Me:? It’s a W, for Weston
Debbie:? You mean like the Westin hotel? ?(we were staying at the Sheraton by the way)
Me and Masterjohn:? No (conveyed loudly, with large inflection in our voices, and in creative language)
I just finished up with the 2011 Wise Traditions Conference, the annual conference of the Weston A. Price Foundation. I finally did my talk yesterday in the biggest ballroom, which was pretty flippin? full ? somewhere in the neighborhood of 350 people in there I would say. Having to wait all weekend to give my talk was tough. I felt like they were ?icing the kicker? as they say in American football, and interestingly, my kickers were quite icy. So were my hands.
I think of acute and chronic stresses alike as being the trigger for these icy hands and feet (like getting nervous for a wedding ? or having ?cold feet?) ? activating the adrenals and slurping up all the warm blood from the extremities. I’ve felt cold hands and feet at various points throughout my life and on various diets and things, but this weekend was quite interesting. As a conference presenter newbie, and never doing any public talking to a group larger than 22, and with the stress of just appearing in public? from the moment I walked into the conference my hands were icy cold. This was no problem prior to Thursday. I was fiery hot then.
What I found most remarkable was that my hands stayed icy cold all weekend. Like, constantly. And I had no appetite ? sort of a dull nausea. I was quite self-conscious about it actually. I’m supposed to be that warm guy who eats a lot, and I was shaking hands with tons of people and nibbling at the food I was served.
But then something quite amazing happened. Towards the end of my talk, just prior to switching over to taking questions (the home stretch), I felt a huge physiological shift occur. Suddenly I felt hot and my fingers were practically burning. My hands got raging hot and stayed that way, and are still fiery hot a day later. My palms and fingers have a pinkish-orange hue from all the circulating blood.
In additionI felt very tired and started noticing aches and pains in my body. My appetite returned and I woofed down a plate of French toast at lunch and couldn’t seem to get last night’s dinner into my mouth fast enough. My throat felt scratchy like a sore throat was coming on. Basically, my body was letting go and winding down, converting over from a stressful sympathetic-dominant state to a parasympathetic-dominant healing state.
Anyway, I write all this because it was remarkable how influential my mind was over my physiology. The power that our thoughts have over our physical bodies is something that is nebulous and poorly understood because it cannot be explained clearly or studied with the same exactitude of say, substances (like medications). ?
But our minds are incredibly powerful. Our thoughts exert a far-reaching influence over our biochemistry. Likewise, our physical bodies exert a powerful influence over our thoughts and how we perceive things. It’s a two-way street. You can improve your health by improving your thoughts and attitudes. And you can improve your thoughts and attitudes by improving your health.
If you suffer from cold hands and feet it is primarily due to an excess secretion of catabolic hormones unopposed by anabolic hormones. In more simple terms, you are pumping out the adrenaline.
Being in an unfamiliar and daunting situation can put you in this state. But that’s not the only way to arrive at such a place. Of course my focus over the years has been overexercising and dieting ? (vegan, low-carb, low-fat, calorie restriction, other forms of restrained eating), as these are surefire ways to get there. But you can get there by an infinite number of pathways ? from sleep loss to emotional trauma to chronic inflammation to lacking glucose at a cellular level. While the adrenaline may be the universal cause, every set of cold hands has its own unique trigger.
The best way to address it is to have a de-stressing diet (eating to fullness, no macronutrient restriction), exercise program, sleep schedule, and lifestyle. Something that feels like a vacation, at least until you get those hands and feet to warm up.
If you need some short-term relief, have just a little bit of something sugary (fruit, juice, dried fruit) and don’t drink too much plain water. Interestingly, in the high adrenaline state your mouth often gets very dry (as mine was during my talk ? and if you ever have a chance to watch the whole thing you will laugh at how much I gravitate towards my cup of water behind the podium). This can really get you into trouble, as the more water you drink the more you dilute the sugar in your system, and the more ?hypoglycemic? you become. ???
Or, even better ? have a couple of tablespoons of Granpa’s old cough medicine (alcohol).
Anyway, here are a few video clips taken by Debina Haguilera (Lady Haga, Grassfed Momma, etc.)?of my talk. The talk was certainly not as good as it could have been, but it was a great start. Sorry you guys weren’t there to see the talk, or to see Rob A. crumping like nobody’s business.
Oh, and apologies for all the emails that I couldn’t respond to from those who entered something into the “contact” form on the site. Functionality issue there. Should be fixed now. Please try again.
Haha first again! It’s only because I’m your most dedicated stalker (or bored and need something new to read). Ok, I guess I’d better actually read what you wrote now.
