Back with episode 24 – The second one since I’ve given up caffeine. Energy levels are up, but still adjusting to life without caffeine. I also watched “The Boondock Saints 2” prior to recording this episode which resulted in 2 hours of my life I’ll never get back.
Download a transcript of Episode 24
Show Topics –
- PWO Meals & Jits
- Depression
- Energy Drinks / Adrenal Fatigue
- Nightshades
- Gut Flora
- Sun Warrior Protein Powder
- PUFAs
- Type 1 Diabetic & Level of Training
- Mass Gain Alternatives
Show Notes – The_Paleolithic_Solution_Episode_24
Robb,
Thank you for the podcasts. I have a question pertaining to the type 1 diabetic. What is your position on blood glucose levels from the stand point of being too low? My fiance is worried that she can no longer “feel it” when her blood sugar drops below 70 mg/dL. She has been type 1 for 3 years and in the beginning would feel “funny” when her blood sugar would be at or below that level. She is very concerned about passing out from low blood sugar. She is stuck on the 100mg/dL level being safe, but since shifting towards a paleo diet in January her blood sugars have tended to be lower than 100. This causes her to grab fruit to bump it back up then chase with insulin if she over compensated. A1c has come down from 7.1 to 6.5 but I do not see how it can get lower than that if she is always chasing the 100 mg/dL. Too long of a post I know but any numbers you could throw out may be helpful. Thank you.
Jake-
given those A1c’s her blood glucose is far too high for my liking. She can experiment and play with things.
Hey Robb,
In regards to the wendler 5 3 1 program, what do you think of loading the olympic lifts the same as we do the deadlifts and squats on those days? I usually do cleans w/squats and snatches on deadlift day.
Ian-
I jsut stick with 1-3 reps in the OL’s. I think that’s where they pay their greatest dividends.
Robb…Just found the podcast last week and have been catching up on all of the past podcasts. I have a bit of a glazed over look in my eyes that my family is nervous about so thank you.
The last question regarding mass gain alternatives in podcast #24 you mentioned mapping blood glucose levels in response to various exercise. How does one do that mapping? Does it require blood work? Hopefully I’m not the only slow person in your vast podcast audience of 9.
Thanks,
-Jason
Jason-
this was not for mass gain but for managing Type 1 diabetes.
The modernized Inuit are a great example of why you can’t use fish oil to “make up” for eating too much omega-6. Even modernized Inuit eat TONS of seafood and they still suffer from diabetes, obesity, and heart disease.
Melissa-
Nice point.
How does Aliens not get mentioned as the greatest sequel of all time? …and I thought this podcast was infallible.
Paul-
Sorry dude, that IS a pretty solid entrant.
2 questions:
I took a fasting (12 hrs, no food or drink) blood test a few weeks ago. It turned out pretty well. Glucose was 88 mg/dL and triglycerides were 31 mg/dL. LDL was 103 but I’m not too concerned since I eat a good amount of grass-fed meat and fat so we’re probably talking about some large fluffy LDL particles. Plus I wasn’t eating that clean the week before the test. I’m going in for microdiscectomy pretty soon and I am on about 6 5/500 hydrocodone pills a day and I take a few big swigs of fish oil out of my nordic naturals 40oz in the morning and in the evening (and some vitamin D). Might the fish oil account for my low platelet value of 105 k/cu mm? The print out says 160 is the low end of the range.
Also, on the PaNu site, there are some articles about marathon runners who have heart attacks all of a sudden. These are people who have run 1 marathon per year. But the big thing that the articles said was that these heart attack victims had healthy blood lipid profiles. Dr. Harris’s view was that there are only a few definitive tests for really gauging the amount of plaque in the blood vessels. Paleo and Low-Carb Paleo and Primal and all of this are all pretty new. Is there any chance that we are just gaming the system, blood lipid profiles, while actually creating plaque? Or maybe the real question is, how did those marathoner’s game the system to produce decent blood lipid profiles while creating plaque?
