Eat and Exercise like your Great Grandparents did...with an Ancestral Lifestyle!
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
Saturated Fat is Good for You-Transformation TV-Episode #009
Saturated Fat is Good for You-Transformation TV-Episode #009 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeUJ1gB0bhU&feature=youtube_gdata
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drjoshaxe: Chocolate Milkshake + Celebrities like J.K. Rowling Battle Depression & Beat It - http://eepurl.com/bzoQn
drjoshaxe: Chocolate Milkshake + Celebrities like J.K. Rowling Battle Depression & Beat It - http://eepurl.com/bzoQn - http://eepurl.com/bzoQn
Shared from DrAxe, an iPhone app.
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Sunday, December 12, 2010
Practical fitness benefits
Here is a very practical way to use your health and fitness, gained through healthy, primal/paleo/barbarian eating and exercise. When the snow left over from a blizzard is MORE than your tractor can handle, you just get out the heavy-duty scoop shovel and have an "unscheduled workout"!
Kind of fun, really...
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Sweet Potato Fries-Transform Your Kitchen-Episode #5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qCNHT9goNc&feature=youtube_gdata_player
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Thursday, December 2, 2010
Oil Pulling, and coconut oil period!
Jay and Wayne love to Pull Oil!!Just swishing it around in my mouth, as I take my shower each morning.
I first run the coconut oil, food grade!, in the little bottle I 've purchased, through the microwave for a minute-
When it is liquid, I :
massage a palm-full through my hair!
Put a "shot-glass" full into my mouth- and start SWISHING it around!
After my shower is almost completed, I:
1. Put shampoo on my coconut-covered head, and shampoo it out!
2. Spit the coconut oil in my mouth into the toilet! ( It would clog the sink pipes- it is that RICH!)
Then, I take the coconut oil, put about a tsp. into my palm, and put it on my face and neck- and then, I shave, needing NO shaving cream, since this coconut oil is FAR more lubricating than anything you've ever experienced!!
I also put a full can of coconut milk into my "Barbarian Juice Drink" each morning, and this lubricates me from the "inside out"- no more dry skin!!
"OIL CAN!!" as the TinWoodman was wont to say...
We are meant to eat medium chain fatty acids, as represented by Coconut oil!!
Carbs are the problem- NOT FATS!!!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Cheap Beer on the barbarian/paleo diet
Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, somehow is fixated on alcohol, and how it fits into Paleo diet!
I don't know; it seems to be a fixation- "How can I justify drinking alcohol in my new, obviously improved, massively functional diet of Barbarian eating??
My own recommendation: don't worry about it!
(this is after massive, huge, and intensive research... REALLY!)
It appears that alcohol basically just... RETARDS your fat burning!
Whilst you drink it, your body just preferentially burns alcohol as fuel...
no insulin spike, nothing really bad...
Just a "preferential burning" of a really cool fuel, til it's gone.
Then, back to burning fats! (If you've made the barbarian transition to being a fat burner!)
What would be bad, is if you drank Coke, or other soda pops of nightmare sugared ingredients!
Also, if you drink CHEAP beer, it appears you are better off!!
Cheap beer, aka Blatz, Pabst, Hamms, and their ILK, are all mainly brewed from Corn- much less in terms of anti-nutrients.
My fave, Guinness, is probably the WORST because of all the intense barley involved...
But, even that, I opine, is probably NOT THAT BAD for a barbarian!
If you dial in the REST of your diet: NO grains, no sugar, ample grass fed meats (preferably), seafood (sardines are ideal!), lots of vegetables, some fruits, and ample good fats (pastured butter, whole cream, and coconut milk and oil) you are FINE!!
So drink up, and imagine how you are going to destroy the Roman empire, since you aren't going to eat their grain-based, nutrient deficient diet, and so will be able to take them DOWN!!
The essence of being a barbarian is to be able to take what is GOOD from civilization, and yet retain the best of our barbarian, ancestral knowledge!
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Grill LOTS for maximum nutrition!
I figure, since my time is so short, wouldn't it make sense, when grilling, to grill more than just a ... steak? Yes, it would! I mean, the coals are all hot and all...
So, "Tonight, tonight" (I"ll upload this after this so you know what a groovy 50's song I'm alluding to!), I grilled:
1. bacon
2. a steak
Meanwhile, barbarian Jane (Me Tarzan!) was inside, pan-frying mushrooms in grass-fed butter, and also green beans in butter...
The steak was really, really great tonight, tonight! As were the butter-soaked accompaniments, aka green beans and mushrooms.
Think of the nutrients! Think of how a barbarian forebear would have been uber-pleased by such a meal!!BUT, I also have a pound and 1/2 of bacon to parsel out over the next week... just a quick microwave whilst the eggs cook...
something to REALLY SAVOR!!
Moral of the story?
GRILL your bacon! No mess, no fuss, and GREAT flavor!
AND, WHY would you need-
Toast, potatoes, or any other basically TASTELESS FILLERS to this amazing blend of primary flavors?
Answer: you DON'T!
You are just PROGRAMMED to think you need those (empty, basically flavorless things)!
Just go for the REAL DEAL-
FATS, Proteins, vegetables, and fruits...
Starch is just like eating mud- you need to put lots of FILLER, like jam, peanut butter or other sugars on top or else it would take like nothing!!
The answer is to just...
ELIMINATE the carbs/sugar/flour/bread/potatoes!!
All that they add is disease, in the form of diabetes, heart disease, and probably cancer as well!
Good reasons to "stick to the basics" in foods- NO FILLERS!
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Is five-toed shoe the future of running? | Reuters
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Begin forwarded message:
From: Terry Balderson <terrybalderson@terrybalderson.com>
Date: October 24, 2010 3:16:29 PM CDT
To: KeenMinds <terrycfc@tampabay.rr.com>
Subject: Is five-toed shoe the future of running? | Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69K4ZM20101021?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a49:g43:r1:c0.750000:b38591818:z0
Is five-toed shoe the future of running?
TORONTO (Reuters) - It looks weird, like someone put a glove on their foot, but Tony Post insists his company's new shoe is the future of running.
"Anytime you wear these out of the house, it's hard not to get stopped," said Post about the Vibram Five Fingers (www.vibramfivefingers.com) running shoe that barely covers the foot and sports five toes. "We tried to get as close to a barefoot sensation as we could."
Post, the CEO and president of Vibram USA, Inc., said the Concord, Massachusetts-based company developed the Vibram Five Fingers shoe four years ago to capitalize on a grassroots movement promoting barefoot running. Five Fingers is the off-shoot startup of Vibram, a 75-year-old sole-producing company originally founded by an Italian mountain climber who applied car-tire technology to shoes. Post added the new venture was entirely funded by the parent company.
Post is not only the spokesman, he's also a client.
"I'm a person who actually had knee surgery about five years ago and I wouldn't be able to run if I didn't change the way I was running," he said, adding the new design encourages a forefoot strike, which is "far less impactful on your body, on your knees, your lower back, your ankles" than the traditional heel strike. "It takes some time to get used to running that way, but when you do, it actually is a more comfortable way to run."
Post said Five Fingers targets young, active people interested in a variety of sports, from fitness training, running and outdoor activities and even yoga.
