RBTI Intro Package

It's here and it's queer!  Get used to it! 

I finally released the RBTI Intro Package this morning.  I did the best job I could do of thoroughly covering the basics of the program that Challen Waychoff, N.D., uses to help his clients get some pretty remarkable results. 

The package includes the eBook - Introduction to RBTI, as well as the 180DegreeHealth RBTI Cookbook.

In addition to those 2 eBooks, there are 8 videos and 9 audio segments on various RBTI topics - including links on how to get a test kit for as little as $217 + shipping.  Note - that's the price of the TEST KIT, not the package!

Anyway, I'll spare you the whole sales pitch.  If you are interested in doing RBTI, you won't find a set of instructions for how to follow the program in such clear, concise, organized, and thorough detail elsewhere.  You can purchase by clicking on the hyperlink below...

RBTI INTRO PACKAGE 

Raw Apple-Raspberry Pie

This pie smells so good...and tastes fresh and delicious. We made this pie at my last "Healthy Desserts and Treats Class" and everyone loved it.

Raw Apple-Raspberry Pie

Printable Recipe

Process the following ingredients using the 'S' blade on your food processor; then pat in a pie plate:

Crust:
1 cup pecans
2 cup walnuts
¾ cups dates
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon real vanilla
(Reserve some crust to sprinkle on top of pie)

Fillling:

6 apples (can use Granny Smith or Fuji)
5 dates, pitted
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup raw honey or agave
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup organic raisins
3 cups raspberries (save a few to sprinkle on top of pie)


1.) Peel apples.
2.) Using the “S” blade grind 2 apples, dates, 2 tsp. cinnamon and grind well in food processor. Mix in ground flax seed, salt and honey or agave, lemon juice and cinnamon. Set aside.
3.) Using the 'S' blade, process the remaining 4 apples slightly. Mix with the ground apple-cinnamon mixture.
4.) Put raspberries on top of crust and then apple mixture on top of raspberries. Sprinkle reserved nut crust on top of apple mixture and then sprinkle a few raspberries on top. Refrigerate.

RBTI Lemonade

Still got a half dozen more video clips of Challen on file.  Here's one with him discussing a few topics briefly, such as why people are "night people," the A through E ranges in RBTI, and the purpose of the lemonade - as well as the dangers with drinking the lemonade if your chemistry is not right. 



Also wanted to make some announcements.  Just putting the finishing touches on a dual eBook, video, and audio package introducing the basics of the RBTI program.  It is an organized presentation of the program Challen is using to get such excellent results with the clients who manage to stick with his program long enough to reap the rewards.  Hoping to get this out on Monday, so stay tuned. 

Pip and I will also be travelling to Reno and Northern California (mostly San Francisco area) next week.  We will be in Reno on Wednesday and early Thursday and then will be moving on to California after that - returning to Colorado the last week of October. We will have our test kit with us and will be happy to let you test and go over the program and the things that are particular to your chemistry.  The new RBTI package will be included with this if you are interested in us coming to see you.  Let Pip know if you are interested via email at pipparoni@yahoo.com

Wheat Belly

Ah yes - as the low-carb world gets semi-erect (that's all they can muster) over Dr. William Davis's release of his book - Wheat Belly, it's time to take a step back and calm down over this whole wheat and gluten thing. 

Before we begin, let's please all try to keep this in perspective.  180DegreeHealth offers many things for many people.  And I can't help but take perhaps the greatest satisfaction in helping young guys who remind me a lot of myself, to keep from making the same dumb mistakes I made - or at least help them recover from the world of dietary extremism that they were drifting towards prior to finding 180D. 

I've already done two posts on Martin, aka The Belgian Jackhammer.  The first was about the start of his recovery from a period of vegetarianism and fasting followed by a long stint of full-on ZERO CARB under the guidance of Charles Washington (Skeletor).  The second post came more recently as the Belgian Jackhammer shared some actual lab results showing a 120% increase in testosterone, a drop in uric acid levels, rock-bottom clotting factors, and a 72 point drop in total cholesterol (with a rise in HDL) that he experienced when switching from zero carb to a wheat-based diet.