Hey Robb
I was cruising the internet for food sources and found this pig farm.
http://www.cawcawcreek.com/purchase.php
They sell 50 lbs of pastured pork for $275 including shipping. Is pastured pork legit as far as omega 3/6 balance goes? I really don’t care for the taste or consistency of grass fed beef, as hard as I have tried. I actually downright dislike it. I love bacon though! And those 10-16 oz porkchops sound sweet. If you say it’s good I’m going to buy that package. Thanks.
Clay-
I’m not sure, will look into this!
http://health.yahoo.com/experts/joybauernutrition/29699/the-dangerous-side-of-sugar/
This is a complete aside from anything… just interesting.
This news story says sugar intake linked to bad bloodwork (Cholesterol, Triglycerides, etc.). No Sh-t!
TP-
But I thought FAT caused bad blood work! Damn, I really need to re-do the book now.
O’h cool. I’m glad you are investigating. I googled and came up with a couple things. They are far from scientific data and may not be worth the paper it was written on, but here is what I found.
http://www.oaklandbayfarm.com/New_Newsletter.html
http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Benefits-of-Pastured-Pork
http://sugarmtnfarm.com/
Kind of ironic the first link I found compares pastured lard to breast milk. Just like that rice protein. Huckster or not, boobs sell.
One small issue in the podcast:
The whole milk I’m drinking says 150 calories per up, 16 cups per gallon which is 2400 calories. This is a lot, but still a far cry from 3500. Just thought I’d point that out.
Only been on dairy mass gain for a week and a half, but my lifts and recovery are phenomenal. Titrated down from a gallon a day to a half gallon when I ballooned up 6 pounds over the first weekend, although I think that was more from water retention than fat/muscle mass (previously 5-25g of carbs per day). Do you think water retention would explain that? I’m also loosely following Martin Berkham’s (LeanGains) nutrition instructions in an attempt to not get too fat during this.
Jess-
Water weight is likely the issue.
Ha! Congrats on giving up caffeine, for both of you! I ditched that two months ago (thanks to Gedgaudas) and am feeling good about it, like not just mentally but physically as well 😉 Not really missing coffee, tho sometimes the wonderful smell makes me nostalgic… But I’ve sipped it a couple of times, no urge to go back there but happy to keep the taste in my mind <3 Sweeeeet.
And thanks for another podcast! I've got meself a nice bike ride to work now, listening to you guys. Beats even Jacko 😉
Another tight show, fellas. Andy, I’m wondering *why* you decided to eliminate your coffee consumption — was it an actual health concern, or just a “no balls” dare? I just haven’t found enough of a rap against coffee to justify purging it from my life. What’s the scoop? Is it a cortisol thing?
Hey Robb —
I just had my thyroid checked again (still having about 99% of hypothyroid symptoms out there…) and my T3 came back really low in the ‘normal range’. It’s 82 in a range of 76-181. Seems to me that I’m not converting T4 to T3 correctly, as my T4 and TSH were normal. I’m going in to check w/ Dr today on his take on this, as well as to get results from the ASI saliva test. (hoping that was normal…!).
Anyway – I wanted to get your thoughts on my T3 level, as well as a few points in the info on this link:
http://www.restoreunity.org/low_thyroid.htm
Specifically the lower section Titled ‘Thyroid Metabolism’, points 7, 8, and 9. It talks about the effect of low thyroid on ATP and lack of oxygen getting into cells. I had to go to the ER a few months ago after a CF Wod due to my entire right side going numb, including face/tongue (they found it was due to low oxygen in muscle cells and said it couldve been cause I was in ketosis).
These points also talk about low thyroid benefiting from higher carb and lower fat. YIKES! I hope not.
Would love to get your thoughts on this.
I’ll let you know how the adrenal test comes out.
thx for everything Robb – you rock!
Kari
Kari-
We have sen a number of people who do not do well with T3 at the low-normal range. Bump that up and things improve significantly.