"In the beginning, it was pretty unusual to try to sell this kind of a product -- a product with five toes," said Post, who noted initially consumers were skeptical. "It was a hard sell just because people didn't know if it was a serious product."
The running shoes, which retail anywhere from $85 to $100, seems to have caught the attention of runners. Post said the number of distributors handling the shoes has grown from 24 to more than 700 in North America since the brand was launched. Post said the company has "never run a single ad" and credited consumers for growing the brand.
"It's all been social media, grassroots marketing, a lot of one-on-one conversations frankly is what it's been that's built this business," he said, adding that strong relationship is what will ultimately protect Five Fingers from copycats. "People will always find a way, even if it's not an exact copy to design around something, so at the end of the day it's really about your relationship with the consumer."
THE PITCH
Global sales for athletic footwear, which fell roughly 2 percent during the recent recession, is expected to rebound to reach $96 billion by 2012, according to a 2009 report by apparel and textile industry research firm Just-Style (www.just-style.com).
"We'll probably double our distribution over the next year or so," said Post, adding that would mean Five Fingers being sold in as many as 2,500 stores across the country. He added that would likely accompany a doubling of his 75-person staff to accommodate the demand. "It's doubled the last year and over the next year we'll probably double or triple that workforce again."
Post sees the large growth as the company's biggest challenge.
"The rate of growth today is so much faster than it was even five or 10 years ago. Our business will grow almost five times what it was last year this year," he said, noting his focus is on maintaining a strong corporate culture and infrastructure as they ramp up production. "I think those are the challenges for us: how we maintain a quality product, are able to service our dealers and still be able to manage this kind of very rapid growth."
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Inflammatory disease - the main cause and best cure
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVn-jmCi4zI&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Sent from my iPhone
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
Surf & squeal combo
The no grain, minimal, high fat dairy, and plenty of good omega 3 fats Barbarian diet is both very satisfying-
And Extremely good at maximizing total body health!!
I am starting to realize that the mental benefits are just as profound!
Modern people are so hyper- stressed:
MUCH of that, perhaps MOST, is...
DIET INDUCED!
Go barbarian!
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Weston A. Price- Man ahead of his time!
It seems that the more things change, the more they stay the same. With the advent of antibiotics in the 1930s, modern medicine has prided itself on its near total eradication of several deadly diseases, tuberculosis, polio, diptheria, to name a few. Modern medicine has a drug and a diagnostic test for just about everything and, because of this edifice of pharmacological technology, people are generally in awe of doctors and the medical profession.
Unfortunately, we modern peoples are a mess. Take, for example, a typical person who comes to me for naturopathic counseling. He always begins by saying, Its just a precaution. I'm actually quite healthy – I have some minor problems, however, that my regular doctor can't seem to help me with, so I thought I'd try this. When I take his medical history, I discover a plethora of problems that would hardly qualify one to be quite healthy.
This man, we'll call him Joe, had his tonsils removed when he was seven from severe and recurrent throat infections. He also suffered from chronic ear infections as a child, cured by antibiotics. Joe had to get eye glasses the previous year for his ever worsening sight. He's had three root canals, as well as six cavities filled in the last eight years. Joe also suffers from fatigue and bouts of depression – he always attributes these problems to getting older, and work-related stress. Joe also tells me of chronic indigestion and gas for which his doctor has prescribed a powerful antacid. Joe has had ulcers in the past as well. About once every two weeks, he needs to take a laxative for his constipation. Joe also reluctantly tells me, with his voice hushed and eyes down, that lately he's been having sexual problems and can't seem to perform regularly in the bedroom. He's been thinking of taking that new drug for male impotence, Viagra. Lastly, he shows me the eczema on his leg: I've tried everything for it! It never seems to go away!
Out of curiosity, I ask Joe about his family. Joe proceeds to tell me of his older sister who died three years ago of breast cancer at the age of 47. His father died of a stroke about a decade ago and his mother was just diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Joe's wife gave birth to their two children by Caesarean section and she is slightly obese. She also shares Joe's eczema. Joe's son suffers from asthma, which he's had since he was a child, and attention deficit disorder. Joe assures me that his son is actually quite smart, but just can't seem to settle down enough to get good grades. His son, now 14, was just fitted for braces. Joe's daughter, a very pretty 9-year old, also wears braces and, like her older brother, has a mouth full of cavities. She also suffers from synovitis, an inflammatory disease of the joints, caused by a chronic streptococcal infection – she is constantly on antibiotics.
No, I am not exaggerating. Many of you reading this might be shocked that you're reading something very similar to your own family history as well. Unfortunately, if we are not such people, we all know others like this. The problem is that, like Joe, we seem to accept these conditions as normal and a part of everyday living. We seem to forget that our natural state is one of balance and health – the way our Creator intended.
As we near the year 2000 and enter the 21st century, one thing should be painfully clear: the 20th century will exit with a crescendo of disease. Despite our amazing scientific advances – television, movies, the space shuttle, walking on the moon, etc. – we have gotten nowhere when it comes to chronic disease. Doctors cringe and cower when a patient with arthritis comes to see them. The same goes for people afflicted with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, cancer, lupus, multiple sclerosis, and AIDS: medical science, with all its technological wizardry (and overweening pride), has NO effective treatments or cures for any of these diseases. And the rates for these diseases keep climbing. When it comes to CVD, for example, doctors may claim that they have reduced the mortality rates of people who've had heart attacks, but this is because science has the technology to keep people alive once they've had the heart attack. The risk and incidence of CVD, however, has only risen and worsened. Despite the pushing of low fat/cholesterol diets, blood thinning drugs, polyunsaturated oils, and calorie counting, the 20th century has not made a dent in the rates of CVD.
Things were not so bad back in 1930, but the situation was worsening enough to make one man take notice. Dr. Weston Price of Cleveland, Ohio, was a dentist in private practice who had a truly glorious and distinguished career. He had taught the science to thousands at dental schools, authored technical papers and textbooks, and headed an incredible study on the role of root canals in promoting diseases of various types. (For those of you interested in reading more about this aspect of Dr. Price's work, you can check out the Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation's webpage at www.price-pottenger.org.) Despite Price's amazing work, it has largely been forgotten and this is unfortunate, for in it is a treaure trove of nutritional information that can lead modern peoples to greater health and vitality, and away from the scourge of chronic disease.
DR. PRICE'S NUTRITION STUDIES
Price noticed that his patients were suffering more and more chronic and degenerative diseases. He also noticed that his younger patients had increasingly deformed dental arches, crooked teeth, and cavities. This definitely concerned him: he had not seen such things just ten or fifteen years ago. Why was it happening now? Price also noticed a strong correlation between dental health and physical health: a mouth full of cavities went hand in hand with a body either full of disease, or generalized weakness and susceptibility to disease. In Price's time, tuberculosis was the major infectious illness, the White Scourge. He noticed that children were increasingly affected, the ones with the lousy teeth.
Dr. Price had heard rumors of native cultures where so-called primitive people lived happy lives, free of disease. He hit on an idea: why not go find these people and find out (1) if they really are healthy, and (2) if so, find out what they're doing to keep themselves healthy. Being rather well off financially, he and his wife started traveling around the world to remote locations. They were specifically looking for healthy peoples who had not been touched yet by civilization – at that time, such groups were still around.
