Author Archives: Gary Fettke

Obesity is a Market Failure

Obesity rates in the USA are related to poverty levels. The same here in Australia. Tasmania has the highest rates in Australia and unfortunately the health problems that go with that.

The economics of obesity and diabetes will push the health system over the edge in the next few years – no question. I have done a paper on that 4 years ago. The government know it. The Health Funds know it. The hospital system knows it and people are starting to see it.

The waiting list just to see me in the Outpatients department of the hospital is fast approaching 12 months. That is getting ridiculous.

https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140716054943-68335342-obesity-is-a-market-failure

A message from Hawaii for Type 1 Diabetics

Low Carb High Fat (LCHF) can have so many benefits for Type 1 Diabetics – apart from for everyone.

Fabulous glucose control for Dave (aged 10) and the role of LCHF for him and the family. They are all in control and far less stressed than the ‘average’ type 1 family. LCHF can have so many benefits for Type 1 Diabetics.

It certainly requires a careful supervised transition but worth considering. Continue reading →

The role of diet in behaviour and aggression

I have been researching away last night on Low Carb High Fat living. Ended up looking at 300 or so articles and abstracts and cross referencing. No question in my mind that the very current literature supports the whole No Fructose concept of a Low Sugar and Carbohydrate diet with elimination of the Polyunsaturated oils.

Drifted across this article looking at minipig behaviour but interesting. There is more to pigs than just the bacon. They can be used for social interaction experiments.

The pigs on a low carbohydrate high fat diet exhibited far less aggressive behaviour and were more social than those on a ‘western diet’ high in sugar and low in fat.

“The minipigs fed a high fat low carbohydrate diet were less aggressive, showed more social contact and had fewer and less severe skin lesions.. were less fearful of a novel object than minipigs fed low fat, high carbohydrate diets.
These results found in a porcine model could have important implications for general health and wellbeing of humans and show the potential for using dietary manipulations to reduce aggression in human society.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24740321

There is more about mental illness at the website.
http://www.nofructose.com/health-issues/mental-health/

https://www.facebook.com/393958287365295/photos/a.407869679307489.94446.393958287365295/669057796522008/?type=3

Germany win that World Cup!

Yes. Fettke is German. My mother was born in Germany and grew up in South America. How can I not have played, coached and followed soccer forever.

At the risk of upsetting some Argentinians, Germany carved up this whole World Cup – and what better to carve up than a good steak!

Who would have thought having a hip replacement at this time was bad timing?

Back to getting some full nights of sleep and my next project underway.

https://www.facebook.com/393958287365295/photos/a.407869679307489.94446.393958287365295/668903833204071/?type=3

‘Starving’ Teenagers and What to Feed Them

This question keeps coming back to me. Teenage years are rarely perfect and you are not going to get their diet right – that’s the reality.

Mums wanting and doing the Low Carbohydrate and High Fat (LCHF) option for their family struggle to feed hungry teenagers and particularly boys. I was one of those teenagers migrating from refrigerator to refrigerator, house to house, carb load to carb load.

I was raised on sugar, carbs and polyunsaturated oils and in retrospect this was a long term disaster – fluctuating weight as a child but lost a lot of that weight as a very active sports ‘teenager’.
I was ‘starving’ all day and eating carbs like no tomorrow – cereals, fruit juice, pasta, rice and ice cream come to mind. I used to knock back, just at home, 4 litres of ice cream every week. I think that massive carbohydrate load had a lot to do with all those pimples (acne) I had growing up. Interesting that acne was virtually unheard of in isolated communities until the introduction of the ‘western’ amount of simple carbohydrates.

What to do now with the knowledge I have now about a NoFructose life decision – LCHF and no polyunsaturated oils.

The first is education and leading by example as a parent. I know that sounds easy but if the whole family are on board rather than just one parent it is easier.

Remember that if you start the day with a sugar and carbohydrate load then your teenager will be hungry through the day and have started the yoyo of blood glucose and insulin responses which tend to drive the hunger response.

Get the breakfast right. Get up early and cook that breakfast. Last night’s leftovers of meat and vegetables with some eggs and of cheese thrown into an omelette is a huge energy dense food start.

We have a flat omelette maker and I can make mine in the time frame of making a cup of tea in the mornings. So for teenagers it’s probably going to be twice the size of my omellette.

