Archive for March 2009
NMR LipoProfile
A while back I blogged a two-parter on LDL Cholesterol (Part 1 / Part 2). Part 1 deals with how unreliable standard blood tests are for determining your real risk. In part 2, I highlighted real world examples from the offices of doctor William Davis. And now, I'm going to show you a real world example from a reader and (obviously) fellow high-fat Paleo eater. Click here to access Patrik's NMR LipoProfile (Nmrlipo PDF) He kindly gave permission to share it with you. The fist thing to notice is that his LDL cholesterol -- calculated, just like the one you get -- is a whopping 204. Bet that'd make you worry, eh? However, his actual particle number for LDL is 1417, corresponding to a measured LDL of 141, a full 63 points lower. So the cholesterol tests like the ones you get -- the ones on which basis doctor prescribes statins to millions -- is a full 45% overstated in this case. However, it should be noted that if you eat a lot of carbohydrates, grains in particular, it's far more likely that your measured LDL is far higher than your calculated one. In essence: same problem, opposite error. But...
This is a preview. The complete post is for Monthly, Quarterly, Annual, and Lifetime Members. Login or Join at the level you choose. Member posts sometimes go out in complete form to non-members on the email list, so subscribe. Browse the free downloads. New ones are added regularly.
LoginJoinEmailDownloads
Thought Exercise
I would dearly love to take time to develop this tonight, but I'm fixing dinner for friends (2nd night in a row, with Thursday for family coming up). Here's the refresher course. Gary Taubes' "alternate hypothesis of fat accumulation," (in my crude way of explaining it). Simply stated: people overeat because they are (have accumulated excess) fat, and it's not that they are fat because they overeat (cause & effect reversal; 180 degree error; the easiest kind). Here's a quote, and I'm quite certain the author will be fine with non-attribution for now, 'cause if Ilinked it, too many of you smart ones would figure it out (those who haven't already). Applying the 1st Law [of thermodynamics] to living organisms is Proof by Tautology. Yes, 1 + 1 = 2, but this tells us absolutely nothing about the underlying mechanics. The 1st Law does not (I repeat N-O-T) tell us whether you store excess energy in the form of fat, or bleed it off into the atmosphere by dilating blood vessels next to the skin, sweating, etc. To do so would require an accounting of entropy. I read that twice the other day, as part of a long piece (which...
This is a preview. The complete post is for Monthly, Quarterly, Annual, and Lifetime Members. Login or Join at the level you choose. Member posts sometimes go out in complete form to non-members on the email list, so subscribe. Browse the free downloads. New ones are added regularly.
LoginJoinEmailDownloads
Venison Chili
First, here's the animal that was killed for our dinner last night. It was back in September when my brother took that mule deer and there's still meat in family freezers. In fact, I'm using two pounds of the ground tonight for spaghetti. Here's how it went down. I first took the roughly 3 pounds of sirloin tip and placed it in a covered pot along with about a cup or so of homemade stock from bone and meat scraps (previously made & frozen). I then added about 1/4 spice jar of chili powder and a half handful (2 tbsp) of red chili seeds. I also had about 2 dozen grape tomatoes beginning to shrivel, so those went in too. Some salt & pepper. Cover, and into the oven at 250 for 2-3 hours to braise & tenderize the meat. When it came out, it went on the stovetop, I mashed the tomatoes, added three small cans of tomato sauce, a whole large yellow onion, about six cloves crushed / chopped garlic, another 1/4 spice jar chili (1/2 total) and three large jalapeno peppers chopped, with seeds. Then, let simmer on medium low, uncovered until the bubbles are like a...
This is a preview. The complete post is for Monthly, Quarterly, Annual, and Lifetime Members. Login or Join at the level you choose. Member posts sometimes go out in complete form to non-members on the email list, so subscribe. Browse the free downloads. New ones are added regularly.
LoginJoinEmailDownloads
Vitamin Supplements – Part Four
In this final post on supplementation (vitamin and others), I'm going to put out the exceptions to my general stance -- that's not necessarily strictly against it, per se -- that most of it is probably unnecessary. But first, a quick review. In part one, I laid out the general position, which is that supplementation ought to be the exception, not the rule, and there ought to be clear reasons for supplementing. Study after study seems to have failed to find measurable benefit. In part two, I diverge into a criticism of what I'll call Neolithic Authoritarianism, and most particularly, the tendency of people to submit themselves to the will and authority of others; to, in essence, default on their responsibilities as rational animals. Finally, in part three, I demonstrate very clearly that a diet consisting of natural animal fats, meat, fowl, fish, vegetables, fruits, and nuts to the exclusion of all grains, rice, legumes, heavy starches, vegetable oils -- and most particularly, all the 'frankenfood' derived therefrom -- literally knocks the average ADA, AHA or any other alphabet soup agency's "eat-more-whole-grains" recommended diets out of the water in terms of nutritional content. In some cases, the nutrition is 300%...
