That's right I said it.  Most anyone reading this is wondering who in the hell is Weston A. Price.  Dr. Price is a dentist from the early 20th century that made a startling discovery about diet and health, but now I am just getting ahead of myself.  He founded the research institute of the National Dental Association, which later became the research section of the American Dental Association, and served as its chair from 1914–1928.  At that point he was just getting started.

By 1930, Price had shifted his interest to nutrition. In 1939, he published Nutrition and Physical Degeneration,   detailing his global travels studying the diets and nutrition of various cultures. The book concludes that aspects of a modern Western diet (particularly flour, sugar, and modern processed vegetable fats) cause nutritional deficiencies that are a cause of many dental issues and health problems. The dental issues he observed include the proper development of the facial structure (to avoid overcrowding of the teeth) in addition to dental caries. This work received mixed reviews, and continues to be cited today by proponents of many different theories, including controversial dentistry and nutritional theories.

I lifted this info straight from wikipedia but it is all correct.  What they fail to tell is that in the 1930's Dr. Price travelled the world to study the teeth and facial structures of transisitioning native populations in a time when travel to these areas was neither easy nor safe.  His observations were startling and the pictures he took show a complete degeneration of not just dental health but overall health in one generation. He has pictures of primitive people with perfect bone structure and teeth.  People that have never seen a dentist or needed any kind of orthodontics done to prevent tooth crowding.  As I read this I think how is this flipping possible.  In this day and age dental and orthodontic interventions are required.  How can people who have no medical professionals survive?  

It came down to a clear and total change in diet for these people.  Once a western diet was introduced heavy on white flour, lots of sugar, and processed oils not only did it cause rampant dental caries but also kept palate and middle third of the face to develop correctly causing tooth crowding and an inability to breathe through pinched nostrils.  It also caused immuno deficiencies which allowed tuberculosis to run rampant through the transistioning population.  Meanwhile the people who never gave up the native foods healthy teeth, wide nostrils, and little to no disease.

I didn't want to read this book much less like it.  The free ebook is linked above.  I looked through the pictures there and as I got deeper and deeper into I could barely believe what I was seeing.  I had to read the whole thing and I did in only 2 days.  Dr. Price consistantly found primitive populations on a western diet to have 30% - 50% of their teeth ravaged with dental caries.  Meanwhile he would find the primitive people on a native diet to have 0.1% of their teeth with any kind of dental carie.  How is that possible?  Well Dr. Price researched all the diets of the people he studied and commited himself to finding the answer.

He found the biggest difference between the two groups was the native populations had a diet with animal products that were rich in nutrients and vitamins.  Items like raw milk and butter from grass fed animals, organ meats, and fish oils.  These foods have 3 common vitamins that are very rich and balanced.  They are Vitamins A, D, and one that Dr. Price couldn't identify that he called Activator X.  He studied this Activator X because it was the Vitamin that made the use of A and D possible.  He would have 20,000 samples of milk and butter sent to his lab a week so he could chart the concentration of Activator X with the seasons.  He knew that cattle fed young fast growing grass produced more Activator X then ones who were on older hay or other feed.  

Nobody figured out what Activator X was until 2006.  For a full 60 years Dr. Price's work has been ignored because noone knew what it was.  Finally it was discovered that this magic Vitamin was K2.  This is the substance coupled with natural Vitamin A and D that keeps people healthy and allows them to properly develop. 

For the past 6 months I have been taking Fermented Cod Liver Oil (FCLO) and High Vitamin Butter Oil (HVBO).  These products contain large amounts of naturally occurring Vitamin A, D, and K2.  I am usually pretty skeptical of supplements because I have taken and logged so many that have had zero results.  FCLO and HVBO are different and the difference I have seen is in my teeth.  For as far as I can remember I have had problems with dental plaque.  Every 6 months I have had a dentist scrape it off with metal hooks and barbs.  Do I have to say it was never a pleasant experience.  My teeth at this point and time have less plaque on them then I have ever seen in my entire life.  My next dental appointment is approaching soon and I can't wait to go and see the results.  I think they will be stellar.

To be honest if you could maintain a diet of foods from natural sources odds are you would not need to supplement.  It is almosty a weekly occurrance that I eat grass fed beef organ meats and I have also purchased Kerrygold butter that comes from grass fed cows.  The butter is $7.50/ lb and they carry it at both Sam's and Costco.  Pricey I know but damn it I am worth it.  I can't count on getting a good steady source of these products so supplementing is an easy way to guarantee that I get these nutrients.  I use products from Green Pasture products as they are the only place that I have found that carries both FCLO and HVBO.  Once again pricey but with the results I have seen it has been well worth the cost.

Recently I have been searching for logical rebuttals of Weston A. Price's work and of the Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF) but have found little that was not Vegan zealots talking about the dangers of heart disease and the abhorrent use of animal products.  If anyone has anything worthy of reading that opposes this information please let me know.  Well cited papers would be great and not incessant ramblings of dietary cults. 

If Weston A. Price were still alive today I would definitely buy him a beer.

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I just got the call that my half of a grass fed cow is waiting for me in my Dad's freezer.  As exciting as that might be the part that really got me going was that I got double organ meats.  That has got to be the score of the century as I have missed my precious organ meats. 

