Deadly Harvest: The Intimate Relationship Between Our Heath and Our Food (50 page)

Research also shows that blood pressure, on average, increases the further one lives from the equator. The evidence suggests that it is the lack of sunshine that causes the problem. More precisely, it is the absence of the sunshine vitamin, vitamin D.
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Get enough sunshine, you make enough vitamin D and reduce your blood pressure.

How reversible are these diseases? That depends. The main objective has to be to stop the rot. The risk of strokes and thrombosis can be quickly reduced by changing dietary habits. Thromboxane, the prostaglandin chiefly responsible for abnormal blood clotting, is reduced almost overnight by cutting bad fats. High blood pressure is brought down to a greater or lesser degree over a few months. It is even possible to reverse atherosclerosis both by eating plenty of plant food and by losing any excess weight.
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Erectile Dysfunction (Impotence)

As Shakespeare’s drunken porter in Macbeth said about strong drink: “It provokes, and it unprovokes; it provokes the desire but it takes away the performance.” We might suppose that the porter recovered his powers when he sobered up. However, for many men, sexual performance is a constant source of difficulty.

There are several reasons why this might be, but one biological reason is fundamental. If the artery in the penis has blockages, it cannot rise to the occasion. The blockages, of course, are of the same nature as blockages in arteries elsewhere in the body: in the heart, lungs, and brain. The phrase applied to this condition, “hardening of the arteries,” seems like a bad joke in this context. In other words, erectile dysfunction is very often a symptom of cardiovascular disease. The linkage is so strong that researchers say that erectile dysfunction is the earliest predictor of looming cardiovascular trouble.
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For erectile dysfunction, then, the wisest and most urgent course is to follow the guidelines for cardiovascular disease.

The Role of Cholesterol

Cholesterol levels of hunter-gatherers are low. Stuart Truswell and John Hansen found that the San Bushmen have one of the lowest cholesterol levels in the world.
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Total cholesterol levels for all age groups (including old people) are around 120 mg/dl. Other researchers found that African Pygmies (110 mg/dl), Australian Aborigines (140 mg/dl), and Tanzanian Hadza (110 mg/dl) all have total cholesterol levels in the same ballpark.
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Cholesterol comes in several varieties. Two of them, low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and very low-density lipoproteins (VLDL) are dubbed “bad” cholesterol and high-density lipoproteins (HDL) is dubbed “good” cholesterol. Bad cholesterol has been portrayed as the Darth Vader to our arteries and our heart, but what does it do? It fell under suspicion because inflammatory particles of oxidized cholesterol build up in the arteries to create the dreaded plaque. However, the real question should be: “Why is the body causing cholesterol to oxidize, and why is it allowing it to settle in arteries?”

Our internal plumbing is not like boiler pipes that passively fur up. Rather, our arteries are made of living tissue that inflames, scars, produces hormones, and sends signals to other parts of the body. Why do the cells that line our arteries decide to capture cholesterol molecules, allow them to oxidize, and allow them to build into plaque?

The answer seems to be that immune system cells, the macrophages, which have been summoned to repair artery damage, latch on to the cholesterol particles and try to pull them through the artery wall where they get stuck. With the passage of time, the cholesterol particles oxidize and create inflammation, and so the inflammation and the cycle starts all over again. So, the problem is not the cholesterol as such, it is the problem of previous damage to the artery wall. Even so, all need not be lost if the cholesterol does not oxidize. This is the case for those who consume sufficient quantities of oxidation fighters, antioxidants, which are found almost entirely in non-starchy vegetation.

The conventional view is that heart disease would be reduced if people had lower levels of cholesterol circulating in the blood. In a crude way, this is true: with less of the stuff to be trapped and oxidized, the slower the buildup of inflamed plaque. But lowering cholesterol by itself does not deal with the fundamental problem, inflammation. In fact, the links between cholesterol levels and heart disease are rather weak, but they are much stronger with homocysteine. This is not surprising, since homocysteine is a strong provoker of inflammation.

Nevertheless, we might ask ourselves why modern Western populations have such high levels of cholesterol. The basic answer is that our bodies make it in abnormal amounts as a reaction to dietary errors. The chief one is the abnormally high level of insulin, which provokes the liver into making abnormal amounts of cholesterol—yet another wickedness perpetrated by a high-glycemic, high-insulinemic diet.

In contrast, bad cholesterol is reduced by a diet rich in soluble fiber.
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This is something that most Westerners do not have, yet which our bodies expect to receive. Other studies show that exercise reduces cholesterol levels. And stress, by provoking hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, has the side effect of raising cholesterol levels. In complex biological organisms, everything is interconnected in ways that we cannot imagine.

Contrary to the prevalent myth, consuming high-cholesterol foods like eggs has little effect on cholesterol levels, if the diet conforms to the Savanna Model.
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As Paleolithic expert Boyd Eaton observes, the San Bushmen consumed just as much cholesterol as the average American, yet they maintained very low levels of cholesterol in the blood.
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The message is the same: give the body the right tools and signals, and it sorts out these matters just fine.

So, high cholesterol levels are simply a pointer to possible cardiovascular disease. Reducing them with medication, in spite of the promotional hype, has little effect on your chances of dying of a heart attack.
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Worse, medications increase your chances of getting depression, suicidal tendencies, cancer, and stroke. Pfizer, the maker of Lipitor, the most common cholesterol drug, states: “The patient should be put on a cholesterol lowering diet before receiving Lipitor.”
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These medications work by blocking the liver from making cholesterol. So, what they are really doing is papering over the cracks caused by dysfunctional, insulin-producing diets.

