One other thought. Three considerations were mentioned when choosing food - the effect on the body, the effect on the planet, and how the animal was treated. I’d like to add a fourth - how the grower / livestock raiser was treated. It’s hard work growing food, especially organically. While changing buying habits aren’t necessarily an option for all, perhaps a gratitude for that work could be practiced by all.
Important point. I came to this via being a pioneer organic market gardener in the 1980s. I also kept sheep and poultry for personal use and the fleece used to pay my taxes. The sale of eggs paid for the purchased chicken feed and their excrement was an important source of nutrients for the compost heap.
I respect farmers. I shop at local farm stands and farmer's markets whenever possible. Without farmer's many of us would not have any food.I for one do not own any land. That being said, I do not believe most humans need to eat animals and prefer a plant based diet.
@@k8eekatt - The suicide rate among farmers and ranchers is heartbreaking. But what external forces are doing to them is inexcusable and I don't know how to make it stop.
In the 1972 film Silent Running theres a scene where Bruce Dern remonstrates with his companions who only eat ultra processed food whilst he is an exponent of real food. Fascinating predictor of todays issues. And a superb film to boot!
Thanks Tim for "Food for Life", it's already helping me - I've got my 30 plants for the week and counting. Huge thanks also for keeping climate and the environment front and centre. As a grandparent I'm very concerned about what we're doing that these beautiful children will have to deal with and clean up. Cheers, Steve. XRWA Grandparents member.
For decades, if anyone had suggested to skip breakfast, I would have responded with an absolutely not, I had to have breakfast before going to work. I was convinced I would not be able to do it, to the point of occasionally making myself late for work in this belief that I just MUST have breakfast, as I’d need the energy provided to get me through the morning (most important meal of the day etc). About 3 years ago I started a 16/8 time restricted eating regime, and to my great surprise, skipping a traditional “breakfast” proved to be actually pretty easy. After so long eating early, the mind/body expects food at those times, but I did as suggested, and drank water if I felt that hunger arise. After a week or so, it was fine. Just drink water and keep busy, and the hunger quickly passes. I now consume my first non water food/drink around 11:30-12:00, and finish my last meal/drink before 8pm. For me, it was completely the opposite as far as energy levels in the morning, I felt less lethargic, and more alert, generally sharper before midday, by skipping the early breakfast. I also found that the first meal of the day tastes better if left until later, with just water drunk until then. i.e even if I just delayed the same bowl of cereal until midday, it was nicer than if eaten early. My speculation is that having drunk at least a couple of glasses of water before midday, I was better hydrated before my first meal. Certainly coffee tastes more bitter to me if I’m poorly hydrated, so it wouldn’t surprise me if it was also affecting my first early meal previously. Anyway, if you are horrified at the thought of routinely skipping a traditional early breakfast, from someone who repeatedly said they would never ever be able to that, give it a go, you may surprise yourself. Tim was quite negative about some foods etc, due to how they spiked his glucose levels, but as mentioned several times, we need a personalised approach. If oats don’t spike your glucose levels, then is there really any reason not to have them as a meal? Same goes for a homemade sourdough or whole meal flour loaf, if it doesn’t spike that person’s glucose levels are there any issues with eating it? Finally, I know Tim sees little evidence of the benefit in D supplementation, but it’s such an important Vitamin (pre hormone in D’s case) for general health and the immune system. With Winter almost here, I do again have concerns over the levels of insufficiency and deficiency in the UK, if we rely solely on getting it from our food. This is especially the case for vegans whose only real option is mushrooms, which as mentioned, make D if exposed to UV. However most mushrooms grown aren’t exposed to UV light, and even UV exposed mushrooms have significantly less D than meat and fish. The half life of D in the body, means any Summer Sun built reserves are going to be severely depleted by mid Winter in most people, and I’d be surprised if levels in vegans who don’t supplement aren’t at least insufficient by Christmas/New Year. There are only so many mushrooms/mushroom meals one can eat.
there are many many reasons to avoid grains. personally the glucose spike is the least of the concern .. will be interesting to try a wearable down the line as Tim has done. the wheat belly book (2011) addressed a plethora of hidden aspects to grains, shame it came out 4 years after I painfully isolated bread as the culprit in my own health (2008) .. so I didn’t end up reading it until just a handful of years back. shocking stuff in there. the perk of diary is the fat. the more that is removed the more harm it does. I don’t know if any creature should drink milk .. it should be thrown away probably. organic cream is the healthy part. but .. not the milk. which is where I feel the bulk of milk production should be used for. turning it into dairy foods .. as the microbes transform it into something new.
@@patriot20000 Rich Roll Podcast with Valter Longo, 4 July 2022 38 min: “..now that we have metanalysis showing that if you skip breakfast you live shorter and have more cardiovascular disease and probably more cancer” .. “certainly don’t skip breakfast”
Learned a lot here! We have a local artisanal bakery that makes what they call Bird Bread, based on a sourdough starter. "Bird Bread: comes from the large quantities of seeds in the dough - wonderful stuff!
Could listen to Tim for hours, down to earth, brainy and informed, self effacing, wanting to make a positive difference to people's and animals' lives and the planet 💕 🌎🌍🌳🌳🙏
Living as I do in Islamabad, we don’t have the choices you do, but the adage ‘ Eat (real) foods, not too much, mainly plants’ has really helped me as a guiding principle.
@@Fitzrovialitter Before you become any ruder, I have practised medicine in this town and elsewhere for 50 years. So far I have enjoyed a good reputation using a mixture of allopathie, nutrition and counselling in a place with complex medical problems. This is the last you will hear from me, as I suspect you are the kind of person who enjoys attacking others online.
Re:calcium and bone health - my 85yo, former RN, Aunt improved her bone density by regularly taking a boron supplement after reading research suggesting that was much more effective for bone health than calcium alone. Even though there have been quite a few studies on the importance of boron for calcium uptake by the bones it doesn’t seem to have become common knowledge yet the way that the relationship between vitamin C and iron, for instance, has. I have a minor autonomic system dysfunction, so sometimes have no appetite for weeks on end. Mushrooms can be a lifesaver in those times, as their high levels of B group vitamins seem excellent at restarting appetite cues.
Dr Spector, I really enjoyed The Diet Myth but I knew nutrition knowledge would continue to evolve because there's so much interest in it. Thanks for continuing to share your new finds.
00:10 - Topic introduction 02:53 - Quickfire questions 04:11 - Has Tim changed his opinion on anything while writing his new book? 04:57 - Tim’s new book: Food for Life 06:51 - Today’s topic: 5 foods Tim got wrong 08:11 - #1: Bread 11:56 - What has Tim’s opinion changed about bread? 14:20 - #2: Personalization 17:28 - How has Tim’s breakfast changed? 25:16 - #3: Milk 28:42 - Skim milk vs whole milk 31:50 - What kind of milk does Tim have? 33:59 - #4: Mushrooms 37:14 - #5: Ultra-processed foods 45:56 - Summary 47:50 - Will Tim write another book? 48:29 - Goodbyes 48:33 - Outro
Thanks for this thoughtful and informative video. Absolutely,the best thing that ever happened to me was to use a glucose monitor. Eliminated food spikes. Especially bread, now I just put everything that used to be in a sandwich on a plate.
@@jameskantor0459 unless you have diabetes, blood sugar spikes just means your body is working. The goal is not to have a completely flat blood sugar level
I don't eat bread, not because I'm carb averse, but because there's something about modern bread that's doughy and lacking substance and I don't like how it makes me crash later on. I like Danish rye crispbreads. People think I'm weird, say I'm eating cardboard. Professor Spector has confirmed that the reason I naturally gravitate toward dark rye crispbreads is because I instinctively know they're just rye flour and salt with a lot of fibre. They also take longer to eat than a slice of the fluffy stuff. Whilst the French might have cornered the market with the baguette, the Danish know a thing or two as well.
During lockdown I started making oat milk at home. I copied the ingredients from a carton. I use about 100ml dry oats in 1 litre cold water. Soak in cold water 15 minutes. Usually I come back much later when convenient for the making. Then add sunflower oil…..1 tablespoon. (More oil makes it creamy, too much coffee gets oily dots) Blend up in a food processor or hand held food processor to make an emulsion. Then using a fine sieve, scooping the solids out I get an oat milk. Best to use a container with a lid so the milk can be shaken up before use…..it settles. It keeps well in the fridge. Mostly we use it to add to coffee or pancakes ( made with a mix of different types of flour).
Sunflower oil is a PUFA, highly inflammatory and linked to so many modern day diseases. Personally I stick to organic cows milk, nature cannot be beaten imho, however I do appreciate some cannot tolerate dairy (although for many it’s more a lifestyle choice and not allergy/intolerance related). Also raw organic milk is much more tolerable and is fantastic made into kefir, a ton of good microorganisms for the gut.
This is interesting. My wife is from Macedonia and they have a salad with all main meals. Thus, from the earliest age our kids were introduced to salads and all veggies. They both eat lots of veggies and salads now even in their early 20,s.
So what was the big change in attitude to salt? I've gone from not adding salt to my home cooked meals, only to discover that I was dangerously low in sodium! I'm now building up to have a bit more salt in my diet and my low blood pressure is much more under control. Over my lifetime we have been told to eat or not eat such a variety of foods, whereas doing anything to excess is often counter productive. It's great to hear Tim debunk some of these exhortations!
I don’t really like salt, so don’t use it much. I get unsalted foods and never add it. I think I’m pretty low in blood pressure and food tastes better with a little salt (brings out the flavor). And our bodies need salt to function. Food are either labeled good or bad, and I have to remember that Moderation is probably the best.
I'm curious as to how you determined that you were dangerously low in sodium? I've been following a very-low-salt & low-sugar diet for the past 10 years or so and have not had any health issues (so far). On the plus side, my chronic anxiety & irritability pretty much entirely disappeared after cutting out these additives. There are cultures like the Yanomamo aboriginals who have ultra-low-sodium diets (averaging
@@pida9669 Blood tests will show sodium levels so perhaps that is how cindyjefferies knew. I was told I was very low in sodium after a heart valve repair operation, and told to eat salty crisps! I didn’t, but I did start adding salt to my food after decades of not adding it to anything I cooked or ate because I thought it was bad for us full stop. Over two years later, my blood sodium levels are still a bit low, but much better than before. So cutting out salt is not always good, or perhaps it’s a matter of personalisation, it’s not good for some people. Cutting out or down on sugar is another matter, and I can well believe that anxiety and irritability (in my case tiredness and daytime sleepiness) disappear on cutting it out.
@@Jojotonks I wonder: before you started adding salt to your food, were your sodium levels "Low but within the normal range" or "below the normal range" (hyponatremia)? Were there other factors that may have caused your low sodium levels, or was it purely diet-related? Thanks for your feedback... 🙏🏼
Looking forward to reading the book. One of the major things I've learned in my health journey is that foods are not black and white healthy or unhealthy. They have healthy aspects and healthy aspects
I keep hearing reinforcement for my grandmother’s Eastern European diet of fermented foods, slow cooked sour dough rye bread and oily fish. She’s passed and taken her fermentation knowledge with her. I’m going to embrace mushrooms more. I tried spawning some mushrooms unsuccessfully, so I just buried the huge white mycelium beside a buried rotting tree root. I’ll have another go growing micro greens beside mushrooms with my symbiosis theory, for fun with the children.
Personalisation is my takeaway thoughtfom this good discussion!! Thank you very good interview and straight to the point no fluff from what I heard. I will try to get the book. Thank you.
I am very Leary of anyone who focusses on blood sugar spikes as their main area of concern. It might make one afraid of eating oat groats, fruit and some vegetables thereby eliminating many very healthy foods. I would never get a continuous blood sugar device. It would just be a source of constant worry. I easily eliminated sweet snacks, white breads and almost all “ brown” breads (which in Canada are made brown with the addition of molasses) and very nearly all meats. At 61 and still obese, I take no medications, am losing weight and loving exercise. Eat (real) food, mostly plants, not too much and stop fretting about the minutiae.
thank you dr. Tim and Mr. Jonathan for this insightful podcast. It is needed to share with the world the truth about the health benefits of certain foods and foods we should avoid in order to maintain our health. Reimara
Around 43:30 Tim talks about ultra processed foods making you more hungry. I don't think it's anything in the food. It's what is NOT in the food. The body wants certain nutrients which are lacking in the processed foods and makes you want to eat more and more "looking" for those missing nutrients.
@@marybusch6182 sourdough rye bread does not have to be really that dark, I made my own sourdough bread from 100% wholemeal rye last summer (making the root is dead easy but it takes a few days) and the colour was only marginally darker. Rye has low gluten content so it doesn't rise and become fluffy like the bread we are used to buying from a shop and the crust becomes hard during baking process, hence most dark rye you can find in a shop have some wheat content to improve the texture. A lot of the really dark rye bread colour comes from a malting process, cocoa powder or if molasses is used to feed the root, depending on the bread.
