More thoughts about what we eat and why we become what we eat
I was born in June 1959 and started my childhood with allergic eczema and stuttering. The stuttering developed to the extent that I was sent to a psychologist during my time in kindergarten, to find out if I was mentally sound. This was talked about openly in front of everyone, including myself and some of the other children, led by the institution's own special education teacher and head. I became a restless child with insecurity and poor ability to express myself. Throughout my childhood, I had repeated ear infections and was also diagnosed with chronic gastritis. The latter developed into digestion problems and reflux issues as well as chronic colitis. The pancreas and liver, among other things, were also affected by what is called a lack of production of necessary digestive enzymes.
The established medical system prescribed strong cortisone ointment for the eczema, the so-called leader cortisone (an ointment that had a strength far above what is legally permitted today), which was used daily for many consecutive years on the so-called atopic areas but also for long periods on the entire body. I fought through feverish eczema attacks with rashes that affected my whole body with oozing sores, so that underwear and even bed linens stuck to my body and had to be ripped off. I was simply a treat that some peers called a scabies case and that only a mother could love. And she fought a battle for her son in the medical world as well as in the alternative world, where nothing helped. In retrospect, I experienced that my skin became thin and fragile over large parts of my body, almost rotten. I struggled with this until I was well over 30 years old.
Later in life, other challenges arose as I had early developed the precursor to osteoporosis with severely reduced calcium levels in the skeleton, which later only got worse. Damage was detected both in the colon and small intestine, as well as reflux, through respective gastroscopy and endoscopy. Destruction likely caused by, among other things, gluten according to today's knowledge. The advice from the general practitioner at the time was to eat more toasted white bread so as not to disturb the intestines. In addition, I was supposed to take acid-neutralizing medication and sleep with my upper body elevated at night. It was some burning years, to put it mildly.
Furthermore, I was diagnosed with atherosclerotic heart disease, i.e., blocked coronary arteries around the heart. The diagnosis progressed to three-vessel heart disease, which resulted in open bypass surgery, as stenting was not possible. The capacity in the three arteries leading to the heart was now only 0%, 3%, and 5%, respectively. Fortunately, I showed no signs of a heart attack.
I was the type who followed the dietary advice that was given. My parents did the same. We used plant-based margarine with polyunsaturated fats, including Melange margarine, while staying far away from dairy butter. We ate a lot of whole grain bread, fruit, and vegetables in abundance, lean fish and meat, as well as skimmed milk. Saturated fat was kept at a long distance.
In connection with the investigations mentioned above, I was, despite no detectable issues with my cholesterol, put on statins as well as two types of blood-thinning medications, heart rhythm, and blood pressure medicine. This led to pain in my arms and legs, even down to my fingers, the kind of pain you get when you chew aluminum foil with an old-fashioned amalgam filling. At the same time, I was walking around with bruising all over my body, as if I had been beaten and kicked. In addition, I had constant dizziness, nausea, retching, and vomiting, the latter occurring daily at times. I carried out this regimen for a year while questioning doctors about whether it was supposed to be like that.
During a holiday in Turkey, I was informed by a recognized doctor in Antalya, after extensive examinations that I never received in Norway, that I had to stop taking my medication immediately. According to him, my kidneys and liver were suffering, not least from statin treatment, and my body was close to internal bleeding. Additionally, I had some deficiencies and, in some cases, excesses of certain enzymes, which partly hindered and partly increased the metabolism of medications in the liver. This resulted in reduced effectiveness in some cases, but in my case also increased side effects with great uncertainty regarding the risk. I was shaken after the tests and the subsequent information. During a gastroscopy examination here, I was also made aware that I had a transverse colon that had twisted in such a way that it lay over the liver. (A diagnosis known as Chilaiditi). It still lies that way and interferes with digestion quite a bit.
Almost a year after I, on my 'own responsibility and initiative,' stopped taking the aforementioned medications, I underwent heart surgery. After waking up, the surgeon told me that he had said I had to stop taking blood-thinning medications at least 3 days before the surgery. He continued, 'We almost lost you because of the blood loss during the surgery, as your blood was far too thin.' 'You need to learn to listen,' he continued. He went on to lecture that I had to continue taking the aforementioned blood-thinning and blood pressure-lowering medications and statins for the rest of my life. A few months after the surgery, I became permanently disabled with the diagnosis of ME and an irregular heart rhythm. I couldn't do anything without my pulse rising dramatically, and feeling breathless and weak would overwhelm me.
