Whole Health Source Blog

Just wanted to share what I think is some great information related to diet and health.  Stephan Guyenet of the Whole Health Source blog posted an interview in which he answered a lot of great questions about diet and health.  I really think he did a tremendous job of packing lots of information into a small space.  He brings up some interesting points in discussing his food reward theory and how it relates to obesity.  Give it a read if you have time.  I promise you will learn something.

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2012/07/interview-with-aitor-calero-of-directo.html

I'd love to get some discussion going here, so if you read it, come back here and leave a comment.
Thanks Stephan!

Recipe of the Day: Oats in a Bowl

People always ask about quick breakfast ideas.  I've seen several people blogging about oats in a bowl, so I tried it last week.  I really liked it and the fact that it comes out cold was nice when the temps last week were in the upper 90's.  It's real easy so I thought I'd pass it along:

First, get a glass jar (doesn't matter what kind -old pickle jar, peanut butter jar, etc.)

Next, fill the jar with foods you like.  Mine usually looks something like this:

1/3-1/2c of milk or unsweetened almond milk
1/3-1/2c of plain oats (only ingredients should be rolled oats)
1/3-1/2c of plain Greek yogurt
2T of raisins
1/4-1/2c of other fruit (cut up banana, berries, natural applesauce, etc.)
1-2T of natural peanut butter (only ingredient should be nuts and salt)
1/2-1T of flax seed

Mix all the ingredients in the jar the night before you plan to eat it.  The oats will soak up the liquid and the next morning will be ready.  The above example is just a starting place.  Add what you like and try different things.  Use ingredients that you like.  Have fun with it.

How Many Hot Dogs Can You Eat?

Just read about the guy who ate 68 hot dogs yesterday to win Nathan's annual hot dog-eating contest. Then I was lucky enough to stumble across an article about a local whose hobby is making really large hamburgers.  You can read about his hamburger building passion here:

http://blog.al.com/breaking/2012/07/building_giant_burgers_a_holid.html

I particularly enjoyed this sentence:

"This year Maley will attempt to build a cheeseburger that weighs 25 to 30 pounds. One day he hopes to fulfill a dream of whipping up a 50-pounder stacked 10 patties high."

How does a guy end up with such a hobby? Maybe stamp collecting just wasn't enough?
He mentions that a burger like this takes 3 hours to make and costs close to $40.  Not to mention, the word "dream" is used to describe his desire to eventually create a 50 pound burger.  Wow!  I guess we all should have a dream.

This article along with the annual hot dog eating contest got me to thinking about our culture and how we think about food. Not sure I have anything important to say, but I just find it interesting. These stories remind me that in the United States we have easy access to tons of food.  Our need for cheap and easy food options may be what is killing us. 

I've noticed lots of arguing on the internet lately in regards to just how important calories are in terms of weight loss.  Many want to rebuke the idea that weight loss is all about calories in and calories out.  I see the importance of different hormones being mentioned.  I know there are lots of things that influence weight gain and weight loss, but I have to wonder if we just have too much access to lots and lots of food.

Jut my random thoughts for the day.  Now it’s back to eating hot dogs.  I have to start practicing now if I’m going to win that $10,000 dollars next July.

Rich Roll -Finding Ultra

A year ago I ran a fairly quick 1/2 marathon, at least it was faster for me. Then I chose to take a year off from longer distance (marathons, 1/2 marathons) to work on shorter distance stuff. I had decided that there was really no added health benefit to running 12 miles or 26 miles or whatever miles.  So why not just focus on trying to get faster at shorter distances? 

It sounded like a sound plan.  The only problem with that is I forget how much I enjoy running longer distances.  I enjoy the long runs early in the morning when it’s still dark outside.  I enjoy the peace and quiet of running alone.  I prefer training for ½ marathons and full marathons more than 5 and 10k’s.  I just flat out enjoy running for longer amounts of time and that is what I plan to do.

So, what if running longer distances isn’t good for you or good for your health?  I’m still going to do it, because I love it.  I meet people in my office every day that force themselves to go to the local gym every day.  They hop on the elliptical.  They use the weight machines.  They do all those things, and absolutely hate it.  One of goals it to always encourage people to find activities they love.  Do something you enjoy and you will probably keep doing it.  I tell people this on a daily basis, but somehow I forgot to follow my own rule.  But now I’m ready to come correct and get back to what I love.

A few weeks ago I started increasing my running miles, and around the time I stumbled upon an awesome book that fueled my running desire even more.  The book was written by Rich Roll and it’s called Finding Ultra.  The book outlines Rich’s journey from a middle aged overweight attorney to the life of a health promoting ultra-distance athlete.  At the age of 40, Rich not only competed in, but finished the Ultraman competition in Hawaii as the top American.  Just so you know, the Ultraman is like the Ironman competition, but longer and harder.  Imagine swimming 6.2 miles in the ocean, biking for 261.4 miles, and then finishing with a 52.4 mile run.  That’s Ultraman. 

For me, it was truly inspiring to read about a 40 year old dude who was able to compete at such a high level after spending so many years as an overweight couch potato.  The book also takes us through Rich’s battle with alcoholism as well as his shift to a vegan diet.  Very cool read, and if you need some extra motivation, pick it up. 

Recipe of the Day- Bang Bang Shrimp

Just wanted to share a few recipes I have enjoyed this week.  Someone sent me a link to a website: www.skinnytaste.com and a particular shrimp recipe struck my nerve.  It helped that I had a pound of shrimp in the fridge.  And on top of all that, it gives me an excuse to use that shrimp picture above, which for some reason makes me laugh uncontrollably. This particular recipe is someone’s take on the Bonefish Bang Bang shrimp appetizer and it was fairly simple to prepare.