My last order of grass fed beef was a half side that I split with my Dad and all I got was the liver and heart.  This time though I think I got everything that Missouri Grass Fed Beef offers.  That includes not only the hearty and liver but the toungue and oxtail too.  Toungue I have had before but have never had the opportunity to prepare myself but oxtail is a whole new adventure that I am looking forward to experimenting upon. 

It has been 3 months since I have run out of grass fed beef so getting a half makes me feel like a kid in a candy store.  There is a whole different flavor and richness to grass fed beef that regular store bought corn fed beef lacks.  I am excited to have 2 hearts to try some different cooking methods.  Last time I used the crock pot and it turned out great but heart is extremely rich and has a lot of fat that seems to coat everything it touches which my wife reminds me that she does not appreciate. 

Hopefully in the coming months I will sharing my attempts at grilling beef heart and seeing what I can do with toungue.  There is nothing more rewarding then trying new foods.  My skills at cooking meat have progressed in the past 2 years that I hate to order a steak when I go out because the flavor just isn't the same.  There is nothing that makes me happier then a well prepared piece of meat.

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I got home from the gym today and knew I needed a good robust recovery meal.  I am only working out once a week so every little bit counts. 

The three main ingredients I wanted were protein, good healthy carbs, and plenty of veggies.  Looking in my fridge I started with a small onion, mushrooms, and red, yellow, and orange bell peppers.  I diced those up and threw them in a pan to sautee in a half a stick of butter. 

On the protein I was thinking of going with eggs but that is my usual go to when I got sauteed veggies so I decided to go with some chicken breast.  I sliced it up and that went in the pan next.  To season I added a couple pinches of house salt, some pepper, and a couple teaspoons of chili sauce for some heat. 

The only thing missing now was a good dose of healthy carbs.  I find this the most difficult part of my diet and routinel struggle to get any more then 100g of carbs on a day to day basis.  I like to hit that number because any less leaves me feeling drained.  The only thing left in my fridge was about a cup of quinoa that I cooked up.  I have never tried it in a sautee but I figured what the heck what is the worst that could happen.  In it went and it cooked good.  No issues and no problems with the quinoa.  At this point I just like to say quinoa and it is a term of endearment at our house at this point. 

This is the mixture I ended up with.

It might not look very appetizing but it was delicious and I polished it all off.  It had all the vitmains and minerals that a growing boy needs.  My hats off to the quinoa it is an awesome semi grain.

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It has been over 3 years since I started my journey to better health.  That is what I call losing 100lbs and uncovering my abs for the first time in my life.  The motivation to losing all that weight was not better but looking better naked.  It has been a long ride and I have had many different trials to get to this point but it has all been worth it.  At this point in my life I look the best I ever have in 36 years on this planet.  Hard to believe but before now no matter what I did I was always a bit soft and cuddely.

It was a long journey and it still isn't over.  The most important thing I have learned is that the human body will take it's own sweet time no matter what kind of stress you place on it.  If you want to shed fat you have to eat good whole foods and get up off your butt.  In that light you have to eat at a calorie deficit a majority of the time.  See shedding fat is about diet and building muscle is about exercise.  So if you are exercising to shed fat it is time to reevaluate your plane of attack.  Abs are made in the kitchen and that is an improtant lesson it has taken me a long time to figure out.

This takes me back to the patience part of the whole equation.  Never in my life 3 years ago did I imagine I would be sitting here at a computer blogging about weight loss and better health.  I am finally at a place where I feel and more importantly look good.  If you are 100lbs or more overweight then it will take time to naturally undo all those evil things you have done to your body.  The returns will be like the stock market too.  You will see great returns one month and then the next 3-4 months will be lackluster and then the next month boom the weight drops off again.  There are so many variables I was constantly figuring them out. 

At this point I have been locked at 185lbs and have recently bumped up to 190lbs.  Now I am using size rather then weight as a measure.  All my clothes still fit and I believe that I am adding lean mass as opposed to adipose tissue.  I have no fear and in fact am hoping to hit 200lbs using my new exercise routine and diet.  Once again though it takes patience and I am giving this new program 12-15 weeks to see the results.  So far I feel great and I can tell I am getting stronger but only time will tell and patience is the key.

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I know it has been awhile since I have posted here but new baby plus new job equal a very busy me.  Along with neglecting my blog I have also been slacking in the exercise department.  Partly due to a lack of time and mostly due to a lack of motivation.  For the past 3 years I have been religiously exercising in some way shape or form.  I have gone from 12 hours a week to 2 hours or less and I am still burned out.  For the last 5 months I have gone to pretty much zero.  Luckily my excellent diet has kept me from gaining any weight. 

So where does this put me in the less is more?  In the same vein when I was looking for a new way to eat 3 years ago I went looking for a new way to work out.  I looked and researched and scoured the internet for every different method I could find.  I was really wanting to start lifting as I have dropped an enourmous amount of fat but have never worked to increase muscle.  I pondered free weights but that takes a commitment of 3 times per week and it really helps to have people to lift with.  I hmm'd and haw'd over Starting Strength and read copious amounts of info over at T-nation.  It was all stuff I had done before in high school and college and I knew I didn't want to pay to join a gym just to lift.

