Energy, Fatigue And Exhaustion - An Interview With Paul Eck

[Amazoniac]

Dear members,

I was going to put a poetic description to this interview but I'm not in the mood right now.
It's not too technical, but a great introduction to nutritional balancing and some nice words on life from an energetic perspective, including a lengthy discussion about exhaustion. Many things in common with Ray.

The interviewers were kind enough to give me permission to share it here.

 

[Agent207]

Looks interesting, I will look for a good quality format to print it, since theres no paperback format available.

 

[lollipop]

Thanks for sharing this @Amazoniac. Have been curious about the subject and did not know a good resource to start learning.

Sweetness

 

[AJC]

I did Nutritional Balancing for a bit...was actually rather obsessed with it after reading that article. It was completely phenomenal at first, but then I seriously stagnated for multiple months. After that I more or less gave it up to pursue the simpler methods talked about here.

By the way, there's quite a "schism" these days between the two major hair test labs--each founded by one of the co-founders of "Nutritional Balancing". One follows Dr. Eck's work and one follows Dr. Watts. Very, very, very interesting theories and applications in Nutritional Balancing though.

 

[Tarmander]

I liked some of Eck's writings and philosophy on health. I think his low salt adherence did him in.

 

[Agent207]

Calcium.

One of the most important functions of calcium is not the creation of
bone tissue. It is the regulation of metabolism. Calcium tends to slow
down the metabolic rate. It is part of the body’s natural ‘braking’
system.

It is no coincidence that newborns, who have an extremely high
rate of metabolism – have relatively low calcium levels. As we age,
the body begins to apply the calcium ‘brake’. Tissue calcium levels
rise higher and higher and the metabolism slows down.
Calcium lines the cell membrane. A low level of tissue calcium
allows the membrane to be more permeable – thus increasing the
speed of metabolism. A high level of tissue calcium reduces the
permeability of the cell membrane, thus slowing down the metabolic
rate.

Calcium is one of the most misunderstood nutrients. The
unfortunate truth is that most individuals do not have a true calcium
deficiency. What they have is an inability to utilize the excess
calcium that is already in their tissues.
To consume calcium that you do not need is to accelerate your
decline into slow metabolism – and into old age.

 

[Amazoniac]

@gbolduev - A thread that might interest you.

 

[Amazoniac]

gbolduev mentioned this owa and owa again:
Ray's dietary suggestions are meant more for someone with an already fast, strong metabolism; people that are already in an energized state. In that context, it makes perfect sense to consume more saturated fats, high calcium and copper, more protein, etc. But most people that arrive here are dealing with slow and weak metabolism, and a way of eating like that would only work if you emulated the opposite with thyroid supplements. Saturated fats are not so good for people that are having problems related to inability to generate enough energy, Roy Swank's diet to manage MS is a good example of that. And since eating a diet with more unsaturated fats is not healthy at all, the alternative is eating a very low-fat diet with just enough protein; and perhaps gradually and comfortably increase those nutrients back (easier said than done ).

Max Gerson cured his own migraines with a change of diet. In the 20th century, he was the most famous advocate of a mostly vegetable diet, but he did use liver - liver juice was one of his components - and typically a good dose of thyroid was part of his program. And so it was a nutritionally rational program, but he twice in his book in capital letters said 'absolutely no oils'.

 

[lollipop]

gbolduev mentioned this owa and owa again:
Ray's dietary suggestions are meant more for someone with an already fast, strong metabolism; people that are already in an energized state. In that context, it makes perfect sense to consume more saturated fats, high calcium and copper, more protein, etc. But most people that arrive here are dealing with slow and weak metabolism, and a way of eating like that would only work if you emulated the opposite with thyroid supplements. Saturated fats are not so good for people that are having problems related to inability to generate enough energy, Roy Swank's diet to manage MS is a good example of that. And since eating a diet with more unsaturated fats is not healthy at all, the alternative is eating a very low-fat diet with just enough protein; and perhaps gradually and comfortably increase those nutrients back (easier said than done ).

Thanks for digging that up in that thread. He might have been on to something after reading this book. After being on this forum for a year and a half, I do see different people react differently. Being aware of our system will help making better choices of how to move into certain aspects of diet.

 

[Amazoniac]

Thanks for digging that up in that thread. He might have been on to something after reading this book. After being on this forum for a year and a half, I do see different people react differently. Being aware of our system will help making better choices of how to move into certain aspects of diet.

