Public Talk in Sarasota

Although the sound quality is less than spectacular - I was in a room full of "moo-shine" filled refrigerators, here is a large chunk of a talk I gave to a local group of real foodies in Sarasota on Tuesday.  Nothing earth-shattering, but unlike Uncle Rico's flippin' sweet play action QB video in the movie Napolean Dynamite, it hopefully won't make you say "this is pretty much the worst video ever made." 

Some of you may recognize the Weston A. Price Foundation reading material on the wall beside me, as this was put on by Sarasota-area WAPF chapter leader Cynthia Calisch.  Topics include metabolism, raising body temperature, overcoming insulin resistance, and the potential benefits of a diet very low in omega 6 polyunsaturated fat. 

Please be sure to stir up controversy on my alleged identity as frequent commentor "Chief" based on my chosen attire. 

For more on the topics discussed in this talk, such as my dietary and lifestyle strategy devised for raising metabolism, improving insulin sensitivity, and my favortism for saturated over polyunsaturated fat - read THIS FREE EBOOK.

You can also check out:  installment #2 of Chris Sandel's RRARF experience. 

Thanks to Cynthia and all those in attendance! 

Balancing the Nervous System with Cassandra Damiris

The following is a guest post by health and fitness professional Cassandra Damiris.  Sandra contacted me many months ago when she decided to fully embark upon RRARF.  She followed the guidelines religiously, had a big rise in body temperature and many health improvements, and has since lost her excess body fat (mostly through Intermittent Fasting) without any damage to her large body temperature gains.  The following article puts RRARF into the context of balancing the sympathetic and parasympathetic Nervous Systems.  Big thanks to Cassandra!!!  Her contact information is at the end of this post.  To enlarge any of the images below, simply click on them...

If this is your first time reading the 180 Degree Health Blog, then I'm honoured that the first post you're seeing is one of mine.

I've been a fan of the RRARF (Rehabilitative Rest & Aggressive Re-Feeding - CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE RRARF EBOOK) protocal since it was known as the "The High Everything Diet" (HED). As a personal trainer that's worked with hundreds of people, I've been exposed to (and legally bound) to prescribe nutrition advice based on universal principles that don't take into account a person's unique constitution.

I think I've seen it all. Clients of all sizes, ages and fitness levels striving to achieve ideals only found within the various filters and graphic elements of Adobe Photoshop. I've trained women who continuously gain weight while eating 800 calories a day, men who take steroids and lost their ability to manufacture testosterone, teenage girls that drink coffee and smoke all day while running on a treadmill to nowhere, and desperate people who have resorted to gastric by-pass surgery as a last resort.

And for all this, I'm to prescribe nutritional advice based on a pyramid built by lobbyists and bureaucrats within an inner government circle? I don't think so. I quit training people last spring, but will be starting again very soon. What has transpired since then has completely rocked my world in terms of understanding human physiology, and what you're about to read is a fundamental component of what I've learned.

We're all biologically different, come from different genealogical backgrounds, live in different places, and are exposed to different stress and stimuli. Matt, through putting himself through various diets, has demonstrated to us the fallacy of following a universal strategy and how destructive it can be to our health. Since our constitutions are unique, our health issues must be approached at a root level that takes into account the various factors we encounter every day.

Getting to the root of one's physical, mental and emotional heath issues is an essential component of any holistic health and rejuvenation program. Much of what is discussed here on 180 Degree Health involves hormones, autoimmune disease, exercise and nutrition protocols and a key component to understanding these issues involves the nervous system and that's what we'll focus on in this article.

In a nutshell, the nervous system is the information superhighway of the body. Certain organs work with others, while glands send out messengers through the master control centre, the brain. The goal is homeostasis: an equilibrium of all processes in the body. A body in balance is healthy, lean and vibrant - one that transcends the physical into a mental state of well being.

A truly holistic approach to diet and exercise involves an understanding of how the various parts of the body work and communicate with each other – the interplay between organs, glands and hormones, and how they all work within the nervous system. This article is about the interplay between the nervous systems and how bringing them into balance could be the missing element in any holistic health program, like RRARF.

