Some odds and ends only today.
Happy Birthday America!
A happy Independence Day to all Americans.
It’s a day to celebrate the gifts America’s founders bequeathed to posterity and to commemorate the trials they underwent to found the nation. It may also be worth remembering that they considered liberty a fragile plant that would have to be renewed in each generation, and to ponder the question posed at the end of our national anthem: Does the American flag still wave over a land of the free and home of the brave?
In honor of the holiday, here is a special Fourth of July edition of Shou-Ching’s photo art:
My podcast with Ben Greenfield
I was interviewed by Ben Greenfield of Ben Greenfield Fitness. The podcast can be found here.
Ben has a great community oriented toward endurance athletes – cyclists, runners, triathletes. The quality of his content is impressive and I highly recommend his site.
Special Offer from Kelapo Coconut Oil
The friendly folks at Kelapo.com are giving Perfect Health Diet readers a special offer on their cold-pressed organic coconut oil from Sri Lanka. I tried it, and it tastes great.
The coupon code is: PerfectHealth20 (case sensitive), usable at their online store. It will provide 20% off the total order and is valid until July 27.
A Summer Meet-Up
Some of our Boston area readers have expressed interest in meeting up sometime this summer. I know Ellen is interested.
Here’s what I suggest. On Plum Island off Newburyport there is a beach in the state park at the south end of the island. You get to the beach via the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, which has walking trails through dunes and marshland and is a pleasant place to spend an afternoon.
We’ll commit to being on the beach from 4:30 to 6:30 pm on a Saturday afternoon, with some picnic food. We’ll just be hanging out – walking, chatting, eating, reading, playing Frisbee. Any one who cares to is welcome to stop by and join us for as much time as you wish – just say hi, or stay and chat.
We can do either July 16 and 23.
If you’re interested and would like to influence our choice of date, please send me an email at pauljaminet@perfecthealthdiet.com.
Have a great holiday!
via this link:
(From the podcast) “You should expect to eat SEVERAL POUNDS of plant foods a day to be well-nourished”!? In addition to meat, eggs, coconut oil, etc.? Yikes!
Ah, yes. And at Plum Island there is (or at least, used to be) a little airport where if the wind isn’t right for landing on the paved strip, there’s enough grass to land an old biplane in a more favorable direction. 🙂
You betcha Ellen’s interested. Either date is good with me.
We can only be there in spirit.
Have a great time everybody.
Shou-Ching’s photo art is beautiful. The delicate PHD apple is a compelling addition.
Hi erp,
We can add more apples! More is better, right?
Hi Marilyn,
That’s good, looks like our biplane flying readers have no excuses!
Hi Steve,
Sounds like you don’t eat your vegetables!
Safe starches are only 300-600 calories per pound, fruits and berries mostly 200 calories per pound, and we suggest 400+ calories … so even if you don’t eat vegetables you’ll get at least a pound, maybe a pound and a half.
Flavor your whipped cream with some strawberries, and the plant foods can add up.
Also, this was a fitness audience, so they eat more calories than us old sedentary folks.
I cannot do either day but hope everyone has a great time 🙂
Paul, sure, if we don’t eat them.
Good interview Paul.
Boston’s a little too far for this Texan. Hey, we can have a PHD Texas meet up at the Weston Price Seminar in Dallas in November!
Hi Paul,
The podcast with Ben was my favorite of yours to date and a good refresher for some of the key elements of the PHD. Ben asked some good questions.
About fruit and fructose …
I don’t tend to eat much fruit and often go many days or even weeks without eating any. Part of it is I find it to be overly sweet and part of it is avoiding fructose. If I want potassium, I prefer to eat more potatoes instead of a banana and avoid its fructose.
Am I missing a health benefit or nutrient in fruit that I cannot get from non-fruit plants, or is eating fruit more about variety for minimal toxicity dose from eating too many of the same plant foods?
What’s a good food to eat just before exercise for extra energy and muscle fuel? I’m thinking fruit wouldn’t be, since the fructose goes to the liver and not muscle … how about a banana, though, that has 2:1 glucose:fructose and quickly digested?
Thanks,
Mark
Hi Mark,
Glad you liked it.
I don’t think fruit is necessary for health, but in moderation it’s probably beneficial because it adds variety to the diet. The more beneficial foods in your diet, the better. Fruit and berries have some nutrients, are low in toxicity, tend to modulate gut flora in a positive direction, and for a low-carb low-PUFA dieter I think the modest amounts of fructose are not harmful.
Just before exercise – it’s hard to beat a banana and branched chain amino acids. In addition to being a good glycogen source, bananas are good for electrolytes esp potassium.