Finally to answer the question of where I ended up.  I did join a gym but it is Planet Fitness and it costs me $10/ month.  There really is no way to beat that rate even though I abhor their slogan "Judgement Free Zone".  Evidently that translates to "Lets put everyone on hamster wheels" as the place is domionated by cardio equipment as far as the eye can see.  What they do have is weight machines that get very little use.  Five weeks ago I started the Body By Science program which promises a Mr. Universe body in 12 minutes a week.  That is what you might think they are proposing by reading meathead commentary around the web.

What Doug McGuff and John Little are proposing in Body By Science is an optimized workout.  It is functionally super slow movement high intensity training.  By engaging and exhausting all your muscle fibers in series you get a more complete workout.  Essentially you do 5 core exercises.  Two pulling, two pushing, and leg press.  All should be done as slow as possible and reps don't matter but time under load does.  All exercises should take from 60-90 seconds optimally and going over is ok but no more then 2.5 minutes on any exercise.  In that time you should go to failure.  It is tough and it sucks mentally sometimes but the results are great.

Being only 5 weeks in all I can say is that it works extremely well.  I can see way more muscle definition and size and I have gained 7lbs with no change how my clothes fit.  I plan on following this protocol for at least 12 weeks and possibly out to 15 weeks.  

Being the extreme overdriven person I am I keep going back to the gains I could possibly get if I just worked out one or two times more per week.    I have realized that I have no desire to excel at my exercise.  I am simply wanting to get stronger and gain a little definition.  Just watch the Crossfit games and get bored to tears watching people compete with each other in exercises.  You might as well have a stadium of people watch the treadmill olympics.  I want to get better at Soccer and drop my 5k time.  So in my free time I can now practice soccer and do a few sprints to get better at those things. 

This is just another experiment in my endless n=1 life study.  So far the experiment is going vry well.  In fact so well my wife has bought into it and is going to the gym with me.  You could have knocked me over with a feather when she asked to go with me as I don't think she has ever seen the inside of a gym.  I am very interested to see her results in the upcoming weeks as she is a completely untrained individual and I think she will flourish on the Body By Science program. 

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After reading Richard Nikoley's post today on Freetheanimal.com it occurred to me what the Primal/Paleo lifestyle is really all about.  It has evolved over the past few years since I have started from a fear and loathing of carbs, to a Very Low Carb attitude, to where it is now.  That position is the elimination of processed foods and a total embrace of whole healthy foods. 

The post from Freetheanimal.com led me to Archevore.com where I saw that Kurt Harris had started posting again.  As far scientific technicals go on diet Kurt is a monster and his blogs are very well thought out.  He was absent for quite awhile and I stopped checking on his blog but it seems he is back in action again and that is a benefit to the Paleo community.  His latest post that Richard Nikoley cross posted and which I am going to further cross post here,  does a great job of explaining why no macronutrient should be demonized.  Macronutrients are not the enemy, processed frankenfoods are the enemy. 

Humans are opportunists and will grab nutrition from wherever they can best get it.  Plants provide lots of nutrition but not all the things that humans need to thrive.  Ruminants are able to take the plants and store their nutrition but also turn some of it into things humans can't produce themselves like B12.  We take advantage of the cute furry animals but unfortunately it is in our DNA.  Out bodies were made to use vitamins and minerals in tandem and absorb all that goodness from the things we eat.  You can force it in through supplementation but supplementation is just that, a supplement to an already healthy diet. 

Fear anyone that tells you that one certain macronutrient is bad for you.  They are all good in their own way.  Each person has to find what works best for them and what they feel most comfortable with eating.  Minimizing stress about your diet is also a great way to lose weight.  To put it simply always be conscious of what you are putting in your mouth.

In the meantime I have started working out again.  After four plus months of stuffing my face with all manner of crap that I say not to eat above, drinking to much alcohol, and moving as little as possible it would seem that I have gained between 3-5lbs.  So I have started back on my bodyweight regimen and have added in a sandbag session with my 100lb duffle, and a HIIT session that I call death by burpees.  Through this and a marked reduction in alcohol and crap consumption I figure I should be back in fighting shape by the new year. 

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About a year ago I did a 6 month experiment with supplements.  I won't go into detail with the results but after a rollercoaster in mood and comfort I scrapped the whole deal.  I tried all kinds of combination and quantities with no positive results.  There are lots and lots of supplements being pushed out there but 99% of them are no better then what a healthy diet can provide.  The biggest diet contributer of vitamins and minerals is the tasty organ meats. 

I have grown very fond of organ meats in the past year and look forward to them whenever I can get my hands on them.  So far I have had heart and liver.  I am looking forward to getting my hands on some tongue and maybe kidneys.  They are the tastiest part and I can see how my ancestors when given the choice would have eaten those parts first.  It may not be pretty but organs are delicious and nutritious.

Back to supplements.  Currently I only supplement with Vitamin D3 at 5,000IU a day.  My last test came back at a vit D level of 68.  I am a firm believer that D3 boosts immune function.  It answers the question why flu season is only during the winter.  That is when vitamin D levels are at their lowest.  Since I have been supplementing with D3 I find that I haven't caught a cold in 3 years.  Not the best scientific evidence but it works for me.  

