I found something interesting recently when browsing over Gary Taubes’s bloodwork that he recently posted. I don’t know a whole heck of a lot about carbon dioxide, but it jumped out at me right away that his carbon dioxide levels, on a prolonged low-carbohydrate diet, were below the normal ranges.
This caught the attention of Chris Masterjohn as well, and he made a note of it ? and even went so far as to suggest that low carbon dioxide levels were invariably a result of eating a low-carbohydrate diet. Knowing the basics about carbon dioxide ? its role as a powerful anti-stress substance in the body, and also something that, when exiting the body at a rapid rate, triggers an asthma attack, I found this all quite interesting. Of course, I looked back with my own adventures with asthma to try to understand this mysterious asthma beast.
When I was in the depths of my asthma blues ? roughly the age of 22, I couldn’t even walk to the bus stop in winter without having an asthma attack. Spending the night in a house with a dog or cat? Fuhgeddaboudit!!! One winter I actually slept in a tent in my girlfriend’s back yard in sub-zero temps while the cats and dog and gf slept soundly indoors. Ouch. I was all nature boy back then though. It was cool.
But anyway, this asthma thing is really interesting. My asthma re-emerged at about the age of 18. I first noticed it while running up a huge mountain (that sounds better, it was really just a small hill) just up from my house. I would take off like a mad man and by the time I got to the top my breathing would be quite constricted. Back then I didn’t know any better though. You just ignore it. You don’t think anything of it or begin to take notes on how your diet and lifestyle affect the amount of bronchoconstriction you experience. Ya just carry on. Eye of the tiger. No mercy. Sweep the leg. Push it to the limit. If he dies, he dies. 100% pure adrenaline.
Speaking of adrenaline, at the age of 22 when things were at their worst, I went to the doc. I was a punk back then same as I am now. The doc gave me Claritin to deal with the allergic triggers of my asthma (genius move Einstein!) and gave me an inhaler ? some Albuterol, which is basically like an ephedrine/adrenaline mist that dilates the ol? bronchs and makes your hands tremble and shake ? sort of a quasi-Elvis meets Michael J. Fox type deal, as it is basically adrenaline you are inserting into your bloodstream via the lungs. Anyway, it of course worked, and made me sick at the same time, and sparked me to give my doc some grief about how I wasn’t looking for a way to medicate my health problems for life, but to figure out the cause and cure and be able to breathe like a real boy. He was mystified by such a wild idea, ran a few tests to determine my serum Patchouli levels, and had the nurses search me for communist reading materials and Peyote.
It was this Albuterol experience, and the instant relief it gave me, coupled with the fact that doing a lot of exercise and/or a low-carb diet was a temporary miracle cure for my asthma, that led me to know, fully, that the adrenal cortex was highly involved in keeping asthma symptoms at bay.
There was a funny thing about both exercise and low-carb though. When I was on a low-carb diet for example (same could be said for exercise), my asthma went away. Like, entirely. 100% gone ? both allergy and exercise-induced asthma. But the funny thing was that, over time, this effect started to wear out. After a couple of years of low-carb eating, the asthma returned somewhat, and when I did eat something like ice cream or even a glass of orange juice, I would instantly suffer from bronchoconstriction. Within seconds I would start to wheeze slightly. I remember in 2009 I had eaten a bunch of ice cream for the first time in ages and then stayed the night in a house with one cat. Not good. I barely made it through that one. I was ill for days with a severe upper respiratory infection, fever ? the works.
I had noticed this type of effect many times in the past with exercise. I would exercise hard and consistently for weeks and months. My asthma would completely disappear. Then I would stop exercising and not only did the asthma return ? it returned with greater severity than before. It, like low-carb, was a bit of a Catch-22. Like albuterol, it helped the symptoms, but over time the effect wore off and actually caused a worsening of the condition and greater hypersensitivity to allergens, benign things like eating an apple, and so on.
This makes perfect sense when you think of the basic catecholamine honeymoon that I’ve written about at great length. Low-carb and jumping on a rigorous exercise program (or intermittent fasting, or stimulant use) cause a temporary surge in the adrenal hormones. This is medication for asthma, and I’m sure many inflammatory conditions and other problems, but not necessarily a cure. What medicates, often exacerbates (huh huh). In my case, the stress of these practices seemed to just wear me down and bury me another foot deeper with each repetition ? despite the temporary illusions of improvement.
I think a good short-term parallel to understanding this Catch-22 is insufficient sleep. If you sleep for 5 hours a night for several nights you start to feel pretty wired. At first you may feel sleepy and run down but after a while your adrenaline kicks on and you feel good, manic, focused, alert, elated, and abuzz with energy as if on a caffeine high. And then, when you finally get a good night’s sleep and sleep in, what happens? You wake up feeling like you have a complete hangover. No more mental clarity. Nope. Total brain fog. No more manic energy. Nope. You can barely move.
Another great parallel, and this is an important thing to think about, is the brain fog, extreme tiredness and sluggishness, etc. that comes with eating a huge meal or eating carbohydrates when you haven’t eaten them in a long while. When you are strung out on adrenaline and do something that allows the adrenal glands to rest, they crash and crash hard. Continue eating big or eating carbohydrates with every meal and within a week or two almost everyone gets past this effect – like what?most see when following the?guidelines in how to RAISE YOUR METABOLISM.
Further still is exercise. Keep those adrenal hormones up through lots and lots of exercise and you feel great. Then when you take a break you are likely to suffer from the Dean Karnazes effect ? getting depressed, sick, irritable, and extremely tired, lethargic, and lazy. Or, just have a huge feast after a really hard workout. It’s virtually impossible to stay awake afterward.
Anyway, I pound this into you because, when eating a low-carb diet and strung out on adrenaline, when I would eat carbohydrates, something sweet in particular causing adrenal power outage to the max, I would instantly suffer asthma symptoms. The adrenaline, which medicated the asthma, was immediately shut off. ?Wow, carbs really do cause asthma attacks ? sugar in particular! Los carbos son el Diablo!
Fast forward to today ? the mo carb era. When I started upping sugar to the maximum, it was only a matter of days before I went out for some hard sprints and noticed MUCH better bronchodilation. No wheezing at all, even though I ran sprints cold ? which usually trigger some constriction for me and had been for months. Pet allergies are reduced as well, and I have suffered no bronchoconstriction in the presence of dogs or cats (although I haven’t had that long of exposure recently, such as spending the night in a house of a pet owner ? the true test). And of course, I can eat sugary foods, juice, fruit, and so forth without the slightest bit of constriction ? very different from the low-carb days.
The final tidbit on adrenaline is that, as the resting metabolic rate falls, you become less responsive to adrenaline. Some people feel like their adrenal glands are burned out and no longer are producing adrenal hormones. In some cases, you do see true hypoadrenia or ?adrenal fatigue. But in some cases your adrenal hormones are carrying on as normal, but you are unresponsive. Although you probably won’t hear much about this effect anywhere else, I did come across this fascinating insight while reading The Biology of Human Starvation by Ancel Keys. In the starved state they injected men with adrenaline and it had virtually no effect on them like it would a normal person. They saw very little elevation in pulse, energy, etc. So for some, low resting metabolic rate may be at the core of someone’s apparent shortage of adrenaline and appearance of asthma and other inflammatory disorders.
Well, that’s the adrenal bit for you. Yes, you can do several things to raise your adrenal hormone production such as fasting, taking amphetamines or lots of caffeine, taking albuterol, or eating a low-carbohydrate diet. And yes, these things may, for a while, give you relief. But relief, and ?medicating? a condition in this manner does not equate to ?cure? or problem solved. Over time, you may be right back where you started or in even worse shape ? especially when you consider the anti-thyroid property of excessive exposure to adrenal hormones ? making you increasingly unresponsive to your adrenal hormones the more you abuse them.
On to carbon dioxide?
Two researchers that have a strong following amongst 180DegreeHealth fans are Ray Peat and Buteyko ? that breathing guy. Ray Peat is very pro-carbon dioxide as you can read about in these fascinating but notoriously hard-to-grasp articles?
http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/lactate.shtml
http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/co2.shtml
Buteyko is a researcher that felt that modern man, with his jacked up nostrils and facial formation, was having greater and greater difficulty breathing correctly ? which is gently through the nose and not sucking air through an open mouth like you see a large percentage of the customers at Wal Mart doing. The problem, as he saw it, was hyperventilation ? or breathing too much. The more you exhale, the more carbon dioxide escapes from the body, which is why, when an asthmatic has a sudden burst of exercise and begins breathing rapidly, he or she can often trigger a strong asthma attack. I know personally that nothing triggers a good asthma attack like running hard without a warmup, in cold weather.
The constriction in the lungs is to prevent carbon dioxide loss. Sure, an asthma attack feels like an oxygen shortage, but that is really just a byproduct of the body trying to minimize the escape of carbon dioxide. By teaching people to breathe less frequently, stop their hyperventilating, and in turn raise CO2 levels ? which supposedly has far-reaching physiological benefits, Buteyko has been very successful in helping people overcome various health problems. Asthmatics, if you believe the hype, seem to respond very well to this type of therapy.
Interestingly, when you eat fat as your primary fuel source, your carbon dioxide levels tend to fall ? as burning fat for fuel does not yield carbon dioxide as a byproduct the way that cleaving a molecule like sucrose does. Eat a higher sugar diet and your carbon dioxide levels are bound to increase. Although it’s hard to believe something could be so straightforward without exception, it’s certainly something to consider.
Once again, this is an example of the complexity of human health, and why I’ve gone so far as to annoy people recently by proclaiming that ‘traditional diets are irrelevant. We are not traditional people. We don’t look the same, we don’t even breathe the same. We have different fats in our tissues. We produce more inflammation and have a lower body temperature. To get to the same physiological state as a primitive healthy human could very well require highly specific plans of action to get there ? or to even move an inch in that direction.
For someone with a history of asthma and many inflammatory conditions like myself, eating a diet that lowers carbon dioxide levels can be highly counterproductive ? not to mention if I eat more than a half pound or so of animal protein in a day my nostrils will become further plugged and my breathing during sleep converting to mouth-breathing. This leads us to the last segment of this already-long-winded (no pun intended) post.
Several years ago I learned that hoarseness of voice was a symptom of hypothyroidism. I thought it interesting when I heard Gary Taubes speaking for the first time, that he sounded as if he had something stuck in his throat and couldn’t get it out. His voice sounded raspy. I’ve seen other speeches where he didn’t sound so bad, but it was my first impression nonetheless. Thyroid and carbon dioxide are very inter-related. Carbon dioxide increases thyroid activity, and I imagine thyroid activity may increase carbon dioxide as well ? swinging in both directions.
One thing I had noticed over the past winter was that my nostrils were really plugging up at night when I slept (a recent conversation topic in the comments) ? which I’ve been troubled with for many years in cold climates but never in a warm and moist place like Florida where I’ve been this winter. Actually, the only time I’ve had a plugged nose in a warm climate ? barring my milk diet experience which caused excessive mucous production and a different cause of nose pluggage, was doing zero carb for a month in Maui. Holy cow! My nose, even with virtually no mucous secretion or nasal drip at all, felt like someone had stuck a clothespin on it and left it there for the entire 30 days. Of course, when I stopped and hit the nearest Jamba Juice they immediately re-opened. I actually had a half gallon of fresh juice with about 5 date snack bars ? that’s not something you forget after a month straight of steak and eggs.
I also had noticed over the past few years that I was having some difficulty speaking. It wasn’t major, it was just that I would start to feel a little tickle in the back of my throat, would cough to try to clear it, and get nowhere with it.
Anyway, over the past two months, assuming that I don’t eat too much meat (all-you-can-eat ribs on three occasions got me a little) or fat (when ice cream and cookies replace my juice and fruit it doesn’t go as well), my nostrils are completely clear, I have no exercise-induced asthma, I can talk for an hour straight without even clearing my voice a single time, and a couple of people have even commented on the change in my voice. This is all very fascinating, and just a short list of some of the positives I’ve experienced from returning to my all-time favorite foods (like orange juice and fruit ? I have aspirations of once again becoming a cereal killa too).
While some suggest that this is just another catecholamine honeymoon that will catch up to me in the future, and the thought certainly crosses my mind, there is something poetic about removing my mind from the picture and truly eating intuitively. Plus, I have none of the signs of being in a high-adrenaline, sympathetic nervous system-dominant state. I can sleep. Take naps. Am happy and relaxed. Fry eggs on my hands and feet. Don’t have funky body odor like I get when under stress. Don’t have dark circles under my eyes. Don’t have ominous signs like erectile problems or other issues that crept in after prolonged low-carb eating or endurance exercise.
It’s all been, ahem, a sweet surprise. And the carbon dioxide connection is plenty interesting ? if you’re a nerd. If you’re still reading this, after 2,650 words of my babble, you ARE DEFINITELY A NERD (or my dad). For more nerd candy,?read?Diet Recovery about how to RAISE YOUR METABOLISM.
"Thyroid and carbon dioxide are very inter-related. Carbon dioxide increases thyroid activity, and I imagine thyroid activity may increase carbon dioxide as well ? swinging in both directions."
That's probably true.
Since you burn more glucose, if you have a high metabolic rate (thyroid), you will produce more CO2, which is produced during the Kreb's cycle.
I know that a lot of the Peatards add baking soda to beverages and drink carbonated water to increase CO2 levels as well. Have you tried this Jannis or know anyone who has decreased asthma signficantly with these two minor changes?
This is really interesting. Really interesting. I like that so far, you see no signs of catecholamine honeymoon, and having done all the zero carb stuff is definitely handy for comparison purposes.
Now we need to tie up the observations of this post with the wtf etf insight of the previous one.
Are you leaning toward low fat now generally, or just initially?
Matt,
How about your mood, motivation, intellectual abilities? Has your new diet affected these at all. Many of your followers have noticed a big difference in the tone and quality of your posts. I think they just assume it is due to issues going on in your romantic life, but I wondered if diet has been partially responsible?
Now THESE are the kind of posts I love 180 for. Great research and Ivan Drago references. It just doesn't get any better.
I really hope you're not on some kind of sugar honeymoon. And the honeymoon you are may not be catelcholamine-related at all, but something else. I still find it hard to believe that something as refined/processed as the sugars in ice cream and cookies can be good for you without downsides.
"If he dies, he dies."
-Drago
Freakin yea baby! Test me. I know em all.
Matt,
I don't know any people with asthma, but I was able to increase my energy levels significantly with the Buteyko method.
I only use baking soda to rinse after drinking orange juice or coke to neutralize the acid in my mouth.
There is an interview with Peat on CO2 on KMUD radio, which is really good. One female caller said that her asthma disappeared completely after one month when she stopped taking her serotonin and switched to a Peat diet.
Well crap Brock! Same time!
This is very interesting since my seasonal allergies attack my sinuses. By going 180 a few years ago I thought I'd pwned them, but this spring I started to get allergy symptoms as soon as the snow melted. I certainly have not been low-carbing it. I remember last summer, when eating higher fat I got wheezy once from drinking coconut milk. I've never had a wheezing problem ever and it freaked me out.
"Several years ago I learned that hoarseness of voice was a symptom of hypothyroidism."
Well how do you explain Kathleen Turner in Body Heat? Her body runs a few degrees higher than normal and she has the huskiest voice ever…Yes, Maddie is a fictional character, but still. This is important stuff.
Here is a passage from one of Peat's article on metabolic rate and longevity with regard to CO2:
Many dog owners are aware that small dogs eat much more food in proportion to their size than big dogs do. And small dogs have a much greater life expectancy than big dogs, in some cases about twice as long (Speakman, 2003).
Organisms as different as yeasts and rodents show a similar association of metabolic intensity and life-span. A variety of hamster with a 20% higher metabolic rate lived 15% longer than hamsters with an average metabolic rate (Oklejewicz and Daan, 2002).
Individuals within a strain of mice were found to vary considerably in their metabolic rate. The 25% of the mice with the highest rate used 30% more energy (per gram of body weight) than the 25% with the lowest metabolic rate, and lived 36% longer (Speakman, et al., 2000).
The mitochondria of these animals are ?uncoupled,? that is, their use of oxygen isn’t directly proportional to the production of ATP. This means that they are producing more carbon dioxide without necessarily producing more ATP, and that even at rest they are using a considerable amount of energy.
i LOVE carbonated water! just sayin. so something that used to happen to my throat/voice, that i haven't noticed in a while, is that if i was talking to someone and getting anxious or nervous or even really excited i would start to lose my voice and then my throat would literally constrict to the point where i could barely get a whisper out and it would be so painful in a straining of the neck sort of way. i would also get this weird internal uncontrollable shaking.
i used to blame the fact that i am underdeveloped in the neck and jaw areas, as in NOT a full jaw with all my teeth and a nice wide face. and then i would blame my anxiety that seemed to be inevitable and incurable. and then i think i ran across info that said it could be thyroid but didn't know what to do about that. so consequently, i think what i ended up doing is becoming more of an introvert than i already was and quit talking to people as much b/c it is quite embarrassing. i tried low carb ala the Optimal Diet/Dr K, and of course i was very religious about the WAPF diet before that and ate what i considered to be at least 95% perfectly, but nothing helped.
i'm still trying to figure out how to eat to rid myself of anxiety and my noise intolerance. i've got some theories as to why food has been such an issue for most of my life, but i'm afraid i won't be able to explain it succinctly enough here.
team smith, it might be interesting if you _try_ to explain (and then everyone jumps on it). Just thinking: I've had severe-to-incapacitating anxiety and noise intolerance at different times, much better lately since getting over carbophobia (many thanks to this site).
