READERS SUMMARY: 1. A QUESTION DURING AN EDUCATIONAL CONSULT STIMULATES A DISCUSSION 2. HOW DOES ARTIFICIAL LIGHT DESTROY THE SIGNALING OF THE CORTISOL/DHEA/MELATONIN AXIS? 3. HOW DOES ARTIFICIAL LIGHT AFFECT THE GUT FLORA? 4. CAN ARTIFICIAL LIGHT AFFECT HUMAN BIOLOGY DIRECTLY? 5. IS BODY COMPOSITION TIED TO ARTIFICAL LIGHT AND IMPAIRED SLEEP CYCLES? [...]
Today, we are going to dive into the gut flora story a bit deeper than we did in our first gut flora post to help you understand how a a change in gut flora might lead to changes in your health by altering your hormone panel. Obesity is an inflammatory brain condition. Where does the infection come from? The gut flora actually is what causes humans to become fat. It has to due with shear numbers and the species of bacteria in our gut. There is a particular flora that produces adiposity and obesity in humans. These bacteria make something called FIAF (Fasting induced adipose factor) that control this process. This factor blocks lipoprotein lipase (LPL) in fat cells. LPL allows us to convert dietary Free Fatty Acids carried in lipoproteins into neutral fats that are stored in adipocytes. Non Geeks: Our gut bacteria makes humans fat. Geek Alert: The FIAF is made by our liver, muscles, and our small bowel wall when food sources are in short supply. This is the signal to stop storing fat in our fat cells when food is scarce. What is not well appreciated by many is that the FIAF in our intestinal wall is controlled 100{a7b724a0454d92c70890dedf5ec22a026af4df067c7b55aa6009b4d34d5da3c6} by our gut flora. When we have a simplified gut flora it favors fat cell creation. When our gut flora is complex and healthy, it has 100 trillion cells with 250 species. We tend not to make fat in this instance either! Moreover, when the bacteria are active metabolically due to the presence of simple sugars, production of FIAF ceases, and fat creation is signaled. This implies that our gut flora is directly tied to fat creation in humans. The gut flora’s action is directly signaled to the brain via the afferent nerve fibers in the vagus nerve. In those newly created fat cells, a protein called leptin is also produced, and acts as a score keeper for the brain of how much fat is stored in the body. This messenger is sent to the brain around midnight when we are sleeping allowing the brain to assess total energy balance in the body.
READERS SUMMARY: 1. What is a day in the life of a vacationing doctor like? 2. Accept that your epigenome is a loaded gun, and your lifestyle is the trigger. Your lifestyle can't change you. It reveals who you really are. 3. Is there an important difference between giving up on somethings and letting go to [...]
This blog followed a very popular July 2012 Webinar that I put on for my members a few days ago. The webinar was over two hours long and had a lot of Q & A done after it as well. I promised my members I would get a quick blog post up for them on some of the core materials we covered. Today's blog is delivering on that promise. How to consider eating the Epi-Paleo Rx: Always Respect circadian cycles and eat according to seasonality, Lots of good quality proteins (see below), Lots of good quality fats (grass-fed/pastured animal fats - lard, tallow), Liberal uses of seafood broths and bone broth made from ocean and grass-fed animals (to heal the gut), and fermented vegetables and/or probiotics (to repopulate the gut with an Optimal Human flora)
Geeks: The implications of Brain Gut 4 mean that to develop a brain seafood is required part of the program to maintain it. Nutrients and many other environmental factors have also been found to influence epigenetic programing of our DNA either directly or indirectly via metabolic sensors. Peroxisomal proliferator-activated receptors (PPAR's), the vitamin D receptors, and the retinoid X receptors (RXR), and the retinoic acid receptors (RAR) are all examples of the nuclear receptors that interact with the brain cell membranes to control inflammation and metabolism all over our bodies. It turns out that PPAR's are the receptors that are at the crossroads of where inflammation and metabolism actually cross. These are specialized lipid sensors that pay attention to our balance of omega 6 and 3 levels. 3{a7b724a0454d92c70890dedf5ec22a026af4df067c7b55aa6009b4d34d5da3c6} of the human genome is directly or indirectly controlled by the endocrine functions of the Vitamin D system. This shows you how environmental signals are intertwined into the expression of DNA in humans. The Epi-Paleo Rx controls inflammation at a hormonal level in the brain better than the more famous paleo diet. Non Geeks: What we eat is really damn important when you have 3 lbs of lipid in your head called a brain. If you eat outside our design you get sick.
