If you missed my talk yesterday as part of the Paleo Summit, you’re in luck! For starters, as of midnight last night,?you can purchase all the recordings plus transcripts and other bonuses from the Paleo Summit. If you are at all interested, get it now by clicking HERE.? The price goes up after Sunday to like $99 I think (Warning! You are?about to enter the internet sales vortex!). I hear some of the other talks were really good. I suspect both Jaminet and Kruse were both pretty interesting, although I haven’t heard a word of anyone’s talk yet. Just remember to IgNora Gedgaudas haha!
Secondly, I just completed a written interview Q and A session with Hunter Copeland – a Johnny Lawrence-esque type of Alabama man (shown left) who comes at this from the viewpoint of a registered dietician starting to challenge his educational programming. It’s pretty interesting, and him and his bro do some great interviews with people like Drew Manning, Sally Fallon, and more on their podcast.
Anyway, I am making this great effort to draw your attention to this interview because I totally went off – writing several thousand words in response to his questions until 2am Monday night. And I think you guys will really like it. You can access the interview HERE. Plus, it’s white text on a black background. It feels like 180 Retro day.
In the first paragraph he uses “fixing to”. That’s enough right there to invite him into my trailer.
For about 5 minutes, I was almost a registered dietician as well. After looking at the 300 lb department head I just decided to stick with 180U.
Discriminating against fatties. Come on Lawrence. Why you gotta be such a jerk about everything? First you kick Daniel’s butt at the beach in front of some hottie and now this?
I hated to hear about Jimmy. After I beat him heads up in the SECCVHUSC (Southeastern Conference Church Volleyball Heads Up Spiking Championship) he was really down and out. He probably started binging on double chocolate Atkins bars again. What can I say though? I don’t know anything but: I’m the best around…nothing’s gonna ever keep ME down.
Johnny-
I resemble that remark!
Glad you enjoyed the interview (sarcasm intended). I think Matt’s answers outweigh any of my gramatical short comings.
Also, not all dietitians are bad, just most of them. I do remember a particular pHd level professor would come to class with a 1/2 liter of Mountain Dew and a pack of Twinkies to snack on while she lectured. Good times!
One question: What am I holding in my pic there? I vote for bowling ball and a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon. What else would I be carrying back to my trailor?
One last thing Johnny. I will not be coming over to your scary internet man trailor, but thanks for the invite.
Hunter –
To learn more about what you are holding and some of your virtues and values as an Alabama man, please view the following…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrimMyOoEDA
And if you are uncomfortable meeting Johnny at his trailer, I propose you guys meet over at Antoine Dodson’s place for an arm-wrestling match or something.
Damn that was funny! Why have I not seen that before?
I’m actually in Huntsville which is infested with engineers and other similar geeky people, so it’s a little different than the rest of Alabama. No, really it is. It’s also Antoine’s hometown. We got to laugh at his spot on the local news before it went viral. During his 15 minutes he could be found signing autographs outside of local bars.
I’m ready for the arm wrestling. Johnny better bring it. My bowling arm is strong.
No University of AL or Auburn University (he’d be a real loser then) shirt on? No gun? 4 wheel drive? Who the crap bowls anyway? It’s sad when you can’t get an accurate description of a redneck.
Yeah, Hunter is right, Huntsville might as well be New York.
Strange you say that Kruse was interesting. I see he’s being dissed all over. Part of it is because he is a terrible communicator… which leads me to an idea – could you maybe decode what he is saying what’s that is interesting?
I’ve browsed some of his stuff. I think he’s a smart dude. A tater hater that, like many, probably are confused about carbs and insulin (carbs do not raise blood sugar, insulin, cause insulin resistance, leptin resistance, etc.). But still brings some interesting things to the table. Especially stuff on circadian rhythms and stuff like that.
Johnny Lawrence is on here? Dang.