This is a preview. The complete post is for Monthly, Quarterly, Annual, and Lifetime Members. Login or Join at the level you choose. Member posts sometimes go out in complete form to non-members on the email list, so subscribe. Browse the free downloads. New ones are added regularly.
LoginJoinEmailDownloads
Masaman Beef Curry
This is not Paleo, but it's not crap, either. About 3-4 times per year I can't help but prepare my favorite dish: Masaman beef curry, which you can get in most Thai restaurants, but none as good as mine. I've been eating and making this for myself for 20 years. When I go to a Thai restaurant, I have someting different, and masaman. I have vacationed for months in Thailand, and so I'm very familiar and can sniff it out anywhere along the countryside. Before I came back from France to America and became a typical fattie, my favorite breakfast -- while vacationing in Thailand -- was steamed rice, green chillies (lots) and eggs over easy. Every morning, in front of the International Herald Tribune, in an outside bar on the beach. Those days... Basic ingredients are beef, onion, carrots, sweet potato, coconut milk, and masaman curry paste. In this mix, I did three pounds of cubed beef, 2 cans coconut milk, a whole can masaman curry paste, one yellow onion, three carrots, and 3/4 of one white sweet potato. In addition, there are peanuts. Probably nearly a half cup. Get them in the shells, unsalted, soak 'em for hours...
This is a preview. The complete post is for Monthly, Quarterly, Annual, and Lifetime Members. Login or Join at the level you choose. Member posts sometimes go out in complete form to non-members on the email list, so subscribe. Browse the free downloads. New ones are added regularly.
LoginJoinEmailDownloads
Sunday Rock You
A while since I've done this. I really don't want to make it a regular thing, but rather something I do, simply, when I feel like it. I've spent a lot of time this weekend in the mountains thinking and deliberating about where this blog goes over time -- including my entrepreneurial commercial inklings (that will never touch the nature of this blog as free, open to all, relevant, and au courant). Let me make this straight to the point. Zanadu, Rush. Long version. You don't get to Alex Lifeson's best until nearly 9 minutes in -- not to say there's not plenty to enjoy all along the way. Here's what I promise you: when I do this, I'll never blog songs about dumb, blond, bent-over sluts on the beach (but feel fee to point me to those who do :). Held within The Pleasure Dome Decreed by Kubla Khan To taste my bitter triumph As a mad immortal man Nevermore shall I return Escape these caves of ice For I have dined on honey dew And drunk the milk of Paradise Off the wall: Back in the late 80's my buddy, Paul Stiles, and I found ourselves in Jakarta,...
This is a preview. The complete post is for Monthly, Quarterly, Annual, and Lifetime Members. Login or Join at the level you choose. Member posts sometimes go out in complete form to non-members on the email list, so subscribe. Browse the free downloads. New ones are added regularly.
LoginJoinEmailDownloads
Lotsa More Links
- The Romans knew how to fatten up their Gladiators in order to protect them from minor injury by means of subcutaneous fat. "Gladiators, it seems, were fat. Consuming a lot of simple carbohydrates, such as barley, and legumes, like beans, was designed for survival in the arena. Packing in the carbs also packed on the pounds. 'Gladiators needed subcutaneous fat,' Grossschmidt explains. 'A fat cushion protects you from cut wounds and shields nerves and blood vessels in a fight.'" - Probably the best review of Good Calories, Bad Calories I've yet read is to be found at Robert McLeod's blog. See how a physicist evaluates Taubes, and, see how he handily ridicules the nutrition "experts" who thinks that our body's homeostasis has anything to do with the Fist Law of Thermodynamics. - Dr. Michael Eades is pretty optimistic about how absurd, fraudulent diet studies such as the one I reviewed the other day are the signal of "the last gasp of the dark ages of nutrition," a fraudulent dark ages perpetuated by the fraud Ancel Keys and frauds like Frank M. Sacks, M.D., George A. Bray, M.D., Vincent J. Carey, Ph.D., Steven R. Smith, M.D., Donna H. Ryan, M.D.,...
This is a preview. The complete post is for Monthly, Quarterly, Annual, and Lifetime Members. Login or Join at the level you choose. Member posts sometimes go out in complete form to non-members on the email list, so subscribe. Browse the free downloads. New ones are added regularly.
