the shmaltz

Should all children be screened for high cholesterol?

noreply@blogger.com (theshmaltz) — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 10:32:00 +0000

This is disgraceful. Just disgraceful.

Should all children be screened for high cholesterol? - latimes.com
- High cholesterol is common enough in children these days that all of them should be screened for the condition, say the authors of a new study examining the rates of high cholesterol in children.
  
  Currently, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends screening children and teens who have a family history of premature heart disease or high cholesterol or those children who already have risk factors for heart disease, such as obesity, high blood pressure or who smoke or have diabetes. For these children, screening should start after age 2 and before age 10.
- Screening all children for cholesterol, rather than just those with a family history, will uncover many more cases of the condition that can be treated early to prevent heart disease later in life, the authors said.

Posted from Diigo.

The slam-dunking of "The China Study"

noreply@blogger.com (theshmaltz) — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 11:50:00 +0000

Thanks to Richard at Free the Animal for the tip-off, I have just completed reading the most incredibly well written, well-balanced and systematical analysis of a nutrition study - ever!

Written by Denise Minger, (an ex-vegan who apparently enjoys number-crunching in her spare time) this is an absolute must read! Her writing style is very engaging and often entertaining. Just out of her own curiosity, she took the source data that T. Colin Campbell used for his book "The China Study", cut the data herself and made her own un-biassed deductions, and in the process effectively ripped Mr Cambpell a new one.

Most importantly, she has produced possibly the most important document relating to nutrition in recent times (possibly rivalling Gary Taube's seminal New York Times article "What if it's all been a big fat lie?"). She dismantles the entire "China Study" with one arm behind her back and reduces T. Colin Cambpell to a blubbering and jibbering mess.

It's a hard slog, but well worth the read. Here are my favourite snippets:

http://rawfoodsos.com/2010/07/07/the-china-study-fact-or-fallac
- Notice Campbell cites a chain of three variables: Cancer associates with cholesterol, cholesterol associates with animal protein, and therefore we infer that animal protein associates with cancer. Or from another angle: Cancer associates with cholesterol, cholesterol negatively associates with plant protein, and therefore we infer plant protein protects against cancer.
  But when we actually track down the direct correlation between animal protein and cancer, there is no statistically significant positive trend. None.
- the only way Campbell could indict animal protein is by throwing a third variable—cholesterol—into the mix.
- In other words, it looks like animal foods have virtually no effect—whether positive or negative—on the occurrence of liver cancer in hepatitis-B infected areas.
- In the high-risk groups, the correlation between total cholesterol and liver cancer drops from +37 to +8. Still slightly positive, but not exactly damning.
- Campbell’s implication that green vegetables are associated with less cardiovascular disease is misleading.
- Since only frequency and not actual quantity of greens seems protective of heart disease and stroke, it’s safe to say that greens probably aren’t the true protective factor.
- Check that out! Fish protein looks weakly protective all-around; non-fish animal protein is neutral for coronary heart disease/heart attacks and stroke but associates positively with hypertensive heart disease (related to high blood pressure); and plant protein actually correlates fairly strongly with heart attacks and coronary heart disease.
- If you’re wondering about the connection between animal protein and hypertensive heart disease, by the way, it’s actually hiked up solely by the dairy variable. Here are the individual correlations between specific animal foods and hypertensive heart disease:
  Milk and dairy products intake: +30** Egg intake: -28 Meat intake: -4 Fish intake: -14
- In addition to greater rates of hepatitis B infection, higher-cholesterol areas had additional risk factors for liver cancer, such beer consumption, which also inflated the trend. Despite Campbell’s claims, cholesterol itself does not appear to significantly heighten cancer rates in at-risk populations.
- Perhaps more troubling than the distorted facts in “The China Study” are the details Campbell leaves out.
  Why does Campbell indict animal foods in cardiovascular disease (correlation of +1 for animal protein and -11 for fish protein), yet fail to mention that wheat flour has a correlation of +67 with heart attacks and coronary heart disease, and plant protein correlates at +25 with these conditions?
  Speaking of wheat, why doesn’t Campbell also note the astronomical correlations wheat flour has with various diseases: +46 with cervix cancer, +54 with hypertensive heart disease, +47 with stroke, +41 with diseases of the blood and blood-forming organs, and the aforementioned +67 with myocardial infarction and coronary heart disease? (None of these correlations appear to be tangled with any risk-heightening variables, either.)
- Campbell extrapolates this research beyond its logical scope: He concludes that all forms of animal protein have similar cancer-promoting properties in humans, and we’re therefore better off as vegans. This claim rests on several unproven assumptions:
- The rats in Campbell’s research consumed casein as their only protein source, the equivalent of someone eating zero plant protein for life. An unlikely scenario, to be sure.
- Also, it seems Campbell never mentions an obvious implication of a casein-cancer connection in humans: breast milk, which contains high levels of casein. Should women stop breastfeeding to reduce their children’s exposure to casein? Did nature really muck it up that much? Are children who are weaned later in life at increased risk for cancer, due to a longer exposure time the casein in their mothers’ milk? It does seem strange that casein, a substance universally consumed by young mammals, is so hazardous for health—especially since it’s designed for a time in life when the immune system is still fragile and developing.
- In sum, “The China Study” is a compelling collection of carefully chosen data. Unfortunately for both health seekers and the scientific community, Campbell appears to exclude relevant information when it indicts plant foods as causative of disease, or when it shows potential benefits for animal products. This presents readers with a strongly misleading interpretation of the original China Study data, as well as a slanted perspective of nutritional research from other arenas (including some that Campbell himself conducted).
- It’s no surprise “The China Study” has been so widely embraced within the vegan and vegetarian community: It says point-blank what any vegan wants to hear—that there’s scientific rationale for avoiding all animal foods.