I bought Tim's latest book recently but haven't read it yet. After watching this I'm really looking forward to reading it. My own experience is that some foods that may be good for a healthy person can have a deleterious effect on a person with a particular health problem: so you have to be very careful. This supports Tim's experience with personalisation.
I find the ultra processed food triggering over eating and hunger really interesting. I really struggle with hunger and it's gotten significantly better with eating more fiber but I also have cut out a lot of highly processed foods. I still eat them, because the convenience, taste, and enjoyment are very nice but this gives me something to think about when choosing food in the future. I wonder if my difficulty with satiation and feeling full has been largely caused by this factor.
Hi, have you read a book called "ultra processed people" by Chris van Tulleken, I did and it totally changed the way I feel about food, ultra processed food and also real food, if you haven't read it, you might want to give it a try if you possibly can 👍
Not feeling full is an indicator of hormonal imbalance between ghrelin and leptin. That imbalance’s root cause is insulin resistance due to regular and frequent high blood glucose.
Very interesting. Impressed that Tim goes through all the tests before expecting others to. Just to say, the best food I've ever had was in Vietnam (all fresh and/or straight out of the sea, no milk and very little bread products). Remember feeling like a different person. Second in southern Italy where staying on an agriturism farm, everything was cooked from scratch and mostly from the farm and sea. Although we did indulge in croissants and cakes at breakfast because they had just been made. Remember feeling extremely content. A happy stomach is a happy person IMHO.
@@ritawilliams8508 You were in interesting, different, lovely places (agritourism farm in Italy). You don't think that could have contributed to your wellbeing?
@@andrevanderwalt69 agriturism was holiday so yes and people lovely as well as the food.. Yes being somewhere interesting helps but food and people make the biggest difference. Ps Brussels also has fabulous food at all.prices.
Vietnamese food is amazing (wouldn’t have it in the UK as it’s usually tailored to a UK person), so health and absolutely delicious. I used to think nothing could beat Thai food but I was so wrong!
I've just fully signed up to the UK arm of the Zoe personalisation study and am waiting for my test kit to arrive. I feel excited that I will be able to learn what my body likes and dislikes, so to speak. I have my suspicions, but for example I would not have thought that porridge might be a tricky customer. I experience massive energy lows, to am really keen to figure out why.
Dear Professor Spector - thank you for this fascinating information. You mentioned that you studied osteoporosis for several years and I hope you can answer my concerns. I have recently been diagnosed with severe osteoporosis following a bone scan after I tripped over a hose and fell and broke my wrist in the garden. Apparently, I have a very high risk of fracture of the spine and have been told I have osteopenia of the neck and hip. This has really come as a nasty shock to me. I recently had a consultation with a specialist nurse at the hospital who told me that because of my age (69), slight Barratt's syndrome, and the severity of my osteoporosis, the only treatment is for me to take calcium supplements and have an infusion of zoledronic acid (Aclasta). I have to admit that I'm concerned about the infusion and surely the acid (which I'm told kills of the cells in the bones that are breaking down the bone structure), delivered into a vein in the hand, also enters all my organs including my heart. Is this correct? This really scares me. Thank you for any advice you are able to give me. Best regards Sylvia
Hi Sylvia! I invite you to watch Matt Chalmers talk about the role of testosterone for osteoporosis in this video: [ I Want to Get Healthy Where Do I Start? | Dr. Matt Chalmers | Fad or Future Podcast | Joey Thurman ] ruclips.net/video/SnMCjDo238g/видео.html&ab_channel=JoeyThurman Great health to you 😌 David
I had some bone loss in lower vertebra but hip fine. I decided not to take the medication because it can result in necrosis of the jaw. I take Vit D, K2, fish oil and magnesium. No longer have a problem. I saw a couple of US videos about some medications for osteoporosis causing brittle bones and increasing the likelihood of fractures. I don't take calcium as I get plenty in my diet.
@@RuthDunstan - thank you for your comment - I also take those supplements so that’s really encouraging to hear. Unfortunately when I declined the infusion, I received a scolding letter from the hospital saying that they were discharging me from their care fir osteoporosis and no further bone scans would be offered to me. I’m currently having a few physio sessions for my knee and my physio has insisted I have a proper conversation about having the infusion with my GP. I’ve asked for an appointment but I’m not looking forward to the conversation with her because another doctor plus the hospital have stressed that the instances of the horrible side effects are extremely rare. I’m going to stand firm against having the infusion.
Btw, the subtitles missed the ‘Chorleywood’ process of making fast factory bread using ascorbic acid as part of the process to minimised all that kneading and proving.
I'll be buying the book! Still trying very hard to work out the healthiest diet for me. I recently switched to porridge and seeds and berries with plant-based milk for breakfast. Seems I may not be making the best choice there. There are so many conflicting messages. With the best will in the world, it's really tricky to know whether you are doing the right thing. Hopefully Tim's book will help to clarify.
Agree there’s a lot of conflicting information. Tim seems fairly solid compared to the glucose goddess. There are some good nutritionists on RUclips like Abby Sharp she seems to take a straightforward and common sense approach to things.
Yes, I too found my BSL was 10.5, 2 hrs post organic steel cut oats!! Not what I expected. Thought I was lean and fit. I think we need to start this monitoring in childhood.
Huge surprises from a guy who, until today, I thought lived in an academic ivory tower remote from real life issues. Hopefully Tim will now continue to address some questions which we face every time we go shopping AND discuss how we can balance nutrition with weight loss. It took years but he's starting to get real.
I was happy to hear "what is good for the planet" mentioned as one of Tim's considerations, as one of my questions of the Zoe recommendations was if avocado is so good for you, we would encourage everyone to eat it more, but it would not be sustainable in terms of transporting avocado to every corner of the world. In other words I am glad to hear that personalisation done well also means taking into account what ingredients are available to you in terms of both cost and carbon footprint.
For a better life keep striving and searching for a healthy diet never give up keep striving and searching over and over again from Johannesburg South Africa 👍💕
On the mucous production aspect, I gave up milk and other dairy for ethical reasons rather than health specifically, but I did find my breathing got a lot better. I'd spent most of my life breathing through my mouth as my nose was seldom clear, but these days I can breathe through my nose most of the time. Sadly I've yet to find a plant-based milk that doesn't split in my coffee
Tim Spector is such an excellent, sobering guest. In my opinion, there is no nonsense there, just scientific findings. As usual, Jonathan moderates like a champ. Definitely getting the book, and will likely get copies for my siblings. Appreciate all your hard work at Zoe.
@@michellea9857 I haven't undertaken their nutrition subscription program at this time. I do my own thing at the moment. Frankly, I haven't looked at it, so I can't comment either way.
I recently joined the Zoe community and it has completely revolutionised the way I am eating, so thank you so much for this. I find all the discussions/interviews extremely helpful to support my journey and better understanding of how food affects the gut biome and our general health. I do have a question that at the moment I fail to get an answer that I understand. I recently had my scores back and have 30 for blood sugar, 31 for fat control and 31 for diet assessment, and that made sense. But what I cant understand is why my gut microbiome score came out at 88, considering I have had bad gut health for as long as I can remember, suffering with IBS, SIBO, Candida, I have so many intolerances to food, which all surely relates to poor gut health, but then a excellent gut health result through the Zoe testing!! Can someone please explain, I have been on the chat with one of your nutritionist coaches but am not able to take away from that an understanding of the result in this section.
Could you do a podcast sometime on the effect of salt on Zoe scores? I notice a cup of black beans cooked in salted water scores very poorly whereas the same amount ot beans cooked in unsalted water have an excellent score. Is this just a general penalization of sodium built into your algorithm or do salted foods greatly influence glycemic response through some kind of mechanism? Great job you two...always an interesting discussion.
About skimmed milk. Technically sugar is slightly higher in skimmed milk because you’re only reducing the fat so the part that’s increased in the percentage of the milk is the part that contains sugar. I tried to tell this to a dietitian I was seeing who told me to drink skimmed milk but they just said ‘they don’t add sugar to skimmed milk’ trying to explain what I meant went over their head. Also full fat milk is often barely 4% fat. It’s not really that much. I also find it’s easier on the stomach than skimmed.
even at 1.75x speed this was a slog. 50 minute video of us watching a man come to the realization of what he ought to have known before publishing a book on food.
Maybe worth mentioning along the lines of a personalised approach that gluten intolerance is fairly common. My health has changed so much for the better since cutting this out. Also, I agree with your comments on plant milk but there is at least one brand of almond milk that contains almonds, water and salt only.
All of this is wonderful and I'm always impressed with people who are willing to change paradigms as the science of nutrition evolves. The common theme of the importance of managing blood sugar has exploded in recent years. Most of the "influencers" on social media have adopted continuous blood glucose monitors that give them a very personalized and immediate feedback on their diets and the impact of foods on their blood glucose levels. Unfortunately, for those of us who don't have diabetes and aren't physicians (or personal friends with one) don't have access to these tools. Hopefully they'll be available to everyone at some point in the future.
i'm pretty sure anyone can buy a continuous blood glucose monitor. even if not, you can buy a glucose monitor and test strips at most pharmacies. testing yourself in the morning (fasted) and then 1h and 2h after a meal will give you a good idea of your baseline BG and response to different foods.
@@jraaccounts They are not available in the UK over the counter. You have to have a prescription to get them there. Luckily, they are not banned from being imported. A lot of UK visitors abroad will buy them overseas and bring them back.
I love these videos. I was invited to join the personalisation study with a big fiscount but still couldn't afford £50 a month. It's a real shame that it's not more accessible price wise for those on benefits or low income.
There’s masses more in the book! Fantastically informative and so good to hear the ‘real’ science behind food choices. Absolutely love the food tables & tips at the end of the book. This book by Prof.Tim Spector is now my fave go to together with Eat to Beat Disease by Dr.William Li. Thank you so much!
Excellent and fascinating content but surely the biggest question has to be - how does Johnathan put up with that plant almost in his face the whole time?
I find it very hard to follow your healthy diet because I follow a low tyramine diet because of my migraine triggers. Tomatoes, nuts, seeds, soya, tofu etc and fava beans are out and peppers give me bad indigestion. Please can you suggest diets for people with other chronic illnesses because there are a lot of people out there that can’t always eat some of the fooods suggested because of other illnessses.
Interesting session thank you. I wonder if there is a difference betweena standard portion of cooked porridge and raw soaked rolled oats. The latter I find is easily digestible whereas porridge eaten at any time of the day causes a massive spike in blood sugar complete with headache. I suppose this just proves the point that every body is different.
I like Tim and his new awakening regarding food myths that some of us have been sceptical about for years. I particularly like his attitude to the food industry and that he realises that the industry is there to make profit -just like a company making widgets or whatever - and the good of our health really doesn't enter their thinking. It's just a pity that he doesn't examine the evidence regarding the pharmaceutical and Net Zero industries with that same degree of scepticism.
@Johnny Long it’s not so much his ideas about dairy as the facts based on huge amounts of research. The dairy industry is an environmental catastrophe and we need to wean ourselves of the huge consumption of cheese and dairy products generally for the sake of our health and the planet’s. The land can be used for many other benefits.
@@mrscpc1918 completely 'reductionist' to use one of his terms. Utterly wrong, considering that even rich foods, at the right 'dose', are very healthy, such as cheese and other dairy CAN be. E.g. the 'mass produced' irish butter keerygold, is very rich in omega. NZealnd produces a huge amt of the dairy for the world. Learn some thing about dairy--it's a vital food, that i tried for a decade to heavily reduce, only to become malnourished when i relied on other nutritious things including masses of plant based foods, but there is a limit for me and for maaaany maaany ppl. Stop the religionizing of food, which is a personal and personalizable thing, as this co shows.
i just got the book yesterday! And i'll be reading it in summer. Pointless why i declared all that but it's the first time i've been so excited to get a book.
Listening to this is fascinating but frustrating. Being gluten, avenin and dairy intolerant I have to use substitutes to have variety. It would be so helpful to have advice on how to make decisions on which substitutes will be best in this case.
There is a French nutritionist (her name escapes me at the moment), who suggested taking some apple cider vinegar with some protein fat and fiber before your meal to mitigate the sugar spikes. Apparently this works quite nicely, in addition to moving around somewhat after eating (some light exercise)
Yes, this is what I already do, thanks to the advice of Dr Michael Greger on his Nutrition Facts channel - blueberries, apple cider vinegar and or (the fat in ) nuts will reduce the sugar spike. Check out his channel! See what long term damage full fat dairy yoghurt will do to a prostate gland or a breast - even if it does not cause a sugar spike!
