Damnit. I’m not even that legitimately interested in longevity research or the idea of “blue zones,” which I’ve pointed out many times as mostly just areas in the world where the people are uniquely SHORT, the greatest lifespan-enhancing characteristic since looking both ways before crossing the street. But here I am with yet ANOTHER blog post about these obnoxious blue zones.
I couldn’t resist being intrigued in something I discovered recently, for reasons that you’ll soon understand.
It’s said that one of the world’s blue zones, where people live an abnormally long lifespan, is in Loma Linda, California where a bunch of vegetarian 7th-day adventists live. It’s in San Bernardino county, where the life expectancy is markedly average. In fact, 35 counties in California alone have higher life expectancy.
While not all of the residents of San Bernardino County are these supposedly long-lived 7th Day Adventists, how the average isn’t skewed at all is kinda puzzling. We’ll leave that alone and give them the benefit of the doubt, but I expect the other “blue zone” in the U.S. is an ACTUAL blue zone worthy of study.
This potential “blue zone” is an area of the U.S. where life expectancy has been the longest for a while, and one that is really dominating of late. Interestingly, even though I did nearly a decade of grueling and obsessive health research in my 30s, I had no idea about this area.
More interestingly, especially to me personally, is that the county in the U.S. with the 2nd-highest life expectancy, is the county I graduated high school from!
Yeah, it hurts to lose to another county, but 2nd place is pretty good eh?
So where’s the top county? The one with the very highest life expectancy? Well, it’s a county that BORDERS THE #2 COUNTY!
Pretty outrageous huh? The top 2 counties in the entire U.S. in life expectancy border one another.
If that’s not enough for you, #3 on the list ALSO BORDERS THOSE TWO COUNTIES!
I shit you not. The top three counties in life expectancy in the entire U.S. are all clustered together in one, small area surrounding the White River National Forest, where I was employed as a Wilderness Ranger for 7 summers. The counties are Summit, Pitkin, and Eagle, where life expectancy was in the 86-87 range when last assessed in 2014. Here is the full list of the top 50 counties in the U.S. Colorado has 8 other nearby counties in the top 50 in the nation.
I’ve also spent time living adjacent to the #5-ranked Marin County in California and in the #14-ranked Teton County in Wyoming. And I’ve lived and traveled to a ton of other places, so I feel pretty qualified to speak about what makes these places unique. I’m a blogger, so also keep in mind that I have a long history of feeling qualified to speak about lots of things, lol. AND I’m an author, so my perception of the importance of my every thought is obviously wildly inflated!
Consider that the cluster of 3 counties in Colorado that we’ll mostly be focusing on is comprised of mostly white people, who don’t have the best life expectancy by national averages (more than 8 years less than Asians and 4 less than Latinos). So we really are looking at a life expectancy that’s fully 7 years higher than average. There could really be something to this area.
What’s different about these places, the habits and lifestyle of the local culture, and the people who live there, and is there anything useful for you to glean from it all? Should you up and move there right away? That will be the focus of the remainder of this long-winded post…
First of all, we have to consider that there is absolutely NOTHING special about this area. Sure, it’s no statistical anomaly. We can all agree that there’s no way in hell that the 3 counties in the U.S. with the longest life expectancy would randomly be clustered together. But it could be something less exotic, such as the fact that, because the area is at high elevation and extremely mountainous, that unhealthy people either don’t move there in the first place, and/or they move away from the area as they get old because they feel too crappy living there. That alone could explain why these three counties so excel in the life expectancy category.
These are also very wealthy areas, and you’ll notice if you flip through the list of counties with highest life expectancy and read a little about them, most of them are hubs of wealth that hold titles like “highest median income in the country” or “highest average income” or “lowest poverty rate” and the like. We know that being financially secure is a powerful predictor of longevity in the U.S. And seniors living in this region are definitely some of the richest people on earth. Real estate values in some towns in these counties sped past absurd decades ago and are deep into the ludicrousphere now. No really. Look at this nonsense.
Interestingly, since I started writing this post a few weeks ago, I noticed that California updated their life expectancy data by county, and now the highest life expectancy there is off-the-charts at 90.0, and it’s Mono County which, in terms of lifestyle and setting, is basically EXACTLY the same. In fact, if you look up these counties on Google images, you’ll think you’re looking at the same place.
Check it out: Mono County, Pitkin County, Summit County, Eagle County
So, what if it’s NOT because of the way people migrate and emigrate to these places? What if there is actually something about these places that make them a fountain of youth?
If there is something truly magical about these three counties (and also Mono County in California), it’s basically a discussion between two factors:
- Living at high elevation yields a number of life-enhancing metabolic effects due to higher carbon dioxide blood saturation
- Exercise and fitness really is an amazing lifespan extender, and mountain people get WAY more of it than normal folk
You know I love a good hormonal/metabolic explanation for things. I read Ray Peat’s massive geekfest about high altitude living years ago, and how it protects against stuff like cancer, supposedly. I generally wrote it off since I was dating a girl at the time whose parents were both diagnosed with cancer in their 50’s within the same month, and their close friend who lived down the street just had a double mastectomy. It wasn’t feeling like I was living in some cancer sanctuary, but rather the opposite. I reacted like most people react to Ray Peat… “This guy is full of shit man!”
And while I still love Ray and consider him probably the greatest health theorist of all time, I haven’t changed my mind much on his altitudinal attributions. I’ve become increasingly less interested in exotic explanations and wild “red pill” theories as I’ve gotten older (42 bitches!) and slightly more mature (my estimated mental age is now up to 22). I realize now that it’s actually kind of easy to piece together a research puzzle that makes “so much sense” but that really doesn’t mean much of anything. It’s like following a rope that supposedly leads to a pot of gold, but eventually you get to the end and it’s just the end of a useless rope, tied into a noose for convenience, lol.
I think the explanation is probably the cultural differences between high mountain outdoor recreation meccas and the rest of the world.
What really stands out that’s unique about this area? I’ve lived in two of the three counties and dozens of other places, and believe me, the difference is MONUMENTAL.
People who live in the mountains (not NEAR them, but right up in them) are outdoor recreation addicts, and exercise through outdoor recreation is just a different type and level of fitness and vitality. Plain and simple. It’s not a “lifestyle,” it’s a full-on “culture.” If you’ve watched X-Games, you’ll know it even has its own language, haha.
This undiscovered “blue zone” that is connected by the White River National Forest has 11 ski areas and 8 massive Wilderness areas. These “gyms” are where people go to “work out” for 4-12 hours at a time, as many days per week as they can, every week of their lives. It makes a huge difference. No childhood obesity epidemic in this area folks. Audience and faculty looking tight like tigers too. Go Skiers! Sniffle, sniffle…
Anyway, since most of you cannot just up and move to the outrageously expensive high mountains, I think the real lesson is to make sure you find a sport or hobby that you really love doing that gets you out of the house and physically active at a decent clip. There is nothing like exercising for pleasure. You’ll do it for 2 hours and wish you could have stayed for longer. Then stay for 3 hours and wish you could have kept doing it. Then you’ll find yourself doing 4 hours, then 5, and then becoming like one of these mountain people, who, at ANY age, can literally go out and exercise from dawn to dusk (and they often start before dawn with those dorky headlamp things) like goddamn ELK.
Remember that lady with a double mastectomy I mentioned? She once, at age 60 and in remission, decided to accompany my ex on an 18-mile dayhike to visit me during one of my overnight work trips as a ranger at Conundrum hot springs. 2,791-foot vertical gain on that hike. She hiked up there in less than 3 hours, sat in the hot springs for an hour and had a snack, and then hiked back down. LIKE IT WAS NO BIG DEAL.
Know any 60-year old women that don’t live in the mountains that can do that on a random Friday afternoon, no big whoop? Me neither. But mountain people hike, bike, ski, board, climb, or paddle several times per week for several hours per session. Nearly all of them.
Even when I worked at a restaurant on a ski mountain there was an incentive program and awards at the end of the season for those who hiked 2,000 vertical feet and several miles up to the restaurant from the base of the ski mountain at dawn in sub-zero temperatures the most times. Some did the trek every day!
Anyway, think about that. Fitness and exercise is not 30 minutes per day 3 times per week–a brief interruption from the TV, phone, car, and computer. That’s nothing.
After 9 years mostly in Florida and comparing a sedentary lifestyle to an active, mountain lifestyle built around outdoor recreation and an exciting culture celebrating it, I have no doubt that a truly physically active lifestyle is a powerful prophylactic against many of the ills of aging. I hope to get it back someday. I have serious trouble motivating myself to do much outdoors when it’s flat as a pancake outside (mmm, pancakes), and it has cost me a great deal of vitality no doubt.
