesn’t really make your weight loss or health improvement efforts convenient. You’ve also tried a lot of diets by now, and there is a 90% chance that you gained most of your weight back (if it was for weight loss).

Ketogenic dieting is not easy because it’s so hard to wrap your mind around it. The unlearning process is hard! All your beliefs have just been turned upside down!

What the Keto Diet is Not

Eating a ketogenic diet is not just eating a bunch of random meats and low quality fatty processed foods. I’ve seen so many people “convert to keto” only to continue to overeat low quality foods and a ton of dairy. Their Instagram feeds are colorless and filled with “keto treats” if you will. Dairy, especially cheese and milk increase insulin so beware. Some do dairy better than others. Classic Keto eating is about high healthy fats FIRST, low low carb second, and moderate protein third in my opinion. It’s about converting your body to using fat as a fuel versus carbs. This means lowering blood sugar and insulin. As you’ll see below, insulin is our friend and our enemy depending on how you eat. The way I like to use ketogenic dieting is in a way the encourages ketosis through metabolizing your body’s excess fat reserves! That fat on you is FOOD! Good job, you’ve stored all you need for times of famine.

The benefits of ketosis are not just about fat loss. The keto diet is about achieving a healthier you

Overcoming fixed beliefs and ideas: here are some hard truths, be prepared:

know that you’ve been lied to for a long time. Low fat low calorie dieting with exercise does not work and never has. Since the good studies started in the 50’s, there has not been one ounce of evidence that this form of dieting works to help people manage or lose weight and keep it off – much less achieve improved health. Just go look at all the Biggest Loser participants. 99% of them regained their weight!
Fat is better for you than carbs. Good fats from healthy sources is much better for you than carbs. People who eat a high fat, moderate protein, low carb diet are healthier than those who don’t – period. There is no argument here. Carbs are not essential to human health.
Exercise does not work to burn fat and keep it off. Exercise is good for building muscle and getting stronger – improves fitness and more, but it is not proven effective in permanent fat loss as compared to diet and fasting.
Diet is the only proven way to burn fat and keep it off, and fasting methods are the most successful. You can’t out exercise a bad diet.
Fasting is good for you and the fastest way to get your body burning it’s own fat without losing muscle. Yes going totally without food is the oldest, tried and true health restoration and diet method since the history of mankind. Fasting is not new, it has just been somewhat forgotten and it has been vilified by the food industry. In fact, we eat more now than ever with all the recommended 3 meals with snacks in between. In the 70’s and prior, no one was snacking. Most people fast wrong! You’ll learn more on this below.
You do not lose muscle or have nutrient deficiencies when fasting (for those who are prepared to fast – more later)
Fasting is not starving yourself. Your body reacts in super beneficial ways that improves your health and longevity. It’s not how much good stuff you eat, it’s when you don’t eat that counts – think about that. Starving is when you eat too frequently and a small calorie load, and it tricks your body with more hunger, misery, and muscle loss! Fasting will not allow for muscle loss due to the hormones released during true fasting.
Low calorie dieting is more bad for you than good.
Ketogenic dieting helps cure type 2 diabetes, obesity, autoimmune disorders, neurological disorders, and some cancers.

Let’s Talk Fasting (how to fast is below, keep reading…)

Fasting is complete abstinence from food. This is not low calorie starvation. There is a huge difference between eating low calories and fasting. The main difference is in the hormonal responses.

When you fast, metabolism stabilizes or actually increases, adrenaline increases, growth hormone increases, blood sugar decreases, and insulin goes down. There’s more but these are the main changes that will make sense to you.

When you eat a low calorie diet, your metabolism decreases, adrenaline decreases, there is no growth hormone elevation, blood sugar and insulin don’t really go down. And let’s be clear, insulin is what makes you fat. Blood sugar signals insulin.

Eating low carb now does decrease insulin up to 50%. However, fasting decreases it another 50%!