Approx 15 years ago a friend told me about cider vinegar helping her to lose weight and kept her free of colds. I have since taken 50 mls cider vinegar in 250 mls water before every meal. I am a very fit 72 year old, with no aches or pains apart from arthritis in one finger joint. My weight is constant. Colds are rare. I have no idea whether the cider vinegar has had any influence.
Great talk. I am glad I am not the only one whose blood sugar goes off the scale with oats or anything oat-related. I was shocked when I experimented with a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) and found that oats peaked my blood glucose higher than anything else and for longer, including chocolate, ice cream, even Krispy Kremes doughnuts.
@@Vicky-qu4yw So was I, for years. Great for bringing down cholesterol, but apparently that is because of the high glucose it creates in the blood. (I can't remember the guy that did that experiment - essentially a false indicator of something good. How do you feel after eating oats? any tummy issues or dizziness etc?
Baking your own using a diverse range of flours and seeds packed with fibre is absolutely fantastic - everything in moderation adapted to your particular body - sourdough sourdough sourdough and soooo very easy in fact
There was a pretty well done study about a decade ago which suggests we need 10-15g of salt (or 3-5g of sodium) per day for optimal health, less was generally worse than more. Still a bit unclear how other foods affect this need, for example type 2 diabetics generally should have less as the insulin makes their body retain more salt
A lot of old news rehashed, as if he was eating packaged muesli full of sugar and believing it's healthy. Rye bread is so heavy and full of preservatives often it's also very heavy and unappetising usually.
Any milk except full fat milk is made in a factory….squeeze an almond and see what happens, I’ve been vegetarian and was very I’ll with autoimmune issues,I’m now low carb mainly carnivore and feel amazing
I will get the book, but it would be nice to hear a discussion on frozen food versus ultraprocessed food, as frozen food is a fast, accessible way for many of us to eat, but I don't think it necessarily means that it is ultraprocessed?
I find milk homogenised aggravates my sinuses and diverticulitis if it's pasteurized only I don't have a problem so are there any studies and for these processes, I know the particles are blasted extremely small in the drying process could it be aggravating the lining of the gut?
Tim dear I'm yr grand aunt hre at 76 💛 wishing u2 smile more often 'n be less overly serious in yr nature ...in dis ever changing short fleeting life!! Strive hard, relax 'n enjoy more❣️
There was a study conducted many years ago published in a little book, Pottenger's Cats, still available. Also, if you're interested, check out Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price.
I don’t know what you guys do with yr dairy cows in Great Britain but I grew up on a dairy farm in Canada & our cows always grazed outside on grass . The only time they were indoors was during milking and when it got too cold outside in the winter. They had better lives than some people do.
Interesting. I'm trying to find out if and why sourdough bread is considered to be healthier than wholemeal bread. Anyone any idea? Sourdough is usually made with white flour, so it's not the flour itself and baking kills off the starter, so it's not the starter itself. What exactly is left that is more nutritious than the whole grain in wholemeal?
It's because it's naturally fermented and only has two ingredients. You can of course have wholemeal sourdough which would obviously have more fibre and if you're going to have any bread, it's the best choice especially if it's organic. You just have to glance at the ingredients in shop bought sliced wholemeal bread and it'll put you off! At least it should!
Its flour, wild yeast and a little salt - no preservatives, whether its good or bad for you is only one factor - it tastes better and you dont eat so much. Dead easy to make, just needs patience and a bit of practice - I do wholemeal only now
I appreciate that diets should be personalised but how can an individual find out what suits them - do we have to sign up to your study to measure blood sugar etc?
Functional medicine has been saying this and more for decades...not a mention of those key practitioners and academics. Ah well, at least this platform can admit it is bringing itself up to date.
A workout before breakfast or even a gentle walk will lower blood sugar spikes. Not eating for an hour after getting up as well. Regarding milk since when is it necessary at all for adults? What are the effects of cow’s milk estrogen and igf1 on human health ?
I find it really weird how people focus on tiny aspects in diets to improve health. But at the same time we ignore giant aspects of our lives such as living with air and water pollution; and the lack of safe space for cycling, which contributes to the car obsession and general poor health of the country. It’s always about what individuals can do for themselves, rather than what we can all do for each other to make our lives better; and to take it the whole way, I’m sure we’ll be wanting to eat better in future, but there won’t be much food available. And we won’t be able to be this picky, precisely because we chose the individual over everyone, and ended up with a broken climate system that barely supports life at all. And then even right now, we have a society where a lot of people can’t afford food at all. And you’re talking about people who already have great diets moving towards perfect diets. The focus needs to be on fixing all the low hanging fruit in society, and we’re just not close to doing that. We need total systemic change.
Hi Chris. Interesting to read your comment, but I have to say that I found it a bit weird! Firstly, Tim is an expert on the subject on which he is speaking: one wouldn’t expect him to expound on other subjects. I also find it curious that you assume that people who care about feeding themselves and their families healthily don’t care or do anything about other issues. In my experience the opposite is true. My concern for pollution and climate change has lead me, even though I live in a village with abysmal public transport, not to replace my own car. If I can’t take the bus or walk then I share. And trying to keep healthy reduces the pressure on the health service which hopefully will free up resources to tackle pollution, climate change and poverty.
@@susanbloor8541 I get what you mean, and I somewhat agree. I’m not necessarily criticising Tim or Zoe specifically. I do find the science interesting. But I do get the impression that it’s kind of reinforcing the status quo and the idea that the way to solve these big problems is through individual action and general capitalistic ideas, even if that’s not a conscious decision they made. Of course, eating healthy reduces strain on the NHS and so on. But where are the societal changes that would lead everyone to be able to get there? If they were talking about policies to make healthy food the cheapest option, cycling the easiest way to get around to improve everyone’s health, then that would be covering all the bases. But it feels like it’s aimed just at older, wealthier people who can afford to take these diet measures and pay for personalised health plans, and everything / everyone else is basically ignored. Again, I would assume that it’s not a conscious decision to do that, but that they’ve been moulded to think that way by society. And while Zoe is a diet thing, it’s not just diet. It’s health overall, and there are a lot of other aspects to consider. And those are very low hanging fruit as I said. You would have a far bigger impact on society by supporting cycling like the Dutch, or taxing the rich to pay for electric public transport or subsidising healthy food and so on. But we never hear that anywhere in mainstream society. And obviously I reject your idea of freeing up resources. You’re basically suggesting the opposite of me, which is that telling people to be healthy will save money. As opposed to using the resources we have in all of the hoarded wealth in this country by taxing the rich and directly making the difference. Just telling people to do the right thing doesn’t work, because clearly no one cycles and a large proportion of the population are obese. For example, West Sussex County Council tell people to cycle without ever building any infrastructure, or limiting car use. So no one cycles. That’s not how the Dutch do it.
As long as food manufacturers like associated British foods who donate huge sums of money to the Conservative party are around then we will remain addicted to highly processed food, which makes us eat more and buy more. Tim said it, they employ food scientists deliberately to make this food addictive so we buy more. We all individually need to realise we are being controlled for financial gain by these industries.its going back to basics which is difficult with so much stress in our lives.but then again stress raises cortisol and cortisol makes us want to eat more sugary foods and round and round we go..
Iceland supermarket is also a Tory party donor and we all know how much processed food they sell...I've been trying to buy whole grain bread like rye from mainstream supermarkets and can't find any. It is only small independent stores that make it,supermarkets make you walk significant amounts of steps just to get to truly healthy food and even then market whole nuts and seeds in the bakery section like it's something we have as a treat when we bake. I see main stream supermarkets akin to an ' escape room' ! Haha, my mission is to buy as little rubbish food before I can escape!
Very interesting talk, thank you! Having just read Food For Life and found it very informative and readable, I'm wondering if Dr Spector could comment on the effect of alcohol on the gut microbiome. His own 'What I eat in a day" described in the book included alcohol on 6 days of the week. Is this no problem at all for the gut flora?
@@judylloyd7901 Live bacteria in fermented foods like yogurt are beneficial to the gut. Alcohol kills bacteria. It doesn't seem possible that it wouldn't have a negative effect on the microbiome.
For anyone who may know in the comments; Why is it that if you have skip breakfast, that same insulin spike does not appear when you first eat e.g. at lunch time? Is it because your body has been awake for a while? Surely the insulin spike has just been delayed? Or is this concerning the type of food we eat at breakfast? Thank you!
I don't know the details, only that our bodies react more strongly to food in the morning, likely because waking up requires cortisol, etc. to spike (edit: so it's basically similar to how you gain weight easier when stressed)
To skip breakfast simply eat more healthy fats for your dinner the night before. That's what makes intermittant fasting so easy for the keto community.
I wonder if Tim or other scientists have found whether individuals' responses to different food groups can change over time. If for example you eat high sugar foods daily for years, especially if it's in your childhood, could that make you well-adjusted to such food groups for the rest of your life? Could the body stressors and inflammatory reactions be healthy short-term phenomena indicating that your body is experiencing something new and just not used to it yet? (maybe similar to exercise like lifting heavier weights than you did before, or running faster or longer than ever before, which then increases your body capacity - strength, speed, stamina, etc and helps you grow over time?)
@Aki Asghar Koyee - Yes. Exactly. I believe this will be found to be true for some people. I notice a two week (approx) rule that always shows up when I introduced new foods to my diet. By the end of the two weeks those changes are gone. It's similar to the "body getting used to medications or drugs" that after a while a larger dose is needed to accomplish the same effect. I see no reason why this wouldn't apply to food/diet both in a positive or negative way, depending on the person. Dr. Spector has large sugar spikes to foods he loves and has always eaten, for years, but his wife doesn't have any sugar spikes at all to those very same foods that she has also eaten for years, much to his chagrin. He says it's not fair but true. The thought that these may change over time is a thought I have not realised but certainly is very likely.
And the answer is .... "No". The idea that "I eat foods which are bad for my body for years (such as processed sugars) and my body gets used to them and doesn't have a negative response" is wishful thinking ..... And the reason why So many people now have Diabetes II. If you based your diet on this, it would be tantamount to saying that drinking a bottle of vodka a day for years means you won't be an alcoholic.
@@alexandrasmith7682 Indeed. In fact, insulin spiking is already an adaptation compared to people who almost exclusively eat meat and very low carbohydrate foods, as they don't react to high blood glucose with as quick of an insulin release, leading to damage from high glucose. So we do adapt to some degree to deal with poisons, but those adaptations are rarely free and generally just there to lessen the immediate damage from the poison. And yes, high amounts of glucose are poison, as are relatively low amounts of fructose.
Great podcast guys. Thank you. As you have demonstrated in 2 of your podcasts the subject of mushrooms is fascinating. I'm not a great cook but really making an effort these days to cook with my health in mind. Would you run a podcast on different ways to cook and employ mushrooms in our diet. Thank you. Tony
When I'm hospitalised here in Tasmania, breakfast consists of 5 teaspoons of sucrose, orange, or apple juice, white bread, jam, ersatz coffee, skim milk and cornflakes. Fish, cheese, eggs, nuts etc that I eat at home are strictly forbidden. Over a period of a week my fasting glucose rises from 4 mmol/l to the point I'm insulin dependent. The nurses insist that this is a "scientific" diet and that "ideally, it would be 0% fat and 0% protein, since only carbs are essential". At home I control my Type 2 diabetes with diet, not so-called anti-diabetic drugs. The nurses insist that "insulin is good for" me.
Wow, definitely some re education needed there although I think many hospitals are similar unfortunately, so far behind what’s actually healthy! It’s similar in school meals here in the US - ‘healthy’ is low fat and sugar free ie artificial sweeteners :(
A question about bread: could the apparent unhealthiness of bread be related to the fact that a lot of shop-bought bread is ultra-processed (containing emulsifiiers and additives)? Do we see the same effect on blood sugar with home-made bread or bread with fewer ingredients?
Have Zoe got a podcast or something similar all about dairy vs vegan stuff? I know Tim mentions cows milk vs vegan milks here but does the same apply for yogurts? And what about tofu/tempeh - do they contain additives/emulsifiers we need to avoid?
look on the packaging. Must be possible to get pure ones, like here in Germany. Many things can be fermented in theory. Doesn't have to be animal-based. It's the culture that matters for that effect.
Wonderful podcasts thank you. I am not from science background but I’m interested in the science behind your gut studies. What does healthy/unhealthy gut look like? What do microbes look like and how does the scene change when different foods are eaten? Can we have some visuals please? Or can u recommend a website where I can see this? Many thanks
Have a question on porridge , would there be a difference if instead of using oat flake make it from the original form " groats " un processed . Oat , almond or any kind of nut milk ,should be called juice as I've still to see an oat or nut to be milked 🙂. Soy milk which is made from 100 % gmo unless organic , has a huge amount of natures estrogen which is not good for anyone Also oat milk is only 10 to 15 % by volume oats, the rest of ingredients include a large presence of canola oil which is inflammatory.