Price's work is often criticized at this point for being biased. Critics claim that Price simply ignored native peoples that were not healthy, therefore, his data and conclusions about primitive diets are unfounded. These critics are missing the point and motivation for Dr. Price's work. Dr. Price was not interested in examining sick people because he'd seen enough of them in America. Price wanted to find HEALTHY people, find out what made them so, and see if there were any patterns among these people. During his nine years of journeys, Price did indeed come across groups of primitives who were having problems for various reasons. Price noted these groups down, what appeared to be their difficulty, and then passed them over. Again, he was not interested in sick people. Price often found that the health problems were caused by food shortages (especially a lack of animal products), droughts, things people living off the land must face from time to time, or contact with white European civilization.
Dr. Price and his wife went just about everywhere in their journeys. They traveled to isolated villages in the Swiss alps, to cold and blustery islands off the coast of Scotland, to the Andes mountains in Peru, to several locations in Africa, to the Polynesian islands, to Australia and New Zealand, to the forests of northern Canada, and even to the Arctic Circle. In all, Price visited with fourteen groups of native peoples.
After gaining the trust of the village elders in the various places, Price did what came naturally: he counted cavities and physically examined them. Imagine his surprise to find, on average, less than 1% of tooth decay in all the peoples he visited! He also found that these people's teeth were perfectly straight and white, with high dental arches and well-formed facial features. And there was something more astonishing: none of the peoples Price examined practiced any sort of dental hygiene; not one of his subjects had ever used a toothbrush! For example, when Price visited his first people, isolated Swiss mountain villagers, he noticed right away that the children's teeth were covered with a thin film of green slime, yet they had no tooth decay. What a difference this was from the children in Ohio!
Dr. Price also noticed that, in addition to their healthy teeth and gums, all the people he discovered were hardy and strong, despite the sometimes difficult living conditions they had to endure. Eskimo women, for example, gave birth to one healthy baby after another with little difficulty. Despite the Swiss children going barefoot in frigid streams, there had not been a single case of tuberculosis in any of them, despite exposure to TB. In general, Price found, in contrast to what he saw in America, no incidence of the very diseases that plague us moderns with our trash compactors and cellular phones: cancer, heart disease, diabetes, hemorrhoids, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, osteoporosis, chronic fatigue syndrome (it was called neurasthenia in Price's day), etc.
Dr. Price also noticed another quality about the healthy primitives he found: they were happy. While depression was not a major problem in Price's day, it certainly is today: ask any psychiatrist. While certain natives sometimes fought with neighboring tribes, within their own groups, they were cheerful and optimistic and bounced back quickly from emotional setbacks. These people had no need for antidepressants.
Lest you think Dr. Price made all of this up, he was sure to take along with him one modern invention that would forever chronicle his research and startling conclusions: a camera. Dr. Price and his wife took pictures – 18,000 of them. Many of the pictures are contained in Price's masterpiece Nutrition and Physical Degeneration (available from the PPNF website given earlier). The pictures show native peoples from all over the world smiling wide as the Mississippi river, their perfect teeth shining bright.
WHAT THE PEOPLE ATE
In addition to examining the natives, Dr. Price also gathered considerable data about their distinctive cultures and customs, and these descriptions fill many of the pages of his book. Price took great care to observe what these people were eating for he suspected the key to good health and good teeth was in good food. He was surprised to find that, depending on the people in question and where they lived, each group ate very differently from the other. For example, the Swiss mountain villagers subsisted primarily on unpasteurized and cultured dairy products, especially butter and cheese. Rye also formed an integral part of their diet. Occasionally, they ate meat (beef) as cows in their herds got older. Small amounts of bone broths, vegetables and berries rounded out the diet. Due to the high altitude, not much vegetation grew. The villagers would eat what they could in the short summer months, and pickle what was left over for the winter. The main foods, however, were full fat cheese, butter, and rye bread.
Gaelic fisher people of the Outer Hebrides ate no dairy products, but instead had their fill of cod and other sea foods, especially shell fish (when in season). Due to the poor soil, the only grain that could grow was oat, and it formed a major part of the diet. A traditional dish, one considered very important for growing children and expectant mothers, was cod's head stuffed with oats and mashed fish liver. Again, due to the extremely inhospitable climate, fruits and vegetables grew sparsely. Price noted that a young Gaelic girl reeled in puzzlement when offered an apple: she had never seen one!
Eskimo, or Innu, ate a diet of almost 100% animal products with hefty amounts of fish. Walrus and seal, and other marine mammals also formed an integral part of the diet. Blubber (fat) was consumed with relish. Innu would gather nuts, berries, and some grasses during the short summer months, but their diet was basically all meat and fat. Price noted that the Innu would usually ferment their meat before eating it. That is, they would bury it and allow it to slightly putrefy before consuming it. Innu would also eat the partially digested grasses of caribou by cutting open their stomachs and intestines.
The Maori of New Zealand, along with other South sea islanders, consumed sea food of every sort – fish, shark, octopus, sea worms, shellfish – along with fatty pork and a wide variety of plant foods including coconut and fruit.
African cattle-keeping tribes like the Masai consumed virtually no plant foods at all, just beef, raw milk, organ meats, and blood (in times of drought).
The Dinkas of the Sudan, whom Price claimed were the healthiest of all the African tribes he studied, ate a combination of fermented whole grains with fish, along with smaller amounts of red meat, vegetables, and fruit. The Bantu, on the other hand, the least hardy of the African tribes studied, were primarily agriculturists. Their diet consisted mostly of beans, squash, corn, millet, vegetables, and fruits, with small amounts of milk and meat. Price never found a totally vegetarian culture. Modern anthropological data support this: all cultures and peoples show a preference for animal foods and animal fat (Abrams, The Preference for . . .).
Hunter-gatherer peoples in Northern Canada, the Florida Everglades, the Amazon, and Australia, consumed game animals of all types, especially the organ meats, and a variety of grains, legumes, tubers, vegetables, and fruits when available.
Price noted that all peoples, except the Innu, consumed insects and their larvae. Obviously in more tropical areas, insects formed a more integral part of the diet. Price noted that: The natives of Africa know that certain insects are very rich in special food values at certain seasons, also that their eggs are valuable foods. A fly that hatches in enormous quantities in Lake Victoria is gathered and used fresh and dried for storage. They also use ant eggs and ants. Bees, wasps, dragonflies, beetles, crickets, cicadas, moths, and termites were consumed with zest also, particularly in Africa.
Price also noted that all cultures consumed fermented foods each day. Foods such as cheese, cultured butter, yogurt, or fermented grain drinks like kaffir beer (made from millet) in Africa, or fermented fish as with the Innu were an important part of native diets.
Curiously, all native peoples studied made great efforts to obtain seafood, especially fish roe which was consumed so that we will have healthy children. Even mountain dwelling peoples would make semiannual trips to the sea to bring back seaweeds, fish eggs, and dried fish. Shrimp, rich in both cholesterol and vitamin D, was a standard food in many places, from Africa to the Orient.
