Matt Metzgar

Back from AHS

I'm back from the Ancestral Health Symposium, though a bit jet-lagged.  I wanted to note my first thoughts while they are still fresh in my head.  Overall, I saw a lot of solid presentations and met a lot of great people.  A number of people I had only communicated with electronically before, so it was nice to meet them in person.

I met Loren Cordain, Boyd Eaton, Robb Wolf, Pedro Bastos, Mark Sisson, Richard Nikoley, and Keith Norris.  I got to catch up with Doug McGuff who I hadn't seen in over a decade.  I met Stephan Guyenet of Whole Health Source.  I also talked to Seth Roberts and John Durant for a bit.

Some random thoughts:

• Robb Wolf is an entertaining speaker, who gave a nice presentation.
• Gary Taubes came off as a bit of an egomaniac.  His presentation was about 60 slides with each containing an old quote.  Then, at the end he said sugar was the cause of obesity.
• Denise Minger drew a crowd, but I was busy prepping for my own speech and therefore I missed it.
• I really enjoyed the dental presentation by Kevin Boyd and Michael Mew.  Michael was an excellent speaker.
• Michael Eades continued to defend his low-carb position which I think is flawed.  But he seemed in good spirits and good health for someone in his 60s.
• Don Matesz looked about 10 years older than his picture on his blog.  What's up with that?  Maybe I should put pictures of me from high school on my blog and then say that Paleo is anti-aging.
• Keith Norris is a big, athletic guy (and also a nice guy).
• Stephan gave a solid presentation about food reward and then was needled by Gary Taubes in a bizarre exchange.
• I missed Robert Lustig's presentation along with the ones from Saturday afternoon, but I look forward to watching them on video.

Some other general thoughts on the trip:

• It was kind of a disadvantage flying in from the East Coast.  I tried to stay on a regular sleep pattern, so the nights were cut short.
• The campus of UCLA is not that scenic in my opinion.  First, I couldn't even tell where the campus started.  You walk by a Burger King, and then I guess you're on the UCLA campus.  It didn't feel like a college campus at all to me.
• LA doesn't make things convenient.  They don't have any big gas stations with restrooms and a store.  Everything is packed in and also somewhat hidden in my opinion.  And what's up with restaurants not having restrooms??  Isn't that illegal or something?

More thoughts to come as I recover...

Lines

I've been thinking about posture a bit more lately.  One thing I've noticed is how the sew lines on the sides of pants/shorts can be an indication of posture.  With my toddler son, I notice when he is standing in pants that the seam running down the sides of the pants is competely vertical.  If you compare this to many adults you see out and about, the pant lines are not vertical.

I seem to particularly notice this lack of straightness in teenagers nowadays.  The hips are usually forward and the back is swayed backwards - not very healthy posture.

Paleo Paper Published

Our academic paper, "The feasibility of a Paleolithic diet for low-income consumers," was just published today in Nutrition Research.  The purpose of the paper was to answer a simple question: can a person on a limited income afford to eat a Paleo diet?

The team that worked on the paper was myself (an economics prof), Remko Kuipers (who was the lead author on the East African paleo diet paper), Maelan Fontes-Villalba (who has contributed to numerous Paleo publications), and Todd Rideout (a nutrition prof from SUNY Buffalo).

I hope the Paleo community enjoys the paper.

Stone Age Power Kindle E-Book

I decided to update my Stone Age Power e-book and make it available for Kindle.  The direct link is here and it sells for only 99 cents.  I figured with the explosion of tablets that e-books are the way of the future.

 

Maybe I will get it up on iTunes eventually as well. 

 

Adventures in Barefooting

The other day I was walking with my daughter, and with no prodding from me, she decided to walk barefoot for a while.  I joined her and we ditched our shoes.  Then she wanted to go to the grocery store barefoot, but only if I went barefoot as well.

So in we went to the grocery store barefoot.  I think it was the first time I had been barefoot inside a private establishment.  It felt a little odd, and I was wondering if we were going to get the boot!

We got some strange looks, but all went well.  It was actually more comfortable walking through the store with no shoes.  If only it were more socially acceptable, it would have been an even better experience.

The Case for Sandals

I was reading through an older study(pdf) that looked at the low percentage of foot problems in unshod children.  I also noticed where they discussed the different effects of footwear:

 

I saw where Terra Plana has come out with a new type of barefoot sandal - "Achilles".

 
It looks pretty good though it seems a bit expensive.

I should mention that sandals do alter the foot mechanics as compared to barefoot.  At least this was true for the sandals in the study, which had fastenings in the front and in the back.  Maybe sandals with only front fastenings will activate more foot muscles.

 

13 Hours A Day

I read a disturbing article this week on media use by children.  It shows that minority children spend an average of 13 hours a day engaged in electronic media - computers, video games, tv, etc.  13 hours a day!  Given that children need substantial sleep, how many hours does this leave for any other activities??

My main worry is that this media use will decrease the amount of time spent in other, more traditional forms of recreation - playing an instrument, drawing, playing outside, etc.  It also has to be dramatically reducing the amount of face-to-face comunication  these children are having.  Isn't talking to people still a necessary skill in the work world?

Some people argue that children can properly self-regulate their level of media and electronic device usage.  I argue that this media is evolutionary novel, and therefore no such self-regulating mechanisms exist.  I think this study, showing 13 hours of media use per day, goes along with my argument that children can't effectively self-regulate in this area.  I can't imagine any rational person arguing that 13 hours of electronic media per day is proper for children.

The bottom line: parents need to regulate children's access to electronic media.

Primal Posture

I also saw that Esther Gokhale has a new tv show on primal posture playing this month.

 

New Posture Book

I saw where Kathleen Porter has a new book on posture out.  I plan on getting it.  Here is the associated video interview.

 

Chlorine Filter

I had to replace a busted showerhead, so I decided to try something different.  The other day I read a study on the potential harmful effects of chlorinated water from showers.  Researchers hypothesize that exposure to these trihalomethanes may increase the risk of cancer. 

So, I bought a combination showerhead/chlorine filter at the local hardware store.  The basic model wasn't that expensive, only $25 or so.  I've also read that these chlorine filters can lead to softer hair and skin. 

I tried it out this morning, and wow, what a difference.  The water felt very, very soft.  It also seemed to be less drying to the hair/skin though I would need some time to verify this.  I will report back in a couple weeks as to any improvements.