Rheo H. Blair

The Interview Part 5: Conclusion

RheoHBlairBlog@gmail.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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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 Interview: Part 4

RheoHBlairBlog@gmail.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 Interview: Part Three

RheoHBlairBlog@gmail.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?

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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.

A note on Carlton Fredericks and Bernarr Macfadden

RheoHBlairBlog@gmail.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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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 Interview: Part Two

RheoHBlairBlog@gmail.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 Interview: Part One

RheoHBlairBlog@gmail.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

RheoHBlairBlog@gmail.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

RheoHBlairBlog@gmail.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 Sunrise Serenade from a 1968 episode of the Lawrence Welk Show

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!

RheoHBlairBlog@gmail.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

RheoHBlairBlog@gmail.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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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?

RheoHBlairBlog@gmail.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

RheoHBlairBlog@gmail.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!

RheoHBlairBlog@gmail.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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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

RheoHBlairBlog@gmail.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

RheoHBlairBlog@gmail.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!"

RheoHBlairBlog@gmail.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

RheoHBlairBlog@gmail.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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Enhancing Endocrine Function: Blair's Use of Hormonal Precursors

RheoHBlairBlog@gmail.com (Charles Welling) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 18:21:00 +0000

Germ oils contain powerful substances for body growth and strength. Rheo Blair made the most of these substances in two products: Formula 6 Ribro and Soybro.

In Part One of two, we consider briefly the background of these products.

The NUMBER ONE KEY to unlocking Rheo Blair's ideas and methods is to understand and understand clearly his all-consuming focus on enhancing the function, balance and output of the endocrine organs. While exercise played a small role, it was this endocrine balance and efficiency -- hormonal output and optimization -- that was the secret to his success and that made possible his dramatic photographic before and after cases. And yes, protein was front and center in his work and the right quality and quantity of protein contributed to endocrine function.

BUT, good endocrine function played a huge role in the proper and efficient utilization by the body of the protein in the first place. And so his program employed several different but complementary approaches to achieving endocrine balance and efficiency. One of these was the use of hormone precursors, natural substances that aided in hormone production and therefore body growth and strength. "Soybro" was his flagship product along these lines. Soybro was a highly concentrated germ oil which, in his words: "contains the micro-nutrients so important in muscle growth". Soybro was originally a derivative of soy bran oil hence its name, Soybro; SOY BRan Oil. It later became a combination of soy, rice and what germ (bran) derivatives.

Before Soybro there existed another product of this nature, an apparent forerunner to Soybro which he named Formula 6 Ribro. This was a rice bran oil derivative which again explains the name "Ribro"; RIce BRan Oil. I cannot but speculate on the meaning and origin of the term "Formula 6". Of all his early products, this is perhaps the most obscure in that it was an early product that seemed to be taken off the shelf not long after he launched Soybro.

Ribro is never mentioned in Tomorrow's Man, his magazine from 12/52 through 7/55 although his other products were heavily advertised in the magazine. Ribro is mentioned earlier in his newlsetter which predates Tomorrow's Man. It is also mentioned in his Scientific Bodybuilding and Nutrition Course (both the 1951 and 1953 versions, incidentally) and finally it appears in a brochure about his work called "A Successful Approach to Body Building" which is undated but on the back of which is a full page advertisement for Tomorrow's Man. The brochure describes Ribro like this: Contains the Girard Fraction of ketasteroids as found naturally in rice germ oil. Comes either in liquid or capsule form. 500 capsules: only $22.50. Directly beneath this information is found "Johnson's Soybro" described as One of Johnson's newest food supplements to help you in your better health and bodybuilding program. Each tablet contains the ketasteroids, phosphalipids, and other nutritional factors as found in a Girard concentration from the soy bean germ. 500 tablets, only $5.00.

Did you notice the price difference? $22.50 for the Ribro but only $5.00 for the Soybro. Perhaps this is a clue; soy was less expensive than rice germ and arguably equally effective. Or perhaps not since the Soybro product eventually came to include three germ oils -- soy, rice and wheat. Soybro also ceased to be a tablet and was produced as a capsule. You can glimpse Soybro capsules in this YouTube video.

