Nutrition and Physical Regeneration

cc by Rainmaker

Indictments were returned by a Federal Grand Jury here today against Medical Director Francis Smith Nash, USN and his wife, Caroline Nash, charging them with violation of Section 6 of the Food Control act in having large quantities of flour, sugar, and other foodstuffs in their possession, to the value of $1,923.36. In a statement issue by the Food Administration it was alleged that the food hoarded was sufficient to maintain the family for more than a year and hence far in excess of the requirements of thirty days, the period recognized by Food Administrator Hoover as a ‘reasonable one’ for residents of cities.

Yes, right here in the good ol’ USA, 90 years ago. And what about this Hoover? Is this Herbert? Yes, the very one that Murray Rothbard long emphasized was no free market president but central planner from way back.

Wikipedia notes: “President Woodrow Wilson appointed Hoover head of the American Food Administration, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. Hoover believed that, ‘food will win the war.’ He established days to encourage people to not eat certain foods in order to save them for the soldiers: meatless Mondays, wheatless Wednesdays, and ‘when in doubt, eat potatoes.’”

The violation of liberty in this period also figures into the great novel by Garet Garrett called Satan’s Bushel.

As for rationing of goods (oil?), don’t think it can’t happen here. It can and has.
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Jeffrey Tucker is editorial vice president of www.Mises.org.

photo by Kevinzim (Creative Commons)

I just read a recent paper from the British Journal of Sports Medicine, "Daily Energy Expenditure and Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Masai, Ruran and Urban Bantu Tanzanians". The study caught my eye because I think we have a lot to learn from healthy traditionally-living populations worldwide.

The Masai have a very unique diet consisting almost exclusively of whole cow's milk, cow's blood and meat. As you might imagine, they eat a lot of fat, a lot of saturated fat and a modest amount of carbohydrate (from lactose). They also have low total cholesterol, low blood pressure, and virtually no overweight. They have been a thorn in the side of the lipid hypothesis for a long time.

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Recently, Karen de Coster and Jeremy Sapienza wrote articles promoting a high-protein diet (editor's note: it would be more accurate to call them high fat diets). It is sometimes called the Atkins diet or the Eades diet. Readers may be interested in my own experience with an early version of this diet.

In 1948, at the age of six, I was a sickly child. I had chronic bronchitis. I was skinny. I missed a lot of school. I stayed home a lot and listened to soap operas, which, on the whole, were probably of greater value than what I was learning in school. (In the third grade, in 1949, I was taught by a lady who was close to retirement, who still used – gasp! – phonics. That was when I really started learning. No more Dick and Jane.)

My parents did not have much money. My mother decided to spend what little she had to take me to a physician she had heard about from a friend. His name was Francis Pottenger, Jr. He was the son of a well-known specialist in treating tuberculosis. We had to drive monthly across the Los Angeles basin to get to his clinic in Monrovia.

He was the original research physician in nutrition. In the early 1930's, he conducted what was to become a famous study of cats. Here is one account of the results:

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Spinning Studies

So what was in these trial reports? Spin. Sometimes the researchers found some other positive result in the spreadsheets and pretended that this was what they intended to count as a positive result all along. Sometimes they reported a dodgy subgroup analysis. Sometimes they claimed to have found that their treatment was "non-inferior" to the comparison treatment (when in reality a "non-inferiority" trial requires a bigger sample of people, because you might have missed a true difference simply by chance). Sometimes they just brazenly banged on about how great the treatment was, despite the evidence.

Don't like your findings? Spin them away

Food Fantasies

The fact is, a person who restricts their food intake, especially due to weight concerns (or the myriad related ‘health concerns’ that are just an attempted sublimation of the desire to lose weight, look better, gain social privilege, etc.) will have food fantasies. As the food restriction gets more severe, the fantasies get wilder, and the food behaviours more erratic. Remember the details from the Ancel Keys study, “The Biology of Human Starvation.” Recall the food compulsions reported among anorectic patients, people who are supposedly ‘not hungry’ (I assure you, they are, and they obsess about food more than they would if they actually ate it.) Think of the hot-fudge-sundae fantasies that most likely drifted through your dreams last time you were on a diet; craving pasta and potatoes during Atkins’; longing for cream sauces and marbled steaks on Pritikin.

Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Fantasy

Are You Sure About That Olive Oil?

More sophisticated scams, like Domenico Ribatti’s, typically take place at high-tech refineries, where the oil is doctored with substances like hazelnut oil and deodorized lampante olive oil, which are extremely difficult to detect by chemical analysis. In 1991, the E.U., recognizing that laboratory tests fail to expose many acts of adulteration, instituted strict taste and aroma requirements for each grade of olive oil and established tasting panels, certified by the International Olive Oil Council, an office created by the United Nations, to enforce them. According to the E.U. regulations, extra-virgin oil must have appreciable levels of pepperiness, bitterness, and fruitiness, and must be free of sixteen official taste flaws, which include “musty,” “fusty,” “cucumber,” and “grubby.” “If there’s one defect, it’s not extra-virgin olive oil—basta, end of story,” Flavio Zaramella, the president of the Corporazione Mastri Oleari, in Milan, one of the most respected private olive-oil associations, told me.