The shrimp sauce called for light mayo.  I’ve been wanting to try making my own mayo with olive oil for a long time, and this was the perfect excuse.  So, I started by preparing the mayo.

Olive Oil Mayonnaise Ingredients:

·       1 egg yolk

·       Juice from one lemon

·       ½-1c of extra light olive oil

·       Salt & pepper to taste

Step 1:  Wisk the yolk and lemon juice together until mixed

Step 2:  Continue whisking while you gradually add the olive oil.  The key here is to add the oil SLOWLY and stop when you get the desired texture.  Honestly, I’m still figuring this part out and mine has been a bit runny both times I tried.

Now, on to the shrimp. 

Mix the following ingredients together for your sauce:

• 2 1/2 tbsp light mayonnaise  ( I used the homemade mayo from above)
• 2 tbsp scallions, chopped fine
• 1 1/2 tbsp Thai Sweet Chili Sauce (it is with the Asians foods, soy sauces, etc.)
• 1/2 tsp Sriracha (or to taste)

I didn’t have any sriracha and my kids always complain about stuff being too spicy, so I left it off.  I’ll find some for the next go round!

All that is left to do is cook the shrimp.  Remove shells, add salt and pepper, and then grill them to your liking.  It only takes a few minutes on each side and shrimp are easy to overcook.

Pull the shrimp off the grill and then toss them with the sauce you made.  It really is fairly simple and our family enjoyed.  We used the same sauce on some grilled chicken.  That was good also.

My friend the Crapitarian

I saw a lady today that was trying to lose weight and not having any luck as a vegetarian.  She asked me what I had against vegetarian diets.  I explained that I didn’t think anything was wrong with vegetarian diets, but I did have a problem with vegetarian diets that didn’t include any vegetables. 

This may sounds a bit strange but it is actually something I regularly.  Yes, you understand correctly, there are vegetarians out there that don’t eat vegetables.  So what do they eat?  Mainly crap.  We should probably call them crapitarians.  That would be way more accurate.  The lady I saw today mainly ate veggie burgers, veggie hot dogs, veggie chicken patties, protein bars, granola bars, crackers, and lots of sweets.  She was mainly eating a bunch of processed foods.

I think some vegetarians trick themselves in to thinking that the vegetarian diet is healthy because it excludes meat.  However, this isn’t exactly accurate.  A vegetarian diet may have health benefits, but not because it excludes meat.  If done right, a vegetarian diet may be healthful because it replaces processed foods with whole real foods (vegetables, fruits, legumes, etc.).  If done right it replaces store/restaurant-bought junk foods with vegetables, fruits, beans, peas, etc. 

My point is this:  If you want to be a vegan or vegetarian, have at it.  I don’t see a problem with it, if you are eating real foods instead of processed foods.  If you replace junk food with vegetables, fruits, and complex starches, you will benefit.  If you replace the junk food with vegetables, fruits, local meats/eggs, and complex carbs starches, you will still likely see benefit. 

If you want to have a piece of chicken with some green beans and sweet potato tonight, go for it.  If you want to make a black bean burger with real food from your pantry, have at it.  Either will be better than that soy dog, the protein bar, or that granola bar you got at Publix.  And if you want to be a vegetarian, don’t think that you can eat whatever you want as long as it didn’t come from an animal.  Most of the crap food out there doesn’t come from animals. 

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest!

10 Questions with T.S. Wiley, the Author of "Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar, and Survival"

A few months back after sufffering from a several-month-long bout of insomnia, a friend insisted that I read T.S. Wiley's book "Lights Out."  In the book, T.S. discusses the importance of sleep and how getting the appropriate amount of sleep can help with weight loss, help reverse type-II diabetes, help with depression, as well as other possible benefits.

In my own office, I have always found that my night shift workers and my clients who don't sleep well, also don't lose weight, and are normally not as healthy as they could be. So, I found this book to be quite interesting. 

I wanted to figure out a way to help my readers learn more about this book, and since the last written interview with Matt Stone was so popular, I thought we would try that format once again.  Today I am posting this interview I was lucky enough to conduct with T.S.  Hope you enjoy it.  Hope you can find a way to get a copy of this book.  It is available from the main page of this website if you click the link for my Amazon store.  Also, if you want to learn more about T.S., please visit this website:  http://www.thewileyprotocol.com/ .

Thanks T.S.!  

Now, on to the interview:

Hunter:  How, when, and why did our sleep get so screwed up and can you explain for our readers/listeners how our more modern sleep patterns may be incompatible with the way our bodies have been wired?

TS: At the turn of the century the light bulb was invented and we suddenly had the capacity to take two days to one.  In the normalcy of the planet spinning in and out of sunlight, we have something called dusk.  The pink light blocks the blue light and you can take melatonin and turn it into serotonin.  But when you never are subjected to dusk or dawn, the serotonin keeps going up until it rebounds back to dopamine.  So, you can stay awake, but when you do, you’ve missed all kinds of critical state threshold changes of neurotransmitters.  That happened because of the light bulb.  When light became cheap, human beings abuse it like drugs and it makes you sick. 

In the dark of winter, one would sleep 14 hours.  We no longer go to bed when it gets dark or get up when it gets light.  We have lost what is known as an extinct sleep state from midnight to 4 am when you were in transcendental state.  We’ve excised that sleep state and slapped together the other two.  By losing that, we’ve lost all sorts of brain function.

