Greetings, everyone! It’s hard to believe our last Around the Web was all the way back on April 21. And that we’ve only managed a few days off for swimming and hiking in that time.
We’re very excited about the new Scribner edition: Perfect Health Diet: Regain Health and Lose Weight by Eating the Way You Were Meant to Eat. Can’t wait for it to come out! This version is really solid scientifically, we believe it will bring many people to better health, and we’re very excited to have the opportunity to bring PHD to a popular audience.
We want to extend our thanks once again to all the readers who have left their stories on the Reader Results page, and who gave permission for their stories to be used. Thank you! We were recently in New York to meet with the Scribner editorial staff and they said the reader stories were the best part of the book. I don’t think that was only in comparison to the parts we wrote.
[1] Prayers needed: Frequent commenter erp’s daughter and son-in-law have suffered severe burns in a small plane crash and are in critical condition. Please pray for their recovery.
[2] Podcasts: Let me recommend once again my podcast with Abel James, the Fat Burning Man: Paul Jaminet: The Perfect Health Diet, Safe Starches, and Intermittent Fasting. Abel was very well prepared, indeed he read the whole manuscript of the Scribner edition before our chat, and we covered a lot of material from the book. (By the way, Abel has a $0.99 Intro to the Paleo Diet. Can’t beat the price!)
I’ll be appearing on Cary Nosler’s Wide World of Health on Sunday September 9 at 4 pm EDT/1 pm PDT, unless baseball playoffs interfere in which case it will be at 3 pm EDT/noon PDT.
Finally, I’ve recorded an interview with Jordan Reasoner and Steve Wright of SCDLifestyle.com, scheduled to go live on Sept 27. Topics included the role of infections in inflammatory bowel disease, and how diet can help. Jordan and Steve have a great site for bowel disease patients. Both have been friends of the blog for quite some time; Jordan was one of our first readers and wrote one of the first Amazon reviews of our book.
[3] Music to read by:
[4] Reader Results:
Kevin Lyons started our diet two weeks ago and is live-blogging his experience at “Perfect Health Diet in Practice.” So far, so good: he’s lost 5 pounds, lowered his blood pressure, hasn’t been hungry, and “my energy and mood was great.”
Francesca has some good news about her husband:
He is 68, has a severely degenerated mitral valve and the surgeon’s opinion nine months ago was that immediate surgery was necessary. After just over a year on PHD he feels great and has no symptoms other than atrial fibrillation. He refuses to have the operation while he feels so well, has plenty of energy and is never breathless, not even when walking fast up steep hills or doing hard physical work.
He has refused all blood thinners, even baby aspirin, which infuriates his doctors…. [His] severe fatigue … has miraculously almost disappeared since going on PHD.
JonMarc Grodi has lost 50 pounds, and his wife Teresa 45 pounds.
Her complexion, body composition, energy levels, cravings/hunger, digestion, and other aspects of health have all improved. I have cut my exercise down to a fraction of what I am used to and at the same time put on a ton of muscle.
Pam has improved her cholesterol numbers and increased bone density. Ryan has improved his skin and appetite control.
A friend of Rich’s lost 35 pounds and
more importantly I feel fantastic…. Food no longer has a hold of me…. After 7 months of being on the Perfect Health Diet, my blood pressure was good. (I have always been borderline high). My bad cholesterol was good and my good cholesterol was outstanding. My triglycerides were ridiculously low.
I am now a huge advocate for this way of eating. It has changed my life, and I am excited about it.
MH has “been following PHD for 8-9 months, with wonderful results across the board.”
Marc got rid of his rosacea and stubborn body fat.
Catherine fixed her blood glucose and her headache vanished.
MsBB says “since following this diet-I have boundless energy. My yoyo hypoglycemic events have ended. Sleep like a rock.”
Daniel Han has lost over 90 pounds.
Lauren had chronic migraines for 16 years. No more!
Dr. Helen Riley has dropped a dress size and has more energy.
Steve Reichard has normalized his previously high blood pressure.
Ana Cheeseman says, “My health and energy levels have significantly improved with the PHD!!!! Thank you for sharing all this!!”
Justin: “I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in 2009, improved on Savella, then plateaued, and now on the PHD for a few months, am improving almost back to where I was in my early 20?s.”
[5] Elsewhere on the Web:
There’s been some fractiousness in the Paleosphere while we were away. Melissa McEwen started a blog to document it: PaleoDrama. Richard Nikoley then declared war, producing but one casualty: his own sleep. Perhaps the blog should have been titled “PaleoComedy.”
