Upcoming Talks

I have two talks planned over the next two months.  Hope to see you there!

Ancestral Health Symposium 2014: UC Berkeley, August 7-9

If you want to understand the most rigorous science available on leptin resistance-- a key mechanism of obesity and a major barrier to fat loss-- this talk is for you.  This is my primary area of professional expertise; I have years of firsthand research experience on the subject and I've published a number of related papers in peer-reviewed journals.  The talk will be accessible to nearly all levels of expertise.  AHS14 tickets are available here.  I've pasted the talk's abstract below.

What Causes Leptin Resistance?

Leptin is the primary hormonal regulator of body fatness.  Obese people exhibit a resistance to leptin’s effects in the brain, causing the brain to oppose fat loss by multiple mechanisms.  Research in animal models suggests that leptin resistance may be required for obesity to develop.  How does leptin resistance occur, and what causes it?  Research has not yet provided us with definitive answers, but several plausible possibilities have emerged.  This talk will review what is known about leptin resistance and its causes.

McDougall Advanced Study Weekend: Santa Rosa, CA, September 5-7

Dr. John McDougall invited me to speak at his yearly symposium after viewing my TEDx talk "The American Diet: a Historical Perspective".  I look forward to sharing my thoughts and interacting with a different audience than I'm used to.  The talk will be an expanded version of the one I presented at AHS13.  Tickets are available here.  I've pasted a modified version of my AHS13 abstract below.

Insulin and Obesity: Reconciling Conflicting Evidence

The pancreatic hormone insulin regulates the trafficking and metabolism of carbohydrate and fat, and its secretion is particularly stimulated by carbohydrate and protein.  Since circulating insulin is elevated in common obesity, and insulin influences fatty acid flux into and out of fat tissue, this has raised the possibility that elevated insulin causes common obesity, and that dietary carbohydrate is particularly fattening.  A large amount of evidence appears to support the hypothesis that insulin causes obesity, and a large amount of evidence appears to falsify it.  This presentation will outline a framework capable of reconciling this seemingly conflicting evidence.

Creamy Avocado Pasta Sauce

Avocados. Up until a few weeks ago, I had never in my life eaten a whole avocado. Sure, a few bits and pieces here and there when I couldn’t help it, but never voluntarily. Don’t ask what happened between then and now because today, I honestly can’t imagine a life without avocados. Pair it with some good carbs (yes, carbs are fantabulous), veggies and you have a fool-proof, healthy and most of all d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s meal.

Creamy Avocado Pasta Sauce

Serves: 1

 ½ ripe avocado

 1 small handful each of fresh basil and baby spinach

 ¼ - ½ clove garlic

 1 – 2 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tbsp olive oil

 Salt and pepper to taste

How to:

1. Blend all ingredients with a hand blender until smooth and taste to see if it needs more of anything. If so, season until you're happy, blend again and voilà, you’re done!
Best eaten cold with pasta and vegetables of your choice!

Avoc love, Tilda

Health Coach - Part 1

It's been a month and a half since the retreat and I've spent that time trying to sort out my goals. As with most things in life, having that experience was transformative and enlightening, but not at all in the way I thought it would be. Going in to it, I was feeling extremely good. I had hit a good rhythm with activity level and what I was eating. I thought the retreat would just cement those positive changes and spur me on to even greater things.

Since I had the great honor and privilege to attend the retreat as a work-study person, I had a somewhat different experience from the other guests. I am eternally grateful to the organizers for giving me this chance. Huge thanks to Paul and Shou-Ching Jaminet, Whitney Ross Gray, Kamal Patel, Laura Schoenfeld and her mother, Pam Schoenfeld. I had a singular opportunity to learn from the best, and value all I absorbed from the daily lectures, cooking demos, and informal discussions. 