The last major feature of native diets that Price found was that they were rich in fat, especially animal fat. Whether from insects, eggs, fish, game animals, or domesticated herds, primitive peoples knew that they would get sick if they did not consume enough fat. Explorers besides Dr. Price have also found this to be true. For example, anthropologist Vilhjalmur Stefansson, who lived for years among the Innu and Northern Canadian Indians, specifically noted how the Indians would go out of their way to hunt down older male caribou for they carried a 50 pound slab of back fat. When such animals were unavailable and Indians were forced to subsist on rabbits, a very lean animal, diarrhea and hunger would set in after about a week. The human body needs saturated fat to assimilate and utilize proteins and saturated animal fats contain high amounts of the fat soluble vitamins, as well as beneficial fatty acids with antimicrobial properties.
Of course, the foods that Price's subjects ate were natural and unprocessed. Their foods did not contain preservatives, additives, or colorings. They did not contain added sugar (though, when available, natural sweets like honey and maple syrup were eaten in moderation). They did not contain white flour or canned foods. Their milk products were not pasteurized, homogenized, or low fat. The animal and plant foods consumed were raised and grown on pesticide-free soil and were not given growth hormones or antibiotics. In short, these people always ate organic.
WHAT THE SAMPLES SHOWED
Dr. Price was eager to chemically analyze the various foods these primitives ate. He was careful to obtain preserved samples of all types for analysis. Basically, the diets of these healthy peoples contained 10 times the amount of fat-soluble vitamins, and at least 4 times the amount of calcium, other minerals, and water soluble vitamins than Western diets at that time. No wonder these people were so healthy!
Because of the consumption of fermented and raw foods (including raw animal products), Price noted that native diets were rich in enzymes. Enzymes assist in the digestion of cooked foods.
Price noted that all peoples had a predilection and dietary pull towards foods rich in the fat-soluble vitamins. Price considered butter from pasture-fed cows, rich in these vitamins as well as minerals, to be the premiere health food. Fat-soluble vitamins are found in fats of animal origin, like butter, cream, lard, and tallow, as well as in organ meats.
And to dispel a common myth about native peoples, they did live long lives. Price took numerous photos of healthy primitives with heads full of gray hair. While we don't know exactly how old they were since they did not have calendars, they were, by all appearances, well past 60. The Aborigines, for example, had a special society of the elderly. Obviously, if there were no old people among them, they would have had no need for such a group. Stefansson also reported great longevity among the Innu. It is true that death rates at younger ages were higher among some groups, but these mortalities were from the dangerous lifestyle these people lived, not from their diet. When you live in the Arctic Circle, for example, constantly fighting the elements, polar bears, ice flows, and leopard seals, you run the risk of an early death.
Another common misconception that modern nutrition holds towards native peoples and their high meat and fat diets is that they suffered from all sorts of degenerative diseases, especially osteoporosis and heart disease. The facts, however, do not support these contentions. Despite some studies done in the past few decades that tried to show the high rates of osteoporosis among the Innu were due to their high protein diet, other studies have shown no such thing. The work of Drs. Herta Spencer and Lois Kramer conclusively proved that the protein/calcium loss theory to be nonsense. As it turns out, the negative studies on the Eskimo were done, not on Innu following their traditional diet, but among modernized Innu who had adopted modern eating habits and alcohol. Alcoholism is a major factor in bone loss. Certainly, Dr. Price would have noted that bone loss was a problem if it had been, especially since he was examining teeth which are made of calcium, but he did not. While in Switzerland, Price got permission to dig up skeletal remains of some villagers: the bones were sturdy and strong. There are pictures in Price's book of these bones (and skulls showing mouths of perfect teeth free of decay). Price found no incidence of any major diseases, including heart disease.
This is not to say that native peoples did not have ANY problems for such is certainly not the case. Price learned of native remedies for a host of minor ills such as headaches, colds, wounds, and burns. But as far as degenerative diseases go, he found nothing.
This brings up the other major finding of Dr. Price's research: the effects of a modern diet on native peoples. To this, let us now turn.
THE ROOTS OF DISEASE
When Dr. Price visited the various primitive groups, he noted that white European civilization had begun making inroads into the areas where they lived. Some of the native peoples opted to leave and move into areas where it was more modern. Dr. Price also had the opportunity to compare white colonialists who were living alongside, or close to, the native peoples he was studying. What he found was what he thought he would find: disease and dental decay.
When people read Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, it often changes their lives because not only does it describe how healthy people look, feel, and eat, it also shows in painful detail what happens to those people when they abandon their native eating patterns and adopt modern foodstuffs. The pictures Price took of natives and moderns on what Price disdainfully called the displacing foods of modern commerce are horrifying and stand in stark contrast to the pictures next to them of healthy, smiling natives. Nutrition writer and Price enthusiast Sally Fallon explains:
His photographs capture the suffering caused by these foodstuffs – chiefly rampant tooth decay. Even more startling, they show the change in facial development that occurred with modernization. Parents who had changed their diets gave birth to children who no longer exhibited the tribal patterns. Their faces were more narrow, their teeth crowded, their nostrils pinched. These faces do not beam with optimism, like those of their healthy ancestors. The photographs of Dr. Weston Price demonstrate with great clarity that the ëdisplacing foods of modern commerce' do not provide sufficient nutrients to allow the body to reach its full genetic potential – neither the complete development of the bones in the body and the head, nor the fullest expressions of the various systems that allow humankind to function at optimal levels – immune system, nervous system, digestion, and reproduction (Nasty, Brutish, and Short? 8).
And what were the offending foods that these unfortunate people consumed? Why everything we find on our grocer's shelves: sugar, white flour, jams, jellies, cookies, condensed milk, canned vegetables, pastries, refined grain products, margarine, and vegetable oils.
Price noted in several places that where modern foods had displaced traditional ones, suicide rates from dental caries were high. As most of us know, dental pain can be excruciating. With no drugs to ease their pain, and no dentist around to pull the dying tooth, people took their own lives to escape the torture.
White Europeans who lived in Africa had to leave periodically for health reasons. Children born there had to be sent away several times during their youth in order to survive. Such was the hardy effect of modern foods on these people. Native Africans, of course, had no such problems as long as they stayed on their native diets.
As noted earlier, the major infectious disease at Price's time was tuberculosis, the White Scourge. Price took several photographs of children, usually the children of either Europeans or natives who had adopted the modern foods before their children were born. They are disturbing in their depictions of suffering. Some of the children were too sick to be moved to better lighting for photographing. Others had pus visibly draining from their lymph glands and abscessed teeth. Invariably, parents and children who had adopted modern foods were highly susceptible to tuberculosis and other degenerative diseases.
The native Hawaiians are a tragic example of this shift. Price did visit the Hawaiian islands on his journeys. He, of course, noted that Hawaiians who ate their traditional diet of coconut, fish, shellfish, taro, sweet potatoes, and fresh fruits were healthy and strong. Today, however, the health of native Hawaiians is frightening. Obesity and diabetes are rampant. Because canned meats with nitrates in them are popular there, rates of stomach cancer are high (nitrates convert into carcinogens in the stomach – vitamin C halts the conversion). Hawaiians today eat their fair share of sugar, soft drinks, vegetable oils, macaroni salad, white flour, and white rice. Coconut is sometimes eaten, but usually as part of a sugary snack. High blood pressure and heart attacks are common. Rates of Alzheimer's are elevated as well. Such is the effect of processed foods on a beautiful race of people.
