Beyond Sustainability

Mar 042011
 

Merriam-Webster defines ‘sustainable’ as:

sus·tain·able

adj sə-ˈstā-nə-bəl

1: capable of being sustained

2 a : of, relating to, or being a method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged <sustainable techniques> <sustainable agriculture>

2 b : of or relating to a lifestyle involving the use of sustainable methods <sustainable society>

Paul Wheaton, computer programmer turned permaculturist, defines sustainable as “that which is barely ahead of death.”  (See video below)

Sustainable, in its basic definition as “capable of being sustained” has a problem – sustaining something is not inherently good.  Sustaining the environment, for example, could theoretically be done by plutocratic interests that find an equilibrium with their exploitation; keeping the world at a point where widespread systemic failure is avoided while maintaining the potential for exploitation.  This could be certainly defined as sustainable.    We can see this in the attempts of industry and media to palliate the responses to the dehumanization and destruction of natural “resources” with movies, video games, news that talks about nothing at best or misinforms and helps to generate psychoses at worst, genetically modified and/or processed “food”,  soul-crushing anti-depression medications… the list goes on and on.   In one sense, these things are sustainable.  They have sustained a very sick society up until this point and into the near future.

On top of that, corporations like Monsanto and BP (hugely irresponsible oil company with a green flower logo?  Come on now..) have co-opted the word in what is called ‘greenwashing’ – the deceptive use of marketing, branding and public relations to make a company’s policies and products seem environmentally friendly when they are anything but.   Not only is the word problematic at its base, but it is losing any actual positive connotation in light of this manipulative use by corporate media.  It has begun to mean something else.

Words are power.  Language can influence us in profound ways that we often are not aware of.  Words that lose their usefulness to liberate us need to be seen for what they are and replaced with something new.   Something that can inspire us, that can spark new reactions and associations.  In this case, we need to go beyond sustainability;  we must go beyond thinking “how can we stay just ahead of death?”   We must go beyond sustainability.

Thankfully, I am not alone in this thinking.   We have worldwide initiatives like Beyond Sustainability (they cut right to the chase, don’t they?), models for living like Permaculture, and advocates like Derrick Jensen, Bill McKibben and Vandana Shiva, and amazing films like Your Environmental Roadtrip and Sust-Enable: The Metamentary – all seeking to shift our worldview from that of scarcity to one of abundance.  These concepts and people cut through the bullshit of what “sustainability” is or isn’t, ask hard questions and, in my mind, help build a new world perspective that can see death as an inextricable part of life, a force that encourages and enables new life – and with that, our world will once again blossom and leave the fears of how will be sustained buried in the soil.

Dangerous Memes: The Course of Culture and the Emergent Future

Feb 242011
 

The following is taken from a Facebook discussion about patriarchy and women’s oppression in class society – alas, the original conversation has gone missing, but I DO have my response, which at least makes some sense out of context:

I have been reading some really fascinating stuff (based on Dawkin’s Selfish Gene work) about cultural memes and how they work like individual genes with natural selection.  There are ‘good’ memes and ‘bad’ memes – think of them as the genes of a society.  Some will further the likelihood of survival for a society (human or non-human),  some can lead it into ruin.  In any given society, there can be a mixture of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ memes that will select themselves out over time, resulting in a thriving population or, as is our case in Western Civilization, one that is heading toward extinction.

Class society is not the only instance where women’s oppression has occurred.   Some Native American societies (whom we tend to idealize unthinkingly, not to say that there is not a lot to be learned from Native tradition) had what we would consider a fairly oppressive influence on women, at least for a time;  however, this may not have lasted indefinitely, at least it would not have if it didn’t promote the survival of the tribe in the long term.  There are current examples of this in the relatively few surviving indigenous populations around the world.  One that comes to mind are the Angu people of Papua New Guinea (called the Kukukuku by other tribes), warriors who not only prey upon their neighboring tribes but have a custom where preadolescent boys are raped and used as courtesans to older male members of the tribe.  Whether this custom would eventually select itself out (rebellion within, neighbors becoming fed up with constant aggression, things falling apart due to psychological trauma of every male being sexually molested throughout their pre-adulthood) is impossible to see now that they have had contact with Western Civilization;  these practices may end, but if they do it will have at least partial influence by Dominator Culture.

The major difference between our culture and tribal societies (aka every single other culture than ours – assuming East vs West is a false distinction of cultural difference, as the underlying principles of our culture are the same and originated in the same place 10,000 years ago) is that when certain elements in the society begin making the members miserable – and this could be anything, but let’s use our hierarchical system and the nature of agriculture – they stop doing it and figure something else out, or else they cease to exist as a tribe; they either die off, become another entity, or end up providing genetic diversity to neighboring tribe (also ensuring individual’s genetic health down the line!)

In our culture, we keep doing the same things don’t work for the majority of the society and wonder why everyone is miserable and why we have invented all of these wonderful things, like crime and depression and famine (and no, except under extreme conditions, famine does not exist in the “natural” world.)

