Robert Paterson's Weblog

Our Brains were created by Meat - Our most important food

Concussed like Crosby or wounded in the head in Afghanistan?

One of the most important ways to recovery is to eat a lot of meat. 

Coming down from the trees as a hominid 4 million years ago - how do you get the brain size you need to be human? Eat a lot of meat.

Conventional wisdom today about how to be healthy - don't eat a lot of meat. Confused?

Well here are the explanations for both the meat eating statements. 

Fighting in Afghanistan has resulted in many serious head injuries. So has fighting in hockey. Recent studies have confirmed that the brain needs high energy quickly to heal. And only meat can provide this.

The importance of getting food to severely injured patients is already known but isn’t consistently applied: The extreme trauma drastically disrupts brain metabolism because cells can’t communicate properly. In that kind of hypermetabolic state, the brain needs energy quickly.

The study recommends that the speedy intake of energy and protein for traumatic brain injuries should be made common practice “immediately” – both right after an especially severe injury and for two weeks following. That means more than half a person’s total energy output, and at least a gram of protein per kilogram of body weight, starting within a day of the injury.

(To put that in perspective, it means a 70-kilogram person would need the protein equivalent of 25 bowls of cereal a day.)

“This intervention is critical,” the study notes, to lessen the severity of inflammation.

At the same time, the study analyzed findings that animal test subjects with traumatic brain injuries fared better when they had particular nutrients in their systems.

When I read this the other day I immediately recalled the link to how meat and also cooking had the same impact on the actual development of the human brain.

Link to the research here Link to the quote by Lierre Keith here

The Proof is in our teeth and our gut size. 

As we began to shy away from eating primarily fruit, leaves and nuts and began eating meat, our brains grew. We developed the capacity to use tools, so our need for large, sharp teeth and big grinders waned. From left, a cast of teeth from a chimpanzee, Australopithecus afarensis and a modern human.

At the same time our gut shrank by 60%. A Chimp spends 6 hours a day chewing and digesting. We eat quickly leaving lots of time to invent new things and ways.  

Homo Erectus is very different from our non meat eating predecessors. Taller, different head and jaws and smaller gut. He is almost us.

Meat and cooking were the breakthrough for us (More on Cooking later)

Only meat has this quality and concentration of protein. It is indeed "Brain Food".

Meat made us human. It is not some rare thing at the top of the food pyramid but it is the base of the pyramid.

More here.

Living the Change - Food Preserving - Pickling

Fermentation and lacto-fermentation as been around for a very long time mainly as a means to preserve food over long periods of time when refrigeration wasn’t available. Today more and more people are rediscovering those old methods of preserving food because the taste is amazing, but also because it’s a great way to consume probiotics.

Lacto-fermented foods are fermented by lactobacillus bacteria, which is a category of beneficial bacteria that feeds on sugar and that produces lactic acid as a byproduct. This is why lacto-fermented foods taste acidic.

Just about any vegetables and even fruits can be lacto-fermented, but fruits will need much less fermentation time as they contain much more sugar. You can play around and try all sorts of funky combinations to discover some amazing tastes. Spices and herbs are also often used extensively to give an even greater flavor to the final product. For example, sour pickles are often flavored with dill, garlic and a combination of pickling spices. Some examples of pickling spices are bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, whole peppercorns, coriander seeds and mustard seeds. A popular variation of Sauerkraut (lacto-fermented cabbage) is made with apples and Juniper berries.

via paleodietlifestyle.com

I find that the Paleo Diet Lifestyle Blog has become my fave. This snip is the lead into a number of easy to use recipes for preserving food this summer.

My good Blogging Buddy Tom reminded me that it is one thing to grow food - it is another to know how to preserve it. We can all take advantage of the wonderful summer veggies if we preserve the ones that are suited.

Did you know that the last commercial pickling plant in Canada closed last year? All pickles in Canada now come from China or other places far away.

