Staying off alcohol to cure leaky gut is key, make sure you are getting enough vitamin D. Supplement by real foods only. Pills contain magnesite stearate and lots of colorants, stabilisers and filling agents that can contribute to leaky gut.

Hi Onward,

I must congratulate you with how well you have done so far. I guess, when you say that "but I am still not where I want to be in terms of energy." you mean to say that you cannot get your energy levels up. 

I feel, and I may be wrong, that the high protein/low carbohydrate diet leaves out a most important part of diet and that is animal fat.

Fat in fact is stored energy, that is slowly released as energy. Consuming animal fat does not contribute to "obesity". The major source of obesity is sugar and refined carbohydrates, not animal fat. Animal fat provides satiety and is believed to release energy in slow way over a longer period of time.

I know that this a controversial issue in nutrition. My personal belief is influenced by a client of mine. He is an alcoholic and has been for years. But he does not have the personality changes that usually accompanies alcoholism. Now in his eighties he does not show any other diseases associated with long term alcoholism, such as liver disease or diabetes. He tells me that what saves him from the ravages of alcoholism is that he consumes every day lard, or pure animal fat consumed as part of his cooking. He inherited this habit from is European ancestors, when cooking with lard was common practice.

From a scientific point of view, this does mean anything and I hope this is not going to be interpreted as "it is alright to drink alcohol in excess, provide you consume lard". I love to see some studies on this.

But the crazy ban on animal fat dates back to the days when some companies in America tried to convince people that eating animal fat (such a butter) is bad and that eating margarine, containing poisonous cis-fat or trans-fat, is healthy for purely commercial reasons.

My doubts about the danger of eating animal fats increased after reading Pam Killeen's book "Addiction: The Hidden Epidemic" where she discussed the consumption of animal fats as being essential to human health. Here is a summary:

Animal Fats are Essential to Overall Health Notes from Pam Killeen

Another source of saturated fat is Coconut Oil, contains lauric acid, a saturated fat.