Hi Robb
So I bought the paleo book was a good read bit confusing when it goes against some things you say Are ok I.e bacon. But that’s why we have your great podcast.
Anyway my question with coconut milk/water.
Are they all the same thing do you use this to cook instead of olive oil. Also is they anything I need to look out for when buy this milk/water.
Cheers again
Danny
I think Boondock Saints 2 is just a movie you have to go into for the ridiculous action sequences and not the acting/plot. It was enjoyable in that regard
Holy cats….Robb, I think you made type I diabetics everywhere cry by saying an A1C in the 6s is too high. I am type 1 and have been told for the past 24 years that anything under 7 is “great”….along with a lot of other incredibly dumb things. Its sad really. I agree with your range though, get the A1Cs below 6. The bad news is, this can be really fucking hard, especially if you think you are going to live like a non-diabetic…because you can’t. You are diabetic. You have to live like one. Deal with it.
Here is a link that I think ALL diabetics should read….this is the kind of dedication you have to put in to get those numbers Robb is talking about:
http://www.primalbody-primalmind.com/blog/?p=657
This girl was also interviewed on Nora’s radio show on Wed March 24 2010. You can find it in Nora’s old shows or by subscribing to her show thru iTunes.
Robb, thanks for everything….love the show!
Michael
Robb,
is it possible to download your podcasts without using itunes? I’m getting a Zune and trashing my iPod. Id like to be able to continue to listen to the podcasts on the go. Thanks! I’ve tried to download on my work computer but it isn’t letting me. I’m not home much to have had a chance to attempt it there so I apologize if it is blattenly obvious.
Kristopher-
We will look into that.
Robb,
I recently started taking a fish oil supplement which contains 1.4 grams of “fish oil” (.9 of which is EPA/DHA) per capsule. I noticed that soybean oil is listed as one of the ingredients. I’m assuming/hoping that the soybean oil makes up a very small % of the capsule since it was listed at the end of the ingredients list. Which would be worse: not supplementing with fish oil (b/c of the soybean oil) or taking the fish oil supplement regardless of the soybean oil? I know it would be best to simply man up and buy liquid fish oil, but that stuff is a little too expensive since I’m a college student (and no I don’t go out and waste money on beer and other crap on the weekends like you mentioned in one the podcasts).
Love the podcasts and can’t wait for the book!
Matt-
I’d not worry about that small amount of soy bean oil.
Rob,
One thing you are not including regarding elevated cortisol release is this, cortisol causes tissue protein to be broken down into amino acids, which are used in place of carbohydrates…unsaturated fatty acids, adrenaline, and cortiosl cause insulin resistance
Joseph-
I talk about that at length in the book. Cortisol has direct and indirect actions on leptin resistance in the brain, which appears to be the precipitating mechanism for hepatic (liver) insulin resistance, then systemic IR.
To unknown of question #3
I too have just recently cut the Sugar-Free energy drinks. I was highly addicted having 2-3 a day! I have been energy drink free as well as sugar free cold turkey, for a little over a month now and I have been feeling great. The first couple of weeks were pretty miserable to get through. I started drinking coffee in the mornings with Unsweetened Almond milk or Coconut milk and that has helped me profoundly getting my “Therapeutic dose of caffeine”, maybe a little more. All I have to say is the sooner you get off the Energy drinks the better you will feel in the long run. It’s a tough long road but you can do it. Good Luck!
Kristopher,
Don’t know if you’ve tried this yet, but right above the play button for the podcast is a link that says “The Paleolithic Solution – Episode 24”, right click that and do save link as. Should prompt you to save it as an mp3 file anywhere on your computer. Let me know if that worked.
Robb- Since you mention Keystone so much maybe you should post a picture of the cat. He/She is like a mysterious mascot of the podcast.
Bryan-
will do!
