ongoing search for health and fitness

Since i began writing here, things have changed in the paleo blogosphere.  It's kinda funny, really -- some very fervent advocates have deserted the cause, some continuing believers have slowed their rate of publishing, others have largely lost their audiences (you can tell from the volume and variety of commenters), and some "anti's" have crowed that they just KNEW paleo was BS and it was only a matter of time....

Meanwhile, there are still seekers after improved health, some of whom have also moved on to other schemes, and some like me who have experienced improvement but insufficient wellness to satisfy ourselves, who keep tweaking and telling you about it.

Since returning from our son's farm in VA where our dog Spenser picked up a bacterium which nearly was an end to him, both my husband and i have also dealt with some health issues which i can't help but suspect of being related.  J (the last one to catch "something" as he usually is) ended up with what looked like a virus that settled in his lungs, and which he recalls began when i got the super-vacuum that stirred up all the nasty stuff that was living in our bedroom carpet.  I (earlier) got that horrible exacerbation of allergy which i subsequently identified as histamine/tyramine intolerance, which INSPIRED the purchase of the vacuum and bedroom super-air-filter.  My studies into histamine intolerance led me into beginning a study of "chronic fatigue syndrome" -- something i think i've been dealing with for most of my 58 years, but which i've been too "proud" to admit widely.

I haven't even finished reading "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome:  a Treatment Guide" but i've learned some interesting things which i'm beginning to put into practice.  Don't get me wrong -- the book is far from perfect (like, the authors aren't very savvy about diet), but i AM a big proponent of looking at the experiences of others and considering whether their tweaks might be helpful to me too.  There's a LOT more reading to do, and i think i can safely promise to keep passing along what i've found valuable and helpful.  ;-)

For now my message is, paleo isn't wrong, it's just incomplete.  "Coincidentally," paleo foods -- "non-neolithic" foods -- ARE lower in toxins than what people have been eating for the last couple of thousand years ... ESPECIALLY the last 100.  A big part of our modern malaise is because:

• "neolithic" diet foods are much higher in histamines, tyramines and salicylates as well as overt toxins;
• modern reliance on antibiotics for TOO MANY things have completely messed up our microbiota;
• "recent" cultural ideals promote health-eroding behavior;
• expecting drugs/medicine to be "the answer" cause society as a whole to hand over our responsibility for wellness to those who have a vested interest in promoting antagonistic practices.

I won't be surprised when i find that few people besides me find this a compelling reason to limit diet and influence behavior.  My biggest problem is knowing that a lot of the suffering around me is self-inflicted, and that although i know my findings COULD help others it will be widely ignored.  :-(

what works, from a different angle

This is not a personal progress report.  I'm inspired to write something more like a State of the Union (Blogosphere?) Address, inspired by a few of my favorite internet writers.

I think that some of us start blogging as a relief valve; our nearest and dearest frequently have NO need for -- or interest in -- our particular dietary interventions, and merely talking to ourselves is less ... methodical.  KEEPING TRACK OF THINGS, organizing our thoughts in such a way that it makes sense on paper -- that's the way to formulate a viable hypothesis when it comes to improving our bodies' functions.  What's likely to be productive for us, what will REALLY improve our health and well-being?  The slap-dash methods "normal" people can get away with can be disastrous for "us."  We use internet blogging as an off-site journal -- record-keeping that others can access too.

And we RANT!!!  :-D  It's very satisfying (and not particularly destructive) to express one's righteous fury to the aether!  The aether doesn't file for divorce, fire our asses, cut off our allowance, or throw us out of the house.

Whatever the reasons each of us has for writing, somewhere someone can learn and benefit from our experiences and ruminations thereon.  The more i see, the more i'm convinced that this is important.

The bit is, although we're not really UNIQUE snowflakes, there are very few with our particular challenges to be found, and finding others like us CLOSE TO HOME is almost impossible.  ...Shit, try to find salsify or sunchokes in your local grocery!  Try to find non-goitrogenic greens in KingmanFrigginKansas!*  Ask "normal" people about diet?  Expect to hear nothing that won't make YOU suffer and lose ground.