I just hope that the emotional trauma of having to be around me for three days was not the cause of your frozen digits. :-) It was super fun to have you around. A gal could get used to that. You did good Mattie. Chicks dig ya and the guys want to be ya. What more could you ask for?
I think I have a few more videos, I need to screen them and will add them to youtube asap.
Love you long time
The Frozen Haggis xoxooxoxoxoxxoo
Haggie, finally meeting you and hanging out with you at long last was like having an ice cold Beet Kvass after a long walk through the Gobi dessert. Refreshing. With a sour aftertaste after I finished drinking. See you in January Mother from another brother.
“chicks dig ya and guys want to be ya. what more could you ask for?”
wow, that was the most shallow thing i’ve read on this blog so far.
That’s a subtle Austin Powers reference hero.
oh jeez, come on, did you lose your sense of humor somewhere?
um, thanks? Sour aftertastes are my specialty. See ya in January son from another mom.
I know, it does not really rhyme. Westin? hahaahahha I am clueless sometimes.
:=) xoxoxoxoooooxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxo deb
Hey Matt,
Your talk was awesome, and if you were nervous at all, it didn’t show. As I haven’t followed your work, I have a lot of catch up reading to do – but looking forward to it.
All the best,
…Tim
Haha. Thanks Tim. It is pretty funny in the first video clip though. I look like I’m slow-dancing with an imaginary woman. My mom was like, “I could tell you were nervous.” Mama knows me best!
Man I wish I could have been there instead of freezing my buns off in Canada. Haha.
Aw, wish I could have been there Mattie!
Hey, you guys were all there with me in a way. I really do love all the time we’ve all spent together here over the years (and outside of the site as well in your case Gazelle!). You guys mean a lot more to me than I let on :)
Matt,
See… I was right. Had no doubt :)
Funny you mentioned it, I noticed the dancing too ;)
And now I’m really hating that I wasn’t there… I would have loved to have met your mommy. Didn’t know she was there.
You did great! Good to see some clips. Look forward to seeing the whole thing.
Deb,
Thanks for sharing your videos!! And you look absolutely beautiful! :) Hate that I didn’t get to meet ya.
Aw shucks, thanks. I try to keep the love alive. I was the only mom there to see Matt, I think he means his real mom saw the video. :-) It was really cool to see Matt in 3 D and get some hugs in.
deb
Yeah, that occurred to me (after I posted that lol) that that may have been the case – that she said it after seeing the video :)
Rob crumping??!
And no one got it on video?
Hmmm. so what is crumping?
This ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gao5Cxb5te4
Thanks! Never knew there was a name for it!
Lorelei,
Strange that your reply to Limey came through the comments feed but Limey’s didn’t. I came back to reply to you and saw that Limey beat me to it lol! Great vid, Limey! :)
Looks like comments that get held for moderation don’t always make it through the comments feed for some reason??
Anyway, here’s what I was gonna post for ya, Lorelei…
Crumping aka Krumping
http://youtu.be/TkDqDrDPDRw
And you gotta see this 6 year old!
http://youtu.be/-grHI4dk4-g
P.S. Ellen Rocks!!
Awesome, great that you were on stage at a WAP event. Would loved to have been there.
“our minds are incredibly powerful. Our thoughts exert a far-reaching influence over our biochemistry. Likewise, our physical bodies exert a powerful influence over our thoughts and how we perceive things. It’s a two-way street. You can improve your health by improving your thoughts and attitudes. And you can improve your thoughts and attitudes by improving your health.” -Matt
Sooo true.
And that’s what I (try to) tell people – when they ask me. Many just look at me like I’m nuts lol. Funny though how it’s always after they JUST asked me what my secret is. But then they don’t believe me when I tell them. If I said I was taking a pill, they would believe me. And they think that I’m the one who’s nuts lol! :)
?our minds are incredibly powerful. Our thoughts exert a far-reaching influence over our biochemistry. Likewise, our physical bodies exert a powerful influence over our thoughts and how we perceive things. It’s a two-way street. You can improve your health by improving your thoughts and attitudes. And you can improve your thoughts and attitudes by improving your health. -Matt
AWEEEEESOME
Go Matt! So excited and happy for you (I’m a supportive mom also, just not yours. I believe you’re a year older than I am). I’d have been vomiting at (the prospect of talking to) 350 people. It would have been slightly more than cold hands; more like a catatonic state. Or nervous giggle-scream. Anyway, go Matt!
Fight or flight in full effect. You should work with one of us Buteyko Educators! You could have had warm hands all weekend :) .
Since the body tends to be smart, I wonder why low sugar gives you a dry mouth, since it’s apparently a downward spiral.