The break in routine really through me, though. Also, with hindsight being so clear, I have noticed a few other things that conspired to knock me off course:

• Slightly less sleep than normal
• Higher carb consumption than what I was doing with my version of PHD prior to the retreat
• Less downtime than I'm used to
• More social interaction (I'm an introvert, so I need quite a bit of alone time each day to recharge even though I love people)
• Intermittent fasting (we ate only from 12:00pm-8:00pm each day and I was up at 6:00am; I've determined that I really do need a whack of protein in the morning to feel my best)
• Vitex (I was taking this supplement for several months to try and regulate my hormones -- I finally realized it was having the opposite effect from what I was intending and it made me very moody, emotional, and increased my PMS and menstrual symptoms, things it was supposed to help relieve. I finally found some info that noted that some people can react this way so I'm pretty sure this was the biggest culprit).

All of this is to say -- I came home not feeling that well at all so this post is mostly about how I'm working to get myself back on track. I've had to move past a lot of self-blame for not being more resilient, flexible, and adaptable -- all qualities I've always thought of myself as possessing. I've finally come to the conclusion that I truly was not myself at the retreat. It was not a failure of me as a person, rather a failure to recognize or address the issues I outlined above. 

Since I initially blamed my mood/exhaustion issues all on the carbs, I resolved to go low carb again shortly after I returned since I always felt so good when eating that way. This time, it didn't seem to "work". It took me some time but I finally realized it was the Vitex and stopped that just last week. I already feel better. Go figure!

To help bring clarity to my situation and get an outside perspective, I've decided to work with a health coach. I have a new game plan that I'm working on with her help. I will lay it out in Part 2, since this is getting so long!

"Cheezy" Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce

I’m so sorry I haven’t had the time to update the blog but I’ve been a busy bee these past few days. I decided to take a scuba diving course so that I can go diving when we travel and it has really kept me occupied. I’ve loved every single minute (okay, lie, the theory lessons weren’t that much fun) and I can’t wait to go diving for real!

So, to this recipe then. I’ve seen more vegan mac and cheese recipes than I can count and I’ve been dying to try it out for myself, my only problem has been that I haven't known where to find nutritional yeast. If you don’t know what nutritional yeast is, I suggest you google it but I can tell you briefly that it’s a vegan, de-activated kind of yeast that has a slightly nutty and somewhat cheesy flavour. Obviously a great choice when making vegan dishes with “cheese” in them. What’s even better is that more often than not, nutritional yeast is PACKED with B-vitamins, thus also the much coveted vitamin B12. Since vitamin B12 is hard to incorporate in a vegan diet without taking supplements, I see nutritional yeast as a great alternative to pills or shots.

Hope you like this recipe, feel free to play around with the quantities a bit!

"Cheezy" Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce

Yields: 2 servings 

1 clove garlic 

2 tsp coconut oil 

1 cup cubed butternut squash 

½ cup almond milk 

1 ½ tbsp. nutritional yeast 

½ tsp vegetable bouillon powder 

1 tsp Dijon mustard 

½ tbsp. brown rice flour (or thickening of your choice such as arrowroot powder)

How to:

1. Start off by steaming or boiling your squash until it’s soft all the way through, this will take approximately 20-30 minutes depending on how big your chunks are.

2. Meanwhile, sauté 1 finely sliced clove of garlic with coconut oil in a small saucepan on medium heat until the smallest pieces start to brown, then quickly add the almond milk, mustard, bouillon powder, nutritional yeast and lastly the brown rice flour (through a sieve to prevent clumping). 
3. Let simmer for about 10 minutes and make sure to stir continuously as you go.

4. As soon as the butternut squash is cooked, take it off the heat and blend, in either a food processor or using a hand blender (I prefer the hand blender). 
5. Blend the squash purée with the ‘cheeze’ sauce, taste and add a little more bouillon/nutritional yeast if you want. Serve with freshly cooked pasta and veggies on the side!

Frequent meat consumption lowers the risk of dementia by 77%

This study was published in the British Medical Journal 2002 Oct 26;325(7370):932-3

 

Study title and authors:

Fish, meat, and risk of dementia: cohort study.

Barberger-Gateau P, Letenneur L, Deschamps V, Pérès K, Dartigues JF, Renaud S.

