This is the context in which this excellent book must be read. To make it into something else and rate it against others’ health agendas makes no sense. Bravo to Drs. Ede and Palmer for discovering and identifying the myriad benefits of a ketogenic approach in stabilizing mental health.

I put this podcast in my journal, but adding it here.
If you are using a keto diet to control diabetes, or avoiding all Oxalates, she has her own take that avoiding the "hateful eight" seed oils should be the first step. In the sense that seed oils are a cause of Energy Toxicity, I would agree, but it is not the only way we can get fat.

Podcast is on Peak Human with Dr Cate Shanahan,

https://www.peak-human.com/post/a-r...r-cate-shanahan
A Root Cause For All Disease?

Dr Cate's focus on seed oils was probably the first anti-inflammatory angle I tried. My rosacea essentially went away in the first few months of being vigilant. I got a dramatic signal to keep going.

My favorite dark calorie is 86% chocolate.

I'll go ya one better:

Unsweetened baking chocolate.

Another name for it is chocolate liquor, a paste produced from ground cocoa nibs, which is solid at room temperature.

I buy bags of it from a local chocolate company - they used to manufacture the "wafers" (flat discs) of pure baking chocolate at their local factory, but they were bought out by another company, which moved manufacturing operations to someplace in New England (Vermont maybe? Maine? I've forgotten) - still offer the same baking chocolate at their local company store though (as well as many different sugary confections that the company has sold for nearly 100 years)

I take my chocolate liqueur straight! (or occasionally melt it, mix with a bit of stevia and vanilla extract, and a little cream to smooth everything together)




(returning you to your regularly scheduled Dark Calories book discussion)

Yes, took me years to reach a whole foods diet. A blend of Atkins, and Dr Li.

Dumped seed oils 4 years ago. My cellulite is effectively gone.

While I struggle to keep low carb, it's rarely but sometimes is bread and honey, but more likely whole fruit.

Dr Davis helped me see the danger of wheat. After reading DANDR I quit baking, quit baking bread. But still struggle at times with pasta. And bread n butter. Dr Davis extended the danger of wheat to gi damage.

Some veggies several times a week, usually low carb types;, trying to get asparagus, lettuces, red bell peppers green beans. Choices are more nutrient packed than just low carb fillers. Beets offer boron which is otherwise hard to get enough of.

Having a garden helps with picking up probiotics, for now.

Learned to make ACV with the mother. Need to learn to ferment other veggies.

A sweet now and then. But mostly beef, and fish once a week. I'm not a fish eater. I thought I was. Must have been all that breading. Plain fish is a challenge. The more beef I eat, the less fish looks tasty. I don't know why. So to solve this Vrazilian stew is a weekly dish to force consumption of fish, oysters, shellfish.

I still don't get enough of some minerals.....

Arielle, there is no recommended daily allowance for Boron, it is in soil, water, fruits, vegetables, nuts, etc. so ubiquitous, not often a worry. Prunes and walnuts are good sources. Cronometer tracks up to 80 nutrients for which there are daily values, and also nutrient ratios that should be in balance. More than boron; look to magnesium:calcium, zinc: copper, potassium:sodium ratios, etc. and the nutrients that are commonly low in a LC diet. No supplements needed. But if you don’t want to track…

Top foods that are mineral dense: Minerals in Food: Stronger Bones & Better Mood https://optimisingnutrition.com/min...e-more-minerals
It is easy to get enough minerals by eating only Whole Foods and removing energy dense foods with few nutrients (LC cheesecake, rebel ice cream, etc.).

Consider Dr Andrew Huberman's Simple diet:
https://forum.lowcarber.org/showpos...3&postcount=450.

I try to avoid as much seed oil as I can.

It's tough finding nuts roasted in peanut oil, instead of soy, cottonseed, sunflower or whatever, but it's possible. And I eat a lot of nuts.

We're careful when we buy fish oil to make sure it isn't cut with soybean oil.

Olive oil and coconut oil are the only ones we keep in the house.

Of course, it's almost impossible to avoid. But in small quantities, it's probably fine.

Same with wheat. Years before atkins/keto, I thought I had a dairy intolerance. When I cut out the wheat, the dairy intolerance disappeared. But every once in a great while, if I have something with wheat in it, it doesn't bother me.

All things in moderation (add to that, some things in minutia)

Have you ever tried avocado oil? That comes from the fruit of the avocado, not the seed.

Avocado oil has the advantage of a very high smoke point, which makes it good for searing meat when frying in a pan.

I think we tried it once, but don't really remember.

I like to fry things in butter, lard, or bacon fat. It seems people were thinner before Crisco.

But that works for us. We all are different.

For those interested, Dr Shanahan is one of the speakers later this month at the September IHCAN Virtual Conference.

I get the Primal Kitchen salad dressings, because they are made with avocado oil. Pricey, but a bottle is full of flavor and lasts me a long time.

If I eat a salad, it's extra virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar.

That's what I was brought up with, and anything else just tastes wrong to me. But that's just me.

They were wrong about "dark leafy greens" and calcium, for instance. Lots of it in there, but not bioavailable.

I make a salad with sardines in olive oil, with dill pickles providing the vinegar Sprinkle some parmesan over it and it's a nice seafood salad.

But it's the fish bones that have my calcium.

Same for iron. Spinach has a lot of iron, but your body does not absorb it. That's where heme iron comes into play.

Heme iron comes from meat, fish, and fowl (of course, fish and fowl are also meat).

Plants are extremely hard to digest. That's why cows have multiple stomachs, they ferment their food and chew it again and again. Horses have extraordinarily long intestines to keep it in the digestive juices longer, and other animals eat their stools and find nutrition in them. Rabbits, deer, and others eat their own stools to pass them through the digestive system again.

Back on topic, I don't think we humans evolved to eat and digest vegetable oils. Of course, that doesn't in itself mean they are bad for us, but other studies have show just how inflammatory they are.

But the food industry is more concerned about their profits than they are about your health. And since the agencies that are supposed to regulate the food industry are filled with food industry shills, that isn't going to help. So we have to watch out for ourselves.