But I'd say that the times that anxiety and noise intolerance have been worst for me have been:
1) times when I'm heavily restricting food (anorexia times)
2) when I was eating super-low fat
3) when avoiding carbs
I don't know if my experience is any help at all but fwiw…
Speaking of oxides, does anyone here have much experience or knowledge of Nitric Oxide? I have been looking into this more lately and have seen this is very important in human health.
Nerds unite! Yes, I read every word.
But, I've been obsessing anyway about trying to figure out my allergies the past few months. Besides the evil memory foam that I got rid of which I think was a huge trigger (all the chemicals you sleep on)–I think that what I've been slacking on is good old Vitamin C!
I've been trying to figure out why I can't just digest grass fed dairy without getting stuffy and puffy.
Well, I was reading and remembered again how important vitamin C is in reducing allergies. Most of our vitamin C is in fruits and such, so I figure that if I want to enjoy dairy and eggs and some meat occasionally, I need to make sure that I'm getting plenty of fruit and vitamin C so my immune system is stronger.
And Matt, I hope the sugar you are eating is organic! Besides vitamin C, my only other big thing lately is avoid chemicals in foods. Including most additives and preservatives. But I had a lightbulb go off, that maybe why I do so poorly on occasional white flour and white sugar stuff is because they use chemicals in their processing. So now I'll only buy sugar that does not use chemicals. And only white flour for those occasional treats that fresh whole grain flour just does not work in. I found some white spelt and white wheat flour that is not bromated, and no bleach or "vitamins" added.
Buteyko himself also says that exercise is THE best way to raise CO2 levels. I think it has been more of his followers that say you need to shell out like $500 bucks to learn some super secret breathing mechanism. Maybe lots of exercise is good as long as we eat enough food and dont go into starvation mode?? Michael Phelps exercises a lot but eats 12k cals a day. Exercising while cutting calories will always backfire but maybe exercising while keeping calories high is good?? Would love to hear some opinions.
Team Smith-
I get the shakiness too! Holy crap. And in a couple of highly emotional events in my distant past I was totally unable to talk beyond a whisper. Are you my mother? Sorry, favorite book as a kid.
I do suspect that keeping the adrenal hormones at rock bottom – a tall order for someone like myself with a long history of radical hyperinflammatory reactions to things, is a big part of the solution. But I think very frequent feedings of sugary things is the ideal for that. Nothing does me quite as well as sipping on juice every hour all day in addition to a meal or two and whatever else sounds good.
Brock and Johnny-
Johnny, can you make it to Jacksonville some weekend? I smell a 3-way manly-movie-marathon over there at Brock's house. We'll kill the A/C and work up manly sweats like Drago in the Rocky IV training scene. Should be legendary. Does anyone still own Super Tecmo Bowl by the way? I'd love to incorporate that somehow to fully resurrect my youth.
JT-
Yes, sniffle. My intellectual capacities have fallen precipitously. Haha. What a douche!
Let's see, Matt is single and living in an area where he knows absolutely no one. Surprisingly, Matt is VERY present in the comments section with an almost Bruce K.-like fervor.
Then, Matt gets asked out by a girl that has been stalking him for months, and who also happens to have had a song written about her by Rick James (or so it seems).
You do the math. I do miss you guys a bunch though, and am ready to come home to you in the comments section – well, at least a litle more present if I can ever fully whittle down the hundreds of emails I have. If I ever have came close to losing my mind, it was when I WAS commenting all the time and not doing much else.
If I was obsessing about health all the time and masturdebating myself into oblivion it would be highly hypocritical. Perhaps it is you JT, that needs a break. You are welcome to join us in Jacksonville. Warning though, we might make you Daniel Larusso and re-enact the Halloween party scene minus the Miyagi entrance.
"Johnny Lawrence said…
Well crap Brock! Same time!"
First!
"I smell a 3-way manly-movie-marathon over there at Brock's house."
I've got Netflix, and more Van Damme movies than you shake a stick at!
"we might make you Daniel Larusso and re-enact the Halloween party scene minus the Miyagi entrance"
I don't want him beat… Out of commission.
Interesting point Pat-
I do think exercise can help, but for me it has to be pretty extreme levels to get the anti-asthma effect – typically pretty unsustainable amounts, like that I get from long backpacking trips.
Note that Gary Taubes doesn't exercise. Or at least I don't think he does.
Nitric oxide –
Debatable on whether it is virtuous or just part of the general stress response as Peat suggests. My dramatic increases in vasodilation upon increasing my sugar intake may be of some insight to you. Calorie excess really does it too, but especially if it is sugar-calorie excess.
Kitchen Recovery-
Adding sugar to milk helps, but I still find grass fed raw dairy to give me chest pains and make me stuffy and puffy. I don't find additives in foods to have any short-term negative effect on my health, so I eat foods with additives and repeatedly notice health increases every time I do – whether it fits into my ideology or not doesn't matter. That is just reality.
Haha, yes. JT would definitely leave Jacksonville with a sore knee from excessive surprise sweeping of the leg.
BYOB – Bring your own bodybag!
I have super-low CO2. I just had it tested and it was 17. Looking back over my labs, it has always been low. I am starting to feel worried about it. I am hypo-thyroid too so maybe that is it? I eat pretty high-carb. And I love carbonated water. Should I be worried about it or just keep trying to optimize thyroid?
I did the Buteyko method, religiously, for over a year to try to "cure" my asthma. I found using the simple method of pinching the nostrils after exhalation and counting to ten would increase CO2 in the sinus cavities and lungs, thus increasing air flow. Buteyko theory states that CO2 dilates smooth muscle tissue. I found taping my mouth at night (across the lips, not over the lips), made me aware of breathing through my mouth at night. After about six months of taping my mouth, I had stopped the habit of breathing through my mouth at night.
Unfortunately, Buteyko didn't work for me. In the end it was the SCD/GAPS diet that ended my asthma. Nevertheless, I have heard of many people that are helped by the Buteyko method. It comes down to the fact that we are all very different. As individuals we have to be willing to do personal experimenting to find out what works for ourselves.
It is my quest to figure out why some get no health problems with dairy and some do. It's very frustrating to me, because I WANT it in my diet. I like it. It's a pain trying to live dairy free. But when switching to grass fed milk isn't miraculous, what are some other tricks to helping our bodies digest it better?
I think vitamin C is one-since it helps you deal with allergies. Do I just need to keep eating it more? Stop being so on/off about it?
We'll have to disagree with chemicals-I think the chemicals are what got us into this allergy mess!
"I found taping my mouth at night (across the lips, not over the lips)"
I'm not sure what you mean. You mean you placed it vertically over your lips? I tried taping my lips once and had a massive panic attack, imagining all kinds of horrible ways of suffocating to death. Lol. But I still like the idea because I know I breathe through my mouth at night. I guess I need to check out this Buteyko.
Kitchen Recovery- I totally agree with you about additives and chemicals left over from processing. I especially notice a difference between white beet sugar and cane juice sugar. I notice it in myself in how it makes me feel, but I REALLY notice it in my kid. If he gets "regular" candy he gets bonkers. If he gets "hippie" candy without the artificial dyes and processed white sugar, it doesn't happen. It's very interesting.
Matt,
I question the mental & emotional benefits of your diet and you threaten to beat me up! Aren't you kind of proving my point? I don't think I would need Mr Miyagi's help, but i will see if he is available.
Im just pointing out what many of your other readers have noticed as well. The best part of your blog was the comment section where you did your most interesting writing. Now you don't even address the concerns that many of your faithful followers have brought up. I would think the least you could do is address the inconsistencies that have been brought up.
I hope to see you make a comeback man. Maybe you just need to raise your chatecholamine levels. I've read that too much sugar can drop chatecholamine and testosterone levels too low.
Hi Matt,
how much sugar from fruit and juice are you consuming per day? So far I don't have the impression that I get better from introducing more sugar into my diet. My hands and feet actually get colder as of late. And my morning temps sometimes hit the low 95s. The quality of my sleep is still crappy, too. (That could be the effect of trying some PACE routines though. Initially, a workout will always drive my temps up – big surprise I know – but the next day they will have collapsed to somewhere around 96 degrees.)
Stiwa
Tierney-
I would think you should continue to focus on thyroid. For me, drastically reducing animal protein of all kinds and increasing fruit/juice consumption – and switching to frequent feedings – like 10 per day instead of 3, has had the most dramatic pro-thyroid effect for me.
Anonymous Buteyko Fail-
I haven't heard many miracles coming from the Buteyko camp – hence the line "if you believe the hype." But the theory about CO2 I find more interesting, but think that more exploration can be brought into it.
As for SCD/GAPS, I suppose I'm a little GAPPY too, eating mostly simple carbohdyrates and far fewer starches. Still, most SCD/GAPS people are very low-carb, which will, like I mentioned my beliefs to be in the post – medicate but not truly heal the root of the condition.
I found low-carb and exercise to be my "cure" many times, but none were truly the cure. How long have you been on SCD/GAPS? Can you trigger constriction by eating a large meal with more carbs and starches?
Stiwa-
Think of the most retarded amount of sugar imaginable, then double it! Haha.
I had some troubles initially too. Sometimes with runaway hunger, sometimes with colder hands and feet, and sometimes with sleep disturbances. I seem to be okay now, but my sleep has been really weird and erratic lately (not diet related).
Perhaps give it a trial without the PACE. I've been pretty sedentary lately – doing maybe 1 PACE workout and 1 weightlifting workout every 2 weeks, which also seems to have helped.
It's hard to distinguish between what is giving something a fair trial and what is truly not working out. Keep us posted.
I loved this article by the way. I think you have done a really good job at explaining why you think that the positive results of increasing your sugar intake might be more than just a catecholamine honeymoon. What I like about articles like this one is that you aim at establishing a logical explanation for why it works instead of citing studies that merely support a given hypothesis. Yes, that means a lot of trial and error – and revising one's opinion 180wise. But it makes for great reading.
If someone out there thinks I treat you like a guru then so be it. I can only speak for myself here but what I am trying to do is simply to get my health back. Now you can make fun of me all you want – I care no longer. I have spent months on low-carb which ruined my health, I have spent months on RRARF which at least got my digestion a bit back on track, and if it takes experimenting with sugar or simply listening to internal cues like "have a piece of chocolate it won't kill you" then I am willing to do that. Of course, I could get some lab work done or talk to a great specialist like JT recommends – however that comes at a price and some people just don't have that money (or the persuasive skills to talk their doctor into ordering some tests).
At the moment, I am pretty much left to my own devices.
"Think of the most retarded amount of sugar imaginable," Coming from your starch HED that is like 'one' strawberry. "then double it! Haha." Okay, two. ;-)
"I seem to be okay now, but my sleep has been really weird and erratic lately (not diet related)." Personally, I wouldn't mind getting that kind of not diet related weird and erratic sleeping back, too. Things have been pretty lame down-under lately.
"Keep us posted." I will!
Totally true about insufficient sleep/staying up all night. I liken it to doing meth or cocaine (not that I'd know…).
"…does not yield carbon dioxide as a byproduct the way that cleaving a molecule like sucrose does"
Let's not get confused into thinking there's something special about sucrose in relation to CO2. I imagine you're referring to the CO2 created from metabolizing glucose. The bond between glucose and fructose in sucrose apparently gets broken in the stomach. Any special properties of sugar (vs starch), beyond being a very rapidly absorbed source of glucose, would have to do with the fructose.
Very interesting post, Matt.
Hey, how do you feel about cayenne? it raises body temperature but does so through catecholamines. Would that make it a no go in terms of trying to permanently increase your body temp because its really only doing it temporarily?
Also, I love Ray Peats stuff, but doesn't he sort of have a raspy voice too? or is that something else.
We can reduce the aging process and improve the environment by reducing carbon dioxide output. Exercise is a great way to do this. Our heart rate is up during the exercise but our body adapts in positive ways. We reduce bodyfat, increase positive chemical production, and health increases. Athletes are known to have resting metabolic heart rates as low as 35 beats a minute. Their heart had adapted because of their exercise. Being that the average person's heart rate is 78 beats a minute this is a massive improvement. As blood circulates at a lower pace less carbon dioxide is produced. We're also calmer and can handle stress better when we've adapted our bodies to exercise, so our heart rates become lower. Some individuals resting metabolic heart rate is much higher because they're out of shape and haven't adapted to culping with stress. Exercise is a great way of conditioning yourself. Psychology is another area but every individual is so unique it's too individualized to get into. After adapted to exercise you can practice fundamental breathing exercises and meditation. Breathing slowly and utilizing all of your lung capacity (most people only use 1/3rd of their lungs due to short breaths and non exercising lifestyles) also cleans out excess carbon dioxide in the body because of more available oxygen in the blood, not to mention producing less carbon dioxide because of slower beathes/slower heart rate. It is possible to bring your heart rate down to 6 beats a minute which guys such as Houdini and Ram Bomjon did. IMO, it's easier to adapt to meditation if you do exercising. The stretching part of yoga opens up your muscles so you can attain better blood flow in the body. This also improves the release of excess carbon dioxide. It's good to adapt our heart rates so we can build up that muscle. Then it operates better with less wear and tear throughout the day. Proper nutrition will also improve heart strength. Nutrition also counter balances the negative chemcial reactions of carbon dioxide production.
Awesome post!
Unfortunatley, I'm one of the mouth breather. But most of the tips (internet, newest article on MDA, doctors) i receive from others are worthless. They just tell me to breathe trough my nose (lol), even demonstrating it, but it just doesn't work for me! I can try as hard as i can. If it's clogged it's clogged. And it's clogged all the time. Others don't seem to understand this fact.
I did 2 hyposensitization therapies in my youth, 3 years each.
It's possible that some symptoms are decreased, but i'm not even sure about that.
There is just one thing i can do to breathe through my nose. Heavy Weighttraining! But i can't train 24/7.
I need to mimic the effect and your post comes about time. I'll definitely try your recommendations and i hope you come with more posts on this topic.
THANKS
Highly anaerobic work also further increases breathing capacity and lung strength. The higher the level of safe resistance you put on the body the more adaptation the body will make to obtaining strength. Exercise increases positive endorphins and immune system so individuals develop more positive attitudes.
I foregot to say they'd need to be short "full" breaths. Breathing all the way in and then slowly breathing out. Boy I wish I was able to ustilize this kind of intellect in high school, I would have been better than a 2.5 C student. The education was horrible, sad that we had $50,000 a year teachers that are so lazy. All I did was play videogames, watch TV, browse internet, and watch movies.
Explaining how to open up your nasal passages and clear sinuses is too individualized, long, and off topic for me to get into. Otherwise I would. Adapting to exercise if you haven't already may help with that.
Interesting theory, though I recall one of my blood tests when I was hypothyroid came back with above range CO2. I was not low-carb but was definitely lowish calorie. Now high-ish carb and CO2 is mid range.
Also count me in for higher thyroid meaning clearer voice, I can notice the effect the same day when taking t3.
hey anon, the rasp in his voice is just the phone connection \ radio shit
Mattie!
Love this post, tried to explain it to my husband. He says too much meat makes his belly distend and feels like it makes it harder to breathe. (he has had asthma since he was like 2). He does better with exercise, cardio and weights. And I suspect that lowering meat/fat in our meals is going to put him in that 'sweet spot' he was in when we were vegan, me raw, him cooked and raw. He claims he felt best this way, lots of fruits, veg, grains, beans, no dairy.
Also @ team smith ' if i was talking to someone and getting anxious or nervous or even really excited i would start to lose my voice and then my throat would literally constrict to the point where i could barely get a whisper out and it would be so painful in a straining of the neck sort of way. i would also get this weird internal uncontrollable shaking.'
that used to happen to me too!!!! I thought I was a weirdo (well I am a bit of one anyway) and that it was just some weird anxiety deal. Have to say I cannot remember this happening for the last year or so since I have been Eating the f*ing food.
xo
deb
PS JT I still love you :)
If you have asthma then you have shortness of breath. If you have plugged nostrils it may just be allergies. Or you likely have both asthma and plugged nostrils. Asthma too can be cause by allergies. The modern American diet has a lot of cooked food, and so our body's immune system is weakening after producing all of those digestive enzymes. It can handle starches a lot better, but not so much protein, fiber, milk, heated honey, bread, or simple carbohydrates. Most people have a hard time digesting milk and gluten. Even raw milk. People found their asthma condition improved when they had kefired milk. Enzymes may help, or you may need to avoid gluten and dairy altogether. Having a weak ventilation system in the house and not letting fresh air can also affect allergies/asthma. Going outside more often does help. Otherwise low intensity exercise will help with the condition. There could be a lot more going on, not sure. Get allergies checked. Taking digestive enzymes, probiotics, and prebiotics may help alot. Eating high alkaline foods to support immune system strength also help. Digestive enzyme surplus increases the production of glutathione through the lymph glands. As does Jumping on a trampoline.
http://www.throppsnutrition.com/
Their enzymes look really good, as does this one: superfoodnzyme http://www.enzymesinternational.com/store/listings.asp'sort_order=items.display_title&categoryID_list=73
Yep, I'm a nerd. I own it. What! :-)
"While some suggest that this is just another catecholamine honeymoon that will catch up to me in the future, and the thought certainly crosses my mind, there is something poetic about removing my mind from the picture and truly eating intuitively."
