Diet/Way Of Eating (WOE)

Recommendations

What to eat

• Grass fed/grass finished beef
• Wild-caught Fish/seafood
• Grass/fed/grass finished dairy (whole milk, whole-fat cheese)
• Pastured chicken
• Pastured eggs
• Whole foods
• Salt
• If consuming fruits and vegetables, only consume organic that have not had shelf-life extending chemicals applied to them (e.g., Apeel)
  • Only whole-food, non-processed items (no fruit or vegetable juices, because they have had the fiber removed)

What to avoid

• Highly processed foods
• Sugars (especially fructose)
• Carbohydrates
• Vegetable/seed oils
• Vegetables high in phytotoxins; such as lectins, and oxalates
• Grains (especially processed)
• Farmed fish/seafood
• Artificial sweeteners (aspartame, sucralose, saccharin, etc.)

When to eat

• Intermittent fasting
  • At least 16/8 (fast 16 hours, consume daily calories within 8-hour eating window) to promote autophagy
  • One Meal A Day (OMAD) or 2 Meals A Day (2MAD)
  • Sleeping hours count as fasting hours
  • Eating window can be either before or after fasting window

When transitioning to a low-carbohydrate diet

• Transition gradually
  • Reduce carb intake by around 20% per week until target grams of carbs/day is reached (~30-50 grams/day)

Carnivore diet options (including keto)

Bloodwork

Link to Dr. Ken Berry's book, Common Sense Labs: Blood Labs Demystified

Annual lab panel, as recommended by Dr. Ken Berry:

• Hemoglobin A1C Test
• Comprehensive Metabolic Panel (CMP 14)
• Complete Blood Count (CBC) + Differential + Platelets
• C-Peptide of Insulin
• Vitamin D Test
• DHEA Sulfate
• Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR)
• Ferritin
• Insulin Blood Test
• GGT Test
• Homocysteine Test
• C-Reactive Protein (CRP)
• Cardio IQ Advanced Lipid Panel with Inflammation | Size and Density (VAP Replacement)
• Magnesium, Serum
• Phosphorus, Serum
• TSH Blood Test

Personal Thoughts

Regarding overall health and wellness, I consider diet/WOE one of the most complex, controversial, and difficult subjects to navigate. Contradictory guidance and opinions are given by governmental bodies, the medical community, the pharmaceutical industry, health organizations, environmental and animal rights activist organizations, and individuals. With all of this conflicting information, how can one possibly determine the proper health choices to make for themselves?

What can't be argued is that there is a growing worldwide epidemic of chronic metabolic diseases; both types of diseases, and rates of diagnoses . This list includes; cancer, obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's/dementia,  Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD), rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis/osteopenia, Leaky Gut Syndrome (LGS), Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), fibromyalgia, autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and a host of other auto-inflammatory and auto-immune diseases. Equally alarming is that the rate of occurrence of many of these diseases is increasing among child populations. Historical data suggests most of the aforementioned diseases were either virtually nonexistent, or extremely rare, up until around the turn of the 20th century. The commonsense conclusions to be drawn here are: 1) Whatever diets/WOE are currently predominant, and coincide with increasing rates of disease; they are very likely causal, or at least contributory, to the population's current state of health; 2) Current dietary recommendations, approved and disseminated by government and professional bodies are, at best, ineffective at preventing the population's current state of health; and at worst, are causing it;  2) The medical community's currently accepted and practiced standards of care are inadequate and ineffective in both preventing these diseases, and providing curative treatments; and 3) The pharmaceutical industry, by and large,  develops and markets drugs that only manage diseases and conditions. Predominately, these drugs are not curative and must be taken indefinitely.

I try to avoid treading into conspiracy theory territory, but do believe one would be naive not to take into consideration some undeniable facts, question the motivations of some industries, and determine whether or not some degree of investigation, auditing, oversight, and policy-making is in order. There is no denying the ultra-processed food, medical, and pharmaceutical industries are extremely lucrative. There is also an interesting profit-motivated relationship that can be observed between these industries: 1) Questionable dietary guidelines are established that recommend ultra-processed, high sugar/carb, high vegetable/seed oil foods 1) Consumption of ultra-processed foods induce chronic diseases in people; 2) People must seek medical diagnosis and treatment (management) of diet-causing diseases; 3) Non-curative pharmaceutical drugs are prescribed to manage people's diseases. If one were to conclude this is indeed what's happening, one could also reasonably conclude that profits are a compelling motive for the involved parties to not act in the best interests of the people from whom they're profiting. Regardless of motive or intent, the fact this is undeniably happening bears further investigation; and I believe the burden of proof that this is not what's happening, or at least the truth as to why it's happening, lies collectively with these industries.

I endeavor to study this subject objectively and pragmatically. I make every attempt to educate myself by reviewing online articles, videos, and cited studies. I try to recognize potential logical fallacies and echo chambers that might be present (sometimes surreptitiously, sometimes inadvertently) in the materials I review. 

My general approach is to rank-order guidance and recommendations based on my confidence that they are the most correct. That confidence level is, in turn, based on a combination of the preponderance of available evidence; and information that is evaluated on a sliding scale, from most frequently agreed upon, to most seldom disagreed upon. Of course the most challenging decisions to be made are when diametrically opposed views and recommendations are presented by two or more sources. Utilizing all these methods, information that I conclude to be misinformation or egregiously factually flawed, is removed from consideration as a potential healthy diet/WOE option.

Given all this, these are my opinions on what diet guidance people should consider when choosing their own diet/WOE, and some of my personal reasons for these opinions where I believe an explanation is warranted:

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