Zaramella, a garrulous sixty-six-year-old former businessman, has made oil from olives grown on his small farm in Umbria since 1985. He began to study olive oil systematically when he found that the local farmer who tended his trees had been cutting his oil with sun-flower-seed oil. “Fraud is so widespread that few growers can make an honest living,” he told me.

SLIPPERY BUSINESS

Just For Fun – Superman leap makes Fordham player a viral video hit

Kownacki leaps over the catcher @ Yahoo! Video

Before Whole Foods There Was…

Sandy Gooch's near-death experience led to the birth of an industry. She went on to create Mrs. Gooch's Natural Food Markets, pioneering concepts of quality and marketing that continue to shape the way Americans buy food. “She is literally the creator of what we now know as the natural food market that has become such an important part of so many communities in the United States as the place where you go when you're really concerned about how you live your life, when you're looking for quality, safety and honesty.

She created a culture,” says Loren Israelsen, president of Salt Lake City-based supplements consultancy LDI Group and a 25-year industry veteran.“She is the original visionary for what we now know as the natural products industry,” adds Cheryl Bottger, director of training and education at manufacturer The Hain Celestial Group in Portland, Ore. Her standards defined an industry. Her creativity splashed Technicolor onto the black-and-white world of food shopping. Her heart inspired an unsurpassed level of devotion among those she worked with and a dedication to naturals across the country. And she did it all as a woman in a world dominated by men.

Sandy and the Seven Stores that changed an industry

It's The Refined Carbs, Stupid

In March the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a meta-analysis—which combines data from several studies—that compared the reported daily food intake of nearly 350,000 people against their risk of developing cardiovascular disease over a period of five to 23 years. The analysis, overseen by Ronald M. Krauss, director of atherosclerosis research at the Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute, found no association between the amount of saturated fat consumed and the risk of heart disease.

Carbs against Cardio: More Evidence that Refined Carbohydrates, not Fats, Threaten the Heart

Beer Coolers At Their 2nd Best Use

By this point, there is absolutely no question that the method of cooking foods at precise low-temperatures in vacuum-sealed pouches (commonly referred to as "sous-vide") has revolutionized fine-dining kitchens around the world. There is not a Michelin-starred chef who would part easily with their Polyscience circulators. But the question of when this technique will trickle down to home users—and it certainly is a question of when, and not if—remains to be answered.

The Sous-Vide Supreme, introduced last winter, and of which I am a big fan, is certainly a big step in the right direction. But at $450, for most people, it still remains prohibitively costly. In an effort to help those who'd like to experiment with sous-vide cookery without having to put in the capital, a couple weeks ago I devised a novel solution to the problem: Cook your food in a beer cooler.

Cook Your Meat in a Beer Cooler: The World's Best (and Cheapest) Sous-Vide Hack

The Sad Decline Of Argentinian Beef

For more than a century, Argentina has distinguished its beef as healthier and more natural than meat from most of the world. Cows ambled leisurely across the rich soil of the Humid Pampa munching on green grass, not the grains offered in crowded feedlots in the faster-paced American industry.

But that image could become a memory from a bygone era. Political decisions by Argentina are changing the taste of the famed Argentine steak and threatening to tarnish the country’s world-renowned beef industry.

The changes have driven away investors, reduced the size of Argentina’s herd and given the nation’s smaller neighbor, Uruguay, the chance to capitalize on Argentina’s troubles by billing itself as the “last big farm” for healthier, grass-fed cattle.

Politics and the Decline of Argentinian Beef

Ancient Lara Bars?

Sometimes the Maya mixed the cacao with cornmeal to create a tightly packed material, almost like a hockey puck, that was more transportable. That’s how they stored it. There are texts that say it ended up being stolen by enemies since it was very highly valued. It was also taken by the warriors when they went to their next job, if you will. When they were on the go, they’d just take these things out of their pockets and eat some. They were like early energy bars!

Ancient Candy Bars Waiting To Be Rediscovered

Steak At Its Absolute Best (Sous Vide) – Check out the pictures!

Somehow, and no one seems to even imagine how, this country managed to survive and thrive before 1984 without a national minimum drinking age. Before that, the drinking question was left to the states.