In the last decade or so, however, a diet was proposed called the Hawaii Diet. Though it is a little low in fat for my tastes, it advocates a full return to traditional eating patterns: fish, taro, sweet potatoes, fresh fruit and vegetables, and, occasionally, pork (wild boar and feral pig are native to the islands). Specifically avoided are white rice, sugar, Spam, and processed foods in general. The change is dramatic: people lose weight, they have more energy, and their health problems dissipate or become more manageable. Their teeth invariably improve as well.
Price noticed this pattern also. If a native abandoned his ancestral eating habits in favor of modern foods, ill health and dental caries followed. If that same person switched back to the original eating pattern, however, health returned and the progression of dental decay stopped and reversed itself. This is perhaps the most uplifting aspect of Price's work: one can always reverse the trend; there is always hope.
Price accurately and ominously predicted that as Western man consumed more refined sugar and substituted vegetable oils for animal fats, disease would increase and reproduction would be more difficult. Today, some 25% of Western couples are infertile, and rates of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease have skyrocketed. Price was truly a modern Cassandra of Troy – prophesying the truth, but with no one listening.
A RETURN TO SANITY, PLEASE?
For many decades, Price's work has been buried and forgotten. Due to the efforts of the Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation, however, and the republication of Price's book for the public, that is fortunately starting to change. Several prominent nutritional doctors have traced their philosophical heritages back to Weston Price and his work. Abram Hoffer, founder and developer of orthomolecular psychiatry, Jonathan Wright, noted author, Alan Gaby, medical columnist, Melvyn Werbach, nutritional author, and other medical doctors all sing the praises of this ingenious dentist. Nutritional anthropologist H. Leon Abrams, associate professor emeritus at the University System of Georgia and author of over 200 papers and 8 books, points to Price as a giant, ahead of his time with a message relevant to us all.
Price's conclusions and recommendations were shocking for his time. He advocated a return to breast feeding when such a practice was discouraged by Western medicine. He urged parents to give their children cod liver oil every day. He considered fresh butter to be the supreme health food. He warned against pesticides, herbicides, preservatives, colorings, refined sugars, vegetable oils, in short, all the things that modern nutrition and agriculture have embraced and promoted the last few decades. Price believed that margarine was a demonic creation. Let me tell you, with recommendations like these, he was REALLY unpopular! But the result of his research speaks for itself.
Knowing that his data flatly contradict virtually everything that politically correct nutrition holds, it is common to find his work belittled. If Price's studies are accurate, then the low-fat school must go the way of all flesh: into the graveyard. It is typical, therefore, for critics to say things like Price only superficially examined the peoples he encountered and made simplistic conclusions about their health. Price is also accused of ignoring the nutritional deficiencies of the peoples he studied, as well as their high rates of infant mortality. Its also asserted that the modern foods that Price argued were these people's downfall were actually wholesome, but the primitive peoples overconsumed too much of them and didn't balance their diets correctly, hence their high rates of disease after adopting modern food stuffs. Critics also claim that malnourished people usually don't have dental problems, so it is immaterial that the natives Price photographed had perfect teeth, or that the modernized ones had poor ones.
It is truly amazing how far some experts will go to defend the processed food industry and shaky nutritional hypotheses! Even a cursory look at Price's book will tell any rational person that Price did not superficially examine the people he studied. The detail about native customs, eating habits, and history of the various areas argues against any accusations of superficiality. Additionally, Price was a physician with many years of experience; it is ludicrous to claim that he would make a superficial examination and reach simplistic conclusions about people's health. If there were nutritional deficiencies, he would have noted them down, but no such descriptions exist for the simple reason that no such deficiencies existed. We know this to be true for, if we examine the modern descendants of Price's subjects, we find that they enjoy robust health and freedom from both dental caries and more chronic diseases, IF they have not abandoned their native diets.
It is true that high infant mortality rates existed, but only AFTER exposure to and adoption of the white European way of life. Further, if the foods of modern commerce were so wholesome, then they would have provided the nutrients within them to avert death, dental decay, and disease in the person who ate them, regardless of how they ingested them. Claims of unbalanced diets of modern foods is plain old doubletalk that does not stand the test of logic.
The last claim about dental condition not being related to the body's nutritional state is simply false. Numerous researchers have noted the clear and obvious connection between dental and bodily health. They all assert without hesitation that the health of the body is reflected quite accurately in the health of the teeth (Abrams, Vegetarianism, 72; Diorio, et. al., 856-865; Menaker and Navia, 680-687).
DR. PRICE'S MESSAGE
The obvious conclusion of Price's research is that for humanity to survive, it must eat better. And the foods it must eat must be whole, fresh, and unprocessed. More and more, people are beginning to see this and have been changing their eating patterns. But for the majority, however, the continuation of negative dietary habits will inevitably lead to decreased vitality, unhealthy children, in short, the degeneration of the human race. In this world of survival of the fittest, we need to take every opportunity to bolster our position or we risk going the way of the dodo bird: into extinction.
Besides, eating whole foods tastes good! The first happy lesson to be gleaned from traditional diets and Price's work is that good food can and should taste good. Its OK to saute vegetables and meats with butter. Its OK to consume whole milk, meat with its fat, eggs, shrimp and lobster, and liver with onions and bacon. Its OK and healthy to eat home made soups made from gelatin-rich bone broths and sauces made from drippings and cream.
Eating whole foods is good for the environment as well. The building blocks of a whole foods diet are pesticide-free plant foods raised on naturally enriched soils, and healthy animals that live free to graze and manure the paddocks of their farms, as opposed to standing in a cramped stall, never seeing sunlight, being fed soybeans and corn meal, and being shot up with steroids and antibiotics.
Eating whole foods is better for the economy as well. Organic foods are usually raised by small farms. Each time you buy an organically raised plant or animal product, you are helping someone to earn a living. Isn't that preferable to giving your money to a multinational food company that mass produces its product, not caring about the health of the soil, the planet, the animals, or ourselves?
Finally, eating whole foods is healthier. We humans evolved eating certain food stuffs in certain ways. You did not see a caveman trimming the fat off of his meat – he ate the whole thing. You did not see a Swiss Alps villager eating low fat cheese – she ate the whole thing. You did not see Maori fishermen avoiding shellfish for fear of cholesterol – they ate the whole thing. Foods are packaged in ways that Nature intended: they contain all the nutrients within themselves for optimal assimilation by our bodies. Eating whole foods insures us the highest amount of nutrients food has to offer. Tampering with them is ill advised.
OUR OPPORTUNITY
Westerners live in countries where food is readily available, unlike other parts of the world where people routinely starve or are malnourished. Further, we live with a choice between two ways of eating: the way of whole foods, and the way of processed, new fangled junk. With such a privilege, we owe it to ourselves and our children to choose the way of life: the way of whole foods. By making this decision, we can stem the tide of chronic disease that threatens to consume our bodies and minds. Let us make that decision and embrace the ways of our ancestors. It is only by turning to the wisdom of traditional diets that we can find our biological salvation.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Cooking with Bones | Mark's Daily Apple
This is great info about cooking with BONES; that's right: making a Barbarian Bone Broth!