Posted from Diigo.

If only we can get this type of sanity in mainstream nutrition.

noreply@blogger.com (theshmaltz) — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 10:17:00 +0000

Forget the food pyramids - bring on the Healthy 4 Life guidelines! If only...(sigh)...

http://www.westonaprice.org/abcs-of-nutrition/1950-comments-on-the-usda-dietary-guidelines.html
Weston A Price recommendations on the 2010 Dietary Guidelines
- The Weston A. Price Foundation strongly urges the USDA Dietary Guidelines committee to scrap the food pyramid and replace it with the following Healthy 4 Life guidelines, based on four groups of whole foods.
- Every day, eat high quality, whole foods to provide an abundance of nutrients, chosen from each of the following four groups:
- 1. Animal foods: meat and organ meats, poultry, and eggs from pastured animals; fish and shellfish; whole raw cheese, milk and other dairy products from pastured animals; and broth made from animal bones.
- 2. Grains, legumes and nuts: whole-grain baked goods, breakfast porridges, whole grain rice; beans and lentils; peanuts, cashews and nuts, properly prepared to improve digestibility.
- 3. Fruits and Vegetables: preferably fresh or frozen, preferably locally grown, either raw, cooked or in soups and stews, and also as lacto-fermented condiments.
- 4. Fats and Oils: unrefined saturated and monounsaturated fats including butter, lard, tallow and other animal fats; palm oil and coconut oil; olive oil; cod liver oil for vitamins A and D.
- Avoid: foods containing refined sweeteners such as candies, sodas, cookies, cakes etc.; white flour products such as pasta and white bread; processed foods; modern soy foods; polyunsaturated and partially hydrogenated vegetable oils and fried foods.

Posted from Diigo.

Vitamin D Test Results

noreply@blogger.com (theshmaltz) — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 11:55:00 +0000

Well, just got my Vitamin D test results from Grassrootshealth. I'm incredibly surprised. Result came back at 33ng/ml. I was certain I would be much lower than that, given it's in the middle of winter here in Australia. Mrs S got her results as well. Her's is 22ng/ml.

An interesting obervation: Mrs S has so far had two colds in the last two months (donated to her by our dear 4 year old), while I've dodged them totally so far (touch wood!). Lower Vitamin D level?? Hmmm.

This one makes you think about pushing your Vitamin D levels too high

noreply@blogger.com (theshmaltz) — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 11:28:00 +0000

I'm currently looking at optimising my Vitamin D levels by doing the spot test from GrassrootsHealth. I've done the test and sent it off but now waiting for the results. I'm a bit skeptical about taking my levels too high. I think Chris Masterjohn has a good outlook on this.

Are Some People Pushing Their Vitamin D Levels Too High?

Has science proven that the minimal acceptable blood level of vitamin D, in the form of 25(OH)D, is above 50 ng/mL (125 nmol/L)? No. If you’ve been trying to maintain your levels this high because you thought this was the case, I’m sorry to break the news. There is, on the contrary, good evidence that 25(OH)D levels should be at least 30-35 ng/mL (75-88 nmol/L). Much higher levels may be better, or they could start causing harm, especially in the absence of adequate vitamins A and K₂.
Once we leave the land of 30-35 ng/mL, however, we enter the land of speculation.

Posted from Diigo.

Interesting study showing the relationship between low cholesterol and cancer

noreply@blogger.com (theshmaltz) — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 11:15:00 +0000

Baseline and On-Treatment High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol and the Risk of Cancer in Randomized Controlled Trials of Lipid-Altering Therapy -- Jafri et al. 55 (25): 2846 -- Journal of the American College of Cardiology

Epidemiologic data demonstrate an inverse relationship betweenserum total cholesterol levels and incident cancer. We recentlyreported that lower levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterolare associated with a significantly higher risk of incidentcancer in a meta-analysis of large RCTs of statin therapy
Conclusions: There is a significant inverse association between HDL-C andthe risk of incident cancer that is independent of LDL-C, age,BMI, diabetes, sex, and smoking.

Posted from Diigo.

Off-Topic: Diigo.com web-clipper and bookmarks

noreply@blogger.com (theshmaltz) — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 10:23:00 +0000

A bit off topic here. Some time ago I discovered Diigo (http://www.diigo.com/). It is an incredible tool where you can not only bookmark websites of interest, but also highlight portions of a web site and save those snippets with your bookmark. You can then search your library of bookmarks and snippets by keyword, phrase or tag, and refer back easily to the important bits of the web site that you saved, rather than just having a web site address and trawling through it to remember the bits of it you liked. The other neat thing about it, is that when you go back to the web site you bookmarked, it automatically highlights the parts of the page that you highlighted and saved earlier. There's also a neat sharing facility, which I'll use here to post up various bits of the internet I find interesting, along with the parts I highlighted.

