Archives for September 2011

Manifesto: A public declaration of principles and intentions. It’s probably about time I set about to differentiate and distinguish.

Version 1.0

1. You must think yourself lean and thin, and strong and healthy…to a proper regulation of hunger and satiation. There is no prescription or proscription that will necessarily work for you. You must write your own “diet and fitness book” from your own trial and error experience.

2. Thinking and principles rule. Applications must be tested and critically evaluated. One-size-fits-all plans and roadmaps are doomed to mediocrity, at best. Your best has to come from you.

3. Humans are animals. Moreover, the same sorts of physiology, biology, climatology, geology and sociology that holds sway over the life, death and prosperity of the entirety of the animal world applies just as soundly to humans.

4. Humans, unlike other animals, can consciously act against their own best interest. They can also command nature and their environment to a degree other animals can’t and don’t. Think fire breaks, dams, roads, cities, suburbs, airports, skyscrapers, division of labor and trade.

5. Human ill health, unhappiness, sexlessness, sleeplessness, stress, slavery, drudgery, suicide, and disease are adverse manifestations of the human ability to work against his own interest: his ability to produce, and his ability to command nature taken to irrational levels.

6. The ability of humans to work against themselves and their own nature so effectively is the root cause of all human-created problems. The ability to “create reality” by marvelous human minds exacerbates the downside on many levels when the creation of “reality” it taken beyond the pleasure of fantasy.

7. Disease, obesity, failed relationships, and other adverse human conditions are fundamentally a result of dishonesty.

8. Dishonesty is fundamentally a failure to properly perceive and integrate data from the senses into a reasonable and logical framework or hierarchy of values to pursue, hold, promote, or celebrate.

9. Humans are the only animals with the ability to be dishonest with respect to reality and thus, dishonesty with self and others is the fundamental root cause of all disease, inability to flourish and early, unnatural death.

10. Non-human animals exist in various environmental niches they have evolved within to exploit, within a balance. Human animals migrated out of Africa to populate the Earth from equator to arctic and antarctic circle, and sea level to 16,000 feet of elevation, and everything in-between. Thus, human animals evolved to migrate over eons of time to exploit the environment available and along the way.

11. Each human individual has encoded within his genes the ability to survive and thrive on a wide range of food sources from terrestrial, to sea, to tree, to subterranean.

12. Non human animals don’t typically become obese (unless by nature, such as in advance of hibernation) or die unnaturally. Humans become obese. Pets become obese. Zoo animals can become obese when zookeepers stray from a naturally appropriate diet.

13. Human animals should not have any difficulty eating a mix of the right natural foods suitable to them, when available, maintaining and enjoying natural health and longevity as a result. Good health is natural. It’s not something that needs to be man made, industrialized or drugged.

14. Human animals have developed complex social structures to the extent that a few dominate all the rest, to a level of welcome cheerleading and hand-clapping, such that the few can cleverly and parasitically sustain an unearned livelihood through implicit or explicit threat of force, or more elegantly: promise of reward.

15. Modern human animals developed the propensity to believe they have power through a Neolithic device known as a democratic vote. It actually gives them about equal odds in terms of effective power to buying a lottery ticket. Conversely, we know ancient humans were individually and socially powerful, because they survived on their own. We have the anthropology and we’re here. It happened. Nobody voted on it.

16. A domesticated animal can exhibit guilt and shame, but not to the extent that they can possibly sacrifice their well being over it. Human animals invented guilt and shame, and they went on to make a place for it being unbridled and unearned. They invented religion; they conjured “reality” and got everyone to buy onto it and teach it to their offspring. They laid the seeds for control.

17. The guilt and shame works hand in hand with religious fantasies that most notably involve fear. Guilt and shame, combined with irrational fear, to make a malleable human animal who will do his part to see to the livelihood of the parasites. Anciently, it was the parasites of church and now, the parasites of State. The former is voluntary and the latter, compulsory undef threat of prosecution.

18. All humans have within themselves the ability to change everything on a dime.

19. Of self-destruction, of guilt, of shame, of fear: the worst of these is fear. While fear is natural, that’s the rub. The Neolithic, above all else, has been a massive story — fundamentally — about how to use it to advantage. The Neolithic is above all, a story about how our natural tendencies have been used against us in just about every conceivable way. 

…So there’s my hour or two stab at a first cut of what I hope to refine over time. Your criticism in comments is highly encouraged.

~ Heather B. Armstrong, just about one of the most popular bloggers in the whole world at dooce.com, went Paleo. And here’s an update: More about this fad diet humans ate for millions of years.

~ What’s cool is that the “Caveman Diet Gains Popularity” in spite of all the hand wringing by stupid, ignorant dietitians, nutritionists, “experts” and the government.

The paleo diet movement is backed by some academics and fitness gurus, and has gained some praise in medical research in the United States and elsewhere even though it goes against recommendations of most mainstream nutritionists and government guidelines.

