If I had a nickel for every post on the net dealing with obesity (treatment and removal of), nutrition, diet, carbs, fat, lipids, etc. etc. etc. — I’d be a wealthy woman. I’d also be skinny. But since no one will pay me for those words, I’ve decided to add a few hundred thousand more. No one will pay me for those, either, but if I can’t get money I can at least strive for clarity. I may never discover the “Unified Theory of Fat” that will tie everything together, but it won’t be for lack of trying.
I’ve spent the last four years doing two things:
- Reading every medical journal, textbook and study (down to the raw data) on obesity from every angle, studied every type of resistance (particularly leptin, insulin and thyroid hormone), and performed quite a few experiments where n=1. I’ve read most of the best blogs about all this out there, including the brilliant Petro Dobromylskyj’s HyperLipid, Mark Sisson’s Daily Apple, and too many more to mention. All of it has made me a lot leaner and healthier and frankly, I’m tired of keeping all that information in my head. I’d like to share and, if possible, give a little back. That part comes now.
- Learning, at the molecular level, how to make to delicious desserts that are sugar-free, chemical and artificial sweetener-free — that taste as good as, or better than the ‘real’ thing. And I’ve succeeded. Unfortunately getting the business set up will take a few months more. I’ll just have to continue making the cheesecakes, double-chocolate brownies, fudge and cupcakes for friends and family, dang it. You don’t know what loyalty is until you’ve asked your family to chow down on cheesecake #25 … hazelnut praline.
You are who you read. I learned most of what I know from amazing and generous mentors (who don’t know I’m alive), so if I can’t thank them in person I can at least do so here. If you haven’t read or watched the work of these giants, you don’t know nuthin’.
In no particular order:
- Jan Kwasniewski (Optimal Diet)
- Wolfgang Lutz (Life Without Bread)
- John Yudkin (Pure White and Deadly)
- Malcolm Kendrick (The Great Cholesterol Con)
- THINCS (The International Network of Cholesterol Skeptics)
- Robert Lustig video (Sugar: The Bitter Truth) — 90 minutes
- Jorge Cruise video (Death By Sugar) — 4 minutes
- Lierre Keith (The Vegetarian Myth)
- Gary Taubes (Good Calories, Bad Calories and Why We Get Fat: And What To Do About It)
- Barry Groves (Trick and Treat: How ‘Healthy Eating’ Is Making Us Ill)
- Chris Masterjohn (The Daily Lipid)
- Uffe Ravnskov (Ignore the Awkward: How the Cholesterol Myths Are Kept Alive)
- A.T.W. Simeons (Pounds & Inches), who got a few important things wrong, but quite a few other things right. I’ll be talking about this at length in my next post.
- Dr. David Diamond (College Professor Decries U.S. Dietary Mindset) describes (with slides) how Fat Phobia is making us obese and diabetic. He details how he lost weight and reduced his triglycerides by eating red meat, eggs and butter. A career scientist at the J.A. Haley Tampa VA Hospital where he studies Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, he used his free time to delve into the diet myths that he believed led to his sky-high triglycerides and unwanted excess weight.
- A Cardiologist’s take on Saturated Fat, Obesity and diabetes. Great charts, illustrations, and the Molitics© (Money in Politics) of current nutrition guidelines. Enjoy Saturated Fat, It’s Good For You!
- Weston A. Price Foundation has a wealth of information on everything relating to food, nutrition, obesity, diabetes and a lot more. If you read nothing else on this site, read Chris Masterjohn’s powerful article on Vitamin K2 and why all of us need this one particular Vitamin almost above all others. On the Trail of the Elusive X-Factor: A Sixty-Two-Year-Old Mystery Finally Solved.
- New for 2012: Has your doctor told you to cut back on salt? Read this Weston A. Price Foundation press release (the link to the original article is in it), then print it out and give it to your doctor to read. And remember that if you are eating a healthy diet of real, non-processed food, you need to make sure you get enough salt every day. FDA Warned on Dangers of Salt Restriction.
