I'm Glad I Listened!

"Stop Telling me How to Eat to Cure My Incurable Disease!" screams the title of a blogpost provided by Woo.  Thanks Woo!

LOL!  I could have written this at one time, but I don't feel that way anymore.

A long time ago, a few months after being diagnosed with lupus, I still wasn't feeling very well.  I was getting discouraged by my inability to carry on throughout a normal day, thinking that I would never get better.

We got together with friends over the 4th of July, and I was talking about my illness with my friend, who has a BSN, so the conversations can get fairly technical at times and she is right there with me.  I was also drowning my sorrows in non-local wine.

They had another new friend at the party, a guy someone met at the gym.  At first he seemed friendly.  But when the others left to get more beers or to go to another part of the roof for an ocean view, I was left alone with him.  He got right into my face and started SCREAMING at me about what vegan food I should eat, what supplements I should take, how I should exercise.  Just like a drill sergeant.

This went on and on.  I was stunned.  I couldn't move.  I just sat there saying to myself, "Somebody rescue me!  Please!  Why can't they help me?"  Eventually the others came back, and the drill sergeant went onto other things, but I don't think I moved out of that chair until we were ready to leave.

Then again, if someone had told me at the time that I shouldn't eat wheat, I wouldn't have appreciated it either.  I didn't reduce wheat until over a year later.  By that time, I had figured out the appetite-stimulating aspect of wheat, and started reading about a low carb diet.  By the time Dr. Davis' book came out, I was planted firmly in the "wheat is poison" camp.  After a couple of years of monitoring (and a stint with Robb Wolf's autoimmune Paleo diet) my rheumy told me I didn't have to come back anymore.

I sort of forgot that I had an autoimmune disease.  And the concept that it might even be celiac was absolutely off the radar until I started reading Dr. Perlmutter.  So I am really glad that people like Dr. Wahls and Dr. Davis and Dr. Permutter are still telling people what to eat to cure their incurable diseases.  I just wish I had heard this information years ago.

Some time after the party, I mentioned the incident to my host.  He had no idea that the nutritional bullying was going on.  He still recounts the story to new guests, at every holiday, and he still keeps apologizing to me.  By now it seems pretty funny to all of us, but at times I am just so surprised at how many people think they can attack sick people.

My Vegan Friends

Hey, my friends are nice people, mostly.  They love animals, and the planet.  Or, they are allergic to meat.

And then, there is Dr. MacDougall.  Well, based on his interview with Jimmy ("what is your authority") Moore, he is certainly not in it for the spiritual reasons.  He represents all that is wrong with our medical and nutrition professions.  He has no authority.

When I first started listening, it sounded like an exchange at a typical holiday dinner around here, except after someone yells out,

"Atkins diet KILLS PEOPLE!!!!  I saw a study!!!!!!" and then everything settles down and someone offers a piece of pie.

At the last dinner, I met a new vegan.  We were talking about diet and I mentioned that I used to be vegan but now am pretty much the opposite.  She had an interesting response, unlike our Dr. MacDougall (who has ALL this DATA showing that Atkins KILLS people!!!!!!).

"Hey, everyone is different."

Cool.

Under Construction

I have wanted to say so many things since Our Mister Moore leaked out a few youtube teasers with his interview with Dick MacDougall, but I didn't even know where to start.  This topic warrants a whole series.

Here's the short part.

I followed the MacDougall diet religiously for as long as I could stand it.  I got fatter, and felt miserable.

Warning:  listening and watching this is like watching a train wreck with an entire load of fingernails crashing into another train head-on, carrying a load of blackboards.  Just do the ole'NLP trick, put the podcast in a frame, turn it into "black and white", and move it away in your mind during the scary parts.  This will make the podcast seem less like one of my famous holiday get-togethers.

It's time to smash myPlate

Hi readers!  Y'all know by now that I am not a big fan of MyPlate, and that My Plate usually is a bowl, and filled with some meat and probably more than half the volume (at least before cooking!) of my home-grown organic veggies.  Nuts and dairy and fruit are usually off to the side, much farther away, like in a snack at a different time of the day.

Hey, get a load of this picture of the Kardashians tossing plates.  I guess they were stamped with the USDA's terrible-two-year-old MyPlate.  While they were in Greece, I sure hope they enjoyed a REAL Mediterranean diet.  I was going to fix the format, but I kind of like the way it spills all over the page, do you?

Here's the plate video.  Don't they all look smashing?  (Here's the link.)  Or, you can wait until the TV show features it.

(Check out the myplate category on the side for my earlier plate-y posts.)



http://www.splashnewsonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/spl534698_034-wm900.jpg

I just want to set the record straight

There is so much backlash regarding grain-free or paleo diets.  I just wanted to tell the world here, those who say it is lots of bacon and everything....

I haven't had bacon for around 6 weeks, I guess?  My local store no longer carries bacon ends, and the other store has the ends in a large package that doesn't keep well enough before I can use it all.  I don't have any more bacon fat in the fridge, either.

So, what's with the full-scale attack on grain-free diets?  Is it some vast grain conspiracy?  The dietitians seem to be out in full force, making some of us look foolish, faddish, whatever.  How is that working for your credibility as a profession? 

I have been cooking with more butter lately, both because the grass-fed stuff has been on sale and also in arterycloggingsaturatedfat-"solid"-arity with those poor kids in NYC who are denied it.

Oh wait!  I had some bacon bits on a salad when we went out to eat recently.  Made it edible, in fact, made it tasty.

Paleo on $100 a Month day 6 - Tater Tots

I woke up this morning with a weird taste in my mouth, not from all the ham, but really just thinking about how many of my internet friends were having trouble this week.  I thought back to how many of us had created Facebook accounts to share our journey, and then some nasty, spiteful, or just generally mean person disrupted the process.  Many took down their blogs and posts.