LoginJoinEmailDownloads
Erwan Le Corre & MoveNat – Reprise
I was delighted yesterday to receive an email from Erwan, alerting me to the fact that he and his methods have been featured in a substantial article in Men's Health Magazine. I first blogged about Erwan a couple of months back. Before linking up the article, here's a bit of review. When the video comes up, absolutely do click on the "HD" button for a way better experience. Now, here's the link to the magazine article. When Zuqueto finally steps back, thick fists on his hips, chest heaving in fatigue and frustration, the man hops down from the pole. His name is Erwan Le Corre, a 37-year-old Frenchman who may rank as one of the most all-around physically fit men on the planet. His last name sounds exactly like the French phrase for "the body" -- le corps -- and his appearance lives up to the advance billing: If he grew out his sun-bleached hair and traded the board shorts for a loincloth, he'd be a perfect twin for Tarzan. Le Corre isn't just strong and fast and explosive and nimble; he's an athlete whose opponents are everything he sees and whose arena is anywhere he happens to be standing....
This is a preview. The complete post is for Monthly, Quarterly, Annual, and Lifetime Members. Login or Join at the level you choose. Member posts sometimes go out in complete form to non-members on the email list, so subscribe. Browse the free downloads. New ones are added regularly.
LoginJoinEmailDownloads
Hot Off The Presses: Stephan (The Great One) on K2
Well, I can't recall a blog post ever getting so much attention, both off blog and on. For the on-blog activity, just read the comments. For the off-blog goings on, see Robert M's comment that sparked off a whirlwind. Let me back up. I had emailed Stephan even before publishing that entry (an entire day before, actually). Even though he's a PhD candidate in neurobiology and has lots of access to the full texts of studies via his academic institution, he didn't have access to this one (he mentioned it was published in a rinky dink journal), but clearly Robert M did. So, after a few back & forths with Stephan, mostly speculation, Robert's comment goes up and then the mad dash to get Stephan the full text. Thanks, Robert (who also maintains -- at a glance or two -- a very fine blog). Let me make something clear before I continue. When I mention that Stephan and I have been emailing back & fort, this is not to imply in any way that we're peers or that I have much to offer Stephan beyond a "hey; heads up, mate." My style is slash & burn; hit & run. But,...
This is a preview. The complete post is for Monthly, Quarterly, Annual, and Lifetime Members. Login or Join at the level you choose. Member posts sometimes go out in complete form to non-members on the email list, so subscribe. Browse the free downloads. New ones are added regularly.
LoginJoinEmailDownloads
Bunches of Links
Man, I am so backlogged with stuff that I've just got to give you a link dump at this point. I could literally blog for the next three months, twice per day, with what I've got already, and probably much longer. Keep it coming, folks. I'm now getting several emails per day with links to really great stuff. If you don't always get a reply or see me highlight what you send, please don't take it as anything other than I have to sometimes make choices. - Diana blogs about "Food Neurosis" this morning and how so many parents are going about it all the wrong way with their kids. In the comments, I remark how it reminded me of the hyper-sanitized environments many parents are creating for their kids to the huge detriment of their developing immune systems. Here's a fascinating recent NYT article on lots of resent research demonstrating the importance of letting your kids eat dirt. You Cage the Animal to your and your childrens' own detriment. - Researchers find that a low-carb diet is the way to deal with a fatty liver (but then fail to really connect all the dots). I note that the emphasis...
This is a preview. The complete post is for Monthly, Quarterly, Annual, and Lifetime Members. Login or Join at the level you choose. Member posts sometimes go out in complete form to non-members on the email list, so subscribe. Browse the free downloads. New ones are added regularly.
LoginJoinEmailDownloads
Comfort Food
Here's an old favorite that I cooked up last night. It's a "mom" recipe (except for my own stylings) and I've been doing it for years. This is very high on the comfort food scale. It has only four primary ingredients: two long polish sausage (polska kielbasa, preferably gluten, soy & HFCS free and uncured), a large yellow onion, two cans diced tomatoes (or equivalent of fresh; I like the canned so I can get ones with the spices included, which I vary or mix/match), head of green cabbage. Takes a half hour to make, tops, the advantage of using a pre-cooked meat. Easy, inexpensive, fast, and wonderfully nutritious. [Later: thanks to Jack for emailing. Yes, you add water, but only to about an inch below the chopped cabbage. As water is released from fiber, you'll have plenty. Boil down to desired consistency.] This time, in addition to salt & lots of black pepper, I did quite a sprinkling of Italian seasoning and herbs de provence. Also, a bit of crushed & dried mint. For the final "secret" touch, a teaspoon of curry powder. Over the years, I have found no end of great uses for curry powder. The secret...