He referred to both products as "strength pills" because they seemed to aid in building strength and muscle tone. He also suggested that the Ribro seemed to aid in protein metabolism.

In Part Two, we will explain such terms as "Girard Fraction" and "ketasteroid" in order to come to a better understanding of just what these products were and how they worked.

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Rheo H Blair: The Book -- back up and running!

RheoHBlairBlog@gmail.com (Charles Welling) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:31:00 +0000

My desktop computer died a couple of weeks back making life miserable from any practical standpoint in this modern world of ours. My laptop was not part of our in-house wireless network and it took a while to change that. Needless to say this greatly disrupted my ability to blog. Fortunately all is now back to normal and regular blogging will resume forthwith!

Charles

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Friday Fun! Cooking with Joy: "Pesto Italiano"

RheoHBlairBlog@gmail.com (Charles Welling) — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 22:54:00 +0000

The European connection.

How to make and enjoy a fresh, healthy, and authentic food experience. Add some good friends, photos, and fun: enjoy!

Europe still seems to have the magic touch when it comes to REAL food - food made from fresh ingredients that haven't been artificially manufactured or processed. During my trip to Europe with the Pacific Chorale in July, I had the privilege to enjoy two very savory meals involving some amazing Pesto with some good friends in Italy. In one meal, we were in Genoa - seen above - and the second in Bellagio (the most popular port of Lake Como), seen in the picture usually heading "Friday Fun" articles. We (myself and the friends with which I enjoyed these special and memorable meals) decided to attempt a re-creation of these Pesto experiences by making a fresh and fun meal together and sharing photos of the trip. Charles was able to come along for the fun and enjoy the results - food all made with real, fresh, healthy, and very yummy ingredients.

My contribution was the Pesto sauce itself and Insalata Caprese, a very good compliment to a Pesto meal: very fresh and healthy, and very easy to make. Just for fun, here's the recipe for Insalata Caprese:

4 medium/lg, organic, vine-ripened tomatoes
1 bunch of fresh, organic, large-sized basil leaves
fresh Mozzarella (best if in water) OR Mild RAW Cheese
Balsamic Vinegar OR RAW Organic Apple Cider Vinegar
Organic Cold-Pressed Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Take tomatoes (equivalent to the number of people you're feeding), cut into thick circular slices (reserve what you don't use to chop into side salads or for later use). Slice the mozzarella into round slices as well and place on top of the tomato slices (be careful, the real fresh stuff can be difficult to manage - you can try using an egg slicer if you don't trust your hand). Take the larger basil leaves and arrange on top of each tomato/mozzarella stack, and sprinkle the vinegar and olive oil on top of all. Easy, very enjoyable, and fresh!

(NOTE: Picture is raw cheese and Apple Cider Vinegar version.)

NOW, for the Pesto Recipe: (WARNING: INTENTIONALLY RICH!)

1 full cup fresh organic Basil leaves (tightly packed)
1 cup cream (raw organic cream best)
1 cup olive oil (Extra Virgin Organic)
1/3 cup unsalted butter (organic, raw, or European best)
1/3 cup pine nuts/pignolas (raw)
4 med/lg cloves garlic (organic)
1/2 cup raw authentic Parmigiano Reggiano (Whole Foods has)
pinch of Celtic Sea Salt
extra fresh leaves of Basil (for garnish)

As you can see, there are LOTS of good, wonderful fat in this meal. Don't be afraid! This is the stuff Rheo Blair thrived on! Of course, please do eat in moderation (and remember to have your enzymes with it to digest the fats). The vinegar in the salad (the Caprese or if you have an extra green side salad, which we also had, tossed with cucumber and some Herbes de Provence we had brought home from France) will also help.

