Question hi Geoff!
Would you tell us your opinion on iris colour change... I'd like to know whether it is possible at all and can Raw Paleo Diet bring about such changes? Is it an indication of improved health and removing toxicity? How long does it take to observe any noticeable sings of such a change?
It is interesting how much sleep do you need after 5 and a half years on a 99%+ raw version of the Palaeolithic Diet. You mentioned that you usually sleep for about 6 hours a night for 5 nights a week, and then sleep 7-8 hours a night during the weekends, without incurring fatigue. When one should expect similar results? It seems that during initial period on a raw Paleo diet body needs to perform a lot of healing which mostly occurs during sleep hours, so here comes increased need in sleep... But maybe when fully recovered much less sleep is enough...
Do you as a fan of wildlife use soap, detergent, shampoo, foam for shave or any other anti-natural modern things? Is it safe to wash oneself in chlorinated water?
Finally, What are your findings on an increased sex drive due to raw Paleo diet and do you regard sexual energy as a health indicator? Have you noticed any changes in this area after eating the raw animal products?
thanks,
Yuriy
P.S. I have to thank you as well for the IF idea. Eating single meal daily within 4 hour period is easy, convenient and natural!
AnswerThe iris-colour change is a rather controversial issue. It's by no means universal, with some people not noticing iris-colour-changes even when they've completely recovered from their former health-problems, while others can still be sickly but completely change eye-colour, etc.
In my own case, my irises were originally light brown, but became so dark as to be almost coal-black in colour, as my health worsened on a cooked junk-food diet. In the first few weeks of going rawpalaeo, my irises became slightly lighter around the edges, but then my irises darkened considerably again when I went in for raw-dairy products for the next 5-6 months. My irises then became lighter in colour over the years, once I quit the raw dairy, so that I now have a gray-green colour in the outer-half of each iris, with light-brown in the centre.
My own view re the science of iridology is that it can show the presence of toxins in the body,in general, in a very vague way, but that it is pretty useless for finding out if a specific part of the body is weaker, healthwise, than the rest.
There have been some suggestions on the various rawpalaeo forums that extra bacteria(via high-meat or EM products) might make the iris-colour change more likely.
In short, I would suggest not depending on iris-colour change to determine your health-status - better to rely on whether your various symptoms of ill-health are diminished, or not.
Re sleep:- I should really have added some cautionary notes to that statement re my sleep-periods. I do, nowadays, doze (though not actually sleep), siesta-fashion, for between 15-50 minutes during most lunch-times while at work - this makes all the difference and allows me to sleep less at night.
Re soap/detergent etc.:- (By "wildlife" I think you mean "Nature"). Generally speaking, I'm not 100% in accordance with rawpalaeo principles re this issue. I use soap, but use it mostly under the arms and in the groin area. I try to use more natural soaps, with fewer additivies than most, though I'm not always able to do so.
I never use shampoo, these days. I did use shampoo, way back in my cooked-food days, as my hair was very greasy at the time, but when I went raw, I didn't feel the need. I'd read that if you don't use shampoo for more than 6 weeks(assuming you have a relatively healthy diet), that your hair tends to self-regulate/self-clean itself, over time - and that certainly seems to be the case with me, as my hair is fine,without shampoo.
I don't use shaving-foam, as I use the latest razor-technology. I use Gillette-Fusion razors, with 5 blades per razor, and these are so sharp that I don't need to use foam. Not using shaving foam likely means that I have to replace razors more often, but that doesn't bother me - also, even without using foam, I'm not at risk of cutting myself shaving, as modern razors are much safer than they used to be.
I occasionally clean my plates with washing-up liquid, but this is rare - most of the time, I just use water.
Re chlorinated water:- I avoid drinking chlorinated water from taps in London, at all costs, and instead buy (alkaline) mineral-water from natural springs - drinking only chlorinated tap-water tends to make me lose appetite and reduces energy-levels very slightly - when I drink tap-water in certain places in Austria/Italy, where the water comes directly from the mountains, and isn't chlorinated/treated, I feel fine, though. I have to use London's chlorinated water for my baths, but I don't think it makes any difference to one's health, as the chlorine in that water is relatively small - it's just drinking the stuff that makes a (slight) difference, healthwise - however, I would strongly advise you against swimming too much in chlorinated public swimming-pools, as the chlorine-content in those pools can be quite high.
Re deodorant:- I never use the aluminium-containing spray-cans of deodorant, as these are generally considered unhealthy. I, instead, use an antibacterial deodorant(called "Trust"). You just put the stuff under the arms, just on the hair not the skin, just before you go to sleep, and wash it off in the morning - the stuff kills off bacteria for 5 days or so, before you have to use the stuff again. I find this product very useful when hiking in the mountains, and it's more effective than deodorant, as it kills the bacteria which create the smell. This is the one case where I think it's OK to kill bacteria!). This antibacterial product does contain some natural antibacterial herbs such as marigold/arnica etc., but it does have some dodgy chemicals such as "petroleum jelly" etc. - since I don't put the stuff on the skin, it's not an issue, however.
(Generally speaking, my body odour is much less than it used to be on a cooked-food diet, but there is still some need for deodorants).
I still use toothpaste, and the occasional antibacterial mouthwash and I floss my teeth occasionally. I would prefer not to use these methods at all, but if I didn't, then my cooked-food-eating acquaintances would no doubt complain.
Re sex-drive:- Well, this diet really does enhance one's stamina as regards sexual performance(especially if you eat foods such as raw oysters and high-meat). That said, I've, along with a few other male rawpalaeodieters, have noticed that, while we have a reasonably strong sex-drive, that we are not as plagued by everyday sexual urges, as (some of us) were in our cooked-food days. One member of my rawpaleodiet group put forward an interesting theory from another source, which might explain that. He suggested that when a man's body is in a state of ill-health and toxicity, that the body senses this closeness to death, and produces large amounts of sex-hormones in order to ensure that the male produces future offspring, via sex, as, if the male dies, he will have no children to pass on his genes - a sort of biological imperative. A woman in a state of ill-health would however be far less able to support a child during pregnancy, than if she were healthy, so it's in the female body's interest, then, to greatly reduce the sex-hormones, thus reducing the female sex-drive, and ensuring that she's less likely to get pregnant.
Re IF:- I'm glad it's working for you. Many people are so hopelessly fixed on the 3-meal-a-day habit that transitioning to IF can be very difficult for them, by contrast. Bu the benefits are well worth pursuing.
RPG
- Prev:Complete online diet and exercise program
- Next:75% paleo