I experienced having an addiction to carbohydrates called 'Carb Junkie.' This is a relatively recent term that describes the addiction that I, among others, developed from consuming fast carbohydrates over time. These carbohydrates (also called processed and ultra-processed carbohydrates) activated the brain's reward system and thus acted in the same way as alcohol and other drugs by creating dependence. In everyday speech, we call it everyday food with various self-justifications regarding its 'healthiness.' The body, of course, paid for this pleasure with fluctuating blood sugar, fat storage, inflammation, and illness. Many people, like myself, as I understand the world, eat this daily and sometimes several times a day. Recent research confirms the problems that often arise in a context where polyunsaturated fats along with a significant amount of omega-6 are combined with a lot of carbohydrates, and worse, fast carbohydrates, and a low fiber intake.
Those who claim that a health-promoting ketogenic diet has very beneficial effects are often met with the argument: There are no long-term studies that prove this effect. During or throughout the Stone Age, which lasted from around 10,000 BC to 1800 BC, the body of modern humans was formed. And we humans, known as Homo Sapiens, have lived on Earth for more than 300,000 years. For most of this time, we have eaten meat with low carbohydrates and absolutely no fast carbohydrates. In other words, humans ate what resembled themselves the most, namely meat. It is only now, during the last 50 to 100 years with the development of modern agriculture and industrialization, that we have approached the diet we have today. But our intestines have not become accustomed to this diet.
It all
culminates in a much longer long-term study than anything modern science has
presented.
The Inuit in Greenland lived until around 1950 exclusively on seal meat and
fat. Even as much as 70 percent seal fat and blubber. Until the advent of
Coca-Cola and a modern diet with flour and vegetables, they had the healthiest
diet and people in the world.
As for me, at least, I had to realize that a lot of carbohydrates, especially fast-acting carbohydrates, are just as harmful to health as both smoking and alcohol, probably more, and this affected me, at least. It's important to note that I don't think I became sick on the day I was diagnosed with conditions like metabolic syndrome; on the contrary. My metabolic or lifestyle diseases probably developed over many years before I noticed anything at all, and not least before the doctor discovered them. The diagnoses only meant that the process had been allowed to develop for far too long.
My experiences in my own body confirm what modern research has found: my gut and its immune system still react to anything that does not resemble the body itself. It is what I need to eliminate from my diet that has become crucial. With a diet based on a lot of sugar, pasta, bread, and other fast carbohydrates (ingredients that can also be considered sugar), my body was gradually but increasingly broken down. My overweight occurred early in life, while lifestyle-related diseases were strictly speaking not noticeable until many years later. If I had had any guidance at all, my life in a number of critical areas would have looked different, as many symptoms were already present early on.
At some point, I should have stopped and asked myself why I was eating bread. Every day, especially after I had gone to bed, the usual burning in my chest would come. Many times it was also followed by nausea. These symptoms could also appear during the day. When this happened, the sleepless night often ended with vomiting.
I loved bread so much that I didn't want it to be a problem, because the desire for bread filled my consciousness with something joyful, simply an experience of something meaningful and comforting. It was the first thing I thought of in the morning and the last thing I thought of at night before I fell asleep. And the government's dietary guidelines continued to tell us, 'Give us today our daily bread and any coarse whole grain products, and deliver us from the evil animal kingdom.'
For me, this eventually meant several meals with blood sugar chaos and an insulin bonanza, in addition to a hot hell of heartburn. Of course, it’s fantastic for the pharmaceutical industry, which got to sell, among other things, acid-neutralizing liquids and tablets based on aluminum oxide. But for my body, it wasn’t quite as good. Now, as I write this, knowing that grains have zero essential nutrients and that they block the absorption of other important nutrients I need, I don’t see a buildup of aluminum in my body as a good solution to the deficiencies this has caused me.
This period in my life was long because no one could tell me that it was the bread that was one of the problems. But as if that wasn't enough, a doctor once again told me that, on the contrary, I should eat more bread, especially toasted white bread, for stomach ulcers. A long period of denial and excuses while my condition worsened and worsened.