This is a preview. The complete post is for Monthly, Quarterly, Annual, and Lifetime Members. Login or Join at the level you choose. Member posts sometimes go out in complete form to non-members on the email list, so subscribe. Browse the free downloads. New ones are added regularly.
LoginJoinEmailDownloads
Nous Sommes Arrivés
We've arrived (at the cabin). I have the working entry on supplements, and specifically what I take and most particularly, why. I hope you'll find it compelling as a base. We've been here for several hours, including the comfort-food soup I made that I'll blog tomorrow (in addition to the aforementioned). In the meantime, funniest video I've seen in a while. Dog sleep "walking."
This is a preview. The complete post is for Monthly, Quarterly, Annual, and Lifetime Members. Login or Join at the level you choose. Member posts sometimes go out in complete form to non-members on the email list, so subscribe. Browse the free downloads. New ones are added regularly.
LoginJoinEmailDownloads
Man Boobs and Wheat Bellies
Couldn't resist a final quick post prior to departure. This is from Dr. Davis, a 2007 post, but one he just linked to in his latest post on grains making you diabetic. Holy Mother of God. Notice it's not just the belly, but the boobs. What causes that? According to Dr. Art De Vany, the visceral belly fat in men actually synthesizes estrogens from testosterone. So, guys, if nothing else convinces you, know that a big belly slowly transforms your body into a male / female hybrid. It feminizes you over time. Wheat bellies are created and propagated by the sea of mis-information that is delivered to your door every day by food manufacturers. It's the same campaign of mis-information that caused the wife of a patient of mine who was in the hospital (one of my rare hospitalizations) to balk in disbelief when I told her that her husband's 18 lb weight gain over the past 6 months was due to the Shredded Wheat Cereal for breakfast, turkey sandwiches for lunch, and whole wheat pasta for dinner. "But that's what they told us to eat after Dan left the hospital after his last stent!" More from Dr. Davis here...
This is a preview. The complete post is for Monthly, Quarterly, Annual, and Lifetime Members. Login or Join at the level you choose. Member posts sometimes go out in complete form to non-members on the email list, so subscribe. Browse the free downloads. New ones are added regularly.
LoginJoinEmailDownloads
Fish Dinner
A number of people have asked me for the supplements I take, so I'm working on that now. May not be ready for posting until tomorrow, however, as I'll be getting in the car soon for a drive up to the mountains. In the meantime, dinner last night was Atlantic Cod poached in a coconut milk green curry (Thai style). Just get canned coconut milk and green curry paste (or red, yellow, or my favorite of all: masaman, which is most appropriate for beef stew). After poaching (about 10 minutes, tops), the fish got a good dusting of paprika and sprinkling of parsley, upon which it went under the high broiler for about 3 minutes. Then I spooned on the curry sauce. The side is artichoke hears cooked in butter.
This is a preview. The complete post is for Monthly, Quarterly, Annual, and Lifetime Members. Login or Join at the level you choose. Member posts sometimes go out in complete form to non-members on the email list, so subscribe. Browse the free downloads. New ones are added regularly.
LoginJoinEmailDownloads
It Takes a Genome
"How a Clash Between Our Genes and Modern Life Is Making Us Sick." Freshly downloaded to my Kindle 2. Here's some of the descriptions and endorsements. ~~~ Human beings have astonishing genetic vulnerabilities. More than half of us will die from complex diseases that trace directly to those vulnerabilities, and the modern world we’ve created places us at unprecedented risk from them. In It Takes a Genome, Greg Gibson posits a revolutionary new hypothesis: Our genome is out of equilibrium, both with itself and its environment. Simply put, our genes aren’t coping well with modern culture. Our bodies were never designed to subsist on fat and sugary foods [Note: I take that to mean processed foods, not natural fats. -ed]; our immune systems weren’t designed for today’s clean, bland environments; our minds weren’t designed to process hard-edged, artificial electronic inputs from dawn ‘til midnight. And that’s why so many of us suffer from chronic diseases that barely touched our ancestors. Gibson begins by revealing the stunningly complex ways in which multiple genes cooperate and interact to shape our bodies and influence our behaviors. Then, drawing on the very latest science, he explains the genetic “mismatches” that increasingly lead to cancer,...
This is a preview. The complete post is for Monthly, Quarterly, Annual, and Lifetime Members. Login or Join at the level you choose. Member posts sometimes go out in complete form to non-members on the email list, so subscribe. Browse the free downloads. New ones are added regularly.