I shouldn’t have brought up anything about extreme weight-cutting and fighting tournaments in the other post. Next thing you know we’ll be looking at an epic LaRusso vs. Lawrence rematch at some long-forgotten Indian reservation casino.
Good stuff, Matt!
Have you read “Yoga of Eating” by Charles Eisenstein? I was reminded of it recently by something on your blog. Sounds like Intuitive Eating is similar, though I couldn’t say for sure since I’ve only read reviews of IE.
Part of this interview also reminded me of Eisenstein’s more recent work, which discusses the negative impact of how “artificial scarcity” pervades almost all areas of modern life, including, but not limited to, food.
I haven’t read it, but it sounds like I should.
I love The Yoga of Eating, have a copy of it somewhere. Eisenstein focuses almost entirely on psychological/spiritual issues with regards to eating, however.
Here’s a couple of sample chapters I dug up with the wayback machine:
http://web.archive.org/web/20080828031531/http://www.yogaofeating.com/chapter1.html
http://web.archive.org/web/20081021104457/http://www.yogaofeating.com/chapter11.html
Eisenstein has a more recent weight loss book, called “Transformational Weight Loss,” that you can read for free/donation online:
http://www.foodsanity.com/online.php
Dude- Charlie E is awesome! ‘Transformational Weight Loss’ has been mentioned here before, his follow up to ‘Yoga of Eating.’ I gave my copy away, or else I’d send it to you. But it’s available free online: http://www.foodsanity.com/online.php
PS- Back in the States, suckas!
Welcome back uncle traveling Rob!
I have “Intuitive Eating”. I’ll send it to you once my friend who’s had it for three months and hasn’t read it yet sends it back.
I have read that Boss. Just not Yoga of Eating.
Most of his works (Ascent of Humanity, Sacred Economics, tons of essays) are available online for free. He is, in fact, all about the idea of the Gift. I don’t think Yoga of Eating is, however, probably because it has a different publisher.
Saturday Night Live Little Chocolate Donuts
00:30 “they’ve got the sugar I need to get me going in the morning”
1973 film Sleeper
“You mean there was no deep fat? No steak or cream pies or… hot fudge?”
That was terrific. Every so often I need this sort of basic primer on where you’re coming from.
I really like the idea of being able to eat intuitively,but what if one can’t trust her own body?:s
@Matt I’d ike to very much purchase your eBooks,but I was wondering if one or more of them also contain guidance towards exercise/starting a proper exercise regimen? (’cause the guidance/advise of most staff members at the gym over here are just plain sh*t. I’d very much like to discuss exercise with someone,cause I have so many questions regarding this.)
Diet Recovery has the best section on that. The chapter is called Maxercise and it’s pretty detailed.
Matt,I just purchased your 180 Degree Collection but I don’t see the Diet Recovery Book&link anywhere?:s
Matt,
I’d hate to keep hitting you with these off-topic and sort of vexing questions, but you do a great job answering your followers’ questions, so i figure why not? What are your thoughts on eating according to your particular ancestral lineage For instance, my family is from Iran, and i know that rice, different types of cooked vegetables with meat (usually in a stew of some sort and beans or lentils are often consumed. Also, a lot of yogurt and kefir, i think. Anyway, i was thinking of shifting my diet over to that, as opposed to the diet i have now, which is somewhat similar minus the rice, beans, lentils,yogurt (though i consume raw goat kefir) and i consume a lot of fruit, which i’m sure my ancestors did not have much access to. (maybe i’m wrong, i’d have to do some more research obviously to confirm this)
That interview was BADASS!
But seriously, it was a spectacular interview and in my opinion a perfect gateway into the Matt Stone nutritional mind explosion that is 180degreehealth. I’ll definitely use this to get people into the site. Thanks Brobocop.
All I needed to see was that GI Joe up there. And I knew that it was awesome.
:-)
What are your thoughts on the body ecology diet – strong emphasis on kefir, probiotics, etc? I don’t remember you addressing systemic candida or liver cleanses – just curious.
