Ex Navy Officer. Owner of Businesses. Digital Entrepreneur. Expat Living in Thailand. 5,000 Biting Blog Post on Everything since 2003.
See?
…My newest friend, a Canadian expat, just 200 yards away, drives a Harley, has 3 enormous Dobermans, plays Pink Floyd loud, and has a sign on his gate that proclaims:
NO SNIVELLING
Whenever I snivel? I go down to the beach—5-minute walk away—so that I’m automatically reminded about what the fuck I’m doing and why.
Long story short:
I fucking feel more alive than I have in years. I quite enjoy having some problems to solve. Reminded me of having my ‘Vette break down 40 miles from home in Toulon, France, after I drove it from where it came in to port in Rotterdam. Got it sorted.
…Running low on water…another problem to sort. Next week, a Mexican guy is going to truck out 10,000 liters over 12 miles of dirt road for $65, to fill my two 5,000 liter, cross-connected tanks.
I love this world! Lots lots more later, including the story of no gas stations in 340 KM, and we missed the memo.
In the meantime, find a way to fucking love your life. Really, really love it!
And remember, no looking back, just forward.
Trip began Monday at noon from San Jose where I hit the 101 south to Santa Barbara, stopping off in Montecito for the evening at the invitation of Drs Mike & Mary Dan Eades. She had amazing sous vide ribeye steak at the waiting, accompanied by roasted asparagus, cauliflower puree, and a fantastic caesar salad. I provided the old vine zin. Sat around the table and chatted until midnight and rest assured: all the world’s problems have been taken care of.
Soon after the morning rounds of cafe Americanos, I headed out, down the Hwy 1, and stopped off in Malibu for a brief lunchtime visit with Mark Sisson in his backyard, overlooking Malibu canyon. More world problems solved.
Picked up my brother at SAN in the late afternoon and we snatched a cheap room at Motel 6 just a few hundred yards from the border and beginning now, 5am:
Updates to follow.
Or, is it really just a day off?
What would you wager that her memorials don’t trump yours? Or, how about her infant’s eventual resentment over lack of birthright memorials compared to your Memorial-Day beer pong?
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OK, thats’s indeed a bold title, but this is a TL;DR post. See, this one was drafted a good while ago. The Duck Dodgers decided to prefigure with a few things that have been posted—like this and this—but then there were more revelations, so what we have is this one, about 900 words and way incomplete, and a 4,000 pound whopper coming up next week. So here’s the “Too Long; Didn’t Read” version for the lazy asses.
Update: Well, it didn’t take long for a commenter to misunderstand what we’re doing here, so let me preface some clarification. This is not an assertion of causality searching for a hypothesis. It’s clearly a set of reasonable, testable associations that give rise to a hypothesis that fortification or enrichment of foods with iron (and perhaps other vitamins and minerals) may have a host of unintended consequences and this should be studied specifically. The follow-on post will contain a lot more justification. For additional clarification I’ve added an additional image below as well.
It’s becoming more commonly known that iron overload can be a prominent feature of obesity and metabolic issues. Obesity and insulin resistance has been linked to an iron-enriched diet. Obese people have iron in the hypothalamus of their brains, their urine, their adipose tissue, and they do not absorb iron well and iron blood levels can be low in some cases. The body may very likely be using adipose intentionally to keep excess iron out of the blood so that pathogens and cancer cannot thrive (i.e. anemia of chronic disease). As those studies point out, adipocytes use hepcidin to regulate the iron status of the blood.
Surprisingly, what virtually all researchers miss is that the countries that fortify their food with iron (or rely heavily on imports of fortified food with iron) are the countries that tend to have the most obesity and metabolic issues—particularly as those countries consume more iron-rich meat.
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This is an effort to pay back Angelo Coppola and Stephan Guyenet; both in terms of a recipe for leurs-mêmes, but also to pay it forward to you, because it really hits a lot of the bases they cover in a podcast that you’re missing out if you don’t take the time to listen to.