To address another point you made, and one I agree with, there is no need to ‘go back’ – it’s not really an option, anyway.  There are too many people, and there are cross-cultural connections and environmental devastation that make this impossible (besides, nature NEVER goes back - it always finds new ways forward, sometimes combining what worked in the past with what is working in the present).  What is necessary to do is change the cultural memes that keep us in this prison-based society:   one of which is OUR WAY OF LIFE IS THE ONLY -RIGHT- WAY OF LIFE, AND IT IS OUR SACRED DUTY TO CONVERT ALL LIFE TO OURS. (capitals emphasizing meme)  If we can discard this, then we are one step closer to the tribal mentality.  We could replace that with LIVE IN THE WAY THAT BEST SERVES THE COMMUNITY, WHATEVER WAY THAT MAY BE.   That is fundamental to the tribal society’s success – and it is very successful, before the advent of conquest-based warfare and totalitarian agriculture at least.   It is only incidental that most tribes were hunter-gatherers (though not all – some were almost full time agriculturalists, others were part time agricultures, there are pastoralists, etc., etc.) Another meme in civilization (building off the one previously mentioned) is that THERE IS NO BETTER WAY TO LIVE THAN THIS.  You can see a lot of this in patriotism and nationalism, especially when it deals with sentiments that make no goddamn sense.

Interesting sidenote – most tribally minded societies that dabbled in becoming fully agriculturalists – the Maya, Olmec and the Anasazi in the New World come to mind – stopped doing this.  As far as history goes, these civilizations simply disappeared.   Of course, they didn’t – they just realized that farming (whether consciously or being forced to by environmental destruction and pressures of class division) – which on average gives 2 calories of food back for every 1 calorie spent – sucks compared to hunting and foraging with or without some added gardening (5 calories for every 1 calorie spent).  It is telling of the ‘NO BETTER WAY’ meme that our historians are completely baffled by this – they can’t imagine why anyone would give up farming and city building and class slavery!

(Note: I would like to add that permaculture is a first step in moving toward a more efficient – as in calorie in vs. calorie out – method of feeding of ourselves – there is no possibility in our near future to adapt a ‘hunting and gathering’ lifestyle, nor is it necessarily the ‘best’ thing we could do – I am merely illustrating that power of memes to guide us into situations that are not in our best interests.)

The unfortunate thing is that there does not really exist an option for this for those who do wish to go back to the hunter-gatherer lifestyle.  Or any lifestyle other than the current status quo.  Any attempt to do so will most likely be seen as a resistance effort (and it is), and must be careful of being removed as a threat.

We must, then, be brave and trust in the amazing complexity of the Universe.  I am confident that as long as we continue to create space for our future to emerge – through struggle, innovation, love and, perhaps above all, humility – we will find a way.  The only thing that is certain is that ‘the way’ will look like nothing that has existed previously, and will most certainly show our expectations as well-intended but short-sighted, as they will probably always be when dealing with the cosmos and all of the co-emerging systems contained within.

Sun-Induced Laziness And Jeff Buckley

Mar 202010
 
Music guitar Well, I feel a little bad as I haven’t had anything constructive or interesting to write about in a while…

That’s not necessarily true, but finding the TIME for it has been killer!  With the return of the sun, I have been out and about all day and recuperating in the evenings.  I make no apologies – I’m a total sun worshiper and I simply cannot resist!

One activity I have taken to is playing my guitar out and about in public.  I find it a fantastic way to practice, get some “fresh” air (as fresh as city air can get), sunshine and meet people.   I’ve discovered that you run into some interesting and sometimes fantastic situations when you walk around town with a guitar in your hand.

People stop, they listen, they talk to you… whereas normally they would walk on by with nary a thought to poor little insignificant you, or maybe not to anyone else.   Music is healing, and I think it’s one of the few, and powerful, ways we have of easily connecting with each other, especially in this divide and conquer society in which we live, doing its best to keep us isolated from each other.  Making these connections through song the past few days has really risen my spirits and given me some hope about community building and connecting.

It leads me to wonder what kind of world we would live in if EVERYONE would just go out from time to time and sing…

Have a great day, guys. Enjoy the sun, enjoy each other, and think about bringing a little music into yours or someone else’s life.

Photo by: @Doug88888

Vibram Fivefingers Are Awesome

Mar 112010
 

This post should be a bit more lighthearted than the last;  I have something to celebrate!

Finally, after almost 6 months of waiting…

I finally got my Vibram Five Fingers!  And boy are they comfy…

The above picture are my actual feet wearing actual VFF Sprints.  The colors are… not typical for me. I really wanted black KSOs, but this was all that was available.  I don’t regret it; it’s forcing me to add a little color, and some bombast, to my wardrobe.

Another benefit to the (in my fashion-sense, or what there is of it) outlandish colors is that people -really- notice it.  I’ve been approached by several people in the past few days asking, “What… what ARE those?”  Genuinely interested, especially after I explained to them what they are and why I’m wearing ‘em.  Actually

Why AM I Wearing These?