Source: Harvie et al., “The Effects of Intermittent or Continuous Energy Restriction on Weight Loss and Metabolic Disease Risk Markers: A Randomized Trial in Young Overweight Women.”

Fung, Jason; Moore, Jimmy. The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended (p. 117). Victory Belt Publishing. Kindle Edition.

I highly recommend this book! It should be required reading for all health professionals, but unfortunately it’s not. It’s up to you to learn more and take the best actions possible to reach your health goals. I know this will help you as it has thousands!…Including ME!

Ok, so I just told you that fat is good, fasting is good, exercise won’t burn fat as much as diet, and that eating fewer calories doesn’t work. Your head is probably spinning if you’re still stuck in all the beliefs instilled in you by our beloved government and food industry…eat less and move more. Oh, and let’s not forget the recommended 6-11 servings of grain! How insane!

This is why obesity rates in the ’80s doubled and why we are now seeing more autoimmune disorders than ever before in human history! It’s our diet, folks – plane and simple. Yes, food is legal, but your choices of eating are expressed in your physical body. If you have physical health issues and are taking medications constantly, i.e. Metformin, Methotrexate, Zeljanz, Celebrex, Mobic, Neurontin, Lyrica, and more; you don’t have a medication deficiency, you have a problem where you are physically breaking down in the absence of what’s needed to express the “good genes.” Your body is obviously showing the bad ones being triggered or expressed.

If you are overweight, your intake of food is simply such that the extra energy it can’t use is being stored as fat. Read on, because just reducing your calories doesn’t work, and I’ll explain why.

It’s Not Your Fault

You are genetically designed to eat everything in sight. We are designed to survive scarcity/famine. Our genetics are much the same as our ancestors the hunter gatherers. They would experience periods of feast with a food catch and find as well as famine. About 10,000 years ago, agriculture started and we began to settle. We figured out how to harvest and prepare grains for storage and consumption and the diseases started. If you really look at how a grain is designed, it is a mean piece of food with armor designed to keep it alive amidst a rugged environment and to damage any digestive tract that tries to break it down. Your body can handle a lot, and it can handle grains but over time, this food group will cause you some problems, hence the rise in so many gut issues in the last 2 decades. It’s ridiculous that we’re just now figuring this out! Get this book to get the full story on grains and how they truly affect you:

I don’t believe it’s a conspiracy to keep you fat or to destroy your health, I believe it’s a supply and demand problem. We love and want our carbs (breads, pastas, grains, cereals, rice, potatoes and sugar!) Sugar is a drug and lights up the brain in the same amount and in the same area as cocaine, so yes, carbs (convert to sugar) are addictive. Although your body and brain actually prefer ketones over carbs, the sweetness of the carbs is too much to let go of I know. We are a society of true drug/food addicts. I really mean this. Don’t believe me? Just stop eating carbs right now and see how long you last. Most know the symptoms as the carb flu, but you will be miserable as your body goes into misery driving you to eat carbs again.

So now that your head is really spinning, I know you still want to know how all this works. How are all these people curing their obesity (dropping serious poundage!), curing type 2 diabetes, curing their digestive issues, curing their pcos, getting rid of their neuropathy, stabilizing their arthritis, and more! You’ve heard enough, and now you’re wanting in on the game but you don’t know where to start. I’ll keep it simple. as possible.

How to Go Keto

1. Plug into keto communities. I love my Instagram keto family. Find me at keto_drwade (BELOW). Start an Instagram account with your name and “keto” attached to it. If you don’t want to do a “keto” instagram account and just use one you already have, that’s cool, just hashtag keto in your posts. You’ll want to post pics of your food, your experience, yourself before/after and such. Look around at others, you’ll see. It’s a super supportive group.

You can also like keto pages on Facebook, join keto groups on Facebook, and start your own page.

The point is you’ll need to be around other keto people to learn from and garner support. You’re more than likely in a situation where there aren’t many ketogenic dieters. In fact, once you let them know what you’re doing, be prepared for the eye rolls and discouraging remarks. Remember, they believe fasting is starvation and eating fat is bad for you. Don’t try to educate them! It doesn’t work. Smile and know that they care about you, and carry on.