The original tater tots

Well, sure, I hide somewhat behind a whole flock of screen names.  I used to share pictures from time to time to friends, but took them all down after a certain busy bee started crabbing about "red-faced low carbers".  Yes, I do have a red face from time to time, sometimes as red as the sweet potatoes that will hopefully be underneath the plants you see here, as red as the red shiso in a row behind.  And even if I weigh 125 or 225, I am still old and female, and therefore, subject to derision by many in the paleo crowd, who will be more than happy to use my pictures as some sort of fuel to buttress their particular macronutrient-ratio or male-domination argument.

See, this thing isn't really about weight, or age, or macro ratios.  It is really about just living your e-life and having to deal with creepy bullies.

This past week's holiday celebrations brought another opportunity to share and argue (with some) about what I eat.  I am tired of defending my way of eating, a way that has brought greater health and sanity to me, when not being temporarily distracted by internet busybodies.  When one attendee at the dinner suggested that I should look into this pattern of falling into controversy, I did take a look.  For a few days.

Today I am writing about it.  I will not shut up because some people are psycho on the internet.  I will not take responsibility for the creepy behaviors displayed by some here, no, I will not let them hang their silver bracelets around my neck.  I will not take the blame for the obesity crisis.  I will continue to enjoy cream in my coffee.

Today, I was all set to write about how long it takes to secure food.  The tiny plants in the photo may produce sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving.  Then again, the plants may struggle and produce large tubers only by the end of the second year.  The shiso plants behind them are weeds, but the seeds only germinate after a longish period in the cold damp soil.  This season's freeze took out almost every single pepper plant, but gave me hundreds of shiso plants in return.

I got onto my EMF-spewing computer this morning, only to be greeted by this wonderful article, trying to make me feel guilty for eating the way I do.

"Adding cream and sugar to your daily coffee won't kill you, but most people won't like what can happen."   So, what will happen?  Will I die of a heart attack?  Get attacked by a dietitian?  Shamed by an obesity researcher? Should I have been shamed into running this idea past Kresser first?

 Nope.  Nope.  Not gonna do it.  I may just have to stay away from celebrations chocked with all sorts of ritual food, and then being told I must not eat it.  Being told as I am pouring cream into my coffee that there are studies showing that low carb diets kill people, and then having that person not be able to produce any of these studies.  Being told that by people who are very sick and red-faced.  Well, they should be red-faced, but for the bad behavior, not the diet.

No, fluff-internet-article-writer.  Cream in my coffee will probably not kill me.  It is not a bad habit.  This is my diet.  My adding cream to my coffee is not mindless.  Deal with it.

Now, as for the $100 dollar challenge:  This morning I enjoyed a lovely breakfast of ham, eggs and greens cooked in pork fat, with a small cup of cofee (AND CREAM) from trader Pablo.  I'll probably buy a carton of eggs today, and that is all.  I have already eaten a stick of butter and not even a week has gone by.

Oh How I hate Teachable Moments

Welcome new readers!  I got lots of comments on my last blog post about vegan diets.  I don't recall too many holier-than-thou vegans when I was as holy, I think that attitude is much stronger these days.

What bothers me even more is the behavior of some registered dietitians who act like Kashi shills and ram healthywholegrains down everyone's throats.

Once when I was at a weekend camp-out, this attending dietitian made a big deal about explaining to us the wonders of steel-cut oats.  'Course, I had my fill of the little buggers when I was a vegetarian, not so much now, but I used to even grind my own from whole oats.

I casually mentioned that I didn't eat wheat anymore, but she insisted that I try the oats, so I agreed to try them the next morning.  She made a big deal out of soaking them and cooking them all night, too.  Unfortunately, she neglected to tell me that the steel-cut oats also contained plenty of other steel-cut grains, like wheat.

That just made me so mad.  Nothing like healthy, satiating, stomach-rumbling-all-day wholegrain wheat.

Oh, the Irony

OK, I am old, now who is this guy?  Besides, I think I am going to be busy that day, can't go to a concert.  I am not sure of the day, but I am sure I am busy.

Morrissey is coming to town.  Now I am generally suspicious of stars that go by first names only, but really, he is insisting that only vegetarian fare be served at the concert site.  And to appease him, the Staples center is trying to get nearby eateries to comply with his demands wishes?  And, how much "clean" radius does a music star need before he'll perform?

I need to warn Morrissey that he is going into some serious carnitas territory here.  Vegetarian fare near the Staples center would probably be a bean and cheese burrito, but then one really couldn't be sure..... Could a meat-eating, murderous carnivore have to go to the Valley or El Monte to get some serious carnitas?

Oh yeah, where was I?  Oh, right, so he has cancelled some concerts already, due to illness.  It seems he is having some severe stomach issues.

And I am thinking, "Hey, I used to have some serious stomach issues."  And many times, a vegetarian diet made things better.  Eventually I developed a long list of foods I could not tolerate.  Meat fat, tomatoes, soy milk, nuts, peppers, eggplant, sour cream, butter, vegan cold cuts, milk, beets, alcohol on and on.  And this is how the logic went down.

A + B => bad
A + C => bad
A + D => bad
Therefore, B and C and D are bad. 

This flurry of logic is an embarrassment for someone as statistically gifted as I am.  And yes, I was developing GERD before getting off the "healthy" vegetarian diet and onto a fat-swilling artery-clogging low carb diet.  And here is what I found out:

GERD has nothing to do with what time of the day I eat, but everything to do with eating wheat.  I can eat every food listed above (ok, except raw beets) without a problem as long as I haven't eaten any wheat.  For years I avoided all those foods when I really should been avoiding that one food.   The main reason I did not realize it is that wheat damage has a very long half-life for me.  Even when I was eating wheat about a couple of times a week, I still didn't notice the problem, because at least until the end, it was always at a constant, low level.

