Topics
Subscribe to DianeSanfilippo.com
Clearing Up Kidney Confusion by Robb Wolf
The episodes are also available in iTunes, Spotify & Stitcher.
Show sponsors:
 |
 |
 |
You’re listening to the Balanced Bites podcast episode 260.
Welcome to the Balanced Bites podcast. I’m Diane; a certified nutrition consultant, and the New York Times bestselling author of Practical Paleo and The 21-Day Sugar Detox. I live in San Francisco with my husband and fur kids. I love iced coffee, sunrises, and lifting weights.
I’m Liz; a nutritional therapy practitioner, and author of the Wall Street Journal best-selling Eat the Yolks; The Purely Primal Skincare Guide; and the online program Baby Making and Beyond. I love on a farm in the mystical land of the Midwest, outside of Kansas City, and I loved iced coffee, liver meat blobs, and riding around in the golf cart.
We’re the co-creators of the Balanced Bites Master Class, and we’ve been bringing you this award winning podcast for 5 years and counting. We’re here to share our take on modern paleo living, answer your questions, and chat with beauty, health, and wellness experts. Enjoy this week’s episode, and submit your questions at http://blog.balancedbites.com. Remember our disclaimer: The materials and content within this podcast are intended as general information only, and are not to be considered a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
Before we get started, let’s hear from one of our sponsors.
Liz Wolfe: Our podcast sponsorship today comes from Vital Choice, an online purveyor of the world’s best wild seafood delivered right to your door; because juggling a busy life shouldn’t mean you have to forgo healthy meals. At www.vitalchoice.com, you’ll find wild Alaskan salmon, halibut, tuna, sable fish, and cod, as well as prawns, crab, and scallops. You’ll also find grass-fed organic Wagyu beef, free range heritage chicken, fresh frozen organic berries, and dark organic chocolates. Make a vital choice by eating the highest quality food you can. Vital Choice; come home to real food. Use code BALANCEDBITES to save on your first order at www.vitalchoice.com.
1. News and updates from Diane & Liz [2:10]
Liz Wolfe: Hey everyone, it’s me Liz, here with Diane! Hey Diane.
Diane Sanfilippo: Hey. Hey!
Liz Wolfe: Hey Liz. That was a fun new intro, was it not?
Diane Sanfilippo: Did you just say “Hey Liz?” {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: Well I wrote in the document.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing}
Liz Wolfe: So I read it. {laughs} I’m on autopilot; sorry!
Diane Sanfilippo: That was our new intro, because this is 5 years. That actually means we’ve been friends for 5 years. I think; do our listeners know?
Liz Wolfe: Well I think we became friends at like 4 and 8/9ths of a year.
Diane Sanfilippo: We weren’t actually friends when we started. No.
Liz Wolfe: No.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: {laughs} I can’t. I can’t.
Diane Sanfilippo: We had actually never met when we started recording the podcast together.
Liz Wolfe: No! No. When you and I first discussed this, I think I was in the bathroom, so I just kind of thought to myself that I just started this off on the exact wrong foot.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: But it all worked out.
Diane Sanfilippo: It all worked out. We met for the first time; it was in Philly?
Liz Wolfe: Yep.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah?
Liz Wolfe: Oh, yeah. I remember what I was wearing, too. I was wearing a really big scarf.
Diane Sanfilippo: And was I teaching a seminar without you?
Liz Wolfe: Yes.
Diane Sanfilippo: How sad.
Liz Wolfe: I came to see it.
Diane Sanfilippo: ` That’s weird.
Liz Wolfe: I know. Well, I might have just popped in.
Diane Sanfilippo: She was like; this is terrible, I should probably help out and teach this with her.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs} This girl needs help.
Diane Sanfilippo: Can I help you.
Liz Wolfe: I’m going to help you. Let’s do a makeover! Project!
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Cher’s main thrill in life, is a makeover.
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm. Alright, well I’m really excited that this is episode number 260, which means 260 divided by 5 is 52, and that means 5 years if we’ve done the math correctly. It’s all very exciting. It’s all very exciting.
Diane Sanfilippo: So here we are! So I guess I’ll jump into some updates.
Liz Wolfe: Please do.
Diane Sanfilippo: Alright, so Practical Paleo second edition; it’s out! I can’t wait to see people’s pictures and hear what you guys all think. Super exciting. I forgot to mention this on last weeks’ episode, but I wanted to make sure that it’s known that the Diane’s Salad Madness eBook PDF, which eventually will probably be for sale on the website, but I wanted to give it away to you guys. So anybody who sends us a copy; {ding} Oh, I’m sorry.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: That just rang on my phone and my Fitbit. {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: What.
Diane Sanfilippo: This Fitbit, should I start over or just keep going?
Liz Wolfe: Just keep going.
Diane Sanfilippo: This is real life people.
Liz Wolfe: You ruined our 5 year episode, but just keep going.
Diane Sanfilippo: “You ruined my satin shoes.” So, {laughs} Diane’s Salad Madness. Just forward your receipt email if you ordered it online, or take a picture of the receipt that you have from a store along with the book, because I don’t know if the receipt in a store actually says what you purchased. I’m not really sure. But anyway forward that to [email protected]. Use the email subject line “Diane’s Salad Madness” and we will send you the PDF eBook. It’s like 120-plus pages. It’s all salad ideas and inspirations.
It’s not all recipes for salads, because a lot of it is from stuff that I posted to Instagram over the years, and we wanted to show you guys what I’m combining and just give you ideas and inspiration; but there are tons of dressing recipes in there, which is kind of; sort of more what you’d probably need the recipe for. The rest of it is just throwing stuff together in a bowl. But this way you can see all kinds of ideas and inspiration. And they’re categorized by protein types, so you can see, you know, chicken ideas, and turkey, and all that fun stuff. So that will be for everybody who wants it for the month of September, and I don’t know if it will extend past then. But for right now, it’s for the month of September. That’s it. I think everything else was shared previously.
If you’re coming to one of the book signing events in the next few weeks, just make sure you give the store a call to reserve the books that you want. This way we make sure when you show up they have what you want there for you. And if you want more details on that, listen to the intro to last weeks’ episode, because I kind of rambled on about it.
