Here at Primal we’re already converts, so we decided to take them up on their social fitness plank challenge, but added a little twist to make things a little more interesting!

Check out the video below from our warm up on a beautiful January Saturday morning:

All activity is good, but it’s best done outdoors with friends!

This week’s health news has been fairly quiet, here are a couple of articles that peaked my interest:

Eating real food, cooked in a traditional manner is good for you shocker!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8923019/Fish-could-protect-against-Alzheimers.html

The only thing that irks me about this is the immediate leap to call for more studies into the efficacy of Omega 3 supplements. Simply eating fish of course is not profitable enough! Thankfully the lead scientist on the study, Dr Raji does acknowledge that:

“Studies like this definitely justify trials that will look at Omega-3 fatty acid supplements. Having said that, I would speculate that taking supplements is no substitute for a lifetime of eating fish.”

Well said that man!

Shed’s are good for men’s health – But for how long…

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/woman/health/health/3970866/Sheds-are-good-for-mens-health.html

This is a good reminder that there is considerably more to health and well being than good diet and exercise alone.

Unfortunately, it seems like the nanny state want to ruin any benefits of men’s shed time by attempting to capture them inside and conduct health promotion activities on them…

A Chilling Warning?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8926065/Puzzles-bowls-and-singing-can-halt-dementia.html

This article totally horrifies me. Essentially, we have had to recruit scientists, and undoubtedly vast amounts of public money to discover that if you leave old people to rot in a home, with absolutely nothing to do, they will go mad more quickly than if you give them something to do for a couple of hours.

We have come to accept that physical and mental degeneration are a natural part of life. This is not true. Eat real food, and keep moving naturally and using your brain and there is absolutely no need to end up like these poor people.

Coffee Shop Caffeine Level “Vary Wildly”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-15968515

In all honesty, if I was pregnant (highly unlikely I know), I wouldn’t consume anything prepared by any high street chain, and I think the strength of coffee is probably low on the list of things to worry about when you have trans and rancid fats, dubious additives, BPAs, huge loads of sugar and soy based oestrogens to worry about (though to make it clear I would avoid coffee altogether while pregnant as well).

However, as I’m pretty sure I’m not pregnant, I’m off to find Patisserie Francoise…

That’s it for this week, in the meanwhile, don’t forget there’s still time to order one of our Paleo Christmans Hampers for delivery Christmas week:

http://www.primalstore.co.uk/shop/paleo_xmas_hampers/

The Raw Milk Revolution

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/nov/23/raw-milk-revolution

Thought I’d start us off with a more positive article today, after the doom and gloom of last week!

Overall, not a bad report from a mainstream paper. The main article itself is still clearly steeped in the conventional wisdom – Assuring us that the “risk is minimal” (implicit suggestion that there is greater risk to your health from raw milk than pasteurised which I would argue as questionable), and also assuaging our fears that milk is a high fat product rather than extolling the benefits of raw milk as a higher fat product.

That said, the article does link to a great page dedicated to the benefits of raw milk: http://www.raw-milk-facts.com/raw_milk_health_benefits.html, so I guess I really can’t complain too much!

Here’s my take on The Dairy Debate.

More on Cervical Cancer Jab:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2065795/Cervical-cancer-vaccine-u-turn-Gardasil-replace-rival-Cervarix.html

Hmm, maybe these vaccines are a necessary risk, after all, how else could we possibly avoid 12 year old girls from contracting STDs…

Dangers of Staggered Overdose of Paracetamol

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/238220.php

Pain killers are a prime example of conventional Western medicine’s tendency to treat the symptom rather than the cause. I was always reticent to take any form of pain killer, and haven’t done so in well over a decade.

Pain is your body’s way of telling you that something is wrong. Regardless of any deleterious effects of the medication itself, if you are simply numbing the pain, you are not treating the underlying condition and it is more than likely only going to get worse.

Illness, pain and discomfort are invariably a warning sign that your diet and lifestyle are incongruent with your genetic make up. Trying to ignore and cover up these warning signs is never going to be a smart solution!

And Finally…

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/11/23/sleep-texting-caused-by-stressful-daily-life-115875-23582954/

Again, all I can say is that if you find yourself doing this, you need to seriously re-asses your life!

That’s it for now, my advice, switch off whatever device you’re reading this on, turn off your phone and go out for a stroll in this lovely November sun!

