Many months ago I worked up a solid draft about the Blue Zones charade. I didn’t publish it right away, but knew someday that I would.
And folks, Blue Zones Kitchen hitting #1 on all of Amazon this week is just the catalyst I needed to enthusiastically call bullshit on the what has been bothering me for a long, long time: this phony Blue Zones fad.
Recently, someone who I’ve known for a long time asked me a question about my diet, which is devoid of most vitamin A. For those of you who are just discovering this blog, this diet has given me profound results in terms of alleviating my asthma and pet allergies. I love it. I wouldnât consider anything else unless I start having other problems, or it stops working to control my asthma.Â
This person asked me in a discussion about whether vitamin A is bad for you. He/She argued, âWhy do people in countries that consume the most vitamin A have the longest lifespans and lowest rates of heart disease?â He/She was referring to Japan and France, specifically.
This comment really set me off. Obviously, I have no interest in going and running around trying to make my decisions about what to eat based on what somebody in Japan is eating. My dietary decisions are solely based on what is alleviating an actual health problem. I have no interest, nor care, nor any regard whatsoever, for what anybody else on the planet is eating, however or wherever they are eating it. It makes absolutely no difference to me. And it certainly shouldnât make a difference to you.
If there is something â a diet or anything at all â that has a potential therapeutic effect, then having to run it through some kind of blue zone approval process is completely absurd! This wacky idea takes me back to the days when everyone felt obligated to run every single idea pertaining to health and nutrition through some kind of caveman approval process. Or somehow tried proving it through the nature approval process, as if nothing in the world could possibly have any validity if there wasn’t some barefooted caveman, in a loincloth, doing the same thing thousands of years ago.
It’s just not relevant. But as I go and look deeper into the issue of longevity and different health statistics in different areas all over the world, I continue to encounter all kinds of contradictions in what people believe, and I just can’t ignore those contradictions anymore. Today, weâll drop a bomb to, hopefully, and finally, rid the world of this blue zone bullshit forever.
If you just look at the longevity statistics of people in Japan and France, for example, on the whole, they do actually live longer than other people in different countries. If you take a look at the world data, it shows that Japan is number one in life expectancy at 83.7 years. Clearly, the Japanese people must be doing something really spectacular if they are leading the world in life expectancy, right?
But if you take a closer look at the life expectancy of Asian Americans from each state of the US, youâll see numbers that far exceed the life expectancy of a typical Japanese person. For example, in the United States, the state of Hawaii has the highest life expectancy rate of 81.5 years. What’s even more interesting is that the life expectancy for Asian Americans in the state of Hawaii is 83.5 years. Wow! That’s almost exactly the same as the Japanese life expectancy of 83.7.
Already we’re seeing that this relationship and this belief that the Japanese have exceptional longevity is starting to erode, but wouldn’t it be more surprising if Asian Americans living in Hawaii actually had one of the lowest life expectancies of any state in the US?
These are some of the states that trump the life expectancy of Asian-Americans in Hawaii:
¡ California â 86.3 years
¡ Colorado â 87.4 years
¡ New York â 88.6 years
¡ Connecticut and Massachusetts â 89.1 years
¡ New Jersey â 89.4 years
¡ Florida â almost 89 years old
¡ Maryland and Texas â Over 88 years old; and
¡ Pennsylvania â 89 years
And the list just goes on and on from here. What we’re seeing is that Asian Americans live longer than actual Asian Japanese! These life expectancies are higher than all of the official “blue zones!”
Still convinced that the Japanese are the almighty beacon of life expectancy? Let’s look at another telling example and compelling contradiction in the world of longevity research and life expectancy. One of the most well-known factors that influence life expectancy is height. In a study entitled, âImpact of Height and Weight on Lifespan,â it was found that the men with a height of 175.3 centimeters or less, lived an average of 4.95 years longer than those who are over 175.3 centimeters tall, while men whose height is 170.2 centimeters or less, lived a whopping 7.46 years longer than those with a height of at least 182.9 centimeters. Right here you can see that an inch in height is worth at least a year of life expectancy. Essentially, the shorter you are, the longer you live.
Itâs very understandable to go crazy and get all excited about the longevity statistics of Asians. But before you start jamming your pie holes full of rice, with the idea that this will help you add an extra 10 years to your life, I think you must consider the fact that the more feasible explanation here is that the boost in life expectancy seen amongst Asians is due primarily to affluence and shorter height. Their diet isnât the primary reason for this occurrence.
Don’t believe that height has anything to do with life expectancy? Well, hereâs another example. Certainly, you know that men tend to die younger than women. It’s known worldwide that men have about a 9% shorter life expectancy than women. I’ve heard all kinds of laughable and ludicrous theories about this. Women live longer from lower iron levels from menstruating? Rolling on the floor laughing.
The actual reason why men live shorter lives is that they are 8% taller than women, which in turn shortens their life expectancy by 9%. This data correlates exactly with the data I provided about how the height of a person is linked to their lifespan. The differences in height between males and females explain the difference in life expectancy 100%. End of story. No further explanations needed. It’s not salad; it’s not menstruation; it’s definitely not getting pregnant and having babies. Itâs simply the height.
Now back to the blue zones. Did you know that Okinawans have a life expectancy of 85.3 years? And, did you also know that the average Okinawan is only 4â11â? They’re about 8 inches shorter than an average American; yet, here they are living about eight years longer than an average American. Those precious Okinawans. We should all get down on our knees, praise and worship them, and stuff our mouths full of soy to be just like them!Â
Note: I’m not really paying much attention the the OTHER blue zones in this post, since Okinawa is kind of considered the king of the blue zones. Other supposed blue zones have even less impressive longevity stats than Okinawa.
But take a close look at these next things Iâm about to say. If you do the math and adjust for the differences in height, Okinawans actually have an age-adjusted life expectancy that is THE SAME as a typical American of any race. And Okinawan lifespan is mind-bendingly lower than the average life expectancy of your typical Asian American.
