Week 5
Day 29: What’s keto and the best way to keto?
When we break down or metabolize fat, our body releases little fat components into our blood called ketones. High fat breakdown is associated with a lot of ketones in our blood which is called ketosis. The assumption is that ketosis will be the best way to achieve weight loss but there are good and bad ways to keto. First of all, most keto diets today have extremely high protein intake which we covered can be dangerous long-term. Secondly, most keto diets have an extremely poor compliance rate because most research shows that between 40 and 80% of people quit these diets because they become unpleasant and intolerable over time for most people. You don't need to suffer with unpleasant foods to be healthy. A high animal protein diet that is discontinued but increases the risk of chronic disease while on it is not the best way to keto. Some ketosis, however, can be beneficial to weight loss and longevity if done appropriately. The safest way to keto is with partial fasting which is easy and I will discuss day after tomorrow.
Day 30: You’ve completed one half of the 60 Day Challenge.
You are well on your way. How are you doing? I will try to answer the most common or frequently asked questions for those who send them to info@makkarios.com. Don’t be discouraged if you haven’t lost much weight because even the people in the clinical trial didn’t lose much the first month. They only lost 6 pounds on the average but the second month is where they had their greatest weight loss (14lbs) totaling 20 lbs. in the 60 days of the clinical trial. Can we promise that you will lose twenty pounds? No. But some will and some will lose more. I lost 25 lbs. in eight weeks by doing what I’m teaching you and 40 lbs. in 20 weeks averaging 2 lbs. a week but it didn’t occur consistently. Some weeks, I lost no weight and others one or three. At this writing, I’m still losing weight while greatly enjoying the food and lifestyle. I love the food and have no desire to change anything. Eventually, I’ll reach my stable weight and level off there. I’m trying to help you experience what I’m experiencing to set you free from excess weight and its associated health problems. Keep going. You’re good. You may want to start telling others about the 60 Day Challenge and do the program together.
Day 31: How does microbiota affect appetite?
Since microbiota line our whole digestive tract, they affect the lining of our stomach and bad microbiota cause inflammation of the digestive tract. When the digestive tract is inflamed, it sends off a signal to our brain. Many people, myself included, confuse this inflammation signal of the stomach lining due to bad microbiota as hunger pangs. We often treat this inflammation with antacids or H2 blockers to calm the stomach down thinking that it is gastritis from acid when it's from bad microbiota. The antacids aren't going to resolve the problem. Instead, we need to replace the bad microbiota with good microbiota which naturally occurs in the Makkarios M2 Diet (Makkarios Microbiota Mediterranean Diet). Once the microbiota become more variable and healthier, the inflammation goes down. The pain signals interpreted as hunger pangs dissipate which makes partial fasting or fasting-mimicking easier. It used to be impossible for me to think of not eating for any length of time because seemingly my stomach always hurt. Food calmed the pain and seemed like a better alternative than medicine. Now, because of healthy microbiota in my digestive tract, I can go for hours without food with very little effort. Eating lots of yogurts isn't the best way to provide good diverse microbiota to our digestive tract or with supplements. The best way to provide a wide variety of healthy microbiota is by eating a wide variety of healthy foods daily as recommended with the Makkarios M2 Diet.
Day 32: Fasting mimicking diet/partial fasting
About 10 hours after we stop eating carbohydrates, our liver as used up its store of sugar called glycogen and we begin to metabolize fat going into a ketosis-like condition. The longer we keep from eating sugar, the longer we will stay in this state. If we sleep for 8 hours, then we have already been fasting for 8 hours. All we have to do to extend this is to stop eating carbs before bed and wait for a while in the morning. This is why two meals per day is better than 3 with snacks in between the two meals. If you find it hard to not keep from eating, then eat a small amount of healthy fats during this time so your body thinks it’s still fasting. This is called fasting mimicking which is associated with a lot of health benefits. Snacks can be something like an avocado with spices on it or coffee with almond milk, etc. After you do this for a while, it becomes easier and easier to expand the carbohydrate free time up to 12 hours daily or more. Don’t stress about this but just try it. Research on fasting mimicking has shown that it decreases the risk of chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease. This is another modification of the Mediterranean Diet that the Makkarios M2 Diet incorporates leading to increased longevity.
Day 33: What is the difference between Omega 3 and Omega 6 oils?
Long chain fatty acids with only one double bond are called monounsaturated fats. Those chains with two or more are called polyunsaturated fats. When the first double bond is at the 3 position, the fat is called an omega 3 and when it’s at the 6 position, it’s called omega 6. Health wise, omega 3s are anti-inflammatory and promote healthy microbiota while Omega-6s are inflammatory and promote unhealthy microbiota. Omega 3s come from fish, walnuts and flaxseed. (Also, Omega 3s are in canola oil but because of the high rate of GMO canola, we now discourage its use). Omega 6s are in corn, safflower, sunflower, cottonseed, soybean, grape-seed and sesame oils. (High-oleic sunflower and safflower are high in monounsaturated fats which are fine but make sure they are high-oleic). We do need some Omega 6 in our diet but the best ratio of Omega 6: Omega 3 is about 1:1 or no worse than 4:1. The typical industrialized diet is much closer to 14:1 which is very inflammatory and excessive. Trans fats made by hydrogenating polyunsaturated fats are very harmful.
Day 34: Are all sources of fat in our diet the same on how they affect the microbiome?
No. According to two published studies in 2018, high fat diets and high saturated fat consumption (found in animal fats) selected for unhealthy microbiota. They also concluded that Omega-3 fats and monounsaturated fats be utilized for promoting the healthiest microbiome. Diets high in grapeseed oil and coconut oil resulted in increased leaky gut and LPS release and inflammatory response than did the control diet of olive oil or omega 3. Even though coconut oil is very popular now, it leads to more leaky gut than the fats associated for decades with the Mediterranean Diet and Makkarios M2 Diet, namely, olive oil and oils high in omega 3 like those found in many types of fish. Remember, ignite was shown in published scientific studies to cut leaky gut by 50%!! That’s another excellent reason why ignite benefits our health and should be part of your daily lifestyle.
Day 35: What oils should we cook with and which ones should we avoid?
Best one and the most studied by far to be associated with longevity, reduced chronic disease and reduced inflammation is without doubt extra virgin olive oil (EVOO). This is the mainstay of the Mediterranean diet and is used plentifully in almost every meal. Mediterraneans even snack on healthy breads dipped in EVOO. The omega-6 oils discussed two days ago should be avoided because of inflammation they cause. Soybean oil is now used almost everywhere and is both genetically modified so it is loaded with residual glyphosate residues and inflammatory both because of that and its omega 6 content. Unfortunately, many ‘healthy appearing’ foods are made with soybean oil and you should avoid them. Just because a food wrapper looks beautiful and has green colors with pictures of the forest and animals doesn't mean it isn't loaded with toxic ingredients. Food ingredient labels are like a contract between you and the manufacturer. If you see something in a contract you don't like, you refuse to sign. Similarly, with food ingredient labels, if it has bad ingredients, don't buy it. I've provided much information about healthy versus unhealthy food ingredients to help you read labels. If you have questions, send them to info@makkarios.com and I will try to answer all frequently asked questions and post them on our website.