I've recently experienced what might be called in Jungian terms, a kind of synchronistic series of events wherein I saw before me, seemingly disparate events align such that what I had learned about nutrition passed from the realm of mere theory emerge into a deeper, richer understanding I never could have imagined. Being moved by these experiences, I wish to share these events with you all here. It is at once beautiful, terrifying and humbling. And still others may find deeply shocking. Without any further digression, here they are -
Many years ago, one of my first Peat inspired experiments took place after I heard him mention in an interview B12 being necessary to convert beta-carotene into the animal form of vitamin A, retinol. I knew from my own experimentation that retinol improved acne but I was struggling to find quality sources of retinol. (I had used a fortified cod liver pills with dramatic success in the past but I was open to finding other sources.) I knew beta-carotene from plants by itself didn't do anything for my skin from experiments I had done previously.
So I took a B12 pill and a pile of sweet potatoes with butter and brown sugar before bed and in the morning I was amazed to see drastic reduction in acne and redness, seemingly as effective as the cod liver if not moreso. If you've ever dealt with persistent acne, there's a kind of feeling of relief and calm from pain and pressure that can be felt in your skin. As sweet potatoes/carrots/squash and melons were not unusual parts of my diet at that point, the experience was persuasive enough to convince me of the fact there was indeed an unmistakable relationship between b12 and these carotene rich foods.
As it tends to happen in life, when we resolve a problem, we tend to forget about it. For many years this mere fact alone wasn't enough to pique my interest in the subject any further.
Some years went by and I chanced upon the world of former vegans who had their health destroyed by veganism. With morbid curiosity I saw these vegan influences have their entire vitality drained and their rapid decline documented on YouTube for all to see. On further research, I learned they have to supplement B12 or they will suffer horrible neurological problems and death - B12 is simply non-existent in any plant. What's significant about this fact is that while there are arguably dozens more nutrients lacking in the vegan diet, B12 is the nutrient that is universally held by even the most hardcore and ideologically driven vegans, and no doubt reluctantly concede B12 to be a necessary supplement for the diet to "succeed." This is in my eyes, is no small piece of evidence of the crucial nature of B12 above and beyond all the other nutrients found lacking in the vegan diet.
Here again time passed and the topic of B12 was put on the back shelf of my mind.
Time went on and on lark, I purchased some rabbits from a small hobby farm which were kept in cages. My plan was to feed them fresh grass and let them live their happy natural life. Boy was I wrong! The rabbit's weight rapidly dropped and even supplementing higher protein alfalfa didn't stave off their demise and I watched as one by one, perish even as they devoured massive quantities of greens. After more research I found it is dangerous to take herbivorous animals in a confined feed situation and putting them on fresh grass. Their digestive tracts do not have the necessary bacteria to digest the plants as a result of eating sterile and B12 fortified pellets. Much like their vegan human counterparts, they cannot thrive without this crucial nutrient.
What's interesting about B12 is it is found in nature only as a byproduct of bacteria. Animals do not have the mechanisms to produce it and must obtain it from eating animals that do - herbivorous prey sources. Herbivorous animals are able to produce large quantities of B12 in their ruminant which are essentially fermentation vats teeming with bacteria and fungi. This delicate molecule is then stored in its tissues to be used in various enzymatic processes, not least of which in the production of the useable form of vitamin A, retinol.
Now where do herbivorous, non-ruminants like mice and rabbits obtain this nutrient? Their monogastric digestive tracts are not as complex in design as ruminants. They practice coprophagy (as well as cannibalism) - a fancy word for eating ***t. Essentially passing through the digestive tract a second time allows the bacteria to produce more B12 as it feeds off plant matter. It is in a sense, lengthening its own digestive tract to be more like the much longer ruminants which quite contrary to their smaller counterparts, naturally repelled by their own feces. Panda bears also like to eat ***t and ***t they ***t in copious amounts - 40 times a day! It's apparent that this ***t contains something not immediately available the first go around.
It was at this point I had a sudden understanding of the practice of eating cow dung as widely practiced in the vegetarian culture of India.
Another curious data point I experienced - I recently had an opportunity to try colustrum for the first time - the first milk after a cow gives birth. At first I thought it was somehow contaminated as it had an unmistakable tinge of dung. It also tasted completely sour even though it was quite fresh. Turns out colustrum is dramatically higher in B12 than normal milk, in addition to containing tremendous amounts of pro-biotic bacteria (as evidenced by its rapid souring) needed to break down plant matter.
I intuited that herbivorous mammals are priming their young to digest plant matter through B12 as well as bacteria. And somehow the dungy/sour flavor was a cocktail to prime the newborns gut. Another point of interest I was struck by is that b12 is extremely sensitive to heat/light and so my mind ran wild with respect to the sad situation of milk pasteurization and b12 "fortification." Are we as a society desperately lacking in this nutrient?
