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30 sats \ 3 replies \ @elvismercury 26 Dec 2023 \ on: Sugar and Alzheimers health
Sugar is probably uniquely bad for a few reasons; but if you want to get in front of AD and general cognitive decline, I think fixating on just sugar is probably not good. There's a ton of reason to think that these are metabolic diseases that just takes a long time to play out, and so lifestyle behaviors useful for general cardio-metabolic health will be useful here, too.
Carnivore would be a big improvement over standard american lifestyle, but then, that's a low bar. You can certainly do a lot to keep yourself cognitively intact without being carnivore, or even keto, even though I think keto gives you superpowers in a limited domain. Peter Attia's book is probably the best single reference I'd point someone to. Gary Taubes used to be good, but is way too audience-captured at this point, for my tastes.
I scrolled through Peter Attia's book. He seems very mainstream to me. I don't find it motivating, to get me to change habits. What I found very useful was Nina Teicholtz's book The Big Fat Surprise - this is great for getting you to be skeptical of the accepted nutritional advice, which is huge first step.
I haven't read Gary Taubes recently except for The Case Against Sugar, which I have to say was absolutely excellent and very convincing, to the point that I'm really not attracted to sweets at all.
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I didn't recommend Attia for his motivating power, but I find him a measured and credible judge on these matters. He knows all the biochem around these issues deeply, he knows how to interpret research, he knows the "traditional" medical story, and he sees actual patients, which is a powerful blend.
I'm not sure what "mainstream" means exactly, but PA was pushing the Overton window in this field long before normal people had even heard the term "ketosis." If it sounds mainstream it's maybe because the mainstream has absorbed a lot of wisdom, and he was part of that larger evolution.
Anyway, I'm glad you found things that have been helpful. Eating a bunch less sugar is something literally every orthodoxy agrees on.
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Maybe I should take another look at Peter Attia. What I didn't see (again, I didn't review his book thoroughly, just browsed till I got turned off) was any sense of ... I guess I'm looking for some outrage, really, about our current nutritional guidelines.
I mean, for god's sake, they're so bad, they're so ... the word criminal comes to mind. You can't even offer kids in public schools regular, whole milk. You have to give them skim milk, or chocolate skim milk. And guess what they choose? Chocolate skim milk, of course.
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