Paleo is mainstream. Other evidence: the Roadkill Café is going upscale: get ready for “New Gather Cuisine.”
It’s not just Paleo: carbohydrate restriction has triumphed.
Dan’s Plan has a great infographic: Optimize Your Health.
Chris Kresser sticks to his guns: It’s OK to eat high-on-the-food-chain ocean fish despite mercury risks. ProfDrAndro of Suppversity reports on a conflicting study; Chris’s earlier article.
Nutrisclerosis by Whitney Ross Gray gives the Paleo community another MS recovery story, similar to that of Terry Wahls.
Catch-22: If you make public your cure for cancer, it’s impossible for anyone to bring it to market.
Sometimes journals are reluctant to publish negative results, which is unfortunate, as it would have deprived us of this interesting case study. (Via Greg Mankiw.)
It’s not just black cats whose paths you shouldn’t cross.
Dr Davis says “we’re seeing hundreds of thousands of people losing 30, 80, 150 pounds” by giving up wheat. Great news if true! Oddly, he doesn’t seem aware that gliadins are a component of gluten. Perhaps the journalist garbled the quote.
A good question is: If avoiding grains is so good for health, why didn’t traditional peoples discover it? Maybe they did. Via Martin Inderhaug, the ancient Chinese practice of Bigu.
Pal Jabekk advises: Jump!
Easy as Pi likes our diet.
Against my claim that starch is better than sugar, the Ray Peat Forum is soliciting rebuttals. Andrew Kim stepped forward with “Fructose is > Glucose” and “Fructose is > Glucose Part II.”
Questions I hope I don’t get asked: Why does this woman need to be upside down? Why is this girl blue?
Caroline Lunger is a prolific young blogger. She made a common mistake – going too low carb on GAPS.
Horses do better on high-fat than high-grain diets.
Emily Willingham replies to the New York Times autism and inflammation article.
Besse Cooper has turned 116. She still doesn’t eat junk food.
Russ Crandall, The Domestic Man, has tips for easing into a Paleo diet.
“The Power of Poo” is a resource for those considering fecal transplants.
Great line from Dallas and Melissa:
A Paleo way of life is about choosing to partake in a “nutrient-dense life”, complete with deeply nourishing food, emotionally satisfying social relationships, and genuine interaction with the natural (i.e. outside) world.
In a major upset, a seven year-old won the national ram-groping tournament.
“The responsibilities of an academic are teaching, research and service fundraising.” Much research cannot be trusted because many academics exchange scholarly integrity for career success.
“Putting a mango directly into my mouth was stupid. I admit that.”
[6] Cute animal: NO!!!! Don’t do it doggie! It’s not Paleo!
More cute animals here. Via Craig Newmark.
[7] Not the weekly video: Cuter animals:
[8] Photo art:
[9] Weekly video: How to get the Spirit Mars Exploration Rover to Mars. Having worked on projects like this, I can tell you that many of the people in that room will have worked on this project for 20 years. A lot of one’s life hinges on that few seconds when you find out if the landing was successful!
via this link:
My prayers and thoughts will be going out for erp and her injured family as they pull through and recover.
Welcome back! I miss your posts 🙂
I stopped reading FTE half a year ago after seeing too many attacks on intelligent women. RN is the Glenn Beck of the nutrition community; although RN is both intelligent and a skillful wordsmith, I consider his intentions to be flawed. Besides, I never found anything he’s written that’s made me want to change my daily practices. It was easy to stop that feed subscription.
Great podcast with Abel. That guy definitely came prepared. Great interviewer, great interview.
That upside down woman story is amazing. Like an ill-fitting battery in an electrical device that causes it to restart…she’s super lucky to be alive. It certainly didn’t hurt to be married to Andre the Giant.
I am about a third of the way through Valasquez-Manoff’s new book An Epidemic of Absence, which his NY Times editorial on autism could be seen as an advertisement for. It’s provocative and seemingly internally logical. He does mention some studies that seem inconsistent his hypothesis that immune disorders are largely triggered by an absence of the normal parasites humans have been traditionally exposed to. He does not deny that many parasites are incredibly harmful. Having said this, I am not an expert on this topic and am in no position to critique his arguments.
Thanks Paul and everyone praying for our kids. The kindness of strangers has been amazing.
Great post Paul! Teresa and I are excited to read the new version of your book – we loved the first.