Loren Cordain, a professor of health and exercise science at Colorado State University, said he believes millions in the United States and elsewhere are following the paleo diet movement, based on sales of books such as his own and Internet trends.

What, you mean to tell me that millions of people are “go[ing] against recommendations of most mainstream nutritionists and government guidelines,” on purpose, explicitly? Damn fuckin’ straight, and for good reason. It is precisely this ignoble, inglorious infestation of self-serving Big Food whores that Americans — and increasingly the rest of the world — are in this lousy mess.

But a US News survey of nutritionists ranked the paleo diet last among 20 possible options, far below the Mediterranean, vegan, or Weight Watchers diets.

It noted that the paleo diet gets 23 percent of calories from carbohydrates compared to 45 percent to 65 percent in U.S. government recommendations, and that the Stone Age regime is higher than recommended for protein and fat.

“While its focus on veggies and lean meat is admirable, experts couldn’t get past the fact that entire food groups, like dairy and grains, are excluded on paleo diets,” US News said.

Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University, told AFP that the paleo diet “would not be appropriate for today’s sedentary lifestyles.””

Nestle and others also dispute some of the historical claims of paleo diet advocates. “The claim that half the calories in the Paleolithic diet came from meat is difficult to confirm,” she said.

In a research paper, Nestle said the life expectancy of Stone Age man was around 25 years, “suggesting that the Paleolithic diet, among other life conditions, must have been considerably less than ideal.”

Well that tears it. Marion Nestle is just another ignorant doofus spouting conventional “wisdom,” whom I wouldn’t trust to go fetch my mail, and you shouldn’t either. Just shut the fuck up, Nestle.

~ Eat your veggies, now: Vegetarianism produces subclinical malnutrition, hyperhomocysteinemia and atherogenesis.

CONCLUSION: The low dietary intake of protein and sulfur amino acids by a plant-eating population leads to subclinical protein malnutrition, explaining the origin of hyperhomocysteinemia and the increased vulnerability of these vegetarian subjects to cardiovascular diseases.

Quick, call the “experts.”

~ OK, well how about “health care specialists at UCSF Medical Center,” who are said to have “reviewed” this bit of stupid tripe for publication: Top Ten Foods for Health. Water, dark green vegetables, whole grains, beans and lentils, fish, berries, winter squash, soy, flaxseed, nuts and seeds, and organic yogurt.

Where’s the liver?

I submit to you that it doesn’t even take going Paleo or Primal “everyday” to not get a wealth of good out of this book, Everyday Paleo. I have included it in my series of cookbook reviews…because it’s a cookbook.

…But it’s more than that and I think, fills a very nice niche. In my last review, I remarked how that book seemed to me to represent the potential for a great first book — rather than the many books available that give you the ins, outs, whys and what fors for going Paleo/Primal as a lifestyle, from a more evolutionary or scientific basis. Im just saying this might be a good alternative for some: let the food be your guide from everyday one.

While Sarah Fragoso’s book is much cookbook, with dozens and dozens of recipes, it’s much more and I can’t help thinking that this might be the ideal first book for a women with kids to take care of. It gets practical — everyday — right away.

After a few introductory sections on where Sarah is now and how she got here and why, it dives right in to a complete list of what you should have in your pantry and your fridge. A little bit about tools of the mom trade and we’re off into the recipes, all in full color. I really have to congratulate the folks at Victory Belt Publishing, because the whole layout of this book is just fun and colorful. And you know what? I would not be surprised if your kids might just like turning the pages themselves. It’s really a fun page turner.

In terms of the recipes, this just shows once again that the folks who lament avoiding grains, sugar, processed “foods” and other untouchables — because it would “be so boring” — are just full of it. There are now around a half dozen full color paleo cookbooks on the market with dozens and dozens of recipes each, and they are as varied as are their authors. There is no limit. The surface has only been scratched.

…And how many of you like eggs? Perhaps for a first, Sarah has an entire section on egg based-recipes. Sunny Deviled Eggs? I’m trying that soon. And in the main dish section, I must try the lasagna that uses zucchini in place of pasta. I’ve used eggplant a-la moussaka-esque lasagna, but it looks like the prep time & effort is a lot better here. There are just so many (how many kinds of meatballs do you like?), and there is a distinct “your kids will like this” tone and theme. I suspect Sarah tried most or all of these dishes on her kids, so that leaves open the door for a criticism: was this book co-authored by your kids, Sarah? Fess up.

And OK, is this crazy or what: a whole workout section in a cookbook? It’s perfectly logical to me, and best of all, Sarah provides tons and tons of photos in sequence, showing exactly how each exercise is done; and not just for you. There’s also a section on how to exercise your kids, and even how your and your significant other can work out together.

So really, it truly is the sort of book that could serve as anyone’s entry into this whole crazy life. But I think that if you’re still in the rat race, have kids that might be resistant to the changes, or a spouse, then this may just be that one book that helps you unlike any other.