…Frankly, it took me three days to get through it, but what that means is that even though I got interrupted dozens of times, I always came back, rewound a few minutes to re-acquire the beat, and could do nothing else but take in every really sane and enlightening moment. Yea, I have 2 or three quibbles with Stephan, mais pas suffisamment merveilleuse to make any big deal about, so they remain forgotten.
Just do yourself a favor enormement-like, and take it in.
Then, make this, eat some every day until you run out, then make another pot and keep doing that ad infinitum.
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That last word in the title is tongue in cheek, of course. For years—before I got tired and banned her—I had this commenter—Eat Less Move Moore (get it?)—who literally made reference to jimmy moore in each and every of several hundred comments, and was the one who first used “webpire” to describe his online activities.
Of course, it put her into context. Nobody knows how well Jimmy does $$$-wise with his spare bedroom Low-Carb business, but it’s certainly not proportional to any sort of Empire I’m aware of.
Rather, it was simply a case of “everybody loves Jimmy.” Jimmy is a likable, affable guy—in person, and in his online presence. And, as a businessman, a loss-leader sort, where he gives of his time and efforts in trust that those who like what he does will support him via his various ways he has available to pay back—recognizing that any individual is perfectly able to get away scott free for life.
And, over the years, he also goes so far as to entertain alternative and even contrary ideas (to LC) on his blog and podcast, with no real guarantee that the information he’s exposing his readers and listeners to for free isn’t undercutting his own livelihood. This is admirable.
This is part of why I gave him a pass on inconsistencies for a long time. And of course, the those living in glass houses throwing stones thing.
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In many ways the Paleo playbook in retrospect—back to when I got involved in 2008—models a tendency in humans to have easy, formulaic answers and solutions to complex problems—rather like church and state as just-so solutions to complex philosophical and social problems.
At various times and places, the predominant emphasis was on one of these things:
I’m sure I’ve overlooked a devil or two (I just can’t get excited about avoiding certain light spectrum!). But these evils gave rise to various fads all along the way, sometimes emphasizing one evil, sometimes integrating several. I’ve participated in and promoted a number of them myself, if not all of them.
There are many others but for purposes of brevity I’m only touching on the mostly diet related stuff and setting aside all the various lifestyle, fitness, athletic stuff like workouts, play, fasting, footwear (and lack thereof), cold exposure, sleep, sex, social relationships, workaholism, etc. And frankly, I find the endeavors in all of those lifestyle things to be far more “paleo” than virtually all of the dietary and food stuff, which, frankly, has kinda been a Royal Fucking Mess.
I really just wanted to toss this out there for thought and discussion, so rather than a long essay, let me show you some of what I’ve been reading and chewing on during my recent low-activity status after spine surgery.
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Haven’t done one in months, but as a lot is changing in life, thought I might toy with putting one out there every few weeks to a month and see how it goes.
Latest Issue. Topics covered:
On the last point, less than 6 days from departure to Mexico for a minimum of 5 months. Again, link to the Newsletter. From there, you can access archives. My series on “The Milk Diet” might interest some.
I think I have a real treat for you. I asked Karl Seddon, creator of Elixa Probiotic, to write a post offering his perspective on probiotics and prebiotics, or FODMAPs. Little did I know he was clever enough to write such an engaging travelogue about Uganda, making it such an engaging read. I previously blogged about my experience with Elixa here.
Based on the emails I receive, I’d say that the average person interested in probiotics and gut health are well-read on the topic. Due to the relatively recent emergence of majority access to the internet and mainstream awareness of the microbiome, there’s a huge amount of crowd-sourced research and shared information regarding probiotics, the microbiome, and prebiotics—or what I prefer to call FODMAPs.
Self-experimentation, anecdotal meta-analysis (collating 2nd hand reports), and scientific experiments are all legitimate means to increase our understanding of how the gut bacteria affect us and how to manipulate this understanding to our advantage.
