User tdgor - PaleoHacks.com

Answer by tdgor for Nice way to stop mooching?

2012-06-08T19:45:55Z

What is the purpose of the "group gatherings"? Are these potlucks, where everyone is supposed to bring a dish? Or are these social events, where food is only incidental?

My view is that it is completely understandable--yet profoundly anti-social--to bring your own food to a gathering but to refuse to share it for financial reasons. I had a friend, well, an acquaintance, really, in college, who said that when her mother was going to law school while getting a divorce her mom would make herself a steak for dinner and feed the kids macaroni and cheese. Now, there are a number of ways that this might have gone down that could justify this behavior, but through her daughter's eyes this came across as just plain mean (in several senses of the word).

If the reason you are bringing your own food to the gathering is that there will be "nothing for you to eat," reconsider whether you need to eat at these events at all, if you begrudge the expense of sharing good food with your friends. The act of sharing itself is said to be beneficial to the giver. I'm not advising you to share what you feel you can't afford, rather to avoid the issue of sharing/not sharing at all. Is every single thing you eat so exquisitely expensive that you can't share it? Is there nothing available to the group that you can eat? Are you bringing your own food because the SAD food presented is so tempting to you? That's something for you to work with, then.

If these are potlucks, and you need to bring a dish, how about deviled eggs?

If the social gathering is taking place at a ball game, and you are whipping out your packed lunch to avoid purchasing a hot dog and peanuts like everyone else, then I think you are not violating any social norms by telling them to go pound sand.

Answer by tdgor for Seasonal Sleep?

2012-06-06T16:46:18Z

I found this interesting:

"No evidence of a seasonal variation on reports of insomnia symptoms or time in bed was found. These null findings are in marked contrast to previous seasonality studies of sleep. Previous studies reporting seasonal variations in sleep and insomnia might have been subject to publication biases and lack of blinding to the research hypothesis."

http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/05/08/aje.kwr052.full

Answer by tdgor for Pseudoephedrine on Paleo?

2012-06-04T21:55:06Z

The stuff in Sudafed? The Devil's candy.

Drink coffee.

Answer by tdgor for Are we all just giving illegal medical advice? (paleo site under investigation)

2012-06-01T03:11:37Z

As an update: do y'all realize he's now suing the state of NC? http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20120531/APN/1205310692

Answer by tdgor for Why do you Exercise?

2012-05-31T20:08:58Z

To look good.
To feel good.
To function well.
To make sure I can keep hitting 1, 2, and 3 for as long as possible. I come from long-lived stock, but I'd kind of like to enjoy my very long life, not just suffer through it.

Answer by tdgor for Losing Weight and Building Strength: Conflicting Goals?

2012-05-31T16:37:31Z

I've really debated answering this, and started and discarded several answers. This probably should be a comment, but it has too many characters to fit.

When you say your goal is to "become stronger," why is that your goal? What does "stronger" signify to you?

Do you need to be stronger than you are now to function better during the day?

Do you equate increased strength (as measured by your main lifts) with better overall health?

Do you want to feel good mentally that you are lifting heavier weights (are you loving seeing the numbers go up, do you like putting the really heavy plates on the bar)?

Do you like the physical feeling you get from lifting near your maximum?

Or do you want your body to look a certain way?

I ask this because your approach will differ depending on WHY you want to be strong. I am not at all saying that one of the reasons above is more meritorious than others, or that you have to pick one (I personally mostly like to look good, although there are some "functional fitness" aspects for me as well).

I would note parenthetically that physical fitness has a number of components and I think aspects such as flexibility, coordination, accuracy, and balance frequently get short shrift in favor of power, strength, and stamina. I suppose CF helps with the other components (not a CF fan).

I assume that your question is implying are these goals conflicting if done simultaneously. I think they're totally unrelated goals that are almost impossible to achieve simultaneously, but can be achieved by the same person in the same lifetime in fairly close sequence. I think it's easier to lose fat first. When you add muscle your weight may go up but your body fat percentage will lower.

Answer by tdgor for Is sleep or exercise more beneficial?

2012-05-30T23:17:25Z

"Recent chronic partial sleep deprivation experiments, which more closely replicate sleep loss in society, demonstrate that profound neurocognitive deficits accumulate over time in the face of subjective adaptation to the sensation of sleepiness." Durmer, J. and Dinges, D., "Neurcognitive Consequences of Sleep Deprivation," Seminars in Neurology, Volume 25, No. 1, 2005.