2. Only get opinions and advice from successful keto dieters and keto professionals. Do not accept advice from so called experts who’ve never had any success with ketogenic dieting. Your physician is not trained in diet and nutrition much less ketogenic dieting.

3. Accept responsibility for your results and your mistakes. You will fail, you will make mistakes, and you will succeed. This is a lifestyle shift, a real change you are making, and it’s a journey you’ll love. It’s NOT A DIET – KETO IS A WAY OF EATING.

For those who want to see rapid results and find a way to wean into this change, Get my 21 Days On 15 Pounds OFF Diet for FREE. This is how I got started.

In this kickstart diet, I give you a convenient list of the YES and NO Foods which is really the important part. There will be 2 days a week that you do something that really brings out the results, the magic, for you in this diet. You will feel amazing toward the end.

Using this method to start then weaning into a ketogenic way of eating, I went from 49 years old, just over 190 pounds (I’m 5’7), over 33% body fat, a 37″ abdominal girth (this is lethal!), and wearing a size 33″

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50 years old, 165 pounds, 21% body fat, and a size 30 pant. Didn’t do my girth measurement, but I have abs now ha! I knew they were in there somewhere!

4. Eliminate grain foods, starchy carbs, any flour products, and legumes (beans) – this is a must. It’s a good way to start. This act in and of itself will start allowing your gut to heal and improve. And your gut generally sets the tone for your overall health and immunity. I LOVE bread, but it wasn’t as hard to go without as I thought. I’ll still eat it at times, but not on a regular basis. Grains cause problems, and they are not required by your body at all. White potatoes are not only a starchy carb, but they are a nightshade and can possibly be causing inflammation. Rice is also killer carb. The longer you go without, the less your body (and mind) will want them. Cravings do go away!

Remember, this isn’t really a diet. It’s a way of eating with where you make better choices of foods that will help you lose weight and express the healthiest you! It’s a process and a journey. It’s not a one and done approach. So be patient as you get into it.

You won’t be perfect at ketogenic eating at first, but the more you eat this way versus your old way, the healthier and lighter you will get!

5. Eat healthy fats, proteins, and veggies! Just go look at my Instagram feed and others in the #keto community. You’ll see so many food choices your head will spin. The first comment I usually get is – “…so I cant eat anything I like?!” Yes, you can! Who doesn’t like bacon? What about eggs? Steak, (grass fed meat) , avocado, butter (real butter – preferably grass fed like Kerrygold Butter or ghee), spinach, asparagus, zucchini, squash, chicken (obviously not fried), nuts of all sorts, peanut butter, and so much more!

6. Dairy is included but be cautious: you’ll see all sorts of meat/cheese recipes and although these are low carb (low glycemic), dairy (milk and cheese primarily – not eggs) can increase insulin, and increased insulin is what leads to fat storage. If you find that you aren’t losing much weight or you hit a plateau, consider eliminating dairy. If you have sinus problems or other allergies, this is always a culprit to consider. You’ll still be able to include dairy at times just not on an everyday basis. Now if you’re lactose intolerant or already know you have a dairy issue, then you’ll eliminate dairy for obvious reasons.

7. Watch your macros (this means fats, proteins, and carbs). You don’t have to count calories, but it’s good to monitor your portion sizes and ingredients. Really make sure your carbs stay low in the range of 20-60 grams a day. More than 60 and you’re not doing much to help yourself. You want to shoot for 70% fat, 20% protein, and 10% carbohydrate. Sometimes it’s hard to get that much healthy fat, so a 50% fat, 30-40% protein, 10-20% carb also works. I’ve had some do higher protein than fat (modified Atkin’s approach) and also do well. The key again is to keep the carbs low and eat more healthy fat, good protein, and plenty of veggies. Keto dieters rarely get hungry.

