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Free The Animal

Ex Navy Officer. Owner of Businesses. Digital Entrepreneur. Expat Living in Thailand. 5,000 Biting Blog Post on Everything since 2003.

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Archives for November 2011

Unifying Nutrition: Osteoporosis and Atherosclerosis May be Linked: Vitamin K2

November 30, 2011 131 Comments

This goes way back and is one of the themes that set me up strong for the Paleo / Primal journey right off. I didn’t even blog about it for months, because it seemed too obvious. I had to read up, and I had to think.

And then I did my first post about it, way back three years ago, October of 2008: Doubling of Vitamin D for Children Is Urged; I Also “Urge” K2, Menatetrenone (MK-4).

Back then, I wrote:

Now, think about this from an evolutionary perspective, prior to modern mass migration. Northern latitude: white skin. As you proceeed south, toward the equator, increasingly dark skin on average. Vitamin D is fat soluable, which means, it can build up. At certain high levels it can produce a toxic effect. Final piece of the puzzle: white skin absorbes UV and synthesizes vitamin D way faster than increasingly dark skin. So, natural selection being what it was, those able to make use of the far shorter summers and lower angle of exposure to sunlight (white skin) fared better in the harshness of life; whereas, those in the south where the sun is year-round — and very high in the sky for efficient exposure — fared better by having protection against too much (dark skin), with consequent toxicity.

That was in reference to “Vitamin D,” of course (it’s actually a prohormone). My perspective has changed, but only qualitatively…in that I have come to believe that the root of the problem is collectivized, socialist thinking. People of white skin and brown skin really are different in profound ways, just not in the ways political opportunists would have you believe (one way or another). They are physically different, obviously, but it’s owing to evolution and migration that made it so and, it’s really such a shame that so much of what was right in front of our faces, all along, was instead relegated to the province of politics and domination (I repeat myself, redundantly) and of how to assuage the hand wringing and fear of white folk over “them brown skins.”

And all the human capital that has been spent on it, over the years. …As an aside, as a young white boy waking up to the wonder of the female form, I could not help but adore those with brown skin the most, and that is how I have spent 95% of my sexual life from day 1. …So there you go.

But this post is about vitamin K2 (menaquinone), and to emphasize: no, you cannot get this but by eating animals and their parts. What’s more, evolution dealt us an awful blow: inasmuch as hunting and gathering was far more arduous than snagging a ribeye at the local grass fed (clap clap) merchant, you’re still SOL. See, actual hunting for food over the millions of years before Whole Foods, had an evolutionary effect. People ate the whole thing. And guess where the most nutrient dense parts are: organs, marrow, brain.

Cruel. Ribeys and Filets are so easy and tasty.

But if you’re paleo, doing meat, fish, fowl, veggies and fruit to the exclusion of crap that had to be “fortified” (that’s a fraud word, in the context) by law to make it slightly less crappy (cereals, etc.), because it was taking up nutritional space in the diet and people were coming down with obvious and easily identifiable nutritional diseases way back, then you’re many, many steps ahead.

I think vitamin K2 is a very special substance that more than any other, deserves consideration as a supplement, by which I mean, irrespective of diet and in super-normal quantity. I think this because I have seen enough evidence to make me suspect that it can undo damage, particularly in the realm of calcification, one of the major causes of early death (atherosclerosis) or debilitating later years (osteoporosis).

And what the fuck else? You know what? I feel a bit of shame that I accepted the utter bullsit as a kid that “cavities” in my teeth, causing enormous pain as they did, over days, were just another normal part of “growing up.”

Do animals in the wild writhe in pain over teeth carries?

Well, the punchline here is that someone finally wrote a book on Vitamin K2 and she happens to be a well respected naturopath in Canada, Dr. Kate Rhéaume-Bleue, BSc, ND. Yea, the “naturopath” thing is troublesome. It’s almost as bad as a blogger…

To the left: Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox: How a Little-Known Vitamin Could Save Your Life. I Kindled (new verb) the book Monday morning and spent much of the day skimming over it.

She hits all the main points so far as I can tell by the quick-over I gave it. I’ll also be reading it intensely and will report back with anything I think isn’t quite right, but I doubt that will happen.

It is of intense interest to me that in low carb and paleo circles over the last couple of years, there is no end of info on vitamin D; and yet, I almost never hear anything about K2.