I think that’s about it.
Liz Wolfe: You? Rambled?
Diane Sanfilippo: What?
Liz Wolfe: What?
Diane Sanfilippo: They say I have the gift of gab. {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: {laughing}
Diane Sanfilippo: I don’t know what that is, I just made that up. It’s not like a quote or anything. {laughs} I’m a talker.
Liz Wolfe: I imagine that if there was a movie that that was from, it would be an amazing movie.
Diane Sanfilippo: It would. What’s going on in the farmstead land?
Liz Wolfe: Nothing.
Diane Sanfilippo: Nothing?
Liz Wolfe: Well, the cows got out. I guess I kind of take it for granted now, it’s just so part of every day that stupid stuff happens that we should have planned for. Whatever.
Diane Sanfilippo: I feel like animals are escaping your little farm there pretty often.
Liz Wolfe: I don’t think they like it. They’re like; “I don’t want to be a grass-fed cow! I like grains! You people like candy, we like grains.” Yeah, so we had just a ton of really severe weather, and I don’t know if maybe a branch came down on part of the fence; we haven’t checked the entire property yet, but I was texting with a friend of mine and I was supposed to give her a call and then I didn’t, and I texted her, “Sorry, the cows got out.” She’s like, “well, you don’t hear that every day.” Yes, that’s very true.
So I did a little perimeter check, couldn’t find the cows and did a little perimeter check. Everything looked ok, so I was like; well, they must just be out there in the acreage somewhere and I just can’t see them. And then I looked to my left on the other side of the gravel road; {laughs} 1111th road, a one-thousand one hundred and eleventh road, and the cows are there just kind of looking at me, like, “’Sup.”
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing}
Liz Wolfe: “Not coming back; sorrys!” And it was just one of those situations where, my husband wasn’t there, I had the dogs in the car, I made a really kind of lame effort to get them to move back. But it’s just one of those things; you don’t have a trailer, you don’t have a rope, you don’t have a person strong enough.
Diane Sanfilippo: What do you do?
Liz Wolfe: I don’t know what you do, because these cows are; I mean, not wild.
Diane Sanfilippo: Aren’t you supposed to like, lasso them up or something, and be like, let’s go!
Liz Wolfe: Well, I didn’t have my horse with me, or my lasso, so I wasn’t able to do that.
Diane Sanfilippo: Really?
Liz Wolfe: Or my instructional video on lassoing cows. So I just kind of like, “Alright. See you.” “Ok, see ya!”
Diane Sanfilippo: Maybe you need a border collie.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah, we actually do. We do. See, that’s one of things where if you don’t; I mean, I’m sure there are plenty of books on farming, but to a degree you can only learn what you learn when you learn it, and you just kind of learn as you go. So to my knowledge, the cows are still not in our acreage.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing} They’ll turn up somewhere in the neighborhood?
Liz Wolfe: And I just; know when to fold them. Yeah, I got nothing. I mean, I called one of our neighbors, and you know bless his heart he said he’d try and get them into his acreage, but I haven’t heard from him. I just hope they don’t do any damage to anybody’s property.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing} I can’t.
Liz Wolfe: We did have that experience with the turkeys; they peaced out to somebody else’s property and we had a little bit of an issue because their giant talons; the turkeys have large talons. They scratched up this guy’s truck, and this truck was this guy’s baby.
Diane Sanfilippo: Oooh.
Liz Wolfe: I mean, more so than his own children, this truck was his baby.
Diane Sanfilippo: Whoa.
Liz Wolfe: And he was so upset. Those people have since moved.
Diane Sanfilippo: Phew!
Liz Wolfe: So that’s good, that house is empty now. But I don’t know. I need to text Diana Rogers about this, but.
Diane Sanfilippo: I definitely can’t come to your rescue on this one.
Liz Wolfe: Well.
Diane Sanfilippo: As if I can on much else. {laughs}
2. Shout out: Goats of Anarchy on Instagram [10:01]
Liz Wolfe: Speaking of farm animals, I think we have a shout out this week?
Diane Sanfilippo: Oh, we do! We have a shout out; good segue!
Liz Wolfe: Right?
Diane Sanfilippo: It’s like we’ve been doing this for a while or something. So this Instagram account, which I got some flak for a past Instagram account that I liked, but I’m hoping that this one is more legit. {laughs} It’s called GoatsofAnarchy.
Liz Wolfe: {laughing}
Diane Sanfilippo: I’m pretty sure I tagged you to go look at it.
Liz Wolfe: I think you did.
Diane Sanfilippo: But it is a special needs baby goat rescue. It’s 501C3 organization. And it’s just http://Instagram.com/goatsofanarchy. I believe they’re based in New Jersey; I looked it up to see where they were. I believe they’re in New Jersey. And they takes goats that have missing legs, and have all kinds of things wonky about them, and they care for them and nurture them, and they post them on Instagram; and I just can’t with these goats. If you thought.
Liz Wolfe: Oh-aww, I’m looking at a little bow-legged goat! {laughing}
Diane Sanfilippo: Who can even handle any of these goats and other farm animals? It’s just adorable and I think it’s so sweet that they’re rescuing them.
Liz Wolfe: Oh my gosh.
Diane Sanfilippo: They’re getting prosthetics for some of them to be able to move around.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: And I think that that’s so sweet, so anyway. I don’t know, I’m not saying people need to donate. Do your research, see what you think, but I just like following them on Instagram, and I want to give them a little shout out. So yeah. I mean, who doesn’t love baby goats? Come on. I’m not sure, if you don’t love baby goats, I’m not sure we can be friends, so. Just saying.
Liz Wolfe: Well this is quite; quite an Instagram. Wow. Wow.
Diane Sanfilippo: Right.
Liz Wolfe: This is lovely. Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah. So there you go.
Diane Sanfilippo: Pete’s Paleo has opened a new location on the East Coast. Since they’re still operating out of San Diego, as well; this means local produce and meat coming from both coasts. And drastically reduced shipping prices. Check out their new and improved website, www.PetesPaleo.com to take advantage of low shipping rates; and be sure to use coupon code 1FREEBACON. That’s the number 1; free bacon, and receive a free half pound of bacon with the purchase of a meal plan. Go to www.PetesPaleo.com.
