Can a Ketogenic Diet Prevent or Treat  Alzheimer’s disease?

Sunny’s Super Salad

Maybe…we don’t know yet. From a recent scientific article:

“Highlights

•Impaired brain glucose metabolism and amyloid β plaques are associated with Alzheimer’s disease pathology.

•Ketones provide an alternative metabolic precursor to glucose in the brain.

•Ketogenic diets likely reduce amyloid plaques and may reverse their neurotoxicity.

•Modern diets high in carbohydrates may contribute to increasing Alzheimer’s incidence.

•The ketogenic diet (including carbohydrate restriction) might be useful in the management of Alzheimer’s disease.”

Source: The ketogenic diet as a potential treatment and prevention strategy for Alzheimer’s disease – ScienceDirect

QOTD: Denninger on Politics and Blackmail

“I have long considered that one of the primary qualifications for being “accepted” into the major parties as a serious candidate (for anything) is that you’re able to be blackmailed.  There has to be something in your past that they know about and can use to “keep you in line.”  There is an utterly-ridiculous over-representation of people in the US Congress and other “high positions” that have been accused (or even proved) to have had interest in “little girls”, as an example, which has led to the (not very funny) anecdote that the only way to “get” this politician or that is to find them with a dead girl — or live boy.

As just one example I give you Dennis Hastert, who was Speaker of the House.  Long after he left office (but sadly for him, before he died) he was accused of structuring transactions illegally to pay off a kid he allegedly did inappropriate things with before he was in the House at all, say much less before he was Speaker.  It beggars belief that nobody knew of this alleged indiscretion before Hastert ascended to the House itself, say much less Speaker of the House.

Therefore this is a perfectly reasonable question: Who blackmailed him and what did they get?  I remind you that the Speaker of the House has near-absolute control over what is and isn’t heard on the floor and thus what bills can and cannot be voted on.”

Source.

The Secret of Weight Loss, and the Source of Coke Syrup 

From Wilder, Wealthy, and Wise…

“Humanity’s most complicated machines can’t even come close to the versatility that is a human:  if your car were able to fuel itself like a person, you’d be able to feed it gasoline or junk mail or plastic bags and it would turn that into a trip to Cleveland leaving only carbon dioxide and water vapor exhaust gas, and some form of car-poop that you presumably would compost so you could grow more car food.  Oh, and the car would self-repair for decades – your tires would grow back in the middle of the night.  Unfortunately your car would try to pick up on other cars, and might identify as a truck, but that’s a longer story.

The human body is excellently designed, and very, very consistent in its response to inputs.  But the owner’s manual sucks, and many times we don’t operate it properly or fuel it very well.  Case in point – achieving excellent health requires measurement.  Of what?  Unless you’re an adolescent reading this, you’re not getting taller.  What parameter might be changing that you could measure, say, every day?  Besides armpit hair length.  That’s too obvious, and everyone does that, anyway.  Think harder.

Oh, yes!  Weight!”

Source: Maps, the Secret of Weight Loss, and the Source of Coke Syrup – Wilder, Wealthy, and Wise

Nearly Half of Americans Trying (and Failing) to Lose Weight

No wonder they’re not having much success:

“Exercise, eating less, consuming more fruits and vegetables and drinking more water were the most common strategies. The least common were skipping meals and cutting down on fatty foods.”

Source: Nearly Half of Americans Battling to Lose Weight: CDC Data – Bloomberg Quint

Drinking more water? Come on, America, get serious.

Steve Parker MD, Advanced Mediterranean Diet

Two diet books in one

 

Mediterranean Diet N=1 Experiment 

Olive oil is a prominent source of fat in the Mediterranean diet

I’ve seen a few other articles like this recently. Click the link below for details.

“As someone who loves food too much to deprive themselves of anything, I’m not the biggest supporter of diets. The one exception, however, is the Mediterranean “diet” because it’s more a regional nutritional philosophy. Rather than eliminating certain food groups, it emphasizes fresh and healthy items such as fruits and veggies, whole grains, and of course, olive oil (a Mediterranean staple). In fact, it was even voted the best overall diet by US News & World Report (tying with the DASH diet) and determined the best diet for weight loss, according to Harvard Medical studies. Since I already love Greek and Italian fare, I decided to give the Mediterranean diet a shot for a week. The TL;DR version: I absolutely loved it.”

Source: Mediterranean Diet Experiment | POPSUGAR Fitness Australia

Steve Parker MD, Advanced Mediterranean Diet

Two diet books in one

QOTD: On the Demise of the Boy Scouts (BSA or Boy Scouts of America)

One happy camper

I was a Boy Scout. My son was a Boy Scout. My grandsons, if I’m blessed with any, will not be Boy Scouts. Because the organization won’t exist then.

From the comment section at the Vox Popoli blog:

By Mister Excitement…The adult leadership actively betrayed the Scouts. The President of the Scouts that did the final surrender to this madness was none other than a member of the Bush Administration, Robert Gates.

The Boy Scouts allowed this man to become its President knowing what he had done as SECDEF.

“Gates announced in February 2010 that the Defense department would lift its ban on women serving on submarines.[62] Gates also prepared the

armed forces for the repeal of the don’t ask, don’t tell policy. Since the repeal in 2010, homosexuals are able to serve in the military openly.[63] In service of that goal, he announced in late March 2010 the approval of new regulations that would make it more difficult to kick gays out of the military. Gates called the guideline changes, which went into effect immediately, a matter of “common sense and common decency” that would be “an important improvement” allowing the Pentagon to apply current law in “a fairer and more appropriate”

“On May 21, 2015, Gates stated that the “status quo [ban on gay adult leaders] in [the BSA] movement’s membership standards cannot be sustained” and that he would no longer seek to revoke the charters of scout units that accept gay adult leaders.”

By The Deplorable Podunk Ken Ramsey…

 

Ironically the main driver to all of their woes is money. That was always the lever used. The fight over the gays was driven by CEOs (including Rex Tillerson prominently) who threatened to withhold corporate contributions unless the scouts caved on the secular, progressive agenda. This was always, always cited as the strongest and most decisive explanation for why things ‘had to be done’.

Going to SCOTUS repeatedly and winning was not enough. Standing up against all the social pressure from the left was too hard, especially given the lure of all that money.

So they took the money and for what? Now they are looking at bankruptcy. Sad and foolish. Everybody in scouting leadership knew the wrong moves were made and many loudly said so and many picked up and left over it. They can’t say they didn’t know they were making a deal with the devil.

 

Google Trends: Ketogenic Diet and Mediterranean Diet are #1 and #5 in U.S.

See.

Why not combine the two? Hey, somebody did that in 2010!

Probably under $20 at Amazon.com

You CAN Lower Blood Pressure Naturally

Lot’s of good ideas in this video. Additionally, I’ve see a couple studies supporting hibiscus tea as a natural remedy.

Dr Berry says only one in a million persons has blood pressure that is sensitive to dietary salt. That is, high salt intake increases blood pressure. On the other had, I’d say one in four of the hypertensive population is salt-sensitive.

QOTD: A Day Which Shall Live in Infamy…

“I fear all we have done is awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”

– Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, upon learning of the success of the attack on

Effect of Aspirin on Disability-free Survival in the Healthy Elderly

“Aspirin use in healthy elderly persons did not prolong disability-free survival over a period of 5 years but led to a higher rate of major hemorrhage than placebo.”

Source: Effect of Aspirin on Disability-free Survival in the Healthy Elderly | NEJM