It worked for Sarah. Wanna see?

Sarah Fragoso

Uh, think her family oriented cookbook and workout guide might be worth having in your collection? I do.

(5) no, Plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to produce and consume foods of their choice - Judge Patrick J. Fiedler, Circuit Court, Branch 8, State of Wisconsin

I’ve seen a bunch of hand wringing and outrage over this since it popped up, but why? Here’s the actual judgment. As near as I can tell, he’s spot on and just telling the truth about the matter. The five page decision also included these other unequivocal pronouncements:

(1) no, Plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to own and use a dairy cow or a dairy herd;

(2) no, Plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to consume the milk from their own cow;

(3) no, Plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to board their cow at the farm of a farmer;

(4) no, the Zinniker Plaintiffs’ private contract does not fall outside the scope of the State’s police power;

…

(6) no, the DATCP did not act in an ultra vires manner because it had jurisdiction to regulate the Zinniker Plaintiffs’ conduct.

Seems simple and clear enough to me. We long, long ago — probably not long after the ink had dried on the Declaration of Independence – got over the silly idea that there is any such thing as “unalienable rights;” and of course, the US Constitution, by including a “Bill of Rights,” forever set in stone the principle that the State is the grantor and the final arbiter of any notion of “rights.”

“Rights” are what the various levels of government say they are, nothing more. Not anymore. And even if the judge were deemed to be wrong and later overturned, that would only be on his interpretation of existing laws.

Judge Fielder is just being honest with y’all. I suggest you move along, citizen. There’s nothing to see here.

My dad was told by a devout fundamentalist, a Born-Again Baptist, a brother, that he’s a member of a cult: The Paleo Cult.

…I’m busy, with another cookbook review — guess which one — and also editing a video interview with Ricky, from across the pond, and who talks funny. But he lost 90 pounds. No idea how many stones. So this is passion, getting in the way, which are always my favorite posts.

Lothar Nikoley to the left, at 73. Click to open the hi-res version

Dad & mom came over Saturday.

Since they couldn’t be here for Beatrice’s 52nd (she’s the one attached to my arm; or another appendage, as usual), they came a week later to take her out shopping for a few changes of clothes and a dinner. We went to Palacio (rhymes with paleo) in Los Gatos. I’m the zombie. Have fear. I eat liver.

Having weighed about 40 or so pounds more, I think my dad looks awesomely fuckin’ good for 73. Jesus. Huh? I hadn’t seen him for about a month and when I did last Saturday, I was very pleased. My younger brothers should take a clue, some inspiration, and a dash of shame.

But here’s what’s funny. His baptie fundie brothers — not all — but two in particular who know who they are (and I’m not talking about the fundamentalist preacher — he’s always cool to me) constantly give their older and far wiser brother shit. None are formally educated; neither is my dad. But they have all done very well for themselves in spite of that, and for what I’m saying, here, that’s important. My dad, for instance, with not even an HS diploma, bids construction on some of the biggest projects in the world. There’s no construction project he can’t take blueprints and architectural/engineering specifications of, and deconstruct them all to a spreadsheet of hundreds or thousands of of cost line items that can be easily priced out for any contractor.

The other two have done well too, “among the heathens.”

~~~

Years, many years ago, when I saw the horrific and life killing ways of the born-again fundamental baptists, in which cult I was raised from ten on, I talked with my mom over many years, and eventually, she saw and more eventually, they dumped it into the shithole where it belongs. That’s my family. From me to her, to dad and family, and far less successfully, extended family.

That’s because they have zero fortitude discernible to me.

Others didn’t do it that way. The two brothers, specifically? They did it in the worst possibly way. Rather than recognize they believed in a sewer that needed pumping, rooting, and perhaps even a whole waste disposal redesign, changed their lives to be more ou courant, while at the same time, holding on to their “godly” admonishments. Unbounded hypocrisy. Laughing stock. Rather than being the rather poor, economy car-driving fundies of my 70s youth, who didn’t even have a car, they’re now Cadillac fundies with stern guidance for anyone who’ll listen. Few do, but they have a Baptist Preacher to live up to who, as I said, is always cool. I don’t begrudge anyone their beliefs and in this particular case, the man is sincere enough that I only ever love to see him. He’s no poseur. His brothers, half in, are.

Pathetic. My uncles, whom I grew up loving — still loving, but not respecting, anymore — simply aren’t honest, in my view of things. Bible thumping is just, well, uneducated and ignorant. I can’t even spin it for the sake of family.

A couple of moths back, my dad, at the house of his brother: discussion escalated to where my dad was told he’s a…member of a cult. Drum roll, and que the IRONIC. …You know, his 40 pound weight loss, enhanced energy, better sleep, better looks, fat loos to increased leanness and likely a few other improvements you can name.

Well, if it is a cult….no, it’s just not. Never discount the propensity of morons to spout moron, especially if they they hide moron in their own closet.