Enough of that stupid shit. K2 has an important role to play in the following:

  • Antiaging
  • Heart health
  • Plaque accumulation
  • Reversing calcification (generally)
  • Bone health
  • Alzheimer’s
  • Wrinkles
  • Varicose veins
  • Diabetes
  • Arthritis
  • Neurological disorders
  • Cancer
  • Kidney disease
  • Fertility
  • Facial and jaw development in utero
  • Birth canal development in utero for eventual easy, natural labor
  • Dental health

Sounds like a “super food,” don’t it? …Only it doesn’t grow on some obscure tree in the rain forrest unavailable to the vast majority of people who evolved over the last 4 million years. Nope. It has been available to everyone throughout our evolution. But you have to eat animals, and you have to eat the “nasty bits” to really cash in. Don’t want to? Fine, supplement.

On that last point; that is: dental health, above…it was actually a dentist — Weston A. Price (Nutrition and Physical Degeneration), back in the 20s & 30s — who blazed the trail by traveling around the world to remote places out of contact with civilization, only to find generally pristine health and remarkably, a rate of tooth decay that was somewhere around one cavity or less per thousand teeth examined. This, in a time of his profession where dental carries were on the order of 1 in 3 teeth, and teenagers were being fitted for dentures.

And so don’t you find it a bit interesting that prior to the 1920s, heart and cardiovascular disease were rare, almost unheard of? Was increasing alarm being sounded in the 1920s and 30s over tooth decay and heart attacks, with no one having a clue of the connection, and the trail went cold long ago?

What’s the unifying mineral? Could it be calcium? Weak bones, insufficient facial and jaw development (causing breathing issues and teeth crowding), insufficient pelvic development in females (causing laborious childbirth)…while on the other hand, calcification of organs such as kidneys, and atherosclerosis, a huge killer.

It’s a perfect storm and the only response has been the typical response. Somehow, we’re different than all other animals on Earth and rather than stop for a second and realize that vital nutrition may be missing from our diet, we look to pharmaceutical companies to make…not billions, but trillions, over time…in a plethora of endeavors that never look to the root.

Let’s take but one example from the book, heart disease.

Lots of lifestyle changes can help prevent heart disease (lose weight, cut your sugar intake, exercise), but can any substance remove calcium plaque once it has formed? Just one: vitamin K2. Studies show that adding menaquinone to the diet will activate MGP to reduce arterial calcium content by 50 percent over just a six-week period. This cardiovascular news just keeps getting better, since the same studies show that blood vessels are not irreparably damaged by the plaque, as you might expect. Apparently, vitamin K2 also helps restore arterial flexibility once the calcium has been removed (12). If you have a high coronary artery calcium score or elevated levels of inactive osteocalcin, take heart: vitamin K2 can help.

The coronary arteries aren’t the only blood vessels in and around the heart that succumb to perilous calcification. Very seriously, plaque can build up in the aorta, the major blood vessel that carries fresh, oxygenated blood from the heart out to the body. This causes the aorta to become rigid and inflexible, increasing the risk for heart attack. Aortic stiffness also precedes kidney disease, an equally grave condition that is covered in the next chapter. Vitamin K2 is just as effective at removing calcium from the aorta as from the coronary arteries, as illustrated in the case of Sam K., a 69-year-old dentist with a heart murmur.

Sam’s primary care physician detected the abnormal heart sound during a routine physical examination. He therefore had Sam undergo an echocardiogram, a simple test useful to evaluate disorders of the heart valves. The echocardiogram showed that Sam had aortic valve stenosis, a condition in which calcium and other material deposited on the aortic valve cause it to stiffen. A stiff aortic valve struggles to open with each heartbeat and can obstruct the blood output of the heart. This leads to chest pain, breathlessness, lightheadedness and heart failure. Although symptoms at first occur with vigorous physical activity, as the valve gets stiffer, symptoms occur with minimal physical provocation. The severity of aortic valve stenosis is gauged by measuring the effective area of the valve opening. Normal is 3.0 centimeters squared (about 1 1/2 inches squared); Sam’s aortic valve area was reduced to 1.6 centimeters squared, about half of what is should have been.

Aortic valve stenosis is eventually fatal. For this reason, once it’s identified, an echocardiogram is repeated every 6 to 12 months. When the valve opening is reduced to 1.0 centimeters squared or less and symptoms begin, aortic valve replacement is advised. This is an open-heart surgery, a major undertaking at any age. Because most people with aortic valve stenosis are in their 70s and 80s, an open-heart procedure carries substantial risk. Efforts have been made over the years to identify treatments that slow the progression of aortic valve disease. The only agent that has shown any effect in slowing aortic valve stenosis is high-dose Crestor, a potent cholesterol drug. The dose used in the study, 40 milligrams per day, carries crippling side effects for most people.