Well, thanks to blogging sites, i've FOUND a comparative abundance of people whose knowledge and experience is of value to me, and whose personalities are not painful to bear, but are reasonably congenial.  Not here in my town, of course -- one is in Ireland, and one in New Jersey, others in California, Washington, Colorado, and Scotland, various places in Europe, several in England and Canada and a couple in New Zealand, and ... lots more in places i don't know.  The nearest ones are at a considerable distance -- not people i can spontaneously go meet for lunch!

So we have collected our own special international community --welcome to the far-flung tribe!  Wise Women and Shamans:  we have experience of life outside the norm, we ruminate over what we've learned and we're able to communicate lucidly.  Gandalf once said something about people like us talking to ourselves because we tend to address the most intelligent person in the room ... but that's not necessary now, as we have each other.  Here we sit, ostensibly participating in a discussion circle of one, with the help of a machine which is hooked to other machines, in front of which are other people like us ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD.  Truly, the internet can take away the stigma of muttering to ourselves as we trudge along our accustomed rut, because on the internet even wackos have readers.  We're never completely ALONE unless we want to be.

And our un-met friends will be there to answer our questions, reassure and encourage us, and send us sympathy and best wishes because whatever it is that's troubling us, SOMEBODY has been there before, done that and come out the other side already.  Want to know WHAT WORKS or how to deal with whatever-it-is?  Just ask.  SOMEBODY knows.

I appreciate my friends i've never met!  I'm grateful that they take the time and trouble to share their wisdom.  They're another manifestation of what i've found in the more-immediate world -- most people are at least "good" and some of them are absolutely OUTSTANDING.

_____
*  yeah, once i was hungry for greens while visiting the MIL, and the only thing that came close was bagged spinach....

hey, where's everybody going???

TWO of the best blogs have evaporated into the aether -- Ad Libitum and Kindke's Health Notes.  :-(  I hope you two know that this is not something your devoted readers can live with!  Not-posting (because i know you both have busy lives) is one thing ... but disappearing archives is quite another!

COME BACK, "tiny crack babies"!

driving arguments with sarcasm, ridicule and scorn

As i've observed before, other people's blog lists can be excellent sources of new reading material.  An awfully large proportion of the blogs i visit but don't continue with (few in number, actually) may CONCEIVABLY have valuable content, but the tone of the writer might be just unappealing or unacceptable.  The atmosphere of the discussion -- the ambiance of the site -- too often reeks of an intolerable AT-TI-TOOOOOD.

It's a pity.  I don't think such writers really care one way or another whether i or those like me are adding to their stats, but i can't help but think they might be happier people "in real life" if they weren't constantly alienating the people around them with their behavior.

I can think of a whole schmeer of reasons why they might carry on the way they do:  perhaps they don't have logical reasons for holding their opinions and they're covering up for that fact, or conversely, they aren't good at defending the perfectly valid positions they take, and they're trying to keep discussion at bay; it could be that their personal histories are full of opposition or rejection and their current attitudes are designed to keep others at arms' lengths as a result; there is no shortage of possible reasons for people to be unpleasant!  But tell me, is it working for them?  Are they getting what they want from it?

The question with me is, are they reaping some kind of satisfaction out of being the way they are?  Why do some people enjoy being assholes?  I'm reminded of the scene from "Wolf" in which Jack Nicholson is talking to Michelle Pfeiffer about HER airs -- that the barrier she raises between herself and others actually has the opposite effect from what she intends.  I rather suspect that the overbearing and mulish imagine themselves powerful in all the "glory" of their rudeness -- that they fancy others are intimidated by a stance of that nature -- whereas in reality those others (who have manners, native politeness, or simply prefer to CHOOSE their battles) merely don't want to tell them what ignorant boors they really find them.

Damn, ANOTHER rant, and so soon!  ;-)

physician, heal thyself

I frequently read certain blogs that i don't have on my OWN list (which is long already); PrincipleIntoPractice is one of them.  Her recent post reminded me of something that has always bothered me about the medical profession.