Other than the fact that they’re extremely stylish?  Do I NEED another reason?  Well, actually, yes I do.  As a rather frugal minimalist, I am hesitant to spend $2 let alone drop $80 on footwear when I have some perfectly acceptable (falling apart) Chuck Taylors at home.

Well, I do enjoy how they look, but it’s really about how they FEEL.

Almost like second feet.  I will admit, I am quite aware of them – they’re a bit snug – but it’s.. different.  These are more akin to foot-gloves than actual shoes (though the bottoms are quite rugged – I can step on broken glass and wouldn’t sweat it).  Though their presence is definitely felt on mah feets, its nowhere near the toe-crushing invasiveness of traditional shoes.

I am ‘plagued’ by having wide feet, and conventional footwear confounds my tired old dogs sorely. I walk or bike quite a lot, and a fair portion of my workday is spent on my feet.  Usually by the end of the day, my foot are sore, my back hurts, yadda yadda yadda…  not so much with the Vibram’s!

Much more studious and eloquent men than I (Mark Sisson for example) have already commented on and collated a lot of information on the benefits of going barefoot over being shod (or working with a reasonable facsimile), so I’m not going to get too much into it, other than to conclude I think they’re pretty awesome.

Eating Seasonally: Winter Squash

Feb 262010
 

I’ve been having a spat of writer’s block lately; unfortunately, the books I have been reading have been so engaging that I am driven to finish them rather than write about them, which is what I had planned on doing.  It happens.  To keep the juices flowing, I decided instead to post a little recipe on one of my favorite foods – winter squash!

First, I just have to mention that ‘squash’ is a pretty fun word to say.  Almost as great as it is to eat.

There are several varieties of this rugged little guys (I say ‘little’ when some of them can grow to weigh almost a ton). You may know them as…

  • Acorn Squash
  • Kabocha Squash
  • Turban Squash
  • Spaghetti Squash
  • Butternut Squash
  • Hubbard Squash
  • Various types of Pumpkin
  • Many, many more

Winter squash is a pretty significant fruit.  Originally cultivated in Central America from wild squashes about 10,000 years ago, winter squashes spread to the north and south over time, and were a staple in Native American diet – so much so that, in some tribes, the dead were buried with squash to provide them with sustenance in their afterlife journeys (similar to the Egyptians!)

Though they grow mainly in the summer, their tough rind and general hardiness allow them to be stored easily throughout the winter months – hence the name.  This proved invaluable to indigenous peoples, as they did not have access to the modern conveniences of refrigeration or canning techniques.

Another draw is that they’re very nutritious!  Winter squash comes chock full of all sorts of goodies: beta-carotene, B-complex vitamins, a load of Vitamin C, Omega-3 fatty acids… too many to list, so check out this link for a full analysis.

Plus, they’re tasty.  Like, way tasty.

So yeah, that’s enough of the history/science lesson on friggen squash.  How about a recipe?

Roasted Balsamic Butternut Squash

I modified a recipe from Epicurious to more suit my insatiable desire for butter and feta cheese ^_^

You will need…

  • 1 1/2 – 2 lbs. of butternut squash
  • sea salt and fresh ground pepper
  • 1/4 – 1/3 cup of balsamic vinegar
  • 2 oz organic feta cheese
  • as much pastured butter as humanly possible (I prefer Kerrygold)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Line cookie sheet with foil.  Cut squash in half, the remove the seed and pulpy fibers – you can save the seeds for bakin’ later if you like!

Now, you can either leave the squash halves as is, or cut them into smaller pieces.  Up to you.  Once they’re cut (or not), place ‘em evenly spread on your cookie sheet.

Melt butter in a pan and then drizzle onto squash – cover those suckers!  Add salt + pepper to taste.

Bake for 45 minutes, or until browned and soft to the touch (use a fork or knife – 400 degrees is hot).

Remove from oven and douse evenly in the balsamic.  Let cool to room temperature, top with feta cheese and then greedily devour.

Hope you like it as much as I did!

This piece has been submitted to Food Renegade’s Fight Back Friday – check it out!

Make Your Computer a Little More Primal with F.lux

Feb 182010
 
I have been experience problems getting to sleep lately.

I’ll come home from a long day of work/exercise/running-around-like-a-crazy-person, get settled and feel nice and sleepy.. then I get this sudden urge to check my Twitter, Google Reader, e-mail and all that.  And like magic, I am no longer tired.