In the 19th century, and looking back even before — prepare yourself to imagine horrific anarchistic nightmares — there were no drinking laws anywhere, so far as anyone can tell. The regulation of drinking and age was left to society, which is to say families, churches, and communities with varying sensibilities who regulated such things with varying degrees of intensity. Probably some kids drank themselves silly — and we all know that this doesn't happen now (wink, wink) — but many others learned to drink responsibly from an early age, even drinking bourbon for breakfast.

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Recently, blogger Melissa McEwen had an accident that necessitated a trip to the hospital. Here is how it went down in her own words:

I had woken up one night unable to move, on the floor, in a pool of various bodily fluids. Hot and dizzy, I struggled for the phone, stumbling, my ears ringing.

Not too pretty, eh?

Turns out that was only the start of her troubles. After being hospitalized she had to manage the obstacle filled culinary track known as hospital food:

Eating decently at the hospital was a huge challenge. I threw out the idea of being paleo, but I wanted to make sure I was at least gluten-free, so I didn’t have to add horrible stomach cramps to the doctor’s to-do lists. Gluten intolerance affects 1 out of 100 people…they must have some accomendations? Right?

Wrong……

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One of the most popular posts I ever made was regarding Ernestine Shepard, the 73 year old marathoning and bodybuilding grandma who not only looks good for her age, but looks good for any age. I dare say that she looks better than 99% of my readership, man or woman, and would give a strong challenge to the remaining 1%. If not for her gray hair, which is barely noticeable, she could probably pass for a woman 40 years her juinor.

If you didn't see the original post with video, please check it out before venturing any further.

Since then, and I'm sure much to the delight of the original blogger, ABC News picked up the story. Now millions have been treated to the motivation and inspiration this woman's story provides. I know its not unusual to find older folks leading active and productive lives, even into their nineties. I was sent stories and videotapes as a result of my original post highlighting such people.

Even in the land of junk food, no surprise there. No, the surprising thing is not her age, but how she looks. Not just her face but her body. As far as I can tell, no non-bodybuilding persona has ever looked this good at this age both facially and bodywise.

I know it is the height of academic silliness to proclaim a universal negative, as there is invariably always an exception to the rule, and some journalistic tarbaby lurking somewhere just waiting to take some fool down a notch who is in the habit of making such statements.

Given that, if there are other folks out there with the body/face combo of an Ernestine Shepard, its safe to say they are few and far between. The kicker? Ernestine didn't start working out until she was 56 years old. Yowsa!

Now, as good as she comes across in the video, its worse than you think.

Ernestine Shepherd began working out at the age of 56. She now runs 80 miles per week and can bench press 150 pounds. She was named in the Guinness World Records as the oldest female bodybuilder. (photo: Yohnnie Shambourger)

Told you.

The video only showed part of the story.

If any of my readers look better than her right now, send me your photo with your name, city, and phone number, so I can verify that it is you. I will be happy to post it.

My personal policy is not to participate in the current depression recession. I happen to live in a part of the country where its effects are somewhat muted, but to that end I have been laboring overtime to rearrange my lifestyle in every area so as to minimize the impact of stupid government decisions as it pertains to economic policy.

George W. Obama like his predecessor Julius Bush is continuing actions that will lead, in my opinion, to an economic disaster of monumental proportions, especially as the table of nations rearranges itself economically over the next few decades. Goodbye America. Hello China. At least in the long term, the handwriting is on the wall.

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We live in a wantonly irreligious age – at least at the level of public discourse. In America the courts, the schools, and the government seek to cleanse the country of religion. More accurately, they seek to cleanse it of Christianity. We are told, never directly but by relentless implication, that religious faith is something one in decency ought to do behind closed doors – an embarrassment, worse than public bowling though not quite as bad as having a venereal disease.

Which is odd.

I do not offer myself as one intimate with the gods, and on grounds of reason would be hard pressed to choose between the views of Hindus and those of Buddhists. I note however that over millennia people of extraordinary intellect and thoughtfulness have taken religion seriously. A quite remarkable arrogance is needed to feel oneself mentally superior to Augustine, Aquinas, Isaac Newton, and C.S. Lewis. I'm not up to it.

Of course arrogance comes in forms both personal and temporal. People tend to regard their own time as wiser and more knowing than all preceding times, and the people of earlier ages as quaint and vaguely primitive. Thus many who do not know how a television works will feel superior to Newton, because he didn't know how a television works. (Here is a fascinating concept: Arrogance by proximity to a television.)

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Hey folks,

The 1936 video clip of Dr. Weston Price is up again. For those of you who didn't see it the first time around before it was blocked because of copyright issues, you can check it out below.

Forgive me for the double posting, but my RSS feed didn't publish the previous post, and this is such a unique gem that everyone deserves a chance to see it. And by the way, if you have never read Dr. Price's magnum opus on health and nutrition at least once, your nutritional arsenal is greatly lacking.