This Morrissey guy, he has severe stomach problems, and Barrett's esophagus, and he wants to insist that everyone eat like he does?  He could get cancer from this, and while I don't really know what he is eating, I am wondering if he is putting 2 and 2 together like I did.  And, now I am getting this uneasy feeling in my stomach again, as I realize that he is demanding that others take the same dangerous path he has taken.

Don't Feed the Hand that Bites You

I'll admit, I was away so long, I didn't even know what was happening.

I used to go to [redacted]people from time to time, and it seemed like many friends weren't there anymore.  Then I caught a blogpost by a low-carb friend explaining the reason she wasn't there as much anymore.

It seems like last November, our favorite CW dietitian, Becky Hand, wrote a very damning article about a low carb diet.  You can read more about her lies here .

You will note that unlike other blog posts, this post has no comments.  That is because the comments were taken down after tons of people complained about her post.  In the comments section, members expressed their outrage.  All the comments were erased and the blog post was edited.  Now you will see low carb myths, where before, she called them low carb lies.  It looks like the list of lies has also been edited since the last time I checked.

Some of my friends started some threads about this in the main message board.  Many were erased.  This is what remains.

I wonder if there will ever be a time when registered dietitians can be considered criminally liable for refusing to offer diet advice that can really help diabetics and people with metabolic syndrome.  There is plenty of data, they can't continue to deny that, and lie about their diet advice.

So, I am doing a bit of decluttering and taking my page down.

Hey, CSPI Guy, keep your mitts outta my Food!

The CSPI guy is at it again.  After demonizing coconut oil, now they are going after real food.

I read in a recent issue of their rag (still behind a paid subscription wall) that they are still trying to get SNAP to encourage eating "healthy" foods like fruits and veggies and healthywholegrains.

Then I found this article on the internet that explains pretty much the same plan.  I hope the initiative fails, and here's why.

I used to work at the local food bank, mostly because I used to deliver fresh fruits and veggies to them, and then they just kept asking me back.  So, I know how easy it is to get lots of fresh fruit and vegetables around here.  Currently I am accepting tons of lemons and limes, but also oranges, and later in the year, I will be able to access other citrus fruits, as well as all the cherries, apples and grapes I can process.  Fresh produce and healthywholegrain breads are frequently available at local community centers. 

I am not on the SNAP program, but if I qualified, about the only thing I would be purchasing through the program would be meat, eggs and some avocados.  OK, maybe a bag of carrots out of season.  This means I probably wouldn't get many "healthy" points for buying stuff I don't need or wouldn't eat in favor of all those arterycloggingsaturatedfatladen foods that people don't give away for free.

I already get some weird stares from some of the skinny yoga moms at the local farm-like store.  Their carts are full of organic veggies and juice boxes, and their kids are already eating organic cookies out of the box before they get home.

So yea, let's let the rich moms buy whatever crap they want to, and legislate food morality through all those po' people.  And why is some vegetarian guy running around the country telling people what they gonna eat?

Daily Mail

Schizophrenic fer sure.  (At least the popular definition.)

Yesterday's mail included a welcome dearth of political ads, and an extremely early edition of my favorite porn mag, the High Mowing Seeds 2013 catalog.  Ahhhh, food heaven!

I also got a fat letter from the Department of Agriculture.  Thinking......hmm, I didn't apply for a job there, did I?  Fat envelope would then be OK, right?  Did I get back on the organic junque mail list?  Perhaps they discovered my stance on prop 37 GMO labeling and they invited me to be on a steering committee to evaluate the initiative in preparation for implementation after it wins next year?

Turns out that a citrus pest has been discovered in my neighborhood and shortly, white-suited and masked exterminators will be "visiting" my backyard to spray quick-kill neurotoxins and endocrine-disruptors on my fruit trees, and then follow up with a known contributor to colony collapse disorder that will effectively poison the surrounding soil and bio-food-web for about 3 years.

Yes, there is going to be a meeting, but not for approval, of course, since they already seem to have obtained the authority to enter my backyard without my permission.  And, it sucks that I have spent lots of time and energy de-disrupting all my endocrines, especially getting rid of all those pesky estrogen-mimicing compounds that they are now going to spray back into my life, and with repeat applications if necessary.  (And, it WILL be necessary, since the horse already got out of the barn.....)

More food fascism, though I am conflicted.  I would like to save and/or rescue local agriculture, even though the authorities won't let me do much local agriculture in my backyard, and now, NO organic agriculture, at least in the vicinity of the fruit trees, and anything downwind or downstream from them.

But Jeez Louise, what about the bees? I don't see how mass-spraying of entire towns will help local agriculture, if the spraying greatly contributes to the collapse of the bee community that the agriculture depends on.  Then again, what if this nasty neurotoxin stuff works against the bagrada bug????

And, it sucks that I am prevented from taking a propagative cutting of basket rush from a local pond per EPA regulations, and yet the department of Agriculture can run around and spray stuff that is extremely toxic to aquatic life all around said pond?

A few years ago, when I read my big permaculture book, I got a bit overwhelmed, until the author said to just start small, so I picked just one square yard to focus my initial permaculture effort, and, unfortunately, that one square yard is right under the lemon tree, and that culture is about to be destroyed.

In a fit of hope, I Googled "pyrethroid bagrada" and came up with absolutely no matches.  I don't know what the word for it is, that thing that they call it when you search two keywords on Google and come up with no matches.  It is rare, and I would Google the term if I knew the name.  Anyway, where was I?  Oh yea, looks like I am sol on the bagrada situation.