Well, that’s not true – I’m still exhausted –  but that feeling you get right before you drift off into La La Land is obliterated.  One reason for this, I believe, is that it gets your brain working a little faster than it would like to in the late evening, essentially waking it up (“oh, that’s interesting” “oooh, I can blog about that later” “WHAT?! Somebody’s WRONG on the INTERNET?!!”)  Another definite problem is that the bright, glaring lights of the computer screen, especially in contrast to the darkness around it, can disrupt your body’s melatonin levels, as researchers discovered years ago. Melatonin is necessary for achieving high quality sleep.
Sleep is incredibly important – not only to us Paleo diet enthusiasts or Primal life lovers, but to EVERYONE.  A fair bit of us here in America are getting less than 6 hours of sleep, which is simply not enough to let the body do all the things it needs to do during this mandatory downtime.

“Stage Four: Though everything has slowed, this deep sleep marks an increase in activity. The body’s blood pressure drops and muscles relax, though blood flow to muscles increases. Dreams continue and sleepwalking is most likely, caused when there is a disruption of the brain’s command to paralyze muscles so that people do not act out their dreams. This is the most restorative sleep, releasing hormones for growth and development, repairing tissue and refreshing energy. Awakening in deep sleep is difficult; a person would remain groggy and disoriented for a few minutes.” – E.L. Miller

Hopefully it is clear that sleep is very important for us in our busy, active lives – especially moreso if you are engaged in physical activity.

Thankfully, I found something to help make my computer a little more Primal, alleviating some of my computer-related sleep problems.  But first a little background on the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ of digital-age insomnia.

What Is Melatonin?

The pineal gland generates melatonin – interestingly, it is light sensitive. There is a very complicated hookup between the pineal gland and your eyes – essentially it knows when daylight (or artificial daylight from blue-light heavy screens like cell phones, computer monitors and televisions) is hitting your eyes, and then melatonin synthesis is suppressed; conversely, when lower spectrum “red” light (think sunsets!) starts hitting your eyes, or the absence of light altogether, it tells the pineal gland to get movin’!

Quite a useful chemical, melatonin is made all over the body, mostly in the skin (where it serves other and varied functions) and the pineal gland, located in the brain, where it serves as a sleep regulator.  Melatonin is manufactured from the neurotransmitter serotonin, which is created by the amino acid tryptophan.

Melatonin doesn’t necessarily make you fall asleep, but works more as a “time cue”, essentially telling your brain, “Now is probably a good time to take a break, yanno?”  This makes it a very important element in our Circadian Rhythm, or our biological clock.   When we start screwing with our biological clock, bad things start to happen.



Computer, Phone and Television Screens – Oh my!

As mentioned above, blue light suppresses melatonin production. It is emitted by some lamps, UV lights, computer monitors, television screens and hand-held devices… actually, most artificial light sources, as can be easily seen in the picture in the beginning of this article.   Not only does this contribute to insomnia via late-night computing or TV viewing, but it has several deleterious effects on our vision, to boot.

The obvious solution to this problem?  When it starts getting dark, turn off the lights, turn off the TV, turn off the computer and the cell phone, light up a couple of candles or or soft-light lamps – or better yet, a roaring fireplace. Mmmm.  Spend the rest of the evening conversing with your friends and loved ones or reading a book by firelight.

Unfortunately, this is not going to be a feasible option for many.  We either do not have the resources to do this (candles don’t create THAT much light, and I sadly do not have a fireplace in my apartment) or are too caught up in the cycles of the modern world to comfortably do things like that.  I am definitely guilty of this – still working on limiting my compulsive e-mail and social networking compulsions.

So what am I to do?

Try F.lux for Mitigation!


Thankfully a Stereopsis has addressed this problem with a piece of software calle F.lux.  F.lux takes your location information (via zipcode or latitude/longitude) and determines what phases in the night-day cycle you are (adjusting for seasons and daylight savings time and all that).  It then adjusts your computer’s display settings to either mimic daylight or, using settings you can specify, mimic the quality of your indoor lighting.


I set mine to be nice and “halogeny”, similar to the picture to the left.  You should be able to see the difference between a computer with F.lux (top monitor) and a one without (laptop).

My brother brought this program to my attention the other day – he called me over and told me to “look at this”;  there wasn’t anything on the monitor, but it was weirdly colored.. and it honestly made me feel sleepy just looking at it!

I installed it immediately, and am very glad I did.   It takes a little adjustment, but you get used to it after a little while; it also comes with an option to easily disable it, just in case you have some color-sensitive work to do.

My favorite part?  It’s completely free and runs on Windows, Mac OS AND Linux.  Woot!

I hope you at least give this program a try – the mitigation of eye strain and prevention of sleep deprivation this can provide are potentially priceless.  May not work for everyone, but like I said – it’s free and a way to make your everyday life a touch more Primal!

Just In Time For V-Day: Bacon-Wrapped Beef Heart

Feb 152010
 

I have to give a lot of thanks for fellow Mark’s Daily Apple forum goer hannahc for allowing me to post her recipe for Bacon-Wrapped Beef Heart (and helping me kick-start the recipe section of my blog!)   Sounds… AMAZING, doesn’t it?  To some in the US, definitely.  To most, though?

Unfortunately, probably not.