Robb,
Have you ever seen this website?
http://paleohacks.com/
For about 6 months now I have cut the amount of frozen berries in my shakes by half and substituted spinach. You can’t even taste it, but you can see small pieces of the spinach leaf which may upset some.
Rob,
Are you familiar with Phillip Randles work? He showed that even when the pituitary and pancreas were removed from an organism, cortisol still promoted insulin secretion. His work on diabetes goes largely ignored, and it should not. Most of his life’s work was on how FFA (unsaturated) resulted in beta cell death in the pancreas.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/professor-sir-philip-randle-426680.html
Joseph-
Not familiar with him. Not surprising, crotisol disrupts both leptin and insulin sensitivity.
Robb, thanks for including my question in your podcast!
I also used to do a ton of nuts, but switched to more avocado, coconut, grass-fed butter, etc a while ago as the excessive nut consumption started to cause some gut irritation. I feel so much better with that and performance has been improving as well. Lately I’ve been drinking a can of TJ’s light coconut milk with lunch some days a la Mat Lalonde, and I’ve hit some huge PRs after being stalled for a bit on the strength side of things – like 5×5 on squats at my prior 5RM and +30 lbs on a single! Its almost like this stuff works!
The almond meal baking never sat that well with me when I tried it either. I’ve recently found that TJ’s gluten free pancake mix makes for a better cheat(treat) meal once in a while.
Really interesting thoughts on the second part as well!
One more question – Do you have any experience with asthma related meds, both long and short term, like albuterol, xopenex (levalbuterol), Advair (Fluticasone/salmeterol). Excluding the candida potential in the throat from Advair as I’m familiar with that.
My mom has been on asthma meds her whole life, but other than that is in pretty good shape, and while not paleo, eats a better diet than the average person, almost all home cooked meals with pretty good food quality. About a year or 2 ago, she started feeling weaker and quickly turned towards being pre-osteoporitic when she had never had an issue before. Vit D levels were super low, like around 20, and the doc gave her 10,000 IUs for a few months and some calcium supplements.
She also finally listened to some of the “crazy” stuff I was saying and added in a small dose of fish oil (about 2g, she’s tiny) and ditched the soy in favor of almond milk (still working on gluten, but 1 step at a time… family only listens so much). Dairy is not an option/issue as she developed a super sensitive casein intolerance right after I was born. Long story short – she quickly improved (per the doc) and felt a ton better. So my question is if these meds over time could have led to those issues, and if there is anything else you know of that they tend to cause issues with which could become a problem in the future?
Oddly enough, I remember when I took those as a kid before I “grew out of” asthmatic issues, they would give me crazy sugar cravings… which of course made the asthma worse as the insulin response would lead to increased inflammation.
Sorry for the long post, but thanks again for the awesome info you provide on these podcasts and in your seminars!
Hey Robb, good work as usual with the Podcast. Especially liked the mass gain info, have recently decided I wanted to get stronger and am working up on a SS protocol. Milk makes me break out and feel crappy, so I had wondered what other alternatives you might suggest. Glad to know I wasn’t the only one!
Something else I randomly found. Apparently statins might cause decreases in testosterone (GASP!), though there hasn’t been enough study of it yet. Somewhat interesting article.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20100416/hl_hsn/dostatinslowermalesexdrive
@ Marshall – re: the PaNu post on runners
I think the bigger contributing factor for the plaque and arterial calcifications would be the constant stress (cortisol) of the LSD training and activity, likely coupled with a grain heavy, net acid, and inflammitory diet, so personally I’m not too worried that paleo is “gaming the system” and giving us false markers of health in blood profiles.
If anything, I’d guess the runners activity level helped keep the blood markers looking good while they were in a sky high state of inflammation from training, diet, and cortisol… and least that is what I infer from the article.
Robb – don’t mean to highjack your comments, I just thought that article was interesting as well. If I’m off base here please let me know. You are the expert after all.
Mike-
Spot on, hijack away!