One bright spot is that High Mowing has several new varieties of parthenocarpic squash.  That's the fancy name for squash plants that produce decent squash without the need for pollination, which I won't be getting as much since the department of agriculture is killing the bees.

P. S. Turns out I am a Googlewhacker.  And for your weekend entertainment, check out this charming paper.

Dear Whole Foods:

Wow, this is an old topic!  Why haven't I posted anything about it yet?  The answer is in my letter:

Dear Whole Foods:

Hey, a bunch of people have been writing about how they want you to change your policy on vegan and/or paleo diets.  Initially I didn't want to say anything because I rarely shop at your store.

But, wait a minute!  I used to.  What happened?  When I moved to California, the first thing I did is find a natural foods store, and my very first grocery trip was to Mrs. Gooch's.  But then we moved, and a Mrs. Gooch's/Whole Foods wasn't nearby and we quit going as much.

Then I switched from a vegetarian diet to Paleo.  The last time I went into a WF was to check out some new Paleo books and grab a package of meat for a road trip.  I was surprised that they had a greatly-reduced book section (no Paleo books here, ma'am), but even more surprised by the wall of vegan books and propaganda that accosted me at the store entry.

All those years as a vegetarian, and I never felt uncomfortable walking into a store, a barbeque, or a meaty eatery.  And now this?

Gee, I just switched from eating 99-cent black beans to eating 10-dollar-a-pound grass-fed meat that I don't buy at your store because your propaganda creeps me out.  This seems like a weird business decision on your part.

Please reconsider.

Sincerely, EB

P.S.  I started driving all that way to WF to get my favorite tea after the local natural foods donated a bunch of $$$$$$ against the NOH8 campaign.  Please don't make me go back.  Then again, there is mail-order.

My Final Letter from [redacted]Coach Jen

"In June, 2011 you were given a final warning about giving members advice that goes against [redacted]People’s program recommendations.  Many of your posts link to non-research supported sites, and I know you’ve also been giving members unsolicited advice through [redacted]Mail when they post about something on the general Message Boards.  It’s great if you’ve found a style of eating that works for you, and it’s fine that you don’t agree with our recommendations.  But because we believe our guidelines are based on sound research and they are being applied to a wide range of people with a wide range of medical histories, we consider it dangerous to be giving advice outside of these guidelines.  Therefore, your account has been closed.

Best of luck in your healthy lifestyle journey, [redacted]

I suspected a set-up when I started getting unsolicited [redacted]mails from people, asking me for advice.  This is weird, since I don't give advice but only tell people to keep reading.  There have been a few people on the main message boards who have been saying that I have been giving advice and putting other words in my mouth, so I am not surprised at all.  I think the main message boards have become infested with some seriously mentally ill people who have been demanding compliance to their way of eating.

So, goodbye [redacted]peeps, and I hope you will come over here more often.

Here's the last "non-research supported" site that I posted.  I think some of y'all will find this very funny.

Data White-Out

Dang!  This is unfortunate.  It was always a joke in the halls of statistics.  If you don't like a pesky data point that seems to blow holes in your fave theory, just get a little bottle of white-out.  Apply liberally.  Poof!  Problem's gone.

Trouble happens when it is MY data point.  Now, to compensate, I am going to write a series of blog posts.  I hope you read them and send a link to EVERYONE YOU KNOW who has anything to do with the low- and lower-carb world because they really need to read this stuff.

I posted a thoughtful reply on Ron Rosedale's end-of-safe-starch-discussion blog, and eventually it got past the moderator, but while I was waiting, I thought it best for me to collect my thoughts here, where I have some control over what is included. (You can find Ron's post by finding the link on the right.)

If you have always wondered what it is like to actually live in a place such as Morovia, untouched by any 7-country study, 22-country study or other serious anthropological inquiry, well, stay tuned.  You'll be able to see that lost demographic right here, eating, sleeping, struggling with both.

Here's a general outline of what I intend to cover:

1.  Review my original comment on Rosedale's blog.

2.  Elaborate on the tricks I now use to get back into VLC-fat-burning mode.

3.  Respond to another poster (somewhere?) who mentioned he thought that people who tried many diets carefully were just neurotic.  Yep, I hope I don't get too Portia on you, but this topic deserves a blogpost all on its own.

4.  A post on the general state of "discussions" about carbs and the lack of science.  From a certain point of view, there is really no difference between many of the luminaries who coo to their audience segment, kick out the comments of those who have a different experience and otherwise ignore or discount their data.  They all deserve some time in the science doghouse.

So, to get started, I hope new readers will visit some of my earlier blogposts about what happened to me.  You can find them here and here.

AHS12 and the Search for the Lost Demographic

Just as I predicted earlier this year, the ancestral health community is still embedded in the throes of discovery and re-discovery!!!

This just in:  The Paleo's are uncivilized.  They don't like fat old ladies.  Oh Wait!  This is a repeat post, isn't it?

I just have to share my experience of AHS11.  I was a fly-on-the-wall.  I met or saw EVERYONE.  I found all the speakers cordial and friendly, even folks who are absolutely not that way on their blogs and websites.  I was actually surprised that some of the participants even acted human, except of course, right before their talks, when they were deep in thought and pacing around.  I tried to not confuse concentration and intensity with unfriendliness.

It was a slightly different story with the participants.  Many were friendly, chatty and nice (and grateful for the fresh veggies I brought).  Others were not friendly.  Young men obvious with their Robb mancrushes encircled him the whole time like burly bodyguards in some conflicted country and wouldn't let anyone else in.  The folks on paleohacks who said they were so eager to meet everyone were nowhere to be found.  I met a doctor who was quite rude and condescending

Oh, I know, if you are thinking that was Jack Kruse, you are wrong.  He was friendly and talkative.  He didn't seem to have a problem chatting it up with the little people, either during someone else's presentation or on a grassy knoll in some quadrangle.