 

There is a lot of stigma in the United States about organ meats.  I found my first bite of lengwa (cow tongue) to be… disturbing, but I quickly overcame it and it is now one of my favorite “cuts”.  Same with liver, though my own experiment with preparing it was not quite as successful as the restaurants, I’m afraid.  Anyway, these were hard for me to eat because I had never eaten them before;  strangely enough, things like pancreas, heart, brains, kidneys, liver… these, along with the glorious, glorious fat, are prized above all else in many (most) cultures.  The organs and fat are where the majority of the vitamins, minerals and other essential nutrients are stored in the body – how else does a lion get his daily dose of vitamin C?  Eating a whole damn zebra is how.

Anywho, without further ado:

My first foray into offal was well…awful…liver and I did not get along! After buying a side of grass-fed beef last October, including a majority of all the organ meats from the animal, however, it was time to try once again.

It started with about 3 pounds of Beef Heart (how appropriate for the day before Valentine’s Day :) : 

Then I had to trim some of those arteries off the meat: 

Next came the best part…wrapping the entire thing in one pound of bacon: 

And now it is tied up with cooking twine, ready to go into the dutch oven: 

Once in the dutch oven, I added sliced carrots, sliced yellow onion, 3/4 cup red wine, 3/4 cup hot beef stock, thyme/oregano/parsley/black pepper/bay leaves. After bringing the liquid to a boil on the stove, the entire thing went into the oven (lid on) for 4 hours at 350 degrees fahrenheit: 

It looked and smelled AMAZING after four hours! : 

I sliced it thinly, and this is the final plate: 

It tasted great! Similar to any other roast, but the meat was a little bit…smoother I guess is the word I’d use. Very tender, and tasted much more like a roast or steak than like liver (which was a good thing). The bacon was a bit carmelized and delicious, and the sweetness of the carrots and onions permeated the entire dish. I only had one beef heart to work with, so I’m really glad it turned out so well! The leftovers will be amazing :)  

It seems like a tough cut, so I think it really needs the long cooking time to help make the meat tender. I would definitely recommend it as an introduction to organ meats! 

I can’t wait to try this.  Once again, credit is to hannahc in the post Offal Succes! on the MDA forum.

Happy Bacontines Day, everyone!

Attention: This post is being featured on Food Renegade’s Fight Back Fridays – please check out some of the other awesome Real Food blogs!

How We Can Help To “Teach Every Child About Food”

Feb 142010
 

“Sadly, in the next 18 minutes when I do our chat, four Americans that are alive will be dead through the food that they eat.”

[ted id=765]

I found this TED Talk to be inspiring.  There are people out there actually TRYING to make this connection in people’s lives: the food that we eat directly correlates to the quality of our lives. All of the disparate cultures in the world can come together and agree on one thing – we eat to live.  We are bound together by our dependency on food and the very real effects that WHAT we eat have on our bodies, minds and spirits.

I’ve never seen ‘The Naked Chef’ – Jamie Oliver‘s moniker over in Britain, and the title of his first series of shows in the late 90′s – but I am definitely intrigued.

The above talk addresses the outcome of and the concerns that inspired the making of his newest show, Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution (debuting March 26th on ABC).

“I profoundly believe that the power of food has a primal place in our homes that binds us to the best bits of life.

As do I, Jaime, as do I.  Like Mr. Oliver, I am sick of seeing the people around me struggle to lead healthy lives. Unfortunately, many don’t care to, but that is their decision.  These people are not why I have chosen to speak up; though I hope that I may, leading by example and providing education if interest is sparked, inspire some to happier, healthier lives.  It’s for my grandfather who follows every piece of popular dietary advice and whithers away and dies well before his time.   It’s for my aunt who adopted a low fat, cholesterol-phobic diet after suffering a heart attack – when evidence has been around the entire time the “low-fat craze” and the “Prudent Diet” have been around that this is not the case.  I do it for me, 7 years ago, the depressed, morbidly obese teenager who was convinced that I was overweight because of my genes; convinced that I was depressed because something was wrong with me; when, all along, it was my diet of industrial byproducts, processed grains and Frankenfoods along with a lack of community and connection with the food, the people – the world – around me that kept me a miserable train-wreck of a person.

I worry for them.  I worry for us all.  CHD is rampant.  Leading cause of death in the industrialized world. Obesity and type II diabetes rage through our population, affecting our CHILDREN now.  We bleed billions upon billions of dollars into the medical INDUSTRY every year trying to treat diseases that arise from a system that is already sucking us dry monetarily as well as spiritually.  And to what end?  It’s still killing us in droves.

“This is a preventable disease.  Waste of life.“

And the prevention lies in education.  Responsibility.  The responsibility of those who have pulled us away from our food – the creation of this fast-food nation of people who have absolutely no idea how sustenance end up on their plate.   One of the most unsettling parts of this presentation was the utter lack of knowledge that the children had about the vegetables presented to them.  How does one, in this bountiful cornucopia that we live in with access to fruits and vegetables from all over the world, not know what a potato is? There are children that have never even seen a real garden, let alone the horrendous farms and monocrap wastelands whence come magically their food – generally heavily processed and full of shit that ISN’T EVEN FOOD (and don’t forget wonderful things like fillers and the ridiculous amount of sugar in chocolate milk).

