<a href="https://advancedmediterranean.com/" title="Advanced Mediterranean Diet" rel="home">Advanced Mediterranean Diet

PS: Six Media Companies Control 90% of What You Read, Watch, and Hear

Posted in Osteoporosis

COVID-19: The Most Politicized Disease of My 40-Year Medical Career

Posted on September 26, 2022 | Leave a comment

n95 mask, goggles — Yes, COVID-19 was scary for healthcare workers, but not nearly as scary as Ebola virus and the early days of AIDS

Regarding the pandemic, do you wonder:

how politicians in Washington, DC, had the authority to suspend evictions of folks who didn’t make their mortgage payments
how politicians could destroy hundreds of thousands of businesses and jobs by imposing worthless lockdowns
how pharmacists could routinely refuse to fill prescriptions (ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine) from licensed physicians
why certain governors forbade the use of ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine
how the fear-porn was ratcheted up so high that relatives of dying patients were not allowed in hospital rooms
how police dared to arrest a lone paddle boarder in the Pacific ocean for violating lockdown
how and why millions of people were forced or coerced into taking experimental vaccines without a long-term safety record (even pregnant women!)
why the mainstream press doesn’t report the underlying financing and profits linked to the “free” vaccines

One usually reliable way to find answers to such questions is to “follow the money.” In other words (Latin), cui bono? Too many of our national-level politicians are also motivated by pure power, regardless of the money. I’m also convinced there are darker forces at play, pure evil. But that’s for you to decide for yourself.

I suggest you watch a free movie, The Greatest Reset. Free except for 2.5 hours of your life. It may provide you with some answers to your non-medical questions about this politicized pandemic. I don’t know who produced the movie or who financed it. I don’t endorse everything in it. Try to keep an open mind. For sure, you are not getting the full story from the mainstream press.

Steve Parker, M.D.

Posted in Coronavirus

Never Again: Pandemic Lockdowns

Posted on September 25, 2022 | Leave a comment

face mask, young woman — “But their intentions were good……………………..right?”

I linked to a Johns Hopkins meta-analysis earlier this year, but it’s too important not to mention again. People have short memories and governments will undoubtedly once again try to shut us down. From Health News Florida:

“We find no evidence that lockdowns, school closures, border closures, and limiting gatherings have had a noticeable effect on COVID-19 mortality,” the researchers wrote in the report…..

The study concluded that lockdowns “are ill-founded and should be rejected as a pandemic policy instrument.”

“They have contributed to reducing economic activity, raising unemployment, reducing schooling, causing political unrest, contributing to domestic violence, and undermining liberal democracy,” the report said.

Steve Parker, M.D.

front cover of KMD: ketogenic mediterranean diet

From the Lancet Commission on lessons for the future from from the COVID-19 pandemic:

Posted in Coronavirus

The Lancet Seriously Considers the Lab-Leak Theory of COVID-19’s Origin

Posted on September 24, 2022 | Leave a comment

artist's rendition of coronavirus — Artist’s rendition of Coronavirus. Genetically modified by an American lab before release into the wild?

Two main possible pathways of emergence have been identified.

The first is that SARS-CoV-2 emerged from a natural spillover event—that is, from a non-research-related zoonotic transmission of the virus from an animal to a human, and thereafter from human to human. The second is that the virus emerged from research-related activities, with three possible research-related pathways: the infection of a researcher in the field while collecting samples, the infection of a researcher in the laboratory while studying viruses collected in their natural habitat, and the infection of a researcher in the laboratory while studying viruses that have been genetically manipulated. Because both the pathways of natural transmission and of research-related transmission are feasible, preventing the emergence of future pandemic pathogens must include two distinct strategies: the prevention of natural (zoonotic) transmission and the prevention of research-related spillovers. Each of these strategies requires specific actions.

Ron Unz has a theory that COVID-19 was created in an American lab and unleashed on Iranian and Chinese populations purposefully. Do you dare go down that rabbit hole? Odds are, Mr Unz is a lot smarter than you.

