Gorgon-Wensley-zola-dale Sauce

I went looking for a low carb sauce that used Gorgonzola, because I had some in the fridge. I found this.

I read Ina Gartner's recipe for Gorgonzola sauce, but I didn't have enough cream handy nor did I have any Parmesan in the fridge.
So this evening I did a little experimentation and came up with "Gorgon-Wensley-zola-dale Cream Sauce" which tasted wonderful and was completely low carb.

 1 (U.S.) pint of heavy cream.
Some gorgonzola, diced
Some Wensleydale diced
Whole milk
Salt & Pepper.

Put the cream in a sauce pan and boil it for 40-50 minutes (yes, I do mean that). Stir constantly. For this I highly recommend one of those gizmos that dance around in the pan and stir it for you. I have a RoboStir I got a couple of years ago for Christmas. I finally found a use for it.

There will come a point where you see dark bits. That's the cream separating. Throw in the cheese and whisk it until it is smooth. You might need to return it to heat while whisking if the cheese won't melt all the way. Taste it. The Gorgonzola should just about win the taste battle a bit here and have a bit of an after kick. If not, add more or either cheese to make it right.

It will be thick. So add a little milk and whisk. Repeat until the sauce is just thick, rather than solid. Taste it as you go along. The taste should smooth out as you add milk and the Gogonzola kick will be gone leaving just a rich Gorgon-Wensley-zola-dale taste. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Done, without wheat or significant carbs.

If you reheat it, I found it was a good plan to reheat it in a pan, with a little dash of milk and whisk it while it heats. If you just blast it in the microwave, it will separate.

I got two 11 year olds to eat it on roast chicken without complaint, so I call that a result. There aren't many ways to get Gorgonzola into an 11 year old. A pint of cream helps.

Low Carb, Try 2, part 3

A familiar pattern is starting to emerge. Drop a few pounds, rebound 1-2 pounds. Repeat.
I've also been tracking early morning blood glucose. over the period on the graph, it's gone from a very unhealthy 120 down to a pretty good 79.

The high morning glucose was the thing that got me back onto a no-carb diet. My glucose control seemed to be failing.



12 pounds down. 10 more to get to a psychologically important big round number.

I also fixed the month. The previous graphs were 1 month in the future.

Low Carb Try 2, Part 2

The line went a bit wiggly, but the trend is down:

Weight (Lbs) and Ketostix Reading vs. Date

On the 24th I had blood drawn for an NMR Lipoprofile and HbA1c. We'll get to see if I'm dead yet in a couple more days when the results come back.

Low carb, Try 2.

On the basis of being lazy and having a poor diet, my weight crept back up from my low carb low of 205 up to 222. Time to do something about it. So back on the diet. This time with more fat and I've been peeing on sticks so I can make better graphs.

Zero carbs for 12 days. Lots of meat, eggs, bacon and I'm drinking flax oil daily for the omega-3s.

Weight & Ketones vs. Time

It took 7 days for the ketosis to get above trace levels (while my muscle tissue burnt through its glycogen stores). Note the change in the slope of weight when continuous ketosis kicks in on the 15th.

New Eggs and Bacon Diet Data

I bothered the doctor to order an NMR Lipid profile, so I can see directly measured LDL, particle sizes and lots of other cool blood metrics.

This took longer than planned. It turns out when they order a NMR blood test, they don't call you to come in, you're supposed to know that you're supposed to call the blood testing people to arrange an appointment. I thought the doctor has already done that, but no, we both have to call.

Anyway, after continuing to eat bacon (3 strips), eggs (3) and mushrooms sauteed in butter (3) for breakfast, avoiding sugar, wheat and simple starches, the graph now looks like this:

The tg/HDL ratio has gone from 3.64 to 2.48 to 2.07 to 1.17. So on the tg/hdl scale, I've gone from 'dead' to 'very low risk' in a few months of eating the things I've been told not to.

The particle sizes are in the 'normal' range, whatever than means. So there's a way to go before they get to the super fluffy state that the low-carbers claim is so easy to achieve.

LDL Particle Number	nmol/L			1486
Small LDL Particle Number	nmol/L			431
TC	mg/dL			201
LDL Particle Size	nm			21.7
Large HDL Particle Number	umol/L			5.7
Large VLDL Particle Number	nmol/L			0.7
Triglycerides	mg/dL			61
HDL Cholesterol	mg/dL			52
LDL Cholesterol	mg/dL			137
HDL Size	nm			8.8
VLDL Size				N/A
HDL Particle Number	umol/L			29.1
LP Insulin Resistance Score	out of 100			26

Wheat Is Murder!

For some time it has been suggested by some nutrition researchers that wheat in the diet may be a significant cause of heart disease, but this has been hotly disputed by the anti-fat biased researchers.

The China study, a huge study run by T. Colin Campbell collected data across many counties in China on diet and health. He published a book claiming the results implicated meat as the cause of many common diseases.

Then along came Denise Minger who scrutinized his claims, looked at the data and by applying proper statistical methods, found that the data actually said nothing of the sort and his claims were based on a string of elementary statistical errors. It's not quick read, but if you know statistics, you'll see substance of the argument: http://rawfoodsos.com/2010/08/03/the-china-study-a-formal-analysis-and-response/

She then dug into the apparent univariate associate between wheat and disease and took a proper multivariate look at the data. Here: http://rawfoodsos.com/2010/09/02/the-china-study-wheat-and-heart-disease-oh-my/

So it doesn't look good for wheat. I have been avoiding it while on a low carb diet and now there's solid evidence to support avoiding it.

The Egg and Bacon Diet Updated

I have continued with the Egg and Bacon diet, with a simple modification
- If sitting in a restaurant with a Michelin star, suspend the rules. So far that has included Bouchon in Yountville and Viajante in London.

I started counting at 238 lbs.
My lowest weight was yesterday at 211.
My current weight today is 212. It fluctuates up and down a bit, but more down than up.

In 2010, before I started this and I was an intermittent dieter and exerciser, following the conventional diet regimes that usually fail. I got a blood test.
A month after starting the Egg and Bacon I got a blood test.
Two days ago I got a blood test.

So we can see how it's going:


Or more tabley..

I.E. Before Diet/Near start of diet/Three months into diet
Total cholesterol 178 - 201 - 172
LDL 111 - 138 - 112
HDL 39 - 42 - 42
Triglycerides 142 - 104 - 87
Blood Pressure 137/80 - 132/80 - 130/74
Tgl/HDL 3.64 - 2.48 - 2.07

So before the diet, I had and awful tgl/HDL ratio and now it's good, hopefully I will get to below 2.0 soon.
During the diet, starting immediately with the diet, my triglycerides improved and are now excellent (84).
LDL shot up (bad) at the start of the diet but settled back
HDL went up (good) and stayed there.

The combination of higher HDL and Low triglycerides is evidence of large fluffy LDL particles which is very strong protection against cardiovascular disease (CVD). Whereas before I started the high triglycerides and poor tgl/HDL was evidence of small artherogenic LDL particles and ongoing atherosclerosis.

So this is good evidence that this is making me more healthy, preventing atherosclerosis and if any was present, reversing it.

In order to be more certain, I'm going in for an NMR blood test that should directly measure LDL particle size and number and a lot of other numbers that could reveal my state of health and confirm or refute that the diet is going well.

Reading List

• Know your fats
  
• Why we get fat
• Cholesterol and Health