Self-sufficiency (somewhat) in the 'Burbs - Part 3

noreply@blogger.com (theshmaltz) — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 03:40:00 +0000

Since we left you last, we've been busy in our garden replacing the old rotten kempas edging we only installed about a year ago. As with the large planter box in the centre, we made the new edging out of eWood (recycled printer cartidges).

Below is the end result. This should last a LOT longer, and also has the added benefit of making the plots deeper so we are able to add more topsoil and mulch. I couldn't do the curved effect like I did with the kempas, but the end result is pretty good just the same, I think.

Next on the list:

Excavate about 10cm of soil from the pathways between the plots so we can install the granitic sand paving.
Install a semi-automatic watering system
Anything else Mrs S wants me to do! :-)

So far this project has been amazing, not only from the sole perspective of transforming our front garden and the produce we're reaping from it, but from the huge amount of comments we get from passers-by. While toiling away on the weekends with the kids helping out, we invariably get several comments, from people I've never seen before around the neighbourhood, stopping by and commenting about how they are enjoying the changes and developments in our garden. We've struck up more lengthy conversations with some of them and shared our tips and given advice to those who are interested.

This has been, so far, a great way to reach out and interact with our local neighbourhood. We have many people in our street who unfortunately go about their daily lives not knowing or caring what's happening next door to them.

At last, the dangers of soy reaches mainstream media.

noreply@blogger.com (theshmaltz) — Thu, 20 May 2010 12:20:00 +0000

Our local TV news here ran this special report tonight on the dangers of soy - smack in the middle of the prime time evening news program. Good to see this type of information getting out.

Now, what about the benefits of fat and cholesterol...?

This is cool...

noreply@blogger.com (theshmaltz) — Mon, 10 May 2010 08:02:00 +0000

Self-sufficiency (somewhat) in the 'Burbs - Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (theshmaltz) — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 10:21:00 +0000

Well, the transformation of the front yard is coming along nicely. See my post on Part 1. Here's the latest state:

About a month ago me and my son built the planter box that's sitting there in the middle. We made it out of an ingenious material that Mrs S found on the net, called eWood. It's a relatively new building material made from recycled printer cartridges. Many uses of this product are in the garden as edging, fences and raised garden beds. I used this plan for our planter box. Quite easy and it came up really well, if I say so myself!

This weekend we removed the grass from the pathways and the area around the planter box. That was an effort and a half, but well worth it, as the whole area is really starting to take shape.

Next on the list to do is to replace the edging of the vege plots - the cheap wooden edging I installed originally is already starting to fall apart. We'll use eWood again for this purpose as it's apparently got very long life outdoors. After that, we'll lay some granatic sand or fine crushed rock/gravel on the pathways and the area around the planter box, and that will just about finish off the major works.

In the meantime we've been had bumper crops of tomatoes, pumpkin, beans, cucumber and Cos lettuce. The pumpkins have been excellent! After Mrs S played "matchmaker" and did her manual pollenization (by wiping a female pumpkin flower on a male flower), they all sprang to life! From memory we ended up with about 10 pumpkins from one plant. We've eaten quite a few of them, and have about 3 stashed away in the cupboard for later, including our biggest one weighing in at just on 3kg (6.6 lb).

The next batch of veges coming are the cooler weather ones like broccoli, cabbage and Brussel Sprouts.

Back to the grind :-(

noreply@blogger.com (theshmaltz) — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 09:46:00 +0000

Well, the trip to Hong Kong has been and gone, and I'm back to the grind. The most disappointing thing about holidays, is that when you get back to work, it's as though you never left.

The trip was absolutely brilliant. We spent 2 days at the Disneyland Hotel first off, with the definite highlight being breakfast with the Disney characters. The kids (both big ones and small ones!) were in their element. We had a 2-day pass for Disneyland, which was also great. I have not been to the Disneyland in the US, but I've been told it is HUGE. Disneyland Hong Kong is a great size, which allows you to really see and do everything. Queues were short, so we got to do all the rides and attractions without much waiting.

We then moved over to our second "home" over in downtown Hong Kong - on Hong Kong Island. It was a great spot. Close to the train station, buses and trams, so it was extremely easy to get around. Highlights? Shopping, shopping, shopping! Hong Kong is one big shopping mall. We picked up some great bargains, the best being Merrell shoes for one-third the price of what they are here in Australia.

For me, the best part of the trip were the people and the food. The Hong Kong people are beautiful. Always courteous and polite, and always willing to help a lost traveler.

Before the trip I was having a hard time coming to terms with what I would do about eating over there, with their obvious focus on rice and noddles. After a lot of internal debate, I thought, "stuff it! When in Hong Kong, do what the Hong Kongers do". And I'm glad I did. This mindset really made the holiday worry-free food-wise. I'd deal with the consequences back at home. And what were the consequences? Weight before holiday: 68kg. Weight after holiday: 68kg. 10 days of rice, dumplings, meat and some veges didn't seem to have much of an effect on my weight, at least.