Sam had the good fortune of being referred to a forward-thinking cardiologist, Dr. William Davis, who, since 2006, had been advising patients to supplement vitamin D to prevent progression of aortic valve disease (13). Achieving a therapeutic blood level of vitamin D meant a dose of 8,000 international units per day for this average-sized man. The specialist found that high-dose vitamin D alone stopped the aortic valve area from shrinking in over 90 percent of his patients, although it did not reverse the existing disease.

Sam is a nutritional supplement enthusiast, so when his doctor told him about the benefits of vitamin D to aortic valve disease, he jumped on the idea. At the time, Sam’s cardiologist also suspected that vitamin K2 supplementation would add an additional advantage. Among the observations that pointed toward vitamin K2 as a factor in aortic valve disease was that people who take the blood-thinning drug warfarin, or Coumadin — which induces both vitamin K1 (associated with blood thinning) and K2 (associated with calcium metabolism) deficiencies — experience gradual calcification and narrowing (stenosis) of their aortic valves. Because he loved the idea of applying nutritional supplements in a rational, targeted way, Sam added to his vitamin D supplementation 900 micrograms of the short-acting MK-4 form of K2 and 100 micrograms of the long-acting MK-7 form, along with 1,000 micrograms of K1, to cover all his vitamin K bases. In reality, the dose of MK-4 was not likely therapeutic and the K1 wasn’t really necessary, but the 100 micrograms of MK-7 provided effective treatment.

Ten months later, another echocardiogram showed an aortic valve area of 2.9 centimeters squared—nearly doubling the valve area. The finding was so remarkable that Sam’s doctor asked the echocardiography technician to confirm precisely what he had found. Yes indeed, by using a combination of vitamins D and K, Sam had managed to open up his valve to essentially a normal, healthy size.

12. Schurgers L. Regression of warfarin-induced medial elastocalcinosis by high intake of vitamin K in rats. Blood 2007 Apr, 109(7): 2823–31.

13. Clinical case courtesy of William Davis, MD, author of WheatBelly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight and Find Your Path Back to Health, (New York: Rodale, 2011) and Track Your Plaque, 2nd ed. (New York: iUniverse, 2011).

As to reference 12, Dr. Stephan Guyenet blogged about that way back here, about three years ago. And I will respectfully dispute the idea that the MK-4 was not likely therapeutic. And for a simple reason: that’s the subform you get from animal products. The MK-7 subform comes from bacterial fermentation in things like high quality cheeses and natto. Those were not available generally to evolutionary man. On the other hand, the MK-7 form has been shown beneficial, as I totally rant about in this post from early 2009. I think you try to get both; but if I had to choose, it would be the animal form, made by ruhminats for benefit of those who consume them.

I should draw this to a close, so let me begin that with another quote from the book:

Calcium is abundant in nature. It is the primary mineral in the sedimentary rock that covers up to 80 percent of the earth’s surface, the rock that is the parent material to soil. Bones and teeth are our bodies’ reservoir for calcium, holding up to 99 percent of the mineral in the human organism. Although bones have been likened to rock, really they are dynamic, living tissue that is capable of gaining and losing mineral density throughout life. Losing calcium from the skeleton compromises our health because it leads to bone fractures and opens an access route for bacteria in the mouth to reach the bloodstream. Calcium also paradoxically finds its way to places in the body that further endanger our health. In recent years, calcium has been added to everything from multivitamins to orange juice to pasta in an effort to stave off the massive trend toward osteoporosis. Controversial research shows that this practice is, in fact, condemning calcium-takers to death from heart attack as that added calcium lodges itself in our blood vessels instead of building our bones. Simply giving up added calcium isn’t the answer. Whether or not you take calcium supplements and calcium-fortified foods, it’s statistically likely that hardening of the arteries, porous bones or both will affect you. That’s because the problem of calcium leaching from your skeleton and gathering in your arteries is not about calcium. It is about the fat-soluble vitamins that create and activate biological proteins that guide calcium into, around and out of the body. Even though all the fat-soluble vitamins have been known to scientists for more than 70 years, we have learned little about them until very recently. According to respected fat-soluble-vitamin researchers, this is at least partly due to financial incentive that diverts the focus of investigators toward proprietary analogs — artificial forms of vitamins that can be patented (1). K2 research in particular lagged behind because its sister molecule, K1, hogged the spotlight. The fascinating menaquinone discoveries made by Dr. Weston Price remained in obscurity for decades, since K2 goes by a pseudonym in his work. Whatever the reasons, we’ve got a lot of catching up to do. [Emphasis added]

1. Vieth R. The pharmacology of vitamin D, including fortification strategies. In Vitamin D, 2nd ed., Feldman D and Glorieux F (San Diego: Elsevier Academic Press, 2005) 995–1018.

