The changes we can make, let's start with Kale chips!

Three years ago my Dad was here one moment and gone the next, that is exactly how it happened! He was diabetic and had suffered a mild heart attack about 6 years before this event, but the fact that he had even suffered from these conditions in the first place was surprising to us! He was a picture of health: as a former college level athlete and a strapping young man, everyone in the family admired his health and lean physique when most men were literally ballooning. At 35 years of age his diabetes was reveled to us and after initial shock my mom made appropriate changes to our diet, like cut sugar and starch consumption and cook with less oil. We already ate quite healthy, refined and restaurant foods were banned in the house unless mom made it herself. My dad too accepted these changes, he was never a fan of eating out, snacking etc. all he ate was three square meals with tea in the morning and afternoon. He followed exercise (walking, yoga) and his dietary restrictions strictly except the times he was traveling for work. This continued for several years where his sugar levels fluctuated but remained in control until the day he got his first heart attack. We were shocked again and it was confusing that how could someone who was following such a strict diet and exercise even suffer from heart disease. Since it was a mild heart attack he did not require an invasive surgery and was on medication only. My mom made further doctor suggested changes to our diet where she cut out saturated fat sources like coconut, ghee and cook with "heart healthy" Saffola oil! Yet six years later he was gone from a second severe heart attack! It was very confusing to me because I couldn't fathom how on earth could this happen, not "why did this happen to my dad thought" but why was it happening to him when we thought we were doing everything right!

I think now I know why, three years after he is gone! While a change to sedentary lifestyle is a big factor in poor health our current diet plays an even bigger role. The prescribed low-fat high-carb diet is getting us nowhere close to good health. Indian diet as we know is grain dominated (hence high in carbs) and poor in proteins (lets face its dals, beans, pulses offer paltry amounts of protein compared to animal sources); meats and vegetables are deemed as sides and the good fats are shunned due to a bad rapport. The "seemingly healthy" whole wheat chapati (sans ghee) and rice led to sustained high sugar levels in my diabetic dad's blood, anti-nutrients in "healthy wheat" were causing unhealthy-issues and grains being choc-a-bloc with the pro-inflammatory omega-6 fatty acid, caused continued inflammation in the body. The "heart healthy" saffola oil (or any seed or vegetable oil) which is full of the bad poly-unsaturated fatty acid was wrecking a havoc his arteries by generating oxidized LDL. These may not be the only reasons, but they were some of the major reasons. I know this now because I have been following a number of primal, paleo and whole health blogs! I sincerely wish I knew this information three years ago!

What I have come to realize is:
We don't have to have to live with diabetes, heart-diseases, arthritis etc.
We don't have to be plump/overweight/obese (which IMHO we have come to accept as a phenomenon that happens with marital status, age, job etc, its really not supposed to be that way)
We don't have to be confused/frustrated if the weight wont fall off or if we don't feel better in spite of eating "healthy"
This bring me to the title of today's post, I just want to point of the changes we can make so no one has to suffer themselves or for their near-dear ones. How to do that? "Let thy food be thy medicine", changing diet will win 80% of the war and exercise will fulfill the next 20%. 
1) Cut the sugar and grains: Specifically grains containing gluten, rice is okay to consume but its pure carbs so go easy. 
2) Embrace the good fats: Coconut oil/ cow-ghee to cook (olive oil is okay for salad dressing not for cooking)
3) Introduce meat in your diet if you can (grass fed-meats and pastured eggs specifically), for vegetarians eat lentils/beans/pulses that have been soaked (8-10 hrs in acidic medium) or sprouted. Dairy if you have to should be full-fat and raw. Fermented dairy is great!!
4) Eat all possible veggies you can, go easy on fruits. Eat a rainbow, more color = higher anti-oxidant level. 
5) Make exercise a necessity, not an option. Focus on complete body exercise (weights,  rather than cardio training.
I have already highlighted the above changes here.

Coming to the recipe, I was never big on snacking but did enjoy potato-chips if a bag was lying around me! Kale leaves can be quickly baked into delicious chips that have the same crunch as potato chips, but none of that accompanying bad stuff!! The key to making crunchy kale chips is that before baking them kale should be completely dry and add salt in the end after the chips are baked so that the kale doesn't release water! Kale is considered to be a nutritional power house, however when combined with coconut oil it helps in better absorption of nutrients. 


Based on recipe from Nom Nom Paleo
Ingredients:
1 bunch red kale
1 tbsp coconut oil
salt and pepper for seasoning

Method: 
Preheat the oven to 350F. Wash the kale, drain and tear the kale leaves from the center ribs. Spread out the torn leaves on a kitchen towel and either air dry or pat dry completely. Once dry toss the kale leaves with coconut oil, such that all leaves are properly coated. Arrange the kale leaves in a single layer only on a baking sheet and bake at 350F for about 12-15 minutes till the leaves crisp up! Season with salt and pepper and enjoy the crunchy kale chips. Not that there will be any leftovers, but if you want to store them make sure that the chips are completely cool before packing them in an air-tight container.  

