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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Jason Fung
So what can you do about dessert? Follow the example of traditional societies. The best desserts are fresh seasonal fruits, preferably locally grown. A bowl of seasonal berries or cherries with whipped cream is a delicious way to end a meal. Alternatively, a small plate of nuts and cheeses also makes for a very satisfying
Dark chocolate with more than 70 percent cacao, in moderation, is a surprisingly healthy treat.
Dark chocolate also contains significant amounts of fiber and antioxidants such as polyphenols and flavanols. Studies on dark-chocolate consumption indicate that it may help reduce blood pressure,5 insulin resistance6 and heart disease.7 Most milk chocolates, by contrast, are little more than candies. The cacao component is too small to be beneficial.
Nuts, in moderation, are another good choice for an after-dinner indulgence.
Macadamia nuts, cashews and walnuts can all be enjoyed.
recent Spanish study found that adding 100 pistachios to one’s daily diet improved fasting glucose, insulin and insulin resistance.10
Don’t replace sugar with artificial sweeteners, as they also raise insulin as much as sugar and are equally prone to causing obesity. (See chapter 15.)
Just don’t snack The healthy snack is one of the greatest weight-loss deceptions.
contains 4½ teaspoons of sugar (18 grams). Are snacks necessary? No. Simply ask yourself this question. Are you really hungry or just bored? Keep snacks completely out of sight. If you have a snack habit, replace that habit loop with one that is less destructive to your health.
There’s a simple answer to the question of what to eat at snack time. Nothing. Don’t eat snacks. Period. Simplify your life.
Make breakfast optional Breakfast is, without question, the most controve...
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The greatest problem is that, like snacks, breakfast foods are often little more than dessert in disguise, containing vast quantities of highly processed carbohydrates and sugar.
If you must, eat cereals containing less than 0.8 of a teaspoon (4 grams) of sugar per serving.
Traditional and Greek yogurts are nutritious foods. However, commercial yogurts are made with large amounts of added sugars and fruit flavorings.
Whole oats and steel-cut oats are a good choice, requiring long cooking times because they contain significant amounts of fiber that requires heat and time to break down. Avoid instant oatmeal. It is heavily processed and refined, which allows for instant cooking, and it contains large amounts of added sugar and flavors.
Eggs, previously shunned due to cholesterol concerns, can be enjoyed in a variety of ways: scrambled, over easy, sunny side up, hardboiled, soft-boiled, poached, etc.
The cholesterol in eggs may actually help your cholesterol profile by changing cholesterol particles to the larger, less atherogenic particles.
In thinking about what to eat for breakfast, consider this: If you are not hungry, don’t eat anything at all. It’s perfectly acceptable to break your fast at noon with grilled salmon and a side salad. But there’s nothing inherently wrong with eating breakfast in the morning either.
Beverages: No sugar added The sugar-sweetened drink is one of the leading sources of added sugars.
Sweetened dessert wines are obviously full of sugar and are not recommended.
However, moderate consumption of red wine does not raise insulin or impair insulin sensitivity, and therefore may be enjoyed.16
The alcohol itself, even from beer, seems to have minimal effects on insulin secretion or insulin resistance. It is sometimes said that you get fat from the foods you eat with the alcohol rather than from the alcohol itself. There may be some truth to that, although the evidence is sparse.
Coffee: Healthier than we thought Due to its high caffeine content, coffee is sometimes considered unhealthy. However, recent research has come to the opposite conclusion,19 perhaps due to the fact that coffee is a major source of antioxidants,20 magnesium, lignans21 and chlorogenic acid.22
Coffee may guard against the neurologic diseases Alzheimer’s,28, 29 Parkinson’s disease,30, 31 liver cirrhosis32 and liver cancer.33
On hot days, iced coffee is simple and inexpensive to make. Simply brew a pot of regular coffee and cool it in the refrigerator overnight.
Teatime, anytime After water, tea is the most popular beverage in the world.