I would be interested in more about the whole sympathetic/parasympathetic nervous system dominance. I know you’ve talked about it before, but I don’t remember much (and it’s hard to search this new site for old posts…).
Anyhow, I kick in to sympathetic way too easily, and then letdown is very hard on my body. Like my car beeped unexpectedly while I was driving tonight (low wiper fluid – really not important) but since it was unexpected and I couldn’t figure out at first, in the dark and the rain, why my car was beeping at me, I felt like I was having a heart attack. Then come the symptoms of letdown – shakiness, nausea, exhaustion. Sugar cravings. Over a beep beep beep. Seriously. I need to overcome that. And since my attention span is now lacking, a real simple answer would be good! I know it has to do with “weak” adrenals.
I have a very similar reaction to acute stress, except that instead of cold hands and feet I start to get acne. Twice in the past few months I have done some very stressful travelling: once was an all day car ride and the other was an overnight flight on which I was unable to get any sleep. Both times I got a few acne heads on my face the next day. I normally have very clear skin and a few days afterwards I was back to normal.
This is exactly what high serotonin feels like. Harm-avoidance adaptations in the face of inescapable stress, Dirty South Chorea dancing caused by blocked dopamine. Have you noticed very active bowel sounds?
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0733861905703704
Ove the past few weeks I’ve moved from strict RBTI to intuitive RBTI. I’m still following many of the big “rules” but have taken some things out like the lemonade and the fruit during the midday crashes. Fruit makes me feel worse everytime I eat it in the middle of the day. I may just be overly sensitive to fructose. I do great with it in the morning, but in the middle of the day it will either help to precipitate hypoglycemia or, if I am already hypoglycemic, it will make it worse. It almost seems more like an allergic reaction rather, because it happens extremely quickly after only even one bite. If I do have a stress response from falling sugars, I do much better by just eating some starch and protein.
Since I stopped following all the “rules”, which I knew wasn’t going to last very long because at some point along the food journey one realizes that nobody can know whats best for me except me, I have made great progress. No more debilitating crashes.
So the “eat some fruit when your sugar crashes” may be helpful to many folks but may also do more harm than good.
Luke, thanks for sharing your experience with RBTI… I agree that sometimes being strict causes more stress and not all of us need to follow the same rules. And maybe even for one person the rules we follow should be different depending on what our bodies are doing. Like for me, the lemonade (although tedious) helps a lot. But eating sea salt seems to have no effect on my numbers (so now I don’t worry about that).
Have you tried eating a date or some coconut (not sweetened) when your sugars go low? I have had low sugars but I’m not a huge fan of dessert, and like you eating fruit in the middle of the day makes me feel weird. But if I eat one medjool date (large) for dessert, or a half of one when my sugars drop, I can tolerate that really well.
I haven’t tried dates or coconut, but I think I could probably handle those pretty well. I’ll give it a try.
As for rules… my experience with any kind of rules is that although they might be helpful initially they can be harmful if I try to cling to them. I really can’t think of a single thing that would be 100% true all the time for everybody. Rules are the mind’s way of trying to feel certain. We are all different, and on an individual level we are different at every moment, constantly changing.
Totally agree. If I’m having a stressed out moment, having sugar is about the worst thing I could do to my body. I had the same experience following the RBTI rules, and realized starch and protein were better. (Unfortunately, it was too late at that point and I’d already screwed stuff up in my body.) I had an incredibly stressful summer, most stressful of my life, and sugar only made it worse, at least the RBTI way of doing it. I think it was the combination of those factors that made me so sick.
I’m doing accupuncture/tcm now, and the doc specifically told me to avoid sweets. For some body conditions (mine, apparently) it’s not helpful. So, I’m back to a very minimal sugar diet, and am drinking a lot of water again and while I’m definitely not recovered yet, I’m a lot closer than I was. But for me, the Rrarf diet is definitely the most healing, and I’m back to it again.
Agree with you on the mind-body connection, too. Stress is a really powerful thing and it’s amazing what something like moving to a life that you really want to be living can do. That was the absolute biggest factor in overcoming my ED – facing up to my inner issues and learning to love myself and move my life the way I wanted. Still an ongoing process.
Thanks for sharing that Amy. Self love is key.
Interestingly I find myself drinking relatively small amounts of water these days, and for me RRARF was one of the worst diet experiences of my life. Shows how different we all are.
That’s what I’ve moved into as well. It’s great. I’m thankful I have the luxury of getting away with eating all kinds of things without any immediate adverse reactions.