Regarding the emphatic I added to that quote, it is a long time now I have been saying about k2: makes calcium go everyplace it should, i.e., bones and teeth, and no place it shouldn’t, i.e., your arteries. You’ll also want to be getting your vitamin A and D, as they all work in synergy, importantly.

And of course, I love all this because it makes total sense in an evolutionary context. Moreover, it makes vegetarians look shortsighted…and vegans look like absolute morons…and that’s always a good thing.

Here’s a search link to all of my Vitamin K2 posts over the years, emphasizing the MK-4 subform, menatetrenone.

In terms of when, what and how much supplementation? Participate in the comments.

Update: You might want to check out this recent post by Dr. Jack Kruse, a neurosurgeon, “OSTEOPOROSIS TWO: THE VITAMIN K2 STORY“

Filed Under: General Tagged With: vitamin d, Vitamin K2

The 21 Convention: My Presentation to 20-Somethings

November 26, 2011 50 Comments

This may not be for everyone, and it’s pretty long, but take a look if you like.

I was asked to speak at this year’s convention in Orlando, Florida, in July and the video has just come out on YouTube. I believe it’ll be promoted on The 21 Convention site around December 8 or so, so this is like a sneak preview. The presentation itself goes a bit over and hour and then there’s a Q&A. Here’s what I cover, all from a human animal evolutionary perspective and in the context of young men in their 20s:

  • General precepts of the human animal and our current domestication in The Zoo Human that underlies all manner of dysfunction
  • Who am I and what’s my story
  • The paleo / Primal Diet
  • What to eat and what not to eat
  • Learn to become a competent cook
  • When to eat and when not to eat (Intermittent Fasting)
  • High, moderate or low carb
  • Health benefits of Real Food combined with Intermittent Fasting (Autophagy)
  • Ditching mind creating fantasies that induce unearned guilt and shame that underly actions that work against your well being
  • Evolutionary social hierarchies vs. centralized, authoritarian hierarchies
  • Non-exclusivity in male / female relationships

Interestingly, almost all of the Q&A focussed on the latter, social aspects of the presentation.

Oh, yea, and I gave the presentation barefoot.

Filed Under: General

Holiday Odds & Ends & PGP Food Pics

November 22, 2011 12 Comments

Be careful out there. I’m signed up to do the mashed potatoes & giblet gravy for the Big Meal on Thursday. I’ll also do some green beans with bacon. Will I be able to resist a dab of taters & gravy? We’ll see.

Note: PGP = “Pretty Good paleo.” The geeks get it.

In a few hours we’re headed down to the Oceanside / Vista area for Thanksgiving with family. We’re going to make this a 2-day trip, heading down 101 for a stopover in Pismo, then onward tomorrow. Thought I might get off a few odds, ends, and food pics prior to departure.

~ I have an about.me profile and I think it looks pretty cool. Check it out and create one for yourself. I also recommend clicking on the button to jump to random profiles of others to get that “less is more” sense of the “ethic” there. There’s some wonderfully creative profiles there.

~ I have been dreadfully behind in emails from readers either telling me of their success, asking a question or alerting me to Bullshit in the media. I plowed through a good chunk yesterday, then more this morning. I’ll be posting about a lot of it over the holiday.

~ I’ll be firing up the Success Story video interviews again next week, but probably one every few weeks instead of even week. Not sure how many I have in the queue, but a good number. Next up will be Hank Garner, who interviewed me for a podcast sometime back. I’ll also be getting on Angelo Coppola in the weeks to come.

~ There’s lots of videos of presentations for the AHS, but I figured I might just pop up a random one, here and there. Here’s Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt of Sweeden on The Food Revolution.

Do you want to improve your weight and health by eating real food? With no calorie counting, no diet products, no hunger? This talk from Ancestral Health Symposium 2011 shows you how to do it the natural way.

The epidemics of obesity and diabetes are continuing to spread across the western world. Now we know why. Modern science has revealed our mistake.

The unnecessary fear of natural food has inadvertently caused us to eat more of the new food that can make us hungrier, make us eat more, make us fat.

Ever more people are realizing the mistake and seeing the solution. The food revolution is here. Please help spread the word once you know.

~ Food Pics.