While I ate plenty of rice, I tried to stay clear of anything wheat-based, which over there is pretty much just noddles (it's virtually impossible to find a loaf of bead there which was kinda novel). I can handle rice fine, so this did not really bother me that much, although I would never eat so much of the stuff at home!

I must admit, though, that I was a bit paranoid about getting food poisoning, especially while eating at the markets. Ironically, as it turned out, the only incident we had was with my son after he ate a pizza at the Disneyland Hotel, of all places! So the second night we were there was a sleepless one while looking after a 9 year-old with his head in the toilet bowl. We ate the local food everywhere else (including the markets) and didn't have any other incidents.

So, now we are back home and settled back into the rhythm of life again. The only evidence of our great time being the over 360 photos and over 1hr of video we shot.

I'm leaving, on a jet plane...

noreply@blogger.com (theshmaltz) — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 02:19:00 +0000

Hi folks,

Apologies for the lack of posts lately. Work has been frantic leading up to our end of financial year in March. Now that it's all over, me and the Shmaltz family are off for a couple of weeks to Hong Kong. We're all getting very excited, especially the kids.

Hope to have some interesting posts on some of the Hong Kong/Chinese delicacies we see and eat over there (I've read about Snake Soup - I might just give that a try...maybe!).

Take care everyone.

Another reason not to use sunscreen

noreply@blogger.com (theshmaltz) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 02:25:00 +0000

I've commented before how little we use sunscreen, and here's another reason

Fears over Toxic Sunscreen

"Amanda Barnard, of CSIRO's materials science and engineering division, found nanoparticles that provided the best transparency and sun protection were also the biggest producers of potentially-harmful free radicals."

...

"She found that smaller nanoparticles offered better protection and transparency. But small ones also had a higher surface-to-volume ratio, providing more scope for free radical production through photochemical reaction."

Thinking, Thinking, Thinking....

noreply@blogger.com (theshmaltz) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 06:39:00 +0000

I’ve been feeling rather average lately. Not from a cold or illness or anything, but a lack of energy and general loss of “zing” that I had when I first started going low carb/paleo just over 12 months ago. I had a suspicion that something was not right with my diet, so I hit the reading and stumbled on some interesting resources like Matt Stone, Don Matez (his series on Primal Potatoes is mandatory reading) and an interesting email conversation with the sensational Dr BG from Animal Pharm.

In my reading I found a link between long-term low-carb/paleo diets and lowering of metabolic rate. I’m sure that there are some people that can handle a low carb diet bordering on (or fully in) ketosis, but I don’t think I’m one of them. This lowering of metabolic rate has an effect on the thyroid which can cause, amongst other things, loss of energy. Just what I’ve been experiencing.

So, in the past week or so, I’ve been adding carbs back into my diet in the form of some rice (yes, not paleo, but at least not a gluten grain), and some sweet potato (I think these are definitely paleo!). I’ve also tried to eat more to ramp up my metabolism a bit.

Boy, what a difference. Definitely more energy and starting to get the “zing” back – my bodyweight workouts are benefiting as well. As far as I can tell, no fat gain – weight has been stable, in fact maybe even dropped a bit.

One thing that has really bugged me about the paleo crowd in particular is why they are so “insulinophobic”. They shun anything starchy like sweet potatoes, squash etc. Starchy tubers are a staple of many hunter/gatherer societies that display robust health, longevity and lack of western-style degenerative diseases (the Kitavans of New Guinea are a popular group that come to mind, as well as the Hadza of Tanzania). Yet these foods are not “paleo-approved”.

Why would starchy foods NOT be an important element of paleolithic nutrition? Humans have a couple of pretty impressive built-in mechanisms to deal with these types of food:

Amylase: An enzyme in our saliva that is the first step in the digestion of starches and carbohydrates,
Insulin: A hormone that maintains the correct level of blood sugar levels in our bodies when we consume carbohydrates.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not suggesting we all go out and start binging on bread, pasta and twinkies. But in the background of a low-ish carb diet (compared to the SAD), why is the regular consumption of starchy tubers not in line with paleolithic nutrition? This does not make sense to me.

I’m still tweaking the amounts of carbs though. Yesterday I think I went a bit overboard and I ended up raiding the fridge at 9pm at night as I was ravenously hungry!

Oh, well. Live and learn. Had a very low carb day today and feeling fine.

The Diabetic Diet - 1917 style

noreply@blogger.com (theshmaltz) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 10:06:00 +0000

This is courtesy of Ted Hutchinson. It's a book titled "Diabetic Cookery: Recipes and Menus" by Rebecca W Oppenheimer. Before you think it's the usual mainstream cookbook garbage with loads of healthywholegrains shunning all thatarteryclogginsaturatedfats, this book is from 1917...yes the good ol' days way before BigPharma and political correct nutrition. So you could probably guess that what's contained here is essentially a low carb, high fat diet.

You see, in those days, there was little in the way of drugs to control diabetes, so the obvious solution was to control it with diet (duh!).

Flick to the Diet Tables on page 8 and you will see the lists of foods that can be used freely, in moderation and those that are forbidden. Fascinating stuff.

You can read the entire book here.

