Nut Allergies, Pregnancy Resources, Carbon Footprint of Food | THRR029

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Show Notes:

Our book Sacred Cow is now officially available for pre-order. 
The publisher is nervous about the Covid climate, with bookstores being closed, etc. They are being excessively cautious with the print run during this time, so please go ahead and pre-order now.

 —-
News topic du jour:
The Autoimmune Protocol Diet Modifies Intestinal RNA Expression in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

1. Pregnant Wife [11:14]
Kyle says:
Mr and Mrs Wolf,

My wife is 10 weeks pregnant and I need guidance. I am 37 and she is 36 and this seems to be a wedding night baby (WOOT WOOT). I ran out and got her Prenatal vitamins (Megafoods Baby & Me 2 and Nordic Naturals DHA).  Diet wise we have picked up Real Food for Pregnancy but everything else we are in a whirlwind of information. We are on the older side of parents and we just want to make sure our child is healthy. Do you guys have any books we should  buy that could provide more guidance? I get waves of panic but that seems to be calmed by coffee

Thank you for everything you and guys do.

Sincerely,

Kyle

Healthy Baby code by kresser

Ideally you have some experienced mommas around you…breastfeeding…

https://www.amazon.com/90-Minute-Baby-Sleep-Program-Natural-ebook/dp/B0037BVKJ4

 

2. Altitude and electrolytes/ low carbohydrate [18:10]
Sage says:
Hi,

Do you have any experience with or know of any resources regarding electrolyte needs as well as the performance implications of a low carbohydrate diet when climbing at altitude (14000-21000 ft above sea level)?

Thank you!

https://www.uphillathlete.com/burn-fat-to-go-fast/

https://www.businessinsider.com/navy-seals-keto-diet-to-be-even-more-effective-2019-6

https://www.floridatrend.com/print/article/25273

Nutritional Needs In Cold And In High-Altitude Environments: Applications for Military Personnel in Field Operations.

 

3. Carbo-NO? Carb-be-gone [21:14]
Brittany says:
From August to about the beginning of December I was relatively lower carb, max of 150-ish g/day. Since then, I realized that I may be doing a disservice to myself and my performance so I hired a coach (around Christmas) and she has progressed me to 240 g carbs.

I don’t eat a ton of food out of a package unless I’m not too hungry and need dense sources, and then I’ll go for some granola. I generally only eat foods with ingredients I can technically buy off the shelf and potentially make myself. (Carbs: oats, wild mixed rice, quinoa, sweet & red potatoes, and ALL the veggies, maple syrup/honey, occasionally strawberries and blueberries, Dave’s killer bread during longer bike rides- 1x/wk)

Just a few weeks of eating higher carb, I feel bloated and puffy (and just BLAH) and it’s not a good feeling. I try to stay off of the scale and just look at trends, but it appears my body weight is trending upwards (+5# in just a few weeks).  I haven’t noticed any major changes in performance, in fact, I’ve had more “rough” training days than I was experiencing before.

I’m a CrossFitter of quite a few years who needed a change in training styles so I’ve adapted more of an endurance way of life. I was higher carb with CF and once I switched from June until December, I was leaning out and starting feeling good and looking good (which has never been the case). I lost 2% BF in less than 3 months, have since lost close to 25#. I felt great. I also notice if I spread out my carbs, and eat some for breakfast– I tend to morph into a sloth by 1…2pm.

Current macros: 240g C, 71g F, 133g P (2130 cal)

Training about 12-15 hrs per week.

Is this an intolerance to the carbs (blood sugar, cortisol, etc) or maybe a gut issue? Hormones? Thoughts?

30 year old female, was at 139# BW at 19%BF (in August)

averaging 133 bw currently

Thanks for everything You and Nicki do. Your book Paleo Solutions saved me from an eating disorder and I still apply the principles I’ve learned… 9 years later. My mom is also benefiting from your website and podcast and helped my dad get his Type 2 diabetes a little more under control.

Looking forward to a New Braunfels meet up! 🙂

 

4. Tree Nut Allergy [29:38]
Sarah Jane says:
Hi Robb,

I was wondering what your thoughts are on tree nut allergies and the gut/Microbiome?  I keep reading here and there that there’s a possibility to if not completely reverse tree nut allergies, then to at least minimize the life-threatening response by fixing the gut.

My 11-year-old son just had an anaphylactic reaction to macadamia nuts totally out of the blue a few weeks ago. He has always struggled with seasonal allergies, Lots of ear infections. Para influenza age 3 and of course antibiotics, c-section, tonsils removed and croup . I took things into my own hands about four years ago and whenever things got bad, instead of taking him to a regular doctor, I just kept him home and let him work his way out of it naturally. He’s missed a lot of school.  Diffuser with essential oil’s, x-clear everyday, prebiotic fiber etc. – sleep sitting up when congested –  the best I knew how.  He has gotten stronger every year (less sickness each year).  So there has been improvement.  Now this anaphylacric macademia nut reaction has thrown my husband and I for a loop, but at the same time it’s quite obvious that there is an issue with his gut.  I know you and your daughter have had some issues yourself. I wondered if you could give us any direction or insight as we start down this path of helping him become stronger and healthier. He is a very high functioning 11-year-old. Plays travel hockey,  smart – we like him! ️ LOL!  Just want to see him thrive and of course it’s a horrible feeling living in fear. – carrying an EpiPen around for my son is not fun.  I am close friends with several other moms whose children have severe nut  allergies and they just seem to think it’s the way their kid was born. Continue to stuff them with processed foods and gluten-free goodies. It’s whacked!   I just can’t except this. I know something just needs to be improved upon.  Or am I delusional?