Hunter: You mention in the book that if people would sleep the number of hours that it is normally dark, they would only crave sugar in the summer.  How can a lack of sleep contribute to sugar cravings?

TS: Photo period effect on appetite control is guided by the planets’ offerings.  When the light is long and the fruit is out there, you want it.  When the light is short, it would be complete misery if you were craving sugar, so you don’t.   But we never have short light, so we crave ho-hos and ding dongs.  Endless summer creates an endless appetite for carbohydrates.   

Hunter: You called Type-II diabetes the end result of “excruciating fatigue from light toxicity.”  Can you explain?

TS: I am referring to being dead tired.  When you’re dying for a good night’s sleep, it means that you’ve consumed so much energy in the form of light and food, you are quite literally poisoned.  And that poison manifests itself as type ii diabetes through uncontrollable blood sugar because of insulin resistance.

Hunter: The book seems to blame many modern illnesses (type-2 diabetes, depression, heart disease, infertility, cancer) on lack of sleep.  I’m curious if the sleep issue is always a direct cause or sometimes could it just be the original cause in a chain.  For instance, could it be that the lack of appropriate sleep causes weight gain, which in turn, causes type-2 diabetes or heart disease?

TS: Yes, exactly.  Sleep is the cause of death.  Food is the instrument of death. 

Hunter:  Can you explain what causes cortisol production to increase and what effect does this increase have on the body?

TS: Exposure to light and stress cause cortisol production to go up which in turn causes mobilization of blood sugar which demands insulin to follow.  Over exposure to insulin creates insulin resistance at the receptor level.  Then, blood sugar has nowhere to go.  And circulating blood sugar to go up and you are declared a type ii diabetic.  Simultaneously, you are aging in fast forward because you come into the world with hormones to deal with so many hours of light and dark.  Cortisol isn’t a hormone to deal with the light.  So twice as much cortisol means you experience two days to one, which has to come off the end of your life. 

Hunter: I want to touch just a bit more on the mental effects of inappropriate sleep patterns.  How does lack of sleep contribute to anxiety and depression?

TS: Temporal distortion, time dilation and perception rest on dopamine and serotonin.  Too much food—too many carbohydrates—raises your serotonin to the level of a panic state where you feel like you are paralyzed and can’t get out of bed in the morning.  The reason for this is because in nature, you would only be in a panic state if you were about to be eaten by and animal, so you would lay very still.

Hunter:  You mention that in the summer we can relax a bit, sleep less, and eat more carbohydrate, but in the winter we should stick with more protein and vegetables. What’s up with that? Does that again go back to what our bodies are expecting due to the way we are wired?

TS: That means that summer is Margaritaville—it’s party time.  It’s when you would mate.  You can eat as much sugar as you want and stay up as late as you want.  It’s one trip around the sun.  if you do it all year long, it’s four trips around the sun, which means you are aging inside four times as fast.  Everything is based on duality.  Yin and yang, light and dark, hot and cold, men and women, up and down.  You can’t have one without the other.  So you can’t have carbohydrates all the time.  That is universally and scientifically unsound.

Hunter:  I really enjoyed your exercise recommendations.  You recommend lifting weights, yoga, meditation, pilates, and it doesn’t sound like we should expect to see you out on a morning jog.  What’s wrong with cardiovascular exercise?

TS: There’s nothing wrong with it.  But it needs to be seasonal and rhythmic.  I would suggest a book called Making Waves by Irving Dardek.  It’s basing cardiovascular exercise on lunar cycles.  Running constantly is a fear state.  And in your mind and body, something’s got to win, you or the tiger.  Your heart isn’t just a pump, it’s an endocrine gland that puts out hormones that talk to you brain.  To exercise it like a bicep is simplistically stupid.

Hunter: I have read articles claiming people are unique and require different amounts of sleep.  I remember reading about how Bill Clinton would only sleep 4 hours a night and was still very productive during the day.  How much sleep do we really need, and do we all need the same amount?

TS: We all need the same amount seasonally.  There is no how much.  Two hours after dark is about when people would tuck themselves into the caves at the latest.  And when the sun comes up, you should get up.  So seasonally, daily, how much you need changes. 

Hunter: What are some basic things people can do to improve the quality of their sleep?

TS: Over 25, take hormones.  Cover up all the blinking things in your room like the cable box, smoke detector and lights from the outside.  Darkness should be palpable and feel cool.  If you’re old, take hormones because sex hormones control something called slow wave sleep.  That means you can avoid interval waking if your estrogen progesterone and testosterone are at youthful levels.  Also, don’t exercise before bed.  That shoots up your cortisol and keeps you awake.  Exercise first thing in the morning.  Sex is always good before bed.  And don’t drink a lot of water before bed or take a glass of water with you to bed. 

Creating a Nutrition Journal Benefits Cancer Patients -by Guest Blogger: Jillian McKee

Jillian McKee wrote this brief description on the benefits of using a food log during cancer treatment.  This is something that Jillian feels strongly about and she asked me to post it here.  Please take the time to read it.  Hope you enjoy! You can read more from Jillian at The Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance's Google + page and for more genreal info. go here: http://www.mesothelioma.com/blog  Thanks Jillian!