What I don't get about this volunteer's post is that she and her angry friends feel left out of the overall paleo community, but they also try to kick out the low carb people and others they feel don't meet the requirements.  I know in my case, I have had lots of difficulty with several of those "whiners" attacking me because I follow Jack Kruse's recommendations.

Call me silly, but I think if you are a neglected demographic looking for a lost demographic, oh yes, that group you just voted off the island, you aren't going to find very many buddies.  Simply, it is more likely that the lost demographic is on a more low-carb version of paleo, and also entertaining Kruse's and others' cutting-edge ideas that the self-appointed paleo hall-monitors reject.  I read the exchanges of this bloggers "feminist" friends, many paleo luminaries and the paleohacks participants, and then said to myself, "Nope, I am done with this," and then went on over to the low carb community, where they are more friendly to my demographic.

Seriously, it is just like what they say in kindergarten.  If you want friends you have to be a friend.  The uncivilized paleo community will never get anywhere if they keep excluding people.

Note:  Since I first posted this, the person who complained about AHS12 has deleted her blog.  I am so sorry I did not get to read all of her posts before she took the whole thing down.  I think she had some really valid points to make about the paleo community, even though my experience hasn't been totally the same.  The responses to her post were an eye-opener, hopefully, for some people who say that they value the direction that the paleo community has taken.  Hey paleo community, if you really want to include the fat old ladies in your tribe, it is probably better to not call them ugly, undesirable cunts.  It is also not OK to attempt to take an entire community hostage to certain infantile demands, no matter what side they are on.  Just sayin'.

An Uneasy Emulsion - Mixing Food and Science

Once again, Jack Kruse and his detractors are at center stage this week.  Food fight anyone?

Here's an interesting blog post about Jack and others before him who did "stupid" medical experiments on their own.  It's worth a read, and worth the time to translate.  (I know, your languages are probably rusty, so use Google translator or something....)

And now I'll leave you with another wonderful personal story, an account of my first introduction to adult-level unbridled nutritional idiocy and stupid group-think games.

When I was winding up undergrad studies, I took some time to visit the library to browse through some magazines.  In one magazine, I think Discovery or Omni, I found a small article about a theory of the cause of stomach ulcers, that they were caused by bacteria.

Now, this was of interest to me, since I grew up with people who suffered with ulcers, despite doing everything the doctors said.  And, one of my dorm mates suffered terribly from ulcers.  We shared many dinners together at the downstairs cafeteria, so I got to hear plenty about her continuing misery.  She always included two glasses of milk with her meal, and it didn't seem to help.  Well, I didn't have an ulcer, but I knew how drinking just a bit of milk made me feel, and that it conventional wisdom never worked for my family members either.  I suggested that she try something else to ease her pain, maybe drinking less milk, or eating or eliminating other foods.

After I read the ulcer article, the subject came up at the dinner table.  I suggested that the ulcer wasn't due to stress or some sort of milk deficiency.  My friend was upset about the discussion, and as she downed another whole glass of milk, she blamed me for all her pain.  We dropped the subject.

A few weeks later, I was called into the RA's room.  Since the RA was also a good friend of mine, I didn't think much of it until I entered the room and there were all my dinner mates, sitting there with straight faces.

The RA tentatively started because nobody else would.  Wow!  This was an intervention!  I had seen them on TV.  One by one, these 5 women recounted examples of my harmful and inappropriate behavior.  The RA told me that some of my "friends" were so upset by my behavior that they went to their priest about it.  And, with oh!-such-a-heavy-heart, they discussed together, at multiple meetings, and fretted about what to do about me.  And, oh!, they didn't really want to do this, but it was necessary for my redemption or something like that, cause you know, they valued my friendship.

This priest, (who probably had like a year of psychology), suggested the intervention, and even told them how to do it.  After that nice warm intro by the RA, Ulcer Lady started in.  She said that she spoke to her doctor about me and that he said I caused her ulcer.  She was supposed to have a calm and relaxing dinner, so I wasn't allowed to talk about nutrition or science at dinner.

They tried to go around in a circle, each person in the lynch mob group explaining another thing I did that they didn't like that I must stop immediately.  One woman refused to say anything, and the RA timidly reiterated her concern that my roommate brought up.

OK, here's my roommate's beef.  I had this boyfriend.  (OK, they had boyfriends too, sometimes for a couple of weeks at a time, but my boyfriend and I were a long-term relationship.)  Actually, he was my fiance.  He lived across the country and though I seldom saw him, we were on the phone frequently.  The problem for my friends is that I talked about him.  They insisted that since they hadn't met him, he wasn't real, that I was just lying and made him up.  Yep.  After a year of talking to this guy on the phone, flying across the country to see him and lining up job interviews, "you can't talk about him because he isn't real because we don't know him."

By now, you are probably figuring out what happened.  I had had enough, and calmly walked out, never to have another real conversation with them again.  The woman who refused to speak told me they had coerced her to attend, but she did not think I did anything wrong.  She disagreed with all of this.  The RA mentioned that she was extremely uncomfortable as well, and that she was unprepared and disappointed in the disaster that followed.  Yet, they all got together in a group and did it anyway.

And you probably already know by now that the Nobel prize-winning Dr. Barry Marshall is credited with the discovery of the bacteria that causes most stomach ulcers, and that he actually ingested some of the bacteria himself to prove his wild theory.