Or has it? As you know, I’ve shared many times that trips out West and a temporarily active lifestyle while returning to sedentary lifestyle after has actually led to repeated bouts of weight gain for me personally. What do you guys think? I’m crazy and lactic acid explains it all?
Or should I have just written a long-winded post about achieving financial security to expand your lifespan instead–one major key being to stop obsessing over your health and trying to live some hunter-gatherer type lifestyle outdoors and focus instead on your career? Should my next post be about the Green Zone being the REAL blue zone?
Oh Matt, I am glad to read your message! TF
Why choose? Great topics for the next few articles;)
Wealth affords a lot of free time to engage in outdoor activity, but it isn’t a requirement. Farmers, before the advent of fully-mechanized agriculture, never needed to go to the gym. The key is, once you stop moving, regardless where you live, you start dying.
You definitely can’t stop. That’s why enjoying it and doing it for pleasure’s sake is so vital. Nearly everyone eventually quits doing things they don’t like.
Man, I missed your posts! I’ve noticed when visiting such areas that people have healthy appetites and don’t eschew tasty foods. Orthorexia is for lowlanders.
Yes, mountain people in the U.S. seem to have only 3 food groups: Pizza, burritos, and craft beer
Yes, until earlier this month, my 97-year-old grandmother was still climbing the stairs every day, up from her suite in the basement to the main living area of my Dad’s house. She is by no means wealthy, but she did grow up on a farm.
Matt, good post. I think the fact that people living in those regions exercise a lot makes a big difference. But, the altitude itself is like a low grade cardiovascular exercise. It’s well known that altitude burns more calories at rest, even in those who are acclimated. The military found that they had tk feed their soldiers more food at altitude or they would spontaneously lose weight. The increased respiration is a part of the reason, similar to people who have COPD and need more calories to just maintain weight. The lactate threshold is higher at altitude as well. Dr. Peat talks about this. Longer time to lactate buildup means the muscles dont fatigue as fast, means one should in theory be able to exercise longer without sore muscles. I know you’re not interested in hormonal explanations, so I’ll spare you the grief… but suffice it to say, I think you’re onto something when you say the simplest explanation is usually the one that makes the most sense (i.e. rest, good food, sunlight, etc). Perhaps a simple explanation for why altitude can help elevate (pun intended) the average lifespan would be the fact that because more calories are needed to just maintain weight at altitude, it promotes a smaller human frame size/ is anti-obesity. Food for thought.
Yeah, there’s definitely something to it. Basically a coin toss as to figure out which is the primary contributor to the difference. Keep in mind that most of the people dying there are transplants, not born and raised there. None of the kids I went to high school with can afford to live there now, lol. The kids are definitely smaller though, generally speaking. Then again, Alec Parker was born there and he was a beast… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alec_Parker
Are you familiar with Jack Kruse? If not, check him out. One of the keys he recommends is to spend as much time outdoors as possible. Makes sense… :)
Yes, groan.
Always great to read from you :-).
Why the groan? Why the crazy? Genuinely curious because I thought his ideas were very interesting and made sense. I read the article you linked and that really only proved someone out there really doesn’t like him… 🤷🏼♀️
This paragraph in the post explains exactly why Jack Kruse makes me groan…
Lol, fair enough ;)
Jack “nutty as squirrel shit” Kruse.
I thought his middle name was Karnival?
hahaha, you always have one better!
https://abcnews.go.com/Travel/diet-guru-booted-carnival-ship-fake-tweet/story?id=16309927
I remember that drama…which made your comment even funnier. Kruse always seemed so far off the reservation that I never could take him serious.
International response from Guyana- I agree with you that the active lifestyle does play a great role in living longer. My best friend’s grandmom was touching her toes easily in her eighties. She didn’t live in a mountainous area but spent a great deal of time gardening and her meals were largely homemade. Same could have been said for my own grandmother and my father who is a martial artist. He is 68 and is often mistaken for a man in his late forties early fifties.
There’s no doubt that even if an active lifestyle doesn’t increase your lifespan, it definitely increases the quality of your life. I don’t think anyone can deny that. We all know that lounging around in front of a screen all day can’t be that good for us. It’s just completely unnatural. With no mental stimulation you’d be bored off your ass, restless, feel your stiffness and soreness, and get jittery to move around. Screens and desk jobs force us to override those natural urges and instincts.
I live in the hills, so my daily walks are always uphill and downhill. Since moving up here, I no longer have any desire to walk on the flats.
I’ve used these walks to eliminate my insulin resistance, at least judging by my new, low insulin values. Some trials have shown that walking downhill is more effective for IR and others have shown that uphill is more effective. Anyway, I do both (obviously).
I
Yeah that’s me. I got addicted to really great walking. It’s hard to do boring, repetitive walking on flat ground after dynamic walks in the mountains with really exciting lakes, peaks, and passes as destinations to propel me much farther than I could ever tolerate in a state of boredom.
I recently moved from the mountains of Scotland, home of short folk, to flat-as-a-pancake Holland where everyone is taller than me and it’s noticeable that people are healthier and more longlived here than back there. This would seem to contradict some of your convictions until you factor in that Dutch people are ALWAYS outside exercising – skating and hockey in winter, tennis and sailing in summer, and walking but especially CYCLING all year round. I’m amazed and deeply impressed at the number of pensioners who overtake me on the cycle path between my home and the shops – all I need to do is emulate them to increase my health and life expectancy dramatically.
The Dutch are exceptionally long-lived for their height for sure. Once you realize you have to adjust life expectancy by a year per inch minimum, then you can level the playing field and see who really is aging slower or faster than they should based on averages.
Deuterium depletion is greater at altitude.
That kids speech though 💗 Matt, I recently turned 44 and I’ve been “following” you for almost 10 years… I’ve been off the “perfect diet” mission for most of that and I agree, in my older/wiser brain/body that it all comes down balance ☯️ I’m staying in Acapulco, Mexico right now… I don’t know what the life expectancy is here, but it’s mountainous and people have to move their bodies to get around, not much obesity to be seen ( in stark contrast to the Texas I drove here from!!). Anyway, my mantra this year is movement 💗✌️and hair grease 😜
Wow, you watched the speech! You went deep Nadja, lol. Disfruta those mountains!
it’s not just the exercise it’s the adventure that keeps you going and gives you purpose
Definitely Beth.
Hey Matt,
you probably don‘t know it, but you ( and your blog ) saved my life 10 years ( approx ) ago.
Good to see you writing here again more often, keep it up, it‘s a bit like meeting with a good old friend!
Nice Hank! I’ll keep dabblin’ here and there :)
In your last blog post, you indicated that height was the key factor when talking about longevity. Isn’t animal consumption highly predictive of height though? Really enjoy your books/blog posts.
Animal consumption highly predictive of height? Don’t know about that. A lot of “complete” protein definitely speeds the growth rate, so it’s somewhat of a factor, but plenty of other factors. I imagine the calorie-density of the food is a big factor in reaching maximum genetic height potential.
I’ve never been there, but I hear that Florida has lots of beaches. Do you like to play in the ocean?
I can snorkel for a long time and never get bored with it. The ocean offers a lot of other “exercise” options, too. Even just hanging out in the water and jumping over moderate waves is fun and therapeutic, if not exactly “intense exercise.”
I moved to Hawaii a year ago and I’m a bit leaner than when I got here. The only big dietary change I made was to stop drinking alcohol, and I still eat carbs, but not a ton. Mostly a lot of grass fed beef from island grown cows, rice, fruit and an occasional organic candy bar. “Ocho” makes an organic bar that tastes just like a snickers, but with higher quality chocolate.
Florida is NOT Hawaii. I repeat, it’s NOT Hawaii. You can’t snorkel here (water is murky), we have red tide a lot of the time, and the beach just eventually gets old. I loved the beach and snorkeling in Hawaii, and also did quite a bit of hiking there. Some of the best trails in the world. Here I can go an entire year without walking up a hill more than 5 vertical feet. It’s really hard for a former Wilderness Ranger in Colorado to find pleasure on flat sidewalks in Florida.
Soooo, you’re saying FL is just as good as Hawaii? :-D
The beaches here definitely do not get old. So many different types of beaches, so many different reefs, and the sandy parts change based on the seasons, currents and how much sand is being pulled off of the beach, or being put back on it.
Maybe a move to a sunny place with lots of hills / mountains is in your future…
I hope so. Been stuck here for going on a decade now. Was over it after 6 months, lol.
Oh, good — now we can narrow down the potential locations for our commune. It’s all starting to come together.
