Rheo H. Blair

Randy Roach Part III: A Blind Man WIth NO Limits

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Welling) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:52:00 +0000

Randy Roach in his office, January 2012

With this post, we conclude what has become a truly fascinating conversation with Randy Roach. The entire interview, all three parts totaling nearly 15,000 words, may be read start to finish on its own page, here; Part III begins directly below.

But I first want to express my profound gratitude to Randy for being receptive to actually putting all this information about him, much of it never before published, out there for all of us to enjoy and learn from. Knowing something of the author makes his work all the more meaningful and fulfilling to read. Randy has also supplied several brand new photos including the beautiful pic you see of him in his office on the left as well as others, seen below. I have had nothing but fun throughout the whole process of back and forth with someone I am privileged to call a friend. Randy, for all of us, thank you.

At the end of Part II, Randy was telling us about some of the fine people who had been very helpful to him in making Muscle, Smoke & Mirrors possible. He concluded with the words "So, a lot of good people were involved in this project." We pick up that conversation now with Part III.

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Charles Welling: Two of those key good people, as you have told me, are Ron Kosloff and Dr. Mauro Di Pasquale. Tell us about how you came to know these gentlemen and what role they played in convincing you that your article for Sally Fallon should be expanded into a full blown writing project for a book?

Randy Roach I was given Ron Kosloff’s contact in 2003 by Bob Gajda pronounced ( “Guy-Da”). Bob has become a good friend, but my first attempt to interview him was actually wild…funny wild that is. Bob can talk a mile a minute in five different directions at once. He holds a doctorate in bio-mechanics and is the Director of the Gajda Health Plus Network in Palatine, Illinois. Bob actually has become a huge supporter of the project.

Anyway Bob had purchased supplements from Ron Kosloff who owned NSP Nutrition (Natural Source Products). Ron is a loyal student to the late Vince Gironda who also had a hand in the launching of NSP back in the early 1970s. Ron had distributed for the east since the mid 1970s and bought NSP upon the death of Ray Raridon in the 1990s. Ron is a big proponent of what has become labeled as Old School Bodybuilding Nutrition.

Obviously, I needed to talk to Ron about NSP and Vince Gironda. Ron is very passionate about both subject matters and was even emotional on occasion when reminiscing. He gave me tons of his time about Vince. He even came up from Detroit to my place a few times along with a host of others from various locations in Canada and the US to shoot some Gironda training videos in my private training facility.

Ron saw how much effort I was putting into the article and wanted the project to carry on into a small booklet or book. He wanted to see Vince’s memory live on. He kept encouraging and nudging me in that direction when I had no intention of doing so.

With Mauro Di Pasquale, who came into the picture shortly afterwards, he seemed to have seen more in me than I did at the time. I couldn’t understand why this man with the most intimidating resume who didn’t know me at all had all this confidence in me. He never asked whether I was considering carrying the project into a book, he basically told me that this material had to be a book and I was just the man to write it. Anything I needed, I was simply to ask him.

Remember, at that time around late 2003 or so, it was still an article in my mind. The request came early in 2002 from Sally Fallon of the Weston A. Price Foundation and I began collecting data around mid 2002. So, I had spent over a year of research on that subject of bodybuilding nutrition history. Mauro said he wasn’t aware of anyone who had done anything of that nature before or had collected that much data on the topic and that is why he believed it should be pursued much further than an article. And he wasn’t thinking a small book either at that time. I believe it was also Mauro who predicted more than one volume as well. As you are aware, Dr. Mauro Di Pasquale wrote the foreword for Volume I.

Charles: Was there an "aha" moment, a defining moment of clarity where you realized "I have to make this a book?"

Randy Roach Funny, I guess it was Ron Kosloff and Dr. Mauro Di Pasquale who had the actual “aha” moments before I did. I can’t recall any particular “aha” moments for me personally, but those two gentlemen had definitely convinced me sometime before the article was published in late 2004 to do some type of book. This kind of made things tough on Sally Fallon of the Weston A. Price Foundation. When I decided to create a book, I just kept drafting and drafting, adding and adding, until I had this huge unedited blurb of historical bodybuilding nutrition data. I intended to go over it thoroughly and trim it down, have it edited and such, but before doing that, I submitted it to Sally for her to give it a look over. She ended up doing all the dirty work on the piece and called the article “Splendid Specimens,” not exactly my choice for a title. However, I thought she had earned the right to name it what she wanted since she did so much work on it. I was actually grateful since it freed me to begin writing the book. So, I kind of lucked out there.

Speaking of naming articles though, I hadn’t necessarily cornered the market on title flair either. I was originally planning to call the article and the book, “The History of Nutrition in Bodybuilding.” Dr. Kaayla Daniels, author of, “The Whole Soy Story,” liked the article and we chatted on the phone about it. She thought I may have a bigger audience than I was figuring on and asked me what I had planned to call my book project. When I told her, “The History of Nutrition in Bodybuilding,” she thought it sucked. Kaayla didn’t seem to be too shy about telling me this. I didn’t care, I kind of liked her straight forward manner.

Cover, Volume I

That night while laying in bed, I thought to myself, “Okay, what the hell do I call this thing then?”   I recall thinking that it was such a deceptive or “smoke and mirrors” industry I was writing about. I liked the “smoke and mirrors” angle, but it needed something else to it. I thought of, “Bodybuilding, Smoke & Mirrors,” but it still didn’t click with me. As soon as I said, “Muscle, Smoke & Mirrors” in my head I knew I had it. Kaayla liked it as did my friend from Chicago, Terry Strand, as soon as he heard it. That was I believe back in 2005.

Charles: So, beginning in 2002 and by 2005 you had a title set. Just how much time were you spending on writing the book? How did you get the time for such a project?

Randy Roach Well, I did come up with my book title in 2005, but in January of that year I lost the rest of my eyesight right in the middle of the project. From July of 1993 until October of 2004 I worked as a senior computer programmer for Conestoga-Rovers & Associates (CRA), an international environmental engineering firm. I knew by mid 2000 that my days were numbered as a programmer with my sight going South on me. I had indicated to a few of the shareholders that I would eventually be leaving. I was training about six of them around this time including the president, Ed Roberts.

By the summer of 2004, I could not see well enough to carry out my job function as I thought it should be performed. Although I was sincerely concerned over the fate of a very large program I had built for them, I told Ed that I was going to quit at that point. I remember him coming up from the gym and sitting down. He said, “You just can’t quit, what if the rest of your sight goes?” I told him that was unlikely to happen. He basically said that I was quitting due to my loss of eyesight so I was entitled to disability. I had no idea that I had such an option. He then said that they had been paying for insurance on me for the past 10 years and I was entitled to it. In fact, the very next day I received a call from our HR department due to Ed’s orders.

To make a long story short, I was granted about 3.5 years of disability receiving 80% of my wage. This was a totally unexpected turn of events. I was ready to just quit and let the chips fall where they may in terms of making a living as a trainer and hopefully writer. Writer was still kind of a pipe dream at that point since I think my article was just published.

I was worried over what the insurance company would want me to do. Of course I had those old stereotypical thoughts of them rehabbing me into advanced basket weaving or something like that. They do try to refit you into the job market. I knew programming was out and told them that there was no way I could be set up to continue programming at the level I was doing at CRA.

I said I wanted to be a trainer and a writer. Now, who was going to teach me to be a trainer and write books blind? So…they let me rehab myself. Ironically, three months after I officially left CRA in October of 2004, I lost the rest of my eyesight; just what Ed was concerned about. This threw me for a loop. I had experienced periods of no sight several times over the years, but it always came back in a few days or so. However, this time it did not return. Nonetheless, the immediate stress of earning money was removed thanks to Ed Roberts and CRA.

So, for the next three and a half years, I stumbled around my gym and keyboard learning to train and write as a blind dude. It was frustrating at times, but at least the first volume of “Muscle, Smoke & Mirrors” was basically financially subsidized for over three years. At the end of 2008, almost six months after Volume I was released, I terminated myself from the long term disability. I remember the insurance rep being a little shocked as he wasn’t use to people removing themselves from financial support. However, I wanted to make it on my own. I told him I didn’t want anyone looking over my shoulder all the time. He just laughed and said we are not watching you. I guess they were not all that concerned since they let me do what I wanted anyway. I was grateful to them.

Charles: So, you have been self employed as a trainer and writer since the end of 2008?

Randy Roach Yep. It was both a scary and great feeling not to have to answer to anyone. I could do as I pleased. Again, this is when a lot of good people stepped up around me to keep things going.

Charles: Was it financially tough without the subsidy or your previous programming wage?

Randy Roach Yeah, it was definitely tighter on the income. However, I did manage to pay off my house and gym plus create a bank account in order to publish the book. At that time, I was anticipating about a $30,000 outlay just to print 3,000 hard cover copies.   This of course was before I decided to go with Authorhouse and print on demand.


Randy works with Sifu David Moylan*

I had to learn a balance between training and writing. Training brought in money, writing did not. I was, however, beginning to receive royalties, but that went to recovering what I had put out of my own money. Someone had accused me of being financed by the Weston A. Price Foundation which pissed me off since I have received no money from anyone. As mentioned earlier, I have invested about $55,000 of my own money over the past 9.5 years. It isn’t’ really all that much when you look at the time span, but the vast majority of it went out from about 2007 onward. I’ll get it back. You have to invest money to make money or at least show some confidence in what you’re doing.

Charles: Randy, where did you train these people?

Randy Roach I have always maintained my own training facility since I was a kid. Whether it was in my parents, sister’s, friend’s, or my own basement, I always collected and built equipment. I was probably one of the youngest guys in Canada at 23 in 1982 who had his own Olympic barbell set and custom built power rack in a house basement. Olympic bars and power racks were in most part confined to hardcore, commercial gyms at that time.

I always dreamed of having my own home with a great basement gym. That opportunity presented itself in the fall of 1998. I knew my sight wouldn’t last forever and that I would eventually have to look at making a full time living as a trainer, so I had a house built with a raised basement ceiling and just one support beam with nothing else cluttering the room. I had all the appliances, furnace, water heater and such placed in a back corner room.

Randy Roach Gym, Waterloo, Ontario. Photo taken January 2012

Between the basement and connected garage, I placed a world class gym of over 1200 square feet. I focused on paying off the gym and the house as fast as I could. I felt in my mind that it was a race between paying off the house and going blind. I realize now that was not necessarily a constructive mindset to carry.

Randy Roach Gym, free weights

I have spent the past 13 years building and rebuilding the gym. As I said, it is a world class commercial facility. People are literally shocked when they go down there. In my own biased opinion, it is the best facility around per square foot. The only private club that rivals it is that of a good friend of mine, Mike Petrella, who lives and operates in St. George. However, Mike is not a rival. He is more like an associate since we both engage similar endeavors. He and Josh Trentine were highly responsible for helping move my gym to the next level in equipment. Right now, I am the most pleased with the gym as I have ever been.

Charles: Is it tough training blind?

Randy with Sifu David Moylan*

Randy Roach My own workouts were not a problem as I hadn’t been able to see myself in a mirror for years and never really visually focused on anything physical anyway. It was the personal training that concerned me. I was worried how clients would respond to hands-on training, especially the women. Fortunately, it worked out better than I thought. People like the extra attention I have to focus on them. I soon found that I was better off totally blind than just visually impaired. While I was losing my eyesight, I didn’t use hands-on so I began to miss many things in terms of poor performance and technique. I was also surprised at how much you can detect with proper hand placement. It has worked out thus far.

Charles: So I am guessing it was when you left CRA in October of 2004 that you went to work in earnest on Volume I? How did you organize yourself on a daily basis in terms of balancing time between speaking with sources, transcribing those conversations into research notes and actual writing? And balancing this with training clients? It sounds to me like you are highly organized and efficient and that time organization may never have been an issue.

Randy Roach That is actually quite funny since I am not organized in many ways at all. Remember, I am the programming guy who never wrote a flow chart? I often do most things by the seat of my pants. I started this habit when my sight began to diminish years ago. I more or less just visualized everything in my head and often that could get chaotic.

Now, when I left CRA feeling that I could apply almost full time hours to the book, it was only about three months when the rug got pulled out from me with the loss of my sight in January of 2005. We were replacing my living room floor and I should have kept away from that environment. All the crap that kicked up swelled my cornea. This had happened before so I didn’t panic or even think much of it because I thought it would come back like it always had over the previous 18 years or so.

When I realized it wasn’t coming back, I became quite alarmed over how I was going to proceed. I could no longer pick up any book, magazine, or printed article and put it on my magnified screen. This was very frustrating. I did learn pretty

Fortunately, a lot of data came available electronically through the net. Others did their best to send their contributions in that format as well. As mentioned earlier, many were reading to me and eventually I used scanners to read to me as well. I used the drafts component of Microsoft Outlook to save notes as I went. I think I am closing in on 3000 drafts saved there. I would search many things on the net, block and paste it into a email, read it, then save it as a draft. The drafts are sorted by subject and I always keep my Outlook open for email use so the notes are readily available. Although I have developed my own techniques, I still need help.

At times I would be twiddling my thumbs waiting for someone to drop over because an answer was sitting inches from me in a book, but I couldn’t just pick it up and peek at it. This has changed to some degree as I’ll get to in a bit.

Randy Roach dumps his "Arnold A-Shirt!"

A lot of information for Volume II came first hand through extensive interviews. I have conducted hundreds of interviews over the past 9 years with some continuing since 2003 and 2004. I must have exchanged hundreds of emails with Ken Sprague since July of 2006 before finally speaking to him late in 2011. The same with Jeff Everson. Both of these guys shared extensive personal information without ever meeting or talking to me. That is the first time I had ever made such trusting friends in that manner. I still haven’t spoken to Jeff.

I have no idea of how many different people I have spoken to. I have been speaking to Wayne DeMilia regularly since 2004. He is a wealth of information on the industry as is Boyer Coe who has become a good friend as well. There are just oo many to mention. I would take notes as fast as I could as they spoke. They didn’t seem to mind me calling back for verification. This was necessary anyway since you need to talk to them several times from various angles to get things as accurate as possible. Remember, I am dragging these guys back decades to best recollect what had happened and when. Ken Sprague has been rummaging through all his court and lease records for me. In fact, he just found another today. Again, Ron Koeberer flew across the country on a data hunt and obtained court documentation through other avenues.

Often trying to put a chapter together, I am talking with up to seven different people several times trying to get all sides of a subject. I am doing that right now as we are conducting this interview. Again, I have no real method to my madness so I guess it is just madness. However, I know it always comes together when I need it to. I think Volume III has the potential to be the best of the three volumes if I continue to ride the madness. Wayne still thinks I am going into four volumes, but I say no. Any fourth volume would be a book on what I will have learned over the 12 year process.

Charles: You mentioned that things have changed a bit for you? How? In what manner?

Randy Roach Back in 1985 when I temporarily lost all of my eyesight, I also stopped producing tears. For the next 24 years I had to put artificial tears in my eye every 10 to 15 minutes. No shit, I spent all day putting these tears in no matter where I was. This was a a royal pain in the ass. The artificial tears had preservatives in them that even the specialists in Boston didn’t like since I was using so many of them. I ended up using my own urine as tears to rid myself of the preservatives. Now, I didn’t’ receive too much support over that from the medical orthodoxy, but I had pretty much lost any hope or confidence in that field since they had made a mess of me.

Anyway, about just over two years ago, I began using an oil /herb mix called scargone as a tear. I thought it may lube better and last longer than 5, 10 or 15 minutes if I stretched it. Well, it worked and lasted up to two hours. This was so much more convenient. Nonetheless, I was thrilled to see that some of my sight started to come back. It would still fluctuate wildly, but I was getting some back. I was worried that I may lose my source if Eva ever stopped making her blend so I switched to raw butter. This was actually the advice of Dr. Aajonus Vonderplantiz. The butter seemed to work even better and I liked the idea of using a raw food with its healing properties.

Bowl of melted butter

The white wall that I was staring at from 2005 to 2009 cleared to the point where I didn’t have to always use my white cane in the gym. It continued to where I could read the large print on my computer screen. Now, it can change within hours, but it is good to see that it has potential for coming in again. I still need my cane outside of my home and this has kept me from traveling. That and the fact that I have to keep this glass jar of raw butter gently melted beside me on a coffee warmer. I have gone up to four hours without another drop of raw butter. I have hopes of getting more back. Well, att least to the point where I can surf porn again. Haha That is probably what made me lose my sight in the first place.

Charles: Can you elaborate more?

Randy Roach On the butter or the porn?

Charles: The porn…I mean the butter.