I will say that I used to have very strong and immediate negative reactions to fruit as well. Like instant wheezing as if I were allergic to it. That is gone now. So perhaps this may change for you over time as well. I hope it does. I do feel like a bite of fruit is a better way to deal with falling sugars. Eating protein will prevent a sugar crash, but only because it stimulates the release of glucagon, which in turn liberates a bunch of borrowed sugar from the system. That’s why I think the standard hypoglycemia control diets, high in protein with only moderate levels of starchy carbs can cause a slow, steady decline over time. But who knows.
I definitely am not high-protein. I just have found starch to be easier on the system than straight sugar. I still have fruit and it’s fine, but when my BS is really low starch seems to be a more gentle way to bring it up (esp if I have some protein with the starch). But I’m high-starch, moderate-low protein, moderate-lowish fat at the moment.
Food sensitivities and “allergies” are subject to change at any minute. A few years ago I could eat fruit and dairy with no problems, but now I’m sensitive to them. I’m sure I’ll be able to eat them without problems at some point. My goal is to be able to eat and digest any real food that I want in a reasonable quantity.
As for the protein, yeah, straight meat during a crash would probably kill me, but it seems it might be helpful to include a small amount of protein with the carbs that I’m eating at the time. But I’m still experimenting…
The greatest thing I got from RBTI was a deeper connection to my body’s signals. The refractometer is an amazing tool, especially in the beginning.
RBTI is definitely an incredible guide for getting to know the body’s signals. That has been one of the great blessings of it for me personally as well. I have become hyperaware. The refractometer is definitely the crown jewel of the program, and I hope to start working on a project specific to it for general use soon. People need to know about that thing.
Luke, could it be possible that you’ve been eating too much fruit when your sugar is low? I eat four raisins when that happens. That’s not a whole lot, really, and I don’t notice any effect (neither positive nor negative.)
I think people are knocking the RBTI too quickly now. Seems like it’s getting in fashion since it turns out not to be the quick fix many have hoped it to be? But did anyone ever really claim it was? As I understand it, the RBTI guidelines are there to make your body’s work as easy as possible in order to enable it to heal. That healing takes time. Much more time than we’d like, I guess.
Yes, having not only a small amount of sugar but sugar without liquid seems to be the most effective. I recommend a single Medjool date as being the ultimate. A bite or several bites of a big juicy apple can sometimes have more of the effect of taking in more water, not sugar.
People should not worship RBTI, but to dismiss it and discredit it is very foolish. You can’t spend much time with RBTI before you realize that it has a large sack full of jewels. Kind of like that sack at the end of The Goonies.
I was following the rules of eating a single bite of fruit. I seem to be much better off by adjusting my fluids to prevent a crash in the first place.
I think “intuitive RBTI” is the way to go. I think you need to have some sense of what your body is asking for. It’s harder to get that full mental awareness and figure out how exactly RBTI may be helping you. I’ve definitely broken down a lot of my concepts around food, even after starting RBTI. Trying to be strict about rules is definitely something that does not sit well with my personality.
Great point on the two way street of mind-body stress. Trying to improve my health by only focusing on food, exercise, and other lifestyle practices was futile when I was using it to distract me from the things in my life that were demanding to be looked at. A job that you hate can ruin your health even when you are doing all the “right” things. I’ve been there. And in such a situation, it’s likely that the “right” things aren’t right for you at all; it’s just a bunch of good ideas that were passed down to you from one some supposed authority and never tested in the laboratory of your own body.
Great article, Matt! This is the most freeing information out there, but is also the hardest to process. My depression, anxiety, sugar crashes, paranoia, fuzzy-headedness, irritability and overwhelming cravings to eat constantly have all gotten much much better. I’ve also spontaneously lost 10 pounds in the last couple of months. My husband and I also keep wondering if I have a fever. At least 3x a week my head feels on fire, and so does the rest of my body, but no fever on thermometer. Sweet!
It’s hard to know exactly what helped most. It was around this time that I started doing RBTI, but it was also around this time that I was able to pinpoint and deal with the exact emotional triggers that make me feel so incredibly weak and overwhelmed. For me, it’s a chicken and egg problem.
Either way, I’d never had made an inch of progress without you! I’m so thankful for the work you’ve done and your kindness to your readers.
Yeah, I don’t do that well with chicken or eggs either. Haha, I made a funny.
Thanks Kelly! Glad to hear our conversation paid off and got you on the right track.
Matt I know you’re talking specifically about cold hands and feet here, but have you ever experienced an all-over chronic coldness? I have that cold hands and feet thing, and I do the zest tonic thing etc (have been doing RBTI for a few months through Pippa), but I still can’t stop being cold all the time. Like it’s almost summer and unless I’m moving about, I need to wrap up in sweaters and blankets! Especially at night, even though my sugar’s higher then – and I often wake in the very early morn shivering. Is that the same root cause, do you think? I’m wondering if it’s just a super-low metabolism from years of starving & diets; my hair and fingernails grow at a snail’s pace too, and my waking temp is always well under ideal… would appreciate any thoughts you have on that if you have the time :)
on overall coldness along with white numb fingers and toes.. the worst case I had was when I was underweight/underfat due to raw veganism. Are you super skinny? Could be bad circulation as well I suppose.