THE HOURS THESE PEOPLE WORK are just outrageous!  How do they expect people to do good work when they don't have time to sleep enough or eat right ... or go to the bathroom for chrise-sake?  Hell, if airlines made their pilots do this, the uproar of protest would echo from the welkin!

Some brave soul on the inside is going to HAVE to start a movement to remedy this situation.  Making it a virtue to work 36-hour days is not rational.  No wonder fatal mistakes by hospitals and doctors are so numerous.

I used the quote, "Physician, heal thyself" as my title today, but it should have been "heal thy profession."

another "duh" moment

My mood, energy and well-being vary significantly, depending on what i eat.  If i eat like "normal people" for awhile (i'm out of town, eating in restaurants a lot, snacking, or at the mercy of some other person's cooking), i lack vitality, i tire easily and take a long time to recover, and tend to be crankier.  Now, by most people's estimation, i'm STILL EATING LOW-CARB (under 100g/d), but far more than i'm used to ... and some of the food is FRIED.

AHAAA, shouts the mainstream, it's that high-fat diet!!!

NO.  It's that omega-6 overdose.  ...In ME, who has NO industrial-seed-oils in the house AT ALL.  Can you imagine the imbalance in those poor overweight devils who try to live on salad ... with commercial dressing?

In one of those blinding-light-on-the-road-to-Damascus moments, i "saw" last night that the reason i FEEL SO GOOD eating my at-home diet of grassfed/pastured meat and eggs is ... the additional omega-3s.  I take cod liver oil every day and eat salmon and sardines regularly, but obviously in my case more is better.  My thanks to Wooo and Sidereal for pointing out recently what a difference O3 makes to the brain.

It wouldn't be the first time....  I need to supplement all kinds of things that properly-functioning individuals safely assume they get from food.  Iron, B12, carnitine....

We're going out of town again as a Christmas treat -- the first vacation J and i have enjoyed ALONE together without him having any work duties, in over a decade.  I'll be eating out for over a week.  Tell ya what i'll also be doing -- loading up on fatty fish!  I considered leaving the CLO at home, but that ain't gonna happen now.  If i have to fill the hotel fridge with lox, i WILL do it!  ;-)

new idea for me, borrowed from EB

I had occasion to reread Sidereal's last post, having referred my son to it this morning....  It's no surprise to me that blogs' comment sections can be just as fertile an area for ideas as the main text -- except where the audience is a pack of morons, and Ad Libitum's readers are NOT.

"Exceptionally Brash" made a comment which didn't particularly "click" with me when i first read it, but DID this morning.  She observed that the use of bioidentical progesterone seemed to "fix" her ability to use carbohydrates in a "normal" way (my phrasing).  Remember, she was a lean vegetarian for many years, then with midlife hormonal changes began to gain weight on the same intake that she maintained with before.

The discussion seems to me to settle on dopamine as the final substance which wrought the desirable end-product, but i wonder if testosterone might be a part of the equation.  It occurs to me that the paleo world's "potato brigade" is peopled largely by the highly-T-endowed amongst us....

Since going out of town a couple of weeks ago, i have been abnormally low in energy.  It's as though to have even MY usual levels of vitality, i need to have every nutrient in proper quantity and balance just like a house of cards -- and one puff of wind (in the form of a deficiency, or too many carbs, or too little sleep...) can tumble it right down.  The tedious rebuilding of my Edifice of Energy can take a LONG TIME ... and i'm just beginning the second story at this point.

I'm going to try yet another experiment.  Adding tyrosine made me hyper instead of energetic, and carnitine was less than perfect too, though i'm still using both supplements albeit in smaller, less frequent doses.  I just ordered some sublingual pregnenolone tablets as suggested by Drs Peat and Sahelian (not that these guys are on my go-to list), and i'm interested to see what the effects will be.  Ideally, it will be a better supplement than the progesterone cream i've used before, which tends to promote fat deposition on the location where it's applied!

one benefit of being away...