During this, Martin was able to become a regular kid again.  He could hang out.  Have pizza.  Have some beers with the guys.  And his speed, strength, muscularity, leanness, and sex drive all went through the roof as expected with that large surge in man juice.  In short, the kid ate his Wheaties, and is acting and looking like an Olympian. 

Coincidentally, I had some burgers with Half Navajo a few weeks ago, another guy in more or less the same boat when he found 180, who noticed the same changes when switching from low-carb to a diet based mainly on pizza, burgers, and Rocky Mountain region microbrews (inspired by the great beers of Belgium).  He's lost 25 pounds eating that while just enjoying life, and the arms hanging out of his shirt are covered with veins.  At 5'9" and 145 pounds, there's not an ounce of fat on him.  I'd say the two leanest 180 followers are both eating the same diet - mostly wheat and beer.

Anyway, that's not to say that wheat isn't a problem for some people.  Sure it is!  And while some can eat wheat and actually see their swollen bellies get smaller and smaller from eating wheat, others can see it get larger and larger.  Beer has obviously been responsible for a few bellies too. 

Nevertheless, what drives me up the frickin' wall is seeing wheat portrayed as the root of all evil, and the predominant cause of the obesity and/or diabetes epidemic.  The new black sheep.  If you can write a book called "Wheat Belly," then you should be able to write a book called "fill in the blank" Belly.  There are many paths to a swollen belly.  Cortisone injections, Prozac, antibiotics, on and off the wagon jogging, Mountain Dew, dieting, adding carbs to a prolonged ketogenic diet, etc.  

Note - before Dr. William Davis became a type 2 diabetic with a swollen belly, he was doing a lot of unwanted exercise (jogging) and dieting (low-fat vegetarian I believe) - two activities that have a much closer link to such health problems than wheat consumption.   

But who cares about what causes each person to have a pot belly?  Sure, maybe some people do get it from eating wheat.  It's plausible.  What chaps my ass is that this wheat hunt ignores the many negative symptoms that some people, like Martin and myself, experience from eating a low-carb diet - the proposed blanket solution to eating a wheat-heavy diet according to Dr. Davis. 

In fact, Dr. Davis may just be inspiring me to write a book called "Low-Carb Dick," with dual meanings.  One of them relating to the negative emotional side effects frequently experienced while restricting carbohydrates.  The other relating to something experienced by me and Martin before pizza saved our pepperonis... before spaghetti saved our noodles... before... (I wanted to come up with something about bagels, but could only come up with advice for women seeking to please their men... "Screw Kegels, eat bagels!").                

So anyway, here's Martin attempting to eat an entire 16" pizza with his friends cheering him on (actually, they were trying to psyche him out so that they didn't have to pay for the thing and buy him beer after).  Feel free to fast forward to the end to see if he did it, and to see him flash his wheat belly while personally addressing you.  That's right you - the "180DegreeHealth followers..."  Oh, and pardon Martin's "French," but he took this challenge very seriously!  "It's not an effing joke!" he says at the beginning...

Meet Chi Van Dang, MD, PhD, Director of Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center

Chi Van Dang, MD, PhD, has joined Penn Medicine as director of Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center and director of the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute. Over the course of his illustrious career, Dr. Dang has distinguished himself as a highly effective clinical researcher as well as a preeminent scholar and educator in the fields of cancer cell biology, molecular biology and genetics.

“I feel very privileged and excited for the opportunity to lead the Abramson Cancer Center into an era of innovative personalized cancer care through the establishment of disease-specific translational centers of excellence,” says Dr. Dang.

• Watch a video series about Chi Van Dang, MD, PhD
• Download a copy of Penn’s Abramson Report
• Follow Penn Medicine’s “Focus on Cancer” Blog
  

Is Grass Fed Beef Really “Rich in Omega 3s?”