3. Organic tampons and “paleo periods” [12:28]
Liz Wolfe: Alright then. We have some questions. Shall we? Shall we question now, or shall we question later? I’m pretty sure we’re setting a record for movie quotes.
Diane Sanfilippo: Already.
Liz Wolfe: Already. In the first 10 minutes. Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: Alright. Questions.
Liz Wolfe: Alright. This one is from Chelsea; titled, “organic tampons.” “Hello ladies! I just heard about a new company called Lola that sells an organic tampon subscription. There was an episode about this company on another podcast, Lady Lovin’, that talked about how absorbent these are, and how it’s also important to think about what we’re putting into that part of our body. I’m curious about your take on this topic. What’s the most paleo option? Have you thought about this? “
Well Chelsea, this is pretty much all I think about. {laughing} I tackled some in the, formerly the Skintervention Guide now the Purely Primal Skincare Guide. I put a bunch of more natural options than the conventional tampons which are just yucky the way their processed, bleached, put together, the way cotton is grown, it’s pretty dense in pesticides. So I put a bunch of different options, including the Diva cup, the Luna cup, the sponge, which is actually a natural sea sponge that you put up there. I did that for a while.
And my current thinking, and I know this might anger some people, is that it’s better not to put anything up there that {laughing} that you don’t have to put up there. Of course, there’s the issue of, you know, genitalia, which we can’t really talk about this without tackling that. And my comment on that, on sexual activity, would be, I think it’s worth having whomever owns the apparatuses that are going up there to keep them fragrance free and product free so that you’re not inserting anything that could potentially disrupt the balance of the natural vaginal flora.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Wow, that took us 5 years to say, natural vaginal flora. {laughing}
Liz Wolfe: {laughing} Oh, so silly. I think that we have evolved to handle certain things, and maybe we’ve evolved not to handle other things. So, my opinion is, use something on the outside rather than something on the inside. I know people aren’t going to love that, because people love their Diva cups and their Luna cups and their Moon cups, and whatever; and those are, of course, less wasteful and probably less potentially damaging options than a non-organic tampon. They are a little easier to use probably than a sponge; that was just, impossible. But my preference would probably be just something like a cloth maxi pad, if you could do that. Or, I’ve heard of these things; what are they called? Thinx, period panties. Have you seen those?
Diane Sanfilippo: Oh, yeah. Shout out to Jen Sinkler on this one.
Liz Wolfe: Oh has she used them?
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah. I’m interested in that, actually because I definitely don’t have what I would consider paleo period paraphernalia. {laughing}
Liz Wolfe: {laughing}
Diane Sanfilippo: But have definitely found myself going back to just kind of a regular thin, this is so personal, but pads on days when I’m just home and it doesn’t really matter that I’m, you know. I don’t know.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: Not active or whatever, I’m just kind of hanging around the house. And also if I do ever experience any type of cramping, like the idea of something being in there is just the worst idea ever.
Liz Wolfe: {laughing}
Diane Sanfilippo: It’s like, no-no-no-no. But yeah, I think they’re called Thinx.
Liz Wolfe: T-H-I-N-X.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah. Like Spanx, but Thinx.
Liz Wolfe: They’re on my list to order, I just haven’t yet. I don’t know why. Just because, you know, after your period is over, you kind of forget about it.
Diane Sanfilippo: We should definitely find out about that.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah. I need to learn a little bit more about how they are, what the mechanism of absorption is. I don’t know that it’s something that would potentially release, you know, fumes or anything like that. But yeah, we can look into that and anybody who has tried them, report back. I’ll check out what Jen Sinkler has to say about them.
Diane Sanfilippo: Would you say, though, that if someone is going to use tampons or whatever, have you seen some that are better than others? Like on the scale of, best case scenario like we were talking about in the last episode with hair color and henna, and all that. It’s like, we’re all picking our poisons here.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: And, you know, on the continuum of; don’t put that in your hoo-ha.
Liz Wolfe: {laughing}
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing} Ever, to probably not the worst thing, if anyone wants to draw this continuum for us and plot things out. {laughing}
Liz Wolfe: Yeah, if someone could plot this on the spectrum, that would be great. On the continuum.
Diane Sanfilippo: But yeah, I’m just curious if you’ve got something to say about that, or I don’t know.
Liz Wolfe: Now that I think about it, I think what I wrote in the Purely Primal Skincare Guide might be a little out of date at this point, there might be more things available. I don’t think when I wrote it there were organic tampon subscriptions. There was definitely; I think I recommended Seventh Generation or any kind of chlorine free, organic cotton type stuff; that’s probably better.
Something like that. There’s also; I mean, if you want to buy what you’re using at the store, that’s one thing. But I know; I think DaNelle from Weed ‘em and Reap has done, like a homemade wool tampon.
Diane Sanfilippo: See; I’m not.
Liz Wolfe: {laughing}
Diane Sanfilippo: I’m just not.
Liz Wolfe: I mean, she’s one of the funniest and most ingenious individuals I’ve ever I guess not technically met but followed and been in the same circles as, so if you’re into that definitely check out what she has to say. But yeah, I’ll have to look into this organic tampon subscription thing. Very interesting.
4. Follow-up questions to Liz’s vitamin D email [18:47]
Liz Wolfe: Alright. This one is from Isabella. “Hi Liz! Thank you for sending the information about vitamin D and sunscreen issues.” This is in reference to one of the emails I recently sent out to my subscribers where I included some of the vitamin D information from my book, given that summer is ending and it’s kind of a lot of our last shot to get natural vitamin D from the sun. “I found this part of your book to be super valuable and informative. I have a few questions after reading it, though. Please, if you have time, would you be able to answer the questions below? Thank you, I really appreciate it.”