Steve Parker, M.D.

Posted in Coronavirus

Non-U.S. Countries Restricting COVID-10 Vaccination of Children

Posted on September 23, 2022 | Leave a comment

From FEE:

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) announced last week that children under the age of 12 will no longer be offered Covid-19 vaccines, unless the children are deemed high risk.

***

Presumably the decision stems from the fact that small children are by far the least likely to fall seriously ill from Covid combined with government data that shows myocarditis is a serious (though rare) side effect, particularly in young males.

Whatever the case, the UKHSA’s decision puts England in line with several other European countries—including Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Denmark—that do not offer or recommend mRNA vaccines to healthy young children.

***

In Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser is embroiled in a bitter battle over her order that all students must be vaccinated for Covid-19 for in-person learning in schools, a policy that could have severe implications considering that an estimated 40 percent of black teens are unvaccinated.

Somebody’s right and somebody’s wrong. What do you think?

Steve Parker, M.D.

Shana Spence, RD, wrote at Self.com:

Posted in Coronavirus

Registered Dietitian Seriously Questions Healthfulness of Mediterranean Diet

Posted on September 22, 2022 | 1 comment

The Mediterranean diet is constantly lauded in the nutrition world—in fact, U.S. News has named it the “best diet overall” for five years straight—but as a registered dietitian, I think it’s time to think about it a little differently: It’s time to dethrone the Mediterranean diet as being the very best way to eat.

Now, the Mediterranean diet—which emphasizes whole grains and plant foods such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, tree nuts, seeds, and olives, and limits red meat, sugar, and saturated fat—is not the only culturally based way of eating that’s been celebrated. The Japanese diet, rich in foods such as seafood, steamed rice, tofu, natto, seaweed, and pickled fruits and vegetables, has been promoted for its longevity-promoting aspects as well. But as scrolling through social media or even many news and health websites will show, it still doesn’t come close to the Mediterranean diet in terms of widespread recognition.

As an RD, I’ve noticed an overwhelming belief in our society that eating Mediterranean-style is just the way to go. So if your cultural foods don’t hail from one of the countries that make up that area, how does this make you feel?

Spoiler: Probably not so good—and that’s why I believe we need to rethink how we talk about cultural foods and ways of eating.

You know I’m a Mediterranean diet advocate. There are other healthy ways of eating. I’m an advocate of free speech and open debate. No censorship here! Read Shana’s article and see what you think. I’m not sure what the “Japanese diet” is. I’ve written good things about the Okinawan diet as discussed in Dan Buettner’s Blue Zones books. Click for my review of Blue Zones.

Steve Parker, M.D.

London researchers introduce the concept of “cellular exercise.”

1 Comment

Posted in Coronary Heart Disease, Heart Disease, Longevity

Is “Cellular Exercise” the Key to Longevity?

Posted on September 15, 2022 | Leave a comment

I think it’s a cell. What say you?
Photo by Fayette Reynolds M.S. on Pexels.com

Nutritional discipline and dietary restriction result in resistance exercise for our cells. Triggered by calorie restriction or physical exercise, our cells end up producing transcription factors that lead to protection against oxidation, inflammation, atherosclerosis, and carcinogenic proliferation. In the long-term, this results in longevity and a decrease in cancer, T2DM [type 2 diabetes], myocardial infarction, and stroke. Since centuries past, studies on humans, rhesus monkeys, and multilevel organisms have demonstrated the benefits of calorie restriction without malnutrition. Periodic fasting and calorie restriction show increases in regeneration markers and decreases in biomarkers for diabetes, CVD [cardiovascular disease], cancer, and aging.

The present review concluded that longevity can be increased through moderation of diet and exercise. Research shows that a concoction of the diverse diets modernly popularized— MED [Mediterranean], DASH, high-protein diets±—tempered by overall calorie restriction through periodic fasting or chronic calorie restriction, will provide protection against CVD, cancer, and aging. Exercise has also been shown to increase longevity in the general population, lower incidence of diabetes and cancer, and produce psychological benefits.