Maybe part of the benefit of outdoor recreation is what they talk about in Shinrin-Yoku (“Forest Bathing”)? Things like lowered blood pressure and cortisol, improved immune function, etc. — I think you have to spend a minimum amount of time out in nature every week to get those benefits.
https://www.natureandforesttherapy.org/
Yeah, I think there is a great deal of stress caused by eye strain as well. Our eye muscles contract when looking at things close to us. Get outdoors and your eyes relax and probably convey a ton of lowered physical stress to the rest of your body. You can feel it, but not sure I could like medically prove that or anything, lol. Eyesight is definitely a really interesting topic, as there is a huge wave of myopia sweeping the globe. Has been for decades. And it appears to have a simple cause. The eyes are just adapting to people only using their eyes to look at shit close to their faces. Anyway, different tangent for a different day, but yes, clearly the commune needs to be in the mountains. That’s a given!
Here’s one that’s in the process of forming — and not far from White River National Forest. “Our” dream is taking shape…
https://www.ic.org/directory/rainbow-ridge/
Looks pretty good except the whole tolerance of all religions and spiritual beliefs. We’ll be intolerant to all religions and spiritual beliefs at ours, lol.
Nah, really that won’t work. If you want to live at high elevation, you have to live where no food grows whatsoever except meat and maybe some potatoes. That’s perfect though. I don’t want to be digging in the dirt all day only to have vegetables to show for it. Goddamn vegetables.
This is the property I really want for our commune… https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/26604-Frying-Pan-Rd-Meredith-CO-81642/66695210_zpid/
It can’t be a coincidence that this property (on Frying Pan Rd.) is adjacent to Burnt Mountain? “From the frying pan to the fire…”
The property looks amazing. As a group, I’m sure we could come up with the $14,000/month payments —- from people who would pay to come there for retreats, from the psilocybin mushrooms we would grow, etc. I have faith it could work (but not based in any particular religion, ya know).
It is kind of jarringly doable actually, and I know this ranch really well. Watched the Super Bowl of 1988 there in the main lodge which hasn’t changed much at all, and had a friend who owned one of the cabins for a while. And yes, the whole culinary theme of the region’s nomenclature adds to the mystique quite a bit. There’s also a nearby backcountry lake called Lyle Lake that we could go to for worshipping our leader who goes by the last name McDonald. We could built a shrine for him there, and invite strippers. Should be epic.
Only $3.15 million? No worries, I’m planning on selling my soul. So, that should only leave about $3.14 million. (GoFundMe?)
Speaking of selling my soul, while I realize the listing is incorrect, it shows the square footage as 666 sq. ft.
The property has three ponds but no pool. Pool or pond…the pond would be good for me. https://youtu.be/9tFNbncymjY
If I’m doing the math right, Carl, that would be $10,000 for your soul? I’ll bet you could get $11,000.
So far, our commune is characterized by soul selling, no particular religion, strippers, fire, and the number 666 — plus the nature, being connected, quality of life, and all that. I never thought Hell would be so appealing, but now, I can’t wait to get there. But we have to have male strippers, too — you know, for balance.
Oh yeah, we’ll definitely get that latin guy from the cheesy Ryan Reynolds/Sandra Bullock movie to be our resident male stripper. I’ve been seeing him in State Farm commercials lately (not stripping, sadly), but by the time we get this set up and operational he should be back on the open market.
As it turns out, the highest bidder for my soul was $10,666. Everyone’s a comedian. Sheesh…
I suppose male strippers is only fair. But, I’m sorry to say that I’ve retired my fur-lined banana hammock. Matt’s younger, though, and probably still has plenty of swivel remaining in his hips.
FYI: I have a great recipe for grape Kool-Aid.
It’s true Carl. I’ve got a great hip thrust and can still do deep squats. Armed with the TB12 Method I’ll be able to keep it up for several more years before retiring for sure.
You should start stripping now, Matt, to get together the money for your move as quickly as possible. Strip your way to New Mexico.
The bonus is that your moves will be in top form by the time our commune opens, where you’ll be the headliner act. The State Farm guy will open for you.
Hmm, maybe I should look into the TB12 Method. I’ve been following the Ron Jeremy System and it’s not getting me quite where I want to be.
“Our eye muscles contract when looking at things close to us.”
I am not 100% sure, but I think it is the opposite actually.. That’s why when I frown and squeeze my eyes with muscles around the eyes I can see better for distance… Anyway I highly recommend videos of this guy. http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEhYxefHylpSgoiXDWcBrlA Myopia from watching to the PC all the time etc. and wearing too strong glasses can be reversed… The body is amazing. It will always adapt..
Read Katy Bowman’s books Move Your DNA and Movement Matters! It’s all about why constant movement (not just incremental exercise) is vital to our health. And moving outdoors – interacting with nature!
A family member got me into disc golf about three years ago. I am totally hooked. I absolutely love it. It’s the perfect type of exercise, IMO. I don’t like overly strenuous stuff (like full-court basketball is just too much damn running back and forth and gyms are BORING). Try it out and see if you like it. The physics of disc golf is also quite interesting to learn (it’s surprisingly complex). It’s is one of these things I can do for hours and hardly realize I am exercising and somewhat in nature (depends on the course, some are legit nature deep in the woods). I would play more except, you know, obligations and shit.
I live in Colorado Springs (36 of my 40 years besides a 4-year stint in Pueblo) so I wonder if any of that longevity finds its way here? Getting annoyingly populated here now though, unfortunately, which I cannot imagine helps life span (I love the Costco beef, but the crowds are taxing). Yeah, too bad Aspen is just wee bit out of my price range. Is that Silicon Valley money or something? What in the actual F?
Yeah that’s whole world money unfortunately Evan. Started back in the late 70’s when all the celebrities decided to make it their little mountain getaway. Fucking John Denver!
Then that filled up and slowly infected all the other ski towns. The only cheap one in the entire West (believe me, I’ve looked at all of them), is Angel Fire, NM. Trying to get my finances in “borrow money from the bank” condition by the end of the year so I can actually move there. You can’t really rent houses there, I think there’s some kind of community statute against annual home rental.
As for disc golf, YES Evan. This is exactly what it’s all about. The outdoors used to be addictive everywhere on earth, then we invented books and a lot of people started staying indoors for entertainment. Digital screens really got us though. Now we need a serious sport, game, or incredibly inspiring terrain to pull us out to play, lol. Disc golf is great if you’ve got some decent places to do it.
And yes, Colorado Springs probably does have a tiny longevity benefit. Colorado in general is high ranking by National averages. Remove the effect that Asians have on longevity, and the fact that Colorado has so few of them, and Colorado might actually rank #1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_life_expectancy
But an area of all whites living 6-7 years beyond typical white life expectancy really is rare and exceptional and seems to be something only in areas where there are a lot of recreational opportunities. Jackson Hole and Colorado Springs are at pretty much the exact same elevation for example, but life expectancy in Jackson Hole is much higher.
El Paso County CO: http://www.healthdata.org/sites/default/files/files/county_profiles/US/2015/County_Report_El_Paso_County_Colorado.pdf
Teton County WY: http://www.healthdata.org/sites/default/files/files/county_profiles/US/2015/County_Report_Teton_County_Wyoming.pdf
More evidence that exercise and affluence are bigger factors in life expectancy than altitude.
Oh, and for those of you who don’t know, Colorado Springs is an area just outside the mountains (not actually in them), far away from ski areas and Wilderness areas and true mountain living. The culture is varied. Plenty of people there’s lives don’t revolve around outdoor activity. In the outdoor recreation meccas, that’s not the case. 90%+ are out hiking, biking, climbing, skiing, etc. multiple times weekly.
“I realize now that it’s actually kind of easy to piece together a research puzzle that makes “so much sense” but that really doesn’t mean much of anything. It’s like following a rope that supposedly leads to a pot of gold, but eventually you get to the end and it’s just the end of a useless rope, tied into a noose for convenience, lol.”
Oy vey. I suppose many who have followed your blog can relate to this sentiment. I certainly can, I mean who doesn’t want a simple easy explanation that makes sense? Of couse, its disappointing when it doesn’t work out quite as imagined and things become more complicated than expected.
I think reality is very complicated and there are a mind boggling number of potential factors that affect lifespan/health/fatness/etc. So is there an answer or should jaded health nerds just give up and make more money?
Allow me to suggest a different source for a possible solution. Lets examine for a moment a key intellectual assumption upstream from reasoning about health. Modern people now look to science for answers to life’s mysteries and to solve life’s problems, yet science assumes reductive materialism as its basic underlying metaphysics. Everything in the universe is simply dead matter rearranged in various ways. Therefore everything affecting health is simply mechanistic. Intelligent people all know the power of science therefore this materialist assumption must be the truth. Anything else must just be woo woo superstition, fooling the guilible. Materialism just “makes so much sense”.
