Cereal Killers 2
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the "great 8" fatty foods

2/19/2016

26 Comments

 
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3 years ago today I first published this blog post on a prep site (www.letfatbethymedicine.com) for our first movie - Cereal Killers. It breaks down the rationale behind my 28 day food plan for that movie and ultimately lists the foods I consumed. So, is it standing the test of time? Let's see....
First published Feb 19th, 2013.

The “Drop Dead Healthy Plan” you will see me undertake in Cereal Killers evolved organically throughout a 2 year period of trial, error and omission.

How did I identify my go to foods?

It really was a case of self-experimentation on a grandiose scale with more than a sprinkling of complete ignorance. At no point did I consult any practicing medical or dietary professional and my personal research was conducted from a standing start.

As a lean, fit (5 times a day) carbo loading, low fat food advocate, I figured the medical fraternity would baulk at my quest to drop dead healthy and avoid the heart disease and diabetes prevalent in my family.

Medicine as an industry is reactive you see. It is the business of sickness with little regard for pro-active outliers focused on not getting ill in the first place.

“Doctor Doctor I want to never get sick.
I see. So are you sick at the moment?
Not at all.
So why are you here then?
Because I don’t want to see you again. Ever.
I think you need to relax. I’ll prescribe you some Prozac.”


You get the picture.

So, as I set out on my journey to drop dead healthy I encountered some radical issues right out of the blocks.

Bread may be bad for you! WTF!? Who knew?

And then there’s that whole cholesterol bag of tricks. Which I now know to be just that. A bag of tricks.

But the biggie for me was FAT. Fat makes you fat, raises your cholesterol and clogs up your arteries, right? Well….no actually. Sure, the right naturally occurring fats will raise your LDL cholesterol (the misunderstood bad guy?)  but they will also improve your LDL particle size (the real bad guy) no end and raise HDL (the very good guy) into the bargain. When you know your way around cholesterol that actually equates to a LOWER risk of heart disease. And no it doesn’t clog up your arteries.

Turns out Rocky Balboa was right as well. There’s no way he beat the crap outta Apollo Creed eating Weetabix. Did they even have it back then? It was the raw eggs! In the end I couldn’t find ANY studies into eggs with negative metabolic implications. Turns out the perfect way to start your day increases both your LDL particle size and HDL numbers before you can say amino acids. Yes, the closest thing to the perfect food has lots of those too. So I ate 20-25 per week.

Fortunately there were some easy wins along the way. Oily fish rocks, but we all knew that anyway.  It’s an Omega 3 Olympian! So does Olive Oil. And how about those Avocados? A monounsaturated masterpiece if ever there was one!

There were a few Eureka moments along the way, particularly when my research into the different types of fat and their roles in the body lead me to a sleeping giant.

The mighty macadamia nut is 80% fat, nearly all of it of the monounsaturated variety. It has anti inflammatory qualities we have yet to fully appreciate and the best Omega ratio of all nuts (which are typically heavily skewed towards an Omega 6 imbalance). Roast them for 15 minutes and your life will never be the same again. I ate 1kg per week during the filming of Cereal Killers to prove the point – approximately one third of my calorific intake.

Red meat is a tricky one. Lots of studies apparently link it to heart disease so I took some time to familiarise myself with the various methodologies used to test such dramatic claims before diving in. Fancy terms like Cohort studies, Meta analysis and Causality are all part of the long grass that is medical research. My synopsis is simple. Read the small print! The ability to spin research and results 180 degrees to foster an agenda is a thriving dark art. Turns out someone already spotted this and she has dissected some of the major studies way better than I ever could. Denise Minger take a bow.

The small print in the latest red meat will kill you scare pointed out that meat eaters were more prone to smoke, drink and not take any exercise. Oh yes, they almost forgot to mention that the meat eaters’ risk of overall mortality (a fancy word for death) was actually LOWER than everyone else as well despite all that. But hey, this about heart disease and red meat. Death doesn’t count. Roll the headlines – “Red meat gives you heart disease.” What’s wrong with “Meat eaters live longer?”

So I put 2 kgs of quality red meat on my plate each week for the filming of Cereal Killers to see what would happen. Some, but not all, was 100% grass fed. I learned that grass fed meat has a nutritional profile more comparable to a wild salmon than its feedlot, stand in your own crap cousin. That really pissed me off.

Just what have we done?