We are going to put him on a strict Paleo for athletes type diet and do some elimination testing as well. Obviously zero processed foods.  Any suggestions here?  Things to add?  I read butyrate is important???

Also, I would like to have some help with some sort of lab test for him. Do you recommend a certain lab? My parents use Viome and are happy with it, but my husband said that not all labs are good and that there has been some mixed results. Can you recommend a certain lab for our son? And quite frankly for me too!

Thank you for all you have done for us.  You and Mark Sisson are who Introduced us to Paleo about 8 years ago.  🏻 Obviously, I haven’t been perfect in that my son needs some serious extra help. But I am determined to get him whole.

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration and reading my message.

Best regards,

Sarah Jane Bourque

Phoenix Arizona

 

5. Article about carbon footprints of food [35:05]
Joe says:
Hi Robb, I’m a huge fan and I recently ran across this article that some pro-plant based folks shared. There are a number of things here that don’t seem right. Is this something you’ve addressed previously or could help address?

Thanks,

Joe

https://ourworldindata.org/food-choice-vs-eating-local?fbclid=IwAR0Rx67uMSg79zvxcD9BMSvjxbzgYQFUHhA_SwjhvHqnAXRnqsEMaGxSzfM

 

Transcript:

Download a copy of the transcript here (PDF)

Nicki: It’s time to make your health an act of rebellion. We’re tackling personalized nutrition, metabolic flexibility, resilient aging and answering your diet and lifestyle questions. This is the only show with the full aim to help 1,000,000 people liberate themselves from the sick care systems.

Nicki: You’re listening to The Healthy Rebellion Radio. The contents of this show are for entertainment and educational purposes only. Nothing in this podcast should be considered medical advice. Please consult your licensed and credentialed functional medicine practitioner before embarking on any health, dietary or fitness change.

Nicki: When Robb gets passionate, he’s been known to use the occasional expertise. If foul language is not your thing, if it gets your britches in a bunch, well, there’s always Disney+.

Robb: So is this real or we’re testing?

Nicki: And we’re back. This is real, no testing.

Robb: Cool.

Nicki: Welcome everyone to another episode of The Healthy Rebellion Radio.

Robb: Look at you, just taking the bull by the horns or whatever.

Nicki: Yes. Gosh, what do we have?

Robb: Well quick announcements like the PRIME Act, just a real quick reminder on the PRIME Act. This is an opportunity to completely undo the log jam that has occurred in our food production system. This would allow local producers much more access to just basically well quality control, but a greater access to butchering and processing.

Nicki: Yeah. And if you listen to the salty talk episode this week, we went on and on and on about it. So we’re not going to do that here. But we will put a link in the show notes for more information about it. If you care about being able to get meat from your local producers and you care about the pending or coming meat shortages due to the processing plants being completely booked, and will actually closing at this point.

Robb: It’s both, I mean maybe we will wax eloquent briefly on it. There’s four companies that control 85% of the meat processing really that’s food at large. But meat processing also two of them are foreign owned, one by a Chinese company, the other by a Brazilian company. So should be some concerns there.

Robb: But what these folks were able to do is basically occupy the time slots for processing even when they’re not using them. So they will pay for facilities to be “full” and then small time operators have a hell of a time getting in. So you have to be one of these mega conglomerate entities to…

Nicki: And a ton of other red tape. So this PRIME Act would really help…

Robb: Streamline all that.

Nicki: … streamline all that, allow us to get meat from our local producers. So it’s super important. If you’re listening to the show, this is probably an issue that you would support. Again, we’ll put some links in the show notes so you can read up more about it. But we have a very limited time to make phone calls to our Congressman…

Robb: And this is what you’ve got to do. Tweeting social media, doesn’t do anything, writing emails doesn’t do anything, calling these folks does.

Nicki: Yeah. And you can check out Robb’s Instagram account @dasrobbwolf, D-A-S-R-O-B-B-W-O-L-F. Because we’ve made phone calls and have scripts…

Robb: It took me less than five minutes.

Nicki: Yeah, and again look at the show notes. This is a must do and that’s why we’re harping on it again. All right guys. The other only other thing again is Sacred Cow is now officially available for pre-order. So make sure you grab your copy. Amazon indie books, any of the online retailers, because I believe most regular brick and mortar retailers are still mostly closed.

Robb: And clearly it’s a self serving ask I’m asking you to buy one of my books, but the saying covers the environmental, ethical and health considerations of eating meat. It just, climate change and on and on and on. We’ve worked on it for four years, so a ton of work has gone into it.

Robb: And because of COVID and because brick and mortar stores are shut down, because Amazon has shifted allocations away from things like books.

Nicki: Away from books, yeah.

Robb: The publisher is freaked out about is anybody going to buy this thing? So generally when people do pre-orders, they wait until the week before the book releases, I totally get that. If you have any inclination to purchase this book, please do it on the earlier side because we’re really facing a potential that we will run out of books in the initial book order.

Nicki: Everybody waits to- if the publisher doesn’t print enough and everybody waits to when it’s released to buy it and then we’ll run out.

Robb: And again self-servingly the… if we make The New York Times Best Seller list then they promote us more. And if you don’t then they don’t promote you at all. And if we make The New York Times Best Seller list for one week and then run out of books, even if we’re selling them like crazy, if the books are not deliverable, then we are out of the list.

Robb: And this is just the process and the slipstream and the rope a dope that goes along with it. So please, if you are again inclined to buy Sacred Cows, do it…

Nicki: Please and thank you.