The subjects of n-6 and n-3 fatty acid (commonly referred to as Omega-6 and Omega-3 fatty acids) ratios, dietary fiber, salt, and anti-oxidants came up frequently during the Ancestral Health Symposium back in August. I was frankly surprised at the concern several presenters voiced about the last three. I thought they’d been fairly debunked, but apparently not. Perhaps I’ll discuss them in a future post. I’ve written before about the relative importance of grass-fed meat in our diet, and the overstated benefits of grass-fed vs. grain-fed beef. But this subject came up again recently on the Nutrition and Metabolism Society e-mail list, so I think it’s worth a re-visit.

Any discussion of n-6 and n-3 fatty acids in general, and in beef in particular, ought to include the following points: the strength of data suggesting their importance; the importance of the n-6:n-3 ratios; and the n-3 content of beef vs. other foodstuffs.

The literature discussing the benefits of n-3 fatty acids is replete with words like “associated,” and “linked.” Tom Naughton’s “Science for Smart People” presentation is a great introduction to interpreting these words and the importance of claims made with them. The following statement comes from a “A review of fatty acid profiles and antioxidant content in grass-fed and grain-fed beef” (Daley, et al. 2010):

“Danish physicians observed that Greenland Eskimos had an exceptionally low incidence of heart disease and arthritis despite the fact that they consumed a diet high in fat.”

Can you say “Greenland Paradox?” I doubt that was the only dietary difference. It would seem prudent to keep this in mind while we discuss the reduction in coronary heart disease, diabetes, obesity, depression, etc. that have been listed as beneficial effect of n-3 supplementation. In addition, evidence exists to suggest that concern about ingesting too much polyunsaturated fatty acids in general, and n-3 fatty acids in particular, is warranted.

Cordain, et al. reported the n-6:n-3 ratio in tissues from wild ruminants and compared them to values for beef that had been published previously. This paper was then referenced in a post on Science Blog from Purdue University:

"Both grass-fed steers and the wild ruminants have a ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids slightly above two in meat. In other words, two parts omega-6 to one part omega-3," Watkins says. "That ratio is much lower than the ratios of 5-to-1 to 13-to-1 reported in previous studies for grain-fed steers."

However, the published range in n-6:n-3 ratios in “grass-fed” and “grain-fed” beef is far greater than that suggested in this paper, as shown in the data from eight papers presented in Table 1. Three of the studies cited in Table 1 having a lower ratio in grain-fed beef than the range stated by Cordain, et al.

Given that many variables (i.e. age of animal, sex, breed, tissue, management details) can affect the n-6:n-3 ratio, it is unwise to make blanket statements about what those ratios are. In addition, Garia, et al. demonstrated that some amount of grain can be fed to cattle without producing a high-value n-6:n-3 ratio in the beef.

Statistical significance does not necessarily equate to biological significance. It does not appear that we know enough to clearly state that these are important differences. Tom Naughton’s presentation, once again, makes this point. In addition, there appears to be a range in what the desirable range ought to be.

The World Health Organization recommends that polyunsaturated fats make up 3 - 7% of the energy in the diet. Some experts advise that one should consume a minimum of 3% of energy from omega-6 fatty acids and between 0.5% and 1% from omega-3. Research scientists recommend ratios varying from 5:1 to 10:1 omega-6 to omega-3. Other experts suggest a ratio of between 1:1 and 4:1 as being optimal. What are we getting? The current ratio in our diet is estimated to be 14:1 to 20:1 (from here).

Focusing on ratios instead of quantity can be misleading. A helpful list of n- 6 and n- 3 amounts in various foodstuffs is published here. Soybean oil has an n-6:n-3 ratio of 7.42, less than 4 of the ratio values for grain-fed beef presented in Table 1. But an ounce (28g) of soybean oil contains 14,361 mg of n-6 fatty acids, 21.5 times the amount contained in 4 ounces of raw grain-fed ground beef (668 mg n-6)! The n-6:n-3 ratio of roasted chicken leg meat is 9.53, essentially the same as listed for conventional ground beef. But one cup (140 g) contains 2,268 mg of n-6.