Which takes me neatly to butter. In a head to head with eggs for the title of THE most vilified foodstuff of the last 40 years, I’d have to give butter the nod. Oh la la! Seems everyone but the French fell for this one. They’re just so smug, slim, impossibly chic and erm, bottom of the heart disease charts in Europe for a very long time. They were so wrong but oh so right that we even coined a brand new term to account for their dietary stupidity. “The French Paradox” anyone?

It goes something like this. Eat butter, cheese, drink red wine and you’ll be fine. Allez!

Coconut Oil rounds up my Great 8 Fatty Foods very neatly indeed. This natural oil with a very high heat tolerance makes it a great option for cooking while the lauric acid  – a Medium Chain Triglyceride (MCT) – it offers up is turning heads for an ability to positively impact cholesterol markers. A litany of additional benefits the length of your arm includes improved thyroid function and blood sugar control. You’ll be glad to know it doesn’t smell like the Tropicana Casino Resort in Las Vegas or taste like suntan lotion. My morning cuppa would be pretty vile if it did! I call it the C3 by the way. That’s Coffee + Cream + (1 tbsp) Coconut oil. Throw in a few eggs any style and you’ve got yourself a real Cornflake Killer. If you make just one change to your diet, make this your breakfast.

Oh yeah. If you’re a bloke and you’re questioning if this is for you or not, there is something else you should consider. A high fat diet can raise your testosterone. Dramatically. From the age of 40, you’re losing 1% a year. So that matters. Lots. The symptoms of low testosterone read like an old age manual and are best avoided. Let Fat be Thy Medicine boys.

OK. Let’s wrap this all up shall we.

1. Macadamia Nuts
2. Red meat (ideally grass fed)
3. Eggs
4. Avocados
5. Oily fish
6. Coconut Oil
7. Olive Oil
8. Butter

Voila! The Great 8 Fatty foods
I turned to for my Cereal Killing food plan.
26 Comments
Amanda clifford
2/19/2016 09:39:32 am

Donal, I am a grandma, but thanks to you I have been able to loose 2 stone, and carefully introduced your eating ,to my grown children and their young families. Long may they live happy and active healthy lives. Thank you.

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Donal
2/22/2016 01:44:59 am

Kudos to you & yours Amanda - well done!!

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Jett link
2/19/2016 10:30:19 am

donal- love what you are doing- is it possible to provide a daily diet plan- the one you used to change your health....

Just something to shape my own attempt.
Thanks
Jett

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Donal
2/22/2016 01:46:16 am

Thank you Jeff - please check out our extras page for much more info. http://bit.ly/CKResults

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Sean
2/19/2016 12:22:50 pm

Hi Donal! Been a Cereal Killer for the last two years since watching the original documentary. Based in Belfast and having trouble finding anyone willing to test LDL particle size (for personal reassurance as my overall cholesterol is above 8 now) have you any sympathetic contacts who might be able to help?

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Donal
2/22/2016 01:49:37 am

Great work Sean -"sympathetic" medics are scarce back home. Check out top pathologist Dr Ken Sikaris reviewing my own results and concluding "It's all about triglycerides". You should be able get your trigs measured much more easily than particle size. Here's that link - http://bit.ly/CerealKillerscholesterol (note: sound not great because I just grabbed him on the spot at a talk)

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Fatima
2/28/2016 04:48:47 am

Hi thanks for Inspiring us I wanted to ask if I'm avoiding phytic acid due to nuts nd stuff then is macadamia nuts ok or not...my teeth has cavity so I'm trying to work on that first ...

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Donal
2/29/2016 12:45:40 am

Hi Fatima - mac nuts are actually low in phytic acid content v other nuts (almonds, cashews etc) so they are an excellent choice in that context.

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Mysti
2/28/2016 11:19:33 am

I have been eating this way for 2 years. I was quite intrigued by your first movie. In the last couple of months I went to a nutrition class with my husband who has become pre diabetic. (He has refused to adopt this way of eating) and the nutritionist here in the California actually regarded that it's okay to eat fat. She was careful about her promotion of far, but I talked to her afterward and she said that fat is recently began to be promoted . Yay , finally. But of course things are very slow to be endorsed here in America if there isn't money to be made on it.

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Donal
2/29/2016 12:48:11 am

Thank you Mysti. Your husband may wish to check out Dr Jason Fung. He is seeing remarkable results with Diabetes patients. Good luck and good health to you both. https://intensivedietarymanagement.com/

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Roni
2/28/2016 03:22:52 pm

What about testosterone in women? Does that go up?