Creating a Nutrition Journal Benefits Cancer Patients


Bumping up the mesothelioma survival rate and the survival rate of other cancers is a top priority for many physicians and oncologists.  Because of this, medical experts have worked closely together to come up with every possible action that can be taken to increase quality of life, improve emotional stability, and strengthen the body of people fighting cancer.

A nutritious diet plays a big role in helping a person to achieve each one of these things.  Each of these things is important because it improves the overall quality of a person’s life and also boosts the person physically and mentally and this is important in order for a cancer patient to be strong enough to keep up with required treatments.

Creating a nutrition journal can help cancer patients keep an accurate record of the healthy foods they are eating.  Nutrition journals may be handwritten or they be logged on a computer for ease and convenience.  A journal can track the progress of the person’s treatments, as well as amounts of exercise he or she is able to get each week, and the types of meals that are consumed.  Adding recipes, snacks, and blended drinks that are consumed will help the person to remain inspired and motivated as he or she records progress and is able to tell which foods made the biggest positive impact on how the person feels physically.

There are multiple healthy foods that will increase energy and will help to clean the digestive system and jumpstart the metabolism.  With this increased energy, the person can begin to consider participating in more exercise routines to strengthen and tone muscles.  This is a proactive and positive way to fight cancer, along with taking treatments and following physician’s orders.

Writing a journal is also a healthy way of gaining new coping skills.  When people record their activities, their food consumptions, and begin to notice which foods play a part in helping them to feel better, this boosts confidence and esteem and motivates the individual to keep battling the disease.  Many times, cancer patients become physically depleted and this can hurt a person’s chances for survival because the body lacks strength to go through the treatments or to respond well to the treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation.

The National Cancer Institute has a list of recommended super foods that help patients to feel better and to gain physical benefits from eating better foods.  The site also provides up-to-date information on the latest news of how nutritious foods impact the body of a person who has cancer.  Researching and beginning a nutrition journal is a great way to take steps to eating healthier to get healthier.

Drew Manning -Fit2Fat2Fit

Many of you may remember Drew Manning, the trainer we interviewed a couple times last years. Drew gained somewhere in the ballpark of 70 pounds so he could learn what it was like to be overweight.  He wanted to know what his clients were experiencing.  Well, it appears that Drew has finished his planned journey from fit, to fat, to fit.  He has lost the weight and looks much like his previous self.

You can check out the story here:

http://now.msn.com/living/0605-trainer-gains-loses-70-pounds.aspx

You can also listen to our previous interviews with Drew here:

http://www.huntingforhealth.com/2011/10/hunting-for-health-4-drew-manning.html

and here:

http://www.huntingforhealth.com/2011/12/hunting-for-health-10-drew-manning.html

Also, I would love to know what you guys think about this.  You can post your thoughts in the comments section of this post.  Did this experiment make Drew a better trainer?  Was it just for publicity?  What do you guys think?


Hunter

Disney to Stop Promoting Junk Food?

Just saw this article.  Thought I'd throw it up here and see what you guys think about it:

http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20120605/US.Disney.Nutrition.Push/?cid=hero_media

www.100daysofrealfood.com

Sorry for the lack of updates the past few months.  I'm going to try and get back to paying more attention to this site.

In the meantime, I want to pass along a link to another website that I have found to be a great resource:

www.100daysofrealfood.com

A friend turned me on to this one and I think it has some great info.  On this site and with the accompanying podcast, we have had discussion about carbohydrate vs. protein.  It seems like a never-ending debate.  I have found that the nature of how the food was made to be more important than the percentages of it's macronutrients (protein,carbohydrate, fat).  Cultures have thrived on high fat diets as well as high carbohydrate diets.  The introduction of processed foods seems to be the more important factor in terms of health. 

So today I just want to throw out a reminder to eat real food!  Our mission in starting this site was to encourage people to do just that.  Buy local food, and cook your own food as much as you can.

Hunter

New Interview With Matt Stone of 180 degree health

For the past several months I have been reading just about all of Matt Stone's posts on http://www.180degreehealth.com/.  I find his ideas on diets, nutrition, and metabolism to be a breath of fresh air.  Then I read one of his e-books and I was even more impressed.  I guess what I am saying is that you should prepare to have your face melted by the awesomeness of what you are about to read.

I have been wanting to interview Matt for some time, and we were finally able to make it happen.  Instead of an audio interview, I thought we would try something new, so I am going to post a print version of the interview here and now.

 If you are struggling on a diet, or have always had issues with food, please read this interview.  I think you will find it to be eye-opening.

Also, do your self a favor and visit Matt's website:  http://www.180degreehealth.com/. 

He has several e-books that are extremely affordable (http://180degreehealth.com/2012/01/diet-recovery).

You can learn more about Matt here: http://180degreehealth.com/meet-matt-stone.

Again, I have to give a big thanks to Matt for the time he put in to this.  This is one of my favorite interviews that we have done and I think the information is of great value.  Now, lets proceed with the face melting:

Matt, I’ve really enjoyed reading your website.  There is a ton of great information there.  You have devoted a lot of time and energy in to studying health and nutrition.  Could you give us a bit of your background and explain what got you interested in nutrition/heath?

My background is in writing. As a writer I had to pick a dedicated research topic, and the field of health and nutrition was an easy pick.  I could fall asleep reading or hearing about any topic on earth.  But sit me down in front of something pertaining to health and nutrition and I can’t put the book down.  It has always been this way. I knew that my natural curiosities about the subject made it the perfect fit.  I have always been interested as a lay person. But about 6 years ago I made the switch to full immersion.  I have read 300 books, perused hundreds of blogs, hundreds of studies and articles, and have spent an equal amount of time conversing with people from all over the world about their health. So you could say I have amassed quite a great deal of knowledge and insight over the years due to this immersion. Things have really come together for me in the last couple of years after the first major breakthrough I had in my exploration – which was using dietary and lifestyle manipulation to achieve an increase in metabolic rate in a very unique way.