Eventually, I began to have a strong suspicion about milk and dairy products. However, I was now told that I had to drink more milk to maintain the calcium levels in my skeleton.
The vegetables we eat today have been developed to withstand transport, fit in packaging, have an appealing color, resist insects and bruising, and have a long shelf life. Nutritional content and taste have been sacrificed along the way. This is driven by the industry's need for efficient operation. In other words, nutrition policy takes precedence over our nutritional needs.
Over the past 50 to 60 years, the nutritional content of our fruits and vegetables has decreased by 20–50%. As more of us live on a carbohydrate-rich plant-based diet, we, the citizens of society, are stimulating this industry to an increasingly rapid development moving forward, where nutritional content and taste are sacrificed along the way.
The more of us who live on a carbohydrate-rich plant-based diet, the faster this development moves forward. This trend towards more hybrid plants with fewer nutrients and vitamins. At the same time, we are encouraged to 'Have a varied diet, choose mostly food from the plant kingdom, and eat it with joy.' This means, as I understand it, that we should eat more fruit, vegetables, plant oils, grains, and not least soy. Of course, we can add a Norwegian broccoli labeled 'Enjoy Norway' for the sake of conscience. But remember, your body, and at least my body, is not a potato. It is built from amino acids, fatty acids, and minerals, not fiber and nutrition politics.
Many plants contain toxins that naturally serve to prevent them from being eaten. These plant compounds are often referred to as antinutrients. Gluten is a good example of an unhealthy plant substance, which has been extensively studied in recent years. People have heard of gluten intolerance, celiac disease, and the problems with wheat, but most of us do not know that all grains, as well as some other plants, contain various types of gluten or gluten-like substances, and that when these are broken down, they turn into different types of gluteomorphin and other substances similar to regular morphine.
Morphine, as we know it from the opium poppy, gets its name from the Greek god of sleep, Morpheus. The same toxin, such as gluteomorphin, makes us fall asleep and can even stop us from breathing when the dose is high enough. The plants clearly do not want to be eaten. Many are known to get sick from this toxin in the body, become unfocused, experience pain, but we can also feel pleasure from consuming these nutrients. Pleasure given by addiction.
The
Norwegian Directorate of Health's dietary guidelines state that 'Fruit,
berries, or vegetables should be part of every meal.'
In our common food plants, such as grains, rice, corn, potatoes, tomatoes,
peppers, and more, there are also lectins. Lectins are carbohydrate-binding
proteins. They are part of the defense of plants, nuts, seeds, and grains
against being eaten. They are therefore also called anti-nutrients. Some active
lectins can, among other things, inhibit the absorption of minerals in our bodies.
A variety of fruits, berries, and vegetables, as well as grains, beans, rice,
and lentils, contain nutrients that make us consider them healthy—this, of
course, with 'proper preparation.' But what is proper preparation? I have
experienced not being able to tolerate these myself even with proper
preparation. So why should meat—the most nutrient-rich and bioavailable food we
have—be replaced with grains or legumes full of anti-nutrients, which we have
to cook for a long time before they can possibly be used by those who can
tolerate them?
Some claim that the plant world contains no essential nutrients that are not found in animal food. I will not act as a spokesperson or generalize these statements, but I have experiences based on my own body.
Vegetables are not magical, and I, along with many others, actually cannot tolerate large amounts of antinutrients. I will avoid explaining what phytates, lectins, oxalates, and tannins actually are and do, as this is not part of this article. But the knowledge about these significant antinutrients has been of great importance to me and many others.
Consider what is beneficial to your health about having a breakfast consisting of banana and/or watermelon containing large amounts of natural sugar?
I have learned through firsthand experience and partly through my own body that being a strict vegan in itself can be deadly. Fortunately, we have seen that most people stop this ideological practice when discomfort sets in. A strict vegan will eventually run out of a number of minerals, essential amino acids, and not least B12. They will also consume a lot of the unhealthy substances that plants contain, cf. d.o.
What many do not know is that those who eat plant-based foods also have to share the nutrients with the plants themselves. As the food mixes in the intestines, the plants will absorb nutrients to essentially fertilize their seeds. Thus, they 'steal' iron, zinc, calcium, and probably magnesium as well.