Yes and no. No to cheese, as the saturated fat will raise LDL as well as gradually contribute to insulin resistance by negatively effecting beta-cells. But 100% yes regarding ultra processed food and the gut microbiome. Six months ago, I poured my almond milk down the drain for that reason. No more emulsifiers for me. The more I learn, the more I lean towards whole food plant based for the win.
I used to live on cheese but my cholesterol levels were excellent; my waistline had more to do with eating a lb of milk chocolate every day. Meanwhile, my babysitter had sky-high cholesterol levels despite cholesterol-lowering products and giving up meat and eggs, and eating only unprocessed foods (and being otherwise super-fit) She could only barely keep the levels within acceptable by becoming strict vegan. What I'm saying is that like everything else, food doesn't have the same effect on everyone. You can make your own plant milk and use natural emulsifiers: they don't have to be chemicals. However, there are plant milks that don't have emulsifiers but they do often have added oi to imitate the creaminess of the milk. Unfortunately, I don't like the oily taste. None of the soy milk brands I used to drink had added oils or emulsifiers though, especially the organic ones. Or you can make your own if you need it for a recipe. :) Egg yolks were used for washing hair before commercial shampoos because they emulsify the oils on hair so it isn't so greasy. The eggs are also used to emulsify the oil in mayonnaise. At least when you make it yourself... I'm vegetarian but I do encourage others to eat more oily fish, especially if they live in Northern Europe.
Not possible to make sweeping generalisations about cheese and LDL. Everyone is different as Tim has so eloquently demonstrated.(And LDL is not inherently bad unless damaged - glycated or oxidised).
I'm making a sweeping generalization because I'm looking at the forrest away from the trees. I'm more inclined to follow the objectivity of Dr. Kim Williams and Dr Joel Kahn, lifestyle cardiologists, rather than a professor dabbling with his personal reactions to food. I think it's possible he was having blood sugar spikes from oatmeal because his high fat diet is clogging his beta-cells, causing him to be insulin resistant.
@@sectionalsofa fair play. I wish I had as much spare time as you seem to have being able to engage in podcasts by people you’re not particularly inclined to follow. Best of luck and good health to you.
@@jezzab01 I'm 69, retired and a seeker of nuntrtional information. Zoe sometimes has great guests, like Dr. Bulseiwicz. I'm not that familiar with Tim's perspective but I was curious. Now I know. Good health to you too.
Really wished Tim narrated his books vs leighton, they’re unbelievably detailed and funny, love all Tim’s books but food for life is for sure the best one yet, totally fascinating & my young kids love it too, learned so much!
The ultra high processed food that horrifies me is Stevia. when it 1st entered the market it was a green powder. Now it is a very fine white crystal. Ok it doesn't give the glucose spike but I really wonder what it is doing now the producers have made it just like sugar.
I did stevia from the beginning, and I never saw it be green. Just because it looks like sugar doesn't mean it has anything to do with sugar. Baking soda looks like powdered sugar. Vodka looks just like water.
@@patriot20000 it's just refined, the stevia glycosides are colorless. That said, while I do believe it is better than sugar, all these substitutes should be used with care. edit: similarly, sugar canes are green, but sugar isn't
Thank you, I really enjoyed this video. Not sure I could manage to eat all the good whole foods, really interesting though. I read an article a few years ago in the newspaper that said about a study that showed people who drank whole milk tended to be slimmer than those who drank skimmed milk, it seemed to be saying one factor was that whole milk made people a bit fuller and they tended not to snack as much.
I am holding thumbs this project will make it across the channel to France. I'm also curious how the french artisan bread compares... I don't know anyone in my circle who doesn't eat and none seem to have issues with it. I suspect the baguettes in France are not made of the same 'cloth' as they are in the UK.
I think it’s really disempowering to end by saying; it just goes to show how complex nutrition is. From what I heard, modern “food” is bad for you, traditional foods are much better for you. Surely that’s the simple and empowering message you should be putting out to people to make them feel capable of making healthy decisions for themselves without the need to (pay to) consult anyone?
@Tim W An even simpler message is that plants are not human food, whether processed or not. And fresh animal products are healthier than processed ones mixed with flour, sugar, and vegetable oil.
@rawmilk mike I'm sure Tim would disagree given that he now recommends eating 30 varieties of plants a week. Just because some alternative versions of traditional foods aren't as nutritionally viable, doesn't mean that plants are therefore unfit for human consumption. Like animal products, we've been eating them for millenia.
I accidentally discovered Dr Spector today. I pulled out from that video and then found Zoe's project. I registered on that UK waiting list. I feel excited and curious to find out more. I hope that the price of joining the project will be affordable for everyone.
Can't wait to get my hands on the book. I am however very surprised by the fact, that even a scientist has fallen for the "brown bread" scam. In general this interview shows clearly how the western society has lost the touch and common sense when it comes to food. You seem to be rediscovering the facts, that are obvious for the rest of the world (like the sour dough bread, fermented foods or personalisation of diet). I really glad, the technical society gets back to the roots in terms od food, and I appreciate your role in it. Hudge thank U for the hard work and dedication!
Dear Tim, Since I'm at the furthest end of the keto scale, as a carnivore, I can tell you 100% that it certainly is doable long term. Just as you are 'carbohydrate sensitive,' as you called it, some of us, it seems, are even more sensitive than that, and the addition of any carb food causes such upheaval and even pain that we simply choose to stay 'keto' because it is certainly the best route for our system. A lengthy period of trial and error, elimination and reinsertion, 13 years ago brought me indeed to the conclusion that one size never fits all, nor is there any single combo that fits all. I don't "do" carnivore as an ideology in the way vegans do; I eat that way bc carby foods - ie: any plant matter - literally makes me ill. So, it's worth continuing your research bc the ins and outs of all this are likely as varied as the number of synapses in the brain.
And doing low carb, or relaxed keto is even easier. For example, I occasionally get quite deep into ketosis (as evidenced by keto rash appearing) even though I still eat the occasional pizza with friends. Not that ketosis itself is my goal.
Could it be that by excluding plants from your diet for years, your gut microbiome is now missing the kind of bacteria that digest fibre, resistant starch, and other nutrients found only in plants? A small And gradual increase of plants, which are all fibre-containing, would lead to a gradual adjustment of your microbiome. I hope you can do this, as it would be a shame to exclude some of the healthiest and most longevity-promoting foods from your diet. Best wishes!
At what point after eating should you be looking at blood sugar levels to know if you have had a spike? And, should you compare that to a pre-eating level or a fasting one?
Depends on how insulin resistant you are, but blood glucose generally starts rising about 30 minutes after a meal and will keep rising another 30 - 90 minutes
I was very interested to hear Tim’s findings about milk. My Dad has studied this over many years and as a result, we’ve always used full fat milk. However, has Tim looked into how well the pasture of grass fed cows here in the UK locks in carbon? If I remember correctly, it’s something like 10 times better than cultivated land. I understand that American milk production is very different, but if you buy organic milk from grass fed cows, it is much better for you and the environment.
Based on recent studies suggest that consuming saturated fat in reasonable amounts may not significantly increase the risk of heart disease, as long as you also consume adequate amounts of omega-3 fatty acids: 1. A 2021 observational study found that total saturated fat intake was not associated with a higher risk of heart disease. However, specific high-saturated fat foods had different effects, with yogurt and cheese linked to lower risk, while red meat and butter were associated with higher risk[2]. This suggests the overall composition of foods matters more than just the saturated fat content. 2. A systematic review of randomized controlled trials found that reducing saturated fat intake lowered the risk of cardiovascular events but not the risk of dying from heart disease or other causes. Partially replacing saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat (which includes omega-3s) or whole grain carbohydrates appeared beneficial for heart health[1]. 3. Another 2021 study following adults for over 10 years found no connection between total saturated fat intake and heart disease risk. Replacing saturated fats with other macronutrients also had no effect, indicating a low-fat diet may not be necessary for preventing heart disease[4]. 4. Omega-3 fatty acids, particularly EPA and DHA found in fish and fish oil, have important benefits for heart health, such as helping lower triglyceride levels[3][6]. Regularly consuming foods high in omega-3s as part of a balanced diet is recommended. In summary, while the research is still ongoing, these recent studies suggest that moderate saturated fat intake may not be harmful, especially in the context of an overall healthy dietary pattern that includes good sources of omega-3 fatty acids. The types of foods providing the saturated fat also appear to be important. However, more research is needed to fully understand the relationship between saturated fat, omega-3s, and heart disease risk. It's best to consult with a healthcare provider for personalized dietary advice. Citations: [1] www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10012519/ [2] www.bmj.com/content/348/bmj.g2272 [3] www.healthline.com/nutrition/omega-3-6-9-overview [4] nutritionsource.hsph.harvard.edu/what-should-you-eat/fats-and-cholesterol/types-of-fat/ [5] www.healthline.com/nutrition/5-studies-on-saturated-fat [6] my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/17290-omega-3-fatty-acids
Thank you for this well documented information. While I am mindful of confirmation bias, I agree that the key is a highly varied diet that has a better chance of meeting the complex needs of our bodies. All things in moderation, except plants. Eat loads of veggies and fruits!
One other thought. Three considerations were mentioned when choosing food - the effect on the body, the effect on the planet, and how the animal was treated. I’d like to add a fourth - how the grower / livestock raiser was treated. It’s hard work growing food, especially organically. While changing buying habits aren’t necessarily an option for all, perhaps a gratitude for that work could be practiced by all.
Important point. I came to this via being a pioneer organic market gardener in the 1980s. I also kept sheep and poultry for personal use and the fleece used to pay my taxes. The sale of eggs paid for the purchased chicken feed and their excrement was an important source of nutrients for the compost heap.
I respect farmers. I shop at local farm stands and farmer's markets whenever possible. Without farmer's many of us would not have any food.I for one do not own any land. That being said, I do not believe most humans need to eat animals and prefer a plant based diet.
Some form of gratitude prayer/grace before we eat is a lovely way to thank all involved. 🙏
Yes, suicide among farmers is 3x the national average right now. (US)
@@k8eekatt - The suicide rate among farmers and ranchers is heartbreaking. But what external forces are doing to them is inexcusable and I don't know how to make it stop.
In the 1972 film Silent Running theres a scene where Bruce Dern remonstrates with his companions who only eat ultra processed food whilst he is an exponent of real food. Fascinating predictor of todays issues. And a superb film to boot!
Thanks Tim for "Food for Life", it's already helping me - I've got my 30 plants for the week and counting.
Huge thanks also for keeping climate and the environment front and centre. As a grandparent I'm very concerned about what we're doing that these beautiful children will have to deal with and clean up.
Cheers, Steve. XRWA Grandparents member.
i count now all the time too, it's kinda fun!
For decades, if anyone had suggested to skip breakfast, I would have responded with an absolutely not, I had to have breakfast before going to work. I was convinced I would not be able to do it, to the point of occasionally making myself late for work in this belief that I just MUST have breakfast, as I’d need the energy provided to get me through the morning (most important meal of the day etc). About 3 years ago I started a 16/8 time restricted eating regime, and to my great surprise, skipping a traditional “breakfast” proved to be actually pretty easy. After so long eating early, the mind/body expects food at those times, but I did as suggested, and drank water if I felt that hunger arise. After a week or so, it was fine. Just drink water and keep busy, and the hunger quickly passes. I now consume my first non water food/drink around 11:30-12:00, and finish my last meal/drink before 8pm. For me, it was completely the opposite as far as energy levels in the morning, I felt less lethargic, and more alert, generally sharper before midday, by skipping the early breakfast. I also found that the first meal of the day tastes better if left until later, with just water drunk until then. i.e even if I just delayed the same bowl of cereal until midday, it was nicer than if eaten early. My speculation is that having drunk at least a couple of glasses of water before midday, I was better hydrated before my first meal. Certainly coffee tastes more bitter to me if I’m poorly hydrated, so it wouldn’t surprise me if it was also affecting my first early meal previously. Anyway, if you are horrified at the thought of routinely skipping a traditional early breakfast, from someone who repeatedly said they would never ever be able to that, give it a go, you may surprise yourself.
Tim was quite negative about some foods etc, due to how they spiked his glucose levels, but as mentioned several times, we need a personalised approach. If oats don’t spike your glucose levels, then is there really any reason not to have them as a meal? Same goes for a homemade sourdough or whole meal flour loaf, if it doesn’t spike that person’s glucose levels are there any issues with eating it?