More plainly put, in the immortal words of Adam Mansbach (as memorably read by Samuel L. Jackson), "Go the fuck to sleep."

Answer by tdgor for Paleo and Gray Hair?

2012-05-30T16:26:14Z

My hair has been silver for ages (I'm 53). I don't think I want it to turn back. It is nice and shiny though.

Answer by tdgor for got sick! competition in 2 days. What to take?

2012-05-29T20:10:03Z

(1) Antibiotics are useless against viruses. (2) If you're contagious, aren't you spreading disease amongst your fellow competitors? That seems unsporting.

I also think you'd be better served to stay home and rest. Have you been overtraining?

Stasha Gominak on Sleep and Vitamin D3

2012-05-13T14:42:54Z

I did a search of this site and didn't find any discussion of Stasha Gominak.

She's a neurologist who started studying sleep disorders because of observations with her headache patients. I'm fascinated by her comments about the restorative nature of sleep. "I don't care about vitamins one bit. I care about sleep."

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7cbBB1c0IM

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwaFn7D3anY

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFkKkLB6rpM

Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeb3PtkCd_c

Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOUybbVOoRU

Has anyone heard of her? Science-y types, can you help me evaluate her comments?

EDIT: Here is the executive summary if you don't want to wade through an hour of video: http://drgominak.com/vitamin-d

FURTHER EDIT: I had my serum level tested. In late May in the Pacific NW, but with D3 supplementation, my level was 44. Not horrible, but not in my target range of 60-80 yet either.

Answer by tdgor for 18 Hour road trip - What to eat?

2012-05-29T13:56:27Z

Answer by tdgor for Are you heat tolerant? How active are you?

2012-05-29T13:31:58Z

Interesting article, great question. I think it is a bit of a "virtuous cycle."

I have always thought of heat tolerance as a skill. My dad worked shoveling coal in a foundry when he was a young man and the heat never bothered him at all after that, so he apparently got permanently conditioned. This obviously was very physically strenuous. My mother, who was the most sedentary human being who ever sat of the face of the earth, but was quite thin, always wilted in the heat (and tended to carry on and complain about it). They were both of Polish descent, so theoretically they were both evolved to be cold-adapted rather than heat-adapted.

Every other year or so I go to New Mexico in June and dance about six hours a day for a week or so (it's also a significant change in altitude), no air conditioning in the studios (typically). I have to concentrate on really pounding the electrolytes for the first couple of days (Gatorade tastes like an elixir of life!), and it's amazing how much I can drink during the day and not pee. I'm not currently a runner but when I was I ran in hot weather in Montana and West Virginia.

I do wonder now how much of it is the exercise that adapts us to heat, and whether sitting in a sauna, say, is heat "training" in the same way that people now "train" doing CT etc. The article seems to be saying that we have to reacclimatize to hot weather every year and it takes a couple of weeks. That doesn't seem quite right to me.

Answer by tdgor for To listen or not listen to the circadian rooster

2012-05-28T14:56:20Z

Chronotype, or what is sometimes called "morningness" or "eveningness," is fairly fixed: http://www.shockmd.com/2010/11/02/morningness-versus-eveningness/ For a more scholarly approach, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17936039

Stick with what your body wants to do. A consistent waking and sleeping time is part of good "sleep hygiene" and encourages good "sleep architecture." More regular is better for your body (although it can be annoying to the mind): which you have already experienced when sleeping in doesn't work for you.

Here's some new stuff about seasonality and sleep, although it's looking at mild mood disorders: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22203895

Although I'm starting to drift off topic, here's some interesting earlier research suggesting that evening people tend to build up more sleep debt during the week (perhaps due to social organization is my speculation): http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10646169 (Note that there has been subsequent work by David Dinges and suggesting that people's subjective impressions regarding how well they function with a sleep debt are unreliable). So being more of an evening person might not be something you'd want to cultivate (even if your body would cooperate).

Answer by tdgor for Physical fitness versus diet for changing America's health

2012-05-28T05:27:04Z

I thought the idea was that everyone needs to find what works for him or her, and that everyone's body is different.

I can barely figure out my own body. How on earth can I possibly know what "America" should be doing to improve "America's" health?

Answer by tdgor for how important is connection and acceptance, to your eating habits?

