3043: [Part 2] Exactly How To Figure Out What Diet Is Right for You by Ben Greenfield on Traditional Diets

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[00:00:30] This is Optimal Health Daily. Exactly How To Figure Out What Diet Is Right For You. Part 2 by Ben Greenfield of bengreenfieldlife.com and I'm your narrator Dr. Neal. Hey there, happy Thursday and welcome back to Optimal Health Daily where I simply read to you from the best health and fitness blogs for free. I cover fitness, nutrition, stress management, weight management and lots more.

[00:00:55] This is just like an audiobook but with articles from a bunch of different authors and of course always with permission from the sites and always with a bit of my commentary at the end. Now today's post is part 2 from yesterday so if you're new here or skipping around I'd recommend listening to yesterday's episode first. But if you're all caught up, let's jump right in and hear part 2 and continue optimizing your life.

[00:01:24] Exactly How To Figure Out What Diet Is Right For You. Part 2 by Ben Greenfield of bengreenfieldlife.com Along with bolstering the idea that many different diets can support health, the traditional cuisines we heard about yesterday all had a few things in common. Pockets of overlap we'd best pay attention to. In each case, those health promoting traditional diets 1. Contained a rich source of fat soluble vitamins,

[00:01:54] particularly vitamins K2, A and D, whether from organ meats, high quality dairy, fish eggs, other seafood or insects. 2. They were free from white sugar, white flour and canned foods. 3. They placed muscle meats pretty low on the totem pole, valuing instead in animals organs, skin, bones and cartilage. 4. They contained a mix of both plant and animal foods,

[00:02:21] with no diet being entirely carnivorous or entirely vegan. Of course, while Price's findings show humans can thrive on an impressive range of diets, 4. We're still left with a glaring question. How come folks today respond in wildly different ways to the same foods and diets? Is it all in our heads? You're a special snowflake. It turns out your parents were right after all. You're special. Not in a sticking crayons up your nose way,

[00:02:49] but in an individual variation way. Although we humans all share some obvious features like 2 lungs, a digestive tract and an innate desire to argue on the internet, we actually have some important differences once we zoom in a bit further. And those differences become critical when we look at how our diet interacts with our genes. Amylase production. Did you know you start digesting your food before you even swallow it? True story.

[00:03:16] Your saliva is teeming with proteins that kick off the digestive process, including amylase, an enzyme that breaks down starch into sugar. It's coded by a gene called AMY1. Here's where it gets interesting. The more AMY1 copies you carry, the more amylase you pump out in your saliva. In fact, depending on your genes, the amylase in your mouth can range from barely detectable to a whopping 50% of your saliva's total protein.

[00:03:45] And for each person's ability to handle starchy foods, that spells mega-variation. Studies show that when low amylase producers consume starch, their blood sugar surges far higher and stays high for much longer than high amylase producers eating the exact same thing. In other words, the more AMY1 copies you've inherited and the more of this enzyme you produce as a result, the better your starch metabolizing capabilities will be.

[00:04:13] And where you land on the amylase spectrum isn't just luck of the draw. Folks from traditionally starch-centric populations, like the Japanese or the Hazda of Tanzania, tend to carry more copies of AMY1 than those from starch-scant populations, like Siberian pastoralists or hunter-gatherers from the Congo rainforest. The reason? Selective pressure. Producing more amylase was a boon for populations relying on starchy foods.

[00:04:42] So, over time, survival of the fittest style, more AMY1 copies came to dominate their gene pools. In populations where starch was a dietary rarity, AMY1 copies tended to stay low. The diet of your ancestors, then, plays a big role in what's best for you today. For the modern health enthusiast, this is big news. While high amylase producers might fare well on a starch-based cuisine,

[00:05:08] low amylase producers eating the same diet would probably catapult headfirst into a heap of blood sugar swings and swollen fat cells. Keep that in mind next time you see your slim friend downing a bag of Ritz crackers while you seem to gain weight just sniffing the box. APOE phenotype APOE is a fascinating little gene that codes apolipoprotein A, or again, APOE for short.

[00:05:35] A protein involved in lipid metabolism and cholesterol transport. Depending on what you inherited from your parents, you'll carry a combination of any two APOE variants. APOE2, APOE3, or APOE4. Recently, that last one, APOE4, has been grabbing the research spotlight due to some of its quirks, and not in a cute Zooey Deschanel sort of way. Along with having a much higher risk of Alzheimer's disease,

[00:06:04] APOE4 carriers tend to react to high-saturated fat diets with a rise in LDL cholesterol, and sometimes a scary high increase in LDL cholesterol. Alas, we still need a great deal more research to fully understand the interaction between diet and APOE status. But in the meantime, APOE4 is a big clue why some people see their LDL spike after adopting a paleo or low-carbohydrate diet,

[00:06:32] even when their friends might boast a lovely lipid profile after eating steak galore. Vitamin A Conversion Ever wonder why some people seem to rapidly self-destruct on vegetarian and vegan diets, while others ride off into the sunset with nary a complaint? Part of the reason involves vitamin A conversion, or lack thereof, as the case may be. Contrary to popular belief, plant foods like carrots don't contain any vitamin A.