My 2 bits about that:
1. I can only speak for myself, but as one of the "some" who may have suggested the honeymoon theory, I just want to make the distinction that the suggestion was that it *could possibly* be *yet another* short-term honeymoon… and pleading, "Please explain the difference, please!" For me, it's not disbelief. In fact, I wanna believe. But I'm somewhat of a skeptic (like you) and not so easily convinced. So I always say, "Gimme more!" You know, what are we missing? Fill in the gaps, cough up the dietary secrets, dammit!
So, thanks for givin more, Matt. But keep it comin! :-)
2. I totally agree that there is "something poetic about removing [the] mind from the picture and truly eating intuitively." That's true on several levels. And in many cases, it's more mental than diet — and mixing the two can get ugly lol!
JT, c'mon! That was funny! And it was just a joke — in keeping with the 80s-movie references, ya know? Johnny is Johnny Lawrence, get it? Ah, fuhgeddaboudit! This is what some people were saying before… that you take things too literally and too seriously sometimes. Relax. Laugh a little! It does a body good! :-)
You boys enjoy your 3-some (maybe 4-some with JT?), uh, bonding and whatnot. And play nice! :-)
Matt, happy to have you back in the comments. We feel privileged that you're gonna take out some time from your "super-freak" to hangout with us buncha nerds — and some nuts! :-)
And speaking of a honeymoon…
Rob, Matt's still gonna cater the wedding! Hope we can hold out that long! :-)
So where ya takin me on our honeymoon? Remember, I like it simple. So, like I've no interest in big showy wedding, no interest in expensive honeymoon either. Simple works for me :-)
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/asthma/page2_em.htm
Inflammation is a big cause for asthma. Eat healthy foods and boost the immune system to avoid it. I've read you don't want to go over an ounce of nuts a day or you will get allergies from it. Preferably uncooked and with eggs and dairy fat. People are usually allergic to the casein and the lactose. Properly prepare legumes to avoid allergic reactions to them too. Avoid rancid PUFAs, go low PUFA, avoid foods with a higher rate of oxidation. Undenatured whey protein will increase glutathione production and t-cells. Coconut oil will also increase t-cells. Keep your house clean.
http://www.nutritionbynatalie.com/education.htm
http://probiotics.mercola.com/probiotics.html
Strengthen gut ecology. 95% of serotonin is produced in the gut. 80% of your immune system health comes from the gut. There are other ways to remove the bad gut bacteria, which causes inflammation and asthma. Micronic silver and food grade hydrogen peroxide also destroy bad bacteria.
http://www.lifestar.com/Pages/productlist.html
matt, maybe too personal…but what happened to the girlfriend you nursed back to health after she had her jaw surgery?! the one with whom you spent weeks in santa barbara getting her through all of the pain and recovery?! just wonderin..
anyway, thanks for the tip with the juice to calm my adrenals way the heck down. i have two kids and i have been super stressed out yelly mommy lately. i'd like to discover a literal "chill pill" that i was told to take so many times in my life. haha. i love that i am not the only person who has had the throat constriction/whisper voice phenomenon! believe me, i'm eating carbs and sugar and lots of stuff, but then again, not lots of stuff. it's hit or miss whether i get enough to eat in a given day.
although, now that i think about it, here is an anecdote for ya'll: usually around dinner time when my husband gets home and i should be starting to get something cooking, the kids are bouncing off the wall whining and i am a mess of way low blood sugar and very high cortisol. mostly b/c i haven't eaten in hours and i begin to freak out about what to make for dinner that will nourish my children and calm them down, too. and usually by the time the food is on the table i literally cannot even eat what i made. tonight though, i had a bunch of chocolate striped cookies while driving home from the park that i had bought earlier b/c they looked good. i was able to make blueberry pancakes and sausage for dinner and i felt great! we ate and then i actually got to clean up a little which almost never happens b/c i am so stressed out from the whole evening ordeal. my kids did fairly great as well and they had had animal cookies and fig newtons (i still only buy organic and nasty preservative/dye/soy free, people). just sayin that i am realizing when i ease up on my restrictions of what and when my kids can eat we all do a lot better.
How does aspirin or advil affect asthma? Does it help at all. I've read a good alternative is white willow bark extract, pine bark extract, natto derived vitamin k2 mk7 185mcg supplement, or 3.5g daily serving cordyceps. What about caffeine from green tea? Or Ephedra, which dilates the small airways in the lungs. Ephedra is known to be dangerous when mixed with high amounts of caffeine.
also @ela: i guess i could try to explain my theory about why i get the throat constriction/anxiety etc…someone in the comments section of the previous post mentioned the emotional aspect of food and eating and how too many choices can make it more difficult to eat well. that is so what i have considered regarding my situation. some of my most vivid memories are of sitting in a restaurant with my family as a kid and looking so forward to the dish i had picked off of the menu only to be told they ran out of it and i'd have to choose something else. i would never have a second choice picked and i would have to hold back the tears b/c i was devastated! inevitably it would be such an emotional ordeal that i would get stomach cramps after eating whatever i ended up ordering and i would not enjoy it at all.
we also went on a lot of family vacations and i always got car/air sick. i was the one who always needed to eat b/t usual meal times and i would get sick if i didn't. all my mom usually brought on trips for me were Saltines and maybe fruit. my dad is severely type A and didn't like to stop for anything. so if i wanted/needed (and i was too shy or intimidated usually to speak my mind) he would yell at me and get all mad and *his* day would be ruined. if allowed, or rather demanded to find a place quickly so we can get eating over with, i would pick the nearest place i could find and the food was usually mediocre and everyone would be mad at me etc. so compounded stress and emotional turmoil surrounding food is my conclusion.
team smith–thanks for sharing. It sounds like you have some clarity on those vivid memories and how they shape your relationship with food and socializing. (Many points that I can relate to, also.)
I wish for you that this clarity is a stepping stone to releasing the painful associations with the past that are hurting you now.
Matt, just curious about this…
You've talked a little about your eating habits lately. Lotsa fruit/juice during the day and more substantial meal or two later in the day. Easy on the animal protein and fat, and less starch than you used to eat. Can you give examples of what a typical day or two of eating for you looks like these days?
You specified *all* animal protein. So you mean muscle meat and dairy, right? Do you not do much gelatin or stock either? From which foods do you get most of your protein?
Do you usually do *only* fruit and juice until your meal or two later in the day? Or do you eat anything else until main meals, usually? Which juices (including brands) and which fruits do you usually eat? And besides fruit and juices, what other sugar do you do on the regular? Which veggies? And which, if any, grains, beans/legumes, etc?
What do your 1-2 main meals generally look like?
Sorry for the interrogation lol! Just curious, cause your fruity morning-afternoon, then a good meal or two later in the day, sounds pretty close to how my days usually play out — eating intuitively. Not as intentional on the sugar/fruit loading as you. But bananas, oranges, and such earlier in the day (cause not as hungry in am). And then definitely my main 1 or 2 meals being late in the day.
Matt, awesome article, really liked it. It's good to see you back. You really stunned me with that "traditional diets are irrelevant" thing. You know, one thing is not being all-relevant, other bein non-relevant. I don't see many people out there giving sensible (or at least somewhat sensible) advice who aren't standing in the shoulders of traditional diet investigation. Even Peat is: "I knew of Weston Price's research on traditional diets, and his argument that the degenerative ?diseases of civilization? were produced by the simplified diets that are characteristic of the highly industrialized societies." http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/gelatin.shtml So I really think that what you said was stupid, plain and simple. You had a point, but you took it waaay to far. I can get things like specific macronutrient ratios being not that important (which sadly gets the more focus by some), but things like the need for a nutritive diet (and what it means) with enough of all the minerals, vitamins, fats, the right proteins, and the need for the avoidance (which maybe need not be totalitarian for many) of certain things, like modern processed wheat, and seed oils, etc. it's not something one can easily arrive at by looking at modern research (exluding HG research), if one can arrive at all. I won't quote here, but I think many people who read Nutrition and physical degeneration may remember that Weston Price did what he did because he was searching for controls, for really healthy people, who just couldn't be found in his day and place. It's not too much of a stretch to think this still holds truth today, so to say that looking at the most healthy people on earth (or at the very least the only ones without modern disease and with a good developed face) and studying what they do and eat has no importance is as stupid as it sounds. Do you get what I'm saying? It's damm hard to invent a good talking software when you don't even know how real people talk.
Now, about this article. It was pure Matt Stoniness at it's best, but I've got 3 things to say. First, don't you think is a bit restrictive that you can't even it ice cream (not that I thing one needs to eat ice cream at all) or cookies because they are too fatty? So I guess it's the same with anything fried or a good ol' potato with a shit-ton of butter. I mostly ask because your phisophy has always been to avoid being restrictive, and if that's how you react to those things, whatever you're doing is leading you, for now, to a very restrictive diet. Not that I have much to say though, since I myself have quite a number of senstivities… Second, about the resistance to chatecolamines (quite interesting topic); do you think it is necessirily directly caused "by the low metabolism" or a product of related and often simultaneus processes. I don't know, just wanted to ask, maybe they just can't be separeted at first glance. And third,…
CITE SOURCES!!!
Is it so damn hard? I know it's not your style, but you have yourself that is hard to know who to believe. So you want us all to believe all of what you said just because you said it? Just take it this way; what if your memory failed? What if you read something wrong? What if what you read was wrong, and you didn't check the source, and none of us did because you didn't give it? Also, it could help promote an intelligent discussion, to have or know your sources so that we can easily contrast compare and give our opinion. It could make your argument much stronger. Though, I mostly say this because of past articles. I would like to have seen something (science!) on the topic of CO2 in high-carb vs low-carb, and see some data for why CO2 is soo good, beyond Peat.
BTW, about sleep deprivation; it is a well known treatment for depression. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21430147 Didn't found anything about it's use in the long term , but I doubt it even exists.
Sorry if I bothered you, but this was my honest opinion.
EL 66K,
You will find the fact that carbohydrate metabolism produces more CO2 than fat metabolism in every biology or physiology book.
It's not only Peat who is fond of CO2. Many other researchers before him have recognized the regenerating effect of CO2.
http://members.westnet.com.au/pkolb/peat2.htm
Daniel Holt,
Can you explain how anaerobic excericse is going to increase your CO2 levels, when this kind of excercise has been shown to make people infertile and hypotyhroid?
Sleep deprivation is a treatment for depression: That is really one of the dumbest things I have ever heard. :D
Does anyone know what the smelling of acetone after exercise is all about?
I've been dealing with it for years. People have very different opinions about it so it's hard to make anything out of it.
I mostly got it after doing a hard cardio session but last time I got it from from a 1 hour walk in the park?
This guy is really interesting, Majid Ali, http://www.ethicsinmedicine.us. He is a doctor who talks incessantly about 'oxygen signaling and oxygen-driven mitochondrial energetics' and human health and disease. Similar to Buteyko – he promotes slow breathing which I far prefered to Buteyko techniques but no longer practise – but talks about it with the emphasis on the oxygen side of the equation.
His site has many articles which cover oxygens role in a wide variety of conditions, from stress and temperature dis-regulation to adrenal health to asthma, alzheimers and on to Uric acid.
His idea of hormonal 'problems' are first and foremost oxygen utilization problems is interesting.
Btw Matt, your getting lazy with the headline pictures -Arnie in Total Recall is old news now, but I guess his eyes says more than a thousand pictures ;-P
The best 80s martial arts movie was The Last Dragon and my diet and training is much more like Bruce Leroy and Matt promotes a diet and training style that makes someone loook and function like Daniel Larusso. We know what would happen if the boys from the karate kid challanged Bruce Leroy, he would show them who the master is!
So no AS, I don't take Matts comment seriously.
Note that Bruce Leroy's family owned a pizza place, and were not rice eaters. Larusso didn't even eat the spaghetti that spilled all over him, a potential source of his manorexic look. Many things to discuss.
El66k-
How diet really affects real people in the real world in terms of their CO2 level, and the significance with this and thyroid is all pretty speculative. Just tossing around some ideas, not necessarily saying anything definitive. More than anything, I'm just trying to come up with somewhat of a logical explanation for why eating lots of sugars would decrease asthma and many other things that I've experienced (I swear my hair has gotten thicker, but this remains to be seen). As you can see in the comment above, one person increased carbs and dropped CO2 levels. Nothing is ever fully predictable with the human body.
On the topic of traditional nutrition, that's all fine and dandy. But what if modern humans crave cookies and ice cream and juice and things like that instead of meat and starch or meat dipped in whale oil because we are so hyperinflammatory? The damage has been done through high-PUFA and low-nutrient eating with lots of stress and environmental endocrine disruptors. One needs to leave the logic of traditional diets behind. I had to in order to find a way of eating that offset my physiology and brought it back into a more balanced state. Consider that super freak's 5-year old daughter has been waking up with night terrors, nightmares, and wetting the bed for weeks. Mom has always forced her to eat a square meal with meat, starch, and veggies. Recently, I took over in the kitchen and let the kid eat or not eat whatever she wanted. One night she hardly ate a bite of dinner, and then later ate two entire ice cream cones. She has eaten ice cream before bed for several nights now. No bed wetting, slept soundly.
I think modern humans have an extraordinary stress burden, and ice cream shuts that down much more effectively than a traditional meal.
Am I restricted in my eating? No. I didn't say I don't eat ice cream and cookies. I eat tons of all those things. One day last week I ate an entire apple pie. But when I lean more heavily towards the fruit and juice and eat a scoop of ice cream instead of two pints, I'm much better off breathing-wise.
Deb –
I don't do the shaking thing much at all anymore either. ETF-ing must have done at least something to calm my nerves or whatever. I do notice that I secrete a lot of stress aroma when talking in public and things like that, but sugaring up right before makes a world of difference.
Team Smith-
Chocolate Striped cookies. I love it. I'm totally going to eat some today in your honor. I'm really proud of you. In the coming months you'll have to face the fact that you and your family are all healthier with this new approach, and that your lives are all better for it. That's why I keep dodging your requests to find out what I'm eating. I eat whatever I want, when I want, supplemented by additional fruit and juice because I can see what it is doing for me. I still don't eat many fries, chips, salad dressings, or nuts/seeds (PUFA) – but I don't really want those and can make better fried taters with coconut at home like I did last night. Anyway, I think these cookies are good medicine.
Anyone can do the same – eat what they want when they want and pay attention to how they feel. You don't need to know what anyone else is eating. You got this.
@JT Bruce Leroy ? Love Bruce Lee! Don't miss 'all the heavenly glory'. ;-)
But I will reveal how I've been eating lately and what it seems to have done for me soon – even though proclaiming what you eat is always opening the door for massive criticism. I mean, one of my best online buddies over the past two years has totally turned on me and written me off recently!
I'm just waiting for when it feels right, and when everyone else here is at a point where they can logically understand why it might be healthier for someone to eat pie with a glass of juice instead of a slab of meat with lots of veggies and starch.
I'm trying to understand it myself. Ultimately, I think many of the "forbidden" foods out there are forbidden because they are the ultimate pleasure foods. The ultimate pleasure foods are the ultimate anti-stress foods. Surrounding yourself with them in abundance with no negative judgement or worry over nutrition facts or sugar content or nutrients may very well be a great health strategy. We'll see. It keeps it interesting and fun though don't it?
Off to a breakfast of juice and chocolate stiped cookies…
Deb-
Remember the scary black man that was my Facebook profile pic a month ago or so? And I posted the movie theater scene where he rampages through and beats everyone up? That is Sho Nuff from the movie, The Last Dragon. His nemesis is Bruce Leroy, sort of a black Bruce Lee in an 80's semi Kung Fu Blacksploitation spoof. It's a pretty kick ass movie actually. You'd like it. It's got that little Chinese kid that was in the show Sidekicks in it.
Here's a quality sample. Bruce Leroy is in Yellow…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JncalcWHTNo
Actually Deb, maybe your husband is the little Chinese kid from sidekicks. Ask him if he ever acted in any movies. I swear it's him. He starts at 3:00 minutes in this video…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gg-dg2tmcE4&feature=related
Ok Matt I love spoof movies! Remember Blacula? Xo deb
Crikey, I'd totally forgotten that movie. A quick google tells me that a re-make is coming soon with Samuel L Jackson and RZA.
I plenty enjoyed Black Dynamite when I saw it. I even let off a few 'Watta's' when watching that one, though it did drag a little in the middle. Oh yeah, 'watta' is my attempt at spelling a Bruce Lee noise.
I find it very interesting that a 3 breaths a minute rate in Buteyko is said to tally with an increased ability to digest 'a wider variety of fibers and other foods (roots, leafs, flowers and bones) and extract nutrients and energy from them'. Some of the other changes involving the human body starting to produce antibodies in saliva that can suppress pathogens causing cavities and the formation of plaque, as well as cuts, wounds and broken bones apparently healing much quicker.