I have to ditto that – I was always freezing when I ate raw or low carb. But boy was I skinny! It took several months of ETF Stone style to have a normal temp.
That definitely sounds like a metabolism issue. RBTI is somewhat helpful in the short-term but it’s not necessarily a solution, because it doesn’t always help stimulate people’s bodies to jump out of that rut. I would think applying some “eat the food” attitudes to some of the basic RBTI principles would be a good approach. Although it can be tough because RBTI can really kill your appetite if you eat light at night.
I did 2 months of RRARFing before I started RBTI; 40lb later I’m definitely not underweight!! I’m afraid that if I increase my intake of food, especially at night, I’ll put on even more weight which as far as my mental health goes is the last thing I need! But I certainly can make sure I eat a good breakfast and lunch, I could probably increase breakfast, I’ve been having only a piece of fruit and some milk. Dammit I was really wishing there’d be some little trick you had up your sleeve… I guess I’ll just keep on hoping my body heals itself with time and good food, thanks for your input everyone :)
P.s. Matt I also meant to say congratulations on managing to talk in front of 350 people without any obvious freak-out, looks like you did a great job up there – your blog etc has a been a real source of help and comfort to me over the last 6 months, I’m hoping one day I’ll be able to write you a kick-arse testimonial of how you led me back to a happy and healthy body and mind!
Sam D
Sam D-
In my experience thus far, you can get all the pro-metabolic effects by eating big for breakfast and lunch and then going light on dinner, which makes it very difficult to gain significant amounts of weight. I have lost over 20 pounds now with no adverse symptoms. Digestion is even faster than before, mood is solid, hands and feet are warm when I’m not about to talk in front of a large audience, sex drive is fully intact, and body temps. are in the 98+ category most of the time. Hang on buckaroo! I will lead us all home!
3 words in this comment stand out for me…”mood is solid” because since starting RBTI 6 weeks ago my mood has tanked. Following most of the rules, although I do sometimes feel like I’m back in dietary prison am consistently doing big lunch, med breakfast, light dinner-no meats/sweets/fruit. Did RRARF a year ago – got temps up to/are usually 98+ (except during ovulation or my period…whichever it is, then temp is around 97.5) and hands/feet/everything are always warm (gained a bunch of weight but am even at peace w/that because I trust my body to let go of the weight once it trusts me not to starve or overexercise it anymore) and my moods had leveled out amazingly-hasn’t been the case since before I was a teen.
But now, and almost immediately since starting RBTI my mood is in the toilet…depression and irritability. So I guess my question is – is this just something I have to ride out or is there something I’m missing or could do for this? Thanks for all the help!
amen to that – I’ll hang in there alright, your support is muchly appreciated :)
Same thing happened to me Carla (along with all the other effects). I’m back to my normal self, finally. I really don’t think RBTI (at DIY version) is for everyone.
Try a beta-blocker next time before the talk!
Hey Matt, I saw your lecture and thought you were awesome! Not only that but it was funny and one of the more memorable ones there. Nothing like good solid information delivered by a pseudo smart ass! Great job!
omg! im soo jealous, these are the three people I most wanted to hang with!- you guys look like the bunch of bamfs you are! newayz, to digress, videos of your speech are included!!!!! this is like a dream come true, thanks a ton! im blown away- you guys are amazing. And, not to keep saying this or anything but, what a fantastic article, Matt!!! …your writing addiction is getting BAD!!!!
Matt, have you ever seriously looked into Buteyko? Recently I’ve found this normalbreathing website. Despite its style, it has tons of valuable info. For instance, I can easily make my hands and feet become warm by reduced breathing now. Works like clockwork. I think whether someone uses reduced or deep breathing might actually answer why people react differently to exercise, e.g. why some people lose weight when they jog while others gain. Heck, it might answer the whole metabolism question – how can I eat less and still maintain a high metabolism.
Not much. I’m captivated by the idea but it’s not something I’ve practiced personally. I was always more impressed with hypermetabolic hyperventilating small dogs, and wanted to be like them. I wonder how much is the breathing itself and how much is just focusing on the breathing, which causes relaxation and the adrenals to stop f’ing with the circulation to the hands and feet.
Relaxation is definitely a decisive part of it. However, I’ve tried mechanical breathing stuff for years, and I’ve done relaxation exercises as well. Somehow this didn’t do all too much for me, but using relaxation as a central part of the breathing exercise itself seems to give me much better results. A bit too early to claim success, though.