Randy Roach Okay. I was originally going to use coconut oil since I tried it and the oil feld good and served as a great lubricant. I thought I would bounce it off Aajonus since he also had to deal with extensive cornea scarring from a cancer I believe. He had used raw egg whites to reverse some of that scarring. He thought the coconut oil may be too aggressive in its detoxification effects and recommended the raw butter instead. Raw fats pull toxicity from the body and you have to be careful as to how you approach any type of body detoxification. Sometimes people learn this the hard way.
I also firmly believe that drugs do not and can not heal anything. They just don’t have that capacity any longer since all their natural healing components if derived from the botanical world have been removed or chemically synthesized. Drugs often just block a natural bodily function in order to invoke their affect. This is exactly what statin drugs do; they inhibit the liver’s natural production of cholesterol. I mean our livers have been producing this essential multifunctional compound since the origins of our being, yet this arrogant group of private medical/financial politicians summarily ruled the human body to be in error with this process and decide to make hundreds of billions of dollars off a group of bullshit drugs that do nothing but elevate your risk of cancers. And to make things much easier for them, they purchased the ruling elite and had them ban all things natural so we have to run around like criminals to get raw dairy.However, that is another story.

As I mentioned earlier, I also use urine as a tear. As bizarre as this sounds, I couldn’t’ help but just shake my head when I found out the main ingredient in an old eye drop I used decades ago, called “Murine” was “Carbamide,” a synthetic version of urea. Take the “M” off “Murine” and what do you get…“Urine!” The pharmaceutical industry knows all about urine and its thousands upon thousands of constituents many of which they are clueless in terms of their functionality.

Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski identified specific peptides in blood and urine which appeared to have a varying relationship with cancer. He called these protein fragments, “Antineoplastons” and began treating cancer patients with them. Of course, like anyone who challenges the cancer orthodoxy, he has been professionally crucified for his efforts.

About two years ago my brother, Tom, burnt himself on a hot weld while working out in the country. He didn’t have any immediate facilities around him where he could go. He had done this a year earlier and the burn left a scar. Tom knows what I mess around with and is open to many things so he called me from his truck and asked what I thought he should do. He had already been thinking of the urine, but wasn’t quite sure how to go about it. I just told him to piss on a clean rag and wrap his hand with it. He said the burn was every bit as bad as the one he had sustained the year before that basically went untreated. He was surprised to find out the next dday that the burn was virtually gone. For those who are still a bit squeamish over dropping their pants and self dispensing, raw honey workds very well also.

Raw unprocessed foods, especially fats, have a natural and gentle healing capability. Food really is medicine so why mess it up? Well, for one thing, you can’t patent food so why promote its raw healing capabilities. Food has the longest historical precedence as a healing agent. It is just that our chemically forged culture has been on a purposeful dietary dumb-down from our physicians, dieticians, through the whole general public for the past 100 years.

For me, I allowed mainstream medicine its chance for over 20 years before I opted for alternative measures. The frequency at which I had to use the artificial tears often irritated my skin as they would spill out over my cheek. The raw butter and urine does not bother my skin. In fact, the urea in urine is admitted to be one of the best natural moisturizers. I hear Madonna uses it on her skin. I still use the urine to flush out the butter if the butter builds up too much in my eye. As mentioned, chemicals can mask symptoms, but they do not cure. Raw foods have healing capability and this is probably why Hippocrates said, “Let food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.” We know for a fact that the body heals itself with its own intrinsic knowledge. We are kept alive by foods. Food is information and I believe in keeping the language open and clear by not processing and cooking the words. The subject is just too extensive and probably not fully understood by anyone..

I don’t know where my eyesight will be in the future, but I know chemicals are not the answer.

Charles: So, would you say these past 7 years have been the toughest you’ve had to ever deal with?

Randy Roach I would say it was a more challenging time for me, but not necessarily the toughest. I mentioned in Part 1 of this interview the two barrages of surgeries I had first in the mid to late 1960s and the second in the late 1970s and early 1980s. When you are in your late teens and early 20s the last place you want to be is patched up blind laying around in a hospital for a month at a time.   That second cluster of botched surgeries I would say were the toughest time of my life.

Volume II is dedicated to three individuals who passed away within a six month window late in 2010 to mid 2011. One of those was Fred Kropf. Fred was my best friend growing up and the best friend one could have had under my circumstances. When I was stuck down in Toronto’s St. Michael’s hospital all the time for lengthy periods, Fred was down there (along with other friends) all the time. The bastard would make me laugh knowing it hurt like hell after an operation. I never had to worry about money or anything because of his generosity.

It was hilarious some of the things he would do during his workouts in his basement. He would lay on his back on a bench and somehow get a 200 lbs or so barbell up locked in his toes and start doing free weight leg presses. In between his sets, he would smoke a cigarette. Then we’d go drink beer. The Saxon brothers would have been proud of us. He didn’t care I was half blind at the time, he would let me drive his vehicles both on and off road. He was crazy at times. He would hit a jump in his jeep at 30 miles an hour just to see how airborne he could get us!!!     He had a lot of friends and we all miss him very much.

Charles: Your Dedication also includes the following: "To Dr. Michael Haynes, one of the very few I called Mentor. He alone invoked the biggest change in my thinking and life direction." This sounds critical if we are really going to get to know Randy Roach. Would you care to tell us about Michael and the role he has played in your life?

Randy Roach Hmm.I am not sure how much I want to go into Dr. Michael Haynes at this time. He was definitely an amazing man with extraordinary abilities. I have to say that I had never met anyone like him before back in late 2003. He certainly did have a profound influence on me and how I would look at life from that point in time onward.   I do appreciate you asking Charles and I will write more on Michael in the future. The substance and quality of my project grew substantially because of Michael.

Randy and Ron, superb raw-diet specimens

Charles: And another friend is that beautiful dog sitting at your side in this picture at the right. I bet there's a story behind him?

Randy Roach He is a great dog, but he isn’t mine. Ronin, we call him Ron, belongs to my tenant, Tristan. Ron is a Doberman that weighs close to 95 lbs., 85 lbs. muscle and 10 lbs. teeth.

Charles: Does Ron eat raw food also?

Randy Roach Yep, he eats about 90% raw beef, eggs, and dairy, with the rest of the 10% made up of postman, couriers, and occasional clients. He is a friendly guy, but has a big bark that does scare people at times.

Ron hopped into the picture taken in my office. Actually, we tried to get him to pose, but we couldn’t get him to stop looking over at his agent, Tristan.

Charles, you must hold a special status with me since I hate my picture taken, but I did so for this interview. My friend, Patti Fievoli, loves shooting photos and has taken quite a few of my gym. In doing so, she pulled me into more than I intended.

That biceps shot in Part 2 was taken just two weeks after the Christmas holidays and I have already received some digs about the tank top with Arnold on it that I won’t repeat. Steve Speyrer, the guy who reads me gay porn over the phone, also asked me where I came upon that shirt. Actually, Steve is a top seasoned trainer out of Louisiana. The truth is that I have never worn the damn shirt before. My brother, Tom picked it up for me as a gift from Venice Beach back in 1988. Patti took a shot of me wearing a black tank top, but I kind of blended into the dark background. So, I remembered having that white one in my closet for years and I grabbed it for a pick...I Should have put it on the dog.

Charles: Speaking of pics and Arnold, how did you get away with using Arnold Schwarzenegger on the cover of Volume II?

Randy Roach I originally had this concept of a cover with Ed Corney and a ghost image of Arthur Jones’s face in the baqckdrop. The problem was that I wanted the same picture of Ed Corney as used on the cover of “Pumping Iron.” It is an iconic shot that captured 1970s bodybuilding. I needed to get George Butler’s permission and I had my doubts. In the meantime, Boyer Coe gave me the green light on anything of his and he did have some awesome shots that I liked. However, Boyer pushed hard for me to get the Corney shot.

Cover, Volume II

I was having trouble getting a hold of George Butler because he travels so much working on his film projects. I resorted to asking Wayne DeMilia to helping me again. Wayne originally connected me with George in the first place for interviews. The men have been close since 1975 or so. I remember Wayne calling me and saying something along the lines of:

“Okay, I have some bad news and some good news. George is hesitant in allowing you to use the shot of Ed Corney because it is so tightly sewn to Pumping Iron. George said to ask Randy if he would like a photo of Arnold instead!”

Then I said something along the lines of, “Wel...OKAY!!!!”

We never thought anything of Arnold because we just never felt that would or could ever happen. So the concept remained but now it would have Arnold at the forefront and Jones in the backdrop. Ron Koeberer found the shot we used and George gave permission to publish it as long as I placed the proper credit and copyright for that photo inside the book.

My friend and computer guy, Chris Pearcey, helped me develop the first cover and knows very well how to work with me. He knew what I wanted and began drafting prototypes. He added his touch and we came up with about three to choose from. Then one of my clients, Gary Neeb who is a professional in the marketing and advertising field, brought out the final details. I knew I had it when another friend and bodybuilding champion, Josh Trentine, said it was by far the best bodybuilding photo concept he had ever seen. We are all very happy with it.

Thanks very much to George Butler.

Charles: So the Arnold pic for the cover was an unexpected bonus. Were there any

other unexpected turns of event during the research and writing of the books

that merit some mention?

Randy Roach The biggest change of events other than the sight going in the crapper was when the book went from one volume to two, then two volumes to three. They were totally unplanned. Remember, I told you that I do most things by the seat of my pants.   When I first came to the realization that I couldn't finish the project in one volume, I was already into the 1990s trying to unravel the METRx and EAS web with the help of Jeff Everson. I didn't know where I would split the book, so I did a word count and low and behold the mid point came pretty much at the end of the 1960s. I remember thinking at the time that I probably couldn't have intentially planned that any better
if I had tried.   It was the perfect break. The same thing happened when Wayne DeMilia told me that one book would not be enough for the 1970s and 1980s. Now, Wayne still believes that one book is not enough for the rest, but I want it to be.

I had another last minute change of events for Volume II. The book actually ended with Charles Frazer, a vegan athlete who wrote some articles for Iron Man back in the 1970s. I was finished and about to begin the editing process when I received an email from Richard Tucker from New Zealand. He was thanking me for mentioning him briefly in Volume I. Richard had written a book back in 1974 called, "Biblical Nutrition." I was pleasantly surprised since I had tried to track him down several years earlier. We began some email exchanges and I came to realize that he was a raw food eater as I am. I asked him if he was eating this way back in the 1970s. Not only was he eating raw, but much of his diet consisted of raw animal products.

See, I have made it clear for the past years that I am a raw food proponent. However, just because I eat that way, I could not inflict this into my book projects any more than it was being portrayed within Iron Game history. Ricard was not only eating raw meat as a staple back in the 1970s, he had also grown up in Chicago and trained with Bob GAjda, Terry Strand and the boys at the Duncan YMCA during its heyday.   He had also interacted with Arthur Jones back in the spring of 1972. Richard was a natural fit to balance off Charles Frazer in my last chapter. Richard Tucker is a chiropractor with years of training and diet under his belt. I want to get him on Carl Lanore's Superhuman Radio show sometime.

Charles: Raw animal meat is about as controversial a subject as one is likely to encounter in the nutritional food wars. I remember Rheo Blair one time telling me that if I ate raw hamburger, it would make me very strong. But legally, he said, he could not tell me to do that (and I had no interest in doing so at 16 but have done so since). What are some of the similarities and or differences between Richard Tucker, and Dr. Aajonus Vonderplantiz. How have each influenced you?

Randy Roach Both men are highly educated in the history of nutrition and where raw foods were a key factor in the cultures throughout history. Both would probably agree that 21st century Western culture is most likely the most nutritionally retarded mass of humanity to ever grace the planet. I was impressed with the fact that Ricard was already reading on Dr. Weston A. Price in high school back in the late 1960s. Both men had also experimented with many ways of eating including veganism.

I know more of Aajonus than I do of Richard right now. Richard, as mentioned, is a practicing chiropractor who eats I believe about 80% raw. I don’t think there is anyone out there as strict as Aajonus. Raw food research is his life and I don’t think he bgudges from his raw menu other than perhaps to conduct an experiment. He has written two books and has derived dozens of remedies composed of various combinations of raw foods for healing purposes. He carries a large cancer based clientele.

It is always great to connect with guys who have been doing it for decades and happy with what they are doing. Both men state that nothing makes them feel better than raw animal foods.

Charles: Well, it sounds as though you have connected with a good number of people on this project of yours. Volume II of Muscle, Smoke & Mirrors was released in late November of 2011. How is the book doing out there?

Randy Roach I won’t really know officially until the beginning of march this year. That is when the publisher releases their statements. However, from all sign I believe the book is selling very well. I had a lot of people watching for it who read Volume I. Paul Solotaroff of Men’s Journal and Rolling Stone gave me a great plug in his latest article in Men’s Journal. It is the February, 2012 issue in an article they called, “The dawn of Huge.” Muscle & Fitness which is probably the most circulated bodybuilding magazine is doing a review on the book in their March issue which should be out next month. Health and Strength over in the UK is also going to review as will more publications as time goes by. The book is still early in its release and it takes most people a month just to read it. We have posted already a good number of endorsements and reviews on my site at www.randyroach.ca.

Charles: Let's conclude our discussion by finding out how these books have changed your life. Can you share two or three principal lessons you have learned as a result of your research and writing experience over the past decade? And can you tell us, finally, in what ways you have evolved and grown over the past decade -- and -- what might the next decade hold for you?

Randy Roach Sure, leave the toughest question for last!

The past 10 years have in fact been an amazing experience for me. I would have never dreamed back in 2002 that I would have two books of such volume and be given the credit I’ve received. Had you told me that I would be on the radio close to 30 times I would have laughed and called you absolutely delusional. Just thinking of making a living on my own outside of the secure programming job I had was almost more than I could handle. However, here we are in 2012.

I have grown more in these years than at any other point in my life. ‘I’ve learned to never say “never” and don’t think you know everything or anything as a certainty. Looks can very much be deceiving. There is always another perspective for almost all situations. Trying to write any historical documentation on the Iron Game industry and remain objective is not easy. This is a very convoluted industry with so much polarity amongst its factions and a good eal of animosity separating them. Nonetheless, I have still had the pleasure of meeting a lot of great people on the way. I have had to learn how to best put my own judgements aside and tell the stories from the varying opinions. Obviously, I have interjected myself to some degree which is certainly an author’s prerogative. There are a number of things I have written that I did not necessarily believe or support, but still felt it needed to be stated.

Michael Haynes and others like him who now seem to surround me have been guiding forces over this venture of mine. I am grateful for them and this experience. Hell Charles, how do you think I met you??

I will write more on my learned experiences probably in a few years. However for now, the story still continues…

Thank you Randy. We look forward to Volume III and to your many radio and magazine appearances in the years ahead!

*Sifu David Moylan, pictured above in the training photos with Randy Roach, is owner of the Waterloo Kung Fu Academy

ALL images of Randy Roach, his office and his Gym, seen in this post, were supplied by Randy Roach for Charles Welling. They have never been previously published. They were all produced in January, 2012.

We welcome your comments below!

Contact me

Copyright © 2012 Charles Welling

Information found on Rheo H. Blair: The Book is meant for educational and informational purposes only, and to motivate you to make your own health care and dietary decisions based upon your own research and in partnership with your health care provider. It should not be relied upon to determine dietary changes, a medical diagnosis or courses of treatment

Randy Roach Part II: A Sparkling and Splendid Masterpiece of Iron History

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Welling) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 19:56:00 +0000

Randy Roach sports his "Arnold" A-shirt in this January, 2012 photo.

We begin with the eloquent words of Joe Roark to whom I express my profound gratitude for allowing me to include them here: "There are authors who can write contest reports, others who handle facts well, others who write good fiction (even though they think they are writing facts). But there is not another Randy Roach. Fielding statements from literally dozens of major and minor sources, he appraises them by what must have been a tremendous task of study and comparison, places them in logical order and importance, weaves all that into an interesting, well-written, readable storyline. The grunt work of reverse-blending all that information is horrendous in its difficulty, but Roach makes it appear as though he is chatting with a single source, who had done all this before- but NO ONE had!

Several key players in iron history, each standing with a cog-wheel of information are orderly interlocked so that the whole seems to become more than the sum of its parts, as though there is bonus knowledge when the tale is so well formatted and revealed. An avalanche of information awaits the careful reader of this sparkling and splendid masterpiece of ironhistory. Anyone not reading this book must consider himself minus some very skeleton-key ingredients in the overall scenario in the topics it covers from Arnold to Arthur Jones and the machinations of the exercise machine wars." -- Joe Roark

_______________

We pick up where we left off in Part I. Part III will be posted on or around February 1st. To be notified please subscribe by email or reader; or, "like" our Facebook page.

Charles Welling: Randy, no one can fault you for not sticking with the vegan diet long enough to give a fair try! What finally was the breaking point that got you off the vegan diet? Did you adjust your diet all at once or gradually? How did you come to experiment with raw milk? How quickly did your health begin to improve?

