Tag Archives: Paleobetic Diet

May 2, 2016 · 2:23 AM

Please Help Keep This Blog Alive

You need a break. Enjoy.

I pay $3 to $12 to license many of the photos and diagrams here. I won’t steal someone else’s intellectual property.

Have you noticed how some blogs just fizzle out? No new posts for a year, then they’re gone?

One reason is that it costs money to maintain them. For instance, I pay WordPress $30/year to keep them from posting advertisements that would interfere with your reading pleasure. I also turn down many offers from marketers who will pay me for access to my audience.

The biggest “cost” of the blog is my time that it takes to write posts.

Steven P. Parker, M.D.

Steven P. Parker, M.D., in 2016

I hope you find my writing worthwhile and interesting. You’ll find information here, at no cost, that should improve your health and longevity. What’s that worth?

If you’d like to support the blog, the best way is to buy one of my books, or recommend one to your friends or relatives. The second best way is to post a review of the book at Amazon.com. Even a brief one. My books are at Amazon.com, Smashwords, and wherever fine books are sold.

I’d be grateful for your support. Your continued readership is also encouraging to me.

Steve Parker, M.D.

PS: I’m based in the U.S. but have lots of readers from the U.K., Australia, Canada, New Zealand, India, and Germany. I’m not sure how easy it is to get one of my paper books in those countries. Ebooks from Smashwords should be widely available.

 

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September 9, 2015 · 1:10 AM

Lose Weight With Contrave, But Don’t Kill Yourself

Open wide!

Open wide!

The FDA recently approved a new weight-loss drug for the U.S. market. It’s marketed as Contrave, a combination of naltrexone and bupropion.

Neither of the components is new. Naltrexone’s been used to treat alcohol and narcotic addiction. Bupropion, e.g., Wellbutrin, is for depression and smoking cessation.

Contrave joins two other recent drugs for weight loss. Belviq and Qsymia were approved in 2012. I still haven’t run across anyone using those.

To qualify for the new formulation, you need a body mass index over 30, or over 27 plus one or more weight-related medical condition such as type 2 diabetes or high blood pressure.

If you haven’t lost over 5% of your initial body weight in the first 12 weeks of use, the FDA recommends stopping the drug.

Potential adverse effects include suicidal thoughts and seizures. More commonly, users may experience headache, nausea, constipation, diarrhea, dizziness, insomnia, and dry mouth. Constipation and diarrhea?!

Even with the drug, you still have to be on a reduced-calorie diet and exercise program.

Why not try the Low-Carb Mediterranean Diet or Paleobetic Diet first?

Steve Parker, M.D.

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February 14, 2015 · 1:13 AM

Recipe: Apple, Pecan, Blueberry Lunch Bowl

paleobetic diet, diabetic diet, low-carb diet

So simple even a redneck like me can make it

My wife and I initially put this together for the Paleobetic Diet, but since I provide the nutritional analysis you can easily incorporate it into the Low-Carb Mediterranean Diet.

Ingredients:

2.5 oz (70 g) apple, diced (“red delicious” variety works well) (this is half a medium-sized apple)

2.5 oz (70 g) pecans, crumbled into small pieces

2.5 oz (70 g) raw blueberries

Instructions:

Mix all together in a bowl, then enjoy.

Servings: 1

Nutritional Analysis:

76% fat

20% carb

4% protein

570 calories

30 g carbohydrate

10 g fiber

20 g digestible carb

1.4 mg sodium

421 mg potassium

Prominent features: Quick and easy. Rich in copper, manganese, and thiamine. Inadequate protein to get you through the day, but you’ll make up for it at breakfast or dinner.

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January 4, 2015 · 2:00 AM

Recipe: Chicken Avocado Soup

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Avocados in soup? Yeah, I was skeptical, too. But it works amazingly well. Since I provide the nutritional analysis below, you can easily work this into the Low-Carb Mediterranean Diet, Ketogenic Mediterranean Diet, or Paleobetic Diet.

Ingredients

1.5 lb (680 g) boneless skinless chicken breast

1 tbsp (15 ml) olive oil

1 cup (240 ml) chopped green onions

1/2 jalapeno pepper (or 1 or 2 peppers if you wish), seeded and minced (use the seeds, too, if you want it very spicy hot)

2 roma tomatoes (5 oz or 140 g), seeded and diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

60 oz (1,700 g) low-sodium chicken broth

salt and pepper to taste (nutritional analysis below assumes no salt added)

1/2 tsp (2.5 ml) ground cumin

1/3 cup (80 ml) chopped cilantro

3 tbsp (45 ml) fresh lime juice (2 limes should be enough)

3 medium California avocados, peeled, seeded, and cubed

Instructions

Heat up the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat, then add the green onions and jalapeño; sauté until tender (1–2 minutes) then add the garlic and cook another 30 seconds or so. Next into the pot goes the chicken broth, cumin, tomatoes, chicken breasts, and optional salt and pepper. If adding salt, I’d wait until just before serving: taste it and then decide if it needs salt. Bring to a boil with high heat, then reduce heat but keep it  boiling, covered with a lid while the chicken cooks through-out. Cooking time depends on thickness of the breasts and may be 15 to 45 minutes. When done, it should be easy to shred with a fork. Reduce heat to low or warm then remove the chicken breasts and allow them to cool for 5–10 minutes. When cool enough, shred the chicken with your fingers and return it to the pot. Add the cilantro. Ladle 1.5 cups (355 ml) into a bowl, add one fifth or sixth of the avocado cubes (half of an avocado) and the juice of 1/4 to 1/2 lime. Enjoy!