Probably the worst diet ever for a normal person. Might be good if you have an excess of muscle tissue, sex drive, and happiness. It will fix those quickly. It will also fix a problem with lack of sugar cravings. It’s like the ultimate cure for that.
LOL, great reply. Good interview, too.
(This part is for the gal you replied to…)
Raw milk kefir is a pretty wonderful food, and it’s great in pancakes as well as fruit smoothies (with a couple fresh eggs added for protein…) but I wouldn’t want to have to survive on the body ecology diet.
Candida and bad bacteria can be killed off with the right herbs and a high-rev metabolism. The irony is that you’ll need MORE sugar to rev up your metabolism if candida/bad bacteria are slurping up the sugars you eat. They can only eat so much, and if you’re assaulting them with herbs (the healthforce parasite cleanse is pretty good) and consuming sugar to rev up your cellular ATP production, you will eventually win the battle. (A “zapper” might be a worthwhile investment, too.)
Starving your body of sugar to starve the candida is pretty much suicidal, and your body will resort to cannibalizing your muscle tissue to make glucose, which is a bad experience.
Hi Cameron,
My doctor has just filled a prescription for Terbinafine (oral anti-fungal). Is there maybe a better way to deal with my persistent toenail fungus that did not respond to topical treatments of coconut oil and tea tree oil? I’m just not revving up that metabolism enough? Not enough pancakes or something? Shoot me an email: AFontaine79 at the Yahoo website.
Try olive leaf extract, taken orally. If that doesn’t do the trick, oil of oregano taken orally might but it’s much stronger and less pleasant. The OLE worked for me. In and of itself, it seemed to help with metabolism, too. Maybe Matt will disapprove of it as a shortcut, but for me it’s totally worthwhile.
Hey Aaron,
I don’t have any experience dealing with toenail fungus, so I don’t have solid ideas on what would work best. That said, I would pursue more natural remedies like Amy suggested before resorting to any form of pharmaceutical drugs. That’s just me, though. :-)
Now for some untested theories. Have you tried salt-saturated water treatments? Just take water and put more salt into it than will dissolve, and soak the tonenails in it 1-2 times a day for 20 minutes or so.
Next…I don’t know if you’re at all into the idea of making your own kefir, but if you do try it and strain off some whey, it’s good for all kinds of topical uses. It *might* be helpful on the toenail fungus.
Combining one of those topical treatments with internal fungal killers might get the job done.
Hope that helps,
Cameron
Aaron, I was prescribed four pulse doses of itraconazole (first month – first week had heavy pulse dosing followed by lighter dosing for subsequent three weeks, second through fourth months – one week pulse dosing only). That cleared up my problem though of course it took a while for the fungal tissue to grow out and get trimmed off. I had had severe infections on most of my toenails for over a decade and a half.
I did see discussion on the Body Ecology Diet in your 180 Digestion book. I was thinking of trying it for a few weeks to clean up my digestion, and hopefully lose a few pounds. Should I not even bother?
No don’t. It’s a killa. A last resort. Not something to just casually do out of boredom. And you would lose more than a few pounds. Not good, because losing more than a few pounds in a few weeks is proof of losing more than bodyfat.
Awesome interview replies, Matt. I think every time I read one of your posts I get injected with a new burst of hope! :)
I think one of the smartest things that Matt says in this interview is something that’s way undervalued: food is SO MUCH MORE than just macro-nutrients that we put into our bodies.
Food has emotional and psychological components, and that’s SUCH a big deal.
I fully believe in ice cream’s power to raise my metabolism and get my body temps into the 98 degree range. It just flat works, but if I go into the store in the middle of the day, and buy 2 pints of ice cream, I feel ashamed, and I eat it where no one else can see me. That’s a problem, and points to SUCH a larger problem with food/health culture in general.
