Autoimmune Disease & Health Markers – Episode 133

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Topics:

1. [4:12] Evolutionary Anthropology and Biology Book Recommendations
2. [8:28] Fluoride and Baby Teeth
3. [15:50] Hemochromatosis, High Iron, and Organ Meats
4. [18:03] Weight Lifting and Long Term Health
5. [31:32] Cancer Prevention
6. [37:29] Autoimmune Disease and Tracking Health Markers
7. [45:22] Fitness for EMS Workers
8. [51:19] Protein Requirements for Type 2 Diabetes

 

Questions:

1. Paleo and lifting made me interested in science/evolutionary biology… need a little help

Office Inmate says:
Hi Robb,

Been listening to the podcast; have been eating Paleo for about a year, my first introduction to the idea was Art Devany’s book and some interviews he did.

Paleo plus working out has rekindled… check that… kindled my interest in science and more specifically anthropology and evolutionary biology.

Haven’t taken a science class in ten years, I’m essentially looking for reading list recommendations for good books written for the layman on evolutionary anthropology and biology.  Hopefully a few titles to get me going that are written with a degree of stylistic quality that will get me turning the pages.

At this point, my knowledge of this stuff starts and ends with a couple books for the Paleo crowd and Helen Fisher’s books (which I thought were pretty good).

Thanks much

 

2. Baby Teeth

Denny says:

Hey there Rob and Greg!

Greetings and salutations from the Great White North!!  That’s Canada for those that are directionally and geographically challenged!

I am having a major dilemma about this entire fluoride deal and deciding what is the best thing to do for my 13 month old!?!  She is currently working with some 7 teeth, possibly 8 by the time we’re done here?!

I see a holistic dentist and he is an anti-amalgam purist and a very well read man.  He is of the mindset that fluoride in the drinking water, albeit deleterious and not necessary for older adults, is necessary for young children to be drinking fluoridated/chlorinated tap water to prevent tooth decay and cavities.  His son, a holistic minded chiropractor, agrees that the PROS to drinking tap water for the health of a child’s teeth out way the CONS.

He instructed me that it’s the action of ingesting the fluoride internally that helps to build the tooth matrix. It has a different effect than external fluoridated pastes or rinses.   He cited historical evidence that years ago Toronto fluoridated it’s water and Montreal decided against fluoridation.  Two cities of equal size and after a few years of tracking, cavities and tooth decay in unfluoridated Montreal, outnumbered Toronto by 10 to 1…

My question is, does living a Primal/Paleo lifestyle supplemented with raw milk home-made baby formula, offer our child any protection against tooth decay by drinking only Reverse Osmosis defluoridated water?

Do we bite the bullet and do the tap water as opposed to R/O water for the first 10+(?) years to set our child up right against to decay??

Any advice or ideas on right from wrong and what we should do are greatly appreciated!

Thanks for all your great work to save the world and keep it lean and mean!

 

3. HIGH IRON

Brian says:
hey, hoping this gets on the show, should be a quick hit.

I found out I carry one of the genes for Hemochromatosis, so I store excess iron. Is there an upper limit of red meat/organ meats I should eat, say per week? Because that would suck.

 

4. Will I forever rue the day I discovered weight training?

Mike says:
Long time listener, first time questioner here.  While you’ve brushed on this topic, it’s been a while and I really want to hear G’s take on this.

As a 35 year old father of 6, my days of being any kind of competitive athlete are behind me.  However, having re-discovered strength training and crossfit-style metcons a couple years ago, I love the sense of accomplishment that comes with seeing my strength numbers go up.  My goal in working out is to be strong and healthy and set a good example for my sons and daughters (ages 11 through 12 weeks).

As much satisfaction as I get from pulling heavy weights, I don’t want this “hobby” to be something I regret later in life.  A friend of mine who’s an orthopedic surgeon recently quit crossfit because he thinks heavy weights are ultimately going to be detrimental to long term health.  He’s a good friend, a pretty strong guy and sports medicine specialist, so I don’t think I can dismiss him the way I can the overweight doctor who says squats are bad for your knees.  He says that the force from heavy weights over time ultimately destroys cartilage and that when it’s gone, it’s gone. He says it’s not a matter of using good form; it’s just force over time.