Self-sufficiency (somewhat) in the 'Burbs - Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (theshmaltz) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 10:13:00 +0000

Mrs Shmaltzy is a great gardener. It's her passion and third love (next to me and the kids, of course. Although sometimes we wonder with the amount of time she spends out there...). She is completely self-taught on many aspects of gardening such as ph levels of soil, where to place certain trees, and also has a great knack for visualising a garden structure. She has designed and planted out all of our garden spaces - the property looks fabulous and it's all due to her vision and sweaty hours of work. I'm called in to do the heavy stuff like digging, paving and lugging stuff around.

Now that our household is pretty much devoid of packaged and processed "food", we've been looking at ways in which we can get access to fresh, real food. We currently get most of our organic pasture-fed meat from Gippsland Lean Beef, or if we have run out or in a bind, we get King Island Beef which is thankfully available at our local supermarket. For fruit and vegetables, we try to get to the local farmer's markets as much as we can, but it is sometimes difficult with kids sporting commitments, so unfortunately the supermarket is it most of the time. We are really starting to get tired of the crappy, flavourless quality of the supermarket "fresh" produce, so we made a decision to grow much of it ourselves.

This has been a long term project of trial, error and experimentation. It started about 18 months ago when we converted the kid's sandpit into a little vege patch which has been a bit of hit and miss. You can just make out the framework of the sandpit under the growth;

Some things grew, and others didn't do so well. Cucumbers went crazy and the tomatoes were duds. Basil was ok, as were the snow peas.

Mrs S worked out that the orientation and location of this vege patch was all wrong. Here in Southern Australia (Melbourne to be exact) the ideal orientation for a vege garden is a northerly aspect - the sandpit vege patch is in the back corner of the back yard, which faces south and does not get much sun in winter.

Our front yard faces north...you can guess Mrs S's next suggestion.Yep, convert the front yard. So we did.

We live in a 1950's Australian cream-brick house which were traditionally set back quite away from the street. This means we have an area of usable front yard space of about 6m x 11m (20 feet x 36 feet). We created four plots in the corners of the front yard, each of about 4m x 2.2m (13 feet x 7 feet) using flexible wooden garden edging, leaving a place for an elevated planter box of 3m x 1.7m (10 feet by 5.6 feet) as an overall centre-piece in the middle of the yard.

Here's the plan we came up with;

Here's a view of the more or less finished product still under construction (plots 2 and 4 are in the foreground. That's Mrs S tending to something there);

We started off planting out in plot 3 where we have an almond tree as a centre-piece, tomatoes, pumpkin, zucchini, and basil. Next was plot 4, where we have another almond tree as a centre-piece, pak choy, basil, tomatoes and watermelon. Plots 1 and 2 are vacant at the moment as we are still chosing our centre-piece plants for these plots - we are thinking of blueberry bushes or some other fruit tree.

We are nowhere near self-sufficiency at the moment, but we have so far enjoyed heaps of cucumbers, basil (Mrs S made a great pesto last week), pak choy, garlic, snow peas and some cherry tomatoes. As we go on we intend to be more organised with the planting so we get bigger yields, but at the moment we are experimenting with different plants to see what works, and establishing and conditioning the soil.

The best part about this is getting the kids involved to see where their food is coming from, and the fact that we can grow our own food and know that it is not getting spoiled by pesticides and chemicals.

Most of all, the food tastes like it should. No early picking and letting it ripen in warehouses. Nothing like pulling off some veges from the garden and throwing it straight into the wok...or into your mouth!

I'll post on the progress of this project as we go.

Grain Free Granola

noreply@blogger.com (theshmaltz) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 09:48:00 +0000

This is granola is simply brilliant. I love it. Have it nearly every morning for breakfast with my full fat yoghurt, cream and berries.

My recipe is an adaptation of one I found on Elana's Pantry. I wound the sweetness way back (which is provided in this recipe by soaked sultanas - or raisins as others might call them) as I found Elana's recipe way too sweet. I also made some other little tweaks like adding desiccated coconut. The baking method and nut preparation is the same as the Crispy Nuts recipe.

2 cups Almonds
1 cup Macadamia nuts
1 tablespoon salt (for soaking the nuts)
4 tablespoons desiccated coconut
1/4 cup sultanas (raisins)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

Place nuts in a large bowl, add 1 tablespoon salt, cover with water and soak overnight.
Place sultanas (raisins) in a separate bowl, cover with 1/2 cup water and soak overnight.
Next day, place sultanas (raisins), along with their soaking water in a food processor and puree until smooth.
Drain the nuts and discard the soaking water.
Add the nuts to the sultana (raisin) puree in the food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped.
Add desiccated coconut, vanilla, cinnamon, salt and pulse to incorporate these ingredients.
Transfer the mixture onto a large baking tray lined with baking paper.
Place in the oven and turn to approximately 55-60 C (approx 125-135 F) and bake for 24 hours or until crispy.
Remove from oven, allow to cool and serve.

What I've learned...

noreply@blogger.com (theshmaltz) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 03:16:00 +0000

I've learned a hell of a lot over the past 2 or so years I have been researching health and nutrition. When I tell people what I eat, they think I'm crazy. When I tell them I don't wear sunscreen, they think I have a death wish. Everyone is so brainwashed by Conventional Wisdom (as I once was) it's astounding.

So, here is a list of the more important things (in no particular order) that I've learned in my nutritional renaissance.