Matt,
I really don’t know where to begin. This past week has been a whirlwind of excitement, after listening to your Paleo Summit webinar, digesting hours of info from this blog and delving into Diet Recovery, I not only feel like there is a light at the end of the tunnel, I am full of hope and excitement! I never thought that could even be possible!
Quick question – I got a thermometer today (even gave a good whoop of excitement in the drugstore when I saw it could be used as a rectally!) and I was wondering if sleeping under heavy comforter/many blankets will affect my morning internal temp. I sleep with an electric blanket that turns off in the middle of the night, as well as a comforter. Will this give me a falsely high body temp first thing in the AM?
You should feel warm when you take your temp. That will give you more of the true temperature that your body is trying to maintain. You should not feel hot or cold but just about right.
Hey Matt, i have been following your blog for a couple of years now and even bought all your 180 degree goodies. I have been through RRARF- gained 30 pounds; Milk diet- fail like you; Peatisms- didn’t have any changes; RBTI- I held off on following this because I was so disheartened with the excess weight.)
I have been eating all your guidelines, drinking less water more coconut water and eating my Indian meals. I also added in Zumba classes ( which are interval training) twice a week to my twice a week yoga. I thought I had lost a lot of weight because I went down couple of pant and dress sizes but when I got on the scale it only looks like 6-7 pounds :-(
I can see the changes in my body and am sleeping better, better bowel movements, better skin, better mood,no allergies.
However I do have joint pain and occasionally cold hands and feet and the weight is still there. My appetite is also well regulated, no binging or when I do eat I don’t feel guilt :-)
My questions are
1. should i add a colloidal mineral supplement ?
2. should i avoid PUFA?
3. should i avoid tea completely even in the form of chai?
Thanks so much for all this knowledge you are putting out there.
If your measurements are down a lot while weight is only down mildly, that’s a GOOD THING(TM)! It means your body is swapping out flab for lean tissue and and mineral density.
I will let Matt chime in with his massive brain, but occasional cold hands and feet sounds like occasional sugar crashes to me. Perhaps a refractometer would be in your future.
Answers to your questions…
1) Maybe
2) A little, but let’s not get freaky about it
3) No, you can drink some when you are NOT peeing clear and your hands and feet are warm
As far as dropping size and not losing much weight, that’s fantastic. When you gained the 30 pounds, you probably gained about 10 lean pounds. That would be average. So let’s say you gain another 3 lean pounds from adding in exercise plus the added 3 pounds of glycogen and water that typically accompanies the start of a new exercise program…
Then 16 of the 30 pounds are now desirable pounds. It is possible to gain 30, lose 16 pounds of fat, and have the EXACT same amount of body fat that you started with.
Rehab metabolism and then lose fat intelligently, and everyone will find that their ideal weight is actually much higher than they thought it should be due to increases in lean mass, glycogen, water, and bone density.
Keep your urine from getting too clear to keep hands and feet warmer. Read the recent posts on that and listen to my interview with Sean on water to better grasp some of that.
Graph: What You Can Tell By Looking at a Fat Person
Thanks Brock, I am looking into a buying a refractometer.
Thanks Matt! Believe me, I hang onto your every word/blog/facebook post…almost stalkerish ;-)
I am happy to hear that 16 pounds of my weight gain are desirable, I am feeling better already. I think 15 pounds fat loss is doable. I am trying to do activities that I find fun, planning on taking up swimming soon. My waist is getting smaller and smaller, lower belly and hips /thighs still hanging onto the fat.
I’ve already succeeded in getting urine to yellowish color…sorry TMI. My water intake is way down, like I said lots and lots of coconut water. I even cut down on sauna/steam so I wouldn’t lose too much water/minerals through sweat. (not sure if that happens)
Vegetable oil consumption is high because eating I’ve been Indian food out.
I will keep tweaking and keep you posted. It sounds about right that my weight will be higher than I thought, I’m 5′ 3″ and I don’t think I will ever hit 121 pounds again.
Another person told me I’m looking skinny today…yay!!!!
Thank you Matt!