Hahaha ! People ARE afraid of oriental dudes! Hubby loved it :)
Matt, as a kid and in my early teens I did nothing but eat the ultimate pleasure foods all the time, loads of candy, chocolate and homemade pastries. All the while spending more and more time sitting on my butt playing video games. At 15 I also started guzzling galleons of coke per week, so much sugar, so much carbon dioxide! I ate a fair amount of fruit and juice as well, while my meat intake was actually relatively low. (barbecues on weekends aside). In those days I could hardly go an hour without having a glass of coke to sip on or a plate of buns next to my keyboard. Talk about frequent feeding! My cortisol must've been rock bottom, amirite?
Actually, I am pretty sure all this was a net negative for my health, I not only looked like shit and started to become pretty overweight in my late teens, but I also had very frequent headaches and sleep problems. It occurred to me in the last week of my recent sugar binging when I also had frequent headaches and was constantly close to nausea, that in all those years when I did calorie restriction, exercising and intermittent fasting, I at least never suffered from headaches and slept well mostly.
On the other hand I've never suffered asthma or allergies of any kind, maybe my extreme sugar consumption during childhood can explain that. If so it just goes to show that there are different but equally significant health problems associated with both too much and too little stress.
Thoughts? In what circumstances is sugar a bad thing? And how are you reevaluating your own childhood experiences, remember how you said a little refined sugar ruined your health as a kid? Do you think your astha would've been even worse without that sugar?
I hate that picture! This is the second time you've used this one Matt-please find a new one- anything but this one, spongebob shriveling up or something!
Ahh- Ctrl+C!
Short version- great post, Matt. aprecciate the clarification, It's obvious to me this is different than a cetecholamine high, but it still could be anotehr type of grace period followed by a downturn. And like AS says, I only pester you because I want to keep the quality up.
The power of breathing is fascinating, and foundational to many mind-body practices. An anergy healerf riend of mine always advised people to breathe from the diaphragm to help restore health. Great article on Cracked linekd by John Durant about the basic functions we do wrong (like opping and breathing and sleeping) http://www.cracked.com/article_19121_7-basic-things-you-wont-believe-youre-all-doing-wrong.html
On the sleep note, 7 or 8 hour blocks of uninterrupted sleep seems to be an artifact of industrialism and artificial lighting. When you can't nap or set yoru schedule, and have to work 12 or more hours at a time, you have to sleep in blocks, even if it's not optimal. From a NY Times article referencing biphasic sleep: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/19/opinion/19ekirch.html
'We now also know that pre-industrial families commonly experienced a "broken" pattern of sleep, though few contemporaries regarded it in a pejorative light. Until the modern age, most households had two distinct intervals of slumber, known as "first" and "second" sleep, bridged by an hour or more of quiet wakefulness. Usually, people would retire between 9 and 10 o'clock only to stir past midnight to smoke a pipe, brew a tub of ale or even converse with a neighbor.
Others remained in bed to pray or make love. This time after the first sleep was praised as uniquely suited for sexual intimacy; rested couples have "more enjoyment" and "do it better," as one 16th-century French doctor wrote. Often, people might simply have lain in bed ruminating on the meaning of a fresh dream, thereby permitting the conscious mind a window onto the human psyche that remains shuttered for those in the modern day too quick to awake and arise. '
I'm looking at you, AS ;-)
PS- love the Ivan Drago reference- love it!
Ok I have to own that movie! Hubby denies that the kid is him but I saw he and Sam exchange the 'two thumbs up' just now. Hmmm mm……. <3
Two other things- glad you're not laying out the menus too hard there, Matt. I think I've also turned a corner a bit and no longer run what I want to eat against what I 'should' eat. Intuitive eating is starting to make more and more sense to me in practice.
And glad you're not neurotic and in front of the computer all day, and having a life outside. It certainly seems convenient when people like me harass you and you're scant around here to think you're just avoiding us. And maybe there's some of that going on. But no doubt man- it's key to interact real time with real people in front of you- internet boards, awesome as they are, are no substitute for facetime. Wise Traditions 2011- yeah!
The armchair diagnosis of Gary Taubes' bloodwork is that he is displaying a degree of metabolic acidosis. His higher-end-of-normal Na, Cl and BUN levels indicate this.
I've tried to discuss this on Jimmy's forum, but since I'm just a hater, nobody seems at all interested.
We're lectured over and over that ketosis is a natural state, normal, heck … even preferred! It's just all those idiots who are confusing it with ketoacidosis that are the problem. Thing is, however, in this case he's flirting with just that condition which means he's probably not processing ketones all that well.
His bloodwork is indicative of a diet that is NOT optimal for HIM.
Here is one of my all time fav's of the 70's spoof movies, just think if we could make one called PUFAula! Starring Ray Peat and the crazy scientist and Matt Stone as the young PUFA hunter. :) That last part with the woman in the robe is a lot like me when I get up in the morning!
enjoy the campy 70's jive humor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN2a5zGmBPI
Ok, who remembers this gem!!!!!
Love this two headed idea.. perhaps one can be a vegan, one can be a paleo nerd :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWHNA_j7h5A&feature=related
The problem going on here is that Matt is extremely biased concerning his own CURRENT experiences. He can't see that someone else having a different experience could be just as valid.
The diet that Matt is CURRENTLY advocating might be good for him right now, because it is balancing out an imbalance he has at the moment. But my bet is that the imbalance will soon turn in the opposite direction and he will start feeling worse and worse until he makes an extreme swing back in the other direction.
This high sugar, low protein diet will probably be a disaster for someone who already has a chatecholamine deficiency. This is why it so important to see the specific state an individual is in, and treat it accordingly.
Matt has said that his new diet has put him in a state where he cannot tolerate much protein at all. Does this mean his health has improved even though his ability to utilize a normal food has decreased?
Good point, JT. He doesn't drink milk, eat much protein, etc.- is that the side effect or necessary condition to thrive on sugar-loading? If he's cool without it, groovy. But by the same token, some folks are cool without gluten too, and in my mind there's no need to pound that down til it works for you.
Again, not to say he shouldn't heed his cravings and do this because it's working for him and now for as long as it makes sense to.
But just to say- keep with that intutive eating and follow your cues, and don't think that this will necessarily represent any sort of end point, or that, persuasive as all this may be, it might not be just well-crafted hand-waving to give meaning to the latest round of Matt's ebb and flow, im-balancing and re-balancing.
The whole universe, macro- to micro-, seems to cycle. I'd be surprised if long-term this didn't do the same.
The solution to hyperventilation is to not breath so much. derrrrrrp….
I'm thinking the Buteyko method is similar to starving an morbidly obese person. It may kinda work but not cause it's curing any underlying problem.
Hi Matt/Everyone,
I continue to religiously read the blog and continue to be impressed by the level of knowledge and intelligence in the comments sections. I was hoping some of you well informed folks could help me out with some health related advice.
I have been experiencing mild digestive dysfunction for the past 10 years and am trying to resolve it. When I say dyfunction I mean that I have a VERY ahem, 'inconsistent' experience when I go to poop, with common episodes of constipation, diarrehea, flatulence etc. This worries me as I have repeatedly been told how digestive health is one of the most important precursors to overall health and as a health practitioner myself I really want to get this resolved.
I got a couple of tests done which showed I had a few bacterial overgrowths (don't have the specific report in front of me so can't remember the strains of bacteria), roundworm, candida, very high Siga count (the highest my practitioner had ever seen), and very low enzyme production. I was given a bunch of Supps and told to go on an 8 week ZERO CARB diet. After this, I am supposed to very gradually re-introduce starchy carbs for the following 8 weeks and finally after 4 months begin to experiment with sugar or fruit again.
Having read this blog over the past few months I have been made aware of the dangers of ZERO CARB. I am worried that following such advice is only going to be medicating the problem and potentially cause other health issues. I am now pretty reluctant to follow my practitioners advice and am looking for a second (or third!) opinion. So my questions to you all are:
Is zero carb followed by very low carb and zero sugar for 3 months really the only answer?
Does anyone have any experience dealing with these kind of issues?
Are there any resources (sites, forums, books) that anyone can recommend for these kind of digestive issues?
I greatly value the experience and opinion of many, many of the people who comment here and would be extremely grateful if any of you lot could point me in the right direction.
Many thanks,
Catty
I have done a little experimenting with sugar lately. Jelly beans to be precise (organic, cane sugar ones with no artificial dyes.) I find I really like to eat some in the mornings, like on my drive to work. Then I feel good and energized. Ok, so last night I got into them before bed, thinking about sugar lowering cortisol and promoting sleep. I had a HORRIBLE night's sleep. It took me ages to fall asleep and I had this bad floaty dizzy feeling. I guess I'll stick to sugar in the mornings.
An ounce of raw bee pollen a day prevents allergies.
Jannis:
I find this comment extremely hard to believe. Scratch that… ridiculous is a better word.
"Daniel Holt,
Can you explain how anaerobic excericse is going to increase your CO2 levels, when this kind of excercise has been shown to make people infertile and hypotyhroid?"
Infertile and hypothyroid? LOL, come on. Anaerobic exercise has been shown to do the exact opposite – producing more of all the right hormones and metabolic adaptations when regularly performed within a person's recovery ability.
Perhaps it can contribute to infertility and hypothyroidism if the person chronically overtrains, but other than that I don't know where you get this stuff.
Even Peat has said weight lifting is his only preferred form of exercise.
Speaking of cool iPhone apps. I just got one called poo log. It let's you assign a grade to many facets of your porcelain experience and then gives you an overall score. I'm hoping to beat my high of 15 this afternoon. I guess I'm what JT would call a fecorexic.
http://db.tt/5ZIZ0jM
If the healthy person eats the proper nutrition, trains right, and gets the adequate rest between each anaerobic routine they shouldn't develop any health problems. Anaerobic activity increases CO2: http://www.ehow.com/facts_6318386_anaerobic-exercise-metabolic-acidosis.html
I don't know if the burning of glucose or having the highest oxygen traveling through the body yields the highest CO2 production. I would think anaerobic activity because you get lots of lactic acid buildup from it. The highest amount of oxygen is running through your body when you're burning the highest rate of fat at 65VO2Max. You burn less fat, less oxygen going through the blood, once you get into the anaerobic training zone but you burn the highest amount of glucose.
– Daniel Holt,
Can you explain how anaerobic excericse is going to increase your CO2 levels, when this kind of excercise has been shown to make people infertile and hypotyhroid?
Daniel,
The massive increase in lactic acid is probably one of the reasons anaerobic excercise causes degeneration. It's a bruden for the metabolism and whenever lactic acid is produced during glycolysis, oxidative metabolism is decreased.
Michael,
Peat does not recommend anaerobic excercise. I don't know where you got that. If you give me your email, I'll send you a bunch of studies showing that athlets, who do a lot of anaerobic excercise, are among the most unhealthy people on earth.
Jannis, why not post the studies here? I'd like to see them too.
Ok Matt, I realize that it's been a year-ish since you wrote the Rarrf or whatever thingie. And, you've learned many things since then, BUT you just said this:
"The ultimate pleasure foods are the ultimate anti-stress foods. Surrounding yourself with them in abundance with no negative judgement or worry over nutrition facts or sugar content or nutrients may very well be a great health strategy."
And I seem to recall a certain study that was discussed in that free ebook about eating foods that give the intense pleasure and how that affects the brain chemicals and what not. (Sorry, I am a nerd, just not as nerdy as those who can cite chapter and verse here)
The advice was to avoid this in the book.Avoid anything super intensely flavored I think, as well. Sooooo….now…it's a good thing? If it makes us feel better, it's fine to eat it with no guilt?
I realize that you are keeping an open mind and are at the forefront of research. It's difficult for those of us who do not have our brains plugged into this constantly to make sense of it though.
Anyways, it's just hard to believe that things seem to be going in the opposite direction now.
We went from, if it tastes really really good, don't eat it, to if tastes great and makes you feel better, then eat the crap out of it.
Help….please….and please don't ignore me- almost every time I post a question it's like I'm invisible- come on, a follower here for over a year and have bought some of your stuff.
AS wrote: "So where ya takin me on our honeymoon? Remember, I like it simple. So, like I've no interest in big showy wedding, no interest in expensive honeymoon either. Simple works for me :-)"
Beside the bedroom? :-D
A rented cabin, perhaps? Near water I think, would be nice. Whattaya say, fianc
Jannis,
It, may be the dumbest thing you have ever heard, but sleep deprivation is well documented as a treatment for certain types of depression. Does it work in all people? no. do the effects last forever? Not necessarily (or even usually), but in some people it results in complete remission of depression, and in others it can "jump start" treatment, and be used in conjunction with other therapies. Do they know exactly how/why it works? no.
many articles are available, just use google scholar to find them ;-)
Jannis:
I'd rather not post my email here, but please, if you have 'em, post up the studies here.
I'm just not buying it. Perhaps hard core athletes, yes, but those who lift weights 1-3 times a week to build/maintain muscle mass, increase aerobic capacity, stay lean and strong, etc is absurd.
If not anaerobic exercise, then what? Aerobic? Or even worse, none at all?
On Peat's stance on weight lifting, it was posted in a forum thread as a personal reply to someone who asked the question of what type of exercise he recommended. Although I don't for a second think Peat has all the answers, I know he has many fans here (including yourself if I remember correct) and have no reason to think the poster lied about Peat's reply.
Jannis
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full/10.1139/H09-117
This study shows that 6 weeks of high intensity interval training if anything resulted in a tendency to lower resting lactate concentration, and much lower post-exercise lactate concentration, showing that HIIT training enhances the bodys ability to clear away lactate, which only makes sense. If high lactate is bad, then improving your ability to clear away lactate in response to various stressors sounds like a good thing.
"ran a few tests to determine my serum Patchouli levels"
Actually laughed out loud! (ALOL?)
"the mo carb era"
Love that wordplay.
"If you’re still reading this, after 2,650 words of my babble, you ARE DEFINITELY A NERD"
Guilty as charged.
Good stuff, Matt.
Supercentenarians…those wacky 115 year olds (and older!)
Jeanne Louise Calment – She ascribed her longevity and relatively youthful appearance for her age to olive oil, which she said she poured on all her food and rubbed onto her skin, as well as a diet of port wine, and ate nearly one kilo of chocolate every week.
Shigechiyo Izumi – He drank brown sugar sh?ch? (a Japanese alcoholic beverage often distilled from barley or rice), and took up smoking at age 70.
Sarah DeRemer Knauss – Her passions were said to be watching golf on television; doing needlepoint; and nibbling on milk chocolate turtles, cashews, and potato chips.
Thomas Peter Thorvald Kristian Ferdinand Mortensen – On his 115th birthday Mortensen gave his advice for a long life: "Friends, a good cigar, drinking lots of good water, no alcohol, staying positive and lots of singing will keep you alive for a long time"
Edna Ruth Parker – raised eating a typical farm diet of meat and starch.
Gertrude Baines – she enjoyed "simple pleasures" of eating a diet of bacon and eggs
Emiliano Mercado del Toro – He credited his longevity to funche, a boiled corn, codfish and milk cream-like dish, which he ate every day as a habit
Maria de Jesus dos Santos – For activities, Jesus enjoyed looking through her old family albums, sunbathing at her porch, eating Portuguese rice pudding and ice cream, as well as taking baths. Reportedly, she never smoked nor drank alcohol nor coffee. Jesus liked eating vegetables but avoided eating meat, though she did eat fish.
Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper had stated that the secret to her longevity was a serving of herring every day and drinking orange juice. She later jokingly added "breathing." On another occasion, she gave the following advice: "Don't smoke and don't drink too much alcohol. Just a small advocaat with cream on Sundays and holidays. And you must remain active."
I sometimes wonder whether studying the dietary habits of centenarians is of any use. There are probably more commonalities regarding their attitude and outlook on life, than there are regarding their diets.
Collden,
That study compares three groups
of men, who all do high intensity running excercise. So the study compares athlets with athlets. It doesn't say anything about "normal" people and their lactate physiology.
Michael,
I don't think of moderate weight lifting as anaerobic excercise. For me, anaerobic excercise is a form of excercise where you continually burn glucose without oxygen for a long time.
Fertil Steril. 2009 Dec;92(6):1941-6. Epub 2008 Nov 14.
Response of semen parameters to three training modalities.Vaamonde D, Da Silva-Grigoletto ME, Garc?a-Manso JM, Vaamonde-Lemos R, SwansonRJ, Oehninger SC.
Morphological Sciences Department, School of Medicine, University of C?rdoba, C?rdoba, Spain. fivresearch@yahoo.com
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of different training modalities on various markers of semen quality. DESIGN: Crossover study. SETTING: Medical school.
PATIENT(S): Forty-five men participated voluntarily in the study, being allocated into three groups according to their sports practice. INTERVENTION(S): None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Sperm parameters (volume, liquefaction time, pH, viscosity, sperm count, motility, and morphology). RESULT(S): Sperm concentration; total sperm number; type "a," "b," and "d" velocity; and morphology were significantly different among the practitioners of the three different training modalities.
Morphology was the parameter showing the greatest difference, even reaching clinical relevance for the triathlete group (4.7%, poor prognosis pattern). In addition, these parameters tended to decrease as training require- ments increased.