I also had a ton of health problems as a kid, which were all treated with the standard courses of medical action at the time.  By age 6 I was already missing my tonsils and my appendix. All of my molars had severe tooth decay, then I grew in my adult teeth and lost all those molars to tooth decay within a couple of years.  My eyesight was horrible.  I was overfat, had allergies, asthma, frequent illness, sinus infections, was always on antibiotics and over-the-counter decongestant and anti-histamine type of drugs.  I was a mess.  And by the time I was a teenager I really longed to figure out another way.  I really wanted to figure out how I could get my body doing this on its own, fighting and winning its own battles.  I had a deep yearning for self-sufficiency and doing things on my own anyway at that time.  And sure enough, when I just let myself get sick and didn’t medicate, within a couple of years I was no longer getting sick anymore.  No more sinus infections or anything like that. No more colds or flus.  And that’s kind of what my site is and was originally intended to be – a sort of progressive, forward-thinking health information site dedicated to helping people find ways to take their health back into their own hands and stop handing it over to an industry that prides itself on its mediocrity… an industry that calls taking a pill every day to fix a problem a “cure,” when it’s really a “crutch.” 

I’ve seen you mention books such as Intuitive Eating, The Gabriel Method, as well as some of Geneen Roth’s work.  These aren’t books that I typically see mentioned on other nutrition-related websites, however, I have found all of them to be influential on my own thinking about nutrition.  What is it that you got out of these books?

I think the health industry has become way too “sciency,” if you know what I mean.  Humans and our complex social interactions, relationships with eating, modern food environment, upbringing, heredity, etc. are hugely influential.  But the scientific-minded always want to control all the variables and treat eating as if it’s something that takes place in a controlled environment in a lab somewhere.  And nutrition is just one tiny fragment of what influences our health.  I’ve come up with a lot of sayings over the years.  Not everyone will “get” what they mean, but one is, “The perfect diet is very unhealthy.”  Another is, “Feeling guilty about what you eat is more unhealthy than any Krispy Kreme doughnut I’ve ever had.” 

In other words, things are complex.  Not simple.  We are not laboratory animals at all, but something completely different, with complex thoughts, emotions, and so on.  And all of these are known to exert very powerful physiological changes within our bodies – influencing our appetites, what we crave, and our hormonal response to the very food we ingest.  Anyway, I could go off on tangents there for all eternity.  But yes, those books are essential reading.  And those just scratch the surface of the amazing books out there that present something totally outside of the realm of your typical health and nutrition website.  Others might include Robert Pool’s Fat: Fighting the Obesity Epidemic, Gina Kolata’s Rethinking Thin, Paul Campos’s The Obesity Myth, or Linda Bacon’s Health at Every Size… just to name a few.

I know the Intuitive Eating book as well as Geneen Roth’s books focus on the idea that dieting doesn’t work mainly because the more you restrict, the more you will eventually end up binging.  What is your take on this yin and yang idea?

Each person’s relationship with food is different, but this is generally true on both a physical and psychological basis.  On a psychological basis, we know that anything that is scarce becomes radically more appealing.  Sort of the “absence makes the heart grow fonder” effect, but much greater.  I mean, just take a look at the principle of scarcity in terms of how it impacts economics and supply and demand.  The astronomical prices of almost all luxury items are based on the fact that those luxury items are scarce.  It is human nature to want, and to become increasingly fixated, on that which is scarce or forbidden. 

In terms of actual scientific study, one prominent obesity researcher claims to have compiled over 75 studies showing the fattening effects of restraint, aka dieting or restriction, on bodyweight long-term – which seems to be even more pronounced in kids. 

But there is physiological truth to this as well.  Let’s say you take fat out of your diet.  When you do that, your body starts using glucose as fuel at a higher rate and stops burning so much fat for fuel.  And then, when you add fat back into the diet, what happens?  It is far more fattening than it ever was before because your body no longer burns it when you ingest it.  It just goes straight into fat storage at a higher rate until you start burning fat more effectively again.  Plus, metabolism typically falls with macronutrient restriction, whether low-carb, low-fat, low-calorie, vegan, or a combination (even Dr. Atkins knew this). Combine increased cravings for that food with enhanced storage and lower metabolism and you’ve got a good recipe for weight regain.  Even eating a “healthy” diet makes “unhealthy” food more fattening. There’s a lot more going on there biochemically to insure you gain that weight back, but that’s the simple fundamental truth of what happens in reality.

Or take out carbs… Pretty much everyone who tried the Atkins diet got to later realize that carbohydrates became increasingly fattening the longer one avoids eating them (and trigger more blood sugar swings, bloating, cravings, pimples, etc.) – probably because high-fat diets increase the storage of intramuscular fat, which causes muscle insulin resistance, and, for a while until that problem resolves itself, impaired glucose metabolism. 

But yes, Scott Abel sums it up best when he says, “For every diet there is an equal and opposite binge.”  But even without the binge, studies where people adhered to a diet that caused weight loss eventually regained all the weight – even with calories maintained at the exact same level and even while following the exact same diet.  It’s unfortunate no one amongst the general public knows this, but of course I’m greeted by dozens of new people every day on my site who are really upset that the diet they were losing so much weight and feeling so great on eventually stopped working – and reversed itself back in the other direction. 