I am thinking that this is the "missing link" of proper Barbarian eating- meat, vegetables, fruit, coconut milk... BONE BROTH!!
Like a wonderful, savory barbarian stew that includes all of the marrow, and many other nutrients within the bone itself- after all, only MAN knows to break bones to obtain the marrow!
Perhaps THIS is the key to our modern adaptive supremacy!
Friday, September 3, 2010
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Inversion strap training
Nice idea for bodyweight exercises outside, but too rich for my "blue collar" blood!
Luckily, I had some 'forearm forklift' moving straps laying about... About $20 worth. (For TWO!!)
Putting one set into a tiedown lashing strap(also laying around), and I was set!
I think this is the ideal way to transition into handstand pushups!
Friday, August 27, 2010
Diets & Hunger
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Akz9B-zMS-4&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Sent from my iPhone
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Gary Taubes on Carbohydrates and Degenerative Diseases
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7FbmdSCjHQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Sent from my iPhone
Low Carb Lindsey-Video 9: Low Carb Fridge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yT2JNFTpw1s&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Sent from my iPhone
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Sweet Caroline is Bill's favorite song at the Holmen Corn Fest!
We also had brats (paleo) with sauerkraut and onions (Paleo!), but, sadly buns...
And, Gladly, Beer!!
Good times were had by all.
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can."
From: Jjhbowers <jjhbowers@aol.com>
To: Jay Bowers <jjhbowers@aol.com>
Sent: Sun, Aug 22, 2010 6:24 pm
Subject: Sweet Caroline
Sent from my iPhone
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Perfect breakfast
Also crucial, is my trademark barbarian smoothie- spinach, mixed veggies, assorted fruits, green tea, coconut milk, and all combined via a Vitiamix high speed blender!
Coffee too, with real whipped cream, sweetened with stevia, & cinnamon.
Eat this, and I guarantee -
Barbarian boy, or Barbi girl:
You will NOT be hungry again for a LONG time!
J
Friday, August 20, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Grilling supper, two lunches, and breakfast
Last night, after a LONG day, I came home and did one of my favorite things- I grilled a lot of meat!
Mild Italian bratwursts, breakfast sausages, and a double marinated chicken breast, to be exact, which I picked up on the way home.
I ate half the chicken, along with some microwaved mixed vegetables (with fruit added- really good!, and cut up the brats into bite sized morsels, put into tupperware containers with onions for two substantial lunches that only need microwaving (and added horseradish/mustard).
The sausages- well, I had a few this morning, along with some scrambled eggs (in Kerry Gold grass-fed butter), and I was one well fed barbarian boy!
Go thou and do likewise!
J
Monday, August 16, 2010
Statins- Just say NO!
I have heard several guests on his show lately, who all go into a litany of the evils of statin drugs!
Muscle wasting,
joint pain,
Liver damage....
and the list goes on and on!
Why would you take a drug, to mitigate a condition (High cholesterol), that is a fiction in terms of heart health??
High cholesterol does not mean that your are unhealthy in any way.
The medical establishment is on a blind endorsement of the Ancil Keye's bogus study, from the middle of the last century, that posited that saturated fat was the sole cause of heart disease...
He fudged the data, "losing" parts of it that didn't fit his theory,
and set us all up for 50 years of bad nutritional advice!!
Bottom line:
Butter is good. Corn oil is BAD!
Real food is good. Industrial food is BAD!
Lean meats, seafood, eggs, and nuts are good.
Sugar, grains (YES- EVEN "WHOLE GRAINS") are BAD! REALLY BAD!!!
Legumes are BAD!! Beans are BAD FOR YOU!! (This includes peanut butter!)
Sugar equals flour. Potatoes equal sugar. Both are sheer poison. Don't eat them for the rest of your life, except when you ocassionally want to "kick up your heels".
Then, get right back "on the wagon"!
J
Real fat is good. Industrial fat is bad.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
Sodium Lauryl Sulphate- the bad guy in your soap!
I had a very cool revelation today, and I plan to share it... with YOU!!
For years I have had peeling skin on my hands. Sometimes it reached the point where it was embarrassing- I mean a lot of peeling skin!
I have thought that it was a mineral or vitamin deficiency; and since I started the Barbarian drinks, and the otherwise Paleo diet, sans grains and legumes, it has improved...
But it always is kind of "there"; a little peeling, sometimes more, sometimes less...
But FINALLY, (I can be somewhat obtuse at times), I realized one thing:
It was always worst after my morning shower!!
I had been reading about SLS, Sodium Lauryl Sulphate. This is the chemical that is added to virtually all commercial soaps and shampoos. (Except for ONE!)
The additive, SLS, is a known skin irritant, can cause hair loss, and is a primary ingredient in engine degreasers.
It's also in most soaps, shampoos, detergents,toothpastes... the list goes on and on.
WHY?
Because it's cheap. And it gives a "foaming" effect that customers like. It SUCKS, at least for human care products....(Garage floor oil sludge cleaning- it's golden!)
Ok. Look at the photo above, of my utterly smooth, non-peeling hand!
This is because, two days ago, I stopped using the body wash and shampoo I used before, and switched to...
drumroll please!!
Ivory Soap! (BAR soap)!
I wash my body, my hands, and then my HEAD with the soap from the bar!
NO REACTION, no peeling, zip-zero-nada!!
I wish all my problems were so simple.
SLS is, in my opinion, the equivalent of high fructose corn syrup in the diet-
Ivory is just real soap. PRIMAL soap. Paleo soap. barbarian soap!
Also, it's really cheap! (real things usually are!) You can always opt for designer/organic/trendy, but this is the primal option...
Just one caveat:
The other products under the Ivory aegis, like the liquid soap, the detergents, etc.-
They all contain SLS! Thanks, Proctor and Gamble!
Caveat emptor!
Jbird
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Free Quest Protein Bars!
Click the link, and get two free, postpaid protein bars! I heard about this deal on the Jimmy Moore "Livin' la vida low carb" podcast- I highly recommend this podcast! Jimmy is a thoroughly engaging host, and the guests he has are the best in the low-carb field.
http://questproteinbar.com/free
So, now just what am I eating in the photo, and why do I look so happy?
I have bacon and eggs, the eggs being "basted" in the bacon fat... I also have my trademark barbarian juice drink as a chaser, and espresso with real whipped cream atop.
Of course I look happy!
"But Jay", I hear you asking frantically "Isn't all that fat and cholesterol really bad for you?"
In a word, no.
And, I don't eat like this every day- this is a relaxing Sunday morning. I did my "DVR" or dynamic visualized exercises earlier, did my Hindu back-bridging, and some self-resisted exercises as well as some stretching. Then, shower and breakfast! I won't need to eat until supper- I'll sip my barbarian concoction throughout the afternoon as I feel the urge, giving me all the fruits and vegetables (and fluids!) I'll need for the day, and in the late afternoon I"ll fire up the grill for chicken thighs and drumsticks!
I heard another guest on Jimmy Moore's show yesterday, an ex-vegetarian or vegetard as I like to call them ala Robb Wolf of the Paleolithic Solution podcast; she pointed out that, since most folks want boneless, skinless chicken breasts, the price of those cuts are much higher priced, and since these same people avoid dark meat, like thighs and drumsticks, these superior cuts are very cheap! So, be advised.