Other primal snacking ideas: boiled egg, avocado, homemade nuts mix (go easy on sweet ones), dark chocolate, celery sticks with almond butter. More ideas here.


Disclaimer: I am not a licensed medicinal practitioner or a nutritionist/dietician qualified to give medical or nutrition advice. My views are solely based on my research and observations from my own eating regimen and should be considered as recommendations, not as professional advice.

Key to good health

I believe I have the key, the key to good health that is. Let me explain how, it has increasingly become clear that no matter how small or big a disease is, its root cause lies in inflammation of some sort. Acute inflammation is our body's first response to treat any injury, however when inflammation becomes sustained and constant that is when the big diseases are born. Amongst the many reasons for inflammation, diet is the top one and within our diet it's the delicate balance of omega 6 (n6) to omega 3 (n3) fatty acids that we should be specifically paying attention to. Both omega 6 and 3 are essential fatty acids that are components of the cell wall and are involved in the inflammatory response pathway. Since the human body can’t make them, they have to be acquired through diet. Historically man has eaten a diet consisting of n6:n3 in a ratio of 1~2:1, but with the advent of agriculture and increased consumption of grains (and more processed food) this ratio has been significantly altered to 20~30:1. This skewed ratio combined with our sedentary, ill-rested, disconnected-from-nature, stressful lifestyle has led us to poor health. (More about it here)

How was the paleolithic man able to maintain a 1~2:1 ratio?

Paleolithic people ate a diet high in fats and protein and low in carbs because of their hunter-gatherer/forager lifestyle. Their diet included grass fed game meat (duh they didn’t have concentration camp meat then), fresh caught fish, seasonal (pesticide free off course) veggies, fruits and nuts they could forage! No grains or sugar for them (unless it was from fruits and honey). They also led an active lifestyle with lot of outdoor time. They were strong and there are no records that any of them suffered from today's maladies or diseases of civilization as we call them. This is true for today's existing hunter-gatherer societies as well. Now grains are packed with the pro-inflammatory n6 omegas on the other hand grass fed meats and wild caught fish are a good source of inflammation reducing n3 omegas, so there you go increased grain consumption is in part responsible for the skewed the n6:n3 ratio! Hah now that's some cud to chew on right!

So what do we do in-order to be really healthy??
1) Embrace fats: Start chanting to yourself "Saturated fat is my best friend". There is no clear cut evidence specifically stating that saturated fats are responsible for obesity or coronary heart disease check this! In fact increased blood triglycerides levels which are markers of poor coronary health are not caused due to increased fat intake but due to increased carbohydrate intake. If fats and specifically saturated fats were that bad our body wouldn't have used them as a storage vehicle for any excess circulating sugar. Fats are absolutely necessary for development and normal functioning of organs such as brain, skin (they also protectively line all the organs) and in absorbance of fat-soluble vitamins and countless other nutrients. Low-fat food is doing you no good, as there is little fat available to absorb nutrients from the already nutrient poor food that we eat!

2) Shun the Neo-carbs: Neo carbs are carbs that originated in the Neolithic age with the advent of agriculture. Avoid grains completely. Same goes for sugar. If you really have to eat grains then make sure your have soaked, sprouted or fermented them (time consuming) or there are always alternatives such as nutrient dense almond flour or coconut flour that can be made into any of the current flour products. To sweeten your food you can always use raw honey, stevia, agave nectar etc.  Embrace the good carbs, which are organic veggies and fruits and eats tons of them! To think about it carbohydrate is not even an essential nutrient; the body can get its energy just fine by breaking down fats and proteins! The reason society is so obsessed with them is because they are cheap, farmed hence readily available all year round, robust to survive the processing, can survive for long period and provide instant decent amount of energy because they are broken down easily. Any nutrients available in grains can be easily found in other veggies, fruits or even meat in comparable or higher quantities!
      
So in my opinion a healthy diet is one that is something like following:

1) Complete avoidance of grains, sugar and any dubious refined oils! (Paleo diets shun legumes, I include them only if they have been sprouted or soaked for long hours in an acidic medium, occasionally I include Indian fermented grain dishes).
2) Lot of veggies, meat (grass fed/pastured only), eggs, fruits, nuts and seeds.
3) Dairy if you really have to then it should be raw (non-pasteurized and non homogenized) and full fat. But go ahead and include the cultured dairy products such as yogurt, cream, crème fraiche, buttermilk, cheese, butter and ghee (all from grass fed cows milk only).
4) All the good fats like coconut oil (organic and virgin), organic extra Virgin olive oil (the one in dark bottle, preferably in salads), butter and ghee (from grass fed cow milk).
At first these may seem like a lot of restrictions, but I think of this eating style as the way we should be eating in the first place. This diet supplemented with exercise (strength building rather than cardio) and outdoor activity is the key to good health!

Jugalbandi and Mark Sisson have already said a lot on hows and whys of primal eating, you can check them out for further reading.