Nutrition and lifestyle are the keys to longevity
A blog by Michael Butler
Articles and opinions for my family & friends about how I am living a healthier life informed by scientific research undertaken since being diagnosed with heart disease. Starting with the principle that each of us is biologically unique, everyone can use nutrition and lifestyle to achieve their greatest potential.
Filter articles by category
- Agriculture 1
- Biology 1
- Book list 5
- Book review 3
- Carbohydrate 8
- Carnivore diet 1
- Chronic disease 17
- Chronic inflammation 1
- Circadian rhythm 1
- Dietary guidance 1
- Electrolyte 1
- Environment 1
- Evolutionary mismatch 6
- Exercise 2
- Fat 1
- Fermented food 7
- Fibre 2
- Food 4
- Fruit juice 1
- Gardening 4
- Genetics 1
- Heart disease 9
- Holobiont 1
- Human Metabolism 14
- Human development 1
- Human evolution 11
- Human health and disease 15
- Human microbiome 8
- Human nutrition 12
- Immune suppression 1
- Immune system 1
- Industrially processed ingredients 3
- Inspiring stories 1
- Insulin resistance 3
- Ketogenic diet 8
- Low carbohydrate diet 1
- Macronutrient 5
- Meat-based diet 1
- Medicine 1
- Mental health 7
- Microbiome 9
- Microbiota 9
- Microbiota diversity 1
- Micronutrient 4
- Mountain biking 3
- Multiple sclerosis 1
- Nature 2
- Nutrient density 9
- Nutrition 19
- Paper review 8
Where does all the sugar come from?
Everyday foods like fruit juice, bread, croissants, pasta, potatoes, and rice are readily turned into blood sugar when we consume them. Much of that sugar is then turned into body fat. Eating these things all day and everyday goes a long way to explain why so many of us struggle with our weight. I explain how this happens here.
Gut fungi are not as numerous as bacteria but their influence is likely larger
If, like me, you are interested in how gut microbiota affect human health, read on. Long under-investigated and poorly understood gut fungi appear to affect health much more than their small numbers suggest and likely influence what happens to the much more numerous bacteria each of us have in our gut.
Public Health Collaboration Annual Meeting 2024
Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) was the main topic of a recent conference I attended. I learned a lot about the cause, detection and treatment of T2D and wrote this article to summarise what I saw and heard.
“Ultra-processed foods damage health and shorten life”
Did you know that an editorial recently published in the British Medical Journal has called for the UN to think about ultra-processed food in the same was as it does tobacco? This follows a review of how ultra-processed food affected the health of almost 10 million people.
Industrially processed carbohydrates
Have you ever wondered why, indeed did you even know that the sugar and starches many of us eat today are the main causes of weight gain and obesity? Even worse, if left unchecked, the metabolic damage they cause can include heart disease, high blood pressure, and Type-2 diabetes. I explain here how eating to much industrially processed carbohydrate drives up blood insulin and insulin resistance to produce those ill-effects.
Red meat is demonstrably safe
This is the story of a young Englishman following dietary guidelines and professional advice but developed IBD which within three years required that his colon be removed. He describes in graphic detail how he was required to manually manipulate his gut to ease the passage of plant material and eventually remove it in a bag. He finally improved his quality of life by eating a 100% animal-based diet. This is a cautionary tale of how one-size-fits-all dietary recommendations can be harmful.
High healthy cholesterol is good for me
Healthy cholesterol is good for me and the speakers in this embedded discussion do a fabulous job of explaining that. They also describe better risk factors for ill health including blood clotting factors and a certain type of damaged LDL called sdLDL. I hope you enjoy the discussion as much as I did.
The main ingredient in seed oils causes liver disease and liver cancer
The main ingredient in seed oils is called linoleic acid. It is harmful to our body because it damages our immune system. Its effects on our liver are so dramatic that linoleic can act alone to cause liver disease progression all the way to liver cancer.
My book collection - part four
Three books about the ancient pinewoods of Scotland and temperate rainforests of Great Britain and Ireland. I find that time in nature is regenerative for me. I’ve used these books to identify places to hike and mountain bike through some of the most spectacular landscapes of the United Kingdom
My book collection - part three
The latest addition to my cumulative book list is the collection that I used to inform my first post entitled “Is my heart disease a symptom of modern malnutrition?”. There is a total of 10 books describing how what we eat can cause and often cure chronic diseases
My book collection - part two
The latest addition to my cumulative book list is the excellent book by Christopher Palmer, MD, in which he makes the case for mental health as a form of metabolic dysfunction, not a chemical imbalance. He describes how a range of mental health disorders may be improved through food and nutrition. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.
Book Review: The Story of the Human Body by Daniel Lieberman
A review of The Story of the Human Body by Daniel Lieberman
What caused my heart disease - Part 2
Did you have an opportunity to read what I found out about the currently popular Diet Heart Hypothesis of what causes heart disease? If so, were you surprised by what I discovered? I was blown away, and I have to say disappointed, by what I learned. In this post I’ve tried to describe the other, less popular, Thrombogenic Hypothesis. If you read on you’ll read of a simpler theory about how a natural blood clotting repair mechanism may be hijacked and distorted by our poor lifestyle choices to cause heart disease. You’ll also learn about the positive steps I’ve taken to fix my heart disease.
What caused my heart disease - Part 1
Do you or does someone close to you suffer from heart disease? Are you trying to understand the cause and what you can do to stop and maybe even reverse the damage? I found myself asking those questions and decided to delve into what is known about the causes of heart disease. This is the first of a two-part description of what I discovered. In this post you’ll learn what I discovered about the currently popular Diet Heart Hypothesis.
Book Review: Brain Energy by Christopher M. Palmer, MD
A review of Brain Energy: A Revolutionary Breakthrough in Understanding Mental Health – and Improving Treatment for Anxiety, Depression, OCD, PTSD, and More by Christopher M, Palmer, MD
Is my heart disease a symptom of modern malnutrition?
After a routine medical examination in 2017, I was diagnosed with advanced heart disease. After a years-long investigation, I’ve concluded that I’d become malnourished and as a result was suffering from serious ill-health.