In my latest readings I have found that K2 and A work in conjunction with D for good bone health and keeping calcium from building up in your arteries.  Since I have started eating more organ meats which are stupid with K2 and A I have found that my dental plaque has been reduced.  I was having a huge issue with build up before I started consuming organ meats and now it has been greatly reduced to where it is almost nonexistant.  The only change in my diet has been the addition of organ meats. 

Today I ordered 2 supplements that will provide both K2 and A.  They are Butter Oil for K2 and Cod Liver Oil for A.  I plan on taking these for 3 months and watching to see if there are any issues in physical or emotional health.  These supplements are pricey but if they do anything they are worth more then all the money I have thrown down the drain on the multivitamins and supplements I have bought at the local grocery store. 

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I don't know how it happened but all my momentum has been used up.  There ain't no mo mojo to go around.  I have been trying to dig out of this funk for the past week to no avail.  I know that I got out of my routine when I started looking for a new job and then my daughter was born 2 months ago and then I started a new job 2 weeks ago.  Somewhere in that mess I lost my way.

I have been able to get back to eating right.  For awhile there I was pigging out on all the wrong things and I was totally surprised when I got the sniffles for the first time in 3 years.  I was blowing my nose and my wife looked at me like I had grown another head.  I knew that I had to get back to meat and veggies for awhile and I have been back at it for a little over a week and I feel much better.  That just leaves me hoping that the exercise fairy will stop by sometime soon. 

I haven't done a proper workout in at least 3 months.  I tweaked my shoulder a while back doing one arm assisted pull ups and it really slowed me down.  I have been looking for something to jump start me again and have even considered paying the insane prices for crossfit.  The frugal minimalist just can't see shelling out $100 a month in order to be inspired.  I think this weekend I will do an intense sandbag workout with my favorite duffel bag.  I might need to get some new bodyweight routines to get me back in the swing of things.  All I know is that winter is coming and if I don't get up off my butt winter will quickly demotivate me to try. 

A win is a win and I do have to pat myself on the back for finally figuring out how to make the perfect gourmet burger.  Currently I am mixing 2lbs ground grass fed beef with 2lbs ground venison and then adding 3 eggs, 4tbsp gourmet burger seasoning, and 2tbsp house salt,  The secret is to take the beef and roll it into a ball then lightly press it flat.  These are the tastiest most perfectly shaped burgers I have ever had and I kick myself for not paying attention to the proper burger making methods before now.  It makes me think about opening my own burger joint they are so awesome.

Enough playing poor little me for now.  I have a great family, a great house, a job that pays better with less stress, and no debt (except mortgage, who am I really kidding).  This winter I think I am going to work on getting rid of some more of my crap and get things better organized.  If I keep reminding myself that my life is pretty darn good I think I won't have a problem finding my mojo again.  Maybe I can find the time to fill this space with some more of my random thoughts.   

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I have definitely not gotten back to work as I promised in my last post.  I have been mired in la-la land for the post 2 months after the birth of my new daughter and starting a new job that is completely different from my last job.  I have gotten back on course in the past couple weeks by drinking far less beer and eating way more vegetables.  Even so I have been out of sorts and somehow a little off in trying to get back into the rythem of every day life.

I decided to change things up and go to the library and walk the stacks to find something new and interesting to stimulate my brain and get me inspired.  I found a book on the California Gold Rush, and another about a guy that spent a year with no money, that has got to have mucho inspiration in there.  Then I find a book with the title "Assholes Finish First".  My interest is peaked.  I picked it up and flipped through and instantly started laughing out loud.  This could be what I am looking for. 

I took it home and dove into it that night reading for four hours straight and laughing my ass off.  I couldn't help but relate to the author Tucker Max.  If you don't know who that is just google him and you will get more then you bargained for.  I was drawn in to the humor of his drunken escapades but could relate to his references and vernacular.  Except for the wanton fornication we are cut from the same cloth.  It didn't surprise me to read that he is 3 months older then me. 

If you can find your way to look past the vulgarity and disrespect for women, well I am sure Tucker wouldn't say woman but a disrespect for women that don't respect themselves, he is a guy that embraces new experiences with no fear.  It is an attitude that I can respect and search for in myself every day.  I haven't been living life to the fullest lately and that needs to change.

I have found myself judging people way to quickly of late.  Especially in this new job.  Then it dawned on me that I was projecting my own principles and ideals on others and that is far from fair.  People are who they are and that is what makes life interesting and worth experiencing.  It is those oddball personalities that make for an interesting life that is worth living.  When I started reading the book I never thought I would find inpiration there for my own life.  Now I need to find his first book as what I read was a sequel and I was a little lost. 

If you are feeling stuck or lost and in a rut then cast your net wide.  You never know what you might find that could inspire your own life.  Inspiration can come from the strangest of places. 

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I have taken myself out of the blogosphere for the past couple months after the birth of my second daughter. This has been for mainly two reasons. The first is that I have fallen completely off the wagon. This has been due to the disruption due to the birth of my daughter but I have also been looking for a new job which I have landed. The second is that I have been completely freaked out by the following my blog has gotten. I know that a few hundred people reading my blog is not a big deal in the grander scheme of things but the things I believe are fairly far off the reservation.