His discussions with haidut were so valuable..((((

 

[lollipop]

His discussions with haidut were so valuable..((((

I agree!! Has been on the back of my mind since reading that thread through twice and wanted a resource to read more. Really grateful you posted this

 

[Amazoniac]

I wonder if another contributor to that distaste for meat that vegans develop is not only difficulty digesting it (as mentioned in the book), but also an attempt to avoid unbalancing even more the calcium to phosphorus ratio..

 

[lollipop]

Have you seen this PDF? Gives a bit more history. Interesting.

http://www.hairanalysistest.biz/TheOxidationTypes.pdf

 

[XPlus]

gbolduev mentioned this owa and owa again:
Ray's dietary suggestions are meant more for someone with an already fast, strong metabolism; people that are already in an energized state. In that context, it makes perfect sense to consume more saturated fats, high calcium and copper, more protein, etc. But most people that arrive here are dealing with slow and weak metabolism, and a way of eating like that would only work if you emulated the opposite with thyroid supplements. Saturated fats are not so good for people that are having problems related to inability to generate enough energy .

Ive doubts about that, since people who criticise Peat-recommended foods, even within certain contexts, offer no better alternatives. They simply can't come up with better alternatives.
I've seen Peat advocate eating to cravings. It's not necessarily the best eating strategy for health but on the long-term it's proven to outperform diets that emphasise rationale (e.g. every diet on the market by every health expert and his dog).
Those who are hypothyroid are likely to benefit from eating more saturated fats, for example. Saturated fats provide a good source of energy since they're preferably burned. They can mitigate endotoxic risks and displace PUFAs in store.
Once there's a craving for these fats, eating them can be justified. Eventually, once one recovers from most of their health issues, they're probably going to have a tendency towards lower fat foods. This happened in my experience. Saturated fats are especially useful during periods of stress.
Gallbladderless people and people with apparent diabetes should be cautious of introducing too much fat. They should probably use a more conservative or a different approach.

One of the most important functions of calcium is not the creation of
bone tissue. It is the regulation of metabolism. Calcium tends to slow
down the metabolic rate. It is part of the body’s natural ‘braking’
system.

My understanding is calcium does the opposite of this. It's true that calcium tends to slow down an inflated metabolism (i.e. one where temps and pulse are high due to out of control stress hormones) but it shouldn't slow down an optimally run metabolism. It should support it.

 

[Amazoniac]

Ive doubts about that, since people who criticise Peat-recommended foods, even within certain contexts, offer no better alternatives. They simply can't come up with better alternatives.
I've seen Peat advocate eating to cravings. It's not necessarily the best eating strategy for health but on the long-term it's proven to outperform diets that emphasise rationale (e.g. every diet on the market by every health expert and his dog).
Those who are hypothyroid are likely to benefit from eating more saturated fats, for example. Saturated fats provide a good source of energy since they're preferably burned. They can mitigate endotoxic risks and displace PUFAs in store.

Saturated fats seem to interfere too much with the use of glucose in weak metabolisms. Much slower transit time, so, much more endotoxin that are carried to a (probably) already burdened liver. Seems like a nicht, nicht, but maybe I'm missing something..

 

[XPlus]

Saturated fats seem to interfere too much with the use of glucose in weak metabolisms.

Yeah, I think diabetes explain this. That's why diabetics should probably be conservative with saturated fats. One way to this is to emphasise things like sugars (preferably from fruits and honeys), B-vitamins, quality protein and coffee. Initially, the transition should be very easy to make since these foods shouldn't push the metabolism too much on their own. Then one can try to introduce more fats gradually. Introducing Aspirin and Niacinamide at the same time can help as these are powerful aides in metabolising sugar and suppressing the metabolism of fat.
One thing of concern to diabetics also is lactic acid and it better be controlled with things like Co2 baths, bag breathing, acetozolamide before increasing sugars.

Much slower transit time, so, much more endotoxin that are carried to a (probably) already burdened liver.

I think you're right about this. There's probably a dual concept to endotoxic risk.
One one hand it slows down digestion allowing starches to be better digested and thus minimising their inflammatory potential. On the other, it exponentiates endotoxin absorption (btw, I'm basing this on @tyw's post on fat and endotoxin absorption) - but, this happens only when endotoxin exists. In other words, when endotoxin is minimised through choice of foods and method of preparation, there's less chance of absorption.
In my experience, I sometimes shy away from eating enough fat and can feel excess bacterial activity following this.
Sometimes I've no choice but to eat some food with old starch/improperly prepared starch or/and old meat. Although, there's enough fat in the meal, it doesn't compensate for the bad choice of starch and meat. I still get bloated and have troublesome sessions at the john afterwards.
Keep in mind that this effect can be intensified with hypothyroid/diabetes.