Now let’s look at France. Franceâs life expectancy is 82.4 years and is ranked ninth in the world. French citizens are almost a hundred percent white in ethnicity. Yet, if you look at the life expectancy of white people in the United States, youâll see that most of the states range from 79 to 81 years of life expectancy. It’s not too big of a difference between France. The longevity of Australians is actually higher than in France. And, Australia is one of the most obese countries in the world. You cheese eaters might want to ease up off of Franceâs nuts!
I’m not saying that there aren’t lifestyle and dietary factors that impact your overall health and your life expectancy. I’m sure there are. While we don’t know exactly what those are, it’s clear that anything you do or any change that the masses try to undertake to expand their lifespan is very unlikely to make a significant impact.
Affluence, ethnicity, and total body size, height especially, are the primary factors that determine your lifespan. There is no such thing as a âblue zoneâ where people are living an insanely long anomalous lifespan when tweaked for ethnicity and size. It’s a complete and total farce! If there is a blue zone, itâs Asian Americans living in the BLUE STATES!Â
The creator of this idea has totally infused his personal dietary beliefs into his research and conclusions about the blue zones, saying that eating a predominantly plant-based diet is the key to longevity. Not only is this idea completely false, but also very presumptive. As you can see, there are no special zones where people live a long, bizarre lifespan compared to everyone else.
The fact that the author, Dan Buettner, had the nerve to write a book full of recipes, as if recipes could actually have a meaningful impact on your lifespan, is deeply insulting to people who care about the truth.
But it sells! Of course it does. We’d all eat some magical recipes if it made us live an extra decade, but such a recipe does not exist. You’re better off spending a lot less time thinking about your food, chilling out, and focusing on creating more financial security for yourself and your family. If you need a guru to lead you, no one ever said it better than the Maniac in Black, Mr. Snoop Eastwood.
“I’ll be rollin’ down the street smokin’ indo, sippin’ on gin and juice. Laid back. With my mind on my money and my money on my mind.”
In conclusion, shut the fuck up about the blue zones! Don’t make your dietary or lifestyle decisions based on what some four foot nothing Okinawan gardener is doing (although they have a great reputation for being excellent Karate instructors!). Dietary and lifestyle interventions based on fabricated blue zone insights are an idiotic way to go about trying to improve, treat, overcome, or prevent individual health problems. Be open to any and all research and ideas and what other people are doing to successfully conquer the same health problem that youâre looking to fix.Â
Or ignore all of it and live your life the best you can with the time you’ve got.
Just don’t spend decades of your life trying to live longer by eating scant portions of bland salad-like food. That’s not a recipe for long life. It will just make your life SEEM longer.
FIRST!
Welcome back, Uncle Buck!
Thanks Spackler (for the really short comment, haha).
Well his last name is buttner…
Haha. Thought of you the other day when the Mandalorian took his helmet off for the first time. I was like, “Dude, he looks kinda like Troy!” :)
This is the way…
Haha! Iâll check it out… I wasnât too fond of the sky walker rises movie. I did like solo though and rogue one!
Yeah I’ve liked the offshoot projects better than the actual Star Wars movies for sure. Mandalorian is really great though. It’s that Pedro Pascal guy from Narcos, but without a stache. All sweaty without a stache and he does look like you. Never thought that before, lol.
Great observations thank you keep up the good work
Baby Yoda gonna live forever. Hi Matt! Love the frozen hag
Possibly, but Baby Yoda has a multitude of lifestyle stressors, and is also in many situations with a heightened risk of accidental injury and death. So not a sure bet, Haggis.
says YOU. #teambabyyoda
Hi, I hope I’m not intruding. Looked for your health page to post this but couldn’t really find one specific to this. Was hoping for s little help. Here’s what’s going on.Hi Matt,found you through …well … ray peat which led me to Kate deering. I started eating enough finally. I’ve been a personal trainer 20 years, never overweight but always doing some crazy thing, intermittent fasting, then 6 years vegan, then keto. I’m 52 and was just tired of always counting calories. so 7 weeks ago, oh quit vegan a year ago, my hair was falling out and horrible teeth sensitivity, well 7 weeks ago I starting upping my calories slowly, I’m at 2500 now and gained seven pounds which freaks me out. So I was 5’4 117 pounds now 124. I’ve gotten my temp up from 95.6 to 98.7 but my pulse is staying at 55, ray peat says it should be resting at about 70. I’ve also for years had horrible insomnia, fall asleep fine but wake up 7 or 8 times a night. Just wanted your opinion and anything you could tell me. I’ve cut down my weight training this week from 5 days to 3 and stopped crazy cardio years ago. I didn’t see anything on your blog’s on pulse . I’m also hypothyroid since 1993 taking synthroid and cytomil. Im also scared of all these calories, am I going to get bigger and bigger, hee!!! Thanks for everything. Worst part is the lack of sleep and hair loss.
Best to just keep at it Peggy, keeping those temps high for months and months and months consistently. If you are already seeing temps jump and seeing some improvements then those are very positive signs that you’re on the right road. It just takes time. Your weight gain should slow and then eventually stop in the coming months.
Matt do you know guy with name Gbolduev? He has long interesting thread on Ray Peat forum. Now has his forum hackstasis.com he knows a lot about biochemistry. His posts are like “biochemistry kung fu..” :D He says that by eating all the time like for example bodybuilders are doing or Ray Peat people are doing eating sugar 24/7. That you don’t use any cortisol to rise blood sugar. Therefore when something will stress you out and your body makes cortisol for some stressful reason. You will have basically panic attack or similar very strong reaction due to very sensitive receptors for cortisol.. But when you don’t eat sugars all the time. Your body is making some cortisol, when your blood sugar starts to drop. Therefore your receptors for cortisol are more insensitive. Therefore if something will stress you and your body will make cortisol. This stress reaction will be much milder on your body.. To me it makes sense.. I am not saying to go keto etc.. But I think something like IF where you have at least 12 hours without food is a good idea.. Btw did you ever tried hair tissue mineral analysis and balance the body this way with minerals? That is also his thing.. But you said you have amalgams right? That is a problem. I have them also. Thyroid issues, adrenal issues, gut issues from them.. I had only 4 amalgams, but the amount of mercury vaporizing out when chewing was crazy.. I had that measured by firefighter device that detect mercury.. + also in hair tests.. I think that person can’t be healthy with amalgams in the mouth..