Add in plenty of nuts and some seasonal local fruit.

A glass or two of full cream milk is perfect if they are not lactose intolerant. If that is an issue then the Greek yoghurts may be a better option with a few berries. Keep that milk intake available all day and night for those ‘hunger crises’.

Lastly look at the cereal grains but aim for the high fibre ones which will have less of a blood glucose spike than the refined ones with higher sugar contents. Definitely skip the ones with dried fruits and ‘natural’ honey!

Lunch boxes are tricky but look around the nut options (nut allergies seem to be less of an issue in late high schools), cheeses, whole fruit and wraps rather than sandwiches. Look for the wraps with higher fibre content. They are there but requires looking at the labels.

You can see that carbohydrates are sneaking in here but so be it – teenagers are an imperfect science.

Afternoon tea is a bit like lunches. Having EASY access to cut up fresh vegetables, cheeses, milk and nuts. These options require a bit of preparation but that’s why we have refrigerators.

Dinner is back to normal LCHF and in our house that is generally meat and plenty of vegetables.

We have substituted cauliflower rice for rice and zucchini spirals for pasta. Very little carbohydrate but adds bulk and size to the plate. We have had quite a few teenagers through our home recently and they have survived.

If you are caught out still needing to supply some ‘traditional’ carbohydrate into that ‘starving’ teenager, then look at the wholemeal pasta and brown rice options. Again the higher fibre content slows the glucose spike and insulin response.

Dessert is no longer a regular part of life. Out come the nuts and cheeses in our house.

Good luck and remember that it is just a phase of life! When they are adults they might just realise that you were wiser than they originally thought. Welcome to parenting.

More Food Tricks at the website.
http://www.nofructose.com/food-ideas/food-tricks/

https://www.facebook.com/393958287365295/photos/a.407869679307489.94446.393958287365295/668069503287504/?type=3

‘Starving’ Teenagers and What to Feed Them

This question keeps coming back to me. Teenage years are rarely perfect and you are not going to get their diet right – that’s the reality.

France – here we come.

I have recently received this beautifully descriptive email from Benjamin Seeds who was travelling in France.

Belinda and I were there a few years ago and bike riding along those French canals has given us some of our fondest memories. We have observed what is described as the ‘French Paradox’ – a healthy population eating a diet high in saturated fat.

Followers of this blog may have seen that Benjamin has written a book on ‘The Fructose Disease’ which is a short and very informative read – worth getting hold of the hard or e copy.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Fructose-Disease-big…/…/1493728997

“Dear Gary,

I currently stay in La Rochelle, a lovely town at the French Atlantic coast.

People here often buy their food fresh from the daily market at the village square.

Lots of fresh fish and sea food combined with olive oil, lots of delicious French cheese (also as dessert) and butter, many eggs (for French crepes), vegetables and seasonal fruit, meat, and of course a daily glass of French wine.

There is neither a McDonald’s nor a Starbucks in town (a Subway managed to sneak in, though), and I haven’t seen anyone ordering a Coke for lunch (they prefer water, or possibly a glass of wine smile emoticon

At the macronutrient level, I see the local people consuming lots of Omega 3 and saturated fat, next to no Omega 6, and very little sugar (HFCS is unknown here) .

Even if they consume sugar, it’s typically part of a piece of fresh, homemade pastry (e.g. a croissant with chocolate filling) with lots of butter and no processed Omega 6 vegetable oils.

A glass of insidious orange juice managed to conquer some breakfast tables, though the standard for adults is an espresso coffee, often without any sugar at all.

They also eat lots of fresh Baguette (white bread), but usually without jam/marmalade, just with salted butter or some cheese. And don’t be fooled, the French love to eat!

What is the result? The result is that the only overweight people I see here are tourists from the UK and Germany! smile emoticon The local population looks naturally slim (but not NYC-style skinny!) and healthy, no matter their age. I have yet to find an obese child. The daily baguette white bread apparently doesn’t harm them either, which is what I would expect in such a low-fructose environment (overall their carb load is probably still rather moderate, if you think about it).