Did you catch the anology? So many intellectuals think this way. Health nerds are conditioned to to assume only physical cause and certainly there is reason to believe physical factors mater. However – continuing with the theme of “things being more compliated than people like” – suppose there are non-physical factors affect health outcomes. In other words, the system may take input from multiple sources, some physical, some not. The placebo effect is somewhat mysterious, is it not?
Imagine your body is like a Mario character in a video game that is affected by things happening in the game, but also by various actions taken by the “player” that doesn’t exist in the game world. Imagine the mario character has a “destiny” affecting conditions producing a certain outcome or the probabilities of certain tendencies.
I know this is getting out there, and I’m not saying to believe in bullshit of course – but perhaps, utilizing open minded skepticism, its possible to discern something deeper and useful from the overlooked but still significant.
One benefit to thinking about this topic for jaded health nerds, is you get to associate health gurus with various popular intellectuals. I mean Sam Harris reminds me of someone like Gary Taubes and Dean Ornish is sort of like the Pope and Jordan Peterson would make a good Mark Sisson.
Disc golf? So maybe that’s what I stumbled on last fall near the bone-dry Amargosa River in eastern California across from the Tecopa Post Office. Sturdy, elaborate, steel baskets with chains mounted on short pipes scattered among the creosote bushes and ugly dirt piles on uneven ground near a dirt road. I’ve never heard of it until reading about it here. I’ve walked here many times across the years and have never seen anyone else; but I think the baskets are new. Never saw them before.
Haha. That’s hilarious you’re just now discovering disc golf. I can see one of those baskets literally from my front door. There is a park across the street with the most pathetic disc golf course ever. It’s like 2 acres at best.
I’m listening to Paul Saladino, MD and Brian Sanders discuss the Blue Zones and
https://overcast.fm/+Na3g2Ycfw/1:11:32
He says there’s no clear evidence that the longevity in the Blue Zones is due to their diet. He says it’s a concept made up to sell cookbooks.
Rather, it’s about clusters of favorable genetics. They’re not thriving BECAUSE of what they eat, they’re thriving DESPITE what they eat.
Here’s the link to the original blog post of the interview, if anyone is interested:
https://www.peak-human.com/post/part-40-paul-saladino-md-animal-food-vs-plant-food-the-conclusion
I’m still listening and paused to post this before I forget.
The prior episode (#39 on the above blog) was also interesting, as he purports:
* problems with fiber (no benefit in cancer, diverticulitis, or constipation and may contribute to SIBO)
* says plant polyphenols aren’t helpful (10-week study with no flavonoids showed less oxidative damage)
* states interventional studies show no benefit to vegetables
* explains the beloved compound curcumin inhibits Cytochrome P450
* mentions how people get it wrong with sulforaphane and why that’s no panacea, either
A lot of other things, but too much to mention here. For anyone that’s not aware of Dr. Saladino, he’s one of the new crowd of MDs highly promoting a nose-to-tail (insert joke here) carnivore diet. Shawn Baker, MD would be an exception, as he says he eats no organ meats at all. Funny that Dr. SALADino would be a plant-hater. haha
Shawn’s not really an exception. Pretty much all of the long-term carnivore eaters only eat ground beef and ribeye.
I just don’t see how that can be a good idea for the long term, if eating only ground beef and ribeye. I mean, it would seem they would be missing some nutrients. I’ve heard some of their arguments (such as with Vitamin C), but they only seem to have a hypothesis.
By contrast, if eating liver, heart, brain, bone marrow, bone meal, bone broth, and all the other bits-and-pieces, that would seem more plausible. But, honestly, for me, I don’t want to eat most of those foods, but only because of my average American upbringing.
Going back to Charlene Andersen, as you’ve posted about previously, she and her husband Joe are frequently cited as textbook examples. (Even allegedly raising their two boys in the same manner.) But, the last time I checked in on them online, there were no lab results available for either of them — nor, any desire to have any testing.
I just can’t seem to get my head around this topic and make sense out of what some of these folks are saying. I no more think eating only animals (and, especially eating only one or two cuts of a single animal) makes any more sense than eating only plants.
But, I’m unusually intrigued by all the mounting anecdotes. Short of what Charlene and Joe claim, most others have been following this carnivore/zero carb plan for a pretty short time, relatively speaking. And, who knows what people are really eating or if what they’re telling us about how they feel is true.
Obviously, I need help. Or, perhaps just a job, so I can stop obsessing about this stuff.
Sorry for the off-topic diatribe, everyone.
To be clear, I think the carnivore diet sucks ass. I feel terrible eating that way, can’t exercise at all, can’t sleep, and have horrible green diarrhea and severe pain from gallbladder attacks eating huge meals of beef and nothing else (I think I’ve cleared up the gallbladder issue after avoiding beef for several months, but I’m sure it would be aggravated again if I were to resume eating only or mostly beef).
But I do think the people who get supposed results on it are seeing the benefits of vitamin A as well as changing the composition of their body fat to be saturated instead of unsaturated. By eating eggs, butter, cheese, liver and other organs, pork, fish, and poultry as many do on their own version of the “carnivore” diet, those benefits are eliminated.
Yeah, I also don’t feel great eating only animal foods — and, not even limited to just beef. I must have the “Low Carb Flu.” lol
There’s definitely a 180-tatey in my future. Like tomorrow. Damn. I just remembered that I bought 1.5 lbs. of ground beef today. Maybe Shepherd’s Pie can pull me through.
I’m glad your gallbladder issue eventually resolved and I hope you’re still doing well on the low/no Vitamin A plan.
I’ve been crushing the tates lately. So much so that I actually smell like french fried potaters. I deep fry them for breakfast and then douse them in maple syrup almost every day, lol. And homemade fries in the evening a couple nights a week as well. And I make potato soup for the kid and girlfriend often too. It’s the most insanely good thing ever, but I don’t eat that much because it’s full of milk and cheese n’ stuff.
I don’t think all meat is a good idea, either. What if we hit some rough times and the food supply gets interrupted for a while? Would some sugar, flour, and beans send these people into a disease spiral? That is a real possibility now.
I still think this entire damn food fiasco stems mostly from antibiotics and glyphosate that wiped out scores of good microbes while simultaneously doing gut damage. And in addition to that, easier to digest refined and semi-refined grains were replaced with way too much plant material loaded with plant toxins. Green smoothies are 100% retarded, IMO. Such a fad is just oxalates, carotenoids, and other compounds waiting to wreck the body if there is the slightest gut permeability and/or lack of bacteria to get the stuff safely out of the body (which is like 90% of Americans, probably).
I also felt terrible on the carnivore diet. Weak and foggy. I lasted 4 days and could barely stand another bite of rib-eye. I am a hard-gainer and run slim, so I think switching to fat burning was a stretch as I don’t have much fat stores anyway. I just could not eat enough! I finally caved and devoured three chocolate caramels (I almost felt commanded by my body…seriously). My energy perked back up within minutes.
I avoid starch because of ankylosing spondylitis, so for me that means a fair amount of sugar everyday and/or sticky rice (which is nearly entirely amylopectin and that doesn’t reach the colon, so it doesn’t create the same issues as amylose). I test my blood sugar now and again in the morning and it’s in the 90s. The straight glucose sticky rice raises it the most when I test a couple hours after a meal. Even a fair amount of sugar (24 ounces of lemonade and some chocolates) is back below 100 in 2 hours. Taubes got me super paranoid about carbs back in 2010, so it’s a habit to just keep an eye on my blood sugar. Probably a waste of time. lol.
I was having some dizzy issues and I think I actually got B1, zinc, and manganese deficient, so I supplement a bit of those a few times a week (thank you to Garret Smith for the lesson on more refined carbs = need more B1). My diet is mostly meat (stopped pork for now), iceberg lettuce, homemade dressings (mustard and olive oil seem agreeable), sticky rice, some cucumbers, lots of homemade lemonade, and chocolates of some sort. How nuts is this time period with diets right now? But, this simple diet keeps me pretty much feeling good energy wise and not much pain to complain of (there were times in my twenties I was in considerable back pain and ankylosing spondylitis is typically worse once you are at rest, so often at 3 am I was just up wandering around the house to get the stiffness and pain to reside, usually in the lower back, but sometimes the upper and the neck too).
I tried green beans a couple weeks back and had a pretty bad back pain flare-up. Effs. No-go on that right now. So, I will dip my toe into food reintroduction here and there and go slow and cautiously. I think cooked parsnips might be worth a try. It’s just I am lazy about it now and have to prepare for issues if it doesn’t take well.
