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Carnivore for Alzheimer’s Prevention – A No Brainer

September 9, 2022 2 Comments

Globally, every three minutes, someone develops dementia. By 2050, an estimated 152 million people will have dementia. So chances are you know someone – a parent, grandparent, or friend – has as suffered from this horrible disease as well. But contrary to popular belief, Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is not a normal part of aging. It can be prevented. The key is to take action as soon as possible since it’s thought that AD begins 20 years or more before symptoms arise. Keep reading to learn more about the causes of dementia and the choices you can make to avoid this terrible disease.

What is Alzheimer’s Disease?

AD is a progressive neurodegenerative disease characterized by the progressive decline of memory, cognitive functions, and changes in behavior and personality. Sadly, AD is the 6th leading cause of death in the United States and the 5th leading cause of death for those aged 65 and older. AD is the most common type of dementia, a category of mental impairment that also includes cerebrovascular disease (vascular dementia) and Lewy body dementia.

 

What are the Risk Factors for Dementia?

Dementia can be prevented and, in some cases, early symptoms can be reversed. Risk factors for dementia can be categorized into modifiable and non-modifiable. Non-modifiable risk factors include age, genetics, gender (women are more likely to have Alzheimer’s), and a positive family history of dementia since more than one-third of AD patients have one or more affected first-degree relatives.

The good news is that there are modifiable risk factors – areas where our choices can mitigate dementia. Modifiable risk factors include avoiding smoking, head injury, environmental factors, and metabolic syndrome (MetSys), one of the fundamental causes of dementia. MetSys is a signal that the body is not properly handling carbohydrates and is, therefore, a risk factor for obesity, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension. Treating MetSys minimizes the risk of Alzheimer’s and other dementias in 40% of the population.

Alzheimer’s Dementia is a Metabolic Issue

While the cause of AD is multifactorial, with both genetic and environmental factors implicated in its pathogenesis, AD is arguably a metabolic issue that stems from the brain’s inability to harness energy from glucose. In addition to these lifestyle choices, we can modify (lower) our risk of AD through dietary choices.

The brain is an energy-hungry organ. Although it only typically accounts for 2% of body weight, it can require up to 20% of the body’s glucose and oxygen. That’s why adequate fuel delivery is so important. Compared to healthy people, those with AD have been found with up to a 45% reduction in the cerebral metabolic rate of glucose or CMRglu. This results in reduced fuel usage by brain regions responsible for memory processing and learning. Because areas of the brain dedicated to visual and sensorimotor processing are unaffected, it can be difficult to notice changes, even though the risk of developing AD is present. A decline in glucose metabolism can be detected decades before overt symptoms.

Type 2 v Type 3 Diabetes

You may have heard the terms “Type 3 diabetes” or “diabetes of the brain” because similar to Type 2 diabetes, the brain becomes incapable of adequately metabolizing glucose due to insulin resistance (or insulin insensitivity). Without adequate fuel, neurons in regions of the brain start to degenerate. Degraded neurons eventually become incapable of communicating, leading to symptoms associated with AD such as confusion, cognitive decline, and behavioral changes.

Type 2 and Type 3 diabetes are related in that they may have the same primary underlying cause of insulin resistance, but they are not the same. An individual does not need to be diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in order to develop Type 3 or AD. In fact, many people with AD have normal blood glucose levels and are not diagnosed with diabetes. The key factor is, therefore, not glucose, but insulin resistance, a reduction in the body’s sensitivity to insulin, and hyperinsulinemia (elevated levels of insulin in the bloodstream for extended periods of time.) These disturbances lead to inflammation and oxidative stress, an imbalance of free radicals which can create damage to the cells and tissue in the body. While Type 2 diabetes affects muscles, organs, and the rest of the body aside from the brain and central nervous system, damage from AD is localized to the brain.

Insulin and Beta-amyloid Plaques

Interestingly, insulin also plays a crucial role in the formation of amyloid plaques, protein fragments that accumulate in the brain. While these plaques are found in healthy brains, in AD patients, beta-amyloid plaques accumulate to an unhealthy level, interfering with cell communication. Aside from reduced glucose utilization, beta-amyloid plaques are one of the defining features of AD.

