Week 6
Day 36: Why is extra virgin olive oil so good?
Extra virgin olive oil has only been processed by crushing the olives by mechanical means to get the oil out and utilizing temperatures that don’t degrade the oil. No solvents are used and it has a shelf life of one to two years normally. It has over 200 bioactive ingredients including polyphenols which positively impact our health. It is considered unrefined. Virgin olive oil is also unrefined but is not processed under as strict of standards. Refined olive oil has been treated with heat and solvents which have removed many of the nutrients. Pure olive oil is a combination of refined and unrefined. Therefore, for most health benefit, EVOO is best. It is the staple of the Mediterranean diet and is consumed by them almost every way they can incorporate it into the diet and so should you.
Day 37: Are all carbs bad?
Certainly not but many health advisors would make you believe all carbs are bad but they are certainly on the wrong side of the vast majority of published scientific literature. I would agree that simple sugars are bad carbs which I will talk about tomorrow but complex carbohydrates such as vegetables, fruits, fiber, grains, cereals, legumes, and seeds are mandatory for achieving a long health life. I’ve seen some 'experts', based upon rat studies, recommend only 10% carbohydrate intake and 90% fats and proteins. These kinds of ratios are exceedingly harmful and dramatically increase the risk of chronic disease and death. We talked about a graph today showing that it is certainly possible to get too few carbs. It comes from the PURE Study published in 2017 involving 135k people in 18 countries. What they found was that death rate began rising on either side of a 50% carbohydrate diet. This closely parallels the Mediterranean and Makkarios M2 Diets which has ratios of macronutrients of 40% fat, 10% protein and 50% complex carbohydrates. Eating carbohydrates at extremely low levels of the overall diet, such as around 20% of all caloric intake was associated with a 60% increase in death. Eating too many carbs resulted in increased death rate as well. Best to keep carbs around 50% for longevity.
Day 38: Why are simple sugars bad for microbiota?
Simple sugars are bad for the microbiota because they selectively enhance the growth of harmful bacteria in our digestive tract. Healthy microbiota metabolize or ferment fiber and carbohydrates into products called small chain fatty acids. These fatty acids are anti-inflammatory and protect our bowel walls. Sugar, conversely helps bacteria grow (even starting with one high sugar meal) to produce bacteria which don’t produce SCFA so the digestive tract becomes inflamed. SCFA also protect our digestive tract from cell overgrowth (cancer). Sugars also decrease the variability of our gut organisms thus increasing inflammation. What you need to be very careful of is the sugar content of foods that appear healthy and are in health food stores. For example, perhaps organic sugar cane or sugar beets don't have residual glyphosate or other chemicals on them, they are still simple sugars and enhance the growth of bad microbiota. We'll talk more about this tomorrow.
Day 39: What are the best sugars to buy and which should we avoid?
In light of what we talked about yesterday, we need to stay away from simple sugars. Simple sugars come in many forms like table sugar, honey, organic maple sugar, agave, coconut water, coconut sugars, and other forms that sound like health foods but are still simple sugars. Healthier sugars are those that taste good but don’t negatively affect the microbiota like sugar alcohols. Sugar alcohols have enough of a similar sugar structure so they taste sweet but are metabolized differently and don’t affect insulin response. Some examples of the best are: erythritol, isomalt, mannitol, sorbitol, and xylitol—for use as bulk sweeteners in human foods. Used in excess they can have a laxative effect so should be used in moderation. Erythritol, sorbitol and mannitol seem to not change the microbiota at all at this point. Isomalt is a prebiotic and may have beneficial effects on microbiota. Stevia is good but you should avoid all artificial sweeteners unless directed by a doctor to take.
Day 40: Seven Benefits of ignite shown in published clinical human and animal trials
Ignite has been shown in clinical human and in animal research to do have the following benefits:
1) Doubles weight loss and fat loss over diet and exercise alone (20 lbs. lost in 60 days vs. 10 lbs.) This prospective, double-blind controlled study was performed at a U.S. university where two groups of people had both their diet and exercise controlled by the researchers. The only difference between the two groups was that the experimental group took ignite. The diet and exercise group lost 10 lbs. of body fat as determined by DEXA scan and the ignite group lost 20 lbs.!
2) Doubles the amount of a critical hormone called adiponectin which I will talk about tomorrow
3) Doubles the amount of healthy microbiota measured in the digestive tract
4) provides twice the healthy inflammatory response of diet and exercise alone
5) Doubles what maybe THE key anti-aging enzyme called AMPK which we will talk about in 2 days
6) Benefits glucose health
7) Reduces leaky gut 50%!!!
Makkarios has the worldwide exclusive rights to ignite. It can't be purchased anywhere else. It exemplifies the type of terrific science which will back all of our products. The hallmark qualities of all of our products are that a) they have been proven to be clinically effective in published research, b) they will be 'best in class' whenever possible, c) they will be exclusive to Makkarios whenever possible and d) they will always provide a healthy inflammatory response.
Day 41: Why ignite’s doubling of adiponectin is beneficial.
Adiponectin is an anti-inflammatory hormone produced by fat cells and activates a healthy, longevity enzyme I’ll talk about tomorrow called AMPK. Adiponectin inhibits two inflammatory molecules associated with chronic disease named TNF-α and NF-κB. It inhibits atherosclerosis and repairs blood vessels. It also helps to increase insulin sensitivity. It certainly would be worth taking ignite just for this benefit alone. ignite can only be purchased from Makkarios which has the worldwide rights to ignite.
Day 42: Why ignite’s doubling of AMPK is beneficial.
ignite blocks a harmful system called mTOR which we will discuss more in a week. AMPK is an enzyme associated with longevity. AMPK has anti-inflammatory effects by blocking the activation of the inflammatory chemical NF-κB while reducing inflammatory molecules IL-6, IL-18 and TNF-α. AMPK also suppresses LPS inflammation associated with bad gut bacteria we discussed earlier. AMPK induces (stimulates) ketogenesis (fat metabolism), blocks fat storage, sugar storage, and stimulates autophagy which clears cells of bad components. It blocks a bad complex called mTOR which we will talk about in about a week and it also stimulates mitochondrial production which increases energy. It does many more beneficial things but just what I’ve mentioned here is reason enough to take ignite the rest of your life. ignite can only be purchased from Makkarios.