What’s even scarier is that most studies focus on short-term changes in things like blood chemistry – say, blood glucose, blood pressure, LDL, triglycerides, etc.  And long-term effects are typically the opposite of the short-term changes.  So there are scientific studies showing that “x” makes biomarkers for heart disease better.  But in reality the changes in biomarkers typically follow the same pattern of body weight – down, and then back up to where it started a year later, except slightly worse.  You could end up an obese diabetic following all of the studies that “prove” that such and such diet lowers blood sugar, insulin resistance, and body fat. 

In terms of intuitive eating, it’s also incredibly vital that we are somewhat in tune with our bodies’ biological needs.  There is nothing more fine-tuned in existence.  Take, for example, the sensation of thirst that we experience when we eat something salty, or exercise.  Imagine trying to go by a book or some ratio to regulate this somehow, instead of going by our own biofeedback.  When you think of the massive complexity involved in osmoregulation, the changes that take place to stimulate sensations that trigger our brains to register the familiar feelings of thirst, etc. it boggles the mind.  Our biological needs change on a minute-to-minute basis.  Our “intuition” when it comes to what we do and ingest is one thing humans have never been more removed from.  Do you think our ancestors drank when they weren’t thirsty, ate nothing but leaves when meat was present, felt sleepy and decided to go for a run to perk up?  It’s absolute insanity that modern humans are doing stuff like this today.  And how detrimental this is is completely unknowable.     

Your website seems almost like a place where life-long dieters can go to recover?  It seems to promote the idea of restoring or increasing metabolism in order to improve health or to lose weight instead of starving to lose weight.  Is this accurate?

First of all, it is assumed that starving to lose weight is a viable option.  Statistically-speaking, this strategy is the best known way to gain visceral fat (belly fat) that has ever been discovered.  Paul Campos is correct when he states, “dieting is the single greatest predictor of future weight gain.” 

My latest book is called Diet Recovery: Restoring Hormonal Health, Metabolism, Mood, and Your Relationship with Food.  So yeah, you could definitely call my site a place to recover.  Metabolism is a great indicator of overall health and functionality, so I put the emphasis primarily on that.  With a rise in metabolism you see increased rate of wound healing, increased immunity, mood enhancement, stronger gastric secretions and better digestion, improved glucose metabolism, higher levels of sex hormones for better fertility, menstruation, sex drive, muscle-building, and dozens of other beneficial changes.  Most will become 100% fat proof as well – virtually incapable of gaining another ounce of fat no matter how much they try to eat.  That’s a natural result of truly maximizing your metabolism.

And yes, people sometimes lose weight.  Sometimes it happens right away.  Sometimes it happens over time.  Sometimes it never happens.  But there’s no question my results exceed the less than 5% success rate that has been achieved by the world’s leading obesity researchers.  But my site is about something much bigger than weight loss, which is, if you actually get deep enough into the research, mostly a cosmetic issue unless you are talking about extreme, morbid obesity (for example, Americans over age 65 with a BMI of 30-35, which is classified as ‘stage 1 obesity,’ have the best longevity and morbidity statistics according to the compiled NHANES data).  It’s about quitting the dieting vicious circle and living your life again – focusing on your health and happiness and less on your appearance.  Linda Bacon promotes something similar and sums it up quite well…

“Decades of research – and probably your own personal experience – show that the pursuit of weight loss rarely produces the thin, happy life you dream of.  Dropping the pursuit of weight loss isn’t about giving up, it’s about moving on.  When you make choices because they help you feel better, not because of their presumed effect on your weight, you maintain them over the long run.” 

I notice that you recommend eating more and exercising less.  You also say that a diet for treating obesity should be higher in calories, not lower in calories.  Explain how this approach can lead to weight loss. 

I assume that accumulating excess body fat is a sign of a decreased metabolism – or at least that the body is trying to store and conserve energy.  Sure enough, having a body temperature below 98 degrees F first thing in the morning is common to virtually all very overweight people (but underweight people are often even worse off!).  A recent study on obese dogs came to that conclusion, showing that below-normal rectal temperature was universal amongst obese dogs compared to normal weight dogs. With humans, no researchers have paid much attention to this – an epic fail on their part, as this is a very important piece of the puzzle – potentially the most important piece. 

I think everyone intuitively knows this.  Almost everyone understands that our metabolic rate declines as we age, and that’s when we start to accumulate more body fat.  Most eat whatever they want and maintain great leanness in their youth, only to eat like birds later in life and swell up and feel tired all the time.  That’s the body trying to hoard and conserve energy.  It’s probably a somewhat natural and unavoidable process.  We’ll never see a 73-year old Gold Medalist in Gymnastics, because certain declines are inevitable.  But we can certainly slow down that process, and even reverse it somewhat. 

I recommend eating more and exercising less just to restore metabolism, which, if someone is really dedicated (and open-minded!), shouldn’t take more than a few weeks to achieve.  It is very much a temporary strategy with a very specific goal in mind.  It’s not something to be done forever, just as, say, fasting is not something that can be continued forever but may have some therapeutic use in some circumstances.  It’s not intended to trigger weight loss during that phase, but to reset one’s ability to lose weight once completed.  Having a low metabolism is not a viable place to start when hoping to lose some weight.  When your body temperature is say, 96 degrees F, fat loss is incredibly difficult – and harmful if forced off. 