CONCLUSION(S): There are differences in the seminar profiles of individuals exercising in different modalities. The differences are more marked as intensity and volume of exercise increase, especially for morphology. These variables ought
to be carefully analyzed and taken into account when designing a training protocol, especially with higher-level athletes, so that reproductive function is
not compromised.
Harefuah. 2006 Sep;145(9):677-81, 702, 701.
[Exercise and the male reproductive system]
[Article in Hebrew]
Eliakim A, Nemet D.
Child Health and Sports Center, Pediatrics, Meir General Hospital, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University. eliakim.alon@clalit.org.il
In contrast to the effect of exercise training on the menstrual cycle in female athletes, the effect of physical activity on the male reproductive system is
described far less extensively in the scientific literature. The male
reproductive system consists of the hypothalamic-pituitary unit and the testes.
The testes are responsible for the production of sperm and androgens, mainly testosterone. Androgens are responsible for the development of secondary male characteristics, muscle and bone growth, production of red blood cells, sex drive
and other behavioral aspects. The effect of physical activity on the male reproductive axis depends on the intensity and duration of the activity, the fitness level of the individual, and his nutritional status. A single bout of
short and intensive aerobic and anaerobic exercise usually increases serum testosterone level. Prolonged moderate to intense exercise (> 2 hours) leads to an initial increase followed by a decline to or below the baseline levels.
Exercise training frequently results in a decrease of serum testosterone, and may
rarely be associated with reduced libido, sperm production and fertility. In
addition, the reduced testosterone levels may attenuate the exercise-associated
muscle hypertrophy, reduce the repair of muscle damage, reduce post exercise muscle rehabilitation and may play an important role in the development of over-training syndrome. Other consequences include decreased bone density and a possible effect on mood and behavior. Surprisingly, even in the medically
well-supervised elite athletes, changes in testosterone levels and their effects on performance and health are rarely evaluated.
Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2003 Sep;35(9):1553-63.
Menstrual disturbances in athletes: a focus on luteal phase defects. De Souza MJ.
Faculty of Physical Education and Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. maryjane.desouza@utoronto.ca
Subtle menstrual disturbances that affect the largest proportion of physically active women and athletes include luteal phase defects (LPD). Disorders of the
luteal phase, characterized by poor endometrial maturation as a result of inadequate progesterone (P4) production and short luteal phases, are associated with infertility and habitual spontaneous abortions. In recreational athletes, the 3-month sample prevalence and incidence rate of LPD and anovulatory menstrual cycles is 48% and 79%, respectively. A high proportion of active women present with LPD cycles in an intermittent and inconsistent manner. These LPD cycles are characterized by reduced follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) during the
luteal-follicular transition, a somewhat blunted luteinizing hormone surge, decreased early follicular phase estradiol excretion, and decreased luteal phase P4 excretion both with and without a shortened luteal phase. LPD cycles in active women are associated with a metabolic hormone profile indicative of a
hypometabolic state that is similar to that observed in amenorrheic athletes but not as comprehensive or severe. These metabolic alterations include decreased serum total triiodothyronine (T3), leptin, and insulin levels. Bone mineral
density in these women is apparently not reduced, provided an adequate estradiol environment is maintained despite decreased P4. The high prevalence of LPD
warrants further investigation to assess health risks and preventive strategies.
Hormones (Athens). 2005 Apr-Jun;4(2):73-89.
Exercise and the stress system.
Mastorakos G, Pavlatou M, Diamanti-Kandarakis E, Chrousos GP.
Endocrine Unit, Second Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Aretaieion Hospital, Athens, Greece. mastorak@mail.kapatel.gr
Exercise represents a physical stress that challenges homeostasis. In response to
this stressor, autonomic nervous system and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis are known to react and to participate in the maintenance of homeostasis. This includes elevation of cortisol and cathecholamines in plasma. However,
sustained physical conditioning in highly trained athletes is associated with a decreased hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal response to exercise. On the other hand, highly trained athletes exhibit a chronic mild hypercortisolism at baseline that
may be an adaptive change to chronic exercise. In addition the proinflammatory cytokine IL-6 is also activated. Moreover, exercise stimulates the secretion of GH and prolactin, and may influence the type of immunity by stimulating TH2
response profile. Besides, the stress of exercise inhibits the gonadal function, through the production of glucocorticoids and cathecholamines, as well as through
activation of the CRH neurons. Nowadays, apart from the beneficial effects of exercise, there is increasing incidence of exercise-related short- and long- term consequences, especially concerning the female athlete that many authors describe as the so-called "exercise-related female reproductive dysfunction". These consequences include amenorrhea, infertility, eating disorders, osteoporosis, coronary heart disease and euthyroid "sick" syndrome. The mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of the above disorders are discussed in this review.
Most athletes don't eat healthy, get adequate rest, or train right. So I can see why they have a lot of health problems. When you do anaerobic activity over time your body adapts to clearing up the lactid acid buildup. It becomes more efficient at handling it.
As far as cortisol is concerned it's because they're not taking in enough carbohydrates for their activities. This will lead to health problems down the line.
For those criticizing Matt's recent "Eat What You Want" philosophy:
You gotta remember who Matt's audience is – from what I can tell it's not Joe Sixpack coming from the Standard American Diet. The audience here is mostly recovering dieters and nutrition / health obsessives.
In my opinion, the message of Eat the Food (ETF) and Eat What You Want (EWYW) could be just what this audience needs to hear – myself included.
Most have us have already got plenty of ideas about what foods to avoid and why – and we've got plenty of people to give us that message. That's why it's so important that someone is balancing that out with a light-hearted chorus of ETF & EWYW.
Wouldn't it be ironic if the path to healing for some of us desperate health seekers is to just relax a bit, let go, make it less about discipline and more about intuition – to get healthy by eating like someone who doesn't try so hard to be healthy.
That's just paradoxical enough to be true.
Daniel,
Yeah right, all those top athlets just don't eat the right foods and would otherwise be perfeclty healthy…
Of course athlets are better at clearing up lactic acid. If you are permanently produce a lot of it, you have to adapt to get rid of the toxic substance.
As I am a recent owner of an iphone, I discovered that you can speed up podcasts, it is on the upper right corner.
For listening to Ray Peat (East west healing/the Rubins) and Chris Kessler (the Healthy Skeptic) podcasts it makes it much better and does seem to make it easier to understand. I think when Ray throws an 'umm' and 'ahhhhh' or just silence, it throws my concentration off.
Could just be me being a Short Attention Span Theatre person :)
xo
deb
SirHC, I knight you the King of all Reason. I concur and already have enjoyed better mood and health by eating most everything I desire and only avoiding PUFA's and wheat.
I commend your insight and bow accordingly.
Good day
deb
Time Article "How to live to be 100"
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,994967-1,00.html
It mentions 96-year old Margaret Dell who loves eating chocolate.
"I'm very bad about those Hershey Kisses" she says, and she also says she loves eating Dove ice cream bars.
Here's another diet profile from the article…
Each day, Seiryu Toguchi, 103, of Motobu, Okinawa, wakes at 6 a.m., in the house in which he was born, and opens the shutters. "It's a sign to my neighbors," he says, "that I am still alive." He does stretching exercises along with a radio broadcast, then eats breakfast: whole-grain rice and miso soup with vegetables. He puts in two hours of picking weeds in his 1,000-sq.-ft. field, whose crops are goya ? a variety of bitter gourd ? a reddish-purple sweet potato called imo, and okra. A fellow has to make a living, so Toguchi buys rice and meat with the profits from his produce.
Since his wife Kame's death seven years ago, at 93, he has done all the housework himself. He rejected his children's suggestion to come live with them because, he explains, "I enjoy my freedom." Although his doctors insist Toguchi is in excellent health, the farmer takes no chances. "If he feels that something is wrong," says his daughter Sumiko Sakihara, 74, "even in the middle of the night, he calls a taxi and goes to the hospital." But he doesn't want the other villagers to worry, so, she says, "he writes a note explaining where he is and tapes it to the shutters."
At 12:30 Toguchi eats lunch: goya stir-fry with egg and tofu. He naps for an hour or so, then spends two more hours in his field. After dinner he plays traditional songs ? a favorite is Spring When I Was 19 ? on the three-stringed sanshin and makes an entry in his diary, as he has every night for the past decade. "This way," he says, "I won't forget my Chinese characters. It's fun. It keeps my mind sharp." For a nightcap he may have a sip of the wine he makes from aloe, garlic and tumeric. And as he drifts off, he says, "my head is filled with all the things I want to do tomorrow."
SirHc,
Matt is not promoting an "eat the food" philosophy. Not even close. He is again promoting an extremely strict diet. Its just different than the ones he has promoted before, so it APPEARS like the restrictions are taken away, but this is not true, they are just replaced with new restrictions.
Jannis,
Seriously man. You gotta try to be a little more flexible in your thinking and not so rigid. This could be due to a tryptophan/serotonin deficiency that is caused by your Peatian diet. Check into both sides and make a decision on the belief AFTER you have evaluated it, not before.
JT,
Since serotonin decreases brain ATP, I guess it's you who is getting a little too much of it.
Why don't you try to contribute something to the discussion sometimes, instead of repeating your simple dogma over and over again.
Gen Pharmacol 1994 Oct;25(6):1257-1262. Serotonin-induced decrease in brain ATP, stimulation of brain anaerobic glycolysis and elevation of plasma hemoglobin; the protective action of calmodulin antagonists. Koren-Schwartzer N, Chen-Zion M, Ben-Porat H, Beitner R Department of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel. 1. Injection of serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine) to rats, induced a dramatic fall in brain ATP level, accompanied by an increase in P(i). Concomitant to these changes, the activity of cytosolic phosphofructokinase, the rate-limiting enzyme of glycolysis, was significantly enhanced. Stimulation of anaerobic glycolysis was also reflected by a marked increase in lactate content in brain.
I, for one, find JT's comments to be refreshingly sane.
Daniel's right, most athletes really don't eat healthy, rest and sleep well or train optimally.
Charles Poliquin can confirm this. He's said that of all the elite athletes he's ever trained, only ONE has had good/normal testosterone levels. Those levels are usually brought back up to normal quickly with a simple change in sleep quality and quantity, zinc supplementation and training optimization.
Jannis, I'm still not clear on where you're coming from with all of this. Anaerobic exercise is best known and defined as weight training, or resistance exercise for mass, power, speed and strength. So if this isn't your definition of it, then what is?
One of the studies posted talks about triathletes. Anaerobic, my ass. Sure there's more of a strength component than emaciated marathon/slow steady state cardio practitioners, but it's much more endurance and aerobic-focused than the common understanding of anaerobic exercise.
Sorry if this was posted already, but the Rubins just did another interview with Ray Peat – it's 2 hrs of talk about sugar!
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/eastwesthealing/2011/04/27/dr-ray-peat-glycemia-starch-and-sugar-in-context?&utm_source=remail&utm_medium=listener
JT,
Matt Stone said earlier in the comments: "I eat whatever I want, when I want, supplemented by additional fruit and juice because I can see what it is doing for me. I still don't eat many fries, chips, salad dressings, or nuts/seeds (PUFA) – but I don't really want those."
There's a big difference between skipping over foods you don't want and denying yourself something that you do want based on some nutritional belief – whether right or wrong.
I think Matt has made it pretty clear that sometimes even the most well-founded nutritional restriction can do more harm than good if it causes enough stress, anxiety, obsession or negative emotions.
It brings to mind something Anthony DeMello said about renunciation:
"There's a guru in India who says, 'Every time a prostitute comes to me, she's talking about nothing but God. She says I'm sick of this life that I'm living. I want God. But every time a priest comes to me he's talking about nothing but sex.'
Very well, when you renounce something, you're stuck to it forever. When you fight something, you're tied to it forever. As long as you're fighting it, you are giving it power. You give it as much power as you are using to fight it. "
@Jannis
"Sleep deprivation is a treatment for depression: That is really one of the dumbest things I have ever heard. :D"
Don't kid me.
About CO2, I was aware of some of the research showing it's benefits (though mostly from Peat and Buteyko). I just wanted Matt to show some of it (again, besides Peat and Buteyko) for me and for those who know jack shit.
Colld?n said…
Matt, as a kid and in my early teens I did nothing but eat the ultimate pleasure foods all the time, loads of candy, chocolate and homemade pastries. All the while spending more and more time sitting on my butt playing video games. At 15 I also started guzzling galleons of coke per week, so much sugar, so much carbon dioxide! I ate a fair amount of fruit and juice as well, while my meat intake was actually relatively low. (barbecues on weekends aside). In those days I could hardly go an hour without having a glass of coke to sip on or a plate of buns next to my keyboard.
…Actually, I am pretty sure all this was a net negative for my health, I not only looked like shit and started to become pretty overweight in my late teens, but I also had very frequent headaches and sleep problems. It occurred to me in the last week of my recent sugar binging when I also had frequent headaches and was constantly close to nausea, that in all those years when I did calorie restriction, exercising and intermittent fasting, I at least never suffered from headaches and slept well mostly.
…In what circumstances is sugar a bad thing?
Why is it that whenever Matt makes a recommendation, people have to take it to the extreme? Of course he's not advocating a diet like the one above. He said "it might be healthier for someone to eat pie with a glass of juice instead of a slab of meat with lots of veggies and starch." Not all the time. No one should eat one way all the time. They should do what they feel like. Sometimes a slab of meat with lots of veggies and starch sounds great. Sometimes all of the above sounds great.
Probably the main thing wrong with the childhood diet described above is a lack of protein, non-PUFA fat, vitamins, and most of all minerals. I used to find that drinking V8 would be the cure for a Oreo or sugar hangover– perhaps the salt was the cure, or the ionized minerals. (Just a guess on my part.) Also I've noticed that too much sugar seems to dehydrate a person, even when it's in soda. The WAPF idea comes up that water with acid and ionized minerals (V8) is more easily hydrating than plain water.
Jannis,
what dogma do I repeat? Seriously I want to know! You are the one who is a dogmatic Peatist. It was not an attack, I think you are a smart guy and you have a lot to offer, but you are extremely rigid in your thinking. This rigid inflexible mind is a symptom of low serotonin levels.
That study you posted doesn't say how low serotonin levels affected the rats mood and thinking abilities! But, yes you can have too much AND too little.
Corvus,
Thanks !
Jared,
He says he eats whatever and whenever he wants in the past, but this isn't what he says other times. He says he can't tolerate much animal protein or milk. He also says he has to eat 10 times a day. This is not dietary freedom! But, I do appreciate how honest Matt is, because most diet gurus would lie.
Regarding Buteyko, breath, and metabolism. Slowing down the rate of breathing and holding you breath would slow the metabolic rate. Yogis have used this pranayama for thousands of years to slow down the metabolism.
@madMUHHH, yep that was pretty much my point of that. Once supercentenarian drinks port wine and eats chocolate, while another says alcohol on occasion is OK, while another never drank anything. One thought that cigars were ok, another indulged in bacon and eggs while another was a near vegetarian. No real dietary patterns there at all.
Awesome Matt! Although I still think your obsession with PUFA is overblown. I was craving some nuts and the only ones I could find were roasted in soybean (or was it cotton seed?) oil.
PUFA schmoofa!
I feel fine eating these by the handfull, they also have alot of sugar. Ray peat aside, I think maybe PUFA's are only bad if you're not getting enough sugar or otherwise are restricting yourself. Also recently switched my cooking oil to olive and canola oil instead of coconut oil since most studies show that high mono-unsaturated fats improve insulin resistance and my body temps are up to 98.1 now. More importantly though I think the reason people benefited from eating saturated fat here is that it's verbotten in common society and the freedom to eat it liberally was the main benefit. Unfortuantly in the process PUFA became the new saturated fat and people now have the same unhealthy fixation! I have learned just to hang loose and E.T.F. Turns out most of my favorite foods and sweets have PUFAS, is it better to deprive yourself? I don't think so.
I have one friend who is a total foodie and eats whatever she wants. She recently had a baby in her late 30s who is very healthy and robust and was telling me how she was eating an entire pizza for dinner when breast feeding. I've been to her house and saw pam cooking oil on the counter too.. While I'm not about to suggest that that crap is healthy per se, it makes me think we should consider filing away PUFA's in the category labeled _minutiae_, at least assuming your metabolism is already decent. Over the years she would tell me to to relax and enjoy food, after scoffing at her I am finally appreciating the wisdom.
Anyway, I think the PUFA issue is the final frontier here, I appreciate your open mindedness Matt, so I think you'll come around like you did with sugar/starch/carbs.
cheers!
Jared, there is really nothing in Matts recent writing that suggests his current diet is any less extreme now than mine was growing up. I'm not saying I ate nothing but sugar. I got plenty of whole foods due to a mom who loves to cook and decent school canteens. But I did have a magnificient sweet tooth and always followed it completely without inhibition. Which is exactly what Matt is advocating right now.
As a very short-term strategy for some it's fine, but the problem is he still hasn't made any attempt to define the limits of its usefulness.
SirHC, that's an awesome Anthony de Mello quote. I'm a stealin' it!