Take the cup of basil (it's IMPORTANT that it's as tightly packed as possible; we need maximum flavor in minimum bulk - remember, Pesto is ultimately about the basil). You will really need a lot to pack that cup full, so purchase accordingly (one large fresh bunch or a few packages should work out - remembering you'll need more for the Caprese). Place this basil, the pine nuts, and at least 1/4 cup of the olive oil in a food processor and blend well. Meanwhile, be melting the butter in a saucepan, into which you will add the garlic, pressed. The butter heated together with the garlic will help release the flavor, especially if the garlic is pressed (allowing the juices to flow). Now add some of the olive oil, followed by the basil/pine-nut mixture. Pour in the cream and the rest of the olive oil, stirring often. Once this has simmered, begin slowly adding the cheese (making sure there are no lumps). Simmer on low, using a whisk to stir (the best way to avoid separation, which is the hardest part when making Pesto). Be sure the product doesn't stick or have a chance to burn. This is an essentially simple meal, though you have to be patient with the whisking. After it's thickened and cooled a little, you and your guests will melt as you have the first taste.

Of course, we are aware that there is a need for pasta to go with the Pesto. Never fear. For those of you who want real flavor and taste in nutrient-dense whole-grain FRESH and HOME-MADE pasta (like they make in Europe), my friend Judi Elterman came up with the perfect recipe, modified from the Settlement Cookbook, passed down to her on the occasion of her wedding by her mother, who herself had used it in 1945 when she was first married. NOTE: ARTIFICIAL PRESERVATIVE-LADEN FOOD WAS NOT ALWAYS THE ALL - PERVASIVE BANE WE KNOW NOW!

Pasta Dough:

2 cups flour (organic stone-ground Whole Wheat)
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 eggs, well beaten
2 tablespoons warm water

Directions from the cook-book: "Sift flour and salt onto a pastry board, make a well in the center and add eggs and water. Work the flour into the egg mixture, adding more water if necessary to make a stiff but malleable dough. Knead on the board until smooth. Divide dough in half and let it rest for 30 minutes, covered. Roll out as thin as possible and cut into any desired shapes. Spread noodles on the board and let them dry well before using."

For the shape of the Pasta, Judi took the long thin strips she had cut from the fresh dough and braided them together, two at a time. She then cut them into smaller pieces, making the perfect twisted-tied bite-sized pasta for the Pesto.

Hints: 1) Beware that the egg will go everywhere when you first try to mix it into the flour; make sure the flour is formed into a high enough mound with a deep enough well (something in which to contain it all won't hurt at this stage while mixing). 2) Spread a small amount of Olive Oil on your board and roller before kneading. 3) Be careful not to twist the strips of dough, but braid it carefully to avoid a mushed and unattractive shapeless form. Cut with a sharp knife for the same reason.

Boiling the Pasta:
After your pasta is dried (you can make in advance), boil in water with either salt or olive oil (the latter is best) for approximately 20 minutes. The whole grains take longer to cook than white flour, so bear that in mind. Keep tasting to make sure it's cooked through. Of course, the good news is that it's fresh, so the cooking part is incidental and only makes for a nicer consistency. For raw foodists, this meal can be completely raw if you wish (although the Pesto may need some alterations, and honestly it's much more yummy and melty this way).

This is just one of the best comprehensive meals - not as easy to make as other things, but COMPLETELY worth it, from the standpoints of both health and taste. This meal is COMPLETELY FRESH, homemade, organic, and the fats from the Pesto will really absorb the glycemic impact of the carbs in the Pasta (which are wholistic complex carbs in this recipe anyway, filled with its own natural protein). There is so much that's healthy about this as well as amazingly yummy.

So get some friends and enjoy a good time with this fresh and healthy Pesto Italiano meal!

See you next Friday!
Love,
Lorraine Joy

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Friday Fun: "Hot Beef Chili!" Cooking with Joy

RheoHBlairBlog@gmail.com (Charles Welling) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 23:38:00 +0000

Hi Protein Lo Carb goodness!

With abundant levels of healthy fat including the all important Omega 3's and CLA!

