Sunday, January 1, 2012

Junk Free January

Last year, Matt Lentzner organized a project called Gluten Free January, in which 546 people from around the world gave up gluten for one month.  The results were striking: a surprisingly large proportion of participants lost weight, experienced improved energy, better digestion and other benefits (1, 2).  This January, Lentzner organized a similar project called Junk Free January.  Participants can choose between four different diet styles:
  1. Gluten free
  2. Seed oil free (soybean, sunflower, corn oil, etc.)
  3. Sugar free
  4. Gluten, seed oil and sugar free
Wheat, seed oils and added sugar are three factors that, in my opinion, are probably linked to the modern "diseases of affluence" such as obesity, diabetes and coronary heart disease.  This is particularly true if the wheat is eaten in the form of white flour products, and the seed oils are industrially refined and used in high-heat cooking applications.

If you've been waiting for an excuse to improve your diet, why not join Junk Free January?
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16 comments:

  1. thaneverbeforeJanuary 1, 2012 at 4:55 PM

    Hey Stephan, just want to make sure you are aware that your TEDx talk is up (since Dec 15):

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMycf7eOQUQ

    ReplyDelete
  2. The FoolJanuary 1, 2012 at 6:07 PM

    How about sunflower butter?

    ReplyDelete
  3. bentleyj74January 1, 2012 at 6:45 PM

    Not a chance. Happy new year! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousJanuary 1, 2012 at 6:51 PM

    Stephan,

    Since you appear to have established that it isn't insulin per se that causes weight gain, what is the dominant factor that makes wheat consumption worse than say, oat, potato, or corn consumption?

    Best,

    Mark

    ReplyDelete
  5. SaraJanuary 1, 2012 at 7:55 PM

    This looks fun, I'm going to do it. Just a bit confused where it says on the website, sugar (fructose). Does that mean giving up fruit as well?

    ReplyDelete
  6. HeidiJanuary 1, 2012 at 11:17 PM

    Stephan,

    Was wondering if you cared to comment on this article:

    http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2017122171_brain30m.html?prmid=obinsource

    ...which claims that a new study indicates that eating a high fat diet causes brain injury.

    ReplyDelete
  7. PurposelessnessJanuary 1, 2012 at 11:49 PM

    I thought you reversed your view on seed oils? You even deleted some posts about that.
    Or is Omega 6 oil simply too "rewarding"? Isn't butter, used in baked goods, equally "rewarding"?

    ReplyDelete
  8. TomasJanuary 2, 2012 at 12:45 AM

    Rudolf Wegener

    my understanding is that Stephan doesn't think that excess linoleic acid is dangerous per se, as there seems to be little clinical evidence.

    However, there seems to be strong indication that N6 are displacing N3 in eicasanoid pathways, thus effectively inhibiting resolving of inflammation.

    ReplyDelete
  9. AravindJanuary 2, 2012 at 6:22 AM

    Tomas - You wrote "my understanding is that Stephan doesn't think that excess linoleic acid is dangerous per se..."

    As Stephan wrote here - http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2011/08/seed-oils-and-body-fatness-problematic.html

    "I'm not saying that seed oils aren't harmful, this post was specifically about body fatness. I still believe in the diseases of civilization".

    To state the obvious, there is more the Met Syn than just obesity.

    Regards,
    Aravind

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousJanuary 2, 2012 at 7:06 AM

    Not a chance? I'll have to go with that answer, as well.

    ReplyDelete
  11. UnknownJanuary 3, 2012 at 4:34 AM

    Sugar free? How is that going to work? Vegetables, fruits, dairy - almost everything contains sugar. Even eggs have sugar. That would mean only meat and fish? That diet would be kind of unhealthy for humans. We're not able to synthesize vitamin C... I wouldn´t want to live without any vitamin C for one month ;)

    ReplyDelete
  12. CarlJanuary 3, 2012 at 8:36 AM

    Read the whole thing, he said "added sugar."

    ReplyDelete
  13. UnknownJanuary 4, 2012 at 3:43 AM

    @Carl: I read it, but I also followed the link he posted. There they talk about fructose. I think, added sugar is mainly saccharose.

    ReplyDelete
  14. frJanuary 7, 2012 at 10:31 PM

    Americans were eating massive quantities of wheat, sugar and seed oils (including lots of partially hydrogenated seed oils as margarine) in the 1950's and 1960's and there was no obesity epidemic then like now. There was a heart disease epidemic, but part of that was due to smoking. I'm not saying that wheat, sugar and seed oils are good, but they certainly don't explain obesity. Lack of exercise is a much more likely culprit.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Dr. Curmudgeon GeeJanuary 10, 2012 at 9:36 AM

    does high oliec sunflower oil or tea seed oil count as seed oil?
    what about honey (i use sparingly in cooking)

    i'll pass then! haha

    have a great 2012

    ReplyDelete
  16. AnonymousJanuary 11, 2012 at 10:07 PM

    This blog is a great source of information for me. Thank you very much for giving me such important information.

    FOR BEST INFORMATION ABOUT HEART DISEASE.

    ReplyDelete

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