Sirhc,
The post above that I made to Jared was meant as a response to you. Like I said, Matts new diet he is promoting is VERY restrictive. I also think your guru analogy applies well to the situation, that is why you see the pinballing back and forth between diet extremes, but this seems to be the 180 way and the followers seem to like it.
surprised no one has posted this. loads of info on buteyko method and breathing
http://www.normalbreathing.com/
Here's a couple of things that Peat said about exercising.
"The replacement of injured cells means that mutations need not accumulate. Cell renewal with elimination of mutant cells has been observed in sun-damaged skin simply by stopping the damage, and mitochondria with damaged DNA can be replaced by healthy mitochondria simply by doing the right kind of exercise.
The regulation of cell renewal probably involves all of the processes of life, but there are a few simple, interacting factors that suppress renewal. The accumulation of polyunsaturated fats, interacting with a high concentration of oxygen, damages mitochondria, and causes a chronic excessive exposure to cortisol. With mitochondrial damage, cells are unable to produce the progesterone needed to oppose cortisol and to protect cells."
and
"When carbon dioxide production is low, because of hypothyroidism, there will usually be some lactate entering the blood even at rest, because adrenalin and noradrenalin are produced in large amounts to compensate for hypothyroidism, and the adrenergic stimulation, besides mobilizing glucose from the glycogen stores, stimulates the production of lactate. The excess production of lactate displaces carbon dioxide from the blood, partly as a compensation for acidity. The increased impulse to breath (‘ventilatory drive?) produced by adrenalin makes the problem worse, and lactate can promote the adrenergic response, in a vicious circle..
Since the 1920s when A. V. Hill proposed that the prolonged increase in oxygen consumption after a short period of intense work, the ?oxygen debt,? was equivalent to the amount of lactic acid that had entered the circulation from the muscles? anaerobic work, and that it had to be disposed of by oxidative processes, physiology textbooks have given the impression that lactic acid accumulation was exactly the same as the oxygen debt. In reality, several things are involved, especially the elevation of temperature produced by the intense work. Increased temperature raises oxygen consumption independently of lactic acid, and lower temperature decreases oxygen consump-tion, even when lactic acid is present.
The idea of the ?oxygen debt? produced by exercise or stress as being equivalent to the accumulation of lactic acid is far from accurate, but it’s true that activity increases the need for oxygen, and also increases the tendency to accumulate lactic acid, which can then be disposed of over an extended time, with the consumption of oxygen. This relationship between work and lactic acidemia and oxygen deficit led to the term ?lactate paradox? to describe the lower production of lactic acid during maximal work at high altitude when people are adapted to the altiude. Carbon dioxide, retained through the Haldane effect, accounts for the lactate paradox, by inhibiting cellular excitation and sustaining oxidative metabolism to consume lactate efficiently.
The loss of carbon dioxide from the lungs in the presence of high oxygen pressure, the shift toward alkalosis, by the Bohr-Haldane effect increases the blood’s affinity for oxygen, and restricts its delivery to the tissues, but because of the abundance of oxygen in the lungs, the blood is almost competely saturated with oxygen."
Steve
Hello, good to see you all. I haven't been here for awhile, probably because I couldn't eat the food you all were enjoying. But I cut out raw grass fed dairy a little over a month ago and have been increasing the number of other foods I can eat.
Strangely enough, just recently I started drinking a mix of lemon juice and sodium bicarbonate(one way to increase CO2) to help with some of my symptoms. You can imagine my surprise when I came to this site and found Matt on the same page. (This happened once before when I was trying the Milk Diet.) Being a big fan of Peat, when I started to once again think about how important CO2 is, I also started breathing into a brown bag as many times a day as I can remember. That's a good way to get the CO2 directly into your blood stream.
The lemon juice/baking soda mix is good for allergies, by the way. It in some way helps straighten out your pH. I also started using something by Enzymedica called pH-Basics, which seems to be helping in a lot of ways.
Take care everybody,
Good to see you all,
Matt, thanks for keeping up your blog,
Betsy
I'm trying to reconcile the CO2 stuff here with EWOT (Exercise With Oxygen Therapy) where someone exercises (like walking on a treadmill) with an oxygen mask on. I have heard wonder stories from this. Perhaps I am just not understanding the CO2/oxygen relationship here.
The Real Will-
a lot of info about exercise and CO2/oxygen
http://www.normalbreathing.com/c-effects-of-exercise-on-the-respiratory-system.php
Somewhat randomly I cut out a lot of dairy fat and have increased the amount of honey I have been using in the last week (though not because of this post). One or the other seems to be doing wonders for my ability to breath comfortably solely through the nostrils. I feel like breath is flowing effortlessly into my lungs, which is not something I'm used to from nasal breathing. Always before I felt like I had to "work" to breath through my nose, and now I feel like there's no barrier at all between my lungs and the air.
Whether this is a reduction in mucus (from the milk) or the honey is somehow reducing cortisol or increasing CO2 I have no idea.
JT,
I love the subtle insults you inject in your comments. But what I love even more is the claim to innocence when called on it. Keep up the good work, baby.
Subtle and claims innocence, or inadvertant and socially obtuse?
Either way, really not that subtle.
I know a lot of you have been wondering……I am fine. There's no tornado gonna keep me down, or up I guess would be correct. The guy I was eating a burger with wasn't so lucky.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mXVK9ddRB4&feature=youtube_gdata_player
breathing into a paper bag to increase CO2????
seriously?
this blog is turning into wackadoodle central
hypothesis: way too much time on your hands = increasing obsession about food/health/etc rather than just living life. i seriously doubt those centarians went around drinking horrible concoctions & breathing into bags to change their pH….
TJ I agree with Brock. My statements are not very subtle. I have tendency to say things too bluntly and it comes across as harsh or insulting even though that is not my intention.
I can see that my comment to Jannis may have appeared insulting, but that wasn't my aim. He promotes a diet low in tryptophan to reduce seritonin levels. I thought this could possibly effect his mood and could cause his thinking to become too rigid.
Jannis, sorry if it seemed insulting.
Matt has previously promoted the work of diet guru Schwarzbein as being the optimal dietary path. In her books she said she followed the high sugar diet that is now being promoted here. She said this high sugar diet gave her asthma, bronchitis, stein leventhal syndrome, ibs, cystic acne.
Why did she develop these problems on the high sugar diet that is being promoted here? Why was she able to cure the problems by eating a sugar free diet that is the opposite?
JT, while I appreciate your constant critique and counter viewpoints, you do seem to come off as "Mr. Know-it-all". You promote yourself as open minded but seem to quickly dismiss some claims related to Matt's recent posts since you've already "been there done that" … I just want you to see how some readers may interpret your comments.
Also, I really want to know your view on the recent Ray Peat interview regarding sugar .. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/eastwesthealing/2011/04/27/dr-ray-peat-glycemia-starch-and-sugar-in-context.mp3
@ Johnny Lawrence: That video was a classic. And I am glad you are ok. Last I checked there were no tornados in Southern California because don't you live near me?
San Fernando Valley?
Or do you live near that church where you play volleyball?
:)
Jannis
The studies you showed don't even specify what types of exercise was used. They also say nothing about supplements, food, sleep, etc.
Matt
What's your opinion of this "http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2011/04/food-reward-dominant-factor-in-obesity.html"?
Also, I know it's been mostly empirical up to know, but do you have an explanation in mind for why you think sugar would be superior to the starch and fat combo? Or be beneficial when added in big quantities?
Tyler,
Good point. I don't want to come across that way, but alo of the things Matt is doing I have already done. Look back at my posts a couple of years ago and see that I have already mentioned it back then. I remember people being freaked out by my ray peat koolaid that I drank everyday made out of sucrose and peptopro. I argued with Matt many times trying to convince him that sugar was not evil in all cases.
What claims of Matt's do I dismiss? The only claim I dismiss is the dogma that whatever diet he currently thinks works for him is the best for people with other imbalances.
I will try to listen to Peats interview when I get a chance.
Okay, I missed a day and a half here (hey, I got a life OFFline too, really lol!), so playing catch up here…
Matt Stone said…
"I'm trying to understand it myself. Ultimately, I think many of the "forbidden" foods out there are forbidden because they are the ultimate pleasure foods. The ultimate pleasure foods are the ultimate anti-stress foods. Surrounding yourself with them in abundance with no negative judgement or worry over nutrition facts or sugar content or nutrients may very well be a great health strategy. We'll see. It keeps it interesting and fun though don't it?"
Yes. And I believe that removing the "forbidden" label (along with the judgment & guilt) is KEY in that possibly being a great health strategy for some. Unfortunately, judgment & guilt are very real factors — that "mental" aspect I talked about before (mental stresses and stress-ers play a huge role). Not that you don't already know that. But, my point is, ultimate pleasure foods are only "anti-stress" foods IF they don't cause guilt (and trigger those judgmental voices) when eaten. That's a huge factor for some people. So, for them, eating ultimate pleasure/comfort/coddle foods, may very well cause more stress. A person's gotta be *mentally able to* remove the "forbidden" factor to reap the possible health benefits (in that context). Also, I think those foods are labeled "forbidden" because "conventional" wisdumb says so–not just cause they're pleasure giving foods. And THAT'S where the guilt and judgmental voices come in. That perceived societal disapproval = "That's why you're so fat!"
For me, removing the "forbidden" label (and the give a shit what society thinks!) greatly lessened the *appeal* of so-called "forbidden" foods to me. I don't much "crave" them, but I do eat 'em whenever the fuck I "feel" like it :-)
And this that Matt wrote…
"Anyone can do the same – eat what they want when they want and pay attention to how they feel. You don't need to know what anyone else is eating. You got this."
Love it!! Exactly.
continued…
Matt Stone said…
"But I will reveal how I've been eating lately and what it seems to have done for me soon – even though proclaiming what you eat is always opening the door for massive criticism."
Matt, I hear ya and understand. Which is why I almost emailed you directly instead with my "interrogation" rather than post those questions here. But you already have a shit ton (okay that's my last time using it-maybe?) of emails to answer. But to clarify, I eat whatever I "feel" like, whenever I "feel" like it — and my *intuition* serves me quite well. It was just that I found some incidental similarities (in the few snippets you've thrown out there so far) to my intuitive eating, to be interesting (and curious). That's why I wanted to pick your brain for more details.
Was also thinking… so people won't think that you're just a fruit-loop (ha!), consuming "retarded amounts(x 2)" of sugar, and eating only fruit/juice, ice cream, choco-stripped cookies, twizzlers, entire pies, and "tons of all those things" — you know?
But I don't want a "can-o-whoop-ass" to be opened up on ya either :-)
So if you want to save it for a big reveal, that's cool. I'm looking forward to it. That… and the "absurdly delicious and easy-to-make meatballs" video too. Jenny and I ain't gonna let you forget about that lol! :-)
But until then, if you'd rather discuss it off the record, the "futuremrsadorable at the gmail" is a real email that you, and any 180 peeps, can feel free to email me at… for friendly banter, hate mail, verbal karate, whatever. Just go easy on the crane kicks, I'm just a girl :-)
Sheila & Anneatheart, I thought the same thing, at first. But Arnold's totally recalled head is so damn cool that I got over it lol! :-)
Anneatheart, interesting observation and good points regarding the flavor intensity thing. Good find! You're right, some clarification on that would be nice :-)
Matt Stone said…
"Consider that super freak's 5-year old daughter has been waking up with night terrors, nightmares, and wetting the bed for weeks. Mom has always forced her to eat a square meal with meat, starch, and veggies. Recently, I took over in the kitchen and let the kid eat or not eat whatever she wanted. One night she hardly ate a bite of dinner, and then later ate two entire ice cream cones. She has eaten ice cream before bed for several nights now. No bed wetting, slept soundly."
Interesting. Ice cream makes me sleep like a baby too. And damn it, I got the hyphen part wrong! Ah well. Thanks for the schoolin, Matt. You knew I did that on purpose, didn't you? ;-) Oh, and I noticed that I spelled "hangout" as a noun in my sentence, where I shoulda spelled it like a verb ("hang out") in that context. Sorry :-)
Matt Stone said…
"I do notice that I secrete a lot of stress aroma when talking in public and things like that, but sugaring up right before makes a world of difference."
That's interesting too. I don't know about "aroma" but I oftentimes have trembling public-speaking "terrors" too. I'll have to experiment with sugaring it up beforehand next time and see how it goes :-)
JT said…
"So no AS, I don't take Matts comment seriously."
JT, yes you did, but it's okay, nice rebound with that 80s-movie comeback you played. A really clever 80s-movie reference here escapes me at the moment, but just wanted to say… "You're alright, Larusso!" :-)
Also, good points in your next comments, btw (not 'because' Rob agreed with them, but yes those are the comments I'm referring to, and for the same points that he followed yours up with.
And, like Deb, I still got love for ya too :-)
Deb, I love it! "Mattattack" the PUFA Slayer! (No good? Damn it, I tried lol!)
And you may not have meant to be funny here, but this was hilarious… "As I am a recent owner of an iphone, I discovered that you can speed up podcasts, it is on the upper right corner. For listening to Ray Peat… it does seem to make it easier to understand."
That cracked me up lol! Was it just me? :-)
Deb, our 180 Wonder Woman, thanks for the laughs and all the silliness (and nifty tips) you bring here, really. I enjoy your funnies :-)
And, SirHC, I agree with Deb, fantastic insights, Sir! You're right, that's a great way to look at it. And it's true that most of us health nuts here at 180… "already got plenty of ideas about what foods to avoid and why – and we've got plenty of people to give us that message. That's why it's so important that someone is balancing that out with a light-hearted chorus of ETF & EWYW."
And absolutely LOVED the Anthony DeMello quotes you contributed. Thanks for sharing that :-)
Anonymouns said…
"Anyway, I think the PUFA issue is the final frontier here, I appreciate your open mindedness Matt, so I think you'll come around like you did with sugar/starch/carbs."
Yeah, I think so too — that the "avoid ALL the PUFA" obsession is overblown AND that he'll eventually come around. I do think there's something to the idea of protective properties, and the like, in foods and in our bodies that play a role… like Vitamin E (that even PUFA-hatin Peat points out), antioxidants, etc. Sure, eat a lot of man-made PUFA-oils and shit? Maybe not so good. But real nature-made foods (especially of the wholesome variety) that contain some naturally occurring PUFA? Not so bad, in my opinion.
I personally don't avoid *everything* containing PUFA. I avoid man-made, isolated, processed PUFA, like veggie oils (themselves and most packaged foods that contain them) — and maybe I don't need to, but I definitely don't miss them! But I don't go out of my way to avoid real natural whole foods that naturally contain some naturally occurring PUFA. That's about as clear as I can say it lol! Others might disagree. I don't stress about it :-)
But, hey, what the hell do I know? lol!
I do know that I have no allergies/food sensitivities, I'm a nose breather (through both clear nostrils), never get sick (not even common colds–haven't been to a doc in 20 years), I can eat as much as I want/whatever I want without gaining weight, and people usually way under-guess-timate my age — so what the hell DO I know??! lol!
And I'm also happy, I live a stress-free (most of the time) life, passionate about the people and things I do in my life, and I appreciate the value of lessons learned (mistakes/challenges) in life and welcome/hope for continued growth. So, yes, I think the psychological aspect of it all (the mental thing that I said before), and "attitude and outlook on life" like The Real Will & madMUHHH discussed, and the part that *environment* plays, like Michael pointed out… all have a lot to do with it.
PS. I also find volunteering to have magical powers too. Helping others and making a difference in peoples' lives is so good for the heart, soul, mind, and body — on both the giving and receiving ends. It's like magic the way it affects people. It's amazing what you get back — and I've met some amazing people :-)
And saving the best till last…
Rob A. said…
"I'm looking at you, AS ;-)"
That was sweet! Peeps around here are gonna start telling us to get a room lol! Ah, so what!! :-)
And speaking of getting a room…
Rob A said…
"AS wrote: "So where ya takin me on our honeymoon? Remember, I like it simple. So, like I've no interest in big showy wedding, no interest in expensive honeymoon either. Simple works for me :-)"
Rob A wrote:
"Beside the bedroom? :-D
A rented cabin, perhaps? Near water I think, would be nice. Whattaya say, fianc??"
You had me at, "bedroom" :-)
And… if that bedroom is in a cabin (or "Tiny House") by the water? I say, perfect! You're definitely getting to know me well. You must be paying close attention. I'm impressed! I like that in a man :-)
Really interesting stuff you posted on sleep. And saying things like make love, sexual intimacy, do it better — you're not making it easy (on a lady) to wait till the conference in the fall lol! But I hear ya loud and clear. You're speakin my language :-)
I love "morning time" (definitely a morning person). Wake up excited to start the day — but love to, uh *hang out* in bed for "an hour or more" (which would definitely leave me ready for a "second sleep" lol!) before getting outta bed in the mornings :-)
And good commentary about internet/realtime.
I missed a day here yesterday (been hell trying to catch up too lol!), but I really should stop spending so much time here lol! Although (here comes the justification = telling myself why it's okay part lol!), I do spend most days outside in this beautiful spring sunshine, surrounded by real peeps, and sharing some laughs and facetime too. Like today — on the outdoor patio of a hotspot with my netbook and good company!! I'm a great multi-tasker and really good at toggling between my realtime life and my online one = best of both worlds! Can't get any better than that — except if I were somewhere tropical-ish. That would be ideal! And a move that is definitely in the plan for the near future :-)
Okay, that's all lol!