Elevated cholesterol does not cause heart disease.
Saturated fat does not cause heart disease.
Saturated fat does not necessarily raise cholesterol levels.
Saturated fats are a healthy and natural part of the human diet.
Cholesterol is critical to the health of the human body.
Despite popular opinion, there is virtually no compelling evidence implicating "artery-clogging saturated fats" in promoting heart disease.
Total Cholesterol is a very inaccurate marker for heart disease risk.
Arterial plaque forms in the arteries independent of the concentration of LDL (so-called "bad cholesterol) in the blood.
Cholesterol (both LDL and HDL) come in different sizes.
Small dense LDL is by far the most accurate indicator of cardiovascular disease risk.
Large buoyant LDL particles are virtually benign.
Over 50% of people who have heart attacks have "normal" cholesterol levels.
Low cholesterol levels are as bad (or probably worse) than very high cholesterol levels. All-cause mortality increases for cholesterol levels lower than 4.2mmol/dl (approx 160mg/dl).
The lower the cholesterol, the higher the rates of stroke, cancer and death by infectious diseases (just to name a few).
People with the highest cholesterol levels live the longest.
The level of LDL on your lipid panel blood test is not even measured! It's calculated by the Friedwald Equation. This equation is notorious for being inaccurate for both very high and very low levels of triglycerides.
A condition that promotes arterial plaque progression is characterised by; high concentration of small-dense LDL, low HDL and high triglycerides. This pattern is promoted by the SAD (Standard American/Australian Diet - i.e. high-carb, low-fat diet).
A low-carb, moderate protein, high-fat diet rich in natural unprocessed foods promotes heart health by reducing/eliminating small dense LDL particles, incresing HDL and reducing triglycerides.
Omega 3 to Omega 6 fat ratio is crucial to health. We need to increase our Omega 3 fat intake and reduce our Omega 6 fat intake.
Coconut Oil is a superfood. Yes, it's 92% saturated fat! And it possesses anti-viral and anti-fungal properties.
Seed-based vegetable oils are toxic and promote inflammation and chronic disease.
Omega 6 oils are immunosuppressive, which means they suppress your immune system.
Omega 6 oils are pro-inflammatory.
Cheap vegetable oils that you buy at the supermarket are probably already rancid by the time you purchase them. These are highly processed and refined products and not suitable for human consumption.
The cheapest vegetable oils go to make margarine.
Plant sterols are overrated.
Wheat is the scourge of civilization.
Lots of people do not tolerate wheat well despite not showing any signs of celiac disease. Many aches, pains, bloating, heart burn and general malaise can be rectified by eliminating wheat.
Soy is not a superfood.
Vegetarianism/veganism is not the savior of the planet.
Something has to die for us to eat. Even if you are a vegan, your plant-based diet has necessitated the clearing of millions of acres to create the golden fields of wheat, soy and grains, thereby wiping out acres of natural fauna. Even the process of harvesting your grains kills millions of animals a year.
Soy contains a large amount of hormone-like substances which are toxic to the human body as they interfere with our own natural hormonal processes.
The regular and excessive consumption of fruit is overrated.
Fibre is overrated. People with lower fibre intakes live longer than those on a high fibre diet.
Long sessions of cardio-based exercise is overrated. It does very little to help you lose weight and just makes you hungry.
Short periods of high intensity weight training several times per week is best for keeping your body toned, along with some additional moderate cardio like walking.
Intermittent fasting is a very effective method of reducing body fat, enhancing insulin sensitivity and for general well-being.
Carbohydrates drives insulin, drives fat storage.
There is so much drug research going on in the field of diabetics to reduce the effects of glucose in the blood. It's all related to money! There's no money in pharmaceutical companies telling people to just reduce or eliminate carbohydrates from their diet.
...same for the statin industry!

Phew! That's a lot of stuff. I'm sure there's more, but this is a pretty good start.

What interesting things have you learned?

Paleo/Traditional food diet and sunburn...or lack of it.

noreply@blogger.com (theshmaltz) — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 10:08:00 +0000

It's well into summer here Down Under, and consequently we have been spending lots more time outside.

We are in the process of remodeling our front yard (about which I will post soon), which has meant that me and Mrs Shmaltz have been spending hours in the garden toiling away clearing, digging, moving soil, laying pavers and constructing a small shed for our bicycles, as well as preparing areas for our new vegetable plots.

Over the past 3 weekends we would have spent a good deal of the days outside, including the middle of the day, without sunscreen (I don't believe in sunscreen anymore - another reason for my friends to think I'm crazy), and at the end of the day, neither myself nor Mrs S experienced ANY burning, peeling or effects normally related to sun exposure for several hours.

We wore hats, singlets and shorts, but that's about it. We didn't make any specific effort to cover up any exposed areas, yet we did not experience any redness nor sunburn. In previous years before changing my diet, I recall ending these kinds of days with very red and sun-affected areas if I did not apply sun screen.

This is the second summer since ditching the refined vegetable oils and switching to butter and coconut oil, and the first summer since ditching grains.

I believe that the conventional western diet rich in omega-6 oils is a big contributing factor to the development of skin cancers through their inflammatory effects in our bodies. If these oils in excess can cause cancer in your colon, why can't they cause cancer in your skin?