We've developed a tradition of sorts on Saturday evenings - family chili night. We usually have busy days and want to make something hearty as well as healthy to feed our often ravenous hunger. Over the course of the six years we've been married, our beef chili recipe has evolved into a well crafted and thought-out combination of the best quality ingredients out there, and it's pretty darned tasty too.

The key to making good chili is to have great beef. We've sometimes made compromises for the sake of convenience, time, or money, and have usually been disappointed. The best and healthiest beef -- the kind Rheo Blair would have used himself -- must be organic, GRASS-FED AND FINISHED, and have a HIGH FAT content. Remember, according to Rheo Blair's philosophy (and real life), fat you eat does NOT equal body fat -- exactly the opposite, in fact. If you are putting in good quality fats of the right kind, the result is a leaner body (and leaner muscle content for the body-building world of which Rheo was an important part). In addition to the good fat (15% the ideal minimum, up to 25% even better), grass-fed cows have much higher protein and nutrient levels including the important omega 3 fatty acids and CLA, conjugated lenoleic acid, known for its many benefits including positive results in reducing body fat. Being "grass finished" can be just as important a factor when choosing your beef: it means that the cows were fed nothing but grass up until the very end. Many beef manufacturers feed the cows grass at first, then try to speed up the process of fattening the cows by feeding them grain, still calling them "grass-fed," but they are not "grass-finished." One of the best beef companies we've found can ship to your door overnight, remaining frozen until it reaches you, and it's called U.S. Wellness Meats (also known as Grassland Beef). We order the 25% ground beef. The U.S. Wellness Meats company also sells many other types of meats and dairy products, all of the highest quality. We use their ground beef for our chili. Sometimes Whole Foods carries a high-fat organic grass-fed and -finished ground beef as well - just make sure to ask the butcher and make sure you know what you're getting. Of course, it goes without saying that the beef should have no hormones, antibiotics, chemicals, or by-products of any kind.

NOW, for the Hot Beef Chili Recipe!

1 1/2 lbs. organic grass-fed/finished beef (15% fat content or more)
1 large organic brown onion, diced
2 six oz. cans organic tomato paste
1/3 to 1/2 cup fresh HOT organic salsa (Emerald Valley is a favorite)
organic dried basil
organic dried oregano
Vegit (a Rheo Blair favorite!)
organic dried chili flakes
Celtic Sea Salt
1 can (15 oz.) organic chili beans, Westbrae Natural (OPTIONAL)
1-2 tbsp. Organic Butter (the REAL STUFF, PLEASE!)

Extra Toppers:
grated raw organic cheese
Nancy's Organic Cultured Sour Cream

Chop onion and cook on low heat in butter until soft; add beef. Enjoy as the fat from the butter, the fat from the beef, and the flavors all blend together to form a wonderful broth of fat -- this is your flavor and the best part of the healthy yummy concoction! During this process, add a generous amount of the basil, oregano, and Vegit, while using as much of the chili flakes as you think is sensible for you. After the beef is cooked, you will be adding the HOT salsa, so use caution (we are spice fanatics, so I usually put almost as much of the chili flakes as I do of the other seasonings). With the salsa, also add both cans of the tomato paste, which will make everything thicken quite nicely. After this has all been blended, you may add the optional chili beans. These are relatively low in carbs and have their own nutritional value (as well as adding an extra yummy dimention), but if you are strictly counting your carbs, you can skip them and still end up with an amazing-tasting (and very beefy) chili. We make both versions at our house. Add a pinch of the celtic sea salt at your discretion (again, keeping your salt needs or limits in mind) and simmer for a few minutes to let everything meld together, continuing to stir consistently. Then, in our secret family technique (developed by Charles), take a couple ladel-fuls of the finished product, blend, and mix back into the rest of the pot. The melding is complete. Serve hot, melt cheese on top, and add a dollop of sour cream. Delicious!

Can serve four (or make a meal for two and perpetual snacks for a happy husband the next morning and afternoon;-).