Reminds me of the classic Seinfeld bit about how people are more afraid of public speaking than dying: “So that means that, at a funeral, most people would rather be in the coffin than delivering the eulogy!”
I give a you a ton of credit for going to that event and meeting all those people ? I wouldn’t be able to do it. I mean, I wanted to be anonymous just to make blog comments! And I know what it’s like to be self-conscious about hand-shakes ? offering a cold, sweaty handshake to some one your meeting for the first time is the worst.
Cold hands and feet was one of the reasons I assumed that I was a low sugar / “hypoglycemic” type and applied the low sugar RBTI rules even though I didn’t have a kit or consultation. I have been doing that for several weeks, but I finally got a refractometer just yesterday and my Brix number was 7! Woops. I don’t even know if I was starting with high or low sugars. I guess I’ll quit the juice instead of water and the lunch dessert thing now.
I guess I should probably stop trying to hack RBTI without the kit or consultation. I have ph strips and a refractometer, but I’m not sure if I should do anything with this limited info anymore. Hmm…
Without a conductivity meter, I wouldn’t try to drink a lot of water even though your “brix” is 7. The refractometer will pick up your salts as well as your sugars in its reading (“brix”). So if you have high salts, your optimal sugar level at this time will not be 1.5-2. You’ll be able to see this b/c your “brix” might take nosedive from 3-3.5 all the way down to .3-.9 in less than 1 hour like mine did.
I’m a male 24 5’9″ 143lbs and I find that 4oz was too much water at one time when I was drinking it every 30min to get my salts & sugars down. 4oz once every hour was alright but I’ve since switched to 1/3rd cup every half hour since it seems to be more effective at lowering the “brix” and I haven’t had any problems with my “brix” going too low. I’ve also tried to avoid stressful situations, so I no longer hunt Chupacabras…
Depending on your body, you might have to play around with the amount of water you drink. Without knowing your salts, it’s probably better to steer toward drinking not enough vs too much plain water; especially if you are hypoglycemic.
You should definitely get a conductivity meter to test your salts. Only then will you start to get a better understanding of the “brix” and your optimal level. Here’s a link to a chart that shows you how much to subtract from your “brix” based on your “salts” to find what your “sugars” are really at. Seems to be fairly accurate, at least for me it is.
http://brixman.com/REAMS/images/beddoechartreducedsize.jpg
I’m still new to RBTI and my advice is based off of my experience only. NEVER forget to use common sense. If you start experiencing frequent low sugar symptoms, reevaluate what you are doing. When it comes to the diet and health sphere, people sometimes forget that. You’ll get Raw Vegans who think they are on the best diet ever yet their teeth are rotting out. Or low carb Paleos that have lost their sex drive amongst other things.
On a side note…
Besides taking shots of B-12 in his ass, maybe Durianrider is doing ok b/c he might unknowingly be eating a bunch of high brix fruits and veggies over there in Austrailia, Thailand or wherever he’s at. If he’s not lying about his diet, RBTI might explain why he’s doing ok. Only time will tell…
Wow Matt. I had no idea you were feeling nervous or having cold hands or feet throughout the conference. The whole fear of speaking in front of large groups in other people doesn’t even register on my radar. I guess I just figure people like you are already used to such a big audience.
How’re you feeling after the conference? Do you feel like you got what you wanted out of it? I had a great time hanging out with you and Rob A and I enjoyed meeting Debbie and Chris Masterjohn.
Not like panicked nervous or butterflies in the stomach nervous – just keyed up. Like how someone might feel with a big deadline coming up or an exam. I feel great now. Super relaxed, almost sleepy. Warm and hungry. Missin’ all you dudes though. It was really fun hanging out with everyone in “3D” as Debbie says.
I knew Matt was nervous when he asked for a hug about two seconds before he was going on…but the rest of the time no….where is Rob A? Where is Pippi Longstocking? and Jonathon? Chris M is super funny, loved his dissection of the movie “Men at Work”. Ya had to be there. Great to hang with you Aaron. In 3D. :-)
When did he dissect the movie Men at Work? Damnit, did I miss something funny? Does anybody have Chris M’s mailing address? I’m going to mail him my copy of The Cholesterol Wars so he can autograph it.
Aww shit, he might be reading this.
His blow by blow of Men at Work happened while in line for the Mercola dinner dealie. email him on facebook or via The Daily Lipid. He is a very nice guy, I am sure he will honor your request.
All this talk of 1 date being the right amount of sugar for a pick up has me wondering, has anyone tried 1 fig? Figs are supposed to be super high in sugar so it kinda sounds reasonable, plus they taste so much better. :)
Just curious.