Understanding the Components of the Nervous System

The Nervous System is a collective network of neurons that work together with organs to coordinate movements and transmit signals between different parts of the body. There are two main branches to the nervous system: the Central Nervous System (CNS) and the Peripheral Nervous System (PNS).(1)

The CNS functions as the control centre, and is composed of the brain and spinal column, receiving information from the PNS, and developing an appropriate response to stimuli. The PNS monitors our body parts and organs and sends information to the CNS via a system of nerves connected to the extremities of the brain.(2)

The PNS can then be divided into two more branches, the Somatic Nervous System (SNS) and the the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS). The SNS, derived from the Greek word Soma (Σώμα) or body, coordinates bodily movements while reacting to external stimuli such as heat or cold. We're able to monitor the SNS in action as it is under our conscious control – we can feel ourselves shivering in the winter and we voluntarily raise our hands to grab objects. The ANS on the other hand is a system we are largely unconscious of, as it largely controls visceral or organic (organ) functions.

This article will mainly focus on the ANS, as this is the system the governs the processes we're most interested in here on 180 Degree Health: energy, digestion, repair and relaxation. The ANS can be further divided into two final branches: The Sympathetic and the Parasympathetic Nervous Systems. These can be thought of as complimentary processes: the sympathetic branch is often associated with outward energy production and response to stress/stimuli while the parasympathetic branch promotes rest, digestion and repair.

The Sympathetic Nervous System

When this system is activated, the body experiences the following effects(3):

• the digestive process is slowed down due to decreased blood flow away from the gastro-intestinal (GI) tract
• more blood is diverted towards the lungs and muscles
• lung function increases as a result of greater oxygen exchange
• peristalis, the action of muscles in the digestive tract (which push digestive food forward), is inhibited
• the kidneys produce a hormone, renin, that regulates blood pressure

The Parasympathetic Nervous System

In contrast to the Sympathetic Nervous System, the Parasympathetic Nervous system slows down many processes of the body that were formerly active, and promotes the following effects(4):

• digestion is stimulated by increased blood flow to the GI tract
• peristalsis is activated/accelerated, promoting digestion and absorption of nutrients
• pupils are constricted as a result of a process called accommodation, where the vertebrate eye changes it's optical power
• blood circulation to non-vital organs, such as the skin
• removes and detoxifies wastes from the skin, the extremities, the digestive tract, reproductive organs
• fuel storage (increased insulin activity)

Following is a diagram that outlines the organisation of the nervous system as it was explained above:

So now that we understand the framework of the various digestive, rest and repair functions, we need to insert the missing element in this analysis: the 'messengers' that send these signals to various parts of our body through these channels.

There is another system that works with these two to keep the body working in order, and that is the endocrine system - a hormone-based system run by glands that regulate body temperature, metabolism, tissue function, and mood, among many other processes. Certain glands are activated by the sympathetic branch of the nervous system while others are activated by the parasympathetic system. Let's take a look at the glands and hormones written about extensively in the 180 Degree Metabolism eBook, in context of the activities of the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems:

Adrenal Glands & Cortisol

The adrenal glands are shaped like triangles and can be found on top of the kidneys. They are primarily activated by the sympathetic nervous system and release cortisol in times of stress.(6)

Adrenal Glands & Adrenaline

Adrenaline is released by the adrenal glands, and is triggered by acute stress, stimulants (nicotine, caffeine), dieting and lack of sleep.(7) It's production is activated by the sympathetic nervous system.

The Pancreas & Insulin

Insulin is considered to be a 'rebuilding hormone'.(8) The parasympathetic nervous system activates the storage of glucose, via increased insulin production and insulin sensitivity.(9)

How RRARF can help balance the Nervous System

Since many people subject their body to stress such as increased caffeine, meal-skipping, exhaustive exercise and restrictive diet regimes, we can assume that they are overproducing adrenaline and cortisol, which over time puts a lot of stress on the adrenal glands. The various components of RRARF, such as the reintroduction of unprocessed carbohydrates, decreased caffeine intake, decreased exercise and relaxation are essential in correcting the sympathetic-dominance imbalance plaguing so many people.

