Day 3 Ancestral Health Symposium

Ancestral Health 2013 is fantastic!  I still can’t believe I’m here around all these people I’ve known for years through the internet.  They are real!  I’ve been pretty bold about going up to meet these stranger/mentors, introducing myself and telling them how much they’ve helped me, but I’m still feeling shy around Mark Sisson.  Not Today Though!  Today’s the day I get over that and meet him:)

Here’s some bullet points of what I learned yesterday:

* darker skinned people have less serum (blood) Vit D than lighter skinned people, but darker skinned people have better bones  (hmmm..  so massive doses of D aren’t the answer???)

*you must have adequate Vit A and Vit K to to utilize vit D.  These are all fat soluble vitamins (which means fat is necessary for our body to assimilate them), and they’re mostly found in the usable form in meat.

*increasing supplemental Vit D without adequate fat, A, and K can lead to kidney stones and other soft tissue calcifications  (vitamin A’s in liver, we make the best D from the sun, and  K2 is from grassfed animal products)

*great lecture from the MD for Reno Police Department who was hired to improve the really, really horrible health of the entire department.  Initially, he put them all on the Food Pyramid/American Heart Association diet – low fat, high carb, lots of exercise.  Conditions worsened.  Two years ago, Robb Wolf moved to Reno, joined up/led the program, converted it to a Paleo Diet and Exercise program, and improvement has been fast and vast and easy to track as all the officers get full blood workups and physicals every year.

*Martha Herbert is an autism/neurology dr.  Her site is http://www.marthaherbert.org/.  She feels that autism is due to todays diet, toxins, and world, and that it’s treatable.  She says that in the last 6 years the advances in brain knowledge have been huge.

*the next lecture was disturbing as it was all about environmental toxicity.  here’s a quote from bodyburdon.com: “Scientists estimate that everyone alive today carries within her or his body at least 700 contaminants, most of which have not been well studied (Onstot and others).”  Ugh.  In the past 100 years, we have about 100,000 NEW chemicals in our environment.  Who knows the extent of the damage they’re causing.

* the next lecture was from Sarah Ballentyne at thepaleomom.com – I love her!!  Little background:  she’s a PhD scientist who was struck with I think 2 autoimmune diseases and now devotes her life to figuring out A I conditions.  She said there’s at least 140 know AI diseases that affect about 50 million americans.  They’re very difficult to diagnose and many people are tested for years and years before they get a diagnosis.  All AI diseases are increasing – a lot, in the past 50 years.  Of course she’s linking this rise to diet and the environment (lack of nutrition and too many toxins, stress, etc).  She has a book coming out very soon (sept,) and I think it will probably be one of the best books on AI disease ever.  She’s super smart but able to talk to the masses.  If you’re affected by AI, you should buy this book. http://www.thepaleomom.com/2013/01/announcing-my-book-the-paleo-approach-reverse-autoimmune-disease-and-heal-your-body.html   Anyway,  everyone with AI also has Leaky Gut and disrupted gut flora.  Lack of iron and zinc are also common demonimators.   These are fixable, although the damage often isnt’.  If you’re interested in some answers to those now, email me for some simple solutions.  Or wait til the book comes out bc I know it will be fantastic.

* Georgia Edes MD talked about mental disorders and diet;  you can probably guess by now where all these doctors are going with this.  Diet and environment diet and environment diet and environment.   Studies show that the Western Diet (high refined carbs, processed foods, vegetable oils/Omega 6, hydrogenated oils, almost 200 pounds of sugar/person, etc) is contributing to ADHD, depression, anxiety, and on and on.  These foods cause inflammation – of the brain.  MOMS,  IT MATTERS WHAT WE FEED OUR KIDS.  PLEASE DON’T FOOL YOURSELF THAT A LITTLE JUNK HERE AND THERE, OR PASTA EVERY NIGHT, DOESN’T MATTER – IT DOES.  She also has a website and you might be interested as she’s also following the KETOGENIC DIET for quite sometime now:  http://diagnosisdiet.com/

* Omega 3 and Inflammation:  this was by the actual researcher (Jeff Leighton PhD)  who studied the Inuits in 1973 and why they didn’t have any Cardiovascular Disease or Plaque despite an almost all fat diet.  He said that he’s from the 19th century:)  He was a great speaker and since his field of study (he conducts the research as opposed to just gathering and studying it) is Omega 3 and “uptake”, he answered some questions I’ve had forever, here’s the answers:   it doesn’t matter it you take your fish oil in one big dose or split it up;  people who exercise regularly absorb more O3 than those who don’t;  women absorb more than men;  inflammation does NOT affect O3 absorption; no, there is no laboratory proven perfect dose, heavier people do NOT absorb O3 as well as leaner people.

And that was it for the day.  Actually, I took one more lecture called Hypothalamic Inflammation that was so over my head I have NOTHING to say about it!

What I ate yesterday:  Paul Newman coffee w raw cream, coconut butter mixed with chocolate protein, and a banana for breakfast.  Lunch was buffalo meatloaf, cooked squash, salad, and dark chocolate;  dinner was beef jerky from US Wellness Meats, fresh vegetables from home, and more dark chocolate.  Oh, I sampled lots of different jerkies, cheeses, and chocolates from the Expo hall again.  I’ve spent all my money, so no more expo-fun today:(

My Hotel Workout was just 30 minutes of squats and leg presses, shoulder presses, and push-ups.  I also did 8- 1 minute jump rope intervals.  We’ve also taken an hour walk about Atlanta for the past two nights – sorry Atlanta, but you’re not that pretty of a city.  DC has spoiled me.

This morning I/we have a Combat workout with Kyle Maynard – where I’ll “practice skills that will make an assailant 3x my size whimper.”;   then Diet, Inflammation and Depression or the Physiology and Biochemistry of the Paleolithic Diet for Weight Reduction (decisions decisions); then Nutrition for the Eyes, Brain, and Heart ( Shilpi Metha MA, OD); then Carbs as a Hormetic Stressor, by Mike Nelson MS PhD;  Heat and Health by Ron Rosedale MD (who’s read the Rosedale Diet??  he’s all about Leptin!);  Circadian Rhythhms by Paul Jaminet, PhD (the Perfect Health Diet book);  Fatty Liver, by Victoria Prince  MD/PhD;  Is SunWhorshipping Increasing Your Risk of Melanoma by Anastasia Boulais, MBBS, BMedSc (what does all that mean?), and then I’ll need to choose between a lecture on Sleep Apnea/ADD/Malocclusion and Dry Eyes and Inflammation.  Decisions, decisions.

No time for pictures – I need to lift for a few minutes before my class.  xoxo

 

 

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