As metabolism increases, cortisol (sometimes called the belly fat hormone) decreases and thyroid hormone production increases, which, in turn, triggers an increase in testosterone, fat burning enzymes, progesterone, DHEA… all these things are highly beneficial for weight loss long-term.  It also decreases appetite and helps to overcome food addictions, not to mention ends the fattening mentality of restraint and restriction.  This also improves one’s ability to tolerate greater thresholds of exercise, recover more quickly, and get more physical changes out of their exercise/training if they so choose to pursue that. 

You recommend the use of body temperature as a tool for measuring metabolic function.  Sounds like the goal is to increase body temperature, which would represent an increase in metabolic function.  Where did this idea originate and what can people do to raise their body temperature?

This idea originated with Broda Barnes, an endocrinologist who practiced several decades ago and had perhaps the best clinical results of any doctor in history.  His primary focus was raising body temperature.  He did this with desiccated thyroid hormone primarily.  But I knew that this epidemic of low body temperature must have a cause, and a solution that didn’t rely on medication and bowing down to the medical/pharmaceutical industry. 

I figured it must be linked to some change, or changes, in diet and lifestyle in modern times.  We can see this problem getting progressively worse as basically all of our chronic diseases are on the rise – each of which have a clear association with metabolic rate (and is probably why being OLD is the top risk factor for most degenerative diseases).  If it is getting worse, then we must be doing something to cause it to get worse. 

So I looked around for the potential causes – and am always looking and building on that base of knowledge, and for solutions that didn’t involve taking thyroid hormone.  And I’ve certainly made progress.  In fact, it’s doubtful that thyroid hormone supplementation could ever compete with some of the dramatic rises in body temperature that some of my fans have achieved.  A woman I worked with recently has gone from roughly 96F to 99.2F in 3 weeks, and no, that’s not a fever she’s running.

If you want to raise body temperature most effectively, you would eat slightly beyond appetite (110% full, none of that 80% full crap!), particularly within 30 minutes of waking each day and during the first half of the day every time you get hungry, while sleeping and relaxing as much as you possibly can.  For the most rapid improvements, eat a lot of whatever you have been restricting (carbs are best for low-carbers, cream is best for low-fat folks, and steak is best for vegans), a wide variety of foods (buffets are the best), and absolutely whatever it is that you are craving or that sounds good to you.  I wouldn’t do any exercise for the first 2-3 weeks.  Just take those off. 

Once body temperature is up, then you can start to choose more natural and nutritious foods if you like (natural foods have a much lower calorie density than refined foods, which makes them fine to eat when metabolism is high as long as you can keep it there eating that way, but makes it much more difficult to actually move the thermometer up), doing some hard muscular work like weightlifting or interval sprints (not endurance exercise, which is extremely anti-metabolic), and living more of a normal, healthy life. 

Seems like the leaders of the paleo diet movement are quick to remind us that saturated fat in the diet has been unfairly demonized and I agree with this.  But would you say that it is equally ridiculous to demonize carbohydrate?  What is your take on this and low-carb diets in general?

At the very least it is equally ridiculous – in some ways MORE ridiculous.  Low-carb diets have shown to perform just like all other diets – about 6 months of weight loss followed by a plateau at best, weight regain the norm, and a long-term increase in body fat at worst.  The ones that stay on the diet don’t fare very well, and most people don’t stay on the diet and end up binging really hard.  If you want someone to binge really hard and become less healthy and beat themselves up over it, help them to get started on a low-carb diet.  The chances of that happening are far higher than their chances of long-term weight loss success. I don’t see what all the fuss is over.  It seems ridiculous that people are still talking about this.  Macronutrient warfare is a strange and unwinnable game.  Guess what, the cause of obesity isn’t fat, carbohydrates, protein, or even calories.  It’s not even one thing.  We know of dozens of factors in obesity.  And there’s a strong global correlation between high carbohydrate intake by percentage of calorie intake and low rates of obesity.  Tough to blame obesity all on carbohydrate consumption when there are 3 billion living exceptions all over Africa, Asia, and South America.  Lest we forget there are several hundred primate species getting at least 70% of their calories from carbohydrates without obesity problems.       

We recently interviewed Jimmy Moore who I think the world of.  He was very honest and discussed his weight loss with a low carb diet and he also told us that he has recently struggled with weight re-gain.  He is now working with a doctor in an attempt to try to figure out why he is now gaining weight on the same diet.  Do you have a guess as to what is going on here?  Does it come back to the yin and yang of the body that we mentioned earlier?  It does typically seem that the faster people lose weight, the faster they tend to gain it back.

Well, I mean the hormonal reasons are quite clear.  As you lose fat, leptin decreases.  As leptin decreases, basically every energy-regulating system in your body ramps up for fat storage.  Our body does everything in its power to maintain a weight set point – or restore that weight set point if you have lost weight.  Some people get lucky in changing their weight set point.  It has been done before.  But there’s no foolproof blueprint laid out anywhere.  Those that are successful are still an anomaly and baffle the world’s leading obesity researchers and doctors. 

Working with a doctor or not, Jimmy is unlikely to find anything but temporary solutions to his problem.  I was pleased to see that he is thinking of doing some strength training this year – to get strong (not to lose weight).  That is often very effective, especially when you look at your diet as “fuel for exercise performance and recovery” along with that – a common theme amongst the vast majority of successful long-term 100+ pound weight loss cases.  But he will have to face his carbohydrate demons head-on if he hopes to succeed.  I don’t see him getting his metabolism out of the rut it’s in without them.  