Twelve Ways to Combat Cardiovascular Disease

1. Adopt a low-glycemic diet.

2. Consume a diet rich in non-starchy plant foods.

3. Consume animal protein only modestly.

4. Avoid dairy products.

5. Consume a diet low in animal fat and palm oil.

6. Adopt a diet that eliminates hydrogenated and trans-fats.

7. Consume a diet that severely limits omega-6 oils.

8. Consume a diet rich in omega-3 oils.

9. Stop smoking.

10. Reduce salt intake to a minimum.

11. Practice at least the minimum amount of physical activity.

12. Change the way you lead your life to make it less stressful.

We have seen that cardiovascular disease is a phenomenon that has hit us just in living memory. The causes are easily identifiable and easily put right. Take control of your life in the way nature intended and put behind you concerns of ever developing heart disease. If you already have it, you can bring it under control—it is reversible! Regarding the “noble savage,” who has perfect cardiovascular signs, how does he live? A lifestyle conforming to the Savanna Model in terms of diet, social environment, and physical activity. He eats plenty of non-starchy plant food and little bad protein, no bad fat, no bad carbohydrates, no sugars or grains, no potatoes, and no dairy products.

DIGESTIVE PROBLEMS

Indigestion

There used to be a TV commercial in which a New York cab driver suddenly hunches over and clutches his stomach in pain. “Aw, gee!” he gasps, “It must have been that pastrami sandwich.” So, what does he do? He reaches over to the glove compartment where he keeps a bottle of pills. This little sketch neatly encapsulates many things that are wrong with us today. Indigestion is a huge problem in the West, particularly America. Indigestion remedies are the biggest selling class of over-the-counter medications. As illustrated in the commercial, people have become so accustomed to indigestion that they keep bottles of pills available for every occasion. However, like the cab driver, no one stops to think about what they must be doing wrong. It didn’t even occur to the cab driver to stop eating pastrami sandwiches!

One of the major causes of indigestion is bad food combining. The cab driver, with his pastrami sandwich, had just eaten a bad food combination, protein with starch. Other bad combinations are dairy all by itself or with anything else, and fruit with anything. In the Savanna Model, bad food combining cannot really happen, because we are not consuming the food groups that give us problems: starches, dairy, and sugary fruit. Most people find they get immediate relief when they cease bad food combining. Other causes of indigestion are more obvious ones: eating too much, eating too late at night, eating on the run, alcohol abuse, and stress.

Constipation and Diverticulosis

Over-the-counter constipation remedies follow closely after indigestion tablets in popularity, yet constipation is not a normal thing to be happening. Primitive societies consume up to 100 grams (g) of fiber a day from vegetation and fruits. Their intestines were healthy and they never suffered from intestinal diseases. The average American consumes only 11 g of fiber per day. Don’t be sidetracked into eating bran products. Bran is abrasive and not at all what the intestinal tract is designed for. On the contrary, our Pleistocene past designed it for the “soft” soluble fibers like pectin and guar that are found in non-starchy plant food.

Again, the solution is extraordinarily simple. Follow the Savanna Model and consume high volumes of non-starchy plant food, up to 15 servings a day. This is not only best way to get regularity back to normal, but it is also best for colon health. No one will develop diverticulosis doing that either. If you already have it, this is the best remedy to get it under control and into remission.

A cautionary note: most people’s digestive tracts have been hardened into working only when whipped into action by harsh, insoluble fibers, so shift the emphasis to the soft fibers over a period of several weeks. Give the intestinal muscles time to respond to the subtler signals and time to find their natural tone again.

Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (Irritable Bowel, Crohn’s Disease, Colitis, Celiac Disease)

Medical science struggles with “syndromes” like inflammatory bowel disease because it is missing an essential piece of the puzzle, a proper knowledge of nutrition. That is where other branches of science (like ours) come in. We know how the modern diet puts immense stress on the digestive tract and why the large bowel (colon) often gives way.

Antinutrient Connection
—The main error is the consumption of grains, dairy products, and pulses. The human digestive tract cannot handle their content of allergens (such as gluten and lactose) and plant poisons (such as lectins). They inflame the gut, strip the delicate lining raw, and encourage bad bacteria, their toxins, and funguses.

Bad Food Combining Connection
—Bad combinations of foods add to the misery. Starch and protein combinations are particularly harmful: not only do they feed inflammatory bacteria, the insulin reaction provokes wrenching gut spasms (digestive neuromuscular disease). The modern diet is also loaded with sulfides, often used as a preservative. Sulfides encourage overgrowth of “bad” sulfate-eating bacteria in the colon, which in turn provoke inflammatory bowel diseases. Not surprisingly, hot spices irritate the colon, so you should avoid chili, paprika, and cayenne pepper.

Allergen Connection
—Celiac disease is a clear case of an allergic reaction to gluten. Humans should not be putting gluten into their bodies because, whether or not they notice any reaction, damage is being done anyway. The remedy is straightforward: eliminate grains and all their derivatives, just as in the Savanna Model.

Sunshine Connection
—The incidence of inflammatory bowel is rare near the equator, where ultraviolet light from the sun is intense and people produce abundant vitamin D. Dr. Margherita Cantorna of Pennsylvania State University tested the effect of vitamin D on inflammatory bowel disease and found that symptoms diminish or disappear with an adequate supply of vitamin D.
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Plant Food Connection
—A diet rich in the soluble fiber found in plant food is soothing and beneficial for inflammatory bowel. This is the kind of material that nature designed our colons to work on.