Finally, I know Tim sees little evidence of the benefit in D supplementation, but it’s such an important Vitamin (pre hormone in D’s case) for general health and the immune system. With Winter almost here, I do again have concerns over the levels of insufficiency and deficiency in the UK, if we rely solely on getting it from our food. This is especially the case for vegans whose only real option is mushrooms, which as mentioned, make D if exposed to UV. However most mushrooms grown aren’t exposed to UV light, and even UV exposed mushrooms have significantly less D than meat and fish. The half life of D in the body, means any Summer Sun built reserves are going to be severely depleted by mid Winter in most people, and I’d be surprised if levels in vegans who don’t supplement aren’t at least insufficient by Christmas/New Year. There are only so many mushrooms/mushroom meals one can eat.
Valter Longo, who is a well known biogerontologist and cell biologist strongly recommends not skipping breakfast.
@@CrumbleLives He also has said that if you do choose to skip breakfast to only do that 5 days a week.
there are many many reasons to avoid grains.
personally the glucose spike is the least of the concern .. will be interesting to try a wearable down the line as Tim has done.
the wheat belly book (2011) addressed a plethora of hidden aspects to grains, shame it came out 4 years after I painfully isolated bread as the culprit in my own health (2008) .. so I didn’t end up reading it until just a handful of years back. shocking stuff in there.
the perk of diary is the fat.
the more that is removed the more harm it does.
I don’t know if any creature should drink milk .. it should be thrown away probably.
organic cream is the healthy part.
but .. not the milk.
which is where I feel the bulk of milk production should be used for. turning it into dairy foods .. as the microbes transform it into something new.
Yes! D3 K2 and magnesium, preferably chelated.
@@patriot20000 Rich Roll Podcast with Valter Longo, 4 July 2022 38 min: “..now that we have metanalysis showing that if you skip breakfast you live shorter and have more cardiovascular disease and probably more cancer” .. “certainly don’t skip breakfast”
Learned a lot here! We have a local artisanal bakery that makes what they call Bird Bread, based on a sourdough starter. "Bird Bread: comes from the large quantities of seeds in the dough - wonderful stuff!
Could listen to Tim for hours, down to earth, brainy and informed, self effacing, wanting to make a positive difference to people's and animals' lives and the planet 💕 🌎🌍🌳🌳🙏
Living as I do in Islamabad, we don’t have the choices you do, but the adage ‘ Eat (real) foods, not too much, mainly plants’ has really helped me as a guiding principle.
Better not to get your laughable nutritional guidelines from the scientifically ignorant journalist Michael Pollan.
@@Fitzrovialitter I think..quoting another saying…’ you should not criticise another until you have walked a mile in his/her mocasins’
@@doctorjenny Enjoy your snake-oil guru.
@@Fitzrovialitter Before you become any ruder, I have practised medicine in this town and elsewhere for 50 years. So far I have enjoyed a good reputation using a mixture of allopathie, nutrition and counselling in a place with complex medical problems. This is the last you will hear from me, as I suspect you are the kind of person who enjoys attacking others online.
Re:calcium and bone health - my 85yo, former RN, Aunt improved her bone density by regularly taking a boron supplement after reading research suggesting that was much more effective for bone health than calcium alone. Even though there have been quite a few studies on the importance of boron for calcium uptake by the bones it doesn’t seem to have become common knowledge yet the way that the relationship between vitamin C and iron, for instance, has.
I have a minor autonomic system dysfunction, so sometimes have no appetite for weeks on end. Mushrooms can be a lifesaver in those times, as their high levels of B group vitamins seem excellent at restarting appetite cues.
Dr Spector, I really enjoyed The Diet Myth but I knew nutrition knowledge would continue to evolve because there's so much interest in it. Thanks for continuing to share your new finds.
lol. Evolve? All this has been known for years. Spector is very very late to the table.
I watched this whole video twice to try and find out why Tim changed his mind about salt, and what was the change but I still didn’t find out!
I was waiting to hear that too!
These two🤩, love Jonathan's excitement and passion and Tim's cool, calm and matter of fact demeanour. Perfect combination and love Zoe podcasts
Who is he? Curiously, the video maker fails to identify him..
@@rupertwilson7020 Jonathan Wolf is ZOE cofounder and CEO.
00:10 - Topic introduction
02:53 - Quickfire questions
04:11 - Has Tim changed his opinion on anything while writing his new book?
04:57 - Tim’s new book: Food for Life
06:51 - Today’s topic: 5 foods Tim got wrong
08:11 - #1: Bread
11:56 - What has Tim’s opinion changed about bread?
14:20 - #2: Personalization
17:28 - How has Tim’s breakfast changed?
25:16 - #3: Milk
28:42 - Skim milk vs whole milk
31:50 - What kind of milk does Tim have?
33:59 - #4: Mushrooms
37:14 - #5: Ultra-processed foods
45:56 - Summary
47:50 - Will Tim write another book?
48:29 - Goodbyes
48:33 - Outro
Thanks for this.
Thanks for this thoughtful and informative video. Absolutely,the best thing that ever happened to me was to use a glucose monitor. Eliminated food spikes. Especially bread, now I just put everything that used to be in a sandwich on a plate.
Have you tried rye bread?
So simple really. Just remove the bread!
@@kiwichickie1975 , try you blood sugar 1 hour after eat bread, rye is better.
@@jameskantor0459 unless you have diabetes, blood sugar spikes just means your body is working. The goal is not to have a completely flat blood sugar level
If I fancy a burger I just wrap it in lettuce.
I don't eat bread, not because I'm carb averse, but because there's something about modern bread that's doughy and lacking substance and I don't like how it makes me crash later on. I like Danish rye crispbreads. People think I'm weird, say I'm eating cardboard. Professor Spector has confirmed that the reason I naturally gravitate toward dark rye crispbreads is because I instinctively know they're just rye flour and salt with a lot of fibre. They also take longer to eat than a slice of the fluffy stuff. Whilst the French might have cornered the market with the baguette, the Danish know a thing or two as well.
I don't like the tastevof 100% rye bread, but I like the fluffy stuff even less. Thats why I bake my own bread.
During lockdown I started making oat milk at home. I copied the ingredients from a carton. I use about 100ml dry oats in 1 litre cold water. Soak in cold water 15 minutes. Usually I come back much later when convenient for the making. Then add sunflower oil…..1 tablespoon. (More oil makes it creamy, too much coffee gets oily dots) Blend up in a food processor or hand held food processor to make an emulsion. Then using a fine sieve, scooping the solids out I get an oat milk. Best to use a container with a lid so the milk can be shaken up before use…..it settles. It keeps well in the fridge. Mostly we use it to add to coffee or pancakes ( made with a mix of different types of flour).
Sunflower oil. That doesn’t sound healthy.
Sunflower oil is a PUFA, highly inflammatory and linked to so many modern day diseases. Personally I stick to organic cows milk, nature cannot be beaten imho, however I do appreciate some cannot tolerate dairy (although for many it’s more a lifestyle choice and not allergy/intolerance related). Also raw organic milk is much more tolerable and is fantastic made into kefir, a ton of good microorganisms for the gut.
NO SEED OILS...Check out on yt!!!
I'm not so fond of water and oat only. I started oat milk to avoid dairy milk industry and animal welfare issues
It's not milk. Milk comes from a animal. it's oatmeal juice! Quit lying to yourself.
This is interesting. My wife is from Macedonia and they have a salad with all main meals. Thus, from the earliest age our kids were introduced to salads and all veggies. They both eat lots of veggies and salads now even in their early 20,s.
So what was the big change in attitude to salt? I've gone from not adding salt to my home cooked meals, only to discover that I was dangerously low in sodium! I'm now building up to have a bit more salt in my diet and my low blood pressure is much more under control. Over my lifetime we have been told to eat or not eat such a variety of foods, whereas doing anything to excess is often counter productive. It's great to hear Tim debunk some of these exhortations!
Please don’t listen to low sodium diet, it will give grave danger in life.
I don’t really like salt, so don’t use it much. I get unsalted foods and never add it. I think I’m pretty low in blood pressure and food tastes better with a little salt (brings out the flavor). And our bodies need salt to function. Food are either labeled good or bad, and I have to remember that Moderation is probably the best.
I'm curious as to how you determined that you were dangerously low in sodium? I've been following a very-low-salt & low-sugar diet for the past 10 years or so and have not had any health issues (so far). On the plus side, my chronic anxiety & irritability pretty much entirely disappeared after cutting out these additives. There are cultures like the Yanomamo aboriginals who have ultra-low-sodium diets (averaging
@@pida9669 Blood tests will show sodium levels so perhaps that is how cindyjefferies knew. I was told I was very low in sodium after a heart valve repair operation, and told to eat salty crisps! I didn’t, but I did start adding salt to my food after decades of not adding it to anything I cooked or ate because I thought it was bad for us full stop. Over two years later, my blood sodium levels are still a bit low, but much better than before. So cutting out salt is not always good, or perhaps it’s a matter of personalisation, it’s not good for some people. Cutting out or down on sugar is another matter, and I can well believe that anxiety and irritability (in my case tiredness and daytime sleepiness) disappear on cutting it out.
@@Jojotonks I wonder: before you started adding salt to your food, were your sodium levels "Low but within the normal range" or "below the normal range" (hyponatremia)? Were there other factors that may have caused your low sodium levels, or was it purely diet-related? Thanks for your feedback... 🙏🏼
Looking forward to reading the book. One of the major things I've learned in my health journey is that foods are not black and white healthy or unhealthy. They have healthy aspects and healthy aspects
I keep hearing reinforcement for my grandmother’s Eastern European diet of fermented foods, slow cooked sour dough rye bread and oily fish. She’s passed and taken her fermentation knowledge with her. I’m going to embrace mushrooms more. I tried spawning some mushrooms unsuccessfully, so I just buried the huge white mycelium beside a buried rotting tree root. I’ll have another go growing micro greens beside mushrooms with my symbiosis theory, for fun with the children.
Personalisation is my takeaway thoughtfom this good discussion!! Thank you very good interview and straight to the point no fluff from what I heard. I will try to get the book. Thank you.
There’s lots of info on fermentation out there, if you wish to follow in your lovely grandmother’s footsteps. Good luck with your mushroom growing!
Please l
I am very Leary of anyone who focusses on blood sugar spikes as their main area of concern. It might make one afraid of eating oat groats, fruit and some vegetables thereby eliminating many very healthy foods. I would never get a continuous blood sugar device. It would just be a source of constant worry. I easily eliminated sweet snacks, white breads and almost all “ brown” breads (which in Canada are made brown with the addition of molasses) and very nearly all meats. At 61 and still obese, I take no medications, am losing weight and loving exercise. Eat (real) food, mostly plants, not too much and stop fretting about the minutiae.
@@MemoryAmethyst Yes, you also get a spike in blood pressure after a coffee. Your body adapts, don't give up coffee if you have elevated BP.
thank you dr. Tim and Mr. Jonathan for this insightful podcast. It is needed to share with the world the truth about the health benefits of certain foods and foods we should avoid in order to maintain our health. Reimara
Around 43:30 Tim talks about ultra processed foods making you more hungry. I don't think it's anything in the food. It's what is NOT in the food. The body wants certain nutrients which are lacking in the processed foods and makes you want to eat more and more "looking" for those missing nutrients.
Oh thank goodness you mentioned dark rye! Love it! The darker and heavier the loaf the better. Are you a fan of Pumpernickel?
I love black bread also, but its very hard to find.
@@marybusch6182 Try at a European food store, Polish store, and sometimes German butchers get it in once a week, if you order it.
@@marybusch6182 sourdough rye bread does not have to be really that dark, I made my own sourdough bread from 100% wholemeal rye last summer (making the root is dead easy but it takes a few days) and the colour was only marginally darker. Rye has low gluten content so it doesn't rise and become fluffy like the bread we are used to buying from a shop and the crust becomes hard during baking process, hence most dark rye you can find in a shop have some wheat content to improve the texture. A lot of the really dark rye bread colour comes from a malting process, cocoa powder or if molasses is used to feed the root, depending on the bread.
I love it
I bought Tim's latest book recently but haven't read it yet. After watching this I'm really looking forward to reading it. My own experience is that some foods that may be good for a healthy person can have a deleterious effect on a person with a particular health problem: so you have to be very careful. This supports Tim's experience with personalisation.
it will be outdated by the time you get it
I find the ultra processed food triggering over eating and hunger really interesting. I really struggle with hunger and it's gotten significantly better with eating more fiber but I also have cut out a lot of highly processed foods. I still eat them, because the convenience, taste, and enjoyment are very nice but this gives me something to think about when choosing food in the future. I wonder if my difficulty with satiation and feeling full has been largely caused by this factor.
Hi, have you read a book called "ultra processed people" by Chris van Tulleken, I did and it totally changed the way I feel about food, ultra processed food and also real food, if you haven't read it, you might want to give it a try if you possibly can 👍
Not feeling full is an indicator of hormonal imbalance between ghrelin and leptin. That imbalance’s root cause is insulin resistance due to regular and frequent high blood glucose.