 

[Amazoniac]

Yeah, I think diabetes explain this. That's why diabetics should probably be conservative with saturated fats. One way to this is to emphasise things like sugars (preferably from fruits and honeys), B-vitamins, quality protein and coffee. Initially, the transition should be very easy to make since there's these foods shouldn't push the metabolism too much on their own. Then one can try to introductory more fats gradually. Introducing Aspirin and niacinamide at the same time can help as these are powerful aides in metabolising sugar and suppressing the metabolism of fat.
One thing of concern to diabetics also is lactic acid and it better be controlled with things like Co2 baths, bag breathing, acetozolamide before increasing the sugar.

I think you're right about this. There's probably a dual concept to endotoxic risk.
One one hand it slows down digestion allowing starches to be better digested and thus minimising their inflammatory potential. On the other, it exponentiates endotoxin absorption (btw, I'm basing this on @tyw's post on fat and endotoxin absorption) - but, this happens only when endotoxin exists. In other words, when endotoxin is minimised through choice of foods and method of preparation, there's less chance of absorption.
In my experience, I sometimes shy away from eating enough fat and can feel excess bacterial activity following this.
Sometimes I've no choice but to eat some food with old starch/improperly prepared starch or/and old meat. Although, there's enough fat in the meal, it doesn't compensate for the bad choice of starch and meat. I still get bloated and have troublesome sessions at the john afterwards.
Keep in mind that this effect can be intensified with hypothyroid/diabetes.

Bacterial overgrowths are very common in hypopboydism, also the ability to digest foods is usually impaired; even if you minimize the amount of endotoxin that's produced by choosing specific foods, there would still be a lot being generated. In that same thread there was a post showing that if there's insufficient carbs available for bacteria (since transit time is slow, and invariably there will be massive fermentation), then they'll turn to protein and fat, and it would be much worse; that will happen if you choose rapidly digested sugars in constipation for too long. In this book they commented briefly about zyzz. It seems prudent to minimize all fats in that state, even saturated. But as always, I can be wrong..

 

[XPlus]

Bacterial overgrowths are very common in hypopboydism, also the ability to digest foods is usually impaired; even if you minimize the amount of endotoxin that's produced by choosing specific foods, there would still be a lot being generated. In that same thread there was a post showing that if there's insufficient carbs available for bacteria (since transit time is slow, and invariably there will be fermentation), then they'll turn to protein and fat, and it would be much worse. In this book they commented briefly about zyzz. It seems prudent to minimize all fats in that state, even saturated. But as always, I can be wrong..

There are many variables that could work against eating saturated fat. Actually, ideally we'd not eat much fat in general like you said. Doing what works is the key to improving health. If you benefit from reducing saturated fat at this point in time then it's not a bad idea.

 

[Amazoniac]

There are many variables that could work against eating saturated fat. Actually, ideally we'd not eat much fat in general like you said. Doing what works is the key to improving health. If you benefit from reducing saturated fat at this point in time then it's not a bad idea.

<Westside sign>

 

[tyw]

Some Note:

(1) all longer-than-short chain fat will transport endotoxin in the gut to the bloodstream. It is in the chylomicrons that endotoxin is transport.
(1a) Fat that doesn't require chylomicrons for uptake do not cause endotoxin transport. This is however, likely only limited to medium and short chain fats with 10 carbons or shorter.

(2) Within Chylomicrons, endotoxin does not cause any harm. This is in fact, the way the body safely disposes of endotoxin, by delivering them in these quarantined packages to allow for transport to the immune-related tissues to be dealt with.


In that context, I am of the usual opinion that there are too many variables to figure out what diet a person should use without actual experimentation . We can construct anything from a case of Under-active immune function, where chylomicron-bound endotoxin would help stimulate that immune function, and then layer on poor liver function, such that 60g of fat a day is good and 100g causes the person to keel over.

I have some affinity towards the the "cravings based approach" that @XPlus described, whereby you start at one extreme (either low fat or low carb), and then converge upon your required balanced.

....