- The Fat Trap. When the New York Times published an article by that name by a “Health Reporter” (term loosely used) that basically opined that fat is forever since her 1200 calorie diet “didn’t work” — Gary Taubes started an iPetition to make the Times publish a rebuttal. The rebuttal was brilliant (and even better: true) but the Times didn’t bite. They did however, agree to publish a brief Letter To The Editor in the 1/22 Sunday Magazine, and put a link to the original iPetition in it. The Fat Trap Rebuttal.
- Body By Science. The only thing exercise does for weight loss is make you hungry. However, the right kind of exercise can make you strong, powerful, lean and healthy — and that’s the only kind of exercise we need. Just as the Protocol is smart eating, so Body By Science, by Dr. Doug McGruff, is working smarter, not harder. You may start by going to the gym twice a week for about thirty minutes a time, but if you follow this book you’ll end up going once a week for about twenty minutes, then once every other week. And you’ll get the best cardiovascular workout of your life. If you can sit in a chair, you can do this workout.
My Guiding Philosophy: Save the Planet. Become a Carnivore. Eat a fat Vegan.
Kidding. Though I’m sure I’m already in trouble with the Humor-Challenged. So I’ll say instead that the one thing that turns me on is science. Real Science that controls for variables and follows the scientific method. You know, where you don’t stack the deck in your favor by, say, making the fat in a “high fat diet test” Crisco or vegetable oils rather than lard. Where you don’t end statin tests two years early because you know the deaths from diabetes and heart disease are about to pile up. Science. Where you try to disprove your hypothesis by every means available, not set out to prove you’re right. Where you don’t send the media press releases stating you’ve found ‘links’ between things, implying causation when you are more likely to be describing effect. And where you know that without a controlled, random, double-blind study you don’t get to call your hypothesis a fact, but have to admit it’s still a theory.
Here’s what science has shown me over the years: Ancel Keyes’ Lipid Theory has never become, and will never become a fact. Not just because it’s based on fundamentally flawed and fudged data (7 Countries Study, anyone?), but also because it’s dead wrong. That is to say, it kills the people who follow it, first by making them insulin resistant, then obese, then diabetic, and finally by clogging their arteries until they implode. There’s an excellent reason why women who live the longest worldwide have the highest cholesterol levels. They don’t believe in Keyes or his theory. Which means they don’t take statins.
Statins don’t work by lowering cholesterol (which has zip to do with heart disease), but by lowering inflammation, which has quite a lot to do with heart disease. That’s why statins do nothing good (and quite a lot bad) for anyone but a tiny segment of the population; (mostly) men who already have heart disease. If you are not among that limited population and you take statins, you are opening yourself up to horrendous side effects that include muscle pain, muscle loss and short-term memory loss. You’ll have proven increased risk for heart disease, stroke and diabetes. And that’s not the worst, since statins have now been implicated in early onset Alzheimer’s Disease. All side effects, no benefits. Just what you want in a medication. But hey, Big Pharma’s happy.
I believe that eating the right kind of fat (saturated, particularly butter and coconut oil), and avoiding the wrong kind of fat (vegetable PUFA’s and trans-) doesn’t make you fat or clog your arteries, or give you heart disease. It not only doesn’t “raise your cholesterol” it instead lowers your triglycerides, raises your HDL, and makes your LDL big and fluffy. In the absence of sugar, processed fructose and other empty carbohydrates, eating this way makes you slim and heart-healthy. Ditto for modest amounts of grass-fed meat and enormous amounts of free range eggs, especially the yolks so rich with choline.
Finally, I believe that everything always comes down to the liver. As Dan Aykroyd’s Julia Child so wisely declared: Always Save The Liver!
My One Religious Precept: Dark Chocolate is The Food of all Gods and Goddesses.
Finally (thanks to Mark Twain), the motto that guides all my work: “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”
Note: If you would like to ‘follow’ this blog, look on the right for FOLLOW — type in your email address in the box below, then click the Subscribe button.
How do I sign up for updates? I see where I can post comments but I don’t see a “subscribe” button.
Thanks,
Carolyn
Carolyn, scroll down to just below the “Post Comment” section of any thread. There you will see two boxes you can check:
— Notify me of follow-up comments by email.
— Notify me of new posts by email.
Looking forward to being notified that you’re ‘following’ the blog!
SugarFree
Thanks for all you do. It is invaluable information. You have dug through the “crap” to get the life support we need.