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Serving size: 1.5 cup of soup plus 1/2 of an avocado

Servings per Batch: 5

Advanced Mediterranean Diet boxes: 1 veggie, 1 fat, 1 protein

Nutritional Analysis per Serving:

43 % fat

13 % carbohydrate

44 % protein

350 calories

12 g carbohydrate

8 g fiber

4 g digestible carb

638 mg sodium

1,180 mg potassium

Prominent features: Rich in protein, vitamin B6, vitamin C, niacin, pantothenic acid, phosphorus, selenium; plus a fair amount of fiber

PS: You can fancy this up just before serving by adding a couple large triangular corn tortilla chips (broken into a few bits) or half of a 6-inch (15 cm) corn tortilla (first, microwave for 20 seconds, then break into a bits). Both items each add 5 g of digestible carbohydrate; the tortilla chip option adds 60 calories and the corn tortilla adds 25 calories. Shredded cheese might be a nice topper, too.

 

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December 26, 2014 · 1:32 AM

Recipe: Roasted Asparagus, Beef Stoup, and Blackberries

low-carb diet, paleobetic diet, diabetic diet

Dinner time!

Since I give you the nutritional analysis below, you can fit this meal into the Low-Carb Mediterranean Diet, Ketogenic Mediterranean Diet, or Paleobetic Diet.

The entree is a cross between stew and soup; stoup, if you will.

Ingredients:

2 lb (0.9 kg) stew meat, lean, bite-sized chunks (tenderized by the butcher if able)

1 garlic clove, finely minced

6 sprigs cilantro, de-stemmed, whole leaves

2 oz (58 g) sweet onion, diced (1/2 of a small onion)

1/4 of a medium-size green bell pepper, de-seeded, diced (medium bell pepper weighs about 5.5 oz or 155 g)

8 oz (227 g) canned tomato sauce

2.5 cups (590 ml) water

1.25 tsp (6.2 ml) table salt

freshly ground black pepper to taste (1/4 tsp or 1.2 ml?)

16 oz (454 g) fresh raw asparagus, no larger in diameter than your little finger, with any dry or woody stalk cut off and discarded

1.5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

7.5 oz (213 g) raw blackberries

Instructions:

Stoup first. In a frying pan or electric skillet, place the stew meat, cilantro, garlic, bell pepper, onion, and cook over medium heat (350º F or 177º C) until the meat is done. Then add the tomato sauce, two cups of the water, one tsp of the salt, and pepper to taste. Simmer for two hours, then add a half cup water to replace evaporation loss.

low-carb diet, paleobetic diet, diabetic diet

Cooking stew meat. NOTE: this is double the amount the recipe calls for.

paleobetic diet, low-carb diet, diabetic diet

Meat is done and the “gravy” has magically appeared

low-carb diet, diabetic diet, paleobetic diet

Appearance after addition of the tomato sauce and 2 cups (480 ml) water

Now the asparagus. Preheat oven to 400º F or 204º C. Place asparagus on a cooking sheet covered with foil, brush the asparagus with the olive oil, then lightly salt (1/4 tsp?) and pepper to taste. (If you don’t mind cleaning up, just use a baking dish without the foil.) Roast in oven for 8–15 minutes; thicker asparagus takes longer. It’s hard to tell when it’s done just by looking; if it’s still hard, it’s not done. Click for another post I wrote on cooking asparagus and brussels sprouts.

paleobetic diet, low-carb diet, diabetic diet

Asparagus roasted at 400 degrees F for 12 minutes

Enjoy the berries for desert.

low-carb diet, diabetic diet, paleobetic diet

2.5 oz or 1/2 cup of blackberries

Servings: 3 [one serving is 1.5 cups (355 ml) of soup, a third of the asparagus (5 oz (140 g), and 2.5 oz (70 g) berries]

Nutritional Analysis:

40 % fat

12 % carbohydrate

48 % protein

590 calories

19 g carbohydrate

8.5 g fiber

10.5 g digestible carb

1,557 mg sodium

1,778 mg potassium

Prominent features: Rich in protein, B6, B12, copper, iron, niacin, phosphorus, selenium, and zinc

low-carb diet, paleobetic diet, diabetic diet

The fresh cilantro is a nice touch

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September 12, 2014 · 1:34 AM

Which Tree Nut Provides the Most Omega-3 Fatty Acid?

David Mendosa says the answer is the macadamia nut.

Paleobetic diet

Macadamia nuts

A great thing about the macadamia nut is that it’s one of the few nuts with a good omega-6/omega-3 fatty acid ratio. In other words, it’s high in omega-3 and low in 6. This may have important cardiovascular health implications. Macadamias are one of the nuts I recommend in the Low-Carb Mediterranean Diet and  Paleobetic Diet.

David writes:

The first Australian macadamia plantation didn’t begin until the 1880s. And not until 1954 with the introduction of mechanised processing did commercial production became viable. Nowadays about 90 percent of the the world’s macadamia nut production comes from Hawaii, where it has become its third most important crop, according to The Wellness Encyclopedia of Food and Nutrition, University of California at Berkeley (1992).

Read the rest, where you’ll learn that macadamia nuts are the highest of all nuts in calories, gram for gram.

Steve Parker, M.D.

Paleobetic diet

Macadamia nuts on the tree

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