Live the Change - Gardening - Learning how to Grow Food

For years Robin has done all the work in the garden. But this year I am going to knuckle down and start to learn how to grow food. I am going to focus on containers, small and close. My guides tell me to locate your immediate growing close to the back door.

I am not going to be able to feed myself - but this is a "course" in self sufficiency. It also keeps me active.

For I think I am like many who are traditionally educated and know almost nothing about what to do in the practical world. I can at least cook. But have little experience in growing food and none in looking after small engines or carpentry. So my own self reliance is very low.

At 60 I am determined to get better at all these practical things. 

For what do we have to know mre about to face the future? I think these practical things!

"Tremors in food supply chains and pricing will make gardening look like a lot more than a hobby, a seasonal workout, a practical way to fill your pantry with your summer favorites, or a physically, spiritually and mentally healing activity, or all four. Gardening and small-scale and collective farming, especially of staple crops and the ones that could stave off malnutrition, could become as important as bringing home the bacon, both the piggy and the dollar kind.

We've become accustomed to earning money with which we buy provisions. That process is about to have the legs kicked out from under it. Instead of earning money (or its funny-money kin like credit cards) to buy the things we need, we'll need to start providing more of those things for ourselves and each other locally and (bio)regionally. Gardening -- and small-scale farming -- while they will need to be undertaken in a businesslike fashion will be less about doing business than about everyone's having something to eat and more people being busy providing it. And while not everyone will be able to garden or farm, we are all able to get up close and personal with those who do."

Ellen La Conte from a post about her new book Life Rules

Did dogs enable "civilization" - good case

via youtube.com

With a dog - we must have becomes much better hunters. With a dog we could herd animals ands defend them. With a dog we could be ourselves better defended.

With man, a wolf could eat better for he could eat the parts that we could not - we could share the food. With man, the wolf could kill more - wolves like man are poor killers but they could hold the prey and man with a pointed stick could safely move in and make the kill.

We are both social animals who share food - no other species does this. We both hunt in the day. We both "run" down the prey - and so have very similar hunting styles. We have similar digestion.

We both have the capacity for love and loyalty.

So did we make the dog? Yes but did they make us human too? I think so.

Food Prices - What can we do?

Prices for the most basic staples are also going up. Domestically, wholesale food prices rose 3.9 percent in February, the largest increase on record for one month since 1974.

Fuel costs are to blame, and so is a shift in how the rest of the world eats. The demand for food is up around the globe, driving prices up. The cost of food worldwide rose 37 percent from February 2010 to this year, according to figures compiled by a United Nations organization.

via nytimes.com

The 2006 census shows that the average household on PEI spends just under $7,000 a year on food. The average house on PEI uses 3,500 litres of oil a year. Or about $3,500 a year.

What if these costs rose 25% or even 50%? More than half of the people on PEI would not be able to cope financially. The choice would be between eating and heating.

So what to do? We cannot roll back prices - but we can work to make PEI less reliant on the global market.

This risk has to be put on the table now. We can do a lot and it would make PEI a very prosperous place.

Reducing Demand - for Heating Oil (We spend $200 Million at current prices on heating oil. This is 25% of the total PEI Tax take)

We tend to forget that reducing demand offers us the most value in a self sufficient energy system.

40% of the heating bill can be eliminated with a full insulation installation. This represents the single largest opportunity to reduce our total demand for oil to heat PEI. We have had programs before but none with a goal that can be measured to cut our demand like this.

Passive heat designs, Geothermal can also be used to reduce the need for oil systemically.

Changes to building codes could yield significant gains if pout into this context.

Reducing Demand for Gasoline and Diesel ($200 million - this is what we spend on gas. PEI has the highest rate of commuting of any province)

If the Province and the Feds were to take the lead and make Telecommuting the new norm for office work, about 60% of the gas bill could go away.

The barrier for telecommuting has always been culture. Managers fear losing control and staff done’ want to work at home. But there is now an alternative that offers much of the managerial comfort and social comfort of an office but one that is 10 minutes away from where you live.