Breakfast
Sunday Breakfast with Elk Sausage & Sweet Potato
IMG 0674
Yesterday’s Breakfast: Salad, Smoked Sardines and Smoked Herring, all drizzled with Olive Oil and Lemon
IMG 0662
A Frittata with Back Bacon & Onion

Well that’s all, folks. I have other pics, but they have been defiled by things like rice & potatoes. They’ll have to wait until we get back in our Rocket Ship to Hell.

Filed Under: General

I Have a Book Contract

November 21, 2011 30 Comments

Last week I received a curious email that I almost disregarded, because it came right out and said they wanted to publish a book with me.

Then I looked more closely. And then I clicked over to a link. Then I Googled to see what they’re up to and found all sorts of recent, relevant press in major outlets.

And I was interested. And I replied as such.

Later, I’ll go through the years of anguished thought that brought me to this point, but I signed with them this morning. And I was finally satisfied to be on a track that I could live with on this subject.

I can’t reveal details yet, before checking to make sure all is OK, which is part of the deal I agreed to.

Big? Well that depends upon your perspective. New & Fresh; disruptive, with the financial backing to disrupt? Yep.

Onward.

Filed Under: General Tagged With: New Fresh, OK

Wild Elk Steaks Sous Vide

November 21, 2011 13 Comments

A few days back I mentioned getting some wild elk meat from my brother’s recent hunting trip in Montana.

Saturday evening we had some friends over and I’d decided to set up the Sous Vide Supreme for the first time in a while. My taste for this method of cooking goes back just over two years when Dr. Mike Eades invited me to a lunch demo up in San Francisco, along with Tim Ferriss.

The Doctors Eades
The Doctors Eades

Shortly thereafter, I took delivery of my own appliance and did quite a number of posts of various sous vide preparations.

I was recently asked about using this appliance in comments and had to admit that I’d just not been using it a lot lately, due changing life circumstances like a move.

But anyway, Saturday was the night and in all honesty, it was actually very simple to put together. Once the elk steaks were sealed (with sea salt only) and in the 130F water bath, nothing can go wrong. You need to leave them in for about a hour, but you can leave them for two, if you like. This allowed me to prepare the roasted brussels, fresh from a stalk I’d just picked up at the market.

Brussels Sprouts
Brussels Sprouts

This is extremely simple as well. First, I blanched them whole, three minutes from when they first go into the boiling water (don’t wait for it to come to a boil, again) and then into a pot of cold water. Once cool, I cut them in half, put them on a baking sheet, spooned on some coconut oil, sprinkled on some salt, and into the oven at 400F. After a couple of minutes the coconut oil is melted, so I tossed them around, and then another tossing at around the 10 minute mark. About 20 minutes is needed until they’re toasted; then toss them in some balsamic vinegar and you’re done.

P1020520
Elk Sous Vide & Brussels Sprouts

For the elk, it was simply a matter of a 1 minute sear on each side in a bit of bacon fat & ghee. Sorry, this plate got a bit blurry on me. The hi-res version is a bit better if you click on it.

P1020526
More Elk & Roasted Sprouts

The flavor was quite excellent, very much like a good flank steak — flank, hanger and bavette being my favorite cuts for the sous vide method. 130F, an hour or more, and you can’t go wrong.

Filed Under: General

Sunday Rock: “God Shuffled His Feet”

November 20, 2011 73 Comments

…And it’s really more Sunday Ballad than rock, but since almost all rock bands do ballads, we’ll give it a pass. This was inspired by a Twitter follower with whom I just had an exchange, @DailySuicide.

For about 20 years or so I have liked entertaining the concept: “Outcompeting God.” The idea is, when 1st Century primitives were penning the Bible for the eventual powerful use of the state in helping to make everyone feel domesticated, tamed, captive, subject, they really had no conception of what modes humans have available as a matter of quotidian routine.

Sure, he’s omnipotent and omniscient, but how come he never showed anyone the equivalent of a car, airplane, rocket ship, skyscraper or a bridge? Hell, how about modern shoes? They all wore sandals and that’s why even God needed his feet washed from time to me while on a mission to get his ass killed — not by a bullet to the head but through primitive torture.

No mention of heart transplants? How about hip & knee replacements? Huh? Outcompeting God.

Well, this video reminded me of that whole disconnect; Crash Test Dummies:

On the same theme, if there is a God, I’m sure he or she is around here somewhere; Joan Osborne:

Another thing I’ve said for about the last 20 years: “You are God.” All of you. You simply need to start acting like it. Haven’t you Paleos been feeling like it?

Filed Under: General

Clean Paleo Food Pics

November 18, 2011 19 Comments

I haven’t blogged everything I’ve been eating in the CleanPaleosphere, so here’s some catchup. Click on all the images to get the Full Monty.

