Feb. 17, 2010 - Issue #748: Corb Lund
Well, Well, Well
A climate of deficiency
But sunlight and a healthy diet can work wonders
In yet another attempt to bring us closer to understanding obesity and
developing good solutions to the epidemic, Edmonton's Mazankowski Heart
Institute recently announced $250 000 for new obesity research. Perhaps
it will bring something new and vital to our understanding of the problem.
Perhaps.
What it will do for sure is create work for scientists and generate more data
when what we may need more than anything is to look at the existing data with
fresh eyes.
Don't get me wrong: I know that the obesity epidemic needs stemming, and I'm
sympathetic to the challenges. I live with insulin resistance, that metabolic
syndrome in which insulin does a poor job of delivering energy to our cells
resulting in higher-than-normal levels of insulin production. Insulin, of
course, signals fat storage. Believe me, I know that managing weight can be
difficult.
But perhaps instead of growing the endless and now-enormous body of data we
could start by revisiting, rethinking and actually reporting what we already
know.
A quick check with some of my favourite experts on the topic—Drs.
Michael and Mary Dan Eades, Nora T. Gedgaudas, and Dr. John
Briffa—yielded the following, generally not included in our discussions
of obesity.
Aside from the insulin connection and our love affair with fruit juices,
convenience foods, low-fat muffins, Honey Nut Cheerios, beer and the like,
there is a strong magnesium connection. The debate about whether magnesium
deficiencies cause elevated insulin or vice versa is ongoing, but one thing
is clear: both conditions are exceedingly common, and both need to be
corrected if we're going to be thin and strong and well.
Why are we magnesium deficient? One reason is the dairy lobby and our high
calcium intake—the two minerals need to be in balance. Another is that
in the face of elevated insulin (estimated by many to be present over half of
us), the kidneys waste magnesium. And finally, our high consumption of
grains, nuts and seeds that we've neither soaked nor sprouted depletes
magnesium.
Grains, nuts and seeds carefully guard the riches contained within them via
their phytic acid content. Phytic acid hinders enzyme activity in our
digestive systems, blocking nutrient absorption. It also bonds with magnesium
and other minerals in our bodies, depleting our own stores. Soaking and
sprouting minimizes or eliminates phytic acid.
The other rarely mentioned obesity factor is vitamin D deficiency. Deficiency
results in high insulin levels and insulin resistance, research by K.C.R.
Baynes and colleagues found over a decade ago. And many researchers are now
saying we need as much as 10 times more than recommended daily allowances of
vitamin D.
Sunlight, our best source of vitamin D, stimulates our thyroid glands and
increases the production of testosterone, growth hormone and adrenal
hormones, all of which play key roles in metabolic rate, muscle strength and
body weight.
Why the rampant vitamin D deficiencies? We live indoors. We soak in
sunscreen. We need fat to absorb the fat-soluble vitamin D from food sources,
but we eat low-fat food. We get our eggs from grain-fed chickens, which have
just a fraction the vitamin D content of free-range ones.
So get outside, and if you live in the frozen north like I do, take your fish
oils in the winter months. Buy your eggs and meats from those who farm in the
traditions of their parents and grandparents. Lose the low-fat yogurt and
crackers.
Why are these key nutritional factors so rarely included in our discussions
of the obesity epidemic? The meat and dairy industry, for one, isn't keen to
have us know about them. Neither is the low-fat heart-friendly food industry.
The research industry likes the money it gets from taxpayers desperate for
answers, taxpayers who have forgotten that for all the billions we put into
medical science, we have few cures for what ails us.
We're bent toward trusting those who say they'll solve the problem for us.
Corporations have never done a particularly good job of taking care of us,
but we're bent toward magical thinking. We want someone else to fix it. And
we'd rather not pay more for our food and work harder to prepare it.
V
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