It’s a chain reaction; consequent generations are more and more removed from their food, becoming more dependent on government and corporations to feed them and having no idea what’s in their food, let alone what constitutes a healthy diet.  Thankfully, there are people like Jamie that are impassioned and trying to make a difference.  Thankfully, he has resources and pop culture is aware enough of him (he’s in commercials on major networks and such) that this message will reach a wide audience.  This is definitely a step in the right direction; but it’s only a step.

So what do we, the common folk that lack the influence and wide-reaching impact of a celebrity food-guru, do to aide this movement? There are resources available to participate, forums for your voice to be heard.

  • Better School Food has a lot of information, including a Top-10 List for what can make a school lunch healthier and an Action Plan for some concrete ideas on how to bring quality into your child’s lunchtime.
  • Farm To School will help you bring local, sustainable, healthful food to children’s lunch trays.
  • The Slow Food Movement has a Time For Lunch, providing an easy way to write to your legislators about strengthening the nutritional standards of the Child Nutrition Act.

And outside the lunch room?  What about education for you and I?  Look into the Slow Food Movement mentioned above and network with people that are trying to move us away from being a ‘Fast Food Nation’ and reunite us with the unifying marvel that is our food.

Another avenue for involvement can come from the Weston A. Price Foundation.  The WAPF is dedicated to REAL nutrition education and preserving farmer’s rights against government and corporations (supporting initiatives like the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund).

This problem is not going to solve itself.  And while its great that we have celebrities and personalities that actually have the interest of the common people at heart, we cannot rely on them.

This has to come from us.

And it has to start with what’s on your table.

Someone You Know Has Metabolic Syndrome – And It’s Killing Them

Feb 102010
 

The world at large – but especially America – is under siege from an insidious assailant:  the metabolic syndrome.  Known also as Syndrome X or Insulin Resistance Syndrome, and several other names, this term was coined in 1977 by German scientist Haller H.  Metabolic syndrome has been around as long as agriculture, but until the 1940′s it was more an affliction of nobility and the well-to-do; fast forward to today – in the United States, it plagues people of all walks of life, with an emphasis on the poor and down-trodden.

It frustrates me to no end that many of my friends and family, so many of the people walking down the street living with this syndrome and associated diseases – especially those who do not have the means to afford higher quality foodstuffs or, even worse, that feed their children, who can only know what we teach them, what essentially amounts to toxic garbage.

What is metabolic syndrome?

Metabolic syndrome is, as Michael Pollan and others call it, a “disease of civilization”.   There are no obese children where wild humans roam.  It arises when you combine a sedentary lifestyle with a diet rich in carbohydrates, especially the sugar fructose (HFCS anyone?)

A syndrome is a combination of medical disorders or pattern of symptoms that may indicate the presence of other symptoms/disorders (for example, the correlation between CHD and diabetes).   This can allow us to look for and, perhaps, find other issues that may not have been as readily apparent, signs that are part and parcel to a greater overall problem/disease – progeny of the same beast, so to speak.

The Wiki Gods give us some signs and symptoms of Metabolic Disorder, which are:

  • Diabetes mellitus type 2
  • High blood pressure
  • Central obesity – visceral or abdominal fatty deposits
  • Decrease in HDL (this does not necessarily have anything to do with levels of LDL)
  • Elevated blood triglycerides (fat in the blood)

Risk factors associated with the Metabolic Syndrome include:

  • Obesity – greatly increases the chance of having Metabolic Syndrome, but skinny people can develop insulin resistance too
  • Stress – chronic stress disrupts proper hormone function
  • Age – 44% of US citizens over the age of 50 are affected
  • Sedentary lifestyle – being active increases insulin sensitivity – the opposite fosters resistance
  • Coronary Heart Disease – 50% of patients with CHD also have metabolic syndrome.  Correlation does not imply causation, but all the same, this is a STRONG trend
Metabolic Syndrome – or MetS – is an issue of insulin sensitivity.
An eye-opening paper (read this) mentions

It is at least plausible that obesity and the features of MetS arise in parallel from disruptions of insulin metabolism (possibly a consequence of high insulin due to chronic high dietary CHO). Also a high prevalence of so called metabolically obese-normal-weight individuals with MetS has long been known [18].

CHO in this context means dietary carbohydrate.  What this, and the rest of the paper, is saying - as well as the greater body of responsibly conducted research into insulin sensitivity, low carb diets, etc. – is that excess blood sugar (from CHO) can put your body’s insulin system all out of whack.  Insulin desensitization and the resulting blood chemistry has been shown to lead to all of the above signs and symptoms of MetS.