Nice. That makes sense to me and has been my experience for sure. Eating every few hours makes one NEED to eat every few hours or face collapse. But I do feel great when keeping cortisol low consistently no doubt. I know we need these kind of “hormetic stressors,” but hard for some to find the fine line between babying themselves too much and pushing themselves too hard.
For sure it needs to be in balance. If you are under a lot of stress etc.. You need sugars to balance it. But once you can relax. You can push the body with some fasting.. What I know restricting calories is the worst thing that you can do. You will just lower your metabolism and there is not benefit of fasting like autophagy etc.. So for people who can IF like at least 12 hours no food in the night and here and there from dinner to dinner 24 hour fast looks like a good idea for most people. Just keep eating your calories.. Btw I also started cold showers in the morning and it is great..
“Make your life SEEM longer” lol. Ain’t that the truth. So sick of people thinking that a perfect diet will solve all their health woes. Maybe they need to stop worrying and focus more on what really matters. First world problems!
Nice to see you back!
Yep. Easy to get trapped though. Usually changing your diet DOES improve some of your health problems. It also creates new ones. Each time you change your diet you get a new set of benefits and drawbacks. It does kind of lead you to believe that the answer is right around the corner!
Have you ever heard of having a low body temperature (97.2) with HYPERthyroid? (diagnosed from blood work with significant symptoms).
Sure. Autoimmune hyperthyroid conditions are often a confusing mixed bag of symptoms that point in every direction. For anything autoimmune, I feel really confident in a low-A diet to put out “the fires of hell” as Grant Genereux puts it.
I’m hoping that will help. I’ve been on that elimination diet for 2 weeks. Sticking to it, and praying it will clear that and the Tinnitius and hearing loss! đđźđ¤
My body temperature stays that low even when I’m very hyperthyroid. (I definitely eat enough and still can’t get my temperatures up, but I have a lot of health stuff. Maybe I’m still missing something?)
My last hyperthyroid episode —- by far, the worst one — was preceded by consuming massive doses of Vit A supplements.
Anything autoimmune is helped or even cured by Vitamin D, probiotics and proper amounts of trace minerals, especially selenium. These nutrients help regulate the immune system. Iâve heard several stories of complete healing by drinking raw milk kefir (which contains billions or even a trillion live cultures per cup) and plenty of sunshine.
Vitamin D helps a lot because it opposes the effects of vitamin A, and vice versa… on a low A diet you are addressing the real reason for both the autoimmune condition and raising your vitamin D levels through the roof when you do (as dropping your A levels will send your D levels soaring, without consuming any or even spending much time in the sun). Grant Genereux’s D levels living in Canada and taking no D supplements is off the charts. By the same token, if your A intake is really high, even taking large doses of D won’t raise your D levels much. Better to just lower your vitamin A levels and let the rest take care of itself.
As for raw milk kefir and clabber, I found them to WILDLY increase my allergies and asthma. More so than any other food. That was clear to see as that was all I was consuming for a month, and it was crazy how much it worsened the very problems that a low A diet has fixed for me.
Hmm, my great grandma lived to be 104 and was only about 5 feet tall.
If she was still around there would hipsters beating down her door to raid her pantry in search for dietary secrets, lol.
“Just When I Thought I Was Out, They Pull Me Back In!” SCENE from The Godfather: Part 3 The MOVIE
“You cannot escape your destiny”…. Darth Vader.
Matt – You may be great and successful with your other businesses, but you just can’t leave behind your true passion. And we, your groupies appreciate when you come back into the fold and share your brilliance, your 180 Degree view of health and nutrition.
ps- will I live longer because I shrunk from herniated and bulging discs and lost height? LOL
Haha. I quit doing it because I wasn’t passionate about it anymore. Believe me, I’d be back full-time if I was into it.
But, Matt — aka O.O.M.P.H. #2 = One Of My Phuture Husbands (Carl is O.O.M.P.H. #1, since he proposed the group marriage idea) —- you’re still looking for property in New Mexico where we can build a compound, right?? We could offer “diet & lifestyle deprogramming” as a main source of income for our group.
Thanks for calling “bullshit” on the Blue Zones stuff. I always learn something from your posts and get such a kick out of your feistiness.
Aw, thank you, my dear turtlegurl. Also, great idea about the “diet & lifestyle deprogramming.” It’s good to know my communal wife has beauty *and* brains.
I hope being #2 doesn’t upset Matt. hahaha, just kidding. Put THAT in your Vitamix with some tears and make a smoothie! :-)
If tears were an effective smoothie ingredient David Wolfe would live to 150! We know he secretly cries into that blender, lol.
Tears, much like chocolate, line up planetarily with the sun. Tears are an octave of sun energy.
https://youtu.be/Dvle8FalDq0
Carl (O.O.M.P.H. #1), you don’t disappoint!
Your post brought 3 questions to mind:
1) has Carl had a psychotic break?
2) is he on drugs?
3) will he bring some with him to our compound?
I’m not sure if I want to understand this chocolate-octave-sun thing or not, but the drugs would probably help me get closer.
I have three answers for you:
1) I like to think of it as opening my third eye chakra.
2) It’s the chocolate.
3) Of course!
Oh definitely guys, aiming for December 2020.
Fanfreakintastic!! I saw a bumper sticker here in Austin, TX that read âmeat eating is bad for the planetâ on the back of a Jeep Cherokee. You are what you read… consuming the fads!
I chose not to procreate so I can eat WTF I want, lol.
I think the whole focus on longevity as a marker for health is misplaced. Longevity is increased when fertility rate goes down (which is linked to affluence, as you say), but that doesn’t mean people then lead healthy or even healthier lives. In fact, statistics for chronic disease all go up at the same time. I think a lot of it could be explained by the fact that women and infants die much less frequently when fertility rate goes down. It’s risky to give a lot of births, much more so in a world with suboptimal nutrition. The problem is that statistics are just numbers, confusing much more often than they explain.