Although I am the developer and manufacturer of Elixa Probiotic, this article does not directly concern probiotic supplementation. There is plenty to discuss about the individual attributes of Elixa, however I would prefer to start chronologically by detailing some of the R&D that came before. Hopefully this will be a brief insight into some of the thoughts and work performed during the 3+ years of development that has occurred since I graduated.
With a science-based, academic background, most people will assume: Oh, so you learned this stuff at university, right?
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I sympathize with those who don’t really listen to many of my podcast interviews anymore, since in so many since way back, I get asked the same questions and respond largely the same way.
I wanted this one, with Adam Smith, Prymal Radio, to be different and I think we achieved that. One way to look at it is an accounting how wrong I think I’ve been about so much over the years. I also had my Fitbit on while I was pacing the house on Skype, via my phone, and I walked 5,000 steps during the interview (I’d told Adam 4,000, but it turned out it was 5 once I manually synched).
Here’s the main points.
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This was to be Part 3 of The Duck Dodgers’ “Hormesis Files” series, but it’s way broader than that. It’s beyond hormetic effects. Rather, think of it as anti-nutrients as nutrients. While you’re at it, contemplate yourself…as a tender little paleo flower, born of Trademark.
There’s a long list of phytochemicals and “anti-nutrients” that people in the Paleo™ and “Bulletproof” world tend to worry about and try to avoid. Among others they include: lectins, saponins, phytate, polyphenols (tannins, isoflavones), protease inhibitors, cyanogenic glycosides, and favism glycosides. Even mycotoxin problems might be related to gut health since ruminants have little problem with them. These phytotoxins and anti-nutrients are also known as secondary metabolites. But what is never mentioned in Paleo™ circles is that there are a number of scientific papers showing benefits to consuming marginal levels of all of these toxins.[1][2][3][4]
From: Potential health benefits and problems associated with antinutrients in foods (1993)
Phytic acid, lectins, phenolic compounds, amylase inhibitors and saponins have also been shown to reduce the blood glucose and insulin responses to starchy foods and/or the plasma cholesterol and triglycerides. In addition, phytic acid, phenolics, saponins, protease inhibitors, phytoestrogens and lignans have been related to reduced cancer risks. Because antinutrients can also be mitigating agents, they need re-evaluation and perhaps a change in name in the future…It is evident that both adverse and health benefits may be attributed to antinutrients in foods. It is also evident that, in many cases, the same interactions that make them antinutritive also are responsible for their beneficial effects.
In terms of mycotoxins (shit from fungi), there are even some compounds that have anti-cancer, anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and even anti-fungal properties. [5][6][7][8][9][10]
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I was quite euphoric the day after the spine surgery. I even told you all about it. Ideally, that post would have been just an intro to some future videos of me deciding to take up some new physical activity like ballet, or something.
In more retrospective awareness, the wonder of this sort of modern medicine—where they literally cut a 3″ incision into your spine, literally down to the bone, and you’re literally home eating mom’s home cookin’ a few hours later—is a bit double-edged-scalpel. I now think that perhaps the value of all of that is more in being in familiar places, surroundings, and circumstances—because you can be—than it’s any particular magic. Or: in the brutal dice roll that was surgery—a remarkable cost-benefit deal that would never get FDA approval if it were to be conceived of today—they just figured out a few things that have less to do with the actual incisions, scraping, general mechanical aspects…and more to do with microbes, like infections. Whereas, perhaps in the mind of patients, it was always ‘gotta spend a lot of time in hospital, I have incision(s),’ it was more always really: they can get infected and that’s what’ll kill me.
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The very long story is that back in 2011, I ended up with a cervical disk herniation that caused excruciating chronic pain in my right shoulder and arm for three solid months. I was eventually steered toward Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection, by John E. Sarno, and it worked.