This review of research indicates that incorporating a moderate caloric restriction or fasting regimen could provide substantial benefits at low risk. Cellular exercise through calorie restriction and physical exercise can increase longevity and prevent the greatest killers of human society today—stroke and heart disease.

Caloric restriction is a form of hormesis. If interested, read more about it in free article from Journal of Physiological Anthropology.

Steve Parker, M.D.

From Roy W Spencer at The American Spectator:

Posted in Exercise, Longevity

ANFSCD: The Real Reason Lake Mead’s Water Level Is Falling

Posted on September 13, 2022 | Leave a comment

Lake Mead a few years ago, from close to the dam

Lake Mead is a huge and incredible lake. If you’ve never seen it, you should. It’s an easy road trip for us in southern Arizona; it’s right on the way to Las Vegas. One of these days I’ll tour the dam.

The water level in Lake Mead is reaching record lows and the popular narrative maintains that drought brought on by human-caused climate change is to blame. But the government’s own data from the Bureau of Reclamation shows this is not true.

Imagine a large city has been built in the middle of the Sahara Desert. Since no precipitation falls there, a large man-made reservoir is created with water piped in from a thousand miles away. The desert city grows over time, but the water supply does not. Over the years, the desert city must ration water as the reservoir is drained due to overuse. In this hypothetical situation, would it be rational to blame the water shortage on drought and global warming? No.

Yet, this is the situation we have with Lake Mead.

As can be seen in the Bureau of Reclamation’s official estimate of the yearly natural water flows into Lake Mead, there has been no long-term trend in water flow into the reservoir.

Most of the water supplying the Colorado River at this location comes from snowmelt in the upper Colorado River watershed. The April snowpack in that region also shows no trend.

So, why is Lake Mead losing so much water? The answer is overuse.

Steve Parker, M.D.

PS: ANFSCD = and now for something completely different

Posted in ANFSCD

Recipe: Adam Piggott’s Insalata di Cavolo Cappuccio (green cabbage salad)

Posted on September 10, 2022 | Leave a comment

I have posted one or more cabbage recipes on this blog. Use the search box if interested.

When I was a wee lad, my mother never served cabbage. Don’t know why.

Adam Piggott is a good writer. He claims he has the best cabbage recipe ever. Here ’tis:

Ingredients:

1 fresh green cabbage
Salt
Cumin
Apple [cider] vinegar
Extra virgin olive oil.

Remove the rough outside leaves of the cabbage and then cut it into quarters. Using a mandoline slicer or a grater, carefully shave the cabbage as thinly as possible.

Now add the other ingredients in the order in which I listed them. Then mix well together and leave to sit for a few hours. Yes, a few hours and the longer the better. A minimum of one hour but if you can leave it all afternoon then you will thank me. This is why I was worried about them running out at the lunch. The cabbage will release some fluids over this time. Check for seasoning and olive oil before serving as you may have to add a little more.

His original post didn’t include specific amounts of most ingredients. Adam elaborated in the comments section:

Yes, the amounts are the issue here and it is what makes this a unique dish. Salt is the key. I use a large salt grinder which you can see in the last photo. I had half a cabbage for lunch and I would say that I used a good half tablespoon of salt. I added a little more at the end. Remember though with salt – you can always add more but you can’t take any away.

I used a quarter teaspoon of cumin. You’re just after a hint of the taste there. A small splash of the vinegar. Too much vinegar becomes overpowering; you can always add more later if you think you need it. Olive oil you can give it a good splash. Looking at the bowl of cabbage you should not see any liquid oozing out of the bottom. If you do then you have used too much oil or vinegar.

You can definitely refrigerate it but you don’t have to. If you do then you should cover it with cling film.

Read Adam’s entire post. It’s not long. You won’t regret it.

Steve Parker, M.D.