Simon

First up this week, we have scientists trying to grow meat in a petri-dish:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/11/science-meat-idUSL5E7M31VE20111111

As always, the criticisms against meat production are all specific to industrial meat production/CAFOs.

I whole heartedly agree that industrial meat production is inhumane, environmentally unsustainable and results in meat that is bad for your health. What these kind of articles fail to realise/mention, however, is that industrial plant based agriculture is also environmentally unsustainable, results in the destruction of entire ecosystems and species, and produces food that is even worse for your health!

Eating locally sourced grass fed meat is the most sustainable, ethical, nutritious (and tasty) way to feed the population.

The hills of Lancashire from where we source our meat require no irrigation, fertilization or the use of pesticides in order to grow grass. While we can’t eat the grass, cows and sheep can, and very kindly turn it into super nutritious tasty meat for us to eat.

Yes it is true that cows and sheep produce green house gasses while digesting the grass, but this is a false argument, as if they didn’t eat the grass, it would eventually die, and then be decomposed by bacteria releasing the same gasses anyway! Of course you could stop this by concreting over all the hills and building meat factories on them…

Next up, an interesting article on the use of “mirror therapy” for the management of arthritis pain:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/nov/14/mirror-therapy-reduces-pain-arthritis

The role of the brain in the perception of pain is a very interesting one. I believe that when dealing with any kind of illness or chronic pain, the patient’s beliefs, attitudes and mental state should always be addressed. If a patient has a positive outlook, they are far more likely to recover and have lesser symptoms.

That said, in the case of this particular article, the pain reductions are rather modest to say the least, and this approach is attempting to treat the symptom alone, not the cause.

Following a Paleo/Weston Price/GAPS style diet and getting plenty of vitamin D should be the first port of call for anyone suffering from this terrible disease, with any form of pain management being used as a supplement to speed recovery, not a stand alone treatment.

Vaccines strike again:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5idim5cUILJq8QElTJ35tPXeaL49w?docId=N0655721321348995316A

The evidence for most vaccines is spurious at best, but the HPV jab has got to be one of the most tenuous of all.

The story goes that cervical cancer can be triggered by the the sexually transmitted human pappiloma virus, therefore vaccinating against it should protect against the disease.

Unfortunately, the vaccine only protects against two out of over 100 strains, and there is not even any data for how long this protection lasts.

Surely a better solution would be to naturally boost young people’s immune systems through proper nutrition, whilst simultaneously cutting out the foods that feed cancers (i.e. sugar), coupled with better education of safe sex?

On the subject of safe sex…

http://edmonton.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20111114/contraceptives-water-prostate-cancer-111114/20111114/?hub=EdmontonHome

This article does a good job of making it clear that correlation does not imply causation. The theory of chemicals being excreted by women taking oral contraceptives making their way into the water system does sound a little tenuous to me, but I suppose stranger things have happened. I do often dread to think what is in the water we are drinking, and always use a water filter (I use Aqua Optima Filter Fridge Jug 12 Month Pack)

NHS Cheifs recognise we are facing a “tsunami of need”, but have little clue as to how to deal with it:

http://www.pharmatimes.com/Article/11-11-15/NHS_chiefs_call_for_chronic_disease_revolution.aspx

Some pretty scary figures in there. With so many people sick all the time, how did our species ever survive without the NHS to manage our symptoms?

There is an old adage – Prevention is better than a cure. Unfortunately it seems that no one dealing with this “tsunami of need” has come across it before. All these illnesses are preventable. Surely a more reasoned approach would be to prevent the people from getting sick in the first place, rather than trying to manage their symptoms once it’s too late? But then I suppose we’d have no need for the NHS and these experts would all be out of a job.

Cancer rate fuelled by obesity?

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/health-news/2011/11/14/cancer-rate-rise-in-uk-fuelled-by-alcohol-and-obesity-115875-23559048/

While I agree that excessive alcohol consumption and obesity are not good things, I think that this article rather misses the point when it comes to what is fuelling the cancer rate rise.

Obesity is simply another possible symptom of the toxic elements of the modern diet, vegetable oils and processed sugars in particular. Though an obese individual may be more likely to get cancer, this is because they are more likely to be consuming more vegetable oil and sugar, not because they are carrying around more fat. Those “lucky” indivduals that can “eat anything” without gaining weight are far from lucky in my eyes, as they are equally, if not more at risk from diseases such as cancer, but are perhaps less motivated than those that gain weight easily to change their diet.