This blog post was created for my members who just heard my webinar on bioidentical and synthetic hormone replacement. It is specifically designed to further our discussions in that talk. DHEA has been an enigma to the public and to most physicians. I never once heard about this hormone in four years of medical school, seven years of residency or in any endocrinology lecture from my training. The general public did not learn about DHEA until 1996, when its benefits were mentioned in the media and several popular books that showed up on daytime TV shows. Most in mainstream medicine continued to ignore the science these books contained because they were not found in the usual ways via journals and continuing education classes. You actually had to be on the lookout for this information. With a busy medical practice, this is no easy task. DHEA became credible to the medical establishment when the New York Academy of Sciences published a book called DHEA and Aging. That book provided scientific validation for the many life-extending effects of DHEA.
READERS SUMMARY: 1. How does the fossil record prove that epigenetics is the most dominant factor in biology today? 2. How does this lack of insight create a huge mismatch for patients trying to get to Optimal? 3. Does epigenetics change they way we think? 4. Does the way we think alter our biology [...]
READERS SUMMARY: 1. WHAT BOOKS AM I READING NOW AND WHY? 2. WHY AM I WRITING BOOK REVIEWS IN A BLOG? 3. I THINK SOME PEOPLE HAVE IDEAS WE ALL NEED TO SHARE WITH THE WORLD? 4. I RARELY DO BOOK REVIEWS UNLESS THE BOOKS ARE WORTH IT, THESE TWO ARE. It's time to [...]
Today, I want to introduce you to someone who is a true 'Paleo leader' by stepping up to the the challenge I put to our community at PaleoFx conference recently held in Austin, Tx. Kevin Cottrell is one of the co founders of Paleo Fx. The leaders of Paleo fx have to be commended because the conference they were able to put on in 150 days of prep time was nothing short of remarkable. The conference exceeded all my expectations and the reviews of many attendees have been stellar. The future of this community is tied to clinical application of what the science continues to show in the literature. For assimilation of the Ancestral Lifestyle to become mainstream we need to have more clinical conferences like Paleo fx, and we need to take them globally. Today, I am breaking new ground and presenting to you my first guest blog written by Mr. Kevin Cottrell, who has agreed to share his personal story and personal medical history with all of you so that he may help you in some way. I think what he has agreed to do here is the most noble and worthy things to do to help our community and mankind. I am indebted to him for this chance to publish his story for you to consider. The following post is written by Kevin, in his words, to share with you and yours, to help open your eyes and challenge your "own dogma and current intuition' to help you reach for optimal health.
You must become aware of the high cost of low living by cheap thinking. In biology, we often get what we deserve when we forget this. Today’s CPC will illustrate that point for you. Wasting your time doing things that do not get you to Optimal is losing opportunity to improve yourself. Today.......and every day from here become very aware of time. Be wise in the use of time. The question for living an Optimal life is never how much time do I really have...it is in how you use the time you have. And when you realize that…….you can begin to reverse the errors you made in that time. There is a great lesson here for those willing to think. I hope the sharpness of this message strikes you in the correct fashion. When you think average you get average. Reject mediocre...demand optimal from me, your loved ones, and most importantly yourself. When you get this lesson.........you will understand why there is much harm in wasting your most valuable asset. TIME The more sand that has escaped from the hourglass of your life, the clearer we should see through it. If you continue to think the way you do your life's hour glass will remain opaque. Think, adapt, learn, become what you can only envision now through the actions those thoughts bring to you.