Oh my goodness, thank you! What refreshing logic.
I forgot to add, I’m not to trying to say that there isn’t anything to your theories about height etc. But here I think that we should also be asking ourselves why did a certain population become so much taller than another over generations. Dogs are a result of breeding, but in humans there must be some environmental factors explaining why Asians are so much smaller than Westerners. Perhaps these factors can also explain why a small population lives longer than a tall one?
Sure, I think that’s a fine question to ask. A better, more impactful question is to ask what affects height in the short-term. We know average heights have gone up considerably over the last dozen centuries. This is presumed to be because of “better nutrition,” which is thought to be more calories and more complete protein, more or less. In fact, what determines a protein to be “complete” or “high quality” is its ability to stimulate growth. That’s the yardstick for the “quality” of a protein. If there is any validity to a “blue zones fad diet” that de-emphasizes animal protein, it is this. Although the real magic of the diet is incorporating it from birth so it stunts your growth. If you are starting it up after being fully grown, you’re unlikely to get the same supposed benefit of living longer. I’ve said the same about calorie restriction, which also works because it stunts growth.
My sister used to room with a first generation Chinese American woman. This woman’s parents and older brother were born in China. All three of them were very short. However, my sister’s roommate and her younger sibs, who were all born in the U.S., were quite tall. Her parents thought that it was due to better nutrition. However, the family still ate traditional Chinese food at home. I’ve wondered if it was something completely unrelated to food, maybe something environmental, that caused the younger members of the family to grow tall. Whatever it was, it had to happen very early on in life. The older brother was just a toddler when they came to the U.S.
So next, I wonder about the longevity of each member of the family. I’ve lost touch with this woman, so I don’t know if her parents are still living or not. Will the short older brother live longer than his taller siblings? Of course, you (Matt) are talking about generalities so no conclusions could be drawn from a single family. Just find it curious.
One of the reasons short people live longest is because they have the lowest amounts of IGF-1. Insulin growth factor 1. They don’t generally get cancer either because there is nothing in their system to make cells grow out of control. A diet lowest in IGF-1 would help to keep a person from developing cancer, which is almost neck and neck with heart disease and heart disease is the number one killer in the world. Prevent yourself from getting cancer and you automatically live longer. Dairy is one of the foods having the most IGF-1. It is meant for the baby calf to grow exponentially but it is not a good idea to keep growing forever. Cows wean their calves but adult people drink milk, and milk from another species. Makes no sense. I avoid dairy altogether even though I still sell kefir grains. The demand is huge but I am phasing out that part of my business anyway. I cannot keep supporting the dairy industry in good conscience. A well-planned whole food plant-based diet is the only diet proven by science to prevent and even reverse heart disease, our number one killer. That should be the default diet until proven otherwise. Prevent the top two killers, cancer and heart disease and you have a chance to live to your potential.
Good luck with that!
hahahaha…copy/paste. How original.
There he is!
Hi Keriann!
Dito ..I would love for you to share your conclusions for better health and wellness thus far. You seem so very relaxed about it all
I love your writing, research and humor. I appreciate the support because it is hard to find and it gives me real info to tell people itâs none of their business how I eat… and visa versa. I feel very blessed to have parents that let me eat when and what I wanted, within reason! We ate breakfast, lunch and dinner and snacks if we were hungry in between. So Iâm not, have never been, obsessed with food. I just eat. My energies go into work and spending time with people I love. I use your blog a lot as a BS detector when I hear crazy food talk! Thank you for keeping it up even though you donât write often any longer.
PS: my husband is 6â4â, so very interesting info here
Matt can you tell us how looks your diet now? You are on low vit A, but are you on low carb, high carb or are you just eating everything what is low in vit A? Are you eating high PUFA foods? Are you loosing weight?
Not losing weight at all. Have found no benefits there from a low A diet. My diet is mostly skinless chicken, rice, potatoes, turkey, pasta, dairy-free cookies, crackers, and other bread products, and grape juice to drink. I cook with olive oil and coconut oil. Haven’t noticed any difference between the two oils in any way. Sometimes I’ll eat apples or bananas. Once every week or two I’ll eat something like pizza or just whatever that’s definitely NOT low-A.
Matt you can try roasted buckwheat as well. It is really tasty. No vit A and it is maybe the best source of magnesium.. Also good amount of zinc, copper, manganese, potassium, and protein… I use this as “multuvitamin/mineral” almost… Btw why not red meat? Also for micronutrients like zinc, creatine etc..
I started out eating almost all red meat, but started having gallbladder attacks every time I ate it. At first I had to eat a ton to have a bad reaction, but over time even a small amount started to bother me. Not sure if you’ve ever had a gallbladder episode, but I was praying for death during it. I have like beefophobia now, lol. But I do hope after a long rest from it that I can slowly work it back in and avoid the problem. I may try buckwheat sometime. I’ve always loved buckwheat pancakes :)
I’ll bet you can get someone to write you a script for your Beefophobia. In the commercials for it, the people all look so happy and healthy. I think there are a few side effects, but they say them so quickly that I’m sure there’s nothing to be concerned about. See your doctor.
Yes I will run down to my local Paleontologist for some advice on eating ruminants, and hopefully a script. I’m probably just not eating them right. :)
I thought I read that your asthma was improved from low Vit. A diet? Has there been any positive change in your health? From reading “Extinguishing The Fires of Hell” it looks like it would be a “cure” for so many things.
Why are you still eating low Vit.A if you haven’t found any benefits?
I was hoping it would help my 50% deafness in my right ear from newly dx’d Meniere’s disease. I’m still going to try it for 3 months, and pray that something helps. This is an incredibly depressing condition.
Oh yeah, a low A diet completely fixed my asthma. It was absolutely amazing. Old triggers of my asthma aren’t even triggers anymore. Just didn’t have any effect on weight loss/gain.
I bet it actually will have some impact on your Meniere’s. A low A diet helped me decrease some dizziness and increased my work capacity considerably.