I hate it when people give me advice I don’t want to hear, but I don’t know any old weightlifters.  Louis Simmons has had some injuries but he seems to be doing okay.  I know football players have sore joints later in life, but I have to think that’s more the impact than the heavy weights.  Are retired olympic lifters in constant pain past age 60?

I generally eat well (paleo + dairy fats, limited sugar, etc) and I’m not training to compete in the Crossfit games.  I’m not really training to compete at anything beyond not sucking at life.  But I love to lift heavy and imagine myself lifting heavier.  I can bench and clean 300, squat 400 and pull close to 500 and I’d love to see another 100 on all those numbers before I start to consider myself strong enough.

What sorts of things should I be thinking about in balancing my training goals with overall health and longevity in particular?

 

5. Anti-Cancer Paleo Goals

Kate says:
Hello Robb,

I’ve tried my best to read all of your (and many others’) commentary on paleo and cancer prevention, via your books, blogs and podcasts.  I enjoyed your rant about genetic testing, specifically, genome versus phenome expression.  I tested positive for BRCA mutations, and my family has a massive history of breast cancer.  After a pretty simple transition to a strict paleo over the last three months, I feel fantastic and intend to stick with it for the long haul.  I’m almost 30, and my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer at my age.  I want to do all I can in terms of prevention.

My questions are: 1) In your opinion, what should my goals be- should I shoot for a ketogenic diet? Is this irrelevant in an anti-cancer perspective?  2) What supplements would you recommend? (Currently, I only take D-3, as fish oil gives me terrible acne.  I will probably add primrose oil, or maybe try a higher quality, liquid fish oil once I can afford it.)  3) Do you agree with William Li’s ideas per his recent TEDtalk about anti-angiogenesis foods, if they were paleo-fyied? Omit soy, etc.  4) Cancer likes sugar.  Should I limit fruit?  5) Omit all dairy- Kerrygold butter and raw cream?

Though my sister and I were originally tested to keep our mother off our backs, so to speak, we now have MRIs and biopsies on a bi-annual basis.  Anything that I could do to limit the stress/cortisol involved in this on-going process would be very appreciated.  Believing that I’ve done what I could would go a long way for me in that regard.

p.s.  I apologize in advance if I butchered any of the aforementioned science terms- I’m way out of my field on this stuff!

Thanks!

 

6. Autoimmune Snowflake Club — Represent!

Grayson says:
Hi Guys,

Been at this Paleo gig for about 6 months now and am feeling truly amazing. My most profound thanks to Robb and everyone involved in pushing the diet further into the public consciousness, you are saving lives. I was diagnosed with Crohn’s about 8
years ago after a good run as an elite level cyclist (sound familiar?) and for the first time in my life I feel like I have it under control, and that’s where my question comes in. If i phrase it right, I think it could be helpful and clarifying to a lot of autoimmune people out there (I know you guys bang your heads against the wall with all the scatter-shot AI questions). It centers on the on-again/off again, flare-up nature of most autoimmune disorders. Here goes: The diet, and even more so the AI protocol, is no doubt an immediate benefit to anyone suffering from an AI disorder. But because the nature of the disease is not constant it’s tough to know exactly how much of the benefit is from the diet, and how much is from the disease just potentially trending into a remission phase. In my experience, I’ve gone as much as 2 years without any significant acivity at all, and as little as 1 month between nasty flare-ups. For this reason, the “re-introduce, and see how you look feel and perform” mantra isn’t enough (no disrespect!). After strict AI protocol for a few months, I currently will eat some corn tortillas now and again, and I eat the bejesus out of my backyard eggs,  and they haven’t done me any harm yet, but a 6 or even 12 month remission period isn’t unheard of for me even when I was eating pizza everyday.
So I guess the heart of the question is, because the “look feel and perform” can sometimes be a liar to an AI person, I’ve thought that I need to be more numbers-based for health markers. As in, “well, I introduced nightshades and I feel okay, but my CRP went up, so maybe it’s a bad idea.” Any thoughts? If so, where should one begin? Just CRP? Anything else? My head starts to spin when I think of everything I could be blood-testing for, and the $ for the tests are coming straight outta the doomsday fund (read: miniscule savings account). Are there any *other* markers besides blood and overall sense of well-being that might be useful to an AI person?
Lastly, and I know this is already long, I wanted to give a shout-out to Alan Schachter at CrohnsDad.com. Maybe you could take a look at the site and give it a thumbs-up if you like it? This is a normal dude with a daughter with Crohns who has gone on a relentless quest to dig up as much info as he can about Crohn’s and autoimmune in general and share it with the world. The site is impeccably organized, with links to you (that’s how I heard about you), Kresser, Deans, etc and he is truly gifted at putting Fasano and other studies into layman terms. For me, at the end of my rope and about to go on Humira, he was truly a voice in the wilderness. His site, if only as a starting point, has the potential to help thousands of people if its profile
could be raised a little.
Thanks!