The next essential component to rehabilitation would be movement/exercise geared towards activating the parasympathetic system and relaxing the body. This involves breathing exercises, meditation and various training regimes such as Tai Chi and Yoga. Stay tuned for my next post, where I'll be delving further into that side of things.

Cassandra is freelance personal trainer based in Toronto, Canada
You can reach her through facebook, http://www.facebook.com/cassandra.damiris

References:

(1) Nervous system. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved September 21, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nervous_system
(2) Can-Fit-Pro. Foundations of Professional Personal Training. Windsor, 2008. Print.
(3) "Your Kidneys and How They Work." WebMD. Web. 21 Sep. 2010.
(4) The Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS). Veronique Mead, MD. Retrieved September 21, 2010, http://www.veroniquemead.com/pns.php
(5) Per Brodal. The Central Nervous System: Structure and Function. Oxford University Press US, 2004.
(6) Adrenal gland. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved September 21, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrenal_gland
(7) Diana Schwarzbein, MD. The Schwarzbein Principle II. Health Communications
Inc. Deerfield Beach, FL, 2002.
(8) Diana Schwarzbein, MD. The Schwarzbein Principle II. Health Communications Inc. Deerfield Beach, FL, 2002.
(9) The Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS). Veronique Mead, MD. Retrieved September 21, 2010, http://www.veroniquemead.com/pns.php

Ending Emotional Eating

First of all, man am I glad to be back home. New York City was awesome this trip, and I’ll be writing about my food adventures there at http://180kitchen.wordpress.com/ very soon. But all in all it felt like a competition to see how much caffeine, alcohol, sugar, nitrates, and vegetable oil I could get into my system. I’m more than ready for a breather from that. I’ve never been so glad to see ground beef, coconut oil, sweet potatoes, and spinach. In fact, the burger I ate for breakfast this morning was so large I started singing “Everybody Wants Some.” I actually filmed it below. Any resemblance to a young John Cusack is purely coincidental.



Anyway, time to discuss what is a huge and extremely prevalent problem in the modern world – emotional eating.

As discussed in many prior posts, food triggers a response in the pleasure centers in the human brain, acting on pleasure neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine. It is no surprise that when many people feel a sense of chronic stress, anxiety, shame, guilt, and so on – food becomes not just a way to fuel oneself, but a form of psychoactive medication. And in general, what provides the highest pleasure response is…

1) Rapidly-absorbed foods like white flour and liquid sugars
2) Sweets, whether natural as in honey, refined as in sucrose, or non-caloric
3) Calorie dense foods – like French fries, pizza, brownies, ice cream, or cheesecake
4) Alcohol and caffeine-containing drinks and substances
5) Foods with flavor enhancers like MSG found in most fast food and highly-flavored stuff like Cheetos or Doritos
6) Foods with low water content – that are therefore very calorie dense (butter, oils, nuts, dried fruit, chips, crackers, cookies, bread)
7) High-calorie liquids such as soft drinks, fruit juices, whole milk, half n’ half
8) Large quantities of food in general, of any kind

This is a 2-way street, as eating some of these foods, particularly those with the highest capability of triggering a pleasure center response like a fast food meal with a large sugary drink and a dessert all mixed together in one hit, can in turn cause massive emotional fluctuations. First a high, followed by a crash, which is addiction pathology 101 and can be caused by anything that is unusually, and unnaturally, pleasurable.

It works the other way as well. Chronic stresses such as the loss of a loved one, self-esteem issues, relationship problems, being in an abusive situation, financial stresses, and other problems that are of a chronic nature have a tendency to activate the same hormonal changes that a famine is capable of inducing. That is, an increase in cortisol production as well as synthesis in fat cells themselves. Hypercortisolemia, induced by any form of chronic stress from famine (the reason we are designed to have this fat storage response to stress in the first place – marked by a drop in metabolism, reduction in fat burning, increased production of fat storage enzymes, increased appetite, increased cravings) to depression to sleep deprivation can all trigger an increased appetite for the things on the above list.