Here again I put the question at rest but there was in my mind, a greater picture emerging. It was as if so many disparate realities were offering me a small glimpse of this larger tapestry of life which hitherto, I had only seen through a glass, darkly. The B12/beta carotene model was truly a kind of blueprint of the web of life we exist in. And I find it intellectually gratifying to see these types of harmonious processes taking place simultaneously across species in one facet or another.
As I began to piece all these different events together, I had yet another experience which shocked me. And it is here I ask you to bear with me as it's significance may not be immediately apparent.
The other day I stopped at the convenience store and parked out from was a "squatted truck" - a fad where the truck has the front suspension lifted and dropping the rear. And it had a sticker on the driver's window that read "I eat ****." I couldn't help but laugh at this absurdly degenerate culture we live in and found the juxtaposition fitting. Here were two equally repellent propositions - eating **** and driving a squatted truck.
I will not pretend that I've never heard of "eating ****." But as far as I knew, the act was, at least among my generation, something only found in the demented world of pornography and if anyone participated in it they wouldn't readily share such a shameful act let alone put a sticker on their car.
But it wasn't in fact the first time I had heard of it.
The first time I had heard of it was from a friend, slightly younger than myself that might be called a young millennial. We had a "TMI" moment as he revealed in detail his great enjoyment of - please pardon the graphic language - licking his girlfriend's ***hole. Like any good modern Americans we are all conditioned to reserve judgment of other's sexual proclivities. In spite of that, I couldn't conceal a reaction which I can only describe as a "WTF!" - but being my friend, I tried to laugh it off so as not to come off as judgmental. At any rate, it was the first time I'd met someone that actually admitted to being into that, let alone to say it with such a casual and even enthusiastic acclaim.
We have heard of pornography warping people's sexual tastes (no pun intended), but could something deeper, more sinister be lurking in the bowel of our society (pun intended)?
And with all these seemingly unrelated realities in mind, a shocking and dark realization began to coalesce in my mind - could this epidemic of coprophilia be indicative of a B12 deficiency? And still more, could even the visual appeal of the squatted truck could be some type of deep primal subconscious hunger brought upon seeing a large squatting herbivore taking a ***t with the tantalizing prospect of consuming its droppings? Sound strange? It is after all, not unsual to see see people anthropomorphize their vehicles.
These questions, dear reader, I cannot answer. I however feel compelled to share it with you all. Few people concern themselves with the holistic view of life, even fewer can appreciate these deeper insights without some familiarity with the questions of nutrition these experiences have demonstrated. My only hope is that my own experience may offer some insight into the questions of our society and the deeper meaning of life itself.
Many years ago, one of my first Peat inspired experiments took place after I heard him mention in an interview B12 being necessary to convert beta-carotene into the animal form of vitamin A, retinol. I knew from my own experimentation that retinol improved acne but I was struggling to find quality sources of retinol. (I had used a fortified cod liver pills with dramatic success in the past but I was open to finding other sources.) I knew beta-carotene from plants by itself didn't do anything for my skin from experiments I had done previously.
So I took a B12 pill and a pile of sweet potatoes with butter and brown sugar before bed and in the morning I was amazed to see drastic reduction in acne and redness, seemingly as effective as the cod liver if not moreso. If you've ever dealt with persistent acne, there's a kind of feeling of relief and calm from pain and pressure that can be felt in your skin. As sweet potatoes/carrots/squash and melons were not unusual parts of my diet at that point, the experience was persuasive enough to convince me of the fact there was indeed an unmistakable relationship between b12 and these carotene rich foods.
As it tends to happen in life, when we resolve a problem, we tend to forget about it. For many years this mere fact alone wasn't enough to pique my interest in the subject any further.
Some years went by and I chanced upon the world of former vegans who had their health destroyed by veganism. With morbid curiosity I saw these vegan influences have their entire vitality drained and their rapid decline documented on YouTube for all to see. On further research, I learned they have to supplement B12 or they will suffer horrible neurological problems and death - B12 is simply non-existent in any plant. What's significant about this fact is that while there are arguably dozens more nutrients lacking in the vegan diet, B12 is the nutrient that is universally held by even the most hardcore and ideologically driven vegans, and no doubt reluctantly concede B12 to be a necessary supplement for the diet to "succeed." This is in my eyes, is no small piece of evidence of the crucial nature of B12 above and beyond all the other nutrients found lacking in the vegan diet.
Here again time passed and the topic of B12 was put on the back shelf of my mind.
Time went on and on lark, I purchased some rabbits from a small hobby farm which were kept in cages. My plan was to feed them fresh grass and let them live their happy natural life. Boy was I wrong! The rabbit's weight rapidly dropped and even supplementing higher protein alfalfa didn't stave off their demise and I watched as one by one, perish even as they devoured massive quantities of greens. After more research I found it is dangerous to take herbivorous animals in a confined feed situation and putting them on fresh grass. Their digestive tracts do not have the necessary bacteria to digest the plants as a result of eating sterile and B12 fortified pellets. Much like their vegan human counterparts, they cannot thrive without this crucial nutrient.