2012-05-25T23:14:38Z

"Does having someone you care about adopt your eating habits (or fail to adopt them) influence your own acceptance of yourself, for practicing eating the way you do?"

Not at all. My family has four members and we all have very different tastes. For a while I was a Dean-Ornish-low-fat vegetarian married to an Atkins-plus-beer fellow. We survived that just fine.

Answer by tdgor for Have you danced your gut off?

2012-05-25T21:51:37Z

I think dancing is very paleo. My troupe had one choreography where we clapped rocks together like ur-castanets. Rawr.

Answer by tdgor for Can you speculate the cause of my seborrheic dermatitis?

2012-05-25T21:43:11Z

It seems like part of the human condition if you tend to produce a lot of skin oil. So it could be hereditary in that way and not really related to wheat.

Some treatment suggestions here: http://paleohacks.com/questions/41081/treating-seborrheic-dermatitis-while-no-poo#axzz1vv0lWNPs

This might be helpful too: http://paleohacks.com/questions/75488/paleo-and-sebborheic-dermatitis#axzz1vv7JvitS

Or this one: http://paleohacks.com/questions/21349/cradle-cap-and-paleo-update#axzz1vv7XxWmE

Answer by tdgor for Farmed Salmon Fed Red Yeast?

2012-05-25T14:39:53Z

The canthaxanthin and astaxanthin for "color finishing" of salmon are sometimes synthetically-derived, including "lucantin pink" from BASF and "carophyll pink" from Roche.

I will only eat wild-caught salmon, preferably the stuff my family catches. ;-)

Answer by tdgor for Share your Paleo ways of living beyond diet and exercise

2012-05-25T13:41:59Z

I make my own sauerkraut and kvass. I'm brewing some t'ej right now (still bubbling). I'm a little afraid to try kombucha.

I wear zero-drop shoes most of the time (haven't given all my high heels away, though).

I sleep in as close to complete darkness as possible, and am careful about when I expose myself to blue light.

I am working on cold adaptation. Shiver walks work better for me than cold baths at this point--easier to do on the spur of the moment (don't have to wait for the tub to fill).

Answer by tdgor for anyone an expert on light therapies?

2012-05-25T12:48:43Z

I engage in some modest manipulation of (well, attempts to manipulate) circadian rhythms via blue light blocking (via blocking glasses with orange lenses, f.lux on computer) at night and blue light exposure ("dawn's early light"). I'm not using light bulbs to do this, though. Come wintertime I may get a dawn simulator, which tends to be a panel of lights, but for now actual sunlight suffices.

I also cultivate complete darkness (well, as complete as I can get) to encourage deeper sleep. I like the concept of a lightbulb that emanates complete darkness (I suppose I should call it a "darkbulb"), but obviously, again, I'm using light blocking devices here.

I do wonder (although I'm slipping further off-topic here) what the long-term effect of public health will be on the phase outs of incandescent lighting for general purposes in many countries including the US. It could well be as profound as the introduction of artificial lighting in general (which seems to have shortened average sleep times over time).

Answer by tdgor for Does the magnesium flush of colonoscopy disrupt gut flora?

2012-05-25T00:10:27Z

Earlier thread with identical title: http://paleohacks.com/questions/50123/colonoscopy-and-gut-flora#axzz1vovi5CdU

Answer by tdgor for Fitness noob/Skinny fat - Trainer or Crossfit?

2012-05-24T20:17:04Z

Wait. What does "fit" mean to you? There are a lot of different components to fitness, and CF and trainer potentially work on different aspects.

I'd vote for the trainer. I started using a trainer because I wanted a customized program tailored to my specialized needs, including working around my existing activities. We use almost 100% free weights. I still need the assist on dips, so we do use the dip machine.

You can also do pushups (and inverted rows hanging from your dining room table to offset) all on your own without trainer or CF box, if by "fitness" you mean "upper body strength." Plus it feels pretty badass to be able to drop and give yourself 20 outside a gym, just for the hell of it.

Answer by tdgor for What if im nocturnal?

2012-05-24T00:12:39Z

Well, the formal name for this condition (query whether it should be considered a "disorder") is circadian rhythm sleep disorder, delayed sleep phase type. And it isn't well understood. Extreme night owls probably just have longer circadian cycles than the norm. The bottom line is that there really isn't any way to change this--just work around it.