Very interesting. Impressed that Tim goes through all the tests before expecting others to. Just to say, the best food I've ever had was in Vietnam (all fresh and/or straight out of the sea, no milk and very little bread products). Remember feeling like a different person. Second in southern Italy where staying on an agriturism farm, everything was cooked from scratch and mostly from the farm and sea. Although we did indulge in croissants and cakes at breakfast because they had just been made. Remember feeling extremely content. A happy stomach is a happy person IMHO.
Or maybe you felt great because you were on holiday?
I was working
@@ritawilliams8508 You were in interesting, different, lovely places (agritourism farm in Italy). You don't think that could have contributed to your wellbeing?
@@andrevanderwalt69 agriturism was holiday so yes and people lovely as well as the food.. Yes being somewhere interesting helps but food and people make the biggest difference. Ps Brussels also has fabulous food at all.prices.
Vietnamese food is amazing (wouldn’t have it in the UK as it’s usually tailored to a UK person), so health and absolutely delicious. I used to think nothing could beat Thai food but I was so wrong!
I've just fully signed up to the UK arm of the Zoe personalisation study and am waiting for my test kit to arrive. I feel excited that I will be able to learn what my body likes and dislikes, so to speak. I have my suspicions, but for example I would not have thought that porridge might be a tricky customer. I experience massive energy lows, to am really keen to figure out why.
Dear Professor Spector - thank you for this fascinating information. You mentioned that you studied osteoporosis for several years and I hope you can answer my concerns. I have recently been diagnosed with severe osteoporosis following a bone scan after I tripped over a hose and fell and broke my wrist in the garden. Apparently, I have a very high risk of fracture of the spine and have been told I have osteopenia of the neck and hip. This has really come as a nasty shock to me. I recently had a consultation with a specialist nurse at the hospital who told me that because of my age (69), slight Barratt's syndrome, and the severity of my osteoporosis, the only treatment is for me to take calcium supplements and have an infusion of zoledronic acid (Aclasta). I have to admit that I'm concerned about the infusion and surely the acid (which I'm told kills of the cells in the bones that are breaking down the bone structure), delivered into a vein in the hand, also enters all my organs including my heart. Is this correct? This really scares me. Thank you for any advice you are able to give me. Best regards Sylvia
Hi Sylvia! I invite you to watch Matt Chalmers talk about the role of testosterone for osteoporosis in this video:
[ I Want to Get Healthy Where Do I Start? | Dr. Matt Chalmers | Fad or Future Podcast | Joey Thurman ]
ruclips.net/video/SnMCjDo238g/видео.html&ab_channel=JoeyThurman
Great health to you 😌
David
I refused the infusion, the risk outweighs any perceived benefit.
Have a look on a post up here. Scroll a little up. Of someone getting ex ellent results by adding boron to the calcium .
I had some bone loss in lower vertebra but hip fine. I decided not to take the medication because it can result in necrosis of the jaw. I take Vit D, K2, fish oil and magnesium. No longer have a problem. I saw a couple of US videos about some medications for osteoporosis causing brittle bones and increasing the likelihood of fractures. I don't take calcium as I get plenty in my diet.
@@RuthDunstan - thank you for your comment - I also take those supplements so that’s really encouraging to hear. Unfortunately when I declined the infusion, I received a scolding letter from the hospital saying that they were discharging me from their care fir osteoporosis and no further bone scans would be offered to me. I’m currently having a few physio sessions for my knee and my physio has insisted I have a proper conversation about having the infusion with my GP. I’ve asked for an appointment but I’m not looking forward to the conversation with her because another doctor plus the hospital have stressed that the instances of the horrible side effects are extremely rare. I’m going to stand firm against having the infusion.
Btw, the subtitles missed the ‘Chorleywood’ process of making fast factory bread using ascorbic acid as part of the process to minimised all that kneading and proving.
I'll be buying the book! Still trying very hard to work out the healthiest diet for me. I recently switched to porridge and seeds and berries with plant-based milk for breakfast. Seems I may not be making the best choice there. There are so many conflicting messages. With the best will in the world, it's really tricky to know whether you are doing the right thing. Hopefully Tim's book will help to clarify.
Perhaps wearing a glucose monitor for a couple of weeks would help you to see what foods spike your blood sugar. That would simplify things for you.
@@judylloyd7901 where I could buy a glucose monitor? Do I need to join Zoe's program?
Quit calling it milk. It didn't come from an animal. You are drinking nut juice! Embrace the nut!
@@witcan6001 with the best will in the world, no. 😆
Agree there’s a lot of conflicting information. Tim seems fairly solid compared to the glucose goddess. There are some good nutritionists on RUclips like Abby Sharp she seems to take a straightforward and common sense approach to things.
Yes, I too found my BSL was 10.5, 2 hrs post organic steel cut oats!! Not what I expected. Thought I was lean and fit. I think we need to start this monitoring in childhood.
I'm having spikes too but my hba1C is only 32. Bread sends mine up plus rice cakes and houmous!
Me too !
Huge surprises from a guy who, until today, I thought lived in an academic ivory tower remote from real life issues. Hopefully Tim will now continue to address some questions which we face every time we go shopping AND discuss how we can balance nutrition with weight loss. It took years but he's starting to get real.
I'm an academic. I also clean my own bottom after pooing.
I was happy to hear "what is good for the planet" mentioned as one of Tim's considerations, as one of my questions of the Zoe recommendations was if avocado is so good for you, we would encourage everyone to eat it more, but it would not be sustainable in terms of transporting avocado to every corner of the world. In other words I am glad to hear that personalisation done well also means taking into account what ingredients are available to you in terms of both cost and carbon footprint.
For a better life keep striving and searching for a healthy diet never give up keep striving and searching over and over again from Johannesburg South Africa 👍💕
On the mucous production aspect, I gave up milk and other dairy for ethical reasons rather than health specifically, but I did find my breathing got a lot better. I'd spent most of my life breathing through my mouth as my nose was seldom clear, but these days I can breathe through my nose most of the time. Sadly I've yet to find a plant-based milk that doesn't split in my coffee
Oat barista? Works for my husband
Oat works for me, doesn’t split
Plenish almond is the best I’ve used.
Any of the Plenish ones if you live in the UK- the hazenut one is to die for
Tim Spector is such an excellent, sobering guest. In my opinion, there is no nonsense there, just scientific findings. As usual, Jonathan moderates like a champ. Definitely getting the book, and will likely get copies for my siblings. Appreciate all your hard work at Zoe.
Have you undertaken the Zoe subscription nutrition programme or is it a waste of money?
@@michellea9857 I haven't undertaken their nutrition subscription program at this time. I do my own thing at the moment. Frankly, I haven't looked at it, so I can't comment either way.
I recently joined the Zoe community and it has completely revolutionised the way I am eating, so thank you so much for this. I find all the discussions/interviews extremely helpful to support my journey and better understanding of how food affects the gut biome and our general health. I do have a question that at the moment I fail to get an answer that I understand. I recently had my scores back and have 30 for blood sugar, 31 for fat control and 31 for diet assessment, and that made sense. But what I cant understand is why my gut microbiome score came out at 88, considering I have had bad gut health for as long as I can remember, suffering with IBS, SIBO, Candida, I have so many intolerances to food, which all surely relates to poor gut health, but then a excellent gut health result through the Zoe testing!! Can someone please explain, I have been on the chat with one of your nutritionist coaches but am not able to take away from that an understanding of the result in this section.
Could you do a podcast sometime on the effect of salt on Zoe scores? I notice a cup of black beans cooked in salted water scores very poorly whereas the same amount ot beans cooked in unsalted water have an excellent score. Is this just a general penalization of sodium built into your algorithm or do salted foods greatly influence glycemic response through some kind of mechanism? Great job you two...always an interesting discussion.
Excellent question, I hope someone can answer
Scammers are everywhere.
About skimmed milk. Technically sugar is slightly higher in skimmed milk because you’re only reducing the fat so the part that’s increased in the percentage of the milk is the part that contains sugar. I tried to tell this to a dietitian I was seeing who told me to drink skimmed milk but they just said ‘they don’t add sugar to skimmed milk’ trying to explain what I meant went over their head. Also full fat milk is often barely 4% fat. It’s not really that much. I also find it’s easier on the stomach than skimmed.
Exactly
even at 1.75x speed this was a slog. 50 minute video of us watching a man come to the realization of what he ought to have known before publishing a book on food.
Maybe worth mentioning along the lines of a personalised approach that gluten intolerance is fairly common. My health has changed so much for the better since cutting this out.
Also, I agree with your comments on plant milk but there is at least one brand of almond milk that contains almonds, water and salt only.
All of this is wonderful and I'm always impressed with people who are willing to change paradigms as the science of nutrition evolves. The common theme of the importance of managing blood sugar has exploded in recent years. Most of the "influencers" on social media have adopted continuous blood glucose monitors that give them a very personalized and immediate feedback on their diets and the impact of foods on their blood glucose levels. Unfortunately, for those of us who don't have diabetes and aren't physicians (or personal friends with one) don't have access to these tools. Hopefully they'll be available to everyone at some point in the future.
It was obvious Tim was wrong 5 years ago.
i'm pretty sure anyone can buy a continuous blood glucose monitor. even if not, you can buy a glucose monitor and test strips at most pharmacies. testing yourself in the morning (fasted) and then 1h and 2h after a meal will give you a good idea of your baseline BG and response to different foods.
@@jraaccounts They are not available in the UK over the counter. You have to have a prescription to get them there. Luckily, they are not banned from being imported. A lot of UK visitors abroad will buy them overseas and bring them back.
I love these videos. I was invited to join the personalisation study with a big fiscount but still couldn't afford £50 a month. It's a real shame that it's not more accessible price wise for those on benefits or low income.
Absolutely agree with you. £50 a month. Discounted!
Yes I absolutely cannot afford this.
There’s masses more in the book! Fantastically informative and so good to hear the ‘real’ science behind food choices. Absolutely love the food tables & tips at the end of the book.
This book by Prof.Tim Spector is now my fave go to together with Eat to Beat Disease by Dr.William Li. Thank you so much!
Excellent and fascinating content but surely the biggest question has to be - how does Johnathan put up with that plant almost in his face the whole time?
I find it very hard to follow your healthy diet because I follow a low tyramine diet because of my migraine triggers. Tomatoes, nuts, seeds, soya, tofu etc and fava beans are out and peppers give me bad indigestion. Please can you suggest diets for people with other chronic illnesses because there are a lot of people out there that can’t always eat some of the fooods suggested because of other illnessses.
Interesting session thank you. I wonder if there is a difference betweena standard portion of cooked porridge and raw soaked rolled oats. The latter I find is easily digestible whereas porridge eaten at any time of the day causes a massive spike in blood sugar complete with headache.
I suppose this just proves the point that every body is different.
I like Tim and his new awakening regarding food myths that some of us have been sceptical about for years. I particularly like his attitude to the food industry and that he realises that the industry is there to make profit -just like a company making widgets or whatever - and the good of our health really doesn't enter their thinking. It's just a pity that he doesn't examine the evidence regarding the pharmaceutical and Net Zero industries with that same degree of scepticism.
Tim's book is not available in the US. labeled " out of stock"
@Johnny Long good point
@Johnny Long it’s not so much his ideas about dairy as the facts based on huge amounts of research. The dairy industry is an environmental catastrophe and we need to wean ourselves of the huge consumption of cheese and dairy products generally for the sake of our health and the planet’s. The land can be used for many other benefits.
@@mrscpc1918 completely 'reductionist' to use one of his terms. Utterly wrong, considering that even rich foods, at the right 'dose', are very healthy, such as cheese and other dairy CAN be. E.g. the 'mass produced' irish butter keerygold, is very rich in omega. NZealnd produces a huge amt of the dairy for the world. Learn some thing about dairy--it's a vital food, that i tried for a decade to heavily reduce, only to become malnourished when i relied on other nutritious things including masses of plant based foods, but there is a limit for me and for maaaany maaany ppl. Stop the religionizing of food, which is a personal and personalizable thing, as this co shows.
i just got the book yesterday! And i'll be reading it in summer. Pointless why i declared all that but it's the first time i've been so excited to get a book.
Listening to this is fascinating but frustrating. Being gluten, avenin and dairy intolerant I have to use substitutes to have variety. It would be so helpful to have advice on how to make decisions on which substitutes will be best in this case.
Half way through this discussion I ordered Tim´s new book. Can´t wait to read it. All so very fascinating. Thank you.
What about salt as you alluded to you changed your thoughts on salt?
How have your thoughts changed?
Thank you ! it's wonderful that you take the time to share this information!
There is a French nutritionist (her name escapes me at the moment), who suggested taking some apple cider vinegar with some protein fat and fiber before your meal to mitigate the sugar spikes.