This same source states that grass fed ground beef contains 100 mg of n-3 per 4 ounces (raw). Considering that one 3.75 ounce (106 g) can of Vital Choice’s albacore solid white tuna (yes, tuna!) in extra virgin olive oil contains almost 3 grams (2,926 mg) of n-3 fatty acids it is, at best, an exaggeration to call grass fed beef a “rich” source of n-3 fatty acids. Even a comparison of grass fed ground beef with grain fed ground beef doesn’t justify the label: This same source shows only a 22 mg difference per 4 ounces of raw meat. What happens when the meat is cooked? A 4 ounce (cooked weight), pan-browned ground beef patty only contains 20 mg, so cooking loss appears to be significant.

Examining the data in these papers demonstrates the fact that beef, no matter how it’s produced, is not a rich source of n-3 fatty acids. And beef, not matter how it’s produced, is not a rich source of n- 6 fatty acids, either.

I want to emphasize that I’m focusing solely on the nutritional aspect of the beef, not on the issues of confined animal feeding operations, grain production, animal health, etc. I’m aware of these matters and I am NOT minimizing them. I celebrated my 55^th birthday by presenting a poster at the Ancestral Health Symposium, but my celebratory birthday steak was postponed until the following morning. I pulled off the interstate and enjoyed a delicious steak and eggs breakfast. The very next thing I encountered as I got back on the highway was a large beef feedlot. The sight and smell were impressive, to say the least. Addressing these issues by exaggerating nutrient differences and their importance, however, is NOT a winning strategy. Instead, we might want to look at the monetary side.

It’s a good time to be a grass farmer – turning green grass into dollars, via a grazing ruminant. Today’s market has created a tremendous potential for income from the stocker business – buying beef calves and feeding them on pasture - gaining 200 – 300 lbs in 150 days or less - before selling them as feeder cattle. The following is from a Beef Magazine on-line article, which seems to be quoting this Oklahoma State University Extension Service publication:

"Heavy-feeder prices increased to new seasonal highs in early July and are still holding at remarkably strong levels," says Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension livestock marketing specialist. "The rollback between calf and feeder prices is very narrow; almost zero in some cases, resulting in very high stocker value of gain."

Peel offered this example for the first week of August: the Oklahoma combined auction price for Medium and Large #1 steers weighing 515 lbs. was $138.56/cwt.; it was $138.05/cwt. for steers weighing 727 lbs.

"This implies a value of gain of $1.37/lb. for 212 lbs. of gain," Peel says. For steers weighing 825 lbs., the price was $132.50/cwt., resulting in a value of gain of $1.22/lb. for 310 lbs. of gain."

For the record, value of gain is defined as the gross sale price of a head of cattle minus the gross purchase price, divided by the pounds of gain. High calf and feeder prices, and the narrow price rollback, magnify the current opportunity.

"There is more incentive than there has ever been to grow and manage forage," Peel emphasizes. "Wheat pasture prospects in the southern Great Plains appear very poor at this point but the market is clearly encouraging somebody, somewhere, that has forage to put stocker gains on feeder cattle.

"The feeder cattle price structure will continue to offer high value of gain as a market incentive to add weight to cattle prior to feedlot placement. Stocker margins will generally be attractive for stocker production over a wide range of beginning and ending weights and total weight gain."

So, once again, there are valid reasons for eating grass fed beef – including the taste! But promoting grass fed beef because of its n-6:n-3 ratio is, at best, misleading. Beef, regardless of how it is fed, in not a “rich” source of n-3 or n-6 fatty acids. If you want more n-3 fatty acids in your diet, eat fatty fish and/or take a supplement. If you want less n-6 fatty acids in your diet, cut the grains and vegetable oils.