 

7. EMS Fitness Question

Justin says:
Robb and Greg,

Background: I am a paramedic for a great EMS agency in rural Washington State. We are staffed by 9 employees and 23 volunteers.  We have a good employee health program that includes paid exercises time for staff. Since my boss and co-workers know that I am a huge paleo/ meat/barbell/mobility geek I have been asked to coach group style fitness classes. We have retired firefighters, current firefighters, smokejumpers, real estate agents, a hot air balloon pilot, retired teachers and the list goes on. The point is we have a wide range of ages and athletic abilities. We also have some big orthopedic issues that prevent some of the folks from getting into basic positions: full squats and pressing overhead to name two big ones. In fact, there are only a couple of individuals who can go to full depth on a squat.  I have put together a program that lasts about an hour. We start with some light walking, rowing, running, or biking. We then move into some dynamic stretching followed by mobility work and foam rolling. After the “juices are flowing” I have them squat, press, and pull. Most people are either doing the work without weight or assisted with bands.

Question: I have heard Greg mention a couple of times that he used to work as an EMT and thought since he knows the demands of EMS you gentlemen might be able to put your heads together and comment on our program and how you might tweek it to make it better. My agency is also willing to pay for me to go to training and want your input on what training might be best for us (e.g. Rippetoe’s Starting Strength, MovNat, or even, please say yes, the Catalyst Olympic Weightlifting Seminar).
Although I didn’t get out my Diana Hacker book I hope my grammar is up to snuff for Greg.

Thanks for the information you provide,
Justin

 

8. Type 2 Diabetic and Protein Requirements

Kim says:
Thanks so much for continuing to keep us all informed.  In Dr. Bernstein’s Diabetes Solution he writes that diabetics should limit their protein consumption to about .8 – 1 gram of protein per kilogram of desired body weight, which would put me at about 47 – 59 grams of protein per day or 7 – 10 oz per day. He says that eating too much protein can raise your blood sugar if you are a diabetic. I have Type 2, I’m not on meds and have lowered my A1C from 11.9 to 5.7 and lowered fasting sugars with diet alone since March of 2011. I only eat about 20-30 grams per day of carbs. What is your opinion on eating this amount of protein? I heard in one of your earlier podcasts that you recommend 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. I currently weight about 212 and should weigh about 130. I’m 5’4?.  Since the end of May 2011, I have lost about 84 pounds.

Greg Everett

Greg Everett is co-host of The Paleo Solution podcast. He is the owner of Catalyst Athletics and co-founder of The Performance Menu. He was a competitive weightlifter under renowned coach Mike Burgener, and is the author of "the best book available on Olympic weightlifting": Olympic Weightlifting: A Complete Guide for Athletes & Coaches and Olympic Weightlifting for Sports