Sam D,
In my experience thus far, you can get all the pro-metabolic effects by eating big for breakfast, big for lunch and big for dinner, which makes it very difficult to gain significant amounts of weight if you are eating the right foods. Digestion is fast, mood is solid, hands and feet are warm, sex drive is fully intact, and body temps. are in the 98+ category most of the time.
Haha, I liked the intro. The more you learn, the less you “know”.
“An education isn’t how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It’s being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don’t.”
–Anatole France, French novelist (1844 – 1924)
Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace
“The point is that lobsters are basically giant sea-insects. Like most arthropods, they date from the Jurassic period, biologically so much older than mammalia that they might as well be from another planet.
…
And it’s true that they are garbagemen of the sea, eaters of dead stuff, although they’ll also eat some live shellfish, certain kinds of injured fish, and sometimes each other.
…
But they are themselves good eating. Or so we think now. Up until sometime in the 1800s, though, lobster was literally low-class food, eaten only by the poor and institutionalized. Even in the harsh penal environment of early America, some colonies had laws against feeding lobsters to inmates more than once a week because it was thought to be cruel and unusual, like making people eat rats.
One reason for their low status was how plentiful lobsters were in old New England. ?Unbelievable abundance? is how one source describes the situation, including accounts of Plymouth pilgrims wading out and capturing all they wanted by hand, and of early Boston’s seashore being littered with lobsters after hard storms’these latter were treated as a smelly nuisance and ground up for fertilizer.”
http://www.gourmet.com/magazine/2000s/2004/08/consider_the_lobster?printable=true
Hey Kids! I moved my blog to wordpress including all my grass fed momma content. If you can check out it that would be keen. http://www.grassfedmomma.com. More posts coming including the whole story of Wise Tradtions and the Stone gang. :-) xo haggatha
Deb,
Good stuff! And I look forward to your upcoming goodies from your WTC trip – especially about the Stone gang, of course. But I just had to say… how cute is your daughter?! Adorable! And that’s such a sweet picture of the four of you together. Y’all look really happy! :)
Thanks so much Special C! I have written the post on Wise Tradtions, about half way that is.. need to get to it.. but the sun is out and I need to get to the ocean!
The Stone Gang was super chill.. we had a blast but it went way too fast :-(
I will post here when it is up and ready to go!
xooxx deb xoxoxo
PS My daughter is mostly looking like her grandma Young .. but getting tall like my family.. that is everyone ELSE in my family not short ol me. :-)
Deb,
Yep, some things are just more important – like sunshine and the ocean! Enjoy! Wish I was too. BTW, am I remembering correctly that you’re in Pasadena? That’s where I was born and partly raised :)
If I don’t get a chance to say it on Thursday…
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!
P.S. I can definitely see some of you in your daughter :)
Hi everybody!
(Hi Dr. Nick!… hahah)
Been in the Texas outback after the conference, and just now returning to the comments.
Good to meet you cool cats- Aaron, Debbie, Chris and of course Mateo and Pippa once again. Highlight of the season for me.
Corena and friends- it’s true, I was krumping, just a pinch. One more video for the files: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oddy9YoqO4 This is from Rize, the movie that got me amped up with the style. Check out the swagger on the little kid starting around 5:15.
sirch- I hear oysters used to be similarly abundant and were considered a food of the working class.
Second the quoted comment about the interplay between thoughts and physical symptoms. certainly does seem to go both ways.
W00t w00t!
Rob A: I have to share your skills at the plate. You had every plate and bowl (remember that chicken rice soup??) FILLED and you ate it all, nearly every meal. Give that man a prize, it was stupendous.
Great to hang with you, you are a very cool dude indeed.
WOOOOT!
deb xoxo the hag xoxo
He killed off my oatmeal too. The one I took too much of and dumped too much maple syrup on. Maybe it’s why he’s such a bright, happy person.
And he is certainly lean, as are you Aaron! Jonathon was a hearty eater too. :)
I am too darn picky to eat like that.. and I get full really easily. Not sure why.
Haha- to my credit, I barely had much dinner for Dr M’s talk. RBTI meal scheduling, for the win!
Rob A! My post on Wise Traditions is up, go check it out! Hint: You can find a pic of you there.. and much more! http://grassfedmomma.com/?p=45
xo deb
all this IRL stuff is makin me jelis.
Hans:
You might find Asthma Free: Naturally by Patrick McKeown very helpful. A Buteyko practicioner who used to live in my town recommended it to me when I called her over a year ago and I’ve found it incredibly helpful. The normalbreathing website is fantastic but I have found that Asthma free: Naturally is extremely convenient in how it’s put together. I wouldn’t rush out to get it as the normalbreathing site pretty much explains everything, but it could be interesting to keep in mind.
http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/909277/689604b5a2/1457014779/76e047f08a/
There is the e-book, “Buteyko Meets Dr. Mew” You might also find this really fascinating.