Move forward to February, 2014, 15 months ago, and I developed lower back pain. Had back pain before, always went away. This time, it didn’t—at least until it took permanent residence in my left butt, hip, hamstring, calf, ankle and big toe without much back pain. This time, Sarno was only effective insofar as getting rid of the constant chronic aspect, and intensity, making it somewhat manageable—with good days, bad days, and the awful dreary days.
In short, while I could function, I was pretty much in pain most of the time. Sitting was the worst, driving was excruciatingly painful most of the time and after a long drive the intensity could last for 2 days afterward.
I don’t do pain pills much, very rarely. A couple Advil is about it for me. Alcohol is my pharmaceutical of choice.
In retrospect, today, the biggest toll on me I’d not taken account of is a general lack of interest in just about everything. I suppose that’s a reasonable description of depression setting in. It’s probably why I went so gung-ho on the move to Mexico. Only thing I could find that gave me a semblance of a sense of life.
The reason for the retrospective? Because since 2 p.m. yesterday I’ve been pain free for the first time in 15 months. I opted for the discectomy surgery and it appears to have been a 100% success. For the reasons why I made this choice and how it went down, read on. I really enjoyed doing this write up, the first I recall truly delighted in writing in a long time. Hope that comes through.
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Beatrice was away for a girls’ weekend. In itself, rather hubristic, but I can man up for it and house sit the doggies. The new Fitbit made them happy and they got more walks than average. …That Bea did a girls’ weekend just two weeks ago with a different set of girls is no matter at all; says nothing about me.
What’s important is the leftovers she brought back, including this.
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I don’t have a dog in the competitive race, but I initially used Lyft because of free rydes whyle I was getting Lyft, Tyre and Whyyl work done on the Beemer.
Airport dropoffs for my trips to Baja, car stuff…it’s all been great and I don’t have to annoy friends and family (…a friend in need is…a pest). Always engaging. You meet the most interesting people. Lately, I’ve been using Uber, but most drivers seem to be getting business from both.
I wish them both well. Apart from the experience—such as smart, engaging drivers—and it’s never taken more than 7 minutes for a pickup and usually it’s within 5—I just love the disruption of the whole thing. Suddenly, you have city politicians being pinched between selling off Taxi-Monopoly medallions for tens of thousands of dollars along with the businesses that invested million to start Taxi companies while making sure plenty of the revenue got into the hands of this worthless-fuck set of gatekeepers, and hundreds of thousands of “taxicabs” owned by regular folk making a buck on the side while offering multitudes of scale better service and overall experience.
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Yep, got it yesterday early afternoon and pretty soon became quite intrigued and even motivated by the little gizmo.
I was only peripherally aware of Fitbit and a few wearable data loggers—probably by means of a walk by at Best Buy kiosk or something. First impression: how ridiculously obsessive.
Then a commenter in a post a while back spoke very highly of it.
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When I finally began thinking for myself—fuck everyone else—at the age of 20, finally separating from the religious indoctrination my parents never escaped from—and still have not—I read a lot about Galileo and Copernicus as visionary revolutionary types.
It took a while before I learned of someone who went further.
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I understand it is very, very difficult for 99.99999999999% of you to even imagine living off grid. People are generally NOT interested in this revolutionary, earth changing disruption. They just want to pay their power-comany, municipal-monopoly by-grace-of-state-force bill and be done with it, just like their grandparents did.
But, 0.000000001% of people change the world and the rest always just go along as crash test dummies.
To reiterate, from that last post:
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I’m not going to be snarky about this because I don’t in fact count it as a “cure,” yet. But, improved for sure, and no thyroid meds. Here’s the previous posts on the topic:
After I wrote the first post, having test results indicating a diagnosis of Hashimoto’s (elevated TPO Antibody and TSH), I set about to institute a protocol involving a whole list of Don’ts, then re-test in three months. I ended up not following most of the Don’ts, but rather focussed on the gut, per my subsequent posts; i.e., Dos rather than Don’ts.
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