One theory as to why these plaques accumulate in the AD brain is that they are not broken down and cleared away as they should be. Beta-amyloid plaques are primarily cleared with insulin-degrading enzyme, the same enzyme the body uses to clear insulin once insulin has done its job. Because the enzyme prefers insulin to beta-amyloid plaques, it works on clearing insulin first, leaving plaques to accumulate. Chronically-elevated insulin levels lead to more plaque build-up. And the more it builds up without being cleared, the more likely it is to form plaques that interfere with neuronal communication.

The Importance of Early Alzheimer’s Disease Prevention

This article cannot overstate the importance of AD prevention. AD begins with small changes in the brain that are initially unnoticeable to the person affected. Only after years of brain changes do individuals experience noticeable symptoms, at which point disease reversal may be too late. While there is no cure for AD, it can be prevented through dietary and lifestyle interventions. Consider prevention a lifelong concern. Waiting for an AD diagnosis may be too late – the brain may have already suffered too much damage.

 

Dietary Changes for AD Prevention

Carbohydrate restriction by way of a carnivore, keto, or ketosis-inducing diet is one of the first steps we can take to begin to ease the metabolic dysfunction that causes AD. If the brain has become incapable of properly metabolizing glucose, then a low or no-carbohydrate diet utilizing another fuel source can help correct abnormalities. This alternate fuel source – ketones – are generated when the body switches from metabolizing carbohydrates to metabolizing fat. In a low insulin environment, the body will produce ketones, a product of fat burning, to provide the brain with nourishment.

“The therapeutic and neuroprotective effects of ketones are so impressive, in fact, that one of the premier researchers studying ketones and brain health has suggested that a drawback of the modern, carbohydrate-heavy diet is that is it ‘keto-deficient.’” 

The Alzheimer’s Antidote

While the causes of AD are multifactorial, dietary changes can play a significant role in preventing or even reversing AD symptoms. The price of poor brain health is too high to delay starting to pay attention today. To learn more about Alzheimer’s prevention using a low-carb diet, please refer to Amy Berger’s book, The Alzheimer’s Antidote.

 

Written by Laura Guy
I dedicate this article to my father, Stuart. I love my father dearly and have watched him transition from an ambitious, independent man to an immobile and totally dependent man with very little speech capacity. Sadly, he has experienced very little quality of life over the past 11 years due to the degenerative effects of dementia, a disease for which there is no cure.

How You Can Live a Better Life Through Eating the Carnivore Diet!

September 2, 2022 1 Comment

So you want to know how to improve your life through a carnivore diet? I’m thrilled to share with you the fantastic facts that I’m learning.

What is the Carnivore Diet?

If you’ve never heard of the carnivore diet, it is simply a diet of animal-based foods, rather than foods from the plant kingdom. If it came from an animal, you can have it, if it didn’t, you can’t have it.

Animal-derived foods are included as well, such as beef or chicken broth, caviar, butter, and cheese. Milk is not usually consumed on carnivore, however.

Some people find they do better without cheese. It may slow down weight loss, or cause congestion. If it does, just eliminate it.

Seafood and shellfish can be on your diet too. I have found that I want less of these as I progress on carnivore. At this writing, I am over a month into it. And I love it! More on that below.

What Are the Benefits of the Carnivore Diet?

Weight loss is probably the number one reason people come to the carnivore diet. For those who have a ‘broken metabolism’ and struggle to lose weight on low carb, or keto diets, carnivore is a godsend. I found that my cravings for carbs or just extra food (like a handful of nuts) stayed alive unless I dipped below 10 grams of carbs per day.

After living on that level for a few weeks, I realized that I was almost at carnivore anyway! I decided to take the plunge and see for myself if it was as miraculous as they say.

I think this the very best way to get on the carnivore diet. By cutting down to Very Low Keto, or Ketovore first, you’ll find it very easy to make the switch to zero carbs – it will be a piece of cake. (Sorry!)

Well, this is where I say it is easier to list the non-benefits of the carnivore diet because the benefits list is a mile long! We could literally be here all day, so I’ll just include some of the major ones.