Hope everyone has a great weekend! :-)
Brock – Do you have asthma or have you just been congested? You may also be having an easier time breathing during workout because the honey is an extra source of carbohydrate. From the sounds of how exhausted you and Matt are after workout, and that you absolutely need simple carbohydrates as opposed to starches post workout you definately weren't having enough carbohydrates pre and peri workout. Honey might have some anti-allergenic properties to it too. Milk is known for being difficult to digest, causes congestion, and worsens or causes asthma.
"@ AS & Rob you guys are too cute ;)
matt, i love that you ate some choco striped cookies in *my* honor…i feel so honored.
like what AS said about finding out what you eat, i'm still looking forward to that post even though you believe in me being able to do this eating thing so fiercely. haha. i think for me it's not so much what you eat, but where you get your food. it's difficult to break away from the "if you don't eat organic-grassfed-raw-farm fresh-from the market-sans packaging-non gmo-local-you will surely die" message that keeps getting pounded into us through every media outlet known to man. i know, i know, just ignore them, yeah?
i'm also super jeally of AS and Rob getting their wedding catered by you! i've been trying to come up with an excuse to have an event just so i could hire you and your expertise chef skills.
Daniel,
Congested. I don't have any constriction in my lungs or throat.
I've been getting enough simple carbs. Ever since I started doing some high-intensity sprints in February I've been drinking OJ before or after for that reason.
I think I'll try cutting out the dairy entirely for a week and see what happens. It will be painful (I love milk), but I'd like to breathe well too.
—-
terpol,
Thanks for the link to the natural breathing website. I've only just started to look at it, but it looks interesting.
Hows your weight loss going? I'm particularly interested in your progress because of your adrenal condition. What sort of dietary regimen are you following that's working for you? Thanks.
You probably prefer simple carbohydrates because you don't have to wait as long for it to digest before a workout. You have to wait 2-3 hours for starches to digest before you workout for a few reasons. If your body is still digesting food into a workout it reduces your performance by 20% because of insulin imbalance. You also don't have enough fuel because it hasn't digested enough to glucose. Most people just aren't aware of this but it causes pitfalls in their training. I had this problem a lot more when I'd run in my workouts. Starches also take a lot longer to consume in a sitting and are more filling so it's much easier to get full on them without consuming enough to get the adequate fuel for a workout.
I foregot to also mention that how you prepare food makes a big difference in allergric reactions to it. When black beans aren't prepared properly they cause my lips to puff out like I had massive botox. With prepared back beans I have no allergic reaction to them. I was thinking people might have no problems with refined simple carbohydrates and milk if they had digestive enzymes with it. However, people even report being allergic to raw milk which has the digestive enzymes in it. They say they have less or no problems with kefir raw milk because the lactose and casein has been predigested. People are even still allergic to this. I can speculate that building up healthy gut ecology may remedy this but I don't know. Some people are still allergic to high quality bread with the gluten broken down through fermentation. This is all important stuff for people that are attracted and exposed to the Weston A. Price material. Usually they came across it because they ran into these problems, and that information is the exact opposite of SAD (standard american diet).
Daniel What do you do for work? Just curious deb
JT or to anybody that has experience with monks yogis,
You said that you knew or read of many who could lower their metabolism/body temps to like 93 right?
Do the following 2 assumptions have support:
1) Yogis, monks do not eat much food per day calorie wise
2) Yogis, monks live long and disease-free
If those 2 are the case then that does poke many holes into Matt's High metabolism theories. I don't think this topic has been touched upon. I know I read somewhere here once Matt didn't want to get into this spirituality and health discussion and be focused solely on nutrition, but I definitely think if anecdotes or research can back the two assumptions above that the mind/breathing can have huge effects on our health.
Didn't Peat himself say the liver was able to detoxify PUFA and excrete in the bile, feces and urine? So again, as long as your metabolism is not in the gutter, and you're not swallowing vegetable oil but the cupful, PUFAS are generally _minutiae_ and probably no more concerning than gluten or whatever other dietary toxins.
Check out this article by, of all people, Mark Sisson who has a healthier attitude towards pufas than most Petards or (BA) RRARF'ers: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/nuts-omega-6-fats/
I also recently read that an imbalance of bacteria in your intestines __can cause PUFA's to become hydrogenated__. Woah, I am continually amazed at how important gut flora is to health. Maybe the reason why PUFAS are dangerous in the modern world in the first place is people's guts are screwed because of anti-biotics and the rest.
Cheers!
*munches on smoked salmon and almonds*
"Do the following 2 assumptions have support:
1) Yogis, monks do not eat much food per day calorie wise
2) Yogis, monks live long and disease-free"
Hi danimal,
if we are to define Yogis as practioner of one of the different Yoga's, such individuals are ultimately seeking enlightenment (or 'it' has occured) not a disease-free body. Such teachings are built on the premise that you are not your thoughts, neither are you a body either.
Of course many practioners do in fact live healthy lives, but it is open to conjecture whether this is a result of frugal dietary intake, effects of altered neurology via meditation and contemplation practice, some other factor, or maybe they dont live any more disease free than average anyway.
But Yogis are not spared disease.
One of the most revered Yogis of all, Sri Ramana Maharshi died of cancer and his is not an isolated case.
Disease does not discriminate and at some point the body will perish.
Its just with the Yogi, this is not seen as defeat at all.
For what its worth, meditation and other Yogic practices have much to offer, but many teachings in the West are skewed towards health and appearance, when the counterparts in the Orient have a completely different aim, and health/appearance can be seen as an effect of the practice, not the aim.
Team Smith,
Hey! I had some sandwich cookies yesterday. Thought of you. :) Nom, nom, nom!
Do you think maybe some of these issues you have are related to your parents' orthorexia? IIRC, your parents were pretty health conscious when you were growing up, right?
Matt,
Yeah, my parents weren't health conscious at all when I was growing up. It was only through my orthorexic influence that they stopped eating shortening-infused foods at all. So, your assessment in the previous post was spot-on.
Even though I find the information Peat is sharing very interesting, I'm going to take it as a "glass is half-full" message. After 9 years of looking at the shortcomings of foods, and thusly restricting my diet, I'm using this as an opportunity to nourish my body and soul with the abundant food available to me. It's amazing how the glass is not only half-full, but it's overflowing again.
Maybe you should keep your current dietary "indiscretions" a secret. Having BTDT, I know that for so many reading this site, it will just be a temptation to listen to another guru rather than one's own body. Only after they freak out about your whiskey-infused chocolate shake and sandwich cookies, though. ;)
Regarding the taste combinations and reward center recommendations from 180 Degree Metabolism, those were primarily in reference to weight loss recommendations, weren't they?
Grass Fed Momma, nothing involving these subjects.
On the Discussing NT message board I talked to a women who was allergic to raw milk. She had raw goats milk and while it still wasn't as bad she was still allergic to it.
Depending on your intensity weightlifting is usually aerobic for younger people. People range from 120-150 beats a minute which is 65VO2Max or below. For older people 150 beats a minute would be a higher VO2Max, and so it's anaerobic though people usually don't push themselves that hard. 65VO2Max is 50/50 carbohydrate/fat burning. Fat burning contains oxygen so it's considered aerobic (with air). Carbohydrate burning is anaerobic (without air). Sprinting is anaerobic. Running can actually be far more anaerobic than weightlifting. Bodybuilders who weigh over 200 pounds can get into the anaerobic training zone during bodybuilding because of their size. Most health problems probably happen during aerobic activities because people spend a lot more time doing them but don't maintain their health for the activity. An example that comes to mind is marathon running where people are known to eventually get heart attacks.
Brock-
after experimenting for a while with sugar and eating patterns i'm back to what was working. potatoes, fish and a little fat, eating only when i want and stopping a bit before full. and of course the all important binge when i feel i need it. i'm at around 10%bf now. i workout very briefly a few times per week when i feel like it, just a combo of exercises to make me out of breath, then i stop. i am on my feet all day though.
after some experimenting i find i really like an undereating/overeating pattern. i love the energy and sharpness of eating lightly during the day and a lot at night. or undereating a few days and overeating 1 day. when i am as lean as i want i will eat like this, an eating pattern somewhere between scott abels cycle diet and the warrior diet. and because i have no cortisol to spare i can easily tell when something is doing good or bad.
my energy is hard to explain. i feel like i have loads of energy but can't use it properly. i guess thats due to the bizzare combination of good thyroid function and chronically low cortisol.
speaking of which if the weather is hot, i eat loads AND take a few grams of vitb5 my temp stabilises at 98.6 and i'm warm all the time and can sweat. works sometimes anyway, at night when i suppose the need for cortisol is lowest. i think my adrenals are fine but i have some pituitary problem. i remember having a door slammed on my head when i was 7 so that could have been it. only cortisol is affected though it seems. i should really go to a doctor :D
Where do you get your protein from after you stopped eating muscle meat and dairy, organ meats? gelatin powder?
Yves: almonds are my fav PUFA and I do love walnuts but stopped eating them due to the evil omega six list.:)
Happy weekend 180 people!
deb xxo
Danimal,
Yes, those 2 statements do have support, but you nevermnow how much is myth.
JR,
I wouldn't consider Ramana Maharishi a yogi in the sense we are discussing here. I'm pretty sure he didn't do much in the physical practices and this is what we are discussing here.we are discussing the yogis who develop control over the physical processes of the body, especially through the pranayamas that seem to have a profound effect on the endocrine and nervous systems since thiswould regulate the metabolism.
Caroline recommended 'Adrift – 76 Days lost at Sea' back in March. I just finished, excellent read on survival and starvation.
This caught my eye; after Steven's rescue, recovery and gaining back his lost weight: "…my drift's only real physical cost was that it seemed to have kick started middle age. I ate less and for the first time I found I could pretty easily add some padding around the old midriff".
He survived on solar distilled sea water and warm water fish for 76 days (he ate every part), and a few birds as he was nearing land.
To add to the ongoing starch/sucrose threads, I displaced unrefined starch calories with unrefined sucrose, and stopped since I was noticeably gaining fat in my midsection. Don't think my metabolism is ready for large amounts of sucrose yet…
Personally I think the best pre workout aid is low gi maltodextrin drinks. It's 100% starch and is reported to have a very high conversion rate to glucose. Far superior to dextrose. Probably better than potatoe starch, brown rice syrup, and waxy maize starch. Much cheaper too. It tastes better in the beverage, especially if you wanted to mix other flavoring in their such as bananas, honey, etc. You want to have 125g of carbohydrate maltodextrin with every 16 oz of water. You don't want to go over 32 oz of 250g carbohydrate water during an hour of exercise. It probably digests slowly like any other starch so you may want to drink it 2 hours before workout.
Matt Stone or Brock, what is your opinion of high gi maltodextrin? Would this be bad for your health. It's mainly recommended for peri workout because that's when the body is more open to shuttling in glucose.
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/berardi3.htm
Maltodextrins can be either low or high GI depending on their branching. Typically, a straight chain maltodextrin will have a higher/high GI, while a branched chain maltodextrin will have a lower/low GI rating. Most companies do not label w…hich type of maltodextrins they are using in their products, therefore it is hard to determine which you are receiving. Some of the branched chain maltodextrins are often used in "diet" meal replacement because of their low GI characteristics.
Hi JT,
actually one of the main misconceptions about Yoga is that it refers to Hatha Yoga (yoga of the body) only. Yoga refers to 'union' and to achieve 'union' there are several paths, Hatha Yoga being one of several.
Wikepedia has a good general description:
Yoga (Sanskrit, P?li: ??? y?ga) refers to traditional physical, mental, and spiritual disciplines, originating in India, whose goal is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility.[1] The word is associated with meditative practices in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.
Within Hinduism, the word yoga is used to refer to one of the six orthodox (‘stika) schools of Hindu philosophy; in Buddhism yogic ideas can be found in the early sermons of the Buddha; whilst in Jainism, yoga is the sum total of all activities ? mental, verbal and physical.
Major branches of yoga in Hindu philosophy include R?ja Yoga, Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, and Hatha Yoga."
Kind wishes, J
Has anyone listened to the Rubin's latest interview with Peat?
SO informative!
Kate
I would rather have a teacher that's good at the physical yoga and then have another teacher that is good at the spiritual yoga. I met one that knows both and they weren't physically strong enough to preform all the poses. People that teach it have a reputation for being weak in a lot of areas and learning it from them has actually decreased my performance. I got more out of reading a simple instruction book on the poses. IMO, most of them suck.
You'd probably need a different one for the mental aspect too.
Anneatheart-
This issue causes me a lot of cognitive dissonance, especially after reading The End of Overeating which is a great summary. Ultimately there are missing links to this theory that foods high fat, sugar, and salt trigger addiction physiology and lead to overeating and a rising weight set point. One link is that virtually everyone here has seen a decrease in addiction proneness through the dietary and psychological aspects of eating that I promote.
Terpol-
I was thinking after I wrote this about contacting John Douillard to write something about nasal breathing. Glad you're on the same page with that and great link.
JT-
I'm not promoting any way of eating right now. Rather, I continually promote greater and greater openness and relaxation if anything. And yeah, I said I eat 10 times per day. I count having a glass of lemonade or orange juice as "eating," or munching down a banana as "eating." This is hardly living in a dietary prison of some kind, and I certainly don't look at the clock, count how many times I eat, carry a bunch of food containers around with me, or any other nonsense. I just eat all day long because I can and it's convenient for me to do so.
Collden-
These are all good points but ultimately having a lot of orange juice with a quality diet vs. coca cola with a low quality diet are two different things – especially when people here are paying very close attention to subtle markers of their health, homeostasis, vitality, and function.
Real Will-
It's this kind of information that I can't get away from. There is no evidence showing a food or diet that yields optimal health and longevity. While we all know and understand here that food and lifestyle modification can play a massive role in eliminating sickness and re-balancing the body and metabolism, beyond that there is certainly no optimal human diet that can be used as a template by anyone. If this latest 180 "fad" is anything, it's an increasingly confident departure from obsession over the food that we eat aside from its immediate use to raise metabolism and get back on track.
If anything, centenarians live the most anti-stress lives and eat anti-stress diets (which, by nature, is eating and enjoying your favorite foods without beating yourself up over how "bad" those foods are for you).
"One link is that virtually everyone here has seen a decrease in addiction proneness"
Yeah, and now I have finally in the last couple weeks really enjoyed ice cream BECAUSE I'm not attacking it like a junky getting his chronic. I can just eat a bit – maybe a small bowl – enjoy the flavor, and then put the rest away. It's nice but as long as I've eaten enough that day to not be lacking in calories, I can take it or leave it.
Daniel,
On pre- and post-workout shakes I don't have much of an opinion yet. I'm aware of the performance hit if you eat beforehand, but I am also aware that protein uptake by the muscles after a workout is 230% higher if you eat before rather than after. I am still looking into how to weigh the pros and cons of that.
Part of the reason for that is because until January of this year, the prior 32 years of my life we exercise-free. I just couldn't do it. Any attempt at exercise left me tired so easily, and even if I stuck with a program for months on end (such as powerlifting with squats, deadlifts, etc. or sprinting on a rowing machine) I never improved or made any physical changes. My metabolism was just bound and determined to not get fit and lean. Because of this I haven't spent much time focusing on the nutrition of exercise.
—
Terpol, thanks for the input. It's precisely because of your sensitivity to cortisol that I appreciate your input. Other people can fool themselves into thinking that what they're doing is good for them, but you can't. I hope you figure out what's wrong with you one day and fix it, but for now you're a great guinea pig. :D
————-
Regarding centenarians, there's a great book on them called The Blue Zones. The only dietary thing they have in common is called a "mostly plant-based diet" by the book, which I interpret to simply mean "mostly carbohydrates". (Sorry Charles Washington!) The Blue Zone in Italy ate pasta, the one in Japan ate rice, etc. But that's true for all of Italy and Japan. The things that seem to get them to the 100-year mark are social factors (e.g., putting family first) and "daily moderate exercise", like gardening, or climbing up and down tall narrow stairs, or squatting all day in a home without chairs.
Terpol-
I also found it interesting at that site that they talk about CO2 and vasodilation. This was the first thing I noticed about the sugar that got me interested. I ate tons and the next day went to the gym. My arms became so pumped after 2 sets that I had to stop. The pump lasted for 3-4 hours. I had never experienced anything like it and I've been lifting weights on and off since I was 12 years old. There were other in"dick"ators too of increases in vasodilation.
That site really nails how I felt working out too. A hard workout left me where I couldn't sleep, and I felt many of the negatives of increased GH secretion such as carpal tunnel and increased water retention (noticed this ever since my first attempt to lift weights on a low-carb diet). Anyway, hopefully this is all just a clearing of the pipes. It may not be the sugar either, but just the reduction in animal protein. It could be a lot of things.
All fascinating stuff.