Also, I have been going strictly body-weight in my exercises for quite a while now, ala John Peterson and Mark Sisson. But I have added barefoot sprinting as M. Sisson recommends, and rigged up a suspension trainer in the yard, over a tree branch, from some straps that I had laying around- I"ll post some pictures of that this afternoon, if it stops raining!
Also, I plan to do sets of pullups downstairs later, and also want to add some power rack exercises, pushing on the pins with a bar in the rack, working on multiple levels with isometric stops...
Looks like a fun day!
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
The Perfect Dessert
Today, a hot day in August, I had a nice dessert awaiting me in my lunch cooler.. (see to the left!)
It was a mix of frozen (this morning) raspberries and blueberries. Just about a 1/2 handful of each, in a little tupperware container, but- and this is crucial!-topped with a healthy dollop of real, unhomogenized whipped cream, sweetened with cinammon!
Ironically, it appears that full fat dairy is much better for you than skim, which in the old days was used as pig food; in other words not nutritious enough to use on humans!
The satiety factor of using just a little whipped cream (or butter, or coconut milk) is HUGE-
You are satisfied, and NOT hungry, for hours afterwards.
Not to mention, the food value of the berries involved is HUGE, and the insulin response is minimal in such a dessert.
"But Jay", I hear you asking, politely, "Who cares about insulin?"
Well, I answer politely, you should!
For many years, saturated fat has been implicated by the "authorities", the ADA, the FDA, and the AMA as the bad guy! This is wrong, and NOT supported by science!
Not to get technical, since this is a practical, fun, laugh-out-loud in happiness kind of a blog, but we have been fed a load of BS for many years about how we should eat a "low fat, high carbohydrate, processed foods diet".
The result? We are fatter, more diseased, more sick, than we've ever been!!
Why?
Because we "bought" the BS- we ate low fat, processed foods.
We ate "carbs", since they were OK and cheap and endorsed by our medical "professionals".
We cut back on fats, dramatically!, since they are the BAD GUYS!! NO butter, no coconut milk or oil, no olive oil, just "poly-unsaturated" oils, since they are GOOD!
And so, since we did NOT eat fats, we were continually FAMISHED! We ate TONS of carbs, low fat processed foods like crackers and cookies and bread, washed it all down with SKIM milk (since that was OK)....
And they wondered why we became fat pigs with horrible blood lipid profiles, since we were doing everything right, according to the medical professionals?
AND, to add insult to injury, we also ascribed to the onerous practice of "chronic cardio", where we would force ourselves to "jog" or slowly run for hours, until our poor joints of hip, knee, and feet literally gave way!
Why didn't all this exercise, and low fat food keep us thin and healthy??
Because we ate ALL WRONG! And exercised ALL WRONG!!
Eat carbohydrates (whole grain is just as bad!), and your body pumps out insulin, to lower the blood sugar spike, since to your body carbs are sugar/sugars are carbs! No difference!!
If you eat carbs over, and over, and over, and over, eventually, to your body, it's like :
"Ramp it up to high! Burn sugar- that's all we will get- burn baby burn!!"
And you will burn- Insulin is also known as an aging hormone.
The more you produce, the faster you will age, and the more diseases you will "encourage".
It's like your body is a Ferrari, and you give it the cheapest fuel you can find; with water, sludge, and such in it.
Carbohydrates are that fuel- Sugar, pure and simple! Don't do it!!
Give your body carbs, and it responds by pumping out insulin, so you feel hungry again, and eat more carbs/sugar, and it pumps out yet more insulin...
Eventually, to your body, it seems like you are shouting as loud as you can over and over:
"I need insulin!!"
Like crying "wolf", your body learns to shut this OUT! But now you're really in trouble, since now your body just produces insulin constantly, just to shut you up!!
So now, your body has "learned" to continually create insulin, a hormone that is guaranteed to age you rapidly, and generate a host of diseases, including (but not limited to):
diabetes
obesity
heart disease
cancers of all varieties
You get the idea...
The solution to this dilemma?
Restrict carbohydrates!
No grains, pasta, bread, cereal, crackers, ANYTHING made from flour!
No rice, corn, or potatoes! (More on nightshade plants later)
No legumes- peanuts, cashews, and all BEANS are hazardous to your health- loaded with "anti-nutrients", they can allow contaminants to enter into your bloodstream! Potatoes will do likewise, so eliminate them as well!
Eat lots of good fats:
Butter, olive oil, coconut oil and coconut milk
Eat protein:
Lean meats, seafood, vegetables, eggs, nuts. Lots of all of these- to satiety!! Eat hearty!
At this point, I know the above sounds just crazy! But, trust me, It is all true!!
Just try it out for 30 days.
If by the end of 30 days you don't :
Feel better
Look better
have better health via blood profiles
Then I would be wrong.
I haven't been wrong YET on anyone who tried this!
This barbarian diet solves TONS of modern health problems!!
Add some Barbarian Exercise??
J
Monday, August 2, 2010
Sunshine Superman- The Vitamin D solution!
The sun in important for cats, too!Here is my little cat boy, Ty, taking in some sun in the garden..
Since I base my whole fitness regimen on what he does, since he is totally "au Naturale", I knew he was on to something.
Actually, I've always KNOWN that sun exposure is good, just so long as you don't BURN! To the ancient Greeks, the SUN was their first recourse for healing. Anything in EXCESS is bad, this includes the sun. BUT, to exclude it, is like excluding lean meats, fruits, nuts, and vegetables- BAD!
Can't wait to read this book in it's entirety!
J and Ty
Sunshine Superman
“If I had to give you a single secret ingredient that could apply to the prevention — and treatment, in many cases — of heart disease, common cancers, stroke, infectious diseases from influenza to tuberculosis, type 1 and 2 diabetes, dementia, depression, insomnia, muscle weakness, joint pain, fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, psoriasis, multiple sclerosis, and hypertension, it would be this: vitamin D.”
During the whirlwind that has been my life of late, I managed to make my way through Dr. Michael Holick’s terrific book The Vitamin D Solution from which the above quote comes. Before I get started on my review, in the interest of full disclosure, I’ve got to tell you that of all the books I’ve reviewed on this blog since its inception, this is the first and only one that I’ve been sent gratis by the publisher. It was strange how it came about. I learned of this book long before it was published and had pre-ordered it through Amazon. A few weeks or so after my pre-order, I received an email from the publisher’s PR agent for this book asking if I would like a pre-publication copy for possible review. I sure would, said I, and promptly canceled my Amazon order.
I’ve been a fan of Dr. Holick’s for years now, reading every paper he publishes, which is a considerable job given his prolific output. I’ve corresponded with him a time or two on a few issues and he has always been very generous with his advice. I consider him THE authority on vitamin D. So, I was eager to dig into his book.
I wasn’t disappointed.
I figured that somewhere along the way, Dr. Holick had gotten intrigued with vitamin D, had pursued his interest and had become sort of a guru. But in reading his book, I learned that he is much more than that. He began studying vitamin D as a graduate student and ended up being the person who actually discovered 1,25 (OH)D, the major circulating form of vitamin D in humans. This was back in the early 1970s, and he’s been studying vitamin D without letup since. His book is the most up-to-date source of all the science available about this amazing nutrient.