Can anyone please direct me to a primer or just explain what fast/slow or high/low metabolism or metabolic rate is, what are the causes for each, what individual macronutriens do? On another forum I have a discussion with a guy telling me that proteins (a) speed up metabolism and (b) slow down digestion at the same time and I can’t wrap my head around it.
Hey Matt,
I’ve been following your work since a year and i’m now totally addict your stuff (as well as chief’s one).
I’ve got so many things to ask you but i guess the first thing to do is to THANK YOU for helping me through your open minded style.
Since i’m fond of body (re)composition, i’ll love to hear your thoughs on :
1- Minimum Protein requirements to pursue muscle growth with weight training without slowing metabolism too much (been brainwashed by 1+/Pound during my low carb years, now more 0,8g/pounds)
2- Been doing strict potato and milk MNP last summer but gained so much fat (but more LBM with it) is MNP still great for lean gains for you ? , by the way it didn’t restore my metabolism that much; wondering if sugar isn’t better; tastier, less watery… ?
3- Last one, does palatability affect metabolism ? like white sugar and chocolate powder have pretty much the same macros but the latter taste like heaven by the teaspoon (too lazy to buy milk, maybe after my daily nap !)
Thank you for all, dear Mat(t)ador of the carb arena !
Matt, quoting you: “Even eating a ?healthy? diet makes ?unhealthy? food more fattening. There’s a lot more going on there biochemically to insure you gain that weight back, but that’s the simple fundamental truth of what happens in reality. ”
I’ve read you saying that here too, but no specifics about how a healthy diet makes unhealthy food more fattening. Could you direct me to a post or comment about that, or say more about that here?
To update about me: I am trying to relax about food – I’ve incorporated a little more “junk” here and there (occasional donut or pastry, homemade ice cream), and trying not to feel conflicted about my one cup of morning coffee (dark roast french press with half and half, about a tablespoon of sugar and some molasses). I still eat mostly home cooked food; other than Thai or Indian, restaurant food just does not appeal to me. Trying to sleep more (not easy with toddler who wakes at 5am and hip pain), and trying to eat more earlier in the day, drinking less water. I tend to pee most midmorning. I think I have put on a few pounds recently since losing most of the baby weight. I am warmer. Ear temps over 98 and sometimes over 99. Have not been exercising except walking, and this week added one interval workout (tabata style exercises). My belly fat is out of control! I have not been restricting any food or food group in possibly years.
Am I on the right track? Based on your posts, I think I should keep doing what I am doing, but I wonder about the coffee. I don’t want to restrict as I definitely crave that which I am not “supposed” to have.
Where’s that Mike Tyson video you were talking about?
It didn’t seem worthy of a whole post. But the video is here. It’s frickin’ hilarious if you listen very closely…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaLVrydS2sM
I’m 27, and have been diagnosed with MS for about 9 years now. Its kind of come and go–right now, I have no symptoms. I’ve been eating a paleo diet for the last few years (and low-carb for a few years before that) thinking that it was the “cure” because traditional people don’t get autoimmune diseases, right? ;-) It didn’t work, unfortuently, and I did have a couple relapses and continueing digestive problems.
Your RRARF thing makes a lot of sense with all of the info on MS I’ve been reading from Ray Peat, on how the root cause is a low thyroid and metabolism, leading to probably leaky gut etc…
Any suggestions for me? I’m starting to integrate things like rice, potatoes, yams, lots of fruit, honey, milk (raw) etc back into my diet starting yesterday. I’m also trying the overfeeding thing, but that’s going to be tough for me.
What do you think about the relationship between dairy and grains and MS? I’ve never found anything really comelling that wasn’t probably done on grain-fed milk/modern diet grains etc. And Ray Peat says the only things linked to MS is low altitude (low vit D), pork and horse meat consumption (high PUFA?).
Thanks! I’m new to the blog and I love it!