It will take some experimentation as everybody’s system assimilates food differently. I’ve seen keto people over-eat many times. Food is energy, and if you take in more energy than your body requires, the remainder is stored as fat. Carbs just convert faster and easier – so leave them out.

8. Monitor your level of ketosis: you DON’T have to be in ketosis to lose weight although it does confirm you are in the best physical state to do so. Just eliminating most of your carbs will help you drop pounds, especially in the beginning. Ketosis is necessary to help your body heal itself when working on type 2 diabetes, digestive tract problems, inflammation, autoimmune disorders, neurological disorders. In ketosis, you have more clarity, more energy, more focus, and you operate at your best.

How to monitor? Get a blood testing kit. The urine strips are not accurate. Here are the ones I use personally and professionally:

These are the best prices on Amazon going right now. And these are tested personally by me. Other meters are ok, but Abbott Precision Xtra is the best, most reliable, accurate unit. You need the meter and the ketone strips for sure. I like tracking blood sugar as well, and that’s the 3rd item. Each pic will take you to Amazon.com for purchase.

You don’t have to monitor your ketone levels, but it sure does help. The people who do monitor their levels have the most success.

That which can be measured can be managed

Here is a reading I did coming off of a 48 hour fast:

Now that’s a “therapeutic” level of ketosis for sure. Some call it deep ketosis. Do I need to keep this level for fat loss? No. My blood sugar is nice and on the low side. Ketosis is a great state to be in where you ARE burning fat! You’re either using fat you’ve ingested, or your own fat reserves. Fasting makes sure you are hitting the reserves!

The above reading was taken the day before Thanksgiving as you can see. I broke my fast with chili of all things (yep, beans included), and the next day I did not hold back other than abstaining from grains. Yep, no dressing. But I ate sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole (some cracker crumbles did make it so a little enriched flour got through) potatoes au gratin, turkey, and gravy. Plenty of carbs! I did not count of course and I ate till well satisfied.

Here is what happened after an 18 hr fast starting 8pm Thanksgiving day:

Not bad considering what I ate yesterday! Most people take a few days to get back into ketosis.

**TIP** I did a 30 minute strength workout (at the end of my

fast)prior to Thanksgiving lunch.When you know you are going

to take in carbs, try to time it where you do a workout

first. Doing a workout in a fasted state prior to feeding is

a super shredding strategy.If you don't exercise,that's ok,

this is just a tip. And it works as noted.

How to Fast

1. There are 2 types of fasting: dry fasting and water or liquid fasting.

Dry fasting is no food and no water, and it is not for the typical novice. It is used for healing and is amazing at helping just about anything heal! More later on this as dry fasting is not necessary for ultimate fat loss.

Water or liquid fasting is when you take in NO food and just drink water or another liquid like an electrolyte solution. DO NOT just drink water! This is where most people make their mistake as it pushes your electrolytes! You will not feel good and you can “bottom out.” This is prevented easily by drinking a simple solution make with 2 essential salts you need: sodium and potassium.

Electrolyte Solution YOU NEED for Fasting!

Here is exactly what I use that I get from Amazon. Click on each one to take you there, or you can use arm and hammer baking soda, any good sea salt, and NoSalt substitute you can get at any grocery store (it’s potassium chloride). These links are for your convenience.

Dont’ just drink water on a prolonged fast which is 2 days (48 hours) or more! Use one of these electrolyte solutions! If you are eating one meal a day or doing just a 24 hour fast, you don’t need electrolyte solution. Water is fine.

Option 1 (most popular and good for kidneys) : 1 qt or liter of water (fresh, spring water preferred), 1 tsp of baking soda, 1/2 tsp potassium chloride powder (also known as NoSalt you can buy at WalMart, it’s the “salt free substitute).