Yesterday afternoon, i indulged myself, and it felt GOOD!  I was drinking champagne and catching up on half a week's blog posts.

Sometimes weeks go by without much new stuff too read -- sad for me, a reading junkie!  Not that there isn't a lot of good older articles in the archives of my favorite blogs, but somehow "dried fruit" isn't as compelling to me as the fresh juicy stuff (figuratively speaking).  When Peter, John, Emily or Mike writes about a study that's hot off the presses, and which confirms my low-carb bias, the sweet smell of victory fills the air!  :-D  And as for "think-pieces" from Sid or Wooo....

Being as incommunicado as i am in "cowboy town" gives me an exceptional opportunity of reading new stuff when i get back in range of a secure internet connection.  In the wilds there, i depend on my Blackberry, and though my Verizon connection is better than the old AT&T one, it's still VERY iffy.  Holding an audible telephone conversation isn't a sure thing, and when it comes to loading a page with too many pictures ... HA!

So getting back home i had a wealth of fresh blog posts and articles to read -- hurrah!  My favorite reading chair was burdened for HOURS.

I've long believed in the power of reading for encouragement and reinforcement in "dieting," and there was a post at Mike Eades' blog (which eludes me, now that i'm trying to find it) that gave a good scientific reason for continuing my habit.  These days i'm so confirmed in what works and what doesn't i don't really HAVE to get continued reassurance that whatever practice i'm pursuing actually WILL pay off ... but i must say i like the positive input anyway!

stress, thoughts, and a vestigial headcold

I was stressing to an unusual degree about my upcoming trip to Texas for a living-history event.  All sorts of things that i need to do cropped up at the eleventh hour.  I caught a cold.

And an unusual cold it is.  It feels like a virus wrapped in cotton-wool:  numb brain, low energy, head and body aches, rough throat, and the kind of sinus drainage that does NOT come from allergy ... but all in a vague fashion -- not acute.  Nevertheless, i think that normal cold treatment is in order.  REST.  I'm delaying my trip, then driving straight to Houston before going with my daughter to NOLA for Halloween weekend.

Goes t' show ya!  The lifestyle changes which have protected me from illness (including the flu) for the last few years aren't effective against that endogenous saboteur called STRESS.

And stress is largely self-inflicted.  Unconsciously so in the case of diet and nutrition (in most people), semi-consciously from choices we feel we can't avoid, or fully-consciously-but-resentfully when we know we shouldn't procrastinate/worry/work too hard/stay in a bad situation, etc ... but have a hard time breaking the habit.  The first two are my buggaboos.  I have too many interests, and can't stay on top of all i want or need to do.  A deadline appears, an unexpected task pops up, and voilá -- stress.

I sometimes think that putting a name to it has made it worse.  People "in the old days" had plenty of stress, but approached the situation from a different point of view.  In the western world, the troubles of life were often looked upon as a test of faith sent by "God," ridiculous as it appears to the modern science-based mind.  Individuals were encouraged to bear up courageously with the promise of heaven as their reward, but if they failed their test ... well, then they deserve their bad fate, don't they?  Talk about a rigged system.

But now we try to solve our problems rather than just cope, sometimes with the aid of pharmaceuticals and other little helpers.  We feel like ALL problems have a solution, or should have, and we're not willing to just let go.  We no longer look on life the same way.  We also allow cultural myths to dictate what life OUGHT to be like, and THAT is largely BS.

There are all kinds of recommendations on how to reduce stress, and most of them are great in theory ... if difficult to actually PRACTICE.  If you can sit down and meditate when your brain won't stop enumerating all the things you need to get done ... you're a better man than i, Gunga Din.

*****
There have been some terrific ideas in the blogs recently!  (Of course, i'm speaking of MY BLOG LIST, not other people's! [wink, nudge])  Kindke, Fred, and Sid (on a non-dietary subject) -- great points made!  And just like the political situation here in the US, when some things are SO CLEAR to "us," what the hell is the matter with the thinking processes of those other people???  How CAN people who are stuck in an outworn world-vision become unstuck?

doing it wrong, yet again....

