Author Archives: Paul Jaminet - Page 33

When we first announced the Perfect Health Retreat program, I said that I would like to involve the larger Paleo/Primal/ancestral health community in our retreats. It’s great for Retreat participants to hear a diversity of ancestral viewpoints; and we see the Retreats as a resource for the entire ancestral health community.

The Retreats are dedicated to improving the health of participants; but indirectly, they also have a scientific purpose: to demonstrate the tremendous health benefits that an ancestral diet and lifestyle can bring. We hope our results – and so far, every participant has seen significant health improvements – will extend the credibility and reach of the ancestral health movement.

One of the first community figures to take us up on our offer to participate in Perfect Health Retreats was Ben Greenfield of Ben Greenfield Fitness. Ben is a triathlete, personal trainer, and health coach. Ben is planning to come out to Austin March 3-6 next year and interact directly with Retreat participants. Earlier this month, we did a trial run: Ben spoke to our October Retreat participants via Skype, and recorded the talk.

Ben has now published that video. His topic was “Three Pillars of Fat Loss.” Every once in a while I threw in some comments, or one of our Retreat participants asked a question. Here is Ben’s talk:

Enjoy!

Already, Perfect Health Retreats have established an exceptionally good record for weight loss. I’ve blogged about results from the first beta participants:

• Charles Kevin Rackley, an overweight diabetic, lost eight pounds while gaining muscle, reduced his waist circumference by four inches, and normalized his blood glucose levels.
• Eva Jo Scott lost six pounds and two inches from her waist. She also increased her energy and greatly reduced her need for pain medication.
• Ruth Slattery, a lupus patient with a normal physique, lost four pounds and an inch around her waist, and experienced reductions in joint pain and fatigue and increased mobility.

Jorjan Cullender Hendrix’s story was first told here. Planning knee and hip surgery, walking with a cane, and reliant on pain medications last winter, she totally recovered on PHD.  What we didn’t mention was that Jorjan has had remarkable improvements in body composition. She was 132 pounds when she adopted PHD on April 1, was 122 pounds when she wrote her first testimonial, and now weighs is 118 pounds. She has lost cellulite and gained strength – she says her muscle definition is better than when she was in high school. Jorjan sent me these pictures:

Here are stories from other recent Perfect Health Retreat participants.

Laura’s Story

Laura came on the Perfect Health Retreat with the support of her generous boss, who paid her retreat fee and allowed her to telecommute from Austin during the retreat. Laura’s goal was weight loss:

I wanted to keep my active, adventurous lifestyle but due to my weight it was just getting harder and harder to get out there fishing and camping with my loved ones.

At Albert Oaks I set out with the goal to lose 30 lbs. Although I only ended up only losing 16 lbs, the change in my body was absolutely noticeable.

I know the professional yoga program at Albert Oaks has been very beneficial. I haven’t been able to sit cross-legged in more than a decade but now I can! I’ve never done yoga in my entire life but I bought a two Yoga DVDs and a mat and will continue to when I get home!

As far as the overall health benefits are concerned; I slept better and just seemed to move differently than I did before.

I’m very satisfied in learning how to implement fitness as part of the Perfect Health Diet. The Perfect Health Retreat helped me find MY WAY to weight loss and perfect health while teaching me how to carry over what I had learned into everyday life.

Laura

Sixteen pounds is quite an impressive weight loss for a 30 day stay. I’m sure Laura will reach her weight loss goals in time.

Jim’s story

Jim was a friend of our commenter lana and came to the Perfect Health Retreat with the goal of losing weight.

He succeeded, losing 24 pounds in 30 days. He also increased his energy levels, lowered his cholesterol, and normalized his fasting blood glucose levels.

Before coming on the retreat, Jim had been planning to get gastric bypass surgery. He was pleased to find he could lose weight effectively through natural means, and will not need surgery.

Darlene’s Story

Darlene is very slender and did not come to the Retreat for weight loss; she actually gained muscle and a few pounds at the Retreat, and looked terrific when I saw her. But let me share her story.

Darlene had already been eating PHD for over a year as part of her effort to defeat chronic infections. She has had success using the combination antibiotic protocol described at http://cpnhelp.org, and found that the antibiotics and PHD made a very powerful combination. Her most prominent symptoms have been receding for the last year and some disappeared during her time at the retreat. Thanks to her improvement, when I spoke to her as the retreat concluded she was planning to stop some of her antibiotics.

Here is how she described her experience:

I came to Albert Oaks because I wanted to really learn the Perfect Health Diet from a scientific standpoint. The access I got to Paul Jaminet was a great asset in gaining this expertise and achieving my goals. Daily discussions were perfect for reviewing previous material and getting to ask Paul questions directly. One problem I had before coming to the Perfect Health Retreat was trouble sleeping. I would wake up at 4AM but then go back to sleep at 7AM. I wanted to explore and learn more about circadian rhythms and that’s a big part of the environment that the Perfect Health Retreat strives to create. Things like bright daytime lighting, red-yellow lighting and anti-blue light glasses at night, temperature control, and meal timing helped me reset my sleep and also taught me how to set up my home environment to maintain improved rhythms. I also liked the onsite Primal 7 workout equipment. It was useful in targeting muscle groups that I have had trouble working out before. The food was exceptional and tasty but possibly the best part of staying at the Perfect Health Retreat at Albert Oaks is the wonderful people here. It really is a community of like-minded individuals who want to see you reach your goals and accomplish all you can.

Darlene

Kevin Lyons and Owen Gaines

As it happened, I got a weight loss email this morning from reader Kevin Lyons:

I’ve been strict on my diet and walking for months now.  Down to 189 from a high of 226!!

I have gotten 4 friends to buy the book. One of them, Owen Gaines, has been posting on your site. He’s dropped 26 lbs in a little over 2 months. Says its easy and a tasty experience!!

Kevin shared a picture:

Looking good!

Conclusion

To date, with the sole exception of Darlene, who was if anything underweight when she arrived, everyone who has attended a Perfect Health Retreat has lost weight and waistline inches, while improving fitness and muscular strength. Those with diabetes have seen their blood glucose levels normalize.

No one has yet complained of being hungry. The food is delicious. And results have come remarkably quickly – in thirty days Laura lost 16 pounds, Jim lost 24 pounds, Charles lost four inches from his waist.

We’re excited about PHD for weight loss because unlike other diets, which tend to generate hunger and cravings and lead to yo-yo weight regain, on PHD there is no hunger and readers have generally reported persistent, enduring weight loss. We believe PHD will support a lifetime of great health and lead in most cases to permanent weight normalization.

If you’d like to find out whether a Perfect Health Retreat can fit in your budget and schedule, please contact Paul Jaminet at paul@perfecthealthretreat.com and 617-576-1753 or Whitney Ross Gray at whitney@perfecthealthretreat.com and 910-763-8530.