I am back now. I have gotten back on the Paleo wagon and I am making the effort to get back into the scene. I am starting a new job in another week and I am hoping to get back into my routine. It has been at least 2 months since I have last even exerted myself the least little bit. The good news is that the past week I haven't been able to eat lunch at work so it has been one meal a day for me. It turns out that when I turned in my 2 weeks I decided to tell my VP the reason I was quitting was due to a peer so he took it upon himself to tell my peer what I thought of him. It has made the past week more stressful then I had hoped for but totally validates all my thoughts on my current company.

I have found this inordinate amount of stress has caused me to get the sniffles for the first time in 3 years. Well that and sleep deprivation and the excessive amounts of alcohol I have been drinking for the past couple weeks. For all these reasons I have been dodging all my favorite paleo/primal websites. I am coming back now and plan to get back in the mix. So lets get back to it.

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It has been awhile since I have put anything up here and I guess I have been less then diligent with my communication in the past few weeks.  As it happens I am a proud papa for the second time.  My wife gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on 9/4 at 2:03 AM.  Her name is Bridget Calista and she is a beautiful healthy baby girl.  She did hang out in the NICU for a few days but that is a whole other irritating story for me to add to my agitation with the american medical community.  Needless to say she was pumped full of antibiotics and her blood constantly tested for an ailment that is commonly understood by midwives but not classically trained physicians.  Anyway we are all home now and getting into the rythem of things.

My wife did have an unusually quick labor and delivery compared to our first child.  We hit the hospital at 1:14AM and the kid popped out less then an hour later.  You may be telling yourself that these idiots waited too long before deciding to get to the hospital.  Therein lies the problem as my wife started having contractions at around 11 PM.  We tracked them for the next hour and they quickly gained speed.  Our first daughter had a false labor the night before and then took a full 12+ hours to deliver after my wife went to the hospital the next morning.  It was a completely different experience this time.  The nurses barely had time to put an IV in my wife much less put in an epidural.  My wife is still pissed about the lack of drugs in this delivery.  Unfortunately she enjoys laying around for 12 hours waiting for our kid to pop out. 

So we have another wonderful addition to our family and my elder daughter is still adjusting.  I did not imagine that the acting out would be as extreme as it has been.  She just tunes us out and keeps on doing whatever mischievious thing she has decided to do.  It has resulted in many, many conversations and I think from her responses that she is starting to catch on to what is happening.  She is pretty sharp and I can see the wheels turning. 

I have been off and on with the primal/paleo living.  More off then on  but I know that as I get back into the swing of things I will get much closer to where I want to be.  These past few weeks have been wonderful as my wife and I have been working for the past few years towards having a second kid.  It has been a long hard road and even though her pregnancy has been relatively easy the time, effort, and emotion it took to get here has been plenty for both of us.  So this will be our last attempt at procreation and in the next few months I will be taking the bullets out of the gun.  I am sure that will predicate a whole other series og blog posts.

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That's right I experiment on my 4 year old daughter.  Call me a bad parent, call me heartless, call me Wilhelm Rontgen.  When I see my daughter exhibiting different behaviors I always ask her leading questions about her day.  Today just happens to be a parrticularly interesting observation.  To give everyone a little information on me and my daughter I need to say that I am not strict about diet with her.  I know what is best for her but ultimately I am not going to stress her out about consuming sugars and grains at this point in her life.  That will come later during the more formative years.  I don't worry because she is slim for her age yet a head taller then all the other kids.  Nowhere near the lovable pudginess that I knew.

Moving on to the meat of this blog.  We decided to go to the fine restaurant called the Red Lobster tonight firstly because my daughter loves said restaurant due to the fact that she gets to pet lobsters there and secondly because we got a $25 gift card to the Red Lobster from a friend which is a whole other story in itself.  We arrived promptly at 5pm to the Red Lobster.  Why so early you ask??  Well it wouls seem in the metropolis of Davenport if you arrive at either Red Lobster or the Olive Garden at any time after 6pm then you will have at the very minimum a 1.5 hour wait for a table.  Hence why we arrived so early but I am gettting away once again from the reason for this posting.

We were seated in a booth and my beautiful was sitting next to me.  Well kind of seated.  She was kneeling and then slumped and then her chin was on the table, and then she was squatting and bouncing.  She kept fidgeting and moving.  She colored for all of 2 minutes and they had a new coloring sheet that I knew she hadn't seen before so I was surprised when she moved on so quickly.  Our salads came and she ate hers while moving around and waving at the people in the booth behind us.  I knew something was out of the ordinary becasue for the most part you can engage her and have a discussion and her attention will last more then 30 seconds on tasks.  The salad dishes were taken away and it seemed like a long wait for the entrees.  I noticed once again that my daughter was all over the place.  I asked her what she had for snack at school today.  It turns out it was rice krispy treats with a side of fruit juice.  My wife rolled her eyes as one or the other is usually served but usually not together. 

It seems nitpicky but that is all it takes to put my daughter into hyperdrive.  The behavior went on all evening and I was not surprised.  Maybe I am silly not to demand that she not be served grains and sugars when she is at school.  I am not sure but I can pinpoint the days when she has had a large dose of the aformentioned foods.  It simply points to the fact that diet drives everyone whether we realize it or not.  It drives every part of our behavior.  Once you stop eating the crap you change in all ways including mentally.  You become mindful of others and there is a clarity that I know that I have never had before.  I learn all this because my daughter had juice and rice krispy treats today. 