MetS is, in the end, the effect the Standard American Diet has on our bodies.  (You can thank corn for this, largely.)

Who has it?
A 2002 study shows that

The unadjusted and age-adjusted prevalences of the metabolic syndrome were 21.8% and 23.7%, respectively. The prevalence increased from 6.7% among participants aged 20 through 29 years to 43.5% and 42.0% for participants aged 60 through 69 years and aged at least 70 years, respectively. Mexican Americans had the highest age-adjusted prevalence of the metabolic syndrome (31.9%). The age-adjusted prevalence was similar for men (24.0%) and women (23.4%).  However, among African Americans, women had about a 57% higher prevalence than men did and among Mexican Americans, women had about a 26% higher prevalence than men did. Using 2000 census data, about 47 million US residents have the metabolic syndrome.

So, roughly 1/4 of the population of the United States.  Yikes.

As the risk factors mentioned above would indicate, this is a lot more prevalent in older populations (just 6.7% in 20-somethings to a whopping 43% in the 60-70 year range).   As people get older, generally, they become more sedentary – perhaps less health conscious in general?  I’m not sure, but going from ~7% to 43% would suggest so.

Another interesting figure from this study is the greater prevalence in Mexican-American’s, and in women in the Mexican-American and African-American communities.   Leads me to wonder of the cultural and socio-economic reasons for this difference.  I’d like more data on the difference between the African-American population as a WHOLE and, say, the Anglo-Saxon population in the US.

I’d really like to point out that this paper was done in 2002.  Since then, rates of Type 2 Diabetes are on the rise – there is a strong correlation between Diabetes and MetS. A study from the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion tracked rates of diabetes from 1996 to 2007.  The results?

Yikes again!  In 10 years incidence has, in most states, doubled.  In some tripled!  In none has it gone down.  Information on Metabolic Syndrome is much harder to find, as it is a relatively “new” issue (awareness-wise) and researchers are still struggling to properly define it.  Type II Diabetes, though, can help us track this monster – it is a symptom, after all.

More fun pictures:  a graph of obesity, in various age groups, and its rate of incidence over the past few decades. (Disclaimer:  Not everyone categorized as overweight/obese is actually so – this classification is determined by using Body Mass Index – as such, I am considered ‘overweight’ at roughly 10% bodyfat. Ludicrous.  Unfortunately, people like me – higher than average muscle mass – make up a small portion of the ‘overweight’ category;  these numbers are statistically significant, especially when you look at the younger age ranges.  2-11 is especially telling, and saddening.)

As mentioned before, visceral and abdominal adiposity are strong indicators of metabolic syndrome.  With a significant rise in overweight and obese individuals, there will be a significant rise in the ‘spare tire’.  What can be even more scary, though, is that visceral fat is MUCH harder to notice than subcutaneous adipose tissue – you can be relatively skinny, a far cry from overweight, and still have dangerous levels of visceral fat surrounding your organs and infesting your liver.

I’ve been looking long and hard – if anyone has decent information on current rates of Metabolic Syndrome, please let me know!

How do we avoid it?

In his article Metabolic Syndrome Defined, Dr. Michael Eades ruminates on the looseness of what “Metabolic Syndrome” means – is this really a syndrome, or are do these disorders merely ‘happen’ to manifest together:

A new paper published in Nutrition & Metabolism addresses the issue in an insightful manner. The authors first plucked from the vast scientific literature the five features of the Metabolic Syndrome than seem to be the common denominator of all the definitions in use: obesity (whether measured by weight, BMI, or waist circumference), elevated glucose and/or insulin levels, low HDL cholesterol, High triglycerides, and hypertension (high blood pressure). They then realized that all these disorders (or symptoms of the Metabolic Syndrome) were all reliably improved or eliminated by diets that restrict carbohydrate.

The authors conclude after examining the medical literature on carbohydrate restriction and the various components of the Metabolic Syndrome that the Metabolic Syndrome can be defined as a set of markers that respond to carbohydrate restriction.

The paper he links is called, ‘suprisingly’, “Carbohydrate restriction improves the features of Metabolic Syndrome. Metabolic Syndrome may be defined by the response to carbohydrate restriction” (and is cited earlier in this post).


In this paper is compiled data from another awesome low-carb study, shown below:

The diet used is the Atkins Diet, which starts you off at zero to Very-Low Carb (20g) and, after an initial weight-loss specific phase, gradually lets you introduce more (10g/week until weight-gain resumes);  the carbs in the Atkins diet are replaced with fat and protein, but an emphasis on the fat.   In the high CHO diet, triglyceride levels initially drop, but actually rise ABOVE baseline in the long-term.   Interestingly, HDL levels see a significant increase on the high-fat diet.  Hmmmm.


This data seems fairly conclusive: low-carb, high-fat diet promotes weight loss, insulin sensitivity, serum HDL and triglyceride levels – indicators of MetS – significantly more than the lipid-phobic, high-carb (high-profit) diet espoused by the USDA and certain medical “professionals”.