So there are 5 questions here, and I will kind of answer them in line, one at a time. Number one, “Would you say that sunscreen companies that claim to protect users from UVA and UVB are simply lying?” So this question comes from one of the things that I talk about in my book and on my website, on the blog, and that I’ve talked about a lot; that the claim of broad-spectrum sun protection is a little bit different from what we probably think it is when we see it on the sunscreen products that we’re using. So, broad-spectrum implies that the particular product we’re talking about protects you from both UVA and UVB rays, and to a degree that’s true. However, when you look at that term, you’re probably inclined to think that it offers equal protection. So, as if the protection is equally good for both types of rays. But actually, your UVA protection is just required to be a percentage of your UVB protection. So you’re actually not getting equal protection, or equal effectiveness against both types of rays.
And I think that’s just something; maybe it’s not a lie, maybe it’s a conveniently obscured or misunderstood truth. That’s just the way the FDA regulates it, and it’s just not something that’s disclosed verbatim to us on these products. So no, I don’t think they’re lying, I just think the truth is a little bit more complicated than what fits on the front of a bottle.
Number two. “How about coconut oil and shea butter? Do they also block the beneficial rays of UVB? And how about UVA; do they offer any protection from these harmful rays?” I actually don’t really know the right answer to this question. I think they do block some of; I think they are providing actual broad spectrum protection, like actually what would be equal protection to UVA and UVB, but I have no idea.
Red raspberry seed oil; this is something I learned about from Trina from Primal Life Organics who has a sun protection product that blends zinc and red raspberry seed oil. Red raspberry seed oil actually has the highest degree of protection from the sun’s rays of any natural substance, more so than shea butter, more so than coconut oil. Shea butter is kind of more of a skin conditioner than an actual protectant, but you are somewhat protected from these rays, but I certainly wouldn’t trust coconut oil as your only sun protection if you’re going to be outside all day long.
Number three; “where did you find the evidence that says vitamin D supplements can actually suppress the immune system? Can you please back up this claim with some studies? Or, did you mean that our immune system can be suppressed if we heavily rely on supplements instead of adequate sun exposure?”
Ok, so this is straight from the scientific literature. There’s a lot of sourcing that you can look at with regards to vitamin D metabolism, and calcitriol, and how it works in the body, and the VDR vitamin D receptor, and how that works, but I think just for a basic, more broad look at what we’re talking about, really we’re looking at vitamin D as an immune booster, but how we should really look at it is as an immune modulator. And in that light, it becomes more apparent that the body should be given the tools to produce vitamin D rather than be flooded with supplemental vitamin D, because the amount circulating is important, in part because it affects the function of the vitamin D receptor itself. But vitamin D levels are also controlled by genes. Chris Masterjohn actually talked about this recently in one of his podcasts about vitamin D.
So, just taking all of that in context, supplementation really starts to appear a little bit barbaric in that sense, but just for a broad look at what I’m talking about you can Google; I’ll give you two titles for papers that you can Google and pull up. The first one is “Vitamin D Discovery Outpaces FDA Decision Making.” That’s the first one you might want to look into. And then the other one is “Vitamin D: The Alternative Hypothesis.” And those should both give you a pretty good overall view of what I’m talking about here, and what some of the issues might be.
Question number four; “is it true that without an adequate amount of vitamin K2 in our bodies, we don’t absorb and utilize vitamin D properly?” I’m sure it’s more complicated than that. We know that vitamins A, D, and K2 are all involved in calcium metabolism and they all kind of work together to power the immune system, and this all is really probably very complicated; more so than I could even understand or get into here. But yeah, we need vitamin K2 to do all of this properly. To utilize vitamin D and to enable to do what it needs to do with the bones. I don’t know if it’s a direct action of vitamin K2 with vitamin D; this is probably another thing that Chris Masterjohn has talked about in the past. I know vitamin D and vitamin A; I think maybe activate certain proteins or receptor sites for one another, but right off the top of my head I’m probably butchering that. But yeah, K2 is important. It’s an important fat soluble vitamin. It’s important for calcium utilization; vitamin D is, as well. So I think that is really important, both directly and peripherally.
Question number five; “Does zinc oxide, you mention in your book, block both UVA and UVB rays?” Yes it does. Zinc oxide is pretty much the truest method of actual broad-spectrum protection that you can get.
So actually, I’m going to throw this in here. This is the end of Isabella’s questions, thanks for listening and submitting Isabella. I’ve written a ton on sunscreen, because the question keeps coming up every single year. I’ve written several blog posts on it, several emails on it. I write about vitamin D and sunscreen in my book; I’ve got a video on it. One of the mistakes I’ve made in the past is referring to physical sun barriers, like zinc, oxide, as sunblocks versus chemical sunscreens, and technically it’s all under one umbrella of sunscreen, just with different mechanisms of action and different ability to block the different types of rays. Sunblock is kind of an archaic term that isn’t really used anymore. But the word block is just so helpful in understanding that something is actually blocking the sun, so really an actual sunblock would be clothes, or shade, or something like that. But that’s kind of a technicality that I think I’ve tripped over a little bit in the past, just so people know.
But other than that, if you want more resources for sunscreen, sunblock, go to http://RealFoodLiz.com and look at some of the posts I’ve written on that. My favorites are from Beautycounter; which I actually got Chris Masterjohn, he uses the Beautycounter sunscreen. Which I was like, “Yeah! That’s awesome!”
Diane Sanfilippo: That’s awesome.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah, it was pretty cool. The one from Babo Botanicals, and the one from Badger, which is really, really good. The reason I like Beautycounter, as a grown up, is because it seems to blend in the best out of all of the other zinc oxide options. But the Babo and the Badger Balm are also really, really effective. They’re great for kids. They’re a little more white; you can see them a little bit better on your body. But kids don’t care.
And then I love the Primal Life Organics sun products; it just, the only reason I don’t talk about them more, the one and only reason, is because most of the time people want to hear an SPF, a sun protection factor, and that’s something that’s done through the FDA, and that’s just not something that they’re doing at Primal Life Organics; and rightfully so. I don’t think that’s really, I don’t think that’s an important part of their mission, is dealing with the FDA. So, they do use zinc oxide, they use red raspberry oil, and their sunstick is something that I’ve used on my kid, I’ve used it on myself. It’s lovely, it’s skin conditioning, it’s great. So, anything to add, Diane?
Diane Sanfilippo: No, I mean I think that’s pretty much everything.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah right, you always have something to add. Come on.