Sorry for all the doom and gloom in this week’s news – The good news however, is that all these modern ailments are fully avoidable. It will not come in the form of an injection supplied by the state however, you must take matters into your own hands, eat real food, and move as nature intended.

Have a good, Primal, weekend!

Reducing Salt could increase heart disease risk?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8879077/Cutting-back-on-salt-may-not-lower-heart-risk.html

These articles on salt is good, salt is bad again is getting a bit like watching a tennis match!

One has to wonder what the agenda is behind trying to reduce people’s salt consumption, despite a complete lack of evidence that there are any real health implications. Yes cutting salt back produces a modest reduction in blood pressure, but this tiny change has never been shown to have any impact on CVD or stroke risk!

Are the anti-salt zealots convinced by their own bias, or is there some other agenda? Perhaps salt is too expensive and food manufacturers want to retrain our taste buds so they can cut the cost of their products? Wild speculation of course, but you can’t help but wonder why the big food corps aren’t jumping all over these pro-salt studies?

One has to note of course that this study found that lowering salt, in addition to dropping blood pressure, also led to a rise in the dreaded cholesterol (cue scary music), so perhaps they want us to cut down on salt so we can chug down some more statins…

My Primal perspective is that the whole argument is actually a bit of a straw dog, as the white stuff under investigation is not really salt, but refined sodium chloride. Real salt, be it bluey grey sea salt, or pinkish rock salt is truly essential for life, with a delicate balance of essential minerals. While white refined salt may not be particularly bad for you, I don’t think it has any significant health benefits either.

Do yourself a favour and cook your own food, adding real salt to taste and let your tongue tell you what is good for you!

Calls for mobile phone health warnings:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8878467/Call-for-mobile-phone-health-warnings-despite-inconclusive-evidence.html

It is interesting, that despite a complete lack of evidence of any danger from eating saturated fat (consumed for millions of years), we are not only warned against its consumption on a daily basis, but we may even be taxed for consuming it, while on the flip side we are encouraged to keep using mobile phones (used for decades at best), despite growing evidence that they may have serious health repercussions.

Perhaps I’m paranoid, but I never keep my mobile phone on my person, try and text rather than call, and keep conversations as short as possible. Though mobile phones may not have been conclusively proved to be a definite cancer risk, nor to definitively reduce fertility, there are certainly strong indicators that this may be the case.

What really annoys me is the way that these items are portrayed as essential to life, and that unnecessarily scaring people from using them as much might negatively impact their lives in some way. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a complete ludite, and there are times when I have been very glad of my mobile – Being able to phone the AA while broken down in the middle of the peak district for instance – But this does not mean that you have to be connected 24/7. I honestly believe that the potential negative effects of mobile phone use could be as much from the stress of being constantly “plugged in”, as from any radiation risks.

I have personally found that limiting my phone use – Switching it off at night, regularly leaving it at home when I go out, and never checking email or social networks on it, has been a positive experience, which has already paid dividends, regardless of whether mobile phones turn out to be the next cigarettes or not!

Writing down prices in Tesco illegal?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/blog/2011/sep/16/tesco-shopping-supermarket-prices-check-writing?INTCMP=SRCH

This is an older article which I just came across on facebook yesterday and found rather interesting.

Why would Tesco be so cagey about someone writing down their prices you might ask? Probably because the who illusion of supermarkets being cheap and good value for money is exactly that – Just an illusion.

A few key items are sold very cheap – Bread and “milk” (if you can really call the highly processed, pasteurised and homogenised gunk on the shelves milk). These are what are termed “loss leaders”: The Supermarkets actually lose money on these key items which the majority of people buy as staples, but then recoup these losses with huge profit margins on other items.

Can you tell me how much an apple is? Or the price of steak per kg? Thought not!

Supermarkets employ lots of crafty tricks to keep you in the dark, such as pricing everything in different ways – per item, per kg, per lb, per 100g, all to make comparison tricky, and then compound this by regularly changing prices, and putting all manner of different changing offers all the time.

Do yourself a favour, and avoid the supermarket altogether. Shop at your local butcher, fish monger, grocer and delicatessen. I guarantee you’ll save money, and get much better quality produce.