Thanks for your answer. I sure hope you are correct. The Low Vit. A diet is VERY extreme and 180 degrees opposite with regard to vegetables and fish that I regularly consumed. I’m going to do my best to stick as closely as possible to it. (not looking for weight loss, but wouldn’t mind it at all- LOL)
I haven’t seen anyone put together a “cookbook” or recipes for it.. that might be a good book idea (but not for me!).
Glad your asthma is gone- and you didn’t even have to do Buteyko!
Lianda,
I can’t speak to the accuracy or efficacy of the information, but here’s something I found on Andrew Saul’s website:
http://www.doctoryourself.com/ears.html
I’m sorry to learn of your diagnosis. Have you been tested for any bacteria or viruses?
Best of luck,
Carl
Carl- Thanks so much for your concern and suggestion. The one thing I am incredibly thankful for is that I don’t have the dizziness associated with the disease. Just LOUD Tinnitus tones in one ear- and pressure that feels like I have water and cotton balls stuffed in my head. The pressure and sound varies- but only gets worse, not better. I’m half deaf in the right ear now.
I’ve been going through Grant Genereux’s missives on Vit. A. It seems that there is a lot of epithelial tissue in the ear. Although I am very anti-restriction for weight reduction, this looks like it may be the answer. I’ve started the elimination of all sources of Vit.A. What a list!!
ENT’s say no infection or virus. I can’t have chiropractic work on my neck due to the degeneration of my spine.
Hi, Lianda:
I understand about the tinnitus and am sorry for your suffering and hearing loss. I have tinnitus in one ear and have lost a portion of the normal range of hearing. The constant squealing is always there, though some days are less noticeable than others.
If I had the spare funds, I’d look into one of the following limbic retraining programs:
* retrainingthebrain.com (some report DNRS helps with tinnitus)
* guptaprogram.com
If the above didn’t work — and, I could spend more — I’d go for an in-clinic visit to one of the following:
* instituteforrestorativehealth.com (IRH started by Biologix docs)
* biologixcenter.com
All of these resources would be considered “woo-woo” by many. However, I’ve personally met people who have been helped by DNRS and IRH for different conditions. Was it real or placebo? I’m not sure. If something helps, that’s all that matters.
I’ve no affiliation or relationship (financial or otherwise) with any of the people or programs I’ve mentioned.
Should you find something that helps, I’d love to hear about it.
Best wishes,
Carl
Carl and Lianda,
Here I go again… could be total BS but Taurine is supposed to help with Tinnitus. Donât know if it really does but itâs inexpensive and seems relatively harmless. Iâve reduced my consumption of it over the past few months. I feel it did help me for a while but for totally different reasons. Anyway, good luck with resolving your health issues.
Carl-
I am sorry that you too, have this crazy disorder. Apparently 40 MILLION people have it in the US with different levels of annoyance. I guess we’re both in the 3rd standard deviation when it comes to severe symptoms. Losing my hearing is very depressing. And now I’m terrified it’s going to affect my other ear.
I’m definitely going to check out those links. I have a feeling it’s more about learning to ignore the sound by having a similar substitute sound to focus on. Distraction therapy.
I’ve been using a sound machine and listening to books trying to keep my focus away from the sound in my head. Sometimes it works, but when the pressure builds it’s very disconcerting. I look like a fish because I have developed this worthless habit of opening my mouth wide like when you have a clog in your ear and you want to clear it.
It’s pretty sad when so many people have this problem without any real solution. I’m hoping that removing all sources of Vit. A will help- and of course, I’ll let everyone know if it does. At least Matt had a good result with his asthma. And I’ll see if the neurotologist has any help to offer.
Thanks for taking the time to share the resources.
Hi, Lianda:
It’s my pleasure to share resources. I only hope they help…or, lead you to something/someone that does. Likewise, I appreciate the conversation with you, too.
I suggest a blanket approach: Try everything you can that’s affordable, doable, and seems likely safe!
* Jeanne’s suggestion of Taurine may be the easiest and most cost-effective approach (thanks, Jeanne!)
* Then, avoiding Vitamin A
* Next, the DNRS and Gupta Programme — don’t underestimate these!
* Finally, the clinics I mentioned…or, others you may find
While [other] Blogs and YouTube can be full of crackpottery, I’d scour them, too. We may not have the same cause of tinnitus, thus we may have different solutions, too.
Maybe Ozone, Acupuncture, Traditional Chinese Medicine, etc.
If this was a sudden onset for you, I still wouldn’t rule out a bacteria or virus. I only mention this, due to being mishandled by a doctor with an infection several years ago. But, you know your body and your situation best. I just encourage you to listen to any hesitations or doubts you may have, if applicable.
Let me/us know how you do with eliminating Vitamin A! You have nothing to lose, other than possibly tinnitus!
Wishing you much luck!
Sincerely,
Carl
Jeanne:
Thank you for the suggestion! I’d forgotten you suggested this previously. I’m dealing with a variety of health issues and got distracted. Plus, I’m also unemployed and that’s limiting my ability to try other things. But, I should be able to afford a Taurine supplement.
Hope you’re well,
Carl
Haven’t heard from you in a while so not sure if I should take you seriously when you write “My diet is mostly skinless chicken, rice, potatoes, turkey, pasta, dairy-free cookies, crackers, and other bread products, and grape juice to drink. I cook with olive oil and coconut oil.”!
It’d be great to hear more from you on evolving views on diet, I’m personally struggling with SIBO which seems to force me away from the whole food type diet. Potatoes, rice, pasta and bread are generally no-nos for me. Are these foods you had to ‘build’ up to before you can get benefits from them? I seem to just be stuck on the easier to digest more refined less starchy things.
Hi Maggs,
I’ve never had trouble digesting those types of food, so no build up in tolerance needed for me there. My thoughts on SIBO are that most are looking at it too mechanistically. They believe the bacteria are there and causing all the problems, and the only solution is to starve them or kill them off with antibiotics. But I still view the immune system as the best long-term defense against infection of any kind. I have noticed that eating a low-A diet has helped me a lot with itchiness in the nether regions and it has also made my teeth and gums a lot healthier, which get a little infected and sore when I eat foods with vitamin A for several days. I don’t know the mechanism for that, but it’s an observation my girlfriend and I have both made toying around with a low-A diet. Anyway, I think worrying less about feeding bacteria and worrying more about feeding your immune system is a better approach. You may find that you don’t react as strongly to starches and sugars when your diet is devoid of vitamin A.