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People always look shocked when I say this.  I firmly believe that health and weight loss is 80% diet, 10% exercise, and 10% genetics.  The reason that I believe this is that everything I have ever done to improve my health or lose weight have pointed me in this direction.  Once anyone puts the right foods in their bodies your genes will turn on and go to work for you instead of against you.  Sure you can survive on all the crap that is boxed and bagged in the grocery store.  Who wants to just survive when you can thrive.  All it takes is putting the right foods in your body.  Simple whole foods.  Meat, veggies, fruits, nuts, and seed.  In that order.  It is that simple.

On the other end of the spectrum avoid grains, sugars, legumes, and processed oils.  These are the things that will damage anyones body and keep it from reaching its natural potential.  I have been a victim of the belief that I was beholden to bad genes.  I was pudgy since I was a baby and well into my prime years.  Now I know those years were wasted believeing a false ideology.  Stop eating the processed crap and your body will change all on its own.  If you have been abusing it for decades then it will not happen over night but it will happen.  My body is still slowly changing year after year and I still wonder when it will reach some kind of equilibrium.  It keeps changing not because I am going through any kind of exercise routine or intensely pumping iron every day but because I do my best to eat the right foods.

I feel blessed every day that I have made this change.  I get to see it in my daughter who would not be the little giant if we had kept eating the junk that I ate when I was a kid.  I know that she will never have to go through being the fat kid.  She might have to be the tallest most athletic girl in her class but that is not a difficult cross to bear.  She won't have to be concerned with her body and trying to keep it trim and fit.  Most importantly we will all live long high quality lives.  That is all because of diet.  We all share 99% and more of our genes so there is no reason we shouldn't all thrive.  Those genes are turned on and off by the things that we put in our bodies.  That is why it is so important that we put the right things in our bodies. 

The human organism is a complex organism that can survive in any climate and most any conditions.  It can survive off most any food and extreme temperatures.  I challenge everyone to do more then just survive.  I challenge everyone to thrive. 

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That's right yours truly will be featured on freetheanimal.com on Monday 8/29.  I cut the video interview tonight with Richard Nikoley.  He is a great guy and easy to talk to.  This is a new format and he has already featured Timothy Zork in a great video interview.  I saw this interview and at the end Richard requested others to send in their stories so that he could feature people with real results from a Paleo lifestyle.  I jumped right on it and said that I wanted to be next. 

I have found that results stories are one of the biggest generators of traffic for paleo/primal websites.  My blog entry with the most hits was the one I did on my MIL after she went through Primal Boot Camp at my house.  Everyone wants to read a success story.  I think it motivates people that they are on the right track.  I always want people to at least try and change.  My preaching has since slowed down since the beginning and I just wait for people to come to me and ask how this whole Paleo thing works.  I get a little nuts because I want everyone to be healthy and to step away from all the crap that has destroyed their bodies. 

For me this is just another avenue to get my story out there and try to get people to change their ways.  Richard is a great guy and I believe has similar motives as myself.  I love his blog and his no nonsense approach to things.  Basically there is no one right way to do things and everyone has to find their own way and what works in their own n=1 experiment.  It is all about what is sustainable to live a healthy life.  So everyone tune in to Free the Animal on Monday and see my amazing story from Richard's point of view.

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I talk to people all the time about my diet and how I eat.  I go over the basics of getting away from the Neolithic Agents of Disease and to eat only good whole healthy foods.  Eat meat, veggies, fruit, nuts, and seeds is what I lead with and then I reiterate the same premise over and over again.  Then I go into my tirade and the horros of processed foods and oils, preaching the evils of all frankenfoods and how they are turning our society into obese zombies.  It all ends with a sermon on the mound about the conspiracy between the U.S. government and the big four food companies, because when it all comes down to it oil doesn't run the world it is food.

Not really but I come close.  I try to keep things as low key as possible and preach good health.  With good health then healthy weight will easily follow.  Then I discuss all the wonderful foods that I eat and the crazy things that I have tried.  Discussion quickly goes to my crazy food experiments and all the incredible food discoveries I have made.  Everyone has to stop acting like little kids and pretending they know what they do and don't like.  For instance this weekend I was at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse and ordered the Pecan Crusted Sweet Potatoes and everyone cringed and told me I was on my own with those.  They came out and smelled delicious and the first bite melted in my mouth.  They were delicious, not quite paleo due to the excess sugar in them, but everyone at the table saw my delight and had to try them.  At the end of the meal two side dishes of sweet potatoes had been devoured.

Everyone has to keep trying new things.  Stop being a child and open up your mind to the idea that you might like something new and different.  I have found so many new things that I was positive would be awful and I have fallen in love with them.  Which leads me to the comment that I hear most often when I get to the climax of my sermons.  Just tell me what to eat.  Unfortunately it is never that easy.  Paleo is an n=1 experiment.  Everyone has to try a million different things and then a million more.  It is all new and different and you can never stop experimenting with all the new and different combinations of meat, veggies, fruits, nuts, and seeds.  It is easy to think that there is a limited number of different foods to eat in those 5 groups, but if you look hard enough you will find that the possibilities are limitless.  I have been going at this for 2 years and I am still finding new and delicious foods every day. 