Hey Rob, I appreciate you addressing depression but could you also give some tips for anxiety? I heard that you mentioned anxiety is triggered by different chemicals in the brain but people with depression often have difficulties with anxiety as well. They seem to go hand in hand. Been strict Paleo for 2 months and also dropped eggs two weeks ago. Only about 1-2 servings if veggies a day and minimal fruit. Eat mostly meat
Hey Robb,
Let’s talk paleo nutrition for the gato. What do you feed Keystone?
Thanks,
-Listener number 3.14 from Hoboken and fellow cat lover
Stephen-
Evo by Inova, the grain free variety.
Keith –
There is definitely a bet involved in my 30 day no caffeine attempt. I also don’t do moderation well so 1 cup a day quickly turns into 10. I have done several periods of no caffeine including one where I didn’t have any for a year. I seem to be pretty sensitive to it and seem to do better without (my dad hasn’t had any caffeine in almost 25 years and says he starting sleeping much better once he stopped drinking it). I’m not exactly sure what I’m going to do once these 30 days are up though – still thinking about it.
For most folks I think caffeine is fine in moderation.
Robb – thoughts on Kefir grains fermented in goat’s or coconut milk? It doesn’t seem to be a real “grain” and if I used coconut milk it would appear to be a great probiotic source.
Josh-
Fermented grains are only marginally better than plain. Buyer Beware.
The “grain” in question is not a grain at all in relation to grasses and seeds, but rather a colony of yeast and bacteria. Fermentation is what the grains perform on the goat/coconut milk, not a process performed on the grains, if that makes any sense. Please smack me around if I’m looking at this backwards.
For Mat and/or Robb,
Can you please explain some of the differences between cortisol release due to caffeine and cortisol release due to exercise? I suppose more specifically why Mat would give up caffeine because of it and not give up training? Perhaps there is no useful adaptation from the caffeine-induced release? Thanks
Matthew-
I think you answered it! But we can look at a few variables.
The spinach and blueberry shake is surprisingly pretty good. Canned Pumpkin added is good as well.
Robb if you ever get the podcast in the zune market place that would be great. In the meantime I believe I found a way around it, slightly painful for me but my home computer does not block as much as my work computer I’ll just deal with it. I do appreciate you’re looking into it though. Thanks!
Rob,
Two other movies that you can add to the list of the sequel being better than the original: Godfather II and Terminator II: Judgement Day….FACT!
Robb, just wanted to throw this out there for the asthma question. Aside from what is known to work, i.e. low carb paleo w high dose fish oil (to keep the leukotriene induced inflamation in check), Protein Power Life Plan’s Magnesium Miracle chapter says balancing intracellular Mg levels back to normal has dramatic therapeutic effects on the airway inflamation as well. Can you post this so perhaps they can check the book reccomendations out as an adjunct to the dietary reccommendations? Obviously if the asthma is sever enough triggers should still be avoided like crazy (i.e. cold air, dander, etc. whatever they’re sensitive to).
My wife was suffering from mild bipolar and depression before we started cleaning up our diet (and we live 2hrs north of Seattle). She was on a mood stabilizer and an antidepressant. All they did was stabilize her mood at slightly less than baseline (rarely happy) and make her gain a bunch of weight. I had a condition of ‘no meds for a year’ prior to us trying to get pregnant so we could verify that she could maintain mental stability through a winter. As she titrated off the meds under the supervision of a psych her mood steadily improved and her weight came down. We also cleaned our diet starting with The Zone and ending up mostly paleo (she still has a bagel in the morning). We also added cod liver oil for vit D. Now she is happy most of the time to the point that no one would ever guess at her past issues. When she got pregnant her vit D levels showed that she needed at least 6000IU to get up to normal. Now we have a 10month old son that is breast fed with paleo weening. He is the happiest baby I have ever seen and he has gotten sick only once for 3 days while his baby sitters family has been sick numerous times.
Food is soooo much more powerful than meds and the side effects are a healthier body. This stuff is literally a life saver.
