What I Think I've Learned about Staying Healthy

I change my mind so much about what I should eat that I hesitate to make any proclamation about food, supplements and health. 

Now that I've dropped the Esselstyn diet, I see its flaws.  It was thoroughly anti animal fat, that place where we get oil soluble vitamins and right sized omegas. It put me in a position of not having enough of that kind of fat to make muscle and God knows what else. 

It was consistent with so much of what I was being told at cardio rehab, and I fell for it.  After all, they were the experts.

The obvious things to eat and not eat could be put in a one page memo.  And it probably has been at one time or another.   I like lists, and this one is what I think is good.   Please take it with a grain of salt, I'm not perfect.

Let's start with vitamins:  

I like liposomal vitamin C because it stays in your system.  That doesn't mean don't take the other stuff.  

The other stuff has a two hour half life.

Take a B-50 or a good multivitamin with B vitamins included.

I take some DHEA, and I've overdone it at times, so don't overdo it, but if you're a guy getting up in years it is invaluable for better sleep, as long as you don't take too much.   Not sure what to say about women, because I haven't researched that.

I've been taking melatonin  so long that I forgot what it's for, but if you're older take some.  At night before you go to bed.

Develop a source of vitamin E.  Some like wheat germ oil, I don't because it has omega sixes.  Wheat germ is OK because the oil which has the E is gradually leached out of the germ.  Unless you have a problem with gluten. I've been using unrefined Red Palm Oil, because it's high in vitamin E and low in omega sixes.  It's also high in long chain fatty acids, and some heart specialists are twitchy about that.

Historically, the amount of vitamin D that doctors recommend has been woefully low.  I ignore them.  I take 15,000 IU per day, and my understanding is that's not too high.   A conservative amount is 5,000 IU a day.

Get some omegas.  I use animal sources because I don't have the enzyme to convert plant omega-3 to the kind I use: DHA, EPA.   Sometimes I use an expensive fish oil supplement, and sometimes I use cod liver oil.   Sometimes I eat canned Mackerel.   Small fish have less mercury.   Farm raised salmon has too much omega-6. 

Develop a source of fat soluble vitamins.  Eggs, butter, cod liver oil, fatty fish; natural wild caught, because farm fish raised have too many omega-6, because of the feed.

Butter should be from cows in a pasture.  Sometimes called pasture raised butter.

There are only four fat soluble vitamins.  A, D, K and E.

I take MSM (Methylsulfonylmethane); all you need is a gram a day; I take two because I have arthritis and it helps. It is a nutrient that people don't get because of chemicals used in growing food.  

If you eat organic, you may not need it.  

I take Co Q-10, at 400 mg per day because I'm an old man and people don't produce as much as we get older.   I've been taking some B2 to go along with it, but I'm not sure I'm going to keep that up.

My diet is in turmoil because I had vertigo and vomited every day or every few days for a number of weeks.  Food is hard on my gut, so fish makes me sick.  

I make a soup every day and the recipe changes, THIS will give you an idea of what's in it.  The green leafy vegetable helps your arteries, as long as you don't use mouthwash.  There are bacteria in the grooves of your tongue  that begin the digestion process; a necessary step in getting nitric oxide to your endothelium.

Lately I've been eating a lot of bread and cottage cheese.  Get the bread without additives.  Make it organic, keep it simple.

I've since stopped eating cottage cheese because I developed brain fog after some at breakfast.  Allergic reaction. 

I stopped eating sugars and things that have a lot of fructose.   My HDL went up quite a bit and my LDL came down.

I do have a desert once in a while.

Avoid omega sixes like the plague.  Seed oils have tons of the stuff, so do seeds; nuts have a good amount.  Don't eat many nuts. Read the labels on products you buy.  If they use a lot of seed oil, they might not be so good.

Omega sixes are inflammatory.

I like to avoid meat. Unless it's wild it has been fed food high in omega sixes, which is problematic. The red meat in beef has problems because it has iron which is inflammatory, and branch chain amino acids which leads to the creation of TMAO which clogs your arteries.

Some foods contribute to early death, it's good to find out what they are and avoid them.

Be healthy, I wish you a long and happy life!