And unlike Ulcer Lady's doctor, threatened by an early-adopter for everything and assisted in voting her off the island, my doctor tested me for H. pylori when I came to him for stomach issues.  My, how times change, and also when it comes to schoolyard games, some things never change.

So here I am, sitting in a cold tub, taking turns using up all the cold water with my very real former boyfriend who also enjoys the very real benefits from the leptin reset and CT.  I have jettisoned most of my old paleo haunts, yet I am sure that while I am away from Paleohacks, the minions are still doing all their downvoting in their pack when Ulcer Lady yells "fire".

Kruse Kontrol on the Cruise?

Looks like our newest "low carb guru" got to walk the gangplank recently, which is even worse than being voted off the island.  I'll admit, I have never had my stateroom trashed and all my electronics confiscated, but I wonder what is worse, having to leave your fans at the dock, or being labeled by the media as "low carb"?  Kiss of death either way, or is it? 

I haven't heard too much about Krusegate from the low carbers, probably because they were on a wonderful cruise together, but I wonder why I haven't heard from many of the paleo luminaries about the type of behavior that has been going on for quite awhile.  I have heard it from Robb Wolf, and rumors that it was discussed at paleof(x), but I find it interesting that you can go all over the paleoweb and hear people trash Kruse, but you have to buy a whole set of expensive DVD's to hear some luminaries say, "Hey, this isn't right!"

I'll leave y'all with a little personal story.  Recently I started taking an exercise class at a local community center.  Then I found out there was a little knitting group that met near the same time.  Soon I started going to all of this Tuesday knitting session and I eventually ditched the exercise class (hip hip hooray for all that movnatty stuff anyway..)

We started having a fine ole' time in the knitting group, talking about all sorts of crafts, and lots about nutrition, and cause I am just a fine darn knitter, the ladies told me about a couple of other groups that meet on other days.    Sounds fine, right?, so I decided to go to the other meetings and start knitting for charity.

The Wednesday group was fine after a couple of awkward first moments.  When they asked about my skill level I said I could knit pretty much anything.  They were skeptical, but put a bunch of yarn and needles in front of me and after a couple of weeks, that was all ironed out.  They realized that yes, I could knit anything, and people started coming to the class specifically to take advantage of my free expertise.

The Monday group was not fine.  I had even been warned about this group by some of the other ladies and members of the local community.  When I sat down, one of the ladies told me I was sitting in someone else's seat and I needed to move.  'Course, that someone else wasn't there, and never did show up, and I am thinking that if they wanted a reserved seat they should buy a ticket online in advance.  Oh well, anyway, I moved down at the end of the table, and they told me that now I was sitting in someone else's seat.

This went on for a couple of weeks, with the ladies alternating between telling me to move and telling me, "oh, it really shouldn't be like this," but none of them were willing to stand up to the lady I call the "Alpha Bitch".  Not as a reference to her behavior, but more a reference to the dog-pack that she rules.

There was a change the third week.  I got there early, and sat next to the only other person there, but it turns out I was sitting in Alpha Bitch's seat.  (Forgive me if I hadn't memorized all the seat positions yet.)  This caused quite a ruckus when Alpha Bitch strolled in later, as she proceeded to make fun of me right in front of me for the next three hours.  One lady even told me I had my stuff spread out too far.  As I examined my workspace and pulled out my tape measure to measure the amount of space, she quickly grabbed her ball of yarn as she realized she was taking more space than I.  And I am thinking, wow! what is this, high school?  No, they just a bunch of old ladies.

Finally, something interesting happened.  Another lady, I'll call her Irene (cause, you know, they are all called Irene or Vera or Ann or Doreen at this age) asked me if I wanted to join her table to play Querko.  I accepted the invitation.  During the next few weeks, I quit trying to sit on Alpha Bitch's table, and joined Irene on our own table where we organized yarn or played games.  As most of the other ladies filed in and took their assigned seats, they all said hello to each other but would refuse to say hello or talk to me.  I noticed that some of the other ladies would talk to me only when Alpha Bitch left for the day.  They would also invite me to the BIG TABLE at that time, though I politely declined.

Now Irene, she's an interesting lady, always inviting me into her circle of friends, saying encouraging words.  Seems like she had been in the same situation earlier, until the rec center gave her the key to the yarn cabinet.  See, in addition to organizing and doling out the yarn, this table is for the ladies to drop off any yarn donations and finished projects.  It's a big table.  But wouldn't you know that, no matter where I sat on that table, the other ladies would come over and dump their stuff right on top of mine.  Just like dogs peeing all over their territory.  Not satisfied with kicking me off the kool kids table, that made sure to claim the second space too.  And Irene just smiles and rolls her eyes, and clears off another part of the table for me.

So, the question to the people in Paleoland is, do you want to be an Irene, or do you want to be an Alpha Bitch?  Do you really want to be like the Monday group?  We're watching and waiting for your answer.  Oh, and the FBI is watching, and the CIA, and CNN, and B B King, and Doris Day.  Can you dig it?

This Just In for 2012 - The Lost Tribe of Atkins

Yes, there is still time to ring out the old and ring in the new.  Now you know that the "great upheavals and earth changes" and all that 2012 stuff are already here when Lori Corbin drops gems like "the FAT FREE revolution is over...."  For those not in LA, Lori Corbin is that slightly cute but mostly annoying health reporter food coach at a local TV station.  For years, it had been lots of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, tofu, and chronic cardio for her, and for everyone else she lectures.

Now that she has read Richard Feinman's wonderful  nutty post, she gone a little bit nuts herself.  Since his post came out only yesterday, it looks like they made a quick change to her segment, which like virtually all her other segments, was 100% fat free.  What she really said is, "the fat free revolutin is over, BUT CALORIES STILL COUNT." and then shows a preview of yet another fat free recipe.  Oh, I guess the great upheaval still needs a bit of upheaving.