I don’t think there’s much of a connection between grains and dairy and MS. I wouldn’t be too dead-set on eating only these healthy whole foods either. Be open-minded and flexible in your thinking. Sometimes it takes that to really find what you need, which is often pancakes and pizza.
Have you heard about the Marshall Protocol? I’m not so sure I agree with it completely, but I think there could be something about the theory of bad bacteria (biofilms) and too much Vitamin D (really not enough Vitamin A??) could be contributing to MS.
Great interview! I read Diet Recovery a month ago and have upped my food intake and decreased my water. I am loving the freedom to “Eat the Food” that this brings.
Question: Do you think that the more severely a person has dieted the longer it will take for temps to come up? I counted 17 diets I have been on since the 4th grade (not including repeating many of them).
Slim Fast
Severe calorie restriction
Low fat
Juice fasts
Smoothie fasts
Atkins
Jenny Craig
No Dairy
Maker’s Diet
Elimination Diet
New Dawn Diet
Ran a Marathon
No Gluten
HCG diet
High Fat/Low carb/no soy/ low sugar
Nourishing Traditions
Deep Nutrition
*So how messed up am I?????
You should be able to ratchet those temps up faster with yummier food, as well as the mother of all metabolism stimulators – the buffet. The greater the selection you have at each meal, the greater the calorie intake and faster you can see your temps get up to where they need to be. You can always go back to eating more whole foods once you get hot. But why drag the process out? The sooner you get to hotness the better.
Thanks! I am fighting off a cold and remembered “Feed a cold, starve a fever”. Isn’t that old wives tale pretty much what we are trying to do. Cold/sick =eat more, Too hot= cool down by not eating…..
Hi matt,
I frequently browse your site, and I like your theories. I am recovering from anorexia and have not had a menstrual period for a year. I lost 1/3 of my hair and I feel very very cold after eating a meal. I am averaging at about 2000 per day and still feel like crap. (I was eating anywhere from 200-1200 for months) I read your advice about body temp and metabolism and have been taking my temp when I am normal and cold. It is about 97-98 when I feel normal, but gets down to 96 sometimes when im freezing (usually after I eat). I am pretty sure I have hypothyroidism because I am not losing weight in fact li feel my clothes a bit tighter. I am a member of another forum for ED recoveries, and this woman has a similar theory to you. http://www.gwenytholwyn.com.
Anyways I just wanted to know how long do you think RRAF will take? I was kind of doing that with the 2500-3000 but dropped my calories. Should I keep my calories that high for a while since I was at a very very low body weight?
Hey Melissa,
Not sure if you’ve seen this, but here’s a post from Matt about anorexia rehab from a while back. May be of some use to you: http://180degreehealth.com/2010/07/anorexia-rehab
Good luck!
The more calories the better, but you, universal to all coming from and ED, have some pretty severe postmeal crashing going on. Some helpful tips would be to…
1) Drink way less fluids, including no plain water at all – especially when consumed without food
2) Eat way more salt – having some saltine crackers on hand at all times to eat a nice stack of 5-6 whenever you feel the coldness coming on would be great. 10am, 3pm, and 4am are the most common times for big crashes. But with an ED it can be pretty much all day and night until you start making some progress
3) Eat foods with a lower water content – pancakes and pizza being WAY better than say, fruit and watery oatmeal or juice or milk
ED’s are simple to fix. But not easy. Because eating is what you need to do and eating makes you feel (and your moods) absolutely horrendous. It’s like experiencing withdrawals from taking amphetamines.
Let me know if you need any personal help. I’m happy to in whatever way I can.