P1020493
Belly Bacon and Back Bacon in One
P1020496
Beatrice Made Albondigas and It’s About Time
P1020497
Tom Yum Gai

This one is leftovers from this, because we only ate half. As I’d mentioned, I think, the full pound of shiitake mushrooms was a bit much and perhaps I was off in the prep because they were a bit too rubbery for my palate. So for the leftovers, I removed 3/4 of the shrooms with a slotted spoon and added a can of clams from Trader Joe’s. Improved.

P1020503
Broiled Cod with Ghee and Coconut Oil Roasted Cauliflower
P1020513
Dimples

Gave the burgers another shot last night, looking to perfect things. The dimple is to count against the eventual shrinkage & expansion.

P1020514
Works like a charm

Well, onward. Tonight, we’ll be having an early Thanksgiving dinner with friends in the urban loft units from whence we vacated a bit over a year ago. I’m going to do mussels. Perfect for Thanksgiving.

Filed Under: General

The Perfect Burger, Pure Paleo and an Elk Kill

November 17, 2011 37 Comments

The other night I happened to click into the Food Network just as a show called Restaurant Impossible was beginning; and I was kinda hooked right away. I liked chef Robert Irvine right off the bat: his compassion for struggling restaurant entrepreneurs, combined with his tough love and deep understanding of what makes a restaurant work. I’d never heard of him. I prefer to spend my time in the kitchen actually cooking food rather than watch others do it, or pretend that because I watch food shows, I know something about putting a meal together.

At any rate, it was one of those times where they were doing back-to-back episodes and so I caught a few. Then a couple more last night. Very impressed with what he is able to do with an absolute disaster in two days time and a small budget.

In one aspect, it really signals to me how, during this clean Paleo stint of mine, that avoiding restaurants altogether, as much as possible, is definitely a sound move. I just feel so much better in so many respects. Yep, eating out got way out of hand for me. Last Friday, Beatrice was off work, so we decided to go to a new fish place for lunch that had opened up, Pacific Catch in Campbell, CA. I had a bowl of Thai coconut milk ginger soup with shrimp, and to follow, fresh catch stealhead trout (which we used to fish for every year on the Klamath river when I was a kid) and grilled veggies.

I got heartburn.

Didn’t have any in the days before, and none since. Stay home, eat at home, save money and feel awesome.

The other thing Irvine does is create a whole new menu and in the process, cooks head to head with the chef in order to pass on techniques & tips. One such cook off was burgers, and I experienced epiphany. I’ve always preferred grilled burgers and only do them in the pan when the weather is crappy. But it’s also difficult to get them right, pink from edge to edge. The grill is just too hot, so you often end up with 1/4″ or more well done — and can end up raw in the center if it’s a thick burger and you’re not careful. The other problem is all the fat oozing out, leaving you dry and tasteless.

But here was Irvine’s chief trick that I had never heard of. Instead of the typical method of pressing ground beef into a dense burger, he instead rolled it lightly into a big soft ball sized shape and then every so lightly patted it down gently with his hand to achieve something about an inch thick. No squeezing, squishing, pounding, pressing.

Then it goes into the pan — I used cast iron and a bit of lard — high heat, a couple of minutes per side to brown & sear it. In the meantime, the oven is preheating. I used 350 degrees, but intend to experiment with 375 and 400. Just toss the pan in right after searing the second side, and 6-8 minutes should be enough for medium rare. Mine came out medium, so I have some work to do. I didn’t want to poke it for temperature and have fat escape, so what I did was wait until it began to plump up signifying fat was melting.

Now here’s what the chief trick of lightly patting down your burger does. Sorry for the blurry pic, only one I have.

Seared Burgers
Seared Burgers

What you should notice is that there’s no pools of fat in the pan, just the bit of lard. Well, that’s no surprise because it’s just a sear anyway. But while I didn’t get a pic when they came out of the oven, there was only just the very slightest ooze of fat from the smaller one. I set them to rest on the serving plates for only a couple of minutes while I got the salad dressed, and to my amazement, no juice or fat oozing. I then put a dab of ghee on each one, put the plates into the oven for just the 15 seconds needed to melt the room temperature ghee, and we’re done. Click for hi-res.

Perfect Burger
Perfect Burger

So here’s the secret, according to Irvine. When you form your burgers gently, there’s plenty of air pocket throughout, and these pockets give the fat someplace to be, rather than getting squeezed out all over the place (air is displaced before a viscous liquid).

Well, be willing to learn something new every day. I look forward to perfecting this.