Option 2 (simplest and it works great) : 1 qt or liter of water, 1/2 tsp potassium chloride (or NoSalt), 1/2 tsp a good sea salt

Option 3 (combo) : 1 qt or liter of water, 1/2 tsp potassium chloride, 1/4 tsp sea salt, 1/2 tsp baking soda

Sip it all during the day as needed to keep you feeling good. If you get any cramps, simply drink more of it. These formulas can be adjusted. Some folks want to add magnesium or other substances, and my recommendation is to stick to what we know works. However, you can add anything you want to test your response once you do the formulas as listed above.

How to Get Past Keto Confusion and Overcome a Stall (BONUS!)

Join My Fasting Focused Lifestyle Facebook Group HERE

Here are some keto diet staples:

1. Bulletproof coffee. Simply add grass fed butter, real butter, or ghee (tbsp) and MCT oil (1 tbsp) to your coffee, and you’re good to go! Yes, butter in coffee is liked by most. blend it up for a mocha color and feel. Some don’t like it, but it’s rare. It’s more of a meal replacement. You can also add some sugar-free sweetener (I recommend allulose! – you’ve probably never heard of this and that’s ok, most haven’t)…Learn about it here! (opens in new tab). Stevia is my next preference. All the other sweeteners aren’t good at all!

2. MCT Oil: This promotes the production of ketones and is used for energy and not stored as fat. Get the emulsified version as you can cook with it. You can’t cook with regular MCT Oil. Below is the one I use:

3. Avocado – just keep a good supply going.

4. Ghee and or grass fed butter – cook with it and add it to your foods to increase the healthy fat

5. Coconut oil – cook with it and add it to foods to increase the healthy fat.

6. Grassfed meats – steak, chicken, burger, and bacon are the main ones. You don’t have to do grass-fed on in terms of macros, but on the micro level, grassfed meat is really good for compared to industrial prepared or processed meat. Stressed out animal meat is inflammatory due to it’s omega 6 levels. Grassfed is actually anti-inflammatory! I occasionally have to make a quick run to the store and grab whatever they have, but 95% of the time, my family eats grass-fed or pastured (free-range) meats.

7. Fresh or frozen veggies of all sorts! I keep broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, asparagus, onion, zucchini, squash non-stop. I toss in others along the way. Depends on what looks good and what’s available. Frozen will last longer and has higher nutrient density! Avoid canned if possible. I will use canned asparagus and spinach in a pinch.

8. Eggs are AWESOME! Unless you are allergic to eggs – they are good for you. They don’t cause problems with cholesterol as myth would have it. Eggs are excellent protein and fat sources. Of course, I recommend cage-free vs the stressed-out chicken eggs for obvious nutritional reasons.

9. Cheese: I always shoot for the raw cheeses made by US Wellness Meats. In fact, this is where I get ALL of my meats and cheeses. You need to click that link and bookmark it! Keep in mind, real cheese (not processed) is acceptable, but should be done with caution. Not everyone does dairy well, and it can stall weight loss in many cases – not all. I say start with it and remove it if you aren’t getting results.

10. Unsweetened regular or vanilla almond milk – you can do so much with this

11. Nuts – especially raw almonds. Be careful here as nuts are the number 1 food that can throw your macros off. A small amount pack a big calorie punch. A handful is generally plenty.

** Spices are wide open, but you’ll definitely want to take advantage of the benefits of Himalayan pink salt and turmeric. I keep these, Tony’s creole spice, and several dry rubs/spices for cooking chicken and steak. Don’t use a soy based marinade. Soy is NOT good to consume! It’s great for making industrial products, but that’s it.

Of course, there is so much more, but this is plenty to get you started! I hope this helps. Be sure to subscribe, bookmark me, as I will be posting more. Follow me at keto_drwade on Instagram and if you dare follow me on snapchat, username wadebaskin.

Yours in health,

Dr. Wade

PS…

What is the Secret?

If I had to tell you in one sentence, or command, what to do in order to not only lose weight but to achieve the healthiest you, it would be…

Eat real food emphasizing animal fat and protein and use a fasting strategy

Be sure to visit me HERE to see what additional results I achieved by fully eliminating carbs!…The Carnivore Diet!

drwade_physio