Thanks,
Mark
some comments regarding adrenal fatigue:
The one event that has a bigger impact on my life than any other was mono. I was 23 (29 now) and already extremely fatigued. I worked 2-3 jobs while going to college and average 20-25hrs (sometimes less) sleep per week for 4-5 years. My financial situation did not allow me to take any time off from my welding job during the mono which lasted 4 months. Until discovering the glory of adequate vit D levels 2 years ago I was running at 1/2 the energy I should have. I tried everything to get better; all sorts of herbal stuff, adrenal supplements, exercise, more sleep, etc. Eating paleo foods with vit D allow me to get up M-Th at 4am and go to bed at 10pm with a work out and no caffeine. And I have energy now close to pre-mono levels.
This stuff works. And severe adrenal fatigue takes a long time to recover from.
Thanks,
Mark
Robb,
Just discovered your site – love the podcast and I’m going through them all in sequence from the beginning.
I have been eating very Paleo now for a little over a month and love it (aside from diet coke, which I am really really having difficulty cutting down due to a lifelong addiction of 3-5 cans per day)
I have been getting my wife to adopt the tenets as well, but she has two main sticking points I was hoping you could address:
1) She has had minor IBS ever since getting E.Coli while in Mexico doing charity work in high school. On a 3 week paleoesque diet she has generally felt good so far, but is convinced that a daily portion of greek yogurt is good for the flora in her stomach. Plus she craves the stuff. Do you think cutting it out is critical, and is all that pro-biotic stuff really valid?
2) My wife has also been getting minor stomach cramps after eating heavy veggie laden meals and I’m thinking this might be due to her sensitive system/IBS tendencies
She also get monthly nausea due to the ortho-evra patch and wants to include some sort of mild bread or starchy stuff when the nausea and cramps happens to help settle her stomach. In your opinion what would be the least damaging go-to food for that? white bread? sweet potatoes? white rice? saltines? ( her preferred choice). Also what would be your worst, “last resort” foods – bran muffins? wheat/rye bread? beans?
Hope to hear your input. Keep up the great clog and podcast.
– TJ
TJ-
Great questions, will hit these in the podcast.
I have heard you comment a few times that you should work out according to how you are designed, that training long and hard if you’re an explosive athlete can lead to excessive cortisol production. Well I am nearly 100% fast twitch. At 300 lbs I can out sprint the average man, I can out shuttle my semipro football teams skilled players. However, when I run in excess of 70yds I look like your average fat guy again.
I am willing(or trying to be willing) to forsake my strength and power to make sure I don’t die at 58 like my dad. I dream of climbing crap, doing Edo like balancing stuff, running, swimming, and doing Parkour. Is it just not in my cards? I try to program in occasional 3-5k runs but they smash me and ruin the rest of my workouts. Should I worry about losing weight before I start trying to run? Should I expose my CNS more to the stress of my bouncing gerth so it gets used to it? If I succeed at losing weight living Paleo will I still not be able to train for endurance without counter-productive cortisol?
You have no idea how thankful I am for your work. I never take for granted that you are giving me access to info that will extend and better my life. Thank you.
Nainoa-
I think you could get way more balance by just hitting strong man type WO’s, sled/prowler work etc. Nutrition will help you bring your weight down so it is not a drag on your system. You CAN have it all brother!
Robb, I just bought the (pre-release) book on Amazon, see link below. Says it’ll be available on Sept 10th, I can’t wait.
http://www.amazon.com/Paleolithic-Solution-Robb-Wolf/dp/0982565844/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272119082&sr=8-1
Mike-
You rock amigo! thanks much.
Hey Robb,
Last episode you talked about why one might want to monitor insulin levels. I’m interested in the technical aspect: how do I measure insulin levels? I know about the little gluco-meters diabetics use. Is there something similar to test insulin levels? I’ve researched but haven’t found anything.