What's interesting about B12 is it is found in nature only as a byproduct of bacteria. Animals do not have the mechanisms to produce it and must obtain it from eating animals that do - herbivorous prey sources. Herbivorous animals are able to produce large quantities of B12 in their ruminant which are essentially fermentation vats teeming with bacteria and fungi. This delicate molecule is then stored in its tissues to be used in various enzymatic processes, not least of which in the production of the useable form of vitamin A, retinol.
Now where do herbivorous, non-ruminants like mice and rabbits obtain this nutrient? Their monogastric digestive tracts are not as complex in design as ruminants. They practice coprophagy (as well as cannibalism) - a fancy word for eating ***t. Essentially passing through the digestive tract a second time allows the bacteria to produce more B12 as it feeds off plant matter. It is in a sense, lengthening its own digestive tract to be more like the much longer ruminants which quite contrary to their smaller counterparts, naturally repelled by their own feces. Panda bears also like to eat ***t and ***t they ***t in copious amounts - 40 times a day! It's apparent that this ***t contains something not immediately available the first go around.
It was at this point I had a sudden understanding of the practice of eating cow dung as widely practiced in the vegetarian culture of India.
Another curious data point I experienced - I recently had an opportunity to try colustrum for the first time - the first milk after a cow gives birth. At first I thought it was somehow contaminated as it had an unmistakable tinge of dung. It also tasted completely sour even though it was quite fresh. Turns out colustrum is dramatically higher in B12 than normal milk, in addition to containing tremendous amounts of pro-biotic bacteria (as evidenced by its rapid souring) needed to break down plant matter.
I intuited that herbivorous mammals are priming their young to digest plant matter through B12 as well as bacteria. And somehow the dungy/sour flavor was a cocktail to prime the newborns gut. Another point of interest I was struck by is that b12 is extremely sensitive to heat/light and so my mind ran wild with respect to the sad situation of milk pasteurization and b12 "fortification." Are we as a society desperately lacking in this nutrient?
Here again I put the question at rest but there was in my mind, a greater picture emerging. It was as if so many disparate realities were offering me a small glimpse of this larger tapestry of life which hitherto, I had only seen through a glass, darkly. The B12/beta carotene model was truly a kind of blueprint of the web of life we exist in. And I find it intellectually gratifying to see these types of harmonious processes taking place simultaneously across species in one facet or another.
As I began to piece all these different events together, I had yet another experience which shocked me. And it is here I ask you to bear with me as it's significance may not be immediately apparent.
The other day I stopped at the convenience store and parked out from was a "squatted truck" - a fad where the truck has the front suspension lifted and dropping the rear. And it had a sticker on the driver's window that read "I eat ****." I couldn't help but laugh at this absurdly degenerate culture we live in and found the juxtaposition fitting. Here were two equally repellent propositions - eating **** and driving a squatted truck.
I will not pretend that I've never heard of "eating ****." But as far as I knew, the act was, at least among my generation, something only found in the demented world of pornography and if anyone participated in it they wouldn't readily share such a shameful act let alone put a sticker on their car.
But it wasn't in fact the first time I had heard of it.
The first time I had heard of it was from a friend, slightly younger than myself that might be called a young millennial. We had a "TMI" moment as he revealed in detail his great enjoyment of - please pardon the graphic language - licking his girlfriend's ***hole. Like any good modern Americans we are all conditioned to reserve judgment of other's sexual proclivities. In spite of that, I couldn't conceal a reaction which I can only describe as a "WTF!" - but being my friend, I tried to laugh it off so as not to come off as judgmental. At any rate, it was the first time I'd met someone that actually admitted to being into that, let alone to say it with such a casual and even enthusiastic acclaim.
We have heard of pornography warping people's sexual tastes (no pun intended), but could something deeper, more sinister be lurking in the bowel of our society (pun intended)?
And with all these seemingly unrelated realities in mind, a shocking and dark realization began to coalesce in my mind - could this epidemic of coprophilia be indicative of a B12 deficiency? And still more, could even the visual appeal of the squatted truck could be some type of deep primal subconscious hunger brought upon seeing a large squatting herbivore taking a ***t with the tantalizing prospect of consuming its droppings? Sound strange? It is after all, not unsual to see see people anthropomorphize their vehicles.
These questions, dear reader, I cannot answer. I however feel compelled to share it with you all. Few people concern themselves with the holistic view of life, even fewer can appreciate these deeper insights without some familiarity with the questions of nutrition these experiences have demonstrated. My only hope is that my own experience may offer some insight into the questions of our society and the deeper meaning of life itself.