Honestly though, I am actually grateful I have found this diet, even though it is pretty bonkers. I can play disc golf without pain. Wrestle with my son. Frolic with my wife. Go for a hike. Remodel an entire house! Enjoy life again and not be worried about back pain and other odd aches that hampered me for years.
That’s awesome Evan! Feeling the same way about eating mostly potatoes, rice, skinless chicken, turkey bacon, olive oil, coconut oil, grape juice, and Oreo cookies. I’m not that strict though. I still eat whatever once or twice a week.
French fried potaters in maple syrup. That sounds good. I reckon I’ll have to try me some of them. Mmm-hmm.
Better make it a big ‘un Carl.
The Bible says two men ought not lay together, But I don’t reckon the Good Lord would send anybody like us to Hades.
lol… That’s funny. (Funny haha, not funny queer.)
LOL. We could keep those quotes going forever. Found this guy recently. Pretty funny… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh8MVmCFVhk
hahahaha, that was really good! That guy’s got the voice down perfectly. Oh, man…I can imagine walking around the house talking to myself in that voice, now. “Well, I reckon I better get down to da store and get me a sack-o-them yeller potaters. Mmm-hmm.”
Like I’ve said, I don’t think there is any evidence that they actually live longer once you adjust for size and ethnicity. The “Other” blue zone isn’t an area of exceptional shortness, nor is it occupied by non-whites with exceptional longevity, so it’s kind of interesting.
matt i gotta say… i used to have respect for you.. now u just seem silly.. of course you can get cancer in high mountain air if your diet is crap… you should know this instead of talking of the few people you know who get cancer in colorado.. im sorry to tell you but there are lots of countries where people are really active yet have higher cancer rates than usa.. if you are lower than 10000 feet you aren’t really in the mountain air. Its funny how you consider yourself more mature… living the fat cat life in florida.. lots of money and no real youthful nature struggle. your thinking has becomes domesticated and slow. maybe you should take some hormones and watch your thinking become more young again
LOL. I love that you misread the post and bashed me for how I used to think while also complimenting me on how I used to think. Funny stuff. And you think I have lots of money as well, that’s hilarious. Please remind me where I’m hiding it all so I can someday buy my first house.
I knew you were a low-key BDP…probably traveling in a G5.
I have actually been on a lot of private jets in my life, as Papa Stone started an airport for private jets in Nashville right before I was born. His first job was flying them as well from 1965-1968, before he became a commercial pilot. He flew lots of music stars and has some fun stories about Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis, and several others.
Your Dad sounds like an interesting fella. (The Most Interesting Man in the World?) Is it from him that you get your entrepreneurial flair?
I’d love to hear some of his stories, as those musicians are ones to which I grew up listening. I’m a long-time Elvis fan, too.
Does Papa Stone still fly? Though private pilots probably still have it pretty good, I feel bad for commercial pilots and crew today.
Papa Stone’s a passenger these days, but still in aviation.
I’d say I got my entrepreneurialism like this…
1) See my dad work too much, include work his way right out of a marriage (to my mom)
2) Decide that money doesn’t matter, and that work is for fools, so worked as little as possible and didn’t give a shit about my career at all
3) With no worries about career and money, was free to read a bunch of health books and blog about it
4) Papa Stone urged me to make a business out of it and basically did everything for me as I totally had a mental block about it and never would have even tried it on my own
5) Started making a living doing it and decided that was way better than having to work a job 6 months a year to survive
6) Found out it was actually quite easy to start little ventures, especially online
7) Started too many ventures too often when I realized my career as a health guru was coming to an end
8) Build up a big business
9) Crashed and burned
10) And now I’m slowly building back a successful, sustainable business since things went to shit at the end of 2016.
Jeez. I knew about #5 – #10, based on our talk last year. And, I’ve also watched much of it unfold, as I’ve been around here for a while. But, #1 – #4 wasn’t at all what I expected.
I guess your family is just like the rest of us, after all. haha Though, kidding aside, I’m sorry to hear your parents’ marriage suffered. And, perhaps your relationship with your Dad, to some degree. I hope things are better, these days, for everyone.
When we’re kids, we usually think adults — especially our own parents — know everything. But, once we get older, we realize just how much they were making it up as they went along, how scared they were, and how many mistakes they made. Or, at least, that was my experience.
You’re a good egg, Noonan.
You know, I actually think my relationship with both parents were improved by the divorce. I got to know them as individuals a lot more and I’m still quite close with both.
Anyone heard of this guy (Brad Marshall) and his “croissant diet”? It’s basically high-carb/high-fat, French Paradox eating. His fat is pretty much all saturated fat with increased stearic acid ratios.
https://www.biohackerslab.com/ep103-brad-marshall/
You had me at “croissant.” lol
Thanks for the link, JP. I’m going to give it a listen.
I have now JP! Looks hilarious and also very 180D.
I listened to the interview this evening. Very interesting, for sure.
Boy, eating a lot of croissants with butter (and, more butter with extra butter, too, as Brad did) doesn’t sound like a hardship. But, I also know it can sometimes be easy to get burned out on foods pretty quickly.
It’s unfortunate, though, that the only value he tracked was his weight. I would have enjoyed seeing some “Before” and “After” values for some inflammation and lipid tests. But, I know that wasn’t his goal.
Those minor quibbles aside, it enjoyed the conversation. The fact that he’s followed low-carb and keto diets without complete success made his weight loss accomplishment via croissants even more great.
Thanks again, JP.
Just finished reading your book ,Matt! LOVED it! Why? Great info from a human that cares! But the best part is that it made me laugh through the entire book! So refreshing you haven’t got your ego all caught up in anything! (Very rare). And maybe pretty important: it saved my life. Per your suggestion, Mat…I saw my herbalist just in time right after a minor heart attack. No. It wasn’t hypoglycemia like the doc said! My heart circuit was out due to thymus distress and blood micro parasites. Am now on the road to better health thanks to your Hypoglycemia book. p.s. thanks for saving my life!! Sue
Nice Sue! I mean, not the heart attack thing, the part about how I’m awesome, lol. Damnit, you’ve fueled my ego and ruined me now! :)
matty we all know you have more money than 99% of the readers… well you used to be more science based when u were young.. now you just go by observations like oh my gosh my ex grandma can hike really long and she got healthy coz she exercised lmao… worst of all is your spreadin of this false vitamin a lacking diet.. after years of reading stuff thats what you settled down on? good luck when your progesterone production will suffer and you will be like those mice in the vitamin a lacking studies.. really fast aged
LOL. Not from reading stuff, from trying stuff. I stuck with what finally worked. I guess I’m a dipshit that should rely more on theory and mouse studies and stop capitalizing letters like you?
Dammit, Matt, you need more (Weird) Science!
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4572812
Nice find Carl!
Regarding constipation, my current low vA diet seems to provide consistent, gold-standard bowel function which is a new experience, for me.
On other diets, high-veggie and no grains, or veggies and grains, bowel function was sometimes good, but more often I was constipated. The main difference was tossing the vA supplements, carrots, eggs, and high vA veggies. But I am eating meat, whole grains and beans, potatoes, apples, bananas, and berries. I’m still eating some dairy for calcium, but may start taking a low-dose, calcium supplement instead.
I’m still taking vK2 supplements so I haven’t worried about vK1, but I may decide to supplement vK1 in the future.
I think Grant Genereux was badly constipated (he mentioned concrete) on his meat/rice diet and that was one reason why he added beans. Grant relies on tap water for calcium, but my water supply is very low on calcium.
But I have no confidence that I could have good bowel function on an all-meat or other diet devoid of fiber.
matty matt matterson… its a bit crazzy behaviour to say that vitamin a voiding is doing u good.. all those people who drank milk their whole life and were healthy.. u are disregarding 99% of all humans who lived… noticed more white hairs lately as you become older?
LOL. Milk has got to be the single biggest asthma trigger. But I should drink it because of the people who drank it without having it trigger asthma? I should base my diet on other people’s experience instead of mine? That’s what you suggest?
And people don’t typically get vitamin A overload with milk, eggs, fruit, and vegetables. It’s typically with supplements, fortified foods, sunscreen, and prescription drugs containing megadoses of vitamin A, all of which I consumed massive amounts of from birth to my mid-teens. THEN I jumped into a “healthy diet” with tons of fruits, vegetables, vegetable juice (sometimes 40 ounces of carrot juice at a time), cod liver oil, raw dairy, etc. All of which made my asthma consistently worse, which makes sense because they all contain lots of vitamin A, which is the cause of asthma, period point blank. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/11841467_Could_bronchial_asthma_be_an_endogenous_pulmonary_expression_of_retinoid_intoxication
Oh but you won’t read that. You’re not trying to discover the truth. You’re not curious. You just want to keep guzzling Ray Peat’s jizz and treat everyone who isn’t helping you jerk him off like a moron. Good luck with that.