Thanks for sharing our success story excerpt from my blog! I hope it helps to inspire others to give the PHD/Paleo stuff a try.
erp: Our prayers are with you and yours. Pax!
JM & Teresa
Hi Psul,
Welcome back! Will you be responding to Andrew Kim? It makes very interesting reading!
Hi Martin,
Maybe. I have to see what I’m in the mood for when it comes time to write a post.
erp: all my hopes for your kids to recover soon.
Cat’s have an undeserved reputation in the T. Gondii epidemic. 🙁 If you search pubmed you’ll will find many epidemiological studies exonerating cats.
Consumption of unwashed fruits and vegetables, poor hand higiene, consumption of raw or undercooked meat products, engaging in soil-related activities without gloves, on the other hand seems to be the main causes of T. Gondii infection, at least in the urban population.
Mario.
Owner of 4 cats and T. Gondii free.
Hi Paul, thanks for the shout out! I’m honored to be in the same post as a raccoon baby rescue video 🙂
Welcome back! Best wishes to Erp and family for a speedy and healthful recovery.
Thanks for the bit about feeding fat to horses. I have a horse who is on pasture 24-7 in the summer living the (mostly) primal horsey life – she really only gets a cup of grain, while some horses in the barn are on up to 8 qts/day! She is stabled ~12 hours/night in the winter, and I need to give her more grain. Not only does the hay provide calories, but the fermentation in the hind gut provides heat in the winter too, but she just can’t eat enough hay to maintain. Instead of feeding too much grain, I like to cut her off at a quart and add extra calories with forage pellets topped with oil. I was reassured by that link you sent. After all, if I am trying to maintain an evolutionarily appropriate lifestyle for myself, I should do the same for my horse!
Paul,
On the “putting a mango straight in my mouth was stupid” NY Times article do you agree with the message that taking antiobiotics for travelers diarrhea is correct?
Personally I would think would be a little too intense? In fact, I’m currently in Asia myself and I had a bad case of diarrhea a few weeks ago… 2 Tablespoons of Apple Cider Vinegar in a cup of water, 3 times a day, and my diarrhea was gone in under 24 hours. I’ve had T.D a few times before and never would it pass over that quick.
Also from the column: ‘Indeed, repeated cases of traveler’s diarrhea can damage the gut’s ability to absorb nutrients’ … As i just said, I have had T.D several time of the years, is this something I need to worry about?
Thanks
Kris Cleary
Hi Kris,
I’ve always found that food poisoning responds quickly to large doses of probiotics. So if I got traveler’s diarrhea, I’d try that first.
Hi Paul,
I was re-reading your site and noted a comment by you just after you had turned in the files for the first book, where you said that you would be able to distribute the e-book versions before the books became available on Amazon. I didn’t realize at first I was reading “back in 2010” and got excited that it would be possible to start reading the new book sooner than Christmas time. So I thought I’d ask: is there any chance of that with the second book? Can I buy some version that will become available earlier than paper version I pre-ordered months ago on Amazon? I like having both the Kindle version and the paper version of your first book, anyway, and the early access would be wonderful. Just thought I’d ask.
Take care,
Randy
Hi Randy,
No, Scribner controls the ebooks as well as the print edition and will release both on Dec 11.
Thanks Paul,
Good to know. I’ll put it on my calendar.
oh, i forgot Bigu. now it is a practice of fasting in Taoism.
although i suspect it may have started as “avoid grains” originally, as it literally means such. then have become more generalized.
cheers,
Paul,
you got me interested in “bigu”. so i dug a bit.
(sorry, i’m Chinese but bi-gu is in the realm of alchemist Taoism than the philosophical aspect that became more popular.
ancients Taoists believed that grains “nourish worms” (the lowest “worm” resides in abdomen that creates “dirty chi”)
“bi-gu” as a practice is mentioned in quite a few ancient writings.
so there you go!
Thanks Pam!
Ancient lore is very interesting. I suspect Paleolithic man knew a great deal about health and food that was gradually lost as civilization developed.
some sources says that “gu” (grains) also includes “beans”.
regards,
Andrew Kim can cite all the references he wants, but my only data comes from the fact that I am fructose intolerant. If fructose is sooooo great, why does this condition exist, and not starch/glucose intolerance?
If bees are sooooo great, why am I allergic to their stingers? Why do they have stingers AT ALL??
Obviously everything that could possibly be bad for any 1 person is bad for everyone. So we should kill all bees. And bugs in general, just to be sure. And snakes. And plants, because I’m allergic to pollen.