This is why calorie restriction combined with a huge exercise load has the following impacts on a typical person…

1) Increased alcohol, sugar, and caffeine cravings – along with foods with very high calorie density and huge quantities of overall food in general
2) Increased appetite
3) Reduced body temperature
4) Increased risk of infection
5) Decreased desire for physical activity (as well as sex and other calorie-burning activities)
6) And so on

Likewise, following the guidelines laid out in the THIS FREE EBOOK brings about the exact opposite set of changes.

Anyway, ending emotional eating is not difficult. In fact, most people have emotional eating issues to begin with because of chronic dieting, undernourishment, insufficient sleep, and excessive stress in the first place. It all starts with feeding yourself well as the FREE EBOOK explains.

Helpful tips include eating a diet that keeps you even keel emotionally. No one ever could have convinced me of the power of eating a well-balanced, calorically-sufficient, whole foods diet without excessive exercise and adequate sleep on emotions until I actually tried it religiously. Like Jon Gabriel mentions in this fantastic interview, “there are no more good days and bad days.” You are more or less anti-dieting at that point.

Another helpful hint is to eliminate substances you know you are addicted to WHILE EATING WELL and RESTING WELL. Eliminating addictive or problem foods that have been a target of emotional eating binges for years does not work if you are depriving yourself of anything. Otherwise you will increase your cravings for those “problem” foods as each day passes. With the right set of nourishment and minimal stress from intense exercise regimens – as well as plenty of time for rest and relaxation, there is simply no low serotonin and dopamine state occurring in your brain that causes the outrageous cravings to eat foods that spike those feel good neurotransmitters into the stratosphere.

By keeping yourself even keel with consistent sleep patterns, regular mealtimes, no skipped meals (or at the very least not skipping meals when you are hungry), and plenty of calories at each feeding to leave you feeling satisfied – there is simply no low state in need of medicating with food and drugs.

The real problem is that people are under all kinds of emotional stress, work stress, lack of sleep, and more while at the same time thinking it’s healthy to eat as little as possible, or at the very least go to war with fat, carbohydrates, or animal products while exercising as much as they can stand to.

This is what CAUSES emotional eating in the first place, exacerbated of course by the halo of guilt that a person experiences after eating junk food and the shame and loss of self-esteem that they feel over whatever excess fat they carry after each episode.

In short, emotional eating is caused by being at war with yourself and asking much more of your body and mind than you give in return. The big picture answer to emotional eating is to end that war.

Would you try to raise a healthy baby by depriving it of food, making it feel constantly scared, torturing it, yelling at it for being fat, weak-willed, and lazy, not letting it sleep, and forcing it to do a lot of exercise? No. Then why are you pursuing health by trying to do that to yourself?

Physical, emotional, and mental health is obtained by obeying your physical, emotional, and mental needs – not ignoring them and then beating yourself up over your cravings, fatigue, depression, and body fat.

RRARF Addendum

As many of you know, over the last couple of months we've been exploring a diet that displaces more fat with starch as opposed to eating more or less equal amounts of the two.  When it comes to lowering cortisol, improving leptin sensitivity, improving insulin sensitivity, impoving body composition, raising metaoblism, and keeping fat gain minimal while eating to appetite or slightly beyond appetite - which are basically the objectives of the eating and lifestyle program created in the FREE EBOOK, starch immediately stands out as being superior to fat in each and every one of those categories. 

And of course, the vast majority of the most metabolically-healthy people on earth eat what could be called a "starch-based diet" in which well over half of ingested calories come from some starchy staple - such as corn, wheat, rice, or root vegetables (Asians, rural South and Central Americans, Pacific islanders (formerly), rural Africans, and so on). 