If you live in an area that doesn’t have such places (which is ever more increasingly likely unfortunately), get your produce online. Our meat boxes for example enable you to get much better quality meat (free range and grass fed), at a lower price than the supermarket, whilst giving a better deal to the farmers.

That’s it for this week, in the meanwhile stay Primal.

People walking less than ever before:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2052651/Walking-going-fashion-Foot-journeys-fall-lowest-level-15-years.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

I don’t find this at all surprising, though it is very depressing. Although gym memberships are still very popular, and people talk about the need for health and exercise more than ever, people overlook what is easily as important as the need to lift weights or do high intensity exercise – To Move Frequently at a Slow Pace, as Mark Sisson expertly puts it.

Are people ill and overweight because they walk less, or do they walk less because they are ill and overweight? No one really knows the answer, and perhaps it’s a bit of both, but I think pretty much everyone could do with a bit more easy activity in their lives.

My general advice to everyone is to walk or cycle part or all of the way to work each day. Most people could manage this – Even if it means driving part of the way, but just parking a 20 min walk from work. Failing this, get out there on your lunch break for a good 30 min stroll – Whatever the weather. Then if you live in the UK, you’re never far from some beautiful countryside. Get out there every weekend, it’s not just good for your health, it’s good for your soul!

Should Obese Children Have Surgery?

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/health-news/2011/10/25/should-a-child-ever-have-weight-loss-surgery-115875-23512630/

If the last report was depressing, I don’t even know where to start with this one!

How can it be that we have got into this situation where Doctors and Scientists are so blind to the truth? Do they really believe that children are getting obese because they have all suddenly become lazy and greedy? The childhood obesity epidemic has coincided with the proliferation of processed foods laced with sugar, vegetable oils and additives. Giving them surgery is not the solution – Teaching them about real food, what it is, where it comes from and how to prepare it is what needs to be done. But maybe I’m just crazy…

Cancer Drug to Treat Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2052738/Chronic-fatigue-syndrome-Cancer-drug-key-treating-disease

Well, I suppose we can at least be grateful that Doctors will now concede that the condition actually exists.

Now when you are suffering from this serious, debilitating condition, instead of being told to go away and stop being lazy, you may be given some powerful drugs with all manner of unknown side effects instead. Great!

Personally I’d rather just cut out grains and work on repairing my gut with some tasty fermented foods, but that’s just me…

That’s it for today.

Don’t work too hard for the rest of the day, it is nearly the weekend after all.

Simon

New Study finds link between time spent outdoors and reduced risk of myopia:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/children_shealth/8846020/Time-spent-outdoors-linked-to-better-eyesight.html

No criticisms of this one! Whether it is the UV light, the need to focus at greater distances more frequently, a combination of the two, or something else entirely, any excuse to get outside in the fresh air is good by me.

Do Fizzy Drinks Make Kids Violent?

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/fizzy-drinks-may-lead-to-teenage-violence-2375523.html

Some reasoned reporting here. I think it highly unlikely that there is a causal role of fizzy drinks in violent behaviour, but it does highlight the socio-economic factors involved in diet and health. I.e. it is those members of society that are the most disadvantaged and marginalised that are most exploited by the food industry.

Don’t Drink Everyday?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2052070/Alcohol-abuse-Dont-drink-days-week-avoid-liver-disease.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

It’s a shame this article doesn’t have any links to any actual studies on the effects of alcohol and health.

The research that I have seen in the past actually seems to convey health benefits to moderate alcohol consumption. Specifically that “moderate drinkers” – Those that drink 1-2 drinks per day – Have lower BMIs and lower all cause mortality rates than teetotallers.  Of course, these are observational studies, so their could be a myriad of explanations for this, with little to do with the actual alcohol itself. The studies are also based on average consumption, therefore it is quite possible that the majority of the benefits were in those that had 2-3 days off per week.

Personally, I think common sense and intuition should tell you that having a glass or two of beer or wine a couple of nights in the week, and maybe a few more on the weekend is probably going to pay dividends due to the stress relief and social benefits, but that drinking consistently every day of your life, is probably not a good idea!

Trying to set guidelines for the entire population, when everyone has different bodies, different lives and different personalities just seems futile to me. Make the research available and let people make their own decisions is what I say.