See you next Friday!
Love,
Lorraine Joy

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Living the Rheo Blair Lifestyle -- On the Run

RheoHBlairBlog@gmail.com (Charles Welling) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 23:42:00 +0000

Rheo Blair liked turkey meat. A lot. The sliced deli style breast meat made for an easy and quick snack on the go, and one could find him out and about in his car with a supply of sliced turkey in a cold case (with digestants and other supplements, to be sure) to keep him nourished on his journey.

This knowledge came in handy yesterday as Lorraine and I spent the Labor Day holiday in Laguna Beach. The weather was perfect and the beach itself was like paradise. We only had one challenge (other than parking) and that was where and what to eat without resorting to junk food. We had already enjoyed a very liver - friendly lunch of avocado burritos (in whole-grain wheat tortillas) and freshly made carrot/beet juice for lunch. But what to do about dinner? We wanted something more substantial. We headed for the new Whole Foods Market near the city center (formerly a Wild Oats). This particular location is a small one with fairly limited ready-to-eat options. I was about to settle on a small salad and pre-made packaged turkey sandwich. The sandwich, though it looked pretty good to a ravaged guy with an empty stomach, concerned me because the wheat bread appeared to be of low quality (and I didn't want more grains anyway) and there was no telling what quality the turkey was. Had it been raised with hormones and antibiotics? Was there added sugar? Such is usually the case. Then I spied a display of packaged deli meats I hadn't seen earlier and found perhaps the best of this sort of Turkey to date. Applegate Farms produces organic roasted turkey slices free of all the usual unhealthy, unnatural suspects, added sugar, etc. So for dinner I combined a package of this Turkey with the aforementioned salad, and we made a fun little picnic of it at dusk.

The salad, by the way, included both red and yellow beet and cranberries -- all very good for both liver function and digestion, aspects of the Blair Program hugely important to its success.

So this was indeed a Blair-esque meal on the run.

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Guilt Free Ice Cream - Extra Fun!

RheoHBlairBlog@gmail.com (Charles Welling) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 01:55:00 +0000

Vegan, but we still love it!

Lorraine Joy approved treat for the summertime:-)

Suddenly, out of the frozen section of Mother's Market (another of our oft-frequented, local, natural markets we enjoy), my sweet tooth radar picked up on the small selection of ice creams at the Irvine Location, and there it was, staring at me with big happy funny letters - "Tomberlies Mint Fudge Swirl RAW Vegan Ice Cream." Although I approached it skeptically, once I read the ingredients, I was intrigued. Filled with healthy fats (organic young coconut and organic raw cashews), a low glycemic sweetener (organic raw agave syrup - the only other sweetener in our house), and my FAVORITE ingredient of all, CHOCOLATE (organic RAW cocoa powder). Now, there were several yummy-looking flavors to choose from (listed on the site's front page), but the mint has become my favorite flavor (and I always remember it from childhood when Dad used to bring it home). It also seemed the best choice for a refreshing treat on a summer afternoon.

Well, if seeing is believing, then tasting is even better! Charles and I enjoyed every last spoon-licking bite (mmmm... as a loving husband, Charles gave me the last one:-) There is something truly unique and special about this ice cream and it's mixture of coconut, mint, and chocolate (REALLY GOOD chocolate) that is addicting. Let me just say that this is one couple who are hooked!

Go to the web site, find some at your local natural market, and ENJOY!

Love,
Lorraine Joy

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NewsFlash

RheoHBlairBlog@gmail.com (Charles Welling) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 00:54:00 +0000

Fish Oil, not Crestor, Fights Heart Failure

Heh.

So lets spell this out: fish oil is a f-a-t. Therefore we have a fat-- FAT -- that fights heart disease, not some drug. Doesn't the medical establishment tell us on a daily basis that fat causes heart disease and that we need drugs to fix it?

Another thing that makes this interesting is that studies involving nutritional substances typically use small doses of the nutrient in question, often too small to have any therapeutic effect. The authors of such studies then pronounce judgment declaring the nutrient useless or unproven. This study used a modest one gram dose. One wonders just how dramatic the results might have been with larger dosing.