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Donal
2/29/2016 12:50:57 am

Testosterone is misunderstood in that context Roni - great blog here by Mark Sisson breaks it down neatly. Go well. http://www.marksdailyapple.com/testosterone-women/#axzz41Xp7WhB0

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Burgess
2/29/2016 02:50:24 am

Thanks for this post - and your Cereal Killers movies which were the tipping point for me, after a coupe of years of slowly opening up to high fat thanks to Mark McManus of Musclehack and Tim Noakes' Real Meal Revolution.

I'd be on eight out of the great eight if I ate meat and fish but as a vegetarian, I do find LCHF to be much easier to manage as a lifestyle than high protein - and still be able to build lean muscle and keep my body fat around 10%.

The sunny city of Cape Town says hello!

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Donal
3/3/2016 04:10:59 am

Great job Burgess! The LCHF veggie option gets asked a lot. Proof it can be done, eh!

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Joan Tendler link
2/29/2016 03:20:16 am

Thanks so much for promoting macadamia nuts. I hadn't realized that they are particularly low in, like not any, omega 6 fat linoleic acid-the problem fats in vegetable oils. Besides the macadamia nuts, avocado, eggs, and butter, I would definitely add poultry fat to your list, as strange as that may sound. I have looked into arachidonic acid quite extensively and have found that it may be the one fat that we have been missing, since we were told not to eat chicken skin and egg yolks and, instead, eat vegetable oils, nuts and seeds. Much research has been done since those days and it turns out that arachidonic acid is in fact anti-inflammatory and gives us the hormone prostacyclin, normalizes neurotransmittors acetylcholine, GABA, dopamine, the cannibinoid anandamide, glutathione, superoxide dismutase and protects against glutamate toxicity. It also kills viruses, etc. I've been eating chicken fat for about 3 months, in various ways, and I was able fight off a major cold that my household had come down with. In fact, the large amount of arachidonic acid in egg yolks is probably the reason, besides cholesterol, that egg yolks are such healthy fat.

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Donal
3/3/2016 04:13:02 am

No skin gets left behind in this house Joan! We are big fans of chicken bone broth as well ;)

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Joan Tendler link
3/3/2016 07:29:25 am

Great-schmaltz rules!

Raymond
2/29/2016 03:31:04 am

Donal since buying The Cereal Killers I changed my diet to HFLC all good even though the odd discussion with doctors over total cholesterol has taken place. I was recently told I had gastritis caused by anti inflammatory meds. I have stopped hflc in case but do you know is it or not suitable for somebody with this condition. I am looking forward to the release of the new med diet film.
Cheers
Raymond

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Donal
3/3/2016 04:16:15 am

We are big fans of fermented foods for gut health around here Raymond - Kefir in particular. Try adding some in there and hunt down a doctor who gets the power of food to guide you.

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Jonathan
2/29/2016 11:17:36 am

Hey Donal, been eating low carb since Cereal Killers made me mad! :)

Become bit of an low carb evangelist to whoever will listen, but it's crazy how much people don't want to change. Even for their health. Sad.

Anyway ... where's the cheese!?! lol

Thanks for shouting this to the world,
Jonathan.

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Donal
3/3/2016 04:23:03 am

Thanks very much Jonathan. Onwards!

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Gary
2/29/2016 02:23:55 pm

Hi Donal,
When training for sprints and weights would you have some kind of carbohydrate before and after training to replenish glycogen stores. if so what would be the best form of carbs and roughly how much?
Really enjoyed the movies.

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Donal
3/3/2016 04:21:46 am

Yes Gary - sweet potatoes are a favorite here. That said, I only sprint/lift when the body says "yes" so I won't always plan strategic carbs. I am not training to an elite level any longer so there are are training principles, but no "program" per se. If programming, try getting some carbs in the night before a glycolytic day. Circa 100-150g seems to resonate with most athletes i've spoken to.

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Gill
2/29/2016 09:08:41 pm

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Robert Simms
3/20/2016 03:13:24 pm

Just shared this post with a lady who asked for ideas. The testosterone comment at the end may grab her husbands attention as well.
/After reading for the 2nd time, I think the '28' in the opening paragraph should be followed by 'day'

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Ben Menton link
5/15/2016 02:58:54 am

good job on this article. very interesting!

Reply



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    Author

     -Donal O'Neill is the Producer of Cereal Killers (2013); Run on Fat - Cereal Killers 2 (2015); Co - Producer of The Big Fat Fix (2016); Co-author of The UK bestseller The Pioppi Diet (2017).

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