Apparently this works quite nicely, in addition to moving around somewhat after eating (some light exercise)
It works wonders for my heartburn and gassy stomach issues after eating. Just apple cider vinegar with water.
This is covered on a Zoe podcast, along with other hacks to reduce glucose spikes.
Yes, this is what I already do, thanks to the advice of Dr Michael Greger on his Nutrition Facts channel - blueberries, apple cider vinegar and or (the fat in ) nuts will reduce the sugar spike. Check out his channel! See what long term damage full fat dairy yoghurt will do to a prostate gland or a breast - even if it does not cause a sugar spike!
Approx 15 years ago a friend told me about cider vinegar helping her to lose weight and kept her free of colds. I have since taken 50 mls cider vinegar in 250 mls water before every meal. I am a very fit 72 year old, with no aches or pains apart from arthritis in one finger joint. My weight is constant. Colds are rare. I have no idea whether the cider vinegar has had any influence.
Her name is Jessie Inchauspe & she was on a previous Zoe podcast.
Great talk. I am glad I am not the only one whose blood sugar goes off the scale with oats or anything oat-related. I was shocked when I experimented with a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) and found that oats peaked my blood glucose higher than anything else and for longer, including chocolate, ice cream, even Krispy Kremes doughnuts.
Yikes, I have oats most mornings 😬
@@Vicky-qu4yw So was I, for years. Great for bringing down cholesterol, but apparently that is because of the high glucose it creates in the blood. (I can't remember the guy that did that experiment - essentially a false indicator of something good. How do you feel after eating oats? any tummy issues or dizziness etc?
This is the first of your RUclipss I’ve really wanted to listen to every word. Thank you very much both of you and the book is on my Christmas list.
Baking your own using a diverse range of flours and seeds packed with fibre is absolutely fantastic - everything in moderation adapted to your particular body - sourdough sourdough sourdough and soooo very easy in fact
I wonder what Tim thinks about salt? My take is that you need to sodium added to food if you do not eat processed food.
There was a pretty well done study about a decade ago which suggests we need 10-15g of salt (or 3-5g of sodium) per day for optimal health, less was generally worse than more. Still a bit unclear how other foods affect this need, for example type 2 diabetics generally should have less as the insulin makes their body retain more salt
This is so fantastic, thank you. Finally, scientists and doctors catching up with us 🌞
A lot of old news rehashed, as if he was eating packaged muesli full of sugar and believing it's healthy. Rye bread is so heavy and full of preservatives often it's also very heavy and unappetising usually.
Any milk except full fat milk is made in a factory….squeeze an almond and see what happens, I’ve been vegetarian and was very I’ll with autoimmune issues,I’m now low carb mainly carnivore and feel amazing
Could you please do a video addressing food allergies and OAS, NOT gluten allergies, which one can find information on anywhere.
I will get the book, but it would be nice to hear a discussion on frozen food versus ultraprocessed food, as frozen food is a fast, accessible way for many of us to eat, but I don't think it necessarily means that it is ultraprocessed?
I think frozen food is probably ok
If veg are just par cooked and frozen, that isn't ultra processed. It should be fine
I find milk homogenised aggravates my sinuses and diverticulitis if it's pasteurized only I don't have a problem so are there any studies and for these processes, I know the particles are blasted extremely small in the drying process could it be aggravating the lining of the gut?
It would be wonderful to hear this as an audio book read by Tim. 😄
It is available on audible as an audio book but narrated by Leighton Pugh who does a great job (lovely engaging English voice!)
@@penelopekostick743 thanks for the info!
Tim dear I'm yr grand aunt hre at 76 💛 wishing u2 smile more often 'n be less overly serious in yr nature ...in dis ever changing short fleeting life!! Strive hard, relax 'n enjoy more❣️
I'm curious if the studies on dairy included affects on acne and also if any differences were found from consuming raw milk.
I achieved huge health benefits when I switched to raw milk. The processing is the problem, not the milk itself.
@@edithnell227 That's awesome! They should do studies...
@@youlknowmyname No money in that I'm afraid.
There was a study conducted many years ago published in a little book, Pottenger's Cats, still available.
Also, if you're interested, check out Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price.
@@edithnell227 Nice! I meant more Zoe should maybe include in their next study the difference between raw and pasteurized milk.
I don’t know what you guys do with yr dairy cows in Great Britain but I grew up on a dairy farm in Canada & our cows always grazed outside on grass . The only time they were indoors was during milking and when it got too cold outside in the winter. They had better lives than some people do.
You really believe that all those millions of cows in Canada live that way 😂
Interesting. I'm trying to find out if and why sourdough bread is considered to be healthier than wholemeal bread. Anyone any idea? Sourdough is usually made with white flour, so it's not the flour itself and baking kills off the starter, so it's not the starter itself. What exactly is left that is more nutritious than the whole grain in wholemeal?
It's because it's naturally fermented and only has two ingredients. You can of course have wholemeal sourdough which would obviously have more fibre and if you're going to have any bread, it's the best choice especially if it's organic. You just have to glance at the ingredients in shop bought sliced wholemeal bread and it'll put you off! At least it should!
It’s the longer slower fermentation process , usually overnight.
The fermentation uses up some of the sugars too.
Its flour, wild yeast and a little salt - no preservatives, whether its good or bad for you is only one factor - it tastes better and you dont eat so much. Dead easy to make, just needs patience and a bit of practice - I do wholemeal only now
It’s natural high acidity level - which prevents moulds even many days after - makes it easier to digest
I appreciate that diets should be personalised but how can an individual find out what suits them - do we have to sign up to your study to measure blood sugar etc?
Functional medicine has been saying this and more for decades...not a mention of those key practitioners and academics. Ah well, at least this platform can admit it is bringing itself up to date.
A workout before breakfast or even a gentle walk will lower blood sugar spikes. Not eating for an hour after getting up as well.
Regarding milk since when is it necessary at all for adults? What are the effects of cow’s milk estrogen and igf1 on human health ?
I find it really weird how people focus on tiny aspects in diets to improve health. But at the same time we ignore giant aspects of our lives such as living with air and water pollution; and the lack of safe space for cycling, which contributes to the car obsession and general poor health of the country.
It’s always about what individuals can do for themselves, rather than what we can all do for each other to make our lives better; and to take it the whole way, I’m sure we’ll be wanting to eat better in future, but there won’t be much food available. And we won’t be able to be this picky, precisely because we chose the individual over everyone, and ended up with a broken climate system that barely supports life at all.
And then even right now, we have a society where a lot of people can’t afford food at all. And you’re talking about people who already have great diets moving towards perfect diets. The focus needs to be on fixing all the low hanging fruit in society, and we’re just not close to doing that. We need total systemic change.
Hi Chris. Interesting to read your comment, but I have to say that I found it a bit weird! Firstly, Tim is an expert on the subject on which he is speaking: one wouldn’t expect him to expound on other subjects. I also find it curious that you assume that people who care about feeding themselves and their families healthily don’t care or do anything about other issues. In my experience the opposite is true. My concern for pollution and climate change has lead me, even though I live in a village with abysmal public transport, not to replace my own car. If I can’t take the bus or walk then I share. And trying to keep healthy reduces the pressure on the health service which hopefully will free up resources to tackle pollution, climate change and poverty.
@@susanbloor8541 I get what you mean, and I somewhat agree. I’m not necessarily criticising Tim or Zoe specifically. I do find the science interesting. But I do get the impression that it’s kind of reinforcing the status quo and the idea that the way to solve these big problems is through individual action and general capitalistic ideas, even if that’s not a conscious decision they made.
Of course, eating healthy reduces strain on the NHS and so on. But where are the societal changes that would lead everyone to be able to get there? If they were talking about policies to make healthy food the cheapest option, cycling the easiest way to get around to improve everyone’s health, then that would be covering all the bases. But it feels like it’s aimed just at older, wealthier people who can afford to take these diet measures and pay for personalised health plans, and everything / everyone else is basically ignored. Again, I would assume that it’s not a conscious decision to do that, but that they’ve been moulded to think that way by society. And while Zoe is a diet thing, it’s not just diet. It’s health overall, and there are a lot of other aspects to consider. And those are very low hanging fruit as I said. You would have a far bigger impact on society by supporting cycling like the Dutch, or taxing the rich to pay for electric public transport or subsidising healthy food and so on. But we never hear that anywhere in mainstream society. And obviously I reject your idea of freeing up resources. You’re basically suggesting the opposite of me, which is that telling people to be healthy will save money. As opposed to using the resources we have in all of the hoarded wealth in this country by taxing the rich and directly making the difference. Just telling people to do the right thing doesn’t work, because clearly no one cycles and a large proportion of the population are obese. For example, West Sussex County Council tell people to cycle without ever building any infrastructure, or limiting car use. So no one cycles. That’s not how the Dutch do it.
As long as food manufacturers like associated British foods who donate huge sums of money to the Conservative party are around then we will remain addicted to highly processed food, which makes us eat more and buy more. Tim said it, they employ food scientists deliberately to make this food addictive so we buy more. We all individually need to realise we are being controlled for financial gain by these industries.its going back to basics which is difficult with so much stress in our lives.but then again stress raises cortisol and cortisol makes us want to eat more sugary foods and round and round we go..
@@kiwichickie1975 Well exactly. Where’s the talk about this on the show?
Iceland supermarket is also a Tory party donor and we all know how much processed food they sell...I've been trying to buy whole grain bread like rye from mainstream supermarkets and can't find any. It is only small independent stores that make it,supermarkets make you walk significant amounts of steps just to get to truly healthy food and even then market whole nuts and seeds in the bakery section like it's something we have as a treat when we bake. I see main stream supermarkets akin to an ' escape room' ! Haha, my mission is to buy as little rubbish food before I can escape!
18:00 did you try steel-cut oats? I’m wondering - but sounds like perhaps I should get a blood glucose monitor to check my response to steel cut.
Very interesting talk, thank you! Having just read Food For Life and found it very informative and readable, I'm wondering if Dr Spector could comment on the effect of alcohol on the gut microbiome. His own 'What I eat in a day" described in the book included alcohol on 6 days of the week. Is this no problem at all for the gut flora?
In another video he talks about fermented foods. Alcohol is a fermented food, so I guess that's why it's okay.
@@judylloyd7901 Live bacteria in fermented foods like yogurt are beneficial to the gut. Alcohol kills bacteria. It doesn't seem possible that it wouldn't have a negative effect on the microbiome.
For anyone who may know in the comments;
Why is it that if you have skip breakfast, that same insulin spike does not appear when you first eat e.g. at lunch time? Is it because your body has been awake for a while?
Surely the insulin spike has just been delayed?
Or is this concerning the type of food we eat at breakfast?
Thank you!
Good question!
I don't know the details, only that our bodies react more strongly to food in the morning, likely because waking up requires cortisol, etc. to spike (edit: so it's basically similar to how you gain weight easier when stressed)
To skip breakfast simply eat more healthy fats for your dinner the night before. That's what makes intermittant fasting so easy for the keto community.
I wonder if Tim or other scientists have found whether individuals' responses to different food groups can change over time.
If for example you eat high sugar foods daily for years, especially if it's in your childhood, could that make you well-adjusted to such food groups for the rest of your life?
Could the body stressors and inflammatory reactions be healthy short-term phenomena indicating that your body is experiencing something new and just not used to it yet? (maybe similar to exercise like lifting heavier weights than you did before, or running faster or longer than ever before, which then increases your body capacity - strength, speed, stamina, etc and helps you grow over time?)
@Aki Asghar Koyee - Yes. Exactly. I believe this will be found to be true for some people. I notice a two week (approx) rule that always shows up when I introduced new foods to my diet. By the end of the two weeks those changes are gone. It's similar to the "body getting used to medications or drugs" that after a while a larger dose is needed to accomplish the same effect. I see no reason why this wouldn't apply to food/diet both in a positive or negative way, depending on the person. Dr. Spector has large sugar spikes to foods he loves and has always eaten, for years, but his wife doesn't have any sugar spikes at all to those very same foods that she has also eaten for years, much to his chagrin. He says it's not fair but true.
The thought that these may change over time is a thought I have not realised but certainly is very likely.
And the answer is .... "No". The idea that "I eat foods which are bad for my body for years (such as processed sugars) and my body gets used to them and doesn't have a negative response" is wishful thinking ..... And the reason why So many people now have Diabetes II. If you based your diet on this, it would be tantamount to saying that drinking a bottle of vodka a day for years means you won't be an alcoholic.
@@alexandrasmith7682 Indeed. In fact, insulin spiking is already an adaptation compared to people who almost exclusively eat meat and very low carbohydrate foods, as they don't react to high blood glucose with as quick of an insulin release, leading to damage from high glucose. So we do adapt to some degree to deal with poisons, but those adaptations are rarely free and generally just there to lessen the immediate damage from the poison. And yes, high amounts of glucose are poison, as are relatively low amounts of fructose.