I don't often recommend wikipedia as a reference but the entry on "delayed sleep-phase disorder" actually lays this subject out pretty well.

Answer by tdgor for Anybody use sleeping pills? How bad are they? Are there less bad ones?

2012-05-24T00:00:46Z

Hm. You might want to reexamine your sleep hygiene (google sleep +hygiene +tips, which is a list of boring stuff your mom always told you, but important). Your circadian rhythms may have gotten messed up.

In particular, getting up at the same time seven days a week, and trying to go to bed at the same time seven days a week is really important. However, if you go to bed and can't fall asleep, get up and don't go back to bed until you're sleepy.

Reliance even on melatonin long-term can be somewhat problematic (concerns that the body might stop producing melatonin on its own). Avoid light in the blue end of the spectrum from two hours before bedtime: blue-blocking glasses, f.lux on the computer, no TV/iPhone. Try to get some daylight exposure first thing in the a.m. every day--regularizes circadian rhythm.

Try giving up coffee.

Have yourself screened for depression (the terminal insomnia). Have yourself screened for anxiety (the sleep-onset insomnia).

Do you snore? Any possibility it might be sleep apnea?

There's also something called "sleep state misperception," which is when one sleeps for normal durations, yet severely overestimates the time taken to fall asleep. Someone might believe they slept for only four hours while they, in fact, slept a full eight hours.

Answer by tdgor for Upper arms...help!

2012-05-23T20:00:22Z

You can't get smaller circumference and more definition in one part of your body only. You would have to lose fat overall to make your arms look both more buff and smaller.

Is it more important for you to have smaller arms, or more well-defined arms?

Answer by tdgor for Can't seem to get over intense cravings for sweets...

2012-05-22T18:12:25Z

Read my entire explanation of this recommendation before dismissing it out of hand: The Beck Diet Solution by Judith Beck. It does not make ANY recommendations about what way-of-eating (a/k/a "diet") to adopt. It is totally agnostic on the subject.

What the book does do is provide a method (mostly CBT) of how to follow the food plan you select.

It has several entire chapters on cravings, which I will not attempt to summarize here. The book is well worth the money if you want an effective method of dealing with cravings.

Answer by tdgor for Is beef fat alone a good meal?

2012-05-22T17:17:19Z

A good meal? No, it doesn't sound like a good meal. I don't think eating only one substance should be considered a "meal." If you eat one substance, it's a "snack."

Or maybe a "binge," depending on how much of it you eat--but even if it's a "binge," it's still not a "meal."

Answer by tdgor for how many hrs of sleep pre-paleo and post paleo

2012-05-20T14:04:56Z

Well, not everyone needs 8-9 hours per night. There is variation from individual to individual, and there are outliers on both ends of the curve.

And someone whose sleep quality is not good may sleep more (compensating for quality with quantity). Intermittent sleep is less restful than consolidated sleep because you can't reach the later stages of sleep.

There's some pretty good research to the effect that people who think they have "trained" themselves to live on less sleep (which you are not claiming here, of course) are simply unaware of the cognitive deficits they are experiencing from chronic sleep deprivation--i.e. part of the impairment is an inability to perceive impairment. http://web2.med.upenn.edu/uep/user_documents/VanDongen_etal_Sleep_26_2_2003.pdf

My personal experience is of limited usefulness here because I wandered into paleo-land already in possession of a (well-treated) sleep disorder. The changes that helped fix my sleep further were largely non-dietary. The dietary change I made that had any effect on my sleep (which I monitor quite closely) was giving up caffeine in all its forms. However, there's some really interesting new thinking about low vitamin D3 levels and impaired sleep quality that I addressed in another thread here: http://paleohacks.com/questions/119398/stasha-gominak-on-sleep-and-vitamin-d3#axzz1vKI87KA6 I'm in the process of getting my D3 levels checked to see if I'm in the recommended range.

Answer by tdgor for Burnout Syndrome

2012-05-17T15:10:22Z

I suspect this is a case where correlation does not infer causation, but in reading your question carefully I am not sure you are drawing that inference. Are you thinking that since your change in diet you are simply more sensitive to burnout that has been there all along?