There is no solid research on plant-based diets showing that a plant-based diet is healthy in itself. Nor is there any research that documents that a plant-based diet is healthier than an animal-based diet, in any way according to the studies I have read.
In just a few decades, chronic diseases have exploded. Several types of cancer have more than doubled since the 1970s. We are among the countries in Europe with the highest prevalence of several types of cancer, while obesity, type 2 diabetes, and other lifestyle diseases, including something called type 3 diabetes (Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, etc.), have increased dramatically. Low-grade inflammation or inflammations that persist over a long period or many years seem to be the common factor here, according to research I have read.
Don't you find it a bit odd that many lifestyle diseases, including several types of cancer, are said to have doubled in just a few decades, simply because life expectancy has increased by one year in the same period?
I have thought a lot after my surgeries, which essentially resulted from my lifestyle as I see it, and in view of research. None of these treatments have removed the cause of the disease. In one of my cases, surgery was necessary and also worked preventively, just like vaccines, when I had a bypass of vital and blocked arteries to the heart. This was the only possibility for survival.
And here we come to a major point. We have a fantastic healthcare system that knows how to fix and repair. But for my part, it would have been better if I could have avoided my problems before being threatened under or by the surgeon's knife. Estimates show that 70% of all healthcare costs go to repairing damage from a poor diet, and these health challenges were, at least in my case, created by my own denial, government advice, and propaganda.
A 'meta-study' that has assessed and adjusted for child mortality and other factors before the advent of penicillin has concluded that people in Europe in the 1850s actually lived longer than people do on average today, and that without having any healthcare system.
In today's Norway, the state spends as much as 600 billion a year on these types of health challenges with its "life-extending" measures. This is happening at the same time as health authorities, with their advice and subsidies according to my sources, are damaging the health of the general population. Paradoxically, this occurs while the healthcare system is collapsing under the weight of lifestyle diseases. A diet rich in fast carbohydrates and, not least, sugar, leads to chronically high insulin and insulin resistance, which is the true root of many lifestyle diseases.
When we as small children hurt ourselves, our parents or other caregivers could comfort us by, for example, saying "what a silly chair." As children, we could of course still feel the pain in our bodies, but we avoided the unpleasant feeling of being responsible when we ran into the chair and got hurt.
As we grew older, we of course discovered that things were not that way, but we continue to obscure from ourselves what is happening. As proud members of the religion called 'What will others say' or 'the good student school,' we also obediently follow what the society around us says and does, even though sometimes we think that this may not be entirely right.
Of course I
worry about many things, but one important thing that strikes me as frightening
is the concept of totalitarian power as we see it developing in countries with
which we have close contact. What frightens me the most is not its brutality,
but its ability to make people passive.
And here we come to another point. Although we cannot live without the medical field as such, it is important to be aware that professionals are also negatively affected by the influence of the pharmaceutical industry. The pharmaceutical industry is clearly concerned with what sells. That is, of course, only natural—they need to survive as well if we are to benefit from them. Nevertheless, this sometimes comes at the expense of the benefit to the individual. This is actually the case in all fields. Our health authorities, whether medically qualified or politicians, often become targets for this industry through lobbying. There are obviously strong power structures in society that do not want the health damages of today's diet and medication use to be revealed. Contradicting these power structures would be political suicide for the authorities. That is why any government "keeps a low profile."
In reality, this means that the National Dietary Guidelines are not designed to give you optimal health. They are designed to be 'moderate,' 'political,' and 'cheap.' They fit perfectly into a system that benefits from people not getting completely healthy, but just healthy enough to function, preferably on medications that 'suppress the symptoms.'
The fatal thing is that we, the people, trust the authorities more than what we ourselves and others have experienced. As a result, we become silent and do not make free and independent choices based on knowledge, even the knowledge that most people already possess. Parallels to this can also be found in the food industry, where they would have to say goodbye to the most profitable and addictive products they have on the shelves if more people adopted a health-promoting ketogenic diet.
People have faith in medical research. After reading some research myself, I have at least understood that no one really knows how the body works, not even the pharmaceutical companies. You don't even know how the cell, the body's basic 'building block,' functions. It kind of explains itself, since there is still so much extensive research being done on the human body.