Hey Matt, that’s interesting; I’ll definitely keep an eye on my vitamin A intake. What are your thoughts on brain fog? I’m pretty sure it’s due to me having a really weak digestion possibly because of candida but I’m not sure). Also I’m pretty underweight which is another sign I’ve got a jacked up digestive system… and the when I’ve tried to ‘bulk’ in the past ALL my symptoms just sky rocket… very frustrating.
Yeah, that’s the most frustrating situation to be in Maggs. Needing to eat more but being unable to. I’ve dealt with many clients to get them through that though. It’s tough, but it can be done. The main thing is to not get too derailed by negative symptoms in the short-term, but staying focused on temps and bodyweight, with the goal of making both increase, even if it causes a short-term worsening of symptoms. Easier said than done, but weight a rise in temps and an increase in weight back to normal, you are virtually guaranteed to see dramatic improvement along the way if you can get past the uncomfortable first phase.
“… I think worrying less about feeding bacteria and worrying more about feeding your immune system is a better approach…”
Brilliantly stated, El Guapo.
I see this is the Lyme community quite a lot — the idea of “starving” viruses, bacteria, alleged parasites, yeast, etc. As you alluded, if we eliminate everything that feeds these and other organisms, all we’re doing is starving our human cells and our immune system.
It closely parallels the idea of starving ourselves for weight loss. We can restrict or starve our way to health.
Correction: We CAN’T restrict or starve our way to health.
Amen. This whole blue zone idea specifically around their diet observations should be fairly easy to debunk with common sense and basic history. The fact is a majority of the historical population ate copious amounts of animal products on the reg. I actually made a youtube vid about it.
Matt, when are you going to make another youtube vid? Love hearing you talk about eating and stress. Still watch your old stuff.
I had to stop eating meat because i get insomnia. Its interesting that complete proteins interfere in metabolism. I feel your pain matt. Surrounded by false information about healthy eating. Your research has inspired most of beliefs about food. A lot is experience too. Sometimes its good to relax and eat a variety of food including plants. Its amazing that people with health conditions are afraid to eat sugar for example or butter.
Great observation Matt! Here is a little tit bit that I could not resist posting:
“Even the skeletal system does not escape a lack of thyroid hormone. In children a marked deficiency will result in stunted growth, but a paradox exists in minor deficiencies. During puberty, if the thyroid function is on the low side of normal, the individual may become unusually tall. Growth ceases when the long bones close the growing centers at each end of the bone. The stimulus to close these centers is a normal function of the thyroid hormone. If the latter is deficient, growth may continue for some time, and a new basketball player may result. During the past twenty years, it has been found that in either sex, individuals over 6 feet in height consistently run temperatures a little below the normal range.”
Extracted from: “Heart Attack Rareness In Thyroid-treated Patients By Broda and Charlotte Barne” page 55. (Can send copy)
This again is another vindication of Dr. Ray Peat’s work indicating low metabolism reduces age!
That’s awesome Chris! Thanks for posting that. Super interesting stuff.
Based on your theory, I was thinking that if that is true, I wonder what the life expectancy is for the people of the Massai tribe, some of the tallest people in the world. It seems like they would have a short life expectancy. I looked it up. Age 42 for men, age 44 for women!
That’s not a totally fair comparison, as life expectancy is a figure that is highly effected by infant mortality, death from accident (like having your throat torn out by a lion, lol), etc. It’s not an accurate figure to use unless you’re comparing two societies with similar rates of infant death and accidental death and such. In other words, you can use life expectancy to compare Japan and the United States fairly effectively, but not the Masai and the U.S. I would expect many members of the Masai tribe to still live well into their late 70’s with the oldest reaching 90, but NONE surpassing 100.
Matt, my journey is very similar to yours. For 23 years Iâve been reading books on diet and experimenting. Iâve ranged from veganism to carnivore and everything in between. Of course keto and then carnivore (zero carb) wrecked my hormones which is how I ended up finding your website. Now Iâm on the HED and feeling way better (thank you!). Iâve also tried a number of exercise programs including walking 12 miles a day fasted (aka the sumo weight âlossâ plan) and now weight lifting (which appears to be having the intended effect). My question for you is regarding Billy Craig. Do you know whether anyone has ever been able to replicate his 6000 calorie per day weight loss experiment? Or even a 4000 calorie version. Iâm absolutely intrigued by this and would love to hear whether you or anyone you know ever attempted it. Thanks!
I haven’t heard much Kristen other than lots of 180D peeps over the years reporting eventually having effortless weight loss while maintaining very high calorie intakes. Seems the vast majority of those cases were people between age 15 and 30.
Matt, what are your thoughts on conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) speeding up metabolism? (The natural CLA found in real food, not synthetic CLA made from omega-6 oils)
I’m interested but suspect it’s fairly minor.
Matt, please check this presentation by Chris A Knobbe and let us know what you think is wrong.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHnPinYI2Yc
Otherwise new to your blog and I like it.
I’ve written about that at length at the blog a bazillion years ago. This was probably the most recent, from 7 years ago…
https://180degreehealth.com/biggest-dietary-change/
And what about Pygmies?