What I’ve been doing is a routine McKeown recommends in Asthma Free: Naturally:
CP
Steps 3x
CP
Steps 3x
Mouse breathing 3-5 minutes
CP
You understand control pause, I assume, from the normalbreathing website. I’m not sure if it explains how to do ‘Steps’ so here’s how you do that. You gently let your breath out, like you would if you were going to do a control pause. Then you close your nostrils with your fingers and hold them shut, like you were doing a control pause. Now you just take as many steps as you can before you feel you need to breathe (I was holding my breath as long as I could sometimes, but I’ve found breathing when I feel the urge, like in the control pause, works the best). Take a rest for a minute or so, and repeat 2 more times.
Then you take your control pause. Your control pause should be increasing if you’re doing the exercises properly. If it’s decreasing, you should try not doing as many steps and not pushing yourself as hard, and focus on relaxing. Sometimes my control pause gets shorter and sometimes it stays the same so I still have work to do here.
Mouse breathing is really just reduced breathing for children. It’s the same thing. The visualization just helps because you can think of a mouse being hunted by a cat, and you want to make the least amount of noise possible, so you take small breaths and have quiet exhalations.
I do this routine twice a day: in the morning before breakfast, and in the evening before dinner. It should take about 20 minutes per session, so you’ll spend about 40 minutes a day in total on these exercises. McKeown says that any less than this will only create a temporary increase in carbon dioxide.
I climb telephone poles by day and throw roundhouse kicks by night. I know what you mean by stress triggers. I flipping hate climbing, not so much because of the height initially, but after I get up about 35 feet or so, I know that if I fall most likely I will be hurt bad or die. So, once I get down from the pole I have this amazing high. I feel like I just barely surviived and I’m able to live just a few more days. If I climb a few poles a day I am worn out by the end of the day from all the emotional ups and downs. Never cold digits though.
Hey Matt,
I thought your speech was excellent! (No powerpoint, Hurray!!). Since the conference I have been taking my temp in the morning like you said- still under the covers. So far I am not fit to join the Hot Chick’s Club, which makes me sad (average 97.5). I am strictly gluten-free, low sugar (no added sugars, low fruit intake). Any ideas??
Yes, I would strictly eat gluten and sugar – including fruit and added sugars.
I’ve gained even more perspective from you and I just found ya! Thanks! I think part of my problem with having cold hands and feet has to do with my muscles seizing up due to stress or my mind working too frantically. In that case my breathing also becomes more shallow.
On another note, I’ve studied many eating “regimes” and keep coming to the conclusion that above all, it’s mind over matter. The person doing everything right (whatever that is, really) and the guy who might not eat well at all but simply enjoys each bite, and enjoys life, and lives fairly moderately–to me they can be at equal health levels. Maybe that’s a bit blanket statement-ish, but I have to remind myself at times not too think too hard, the minutia is not where it’s at. Luckily I’m well past calorie restriction and all that, but sometimes I classify food too readily instead of enjoying it.
As I always say, “the perfect diet is very unhealthy.”
When your muscles are seizing, your breath is shallow, you are frantic and stressed, and your hands and feet are cold – you are in a high adrenaline state, also known as a sympathetic dominant state. Eating (especially carbohydrates), sleeping, and relaxing more keep you out of this state.
^^ That said, the nourishing foods movement makes more sense to me than anything else out there as far as I’ve read, and I generally practice it.
Hi Matt,
I am so glad that Wardeh @ GNOWFGLINS.com posted about you after being at the WAPF conference. I just read 180?Diabetes. I love that you’ve already read most of my reading list!!
Anyway, I never had cold hands and feet on a regular basis until I started taking Metformin. I’ve had a low morning temp for the past 16 years though. I want to just stop taking the Met and do the HED (since I don’t have a source for “real” milk), but I need to make sure I’m prepared for what changes may happen first since I am a Home-schooling mother of 5. Not much bed rest time. I’m also currently in search for a doctor since the last one suggested I exercise 45 minutes a day, eat artificial sweeteners and no fat! Not for me.
Do you think I can start converting to the HED and then reduce the Met intake? Or would staying on the med just negate my work at increasing my temp? I know that Metformin inhibits vitamin B absorption, but that’s about all I know about it. I was also on Januvia for a month and got off of that right away.
Thanks for the advice and sharing all you’ve studied!
Lydia
BTW you sounded good on the conference bits posted above.