At the same time, it is difficult to verify the industry's recommendations, because most people, including many university graduates, have little insight into reading research, and not least in distinguishing poor or misleading research from solid research. We know that blood pressure medications lower blood pressure. Some of the well-known drugs for this very purpose also increase the risk of kidney cancer. Certain blood-thinning medications reduce bone density. Statins that regulate cholesterol have side effects that damage the kidneys and liver.
In his book, Brain Energy (published November 15, 2022), Dr. Palmer theorizes that there is a direct connection between metabolic health and mental health. In short, he believes that there is sufficient evidence to support that all mental disorders stem from metabolic disturbances in the brain. He claims that understanding mitochondrial function and cellular health has fundamentally changed, and will continue to change, how we interpret and treat patients with psychiatric conditions, resulting in more effective treatment plans.
I have personally experienced living with severe anxiety for many years. Anxiety that can clearly be explained by experiences in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood and is related to family experiences. After I gradually changed my diet, some things changed, but it did not disappear at all. After I said goodbye to the National Dietary Guidelines and switched to a carnivore diet, the problems completely disappeared.
In our family, we have also experienced suffering of the type Manic Psychotic Mental Disorder, which only got worse and required medication. However, a strict ketogenic regimen of the Carnivore type, with the absence of gluten, dairy products, and eggs, has so far led to a symptom-free daily life without the use of medication. In this regimen, there is no room for leniency or deviation from the regimen in any way, not even for an hour per day, according to the same Dr. Palmer.
The origin of this connection lies in the fact that we have long understood that metabolic dysfunction and mental illness are somewhat related. As early as the 19th century, it was known that those suffering from psychiatric conditions were significantly more likely to develop diabetes (and vice versa); it was observed that these two disorders ran in the same family. (At that time, psychiatric conditions were generally labeled as insanity and would now fall under diagnoses such as bipolar disorder, psychotic depression, or schizophrenia.)
We should be aware that the ketogenic diet has been prescribed for treatment-resistant epilepsy for over 100 years. Both human and animal models provide significant evidence that the ketogenic diet is an effective treatment for various psychiatric conditions, and its effectiveness is attributed to the improvement of metabolic and mitochondrial dysfunction. Thus, we can say that a ketogenic diet promotes health both for our physical and mental well-being.
Billions are spent every year repairing damage caused by a poor diet, which in most cases results in human suffering and a shortened life. Quite simple studies show that the simplest and most effective medicine is our diet. That a ketogenic diet is health-promoting and the world’s most effective 'medicine' has been known since the 1800s. But we prefer to eat what we are used to eating and what we crave the most.
So for those particularly interested in so-called modern research. In the 1960s, the foundation for several decades of fear of fat was laid. What happened? The sugar industry paid researchers at Harvard to write a scientific review article that blamed fat for heart disease. Do we see parallels in today's research, or?
The role of sugar was heavily downplayed. The conclusions fit very well with the industry, where fat became the enemy.
Do you think this sounds far-fetched?
This is not
speculation.
It was documented in 2016, when internal archives from the Sugar Research
Foundation were found and published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
The researchers were paid. And dietary guidelines around the world were shaped
and are still being shaped by a selective presentation of research.
Postlude
Carl von Linné was a renowned Swedish physician, zoologist, and botanist who
left his mark on the world through his work on, among other things, the
classification of plants and animals into species, varieties, and species
descriptions using the binomial nomenclature. Through this, he described about
10,000 plants and 6,000 animal species before his death in 1778.
He claimed that the diet changed the inhabitants of a country infinitely. A Sami from Norrland, who in Linnaeus’s time lived only on meat, fish, and birds, was therefore light, lean, and agile. A farmer, on the other hand, from southern Sweden, in Skåne, who eats peas, lots of buckwheat porridge, and whose diet consists mostly of vegetable-based dishes, becomes large, coarse, stiff, sluggish, and heavy.
He went on: The Sami do not eat bread, yet they live in such health and fitness that they are an example. I saw old men over 60 running like children up in the mountains, and I even saw some who put their foot on their neck.
Everyone who eats a lot of bread has a blocked stomach, while the Sami who eat no vegetables at all but only pure meat are light, soft, supple, and live long.
CoachSimon
Brynjulv
Simonsen
Life Coach
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