It seems to me that the paleo diet folks are basically promoting a diet that is high in natural whole foods.  How could you have a beef with that?  Does it all boil down to the fact that anything with the word “diet” means restriction?

The answer to this question is very complex, and hints at all the various intangibles when it comes to eating.  I could go on for days about epigenetics, the intrauterine environment, how the digestive tract of a human raised on processed food develops (it is often unequipped for later going back to an excess of whole, unrefined foods).  I think what irks me the most is that Paleo represents a big step backward in terms of our understanding of the medical or precise use of nutrition.

Let’s just look at post-workout nutrition.  Hard exercise puts the body into an extremely unfavorable hormonal environment.  Stress hormones are circulating at high levels, and doing great damage, tearing the body apart, attacking the immune system, even damaging DNA similar to how radiation damages DNA.  The goal with post-workout nutrition has always been to shut down these stress hormones as quickly as possible.  That is best performed with the most refined, high-glycemic, rapidly-absorbed carbohydrates on earth… stuff like maltodextrin.  Is that a natural, whole food?  No, it’s supranatural – far better than natural.  And, in that context, is far healthier than eating grassfed lamb and a bowl of cabbage. 

Leading Paleo authors like Loren Cordain understand this.  But essentially you are saying that we shouldn’t eat Paleo, but should eat a modern food in this circumstance because we KNOW that the modern food is superior in that context.  This is a precise and intelligent way to use nutrition.  There are many precise and intelligent ways to use nutrition that have nothing to do with Paleo, or even natural foods.  And what is natural has always been shown to be inferior in some regards. 

Take the cooking of food for example – all creatures will have distinct competitive advantages if they eat cooked foods – with greater development of size and strength and higher fertility rates.  Cooking was one of the major “unnatural” things that humans did, and it was the most important improvement in nutrition we ever discovered.  The cultivation of grains and dairy products was another important improvement to what was “natural.”  Grains and dairy products are what I rely on most to help people raise metabolic rate.  When taken out of the diet many people undereat and ravage their metabolic rate in the process, a common theme on a Paleo diet, especially among lean, young people with higher metabolic needs.

Paleo is just another “food pyramid” that degrades what I envision the future of nutrition to actually be – which is the most important medical tool that an individual can use to conquer health problems on his or her own.  Paleo helps some people in some situations.  In others it causes tremendous harm.  If we cooperated we could probably figure out when to use it, and when to use other strategies.  But I can’t even state the obvious about Paleo’s shortcomings without invoking a defensive reaction from a movement that limits the wide field of nutrition used as a medical tool to fruit, non-starchy vegetables, tubers, and animal products. 

Meanwhile, a 6-year old kid with a life-threatening low platelet condition is dramatically improved in 72 hours with my suggestion to stuff this kid with as much ice cream as is humanly possible.  Knowing what to feed a dying 6-year old to overcome a specific medical disorder is powerful knowledge.  And it had everything to do with knowing how and when to take advantage of the supranatural properties of glorious, refined, white sugar and Neolithic cow’s milk.  The fields of health and nutrition should be inclusive, not exclusive.  Paleo is part of the problem, not the “solution.” 

And yes, of course it is unsustainable and unrealistic for most people and triggers a lot of food issues, fear, guilt, and self-fulfilling prophecy (Eek! If I eat that bagel I will feel inflammation later!).  It is in many ways a dietary prison.  It is simply not necessary to go to such extremes of dietary restriction to achieve magnificent improvements in health.  And as more and more unfolds in the coming decades in terms of nutrition research, Paleo, fittingly, will be looked upon more like a blunt object. 

What is your take on water?  Do we all really need 64oz or ½ of our body weight in fluids or whatever the most recent recommendation for water is? 

I think water overconsumption is one of the biggest mistakes health conscious people are making in the world today.  The original recommendations stemmed for the average person’s need for total fluid intake per day, including the water content of foods (which is very high – especially if you eat boiled food or a decent amount of raw foods).  I can honestly say that drinking too many fluids, especially water, but also things we drink for motivations other than thirst such as warm drinks (to get warm, not to quench thirst), stimulants, alcohol, etc. can totally override an otherwise idyllic health regime. 

People should not be peeing clear.  For those who aren’t particularly healthy to begin with, glucose and electrolyte at the cellular level are scarce enough as it is.  When you take in any fluid that has a lower concentration of glucose and electrolyte than the solution in your cells, glucose and electrolyte travels out of the cell via osmosis, and the diluted extracellular liquid rushes in.  At this point, your cellular energy supply has been totally flooded out.  The result, depending on how poor your metabolism and overall health is, is symptoms like headaches, migraines, seizures, bradycardia (with symptoms like light-headedness, dizziness, blurred vision), fatigue, cold hands and feet, anxiety, heart palpitation or arrhythmia… and I’ve seen even more ailments triggered by this overhydrated state.  This is no secret either.  This is basically the list of symptoms from what is called “Water Intoxication,” or drinking too much water.  Wikipedia that ish.   

The big problem is that one of the primary symptoms of overhydration is DRY MOUTH/THIRST . 

Anyway, that’s another easy thing to change that often brings about radical improvements within a week or two, sometimes less.  This is probably the most remarkable thing I’ve come across since having the big metabolism breakthrough back in 2009.  Go easy on those liquids!!! 

Thanks again Matt!  This has been more than informative and I think our readers/listeners will really enjoy it!  Please keep doing what you are doing.   -Hunter