References:

Cordain, L., B.A. Watkins, G.L. Florant, M. Kelher, L. Rogers, Y Li. 2002. Fatty acid analysis of wild ruminant tissues: evolutionary implications for reducing diet-related chronic disease. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 56, 181–191



Daley, C.A., A. Abbott, P.S. Doyle, G.A. Nader, S. Larson. 2010. A review of fatty acid profiles and antioxidant content in grass-fed and grain-fed beef. Nutrition Journal 9:10


Descalzo, A., E.M. Insani, A. Biolatto, A.M. Sancho, P.T. Garcia, N.A. Pensel. 2005. Influence of pasture or grain-based diets supplemented with vitamin E on antioxidant/oxidative balance of Argentine beef. Meat Science 70:35-44.


Garcia, P.T., N.A. Pensel, A.M. Sancho, N.J. Latimori, A.M. Kloster, M.A. Amigone, J.J. Casal. 2008. Beef lipids in relation to animal breed and nutrition in Argentina. Meat Science 79:500-8.


Leheska, J.M., L.D. Thompson, J.C. Howe, E. Hentges, J. Boyce, J.C. Brooks, B. Shriver, L. Hoover, M.F. Miller. 2008. Effects of conventional and grass-feeding systems on the nutrient composition of beef. Journal Animal Science 86:3575-85.


Nuernberg, K., D. Dannenberger, G. Nuernberg, K. Ender, J. Voigt, N.D. Scollan, J.D. Wood, G.R. Nute, R.I. Richardson. 2005. Effect of a grass-based and a concentrate feeding system on meat quality characteristics and fatty acid composition of longissimus muscle in different cattle breeds. Livestock Production Science 94:137-47.


Ponnampalam, E.N., N.J. Mann, A.J. Sinclair. 2006. Effect of feeding systems on omega-3 fatty acids, conjugated linoleic acid and trans fatty acids in Australian beef cuts, potential impact on human health. Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition 15(1):21-9.


Realini, C.E., S.K. Duckett, G.W. Brito, M.D. Rizza, D. De Mattos. 2004. Effect of pasture vs. concentrate feeding with or without antioxidants on carcass characteristics, fatty acid composition, and quality of Uruguayan beef. Meat Science 66:567-77.


S. K. Duckett, J. P. S. Neel, J. P. Fontenot and W. M. Clapham. 2009. Effects of winter stocker growth rate and finishing system on: III. Tissue proximate, fatty acid, vitamin, and cholesterol content. Journal Animal Science 87:2961-2970.

Intelligence Intact

I had to dig into an old eZine I had written two years ago this morning, fetching a recipe that will be part of the RBTI Intro Package due for release next weekend.  And while I was digging, I took a moment to read one of the articles I had written on the importance of critical thinking - and of constantly seeking out opposing viewpoints to your sacred conclusions instead of banding together with like-thinkers and drifting away to crazy town.  Anyway, it made me smile in a nostalgic kind of way, especially in light of the strange new world of the surprisingly-effective RBTI that I have openly immersed myself in over the past three months.  Guess I was born to be a guinea pig, cuz I really love this wild world of health and nutrition.  So full of surprises.  Okay, here it is... 

One of the most difficult challenges I’ve ever come across in pursuing health understanding is keeping my own intelligence intact. I have common sense, and I have come across some of the greatest material ever written on the subject of health. That information and common sense combined have shown me, proven to me beyond any doubt, certain fundamental truths. These truths are very basic, such as carbohydrates are not bad. Saturated fat is not bad. Cholesterol in egg yolk doesn’t contribute to heart attacks. Fiber does not cause digestive illness. Strict vegan diets suck. It is unsafe to build a diet around non-nutritive white powders. Cutting calories and over-exercising to lose weight is a futile strategy.


But time and time again, before these fundamentals really became concrete, it was all too easy to get swept away with the latest intriguing theory. I don’t regret pursuing all kinds of ideas, from being a vegetarian for years in my early 20’s, to eating a bunch of gnarly raw foods – from whole heads of cabbage to raw chicken hearts. It was all an adventure. Each brought forth its very own insight, and gave me a rich experience from which to draw upon.