So…

If you or someone you know may (hint: someone you know DOES) have Metabolic Syndrome or a related condition, I urge you to learn more and/or inspire them to become more educated about the benefits of a low-carb lifestyle.  It could very well save their life.

Putting Some Cracks in the Myth of Cholesterol – With a Word on Grains

Feb 052010
 
Had an interesting series of conversations on Reddit today.  (If you’re interested in joining in, go here [guess which one is me].)
In the Fitness sub-Reddit, someone asked:

I’m trying to get stronger by lifting weights and eating all the time. My dad says he has never seen anyone in his life eating like I do and is concerned that I am causing irreversible damage to my body. I don’t intend to eat 6 eggs a day for the rest of my life.. just until I gain 20 pounds or so of muscle… So what should I tell him, or should I listen to my old man and have maybe 1 egg a day?

To which I responded:
Most people that have heart attacks do not have high levels of blood cholesterol. ACTUALLY, as the amount of serum cholesterol lowers, mortality increases.  From the Framingham Study (longest running cohort study, ever – since 1948): “There is a direct association between falling cholesterol levels over the first 14 years and mortality over the following 18 years.”
Cholesterol is good. Saturated fat is great. (Saturated fat increases serum cholesterol, but this is actually a good thing). They do not CAUSE heart attacks. Cholesterol oxidation DOES, however. Cholesterol is oxidized by the presence of blood glucose and trans fatty acids. They interact with LDL (which are necessary for proper body function) and turn them into… DLDL (yes, silly, I know) dense low-density lipoprotein. It’s not HDL, but an entirely different beast. One that gets stuck in arterial walls. This in turn can cause oxidation of the surrounding tissue, creating inflammation that if left unchecked will cause lesions which will eventually ‘scab over’ with more cholesterol. Cholesterol that will be in your blood regardless of how much you eat because a healthy liver makes it, as it is a prerequisite for cellular life and function.
The “experts” that tout these cholesterol myths are doctors or, worse, dietitians that either do not have a degree in physiology or a solid understanding of these underlying processes, or are under the thumb of Big Pharma and would love NOTHING more than to get you hooked on statins instead of altering your lifestyle and preventing heart disease without having to pay them.
(Note: I do not think that every physician or dietitian is out to make you sick for profit – I DO think that most of the institutions that create their education and guidelines of their practice and underlying assumptions ARE.)
This went back and forth a while – eventually the topic of grain became a focus:

I agree with your original post and what came out of that, but you can’t say that all of these health problems that we face today were caused by grains. Your use of “Civilization” has to assume that either ancient civilizations (like the Sumerians and Chinese, which had cultivated grain and pulse crops over 10,000 years ago) were rife with obesity and heart disease, or that these crops are new in our diet. True, the composition of what we refer to as “grains” has changed a lot with processing, but you can’t argue that, for example, Africans who live primarily off grains like sorghum and pulses/beans are diabetic or obese.

And my response:
These Africans are also eating far less than we are, and are extremely active.  Apples and oranges comparison – they do not really live in a “land of plenty” scenario.  That does not say that these foods are necessarily good for them – just because you’re not overweight does not mean your body isn’t suffering from the inflammatory and oxidative effects of the phytates, lectins and gluten in grains.
A problem with agriculture is that it allows for more people to survive on less – you have explosions of populations of people that can subsist on nearly nothing because they do not have to work as hard physically for our food.  This leads us to the massive slum populations in places like India andmany places in Africa, where agriculture was introduced, populations exploded, famine becomes the norm.
(Note: In retrospect, what I would have liked to have said was “agriculture allows for people to survive on externalities – huge portions of food being created at the expense of others destruction with little input necessary from those consuming)
And grains are very new to our diet. Homo sapiens sapiens has been around for 200,000 year, possible more.  Most evidence points to agriculture being around 10,000 years old, making grain, at most, a part of diet for 5% of our history.
An unfortunate byproduct of agriculture is that it has disassociated reproductive fitness from physical fitness and dietary adaptations – how healthy someone is and/or able to adapt to the world around them becomes less a factor of whether or not they will reproduce, completely derailing evolution as we have known it.
What has happened is that we’ve added a new food source and have not really had selective pressure to adapt to it. So we don’t, really. This is why 1/3 of the population has more-than-baseline reaction to gluten, though really everyone has some measure of sensitivity to it.
There may be some cultures more adapted to eat grains, similar to how Northern Europeans and the Masai are more lactose tolerant than the general populace (though both cultures are VERY fond of ingesting FERMENTED dairy, in which lactose reaction is less prevalent anyway).   I am not aware of them, though rice as a grain is relatively innocuous (still far from ideal as a food), and perhaps Asians have adapted somewhat.
So I am wondering what you guys think?  Please add your thoughts here, and I encourage you to participate in the linked conversation.
Some notes have been added as I review my writing from over a year ago – I have chosen to preserve my original writing and annotate it rather than change it.
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