Robb: Yes and a huge thank you.

Nicki: Please and thank you. Yeah. Okay. Let’s see. Any other, anything else news worthy hubs?

Robb: No, what? May 18th Straight Blast Gym Texas should be reopening with of course, appropriate social distancing, which is super easy to do when you’re grappling with someone.

Nicki: They’ve got a lot of…

Robb: We have a plan.

Nicki: … they’re planning on putting in place to make that work. It’s exciting.

Robb: So that’s there on our news topic, is an additional update out of the autoimmune paleo world. It’s a paper titled autoimmune protocol diet, modifies intestinal RNA expression in inflammatory bowel disease. Essentially, this is just looking at the gene products that are associated with inflammation or a non-inflammatory state.

Robb: And very cool and not surprisingly, the autoimmune paleo diet seems to change gene expression towards a lower inflammatory state. And this was a small number of people, a short intervention, but the P values on it are very, very good. So is this the end all be all? Is this the last word on this?

Robb: No. The autoimmune paleo concept was first penned in my first book 10 years ago. And if you look at something like the Mediterranean diet, it first, if I recall correctly hit the medical literature in the 1950s and it was a review paper. And it wasn’t until the 1980s that people started really looking at it.

Robb: Now I will go out on a limb and say that they’ve actually completely misinterpreted what exactly that means. But the long and short of it is that it takes time for this stuff to emerge. Third, if there’s not a drug and a point, if there’s not some sort of a patentable end point on this thing, it’s hard to get funding for it.

Robb: And this isn’t a conspiracy theory. It’s just the way that things are. So this is another one. These things like there’ve been a lot of people out of the evidence based medicine scene that have poo-pooed paleo and the auto-immune concept and really don’t seem to give two shits about any of this stuff.

Robb: They do great work as long as you’re super healthy and you’re already a successful fitness competitor. But if you happened to be sick and have any fucking health problems and they don’t seem to give two shits about it. So this is one of the things to stuff up those people’s hoo-ha.

Robb: Because day by day, we keep gaining ground on establishing that there are some things like specific carbohydrate diet, FODMAP diet, like there’s a variety of ways to get into this. But they’re all addressing some underlying gut issues, systemic inflammatory problems and they work.

Robb: Not everyone works for each person, but these things are broadly working and what will come next is being able to characterize. Okay, based off your genetics and your gut microbiome maybe, specific carbohydrate diet is better than autoimmune paleo. But there’s huge crossover with this stuff.

Nicki: Awesome. You’re feisty today.

Robb: Shit just gets me fucking fired up. It’s just like, I mean we did this deal where we… when we ran our gym we had some high level athletes and we helped them. Like it was cool. We got them stronger. We plug some holes in their physical game, their nutrition was improved and that was cool.

Robb: But it was also, like compared to taking somebody who was going to die and helping them reverse their type two diabetes like that was definitely more… seemed like it mattered a little bit more versus helping people, helping adults play children’s games. Not to piss down the back of people who enjoy their sport of activities.

Robb: But it just… there are people that have built decent careers and they do good work, but they basically swim in a tiny pool that encompasses fitness athletes. And it’s like, cool, that’s great. If that’s the totality of what you want on your tombstone, awesome. But I want a little bit more…

Nicki: Did someone piss you off on social media?

Robb: No, I’m just getting so fucking over all these cock faces that I’m just like, oh fuck them all.

Nicki: All righty there.

Robb: Maybe it’s because I have my safe haven in The Healthy Rebellion then I’m just like, get off my lawn.

Nicki: Let’s move along to our podcast review t-shirt winner announcement. This one goes to John Solo 1977.

Robb: Awesome name.

Nicki: Really cool name. He says, “Rebel against the sick care system. Great show, one of my most trusted names in health and nutrition. If you want to be able to go to the bathroom on your own until the day you die, definitely listen. Thanks Robb and Nikki for the passion and truth.” Awesome review. John Solo 1977 thank you.

Nicki: Send us an email to [email protected] with your t-shirt size and mailing address and we’ll send you a healthy rebellion radio t-shirt.

Robb: You’re wearing one?

Nicki: I am wearing one.

Robb: It’s quite snazzy.

Nicki: Yeah. Thanks. All right. This episode of The Healthy Rebellion Radio is sponsored by Athletic Greens. Athletic Greens is an ultimate daily, all in one health drink with 75 vitamins, minerals and whole foods sourced ingredients includes prebiotics, probiotics, digestive enzymes, adaptogens, superfoods and more.

Nicki: And this weekend the girls and I are going to make some popsicles with Athletic Greens. It’s a fun thing that we like to do.

Robb: I will say that the carrier that you put with it is critical to make it kid worthy, but it’s not hard. Like getting the right, berry mix or something.

Nicki: Don’t drink, they’ll do it just plain. Sometimes I do it just plain. Sometimes I’ll throw in some frozen strawberries or frozen blueberries blended in, yeah. So they love eating popsicles and the green color makes them fun too so anyway. Athletics Greens…

Robb: Eating afterwards though.

Nicki: Athletic greens is trusted by some of the world’s top performers, entrepreneurs, athletes and Olympians. Super easy to use. Just scoop and mix with water. They have a special offer for Healthy Rebellion Radio listeners, go to athletic greens.com\wolf and receive 20 free travel packs with your first purchase.

Robb: There you have it.