Much of this was done in the spirit of exploration. For many others, it is a very different situation in which they are drawn into the realms of narrow-minded dogma.

Like Lierre Keith, recent disgruntled author of The Vegetarian Myth.  Keith followed a strict vegan diet for something like 20 years. Oopsies! An assortment of health problems later and Keith’s vegan education was complete. Vegan score appointed by Keith… F.

Others hear the preacher behind the low-carb pulpit talking up a complicated-sounding storm about how there is insulin and leptin and lipolysis and metabolic syndrome – and if you eat carbohydrates you’re just going to magically accumulate fat because of all that insulin you’re secreting. Sounds good. The theory makes sense. Carbs raise insulin. Insulin stores fat. Therefore carbohydrates make you fat. I mean come on! They feed corn and grain to pigs and that’s what makes them fat. Everybody knows starch is fattening! (or so they claim).

I’ve even had the luxury of dealing with some of the most insane and one-sided folks of all, the raw Primal/Paleo type folks. I’ve been accused of treason for condoning the consumption of “mind-altering cooked foods!” For that special someone, mind alteration could be just the ticket to bring them back to sanity. Yes, there are nutrition cults out there eating massive amounts of feces, drinking their own urine, and using human semen for skin health. A little research and the voice of someone who overcame a serious illness or two is all it takes to get a massive and devout gang of followers.

I guess all I’m saying is that even I, with a great and diverse wealth of knowledge and experience, still get curious. I want to know what people are experiencing on their health escapades. The conclusions that people have come to in their own explorations are always of profound interest to me. I can’t get enough of it, and my mind remains eternally open to new ideas. I cover all my bases to the best of my ability, hoping that nothing goes overlooked, and that I haven’t missed some great discovery that someone else has made. And in doing so, I drift a little in that direction to really give it a fair shot. I allow myself to buy into the ideas and believe, even if for only a moment, that I might have made a tragic mistake in my own health conclusions.

We all will do this, not just in the arena of health, but in all avenues of life. But without checks and balances to keep us from straying into a realm of the totally illogical, it is easy to get lost and do ourselves some harm.

Whatever your beliefs are about health or otherwise, it is important to repeatedly challenge yourself on those ideas. If you think you have all the answers, take your ideas to a place where they will be met with stiff opposition. It is there that you will find good arguments that you will have difficulty explaining away. It is in the face of this challenge and conflict that you will develop a more complex and deeper understanding of the issues you had thought were solved. It’s here that you’ll find what you thought was a neat and impenetrable theory to be, in actuality, painfully oversimplified and blind.

If I’ve found any theme amongst all the health cults that have come to downright retarded conclusions, from vegans to raw chicken-eating carnivores, it is that they are terribly opposed to having their theories challenged and tested. Anyone who doesn’t agree is an idiot or has scandalous motives. Some vegans call the Weston A. Price Foundation “factory farming propaganda.” I kid you not. That’s like calling a group of protesting anti-abortionists “baby killers.”

I comment at blogs and websites preaching all kinds of health sermons, and I typically go to these sites and directly square off with their conclusions. The result is that I get banned. I’m told that I don’t “support their community’s objectives” and need to get lost. They are not interested in conversations. They are not interested in answers or advancing their knowledge because they already have all the answers. They are inflexible. They are blind. They are drifting off into space, becoming ever more isolated and ever more defensive as they collectively fall off the deep end of reality.

So the tidbit of advice I have to give is one that has served me incredibly well, and will no doubt serve me in the future – keeping me constantly honing in on better and more sophisticated answers. That is simply to be a critical thinker. Challenge yourself and others and revel in their assaults on your own conclusions. This is helpful. This is part of the natural feedback mechanisms that are established for every aspect of our existence. We need this. We need both support and challenge to have fuller, more comprehensive perspectives in our many endeavors – be it in health, in religion, in finance, and in relationships. This is what keeps our intelligence intact, and from drifting into deep space where we get lost and find ourselves gasping for oxygen by the time it’s all said and done.