INSERM U330, Université Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2, case n degrees 11, 146 rue Léo-Saignat, 33076 Bordeaux Cedex, France. Pascale.Barberger-Gateau@isped.u-bordeaux2.fr

 

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12399342

 

This study investigated the association of fish and meat consumption and the risk of dementia (including Alzheimer's). The study included 1,674 participants, aged 68 years and older, who were followed for seven years.

 

The study found:

(a) Those that consumed fish once a day had a 85% reduced risk of dementia compared to those who never consumed fish.

(b) Those that consumed fish once a day had a 81% reduced risk of Alzheimer's compared to those who never consumed fish.

(c) Those that consumed meat once a day had a 77% reduced risk of dementia compared to those who never consumed meat.

(d) Those that consumed meat once a day had a 72% reduced risk of Alzheimer's compared to those who never consumed meat.

No-bake Vegan Chocolate Tart

This is one of my absolute favourite recipes; it’s super easy and quick to make and has the most wonderful, rich, chocolate-y taste, the perfect healthy alternative to satisfy those chocolate cravings!

No-bake Vegan Chocolate Tart

‘Crust’

 ½ cup cashew nuts

1/3 cup pitted dates

1 pinch of salt 

¼ tsp pure vanilla extract/powder

Chocolate Filling

1 can full fat coconut milk, chilled overnight in the fridge  
      

4 squares good quality dark chocolate

¼ cup pitted and peeled dates (soaked overnight to make them easier to peel if you’re not using fresh

1 tbsp. cacao powder

How to:
1. Start by blending all of the ingredients for your crust in a food processor until thick dough forms. 
2. Press the dough out in a lined pie dish (a small one, mine’s about 6” wide) and put it in the freezer while you prepare your filling.
3. Open the can of coconut milk and spoon out the thick, creamy layer that has formed on top of the ‘water’ and put it in the food processor along with the dates and cacao powder. Save the leftover coconut water to add in smoothies- it’s packed with beautiful coconut flavour, trust me. You could also save a tablespoon or two of the coconut cream to decorate with.
4. Blend the chocolate filling ingredients until they’re evenly combined- it might look like it has split but we’ll fix this in a moment. 
5. Melt the dark chocolate and pour into the chocolate filling while it’s still hot and blend again until you have a smooth mixture of chocolaty goodness.
6. With a spatula, pour the filling into the pie crust; decorate with coconut cream if you'd like and put it back in the freezer for a few hours (provided you can contain your inner chocolate monster for that long) to set. Eat frozen or let sit on the counter top for a few minutes for a creamier consistency!

Please let me know if you give these a try :)

Chocolate kisses, Tilda

The risk of diabetes rises as adherence with statin therapy increases

This study was published in Diabetes Care 2014 Jun 26. pii: DC_132215

Study title and authors:
Statins and the Risk of Diabetes: Evidence From a Large Population-Based Cohort Study.

Corrao G, Ibrahim B, Nicotra F, Soranna D, Merlino L, Catapano AL, Tragni E, Casula M, Grassi G, Mancia G.
Department of Statistics and Quantitative Methods, Division of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy giovanni.corrao@unimib.it.

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24969582

The objective of the study was to investigate the relationship between adherence with statin therapy and the risk of developing diabetes. The seven year study included 115,709 patients who were newly treated with statins. Adherence was measured by the proportion of days covered with statins.

The study found: 
(a) Compared with patients with very-low adherence (proportion of days covered less then 25%) those with low adherence (proportion of days covered 26-50%) had a 12% increased risk of developing diabetes.
(b) Compared with patients with very-low adherence (proportion of days covered less then 25%) those with intermediate adherence (proportion of days covered 51-75%) had a 22% increased risk of developing diabetes.
(b) Compared with patients with very-low adherence (proportion of days covered less then 25%) those with high adherence (proportion of days covered more than 75%) had a 32% increased risk of developing diabetes.

Corrao concluded: "In a real-world setting, the risk of new-onset diabetes rises as adherence with statin therapy increases".