Nicki: Okay. We’ve got a question from Kyle about his pregnant wife. Mr. and Mrs. Wolf, my wife is 10 weeks pregnant. I need guidance. I’m 37 she’s 36 and this seems to be a wedding night baby.

Robb: Whoo-whoo.

Nicki: I ran out and got her prenatal vitamins, MegaFoods Baby and Me 2 and Nordic Naturals DHA. Diet wise we’ve picked up real food for pregnancy but everything else we are in a whirlwind of information. We are on the older side of parents and we just want to make sure our child is healthy.

Nicki: Do you have any books we should buy that could provide more guidance? I get waves of panic but that seems to be calmed by coffee. Thank you for everything you do, sincerely Kyle.

Robb: So do you want to jump in on…

Nicki: Yeah, I mean we also were on the older side of parents like we had Zoe, I was 24, oh sorry, 24. I wish I was 24. Yeah, I was 34 when Zoe was born and 36 when Sagan was born. You were?

Robb: Six years older than both of those.

Nicki: Yeah, so I think the number one thing is the sleep piece is just going to get rocked no matter which way you slice it. We ended up, gosh it was probably Zoe was probably three months old when we were recommended the book, The 90-Minute Baby Sleep Program.

Robb: And it changed…

Nicki: And that was really cool. We started following that and actually worked. So I would definitely recommend that.

Robb: The basic premise here is that the babies initially operate on a 90 minute…

Nicki: Cycles.

Robb: … cycles. So they’ll be awake for 90 minutes and then they’re ready to go…

Nicki: To sleep again.

Robb: … down again. And you want to be on point because there’s this window of easing them into it and then they sleep really well…

Nicki: And if you pass that 90 minute mark then they catch a second wind thing.

Robb: Yeah. And you have to wait 10 minutes.

Nicki: It’s harder to put them down. Babies sleep all the time when they’re newborns. They sleep a lot.

Robb: And the book will explain this, but as they get older then they will shift to two 90 minute blocks and then three 90 minute blocks of being awake. But it chops your life up because you are living and dying by the clock. But man, if you want to sleep, if you want the kid to not be cranky, this is super…

Nicki: I think younger parents just go wherever and bring your kid with you thing, that works. We were old enough and tired enough and…

Robb: I mean not all kids will do that. Neither one of our kids would sleep, like if we took them to a restaurant or something like that, they didn’t sleep. Yeah.

Nicki: So anyway, so that’s a big one. The other thing that I would recommend hopefully where you live, your wife has friends around that have kids. Basically looking for some breastfeeding support, like that was way harder than I ever expected. We had just moved to Reno and I didn’t have any girlfriends there.

Nicki: My sister was three hours away and pregnant and couldn’t come when Zoe was first born. So having other women and or a lactation consultant, a good one it would be a big recommendation.

Robb: Yeah.

Nicki: For sure.

Robb: Because that was definitely…

Nicki: Most of the time, I think many women spend most of their pregnant months reading birthing books and what is it going to be like to… how can I birth this baby and obviously how to be healthy during pregnancy and all of that. But at least in my case, I didn’t read much on breastfeeding because I just assumed, oh, the baby is going to come out and I’m going to stick her right to the boob. And she’s going to latch and everything’s going to be magical and it’s not.

Robb: Apparently even in chimpanzee societies, the extended family networks will help a new mom figure out how to breastfeed their infants. And they’re arguably very, very intelligent. Or you could also argue maybe more instinctual than humans are. But they’re sophisticated enough that there’s culture there that needs to transmit how to do this stuff.

Robb: And I remember my mom was still alive, I reached out to her and I said, “Hey,” because I have three older siblings. And I was like, mom, when you had the other kids, did grandma come and hang out with you? And she’s like, oh yeah, grandma stayed with me for three months. Both of your aunts stayed with me for a month each.

Robb: So my mom who with each of the kids clearly gained experience but with each one of these kids, she had 75 years of child rearing experience helping her in the beginning. And just being able to cover for a few minutes. So even though our ability to blow to the wind and go places we want to go and have employment opportunities, all that stuff is really legit.

Robb: One of the things that the collateral damage is that extended family support and holy shit do you really…

Nicki: When you have a kid, you really want it so bad.

Robb: Yeah, you really want it. You maybe don’t have the best relationship with your family, but when you’re thinking, who would I maybe trust my kids with so I could take a nap? Then all of a sudden family.

Nicki: I guess it depends on your family. Some members of your family I wouldn’t have trusted my kids with.

Robb: Fair enough. I mean if they were out on parole at that time it was doable but…

Nicki: It depends on… every circumstance is unique. I wouldn’t say that.

Robb: But I guess the point that I want to make with that is that the birth usually goes far easier than what people think. Adding to your point again, people focus so much on, is my nutrition on point? And then the birth. And they forget that there’s this whole thing afterwards of raising the kid.

Robb: And that’s where having support if you could pay for a night nurse or something, a couple of even two days a week or three days a week or something. Budget that end because it just, man, it changes everything. We had a dear friend of ours, Nancy up in…

Nicki: Three weeks in, yeah. Thank God for Nancy. Yeah, we were three weeks in with Zoe and just so tattered and exhausted and just blown out. And she came and stayed for a week and took the night shift with her and allowed us to get some sleep and that was amazing. So Kyle, congratulations to you and your wife. Super, super exciting and hopefully that helped a little bit.

Robb: Yeah, and keep us updated.

Nicki: Oh and I actually forgot to mention Healthy Baby Code by Chris Kresser, I think that’s still floating around there somewhere. So if you google that great content in there as well with regards to nutrition.