John
John, there sure is a lot of crap to dive through. Sometimes I think I need a scuba mask. 😀
SugarFree
Thank you for your valuable info.
Judy
Very informative Blog. Our daughter, Elaine, gave us one of your delicious cheesecakes for our anniversary. We must order some of your goodies soon. Nice to not feel “deprived” because of Diabetes.
Thanks,
Patricia
Patricia, I’m so glad you liked it! If there’s something special you’d like that isn’t on our regular menu, let me know and I’ll create a special recipe for it just for you. 🙂
Best wishes,
SugarFree
I want to continue following your blog!
Joanne, thank you. 🙂 Following the blog (and thus getting an email notification whenever there’s a new post from me, or comments from others) is easy.
Just scroll down to just below the “Post Comment” section on any _post_. There you will see two boxes you can check:
– Notify me of follow-up comments by email.
– Notify me of new posts by email.
If you have any trouble finding those boxes, please let me know — and welcome to the blog!
SugarFree
I’ve just started to peruse your site, and I’ve learned so much! Thank you.
Cheryl, I’m glad you found us. If you have any particular questions, you can go to the “Ask SugarFree post” and write them there. I always answer. 🙂
SugarFree
Nice job on the transfer and love to see all of the links. (I also liked your little joke about vegans). Thanks for the hard work and for keeping us all informed.
Richard
Thanks, Richard. Still a lot to learn (and lots of plugins to add) during the coming months, but I’m glad we made the move. 🙂
SugarFree
SugarFree … please help.
I have been reading your blog all day with complete fascination and a little terror. I started hcg protocol in September of 2011 and lost 15 pounds. I had never looked so good, but I started gaining weight immediately after I stopped the injections. I tried again, and have tried several times since and had horrible hunger, cheating, bingeing, gorging, and a GAIN of 15 pounds of pure fat since my first round.
I am 34 and have never felt so horrible. I am always hungry, have not lost any weight, and only seem to be able to lose weight if I starve myself. I cry every day because I know I have ruined my metabolism and don’t know what to do. PLEASE tell me exactly what to do to fix this. I am scared that I have ruined my body for good. I am 5″4 and weigh 131 pounds. My healthy weight was and has always been 118-120. I am so exhausted thinking and worrying about this and am so happy I found this site!
Katherine
Katherine, I’m so sorry you’ve gone through diet Yo-Yo-Land, and especially sorry to hear about your use of HCG. Although a scale weight of 131 is extremely healthy for someone your height, it sounds as if you have the typical post-HCG problems: hyperinsulinemia and perhaps thyroid hormone resistance. Look for an email from me shortly, but please know that whatever your metabolic problem is right now — it CAN be fixed!
Help on the way…
SugarFree
I couldn’t have really asked for a much better blog. SugarFree, you are always at hand to provide excellent information, going straight away to the point for easy understanding of your subscribers. You’re a terrific pro in this arena. Many thanks for helping people like me.
I like your site – great stuff. I hope you produce more threads, though. I will continue reading.
Very interesting information! It’s just what I was looking for. ~ Dee
Awesome blog! I couldn’t have written this any better than you even if I tried super hard. 🙂 I like your style too, it’s very unique, funny and easy to read. Thanks for all your work in setting this up!
Thank you for providing valuable information!!
All I can say is “wow!” After several HCG rounds and now bigger than ever, I read everything here with great interest. While I already get regular blood work done, I have ordered a couple tests that I have never done: serum leptin and reverse t3. I would LOVE to start your protocol!
Thank you so very much for all your research and your very eloquent way of putting it out there!
Shelley
Wow – so much info! I have been reading this info. for days! Just ordered my tests and am so glad I found this site before I started HCG yet again. I want to get off the vicious cycle 🙂 Thanks so much for all your hard work and passion!
Theresa
Theresa, thank you! Not only for your kind words (which are very appreciated) but also because you are the very FIRST person to find and use the new DONATE button. 🙂 I cannot tell you how surprised and delighted I was to receive the PayPal email with your generous contribution.