Dr. Holick sums up the importance of vitamin D to human well being in this single sentence from early in the book:
The sun is as vital to your health and well-being as food, shelter, water and oxygen.
Which seems reasonable since every morsel of energy we consume originates with the sun. No sun, no plants. No plants, no animals. No plants and animals, no us. As Sir Karl Popper noted, we eat the sun. We evolved in the sunlight, so it makes sense that the sun offers other benefits as well food.
Dr. Holick begins his book with a fascinating comparison of a ten-year-old girl growing up somewhere along the equator to a ten-year-old girl growing up in the United States or Europe. The former will probably never learn how to use a computer, never go to a mall, never learn to drive a car and will probably end up spending most of her life outside tilling the soil as did her parents and grandparents. She will probably experience periods in her life of poverty and poor nutrition. By contrast, her US or European counterpart will always have plenty to eat, will learn to shop, order pizza, operate a computer, Game Boy, Wii, and God only knows what other kinds of electronics. She will have her doting parents slather sunscreen on her to protect her skin from birth until she’s old enough to do it herself. She will come of age in a different world, filled with the latest in medical technology.
And she will pay for it with her health.
Her equatorial counterpart will be only half as likely to get cancer in her lifetime. She will have an 80 percent reduction in risk of developing type I diabetes before the age of 30. And she will live longer. If she can avoid trauma or an untreated severe medical condition, the girl growing up in the more primitive but sunny circumstances will have an overall 7 percent greater longevity than her US/European counterpart. She will have stronger bones, lower blood pressure, fewer cavities in her teeth, a greatly reduced risk for heart disease, type II diabetes, obesity, arthritis and most of the other diseases that will plague her more Westernized sisters.
Why the difference? According to Dr. Holick, the equatorial girl has vastly more exposure to natural sunlight over her lifetime than does the other.
But, you might ask, why don’t the children in the US and Europe play outside more in the sunshine and reap its many benefits? A couple of reasons. Most of the US and Europe are too far north to get enough sun exposure to generate the production of adequate vitamin D during a large part of the year. And, second, most parents are so fearful of sunburn that they slather their kids with sunscreen if and when they let these children play outside during the part of the year they can make adequate vitamin D. Since a sunscreen with an SPF of only 8 reduces the synthesis of vitamin D by 95 percent, think of how little vitamin D children with sunscreens of SPF 30 or 45 are making. Zero.
Why?
Heliophobes.
Readers of this blog know that I refer to people who have an unreasoning fear of fat as lipophobes, fat fearers. Well, since Helios was the Greek god of the sun, I’ll call those who have an unreasoning fear of the sun heliophobes.
Why do people become heliophobes? Same reason they become lipophobes: they refuse to think.
Just as lipophobes see a heart attack in every morsel of fat, heliophobes see skin cancer in every ray of sunshine.
To give them their due, the heliophobes have at least a smidgen of data to bolster their point of view. Unlike the lipophobes, who have no reliable data demonstrating that saturated fat causes heart disease, the heliophobes can point convincingly at the data showing sun exposure causes problems for the skin.
Unquestionably, excess sun exposure causes premature aging of the skin and a couple of types of skin cancer. Of this there is no doubt. But, lack of adequate vitamin D appears to be related to an entire host of serious problems including melanoma, the most dangerous and deadly form of skin cancer. The most common type of skin cancer from overexposure is basal cell carcinoma, which is just about the least malignant of all cancers, and if treated (by removal) results in virtually no mortality. The same can’t be said for prostate, breast and colon cancers, all cancers thought to be sun (or, more correctly, lack of sun) related. These cancers are much more prevalent the farther north one goes and almost non-existent at the equator.
The trade off, in my opinion, is well worth it. Especially when it’s possible to have the best of both worlds and avoid both the premature aging, minor skin cancers AND the breast, prostate and colon cancers (not to mention multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis, and the host of other disorders laid at the doorstep of too little vitamin D) by sensible sun exposure.
Dr. Holick tells you how. He provides charts and tables telling you how much sun exposure you require for adequate vitamin D synthesis depending upon where you live in the world. And he describes how you can make up any difference by taking vitamin D supplements.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
A bountiful Barbarian/Paleo feast!
Here I am yesterday evening, after grilling a Barbarian diet feast of grilled, barbecue chicken, hot Italian sausages, mushrooms, and a LOT of sauerkraut! All hot off the grill- YUM!!We ate the chicken last night, along with big salads, and I split the sausage/mushroom/sauerkraut into two tupperware containers for two lunches at work- I just heat them up in an available microwave, and eat really well! For desert, I have my usual container of frozen raspberries, topped with real whipped cream, sweetened with stevia and/or cinammon.
I have been enjoying two podcasts daily at work lately:
The Paleolithic Solution, and the Living La Vida LowCarb Show with Jimmy Moore.
Both are highly recommended!! You will really learn so much; the diet info we have all been taught for so long is utter and complete hogwash!!
Low fat, high carb, processed foods preferred... this is why our population in the modern, Western world is now fatter, sicker, more diseased, and depressed than we have ever been! This is progress??
Eat a barbarian diet- meats, seafood, eggs, nuts, fruits and vegetables. Full fat cream, grass fed butter, full fat cheese... NO GRAINS or potatoes! No sugar! And no "diet" sweeteners and sodas!!
And, for the ultimate solution, start your day with a Barbarian Juice Drink, made in your Vitamix blender!
You won't be hungry- you won't be thirsty- and you will look and feel fantastic!
It really is that simple!
And for exercise?
That's just as simple, but I'll save it for later. Just remember:
80% of your body composition is determined by nutrition-
Exercise is the rest of the equation. Critical in importance, but very small in proportion.
J
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Paleo/Barbarian/Primal lifestyle Me in my 32' Jeans at 58 years
I have had great results from the Barbarian/Paleo diet/ lifestyle! As have those around me: BUT, I am concerned about the USDA recent food pyramid, that recommends (drum roll!) that 60% of your diet be CARBOHYDRATES!!
This is sick, sad, and just a way to sell out to organized agricultural food product manufacturers...
There, I've said it.
If a caveman dropped by your "pad", and saw your Pizza, doritos, and maybe a twinkie for dessert...
HE WOULD NOT recognize any of the above as even being FOOD!
The bottom line?
Just eat:
Lean meats
Seafood (sardines are ideal!)
vegetables (whipped up in the vitamix along with your
Fruits! is ideal!
Grains, especially wheat, rye and barley are VERBOTEN!!
Anti nutrients galore- leading to a cascade of hormones that violate your gut, and invade your bloodstream... NO ONE needs this!!
Who wants the options of PROSTATE CANCER, arthritis, BALDNESS, heart disease, and the endless litany of all the diseases that Syndrome X, the diseases of modern civilization/diet have to offer??
EAT CLEAN!!
Barbarians of yore ate vegetables, meat, fruit, full-fat, raw dairy as milk and cheese....
Do you likewise!!
Leave the bread, even the BLACK bread, on the table!
(But be sure to put the butter, grass fed cow butter, on your vegetables!!)
J