Here are a few of the improvements patients have reported:

I’d like to mention just a few more:

Thyroid problems vanish, ADHD subsides, and both children and adults become calm and focused. Children should be slowly weaned off sugar and carbs onto the ketogenic diet first, and then onto carnivore, if necessary, until their symptoms subside.

Elderly people can improve their mental faculties and regain memory:

“Ketone bodies, which are produced naturally by the human metabolism in the absence of glucose or reduced presence of glucose, have a neuroprotective impact on aging brain cells. Ketones improve mitochondrial function and reduce tissue inflammation. This reduced inflammation also improves digestion and autoimmunity, so can also maintain healthy brain tissue.” – Coach Elizabeth B., carnivore.diet

At any age and stage, people find their brains become sharper and more focused. No drugs needed!

High blood sugar damages the brain because the brain cells develop insulin resistance as well as the rest of the body. This leads to impaired ability to regulate metabolism, as well as impaired cognition and mood.

So many illnesses and chronic conditions appear to be the result of one root cause: The Wrong Human Diet.

The Carnivore Diet Meal Plan

Here I’d like to include a sample menu so you can see what a day on carnivore might look like:

  • 1st Meal of the Day: Eggs in butter, any style, with bacon. Coffee with butter and salt. No sweeteners.
  • 2nd Meal of the Day: Tuna fish or salmon patties, made with canned fish well mixed with an egg and fried in lots of butter. Salt to taste. Water, tea, coffee. No sugar substitutes.
  • 3rd Meal of the Day: Ribeye steak, burgers, and/or hot dogs. Cheese is optional. Zero carb beverage such as sparkling water.

Notice anything? That’s right! There are no limits on how much you may eat at a meal. Eat till full is the rule! Another rule is to eat fatty meats. In the case of fish, you can add fat using butter or bacon drippings.

It seems Carnivarians usually end up feeling so full that they drop one of these meals after a short while on the diet. It is so easy to do intermittent fasting with carnivore, it just happens naturally.

A Carnivore Diet Food List

Here is a list of the foods you can choose from:

  • Beef
  • Pork
  • Lamb
  • Venison
  • Bison
  • Elk
  • Organ Meats
  • Poultry
  • Eggs
  • Animal Fats
  • Cured Meats, no added sugar, carbs, or MSG
  • Bacon
  • Hot dogs
  • Fresh or Canned Fish
  • Seafood and Shellfish
  • Deli Meats and Sausages
  • Jerkies and Meat Sticks, no carbs, no MSG
  • Pork Rinds, plain, no sugars, no MSG
  • Caviar
  • Meat Broths
  • Butter
  • Cheeses, low carb (keep to a minimum)

Nothing sweet is allowed but use as much salt as you like.

If any food disagrees with you, just leave it out. This is sometimes called an Elimination Diet. You should pay attention to the effect foods have on your body and remove those that cause congestion, runny nose, indigestion, low energy, or other problems.

Note: You may have constipation or diarrhea in the first week as your body gets used to the new diet. Your gut microbiome will be changing over to its new environment. Extra fats in the diet may also cause loose stools. Don’t panic, just adjust accordingly and go forward.

The waste products from a carnivore diet are much less than from a plant-based diet. It is normal to pass stools two or three times a week. They’ll be much smaller too. Just another benefit!

Carnivore Diet Results

The results of a carnivore diet are ongoing. People report greater levels of healing the longer they stay on the diet. The first thing to go is the excess water (edema) your body was holding due to high sugar/glycogen levels. Carbohydrates cause the body to store extra water. When we eat carbs, the energy that we don’t use right away is stored as glycogen. Each gram of glycogen comes with three grams of water attached.

You can see this happening even in the first and second weeks. And less edema means lower blood pressure. In fact, you may want to supplement with electrolyte drops to replace potassium and magnesium, especially.

Weight loss is another measurable result even in the first week. It is so encouraging!

Inflammation throughout the body begins to fade away. As a result, all the chronic conditions associated with inflammation begin to resolve as well. Pain, sore joints, chronic headaches, skin conditions, bowel inflammation from plant lectins, and autoimmune disorders will heal according to case studies.

Mood disorders and low energy are replaced with a cheerful outlook and steady, even energy.

