Optimal Pillar 2

Brain Gut 4: What was Homo’s Solution?

The paleo community has the "Paleo Solution", and it is a great introductory book to a lifestyle that will improve people to a higher plane of health than we have while eating a standard American diet found in our western world. It is clear from fossil data humans were in better physical shape in the late paleolithic before the Younger Dryas occurred as well. It appears that this deep freeze caused massive dietary change in the homo species from predominate hunter gatherers culture to and agrarian culture because of rapid climate change and elimination of the great megafauna from our food chains. The focus of this series, however, is focused upon when we jumped from purely primate to mainly homo species and to see what diet is really best for the rapid encephalization of our species. I am not convinced the modern paleolithic diet that is quite popular now fits that bill at all. The reason I bring this forth, is because I treat very sick and ill homo sapiens every day. 'Eating paleo' may just not reverse their health. The proof of this is found on every single popular paleo forum you can visit. As a surgeon, I need something that really works in the most resistant cases. That is where I discovered the Epi-Paleo Rx. In my specialty of spine surgery, this is especially true when we are dealing with cranial and spinal pathology. As a neurosurgeon these neolithic diseases are the ones I am most focused in on in my clinic. Evolution is in large part about epigenetic to cellular communication; it's comparing notes and copying and pasting new genetic recipes to create a new dish. When we understand how that dish was created we gain deep insight of how to to keep that dish tasting crisp and fresh every time we replicate it.

Brain Gut 3: Look In The Past To See Your Prologue

READERS SUMMARY:   1. WHAT ARE THE EVOLUTIONARY IMPLICATIONS OF A LEAKY GUT AS A POSITIVE ADAPTATION AT OUR SPECIES ORIGIN? 2. WHY DID BIPEDALISM ARISE BEFORE BRAINS IN HUMANS? 3. DID THE CLIMATE AND TECTONIC PLATES DICTATE THE EPIGENETIC CHANGES IN THOSE TRANSITIONAL PRIMATES? 4. DID RAPID CHANGES IN INNATE AND CELL MEDIATED IMMUNITY [...]

Brain Gut 2: Viral Marketing

READERS SUMMARY: 1. To discover the unknown we must use the known to guide our thoughts to see the future. 2.  How should we think about evolution and health now?  Counterintuitive is an axiomatic cognitive ability  required for neurosurgical residency training and that is why I chose to tackle this problem in this fashion. 3. [...]

Brain Gut 1: Who Are We, Really?

READERS SUMMARY: 1. WHY CAN'T FOSSILS, BIOCHEMISTRY, TEETH, GEOLOGY, PALEOANTHROPOLOGY TELL US WHERE WE CAME FROM? 2. ARE WE REALLY PILOCENE OR PALEOLITHIC BEINGS? 3. DO WE STRADDLE THE FENCE OF BOTH ERA'S OR IS ONE MORE IMPORTANT? 4. HOW MIGHT NEUROSURGERY GIVE A NEW PERSPECTIVE TO THESE MYSTERIES? 5. IS HOMO HERE BECAUSE OF [...]

Cold Thermogenesis 13: The FAQ’s

The readers of my forum asked for a FAQ's on CT and I decided it would be a good idea to make a short blog about this. They picked their top 25 questions and I decided to answer them for this blog. If you have any others, just ask in the comments section. I answer them all when I have time.

E=MC2: MAKING FACTOR X ACTIONABLE

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 [...]

CPC #4: Evolutionary Friend or Foe?

READERS SUMMARY: WHY IS IRON IMPORTANT? HOW DOES IT AFFECT LIFE AT A 30ft LEVEL MICROSCOPICALLY HOW DOES IT AFFECT LIFE AT A 30,000 ft LEVEL IN OUR OCEANS HOW DID EVOLUTION USE IRON TO PROTECT US AND OUR SPECIES? HOW DID A PROTECTIVE EFFECT BECOME A DEADLY DISEASE IN 50 YEARS RIGHT UNDER OUR [...]

Cold Thermogenesis 12: Getting Back “On Board” With My Message

Well, it has been a very interesting last few days but I am not the kind of person who looks in the rear view mirror to run my race. What happened happened and it will all come out in the wash eventually. I am a person who runs their own race by looking forward via the windshield as I step on the accelerator pedal to live my life. If we focus on the past we lose sight of where we are headed and the road to Optimal. A reader of mine, Dan K, sent this gem to me, "I heard the Dalai Lama once say in a lecture that our worst enemies are your greatest teachers because they allow you to examine the emotions of anger and revenge and then to transcend them. They give you the exact tools you need to elevate yourself to the spiritual energies that eliminate problems and provide solutions." So today, I am moving toward the Paleo template and away from the "Paleo Radical Insurgency" who is steering the community into an abyss. There are too many people who need help and not the surrounding drama. The time has come to become, Epi-paleo, a term I mentioned at my Paleo fx speech, and that is what I will be building here on my blog and forum from here on out. An event that appears to be a tragedy to one, might reveal the seeds of unlimited opportunity for another. On the Low Carb cruise I was going to present some of the things that happened in my mind at the base of Michelangelo's David in help me realize that the missing piece to the obesity and insulin resistant story was the "off switch" in how we make fat and how we continue to make fat cells. Gary Taubes was scheduled to be the featured speaker for the cruise, but he could not attend, so Jimmy Moore asked me to step in his role. Gary wrote a book called, "Why we get Fat" but I clearly am not Gary Taubes, and I was not here to tell them why we get fat…I was going to tell you how to reverse being fat and insulin resistant…because unlike, Mr. Taubes, I have done it myself and pretty successfully. Obese humans have a difficult life to live. I know the life they live because I was one of them for close to decade. It is very hard to take advice from someone who has never had obesity. To understand the mindset one has to have walked in the shoes. Most of the people giving out advice however have not had a successful track history of losing the weight and keeping it off. The reason for this is they are prisoners to modern dogma of fatness.

Cold Thermogenesis 11: Paleo FX To Practice

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.

CPC #3: Do You Need a Gallbladder?

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.

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