I also believe that sunscreens are not without fault, on 2 counts:

While they block out the UV-B radiation (which stops your skin from burning), it blocks the stimulation of vitamin D production in your skin.
They are not very good at blocking UV-A radiation, which is thought to stimulate the production of skin cancers.

So, just like aiming to consume the correct balance of Omega-3 to Omega-6 oils, we need a proper balance of UV-A to UV-B radiation on our skin. Sunlight has a UV-A to UV-B ratio of about 4:1 (depending on latitude, time of day etc). Putting sunscreen on your skin, skews the ratio of radiation hitting your skin towards too much UV-A radiation (as sunscreens are much better at blocking UV-B than UV-A). You stop the burning, but you allow through more cancer-producing UV-A radiation.

While I don't go outside recklessly for hours and hours exposed to the sun, I always watch myself to ensure that I don't burn. However, since changing my diet I feel that my skin is much more resilient to sun exposure than it used to be while on my old conventional diet.

One more reason why a paleo/traditional foods diet is good for you.

Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (theshmaltz) — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 08:59:00 +0000

Hi all,

Just a note to wish you all a happy new year and a prosperous and healthy 2010.

The start of new years usually brings with it some reflections of the past year and some planning or resolutions for the next.

Reflections on 2009

As far as reflecting on last year, 2009 was a big year. This time last year I was eating bread, oats and other grains, although following a traditional, whole foods philosophy (a-la Weston A Price - soaking grains where possible, eating long fermented sourdough breads, no refined vegetable oils etc). Today, I eat virtually no grains (except the odd serving of rice now and then) - totally eliminated wheat from my diet, and a few months ago ditched the oats I was having for breakfast. This has had a remarkable impact on my health, as you can read here. My diet has now developed into a "lacto-paleo" diet made up of meat, eggs, vegetables, nuts, some fruit, full-fat dairy and plenty of great natural fats like olive oil, coconut oil, butter and cream.

After ending my core strength sessions 12 months ago, I've been in a bit of a fitness wilderness. But a few months ago I discovered some great fitness resources here and here, which have steered me towards bodyweight strength training. I now set 1-2 nights a week to do some pretty intensive sessions of about 30 mins each. This has been a revelation! Gyms just don't do anything for me - been there, done that. I find that going to a park after work for a half-hour is incredibly rejuvenating and much more rewarding.

I discovered Monte Heuftle which helped me work on ways to chill out more, as well as cure a debilitating pain in my hip.

On a personal front, I took up a promotion at work in July which saw me get a HELL of a lot busier. Fortunately, I have been able to maintain my work-life balance. I rarely bring work home unless it's absolutely urgent, so it gets done between 8:30am and about 6pm or it waits till the next day. It ain't going anywhere - there are more important things in life waiting for me at home. I am extremely fortunate to be able to be a big part of my 3 kid's lives.

While the kids were relatively sickness free this year (apart from a couple of minor colds and sniffles), Mrs Shmaltz has been amazing her friends with her new-found body - and boy is she HOT! To be honest, I have not really noticed the big change as much as her friends did because I see her HOT body every day ;-) Being quite petite (158cm, 5'2") she has gradually lost about 10kg. She's now about 55kg and has got to a point where she's starting to show some of her 6-pack (I'm jealous!) - not bad for a 39 year-old who's had 3 kids. When she tells her friends how she does it, they look at her with glazed eyes - they simply can't comprehend that a high fat, low carb diet can be so easy and successful. They are all stuck in Conventional Wisdom and their low-fat diets, and proclaim that they "...simply can't get rid of my bread and pasta, are you serious?...".

Looking forward to 2010

I'm not a fan of new year's resolutions - never have been, and I suspect, never will. However there are a few things I enjoy that I learned from 2009 that I will take into 2010:

Continue my bodyweight exercise sessions and continue to refine them
Maintain my work-life balance
Maintain my grain-free, paleo diet
Continue the benefits learned from Monte Hueftle
Try to blog more!

This year looks to be a another big year. Lots of milestones. Mrs Shmaltz is turning 40, the eldest daughter is having her Bat-Mitzvah, and my father-in-law and father are both turning 70. To celebrate, we are off to Hong Kong with the kids and in-laws, which will be a huge holiday (We haven't told the kids yet. Can't wait to see the looks on their faces when we tell them we're staying at Disneyland!).

There are lots of changes at work as the company I work for continues on it's integration with our parent company - this looks to be quite exciting with possibilities for growth and other opportunities.

Lastly, I hope my beloved football club has a more successful year than last year! (Rock-on football season!).

All the best to you all for a successful 2010, in all aspects of your lives.

Coconut Rough Truffles - I love it when a mistake works.

noreply@blogger.com (theshmaltz) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 09:43:00 +0000

Now that work has finally slowed down for Xmas, and with the two older kids leaving for their youth group camp for 2 weeks (yipee!), I got home early today to take advantage of an unusually quiet home. This gave me time to experiment with something I've had in my head for a while. I've been wanting to try a "milk chocolate" version of my secret chocolate recipe using coconut milk.

The vision was to end up with a smooth and creamy chocolate-coconut experience. Except I ended up with this!

