animal fat

How depression can spiral out of control in diabetics

Diabetics have a higher risk of depression. Of course they do -- you'd be singing the blues yourself if you had to put up with everything a diabetic does.

Drugs... blood tests... insulin shots... and let's not forget the pain, pain, pain that often tags along with this disease. And what do you get for all the drugs, pokes and pain? A higher risk of heart disease and an early death, that's what.

It's amazing that diabetics even manage to keep sane!

But if you're a diabetic yourself, don't let the disease (or anything else) bring you down -- because new research confirms that even mild depression can worsen the condition and everything that comes along with it.

Four or more episodes of mild depression over five years will triple your risk of poor function, including mobility problems and problems with daily activity. Those same four episodes of depression -- again, even mild depression -- will boost your risk of poor quality of life by 250 percent.

Even a single bout with mild depression can take a toll, boosting your risk of poor function by 50 percent, according to the study in Diabetes Care.

Of course, if you suffer problems with mobility, function and quality of life, you're more likely to get more depressed. And if you're more depressed, you're probably not going to take very good care of yourself -- making the diabetes even worse.

It's a vicious cycle that can spiral out of control in a hurry.

You don't have to let this happen to you. You can beat diabetes and boost your mood at the same time, and that's with a diet of minimal carbs, no sugars and plenty of the fresh animal fats and proteins you crave.

Instead of battling disease and depression, you can send the disease in remission and feel better than you have in years.

FDA saves the day? No way!

When the guy who "saves" you from a burning building turns out to be the guy who set it on fire in the first place, you don't thank him.

You toss him in jail!

So lock up everyone at the FDA, CDC, USDA and any other DC agency with the nerve to dish out health advice -- because the government's new ban on artery-clogging trans fats is confession of a crime against Americans.

Half a century ago, government know-it-alls -- with a big assist from the American Heart Association -- led the push to get people away from animal fats and onto vegetable oils.

Out with the butter... and in with the margarine.

Just one problem: Plant oils are harder to work with than animal fats. They're watery, like pus, and they go rancid easily. But the mad scientists of the food industry figured out that if you add hydrogen, the oils firm up and don't go bad so fast -- and they can be used in everything from margarine to snack cakes to fast food.

That's how you get hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils, that's how you get trans fats and that's how you get heart disease -- along with a higher risk of a heart attack and an early death, all from foods the government has been pushing on you as "healthier" than animal fats.

These risks aren't new; we've known about them for ages. The FDA admitted trans fats are dangerous more than a decade ago, and did nothing. Heck, even the new ban isn't really a ban, because they've left one heckuva loophole in place: Low levels of trans fats can be rounded down to zero.

Would you expect anything less from the FDA?

Luckily, there's one way to avoid all the unhealthy trans fats from vegetable oils, and that's to pass on processed foods -- especially anything with hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils.

Since these are always junk foods, you shouldn't be eating them anyway whether they have trans fats or not.

Stick to fresh foods, minimal carbs and natural animal fats instead.

I'm not done with food yet. Keep reading for how NOT to cook your vegetables.