Robb: But Lily Nichols’ book, the Real Food for Pregnancy is outstanding, so no problems there.

Nicki: Okay. So let’s see here. We’ve got a question from Sage on altitude and electrolytes when low carb. And she says hi. Do you have any experience with or know of any resources regarding electrolyte needs as well as the performance implications of a low carbohydrate diet when climbing an altitude 14,000 to 21,000 feet above sea level?

Robb: Yeah. The low carb pieces may be a little easier to unpack. This is where some of the ketogenic diet studies have really shined. This is some DARPA funded research for naval special warfare and other outfits in the military looking at these very extreme low oxygen content environments.

Robb: Like altitude or very high oxygen content environments like the rebreather systems that are oftentimes used by SEALs and other military divers. So it really paints a favorable picture for a ketogenic diet at altitude because it tends to reduce the oxygen demands that folks have.

Robb: I didn’t even realize this but in reading up on this, the oxygen content is so low in the atmosphere that you can’t even really get anaerobic if you wanted to. Like you can very briefly. But it’s like the… even though they say it’s an anaerobic, it’s actually pure aerobic when you get right down to it.

Robb: Like it’s really highly oxygen fuel to do that super intense activity. So you are largely left with the slower twitch oxidative systems, which do a great job with fatten and ketones. So that part, whether using exogenous ketones, MCTs, if you’re fully keto adapted, there’s great literature that suggested it. It will likely improve your performance.

Robb: Now the other side of this gets a lot more difficult to unpack. One of the side effects of altitude sickness is a tendency for the body to both retain sodium and water. This gets dodgy. If we knew anything about the physiology of low carb diets, it’s that we tend to have a diuretic effect and we tend to shed water and sodium.

Robb: So I would assume that a ketogenic diet would help mitigate that scenario, but there’s not really a lot of research on it. Like we’re advocating for pretty vigorous electrolyte supplementation and sodium supplementation. This would be a such a scenario in which you would definitely want to test it.

Robb: You want to test it at lower altitudes, in places where you’ve got an out. You don’t want to wait until, real extreme game day when you’re all…

Nicki: In small amounts.

Robb: Yeah. So I would make the case that my understanding of this physiology, the low carb state should help mitigate some of that fluid retention and whatnot. But again, I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s individual differences there or some deeper stuff to consider on that.

Nicki: Okay. Our next question this week is from Brittany on carbo no, carb begone. She says from August to about the beginning of December, I was relatively low carb with a max of 150ish or so grams per day. Since then, I realized I may be doing a disservice to myself and my performance, so I hired around Christmas a coach.

Nicki: And she has progressed me to 240 grams of carbs. I don’t need a ton of food out of a package unless I’m not too hungry and need dense sources and then I’ll go for some granola. I generally only eat foods with ingredients I can technically buy off the shelf and potentially make myself.

Nicki: For carbs, I eat oats, wild mixed rice, quinoa, sweetened red potatoes and all the veggies, maple syrup, honey, occasionally strawberries and blueberries. Dave’s Killer Bread during longer bike rides one time a week or so. Just a few weeks of eating higher carbs I feel bloated and puffy and just blah. It’s not a good feeling.

Nicki: I try to stay off the scale and just look at trends, but it appears my body weight is trending upwards about an increase in five pounds in just a few weeks. I haven’t noticed any major changes in performance and in fact, I’ve had more rough training days than I was experiencing before.

Nicki: I’m a CrossFitter of quite a few years who needed to change in training styles so I’ve adapted more of an endurance way of life. I was hired, carved with CrossFit and once I switched from June until December, I was leaning out and started feeling good and looking good, which has never been the case.

Nicki: I lost 2% body fat in less than three months and have since lost close to 25 pounds. I felt great. I also noticed if I spread out my carbs and eat some for breakfast, I tend to morph into a sloth by one to 2:00 PM. Let’s see, she shares her current macros. Looks like 240 grams of carbs, 71 grams of fat, 133 grams of protein.

Nicki: She’s training 12 to 15 hours per week. And she’s wondering is this an intolerance to the carbs, blood sugar, cortisol, et cetera, or maybe a gut issue or hormones, thoughts? And she’s 30 years old and 133 pounds currently.

Robb: Man, really good information like provided a lot of good information and really hitting the key point there at the end. Is this a blood sugar dysregulation issue? Is it a blood sugar dysregulation issue because of gut issues? She didn’t specifically… she did mention some bloating and blahs. So there might be some problems there.

Nicki: Once she upped the carbs.

Robb: Up the carbs, yeah. It’s interesting because, and I know there will variation on this and in general, I don’t see a ton of people need much more than about 150 grams of carbs a day. There are circumstances, I’m sure that there are people out there that run great on higher carb diets. Clearly they do.

Robb: But for folks that have found a decent, found adaptation and this is straight out of the athlete zone numbers. Where she ended up, the carbs would have been much higher. But the 120, the 150 grams of carbs a day seems pretty reasonable for avoiding any of the negative effects of decent volume and intensity of training.

Robb: Just making sure that your nutrition is on point otherwise. And the fact that we’re seeing some of these things like rough training days. I remember when I was more of a carb eater and this was a long, long, long time ago. But I had to really… it was a mating dance of a tropical bird.

Robb: I had to get my shit exactly right or I would go in to the gym and I was starting to get into a hypoglycemic deal and I might have to have a snack or a part of a shake or something. That is a big difference between then and now, where it’s like sometimes I can still I’ll be ready to work out.