…And speaking of cooking at home, my little share of this, that my brother dropped off yesterday will make that even more of a pleasure. Click it open for the big view.

Kill
Elk Kill

He got that in Montana a few weeks back, 300 yard shot in high winds up on the hill.

Elk Parts
Elk Parts

Couple of packages of steaks, three pounds of ground, Some elk & pork sausage, kielbasa, and pepperoni.

Filed Under: General

Erectile Dysfunction, Sunday Football…and, “are you healthy enough for sexual activity?”

November 16, 2011 62 Comments

Subject brewing all football season, but has come to a head — har har — only last Sunday. Even then, I chewed on it for a few days. I’m not always sure I want to jump into a post that’s sure to make some flinch. …But first, a little background. I’m a fair weather friend. It must be said. In fact, it’s since about 1985 that I’ve loved to quote the famous saying:

A friend in need is…a pest.

Well, almost a quote. It’s just that in terms of football, the 49ers were just amazing around 15-20 years ago and thereabouts, and I paid a lot of attention. And when they went dark, I had little to no interest except for the occasional game here and there, so long as there were apps & alcohol in reach. This year, I’ve watched every single game and many others of other teams. Sunday has become football, for me. Oh, well. I’ll get over it.

I can’t remember a single TV commercial back in the day, or before, sporting a buffed, rugged looking guy in his 40s, sailing a boat in restless seas, experiencing a sail malfunction, fixing it and after all that:

He can’t get it up.

He’s gotta check with his doctor to see if he’s “healthy enough for sexual activity.” Then he gets a prescription and the principle warning is not that you can’t get it up in your 40s and ought to take serious note of that, but of having “an erection lasting over 4 hours.” As a dear relative said — who passed away earlier this year after a long bout with cancer — in one of her life-of-the-party-to-the-very-end moments, “Call your doctor? Hell, call me!” Well if you couldn’t get it up before, and now the risk is an uncontrolled, runaway erection…I mean, is this comic? Is it comic? I’m laughing.

Does any of this make sense?

What planet do I live on? How did the society in which I’m a part of since 1961 — a microsecond in evolutionary time — become so pathetic as to not only put up with, but buy into that sort of pathos, and act like it’s just business as usual? Well, that’s really the kicker in all of this for me, and sends me into raging laughter over the drug-dependent impotent state for which society seems to be clamoring and reaching.

I’m not altogether sure, because I still hold out for evidence of Immaculate Conceptions & all, but I’m pretty sure that every single person alive is the result of “sexal activity.”

Are you healthy enough? Seriously?

You know what? If you’ve got such dietary or psychological issues that you can’t perform except in those rarest of inexplicable times that are probably alcohol related, perhaps you might consider just hanging it up, sparing the world your progeny, for now. Alternatively, how about get up off your football-watching ass, toss the burgers, pizza, wings and Bud Light, get yourself some decent nutrition — look into paleo while it’s still cool — and push, pull and lift a heavy thing or two, now and then.

This isn’t rocket science. Male impotence ought to be a rare condition, not something so common that it can command the most expensive TV advertising space that exists.

Stop being so pathetic, men.

Update: Someone reminded me of this great Bill Maher rant on the pharmaceutical industry.

Filed Under: General

Full Circle: Meat Eaters Really Are Selfish

November 12, 2011 40 Comments

The news didn’t shock or surprise me when it came out last August.

The Dutch Daily News:

“Meat brings out the worst in people. This is what psychologists of the Radboud University Nijmegen and Tilburg University concluded from varrious studies on the psychological significance of meat.

Thinking of meat makes people less socially and in many respects more “loutish”. It also appears that people are more likely to choose meat when they feel insecure, perhaps because it is a feeling of superiority or status displays, the researchers suggest.

Marcel Zeelenberg Tilburg professors (Economic psychology) and Diederik Stapel (consumer sciences and dean of Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences) and the Nijmegen Professor Roos Vonk (social psychology) examined the psychological significance of meat. “People say, meat is tasty, it’s healthy. But like many other meat products has also a symbolic and expressive value ‘, Zeelenberg explained. “Think of driving a Hummer or a Panda. With both you’ll get to your destination, but a Hummer is tougher. Like the Hummer meat is bad for the environment and climate. It is also bad for animals, the third world and our own health. But people can get quite upset when you tell them that. They are obviously very attached to their steak.”

The PETA Files:

Is it selfish to eat shellfish? The results of several studies in the Netherlands seem to indicate so. Three professors at two universities have determined that meat-eaters are more selfish and distant and less social than vegetarians are.