Jizz seems to be very low in vA, so no harm done, I would think, but wouldn’t reduce Ray’s liver storage, either.
matty i should also point out u realise by avoidin vitamin a your also avoidin thousainds other alergens?? what makes u think u got it down to vitamin a? lol. milk has so many things in it… liver has so many things in it… peat is against your diet u knew that right?
matty i thought u were jokin… then i look at the article u sent me… it seems there are other people out there u are crazzy enough to think that vitamin a causes asthma… funny that vitamin a is a well known asthma and allergy cure.. just google around for 5 minutes u will see… just keep in mind that in some studies vitamin a is just called retinol..
here is one study out of hundreds u can find:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12144646
Sounds interesting until you realize that the lowest levels of asthma are found in Asia and Central America, where the highest rates of “vitamin A deficiency” are found. I’ll take the sample size of 2 billion vs. an easily-falsifiable study of 35.
Where are you from, the U.K.? The country with the 3rd-highest rate of asthma in the world?
Hey, looks like this was taken right off a English restaurant menu! https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/foods-high-in-vitamin-a
I just now read about President Trump’s diet based on observations by an aide. Mostly beef: steak, hamburger, and meat loaf. Also some ketchup and only very occasional salads. The ketchup has vA, the salads maybe a very little, and the meat loaf might have a small amount of carrot. Seems pretty low on vA and his eyesight and general health seems normal. Also, seems to have a high-Tweeting capacity.
matty… uk also has too little sun… many depress people… lot of mayo deep fry fatty foods (fish &&chips).. drive on wrong side of road.. point is u are totaly mistaken if u think u and that dr garret crazzy man got it down to vitamin a… man you used to be a rational person… what happened? its almost like out of all the crazzy theories you studied (zero carb, vegan…..) u went with the one most crazzy of all. to people readin this: i think it will turn out to be a prank…matty will say in a few years it was to teach us a lesson to not listen to internet bloggers
I like that you ignore what I said and blame it on too little sun (and presumably low vitamin D levels), when vitamin D is the best defense against vitamin A (and many positives attributed to vitamin D are because of it working directly against the actions of vitamin A).
Listen, I can’t breathe if I eat foods with a high vitamin A content more than once or twice a week. I am sensitive to ALL of the high-vitamin A foods that I’ve tried. I am not sensitive to ANY low vitamin A foods that I’ve tried. Not a single food lacking vitamin A gives me asthma. All of the foods that contain it do give me asthma.
I’ve never said vitamin A toxicity is the cause of everything. But for asthma and eczema I am certain, and that in and of itself is a massive discovery I am fortunate to have found, and am fortunate to be able to share. Hear me now, believe me later.
Ja…hear me now, listen to me later, but believe me soon or yesterday. https://youtu.be/089FXiadgXY?t=2m20s
Exactly Carl!
Julia I would be the last person on this planet to think that vit A can be harmful. I was like most people. Especially people who are fanatics about their healthy life style and healthy diets and it doesn’t matter of it’s paleo, keto, plant based, raw vegan, Ray Peat or whatever. Simply vit A in form of retinol from animal foods like egg yolks, liver, dairy fat etc. or vit A precursors like beta carotens etc.. are all very healthy and you can eat as much as you can right? Yes there can occur some vit A toxicity, but only if you ingest very high amounts like from supplement or something like polar bear liver etc.. right? That is basically what everybody in health world thinks.. Well unfortunately we now know that vit A metabolism is not that simple it is actually very problematic and the amount of vit A that can be toxic can be very different for each person due to many reasons.. So for example person A can have everyhting right like healthy body with no heavy metal or any other toxicity, no adrenal issues, no liver/bile flow issues, good thyroid/high metabolism, having good lvl of vit D, eating organic food witouh herbicides and pesticides, having zero deficiencies in micronutrients like B vitamins, zinc, copper, manganese, selenium, molybdenum etc.. that are important in vit A metabolism this person can eat high amounts of vit A foods and have zero issues. But then you can have person B that will have something what I just mentioned in person A missing and you can have issues with 30% of what person A is eating with no problem.. I was behaving exactly like you. “WTF is this nonsense they are totally crazy or what?” Meanwhile now I am 10 months in on low vit A. It was crazy what detox symptoms I had. It was like I was on accutane again!! I was eating eggs 10 years every single day. I was eating dairy, drank milk like water, juicing carrots you name it.. Now I can tell you that once I am done with low vit A diet lets say after another 10 months I will eat more vit A, but I will make sure that I am not over 50% of RDA and that I am not taking any vit A in form of supplements. creams etc.. So pls don’t be so quick with your judgments..
I spent my entire childhood eating fortified cereal with fortified milk and eating chewable vitamins like candy. I estimate 10,000 IU on a typical day as an 8-year old kid. When I wasn’t eating that, I was eating cheesy eggs or something covered in tomato sauce, ketchup, or salsa. I drank a liter of orange juice most days. That’s when I was eating “unhealthy.” Eating “healthy” meant lots of phases of even more dramatic overconsumption, such as drinking 2 liters of carrot and/or orange juice daily, eating massive amounts of greens and adding kale and spinach to smoothies, or taking cod liver oil daily.
I always responded better to eating “unhealthy” no matter how hard I tried to eat the perfect diet.
Never has my diet been as low in nutrition as it is now, and I’m getting healthier in practically every way, slowly but surely. And no signs of supposed vitamin A deficiency after 20 months of averaging less than 10% of the RDA. And I feel best on 0% RDA of vitamin A.
I’m so glad I found your site. I was brought up taking a ton of vitamins – a multi AND a separate vitamin A – and my parents fed me lots of “healthy” fruits and veggies. I suffered from acne, terrible allergies, and eczema most of my life. It got much worse after pregnancy – found I couldn’t eat practically anything without itching and insomnia, so started the carnivore diet. That was terrible – my acne was worse, insomnia worse, but the rashes were gone, so I thought I was on the right track. Eventually I was so tired and I learned my thyroid had tanked. So I randomly started eating potato chips, and my health turned around. Now I’m eating mostly beef, potato chips, potatoes, jelly beans and other candy, and occasional bread or rice, and my health is even better. I have no dry eye, normal thyroid function, a ton of energy, sleeping better, less acne, and no eczema. I feel guilty sometimes reading about nutrients I’m missing or why low-carb is ideal, but hearing positive accounts like yours keeps me going. Thanks!
If you eat candy and potato chips as carb source at least make sure that you take B complex especially B1 which is important for sugar metabolism. With B1 deficiency or zinc,magnesium,chromium etc.. you can end up with type 2 diabetes for example..
Awesome Eliza! My experience mirrors yours in so many ways, and I eat almost exactly like you are, lol. I fry my own french fries and home fries and consume a lot of grape juice. More cookies, not so much candy. And been eating more chicken than beef lately but both are treating me well these days.
I remember reading on RPforum Ray Peat quote it was something like “instead of wasting your energy on some useless sport activity you should read some book” or something like that.. Ray Peat cult completely ignores maybe the most important part of this health puzzle and that is movement. You can’t expect good health if you are sitting on a chair 15 hours a day where your lymph fluid is not moving at all, blood circulation/oxygenation is poor etc.. Anyway I believe that ideal scenario is when you move due to your life style. So physical job, walking or riding bike instead of using car all the time etc.. Because I think it is about constant lower pace movement instead of not moving all day and than killing yourself by 30min hard gym workout.. This is great example how humans should live http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bo9hXBdTfzQ
Joan Vernikos (NASA scientist) discovered exactly what we need to do to be healthy while she was studying the astronauts extreme deterioration from living in zero-gravity in space.
When you’re doing a lot of sitting (most of us?), you need to stand up for a minute or two, at least 32 times during the day. (If you’re lying down a lot, you can cut the stand-ups in half.) This addresses vestibular dysfunction, blood pressure regulation and a lot of other things.
The stand-ups are by far the most important single thing to do, but all kinds of common activity, as an accumulation, are also needed such as: kitchen chores, yardwork, reaching and stretching, dressing, fidgeting, shopping, and a lot of etc.
This is Basic, but if you want, you can add dedicated exercise such as walking/biking/swimming which is Optimal, but still not absolutely necessary. The stand-ups and daily utility activities are necessary every day.
For even greater benefits, stand up without using your hands/arms for support.
Nice contribution. Definitely a massive difference between staying slightly busy vs. complete and total couch-riding.
