Interview with Jimmy Moore

About two months ago, I did an interview with Jimmy Moore of the Livin' la Vida Low Carb internet empire. I hardly remember what we talked about, but I think it went well. I enjoyed Jimmy's pleasant and open-minded attitude. Head over to Jimmy's website and listen to the interview here. I do recall making at least one mistake. When discussing heart attacks,I said "atrial fibrillation" when I meant "ventricular fibrillation...

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In Search of Traditional Asian Diets

It's been difficult for me to find good information on Asian diets prior to modernization. Traditional Chinese, Taiwanese and Japanese diets are sometimes portrayed as consisting mostly of white rice, with vegetables and a bit of meat and soy, but I find that implausible. Rice doesn't grow everywhere, and removing all the bran was prohibitively labor-intensive before the introduction of modern machine milling. One hundred years ago, bran was partially removed by beating or grinding in a mortar and pestle, as it still is in...

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Low Micronutrient Intake may Contribute to Obesity

[2013 update: I'm skeptical of the idea that micronutrient insufficiency/deficiency promotes obesity.  Although the trial discussed below suggested it might be a factor, it has not been a general finding that micronutrient supplementation causes fat loss, and the result needs to be repeated to be believable in my opinion.  Also, conditions of frank micronutrient deficiency are not usually associated with fat gain]Lower Micronutrient Status in the ObeseInvestigators have noted repeatedly that obese people have a lower...

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New Layout

I thought I'd spruce the place up a bit! Let me know what you think in the comment...

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Nitrate: a Protective Factor in Leafy Greens

Cancer Link and Food SourcesNitrate (NO3) and nitrite (NO2) are molecules that have received a lot of bad press over the years. They are thought to promote digestive cancers, in part due to their ability to form carcinogens when used as a preservative for processed meat. Because of this (1), they were viewed with suspicion and a number of countries imposed strict limits on their use as a food additive.But what if I told you that by far the greatest source of nitrate in the modern diet isn't processed meat-- but vegetables,...

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Fermented Grain Recipes from Around the World

In my last two posts on grains, I described how traditional food processing methods make grains more nutritious and digestible (1, 2). I promised to briefly describe a few recipes from around the world, then got distracted by other things. Here they are.Africa: OgiGrain fermentation is widespread in Africa and is probably nearly as old as agriculture on the continent. The nutritional importance of fermentation is suggested by the amount of time and effort that many African cultures put into it, when they could save themselves...

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