[00:07:00] They contain precursors, particularly beta-carotene, that your body has to transform into a usable form of the vitamin. Animal foods are the only sources of vitamin A in this preformed state. So the problem? While some can convert enough vitamin A from plant foods to meet their needs, others are genetically doomed to fail at the job. Two common mutations on the BCM01 gene, which helps govern the beta-carotene to vitamin A conversion process,

[00:07:29] make it nearly impossible to get enough vitamin A from the plant kingdom alone. And if those mutation-carrying folks decide to go veggie, slashing vitamin A intake and relying on beta-carotene instead, the results aren't pretty. Infertility, plummeting immune function, skin problems, vision problems, hair loss, bone loss, brittle nails, and increased susceptibility to infection can all follow on the heels of vitamin A deficiency. And not surprisingly, those are all common complaints

[00:07:59] of those who've failed on vegan or vegetarian diets. Wrapping it up. The next time you see someone pushing their one-size-fits-all diet idea, feel free to admire their chutzpah while swiftly running for the hills. As seductive as simple solutions and blanket prescriptions can be, that dietary holy grail quest will always be fruitless. Don't fall under its spell. Though it might seem frustrating, our diversity is actually pretty empowering.

[00:08:28] Honoring each other's differences can help dissolve the tribalism so prevalent in the health world, that tendency to feel threatened when someone does well on a diet other than our own, to peg those outside of our favored community as enemies instead of looking for common ground. By understanding how we each differ, we can start working hand-in-hand rather than head-to-head. Success isn't a finite resource, especially where diet is concerned.

[00:08:59] You just listened to part two of the post titled, Exactly How to Figure Out What Diet is Right for You, by Ben Greenfield of bengreenfieldlife.com. And I'll be right back with my commentary. Oikos presents 15 Seconds of Strength. Here we go, Steve's got a trunk full of groceries and no one to help him. Oh, that's tough, Jim. Looks like a five-trip load at least. He grabs the first bag, the second. Bob, it looks like he's trying to do it all one trip. He shimmies the door open, steps over the dog. Oh, and he stumbles.

[00:09:27] Oh, right into the kitchen without missing a beat. Jim, now that's a man who eats his protein-packed Oikos. With 15 grams of complete protein in each cup, Oikos Triple Zero can help build strength for every day. Oikos. Stronger makes everything better. Steuer? Aber easy. Mit Wieso Steuer? Einfach Foto deiner Dokumente machen und schwupps, wird alles automatisch ausgefüllt. Kein Plan, ob's passt? Wieso Steuer? Prüft deine Angaben noch vor Abgabe. So gibt's keine Fehler mehr.

[00:09:54] Und bei Fragen hilft dir Steuer-GPT so, dass du's verstehst. Das Beste? Du siehst jederzeit, was du zurückbekommst. So steigt deine Erstattung und die Vorfreude. Jetzt ausprobieren und noch schnell bis zum 31. Juli abgeben. Wieso Steuer? So einfach war Steuererklärung noch nie. Dr. Neil here for my commentary. Those in the health field are often repeatedly told during their training to meet your patients and clients where they are.

[00:10:20] For example, if someone comes to you for nutrition advice, don't have a preconceived idea of what's going to help them. Instead, really listen to them. Find out what they like and don't like, what motivates them, and what strategies have worked for them in the past. Then, work with that information. For example, don't recommend every single client or patient eat chicken, brown rice, and broccoli if they can't stand those foods.

[00:10:49] Unless the person absolutely must completely overhaul their entire diet, the better approach would be to work with the foods they do like and make small changes. Over time, we then see what works and what doesn't. That's how we, to use today's author Ben Greenfield's words, find what meal plan works for you. And that's what it means to meet your patients and clients where they are. And what we're finding is when we do this,

[00:11:17] it usually leads to a lot more long-term success as opposed to say, forcing a diet upon someone and saying, you better follow this or you're not going to be able to reach your goals. So yes, find out what style of eating best works for you and your lifestyle. And that's going to lead to long-term success. All right, that'll do it for today. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for listening every day. I hope you're having a great week. And don't forget, tomorrow is the Friday Q&A.

[00:11:47] So I'll hopefully see you there where your optimal life awaits. I'll see you then. Bye.