Randy Roach Yeah, I gave it about 4.5 years of pretty strict dedication. I was pretty stubborn with it even when some were questioning what I was doing. I finally gave in after my face was a mess, my strength was seriously compromised, and I was actually getting fat. I had quit smoking when the sight went in late 1985 and cut my beer drinking back dramatically. Harvey Diamond had suggested that if you wanted to get bigger than just add more carbohydrates.. I did so and “just” put on body fat with no additional muscle or strength.

The final straw came when I went to a vegetarian cooking class. I was not at all impressed with the participants. By this I mean most of them did not look well. Now, whether this was from their vegan diets or still maladies they were trying to fix with that way of eating I can’t really say, but the instructor actually looked the worst. Her hair was straw-like and the biggest circumferences on her body appeared to be her joints. I remember thinking, “good God, she looks like she is feeding off of her own body!” That was it for me. The fat lady had just sung on my vegan lifestyle. This would have been approaching the end of 1990.

I didn’t change things all that dramatically. I still ate and juiced some fruits and vegetables, ate carbohydrates, but then added some chicken and whey protein powder. Whey was becoming popular at that time. I was still in fear of animal fats. Before becoming a vegan in 1986 I had spent about 5 years on a very low fat diet. My body had been deprived of animal fats for almost 10 years by then. When I cut back the fruit, my skin did begin to clear. However, I would have continuous problems from that point on being very sensitive to anything I ate. I was already bowel sensitive for years, but now my skin would react quickly to specific foods.

Charles: Were there any other changes?

Randy Roach For the next couple of years I continued with the protein powders and high carbohydrate/low fat diet. My strength did improve some, but I continued to put on body fat. The big change came around 1994. I nabbed a copy of Jay Robb’s “The Fat Burning Diet.” Jay helped dispel my fear of animal fats that Harvey Diamond and the media had engraved upon my psyche. Not long afterwards, I had purchased a copy of Dr. Mauro Di Pasquale’s book, “The Anabolic Diet” which also highly promoted fat.

Nonetheless, it was Robb’s book that made me make my first serious dietary alterations that really freaked me out. I decided to go with a four meal per day plan. Two of the meals were primarily big servings (well to me they were) of beef. The other two meals were protein drinks constituted from 4 raw eggs, a banana, and whey protein. I still kept the protein powder. I couldn’t believe what transpired. I had never seen my body change so fast and dramatically. It was almost a feeling of euphoria.

The body fat just dropped off as my muscle came back to surpass all previous marks. The most I had dead lifted on a low fat diet was 300 lbs. I dropped dead lifting as a vegan when I through my back out twice at 250 lbs. Suddenly 250 lbs was light as was 300 lbs. Then it went to 325…350…375…400…then later 450 and 500 lbs.

Look, I know there are guys out there who claim to be successful as vegan bodybuilders and athletes. My last chapter in Volume II is called, “Muscle, Meat & Vegans” where I introduce Charles Frazer. Frazer was a successful athlete as a vegan back in the 1970s. There are some who last longer at it than I could. Their physiologies are more able to adapt to it, but I contend it is still a degenerative process for many people for a number of reasons I won’t get into here. I did respect some of their philosophies and environmental concerns. However, much of that has turned out to be highly questionable also.

Charles: When did the raw milk come in to your diet?

Randy Roach The raw milk didn’t come into play until about 2000 when I began to read about Weston A. Price. Funny, as a vegan, I had heard of this guy who had traveled the world and studied the diets of the primitive cultures. I remember thinking that this would in fact be quite interesting and revealing, but I just didn’t want to jump tracks at that time from what I was doing. I came across Price’s name while reading through the nutritional manual from Brian Johnston’s I.A.R.T’s training certification program. I quickly ordered Price’s landmark publication, “Nutrition and Physical Degeneration” written back in 1939. This is when my nutritional education began.

Charles: Was this when you hooked up with the Weston A. Price Foundation?

Weston A. Price

Randy Roach Yes, I immediately became a member of Sally Fallon’s foundation and also a chapter leader. Again, almost immediately I was contacted by a local farmer. Although I had tried raw goats milk just prior, this farmer became a longtime friend and supplier of raw milk to me. I always had trouble digesting pasteurized milk feeling bloated and just physically off. I did not have this feeling with raw cow’s milk. I am skipping over some things here, but raw milk became a big part of my diet from that point on. I had dropped the protein powders shortly afterwards feeling I didn’t need them with the raw dairy and meat I was eating.

Charles: You say that your nutrition education began with reading the Weston Price book. Can you elaborate? And can I ask you also if you have ever used the mysterious Activator X now thought to be Vitamin K2?

Randy Roach I'll answer the second part of your question first. Yes, I have used vitamin K (formerly referred to as activator X by Dr. Weston A. Price). However, my usage is in its indigenous form when I drink raw milk from pasture fed cows. I have never supplemented my diet with isolated processed forms of it. I don't really regard it any differently than other nutrients or in other words, I don't worship at the alter of any one particular food constituent.

Some may argue that Price's very work gave grounds for the use of dietary supplements. After his worldly travels, Price continued his research by testing food samples seasonally from around the world and found that American soils were drastically diminished in their nutrient content and this reflected in the foods grown from it. It was from this basis that men like Bob Hoffman and Peary Rader (two great Iron Game Pioneers) changed their view on supplements and began endorsing them.

I would contend that this was a mistake. Price's work should have launched a nationwide campaign to reestablish the integrity of our soils. Instead, we chose to attempt to plug our nutritional holes with what I would call an industrial arrogance. Now, I don't oppose all supplementation as Price himself successfully utilized food concentrates to remedy some serious health issues, but today's market has just gone ape-shit with food fraction abuse. I mean, our body's have no historical precedence for taking in food fractions like this.

Weston Price clearly showed the superior physical and mental health of those primitive tribes who ate whole natural foods with much of it raw. There were no supplements involved. With supplements we are speculating and often just guessing. Just fix the soils and the problem is over. We could if we really wanted to.

This is what I took from the work of Price. Food in its natural unprocessed form is best and that is why I got rid of my protein powders.

Charles: So, you haven't used any supplements at all since? I don't have to remind you that at one point in my life I downed 500 of Rheo Blair's supplements every single day.

Randy Roach Nope, you certainly don't have to remind me of that as my jaw hit the floor when you first told me that probably five years ago. Actually, what stunned me more was Jim Park's interview with Lou Mezzanotte where he reported that Park consumed 2000 protein tablets daily under Rheo Blair's (Irvin Johnson in those years) supervision back preparing for the 1952 AAU Mr. America which he won. Jim Park by the way, is considered the first nutritionally trained Mr. America., at least the first to pay real specific attention to diet every bit as much as training.

I questioned that quantity of 2000 tablets purely from a mechanical point of view. How the hell could anyone swallow 2000 protein tablets in any breakdown scheme. Topping it off, I believe Rheo Blair was still using soy at the time complete with their very difficult to digest oligo-saccharides (carbohydrates). Park must have been a walking bazooka back then. I asked Lou if that was a misprint and he said no. I still think Jim Park must have meant 200 tablets instead of 2000.

Anyway, in Volume II of Muscle, Smoke & Mirrors I did acknowledged the vast array of supplementation as part of your protocol Rheo Blair had you undergo. The supplements were but one part of many variables Rheo was applying in your recovery. It is very difficult to ascertain just exactly the extent of their role. Food supplements do in fact have an effect on the body, but just what exactly is that effect and can it be harmful long term.

As I stated above, my problem with heavy supplementation is that our physiologies have no historical precedence with food fractions. By this I mean our very genome. We are discovering that our DNA is far more dynamic than we originally thought or acknowledged. The Russians were probably ahead of the west on this front as they at least didn't refer to much of our DNA as "junk!"

I won't get into the details of what is referred to as "epigenetics." However, it appears to be yet another layer to our DNA that in effect facilitates the turning off and on of specific genes. This may be good and/or bad. What triggers these switches is our environment and this means what we eat. Food is basically information. One of my arguments for raw food eating is that if food is in fact information that communicates with our DNA, then I would think the likelihood of both cooking and processing
would garble that very information.

Regardless of the efforts applied to their preparation, supplements are in some way or another either cooked and/or processed. You just can't escape this if you are trying to place food fractions or even whole foods into capsules or pills. We just don't know how much damage we are doing to the food, not to mention, what signals these often high dosage food fractions are sending to our DNA. Perhaps some are good, perhaps some are bad.

I have said many times that the only way we can get some idea of the value or detriment of food supplements is to reproduce studies such as what Dr. Robert McCarrison and Dr. Francis Pottenger conducted decades ago. These men, although using rats and cats, at least took their subjects through one or more gestation periods when feeding them processed foods. It is only during and after a pregnancy that we can gauge the effects of supplementation on a burgeoning and growing organism. Running six week studies or even observations that run many months on adult subjects I contend does not give us a clear picture since much of our structures have already been established.

McCarrison and Pottenger showed how processed devitalized foods dramatically impaired the proper development of their subjects. In fact, most of our modern diseases were manifest in the rats and cats fed the processed foods in their studies. The subjects fed whole, natural, and raw foods showed perfect health. In fact, in the case with Pottenger, his experiments utilized the same foods with the difference being one group received much or all of it cooked and processed while the other consumed it primarily raw.

It would be interesting to conduct these studies with even just two control groups. One would eat a total raw, unprocessed diet and the other using similar if not the same foods but cooked and processed in some manner. Two test groups could then engage the same two diets but now adding whatever
supplements to the mix. Both diets would receive the exact same supplement regimen. This way we could find out if the supplements assisted the processed diet and whether they hindered the whole, natural, and raw food diet while the subjects went through one and more pregnancies.

Even though I am a raw food eater, I would probably be cheering for the supplements since they are a hell of a lot easier an answer for the general public than eating raw meat. However, I have my doubts. It would be interesting though to see what happens.

Charles Welling: So, you haven't used any supplements at all since?

Randy Roach I have utilized on and off through the past 10 years some supplements that were more food concentrates such as cod liver oil, butter oil, Camu Camu, freeze dried whole liver, things like that. I would try to get them in their purest raw form. Right now,I am using nothing.

Price also showed that these healthy people didn't eat a smorgasbord of all foods. Their diets were almost banal compared to what we have today. They ate what was seasonal and indigenous to them. Today we have all types of foods from all around the world 24 hours a day 365 days per year. I would also contend that our physiologies are in most cases not adapt to many of these foods that were not present historically for most of our forefathers. What Price clearly showed was the prevalence of animal products especially fat in these so-called primitive diets. Bodybuilding pioneers such as Rheo H. Blair and Vince Gironda knew this also and they were familiar with the works of Weston Price.

Charles: This brings us to the question of raw foods. Did Vince and Rheo influence you in this regard?

Randy Roach Interesting question. Yeah, both men have influenced my raw diet, but they weren’t the catalysts for my launch into that realm. I had not heard of Rheo Blair back in the 1970s. I learned of him later. However, I was familiar with Vince Gironda and that he recommended raw milk and cream. Others in the bodybuilding field such as Frank Zane and even Joe Weider were also promoting raw milk for building muscle.

Due to that early influence, I first set out to find raw milk up here in Ontario, Canada back in the very early 1980s. Nonetheless, I hit a brick wall looking for it in our supermarkets and learned that it was illegal.   I couldn’t understand why and wasn’t interested or even mature enough to challenge the politics of it all back then.

I have to say that it was Harvey Diamond and his “Fit For Life” series that first persuaded me to believe in the benefits of raw foods over that of their cooked equivalents. Harvey was just dead wrong in his assessment of properly raised raw animal products. He basically just parroted the dictates of the decades old Natural Hygienists. This group chose to remain oblivious to the role of expert animal husbandry practiced worldwide through centuries and probably millennia that produced foods which built and maintained a level of health not seen in Western culture. They chose to ignore it.

When I abandoned my vegan ways around 1990, the amount of raw foods in my diet diminished substantially for about 4 years. I did have quite a few raw eggs when I changed my diet more towards protein and fat nearing the mid 90s, but I wasn’t particular in the quality of the eggs as I was still quite ignorant on many fronts..

The works of Weston Price obviously educated me further on the benefits of more raw foods in one’s diet as did the two organizations he inspired, The Price-Pottenger Foundation and The Weston A. Price Foundation. However, as mentioned earlier, it was Dr. Ron Schmid who introduced me to raw meat eating. I had read some articles he wrote on raw milk then purchased his 1987 publication, “Traditional Foods Are Your Best Medicine.” He later wrote, “The Untold Story of Milk” in 2003.

The first time I tried raw meat mixed with raw eggs and cream I gagged! I remember thinking that I had done so many things to try to improve my sight and was I really willing to force this upon myself? Were we really meant to eat this way? The next day I made a few adjustments by removing the eggs and cream and adding just a pinch of sea salt and it made such a difference I had to laugh at how fast we can adapt ourselves if we really want to. From that point onward I began eating raw meat and trying different things.

I believe it was either late 2002 or early 2003 that Ron introduced me to Aajonus Vonderplantiz. Aajonus is probably the premiere raw food advocate in the world with decades under his belt in using raw foods as medicine. His story is almost unbelievable in terms of his life experience.   He is quite the crusader for proper food management and the politics surrounding it. He has engaged many battles.

Charles: Did Aajonus influence you further?

Randy Roach Obviously Aajonus’s work will influence any raw food eater to some degree.   However, I don’t follow him exactly and question him as I would anyone else just as many will question me. I am not as strict as he is, but I will read anything Aajonus has to write. Dr. Aajonus Vonderplantiz has two books out that any raw food eater should read. They are, “We Want to Live” and “A Recipe For living Without Disease.” He has a very unique newsletter as well.

It was the raw food factor that led me to take more interest and a deeper look at what Rheo Blair and Vince Gironda were doing. Those two men made tremendous contributions to natural bodybuilding based on their knowledge in nutrition, especially paying attention to its history. Now I don’t necessarily subscribe to the extent of supplementation those guys both practiced and promoted, but I liked the way they championed the power of raw foods.

Charles: What about Rheo Blair's protein powder? How do you compare it to what is out there today?

Randy Roach I really don't dwell on protein powders these days. My issue with protein products is the same as with any supplements as I described above. A lot of them are constituted on fractionated proteins. Take whey protein for example. Whey is only one of the proteins that are found in milk. Whey these days is a by-product of the cheese industry that is looking for the casein only. Most of the milk used in the Western culture cheese industry is pasteurized and taken from Holstein cows fed on grain. The whey protein fractions are then separated from the lactose and fat with filtration processes to make concentrates and a chemical procedure to create isolates. The final product is a highly compromised food fraction stripped of all its synergistic co-factors that are utilized in the body's assimilation of milk. Because much of these nutritional co-factors have been removed, the body leaches from its own tissue resources in order to deal with this processed concentrated protein powder. The result is a long term degenerative condition or accelerated aging.

I know that some are doing their best to utilize raw ingredients with more gentle processing procedures. Blair attempted to do this when he acquired the Wander Company's medical brand, "Opti-Pro." His product did use whole egg, but he, too, added milk fractions in the way of casein. He did also add alpha-lactalbumin (whey) to some of his products which I believe is when he began is Mother's milk campaign back in the mid 1960s. Rheo Blair knew to reconstitute his protein with raw eggs, cream, and milk. That is lost today as most people are still fat phobic and mix it with water. Now, you know I talk more on Blair's protein in Volume II so I will just park this question right here.

Both the bodybuilding and alternative health industries are saturated with protein powders with large variations in protein sources, peripheral ingredients, processing procedures, and delivery techniques. None are short in hyperbole with the bodybuilding community taking the blue ribbon there.

As I said, I dropped these powders years ago. Why would I want to take a protein powder as a bodybuilder eating raw grass fed meat, pastured eggs and raw dairy? I liked the way Weston A. Price referred to the whole, natural, unprocessed dietary of the primitives as containing "bodybuilding"
foods.

Charles: OK Randy, this kind of brings us around again to the article you were asked to write for the Weston A. Price Foundation. Can you tell us more on how that came about?

Randy Roach Early in 2002 I was writing an article that was a critique of Harvey Diamonds “Fit For Life” series. He had just released a new book and also in an interview with a magazine admitted to having begun eating animal flesh. The piece I was working on was also intended for the Price Foundation’s quarterly magazine, “Wise Traditions,” but never was published so I posted it on an old website I had.

Anyway, it wasn’t long afterwards that Sally Fallon asked if I would write another one on the diets of the bodybuilders.   I interpreted her request as wanting something historical and thought it would be easy since I already did follow to some degree what was consumed over time for building muscle. However, I soon found out that I wasn’t so smart after all. Even after collecting a fair amount of information, I again realized that I couldn’t really tell the dietary legacy of bodybuilding without telling the history of the sport itself. Compounding the dilemma, I then discovered that I could not effectively unfold that history without a fuller context which included the Iron Game in its totality. Soon it was “good grief” what the hell did I get myself into.