I'm starting to have a real problem with another resident of the blogosphere....

If people want to give low-carbing a REAL chance to benefit themselves, they do it in a manner recommended by the "experts" -- you know, those with real experience.  If they want to "debunk" any part of the system, they design their own diet.  AND THEY ALWAYS DO IT THE WRONG WAY.

Might as well be goddamned politicians, the way they bend right and wrong....

mistaken dietary ideas

I was reading along in Dr. B.G.'s blog this morning when the lightbulb went on over my head.  Forgive me for getting excited about such an elementary revelation, but after all it IS monday....

BTW, happy Thanksgiving, Canada!  :-)  Eat something "evil" for me!

Back to where i was before i so rudely interrupted myself:  ...she was talking about a paleo diet improving health markers even in the absence of weight loss, when my brain woke up a bit upon seeing the H-word.  There's nothing like having a chronic problem, for sharpening up the eye-to-brain circuits, allowing even a similar-LOOKING word to bringing the mind to attention.  Yep, she DID say "hypothyroidism," not something similar-but-not-to-the-point.

She listed it as a contributor to chronic high insulin.  Since thyroid hormone has, as one of its many jobs, that of helping to escort glucose into cells for burning as energy, it makes sense that a shortage would allow too much sugar to lurk in the bloodstream, necessitating more pancreatic effort to clear it.  Could this be the MAIN reason hypothyroids have trouble losing weight, because YOU CAN'T BURN FAT IN THE PRESENCE OF SIGNIFICANT INSULIN?  Could it be that the lowered metabolism infamous in hypothyroidism is pretty much moot?  Remember how Wooo showed that metabolic rate isn't broadly correlated with fat burning/storing?

Hypothyroid people have been as misled as diabetics, concerning how they should nourish themselves! The way you can boost thyroid levels in "normal" people is NOT a good guide for OPTIMIZING thyroid production in those of us who are thus challenged!

OUR goal should be to reduce our NEED for higher thyroid levels!!!  An' ya wanna know what makes us require more hormone?  One big thing is the same substance that makes people need more insulin.  Another thing is stress.  Be nice to yourself.  (Eat bacon ... not safe starches.  OR fruit.)

iodine as antioxidant

Thanks to smgj (in a comment in Wooo's blog) for the inspiration to visit Jack Kruse's blog again....  As observed, his recent posts are a lot more intelligible to me than some of the old ones i'd explored before!  I found some VERY interesting comments about iodine!

THIS is why it's valuable to have people in different fields, with different special interests and different health challenges in your internet reading circle!  Jack spoke of iodine functions in the brain that i'd never read of before, and introduced to me the subject of iodine as an antioxidant.  WOW....

A brief google search gave me reading material enough to keep me busy for a LONG time.  In addition, i'm inspired to start at the beginning of the series in which the link above was found.

I've been a proponent of Iodoral for several years now -- it's done me immense good -- and i'm always angered and frustrated when i hear people who are less-than-expert parrot the iodine-is-dangerous pablum.  As one of my favorite esoteric writers said, anything that's strong enough to be medicinal has potential for harm!  But to frighten away people who can benefit from a nutrient (eggs, anyone?) out of  insufficient knowledge is practically criminal.

Bottom line:  iodine IS potentially problematic if you use it irresponsibly, but holds tremendous promise for whole-body wellness if supplemented intelligently.  (Selenium balance is a MUST.)  A responsible NEUROSURGEON points to its value in brain health -- his most virulent critics, many of whom have significantly fewer credentials than he, conveniently forget what this guy has accomplished.  And his latest writings prove that he hasn't "lost it" yet.

another addition

Yesterday, i added Todd Hargrove (Better Movement) to my blog list.  I haven't read all of his posts by a long shot, but so far i've been positively impressed by his writing.