Thank you,
Bleicke
#1 – Thank you for the asthma discussion in the comments here. Any and all info is eagerly welcome. This is the last serious issue in our family now that we’ve ‘dialed in.’ Next we’ll work on body comp, but that’s less life and death.
#2 – I think that “A Fistful of Dollars”, “A Few Dollars More”, and “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” are technically a trio, so I put in a vote for the last one as the best in the series. I fully support T2 and Aliens as well. As for the Godfather…there are no words.
#3 – Robb and Andy, my family practically fell out of their chairs at dinner while were were listening and you mentioned me. It’s sad, but…I think they loved me a little more now that I’m famous as the potty mouth police. Which is so funny having worked as a chef for so many years. Truckers and sailors ain’t got nuthin’ on kitchen staff.
Love you guys. Keep up the good fight!
~Mrs. D
Mrs. Dalton-
We Love you and are a rock-star no matter who you talk to.
Just pre-ordered The Paleolithic Solution by Robb Wolf on Amazon – can’t wait!
Hey Robb,
Just a quick question.
What A1C are you looking for in someone who’s been a type II diabetic (diagnosed in 1995).
I’ve been searching for the last 30 minutes but can’t find an answer other than less than 7.0 (which seems awfully high).
Thanks.
Jack-
For health I’d like to see 4-4.5
My personal experience may apply to the guy with “level 10 gastro pain” in the “gut flora” question. He said vegetables especially cause distress, and claimed nuts do not. He did not mention if he’d ever cut out nuts, but does eat loads of them currently. I thought the same of myself, and did some elimination of nuts (almonds specifically) and it was clear to me that almonds primarily and nuts in general that give me huge pains in my GI tract. Cut ’em out, and see, easy and free testing on your own body, best control subject you can get (if you are honest with yourself).
Hey Robb, have you ever heard that a long time low carb diet can lower T3 levels which controls the thyroid and thus lowers metabolism?
Ian-
Only if deficeint in iodine, but that;s true across the board. Also, most thyroid issues are an outgrowth of grains and or hyperinsulinism.
Hey Robb,
We want to thank you. Our middle child has been a handful. His meltdowns were epic and he constantly hounded us for carb dense foods. On top of it all we were concerned for his health. He had very obvious fat depositing around the umbilical and above the hips. At 6 years of age we felt something had to change but all of our efforts failed.
We were lacto-ovo vegetarians, but after listening to your podcast and reading we have moved to Paleo. The kids aren’t paleo yet but we have cut out the grains (for the most part) but most importantly we’ve cut out the SOY vegetarian meat options. This used to be the main ingredient of almost every meal. We’ve also added two servings of Coromega (kid’s Omega 3 supplement) daily.
Suffice it to say, the boy dropped one pant size the first week. Three weeks now. So far no meltdowns (which used to be daily). And he is craving more nutrient dense foods. Best of all his body comp changes have made it so that he is much more active.
This is significant because as an infant and toddler everyone commented on how solidly built and lean he was. At year one we switched him from breast milk to soy milk. We were unaware that we were poisoning him.
Thanks man, really. Your work kinda saved my little boy.
Ed-
thanks for sharing and props to ya for just giving things a shot. keep me posted.
Wow. The Robb Wolf Fish Oil Calculator says I need to take 105, I repeat ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE pills of fish oil a day. I took 18 yesterday and already I felt like a junkie. Is anyone else here taking over one hundred fish oil pills per day?
Switch to liquid … You have to far less, it’s only marginally more expensive, not bad tasting (lemon flavored) and best of all it doesn’t contain all the extra crap that is in fish oil pills. Usually only about a third of the pill is comprised of DHA/EPA the rest is “other stuff”
I have a question regarding arachidonic acid. In your podcasts you say it is a pro-inflammatory especially found in milk, which can contribute to acne. However, I have also seen it used as a performance supplement. Is taking it in either dairy or a supplement potentially useful for putting on muscle mass – would it be worth it potentially if someone didn’t have issues with acne? A quick wiki search notes that while it is a pro-inflammatory, it doesn’t seem to have a negative effect on muscle inflammation and in fact has been shown to improve muscle mass in some studies.