I began work on it in mid 2002 and as I mentioned, came to the conclusion that it would be a book probably by early to mid 2004. I had no idea that it would by this point include two volumes one 562 pages and the latest 728 pages and it will require yet another volume comparable in size. By June of this year (2012) it will be 10 years I have spent on this project investing without exaggeration roughly $55,000.

Charles: Have you made your money back yet?

Randy Roach Almost and I will make money finally off Volume II. I am not a very good business man.

Charles: So you have written 1290 published pages with at least half as much again yet to come. It is some of the best writing in terms of research, clarity, writing style, story telling ability, etc. that I have ever seen. But you are blind. HOW do you DO IT? We all want to know!

Randy Roach First off, thanks very much Charles for the compliment.

Writing the book is most often very easy, yet at times, extremely frustrating. I would not be able to write anything if it were not for the current computer technology that allows me to listen to every thing I type. I can hear every letter, word or sentence depending on how I move the cursor. The software, called ZoomText, will also read me an entire paragraph, chapter or book depending on how much I want to hear without interruption.

I remember when I first began using it around the year 2000. At that time, I was still using a 15X magnifying glass to drag across a page to read very slowly. I would actually read for up to 12 hours like that at times. When I first made the software read me a couple of sentences which were probably read at what would be considered a normal reading speed, I literally jumped out of my seat saying, I’ can’t follow that shit!!” I was so used to reading so slowly.

The software also blew up the text very large so I used that primarily. I milked as much out of my eyesight as I could. I also acquired a close circuit style TV unit where I put the book on a moveable tray under a lends and it came up large print on a screen in front of me. I used that until I couldn’t see anymore. By then I had also slowly got use to the speech component of ZoomText and when I became reliant on speech alone, it wasn’t long before I could listen to text probably 20 times faster than I could ever read it visually. Most who listen to it at that speed can’t understand it.

I have had a lot of help from friends and family who have read and prepared material for me. Even a good number in the industry who are in the book have read to me over the phone. Steve Speyrer who lives down in Louisiana has spent hours reading to me over the phone. Funny. Steve was reading me his copy of the highly controversial novel, “The IronGame” while he was running for mayor down in his district. I told him that I had the goods on him since their potential mayor was reading a blind guy gay porn over the phone. Steve said, “How about I just mail you my copy!” He did, I red the book and sent it back with a campaign donation. A very good man he is.

Sometimes it feels as though I have to turn my computer on its ear in order to translate or convert what I need. That can be very painstaking and frustrating. People have been good in trying to send me as much as possible in electronic format.   Guys like Joe Roark and John Corlett were great in digging up dates and verifying things like that. Geez, I think I had poor John traveling and flipping through his entire collection to find little details coming down the pike for Volume II. Ron Koeberer was also awesome in his assistance with some rare Arthur Jones material. Ron even flew across the country on a data hunting expedition. These people never complained.

So, a lot of good people were involved in this project.

Next time: We get into the research and writing of the books. The good, the bad, and the beautiful. The expected and the unexpected; what he learned along the way as well as the philosophical and practical evolution of his views on the iron game, the players, nutrition, and mankind, touching even on the esoteric.

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Copyright © 2012 by Charles Welling. All rights reserved.

Rheo Blair Is Now On Facebook!

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Welling) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 23:48:00 +0000

If you are on Facebook and wish to keep up with the latest Rheo Blair posts from this blog, you are invited to "like" our Rheo Blair, Nutritionist Facebook page.

The Rheo Blair Facebook page may be found at: http://www.facebook.com/RheoBlair

With Facebook being by far the single most popular social media site in the world, it is easy for many people to simply find updates about Rheo Blair in their daily wall feed. Also, on the Rheo Blair page itself, you can comment on posts, take part in discussions and find others who share an interest in one of the most unique and original pioneers in the world of nutrition and bodybuilding, Rheo Blair.

How to Follow Rheo Blair on Facebook
If you are a Facebook member, go to the Rheo Blair Facebook page linked above. Once you are there, you will see at the top of the page a "Like" button. Click on the button and you will be all set to go! What could be easier!

See you there!

Contact me
Copyright © 2012 Charles Welling All rights reserved.Information found on Rheo H. Blair: The Book is meant for educational and informational purposes only, and to motivate you to make your own health care and dietary decisions based upon your own research and in partnership with your health care provider. It should not be relied upon to determine dietary changes, a medical diagnosis or courses of treatment.

Randy Roach: The World's Best Fitness Author

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Welling) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 23:10:00 +0000

Today, we begin a three-part conversation with Randy Roach, about Randy Roach. The Bodybuilding historian tells us about his life, his health and how a blind man came to write the most detailed single history of any sport. Part two will be published January 18-19.

There surely is no shortage of books within the genre of sports history. This is great news for football and baseball fans, among others. But for the enthusiasts of professional bodybuilding, the question persists as to whether it even IS a sport, making it perhaps the Rodney Dangerfield of athletic pursuits in that it gets "no respect." Though it traces its roots back for over a century, few outside the small world of iron pumping know much more about it other than that its biggest success story became a movie star and then the Governor of California. Beyond that most people draw a blank. That is all changing with the publication of "Muscle Smoke and Mirrors" by Waterloo (Ontario, Canada) historian and author Randy Roach who has published two volumes of what is to be a three volume complete history of "the game" as it is affectionately known by its devotees. It is probably no stretch to say that Randy has written the most complete history of any sport and, thanks to both his writing ability and story-telling gifts, one which is universally proclaimed a "page-turner."

While Randy is providing us with some of the best reading material in all of sports history, we know little about the story of Randy himself. We mean to change that here so you feel you "know" Randy a little and are reading the work of a friend. I am privileged to know this good man as a friend and I want to help you become better acquainted with him yourself. With that as our goal, we present here and now the first installment of a three part conversation with Randy.

(For those of you arriving on this page via a search for Randy Roach or "Muscle Smoke and Mirrors" and want to know who is writing this blog, my name is Charles Welling, a one-time live-in student/"before and after" of "Nutritionist to the Hollywood Stars" Rheo H. Blair whose ideas on nutrition and exercise played key roles in the history of bodybuilding. Rheo Blair is discussed at length in Randy's books and I am both humbled and privileged to be included in that conversation).

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We begin with a brief biographical statement and then go to straight to the interview.

Randy Roach is a graduate from George Brown College in Toronto. He is a retired computer programmer who spent over 15 years developing systems in both the museum and environmental engineering professions. He has written and been published in 3 different fields. Randy now makes his living as an author and private health and training consultant in his home in Ontario, Canada.

Q) Randy, you have established yourself as THE undisputed expert on the history of Bodybuilding by virtue of the massive trilogy you are working on. Nothing previously written on the subject even comes close. Tell us something of your childhood, your growing up and how you got into this field. Did you always want to be a bodybuilding nutrition expert and author?

Randy Roach

Randy Roach

A) Well actually as a Canadian, my first love was hockey. However, back around the late 1960s, I saw 1965 Mr. America, Dave Draper first on either the "Monkees" or "Beverly Hillbillies." it was also about that time that I
saw my neighbour, Bob Zarzycki, working for a landscaping company with his shirt off. Actually now that I think about it, it was probably around the summer of 1966 when I saw him working outside. Bob wasn't as big as Draper or guys like Don Howorth of course, but he still stood out from the average person and was a natural bodybuilder. You just didn't see that look around very much, at least in Ontario, Canada back in the mid to late 1960s.   He was about 12 years older and I grew up with his younger brother, Steve. I remember playing at his place and making Bob promise that before I went home one night, he would go downstairs and lift the loaded barbell over head for me. I was so excited about that.

I did play hockey and participate in martial arts in the early to mid 1970s, but I had to withdraw from those activities due to my deteriorating eyesight. I had contracted Steven Johnson's Syndrome (SJS) back in 1961, lost my left eye to it in 1962, and by the 1970s, I was losing sight in my right eye as well. I had begun lifting puny dumbbells and playing with Weider spring sets around 1970, but when the sight started to diminish, I slowly began switching emphasis from hockey and karate to bodybuilding in the later 1970s.

Q) Interesting that the Beverly Hillbillies should come up. My wife and I were just in Beverly Hills this last week on New Years Eve on Beverly Drive -- the very road where the opening sequence of that show takes place with the cast in the old truck driving up that tree-lined drive. Well it turns out that Dave Draper was on an episode of the Beverly Hillbillies called "Mr. Universe Muscles In." How old were you and what inspired you when you saw him? Have you ever spoken to him about that?

A) Dave appeared in both the "Monkees" and "Beverly Hillbillies" in October of 1967. I would have been a man of the world at the grand old age of 8. I can't say for absolute certainty that I saw him at that exact time or shortly after in a rerun, but it was definitely around that period.   I am also quite sure that he was appearing on the back covers of hockey magazines advertising Weider products. He had that classic pose with both arms extended out to the sides and looking very vascular.

I never did get to interview Dave over the phone. I believe my timing was bad back in late 2002. However, he did correspond with me several times through email giving me some great personal quotes based on questions I had asked. He really was the face of bodybuilding back in the late 1960s and early 1970s. His physique looked phenomenal in those shows and also in the 1967 movie, "Don't Make Waves."

Q) Did anyone else inspire you?

A) Yes, I was also heavily inspired by a photo of Don Howorth that appeared in one of my early magazines from the early 1970s. The shot was actually taken in early 1968 I believe by Steve Downs and it was that pic I used of Don for Volume I of "Muscle Smoke and Mirrors". Draper and Howorth were huge, but not crazy big or totally out of a cultural context such as what we see today."

Q) Did your interest in nutrition come early as well?

As for the interest in nutrition, that did not come primarily from bodybuilding since initially I believed I would do just fine if I could land a can of Popeye's spinach. Really, I remember bugging my mother so much to get me a can of that stuff until I tasted it. The drive for nutrition came from wanting to know the foods that the real bodybuilders ate, but perhaps more so, my exploration into diet was a venture to see if I could halt the loss of my eyesight. This fascination with nutrition began around 1977, but picked up dramatically in the 1980s.

The eyesight loss was slow, but at times excruciating.   See, my conjunctiva and the epithelium of my inner eyelids began drying out causing the lids to turn inward and attack my cornea. If you ever have had sand in your eyes, just imagine that feeling for weeks on end. My teens were a terrible time
for me.

Q) So let me interrupt and ask you when the spinach didn't pan out, what did you initially learn about the connection between nutrition and bodybuilding? You must have had some success if your interest in the subject skyrocketed. Did you have any success with your vision?

A) Yeah, the spinach was a real downer. I mean, I was so hyped for that stuff!   My naivety back in the 1970s and 1980s was so extreme. I basically believed in much of what I was reading. When the spinach didn't pan out, of course I believed the real secrets for true muscle growth came from Weider supplements. In fact, I was so convinced that I actually stole a can of his protein in the early 1970s because I didn't have the money to buy it. I mean, that is how bad I wanted it. I didn't typically steal at that age. Well, it was either the desire for the protein or Betty Weider's huge knockers on the can label that led me to do so. Although it was a chocolate based powder, it didn't taste much better than the spinach. However, Betty made it worthwhile.

I used supplements on and off from the mid to late 1970s; primarily a protein powder brand with Doug Hepburn's name on it. Hepburn was a champion Canadian weightlifter from the 1950s. The heaviest supplementation I engaged was from the early to mid 1980s. However, I was also an idiot and smoked and drank through that era and that did not do my eye condition any good. Back at that time, you could actually smoke in your hospital bed forshit sake. Compounding the bad habits, the botched surgeries where they were scraping my cornea and grafting mucus membrane from inside my mouth onto my eyeball didn't help my situation either.

Q) So, you mentioned that your interest in bodybuilding began to pick up in the later 1970s? What were you reading back at that time?

Many of the books I used for the "Muscle Smoke and Mirrors" project, I had purchased way back when they first came out in the late 1970s when bodybuilding began to emerge into the mainstream. My first bodybuilding magazines came just before turning 13 years old with the July, 1972 issue of Muscle Builder and the August, 1972 issue of Muscular Development. The former magazine had Ed Corney on the cover with Reg Park gracing the cover of the latter. I then purchased Dave Draper's last magazine cover with the August, 1973 issue of Muscle Builder.

With my interest in karate and hockey, I didn't buy my next issue of a bodybuilding magazine until late 1977 or early 1978 when I was in the hospital for an eye operation. I picked up the February, 1978 issue of Muscle Builder with Kalman Szkalak on the cover. That guy had crazy peaks on his biceps.   That was when my interest in bodybuilding picked up along with my interest in nutrition. From late 1976 until roughly 1983, I would undergo about 12 eye surgeries. That was my second and last barrage of surgeries. The first 12 to 15 came back in the 1960s.

Anyways, my fascination with nutrition was underway. I was a ferocious reader with almost a photographic memory. I would go to the University of Waterloo book store and read their nutrition textbooks cover to cover along with a good number of books on diet that were hitting the shelves by the early 1980s. Of course I would be distracted by the cholesterol nonsense for a number of years, but it did lead me to try other things such as vegan vegetarianism for about 4.5 years. Regardless, that didn't work for me and it wasn't until almost the mid 1990s that I came to my senses about the lies
being perpetrated on us regarding many things including diet.   From that point onward, I began reading the writings of Jay Robb, Mauro Di Pasquale, Atkins, Weston A. Price, Robert McCarrison, etc. I began drinking raw milk around 2000, then Dr. Ron Schmid introduced me to raw meat and a bit later to Aajonus Vonderplantiz. I have been a raw food eater ever since.

It was actually Sally Fallon of the Weston A. Price Foundation who asked me to write an article on the diets of the bodybuilders that led to the"Muscle Smoke and Mirrors" project. Little did I know what that would lead to.

Q) Before we get into that, tell us about your experience with a vegan diet. How long were you on it and what happened with your health during that period?

In the fall of 1985 I lost all of my sight. Some of it was restored with drugs such as atropine, homatropine (pupil dilators) and cortical steroid drops. I remember the one doctor telling me that they were going to put me on steroids and I said, "you mean like what the athletes take?" He said, "Ah...no. These are more the opposite." I told them no way, but then they came up with the bright idea of injecting the drug directly into my eyeball. I laughed at the notion of me willingly holding my eye steady as they drove a needle into it. However, the bastards came up with a way to do just that.
It was actually more scary than painful. Well, at least in comparison with some of the other procedures I had to endure.

Anyway, those procedures were enough for me to begin thinking of other alternatives. In the spring of 1986, my brother-in-law lent me his copy of Harvey Diamond's "Fit For Life." His book considered with the cholesterol hysteria of that era. Harvey convinced me that raw food eating could help reverse disease. However, all animal products according to him were the prime cause of pretty much all disease. So, at the age of 26, at the height of my lifting, I became a vegan vegetarian.

I probably lost 30 lbs in about 7 to 8 weeks. I just couldn't get enough food eating that way. In fact, I wasn't digesting all those raw vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds.   I had a terrible body odor and I thought my training partner was going to jump out the gym window just to get away from me. I wasn't overly worried about that and just figured I needed time to adjust or adapt. I stuck with it for about 4.5 years, but had lost all my strength as a bodybuilder. I actually stopped bench pressing, squats, and dead lifting since I was embarrassed over how much my poundages had fell.

I eventually broke out with terrible boils and a type of cystic acne. It was brutal. I finally gave it up and I would say I haven't been totally the same ever since.

Next time: Randy recovers from his vegan diet, takes up raw milk and joins the Weston Price Foundation. Also, an article for the Foundation becomes the launching pad for his three volume Magnum Opus. We get into his research experience and learn just how he does it all without sight.

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Copyright © 2012 Charles Welling

What About Those Unusual Rheo Blair Supplements?

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Welling) — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 22:45:00 +0000

UPDATED 1/15/2012.

Today we have uploaded to this site on a static page the second primary document in our series of original Rheo Blair documents; printed items he produced for his business and which shed light on his work.

Today's document, entitled "WHAT IS UNUSUAL ABOUT BLAIR SUPPLEMENTS" is a supplement brochure Rheo Blair used from the late 70's/early 80's and contains listings and descriptions of the following items: B-Complex, Choline Plus, Liver Extract, Peptain HCL, Iron Plus, Iocen, Lecithin, Calcium P-F, Calcium Plus, Soybro, Vitamin E, Vitamin A, Cod Liver Oil, Vitamin C, Bio Pus, and Vitamin E.

Access the document by clicking here: Rheo Blair Supplement Brochure. An introduction to the brochure as well as relevant information on what the brochure does not contain is included. The product descriptions are of interest to anyone wishing to learn more about the man and what he did. They offer the most specific information about Rheo Blair's individual products available anywhere online -- and were written by the man himself!