“When you’re doing a lot of sitting (most of us?), you need to stand up for a minute or two, at least 32 times during the day. ”
I think that this is far from enough movement for optimal health of human. It may apply to old people like 80+, but younger people should sit down maybe to eat and relax at the end of the day. Petting dog and watching sunset or something.. Simply if you sit on your ass for 50% of the day time and more you are sabotaging your longevity and ability to stay healthy and vital in older age the same way as people who are smoke, eating junk all the time etc.. I will post this example of how humans should be able to move in older age http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bo9hXBdTfzQ Today even most 50yo people are not able to do this kind of work. Let alone people 70+.. My grandma was active like this in 80+.. This longevity and health is all about be outside, moving your body and not directly poisoning yourself with some chemicals like people are doing using multiple chemicals just for hygiene etc..
That video is inspiring. Thanks for sharing. Makes one wonder if we should put our phones down and live more like that wonderful old man. We probably would be happier and healthier for it.
Thanks for posting about Dr. Vernikos. I was unaware of her work and think she is f*ing brilliant. Looking forward to reading her books.
Here’s a video for anyone who is interested. Lots of good info, and she’s very enjoyable to listen to. If I did the math right, she’s in her early 80’s in it —- stands the whole time and is sharp as a tack.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSO7QCxYG80
you nailed it. folks can definitely adopt the lifestyle without moving to the mountains. will take some effort to find stuff you like to do all day in the outdoors and go from there.. besides, I70 is already too crowded. tx
Vernikos prescribed much more movement than just the stand-ups.
As for the Grandpa video, I really dreaded watching it. The poor fellow was a veritable beast of burden, eternally committed to drudgery, and chained to his livestock. I personally don’t want to live like that. I’ve done some of it and thankfully escaped to a much less physically demanding way of life. Also, if your body breaks down, you’re finished. Our natural heritage was probably more like constant wandering, scavenging, and eating bugs and tubers.
Yes, we would hopefully be able to move well in old age, but not need to apply extreme force by chopping and plowing. (My own grandfather was the Wyoming State Wood-chopping Champion one year, but was satisfied to become a career business-owner.)
And working with animals is very hazardous. Nowadays, we idolize the cowboy, but that work was generally done by men as a last resort, having no more desirable choice of vocation.
Can Grandpa do this? Picture a horizontal bar, supported six-feet above the ground. Starting from the ground, can he position himself standing on the bar, easily balanced on two feet, in 30 seconds or less? That physical action better describes our evolutionary abilities, our relationship with trees for refuge, and a fully developed and preserved vestibular function.
Anyway, thanks for posting the video, but I prefer to enjoy the mountains and forests by hiking and backpacking, or just walking, and I don’t think Grandpa’s life and challenges were natural in an evolutionary sense.
Hey Matt, time to read The Obesity Code by Jason Fung. It’s the latest and greatest. He talks about how Taube’s carb-insulin hypothesis is incomplete, noting the rice-eating Asians and Kitavans. He has an different definition of what insulin resistance really is. He also mentions that how how much we eat affects our basal metabolism. Personally, I have been exploring the carnivore diet (also the latest and greatest–check out The Carnivore Code by Paul Saladino) and my body temp has risen, better and faster than when I tried RRARF, without the attendant weight gain, and I’m not even trying to overeat.
Carnivore diet has actually been the only thing that has raised my body temp to normal levels and kept them there effortlessly. I did have some success with the Eat for Heat approach. But it was like a yo-yo. I was up and down from day to day. Had many good and bad days. Carnivore diet is the most amazing thing I’ve ever experienced health-wise. 95% of my symptoms, gone within 2-3 weeks. I have so much energy, that I even started to run. First time in my life I ever felt like running… and I’m 41!
Awesome!
matty stoney… HAHAHAHAHAHAA… i just saw ur little corona panic vid… what a JOKE GUYS!!! look… if matts diet and life advice are as accurate as is corona prediction vid on youtube… then u better stop following everything hes saying and block his websites from ur browser…. matty u really are a idiot… ok lets see if we have million dead before april ends. ur predictions r way of… oh and matty? make sure u dont buy foods others have touched… u may catch the scary little virus… shouldnt ur vitamin a empty diet make u stronger? guess what vitamin a protects against infections so no wonder ur scared… guys matty is scared coz his diet has no vitamin a lmfao… sure theres no push at all to sell vacines…. we need to do more n self isolate for 2 year!!! matty is the biggest joke of the year 2020… matty ur credibility has gone to 0 after people see who u really r……….
Pretty sure it’s the opposite on the A there killer, especially with respiratory viruses… https://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn/2013/246737/
That wasn’t a prediction by the way, that was just simply a calculation based on current growth factor of around 1.12-1.13, which is the ballpark average growth factor for the past week or two. I do believe the interventions being adopted everywhere will help slow that down.
Or continue to believe that it’s a staged hoax in Italy and Spain and that it couldn’t happen to your country (of Nigeria based on your capitalization). That’s the beauty of the modern internet age. No longer do you have to accept reality. You can just go to Reality Buffet online anytime you like and choose what you like while rejecting the rest.
Anyway, I’ve gotta run. Got a meeting coming up with my reptilian shapeshifter buddies about how we’re going to crash the stock market even harder on Monday.
Wow you are ignorant…
I mean Gandalf not you Mat..
Just ran across this nugget:
Blue Zones Dietary Myth
https://benjamindavidsteele.wordpress.com/2019/05/28/blue-zones-dietary-myth
That’s my post. I noticed you linked to it. Once all the data and historical background is considered, the Blue Zones look much less interesting for the reasons claimed and so much more interesting in a different way than the original theory would suggest.
Much of longevity seems to be at least partly caused by higher consumption of animal foods and hence greater intake of fat-soluble vitamins and other animal-based nutrients. This is opposite of conventional wisdom. I discussed this in terms of the protein debate in an other post as well:
https://benjamindavidsteele.wordpress.com/2019/09/17/high-vs-low-protein/
Oh wow, I used to follow you a few years ago, and then it seemed that you had taken some distance form your blog for your other venture…. I didn’t know you were back! I’ll check out what you’ve been up to here. I’m so glad to read you again Matt!
Where’d you go, Matt? Finally given up on trying to be a guru? Those “get rich, quick money” schemes didn’t really go as planned? Why not post another random article on your abandoned website and blog? There’s still plenty of desperate hypochondriacs that will fall at your footsteps of “guidance”. Has it hit you that you’re not as relevant and respected as you once believed to be? That your “prestige” doesn’t leave your own tiny circle of esoteric ramblings? Where are you, Matt? How about another half sarcastic reply? Maybe try publishing another book with poor grammar, sophomoric humor, and laughable editing? Come on, Matt. We miss you!
Oh the other businesses are going great. Too well to fuck around here being a self-appointed, unqualified health expert on the internet anymore. The last year showed me just how problematic laypersons trying to be health experts on the internet can be!
You mean the laypeople virtue signaling about their masks and vax and pretending obesity, diabetes and myriad other conditions didn’t completely inflate COVID deaths which include “probable” causes? Of course when anyone dies or has serious complications after getting jabbed, we go 180 and say the cause must be anything but the vax. Science!
No, the other laypeople.
I found this to be a relief since recently I thought I could solve all my weight and health problems following a high carb low fat diet. I used to read your stuff way back in the early 2000s and it radically changed my way of thinking about food. I just have a couple of questions though.
Would you recommend supplementing omega-3s alone, not as in Cod Liver Oi,l for a time to help counteract the effects of a high omega-6 diet? I was going to start taking CLO for this reason but may consider an omega-3 without vitamin A if such exists.
What is your opinion on the anti-cancer diet (low-glycemic, high in veggies)? My adaptation on this diet is plenty low-glycemic whole grains.
What are your thoughts on fasting for cancer patients? There has been positive research about the effects of autophagy to regenerate cells and enhance cancer treatments such as chemotherapy.
I am not necessarily looking for a straight up answer in the comments, but if you could lead me to some good research about it, I would be interested. I also hope maybe this would perk your interest as you seem to have a practical view on a lot of common dieting practices.
Matt, you seem to be involved somehow in the Ray Peat world (your articles are referenced a lot on their forum). Ray Peat is very PRO Vitamin A. I think I”ve seen you espouse Ray Peatean ideas as well.
I also you see that you have a lot of involvement with Grant Devereaux. Grant is staunchly AGAINST Vitamin A.
As somebody at the cross section of 2 different ideologies (regarding vitamin A) I would love to see you write an article that addresses both sides.
Both sides have their points, but have such dogma-like beliefs that a non-biased view is hard to find.