Yes, it sounds like the mythical magic wand, but its not. It is simply replacing a harmful diet with, as Dr. Ken Berry says, a Proper Human Diet.

Dr. Anthony Chaffee in a YouTube interview with Kelly Hogan made the following statement:

“95% of the results from the carnivore diet come from letting go of the last 5%” (of carbs, the old way of eating and drinking)

This is huge. As soon as you feel ready, go all in! Get those great results!

The healing will continue throughout the weeks and months. I’m into my second month at this point, and I have lost significant weight and inches; I feel younger and have great energy. I need less sleep. I’m more motivated and creative. Nails and hair are growing faster. Most people say they’re hooked after the first month, and I’m one of them! I can’t wait to see what will heal next!

One more thing … food no longer controls my body or my thoughts. I eat when I’m hungry and stop when I’m full. Then I don’t think about food again until the next time I’m hungry. I’ve wanted this all my life: total freedom from cravings and food obsession!

Carnivore Diet for Mental Health

Yes. The carnivore diet heals mental health issues. From anxiety and depression all the way to full-blown schizophrenia. I know that’s a lot to say. But research proves it. The case studies and personal accounts are proving it. The evidence is stacking up in favor of carnivore: this diet heals the brain!

I first found Dr. Chris Palmer on an interview with Dr. Shawn Baker. Dr. Palmer, MD is a psychiatrist who received his medical degree from Washington University School of Medicine. He did his internship and psychiatric residency at McLean Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Harvard School of Medicine. He is the author of a brand-new book called Brain Energy in which he teaches how ketogenic diets heal the brain from mental illnesses including schizophrenia, bipolar, borderline personality disorder, anxiety, depression, and more. His book is due out in November of 2022.

If you don’t know, any diet that puts you into ketosis is a keto genic diet. That covers Keto (20 grams or less of carbs/day) and Carnivore (zero carbs/day).

This is truly the high calling of the carnivore diet: the ability to heal the mind. It struck home with me because I have two family members who are afflicted with severe mental disabilities. Dr. Palmer’s mission is to spread the word and educate mental health professionals as well as everyday folks like us. We don’t have to live with these disabilities anymore!

I’m excited for the future by all the promise that the carnivore diet holds for people. I’m blown away by the incredible healing, both physical and mental, that eating a pure meat diet can bring. It will literally change our lives!

Cure Chronic Conditions with Bacon and a Steak

August 8, 2022 3 Comments

The top three issues I’ve observed being improved by a carnivore diet are joint pain, digestive health, and mental health. The likely reason for this is because these issues are among the most common ailments. Mental health disorders are often given a special place in the landscape of human disease, probably because of the emotional turmoil associated with them. However, mental health issues are just diseases, as diabetes and arthritis are. Given that, no one should get upset when someone suggests that nutrition may play a role in the development or mitigation of these diseases, but some people do. Why is it considered radical to suggest that a diet of processed seed oil, grains, and oxalates is linked to depression? I just don’t understand that reaction.

Examinations of depressed patients show that they often suffer from lower levels of carnitine than people who don’t suffer from depression. You might recall from earlier discussions that humans can produce carnitine, but when we eat meat, our levels of it tend to increase. It’s possible that the higher levels of carnitine are the reason so many people notice an improvement in mood after they’ve eaten a nice steak.

Low cholesterol levels also are associated with higher rates of depression, as well as violence and suicide. Hyperinsulinemia has been associated with some mental health disorders, and in my informal studies, we have seen that eating a carnivore diet is often very effective in improving insulin status. Gut issues and inflammation are other ailments that are highly associated with mental health status. Guess what—a carnivore diet helps in those areas as well.

In 1933, noted wilderness activist Robert Marshall wrote in his book Arctic Village that the people he lived with, who survived on caribou meat in the remote wilds of Northern Alaska, were the happiest civilization he had ever encountered. I had a patient who had spent eighteen years living off the land and surviving primarily on caribou meat in remote Alaska. There’s even a movie about her experience—The Year of the Caribou. She was eighty-three when I knew her, and she told me that the happiest she had ever been and the best health she had experienced was during that time in Alaska.