Diane Sanfilippo: I mean, I don’t think I have anything new or different to introduce, but I was thinking about what you were saying about vitamin D and the supplementation and all of that. Because when we look at anything that we’re taking to change certain amounts of potentially beneficial nutrients in the body, or potentially harmful ones. It just got me thinking about people are taking statins to lower cholesterol if it’s too high, and we’re trying to supplement with vitamin D because it’s too low; and I feel like a better answer to something being high or low is looking at all the factors that feed into that.
Liz Wolfe: Right.
Diane Sanfilippo: And also, what is high or low for one person? I mean, this was, even my recent blood work, my vitamin D was a little bit low, and my naturopath wants me to take a vitamin D supplement. Which, honestly, I don’t mind doing it for a short period of time. I think it’s also really important for people to remember that doing something for a short period of time as an intervention may be ok, and then remember not to just do that for forever and always take these things, because they do have effects on our body. Yeah, it’s a vitamin and it’s a supplement, but it doesn’t mean; you know, they have real effects, and we probably shouldn’t just be willy nilly about taking them and not recognizing what our body might want to do naturally.
So that’s just kind of got me thinking about it and I think because vitamin D can have that immune modulating effect, it is important to be careful with it in that way. And pay attention. I actually know someone who was supplementing with vitamin D and had a really horrible response to that. Like, major skin rashes and issues, because she was not tolerating vitamin D. So I think it’s just, for us to assume because people think they always need higher levels, that taking it is the right answer. Also, vitamin D really is more of a hormone than a vitamin, so let’s not forget that. Anyway, just more thoughts on it, not really more to say about what her question was. I think that was very thorough.
5. Packing snacks for school [30:17]
Liz Wolfe: Lovely. Alrighty, this is from Norma. “Not sure if this is the best format or not, but here goes nothing. Today was my first day of my fall semester. On Monday’s and Wednesday’s, I have four classes back to back with only 15 minutes in between. Do you have any tips on foods that are easy to bring to school with me and eat quickly? I really can’t eat a lot for breakfast, something I’m still working on after years of skipping it in middle school and some of high school. I brought some stuff with me today, and was starving through my last two classes. Any tips you have would be much appreciated.”
Diane Sanfilippo: Ooh, four classes back to back.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah, that’s intense.
Diane Sanfilippo: I wonder time those are happening. So, I’m curious. I’m presuming they’re going to be at least around an hour; right, classes are 50 minutes or at least an hour long.
Liz Wolfe: Do you realize how long it’s been since I’ve been in school? I have no idea.
Diane Sanfilippo: I know.
Liz Wolfe: Since I’ve been in real, regular college.
Diane Sanfilippo: So she has 4 classes back to back, and it starts; let’s just say she’s starting at 8 a.m. going until lunch time. Foods that are easy to bring. I think hardboiled eggs are a really good one. I would peel them ahead of time, so that you’re not dealing with that in the classroom. You can actually peel them and keep them in a glass container with an airtight lid for several days, or probably a week already peeled, so they’ll last ok in the fridge. I think that’s a good option.
One thing to keep in mind is, you might want to get a small lunch box that you can put some kind of cool pack in or that things stay cool in it if you maybe refrigerate a metal container or something like that, because 4 hours is a considerable amount of time, although if you eat your food within about an hour or two of leaving the house and eat it on a 15 minute break, then it can be a bit safer. You have about 2 hours for food to be in that unsafe zone. I tend to live on the edge a bit. When I travel with food on an airplane, it can easily be 3 or 4 hours before I eat a piece of chicken or something like that. And I’m not generally too worried about it, especially when I’ve cooked it at home and I know; you know, I know where it’s coming from and all of that.
But, I would really just bring whatever normal food. I think you can scramble eggs really quickly in the morning and bring that with you. You can just bring leftovers. Maybe bring things that you can either have wrapped up in a collard wrap where you then wrap it in some parchment paper or some kind of paper that you want to wrap it in and be able to eat that with your hands. I generally honestly just bring regular food when I go places. It’s more about the containers, I think. More about how you’re going to carry it than it is about the food itself.
And eating it quickly; honestly, eating quickly isn’t a good idea. So eating in stages, you know, maybe you need to eat a little bit on each of these breaks in order to make it work for you. But if you're scarfing down a really big meal, that’s not going to work well for your digestion. I would see; maybe there are two of these four classes that are not so apart from each other, logistically, on campus and the ones that are closer together, maybe you can sit down or get to your next class, be in there as soon as possible, and just start eating. I mean, I’m sure I ate in classes all the time, and I’m sure; I don’t know. If someone wants to yell at you for it, go for it. But I don’t know that people really get mad about it in college. Maybe you can sit somewhere where you’re not being obnoxious, like right in front of the professor or something.
That’s really what I would say in terms of specific foods. It’s so hard to say that, because I don’t know what you like and what you eat, and I think it’s more about the logistics and the planning of it and having the right containers and the right little tote type back. I mean, look. I’ve spent the last 10 years figuring out {laughs} how I like to travel with food. I have a blog post on travel and perhaps some of the tips I have for airplane food would be relevant to what you're carrying to classes. Like the kinds of containers I recommend using, and things that will be air tight or water tight so you’re not getting any leaks in your backpack or whatever you’re carrying. More thoughts on that? I mean, I don’t like to eat things like jerky, I don’t feel like it’s satisfying if I eat dried food, and I really don’t eat things like trail mix because, again, I don’t feel like it’s satisfying. But also I can’t eat most nuts, anyway.
Liz Wolfe: I’m just remembering taking two classes back to back in college across campus. So one was in Frasier at the University of Kansas, and the other was way down, maybe in the architecture building or something, maybe down by Naismith or something, and I was convinced; I think I had 10 minutes in between classes, and I decided I needed to ride my bike in between, having not ridden a bike for maybe 15 years at that point. I decided that I should wear a helmet; like, I just didn’t know. I was just like; I feel like helmets, you should wear them when you're riding bikes.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: And the first day I ever rode my bike between classes; it’s like stop and go traffic. You can’t just whiz down there. I probably would have been faster walker. But some of my friends drove by in a car; like some of my guy friends, and I was in this helmet from 1992 riding this bike, like teetering around on this bike. {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing}
Liz Wolfe: They made fun of me so bad, and it was super embarrassing and I never rode my bike to class again. I just can’t look cool on a bike.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing}
Liz Wolfe: I just can’t look deliberate; I’m just not one of those people that’s like; hey, just cruising on my bike, I’m going to get there really fast.