Would you do an article about Vitamin A – addressing both the pros mentioned by Ray Peat and the cons mentioned by Grant, and sum it up with your own conclusions?
Just an idea :)
No, Ray Peat is dead wrong on Vitamin A, dead wrong on coffee, dead wrong on aspirin, dairy, and the list goes on. He’s an interesting guy because he weaves together fascinating health theories, but my general conclusion on him is that he’s pretty much just brain candy for seriously afflicted health nerds.
Matt pls do some new podcast or something. We want to hear you again. :)
Hello Matt Stone
I have a fat loss health theory to share with you, not too far off from the vitamin A stuff you have posted about. My theory in a nutshell is that toxins are an underestimated factor in making people fat and unhealthy and – significantly – preventing people from losing weight healthily. The corollary theory is that doing things to reduce toxic load on the body promotes health and fat loss in the long term. What do you think of this idea?
It seems common sense that if toxins are stored in body fat tissues, that when released they could cause problems due to calorie reduction and also the body would resist attempts to reduce calories for this reason. I’m not sure about that really, I suppose I could have confirmation bias and I’m sure its a lot more complicated than what I am speculating here. But several observations make me entertain this notion.
First I always noticed that people that run for a hobby nearly always have a certain look to them. Hard to explain what I mean really, its an intuitive observation but very persistent to me – healthier, better, more natural looking, better skin, even more weathered but in an attractive way kinda look. Of course this doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with toxins, but it is consistent with some studies I found one day suggesting that exercise can reduce levels of serum toxins by 40% on average which is interesting.
Mechanistically, excercise like running could reduce various toxins via multiple mechanisms. Better lymph/blood circulation to organs of elimination, improved mitochondrial function, improved ability for the body to burn fat, faster turnover of fat cells therefore over time less toxins, and of course also sweating which multiple studies shows excretion of significant amounts of toxins.
I recently listened to Ari Whitten’s podcasts on detoxification and on the benefits of sauna which are quite impressive and include detoxification. Apparently there is a large body of evidence suggesting massive negative associations with the kind of persistent organic pollutants that modern people are commonly exposed to.
From a practical viewpoint, this suggests several positive actions. Eating organic, avoiding chemicals in personal care products and other house hold products and other common sense actions to reduce exposure to external toxins (live somewhere with clean air or open a window from time to time).
For dealing with toxins already in the body, exercise and sauna use seem like obvious options. For exercise, I think we would want to get at the fat and sweat, so something like MAF training in the “fat-burning” zone while hot enough to sweat seems like the right idea. I have been training this way for a month or so (only an hour or 2 a week really) and aside from significantly more energy, the one odd thing I noticed is that I’m not bothered nearly as much subjectively by getting hungry. Before there was always this odd discomfort, even before meals, now its not such a big deal. Is it possible this is because my body is more primed to handle the inflow of toxins released from stored fat? I don’t know really, but its my spit balling.
I still think Vitamin A is probably the primary toxin. Hence the bright yellow colored fat humans have (it’s supposed to be white!)
Personally, I recommend a 7-day juice fast followed by a coffee enema colon cleanse and then alternating between Raw ‘Till 4, Vegan, Pegan, Carnivore, Fruitarian, Macrobiotic, and Vegetarian diets on each day of odd weeks. On even weeks, you would follow a 16:8, 5:2, alternate day, 3-day, 5-day, and 7-day fasting routines. Be sure to be ketogenic…with carb-back-loading…but, not too many carbs, due to “insidious weight gain.” Check urinary, blood, and breath ketone levels. Also, be sure to wear a continuous glucose monitor and compare the pH readings of your urine, blood, and saliva. Add those three values and divide by your rectal temperature. Ensure the average remains above the value of Pi. Avoid oxalates, lectins, phytates, salicylates, FODMAPS, nightshades, lampshades, and sun shades.
Lampshades are the worst. They contain hyperallergenic dust and black mold, not to mention they are literally a sponge for toxic blue light. Um, no thanks!
Hyperallergenic dust and black mold? Well, you need my patent-pending face mask with built-in nanotechnology beads made from rare earth crystals with high vibrational energy that neutralize harmful elements! The technology has been validated by Bruce Lipton and the masks are endorsed by Gwyneth Paltrow.
As for toxic blue light, it’s awful! I mean, it’s even emitted by the sun! How could the universe make such a colossal mistake?! To solve this problem, I’m partnering with Dave Ass-Spray to create a contact lens with a blue-blocking coating made of grass-fed butter and MCT oil.
Blue light is damaging at night for sure. From the sun it’s different, because it comes with infrared as well. So it somewhat balance it self. People working 12 hours a day under strong blue lights feel like shit. I was one of them I felt that even as a kid that I hate artificial lights. It made me instantly depressed basically and vise versa natural light from the window make me instantly feel better…
His contact lenses are sweepin’ the land. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9SRyeDNPBk
Haha, you read my mind! I was thinking of that product!
Ah, BluBlockers, Soloflex, psychic readings with Miss Cleo, the ThighMaster, Don Lapre teaching us how to place “tiny classified ads,” etc. Those were the days.
Here’s one I really could use:
EZ Butter: Finally Makes Cutting Butter Easy!
https://youtu.be/xOfdND7ORAw
Sure, it’d be helpful in the kitchen. But, it’d also be handy in the bedroom.
Who could forget a black guy rapping with a giant sombrero? Not this guy. Thanks for the butter cutter thing. That looks awesome! I hadn’t seen that. They should make a WAPF version where the whole stick drops out, lol.
Hi matt…i tried to submit the form on this website but it didn’t work… Is the website inactive now? I’m just wondering whether the He’d is good fatty liver? I don’t know if I have insulin resistance… I suspect so… I do have ‘hypoglycemia’ events… Hoping for some guidance as keen to avoid an unnecessary restrictive diet if possible… Will only do it if it will work. Also, how long do you suggest doing it for?
Hi, Felicity:
I’m not Matt, but I’ve received a lot of help from his books and I’ve long recommended them to anyone struggling with “diet.”
Personally, I have the audio versions of his books, because I struggle with reading — plus, I find Matt delivery both pleasant and funny.
If you’re open to the idea, here are the three books I suggest, in particular:
* Diet Recovery 2: Restoring Mind and Metabolism from Dieting, Weight Loss, Exercise, and Healthy Food
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BEJOSFY
* 12 Paleo Myths: Eat Better than a Caveman
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008ZGBFOQ
* Solving the Paleo Equation: Stress, Nutrition, Exercise, Sleep
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I4CTGII
Currently, two of them are on sale. Still, even at full price, they’re not that much money and worth the investment.
Whatever you choose, I wish you good luck.
Lazlo
“…compare the pH readings of your urine, blood, and saliva. Add those three values and divide by your rectal temperature. Ensure the average remains above the value of Pi.”
Just….thank you. I needed that. I will not consider a tracker until the next podcast I listen to.
☺
WOW! It’s a graveyard in here! 180 Degree Health was a gimmick from the start that even Matt admits now. No videos or photos of Matt, just a ghost on the web. Any interview with him is from 5+ years ago.
Feel sorry for anyone that spent on money on his books or “consultation”.
Dog Daddy,
I’ve purchased several of Matt’s books in kindle format and audio format. For me, the information has been very helpful. His work has helped others, too, as that’s how I found out about Matt — through other blogs and podcasts.
You’re entitled to your own opinion, of course. If you don’t like the information provided or the opinions expressed, that’s fine. However, why come here to make false statements and be rude? What were you hoping to accomplish?
Matt has given much of his information away for free in his many newsletters, hundreds of blog posts, podcasts, and thousands of responses to questions asked in comments — all unpaid and requiring him to freely give many hundreds of cumulative hours of his time. For people like me who preferred to get the information in one place, electronic and audio books were an option. Not only were his e-books always inexpensive, he sometimes offered them for free.
Finally, I’ll say that Matt has great character and integrity. I’ve seen people struggling with anxiety about their health and Matt giving out his personal e-mail address in a blog comment and offering to connect with the person and see if he could help them. Through his own journey and experimentation, he’s always been honest about what he knows, what he doesn’t know, when he gets something wrong, when he changes his mind, and when he modifies his perspective. If only everyone were as forthright.
Lazlo
Hey Buck, looking to start a blog about this, oops wrong place, where am I? Just kidding let’s be friends? Also thanks for saving my life in 2015 :)
Hi Matt, The world was hijacked by criminals with this COVID-19 shit. It’s nothing but fraud by the New World Order. Hospitals were emptySARS-2 never was even purified as TorstonEnfelbrecht revealed via email response rrom the four original scientist. 2020 started off so well then Kobe passed sadly