Shakes & Links - Day 10

Another two-shake day (8am and 1:30pm), this time without a fried egg in the morning - chose a sleep-in instead. I felt less than lovely around three hours post-breakfast shake, mainly when I was bent over my desk, marking essays. So I'm thinking my queasiness has to do with my stomach being empty...? But I'll soldier on - only four days to go!

At home I gobbled up the remains of last night's chicken - the wings, and some under-carriage meat, and then prepared a bacon and spinach frittata for our main course:


Simple and delicious!

Now for a few links to pieces that have blown my mind of late:

Tom Naughton has written a superb and hilarious 'what if?' hypothetical that truly hits home - What If Mechanics & Nutritionists Switched Jobs?

From Dr. A at Livable Low-Carb:

I have just been reading a very interesting paper by Joaquín Pérez-Guisado of the University of Cordoba entitled "Arguments in Favor of Ketogenic Diets".
As its title suggests, it reviews the benefits of ketogenic diets (ie high fat, very low carbohydrate diets) and concludes:

Low carbohydrate diets are a safe, effective way of losing weight, promoting non-atherogenic lipid profiles, lowering blood pressure, diminishing resistance to insulin with an improvement in levels of glucose and insulin. They also have neurological and antineoplastic (anti-tumour) benefits.

The author discusses the evolution of the human diet, the biochemical rationale of the ketogenic diet, its anti-tumour effect, its anti-inflammatory effect, its effectiveness in weight control, its cardiovascular benefits, its benefits in the prevention of and treatment of Type 2 diabetes and its neurological benefits.

(If anyone questions your decision to do a low carb diet, just give them this paper and blast them with science!)

The paper is very well-researched with 181 references at the end, and is definitely worth reading.

Personal note: my Dad currently takes a blood thinning drug as he has cardiac issues and has had incidence of troublesome clotting in the past. As he is a farmer, and is constantly getting himself into scrapes, this means that every cut ends up leaking for ages. This medication has distressed me for a while now, and I have been watching out for a safer alternative to help maintain his health more naturally and with less risk of him bleeding out up the paddock... Just recently, a saviour popped up in a couple of links, covering both sides of Dad's issue - plain ol' omega-3-rich fish oil!

Firstly, Dr. Stephan Guyenet explores the heart attack risk reduction potential of the essential fatty acids in fish oil in his post, The Low-Hanging Fruit.

Then, Dr. William Davis had me excited for Dad, then terrified at the arguments regarding 'bleeding episodes', then consoles and resolute that this was what Dad should take by the time I reached the closing statement of Does Fish Oil Cause Blood Thinning? I don't know whether fish oil alone would do enough for Dad's issues, but I'm certainly going to recommend he takes some every day anyway! I already do, so here's hoping 'preventing hereditary cardiac issues' is added to the lists of benefits I am experiencing thanks to upping my EPA intake!