I started off with a double batch of my secret chocolate recipe and poured half of the mixture into the chocolate molds as I usually do.

To the remaining chocolate mixture, I added about 8 teaspoons of coconut cream (yes, cream, not milk. We had some left over from our mango chicken curry dinner tonight. After a lovely warm day today the cream was quite runny), and in front of my eyes the whole mixture truffle-ized, to a consistency something like heavy whipped cream!

AAARRRGGGHHH! That's not what I planned!

Ok, so quick thinking and improvisation required here...let's add some desiccated coconut and make some coconut roughs. Haven't had those since I was a kid.

That did the trick. The coconut thickened the mixture a lot more to the point where I could roll it into teaspoon-sized balls, cover with more coconut and throw them onto a tray. Into the fridge they went for about 30-45 mins, and voila!

Not what I had originally envisioned, but what the hey - I have a new specialty!

Intermittent Fasting Experiences

noreply@blogger.com (theshmaltz) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:18:00 +0000

Back in June I blogged about my first real shot at Intermittent Fasting (IF). For some reason this IF thing intrigues me. I have no idea why! Over the months I've experienced with different methods of IF'ing; I've worked out that I can't eat breakfast in the morning and then try to fast during the day. That's way too hard for me. I've found that skipping breakfast works much better. I've now settled into a rhythm of doing a 16-19 hour fast from Friday night dinner to Saturday midday, and having breakfast at about 1pm-2pm. I find this quite comfortable to do.

I've been looking at the ways other people do it; some do 24-36 hour fasts once or twice a week, some do a window of eating method. There's no way I could do a 24, or even 36 hour fast, so a window of eating makes sense to me, which is effectively what I'm doing.

A couple of days ago I stumbled across the "Fast-5" Plan. I downloaded the free (yes, free) ebook and had a read. The theory with this plan (which is very simple) is that you fast for 19 hours (which includes sleep time), and eat until full for 5 hours per day. This makes sense to me!

Has anyone had any experiences on this Fast-5 plan (or something similar)? Any helpful hints for a newbie to more permanent IF'ing?

Pizza minus bloating minus heartburn = Meatza!

noreply@blogger.com (theshmaltz) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 07:51:00 +0000

Recently, both Rachel at The Healthy Cooking Coach and Richard at Free The Animal posted on a great innovation - the meat crust pizza. We gave it a try tonight, and...WOW! This is awesome! Even the eldest daughter who is a carb-freak loved it. The reason it was so good might be due the fact that it's been well over 12 months since we've had anything resembling a pizza.

In the old days we made home-made pizzas quite often. I would make the dough and kids would have fun rolling out their own bases and topping them with their favourite toppings. But each time we would have pizza, for me, it would end up with that terrible bloating feeling followed by some minor heartburn. Bleh!

But no such terrible after-effects with meatza! Just that great satisfied feeling.

We coined a new name for the Margarita meatza courtesy of the eldest daughter - we now call it the "Marga-meat-a"!

So, here's what we did. It's a bit of a variation of Rachel's meatza recipe.

Meatza Crust Ingredients:

1kg minced beef (just over 2 pounds)
2 eggs
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
A squeeze of American Mustard
A squeeze of tomato sauce
Salt/Pepper to taste

Topping:

Whatever your heart desires...
We did capsicum (peppers), mushroom, caramelised onions and mozzarella.
The kids had a classical margarita topping (tomato and cheese).

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 230C (450F).
Combine all meatza crust ingredients in a food processor until mixed through.
Turn out the meat mixture on baking tray(s) (we used 2 baking trays) to desired thickness.
Cook in the oven for 10 mins
Remove from the oven and carefully pour off the juices that are released by the meat.
The meat crust will shrink as a result of the cooking process so don't be concerned.
Add your choice of toppings.
Place back in the oven until browned.
Enjoy!

Here is the kid's "Marga-meat-a" (actually, it was a half plain, half with capsicums):

And here's ours with the lot:

Absolutely hit the spot.

The only bad part about this is...there's no leftovers! :-(

Atlantic Salmon Fritata

noreply@blogger.com (theshmaltz) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 02:47:00 +0000

Ok, enough of the rants. Back to food! 18 hour fast, and then this for lunch: Boy it was good. I used up a left-over Atlantic Salmon fillet from dinner the night before. Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of that dinner, but it was a real simple recipe:

Atlantic Salmon Fillets
Masaman Curry Paste (we found a great paste with no franken-oils)
Coconut Cream

Mix some of the curry paste (a couple of teaspoons) with coconut cream to the desired consistency and taste. Coat the Salmon fillets with the curry paste mixture and bake in the oven until done.

So with lunch today I did the following:

1 Atlantic Salmon Fillet with Masamun Curry chopped into chunks
3 eggs scrambled, with pepper to taste
Some chopped up veges (carrot and capsicums/peppers)
Good hunk of feta cheese chopped into chunks

Sautee the veges in butter for a minute or so and then throw in the chopped salmon. Heat through for a further minute or two and then pour the scrambled eggs over the salmon/vege mixture.

Cook for a few minutes until the eggs set on the bottom of the pan. Add the feta cheese on top of the eggs and place under the griller/broiler until the eggs are set and the top is browned.

I served this up with a good slab of avocado.

Awesome.