Thank you again and absolutely positively — stay off HCG and the Simeons’ diet. Your body will thank you. 😀
SugarFree
Pretty great post. I came across your website and wanted to say that I have truly appreciated browsing your blog – there’s so much great info here. Thanks again…
Hi, and thanks for all of the info on this site. I am intrigued because I tried HCG. I lost 40 pounds and gained 50 back, almost immediately. I found you through Chris Masterjohn’s site. I have very high cholesterol due to familial hyperlipidemia. I noticed that in one of your posts it was around 400 as well. I have done low carb many times and can’t seem to stay on it for too long. I’m so frustrated in going round and round on the diet circus. I admire your discipline in searching and implementing what works for you and so many others. I just don’t have the energy anymore. Is there a place on this site where your protocol is listed?
Thanks, John
John, I’m glad you found us and yes, at one time my total cholesterol was over 400 due to thyroid hormone resistance which, after speaking with you, I suspect you also have. Fix the thyroid hormone problem and, according to every medical text book written prior to Abbott Labs monopolization of the testing, Synthroid (their drug), and now so many medical schools (which they fund), your cholesterol should drop “like a stone.” And mine did, dropping over 100 points in only thirty days. It’s now half of what it was.
You ask where my Protocol is ‘listed’ but since there are no ‘rules’ that everyone can safely follow, there is no one place to find any. Some doctors and medical researchers are discovering now what I discovered years ago, that each person’s metabolism breaks in a way unique to them, and so treatment be unique to them as well. When someone becomes a Participant their own Protocol is devised depending on their mass and the results of their metabolic blood tests. And, that Protocol is continuously tweaked as they go along, in order to make their outcomes optimal.
SugarFree
Hi, SugarFree — So glad I found you! I have been busy with the kiddos but I want to say that your delightful and decadent cheesecake was the very best cheesecake we’ve ever had, and so say the kiddos, too.
Things have been hectic here but I wanted to drop you a line and thank you for such an insightful blog! I have been reading it and visiting your resources. I have lost over 15 pounds by eating more meats with fats and other recommendations of your Protocol — like staying away from sugar. I have not yet had my cholesterol tested but it wasn’t terrible to begin with so curious to see what it is like next time I get it checked. Thanks for creating such an awesome site. I do need to get that lamb recipe to you still. Have not forgotten just incredibly busy here.
Bebe
Bebe, I’m so glad you finally made it here! And really happy to hear about the weight/fat loss. 🙂 Yep, still waiting for the lamb recipe, but in the interim I have finally created a divine sugar-free scone recipe that is so tender it literally melts in your mouth. Give me a call if you’d like to try some.
SugarFree
I am so excited to find your blog! Unfortunately, I am another person whose hcg path went bad – the past couple of rounds I have tried have not been successful. It has been difficult to understand why. I would love info. on how to get healthy again. Also, I was diagnosed recently with Hashimoto’s. My hair is dry, my vitamins are depleted, and even though I am not hungry and don’t eat much, the weight remains. I’m looking for where to start healing, if you would be so kind as to point me onto the right path.
Thank you so much, Sarah
Sarah, I’m sorry to hear what an extreme low calorie, zero fat diet has done to you, but I’m not surprised. The reason your last rounds of HCG didn’t “work” is because HCG never works. It’s the starvation diet that causes the weight loss and, if you are not severely insulin resistant (yet), you’re able to get into LIPOLYSIS (the real ‘active ingredient’ in fat loss), open your fat cells. lose fat and not feel hunger. However, since this diet makes your insulin resistance worse, the more you do it, the more insulin resistant you become, and the less able you are to get into lipolysis.
Worse, continuing to starve your body, week after week, month after month, makes your body go into starvation mode, which your brain remembers when you start to eat normally again (if you ever do) and converts every bit of food you eat into stored fat, rather than burning it for fuel. It’s a truly terrible cycle, made more horrible by the fact that no one ever needs to do this to get slim and healthy.
Look for an email from me shortly.
SugarFree
Love reading articles on LCHF! ~ Ricky
So far sounds like pretty good stuff I am reading. I was wondering if I am on a modified Paleo diet can I have small amounts of stevia?
Unfortunately, my research — borne out by the experiences of the Participants here over time — indicates that stevia interferes with metabolic processes, particularly fat burning. I do not recommend that anyone use it, and I do not use it in any Good For You Goodies desserts.