Vegan propagandists often claim meat is inflammatory, and to support their claims about inflammation, they sometimes cite a study that used an isolated situation in which meat was not the only variable. We have to remember that human physiology is an incredibly complex system, and you can’t take an isolated lab test or cell culture study and extrapolate it to the entire system.

The best way to see whether meat is inflammatory to the human body is to feed it, and nothing else, to humans for a prolonged period to find out what happens via both clinical and laboratory assessment. Contrary to what the vegans would like us to believe, as more and more people try out the carnivore diet, we have more evidence that meat is very much an anti-inflammatory diet.

Autoimmune diseases are strongly linked with gastrointestinal problems, and increased intestinal permeability may be one of the chief culprits. Some of the recent literature on this subject focuses on altering the microbiome—often by using probiotics—to affect the intestinal permeability. This technique has generally produced little success because the microbiome is incredibly responsive to diet, and if the diet isn’t altered, then the probiotic-induced shift in microbiome will likely be short-lived at best.

As I previously mentioned, some of the common food components that appear to cause gut permeability issues are plant oils, drugs and supplements, legumes, grains, dairy, and sweeteners. The carnivore diet pretty much excludes all these items, except occasional limited dairy for those who can tolerate it. It’s interesting to note that many people see a resolution of a variety of autoimmune conditions when they exclude those items from their diets.

Aside from the benefits that a carnivore diet has on autoimmune-related arthritis, it seems that a fairly high number of people also report improvement in the more common osteoarthritis. Conventional wisdom has been that osteoarthritis is a mechanical problem and a disease of “wear and tear.”

Recent studies indicate that pathophysiology of osteoarthritis has a much greater component of inflammation than previously thought, and perhaps it also has a relationship with gut permeability. A recent animal study has shown a link between carbohydrate consumption as a possible etiologic agent in osteoarthritis. So, I owe an apology to all the patients who I didn’t believe when they used to tell me that eating certain foods made their joints hurt.

Common conditions such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and obesity often get better on a carnivore diet. These same conditions sometimes improve on other low-carbohydrate and low-calorie diets. A decrease in vascular inflammation likely contributes to improved blood pressure; often, people who have high blood pressure see improvement within a few weeks of adjusting their diets.

Blood glucose stabilization typically occurs over several months. If we look at postprandial blood glucose readings of long-term carnivores, they tend to be very stable with no significant elevations, which is in contrast with what we see with most diabetics, who often have fairly wide swings in their blood glucose numbers. Likewise, overall insulin sensitivity seems to improve fairly consistently, based on observation of long-term carnivore dieters who have shared their data.

Excerpted from The Carnivore Diet, By Dr. Shawn Baker.
Learn more HERE

Cognitive function tips by coach Elizabeth B

December 26, 2020 1 Comment

Healthy cognition is judged by your ability to remember and the speed at which you are able to solve problems. Language, imagination, perception, and planning are all cognitive functions of the brain. Any neurological degeneration will cause a decline in cognitive function, which is defined a dementia. This will also cause the loss of motor function. Alzheimer’s disease is a degenerative brain disease and the most common form of dementia.

It was originally described by german neurologist Alois Alzheimer. His papers describing presenile dementia were first recorded as Alzheimer’s in 1910.

Alzheimers is progressive and characterized by the loss of memory, language skills and cognitive impairment. Personality changes are also seen with Alzheimers’, characterized by aggression and an infantile response to stress. In contrast with Parkinson’s Disease, motor functions remain intact until the final stages of neural degeneration. Alzheimer’s is linked more to cognitive decline than Parkinson’s.

Alzheimer’s is caused by the malfunctioning of several physiological functions. 50% of dementia is considered to be caused by Alzheimer’s. It is associated with vascular degeneration in the brain, first in the capillaries, and then in the arteries of the brain. Onset is described between 40 and 90 years of age, which is a huge time span for cognitive impairment. A person who is 40 years old will spend over half of their life with brain impairment.