As soon as you open yourself up to new things and new experiences then good things will happen.  It is all about changing your expectation of outcomes and perceiving the world in a different way.  So go forth in this great big world and find out what you like to eat that is nutricious whole food.  You will surprise yourself with all the wonderful flavors that you have been missing.

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This seems to be one of the central topics of discussion at AHS2011.  Several people far more intelligent then presented their take on the mechanisms in the human body that push us into obesity.  After the symposium there has been fervent discussion and banter about the presented information.  I am talking tit for tat between the big guns and most pointedly between Gary Taubes and Stephan Guynet.  Of course Taubes is familiar from Good Calories, Bad Calories and a staunch defender of carbohydrates being a large reason for the obesity epidemic in America.  Guynet from Whole Health Source takes the other side of the equation.

I have spent hours reading and attempting even develop a grasp of all this information.  The conclusion that I come to is that nobody truly understands why people get fat and then have trouble shedding that fat.  I think a lot of biochemistry has been studied and the bottom line still can not be nailed down conclusively.  I think that this is a key point in this whole mess.  Unfortunately trying to nail down one mechanism as a cause of obesity in the highly adaptive organism that is the homo sapien is like trying to nail jello to the wall. 

What it comes down to is self experimentation or n=1 experiments.  You can take all these theories and biochemistry and mechanisms of the human body and form experiments on yourself.  This is in no way a simple thing to do and patience is a large part of being successful.  I have gone through these steps myself over and over again.  When something stops working then I have to dig into whatever I am doing and evaluate how I am doing it. 

In the beginning of my journey calories in/ calories out worked extremely well.  It was very good for shedding the huge amounts of adipose tissue (everyone else calls fat) and gain a bit of muscle.  After a year of intense activity and large amounts of calorie restriction all progress stopped for me.  I am talking like one day I was losing weight and then the next day I stopped.  It was disheartening and I could have given up at that point but I knew there had to be an easier way.  I found paleo which made sense and saw that I had reached a point in my development where 12 hours a week of cardio was essentially breaking me down past the point of recovery. 

At that point I changed course and once again my body started changing its shape and size.  I lost another 40lbs in a short time and have since stopped losing weight but have continued to shed inches.  Looking back I realize that I was expecting too much too fast.  After 30 some years of abuse I expected to reverse that in a few months.  It just doesn't work that way.  It takes time for your body to reverse the course it has been on for year after year.  Your body has to change the adaptions it has made in order to survive.  The human body is crazy that way, it will sacrifice parts of itself in order to survive.  When you change course it takes your body a little while to adapt to those changes and get out of its defensive mode.

For what it is worth I have no idea why we get fat.  I understand some of the mechanisms and a little of the biochemistry but ultimately that is for the guys in white lab coats to figure out.  I do know what works for getting healthy and reversing the results of getting fat.  I think that point is far more important then trying to find the magic bullet for obesity.  It is a self fulfilling prophecy that when one generation gets healthy and fit then the next will and the next after that.  At this point in time that is the target we should be aiming for.  I apologize but I have no idea why we get fat but I do know why we get healthy.  There are a thousand reasons for coming back from the brink you just have to find yours.

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This will be the end of my series on organ meats as the only cuts I got this go arouns was the liver and the heart.  I had no fear of the liver because it had always been a childhood delight.  It was a delicacy in my house and we always looked forward to a dinner of liver and onions.  Now beef heart was something new to me and I was a little trepidatious about trying this new organ meat.  It was larger then I thought it would be and had much more fat on it then I thought it would have.  So I tossed it in my crock pot.

In with the heart went a bottle of beer, 8 oz cut and cleaned mushrooms, 1lb of baby carrots, and 1 yellow onion sliced.  Then I filled till covered with water.  I added some seasoned salt, cracked pepper, and just a dash of red pepper flakes.  So far so good and my only problem is that the heart started to float about halfway through cooking displacing all my veggies.  I quickly poked a few holes in it to let the air out and all was well.  I let it cook over night.

Like I said I wasn't real excited to try this because I had never had it before and I was far from sure of what to expect.  So I cut of a piece of the bottom of the heart and dished up some of the veggies into a large bowl.  Needless to say it smelled amazing so I was starting to loosen up about the whole idea.  I dug into the veggies first and then bravely cut off a piece of heart and dove into it.  I must say it was very rich and had a texture not unlike liver but definitely smoother.  I must say that it was incredibly delicious and I am looking forward to the leftovers, that I have in the fridge, for tomorrow. 

If you have the chance to get a beef heart then do it.  You won't regret it.  It is a wonderful meat and easy to cook.  It is a bit intimidating if you are a first timer but in the end it makes a wonderful meal and is extremely cheap too. 

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I have been slowly but surely pouring over all the presentations from the Ancestral Health Symposium 2011.  There is just so much information to digest that it has been tough to keep it all straight.  So many Paleo heavyweights at one event is overwhelming.  This presentation by Robert Lustig is simply incredible though and links insulin and leptin together and explains how they cause obesity.  The video is here.