Having said that, this brochure is but one of MANY that the good man published over the course of his career. AND it is not a complete list of the products offered. There were several items available only to his "private clients" including the the all important Rheo Blair Amino Acids which were encapsulated free form amino acids and sold for -- get ready for this -- $572. for a bottle of 1,000. That is not a typo and that was the price back in 1978.

The brochure also does not include the Rheo Blair protein powders of which there were many formulas. More information on Rheo Blair's protein supplements can be found in the post entitled "Blair's Protein In Context," one of the first and most widely read of any on this blog.

Please note that our Rheo Blair Document collection may also be accessed from any page on this site by going to the bottom of the drop-down menu at the top of the page.

View the Blair Supplement Document

Again, here is a list of the Rheo Blair products included on the present document:

Rheo Blair's B COMPLEX
Rheo Blair's CHOLINE PLUS
Rheo Blair's LIVER EXTRACT
Rheo Blair's IRON PLUS
Rheo Blair's IOCEN
Rheo Blair's LECITHIN
Rheo Blair's CALCIUM P-f and CALCIUM PLUS
Rheo Blair's SOYBRO
Rheo Blair's VITAMIN A
Rheo Blair's COD LIVER OIL
Rheo Blair's VITAMIN C
Rheo Blair's BIO – PLUS
Rheo Blair's VITAMIN E

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Happy New Year! New Year's Eve at the Rheo Blair House

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Welling) — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 20:53:00 +0000

Note: This is a re-post from 2008 but it's time to share it again. Thank you for your continued enthusiastic support. I wish each and every one of you the happiest and most prosperous 2011!

Rheo Blair loved people and parties, and everyone looked forward to the annual New Years Eve celebration at his home. People began arriving in the early evening bringing (healthy) dishes. Rheo usually supplied two of his favorite foods: roast turkey and his special deviled eggs. Later in the evening, as the house was filled with friends, the entertainment began, usually including many of his famous and accomplished musical friends. One of these was concert pianist Mario Feninger (at whose home Lorraine and I will be enjoying a New Year's Day party tomorrow). As midnight approached at Blair House, Rheo Blair himself, a terrific showman with a very fine voice, took the microphone and was accompanied by Bob Ralston, the famous and brilliant organist/pianist from the Lawrence Welk television show. Bob, the master of ceremonies for the evening, would also give us a number of fine solos on Rheo's black Baldwin piano. Rheo and Bob were a fabulous combination. Rheo sang many wonderful songs, including one of his favorites, "California Here We Come," but what everyone really wanted to hear was his rendition of Nelson Eddy songs. Nelson Eddy was Rheo's hero and his singing voice sounded very VERY similar to Nelson Eddy's.

I wish I had a video of him singing at one of these parties to share with you here. Alas, I do not. But to give you a bit of flavor from a typical Rheo Blair New Year's party please enjoy the three wonderful Youtube videos below of Mario Feninger, Bob Ralston, and Nelson Eddy, respectively. So, grab some turkey and deviled eggs, pull up a chair and enjoy a little New Year's celebration a la Rheo Blair.

Happy New Year!
Have a wonderful 2011!

Mario Feninger plays in his Hollywood, California home:

Bob Ralston plays Cumana from an episode of the Lawrence Welk Show. Imagine attending a New Year's Eve party with this man entertaining!

And now, in memory of of Rheo and his beautiful Nelson Eddy-like voice, Nelson Eddy sings a ballad from the 1939 movie "Let Freedom Ring"

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Documents: Rheo Blair's Protein Way of Life

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Welling) — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 00:27:00 +0000

We have just uploaded the complete version of this Rheo Blair primary-source document along with an explanation of what it is and why it is important. For those of you who have found bits and pieces of it here and there online, we offer you a one stop source.

Our goal in the coming months is to make this site the most comprehensive and credible source anywhere for important information on Rheo Blair's life and work. To that end we will be posting certain of his documents and writings on dedicated static pages which blogger now makes possible.

You may access the Documents section via the drop down menu at the top of every page on this site. The document listings are on very bottom of the menu (and as of now, the Protein Way of Life is the only one uploaded to date; more coming soon).

To go directly to it now, click here: Document: Blair's Protein Way of Life

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Rheo Blair: We've Got Some Catching Up To Do

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Welling) — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 17:07:00 +0000

Yes, it has been a long time since our last post; 21 months to be exact. But an interesting thing -- and to me, a very humbling thing -- has happened during that time the credit for which goes to YOU the readers. This blog has continued to climb in the search engine rankings even without any new posts. In fact, this blog is NUMBER ONE, the first entry on the first page of every single major search engine including Google.

Let me say that again -- we are #1 on Google hands down when you search for any combination of "Rheo H Blair," with or without the "H" using "all these words" or search for "this exact wording or phrase." See for yourself: Rheo Blair.

This is an extraordinary development for which I can only say "Thank you" to all of you. I believe this says something about the integrity of the content on this site. The information is real and the purpose for posting it is for no other reason than to honor that good man and friend of many of us, Rheo Blair. We share information about him, period. Like most sites, we have a few Google ads hanging around to help support the site but that's about it.

I wish that were true of other sites many of which use his name and bits of his ideas to sell their own products. It is a remarkable commentary on Rheo's success in producing real results that 27 years after Rheo's death his name is still invoked by others to sell things. I am sure he wouldn't be surprised. After all people have been using his ideas since the time he first began. I'm thinking of Bob Hoffman who capitalized on then "Irvin Johnson's" protein supplements back in the early 1950's. Of course Hoffman wasn't giving Johnson the credit but he was capitalizing on Johnson's knowledge and success. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery so we do not criticize here; we smile and acknowledge Rheo's achievements such that they continue to live on well beyond the man himself.

And like with Rheo Blair himself, there has been a bit of this "imitation flattery" from others online using images and pieces of information from this site. I have found things elsewhere that were borrowed without the simple courtesy of acknowledgment much less a request for use. Such is the web I suppose. This sort of thing makes me hesitant to post new material prior to the publication of the book -- which by the way remains an active project. I have had many things get in the way of progress on the book but I hope to make great progress on it in 2011 and hopefully have an announcement about it sometime this next year.

In the meantime we will resume posting regularly while doing our best to save much of the best and most revealing information for the book itself. We look forward to your involvement in the comments section sharing what you remember about the man and his work.

So thank you for your continued support and interest. Here's to a great 2011 as we remember and discuss our friend, Rheo H. Blair.

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The Rheo Blair Interview Part 5: Conclusion

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Welling) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:53:00 +0000

The entire interview may be viewed here.

Ben: Why did Rheo Blair have people take so many pills as opposed to eating whole foods? What were his pills trying to simulate? Were there any changes to Blair’s pills over the course of his career?

Charles: Well first he was certainly in favor of whole foods and opposed to the processed, nutrient depleted fare of the standard American diet. His clients ate whole foods daily; some more, some less. Part of my daily routine included whole eggs, raw milk, raw butter, whole grain toast, etc. And those of his clients on a non-building program, i.e. weight loss or something else certainly did eat an abundance of whole foods. They typically did consume some of his protein supplement because it was such a good source of healthy non-denatured protein; but their dietary regimes emphasized more whole foods. But in addition to the whole foods and/or protein supplements his clients all took large quantities – megadoses they are called – of supplements. It really was not a question of pills instead of whole foods. But yes the pills played a huge role, especially for those of us who were wanting to gain. And in that regard Rheo had a unique concern in his work with those wanting to put on solid muscle; the ability to get an abundance of protein in the clients’ diet – upwards of several hundred grams per day -- without overloading the stomach. That is no easy trick. If the stomach becomes overloaded one encounters several issues; not wanting to eat for hours and so you end up ultimately getting less protein in; lethargy which means the body is using too much energy simply trying to digest food rather than using that energy for assimilation and thus growth. If you are not digesting your food efficiently, you are not getting everything out of it you should – and Rheo wanted you to assimilate ALL the nutrients in your food. So he came up with a system that made the hi-level protein intake relatively easy and even pleasant. He had a system of concentrated and tasty protein puddings and shakes which one took throughout the day; many small meals so the stomach never got overloaded. He wrote an entire booklet about it called “Rheo Blair’s Protein Way of Life” explaining the process in detail so it was easy to accomplish.

Hand in hand with the quantities of protein went quantities of pills. The supplements served various needs related to digestion and assimilation. One of his favorite sayings was “it’s not what you eat, it’s what you assimilate!” For those wanting to gain muscle they were important in ramping up the ability of the body to turn ingested protein into muscle. For those wanting to lose weight they assisted in fat reduction. Obviously, many people found it difficult to take hundreds of pills every day. Stuffing the stomach could be a real issue. So, like with the protein he had his students either divide them up into 4 or 5 feedings per day. Or, if that didn’t work, he then suggested they “nibble” on them all day perhaps taking on or two every few minutes.

Now to take your question one step further. Bodybuilding was one thing but many of his clients were sickly, skinny, frail and, as such, were found to have unique needs above and beyond what I just described for bodybuilding in general. I was an example of this – a sickly, frail, teen -- and I and others like me were anything but bodybuilders. We just wanted normal, healthy bodies. What Rheo found out in his work with us is that we were been born with extreme needs of certain nutrients and that we required these nutrients in very substantial quantities just to be able to function normally on a daily basis. To obtain such quantities it is necessary to use supplements. Not instead of whole foods but as supplements to whole foods. The needed levels of certain nutrients cannot be achieved by diet alone no matter how whole, unprocessed and nutritious the diet. That said, the diet is critical and goes hand in hand with the supplement regime; they are complementary. There is a great deal of work being done today on this subject in the field of orthomolecular medicine.

The part of your question concerning any changes to Blair’s pills over the course of his career could be the subject for a lengthy article all by itself. Suffice it to say that he had a line of supplements during his Chicago years in the 1950’s and when he moved to California he completely revamped and expanded his supplement line. He also tinkered with specific formulations for his products as new information dictated, always striving for the very best; after all, he was consuming hundreds of his own pills every day himself. He was formulating them for himself, first. The same can be said of his protein supplements. When he got to California, he began discarding his Chicago line and came out with several new formulas based on the concept of the growth factors in human breast milk. He consumed them himself and was always his own client first. He understood the frailty of his own health given his background and wanted nothing but the finest for himself. He was constantly tinkering with and upgrading his formulations. He also personally experimented with substances that were not part of his product line; he would do this and, if he felt they had merit, would add them to his line. But first he would try them extensively on himself and then possibly on friends, close clients, etc. to judge their efficacy. One thing he was very interested in during his latter years was royal jelly, the food of the queen bee. This is a substance that, when eaten by an ordinary worker bee, transforms that bee into a queen bee. This is interesting to ponder because one can sense a certain similarity with the royal jelly to the growth ideas and growth factors of his “mothers milk” protein formulations. He consumed this stuff in enormous quantities every day. We are talking tablespoons full of pure royal jelly. And this was at a time when it was not nearly as available as it is today. He spent a small fortune on it. But that was Rheo; always experimenting and no price was too high.

Ben: What are some ways in which pills could speed change and induce change?

Charles: Going back to biochemical individuality, as mentioned previously we are all as different on the inside of our bodies as we look on the outside. Significantly, our organs are not of uniform size and shape. Oh sure, they are all basically the same organs from one person to the next but there, in terms of practical reality, is where the similarities end. In his book, Biochemical Individuality, Roger Williams has two large diagrams of specimens of stomachs and livers showing their variation in form from one person to the next. You look at those diagrams and they really get you to thinking about what we are talking about here. Take the liver for example. We all have the same basic size and shape livers but the specific specifications can vary considerably. Indeed, the dimensions of my liver may be as different from your liver as are the dimensions of my arm from from your arm. And what is critical here is that this difference in size and shape affects function and efficiency – and of course I mean far more for an organ than for an arm. An arm has a few basic functions; the liver, thousands. You, for example, may have a strong efficient liver superbly managing blood sugar, conjugating hormones and a thousand other vital activities whereas I may have one that struggles simply to keep up with day to day requirements resulting in a considerably lower level of health. Rheo’s whole idea was that the difference between a skinny, sickly, weak person and a thriving energetic person – for example an Arnold Schwarzenegger – was in their body chemistry, and by this he meant the functioning of their organs and glands; their efficiency and ability to manage hormone balance, blood sugar, turning food into muscle and tissue and just overall the entire realm of blood chemistry issues the liver and other organs are responsible for. If you can optimize organ/gland function, you can almost create a whole new person. Hormone balance alone has a huge influence on the health and strength of the body. What Rheo was doing with his megadosing of supplements was to support and, where needed, improve the functioning of the organs and glands. When the glands function well, you literally get more nutrition assimilated out of your food; you have more energy; your immune system functions better, etc. All of these are critical to good health. And if you want to be a bodybuilder, well, all of these things need to be running at peek efficiency as well. But to effect the changes in blood chemistry that he sought took truly huge quantities of certain nutrients. And again this varied from client to client. Rheo’s supplement regimes were, though enormous, targeted and specific for ones individual needs.

One other thought here, you mentioned whole foods. Rheo would never suggest you eat anything but whole foods (his protein powders were an exception to this perhaps; but there were reasons in his programs for using a concentrated protein source and the powders themselves were undenatured and very close in many biochemical respects to the milk and eggs they came from). But getting back to using pills and powders instead of completely relying on whole foods. Two reasons; one already mentioned – the nutritional needs of some people are such that it is impossible to get what they need from food alone. Secondly, Rheo’s methods allowed dramatic results to happen over a fairly short period of time; weeks or months whereas this wouldn’t be possible in quite the same way relying on foods alone. His methods not only made dramatic transformations possible, they dramatically condensed the time needed to accomplish them. And remember, too, that a rapid transformation measured in mere months had been his own personal experience when he started out so, naturally, it is what he was excited about and what he espoused.

Ben: Rheo Blair was an unconventional thinker. What were some ways that he challenged conventional and acted out of the ordinary?

Charles: He challenged his clients in many regards. Everything about him was unconventional from his research methodology to his spiritual thinking. The more you got to know him the more he shared his ideas with you and challenged you. There is much more to his thinking than most people realize– even those with some familiarity with him.

Nutritionally speaking, he was the original high-protein lo-carb guru. He was also the original nutrition-focused bodybuilding coach. Today it would be unheard of to try bodybuilding without eating a diet and taking supplements conducive to growth. Pick up a bodybuilding magazine today and you find page after page of protein and supplement ads as well as nutritional advice. But until Rheo came on the scene, bodybuilding thinking was almost entirely centered around exercise alone with very little attention paid to what goes in one’s mouth. Through his work and writings he convinced people that if they wanted to get their bodies correct they had to first get their nutrition correct. Exercise could be complementary to this fact but not a substitute for it. Indeed, he felt that exercise was not always good; too much could have a detrimental effect on one. This is quite contrary to the conventional wisdom that exercise is always good and that more is better. One exercise in particular he had problems with was the squat; a very, very popular exercise even today. He felt them to be detrimental for more than one reason but particularly because, in his thinking, they negatively affect endocrine function and balance which was exactly the opposite of what you want to be doing as a bodybuilder. In the Blair philosophy, good endocrine function and balance is the very foundation of a strong, beautiful body.

Ben: Would you like to share any final thoughts?

Charles: He was one of history’s truly unique “originals.” He died an untimely death in the early 1980’s during the ascendancy of hi-carb diets as his ideas seemed to be fading away. Sad, really, to see one’s ideas trashed in one’s final years. So he would be thrilled today with much of what is happening out there; the increasing popularity of low carb dieting, the deservedly bad rap that sugar increasingly gets, the acceptance and widespread use of supplements and just in general the active interest more and more people are taking in their own health. I think, too he would appreciate the growing skepticism with which the medical profession is viewed in terms of it’s ability – or lack thereof – to heal the causes of disease and create real health. As a person, he was a kind, prince of a fellow, thoughtful, giving and generous and those who were privileged to be counted among his friends were truly blessed by his friendship.

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The Rheo Blair Interview: Part 4

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Welling) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 23:34:00 +0000

Ben: What did Rheo consider the ideal body? What were the ideal body’s characteristics and who are some examples of ideal bodies?