LoginJoinEmailDownloads
February in Review
I'm happy that in a short month and a week of vacation with only two or three posts, we still broke a traffic record. About 30,000 visits and 56,000 page views. Thanks readers, and especially, thanks for telling acquaintances, friends, family, and co-workers about Free the Animal. It's really making a difference; you're making a difference. Most Popular February Posts So Far You Asked; Mark Sisson Answers I Know What I'm Doing Don't Listen To Me! The Camping Trip and Food A Tale of Two Mayo Clinic Dietician Morons Blogs Referring the Most Readers to Free the Animal in February Mark's Daily Apple Whole Health Source Conditioning Research Arthur De Vany Theory to Practice
This is a preview. The complete post is for Monthly, Quarterly, Annual, and Lifetime Members. Login or Join at the level you choose. Member posts sometimes go out in complete form to non-members on the email list, so subscribe. Browse the free downloads. New ones are added regularly.
LoginJoinEmailDownloads
“The government isn’t your nanny. They’re your dealer.”
Via commenter Ricardo, who maintains a beautiful health blog in Portuguese, I found this wonderfully incitful, cutting, funny Bill Maher monologue on the sorry state of health, fitness, and government drug pushing in America. You don't want to miss it.
This is a preview. The complete post is for Monthly, Quarterly, Annual, and Lifetime Members. Login or Join at the level you choose. Member posts sometimes go out in complete form to non-members on the email list, so subscribe. Browse the free downloads. New ones are added regularly.
LoginJoinEmailDownloads
Vitamin K2 and Massive Reduction in Heart Disease: Leading Edge
I had wanted to do another installment of held over questions from readers this morning (sorry, folks), but I just have to get this out now. Actually, I caught wind of this a few weeks back, set it aside, forgot about it, and reader Ankit brought it to my attention in email last night. Before I get into it, let's address something. This applies to my blog and a number of others out there. This is leading edge stuff. That is, you are learning of strong associations with resultant likely benefits now, all the while most of your friends, family, and acquaintances will scoff, dismiss, or otherwise ignore you if you bring it up; and yet, in 3-5 year's time they will think they've made a big discovery once the material is distilled and dumbed down sufficiently that the regurgitators in the news media can even begin to get it right. Vitamin D is an example. Exploding in the news, but as yet, woefully mis-reported most of the time. I've shown through a lot of posts on D over the months that it's about the level of 25 (OH) D in ng/ml in your blood that counts, and it's not...
This is a preview. The complete post is for Monthly, Quarterly, Annual, and Lifetime Members. Login or Join at the level you choose. Member posts sometimes go out in complete form to non-members on the email list, so subscribe. Browse the free downloads. New ones are added regularly.
LoginJoinEmailDownloads
GOINSULIN – “It’s Not What You Think. It’s What You’ve Hoped For.”
Reader Bryan emailed this last night. At first, I thought it was going to be a story of someone who went the standard ADA & drug company-partnership route, to gradually get people to pop more Metformin, Glucophage, et al, until that glorious day when the pill alone is insufficient and they have to start on the needle. Then, of course, the gentleman in this video -- not to be anyone's fool -- would get on the internet -- maybe he joins Dr. Bernstein's forum and leans from other enlightened T2s -- educate himself, and finally tell the ADA and the drug companies to go prey on someone else. He cures his own T2, as thousands have done via high fat, low carb diets, takes off a bunch of weight, and lives happily ever after. Bzzzzt! Clue number one? He's still obese and sporting the classic visceral belly fat that's so strongly associated with heart attack and death in men (GOINSULIN!). Now, here you go, parts two and three, each about two minutes. Part two is: Greg's Triumph: Overcoming Insulin and Diabetes Fears. No, he didn't triumph over a condition that's curable for almost all T2s; he "triumphed" over his rational...
This is a preview. The complete post is for Monthly, Quarterly, Annual, and Lifetime Members. Login or Join at the level you choose. Member posts sometimes go out in complete form to non-members on the email list, so subscribe. Browse the free downloads. New ones are added regularly.
LoginJoinEmailDownloads
Grass Fed Beef Giveaway
Well, Kristen was nice enough to go to the (no small) task of sponsoring this little drawing, thoughtful enough to email me about it, and so no way I'm going to pass on the chance to let readers know. Details here. Thanks, Kristen.
This is a preview. The complete post is for Monthly, Quarterly, Annual, and Lifetime Members. Login or Join at the level you choose. Member posts sometimes go out in complete form to non-members on the email list, so subscribe. Browse the free downloads. New ones are added regularly.
LoginJoinEmailDownloads