SugarFree
Wow. SugarFreeGoodies is a great blog, and you do a very detailed job of writing it so anyone can understand. Thanks! Baur
I like reading a post that will make men and women think. And many thanks for allowing for me to comment!
Thank You, SugarFree. This information is a confirmation of similar information I have been researching. I’m taking statins and not happy — noticing more and more short term memory loss and other concerns. Will be talking to my doctor.
Katherine, I’ve never understood this need to “talk to my doctor” about a well-researched decision such as stopping a medication that does no good whatsoever and a lot of harm. In cases like that, a simple toss into the trash is often all that’s necessary to restore good health. 🙂
SugarFree
I leave a comment when I appreciate a site, which i usually caused by the passion communicated in the post I browsed. And after reading a lot of your blog I’d like to follow anything fresh you have to post. What’s the best way to do this? Thanks! ~ Dione
Hi, Dione – thanks for writing. The best way to make sure you get every new post is to ‘follow’ my blog. Just look to the right on any page at the Navigation Bar. Near the top is a big Follow button. Click that and then type in your email address. After that you’ll automatically be sent each new post the instant it’s ‘published’ and you can modify or cancel at any time.
SugarFree
I am looking forward to reading many more of your posts! I am new to the food transformation currently happening within my consciousness, and spreading to my family. I am happy to have found your blog to further feed my transformation! 🙂
Theresa
Theresa, I’m glad you found the blog! If you have any questions along the way, post them on the Ask SugarFree page and I’ll be happy to answer. 🙂
SugarFree
Awesome blog! I learned so much about HCG and why I will no longer take it. Can’t believe I was that dumb to take it in the first place. I will definitely bookmark your site and come back again. Thanks from Lavada.
A friend forwarded the link to your blog to me, and I think it’s great. I don’t know who you are but you are definitely going to a famous blogger if you aren’t already 😉 Cheers! Tyson
Wonderful blog. You make a complex subject enjoyable yet easy to understand. This is a great website – thanks for all the information.
I am not sure where you are getting all the amazing research here, but great blog! I will spend some time reading and understanding more. Thanks for wonderful (and very useful) information.
Amy
I recently started a blog on nutrition and the info you provide on this site has helped me greatly.Thank you for all of your time and work.
Cheira
I seriously take pleasure in your posts. Thanks
Your blog is well worked out and easy to read.It’s a quality to write complicated things for people to clearly understand. Being a scientist myself I find most peoples’ writing so complicated – because they believe it makes them seem smarter – that others can not understand it. Loved your digging through data …
Adriana
Thanks for the kind words, Adriana.I try to present the material and data in a way that makes it easily accessible to everyone, and appreciate your letting me know that in your case at least, I’ve succeeded. 🙂
SugarFree
I am on phase 3 after doing the HCG diet using homeopathic (no hormones) drops. Glad I found this site as not interested in going back up. Going through your site it makes my head spin as there’s so much information (which I appreciate) but I wonder if there is a order to go through to help me find my niche for now on.
Thanks,
Mark
Mark, the good news for you is that since homeopathic ‘hcg’ contains zero HCG – you at least did not give yourself any additional fat cells that, empty or not, you’ll carry with you the rest of your life. You lost weight because you starved yourself and in so doing, treated the symptom rather than the cause of the initial gain that drove you to HCG in the first place. And until you do treat the cause, you will continue to regain fat over time.
As for where to go from here, please look for a private email from me today.
SugarFree
Hi, SugarFree.
I just stumbled upon your blog while re-reading Peter Attia’s blogs. I came across your comments and was impressed by what I read. So here I am at your blog having read pretty much everything you wrote with the exception of most of the personal journeys by some of your readers.
I am not obese – in fact I am fairly skinny, but I am interested in nutrition in general and I am eating a low carb high fat diet. I have read all of Peter A’s stuff and Peter Dobromylskyi’s stuff and I agree with you regarding Peter D. I find his writing highly technical but also very credible and smart. I also read all of the blogs of Michael Eades and Gary Taubes (and all of the comments) as well as a number of other bloggers’ stuff, many of which you have on your list. Very interesting reading. I am also very impressed with the content of your blog and the way you explain the science. I would have to say that your writing is the easiest to follow for an non-biochemist like me. I am an engineer. I particularly benefited from your references to leptin, as well as to blood testing and interpretation. Well done, all of that.