Charles: Rheo actually had a lot to say about this very subject (click the picture nearby to enlarge and learn more). He was at least as interested in proportion and symmetry as he was in size, and arguably more so. That is, he encouraged muscular growth to be sure, but within reason. He was never in favor of “big for big’s sake”, so to speak and strongly objected to the idea that bigger is always better. He also found it absurd that some bodybuilders concentrate primarily on some specific muscle or region of the body without giving any thought as to how these look in proportion to the rest of the body. In other words he was interested in the whole picture, not just one or two parts of the body while forgetting about the rest of it. He also thought a thin midsection was attractive and so felt that it was best to avoid squats which tended -- in his view -- to produce a large fanny (to be sure he had other reasons to oppose the squat which I will cover in the book). It should be noted, too, that there was one part of the body he felt was often disregarded by bodybuilders – and that is the calf. Too many bodybuilders, he said, have underdeveloped calves. So he came up with this brilliant little “calf stretcher” device for the purpose of giving the calf a good workout. In fact he sold an entire calf building program out of his Chicago offices. And for those who insisted on doing squats he felt it important to at least have well developed calves so that the squat could be performed both correctly and with reasonable safely. Finally, you asked for some examples of ideal bodies as he saw them. Glen Bishop and Steve Reeves were two of his favorites. Their physiques were both well developed AND symmetrical; you might say they had muscles but just the right amount.

Ben: How would Rheo Blair determine an individual’s program? What commonalities did all programs have and what varied between individual programs?

Charles: Blair’s broad, guiding principle was biochemical individuality – the idea that our bodies look as different on the inside as we all do on the outside. That is to say that our glands and organs are all shaped and sized unique to us and that these differences in size and shape affect their function and therefore our health -- and that such considerations which influenced a persons chemistry are critical in determining an individual’s program. So he wanted to find out what kind of chemistry a client had. What were his endocrinal and hormonal tendencies and characteristics. When he got the answers to these questions then he knew what needed help and what kind of help would work. I mean by that which nutrients and how much. Specifically, he looked at blood chemistry, endocrine types, body types and body measurements when determining an individual’s program. All of the programs included an abundance of sleep, supplements, protein, raw milk, raw eggs, and small amounts of complex carbohydrates. Those losing weight would consume less protein and would have salads thrown into the mix. Their supplement regime would include higher amounts of nutrients beneficial to their reducing goal such as choline. The use of sugar and other simple carbohydrates was absolutely verboten! To sum up, Blair assigned each client an individualized regime and would therefore vary the types and amounts of exercise, the quantity and mix of supplements, and the dietary specifics.

Next time: Why did Rheo Blair have people take so many pills as opposed to eating whole foods? What were his pills trying to simulate? Were there any changes to Blair’s pills over the course of his career?

And: What are some ways in which pills could speed change and induce change?

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Copyright © 2009 Charles Welling
All rights reserved.

Information found on Rheo H. Blair: The Book is meant for educational and informational purposes only, and to motivate you to make your own health care and dietary decisions based upon your own research and in partnership with your health care provider. It should not be relied upon to determine dietary changes, a medical diagnosis or courses of treatment.

The Rheo Blair Interview: Part Three

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Welling) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 01:32:00 +0000

Ben: Who are some other people that had a large influence on Rheo Blair or were largely influenced by him?

Charles: There were several other nutritionists over the years who, in varying degrees, influenced his thinking including Roger Williams, Richard Passwater, Henry Bieler, Linus Pauling and others. These will all be covered in the book including the story of one particularly interesting and pivotal influence he experienced. Then too, there were other non-nutritional influences on his thinking that helped shape the person we came to know. You see, Rheo had the practice of looking to brilliant minds outside the realm of nutrition as role models he could learn something from. Among these were people such as Thomas Edison whose methods of experimentation and habits of persistence Rheo would apply to various areas of his life including, of course, his own nutritional experimentation.

I might briefly mention one other interesting nutritional character in the life of Rheo Blair and that is none other than Dr. Robert Atkins. Long before Atkins wrote his first book on low-carb dieting, Rheo had been using very similar principles with many of his clients in Chicago. This was no coincidence. Many people have made the point that long before Dr. Atkins was writing about it, Rheo was doing it. Now, as Paul Harvey would have said, we are going to find out “the rest of the story…” The connection between Rheo Blair and Robert Atkins is none other than Carlton Fredericks. Atkins refers in one of his books to Carlton Fredericks as “my mentor” – which is an indication of Fredericks’ considerable influence on Atkins. They remained close and even collaborated professionally, Fredericks working as a nutrition consultant in Atkins medical office in New York. So we know now that Carlton Fredericks played an influential role in the thinking of both Rheo Blair and Robert Atkins and that both of them relied on Fredericks to greater or lesser degrees throughout their respective careers. Of course Blair and Atkins knew each other, too. I might mention a long telephone conversation that Blair had with Atkins one day in 1978 when I was at his home. When he got off the phone, he swiveled around in his chair and said to me, “do you know who that was?” and I said, no. He then held up a copy of Atkins first book and said “that was the author of this book, Dr. Robert Atkins. He’s a brilliant man…”

Ben: How did Rheo become prominent in body building? What were some of his main successes?

Charles: Well it began with his own dramatic transformation and the subsequent similar transformations of many of his students, all of which he documented with before and after photographs. Those photos – and the transformation stories behind them, -- became famous as word about his work spread. He began his work in rented space adjacent to the Chicago YMCA gym he lived in where, for a fee, he coached work-outs while offering his recently acquired nutritional methods – which he was VERY excited about. His “business” grew and one thing led to the next eventually resulting in his opening a gym in the Chicago loop. Here he began selling protein and a small line of unique supplements.

Here too he began publishing Tomorrow’s Man Magazine. The magazine did very well and developed a respectable following in a short period of time. He published many of his before and after cases in the magazine which spread his fame in the bodybuilding world. Before Tomorrow's Man came on the scene, however, he had previously appeared in and written several prominent articles in another magazine -- Iron Man Magazine, THE bodybuilding publication; the “Bible” of Bodybuilding, if you will. It was in Iron Man that the public at large first began to take notice of Rheo’s work.

His two main areas of success were in working with professional bodybuilders at one extreme and with underdeveloped “95 pound weaklings” at the other. More specifically, he produced prize winning bodybuilding champions while at the same time taking scrawny, frail young men (much as he had once been) for whom the usual diet and exercise weren’t helping -- and giving them fine bodies they could be proud of. One of the most interesting aspects of both the champion bodybuilders and the scrawny young men he worked with was the almost unbelievably short period of time it took to produce those results. In some cases we are talking about less than a month, occasionally, longer. He worked with other types too including a middle aged lady who after years of living on what amounted to spaghetti and cake, was on death’s door – and she looked it. She was also angry and downcast of spirit. Several months later she was virtually unrecognizable as being the same person. Even her personality was transformed into that of a vibrant, happy, energetic person. The change in personality in this lady and as we saw earlier with Rheo himself, would be a familiar thread running throughout his career. His clients often saw their personalities change as dramatically as did their bodies. This was the case with me, too. After all, it’s difficult to be happy if you don’t feel good. This is because the nutrients his students received produced some real changes in brain chemistry. When one has a need for nutrients that are absent entirely or at insufficient levels in the diet, this can cause personality issues ranging from mild depression to something much worse such as bi-polar type symptoms, for example. This is an interesting field of inquiry. More can be learned about this subject by exploring orthomolecular medicine.

Next time: What did Rheo consider the ideal body? What were the ideal body’s characteristics and who are some examples of ideal bodies?

And: How would Rheo Blair determine an individual’s program? What commonalities did all programs have and what varied between individual programs?

Contact me

Copyright © 2009 Charles Welling
All rights reserved.

Information found on Rheo H. Blair: The Book is meant for educational and informational purposes only, and to motivate you to make your own health care and dietary decisions based upon your own research and in partnership with your health care provider. It should not be relied upon to determine dietary changes, a medical diagnosis or courses of treatment.

A note on Carlton Fredericks and Bernarr Macfadden

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Welling) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 00:58:00 +0000

I mentioned in Part II of the interview two key influences on Rheo Blair's nutritional thinking: Bernarr Macfadden and Carlton Fredericks. Some will find this intellectual lineage fascinating while others will scoff that neither of these two men possessed the credentials the world recognizes as legitimate and will therefore be more likely to cast a jaundiced eye on Rheo himself. We need to consider these matters briefly for my work in documenting Rheo's life is not so as to present a court case arguing for or against his professional legitimacy in the eyes of the American Medical Association; it is simply to tell his story and an interesting story it is.

Carlton Fredericks was not a nutritionist, if by that term one means a licensed clinical practitioner. His life's focus was in researching, writing and speaking on practical nutrition for the consumer. He was exceedingly well-read and studied on the subject, and garnered much respect from colleagues in the fields of nutrition, chemistry and medicine. Indeed many of his readers and listeners considered him a "nutritionist," and to them he WAS their nutritionist; for here was a man who wrote and spoke with detailed eloquence yet used down to earth language that everyone could understand. The bottom line is his audience found his information both practical and effective, and as a result he developed a huge following. Well, that success was good news for him, but it was also bad news, because the orthodox medical "powers that be" were spooked by his growing popularity and influence. They hounded him in court, but when all was said and done he was able to continue his writing and speaking. He lost a few battles along the way but he won the war. One might add that those who would attempt to discredit his ideas by criticizing his lack of orthodox credentials are not really interested in the credentials themselves; it is the ideas they fear, for they criticize anyone in the field of alternative health regardless of their credentials -- physicians, chiropractors, psychiatrists, etc. When alternative health professionals have their credentials in order, their detractors in the media go after their ideas, especially when those ideas point away from drugs and surgery as the answer to every health concern and point toward the preventive and healing effect proper diet and supplementation can have on one's health. Carlton Fredericks wrote: "what nutrition cures, it normally prevents." That's the real concern -- that such self-health ideas might catch on among the general public. Attacking Carlton Fredericks for his credentials is nothing more than a cheap shot. A reading of his books will clearly display his knowledge on the subject of nutrition.

For his part, Bernarr Macfadden was a promoter of various fitness and nutritional ideas, many of his own concocting; he was, to be sure, a complete character. If you would like to learn more about him you can find much information here. As it happens, the ideas Rheo got and used from these two men, Bernarr Macfadden and Carlton Fredericks, worked brilliantly for him when he combined them in his own way; their lack of credentials notwithstanding. That is the take-away point here.

Now then, getting back to the telling of Rheo's story. There is more to that story here and the information gives us a fascinating glimpse into the person Rheo was. Rheo himself was not licensed or formally educated in any way and this is a fact he was actually very proud of. He believed -- and said this often -- that higher education closed rather than opened the mind and the thinking process. This is the opposite of what he sought; he wanted to learn how to open the mind and increase his creativity. In this pursuit he studied both philosophy on the theoretical side and self made men of great achievement on the practical side. Chief among his heroes in this regard was Thomas Edison. Rheo went so far as to model his own pursuit for nutritional knowledge and discovery on Edison's research methods. Rheo further believed that many of mankind's greatest achievements have been by men without the education and credentials the world recognizes. So the fact that MacFadden and Fredericks were self made men was all the more reason, in his thinking, to pay attention to them, not dismiss them out of hand! Indeed, Rheo had visited credentialed, licensed, "legitimate" orthodox medical professionals for years in search of answers for himself -- but to no avail. It was only when he began looking "outside the box" that the knowledge he sought presented itself.

Edison would have been proud.

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Information found on Rheo H. Blair: The Book is meant for educational and informational purposes only, and to motivate you to make your own health care and dietary decisions based upon your own research and in partnership with your health care provider. It should not be relied upon to determine dietary changes, a medical diagnosis or courses of treatment.

The Rheo Blair Interview: Part Two

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Welling) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 20:44:00 +0000

Rheo Blair's childhood on the farm: a frail and sick boy.

Transition to health; discovery of nutrition and development of key principles.

Ben: What was Rheo’s early life like? What early failures and disappointments did he experience while developing his theories?

Charles: Rheo was born on a farm in 1921 in rural New Jersey to parents who were chain smokers and described as very thin, frail people. Rheo himself was very sick and frail as a child. The extent to which his parents’ poor health and lack of physical fortitude may have influenced his own health is difficult to determine since Rheo had an older brother who was in fine health all his life. In other words, the parents own frailty apparently did not affect his brother as it did Rheo. However, Rheo claimed his mother contracted polio not long before his birth and that this was the reason he himself suffered health problems; in other words that he inherited a constitutional weakness resulting from his mothers condition. But this is not the complete story as it is known that Rheo lost a kidney at the age of nine due to an accident and that his health deteriorated after this happened. He was always reticent to speak about this. In any case his doctors did not expect him to live to see his 20th birthday and he was frequently so sick that he finally had to leave high school. This left him with plenty of time to daydream and so he looked with envy and desire at pictures of bodybuilders, dreaming and wishing to transform his own body to look like theirs. He read everything he could get his hands on about exercise and muscle growth. This led him to order the Charles Atlas course but after months of daily workouts and having followed the instructions to the letter -- he got nowhere. In fact he said the exercises just made him tired.

Ben: What was Blair’s key breakthrough? Who were the key people in shaping Blair’s philosophy and what did they teach him?

Charles: As I said, Rheo read everything he could get his hands on. This reading continued after he became frustrated with barbells and push ups. He came across some information from Bernarr Macfadden that got his attention, so much so that Macfadden ultimately became one of the biggest influences on his thinking. Blair (and of course we are talking about “Irvin Johnson” at this point in his life…) read about the health wonders of drinking large quantities of milk, and I mean consuming nothing but milk for several weeks. This experience was the first major turning point in his life wherein he began changing from being a sickly young man into the robust, dynamic person who changed other peoples lives. His health improved enough with the milk the he genuinely felt good for the first time he could remember. He was even able to go out and get his first job. Quite an accomplishment for an invalid!

However, after a period of time on the milk diet, he developed a sensitivity to the milk resulting in problems including digestion issues. He had to stop drinking milk which consequently resulted in a deterioration once more of his health. However, he continued his voracious reading in search of more and better answers. One expert whose information he encountered was nutritionist Carlton Fredericks. Here he found the answers he had been seeking and Fredericks quickly became Blair’s primary nutritional mentor and remained so for the next 40 years . Rheo took a class with Fredericks in New York where he learned a few methods to improve the digestion and assimilation of the nutrients in the milk. Now he was able to put together a comprehensive health and bodybuilding program for himself which completely turned his life around. He transformed himself over the course of several weeks to the point where people found it hard to believe it could be the same person. He just looked completely different. He had added the muscle that had so eluded him earlier. He even won a minor bodybuilding contest in Chicago. But it was not just muscle. His chemistry was different. He had energy. His skin had better color, his hair had luster. Even his personality was different. No longer downtrodden quiet and depressed. He was dynamic, energetic, outgoing and genuinely happy. Fredericks and Blair remained close until the latter's death in 1983 frequently speaking on the phone and exchanging correspondence. In the summer of 1983, just four months before Rheo died, he and I traveled to New York City to appear on “The Morning Show” with Regis Philbin and Cyndy Garvey. Later that same day we were guests on Carlton Fredericks’ daily radio program for a full half hour. Thus I had the enormous privilege of meeting this great man that meant so much to Rheo and, by extension, to me.

To be continued...

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The Rheo Blair Interview: Part One

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Welling) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 21:46:00 +0000

Ben: How did you meet Rheo Blair and how was your relationship with him?

Charles: It began with Rheo’s frequent guest appearances on ABC Television’s A.M. Los Angeles with Regis Philbin in the late 1970’s. His segments dealt with a variety of topics, healthy recipes which he demonstrated in the studio kitchen, exercises – he jumped on his mini trampoline once, etc. His most popular appearances were when he brought before and after photos of his students – blown up very large and mounted on foam board -- whose bodies and health had been dramatically – and I mean dramatically -- transformed under Blair’s guidance. These were remarkable, eye popping photographs of people, mostly young men, showing how they looked before Blair’s program and again a few weeks later after working with Blair. The photos and the stories of health transformation that went with them really got my mother’s attention whenever she saw Rheo on the show. You see I had been a sickly child and my parents did not know where to turn for help; they had tried several approaches. Finally, having seen many of his cases on Philbin’s show, my parents contacted Rheo and set up an appointment to speak with him at his home (seen in the photo at the top of this post). I vividly recall that day, seeing all the before and afters and realizing that here was a program that could give me the health and vitality that had eluded me for so long. Rheo saw my interest and enthusiasm and immediately accepted me as a client – which was a stroke of great luck for me since he had a lengthy waiting list at any given time. I moved in with him two weeks later and stayed for several months during which time I was under his 24 hour care and tutelage. Each day I consumed several hundred grams of protein, supplements in the form of 500 capsules and pills – and again, this is each day. In addition I underwent three hours of blood circulation enhancing physical therapy treatments Monday through Friday, did a few minutes of light exercise and slept 12 to 16 hours a day. That, in a nutshell, was the Blair program that transformed my health and made me one of his before and afters.

The journey of healing during the transformation was, for the most part, very pleasant. Rheo and I got along well; indeed he was easy to get along with! Rheo was a people lover and people loved him. He was such a fascinating person; unlike anyone else I have ever met. He treated me very well and was generous with his time and attention. And there was always something interesting going on at his home. I can't tell you how many Hollywood celebrities I met during my time there. It was a thrilling experience in so many ways.