In my case, I reached something of a crisis point in my life when I was diagnosed with a sleep disorder. Treating the sleep disorder successfully made me feel like I was coming back from the dead, and caused me to question my beliefs that what I had been experiencing in my life were the inevitable vicissitudes of middle age. I probably was "burned out," but I can't attribute this either to modern society or to my career generally but to a pathological lack of restorative sleep. I know that to a small boy with a hammer the world is a nail but I do think that the mainstream culture does not attach sufficient importance to sleep, and one thing that drew me to the "paleo lifestyle" was its emphasis on the value of sleep.

Once sleep was improved, I gradually began increasing my activity level, which led to further improvements in my sleep and in my overall well-being. HIIT didn't make sense when I was not sleeping, nor did lifting weights--I do both now, and feel that my health is still improving, some fifteen months after I began treatment.

The benefits I have felt from changes in my diet over time are far more subtle than the ones I have felt from "fixing" my sleep and increasing my exercise. Some of the effect from the dietary charges may, I suspect, be placebo.

None of this has led so far to changes in my career, which is in what is probably considered by most a "high stress" field, but which I have always loved. My long-time meditation practice may be part of what has sustained me over the years.

I realize that you may not have been looking for feedback from people like me. But because I actually feel like I got my old, perfectly satisfactory, life back once I stopped slowly dying in my sleep every night, perhaps the fact that you're feeling burnout may be a signal that there are other health-related changes that you can still make in your life.

Answer by tdgor for Has Paleo affected your ability to be normal anymore?

2012-05-17T13:53:53Z

Not in the slightest. My exploration of paleo is a result of my questioning other things, not the cause.

Comment by tdgor

2012-06-08T13:18:29Z

How about people who lost weight conventionally but are maintaining their losses ancestrally?

Comment by tdgor

2012-06-08T13:17:57Z

Why not register for both if you qualify?

Comment by tdgor

2012-06-06T16:37:32Z

The preeclampsia is a much bigger deal than the GD. Why is no one focusing on that? I'm not qualified to give you an answer, but I'm disturbed that no one is paying any attention to that. That having been said, I don't know that the dietary advice from the RD is correct for preeclampsia either.

Comment by tdgor

2012-06-05T13:29:31Z

Thanks for these links. Very interesting <goes to check price of a Pickl-It>.

Comment by tdgor

2012-06-04T22:03:56Z

+1. I've been making a very gradual transition to zero-drop (except for the heels I wear dancing) over the course of a year.

Comment by tdgor

2012-06-04T12:42:28Z

And for MILD depression I'd throw in exercise and sunlight. But I agree with your major point entirely.

Comment by tdgor

2012-06-04T12:32:33Z

You're not pregnant, are you?

Comment by tdgor

2012-06-02T14:17:46Z

Wait. What? I thought "reward" in this context ("food reward") has an entirely different, specialized meaning. But I agree that the idea of treating oneself with food can be problematic (although deep-rooted in every culture--feast days and celebrations, anyone?).

Comment by tdgor

2012-06-02T14:04:20Z

Are you asking about hypnagogic or hypnopompic sleep paralysis, and not REM atonia?

Comment by tdgor

2012-06-01T19:53:41Z

@Mark: "FYI, if you have ever been in combat, a 14-year old can use an assault rifle just as well as an adult." Say what now? What does that have to do with Lucky Charms?

Comment by tdgor

2012-06-01T19:52:10Z

@Mark: "We should continue as a whole to do nothing" [/sarcasm font]. You are setting up a straw man here. Being skeptical about the utility and wisdom of the soda tax here is not the same thing as saying that we are "doing nothing."

Comment by tdgor

2012-06-01T17:16:00Z

Taxing cigarettes and alcohol hasn't made people stop smoking or drinking. Fewer people smoke nowadays--there has been a cultural change. Query how much of that was truly government-mandated and how much the government was following a cultural shift.

Comment by tdgor

2012-06-01T16:55:11Z

(1) decriminalization of drug use is an idea with wide support among law enforcement. (2) Morbid obesity is already recognized as a disability under the ADA.

Comment by tdgor

2012-06-01T16:41:57Z

Honestly I would try to find another job. I think that kind of constant back-and-forth is extremely hard on the body. I know this may not be an option for you, but ugh. You have my sympathies, but I have no useful information for you.

Comment by tdgor

2012-06-01T16:37:55Z

The program is now called "SNAP." SNAP benefits are very low. I can forgive someone who is very hungry for wanting to purchase as many calories per dollar with his/her SNAP EBT, in order to stave off hunger. Did you know that you are not allowed to purchase vitamins with SNAP benefits? It's true.