There are many office sites that the Province has in communities. Add to this libraries, CAP sites11, Community Halls and PEI has a large inventory of local sites. Local Sites that could become local hubs. Local hubs where provincial and Federal Employees could do most of their work.

Research suggests that each employe would save between $400 and $1,400 and of course would have a much better work life balance.

The second major effect would be that rural communities would get their life back and other related business would cluster in a positive cycle.

Time to start to talk about this.

Truckers - The Canary in the Peak OIl Scenario

Thousands of truck drivers in the Chinese city of Shanghai staged a third day of protest Friday over rising fuel prices they say are crippling their businesses. Truck drivers blockaded part of the city's port — China's busiest — disrupting the flow of goods.

The protests that began on Wednesday are the latest sign of rising public anger over surging inflation that the country's leaders have failed to tame. They come amid a government crackdown on intellectual and political dissent of any sort.

The international community has focused on the continued detention of well-known Chinese artist Ai Weiwei and other political activists. But for the ordinary people of China, there are more mundane concerns than political reform.

Near one of Shanghai's main port areas, where the Yangtze River meets the sea, groups of truck drivers milled around Friday near a long line of trucks parked bumper to bumper and side by side. They were unafraid to speak, though unwilling to give their names for fear of reprisals.

They can't even afford to eat because the price of gasoline is now so high, one man says, looking warily over his shoulder.

via npr.org

In China the Truckers are on strike. Why? Because they are in the middle of the system that is our global system. Truckers are independents who carry all the risk of increasing fuel prices. So when fuel prices go up they are squeezed. At some point they stop work.

Then the system grinds to a halt.

Where will you get your food when the trucks stop?

Autism and Diet - Hope for many #SCD #paleo

As I dig deeper into the effects of diet on our health I have just started to explore the link between diet and autism.

I cried all the way through these 2 short videos as a mother tells the story of what her life with her sonwas like and what has changed now. If you trust me in - even in the smallest way - please take 20 minutes to hear her. Only a mother like Judy Gorman can tell a story like this. I don't think that this applies only to children on the spectrum either. 

These videos come from the Gottschall Autism Centre. The late Elaine Gottschall assembled the Specific Carbohydrate Diet - which mirrors Paleo. Here is the "List". I think she also is a saint!

 

And here is part 2

 

Milk - Our Best Source of Calcium - Not! #humanhealth #paleo

 

Image Source: The Dastardly Report

We are told constantly that Milk is good for us and that it is the best source of calcium available. We are warned that if you don't drink milk, our bones will collapse etc.

This post is all about why this is not true. I will make 5 points to show you where I am going and then expand:

1. Evolutionary Fit - So simply, humans and hominids have not drunk milk after age 3 for millions of years and many human populations have never made dairy part of their diet. 
2. Our Normal Sources - How then did we do ok for all that time? We must have had other sources of calcium. What are they?
3. Other Dietary Risks - Is there something in our current diet that may make absorbing calcium hard to do? After all why is osteoporosis so common today? While we still drink lots of milk and take calcium supplements.
4. Activity and Bone Strength - Might load and activity be also a factor in bone health and strength? 
5. Complexity - Is our digestion merely a simple flask or is it part of a very complex system?

1. Evolution -  Let's start with cows milk and human evolution - How long have we been drinking cow's milk? Can we say that milk is an essential part of the human diet? Is milk actually a problem? What milk products may not be and why?

If milk was "good" for us and a natural part of the human diet - all humans would be able to digest it and gain benefit from it.

This map shows that for many populations, milk is a problem. It is a "New Food" for anyone that is not an infant. It is a new Food for anyone not from Northern Europe and the herders of central Africa.

Note that in the US and Australia, there are exceptions - those of African descent and aboriginals. More stats are here. Those who have made an adaptation come from cultures that raised cattle for milk early - starting about 6-7,000 years ago.

Before refrigeration few of these peoples drank milk per se. Milk was quickly fermented and made into cheese - thus removing most of the lactose. Cheese and butter have most of the lactose driven out. We have only been drinking milk as a population for maybe 150 years.