The brain is one of the four most vascularized organs in the human body. It needs a huge amount of oxygen, as well as energy. Vascular degeneration causes a decrease in the number of nerve cells. Only a brain biopsy or autopsy can diagnose Alzheimers. This means you have to be dead to know if you have it. For this reason, standardized testing with questions in a clinical setting and drawing puzzles is used to attempt to diagnose it. This is also a reason Alzheimer’s is often misdiagnosed or confused with vascular dementia, Parkinson’s and other disorders. Several medications can cause common Alzheimer’s symptoms. These include anticholinergics, corticosteroids, pain relievers, statins, chemotherapy drugs, and benzodiazepines prescribed for anxiety and insomnia. The side effects of these drugs not only impair cognitive function involving memory, speech, and attention while they are being taken, but also have been seen to increase the risk of cognitive impairment in some.

The brain’s ability to regenerate by forming new neural connections throughout life is called neuroplasticity. Brain tissue is healthy when it gets the right nutrients to allow neurons in the brain to heal from injury and to adjust to new situations or changes in the environment. Brain tissue is made up of 60 to 70% fat, and it is always hungry for more, so it can regenerate. A low-fat diet is associated with all kinds health issues, and neurological degeneration is one of them.

The brain is an electrical organ which fires electrical impulses across cholesterol covered nerve tissue to communicate to all parts of the body. Alzheimer’s is often called diabetes of the brain or diabetes type 3. High levels of insulin resistance will damage brain tissue. Brain tissue has to respond to insulin to lower blood glucose. If neurons in the brain become unable to respond to insulin there will be degeneration. Some researchers believe insulin deficiency is central to the cognitive decline of Alzheimer’s.

Recently there has been an association between inflammatory bowel syndrome and an autoimmune component of neurological deterioration. People with IBS have more than twice the risk of developing dementia. The vagus nerve connects the brain to the stomach and intestines.

Inflammation along this sensory route may cause the production of the abnormal proteins, also known as amyloid plaque, found in the brains of people who have had Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Mitochondria, which are the small organelles in cells known as cellular batteries, help neurons grow and stimulate neuroplasticity.

The brain needs a huge amount of energy, making it highly dependent on mitochondria. There are hundreds to thousands of mitochondria in a single neuron.

The fact that the brain prefers fat as a nutrient is clear by the fact that newborns who breast feed are in ketosis due to the fat level in breast milk. Brain inflammation following stroke and brain trauma has been successfully treated using a low-carb high fat diet.

Ketone bodies, which are produced naturally by the human metabolism in the absence of glucose or reduced presence of glucose, have a neuroprotective impact on aging brain cells. Ketones improve mitochondrial function and reduce tissue inflammation. This reduced inflammation also improves digestion and autoimmunity, so can also maintain healthy brain tissue.

Deficiencies in essential nutrients such as iron and vitamin B12 can cause impaired cognition. Attention span, intelligence, and sensory perception, as well as behavioral and mood issues are linked to anemia.

Vitamin B12 deficiency is linked to forgetfulness, poor focus and concentration, memory decline, all indicators of decreased cognitive function. The carnivore diet is the greatest source of both iron and vitamin B12. As it is also a low-carb diet, it reduces insulin resistance. The absence or near absence of plant foods in the carnivore diet makes it a great tool for eliminating intestinal inflammation that can cause autoimmunity and inflammation along the vagal sensory route. It is also easy to eat plenty of omega-3 rich animal fat on the carnivore diet. Omega-3 fatty acids have long been associated with the evolution of the large human brain, as well as supporting and maintaining the human brain’s neuroplasticity, and therefore cognitive function.

Thyroid hormone is the first hormone produced in the human body, and is crucial for the neural development of the fetus, but it is also essential for cognitive function in the mature brain. If thyroid function is impaired it can manifest itself as depression, bipolar affective disorders, memory loss, and mood disorders. Thyroid hormone stimulates neurogenesis. Both depressed and accelerated thyroid hormone function affect the myelination process. Both insulin resistance and malnutrition damage the synthesis of thyroid hormones in the thyroid, in peripheral tissue and in the brain. The transport of thyroid hormones to their receptor targets in the brain. Hypothyroidism is fairly prevalent in the elderly, and is often confused with dementia. The carnivore diet assures the optimum quantity of nutrients necessary for thyroid function, such as iron, selenium, zinc, vitamin D, tyrosine, and vitamin B12. It also improves intestinal absorption for said nutrients and the conversion of the inactive thyroid hormone, thyroxine, to the active thyroid hormone, triiodothyronine.

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