Robb: And I’m like, man, I really wish I had a little snack and I might have a little turkey or a little fruit or something. But it’s totally different. Then interestingly, once I start training it seems like my blood sugar then regulates. So the 240 grams of carbs seems like a lot and we’re seeing some trending that isn’t good.

Robb: And I mean just the fact that you feel bad and you’ve got bloat and everything, I mean the things to look at, are there specific carbs that you’re not doing well with? And this is where the seven day carb test could be a great solution, get in and test these things and see what the amounts and types of carbs are doing to your blood glucose.

Nicki: Specifically the ones that you’re eating that you’d like to eat, the oats and wild rice and quinoa and whatnot for sure. And also, she actually switched from being a CrossFitter to endurance and she’s doing 12 to 15 hours per week. I’m wondering if she should put some just pure strength work back in there to accompany the endurance.

Robb: I did assume that she probably was doing some strength work…

Nicki: But I don’t know if she’s doing 12 to 15 hours of running or biking or just aerobic work, sometimes that can be a little much.

Robb: Yeah, that’s a good point. So I’m not sure if we fully buttoned this thing up, but the five pounds of the weight gain, maybe that significant, maybe it’s not. If you’re at a higher carb level then you’re likely going to store more glycogen, you’re going to be more glycogen fueled. That might be good, that might not be good.

Robb: Again, it depends but you could have a certain amount of just scale shift due to that. It may not really be specifically fat gain. But there’s these other things where she’s just not feeling good and the blow. Reading between the lines here and hearing some energy stuff. I guess that’s also the case where she tends to morph into a sloth by one or 2:00 PM. Which is midday sloth when people are eating carbs.

Nicki: Yeah. Totally.

Robb: So I would get in and just look at both the amounts and the types and figure out…

Nicki: Maybe play with dropping them to around 150.

Robb: That seemed to be working before. So she said early on that she felt like she was doing herself a disservice being at this level. But she also was saying that she had lost weight and was feeling good. So this is where the information overload stuff, there are people out there that eat more carbs and move along pretty well and lots and lots of people that report. Oh, I had 15 years of gut issues and I just assumed that that was normal with everybody.

Nicki: Okay. Let’s move on to question number four. This week is from Sarah Jane on tree nut allergies. Hi Robb, I’m wondering what your thoughts are on tree nut allergies and the gut microbiome. Keep reading here, know that there’s a possibility to if not completely reverse tree nut allergies then to at least minimize the life threatening response by fixing the gut.

Nicki: My 11 year old son just had an anaphylactic reaction to macadamia nuts, totally out of the blue a few weeks ago. He’s always struggled with seasonal allergies, Lots of ear infections, parainfluenza age three and of course antibiotics CSUN section, tonsils removed and group.

Nicki: I took things into my own hands about four years ago and whenever things got bad, instead of taking him to a regular doctor, I just kept him home and let him work his way out of it naturally. He’s missed a lot of school. Diffuser with essential oils, Xclear everyday, prebiotic fiber, et cetera. Sleep, sitting up when congested the best I knew how.

Nicki: He has got stronger every year, less sickness each year. So there has been improvement. Now this anaphylactic macadamia nut reaction has thrown my husband and I for a loop. But at the same time it’s quite obvious there is an issue with his gut. I know you and your daughter have had some issues yourself and I wondered if you could give us any direction or insight as we start down this path of helping him become stronger and healthier.

Nicki: He’s a very high functioning 11 year old, plays travel hockey, he’s smart, we like him, LOL. Just want to see him thrive and of course it’s a horrible feeling, living in fear. Carrying an EpiPen around for my son is not fun. I’m close friends with several other moms whose children have severe nut allergies and they just seem to think it’s the way their kid was born.

Nicki: And continue to stuff them with processed foods and gluten free goodies, it’s whacked. I just can’t accept this. I know something just needs to be improved upon or am I delusional? We are going to put them on strict paleo for athletes type of diet and do some elimination testing as well. Obviously zero processed foods.

Nicki: Do you have any suggestions or things to add? I read butyrate is important. Also she’s curious about any lab tests that you might recommend, her parents use biome and are happy with it. But my husband said that not all labs are good and that there has been some mixed results. So if you have a recommendation. Thank you for all you’ve done. Blah, blah, blah. Thank you in advance for your time. Best regards, Sarah Jane from Arizona.

Robb: Cool, man. Again, a lot of stuff to unpack on this. Butyrate is helpful for intestinal issues. It’s a signaling molecule that encourages the tight junctions to remain tight in the gut. So supplementing with butyrate helps a lot of people. It did nothing for me. I took massive amounts of it and just did absolutely nothing.

Robb: Digestive support, just fundamentally like digestive enzymes, betaine hydrochloride, those things can be helpful. There are some reports of fecal transplants being helpful, but those are difficult to do. You need usually like a C diff diagnosis and something really specific.

Robb: And it really hasn’t been looked at for like a tree nut or one of these anaphylactic allergy type things. It’s usually been for other stuff. There is a immunotherapy of getting exposed to very small amounts of these allergens and then down-regulating the immune response.

Robb: And honestly of the things that are available, like I get the impetus here of wanting to treat root cause. But you could tackle this a couple of different ways and if we just get the immune system to be like, okay, those proteins we don’t need to freak out about. We don’t need to create a anaphylactic event. That’s a win in my mind, just from a risk mitigation standpoint.

Robb: So from the perspective of what do we know that works, I think that stuff works pretty well and they get better at it all the time. So in addition to doing these things, like trying to improve the gut health and improving the diet, those are just generally never a wasted effort.