I also noticed that while people like to walk along the coast or ride the bicycle in town, few of them do actual ‘sports’ in the sense of jogging or work-out (they prefer a glass of wine instead smile emoticon, which is why Nike is not selling too many shoes here…

Local diabetes prevalence is at a record-low 3 percent. Now take a look at the impressive gradient of diabetes prevalence between Atlantic coastal areas of France and the landlocked region bordering Germany, rising from 2 to 8 percent (image attached, source here).
In Germany, diabetes prevalence is already 7 to 11 percent. I suspect that this effect might be caused by a combined gradient of seafood/Omega-3 (decreasing towards Germany) and sugar & Omega-6 (increasing towards Germany), all of which aggravates insulin resistance, chronic inflammation and metabolic syndrome.

Of course the prevalence of heart disease in France is also at a record low, only about a quarter compared to the UK values, with a similar regional gradient inside France (see image attached for coronary artery disease mortality (couldn’t find prevalence values), source here).

How is this called again by orthodox medicine? The French Paradox. Well, the only paradox to me is how this orthodox view could persist for so long…

Sadly, if a happy healthy Frenchman encounters a doctor who measures his serum cholesterol to be higher than GlaxoSmithKline recommends, the doctor will replace butter with margarine, olive oil with soy oil, eggs with ketchup and cheese with tofu, plus prescribe a daily statin…

Bon appétit,
Benjamin Seeds”

Makes you seriously consider moving to France.

Benjamin and I have worked together coming up with the ‘Nutritional Model of Modern Disease’ and I value his observations.

To see what we have been up to:
http://www.nofructose.com/…/nutritional-model-of-modern-di…/

https://www.facebook.com/393958287365295/photos/a.407869679307489.94446.393958287365295/667217186706069/?type=3

Don’t shoot the messenger!

So excited to have Gary Fettke home after his hip replacement on Monday!

He came home 2 days after the surgery and is doing just fine, resting up a bit and doing well on 1 crutch, aspirin and Panadol. HE IS AMAZING!

The last few days have given me time to reflect and contemplate our life journey.

I felt the need to share Gary’s story to give him as much strength and support as I can.

Please don’t shoot the Messenger.

Belinda Fettke xx

Don’t Shoot the Messenger, please… Continue reading →

Potato is just another Carbohydrate

Carbohydrate is glucose and glucose in excess is essentially converted to fat.

I regularly hear from people that they have cut their sugar intake down and have lost a bit of weight but cannot move the rest.

Look at the carbs.

Cutting back on the bread, rice and pasta are the obvious culprits but we often forget about the humble spud.

Potato may be the thing to go or at least cut back on to move those extra kilos.

By weight, potato is about 17% carbohydrate which is 17 grams per 100 grams. That’s about 4 teaspoons of glucose per 100 grams or about 6 teaspoons for a very average sized potato.

You manage about 4 grams or 1 teaspoon of glucose in the bloodstream at any one time. The rest provokes an insulin response and moves to fat production.

Carbs are boring!

People ask me what I eat. I am the one eating all the topping off the pizza – all the fun stuff – all the meat, vegetable, colour, flavour, spices and that cheese that melts through it. If you want the boring, glucose laden, fat producing carbohydrate base, then go for it.

More on carbohydrate at
http://www.nofructose.com/introduction/carbohydrate/

https://www.facebook.com/393958287365295/photos/a.407869679307489.94446.393958287365295/659163964178058/?type=3

Milk Warning

Canola Oil being fed to dairy cattle to increase milk production!

Canola Oil is high in polyunsaturated fats (PUF’s) and putting them unnaturally into our food chain is disturbing.

Tasmanian researchers have found that feeding canola oil to dairy cattle increases milk production and also increases meat production in sheep.

I do not know the mechanism of that increased production. However we do know that grain fed beef has a higher polyunsaturated fat component than pasture fed cattle and those PUF’s are proinflammatory.

Here we are in Tasmania trying to promote natural and healthy living and food production and this is right on my doorstep.

Supplemental feeding and particularly with Canola Oil is so far from natural. Why are the PUF’s so damaging – they become oxidised in the cell membranes and in our blood vessel walls and that equals inflammation in every organ of the body. Over time that equals most diseases that we suffer from.

Bottom line – check out the source of your milk and meat – please!

On the ABC today

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-22/research-finds-27super-foods27-for-livestock-improves-people/5541930?&section=news

http://www.nofructose.com/introduction/damage-process/