We have only been drinking milk from cows filled with antibiotics and hormonses that are fed on corn for maybe 50 years.

So what then is Lactose? Lactose is in essence a sugar. 

All mammals eat milk but only of their own kind and then not after weaning. We lose our ability to digest it at that point. We stop producing lactase that helps digest the lactose. Evolution does not waste energy on functions that we don't need. 

So if you are adapted to milk, you are consuming a simple sugar. You are pushing your insulin resistance which is at the core of modern diseases. If you are not adapted, your digestion is in conflict. 

So how did we get our calcium for the millions of years before we domeistced cows and drank their milk?

2. Our Normal sources of calcium - We got our calcium from the same place as the cows do - from plants! Here is a great resource that will show you what plants offer you the best load. 

3. Other Dietary Risks - Here is the most interesting point - grains leach calcium. So a diet with a lot of grains in it interupts your ability to absorb calcium. Good link here. 

4. Activity and Load and Bone Health - Our bones need load to be healthy. If we sit all our lives our bones do not have enough load. It's not enough to take formal exercise. Our ancestors did not go to the gym - nor did they work out. They were active. They were using their body all day. 

5. It's Complex - Milk is offered up as the "pill" for poor bone health. Is this single "silver bullet" working? Link here.

Osteoporosis is a major health risk for 28 million Americans. In the United States today, 10 million individuals already have osteoporosis and 18 million more have low bone mass, placing them at increased risk for this disease. (Source: excerpt from Osteoporosis Progress and Promise: NIAMS) ... Overall, approximately eight million American women and 2 million men have osteoporosis. (Source: excerpt from Osteoporosis: NWHIC)

These stats imply that it is not.

What I have shown you above suggests that the issue of bone health is complex. I hope that I haveb helped you see that a return to a way of living that is more attuned to how evolution has shaped us is worth acting upon.

• Milk is a contributor to the diseases of modern civilization
• If you must have dairy - eat cheese and butter
• Many vegetables are excellent sources of calcium - I love Kale
• Cereals reduce your ability to absorb many nutrients not the least calcium'
• Activity is very important as well

Hope that this summary helps. Here is the full 11 part summary on Milk at Dastardly - Excellent!

Here is also a good summary at Paleodietlifestyle

New York Times - Measuring the impact of Social Media on their content

via niemanlab.org

Better measurement is coming - I really liked this video that shows how the NYT is looking at how their content is shared.

It offers of course an "organic" perspective - reinforcing for me that new reality that is based on the model of nature rather than on the mechanics of a machine.

Already it is showing the importance of influence nodes - we see this is the spread of disease as well - the Typhoid Mary issue. Understanding this then enables us to understand where the systemic leverage comes from.

This I think takes us back to the math of Magic Numbers - a very few people count a lot. Their influence and how they get this is then central - that brings us back to the work of Klout.

We are getting there.

The price of pesticides?

Now maybe that we on PEI are losing the commodity fry business - can we start to talk about the threat that this type of farming poses to all who live here?

It's not just the illnesses but the affect on young brains.

Children exposed in the womb to substantial levels of neurotoxic pesticides have somewhat lower IQs by the time they enter school than do kids with virtually no exposure. A trio of studies screened women for compounds in blood or urine that mark exposure to organophosphate pesticides such as chlorpyrifos, diazinon and malathion.

These bug killers, which can cross the human placenta, work by inhibiting brain-signaling compounds. Although the pesticides’ residential use was phased out in 2000, spraying on farm fields remains legal.

The three new studies began in the late 1990s and followed children through age 7. Pesticide exposures stem from farm work in more than 300 low-income Mexican-American families in California, researchers from the University of California at Berkeley and their colleagues report. In two comparably sized New York City populations, exposures likely trace to bug spraying of homes or eating treated produce.

Among the California families, the average IQ for the 20 percent of children with the highest prenatal organophosphate exposure was seven points lower compared with the least-exposed group.