Robb: But beyond that, this immunotherapy of desensitization I think is probably something that, like if one of our kids were in this situation, we would definitely be investigating that. And then again on the testing, it’s tough. I get this question a lot, like what do I think of say food sensitivity testing and allergy testing?

Robb: It’s tough because oftentimes people come back allergic to everything, strawberries and tomatoes and they’re reactive to those foods. But those aren’t the trigger foods. Things like wheat or potentially dairy are the things that are causing the main problem. And then when you remove those foods, then these other peripheral foods when it looks like they’ve got like multiple chemical sensitivity stuff.

Robb: They do, but it’s mainly caused by one or two of these biggies. So I wish I had a more concrete protocol on this. But I do again think that generally trying to improve gut health and diet is never a wasted effort, particularly on kids. Then really investigating the desensitization, immunotherapy is a smart move.

Nicki: Okay. All righty. Our fifth and final question this week is from Joe. He says, “Hi Robb, I’m a huge fan and I recently ran across this article that’s improplant based folks shared. There are a number of things in here that don’t seem right. Is this something you’ve addressed previously or could help address?”

Nicki: And this is an article about the carbon footprints of food that was written early January of this year. And we’ll link to this in the show notes, but she’s basically making the case that it doesn’t matter, buying local is not where you should put your effort. But it’s the types of food that you eat is where you should put your efforts because the most greenhouse gases come from beef…

Robb: Beef.

Nicki: … and lamb.

Robb: Yeah. And man, there’s citation after citation after… like there’s a shitload, that just looks really compelling and it’s part of the reason why we did Sacred Cow. Part of the reason why Sacred Cows started off being 600 pages, even though we had to whittle that down a lot, because it’s what I call the vegan whack-a-mole.

Robb: It’s like you address one thing and then something else pops up and so you’ve got to really address it in a full court press. You’ve got to address it all at the same time. And the long and short of this is that, this person is taking a very… I learned this term ages ago from Mel Siff, the Procrustean bed.

Robb: Procrustes is this guy out in Greek mythology and there’s just some super fucked up stuff in Greek mythology and Grimms’ Fairy Tales and everything. People had some very interesting views of the world, but this guy Procrustes, he would make bets with people who were traveling.

Robb: And if the person lost the bet, then they would have to sleep in a bed that he had or something. And the catch was if the person was tall, he would stick him in a short bed and cut their limbs off to make them fit. And if they were short, then he would put them to the rack and stretch…

Nicki: Stretch them out till they’re long.

Robb: … them out. But the Procrustean bed is basically laying out an argument in such a way that you’re trained to guarantee winning no matter what.

Nicki: That it fits.

Robb: That it fits. You make it fit your narrative. So the stuff that’s pulled out of this is just really cherry picked. And the work that we saw out of White Oak Pastures, she’s claiming that there’s this massive carbon footprint. Which even that, the greenhouse gas footprint of natural systems is a whole other topic.

Robb: And this is some of the stuff that just makes us crazy because it’s so hard to unpack this stuff. But when you’re thinking about termites, they eat wood or plant matter. And then they produce methane and that methane goes in the atmosphere and at some point it oxidizes and then it gets converted in carbon oxide.

Robb: And then the carbon dioxide ends up in a plant that is an entirely different story from a climate change perspective. Then tapping fossil fuels that have been underground for 300-400 million years and releasing them all in a very brief period of time. These are very, very different stories.

Robb: But yet people are so in a tether and we’re pretty sure this question was submitted pre-COVID, before all the lockdown and all that type of stuff. And what’s been interesting is although atmospheric levels haven’t changed dramatically with the close down, the emission rates have plummeted. And the sector, it came out of this transportation.

Robb: Cows didn’t quit farting it. Now ironically, people are painting the animal based emissions in an even worse light because they’re like, look, it’s increasing as a percentage of stuff.

Nicki: Right. Because there is no transportation happening.

Robb: Global economy is being destroyed and nobody is traveling, there’s no air travel. People aren’t driving in cars. Restaurants are closed. So this shit just gets spun in these very myopic and again, using this Procrustean bed example. So what else should I say about it? It’s really hard to tackle these things because this is something where I would literally want to go line by line.

Robb: Take what this person says, here’s the claim, here’s what the claim is, here’s what they’re saying, here’s what the data that they’re pulling from says, is that the same or different than what they’re claiming? And there’s examples in this, in which the data isn’t really what they’re claiming it is.

Robb: And again, as I was saying before, the examples of White Oak Pastures. In this piece she is claiming that all cattle production is this massive net greenhouse gas producer. Whereas we know that under regenerative circumstances, it’s a net carbon sequester to net greenhouse gas sequestering process.

Robb: And it’s one that produces food, produces food out of things that humans cannot eat. We’re not competing for corn or rye, it’s grass. And there’s two thirds of the world’s landmass is appropriate for nothing other than growing grass. This is why Joel Salatin calls himself a grass farmer.

Robb: Because the animals and all the rest of that are secondary, tertiary, quaternary to the primary thing…

Nicki: Soil in the grass.

Robb: … which is grass capturing solar energy in creating soil in the microbiome in that, that is the thing. And this is the part of this narrative that just gets, not lost, but cut up, dismembered and shipped around the world to be buried in different locations in salt mines or something.

Robb: So yeah, it’s a great question and again this is why we’ve done the film, we’ve done the book. The book is due to be released July 15th.

Nicki: 14th.

Robb: 14th. We’re very optimistic that Netflix will pick up the Sacred Cow film and it will be a Netflix Original that isn’t done yet but we’re…

Nicki: Fingers crossed.