So much of the fitness/physicality aspect of the low-carb/paleo world leans toward activities only a muscle-builder could love....  My ears perked up when i read Todd's article about sitting -- his opinion is the same as mine concerning the EPIDEMIOLOGICAL observations about healthiness and chairs!  Just because people have been sitting to work for such a short period of history doesn't mean they weren't sitting for extended periods, before.  Also, even though there are correlations between standing/walking and fitness, and between sitting/lounging and overweight ... they are STILL only correlations, you know, those things we decry when "studies" connect disease and bacon.

Just as hypercholesterolemia is not a statin-deficiency disease, so poor fitness is not a gym-avoidance problem.  This guy seems to understand that.

here i go again

...Reacting to other people's blog-posts, because what i have to say is too long for the "comments" section!  :-)

Jimmy Moore is calling attention to the rift in "ancestral dieters," wondering why people who consider themselves carbohydrate-agnostic feel the need to place a demarcation line between their contingent and what he seems to consider the majority, if not the mainstream.  I think it's all about cliques.

It looks to me as if the young, slim, athletic portion of the paleo/ancestral group don't want to share their clubhouse with middle-aged fatties.  We're just not kewl enough to belong to their club, so they put a new password in place -- MACRONUTRIENT AGNOSTIC -- and if you're not sufficiently pro-carb, the gate will remain closed against you.

The paleo-primal "movement" is wanting to feel like it's a grownup, because it's been sneered at for being a fad, a pseudo-scientific reenactment community of muscleheads, and it wants to prove itself worthy of its health-and-fitness claims.  If there is a large contingent of older, unfashionably-chubby folks in it, i suspect they think the whole group will look like a failure and a joke.  Therefore, they have to limit membership to those who fit the stereotype.

The biggest problem with the notion, i believe, is that some people will get bent out of shape because of it.  Like the lady at the AHS who felt left out....  Face it, in every group of every sort there will always be those who think themselves toocoolforschool, and trying to enact the twentieth-century rule of Everybody Gets to Play just doesn't work.  We're not in a publicly-supported venue, and clubs don't HAVE to accept everyone.

Why do you REALLY want to belong to their in-crowd anyway?  I'll bet the conversations aren't very interesting ... just like it is with most hipsters.

on second thought

On the one hand, i applaud those who have patience in dealing with stoopid people.  My stress hormones may rise when i read the same tired illogical arguments that "our" point of view is based on OLD BAD science and that it has been sufficiently disproved and somebody-or-other showed X and there can be no doubt that WE are wrong because some musclehead said so ... but there are those who will counter each point and calmly, patiently exemplify how Dumbass has got his "facts" wrong.  Dumbass will then reply, repeating the same misbegotten ideas over and over without even rephrasing himself.

Much as i admire their collectedness and persistence, i wonder if their modus operandi may be the best way to deal with Stoopid.  I sometimes think it's like the supposedly Native American story:

A tribal elder was teaching his grandchildren about life.  He said to them, "A fight is going on inside me; it is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One wolf represents fear, anger, envy, greed, arrogance, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, and ego. 

The other stands for joy, peace, love, hope, empathy, generosity, and truth."

"This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person, too", he added.

The grandchildren thought about it for a minute and then one child asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"

The old man simply replied, "The one you feed."

By dealing with the irrational rationally, are we feeding the wrong wolf?  I don't know.  I do know that an awful lot of time is spent composing logical arguments, drawing on sound science, to which is replied, "that's not true, 'cause my guru said so."

Then again, i remember a certain commenter who seemed to be very fond of He-WHS-Must-Not-Be-Named....  This person argued about our personal solutions to absolutely individual problems on account o' EVERYBODY should do this and NOBODY should do that.  This person was patiently borne-with for a long time, till someone applied a good "setting down" -- and we haven't been plagued with more proclamations in a long time.

The more i think about it, the more i'm inclined to refer the Stubborn Commenter to relevant links, and when they come back and argue, tell them they've missed the cogent portions of the paper/article/book.  (Because ... they obviously HAVE.)  I'm reminded of another favorite quote:

Otto:  Apes don't read philosophy. 