Great podcast guys. Thank you. As you have demonstrated in 2 of your podcasts the subject of mushrooms is fascinating. I'm not a great cook but really making an effort these days to cook with my health in mind. Would you run a podcast on different ways to cook and employ mushrooms in our diet. Thank you. Tony
Love these discussions so informative . I've learnt so much from reading Tim's other two books on food and can't wait to read his latest. Great stuff
Im constantly amazed that nut juice is referred to as milk 🥛 really enjoy the information you bring to us, the masses .
When I'm hospitalised here in Tasmania, breakfast consists of 5 teaspoons of sucrose, orange, or apple juice, white bread, jam, ersatz coffee, skim milk and cornflakes. Fish, cheese, eggs, nuts etc that I eat at home are strictly forbidden. Over a period of a week my fasting glucose rises from 4 mmol/l to the point I'm insulin dependent. The nurses insist that this is a "scientific" diet and that "ideally, it would be 0% fat and 0% protein, since only carbs are essential". At home I control my Type 2 diabetes with diet, not so-called anti-diabetic drugs. The nurses insist that "insulin is good for" me.
Wow, definitely some re education needed there although I think many hospitals are similar unfortunately, so far behind what’s actually healthy! It’s similar in school meals here in the US - ‘healthy’ is low fat and sugar free ie artificial sweeteners :(
A question about bread: could the apparent unhealthiness of bread be related to the fact that a lot of shop-bought bread is ultra-processed (containing emulsifiiers and additives)? Do we see the same effect on blood sugar with home-made bread or bread with fewer ingredients?
Have Zoe got a podcast or something similar all about dairy vs vegan stuff? I know Tim mentions cows milk vs vegan milks here but does the same apply for yogurts? And what about tofu/tempeh - do they contain additives/emulsifiers we need to avoid?
look on the packaging. Must be possible to get pure ones, like here in Germany. Many things can be fermented in theory. Doesn't have to be animal-based. It's the culture that matters for that effect.
This was fascinating! 👏👏👏
Wonderful podcasts thank you. I am not from science background but I’m interested in the science behind your gut studies. What does healthy/unhealthy gut look like? What do microbes look like and how does the scene change when different foods are eaten? Can we have some visuals please? Or can u recommend a website where I can see this?
Many thanks
Have a question on porridge , would there be a difference if instead of using oat flake make it from the original form " groats " un processed .
Oat , almond or any kind of nut milk ,should be called juice as I've still to see an oat or nut to be milked 🙂. Soy milk which is made from 100 % gmo unless organic , has a huge amount of natures estrogen which is not good for anyone Also oat milk is only 10 to 15 % by volume oats, the rest of ingredients include a large presence of canola oil which is inflammatory.
Yes and no. No to cheese, as the saturated fat will raise LDL as well as gradually contribute to insulin resistance by negatively effecting beta-cells. But 100% yes regarding ultra processed food and the gut microbiome. Six months ago, I poured my almond milk down the drain for that reason. No more emulsifiers for me. The more I learn, the more I lean towards whole food plant based for the win.
I used to live on cheese but my cholesterol levels were excellent; my waistline had more to do with eating a lb of milk chocolate every day. Meanwhile, my babysitter had sky-high cholesterol levels despite cholesterol-lowering products and giving up meat and eggs, and eating only unprocessed foods (and being otherwise super-fit) She could only barely keep the levels within acceptable by becoming strict vegan. What I'm saying is that like everything else, food doesn't have the same effect on everyone.
You can make your own plant milk and use natural emulsifiers: they don't have to be chemicals. However, there are plant milks that don't have emulsifiers but they do often have added oi to imitate the creaminess of the milk. Unfortunately, I don't like the oily taste. None of the soy milk brands I used to drink had added oils or emulsifiers though, especially the organic ones. Or you can make your own if you need it for a recipe. :)
Egg yolks were used for washing hair before commercial shampoos because they emulsify the oils on hair so it isn't so greasy. The eggs are also used to emulsify the oil in mayonnaise. At least when you make it yourself... I'm vegetarian but I do encourage others to eat more oily fish, especially if they live in Northern Europe.
Not possible to make sweeping generalisations about cheese and LDL. Everyone is different as Tim has so eloquently demonstrated.(And LDL is not inherently bad unless damaged - glycated or oxidised).
I'm making a sweeping generalization because I'm looking at the forrest away from the trees. I'm more inclined to follow the objectivity of Dr. Kim Williams and Dr Joel Kahn, lifestyle cardiologists, rather than a professor dabbling with his personal reactions to food. I think it's possible he was having blood sugar spikes from oatmeal because his high fat diet is clogging his beta-cells, causing him to be insulin resistant.
@@sectionalsofa fair play. I wish I had as much spare time as you seem to have being able to engage in podcasts by people you’re not particularly inclined to follow. Best of luck and good health to you.
@@jezzab01 I'm 69, retired and a seeker of nuntrtional information. Zoe sometimes has great guests, like Dr. Bulseiwicz. I'm not that familiar with Tim's perspective but I was curious. Now I know. Good health to you too.
I get that rye bread from the supermarket.. it's really good as it fills you up nicely... I wouldn't say it's good for making sandwiches with though.
How do we get all these baking programmes removed from our screens?
Switch them off?
@@robin231176 Already done that, but I pay a license fee so it is not really the optimum solution.
Totally agree. So many cooking programs focused entirely on taste.
Really wished Tim narrated his books vs leighton, they’re unbelievably detailed and funny, love all Tim’s books but food for life is for sure the best one yet, totally fascinating & my young kids love it too, learned so much!
The ultra high processed food that horrifies me is Stevia. when it 1st entered the market it was a green powder. Now it is a very fine white crystal. Ok it doesn't give the glucose spike but I really wonder what it is doing now the producers have made it just like sugar.
Bleach, anyone? Have to wonder.
I did stevia from the beginning, and I never saw it be green. Just because it looks like sugar doesn't mean it has anything to do with sugar. Baking soda looks like powdered sugar. Vodka looks just like water.
@@bouncedancer I worked in a greenhouse with herb plants. Stevia is, of course, a green plant. So something must be done to it to make it white.
@@patriot20000 it's just refined, the stevia glycosides are colorless. That said, while I do believe it is better than sugar, all these substitutes should be used with care.
edit: similarly, sugar canes are green, but sugar isn't
Fabulously informative, thank you, both. Joining Zoe's UK tribe in March 2023. Until then following your guidelines. Once again, thank you.
Thank you, I really enjoyed this video. Not sure I could manage to eat all the good whole foods, really interesting though.
I read an article a few years ago in the newspaper that said about a study that showed people who drank whole milk tended to be slimmer than those who drank skimmed milk, it seemed to be saying one factor was that whole milk made people a bit fuller and they tended not to snack as much.
Also, when they take the fat out of the milk, the sugar content rises per volume
Skim milk has more sugar
I am holding thumbs this project will make it across the channel to France.
I'm also curious how the french artisan bread compares... I don't know anyone in my circle who doesn't eat and none seem to have issues with it. I suspect the baguettes in France are not made of the same 'cloth' as they are in the UK.
I think it’s really disempowering to end by saying; it just goes to show how complex nutrition is. From what I heard, modern “food” is bad for you, traditional foods are much better for you. Surely that’s the simple and empowering message you should be putting out to people to make them feel capable of making healthy decisions for themselves without the need to (pay to) consult anyone?
This comment is far more powerful than the 40 boring minutes I just skipped through.
I’m sure most people knows that it makes sense ..all bread are the same …
😊
l.
@Tim W An even simpler message is that plants are not human food, whether processed or not. And fresh animal products are healthier than processed ones mixed with flour, sugar, and vegetable oil.
@rawmilk mike I'm sure Tim would disagree given that he now recommends eating 30 varieties of plants a week.
Just because some alternative versions of traditional foods aren't as nutritionally viable, doesn't mean that plants are therefore unfit for human consumption. Like animal products, we've been eating them for millenia.
I accidentally discovered Dr Spector today. I pulled out from that video and then found Zoe's project. I registered on that UK waiting list. I feel excited and curious to find out more. I hope that the price of joining the project will be affordable for everyone.
Can't wait to get my hands on the book. I am however very surprised by the fact, that even a scientist has fallen for the "brown bread" scam. In general this interview shows clearly how the western society has lost the touch and common sense when it comes to food. You seem to be rediscovering the facts, that are obvious for the rest of the world (like the sour dough bread, fermented foods or personalisation of diet). I really glad, the technical society gets back to the roots in terms od food, and I appreciate your role in it. Hudge thank U for the hard work and dedication!
How about the difference between A1 and A2 milk?
Dear Tim, Since I'm at the furthest end of the keto scale, as a carnivore, I can tell you 100% that it certainly is doable long term. Just as you are 'carbohydrate sensitive,' as you called it, some of us, it seems, are even more sensitive than that, and the addition of any carb food causes such upheaval and even pain that we simply choose to stay 'keto' because it is certainly the best route for our system. A lengthy period of trial and error, elimination and reinsertion, 13 years ago brought me indeed to the conclusion that one size never fits all, nor is there any single combo that fits all. I don't "do" carnivore as an ideology in the way vegans do; I eat that way bc carby foods - ie: any plant matter - literally makes me ill. So, it's worth continuing your research bc the ins and outs of all this are likely as varied as the number of synapses in the brain.
And doing low carb, or relaxed keto is even easier. For example, I occasionally get quite deep into ketosis (as evidenced by keto rash appearing) even though I still eat the occasional pizza with friends. Not that ketosis itself is my goal.
Could it be that by excluding plants from your diet for years, your gut microbiome is now missing the kind of bacteria that digest fibre, resistant starch, and other nutrients found only in plants? A small
And gradual increase of plants, which are all fibre-containing, would lead to a gradual adjustment of your microbiome. I hope you can do this, as it would be a shame to exclude some of the healthiest and most longevity-promoting foods from your diet.
Best wishes!
At what point after eating should you be looking at blood sugar levels to know if you have had a spike? And, should you compare that to a pre-eating level or a fasting one?
Depends on how insulin resistant you are, but blood glucose generally starts rising about 30 minutes after a meal and will keep rising another 30 - 90 minutes
I was very interested to hear Tim’s findings about milk. My Dad has studied this over many years and as a result, we’ve always used full fat milk. However, has Tim looked into how well the pasture of grass fed cows here in the UK locks in carbon? If I remember correctly, it’s something like 10 times better than cultivated land. I understand that American milk production is very different, but if you buy organic milk from grass fed cows, it is much better for you and the environment.
Based on recent studies suggest that consuming saturated fat in reasonable amounts may not significantly increase the risk of heart disease, as long as you also consume adequate amounts of omega-3 fatty acids:
1. A 2021 observational study found that total saturated fat intake was not associated with a higher risk of heart disease. However, specific high-saturated fat foods had different effects, with yogurt and cheese linked to lower risk, while red meat and butter were associated with higher risk[2]. This suggests the overall composition of foods matters more than just the saturated fat content.
2. A systematic review of randomized controlled trials found that reducing saturated fat intake lowered the risk of cardiovascular events but not the risk of dying from heart disease or other causes. Partially replacing saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat (which includes omega-3s) or whole grain carbohydrates appeared beneficial for heart health[1].
3. Another 2021 study following adults for over 10 years found no connection between total saturated fat intake and heart disease risk. Replacing saturated fats with other macronutrients also had no effect, indicating a low-fat diet may not be necessary for preventing heart disease[4].
4. Omega-3 fatty acids, particularly EPA and DHA found in fish and fish oil, have important benefits for heart health, such as helping lower triglyceride levels[3][6]. Regularly consuming foods high in omega-3s as part of a balanced diet is recommended.
In summary, while the research is still ongoing, these recent studies suggest that moderate saturated fat intake may not be harmful, especially in the context of an overall healthy dietary pattern that includes good sources of omega-3 fatty acids. The types of foods providing the saturated fat also appear to be important. However, more research is needed to fully understand the relationship between saturated fat, omega-3s, and heart disease risk. It's best to consult with a healthcare provider for personalized dietary advice.
Citations:
[1] www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10012519/
[2] www.bmj.com/content/348/bmj.g2272
[3] www.healthline.com/nutrition/omega-3-6-9-overview
[4] nutritionsource.hsph.harvard.edu/what-should-you-eat/fats-and-cholesterol/types-of-fat/
[5] www.healthline.com/nutrition/5-studies-on-saturated-fat
[6] my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/17290-omega-3-fatty-acids
Thank you for this well documented information. While I am mindful of confirmation bias, I agree that the key is a highly varied diet that has a better chance of meeting the complex needs of our bodies. All things in moderation, except plants. Eat loads of veggies and fruits!