Ben: What was Rheo H. Blair’s real name? Why did he change it?

Charles: His given name was Irvin P. Johnson. In considering why he changed his name it is important to understand that Rheo was very open-minded and inquisitive. He was always looking for new ways to grow and improve as a person. He often explored ideas that were outside the mainstream including two of his favorites, astrology and numerology. The latter is where the name change came from, a friend having recommended a numerologist. This numerologist taught a detailed philosophy in the form of a self study program wherein he functioned as a teacher or even “guru”, mentoring the student throughout the process. Once the student successfully completed the course the guru gave him his “true” name based upon the numerological properties of the student’s birth date. Having, using and completely accepting this name as one’s real name would, according to this philosophy, make him a stronger (in every sense of the word) person and a more successful person. Rheo became so completely enamored of this philosophy, passionate even, that he talked about it frequently and with such conviction as though he had discovered the very meaning of life. His passion was obviously convincing and compelling because several of his close associates subsequently went through the same process of obtaining their “true names.” So I got to know a number of people – five that I can think of off the top of my head -- with these odd sounding names. As if the atmosphere at Rheo’s home wasn’t already interesting enough, this made it all the more so. I should add that he disowned his given name as not being the real him, as being irrelevant and entirely random whereas his “real name” was based upon what he viewed as scientific and spiritual truth and therefore legitimate in his eyes.

To be continued...

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I Am Interviewed about Rheo Blair

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Welling) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 23:18:00 +0000

A detailed interview covering many aspects of Rheo's life
and work.

Includes information not previously published.

I received an interview request sometime back from a reader who runs his own blog, and an impressive blog it is! I refer you to The Complete Body. Ben, the blog master, writes a frequently updated blog on various aspects of healthy living. He believes that most commonly held ideas about health and nutrition are incorrect and harmful. His willingness to question common assumptions, explore alternatives and publish his findings is a hopeful sign for the future of health. If more people did this -- and increasingly they are! -- we would all be better off as more people took charge of their own health and avoided illness in the first place.

There is no better self-research resource than the Weston Price Foundation and it is a search for information on Weston Price that led Ben to this blog. He wrote to me "My background about Rheo Blair is that I discovered him through your site while researching Weston Price. I was fascinated while reading about Rheo because he went against popular culture while producing great results. His lessons have been very helpful in the development of my personal beliefs. To mention a few items in particular Rheo inspired me to begin looking at raw eggs, question the use of squats, and consider the importance of organ health in relation to overall health". So I want to encourage you to visit his blog and check out his research and his ideas. I believe you will find his blog an excellent resource as you take charge of your own health!

The interview of me about Rheo (and yes that is my "after" picture at the top of this post) will begin to appear more or less simultaneously on both his blog and this one. Ben intends to divide the interview into three parts and publish one part each week for three weeks. I don't have the start date as of this writing but sometime within the next few days. The interview questions are as follows:

How did you meet Rheo Blair and how was your relationship with him?

What was Rheo H. Blair’s real name? Why did he change it?

What was Rheo’s early life like? What early failures and disappointments did he experience while developing his theories?

What was Blair’s key breakthrough? Who were the key people in shaping Blair’s philosophy and what did they teach him?

Who are some other people that had a large influence on Rheo Blair or were largely influenced by him?

How did Rheo become prominent in body building? What were some of his main successes?

What did Rheo consider the ideal body? What were the ideal body’s characteristics and who are some examples of ideal bodies?

How would Rheo Blair determine an individual’s program? What commonalities did all programs have and what varied between individual programs?

Why did Rheo Blair have people take so many pills as opposed to eating whole foods? What were his pills trying to simulate? Were there any changes to Blair’s pills over the course of his career?

What are some ways in which pills could speed change and induce change?

Rheo Blair was an unconventional thinker. What were some ways that he challenged the conventional and acted out of the ordinary?

Would you like to share any final thoughts?

Since the answers I gave him tended to be somewhat lengthy, I am going to publish one or two questions at a time here on a twice or thrice weekly basis. I would love your input as we go along. So check back soon for Part I.

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New Year's Eve at Blair House

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Welling) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 20:58:00 +0000

Rheo Blair loved people and parties, and everyone looked forward to the annual New Years Eve celebration at his home. People began arriving in the early evening bringing (healthy) dishes. Rheo usually supplied two of his favorite foods: roast turkey and his special deviled eggs. Later in the evening, as the house was filled with friends, the entertainment began, usually including many of his famous and accomplished musical friends. One of these was concert pianist Mario Feninger (at whose home Lorraine and I will be enjoying a New Year's Day party tomorrow). As midnight approached at Blair House, Rheo himself, a terrific showman with a very fine voice, took the microphone and was accompanied by Bob Ralston, the famous and brilliant organist/pianist from the Lawrence Welk television show. Bob, the master of ceremonies for the evening, would also give us a number of fine solos on Rheo's black Baldwin piano. Rheo and Bob were a fabulous combination. Rheo sang many wonderful songs, including one of his favorites, "California Here We Come," but what everyone really wanted to hear was his rendition of Nelson Eddy songs. Nelson Eddy was Rheo's hero and his singing voice sounded very VERY similar to Nelson Eddy's.

I wish I had a video of him singing at one of these parties to share with you here. Alas, I do not. But to give you a bit of flavor from a typical Blair New Year's party please enjoy the three wonderful Youtube videos below of Mario Feninger, Bob Ralston, and Nelson Eddy, respectively. So, grab some turkey and deviled eggs, pull up a chair and enjoy a little New Year's celebration a la Rheo Blair.

Happy New Year!
Have a wonderful 2009!

Mario Feninger plays in his Hollywood, California home:

Bob Ralston plays Cumana from an episode of the Lawrence Welk Show. Imagine attending a New Year's Eve party with this man entertaining!

And now, in memory of of Rheo and his beautiful Nelson Eddy-like voice, Nelson Eddy sings a ballad from the 1939 movie "Let Freedom Ring"

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Happy Holidays from Rheo H. Blair and Friends!

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Welling) — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:33:00 +0000

I don't know about you but I certainly would have loved receiving a few of the items in this Santa's bag! Oh the joys of Christmas past! I hope you enjoy this vintage Rheo holiday greeting graciously provided by a close friend of the late, great Mr. Blair.

My personal thanks to all of you who have visited this blog. We are now just six months old but have already had thousands of visitors and I have received positive feedback from many fine people and even made a few new friends.

There are many new posts in the pipeline for publication in the months ahead. I do hope you will check back often. And as always, I encourage you to leave public comments or contact me personally with questions, suggestions, etc.

In the meantime, enjoy the remainder of this holiday season and may the gifts of health, energy, love and peace be yours.

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Dairy Intolerance -- Postscript

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Welling) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:42:00 +0000

Raw milk vs pasteurized

I mentioned yesterday that people with milk intolerance can sometimes tolerate raw milk. My wife, having read my post showed me a bottle of Organic Pastures raw milk from our fridge. On the bottle is a sticker that boldly proclaims in blazing colors: "NO LACTOSE INTOLERANCE NATURALLY. Raw Milk still contains its digestive enzymes and beneficial bacteria that creates the lactase enzyme for you...NO 'LI'" Lactase is a digestive enzyme in the small intestine needed for lactose digestion. Pasteuriztion typically destroys the natural lactase enzyme. People with lactose intolerance often produce inadequate amounts of lactase to digest lactose. Raw milk has its enzymes and lactase forming bacteria intact. For those whose dairy intolerance is related to lactose, this is a huge step forward.

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Copyright © 2008 Charles Welling
All rights reserved.

Information found on Rheo H. Blair: The Book is meant for educational and informational purposes only, and to motivate you to make your own health care and dietary decisions based upon your own research and in partnership with your health care provider. It should not be relied upon to determine dietary changes, a medical diagnosis or courses of treatment.

We Get Mail...Did Rheo Blair ever work with people who could not tolerate (in any way) either dairy or eggs?

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Welling) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:53:00 +0000

You ask, We answer.

Millions of people around the world have tolerance issues with dairy products so this is a common problem. But the underlying -- and perhaps more relevant -- question is: what could Rheo do for them? Did they consume dairy on his program and do just fine or did he devise unique non-dairy regimens for them that still had the Blair magic when it came to restoring health and building muscles? I do have some information on milk issues which I touch on below; I don't have anything specific on how he may have helped people become tolerant to eggs but I will share one thought on this at the end of the post. If any of you reading this worked with him and have any specific information on these matters please email me. Short of that, I can offer a few insights.

Rheo was wholly focused on the health building and bodybuilding values of milk and eggs, so much so that some would suggest he was rigid in his thinking. But he based his views upon the results he got in his experimentation over the years. So while he used soy and beef protein early in his career he found as time went on that he got better results with milk and eggs. He eventually turned against soy entirely suggesting it was an incomplete and indigestible protein; in addition he saw it was a danger to the thyroid gland. As to beef and other meats, while he also used them early on in bodybuilding and indeed he enjoyed the pure pleasure of eating them throughout his life he nonetheless came to the conclusion that it is not possible to build muscle with these proteins. Not only that but high levels of red meat consumption would disrupt the all important calcium--phosphorous balance of the body. Beef, for example, contains large amounts of phosphorous; if one eats a lot of beef and therefore gets a lot of phosphorous it becomes necessary to supplement with calcium to maintain the balance which is critical to good health. I can personally tell you that I saw him take considerable amounts of calcium anytime he ate a steak. Milk and eggs don't have this problem and his milk and egg protein was balanced in this regard. My whole point here is that if someone came to him wanting to avoid milk and egg proteins they were likely to get a sermon on the superiority of these over all others. If they persisted, I have no doubt he would have gladly sold them all the vitamin supplements they wanted telling them the wonders of each (and being entirely sincere) without giving his blessing to the use of non-milk and egg protein -- except perhaps that any high protein diet would be vastly superior to, say, a high carbohydrate vegetarian diet.

To those milk intolerant folk he had some suggestions on how one might develop tolerance to it. He published his ideas at one point on this issue which does show he did have students with milk issues and that he did help them; I quote here his words:

"Since I believe so strongly that it is not possible to attain and maintain good health unless milk is included in the daily diet, I would like to devote my efforts here to those people who do not or cannot drink milk. I am well aware that many people are unable to tolerate milk and as a result cannot take advantage of its many beneficial qualities. In fact, surprisingly enough, I was once among this group (emphasis added). My reaction to milk was so serious that for a period of years I found it impossible to drink in any quantity.

It was when I learned that an intolerance to milk is not the fault of the milk, but the fault of the individual, that I began to search for ways that would allow me to use milk. With the help of some experts I was able to come up with some very useful suggestions that not only enabled me to use milk profitably once again but have helped many of my students as well."

He goes on to detail his suggestions however those are beyond the scope of this post. But one general point needs to be made in conjunction with his work: he used raw unpasteurized grass fed milk exclusively (unless for some reason he couldn't get it). He also used raw eggs (cage free, fertile only) in protein shakes -- and, on their own, though in this latter case he used the yolks only, swallowing them whole like goldfish; more on that, here. The relevance here to the post is that raw foods can often be tolerated when their cooked equivalents cannot be. Those with milk intolerance's can sometimes tolerate raw milk better than pasteurized milk, depending on their body chemistry. So his first reply to anyone coming to him with dairy sensitivities might be to suggest they begin going raw and un-denatured in their dairy choices; he would further suggest high levels of Hcl and other digestants and nutrients to improve tolerance, digestibility and assimilation. One of his favorite phrases was "it's not what you eat; it is what you assimilate".

All this being said it is important to realize that, for one reason or another, not all of his students were successful or as successful as he and they would have liked. In many cases this was simply because of compliance issues; this or that student being unable to follow the demanding Blair regimen. It was a 24/7 effort beyond the personal discipline level of many. In other cases the regimen was adhered to but the results still disappointed in some way. And I think this may simply be because not everyone thrives on the same foods. I thrive on heavy proteins; my father thrives on a (healthy and complex) carbohydrate centered diet. My wife needs a balance between the two. Obviously, someone needing high amounts of complex carbohydrates would not thrive on the Blair regimen of several hundred grams of protein per day. This is an important issue for everyone to consider. I was extremely fortunate that what Rheo offered was exactly what I happened to need. If you want to learn more about what foods YOU need, take the Metabolic Typing test to find out. You wouldn't put the wrong kind of gas in your car; why would you haphazardly put foods in your body, even "healthy" ones? The best eggs in the world may not be what YOU need. But you won't know until you find out. Metabolic Typing is a relatively recent technology unavailable during Rheo's days. I do believe he would have enthusiastically embraced it as he did the concept of biochemical individuality. After all, Metabolic Typing is the ultimate expression of Biochemical Individuality.

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Colostrum and Migraines -- Mother's Milk and Hormones

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Welling) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 21:09:00 +0000

"Do you know of a good protein powder that comes close to Blair's?"

I receive this question or some variant on it more than any other. Just goes to show that even now, twenty five years after his passing, Rheo did a masterful job promoting his marvelously effective protein formulas. His best known protein was based on the concept of the growth factors found in human mother's milk. He used to joke that he had mothers all over the country working for him. (This was only a joke; some people have heard this and thought there might be something to it; not so). He would, in a serious vein, spend time marveling at how the bull could just lay around in the field eating grass all day and yet grow to become big and strong and that if he could just unlock the secrets of the chemistry involved there he could apply it to human growth. Eventually this thinking led to a brainstorm: protein designed to mimic the growth factors in mothers milk. There remains a great deal of speculation as to what exactly his formula contained. And while his protein is no longer available there is a seemingly miraculous growth substance that has similar qualities to mothers milk and that is available: bovine colostrum. And indeed there is speculation that his protein actually contained bovine colostrum -- the mother's milk of cows. Colostrum is actually the substance the cow produces for newborn calves; a thick yellow substance packed with growth factors and immune enhancers. Over the course of a few days the colostrum thins out and is replaced by what we know as ordinary milk.

Rheo was constantly experimenting with new ideas and I picked up this practice from him. So I recently began experimenting with consuming large quantities of colostrum. The results have been remarkable; a big increase in energy, improved sleep, a renewed desire to want to go out and conquer the world -- this latter a feeling unlike any I have had since I was in college. It has also produced a hexheimers effect on me -- a body cleansing that resembles a cold or flu; for me a cold sore and nasal drainage the latter of which is particularly interesting because my sinuses have always been one of my primary weaknesses.

My wife Lorraine will often try my experiments along with me though perhaps she will use smaller quantities of things. One of her challenges for years has been getting a migraine on a monthly basis. A decade ago when we met, these were horrendous; she was unable to stand any light and experienced projectile nausea. Over the years we have tried a number of things and have had some good success in reducing the intensity and duration of her migraines. When I became certified in Nutritional Therapy a couple of years ago I learned that migraines can in some cases be related to endocrine dysfunction, particularly pituitary and adrenal. So we began giving Lorraine neonatal bovine adrenal and neonatal ovine (sheep) pituitary and hypothalmus. These substances produced a big reduction in her symptoms. No longer did she become nauseated, need to avoid light, or take to going to bed with a washcloth over her forehead for hours at a time. Now, though she still got the headaches, the pain was greatly reduced and she was able to manage the pain with aspirin while going about her normal activities.

Now getting back to colostrum. As I said I have been consuming large quantities for a couple of weeks. Last week she began using it as well and as coincidence would have it, she took some just as she was beginning to get a migraine. The colostrum stopped the migraine in its tracks (and gave her tremendous energy). For the next several days, anytime she began feeling the beginning of a migraine she took colostrum and each time the migraine disappeared -- and we are talking about in less than a couple of minutes. The net result is that she never had to endure a migraine this past week. As her cycle progressed, no migraine. This has been the first time she has ever experienced such blessed relief.

Rheo's work was all about body chemistry; specifically balancing and optimizing the endocrine system. He used the biochemical properties of mothers milk to build bodies; we can report that those same endocrine supporting properties have, in this case, solved my wife's migraines. Remember, however, that biochemical individuality was another central component of the Blair philosophy; the idea that we are all as different in the inside as we are on the outside and that what works for one may not work as well or at all for another. But Lorraine and I are convinced that colostrum is a near miraculous substance and our experiences with it suggest once again just how far ahead of his time Rheo was with his focus on mothers milk.

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Friday Fun! Cooking with Joy: More Sweet Stuff!

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Welling) — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 20:51:00 +0000

We combine some previous ideas and those of local Raw Food Chefs for powerhouse experiments to develop more healthy dessert recipes.

One Devil of an Ice Cream Pie!