PUFA the final frontier-
Yes, as long as you don't overdo it on PUFA, and think about making simple substitutions like eating more butter at home instead of corn oil, the PUFA issue is probably not the main thing. Yeah, maybe some will benefit from extremes – those who are in really poor health and need emergency intervention with a very specific diet – I'm thinking type 2 diabetes or something like that…
But for the rest of us, a little PUFA is not the be all end all. Like I said, I ate low-PUFA for over a year and had an increase in pain, more inflammation from exercise, and so forth that was only fixed by decreasing meat intake, not PUFA. We each have our own health riddles to solve, and the less ideas we have about what is and is not healthy the more freedom we have to explore what will really work.
I could have told you years ago that when I ate fat and starch instead of meat, fat, and starch at every meal (a Schwarzbein concept), that I immediately had a dramatic improvement in my health. Oh, but you gotta get your protein, so I kept doing it for 3-4 years more. Good job genius.
And will this diet I'm on now catch up to me and stop working at some point? Probably. What will I do? I will adjust accordingly.
The main theme will continue to be the removal of food taboos. Like the recent bed wetting issue with sf's 5-year old daughter (that was the cause of my erratic sleep patterns, thanks for thinking it was a heroic sex life though – I appreciate the assumption), the answer was not to eat nutritious, square meals, but shut down the production of stress hormones before bed (a player in the cause of nocturia, polyuria, etc.). Worked like a charm.
Or sf's recent attempt at losing a few more pounds that resulted in a major skin breakout – the first she's ever had in her life. She thought greasy food caused acne. She ate 4 hot dogs in 6T of peanut butter (not bad actually, I tried it) with half a key lime pie for dinner and woke up to the biggest overnight improvement in skin I've ever seen. Interesting things happen when you eat what you want and lots of it.
Oh and Deb, I can't wait to see Blacula. I may be a beacon for 80's trivia (by the way, sf asked me two days ago, and I quote, "Did you ever see the movie Over the Top? I loved that movie!" – I swear she says these things just as an aphrodisiac, but she actually started singing Kenny Loggins's Meet Me Half Way and recalled scenes I couldn't even remember), but you are a 70's queen. I love it. Keep it coming. Educate us oh wise one!
Brock-
I haven't read Blue Zones, but I think of the universal theme from what I've studied to be:
1) Engaged in life with goals and aspirations and social connections that never cease (triggers continual regeneration I would imagine)
2) Diet that makes them most happy-go-lucky, amicable, and lighthearted. This, for me – assuming my glucose metabolism is in good shape unlike former times in my life, is a carbohydrate "plant-based" diet with adequate fat to feel happy and warm.
3) Physically active (also continues to trigger perpetual regeneration)
The science of aging should be all about stress reduction, and progressive regeneration triggered by physical and mental challenges with adequate recuperation. That's the secret to life once you've gotten your health reasonably squared away and on track.
So you snack Matt Stone. Those are snacks, not meals. I wanted to remove having several meals a day and instead condense it into shakes. I also wanted to have a higher red meat intake so I can get a consistant protein in throughout the day without having to eat several meals or doing nearly as much planning. Once you have a system and understand it it's so much easier. I do plan on developing a busier and more fulfilling lifestyle. I will snack too, not out of necessity but out of joy. Realistically 4-5 meals a day is ideal. Breakfast, pre workout, peri workout, post workout, and Dinner. I might leave out peri workout. Snacks and eating out with friends would be considered enjoyment so they wouldn't involve planning whereas meals do.
'So you snack Matt Stone.' For some reason this is the funniest comment I have read in a long time here. Again, not sure why but it struck me as funny.
:p
aw Matt I love that I can bring the 70's insanity to your brain, my pleasure :)
I can send you my copy of the Blue Zones, it's a good quick read and I think you hit on the main points. and it is true, low meat (not NO meat veganistas!) consumption seems to rule the day in all the countries. All the other macros are varied, but high carb does seem to be the rule rather than the exception as does physical labor/frequent movement.
More and more for me, even using Lameo things like Facebook, social connection is key. My salon for example, see lots of people, when I want to, talk to all ages/sexes/nationalities daily.
Especially love the fun of interacting/communicating via this blog and a few others as it creates a sense of community and connection. I think that is Numero Uno in living a happy carefree and possibly very long healthy life.
Those guys that never move out of their parents basement, don't work much and don't interact except for online porn are not going to get mentioned in any books about longevity that's for damn sure.
Peace OUT
deb
Matt,
All your comments today really resonate with me. Thanks.
And any chance you can elaborate on this: "I could have told you years ago that when I ate fat and starch instead of meat, fat, and starch at every meal (a Schwarzbein concept), that I immediately had a dramatic improvement in my health"?
Specifically, did cutting protein make a difference for your digestion, skin, and/or sex drive? I've been eating Schwarzbein style (now with reduced but still fairly ample protein) since last summer but still have issues in those areas.
FWIW, I feel better if I forgo animal protein or keep it very light at least one meal per day, sometimes two. But I definitely need some every day, whether meat or eggs.
Tonight for dinner I had a big bowl of brown rice with a few slices of steak and sauerkraut. I liked it a lot, but it was the rice my body wanted the most of (and I got seconds of).
JR
Yes, you are correct, that is why i wanted to make sure that the distinction was made.
If you look at the lives of mystics, you can see that a lot of them didn't get unusually old. So I don't think yoga (as in the union with the universal mind / God) makes one healthy. It's seems like zhe zen monks get rather old, I guess because of a mostly plant-based diet, physical work, hours of meditation and spiritual disciplines. Hatha yoga is great (I practice it myself) but some practices are too extreme I think. Moderation is k
MATT-
Interesting about what you wrote about nocturia, polyuria and the 5 year old child with bed wetting problems.
I was a bed wetter my entire childhood. My mom took me to numerous health practitioners, acupuncture and zone therapists -nothing helped. I had my last "accident" at the age of 14-15 years old -God I hated sleepovers! I leaned to stop drinking water at late afternoon/early evening and even that didn't always do the trick. Eventually it went away as I grew older. Now I don't have problems with bed wetting anymore because now I WAKE up.
Would you suggest a sugary drink/food just before bedtime, to shot off stress hormones?
While visiting some country bumpkins in Tennessee last weekend, I met a 5 year old sugar addict. Her mom is friends with my wife and they were coming to meet our bouncing baby boy. My maw-in-law offered the lil 40 lb'er a chocolate chip cookie (of which I ate about 30 that day) and her eyes lit up. She looked straight to her mother. "Well, we don't normally eat things like that but you can give her one." She was behind me so I couldn't see her but could hear the little cookie monster. It sounded like my 250 lb friend JP eating his first meal after we did a 4 hour glucose tolerance test following a low carb diet. The cookie was history in about 2 bites. It got the attention of everyone in the room and there were a few oohs and ahhs. This prompted her mother to say "we try to eat healthy and stay away from sweets". Seeing how fun this could be, I told my wife to offer her some sweet tea (you uppity Yankees have probably never heard of this concoction but it's the chronic down hur in the south). That 8 oz glass was just a shot to this chick, gone again in mere seconds. I then have a 180D style 2 hour lecture on the dangers of restrictive diets.
While I'm thinking about it…..right now I'm sitting in a parking lot watching two Asian guys open their AYCE restaurant. Neither of them weigh over a buck twenty five yet most folks that go in their weigh over 250. Do they not eat what they cook? Or just "good genes"? The only fat Asians it seems are sumo wrestlers or ones that are mixed with "white blood". ***Please don't take offense to my racial insensitivities. My limited education, sheltered upbringing, and non-PC language are to blame. For the record, my best friend growing up was black and he called me a cracker at least once a day. While we are on the subject, what is a "race" anyway? Why can't we all just be humans that look different? And then make fun of each other:
10 Truths Black and Hispanic people know but white people won't admit
1. Elvis is dead.
2. Jesus was not white.
3. Rap music is here to stay.
4. Kissing your pet is not cute or clean.
5. Skinny does not equal sexy.
6. Thomas Jefferson had black children.
7. A 5 year old is too big for a stroller.
8. N'SYNC will never hold a candle to the Jackson 5.
9. An occasional BUTT whooping helps a child stay in line.
10. Having your children curse you out in public is not normal.
10 Truths White and Black People know but Hispanic people won't admit
1. Hickeys are not attractive.
2. Chicken is food not a pet or a roommate.
3. Jesus is not a name for your son.
4. Your country flag is not a car decoration.
5. Maria is a name but not for every daughter.
6. 10 people to a car are considered too many.
7. "Jump out and run" is not in any insurance policies.
8. Buttoning just the top button of your shirt is a bad fashion
statement.
9. Mami & Papi can't possibly be the nickname of every person in your family.
10. Letting your children run wildly through the store is not normal.
10 Truths White and Hispanic people know but black people won't admit
1. O.J. did it.
2. Tupac is dead.
3. Teeth shouldn't be decorated.
4. Weddings should start on time.
5. Your pastor doesn't know everything.
6. Jesse Jackson will never be President.
7. Red is not a Kool Aid flavor, it's a color.
8. Church does not require expensive clothes.
9. Crown Royal bags are meant to be thrown away.
10. Your rims and sound system should not be worth more than your car
Johny,
That was some funny shit, lmao
@Momma
Since you are a cool iPhone user like me, there is a body temp app called BTMon that I got yesterday to Mon my BT. I like.
"AYCE restaurant. Neither of them weigh over a buck twenty five yet most folks that go in their weigh over 250. Do they not eat what they cook? Or just "good genes"?"
A combination of not eating what they cook and good epigenetics. Emphasis on the epi-. Their ancestors ate a diet that influences their descendents for multiple generations. Also, no Chinese people eat what Americans call "Chinese food."
However that "skinny Asian" stereotype is changing. With the introduction of modern processed foods obesity and diabetes is skyrocketing in China. They don't have any special immunity.
"N'SYNC will never hold a candle to the Jackson 5."
What about Backstreet Boys? ;)
HAha iI read the entire thing and your thoughts flowed well. I noticed when I was overtrained from my excessive strength training and obsession with 6%bodyfat, I would not feel much adrenaline high from any stimulant whatsoever. It seems like a great test for thyroid-ish metabolism-sh function
@Johnny Lawrence:
Yea that was some funny shit.
Love me some sweeet tea and choclate chip cookies to. I bet that little girl slept good that night.
@Brock:
Good points there man. Asians only get fat when they live american style and eat the SAD. True what americans think is chinese food really isn't. Same with mexican food and the rest of the americanized foods. Truly SAD.
My votes for J5.
@AS:
Dang you got some mad word play skills sho nuff girl. Your very entertaining and great attitude. I like your wit and spirit it livens up our some times to serious nerd cave here. So had to show you some love even tho you turned me down flat on my perposal ha ha. Sorry if I offended you before that was not my intent. Just giving you compliments. But offer still stands and has no expiration date wink wink. I would e-mail you but don't want Rob A. to open a can of whoop ass [that was funny] and go Bruce Lee on me ha ha.
Seriously tho who ever really does win your heart some day will be a lucky guy.
"So I don't think yoga (as in the union with the universal mind / God) makes one healthy"
Hi Hans,
yes, its not that Mystics are in some state of Super Health, but rather the search for any such 'state' has ended. When the division established by seeking ends, there is 'union'. And in 'union' there is no problem or question (including ones about health) that needs resolving or solving.
Got it Johnny! loved your story and your jokes too;-)
Just catching up on this one…
Grass Fed Momma said…
"@ AS & Rob you guys are too cute ;)"
Deb, thanks, just havin some fun. Thanks for playing too. And I can only aspire to reach your level of cuteness. And, btw, who you callin a hag??! I hope I still have your spunk and look as good as you when I grow up :-) I don't know about growing up, though, at the rate I'm going, that may never happen lol!
Team Smith said…
"i'm also super jeally of AS and Rob getting their wedding catered by you! i've been trying to come up with an excuse to have an event just so i could hire you and your expertise chef skills."
Dang it, Team Smith, you figured me out! That was my plan all along… just to get Matt to cook for me :-)
(Deb, you did it again!)
Grass Fed Momma said…
" 'So you snack Matt Stone.' For some reason this is the funniest comment I have read in a long time here. Again, not sure why but it struck me as funny. :p "
That is why I love you, Deb!! Yep, my mind went there too — was thinkin, did somebody say something about snacking on Matt? :-)
(one more) Grass Fed Momma said…
"More and more for me, even using Lameo things like Facebook, social connection is key. My salon for example, see lots of people, when I want to, talk to all ages/sexes/nationalities daily. Especially love the fun of interacting/communicating via this blog and a few others as it creates a sense of community and connection. I think that is Numero Uno in living a happy carefree and possibly very long healthy life."
Hey, have you all heard that Youtube, Twitter, and Facebook are all merging to form a super-social network? It's gonna be called, wait for it… "YouTwitFace" :-) Okay, that one's not mine. Someone told it to me, but it was too funny not to share it :-)
And you all probably already heard it before me. I don't do Twitter or Facebook (I'd never get anything done or any real "facetime" in, if I did lol!), but I do love a great Youtube video :-)
And speaking of laughs…
Johnny, you crack me up too. Loved your story and great jokes. Keep 'em comin! :-)
Brock, my vote's for Jackson 5 too :-)
Terpol said…
"i think my adrenals are fine but i have some pituitary problem. i remember having a door slammed on my head when i was 7 so that could have been it. only cortisol is affected though it seems. i should really go to a doctor :D"
Really interesting about the 'pituitary' problem. Reminds me of a story of a kitten I had once, that never "grew up" to the adult size of its siblings — as a result of its head getting smooshed (badly) by a rocking recliner and damaging its pituitary gland, according to the Vet. It was one of the most amazing things I'd ever seen. When it first happened, the Vet thought for sure that kitten was gonna die. I guess I did too but I was determined to try to save it. Immediately after it happened, the kitten "forgot" how to nurse from its mother. So I fed it with a syringe and so forth. And to my amazement, it lived and continued to improve. He grew just a tiny bit more, eventually learned how to eat solid food on his own, and even learned how to use a litterbox. But his growth was definitely stunted. He still looked like a kitten at a year old, while his siblings looked like adult cats — he was the cutest thing!! Here's a short slide show of pictures, if anybody wants to see:
https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AdUxc-45oewdZGQzenBqNDlfMmhucWRqZ2hu&hl=en&authkey=CNuWtv4E
Slaphappy said…
"@AS:
Dang you got some mad word play skills sho nuff girl. Your very entertaining and great attitude. I like your wit and spirit it livens up our some times to serious nerd cave here. So had to show you some love even tho you turned me down flat on my perposal ha ha. Sorry if I offended you before that was not my intent. Just giving you compliments. But offer still stands and has no expiration date wink wink. I would e-mail you but don't want Rob A. to open a can of whoop ass [that was funny] and go Bruce Lee on me ha ha. Seriously tho who ever really does win your heart some day will be a lucky guy."
Slaphappy, thanks, that was very nice of you to say. I just like to keep things fun — like Deb :-) I tend to laugh a lot (hence all the "lol!" sprinkled all in my ramblings). Happiness (and otherwise) is 99% mindset. And I usually say whatever comes to mind — sometimes that's not always a good idea lol! Anyway, I smile a lot too (as if you couldn't tell from all my smileys lol!). Just a sincere smile in passing can turns someone's bad day around. I love to see it on their face when that happens :-)
Anyway, no, you didn't offend me at all. It made me laugh. But I still ain't gonna marry you lol! Wait, maybe… if you can get Matt to cater, I might. But, even then, I can't promise anything after Matt's done cooking — got that idea from you (ha!) :-)
Kidding aside, thank you for the kind words, really. And I'm glad I entertained you :-)
AS Oh that is one cute little kitty :)
Being a Word Nerd my own self I always love good word play.
xo deb xo
@AS As we are in danger of giving everyone tooth decay by our sweet love for each other I will keep this short.
THANK YOU for getting my smartassiness!
xoxox The Gorgeous Youthful Hag xoxo
." Like the recent bed wetting issue with sf's 5-year old daughter the answer was not to eat nutritious, square meals, but shut down the production of stress hormones before bed (a player in the cause of nocturia, polyuria, etc.). Worked like a charm."
What did you do to shut down stress hormones before bed?
EL 66k and Corvus:
I read about the sleep deprivation treatment for depression a year or two ago. The problem is that their depression returns (perhaps worse) when they go to sleep as they must eventually do. Also, you're likely to develop new health problems due to sleep deprivation (like insulin resistance and carelessness). What kind of solution is that? It's the same logic as chemotherapy killing many healthy cells to get rid of a few cancerous ones, weakening your body and creating toxicity to deal with, and doing nothing to address the underlying cause.
I got over severe depression via a diet like Matt is now discussing – minus the low-fat bias. I ate lots of butter cookies (unbleached and unenriched flour), dark chocolate, good ice cream, acerola juice (10x more vitamin C than orange), grape juice, natural lemonade, sparkling mineral water, Snapple green black peach tea, eggs, milk, zulka fresh unrefined cane sugar, mac nut oil, coconut oil, bagels (unbleached & unenriched), occasional hamburgers and burritos and pizza, some meat, dry roasted nuts, nut butters, and seeds, fish, beans, etc. I allowed myself to eat all natural food and some treats, but stayed away from PUFA oils, trans fats, HFCS, fried food, and chemicals generally.
Dearest! Thank you for sharing!
I am the mother of a gorgeorus and happy 2 years old boy.
What can you recommend I do for him and his astmatic bronchitis?
He is off diary and oats so far.
Gratitude, Ben