Wanda:  Yes they do, Otto. They just don't understand it. 

Or, as a less facile but highly insightful writer put it:

Thinking's a dizzy business, a matter of catching as many of those foggy glimpses as you can and fitting them together the best you can.  That's why people hang on so tight to their beliefs and opinions; because, compared to the haphazard way in which they're arrived at, even the goofiest opinion seems wonderfully clear, sane and self-evident.  And if you let it get away from you, then you've got to dive back into that foggy muddle to wangle yourself out another to take its place.

If OUR idea works for US, and HIS idea works for HIM, why does he feel the need to try to convince us we're wrong?  I think it has to do with the same mindset we see in traditional communism and the church of Rome -- things can only work properly if EVERYBODY thinks the same, because if EVERYBODY agrees, it couldn't possibly be wrong, and doubters will be immediately and effectively squelched by their nearest and dearest.  2,000.000.000 XYZs can't be wrong?  Hell yes, they can, and they feel very insecure when you point it out to them.

just gotta vent

I was just catching up with comments on some of my favorite blogs.

Fertheluvugod, why do STOOPID PEOPLE have to go in public and argue with the educated and thought-capable?  Wooo, Sid, Kindke, (etc) i admire your patience to calmly explain things to them.

Makes me want to drink more, but i know it would just give me a bigger headache than i have already.

dawn of the challenge

The big news today is that Gary Taubes and Peter Attia have officially launched their new venture to challenge mainstream nutritional science, which has been such a dismal failure up to now.  Glad to say, even astrology is on their side.

After reading that, i started looking at today's posts on a list of blogs that i consider "second string" for my purposes, and immediately got riled by Dr. Freedhoff's article on the subject.  Not the first time -- i find some of his attitudes rather abrasive to my personality.  His style of food-culture-bashing and mine are ... different.  "What if everything you knew about nutrition was false?"  Whaddaya mean, "what if"?  IT IS FALSE ... if the "you" in this statement refers to CW.

Screw the "evidence" about Ewes AND Kitavans -- show me a culture in the MODERN world in which people eat like they do and stay lean IN MIDDLE AGE.  Young bodies can get away with almost anything.  Stress of city living screws up every tribe which enters it.  The confounders to all these hypotheses are mind-boggling.

My recent success may be making me a little cocky, but the data from my body, and that which JM is currently reporting, AND what Wooo has been talking about for YEARS is all on the same page:  if you're "of a certain age" OR have never had the physiological perfection of someone living in a technologically-limited tropical backwater, extreme carbohydrate restriction may be the only thing that could save your health!

Personally, i wish the best to NuSI -- they've got a tough row to hoe, because a lot of industrial-food money as well as the moribund weight of the medical business are against them.  :-/ They even have the problem of Mr. Taubes' unpopularity to deal with, and Dr. Atkins could tell them what that's like....  I don't agree with everything the former and Dr. Attia have written, but they're SO MUCH closer to the mark than the ADA, it isn't worth quibbling.

let's all drink to chlorogenic acid!!!

I've been enjoying myself, reading the archives at Low-Carb for You (and learning that Stargazey is still around, despite her long silence).  Reading about coffee/caffeine (one of my daily indulgences) was very illuminating.  :-)

Now, i was already encouraged in this consumption by Dr. Donaldson -- his strongest weight-loss regimen includes nothing (ingested) save water, fatty meats and coffee, though he has less-stringent prescriptions for those whose problem is less urgent or more allergen-related.  I already know enough not to take too much coffee in total or ANY non-decaf too late in the day; the former practice so customizes me to caffeine that i can't get a "jolt" when i need it, and ... well, an old broad like me doesn't tolerate high-octane coffee in the late-afternoon or evening worth a damn.

Since i did the food-elimination exercise in January, too, i've learned to enjoy coffee without additives, and this causes me to put it into the "innocent" (i.e., non-fattening) category.  I also like iced coffee, which provides the refreshment of a cold, caffeinated beverage without the baggage that colas (etc) bring with them.