Diane Sanfilippo: I don’t even know what to say.
Liz Wolfe: That’s not how it works. I look like a jerk on my bike.
Diane Sanfilippo: I’ve got nothing. Norma, hopefully Liz’s story about her bike is helpful to you. {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: Yeah, I hope. I really do.
Diane Sanfilippo: That’s it. I don’t know.
Liz Wolfe: Good luck, Norma.
Diane Sanfilippo: Those are my tips.
6. High uric acid levels and protein consumption [36:39]
Liz Wolfe: Alright. This one is from Cindy. “My doctor told me to stop eating red meat.” My goodness.
Diane Sanfilippo: Ok.
Liz Wolfe: Alright, here’s the big question. “I’m a long time listener and lover of your podcast. I recently had my yearly physical, and while all other markers seem to be in the normal range, my doctor told me that I had elevated or excess uric acid in the blood. She proceeded to advise me to stop, or highly reduce, my consumption of red meat because I will develop gout. I don’t have any symptoms of gout, and I should note that I eat a variety of meats, pastured and grass-fed mostly that I purchased from a farm, along with a variety of vegetables, of course. I’ve been following a paleo template for about five years now, and I feel well and healthy, albeit occasionally haggard, but that’s normal given a hectic schedule of work and two elementary school children, to be expected.
I work out most days of the week, not to excess, and go biking with my kids a few times a week, so I’d say that I’m an active person. I should also mention, although I’m not sure this matters, that I supplement with digestive enzymes. I have no gallbladder. Nutreince vitamins, and I put two scoops of the Vital Proteins collagen peptides plus one scoop of the Vital Proteins collagen beauty greens in my morning smoothie. I don’t have a huge appetite in the morning and a smoothie is convenient. I also have a small amount of protein in my lunch, and probably a bigger protein in my dinner, along with some carbs; usually rice or veggies.
Should I be reducing my protein amount because of the excess uric acid? I’m in the normal weight range and although I could lose about 10-15 pounds, I feel comfortable in my body and don’t tend to go to extremes. Thank you in advance for weighing in on this. I normally don’t worry about my diet because I feel good, but it just concerns me that I have excess uric acid in my blood, and that this could potentially be harmful in the long run.”
So this one’s mine?
Diane Sanfilippo: Either way. I mean, I have a few notes that I can throw in, and some referring out on it as well.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah, I think I’m mostly referring out. I talk about uric acid, I think, and gout a little bit in Eat the Yolks. Mostly I think what I talk about is that it’s more likely to be correlated with blood sugar; like, chronically elevated blood sugar than it necessarily is with protein. I personally don’t see a lot of red flags here as far as protein goes, and I’m also seeing a good mix of amino acids, so my only hesitation is answering this question directly because it would be like directly questioning the advice of her doctor. But I would say, if this was me, I would say it’s correct to seek a little bit more detailed, more fleshed out information on this and maybe look at some other things that could be going on versus just immediately blaming how much meat you're eating. Because I just haven’t seen that as really playing out, even in the literature from a causative standpoint without other mitigating factors. So that’s kind of what I have to say.
Diane Sanfilippo: So, where I was going to point to; I know Robb Wolf did a bunch of blog posts on this. And you know, his blog posts; they’re well researched. They are based on literature, and I think there should be some links within them to some of the sources that he’s got. I know he’s got at least two parts; clearing up kidney confusion, there’s an introduction, there’s a part two, and I’m not sure if there’s a third one. And he talks a bit about if you're getting kidney stones; did she say she was getting stones? No.
Liz Wolfe: No, she just says elevated uric acid.
Diane Sanfilippo: The high uric acid.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: But his note about that was more, like what you were mentioning, blood sugar regulation and insulin resistance could make your liver not process the uric acid properly. So usually when we see something that’s not balanced coming out in the blood stream or in our urine or wherever we’re getting this stuff tested, sometimes it’s not a matter of something as simple as; ok, well the protein you're putting in is causing this problem. There’s something else going wrong that’s causing a downregulation of the normal body function.
So if you’re liver is just not processing it appropriately, then it might be more an issue of looking at supporting your liver than removing protein. And interestingly enough, in order to best support our liver, there are proteins that come from animal foods that do support the liver and its function. So we don’t know exactly what she’s eating outside of this, if she’s eating a lot of carbohydrates that are more than what she really needs for activity or stress levels and all of that, this is something I actually worked on recently with my mom. We’re trying to figure out what’s going on with some high triglycerides; and shifting up her diet, giving her some supplementation to support the liver, and see what happens in her next blood work.
Same thing here; I would say what’s going on with your blood sugar markers? What’s her fasting glucose, what’s her A1c? And if those markers all look healthy, and normal, then it may or may not be the blood sugar issue. But I don’t know that this is going to be just lower the protein. You can take that approach if you want. I think it would be an interesting test to take 3 months maybe scaling back; red meat isn’t going to be, as far as I know, specifically an issue here. It’s really a protein consumption issue. So the doc saying not to eat red meat is kind of like; mmm, are you a little misguided on that. But if you wanted to scale back on the protein, up the fat a little bit so that you’re not losing out on satiety, and see what happens in your blood work. You can totally do that, if you’re at all nervous about it, and you might find that that doesn’t change. You might find that the input of that protein isn’t what’s causing this output.
So that’s really all I have to say about it. We’ll link up to the post that Robb has. These are from 2011; he’s been getting these questions for a long time, and so he talks about kidney function and all of that throughout the episode; not the episode. The blog post. Damage to the kidneys and inflammation, autoimmunity, all different factors. I think the issue also that he brings up is that if your kidneys are healthy your protein intake is not what’s causing a problem. It’s if you already have some kidney damage or an issue there then the results that you're seeing in the blood work might be indicating that. The protein doesn’t cause damage.