Green tea contains large concentrations of a group of powerful antioxidants called catechins; notably one called epigallocatechin-3-gallate.
Bone broth Virtually every culture’s culinary traditions include the nutritious and delicious bone broth.
The addition of a small amount of vinegar during cooking helps leach some of the stored minerals.
STEP 2: REDUCE YOUR CONSUMPTION OF REFINED GRAINS
REFINED GRAINS SUCH as white flour stimulate insulin to a greater degree than virtually any other food.
Avoid processed bakery foods that are mostly flour and other starches: bread, bagels, English muffins, roti, naan breads, dinner rolls, bread sticks, Melba toasts, crackers, tea biscuits, scones, tortillas, wraps, muffins, cookies, cakes, cupcakes and donuts. Pasta
The whole-grain pastas that are now widely available are a better choice, though far from ideal.
Carbohydrates should be enjoyed in their natural, whole, unprocessed form. Many
Eggplant, kale, spinach, carrots, broccoli, peas, Brussels sprouts, tomatoes, asparagus, bell peppers, zucchini, cauliflower, avocados, lettuce, beets, cucumbers, watercress, cabbage, among others, are all extremely healthy carbohydrate-containing foods.
Quinoa, technically a seed but often used as a grain, is one of the so-called ancient grains.
Chia seeds are native to South and Central America and have been dated to the Aztec and Mayans.
Beans are a versatile, fiber-rich carbohydrate staple of many traditional diets. They are an extremely good source of protein, particularly for vegetarian diets.
STEP 3: MODERATE YOUR PROTEIN CONSUMPTION IN CONTRAST TO refined grains, protein cannot and should not be eliminated from your diet.
Excessively high-protein diets are not advisable and are quite difficult to follow, since protein is rarely eaten in isolation.
STEP 4: INCREASE YOUR CONSUMPTION OF NATURAL FATS OF THE THREE major macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins and fats), dietary fat is the least likely to stimulate insulin.
Natural, unprocessed fats include olive oil, butter, coconut oil, beef tallow and leaf lard. The highly processed vegetable oils, high in inflammatory omega 6 fatty acids, may have some detrimental health effects.
The health benefits of olive oil have long been recognized. Olive oil contains large amounts of antioxidants including polyphenols and oleocanthal,45 which has anti-inflammatory properties. Among its purported benefits are reduced inflammation, lowered cholesterol,46 decreased blood clotting47 and reduced blood pressure.
Nuts are also prominent in the Mediterranean diet. Long shunned for their high fat content, they have since been recognized to have significant health benefits. In
Full-fat dairy is delicious and can be enjoyed without concern of fattening effects. A review of twenty-nine randomized control trials50 showed neither a fat-gaining nor reducing effect. Full-fat dairy is associated with a 62 percent lower risk of type 2 diabetes.51
PROTECTIVE FACTORS FIBER CAN REDUCE the insulin-stimulating effects of carbohydrates, making it one of the main protective factors against obesity, but the average North American diet falls far short of recommended daily intakes.
Fruits, berries, vegetables, whole grains, flax seeds, chia seeds, beans, popcorn, nuts, oatmeal and pumpkin seeds provide ample fiber.
Vinegar is also a protective factor. Used in many traditional foods, it may help reduce insulin spikes. Italians often eat bread dipped in oil and vinegar—a prime example of eating a high-carb food with protective factors. Vinegar is added to sushi rice, which reduces its glycemic index by 20 percent to 40 percent.
THERE ARE FIVE basic steps in weight loss: 1. Reduce your consumption of added sugars. 2. Reduce your consumption of refined grains. 3. Moderate your protein intake. 4. Increase your consumption of natural fats. 5. Increase your consumption of fiber and vinegar.
Fasting has no standard duration. Fasts can range from twelve hours to three months or more. You can fast once a week or once a month or once a year. Intermittent fasting involves fasting for shorter periods of time on a regular basis.