...So i read Stargazey's blog-post, and decided i needed to read up on those other components of coffee which theoretically make it superior to mere supplemental caffeine for weight loss and metabolic health.  My affection for Wikipedia was once again supported, through what i read about the coffee-component, chlorogenic acid.  An excerpt:

Chlorogenic acid has been shown in in vitro studies to inhibit the hydrolysis of the enzyme glucose-6-phosphatase in an irreversible fashion. This mechanism allows chlorogenic acid to reduce hepatic glycogenolysis (transformation of glycogen into glucose) and to reduce the absorption of new glucose. In addition, in vivo studies on animal subjects have demonstrated that the administration of chlorogenic acid lessens the hyperglycemic peak resulting from the glycogenolysis brought about by the administering of glucagon, a hyperglycemiant hormone.

It could be involved in the laxative effect observed in prunes.

No wonder there's a reverse correlation of coffee-drinking and diabetes, be it ever so small.  And that coffee provides the bonne bouche of "encouraging" the bowels (always desirable to a hypothyroid).

So i raise my cup of Sumatra Reserve to chlorogenic acid -- may our association be a long and happy one!

dichotomy of good and evil ... in blogging

Something good DOES come out of the occasional dearth in publishing of the best bloggers' posts -- to keep one's insula built up, one has the incentive and opportunity to read more from the archives of the Great.  This time it's Peter's turn, and i'm reading about AGE, RAGE and ALE.

I'm not saying that he's not an ornament in the veterinary field he graces, but DAMN, this guy probably missed his vocation.  He's a spectacular teacher.  I'm still rather behind in understanding THOROUGHLY his current series on protons, etc., but i have confidence that, if i read it through enough times and keep looking up what all those molecules do, i'll catch on eventually....

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I started to write the above, yesterday.  The carnitine i've been taking HAS been giving me more physical energy (more on that later), and i interrupted myself to do some house maintainence and other things, though.  Then, i was "energized" by the MDA post to write what i did yesterday evening, leaving this one for later....

Some good blog-related news greeted me this morning, though -- Mike Eades has finally posted again, and what he had to say was very cheery for "our" point of view.  Mere macronutrient variation has profound effects on physical composition ... but i'll let you read it yourself if you haven't already (ha!).

Without the help of laboratories, i could have made the same attestation ... but i had to drop into VLC-land before it became apparent.  You have to understand, although i'm not averse to MOVING, i HATE to "work out."  Always have.  I enjoy taking a hike but not a walk.  If it's "play" i'm willing to consider it, but for the sake of "exercise..."?  Two thumbs down.

But i can tell that i've been putting on muscle since i went ultra-low in my carb consumption, and the mechanism has been understood for some time (hint:  what does protein do?).  ;-)  I'm stronger without having CONSCIOUSLY tried to build muscle.  If the lab-rats find new examples of how it works, that's GRAVY!

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I'll append a progress report here, since this is such a miscellaneous post.  The scale was down a bit this morning -- hurrah!  :-)  Digestion back in balance, no weather-induced allergy woes, 8.8 pounds to goal ... life is good.

women usually....

Uh-oh!  ;-)

Poor Mark -- he may have opened a can of worms today.  Granted it was more of an "intro to" than a "definitive guide," but when he started describing female fat physiology, i started ticking off items -- one after another -- that not only fail to describe my body NOW, but consistently fail to describe its performance EVER.

You know where the most annoyingly persistent fat is on my body?  The upper back.  Where i lose fat first?  My hips.  Where i'd LOVE to lose some weight, and can't seem to?  My boobs.

I've always had a comparatively flat stomach, though two pregnancies and an abdominal surgery have left it looking rather like a weathered WWI battlefield.  My legs are almost embarrassingly muscular, and i have a strong butt and longisimus dorsi muscles (tenderloin).  My flexed biceps promise more power than my upper body actually has, and my lower arms both promise and deliver strength.  In my slender youth, i never had a "nipped" waist, but it's decently defined now.

But i sweartogod i'm a woman....

(One that hates generalizations.)