Matt, I’m now reading you and Dr Garnett’s Paleo book. I had just written you an email about healing my metabolic rate. But in this book you have an equation for how many calories to eat as a reference but here I am at 52 eating about 2200 calories. My temp is now 98.2 my pulse 62 from 50 but I have gained 9 pounds as a fitness trainer and my vanity, it’s a little disturbing. Well any way in this book you say to subtract a certain percentage after the age of 30 well that has me at like 1700 calories . So am I to eat that amount to lose the weight I’ve gained? Totally confused. I’m used to weight training 5 days a week for 50 min to 3 days a week for same amount of time. I really do want to be back to my normal weight for summer without hurting my metabolism. Now that my temp is up. Help porfavor.đ
Only 9 pounds! Damn, you’re lucky! Talk to Kayla. She’s the perfect person for you to connect with. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vju8XUU3XHQ&t=
I do watch her channel. But I’ve never eaten less than 1800 to 2000 calories. My question was about your Paleo book and the calorie calculation you talk about. Taking a percent off for every year over 30. Well I’m 52. So I’m wondering if I should be eating the calories that it comes out to, which is around 1770. I’m not young like Kayla. I never dieted to 900 calories like her. So am I eating to much at 2200 calories? I didn’t have the extreme hunger she talks about either. Thanks
That 1770 is based on you sitting around watching TV 16 hours a day and sleeping the remaining 8. Sounds like you are quite active, so it needs to be adjusted upward significantly.
Ok, makes sense. Thank you!!! Loving all your books. The Paleo with Dr. Garrett and you is my third so far. đ
Good to read your provocative and interesting opinions again. Keep slaying the sacred cows, even if you no longer enjoy eating them. The blue zones phenomena is interesting. I have been to several of them and they seem to eat a lot more animal products than is claimed. The education levels also seem quite low. Most were characterized by food scarcity around the World Wars and relative poverty in the aftermath. Hard to relate to for most of us. Yet as a physician in Colorado i meet active 90 to 100 year olds each week. None of them have heard of the blue zones. Since i can’t reduce my height at this point, i guess i’ll just have to avoid smoking, wear my seat belt, eat food and do exercise i enjoy and hope for the best! Hope you continue your work and blog. tx
Exactly Wade. That’s what it’s all about. It’s about doing basic things, mastering self care by paying a lot more attention to your own body and a lot less attention to headlines, bloggers, gurus, and studies, and focus more on living life than preserving it. Roger that on Colorado as well. After living in Florida for the last 8 years the difference here is striking. I really think most of our modern ills are from simply not using our bodies. Colorado is one of the few places whose outdoor activities can compete with YouTube and Netflix. Not true in Florida. Netflix wins every time! :)
Matt,
Check out this article: https://parade.com/976846/paulaspencer/how-to-live-to-100/. It intends to support the Blue Zone myth, but if you look closely, what it’s really saying is being more active promotes well being. They’ve cherry-picked some numbers such as people living in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh have a longer lifespan. The author claims this is due to it being a walkable neighborhood and people living there have close social ties with their neighbors. That may be at least partially true and it supports what you’re saying above. However, Squirrel Hill is a predominantly Jewish neighborhood and maybe that has something to do with it too. I wonder what the average height is of people living there.
Interesting point about Colorado. I must say I dream of living there. Matt, do you think the Ray Peat theory of Coloradoans living longer as a result of the average higher altitude holds water? I have seen some research comparing different groups of people living in close proximity and the higher altitude inhabitants seemed to have lived longer than the people at sea level. I think the altitude thing might be somewhat true and actually flies in the face of the blue zones myth, because it is yet another confounder, along with proximity to equator and other variables that needs to be considered instead of diet alone.
It’s interesting. I don’t really know. I know that mountain kids get a shitload of physical activity and are usually really small compared to other kids. In Nashville I had 70 kids in my class and there were probably 6-7 guys 6’2″-6’6″, and maybe 4 over 250 pounds. In Aspen I had 66 kids in my class and only one was over 6’2″ and 200 pounds. Small sample sizes, but the high school kids I graduated with in Aspen looked like middle schoolers next to my old football buddies in Nashville. Seriously. Look at this lot of twerps, lol. Until I got there the football team had lost 22 straight games, haha.
Oh nice, just saw how the county that Aspen is in (Pitkin county), has the 2nd highest life expectancy in the country. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._counties_with_longest_life_expectancy
Note, it’s also probably the richest. $$$ + physical activity + being small = Blue zone domination
Also note: Counties 1 and 3 on that list border Pitkin county. I’m calling this area The WHITE Zone, haha.
Okay, I’ve been trying to find Waldo…
Is that you in the top row, sixth person from the right?
Haha. No. I’m in front of the gazebo just behind and to the right of the kid who is sort of flexing in a sort of leisure suit thing and Hawaiian shirt. I’ve got sunglasses and like a Gilligan-style hat on. Not sure what thrift store I found that at, lol. Note, I’m probably standing on my toes. I went through a decade-long phase of always making sure to do that in every photo. Also went through a decade-long phase of always throwing a West side gang sign in photos. I’m really that white. Sad.
Ah, there you are! You’re super incognito.
That guy flexing is quite funny. I wasn’t sure if he was posing, about to start breakdancing, or having a stroke.
Peace out, West Siiiiiiide… haha Now, who’s the whitest of them all?
I don’t know man. I’m pretty white. Freshman year of college my friend and I had a radio show where we acted like really over-the-top dorky white guys (He’d say “Whoomp,” and then I’d chime in after a long pause and say, “There it is.”) and played shit like this in the wee hours of the night, lol. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP–a03JnJU
haha. Okay, I stand corrected.
This is about the closest I got: https://youtu.be/I1L8l3LrzLA
Haha. No one understands white people as well as Mike Judge! BTW, I literally watched this movie on Tuesday.
Thanks for your reply Matt. The photo you shared is quite telling. All of them are lean. Could it be $, physical activity, altitude or all 3? Who knows, but I do know the average high schooler throughout the US has gotten a lot fatter than in the photo you shared. What’s interesting is as you know walking around at altitude is sort of a low level form of LISS cardio, especially for those not acclimated to altitude. We simply up our respiration and burn more calories at altitude – even at rest. On pubmed there is research showing altitude increases thyroid and progesterone levels. I’ll have to dig it up and post here. I share all this because it is another variable to consider in the longevity equation, rather than the reductionist thinking of diet alone being the primary driver.