In the first 15 minutes his video is about fructose and it's evolutionary link to obesity.  He clearly explains why the mechanism exists for fructose to basically circumvent the bodies ability to use energy and not store it in concert with stopping the brains signals for satiation.  This is a clear explanation for why fructose is in everything.  Lustig mentions over and over that this is merely a theory and has not been proven but the point is made when he talks about gatorade and its origins and where it is now.  The original gatorade was a mechanism to rehydrate while using glucagen to replace depleted glycogen stores and pushing sodium back into the body.  Lustig then asks if anyone has ever tasted the original Gatorade.  I had so when he says it tasted like Tiger piss I was in complete agreement.  Pepsi bought the right to Gatorade and in order to make it palatable to people outside of sports they put HFCS into it.  This is ok for a glycogen depleted athlete but is horrible for anyone else on a daily basis. 

Once he completes his speech about Fructose he goes on to explain the link between insulin and leptin.  He has done tons of work in this area dealing with child obesity.  His explanation is very clear and he has seen in his studies that when somone becomes leptin sensitive again their carbohydrate intake goes down.  He goes into some very complicated biochemistry that I can only pretend to understand and comes out the other side pointing clearly at a diet that is higher in fat and protein and lower in carbs.  Once people are able to become insulin sensitive again leptin sensitivity follows giving a person a sense of satiety when they eat and obese people will use energy rather then store it allowing them to easily lose weight. 

This is a man who has seen through the looking glass and from his observations has seen these mechanisms at work.  His only problem is he does not have unequivocal proof.  Which brings me back to the fact that he repeats over and over again that this is only a theory.  But oh what a theory it is.

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If you noticed a void in the Paleo/Primal blogosphere over August 5&6 it was because everyone who is anyone in the great world of Paleo health was at UCLA to either witness, present, or volunteer at this incredible event.  Not to worry yours truly was dutifully at his keyboard while all this happened.  Luckily Richard Nikoley attended and presented at this event and gave it some amazing coverage on his blog Freetheanimal.com.  He also put together a huge summary of coverage of the event from other blogs in a blog post here.  Take a look at it as there is more insight and review of the presentations that occured and just the entire event as a whole.  This is the current Paleo movement at its best and nobody is pulling any punches. 

I have read many, many blogs in hte past few days about AHS 2011 as this was probably the single biggest event to occur in this newly developing lifestyle.  All the greats got in one room ala The Manhatten Project to discuss the advances in knowledge of how the human body works and what it needs in order to thrive.  Richard Nikoley gave an incredible presentation that mirrors what I believe.  No his presentation was not flashy or groundbreaking in it content but it did deliver the pertinent message of self experimentation in a no nonsense manner.  You can check it out here.  I know that I have dropped his name twice in one blog, but I am most certainly not a Nikoley nutswinger.  I am a scientific man at heart but in order to get everyone on board to a healthier lifestyle in has to be discussed in terms that everyone can understand.  That is why I like to read Nikoley so much.  He is able to put complex concepts into easy to understand thoughts or he would say he cust through the bullshit.  Like I said I appreciate his succinct message.

Moving past AHS 2011 I have been thinking about Carbs.  Thinking about how much I hate that word.  I hate it when people say that I don't eat carbs or that I think carbs are the devil's candy.  All in all that is absolutely wrong.  That is Atkins-esque in its broad description of the term and I never use the term carbs when I talk about what I do and do not eat.  I love carbs as a macronutrient and I firmly embrace them for what they truly embody.  Everyone has to remember that if it isn't fat or protein the it is a carb.  I eat carbs every day and I shove as much of them down my gullet as I can manage. 

After giving my blessing to wonderful carbs I will indulge you with the items that I do not consume.  These items include grains, refined sugars, legumes, and processed seed oils.  If it comes in a box or has a list of ingredients I avoid it like the plague.  The items I do eat are meats, veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds, and healthy oils like coconut and olive.  If yo look closely you can see the four items right in the middle of the list are all composed of carbs.  They infact are chock full of carbs and I eat them oh so heartily.  I just felt that my opinion on carbs outght to be cleared up because my wonderful wife, who lives and eats with me every day, keeps saying that I don't eat carbs.  As you can see I most certainly do and encourage consumption by everyone else.

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This is the first of my two part grass fed organ meat fiesta.  It starts with a beautiful beef liver.  I have not enjoyed liver in years and it was a meal that I enjoyed when I was a kid.  Liver and onions was a delicacy in my house and I am not sure why because everyone else I knew hated it.  So when I had the chance to get the organ meats with my grass fed cow I jumped at the chance. 

I prepared the liver by draining it and then dipping it in coconut flour before dumping it in a pan to fry in butter.  I fried for 2 minutes on each side then pulled them out and set them to the side.  I then threw a bed of onions in the pan and set the heat on low.  I placed the liver on top of the onions and let it slow cook for about 20 minutes or basically until the onions were falling apart. 

The results are on this beautiful plate

So you have to be wondering what I am going to do in part 2.  Well I do have a nice beef heart thawing in my refrigerator as I write this.  I am thinking crock pot beef heart will be on the menu in an upcoming blog post. 

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