This supplement http://www.animalpak.com/html/sections.cfm?id=54 contains arachidonic acid as well as resveratrol which I believe you said is pretty legit. Whats your take on something like this?
Also one final addition to my question. Would taking fish oil negate any potential benefits of arachidonic acid or vice versa?
Thanks to both Robb and Andy for the podcast; awesome stuff.
Couple questions:
– Chromium picolinate supplementation? Research seems inconclusive on the matter.
– Can sparkling water have any effect on digestion, etc… I’m talking simple carbonated water, nothing added.
Hey Robb,
I just found out that I have really low cortisol levels. Is that what they call Adrenal fatigue and do you know of any supplements I can take to help get things back to normal? I’ve been following my paleo diet, getting 8-9 hours of sleep/night. Doing my wendler program, deloading every 4 weeks, no metcons, etc.
Ian-
Is that abnormally low levels? Need more info amigo.
Robb, they seem ridiculously low.
here they are w/ the normal ranges listed
Cortisol Morning (saliva) 0.2L ng/ml normal: 3.7-9.5
Cortisol Noon (saliva) <0.1L ng/ml normal: 1.2-3.0
Cortisol Evening (saliva) <0.1L ng/ml normal: 0.6-1.9
Cortisol Night (saliva) <0.1L ng/ml normal: 0.4-1.0
testosterone was 41, normal was 48-144
Ian-
how are you feeling/performing?
Feel ok. Usually tired in the early afternoon but otherwise good. Performance is steady, not increasing though. Have gained about 7-8 lbs of fat over the last 8 months and now can’t lose it.
Interesting Type 1 diabetic information on the podcast. As a Type 1 myself, I have long been aware of increased glucose levels following a bout of high-intensity exercise.
While I do occasionally experience a glucose spike after high-intensity exercise, the response numerous hours after the cessation of the exercise bout is very favorable. Interestingly, the timing of the day when I perform the high-intensity exercise sometimes correlates with a significant spike or none at all. Late afternoon/early evening are most problematic with spikes. I know there’s a multitude of events that could contribute to this afternoon spike.
For the record, I usually have an a1c in the low to mid 5 range.
shoot fun info dude.
To the person inquiring about kefir, the “grains” aren’t actually grain, they are a colony of bacteria and yeast, very unlikely to contain gluten or much in the way of digestible carbs since they ferment sugar.
Just a quick question…
Anyone know where the link for Episode 24 went? I’m doing everything I can think of to get caught up on all of the podcasts and episode 24 is missing, both here and on iTunes.
Basically we can eat all foods, but bear in mind that we don’t need to have it in an exaggerated ways. Of course, if you want to have your real lifetime health, just consider eating the “what must” to your body such as: vegetables, fruits, coconut oil or olive oil, salmon and etc! The healthier food you consume, the happier your life will be.
Robb,
Can you explain what the point is of taking clenbuterol/albuterol/ephedra+caffeine for weight loss and then supplementing ketotifen fumerate in order to promote sensitivity to the stimulants once again?
Ketotifen Fumerate has side effects of RAPID weight gain via increased appetite (11 pounds in 4 weeks in 1 study), but also has theoretical benefits of promoting muscle insulin sensitivity and of course down-reg beta receptors as mentioned above. I hope you understand the general inquiry here.
Also, if you could speak to the benefits/detriments of supplementing with clenbuterol/albuterol from all angles, i.e. potential anti-catabolic, thermogenic effects + how these potential benefits may be countered by the cortisol that would be released or any other negatives.
thanks!
Austin
Austin-
I’d need to research this a good bit. I think the beneies of stims for fat loss are, no pun intended, skinny. Therapeutic window is small, downsides are many.