In his post, Dr. Feinman humorously laments the very real fact that the "in crowd" diet researchers have "discovered" fat and have somehow managed to write a "peer-reviewed" paper that completely ignores ALL of the very real research done by the Atkins band over the years.  I state, Dr. Feinman, that the Atkins have been slighted, but really, what do you care what other people think?

The Atkins. That lost tribe, swallowed up by rising waters of stupidity, floating around somewhere near Atlantis.  But like any good 2012 story, the lost tribe of Atkins was more advanced and sophisticated than today's "modern" researchers.  We have been wasting so much time on the Mediterraneans or the Kitavans, but what about the Atkins?  Happily, the idea that civilizations cycle around has already been re-discovered by Graham Hancock  before Dr. Jenkins' behavior verified his theory.  Like the lost civilizations that went before them, the Atkins believe that they have been housing the original Ark of Nutritional Knowing of Dietary Good and Evil.

Now even Lori Corbin is cookin' with vapors, that ethereal fat-free calorie-controlled method.  So, they are circling around and around, and they still can't get to that slab of bacon, that large and powerful force of the universe, capable of redeeming and destroying.  It is very promising and dangerous, so it was important that commoners didn't try this at home.  It is so powerful, the researchers can't even look at it, or they would melt into dust.

Fearing its destruction by nervous political powers, the Atkins protected this revelation for many years,.  Overarching nutritional religions were established to counter the intense power the Atkins discovered, tasked with keeping this dangerous ("and above all, boring") dietary strategy out of the hands of commoners, who might revolt and free themselves from all tyranny.  The false religionists created powerless analogs to mimic essential archetypes of the ancients: pyramids, circles, institutional monoliths, fake learning institutions, secret herbs and tinctures, the supposedly-sacred 60-30-10 geometry.

Last night, I fell into a deep sleep, and in a dream, the good beings visited me.  In the dream, I went onto the internet in the evening, and even though I had installed f.lux and turned down the brightness to restrict the blue light, this huge fireball shot out of my computer screen, with blue, purple, gold light, of all the other colors.  It knocked me off my chair and reset my circadian rhythms.  In the middle of the ball of light, were beings, made of light.  They were eating a large pan of hot, dripping, crispy bacon.  They offered me some bacon.  I tried to turn away, but I could not, and at first, I thought I would melt, but I took a piece of bacon, and as I was eating it, this is what the beings had to say.  "It is just becoming harder and harder to ignore the evidence."

I predict even more earthquakes, rifts and upheavals in 2012.  Remember, you heard it here first!!!!

Are Dreams Paleo?

It's been tough-going in the Paleodome recently, especially if you are one of those puffy fat red-faced old people.  I was thinking later last week how much I wanted to pull away from it a bit, but also sad that this tribe I thought I would be able to fit into really has no place for me.  But, my discomfort was more than just that.  I had been thinking about the divisions, the hierarchies and the increasing rigidity and the grindingly boring one-sidedness of all the discussions.  And, I don't mean between the low-carbers and safe-starchers.  It's all so scientific.  Is being so scientific while lacking creativity, intuition, play, or harmony, is it really Paleo?

(Here's the musical interlude)

Such a division between the people at the top and their patients and fans, I concluded that my only role in the paleo world was to be a consumer.  Pretty much everyone is here to hawk their books, gyms, websites and products, to advance their careers and prop up their egos, or to be a patient.  Some have really been into the commercial aspect, others have been more freely giving and committed to "the cause".  But I wasn't being very good at this consumer part, as is any other consumer who is living in a van down by the river. Where is the part about just being?

Richard Nickoley has his Free the Animal.  But I want to free the Shaman, free the Fool, free the Dreamer, Free the Drummer, free the Mystic, free the Dancer.  Certainly they were as important to paleo life as caves, wild game, berries, macronutrient percentages and reverse T3 values?  More importantly, I want to be free.

Before I just gathered up all my atlatl's and left, I had a dream.  Now the really interesting thing about doing Dr. K's leptin reset it that I can sleep all through the night, without having to get up or anything, there is this very very long dream time before the dawn, and the dreams can go on with many passageways.

In my dream, I am working at a company as a consultant.  I have a long-term contract that I know will be ending soon.  I already started taking some of my personal items home from the office, my technical books, knicknacks, extra clothing.  One morning I get to the office and discover that the management decided to move on to the next big project right away, so they moved the office around.  They got rid of my office.  I can't find my desk or the stuff that I had carefully locked inside of it.  I am irked that they don't even have the decency to let me get to my desk to clean it out myself.


I mention to my co-workers that there is still work to be finished, but they say that the management cancelled everything, that they didn't even care about any of the documents, designs, blue-prints, nothing, or whether I have a desk.  We all think that was short-sighted.  My co-workers help me find parts of my old office:  my desk in one area, a chair down the hall.  They carve out a place for me as I go through my desk to get my purse.  They had put my desk near an older man scheduled for retirement.  He is really annoying, as he has fallen asleep at his desk and is snoring.  I make a mental note to call my business partner immediately, so we can find another gig.


Before I leave the office, I stop by a small courtyard outside the back.  It is the place were people go for a quick lunch or a smoke.  Someone had put in a small garden.  I noticed that there are several older lettuce plants that have gone to seed.  I pull off some of the seeds and notice that they are much larger than usual.  They look more like watermelon seeds than lettuce seeds, and I think, could it be that they are really lettuce?  That's when I remember that a like-minded friend had planted them.  They are a very ancient heirloom variety, and very rare.  I am sure the new management won't want these old seeds.  They are into the newer hybrid and genetically-modified varieties.  I pack them up with my four boxes of stuff and leave.