Oh, and no side effects with the fish oil.

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Friday Fun -- "Whip it!" Cooking With Joy

RheoHBlairBlog@gmail.com (Charles Welling) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 14:26:00 +0000

Make your own Whipped Cream at home, without the guilt (or the chemicals).

Fresh, Organic, Raw, and REAL.

I am proud to introduce my darling wife in a regular, new Friday feature -- Cooking with Joy! Lorraine Joy, that is. We've just celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary though we have been best friends for 10 years. A wonderful cook, a talented improviser in the kitchen and a devoted follower of truly healthy eating, Lorraine has come up with a great collection of tasty recipes that I devour without putting on a pound. Real food is like that. It doesn't make you fat the way fake food does. Real food tends to normalize your weight; if you are too heavy, you drop a few pounds. Too skinny, you gain a few. And you can always feel good about what you are eating because you know it is nourishing your body. Truly guilt free. And with that, take it away Lorraine:

In our refrigerator, you will find all kinds of wonderful raw dairy - Raw Milk, Raw Cheese, Raw Butter, and Raw Cream, which we get from a wonderful dairy called Organic Pastures (where happy cows roam freely on green pastures and eat nothing but the fresh organic grass). What you WON'T find in our house is any of the chemical-laden "whipped topping" you might see on countless menus and on the shelves of conventional supermarkets. When we want a tasty treat (without guilt and without putting bad stuff into our bodies), we make our own whipped cream, using only the freshest and best ingredients. And to top it all off, there's NO actual sugar involved - we use Xylitol, so it's safe for low glycemic diets (and for all of us that would rather not compromise our health with real sugar or manufactured artificial sweeteners). There are even some extra health bonuses to using Xylitol (click here for more info), but my favorite part is that the measurements and the taste are equivalent to sugar.

Recipe for Home-made Whipped Cream:

1/3 cup RAW ORGANIC Cream (from grass-fed cows)
1 tsp. (or more, to your taste) Xylitol
1 dash of Organic Vanilla Extract (optional)
1 tsp. (or more) Organic Cinnamon (a fun option)

Whip with merriment and joy!
(A whisk helps, too.)

Uses (other healthy Dessert Recipes on which to enjoy your Whipped Cream):

1. Put a generous dollop (at least two heaping tablespoons) over fresh fruit: organic strawberries, organic blueberries, and/or organic raspberries are always winners.

2. Make your own soft-serve sorbet from Raw Kefir ("Qephor") (1 cup), the berries mentioned above (frozen, about 1/2 cup each), and Xylitol (3-4 tbsp.). Put a generous portion of your home-made whipped cream on top - YUMM! (Garnish with a mint leaf or sliced fresh strawberry if desired.)

3. Get a small, organic, whole grain, low carb tortilla. Our favorite is the Fat Flush Plan's French Meadow Bakery version: organic, sprouted, complete protein, and flourless, it's low glycemic and safe for diabetics. Warm it in a frying pan, melt some butter and sprinkle cinnamon and Xylitol on top. Keep on low heat until it gets bubbly. Add some yummy cinnamon whipped cream after it's done. (Can divide the tortilla in two or in quarters to share with an intimate friend - great to the last finger-licking bite!) Sprinkle with an extra dash of cinnamon on top as garnish (or the mint leaf or sliced strawberry previously mentioned).

Remember, the idea is to experiment and have fun!

The great thing about these healthy dessert recipes is that they are tasty and indeed healthy - the good fats alone from the heavy (raw and organic) cream, just like Rheo Blair would have used, are already going to make the body happy, absorbing whatever natural sugar is found in the berries, and cinnamon has been known to balance the blood sugar, aid in digestion, and even kill fungus (all of which is why we like to use it a LOT).

The most important thing is to enjoy what we eat, especially when we know how good it is for our bodies as well as tantalizing for our taste buds. :-)

See you next Friday!
Love,
Lorraine Joy

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