That’s it for this week. Have a good weekend, don’t drink too much…

Simon

Now available for pre-order for delivery just before Christmas we have:

Free Range Turkeys

Primal Christmas Dinner Boxes – Containing a free range Turkey, Gluten Free Pigs in Blankets, Gluten Free Sausage Meat, and Streaky Bacon (All made from Free Range Pork fed a natural diet)

Primal Christmas Hampers – As above, but with added Free Range, Gluten Free Sausages, Free Range Eggs, grass fed beef dripping, and a Grass Fed Beef or Free Range Pork roasting joint.

All products are available in a variety of sizes to suit all families and appetites!

You can check them all out here:

http://www.primalstore.co.uk/shop/paleo_xmas_hampers/

Swine Flu connected to Still Births?

The following BBC article reports a possible link between Swine Flu and Still Births:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15357218

As always, I have issues with the study/and or its reporting.

First of all, 256 is a very small sample size. If on average, 7 out of every 1000 births are still born, if you take a sample of 256 of those 1000 at random, there is always a chance that all 7 would be in that sample. Yes it is a small chance, but it would also be unlikely that you were to find 1.75 still births exactly too!

Secondly, even if the number of stillbirths is higher in women that have had swine flu, it does not necessarily follow that there is a cause and effect relationship. Is it not equally possible that individuals in poor health, with bad nutrition, unhealthy lifestyle etc, are more likely to contract flu, and also more likely to have complications with pregnancy?

Finally, I don’t like the undertones of the article which insinuate that if mothers do not get immunised by the government they are risking the lives of their unborn children! The evidence for the efficacy of vaccinations is limited at best.

I’m not saying that swine flu couldn’t have had a causal role in these tragic circumstances, possibly it could, but I do believe that the best way to avoid such illnesses and maximise your chances of a healthy birth is through a nourishing diet and healthy lifestyle.  It’s also probably good idea to ignore most of the governments advice on pregnancy nutrition too!

A better resource which I’d recommend for any parents to be would be Chris Kresser’s http://healthybabycode.com/blog

Blood Pressure Drugs Lower Risk of Alzheimer’s

This article in the Daily Mail reports that a blood pressure drug has been found to significantly decrease risk of Alzheimer’s disease:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2050632/Blood-pressure-drugs-lower-Alzheimers-risk-50-cent.html

Alzheimer’s is a terrible disease – I really can think of nothing worse. If this drug saves some people from the devastation it can cause, then this can only be a good thing.

That said, a couple of things to consider -

1) This was a blood pressure drug. It was not designed to treat Alzheimer’s, it was not found to have an effect on Alzheimer’s during clinical trials, only after it has been in commercial use for some time.

I believe it is Angelo Coppola that says “Drugs don’t have side effects, they just have effects”, and this is so true. In this case, an unanticipated effect of the drug was a positive one, and the manufacturers were more than happy to publicise it, but it could quite easily have been altogether different.

2) Alzheimer’s is a disease of civilisation. Like heart disease, diabetes, obesity and cancer, Alzheimer’s and other degenerative brain diseases are not present in traditional cultures until modern foods such as flour, sugar and vegetable oils are introduced.

This recent study found that diet, fructose in particular, has a significant effect on Alzheimer’s, which has been described by many scientists as “diabetes of the brain”:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21402242

This new drug may well help control people’s blood pressure, and reduce their risk of Alzheimer’s disease – But the same effects can be achieved through diet, whilst simultaneously protecting yourself from all the other diseases of civilisation, boosting your immunity to infectious disease, lowering your risk of depression and improving your physique. All with no side effects! I know which I’d choose.

Finally we finish with Fat Pets:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2051128/Britains-animal-obesity-epidemic-Millions-pet-cats-dogs-gorged-treats.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Not content with feeding ourselves to death with junk, we are now doing it to poor defenceless animals too! Though this article points the blame solely on pet treats, I think that the normal pet foods are not much better either.

Pets now suffer from all the same ailments as humans – Obesity, heart disease, cancer, arthritis, dementia – For exactly the same reasons: They are not eating the diet they evolved to eat, because pet food manufacturers put cheap, fake ingredients in their products to make a higher profit.

Thankfully, no one seems to be suggesting that Cats should cut out red meat, eat a bowl of Special K and stand on a vibrating platform to solve the problem…

If you do have a fat cat (or dog) check out these great articles on Mark’s Daily Apple:

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-primal-eating-plan-for-dogs/

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/natural-cat-diet/

That’s it for this week, have a great weekend!

Simon