Of course, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that sentencing an animal (or several) to death for the fleeting taste of a turkey sandwich or bacon cheeseburger shows a certain lack of empathy, decency, and altruism. But the researchers studying the psychological impact of meat-eating concluded that carnivores are insecure people who feel the need to dominate others and be “the boss.” They eat animals as a way to feel superior. Vegetarians, on the other hand, are less selfish and less lonely—and therefore happier.

Could this mean that happiness is waiting at the end of the produce aisle? I’m pretty sure that leafy greens are a lot cheaper than therapy.

European Vegetarian and Animal News Alliance (EVANA):

People who eat meat are more selfish, less social and more distant.

At least that’s what three professors from Tilburg and Nijmegen report after having conducted several studies about the psychological impact of meat and meat eating. According to the findings carnivores feel superior to others whilst vegetarians and flexitarians are happier and less lonely.

Experiments indicated that insecure people preferred beef to eggs and fish. Another interesting finding is that participants who had looked at a picture of a cow and steak demonstrated a more selfish attitude in multiple choice tests, compared to those having been shown a tree.

The research was done by psychologist Marcel Zeelenberg, consumer scientist Diederik Stapel and psychologist Roos Vonk.

“Carnivores think more in terms of dominance and being the boss. Eating meat is a way to rise up above others, “says Vonk.

As was to be expected, this study has created already a super buzz in the country: Meateaters are not amused!

You get the drift.

The essentials of the thesis are these: as social animals, we’re hard wired to spurn “selfishness.” Meat, in general and on average, motivates us to be less concerned with social well-being and more concerned with ourselves. Therefore, meat is an anti-social influence. Ergo, Go Veg!

But there’s a huge confounder here. We didn’t really evolve as virtual slaves to some national identity with physical borders that can include other individuals numbering in the million and billions. No, we evolved to account for the values and actions of a few dozen other homies: “friends & family.”

So, to unravel this in an evolutionary sense, do you really think that thoughts of meat motivate you to exploit those closest to you for your own gain, in exchange for their loss?

You thought of meat; and so sorry mom, no card and flowers on Mother’s Day?

Sorry bro, I can’t help you with that project; I’ve come down with baby-back rib brain?

I don’t think so. Alternatively, how about if eating an evolutionarily appropriate diet of meat, fish, fowl, vegetables and fruit makes your brain perform at its best and so, you’re more likely to nurture your friends & family relationships while at the same time, not worrying too much if a stranger mother doesn’t get a car & flowers on Mother’s Day? And the brother of a friend of a friend of a friend’s friend? He’s on his own.

…And do you really think that honoring your mother, lending a hand to your brother, sitting at the bedside of a loved one for the days in advance of their eventual demise is selflessness? What, you don’t really value them, your relationship, the interconnectedness of mutual relationships with other friends and family who take stock of your actions towards the circle as a whole?

You see, I’m just honest enough with myself to realize and admit that when I’m lending a hand and building lasting value in my own close circle of relationships, that I’m being viscously selfish, because they are all so important to me.

Well, I guess none of this occurred to University of Tilburg Professor Diederik Stapel, because he was too busy faking his data.

A prominent Dutch social psychologist who once claimed to have shown that the very act of thinking about eating meat makes people behave more selfishly has been found to have faked data throughout much of his career.

In one of the worst cases of scientific fraud on record in the Netherlands, a review committee made up of some of the country’s top scientists has found that University of Tilburg Prof. Diederik Stapel systematically falsified data to achieve the results he wanted.

The university has fired the 45-year-old Stapel and plans to file fraud charges against him, university spokesman Walther Verhoeven said Thursday.

Stapel acknowledged in a statement the accusations were largely true.

“I have manipulated study data and fabricated investigations,” he wrote in an open letter published by De Volkskrant newspaper this week. “I realize that via this behavior I have left my direct colleagues stunned and angry and put my field, social psychology, in a poor light.”

Stapel said he was ashamed and offered his apologies.

So there you go, a “don’t believe everything you read” update.

Filed Under: General

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About FreeTheAnimal

I'm Richard Nikoley. Free The Animal began in 2003 and as of 2020, has 5,000 posts and 120,000 comments from readers. I blog what I wish...from lifestyle to philosophy, politics, social antagonism, adventure travel, nomad living, location and time independent—"while you sleep"— income, and food. I intended to travel the world "homeless" but the Covid-19 panic-demic squashed that. I've become an American expat living in rural Thailand where I've built a home. I celebrate the audacity and hubris to live by your own exclusive authority and take your own chances. [Read more...]

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