Thanks, John. A few words of caution, though. You say you’re eating a “low carb, high-fat diet.” If by that you mean eating no added sugar or processed foods, but a good amount of natural (and important) carbs like rice, corn, bread, pasta and fruit – great. But if by ‘low carb’ you mean getting most of your carbs from veggies – beware. That’s the easy road to thyroid hormone resistance and often vitamin and mineral deficiencies.
So now, after reading most of what you have written, I would like to ask some questions. You mentioned that Fat is inflammatory. I have not seen this said in any of the stuff I read in the last 3 years on any blog or in any book. Could you expand on this?
Sure. Please begin at: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=adipose+fat+inflammation 😉
You also mentioned that for every increase of .1 in your HbA1C, the level of glycated hemoglobin increases by an order of magnitude. How is that calculated? Is the scale logarithmic?
I don’t know how it’s calculated, but you can start your research into answering that question here: http://www.bloodsugar101.com
You wrote:
“I followed Simeons’ protocol, which calls for two fruits a day. And you can have oranges as well as apples, which I did. I thought apples were low glycemic index. They may well be, but of course the GI is useless for deciding on fruit choices if you are insulin resistant, since fructose acts differently in the body than glucose. It raises one, but not necessarily raises the other, though it can. This is why I suspect I’m seeing so many cases of hyperinsulinimea in long-time HCG users.”
Can you explain what you mean by: “It raises one, but not necessarily raises the other, though it can.” It is not clear to me what the role of fructose is here. I thought that fructose is metabolized by the liver (in priority) to produce fat which is then stored. What else is fructose doing?
What I meant was that because – as you correctly note – fructose is metabolized by the liver, the damage done won’t *necessarily* show up in your postprandial meter readings, though depending on the fruit, it might. As for ‘what else’ fructose is doing, that generally depends on your level of insulin resistance. If enough metabolic hormone signaling has gone awry, and the insulin disorder has caused a cascade effect to other metabolic systems, excess fructose can cause NAFLD – Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease.
In one response to a comment, you wrote: “Your adipose fat cells produce leptin (the more fat cells, the more leptin you produce…”
So is the quantity of leptin produced by the adipose cells proportional to the total fat content or to the number of fat cells?
Number of fat cells. The *information* the leptin carries to the hypothalamus (assuming it can still fold in the correct three-dimensional shape to cross the blood-brain barrier) contains the total fat content – and a lot more!
Thanks for all you have written.
You’re welcome. I’m glad you’ve found it useful.
SugarFree
I am totally getting carried away with excitement. I got here from a post you wrote on a different blog and straightaway thought I wanted to give you a bear hug, because what you’ve said changed everything!
I’ve been through a life threatening battle with anorexia and am halfway through a very uncomfortable recovery, and I just haven’t a clue what to think or do anymore. There are so many crazy opposite opinions on the net. And now at LAST I hope I am on the right track! I have had a suspicion for a long time that none of the advice you get on the net is any good, and that there MUST be an answer somewhere… I look forward to reading the rest of your blog and changing my life!
I am far from anorexic now, but I see I need damage reversal and am going to trust that my body knows what that is. When I’ve sorted all that out I can move on to a truly healthy, sustainable diet. Perhaps I will be just another failed experiment, but I am full of hope.
If you read all this, well done! I’m sorry it’s so long, but I just can’t thank you enough.
I’m so glad the information you need is here for you – and I will definitely take that bear hug! Thanks so much for writing, and the best of luck with your recovery. If you need me, just holler. 🙂
SugarFree
After searching for information about symptoms I have that I thought were related to my Type 2 Diabetes I found this blog. I sent a question here and shortly received a phone call from SugarFree. We spoke for about an hour, during which got more information than I have from all my doctors since October, 2016. I promised to read as much as I could here, and I also recommended this blog to friends with diabetes. The research SugarFree has done for us and posted here for anyone to learn from is amazing.
Warmest kind regards,
Eddie