Real Diplomacy

The one president in my lifetime to show any real diplomacy was Nixon. Nixon faced a terrifying coalition in the Soviet Union and communist China. There was tremendous anti-communist sentiment in the country, but, despite this, Nixon came up with a strategy to weaken this dangerous coalition vis-a-vis the US.

To everyone’s surprise, he made a personal trip to China to assuage the communist Chinese leadership. This was real diplomacy because it was eminently in US interest to weaken that dangerous coalition, even to the point of making peace with your ideological enemy — here the Chinese communist party.

Fast forward to the situation today: surprisingly, Trump faces the exact same dangerous coalition. The proxy war in Ukraine, waged by the US/Nato, has driven the Russians into the arms of the Chinese, even though Russia is no longer a communist country, but in fact one that holds elections and is predominantly Christian.

Trump should take a page from Nixon’s playbook in order to weaken this same dangerous coalition. That would be real diplomacy a second time by a president in my lifetime. But instead of rapprochement with China, it should be with Russia.

There are many reasons why such a rapprochement with Russia makes total sense in terms of real US interest. For one, Russia is chock full of nuclear missiles aimed at us. Such a rapprochement would vastly reduce this risk. Secondly, Russia is a country rich in natural resources, so there would be enormous opportunities for US companies to mutually benefit from economic development in this country. Finally, as mentioned, Russia does hold elections and is predominantly Christian, so this country is ideologically compatible with our political regime.

Will Trump have the stones to do what Nixon did and do some real diplomacy here? It obvious what he should do. Cut off all military and political support for Ukraine, forcing a settlement of the proxy war on Russian terms. Dropping all sanctions, particularly with regard to Russian oil. Perhaps a minerals deal with Russia, like the one with Ukraine, and discussion concerning American assistance in developing Russia’s oil and natural gas resources. A personal trip to Moscow, just like Nixon did with China.

Trump’s Tariffs

Keto Day

The long-term studies relative to the ketogenic diet are not very encouraging. They all point out the likelihood of heart disease. Basically, the body is not meant to consume that level of fat on a regular basis.

But that doesn’t mean that the ketogenic approach is not useful.

Let me explain. I do 19:5 intermittent fasting. I eat a big meal at 11 am and stop eating at 4 pm sharp. It is just the way I eat now. Don’t even think about it. Habit.

But I want to do 48-hour and longer fasts on a fairly regular basis for the sake of enhanced autophagy. Not that hard to do a 48-hour fast — just means not eating for one full day. But longer fasts are a real test for me, and yet they would provide even better autophagy.

So longer than a 48-hour fast is where a “keto day” comes in. I just did a 48-hour fast, but the next day afterward, I did what I call a keto day. The keto day was 2000 calories, mostly fat, a small amount of protein, but only 22 grams of carbohydrates.

The tiny amount of carbohydrates means that the deep ketosis of the longer fast will continue for another day, with all the benefits of deep ketosis.

Relative to enhanced autophagy, the small amount of protein is a more serious issue, as protein tends to halt autophagy. (A major reason for autophagy is the body is scavenging for amino acids, so if you provide protein with food that ends the need for scavenging.)

Bottom line: on that third day, one needs to keep the carbohydrates tiny for continued ketosis, but also keep the protein very low, and that — keeping the protein low — is a challenge in using a keto day for greater autophagy in a longer fast.

No Hunger

Diabetes

Pretty sure that 18:6 intermittent fasting would cure type 2 diabetes. The 6 hours of ketosis you would get from that would give your beta cells a compete rest, and they would start to restore themselves.

Just 3 to 6 months of 18:6 should do the trick, especially if your diet is nutritious and at a reasonable level of calories.

There has been a lot of research concerning beta cell regeneration because they know that that would basically cure diabetes, but so far, that’s a complete failure. Diabetes happens when the beta cells die, so that the pancreas cannot produce adequate levels of insulin.

Beta cells work the opposite of muscles. When you really work muscle, it gets stronger, but when you overwork a beta cell, it dies.

I don’t think you need a ketogenic diet with 18:6 intermittent fasting because you get the ketosis from the fasting, but a diet that’s moderate in carbohydrates and somewhat higher in fat would be a good choice. You don’t want excessive carbohydrates, which would spike insulin, but fat has no impact on spiking insulin.

Not A Dope

How To Extend Ketosis

For those of you who are doing intermittent fasting, there is an easy way to really extend ketosis after one day of intermittent fasting.

I do 19:5 intermittent fasting. It is just the way I eat now, and don’t even have to think about doing it. But that means beginning at the 12th hour of my 19 hour fast, only then does ketosis begin with ketone production by the liver. So I regularly get just 7 hours of increasing ketosis, and then, when I eat, it stops abruptly.

The question is how to extend that ketosis the next day without doing an additional 24 hour fast? I’ve discovered a trick to do that with what I’m calling a “Keto day”.

I really don’t believe in the Keto diet because the long term results are not at all healthy with the most serious consequence being increased probability of heart disease. The body just isn’t designed to be socked on a daily basis with that huge quantify of fat in the diet.

But my Keto day is different, as it is just a single day. And here is the secret — fat doesn’t spike insulin at all — nothing, and with a Keto day, you get so little carbohydrates, it isn’t going to restore your glycogen levels at all.

So what happens is that, with me, at that hour that I eat, there is no insulin response for another 24 hours. So instead of getting just 7 hours of ketosis over the 48 hours, I will get 31 hours of ketosis — without having to do an additional 24 hour fast the second day. Pretty cool trick, no?

Health

Functional Medicine Roadblock

The roadblock to functional medicine is that it isn’t covered by traditional health insurance, so you can’t take claims out for visits and tests.

That’s what keeps traditional medicine firmly in place despite the fact that traditional medicine is so weak on telling you how to live for wellness and what tests it can provide that really miss so many important aspects of one’s health.

Traditional medicine is kind of a joke in a way — all about pills and surgery and nothing about lifestyle — whereas functional medicine is clearly the future, but being held back because of this roadblock.

Perhaps Kennedy can do something about this.

Food Order