I’m not totally buying that there is some wild hormonal explanation for all of it though, or that it’s even a major factor. There were only two chubby kids in my graduating class. One didn’t ski or do any physical activity and was the valedictorian of our class. The other used to brag about being able to drink an entire 2-liter of soda at one sitting. No one else sat around drinking soda like that. Regardless, here is more observational GOLD for you. Found this searching around, the 2019 Aspen High School graduation ceremony. Out of about 100 kids, there are 2-3 slightly chubby girls (hard to tell if they are actually fat or just have big booties in the gowns), and of the boys only the very last boy is overweight. The rest? Holy shit they are thin AF. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfTQK_GBsbA
They are looking kinda tall, but hard to say their actual heights.
But suffice it to say, they look NOTHING like a typical American graduating class. Unreal.
https://www.functionalps.com/blog/2012/08/28/protective-altitude/
Here is a summary of altitude and mortality on Rob Turner’s site. A lot of research is discussed showing how altitude is strongly associated with reductions in incidences of disease and all cause mortality. Acute hypoxia tends to lower thyroid, testosterone, and progesterone, but in altitude adapted people these hormones tend to be higher while stress hormones cortisol, ACTH, norepinepherine tend to be lower. Perhaps altitude is a kind of hermetic stress, whereby once adapted you are more resilient.
https://www.studyfinds.org/human-body-temperature-in-the-u-s-has-decreased-over-time-study-finds/
This will have you rolling on the floor laughing. Or maybe crying. At least a few of the comments at the bottom were written by sentient beingsđ
Matt- and I bet they eat their vegetables and high Vitamin A foods as well…
That reminds me of these dummy researchers who compared rich people who ate the Mediterranean diet with other cohorts who lived nearby. The rich people lived longer. The researchers concluded that the richer people were able to buy more expensive wine than their poorer counterparts.
NO MENTION of the stress level of living as a poor person! https://www.stresseatingsolutions.com/researchers-are-morons/
There are variables that are never even considered and not included in research design. There’s no way to do a clean, unbiased study in a lab, or even just epidemiological comparisons.
Yeah, vegetables always get all the damn credit.
Matt, I have a question. Iâve read in several of your books that we should try to increase body temperature by eating more food, more frequentlyâ even past the point of fullnessâ and by taking a break from all forms of exercise. But as Iâve been reading elsewhere about leptin resistance, something that I keep coming across is that 1) moderate exercise increases leptin sensitivity/decreases leptin resistance, and 2) eating frequent meals/eating past the point of fullness can cause or worsen leptin resistance. Are you certain the recommendations in your books arenât creating a situation where people increase their leptin levels, but then end up in a state of leptin resistance that they otherwise wouldnât need to be in if they just exercised moderately and ate three square meals a day, only to fullness, from the very beginning of their recovery?
Pretty sure, yeah. But I do think one should rely on creating an intentional calorie surplus to increase metabolism as little as possible. Much better to reduce stress and get more sleep, improve your finances, find some hobbies, eliminate macronutrient restriction, reduce water intake, etc. before spending an extended period of time laying around in bed eating.
Still on the âraise your metabolismâ tip I see. Oh how long itâs been Mr. Stone. Well, as good as it is to hear from you, the bitterness in your tone is a bit revealing. Yes, height and altitude and exercise all play roles in longevity, but of course diet does as well. Since you canât get shorter, itâs a pointless distinction to make, and so its a better use of time to find the variables that you can control that make a difference. Saying that one has no control over their longevity in one breath, and then saying exercise and altitude impact it, and then saying diet definitely doesnât, its all bullshit. Diet plays a role. End of story. Stop trying to be contrarian against a group of people who actually want to improve themselves. A guy wrote a book about eating healthier. What an asshole, right?!?! Grow up bruh. Its been like fkin 15 years now.
Yes, a total asshole. Writing a book giving explicit advice (which is also tedious and expensive and lowers quality of life in a multitude of ways) is very uncool, especially when it’s based on people who actually have a shorter lifespan on average when you adjust for height. Ultimately it’s like seeing that toy poodles live longer than Bull Mastiffs, and then telling the Mastiffs to eat and do what the toy poodles do to live a longer life. It’s not going to work. A Bull Mastiff can’t sit on its owner’s lap like a toy poodle and expect life expansion from it. This is literally the line of reasoning that this blue zones nonsense was built upon. It’s taking people who are long-lived (because they are short), and then trying to study their habits for hopes that these habits have something to do with their longevity. In most cases, they don’t.
living in colorado and having raised 4 kids and having multiple patients from all the major ski towns: there is some significant selection bias in terms of longevity. ski and mountain towns tend to be expensive and the only real reason to live there given the extra cost is to enjoy the outdoor activities and enjoy them a lot. that means making your kids do outdoor stuff so you can. also, its one thing to live in a mountain town when you are young. but if you are living there when you are older you probably have some reasonable income, good health insurance and want to spend a bunch of time exercising outdoors. if you have significant health problems you are are unlikely to retire to aspen. money and access to healthcare, exercise, good air, low crime, lead to increased longevity on average. the altitude may have some physiological effects but these other items have been shown repeatedly to be helpful. lastly, these communities have a fair amount of peer pressure re: health and fitness for better or worse. i don’t see too many 55 yo pringle bingers. no offense to pringle bingers.
Hello, Mr. Stone:
Thank you for this refreshing article.
I researched this Blue Zone concept which intrigued me.
But after reading Sally Fallon’s article,
I was shocked to find that Dan Buettner was “misrepresenting”
his findings, and how! The cojones on that guy!
My Southern European parents consumed cornbread, meat, dairy
and vegetables and are hearty people who rarely get sick.
So they would disagree with this BZ stuff, especially the plant part!
I emailed the website, asking why isn’t Monaco on their list since
their life expectancy is 90. She said it only pertains to the Blue Zones. ;)
Anyway, I’ve long suspected height being the main factor of longevity,
but why do you think affluence is also a factor?
Not to generalize, but rich people eat junk because they can afford to.
And poor people don’t because they can’t.
So, many grow their own food and are healthier as a result.
Hi Matt,
I have severe asthma ,too, allergies , etc. I love mountains (cold weather too) and hike for at the very least 10 miles . . I also lived in *Florida- Miami and St Augustine. Florida is great for beaches.