The same way when we talk about diabetes; carbohydrates don’t cause diabetes. This is not a cause and effect relationship of a carbohydrate molecule to this disease. It’s not simplified like that. There are a lot of factors at play. It’s the context and the type and what is your environment of your body and what’s happening with your liver and the processing of all of these things. So I would definitely check out those posts, and we will link to those in the show notes.
Liz Wolfe: Much better than my answer.
Diane Sanfilippo: No, just different.
7. The miraculous apple cider vinegar [44:20]
Liz Wolfe: Alrighty.
Diane Sanfilippo: ACV?
Liz Wolfe: ACV. This one is from Jacqueline B on ACV. “What’s the deal with apple cider vinegar? Over the course of my paleo journey, I’ve been exposed to dozens of new to me ingredients that have changes the way I cook and eat. Recently I’ve been getting really curious about ACV. Over the last several years I’ve been told by my coach at the gym to take a shot of ACV each morning to help digestion; seen 30-day ACV challenges, heard that ACV is good for your skin; seen ACV in baked goods recipes in the 21DSD, and most recently advised to put it on my…” {laughs} wow I have not heard of this before. “Been advised to put it on my nipples to combat a mild case of thrush while breastfeeding. Is there anything ACV can’t do? What are all the properties of this seemingly miraculous ingredient? What are the health benefits? Does it matter what kind you buy; filtered or unfiltered? Does it have probiotic properties? What is its function in baked goods or added to meat with the chorizo spice blend from Practical Paleo? Are there any other ways I can use it? Thanks for all the information you both put out into the world. I and my family members who hear my sister and I talk about you on a first name basis wouldn’t have made it half as far in this lifelong health journey without your podcast, book, emails, websites, and New Girl references.”
Diane Sanfilippo: That’s cute.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: Well thanks Jacqueline. {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: This one is marked with your name, so I’m going to let you…
Diane Sanfilippo: I’ll start in on it.
Liz Wolfe: Go for it.
Diane Sanfilippo: I’m not sure I can answer everything that she’s asking; and it’s almost like ACV or coconut oil, which is the Windex of the paleo community as {laughs} in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, when he puts Windex on everything.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: I don’t know who, it was like a father or grandfather.
Liz Wolfe: It was Gus; it was the dad.
Diane Sanfilippo: Ok. “So is there anything ACV can’t do?” So, miraculous properties; I don’t know about miracles {laughs} but I think there’s a few things; look, it’s a fermented product. So I’m not actually sure that there’s any kind of probiotic benefit to it, because it’s not generally sold cold and I’m not sure that we can preserve probiotic benefit unless something is chilled, like we’re drinking kombucha, that’s refrigerated obviously. Liz, you can let me know if I’m wrong on that one, I’m not sure about that.
Liz Wolfe: I don’t think you’re wrong; I think you're correct, but open to being corrected.
Diane Sanfilippo: I think part of why people are going to use it as a supplement to support digestion is really more for the sour, vinegar effect.
Liz Wolfe: And the enzymes. I think there are enzymes, but not probiotic bacteria.
Diane Sanfilippo: Perhaps.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: So, you know, enzymes are going to support us in digesting things naturally because they’re going to help break down things like protein. I mean, enzyme sounds like a very; I don’t know, it’s just a word that’s thrown around a lot, but the reason why enzymes are helpful is they literally chemically physically help to break down food. So you know the support of a little bit of apple cider vinegar; I’m not sure that you’d want to take a shot straight. You might mix it with a little bit of water, but that can help to bring that acidic feeling to the stomach and support and promote some hydrochloric acid production naturally without having to take, perhaps, a hydrochloric acid supplement for people who; I think we talked about this in our last episode, might need some help digesting animal protein, perhaps, or if you haven’t been eating animal protein, that can be supportive.
There are tons of people who feel like drinking it first thing in the morning; some people do it with water or with ACV and ginger, just kinds of help to rebalance and reset them. I don’t know what the real reason for that could be. There could be some placebo affect there; there could be some lifestyle and habit effect. It could be that they’re doing the shot and then they're’ drinking a bunch of water in the morning and maybe the water is helping. I don’t know that it’s super miraculous, but I do think it’s totally worth trying something and just seeing what happens. I mean, if it’s a healthy thing that you can try and you find benefit from it, then go with it.
“Filtered/unfiltered?” We usually use an organic, unfiltered version just to keep it as raw and natural state as possible. “What is its function in baked goods?” In baked goods, it’s an acid in the baked good it reacts with the baking soda or baking powder. I’m not an expert on baking. Oh here; we record at noon on Tuesdays all the time, and there’s this alarm. And why don’t we learn not to be recording at this time?
Liz Wolfe: Look, we do what we can.
Diane Sanfilippo: So, in baked goods it reacts with the leavener, the baking soda or the baking powder, and it helps actually to get that product to rise. You could use lemon juice; you don’t have to use apple cider vinegar in that situation. And then also in something like the chorizo; it’s just adding flavor. It adds a tangy flavor, so sometimes we’re just using it for flavor. And then if it is used in a meat recipe, it can actually help to tenderize the meat a bit because of that enzyme content. It may actually make those meatballs a bit softer because it’s tenderizing a bit.
“Any other ways you can use it?” We use it in water when we poach eggs, just like we would almost; you could use a basic white distilled vinegar for that, but we use apple cider vinegar for that. We use it for the Filipino chicken adobo recipe from Paleo Foodie Kitchen; it calls for quite a large amount of apple cider vinegar as well as coconut aminos. Lots of recipes that use it. I believe some folks use it in; you had been using it in the no-poo method for a while.
Liz Wolfe: Yep.
Diane Sanfilippo: And some folks use it for different deodorant purposes; I don’t know what else is getting mixed with it. But those are some of the uses I’ve seen. And possibly for house cleaning, although most of the time I think people use a white vinegar for that. But any other notes and thoughts and feelings on ACV?
Liz Wolfe: Did you hit on filtered; you hit filtered versus unfiltered, right?
Diane Sanfilippo: Just briefly.