Now I am leaving the Paleo tent for awhile, not sure all where I am going.  I don't know all what it will be, but I do know more about what it won't be.

First.  I am not on a diet.  Not a low-carb diet, not a "safe" diet, and if you are reading this, not YOUR diet!  It will be mine, all mine, and I am not going to tell you about it.  I am tired of measuring, tracking, defending, tweaking, adhering, and tired of having computer-chair experts taking pot-shots at it, telling me I am stupid for following it, or telling me I am stupid for not following it.  Maybe someday if I really figure something out I'll spill the beans.  I might keep track, but it won't be on the computer with big red circles around it.

Second.  I am not a patient.  I am not going to order expensive tests, go to expensive specialists, compounding pharmacies, and I am not going to be an A, B or C student.  I am giving myself credit for just showing up to my own study program.  I am not going to try to change my doctor's mind.  Actually, I am going to try to avoid doctors of all kinds.

Third.  I am not metabolically deranged.  Gotta love it when the experts declare their perfect theories of everything, and then deride people who share a different experience.  Well, I am no longer living under that tent.  I remember when Dr. Gardener was lecturing about his A to Z study and he said menopausal women were excluded from the study for obvious reasons which he'd get into later, but he never got to it.  Neither have most other diet researchers.  Menopause is not a disease or a condition!  For more than half of us, it is a way of life eventually.  And, if someone tells me I'm not whole or optimal or clean or perfect if I don't follow their program, well, then it is their program that is deranged, not me.

I have always been a fan of Dr. Richard Feynman, the other doctor Feynman, that real Paleo guy.  In college, when I saw him playing drums out in the desert, I told myself, hey I'm going to do that some day.  About 20 years later I had the opportunity to learn to play the drum.  Recently this drummer group I used to be in has re-formed.  We play for a tribal dance group, and I get to play flutes, strings, drums, zills and didges, sing, yelp and clap my hands.  These people are my people.  I'm going to hang out with them for a time, at least until the next performance.

This week, I heard my neighbor's dog barking so I went outside to see what was going on.  A sidewalk conversation had turned into a party.  So, a realtor, an oncologist and a pilates instructor walked onto a sidewalk..... I turned off my computer and joined the party.  Soon the wine was flowing, pumpkins and other backyard fruits were exchanged and we were planning the next party.  I want to do more of this.

I'll visit and comment on other sites when I feel like it, and comment on this here blog when I have something to say.  That may be tomorrow, who knows.  Maybe I will be happy with one night of freedom.  I am cooking up some other projects for this winter, and with a big project in March, so stay tuned.

Pillar Envy

There sure has been a bunch of fighting in the paleodome this week.  Before, I was just bored with the Paleo's.  Now I am pretty much disgusted.  I had some time to think things over, and here's what I think is going on.

Jimmy Moore posted answers to his question concerning Jaminet's "safe starch" concept and all hell broke loose.  Either I can't remember where things are posted, or things have been seriously scrubbed.
Here are some links
Jimmy's post.
Posts on Paleohacks.
Jaminet's overview and response.

So, for background, Jaminet recommends "safe starches", and these are foods like potatoes and rice, foods that contain starches but don't negatively affect the gut like gluten-containing grains.  Other Paleo "experts" jumped on this concept and started trashing the people who have been the most successful on a low carb diet.  Of course, this behavior was a concern to the low-carb fans, so Jimmy's post attempted to bring more of the controversy out into the open.  To many low-carbers, there is no such thing as a "safe starch".
Jaminet pointed out in his overview blog that at least some people are able to keep a sense of humor throughout it all.  Some people haven't.  It seems like several of the luminaries lost it.

Now Jaminet, though I disagree with him on a number of points, is always polite about things and tries to keep the focus on the topics.  I like that.  Even though he did mention the quip about "pillar envy" I am afraid that many of Jaminet's most fervent readers will mis-interpret the comment.

Though I can no longer find the post, Harris really went after Kruse, posting that "they're" all snickering about him in their e-mails back and forth to each other and then tried to mop it up with an "honestly, I don't understand the infighting"-type message.  On the Paleohacks board, there have been many nasty sniping-like comments by Melissa (of hunt, gather, b*tch).  First it was trashing the low carbers.  Then it was going after Dr. Kruse, and commenting that Dr. Rosedale wasn't a real researcher and his studies showing the benefits of a low-carb diet weren't real studies.  She is really starting to sound more and more like Coach [redacted] at [redacted]people.com.  Arrogant.  Entitled.  Privy to esoteric knowledge the little people can't understand.  Coach [redacted]'s "One must be reading the correct research," comment comes to mind.

I think she was just mad that Jimmy didn't ask her.  You see, she fancies herself as heir to the paleo throne, and any official comments she may have had were not included.  She envies the pillar.  Now that the low-carb pillars have been toppled, she is ready for the inheritance.   Cordain's leadership status has fallen, Taubes has been discredited, Eades has been shunned as a has-been and off to the appliance section, Hahn and Kruse are just puffy and red-faced, Rosedale isn't a "real" doctor, etc. etc.  the new queen of paleo, claiming full backing by all those other real university researchers who use lots of fake people (lab rats) and real statistics can enter her court in her full regalia.  I think that Melissa has already picked out the new upholstery for the throne cushions and now she's irked when people like Kruse, Rosedale, Feinman, Su and others say "hey, wait a minute!"

It is stuff like this that decides what blogs I recommend, what blogs I merely follow and what blogs I generally avoid.  I originally started this blog for my fat buddies who were trying to lose weight.  In my next post, I'll discuss why I would place my bets on Rosedale and Kruse.  You can read it here.