Hey Melissa,
I’m coming from perhaps a similar situation that is ED that lasted a couple years. I started to recover when I came across Matt’s blog in July 2011.There is hope! First of all, following Matt’s advice really helps :P. I remember when I ate my first whole sweet potato after so many months of under eating, I even had to lie down. I would get crazy post meal crashes even after a salad and would fall asleep in class. Now 6 months later I can eat tons of carbs and not get any crashes! This period of healing was gradual and I believe could have been shorter since I just really started Rrarf 2 months ago. It’s scary at first and you think the food is the problem, but it’s actually a question of readapting again. I still get freezing like you at times, but I just tried the trick of the salty crackers and it worked perfectly! The more calories I eat, the warmer I feel and when I get cold, I eat again! I gained a bit of weight but every time unhealthy thoughts creep in about body-image, I remember that it’s time to accept healing, stop the cycle and focus on the love in life! Also, the weight gain has been less than what I expected and the thing of primary importance is that life in a nourished body is so much more fulfilling! I’ve been eating lots of food for a bit more than 2 months now but still have a little way to go! I think the time you need to Rrarf depends on how much food and energy your body needs to go back to normal after under eating. But that’s my speculation! I hope something out of this helped!
Hey Matt, pardon this somewhat irrelevant comment, but what are your thoughts on disease brought on by epigenetic changes? For instance, I was reading about how a surplus of food during the grandfather’s slow-growth period was seen to cause an increase in diabetes and cardiovascular mortality in his offspring…
What do you think is going on there? and do you think that such diseases influenced by epigenetic changes (i.e. diabetes, heart disease) can be overcome as easily as say, diabetes caused by lifestyle factors like in the woman you spoke of, it’s just most people don’t know really what to do with their diet and lifestyle?
I think most epigenetic and intrauterine influences yield changes in metabolism. A person probably can’t expect to totally overhaul their tendencies, but there’s no doubt that many things can be improved upon or even reversed.
Hi Matt, one more long-time reader who’s never posted before. I just read your interview at Hunter Copeland’s site and I want to say Bravo! You articulated your current thinking very nicely; the non-fans out there would do well to actually read this before opening mouth.
I’m not in your target recovering-from-dieting audience (have always been too stubborn to take anyone else’s word for how I should live), but I have my own health issues, so I have enjoyed and gained a lot from watching your explorations over the past few years. At first, I was all “oh wow! maybe this latest thing will show Matt and us all The Right Way To Be Healthy”. Now I am all “yeah, it totally makes sense that nothing works exactly the same way for even a majority of humans, and boy is that inconvenient, but it will never get boring”.
Because I live in the hot desert, land of single-digit humidity and > 100F days for 6 months of the year, it never, ever occurred to me that I could possibly be drinking more water than I need. Now I’ve started experimenting with less and watching that urine color, and it’s been very interesting. It may actually be possible to drink too much water here, too, but I’m pretty sure no one would believe it so I won’t even discuss it with them…
As a recovering research scientist, I really love your embrace of n = 1 experimentation and paying attention to results without a convenient underlying theory that accounts for everything. Looks like a refractometer is in my future, which I would never have seriously thought about even a few months ago–but empirical science is always out there, from the viewpoint of the mainstream.
So, thanks and hope you stay motivated to keep up the good work!
In the interview, you talked a little about post-workout nutrition. You mentioned that high-glycemic, refined carbs are ideal after an intense workout. What would be an example of a post-workout snack?
Also, what about the claim that sugary stuff right after sprints or other high-intense workouts ruins HGH release? Thanks.
It does decrease HGH release. GH is a part of the inflammatory pro-stress cascade. That’s why the higher intensity the exercise the greater the GH secretion. But shutting it down immediately puts the body into it’s pro-growth, repair, anti-stress state. Most recovery formulas use very high glycemic starch like maltodextrin or waxy maize. The more rapidly-absorbed the better. I’ve never tried actual recovery drinks like that. Just eat food. Like maybe I would have a bowl of cereal with skim milk or three.
Thanks. So in your view, the “cost” of shutting down HGH is necessary for the greater benefit of getting your body back into the pro growth/repair state?
Yes. Everything that is known about exercise performance and recovery from a long-term vantage point, what Scott Abel might call “the cumulative effects of training” support eating rapidly-absorbed protein and carbohydrate after exercise.