This is actually a pretty interesting debate amongst the low-fat plant-based gurus.  I score it:  McDougall 10, Furhman 7, Esselstyn 4,
Mills -2,368, Creepy Bald guy next to Mills 0 



Last week I added this "Addendum" to the FREE EBOOK, the first of many to come I'm sure.  Anyway, this is what was added.  Hopefully this brings some clarification to those who have been confused recently.  To read the rest of the book, go to www.180degreehealth.com

RRARF August 2010 ADDENDUM

While RRARF (Rehabilitative Rest and Agressive Re-Feeding) is very successful at raising body temperature, improving digestion and overall well-being – one question remains…. Can it be done more efficiently? Can it be improved upon? Okay, I guess that’s two questions.

By more efficiently, I mean with less fat gain and greater lean body mass gain as well as a greater rise in temperature per calorie ingested.

I believe the answer to those questions is “yes.” So what’s better? Getting more calories from starches or getting more calories from fat?

Upon close scrutiny of the literature on overfeeding, a clear picture emerges. Straight studies comparing overfeeding with a high-fat/low-starch diet vs. a high-starch/low-fat diet yields clear-cut results. The higher the ratio of starch to fat when overfeeding, the greater the lean body mass gains and the lesser the body fat gains. Not only that, but since starch is not something that the body can readily store like it can fat molecules, the excess calories ingested MUST force an increase in body heat and physical energy to a much greater degree than fat overfeeding.

The physics of it all is actually quite simple. The most efficient way for your body to store fat is to pack fat molecules into fat cells. For this to happen in the absence of dietary fat means that a great deal of carbohydrate must be converted to fat – triglycerides, before it can be efficiently stored. However, this is a very inefficient process. When large quantities of fructose are ingested during overfeeding, the effect is very fattening because a great deal of the fructose is converted to fat in the liver. However, this is not true when talking about starch overfeeding.

Thus, when the ratio of carbohydrate to fat is very high, and the ratio of starch to fructose (and also glucose in simple as opposed to complex form as is found in starches) is also high, the more of the excess energy is stored into muscle tissue and the less into fat. There are also implications that a diet with a high starch to sugar + fat ratio is protective against heart disease – increasing the HDL to triglyceride ratio for starters. I never thought that controlling the macronutrient ratios in such a way would have such a direct bearing upon body composition, but to ignore the simple truths revealed in the medical literature regarding such a thing would be sheer denial of irrefutable fact.

http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/reprint/62/1/19

http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/reprint/67/4/631.pdf

While choice, personal preference, carbohydrate tolerance, digestive abilities, and more will determine what you personally choose as your version of RRARF, there is no question that eating more starch and less fat by percentage of calories is a route that will produce more body heat and more lean body mass with less body fat than any other method.

Of the starches, those highest in amylose content and resistant starch – such as legumes, red potatoes, corn, and intact whole grains like Basmati rice (vs. those ground into flour as in bread/pasta) – particularly those that have been cooked and then chilled which forms a type of metabolically-stimulating resistant starch known as RS3, are ideal. A version of RRARF where these types of starchy foods are maximized and other foods more or less minimized in comparison is probably the most efficient route to take.

The reasons why that is goes far beyond a larger increase in lean body mass in comparison to fat gains, but incorporates positive changes in the microbial environment of the gut, intestinal production of the most metabolically-stimulating and insulin-sensitizing fatty acids known (such as butyric and propionic acids), and perhaps most-importantly – pronounced appetite inhibition with an increase in metabolism, meaning that weight gain is minimal or weight is even lost eating to appetite while metabolism simultaneously rises (the Holy Grail of health and weight loss).

This is just the tip of the iceberg on the potential benefits of a high-starch diet, particularly one that maximizes amylose and resistant starch-rich carbohydrates. I have tentative plans of elaborating on this topic in exhaustive detail in a future eBook, entitled something like 180 Degree Carbohydrate. Actually, that’s a pretty weak title for such an important topic. I’ll come up with something better hopefully.

Also see 180 Kitchen for a great recipe and meal plan that incorporates resistant starch on a program with a higher ratio of starch to fat.

Further reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resistant_starch
http://veganmaster.blogspot.com/2008/08/mnp-100-muscle-and-34-selected.html