OK, it's a day late, but you'll be glad we waited. Obviously, I have a sweet tooth (who doesn't?) and hate trying to live without some kind of treats to satisfy it -- so I either hunt really hard for the good stuff (that not only tastes good but is good for you) or I make it myself. Today, we explore more ways we can use our Homemade Raw Whipped Cream and Rheo H. Blair's idea of healthy and nutritious pudding (featured in our most recent Cooking with Joy article, Shake It!) to create an entirely new and possibly guest-worthy treat (if you don't eat it all yourself first -- which I highly recommend;-).

We made the recent amazing discovery of a dedicated an delicious Raw Food Chef named Keri, whose food is featured at Mother's Markets in the OC. She has returned full force after disappearing for a while to restructure her business and train more people to make her very popular fresh raw foods product line. Two of our favorite foods that she makes is Keri's Raw Fettuccine Alfredo and Keri's Raw Chocolate Pudding. The latter is a featured guest in our recipe corner today. Here are the amazing ingredients in Keri's Raw Chocolate Pudding: Avocado, Cacao Powder, Agave, and Sea Salt. ALL ingredients are Raw, and although this list might seem simple, the taste is anything but. I've never tasted such a convincing HEALTHY Chocolate Pudding. My husband, a litmus test for food around our place, absolutely flipped over this stuff. It's SO rich and wonderful, but its richness led me to seek other things to use it for and with. Here are some of the things I came up with.

First, make a large batch of Raw Whipped Cream, just using the Raw Cream and the Xylitol, whipping with a whisk (no cinnamon this time, unless you want to be really daring). Now, you can just have a taste-treat-partay, with a small portion of the pudding in ratio to a large amount of whipped cream (in a bowl, whipped cream on top, mixed together, or in separate bowls, experimenting back and forth with quantities of pudding and whipped cream on your spoon). However, here's a more interesting idea I had: Devil of a Mud Pie!

The ingredients:

1 small container of Keri's Chocolate Pudding
(or a pudding of your own making based on our Shake It! article)
2 ice-cube trays full of ice cubes made from Raw Milk
Raw Cacao
Xylitol
Raw Cream

The idea:

Take Keri's Chocolate Pudding (or whatever healthy pudding you wish), blend together a couple large tablespoons of it with the Raw Milk ice cubes in a VitaMix or other super blender until it is the consistency of soft-serve ice cream. Mix in some extra xylitol or raw agave for the sake of sweetening the milk ice. When you take it out of the blender, place in a mixing bowl and, using a spatula, swirl in some extra pudding to make it look really convincing as a worthy Mud Pie filling.

If you want a crust, my best suggestion for all us low carb people is to simply take raw cacao beans or pieces, crush and spread on the bottom of your pie shell (if you want it to stick to the sides, spread some raw butter that's been softened a few minutes before adding the cacao).

NOW, take your Mud Pie filling of Raw Pudding, Raw Milk ice cream mix, scoop out into the shell, and place the whole thing in a freezer. While waiting for it to harden a bit more, you can be making copious amounts of plain Raw Whipped Cream with your Raw Cream and Xylitol. When you take your pie out of the freezer, cover with a mound of the whipped cream, and drizzle with the pudding as if it were fudge. Put more "fudge" in a design on the plates, and sprinkle all with more cacao pieces for an extra flare. Amazing! And really good for you! Do you KNOW how much healthy fat is in all this stuff?? Between the Raw Cream and the Avocado, not to mention all the great protein and health benefits of the Raw Milk, and the extra amazing antioxidant power of Raw Cacao, YOU ARE SET. And it is ALL low glycemic and low carb. Enjoy!

See you next Friday!

Love,

Lorraine Joy

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Copyright © 2008 Charles Welling Contact me
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Information found on Rheo H. Blair: The Book is meant for educational and informational purposes only, and to motivate you to make your own health care and dietary decisions based upon your own research and in partnership with your health care provider. It should not be relied upon to determine dietary changes, a medical diagnosis or courses of treatment.

Why Doesn't Exercise Always Work? Common Sense Advice Rheo Blair Would Endorse

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Welling) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 19:35:00 +0000

Exercise does not effect everyone in the same way. As with Biochemical Individuality in nutrition, so in exercise. Our needs are different and unique.

Too much exercise can be as bad or worse than too little or none at all.

We will get to the advice mentioned in the post title in just a moment. But first, Rheo Blair's views on exercise were well known: he was a skeptic based on his own personal experience and that of others. As a result, he believed and taught that too many people exercised too much and got too little in the way of results. Both then and now one finds popular the notion that exercise is some kind of panacea for whatever ails you. And along with this seems to go the idea "the more, the better".

Certainly, the human body was made to move and if you don't use it you will lose it. Couch potatoes take note: exercise IS important. The problem exists in the "more is better" attitude which is so pervasive. It's better to run 6 miles than 4; working out for 2 hours is twice as good as working out for just 1 hour, etc. In fact the thought of having to commit to all that laborious exercise is one thing that discourages some couch potatoes from getting started. More is not always better and in some cases can be hazardous. A key example: those with adrenal fatigue (and there are many many people today with adrenal fatigue) should be very careful about how much they exercise; what they really need is sleep and a LOT of it. Some light exercise, perhaps; but extra sleep in this case is critical.

Rheo felt that, overall, most people probably exercise too much, sleep too little, and eat a nutrient depleted diet. Now I want to be clear that he was not anti-exercise; he was anti-too much exercise. He found that excessive exercise can be counter-productive because of the negative effect it can have the functioning of the endocrine system; on the production and balance of hormones so critical to health and physique. You want to work with your endocrine system, not against it. The mention of adrenal fatigue mentioned above comes into play here. I wrote a bit more about his thinking on the subject of exercise here and I will have more to say on this in the future. His own personal experience with exercise early in life was less gratifying than he expected. I'll let him speak for himself:

"I was not a boy wonder when it came to physical development. Quite the opposite….as a youth, I suffered poor health. And like so many other sick people I read the various health magazines for a way out of my troubles. After reading them for some time I came away with the impression that all you had to do was buy a barbell, exercise, and soon you were a "Mr. America." I imagine I was quite impressionable at the time for one look at the colossal physiques in those wonderful magazines made my mind conjure up the grandest dreams about myself. I could almost see the muscles rippling. And like many other sick people, I was inspired by those pictures in the magazines. I saved my money until I had enough to buy one of those magic barbell sets which was to change me into a “Mr. America.”

I had sent for the “works”, and for several weeks after it arrived, I was the happiest guy in town. Month after month, I followed the course instructions to the letter. After a year of this, with no results, I began to have my doubts about the magic powers of those barbells. But determination kept me at it…for three long huffing, puffing years. After three years of knocking myself out I had gained only six pounds and was so weak I was unable to do more than ten reps with 35 pounds in the two-arm curl. At the end of those three years, it was evident that something was wrong with the field of bodybuilding…or something was wrong with me! Perhaps I was the exception to the rule…a type of person who just couldn’t be improved. Other body builders and physical instructors told me there were thousands of others who were getting nowhere fast with their training..."

Rheo wrote these words in the early 1950's about his futile experience with exercise a decade earlier. Compare Rheo's words with what comes today from credentialed exercise scientist Craig Harper:

"Why do some of us invest so much time and energy into our exercise program for so little in the way of results. Yep it’s true; some of us spend a lot of time achieving not too much. Heaps of sweat, commitment and even dollars, for a less than desirable return.

I’m constantly getting letters, emails and phone calls from frustrated exercisers, so I figure it is time to take a look at why time spent exercising doesn’t always equate to desirable results."

Sound familiar? The sentiments expressed are strikingly similar to those expressed by Rheo. Obviously Rheo was on to something about exercising and not getting results. He was hardly alone in his doubts and skepticism on the utility of exercise, especially excessive exercise. Rheo went on to discover the benefits of nutrition and an intelligently designed and non-excessive exercise program for ones health and physique. And in both cases he understood we are all different; one size does not fit all. We each have unique nutritional needs. Likewise we all have different exercise needs and tolerance levels. Most people payed little attention. Even in his gym in Chicago, most of his members disreguarded his exercise advice. and went about their way exercising for too long and using weights that were too heavy. (Bear in mind these ordinary gym members were not under his personal care as the before and afters were; a critical distinction.) As exercise enthusiasts typically do, they exercised to excess without achieving the desired results.

If you are inclined to over-exercise or find you are getting nowhere with your current regimen, check out the exercise suggestions put forth by Craig Harper on Lifehack.org. Mr. Harper helps us understand, among other things, that we are all individuals and that one size does not fit all. A workout routine that works for me may not be best for you. He also cautions against over-training. Were he with us today, Rheo would applaud these well reasoned, common sense suggestions.

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Get to Know Weston A. Price

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Welling) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:03:00 +0000

Are you looking for answers to obesity? Allergies? Immune issues? Inflammation? Tooth decay? Heart disease?

The answer is: food; REAL FOOD.

Unprocessed, real, whole, nutrient-dense food in the form in which nature provides it, not industry. The Weston A. Price Foundation is a superb resource for information on healthy eating. If you go to the website linked above you could easily spend hours reading the resources they provide. However, for a brilliant -- and brief -- summary of who Weston Price was and what the Foundation does, read this article published just today.

It will also give you a heads up on what I consider the world's finest cookbook, "Nourishing Traditions" (seen above). Lorraine and I have used Nourishing Traditions for years. We would not be without it. And it is not just a cookbook. It is both a cooking and nutrition course in and of itself. The first section is some 70 plus pages of nutrition basics from proteins, fats and minerals to enzymes, milk, food allergies and even a guide to food selection. Then comes 500 pages of recipes (without photos; literally 500 pages of recipes) including sections on "Tonics and Superfoods" and even a section on feeding babies.

If you do nothing else, read this article. Better yet, after reading the article, explore the Weston A Price Foundation website.

I can personally assure all you Rheo Blair followers that Rheo was intimately familiar with the work of Weston Price.

Shouldn't you be, too?

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Friday Fun! Cooking With Joy: "Shake it!"

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Welling) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 18:03:00 +0000

Fast and complete nutrition, Rheo Blair style.

How to make the most (and the most fun) out of your protein shake.

Hello friends! Well, it's another Friday and, since I've just begun my second year of graduate school at University of California, Irvine, I've decided to make this Friday's article about the "fast food" of the nutrition world - protein shakes. They're quick, they're easy, and they actually feed the body, serving in most cases as a substantial and complete meal and giving you energy that lasts for hours.

As a culture, we are constantly on the move, often running around like chickens with heads cut off. (Which is NOT a good way to live, but sometimes we can't avoid it in our crazy society.) Sometimes the healthiest way to be "fast" for breakfast or for a good blood-sugar-boosting -and-stabilizing snack is to grab either a protein bar or (far better) make a fast protein shake. Rheo Blair used his own formulation of protein powder for the primary food source in his transformations, as you have read in previous articles here, making them either into puddings or shakes. Today, companies like Garden of Life and Biotics Research Labs are making exceptional formulations that are low in carbs and high in protein and nutrients. Before our recipe for today, let me give you our biggest tip and suggestion regarding protein mixes:

USE ORGANIC, RAW, WHOLE MILK IN YOUR SHAKE! You've just read in the previous article how important and amazingly healthy Raw Milk is - it's also incredibly yummy! As Charles mentioned, I never miss a day without drinking a good quantity of milk (unless there is some unaccountable shortage at our house or in the stores - it's popular stuff). Every morning, I mix about 10 oz. with two scoops of the Garden of Life Chocolate protein shake mix (or one from Biotics - either the Whey Isolate or rice-based Nutri-Clear for a change, since I have a mixed or balanced metabolic type) and that is my breakfast and primary source of energy for several hours. Not only does the Raw Milk have unlimited health benefits and an extra protein boost, but it makes the shakes taste AMAZING! (SOO much better than with water - yuck!)

Keeping in mind the important dairy connection with the Protein Shakes, here is a Special Protein Shake Recipe (for which I really have to give Charles the credit):

10 oz. Organic Raw Whole Milk
2 oz. Organic Raw Cream
3 scoops Garden of Life Chocolate protein shake mix
LOTS of Organic Cinnamon

Blend all in a Vitamix. BLENDING TIPS AND STEPS: 1) Add milk to blender; 2) put blender on LOW speed; 3) add protein mix; 4) cinnamon; 5) cream - be careful that it doesn't become whipped or clotted! Don't overblend.

What do you get? A frothy, rich, wonderful tasting shake like they used to make in the olden days, but without any of the sugar and a billion different nutritious aspects, including lots of healthy fats, lots of good quality protein, and all the blood-sugar advantages of cinnamon!

TIP: if you add a couple ice cubes to the blender, blending high only for a second or two, it's REALLY convincing as an ice-cream shake.

This recipe can also work for the Garden of Life's Vanilla protein shake flavor if you don't like Chocolate (but who doesn't like Chocolate???).

And now, here's a Vanilla Protein Shake Recipe from our good friend Travis whom we have met by virtue of this blog and who is devoted to a low carb, hi protein healthy lifestyle. One of the great benefits of blogging is the friends you make. Travis is such a friend and we thank him for his contribution here today and for all the helpful and thoughtful feedback he provides on a regular basis. In the following recipe, Travis uses raw milk whenever he has access to it but it is not always available where he lives.

1 scoop undenatured Whey Protein -- I use Jay Robb's brand, vanilla, as it hormone free with no artificial anything. Very tasty.

1 scoop Sweet Dairy Whey- This provides lactobacteria, as it mostly just lactose. One could use milk, about one cup, but I personally do not care for casein protein, so the sweet whey powder gives me the lactose minus casein. Sweet Dairy Whey is a very good product for you G.I. tract and helps promote a healthy colon.

2 Raw Omega 3 Eggs- Any Egg would do as long as it is cage free.

1 Tbsp Heavy Cream

6-8 oz water- sometimes I use milk, and if I do I will not add the sweet dairy whey or the cream. When using milk, go full fat, as nature intended.

I have this every morning. I also take extra enzymes, such as Betaine Hydrochloride [HCl is essential to digesting all your protein shakes and raw dairy]. I always use a blender. If you let [it set] for a while, it will thicken to a milk shake texture, but I normally gulp it down after mixing.

Sweet dairy whey, incidentally, is very good product. You can find it at any health food store. NOW foods makes it and Jay Robb enterprises also makes it. I also add it to plain yogurt and throw in some sliced peaches and it makes a very tasty pudding. Jay Robb has some valuable info on it at his website.

Thank you, Travis. Sounds like some really good stuff! We greatly appreciate your recipe contribution today!

That's all for now. Have a happy Friday and a wonderful weekend.

See you next Friday!

Love,

Lorraine Joy

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The Future of Raw Milk In California -- and Everywhere

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Welling) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 22:28:00 +0000

A battle over the safety and legality of raw milk has been raging here in California for the past several years. This year it has come to a head as the legislature has passed a bill legalizing it once and for all with certain safety standards. Rheo Blair was an outspoken proponent of raw milk. As a student of Rheo Blair, I consumed an enormous quantity of raw dairy -- milk, butter, cream, etc. while I was on his program living in his home. My wife today is an enthusiastic consumer of raw milk and not a day goes by that she doesn't drink a good quantity of it. All by herself she consumes a good three to four half-gallons per week and her health has never been better. Nor, despite that considerable intake, is there an ounce of excess fat on her sleek body though many anti-dairy vegans would want to assume otherwise.

The law passed earlier this month as Senate Bill 201 by a veto - proof 31-4 vote. Of course we don't expect a veto from Governor Schwarzenegger who is known to have consumed plenty of both raw milk and Rheo Blair's protein back in his early competitive days. However a veto is, unfortunately, not entirely out of the question. In any case the issue is whether he will get to it at all what with some 800 other bills competing for his signature.

Organic Pastures, the wonderful dairy from which we get all our raw dairy products, has spearheaded the fight for raw milk here in California. They put out a piece called "Senate Bill #201 Comes to Life" in which they made the following points:

SB 201 pioneers standards and regulatory protections that:

are the first in the nation.

are holistic in addressing every critical process in the dairy.

provide greater protections for consumers than the standards currently in law.

promote consumer choice in California by keeping raw milk available on store shelves.

increase food safety protections to ensure that the raw milk sold in California is the safest in the nation.

And, further, under SB 201:

Raw milk must be tested for pathogens eight times more often.

Each raw milk dairy must provide independent lab samples twice per week.

CDFA must test directly for the pathogens that cause illness in humans at least once per month.

CDFA may take raw milk samples from any location.

Raw milk dairies may not receive milk from non-raw milk dairies; the protections put into place by SB 201 cannot be circumvented by receiving milk from a dairy not subject to these stringent requirements.

Now it is in the hands of the governor. We should know soon.

In the meantime I invite you to learn more about our raw milk fight in California by watching this superb YouTube video. There are other struggles for raw milk freedom in our country and as the saying has it, "as goes California, so goes the nation". Watch, learn, take action.

Video from YouTube.

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