Liz Wolfe: I kind of heard a sound of the baby and…
Diane Sanfilippo: We tend to buy the unfiltered “with the mother” I think it says.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah, the Braggs.
Diane Sanfilippo: We tend to buy the Braggs. Sometimes we buy it at Trader Joe’s if we’re there. But yeah.
Liz Wolfe: Very good. I’ve used white distilled vinegar for cleaning; I probably wouldn’t use apple cider vinegar for cleaning. I think…
Diane Sanfilippo: It’s pretty strong.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah, it’s pretty darn strong.
Diane Sanfilippo: What else? Do you use it for anything else?
Liz Wolfe: No. I was using it for a while as a facial toner, just to, the acid mantle of your face is slightly acidic so you can blend it with something like tea, like a green tea or a chamomile tea, or a hydrosol of some kind and use it as a facial toner, but I haven’t found that I need it so much anymore. But if you are dealing with bacne or anything like that; some people do see some resolution with that just by using a blended apple cider vinegar toner just spritzed on the area. It does help exfoliate a little bit; the fruit acids can help exfoliate a little bit, kind of like a really, really light, mini, I don’t want to say peel, but something like that. So it has some interesting utility in skin care. I haven’t used it lately.
But you can; I think the http://www.PurelyPrimalSkincare.com/blog will probably have a couple of homemade skincare recipes using apple cider vinegar. And I like it because it’s from apples. I mean I think a lot of the white distilled vinegar is from, you know, GMO corn and stuff like that. So sometimes you just don’t want to ingest that or use that on your body. Cool.
Diane Sanfilippo: Word.
Liz Wolfe: Word.
Liz Wolfe: The Balanced Bites podcast is sponsored in part by the Nutritional Therapy Association. The NTA trains and certifies nutritional therapy practitioners and consultants, including me, I’m an NTP, emphasizing bio-individuality and the range of dietary strategies that support wellness. The NTA emphasizes local, whole, properly prepared nutrient dense foods as the key to restoring balance and enhancing the body’s ability to heal. Nutritional therapy practitioners and consultants learn a wide range of tools and techniques to assess and correct nutritional imbalances. To learn lots more about the nutritional therapy program, go to http://www.NutritionalTherapy.com. There are workshop venues in the US, Canada, and Australia, so chances are you’ll be able to find a venue that works for you.
8. #Treatyoself: Goat’s milk yogurt over frozen fruit [53:23]
Liz Wolfe: Alright, treat yoself segment. What you got? You have a couple listed here, Diane. I don’t know if you’re going to be able to pick one.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yes. My treat yoself this week; I did one last week too. But this one is; I’m a little, I mean, I use the word addicted lightly, ok. But I have a thing going right now with goat milk yogurt, which I’ve been doing well with. My skin is not reacting poorly to it. Goat milk yogurt over something we’ve talked about before, defrosted from frozen cherries. We’re both kind of obsessed with those, and I put a little bit of honey on top, like a teaspoon of honey. And I’m pretty much obsessed with this. I love that I can get a little bit of protein, a little bit of fat, some good carbs, and it tastes great. Honestly, I freaking love yogurt.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: I just have always loved it. I love the tangy, sour nature of it, and I think it’s one of those foods that, you know, if you can find a way to tolerate it, it’s great to get that probiotic content in. I think there’s some really great nutritional value to high quality dairy as we’ve talked about many times, and I’m pretty much unwilling to say I’ll never have it again. I keep trying different types of cow dairy, I seem to sometimes react to it and sometimes not. So this is the one I’ve been going with. The brand I’ve been getting is, I think it’s called the Redwood Hill Farm or something like that. I thought it was organic, but I’m looking at it, and it just said certified humane, perhaps not organic. I’m going to go read up on the company a little bit. Because sometimes companies aren’t certified organic, and they actually kind of have an organic operation but sometimes when they’re making these quality products, the whole rigmarole of all of that is just not happening. Like you were mentioned before about the FDA and Primal Life Organics. Who knows what the deal is, why it’s not organic. But yeah, goat milk yogurt over cherries with some honey. If you’ve followed me on Snapchat, you’ve seen my. {laughs} I said, there was one day I ate it twice. I was like, somebody might need to stage an intervention because I can’t. It’s so good.
Liz Wolfe: If I was in charge of the treat yoself segment, every single day it would just be Jackson’s Honest Sea Salt and Vinegar chips.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: That’s it.
Diane Sanfilippo: Alright. Well, I’m with you on those, as well. I love them.
Liz Wolfe: I love them.
Diane Sanfilippo: I’ve got some more treat yoselves that we can add in future episodes. I’m just thinking; I went to Rainbow Grocery here in San Francisco for the first time since moving back, which is just absurd to me. Oh no wait, second time. I lie, I lie.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs} “I lie, I lie.”
Diane Sanfilippo: But Rainbow Grocery is basically foodie heaven minus meat, which is kind of sad, because if they had meat it would be the best stuff. But they have everything awesome that we want is there. All the fun, cool, high quality products that we look for, lots of local stuff. I just had a great time, so I’m going to make a list of all these fun treat yoself items.
That’s it.
Liz Wolfe: That’s it.
Diane Sanfilippo: We did it; high fives! Five years!
Liz Wolfe: High five! {pshh} I think we kind of petered out at the end there but the beginning I think was totally solid. {laughs} But by the end, we were totally adrift.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} I don’t know what that is. This is like, for 5 years, Liz quotes things that I don’t know.
Liz Wolfe: They just pop in my head, all day.
Diane Sanfilippo: Five years. I don’t know what she’s talking about.
Liz Wolfe: If you knew all the Andy Griffith quotes that I don’t say, you would understand why I can’t fit much more in my head, because that’s 90% of what’s in my brains.
Diane Sanfilippo: Question mark.
Liz Wolfe: Question mark.
Diane Sanfilippo: Just kidding. {laughs} That was my Luann for the week.
Liz Wolfe: Ah! {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: Question mark.
Liz Wolfe: Question mark.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: You’re a sight! Alright. You can find me, Liz, at http://realfoodliz.com/ and you can find Diane at http://dianesanfilippo.com. Please join our email lists, we’d love to see you there. While you’re on the internet, leave us an iTunes review. See you next week.