Robb: Fingers crossed on that. And we’re going to do the best job we can to unpack all of this stuff. And again, people who don’t think that we are right, I would encourage them to again, do what I did with, what the health movie, go minute by minute and take what the claims are and investigate where those sources come from.

Robb: What do those sources say versus if there’s conflicting stuff then let’s hash that stuff out. But the way that this thing is laid out is very misleading. It’s very myopic. It’s painting this picture in such a small bubble that you can make this case and make it seem credible that animals eating grass is a problem.

Robb: Like that’s really at the end of the day what these people are saying, animals eating grass are a problem. And this is where we’ve seen some recommendations in Norway, people have been calling for a calling of the reindeer herds. And then the part of the problem with this thing is the ignorance around this.

Robb: Just assuming that all greenhouse gas emissions are problematic, we’re discovering greenhouse gas emissions occurring everywhere in nature and people are freaking out. And one of these examples again are just bivalves. Things like mussels and clams produce massive amounts of methane.

Robb: And that is fantastic because it means that there’s life in the ocean and there are people that have suggested that these are filters of the ocean should be expunged, because we’re going to destroy the planet from their greenhouse gas emissions. So I mean, and this is…

Nicki: I mean there’s no knock on effects from this expunging like, species out of the ocean.

Robb: So on the one hand, we have these people talking about concerns around loss of biodiversity in species. But yet they’re recommending basically expunging cattle and herbivores. And the thing is, okay, termites have to go, a bunch of ants need to go, peat bogs need to go, on and on and on. So this is…

Nicki: And are related, interconnected.

Robb: Yeah. And have a little understanding of systems biology and this bigger picture and even in the most… this will be modestly controversial. But even in the most negative projections around climate change, something that’s not being discussed enough is the recommendations that are being put out there in this COVID environment.

Robb: So we pumped the brakes on social interactions and shut a bunch of stuff down to gain some time to figure some stuff out. And the goalposts shifted from flatten the curve to we’re going to try to make sure that nobody catches COVID. And for you to do that, we will destroy the global economy.

Robb: As it is in the United States alone, there will be tens of millions of people who are permanently displaced among the… Businesses that will never reopen. Like the transportation sector may be irreparably changed. Maybe that’s for the good, maybe that’s for the bad. We don’t really know, but there’s some massive knock on effects that people are not really taking into account.

Robb: And there’ve been very few people that have pointed out that the recommendations being made to totally address climate change. In this idealistic wave a magic wand, it would guarantee that the developing world remains developing. And whereas other projections suggest that 25, 30 years, virtually all of humanity has been lifted out of abject poverty.

Robb: There is going to be challenges associated with that. But there’s also, that seems like a really fucking laudable goal to encourage. And in this discussion around climate change, there is no acknowledgement that some of the recommendations are so onerous and so restrictive with energy usage in economic development.

Robb: That there are going to be big swaths of people that remain an abject poverty indefinitely. Versus raising everyone out of abject poverty and improving education, improving the lot of women and children in particular, which are the most affected folks in these scenarios.

Robb: And so again, like we talk a ton about this shit in Sacred Cow. Diana did a great job of capturing the story both in the book and in the film. Hardly anybody realizes there are tens of millions of women around the world that are incapable of owning physical land.

Nicki: But they can’t…

Robb: It’s not legal, but they can own livestock. And that is their fucking livelihood. That is how they feed themselves, feed their children to have a modicum of economic independence. And wealthy white, well-to-do vegan people for the most part are saying they’re bad people and that what they’re doing is destroying the fucking planet.

Robb: And it clearly, it’s a very hot topic. It’s a really big deal. But I guess people who maybe… I would just encourage you to have, maybe everything that Diane and I are talking about is bullshit. Maybe we were completely wrong. If we are, I want somebody to really get in and thoroughly vet it and do it in a way that we’ve done in the book and film.

Robb: Like a systems approach, looking at the thermodynamic nature of life and energy capture and going all the way from, okay, here’s the beginning of life on the planet and here’s how life’s going to end on the planet. And if you don’t tackle it in a soup to nuts fashion like that, I think that you’re laying out a Procrustean bed. So yeah, I was fired up to…

Nicki: You are feisty today.

Robb: It’s a lot to be feisty about these days.

Nicki: There’s a lot to be feisty enough for sure. Well that is a wrap.

Robb: It might be the last show we ever do. Everybody is like fuck those assholes, Robb is cranky and I’m over it.

Nicki: Thank you all. Be sure to check out our show sponsor Athletic Greens @athleticgreens.com\wolf to get 20 free travel packs with your first purchase. Share this episode if you like feisty Robb be sure to… if you have friends…

Robb: If you don’t like people that share it because then…

Nicki: If you have friends that like feistiness, this is a good one to share. And yeah, I hope you all have a good weekend.

Robb: Come hang out with us in The Healthy Rebellion if you have not done so thus far. I did do my yearly, quasi yearly training in food update. I skipped a year and this year is one was six months late. But I talk about things like, am I on HRT? And if I am, what am I doing? And how did my experiment with the myostatin inhibitor go? And that is available only in The Healthy Rebellion.

Nicki: In The Healthy Rebellion. Yeah, you can join by going to join .thehealthyrebellion.com.

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Robb Wolf

Robb Wolf, author of The Paleo Solution and Wired to Eat, is a former research biochemist and one of the world’s leading experts in Paleolithic nutrition. Wolf has transformed the lives of tens of thousands of people around the world via his top ranked iTunes podcast and wildly popular seminar series.